Paul's Race to 75 Part 18

Off to Sarawak and the city of Kuching - literally meaning Cat City. A place for all you cat lovers surely.

Books read so far:
1 North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
2 The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff
3 The Guards by Ken Bruen
4 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
5 Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
6 Shadow by Karin Alvtegen
7 The Road Home by Rose Tremain
8 One Pair of Hands by Monica Dickens
9 Pure by Andrew Miller
10 The Appointment by Herta Muller
11 The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
12 The Battle of Pollocks Crossing by J.L. Carr
13 No Glossing Over It by Gary Edwards
14 Unknown by Mari Jungstedt
15 The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
16 Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
17 Zoo Station by David Downing
18 The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell
19 Jack Sheppard by William Ainsworth
20 An Idiot Abroad by Karl Pilkington
21 The Fourth Man by K.O. Dahl
22 Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
23 Troubles by J.G. Farrell
24 My Life in Cricket by Dennis Lillee
25 Voyageurs by Margaret Elphinstone
26 The Affair by Lee Child
27 The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri
28 The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
29 The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman
30 Praying Mantis by Andre Brink
31 Parky by Michael Parkinson
32 All Men Are Liars by Alberto Manguel
33 The Detour by Gerbrand Bakker
34 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
35 Legion of the Damned by Sven Hassel
36 Treblinka : A Survivor's Memory by Chil Rajchman
37 L'Enver de Treblinka by Vasily Grossman
38 Open Season by C.J. Box
39 Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman
40 The Chalk-Circle Man by Fred Vargas
41 Lovely Green Eyes by Arnost Lustig
42 The Devil in the Kitchen by Marco Pierre White
43 Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
44 Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
45 The Butterfly Effect by Pernille Rygg
46 Twist of Gold by Michael Morpurgo
47 Eternal by Craig Russell
48 Life by Keith Richards

Currently reading
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson, Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova,

Best Books of the Year so far:
Literary Fiction
1. The Road Home
2 Lyrics Alley
3 Wolf Hall
4 Dandelion Wine
Thrillers
1. Zoo Station
2. The Troubled Man
3. The Potter's Field
4 Divorcing Jack

12 in 12 categories

1: Historical Fiction 4/12
2: 19th Century Fiction 3/12
3: Biography 6/12
4: In translation 6/12
5: Series Starts 6/12
6: Scandicrimesters 4/12
7: Sci-Fi 3/12
8: Noughties 3/12
9: One Word Titles 4/12
10: African Born Writers 3/12
11: Bought and Read in 2012 5/12
12: Off the Shelves 0/12 (IN RESERVE FOR THE END OF THE YEAR)

FIRST!

Dumb comment, I know, but I am first at PAUL'S thread! That's the LT equivalent of getting the first computer ever invented!

Can't wait to see what you read next, Paul! And lovely picture. It could really be the setting of a great book.

I didnt know Kuching meant Cat City! Great photo, I feel like Im there again, hanging about outside the fancy hotel pretending I was staying there, when really, we were at the cheap crusty hostel down the road. haha.

Wow, dude! The threads keep popping! Great shot of Cat City! Is there a Dog City nearby! That's the way I swing.

Happy New Thread, Paul!

As Tomm has left this afternoon on a 5-day business trip to Portland/Seattle, I'll likely be spending my evenings after Charlie is in bed feverishly working on lists...

That looks like the place for me, Paul! As is this thread...

Cat City? It looks ....narrow..

Eris - You get the prize - but I'll have to think what that is!

Megan - Malaysia is funny isn't it? If I'm caught short and need a pee I can easily with my white skin pop into a five star hotel, do my stuff and come out without a hair being turned but the locals would never get away with it!

Mark - Cat in Malay is kucing (c is pronounced "ch") - dog is anjing. Don't think that there is a city or village with that name here because of certain taboos in islam about dogs and well because it would usually be used here as an epithet.

Amber - well at least you have the fever and not Charlie!

Roni - thanks! Sarawak is an interesting place and quite unlike the rest of Malaysia.

Kath - not really that's just the shot I got - there are plenty of wide open spaces there too and a brown, winding river intersecting the city nicely.

Oh pleasepleaseplease don't let Paul just have jinxed things! I'm telling you, mister, if Charlie wakes up not feeling well tomorrow, you're in a heap of trouble...

Great photo! This may be a silly question but what is the building in the middle of the picture? It looks pretty awesome

Missed out on the rather entertained 'bodice ripper' book discussion on your last thread Paul - I have now learned to expect anything here! - and echo Chelle's question about the building in the middle of your thread opening pic. Happy Friday/weekend!

Nice new thread, Paul! Congrats. I have reserved my spot.

Wow, dude!!! Didn't you just start a new thread a few days ago?!?

Anyway, gorgeous picture. And congrats and all that. Will have to catch up with what I missed on the last thread at a later time. I'm about to collapse with fatigue and overheating.

Amber - I will get my Voodoo Queen over here to say a few words - Charlie will be fine, I'm sure.

Chelle / Lori The building is the Sarawak state assembly building. Here is another view of it from the river at twilight

Mamie - Nice to see you safely aboard for the 18th edition of 2012 - wow I'm surprised at that myself!

Ilana - Time moves so quickly these days - couldn't help thinking yesterday evening about canine dentistry and pitying your little pooch bereft of dentures. overheating is the "h" there on purpose?

Hi Paul - still keeping up with you:)

Interesting looking town and I love the twilight shot.

Love the twilight shot too. I'm going to have to put together one of your lists, I've been doing a family history project this week and so many of those years in the 1800s now carry a little meaning.

Great photos, Paul!

Calm - nice to see you. Don't know why I see your name and it always seems to be edging towards the weekend and I remember looking out from West Wales to see Ireland beyond the horizon and thinking of my ancestors and their decision to leave Donegal and work their way to England and Wales (some of the family settled in Ebbw Vale which of course is not exactly West Wales).

Kerry - I always like to try to get photos with colour schemes that are out of the normal. I was surprised when I looked at my list of 1800's books just how nicely they were spread across the century with not too many desperately difficult choices to make but not that many where there were no literary highlights at all.

Darryl - thanks and hoping you have a great weekend.

Oh wow Paul - what fabulous photos! Like the new digs very much! I am back at the farm for a week - cleaning to be done!

Haven't caught up on the old thread yet, but want to leave at least a "Hi" and "Hope you're well" here, before you start thread 19. Have a great weekend!!

Love the constrast in your top post, it almost looks like some futuristic computer generated design having been copy/pasted into the background of the street picture.

Beautiful pictures for your new thread, Paul.
And you are reading six books at once? Wow.

eta: went back to see the end of you prior thread -- love the joke, not offended --- and glad I found the link to the "Listmania" thread!!!

OOOH--I want to go to Kuching!

Just finished reading your prior thread. I love the lists. I see a weekend of developing a few lists of my own. I think I'll spend the next few years reading a book from every year since 1800. I also like Ellen's idea of reading at least one work by each Nobelist. I fear I will have trouble with those Nobelists who wrote primarily poetry. Otherwise I think I've already read quite a few, but it doesn't hurt to reread or explore any of these authors further.

Paul - my tickets arrived in my absence to the farm. i arrive in KL on 30 August at 6.40am and leave on the 31st at 3.20pm. Though I am travelling with others, they have things to do and so do I - like seeing you! I also have a stopover on my return trip, arriving on 21 Sept at 2.00pm and leaving on 22 Sept at 10.00am...I am hoping you will be around

That picture looks as enticing as Diagon Alley, Paul.

Prue - lovely to see you here at my new digs. Sarawak is one of the less explored parts of Malaysia in Borneo.

Nathalie - Always nice to have your wishes - I trust that everything is fine and that you'll have a lovely weekend. We had a difficult week actually with our two major projects both struggling for different reasons. On the first one the contractor has again defaulted on his programme and on the second the other contractor seems at a loss as to how he is going to interface his works with the main building we are building a logistics centre to serve. Taking up a fair bit of my time and adding oodles of stress which is why I am likely to slow down over the next few days to help all in keeping up! That is also why my reading continues to flounder. I normally arrive home so shattered that book in hand, head on pillow, chapter unfinished!

Ellen - As noted above the six books are not moving as expected although hopefully I will knock some of them off this weekend. I don't know how Amber copes having around 16 books on the go at the same time.
I knew that you would not be offended by my Jewish joke - as someone half-irish and who like laughing at himself I enjoy racial/national strereotypical jokes but always like to preface the jokes so that it is clear that I am very much kidding!

Deborah - Lucy has come up with a great idea on having a thread dedicated to the lists (maybe she also wants to slow it down over here a bit too!) and I will gladly champion her thread. When I make my first gazillion (Megan's phrase btw) I will host the first global get together of the 75ers in Sarawak at the Exhibition centre in Kuching (although come to think of it the bookshops over there are pretty primitive) I have around 200 either starred on here or friends/interesting libraries on the site generally and it would be a blast to take-over the town. Would probably cost about $2,500,000 to set up so I have a fair old way to go!
I agree with you completely on the Nobelists (like that noun too which is suspect is new) - the idea appeals but some of the obscure poets may be a chore both to track down as well as read.

Prue - Will put those dates in my diary and make sure that we can meet on either or both of them!

Joe - Nice to see you mate - Diagon Alley?

Paul! Here's I am. how are you? Business crappiness isn't a good thing, is it? Well, never mind...I'm sure it'll all turn out well in the end.

Now to go back to the immediate previous thread to see what's up there...

An excellent week-end to you nad the family, Paul.

Overheating with an H. Yes. It's been bloody stifling over here, and I don't handle the heat very well at all. Certainly not overeating minus the H, because I can barely get anything down if I want it to STAY down, as the heat makes me feel mostly nauseous. Which isn't a bad thing altogether as a means of dropping a few quick pounds...

xx

Gail - was over at your charming boudoir earlier so it's a nice coincidence to see you at my place on my return! The very best to you and yours too.

Ilana - I figured you had the grammar right but I'd thought I'd play a little and check! I have been surprised that two people have recently commented that I have lost a little weight - they must have excellent eyesight cause I myself hadn't noticed. I am not great in the excessive heat either which sucks as I'm living in the tropics - and I think if, in Sea of Poppies days I would have been better served staying aboard and awaiting the invention of air-conditioning!

Sorry to hear about your busy/stressful week btw, hope the weekend re-charges you and you can start fresh next week. Any weight loss I gained by walking 3 hours up a hill today was more than made up for by the cake eaten at the top :)

*Staggers back in from last thread...eyes blurred from reading the lists, but still glittering with that insane light of the list fanatic*

Whew! At last, at last, a group of people who truly understand me.

That is why Megan they always sell cakes at the top of steep hills to encourage you to get there and so you can roll back down.

Gail - hahaha - I can almost see the light in your eyes from here.

> 33/35 - "That is why Megan they always sell cakes at the top of steep hills to encourage you to get there and so you can roll back down." - Hahahaha! voice of experience there ???

Sells cake? hm, must have forgotten to get the money of my friend. Although I did eat ½ of hers too.....that could be why.

WOW! That second photo is stunning.

Megan, as always making me smile :)

You are becoming quite the LT Ambassador, Paul! You and Caro could tour the world, spreading LT love and visiting each of these wonderful members. It sure would beat working, right?

#28 Joe it could totally be DiagonAlley! Good call!

Paul, I guess you haven't read or watch the Harry Potter tales? :)

Hope you and yours are having a great weekend!

Alex - I have been known to partake of the occasional cake mate.

Megan - I don't think you need too much assistance in the keep fit stakes with Wilbur and Lenny to keep you on your toes.

Kath - thanks; Megan is indeed always able to come up with a smileworthy remark or two.

Mark - I would be up for that for sure mate, but I'm not sure I'd quite as qualified as LT's Ms Alan Whicker (UK LTers may be the only ones to understand that reference) Caro - Katie and Suz would be far more well travelled than I also - whilst if we were looking for a male rep it ought to probably be Jim as he started off the group in the first place.

Chelle - Yep you got me - I must be one of the few people to think that Hogwarts was just another of the reasons I gave up eating pork!

Insomnia is good for something, after all. At three AM I started catching up on your thread, Paul. Busy place, this thread.

Your lists completely intimidate me, and leave me drooling for enough time to fill in my many gaps. Luckily, i've read a good portion of your 19th century list, and also your 20th century list, but not, I think, half. So many books, so little.....

Just keeping current with your thread, Paul, nothing to add except I love your joke about Hogwarts - made me smile. Although, if truth be told, I really LOVE Harry Potter. Just saying. I also really LOVE your thread. Just saying.

Gorgeous photo of Sarawek, Paul. I see you're presently into The Grapes of Wrath; enjoy your reread.

Judy - As regulars here know I survive on fairly small amounts of sleep so I can identify with your burning of the midniight oil on LT. I don't mean to intimidate by the lists I was going for "titilate" more like.

Mamie - The hogwarts comment was cross-topical with the bacon discussion going on over at your place. The admiration of threads is certainly mutual my dear.

Nancy - My adventure with The Grapes of Wrath is this time a bit bogged down - probably reading too many at the same time - don't know how Amber manages 16 at a time.

45.

The Butterfly Effect by Pernille Rygg

It is often said in these threads that I am a staunch advocate of Scandi and Norwegian writer Rygg is new to me. This had its moments but was ultimately quite disappointing with a messy plot and a quirky lead character and narrator whose very complicated private life was never properly explained. The plot as far as it went started with the death of the narrator's father - a struggling PI and ex-cop. Very tenuously the daughter seems to link this accidental deaths to a child abuse cover up and I was lost umpteen time trying to make head or tail of what was going on. I may read more of Rygg's work but if I read another as sloppy as this one - I won't read a third.

5/10

>45 PaulCranswick: Ah, but I was also drooling, so titillation was accomplished.

Megan, agree with the Diagon Alley thought! I LOVE Harry Potter. I still watch the movies when they come on. I have to reread all the books someday..

I guess I am the antithesis of you when it comes to being a fan of scandi..
I am on the no thank you side of the fence.

I love Scandi, but no to that one, huh? I adore quirky characters, but I also really like to be able to follow the plot!

Cross-topical! ROFL!

Judy - hahaha; list drool is becoming a tolerable side effect of going through so many of the threads these days!

Kath - never managed to get the Potty Harry bug despite being a dead ringer for Daniel Radcliffe when a tad younger.
The tone, sense of place and realism of much of Scandi places it high amongst my favourite genres - there are also duds amongst the genre The Butterfly Effect was one such dud.

Mamie - There were bright spots in the book - I liked the problems she was constantly having with her Lada car which she called Gorby as it had a resemblance to the ex Soviet leader.

Hi Paul. Lots of action here while I was out on my meet-up and taking care of family matters. But no more lists...... hmmmm.....

I think the makers of LT should consider giving some of us free t-shirts so we can continue to spread the word. I almost wrote "gospel" (and I'm vaguely remembering that they are synonyms?).

Ellen - glad to see that you enjoyed your LT meet-up. I think Lucy has found a way to slow me down when she had the great idea to put all the lists on a dedicated thread!
Let's get the t-shirts printed!

Hi Paul, love the photo to start pt18, the sun has finally shone for a full day after four days of seriously heavy rain which caused the one-day international against West Indies to be called off at our beloved Headingley. Hope you are having good weather and getting some reading done. How do you manage to do so much posting and read and everything else you do, oh hang on your a Yorkshireman, sorted. Lol.

Hi Paul- Just checking in! Hope you had a good weekend and that your next book choice is a bit better.

Hi Paul,
Sorry you didn't enjoy The Butterfly Effect.

I look at your 'currently reading' list at the top and I don't know how you keep up with them all!

I've never tried Scandi which is a good thing IMO. I don't want to open that Pandora's box I'm already in enough trouble with my current 'to read' list.

John - us Yorkies need to stick together! Glad to see that it has finally stopped raining in West Yorks; typically hot, humid weather here but since there is an absence of seasons it does get a tad predictable.

Mark - nice of you to drop by from your weekend. You can't like every book you read I suppose - at least it was only 220 pages long.

Lisa - Probably wise not to try Scandi as I reckon you would get yourself hooked. I am not keeping up that well by the way which is probably why the books are piling up.

Wonderful wonderful photographs. What I think is that the LT geniuses should do that thing where you rent a college campus for a few days - preferably one near a lot of great used bookstores (somewhere in Massachusetts......) and we could all gather. We'd have to invite some writers and have some raison d'etre, but that shouldn't be too difficult with this bunch. Hmmmm Maybe SlamListing as entertainment?

Waving a languid hello. It's 101 here and I'm sticking close to my ac vent and holding quite still. Would probably finish a book if I could stay awake...

Hahaha - "SlamListing" - I'm in.

My mother's family had a family reunion at a University once. We took over a whole dorm. It was tons of fun.

There's a band called the Butterfly Effect, Im sure. I like the scientific meaning of it, but couldn't explain it properly without some serious thought....not today anyway.

SlamListing- is that the opposite of WishListing? lol

Lucy - Thanks - Massachusetts and used bookstores sounds great. Would be up to meeting plenty of authors although maybe not Pernille Rygg given my tepid review above. Would be up for SlamListing if someone explains the rules!

Jenny - I spend my existence sucking up A/C fumes so I can appreciate your position of languidity. An LT dorm would be fun no doubt although the ladies do outnumber the guys quite comfortably.

Megan - hahaha - Your right there is a band and also a sci-fi movie of the same name.

We are almost at the end of the 2nd quarter of the year. I have been looking at the posting records and note that with one exception those threads with the most posts in the first quarter are again the same in the second quarter. The exception is Mamie who has surged from the pack from in the 70's to the top 20 overall already and closing. In the 2nd quarter alone she would stand 6th.

2nd quarter

Paul 2012 posts (1st Overall 4455 posts) 18 threads
Kath 1985 posts (3rd overall 4000 posts) 14 threads
RD 1803 posts (2nd overall 4113 posts) 15 threads
Joe 1594 posts (4th overall 3705 posts) 15 threads
Mark 1510 posts (5th overall 3322 posts) 13 threads
Mamie 1265 posts (19th overall 1465 posts) 6 threads
Darryl 1211 posts (9th overall 2204 posts) 9 threads
Cee 1046 posts (8th overall 2315 posts) 9 threads
Ilana 934 posts (7th overall 2421 posts) 9 threads
Stephen 890 posts (6th overall 2458 posts) 10 threads

wow... we are a chatty bunch.

You are so right Kath - if you look at the groups home page you will see that there is ten times the activity on this group than the next most active one!

46.

Twist of Gold by Michael Morpurgo

I don't read enough YA fiction. I can state this definitively after gobbling up this gem of a novel by Michael Morpurgo. A story of the adventures of a brother and sister from County Cork escaping the potato famine in Ireland to start a new lif by trying to find their father half-way across the world in California. Great storytelling and with a plethora of superbly created and memorable characters. Dickensian in its sweep but missing the verbosity of that puts so many modern readers off CD. Great story if a little implausible and overly sentimental. I will certainly read all of his books having enjoyed this one so thoroughly.

8/10

High praise indeed, Paul! I have not read anything by Morpurgo - did he write War Horse? Oh, yep, the touchstone is telling me that he did! Ask and ye shall receive! Have you read that one?

"Dickensian in its sweep but missing the verbosity..."

Amen.

Mamie - I haven't but it will be read fairly soon for sure.

47.

Eternal by Craig Russell

On something of a reading roll for me with two books polished off on the same morning (this one I have been plodding through for a while but still). This is the third in the Jan Fabel series set in Hamburg and continues the fine form set in the first two. This one mixes politics and serial killing and Fabel and his team are a good addition to the genre. If I'm being churlish I don't think it was as good as the last two and is certainly less of a hit with me than the same writer's Lennox series. Readable stuff nonetheless.

7/10

Go Mamie! Go Mamie!

Hi, Paul! I really enjoyed War Horse, so I've got to try that one too!

Did I say: Go Mamie! Go Mamie!

Paul, I discovered Michael Morpurgo last year when Kerry reviewed some of his books. Reading War Horse, I became an instant fan. I've read 4 of his titles in all so far, and strongly recommend Private Peaceful as a possible next read for you (eta: after War Horse of course). About soldiers in WWI and very affecting. I still have 3 more of his books on my tbr, and intend to continue reading him after that too. Good luck reading everything he's ever written though, because he's been a prolific writer so far with over 100 books and is giving no signs of slowing down! I just saw there's a new biography on him that just came out this month called Michael Morpurgo: War Child to War Horse by Maggie Fergusson, which is supplemented by 7 autobiographical stories by Morpurgo himself. I'll probably get my hands on that eventually.

#64 - Paul , you'd like his memiorish Singing for Mrs Pettigrew. I've read a lot of his work, and his main illustrator Michael Foreman has written a few good ones too, such as War Game: village green to no man's land.

Ilana - I read about his biography, I'll probably get hold of it soon too. Yes, Private Peaceful is a really good one.

Hi Paul, just catching up here, which is a feat in and of itself.

Mark - I agree wholeheartedly Mamie is the rising star in the firmament - and deservedly so.

Ilana - My completist ways will be put to Morpurgo henceforward! and it looks like I have a fair bit to go at.

Kerry - Thanks also for your recce - you are my inspiration actually to read more YA as your enthusiasm for it is infectious. His biography may also be entertaining. I like the fact that his books seem to be set in an historical context which means teenagers can get even more from the stories.

Bonnie - Lovely to see you my dear whether you are in front, level or behind - always a pleasure.

I'm not surprised to see Mamie surging forward --- if I'm correct, she is a relatively recent comer to the 75ers-we-have-no-other-lives group (kidding!!) and has embraced our ethic wholeheartedly.

And, I'm not surprised to learn that the stats kind of keep us in our relative "places" in the overall scheme of things. In some ways, if I can just let myself fall out of the top 20 and focus a teeny weeny bit more on reading, it might be a good thing.... for me......

Re: War Horse, if both you, Paul, and Ilana recommend it, it makes its way onto my wish list.

Hi Paul,
I dont like war, I dont like horses- what do you reckon the chances are of me liking War Horse?
Be honest with me now....I can take it ;)

Hi Paul, I totally agree with your take on Eternal, I will continue to follow this series, but I can see that his Lennox series is going to win a stronger place in my heart.

I remember when Ilana was reading Michael Morpurgo last year, and I added a few of his books to my wishlist - now I just have to get to them.

Ellen - I was asking myself what is the first thing I do when I switch on my computer in the morning - I don't know about you all but I come here first to see how all my pals are doing.
I agree that my own reading has probably reduced a book a month at least by the volume of my posts but I don't think I would swap.
I haven't got to War Horse yet but based on Twist of Gold it must be a winner.

Megan - the strength is in the story telling - you would love it.

Judy - On the same page exactly - I like Jan Faber but not enthusiastically so to the extent that I can't wait for the next episode a la Jack Reacher or Inspector Montalbano or indeed Lennox.

>75 LovingLit: hmmm I would say no but then what do i know ????

Don't agree Alex - I think she'll love it! And if she doesn't well - it is only a 100 pages long or so.

*ahem*
I finished up my "feverish" work on my list yesterday, and by the end of the day, Charlie was sniffling, sneezing, and had a slight fever.
Jinxed - jinxed, I say!
I blame you, sir.
;)

I think a lot of us come here first thing when we enter Computerworld...

I don't think I come here first, but it is for sure in my morning rounds! Usually email, facebook, LT and then news.

>79 PaulCranswick: they made a feature length film of a 100 page novel?
In truth, I could give it a go, push my boundaries and all that. Plus it would give me something to talk to my horsey friend about. Other than wine and movies, which is what we usually talk about.

>82 ChelleBearss: Chelle! You mean to say LT is only third on your list!? *shocked*

#83 - War Horse was actually a good movie. The first twenty minutes were a bit too sentimental and cliche-y for me, but once it got to describing World War I, the movie really took off. It was very poignant and heart felt, especially showing how the calvary charge became defunct. Spielberg also did a good job with showing trench warfare, which pleased every inch of my military history loving heart.

The stage play was designed wonderfully, with the horses as life-size puppets that were incredibly realistic in their movements. Even though you could see the puppeteers who were inside and beside the horses, you forgot about them almost immediately. Quite extraordinary.

It was also impressive in its evocation of a terrible war, without showing anything bloody or horrible in and of itself, just with black-and-white footage behind and above the stage, and the struggles of men and horses on the stage.

I haven't seen the film, as I've wanted to keep the extraordinary impressions of the stage play in my head as long as possible.

Amber - I am horrified but Charlie was always going to get the sniffles sometime in the future and I was always likely to get the blame! Sending the little fellow good vibes from across the oceans.

Kath - Quite right.

Chelle - facebook before LT?!

Megan - It is a good movie IMO. Haven't actually read the book yet but based on the other one Morpurgo normally paints on a large canvas with broad brushstrokes so filling in a two hour movie is certainly no problem.

Eris - Sentimental and mawkish it was indeed but also enjoyable and touching.

Judy - I haven't seen the stage play which sounds intriguing based on your comments. It is noticeable in the film in its depiction of the use of horses how the modern world met crashingly the older world - the cavalry officers actually thought they would carry the field for a considerable period during the war.

My morning routine is similar to Chelle's ... email, LT, news and usually back to email. If I started with LT, I'd never get a start on work at all. I have FB on in the background anyway on my computer, and just check it whenever I receive an alert. I'm unable to stroll through the different home pages of friends because of the lack of time. Kinda like LT, except I spend more time on LT because I actually need to read the posts. FB i can do from my phone, and usually do.

Caro - SWMBO has hijacked my FB but I do visit it every day just for an update. Only check my mails when I get to the office but LT is my starting point together with the sports news from back in England.

I start with coffee, then LT.

Crazymamie, that's what I do, too! I get my coffee, sit down at my computer, and then spend about 30 minutes going through everything on LT.

"facebook before LT?!" I'm with you Paul, although that's not saying much because I rarely go on FB, unless I'm coaxed over there for some reason.
Were you the one, who recommended Eudora Welty, during our SS discussion? I picked up her collected stories while in MI and it looks wonderful.

"I start with coffee, then LT." Go Mamie, Go Mamie!

Mamie - My day starts with a shower - I roll out of bed at 5:45 am and into the shower steaming hot to wash away the sleep and the muggy nighttime with Johnson's all head-to-toe baby wash (will baby-wash keep me young) - dry, dress casually and out into TV lounge, TV on for sports news, notebook set up and on, straight to LT, gasp at how many posts Kath, RD (and Mamie) have got while I've been sleeping, open my own thread to answer any posts first, Erni brings my coffee and I'm off round the threads for 45 minutes before changing for work.

Eris - My early morning is set out above! Definitely LT first.

Mark - I knew you would agree with me - I remember your surprise that I was even on FB! Could be a catching refrain GO Mamie, GO Mamie!

Yes, Paul, baby wash will keep you young!! Can't do the shower before the coffee - must have coffee first thing, then LT, then shower.

OK - I'm loving the Go Mamie, Go Mamie! I feel as if I have my own cheering section!!

Mamie - don't know whether Mark and I would do so well twirling the pom poms and getting the crowd up on their feet in our outfits but - supporters certainly!

Did you see my Welty question in #91? It might have got lost in the Go Mamie Go's!

Paul - I have FB start up whenever I log onto my 'puter coz that's my main medium for catching up with what's going on in the lives of some of my close friends and a few select rellies. The hubster doesn't FB, so no fear of him hijacking my FB page.

How's Amin doing these days?

cuppa, yogurt, fruit -- take it all to desk and go straight to LT --

Coffee in bed, more often than not with a few pages of whatever I'm reading.
Then to LT.
Then run (if I'm running that morning).
Then peruse the newspaper (old fashioned format, not on the computer).
Feed the cat.
Then shower, breakfast (with sometimes another glance at LT), head off to work.....
Sometimes I check FB.

Mark - I have a few Welty's mate but none of her short stories so I cannot claim the credit for recommending her.

Caro - I have asked SWMBO severally to get her own FB page but she prefers the watchdog approach to life I suppose.
I was giving expert witness testimony this morning on a dispute regarding the termination of a construction contract which was 90% complete already and understandably a little psyched with adrenalin starting to pump with two sets of lawyers all set to rubbish both my credentials and findings - Dear old Amin was meandering along in an unhurried fashion to the courts this morning and in the general vicinity asked me if I knew the way - let's say he is a work in progress!

Reba - a very healthy start to your days I must say.

Ellen - How does the coffee find its way to your bed? Miss a newspaper too I must say - one difference between UK and Malaysia is the quality of newspapers in the former and the dearth of them in the latter. It is said that the best writers of fiction in SE Asia are employed by the government to write for the state controlled press.

>92 PaulCranswick: baby wash! hehe, I love those Johnsons baby things, they smell so nice. I confess to using up all the stuff we were given for our babies! Myself.

Megan - I thought you would be au fait with the Johnsons! SWMBO often tells me that the thing she found most attractive about me when we were getting to know each other was my "smell" (I honestly don't know whether I should be pleased or not with that!) - even to the extent that if I am outstation for a few days she will sleep with one of my shirts next to her (presumably unwashed!) so that she doesn't miss me too much. Now I can seen I'm painting the fierce dominatrix in a wholly new light but she now is something akin to Ilana's delightful but sadly un-toothsome Coco - in that she is all bark but very little bite.

Thanks Paul! Just trying to spread the credit. I should have taken better notes.

Mark - We're going to let it slide this time, but next time there might be a pop quiz, so be careful!

Paul - I am laughing at the story of Amin casually asking you on the way to court if you knew the way!! If you don't need to know how to actually get wherever it is you are going to, then I could be your driver, Paul! I would be excellent with the book stealth because I read a lot of mysteries and spy novels...just saying.

I, too, am a shower first person (after feeding Willie, of course. He has been known to start trying to make me get out of bed at 5 AM - all for a quarter of a can serving of Fancy Feast.)
Then an English muffin toasted practically black, coffee, LT, CBS This Morning, make lunch, dress for work, make bed, feed birds and squirrels and assorted other vermin, set out Willie's two water bowls and crunchie food, go to work (if not car-pooling listen to audiobook on way to work) get to work, more coffee, power up the 'puter, try not to check LT again til about 10:30, but once I succumb it's up for the rest of the workday. No FB in my life. Last person, in world, to not have an FB page. Come home, Feed Willie who meets me, screaming, at the door (I can usually hear him from outside before I even get the key in the lock. He has a very loud, scary screaming voice. I think he could have a job doing security work if he wanted to.) Read. Warm up leftovers - I can eat for a week on Sunday leftovers. Watch TV or movie or both. Bed. A little bit more reading. Much more reading goes on on weekends, days off and vacations.

Fascinating, huh? Not sure why I have inflicted this upon you.

Hope you are having/had a good day, Paul.

Love reading everyone's morning routines.

I am up at 6 am with my 5 year old. I get breakfast (Cheerios for him, for me, usually a protein smoothie of some kind), wake up the teenager, go on the computer to check my shop and LT, wake up the teenager, water the garden, wake up the teenager, shower, wake up the teenager... and that goes on until about 7:10 when I finally find the right motivation to get him out of bed and off to swim practice. Then, the day begins. My schedule depends on whether it's summer or school is in. Exercise, kids on jobs, me too, then try to do some work. I don't get much work done with kids home. I like having them around, but I am fond of my schedule too. I check LT again around lunch time and that is when I usually post what I've read. Then the afternoon, daughter's swim practice carpool, etc. Once the kids are in bed I usually read for several hours if my husband is gone or otherwise occupied. Bed by 10 (sometimes I check LT before bed if I can get the computer). I do use FB some, but don't check it daily.

Because my entire state seems to be burning down around our ears, I have added the news to my routine. Today we are holding our breath for the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. They've evacuated something in the neighborhood of 40,000 people down there. The fire is within 3 miles and it's another hot, windy, dry day. Somebody please send us a couple days of rain.

Lately I am noticing that a neighbor girl and friend of my daughters' is a regular visitor. She shows up 10-ish and stays until I send her home. I am not sure, but I think perhaps her parents (who both work outside of the home) may think that I have nothing much to do other than watch kids? Not sure how to deal with that in a constructive way. Love this little girl, but she and my daughter together get up to all kinds of mischief and must be watched. This keeps me from my work and makes me a trifle irritable.

Hmm, you are much more easy going than I, Paul :P
I feel very protective of my computer and online activity.
Not that I care who reads it, but I do not share an email address or
any accounts with Dan.

When I was a kid, my mother insisted on reading any mail I received from my pen pal
or friends. I wonder if that is when it began? Not sure, but even Duncan has to have his own FB page :)

My routine? Coffee first...

nittnut - sending wishes for cooler (and even wetter!) weather your direction. The fires sound horrific.

Paul, I am sooooo lucky. If I don't get up on my own by 6am, P brings me coffee in bed at a couple minutes after 6. I sit up and start sipping. Often, I have a cat snuggled in against my leg.

No FB here, nor will there be! LT is enough of a time sink!

Mark - no worries; at least you have reminded me that I should look up Eudora Welty's short stories.

Mamie - pop quiz? I would be in for sure
Which of these London Groups/Bands is the odd one out and why
Rolling Stones
Kinks
Who

Amin is at least able to handle criticism and is certainly getting used to it! The office calls the poor chap Bridbrain which is a bit harsh. One of the wags started calling him OT. I asked why and he told me that the most famous Amin was Idi Amin. If you added OT to the name it was perfect for our beloved driver - in other words IdiOT. Actually he is quite a personable young fellow and I'll persevere for a good while still. Pity him because his fiancee has just dumped him after being with him for five years - SWMBO said maybe he couldn't find the way to get married (harsh).

Charlotte - I find all my friends varied but similar schedules fascinating. Like you I want some burn on my toast or muffins (its not healthy apparently but so much tastier). I'm not anti-FB actually but I would only use it to find friends, beat some of my pals at bejeweled blitz and not for chatting or keeping up. I love the format of LT and of course the shared interest we all have helps brings us al closer together.

Jenn - I'm enjoying the voyeuristic charm of hearing of everyones routines. Bed by ten?! Wow I can't remember when I managed that other than having the kids away and SWMBO in romantic mode! Hope everyone is sfe over there and that the fire can be controlled or doused as soon as possible.

Kath - morning cannot really kick in without coffee can it - ours is Nespresso and I take it strong and black Reacher style (only one of a few things in common with the fellow I'm afraid - I would be useless in a punch-up - he is one foot taller than I and buys another shirt instead of washing the last one - I pass mine to Erni.
I have no problem with Hani sharing my FB as I don't really use it and have no secrets to speak of. She is a touch the jealous type which I fostered by being a Don Juan during courting days 20 kilos ago.

Ellen - we both have our little helpers - mine costs me $300 a month, food and board and is worth five times the cost!

Rebecca - a lady after my heart. I didn't switch on the computer until I reached work before I discovered LT.

Paul I am sitting here laughing at SWMBO's joke about Amin not being able to find his way to get married. I hope he gets a sense of direction soon!

It's funny reading about everyone's morning routines. Mine goes: 6.15 - up, computer on, make coffee (also Nespresso - I love that machine dearly - it rescued me from very bad Swiss coffee for 18 months), check LT and FB and email and read newspaper in peace till about 7.15 when I wake everyone up, From then on I can only sneak glances at the computer or I get accused of being a hypocrite because we don't let the kids near TV, ipad or laptop till after school. (Except this morning I am up at 4 am for no reason - go figure.)

Cushla - my lovely wife's rapier tongue is at least not trained on me for a while!
I am not allowed to touch the coffee machine and am quite happy to oblige so long as dear old Erni is able to touch it at my bidding. I struggle with sleep the same as you very often. Had a short nap this evening listening to the Rolling Stones to accompany my reading of the Keith Richards BIO - great fun and very honest I must say. Under My Thumb and Play With Fire are along with Paint it Black absolute Stones favourites.
Yasmyne is currently on a laptop break as she and her mum are at war over her choice of boyfriends - she has told me privately that she has already given the boy the push but what the heck, I am enjoying the melodrama so I won't tell SWMBO for a week or so yet!

I have the Nespresso espresso maker, and I ADORE it!

Paul, I have no idea about the answer to your pop quiz question. I would guess the Rolling Stones doesn't fit because I know that the Who was influenced by the Kinks, but that seems too vague.

Wait - you're reading the Keith Richard's bio? That means that the Rolling Stones is probably NOT the odd one out, or is it?

Paul - I DO NOT KNOW THE ANSWER!! Perhaps you should ask me about Muddy Waters or Louis Armstrong?!

You are so mean!!

The Nespresso machine is idiot-proof you know, as long as you remember to put a capsule in (about once a week I don't and then stare in dismay at the watery brown liquid that appears).

Poor Amin.. I feel his pain. I might have chosen a different career path though...

Nope, I don't have anything to hide either.. I am just a bit funny about sharing my webworld. I know a lot of people do it.. character flaw of mine, I guess :) LOL at Yasmyne..... :)

I don't share my web world -- but then my husband has no interest in Face Book (so I have to remember to update him on the kids and grandkids) and has long correspondence with his railroad history friends that I wouldn't want to wade through to get to my "stuff". We have severals friends who share an email address and I find it awkward writing to them. It's like I never know who I'm talking to.

I'm truely amazed by all your morning routines. Mine goes like this:

My alarm clock goes of, I snooze the thing and go back to sleep, after ten minutes the bloody thing goes of again, I snooze and go back to sleep...... I repeat this ritual five times. Mind you I have to get up normally at nine or something. After the five snoozes, I´ll run to the bathroom, have a quick shower, brush teeth etc. Dress and discover I´m already running late. Check my bag to see if I have everything with me I need (quite often I forget this step, which will always make me curse myself during the day and promise not to snooze anymore starting tomorrow). Grab an evergreen or something in plastic, drink half a glass of water, run like crazy to my bike and....... always end up being late at least five minutes.

I'm in awe of you all. Maybe some day.......

Hi Paul! I wish I knew the answer to your Kinks/Rolling Stones/Who question. I can't think of anything, other than that one of the three is way more awesome than the other two : )

Haha.. poor Amin is right. He's lucky in that you're a patient employer. How many employers has he had to drive for and how long had he lasted with each one? Perhaps you might want to invest in a little GPS system to help him find his directions? But then, you'd have to teach him how to use it.

Ah well, as long as we're all entertaining you, here's my morning routine.

6:30 - the alarm goes off and the news starts. I generally reach for my smartphone next to the bed to see if I have any Words With Friends to answer, then sometimes check LT or FB just to see if something is urgent. Jim gets up, does his bathroom stuff. AT 6:51 the Marketplace Money report comes on, which I listen to the way some people watch car wrecks, then drag myself out of bed, shower, etc., take all my start-the-day meds and stuff in the kitchen (not coffee yet), get dressed and head for work. Sometimes I start the computer before I leave and take a real look at LT, but usually I wait.

There's a subway that pulls in about 8:20 that I usually catch.

When I get to work a bit before 9AM, I get breakfast and coffee, check my email, check LT in a more thorough way, check my money (what's left of it these days), and start the tasks of the day.

Tomorrow I'll probably start closer to 6AM, since I'll have to leave work a little early, and we have a deadline looming.

And this concludes our entertainment for the evening.

Hello Paul, lovely photos here, as usual! Hope you're having a good week.

I'm also in awe of those who wake up to read, have coffee and smell the roses before work!

My alarm goes at 6am I usually doze until 6:15 and then shoot out of bed late. Contacts, clothes, brush teeth, pack bag and am out the door at 6:30 to catch my bus. If I'm later than that I am sprinting to the bus stop. I get the bus at 6:40 and depending on how awake I am read or listen to music. At 7:20 I arrive at Mt Eden and get a take away coffee and pastry from my favourite cafe and walk to work. I get to work at 7:30 and spend the first 30 min having my breakfast and checking LT and online newspapers. I try not to check LT during the day except at the end of the month if I'm impatient for TIOLI to go up. I get home via bus at 5pm. Cook dinner and watch the first 30 min of news. 6:30 I have shower and by 7pm I catch up on LT again and read or cross stitch until bed! Problem is I sometimes get caught up on LT for hours and never make it to my book or stitching.

Mamie - The question is not really derived from anything I've read in Life. Let's get to Muddy & Louis later!

Cushla - Your not the first to point out that I'm mean! SWMBO obviously doesn't think that the machine is idiot proof otherwise she would let me touch it. Apparently my role is limited to providing the money for such implements. Just broken off to accept my morning coffee in my own coffee cup that no-one else ever touches.

Kath - He advertised himself as a driver - don't think he is quite the finished article to be honest as I usually arrive at my destination shaken up like a bag of marbles - the alternative is very little reading in the car (well there are always traffic lights) so he stays for the time being at least. Yasmyne got me up at 5 this morning to take her to her friends house who is relocating back to Indonesia and Yassie wanted to go with her team of girls to the airport. Why is it that all the ladies in my house are so crabby in the morning?!

Reba - I agree entirely; it is confusing. FB is worse because of the tagging of photos. My lovely wife obviously does not bear even a passing resemblance to her husband but her visage is accompanied by the tag "Paul Cranswick" - several old school friends have been known to remark on their surprise that the previously girl crazy schoolmate who has apparently had a very successful looking sex change operation.

Lilian - lovely to see you here and hahaha to your vividly honest description of the start of your day. I have given up on alarm clocks because, as you rightly note, they can be sooooo irritating.

Kerri - I was expecting you to offer an answer. I love all three bands to be fair and have over 60 cds of them to choose from.

Caro - When I'm in a good mood (most times to be honest) I find his frailties amusing. I have a friend, a lady, who is the country manager of Hyundai Construction and she invested in a GPS as she is new here and unsure of locations. I arranged to meet her in Curve to discuss some projects and she lives in Mont Kiara (I'm sure even you know that this is fairly near by) - it took her an age to get there and she told me that she didn't generally go there as it was so far from her home! Seems even her GPS has a sense of humour!

Judy - I haven't heard of Words With Friends but it sounds interesting for sure. No breakfast or especially coffee before you get to work?! I would never make it!
I am struck generally by how early we all seem to get up - we have no-one posting yet about rolling out of bed in time for the midday news!

Anne - Week is good so far - no disasters in court yesterday, my aerospace manufacturing plant almost on schedule, my French client on leave in France and not bothering me, a new project awarded which should be quite lucrative - and plenty of reading done too.
Wishing the same to you too.

Lisa - another early riser and leaver of home without caffeine shot. 7:30 is pretty early make it to work. Couldn't handle contacts in the morning - I should have added on my own routine the couple of minutes in the morning I spend fumbling around the bed and its environs trying to track down my glasses which are normally somewhere near the book that hit the floor from my comatose fingers!

OK Guys odd one out
ROLLING STONES THE KINKS THE WHO?

There are probably a few ways of solving this but mine is THE KINKS

The reason being both the other two have employed new band members who were formerly with the Faces. Ronnie Wood joined the Stones and Kenney Jones replaced Keith Moon as drummer.

You haven't heard of Words with Friends Paul?? Well let's just say it's another time sink and you may just be better off w/o it. As for me, I'm sunk now and can't live w/o it I'm afraid. If you're really interested just Google it.

Bonnie - given my embracing of all things LT I better steer clear of another possible set of distractions!

Poor Amin (LOL), fun stories about him and his nicknames. And poor SWMBO, reduced to sleeping next to your shirt (oooh, thats so sweet, she'd kill you for telling that one), and left thinking her baby is seeing and unsuitable suitor!

Kinks are odd ones out.

My morning routine starts in the wee small hours, with a cough/cry/breath that I hear from one of the kids room. That's me awake for at least an hour, then one of them actually wakes up, so I deal with that then am awake for at least another hour after that. Then at 455am ( for the last week anyway) Big Bro makes an appearance in our room, and I beg for someone else to deal with him so I can try get 30 minutes more....then I haul myself out of bed at 630 ish to deal to a smiling Lenny and a TV Zombie big bro who has been given no breakfast yet.
All that and its only 7am! No wonder Im thinking of selling the kids and moving to Fiji.

Yes, I know where Mon't Kiara is as my business partner's company is located in Tower D so whenever I'm in KL for business, I will invariably find myself over there for internal meetings. One of my friends also works in a company over in Tower B. I haven't been there in the evenings for a while though ... do they still hold a pasar malam on Thursday evenings out in the courtyard?

Megan - hahaha I think you will have to get the sales pitch right if you are ever to get to Fiji!

Caro - Not sure about the pasar malam but I would guess so as these things are rarely altered over here. Internal meetings are better than infernal meetings although sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference.

Hi Paul- I couldn't answer that quiz either, although I love those bands. Glad you are enjoying the Richards memoir. I thought it was fantastic. I'm a huge Stones fan and I think the run of Beggar's Banquet to Exile, is one of the greatest, if not the best runs in R & R history, possibly Dylan or the Beatles come the closest.

Oh gosh I loved the Richards memoir. Loved loved loved it. The Morocco adventure. Oh my.

My morning routine: SLEEP.

Mark / Lucy - I like the fact that he remains very true to himself and patently honest in his assessment of those around him without pulling any punches whatsoever.

Richards observation that he is a riff-master is certainly borne out by the music he produced in his prime. I think Mark gets their purple patch just about right - although they had hinted at it with Aftermath and Between the Buttons also.

Ilana - hah finally someone who doesn't waste their morning by getting out of bed - would love to join you.....well you know what I mean(! same "activity" different bed!).... but I have to keep my dear SWMBO in the manner she has so vociferously become accustomed to. x

Glad to hear you are enjoying Life, Paul. It's one of my top books of the year so far.

Reading about everyones morning routine makes me realize that I really don't have a routine. Maybe because I am retired and don't usually have to be anywhere at a set time, I can just see how my day develops. Of course, LT is always a part of my day whether morning, afternoon or evening!

Megan - you have room on your beach in Fiji? After the week we've had I might give my kids away... and it's only Wednesday.

Finally got the 5 and 8 year old in bed and then the 13 yr old comes crashing in with a friend at 9 pm to bring me a bird he's "rescued" from the street. I hated to tell him it would most likely be dead in the morning, so we've wrapped it in a towel and given it some water and put it in a basket in the garage. We'll see what happens. It would probably be kinder to hit it on the head, but I can't. Kind of cute, those two big boys saving a bird.

I would love to be able to wait on the day to develop Guru. Life is the best non-fiction I've read this year thus far.

Jenn - fingers crossed for the bird - I couldn't have whacked it either even if I can see the sense in it. Who can we vote to take care of the LT creche - IMO I'm not suitable - kids and animals normally take an instant dislike to me!

Caroline? :P

Jenn - hahaha maybe as a travelling ambassador!

I'm also glad that you're enjoying Life.

I love Ilana's morning routine!

Mine stronly depends on how often I press the snooze key on my mobile phone/alarm clock before finally getting up. On good days I get up at 5:30am, do some yoga, make coffee, catch up on some LT threads before taking my shower, go to work.
On bad days, like today, I doze on until some time after 6am, do just 5 mins of yoga while the coffee is on the stove (using an Italian moka), have to drink the coffee while getting ready for work, and there's no pre-office LT time at all.

I'm on FB but check it only occasionally and never write anything on my pin board or anyone else's. I'm a very bad FB friend and refuse to do all the thumbing, commenting, tagging of photos, etc..

Kerry - it sounds just about right when you say it like that!

Nathalie - those snooze buttons are despicable creatures. I survive on my body clock to get me up in the morning and amazingly very rarely oversleep. We have the same approach to FB.

Hey Paul -- sure have enjoyed your threads (skimming only, but seriously skimming! LOL).
The pics are fab. If my desire to go to NZ had needed a push your descriptions and pics would have done it. I love the pics of your family! Wonderful. Actually, they inspired me... may I use them in a digital scrapbook LO?

Speaking of pics, are the pics of your city taken by you? Great nite shots. And that baby seal was adorable (I'm out of order in my comments!)

Love the lists. My lists have been based on what's in my library. Did you use some kind of db to make your year by year list? Very impressive!

And whoever said The Shipping News was one of their fav reads was spot on -- what a fun book. I have an aversion (misplaced and stupid) to popular works. I only read it because I was desperate -- so glad I did! note to self: overcome that stupid prejudice. Many/most of those popular books are probably worth reading.

Ciao. (to which my father responds, "Dachsund")

These morning routines are bringing back memories of all those many years up at 4:30 a.m.. shower, breakfast and out the door, with an hour's commute, and no coffee until I reached the office. Workaholic that I was, I was always at my desk between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m., depending on whether I drove or took the commuter bus (no good for reading - far too noisy). Home around 5-6 p.m. and asleep by 9, but most of the time awake again by 2-3 a.m. with my mind swirling with work.

But now, thanks to wonderful, wonderful retirement, I sleep peacefully, wake up with the sun, and have a leisurely start to the day, with LT a must check-in, and time to explore all those things I missed while working!

Summer schedule: Up at 7:00, slip on something, carry Posey to door, slip on rubber boots, cats follow, we go out, they don't, she does her biz, hunts bugs, I look at sky, grass, pond. I say: 'food food food', we go in, she eats, cats complain, I put on real clothes, make breakfast, eat, drink tea, do LT, the cats complain bitterly, we girls go for run up the hill and around the woods, get in touch with the diana-in-me, LET CATS OUT FINALLY, make coffee. Get on with my day. Sneak to LT frequently.

Our cats are strictly 9-5ers so that other wildlife gets a break.

My mornings:

- Alarm goes off at 6:30
- Shower, etc, do a small morning chore or two, out the door by 7 AM
- This is the critical activity of the morning. Stop by Casual Gourmet for coffee. Once or twice a week, get a breakfast sandwich or a muffin and read.
- Get to work by 8 or 8:30 depending on whether breakfast occurred.

It's interesting that while most people's morning routines vary drastically (some up by the crack of dawn and others sleeping in late) most of them share on common theme with CHECK LT!

HI Paul! :)

Mine certainly involves LT-checking, too:

530am: Up, feed whiny cat, made my Earl Grey, open laptop, check email, glance at FB & twitter, then settle in for as much LT-ing as Charlie will allow (i.e. until he decides to get up, which, in the daylight-so-early-it's-ridiculous summer, can be as early as 6am).

Loving reading about all of the morning routines. Mine is different now that it's summer. My school-year routine involves getting up at 5:50, and getting myself and the girls out the door with breakfasts eaten and lunches packed by 7:00 or so, and then going to school and then rehearsal until about 7:00 pm. Now that it's summer and I'm home from all tours, etc. I roll out of bed around 8:00, make myself a nescafe, and read on the deck until the shade is gone. Heaven!

Hi Paul!
Back in action and I was going to skim your thread to catch up -but I am not a skimmer. Had to read and love all the morning routines! Ilana's gets first prize imo.


When it's my week to get up with Loki...
it's up at 5-6 am to go out and check outside to see what's going on.
Not much. Sometimes the damned sun is shining :P
Oh, yes Loki attends to nature's call at my insistence.

Back to bed til 7 when I condescend to get up and feed him and cat. Followed by coffee, email, LT.

Alternate weeks my routine in more like Ilana's since Ron takes his turn feeding the dog.
A simple life is best ;-)

My morning starts when the radio comes on to NPR's Morning Edition at 5:30 a.m. I lay there and listen until 6. Then up to shower, dress, and go have breakfast. Breakfast is yogurt and granola. Make coffee while watching DWTV. Then put contacts in, and out the door at 7:45 a.m. Nothing remarkable in that routine. Fairly simple.

Ah, the radio makes its appearance in the morning routine! I forgot to mention that, morning report on National Radio, if that gets too dry (read: political), I turn off and listen in on Big Bros kids DVDs, which are much more exciting, usually.

I think I'll nominate Kath as LT creche director (obviously loves little ones, which is a good start), either Kath or Joes Cafe........his creche has a real early childhood teacher in charge- Seasonoflove, I believe. All are free, so that in itself helps me with my saving for Fiji :)

Susan - nice to see you skimming through here. Thanks for your lovely comments. I can wholeheartedly recommend New Zealand as I think anyone reading my thread would pick up on!
Some but not all of the photos adorning the start of my threads are taken by SWMBO or Yasmyne - I am not allowed to touch the camera unless they want a shot of themselves together!
I do have a database of all the books I have read since 1994 (when I came to Malaysia) and a pretty good record of what I read earlier when I was a bit more prolific in my reading (but not as prolific as you!)
The Shipping News was a quirky winner wasn't it? Interestingly on almost everyone's lists.

Linda - glad you no longer have to face that routine - it sounds like hard work. Love your phrase "wake up with the sun" - enjoy!

Lucy - Had a smile that you have seasonal routines. We don't have seasons in Malaysia so I'm a tad jealous when I think of those lovely long summer days and nights when the sun reluctantly recedes and does so only gently cooling the twilight. Here my nights are still about 28 degrees every night so I don't get to enjoy a change of seasons.
Nice image of the cats tapping their paws impatiently as you slowly get them ready for their outing.

Jim - nice to see you mate. Similar start to mine I suppose but I couldn't get out the door without Erni presenting me my coffee to go with my LT update (just finished it off btw).

Chelle - hi - obviously we are all different but all very much the same!

Amber - my goodness you have a lot to pack into half an hour - Supermum indeed!

Anne - you do paint a picture of tranquility I must say. Early morning reading is always productive for me too.

Cee - good to see you back in the swing of things. A week on and a week off sounds like something I could manage nicely - except that a full scale mutiny would ensue if SWMBO took the reins in the office on alternate weeks - I'll just keep her as CEO at home for now I think.

Benita - Used to start my day listening to the radio in England but the stations here are just plain annoying. Kyran will play the local (english language) station on the way into school and I'll ditch it as soon as he bails.

Megan - Kath or Joe's team - good choices I would hazard but there are a plentiful supply of loving Grans in the group who would if they could ever forgive any sexist connotations be perfect for the role. I'm not a granddad yet but I don't think in all honesty I would handle a group of youngsters too ably.

I'm a morning person. I usually wake before my 6.30am alarm unless I didn't get to sleep before 1am. I am always immediately awake and I'm a leaper ... I actually leap out of bed. On weekdays, I head to the gym for a workout or depending on the weather, to the woods for a run and am back by 8am, wake the hubster, cook breakfast and have brekkies with hubster before I head to work. I'm rarely in the office before 9.30 or 10...unless some idiot has the temerity to schedule a meeting at 9am.

On weekends though, I don't set the alarm but I still wake before 6.30am but will usually stay in bed to read for an hour or so, then get up. I typically am comfortable with max 6 hours sleep. Anything more and I feel decidedly lethargic for the rest of the day. The hubster, on the other hand, needs at least 8 hours or he's a total bear.

I will never keep up to your thread, Paul, but I enjoyed your recent reviews on Twist of Gold and Eternal.I don't read enough YA fiction. Nor do I, Paul. Thing is, when I do pick up a YA, I usually really enjoy. Sounds like you did, too. And I like the sound of Eternal; can't take on another series right now, but appreciate the ideas! (Actually, I have Lovely Green Eyes sitting on my dining table at the moment; spotted that last time I was here and found it the next day at my library. Now ... time!).

Haha - Caro. I can totally imagine you leaping out of bed. When we first got married, I would wake up 6-ish on a Saturday morning and be up and raring to go. My husband was totally unappreciative of my energy. I learned to read in bed for an hour or so, but never could go back to sleep. Now, I'm older and tired-er and can sleep until 7 if undisturbed. Of course I have a 5 year old leaper who wakes up 530 every day, raring to go.

a 5 year old leaper
lol, and here I was hoping they grew out of that sort of thing by 4....wishful thinking on my part that's for sure :)

Paul, I bet your kids dont come jumping into bed with you and SWMBO anymore, do they?

Caro - I am also quite abruptly awake and quickly up and at 'em. Irritates the hell out of SWMBO who is a persistent wallower, but that is, of course, part of the fun of it. Sleeping styles also quite different; I don't disturb the covers at all and rarely move in my sleep (oftentimes awake with her anxiously checking my breathing to make sure I am still in the land of the living) whilst she is a mover and kicker. She likes to sleep somewhat inelegantly with butt up in the air in an approximation of a bicycle stand in those days when we oft went au naturel. Having breakfast with the spouse is very civilised but my dear lady is anything but a morning person and if she is awake first thing it is normally to remind me that somehow I owe her money and that she expects it immediatement!

Nancy - actually my thread is moving slower than our champion-in-waiting Mamie - if she had started the year at the same lick RD, Kath and I would be eating dust by now! Think that you will enjoy Lovely Green Eyes.

Jenn - Caro's energy does seem prodigious doesn't it? When I first got married Jenn I was also "up and raring to go" first thing in the morning but with little to do with exiting the bed for a goodly while! Hani is a great sleeper and shopper (so I guess she needs the former to conserve her energies fully for the latter) - Malaysia has never won a gold medal at the Olympics but her federation is agitating splendidly to have shopping included as a sport at the next games such that she can carry the weight of the nation on her magnificently formed shoulders.

Megan - certain things they grow out of very slowly believe me. Kyran is the most affectionate of the three and he will still (at a very grown up 12) try to sneak in for a cuddle with us both on Sunday mornings. It is a must that all three must go to the bed and salaam/kiss their mother prior to setting off to school (I play referee on the school trips every morning as one is invariably at war with the other two). Yasmyne and Kyran were comical growing up - we had one Saturday afternoon in our huge over-kingsized bed - feeling somewhat amorous if truth be known - there is a crack in the wood of the double doors to our bedroom and just as SWMBO started to show her affection, Yasmyne (obviously peeping through the crack) was heard to exclaim "I can see you!" - needless to say my hopes of a passionate escapade were scuppered completely!

I'd respond to the morning thing, but I have trouble defining "morning" LOL. I have an erratic sleep schedule... so is it "what I do when I wake up"? Irregardless, I think I'm too ADHD to have a regular, or oft-repeated schedule. I'd like one... but I've been trying to do that for a few decades now and have just decided to accept myself as I am (but still trying for that schedule!)

Susan hahaha I would love to re-define morning a la Ilana as somewhere just before high-tea. ADHD?

Sometimes the damned sun is shining :P yep, Cee.. I agree..
I too, am a fan of the grey day.

I have never been one to linger in bed either.. When I wake, I get out of bed, as long as it is at least 5.
Earlier than that I might stay in bed with my iPad for a while.

Good evening, Paul! Hope you had a lovely Friday - mine is just beginning. The workers are here to finish off the girls' bedroom repairs and then we're done. So excited about that! I am loving the image that you created above of your lovely wife atop the Olympic podium receiving her gold medal while the rest of us mere mortal shoppers look on in wonder and admiration.

Kath - I had you down as an early riser I must say - no way you could post so well and so often if you didn't get up with the birds.

Mamie - Friday was good and the week was good too to be honest. Rattling through Life and Sea of Poppies both of which should be done today - two chunksters off the TBR.
SWMBO is only just back on talking terms with her husband. I have a policy of paying local utilities "just in time" and I always wait for the electricity company to send their yellow bill prior to making payment. Unfortunately this month they neglected to send it and cut the power while the wife was shopping - after being read the riot act and immediate payment the power was reconnected 5 hours later. One whole evening (Thursday) with wife and children giving their "smart-arse" of a father dirty looks and no conversation. Friday picked up as Hani got her salary - its funny she is the second highest paid in the organisation as "Business Development Manager" despite the fact that she puts in the fewest hours of anyone in that role in the country.
Hope the work at your place gets done by the weekend and that the buyers come forward immediately.

I've been awol. Just swinging by to say hi. I hope to catch up this weekend.
The descriptions of morning routines are fun!

Ellen - nice to see you - thought you had run away for good!

Paul- Hopefully both of those books treated you very well. Did you ever pick up a copy of River of smoke?

I have it Mark and will drop on to it straight after to soak up the dregs of the group read!

LOL ... glad you are now back in SWMBO's good books and no longer receiving the silent treatment.

What's up for the weekend?

Hello Paul. I've just caught up on your last 5 or 6 threads (I lost count). How do you keep up this pace?
Enjoyed reading everyones morning rituals. I'm surprised so many people are able to eat breakfast at work. At my job we are not even allowed to drink water where someone might see us.
Now I've got to go look up everything written by Michael Morpurgo.

I want whatever Caro's got. I've always wanted to be one of those 6-hours-of-sleep-raring-to-go-go-go people, but alas, it was not to be.

Thanks for dropping by Paul. Everyone's on Mamie's thread these days, so that I feel lucky whenever anyone thinks to drop in on my own...

eta: and a great weekend to you too my friend, although it's already well underway for you of course!

Caro - for a while at least! Want to finish a couple of my current reads, watch the sport, check a couple of my project sites, Ikea on Sunday morning for meat balls (not my idea) - maybe Thai food this evening as Roni has got me going over at her place.

Kelly - hahaha you don't see the zombie who switches on the computer first thing in the morning! All my staff bring breakfast to work - I suppose I could stop them but - love the smells and they normally buy me off with titbits!

Ilana - I have Sundays to catch up on the lolling (well about 8 anyways).
Your thread will always be amongst the very first I look for - Mamie's is a great find in this last quarter and I have shamelessly championed her thread, but the diversity of threads is a great joy to me - I adore so many of the threads and don't want to name names - but yours will always be a favourite.
Late Saturday morning here and amidst a pep talk to Yasmyne who persists in wanting to see her boyfriend despite being given the red card (it is the European football champs so I will drift into the lingo). Sure that you will have a restful weekend - hope Ezra is behaving himself bowelly and that Coco is having a sucking good time!

Haven't spoken up here for a while, so figured I'd better let you know I've been visiting. For years, my morning routine involved KPBS coming on at 6:00 am, getting up at 6:30 to get to work at 8, but now, when I wake up, I wake up. If it's early, it's in to the computer to catch up on LT and my Facebook games until my husband wakes up--if later, it's kitchen clean up and gardening and light housework until it's time to go walk or exercise.

Roni - one of the few who admits to being sucked into LT games - I have one or two games I am slightly addicted to an avoid like the plague otherwise I would be unable to stop. SWMBO likes the games and I'm sure would take you on if you'd let her!

I agree that Caro probably has more energy than anyone else here. Brit is right up there with her,
minus the travel. They make me tired!

Don't know Kath - Ellen would also get plenty of votes in a most active contest (she runs 20 miles a week after all) and Katie is another one who travels here there and everywhere.

#165 Oops, re the electricity!

Had a wee splurge this afternoon whilst I was waiting for SWMBO who was having lunch with a bunch of school friends from Johor Bahru.

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis
A Dead Hand by Paul Theroux
The General: Charles De Gaulle and the France he Saved by Jonathan Fenby
The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria
Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
McTeague by Frank Norris

Heather - yeah I don't suppose it makes me look like a bright spark!

Just passing through. Have to say - stunning photos, and love the juxtaposition of the one at the top of this page.

>92 PaulCranswick: : Johnson's baby wash etc will not keep you young; have been dosing my 8 year old with the stuff since babyhood, still grew up to be 8 years old. Desperately trying the same tactic with my 3 year old, but it's failing similarly. How fast they grow up!

Re Amin; the problem may be that you've given him maps. As someone addicted to maps, and who can usually (don't jinx it!) find my way even in unknown territories all over the world, I'm telling you, Malaysian maps do not correlate to the real world. Even with GPS, I get lost in KL.

Nina - nice to see you over here. Hahaha re the Johnsons - I will take any chance I can get to fight off the march of time.
There is no way on God's earth that I would consider muddling Amin further with GPS or maps. KL is actually a smallish place for a capital and I don't often get lost if I'm driving myself! The problem is that there is so much building an development that any maps are almost sure to be outdated.
Next time you get over to KL let me know I'll arrange that you don't get lost!

Oh YES Jim, the coffee is the CRITICAL moment-du-jour! Did you read the article that people who drink more than 2 cups of coffee a day LIVE LONGER!!!!! YES YES YES.

Meanwhile.... what was I going to say?.... There's a lot more than paw-tapping, Paul...... there is yowling, baleful staring, jumping up onto the computer, tail lashing, scratching furniture.... One of these days someone will bite my ankle...... only one of them is a real hunter, thank heavens.

Yes missing the seasons as we have them and that you grew up with, must be odd. On the other hand you do sort of have seasons? Dry and wet spells? Or are those all mixed up now?

Lucy - our three cats know well to leave me alone in the morning until I get my coffee.

Malaysia doesn't really have definable monsoon seasons anymore - rains most days if truth be known.

#183 "people who drink more than 2 cups of coffee a day LIVE LONGER" I wonder if that's because they sleep less? As an 8 hours a night person I'm always slightly discouraged to read the articles that tell me that means I'm likely to die sooner - you'd think all that rest would be doing me some good!

Going back to the early morning routines, Lucy, you are a brave soul to hold out so long against your cats. Ours has a particularly hard stare which leaves me quaking...

Wow, Paul, I was 22 posts behind over here, and I was just here yesterday! Where to start? I loved reading about everybody's morning routines - so very interesting. Our repairs are almost finished - just waiting on the painter to come and paint the ceiling and then that's it! We would have been finished yesterday, but a big storm came through with very high winds and we ended up losing our power for several hours, so that put a stop to the work. It's all good though as we are headed in the proper direction.

Sorry to hear that you received the silent treatment for the power thing - oops! Love how you tell a story!

Nice haul of books there in your "wee splurge".

Ilana, my dear, I could never compete with you - your thread is one of my very favorite places. So much talent and such lovely things that you share with all of us. I always love reading about what you are up to and learning what you thought about the books that you are reading. And of course, keeping up with the antics of the incomparable Mimi, fun loving Coco, and feisty Ezra.

Ooh..Dead Hand is a treat. I think you're going to love this one, Paul. Hmm.. that reminds me, I have The Great Railway Bazaar in my TBR I haven't yet read ... must remember to move that up a rung or 2 so I get to it this year.

Heather - Aren't we supposed to need our rest - this would put me in the firing line. I have also read the reports which state that coffee prevents all ills and is a cure for everything - I think these reports were commissioned by Starbucks! I don't really care as I'm anything but a health food devotee and I imbibe so much coffee either from patent addiction or simply because I love it.

Mamie - 22 posts behind, I am slowing down did you see Richard and Kath?!
I am really impressed at the rate that your repairs have been effected especially considering that a further gust came and took your power away. I have no climatic intervention to thank for our own power travails but there was certainly a chilly wind blowing from SWMBO there for a while.

Caro - I recently bought Saint Jack and SWMBO has taken it over and her giggles reminded me what a great writer Theroux is. I read most of his travel books a number of years ago and really enjoyed them.

48.

Life by Keith Richards

This has been a much vaunted biography and I was a little surprised as I had always thought KR to be, shall we just say, inarticulate.

Charts a story that large parts are known but tells it with thundering honesty and pulls absolutely no punches whatsoever. His comments about Brian Jones and Mick Jagger as well as his relationship with Anita Pallenberg are almost excruciating in their revelations. This is really warts and all.
Really enjoyed his thoughts on the creative process and can identify (as a poor poet of sorts) with his remarks that sometimes you just need to go with the flow and you don't know where the inspiration is coming from. The drugs and the busts and the bust-ups are all there and KR comes across as a worldly survivor, warm-hearted, opinionated, loyal and flawed. Highly recommended.

9/1o

I read (well, listened to) Life last year and just loved it. Glad you enjoyed it as well.

Nice wee book splurge--amazingly enough I don't own any of those.

Nice book haul, Paul! I liked Mister Pip, and I had forgotten that I own The Post-American World, which I haven't read yet. I'd heard about McTeague, particularly because it's set in turn of the century San Francisco, so I've just download the free Kindle version.

Great review of Life.

Well I never would have guessed that I'd be interested in a book aboutKeith Richards but you've sold me on it. Onto the teetering tower it goes Paul.

Okay, another review that is making me think I'd like to read Life. When it first came out, I had no interest at all, but his honest approach to the work has impressed enough people that I'm interested....

Oh, and, just so you know, I may take a hiatus now and then but I'm hardly likely to depart for good, my friend! Ha!

I haven't been running as much as I would "like" of late, but I did spend 4+ hours in the garden pulling weeds today. Whew! My hands hurt!

Have fun at IKEA! :-|

Anne - I read Philip Norman's The Stones many years ago and can't remember too much about it but I do know it did not make an impression like this did.
The fact that you haven't got any of the book on my latest splurge just shows how many there are to go around! It is unusual though because I have over 40% of the books in your catalogue and we usually agree on what we like.

Darryl - actually I missed out on it a few weeks ago because someone had picked it up in the store and replaced it in the wrong place but I found it yesterday. Didn't realise that he is a kiwi from Wellington.

Bonnie - he ws a nice surprise to be honest - when he screwed up he holds his hands up.

Ellen - I would be torn up if you took off from here - it wouldn't be the same without you running around. I think I would sooner run than pull up weeds.
IKEA looks to be cancelled - Kyran is dating again, Hani has her friends still here so I might be able to catch up with you in the reading stakes again!

Just keeping current nothing to add...

Ditto all of the comments about Life, Paul. I think I will need to read this.

>191 kidzdoc: Darryl, nothing gets my fingers moving faster than the words free Kindle version.

Well it is a quiet start to the second half of the year - SWMBO went off to karaoke with her girlfriends and I would normally join but 6 ladies and 1 guy would sound ok until I thought about having to here them decimate six malay songs until I get a turn.
So I walked from my second favourite mall (Pavilion) to my favourite (KLCC by virtue of a better bookshop) and had a fine and dandy waltz through the Kinokuniya there. I have agreed with Linda that we will go for polishing off all the Nobel prize winners and some of my buys are with this in mind.

Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann
Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth
Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet by Gerry Davis (had this and read it as a kid just reissued)
The Last Gift by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Catching the Sun by Tony Parsons (this one was to buy off SWMBO as Parsons is her favourite)
Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett (beautiful new penguin edition)
Harold Pinter Complete Works : 2 by Harold Pinter includes
The Caretaker by Harold Pinter
The Dwarfs by Harold Pinter
The Collection by Harold Pinter
The Lover by Harold Pinter
Night School by Harold Pinter
Revue Sketches by Harold Pinter
Pack Men by Alan Bissett
11.22.63 by Stephen King (well everybody else bought it first!)
The Joke by Milan Kundera
Ake : The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka
Derby Day by DJ Taylor
Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin (another gorgeous new Penguin edition)
The Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Transtromer
The Life of an Unknown Man by Andrei Makine
He (Shey) by Rabindranath Tagore
The Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo
Waiting for Anya by Michael Morpurgo
The Deep Dark Sleep by Craig Russell (the lastest in the excellent Lennox series)
The Interrogation by JMG Le Clezio

25 entries - altogether 32 for the weekend. Well there goes tightening the belt.

Kath - current I like - I also like sultanas and raisins.

Linda - You'll see above I have started filling in a few blanks already for our Nobel reading challenge. Couldn't find which boxes my Harold Pinter stuff is in so I came across a nice collection , Tagore, Soyinka Transtromer and Mann are also added ready and the Le Clezio looks interesting. I'm working on my target list for my next thread.

Hi Paul, just dropping by to say hi! Life will definitely be added to the wishlist. Hope your weekend is going well!

Great start with filling in the blanks, Paul. How do you even manage to carry that many books at once? Hopefully you didn't buy a double of the Pinter.

I'm looking forward to seeing your complete Nobel list and comparing notes. BTW, I loved LeClezio's Desert and am reading his book of short stories now: The Round and Other Cold Hard Facts. I haven't read The Interrogation yet, but certainly will.

Nice review of Life, Paul - if Lucy hadn't already talked me into it, You review would have sold me. Love reading about your book haul as vicarious book shopping is almost as enjoyable as the real thing.

Orlaith - nice to "see" you. Trust your weekend is also going swimmingly .

Linda - Fair walk with two bags of heavy books - 98 degree heat and 30 minute walk between malls, but again I really do love book shopping and it is probably the best way I could conceive of keeping fit!
Will probably start my next thread slightly early as I am itching to get my Nobel challenge target list up.

Oho! A new rationale for buying books--exercise! I've not heard that one before but it sounds promising.

ick ptui ..to the raisins and sultanas!

Good job Kino's started a loyalty club so at least you're getting a discount on all those books you bought. Damn, but that's an enviable haul, Paul. Did they offer to carry the books to your car for you, or was the delightful Amin trotting besides you as your beast of burden?

Great review of Life and I'm very surprised by the high rating you gave it. I wouldn't have thought him articulate either ... hmm....I may have to add this to my obese wish list ... or maybe give it to the hubster for his birthday...and then 'borrow' it.

Anne - that is the book-buyers version of creative accounting!

Caro - I'm not really a fan of em either but I was feeling spry to try with a play on words.
No I carried all the books on my lonesome. Amin doesn't get the pleasure of my company - not sure he could find his way between KLCC and Pav anyway!
I didn't expect to find it so engrossing either - I think it would be a good buy for the hubster. And to come full circle - I was listening to the Rolling Stones' Some Girls CD today in the car and singing along to Beast of Burden as I pulled into the condo. (honest to goodness).

So how do you keep track of what you already have so you don't buy duplicates?

Paul- I'm so glad you loved the Richards memoir. It really is a special book. I especially liked the audio, read by Johnny Depp, another guy who sounds like Richards and Richards himself. It felt like I was walking around with the Stones guitarist, shooting the shit.

Morphy - I rely on having one heck of a memory! Where I used to get caught out if there were European and North American versions of the same book with different titles but fantasticfiction.co.uk has helped me avoid that too.

Mark - I bet it would be a blast as an audio book.

ALL of the books of all of the Nobel winners? Wow! Any idea how many that is? I'm working on just the fiction books that won a Pulitzer and it's taking me years, what with all of the current things I want to read + Chautauqua reading list + now book club. I think I'm a bit dizzy of adding in all of the Nobel winners. Although the idea is appealing....hmmmm...

No Reba that is not quite it - a book by each of the Nobel winners - ALL OF EM!!?? All the works of Heinrich Boll alone would do me in completely! At least one by each.

Paul - You missed me as we cross posted earlier, but I want you to know that I liked your review of Life. I am trying to hold out for the audio as Lucy, Judy and Mark really enjoyed the audio and it seems like it would shine in that medium. Hope your weekend was fun even though you didn't choose to karaoke with the ladies!

Ah, one by each -- I'd definitely be up for that.

Mamie - ooops sorry - I pride myself on answering every post but you're right I missed you there! Hahaha I think SWMBO has heard Tell Laura I Lover Her, Jealous Guy, Let it Be Me, Always on my Mind, Don't and That's Amore enough times already!

Reba - You will of course be most welcome to join in with Linda (92007) and I.

I almost cried when I finished the audiobook of LIFE - sigh - even if you don't listen to the whole audiobook that last chapters (say a disk or two) are read by Keef himself and you simply DO NOT want to miss that joy. I really wasn't up on his more recent work, so he did profit from me in the end (I had my audiobook from our local library). I like his stuff - lots more eclectic. Esp love some of the ballads.

I downloaded a bunch of free Kindle books this morning, but I can't say that they will match the literary quality of your haul, Paul. Some of the ones I downloaded were travel books. There's one cookbooks. There were a few mysteries, an introductory genealogy book that I wanted to review since it's free (although I personally would have no use for an introductory volume), and a few children's books that fit the subject categories of picture books that I tend to collect.

Doctor Faustus? Sure? I loved that one and for me it's among his best, but also the most difficult and lengthy one (and I read Magic Mountain and Joseph and His Brothers which are both much longer in page count).

Nice hauls, and great review for "Life". Since I read his approach to song texts I stopped trying to find sense in them.

Boell... I read 3 of his books. Loved 2, was bored to death by #3. No more Boells planned in my near future.

Keef is not much of a singer for me but is certainly a Riff-Master as he fondly describes himself, but the entire Stones canon including their various attempts at solo albums all have plenty of jewels amongst them.

Lori - I like a nice mix of stuff and Morpurgo and Parsons are hardly high lit! All this free download stuff sounds interesting I must say - It would save me a lot of money not being such a dinosaur.

Nathalie - getting keyed up for the final (I'll be staying up for it btw)?
Liked the cover of the Mann if truth be known - the selection was no more or no less scientific than that? Read sufferingly Boll's Billiards at Half-Past Nine last year and thankfully don't have to add him separately.

I agree with Deern (217) about Doctor Faustus -- I found it the most difficult Mann I've read (and I'm sure I missed a lot). Joseph and His Brothers is much longer, and complex, but much more readily understandable.

Rebecca - I have made my bed I suppose - I may pleasantly surprise myself, but if you found it difficult then heaven help me!

If you know more about music than I do, you will get more out of it.

Let's see; it does looks a little imposing I must say and my experience of German writers (Hesse and Boll particularly) has been a difficult one so far. I do love music and if that helps me a little I'll take it.

Hi Paul, glad you enjoyed life by Keith Richards, i have it on my pile to be read and am looking forward to reading it. Hope you are well and the weather is ok, by the sounds of things we are to have unsettled weather all through the summer (what summer). The flooding up and down the country is horrendous, last week Hebden Bridge and Todmorden had a months worth of rain in four hours and lots of houses and businesses were ruined, am not sure if one of my favourite secondhand bookshops suffered, i mainly go for Wisdens, Yorkshire cricket yearbooks and the pocket Playfairs but have also picked up some good fiction and non-fiction there. Then the north of england and south scotland was hit badly with both the west and east coast mainlines shut down completely, just don't know what's happening here at the moment. On the plus side England have beaten Australia in the first two ODI's of a five match series and Yorkshire beat Lancashire in the 20/20 at Headingley on friday, it doesn't get much better for a Yorkie at the moment. Bye for now.

John - The cricket team is doing well by the looks of it. Disappointed that Johnny Bairstow didn't grab his chance but England's loss is Yorkshire's gain I suppose. My beloved Leeds United seem to be closing in on finally having someone with money at the helm and this may take us back where we belong.
Saw the news about the rainfall and I hope your bookshop survived problems. Those small pennine towns are favourites of mine and I love to potter around them when I come home for three weeks or so every other year.
Nice to "see" you over here and I'll catch up over at yours soon.

Paul - I don't think it will be long before Jonny Bairstow nails down a permanent place in the England team, he's had a taste and now knows what it takes to succeed at that level, as for the tribulations at Elland Road i think things will be sorted out by the end of the week, the sooner Ken Bates leaves the better, he thinks they can be a top premier league team but won't put his hand in his pocket to sign decent players. If he were to stay i would imagine Warnock would leave by christmas if he couldn't sign anybody decent in the current transfer window and then knew there would be no money for the January window. Hopefully Yorkshire will get to the knock-out stages of the 20/20, they are currently top of their group with three games to play and then keep the form going when the four-day game recommences to get promoted from the 2nd division.

Hi Paul, great review of Life which is shaping up to be one of my top reads (listens) of the year. I don't know why but I was also surprised at how articulate he is as well, I guess we all thought he had burned his brains out with the drugs.

A couple of years ago I was hoping Adam Lyth might get his chance and he's struggled a little of late and we also have Joe Root of course who seems like one for the future and Ballance whose average is Graeme Hick like. It is looking good for the future of Yorkshire cricket and I think Gale is doing a grand job as skipper. Warnock has a habit of being shown the door by new owners - I hope he gets a chance to be honest as I like his passion and his teamtalks (when videoed) are classics.

Paul, I can always count on you to say all the right things to me and make me feel better. But 55 posts in TWO days??? And then I wonder why I have such a hard time keeping up with everybody. Sheesh.

You've been doing some great haulin' in my absence I see. I got Mister Pip ages ago as had seen it got lots of positive feedback, but then decided I'd better wait till I read Great Expectations before getting to it. Read Dickens' book last year, so now it's just a matter of time before I get to Jones' book sometime this year.

All the praise about Life has my cynical edge rearing it's ugly head. Mind you, I have the (audio)book on my tbr too, also in part because of Lucy's enthusiastic writeup, but seeing you and Caro use the word "articulate" when referring to this Stoner has me thinking "Ghostwriter" very loudly...

Mamie, you too always have a way with words and making me feel good. Between you and Paul, I feel like I finally have found my godparents here on LT (wan't baptized so never had any) though of course you are both far too young to actually be parents of mine, godly or otherwise! :-)

Great, I'd love to. Sounds like you're going to make a list of Nobel winners so perhaps I"ll wait for that and then go from there. Have you two set yourselves a time-line?

Hopelessly behind, but stopping by to say gidday, Paul. We're having a wonderful time in Oz.

Pretty light vacation reading in general. Zoo Station lived up to its LT accolades, and I'll look forward to reading more John Russell adventures.

>197 PaulCranswick: Wow. I think that someone needs a new belt...

Ooooh, McTeague! I've had that forever and keep meaning to get to it. I have a few of his other novels too. Nice review of Life, by the way.

Ilana - I am a closet cynic too but resoundingly positive reviews (I haven't seen a bad one of Life) are normally an indicator that it will be good! Age notwithstanding not sure I'm Godparent material as I was un-baptised so to speak but I appreaciate the sentiment and would certainly try to live up to the role if called upon!

Reba - Linda I think has, but I haven't yet. I'll make the list see how many gaps I have to fill and then figure how to go about it.

Joe - appreciate your stopping off whilst cutting a swathe through Oz. The "Stations" series promises to be a great one judging by the first one which I thought excellent. Look forward to loads of shots of your trip when you get back to the windy city.

Darryl - Hahaha it is not the first time I've had to let the pants out a bit. I remember your enthusiasm on Transtromer last year and am looking forward to chewing on his similies.

Kerri - McTeague looks like something I will like after reading the first few paras in the shop.

Almost done with updating the reading league. It is a shame that "contenders" such as Luci and Dejah are not updated but c'est la vie. Hope to post it up soon. I've about 30 out of 172 to update.

Well since you're compiling the reading league, I may as well tell you that I'll be finishing my 92nd book tonight when I go walk Coco (Any Human Heart on audio). Just thought I'd help you make your stats that much more accurate! ;-)

Well here is the Reading League updated. Apologies to those who haven't updated and for any mistakes made. Would welcome updates from those if my calculations are wrong. I am in danger of not reading 100 books in a year for the first ever. (note to self - get a move one). I have increased Richards score because of "orphaned books" read although I'll admit I don't know what he means. Emilie would top the chart if she included easy reads with "Books read".

1 Suzanne 218
2 Susan (suslyn) 170
3 Morphy 154
4 kathy (kmartin) 129
5 Brenda (brenpike) 116
6 Foggidawn 114
7 Lori (Thornton) 111
8 Dejah 110
9 Emilie (alsvidur) 108
10 Anne (AnneDC) 105
11 Kerry 105
12 Amber 103
13 Heather 99
14 Luci (Elkidee) 96
15 Rachel (TheHibernator) 96
16 Richard 96
17 Judy (Delta Queen) 94
18 Kim (lilkim) 93
19 Ilana 91
20 Jeremy (JBD1) 89
21 Cyrel (torontoc) 88
22 Jenn (Nittnut) 88
23 kkunker 88
24 Roni 88
25 Melis (kassilim) 87
26 Carrie (cbl_tn) 86
27 Cynara 85
28 Terri (tloeffler) 84
29 Caro 82
30 Tina (tututhefirst) 82
31 Calm 82
32 Mary (storeettlr) 81
33 Paulo (hugehorrorfan) 79
34 Susan J 79
35 LauraBrook 78
36 James (Eyejaybee) 77
37 Karen O. 77
38 Blue 75
39 Kath 75
40 Nathalie 75
41 Karenmarie 74
42 Kerry (cdvicarage) 74
43 Chelle 73
44 Liz (Lyzard) 72
45 Mark 72
46 Beth 71
47 Ellen (kittenfish) 71
48 Cindy (Countrylife) 70
49 Linda (alaskabookworm) 69
50 Mamie 67
51 Cheli (cyderry) 64
52 Lucy (Sibyx) 64
53 Darryl 63
54 Genny 63
55 Micky 63
56 Fuzzi 62
57 Joe 62
58 Amy (PorchReader) 61
59 swynn 61
60 Becca (seasonoflove) 60
61 Deseree (goddesspt2) 60
62 Kathy (archerygirl) 60
63 Linda (Whisper) 60
64 Dee 59
65 Faith (Dk_Phoenix) 59
66 Jim (drneutron) 59
67 Paul (paulstalder) 59
68 Donna 57
69 Rosalita 57
70 Terri (tymfos) 57
71 Carol (sugarcreekranch) 54
72 Susie (susiesharp) 53
73 Kelly (Violet Bramble) 52
74 Luxx 52
75 Randy 51
76 Rebecca (Rebeccanyc) 51
77 Janet (Streamsong) 50
78 Kerri (DorsVenabili) 50
79 Linda (Lindapanzo) 50
80 Mike (mldavis) 50
81 Orlaith (ominogue) 50
82 Stasia 50
83 Ellen 49
84 Gail 49
85 Kara 49
86 Katie 49
87 Deborah (arubabookwoman) 48
88 Monica (justjoey) 48
89 Paul 48
90 Charlotte (fourpawz2) 47
91 Tui (Tiffin) 47
92 Unrulysun 47
93 Judy (ffortsa) 46
94 Kriti 46
95 Markon 46
96 Valerie 46
97 Carrie (cal8769) 45
98 Marcia 45
99 Mary (bell7) 45
100 Peggy 45
101 Anne (AMQS) 44
102 Jenny (Lunacat) 44
103 Angela (bookangel) 43
104 Cariola 43
105 Linda (Laytonwoman3rd) 43
106 Lori (Ikernagh) 43
107 Lynda (Carmenere) 43
108 Joanne 42
109 Megan 42
110 Reba (chataquan) 42
111 Steve (sclvad) 42
112 Anita (FAMeulstee) 41
113 Bonnie 41
114 Nora 41
115 Deb 40
116 Marie (mbellerose) 39
117 Katherine (qebo) 38
118 Laura (lycomayflower) 38
119 Kathy (persephone) 37
120 Piyush 37
121 Rhian (SandDune) 37
122 Stephen (TomKitten) 37
123 Tammy (tjblue) 37
124 Sara (Saraslibrary) 36
125 Leonie 35
126 Ellie (mirrordrum) 34
127 Sandy (sjmccreary) 34
128 sandykaypax 34
129 Leah (atlargeintheworld) 33
130 Tad 33
131 Brenda (Beeg) 32
132 casvelyn 32
133 Claudia 32
134 Katelism 32
135 Karen (maggie1944) 31
136 Sarah (beserene) 31
137 Stephen Ape 31
138 Ellie 30
139 Ren (jadebird) 30
140 Samantha 30
141 Alex (roundballnz) 29
142 Bekka 29
143 BJ (billiejean) 28
144 Laura 28
145 Linda (Linda92007) 28
146 Zoe 28
147 Kim (Berly) 27
148 Madeline 27
149 Cushla 25
150 Pat (phebj) 24
151 ursula 24
152 Becky (labwriter) 23
153 Brit 23
154 Nancy 23
155 Porua 23
156 Callia 22
157 Caroline McElwee 22
158 Hannah (HanGerg) 21
159 Monica (mskeens) 21
160 Carsten 20
161 Cerie (Cerievans 1) 20
162 Eris 20
163 Jenny (gcpl) 18
164 Caty (CatyM) 16
165 JUDE 15
166 Michelle (mks) 13
167 Jenn (jmaloney17) 12
168 Lisa (kiwiflowa) 12
169 Prue 12
170 Jonah 11
171 Tom (ty1997) 10
172 Jeanne (jeanned) 7

Ilana - we crossed but since it should be the month's end list I'll live with the slight inaccuracy!

What?! I've slid down to 19th?? I'd better get a move on too, but alack, have more fat books ahead of me this month.

Ilana - don't worry you are still top 7 in the posing league coming soon.

Impossible! My thread has slowed down to a crawl these past couple of months. I'm sure you're fudging the figures to my advantage you sneaky devil!

I'm there to be audited hahaha - you have dropped one place back to 7th as Stephen has come back and passed you.

Half way through the year and here is the posting league for those interested. The mover in the second quarter would be Mamie of course (6th in the quarter) I'll put up the quarter results next.
160 over a hundred posts on their threads.

1 Paul 4633
2 Richard 4331
3 Kath 4193
4 Joe 3772
5 Mark 3436
6 Stephen 2516
7 Ilana 2513
8 Claudia 2381
9 Darryl 2311
10 Donna 1851
11 Caro 1794
12 Amber 1728
13 Megan 1661
14 Lucy (Sibyx) 1659
15 Mamie 1631
16 Chelle 1619
17 Ellen 1528
18 Bonnie 1526
19 Suzanne 1510
20 Roni 1226
21 Peggy 1224
22 Stasia 1164
23 Terri (tymfos) 1136
24 Linda (Whisper) 1111
25 Judy (Delta Queen) 1095
26 Jude 1081
27 Deb 946
28 Lynda (Carmenere) 910
29 Micky 906
30 Sara (Saraslibrary) 896
31 Joanne 895
32 Heather 872
33 Calm 867
34 Luxx 831
35 Katie 798
36 Nora 780
37 Morphy 728
38 Nathalie 717
39 Linda (Lindapanzo) 697
40 Gail 673
41 Dee 662
42 Pat (phebj) 627
43 Anne (AnneDC) 618
44 Kara 604
45 Kerry 600
46 Kerri (DorsVenabili) 583
47 Cushla 566
48 Laura 566
49 Nancy 565
50 Genny 560
51 Jim (drneutron) 533
52 Anne (AMQS) 526
53 Faith (Dk_Phoenix) 523
54 Lori (Thornton) 519
55 Anita (FAMeulstee) 497
56 Madeline 495
57 Brit 493
58 Leah 488
59 Liz (Lyzard) 488
60 Kim (Berly) 479
61 Katherine (qebo) 474
62 Beth 472
63 Tina (tututhefirst) 470
64 Tui (Tiffin) 466
65 Ellie 443
66 Zoe 421
67 Dejah 401
68 Rhian 401
69 Eris 400
70 Rachel (TheHibernator) 399
71 Amy (PorchReader) 398
72 Karenmarie 367
73 Sarah (beserene) 363
74 Jenn (Nittnut) 352
75 Kathy (archerygirl) 346
76 Judy (ffortsa) 340
77 Becky (labwriter) 332
78 Terri (tloeffler) 330
79 Mary (bell7) 327
80 Leonie 325
81 Marie (mbellerose) 317
82 Carsten 310
83 Foggidawn 304
84 Carrie (cbl_tn) 301
85 Cheli (cyderry) 295
86 Brenda (brenpike) 294
87 LauraBrook 282
88 Unrulysun 281
89 Rebecca 280
90 Mary (storeettlr) 276
91 Linda (Layton3rd) 274
92 Blue 265
93 Linda (Linda92007) 262
94 Susan J 254
95 Ellen (kittenfish) 248
96 Karen (maggie1944) 246
97 sandykaypax 234
98 Cindy (Countrylife) 233
99 Carrie (cal8769) 226
100 Rosalita 224
101 Janet (Streamsong) 220
102 Becca (seasonoflove) 219
103 Fuzzi 219
104 Cynara 209
105 Lori (Ikernagh) 208
106 Alex (roundballnz) 202
107 Angela (bookangel) 192
108 Katelism 191
109 Karen O. 184
110 Kriti 181
111 Laura (lycomayflower) 176
112 Piyush 174
113 Stephen (TomKitten) 174
114 Cyrel (torontoc) 173
115 Jenny (Lunacat) 173
116 Bekka 172
117 swynn 168
118 Tammy (tjblue) 168
119 Ren (jadebird) 167
120 Markon 166
121 Mike (mldavis) 162
122 kkunker 159
123 Valerie 157
124 Kathy (persephone) 154
125 Sandy (sjmccreary) 154
126 Kim (lilkim) 153
127 Susan (suslyn) 153
128 Hannah (HanGerg) 150
129 Monica (justjoey) 150
130 Tad 149
131 Steve (sclvad) 148
132 Prue 147
133 kathy (kmartin) 146
134 Tom (ty1997) 145
135 Melis (kassilim) 142
136 Samantha 142
137 Reba 140
138 Porua 139
139 Emilie (alsvidur) 138
140 Paul (paulstalder) 136
141 Susie (susiesharp) 133
142 Luci (Elkidee) 132
143 Carol (sugarcreek) 130
144 Jeremy (JBD1) 130
145 Paulo (Hugehorrorfan) 127
146 Deborah 124
147 Randy 124
148 Brenda (Beeg) 123
149 Monica (mskeens) 122
150 Charlotte (fourpawz2) 120
151 James (Eyejaybee) 117
152 Cariola 115
153 Lisa (kiwiflowa) 114
154 Kerry (CDVicarage) 112
155 Marcia 112
156 BJ (billiejean) 108
157 Michelle (mks) 107
158 ursula 106
159 Guy (someguy) 102
160 Jenny (gcpl) 102

Well, the "other" Ellen (kittenfish) has read a lot more than me, but I'm still ahead of her in posts. :-|

Paul, I'm waaaaay behind, but I do love your haul (up there about 70 posts or so) and I also want to say that I think you may have made the right decision to skip the karaoke. Maybe.

I sense a Harold Pinter marathon coming up......

Wow, Paul, we sure are a busy group! You do a great job keeping track. And even though I hadn't updated my ticker, you still got my book count correct!

Hope the week ahead treats you right.

I'm #69 - hooray! *does happy chicken dance*

By the way, Paul, I'm curious as to how you collect this data. Do you go to every single thread and see how many books they have AND check to see how many posts each person has? If you do, that is mind boggling! O_o

I went over to Linda's thread and found she has a link to a list of Nobel Prize winners. Also read that she expects it to take her years...which made me feel better because I'm quite sure it will take me years. Looking down the list I find I've read at least one book from 6 of the authors and I have Pearl Buck's Pulitzer winner in my TBR stack. My book club has selected a Gunter Grass book for later this year. Pretty small start on a list of 104. Oh well, that just means there's so much more to enjoy :-)

Ellen - We could have a separate competitions just for Ellens of course!

Joanne - hope the fires are doused. It is always nice to know that I've got the figures right once in a while. Wishing you the very best with your week too.

Eris - I was also surprised I had held onto 87th place in the reading list!
I must admit that the way I do the reading list is by visiting everyone's thread and trying to make head or tail of how we all variously keep records. The posting league is far easier to keep up with surprisingly enough.

Reba - I would expect to finish mine in 2014 - let's see!

Paul - I updated my ticker to the 82 I have read before the end of June yesterday morning, guess you must have compiled the stats just before I did so:( Oh well it will all add up eventually.

Hope you are having a great day and that was an amazing book haul.

Good luck with the Nobel challenge.

Calm - thanks for the info - I have edited this already.

Getting ready for the Nobel Challenge with Linda (her idea) and Reba.

Have checked my records and shelves and find:

108 people have been awarded the Nobel as at 2011

I have read work by 35 of them already
I have works by a further 29 on my shelves (although the Simon, Rolland, Bunin and Mauriac I couldn't find yesterday)
I have a further 44 winners to track down work from.
The year given is the year that the writer won the prize.

NOBEL CHALLENGE

NOBEL WINNERS READ WITH FAVOURITE WORK READ SO FAR:
2009 The Appointment by Herta Muller
2007 The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing
2006 Snow by Orhan Pamuk
2003 The Master of Petersburg by J.M.Coetzee
2001 A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
1998 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago
1995 Station Island by Seamus Heaney
1994 A Quiet Life by Kenzaburo Oe
1991 July's People by Nadine Gordimer
1988 Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
1987 On Grief and Reason by Joseph Brodsky
1983 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1982 A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1976 Herzog by Saul Bellow
1972 Billiards at Half-Past Nine by Heinrich Boll
1970 Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1964 The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
1962 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
1961 Bridge On the Drina by Ivo Andric
1958 Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
1957 The Plague by Albert Camus
1955 The Atom Station by Halldor Laxness
1954 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
1953 History of the English Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill
1949 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
1948 The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
1947 The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide
1946 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
1938 The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
1932 A Man of Property by John Galsworthy
1930 Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
1925 Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw
1923 Collected Poems by W.B. Yeats
1921 And the Gods Will Have Blood by Anatole France
1907 Kim by Rudyard Kipling

UNREAD NOBEL WINNERS ON THE SHELVES

2011 The Half-Finshed Heaven by Tomas Transtromer
2010 The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
2008 The Interrogation by J.M.G. Le Clezio
2005 The Caretaker by Harold Pinter
2004 The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
2002 Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz
2000 Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
1999 The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
1993 Jazz by Toni Morrison
1992 Collected Poems 1948-1984 by Derek Walcott
1990 The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz
1986 Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka
1985 Flanders Road by Claude Simon
1981 Auto de Fe by Elias Canetti
1978 The Family Moskat by Isaac Bashevis Singer
1973 Voss by Patrick White
1969 Molloy by Samuel Beckett
1968 Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
1965 And Slowly Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov
1952 The Desert of Love by Francois Mauriac
1950 A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
1937 Jean Barois by Roger Martin du Gard
1936 The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill
1933 The Village by Ivan Bunin
1929 Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann
1920 Hunger by Knut Hamsun
1915 Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland
1913 He (Shey) by Rabindranath Tagore
1905 Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

altogether 32 for the weekend

I am speechless. Thats a lot of books!
Your lists alone have made me feel a mite faint...

Great Nobel lists, Paul. We aren't too far apart on the starting point and have read many of the same authors. But you have many more winners waiting on the shelves than I do, although I did download several to my Kindle last night - 3 by Henryk Sienkiewicz (they were free) and 1 Kristin Lavransdatter.

I would expect to finish mine in 2014 That's certainly ambitious. I am not setting any kind of time-frame and expect to be trailing behind you. The fact that I intend to re-read some already on my list, and more than one by authors I like, will also slow my progress.

But you will have already done the hard work of finding those obscure early winners and I could probably make a deal with SWMBO to surreptitiously ship them all to me, postage reimbursed of course. She would probably be glad to have them out of the house and you'll think you have simply misplaced them in your ever-growing piles.

ETA: A correction to my message above. Kristin Lavransdatter is the name of the book, Sigrid Undset is the author.

Kath - I had to liven up a fairly quiet weekend here and it is always possible to buy a glut of books brazenly as SWMBO will keep schtum in front of her buddies!

Linda - I'm sure we could work out ways to do a few swaps along the way. I will also read most of the ones that I have already done if you know what I mean - I have books by Coetzee, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Lewis, Naipaul, Gordimer and several others that I will want to include. Do we get a bonus for those!?

Thanks for the updates on our 'stats' - I'm always amazed by them!

I've read 23 of the books in your Nobel section -- although I've read OTHER books by many of the winners, and one or two, I know I read, but since I can't remember them at all they can't really count.....

Hello There.

May and June were a blur of traveling and activity for me. It sounds like you are doing your share of traveling as well.

Your opening photos are always so stunning! I feel as though I'm traveling with you.

Regarding your statement "I don't read enough YA fiction.", I've mentioned before that I read a lot of YA. One of our 75 challenge members (Anita) hooked me on this genre back in 2008 when our group began. I've read so very many excellent YA books since then.

All good wishes to you~

Lucy - I was pleasantly surprised that I had done 35 already.

Linda - nice to see you over here again - I vicariously enjoyed some of your travels and your meet-up over at your thread. Switching a little with the next thread onto one of my favourite subjects when I will start introducing my favourite restaurants in Malaysia. There are plenty of serious YA readers here aren't there? Kerry was the one who probably tweaked my interest the most with the genre.