Sibyx reads in January

Here we go again. I'm indecently excited to start a New Year! Welcome!

Since joining LT two years ago, the 5th January, I've begun a round-up and meditation on my reading for the year previous. I've kept a list of my reading since around 1980, but I never used to go back and think about what I had read.

As far as I can tell I read 121 books, which includes counting a month of New Yorkers as a book. I think there were maybe six or seven books which I began and decided not to bother reading. Of what I read approximately 30 were non-fiction, the rest fit one genre or another from contemporary fiction to space opera, even one graphic novel. My return to reading sf and fantasy strengthened, I tried some historical fiction, read much more widely in the dystopic area and nine mysteries which is a fair number for me. In non-fiction, biographies take the lead, with only one book about science, two travel and 1 on writing.....

I have no particular reading ambitions other than to focus on my own bookshelves and to neither acquire books or bring books home from the library until I have made some progress. To my dismay, when I counted up my tbr's I have over 200. My goal is to make some real inroads on that number and end the year with a smaller number. I hope to stay caught up in The New Yorker, the Support Group here has been everything I hoped for. Finally I hope to find some new Group reads that will be as rewarding as some of the other ones I've participated in: I do plan to participate in the Infinite Jest read. And of course I hope to find more new LT chums!

For quite some years now, I've been choosing a 'theme' for meditation in my journal, something I've never mentioned here before. For the last couple of years it has been "Choose joy over righteousness" and I think I'll stick with that as it is quite difficult! Anyhow, I like to write about my progress with whatever my task was, where I think I've gotten to with it. I had to work at "Actively listen" for about six years before I felt I could let that one take a rest. (I'm not done yet!)

Currently reading (most recently begun first):

The Pride of Chanur C.J. Cherryh SF
One Way of Love Gamel Woolsey F virago
The New Yorker: January, 5 issues, 4 read, 1 to go.
Audio: The Mistress's Daughter A.M. Homes NF

January
1. The New Yorker: December 2011, 3 issues (one double)
2. Coventry Helen Humphreys F *****
3. The Reavers of Skaith Leigh Brackett Book 3 SF ****1/2 for the trilogy
4. Ender's Game Orson Scott Card SF ****1/2
5. Ender's Shadow Orson Scott Card SF ****
6. Bad Magic Stephan Zielinski Urban fantasy***
7. The Moon Pool A. Merritt Adventure/fantasy/SF classic 1919 ****
8. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte Audio/Reread F
9. The Name of the Wind Patrick Rothfuss ***** Fantasy
10.The Man Who Loved China Simon Winchester history AUDIO ****
11.She Drove Without Stopping Jaimy Gordon F **** 1/2

Best of 2011

Fiction
Alastair MacLeod No Great Mischief
Grace Dane Mazur Silk
Per Pettersen Out Stealing Horses
Helen Humphreys The Lost Garden}
Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall
Abraham Verghese Cutting for Stone
Thomas Hardy Far From the Madding Crowd
David Mitchell Cloud Atlas
Helen Humphreys The Frozen Thames
John Cowper Powys A Glastonbury Romance

Science Fiction and Fantasy
Connie Willis Doomsday Book
Ian McDonald The Dervish House
Brian Aldiss Helliconia (trilogy)
Sean McMullen The Greatwinter Trilogy

Mystery and Thriller
Kate Atkinson When Will There Be Good News?

Reread
Robert Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance philosophy, life

History and For sheer monumentality:
Robin Lane Fox Pagans and Christians

Biography and Memoir
Carlos Baker Emerson Among the Eccentrics
Brenda Wineapple White Heat
Daniel Richard Stoddard, Memoirs Unpublished recollection of growing up in Vermont.
Baron Wormser The Road Washes Out in Spring
William Kamkwamba The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Travel and Bio!
Emma Larkin, Finding George Orwell in Burma
David Grann The Lost City of Z

Inquiry
Grace Dane Mazur Hinges: Meditations on the Portals of the Imagination

Poetry
Mark Halliday Keep This Forever

Authors New to Me who made a very positive impression:

SF -- Leigh Brackett, Ian MacDonald, Elizabeth Moon, Octavia Butler, Justina Robson, Sean McMullen, Connie Willis

F - Hilary Mantel, Alastair MacLeod, Thomas King, Grace Dane Mazur, Helen Humphreys, Angela Carter, Per Pettersen, David Foster Wallace, Abraham Verghese

NF - Emma Larkin

I get to be first to offer an early Happy New Year! greeting. So, Happy New Year! --- which translates to "Happy Reading!"

Hi Lucy! Got you starred

Hi Lucy.

Welcome back!

I like your theme - may the new year be full of opportunities (taken) for choosing joy!

"Choose joy over righteousness."

Brilliant. Succinct. Brava!

I love your idea of choosing a theme for your meditation journal for the year. I try to choose a broad self-improvement-ish theme each year for myself. Haven't chosen one for 2012 yet...

Sandy K

I also like your theme. May I borrow it?

A woman who is vice-chairman of Bank of New York/Mellon gave an interview at my company recently, and said she and her family members always started the year with lessons learned and goals for the year. I'm not as organized as that, but a focused meditation theme can direct one's energy in a totally different way.

Here's to 2012! May we all learn and grow and be happy.

Don't just borrow it! It's yours. I found it somewhere, can't remember now. The whole quote was something like "Children choose joy over righteousness" and I remember thinking, well, if they can, so can I!

I have a bit (understatement) of an issue of wallowing in self-pity and other forms of useless self-punishment, so it began there, but then .... it has other ramifications, I'm finding. So does listening. Unbelievably hard work!

I love your theme... just yesterday I was thinking about taking on a "life lesson" for the year ahead, and my tentative thought was "live with joy" (as opposed to anxiety). We need a lot more joyful people in this world. :) Here's to the year ahead!

Starred!

Exciting, visiting everyone's new threads! NY meditation on the year's reading is a wonderful idea.

Starred, and glad to see you here, Sib.

Found you Lucy! :D

Starred.

Glad you are back with us again, Lucy!

Hello Lucy. I decided I really must star and follow your thread this year as I keep coming across really special reviews that you've written.

Your theme on choosing joy over righteousness has just struck a major chord with me. I think I will keep that in mind this year too. I don't think I'll find it easy but I suppose that's the point!

Found & starred! Live with joy (not anxiety) is a good thing for me to work on.

Hi Lucy. *starred* Happy New Year!

Lucy look forward to keeping up in 2012. Happy new year.

Hi Lucy,
You are starred and followed. Loved your best of list, too. If I had had a new Helen Humphreys to read this year I'm sure she'd be on my list, too.

Happy New Year!

Hi Lucy - happy new year! I really like your theme too. I must remember it when I encounter certain RL people...

Happy New Year, Lucy!
You are one of the dangerous readers here - you pick stuff I love and then you review it and talk about it til I just HAVE to WL it & READ it! Ah... another year... ;-)

You are STARRED, my friend!

Hi Lucy! Hoping you have a great New Year!!

Hi Lucy, I hope you have a joyous new year filled with thought-provoking books. I'll be along for the journey.

Lucy, so glad I found your thread.

What an excellent idea re: theme for journal. You see how it resonates hereabouts. Definitely given me food for thought.

A calm and cheerful new year to you.

Hi Lucy, I'd meditate on the year past and year to come too, but who has time? I've got a job to do making sure I've got all my stars in place! ;-)

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

Hi Lucy and happy New Year.

Best of New Years, Lucy!

Happy New Year, Lucy!

1: "Choose joy over righteousness" and I think I'll stick with that as it is quite difficult!

It is difficult indeed. But succinct, and it covers so many situations.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Lucy. I hope you have a wonderful reading year.

Happy New Year, Lucy! Wishing you all the best in 2012!
I agree! Down with self-pity, thumbs up to joy over righteousness. What a good thought to start the year.

Happy New Year, Lucy! I like your theme, as well.

Happy New Year, Lucy! Really enjoyed your meditation to start the year. Hope just the kind of blessings you need come your way!

Happy New Year Lucy. Great "best of" list for 2011.

Good morning, Lucy, and Happy New Year! I also simply love your theme--may it spread through the world!

Happy New Year, Lucy.

Hi Lucy, great to find your new place, Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Hi Lucy--Here's to a great year of reading!

Happy, happy New Years! :)

*waving* as I pass through the threads, Lucy

Happy New Year, Lucy!

Adding my hellos, and stars, and nodding along in agreement to all the comments about "joy over righteousness".
I must say, I've never really sat down and thought that hard at the beginning of a new year about what has gone before, but I can see that it's a really good idea. I'm not sure what my goal would be for this year - I know it's a really key year for me and my husband for lots of reasons, some within our control, some not. I guess therefore my goal would be something quite cliche along the lines of accepting the things you cannot change. I think last year I did a lot of raging against the injustices of the world, so this year maybe I'm just going to try and let those go and focus on the positives. Phew! (gets up of the therapist's couch, and wanders off, looking slightly dazed)

That sounds like good solid stuff to me Hannah! And I am awed by so many greetings! Thank you.

And how did this happen? January 2 already!.

I'm reading Coventry. So spare and shattering.

Isn't it, Lucy! It stayed with me for several days after reading it.

My first book of 2012 isn't a book, but the December issues of the New Yorker (I count a month as one book) -- but I am so pleased with myself. I AM ALL CAUGHT UP. Incredible!

Now to bed with the 3rd volume of the adventures John Eric Stark....... (Leigh Brackett's heroic space man as my reward.

53: Aha! Well that's an advantage of not quite catching up in 2011!

Heeere you are!

What on earth is space opera??? La Traviata at the International Space System??

Congratulations on catching up on the New Yorkers! An impossible task mastered at last--what a feeling!

Hi Lucy, I don't recall who said they were interested in the Steinbeckathon or not anymore, but here are links to the threads I created tonight and put up on the wiki for those interested:

Steinbeckathon Main Thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/130105

Cannery Row: http://www.librarything.com/topic/130108

Happy New Year Lucy!

54 - Q - So true, much like being 1/2 or 3/4 of the way through a book!

55- Suz. My head is spinning! Did you never see the movie *Serenity*, or the television show *Firefly*? No Lois McMaster Bujold and the sublime Miles Vorkisigan? Well, golly! You are in luck! The line between 'proper' sf and space opera is...... a bit arbitrary I'm sure, but Nathan Fillion striding around in a cool leather duster might be a give-away..... space opera is science fiction.... but also includes romance, very people oriented plots, and happy endings.... Bujold writes like Heyer, as a matter of fact, with the kind of detail that makes you believe they're out there, but the characters and all their ins and outs are what drive it. I'm fascinated by it -- many men love the stuff, can't get enough, in fact, and women who stumble into it are usually surprised and delighted. I'm not saying 'regular' sf doesn't have plots and great characters, etc. but a certain playfulness won't be there.

Star Wars comes close to being a space opera...... but not quite. Han Solo is a straight sp/op dude, but overall the series is too 'big' -- although there might be those who would argue the point. It basically is, painted with a big brush. Battlestar Galactica is another one that has its sp/op qualities but..... moves beyond it with the captain/admiral and the president and Starbuck.

OK so I'm burbling!

56 - Roni, but will I be able to stay caught up?

57 - I love Steinbeck, Ilana, and I've read most of the books you're tackling. My plan is to keep tabs on the discussions. I may reread Travels w/Charley when you get to it. One of my all-time favorite books since it includes a great dog, driving around the US and philosophizing.....

Mmmm, Nathan Fillion in a leather duster would be my idea of fun in any genre! (Although I do love Firefly and Serenity for other reasons too. It still annoys me that they cancelled Firefly after just one series - any fool could see it was shaping up to be great.)
Thanks for the definition of space opera Lucy, turns out I had no clue what the genre was all about. I thought it was the kind of sci-fi that involved lots of drama in interplanetry settings, aliens races etc, sort of sci-fi with an epic, operatic feel. But now I see it's actually more like space opera, related to soap opera. Makes sense.

My lads have all the Firefly dvds. Must borrow them!

Congratulations on getting caught up on the New Yorkers, Lucy! Even if you get behind, you can say "I was caught up earlier this year."

Slightly or maybe even a lot more than soap opera -- but the point is definitely entertainment with maybe a bit more edge and intelligence than you might expect. As I say, the line can be/is blurry.

You know you're always welcome to join the discussions and your comments are always interesting. As I understand it, Charley from Travels with Charley is a standard poodle... one of Coco's cousins! I created this challenge because I've not read nearly enough from Steinbeck's body of work and wanted to remedy to that. But then, I keep "discovering" so many new-to-me authors that I MUST catch up with... Nancy Mitford being the latest. I see you're quite the fan: among my friends you're the one with the most books by her listed in your collections—12 of them!

#60 "Mmmm, Nathan Fillion in a leather duster would be my idea of fun in any genre!"

My tired eyes read that as Nathan Fillion in a feather duster at first!

I second Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. I started reading these books last year after many recommendations from Lucy, Peggy and Roni and they are a lot of fun. A bit of romance, strong female characters and occasionally the books use the sci-fi framework to touch on ethical issues to make you think a bit.

Ooooooo clad ONLY in a feather duster?

I'm back having finished Helen Humphrey's Coventry. By a coincidence I am listening to an audio book about Joseph Needham - special British science envoy to China during WWII who wrote a huge encyclopedia about China's scientists, inventions, discoveries.... ANYWAY... there is a description of the Japanese bombing a Chinese city (I'm listening so I can't even try to spell it) that was so eerily similar to what Humphreys writes, the utter disorientation, the tiny details in the midst of death and desolation that you can't forget. It mainly follows what Harriet Marsh, widowed early in the first war, does on the night of the bombing, but it is woven into the life of another woman and her son, in a way that while improbable, feels exactly right. It's a painful read but Humphreys gives you space to endure it..... I felt I had the tiniest glimmer of a wider feeling/understanding of what being in a city that is being bombed mercilessly, is like. *****

For my next regular fiction I'm going to try Jaimy Gordon's She Drove Without Stopping.

I have had Coventry in the BlackHole forever. One of these days my local library will get a copy. I am glad to see you enjoyed it, Lucy!

I felt I had the tiniest glimmer of a wider feeling/understanding of what being in a city that is being bombed mercilessly, is like.

Isn't that what's so incredible about the very best writing, that we gain a flicker of understanding of how it feels to be in circumstances so different from that of our own everyday lives? Powerful stuff, Lucy and thank you for sharing it.

Lucy: I agree with you about Coventry. It's a breathtaking, heartbreaking book. Your comments reminded me of what Fay Weldon said in Letter to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen: "You do not read novels for information, but for enlightenment."

Exactly! yes! Thank you, Dee and Beth!

>66 sibylline:: *faints*

Starred

I heard something somewhere, very recently, about Firefly. Supposedly they are thinking seriously about reviving the series. Have you heard that, Lucy?

De-lurking to join the Firefly love. My DH introduced me to it. I had to tone down the sighing and drooling over Nathan Fillion (and his feather duster!) so as not to make him jealous ;-) ...

I also have Coventry on the TBR shelves and am planning on getting to it this year.

There's something about Wash's arms too.... no?

And no I had not heard about revival thoughts. IT'S A VERY VERY VERY VERY GOOD IDEA!!!!!!!! (Anybody out there listening??????)

Possibly new episodes of Firefly on the Science Channel. Possibly. Maybe. No promises.

*squeeeeeeee*

>74 Fourpawz2:-77: But Whedon has said he's not interested and, without him, would it have the same feel? I wish, I wish it would—it was my favorite SF TV show ever—but I don't have any real hope. Plus, I'd miss Wash.

Hi Lucy!
Coventry is high on my tbr pile. Have been wanting to read that for awhile now. Humphreys is a favorite author of mine. Wonder if that is on my profile?
*running off to check on that*

ETA: Yup. She's there!

O.K. I'll confess. Suz wasn't familiar with space opera; I'm not familiar with Nathan Fillion. *googling* Oh yeah. THAT guy. Yeah. I'd buy the feather duster for him.
I loved Coventry too --- led to buying but not yet reading more Humphreys. I have to say though, that of all the WWII reading that I did last year, Connie Willis in Blackout and All Clear gave me the clearest feeling of living under merciless bombing. Because they're much longer works, the feeling intensified.
But the real reason I came over here was to say, -----

HAPPY THINGAVERSARY, LUCY!!

YAY! Happy Thingaversary! Two new books for you!

Oh Happy Day!

Happy Thingaversary, Lucy!

I know you got it from the library, but you might want to consider Infinite Jest as one of your Thingaversary books. I'm already making notes in mine, and I'm not prone to write in books unless it is for a class.

Happy Thingaversary. Let us know how you celebrate! I'm planning a read-in for my day in March.

Happy Thingaversary, Lucy! You need to buy yourself a book to celebrate.

Happy Thingaversary, Lucy!

THANK YOU!! I drive my 15ish daughter to school and as she got out of the car today I said, "Guess what day it is today?" Blank look. "My second Thingaversary." She started laughing, "Mom you are totally nuts." But I try to send her into school smiling and I knew this would do it.

I've got IJ from the library until my 'real' copy, a used one 'like new' turns up -- Watcha wanna bet lots of folks buy it and then say, 'Nunh-unh, I'll never get through this', so that is book #1, Book #2 is a duplicate Virago from Genny that arrived TODAY in my p.o. box, WRAPPED and RIBBONED! Perfection -- Rosamon Lehmann The Ballad and the Source I love Lehmann so I am very excited. And finally, when I was picking up my daughter at the larger library of the real town near us (ours is a village, really) they have some shelves of free books and I found C.J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station which Peggy says isn't her best, but I'm in a Cherryh acquisition phase. I can always put it back. I ALSO have a PBS book headed my way, another Cherryh, from the Chanur series, so I'm going over my allotment (supposedly nil!).

Appreciate your thoughts on Coventry, Lucy. Sounds like a must read!

86: There are worse ways to be totally nuts. Happy Thingaversary!

I forgot to mention that I started reading She Drove Without Stopping and after the first session I though, oh no, I'm not going to like it, but then I sat down again and read another thirty or forty pages, and now I think I'm going to like it plenty. Phew.

And I'll add my own best wishes for a happy Thingaversary, Lucy! And thanks for introducing me to LT!

Sounds like you have a nice haul for your Thingaversary Lucy! Many happy returns of the day!

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary! A new concept to me....I'll have to look mine up.

93 - I don't know when mine is either

I'll have to see if my library has Coventry, I liked the novel by Humphreys I read last year, Lost Garden.

I barely celebrate my own birthday...so, well, happy thinga from your contrarian friend.

Happy Thingaversary - may you have many more :-)

#94 If you look on your profile page I think it says what day you joined LT.

Happy Thingaversary! I love it when your initial reaction to a book is a little blah but then a few more pages and you're hooked. I don't like it when it works the other way though and the start is fantastic but it peters out from there. Thankfully, I don't read too many that are like this.

Happy Thingaversary, Lucy. I loved the story about your daughter's reaction.

#67-Coventry was certainly one of my memorable reads last year. I've also had the privilege of actually visiting the present day sight. Both the book and the cathedral are eerie, awe-inspiring, and inspirational as you mentioned.

I'm just crawling through the introduction thread getting to meet my fellow 75ers. I'll be lurking (especially on a fellow New Englander's thread!) but probably won't comment unless there is something substantive to say. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what else you read for the coming year.

Happy Thingaversary, Lucy! I am glad to see that you picked up some books for the day!

Well the Cherryh got taken away from me because the owner decided that it wasn't up to snuff -- broken spine -- so now I have to start that process again. I think there are several copies, so back to PBS I go.

I hope you get a Chanur soon. I didn't mean that *Downbelow* isn't good - it is. But it doesn't come close to Cyteen!

>78 TadAD: - I agree with all of those sentiments. I would miss Wash.

And Happy Thingaversary!

Yay, a Thingaversary!!!

I wonder Peggy, is it best to start with someone's best book...... certainly not best to start with the worst...... but maybe good enough to get you hooked?

Finished up The Reavers of Skaith -- LOVED it -- now maybe I'm just in a mood, but on another thread there was discussion of rating within genres, so you don't compare Moby Dick with Dune - the thing is Leigh Brackett can really write, and unlike the way books are written now (endless detail, endless numbers of pages, not that there is anything wrong with that) she is so spare, so focussed, it's just beautiful stuff. "In the low desert, frost had dimmed the reptilian colors of sand and rock and in the debatable lands beyond the trees were hung with the funeral draperies of dead leaves." Skaith, the planet, has a bit of the flavor of Helliconia, the Aldiss world, but preceded it by about a decade. The sun around which Skaith spins is dying, the area where people live is closing in but the Wandsmen who have been in control of most of the planet for millenia do not want to give up their power and want to send away the spaceships that come to offer to take people to new planets to settle -- enter the heroic and feral Eric John Stark to save the day. Here you will find telepathic hounds that kill with fear, half-bird half men, - earlier when the culture of Skaith was at its peak, their scientists could reengineer people to live in the sea or underground or almost anything they wished. All good fun. ****1/2.

Anyhow, now I have to decide what SF to read next..... Ender's Game I think which has been waiting a looonnnnggg time.

Good question, Lucy. I'm not sure that I would have read Cyteen if I had read Downbelow Station first. Now I see that I rated it worth 4½ stars, so I don't know why I'm remembering it as less good. It won one of the big prizes too. Just ignore me.
Sometimes, the first book I read of an author that I really come to love is the one that I think is best, even when I recognize that others are better objectively. I'm not sure what that's about.

Lucy I read Politics, English and History at Warwick University and lived in Coventry for three years. The "replacement" Cathedral is a monstrosity but I will always carry a little of the city in my heart wherever I am and must read the book asap.

I hope you enjoy Ender's Game, Lucy!

Lucy, I was lucky enough to get Coventry from Claudia this year, as she was my not-so-secret Santa on Mark's gift exchange. Another awesome book on the tbr!

I can't say I've read much science fiction, if any, though am much tempted by Ender's Game. But you may yet convince me to dip in further into the genre. Eventually.

Happy Thingaversary!! The most important day of the year, as any good LTer knows! :-)

Hi Lucy!
Just wanted to drop by, see the good things you are reading, and thank you for the sweet snow you sent over! Life is good!

Bah! She did not send any snow to me. It was 63 degrees when I left for work tonight. Ick.

Stopping by to say hi!! As for Coventry I just love it when I read it last year! Glad you enjoyed it too!

We head to Northern NJ in about an hour to have our new puppy choose us...... six hour drive (maybe a bit more).... and then tomorrow a.m. we turn right around and come back ahead of some snow..... Got a selection of books on CD from Bronte to Beaton..... Don't know what the fam. will choose to listen to, they can be quite capricious and unpredictable.

P.S. The pups aren't ready to go yet, spousal unit and myself will go back in about 2 and 1/2 weeks to pick her up.

113: Puppy photos please, if you can...

I'm glad that you're saying "her," Lucy. I do love the little girls!

#80 I'd buy the feather duster for him I'm officially adopting this as the way to voice approval for a visually appealing gentleman.

The Skaith series is wishlisted Lucy, it sounds like a blast. I'm also eagerly awaiting the arrival of my copy of the Chanur series (I think I'm right in saying I'm being sent the whole series in one volume!). I think it might take a while to wing its way over from the US though, so I'll be like Calvin waiting for his propellor beanie until then, like so: http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2010/04/17

Puppies! :-))

Have fun with the puppies, Lucy! Hope you get pictures.

Have a fun trip to find your puppies, Lucy! I'm adding Coventry to my WL now.

Belated happy thingaversary, Lucy!

The puppies are unbelievably indescribably hopelessly adorable.....my fingers are all quite thoroughly nibbled, We will take pictures tomorrow and I hope I can load them in the evening.

I look forward to the puppy pics!

But..but... Lucy! Did ONE special puppy nibble at your heart?
Did you get picked???

Yes yes, we do have a favorite, but we can't get our hearts set on anyone until the owners have decided which two (one boy, one girl) they plan to keep. So I must keep mum until then. The truth is the all eight of them would make perfect pets, the owners have done a fantastic job with them. Yes and she sort of picked us, I think, so I do have my fingers crossed. We'll know I think in ten or so days..... something like that.

Fingers crossed for you, Lucy!

Arrrgh! This is gonna be a long 10 days!
You will definitely get ONE of them, right?
All crossables crossed! ;-)

Forgot to add: I had to pick up a different audio book for our trip as I am more than half-way through the Winchester - and we decided on Wuthering Heights. What an appalling tale! I'd really forgotten that it continues through two generations and just how dreadful Heathcliff really is. I can picture the Brontes egging Emily on to paint him as black as can be -- at times it is so close to melodrama, and yet, as the story wears on it begins to get to you.... Both audiobooks will languish for a bit as I am about to put in a serious week and one-half on a writing project. So will the Jaimy Gordon novel as it is hardcover and I don't want to drag it around. Nor will I actually make any progress with Infinite Jest...... Strictly relaxation reading and the 9 Jan NYer for the next little bit.

Puppy pics? where? when??

Just thinking that instead of She Drove Without Stopping, a title that could be applied to most of us would probably be "She (or He) Read Without Stopping".

OK, back to my books!

Hello, I was reading reading reading (up to post 56) and realised I was only up to Jan 2. People are so fast! But I wanted to de-lurk and add in my 2 cents worth. My theme for this year would have to be to talk less about myself and ask more questions of others. More a new years resolution I guess, but you have inspired me to kick it into gear.

Good luck with your relaxation reading.

*pants eagerly for puppy pics*

I'm extremely bummed because I've just discovered I don't have the right USB cable to load the puppypix. I'm going to have to hunt around and order one I'm afraid. Why why why?????

Finished up Ender's Game in a jiffy. Enjoyed it hugely! So far I've only read winners in 2012! I happen to have Ender's Shadow around and I'm going to jump right into that.

What the heck? load? USB cable?
Can't your DH do that for you us?
*heavy sigh* I'm gonna have to get a corgi of my own.
please hurry ;-}

Nooooo! Your thread jumped to the top and there are no puppies?!? No SD card slot?

**pulls up a comfy spot in the corner to sit and wait for puppy pics :)

**Joins Hannah and finds overstuffed easy chair in same corner to wait for pics--oh look, there are a couple of books tucked in here in the meantime!**

All right. If we can't have Corgi puppies, we simply have to substitute. Here's my chocolate lab Lily in Feb. 2003 (4 weeks old):

I'm really really trying...... I have a picture and it's in my junk drawer and I'm trying to get it over here......



The line-up

Oh my goodness! I'm in love - four times! What darlings!!! Are you sure that one is going to be enough?

Oh my, so cute. Both the Corgis and Lily! I am envious, Lucy. It's been many years since we had a puppy in the house.

What beautiful darlings, all of them, including Lily of course. Thanks for posting these Lucy, they put a smile on my face.

PUPPIES!!! Ohhhh I want one! So cute!

I like Lily too! She looks like my Jax did when he was still small

So very very cute!! and your lab too, Laura

Puppies!!! Lily-the-Lab looks as if she is thinking great thoughts, while puzzling out how to get her human to understand her...

Pictures of puppies and grandkids--a no-miss hit here at LT! Those Corgis are about the cutest--evah. You don't really expect to get any actual reading done when you bring the little one home, do you?

Ohmygosh, those puppies should be illegal - too cute!

Puppies!!! Ahhhh the cuteness...!

The corgi line-up is adorable!

136: And the chocolate lab too! (I see the grownup version on your profile.)

(I have to add that I'm envious of Laura. We didn't know our May when she was a puppy, but I bet she looked a lot like Lily.)

Lucy - I come from a doggie background and we always had at least one about the place as I was growing up. Unfortunately the Malay psyche is anti-canine and with our apartment also dogs are out. The sight of the splendid puppies recalls my younger days.

They are adorable Lucy! I want one until I think of getting up at night with them. Now order that cable so you can post LOTS of pictures when you bring her home!

The pictures are adorable. You must be beside yourself, Lucy.

I have visions of lying on the sofa with a sacked puppy on top of me while I read...... I'll take a puppy over a book any day I'm afraid. Hope that isn't sacreligious! I'm reading furiously right now to get ahead of the game.

Laura - Lily was so dear, so cuddly! Corgis from very young look just like corgis, just micro-size - little beady eyes and all.... .

This is the one who was the runt, born weighing barely 4 oz. They call her Squirty - she's a pistol, in the middle of every scrum. The one in the pic w/ my spousal unit who is looking around at his hand was my favorite, btw. The one he is holding is the runner-up. I also like Squirty, but she is very very feisty! She might terrorize our cats! The 4th girl is called 'Big Girl' and not until the very end did she make an impression on me -- she's very nice, just a little more aloof than the other girls. It's amazing how much personality they have so young!

I discovered thanks to Q that I can just insert my memory chip into the computer. Typical me, never thought to look....... so Thankyou, Katherine!

If you're going to choose anything over a book, may as well be a puppy. I'd say the two are more or less on par for me (maybe the puppy comes ahead of the book, actually).

152: I discovered thanks to Q that I can just insert my memory chip into the computer. Typical me, never thought to look
Reason I thought to ask is that I found myself in much the same situation a couple years ago, on vacation w/ mini notebook and camera, incompatible cord, grrrrrr... oh!

So... you could warm to any one of them. :-)

I have visions of lying on the sofa with a sacked puppy on top of me while I read
As an experiment, I volunteered to puppy sit for my brother's family while they were on vacation a couple years ago. 3 month old yellow lab, adorable, personable, ... next to impossible to put in a full day of work... I kept trying to wear her out, she'd zonk out, half hour later up and running, chewing...

Awwwwwww, I want. It's been so long since I've have a puppy :(. My mum's latest dog we rescued as an adult and I'll never be allowed a dog living where I am.

>143 Chatterbox:: Lily-the-Lab looks as if she is thinking great thoughts, while puzzling out how to get her human to understand her... She's still doing that.
>154 qebo:: 3 month old yellow lab ... running, chewing... Oh yeah. Labs are puppies for about 3 years, too.

But back to the REAL topic of this thread: Those Corgi puppies are absolutely the cutest !!!!!
I can't wait to see which one you bring home, Lucy.

Thanks for your persistence, Lucy! Adorabe corgi pictures! (also v cute Lily!)

This is gonna be soooo much fun (and work) for you. ;-)
What a joy!
They are all so dang cute... I love your fav and runner-up. Have you thought about names yet? Or... too early?

156: Labs are puppies for about 3 years, too.
Yeah, that one is now a 90 lb puppy.

>156 lauralkeet:, 158. Three years?

I have a lab who is 10 years old who is--seriously--still a puppy in his own mind. He's hilarious--he leaps off the deck as if he was one year old, and he shows no signs of showing down, not a bit. I had heard that some labs are like that--they never grow up. Our oldest one, Jack, was mature from Day One, but Docker--well, I expect him to be a puppy in his own mind forever. He really needs a younger dog to chase him around, since Jack is a very "mature" 12 years old; however, three dogs at this point is more than I can handle.

Gorgeous corgi pics. Its making me think I should post a pic of my good buddy onto LT. Dogs are really great friends aren't they?

The corgis are gorgeous! Make me smile with your remark about "little beady eyes and all." Too much!

Corgis, like most herding dogs, are a bit scary smart, thus the beady eyes...... you can watch them figuring stuff out sometimes.

On the book front I'm tootling along in Ender's Shadow. On another thread there has been some discussion of Card's politics etc..... I felt like an old fogey reading a couple of interviews as he seemed, yes, quite conservative and also religious, two things I am not, but also adult and thoughtful even if inconsistent. One very young interviewer seemed shrill and unable to conceive of anyone who didn't have exactly her view of the world. Of course I'm disappointed in his lack of realism about homosexuality as a biological fact - therefore not different from skin color - in most other ways he appeared to be realistic. Anyway - what IS interesting is how often someone with politics quite different from your own can write a book that you can love reading. That must mean something?

I'm going out on a limb mentioning the above, and I don't wish to start a wild discussion about Card's validity as a writer. I don't question it, obviously. I debated whether or not to say anything and decided I could on my own thread, and that to NOT to say anything to undermine the excellence of LT and the 75.

Anyhow I AM interested in comments about the insight at the end of the last paragraph and that is all. Books you've loved by authors whose politics you don't much care for.

Meanwhile, I think Bean would be a great name for a boy Corgi!

Hi Lucy! I got a treat in the mail today, my first ever ReadItSwapIt swap, which was No Great Mischief!. It came courtesy of a lovely lady in the far North of Scotland, who recieved an Inspector Morse book from me in return (I forget which already - it was the hubster's)
Looking forward to starting it as soon as I finish one of my current reads.

Oh you lucky. What a fine read you have ahead of you.

Wish I could think of some books by authors who's politics I disagree with, but nothing comes to mind, mostly because I sort of choose to keep my head in the sand about such things, mostly.

As a conservative, I read a fair number of books that take more liberal attitudes as just part of the universe. But there is still much to enjoy in the plots, descriptions, character experiences, etc. I think the author's underlying politics usually are not a big deal unless they are very overtly forced upon the reader in a book. Even a very blatantly conservative book is not much fun to me, just because it usually destroys much of the beauty of story-telling.

#162 - Evelyn Waugh. I think my rule is that they have to be dead for at least 35 years and then I can read them.

I can swallow quite a bit of conservative politics in the service of a good story, good characters, etc. David Weber comes to mind. I could say that I'm getting insight into a pov different from mine, but I'm really just escaping into the flow of the entertainment.

Dead 35 years! I love it!

Caught up at last (on your last 2011 thread and on this 2012 one) and happily musing on puppy pictures and on books whose author's politics I disagree with.

I wonder if there's a difference between an author's politics and their underlying philosophy/belief systems. And how much both the former and the latter are implicitly or explicitly reflected in their writing and story-telling. I don't necessarily know anything about the (party) politics of many writers, but I may pick up a sense of their values or philosophy from their writing. It's part of the joy and the rich experience of reading that we are exposed to ideas and world-views (and yes politics too) as well as to experiences that are outside our own. But I'm trying to think of examples to see whether in the end the books I most enjoy are those where the world-view of the author is closer to mine (or who persuades me to make their world-view part of mine).

I have a couple of favourite reads by authors I've heard 'things' about but like Ilana, I guess I prefer to keep my head in the sand also and just enjoy the stories and not think too much about who wrote them.

Oh, and Bean is a great name for a Corgi.

This discussion makes me think of the Stegner course I took last year. I went into that class loving Wallace Stegner only to learn that he probably plagiarized large sections of Angle of Repose. It made me less eager to read more of his books. I think I would have preferred not to know that. It definitely made me think less favorably of Angle of Repose, a book I liked when I read it.

I also saw that discussion about Card's politics and still haven't read the copy of Ender's Game sitting on my shelf. It'll be interesting to see if that colors how I feel about the book when I finally get to it.

Hi Lucy!
I'm with Ilana and Leonie - not political

But I agree with Genny - "...I may pick up a sense of their values or philosophy from their writing..." and that's ok. Even interesting/challenging.

Bean? Bean? I'll mull that one over ;-)

I think Bean is a very cute name, but personally, I've always given my pets two syllable names because they're easier to call out somehow. I don't know if that makes sense but it does to me :-P

>170 gennyt: genny that's an interesting theory, I would say they are inexorably intertwined and each lend something to the other. (politics/belief systems that is)

*melt melt* puppies!

Hi Lucy

What adorable puppies! I am envious!

I'm late to adding comments on your thread, but want to say hello. I note that The Frozen Thames was one of your top reads. I loved this book as well.

Of course there are some dangerous nicknames w/Bean -- Beanie Baby being the worst. Or Beano, --- oh we just won't go there, now will we?

I am, regardless, seriously enjoying the Ender books. I almost like the second one better. Bean's story is so intriguing in so many ways.

Oh that's too bad about Stegner! I haven't read 'Angle..' yet, but he's such a respected writer, I hate to think he'd put out someone else's work as his own.

I'm late to the party, but I"m excited about your new puppy! How fun! And yes, I think Bean would be a wonderful name!

BTW - I loved Coventry last year when I read it! Glad you enjoyed it too!

See, Lucy... that's what I was worried about. Bean's potential nicknames.

When I name a pet they always wind up getting called many other things. So, in that regard, I guess any name is dangerous.
My very first and muched loved little dog was officially named Buffy - but it wasn't long and we worked through a bunch of nicknames til her name evolved into "Stink". Don't ask.

But, I thought you were hoping for a girl?

Lucy, I really enjoyed all 4 of the original Ender series--I thought it was a good look at some major issues.

Plagiarism is a difficult one and sometimes it is a case of influence more than copying I would hope. In this age of copy and paste it is going to be even more difficult to test the provenance of work. Haven't read Angle of Repose although it has been on the shelves an age.

Plagiarism is one thing -- a big no no for me. Ditto, intellectual property theft, where a plot is lifted almost its entirety. One of my fave books as a tween was The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery -- I was LIVID when I realized Colleen McCullough had basically lifted the plot and simply moved it to Australia in The Ladies of Missalonghi. Did she think no one would notice???

Re politics: A good novel is a good novel, IMO. Anyone who has a heavy-handed political "message" spoils the narrative -- I don't care whether I happen to agree with those politics or not. There are authors who manage to adroitly deal with topics that are important to them without feeling didactic, though. I'm think of In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden, who was or became a devout Catholic and where the plot touches on a couple of social issues or values, such as marriage and abortion. (Not homosexuality.) Her own views are probably those the characters have, but that's in the context of the story, so while I might not agree with them, it didn't spoil the book for me. I'm probably slightly left of center in most respects, but there are some writers on the left who can drive me as insane as can someone like Ann Coulter -- Chris Hedges springs to mind. Both are equally certain that their view is the only morally valid one, both discard facts that don't support their theories, etc. Both leave me with a sour taste in my mouth. That said, Hedges' first book was brilliant -- War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning.

Yes, I remember thinking about that while reading Godden -- and it's interesting I am much more interested in reading a novel about someone with entirely different views of everything than I am a non-fiction work of same. The novelist has to undergo some alchemical shift - the reader has to be invited completely in, but there is no .... I don't know..... attempt to convince, there can't be or the reader won't stay in.

Anyhow, I'm here to say I finished up Ender's Shadow which in some ways was more interesting than Ender's Game. One reader somewhere mentioned feeling the second story undermined his/her respect for Ender, but I didn't find that at all. It was a real feat to join up the their interactions from their different points of view. How often have I wished later that someone who misinterprets something I say could have been in my head to understand where I was coming from, and what I was actually thinking, not what they decided I meant!?

I'm not sure what I'll read next. I have a Gamel Woolsey, One Way of Love which I might try out -- not only for her own sake but as part of the whole John Cowper Powys adventure - she was involved with his brother and good friends with the whole crowd. Later she married Gerald Brenan whose writing about Spain I loved and even had Bertie Russell fall in love with her! She must have been quite extraordinary.

I also have an urban fantasy that is 'thin' and I might just check it out - Bad Magic by Stephen Zielinski. I'm guessing I found it v. cheap or picked it up for nothing somewhere. People here seemed to like it well enough.

So glad you enjoyed Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow - they are favorites of mine.

Hi Lucy, I continued to read and enjoy the Enders series after finding out about Card's world view, I just found them so interesting. I haven't read Enders Shadow but keep meaning too. I also want to read his fantasy Mithermage series, I read a short story, Stonefather, set in this world and it whet my appetite for more.

I'll keep reading and recommending Roald Dahl though I don't think I would have enjoyed spending time with him.

Yes -- I'll be reading the Ender ouevre no matter what! Dahl, yes, what an odd duck. And all those amazing books.

Back to report on Bad Magic by Stephan Zielinski. I'll give it *** - it has some very amusing moments. If you like witty gritty urban fantasy, you might like this..... it's a bit too zippy and clever for my taste, I'm not going to run out and look for his next book, but I was amused and engaged enough to finish it just in case . I read it for moments like this one...... "Whitlomb gets up, his face twisted into rage. "You son of a bitch. Do you know that you staked the man who translated Gravity's Rainbow into Latin - on a bet?" And slams the butt of his shotgun into Tinridge's jaw." The appendix might be the funniest thing, although it has nothing to do with the book as far as I can tell, a 'paper' about Zombie Diego a form of undead virtually indistinguishable from H. Sapiens...... Truthfully though, I don't think this is a book to spend more than a day or so reading.....

On to better things.

Stopping by, quite behind on posts. Love the puppy pics!

One very young interviewer seemed shrill and unable to conceive of anyone who didn't have exactly her view of the world.

That seems quite common these days, doesn't it? One of the reasons I read is to get a wider sense of the world and the different ways that people see it. But I don't like literature where it's blatantly obvious that the writer is trying to shove some particular view into my face -- even if it's one with which I'd normally agree.

Well, that's it. I'll have to continue with Ender's Shadow sometime soon, even if I don't get to all the other Ender books this year. But seeing things from Bean's point of view sounds fascinating.

The Moon Pool by A. Merritt Classic work **** With a caution -- recommended only for those who are interested in the history of SF/Fantasy!

The copy I read is a 1919 edition from the Sterling E. Lanier library with a plain black cover. However the lurid drawing (and this one is not quite the most lurid) is most appropriate as The Moon Pool features several women characters who are scantily clad, very much a 'must' for books of this type, then and now. I can't catetgorize it as it hovers between genres as it blends nearly non-stop action, imaginative re-purposing of an obscure and genuinely intriguing archaeological site in the Caroline Islands of the Pacific (near Papua New Guinea) known as 'the Venice of the Pacific,' impressive use of known theoretical physics of the time (including relativity and ftl and something v v much like a singularity), irish myth (leprachauns, banshee, songs and brogue from the Irish hero), nordic myth (Asgard etc), botany, dwarves, the lost continent of Mu, oh and a whole underground space full of living beings formerly of Mu -- among them the Akka, giant and intelligent warrior frogs among them, living in the space left when the moon parted company with earth. (The moon having a special relationship yet with this space..... ). If you are interested in the history of fantasy and science fiction, and in how the genre developed, this one is a must - a classic. I can see why, for all it isn't much on character development and it has some of the racism of the day (although milder than some I've encountered) - it's an intelligent and impressive blending of information with some daft but wild imaginings of the first water. It is narrated by a scientist, a serious Botanist, Goodwin, who stumbles into an adventure on his way home from a collecting expedition. He and his Irish friend, must save the world from the folks down below who want to re-emerge on the surface of the earth......

Humor: O'Keefe, when they meet is familiar with Goodwin's work: "He had bought, it appeared, my volume upon the peculiar vegetation whose habitat is disintegrating lava rock and volcanic ash, that I had entitled somewhat loosely, I could now perceive, {Flora of the Craters}. For he explained naively that he had picked it up, thinking it....something like Meredith's {Diana of the Crossways}." and "Could not a lover of science present a compliment without it always seeming to be as unusual as plucking a damask rose from a cabinet of fossils."

Bogus science: "'Moonlight' I replied, 'is, of course, reflected sunlight. But the rays which pass back to earth after their impact on the moon's surface are profoundly changed. The spectroscope shows that they lose practically all the slower vibrartions we call red and infra-red..... (this goes on and on and finally) ...At any rate, the light of the moon becomes something entirely different from mere modified sunlight....."

Radioactivity, its horrible dangers still unknown, is a favored substance.....'its blueness even in the vial, held an intensity of luminousness.'

This little paragraph can explain the paradox of why so many hard-headed geeks like SF and fantasy - O'Keefe is lecturing Goodwin on his priggishness: "You scientific people build up whole philosophies on the basis of things you never saw, and you scoff at people who believe in other things that you think they never saw and that don't come under what you label scientific. You talk about paradoxes -why, your scientist, who think she is the most skeptical, the most materialistic aggregation of atoms ever gathered at the exact mathematical centre of Missouri, has more blind faith than a dervish, and more credulity, more superstition, than a cross-eyed smoke beating it past a country graveyard in the dark of the moon!"

"'Lugur pressed upon the box, and a spark no bigger than a sand grain leaped out and fell beside the stones. Lugur pressed again, and a blue light shot from the box and lighted on the spark. The spark that had been no bigger than a grain of sand grew and grew as the blue struck it. And then there was a sighing, a wind blew - and the stone and the flowers and the tree were not. They were forsvinde - vanished!" (After a bit the stuff tumbles back from somewhere....for a short time gravity has vanished) - it is more like the opposite of a singularity, but kind of remarkable for the time, I think.

Wells is mentioned, with his sentient species of Martian cuttlefish, "Man is the ruling animal of earth today solely by reason of a series of accidents; under another series spiders or ants, or even elephants, could have become the dominant race." I can't argue with that!

I've written more than usual as this is part of an on-going project and these are essentially my own notes -- but I thought they might be fun for others too!

The Moon Pool by A. Merritt Classic work **** With a caution -- recommended only for those who are interested in the history of SF/Fantasy!

The copy I read is a 1919 edition from the Sterling E. Lanier library with a plain black cover. However the lurid drawing (and this one is not quite the most lurid) is most appropriate as The Moon Pool features several women characters who are scantily clad, very much a 'must' for books of this type, then and now. I can't categorize it as it hovers between genres blending nearly non-stop action, imaginative re-purposing of an obscure and genuinely intriguing archaeological site in the Caroline Islands of the Pacific (near Papua New Guinea) known as 'the Venice of the Pacific,' (Check out 'Nan Madol' ), impressive use of known theoretical physics of the time (including relativity and ftl and something v v much like an inside-out singularity), irish myth (leprachauns, banshee, songs and brogue from the Irish hero), nordic myth (Asgard etc), botany, dwarves, the lost continent of Mu, oh and a whole underground space full of living beings formerly of Mu -- among them the Akka, giant and intelligent warrior frogs living in the space left when the moon parted company with earth. (The moon having a special relationship yet with this space..... ). If you are interested in the history of fantasy and science fiction, and in how the genre developed, this one is a must - a classic. I can see why, for all it isn't much on character development and it has some of the racism of the day (although milder than some I've encountered) - it's an intelligent and impressive blending of information with some daft but wild imaginings of the first water. It is narrated by a scientist, a serious Botanist, Goodwin, who stumbles into an adventure on his way home from a collecting expedition. He and his Irish friend, must save the world from the folks down below who want to re-emerge on the surface of the earth......

Humor: O'Keefe, when they meet is familiar with Goodwin's work: "He had bought, it appeared, my volume upon the peculiar vegetation whose habitat is disintegrating lava rock and volcanic ash, that I had entitled somewhat loosely, I could now perceive, {Flora of the Craters}. For he explained naively that he had picked it up, thinking it....something like Meredith's {Diana of the Crossways}." and "Could not a lover of science present a compliment without it always seeming to be as unusual as plucking a damask rose from a cabinet of fossils."

Bogus science: "'Moonlight' I replied, 'is, of course, reflected sunlight. But the rays which pass back to earth after their impact on the moon's surface are profoundly changed. The spectroscope shows that they lose practically all the slower vibrartions we call red and infra-red..... (this goes on and on and finally) ...At any rate, the light of the moon becomes something entirely different from mere modified sunlight....."

Radioactivity, its horrible dangers still unknown, is a favored substance.....'its blueness even in the vial, held an intensity of luminousness.'

This little paragraph can explain the paradox of why so many hard-headed geeks like SF and fantasy - O'Keefe is lecturing Goodwin on his priggishness: "You scientific people build up whole philosophies on the basis of things you never saw, and you scoff at people who believe in other things that you think they never saw and that don't come under what you label scientific. You talk about paradoxes -why, your scientist, who think she is the most skeptical, the most materialistic aggregation of atoms ever gathered at the exact mathematical centre of Missouri, has more blind faith than a dervish, and more credulity, more superstition, than a cross-eyed smoke beating it past a country graveyard in the dark of the moon!"

"'Lugur pressed upon the box, and a spark no bigger than a sand grain leaped out and fell beside the stones. Lugur pressed again, and a blue light shot from the box and lighted on the spark. The spark that had been no bigger than a grain of sand grew and grew as the blue struck it. And then there was a sighing, a wind blew - and the stone and the flowers and the tree were not. They were forsvinde - vanished!" (After a bit the stuff tumbles back from somewhere....for a short time gravity has vanished) - it is more like the opposite of a singularity, but kind of remarkable for the time, I think.

Wells is mentioned, with his sentient species of Martian cuttlefish, "Man is the ruling animal of earth today solely by reason of a series of accidents; under another series spiders or ants, or even elephants, could have become the dominant race." I can't argue with that!

I'm interested in the origins of sci-fi, but haven't gotten much farther than a few H.G. Wells novels and News from Nowhere. I've found some lists of interesting books in this genre, but I don't remember this one (which certainly doesn't mean it wasn't there.) It sounds fascinating!

Several times I felt a bit fed up and then something so funny or interestingly weird would happen.....but what made this one interesting, ultimately, was the sheer volume of stuff Merritt found to put in it. The story itself, characters..... pretty lame, really. Literature it sure ain't!

Lucy, I am a molten puddle over the corgi puppies. I have had an incredibly soft spot for corgis ever since one bit a former boss who made my life living hell for several years at the uni. ETA: I know that doesn't sound particularly nice but he was a nightmare and it was as though the dog knew.

194: There've been times I would've appreciated a corgi like that...
124: Oh, and it's 10 or so days today... Any further developments in the puppy choice?

I LOVE that story, Tui! The corgi knew, you can count on it.

It HAS been ten days and we were hoping to go back down this Friday. HOWEVER the people just aren't quite ready - a special evaluator was going to come and help them choose which ones to keep and she hurt her back.... so..... maybe the weekend after. It's too bad because this weekend would have been perfect as it's exam week and my dau gets out at noon Friday and has no homework all weekend, but oh well.....

Meanwhile, I've started the Patrick Rothfuss Name of the Wind. I've been hoarding it and it is time to stop doing that! So far this year I have only read one book that wasn't already in my tbr shelf (Ender's Game, I had Ender's Shadow - I guess I can't read any more of them for the time being.

Oh, oh, oh! Name of the Wind!!! *excited to hear your thoughts*

Drat! You gotta be kidding! A "special evaluator"? :P
I'm sorry to hear that this will not be the weekend.
Maybe you need to tell the owners that you are not the only one waiting for a decision here! People worldwide are on tenterhooks! Good grief!
Hang-in-there hugs for you, Lucy!

Sorry for the corgi delay too. A new little life to fuss over would be just the thing right now.

The only other person I know of who has corgis is H M the Queen. So Lucy, with your new puppy you will be Queen of the 75 group!

Cee, I am so with you on that! I think really they just aren't ready to give them up!

Anyhow, here is some good clean corgi fun in the meantime:



I am spending today on damage control -- I was away working for over a week -- there's a funny smell (another dead rodent?), I found the coffee cup (filled) I forgot to take with me the morning I left, sitting where I left it on the sill by the front door, the Christmas tree is definitely a fire hazard, raining needles if you look at it...... etcetera. That is my day!

My latest read never made it into the 'Currently Reading' section as I listened to it with the fam. when we went on puppy expedition #1. It was Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I don't think I've read it since .... gosh .... late high school? Summer reading around then?? I've seen various movies but none of them really 'tell it like it is'. Heathcliff is so terrible! At one point my dau. just said, "Turn it off, I can't stand another minute of it. He makes me sick." But at the same time I could also see the Bronte sisters putting their heads together and asking, "How bad do we dare make him! What is truly unforgiveable?" The book seems to veer around in a kind of adolescent mood-driven miserable frenzy to comedy of the Cold Comfort Farm sort (whenever Joseph the servant wanders into the text), to a kind of smarminess whenever any of the Lintons take the stage..... and they're all rather awful! But then in the last 1/3 the book veers off into another plane altogether ..... just lifts off and Heathcliff's sorrow and anguish metamorphoses into something quite other..... I can't really imagine Emily intended it, it just happened, I expect, as she pushed and pushed as far as she could. Magic! *****

I love the Gryffincorg! And I haven't read WH since about the same time. Can't really remember what I thought of it then... I know that I did prefer The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to either WH or Jane Eyre, but haven't re-read any of them since.

Hi Lucy, getting caught up here. Love, love the pics of the Corgis and hope you get yours soon.

As for the politics, I guess I'd just as soon not know. I want to be entertained when I'm reading not be thinking about the author's political views. It reminds me of when the Dixie Chicks were performing years back and made a comment about Bush and how he embarrassed them as US citizens. Their fans didn't appreciate that at all and I'm not sure their careers ever recovered (don't really follow them). Above all, know your audience I guess.

Those corgis are the best!

Cute Corgi cartoons! You could be right, Lucy. The current owners want all the cuteness for themselves! :P Well, they can't have them forever! Your corgi-girl wants you! ;-)

Oh dear, oh dear. The Corgi breeds are cute, but they don't stand a chance against that little sweetie in the snow. I hope you get the call to come get a baby soon, Lucy!

JeanLuc PiCorg!!!!! *falls over giggling*

Lucy - the Corgi cariacatures are a hoot! Have a lovely weekend.

Puppies are universally cute, but Corgi puppies are insanely cute. It won't be long now! Let these people know they're keeping a whole group of us waiting.

Hi Lucy. Just stopping by and checking on the Corgi-Watch!

Stopping by my own thread to say I am enthralled by The Name of the Wind. I'm a little scarce around here for that reason.....I'm reading!

Do Corgis shed? Or are they good for allergic people?

SADLY corgis shed like mad! They have double coats (fluffy inner layer, smoother outer layer) therefore.... I don't think they are at all good for allergic folks. I think the curly coated dogs, poodly, bichon etc. are the ones that are the least allergenic.... but I don't really know!

I have a standard poodle because of that, Lucy: no undercoat and doesn't shed. Bedlington terriers, Portuguese water dogs, etc. It's the cruellest thing to adore all dogs and yet only be able to live with a few.

191: I did check out Nan Madol, back before this thread took another detour through corgi puppies, and can see why it would inspire an SF novel.

I should add though that even though I gave The Moon Pool four stars..... it isn't all that good a book, more like a fascinating hodge-podge......

Isn't Nan Madol strange? I marvel, when I learn of some place like that, at how much there is to know out there, and how little we really know.

Back to add that the thermometer read -9 Fahrenheit this morning.

I marvel . . . at how much there is to know out there, and how little we really know.

Love that comment. So true. (Now I need to go look up Nan Madol.)

Stay warm.

Nan Madol is the weirdest place to me...no fresh water? I wonder if it was totally a ceremonial place. I didn't even know about it until a couple of years ago. How much more of this kind of thing is out there indeed!

I'd never heard of Nan Madol, or The Moon Pool - how little we know indeed...

200 Love the various Corgis. . . especially Jean-Luc Picorg and the Dogtor . . .

***** With upwards of 211 reviews, no need to say another word. If you like fantasy, you will like it.

I'm going to 'try' to finish a novel I was enjoying and put down for various reasons a couple of weeks ago, and maybe get NYer #4 for January read (there are 5 this month, drat it) and THEN I will start Rothfuss #2.

***** With upwards of 211 reviews, no need to say another word. If you like fantasy, you will like it.

I'm going to 'try' to finish a novel I was enjoying and put down for various reasons a couple of weeks ago, and maybe get NYer #4 for January read (there are 5 this month, drat it) and THEN I will start Rothfuss #2.

I love the pictures of the corgis, Lucy! I was giggling along with Faith at the JeanLuc Picorg picture too.

#222: One of these days I will get to that book.

...wha...where...oh yeah, Lucy's thread...I been passed out from all the puppy-cuteness, think I need insulin....

Hi Lucy, sorry to hear about the delay in getting your own Corgi puppy but I love the photos and caricatures (the dogtor!)

Funnily enough I'd just added Merritt's The Moon Pool to a future reading list after discovering that it is apparently a type of 'Lost World' fantasy story like King Solomon's Mines and Conan Doyle's The Lost World. You've made it sound readable which is reassuring!

Oooh, happy to hear you liked The Name of the Wind!!!

Heather..... I keep backpedaling on The Moon Pool - but I think you will like it (or at least, find it readable) since you, as am I, are interested in the 'lost worlds' -- it is, I think, regarded as one of the 'good' (as in 'interesting') ones..... I've gotten so interested in the origins of sf/fantasy fiction that I fear I have zero judgment anymore. I'm not just reading for 'pleasure' in the regular sense of the word, fascination and curiosity have gotten so mixed in. Anyhow, I'm so excited, I just found out that my daughter will be reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein this term!

This weekend the house was so quiet and calm...... as I sat there reading I thought...... sometime in the next couple of weeks all that will change and I felt a slightly panicky feeling, but in a good way. We are getting the puppy 'layette' together bit by bit - honestly! We need a new crate and the right puppy food and some new toys and and and....

dk -- Oh I did I did! I'm torturing myself a bit by finishing up at least one (maybe two) books that have bookmarks halfway through them before starting the next one.

DANGEROUSLY CUTE ALERT:


It's going to be one of these two girls.

Holy, could they be any cuter?!

O! My eyes... my heart...
when? when?
They are soooo adorable... if there are any extras, I'll take one! ;-)

OH MY GOD. I think you should get both!!!

231: I think you should get both!!!
My thought exactly. Really. How can you choose?

I can only hope one of them will be already chosen or one of the girls they decide to keep, otherwise, yeah, we're kind of doomed.

Those puppies are ADORABLE! When we went to get our second poodle (9 years ago now), the lady brought out the puppy that we were interested in and also one more. The second puppy was the last one left from his litter and his sister had gone home the day before. We had all of our kids with us to meet the possible new puppy, and of course you can guess what happened - we ended up taking both puppies home! With four kids under the age of twelve and three new puppies (remember the one we already had), we ended up naming the new ones Barnum and Bailey because we knew life would be a circus at home for awhile. Totally worth it! Hope you get your new puppy soon.

Oh those heart achingly wonderful pink tummies! Lucy, I know puppies are a lot of work but they are so wonderful at the same time. I'm envious! {Maybe Esme would like a puppy...}

"Puppy layette"--I love it! And, you're right--they're dangerously cute. Have you decided on a name(s) yet?

OK, OK, if we're going to start talking puppy layettes, then I may have to lay off this thread for awhile. Sheesh.

#228 Awwww, so cute!

And thank you for the comments on The Moon Pool - you don't need to worry that I am going to come back and complain of being mis-sold :-)

Puppies are soooo cute, and I also love the 'puppy layette' idea. I'm hoping you end up with two pups, double the fun.

237 - snort -- Yes, this thread is not for the faint of heart right now....

In my defense, I came home and found a list that my spousal unit had carefully written out of the things we need which he had then stuck on the refrigerator...... 'puppy layette' popped into my head. He isn't much of a list-maker, generally, so it's a sign of how excited he is about the whole thing.

Then I definitely think that you should try for both of them - one apiece. Twice the fun for sure!!!

16 new messages and I wondered if this was puppy-related excitement... Yes it is. They are both adorable. Why not have both!

Absolutely TOO sweet! Oh, which one ...

I think I might faint...so adorable...pink puppy tum
.
.
.
.
*thunk*

Oh gosh, Richard! Quick, get the smelling salts!

I'm glad to hear your DH is also excited about the new dog(s?).

I would have probably waited longer, but this dear litter and nice people are right here .... I'm still awfully sad about Evan, but the spousal unit says I'm just not myself without a dog..... and let me see..... he's worried the cats are sad without a dog, hmmm, could it be perhaps that he is sad to be without a dog?

How will the cats feel about a puppy?

I would say love/hate in equal measure, possible first the latter, then shifting to the former over time...... Generally our animals all seem to develop if not a true fondness at least a tolerance of each other. Our gray cat was visibly upset when Evan died. He is the most recent animal, so Evan was 'always there'. Anyhow, they are so bored right now, what with it being winter and all, that I think a puppy will be very good for both of them, keep their tiny minds fully occupied.

Each time we acquired a dog, our cats snubbed us for a year or two. They kept their distance from the dog(s). Our male cat took it out on us by peeing around the house. Quite unpleasant. Eventually they learned to tolerate the dogs.

Hey Sib, I can't remember, have you read Oryx and Crake? I'm so up and down and all over the place on Atwood. The last one I tried of hers was The Blind Assassin and I ended up giving it away to the library book drive. I hated that book. But some of hers I've really enjoyed. Or at least tolerated, as in "this is good for me." What do you think?

Lucy, are you aware there is a collection of 80 years of The New Yorker on 8 DVD-ROMs? Darryl/kidzdoc has such a thing in his possession; click here to be tempted.

252: Just when she's gotten caught up...

>252 lauralkeet:. I also have that collection, and it's really wonderful, since I think there's nothing that can match the 1930s and 1940s and maybe 1950s New Yorker mags. The really great thing about the collection is that you download the DVD's to your computer and then it is searchable--by just about anything, including author or whatever. The pages are all .pdf documents, so you can collect them to your heart's content.

Alternately, however, if your subscribe to the mag, then you also have access to the complete online archives of the magazine going back to 1925. That's the really, truly only reason for my current subscription. More often than not I end up thumbing through the current issue and pitching it in the trash. I simply cannot abide having their politics/pov shoved down my throat.

I was just speaking to my friend's Corgi, and she's such a dear! (BOTH puppies! BOTH puppies! Friend's other dog is really too big to play well with Bodie.)
And, Becky, *Blind Assassin* has been my very least favorite Atwood. I kept it because I'm such a completist-wannabe, but I can absolutely see giving it away. If you are one for dystopia, you should read *O&C* - even though you didn't ask me.

Becky and Peggy, I'm glad to hear you weren't that crazy about Blind Assassin. It's the only Atwood I've tried and I gave up after about 200 pages. It's made me reluctant to try her other books but I do own a copy of Oryx and Crake that a friend gave me. And, I think, it was Donna who just read it and loved it.

Hi Lucy!

Peggy and Pat--thanks (your thread has been overtaken for just a bit, Lucy--hope that's OK). I'm not really big on negative utopian fiction, as Stephen King calls it. I suppose it depends on what themes are being explored (eg: has technology outstripped humanity's spiritual evolution? is one that would interest me). I put up with Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, for example, but I can't say I really enjoyed the book.

Thanks for the tip about Donna. I knew I'd seen this book discussed somewhere.

Becky, I believe you would not care for Oryx and Crake at all. One great thing about Atwood indeed is that she wears many different hats, so you don't know what she's going to do next. But that also means that odds are some books simply will not work at all. I have The Blind Assassin on my tbr shelf..... I'm going to give myself permission NOT to read it!

I love having my thread taken over! Puppies! Books! Bring 'em on.

I am going to stick with this thread since it is only a few more days until the end of January. If it gets too unwieldy I'll start Feb. a few days early.


Finished up an Audio book this afternoon - The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester. The story of Joseph Needham, an Englishman (dates approx 1900-1992) who was responsible for conceiving, collecting the info for and writing/organizing the gargantuan work on Chinese civilization and science that set the record straight, once and for all, about just who invented practically everything from gunpowder to the stirrup, chess to the compass..... Needham had humble beginnings, was insanely brilliant (eidetic memory, for one), started out as a biologist, but fell in love with a Chinese woman, learned the language in a jiffy and ended up, during WW2 being the expert sent to China as a science liaison.... and his wonderment and curiousity in China led to the great work. It's a great story and Winchester does his usual thorough job.

Of course, the most interesting question is the unanswered one -- known, in fact, as 'the Needham question, since he was the first to ask it. -- Why, after centuries of steady inventiveness did the Chinese suddenly stop, at 1500 A.D.? In that century, effectively, the West began to be the inventive powerhouse, which it has remained. It's quite a mystery, and Winchester only touches upon it.

Recommended to anyone with an interest in science and/or China. ****

He reads the book himself on audio and has the most in-ter-ES-ting pronunciations. Viz. Elephantine = el-e- PHAN-tine ( the last syllable is a LONG i. )

Glad you liked this book, Lucy. Great review... Even tho you did not post it on the book's main page and especially since I already read this one (LOL)
For once, I escape a BB from you! Whew!
Unfortunately, I did not like it at all - I wanted to - but couldn't get past Needham's personality.

I'm glad you liked the book too, Lucy, and I don't think that it tempts me although the Needham question does.
What I note is that we can pretty well give up on IN-t'resting as opposed to in-te-REST-ing, which is how I hear it. *sigh*

Since you don't want to start another thread until Feb...I'll make it quick...Have a nice day Lucy!

InterESting sounds weird, but elephANtine (to rhyme with wine) is what I would regard as standard - not that it's a word I use every day.

It's INt'resting how listening to audio books exposes one to a different aspect of language - and opens up the possibility of disagreeing with the narrator's pronunciation.

Genny, now I feel like a silly! The truth is, pronouncing it that way does capture the scope of something very very big..... the 'fan' implies a lot of spreading out...... but I wonder that I've never noticed it before..... perhaps its the loving way Winchester pronounced it. Anyhow, I have a) added the word to my vocabulary, seriously and b) plan to use it as much as possible pronouncing it a la Winchester, as much fanfare as I can manage! I love words!

Needham was one of those larger than lifes, no? Perhaps it was listening to it, but I never felt he was 'awful.' -- He reminded me forcibly of the explorer in Z - one of these people with abnormal energy and incredible focus. I don't think I could read a Winchester -- but I enjoy listening to them, go figure!

I came to post that I'd finished the Jaimy Gordon, She Drove Without Stopping but I have to haul the little darling off to school.....back later.

Not silly at all - there are several variants in pronuciation (online dictionaries suggest so) and what I regard as standard may actually be a bizarre variant shared only with Winchester! But I'm delighted to think of you wandering around describing every large thing as elephantine in future! Words are great, indeed.

Agreed, audio books open up some thoughts on pronunciation that we don't run into when we read a book to ourselves.
I was listening to one last year and in one chapter the narrator kept talking about the PATina and it was a few sentences before I figured out it was the word I've always heard and pronounced as patINa. The dictionary says we're both right, but it did interrupt the flow of the book to have to figure out what in the world a PATina was.

I've had The Man Who Loved China on the shelf for a little while now, but I wasn't sure it would be all that interESting (but of course it was interesting enough to buy on discount... haha)... though this discussion is making me a little sad I don't have it in audio format... ;)

I'm obliged to step in again to ask whether Winchester is British. That might cause the difference in emphasis. And also to point out the plight of the reading child, which I continue to be liable to.....we read words that we've never heard pronounced, so while we may use them correctly, we may mangle their pronunciation. Bear witness.... Sunday I said something about a PER-i-cope in Mark, and was corrected. Of course, the word is Greek, and is pronounced p'-rIH-co-pee - which even I might have realized with a second thought, but I didn't give it one. I'll probably always read it that way.

Had to check OED for elephantine: elePHAntine with a long i at the end. Winchester wins the day! I don't think we Canadians emPHAsise the midsection that way but bump along with all the syllables equal. Do give the long i its due though.

Peggy, when I was in grade 6 my "public speech" was on Robert Louis Stevenson. I had never heard Adirondacks pronounced out loud so said "AdIRONdacks". Only my own mother snorted from the audience. It's a lot like periscope, so I can see how you did it.

My mother nearly drove off the road when as a little pipsqueak I looked at a building in our town one day and said, what is a Munciple Building for? (hint: rhymes with runcible). She never got over it.

The truth of the matter is, do any Americans use the word 'elephantine' pronounced any way at all? I am guessing there is a lot of room for, um, expansion, here!


What to say about She Drove Without Stopping? At first I thought.... oh no..... another novel about an abusive father ruining his daughter's life -- I don't mean that in any mean way, I often read MSS for a small literary firm, and it is a huge sub-genre and there are a lot of passionate, sad but unpublishable books out there..... Happy to say, swiftly the book moves into another trajectory, although, to be sure, Jane's relationship with her father (or lack of it) is at the heart of everything she does. Set in the 50's to mid-late 60's it's the story of Jane Turner. A shrink tells the family that Jane is overly obsessed with sex when she is still a spratling and this causes the father, who was a bit too intimate (teetering on 'the line', I'd say) not only to withdraw from Jane physically but also emotionally, as if disgusted by the thought of a girl who is so overtly sexual. So Jane, who is actually more like her father than her two sisters, struggles into young adulthood with being a feisty, independent and very horny girl. Loathing dormitory life at her Ohio college, she moves into an abandoned house, acquiring a car, a wonderful boyfriend (truly a saint) and a bunch of friends, all men. Things happen -- some good, and many quite appallingly bad, but Jane does seem to have a guardian angel of some kind at work although some of it is her own spunky response to things. What lifts it above other coming of age novels involving women is a headlong rush of muscly images, unflinching prose and trenchant humor..... it's above all a fun book, peopled with peculiar characters who ring true, the Indian landlord Cochise, the junkman Willie..... the events that lead to Jane growing into a better understanding of herself are like a wild maelstrom that gets worse and worse until it's as if something just spits Jane out into a new plane. The deeper theme, how repressive and punishing our culture is toward overtly sexual women, is well handled. I've talked myself into bumping it up to ****1/2.

#268 I agree re the plight of the reading child - so many words that I encountered first through my own reading, and worked out my own idiosyncratic pronunciation because I never heard them used by anyone else - and I didn't talk much either in my childhood and teens, so did not discover where I was going wrong in some cases until I got to university, where I had some embarrassing moments!

I'm intrigued as to how there could be any other way of pronouncing elephantine. I would have thought it was self explanatory? Or would you normally pronounce the end 'tine' as 'TEEN'?

ELLA fan teen...I've heard this one.

#272/273--that's how I'd pronounce it although I'm not sure I've ever said the word aloud.

Great review of She Drove Without Stopping, Lucy. I just gave it a big thumb.

So true. I read misled as mizzled for years before realizing which oral word I knew corresponded to it. And yes, Jenny, I would have put a "teen" at the end.

Delurking to say that this is a wonderful review, I thumbed it and WLed the book.

And it's very interesting to see that native speakers also don't always know how to pronounce certain words. My English teacher used to say we shouldn't use a new expression unless we have heard it spoken first.

And: I so adore the puppies!

Hi Lucy,
Great review of the Gordon book. I've had Lord of Misrule among the TBRs for some time now. Perhaps I'll bump it ahead in the queue.

Lucy, I've discovered that my daughter and her roommate are in love with a dog called Bandit the Corgi. Here's Bandit's YouTube Channel. Hopefully these videos will satisfy your need for Corgi Cuteness until such time as you once again have Corgis chez Lucy.

Thoroughly enjoyed your remarks on She Drove Without Stopping. Thanks, Lucy.

Bandit is a darling! Thank you Laura. We are quietly going nuts waiting around for our little one.

Thanks for the review kudo -- I haven't been writing so many of them lately -- but this one seemed to demand it!

Winchester is British -- though he now lives in the Berkshires. Reminds me that I need to read this book, along with Krakatoa, both of which have been lurking for too long and are making me feel guilty...

I watched Bandit trying to climb stairs - very cute! Can't wait to see your own Corgi little one...

"What lifts it above other coming of age novels involving women is a headlong rush of muscly images, unflinching prose and trenchant humor.....it's above all a fun book, peopled with peculiar characters who ring true..."

What a great review! I had originally thought that this was a book that I was not interested in, but your review makes me think that I will have to reconsider. Thanks for the insight.

#270 - Great review. I've put that one on my wishlist.

Thank you all! I feel it is a bit dangerous to praise a book - but the fact that it re-engaged me after a)reading an page-turner of a fantasy book and b) an almost two week hiatus, bodes well.....

OKAY so we just got the call that THE PUPPIES ARE READY.

We would go tomorrow except there is a serious ice storm predicted starting in the wee hours of tonight.... then snow all weekend......can you believe it!!!! So I think we will have to wait another week. Unless we decide to be bad parental units and let our daughter miss a day of school. Which we will do if the forecast for next week looks even the tiniest bit iffy. I am not going to drive around in bad weather with a puppy.

Back to add a visual. PUPPY coming this way:

Yay! Some occasions just call for a day off with good weather!
This is definitely at the top of the list. What fun! :)

Hope the weather cooperates so you can pick up the baby! Looking forward to puppy pics.

Evil weather for delaying your puppy pickup! Keep posting pictures. I LOVE them.

Found your thread, starred it. I was trying to be a bit judicious and realistic about how many threads I could actually keep up with, but if you're going to add puppies, well, what's a girl to do???
Waiting another week sounds like torture (but better than getting stuck in the snow or in an accident on the road with them in the car with you). Getting two of them?

New addition is adorable! Love, love. Are you firmly decided on a name?

Awww! How exciting!

285: Which puppy is it in the 228 photo? Is it the puppy you chose when you were there?
So I think we will have to wait another week. Aaaaaagh! OTOH, if you get a puppy this weekend, this thread may explode before February begins.

It is the one we liked the best when we were there -- she is the one who is looking around in the photo in #137 and is probably one of the ones in 228 -- probably the one on the right. As for names, no, that will be a long-drawn out family affair.

Interesting review of She drove without stopping. As far a mispronounced words go, the one I remember from my childhood is obsession. (I think I mis-pronounced it o - besh' - un)

P.S. The puppies are adorable!

Another one who has Wishlisted "She Drove...." after that review.

PUPPY! Such a sweet face. Hope you can pick her up soon! Ice, stay away!

Sandy K

The puppy in #136 is 9 years old today!

>285 sibylline:. What a bright, sweet little thing. She'll have a great new home!

Oh my, puppy love indeed! You must be so excited! And disappointed with the coming weather, but I'm glad you're being reasonable and decided not to drive in what could potentially be a dangerous mess. Looks like we'll be getting a little bit of everything in the next 24 hours; snow, ice, rain, yuck yuck yuck.

I LOVE the discussion brought about via Winchester's pronunciation of elePHANtine

1) because that's how I've always thought it's pronounced as well (maybe because I'm Canadian and we're often closer to the British with spelling and pronunciation?)

2) because I already know and love this word and may even have used it in conversation or at least on a blog sometime

3) because since I discovered audiobooks, I too have finally learned how many words are pronounced. Like many others here, I've always suffered from reading child syndrome. Add to that the fact that I live alone, never went to uni, and spend altogether too much time "talking" online well...

I do often come across idiosynchratic pronunciation on audiobooks, or sometimes it's more a question of pacing (is that what it would be called?); as in putting emphasis on certain words in a sentence that seems all wrong somehow. Some narrators have a definite rhythm too (again, not sure that's the right term), that's almost like a refrain from a song, and as soon as I catch on to it, I have a hard time concentrating on what they're actually saying, which drives me nuts. One such reader is Susan Duerden, whom I endured with The Tiger's Wife. It says a lot for Téa Obreht that I gave her book five stars after being subjected to Duerden's lilting throughout. I actually got a hardcover version of it so I can read it again with my own 'voice' eventually. I wanted to listen to China Mieville's Embassytown when it came out, but when I saw it was her, I demurred. Another one who drives me nuts for similar reasons is Jim Dale, though in his case it may just be that I find him overly dramatic in a kind of predictable way.

Also Lucy, I've had The Man Who Loved China on my Audible wishlist for ages now, and just realized it's not on my LT wishlist, so will rectify that and add you as a recommender in my tags. I haven't read anything by Winchester yet and have had The Professor and the Madman on my shelves seemingly forever. Have you read that one? I'll have to make room for it soon.

Wow. I would never have pronounced elephantine the way the dictionary.com site has it, with the stress on the 'fan' part. My choice was the fourth one listed, with equal stress on the first and last syllables, with a long i.

Adorable puppy -- she looks as if she's ready to leap up and lick your face!! Only a week to go...

I decided that 300 messages was the tipping point (not my favorite expression but apt here.....) so I'm going to go and work on a slightly early February thread) - give me a few minutes to tidy up!