souloftherose's 2012 reading journal - part one

Young Woman Reading An Illustrated Journal by Pierre Auguste Renoir

This is my third year in the 75 books challenge group and I really appreciate being able to talk about books with the lovely people in this group and I value the visits of everyone who stops by so please feel free to comment or just lurk.

Somehow I seem to read a fair number of books in a year which is good, because I have more than a fair number of books in my TBR pile!

Books read in 2012:



Books read from TBR pile



January

#1 The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan (Library)
#2 Lady Susan/The Watsons/Sanditon by Jane Austen (Reread)
#3 The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (TBR)
#4 One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (TBR)
#5 When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (TBR)
#6 Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick (Library)
#7 A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (TBR)
#8 Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson (Borrowed)
#9 The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield (TBR)
#10 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (TBR)
#11 At Mrs Lippincote's by Elizabeth Taylor (TBR)
#12 Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey (Library)
#13 The Awakening and Selected Stories by Kate Chopin (Free kindle read)
#14 King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard (Reread)
#15 Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (TBR)
#16 Nothing But Ghosts by Judith Hermann (TBR)
#17 Stop the Train by Geraldine McCaughrean (TBR)
#18 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Reread)
#19 The Monk by M. G. Lewis (Library)

February

#20 Zoo City by Lauren Beukes (TBR)
#21 Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith (Reread)
#22 A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (TBR)
#23 March by Geraldine Brooks (TBR)
#24 The Secret River by Kate Grenville (TBR)
#25 Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti and Ian McEwan (Library)
#26 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (TBR)
#27 The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths (TBR)

In my never-ending quest to try and reduce the size of my TBR pile, I am going to try and restrict my book acquisitions to 1 book in for every 2 books read from the TBR pile.

So far, I'm not off to a great start as I have read 0 books from the TBR pile and purchased 1 book and ordered another 2...

Books acquired in 2012:



January
#1 River Boy by Tim Bowler (Kindle sale)
#2 At Mrs Lippincote's by Elizabeth Taylor (Book depository) READ
#3 Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor (Amazon)
#4 The Conan Chronicles Volume 1 by Robert E. Howard (Bookmooch)
#5 Clarissa, or The History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson (Waterstones.com)
#6 The Guardian Review: Book of Short Stories edited by Lisa Allardice (Charity bookshop)
#7 Restoration London by Liza Picard (Charity bookshop)
#8 The Secret River by Kate Grenville (Kindle daily deal) READ

February
#9 The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey (Kindle daily deal)
#10 A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (Kindle) READ
#11 Room by Emma Donoghue (Kindle)
#12 Look at Me by Jennifer Egan (Kindle daily deal)
#13 Embassytown by China Mieville (Kindle)

2012 reading plans

I'm not going to do a formal 12/12 challenge this year but I do have some reading plans for 2012 which I'm going to list below.

1. Charles Dickens

I'm going to continue with my reread of Dickens major works and also try some of his less well-known short stories and some books written about Dickens.

By Dickens:
Barnaby Rudge
American Notes
Martin Chuzzlewit
Pictures from Italy
Dombey & Son

About Dickens:
Charles Dickens and the House of Fallen Women by Jenny Hartley
Other Dickens: Pickwick to Chuzzlewit by John Bowen
The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens by Claire Tomalin
The Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens edited by John O. Jordan

2. Other 19th century British authors

Reading more by Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins, Anthony Trollope, William Thackery, Walter Scott and anyone else I think of

The Heart of the Mid-Lothian by Walter Scott (1818)
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (1847)
The Warden by Anthony Trollope (1855)
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope (1857)
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (1859)
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (1868)

3. 18th century literature

#1 The Monk by M. G. Lewis

The more I read from the 19th century the more I realise I need to understand what was written in the 18th century and after my success with The Mysteries of Udolpho I'm going to try some more 18th century literature

The Monk by M. G. Lewis
The Italian by Ann Radcliffe
Evelina by Fanny Burney
A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft
Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson

4. Fantasy and Science fiction Masterworks

These are part of a publisher series by Gollancz which is reprinting classic works of science fiction and fantasy. I've collected a few but I'm not very good at reading them.

In the TBR pile:
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke
Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin
The Complete Enchanter by L. Sprague de Camp
Beauty by Sheri Tepper
The Conan Chronicles Volume 1 by Robert E. Howard

4. Carnegie Medal winners and shortlist

The Carnegie Medal is an award for children's books given by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK. I haven't read a bad book from the awards list and I have quite a few to read.

#1 The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (1946 winner)
#2 Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick (2010 shortlist)
#3 Stop the Train by Geraldine McCaughrean (2001 shortlist)

In the TBR pile:
The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly
A Stranger at Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
River Boy by Tim Bowler
The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson
King of Shadows by Susan Cooper
Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
Stop the Train by Geraldine McCaughrean
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

5. Orange Prize winners and nominees

To carry on reading from the Orange Prize winners and nominees.

#1 A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
#2 Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

In the TBR pile:
Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
The Road Home by Rose Tremain
The Siege by Helen Dunmore
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Small Island by Andrea Levy
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

6. The Other Elizabeth Taylor

The Virago group are doing a year-long celebration, with monthly reads chosen by the group as 2012 marks the centenary of Elizabeth Taylor's birth and I'm hoping to join in.

#1 At Mrs. Lippincote’s

At Mrs. Lippincote’s (1945)
Palladian (1946)
A View of the Harbour (1947)
A Wreath of Roses (1949)
A Game of Hide and Seek (1951)
The Sleeping Beauty (1953)
Angel (1957)
In a Summer Season (1961)
The Soul of Kindness (1964)
The Wedding Group (1968)
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (1971)
Blaming (1976)

6. Virago Modern Classics

I collected a lot of these last year so I need to get reading!

#1. The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield

Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons
A Pin to See the Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse
Poor Cow by Nell Dunn
Anderby Wold by Winifred Holtby
The Land of Green Ginger by Winifred Holtby
Poor Caroline by Winifred Holtby
Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym
No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym
The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield
My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
The Old Man and Me by Elaine Dundy
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville West
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann
Union Street by Pat Barker
The Glass-Blowers by Daphne du Maurier
The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
The Children by Edith Wharton

Ah, there you are, Heather! Have starred you. You're made a good start with your reading, I see and are bravely listing all books acquired. I wonder if I dare do the same?

Hi Heather, good to see you back:)

Glad to see you back with us again, Heather!

Happy New Year, Heather!

Hi Dee, calm, Stasia and Roni - thanks for visiting :-)

I've done a really long post rambling about my reading plans in msg #3. Now I'm off to find everyone's 2012 threads. Happy New Year!

Your planned reading looks really good - I've starred you and I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on.

#3: Wow! Those are some ambitious reading plans, Heather! Good luck with them.

Happy New Year, Heather! I was beginning to wonder how I was missing you, so I'm glad that you're here at last.
Let me know if you want a partner for The Invisible Woman. I've just started my reread of Barnaby Rudge....

Helloooo!!! Interesting reads you have planned! I read The Monk years ago and while I thought it was rather odd, I enjoyed it, in a strange sort of way... I might have to look into the others on the list there!

Love your reading plans Heather!

One of the interesting thing about the last couple of days Heather has been waiting (sometimes impatiently) for some of your pals to join the party...and here you are at last!
Looks like we may be sharing a fair bit of reading this year.
Let me know when you fancy Dombey and Son as it is on my list, as are the Orange reads and plenty of Victoriana. Nice to see you here.

Hi there, just found your thread. Your planned reads look interesting, especially the Virago/Elizabeth Taylor ones.

Shameless plug: if the Elizabeth Taylor novels interest you, come on over to the Virago Modern Classics group and join our Elizabeth Taylor Centenary celebration! We will read one novel per month beginning this month with her debut novel, At Mrs Lippincote's.

Found you Heather! Boy are are organized for 2012!

*STARRED* :)

Those look like good plans for 2012 reading.
Good luck with the reduction in buying dependent on reading. I can't ever get that ratio to work out right :-)

Found you!

Amazing reading plans, Heather - I look forward to seeing how you go. And this particular, this:

The more I read from the 19th century the more I realise I need to understand what was written in the 18th century

Yes!!

Happy New Year!

Love your reading plans! Wish I was this organized.

I still don't have a thread up because I don't know where to put it up. Should I stay in the 75 group even when I know I probably can't finish the challenge or should I go? I am confused.

Happy New Year, Heather. I see you are nicely organized, I will enjoy following your reading and being introduced to many new (to me) books!

wow, you sure have some good reading plans for the year Heather, go you!

#20: Definitely stay in the group, Porua! We care less about the numbers than we do conversing about the books.

Hi and Happy New Year Heather!

Welcome back!

Hi Heather, great to find your thread and Happy New Year!

Look at your ambitious lists! I get tired just seeing them! LOL Bon courage !

Ah! No wonder I hadn't found you before. Those are some great reading goals with plenty of fascinating titles to choose from. Have resisted adding anything to the wishlist on first pass, though no doubt will be adding a few as my resistance wears down on future visits...

Once again, Happy New Year and look forward to the continuation.

Oh my, so many messages :-) I am slowly making my way through everyone's 2012 threads, starred and unread threads are down to half a page now - woot! Then I just need to check I haven't missed off a star where it's needed.

#9 Thanks Susan - I just used our handy threadbook to find your new thread :-)

#10 Hmm, they were supposed to be less ambitious than last year's. Oh well. I'm not giving myself targets for my categories so I'm not expecting to read all my VMC's for example. One problem is that two categories require me to read books I don't own which is hardly going to help my book acquisitions...

#11 Will do Peggy. The Invisible Woman is actually a book I don't own yet but I will probably get myself a copy later this year (bad Heather). I'm definitely hoping to start Barnaby Rudge this month.

#12 The Monk sounds like it's going to be interesting from the reviews I've read Faith.

#13 Thanks Laura :-)

#14 Thanks Paul. Realistically (although when am I ever realistic with my reading plans) I think Dombey will be a second half of the year read, but I will let you know when it comes up if you haven't already got to it by then.

#15 Thanks Carly

#16 Oh yes, I'll add the general discussion thread to my reading plans as well.

#17 Hi Valerie, so pleased you decided to rejoin us this year!

#18 I'm not optimistic about it Laura but it's the thought that counts right?

#19 Thanks Liz :-)

#20 Porua, you should definitely stay with us (not that I am biased at all).

#21 Thanks Judy.

#22 Hi Megan, thanks.

#23 Exactly :-)

#24 & 26 Thanks and Happy New Year to Linda, Jim and Leonie.

#27 Thanks Susan - everyone finding my plans so ambitious is a little daunting, I have to admit!

#28 Thanks Ilana :-)

And some books!

Book #1 The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan - 4 stars
Source: Library



This is the second Shaun Tan book I've read and like the first (The Arrival) this one was strange, surreal, wonderful and beautifully illustrated in amazing detail. I have been feeling rather melancholy for the last few weeks so although amazon describes this as a 'humorous story' I found it rather sad.

Book #2 Lady Susan/The Watsons/Sanditon by Jane Austen - 4 stars
Source: Reread



This contains one early novella, Lady Susan, which was never published in Jane Austen's lifetime and two fragments of works she never finished.

Lady Susan is a novella in epistolary form and is a lot of fun to read because the main character is so delightfully and unrepentantly wicked.

The Watsons is a novel that Jane Austen started writing whilst she was living in Bath but never finished. The Watson family at the centre of the story are quite a bit poorer than any of the other families she wrote about; still genteel but shabby genteel.

Sanditon was the novel she was writing when she died and I thought this fragment was wonderfully funny with a parade of ridiculous characters for Austen to make fun of.

Ultimately this collection is probably only interesting if you've read all Jane Austen's other novels and still want more.

In my current reading, I've been struggling with One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson which I was trying to read along with When Will There Be Good News? before reading Started Early, Took My Dog for my new RL book group which meets on the 11th. It's definitely a case of a problem with the reader rather than the book and I think, unfortunately, that I am just not in the mood for Kate Atkinson's blend of tragedy and comedy at the moment.

I'm going to finish One Good Turn and then skip When Will There Be Good News and read something else before trying Started Early.

I'm also working my way through The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen and I'll post some thoughts on the essays I've read so far later on today as otherwise I think I will have forgotten any thoughts I had by the time I've finished!

I'm currently looking out of the window at some truly horrible wet and windy weather. Most of the UK has gale force winds and flood and storm warnings (particularly the North) and although I think in the south we only have storm force winds it looks pretty horrible outside.

The weather is so awful here that some of the squirrels that live in the grounds of the building where my husband works have gone into the building! Obviously desperate!

Re. Brodie. I know I'm not alone in much preferring the third and first in the series to One Good Turn. For some reason, much that I found delightful in the others really irritated me in One Good Turn!

I know you're at the end of your Christmas break now, Heather. I hope there was time to relax and recharge your batteries amongst the busy festivities.

#32: I've never tried Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series, but still remember Behind the Scenes at the Museum as one of my favourite reads ever.

It is horrible outside, isn't it? I'm in London and it's windy and rainy. I think lunchtime will be spent with my Kindle and a couple more chapters of Nicholas Nickleby, which is going well so far, although it's a bit disconcerting to read for 15 minutes and see the percentage bar on the same number as when I started!

Happy, happy New year, Heather. I've just found your thread and can see you're off to a good start already. Your reading plans for this year look daunting but if anyone can do it it's you!!! You go girl!!

>31 souloftherose:: I have the early Austens on my Kindle and plan to get to them someday. Because, as you said, I've read everything else (and am re-reading, in fact).
>33 Soupdragon:: I'm with Dee on preferring Brodies 1 & 3. But I also understand that sometimes a book just doesn't fit your reading mood.

#33 Hi Dee - poor squirrels. It's calmed down here now which is a relief and it's good to know I'm not alone in finding Brodie #2 not quite as captivating as Brodie #1.

Yes, back to work tomorrow. I'd like to say I feel rested and fresh as a daisy but I nearly fell asleep on the sofa this afternoon...

#34 Hope you enjoy NN Susan. I haven't tried any non-Brodie Atkinson yet but once I've read the Brodie's I will definitely try Behind the Scenes.

#35 Thanks Lynda. More on the reading plans in a bit...

#36 I just wish that Austen had been able to finish The Watsons and Sanditon Laura :-(

Re reading plans, as well as the over-ambitious plans I've already listed I've been slowly making my way around the threads and am currently seriously considering group reads of both the c. 1,200 page War and Peace by Tolstoy and the c. 1,500 page Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. Help!

# 23 & 30 Thanks for the support guys! :-)

I don't know if it's any consolation, but though we have sunshine today (a rare sight), it's very cold and iced over outside, which makes me not want to go there in the least, though I'll have to for Coco's sake.

I loved The Lost Thing when I read it last year (bought Lost & Found, which has two other stories), but I agree with you that the story is rather melancholy. After all, it's the story about not fitting in. Though the ending is very hopeful, I thought. Made me thinking of this lot that we are here on LT and the 75ers, a strange bunch finding common ground...

I got War and Peace recently (why I didn't get it on Kindle kills me though), but I don't think I can handle it this year given all my reading goals. Good luck with that!

I wouldn't mind giving War and Peace another go. I started it last year and liked it, it just overwhelmed me - weeks and weeks of reading with nothing to mark completed was depressing so I kept digressing to other books and never got back to W&P.

#37: Ta-da! Clarissa group read thread

Thanks for your message on my thread. I have taken the plunge. Hope my book arrives now!

Hi Heather, finally found you. Your organization skills are brilliant! Wishing you a year of great reading. I'll be following along with you.

I thought I had found you already, turns out I didn't ... Starred now!

I didn't know that Shaun Tan had another GN out! Is this one published after The Arrival? I absolutely loved The Arrival so I am definitely going to look this one up at my library.

We are pretty grey where I am too, but that makes cozying up on a couch with a cup of hot tea and a good book very tempting. :)

2 books under your belt as well, nice one. Id love to cosy up on the couch and read today, but (a) its too sunny to stay in and (b) Ive got kiddie stuff to do like make a hut and a go-cart (dont think Ill be up to that challenge, but hey, a box is a go-cart isnt it?)

Heather - Chunksters of 1000+ pages are a heavy commitment. War and Peace still occupies a cumbersome space on my unread shelves but I don't envisage getting to it any time soon. Armadale , Dombey and Son, Vanity Fair and Can You Forgive Her? are all on my list for this year which will (happily) consume a fair proportion of my time.

I'll have to look for the War and Peace group--that's a book I want to read and I have it on my Kindle, and I'm not too over-committed on my time, unlike some people I could mention!

Hi Heather - Thanks for stopping by my thread. How have our paths never officially crossed before?!?! We seem to have a lot in common as books go. I've got your thread starred and look forward to your reading year (especially the Viragos - I collect them but am terrible about actually reading them...).

And of you go, Heather. Don't waste your time, ehh?

A lot of good classics on your reading-plan - have to keep an eye out for your reviews.

As I finished the Austanathon (a reread for me) in 2011 reading the additional Austen must be next for me. Glad you liked it.

Hi Heather, loved your thoughts on the 3 Austen novels (or parts of). I enjoyed this volume as well and thought it was a pity the two novels weren't finished, they were shaping up quite nicely.

Hi Heather! Just cruising through before your thread gets totally and completely away from me. Seems as if the group exploded this year!

Ah ! Here you are Heather! Let me know about A Tale of Two Cities when you get a chance!

I'm glad I found your thread!

Your reading for 2012 sound great -- and inspring. I've read a little 18th century lit, but not much....

Did you know that Sanditon was finished by "Another Lady" in the 1970s? I'm actually rather fond of it....

Since I'm not certain which touchstone is correct, here's the link to the version I've got:

http://www.librarything.com/work/801786/

You might find it entertaining!

Hi Heather, I can relate to your comments about Kate Atkinsons' books. I think they require the right mood so your decision to put off reading the next ones looks very wise to me.
And oh my, you have some very interesting books lined up!

I've not heard of Clarissa. Hmmm, perhaps that's a chunkster for another year.

Double Hmmmm, LT recs this as probably liking it, but the majority of 2 star reviews has me hesitant. I'll just wait to see what you think of it, Heather.

Happy New Year! Thanks for coming by; I'm returning the visit. I do like your ticker; I missed that one.

I'm rather jealous of your Lady Susan / Watsons / Sanditon. I'll have to look out for that one. Happy reading.

Hi Heather, hope all is well with you and that you're having a nice weekend.

#39 Hi Ilana. I think it was the ending of Lost Thing that I found most melancholy; the bit where he's stopped noticing the strange things because he was too busy felt quite sad to me.

#40 The more the merrier Laura!

#41 Thank you - still waiting for my copy... Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow.

#42 "Your organization skills are brilliant!" - You wouldn't say that if you could see our flat at the moment Donna but thank you anyway!

#43 Hi Chelle!

#44 Hi Valerie - I think Shaun Tan has quite a few published books. This one was a lot shorter than The Arrival and I think published before but as Ilana mentioned it's been republished in an omnibus called Lost and Found, Three (which my library unfortunately doesn't have). You can see a full list of his books here and here.

#45 Hi Megan - a cardboard box with wheels drawn on was the kind of go-cart I got as a kid too. I hope your little ones enjoyed the sunshine.

#46 Sounds like a good list Paul.

#47 I don't think we've posted a separate thread yet Roni. I'll chat to Fliss and let you know when we do.

#48 Hi Katie!
"especially the Viragos - I collect them but am terrible about actually reading them..." - yep, me too!

#49 Hi Carsten!

#50 Hi Leonie - yes, it would have been lovely if she could have finished them.

#51 Hi Charlotte.

"Seems as if the group exploded this year!" - definitely. I'm hoping it will calm down at some point?

#52 Hi Deb. I left a message on your profile - did you get it?

#53 Hi Dejah - thanks for the recommendation for the finished Sanditon. I'm really not sure what I think about other authors trying to write like Jane Austen. I tried P.D. James Death Comes to Pemberley and was quite disappointed with it. Having said that, I probably will try the finished Sanditon one day!

#54 Hi Monica. I enjoyed the second half of One Good Turn more than the first so I decided to try When Will There Be Good News? and loved it! Just need to borrow Started Early, Took My Dog from my mum, read it and then I'll be ready for book group on Wednesday!

#55 Hi Lynda. I've heard a lot of bad things about Clarissa (it's long, it's boring etc.), but I'm hopeful that taking it slowly will help.

#56 Thanks Nina.

#57 Hello again Ilana :-) I'm giving myself a nice, gentle day to catch up on LT. Feel like a few days back at work shouldn't have left me feeling quite as tired as I am at the moment!

And books read this week:

Book #3 The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge - 4.5 stars
Source: Kindle sale
Original publication date: 1946
Category: Carnegie Medal Winner (1946)



A lovely old-fashioned children's story which had a fairytale feeling throughout

Book #4 One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson - 3.25 stars
Source: Bookmooch
Original publication date: 2006



Book #5 When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson - 4 stars
Source: Bookmooch
Original publication date: 2008



I'm finding it really difficult to pin down why I struggled so much with Jackson Brodie #2 (One Good Turn) but really enjoyed Jackson Brodie #3 (When Will There Be Good News?). There was something about JB#2 which just didn't work and I found the characters very difficult to like. However, I was completely gripped by JB#3 even though the subject matter should have been more disturbing.

I'm glad I went ahead and read #3 and I hope I don't struggle with #4 as much.

Book #6 Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick - 3.5 stars
Source: Library
Original publication date: 2009
Category: Carnegie Medal Shortlist (2010)



This short children's book was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2010. It's a psychological thriller set at the turn of the 19th/20th century during the Gold Rush but saying it's a psychological thriller probably makes it sound more scary than it actually is. There's nothing in this book that comes close to the level of violence in something like The Hunger Games. As the title of the book suggests, a revolver is at the centre of the story and I thought the author raised a lot of interesting points about when/if violence is justified.

"There's always a third choice in life. Even if you think you're stuck between two impossible choices, there's always a third way. You just have to look for it."

Not my favourite Carnegie book and I thought The Graveyard Book which won the Medal for 2010 was better but I could see this being an interesting book to read as a class and discuss.

I am with you on JB #2, Heather. Number 3 in the series has been the best for me thus far.

I have had The Little White Horse in the BlackHole forever. One of these days I will get my hands on a copy.

Will be interested to hear what you make of the fourth Brodie as like you, I enjoyed the first and third more than the second. I have the fourth to read.

I've enjoyed the three Sedgwicks I've read and am wondering if my thirteen year old would like Revolver.

Heather, I'm with you and everyone else (it seems) in finding that the second Jackson Brodie was my least favorite (I should say that I have not yet read the fourth one yet). The plot coincidences just seemed so labored, and the characters were not particularly likable, including or especially my namesake, Julia.

The Little White Horse is one of my favorite childrens' books. Love it to pieces. The Jackson Brodie books are on my list of things that I want to read this year :-)

I have not read the 4th Jackson Brodie book either. My library does not have it yet unfortunately. I will be interested to see if I like it better than book 3.

Hey there, thanks for stopping by my thread, Heather! Got you starred now. Good luck on the reading goals. I fear commitment, so I am not setting out specific goals beyond continue trying to read through my personal collections and more nonfiction. I am enjoying your summaries of books I've never heard of.

Hmmm. I haven't read beyond the first Brodie. Do I need to read the second one or could I skip it for now?

Heather,

I thought I'd better star you as I'm also in Hertfordshire and we seem to read some similar books. Whereabouts are you - I'm in Bishop's Stortford.

I hadn't heard of The Little White Horse before... it looks like something I would enjoy.

I've enjoyed all 4 Jackson Brodies, but thought the girl in #3 was such a great heroine, one of Atkinson's best characters.

Heather, I see we agree on One Good Turn. I was quite disappointed with that one, especially as I loved Kate Atkinson so much from the two books I'd already read by her. I'm feeling more encouraged to go ahead with book 3 now.

Thought I'd mention I watched the movie version of The Lost Thing this weekend, which won the Oscar for best short animated film last year I believe. I know what you mean about the ending. I'd forgotten about that part and only remembered the part where the lost thing finds all it's new friends, which I wrongly remembered as the end of the story. Must agree with you that the ending is quite sad indeed.

Hope you're doing well Heather.

#60 Hope you enjoy LWH when you get a copy Stasia - mine was a kindle edition so it might be available for your nook?

#61 Hi Dee. I'm about 3/4 of the way through JB#4 at the moment and I think it's better than #2 but not quite as good as #1 or #3 so far.

I don't have much interaction with 13 year old boys anymore so I'm a bit wary of recommending things for specific ages but I think Revolver is probably worth checking out.

#62 Hi Julia. The other Julia was certainly not at her best in JB#2

#63 LWH is lovely :-)

#64 Hopefully they'll get a copy soon Stasia.

#65 Thanks Chris. Sometimes I think not committing to certain plans might be healthier than my usual approach of overcommitting - I am on strict instructions from DH that I have to allow myself not to meet my goals (his proviso for me buying Clarissa).

#66 I think the books stand alone to a certain extent but I'm glad I've read them in order as there are relationship changes from book to book and I prefer to read about them directly. It probably depends on how much of a completionist you are? And you might enjoy book #2 more than I did.

#67 Hi Rhian - how exciting to see someone on LT from my little corner of the world! I live in Tring which is probably about as far from Bishop's Stortford as you can get without going into a different county. I don't think I've been to Bishop's Stortford but I used to have some friends living in Sawbridgeworth. I'll hunt your thread down...

#68 Elizabeth Goudge seems to be a bit of a forgotten author - I think LWH is her only book currently in print but it is a good one. Hope you enjoy it!

#69 Yes Luci, I thought Reggie (I assume that's who you mean) was a brilliant character and I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the book as much without her.

#70 Sorry Ilana, I'd had this window open for ages before posting and didn't hit refresh first. I enjoyed book 3 a lot more than book 2 so hopefully you will too (and as Luci pointed out, one of the characters is one of her best yet).

I'll have to look out for the film of The Lost Thing - I didn't realise he'd written a short film which won an Oscar. Thanks for the tip!

Ah! There you are. For some reason couldn't find you when I was merrily starring things the other day.

#3 You've got some amazing things lined up - I just have to chime in and say the The Monk is in my top ten reads to date - always changing but it's been in there for 8 years now. It's brilliant fun.

Hi Heather, looks like you've got a good glut of books under your belt already. good going

Hi Heather. Just catching up. I'll be interested to hear what you ultimately think of the latest Kate Atkinson. I've read the first 3 and liked them all but seem to let alot time pass between them.

Hey, Heather, now look for Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge. Although more contemporary in setting (1940s), it has the same magical feel to it. I didn't find it until I was an adult, having found The Little White Horse in sixth grade and loving it, but found it also worth many reads. The prices over here are mostly outrageous, although I found several copies under $5, but surely over there in England they would be more available?

Hi Heather, we actually own The Little White Horse so I'll look to finding it in the storage cupboard (not enough bookshelves!!) soon. With the Kate Atkinson books I am intrigued by most people not liking book 2 so much. I thought book 1 was just average so odds are I'll like book 2 more? It shall wait with the other hundreds on my tbr pile!

Interesting comments on the JB series. Some of us had a discussion about this a while ago on another thread and came to the same conclusion - that #2 just did not grab. I think #1 and #3 emerged as the front runners!

I read #2 first (not realising that there was a #1) and enjoyed it (as I have all Kate Atkinson books). I have since read #1 and liked it but didn't think "Oh, that's so much better" and have #3 waiting. I also have the TV adaptation waiting to watch.

Aha! I have found you. Looks like you're off to a great start already.

I've not read any of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie books, but I really enjoyed one of her other books Human Croquet. Perhaps I'll give them a try eventually.

Hi Heather, I really liked the 4th Jackson Brodie book by Kate Atkinson, but then there was a cute dog in it which helped. Others found it less to their liking; however, the Wall Street Journal named it as one of their favorite books of the year. So there you have it... you'll have to read it and make up your own mind! That's what most of us do anyway, isn't it?

mea culpa - I just found your thread this morning. I read the 2nd JB book first and wasn't that enthralled though I liked Brodie enough to go back to book 1 which I liked so much more.

The Little White Horse got an immense new lease of life when JK Rowling said it was her favourite childhood book back when she was in the middle of writing and publishing Harry Potter. There have been quite a few new editions of it come out since then and a movie, The Secret of Moonacre in 2008.

Hmmm... I am up to the second JB book and it's got a lot of competition for a place in the stack next to the bed. I think it's going to languish in a storage box for a while!

I've heard of Elizabeth Goudge from on here, and will have a look in the library next time I'm in there.

I was clearing up my office this morning and found the first and third Jackson Brodie books...no idea how I got them! I think someone may have left and given them to me to avoid taking them home. I'll have to read them now :-)

Whew! Caught up!

Glad you enjoyed The Little White Horse. There are so many lovely Elizabeth Goudge books to discover following that - children's and adult. Try Towers in the mist if you fancy a historical story set in Oxford during the reign of Elizabeth I. Or The white witch, which I only read this time last year, set in English Civil War. I think you'll enjoy the mix of gentle magic and spiritual themes.

My wishlist has now become populated with several Elizabeth Goudge books. Thank you, Genny and Roni! I have a feeling that I'll be hunting those down second hand, but that's always fun. If they're even half as good as The Little White Horse then I'll love them.

Visiting other peoples' threads is dangerous...

The one I read and reread as a child was Henrietta's House.

That one is known as The Blue Hills in the US.

Other than the children's books, I tend to like the contemporaries (of Goudge's life) more. The three Henrietta books (A City of Bells, Sister of the Angels, and The Blue Hills) are of Victorian vintage, while the Damerosehay books (The Bird in the Tree (1940),
The Herb of Grace (1948) aka Pilgrim's Inn , and
The Heart of the Family (1953)) are contemporary with post-war England and the third book is especially powerful. And I love The Scent of Water too.

#73 Hi Bekka! I'm encouraged that you enjoyed The Monk so much.

#74 Hi Megan.

#75 Hi Pat - I don't think I would normally read the JB books so close together but typically for me, I left reading them to the last minute rather than spreading them out.

#76 Thanks Roni - It looks like it's been republished as The Runaways over here and I should be able to pick up a copy secondhand.

#77 - 79, 81 & 82 It's interesting how much opinions can vary over a book or series :-)

#80 Hi Katie - I need to try Atkinson's non-JB books but I will take a break from her for a while I think.

#82 Hi Kerry - don't worry about losing my thread. I think this group gets busier every year :-) I saw on amazon that JKR was quoted as saying this was her favourite book so that might be why they've released a new edition of LWH. I wish they would rerelease some of her other books too.

#83 Hi Cushla - my library has very few books by Elizabeth Goudge as they're mostly out of print but hopefully you will have more luck at your library.

#84 Hope you enjoy them Susan!

#85 Thanks Genny, both on the wishlist. One day I will just have to put in an abebooks/ebay order for Elizabeth Goudge books :-

#86 Hee hee!

#87 & 88 Stop it! My wishlist can't take any more! I'll have to keep my eyes open when I'm near second hand book shops.

It's a rather chilly -3 degrees here this morning (centigrade not fahrenheit) - perhaps writing some reviews will keep my fingers warm? The weather was quite mild until this weekend so we have blossom on the trees (in January!) and frost on the ground.

Book #7 Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson - 3.75 stars
Source: Borrowed from my mum
Original publication date: 2010



For those of you eagerly awaiting(!) my thoughts of JB#4, I liked it more than book#2 and a bit less than books #1 and #3.

Perhaps because I was reading this for my book group but I noticed and appreciated the structure of this book more than I had with the previous books in the series. There were some interesting parallels between Jackson's thoughts and feelings as he adopts a dog after rescuing him from an abusive owner and ex-policewoman, Tracey Waterhouse's thoughts and feelings as she 'adopts' a child after rescuing her from what she sees as an abusive parent. As in the previous JB books there was a lot of misdirection which I fell for again, even though I know Atkinson does this to me every single time. And whilst the book has a satisfactory ending there were a few threads left open, possibly indicating another JB book in the future.

Although I've had mixed feelings about the Jackson Brodie books as I've read them, they're books that have stayed with me after I've finished them and I think I will read future JB books and other books by this author.

Book #8 A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 4.5 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 2010
Category Orange



My first Orange book for the year and what a book!

I think my feelings about the book are actually best summarised but a quote from the wonderful Guardian review.

"Goon Squad is a book about memory and kinship, time and narrative, continuity and disconnection, in which relationships shift and recombine kaleidoscopically. It is neither a novel nor a collection of short stories, but something in between: a series of chapters featuring interlocking characters at different points in their lives, whose individual voices combine to a create a symphonic work that uses its interconnected form to explore ideas about human interconnectedness. This is a difficult book to summarise, but a delight to read, gradually distilling a medley out of its polyphonic, sometimes deliberately cacophonous voices."

If you enjoyed Cloud Atlas or Great House then I'd recommend giving Goon Squad a try.

I've got A Visit From The Goon Squad reserved as a library ebook, and I'll be interested to see what it's like, because I've seen mixed reviews. I think there are a couple of people in front of me, so it might be a few weeks yet. I'll definitely read the first Jackson Brodie soon!

It *is* cold this morning, isn't it? It's sunny in London, but much colder than last weekend. I think we've been spoiled with this warm winter.

Book #9 The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M Delafield - 4 stars
Source: Amazon
Original publication date: 1947 (as a collection), 1930s-1940s (individually)
Category Virago Modern Classics



This lovely Virago edition contains the fictional diaries of a 'provincial lady' living in Devon in the 1930s. It's both a glimpse of country life for a middle-class wife and mother at that time and a reminder that despite the social differences between life now and the 1930s (I have never had to worry about 'the servant problem' for example), life and people are still very much the same. The provincial lady has a wry sense of humour and for me, it was also good to be reminded that other people also feel like their lives are always at least slightly out of control and that they should really somehow be doing better.

A note on the editions of this book. The paperback Virago edition pictured contains all the provincial lady books, Diary of a Provincial Lady, The Provincial Lady Goes Further, The Provincial Lady in America and The Provincial Lady in Wartime. Virago have also published a hardback book also called The Diary of a Provincial Lady but this only contains the first book, Diary of a Provincial Lady.

#91 Hope you enjoy Goon Squad. It's a very unusual book and I wasn't sure what I'd think of it but in the end I liked it a lot. It's definitely one of those books that grows on you after you've read it.

#92 Diary of a Provincial Lady is probably my Desert Island book. I have read it (them) more times than I can count. Sometimes I just dip in for a few days and sometimes from go from cover-to-cover. I now have three Virago paperback editions (each with a different cover), two hardback editions of the first Diary only and two of the individual diaries on my Kindle. At home I usually read my first owned copy but it's getting a bit fragile, and when I'm out I always have my Kindle with me so I never need to be without the Provincial Lady's wisdom.

Her daughter has also written a similar diary Provincial Daughter, set in the 50s. It seems her name is not Vicky after all but Rosamond Dashwood!

Catching up on all of your good reads and conversation.
I've had The Goon Squad on the wishlist for a while and now I'll be checking out the Atkinson's. I did not know there were four! And the list grows and grows and grows.

Lots of great reading here! I'm glad you enjoyed Brodie #4 more than #2 as you seem to have experienced them similarly to me.

That's a great quote about The Goon Squad. I was really impressed with Goon Squad and Great House so it sounds like I should give Cloud Atlas a go.

I really must get around to Diary of a Provincial Lady. I have it (well, two editions actually) waiting patiently for me on my Virago shelf and I'm sure I will love it when I do.

Getting caught up here and have added Diary of a Provincial Lady to my list of books to track down for reading. Thanks for bringing that one to my attention! Good review of The Goon Squad but I am still undecided about that one.

What fantastic reading! I just have to add my sixpence about The Little White Horse ONE OF MY FAVORITE FAVORITE FAVORITE BOOKS, practically SLEPT with it under my pillow for several years. I still have my original copy which I treasure. Oh my. I have a 'THING' about geraniums, partly because of that book, and also heliotrope and also I named my first dog Periwinkle after the little pony..... this will all make sense after you read it. I didn't know it was JK Rowling's favorite book, but it makes perfect sense to me! I get a bit over-excited whenever I see it mentioned!

Heather, great review of Diary of a Provincial Lady. Sounds delightful! Love your observation: a reminder that despite the social differences between life now and the 1930s (I have never had to worry about 'the servant problem' for example), life and people are still very much the same. Indeed!

I really should have read Provincial Lady as part of one of those challenges to read a book which has been on your TBR for ever! I've read another of her books in Persephone, Consequences but this sounds a lot less depressing. I'm really curious about the Russia one that Virago didn't include in their edition.

Just to say if anyone was a bit disappointed by Great House, that may not mean you don't like Goon Squad, as I liked Goon Squad much more. Look At Me is also excellent.

I still have to get to the Goon Squad book and the Diary of the Provincial Lady, good to see you enjoying them so much.

Hi Heather, I hope the review writing did warm up your fingers!

I rated Started early rather higher than you did - I remember just enjoying the writing so much, and the characters and all the asides about aspects of society/culture that people don't usually comment on. A little detail I remember, that I loved: when JB is staying in the B&B with rather depressing rooms and very mean breakfast rations, he grumbles to himself the little individual butter pats and tiny plastic pots of jam, and thinks that if he ever ran such an establishment he would provide generous helpings of everything. Typical Brodie: grumpy but generous, and typical Atkinson observation of details. I loved the elderly actress struggling with dementia too - very funny and very moving, although I did wonder quite what she was doing in the plot.

Have never read any of the Provincial Lady's diaries... must rectify that.

Heather, I have an unread copy of A Visit from the Goon Squad on the shelf behind me as I type. I really need to read it. And I think I'll wait awhile to pick up JB#4.

Stay warm!

As usual, Heather, you're reading some very interesting books. I was given The Diary of a Provincial Lady for Christmas this year, so I am delighted to read such good things about it.

I'm really glad you liked the Diary of a Provincial Lady - me too. I liked the daughter's book quite a bit less, but it was still enjoyable.

And I've just checked Elizabeth Goudge and Wellington library has 18 titles by her, many in the Central Stack (I loved liberating those books to a good home for a few weeks.) And 5 copies of the Little White Horse - yay! I'm about to have a wee look on here at all the other titles.

I really liked *Goon Squad* too, Heather. I just like J. Egan - thought The Keep was the smartest thing I had read in years. Somehow I had missed out on the existence of Look at Me. I'll have to fix that.
But, alas, I have yet to read *Provincial Lady* and I somehow missed E. Goudge growing up. So much the poorer!

Wow Heather you have gone into overdrive in the last couple of days. 8 books already knocked off too! A Visit from the Goon Squad will make my July Orange reads. Almost unanimous have been the plaudits for this one.

#90 - I'm glad you enjoyed A Visit from the Goon Squad!

I'm a fan of Kate Atkinson as well, but I think I prefer the earlier novels (although I did enjoy the mysteries I've read and will read the others.) My favorite is Behind the Scenes at the Museum.

I'm intrigued by the Austen book. ....

Hi, Heather. Can I ask a favour? Over on the hook-up thread, Ilana and I are discussing Udolpho and Northanger Abbey, and it would be helpful if you could pop over and give her the wisdom of your experience. :)

Goon Squad is on my list (my mental list anyway)...didnt it win another prize as well, Booker maybe?

Sorry for my long absence. I've been feeling very sad after hearing the news that @JanetinLondon died, things have been very busy at work and I have been feeling very tired. I finished work early today but I'm struggling to keep my eyes open at the moment (it's 5pm here). I'm going to try and reply to your comments and then I might have a nap....

#94 Wow, that is a lot of Provincial Lady love Kerry :-) Thanks for letting me know about the Provincial Daughter; I've wishlisted it.

#95 Sorry Lynda :-)

#96 Hope you enjoy Cloud Atlas Dee -I kept thinking about it whilst I was reading Goon Squad.

#97 Hi Lori - hope you enjoy The Provincial Lady.

#98 "I get a bit over-excited whenever I see it mentioned!" Just a bit Lucy :-)

#99 Thanks Nancy.

#100 Hi Luci. I wish Virago or Persephone would publish the Russia book. I haven't read Consequences; if I'm really good about buying books then I might treat myself to a Persephone order later this year. Bloomsbury have also republished quite a few of her less well-known works as ebooks through their Bloomsbury Readers programme - something else to save up for!

#101 *Waves to Kerry*

#102 Hi Genny. I think Started Early has grown on me since reading it. Lots of bits of the book have stayed with me and that's normally a good sign.

#103 Hi Pat. Hope you enjoy Goon Squad.

#104 Hi Judy - what a nice Christmas present :-)

#105 Ooh, sounds like they have a bit of a treasure trove of Elizabeth Goudge in Wellington.

#106 Hi Peggy - I'll look out for The Keep too.

#107 Thanks Paul - hope you enjoy it.

#108 I'd like to read Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Funnily enough that book was the reason the lady from my bookgroup chose Started Early for us to read.

#109 Hi Susan. I think the Austen book is worth a try. You might be able to get a free copy on your ereader as I think it's public domain.

#110 Done (whatever my experience in this case is worth!)

#111 It won the Pulitzer Prize Megan which is not really a prize I follow that much. I think of it as the US equivalent of the Booker but I don't really know if that's an accurate comparison. The Pulitzer also has non-fiction categories.

Hi Heather, its very understandable that you feel sad about Janets death. Having met her and spent time with her you guys have a special bond.
Thanks for reminding me that the prize I was thinking of was the Pulitzer. Hope you're feeling better soon :)

I'm sorry you've not been feeling well Heather. I second what Megan said about Janet and I hope you've been getting the rest you need.

I wish I could contribute something to the Pulitzer discussion, but being Canadian, I'm no specialist. However, I DO know that it's a very prestigious prize.

#90: I appreciate your thoughts on both Started Early, Took My Dog and A Visit from the Goon Squad, both of which I hope to get to eventually.

#92: I downloaded a free copy of that book to my Nook a while ago. I guess I had better get it read!

#112: I hope you are feeling better, Heather. The news of Janet's death has hit us all hard, I think, and when you are already feeling under the weather, it just makes it that much harder to take. ((Hugs)) Take care of yourself!

Hugs from me too.

I hope you feel better soon, Heather. I too have been feeling very sad about Janet. I'm so glad you got a chance to meet her.

It sounds like you've had a really rough week - I've been feeilng sad too. Hope you've had a restful weekend.

Thanks for your kind words (and hugs) Megan, Ilana, Stasia, Lucy and Pat - it means a lot to me.

I slept for at least 4 hours on Friday evening, woke up to change into my PJs and munch a snack and then went back to sleep for another 8-9 hours overnight. It was lovely! I'm hoping that early nights this week and making sure I take a break at lunchtime at work should help.

ETA: And Cushla too - forgot to refresh before posting.

I'm glad you've caught up on sleep a bit - it does make a difference after a hard week. Take it easy this week!

I'm also very much feeling the loss of Janet - and it's been a week where there has been lots of bad news about people's health in our church (someone diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, two people dealing with cancer who've had major set-backs). I keep wanting to mention Janet too - but no-one outside of this group would understand.

12 hours sleep will do you the world of good Heather, take care. x

Sleep deprivation is such a common problem these days. I get to sleep for barely 4-5 hours each night. Hope you are getting the rest you need.

Right now I am dead tired too. I went on a weekend trip . The trip was good but it was marred by travelling blues, delays and all that. I came back at 2.a.m Monday morning and of course had to still come to work. I am yet to recover from the fatigue!

I hope you get all the rest you need, Heather and taking a break at lunch-time definitely helps too. I can't get through a working day without one though I do sometimes try. Actually I can't get through a full working week, with or without lunch, as I collapse by Thursday so it's a good job I work part-time!

Hey Heather, It's been awhile since you've checked in. Hope your just busy and not still under the weather.

Adding a few hugs. Hope you are feeling better and getting some good reading done.

Adding my wishes that you feel better soon.

Heather, I had noted your absence and wondered if it wasn't Janet-related. You were one of the lucky few who got to meet her in person so I'm sure it made the news that much more shocking. Janet will be missed on LT. I do love the idea of her memorial thread and hope it continues through the year.

I'm glad you're catching up on your sleep. Please continue to rest and take care of yourself.

Hi Heather, hows the weather in your part of the globe? Im staring down the barrel of an exceedingly average day today, not hot not cold, not sunny not completely cloudy....so OK all round!

We were all shook by Janet's loss, but you who actually met her undoubtedly feel it most! Hope you are doing okay and taking good care of yourself. {{{{hugs}}}}

Thanks Genny, Paul, Porua, Dee, Lynda, Bekka, Lucy, Donna, Megan and Roni :-)

It's chilly but sunny here today and I have got to the end of my working week and I have four out of the next five days off work! I did consider taking Monday off as well but given how busy things have been I decided my to do list would be completely unmanageable when i got back. So, I'm off today and Tuesday and at work on Monday. I'm hoping to catch up with some sleep this weekend (although I'm already feeling better for another early night last night), celebrate a quiet birthday and catch up on LT.

And now I am going to get dressed, go the corner shop for some milk (so I can have more tea) and then come back and catch up on book reviews.

Book #10 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - 3 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 2005



I found the historical detail in this book really interesting. Lisa See is good at giving details of the lives of women in China and this seemed very well researched. I'm not sure, however, that I am a fan of her writing style and I find her characters rather one-dimensional. Having said that, I wouldn't be unwilling to read another one of her books but I find that for me they are easily read, easily forgotten.

Book #11 At Mrs Lippincote's by Elizabeth Taylor - 4.5 stars
Source: The Book Depository
Original publication date: 1945
Category: The other Elizabeth Taylor



Elizabeth Taylor is 'one of the most underrated novelists of the twentieth century' according to the blurb on the back of my copy of At Mrs Lippincote's; normally I take such statements with at least a pinch of salt but in this case I think it might be true. This is a story about the minutiae of everyday life so not a lot happens but I fell completely in love with Taylor's writing and enjoyed this book very much.

I ended up writin pages of quotations from this book in my notebook whilst reading, which is always a good sign and I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of Elizabeth Taylor's books this year.

"Oliver Davenant did not merely read books. He snuffed them up, took breaths of them into his lungs, filled his eyes with the sight of the print and his head with the sound of words. Some emanation from the book itself poured into his bones, as if he were absorbing steady sunshine. The pages had personality."

Book #12 Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey - 3.75 stars
Source: Library book
Original publication date: 1968



I had to order this book from the central reserve stock at the library and was very surprised to get what seems to be a rather battered first UK edition which from a quick look at abebooks seems to be worth quite a bit of money despite the dreadful cover!

This was my first book my Anne McCaffrey and it was also one of McCaffrey's first novels and the first in this particular series. I really enjoyed it so a thank you to Morphy for giving me the push I needed to finally try one. This is a science fiction novel that feels like a fantasy novel where dragonriders on a distant planet have to combat a deadly invasion of a non-sentient lifeform called threads. At first glance it might seem slightly old-fashioned and derivative but I think that's only because this was written in the 1960s and the world of Pern that McCaffrey created was so popular that it has been copied and parodied many times since then. As with a lot of things that end up being parodied later on, the original is actually pretty good and well worth a read.

I'm pleased to say that my library seems to be ordering new copies of McCaffrey's books so I should hopefully be able to continue my travels in Pern soon.

An interesting range of books there, Heather. My sister put me off the Lisa See book when she said that the only positive thing about it was the interesting subject matter!

>131 souloftherose:: thanks for the Lisa See review, I've heard this one is good (and have it teed up to read quite soon), but that the next book wasn't so great. I'm VERY glad you enjoyed At Mrs Lippincote's and that you'll be reading more Taylor novels with us this year!

#131 - Nice review of the Elizabeth Taylor. I hope to read one of her novels this year. Perhaps it will be At Mrs Lippincote's.

I'm glad you liked the McCaffrey - I've loved these since I was a teen. Hope you continue to enjoy them - I can't wait for the latest (even though Todd's work is, in my opinion, sadly nowhere near as good as his Mothers :/)

Heather, I'm glad the fogs are lifting for you - at least, I hope that's the case. I know that all of us continue to mourn Janet. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by how many other people are suffering another loss too. In my case, it's a former piano student, 28 years old, who was hit by a car and taken off life-support four days after the accident. She was a golden girl, and since she lived in Los Angeles, was as far removed from me as Janet. Such loss. Such loss.
So we deal with it as we can. I'm glad that this group can read and talk. Elizabeth Taylor is my very favorite Virago author, and I'm happy that you are appropriately admiring. Looking forward to Palladian in February!

I read several of Anne McCaffrey's books in my late teens early twenties and remember really liking them. Maybe it's time for a revisit.

#132 Thanks Dee. 'An interesting range' - now you mention it, I guess it is a fairly eclectic mix of books! I think your sister and I probably agree about Lisa See but the subject matter is interesting and I don't really know of other authors who would cover it.

#133 Hi Laura. I'm definitely in the minority on the Lisa See books as most people seemed to love it. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it. And thank you for getting me to read Elizabeth Taylor! who knows how long she'd have gone unread for if you hadn't suggested the centenary celebration

#134 Thanks Kerri. Did you know the Virago group is reading through Eizabeth Taylor's novels in publication order to celebrate her centenary this year? There's a general thread here - you would be very welcome to join in with a group read of any of the books.

#135 I don't know why I hadn't tried a Pern book before - I'm looking forward to the next one.

#136 Thanks Peggy. So sorry to hear about the sudden death of your student :-( Sometimes life just seems to throw everything at you at once.

#138 - Hi Heather. Yes - someone else directed me to that thread recently, and I've been following it. In my 12 in 12 challenge, I have a Virago category, so I'm looking forward to exploring these writers, especially Elizabeth Taylor.

Oops, cross-posted. #137 Hi Rhian!

Well, before today, I had acquired 5 books but read 10 from my TBR mountain. So, to celebrate I went to the charity bookshop in town today! Actually, I didn't do too badly because most of the books I picked up were books I've already read that I want my own copies of.

Counted as acquisitions:

The Guardian Review: Book of Short Stories - this was given away with The Guardian last year and I think Luci (@elkidee) mentioned enjoying it. Stories by authors including Margaret Atwood, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Rose Tremain, Polly Samson etc.
Restoration London by Liza Picard - social history of London during the time of Samuel Pepys. I have Tomalin's award winning biography of Pepys lurking somewhere in the TBR mountain and I'd also like to read his diaries at some point so hopefully this will give me some good background. And I find social history endlessly fascinating anyway.

Not counted:

The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies - given to me by my Mum as it was a book group choice she didn't like
Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith - read already and I'm in the mood for rereading this series
The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith - as above
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk - strictly this is going in my TBR pile but as DH picked it up I'm not counting it!

From the library:
Dr Johnson's London by Liza Picard - same author as Restoration London, this time a social history of London in the mid-eighteenth century. I thought this would give me some background for Clarissa
Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong by Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow - a book about modern day French culture. It has mixed reviews on amazon although these mainly seem to object to the fact that the authors are Candian rather than French. First words: "Imagine a country where people work 35-hour weeks, take seven weeks of paid holidays per year, take an hour and a half for lunch, have the longest life expectancy in the world, and eat the richest food on the planet."

#139 Super! I'll be interested in your thoughts on the Angela Carter book you have listed under that challenge too if you manage to fit it in. She's another author I haven't tried and she seems to divide opinions!

I've been thinking of rereading some McCaffrey -- I LOVED them when I first encountered them.... oh so long ago.....

>139 DorsVenabili:: Yay! Another convert!

Hi Heather, hope you enjoying your nice long weekend. You have been reading a great assortment. I find Lisa See a hit and miss author, although I really liked Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, I hated Peony In Love.

Like others mentioned above, I used to read Anne McCaffrey many years ago and remember really liking her work. Like SandDune said, I should give this author a revisit.

I haven't read any Elizabeth Taylor, but I have seen many rave reviews on her work here at LT so she is being added to my wishlist.

Happy birthday Heather - hope you have a lovely long weekend.

I downloaded Snowflower and the SF to my Kindle a few weeks ago and haven't picked it up yet. I got about half way through several years ago when it had tons of hype, but got stuck - something about the writing, I think. I want to finish it but something just isn't making me read it.

Your bookshop trip sounds great, and I am sure when you read the London book it'll go onto my WL if it's any good.

Hi, Heather. Happy birthday!

I read the Liza Picard a while back - same thought as you, social background :) - although that was back in my dim, dark, pre-reviewing days, so I can only say I have a memory of it being informative but perhaps trying to cover too much ground; which is probably an inescapable issue with that series of books.

Happy Birthday, Heather. Glad you have four days off work to celebrate!

All this talk about Elizabeth Taylor's books is interesting. I'm going to see if my library has any of her books.

Hello Heather and a very merry birthday to you!

Here I am, stopping by your thread because it seems we only ever meet on mine, alas, and what happens?! I get hit by not one but two book bullets (Delafield, which really ought to count as three, and Taylor). Shocking. Simply shocking.

I suppose I will just have to go read some books now. K bye!

Golly! Happy Birthday, dear Heather!!! I almost got in at the right time!!!!!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Heather. I hope you have a really lovely day.

Birthday hugs!

Happy Birthday, Heather. Enjoy your brief holiday!

Happy birthday

Whee, Happy Cake Day! Eat some. Read a book. Have a nap. ;)

Birthday? Birthday? How did I miss that? Belated best wishes, my dear!

#142 Lots of McCaffrey fans here - I'm glad I finally got round to trying one.

#144 Thanks Judy - hope you enjoy Elizabeth Taylor.

Thank you for the birthday wishes, Cushla, Liz, Pat, Sarah, Peggy, Porua, Dee, Kerry, Luci, Faith and Roni!

#145 I hope you enjoy Snow Flower more than me Cushla. The London book (I've started with Dr Johnson's London) is fascinating reading so far.

#146 Great minds etc. Liz! I think I know what you mean about the book. It's fascinating but sometimes it feels more like a collection of fascinating facts than anything else.

#147 Hope your library has some Elizabeth Taylor's Pat. I think I saw on Darryl's thread that the NYRB have republished some of her books this year so hopefully they'll get those.

#148 Sorry Sarah!

Birthday day one (yesterday, my actual birthday) was good. DH took me out for a meal to our favourite restaurant, The Akeman and gave me an Amy McDonald CD and The Warden and Barchester Towers by Trollope (yay!). Later that evening he said, "I hope you enjoy the Thackeray"?! He has been quite tired lately...



I also made some chocolate porridge for breakfast (yum) and some carrot cake from one of my favourite Delia recipes. You can find at dealiaonline.com by searching for low-fat carrot cake. (I've removed the link because as Dee posted below there was something funny going on. If your browser suddenly says it needs updating - don't!) I don't make this recipe because of the fact that it's low fat but because the cake comes out wonderfully moist.

For birthday day two, DH and I are going out for another lunch later with my Mum, Dad and Grandma :-) I wonder if there will be more books....

I'm so pleased you had a lovely birthday, Heather and that the celebrations continue.

I think there might be something dodgy about that recipe link as when I went there, it told me there was something urgently wrong with my browser and started taking me to another site before I'd given permission. I cancelled it before I got there but it did seem rather dubious!

#157 Thanks for the heads up Dee - I've removed the link and added a warning about the dodgy browser update.

Oops. You reminded me that I have someone else's copy of Lisa See's book! It's taking me forever to get through. The culture is so foreign to me that it feels like fantasy. And knowing that it's not, makes it difficult for me -- don't know if that makes sense. You also reminded me that I want to give A Trollope another go. Read one which was so abysmally sad (to me) that I crossed him off my list. But I understand from my thread gleanings that I was premature.

While I'm thrilled to have caught up on your thread, I came to say "Happy Birthday." I hope it's wonderful.
Bless you dear one.

Happy belated birthday.... feel silly having somehow missed that yesterday.

#159 Hi Sus. I hope the Lisa See picks up for you. Do you remember which Trollope you tried? I've read The Warden before and thought it was just ok but so many people enjoy Trollope so much that I'm going to try them again.

And thank you for the birthday wishes Susan and Lucy - no feelings of silliness allowed here Lucy.

I've had another lovely lunch and got some more presents! (PRESENTS!) Series one of Downton Abbey on DVD (even my grandma was amazed that I haven't seen it yet) and Vanity Fair and The Moonstone as well as some money from my grandma which I might put towards books but feel like I should probably try and wait for a bit.



I haven't counted any of my birthday presents as acquisitions (see msg #2) because these will all be rereads with the exception of Barchester Towers which I haven't read but I did already have a cheaper, less gorgeous copy in my TBR pile. But I did succumb to today's kindle daily deal and downloaded Kate Grenville's The Secret River for £0.99, so that's 8 books in this month against 10 read which is not bad, but not quite as good as my target of 2 read for every new book acquired. Never mind, I'm sure it will just get easier as the year goes on - right?

Happy belated birthday!

Another belated Happy Birthday from me, sounds like you had a couple of lovely days.
I read Snowflower a few years ago and quite liked it but haven't felt like reading others of hers. I've been meaning to try something by Elizabeth Taylor for a couple of years but just never seem to get there. I've had her In the Summer Season on my BD wishlist for what seems like forever.

Hi Heather, I came and lurked the day before yesterday, and so somehow missed your birthday. Happy Belated Birthday! Sounds like you've been having lovely times. I'm happy for you.

I read my first Anne McCaffrey last month with No One Noticed the Cat, which I enjoyed, but don't know if there'll be others as I'm not quite sure I'm ready for anything dealing with principally with dragons quite yet.

On the other hand, I've added At Mrs Lippincote's the the wishlist. Am looking forward to receiving my pre-ordered NYRB editions of Angel and A Game of Hide and Seek which are coming out in February, if I'm not mistaken. I'm looking forward to discovering Elizabeth Taylor. She's so very new to me that I hadn't ever heard about her until just a few months ago. So great all the wonderful discoveries we make here on LT.

Lovely birthday haul, Heather! Was it you I was discussing the possibility of tutoring the Barchester novels with last year??

Heather - time zones are utterly confusing me but I also wish to send you belated birthday greetings. I will get to Can You Forgive Her? for my 12 in 12 this year and at some stage will re-read the Barchester novels. Was a little put off of Trollope when it was widely reported that he was John Major's favourite author!

Your birthday celebration sounds wonderful, Heather. And you caught my eye with your reference to chocolate porridge. As far as I remember, I've never had porridge and am not entirely sure what it is but the chocolate part sounds good.

Oh, what fabulous birthday gifts, Heather! I loved the Barsetshire Series and am presently listening to the fifth, The Small House at Allington. When you've read The Warden and Barchester Towers, you must watch BBC's adaptation of it; it's fantastic - and Alan Rickman's debut! As to Downton Abbey, I've become hooked on that, too!

Enjoy!

Another belated happy birthday, Heather. I'll be curious to read your thoughts about Trollope. He's been back on my radar since watching the DVDs of the 2001 BBC production of The Way We Live Now, which is quite wonderful.

A fine birthday gift in deed, Heather. I think you will love Trollope. I enjoyed The Warden and Barchester Towers a lot. Both laughter and tears in store for you.

Lovely birthday! Glad to hear it! I'm tickled about your acquisitions too and not a little envious that your Daily Deals include such wonders as Kate Grenville. Occasionally we get a good one, but mostly not so much.
I haven't read any Barchester books (except Angela Thirkell's!), but I did become a fan of *The Pallisers*. Can You Forgive Her? was the very worst of the lot, so I counsel patience and energy to carry on to Phineas Phinn. (Imagine my glee when I found the whole set for $1 apiece at our library sale one year.)

#163 Thanks Kerry! I've no idea what the touchstones are up to but In the Summer Season links to 'Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life' by Charles R. Swindoll. Very strange... I'm really looking forward to my other Elizabeth Taylor reads this year. I'll let you know what I think of Summer Season when it comes up.

#164 Belated birthday wishes still count :-) I've put No One Noticed the Cat on my library list.

#165 Thanks Liz - it was indeed me! I was trying to decide whether to request a tutor or not but if Madeline leaves you any time free then your expertise would be welcome :-)

#166 Paul, they confuse me too. I can see why that could put someone off Trollope! He's such a prolific author that I have a long way to go but I've decided to start in Barsetshire.

#167 Pat, I was about to try and write a long explanation of porridge but my husband says that in America you call it oatmeal? It's boiled oats in milk (or water) and the pack I treated myself to is a very posh organic one with cocoa powder and dried dates added. It's very comforting in the winter. Once I've finished the posh pack I will probably just use a cheaper version and add my own cocoa powder.

#168 Thanks for the tip about the BBC adaptation Nancy (Alan Rickman - yay!) I really like the BBC's adaptations - I think the only Trollope adaptation I've seen was He Knew He Was Right which I remember enjoying but not much else.

#169 Thanks Stephen. I very much hope I am going to like Trollope. And another BBC adaptation to add to my rental list - thank you :-)

#170 Thanks Carsten - I'm looking forward tot hem

#171 Thanks Peggy. Our daily deals seem to feature a lot of crime books and the more sensational type of historical fiction. Some of them are probably very good but given the size of my TBR pile I've been able to quite happily pass them by - but not Kate Grenville! I almost bought The Secret River at full price earlier this month anyway but then realised I wouldn't be able to read it straight away so left it for later. And now I'm glad I did!

Well, that's good to know--porridge=oatmeal! I eat oatmeal all the time with fruit and sliced almonds. I've never thought to try it with cocoa powder. I'm a chocoholic so I will have to give that a try.

>171 LizzieD: Virtue rewarded! I'm an oatmeal eater too, but walnuts and raisins help it go down with brown sugar, of course. I never thought of cocoa powder either - I'll have to think some more.

>>#172 I think I'm doing Northanger Abbey with Ilana next. I'd be happy to do The Warden with you, but maybe after Walter Scott..? :)

A. Happy belated birthday!

B. Are we listing our oatmeal preferences? Then steel-cut oats with a mashed banana and finely chopped walnuts.

-176 That sounds delicious!

#173, 174, 176 Mmm, lovely porridge ideas. I'd not heard of steel-cut oats before.

#175 Super - thanks Liz. Most definitely after Walter Scott!

I woke up nice and early this morning and thought I would get some reviews done before heading out at lunchtime... and suddenly it's almost 10:30am and I'm sure I haven't done anything more than catch up on a few threads. How did that possibly take 3 hours?!?

Book #13 The Awakening and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin - 3.75 stars
Source: Project Gutenberg
Original publication date: Not sure, The Awakening was published in 1899

This was a book I selected because of Madeline's challenge to read a book set in one of the states mentioned in Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech, the state of Louisiana in this case.

The Awakening is a story of a woman who feels trapped by the expectations of society and it's a tale that ultimately ends in tragedy. The pace is slow (perhaps thoughtful would be a more appropriate adjective) but the writing is good. Worth a try if you've enjoyed Edith Wharton's books.

Book #14 King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard - 3.5 stars
Source: Reread
Original publication date: 1885
Category 19th century British authors

A reread of an old favourite - I dropped my rating this time because whilst I really enjoy this type of 19th century adventure story, I can't say it's as good as other fiction from the period. I'm trying to make my 3.5 star rating a 'recommended if you enjoy that type of book' rating.

What I hadn't realised before was that this is considered to be the 'genesis of the Lost World literary genre' (according to wikipedia anyway). It was also written as a result of a five-shilling wager with Haggard's brother who bet Haggard that he couldn't write a novel half as good as Stevenson's Treasure Island. So as a result of rereading this short book my reading plans have expanded as follows:

Treasure Island by R. L. Stevenson (I'm sure I have read this before but for some reason I can't remember much about it)

Lost World novels (from wikipedia):

The Man Who Would Be King (1888) by Rudyard Kipling
The Lost World (1912) by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Land That Time Forgot (1918) by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Moon Pool (1918) by A. Merritt
Kioga of the Wilderness (1933) by William Chester
At the Mountains of Madness (1931) by H. P. Lovecraft

Further adventures of Allan Quatermain of which King Solomon's Mines are the first of a 15 book series.

Well, they're not really reviews but at least they're done and now I'm only 4 books behind...

Ok, saving space for my final January books.

Book #15 Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - 4.5 stars
Source: Bookmooch
Original publication date: 1996
Category: Orange Prize winners and nominees



I really enjoyed this book but I can't think of anything original to say about it so I will just refer you to letterpress's review which did a much better job of saying something about the book than I could.

Book #16 Nothing But Ghosts by Judith Hermann - 2 stars
Source: Publisher competition
Original publication date: 2003



I feel a sense of achievement at having finished this book as it's one I've had lurking in Mount TBR for years and I started reading it back in September 2011. However, I ended up feeling quite disappointed with the book as a whole.

This is a collection of short stories by German author, Judith Hermann, which were translated into English and published in the UK in 2005. Contemporary literary fiction is not always my thing and short stories are also not always my thing so it may be that this was a perfectly good book that simply had the misfortune to be read by someone who was unlikely to appreciate it properly.

All the stories have loneliness, isolation and a sense of not quite belonging or fitting in as their themes. I really enjoyed the second story, Cold Blue, from which I believe the cover illustration was taken but I struggled to find the characters in the other stories interesting. The publisher's website says she is Germany's answer to Zadie Smith - I've never been completely bowled over by Zadie Smith's stories either, finding her quite a cold writer, so perhaps there's something in this.

Possibly recommended if you enjoy this type of literature (and if anyone would like my copy please let me know).

Book #17 Stop the Train by Geraldine McCaughrean - 3.75 stars
Source: Kindle sale
Original publication date: 2001
Category: Carnegie Medal winners and shortlisted titles



This was a children's book that Luci (elkiedee) recommended to me last year and there is a very good review by Luci on the book page.

This was a fun story about the trials of a small, newly settled town called Florence in Oklahoma in the 19th century. The settlers are entirely dependent on the railroad for supplies for their town now and for business in future. But when they refuse to sell their plots of land to the railroad company, the owner of the railroad announces that he will make sure no trains will stop at Florence until the people are driven out.

Realising that their only hope is to force the train to stop themselves the town's people come up with and attempt to carry out increasingly wild and amusing plans to make the train stop at Florence. It's an amusing tale but it's also heartwarming as you see the relationships develop between the townspeople.

Geraldine McCaughrean is a long established children's author who seems to have been unfairly overlooked if the quality of this book and the number of awards she has been nominated for (and won) are any guide. I would certainly like to read more of her books.

The only criticism is that the kindle edition of this book was in bold font throughout and really badly formatted which was quite distracting whilst reading. I tried not to let it affect my review of the book but I think this could well have been a solid 4 stars if I hadn't felt so annoyed each time I tried to read it. I'm going to email the publishers to complain.

Book #18 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith - 4.5 stars
Source: Reread
Original publication date: 1998



I felt in the mood for a reread of this series and was happy to discover all over again how much I enjoy the characters and setting of Alexander McCall Smith's gentle series about a detective agency in Gabarone, Botswana run by the kind-hearted and traditionally built Precious Ramotswe, Gabarone's first lady detective. These are unashamedly comfort books but they're good comfort books and there's actually quite a bit of food for thought in the philosophical musings of the characters as they ponder ethics, Africa and the nature of good and evil.

Alexander McCall Smith is astonishingly prolific and there is a sense that each book in the series is more of the same although the background to each character and the relationships between them are explored further in each book. The 13th book in the series, The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection, is published later this year. I've read the first eight books before and I'd like to work my way through the series this year

Book #19 The Monk by Matthew Lewis - 3.75 stars
Source: Library book
Original publication date: 1796
Category: 18th century fiction



Published two years after Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Monk is still very much a gothic novel but it's also a very different style of gothic novel compared to Radcliffe's Udolpho.

Whilst Radcliffe's novel focuses on creating a sense of terror in its readers (defined by Radcliffe as something that 'expands the soul, and awakens the facilities to a high degree of life'), The Monk seems intent on creating a sense of horror instead (something which 'contracts, freezes, and nearly annihilates them' according to Radcliffe). Where Radcliffe inspires terror by leaving things up to the reader's imagination, Lewis inspires horror by describing things in all their gory detail.

This, amongst other things, makes Lewis' book a much more graphic and shocking read and it wasn't really a surprise to find in the introduction that Lewis had to remove all mentions of sexual activity, seductions, murder attempts and descriptions of unclothed female bodies as well as provocative words like 'lust' in later editions of the book.

Perhaps because Lewis spells things out more for his readers, this felt like a less demanding read than The Mysteries of Udolpho; it was much easier to get into and moved a lot faster. Having said that, I think my personal preference is for Radcliffe's style of gothic writing rather than Lewis'.

Radcliffe wrote The Italian in 1797 as a reply to Lewis' The Monk and The Italian is going to be my next gothic read.

And that was January.

Overall I read 19 books:

From the TBR pile: 10
Rereads: 3
Free kindle books: 1
Borrowed: 5

Books read for my planned categories: 9 in total

19th century fiction: 1
18th century fiction: 1
Carnegie books: 3
Orange books: 2
Elizabeth Taylor: 1
VMC: 1

But what I am most pleased about is that I read 10 books from my TBR pile and only acquired 8 :-)

Well done :). You're doing better than me! I read 8 from my TBR pile and acquired 13. Oops.

Well done, I've hit a reading 'go-slow' at present, probably due to the books I'm currently reading not appealing as much as they could. I like your idea of reading a few Lost Worlds books, inevitable how reading one book leads on to the 'need' to read several others. No wonder we can never whittle those tbr piles down.

Great reading! I would like to work on that 'Lost World' list with you as best I can -- I've bitten off way more than I can manage, but I'm going to try to keep up, catch up however I can. I've read The Man Who Would Be King and also The Moon Pool so I'll have a couple of breathers in there. I haven't read King Solomon's Mines and it is sitting on my shelf......

Heather - great stats. Just to keep on your good side (!) I will also comment that I also enjoyed Alias Grace when I read it some dozen or so years ago.

#184 Thanks Jenny - now I just need to keep it up!

#185 I know that feeling Kerry - hope you can find something that draws you in.

#186 Thanks Lucy - it would certainly be fun to read along together. I haven't read any of the others yet; I'll let you know when I'm thinking of starting one you haven't read.

#187 Excellent news Paul :-)

I wrote some reviews for Nothing But Ghosts and Stop the Train in msg 180 above. Now I have a couple of books almost finished calling to me.

Oh wow, excellent reading Heather, many great titles I have to check out and happy belated birthday. I laughed when you said you checked a few threads and 3 hours had gone by - this happens to me daily I swear.

#189 Thanks Leonie :-)

I feel like I have been neglecting LibraryThing over the last few days, partly due to tiredness and partly due to my new Downton Abbey addiction. I can see Series 2 being purchased as soon as I've finished series 1 and I finally understand all the comments and references everyone has been making on the threads.

Yesterday we watched the fourth episode of the first series and I fell in love with Lady Sybil's new 'dress'.



In weather news, it was -10C last night and we have heavy snow forecast so I brought my laptop home this weekend so I can work from home on Monday if I need to and I plan to curl up in the warm and read this weekend. Possibly also make some broccoli and stilton soup, mmm.

February reading:

Book #20 Zoo City by Lauren Beukes - 3.5 stars
Source: Kindle sale
Original publication date: 2010



I've wanted to try this book since it won the Arthur C. Clarke award for the best science fiction novel of the year in 2011. It's an extremely unusual book which makes it very difficult to classify - is it science fiction? urban fantasy? cyberpunk? noir crime fiction? a thriller? As I was reading, parts of the book reminded me of A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and The Wind-up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi and I've also seen comparisons to William Gibson and Raymond Chandler.

The story itself is set in either a near-future or alternate Johannesburg in South Africa where a new under-class, the animalled, has emerged. If someone has killed another human, whether outright cold-blooded murder or inadvertently, they become paired with an animal and seem to develop a specific magical ability or shavi. Everyone's animal and magical ability are different and you can't be separated from your animal; if the animal dies, the human dies too in a particularly nasty way. This is a recent development in Zoo City world and there are lots of theories ranging from the scientific to religious about how and why this happens. Because of the stigma attached to having killed someone, being animalled makes you an outcast and Zinzi December, our protagonist, along with her sloth animal, lives in a high-rise, urban slum and scrapes a living from finding things for people (her shavi).

This is a challenging book and to be honest, I'm really not sure I understood all of it. But there was something about the book that's made me glad I've read it, even if I can't decide whether it's a work of genius that is too complex for my brain or a great idea that doesn't quite work.

Book #21 Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith - 4 stars
Source: Charity bookshop for a reread
Original publication date: 2000



The second book in the No. Ladies' Detective Agency series. I don't feel like I have anything to say about this book that I didn't say about the first book in msg 181.

#191 - I'm thinking about reading Zoo City this month too ($2.99 Kindle Sale!). Honestly, sometimes I wish I could just find some good, contemporary sci-fi about evil robots and space travel. It's all getting a little wacky for me. I'll probably still read it though.

Lots of interesting books, Heather! I also liked King Solomon's Mines when I read it as a young guy, and his She, too. Glad to hear it stands up well to a re-read.

I love Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe series! You're right, the gentle wisdom is a big part of its appeal.

I enjoyed Zoo City, too. Your question is a good one: is it a work of genius or a great idea that doesn't quite work? I'm not sure either, but it's an entertaining read and close enough on both counts that I'm glad I read it.

Hope you're cosy warm and snuggled up. It's bloomin' freezing over here in the east of England but no sign yet of snow, though it is getting overcast. I don't like it much!

Hi Heather. Broccoli and stilton soup sounds wonderful! I'm sat by the fire with my book and some apple crumble right now. There is snow falling but it looks quite light at the moment.

I feel like I'm missing out, having never watched Downtown Abbey!

Heather, I love, love your review of Zoo City. You caught my feelings about this book exactly. I was left bemused as to whether the book was genius and I wasn't up to it, or if the author had slightly missed the mark. Either way, I'm glad I read it as well.

Heather, thanks so much for your review of Zoo City. I've hesitated over it and am glad that I haven't picked it up yet since I haven't read The Wind-Up Girl. Maybe someday, maybe not.
Dee and I are the last two women in the world not to have watched any *Downton Abbey*?
Stay warm!

LOVE the photos of Downtown Abbey, Heather! So glad you are enjoying. I remember watching the episode you've posted here of Lady Sybil's new "dress." Peggy and Dee, I thought I was just about the last woman in the world to watch Downton, but apparently not, hehe!

"Dee and I are the last two women in the world not to have watched any *Downton Abbey*?"

Apparently not, since I haven't watched any of it either.

I have Zoo City and The Windup girl and Visit from the goon squad waiting to be read. Now just got to figure out what order to read them in!

Hi Heather!

Good looking birthday books up there, good also that they were ones you liked, I seem to get gifted duds sometimes. have duly instructed my partner to consult or hint before purchase. :)

#192 I know what you mean Kerri, it's one of the reasons why I like to mix my genres up. Having said that I've got a China Mieville on my shortlist for February and he's another writer who comes up with some unusual ideas.

#193 Thanks Joe. There was a really thought-provoking review of Zoo City in the Guardian after it won the Arthur C. Clarke award (link here. The review picked up on/explained lots of things I hadn't thought about so I'm leaning towards 'work of genius that I haven't understood' at the moment. It would be an interesting book to reread.

#194 We have snow Jenny! And it's warmer today. I like fresh snow but I know I'll start complaining about if it hangs around or melts and then freezes again. Wonder if I will get to work from home tomorrow?

#195 Mmm, apple crumble - that's something I don't make enough. Downton Abbey is fun Dee, and it makes for good after-work TV.

#196 Thanks Judy :-)

#197 Thanks Peggy. Zoo City is a book I would recommend cautiously; The Wind Up Girl was a more coherent read in my opinion.

#198 I really like Lady Sybil and I thought that outfit was so beautiful. I only have two episodes left of Series 1 and then I can see an amazon order for Series 2 happening straight away!

#199 Hi LShelby. Until a week ago I hadn't either - I always feel like one of the last people to get up to date with the latest thing and often decide to just ignore it anyway. Downton Abbey seems to be one of my few exceptions for some reason.

#200 Hi Kerry - happy reading :-)

#201 Hi Ilana, thanks for stopping by.

#202 Megan, I'll let you into my secret - my Mum asked what I wanted for my birthday and I emailed her a list of titles! :-) I'm slowly training DH to check my amazon wishlist(s).

In other news, we have snow! The cat seemed to hate it and refused to go outside yesterday (although that didn't stop her asking to go out about 20 times yesterday evening and then turning tail and running back up the stairs every time I opened the front door). She finally went out this morning with some hesitation and now I am slightly worried about her because she hasn't come back and she doesn't usually stay out very long when it's cold. I managed to follow one of the many sets of cat tracks in the snow to a secluded bush and I think she's probably hiding under there but unwilling to walk through the snow again. Hopefully, once she gets hungry enough she'll venture out again and come inside.

Hi Heather. I feel the same about snow as you. Its very pretty at the moment but I'll start getting fed up of it if it lasts too long especially if it means having to walk towork.

I hope your cat comes back soon.

Heather I hope you're staying warm and comfortable today ... same to you Dee! We've had virtually no snow this winter which is really fine by me but there's something luxurious about being unable to leave the house (assuming you've planned for it and have plenty of broccoli & stilton on hand). I do hope kitty comes back soon!

Hi Heather,
Mrs. K and I finally caught up with Season 1 of Downton Abbey last month and have been enjoying Season 2, currently airing in the US on Sunday nights. We may have to miss some of tonight's episode as it will be competing with the Super Bowl, but, fortunately, Madonna is performing during half time which will give us a solid 20 to 25 minutes in which we'll be able to catch up with goings on at Downton. And, for me, that's about as clear an example of a twofer as I can think of.
You and other Downton fans might be interested in listening to the Desert Island Discs interview with writer Julian Fellowes which aired in December but is available as a podcast through the BBC Radio 4 website.
I, too, hope your cat comes back.

I haven't watched any Downton Abbey yet either.

Hope the cat is back!

Hi Dee, Laura, Stephen and Porua.

Sadly there is still no sign of our cat. We've been going outside at regular intervals and calling but not a peep or a meep have we had in return. I would really like it if she came in tonight although it's not forecast to be as cold as it has been. I am in over the top worry mode so I have horrible visions of a small furry frozen body but DH has assured me that these are inaccurate and cats are very good at finding somewhere warm to hide and that he is sure that she'll feel braver about coming out when it's dark.

Aw Heather, what a worry. We've had cats go AWOL once or twice. One time we had accidentally shut her up a shed. So I hope your kitty has found a warm and comfy place to hang out.

#209 Thank you Laura.

Just to prove I was completely over-reacting - she's back!!! Rather bedraggled and hungry but she's had some food and has just started what looks as if it will be a long cleaning session.

Yay, I'm glad she's back. This is NOT the weather to be wandering the streets! Phew, what a relief.

Whew. I'm very happy to hear that she's back.

So glad to hear that she's back.

Hi Heather, congrats on a great month of reading in January along with a belated Happy Birthday to you! I hope I can keep up with you better in February.

190: Isn't Lady Sybil a beauty? She has an inner beauty to match. I am totally in love with Downton Abbey.

It seems like our usual winter snow has skipped across the pond. Oh good, the cat is back home. I love a happy ending. Stay warm!

So very pleased Kitty is back! What a worry our little furry friends can be!

Hi Heather, just catching up on 16 new posts on your thread. I was getting really worried about your cat and then was relieved to read she was back.

I'm eagerly waiting for my number to come up at the library so I can check out the first season of Downton Abbey. I hadn't heard anything about it until a couple of weeks ago when all of sudden everyone seemed to be talking about it on LT.

I'm delighted to know she's back, too, Heather. Being outside in cold weather is no picnic for us cats. Well, actually, it can be a picnic depending on what we catch but it's much nicer to dine indoors, at least 'til Spring arrives.

Oh hooray, kitty returned! Great news.

nice to see kitty came back....our little furball went missing for 4 days after our big earthquake, along with all the cats (and birds were strangely silent too) it seems. Who knows where they go....

So glad that your cat is back!

Yes, glad the cat is back -- love seeing Sybil's dress!

>203 souloftherose: Thanks for the link to the interesting Guardian review of Zoo City, Heather. I agree that Zinzi's story of growth toward integrity is what really drives the book. I also agree with you that The Wind-Up Girl is a cut above it as a work of literature.

#179: Interesting comments on the Lost World novels. Didn't know such a category with specific novels existed. I read Lost World and King Solomon's Mines last year and enjoyed them both. Professor Challenger from Lost World is a wonderful eccentric character. I will try to read some more from this list.

And oh, I just finished Downtown Abbey series two and the concluding christmas episode. A wonderful period drama.

Thanks to Jenny, Peggy, Kerry, Donna, Dee, Stephen, Laura, Megan, Porua and Lucy for rejoicing over the return of the prodigal cat :-) She was definitely more affectionate than usual for the remainder of the evening!

#222 Glad you found the link helpful Joe.

#223 Cartsen, I hadn't heard of Lost World novels either until I read the wikipedia page for King Solomon's Mines. I think your review Conan Doyle's Lost World was what prompted me to put that one on my list last year. What are you going to watch now you've finished Downton??

We've finished watching the first series of Downton Abbey and are impatiently waiting for series 2 to arrive from amazon. I really should have thought ahead and ordered it a couple of days earlier.

In book news, I've finished another couple of books: the latest Louise Penny A Trick of the Light and March by Geraldine Brooks for my book group. I'll try and get some thoughts up on those two and The Monk and Alias Grace from January at the end of the week.

I'm currently reading two 19th century chunksters which I anticipate taking a while. The first is a shared read with Liz (therad here if anyone would like to join in/lurk) of Walter Scott's The Heart of Midlothian and the other is Barnaby Rudge by Mr Dickens. But, so that I have a hope of finishing a book in the next week or two, I'm also reading Kate Grenville's The Secret River on my kindle on the way to work.

And in honour of Charles Dicken's 200th birthday the Guardian has a 'fiendishly difficult quiz' on his books here. I think fiendishly difficult is an understatement in this case.

Hi Heather, I knew it was Charles Dicken's 200th birthday sometime in February, but (pats myself on the back) I completed Great Expectations on February 7th, his actual birthday!

And that quiz about him is 'fiendishly difficult'!

Oh Heather, I missed the to-do with your cat going off in the winter wilderness. I would have been sick with worry too. Glad to know she didn't keep you on pins and needles too long. I'm sure you were one very relieved mommy.

The first time I let Ezra, my first cat out (I didn't let him out the first two years), he was gone for over 24 hours. I felt sure he'd been run over or killed somehow. But I guess he was just taking his time getting a lay of the land because he came back unscathed and quite happy about his romp. After that, he never left for more than a few hours at a time. As he gets older, his visits outside keep getting shorter, which is getting annoying because he's always begging to get in or out at any given moment. During the winter I won't let him out at all because he just asks to come back in after a minute, and I refuse to play doorman to him. Sometimes I open the door and invite him to step outside just so he can see for himself how cold it is and he won't even put a paw out, but then minutes later he forgets and starts begging all over again. Now that I've said all this I'm reminded that he hasn't asked for the door in quite some time, so I guess he's finally gotten it that this is the season for staying in.

I thought about you all day because of Dickens' birthday today, as you're the biggest Dickens fan I know! I celebrated by choosing all my favourite recordings of his various novels on audiobooks to wishlist on Audible.com for future purchases.

>226 Smiler69:: My parents' 10-year-old cat does that... she'll beg to be let out at the back door, whining like the world will end if she doesn't get outside, then five minutes (or less) later will be pawing at the FRONT door, whining like the world will end if she doesn't come IN. It would be funny if it wasn't so annoying... but she's fat and jolly and lovely so they put up with it (and since I don't live there, I don't mind it that much either).

I think I missed the cat story as well, but I'm glad she's back!

Heather, I'm way behind and reading through slowly because I don't want to skim. (up to message 183 so far).

Just to say: chocolate porridge is great! I often do it simply by adding my own cocoa powder. I never knew porridge was called oatmeal in the US. I use the words 'oatmeal' or just 'oats' for the raw ingredients, and porridge for the cooked outcome...

And well done on the Books read vs TBR ratio so far.

What did you make of Alias Grace? I see you have given it 4.5 stars, so I guess that was a good one for you?

Thanks for reminding me Genny that Im so looking forward to winter - of only for the fact that Ill be having porridge for breakfast, and now maybe some chocolate porridge.

Hi Heather!

Now I'm all caught up! Having reminded myself as well as Megan of chocolate porridge, I made some for supper, to try to keep warm on this bitterly cold day.

I still have not seen Downton Abbey either. I missed seeing it when it was first broadcast because I tend to watch TV via iPlayer, ie BBC stuff only, or occasionally Channel 4 On Demand, but I rarely check to see what is on ITV. I have for some reason not been particularly excited about the idea of it. I usually enjoy period dramas, so not sure why this one did not interest me. I've been rather absorbed instead recently in the Danish political series Borgen, about a female prime minister.

Very glad to hear that Erica made her way back from whereever she was huddling outside in the cold. Ty does not want to go out in this weather either.

#224 What fabulous reading you're up to, Heather! I admire its (and yours) ambitious-ness!

#224: What I am going to watch after Downtown Abbey? Stare hopelessly out into space and wait for series three! Well, one advise: Order the christmas special of DA. It will come in handy after series two. It feels as if this is the conclusion to series two.

I have still some BBC period drama waiting for me. Two of Trollope He Knew He Was Right and The Way We Live Now and Dickens Little Dorrit - and one which is probably not an adaptation Lark Rise to Candleford - I'm into series one now....I love BBC period drama.....

Hi Heather,
Lark Rise to Candleford is, indeed, an adaptation, based on the books by Flora Thompson, which I highly recommend. I'm not sure the BBC adaptation is entirely successful so I'll be curious to hear what you think of it. One of my few regrets is that I never got to see the stage version produced at the Royal National Theatre back in the 1970's, with a script by Keith Dewhurst and a brilliant score by the Albion Band, whose members also appeared in the production.
Mrs. K and I are also going to be a bit bereft when Season 2 comes to a conclusion next week. But there will be a Season 3 and, in the meantime, those are all great ideas for managing the withdrawal. I hope you like The Way We Live Now as much as I did.

All this discussion has made me crave Readybrek. I know it's not the same as porridge, but when I was younger and at my grandparents, my granddad would have porridge and do Readybrek for me. Aren't food and smells so evocative?

>224 souloftherose: Bragging Rights! I got 18 right (and loved the quiz! Thank you, Heather!), but I see that I really need to reread Dombey and Son and Nicholas Nickleby. YAY! (I would have done better some years ago before LT when I was always reading Dickens.)

#233 ctpress, "I love BBC period drama....."

Me too!

I have finally written a review of The Monk in msg #182 and on the book page and added a link to letterpress's very good review of Alias Grace in msg #181 because I couldn't think of anything to say myself.

#225 Hi Judy - what good timing!

#226 Thanks Ilana. "Sometimes I open the door and invite him to step outside just so he can see for himself how cold it is and he won't even put a paw out, but then minutes later he forgets and starts begging all over again." - Ah, that is exactly what our cat does!

#227 Faith, our cat's about two which doesn't bode well but I try to excuse her by remembering she's a rescue cat and is possibly more nervous as a result. Or she just enjoys seeing how many times she can get the humans to get up and open the front door for her...

#228 Thanks Kerri :-)

#229 & 231 Hi Genny. I've heard good things about Borgen and my parents-in-law were raving about The Killing (Danish version rather than US version) when I saw them over Christmas. I've added both series to my lovefilm rental list but the warm cosiness of Downton Abbey seems to be the sort of TV I'm in the mood for at the moment.

#230 Hi Megan!

#233 & 237 "I love BBC period drama" - Oh yes, me too :-)

#234 Hi Stephen

#235 I loved Readybrek when I was little - I think my mum always made it for me in the winter.

#236 That is an impressive score Peggy - I think I could manage 10 with another couple if I was allowed to name the book rather than the character. The only ones I was confident of were the answers that related to the last few Dickens' I've read.

Will hopefully get some February book reviews up this evening.

#238 If you're after warm and cosy, then The Killing is probably not the best place to look! But as a TV crime series it is unusual - 20 episodes about the investigation of one crime - a much slower pace therefore than most TV detective programmes, and a lot more attention is paid to showing the devastating effects of the crime on the family of the victim, as well as all the slow process and twists and turns of the investigation. But it is visually dark, with lots of rain and gloomy views of Copenhagen, and very focussed but uncommunicative female detective in trademark Pharoese woolly jumper putting herself yet again in danger or getting into trouble with her bosses. The jumper is about the only cosy thing in it!

"Will hopefully get some February book reviews up this evening." Or not, let's try some now.

Book #22 A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny - 3.75 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 2011 in the US, 2012 in the UK



Can I confess to being a teensy bit disappointed with the latest Louise Penny offering? It was still enjoyable and the previous book in the series (Bury Your Dead) was a hard act to follow but A Trick of the Light didn't feel as quite as good as the other books in the series.

I think it's fair to say that Penny's Armand Gamache/Three Pines series is a particular favourite of many members of the 75ers - if you like a crime series that is light on grittiness and strong on characters and you can suspend your disbelief enough to cope with the high murder rate in amazing Canadian village of Three Pines then Penny's books are probably worth a read. I am now eagerly waiting for book 8.

Book #23 March by Geraldine Brooks - 2.5 stars
Source: Ex-library copy
Original publication date: 2005



This was my choice for the RL book group that I've recently joined so I was quite disappointed that I struggled to enjoy this one. The other members of the group all really enjoyed it though and we had a really good discussion about the book.

March is based on Louisa M. Alcott's classic Little Women which tells the story of five sisters whose father was away fighting in the American Civil War. In March we get the story from the point of view of their father. Because the father was almost entirely absent from Alcott's book, you don't need to have read Little Women to read March; in fact none of the other members of my book group had read LW.

Geraldine Brooks has done a lot of research into the period and into Alcott's family history, even largely basing March himself on Alcott's own father as LW was based on Alcott's sisters. For someone like me who knows very little about the American Civil War, it was interesting to read more about the period.

The main reason I struggled with this book was because March is told in the first person throughout and I found March to be an incredibly annoying character and narrator. I really struggle with first person narratives if I don't feel interested in the character in some way. This is perhaps not a fair reason for giving the book a low rating, especially as I think March's character was well-written and realistic but I really had to force myself to keep picking the book back up. March is a head-in-the-sand idealist who, despite the Civil War raging around him and the many and repeated failures he experiences when he tries to practise his principles and the obvious inconvenience it puts other people, just does not understand that this sort of idealism is more unhelpful than helpful in the situations he finds himself him. I spent most of the book feeling torn between feeling sorry for him and wanting to smack him round the head with something.

At least the other characters in the book felt the same way:

"He stopped then and gave me a look of the kind I had become all too familiar with in the course of my life, a look that combined pity and exasperation."

So, if March hadn't annoyed me so much, this could have been a 3.5 star read. I'm not sure it could have rated above a 4 though. Although the writing and research were done well the characters seemed quite stereotypical; the black slaves were uneducated but noble, good-hearted folk who grew to love March the emancipator and were eager to learn how to read and write, the white Unionists and Confederates were largely racist (except March of course), uncouth and rough. I was expecting more from a Pulitzer Prize winner.

#239 That does sound interesting Genny. I'm sure I read a magazine/newspaper article about her jumper!

I haven't read Trick of the Light yet. Is it available in paperback yet here, or just hardback? I might look for it in the library - even if it is a bit of a let down after the previous one, I still care about the characters and want to know what comes next for them...

#242 It's only just come out in hardback Genny so if your library is anything like mine it will still be on order. I was only a little bit disappointed, perhaps having to read all the glowing reviews written by lucky Americans and Canadians for several months didn't help!

#239 I think series 1 of The Killing is the best thing I've seen on television for ages. Gennyt I think you're right that it's the involvement of the victims family that makes all the difference. Several episodes had both me and my husband with tears steaming down our face.

Heather, I just finished A trick of the light, and I found the solution/murderer slightly disappointing. Though, as you said, these are books with character development as well, so I did enjoy it - just not quite as much as some others.

Woot, another Louise Penny fan! Thanks, Heather! I've just downloaded this series and am looking forward to starting it in the next few months ...

Heather, I think we had similar reactions to March. It was especially disappointing to me because I am a big Geraldine Brooks fan. I adored People of the Book.

Hi Heather. I have three Geraldine Brooks novels but haven't read any of them! It sounds as if March might not be the one to start with.

Heather, you're reminding me that I've yet to get to Year of Wonders which has been sitting there for quite a while now...

I'll eventually get to the second book in the Louise Penny series, but just don't feel an irresistible pull. Which is ok, considering how many other books I want to get to... yesterday!

>240 souloftherose: interesting premise for a novel, but you can go so wrong when you mess with a classic. Sounds like a good discussion point though.

The main reason I struggled with this book was because March is told in the first person throughout and I found March to be an incredibly annoying character and narrator. I really struggle with first person narratives if I don't feel interested in the character in some way.

This is such a great point - now I don't feel so badly for abandoning this book twice. Just couldn't get into it, thought maybe I was just in the wrong mood for it. And I so wanted to like it because, as Megan states above, it was such an interesting premise for a book.

#244 Hi Rhian, with such high praise I really should make time for The Killing. Perhaps after Downton Abbey and then the first series of Game of Thrones....

#245 HI Ardene. It's nice to know I'm not alone in finding the ending of this one slightly disappointint.

#246 HI Nancy. I hope you enjoy the Three Pines. Notwithstanding my comments about the latest book, I really enjoy this series.

#247 Hi Julia. It's actually very reassuring to hear that a big Geraldine Brooks fan didn't enjoy March as I really did want to like her books. I think I'll try either People of the Book or Year of Wonders next.

#248 Hi Dee. Perhaps not but then everyone else in my reading group enjoyed it so who knows?

#249 "I'll eventually get to the second book in the Louise Penny series, but just don't feel an irresistible pull. Which is ok, considering how many other books I want to get to... yesterday!" So true. I've been battling book guilt this week thinking about the books that have been sitting on my shelves waiting to be read for so long. The problem is that while I wanted to read them when I bought them, I'm now finding that I'm more interested in other types of books at the moment. I'm trying to remind myself that that's ok.

#250 Hi Megan. It was an interesting idea and, as you say, it did make for a good discussion at the book group meeting. I'd rather select a book that leads to an interesting discussion than select one that everyone enjoys but for which no-one can think of anything to say! I also wonder if I would have enjoyed the book more if I hadn't loved Little Women so much as a child. I don't have a good track record with books that use characters from books I've loved.

#251 Hi Mamie. I'm glad my review helped :-) Sometimes books just don't work for us.

I realised that I haven't confessed to any of this month's book acquisitions yet so here goes. So far, these have all been kindle books.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey (Kindle daily deal)
A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (Kindle) READ
Room by Emma Donoghue (Kindle - for next month's reading group)
Look at Me by Jennifer Egan (Kindle daily deal)
Embassytown by China Mieville (Kindle)

Which isn't too bad, I'm still ahead in that I've read more books from my TBR pile than the number of books I've acquired, but I'm quite a way off my ideal 2 books read from the TBR pile for every new book acquired. To reach that target I need to read another 10 books from the TBR pile before acquiring any more books and I already have Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd (2009 Carnegie Medal winner) on its way to me from Bookmooch as well as a copy of a very hard to find Rosemary Sutcliff, Frontier Wolf from ebay. And some library books to read. Sigh.

Book #24 The Secret River by Kate Grenville - 4 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 2005



The first in Kate Grenville's Colonial Trilogy about early Australia, The Secret River follows the fortunes of William Thornhill and his family, first as he struggles to keep their heads above water in late eighteenth and early 19th century London and then in New South Wales after he and his family are deported after William attempts to steal some timber.

Life in New South Wales was certainly tough for these early settlers and inevitably, there are clashes with the indigenous aboriginal people as the settlers move inland and start to claim what they see as unused land for farming. Although I don't think you could finish reading this book without feeling that the Aborignal people had been cruelly taken advantage of by the white settlers, Grenville manages to move beyond a simplistic portrayal of the white settlers as bad and the Aboriginal people as good, so that I really felt I could empathise with both groups in what each saw as simply a struggle for survival.

Strongly recommended and I would certainly like to read more of Grenville's books.

Book #25 Rose Blanche illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, text by Ian McEwan - 4 stars
Source: Library book
Original publication date: 1985



Although this is a picture book with only a short section of text accompanying each illustration, I would say that this is probably more appropriate to older children due to the subject matter.

Rose Blanche tells the story of Rose, a little girl growing up in Germany during WWII. Rose doesn't really understand what the war is about and one day she decides to follow a group of soldiers passing through her town, only to discover that they are travelling to a nearby concentration camp. Finding that there are starving children in the camp, Rose starts to smuggle food to these children.

This is a very short book, but I've found that Rose's story has stayed with me.

From the cover of the book, Roberto Innocenti has said:

"In this book I wanted to illustrate how a child experiences war without really understanding it.... I was a little child when the war passed in front of my door... My father did not want to answer my questions but I knew that something terrible was happening."

I was also interested to learn that the White Rose, or die Weiße Rose was the name of a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany.



Thanks to Ilana and Kerry for the recommendation.

Oooh, a Rosemary Sutclif that I haven't heard of, on its way from eBay to you! *Trying not to feel envious*

Well done for keeping the acquisition to reading rate reasonably in balance - at least it sounds better than last year so far. It's funny how many of us are all trying to limit our new books in - we seem to have been egging each other ion in the past couple of years to ever-increasing TBR piles which grow faster than we are reading - and are now all beginning to realise we can't sustain this forever!

I'm intrigued by The Secret River, Heather, and Rose Blanche sounds really good, too. Thanks for the reviews.

I loved The Secret River, Heather, and am happy that it has another fan! I thought The sequel, Sarah Thornhill' was good too, but not quite as good.

I'm going to put Rose Blanche onto my library list but wait till we have talked about the Holocaust with the kids (we have talked about Hitler but not the detail yet...Fletch came home the other day saying he had been playing Hitler at lunchtime!!)

Oooooohhhhh! I can't wait to read your review of The Secret River! Have to write my own first though. I'm just scanning a few threads before going off to an appointment with the hairdresses to cheer myself up a little.

The problem is that while I wanted to read them when I bought them, I'm now finding that I'm more interested in other types of books at the moment. I'm trying to remind myself that that's ok.

beyond a doubt. books should be at our disposal, and not the other way around. xx

Thanks for the thoughtful reviews, as always, Heather : ). I'm interested in The Secret River.

I do like the sound of The Secret River. And I have it on my TBR- excellent!

I really liked The Secret River too, I need to get on and read The Lieutenant.

#254 Thanks Genny. The Sutcliffe is one of her later (in terms of publication date anyway) Dolphin Ring books, out of print and the second hand prices seem to be somewhere in the region of £10-20. I've had it on my watch list on ebay and abebooks for about two years and a copy in good condition turned up for £2.70 including postage! So, never mind the fact that I have 3/4 unread Rosemary Sutcliff's on my shelves, I had to get it.

"we seem to have been egging each other ion in the past couple of years to ever-increasing TBR piles which grow faster than we are reading - and are now all beginning to realise we can't sustain this forever!" - It does feel like that doesn't it?

I am quite astonished that I have managed to keep my acquisitions rate so low compared to previous years, and quite proud - although pride can come before a fall...!

I think it's partly that I am less stress & depressed than I was feeling last year and the year before last and there was definitely a sense in which buying books was my therapy.

#255 Thanks Joe.

#256 I was very tempted to download Sarah Thornhill to my kindle straight away Cushla. I'm glad there seem to be a number of Kate Grenville books for me to discover.

Re Rose Blanche, that's probably a good idea. I think it's more that the story would go right over the heads of younger children rather than there being anything disturbing in the pictures. It's just when you understand what the pictures mean, you realise it really is quite disturbing. Not sure if that makes sense or not.

"Fletch came home the other day saying he had been playing Hitler at lunchtime!" Oh dear!

#257 Thanks for the validation about the unread books Ilana :-)

#258, 259 & 260 Secret River love! :-)

>261 souloftherose: I haven't been buying many books since joining LT, but only because I have no room for them. That means, however, that I've been missing what everyone else has been reading, the new stuff that sounds soooo exciting. Once I get some of those older books off the shelf, I'll happily indulge in the newer titles. But maybe on my Kindle. Space is a killer.

Lots of good stuff going on here, Heather. I've bought books for years and years and can't seem to want to let the habit go. I justify myself by saying that I don't buy much of anything else - not clothes or movies or very many CDs or vacations or mod cons - just books. That's mainly true. I know now that I won't live long enough to read them all, but while I'm here, so are they; and if my tastes change, they also change back. So I stay pretty happy.
For instance, I have a copy of The Secret River on its way from PBS. I had downloaded The Lieutenant to my Kindle, and my mother is just finishing it and liking it pretty well.
I am one of those who really enjoyed March. I've always thought that those Transcendentalists would be beyond annoying to live with on a day to day basis, and Brooks certainly worked that in. In fact, the only thing that grated as wrong with me was her making "Marmee" Marmee's nickname from childhood rather than what her children called her. I think that's just wrong. Anyway, although you and I agree most of the time, I suggest that anybody who is even vaguely interested in "New England Romanticism Meets the Civil War" should give the book a chance.
And Rosemary Sutcliff! I need to own more. When I was teaching, I kept waiting for our high school library to discard their Sutcliff collection so that I could pick them up for a song. They've probably dumped them by now. *sigh*

#262 I think the no room problem will become a problem for me too at some point. I can see DH and I might have to make some tough decisions.. or make the books into furniture!



Edited because I pressed post instead of preview..

#263 Rosemary Sutcliffe's are quite hard to come by Peggy and so many are out of print that I snap them up whenever I see one.

" I've always thought that those Transcendentalists would be beyond annoying to live with on a day to day basis, and Brooks certainly worked that in." - Certainly did! I wasn't convinced by Marmee's name either and I wasn't convinced we were reading about the same person you see in Little Women with her character.

Anyway, time for a new thread. Let's see if I can dodge the thread continuation bugs...