Sibyx is all over October

Welcome to a new month, one of my favorites in the year!

Actually Reading (Latest book first)

Sean McMullen The Miocene Arrow SF
Grace Dane Mazur Silk SS
Robin Lane Fox Pagans and Christians

AUDIO T. Coraghessan Boyle The Women F

ON HOLD
Joanna Russ The Zanzibar Cat sf ss
David Foster Wallace A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again Essays.

October
98. Per Pettersen Out Stealing Horses F ****1/2
97. Tim Farrington The Monk Downstairs ***
96. Elizabeth Goudge Towers in the Mist F ****
95. Connie Willis Doomsday Book ***** SF
94. Octavia Butler The Parable of the Talents dyst. **1/2
93. Gary Soto Human Nature poetry ****
92. Audiobook: Robert Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ****1/2
91. Sean McMullen Souls in the Great Machine **** sf

Best of September
Carlos Baker Emerson Among the Eccentrics NF
have to think about the fiction!

Best of August
Grace Dane Mazur Hinges: Meditations on the Portals of the Imagination NF *****
Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall *****
Runner Up Kate Atkinson When Will There Be Good News?

Best of July
Mark Halliday Keep This Forever Poetry *****
Brenda Wineapple White Heat Bio *****
Ian McDonald The Dervish House SF ****1/2

Best of June
No best NF
F a) Abraham Verghese Cutting for Stone *****
Brian Aldiss The Helliconia Trilogy sf ****1/2

Best of May
NF Daniel Richard Stoddard, Memoirs Unpublished recollection of growing up in Vermont. *****
F Thomas Hardy Far From the Madding Crowd F *****!!

Best of April
NF Baron Wormser The Road Washes Out in Spring ****1/2
F David Mitchell Cloud Atlas F *****

Best of March
NF William Kamkwamba The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind *****
F John Cowper Powys A Glastonbury Romance *****

Best of February
Fiction Helen Humphreys The Frozen Thames F *****
Non-F Emma Larkin, Finding George Orwell in Burma ****1/2 NF, travel

Best of January
Fiction Helen Humphreys The Lost Garden ****1/2
Non F David Grann The Lost City of Z*****

September
90. The New Yorker: Month of July
89. Cathleen Schine The Three Weissman's of Westport ***1/2 F
88. Octavia Butler Parable of the Sower sf/dystopic ****1/2
87. Carlos Baker Emerson Among the Eccentrics bio ****
86. Thomas King Green Grass, Running,Water F ****
85. David Mitchell The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet ****1/2 F
84. The New Yorker: Month of June
83. Tana French Faithful Place mys ****1/2

September Summary
Obviously still cranking out the New Yorkers; although it's like tennis balls out of one of those machines, you cannot let up your guard for an instant. At first glance this looks like an 'all over the place' kind of month. One of everything except NYers. One hi-test chick lit, one quite disturbing dystopic, one respectably heavy-weight bio, one uncategorizable native american novel, one semi-heavy-weight novel, and one thriller. Only one non-fiction book. It was definitely a transitional month too -- lots and lots going on. I'm amazed I managed to read as much as I did, frankly. In conclusion, on second glance, this still looks like an 'all over the place' month.

January

1. Kevin J. Anderson Hidden Empire first of seven, space opera (science-lite), enjoyable ***1/2
2. Christopher Isherwood The World in the Evening F ****
3. Mary Ann Shaffer The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society F, ww2, recommended ***3/4
4. Patrick Marnham Wild Mary: A Life of Mary Wesley ****
5. Charles Stross Toast sf/short stories ****
6. David Grann The Lost City of Z adventure *****
7. Helen Humphries The Lost Garden contemp fiction ****1/2
8. Kevin J. Anderson A Forest of Stars space opera ***1/2
9. Jeremy Bernstein Quantum Leaps Science ****
10. Alain de Botton A Week at the Airport NF travel ***3/4
11. Kevin J. Anderson Horizon Storms #3 7 Suns.... space opera ***1/2

February
12. Laura Talbot The Gentlewomen for Virago week F ****
13. Kevin J. Anderson Scattered Suns Book IV Seven Suns Saga - sp/op ***1/2 Defiantly I continue to enjoy this series!
14. Jamie Ford The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet **** Contemp F.
15. R.F. Treharne The Glastonbury Legends in tandem w/ A Glastonbury Romance, background ****
16. Emma Larkin Finding George Orwell in Burma Memoir ****1/2
17. Suzette Haden Elgin Native Tongue sf ***
18. Kevin J. Anderson Of Fire and Night Book 5 (of 7) sp/op ***1/2
19. Kevin J. Anderson Metal Swarm Book 6 (of 7) Saga of Seven Suns. sp/op *** 1/2
20. Helen Humphreys The Frozen Thames F *****
21. Kevin J. Anderson The Ashes of Worlds Book 7 (of 7) of the Saga of Seven Suns sp/op ***1/2
22. Jon McGregor So Many Ways to Begin ER F ****

March
23. William Kamkwamba The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind NF ***** Stars are for the achievement of this inspiring young man.
24. Diane Glancy Stoneheart F ****
25. John A. Greed Glastonbury Tales
26. John Cowper Powys A Glastonbury Romance F *****
27. Ursula LeGuin Always Coming Home SF ***1/2
28. Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer *****
A MUST READ to learn about the settling of our neighbor, Canada
29. Brian Aldiss Helliconia Spring SF ****
30. Margaret Atwood Oryx and Crake SF *****
31. Outliers Malcolm Gladwell NF **** (audiobook)
abandoned in March : Stephen R. Donaldson The Mirror of her Dreams * 1/2 fantasy, yawn.

April
32. David Mitchell Cloud Atlas F *****
33. Marge Piercy Woman on the Edge of Time. SF ***
34. Baron Wormser, The Road Washes Out in Spring: a poet's memoir of living off the grid NF ****1/2
35. Kate Pullinger The Mistress of Nothing F (Audiobook) ****
36. Meg Wolitzer Uncoupling F ***1/2
37. Margaret Atwood The Year of the Flood Dystopic ****1/2
38. Francine ProseReading Like a Writer ***** Dangerous reading list!
39. Brian Aldiss Helliconia Summer SF Book 2 of 3. ****
40. Lois McMaster Bujold Cryoburn ***1/2 SF

May
40. Audiobook: Norman Phillips John Lennon: The Life Bio ***1/2
41. Joanna Russ The Female Man SF **** review to come
42. Sharon Creech Love That Dog J poem/novel ****
43. Kazim Ali, Fasting for Ramadan : Personal Meditation ****
44. Karen Russell Swamplandia **** plus. F
45. Anne Tyler Noah's Compass ***1/2 F
46. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Oldtown Folks F ***** A classic portrait of late 18th New England
47. Robin Hobb The Inheritance and Other Stories Fantasy-SS (ER) ****
48. Daniel Richard Stoddard, Memoirs Unpublished recollection of growing up in Vermont. *****
49. Thomas Hardy Far From the Madding Crowd F *****!!
50. Joan Slonczewski A Door Into Ocean SF ***
51. Jennifer Egan A Visit From the Goon Squad F ****1/2

June
61. Brian Aldiss Helliconia Winter SF ****1/2
60. Josephine Tey A Shilling for Candles Mys ****1/2
59. Tommy Hays In the Family Way F ****
58. Justina Robson Natural History SF ****
57. audiobook Alan Bradley The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie Mys ****
56. Nancy Mitford The Water Beetle Essays ***1/2
55. Arthur Machen The Three Impostors Fantasy classic ****1/2
54. Abraham Verghese Cutting For Stone F *****
53. audiobook M.C. Beaton Death of a Gentle Lady Mys **3/4
52. Elizabeth Moon Remnant Population SF ****1/2

July
70. Audiobook Orson Scott Card The Lost Gate ***1/2
69. Kim Stanley Robinson Green Mars Book 2 of 3 ****1/2
68. Kim Stanley Robinson Red Mars SF ****1/2
67. Mark Halliday Keep This Forever Poetry *****
66. Brenda Wineapple White Heat Bio *****
65. audiobook Alan Bradley The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag Mys ****
64. Natasha Trethewey Native Guard Poetry ****1/2
63. Ian McDonald The Dervish House SF ****1/2
62. audiobook#2 Edward Bloor London Calling F/slight relig. bent ***

August
82. Josephine Tey The Man in the Queue mys ***1/2
81 4 New Yorkers May 2011
80. Anne Enright The Forgotten Waltz F ****1/2
79. Grace Dane Mazur Hinges: Meditations on the Portals of the Imagination NF *****
78. Audiobook: Craig Ferguson American on Purpose memoir ****
77. 4 New Yorkers* April (*one conveniently lost 50% read...)
76. Boyd Morrison The Ark thriller **1/2
75. Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall ***** HIP HIP HOORAY
74. Kate Atkinson When Will There Be Good News? Mys ****1/2
73. 4 New Yorkers (not read cover to cover, mind you!) March 2011
72. Aimee Nezhukumatathil Lucky Fish poetry ****
71. Kim Stanley Robinson Blue Mars SF ****1/2

I hope that you reserved enough places to do what you want to do. Happy October! Happy New Thread!!

I discovered your Pagans and Christians thread today (I'll guess it was mentioned somewhere but I wasn't paying attention). I'm interested, but not interested enough to take on 681 pages at the moment, so I will happily follow along as you do the work.

Stopping by to say hi! You know, I've often looked at David Foster Wallace - and the put him back down on the shelf. Have your read other books by him - and if so, what did you think? I'll be curious to see how you feel about David Foster Wallace A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again but it does not sound promising so far.

Here you are!

Starred...

I was AWOL yesterday from LT, so I missed the start of your thread. Happy October!

I apologize for leaving a thread under construction but I'm still too busy to spend the time. I'm in Sarasota, working on a book project and I don't get the luxury of working all day like this very often, so I'm trying to take full advantage of it. I've also been spending a lot of time working on entering the books for a Legacy Library here -- check it out, Sterling E. Lanier, a well-respected writer of fantasy, science fiction. I've only got a hundred or so of well over a thousand in so far -- it's slow work because I am trying to do a good job -- correct editions, notes about his scribbles in the books, anything a researcher might later be interested in. A lot of the books are too wrecked to keep - books and Florida do not really go together easily unless you can really keep your house in perfect running order a/c wise. I am much sloppier about my own books -- but with these ones I know that at least half will go to be recycled and so I have to get it right the first time or why bother. It's an amazing library -- which will become apparent as I get more of it in here -- I'm hoping today to put in some of his really fun books about abominable snowmen etc. after I get my other work done.

Q -- P&C is wayyyy too dense. The scholarship is obviously very deep and sincere, but this guy is completely numb to what art is about as far as I can tell. It's most strange. He makes me want to run up and down the hills shouting, "Pan Lives!"

Deb - Even though I have utterly bogged down in the Wallace, I think about everything I've read so far in there all the time. So far I have read only Oblivion a group of short stories and they are tough indeed, but again, I think about them -- he has captured something essential about 'the way we live now' the sheer insanity of it. He's not much 'fun' to read, but he was a genius, no doubt in my mind about that. Franzen wrote a gorgeous sad piece about knowing him that was in a New Yorker sometime earlier this year.

Hi Lucy,
Hope you're having a swell time in Sarasota. You might want to pop in a link to October from your September thread when you get a chance.
TK

Righty-ho, I'm on it!

Link fairy: http://www.librarything.com/profile/sterlingelanier.
Interesting.

Hi Lucy, found and starred. Working on a legacy library sounds great fun - how did you get that task?

He makes me want to run up and down the hills shouting, "Pan Lives!" :) I wonder what Robin Lane Fox would make of you doing that?

He was my god-father and mentor. It's a blast, but really a huge amount of work. I think I'm moving more at your speed -- getting the right editions, correct book jacket, putting the often hilarious notes he wrote into the comments area..... each book takes as much as five or ten minutes. I'm thrilled when I find one with no notes and an ISBN number!

I had a quick look and saw all those annotations in the comments area - it's great to have such details recorded for posterity - but hard work, yes.

Was he responsible for encouraging your taste for sci-fi and fantasy?

Sounds fascinating, Lucy. I'd love to be going through a science fiction writer's library but it sounds like a lot of work. And of course, I wouldn't want to lose a godfather to do it. Best wishes!

I'm in part 4 of P&C--soooo much (dry) information. Every once in a while a glimmer of personality, to wit:

When talking about the gods visiting in dreams, Fox writes, "Fasting was a helpful preliminary, as was avoidance of the heavier foods: the Greeks' diet, it was said, particularly favored visions, because their food was light and dry. That view, admittedly, was expressed in the days before moussaka."

HI Lucy!

Your project sounds very satisfying - even tho labor intensive.
Go crazy! (um, not literally)

;-)

SNORT, Roni.

Thanks Claudia, it really is more fun than anything else..... just a bit tiring after awhile. And LT can sometimes be so odd about books, declaring it doesn't exist, so you put it in manually and then 500 other people have it....I've gotten good at devious paths to force it to reveal a title though!

Hi Lucy

Congratulations on reading so many books thus far.

Hi Lucy, I'm fascinated by this Legacy Library thing. So you are actually at his house going through his books? I didn't know that was how it was done. I guess I had no idea how it was done. Interesting.

>20 brenzi:: What Bonnie said. This is fascinating! Did you just decide to do this yourself or did someone ask you ? I'm very curious about the whole process.

Let me see -- since he died a few years ago, various things have been done to re-organize his papers etc. His widow gave most of his papers to his University. She has also been making his books available E-style, one by one (it's not that easy!) and we were talking about other housekeeping matters -- one thing I helped her with was saving a bunch of books that were in his studio and got a bit mildewed when the a/c broke down unbeknownst to her for a month or so...... (baking powder, etc) and I was, as usual, blabbing about how FABULOUS LT is and that they even have this thing for Writer's Libraries and she said, 'Wouldn't it be marvelous to put these books on -- especially as we will have to throw away quite a few!" And I said, WHOOPPEEE! I am also working on a writing project to do with him, also that she asked me if I'd like to do, but I am too worried still about my ability to complete it to 'go public'. I really do feel like Wilbur with a whole fresh pail of the best slops ever! Not the best analogy, but you get the idea.

I would expect that the way I'm doing it is rare -- I am at his house since his widow and I are good friends. The libraries of the big luminaries like Hemingway or Fitzgerald etc. I think are preserved and collected somewhere and probably an employed librarian did the work. I am a librarian, btw, not that that means anything!

The big thing is that at least 10-20% of the books are in one stage or another of early decompositon -- he had a lot of v. early SF and loved them so they are quite wrecked. So my feeling is, it will be ok to let those books go once there is a record of his having had them in his collection. He threw away any book he didn't like (or wrote these wild scribbles of protest and scorn in them) so most of what's here he used for reference or inspiration or fun.

I don't know if he was 'good' enough for this much fuss (I think he was, so really, I don't care!) but I adored him and he was a person who was simply always there for me, as a writer and just as a person. And I think my husband might have married me because he was my god-father! He loves SEL's stuff!

Peggy I would guess, from the bookshelf the Dunnett's were on that they were ****1/2's. I might go back and rate his books as best I can, with his widow's help. She knew his taste and obsessions pretty well. Probably this is all TMI!

22: No, not TMI! I never heard of him, which isn't surprising, but now I'm intrigued.

(or wrote these wild scribbles of protest and scorn in them)
Which you're photographing, or something?

Oh that's really interesting. Thanks!

Q -- I'm writing them out as much as I can stand in the comments area -- when there are too many I give the page #'s and/or the gist, unless it's book I'm sure we have to chuck. I should photograph a few of them, that's a good idea.

And thank you Linda -- It helps that I decided that one month of NYers=1 book!

I should photograph a few of them, that's a good idea.

Yeah, for the handwriting, and a sense of how the comments are arranged around the printed text. Especially since writing in books evokes visceral reactions. Is it words only?

It helps that I decided that one month of NYers=1 book!

Sensible. I've been noting them in my thread, but not counting them. I'm aiming for 60 books this year. Could hit 75 if I counted the magazines. Tempting. But there are standard features in the NYer that I never read.

OOh! Photographs of the writing - that's a wonderful idea! Technology, even simple technology, is way beyond my easy acceptance, so I never think of doing such an obvious thing.

It's fascinating reading about your godfather's legacy library - what a great project.

I didn't confess on the other thread but I will now. I abandoned the Robin Lane fox book I was reading last year. It too was too dense! It was The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome. One day I will try again...but not this year.

It's fascinating hearing about your godfather's legacy library Lucy, not TMI at all.

Yes, your cataloging project really does sound fun, and obviously a real labor of love for you. Enjoy!

With the availability of digital cameras, it makes all the sense in the world to document his marginalia, especially if you're going to toss damaged books. You could put those images into a PDF document or something and then add that to his papers.

What an amazing project, I'd love to read some of his comments in the books he didn't like - wild scribbles of protest and scorn sounds great fun!

You know, I have Hiero's Journey sitting here on a shelf. Do I re-read it (last read in the 1970s) or not? What if I don't like it this time around and have to face you? :-)

The Hiero books are too much their quirky selves for me to be offended, if you don't like HJ anymore. SEL was a man of contradictions and the story can range from the sublime to the ridiculous from one page to the next. I've reread them now many times and weirdly I like them better and better every time I read them - the goofy aspects are balanced by the serious parts and descriptive parts and an overall energy or verve. It's important, though, at all times to take heed of the subtitle "A Romance of the Future" Literal-minded, it is not! His main dictum to me was always, "If you're not having fun writing it, don't!" And I can tell he followed his own advice. On the other hand, the Brigadier Ffellowes fantasy stories are truly superb exemplars of the 'fabulous' tale genre.

Hi Lucy, I'm fascinated by the work you're doing on the SEL Legacy Library. Although I'm not familiar with him, I've read through the comments on his books and can see that what you're doing is a labor of love. Thanks for giving us a look into another aspect of LT. Good luck with the rest of your work.

That's really interesting Lucy and I can tell by your enthusiasm that it's a project you love and will do a terrific job with. It's great to think you'll make an important contribution to the memory of someone so important to you.

What a fascinating research project!! I've been tempted to embark on a legacy library for William Hazlitt, an overlooked genius, IMO, but the task is daunting as he's been dead for 200 plus years. (There are also scholars eminently more qualified to undertake the job...) But I love the idea of being able to nip over and look at see what someone was reading; whether they read A or B while writing C, etc. Marginalia would make that even more fascinating, I think!!

ETA: That said, would any of us be curious about a Barbara Cartland legacy library??? I'd wonder whether she had serious history books in there, or just a lot of romances...

I was just reading a piece in the NYer (mid-Aug) reviewing some new bios of Wilde that had a bit about Doyle and Wilde meeting and admiring one another and a suggestion that a bit of the flamboyance of Holmes may have originated from Wilde's effect on Doyle (as a personality) -- and that a bit of the Doyle manner of writing (procedural flavor) turns up in Dorian -- all after this meeting. It's just the sort of thing that knowing what someone was reading and responding to does reveal information about them.

One could almost recreate what Boswell read (speaking of Hazlitt...... um.... a bit indirectly) from a close reading of his journals since he left NOTHING out. (I was a Boswell NUT for awhile, heaven knows why!) It would be better than nothing. The Hazlitt idea is excellent though. I don't think putting in an LT Legacy library necessarily involves scholarship so much as patience. On the theory of something is better than nothing (usually) even a listing of the books would be a decent reference tool - sans marginalia or any juicy tidbits, I mean. I'm not sure how these libraries work, but I think more than one person can be working on it too -

Heavens, just think about Hazlitt's circle... He met the elder generation of Romantic poets when he was still a boy; the younger generation (including Keats) were part of his world, as were Charles Lamb and pretty much anyone who was anyone on London's literary and dramatic scene. Not that he was a celeb or financially successful or anything, but he was really an overlooked part of what went on. Which is why it would be fascinating to know what he was reading -- even the source of some of those books.

You know, I don't think I've ever read a single one of Hazlitt's essays even though I profess to be a great fan of that form. Obviously I have to do something about that! He sounds like a very very interesting person. I didn't see anything about a journal, which is too bad, but I'll have to scope around. Maybe there are also letters - you might be able to make a partial library that way. I see there is also a Hazlitt Society. Likely someone has written about what he read?

Tried to edit the above, LT will have none of it for the nonce. I only came back to say that I finished up my ever so exciting September summary up there in comment #2.

27 degrees F. this a.m. I put up a 'frost' photo on my profile page. The trees have turned more than they look to be in that photo. The light was too intense to show the color.

So far behind, but here I am and you are starred! :)

Frost already! Brrrrrrrrrrrr.

It's only 48 F now -- but by the end of the week it will warm up to day 70's and night low 50's, so winter isn't quite here yet, just making itself felt.

We're pleasantly seasonal now, but are supposed to be back in the 80s by Sunday.... (admittedly, low 80s, but still!)

Stopping by to say hi! Frost already! Oh my! I'm still in one layer - like a sweater when I'm outside and oh it's muggy and damp lately! But frost already! I think we are in the low 60's F/high50's - but we use Celsius - so I'm not certain.

YAY! frost on the cove this am! Life is good....

Hey, Lucy! I misplaced you for a while. Sounds like you've been up to interesting things - as usual. What a fascinating project. I did not realize that FL was so hard on books. Another reason for me to stay well away from that place. Am so looking forward to frost around these parts. We were getting close and then this dang leftover hot weather moved in. Can't wait for it to move out. It is messing with my soup-making plans.

I know what you mean -- I'm back in VT and during the cold spell I rearranged our furniture into the 'winter' mode and then, bingo! Plus I'd been planning to make shepherd's pie for Sat. night, well, forget it!

I've been muddling around in our own books again now that I am back home and picked up an old Elizabeth Goudge I am quite sure I never read. About Oxford Towers in the Mist early 1600's -- it's very 'soft focus' which used to soothe me, and I wondered what I would think of it now, tough old boot that I've become. What I still love is all the marvelous vocabulary -- and interestingly, reading the Mantel has enough enriched my imagination about such people as Cardinal Wolsey to enjoy hearing from a different perspective of the great beauty of Cardinal College and the effect of the 'New Learning' (Greek etc) on learning in general. Great lit, it is not, soothing, it still is. Sweet but not saccharine, and a very nice antidote to some of the darker and denser books I'm reading (or not reading, as the case may be, I have an awful lot of those hanging around my neck, albatross books).

I remember this novel! And yes, that's a very apt description of Goudge, generally. One of her books that I should re-read is Child from the Sea, which I recall as being a bleak but decent biographical novel about Lucy Walters, the mother of Charles II's eldest illegitimate child. That child went on to become the Duke of Monmouth, a critical figure in Restoration society, and when Charles died without legitimate heirs and the throne went to James II, his Catholic brother, protestant Monmouth decided he should challenge James... The Stuarts really were bears of very little brain. Just think of it: James I, who had his male favorites and was terrified of assassins and wore padded jerkins; Charles I, another terrified boy who became king, and couldn't adapt; his arrogance cost him his head; Charles II, who learned the lessons of his father but "never said a foolish thing nor ever did a wise one"; James II, who combined the worst of all his predecessors; Mary, a cipher; Anne, who had HER favorites and allowed them to interfere in politics (eg the first Churchills, Sarah and her husband John). LOL, actually, the rest of them make James I look wise and sane... At least none of them were actually vicious.

Wow, what a digression...

An excellent digression! The Stuarts are even a bit creepy along with being bears of very little brain.

I think I avoided Goudge's more historically anchored books and stuck with the more 'purely' fictional, so I know I haven't read that one either..... sigh.......

>49 sibylline:: I'd been planning to make shepherd's pie for Sat. night, well, forget it!
I know what you mean, Lucy. This weekend I did my shopping with autumnal dishes in mind. I have a wonderful Vegetarian Curry Shepherd's Pie (sounds like an oxymoron, I know, but it's tasty), with sweet potatoes & parsnips and I'm making it today even though it's supposed to be 80° F. So there.

Glad you found something to balance all that other stuff you're getting through!
All this warming food is sounding good even with our higher temps right now.

Found and starred you again. Good luck with your legacy project.

Oh Lucy, Towers in the Mist was one of my favourites when I was aged about 10-12. I must have re-read it so many times. I recently picked up my old copy and noticed that it was an abridged edition - made me want to get hold of the full text and see what was left out. I can't imagine it was anything too violent or racy, since it's Elizabeth Goudge - probably it was just the length.

That book was the origin of my dream of going to study at Oxford (which I eventually achieved!) - from that very opening scene of the young chap who'd walked all the way there... It is certainly a romanticized dream she presents, but doesn't avoid all of the darker aspects of the religious and political events of the time.

And thinking of this again following my recent reading of C J Sansom's Sovereign, they both depict the upheaval and practical problems that arise from a Royal Progress, but the view of the sovereign in question is considerably more favourable in Goudge.

I confess, Genny, I am enjoying it hugely. How marvelous that Towers influenced your ambitions! Goudge's main influence on me came from The Little White Horse (which I must have read 1000 times) in that I love geraniums and heliotrope, always have them around me in the summer AND I named my first dog Periwinkle after the fat little pony. Slightly less elevated effects, but good ones!

Back to add that I am within spitting distance of finishing the listen to the Pirsig. It's been so much fun to refresh myself about it. More on that once I'm done, however.

Found you Lucy! I have nothing much to add to recent discussions, although I am thinking of having a dip into some historical fiction soon, so I shall follow with interest. Waves a cheery hello to all and then shuffles off again...

My first Goudge was also The Little White Horse, discovered in the school library in 6th grade. How I loved that book. Years later when they dissolved the school library, mom bought me that tattered copy with the maps on the end papers--and a few years ago, I discovered the same 1940s era edition in lovely condition in an antique shop, so gave my little sister the other. Of course, now it's been reprinted so is easy to find--but not with those maps!

Then I went on to read as much of her canon as I could acquire in the 70s.

We seem to have a good deal in common, Roni! I am guessing it would have been the school librarian (I adored her and worked at the library shelving.... in 5th and 6th grades) who would have shown Goudge to me. Another one I loved was Adam of the Road. Oh my!

I loved The LIttle White Horse too - read that one slightly younger but also re-read frequently. Like most of my childhood reading, these were bought for me by my Dad - the school library didn't have much in it. At the time I only knew of those two books of hers; in my 20s picked up a few more second-hand copies of her more contemporary novels, and earlier this year found The White Witch in the local library - it was great to delve into her writing again, very distinctive.

You know, LT is amazing! Three of us who loved that book, finding each other! It's a marvel.

For the moment, we are not reading much in common, but I wanted to stop by and say hi!

Lucy, my elementary school didn't have a school library (through 5th grade) but I also spent 5th and 6th grades shelving library books at the town library. Town of 1000, one room library, open three days a week. One librarian. I WAS the shelver for several years, and I loved it.

At around that age, maybe a bit older, I spent one summer shelving books at a "summer library" - one of the local grade schools kept its one room library open over the summer, as the town library was not within walking distance. I just turned up on the first day, expecting to take out some books, but wound up helping out. I came every day after that, all summer. Not sure if the librarian really appreciated it, as usually there was no one there and I'm sure she had work or reading of her own she would have liked to have done. On the other hand, maybe she loved that a kid was so keen.

I expect a large number of LTers were haunters of libraries..... I was lucky in that all the libraries that were available to me while I was growing up were staffed with very nice people who were happy to have a child/adolescent around who wanted to be there, wanted to help.

I finished the reread of the Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance). Such a moving and complicated book. He makes me think of John Cowper Powys -- another relentless intellect who refuses/d to knuckle under to the 'academic' version of things. I absorbed his message so deeply in the seventies that it is simply a part of me so it was almost eerie to hear (I listened to it) things being said that are a firm part of my way of approaching the world being discussed in this way -- the Greek refresher was good too! I gave it a ****1/2 -- the 1/2 off is for the basic style of writing which isn't, itself, inspiring. It's workmanlike and does what needs to be done and is appropriate to the book and yet.... there are also passages, esp. in the beginning about the bike trip that, listening anyway, seemed to go on too long. On the other hand, there were some dense passages where I rewound the tape about twenty times. No review as I would assume there are hundreds. If you are interested in a different way to see and approach the world around you and if you are willing to live in a universe with no fixed 'answers' - go for it! As far as the ideas in it go, it is not even slightly dated. It's a classic!

After looking at my 'currently reading' list this morning, I became disgusted with myself for how long some of them have languished here and sat down to finish the Gary Soto poems. Human Nature is a solid achievement. The poems are accessible, funny, wry and insightful about contemporary life, about being a Latino in the US, about being a poet in a country that has more respect for money than meaning, about falling apart when you know you should get your ..... together.

Here is one I particularly liked, especially as in this season on our daily walk my dog and I eat apples off the trees we pass by, he the windfalls, me the ones I can bat down with my walking stick.

True Story

In Berkeley, I walked in gloom,
As if I had eaten a bowl of ashes, with ash milk,
With a spoonful of sugary ash.
I walked until my body began to crumble,
And a Volkswagen beetle, a ragtop,
Chugged up the hill, also made of ash,
With daffodils in these homely yards of ash.

Like a prophet, the driver had long hair and a beard,
And his companion in the passenger seat
Was a dog eating an apple, turning it over in its teeth
To get all sides, the entire world of sweetness.
When the dog viewed me from the corners
Of his eyes, I couldn't help but touch my heart.
I was grateful that I lived in his consciousness,
Even these brief seconds, which, in dog time,
Is something like twenty minutes in human time.
The blink of his eyelashes blew away the ashes,
Blew away my gloom.

The Volkwagen popped black exhaust,
Rattled up the street. In my happiness,
I went home and lay on the couch, hands behind my head.
I ate an apple, rotating it to get all sides
By juggling it in my teeth,
And thought, yes, this is a dog's life devoured
To its core and three seeds.

Beautiful! Thank you for sharing. Wish list.

I always have an admiration for people who have an appreciation for poetry. I think all the English classes in HS totally butchered the experience for me.

Lovely poem, Lucy! Hmmm I never thought of a few brief seconds perhaps being 20 minutes in dog time. I do let my dog dwaddle when we walk because I read that walking for them is like reading the newspaper for us - they are picking all of the new information in the neighbourhood by sniffing around as they walk.

I've polished off the sequel Octavia Butler wrote to Parable of the Sower this one called Parable of the Talents. I can't recommend it though, it's flawed through and through. Instead of moving on to the 'real' future of Earthseed, the 'idea' of the young woman Lauren Olamina, in a very messed up not-so-far off future (jingoistic christian fanaticism, horrible drugs, a conservative turn that closes public schools, makes pay-as -you-go police) that what 'we' as human beings is uniting purpose -- something so difficult that it will keep us out of trouble with each other for millenia. The idea itself if marvelous to me, I love it, but the second book feels too much like the first, endless setbacks and losses -- all of which suddenly in the last 1/5 (or less?) of the book seem to fade away as the desperate atmosphere of the time period and mood in the country fades and returns to something less crazed and violent. I was also not convinced by the 'voice' of the main narrator, the daughter of Olamnia who is kidnapped and sent to be adopted by 'good' christian parents. She loathes her mother, loathes everything about her 'cult' and can't forgive her for not finding her -- it didn't ring true at all for me, seemed to contradict in fact everything Butler was moving towards -- as if she decided, as a writer, that this was the price Olamina HAD to pay for her vision. It wasn't that it was so impossible, but that within the context of this book it felt forced and overdone. As always with Butler if was very readable and absorbing as a story, from page to page. It just didn't take me anywhere I hadn't been in the first book. ***

I'm feeling relieved to have moved a couple of books off my 'currently reading' list that have been there a bit too long. I'm a third of the way through Robin Lane Fox's Pagans and Christians too, which feels like progress is being made.

Drive-by thread catching up, Lucy. Your project sounds wonderful! So does Sarasota, although I know you're home now. It's also fall in my part of the world; I want to hibernate.

I'm not home actually -- was at a music thing in New Brunwick NJ and am now in North Adams MA at a meeting.... I wish I was home though. I'm quite tired of being on the road. No matter how hard I try on a trip like this one, my things get more and more jumbled.

I have enjoyed listening to the T.C. Boyle The Women, however. What a MESS! Anyhow, I forgot my charger for my computer so have had to severely limit LT besides being a bit busy. Luckily the place where I am staying has a computer for guests.

#70 "...I do let my dog dwaddle when we walk because I read that walking for them is like reading the newspaper for us - they are picking all of the new information in the neighbourhood by sniffing around as they walk."
It's been a few years since I last had a dog to take for a walk, but I just LOVE this idea. I'll never look at a dog out for a walk the same way again!

Lucy, you probably know the answer to this one. My ma is reading Rebecca Shaw and has come across a character that two of the others refer to as Fitch (or Mr. Fitch) plc. So what is plc???? We'll be thrilled for insight.

Hi Lucy!
North Adams! That's where I was born. Haven't been there since I was 4! Wonder what it looks like?

When do you get home again? Hope it's soon :)

I think you'd find it a bit strange, Claudia -- it's been 'tidied up' - mostly - it's got a bit of that disconnect between haves and have-nots, but the outer persona, so to speak, is squeaky clean. MassMoca in that huge mill -- the really huge one on the left just as you come into town from the West -- is a wildly successful museum of contemporary art , and an arts college that I think is part of the state system that's been refurbished -- the Berkshires are hip as can be, as I'm sure you know, so that has all spilled over.

Back to add that two books I am reading are set in Oxford -- the Goudge (1600) and the Willis (near future and 1300's)! Odd coincidence, wot?

Thanks for the update, Lucy. That sounds like a big change. I should drive thru sometime to take a look-see.

I will soon be reading a Goudge, also. I picked up The Scent of Water at the library. Touchstones spinning and spinning... well, you probably know which one I mean.

Happy Trails!

The Scent of Water? That's one of my favorites, along with The Rosemary Tree!

Lucy, you're reading Doomsday Book??? It is a great favorite!!! Barbara over in the VMC group just finished it and loved it too. *happy dance*

The school in North Adams, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, (MCLA) is, indeed part of the state system and just happens to be where the eldest of the Kitten kittens is currently studying. If you happen to find yourself in the area, the Porches is a lovely small inn, right across the street from Mass MOCA. There's a very handsome resident cat.

That's where I stayed!!!!! And I met Sabine, the greeter!

#82 & #83 - such a small world, isn't it.

I've missed seeing your around the threads lately. Hope all is A-OK.

All is fine, I'm just having an intense music month..... things should get back to 'normal' (whatever that is) this week!

Here to report that I finished Connie Willis's The Doomsday Book. WOW! What a GREAT story! In not-too-far off future time travel can happen (marvelously done with dabs and flourishes of detail wrapped in the utmost vagueness technologically speaking....) I get the impression you can't go forward in time, only back, and only to times and places where you aren't going to mess up a big event...anything that has happened can't be changed so the time 'machine' won't even let you near it. ANYWAY Kivrin goes to 1320 only it turns out not to be 1320 at all, but.... well, I can't tell you because then I'd give it away. What makes it work is the intensely close focus on how it MIGHT REALLY BE. Heroic Mr. Dunworthy back in contemporary Oxford, tries to rescue Kivrin, against terrible odds. Sure, most of the characters have a predictable Dickensian charm, young Colin with his gobstopper, little Agnes back in the 1300's with her little cart toy that she loves and her irrepressible naughtiness.... but they are charming and funny characters and you enjoy their predictability, either wonderful or awful. A wonderful story, compelling and, towards the end, very very gritty but in that fully imagined and necessary way -- I've given it a five because it goes way beyond what it had to, fully realized, fully there . *****

I've begun the second McMullen because that is what I had in my bag. I'm halfway through The Women (audio version) about Frank Lloyd Wright -- had to stop for a bit because his second wife Miriam is just so unbearable, the whole relationship a train wreck from the start. But I'll get through eventually -- I've been on several road trips lately and listening to it hour after hour became a grind because Miriam is just so hateful. Total borderline personality case. I'll finish up the Goudge somewhere along the line and then I hope to get to some NYers and back to Pagans and Christians which I've quite abandoned these last two weeks.......

87: I loved Doomsday Book, read it... last year? Then this year I read Blackout / All Clear (one story split into two books), similar setup with the time machine, and Mr Dunworthy and an older Colin. I was a bit more irritated by the sitcom-ish aspects, and WWII is not as compelling as the plague, but it too is a pageturner.

I've made progress w/ NYers and Scientific American, but have not yet officially documented.

#87 Wow was my reaction to that one too :-) Glad you enjoyed it.

I was due for a page-turner too, so very good timing. So I've picked up Out Stealing Horses and I've finished up the Elizabeth Goudge. I enjoyed it, of course, but the contrast between Goudge's lyrical Oxford and Willis' Oxford, past and present, gave the read a slightly too soft-focus spin. Her descriptions of nature, though, as always were intoxicating.

I really, really must get round to reading Doomsday Book. Glad you enjoyed it so much. I didn't recognise the title of the Goudge but when I looked it up, realised I have read that one. I imagine it would have been a little too gentle in comparison to the Willis - but as you say, her writing on the natural world has its own real power and vividness.

I'm adding that one to my wishlist! Great review. Thanks Lucy. :)

Doomsday Book now on my WL. Cannot ignore "WOW" and 5 stars from you, Lucy! And I so love time travel...
YAY! and DRAT! I have no self control... ;-)

So I'm working at our local library weeding the fiction section and for some reason I brought home this book, The Monk Downstairs by Tim Farrington -- I liked the idea of it, it's about a newly de-consecrated monk (sorry, I have no idea how else to describe it) living downstairs from a single mother, so I opened it and started reading and was sucked right in. So much of what I'm reading right now requires me to pay close attention, not that this won't but, much less demanding of me, for sure.

Apologies Claudia, to adding another book to your shelves, but you won't regret it and I bet it won't stay there for very long.

SNOWFLAKES, we has 'em.

I remember reading and enjoying The Monk Downstairs years ago. I tried the sequel recently (can't remember the title at the moment) but I couldn't get into it.

Ooh, snow! Hope you're happy about it.

Snowflakes? You can keeps 'em.

Do go on and read the other two Connie Willis books -- Blackout and All Clear. There's another one that involves the Victorian era and the Blitz that actually gave me a migraine trying to figure out all the hypotheticals, counterfactuals and contingencies.

ETA: Found The Monk Downstairs is a Kindle lendable book at my library, so 10 mins after reading about it, it's reposing on my Kindle... *grin*

oooh! I love Kindles and snow! :D

Are you a Dorothy Sayers fan, Lucy? Or have you read Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog? If you are, your enjoyment of Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog will magnify threefold. It is a delicious farce that mirrors the conventions of Victorian literature, especially the above book, with the antics of the time travel team.

I think I need to reread the Jerome before reading the Willis, just to make it more fun.-- I read it ages and ages ago -- one of my uncles suggested it along with several other very funny books like Stern's The Ugly Dachsund.

I've read a good bit of Sayers, but long long ago -- mysteries are one area I haven't read widely in since I was in my twenties, no good reason!

Ooh, snow!

Snow already!

mysteries are one area I haven't read widely in since I was in my twenties, no good reason! With all the discussion and recommendations for mysteries in this group, you've shown remarkable determination to resist them!

The Monk Downstairs--thanks for the recommendation, Lucy. I'm getting to one of my New Year's resolutions early. I intend to become a library patron again instead of buying books that I probably will read only once. This book seems like as good as any to start with. I'm really horrible about getting books back to the library on time, yet when I was 10 years old I had no problem doing that. See, you're a great influence. {grin}

Snow? We're still playing baseball here. Whoot!

Hi Lucy! Hope your snow did not need pushing around! More snow coming tomorrow. ;-)
Is Evan lovin' it?

Becky - I love your NY resolution so much, I am considering adopting it myself. You hit the nail on the head though - hard to get the books read and back on time. I would have to limit the books I take out at once... maybe that would do it.

The snow's only on the mountaintops, but they are predicting a real snowstorm this weekend, could be six inches!!! This means I have to have to have to finish up this garage project so I can put the car in. I got spoiled last year -- I've never had a garage before and I love it!

One way to make sure you go to yr. library a lot is to volunteer to do things -- like shelve or check the book order..... yesterday in my weeding project I found a non-fiction book about the Iraq war in the fiction section and also a Charles De Lint under Lint instead of De. These are thrilling moments, indeed! Anyway, it really gets you into the collection.

I can't say I'd recommend the monk book, just that it is a certain kind of intelligent light read, chick lit plus, that sometimes is a relief. Like a very good lemon cookie at tea time? The Pettersen, for ex., is a serious book -- full of sadness, Pagans and Christians is a cement block, and the McMullen, while fun, is fast-paced and you do have to pay attention.....

I've started going to the library myself recently. NYC makes it so easy to reserve the books you want and renew your borrows if necessary. But it would be so much better if there were a library in walking distance of work. Downtown NYC is a book desert at the moment: the Strand had to abandon its satellite store because of a huge rent increase, and Borders is gone, of course. Sniff.

I've been lucky -- working in or living near libraries usually within walking distance, all my adult life! Our little library here was truly humble when I first moved here, and in the 80's I worked hard to help it 'grow' -- now it is in a lovely building with a decent collection -- very satisfying indeed!

This talk of libraries has just reminded me that I have a reserved book to collect by 5pm today, else it gets sent back and I've wasted 50p. I'd better hop on my bike and get there quickly!

I can't believe it's snowing in some places already!! The first snowfall is always wonderful, but it's when all that stuff starts freezing and melting that it gets nasty...
Keeping our fingers crossed that we don't get snow at least until closer to December.

I could happily live with never seeing snow again but, unfortunately, I'm not sure I could happily live anywhere but where I do. And we do get snow here on the sandbar, despite what real estate agents may say. Not like Lucy gets it, of course. Few do.
Ah, shelving and shelf-reading! It's probably an indication of how deep this mania is that I find the very thought so intoxicating.

People who move to northern VT should not be shocked by snow in October. :-) But it's planning to snow in southeastern PA tomorrow! 4-8 inches they say. This is wrong. I still have flowers in the yard.

I became a library member again almost exactly a year ago, and with the Internet to put book holds and "summon" them to the library across the street, and to renew the books you have out, it's been great. True, I sometimes have to wait longer than I'd like for some books, but then there are some things on my Kindle that I decided I HAD to have NOW, and that then ended up not being read for months, so... My only gripe is that sometimes there are books that inexplicably they don't get, and they aren't good at doing purchase requests unless a lot of patrons are requesting the same book. My mini-gripe is that the tiny library branch literally across the street from me is closed for some work until after Thanksgiving, so it's a schlep (read: 30 mins of subway and walking each way) to get to the main branch. Oh yeah, and I can only have 10 holds on at any time....

To my extreme sorrow, I find that the library system here has adopted e-books in only a very tepid way. My towns library belongs to a group of about 10 small libraries, and they all share the same e-book catalog. The website says that *in the future* they are planning on changing to a system of unlimited copies for each e-book, but for now those 10 libraries all share one (sometimes two) copies of an e-book. So as I look down the list of books available to download on my Kindle, almost all of them have waiting lists. This is nuts! Plus it almost instantly shoots me right back into my regular *annoyance* mode when I start dealing with the public library. (Apostrophe key not working this morning. Sigh.) Denver, where I grew up, had/has a really wonderful library system; the St. Louis area, not so much.

When I first moved to Vermont I was stunned by the state of most public libraries -- I was so spoiled by Massachusetts where I had been working as a librarian because the state has has such a powerful mandate for public education that it was about twenty (or more) years ahead. No one in Vermont was against public libraries, but there wasn't that groundswell of support sort of built into the state psyche, or whatever, so it was really really up to each village and town to 'prove' they really meant it -- the state wouldn't even give you money until you built up the library hours to around twenty or so per week. The first five years I was on the board we put almost all our energy into simply being OPEN! Which was a bit silly because the collection was so peculiar and the budget was about 300 dollars! But bit by bit we've gotten it together - various people adopting a piece of what needed to happen and just doing it -- one woman was determined that the library would end up in the old Baptist church -- so she set up a historical society to save it first, and then, when finally the moment came, the board voted to sell it to the town for one dollar to be the library. A huge accomplishment which took about twenty-five years to realize. It was never a sure thing though. Now, with this great space and two computers anyone can use, and all the services a good little library can offer, even some of the more skeptical folks have come around. We're about to (finally) go on a statewide computerized catalog, thus the massive weeding since every book will cost us 3 cents to put in!

And now you all know much more than you ever dreamed of!

So far, no snow here - this huge storm might pass us by, sticking to the coast! But at least my garage job is just about done!! Nothing like a big scare. Although all of you who might get hammered, get out your scrapers!

TK -- It is most peculiar and marvelous indeed -- if I am moping about and go to the library and start weeding or shelf-reading I just -- perk right up -- to the point of chattering and being a little bit manic in fact. Books are like an anti-depressant to me! An hour of shelf-reading a day, keeps the doctor away?

Q - I love snow actually, but once it has fallen and stuck, whatever you didn't put away is going to be there until it re-emerges in the spring thaw. Last year, once it started to snow, late in Nov. it never went away, not one thaw and it got to be over four feet deep.....so we're all a little frostbit from that. It's twice has hard to deal with just about everything outdoors with snow, cold, ice around, that's my main gripe. Probably it will snow one foot this year and that will be it, after all the stuff we've done! We had to change our driveway even because the plow couldn't get around it and there wasn't anywhere to put the massive amounts of it that fell.

I found your commentary on the Vermont library very interesting. I don't think I've ever been to a public library housed in an old church. When I get to New England next time, I will have to try to find it! I actually was supposed to go with our church choir to northern Vermont in the summer of 2010, but we had to cancel our trip for reasons with which I won't bore you.

That would be so lovely! My little town is in the Green Mountains, just a bit south and east of Burlington (which is on Lake Champlain - which you probably know). The library in Richmond, which is the slightly bigger town near us is also in a deconsecrated church. They made different choices - so seeing both would be quite interesting. Richmond also has a round church -- it's very very special, simply a brilliant building inside and out, so they are all worth visiting. I think there are quite a few church-to-library conversions.

113 almost all of them have waiting lists. This is nuts! Plus it almost instantly shoots me right back into my regular *annoyance* mode when I start dealing with the public library.
Not happy with the level of the free services your public library system is able to provide? Lobby your elected officials to put back some of the library funding they've slashed (from what I hear, the slashing is going on everywhere) and get your friends to write, too. While you're at it, make a donation if you're able.

I can't speak to other places, but in our corner of Pennsylvania, with shrinking state funding (at around year-2000-levels now) and relatively flat donation rates, our library system has added a searchable online catalog; patron computer stations with high-speed internet and a reasonable selection of software (all of which require constant upgrade and repair and thus the contracting of a tech person); limited e-books courtesy of the District Library (yes, limited to a copy or two of each title for a 2-county area, but money for these things doesn't grow on trees); and even WIFI. We offer our patrons free inter-library loan service (fortunately, the District Library supports the mailing costs). During the past decade, we've also been slowly changing over our hard-copy audiobook collection from cassette to CD and our videos from VHS to DVD, and significantly adding to our Large Print collection, as well as trying to keep up our regular print collections. Not to mention our genealogical resources, which are first-rate.

In the meantime, we've kept up to the state Standards: minimum weekly hours (35, I think,) which we surpass; and minimum levels of book acquisitions (and I don't think the e-books count toward that). There are other standards we have to meet, too. These state standards have remained steady even as funding has been cut.

What other business or institution can say they've done so much with so little?

Most of us at our little library work part-time at or near the minimum wage with no benefits (I assume the director makes more money, but she'll never get rich here) and most of us willingly DONATE additional hours of volunteer time. Most patrons are quite appreciative of the FREE services we provide, but some people come in and are annoyed because we don't have this or that book or, (horrors!), they have to WAIT a few weeks for a title they want. Hey, I have to wait, too! In fact, I usually wait till the patron demand dies down somewhat before I even put my name on the list.

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Rant over. I've really been in an argumentative mood lately!

Loved your review of The Doomsday Book, Lucy. That' s another on the "need to read" list. Wonderful discussion here on public libraries. Kudos to you for the role you've played in keeping your local library open and thriving!

Let me add my praise to you, Lucy. Your library sounds like a real success story! And I'm fascinated by the fact that it's in an old church. I bet it's pretty! I think Vermont is such a beautiful state. Maybe I'll get up there again and see your library sometime.

Great discussion here. Terri, your rant is much appreciated. The public library in the Pennsylvania town where I grew up was recently threatened with eviction - by the town, no less - from the ancient building they've been in for as long as anyone can remember. Not that the town had any other use for the building, they just didn't want the library there anymore. Fortunately, the people of the town came out to support the library so they seem to be safe for now.

Wow, TomKitten, that's appalling... There does seem to be an anti-library sentiment abroad in part of the country; it's one of the ugliest forms of elitism, since it involves cutting access to library services and books by those who are most in need of them (i.e., those who can't afford Internet at home, book buying expeditions to Barnes & Noble or Amazon.) Those who can, meanwhile, proclaim they don't need the library and don't want their tax $$ to support it...

That said, I do find that even the Brooklyn library, with scores of branches and a massive Art Deco building right by Prospect Park, keeps a lot of titles in storage and doesn't have more than a copy or two of the Kindle/e-book titles I want to read. I'm on hold for four of them right now.

Lucy, I thought I asked you to keep your snow to yourself??? Woke up a short while ago to the sound of snow shovels -- and an inch of slushy white stuff on the ground. GAHHHHHH.

The way a library handles e-books is usually controlled by the publisher. Naturally, the publisher wants to make as much as possible from its books. Where libraries used to buy, say, 5 copies of a popular book, they could technically buy one copy as an e-book, but then the publisher feels cheated.

There seem to be two modes of purchase. One sets how many readers may simultaneously borrow the e-book. The other sets how many hours of borrowing are included in the library purchase. The second is more flexible, and my sister the university librarian much prefers that, since popular books can always be 'purchased' again if the time is used up all at once. So please don't be angry with your library - whichever they choose, you may have to wait for something that is technically available.

Apostrophe key on my laptop still not fixed. Its evidently not just a sticky key. Its as if my laptop forgot how to do apostrophes, and I can barely tolerate this. Seriously.

>117 tymfos:. While you're at it, make a donation if you're able.

Well, while Im at it, waiting for my library to catch up with the technology of the 21st century, I actually do make donations to my town library. What they do with the money, Im not sure, because they never really give patrons here any meaningful information about their budget. So far this year Ive donated about 500 books to their book fair fundraiser, and in 2012 I will probably donate about 1,000 more.

Maybe librarians should use their rescources, like the library website, to communicate more effectively with patrons--like explaining why there is only one e-book copy available of these popular titles, to be shared with a group of ten libraries. Then perhaps patrons like myself, intelligent consumers of the library, would have more patience with what seems on the surface to be nonsensical.

Not happy with the level of the free services your public library system is able to provide?

And by the way, these are not *free* services. They are services paid for by taxpayers--which would be me.

Sorry for the rant. Im pretty much always in an argumentative mood--ask Lucy, she knows.

And P.S. Im about as politically active as anyone on this list, so I dont need a lecture on political activism. Maybe this is harsh, but the rant just isnt particularly productive in this case. Im a patron who is frustrated with the level and quality of service at my public library. I seriously dont need a lecture--but this is typical, unfortunately, of what is dished out to people who want to use the services paid for by their tax dollars. I think public employees sometimes forget who it is who pays their salaries.

123 I'm glad to hear that you donate to your library, both financially and with books for the fund raiser. That is quite helpful.

these are not *free* services. They are services paid for by taxpayers

I can't say I know how your library system works, but the services of our library actually get very little taxpayer support, though some patrons seem to think otherwise. (And this is true of many libraries nationwide.) We are a non-profit organization. As far as I know, there is no local subsidy from the borough at all; a subsidy which is only a tiny fraction of the budget from the county; a similar contribution from the local school system. The main tax money is the state subsidy, but that has shrunk pitfully while all expenses have skyrocketed. Per capita, it doesn't begin to pay for the cost or value of services a typical library user receives, let alone providing for general overhead and staffing. We depend on donations and fundraisers to keep the place up and running and do our best to get grants for system and program improvements.

Webster Groves Library tax levy was on the February 3, 2009 ballot as Proposition L in St. Louis County for voters in the city of Webster Grove.

Proposition L was approved by voters, with more than 60% voting in favor of the measure.1

The ballot measure asked voters to approve a tax increase that would be used to fund a $6.5 million renovation and expansion of the Webster Groves library.2

The ballot measure will:
Double the library tax rate for assessed property value; bringing the tax rate to 27 cents per $100 of assessed value up from the current rate of 13.5 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Under the proposed tax, the owner of a $200,000 home would pay an additional $51.30 a year, or $4.27 per month.

Of the library's additional 13.5 cent tax, nine cents would be used to generate tax revenue bonds to help pay for the expansion and renovations, 2.5 cents would go toward staff salary and training, 1.5 cents would be used to purchase additional library materials and the remaining half cent would fund building maintenance and technology improvements.

Boy, I wish they'd do something like that here!

We've been trying to get a tiny, tiny dedicated library tax passed; always voted down. I can't imagine support like that!

I guess you do have reason to expect more!

But, still, $51.30 a year doesn't begin to cover the cost and value of services an active library user recveives.

Im happy to pay the additional tax for the library. I just wish they would be more forthcoming about how the money is being spent.

That's fair.

Well, thats an *additional* $51.30 a year, added to what we are already paying.

I think we've taken over Lucy's thread with this debate long enough. It's getting nasty (just saw the added PS on message 123 -) and I don't need the hassle. I've volunteered enough time over the years to libraries, without getting into fights defending them from home on the weekend. I'm sorry you don't like my opinion, but I have a right to it, as you have a right to yours. I really didn't think I'd said anything that controversial, encouraging people to lobby for and donate to libraries and explaining the difficulties they face.

I'm glad I help out at a library where, for the most part, the patrons greatly appreciate us and how much service we cheerfully provide despite hardships. We consistently get extremely high ratings on patron satisfactory surveys, despite how we have to scrimp and make do. Of course, there are always areas where we can improve service, and we strive to do so.

My apologies to Lucy for hijacking the thread with my comments.

Maybe we should just get back to discussing books and snow now? Please?

ETA to clarify, respond to edit of another post, and add apology

I've been running around all day and returned to find this animated discussion! My thread has been sort of quiet of late, so I couldn't believe it when I saw so many comments. Anyhow, I enjoyed reading all of them. Perhaps it is best to have the discussion move elsewhere, although I was so busy today I've barely read anything and it turns out the snow is staying coastal, we might not even get a flake, so I can't say much about books or snow. Although probably we will get an inch or two.

I apologize as well. Enough said.

The Monk Downstairs, Tim Farrington. I want to be generous so I will be, but I probably should be harsher, except that I think this is a 'comfort' book, and they have their place in the literary hierarchy. It's a romance, it has a definite Christian edge, some fairly predictable things happen, it goes on a bit in the philosophizing department, but for all that, it has value. The monk has had an epiphany that he has hidden from the world in an egocentric way putting all his faith in prayer and meditation and Rebecca, his landlady, is in something of an opposite situation. It's a little neat and tidy, to be sure. I've been having a tough couple of weeks, just too many things all at once, so my more demanding books aren't helping me go to sleep or relax and this one did both. Of its kind, it's good enough, I'm saying. In terms of contemporary observations it had some terrific moments and insights: "The new animation program they were using was the latest thing and Rebecca hadn't figured it out yet. She struggled with it into the evening, adrift in that special, almost psychotic frustration that came with computers."

As for the editing, ouch, and most distracting. The most egregious error is Rebecca's wedding gift from her mother: a set of Messenware ? Excuse me, make that Meissenware and I'll know what you're talking about...... ***

I can roll with usage changes better than most, but not this kind of error.

I'm eliminating a double posting of the message above.

Messenware/Meissenware type of errors drive me nuts, too!

133, 135: Some typos drive me nuts, but his one I would not have noticed.

Hi Lucy, thanks for pushing Doomsday Book way up the pile. You've made it sound very very good.

I certainly thought it was!

Finished up Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses - I'm not sure how this novel landed on my shelves, a gift, and for some reason I took my time getting around to it, expecting to find it to dour and grim (I did have a Norwegian lit fit awhile back so I have some cause for concern) and while it was a bit of that it was so much more; I became absorbed and eager to keep reading it. It's the story of a loss and the timing of grief and although I'm not entirely convinced by the idea that you choose when to feel pain, Pettersen convinced me that some people can and do. I'm guessing it is a big part yet of Norwegian culture. On the plus side, a joyful connection to nature and to observing it and to working with your hands is what sustains a person at such a time and Petterson also writes of this convincingly. I keep wanting to use these vague words like 'beautiful' and 'lovely' and 'spare' and 'unflinching' and maybe I just will. ****1/2

This sounds like a wonderful book, Lucy. I know what you mean about the Norwegian lit fit, although in the main I would say that I thoroughly enjoy Scandinavian lit, and I particularly like reading it in the dead of winter, since invariably the mood matches the weather. I see that our library has this book. I think I know whats going to happen with me and these library books. Im going to get the book from the library and love it and then end up buying it for my collection. Thats what I did last year when I listened to a library audio book--immediately went out and bought a print copy. Anywho, this one looks like a winner.

Hi Lucy,
Lots to contemplate on your thread, as always.
I love this "...that special, almost psychotic frustration that came with computers". Ah, how I can relate to that. Many's the time Photoshop has made me weep with thwarted ambitions.

The library debate is interesting, not least because public libraries in the UK are facing lots of pressure in light of local government budget cuts, illustrated (not so) nicely by the fact that my local library has just been knocked own. I knew nothing about plans to close it until about a week ago, and I was borrowing books from it not long before, so the fact that I walked past it yesterday and it was just a pile of rubble seemed obscenely hasty. Apparently the site has been sold to some coffee shop chain, because y'know, Britain just doesn't have enough of those yet. The main library in the city centre is just a short bus ride away still, but I think that the small local library was a vital part of the community, especially for our older residents that didn't necessarily want that extra hassle. There has been a petition going around, to try to put pressure on the council to name a site for a replacement library (apparently they did pledge to provide one, but have so far been very vague about it). It's enough to make you pretty cynical about their motivations though - when the old site is already just a pile of bricks, mere days after having its doors closed to the public. Darn bureaucrats - gah!

Also talking of libraries, the main one in town did come good for me, and I now have my copy of Doomsday Book . Of course, after you're ringing endorsment I just itching to get started, but I've got Blackout to finish first....

Bulldozed for a coffee shop! Oi.

Becky I think you are going to love Petterson.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I got my husband a Tana French from the library whilst I was there. In The Woods is the title. I have cautious approval to report so far ; )

Lucy, you do make Out Stealing Horses sound good. I read it a couple of years ago and didn't like it at all, can't remember why, but maybe I should try it again?

#141 - that is just terrible about the library. I was just in my local branch today, and reflected that, compared to so many stories here on LT, and considering that I live in a London borough which contains some of the country's most deprived areas (right next to more prosperous ones, as usual in London), I really am lucky in that library. Forget moving VHS to DVD - they are onto blu-ray now - they charge £1, really cheap, which raises some money for them. 50p for CD's. £1 for reservations, free transfers from other branches. Low-ish overdue fees. No other charges. Loads of free computers, some specifically set aside for kids, plus free wifi throughout. Audio and e-book downloads. A new genealogy service. Regular programs of all kinds. And I complain when books are missing on the shelf that the catalog says should be there. Sheesh, no more.

I did start a November thread, but I forgot to put my name on it.... ooops..... it has lots of question marks in it though, which should help: HERE

"almost" psychotic??? Oh, I've crossed that point swqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqa
As Jasper has, apparently -- he insisted on contributing his opinion on a stroll across the keyboard.

I think there are 2 categories of Scandinavian writing -- Scandi-crime and Scandi-angst. With Ibsen firmly in the latter.

Public libraries have, in my opinion, done a poor job of marketing/positioning themselves. Circulation continues to rise, but funding continues to fall, and most people do not see them as necessary to the community. If people want public libraries, I think we need to have a conversation about what they are for, and how to fund them. (I work in one, and we’re so busy trying to do more work with less money & staff that we can’t find time to discuss this amongst ourselves.) If people are interested in more conversation, rather than hijacking your thread, come visit me here on post 99.