Tiffin's 2nd for 2012

Up on a hill
On a windy day
Is not the place to be
I hope he does not forget I'm here
I hope he's holding me

Painting by Gary Bunt called "A Windy Day". Gary Bunt is an English artist who often writes a little poem to go with his wonderfully quirky paintings. He lives in Kent.

EVALUATION SCHEME
Although I am hesitant to evaluate books, when I do, this is what it means:
0-1.5* = disgusting use of a perfectly good tree
2-2.5** = meh, don't bother
2.75 = somewhere between meh and ok
3-3.5*** = quite creditable and not a waste of time, liked it
3.75 = just a scritch more of *something* and it would have been really good
4-4.5**** = a really, really good read, enjoyed it thoroughly, would recommend it happily, wish I'd written it
5***** = knocked my socks off, blew me in to the next stratosphere, turned me into a molten puddle, sheer perfection and no you can't borrow it, this one stays right here




BOOKS READ

JANUARY 2012
1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 4.75 stars
2. Persuasion by Jane Austen 4.5 stars {reread}
3. The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley 2.75 stars
4. The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht 4.5 stars
5. The Eliza Stories specifically "Eliza" by Barry Pain 3 stars
6. As Good as God, as Clever as the Devil; The Impossible Life of Mary Benson by Rodney Bolt 4.5 stars
7. The Unquiet Bones by Mel Starr 2.95 stars
8. A Corpse at St. Andrew's Chapel by Mel Starr 2.95 stars
9. A Trail of Ink by Mel Starr 2.95 stars
10. Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford 4 stars
11. High Rising by Angela Thirkell

FEBRUARY 2012
12. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien 5 stars {reread}
13. The Quiet Gentleman by George Heyer 3 stars
14. The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer 2.75 stars
15. Winter Heart by Margaret Frazer 1 star
16: A Double Affair by Angela Thirkell 3.5 stars
17. Mrs. Ames by E.F. Benson 3.5 stars
18. Part of the Furniture by Mary Wesley 4 stars
19. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield 4 stars
20. Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor 3.5 stars
21. A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd 3.5 stars
22. The Gabriel Hounds by Mary Stewart 3 stars
23. Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart 2.75 stars
24. Another Self by James Lees-Milne 3 stars
25. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen 4.5 stars {reread}

MARCH 2012
26. Thirty-three Teeth by Colin Cotterill 4 stars
27. The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill 4 stars
28. Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill 3.5 stars
29. Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill 4 stars
30. Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill 3 stars
31: Red Bird, Poems by Mary Oliver 4.5 stars
32. A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor 4.5 stars
33. The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill 3.5 stars
34. Evidence by Mary Oliver
35. The New Moon with the Old by Dodie Smith 4 stars

APRIL 2012
36. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness 3.5 stars
37. A Place of Secrets: A Novel by Rachel Hore 3.75 stars
38. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka 4 stars
39. Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear 3.75 stars
40. Gone West by Carola Dunn 3 stars

MAY 2012 - gardening season so things dwindle down until the dog days of summer hit and it's too hot to slave & toil outside
41. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 4.5 stars
42. Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver 4.5 stars

JUNE 2012
43: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel 5 stars
44. A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton 3 stars
45. Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry 2.95 stars

JOURNALS, ETC. READ
1. Slightly Foxed, Winter 2011
2. Slightly Foxed, Spring 2012
3. Slightly Foxed, Winter 2008 (I'm ordering back copies to have the entire collection)
4. Slightly Foxed, Summer 2012

I love that painting!
And you are reading like a fiend, my friend.

I know, Laura. It's about all I can do these days. That and whine. But wait until gardening season when I don't read a thing...it will all even out.

Here is a good selection of Gary Bunt's paintings: http://www.portlandgallery.com/artist/Gary_Bunt/archive

27: The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill



Kindle download
No. of Pages
Why I read it: Because I read the 2nd book in the series and wanted to read the 1st--but I'm afraid a monster has been unleashed and I'm going to read all 8 of them now

I believe this is the first book in the Dr. Siri Paiboun ("coroner, scholar, witch doctor") series where we get introduced to this redoubtable doctor/coroner and his merry band--including, quite beautifully, an assistant with Down Syndrome and a perfect memory. With the peripatetic aid of the spirit world, Dr. Siri rights wrongs, solves crimes and helps the quick and the dead. I am enchanted with these books so far. On to find book 3!

Tui, if you click on the title of the book in a series on LT, it will show you its number on the book page. Here's the series page for Dr. Siri so you can see the order they go in.

Lovely to be one of the first in the door to this party. I've read thirteen of your 27 books! Half! That's amazing and a marvel.

Love the painting!
I keep seeing A Coroner's Lunch around LT. I might have to add those books to my wishlist

28, Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill



Kindle download
No. of pages
Why I read it: the wind is blowing in gusts up to 100kph, so it's raw and miserable out, which dog and self don't enjoy. The antibiotics are making me lethargic. And this darn series is fun.

Book #3 in the Dr. Siri Paiboun series. These things slide down as easily as mango smoothies.

O.K. O.K. (Happy New Thread, Tui! Love you wind painting too!!!) I've put Dr. Siri Paiboun on my reminder list at PBS. And I've read ten of your books so far - not as good as Lucy, but pretty good, I'd say.

>5 laytonwoman3rd:: Thanks, Linda, that is most helpful.
>6 sibylline:: now why doesn't that surprise me, Lucy.
>7 ChelleBearss:: Chelle, they are a lot of fun. I admit, I am having a bit of a binge with them.
>9 LizzieD:: Peggy, it really is coming in like a lion here, with gusts up to 100kph at times. So the wind pic was timely.

I've download #4 in the Dr. Siri series but this might do it for a bit--pretty expensive to be Kindle-ing so much this way and I'm almost sated on them for a bit. However, there are 4 more to come back to read one fine day.

Tui - congrats on the new thread - love the lead shot; quirky and nice.
Three books already in March - that series must be gripping indeed to have gobbled it up so quickly.
These things slide down as easily as mango smoothies.
Makes me thirsty both for the books as well as the mangoes.

#10 Well, it might have been helpful if I had completed the HTML for the link. Fixed it now.

>11 PaulCranswick:: Paul, it's not so much that they're gripping as that they are a lot of fun. The character of Dr. Siri is delightful but his friends and coworkers are too. The location in Laos is fascinating too. I'm reading a 4th one right now! I think the author is a bright lad.

>12 laytonwoman3rd:: you pointed me in the right direction to look for the series # though.

A sample from Anarchy and Old Dogs:

Dr. Siri and his best friend, Civitai, have flown south to Pakse to investigate *something*. They decide to take in a movie as there aren't any up north any more, their love of movies having started when they were both students in Paris. A Bruce Lee film is showing but without sound. Three people sit on the stage, one to provide music and the other two actors to do the voice over. Ok:

"You are a usurper of agronomic labor," said Bruce. "I shall teach you a lesson."
To the accompaniment of cymbals and something like a kazoo, he proceeded to beat the stuffing out of the attackers, no doubt appreciative of the fact that they approached him one by one rather than en masse. Soon only Bruce and the evil Asian lapdog of colonial oppression remained standing. The latter's eyebrows suggested he felt helpless without his gang of handpicked henchmen, just as the Royalist regime would have felt without its American lackeys to hide behind. Bruce, the Lao Democratic Republic incarnate, flexed his bloodied biceps in the direction of his oppressor foe.
"So, it's just you and me," Bruce said. "Me, the representative of the honest people of the land. You, a capitalist who would gladly sell the soil beneath our feet to the foreign devils."
The lips of the protagonist and antagonist had not actually moved during this altercation. Siri and Civilai were rocking in their seats with laughter, their cheeks wet with tears. They thought it couldn't get any better, but it did. To the gasps of the audience, the capitalist who would sell the soil from beneath their feet somersaulted backward onto a roof, saying, "We slaves of the Western money culture will always prevail, you common coolie." And then vanished.

Bruce was devastated that the lower classes had once again become the victims of the idle rich, but a woman's voice from offscreen shouted, "The Republic of Laos loves you, Somchit, for protecting us from foreign aggression. Our day will come."

The audience cheered, and Siri and Civilai slapped their palms together, breathless with laughter.
"Now this," Siri wheezed at last, "is entertainment."
Ten rows behind them sat the only man in the audience who wasn't enjoying the show. His military uniform now replaced by slacks and a short-sleeved sports shirt, the tight-cheeked passenger from the Yak flight kept his eyes firmly focused on the backs of his targets. A Type77 Chinese pistol jutted uncomfortably into his belt.

Now this, Tiffin wheezed at last, is entertainment!

What a great excerpt!

29: Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill



Kindle download
No. of pages
Why I read it: because I'm hooked on this series

The fourth book in the Dr. Siri series, this one was loads of fun. Hard not to like a mystery with a cross-dressing transvestite who tells fortunes, threatened coups, a couple of other deaths on the side and a soupcon of treason.

It's like having a tub of President's Choice Mint Chocolate Crackle ice cream in the freezer. As long as I know it's still there, I have to keep eating it. So *sigh* here I go, ordering the 5th book in the Dr. Siri series. I'll probably keep reading them until they're gone. After that, my Kindle will go on a diet.

sigh of sympathy!

How lovely when you just have to consume them all!

And you're less likely to gain weight consuming books than you are consuming tubs of President's Choice Mint Chocolate Crackle ice cream.

30: Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill



Kindle download
No of pages
Why I read it: a bit of an obsessive compulsion to finish the series

I liked this one a bit less than the first four. Either I have overdosed on them or the author has. He jumps between elements of his story but a couple of the jumps were too bumpy for me this time. Hmmmm maybe the pogo stick is a metaphor.....

I've finished the second one today, Tui, and I think I'll let Dr. Siri rest a while before picking up the next one. They are a lot of fun, but I'd hate to burn out on them.

>22 laytonwoman3rd:: smart woman. I should have stopped at 4, taken a few months hiatus. I feel like I could write them myself now.

I do hate it when I realize I've read too many of a particular author all at once.....

...wait, who said PC Mint Chocolate Crackle ice cream?!?!?! *drools on the floor* ...er, oops, sorry, I'll clean that up...

Faith, how to flush a Canadian out of the crowd! hahahaha

>24 sibylline:: Lucy, I seem to do that with series for some reason.

31: Red Bird, Poems by Mary Oliver



Paperback, Beacon Press
No. of pages: I don't count pages with books of poetry because it is a different kind of reading, of lingering
Why I read it: Because a friend brought her to my awareness

I hadn't read any of Mary Oliver's poetry. A friend mentioned that she was critically ill and said how much her poetry meant to her, so I went on a scouting mission to learn about this poet, Mary Oliver. Well first of all, she is a Pulitzer Prize winning poet (so no slouch). Secondly, she has written umpteen volumes of poems, as well as chapbooks, so she has been writing and publishing for years. What had I been missing? A very excellent American Pulitzer Prize winning poet, as it turns out.

How glad I am that I followed my nose because I have discovered a poet who warms my heart. Deceptively simple, in the way that Emily Dickinson is, her poems are vivid and powerful songs of praise and contemplation. She celebrates birds and foxes, her dog and the sea--all the flora and fauna around her, really, in precisely worded paeons (probably didn't use this technically correctly but I love the word) which seem to come from a thankful and joyous heart. Oh, not all sweetness and light, because in large doses that would make me gag. No, sometimes there is something so poignant and sharply observed that it makes you hold your breath for a moment. Again, like Dickinson, there is a keen intellect at work here and sometimes I was astonished at where her words took me. But sometimes too there was just humour, as in this poem to her dog, Percy:

Percy and Books (Eight)

Percy does not like it when I read a book.
He puts his face over the top of it and moans.
He rolls his eyes, sometimes he sneezes.
The sun is up, he says, and the wind is down.
The tide is out and the neighbor's dogs are playing.
But Percy, I say. Ideas! The elegance of language!
The insights, the funniness, the beautiful stories
that rise and fall and turn into strength, or courage.

Books? says Percy. I ate one once, and it was enough.
Let's go.

I look forward to the next two books sitting on the nightstand.

Must check my collections to see if I have any of her work, or head to the library. I love the Percy poem. And this--- "sometimes there is something so poignant and sharply observed that it makes you hold your breath for a moment "---makes me think of Annie Dillard, one of my favorite wordsmiths, so I suspect I would enjoy Oliver's poetry as much as you do. (What a shock, eh?)

I lurked all through your last thread, so I thought I'd oust myself early on in this one. I'm enjoying learning about your many reads so far this year!

It's International Women's Day. Hurrah for all the wonderful wimmins of the world and particularly the ones I have come to know and really appreciate here. Raising my coffee cup to my grandmothers and my extraordinary little aunt, the late great aunt Ella!

! Yes! Oliver is wonderful. I love it! To dogs we really are quite mad. Already Miss Posey is learning to just sit there while I trot back and forth and up and down.....doing completely incomprehensible things.

Hi Amber, good to see you. The kettle is always on the hob.
Hi Lucy, my Esme is much the same--although when she thinks SHE should go out or out with me (a car ride with the window cracked a bit is a slice of heaven), she will follow me around like a shadow, snorting and sneezing for emphasis. There have been moments of hilarity because of this: I put my boots on the mat ready to put them on; she was jumping up and down all excited in her poodle way and ended up with her two front paws in my boots but with the feet facing backwards. The visual of it just totally did me in.

#30 Wishing for a "Like" button for that post.

I second that.

And I'm wishing that you had had a camera!

I love Dr. Siri, and I love Mary Oliver's poetry.

That said, I agree that "Pogo Stick" is on the weak side. But don't give up yet... I just finished Slash and Burn, which I thought was excellent. I love Cotterill's tongue-in-cheek style. The more people I can get addicted to Dr. Siri, the more moral suasion I may be able to bring to bear on the author when it comes to keeping him alive...

>26 tiffin:: Omigosh, it's true. Galen Weston, take my money!!!

Faith, if you knew how hard I am laughing here....!! In to that Superstore like a shot when the new PC flier comes out.

32: A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor



Paperback, Virago Modern Classics
No. of pages: 313
Why I read it: for the Elizabeth Taylor Centenary readings in the Virago Modern Classics group

My LibraryThing Review

The seaport of Newby sits tucked around its harbour but its glory days have passed it by, with its buildings best seen from far out in the harbour where distance turns them from dingy to quaint. We see it first through the eyes of an outsider, Bertram Hemingway, R.N., Retd., who has come to the seashore to stay in the harbour pub so that he could finally paint “those aspects of the sea which for thirty or more years he had felt awaited his recognition”. He is a lonely man and he has come to a lonely place. With Bertram’s eyes we see Tory Foyle walk to the pub and to the doctor’s house carrying jugs, observe the grey lace curtains of the closed Waxworks. The village in its turn watches Bertram.

We, with Bertram, are looking in. When we are permitted to begin to see the inhabitants some thirteen pages later, we do so with a sense that we have breached the insular atmosphere of this fishing town and will now be shown something very intimate and private. And so we will.

We meet Tory Foyle, a divorcee who has been left for another woman by her wealthy husband, despite her great beauty. We encounter her best friend, Beth Cazabon, a writer whose writing constitutes a reality more compelling for her than that of her husband and children. Beth is married to Robert Cazabon, the local doctor. They have two children: Prudence, an awkward and sickly young woman of 20, and Stevie, a strong-willed girl of 6.

We are introduced to the termagant a few doors along from the Foyles and Cazabons, Mrs. Bracey, who ran the secondhand clothing shop until she became paralysed. Now she runs her daughter Maisie ragged with her demands, criticisms and coarseness. Maisie’s life is tied to her mother’s, shopkeeper and general dogsbody. Iris, her other daughter, is able to escape to her job at the pub. And yet they love their mother, as we learn.

There is little Edward Foyle, Tory’s son, writing sad little letters from his boarding school and making the odd appearance in his home. Sad too is Lily Wilson, the widow who runs the Waxworks, and flits in and out of the story like a ghost, lost since the death of her husband. There are also folks like Mr. Ned Pallister, the publican, Mrs. Flitcroft , who is Beth’s daily help and the one who lays out the dead when necessary, Eddie Flitcroft, her nephew, a fisherman, Mr. Lidiard, the curate, and the salacious Librarian with his odd censorship of people’s reading and disturbing licking of his lips. And, of course, there is Bertram Hemingway, insinuating himself into all of their lives, to his eventual great peril.

It is when we learn a secret about two of the characters that Elizabeth Taylor moves us from that first distant perspective to one with a focus so sharp, so perfectly defined, that I was in awe of how deftly she managed it. The characters are wonderfully drawn: the characterization of Mrs. Bracey is one of the best I have read in a long time. What actually happens to these people, what they do and how they end up is for the author to tell you. I can say without a spoiler that an excellent sense of humour informs the whole, albeit a bit noir at times and that, always, the writing is beautiful.

Yay, Dr. Siri! I'm on the third one (Disco for the Departed), and getting a kick out of it. It sounds like there are more good ones ahead.

5 more at this point, jnwelch! I'm taking a breather with 3 left to read. Thanks for dropping by.

I did a review of A View of the Harbour at >39 tiffin:, but I'm not totally satisfied with it. I was trying to write one without spoilers.

>42 tiffin:: I was trying to write one without spoilers. That's so difficult sometimes, isn't it? And it's all the more so with Taylor novels, because nothing really happens most of the time, so how do you convey the essence of a book? But you pulled it off!

Thanks, Laura--yes, it is hard with Taylor because she is so character driven. And it's how she lets them unfold and writes their voices which is the charm, for me, so I didn't want to spoil any of it.

To my delight I find I have SIX Taylors to reread! I hardly know where to begin.

Oh lucky you, Lucy! I only have two. Must amend this. Her writing knocks my socks off.

ETA: oh, I have 4...forgot two of them.

Tui, I have been reading Mary Oliver for a few years and sometimes she just nails something so beautifully. I must hunt around for one of my favourite poems to post for you.

Also Elizabeth Taylor's View of the Harbour was the first of her novels I read, a gift from someone I was working for, and I have been hooked ever since, still have a few unread, but interestinly View of the Harbour is still one of my favourites for tone. Must remind a friend I leant it too, where it should be returned!

>>20 lauralkeet: Laura, can I have a tub of that ice cream please!

Thanks, Caro. She's new to me and I agree completely about nailing something.

It was 20C today. Shirtsleeve weather while walking the dog. But although the very top layer of the ice in the 18 mile long lake has melted and a ripple of water could be seen, the ice is still very much in the lake. The lake is at the bottom of a hill from us. Normally the ice isn't fully gone until early May. I think it will be a month early this year.
With the zoom on:

Without the zoom by the farm around the corner:


If you click on the photo and then click on "zoom" at photobucket (on the pic), it will enlarge the pic for you.

How absolutely stunning - What an incredible day you had!

Normally our pond unthaws second week of April...... peepers about a week after that. This year, who knows!

Don't you love zoom!!!!!!

My story about E. Taylor is the same as Caroline's except that I didn't lend my copy to ANYBODY!!!
And what a gorgeous location, Tui. Enjoy the fine weather!

Lucy, we get the peepers in the woods across the road from us. They have about a 2 week window to breed in the water left from the snow melt. It will be interesting to see just when they fill the woods with song this year or if they even do, with the lack of snow here.
Peggy, it's a little bit of heaven where we live. It looks like a cross between Scotland and Ireland.

Tui lovely views from "around the corner" - You are right the Irish ancestry in me is crying our "KILLARNEY!" looking at your snaps, but I could just as easily see the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond too.
Your review of Elizabeth Taylor's View of the Harbour was terrific and what a good change of pace after your adventures with Dr. Siri left you nicely replete! Have a lovely weekend looking out over your panaromic enchanting vistas!

What a beautiful view, Tui! I've seen photos of your garden but I don't think I knew there was a lake nearby. Can you walk to it from your house?

I have to delurk and ask what a peeper is?

Try this link and be sure to Listen to them! PEEPERS

Great photos!

Paul, the area across the lake is Ennismore Township, dubbed "The Holy Land" by the locals. Thanks so much re the Taylor review.

Laura, the lake is surrounded at our end by hills (we're at the southwest end of it and it goes for a long way to the northeast). If you drew an L, our little cluster of 8 homes is on the bottom of the L, while the long upright part is the road going straight down the hill and into the lake. The lads used to ride their bikes straight down the hill and into the water (there is a tiny beach at the end). There are homes along each side of this road as well (1-2 acre lots so we aren't crowded). So yes, it's about 1/4 mile straight down the hill. We can hear the loons at night when the windows are open and we are under a Canada goose run as they fly low to go down to the water.

Lucy, thanks for the link! Hi SandDune and welcome.

Thanks, Cyrel! Lucy has been posting the progress of the ice leaving her pond so I posted the lake ice to show her that we're a long way behind.

I noticed later in the day, after I took these pics, that the farmer, Ozzie Westlake, had his cows in the lower pasture and that there were tons of new calves. Wish I had taken that pic!

#55 thanks - I was imagining some kind of bird but then I wasn't sure about the breeding in meltwater part!

>57 tiffin:: ooh, that sounds lovely Tui.

What fun riding the bikes right in!

33. The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill



Kindle edition
Why I read it: because I have to follow the whole series now

Number 6 of the Siri Paiboun series. Got in a bit of a spin (actually, ground to a halt) trying to read six other books and decided to see where this series was going next to break the mental logjam. A bit more grim than the others, with a serial killer on the loose.

What lovely photos! And, congratulations on reading 33 books thus far.

Nice to have someone leading the way on the excellent Dr. Siri series! I'm on the third one right now.

Thanks, Whisp. Good to see you visiting.
Thanks jn--two more to go for me.

Half read and lying around the house:
Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff (living room)
World and Town by Gish Jen (living room)
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (porch)
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (bedroom)
Mysteries of the Middle Ages by Thomas Cahill (kitchen table)

Can I at least finish two of these before the end of March (and before ordering yet another Dr. Siri)?

Go, Tui, go!

I forgot to mention Middlemarch on the Kindle. I had forgotten how much I disliked the character of Casaubon. Gack.

34. Evidence by Mary Oliver



Beacon Press paperback
No. of pages: 74...but with poems you read and reread so pages don't count
Why I read it: I read an excerpt of her poetry somewhere as part of poetry month and was enchanted

Beautiful, simply beautiful. Whether talking about the buck with the maimed leg, or the hummingbird she loved, or conversations with the moon, the simplicity of her words belies the precision with which she uses language and how she can fix an emotion to the page with only a few words. An excerpt from "To Begin With, the Sweet Grass", verse 3:

"The witchery of living
is my whole conversation
with you, my darlings.
All I can tell you is what I know.

Look, and look again.
The world is not just a little thrill for the eyes.

It's more than bones.
It's more than the delicate wrist with its personal pulse.
It's more than the beating of the single heart.
It's praising.
It's giving until the giving feels like receiving.
You have a life--just imagine that!
You have this day, and maybe another, and maybe still another."

Lovely photos at >>48 tiffin: Tui.

I do smile at that lovely picture at the top of your thread, every time I visit.

>>Reminder to self: The Mary Oliver poem - I'll look it out this weekend.

Tui, lovely poem by Mary Oliver

You have 10 days to polish off the books listed as half digested above good luck with it, I don't think I could finish the Margaret Atwood as I find her quite annoying if truth be known.

Checking in late here (it's so hard to find people on the 75 thread), but I wanted to say I just love the picture and poem in your first post.

A book for every room! I love learning the locations. One of mine lives in the 'room of rest' and another (audio) is in the car..... everything else more or less goes where I go in a canvas bag along with reading glasses, post-its, chocolate and my phone when it isn't lost....

Just finished scampering through your last thread and this one... now trying to catch my breath!

I was interested to read of your experience of reading Mansfield Park for a second time and liking it much more. I've only read it once, and liked it (and the character of Fanny) much more than many people seem to first time or ever. I think it was because I could identify with certain characteristics of Fanny much more than with the likes of lively, witty Elizabeth Bennett. But I've grown in confidence, if not in wittiness, quite a bit since I first read it, and have lost my abhorrence of the idea of taking part in a play which I shared at the time with Fanny, so I'm interested to know whether I would like Fanny as well on a second read, and whether the book would hold up... Sorry, I'm rambling.

I too liked your list of half-finished books in their various locations. One of mine has remained half-read since mid-January when I mislaid it altogether. I clearly need to tidy up thoroughly!

Genny, I thoroughly enjoyed your ramblings! One of my lads lost his Kobo in the middle of a book too--deffo a tidy up needed there. I know that my younger self could be too judgemental about a character like Fanny's (stand UP for yourself, girl, and for goodness sake, stop sniffling all the time!) and am glad I reread the book in my middling years for a more balanced perspective.

35. The New Moon with the Old by Dodie Smith



Corsair paperback
377 pages
Why I read it: I read a review of it on someone's blog and pre-ordered it at the BookDepository, promptly forgetting all about it. When it turned up, I was delighted, particularly as Dodie Smith's memoir arrived a few days later from Slightly Foxed Editions.

When Jane Minton accepted the position of secretary to Rupert Carrington at Dome House, she felt that she had never been happier with her new life and its excellent meals and well heated rooms. But within a week, a spanner had been thrown into the works with Rupert Carrington having to flee the country because of financial wrongdoing, leaving Jane and his children floundering around with no money, a large house to carry and two aging servants to support.

However, the Carringtons were no ordinary children. Richard, the eldest and a composer, was the unlikeliest person to take charge of things, occupying a dreamy creative world much of the time but he rose to the occasion to the best of his ability. Merry, the youngest at fourteen, astonished her siblings by fleeing the nest first, to try to make her way in the world with nearly catastrophic results. Drew followed suit but ended up in very different circumstances, dramatically changing the life of the elderly Miss Whitecliff as a result. Clare was next, heading off to London to try her hand at earning an income. Jane and the other two servants were forced to work outside of Dome House to keep the place afloat. Throw in a difficult aunt and a former lover of Rupert's, and an assortment of other characters, and you have the makings of a very quirky story told with Dodie Smith's wonderful ability to create unique voices for her characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it for anyone wanting a light, fun, but satisfying read.

It sounds a real treat, Tui. Having loved I Capture the Castle just a year or so ago, I'm surprised I hadn't investigated Smith's other work. I didn't realize there was so much of it. *sigh* What's a poor reader to do??

I'd love to read another Dodie Smith book! On the list it goes... :D

That does sound good, Tui! I read I Capture the Castle a few years ago and liked it. I may give this one a try.

That was a pretty slapped together review which didn't do the book justice. I just didn't want to give any of it away because the circumstances each one gets into are the delight of the story. It is a treat, Linda, and very much in the I Capture the Castle vein. I am looking forward to reading the first instalment of her memoirs--there are 3 more, although Slightly Foxed has only published the first one. Poking my nose into it, I already have the sense that Dodie Smith's voice in her books was very much her own in "real" life: "Who would imagine that I would grow up plain? My looks had gone by the age of seven."

I'm going to have to go on a Dodie Smith rampage, I can tell.......

Decades ago, a friend lent me her copy of I Capture the Castle and I not only never read it, but I never gave it back to her and, because we stopped being friends years ago, I gave it away when I was trying to reduce the number of books on my shelves. But I think I'm going to have to break down and get a new copy.

36. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness



Library edition, Viking Press hardbound
No. of pages: 579
Why I read it: well, because I thought it was something it wasn't

I was doing a fly-by through the village library, checking out the new books shelves. This chunkster was propped up, so I gave it a cursory glance and found it involved Oxford Uni, the Bodleian, a scholar and an ancient text, so I added it to the pile. To my astonishment, as I began to read, it was a witch, daemon, and vampire story. I carried on with it because the protagonist, Diana Bishop, Ph.D., was a historian with a specialisation in alchemical history, and I normally enjoy esoteric historical stuff and there was enough of it to keep me chuffing along quite happily.

It was not a bad read, although I think it would have benefitted from some editing--there was just too much attention to too many details but that might be attributable to the author's predisposition to that kind of amassing of facts, as a professor of history at the University of California. I just felt I didn't need to know what kind of soap Dr. Bishop was using and what she wore all the time. In fact, the mid-section with the evolving romance sagged a fair bit, but the world of witches, daemons and vampires coming together and/or clashing with ancient hatreds was interestingly handled. I'm not really up on the vampire genre (I've only read Dracula by Bram Stoker) but I liked Harkness's take on them.

But cripes, it's only the first book of a trilogy. Are they all going to be such doorstops?

The Knopf Poetry month poem of the day today, by Edward Hirsch:

Green Figs
I want to live like that little fig tree
that sprouted up at the beach last spring
and spread its leaves over the sandy rock.
All summer its stubborn green fruit
(tiny flowers covered with a soft skin)
ripened and grew in the bright salt spray.
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil was a fig tree, or so it is said,
but this wild figure was a wanton stray.
I need to live like that crooked tree—
solitary, bittersweet, and utterly free—
that knelt down in the hardest winds
but could not be blasted away.
It kept its eye on the far horizon
and brought honey out of the rock.

I love that one....and it's the first of the poetry month poems that I can say that about this year.

37. A Place of Secrets: A Novel by Rachel Hore



Henry Holt and Company, paperback
No. of pages: 382
Why I read it: on the new books shelves at the library and looked interesting

Jude Gower works as an appraiser of old books at an auction house which is feeling the pinch of the economic recession. So when she gets the opportunity to evaluate the scientific books of an 18th century astronomer, she leaps at the chance, particularly as it is near where her grandmother and sister live in Norfolk. A widow of four years, Jude is in a go-nowhere relationship with Caspar, who you just know is going to get turfed at some point. She is also plagued by strange dreams--has been since childhood--and these dreams are returning.

The library at Starbrough Hall proves to be far more rich than she could have expected, leading her into a discovery of her own ancestral past, as well as solving the mystery of her fey young niece's dreams, which echo her own. There is a very genteel romance, a sympathetic look at the gypsies (the Rom), several mysteries all entwined, lots of romping about in the English countryside, and a good pace to all of it although it never feels breakneck.

An easy read, nothing too taxing here. What someone else on FB described as brain cinnamon bun stuff.

38: The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka



Library copy
Forgot to record the # of pages
Why I read it: it looked interesting but wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be

Oh this is sad. Sad, sad, sad. A historical fiction which tells the tale of the Japanese picture brides who went to San Francisco to marry men they knew only through their pictures. With their dolls and brass Buddhas, they came to America to make a new life for themselves, with as many reasons for doing so as there were women. They thought they were coming to be the wives of businessmen; instead they found themselves labouring in fields or people's homes. They were subjected to every form of misuse which women have experienced for eternity, including ill health, disease, overwork, rape, physical abuse and slavery. When the war came, all their hard work was for naught, as they were swept away to internment camps, losing all they had worked for.

It was a hard read and yet it had a kind of beauty to it as Otsuka captured the sweetness and courage of the women. The story was told in a kind of sing song prose which came close to poetry at times. But the kernel of the tale left me unutterably sad.

ETA: I also felt as though I were being manipulated by the writing, somehow. Can't put my finger on it but there was that feeling that the writer was manipulating me emotionally and I don't enjoy that in a story. It intrudes.

Oh my, that does sound sad. You need to follow it with something light.

Laura, I've taken your good advice and am reading Dodie Smith's memoir, Look Back With Love. Just the ticket.

Tui, I came upon A Discovery of Witches in exactly the same way as you, but haven't attempted it yet. Well tell a lie, I read about 3 pages a week or so after buying it, but wasn't in the mood for it. I also have The Buddha in the Attic on my list of possible purchases. I shall have to prepare myself for the sadness!

Buddha in the Attic sounds good, Tui, although I'm taking to heart the sadness aspect. I have it from the library, and my plan is to balance it with a good mystery or the like.

I looked at and rejected A Discovery of Witches. I'm afraid after your review that I'll succumb one day when it turns up again. I don't think I need another 500+ p. book just for fun, but you never know.
I am staying far, far from the Otsuka. Don't need sad.

Joe, "Buddha" caught me by surprise on a number of levels but the over-riding feeling when all was said and done was one of sadness. It did need an antidote afterwards, at least for me. I also couldn't shake the feeling that I was being manipulated by the writing, somehow. And that normally makes me kind of po'd but this time I just felt sad.

Peggy, "Discovery" was ok for me because of the historical accuracy and for the aspect of the cultures of each group (vampires, daemons, witches) which she explored quite satisfyingly. I wasn't as interested in the development of the burgeoning romance parts and felt they lagged but maybe someone else would like that. Sometimes it's fun to stretch outside of one's reading norms (like last year when I read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series).

I am so happy to see your review for The New Moon with the Old by Dodie Smith! I Capture the Castle is one of my favorite books, but I had no idea that Smith had written memoirs, or any other books. Seems odd that I never looked for any other books by her...I knew that she had written 101 Dalmatians, so I think I just assumed she was mainly a children's book author.

Sandy K

sandykaypax, the opening line of I Capture the Castle is one of my all-time favourites. Apparently there are four books of these memoirs (am I repeating myself?) but only one is currently in print, from Slightly Foxed. I had no idea she was so prolific either. It's going to be fun to hunt down her books.

>89 Caroline_McElwee:: Caro, I'm not 100% certain about the Buddha book. As I have mentioned twice now, I couldn't escape the feeling that I was being manipulated by the writing somehow. You know that neck hair feeling that someone is trying to make you feel a certain way? I could be all wrong about this but my antennae were twirling while I was reading--however, she did get me with the sad, sad, sad aspect.

*waving* at Tui

39. Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear



Library copy: Harper Collins hardbound
No. of pages: 334
Why I read it: because it was there (on the new books shelves) and because it's a series, so I must

Maisie Dobbs is asked by a group of Covent Garden costermongers, men who have known her since childhood, to solve the death of a "simple" man who grew up in the same rough area of London as she had as a child. Eddie had been born in the stable where his mother worked and had been renowned for his skill with horses. A gentle giant of a man, he made money to help support his single mother and her best friend by helping to heal horses but also taking supplies into a local newspaper factory. A large bolt of paper had sprung off of the line, crushing Eddie in a death which the men who had known him since birth viewed as suspicious.

Maisie and her office investigative team of Billy and Sandra begin the investigation but things get ugly and prove to be far more complex than the death of a horse whisperer. In addition to one thing leading to another in the mystery line, Maisie's ongoing romance with James has hit rough seas. The character of Maisie continues to grow and change, with hints that the next book will take us away from England for a bit. Hitler has come to power in Germany, so with the gift of hindsight we know what is looming on the horizon for England. Winspear conveys well the exhaustion and still-lingering losses the English are still feeling from WWI. I am not a historian, so can't speak to any historical inaccuracies there might be (thinking of you, Suz!) so I enjoyed this instalment of the series without qualification.

Hi Stasia *waving back* Good to see you here for a bit!

Like others, I'm interested to read your review of the New Moon with the Old and your mention of Dodie Smith's memoirs - I've also only read I capture the castle - wonderful! - and the two dalmations books in childhood. Would love to read some more of hers.

Hi Genny: I ran into a snag with the Dodie Smith book. ENORMOUS SPOILER AHEAD: There was an incredible act of cruelty to her cat by her uncles and it just stopped me dead. It actually made me feel sick to read it and I haven't picked the book up since. It was all bippity bop rolling along nicely until that point. I may get back to it after I finish off the mystery I'm currently reading but any review will have a huge caveat in it.

I don't blame Slightly Foxed. They had to publish the memoir as it was written. But good grief!

40. Gone West by Carola Dunn



Library copy: Minotaur Books
No. of pages: 289
Why I read it: Someone on LT mentioned liking the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries so I picked this one up at the Library on the new books shelves.

When Daisy is contacted by an old school acquaintance about her concerns about her employer's safety, inviting her to an isolated farm in Derbyshire to either allay or confirm her fears, little does Daisy know that she will be involved in a murder. This seems to be a pattern with Daisy, judging from the comments throughout the book. A "Honourable" daughter of a titled house, Daisy has gone down in English society by marrying a mere Scotland Yard detective, Alec Dalrymple. It's all very pots of tea-ish, with upper crust types who couldn't boil a potato and lower class types who can but who scarper off leaving the upper crust types trying to figure out how to cook said potato. And there is a murder mystery to be solved, of course. Fairly gentle rainy afternoon read.

That's tough Tui - what was Smith's reaction to it? Or - if you'd rather not think about it - say so. Sometimes for me, what's worse, is the person's conflict between condemning the behavior and not wanting to betray the person(s) who did whatever.

I do believe I have been spammed.

Lucy, it was distressing to Smith but because she loved her uncles, there was a certain rationalization about it too. It was also another era, I understand that. But what was done was so inhumane that I lost all taste for the book. I am wondering how detailed to be about it? My whole life I have been unable to read about or see in films etc., any cruelty to animals. I fully acknowledge that I am hyper-sensitive about this and others might not react as strongly.

Well, Tui, I spent some time last night looking at the various volumes of Smith's autobio and admiring the prices. I guess I won't be worried with the animal abuse - which I deplore especially here and now. Better to read the novels, I guess.

I'm not so different from you.

I am in my seasonal reading slump because of gardening season. The garden paths have needed spiffing up, with number 2 son (by two minutes) doing the heavy grunt work (lifting and replacing the flagstones) and the head gardener doing the ordering about and weeding. It is such a relief to be able to garden with two arms again: that pesky aenemic phlox finally got dug up and thrown on the compost, its deep roots no longer confounding me. Living surrounded by farm fields, my garden attracts a lot of thistles and grasses, so weeding is a never ending story. But the daffs and tulips are out, as are the flowering shrubs, the birds are doing the birdie equivalent of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the red admiral butterfies are returning in delightful swarms of orangey red & dots everywhere you look. Ah, Spring! The northern heart lifts at the return of colour and sound.

Reading will be confined to rainy days for a bit.

ETA: have seen several Spring Azure butterflies with their beautiful blue colour, if anyone is a butterfly watcher.

I love the gardening updates Tui - and we can be slumped together... I think I have a reading gap coming around June 16 when my exams are done and that will come soon enough I suppose.

I laughed at your description of the Daisy Dalrymple books! Haven't seen that one in the library. I'm trying to go vaaaaaaguely in order.

Gardening! It's pouring rain here today, so no gardening! Helpful for my fingers - I have to wear gloves all the time and limit myself or my fingers swell up and hurt, no good for music. I never mind rainy days. I envy you your #2 son for the heavy lifting!

I envy your gardening expertise in theory, Tui. In reality, my thumbs are brown and I tire too quickly in the back department to be any good at all - not that I ever was any good at all. I did google red admiral and spring azure butterflies and enjoyed the pictures!

I looked up the butterflies too! There was something very like a red admiral on our porch on Sunday afternoon. I wish I had looked at it closer at the time. Never saw anything like that azure one though.

I definitely felt manipulated by Otsuka in "Buddha"; however gorgeous the writing, my overwhelming feeling wasn't sadness but irritation. I think she let her passion for language and writing do a disservice to the stories she was telling. She didn't need to go in the other direction, of a Harlequin style romance; there was a perfectly happy middle ground. This may have been poetry, but it didn't work as fiction for me. I kept feeling that there were a bunch of elegant little short stories waiting to emerge.

Sigh. Rant over. What is your nearest community near there, Tui? You must be up in the Kawarthas, near Lakefield? My mother's mother's family is from Havelock and the surrounding area -- the old Murray Twp area, roughly to your east, if so. (Mother's father's side from down near the lake, Cardinal/Edwardsburgh). All there by about 1820/1825, all Irish protestants... My mother's family includes Casements from Co. Down; I'm fairly sure I'm related somehow to Sir Roger Casement who want from hero (uncovering the horrors of the Congo) to villain (hung for his role in the 1916 Easter uprising).

Hi Suz: funny, my ancestors on my mother's side came over from Scotland in 1820. Wouldn't that be a hoot if it was the same boat? You've got me singing "she was the queen of the county Down" now. Dad WAS a Scot, so I'm a mix of first generation and old generations. My gr gr grandfather (Mom's mother's mother's father) came from Cork and was one of the engineers for the Welland canal, so that's my drop of Irish. Yes, the Kawartha Lakes, very near Lakefield (10 mins east), just outside of Bridgenorth. Ennismore is the other side of the lake from us and is referred to as "the Holy Land" locally. Very Scots Irish area.

So it wasn't just me about "Buddha" then. Good--well, not good but good that I'm not imagining things. But thinking about those women who crossed the planet in the hope of a better life and found lies, abuse, drudgery to the point of slavery, and racism, well, sad seemed the right word.

That is about when the Pollocks arrived from Scotland, I think; my grandmother was a Pollock and I think they are still all over the place up there. Think they are originally from Edinburgh or area? Oh, and I have a canal engineer, too, only he was a Scot, working on the Paisley Canal in Glasgow. (I have an engraved snuffbox presented to him on his retirement in the 1830s...) Another coincidence? My elementary school in London was located on Ennismore Gardens in S. Kensington.

I'm all Scot and Welsh with only a wee dab of Irish and that's Donegal HOWEVER more relevantly "Star of the County Down" was the second tune I learned on the harp.

It's such a good tune, isn't it, Lucy? I went to one of those 'affirming' workshops put on by work once and we had to make a list of the things we would like to do before we croak. I had "learn to play a harp" at the number 1 spot but never did get around to it. Great listener though!

You are not too old!!!!!!! The #1 spot, well, that is quite significant. Hmmm.

>118 sibylline:: I agree Lucy!

41: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller



Bloomsbury Press paperback
No. of pages: 352
Why I read it: because several people here, whose reading I respect, were bowled over by it

As there are several excellent reviews about Miller's book on file already, I'm not going to do a full review. Just a few comments: a well-deserved short-listed Orange Prize finalist as well as a beautiful retelling of the story of Achilles from the Iliad--what's not to enjoy? Miller's story of Achilles is a very well written tale, told by the narrator Patroclus (Achilles' true love and companion). At first I felt the story was mostly a love story but as the Myrmidons met the Trojans and the long siege unfolded, Achilles' demi-godhead is given full play by Miller. This is a wonderful first novel. It is a love story: one of the author for her subject.

Tui, what Lucy said. Do I see an LT harp-playing seminar in the future? Can I come and listen??

Hmm, maybe I should put together a bucket list? That made me realize I have no idea what I'd put on it... Scary, actually.

The problem is, Suz and Lucy, that my bucket list is so big. I never did learn to read music (perhaps the part of my brain which never got formed, where math would also have been understood). I have, however, bought a new sewing machine and gobs of material to learn to make quilts. And I have a whole batch of new acrylic paint and canvases sitting there to take up painting again, something I haven't done for 40 years. Lots in that bucket!

You don't need to read music to play the music I play. You learn it by ear!

That's how I play the piano, Lucy. There might be hope!

42. Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver



Beacon Press paperback
No. of pages: 71 but pages don't count with poetry
Why I read it: I read an excerpt of her poetry during Poetry Month and was enchanted

As I mentioned with her other two books I've read, I hadn't known of this poet before. Thank heavens there are yet more of her books to discover. There is something of Emily Dickinson to her, in the depths beneath the deceptive simplicity. There is a profoundly stirring connection to nature, to the world around her, a hint of Thoreau. My grade 9 art teacher would have loved her because she "observes like a buddha".

Let me tell you a story: when I was about 8 years old, we would spend our summers in the Laurentian mountains while my dad worked at a YMCA camp not far from Mont Tremblant. Behind the old inn where we stayed on the mainland, there was a series of hidden lakes and we would go back with Dad to pick blueberries or look at the untamed wildness of a landscape with no people living in it. One brave day I thought I would attempt to go to the first secret lake by myself, because I knew the way--even though I would have to go past the bear-infested wild blueberry patches.

Halfway there I came upon a very large snake sunning itself on a rock in a sheltered glade on the mountain. It raised its head and stared at me. Now, as an adult, I think it was assessing me to see if I was a danger but then, as a child, I was the prey, the bird transfixed. I stood stock still, locked in its inky gaze, for goodness knows how long. And in that time, the miracle happened. I heard a strange music, a hum that later I understood as "the music of the spheres" when I read those words for the first time. I lifted my face to the sky, to the sun, trying to listen, trying to determine if it was the sound of the world turning and when I looked back to the snake, I saw that it was swaying a bit, its head still raised, as if in time to that 'music'. Overwhelmed, I turned and ran as fast as I could back to the safety of the inn and my parents.

The emotions triggered by Mary Oliver's poems, the words she uses to capture certain thoughts or convey certain images, make me feel an echo of that music and sense of powerful connectedness to, well, to everything. I can't word it any other way.

The Marsh Hawk by Mary Oliver
in "Why I Wake Early"

The marsh hawk
doesn't
as other hawks do
work his wings

like soft hinges
to make
progress over
the morning marsh,

but merely,
or so it seems,
lays his breast upon the air
and the air, as if understanding,

floats him along
with his wings open,
and raised, just a little
beyond the horizontal--in thanks, perhaps,

to the great crystal carrier
of leaves and clouds--
of everything,
And even though his shadow

follows exactly
his every tilt and flow, and even though
he must know that hunger will win,
he doesn't hurry,

but floats in wide circles
as he gazes
into the marshes below
his hard beak

and the hooks of his feet, as though
wanting something
more lasting than meat.
At noon he's still there

above the brambles, the grass, the flat water,
where, in their almost stately disengagement,
the inedible dampness and darkness
shine

I'd never heard of Mary Oliver. Thank you, Tui!

She is a Pulitzer Prize winner, Peggy, and I didn't know about her until international poetry month. I like her book Red Bird the best so far but there is so much more to discover. She is very ill right now, in her late 70s. I really do need to get as many of her books as I can.

What a grave and glorious (with the passage of time) experience for a wee sprite, Tui! I have yet to come across a book of Mary Oliver's poetry, but LT tells me there is some of her work in a volume of the Library of America, American Earth, so I will take that off the shelf and browse.
"The Marsh Hawk" is perfection.

Wow, that's an amazing story Tui.

I sometimes wonder if in some other time an old Druid would have taken me under his wing and made something of me.

#131 Are you sure one didn't?

Fairly certain. ;) Any childhood feyness I might have had is now long gone, thoroughly squelched by time and life.

Nice poem, Tui! Thank you. I've read some of hers but not that one.

Never too late for an old Druid, seems to me. :-)

Hi Joe! I read them as I'm falling asleep and let her words seep in quietly, as seems to fit them. As for the Druid, I've settled quite happily for being a garden crone.

Hah! You know, my wife and sisters like to call themselves The Crones. I don't think they've figured out what type yet.

> 125 That is a beautiful story, Tui, well told and very moving.

Mary Oliver lives just up the road from me and our paths have crossed several times over the past 30 years. As one might expect, she's a bit shy and not the easiest person to track down. I vividly remember the time, in the late '80's, when I called her to ask if she would do a book signing at my store. She was very wary of this call out of the blue and when she found out what I wanted she pretended to be someone else and said, "Mary's not home right now," even though I knew perfectly well to whom I was talking. In a strange way, the incident only increased my admiration for her.

Thank you, TK, very kind words. I have ordered two more of her books this evening: New and Selected Poems, Vol. I, and, Dreamwork. Your story is quite wonderful itself - I completely understand your increased admiration.

Gosh Tui. Just that. I love Mary Oliver too. And your snake encounter. Oh that is truly something. You made the connection - I think some zen practitioners work their whole lives to achieve what you 'fell' into.

I get up early too, and the first thing I do every day is go outside.

I love that story as well, Stephen!

Thanks, Lucy! Gardening has some astonishing zen moments. My lads tease me about standing stock still for 15 minutes with my arms held out a bit from my side, but the inside of an iris can be the most astonishing world. When you have a dog, going outside first thing just goes with the territory, eh? Sometimes I sit in the screened in porch if the mosquitoes are awful but I can still hear the world waking up.

I got looking at the partially read books dotted all over the place and got annoyed with myself, so June is going to be "finish the books I've started" month. The problem with some of them is that they haven't captivated me but I don't like leaving things unfinished. Once I finish "Bring Up the Bodies", that is.

Tui I'm in the same boat at the moment - too many started books set aside, and Bring up the Bodies screaming at me to keep reading it!

Cush, isn't it fantastic?!

Yes it is - and I have got to finish loads of reading for uni!! I like it, but reading about algebra just doesn't compare.

In my universe, they aren't even on the same planet.

I'm determined to finish three books I'm currently reading (none of them "set aside", exactly, just all going at once) so that come June 1st I can open Bring up the Bodies and immerse myself in it.

We are on the same wave length for sure-- I have two 'taking forever to read' books that I must drag myself through. And then Ive made a vow to tackle ONLY tbr shelf books for this month. I'm going to read as many as I can. LTers convinced me (wasn't very hard to) that any book that's been sitting on the shelf since Dec 2011 counts. I usually have a 'year' rule - that's when a book starts to give off a sad 'unchosen' look, like the last kid chosen for a team.

Mine give off guilt. you haven't read me yet, what are you doing picking up the new Mantel The bottom shelf in the TBR bookshelf is the worst because it gives off a distinct odour of "you regret buying me, don't you".

>147 tiffin:: I was just thinking about culling my TBR shelf sometime towards the end of the year. Thanks to LT I know exactly how long each book has been sitting there. I just finished the one that's been there the longest. Looking at the next two, I remember how they came into my possession and they weren't "OMG I HAVE TO READ THIS OR I'LL DIE" books, they were just convenient cast-offs that sounded interesting. 4 years later ...

I can't decide whether those kind of books are destined for paperbackswap or the library, or if in reading them I'll discover a gem. Argh.

43: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel



Harper Collins paperback
No. of pages: 407
Why I read it: BECAUSE I HAD TO after Wolf Hall!

My Awestruck Review

As close to a five star read as "makes no nevermind" as they say in these parts, so five it is.

44: A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton



Library copy
No. of pages:
Why I read it: I'd never read this series so thought I'd start at the beginning.

Not bad but I hear she gets better as she gets further into the alphabet.

The thing I found with Grafton is that the books in the series are very variable in interest but after a while they all seem the same. (It's a long alphabet, after all!)

45: Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry



Library copy
No. of pages:
Why I read it: I like the Pitt mysteries, usually

I have read a few of these and didn't enjoy this one as much. In fact, not much at all. Miserable snobs of the upper crust hover around the Prince of Wales, with greed and misogyny front and centre, so that I felt sorry for Pitt and Gracie having to contend with the whole lot of them. A prostitute gets murdered and stuffed into a linen cupboard. Of course the upper crust tries to pass it off as the work of one of the servants but of course it's one of them. Much prefer it when Charlotte and her grandmother are involved.

Just to chime in with a preference, I always liked Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski better than Kinsey M. Other people have said that the series got old for them, but I've been able to find something to enjoy in every one I've read.
I used to read the Pitts, but the Monk and Hester series was more to my taste. I haven't even tried one of those in quite a long time.
Now everybody knows.

No, it's been a while for Monk for me as well, Peggy. I just picked up the Kinsey one because our little library had the first one. Haven't heard about V.I. Warshawski (tucking name away in the files).

>151 rebeccanyc:: Rebecca, that made me grin. 26 books would be long indeed if it all got formulaic!

Peggy, I used to like the VI Warshawski books - haven't read one for about 20 years and hadn't thought of them for ages! Tui, maybe they're in the library? (Because you know, you just don't have any other books to read.)

*pipe, pipe* I love Kinsey Millhone, and have read every one up to date. There are a couple of clunkers in there, to be sure, but I don't think she's grown at all stale. In fact, Grafton has taken pains not to become formulaic, and that doesn't please some of her fans. In her latest book, V, she almost gives Kinsey a minor role in the story. I didn't post a review, but I did comment on my 75 book thread here. It's funny how a series can grab some readers and not others, even when they seem to have similar tastes. I've got to love the character, first and foremost, and Kinsey has become an old friend. I want to see what she's up to, even if it's just coffee and stale donuts on a boring stakeout.

Cush, it's depressing. ;)
Linda, thanks--I'll keep my eye open for "B is for...??" She does have an awful diet in the first book. Does it improve?

B is for Burglar. And no...her diet doesn't improve. Except when Henry cooks for her.

I keep wanting to start the Grafton alphabet, but keep putting it off because I have so many other series and lists. Someday...

I'm chiming, Linda's piping --- I think we have the beginning of a band here!

I'm quite good at harping, esp on a theme.....

*heh heh heh*

A Discovery of Witches is today's Kindle Daily Deal, and so I got it and will look forward to it sometime when I'm ready for something long and fun.

Review finally done for Bring Up the Bodies up there at 148.

Good! I hope I can start a new thread before summer officially hits on the 21st. That pic up top worked for March but in these hot, humid days of impending summer, it seems all wrong.

By the way, I'm loving the formation of this little band we've got going here: pipes, harps and chimes so far. I'll pick up my bodhran and set the beat!

Note: I did a slight edit of the original review I posted, as I wasn't entirely happy with parts of it.

I'm only posting this to inch things along so I can start a summer thread, however...I just wanted to note that I purposely left off mentioning anything about Anne Boleyn in my review of BUtB because (a) I figured everyone knew that was the main story line in the book and (b) everyone else doing reviews would mention it/her. I wanted to explore what else Mantel was doing with Cromwell himself, besides trying to dispose of another of Henry's wives. Her understanding of Crumb's modernisation of England fascinated me. I felt she characterised him as being right at the juncture of the old feudal ways and the change towards national statecraft (as opposed to little powerful fiefdoms).

I am purposely not reading your review yet, as I have another 50 pages or so to go to finish Bodies, which I find myself "needing" to read bits of out loud to whosoever may be in the room with me.

Well, when you do get to it, Linda, you'll find that it's a thoughtful review and justly hot. See, Tui? You should post them more often!

#169 I have not doubt of that!

When I wanted to start my new thread recently, folks very very obligingly posted and posted and posted all sorts of nonsense until I got to 199 in a jiffy. I promise to come back several times today.

I haven't read any of your June books, so I am useless. I will read the Mantel eventually, of course!

Gee whiz. I really am doing my best to help you, tui, but you have to come and make some conversation I can respond to.

Well, hmmm, conversation....I'm reading Grendel right now and really enjoying it. The writing in it is just about knocking my socks off but more it's the characterisation of Grendel itself (himself?) that is filling me with awe. (I can't use the word "awesome" any more because it has become such a trite expression.) Having slogged through Beowulf (must get the Heaney translation--the one I have is a bit ho hum), I can tell that John Gardner really knew his stuff in order to extrapolate the character of Grendel into the stunning creation he has made of him in this story.

How am I doing so far?

I weeded and deadheaded today. It was a perfect day, an absolutely perfect day, and I just wanted to be outside. If the Better Housekeeping police come around, I'm busted.

I'm back to help out too. I have a lot of Gardner on the shelf from the 70s maybe? including Grendel. I now see that I don't have any of them catalogued here. How did that happen?? Or maybe I'm thinking about John Nichols....?..... But I know I have *G*. I' glad to learn that it's grand.
I'm happy that your weather was beautiful. So was ours, but both it's the *Better House and Garden* police that can take me away. Sorry. I guess I'm just a book slut.

Peggy, books I know that I have catalogued (my boxed set of Tolkien, for example) seem to have come uncatalogued somehow so I'm having to add books in that I know I did when I methodically went through my shelves when I first joined. I am too OCD to have missed those books because they are sitting in my Special Books section. I have heard of others having this happen as well.

I read Grendel a few years ago, shortly after I studied Beowulf at university. I really liked Beowulf, but Grendel did nothing for me. I also read Gardner's very famous and highly recommended book for writers (the name escapes me) and I thought he was a pompous ass. OBVIOUSLY I'm missing something! ;-) But that's okay--I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

Joyce, Grendel is the only thing I've read by Gardner. It has been at least 40 years since I read Beowulf, but wasn't Grendel hinted at as being one of Cain's offspring, through his mother? So we know he is one of the damned, as the grandson of the first murderer, doomed to be a monster. But who is he as an allegorical figure? Is he the old ways of darkness and bestiality, with Beowulf representing the new wave of man touched by Christianity? I remember Beowulf was supposed to have been written by the earliest Christians. I'm only about halfway, where he has fallen under the spell of the harper and is going to talk to the dragon about things. I am finding the growth of language in him and his ability to fall under the spell of language fascinating in Gardner's book. It has me thinking psychologically, philosophically and yet with that old love of mine, mythically. Also, the whole perspective of seeing things from the monster's point of view, how he views the hypocrisy of men and things like Hrothgar's use of force and power, well, it's like turning the crystal of Beowulf around to get prisms from a whole different angle.

ETA: I really liked Beowulf too, back in the day, but I don't think I have a stellar translation of it--I've heard such good things about Heaney's--plus I can't remember it all that clearly.

Am I missing something? Can't you start a new thread whenever you want to?

Yup, you can. But it some of us belong to the Scottish frugality club for whom it seems wasteful to decamp at 149 posts--I'm not the sole member, either! Thanks for helping the cause.

Tui, I loved your review of Bring Up the Bodies. So right in so many ways!

Grendel is the only thing I've read by Gardner. It has been at least 40 years since I read Beowulf, but wasn't Grendel hinted at as being one of Cain's offspring, through his mother? I'm on holidays so can't pull my copy of Beowulf to find the quotation, but I'm pretty sure it's directly stated that Grendel is a descendent of Cain.

So we know he is one of the damned, as the grandson of the first murderer, doomed to be a monster. But who is he as an allegorical figure? Hmm, I don't remember that level of detail (or maybe we didn't take that approach, not sure). It was 2007, so some parts are fuzzy for me too.

Is he the old ways of darkness and bestiality, with Beowulf representing the new wave of man touched by Christianity? I remember Beowulf was supposed to have been written by the earliest Christians. No, not quite. It was an oral tale that the Saxons and Angles brought with them from Northern Europe when they invaded Britain, and they certainly weren't Christians. The story was written down, and thereby preserved, by the early British monks, which is where the Christian part comes into it. I wrote a paper on Christianity in Beowulf, and really, I didn't find that there actually was much. Maybe some Old Testament style morality, but nothing that really points to actual Christianity. I think this has been tied to Beowulf because people want to see it.

I'm only about halfway, where he has fallen under the spell of the harper and is going to talk to the dragon about things. I am finding the growth of language in him and his ability to fall under the spell of language fascinating in Gardner's book. It has me thinking psychologically, philosophically and yet with that old love of mine, mythically. Also, the whole perspective of seeing things from the monster's point of view, how he views the hypocrisy of men and things like Hrothgar's use of force and power, well, it's like turning the crystal of Beowulf around to get prisms from a whole different angle.

That all sounds exactly like what I expected from Grendal, but it just didn't work for me. Maybe it was the wrong time and place. Good to hear it's hitting the right notes for you though.

Nothing to contribute to the conversation, just doing my best to get you to 200 messages:

Great discussion -- all I can say is that the Heaney is well worth getting - so wonderful I even memorized a passage or two at the time, all forgotten now, except for little wisps in my burnt out brain. If I knew where I'd parked my copy I would go find it right now, but I have no idea where it might be, none.

I liked the Gardner book fine, but not as much as I like Heaney's Beowulf.

Some of Gardner's writing book was annoying and even arrogant, but he had one passage on 'soul faults', meaning, a narrowness of vision in the writer's outlook, doom, basically for a writer. As someone who has read many manuscripts, I can tell you, he knew of what he spoke.

>180 TomKitten:: thank you, TK!
>181 Nickelini:: Joyce, *smooch* for the enlightenment about the Christianity aspect of Beowulf. I think you are bang on about people wanting it to be there. Although, honestly, it really has been 40 years since I last read it so I could be blowing stuffing out my ears about all of it.
>182 lauralkeet:: a sock monkey mandala? Be still my heart!
>183 sibylline:: ok, that salts it, I have to get the Heaney translation. I remember almost gibbering with pleasure at Tolkien's translation of Sir Gawain so I'm sure Heaney will give me Beowulf at its most delish.

Rebecca, you know what else? When you hit 200, you get one of those handy dandy link thingummies which automatically takes you into a brave new world but lets you come back to this one. Worth scrabbling to 200 just for that!

Hi Tui. I haven't read Beowulf, but I have just bought a kids' version of the story and might start with that first!

I'm enjoying the *Beowulf* discussion too, but I know I'm not going to read it soon - I've never read all of it. I'm also sad that I'm not ever going to learn A-S now; I would have liked to once.

Excellent review of Bring Up the Bodies I can hardly wait for the third book.

Cush, that's a good start. Like the old Classic Comics I used to read as a kid.
Peggy, I really wanted to learn Old English and had an opportunity to take a course in it with one of the best profs going. It's one of those regrets.
Cyrel, me too! And thank you.

I have the Heaney translation, too, and loved it. Funnily, the memory I have of reading it is of propping it on the handles of Charlie's stroller as I pushed it around and around our kitchen island, which was one of the only things that would soothe him when he was a fussy baby...

Aww Amber, that's really a dear image. I can just picture the two of you.

I took a course in Old English (had to) and really hated it. I share this so those of you regretting that you didn't may feel a little better about it! But I imagine I'd approach it with more interest now than I did then.

Linda, that's the thing of it: the interest in things is there now that I sort of poo-poohed back then (Latin, why didn't I take Latin!) but now the memory banks are like a sieve, so I probably couldn't remember a verb conjugation long enough to read something. Life really is too short to do everything I'd like to do.

I took 3 years of Latin in high school, and although I couldn't do a translation now to save myself, I do believe I internalized a lot of it, and that it informs my reading, vocabulary and comprehension in ways I am not even always aware of.

I did a linguistics intro course where we did language shifts that affected English. So we did Latin, French, Greek, and Old and Middle English. The Old English was extremely difficult and I've never used anything I learned. The Latin was very helpful, and the Greek was somewhat helpful. The course was really fun.

194 That's what I like to think too, Linda!

Yay for people talking about Latin!!

:)

AMEN!!! I especially love Linda's comments and Joyce's!
(And look, Tui! You're about to get your Continue option!!!)

I did actually sign up for Latin in grade 10 but the school's only Latin teacher, Miss Bailey--who had purple hair and an uncanny resemblance to Elizabeth I, which she played up and rather enjoyed--had a nervous breakdown one month into the course. Right in the middle of Winnie el Pooh where he was meeting the heffalumpabum. Several of us *guilty look* hadn't done our homework and it tipped her off some kind of cliff. Always felt bad about that. Anyway, that was it for Latin: she wasn't replaced and we were hived off into other options. Mom could read Latin fairly fluently, however, and always made me (a) look up words on my own in the dictionary instead of just telling me what they meant, and, (b) made me refer to the root derivation, frequently Latin. She also had a Latin phrase for most things, so a sense of it got in there.

Joyce, I would have LOVED that course! Even more now, in my middling years. I could have taken Latin at uni but there was so much English Lit. I wanted to read, so I let the opportunity slide by.

And I do believe I can make a new thread now! Thank you, dear hearts and gentle people.