LizzieD: 2011*9

Christmas with us last year. The new thread is the first decorating I've done or will do for another couple of weeks. MERRY CHRISTMAS this year, dear friends!




LizzieD: 2011*1
LizzieD: 2011*2
LizzieD: 2011*3
LizzieD: 2011*4
LizzieD: 2011*5
LizzieD: 2011*6
LizzieD: 2011*7

BEST OF THE FIRST THREE QUARTERS OF 2011!

All Clear
Ex Libris
Devices and Desires and Evil for Evil
Cloud Atlas
A GLASTONBURY ROMANCE
Oryx and Crake
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Our Tragic Universe
Dissolution, Dark Fire, and Sovereign
Brooklyn
The Seas
The Invisible Bridge
Letters Between Six Sisters
The Memory of Love
Pagans and Christians
Sacred Hunger
The Shadows in the Street
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Bel Canto
Mayflower
Truman
Kraken
Reamde
Outwitting History

*Denotes a review on the book page
(Currently on hold: Matterhorn and The Prefect

DECEMBER
79. Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson: New Women in Search of Love and Power* - the very bad of the biographer's art - stunning...
80. The Glass Room - a fictionalization of the building and fate of Villa Tugendhat in Brno - loved the house; liked the book O.K.
81. Company Parade* - Virago - survivors of WWI in England - lovely writing - first of a trilogy
82. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - I'm the last person in the English-speaking world to read this - I feel no need to say anything!
83. A Gate at the Stairs - peculiar! - First I liked it; then I liked it O.K.; then I didn't like it so much - lots happens but nothing moves
84. The Novel in the Viola - more England during WWII - like a 50's romance, but well-written
85. Hunting Party - space opera and fox hunting - reread of a favorite for the last of '11

NEW IN DECEMBER

The Wasp Factory - PBS
Julia Involved - AMP
A Splendor of Letters - AMP ✔
The Various Flavors of Coffee - Dollar Tree (bought for the cover!)
Mudbound - Kindle Daily Deal
The Magician's Assistant - PBS
Fugitive Pieces - PBS
Happy Returns - PBS
Fall on Your Knees - PBS ✔
What the Body Remembers - PBS
The Invisible Ones - ER ARC ✔
The Ginger Star - PBS
*CHRISTMAS GIFTS*!
Blindsight
My Journey to Lhasa - VSS (Thank you, miss_read!)
Letters from Egypt - ditto
Up the Country - ditto again ✔
The Broom of the System - my first audio book 𚶴
The Book of Fires
The Duke's Daughter
Peace Breaks In
Swamplandia!
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris
*************************
The Windup Girl - PBS
Heartstone - AMP ✔
The Tiger's Wife - a gift! (Thank you, Linda!) ✔

I'm first! Spectacular! Love your tree!

Ho ho ho! I steadfastly resisted forming a new thread in December and wouldn't you know, the conversation suddenly increased and I feel like I shoulda. But with each passing day I think nah, we'll just gut it out for the rest of the year.

I'm impressed you've passed your target. I was hoping to hit 80 but that won't happen.

Wow, Peggy, I feel really blessed; I have on my shelves right now The Balkan Trilogy, the first volume of The Raj Quartet and the first two movements of Dance to the Music of Time and the time to read them at my leisure. Life is sweet! I think I'll start with the Olivia Manning and save the Powell for last since most think it's in a class of its own otherwise I might be disappointed with the others:)

Welcome to the new thread, Lucy, Laura, and Bonnie. I'm relieved to have passed my target - especially since I didn't read but three things in November! Bonnie, isn't life good!?! I'm beaming at the thought of all the pleasure you have in store. Me too. I don't know who sent me to The Glass Room, but I'm enjoying it - especially since I have found the images of the Tugendhat house online and the great wheel of Vienna too.

*Drops knitting bag on a chair to save a spot and goes back to work...

Congratulations on reaching and passing 75 books!

I never thought of checking Google images when I read The Glass Room. I wish I had as the architectural imagery was my favourite thing about the book.

Hi, Jenn! What are you knitting? Hi, Dee. I agree completely about the architectural imagery so far - about a third of the way into it.

Wow, is it Christmas Tree time already? Almost seems too early but I love the wonderful smell the christmas tree adds to the house.. maybe I'll go find one this weekend. btw, what does PBS stand for after the Wasp Factory?

The Christmas tree drew me in, and now Ill have to stay. Hello!

Hi, Leonie and Megan! Glad you like our tree!! --- and PBS is Paperback Swap, the greatest idea since sliced bread. I'm guessing there has to be some similar group in Australia or New Zealand. Meanwhile, you're right about its being too early. We won't put up the real tree until at least the 3rd week of December. DH's family always waited until Christmas Eve, but I have to have a little decoration before that!

Hi, Peggy! I'm just checking out your new thread. Great tree!

sneaking in to add: we just put up our Christmas tree today, its very exciting!

Hi Peggy, I like your "best of" list in message 2. Some are old friends of mine and some are on my WL. I'm glad you liked Oryx and Crake. I plan to step out of my comfort zone and read it in January.

Nice looking tree Peggy - not really caught on in Malaysia but looks really festive I must say.

>16 Donna828:: 'Scuse me if I'm repeating myself from other threads, but I'll be reading Oryx and Crake in January too (for Orange January) !

Hi Peggy! Just stopping by to wish you a very good day!

10- I am a little more than half way done with the capelet - not doing the hood. I've only been working on it weekends due to the sewing madness. However, my shop is closed for the holidays and I've cleaned up my house a bit (even some dusting*gasp), and perhaps I will knit some tonight.



I also have three different pairs of socks going, good car knitting. I might get a pair done for my dad before Christmas and one pair is for me and the other is unassigned. :)

Oh, Jenn!!! That's absolutely lovely!!!!! Who will the lucky recipient be? (If I were knitting that, the child would be engaged, married, and I'd end up giving it to her first daughter by the time I finished.) I haven't worked on my socks in months. I'm not sure I remember the pattern.........well, I do. It's not much of a pattern really. My problem is assembly. I knit just fine, but putting stuff together is a big downfall.
Thank you for the good day wish, Ann! It was certainly better than yesterday although I missed my study club's big Christmas luncheon because I was confused about the time. A real talent.
Laura and Donna, I hope you enjoy *O&C*. I believe I liked it better than I'm remembering. I'll certainly accept the sequel if it ever comes my way at PBS.
Glad you like our tree, Paul and Terri! You can't tell, but it has little glass bells that tinkle when I shake it and wax ornaments that DH and I made years ago when he was keeping bees. Hope you're enjoying your RL tree, Megan. We keep sprigs around for months because they smell so good.

Hey Peggy. It's for my daughter. I am sewing her a grey Christmas dress and it's to go with that. I was hoping to make myself one - not bobbled, just big cables - but I am sure I won't have it done by Christmas. Too many other things to do. :)

You all used to keep bees? I am very interested in bees, but I am not sure my HOA is.

Hi Peggy. I hope your mom is doing well. Congratulations on passing 75.

Lucky, lucky daughter, Jenn. I think you'd enjoy one too - bobbles or not! I'm working (desultorily) on the side panels of a lap robe with a braided cable in the middle and double seed stitch on the sides. It's pretty and pretty mindless.
DH did keep bees for maybe 20 years. He worked with a commercial beekeeper from NY who hit this area for the gallberry each year. DH had 100 hives (a minimal commercial operation at the time, but plenty for one man) a good part of that time both for honey and pollination. One of the worst nights of my life was spent moving 40 hives from blueberries. We dropped one hive. Then a tire on the trailer went flat after we had gotten it almost completely loaded, and we had to take them all off, fix the tire, and reload. We raced the sun that morning. It is SO good to be old and out of it!
Hi, Beth! Thanks for the congrats. Looks like I'm not going to get to many beyond the 75 this year, but my mother is doing very well all things considered. And that reminds me that coming home from the fitness center this afternoon, I was listening to "Science Friday," and they had a caller with an intelligent question from MY HOME TOWN. Of course, he didn't sound like a native, but even so, I was thrilled!

Hi Peggy, love your tree! Christmas wishes to you, too : ). Spotted on someone's thread that you are lining up some books for Orange Jan - good! I'm not sure what I'll end up reading but I have a few ideas socked away as well.

Lovely knitting : ).

I want to see a picture of your lap robe. It sounds really pretty.

Hi Peggy! Thanks for visiting my thread! I thought I'd stop by yours. Looks like you've had some great reads this year, and congratulations on hitting 75 books!

Hi Peggy, just passing the word that the threads are up for North and South group read. I know you said you couldn't join us, but your busy thread will help pass the word!

North and South (Non-Spoiler Thread)
North and South, Chapters 1-26 (Spoiler Thread)
North and South, Chapters 27-52 (Spoiler Thread)

I’ve also added the threads to our group’s wiki page.

Hi, Nancy. I am quietly accumulating as many Orange nominees as I can from PBS - at least the ones that appeal to me from their descriptions. Working on book lists is always a pleasure.
Jenn, if I ever finish, I'll be happy to post a picture. At this point the central panel has been done for ages..... It has alternating diamonds in seed stitch in the center with a couple of cables on each side. I'd like it if somebody gave it to me.
Hi, Deb! Always happy to have a return visit. Thank you for the 75 recognition.
Thanks for the word, Nancy.

THE GLASS ROOM by Simon Mawer

This was a case of like but not love for me. I loved the passages about the house itself (Villa Tugendhat in Brno) - especially the rich descriptions of light in the glass room. I liked most of the story of the people who lived in the house. Like Jill, I grew tired of the focus on sex, and the last coincidence was one coincidence too many. Like Dee, I found character development a bit contrived. All in all though, I'm glad I spent the time with the book.

Hi Peggy, I just read the posts on your threads of the last 2,5 weeks, including your mother's accident. I'm so glad she is doing well and I hope she will completely recover and soon!

Congratulations on passing the 75 books mark!

So far I've been intimidated by the sheer length of The Man without Qualities, but have it on my tbr. My library owns it, I look at it almost every time when I'm there, so far it hasn't been checked out once in 2011. It's a miracle it's on offer at all (my library doesn't have a good selection of classics), maybe it was some private donation. I might give it a try in 2012, but I have to get through two other long books from the 1001 list first. Of Musil's works I only ever read Young Toerless, and while it is a good book, it is also quite depressing.

Hi, Nathalie. It's always good to see you around here! And thanks for the 75 kudos --- looks like that's about all I'm going to manage this year.
I've been looking a little more closely at The Man Without Qualities - apparently it comes in three sizable volumes. Lucy, have you read all three??? I won't be getting to it anytime soon, I suspect. (I still have Life and Fate squatting reproachfully, unread, on my shelf.)

I theenk so, but I'll go check! I would consider a reread ..... if I can find my copy, mumble mumble -- it's a huge tome so it shouldn't be that hard.

Yep -- 1150 pages sounds about right..... It is long, but I remember being delighted by how smoothly it read, if that makes any sense?

Makes perfect sense to me, but I'm not likely to get it anytime soon because only the 3 volumes are available, and they are mostly expensive used at AMP. I can look other places, but I don't think I'll be jumping right on it unless I find a real deal somewhere else.
On the other hand, I just got 3 nice books from PBS - 2 Oranges (Fugitive Pieces and The Magician's Assistant) and a Thirkell, Happy Returns, and they have calmed my addiction for the moment.

popping back in to say- love that cape picture, too cute :)

I was going to say that I agreed with your thoughts on The Glass Room but reading your post again, that might sound as if I was agreeing with your agreeing with me ;-)

I plan to read The Magician's Assistant in January. It does sound good.

I've read the Patchett and it's a good solid read.

Hi, Meg and Lucy and Dee. I'm glad you didn't change your mind about Mawer, Dee. Lucy, I may bump the Patchett up especially if you're reading it too, Dee. I have treated myself to such orangeness that I have a confusion to choose from! I haven't read much of A Gate at the Stairs yet, but I like the narrator's voice, so I'm in. If I finish it in December, I'll have read an Orange a month, and that feels satisfying.

COMPANY PARADE by Storm Jameson
I read this for the "Read a Book with Fewer than Five Reviews" TIOLI challenge. When I have a minute, I think I'll write a real review. I'll just say that this was an easy book to put down, but I was always pleased with the lovely, apparently effortless writing. I will read the other two in the trilogy fairly soon, I hope.

>38 LizzieD:: interesting. I keep meaning to read this as I haven't read any of her books yet.

Laura, I do wish you'd read it. I enjoyed it, but I still have reservations. I'm wondering, since I seem to make the same objections about other books, whether I'm a faulty reader or whether the women I've been reading don't quite have the flair for creating breathing characters. I did write a review of sorts which you can find here.

Very good review! I feel I've read something by Jameson, but I can't think what. Off to have a look! Hooray for LT!

Back to say, apparently I own Women Against Men but I can't remember a thing about it, even after looking at a couple of reviews here. It's in my studio, (separate from the house) so I will look in the morning.

I just like her name and may one of her books just for that alone.

Your review was really interesting, Peggy and has a thumb from me! I'll try and read this one before too long, as like Laura I haven't read any Jameson and I have Company Parade in my VMC collection.

That's a GREAT review, Peggy! I can see from the quotes you shared how well-written it is. I, too, appreciate well-developed characters. Still, 4 stars, not too shabby. I'll have to check it out!

Thank you for the visits and for reading my review, Lucy, Leonie, Dee, and Laura. I think that Women Against Men is short stories and contains some writing that more accurately reflects her particular talents. I got that from the intro and will be trying one or two just to find out. I dithered about 3½ or 4 stars, Laura, but settled on the 4 because of the writing.

Just stopping by, Peggy. Love the Christmas tree up top!

Love that review Peggy; I'm thinking more and more that I should join the Virago group because the Virago authors I've read including Edith Wharton and Margaret Laurence, I've loved. Company Parade sounds like something I'd like too. Anyway I nosed around the group and I see that they are going to read Elizabeth Taylor in January and I have one of the books already, A View of the Harbor. But I also have my Oranges lined up so I haven't actually joined yet....

47: Oh yes Bonnie, do join! It's a wonderful group. Thanks to Laura, there will be Elizabeth Tayor group reads throughout the year but lots of us read Oranges too!

I'm here to echo Bonnie's praise for your review of Company Parade, Peggy. Hot review!! Bonnie, I figured out how you do the thumb up, hehe!

Welcome back, Stasia!! YAY! And welcome Bonnie, Dee, and Nancy. (And thank you for thumbs, Bonnie and Nancy!) Oh Bonnie, do (and Nancy and Stasia too for that matter) join the Virago group. You'll find so many wonderful, neglected women writers. A View of the Harbour was my first E. Taylor and is still my favorite. I'm pretty sure that I'll have to reread it when the time comes. She would have been a multiple Orange nominee as would E. Wharton and M. Laurence if only the Orange were older.

>47 brenzi:: oh yes, Bonnie! Join us! Just be forewarned: hunting Viragos in used bookshops can become a bit of an obsession. I've had great luck with the PBS wishlist for "passive collecting" -- I wishlisted everything I could find on the site and just wait for things to turn up.

Enjoyed your review of Company Parade. I read that book many years ago and enjoyed it, as well.

Hi Peggy, just stopping by to say hello. Hope you're well!

Hi, Laura, Jerry, and Anne! Thanks for the visit and for the kind words. So, Jerry....did you find the characters living, breathing people or something just a little not quite that? Anne, if I can get rid of the sinus headache and draining, I'll be 100% fine. And Bonnie? Laura and I are #1 and 2 or sometimes #2 and 1 for quite a number of VMCs at PBS!

>54 LizzieD:: Laura and I are #1 and 2 or sometimes #2 and 1 for quite a number of VMCs at PBS!
Tee hee ... so true! And don't forget Elaine (Liz1564) !

I'm not about to forget Elaine, but I'm under the impression that her VMC collection is nearly as complete as Paola's or Patricia's!
Meanwhile, I'm getting into and enjoying my current Orange, A Gate at the Stairs. She's very clever, but not too clever so far. I confess that I am amused and pleased by a passage like this one where the narrator is talking about her reading over her Christmas break from college: "Christmas music from the radio downstairs, playing through all twelve days of it, wafted up: 'Rejoice, rejoice,' sounded like 'Read Joyce, read Joyce' - and so I did, getting a head start on my Brit Lit. 'Emmanuel...' I made my way through The Critique of Pure reason." Then she writes along normally until exactly ten pages later I read, "I preferred the mentally ill witch Sylvia Plath, whose words sought no enlightenment, no solace, whose words sought nothing but the carving of a cry. An artful one from the pitch black.
Oh, if only she had married Langston Hughes!" That tickles me.

Just trying to catch up and say hello!

I spotted the Storm Jameson novel when I was looking around for VMCs, and it seemed intriguing, but I didn't grab it. My TBR list -- literally, the stacks of unread books in my home -- has grown so dramatically that I simply can't add anything fresh to it right now. Even the library folks are starting to eye me oddly and ask things such as, "you do know how many books you have out, don't you?" Erm, yes. And I won't disclose the number publicly. Even here.

I'm with you there -- one of the tasks for before xmas is to really 'deal' with my tbr's which I have scattered artfully around the house to convince myself that it's 'not so bad' -- but I've recently acquired a bookcase that I can use to replace a smaller one and I have hopes of serious consolidation and maybe maybe a bit of common sense (not likely) about what is feasible in one lifetime. Ok forget I said that!

Hi, Joanne!
Suz and Lu, you do realize who you're talking to, don't you? This would be the woman who has read right at one third of her personal holdings and doesn't hesitate, although she sometimes blushes, to acquire more. Rest easy. You two are pikers in comparison.

Whooo! OOooo! I won Arcadia by Lauren Groff, so I'm happy about that. Suddenly, I have 3 ER's unread and unreviewed (unreceived too).

I found Moore's novel highly entertaining and very humorous in a tremendously cutting and sarcastic way Peggy. She had me laughing out loud in parts of the book before the theme got heavy later on.

#54> Well, it's been a long time since I read that book. If I'm remembering correctly, some of the characters were more deeply drawn than others. Others were more or less archetypes of the period, perhaps stylized a bit, as it were. Overall, I remember the book being quite affecting, however.

Hi, Bonnie and Jerry. I guess you're right about Jameson's using stylized characters. The more I think about it, the less dialogue I seem to remember. Lots of commentary about Hervey - I guess maybe telling rather than showing. Usually, I dislike that, but I'll certainly read more of her work...someday.
I'm still liking *Gate,* Bonnie. If I could ever sit down and read, I'd polish it right off so that I could get to the first of my ARC's to arrive. It's The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney, and I'm looking forward to it even though I haven't read *Tenderness* yet. In fact, you sent me *Tenderness* through PBS, didn't you? Thank you!

Merry Christmas, Peggy! When I joined LT in March, you were among the first to welcome me. You probably don't even remember, but I always will. Thank you for that : ).

Nancy, you made my week! Thank you!

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE by J. K. Rowling

I liked this one better than *Phoenix*. My main reaction to the series still stands. She could have worked just a little harder and made it a classic in every sense of the word.
I also wonder how my life would have been different if I had had these to read as a child. I'm sure that time spent playing games of imagination would have been spent in Hogwarts instead. As an adult, I can't imagine whether those games would have been richer or poorer than the ones I played and the stories I told myself.

Hello Lizzie. I've just finished reading Half-blood Prince to my younger son, having read the series a few years back with my older one. I love the books unreservedly but I think I would probably be more critical if I wasn't reading them with my boys.

Hogwarts has certainly been part of J's imaginative childhood world. I have memories of him dressed up as Harry Potter and his closest female friend as Hermione, running around with wands casting spells on each other when they were about ten.

The HP series had a tremendous influence on my oldest (just turning 19). She devoured the books and until very recently would re-read often, especially during stressful times. Much like what Dee described, at around 10 she used to orchestrate elaborate wizarding games with her sister. Now she is studying to be a writer and credits Jane Austen and JK Rowling as the two authors who most influenced her!

Dee, if I had first read them with a child or been a child, I'd have no criticism either. Maybe I need to blame the non-existent editor again. I also have to say that I found fewer awkwardnesses and repetition in this one than in the others. Beyond being fodder for young imaginations, the books have to be an instant bond for all kinds of children. Laura, I think that it's great that JKR gets equal credits with JA for inspiring your daughter to write. That means that the seed was planted early!

Merry Christmas, Peggy. I hope Santa's sleigh is not too overloaded with books for you (and me!).

Are you excited about the big Dickens anniversary next year? I think I'm going to have to start over with Our Mutual Friend. I haven't been a very good friend to ??? lately. See, I can't even remember the characters' names... except for Lizzie, of course!

I am excited about Dickens in '12, Donna! I can't justify rereading the ones I love and adore like Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend (If you remember Lizzie, you must remember Eugene and Bradley Headstone and the Boffins and Silas Wegg and Mr. Venus, but you may be excused if you forgot the totally forgettable Bella Wilfer), but I mean to do Barnaby Rudge first and then reward myself with Dombey and Son or Little Dorrit or Martin Chuzzlewit or Nicholas Nickleby or The Old Curiosity Shop (my first). That's a year's worth of reading right there!

I could gas on for hours about the pros and cons of HP -- almost all pros btw, I'm just trying to be fair. I know of several children who wouldn't read at all until being swept up by the stories. My daughter's world certainly was enriched and she still, at 15 cares a great deal and announced to me the other day that according to a quiz she just took she's 78% Ravenclaw...... The main point is that most of the kids energized by HP move on to other things with a kind of gusto, for my dau. theatre, making up her own games on the internet (thus tackling programming), and a general eagerness to engage actively with the world in a creative way. She is very inspired simply by Rowling's own story, which she knows, heaven knows how. The only downside I can think of, is perhaps, a disappointment that magic isn't real. But then, my dau.'s best subject has always been science, which she, in fact, finds quite magical and fascinating enough, as well she should!

That's all very informative. Thanks, Lucy. My smartest high school students were pretty uniformly Potterites and followers of The Lion King (Hakuna matata)

Merry Christmas, Peggy!

Merry Christmas Peggy! I'm looking forward to my first reading of Bleak House in February (once OJ is over). Then I'll ask you to point me to another Dickens. Late in the year I'd like to read the new Tomalin bio of the man.

Merry, Merry Christmas to you and yours, Peggy!!!

Many thanks, Roni, Bonnie, and Joanne! I will be happy to talk Dickens all next year, Bonnie!

A GATE AT THE STAIRS by Lorrie Moore

What to say? At first, I was carried away by the writing. Then it became over-the-top even for me. At first, I liked the narrator. Then I tired of her profundities that were maybe only craziness. I thought that the plot was about an upscale white couple adopting a mixed-race child with trendy casualness. Then it wasn't anymore. Was it about our narrator's descent into a breakdown? She certainly had enough happen in her freshman year of college to cause one. Did she come out of it? I don't know what to write about this book, so I'm off to read some other reviews.
That this was on the 2010 shortlist for the Orange Prize reinforces my impression that a book has to delve into dysfunction and death to get their attention. I won't forget it anytime soon, but I don't think that further rumination is going to clarify my confusion.

Merry Christmas, Peggy. Or should I say "felix nativitas" instead?

Peggy: Merry Christmas -- I'll catch up with you in Jan.

glitter-graphics.com

Merry Christmas, Peggy!

Merry Christmas!!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Dickens in the new year...

Peggy - Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you and yours from a not so cool and festive looking Malaysia. Hope to keep up with your always interesting thread next year and I am looking forward to Dickens at some stage as I am sure you are too.

Merry Christmas Peggy. I'm planning to reread Barnaby Rudge at the beginning of 2012 too.

Also wanted to belatedly say that I enjoyed your review of Company Parade.

Merry Christmas, Peggy!

I too was disappointed in The Gate at the Stairs as I got into it. I read it with a book group (it was my choice) and everyone else loathed it. I didn't hate it the way they did and I liked her writing so will try something else by her but I got tired of the narrator and her digressions and there were a couple of scenes that just didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Merry Christmas Peggy!

Wishing you all the very best Peggy!

Merry Christmas to you, Peggy, with my best wishes!

Merry Christmas!

And a very merry Christmas to you, Peggy. Happy to report that Mrs. Kitten gave me the Tomalin biography of Dickens this morning. Can't wait to dive in!

Thank you, friends, for visiting and for cheery Christmas wishes! We did have a wonderful day! DH engineered the transportation of our traditional Christmas meal out to Mama in the nursing home. It was still hot when we sat down to it, and it was a fine treat all the way around.
Even though it's Christmas, I want to get through the comments on the book I just finished so that I can ship it off to an LT friend who has been wanting to read it. (Thank you for indulging me, Suzanne. You can see that your generosity continues.)

THE NOVEL IN THE VIOLA by Natasha Solomons
Solomons begins with an interesting premise: an upper middle-class Jewish girl/woman takes a job in an English stately home as a way to escape Vienna just before the outbreak of WWII. I got that part just fine. The part that I didn't get gives the book its title. Her father, a famous novelist, puts the only copy of his latest novel in her viola for her to smuggle out of the country. I didn't get it in the beginning; it seems awfully contrived and unlikely. I didn't get it in the end.. (I won't spoil, but the ending of that thread of the plot is totally inexplicable to me. I'd love an explanation, in fact.) Quickly, Elise, our heroine, is transformed from a pudgy, greedy socially incompetent teen into a lovely young woman with whom the son of the house falls in love. All pretty predictable. Solomons's nice writing saves the book from being a waste of time. It becomes instead, a light romance with plenty of emotion but nothing approaching an insight about nationality, class, war, or love. I gave it three stars because I did read it. I could better have spent my time with something better, but I really wasn't in the mood for better, so I'm glad that I had it!

Hello, Peggy. I'm glad you and your family had a wonderful day. We had a quiet but lovely day yesterday and things are about to get busier with the imminent arrival of my mother and her husband who will be staying for several days. (They married too recently for me to consider him a step-father, lovely man though he is!)

I gave up on The Novel in the Viola after a few pages and swapped it on. I'm quite relieved that you didn't give it a glowing review which might have made me regret it!

Hi, Dee. I probably wouldn't have finished it either except that Suzanne was so gracious to send it to me even after she pretty much panned it. I should have known better. I'm eager to see whether friend romain regrets mentioning it when she's had a chance at it.
Meanwhile, two announcements!
1. I got TEN (10!) books for Christmas - unprecedented in a family that usually says, "Don't you have a lot of books already?" - mostly from very dear and generous LT buddies.
2. I have just realized that I haven't catalogued the old wall of books in our library. Most of them are DH's, but a fair number are duplicates in better condition than my own when we combined libraries 41 years ago today, so I got rid of mine. I just found, for example, that I didn't have our copy of Catcher in the Rye on here. Near it I found my copy of Tale of Genji for which I had looked when Belva was talking about reading it. So I have some work for the new year!

Hi Peggy. Glad to hear you received so many books as Christmas presents (why do people think you can ever have too many books?).

The Novel in the Viola is in the UK kindle sale at the moment and I am hesitating over buying it. I liked what I read in the sample but if you, Suzanne, Dee and Kerry have been less than overwhelmed with it but Cushla and Luxi (elkiedee) really liked it. Decisions, decisions...

Heather, I think it depends on your expectations. I got it despite Suzanne's warning, so I wasn't expecting much. I think people who have read her short stories were very disappointed. Good luck!

Heather, if you liked what you read in the sample of The Novel in the Viola, then you'll probably like the book more than I did. I wasn't keen on the writing style so decided not to read on after the first few pages.

Just to say that I have spent my GC which I received yesterday, on a copy of River of Smoke and one of A Gentle Madness. I'm not sure what's gentle about my madness. I've just realized that my Thingaversary is coming up in early January, and I must buy 3 more books!!!! I'll try not to go more overboard but will try to hoard other Christmas cash for later when something comes up that I absolutely can't live without.

#97 Good choices (by which I mean both of those books are on my wishlist). Enjoy choosing those Thingaversary books too :-)

Back on LT just in time to wish you all the best for the New Year, Peggy!

I've just realized that my Thingaversary is coming up in early January, and I must buy 3 more books!!!!
Does that mean I am not only allowed, but 'forced' to buy books for my Thingaversary? And if I missed one (or 2 or 3) do I have to buy the number I missed? So far I never cared for that day! (Off to check when I joined LT...)

Oh, absolutely, Nathalie! You'd better get to buying those make-up books immediately before you get into real trouble!!!!
Heather, you obviously have perfect taste!

Can't wait until March 30 when I get to buy 6! I'll be looking for bargains!

I like that. I MUST buy three more books. Yes, well I MUST buy two on the 5th and I am presently utterly glutted with books, so it is actually going to be a bit challenging. Not really. But I do have just a flutter of anxiety about how many books I have to read now!

Happy Lori! I wish I had been here for six years - but then, I would probably have been fired for dereliction of duty rather than retired.
So, here's my last for 2011. I did a quick reread so that I could have 85 books to my credit...foolish, shallow, but I'm delighted.

HUNTING PARTY by Elizabeth Moon
This was the perfect way to end the year! With family duties I couldn't concentrate on anything demanding, and E. Moon provided excellent escape. Heris Seranno has resigned her commission in the regular space service under a cloud and accepted a job captaining a rich old woman's space yacht. She and the ROW become close friends and confederates as Lady Cecelia learns about her vessel and teaches Heris to ride to hounds. Along the way they find that smugglers have been using Sweet Delight and that something other than foxes is being hunted on Cecelia's friend Bunny's gaming world. Mix in some spoiled, bright young things and a sinister villain, and you have that excellent escape. Moon helps by plotting well and writing appealing characters. I'm off to the next, Sporting Chance soon!

Lizzie - It will be 5 years (plus one to grow on). Each year you purchase the number of years you've been a member, plus one to grow on.

Hello to you. I send all good wishes for a lovely year. You are a kind, lovely soul and deserve the best that life can offer.

Hi Peggy, not foolish or shallow at all. I hope you enjoy River of Smoke as much as I did. I am promising myself that I will show considerable restraint this year in purchasing books. As my hubby says, "You need to read all the books you already own before you buy anymore or get any out of the library." Yeah, like that's going to happen. Still, I do want to plow through the books on the shelf. But then again I still have a fistful of B&N GCs so....

Ah, the Hunting Party series, especially the first three books, are totally delightful escapism in my book! Good reading, Peggy. I'm so tempted.

Best wishes for a wonderful 2012, Peggy.

Thank you for the wise counsel, Lori! Yay!
Thank you for New Year's wishes, Linda and Becky! I'll do my best to return them!!
Roni, we agree. Esmé is fun, but she's not Heris. Neither is Ky Vatta if you ask me.

And coming near to the end of 2011, here are my favorite books of the year, excluding rereads.

Fiction
All Clear
Cloud Atlas
A Glastonbury Romance
Regenesis
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Sovereign
The Seas
The Memory of Love
Sacred Hunger
Bel Canto
Kraken
Reamde
Old Filth

Non-Fiction
Ex Libris
Letters Between Six Sisters
Pagans and Christians
Truman
Jane Austen: A Life
Outwitting History
The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Path to Power

Agree with you 100%, Peggy, re: >109 LizzieD:.

Ah, you are getting your 'best of the year' taken care of! bravo! It's nice to see how many books we shared.

Peggy: Great "best of" list -- we have some in common. You had a wonderful year of reading. Happy New Year.

Hi, Roni, Lucy, and Beth! Wasn't it a great year for reading!
While I'm here, let me ask whether anybody knows anything about the historical accuracy of Stephen E. Ambrose. I was all set to put Undaunted Courage on my Kindle as the daily deal when I read a review that said that Ambrose is a lying fake. Hmmm. I should ask Suzanne. Lucy, do you know? Anybody?

Peggy: I think there was a scandal about his plagiarizing a few years ago. I don't remember details.

#110 Great best-of list Peggy. Where I've read them, I agree and where I haven't read them, I want to!

Thanks for the information, Beth. That's enough to save me some time!
Thank you, Heather.

BAD influence, Peggy--I read Hunting Party last night for my final book of the year!

Making my final tour of the 2011 threads, before going to my own and posting yearly statistics and a Happy New Year to all, before creating my 2012 thread. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow? Do you know that Richard already has over 100 messages over there?
I've loved reading your thread this year, Peggy, and look forward to 2012.

BIG grin, Roni! I'm forcing myself not to read Sporting Chance straight through.
Happy New Year to you!
In fact, Happy New Year to all of you, my dear friends who have delighted me by your visits. I'm off to make my 2012 thread the official one right now! Please join me when you can at LizzieD: 2012*1

Dear Peggy, I'm sorry I've been absent from this thread during December. I'll try not to let boring paperwork and tax returns get in the way of essential things like following your reading and conversations in 2012! See you over there... and Happy New Year!