Genny's Gramarye 2012: Quire 1

Welcome to a new thread for a New Year! Welcome back, old friends, and welcome too to new group members or visitors.

Getting back into doing calligraphy is one of my aims for the coming year, so I got my proper pen out to scribe a New Year greeting.

And if you prefer your New Year good wishes in musical form, have a listen to this traditional wassailing song - sung by one of my favourite interpreters of the folk tradition, Kate Rusby.

From the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology:
gramarye †grammar, learning XIV; (arch.) occult learning, magic XV. — AN. gramarie = OF. gramaire GRAMMAR; cf. GLAMOUR.

I was trying to think of a book-related word beginning with 'g' to provide me with an alliterative thread title. Gramarye seemed to fit the bill - a word with a good medieval pedigree and a very interesting subsequent history. I love the fact that 'grammar' and 'glamour' are closely related. Once the original definition of 'learning' took on the flavour of 'occult learning' or magic, grammar/glamour came to be about casting a spell, bewitching and enchanting the reader/observer. So the authors we read and love today could be thought of as 'glamour girls' (and 'boys') as they use their literary, grammatical skills to cast a spell or glamour on us and enchant us with their books.

My Book-Related Goals for 2012

Read more books than I acquire - Last year I read 120 books, but acquired over 300. With over 450 in my TBR collection, and more uncatalogued unread books, I have plenty to keep me going. A total book-buying ban is unreaslistic, but I'm aiming for adding no more than 60 this year, ie half as many as I aim to read.
Catalogue more books from my existing collection - Acquiring fewer new books will give me more time to get on with cataloguing the existing collection. Aiming to do 40 books per month - that won't make much of an indent in the total, but it will be some progress at least.
Record at least brief responses to each book immediately - No more backlogs of un-written reviews: a brief comment, and move on. I can always add more, but I might do better to make brief comments while I'm reading than aim to write perfectly formed reviews when I've finished.
Read 6 books in each of the following 12 categories - I intend to set up a thread in the 12 in 12 group. Reading 12 for each category would be an unattainable goal, but 6 sounds manageable, and leaves me (if I manage to read 100-120 books in total) about 30 or more books that don't have to fit into any category.
1 Gifts and Loans - time to read some of those presents, and read and return books lent to me by friends!
2 Virago Modern Classics - my collection of VMCs has been growing far faster than I have been reading them.
3 Biographies - I seem to have acquired quite a few, at least half of them written by Claire Tomalin!
4 Middle Ages - books written in or about the medieval period, fiction or non-fiction.
5 Series and Sequels - an excuse to read the next one in a variety of favourite series.
6 Overseas - books by non UK (and non US) authors, or set in countries other than UK or US. Might include books in a foreign language.
7 The 19th Century - perhaps some Dickens in this bicentenary year. There's also Trollope, Eliot, Gaskell...
8 Non-Fiction - Books on History, Language, Travel, Books about Books...
9 Children's - new authors to explore, and new books by childhood favourite authors like Joan Aiken.
10 Theology - Umm, there's a study full of books on religion and spirituality waiting to see the light of day!
11 Prize Winners - The place for those Orange or Booker winners or nominees.
12 Re-reads - Mustn't forget to make time for some old favourites amid all these shiny new books.

Currently reading:

Revelation - C J Sansom
Shark's fin and Sichuan pepper - Fuchsia Dunlop
The Pickwick Papers - Dickens (ebook)
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (Audiobook)
Martin Luther King - Godfrey Hodgson (paused in reading because I've mislaid the book!)

My 'Currently Reading' collection used to contain quite a few books which I started reading but have not managed to finish - not usually because I didn't like the book but because I'm not always good at keeping several books on the go at once, and having been distracted from a book it can take me a long time to get back into it again. I've moved all these (interesting that many of them are non-fiction) into a new collection called 'Stalled', and hope to return to finish them at some point. I'll list the stalled books here, to remind me, and so that I can cross them off once read.

Stalled - to pick up again soon...
Presiding like a woman
The life and death of Mary Wollstonecraft
The broken sword
Beowulf: a new verse translation
Landmarks: an Ignatian journey
Eating for England
Mysteries
Planet Narnia
We - John Dickinson
If you meet George Herbert on the road, kill him
The God Delusion
Gilead
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
The Picture of Dorian Gray

Books read

January
1. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil - J R R Tolkien - Audiobook - 2.1 - Reviewed 3.5 stars
2. Mr Ives' Christmas - Oscar Hijuelos - 14.1
3. Betrayal - Karin Alvtegen - eBook - 16.1
4. Hand in Glove - Ngaio Marsh - 21.1
5. The Siege - Helen Dunmore - 29.1
6. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - 31.1 - e-Book
7. Letter from Birmingham Jail - Martin Luther King - 31.1 - e-Book

February
8. The Winter Sleepwalker - Joan Aiken - 3.2
9. Invitation to the Waltz - Rosamond Lehmann - 14.2
10. Faceless Killers - Henning Mankell - 15.2
11. Cheerfulness Breaks In - Angela Thirkell - 15.2
12. A Year Lost and Found - Michael Mayne - 16.2
13. The Voice of the Violin - Andrea Camilleri - 16.2
14. Selected Poems: U A Fanthorpe - 17.2
15. A Game of Thrones - George R R Martin - 25.2
16. A Clash of Kings - George R R Martin - 29.2

March
17. Death Comes to Pemberley - P D James - 3.3
18. A Stitch in Time - Penelope Lively - 6.3
19. A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow - George R R Martin - 8.3
20. A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold - George R R Martin - 10.3
21. A fountain filled with blood - Julia Spencer-Fleming - 13.3

The goal is to add no more than 60 new books to my library during 2012. Thus 5 per month on average. I will count all books which I acquire, whether bought, received as gifts or through Bookmooch. Library books and other loans do not count, as I will not be keeping those, though I will list them here also.

Books acquired

January
Bookmooch:
1. The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman (VMC)
2. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding - Agatha Christie
Oxfam shop:
3. Strip Jack - Ian Rankin
Library
A. Betrayal - Karin Alvtegen - eBook - (for book group) - READ
Loan
B. Death comes to Pemberley - P D James - READ

February
from Oxfam shop - to celebrate 6th Thingaversary
4. In Patagonia - Bruce Chatwin
5. George beneath a paper moon - Nina Bawden
6. Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
7. Respected Sir - Naguib Mahfouz
8. Spiderweb - Penelope Lively
from Amazon marketplace - to celebrate Thingaversary
9. Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett
Library
C. Cheerfulness breaks in - Angela Thirkell - READ
D. The Voice of the Violin - Andrea Camilleri - READ
from St Oswald's library sale
10. Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

March
from Amazon Marketplace
11. A Fountain Filled with Blood - Julia Spencer-Fleming - to celebrate Thingaversary - READ
12. A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow - George R R Martin - READ
Loan
E. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - Paul Torday
Library
F. Foundation - Asimov
G. Berlin Poplars - Anne B Ragde
H. The Betrayal - Helen Dunmore
from Oxfam shop:
13. Olivia by Olivia=Dorothy Strachey (VMC original green)

2011 SUMMARY

Here is a summary and analysis of all the books I read in 2011.

120 books read in total;16 of these were re-reads.

Fiction: 106; non-fiction: 14

Genre breakdown:

Fiction
Crime/Mysteries: 42, of which
‘Golden Age’ mysteries: 22
Contemporary crime: 14
Historical mysteries: 6
General and literary fiction: 17
Children’s/YA: 12
20th century classics (including VMCs): 8
Fantasy: 8
19th century classics: 6
SciFi/distopian: 5
Humour: 5
Historical fiction: 3

Non fiction:
Biography/memoir: 5
Books about books: 4
History: 2
Religion, Travel/social history, Language: 1

Author breakdown:

Books by female authors: 66 (44 different authors)
Books by male authors: 54 (39 different authors)

Total different authors read: 83
Of whom living: 47; dead: 36 (several died during 2011)
Authors new to me: 49

Authors by whom I read more than 1 book:
Dorothy L Sayers 7
Agatha Christie 7
Terry Pratchett 6
Beatrix Potter, Margery Allingham, Penelope Lively, C J Sansom 3
Margaret Maron, Adrian Plass, Youngman Carter, Russel Hoban, Helen Hanff, Jane Austen, Stephen Saylor, Arnaldur Indridason, Jasper Fforde, Diana Wynn Jones, Andrea Camilleri, Edith Wharton 2

Nationality:
UK:79
USA: 25
Icelandic, Italian, Indian: 2
Canadian, Spanish, Mexican, Nigerian, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, French: 1

Where I have read multiple books by particular authors, that is mostly because I’m reading a series or sequels. The exceptions are Penelope Lively, Russel Hoban, Jane Austen, Diana Wynn Jones and Edith Wharton.

Source and format breakdown:

Own books: 94 (of which 80 acquired this year, 14 in previous years)
Library books: 22
Other loans: 4

All traditional paper books apart from:
eBooks: 8
Audiobooks: 5

Best reads of 2011

Discounting re-reads, and in order of reading, here are my 5 star reads for 2011:

Non fiction
Sisters of Sinai

Fiction
Bury Your Dead
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
The Mill on the Floss

Children's
The Treehorn Trilogy

The following got 4.5 stars (this stars business is so subjective - I am tempted to change the rating on some, especially when I see what I gave to other books which I also liked; but I'll not start tinkering now!).

Non fiction
84 Charing Cross Road
The Hiding Place

Fiction
The Help
Sea of Poppies
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Started Early, Took my Dog
Ethan Frome
Mapp and Lucia
The Age of Innocence
Plague of Doves
The Country of the Pointed Firs
North and South

Children's
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe

Welcome back!

So organized...the C of E ladies, they put us mere mortals to shame.

Hi Genny - good to see you are *under construction* for 2012:)

Hi, Genny - welcome back!

HI Genny, dropping in to leave my star

found and starred, will be back in the new year :-)

Looking forward to another year, Genny!

*STARRED*

Found you and looking forward to another year of one of my favourite threads on LT!

It's exciting, everyone launching their 2012 threads!

starred :) Happy New Year

Hey, Genny! Glad to see you joining us again in 2012!

Hi Genny! I have you starred!

Hi Genny. Kudos for putting a word in your thread title that I had to look up in the dictionary :-)

>18 souloftherose:: Isn't she amazing! I had to do the same. I tried to find a nifty word for this year's thread using a thesaurus, but gave up. So I am in awe of her greatness :)

Genny look forward to keeping up again in 2012. Happy, healthy and peaceful new year to you.

There you are! Found you amongst the explosion of new threads. :)

*Starred*

I hope you have a great New Year!

Happy New Year, Genny!
You are starred!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, dear Genny!
I"m bringing a star and a hope that 2012 bests 2011 in wonderful books and conversation!

Happy New Year Genny!

Happy New Year from me too, Genny!

Thank you, visitors so far, and a Happy New Year to you all too! I'm half-open for business, with a couple of additions to my first post but I've not got the time to set everything up properly yet (and half of me is still in 2011 trying to finish off there...). I hope to get properly organised in the next few days.

Thanks for sharing the Kate Rusby song, Genny. I love folk music, so I will look out for hers.

1: Lovely voice!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Genny!

Happy New Year, Genny. I can't wait to see what you read this year.

Good day to you, Genny, and Happy New Year!

I could swear I've been to this thread already, but I must have only skulked rather than signing in.

In any event - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Genny!

Hi Genny,

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, Genny!

Happy New Year, Genny. I've placed my star and I am looking forward to you being open full time!

Happy New Year, Genny. I have you starred!

*waving* as I head through the threads, Genny

Happy New Year, Genny. see you throughout 2012.

Hi there Genny!

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year to you, Genny!

Oh good, I haven't missed anything yet. Checking in for 2012 Genny! *parks her butt on a cosy chair and waits expectantly*

Nothing to miss yet - I'm still trying to finish up 2011!

2011? That is so last year :)

Just a wave and a star... I'm trying to catch up on everyone's thread and failing miserably!

Found you, Genny :) And starred!! I like your calligraphy :)

I see you're still under construction, Genny. No worries. There is a lot of 2012 left. I just hope it doesn't go by as quickly as 2011!

Are you "happy" yet, Genny? lol
We sure hope so!

Found you at last Genny! Lovely calligraphy!

Ha, never fear Genny - I only just finished up my 2011 reviewing too! I was determined to be done by the end of December but between a couple of house guests and a fuzzy-head cold, it just wasn't happening... :)

Hello all lovely visitors - sorry I've been so quiet... I'm still in a kind of limbo between 2011 and 2012! I want to finish off the old thread before starting this one properly - but I've not had the time or the energy to do that, and time is ticking on. I shall endeavour to put some sort of conclusion on the old thread in the next few days so that I can get going properly in this New Year (before it gets too much older!).

Meanwhile, I've been listening to and loving The Count of Monte Cristo on audio while busy doing lots of tidying up and preparing for hordes of guests . I had 40 people round for drinks on Friday night after our Epiphany service, so had to get the house spruced up a bit. At least I think there were 40 of them. It certainly felt like it - and I put out 40 glasses and they were all used, though there could have been some people who had two, I suppose! Anyway, mulled wine and mulled cranberry juice for those driving, and a spare Christmas cake, and a lovely French Epiphany cake (galette des rois - puff pastry filled with almond paste) baked by a French lady in the congregation) all went down a treat, but left me pretty exhausted by the end of it all.

The book I'm currently reading, as opposed to listening to, is Mr Ives' Christmas, which I started on New Year's Day but am making slow progress due to being away with family and friends, and then so busy and/or tired since I got home. But liking it so far. I'm also dipping into some poetry: Selected Poems U A Fanthorpe - which has some lovely pieces in it - I aim to quote a couple when I am more organised and have both time and the book in front of me.

I just ran across Mr. Ives' Christmas mentioned in a book I was reading this past week, Reading with Deeper Eyes. I will be interested in your take on the Hijuelos book when you are done with it, Genny.

I hope you get some time to rest soon!

Hello, Genny! Your Christmas sounded lovely and exhausting, your guests must have had a wonderful time! Mulled cranberry juice is a good idea- *makes mental note to remember that next December*.

#51 I'd never heard of Epiphany cake before Genny but that sounds lovely. Not sure I would like the idea of having 40 people round for drinks though - no wonder you're exhausted!

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favourite books so I'm glad you're enjoying it.

#54 I'd seen these traditional cakes - Galette des Rois (Kings' Cake or 3 Kings' Cake) in the shops in France and Belgium around this time of year - they look like this:



or sometimes like this with a crown on top:



but I'd never tasted one before. Sadly, I didn't get to taste it this time either, as the lady who brought it cut it into about 30 slices but that was not quite enough for everyone!

The tradition is that there is a bean (or more recently sometimes a porcelein or plastic figure) baked into the cake, and whoever gets the bean is King (or Queen) for the day. I see in Wikipedia that the tradition exists in other countries too, with different forms of cake.

It was good to get folk together - so many people go away over Christmas, or over New Year, there is not really a chance for a parish social event while everyone is doing things with family, so this is an opportunity to gather again and catch up with each other. It is a good idea in principal, but I have been feeling so shattered all week that I was regretting having extended the open invitation. Thankfully I have a very helpful lady who always offers to come and help me set up on these occasions, and then dashes back after the service to unlock and let people in while I'm still finishing off in church, and then she is busy all evening serving drinks, and stays to do all the washing up too. I couldn't do it without her!

I am glad you had some help, Genny! I cannot imagine dealing with that number of people on my own. Of course, 2 intimidates me :)

Someday you'll get a taste of that delicious-looking cake!

Hi Genny,
We have that same King's cake on Mardi Gras. Went to a party last year and I got LBJ (little baby Jesus). All it means is I have to make the next cake. (Was worried it meant I would have a baby :P) The cake was yummy!

What a long holiday season you have over there! You'll need another vacation! ;-)

Oh - that reminds me that I had thought about ordering a king cake from Gambino's bakery! I haven't had an authentic one in years.

ETA - YIKES - their prices have gone up. I may have to make my own!

#56 Yes, I need the help, Stasia - in trying to be hospitable I feel the lack of a spouse very keenly! I don't mind catering for large groups - I would have trouble getting the quantities right for a family of 4 because I'm not used to it: most of my cooking is for one or for 20+!

#57 One day indeed, Lucy!

#58 Although we celebrate the festival in church, there are no popular cultural culinary or other traditions associated with Epiphany in the UK apart from taking down the Christmas decorations, and even that is dying out as most people take them down by New Year or before these days. The majority of people would regard Christmas as over and done with by the end of Boxing Day, though many people have the week off until just after New Year, so it is still holiday, but no longer Christmas. They think me strange if I wish them Happy Christmas after 25th! Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and the Christmas song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', are about the only survivals in wider culture to remind people of the idea that Christmas was once a 12 day feast starting on 25th and continuing to the 6th January, rather than starting in early December and wearing itself out as soon as we get to the 25th.

#59 I hadn't realised, until I googled it for more information, that king cakes existed outside France/Belgium, though it makes sense that they are found in other Catholic cultures and have spread around the world that way. Making your own sounds like the best option - what kind of cake is it in your neck of the woods?

You need a househusband, Genny!!

I always think it's such a shame to take down decorations before Twelfth Night, aka Epiphany. That said, I know that Christmastide lasts the full 12 days (or perhaps from Dec 6 onward?) but after the day itself, "happy Christmas" doesn't really feel appropriate.

I had some King Cake in New Orleans in the pre-flood days, during the run up to Mardi Gras there. Yum...

The Nawlins king cake a la Gambino's.

Tacky tacky tacky, but fun.

>61 Chatterbox: The Twelve Days start on the 25th and go to the 6th. We used to decorate on St. Nicholas's Day, December 6, and take down on Epiphany, January 6. Handy bookends date-wise.

This year, we're leaving the decorations up until Mardi Gras.

#62 Those are some colours for a cake! Very gaudy and festive!

#61, 63 Mardi Gras! There's something the Protestant cultures really miss out on. A few paltry pancakes on Shrove Tuesday is all we get - not weeks of partying!

You're going to keep banging your head against those dangly musical instruments until then??

>64 gennyt: I love the season of festivals around now because it's so very antithetical to the Longface Purtians League wing of Christianity. Plus I like gaudying the place up!

>65 Chatterbox: I hate those damned things. I'll probably sneak 'em down during the coming week. Just have to think of a cover story....

Genny - looking for progress report on Mr. Ives' Christmas which was one of my last reads last year.
Interesting to see your views on the disappearing traditions of Christmas and the extended festive season. The scramble for New year sales has had some impact in degenerating the spirit of Christmas IMO - I remember a slower and gentler world and miss it terribly to be honest.

I took our decorations down yesterday--I always like to wait until after Epiphany.

You learn so much on LT, I have never heard of Epiphany until just now and the King Cakes look great. I've always had this thing in my head to take the decorations down before New Years, to start the new year with a fresh start I guess, but holidays can delay that sometimes. Still, a nice idea though.

I sometimes wait until, ahem, .... actually.... we do eventually undecorate the tree and put it out, but not until it is a fire hazard.

Ahem . . . I never got my little ceramic Christmas tree put away last year. (blushes) It's on top of a bookcase. I guess I never got past all the books, so it stayed up all year!

Thanks for recent visits and comments, Terri, Lucy, Leonie, Roni, Paul, Richard and Suzanne!

I'm glad to hear that others of you (with or without blushes) also keep the festivities going, or at least the decorations up, longer than some think is normal. My tree and decorations are all still there - I regard the 12th Night deadline as a minimum rather than a maximum rule for taking them down, and often leave them up until Candlemas (beginning of February). Partly because once they are up I'm too busy/lazy to take them down, partly because the twinkling lights and beautiful (if increasingly dusty) decorations cheer me up in the dreary January days. And partly because I'm always slow to get round to starting things, and then slow to stop once started!

There was one time when I had a phone call from the police, mid-January, because I still had a tree up. Apparently a concerned neighbour (but not one who actually knew anything about me) thought that perhaps there was an elderly person in my house who was too ill to do the decent thing and take down the decorations. I suppose it was nice that they were concerned, but I did think it a bit rich that no-one bats an eyelid when decorations go up in mid-December, but keep them up beyond the beginning of January and there must be something wrong with you!

Reading is still very slow - I've only got about 90 pages into Mr Ives' Christmas. I am liking it, but have just been so very tired. However, a major meeting is out of the way, and I hope the next few days will give a little more space for reading now that some of the work pressure has eased a little. Though I've still got some thread updating to do too.

I've listed my final two months' reading in 2011 at the bottom of my old thread with a few statistics following. No reviews, apart from one done way back at the beginning of November. But if you are interested in what I thought about any of those reads, do ask and I'll happily share some rambling thoughts!

Oh, Genny, I love the story about the police phoning you over your Christmas tree still being up in January. A bit rich, indeed, hehe!

What a funny story!

72 - hahaha concerned neighbour or spoilsport?!

This great song - I'd rather read a book - by folk singer Harvey Andrews (unknown to me before this) is the theme song for the current Book of the Week readings on BBC Radio 4 - Stop what you're doing and read this - the daily 15 minute programme consists of some of the essays from the book of the same name, Stop what you're doing and read this! edited by Mark Haddon.

I think it should be the theme song of 75ers too!

Nancy, Lucy and Paul - I'm glad you enjoyed the story. I still kept the tree up, despite police harassment!

Thanks Genny, it didn't take me long to find a book to add to my Amazon basket for the next order : Stop what you're doing and read this. I love essays, and I love books about books. I'll have to count fewer if I say put up your hand if you DON'T like reading books about books, in here!

Genny, thanks for posting the link to the song. It was great and I like your idea of it being the 75ers theme song.

Genny

What a great story about a concerned neighbor and your decorations.

January is a slow read month for me thus far. I cannot seem to find the time and energy.

All the best,

Thanks for the tip about the book of the week Genny - I've found it on iplayer. I think I would have been quite affronted by that call from the Police about your Christmas tree!

Funny story, although it makes me wonder why the neighbor couldn't just knock on your door to see if everything was ok.

Perhaps he/she was too scared of what might be found! Let the authorities deal with it...

I've been doing some end-of-year finishing off on my last 2011 thread, and as no-one is around there any more, I thought I'd post the results here as well.

Best reads of 2011

Discounting re-reads, and in order of reading, here are my 5 star reads for 2011:

Non fiction
Sisters of Sinai

Fiction
Bury Your Dead
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
The Mill on the Floss

Children's
The Treehorn Trilogy

The following got 4.5 stars (this stars business is so subjective - I am tempted to change the rating on some, especially when I see what I gave to other books which I also liked; but I'll not start tinkering now!).

Non fiction
84 Charing Cross Road
The Hiding Place

Fiction
The Help
Sea of Poppies
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Started Early, Took my Dog
Ethan Frome
Mapp and Lucia
The Age of Innocence
Plague of Doves
The Country of the Pointed Firs
North and South

Children's
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe

As usual, taking far too long and going into more detail than is really necessary, here is a summary and analysis of all the books I read in 2011.

120 books read in total;16 of these were re-reads.

Fiction: 106; non-fiction: 14

Genre breakdown:

Fiction
Crime/Mysteries: 42, of which
‘Golden Age’ mysteries: 22
Contemporary crime: 14
Historical mysteries: 6
General and literary fiction: 17
Children’s/YA: 12
20th century classics (including VMCs): 8
Fantasy: 8
19th century classics: 6
SciFi/distopian: 5
Humour: 5
Historical fiction: 3

Non fiction:
Biography/memoir: 5
Books about books: 4
History: 2
Religion, Travel/social history, Language: 1

Author breakdown:

Books by female authors: 66 (44 different authors)
Books by male authors: 54 (39 different authors)

Total different authors read: 83
Of whom living: 47; dead: 36 (several died during 2011)
Authors new to me: 49

Authors by whom I read more than 1 book:
Dorothy L Sayers 7
Agatha Christie 7
Terry Pratchett 6
Beatrix Potter, Margery Allingham, Penelope Lively, C J Sansom 3
Margaret Maron, Adrian Plass, Youngman Carter, Russel Hoban, Helen Hanff, Jane Austen, Stephen Saylor, Arnaldur Indridason, Jasper Fforde, Diana Wynn Jones, Andrea Camilleri, Edith Wharton 2

Nationality:
UK:79
USA: 25
Icelandic, Italian, Indian: 2
Canadian, Spanish, Mexican, Nigerian, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, French: 1

Where I have read multiple books by particular authors, that is mostly because I’m reading a series or sequels. The exceptions are Penelope Lively, Russel Hoban, Jane Austen, Diana Wynn Jones and Edith Wharton.

Source and format breakdown:

Own books: 94 (of which 80 acquired this year, 14 in previous years)
Library books: 22
Other loans: 4

All traditional paper books apart from:
eBooks: 8
Audiobooks: 5

Reflections on the statistics

Female/male split is roughly what I expected. A good number of new-to-me authors in there. Very anglo-centric: an even higher proportion of UK authors than I expected. I’m not surprised that American authors are the only other large category, but I was surprised that I read only one Canadian book this year.

Interesting that I have read more living authors than dead, though multiple books by several dead authors probably more or less closes the gap. When asked to list favourite living authors, the first names that spring to mind are all dead, but there are clearly plenty of living ones to choose from – though not all of these are destined to become favourites.

Non-fiction is not quite as low as I feared – average of just over one a month. Categorising by genre is a bit arbitrary, because some books are impossible to classify and others could easily sit in more than one category. I notice that the only fantasy I’ve read this year is comic/satirical fantasy (Pratchett) and Fforde’s alternate reality which is also tending to the humorous side. Surprisingly little historical fiction, but several of those I’ve assigned to contemporary/literary fiction have historical settings and could have been called historical fiction, and I've read quite a few historical mysteries too. Mysteries/crime/detective stories have been my main light reads between heavier tomes - surprised that I've read quite so many though.

I have only managed to complete one book on religion all year! And that was a short book of art, poems, meditations and prayers. This is a sign of how much reading has been my leisure/escape from work responsibilities, leading me to neglect the shelves full of theology books which sounded so very interesting when I bought them. In the years before religion was my work, I read books about religion very frequently! (That was when I should have been reading about medieval manuscripts; and when I was meant to be revising for my finals I read all the novels of Hardy; there is definitely a pattern here of reading as avoidance…).

Loved your review of your reading year in 2011, Genny. I'm impressed with your attention to detail! Chuckled at there is definitely a pattern here of reading as avoidance. But of course, there is! That goes without saying in my home! (I posted this message earlier on my iPad, or thought I had ... don't know what happened there.)

Oh Genny! What story about a neighbour calling the police re decorations still up in January!!! :) Oh dear ! I'm sure you are glad that is behind you!

Interesting statistics. So far I've been far too lazy to analyze my books of 2011 , other than to put my top reads on last years thread.

As a stata-holic I found your ponderings and analysis of last year's reading very interesting Genny. It does seem a case that ladies read more lady authors than men do. I am trying to correct this myself this year by participating in the orange reads.

Promise not to rat you out to your bishop on your failure to read all those theology tomes, Genny... :-)

I'm not even sure where I'd start to analyze my reading!

Great stats Genny! I love that stuff.
I find I don't enjoy "professional" reading anymore either, even if the topic is interesting. It's the obligatory nature of it, I suppose.

#85 I haven't quite had the energy to look at my stats for last year either. "there is definitely a pattern here of reading as avoidance…" :-)

took me a while to find your thread, but I did eventually and you are now starred. I'm hoping to spend more time in LT this year and as you were kind enough to pop by my thread last year and you're a friend of Cushla's (who totally raves about LT and the threads she follows!) I look forward to hearing your stories and recommendations. A bit late, but Happy New Year.

Belated Happy New Year, Genny! I love Gambino's king cakes, which we used to buy when I was a college student at Tulane University in New Orleans. BTW, the traditional colors of Mardi Gras are green, purple and gold, and every king cake I've seen has frosting with these three colors.

Wow - Genny! That quite an analysis of your 2011 reading.
Your author breakdown was most interesting to me.

I'm not sure I want to do that with my own reading. I just love that I've loved so many books last year!

Maybe if I am bored someday (LOL) I'll see what I have. Maybe. ;-)

LOVE your stats. NOT too much detail. INSPIRING. in fact. Wow. I think I was surprised by how many books by Canadians I had read -- thrilled -- in fact as I just did it unconsciously. Not enough writers from 'Down Under' either on my list, although there were one or two.

Those mystery writers from Scandinavia really have us all branching out! Ditto Italy, Turkey etc.

Interesting to see your reading stats, Genny. Mine would definitely have a gender bias towards women writers but I have several male writers lined up for the next month or so, so maybe that will change.

Great stats and analysis, Genny. And your best reads just gave me some new BBs. I might even have The Mill on the Floss in some Classics anthology on my Kindle.

Interesting stats, Genny!

no-one bats an eyelid when decorations go up in mid-December, but keep them up beyond the beginning of January and there must be something wrong with you!

Forget going up in mid-December -- these days, around here, they are up well before the end of November! In the stores sometimes in October-- ugh!. It's no wonder that people are ready for Christmas to be over on 12/25, though I always keep things lit through the Twelve Days (at least).

What a fun lot of stuff you have going on here!
READING AS AVOIDANCE!! I am Queen. OR I have a PhRaa! I usually do a much less effective look at my year's reading, but I didn't get to it this year, and the motivation has gone. I'm happy to see yours though.
As to Christmas decorations, we take everything down on the 6th, but we left the undecorated tree up until Saturday because it still smells so good. In fact, it will sit out by a side door, and we'll get whiffs of it until it is bare. I didn't know about my DH's tree-saving until after we were married, but as a child I also dragged our tree out into the woods to my "Christmas Tree Graveyard." A match made somewhere!
Exactly, Terri! I even think that for lots of people now Christmas day itself is an anti-cliimax. Sad as well as disgusting.

#86 Thanks Nancy - you also posted on my 2011 thread, where this info is repeated. I must put a message there to say that that thread is more or less closed now (my hope to get some reviews written to finish off the year is I think a vain one).

#87 It was many years ago now, Deb, but I thought it was both funny and revealing when it happened. My book analysis is a form of procrastination rather than a sign of great industry, I fear!

#88 Paul, I'm glad you approve of the stats! The gender balance thing is interesting - it seems many women read a more even mixture of F/M than men do, or to put it another way, most women are far more likely to read books by men than men are to read books by women. So well done you for bucking the trend and joining in the Orange prize reads!

#89 Thanks for your discretion, Suz! The silly thing is, I really do enjoy reading some of those books once I get into them, and get lots of good ideas and insights which are potentially very helpful. But just as when watching TV I rarely get round to the documentaries, however fascinating, and prioritise dramas, so with books I seem to gravitate towards the fiction and avoid the non-fiction most of the time. As for you analysing your reading - well it took me long enough with the number I read, I can't imagine what a task you'd have with your huge reading list!

#90 Glad you enjoyed them, Laura. You may be right about the obligatory nature of professional reading. It also suffers in competition with more urgent seeming tasks. If I could make myself set aside an hour a day, or a half-day a week, purely for work-related reading, and ignore the emails, phone calls and nagging awareness of overdue deadlines, I'd get somewhere! That's the plan, but it never works out. It's not that I do no professional reading - but I'm mainly reading bits and pieces online, or a few pages here or there for reference, mainly of a more practical nature, rather than books that encourage me to step back and look at things more deeply or contemplate the bigger picture. But those things are really important...

Grrr! Before I started responding to recent visitors, I spent a lot of time finally setting up the first few posts in this thread, including a lot in the opening post setting out my reading goals for 2012.

Somehow, while typing a new post at the bottom of the thread, I managed to cut and paste most of the contents of my first post down here - and thinking that this was a duplicate, I deleted it. Now I find that I've lost nearly everthing I wrote in the first post. Will have to do it all again now, before I forget what I wrote.

#91 It took me a while to summon the energy too, Heather; and doing this has been in its turn a form of avoidance of getting started on 2012, including reading, which has been very slow so far...

#92 Hi Georgia - thanks for visiting and starring. I've been to check out your thread too - and I see from your profile that you live in Louth, which is not far from where I worked for 5 years in Boston. I was back down in Lincolnshire over new year visiting my sister near Spalding, and friends in Boston. Happy New Year to you too!

#93 Hi Darryl - that's interesting about the Mardi Gras colours; it's a combination I've not seen before, and it's certainly bright! The french galette looked very different, without any icing/frosting - perhaps one day I'll get to visit where they celebrate Mardi Gras and experience another form of King Cake!

#94 Loving the books is the main thing, Claudia! And reading another one, rather than analysing reading patterns, is an sensible preference. I think I wanted to do my stats to check out my gut feeling about what I'd been giving priority to unconsciously, since I didn't try to fit things into particular categories last year. The results of the analysis have helped to shape what my 12 in 12 categories will be this year.

#95 'Inspiring', Lucy? Well, I'm glad to appeal to the inner nerd in all who appreciate such things! It's those unconscious trends that are interesting to me. In 2010 I think I read several more books by Canadians, but still probably only one Antipodean. Clearly what would bump up the statistics would be getting hooked on some good Australian or NZ mystery series - anybody got any recommendations?

#96 Hi Dee - the gender bias thing is fascinating. Orange January will of course be keeping your female author stats high!

#97 Welcome, Nathalie! You should give Mill on the Floss a try. A lovely depiction of childhood, and exploration of a sibling relationship, and different approaches to education in the mid-19th century - beautiful writing and interesting observations - and some very funny passages although the book is not a comedy.

#98 Actually, Terri, I meant to type mid-November not mid-December. December wouldn't be so bad. Here too, the shops get in very early, and domestic decorations are often up well before the end of November, and I agree, that's probably why people are mostly eager to get read of them straight after the 25th, whereas I delay as long as practically possible putting them up, and then want to enjoy them for longer once the season has begun.

#99 Glad you are joining in the fun; you can be Queen of the Reading as Avoidance Club, if I can be President! I like your story about saving the tree, and Christmas Tree Graveyards! In Holland when I was growing up, and where they did not traditionally keep decorations till 12th night, but had big New Year's Eve celebrations with bonfires and fireworks, kids used to call round the neighbourhood wanting to collect our tree to put on the bonfire. It was a good way in a suburban area to resolve the issue of how to dispose of the tree, but we always refused to give ours up because it wasn't yet 12th Night, so we had to find somewhere else to take the tree when it eventually came down.

There, all caught up, top of the thread is now updated (including the bits I had to re-do) and you can now read there all about my book-related goals for 2012 (if you should wish!).

All that remains is to fulfill one of those goals by recording some brief comments on my first three reads of the year.

Book 1 - The Adventures of Tom Bombadil - J R R Tolkien. Audiobook, narrated by Derek Jacobi.


I listened to this while driving back from my sister's after New Year. A slightly disappointing rendition of a well-loved favourite. I've read this collection of poems many times (the cover image is of my well-thumbed paperback edition, not the audiobook) - indeed I remember my father reading some of them aloud to me, especially the one about the 'Fat cat on the mat/who seems to dream/of nice mice that suffice/for him, or cream...' and the one about the sinister Mewlips. I've also got, and often listened to, the Donald Swan song cycle which sets some of these to music, and a marvellous recording of Tolkien himself reading some of the poems. So I know them pretty well, this collection, party whimsy, part bestiary, some with clever intricate metres, some playing with scholarly methods, such as the poem which purports to reconstruct the original text lying behind the nursery rhyme 'Hey Diddle Diddle'. Perhaps it is because I know them so well, and can hear Tolkien's voice and inflections reading them, that I found Jacobi's narration a little offputting. He emphasised the wrong things, sometimes, and his whimsical tone was too much, though it should have suited the light-hearted nature of many of the verses. Still, it was great to be reminded of this old favourite - I might have to go and dig out the other recordings again soon!

3.5 stars for this version (I'd give the book 4, but knocked off half because the narration didn't work for me). It's a book that only Tolkien lovers are likely to appreciate, and only those who love, rather than skip over, the songs and poems in LoTR!

> 104: you are absolutely right Genny, I did read all songs and poems in LoTR and liked The adventures of Tom Bombadil ;-)

Hi there Genny. I love your stats (and enjoyed doing mine) and your goals for 2012. I always loved Tom Bombadil but have yet to read "The Adventures of". I think I'd enjoy it most following another re-read of LoTR--too bad about the narration.

**lurking**

Tom Bombadil made no sense to me, narratively speaking. What was the point of having a human character? *shrug*

Hello Genny! Dropping off a star for you. :)

Genny, we have more in common than I thought! I was just chuckling when I read that you are familiar with Moleskin ! One of my favourite books in my young adolescence was Back in the Jug Again by Geoffrey Wiliams. I still have it on my shelves and I just love it! :) I am afraid I grew up and still have a warped sense of humour! :) LOL! Glad to know I'm not the only one here on LT! I actually quite enjoyed school, but oh I loved that book!

*rattles Genny's fridge door*

Any asparagus in here? No? How about some heavy cream? The terrine needs topping up.

#111 No asparagus - wrong season. If 'heavy cream' is what I call double cream though, I have some going spare... I'll pop over with it.

If anyone's baffled, there's a bit of a party going on over on Richard's thread, and they are running low on supplies.

Ha! I forget that many, if not most, people are not yet at the party. As an inducement, maybe, y'all can check out my review of The Night Circus in post #97! I've even got contrarian Genny to waver a tiny bit more in favor of reading the book. I think.

Mysteries from downunder? I'm not a big reader of local crime books but have a few on my tbr list to get to.
Australia:
Adrian Hyland's Emily Tempest series
Peter Temple's The Broken Shore & Jack Irish Quartet
New Zealand:
A man you can bank on by Derek Hansen - a NZer who lives in Australia: http://www.derekhansen.com.au/
One day I'll read Paul Cleave's The Cleaner, Ngaio Marsh or something by Paul Thomas.
Maurice Gee writes the occasional one, Crime Story was pretty good.

#113 - I would be happy to join your party! Not sure if I can provide cream or asparagus, but I can fight off any unwanted zombie attacks. I also make a devine flan. :)

Ooo flan! I forgot desserts!!

Here you are Genny. I had to use the Threadbook to find you (I'm so glad to have that handy tool!). I'm all caught up now. We took our tree down on January 8 which is a little later than usual. When I was working I always wanted to get it down before I had to go back to school on or about January 2 or 3. It was nice to be able to gradually put everything back into the Christmas closet instead of clearing the stuff at breakneck speed.

Checking in, Genny

Kerry thanks for the antipodean survey of worthwhile crimesters. Read Marsh and Temple but the others would be new to me and will have to hunt them down and give 'em a go.
Genny hi to you and I wish you a lovely and peaceful weekend.

Passing through -- yes -- I think after having read the author reading his/her work, nothing else ever quite measures up because they really do KNOW what they meant.....

Well, I've not posted on here for a few days, after my big catch up. What with the shock of the news of Janet's death, (JanetinLondon) as well as general busyness with work stuff, I haven't been in the right frame of mind for chat or reading updates.

I'm in sore need of a large mug of tea at present, having just come in from a busy day where I've been at work from 7am till 5.30pm, and on my feet for most of that. I hope to come back a bit later, if I don't fall asleep over my tea, and post some replies and maybe some book reports, but meanwhile, here's an update on what I've read so far this month:

Books read

January
1. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil - J R R Tolkien - Audiobook - 2.1 - Reviewed 3.5 stars
2. Mr Ives' Christmas - Oscar Hijuelos - 14.1
3. Betrayal - Karin Alvtegen - eBook - 16.1
4. Hand in Glove - Ngaio Marsh - 21.1

and what I'm currently reading:
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (Audiobook)
Selected Poems: U A Fanthorpe
Martin Luther King - Godfrey Hodgson - but I've mislaid the book! where have I put it down??
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde (eBook)

I can also report that I have acquired only three books so far this month/year, so have managed to stick within my 'not more than five a month' rule so far...

And I have catalogued 7 books from my existing collection (starting to work my way through my obscure foreign grammar book collection - anyone fancy learning Cornish?) - a way to go if I'm to meet the 40 per month target!

Unless I can find the missing MLK book at once, I'll need to pick out another main book to start reading - these days I seem to manage multiple reading if I have one eBook, one audiobook and one or two paper books on the go at once. With the poetry collection, I am just reading the odd one or two at bed-time, so I do need a main book to be getting on with, but I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for next.

Terrible news about Janet, Genny. I'm feeling such shock at this moment. Where did you hear about this? Is there a memorial thread somewhere or something. : (

>122 HanGerg: HanGerg, the memorial thread for Janet is here.

Thanks Richard, I'll go there now.

Hi, Genny! I was very saddened to learn of Janet's death.

I hope you find your mislaid book right away. I know what a nuisance that is.

Sometimes I wish books came with bells attached. I mislay mine fairly often unfortunately. I hope you find your missing book, Genny!

Here's a cuppa for you. . .

Hi Genny,
Rough start to the year. I did not know Janet at all... but I do see now, I missed something very special. How very sad to lose an LT friend - condolences. :(

Hi Genny, just attempting to catch up instead of going to bed! Sorry to hear that work has been busy and that you've mislaid your MLK book! I once managed to lose an enormous 600 page hardback library book between the back of the sofa and the cushions on it for a couple of weeks. What was really worrying was that I'd been sitting on the chair and hadn't felt the book through the cushions - clearly I am not a princess....

I've also been congratulating myself on some restraint with book purchases. I know it will all go horribly wrong at some point but it's nice to have started well.

Also still trying to come to terms with Janet's death. Sending hugs.

Hugs from me too!

Funny book story, Heather!

How did I do that?! I just typed replies to the past 9 messages, and was in the middle of a grumble about how many hours I have been working the past couple of days and how little energy I have left to tackle all the jobs I still need to do...

...and then my finger slipped on the keyboard and the whole post has disappeared. I think I need another cup of tea before I start all over again!

> 130: that is SO annoying!

OH! It happens far too often to me, too, Genny. I HATE that! I'm such a lousy writer/typist - I really get annoyed when I have to do it more than once. Especially if I thought I did a pretty good job of what I lost.

I had written 90% of a review the other day when I had to go and do something else. While I was away from the computer it installed some program updates and then restarted itself.

Sigh.

This has happened so often that I now write longer reviews in word and then copy them into LT. My Mac at home requires such a strange combination of keys for the touchstone brackets, and if I hit the wrong ones, which happens all the time, I am suddenly on a different web site with my texts gone when I go back.

Have a good day!

Hi Genny, your updates for 2011 were worth waiting for. I see a lot of my favorites on your "Best Reads" list. Interesting to note that you read more books on religion before entering the field as a career. Somehow "career" doesn't seem to fit. How about calling or life's work?

I'm still mourning Janet's loss, too. How fortunate that you were able to meet her, but I suspect it makes the loss even more palpable. I started listening to The Worst Journey in the World yesterday, one of the last books she loved and raved about. She certainly had a deep love for good books and a convincing way to get others to read what she loved.

I like that rereading books is on your list of reading goals for the year. I don't intentionally set out to visit books again - it just happens! I also saw Planet Narnia on your list of "stalled" books. I picked it up at the library yesterday and it looks very good. I bought the shorter version that Michael Ward also wrote called The Narnia Code. That's the one we're required to read for class, but I like the in-depth version better so I'll probably read both of them in February.

I often do that too Deern -- write it offline. I have lost so many 'brilliant' or at least.... maybe more like labored over posts!

Don't you hate it when computers develop minds of their own?? It shouldn't be permitted...

Hope you find some energy and any missing books soon!

The Count of Monte Cristo (not for the weak-wristed!) is one of my top reads of all time! Epic! I hope you enjoy, Genny.

drive by hello

Have I ever read The Count of Monte Cristo? I'm not sure. Hmmmm. I detect a library hold addition coming on.

Sorry, I am neglecting my thread again. Lots of deadlines at work (and tax return still not finished...).

Thank you all for commiserations on the swallowed-up post. Because this happens too often, I do tend to compose reviews/book reports in a word-processor first before posting them. But I don't normally do this with general conversational posts and replies, as that would create so much more work. I wish there was an 'undo' button to use while typing messages on the threads.

#139 Hello to you to! The Count is a cracking good story - so far (I'm about 1/5 through listening to it).

#138 Hi Nancy. I am enjoying it, indeed, and sparing my wrists because I'm listening rather than reading. I think it works well as an audio.

#137 Thanks Suzanne. Have some energy today (though missing book has still not turned up) but most of the energy must be turned towards tax return, sadly.

#136 Yes, Lucy, all those brilliant posts we have lost! It's funny how the ones that disappear are always our best...

#135 Donna, I'm glad you enjoyed the updates. And it's a great way to remember Janet and honour her by reading some of the books she enjoyed. I'm planning to read God's Philosophers soon too, for the same reason - and it will also fit into one of my categories: books about the middle ages.

Planet Narnia is very interesting - Ward has come up with a fascinating theory which sounds at first very far-fetched but argues it in convincing detail. For someone who (like me) read the Narnia stories many, many times in childhood and knows them very well indeed, it made me think about them in a whole new light. Having said that, I must finish the book properly - I read about 2/3 but it's a while since I had to return my library copy and now that I have my own copy I may need to go back a bit to remind myself what's gone before.

#134 Nathalie, I'm glad I'm not the only one it happens to - and how annoying it must be that the touchstone brackets are so fiddly! - at least on my PC they are only a single keystroke.

#133 How infuriating, Liz - especially as I know your reviews are on the longer side, and must take quite a lot of work!

#131, 132 Yes it's so annoying, Claudia and Anita, isn't it. I find if I redo the lost work straight away, it doesn't take so long, because some of the hard-worked-on phrases are still in my mind - but it's still extra work and a waste of precious time. This time round, I'm afraid I couldn't face doing it all again at once.

I've been distracting myself by cataloguing a few of the obscure language text-books on my shelves (the ones that are just waiting for those idle hours when I can sit and teach myself a bit of Gothic or Middle High German - and have been thus waiting for about 25 years already!).

Flipping through one of them - An elementary Middle English grammar I spotted among the many chapter sub-headings this wonderful phrase: The Monophthongization of M.E. Diphthongs. As Lucy (sibyx) said on her thread recently, don't you just love words! I challenge anyone to work that one into their daily conversation this week...

Words are indubitably fascinating. I guess I'm going to have to look for Planet Narnia now--onto the wishlist it goes.

I finished The Siege just now - I should be working, but I have been gripped by this powerful novel and had to finish it.

re 141 - Genny, I know it's Sunday and all but what swam into my mind is a technical convo between two very serious underwear designers at a lingerie convention after a few cocktails.

Glad you enjoyed The Siege, that's another Orange book I didn't get to in January (although someone has pointed out that it fits one of February's TIOLI challenges so perhaps I will get to it soon). I do want to read Planet Narnia and we even have a copy but I know it will make me want to reread all the Narnia books and there are so many other books calling to me at the moment!

#144 Love it!

Hope you can get your tax return finished, Genny.

Courage, Genny! Funny, Lucy!
*sigh* I sure do like it here..... Joining Heather in hopes that you will get that tax return done and can reward yourself with a good book. And hopes that MLK comes out of hiding. I HATE to lose a book in mid-read, and I do it more often than I should. I'm blind without my glasses, so I can't see the thing. But I read without my glasses, so I often don't have them on when I'm seeking or mislaying (or I could maybe get an eidetic picture). Ah well. The joys of being Lizzie.

Genny - enjoy the rest of your Geordie weekend!

Tax returns submitted! Two of them, one a year overdue... Or rather, I've sent the details by special delivery to my tax consultant, and as long as he receives the details tomorrow, and has time to submit my online return before midnight tomorrow, I shall escape without a further fine.

But even if they can't meet the deadline, and I do get a fine, I don't really care so much because at least I've finally done my bit.

Now I'm off on a 24-hour retreat with some colleagues up in the NOrthumbrian hills. The weather is that damp kind of cold which seeps into your bones, and I'm feeling pretty exhausted after forcing myself to wrestle with figures for the past 12 hours non stop, so I probably won't be going for any walks in the country lanes but will find a cosy corner of the retreat house to curl up and read (and probably fall asleep).

I won't have my laptop with me, but will have smartphone so may be checking a few threads, but unlikely to be posting much until I return.

Ooh, that's sounds lovely Genny! Enjoy!

Hooray, my tax consultant has emailed to say the returns are complete and he is able to file online today, so I should avoid further penalties.
*Note to self: do this earlier next year and avoid all the anxiety and tension!

This 24 hours away is probably more accurately termed a residential than a retreat - little space for reading quietly by myself, at least yesterday, as we were having a interesting and passionate discussion until midnight (and possibly beyond, but at that point I went to bed!) about many things, particularly the state of education and how best we can support schools and articulate a vision for education that is not purely functional and utilitarian.

Also, our Bishop is with us and has given a couple of talks about the gospel as Tragedy and Comedy, which has given food for thought. Tragedy is the inevitable. Comedy is the unprecedented/unexpected.

Have a good retreat Genny - it is lovely in them thar hills!

#150 Hooray for a completed and filed tax return! Hope your retreat residential is restful and thought-provoking.

Waving Hi Genny, enjoy your break away and an extra big congrats to getting those tax returns done.

Hope you enjoyed getting away from it all for a bit--stimulating discussion is a bonus! Congrats on mastering the tax returns!

YAY, Genny!
You did it! Taxes done!

Hoorah for completed tax forms! Hoorah for retreats in Northumberland which sound wonderful, if a little cold!

I am in sympathy with your goals in working with schools and hope you go, at least a little way, in achieving them. It is so sad that so much of education has become a matter of ticking boxes and helping the school meet its targets.

I almost lost the whole of my planned February reading yesterday. I had it in a pile in my bedroom after checking for eligibility for TIOLI challenges and then had to move it out of the bedroom (along with any stray diphthongs etc that I had lying around ;) ) to make way for the delivery of a new bed. It didn't take me too long to remember where I'd put it but it was slightly stressful at the time!

Thanks for all the tax encouragement and congratulations!

I finished a couple of books on Tuesday, just squeezing them into January. One was The Picture of Dorian Gray which I've been reading on and off in ebook form for a very long time. So that is one off my stalled list! The other was the very short but powerful Letter from Birmingham Jail - since I still have not located my other MLK book, I wanted to read something to honour that TIOLI challenge - and it was short enough to squeeze in during the last half an hour of the month!

I will do a summary of January books read and some brief comments/reviews later on today - first I have to do some chores (washing, tidying, putting away Christmas decorations at last). I will also report on a little book-shopping spree I went on today, in honour of my 6th Thingaversary which is tomorrow. Five books bought, which leaves me with two more to complete the Thingaverary total of one for each year of membership plus one to grow. For those two, I will check up on my series and order a couple to fill in gaps so that I can continue reading. And all that will still be within my 2012 limit of not more than 5 books per month on average: I only acquired 3 in January, so 7 in February is ok...

Only 3 books..... sigh.... even with my vow NOT to acquire I think my score is more like ten -- mostly due to PBS and (justifiable) group reads, but even so. Although, I do think fewer came in than I read, my bookshelves seem just the tiniest bit less jammed, but barely.

January reading summary
1. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil - J R R Tolkien - ♫ Audiobook - Reviewed 3.5 stars
An old favourite in a slightly disappointing audio-rendering.

2. Mr Ives' Christmas - Oscar Hijuelos – 4 stars
A gentle, ruminative novel about faith, loss, grief and holding onto liberal values in the face of life's harsh realities

3. Betrayal - Karin Alvtegen - eBook – 2.5 stars
Psychological thriller which reminded me why I don't much like psychological thrillers.

4. Hand in Glove - Ngaio Marsh – 3 stars
Murder mystery set in the English countryside of the 1960s, its style and characters both harking back to an older age. With such a setting, you would not know that the author was a New Zealander.

5. The Siege - Helen Dunmore – 4.5 stars
Powerful novel depicting the first winter of the siege of Leningrad in WWII, when many thousands died of cold and starvation. Beautiful writing capturing both the terrible heart of the ordeal and also the everyday realities of what came before and after.

6. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde – eBook – 4 stars
I stopped and started this several times in the first 1/3 of the book - first started reading it over a year ago, before it really took off this month. Hated Lord Henry with his cynical, clever, hedonistic and highly quotable views which dominated the first part of the book. The dialogue-filled parts of the novel read more like a play, while elsewhere it consists of rich descriptive prose: Wilde lingers over the surface details of colours, textures, fabrics - the sensual awareness of beauty or lack of it in every setting is part of this fable's exploration of the relationship between beauty, pleasure, good and evil, innocence and decadence. I'm still not sure I like this book or know whether Lord Henry's philosophy is being condemned or commended, but it does rather get under your skin.

7. Letter from Birmingham Jail - Martin Luther King – eBook – 5 stars
King's persuasive and powerful response to criticism by white church leaders of his involvement in civil disobedience protests for which he was imprisoned. On there being no such thing as 'outsiders' when it comes to fighting injustice: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". On distinguishing between just and unjust laws: "Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." On his frustration with lukewarm liberal support: "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."

Analysis:

Format:
3 paper books, 3 eBooks, 1 audiobook

Source:
2 acquired this year (eBook downloads/loans)
4 acquired 2011
1 acquired 2010
1 gift, 2 Bookmooch, 2 free downloads, 1 library download, 1 Audible subscription

Genre:
6 fiction, 1 non-fiction
1 general fiction, 1 historical fiction, 1 classic, 2 crime/thriller, 1 children’s/fantasy, 1 politics/religion
1 re-read (but in a new format)

Authors:
4 male, 3 female
3 UK/Irish, 2 US, 1 NZ, 1 Swedish

New to me authors: 5/7

Great summing up there, Genny. I sometimes enjoy psychological thrillers but wasn't too keen on Betrayal either.

Great January Stats, you've had a good start to the year Genny.

I've just started The Siege - 4.5* is an encouraging endorsement! Thanks, Genny.

#162 I do hope you enjoy it too, Nancy. Enjoy seems the wrong word for such a harrowing story though.

#161 Thanks Leonie. January was quite a slow reading month for me - a couple of the 7 I read were very short indeed. But long or short, there were some good ones among them.

#160 Betrayal was for my book group, Dee. Most of us found we didn't like it very much, unfortunately. I was quite impressed at the opening chapters' portrayal of a disintegrating marriage, where the same conversation between husband and wife is described from each point of view in turn, showing how completely they were mis-communicating and had been doing for a long time. If the book had stuck to exploring that relationship and whether it was possible for them to redeem it, I would have enjoyed it a lot more, but the addition of a serial killer stalker into the plot just seemed unnecessary and over-the-top. I read another of Alvtegen's books - Missing - at the end of last year, and liked it a little better, though that one had a rather unrealistically happy ending, I thought.

I meant to say yesterday that it was my 6th Thingaversary. I joined LT in February 2006. I can't remember now how I came across it; probably a mention on some other book-related website, or maybe I was just searching online to see if there were any cataloguing aids out there. I'd been meaning to catalogue my books properly for years, and had started to learn how to create a relational database so I could design my own programme. I know I was delighted to discover that LT existed and had done the hard work for me, so I all needed to do was add the books.

At the time, I only added a few new acquisitions, and then forgot about LT again. I came back to it on and off over the next 4 years, but wasn't systematically adding new books or even starting to add the existing collections. And I hadn't discovered the Groups and the community dimension at all.

Then I was off sick for a couple of months in the new year of 2010, and re-discovered LT when I decided to catalogue and tag all the books I'd been reading for the past 4 years. It was then that I came upon the Talk aspect of LT, and joined a few groups, most of them not very active... Then I stumbled upon the 75 challenge, and the rest is history! It's hard to imagine life now without the (usually) daily catch up with so many friends online. In what has been quite a difficult couple of years for me with ongoing illness as well as bereavements, and feeling isolated from my real-life friends, most of whom live a long way off, this group has been a life-line and a source of great joy, encouragement, laughter, serious conversation, shared enthusiasms, new genres and authors, interesting ideas, and of course massively expanding TBR shelves!

Thank you all for being part of this wonderful bibliophile community of friends.

To celebrate my Thingaversary, I bought the following 5 books in my local Oxfam shop on Friday (under £10 for the lot):

In Patagonia - Bruce Chatwin - time I read some Chatwin.
George beneath a paper moon - Nina Bawden - another VMC
Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman - I've heard of this early feminist utopian novel, but never seen a copy till now.
Respected Sir - Naguib Mahfouz - I've been hearing about his Cairo trilogy, never read any of his
Spiderweb - Penelope Lively - I've several of hers lined up to read already...

I have also ordered these two from Amazon marketplace
A fountain filled with blood - the second in a mystery series by Julia Spencer Fleming. I've been waiting for ages but this series never seems to turn up in my local used bookshops - I think it is not well known in the UK, and the copy I've ordered is being sent from the US.
and
Lords and ladies - Terry Pratchett - to fill a gap in my Discworld series.

That's my seven (six for the years of membership plus one).

I didn't realize you've been here since 2006, Genny! So have I (October), although it took several months for me to get really active on the social side of the site.

Happy Thingaversary, Genny! Isn't LibraryThing wonderful?

Happy Thingaversary Genny!
I am glad we all found our way to LT and the 75 challenge and agree can't imagine how it was before we all met ;-)

Happy Thingaversary Genny! It's so nice to hear what an important part of your life LT has become. It really is such a great community here in the 75 group isn't it? How lucky you stumbled across the community section, for you and for us!

Happy Thingaversary, Genny! I got snowed in for mine, so I didn't get to buy my two books, but I've already made up for it in the two weeks since..... LT is wonderful and the 75ers are the best!

I hope that Ismail Kadare's The Siege is half as good as Helen Dunsmore's book of the same title. I've got it coming up this month for one of my European challenge countries.

Happy Thingaversary, Genny. That's a great stash of books you've got hold of. I read my second Chatwin last year and enjoyed it. In Patagonia is lurking on my tbr pile.

Happy Thinga, Genny. It was a happy day for us when you discovered the 75 Group. I'm like you...it was wasted time on Lt untll I decided to get sociable.

Happy Thingaversary Genny! I also thought there was a letdown from The Siege to The Betrayal but then The Siege was such a powerful, visceral book. It just tore your heart out.

Happy Thingaversary, Genny. You add so much to our community--I'm glad you are here.

Hope you have had a Happy Thingaversary, Genny, with a wish for many more! You celebratory selections look really good; In Patagonia certainly was when I read it years ago. I join in the voices that are glad that you're here, and I'm delighted to get a congratulations in under the wire!

Happy Thingaversary, Genny!
I'm a newbie compared to you... must be nice to be able to get all those great books for your celebration.
I read Herland years ago - don't remember details now. Maybe you will refresh my memory.

Good haul from the Oxfam shop Genny! Happy Thinaversary. Actually, I'm sure mine is this month, better check! Yup, 21 Feb (2007) - 5 years, must remember that!

Happy Thinga! Nice haul! Enjoyed your January round-up too. Amused by the Altvegen comment!

A belated happy thingaversary Genny! And well done on getting a good haul of books to celebrate for such a bargain price.

Me too, Genny - happy thingaversary, that is! Thanks for all of your great comments and thoughtful insights!

Happy Thingaversary! My sixth is looming this fall, although it took me a while to become actively involved.

Hope you like Mahfouz! Do you plan to read Dunmore's sequel to The Siege? I know a lot of folks didn't like it as much; I simply found it to be very different. Read in conjunction, it's a powerful one-two punch.

I'm about to read my second Discworld book -- starting out with the Watch series. Not completely won over to Pratchett's mix of comic and fantastical -- to me, great comedy is what feels to be unintentional, and his is very calculated, lotsa puns -- but amused enough to give Men at Arms a shot.

Belated Happy Thingaversary, Genny!

Thank you for Thingaversary greetings, Terri, Suzanne, Nancy, Heather, Lucy, Caroline, Cee, Peggy, Roni, Bonnie, Donna, Kerry, Lori, Ellen, Hannah, Anita, Dee and Laura!

#181 Yes Suz, I do plan to read the sequel, but don't yet have a copy so it may be a while. And Pratchett isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I do love a good bout of punning from time to time, also the sideswipes at/satire upon different aspects of contemporary society and culture.

#180 Thanks Nancy for your kind words!

#179 In trying to decide which 5 books out of a possible 8 or 9 to buy from Oxfam, I decided to put back on the shelf all those priced at £2.49 and only take those priced £1.99 - hence the good deal for under a tenner! Of course, they are all rather shorter books, so in terms of pages per penny, I maybe didn't get such a good deal!

#178 I'm glad you liked the January roundup, Lucy. The Alvtegen was disappointing - it was a book group read and none of us really liked it. It started quite impressively with an interesting portrayal of complete mis-communication in a marriage, but instead of going on to explore that relationship, it introduced a mad serial killer into the plot and went rapidly and unbelievably downhill from there.

#177 Another February anniversary! Now you've been reminded, are you starting to plan what books to buy in celebration?

#176 In terms of active participation, I'm still very much a newbie too, Cee - but I'm happy to count from the time of joining if that gives me the excuse to buy more books!

#175 I'm glad to hear another thumbs up for In Patagonia - it's one of those books I've known of for many years, high time I got round to it.

#174 I'm glad to be here - and glad you're here too, Roni!

#173 Bonnie, I agree, The Siege was very powerful and visceral. And left me looking at my plate of food at dinner in a whole new way after finishing the book. Oddly though, the Betrayal that I read was not the sequel to the Siege - 'The Betrayal' - but the similarly titled 'Betrayal' , a Swedish psychological thriller. So I've yet to see whether I agree with those who feel that Helen Dunmore's follow up to The Siege is a letdown.

#172 Wasted time indeed, Donna - just think how many more books we could have on our TBR pile by now if we'd been active in this group sooner!

#171 Which Chatwins have you read, Kerry? I'm looking forward to discovering his writing.

#170 I don't know anything about Kadare's The Siege, Lori. Just looked it up - the history as well as the author are unfamiliar to me but it sounds interesting, and I see that it has been doubly translated from Albanian to French to English, which must raise some issues about the writing style. I hope you enjoy it.

#169 I'm glad you got to buy your books sooner or later, Ellen. I agree, LT is wonderful indeed!

#166-8 Thanks Dee, Anita, Hannah, yes that was a lucky stumbling, and I can't imagine life without this group now. I do find it hard to explain to friends and colleagues in real life what this means to me.

#165 If you only took several months Laura you were much quicker to discover it that I was - but at least we all found our way here in the end!

I do find it hard to explain to friends and colleagues in real life what this means to me.
Yep! In fact, I've given up on trying. I do mention LT occasionally, but I refrain from waxing as enthusiastic as I have perhaps done in the past.

That's me, too! I tried to explain this site to my mom, but she didn't seem to think much about it. I believe that LibraryThing is one of the best kept secrets of the internet - everybody else talks about GoodReads or Facebook, but LibraryThing is so much better than those two. :)

Yes, LT is definitely in a class by itself. Unique.

Just stopping by to say hi and a Hapy belated Thingaversary! As for Betrayal by Karin Altven, I've never been able to get into her books either. But, The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore was wonderful!

Hmm, I read both The Siege and The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore in January, and while The Siege was a much stronger work, I enjoyed The Betrayal very much too.

I've read Utz which is an interesting novel set in Prague during WW2, based on a porcelain collection, it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
And last year I got through The Songlines which is set in Australia but tangents into philosophical musings.

Happy belated Thingaversary Genny, and very nice book haul.

I also really enjoy the end-of-month summary. When I see someone else's, it always gives me new ideas for something I could be keeping track of. (For example although I was patting myself on the back for reading a bunch of books off my shelves this month, I did note to myself that every single one of them was acquired in 2011. But I see you have a category for that!)

I'm a fan of Chatwin's writing - not always the subject matter, I'm saying, although I enjoy most of it, but his actual writing style knocks me out. I think I've read everything. In Patagonia is probably the best, and there is also a book of his photographs with text that isn't in print or that easy to find, that I stumbled across in someone's guest room that blew me away. He was an astonishingly good photographer too.

Just to chip in about Ismail Kadare. His book The Concert is incredible. It captures brilliantly the crazy paranoia of living under Communist dictatorship, and also manages to slip in some really compelling stories within stories as well. It's rather difficult to describe but fantastic. Actually, it's a few years since I read it, and I think it might be worth a reread. However, I read another one of his books and it was completely different, and I didn't enjoy it so much. I think he is a stunning writer though, and should be more well known than he is. Not sure if any of this helps you decide whether to read The Siege, but there you go.

I read Kadare's The Accident last year and loathed it, so am in no rush yet to read more.

My fave Chatwin is certainly Utz, a great novel, IMO.

Very belated Thaingaversary wishes Genny don't know how I managed to miss it. Thumbs up also for Chatwin. Read everything by the dear departed fellow and In Patagonia is a very interesting twist on a travel book amongst the welsh of Argentina.

Happy Thingaversary and Happy Day that you are finished with your taxes

Help! Physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted after a combination of very good and very bad things within my professional life in the last couple of weeks.

I've just come home after running a day-long workshop/preparation day for 10 of the couples who are getting married in our church this year. Hugely fruitful and also good fun, this was a mix of discussing the practicalities of planning the day and getting the couples to reflect on the bigger picture of their plans and expectations for their married life, and the resources they bring for coping with the difficult times as well as good ones ( in sickness and in health etc). I had the help of a number of married members of our congregation - which is great because I can't speak myself from personal experience of marriage.

That busy day (10am-4pm) was followed at 5pm with the first actual wedding of the year - an older couple in their 60s/70s, both previously married and widowed. It was a lovely occasion, with a small gathering of family including grandchildren/great nieces as little bridesmaids.

All that would be enough to tire me out in a good way; but I'm also fighting fire about a pastoral situation within the church where a few people are reacting very strongly against a decision I made a couple of weeks ago, and some of them are being very nasty about it. They think I've behaved very unkindly myself, so I guess they regard their attacks on me in turn as richly deserved. I believe I made the decision in good faith, but of course am having some second thoughts at present, and certainly feeling pretty awful about how upset it is making some people. Having said that, most people are backing me up and feel that those against are out of line. But these situations, storm in a teacup to the outside eye, are very painful while they last, and I am one who hates any kind of conflict and wants to make everyone happy all the time. Currently I dread checking my email, in case there is someone else sounding off or sending me angry messages; and I'm feeling very jumpy every time the phone rings (working from home has its disadvantages).

At times like this, it is lovely to be able to log on to LT and know that here I can escape the world of the parish and find solace among book loving friends.

Thank you for all your Thingaversary greetings and other messages. I hope to come back and reply properly, but first I need to cook dinner and try to switch off for a bit.

Not much reading progress at present - I'm currently reading Shark's fin and Sichuan pepper, and also Invitation to the waltz, and The Pickwick Papers, but progress in all of these is slow because I either can't settle to read at all, or I fall asleep when I do.

I hope you'll be able to settle down to some of your reading soon to take your mind off what is going on in your work life. It must be so difficult to keep work and home life separate in your situation.

The wedding stuff sounds lovely but oh how I despise church politics. Years ago I chaired a committee responsible for introducing a new hymnal to the congregation, and was subjected to much after-church haranguing (completely spoiling the coffee hour for me), and also some phone calls, as people lobbied to keep the old books because of favorite hymns. No fun at all, so I can imagine it's one of the less pleasant aspects of your job Genny. Hope it all blows over soon!

Genny, I'm sure you didn't make your original decision without a lot of thought and prayer. I hate conflict too, so I've a good idea how you feel about hearing from those who disagree with you, but if you've made the best decision you can and you are supported by those whose opinion you most admire, dig in and weather it! {{{hugs}}}

Sorry about the flack you're getting from your congregation, Genny. We have a bit of ongoing turmoil in our church. Very sad. I like to think that I am not adding to it. I am taking the "wait and see" approach which means less active involvement in church activities from me. More time for reading and personal devotions, though I do miss the feeling of unity in a church body.

I can't say that I've been witness to church politics, as I've only recently been actively going to church, but my parents are a part of a non-profit organization, and I get to see the battles that go on. Whoo! It's amazing how upset people can get. Hang in there - like Roni said, I bet you didn't make this decision with a lot of prayer and I can see that you are trying to do the right thing.

We LT'ers will be right here when you need a break. :)

Chatwin was friendly with a number of obsessive collectors from his time at Sotheby's - so Utz really has 'the ring of truth' about it!

Hah! Nothing's funner than watching a bunch of Baptists try to put together a church budget. :) I've got lots of sympathy for church-related exasperation!

Genny - chin up I'm sure that you will find a way to explain your decisions even to those too deaf to listen properly.

What a strain, Genny! Its sounds like one of those situations where you're not going to manage to please everybody and I'm glad you have lots of people backing you up. It's certainly not easy being the one to make decisions- in business you'd be financially rewarded for your pains and hopefully not contacted about your decision at home!

Hi Genny. Sorry to hear about the conflict in your church. I, too, am a basic conflict-avoider. While i have gotten more comfortable with it as I've aged, and as long as it's conducted in a respectful manner, I never ever like it. And it's so hard to have a decision you made, with as much thought and consideration as you could at the time, creating antagonism in others. Yuck. I hope you and the congregation are able to move to a better place soon.

Thank you all for your visits and your kind comments. I'm feeling a bit better now - lots of good support and encouragement from people on Sunday, as well as support from all of you, and just time to let the more recent unfortunate communications simmer down a bit, so that I don't keep going over them in my mind.

Also, I'm about to go away for a few days on a retreat - a proper one this time, rather than the 24 hour one a couple of weeks ago which was more like a residential with all my local colleagues from neighbouring churches. This time I'm going from Tuesday to Friday, staying in a small retreat centre in a village on the edge of the North York Moors. I'll be on my own, apart from the small group of Anglican nuns who run the centre - but they will leave me to myself as much as I wish. They have an art/craft room for use of visitors, so I hope to spend some time doing a bit of calligraphy or painting, as well as obviously lots of reading, and I expect I will sleep a lot too. It will be great to be away from the phone and email, especially in the current circumstances. There's no wifi (at least there wasn't last time I stayed there) so I think I'll just enjoy an internet-free few days - though I can log onto LT via my phone if I'm desperate for an update on the threads while I'm away!

#198 Rhian, thanks for visiting! Yes, it is difficult to have a neat separation at best of times, and that becomes an issue when there are more unpleasant things going on, which ideally I'd like to leave behind at the end of the day.

#199 I agree Laura, church politics is about the worst of the job. I know you get it in every job; but there's something about the gap between the ideal of what churches should be/believe themselves to be, and the reality of everyday politicking, that is particularly painful to live with. I'm sure this particular incident will blow over eventually... Roll on retirement, when I can - if I want to - find a church and do a little bit of helping out here and there with the bits of ministry I enjoy, but without all the responsibility, council meetings and awkward people picking holes in everything I do!

#200 Thanks Roni, yes I'm hanging on in there - but the conflict stuff leaves a bad taste in my mouth and a sick feeling every morning. I never knew, until I first encountered this kind of painful turmoil situation within communities, how much one's emotional reactions are manifested in physical symptoms.

#201 I'm sorry you're also experiencing some turmoil in your congregation, Donna. Wait and see sounds like a good approach. You do need to do what you can to nurture yourself; hopefully the time will come when the community becomes a nurturing place once again, not a divisive place.

#202 Long may you escape getting tangled in church politics, Eris! They are an inevitable part of church life, as of any human organisation - and in one sense are completely neutral: things need to be organised, decisions need to be taken, people need to interact with each other to achieve this. It only becomes a problem when there is a mismatch of understanding, expectations, perceptions etc on what needs doing, who should be doing it, how it is done. Sadly, those mismatches crop up pretty often - as you have seen in your parent's voluntary organisation. I think that any organisation where people are giving their time as volunteers is particularly tricky, as there aren't the same kind of contracts, procedures and legislation in place that guide and protect employees and employers.

# 190, 192, 194, 195, 203 - Kerry, Lucy, Paul and Suz, thanks for the various comments and info on Chatwin. I haven't heard of Utz at all, but Songlines is another title that's been on my horizon for ages. I do hope to make a start sooner rather than later with In Patagonia.

# 204 Thanks for the sympathy, Jim! Our budget's about the one thing that is currently not causing a major problem, but give it time...

# 205 There's none so deaf as will not hear, sadly, Paul. The particular difficulty lies in the conflict between different aspects of my role - the part of me responsible for a certain person's pastoral well-being would have allowed her to continue in a certain role, if that was the only consideration, but the part of me responsible for the good order of the whole church had to give the role to someone else instead...

# 206 Thanks Dee - yes, it would be a bit different in the business world, though I'm sure that with tough decisions in any job it's not easy to switch off mentally/emotionally even when you leave the office or board-room and go home - not to mention many people have their laptops/Blackberrys with them at all times and are dealing with work stuff evenings and weekends. The boundaries between work and home are blurred for many of us, by choice or by necessity or a complex combination of the two!

# 207 Hi Ellen - yes, the head-in-the-sand ostrich approach to dealing with conflict is still my preferred option - especially when facing up to it (or making a decision which you know will generate conflict) leads to such antagonism. I grew up with constantly arguing parents who eventually divorced, but not before they'd spent years each trying to co-opt me onto their side of the arguments, and me shrinking away from both and going and hiding in my bedroom till it was all over. I guess that left me with a deep longing to foster reconciliation and heal conflict - but as a church leader I find myself sometimes in a position where my decisions are actually causing the conflict. But in this case, it really is only a small number who are reacting very badly, and most folk are just concerned to see things blow over or patched up somehow.

Enough of all that. Time to cook dinner (using up as many perishables in my fridge before I go away). I hope to be back later when I've finished my tasks for this evening, and to do a bit of catching up on the threads tonight too: I'm already rather behind, and after another 4 days away I fear I'll never catch up!

I've just picked up a book from the library - Cheerfulness breaks in by Angela Thirkell - which sounds like an encouraging sort of a title to take away with me and help cheer me up!

I hope your retreat is wonderful - and very peaceful!

Genny, if anybody ever deserved a retreat, you do! Make the most of it!!!
As to the turmoil, I know what happens when a person who has been "wronged" starts agitating about her woes. I just lately lost a friend, an employee of the church, who will not believe that a decision the session made about her job was not done to get her, and that the people who made it still care about her. In fact, she makes me feel like a hypocrite when I have to deal with her, but I'm sure that our decision was right and just. I think she may even finally after a year be able to find a little joy in her new situation.
Meanwhile, I'm chuckling about post #183 where you justify book-buying in terms of cost per page vs gross amount. Yep. We came to the right place, you and I.

Give my love to the nuns when you go! It sounds like there is a marvelous and spiritually refreshing retreat planned for you, and I'm happy that you will also be doing the things you love (calligraphy - yay!).

And it will be near the York Moors? That sounds beautiful. *sighs wistfully* I wished I could visit England.

#212 St Oswald's Pastoral Centre is a lovely place, Eris - I've stayed once before, and I've been longing to get back there. I was booked to go just over a year ago, but the lovely location on the edge of the moors was what stopped me, as there was heavy snowfall at the time and no-one could get in or out! Yorkshire is a very large county which I only know very small bit of, the moors and the various valleys and villages on their edges are very lovely (but bleak in bad weather).

#211 Thanks Peggy - that situation does sound somewhat similar - especially the not accepting that you can care about someone and still make a decision which will upset them - I hope my "wronged" person will eventually find some joy too.

LT is definitely the right place for any of us who seek to justify our book-buying - or better still, the place where no justifications are needed!

Hi Genny - trying to do some overdue catching up

#184 "I can't imagine life without this group now. I do find it hard to explain to friends and colleagues in real life what this means to me."

Me too.

Also adding my sympathies and prayers from one conflict hater to another regarding the church situation - I hope the retreat can help to give you some breathing space and give folks at church some time to cool down.

Cheerfulness Breaks In sounds like just what you need.

Waving hello as I pass through . . .

Enjoy your retreat, Genny! Hope you will arrive home rejuvenated!

Genny, good timing on the retreat. Read, relax, restore. I think some time away from the "hot seat" will be good for you and the dissenters in your church. I hope things get sorted out soon.

Oh, Genny. I just looked at the website and am yearning for a retreat at St. Oswalds. I *sigh* like Eris. Will you be catered or self-catered? Enjoy for yourself but a little for the rest of us too!

Hi Genny,
Have a wonderful time on your retreat. I'm glad the situation at work is getting better and I remember from my banking days the awful feeling of getting up and dreading checking my email. Hope you really do get to read and paint for a few days.

I can't imagine life without LT now either. And one of the funnier side-effects has been figuring out where everyone lives - just looked at the St Oswalds website and it looks great. I can see a town called Ugglebarnby on their map and it sounds like it's out of Harry Potter! Is it near York? The only thing I've read set in York is the 3rd or 4th Matthew Shardlake book.

Genny

Years ago I was heavily involved in a Methodist Church. Sadly, I wore too many hats. The heaviest was the position of Chairperson of the Staff Parish Relations Committee.

It was incredibly political and exceptionally draining. I rue the day I accepted this challenge. It took the stuffing out of me and I left the church.

I hope your situation improves. You are a kind, sensitive soul and I'm sorry you are going through all this grief.

I hope your retreat brings rest and a break from the stress.

Much love to you

Oh I love Whitby, St Oswald's sounds the perfect place for you right now!

I don't have experience of church politics but I work with volunteers (I'm a volunteer coordinator and trainer for a charity) and like you I dislike conflict. One thing about volunteers is that they don't tend to be scared of saying what they think which I'm happy about...most of the time! One volunteer I know often says, "well, what can they do, fire me?"!

Trying to get caught up with the threads that have daunting numbers of unread posts... I've been lurking in scattered moments, and then I have to get back to work before I can compose responses.

85: In the years before religion was my work, I read books about religion very frequently! (That was when I should have been reading about medieval manuscripts; and when I was meant to be revising for my finals I read all the novels of Hardy; there is definitely a pattern here of reading as avoidance…).

I'm sure this fits nicely with sibyx's procrastination theme.

140: Oh, are you reading God's Philosophers? I had a theological question yesterday, helpfully answered by someone else, but I would expect your input to be useful. I realize that it may be the last book on earth you feel like reading at the moment; with church politics surrounding you in daily life, a book in which people are flinging accusations of heresy at one another is not exactly an escape.

148: Congrats on submitting the tax returns, which have been dragging you down for awhile.

197: but I'm also fighting fire about a pastoral situation within the church where a few people are reacting very strongly against a decision I made a couple of weeks ago, and some of them are being very nasty about it.

One would wish church politics to be more genteel, but I guess human nature prevails everywhere.

208: but there's something about the gap between the ideal of what churches should be/believe themselves to be, and the reality of everyday politicking, that is particularly painful to live with

Yes, exactly this.

Hope you are feeling less frazzled (for the good and the less good reasons!). Talking of retreats, I'm enjoying a reading one at Gladstone's Library which is a place I know you love.

OOh, >>183 gennyt: Thank you so much for suggesting I buy myself books for my Thingaversary, lovely to have someone to blame for an indulgence ha. Hmmm. I've got quite a few in my Amazon holding basket, so I shall go and have a peek at those nearer the time.

>>192 sibylline: - I too am a big Bruce Chatwin fan. I have loved all his books in varying degrees. The essays, the novel On the Black Hill (of which they did a wonderful film version, I saw it in festival and Chatwin was to be there, and was there, but in the end was too ill to come onto the stage to talk afterwards). He is one of the great self-mythologisers, and as long as you don't have a problem with that you are bound to become bosom friends. I have that book of his photographs too. Chatwinesque as I have called them. My sister likes taking photos of texture and colour and I often say hers are very 'Chatwinesqe'.

but there's something about the gap between the ideal of what churches should be/believe themselves to be, and the reality of everyday politicking, that is particularly painful to live with

Oh, I've been there. We left my husband's first congregation quite scarred from nasty church infighting and unreasonable expectations. Since then, we've been through a few rough patches along the way. No one can be all things to all people -- and that's pretty much what's needed for a clergyperson to not have someone taking potshots at him/her at any given time. I understand that there's always going to be conflict when people try to work together, but it's quite hypocritical when Christians can't at least be civil in their disagreements.

Well I'm back after a lovely, restful 3 days away.

Here's the view from my room, looking out over the hills and valley (Eskdale - the river Esk winds on a few more miles before arriving at the North Sea at Whitby), with the village of Sleights down below strung out along a road whose traffic I could see passing in the distance, far out of earshot.


Not the best of photos, taken with my phone camera, but it gives an idea. This window faces east and this morning in particular I was almost blinded by the sun when I drew the curtains.



The room had all it needed: as well as the desk, a comfortable armchair, well lit, for reading, and plenty of storage for the (many) books I'd brought, and a bed. There was also an en-suite bathroom and a little self-catering kitchen, but I ate my meals with the others in the refectory so I didn't need to use the latter. They put me in this rather lovely larger self-contained apartment because there was spring cleaning going on in the main house and they wanted to be sure I was left in peace - which I was, apart from a man in the next-door apartment who engaged in Buddhist-type meditative chanting for an hour or so one afternoon. But I soon managed to tune that out and carry on reading.

I read 6 books in 3 days - well, in fact, I finished off two books that were 2/3 read before I got there, and read 4 new ones - though one of those was only about 80 pages. Anyway, I definitely made up for having only read one book so far in February up until the 14th.

More on the books in a moment. I also manage to spend some time on two days practising my calligraphy. It was very relaxing - requiring concentration, being absorbed both by the meaning of the words I'm writing and also by the shape of the letters and the combinations of letters which are endlessly fascinating.

I'll post a few photos once I've uploaded them.

I can't wait for the pictures of your calligraphy. The pictures you've showed looks like you spent time in beautiful place - now I really need to go to England. :D

Your break sounds like bliss, Genny. Love the pics. I'm so glad you were able to get away. Amazing how much we can read in the space of a couple days when we have quiet. I know sometimes in my evenings at home, even though my home is quiet, my mind will not stop chattering about the day's noises and stresses. Of course, I'm better at turning off that noise at some times than I am at others.

Wonderful sounding retreat! Photos so seldom do justice to the mood of a place, but those really did.

Wasn't there a synod in Whitby in the seventh century that effectively doomed the sensible Celtic christian practices for the looney Roman ones?

"Looney Roman ones"? I hope you're not referring to the Roman Catholic Church, because if you are, I will have to pray a rosary for you. :D

Genny - sometmes I would love to get away from it all for three or four days on my own to recharge (psst don't tell SWMBO) and what better place than the Esk valley.

#226 It looks and sounds lovely Genny. So glad you were able to get a break.

So glad you get these retreats, Genny, and love to vicariously enjoy them!

Glad you enjoyed your retreat! 6 books in 3 days sounds like a good time to me :)

Wonderful retreat by the sound of it Genny.

Genny, looks like a lovely retreat! BTW, my parents also divorced after a too-conflictual 32(!) years of "marriage." I tend to believe that people do the best they know how, but some contact with one's self seems in order!.....

6 books in 3 days... I'm shaking with the pure bliss of such an idea. You lucky thing although you deserved the break as well!

So glad you had a peaceful retreat, Genny!

Blissful retreat, Genny! I'll have to find a reason for an agnostic to go on a retreat -- some kinda pretext....

Hope your batteries are recharged and you're ready to cope with the sturm und drang of parish life again...

239 - Non-Christians can go on retreats! At my church it is encouraged. :)

Hi Genny, I can almost see you at that well-positioned desk practicing your calligraphy and gazing out at that lovely view. So peaceful. I need a retreat!

6 books in 3 days! Brava!

Hi Genny!
You sure know the value of "going up to the mountain"!
But even more importantly, you do it! Good for you! :)

Long time since I posted here. The retreat looks like a lovely place.

Hope you are still relaxed and all is well.

Thanks for all the kind messages and sorry for being absent for nearly 2 weeks. Life since my return from retreat continues even more stressful than before I went away, and the stress is affecting my chronic fatigue/ME so I feel totally exhausted just when I need energy to deal with these challenges at work. I'm afraid I have not had any energy left for keeping up with threads, though I have been reading messages left here.

And to escape from the difficulties of life, I have managed to bury myself in a good read or two - I finally got round to starting the George R R Martin series and have read both A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings in the last 10 days. The headlong style and action-packed plot was just the thing to keep me reading when I really didn't have much ability to concentrate or capacity to deal with more challenging writing.

You have my sympathy, Genny. Especially as I feel in a similar situation. I had a stressful week at work, a lovely week off and then returned to work to even more stress including new targets, a new project to work on and finding out I'd upset some of the volunteers with an email I'd had to write on behalf of someone else! I'm only supposed to work part time but there's no way I will get everything done without going in extra days.

Breathing deeply...

Genny, I'm so pleased to hear from you! But of course I'm sorry to hear of the stress and its effect on your health. Rest assured we will stillbe here for you, whenever you are able!

I'm so sorry to hear about your stress, thank heavens for absorbing reads! In the meantime, take care of yourself as best you can!

So sorry to hear about how stressful things continue to be, Genny, and the inevitable impact of that stress on your health and well-being. I'm glad you're able to find comfort in good reading, and I hope hope hope the stressful stuff swirling around you eases soon!

I completely understand why you haven't been commenting, so I just hope you'll be okay and that the stress will alleviate. In the meantime, I'm glad that you had an absorbing book to help you get away. A Game of Thrones is definitely one of those books that I have heard a lot about and that I want to get to this year. Thanks for chiming in on it. :)

Hi Genny - I hope the stress starts to drop off soon and your fatigue goes with it. Glad you're enjoying the George Martin series. I haven't read it but everyone seems to adore it, and now you too!

(((((((Genny)))))))
I'm glad to see you back and glad that your retreat was such a blissful one. You know that the troubles will pass - they always do. I pray for even more patience and insight and inspired dealing with the unruly than you already have! And I'm tickled that you're having fun with Mr. Martin!

Glad that at least you are finding something fun to take you away from the weirdness and stress of daily life. I find I become very irritated with people who talk about books as a form of escapism; it shows how little imagination they have, if they believe that we don't all require hefty doses of that to cope with the world we inhabit (and some of the people we share it with!!)

One of my pastors always said, never pray for patience, because then God sends you situations to facilitate your development thereof! ;-)

Genny, I'm also sorry things have been so stressful and hope you reach a calm patch soon! More {{{hugs}}}.

I have been so envious of you going to that library on vacation, and lo and behold, last Sunday there was a write up in the travel section of the newspaper of a somewhat similar retreat here in the states. The Jesuit Center in Wernersville, PA, provides a no-frills 5-7 day retreat of silence, room, and board, and a daily hourlong conversation with a spiritual advisor for $560. And it gives a few others--Queens, Middleton, WI, and the San Francisco Zen Center. They aren't as book-centered as your retreat, I fear, but do provide quiet retreats.

I'm thinking of you, Genny. I hope that March is a better month for you and your parishoners.

Taking upon you the stresses and strains of your community and particularly bearing the brunt of its parish politics cannot be easy dear lady - it must be especially difficult in a northern community like Tyneside where acceptance of a more modern church will not be as uniform as in more cosmopolitan parts of the country.
I'm sure you will cope with all that gets thrown at you as it is pretty much part and parcel of the job description isn't it?
Have a peaceful and successful weekend.

Genny, I hope that your stress eases off soon.

Also sending kind and hopefully calming thoughts your way Genny. I suffer terribly with work stresses - as in, when I have them, the rest of life can really loose its flavour for me, so I sympathise completely. Hopefully, we on LT can be a good sounding board and reliever of stress for you, but also I'm sure there's lots of people in your community that have great respect and fondness for you - often at times like these it can seem the world is against you, but try to remember, you do have lots of allies, both online and in RL!

Everything that Hannah said so beautifully.

Thank you all for your supportive words. I've just finished reading another book (the disappointing Death Comes to Pemberley) and have been reading and posting a little on the threads as a way of avoiding a piece of work I should be finishing urgently today.

I feel so exhausted, I really am struggling to summon the energy to do what needs doing work-wise. I spent several hours yesterday - my day off - sleeping, and would have liked to carry on resting and have an early night; but a friend had invited me to the theatre to see an RSC production of The Taming of the Shrew so I had to rouse myself to go out for that. It was a good production, full of very physical as well as verbal comedy, and a good distraction, so I'm glad I managed to get out, although I was very tired when I got back.

I must go and have some lunch and then force myself to do the next urgent task...

Genny, so sorry to hear that things have continued to be so stressful and affected your energy levels so much :-( I hope things ease up soon.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the first two GRR Martin's so much - I have the first lined up for this month in anticipation of watching the TV series on DVD. Still slightly scared by the sheer size of the book but encouraged to hear you managed two books in 10 days!

I hope the stress eases off for you very soon, Genny and that you do manage to get some early nights to help you deal with it in the meantime.

Genny I sympathise, living in a rather stressful time too and having a husband suffering from chronic fatigue/ME....

sending big (((hugs))) & comforting thoughts

Hope your travails subside soon Genny. Sounds like you have definitely had more than your fair share of late. I have those 2 RR Martin novels in my pile, recommended by my sister, who has read them all, and who is already panting for the next one, which I understand is likely to be some while.

I don't think I have actually seen The Taming of the Shrew live, though have a recollection of the Taylor/Burton film many moons ago.

Ugh, yes, fatigue and the blahs. Sounds like March... Wow, I hate this month. Every year...

Still, I just heard that a friend who had been battling food poisoning last week, ended up falling down a flight of stairs and breaking five ribs. He's now in hospital, and then will have to head to rehab. Kinda put some of my blues in perspective.

Genny, I'm feeling much sympathy for you. You are in a tough spot right now... too much stress, not enough energy to match it. Dig deep - take care of yourself as best you can.
One day at a time :}

We are all hoping you feel stronger soon.

{{virtual hugs}}

I hope you feel better soon. And that your stress would disappear, or at least ease up. xxx

Hope better days are ahead soon, Genny!


glitter-graphics.com

Thoughts, Genny. Please take good care of you.

Genny, good to see you emerge momentarily on the Northanger Abbey thread--was getting a little concerned we hadn't heard from you. {{{{hugs}}}}

Genny, Sending you positive thoughts and energy along with your other LT buddies. Take care.

Thank you to everyone who has visited with positive thoughts and virtual bouquets etc!

I'm still alive and kicking (feebly), and managing to read quite a bit in a continuing effort to escape from ongoing troubles - just not posting much at all. I'm sorry to miss out on everything that's going on on LT, but I just don't have the energy to keep up at present.

This month I have read, so far, the disappointing Death comes to Pemberley, the delightful A stitch in time by Penelope Lively (an introspective 11-year old on her summer holidays on the Dorset coast discovers fossils, a friend, and musing about time), and the compulsively page-turning 2-volume (in the UK) third book of the George R R Martin series. Having devoured the first three books in that series in a very short space of time, I'm intending to wait a bit before going on to books 4 and 5.

Currently reading A fountain filled with blood, the second volume in the Julia Spencer-Fleming mystery series featuring Revd Clare Fergusson and the local police chief. Enjoying it, except for wishing I was more like the main character in her ability to handle awkward church politics!

Oh, and last Friday I met up with local friends (who insisted I came out with them and not stay in moping on my day off) and we went to see the film 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' - which is a great feel-good film with an excellent cast, and certainly helped lift my mood for a few hours.

I hope to be in a better place soon and able to engage a bit more.

{{{{Genny}}}}

Nice to see your update but sorry to see you so obviously glum. Hugs to you all the way from sunny Malaysia to brighten up your Tuesday.

Hi Genny - I'm just catching up on your thread and can only hope you start to feel a bit more energetic once spring starts to kick in up there.
I saw the trailer for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel a couple of weeks ago when I went to see The Artist and thought it looked fun. Lucy commented somewhere that it's based on a novel These Foolish things by Deborah Moggach which has been republished under the movie title.

Also sending hugs your way Genny. I'm glad you managed to go out and see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with friends but sorry to hear things at church continue to be so difficult and draining. I'd like to go and see the film with my cinema buddy when she's back from her holiday. Will be praying things improve and soon.

Glad you were able to see a good movie. All my most restful and pleasant thoughts your way. Not so many of them as usual as it is bill day.......

Good for good friends and good books, Genny! This too shall pass!
What is the movie title of the Moggach? I can't remember this moment what of hers I read, but I do remember liking it and buying Tulip Fever.

273: the disappointing Death comes to Pemberley
This one will be passed on to me shortly, but typical opinion is an interesting effort with a mediocre result.
Oh, and last Friday I met up with local friends (who insisted I came out with them and not stay in moping on my day off)
Excellent friends.

Glad to hear from you Genny. You have overtaken me now with the Martins - I will have to order up the first part of book 3 soon. A Stitch In Time looks lovely, I'll keep an eye out for it. Sending warm thoughts and hopes for less stressful times your way!xx

Feeling a bit better today, thankfully. Thanks again for all your kind greetings and words of encouragement.

281 - Hannah, you'll probably catch up soon with the Martins - I'm holding off for a while now. I'd certainly recommend the Penelope Lively - both her adult and children's fiction is very interesting.

280 - Yes, excellent friends indeed - and another took me out for lunch today. If you don't go into Death comes with too high an expectation, it's not so bad, but the idea is certainly better than the execution!

279 - Hi Peggy. The film title is 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'. I hadn't realised it was based on a book by Moggach when I went. I didn't think too much of Tulip Fever but perhaps that would have made a good film too!

278 - Thank you Lucy for the restful thoughts. Is bill day the day of reckoning? (My father, who grasped very little Dutch in the years we lived there, but was the one who had to dig out his wallet and deal with the money, was always amused that when you ask for the bill in a restaurant at the end of a meal, in Dutch you ask for 'de rekening' . 'The reckoning' sounds rather more ominous than 'the bill'...

277 - Do go and see it, Heather - it's not the most profound of films, but it's both funny and touching, and Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy especially are wonderful.

276 - Hi Kerry, see comments on 277 and 279 above! I do wish they would not re-title books to tie in with films though...

275 - Thanks for the sunny Malasian hugs, Paul!

... 274 - and for the typographical hugs, Cee!

And now I've started a new thread, at long last, so do come on over and join me there.