What Else Are You Reading - Part VII

Continued from What Else - VI

I'm reading Jennifer Johnston's new novel, Shadowstory - she writes about people from the Anglo Irish gentry class, this is about a child trying to work out what's going on with various relatives including an uncle who has gone off to Cuba to help the Castro brothers (which suggests an early 1960s setting).

I read The Spy Who Came In from the Cold over the weekend. My son was reading excerpts for his Kumon work so I got interested and I was going to the library anyway... I'd seen the movie but maybe not the ending so that was a bit of a suprise. Though it's entirely the sort of book where both characters (but particularly the girl) have to die at the end.

>#3;
'The Spy Who Came In' sounds better than The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold which is the one I read. I found that one to be just rather okay but it was non-fiction and the author may simply not have been able to do as much research as he would have liked. Also I know that comparing the two is like the apples & oranges thing. And when it comes to espionage, is there anyone better than le' Carre?

I am enjoying The Night Watch tremendously.

Re: Sarah's Key. It was suggested to me by someone who sounds exactly like Linda's friend and then I found it the next day on audio and thought - Why not? I charged through it and found it quite compulsive and yet... Within hours I was thinking, 'Why didn't the parents DO something???' And then it began to dawn on me that normal parents WOULD have done something, or died trying, and that the plot was basically implausible. I liked the modern parts of the novel.

The Night Watch is one of my favorite books. Sarah's Key on the other hand, was just OK. I didn't really get the modern story and the WWII being tied together.

For some reason I cannot explain, I picked up The Radleys at the library recently, and now I'm reading it. (I thought Anne Rice had satisfied my vampire curiosity YEARS ago). It sure is moving right along. I'll be interested to see if it maintains my interest, or if I get irritated with it. The premise at least does not include teenage girls falling for the undead.

>7 laytonwoman3rd:: Funny, that book caught my eye recently and I have been trying to suppress the desire to buy it. (Too many unread books, not enough space or money.) I will be very interested to hear what you think about it.

A re-read of Wuthering Heights!

I am read Thomas Mann: Eros and Literature. I am not sure that Thomas was exactly nice to other people. I suspect he would have been nicer had he embraced his homosexuality as fully and as flagrantly as possible. A number of people in his family committed suicide. I fear the Mann's were restless spirits.

Restless Spirits - that should be the title of a nice cozy mystery novel that one of you could write for all of us for Christmas.

10: I read a group biography of several people including his brother Heinrich and Heinrich's lover/wife and he really wasn't very nice to them sometimes.

There was a Mann sister who committed suicide earlier, but a lot of the post 1933 suicides are among a community driven into exile by the Nazis. I've read several other books recently. including the third volume of Judith Kerr's autobiographical trilogy, A Small Person Far Away, which have made me think that in this dreadful period a lot of people prepared for the need to kill themselves, and then even living in apparent safety were vulnerable when things went wrong in their lives in exile.

>11 elkiedee:,

The Kerr book sounds interesting. I will have to take a look at it. I agree with you about the post-1933 suicides although I hadn't really thought about it until you brought it to my attention.

Judith Kerr's books are wonderful. She's thought of as a children's writer, and the Beyond the Hitler Time trilogy is thought of that way (her other books are picture books for young kids), but really, only When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is a kids' book - I would recommend all 3 to more mature readers.

The Other Way Round is about the war years when Anna and her German Jewish family are living in London (thank goodness they were able to move on from France long before Paris was occupied) and in A Small Person Far Away Anna is in her early 30s - she returns to Berlin where her mother is now living with a new partner (Anna/Judith's father had died) and she is very ill. It's set in 1956 because it seems there may be change in Hungary and then it's suppressed. The series grows up with Anna (based on the author) herself and the third book is really on some quite adult themes

I remember When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit very well from childhood and about five years ago I looked it up in the library and re-read it. Hadn't realized there were other books. I suspect the library didn't have them.

I was given When Hitler stole pink rabbit to read for my Brownie "Book Lover" badge by the tester! What an excellent choice it was. Stupidly, it was only recently that I realised the author of the Mog books was the same person! There was a lovely exhibition of her work and life at the Museum of Childhood this summer, so I got to see some of the original illustrations from her work, as well as some very early paintings she did as a schoolchild. You could also sit in a model kitchen with The tiger who came to tea!

I read The night circus this weekend and loved it. I've always been fond of magical realism and this book satisfied that part of my reading appetite. I loved the mysterious circus and all the characters associated with. All were very well-drawn, however small their role, and I could hardly put the book down, so immersed was I in their fates. The romance doesn't dominate either, although it is at the root of the story. I didn't think the book could be worthy of the publicity and hype it has generated, but it far exceeded my expectations.

I got an early review copy of The Night Circus and I count it as one of the best reads of 2011. I WANT to visit that circus!

I feel compelled to ask if anyone has read the Galaxy awarded More4 popular non-fiction book of the year: How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran (Ebury Press)? Should I read it?

I was pleased to see that the Galaxy new writer of the year: When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman (Headline Review). I liked this book very much.

I quite enjoyed How to be a Woman but I don't know anything about your tastes. It's a memoir of a well known journalist/columnist about her childhood and younger years, interspersed with rants on feminism of a personal is political flavour.

Thank you - I've ordered it from the library and will let you know how I go.....

I took part in the 100 Hour ReadaThing hosted by skittles and had a lovely looooooooong weekend of reading. With that I am well into The Arabian Nights: The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night by Sir Richard Burton I found that this book is better read in bits and so I read other books as well, including:
A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen, (this should really be a Virago)
The Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry,
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian,
I will Fight No More Forever by Merrill B Beal,
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, &
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. (I finished this one very late last evening, well after the event)
Not a dud in the bunch I am happy to say.

You got to read all weekend while I had to rake leaves with the Dreadlocked Boy who grumbles and fusses and is generally useless. Got to bed at ten, settling in with half a dozen books and several cats, and he calls me downstairs to deal with a massive spider in the sink. (Well massive by American standards; clearly he has never lived in Australia!) I put it outside and no doubt it will be back in by tomorrow. Anyway, I am listening to an Alexander McCall Smith on audio and reading a Tim Moore travel book both of which are suitably British and entertaining.

We had a massive spider in the house last night too. I was not a bit happy, and I'm afraid I made the man of the house kill it. I'm such a girl that way. I will try to shoo crickets, moths, and many other flighty things out a door or a window, but a spider that tries to move into my living space has forfeited its right to life unless it can outrun the Foot o' Death and slither under a baseboard or something. I suspect that this was one that had done just that a couple weeks ago. I just hope it didn't leave behind a wife and millions of kiddies.

I am reading a very old favorite author of mine whom I had forgotten all about. Dorothy Eden and the book is Winterwood. Do any of you remember Dorothy Eden? She wrote from the 1940s into the 1980s and wrote wonderful little gothic romances & novels. I am loving this this stress free return to her.

>23 laytonwoman3rd:: no love lost between me and spiders, either.

I don't mind spiders but I hate snakes. Willa Cather wrote some amazingly powerful scenes with snakes that I could barely read, in My Antonia and O pioneers. ( I gather she had a phobia too.)

Helen Walsh, Go To Sleep, a newish novel about a woman who has just had a baby - lots of cheerful subjects like postnatal depression and stuff!

>27 elkiedee:: just can't see that title without thinking of the other book with the expletive!

>23 laytonwoman3rd: and 25

Just look on spiders as nature's insecticide. Spider webs are fabulous for catching those insects one does not want. I am a spider lover.

I don't like spiders n snakes n that ain't what it takes to love me............like I wanna be loved by you!~!

I am reading Kate Grenville's Lilian's Story and absolutely hating it at this point. (20 pages in) Will give it the old pearl rule and if we aren't getting along any better by then she is getting the old heave-ho.........
Usually I finish every book I start but there must be some standards.
Or perhaps I am just in a very bad mood. Have had the grandkids all week after being used to only having 1 for a couple of hours 1 day a week this past year. I got spoiled and now I find that I am not enjoying the day-care duty any longer. I like the peace & quiet too much. I am a terrible nanny. :-(

I am not a spider or snake person either Belva, but all my life I have been unable to kill anything - hence vegetarianism off and on for years and very on the last 6. I thought, looking at this horrible thing the other night, well... it's getting cold and you want to be somewhere warm. One year, during a blizzard, we released an enormous spider into the garage.

But I can be mean to horrible authors and here's my Kate Grenville story. My sister-in-law's favorite author is Kate Grenville and she sent a copy of The Idea of Perfection to my sister who hated it but made nice noises. Then she sent me a copy and I read it and hated it and said so. In fact I hated it so much I threw it on the discard heap after 100 pages and, knowing me, I probably told her that as well. Result: Sister continued to enjoy a nice relationship with sister-in-law while I was cut from the e-mail list for several months.

PS - I think I actually sent The Idea of Perfection to Peg, didn't I Peg? And weren't you perverse enough to love it? Or say you loved it?

#30 I used to have such a crush on Jim Stafford...thanks for the memory!

Recently read Love in the Sun by Leo Walmsley, a wonderful book I think many here would love also. FleurFisher's review on the book page is spot on.

I really liked The Idea of Perfection.

#26 Oh dear, I have those on my TBR pile and I have a terrible fear of snakes. Perhaps I'll move them further down.

18: I loved How to be a Woman but have found Caitlin Moran fascinating for years. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it, Alex.

32: I loved The Idea of Perfection too but I seem to have a history of enjoying the books you hate, Barbara. I recommend you go through my library and make mental notes to avoid anything with four stars or more ;-)

I don't love spiders.

>#32;
Barbara; thank you so much for the validation. I love hearing someone else express an opinion that I am too hesitant to express myself. Makes me feel brave & strong. ;-)
Ha ha at the idea of our Peggy being perverse. Love this group!~! We are awesome & the bestest group on L.T.

>#33;
Linda, you are so more than welcome. He was kinda cute, wasn't he.?.

37: I got quite excited by a Freecycle post tonight, not because I wanted any floorboards but because the person giving them away was one caitlinmoran (lots of journalist and writer types living in the area a couple of miles away from me).

I have a reading opposite on LT too, although I have recently noticed some books we both like - I'm always surprised when that happens.

Yes Dee - truly out of step with the world on so many things including books and music, where I am equally quirky. I usually know within a page or two whether I will like a book. It's all about emotional engagement with me. And impatience. So many books, so little time. Next! Sometimes, though it's about taking against one of the characters. Like in South Riding - I hated her choice of man so much I lost respect for the lead character and, therefore, interest in the story. Ditto The Happy Foreigner. I thought the lead character was a thorough going bitch and I just couldn't get by that. I can't remember much about the Idea of Perfection but I do remember feeling very impatient with the heroine. There was something about her and a dog that upset me, but I can no longer remember what it was. Mostly though it was the location I hated - small town (as opposed to Australia).

Barbara, you fit to a T my husband's occasional sniggering comment to me: "Cuz we ALL know YOU got no *ucking patience!" love it

>36 CDVicarage:: I checked O pioneers and that has just a passing mention of a snake, nothing graphic. So do keep it on the tbr pile! My Antonia though . . . that has a short but powerful scene that had me shuddering. No way could I watch a movie rendition of it!

I've read and reviewed How to be a Woman recently - was a bit ambivalent about it ...

Rather appropriately, given that it's Remembrance Day today, I find myself reading William an Englishman by Cicely Hamilton. I'm not fond of either of the characters, but the book itself is really rather good.

#42 Thank you - I shall re-arrange my TBR pile accordingly!

Am reading a good ScandiCrime....Ashes to Dust...the tone reminds me of P D James...not sure why

Also started The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie...why it took me so long to get to this one..will remain a freaking mystery! It is "that good"

;-}

>46 jdthloue:: Glad to hear praise for Sweetness... I just picked up a copy at the charity shop, but was doubtful as to how convincing the British setting and characters are. I also don't read mysteries as a rule, but the premise of this one sounded good enough to overcome my doubts.

>32 romain: Ah, Barbara, I'm only a bit distasteful, not actually perverse. I liked The Idea of Perfection a lot but didn't absolutely love it. I still remember being irritated to my last nerve by her excessive use of italics - often - on every single page. So I think it's O.K. for us to be friends, and I do still appreciate the book!
And just to be on topic, I'm still reading (and will be still reading all through the month, it appears) The Path to Power, the first volume of the Robert Caro bio of LBJ: mesmerizing and appalling! and Old Filth: just mesmerizing.

Like Peggy, I liked The Idea of Perfection but did not love it. I enjoyed Kate Grenville's The Secret River much more.

I am just finishing my McCall Smith on audio and have an audio of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie to start - probably tomorrow. I hope to enjoy it, but one never knows :) The McCall Smith was silly but pleasantly so.

I just last evening began The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy; book 1 of his L.A. Quartet which I had ordered on a rec from someone here. I don't normally read this type of book but am enjoying it so far. I just needed something different.

(Barbara, do not tell me to shut up again or I will come back there and kick some butt)

>51 rainpebble:

I love James Ellroy's Work

next time, try L A Confidential

;-}

Judith; L.A. Confidential is the third one in his L.A. Quartet and I have it at the ready. Thank you for the rec.

>32 romain:: Barbara, I can identify with what you say about emotional engagement and also impatience with books. Sometimes I get irritated with one small aspect of a book and that ends up ruining the whole book for me. I'm reluctant to admit it but the only novel of Dorothy Whipple's that I've read (The Priory) annoyed me profoundly. It was because the women who were originally with the men that the two sisters ended up with, were portrayed as two dimensional, hard-faced and hard-hearted bitches so that the sisters pinching their men was seen as no more than they deserved. It seemed psychologically immature, somehow!

Just started a re-read of one of my all-time favourite novels, Miss Hargreaves. I think this is for the sixth time of reading...

Soup - Which is why Whipple didn't make the cut with the Virago Press? She's really only one step up from a romance book sometimes. That having been said I love the Whipples I've read. (Haven't got to The Priory yet though).

I think I finally remembered what it was about the dog in The Idea of Perfection. The dog was in distress but she didn't want another burden in her life? Something like that, wasn't it? She sits and observes it but does nothing - at least for the part of the book I waded through.

Sometimes though I feel conned by a book; that its just that little bit too self conscious and contrived. Sometimes I feel that the author has set out to write an 'ugly' book. Sometimes I question their motives for writing what they do - were they really exposing pain and suffering or was it all just gratuitous crap? I felt that way about Incendiary, which was written by the same man who wrote the brilliant Little Bee. I was about ten pages in and thinking WTF! I didn't recognise anything the heroine did or said. I was deeply offended by the sex scene that kicks off the book and I say that as an ultra liberal child of the sixties. My brother strongly disagreed, saying that modern women behave that way, but it ruined the book for me. Nothing about it rang true and I ditched the book a hundred pages in.

This morning I finished Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop, which was sublime. I'm off to find more of her books; anyone have any suggestions for what to look for next?

>56 romain: Forgive her a little, Barbara. She does take the dog.
>57 Kasthu: Forgive me, Katherine. The only Fitzgerald I've read is The Blue Flower. I wanted to love it so badly, and I just couldn't. I have higher hopes for The Bookshop though. Someday.

57: I recently read and loved The Bookshop too, in fact that was one of the rare books which Richard (from the 75 group) and I agree on. I also really loved the first Fitzgerald I read, The Beginning of Spring about an English man living in Russia in 1912, trying to cope when his wife leaves.

>57 Kasthu: - I agree, The Bookshop is wonderful! I've only read two Penelope Fitzgerald novels, although I have about seven - and what I would say is don't pick Human Voices next - I found it very ordinary.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Bookshop and LOVED The Blue Flower which I thought one of the best books I've read. However, I abandoned The Beginning of Spring because of the animal cruelty and thought Human Voices only so-so. I also really really liked The Gate of Angels. I think I must've been German in a previous life because The Blue Flower and Von Arnim's Prussian stuff just grab my attention totally. It must be the era because I lived in Germany for 4 years in the 90s without forming a strong attachment and because The Blue Flower is actually a rather boring book.

Anyone interested in Dorothy Whipple should listen to the BBC stories on the Persephone thread. A very nice selection, taken from The Closed Door, each about ten minutes.

>55 Stuck-in-a-Book: I love Miss Hargreaves too. I am lucky enough to own the Tarturus Press Edition.

>63 urania1: - do you! How lovely - when did you find out about Miss Hargreaves? I have the Tarturus, the Penguin, the Penguin 1970s reprint, and the Bloomsbury Group edition! (But not the original Eyre & Spootiswoode edition... that's the one I want now...)

>57 Kasthu:: The only Fitzgerald I've read is At Freddie's, which is about children at a stage school. It would be a good one to try if you enjoy Rumer Godden's ballet school books, theatre books generally, or stories for adults about children. The ending is a bit messy and unsatisfying in a way that seemed true to life, as I recall.

Must read the Bloomsbury copy of Miss Hargreaves that has been sitting on my shelf for some time now *hangs head in shame*

Please do not hate me, but I plodded through Miss Hargreaves and only finished it because I forced myself to. I did not like any of the characters.

I have Miss Hargreaves on my tentative read-in-December list ... This discussion is intriguing!

I also have had it sitting around for quite some time. It will be read eventually.

I was so very excited to read Miss Hargreaves but found her distinctly disappointing. Sorry.

I never understand how people can fail to be wholly charmed by Miss Hargreaves but I am learning to accept it ! I love Miss H, the character as well as the book, and I especially adore Norman's father. It's moving and hilarious and memorable... but I am clearly very biased in its favour :)

I loved Miss Hargreaves but my copy doesn't have any special provenance. It's the new edition with a quote from Simon on the back!

Actually Simon, weren't you involved with its being re-published in some way? It's funny, I always associate you with Miss Hargreaves but can't remember if the book led me to your blog or your blog led me to the book!

>71 Soupdragon:: his blog definitely led me to the book!

>71 Soupdragon: I was! Bloomsbury asked various bloggers which books they thought deserved to be reprinted, and I mentioned Miss H (for 'mentioned' read 'obsessed about') and was thoroughly delighted when they said yes! I heard about it through my piano teacher, and she was as delighted as me to receive the new copy - which she did about a year before she died, from cancer. I was so pleased that she lived to see the new edition of our shared favourite book.

>73 Stuck-in-a-Book:: what a lovely story.

>73 Stuck-in-a-Book:: I'm pleased your piano teacher saw the new editions too, Simon. I will think of her next time I pick up my copy!

So were the other Bloomsbury books in the set, published at the same time, also nominated by bloggers? I know, The Brontes went to Woolworths was being talked about a lot before it was re-printed.

>75 Soupdragon: - they were, at least some of them were. Henrietta's War was courtesy of Karen/Cornflower, Love's Shadow from Elaine/Random Jottings.. can't remember about the others now, but the UK editions had quotations from the bloggers in question.

And thanks for your comments on Miss H, both of you :)

>76 Stuck-in-a-Book:: Interesting! I don't have any of the other books in the set as I already had them in other editions or they didn't call me loudly enough. I will have to search them out....and the blogs! I am familiar with Karen's blog but not Elaine's.

>77 Soupdragon: - If you haven't read the Dennys, do track that one down - it's wonderful. In fact, I loved all six of the first set. Still have a few from the second set still to read. And Elaine's blog is a haven for Virago types! I've known Elaine online for nearly eight years, and met up with her six or seven times - she's a wonderful character!

>78 Stuck-in-a-Book:: Henrietta has been added to the wishlist! I think I avoided it before because it sounded too much like a lot of other books I had lying around unread and thought I should read those first! I still haven't!

I'm quite keen to read Let's Kill Uncle but can't remember if that was from the first or second set of Bloomsbury reprints.

Henrietta is splendid!

I too am a big fan of Henrietta. Let's kill uncle is from the second batch; it's on Mount tbr.

Let's Kill Uncle was very unlike any of the others from either batch... quite scary, actually...

Joyce Dennys was such a wonderful discovery - I've gone on and read others of hers, my favourite of which is Economy Must Be Our Watchword, which is nigh-on impossible to find anywhere. I was lucky enough to stumble across it on Charing Cross Road.

I wasn't too thrilled with Henrietta's War. To be fair I read it as the last in a long line of WW2 books. Let's Kill Uncle is one of my Desert Island Books. Not a great novel but one I have read and re-read for nigh on 50 years. That's the way it is with books isn't it? My absolute favorite Agatha Christie is a stinker called They Came to Baghdad. Read it at 13 and about a dozen times since. Fell in love with Baghdad, archaeology and Harry Carmichael. My version of Belva's Anne of Green Gables.

Just finished The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell which I LOVED! I was fully engaged from page one and it just got better and better. Several 'Oh No!' moments and very sad in parts, but a deeply satisfying book.

>82 Stuck-in-a-Book: & 83: Will look out for Joyce Dennys and Uncle stays on the wish list though I am now warned about possible scariness. The premise does sound quite disturbing actually!

>84 romain:: Barbara, I loved The Hand That First Held Mine from the outset too. The writing style is so immediate and visual. I read it when it first came out but can still clearly remember that first scene, where Lexie is standing in the garden in a yellow dress when a sharply dress man in a sports car arrives!

>84 romain: & 85 - I impulse-bought The Hand That First Held Mine ages ago... maybe one to read over Christmas?

I wouldn't call They Came to Baghdad a stinker, although Murder in Mesopotamia is better (most pre-war Christies are, IMO.) I re-read both in the early days of the Iraq War.
Reading Singled Out and enjoying it thought it's a little disorganized and repetitious.

I finished Singled Out a week or so ago, and I have to agree - very repetitive. Interesting material in there, but I really had to dig around to find it...

I finished The Black Dahlia the other night which I liked very much; both the storyline and the way in which it was written. Since then I have picked up and put down three books, (Outwitting History, Joan Makes History and Mansfield Park), before settling in with Alice Hoffman's The Dovekeepers. I am liking this book a great deal and am anxious to get further into it. They are at Masada now but have not been there long. I know and have long loved and been influenced by this story so I am excited to see where Hoffman takes us with it.

I got a birthday gift card so in addition to Singled Out I got The Beauty and the Sorrow, Blue Nights and Pulphead. I like the idea of approaching WWI differently -- the writings of those involved, rather than another history. I never read The Year of Magical Thinking because it sounded depressing and I'm sure Blue Nights won't be a cheerfest but subject-wise it sounds more interesting.

L- I enjoyed Murder in Mesopotamia but it was one of the few Christies I guessed before the end. I also re-read that and They Came to Baghdad during the second Gulf War. I say it's a stinker because it is one of Christie's paranoid vaguely anti-Communist books about a secret order taking over the world, and because it relies on some silly coincidences to advance the plot. However, it describes Baghdad so beautifully and makes life on a dig sound so inviting, it will always remain one of my favorites.

I'm reading A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers, which is nonfiction and has a Virago author connection. Here's a book description, with Virago connection in bold:

On a hill above the Italian village of Ravello sits the Villa Cimbrone, a place of fantasy and make-believe. The characters that move through Michael Holroyd’s new book are destined never to meet, yet the Villa Cimbrone unites them all.

A Book of Secrets is a treasure trove of hidden lives, uncelebrated achievements, and family mysteries. With grace and tender imagination, Holroyd brings a company of unknown women into the light. From Alice Keppel, the mistress of both the second Lord Grimthorpe and the Prince of Wales; to Eve Fairfax, a muse of Auguste Rodin; to the novelist Violet Trefusis, the lover of Vita Sackville-West—these women are always on the periphery of the respectable world.

Also on the margins is the elusive biographer, who on occasion turns an appraising eye upon himself as part of his investigations in the maze of biography. In A Book of Secrets, Holroyd gives voice to fragile human connections and the mystery of place.
A Book of Secrets is a Publishers Weekly Best Nonfiction title for 2011.

It's quite fascinating so far!

>#92:
I began this one Laura and got halfway through before putting it aside for something else. I am trying now to remember why I set it aside and can't. I don't remember being dissatisfied with it and it is still on my nightstand so I will probably finish it by year's end. I am thinking that perhaps something came by post that I just couldn't wait to get into. Glad you are enjoying it.

Simon, since you are so influential with Bloomsbury (lucky you!), could you suggest they reprint Rhododendron Pie by Margery Sharp? It has been out of print for quite a long time and the few copies available on internet are expensive. A while ago I was lucky enough to find one at a semi-decent price, but I know that a lot of people would love to read it and they cannot/will not pay too much for it.
Incidentally, it is a lovely book.

#94 YES! What Paola said. I love Margery Sharp.

Back when I was in a reading funk, someone (perhaps here) suggested I read Let's Kill Uncle. It was hysterically creepy and fun. Henrietta sounds good. Is it a series? I might perhaps put it on my wishlist. At the moment I am reading A Parade of Princes, which just arrived from Abe's today. This was one of my favorite books when I was a wee small tot as many of the stories show a wry sense of humor. Lots of luminaries in the lot, including a couple of Viragoes - or Viragoes who ought to be.

>#94, >#95; DITTO!~!~!

I will mention Margery Sharp! I only had sway when they actively asking, though ;)
I've read one Sharp The Foolish Gentlewoman, although have plenty more on my shelves

I listened to The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie on audio. Liked it but didn't love it. I cannot recommend the audio. The reader kept mispronouncing words and had an annoying tendency to say arsh for ash. Mashed potatoes became marshed potatoes and so forth. Plus she kept 'a smile in her voice' all the way through. Very jolly hockey sticks and high jinks. It made me want to larsh out and barsh her.

Just found this on another site - "Clever, amusing story ... disliked narrator"
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but ended up finishing it in the print form. I could tell I would like the bright, mischievous heroine if I didn't have to listen to the narrator's exaggerated interpretation of her humor and self-confidence. Entwistle chose to narrate Flavia's tone of self-delight in such a way that she sounded smarmily smug. I understand that she was attempting to convey the self-congratulatory pride and sibling rivalry that is a trait of this character, but it made me dislike an otherwise quirky and original protagonist.

I am reading Sex and Real Estate: Why We Love Houses by Marjorie Garber. Some great one-liners when she's not trying to be too academic.

I am reading Minnie's Room by Mollie Panter Downes a lovely Persphone - the last Persephone I had TBR *sigh* plan to finish it this morning - having a very lazy Sunday. Then plan to move on to a cosy Agatha Raisin - perfect lazy Sunday reading.

Mary - my weakness is House Hunters. I love to sit and watch people choose what I think is the ugliest house of the 3. Of course they never tell us what the taxes are or how good or bad the school district is etc... But I do believe our houses say a lot about us. My house is well maintained, very nice downstairs, with lovely polished wooden floors and a beautiful kitchen. Upstairs, (the private part), it is FULL of books, disgusting carpets, and unfinished projects... and don't even get me started on the indescribably filthy teenager's room.

Last night I finished Mrs Henderson by Francis Wyndham, a collection of interconnected short stories about his larger than life family. The central story, about his sister Ursula, was, I thought, hugely interesting. In the 1930s Ursula (a shy, retiring, upper class British woman) runs off with a black, female torch singer to live the bulk of her adult life in Harlem. I know our dear friend Bleuroses presents us with these extraordinary women every day but I am still amazed to find that the 60s generation was not the first to discover sex and social justice.

It made me want to larsh out and barsh her. :) That sounds like a narrator to avoid...

I do believe our houses say a lot about us. I agree, Barbara. Yesterday my daughter and I went on a house tour --several historic or architecturally significant houses in Williamsport, PA, open for the day, decorated for Christmas, and featuring displays of Victorian apparel and accessories fro the local historical society. It was fascinating. Some of them are owned by the historic preservation society, but at least 3 that we looked at are private residences. Even though I'm sure they had been tidied up (one had obviously just been painted throughout) and somewhat staged for the event, the owners' taste and personality came through. In the house we liked the best overall, we decided that we wouldn't like the owners at all, but couldn't figure out why---then we learned that the man had been an advisor and confidante to a certain nameless politician we intensely dislike. Huh----instinct is an incredible thing!

I'm reading something a bit different for me - Let Not The Waves of the Sea by Simon Stephenson, whose brother died in the 2004 tsunami. It's part memoir, part travel, part philosophy - luckily well written and restrained, because it would be horrible to have to find fault with something so moving.

Finished The Dovekeepers, went on to read Joan Makes History and now I am reading Outwitting History which I am loving. All three of these books are awesome reads!

I'm reading nothing but German Made Simple as I try to acquire enough German for my 10-year old niece to correct me when I visit my sister in Göttingen in late January.

#108 What fun, Rob! I'm sure your German will improve exponentially after that visit. There's no teacher like a 10-year-old teacher.

I took time out from reading Outwitting History to read my R/L B/C Sarah's Key and found it to be quite a wonderful but sad story. I just can't seem to get away from WWII. Good thing it is one of my favorite subjects to read about. Our club met last night and had quite a lively discussion on Sarah's Key and much wine. (5 bottles/7 women) Now it is back to Outwitting History.

Two YA titles...both eGalleys of sorts:

Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook: could be just another bunch of teen angst/paranormal BS.....but, I like the style...and Isobel's "voice"

Pure by Julianna Baggott: Dystopian Novel, for sure..again, i like the young heroine's voice

;-}

@107 I just finished reading The Dovekeepers too. I didn't know anything about the story, unlike you, but I think it's a marvellous work all the same. Speaks to great skill, I'd say, in her ability to reach both of us, each of us having such a different awareness of the subject!

>@#112:
I totally agree buriedinprint. Hoffman has a very special ability to engage her readers. I am so happy that you felt rewarded by reading The Dovekeepers.
You can find current pictures of Masada as it is today and also the Zealots we read about were the last peoples to inhabit Masada excepting for Byzantine monks, who left a small church.

Having finished the wonderful Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky last evening, I began 1 of 3 Jane Austen's that I must read this coming month in order to complete the 'Austen-a-Thon' hosted by Stasia. This one is Mansfield Park and I am already liking it. Austen has such a different type of humor in her books and until I find it, I am a little lost. Then I quite enjoy her. I hope that I've not procrastinated too long. I must also read 'an Orange' & I think that is it as we are forgoing our R/L B/C read in December due to the holidays.

I got 3 Rebecca Wests on sale on cyber Monday -- The Fountain Overflows, This Real Night and The Birds Fall Down. I've never read much of her fiction except possibly The Return of the Soldier (it was a long time ago) but the premises sounded interesting -- I believe all the books are from a trilogy, or a tetralogy, about the same characters.

Halfway through Mansfield Park by Jane Austen and this is my take thus far:

You talk too much
You worry me to death
You talk too much
You even worry my pet

You just talk
Talk too much

You talk about people
That you don't know
You talk about people
Wherever you go

You just talk
Talk too much

You talk about people
That you've never seen
You talk about people
You can make me scream

You just talk
you talk too much

EEEEEEEEeeeeyup, that's about it so far.

I just finished Anita Brookner's Look at Me and absolutely loved it. So I immediately began reading her other work Fraud and hope I like it as well. I had read Hotel du Lac a few months ago but wasn't too impressed.

And you think me a tad excessive, Belva? :)

Kay - At one time I read almost everything Brookner wrote and then, one day, I was done with her. My favorite was Dolly/A Family Romance (depending what country you buy it in) and the last one I read was the one set in the South of France, Bay of Angels. Ms Brookner is living proof that one can make a decent living writing the same book over and over.

>115 rainpebble:: ha ha ha ha!

I have finally finished my ER ARC, Dangerous Ambition. I had high hopes for a dual bio of Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson, but this isn't it. Review to follow.

I'm nearly finished a collection of Jane Austen's early unpublished work. So wonderfully funny and irreverent! It's a shame the publishers "tamed" her!

Much as I am a Jane fan, I cannnot really enjoy Mansfield ParK. Same with Northanger Abbey, except that she wrote it as a satire and it is supposed to be over the top. But the other four, I can reread and reread. In fact, I have a tiny leather-bound P and P that I carry in my purse when I am "between books" or reading a book just too heavy to tote.

I am currently reading a Royal Spyness mystery, Royal Blood. This may be it for me. Two much same-old, same-old.

I'm reading the much-raved-about-but-not-a-Virago Miss Hargreaves. Quite a bit of fun.

I am almost finished with the very wonderful Orange Prize winning novel: Fugitive Pieces. It won in 1997 and very deservedly so to my mind. My Orange for the month of December. Vitamin C is good for you!~!

#115 You tell 'em, Belva!

I'm reading a Net Galley of Pure by Juliana Baggott....YA Dystopian novel that is, to me, the essence of Dystopian...all around excellent...characters, story line, atmosphere, pacing.....

;-)

>122 lauralkeet: Hurrah!

Belva, I'm delighted to hear that you enjoyed Fugitive Pieces. I ordered it through PBS, but it hasn't come and the allotted time is up Friday. I hate losing a book in the mail!

Peggy,
A lot of the books I order through PBS squeak through just before or after the time limit is up. Don't give up hope just yet. Fugitive Pieces is one terrific read!
hugs deary,

Just finished The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian and I must say that I was very disappointed in it after having read his Midwives and The Double Bind as I loved both of those.
Now I am on to An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden; Author of the Month. And still 'working' on Mansfield Park for the Austen-a-Thon. I wonder if Stasia read all of the Austens...............

Oh, I do like An episode of sparrows. Hope you are enjoying it!

I wouldn't normally self-promote here, but I mentioned here that I was reading SImon Stephenson's Let Not The Waves of the Sea and I think it's a really special book - so I hope you don't mind me linking to what I wrote about it on my blog - http://stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.com/2011/12/let-not-waves-of-sea-simon-stephenso...

Thanks, Simon, for that sensitive review. The passages you quoted were beautiful. Had Simon Stephenson written anything before this? I don't recognise the name.

He's a screenwriter, apparently, so his name might have flashed up in credits... he's also a doctor, and by the end of the book he had gone back to that. The only TV programme he wrote in the book about was something I'd never heard of, with Patrick Stewart.

I've just finished Ten Days of Christmas by G B Stern. An out of print gem by a Virago author that feels like it should be a Persephone.

I thumbed your review and sort of wish I had it too. Thanks, Jane.

I am 50 pages in to The Inn at the Edge of the World. Loving it so far.

What a lovely review of the Stern. I thumbed it, too, and plan to check the library for a copy.

Got it out of the library this afternoon. The book hasn't been checked out since 1977!

I'm reading The Editor's Wife and really enjoying it - it's better than I expected by miles. And look: here's me posting in other threads again! I'm nearly full-time with the business now and that's giving me some time for other things too!

I'm reading a lovely collection of essays called Stop What You're Doing And Read This! - which doesn't seem to link to the book, for some reason - lots of authors writing about reading, libraries, childhood memories with books etc. Mark Haddon's is excellent, Zadie Smith's was moving, Tim Parks' was rubbish - a real mix. Other authors include Jeanette Winterson, Michael Rosen and even VMC's very own Carmen Calllil. Any besotted reader would love this - mine is an ARC, but it's out in early Jan.

I'm still stuck in a Brookner or should I say just freed myself from Undue Influence. I had completed Fraud determined to read something by another author and then whoops I picked up the Brookner and I was hooked. Her heroines are speaking to my life at this time which doesn't say much for the quality of my life if you're familiar with her heroines but there you have it. Luckily I don't have anymore of her works on hand but the library is singing its siren song. Most of my reading is borrowed books. I have a very scanty library.

I say give in to the lure of the siren song. I love all things Brookner.

#133 - ooh I like the sound of Ten days of Christmas so have just ordered a copy from Abebooks, I'm so easily led astray : ) if it comes in time - I may read it over Christmas hols. I already have Christmas at Cold comfort farm set aside for the festive period.

I just ordered a copy of Ten Days of Christmas too. It sounds intriguing.

I've had an incredibly stressful few weeks and have been completely frazzled. So now, dear friends, I am reading the Christmas issue of heat magazine. And I'm not in the least bit embarrassed about it.

OK: miss-read - I'll confess. In my first hectic days of running my business full-time (it was meant to get easier and calmer this way!) I have bought one of those OK packs with the other, even more terrible, mags packaged with OK magazine. Working my way through them at the breakfast table!

I'll confess too. I've ditched Rumer Godden's China Court in favour of Miracle on Regent Street, which mixes Cinderella, The Tailor of Gloucester, and London at its most magical to wonderful effect.

And in between I'm perusing a lovely new copy of Knit Now magazine, and wishing I had a job so that I could have a little yarn spree.

In my "reread favorite novels" December mood, I am rereading Katherine by Anya Seton. This is one novel that stands the test of time easily.

#146> Since you recommend it, I will have to dig it from one of the "mountains".

#144 - I'm glad I'm not alone!

#145 - Fleur, I'm not sure heat is in the same class as Miracle on Regent Street! ;)

Ooh Anya Seton. I remember my mother digging out her old editions of those novels when I was just starting secondary school for me to read after Katherine was on one of the recommended reading lists. They must have been the first non-classic adult novels that I read, as I distinctly remember being deliciously scandalised by the fact that they had sex in them! I bet they'd seem ever so tame now.

I've been reading a lot of young adult books as a result of the goat crisis. My mind just hasn't been able to fasten on anything serious. If you have a YA reader for whom you must buy a Christmas gift, I recommend Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races - the best YA book I've read this year. Don't make the mistake of getting anything of Stiefvater's other works - they're pretty mediocre, but in The Scorpio Races she shines.

Otherwise let's see. I finished Vera Nazarian's Lords of Rainbow and her Dreams of the Compass Rose - both fantasy but not drek. Of the two, I found Dreams of the Compass Rose. The first two thirds of Lords of Rainbow were fascinating. The last bit - maybe the last one-fourth tumbled into imitation heroic epic battle - ack. Tolkien managed that kind of ending well. Few can though although so many fantasy writers insist on trying. I've read several of Nazarian's other work this year. She is an LT writer. I loved her short novella The Duke in His Castle - lovely prose and wonderfully Gothic in atmosphere.

I just finished Friedrich Durrenmatt's The Visit - one of the grimmest tragi-comedies I have ever read. But exceedingly funny in a terrible way. I would love to see it in performance.

(But Jane, if you had a job, you wouldn't have time to knit up all that luscious yarn. I speak with great feeling.)
Did I already say here or somewhere else that Katherine was the first racy novel that I recognized as racy? I had read things like Gone with the Wind and Raintree County without a blush or blink. But my 2 best friends and I sat in the same row of study hall as 9th graders feverishly flipping pages of Katherine as the spinster math teacher walked the rows and commented, "Oh! You're all reading the same book. How nice!" - and then took mine and paged through it without seeing anything exceptionable. The three of us didn't breathe for those 30 seconds and thought we had gotten away with something wicked. Those were the days? I think I've already inflicted this tale on you all. Oh well.

Forever Amber and Sweet Savage Love were the hot books when I was in middle school.

I read The Sheik in middle school as well but decided to keep that to myself. I didn't think my peers were ready for it.

My prediction about Gone with the Wind - give it a century and it will be required reading for college English majors if such a major exists by then. I know I'm going out on a limb with this prediction, but I am prepared to back it up with a detailed argument.

I read Forever Amber a few months ago and quite enjoyed myself.

#150 I did not care much for Linger but I've heard so many good things about The Scorpio Races I've put it on my list.
I'm reading Ten Thousand Saints, a story of punk rock life in the East Village in the 80s -- and I lived in the East Village in the 80s, so I sort-of identify but so far the book hasn't taken off for me and I'm not sure I'll finish it.
Finished Life: An Exploded Diagram and The Returning (aka Bloodflower) -- both are YA/Adult crossover novels, both recommended.

There are a couple of Rumer Goddens I disliked and China Court was one of them. I also never finished it.

Mary - I read Gone With the Wind on holiday in Austria and devoured it. However, it is a book that makes black people very uncomfortable - my mother in law hated it - and I think that is at least one reason it will not be required reading in a century. Over to you for your detailed argument.

I think the book will live on because it is uncomfortable, ugly even. It is the Southern family romance - adoring slaves and strong matriarchal masters/mistresses - each tied to the other in ineluctable and vexed ways. In any case, the book really isn't about the Civil War and its aftermath. It's about the South of Margaret Mitchell's youth. What was a strong woman to do then. What were her options. Among the upper southerners? To be Melanie, Scarlett, Scarlett's mother, Scarlett's sisters? The portrayal of African Americans in the book is both Sam and Andyish and rather more complex than it appears at first glance. We read Dickens today. I find his portrayal of women deeply troublesome - angels in the house, cartoon figures. For all his compassion, Dickens is concerned that the classes remain intact. The virtuous poor, the little Emilys who will never become ladies but may be allowed to re-don plain clothing, lose their looks, and become faded little angels of mercy. Dickens offers us one portrait of the age. So does Mitchell. And the novel is stuffed with nostalgia for and the myth of a south that never was.

Think about most of the classics we read today. How many of them are politically correct? How are women, the poor, non-whites, et al. portrayed? Think about it. And many are outright vile if one looks at them closely enough.

I am relieved to find that I'm not the one to not get on with China Court. Any trace of guilt was more to do with taking that book back to the library unread rather than picking up Miracle on Regent Street.

>152 urania1: & >155 aluvalibri: ... I absolutely adore Forever Amber! I never read it as a teen, but did finally get round to it last year and fell head over heels.

My dear miss read!!! Head over heels? I thought that was Amber when it was you all the time.

Mary - Scarlett is anything but a wimp and her sisters are also bitches. And Rhett was no gentleman. So the portrayal of the whites was not overly troublesome. Historically - I read the book very much with your mind set. That's the way it was... suck it up all you complainers. But I think there are many blacks who see it as offensive and encouraging them to see it in perspective will not wash.

A snippet from the novel's Spark Notes: 'Malcolm X notes in his biography the deep shame he felt as a child when he saw Gone With the Wind, specifically citing Butterfly McQueen’s performance as Prissy. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People tried to arrange a boycott of the film by black audiences and, to a lesser extent, black actors.'

I agree with you and Mary, Barbara.
Incidentally, Eric, my dearest man, cannot stand watching Gone with the Wind for all the reasons you mention. I can understand that.

Paola,

I agree about the film. The depiction of African Americans makes my skin crawl.

Romain, if everything has to pass through a PC board, I doubt if any literature will make it. Also, I think many people conflate the movie with the book - a bad move. The two are not the same. How many people who have read both the book and seen the movie, remember the opening words of the book: "Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful." How can people remember those lines when Vivien Leigh has become the image of Scarlett. Additionally, I believe one approach to a text is as a resisting reader. Reading against the grain here is useful. Gone with the Wind is one of those texts that can yield interesting readings using a wide range of critical approaches. The book tells us a lot about the cultural and historical construction of race. And I am talking about what may happen a century or two from now. Historical distance plays interesting tricks with our brains.

BTW - Guess which Shakespearean play was performed more frequently than any other in the antebellum south?

>161 urania1: - Oh, Mary! Thank you for making me giggle! My first one of the day! :)

P.S. If we could be around a century or three from now, we would be amazed by what makes the historical/cultural cut. I, for one, would like to be a fly on the wall. I suspect that much that we now consider serious/high-brow 20th/21st century literature/art/music will have dropped off the radar completely. Of course it may reemerge at some point as well. Look at what happened to John Donne's amazing poetry before the modernists rescued him. And the texts that comprise the Gilgamesh epic? They languished unknown for thousands of years. And Gilgamesh poor man wanted to write his name on the walls of the city for all time. And my favorite medieval romance Silence? Vanished until 1911. Even now, no matter how hard I push it as a book well worth reading, I don't often succeed in getting anyone to read it. Hint, hint all ye Viragoes.

Mary, was it Othello?

Paola,

Right ho. Othello it was. And if one is interested in the history of production/audience reception of any single Shakespeare play, Othello has one of the most interesting and bizarre (but not really once you think about it) production histories of any of the plays.

As a reader I look at fiction as the author's story to tell however they wish it. Non-fiction; I want to see the real deal. Just my take on the subject matter. A very interesting discourse above............

Yesterday afternoon & evening I read a nice little book entitled The Violets of March by Sarah Jio. Settled my nerves right down & I quite enjoyed it.

I finished The Inn at the Edge of the World by Alice Thomas Ellis. I really liked this book about a group of misery guts skipping Christmas on a Scottish island. When I read her obit recently it said that she tidied up Beryl Bainbridge's work for publication. I can quite believe it. She is, by far, the superior writer - IMO - and, despite its dark themes, this book made me smile all the way through.

#171 - I read The Inn at the Edge of the world a couple of christmases ago - it was far better than I had expected.

I just finished The Fountain Overflows and was fascinated throughout. I am a little bit of a sucker for Victorian/Edwardian family books but this one had such a unique point of view -- the family is so insular and you can't help wondering what the outside world makes of them. Also great period detail, seen from the view of the narrator looking back after WWII. I have the sequel This Real Night, which I understand wasn't completed by West and was published after her death. It'll be interesting to see if it's as good.

I have cracked - and started upon the first of the 3 books I had set aside for Christmas reading - I finish work for 2 weeks tomorrow : )

Have just started:
Christmas at cold comfort farm by Stella Gibbons

then will be reading;

Ten Days of Christmas by Gladys Bronwyn Stern

and The House of Silk by Anthony Horrowitz

(I may then - or soon anyway - re-read Cold comfort Farm itself - it's been too long)

About six years after everyone else, I'm reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves...

I'm knee-deep in Jonathan Franzen's Freedom which is absolutely fantastic, but not quite the "Christmas read" I want at the moment. I think I might put it on the back-burner until the new year and switch over to one of my VSS present books!

I am reading Molotov's Magic Lantern by Rachel Polonsky, a delightful excursus into Russian history and culture.

177: That's funny, I've just finished reading that book.

Oh, what a lot of excellent discussion I've been missing here! Which of us is going to figure out how to stick around long enough to test Mary's hypothesis about GWTW? I have a feeling she is right on the money.
Katherine was one of my favorite reads in high school....and how about The Winthrop Woman? Scandalous stuff!

#178> Did you like it?

I read Molotov's Magic Lantern last year and loved it, though when my book club read it some people didn't like the style. I thought she had a amazing ability to conjure up the Russian landscape.

I found Molotov's Magic Lantern quite interesting though I'm not sure I read it in the best way to do it justice - rather rushed late night reading.

Have just finished the above much mentioned Ten Days of Christmas - loved it! My little review has now been added to Fluer's marvelous review.
So now going to start reading The House of Silk - love being off work for Christmas - curling up under a blanket and just reading : )

And a little bird tells me that Mizz Ali has now achieved her reading target for the year! Whoo hoo!

I'm looking forward to blankety reads tomorrow when I've promised not to run or work ...

I am reading (surprise) Ten Days of Christmas and at 80 pages in, am loving it. The bickering regarding the play to put on is so reminiscent of my childhood with 6 siblings attempting to surprise our parents and also of Little Women. It is a charming little book. Also still reading Alan Paton's Too Late the Phalarope and finding it wonderful but I wanted to read something Christmasy.
Happy Christmas to all of my favorite L.T. group members. ♥

I've been wanting to read Molotov's Magic Lantern, too!

I just finished Jean Echenoz' I'm Gone, and Doctorow's Homer and Langley.

I'm trying to plow thru as many of my non-VMCs as possible before the New Year. That way, I won't feel as rushed when I start my Year of Reading Virago. And it's looking more and more possible that I'll be able to go an entire year, with a smattering of non-fiction as a counterweight.

If I ever figure out how to post pics here, I'll upload my current VMC pile. It's a thing of beauty.

I read two books in the last few days - Boomerang by Michael Lewis, which I can only describe as a Bill Bryson look at the collapse of the European economy. Laugh out loud funny in parts and a must read for anyone wondering - Where DID the money go?

I also read Karen Armstrong's book 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life. Armstrong is the woman who wrote/helped write the Charter for Compassion and I lucked into a copy of this book on the Returned Today shelf in the library just before Christmas.

I started a Net Galley of The Quiet Twin by Dan Vyleta.....and must say it is one of the oddest books..."old fashioned" tone to the writing.....why it reminds me of Buddenbrooks, i'll never know.....1939 Vienna...rampant Nazism.......every body bore secrets...i love this book....

;-}

I am having such a lovely read over the Christmas hols, have another week off work *does happy happy dance* and so read till 1.00 am to finish The House of Silk which I recommend to Holmes fans, I am now about 70 pages into Death Comes to Pemberley by P D James which I am enjoying, although the characters are not exactly as Jane Austen wrote them, they are good enough for an enjoyable, page turner of a read.

My TBR has grown over the Christmas period, and as well as the 6 or 7 Viragoes I have TBR and the masses of other no Viragoes - I also have 3 brand new shiny Persephones.

Karen Armstrong's Spiral Staircase and Through the Narrow Gate are both great, memoirs of life as a nun and then life afterwards. I haven't read much else by her though.
I finished A Train in Winter yesterday -- a book about Frenchwomen deported to concentration camps. I had read Charlotte Delbo's memoir long ago so I thought it wasn't as good as that (always go to the original source is my philosophy) but it was very moving.

L - I ordered The Spiral Staircase off PBS yesterday. Can always find room for a good nun book, although of course Armstrong left the nunnery and seems to be more or less Buddhist now. Life is perhaps easier to accept if it is circular rather than linear?

I'm reading in very small amounts compared to what I read at home, but I am in the middle of David Downing's Silesian Station and suspect I'll be reading Stettin Station and buying Potsdam Station very, very soon.

jdthloue, The Quiet Twin looks terrific. I'll make a note of it. I particularly love books set in large apartment complexes. The opportunities are endless! I just finished a few more shorties and will have to get cracking on my list of Viragos to read for 2012.

I'm back to Brookner with The Debut US title and A Start in Life UK and original title. Am enjoying it as much as the others I have read. The Brookner followed on the heels of Joanna Godden a VMC that I really liked.

I just finished Katherine by Anya Seton. I read this as a young teen and was bowled over by the sex in it. In the reread, I kept waiting for the sex, and, guess what, it wasn't there!!!! There were some lyrical passages about love and a description of a rough wooing, but not a" throbbing member" in 574 pages. Instead, Seton's novel is a tapestry of medieval life, so beautiful and and horrifying that it is no wonder that I got hooked on the Middle Ages (and still am.)

Must read Forever Amber, Anthony Adverse, and Captain from Castile again. Those books had sex, right????

No sex in Katherine!!!??????!!!!! Surely you must have flipped 2 pages for 1 at least a time or two, Elaine! I'm devastated. Forever Amber has at least as much sex as Katherine, I'm positive!

#195 The teenaged imagination is a wonderful thing, isn't it? I remember being excited by Katherine too, when I read it at 14 or 15. But a lot of teenagers, even of my generation, probably could have furnished some detail from their own experience. When I read Forever Amber much later my reaction was "What's all the fuss about? I thought there were dirty bits?" Now I wonder about The Winthrop Woman--is that all innocuous and squeaky clean too?

I bet Lace and Lace II and Princess Daisy are still ever so rude! We passed them around covertly at school aged about 14 ...

Oh, we did too! And The Other Side of Midnight. I recall that was a very popular one!

I'm getting a head start on our Elizabeth Taylor Centenary, having dipped into the Nicola Beauman bio, The Other Elizabeth Taylor. It's very readable and I'm enjoying it. It's also tiding me over until the start of Orange January on Sunday!

Some Brookner trivia/news - I was very surprised to find that she has a new Penguin Short out this month, At the Hairdresser's (Penguin Shorts).

(May only be available for Kindle though.)

I enjoyed Lace etc but can't remember how old I was. When I was 12 someone borrowed a Jackie Collins and a Harold Robbins from her parents' shelves. I got to read the Robbins, a delightful tale of a man who founded a porn empire. I've never felt the wish to read another of his books, though I did read quite a lot of Jackie Collins ones later in my teens.

Am reading Larry's Party by Carol Shields, my first Orange for Orange January. I am quite liking it.

Ooo. I have Larry's Party, Belva! I'm reading Fall on Your Knees for my first Orange and liking it too!

I loved Larry's Party as I have loved all Carol Shields.

Peg, I have Fall on Your Knees but haven't yet read it. I didn't even realize that it was Orange listed. lol!~!
Barb, nice to know you enjoyed Larry's Party too.

I just read a biography/assessment of Jane Austen by Margaret Kennedy, and blogged about it as the first title in my A Century of Books project. It's lovely - almost an Appreciation, but with a critical eye too.

I enjoyed Christmas At Cold Comfort Farm even though only 2 of the stories were about Christmas, and one about Cold Comfort Farm, and about to start an Agatha Raisin and Far From the Madding Crowd

I am about to start Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy looking forward to it so much - first read about 25 (yikes) years ago - and funnily enough I have forgotten most of it.

I am not reading anything worth commenting on but I have been listening to an audio of a Donna Leon - About Face, so it could be said I have spent the last few days in Venice. Leon does not write great murder mysteries but the local color just drags me in every time. I have even considered downloading a map of Venice so that I can follow the action a little more closely.

Barbara, I've heard of people using Google Maps to really get into the locations.

Yes Linda that would be great. The economy is so bad I can't see I'll be travelling anytime in the next decade but I have to tell you I really get into these exotic location books. Remember Melanie singing 'Wish I could find a good book to live in'? Well, some days I do.

I am reading Edmund White's Caracole - an utterly depressing decadent novel about people who use one another. It is quite good but depressing. Do not read this book if you have just quarreled with your significant other or if your relationship with your significant other is on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Don't read it if you don't like decadent literature (although this book technically doesn't qualify as such because it was written in 1985).

I've just started reading The peregrine by J. A. Baker, in my attempt to read more non-fiction this year. I've only read the introduction so far, but I think I will enjoy the book.

Over break I read A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor. The first volume did not have a map and I had to pull out my son's atlas and peer at the maps of Germany and Austria to follow the Rhine and the Danube.
Really blown away by both books, except that he throws a lot of history at you, especially about the barbarian invasions. (Turks? In Hungary? Did that really happen?)

L - I own both of those but have yet to open them. I really must...

I think the Turks were everywhere at one time or another. It is why the Balkans are still in an uproar today.

#215 The Turks were almost everywhere. This quote from Wikipedia says it: "The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history; such that the Ottoman State, its politics, conflicts, and cultural heritage in a vast geography provide one of the longest continuous narratives. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire became the most powerful state in the world – a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire (until the outskirts of Vienna), Royal Hungary (modern Slovakia) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to Yemen and Eritrea in the south; from Algeria in the west to Azerbaijan in the east; controlling much of southeast Europe, western Asia, and North Africa." Here's a map that helps, too.

#217 - Thanks. I think because of a Cold War education my geography and history are weak in that part of the world.

I think that blaming the Turks for the state of the Balkans is probably a little unfair, the region's been subjected to a lot of different imperial ambitions over the last two thousand years or so.

Three quarters of the way through A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne, which I am finding very well written. Not my normal sort of read, but I am appreciating and even liking it.