kidzdoc is cutting down the mountain of unread books in 2012: part 15

Unknown photographer, The Strand, London, 1939










Currently reading:



The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China by Julia Lovell
Domestic Work by Natasha Trethewey

Completed books:

January:
1. Volcano by Shusaku Endo (review)
2. False Friends: Book Two by Ellie Malet Spradbery (review)
3. A Disease Apart: Leprosy in the Modern World by Tony Gould (review)
4. Best Mets: Fifty Years of Highs and Lows from New York's Most Agonizingly Amazin' Team by Matthew Silverman (review)
5. Walkabout by James Vance Marshall (review)
6. Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (review)
7. Letter from the Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
8. Mister Blue by Jacques Poulin (review)
9. Stained Glass Elegies by Shusaku Endo (review)
10. Botchan (Master Darling) by Natsume Soseki (review)
11. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
12. Guadalajara by Quim Monzó (review)

February:
13. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
14. Erasure by Percival Everett
15. Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?: What It Means to Be Black Now by Touré
16. Memed, My Hawk by Yashar Kemal
17. India Becoming: A Portrait of Life in Modern India by Akash Kapur (review)
18. The Three-Cornered World by Natsume Soseki
19. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor
20. Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
21. The Golden Country by Shusaku Endo
22. The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi

March:
23. Professor Andersen's Night by Dag Solstad
24. Amsterdam Stories by Nescio
25. Your New Baby: A Guide to Newborn Care by Roy Benaroch, MD (review)
26. Fragile Beginnings: Discoveries and Triumphs in the Newborn ICU by Adam Wolfberg, MD (review)
27. There but for the by Ali Smith
28. The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle
29. When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks by Harvey Araton (review)
30. Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit by Michael Rudman (review)
31. Suffer the Children: Flaws, Foibles, Fallacies and the Grave Shortcomings of Pediatric Care by Peter Palmieri (review)
32. Tonight No Poetry Will Serve by Adrienne Rich

April:
33. Little Misunderstandings of No Importance by Antonio Tabucchi
34. One with Others by C.D. Wright (review)
35. The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro by Antonio Tabucchi (review)
36. Boundaries by Elizabeth Nunez (review)
37. Panther Baby by Jamal Joseph (review)
38. The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq
39. Waifs and Strays by Micah Ballard (review)
40. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris (review)
41. Natural Birth by Toi Derricotte (review)
42. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (review)
43. Thirst by Andrei Gelasimov (review)
44. When I Was a Poet by David Meltzer (review)
45. Book of My Mother by Albert Cohen (review)
46. The Lepers of Molokai by Charles Warren Stoddard

May:
47. Colonoscopy for Dummies ~ Special Edition by Kathleen A. Doble
48. Map of the Invisible World by Tash Aw
49. A Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer
50. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
51. The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa (review)
52. The Line by Olga Grushin
53. What Is Amazing by Heather Christle
54. Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding
55. The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
56. The Treasures of Destiny by Laurie Harman Wilson
57. Confusion by Stefan Zweig
58. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick
59. The Undertaker's Daughter by Toi Derricotte

June:
60. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable
61. The Patient Survival Guide: 8 Simple Solutions to Prevent Hospital- and Healthcare-Associated Infections by Dr. Maryanne McGuckin
62. Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye
63. Scenes from Early Life by Philip Hensher (review)
64. The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History by V.S. Naipaul (not completed)

July:
65. God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet (review)
66. Being Sam Frears: A Life Less Ordinary by Mary Mount (review)
67. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (review)
68. The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease by Michael Bliss (review)
69. The Earth in the Attic by Fady Joudah
70. Pure by Timothy Mo (review)
71. Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Natasha Trethewey (review)
72. My Michael by Amos Oz
73. Popular Hits of the Showa Era by Ryu Murakami (review)
74. Subduction by Todd Shimoda
75. Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems by Ghassan Zaqtan
76. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (review)
77. The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God and Other Stories by Etgar Keret (review)
78. Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou
79. I Was an Elephant Salesman by Pap Khouma

August:
80. Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz (review)
81. Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney
82. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
83. The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle (review)
84. Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
85. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
86. Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
87. The Yips by Nicola Barker
88. Silence by Shusaku Endo (review)
89. Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle (review)
90. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (review)
91. Friendly Fire by A.B. Yehoshua

September:
92. The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín
93. The Same Sea by Amos Oz
94. Circulation: William Harvey's Revolutionary Idea by Thomas Wright
95. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
96. Another London by Helen Delaney
97. London's Overthrow by China Miéville
98. Philida by André Brink
99. The Guardians by Sarah Manguso (review)
100. As Though She Were Sleeping by Elias Khoury
101. Thrall by Natasha Trethewey
102. Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie

October:
103. Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
104. Indian Nocturne by Antonio Tabucchi

Books acquired in 2012: (books in bold are ones that I have purchased this year)

January:
1. Best Mets: Fifty Years of Highs and Lows from New York's Most Agonizingly Amazin' Team by Matthew Silverman (2 Jan; LT Early Reviewer book) √
2. The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq (3 Jan; Kindle purchase) √
3. The Lepers of Molokai by Charles Warren Stoddard (7 Jan; free Kindle download) √
4. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (8 Jan; gift book)
5. Walkabout by James Vance Marshall (8 Jan; NYRB Book Club) √
6. There but for the by Ali Smith (9 Jan; ordered from Alibris 30 Jan) √
7. I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki (9 Jan; ordered from Alibris 30 Jan)
8. The Samurai by Shusaku Endo (9 Jan; ordered from Alibris 30 Jan)
9. Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima ((9 Jan; ordered from Alibris 30 Jan)
10. Coin Locker Babies by Ryu Murakami (9 Jan; ordered from Alibris 30 Jan)
11. Black Talk, Blue Thoughts, and Walking the Color Line: Dispatches from a Black Journalista by Erin Aubry Kaplan (10 Jan; LT Early Reviewer book)
12. Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell (11 Jan; ordered from Strand Book Store on 27 Dec)
13. Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima (11 Jan; ordered from Strand Book Store on 27 Dec)
14. The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima (11 Jan; ordered from Strand Book Store on 27 Dec)
15. The Golden Country by Shusaku Endo (11 Jan; ordered from Strand Book Store on 27 Dec) √
16. Deep River by Shusaku Endo (11 Jan; ordered from Strand Book Store on 27 Dec)
17. Letter from the Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. (15 Jan; free download) √

February:
18. Panther Baby by Jamal Joseph (2 Feb; free ARC) √
19. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (4 Feb; NYRB Book Club) √
20. Class War?: What Americans Really Think about Economic Inequality by Benjamin I. Page (10 Feb; free e-book from U of Chicago Press)
21. India Becoming: A Portrait of Life in Modern India by Akash Kapur (15 Feb; LT Early Reviewer book) √
22. Amsterdam Stories by Nescio (29 Feb; NYRB Book Club) √

March:
23. Your new baby: A guide to newborn care by Roy Benaroch (6 Mar; free Kindle download) √
24. Fragile Beginnings: Discoveries and Triumphs in the Newborn ICU by Adam Wolfberg, MD (11 Mar; Kindle purchase) √
25. The Irish Americans: A History by Jay P. Dolan (17 Mar; Kindle purchase)
26. The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God & Other Stories by Etgar Keret (17 Mar; partial book purchase from Barnes & Noble gift order)
27. The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen (17 Mar; Barnes & Noble gift order)
28. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (17 Mar; Barnes & Noble gift order) √
29. Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now--As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It, and Long for It by Craig Taylor (17 Mar; Barnes & Noble gift order)
30. The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright (17 Mar; iBooks order)
31. When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks by Harvey Araton (20 Mar; Kindle gift book) √
32. Assumption by Percival Everett (20 Mar; Kindle gift book)
33. The Barbarian Nurseries by Héctor Tobar (20 Mar; Kindle gift book)
34. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes (22 Mar; Kindle gift book)
35. The Man Within My Head by Pico Iyer (25 Mar; Kindle gift book)
36. Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit by Michael Rudman (25 Mar; borrowed book) √
37. Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete by Washington Irving (26 Mar; free Kindle download)
38. Suffer the Children: Flaws, Foibles, Fallacies and the Grave Shortcomings of Pediatric Care by Peter Palmieri (26 Mar; Kindle purchase) √

April:
39. Store of the Worlds: The Stories of Robert Sheckley (3 Apr; NYRB Book Club)
40. The King of Kahel by Tierno Monénembo (15 Apr; Kindle e-book)
41. The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations by Zhu Xiao-Mei (15 Apr; Kindle e-book)
42. The Greenhouse by Audur Ava Olafsdottir (15 Apr; Kindle e-book)
43. Thirst by Andrei Gelasimov (15 Apr; Kindle e-book) √
44. Book of My Mother by Albert Cohen (16 Apr; Archipelago Books 2011 subscription) √
45. My Struggle: Book One by Karl Ove Knausgaard (16 Apr; Archipelago Books 2011 subscription)
46. As Though She Were Sleeping by Elias Khoury (16 Apr; Archipelago Books 2011 subscription)
47. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick (17 Apr; Kindle e-book)
48. Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding (17 Apr; Kindle e-book)
49. Bleak House by Charles Dickens (22 Apr; free Kindle e-book)
50. Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye (28 Apr; Amazon UK order)

May:
51. A Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer (3 May; free e-book from the University of Chicago Press) √
52. Colonoscopy for Dummies ~ Special Edition by Kathleen A. Doble (3 May; free e-book) √
53. Foreign Studies by Shusaku Endo (6 May; Strand Book Store)
54. The Enormity of the Tragedy by Quim Monzó (6 May; Strand Book Store)
55. Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens (6 May; Strand Book Store)
56. The Coward's Tale by Vanessa Gebbie (6 May; Strand Book Store)
57. Trapeze by Simon Mawer (6 May; Strand Book Store)
58. HHhH by Laurent Binet (6 May; Strand Book Store)
59. The Undertaker's Daughter by Toi Derricotte (6 May; Strand Book Store)
60. What Is Amazing by Heather Christle (6 May; Strand Book Store)
61. Confusion by Stefan Zweig (8 May; NYRB Book Club) √
62. Scenes from Early Life by Philip Hensler (8 May; The Book Depository)
63. Pure by Timothy Mo (8 May; The Book Depository)
64. Capital by John Lanchester (19 May; The Book Depository)
65. A Mind of Winter by Shira Nayman (19 May; LibraryThing Early Reviewer book)
66. The Treasures of Destiny by Laurie Harman Wilson (20 May; ARC e-book) √
67. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro (21 May; History Book Club)
68. The Complete 2012 User's Guide to the Amazing Amazon Kindle by Stephen Windwalker and Bruce Grubbs (29 May; free Kindle e-book)
69. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif (30 May; Kindle e-book)
70. Last Orders by Graham Swift (30 May; gift book (J.N.))
71. The Patient Survival Guide: 8 Simple Solutions to Prevent Hospital- and Healthcare-Associated Infections by Dr. Maryanne McGuckin (31 May; LT Early Reviewer book)
72. Subduction by Todd Shimoda (31 May; LT Early Reviewer book)
73. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (31 May; Amazon UK)

June:
74. Ride a Cockhorse by Raymond Kennedy (4 June; NYRB Book Club)
75. London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd (26 June; City Lights Books)
76. Divorce Islamic Style by Amara Lakhous (26 June; City Lights Books)
77. Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Natasha Trethewey (26 June; City Lights Books)
78. Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou (26 June; City Lights Books)
79. Is Just a Movie by Earl Lovelace (26 June; City Lights Books)
80. Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems by Ghassan Zaqtan (26 June; City Lights Books)
81. The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease by Michael Bliss (26 June; City Lights Books)
82. The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa (26 June; City Lights Books)
83. God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet (26 June; City Lights Books)
84. The Earth in the Attic by Fady Joudah (26 June; City Lights Books)
85. Massacre River by René Philoctète (28 June; City Lights Books)
86. Manual of Painting and Calligraphy by José Saramago (28 June; City Lights Books)
87. I Was an Elephant Salesman by Pap Khouma (28 June; City Lights Books)
88. I Am a Japanese Writer by Dany Laferrière (28 June; City Lights Books)
89. Jim and Jap Crow: A Cultural History of 1940s Interracial America by Matthew M. Briones (28 June; City Lights Books)
90. McTeague by Frank Norris (30 June; free Kindle e-book)
91. Being Sam Frears: A Life Less Ordinary by Mary Mount (30 June; Penguin eSpecial)

July:
92. Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney (2 July; Books Inc.)
93. Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith (2 July; Books Inc.)
94. The Moon, Come to Earth: Dispatches from Lisbon by Philip Graham (2 July; University of Chicago Press free e-book)
95. Confessions of a Young Novelist by Umberto Eco (4 July; City Lights Books)
96. Missing Soluch by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi (4 July; City Lights Books)
97. Why Niebuhr Matters by Charles Lemert (4 July; City Lights Books)
98. Globalectics by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (4 July; City Lights Books)
99. Black in Latin America by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (4 July; City Lights Books)
100. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (6 July; Kindle download)
101. Always in Trouble: An Oral History of ESP-Disk', the Most Outrageous Record Label in America by Jason Weiss (6 July; City Lights Books)
102. Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot (6 July; City Lights Books)
103. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo (6 July; City Lights Books)
104. Inside by Alix Ohlin (6 July; City Lights Books)
105. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova (8 July; Kindle download)
106. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (9 July; NYRB Book Club)
107. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil (25 July; Kindle download)
108. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (25 July; Kindle download)
109. Skios by Michael Frayn (25 July; Kindle download)
110. Religio Medici and Urne-Buriall by Sir Thomas Browne (31 July; NYRB Book Club)

August:
111. The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle (7 August; LTER book)
112. Wheel with a Single Spoke and Other Poems by Nichita Stănescu (8 August; Archipelago Books subscription)
113. Prehistoric Times by Eric Chevillard (8 August; Archipelago Books subscription)
114. A Word Child by Iris Murdoch (10 August; Kindle download)
115. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy (10 August; The Book Depository)
116. The Teleportation Accident by Ned Bauman (11 August; AbeBooks)
117. The Yips by Nicola Barker (11 August; AbeBooks)
118. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (17 August; AbeBooks)
119. Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle (18 August; Kindle single)
120. Five Tales by John Galsworthy (19 August; free Kindle download)
121. Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld (19 August; Kindle e-book)
122. Editorial by Arthur Graham (22 August; free Kindle download)
123. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (23 August; free Kindle download)

September:
124. The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates (4 Sep; Kindle e-book)
125. sic by Joshua Cody (4 Sep; Kindle e-book)
126. No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses by Peter Piot (4 Sep; Kindle e-book)
127. The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer (4 Sep; Kindle e-book)
128. The Moral Molecule by Paul Zak (4 Sep; Kindle e-book)
129. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smolett (5 Sep; Kindle free e-book)
130. Old Town by Lin Zhe (7 Sep; Kindle free e-book)
131. The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H.G. Wells (9 Sep; Kindle free e-book)
132. Merivel: A Man of His Time by Rose Tremain (9 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
133. NW by Zadie Smith (9 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
134. Philida by André Brink (9 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
135. London's Overthrow by China Miéville (10 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
136. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore (10 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
137. Circulation: William Harvey, A Man in Motion by Thomas Wright (10 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
138. Umbrella by Will Self (10 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
139. Another London by Helen Delaney (13 Sep; Tate Britain Bookshop)
140. Life! Death! Prizes! by Stephen May (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
141. Hawthorn and Child by Keith Ridgway (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
142. Subhuman Redneck Poems by Les Murray (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
143. The Tree of Man by Patrick White (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
144. Voss by Patrick White (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
145. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China by Julia Lovell (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
146. The Guardians: An Elegy by Sarah Manguso (14 Sep; London Review Bookshop)
147. Lionel Asbo: State of England by Martin Amis (14 Sep; London Review Bookshop
148. Communion Town by Sam Thompson (18 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
149. Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie (18 Sep; London Review Bookshop)
150. The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
151. District and Circle by Seamus Heaney (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
152. Restoration by Rose Tremain (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
153. Mo Said She Was Quirky by James Kelman (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
154. The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
155. Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa (13 Sep; Foyles Bookshop)
156. Domestic Work by Natasha Trethewey (23 Sep; Barnes & Noble (Philadelphia))
157. Thrall by Natasha Trethewey (23 Sep; Barnes & Noble (Philadelphia))
158. Young Man with a Horn by Dorothy Baker (26 Sep; NYRB Book Club)

October:
159. Frommer's New Orleans (7 Oct; Kindle e-book)
160. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (9 Oct; NYRB Book Club)
161. Indian Nocturne by Antonio Tabucchi (9 Oct; Amazon)
162. No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey through the American South by Gary Younge (9 Oct; Amazon)
163. The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers by Gordon Weiss (9 Oct; LTER book)
164. The Odditorium: Stories by Melissa Pritchard (9 Oct; LTER freebie!)
165. The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan (11 Oct; Kindle e-book)
166. The Republic of Wine by Mo Yan (11 Oct; Kindle e-book)
167. Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh by Mo Yan (11 Oct; Kindle e-book)
168. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain (11 Oct; Kindle e-book)

TBR books read in 2012 (books on my shelf for ≥6 months):

1. A Disease Apart: Leprosy in the Modern World by Tony Gould
2. Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
3. Botchan (Master Darling) by Natsume Soseki
4. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
5. Guadalajara by Quim Monzó
6. Memed, My Hawk by Yashar Kemal
7. The Three-Cornered World by Natsume Soseki
8. Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
9. The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi
10. The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle
11. Little Misunderstandings of No Importance by Antonio Tabucchi
12. One with Others by C.D. Wright
13. The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro by Antonio Tabucchi
14. Waifs and Strays by Micah Ballard
15. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris
16. When I Was a Poet by David Meltzer
17. Map of the Invisible World by Tash Aw
18. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
19. The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa
20. The Line by Olga Grushin
21. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning
22. The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History by V.S. Naipaul
23. My Michael by Amos Oz
24. Popular Hits of the Showa Era by Ryu Murakami
25. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
26. Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz
27. Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
28. Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
29. Silence by Shusaku Endo
30. Friendly Fire by A.B. Yehoshua
31. The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín
32. The Same Sea by Amos Oz

Books purchased in 2012:

1. The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq √
2. Fragile Beginnings: Discoveries and Triumphs in the Newborn ICU by Adam Wolfberg, MD √
3. The Irish Americans: A History by Jay P. Dolan
4. The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God and Other Stories by Etgar Keret √
5. The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright √
6. Suffer the Children: Flaws, Foibles, Fallacies and the Grave Shortcomings of Pediatric Care by Peter Palmieri √
7. The King of Kahel by Tierno Monénembo
8. The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations by Zhu Xiao-Mei
9. The Greenhouse by Audur Ava Olafsdottir
10. Thirst by Andrei Gelasimov √
11. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick √
12. Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding √
13. Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye √
14. Foreign Studies by Shusaku Endo
15. The Enormity of the Tragedy by Quim Monzó
16. Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens
17. The Coward's Tale by Vanessa Gebbie
18. Trapeze by Simon Mawer
19. HHhH by Laurent Binet
20. The Undertaker's Daughter by Toi Derricotte √
21. What Is Amazing by Heather Christle √
22. Scenes from Early Life by Philip Hensler √
23. Pure by Timothy Mo √
24. Capital by John Lanchester
25. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro
26. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif
27. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel √
28. London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd
29. Divorce Islamic Style by Amara Lakhous
30. Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Natasha Trethewey √
31. Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou √
32. Is Just a Movie by Earl Lovelace
33. Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems by Ghassan Zaqtan √
34. The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease by Michael Bliss √
35. The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa
36.. God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet √
37. The Earth in the Attic by Fady Joudah √
38. Massacre River by René Philoctète
39. Manual of Painting and Calligraphy by José Saramago
40. I Was an Elephant Salesman by Pap Khouma √
41. I Am a Japanese Writer by Dany Laferrière
42. Jim and Jap Crow: A Cultural History of 1940s Interracial America by Matthew M. Briones
43. Being Sam Frears: A Life Less Ordinary by Mary Mount √
44. Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney
45. Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
46. Confessions of a Young Novelist by Umberto Eco
47. Missing Soluch by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
48. Why Niebuhr Matters by Charles Lemert
49. Globalectics by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
50. Black in Latin America by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
51. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
52. Always in Trouble: An Oral History of ESP-Disk', the Most Outrageous Record Label in America by Jason Weiss
53. Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot
54. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
55. Inside by Alix Ohlin
56. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova
57. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil √
58. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
59. Skios by Michael Frayn
60. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
61. The Yips by Nicola Barker
62. The Teleportation Accident by Ned Bauman
63. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
64. A Word Child by Iris Murdoch
65. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
66. The Teleportation Accident by Ned Bauman
67. The Yips by Nicola Barker
68. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
69. Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle
70. Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld
71. The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates
72. sic by Joshua Cody
73. No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses by Peter Piot
74. The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer
75. The Moral Molecule by Paul Zak
76. Merivel: A Man of His Time by Rose Tremain
77. NW by Zadie Smith
78. Philida by André Brink
79. London's Overthrow by China Miéville
80. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
81. Circulation: William Harvey, A Man in Motion by Thomas Wright
82. Umbrella by Will Self
83. Another London by Helen Delaney
84. Life! Death! Prizes! by Stephen May
85. Hawthorn and Child by Keith Ridgway
86. Subhuman Redneck Poems by Les Murray
87. The Tree of Man by Patrick White
88. Voss by Patrick White
89. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China by Julia Lovell
90. The Guardians: An Elegy by Sarah Manguso
91. Lionel Asbo: State of England by Martin Amis
92. Communion Town by Sam Thompson
93. Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie
94. The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon
95. District and Circle by Seamus Heaney
96. Restoration by Rose Tremain
97. Mo Said She Was Quirky by James Kelman
98. The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul
99. Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa
100. Domestic Work by Natasha Trethewey
101. Thrall by Natasha Trethewey
102. Frommer's New Orleans by Diana K. Schwam
103. Indian Nocturne by Antonio Tabucchi
104. No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey through the American South by Gary Younge
105. The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan
106. The Republic of Wine by Mo Yan
107. Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh by Mo Yan
108. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

Completed books from JanetinLondon's library and list of planned reads for 2012:

January:
1. Volcano by Shusaku Endo
2. Botchan by Natsume Soseki

February:
3. The Three-Cornered World by Natsume Soseki
4. Kokoro by Natsume Soseki

May:
5. The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa

July:
6. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz

August:
7. Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz
8. Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
9. Silence by Shusaku Endo

Planned reads for October:

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (Banned Books Week) - reading
*The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman (Booker Prize longlist)
*Communion Town by Sam Thompson (Booker Prize longlist)
*Skios by Michael Frayn (Booker Prize longlist)
*The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Booker Prize longlist)
The Vivisector by Patrick White (October group read for the Patrick White 100th Anniversary Challenge group)
To the End of the Land by David Grossman (third quarter Reading Globally theme)
Beijing Coma by Ma Jian (fourth quarter Reading Globally theme)
Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan (fourth quarter Reading Globally theme)
The Opium War by Julia Lovell (fourth quarter Reading Globally theme)
The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Yi (fourth quarter Reading Globally theme; LT Early Reviewer book)
Foreign Studies by Shusaku Endo (Author Theme Reads group)
When I Whistle by Shusaku Endo (Author Theme Reads group)
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima (Author Theme Reads group) - completed
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima (Author Theme Reads group)

* I may defer one or more of the Booker longlisted books until November, as I'll finish the shortlist after I read Umbrella.

Planned reads in November:

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (group read)
The Samurai by Shusaku Endo (Author Theme Reads)
Scandal by Shusaku Endo (Author Theme Reads)
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima (Author Theme Reads)
Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima (Author Theme Reads)
The Tree of Man by Patrick White (Patrick White 100th Anniversary Challenge)
Mao's Great Famine by Frank Dikötter (Reading Globally)
Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong (Reading Globally)
Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke (Reading Globally)
The Boat to Redemption by Su Tong (Reading Globally)

Planned reads in December:

Deep River by Shusaku Endo (Author Theme Reads)
The Final Martyrs by Shusaku Endo (Author Theme Reads)
The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima (Author Theme Reads)
The Decay of the Angel by Yukio Mishima (Author Theme Reads)
Voss by Patrick White (Patrick White 100th Anniversary Challenge)
The Woman Who Could Not Forget: Iris Chang Before and Beyond the Rape of Nanking- A Memoir by Ying-Ying Chang (Reading Globally)
Brothers by Yu Hua (Reading Globally)
Three Sisters by Bei Feiyu (Reading Globally)
Nanjing Requiem by Ha Jin (Reading Globally)

Looks like I'm the first! Lovely old-style busses on the Strand up there at the top: a nice reminder of your recent visit...

Welcome, Genny! Everyone else in the US is asleep, as they should be.

Right. That photo was in the Another London exhibition that I saw at the Tate Britain earlier this month, I believe. I gave the museum catalogue to my mother, so I can't verify that it was there, and I haven't yet found the photographer's name.

Good morning Daryll,

lovely new thread and another beautiful picture, and some very interesting reads you have planned there.

Morning Darryl! Are you still jet-lagged to be working on your thread at 3:00am? ;)

You're probably right about the cover being a photo. I got that information from a reviewer on Amazon and as much as I try, I can't verify it on the internet. I was rather shocked when the reviewer said it was a painting, because I can't imagine someone painting something so realistic. If The Vivisector weren't so long, I'd probably try to join in the discussion...it seems everyone is picking huge books for their October group reads!

Congrats on the new thread! Love the photo at the top. Have a great weekend, sir!

Glad to see you followed my request for old London photos as opposed to Paris. Feel free to put photos of other countries up, but Paris bores me to death for some reason. I have no idea why, and know I am probably a cultural idiot for it ;)

>8 drachenbraut23: Good afternoon, Bianca! I'd love to find out exactly where on The Strand that photo was taken, as it looks familiar. I would guess that it's close to Charing Cross Station, assuming that the bus is heading east toward Liverpool Street Station.

I'll almost certainly read more books in November and December than the ones I've already posted, but those are the ones I intend to read in those months. I posted those books mainly because I wanted to select which books I wanted to read for the upcoming Reading Globally challenge, as I own a dozen or more other novels based in China and neighboring countries that are on my TBR list. The four books by Yukio Mishima that I'll read in November and December are the ones in The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, which I've wanted to read for a while. I'll precede The Sea of Fertility by reading two of his most famous earlier books next month, Confessions of a Mask and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

>9 The_Hibernator: You would think so, Rachel, but I don't think I can claim to be jet lagged from either last week's trip from London to Philadelphia or Wednesday's far shorter flight from there to Atlanta. I haven't slept well since I arrived here on Wednesday, and I've been awake since just before 1 am, after going to sleep at ~9 pm. I need to get back on a normal sleep schedule today, as I go back to work tomorrow.

>10 msf59: Thanks, Mark. Have a great weekend and an enjoyable vacation!

>11 lunacat: I did take your threat request into consideration when I decided to use that photo, Jenny. I'm still eager to visit Paris, but a long train ride to Scotland with visits to Glasgow and Edinburgh interests me more.

Just checking in on the new thread before I get terribly behind again, Darryl :)

Darryl - congratulations on your latest thread and I trust that your asthma symptoms have cleared up now you are back on home turf.
Have a brilliant weekend.

>13 alcottacre: Good morning, Stasia!

>14 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. My asthma symptoms are nearly gone, although my lower airways are still a bit twitchy. I'll work from Sat-Wed, but I'll be off the following four days.

Your reading accomplishments, and goals, are amazing to me. I appreciate your sharing with us what you are up to, and I know I will be able to use your lists as a resource.

Welcome back to normal living, eh? I am one who goes to bed way too early and consequentially get up way early too. Last night I was in bed and fell right to sleep at 7:30, so I'm awake and pretty much up by 4:30 am. It does give me some great quiet time for catching up on LT.

Have a great Friday, and weekend!

You have some wonderful reading planned for the rest of the year, Darryl. I am truly jealous of fast readers. I never thought of myself as a plodder until I joined LT!

>16 maggie1944: Thanks, Karen! I'm happy to share my reading plans with all of you, and even happier that others are interested in what I read.

I'm not sure what happened yesterday. I should have taken an afternoon nap, which probably would have kept me from feeling so tired so early, and waking up at an impossible hour.

Have a great weekend!

>17 Linda92007: Thanks, Linda. I don't think of myself as a fast reader, but I do read far more than my colleagues at work and non-LT friends who are avid readers.

I learned a new Japanese word this morning, thanks to Rachael (FlossieT):



Of course, this word doesn't apply to me, not one bit.

>12 kidzdoc: I've had a copy of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion sitting on my TBR pile for years, so I'll be interested to hear your thoughts. Am I missing something? Is Japanese literature included in the China-and-neighboring-countries theme read?

>19 The_Hibernator: I'm reading The Temple of the Golden Pavilion for the Author Theme Reads group. Yukio Mishima is the mini-author for the fourth quarter of the year, and Shusaku Endo is the main author for the entire year.

>18 kidzdoc:. Tsundoku . . . I love that there is a word to describe this condition!

OMG - My Japanese nom-de-plume is busted! The Tsundoko Twins would probably fit the two of us mate.

Interesting discussion on lasik, etc. over on your previous thread. I've refused to have lasik because everyone I know who has had it has had difficulty with night vision afterwards. I'd rather wear glasses than have difficulty seeing at night while driving. Since I live an area without widespread public transportation and without any family nearby, night driving is essential.

18: Oh my, I was just beating myself up over my stacks of books on nearly every flat surface - I see there's a name for such an illness! Glad you are enjoying yourself in PA, Darryl!

>21 brenpike: It sounds very artistic...you may feel free to call me Master of Tsundoku.

>22 PaulCranswick: Konnichiwa, Head Master of Tsundoku!

>23 thornton37814: I had heard that as well, Lori. I'll often drive from work after sundown, particularly in the busy late fall to early spring months, so I wouldn't want any surgery that would cause difficulty with driving at night.

>24 LauraBrook: Hi, Laura! Actually I've been back in Atlanta since Wednesday, as I have to work this weekend.

#24 Tsundokuitis? Or do we just suffer from tsundoku? Doesn't really sound like it signifies the severity of the disease, without an -itis following it.

Chronic Tsundokuitis has a nice ring to it.

I think we are a tribe of Tsundoku. It is not an illness. It is a fine characteristic, preparing for days when we are free to do whatever!

Master of tsundoku! Sir tsundoku, displayer of tsundukouistic behaviour, for tsundokoitis, or a tsundokuitic tendancy, I prescribe: that's right, more reading!
Love it.

Master of Tsundoku, Just where DO you put all those purchases? I'm imagining enormous book shelves in your place. . . Or, like me, are they truly piled everywhere? : )

Adding to the eye discussion on your previous thread: I've worn glasses since 5th grade (needed them earlier actually), contact lenses for a long time, and then went back to glasses. Both are a hassle but I'm too much of a coward for Lasik. Here's some funny stuff about going to the eye doctor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8GMFkc3iSA

I think I have status tsundokuaticus - it's an intractable form of the disease. It was exacerbated by my lurking here on LibraryThing too long.

Darryl O Sensei Tsudoku ... is this how you meditate before you select your next read?

#31

Complete with detachable beard for the process ;)

#31+32 LOL

Lol! Loving the new term! :)

I've never seen the word LASIK before noticing it on this thread - in the UK we tend to just say laser eye surgery. I've noticed that on medical issues there is often quite a difference between UK and US usage. Recently I was watching 'House' which I missed when it was on originally and they were talking about an infection that sounded like 'merser'. Then they wrote it down and it was M.R.S.A. - we just spell out the letters.

I'm giving up on Umbrella for the time being. The story is an interesting one, but the Cockney language is difficult for me to follow, and I had to do a Google search on practically every other sentence to understand what Self was referring to. The time frame in the narrative shifts very abruptly, and the first one (from the early 1970s to the 1910s) wasn't separated by a paragraph or even a sentence break! His writing is brilliant, but I can only read this book in small doses to keep my brain from overheating. As the one person who has reviewed the book on LT mentioned, I suspect that middle aged Britons will have a far easier time with this book, due to the numerous references that I didn't get. I still plan to read this, but I'll put it off until the middle of next month, and hopefully finish it just before the prize announcement on the 16th. I can't see it finishing any higher than third on my Booker shortlist, so I'll go with this as my initial complete rank list:

1. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
2. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mntel
3. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
4. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
5. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
*6. Umbrella by Will Self

I had intended to write my review of Joseph Anton last night, but my brain was fried after spending several hours reading Umbrella. I have a long work day today, but I should be able to write it no later than tomorrow.

>26 lunacat:-29, 31-34 Yes...I think that we're all experienced practitioners of the art of tsundoku.

>30 avidmom: Thanks, avidmom. I'll watch that YouTube video later today or tomorrow.

>35 SandDune: I tend to use both terms, with the letters spelled out or the "mersuh" pronunciation, when I talk with parents. Most are more familiar with "mersuh" than "MRSA".

Darryl, I have Umbrella in my TBR pile - but so far I have not dared to try to read it. I love reading your list of what you hope/ plan to read! I'm afraid I'm not so bold - I always read about 40 - 50 pages into a book before I dare announce that I am reading a book. However, why not hold your books up that are auditioning for the next month?

Great job of reading so many Bookers!

>38 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deb!

Glad I'm not the only one who found Umbrella a bit of a slog. Happy Saturday O Working Stiff.

Working Stiff? I thought he was the Master of Tsundoku. Wishing you a pleasant first day back at work.

Hi Darryl, I am curious why you think the writing in Umbrella is brilliant, yet by your description it appears to be rather badly written. Or perhaps poorly translated.

Cockney in Umbrella huh? Rhyming slang? That stuff is hilarious. Never fails to get me laughing. I have a friend proficient in Rhyming Slang, impossible to understand all of it, but very very funny.

I second Deb in congratulating you on your fantastic Booker reading!

funny you reading Shusaku Endo been on my to read authors list for awhile, was planning to start with silence ....

Will Self has never been an easy read but stream of consciousness is not everyones thing, certainly not the easiest to read. but IMO the work you put in with Self is worthwhile - Umbrella is still sitting on my TBR bookshelf

Hi Darryl, I love that you're continuing on the photography theme. Also love that you've introduced us to a way to describe our condition in a single word: tsundoku. So clever! I'll repost on my blog, hope you don't mind (somehow I don't think you will).

I don't know when, but I'll definitely have to make room for The Garden of Evening Mists in the near future. It's been getting nothing but glowing reviews on LT, it seems. I'm supposed to be working on a drawing right now, so don't have time to poke around too much, but I did read the first paragraph of the Guardian review from August 24th, and if I hadn't already been sold on it by you, Suz and quite a few others, I would definitely want to read it:

"It is impossible to resist the opening sentence of this sumptuously produced, Booker-longlisted novel: "On a mountain above the clouds once lived a man who had been the gardener of the Emperor of Japan." "

Indeed.

Hi Darryl! What luck for me--your current thread is still new and therefore easy to catch up with. :)

I just read and starred your review of The Garden of Evening Mists. I have his earlier book but haven't read it and will most likely be buying TGoEM before I do. (tsundoku!)

I'm looking forward to seeing what you thought of Joseph Anton.

Darryl - As a middle-aged Brit I nevertheless have always found Will Self a slog and was a bit dumbfounded that his inaccessibility is often mistaken for genius. My fingers are crossed for a first Malaysian winner and I can see that your vote (if you had one) would be cast there.

Uh oh . . . The fact that you put Umbrella aside does not do much for my confidence in my ability to get through it! I had not planned to read it prior to it's inclusion on the short list and admit I'm intimidated by the reviews to date. However, I did order it, have it here, and will give it a go . . .

Hi Darryl,
because I thought Umbrella sounds very interesting from the topic - I had a short read in it (about 30 pages), yesterday at the bookstore. I agree with your assessment in post 36 - the language is a (bit) difficult. My son's relatives are Cockneys and still sort of use it, I wonder how Alex nan feels about the writing and definately will find out. However, I am very much aware that the book is set in East and North London at a time, where they spoke much more (mainly?) Cockney, but there can't be that many people out there who can read that without any problems.

#44: Silence is terrific IMHO, Alex. I hope you give it a shot!

Hey, Darryl!

Interesting thoughts about Umbrella... I didn't have that many problems with the Cockney slang yet (very surprisingly!), but with the references. And I decided to do what I did with Ulysses in the end - I see it as pretentiousness (is there a better word? this one is too negative) or maybe a special sort of humour and I simply refuse looking up all those things. Self wants us to do that, and I don't want to follow his 'how to read me' guidelines. I might lose some information, but this way I can better enjoy the flow of the language.

And just today I wrote on my thred about the time jumps within a sentence. That is an element I actually like so far, having to stop because I don't know anymore where I am.
I fully agree on the small doses and the 'brain overheating'. Maybe that's where my headache comes from?

Where did you stop?

Whee...it's been a crazy busy weekend and early week, with lots and lots of patients, committee meetings, and other clinical and non-clinical responsibilities. Fortunately I'm off for four days after tomorrow, and I'll only work Mon-Wed next week before I'm off for another two weeks. I'll stay in town the first week, and then leave for New Orleans the Wednesday after next (10/17), for the National Conference and Exhibition of the American Academy of Pediatrics (10/19-10/23), where I'll also eat oyster po' boys, crawfish étouffée, muffalettas and seafood gumbo to my stomach's content.

I haven't done much reading since Saturday, save for the first 20 or so pages of The Satanic Verses, which I started yesterday.

>40 richardderus: Are we talking about the same Umbrella? I'm reading the book by Will Self, which was shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize, not the book by Taro Yashima. Self's book won't be available in the US until early January.

>41 avidmom: Stiffly working, perhaps?

>42 xieouyang: Manuel, I definitely wouldn't say that Umbrella is "badly written", and it's in English, so it couldn't be "poorly translated". I'll give it another go next week.

>43 LovingLit: There is a lot of Cockney dialect in Umbrella, particularly in the sections set in the early 20th century.

Glad to see you back! By the way, I finished Silence this morning. Loved it.

>44 roundballnz: Alex, several of us have been reading Shusaku Endo's works since the beginning of the year, for the Author Theme Reads group. I've read four or five (?) of his books so far this year, and Silence was my favorite.

>45 Smiler69: I do hope that you get to read The Garden of Evening Mists soon, Ilana.

>46 phebj: Hi, Pat! I loved Tan Twan Eng's first novel, The Gift of Rain, and The Garden of Evening Mists is even better, IMO.

I'll write my review of Joseph Anton on Thursday.

>47 PaulCranswick: I haven't read anything else by Will Self, but Umbrella is supposed to be his most accessible book. I still want to read it, in order to list it properly in my final Booker shortlist ranking.

Enjoy your rest mate and your escapades in the Big Easy.

Hi Darryl, glad to have you back in the USA. Too bad about Umbrella. Thanks for the warning! I probably would give up on it too if I had to stop and look up words.

I've just been notified that The Garden of Evening Mists is waiting for me at the library. I see it made the top of your list.

It looks like my planned reading for the month will be based on a wealth of books coming in all at once. Not a bad problem unless I get behind in my reading.

>48 brenpike: I'm interested to see what you think of Umbrella, Brenda. I plan to read it toward the end of next week, just before the Booker Prize winner is announced.

>49 drachenbraut23: Right, Bianca. I'll have to post an excerpt or two from Umbrella to give an idea of the difficulty of the Cockney language in the book. I can barely keep my eyes open at the moment, so that will have to wait until tomorrow or Thursday.

>50 alcottacre: Hi, Stasia! I agree with your assessment of Silence.

>51 Deern: Interesting comments about Umbrella, Nathalie. I would probably enjoy Umbrella more if I didn't try to understand every reference, so I'll keep that in mind when I give it another go next week. I stopped at roughly page 50.

>53 avidmom: I'm glad that you loved Silence, avidmom. I don't think I reviewed it; I'll do it later this week or next week.

Yawn...I'm off to bed.

I am looking forward to your review of Silence, Darryl. I have just read about a third of Endo's Scandal, but won't finish as I have to return it to the library this week. Poor reading planning on my part. But I think I will look for one of Endo's other works when I get a chance to return to him, as I was not really enjoying it much anyway.

>53 avidmom: I'm glad that you loved Silence, avidmom. I don't think I reviewed it; I'll do it later this week or next week. Yawn...I'm off to bed.
Oh dear, kidzdoc, you must have been exhausted! It was your excellent review that gave me the final nudge to read it.

Hi Darryl, just dropping by to say that we loved the NT production of 'The Curious History of the Dog in the Night Time' just as much as you did.

*lurking my way through, jealous of your impending trip to NO*

Ah, here you are! I've been away from the boards for a few days as I've been swamped with work.

I'm impressed by your lists, Darryl.

tsundoku: yep, it fits--also piling up in bags, boxes, drawers, on table tops . . .

I am really enjoying Joseph Anton on audio. Great reader--and I'm reliving the good old days with Rushdie.

Have fun in New Orleans. My freshmen are in the midst of reading Zeitoun. Someone gave me a clipping from the Times-Picayune; apparently Zeitoun and Kathy divorced last year due to spousal abuse, and he was just arrested for trying to hire someone to kill Kathy, her son Zachary, and another man (possibly one she was dating). It doesn't surprise me that the man is probably suffering PTSD; Kathy has stated that their relationship was depicted accurately in the book, but that he has since become violent and has gotten involved in Islamic fundamentalism. I don't plan on telling my students about this until they finish the book.

23> I feel the same way about lasik. Several of my colleagues won't go anywhere at night now. I'll stick with my trifocals, thank you very much.

Ooh...I love New Orleans. I haven't been back there in a few years. *green with envy* I'm planning a trip there next Spring to attend a friend's wedding and can't wait.

Any bookstores in NO you've already slotted into your schedule for a visit, Darryl?

Have a great time in New Orleans. It is always such an exciting city.

TGIW! My work week is over!



>55 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. I'm eager to visit the Crescent City, where I initially attended university (Tulane). I lived there from 1978-81, and I've only been back twice since then, and not since Katrina. I'll spend one day driving around the city, to see some of the areas that were badly hit by Katrina, and I'll tour my favorite places, including Uptown (where Tulane University is located), the Garden District (made famous by Anne Rice and others), and of course the French Quarter. I plan to get together with my old roommate from college, who still lives there, and at least three good friends of mine will also attend the AAP conference. I had two sets of relatives who lived in New Orleans when I "studied" at Tulane, but everyone I knew has died or moved away permanently post-Katrina.

I'd highly recommend a visit to New Orleans when you make your whirlwind tour of the US, Paul. It's probably the most unique city in the US, with fabulous food, music and people that you won't find anywhere else.

>56 Donna828: Thanks, Donna. I'll give Umbrella another go next week, and I hope to finish it this time.

I look forward to your comments about The Garden of Evening Mists.

I'll have to visit your thread to see which books you're planning to read this month.

>58 Linda92007: I'm sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy Scandal, Linda. I'll still read it in November, though.

>59 avidmom: Yep, I've been quite tired after work this past week (Sat-Wed), so I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning.

>60 SandDune: Great! I'm glad that you also enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Rhian.

>61 maggie1944: Uh oh. I guess I shouldn't mention that I'll also go back to San Francisco for a week's vacation in early November...

>62 Cariola: Thanks, Deborah. I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying Joseph Anton.

Yes, I had read that sad news about Abdulrahman Zeitoun, his wife and family earlier this year.

>63 cameling: I hadn't plan to visit any bookstores in New Orleans, but it would be nice to pick up something by local authors. I hardly read anything for pleasure when I was an undergrad at Tulane, with one exception being A Confederacy of Dunces, so I don't know anything about the bookstores in the city. I did look online, and found this link, though:

Local Literati: Cool Bookstores in New Orleans

The Garden District Book Shop looks particularly interesting, and it's easily reached via the St. Charles Streetcar from the CBD (Central Business District).

>64 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda! I'm looking forward to seeing the city, eating good food and visiting current and old friends that week.

>52 kidzdoc: I have bid on a decent hardcover copy of the Satanic Verses (on an online auction). Its an edition printed in the USA, and is sold as being in excellent condition. Im not sure how high I want to go though, probably only up to $6 or so Id say, for tight old me ;)

Im keen to buy Joseph Anton with a gift card that I got from exchanging the mother-in-laws cook book birthday present....or The Garden of Evening Mists or , preferably both.

Hi Darryl,
just passing by to say hello and trying to catch up on your thread. Had a couple of horrid days at work and I am glad that I am off today. By the time I left work last night I felt ready to drop and don't get up anymore.

Had another look at Umbrella, together with my sister, and we just couldn't help it but LOL.
This is what we were puzzling on already on the first page :) and we still didn't figure out in which way the statements are related to each other, but it definately sounds impressive :)

While Miriam fed the baby in their bed hawsers and pipelines coiled away into milky, fartysteam – the enormous projectile retracted into the cradle of my belly and thighs … I’m an ape man, I’m an ape-ape man … the Austin’s steering wheel plastic vertebrae bent double, kyphotic … had pulled at his shoulders as he wrestled the car down from Highgate, then yanked it through East Finchley – knees jammed uncomfortably under the dashboard – then across the North Circular and past the blocks of flats screening the Memorial Hospital before turning right along Woodhouse Road. Under the bonnet the pistons hammered at his coccyx, the crankshaft turned his pelvis round and around, while each stop and start, each twist and turn – the very swivel of his eyeballs in their sockets – didn’t ease this stress but screwed it still further into his frame:

However, I deceided this book is definately worth a reading challenge.

>67 LovingLit: My copy of The Satanic Verses is a used hardcover by Viking Penguin released in 1989, the first edition sold in the US, which I bought in 2007. What edition is the book you're bidding on?

>68 drachenbraut23: That paragraph is a great example of the brilliant and challenging writing in Umbrella, Bianca. The line I'm an ape man, I'm an ape-ape man comes from the 1970 song "Apeman" by the Kinks, which I didn't know until I looked it up. I love the description of Zack driving in his impossibly tiny and uncomfortable car ("the pistons hammered at his coccyx, the crankshaft turned his pelvis round and around"). It makes me want to pick it up and resume reading it now, but I'll wait until next Thursday to give it another go.

Good morning, Darryl. You have a couple of days off - enjoy! I've one day off and have an appt. with the Rheumatologist. But I imagine I'll do some reading, too.

Good morning, Karen! Yes, I'm off for the next four days. Today will be my lazy day, although I do need to go grocery shopping later this morning. Tomorrow I need to review files for work at our corporate center, and I'll meet a good friend for lunch afterward. My main goals, though, are to catch up on sleep and get some reading done. I'll resume reading The Satanic Verses shortly, and I hope to be able to finish it and The Vivisector by Sunday.

I love the idea of "lazy day". I have to take one of those every so often, too, and I have to work at remembering it is OK, and to not feel guilty. There are always long lists of things waiting to be done! They can wait for a bit, too.

Lazy days are necessary and always acceptable!

>65 kidzdoc: TGIW indeed! Yesterday was my Friday as well Darryl. I have three days off. Normally it would be four but I'm picking up a shift for a friend and earning some comp time for November. I love my four day weekends. I get one every other weekend. Work hard, play hard and yes those scheduled lazy days are must every now and then.

Can't wait to read about your adventures in NOLA. What a beautiful city. I am about to start The Fight for Home by Daniel Wolff. It's a companion piece to the documentary I'm Carolyn Parker by Jonathan Demme that premiered on PBS last month. I'll squeeze it in between my Halloween reads.

Hiya, Darryl. Glad you finally made it to some time off.

I finsihed Native Guard and liked it very much. My review's on the book page.

Hi Darryl,
thank you for enquiring about London. The weather is still nice, but so far I was busy working and had no time to go to the Edvard Munch exhibition. I have some absolutely horrid shifts behind me and when I came home last night I felt completely washed out (nothing new there for your :P). We are extremely busy at present and seem to have a very large number of very difficult and intense parents. They actually started a "behaviour contract" with one set of parents of one of our long stayer babies. Usually we are very indulgence with difficult and intense parents, because we believe that the situation they are in is reason enough to be like that. However, these parents have been behaving so badly towards the MDT that this was apparently necessary as nurses started to refuse to look after the baby. *sigh* Sometimes I wish we could send parents like that to a different hospital. Unfortunately the baby belongs to our catchment area. :P I am sure you know what I am rambling about, and experienced these problems, many many times over, yourself. Sometimes things like that can be more exhausting than several crash calls in one shift.

>74 luvamystery65: Thanks, Roberta. Three day weekends are definitely rejuvenating, and 4 days off in a row is even better. When it's busy my partners and I are often exhausted after working 5 consecutive days, and when we're off for 2 days it feels like only 1 day, as most of us spend the first day catching up on sleep. Work hard, play hard indeed.

I'm looking forward to seeing New Orleans, for the first time in over 20 years. I kept meaning to visit, especially since it's so close (less than one hour wheels up to wheels down from Atlanta), but I never made the time to do so. At least four close friends and colleagues will also attend the AAP conference, and I hope to meet up with my old college roommate while I'm there (I thought he lived in New Orleans, but he recently moved to Baton Rouge, so one of us will have to travel to see the other). I'll post my exploits here (especially ones of the culinary variety), and I'm sure that I'll take a bunch of photos, both at the conference and in the city, at least some of which I'll post here.

>75 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe, I definitely needed it. I'll check out your review of Native Guard shortly; I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

>76 drachenbraut23: I missed the Munch exhibition too, Bianca. I'm glad to hear that the weather in London has improved; apparently Richard has called off his curse.

Yes, I can commiserate with you; we've also been extremely busy, as there were several kids admitted from our ED who had to stay there until beds were available on the floors (even our Surgical Observation unit was filled with admissions, so we were at 110-120% capacity). And, we've had several sick kids as well. One of my babies with bronchiolitis had to be admitted to our PICU the night before last, as she coded on the floor and had to be intubated and mechanically ventilated. Fortunately she's doing better today, as she was extubated earlier this afternoon.

Difficult parents can be absolutely exhausting and frustrating. I don't mind parents who are assertive and involved in their child's care, and I greatly prefer them to the ones who are overly passive and/or disinterested. However, the ones who are confrontational or accusatory don't accomplish anything, other than turn staff members against them, and I'm sure that most of us spend as little time as possible with them and stop listening to their acrid comments. You would think they would understand that no one wants to care for them or their child, when they are shuffled between different nurses and, in some cases, doctors, but that rarely seems to be the case.

I do my best to be understanding of hostile and difficult parents in the beginning, and I'll try to establish a good relationship with them. One of the last patients I admitted yesterday was a young boy in status asthmaticus, and I was warned by someone in the ED that the mother was out of the child's room, because she was royally pissed off that her son would have to be admitted to the hospital (she's a single mother and needs to work to support the two of them), which the ED doctor failed to communicate to her. She was very unfriendly when we first met, but I listened to her concerns and frustrations, and told her that he would probably be able to leave this morning (which he did), and that I would ask my partner to see her early, so that she could make it to work today (which did happen, from what I can tell). I explained to her that I was certain that her son had underlying and undertreated asthma, which her PCP (primary care pediatrician) didn't diagnose properly, and that we would put him on a treatment regimen that would improve his daily symptoms and make it less likely that he would have to be admitted to the hospital again. As I left the room she thanked me and was no longer hostile.

School teachers have the issue of hostile parents, too. Often I think people who had a horrible time in school carry that with them into their children's school. It is hard to stay professional, and compassionate, and it helped me to laughingly remind myself, "be good to difficult people, they need it more".

Darryl, I think listening empathetically is often the key to people's hearts. Everyone can be evil when they are afraid, and can be softened when they know someone is really hearing them.

Thanks for being willing to be that doctor.

Sometimes all us single/divorced moms (dads too, I'm sure) need is just a little understanding and a little help often goes a long way. :)
The biggest problem I had as a single mom when my kids were little was when one (or both) of them were sick and I needed to go to work. Fortunately, I ended up with a job where those missed days weren't a problem but not many single parents have that luxury. Sounds like that lady didn't.

>78 maggie1944: Darryl, I think listening empathetically is often the key to people's hearts.

I agree completely, Karen. It's very common--and understandable--for parents of a very sick child to be angry and emotional at times, because they are scared to the core or because they have extenuating situations that make the hospitalization a huge burden or worry, as was the case for the single mother I mentioned. She didn't like hospitals, probably from a bad previous experience, and she was afraid of losing her job if her son had to remain in the hospital for long.

A number of the families we see are barely making it, and more than a few I've encountered were homeless, living in cars, infested or substandard apartments or illegal housing, or had moved in with their parents or another close relative in order to keep off of the streets. Situations like this break our hearts, and we do all we can for these families. The hospital system I work for recently created a Health Law Partnership (HeLP), in order to assist families like these, which is staffed by volunteer physicians, residents and medical students, lawyers and law students.

Unfortunately, we also have to deal with parents and grandparents who whine and complain incessantly or repetitively about anything and everything. They wear down the staff emotionally, and the nurses will often switch off or request that they not get that family back when they return to work the following day, as Bianca mentioned above. I've been told that I'm particularly good with difficult parents, but I get fed up very quickly with adults who complain repeatedly, and I'll admittedly tune out their whiny comments and spend as little time with them as possible, as they literally suck the life out of me. Thankfully these families are only a tiny minority of the ones we see.

>79 avidmom: Sometimes all us single/divorced moms (dads too, I'm sure) need is just a little understanding and a little help often goes a long way.

Absolutely right, avidmom. We do see a large minority of single parents, and the vast majority of them are working their tails off at baseline to give their children the best lives they can.

This comment would probably not apply to the mother of a tiny baby I just missed having to admit on Wednesday. The little one was brought into our ED because she was lethargic; her mother was floridly psychotic there after she took either synthetic marijuana or bath salts at home, and she had to be shipped to the women's hospital which is just across the street from us. She won't get my vote for "Mother of the Year".

Darryl- I hope you have a great LONG weekend. They are the best, aren't they? I see you have some good current reads going. I hope they are all winners.

Bless you, friend, for having the energy for being a good doc!

Hi Darryl,

"coded" I assume is the same as what we call "crash call". I am very much like you and because of that people have the tendency to allocate the most difficult parents to me, but two very, very sick babies and both set of parents like that was even for a very, very patient Bianca a bit much. I do believe if you have a very sick baby - whether it is a very small prem, surgical or due to other reasons - it is very difficult for parents to cope with and I always account some of their behaviour towards us, due to their stress levels. Usually, I find it very easy to diffuse difficult situations. However, sometimes I just have to put my foot down and make it clear to the parents that things are not to work out the way they are behaving. My job is not to put extra stress on them or to torture them, but to support them through a very difficult time in their life.

#79 I can understand you very well, as I am myself a single mum for many years and know how difficult that can be. Especially, since I am commuting between Germany/Uk because of my work. I remember that I found it very hard, when two years ago my son had to go into hospital for gastric problems and I still was in the UK at that time. I couldn't go home straight away and still had a few days to go before I went home. I knew his was well looked after, but still..... My parents look after my son when I am in the UK and I have to say I am very lucky, because they do such a fantastic job. I do have to say the hospital was very good and they didn't mind me even ringing during the night to get updates on my child. They were very understanding in regards to my situation and even encouraged me to ring as often as I wanted. When I finally met them - about 5 days later - I brought them lots of coffee and some delicacies to add to their breakfast table. :)

>81 msf59: Thanks, Mark! I did very little reading yesterday, as I was very sleepy and out of it all day, but I should do much better the next 3 days.

>82 maggie1944: Thanks, Karen. Situations like the one I mentioned with the single mother whose son had to be hospitalized with status asthmaticus are rewarding, as I feel as if I've made a positive difference. The workload this past week was very intense and exhausting, but fortunately all of the parents were pleasant.

>83 drachenbraut23: Parents are like any other adults in that they often take out their frustrations and concerns on the ones closest to them. In nearly all cases I've found that parents will apologize profusely if they feel as if they have been cross with me, which usually isn't necessary because I normally don't take these comments personally.

That's tough to be away from home when a son or other loved one is in the hospital. My mother still regrets not being at my bedside during my two hospitalizations, one for appendicitis, the other for atrial fibrillation, when I was here in Atlanta and she & my father were in Philadelphia. I was released within 24 hours both times, made quick recoveries and received visits from a close colleague each time, but she still wanted to be there for me.

As I often mention to mothers of the hospitalized kids I see, maternal guilt is the strongest force on Earth after gravity.

Are there any LTers who live or will be in the San Francisco Bay Area from November 4-9? Zoë, Fliss and I are discussing a possible LT meet up during that time.

Thirty years ago when I was just starting out working in clinical labs, I got called in to our small hospital ER for a badly injured child.

There had been several family groups camping together and had several motorized three-wheelers that the kids were riding around the campsite. A ten year old boy rolled the one he was riding by himself and was crushed. When the doctor--one of the good guys (the staff always knows)-- had to tell the family that the boy did not make it, the father hauled back and punched the doctor in the face hard enough to knock him to the floor. The doctor refused to press charges. Sometimes the family is just annoying, but sometimes they can cross the line into scary or dangerous. Be careful out there!

>86 streamsong: That's a terrible but very believable story. One of the lessons we were taught as interns was to be wary of hostile families, particularly in the inner city Atlanta hospital whose ED we staffed, and to not allow anyone else to get between us and the door leading into the room, particularly the Trauma Room there. I did find myself cornered on one occasion there, as a very sick child was brought there by his large and imposing father, who carried a heavy wooden cane for support. I was in the room with the child and the father, and he soon became angry and began to emphasize his comments by stamping the cane on the floor. I had a vision of myself being beaten to a bloody pulp by him, as he was between me and the door, so I quickly told him that I would ask one of the attending physicians in the ED to see his son ASAP, and slid past him to safety.

>86 streamsong: and 87 these are very scary issues! My friend's husband just got his MD in Turkey and after much deliberation, he decided he wanted to be a pathologist because there are too many doctors that are being killed by angry family members in Turkey these days. (He figured pathologists were safe...)

I understand being passionate about the loss of a loved one, but certainly murder is only going to make your situation worse? It's frightening that they completely lose their common sense! (And frightening that they're capable of such violence.)

>88 The_Hibernator: I had read about the murders of Turkish physicians somewhere recently. Yikes.

I initially misread your statement in the first paragraph, and thought that you were referring to your husband's friend. For a second I thought that you had bowed to your father's comment and decided to get married on your birthday. ;-)

#86

That's pretty extreme. However, I'd be interested to know whether the man had any other violent tendencies or had been known to lash out, or whether it was a freak reaction to his grief. Not that it would make a difference to the man he hit, but I can't imagine the agony of losing a child, and what the shock could cause you to do as your brain tried to take it in.

>69 kidzdoc: the edition of The Satanic Verses Im bidding on is 1989, maybe the same as yours? With the wrestling ninjas (!@#) on the cover :)
I might let it go I think, as have just came home with 13 books from a book sale yesterday. Its not like I neeeed another Rushdie, Ive got 3 left unread on the shelves still!

It is such a shame that doctors get such a hard time. Here in NZ, the biggest problem in EDs is drunk patients and their drunk hangers on. Imagine what the health system could be like if no one got drunk...it would be that much richer for a start.

Darryl, I don't always put a list of proposed reads on my thread. It seems like when I do, life interrupts in a big way and I have to cut back on reading. I'm getting a few long-awaited library books that I might list as I'll make a real effort to complete them. Right now I'm reading Harold Fry. It's a "pleasant" read but not prize worthy imo.

Enjoy the rest of your much-deserved time off.

>91 LovingLit: It sounds like the same one, which has this cover:



The vast majority (>95 kidzdoc:%) of my encounters with parents are positive ones, even when their children are seriously ill. Fortunately my service only sees a few alcohol- or drug-impaired teenagers, but our Comprehensive Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit (CIRU) usually has at least one or two teens who suffered traumatic brain injury from an alcohol-related accident.

>92 Donna828: Thanks, Donna. I'm in no hurry to read Harold Fry this month, since it wasn't selected for the Booker Prize shortlist, and I have many other books I'd like to get to this month and over the remainder of the year, so I may postpone reading it and the other longlisted books I haven't read yet until next year.

hehe, thats the one Darryl.
Im glad you have generally good encounters with patients and their family, it could make it very tough otherwise. Very!

>94 LovingLit: Absolutely, Megan. I'd intensely dislike my job if I didn't like the overwhelming majority of the patients and families I meet, and I would never have lasted as long as I have (12 years and counting). I also enjoy working with practically everyone in my group, my colleagues in other subspecialties (neurology, gastroenterology, surgery, etc.), and especially the wonderful and dedicated nurses, even those ones who make me wear a cheesehead or some other hideous apparel when they win a bet.

Very much agree with you Darryl, I definately would not be anymore in this job either if the majority of families wouldn't be lovely. I am 15 years in my current job now and still considered to be one of the "little ones", despite being highly experienced and a sister. However, if you believe it or not quite a large number of our staff managed more then 15 years already in this unit, and I do blieve that this speaks for itself. :) I also love working with most in our group. Docs coming from other hospitals always appreciate our brilliant teamwork and support system which we share with everyone who needs it. And most of our parents feel very well supported as well.

Wish you a great weekend Darryl!

>96 drachenbraut23: I've been with my group longer than anyone else (12 yr 2+ mo), but I still feel like a bit of a newbie, especially compared to some of the subspecialists who have been in practice for 20 years or longer. Hospitalists have a high turnover rate in general, and I've seen at least 10 of my former partners leave during the years I've worked there. Working 80% of a full time equivalent (0.80 FTE) has helped tremendously, as I was chronically tired during the 1-1/2 years that I was a 1.0 FTE and wasn't able to travel as much as when I was a 0.75-0.80 FTE. I may drop down a bit more in the distant future, especially after I hit 60 in 2021, but it's a good fit for now.

I was still very tired yesterday, and read almost nothing again. I hope to get it going today and tomorrow, though.

Darryl - Very much 'enjoyed' reading of the difficulties with parents of patients; I guess we have something similar dealing with clients but not generally in such emotive circumstances.
Enjoy your weekend.

Tsundoku.
I'm not sure it's a good thing to learn that there is a name for what some of the folks on LT do. I mean, I know that you are not one of them and lord knows that I have no tendencies in that direction at all, so I'm just making a benign observation. Really a pointless one since this has no bearing on anything here.

I just completed Narcopolis which I'm not sure I enjoyed, exactly, but which I did find affecting and memorable. Still waiting on The Garden of Evening Mists from the library, apparently still your favorite of the shortlisted novels?

>97 kidzdoc: I loved working part time back when I was a bank teller. I worked 3 days a week, but the hours were crazy sociable: 9am-4.30pm! People always asked if I was studying, (otherwise why would I be part time?). But I was busy doing yoga, sitting in the sun reading, and really really enjoying life!

*waving* at Darryl

>98 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. I've had a relaxing but very unproductive weekend so far, as I seem to be in a bit of a reading funk. I don't think I can blame it on The Satanic Verses, as I've enjoyed what I've read of it so far. I still have over 400 pages to go in it, so I don't know if I'll be able to finish it today, as I had planned, so I may pick up one of my other planned reads instead, so that I can complete at least one book this weekend.

>99 EBT1002: So you're not a practitioner of tsundoku, Ellen? You may be the only person I know on LT who hasn't succumbed to this art yet.

Yes, The Garden of Evening Mists still holds my top spot on the Booker Prize shortlist. I still intend to read Umbrella in its entirety this coming week, but I doubt I'll give a book that requires this much effort my #1 ranking.

>100 LovingLit: That sounds like the life, Megan!

>101 alcottacre: Happy Sunday, Stasia!

The first of this year's Nobel Prizes will be announced tomorrow, starting with the prize for Physiology or Medicine. Although the date hasn't been announced yet, the Literature prize will likely be awarded this Thursday or the following Thursday. With that in mind, here are the latest odds by Ladbrokes:

2/1 Haruki Murakami
8/1 Mo Yan
10/1 William Trevor
10/1 Bob Dylan (seriously?)
12/1 Cees Nooteboom
12/1 Ngugi wa Thiong'o
12/1 Thomas Pynchon
14/1 Ismail Kadare
14/1 Adonis
14/1 Ko Un
14/1 Assia Djebar
14/1 Peter Nadas

These odds are based largely on the bets that have been placed, and generally aren't predictive until a day or two before the award is announced. Several years ago J.M.G. Le Clezio came out of nowhere and rocketed to the top of the list, possibly due to inside information from the very secretive Nobel committee. It will be interesting to see what happens to these odds in the upcoming days.

Interesting list. I have to confess that I've only read a few of these authors (and only like one of those).

>104 Cariola: I've read multiple books by Murakami and Ngugi, and at least one book by William Trevor, Mo Yan, Ismail Kadare and Ko Un. I own two or more books by Adonis and Djebar, but I haven't read them yet. Ngugi would have been my favorite several years ago, but he hasn't written a novel in quite a few years. William Trevor is in his mid 80s, and was actively writing recently; his novel Love and Summer was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2009. I'd like to see either him or Amos Oz win this year.

105> Trevor is the one I most enjoyed. I've read three or four of his books in the past year. all of them excellent.

>103 kidzdoc: Bob Dylan?!?!?

>107 avidmom: My sentiments exactly.

I so hope Cees Nooteboom wins.

108> I really detested the one Nooteboom I read, which put me off reading any others.

Re Bob Dylan: "Everybody must get stoned." Well, that's certainly worthy of a Nobel Prize for Literature.

>106 Cariola: I enjoyed Love and Summer, and I've liked the short stories I've read in Selected Stories. I have The Story of Lucy Gault, which was selected for the 2002 Booker Prize shortlist, and Cheating at Canasta, his 2007 short story collection, unread on my shelves. He would be a great choice, IMO.

>107 avidmom: Not to worry. Dylan has been high on Ladbrokes's list for several years now. There is no way that he is a serious contender for the Literature prize...right?

>108 richardderus: I won't disagree with you about Nooteboom, since I don't know anything about him. It's always interesting when an unknown or underrecognized author is chosen, although it isn't a guaranteed that I'll like the laureate (e.g., Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Muller). I had meant to pick up Nooteboom's travelogue Roads to Santiago when I was in London, but I never made it to Daunt Books in Marylebone. I'll look for it soon.

>109 Cariola: Uh oh. Which book of his did you read, Deborah?

I think that the Nobel committee would have to be stoned to choose Dylan as a laureate.

I thought The Foxes Come at Night was a really terrific, if very sad, book.

>111 richardderus: Thanks for that recommendation; I've added The Foxes Come at Night to my wish list.

There's a part set in Venice that makes me cry.

>113 richardderus: Ooh, even better. I'll get it even if Nooteboom doesn't win the Nobel Prize.

You watching Big Blue?

110> The one I read was Lost Paradise.

>115 Cariola: I shall avoid Lost Paradise then; thanks for the warning.

Ladbrokes's odds have changed somewhat from this morning; Peter Nadas now has 8/1 odds, up from 14/1. The others have stayed the same.

https://sb.ladbrokes.com/Ladbrokes/mobwebapp/entryPoint.html?deepLinkCommandName...

No, Gang Green fan myownself.

Now rooting for the Orioles, who appear to be an AL East team based in the DC metro area. Who knew? But if they can peck the Yankees' hopes of the ALDS to bits, I am All For 'Em!

Have you been bitten by the Edith Pearlman snake yet?

>117 richardderus: Sanchez, or Tebow?

I thought that yesterday's Yankees-Orioles series opener in Baltimore was postponed until tomorrow, but they did play after all. New York broke a 2-2 tie in the 9th inning and won 7-2. Rats.

I haven't picked up Binocular Vision yet, but it's on my wish list. Have you read anything else by her?

The Swedish Academy announced today that this year's Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced on Thursday at 1300 CET (0700 EST in the US).

The Nobel Prize in literature 2012

Mo Yan and Haruki Murakami are the two favorites of the bookies; Unibet has Yan (5.25) first and Murakami (8.00) second, while Ladbrokes flips that order, with Murakami a 2/1 favorite and Yan receiving 8/1 odds. It's still far too early to put much weight in these rankings, though.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 was awarded jointly to John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent". More info:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2012/press.html

#120: What the heck does pluripotent even mean? I am not a doctor and I am sure it is some medical thing!

121> Potent in many (plural) ways? Just guessing! Maybe these cells can be reprogrammed to fight various bacteria?

>103 kidzdoc: Regardless of who wins, that's a great list for future reading (with a few exceptions...). Thanks for keeping us updated, Darryl!

The Medical Dictionary says pluripotent means, "having the capacity to develop in one of several ways". Looking forward to Darryl shedding more light on this one.

#118 I adored Binocular Vision but haven't found anything else by Edith Pearlman. BV does collect many of her older stories.

#119 Admittedly I've only read one book by Mo Yan, and I enjoyed it with reservations, but based on it I would be astounded if he won the Nobel Prize. Of course, I've been astounded before.

Book prizes are capable of astounding on so many levels.

A pluripotent cell has the capacity to develop into a number of different cells. It used to be thought that only stem cells had this capacity but this work showed that mature cells, cells that have already "chosen" their path and differentiated, can be induced to regress back into stem cells and regain that capacity.

Cool . . .

This is the Eton school report of John Gurdon, the joint Nobel prize winner named above. Hope for us all perhaps?

*giggle* that only proofs that geniuses aren't ment for ordenary schools - too boring for them?

Fascinating. Surely that instructor knew nothing of how people learn. And of course, we do know some people are what is called a "late bloomer"; maybe he just needed to hit his stride.

1949! That was a time when instructors thought being critical was helpful. Hopefully, today reports are more balanced.

Two busy work days down, one more to go, then I'm free from clinical duties for two weeks (although I'll have administrative duties and a couple of meetings to attend before I leave for the AAP conference next week).

>121 alcottacre: Joe and Liz correctly answered your question, Stasia. When a sperm and egg join to form the first fetal cell, the cells begin to divide. These cells, known as embryonic stem cells, have the capability to differentiate into different cell types, including neurons, skeletal or heart muscle cells, and the cells of the different organs of the body, via chemical signalling within and outside of these cells. It had been traditionally thought that these mature cell types could not be induced to return to the undifferentiated state, but Gurdon and Yamanaka independently demonstrated that these cells retained the capacity to return to the pluripotent state, in which the potential to develop into any cell type still existed.

In 1962 Gurdon extracted the nucleus from a mature frog intestinal cell, and inserted it into a frog egg whose nucleus had been removed. The resulting renucleated cell developed into a living tadpole, as chemical signals from the egg induced the mature intestinal nucleus to return to the pluripotent state. As you can probably guess, this is what is entailed in the process of cloning.

In 2006, Yamanaka was able to determine that four key proteins in the egg were able to induce a mature nucleus to revert back to the pluripotent stage, which explained why Gurdon's experiment was successful.

Gurdon's research directly led to the development of the field of regenerative medicine, and the cloning of different species, including Dolly, the first cloned sheep, and the subsequent development of human embryonic stem cells. This research may prove essential to the understanding and effective treatment of a variety of degenerative diseases such as ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Needless to say both researchers were well deserving of the Nobel Prize, as their discoveries could potentially benefit millions of people in the future.

ETA: Here's the article from today's New York Times about the Nobel Prize winners:

Cloning and Stem Cell Work Earns Nobel

That is quite amazing! It must be very exciting to be a doctor in the 21st century, kidzdoc. But then again, frustrating as well with all the breakthroughs around the corner - but not quite here yet. I'm glad Gurdon decided to do things "his own way"!

Back up the tree: Sanchez!

Also Edith Pearlman's collection Love Among the Greats beckons you, wafting alluring misery and depression pheromones and wearing the diaphanous robes of wretchedness that your lizard-brain so covets and cherishes.

Do you know what stories are in Love among the Greats? Since there were quite a few older ones collected in Binocular Vision, I don't want to hunt for it if it's going to contain stories I already read.

Delurking briefly. Love the Eton school report for Gurdon. Genius just doesn't look like the other kids.

>132 kidzdoc: Great explanation, Darryl, thanks. Very clearly written article, too. Oh, my, I sure hope there are breakthroughs soon on the diseases you mention. We lost two of my uncles and a family friend to Alzheimer's, and it's an awful one for the families. And I know RA is a tough one for some of our LTers.

Re Dylan: If they gave a Nobel for song writing, yes. Literature? No.

Love my new vocabulary word: tsundoku.

Also appreciate the discussion of lasik. I figure I'll use my glasses until I can't see to read anymore; by then I'll probably be too old to drive at night & lasik will give me a chance to keep reading.

Hey Darryl! I decided to make a stab at finishing The Garden of the Evening Mists and Narcopolis this week (we'll see if that actually happens). I am trying out Narcopolis on the new audiobook that was released two days ago. I'm skeptical of this format, but I can always return if it it's awful. :)

I think it's very funny that one of the tags that shows up for The Garden of the Evening Mists is "rec by kidzdoc." Apparently you are a powerful figure here on LibraryThing. ;)

That might have been me. I always tag my books with the person who recommended them and Darryl is near the top of my list:)

"rec by kidzdoc."
I can just hear the commercial voice-over "One out of one doctors on LibraryThing recommend this book ...."

>135 rebeccanyc: Rebecca, only four stories are shared between the collections: "Allog," "Fidelity," "Chance," and "Toy Folk."

There are thirteen stories in Love Among the Greats, and the title story is my own favorite of them, followed by "The Thought of You".

Thanks, Richard. Sounds like I should look for it.

She's worth looking out for...I have another collection of hers on its way to my village liberry: How to Fall.

Binocular Vision was one of my favorite books of the year.

I completely agree! A wonderful voice, Pearlman's, and her relative obscurity is lessened by the award for that collection.

>122 Cariola: Potent in many (plural) ways? Just guessing!

Yes, as you know by now. :-)

Maybe these cells can be reprogrammed to fight various bacteria?

Actually most bacteria don't infect cells, except for selected intracellular parasites such as Chlamydia, which can cause respiratory and genital tract infections, Mycobacteria, which cause tuberculosis, leprosy and skin and lymph node infections, and Rickettsia, which cause Rocky Mountain spotted fever, typhus and other infections. Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites, as they must infect cells and induce the cells' genetic material (DNA and RNA) to produce more viruses, which escape from the corrupted cell and infect other cells. Viruses attach to the outer coat of cells, and induce the cells to take them in; if that process could be interrupted, then they could no longer infect cells, which would render them harnless. Likewise, if the cells did not respond to the virus's instructions to produce more cells, then viral infection of cells wouldn't lead to the production of new viruses, and the infection would be short lived and probably harmless. Most viruses only infect certain cells; for example, HIV only targets certain cells of the immune system, whereas rhinoviruses, a family of viruses that cause most common colds, only infect cells that line the respiratory tract. It's difficult to imagine (for me, at least), but if cells could convert into pluripotent or immature cells it may be possible for them to avoid detection by certain viruses by hiding their surface proteins that the viruses normally attach to.

>123 Linda92007: You're welcome, Laura. Here are the latest odds from Ladbrokes, with roughly 5-1/2 hours to go until the prize announcement:

Haruki Murakami 6/4
Peter Nadas 5/2
William Trevor 7/1
Mo Yan 8/1
Alice Munro 8/1
Bob Dylan 10/1
Cees Nooteboom 12/1
Ngugi wa Thiog'o 12/1
Thomas Pynchon 12/1

Nadas and Trevor have moved positively in the past couple of days, as has Alice Munro; Yan has dropped back a bit.

>124 jnwelch: Right, Joe. Hopefully my explanation was adequate.

>125 rebeccanyc: I'll have to pick up Binocular Vision, based on the numerous positive follws reviews I've read o f it on LT and elsewhee.

>125 rebeccanyc: Admittedly I've only read one book by Mo Yan, and I enjoyed it with reservations, but based on it I would be astounded if he won the Nobel Prize. Of course, I've been astounded before.

Same here; I read Change (SB-What Was Communism?), which made little impression on me. I am planning to read Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out this quarter, and I'll definitely read it this month if he is chosen as the newest Nobel Prize laureate.

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I remain astounded, and disgusted, by the choice of Elfriede Jelinek as a Nobel Prize laureate.

With less than an hour to go, Ladbrokes now has Murakami as a 5/4 favorite.

Hi Darryl,
just passing by and checking out your thread. I only know a few on the list there, so I am very curious as well who is going to get the Nobel prize. I thought I read somewhere that they thought about Philip Roth and Margaret Atwood as suitable candidates as well.

Have a lovely day.

>126 brenzi: Book prizes are capable of astounding on so many levels.

Definitely. And, speaking of book awards, I assume that some of you noticed that the finalists for this year's National Book Awards were announced yesterday morning; here's the list:

Fiction:
Junot Díaz, This Is How You Lose Her
Dave Eggers, A Hologram for the King
Louise Erdrich, The Round House
Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Kevin Powers, The Yellow Birds

Non-Fiction:
Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956
Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Robert A. Caro, The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 4
Domingo Martinez, The Boy Kings of Texas
Anthony Shadid, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East

Poetry:
David Ferry, Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations
Cynthia Huntington, Heavenly Bodies (Southern Illinois University Press)
Tim Seibles, Fast Animal
Alan Shapiro, Night of the Republic
Susan Wheeler, Meme

Young People's Literature:
William Alexander, Goblin Secrets
Carrie Arcos, Out of Reach
Patricia McCormick, Never Fall Down
Eliot Schrefer, Endangered
Steve Sheinkin, Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

More info: http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2012.html#.UHae8JG9KSM

The winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature is Mo Yan, "who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary."

I have never read anything by him. So, I may have to rectify that in future. I registered for the 13 challenge categorie next year and one of my challenges will be to read the Nobel prize winners, that will tie in nicely than. :)

>152 drachenbraut23: I'll definitely read Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out this month, probably next week. I've just purchased the Kindle version of The Garlic Ballads, which is on sale at the moment for $3.59 in the US; Kindle Prime members can borrow it for free.

ETA: Four other Kindle books by Mo Yan are currently on sale for US customers: The Republic of Wine ($3.03), Shifu, You'll Do Anything For a Laugh ($3.49), Big Breasts and Wide Hips ($9.99) and Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out ($9.99). I purchased the first two books now, as I suspect that the Kindle price will increase very soon!

The award announcement by Peter Englund, which I watched online, was very brief, and lasted for less than a minute. There will be a press conference shortly, and the Nobel Prize web site is compiling information about Mo Yan at the moment.

Very interesting; however, I'm probably not going to try to read his "hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary". Was also interested in the National Book Award finalists and at least I have some horses in this race.

I can see Behind the Beautiful Forevers in my future, after I read the 10 or so books awaiting me next to my chair.

Have a great day!

I had downloaded Garlic Ballads to my Kindle last week and am now about 20% into it - not impressed so far.

Never read anything by Mo Yan. . . I requested Red Sorghum and Life ans Death are Wearing Me Out as well as several of the National Book Award short listers from our library. The pile just keeps growing!

Morning Darryl- I'm glad to see the Diaz book on there, since it's a top read for me. I've heard very good things about the Erdrich too. I loved the Yellow Birds. I have not heard much on the Egger's book. Have you?
Big Breasts and Wide Hips? I'm an instant Mo Yan fan!

>129 lunacat: Thanks for posting Sir John Gurdon's science report, Jenny. I read an article in the Guardian earlier this week about this comment from his science teacher. Good for him that he ignored this recommendation, but I'm sure that this teacher, and others like him, have discouraged many students from pursuing their dreams. My mother wanted to go to college when she was in high school, but her counselor dissuaded her from this dream, at least in part because she was an African American girl in the early 1950s (she did receive a certificate in Dietetics after high school, and went back to school to get an associate's degree after my brother and I reached adulthood). The junior high school my brother attended wanted to switch him to a non-college preparatory curriculum, as the teachers didn't think he was college material (he was a bit of a goof off at that time), but he began to take his studies seriously in high school and graduated from university with honors.

Here's the link to the Guardian article about Sir John Gurdon:

Nobel prize won by Briton written off in his teens by a science teacher

>130 drachenbraut23: I was advanced a grade in elementary school, after my teacher astutely realized that I was well ahead of my other classmates and was getting bored with school work. Even after that I took at least a couple of classes with students who were one or two years ahead of me that following year. Had I gone to a public school or one without such dedicated teachers (not to mention parents who were intimately involved in the school and their sons' education) I might have been an underachieving student and ended up with a very different future.

>131 maggie1944: My younger brother was one of those late bloomers, as he had to follow in the footsteps of his precocious and goody two shoes older brother (who received a total of one demerit in four years of high school), namely me, which he rebelled against. If he had a dollar for every time someone had said to him, "Why can't you be more like your brother?", he would have been independently wealthy after junior high school. It wasn't until he attended classes with teachers who didn't know me, and expect the same performance and good behavior from him, that he became his own person and did well in school.

>133 avidmom: It is rewarding to practice medicine in the early 21st century, but I think it would have been more exciting to practice in the early to mid 20th century, when many discoveries and new treatment options were put into place, e.g. antibiotics for often fatal infections, vaccines for dreaded diseases like polio and bacterial meningitis, and insulin for childhood diabetes.

>134 richardderus: Back up the tree: Sanchez!

I was talking with one of the pulmonologists this week, who is a diehard Gang Green fan. He is thoroughly fed up with Sanchez, especially in comparison to some of the young guns who have performed much better. However, Tebow doesn't seem to be a great option as a starting QB for the long term, and I have no idea why the Jets decided to get him, and why they aren't using him more this year. I'd give Sanchez this year to straighten things out (which I hope he will), and if he doesn't, the Jets should make a concerted effort to get a top QB out of the college draft, or trade for a quality QB from another NFL team.

Also Edith Pearlman's collection Love Among the Greats beckons you, wafting alluring misery and depression pheromones and wearing the diaphanous robes of wretchedness that your lizard-brain so covets and cherishes.

What? Lizard-brain??? Did you steal that from Jenny's list of insulting names?

I shall spitefully add Love Among the Greats to my wish list.

>135 rebeccanyc: Good question; I do plan to read Binocular Vision sometime next year.

>136 EBT1002: Genius just doesn't look like the other kids.

Right. Not everybody fits into the same mold or follows the same path, so what's the point of discouraging a kid prematurely?

>137 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. I'm with you, I hope that we'll soon have effective treatments for some of these crippling and devastating diseases in the near future. My father's best friend had to be moved into a residential facility earlier this year after he developed Alzheimer's disease in his mid 80s, and although I haven't seen him since then, it's taken an emotional toll on my parents to see their formerly witty and spirited friend deteriorate into a shell of his former self.

>138 markon: Bob Dylan has inexplicably been on Ladbrokes' odds board for several years running. As one book blogger put it, the people who laid down money on Dylan "aren't interested in making any money off of who wins the Nobel Prize, but rather are just looking for an easy way to simply donate money to Ladbrokes."

I'll have no problem when it comes time for necessary eye surgery, but cosmetic or elective procedures aren't for me.

>139 The_Hibernator: Hi, Rachel! I look forward to your comments about The Garden of Evening Mists and Narcopolis. LOL about the "rec by kidzdoc" tag!

>140 brenzi: I am honored, Bonnie! :-)

>141 avidmom: LOL! We need more doctors on LT, then. I've told many of my book loving partners and colleagues about LibraryThing, but I don't think any of them has joined yet.

>142 richardderus:-146 Thanks for that discussion. I look forward to reading Binocular Vision sometime next year.

>149 drachenbraut23: Philip Roth and Margaret Atwood have been mentioned as possible candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature for several years. It's impossible to speculate on the 20 or so authors that are selected for initial reviews and the five authors that are selected as finalists for the prize in a given year, as the nominations are kept secret for 50 years.

>152 drachenbraut23: Unfortunately it doesn't seem as if the Kindle editions of Mo Yan's books that I had mentioned in message #153 are available to UK customers, although the print versions of these books are.

>154 maggie1944: Yes, back to the National Book Awards! I had meant to post this list yesterday, but I didn't leave work until after 11 pm last night. This is my favorite literary award in the US, and I looked at the list at work as soon as I knew that it was announced. I will almost certainly read all of the Fiction finalists, although I don't have any of them yet. I own the Boo and the Caro from the Non-Fiction list, and I'll almost certainly buy the Martinez and the Shadid. And, I'll look for the poetry collections next month at City Lights, if not before then. I have too many planned reads to try to read many if any of these books before the winners are announced on November 14, but I had already thought of reading This Is How You Lose Her next month before the finalists were announced yesterday.

>155 catarina1: I'm sorry to hear that you aren't enjoying The Garlic Ballads so far; I look forward to your comments about it. Have you read anything else by Mo Yan?

I've had Red Sorghum for a while in the huge backlog but haven't read it yet. I think the problem that I am having with Garlic Ballads might be related to the translation. I really thought that Murakami was going to win this year.

>156 brenpike: Right, Brenda. I received four more books in the mail this week (one LT Early Reviewer book, along with another one from the same publisher, and two books from Amazon), in addition to the three books by Mo Yan that I just downloaded, so my TBR pile has been multiplying rapidly since last month. And I still haven't finished a book this month, so I need to make progress, starting today.

>157 msf59: Good morning, Mark. I'm also glad to see the Díaz, the Eggers and the Erdrich on the list, as all three were high on my TBR list. Your review of The Yellow Birds made me interested in the Powers, so I'll definitely get it. I haven't read much about the Eggers, but I've liked most of what I've read by him.

LOL about Big Breasts and Wide Hips; I await your review of that book. ;-)

I think there are one or two more literary announcements today...maybe the shortlist for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize? Off to check...

As I've noted often and elsewhere, I am going to have to read more Mo Yan since, based on the one book I've read, Life and Death Are Wearing Me out, he isn't Nobel material. I did enjoy the book a lot, but it went on and on and wore me out; like other works of contemporary Chinese literature I've read, he could really benefit from an editor.

As I noted on the NBA thread, I am eager to read the new Anne Applebaum when it is published.

>161 catarina1:, 163 I just saw this comment by M.A. Orthofer about Mo Yan, who writes the book blog The Literary Saloon:

One big issue with the English translations {of Mo Yan's books} is that they tend to have been cut rather drastically; I hate that, but a lot of these are, even in edited form, really long. Still, will there now be a clamor for restored editions?

I've only read one very short book by him, so I can't comment about his writing or the English translations of it. Howard Goldblatt, who seems to be highly regarded, is the translator of my copy of Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out and the three e-books I downloaded earlier this morning, including The Garlic Ballads. I'll bring Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out to New Orleans next week, so I'll be able to comment more fully on it then.

I didn't think Murakami would win this year, despite the favorable odds by Ladbrokes and Unibet. He's one of my favorite living writers, but I can't put him in the same category as Mario Vargas Llosa, Amos Oz, Ngugi wa Thiong'o or other past laureates or future contenders.

>162 kidzdoc: Yes, the shortlist for this year's Wellcome Trust Book Prize, the award that "celebrates medicine in literature", will be announced today, as I had thought. In past years I've followed this award closely and tried to read the shortlist in advance, but I'll have to postpone this until next year.

Darryl - I am a little disappointed in truth - we don't have a very accessible winner again. I will read Red Sorghum for the Reading Globally group if possible but I was rather hoping that we may have got a winner from one of Trevor, Oz, Khoury, Pynchon, Atwood or Munro but not to be. China won in 2000 with Gao Xanjiang and I don't think his body of work quite justifies the award yet.

No Mo Yan Kindle books available for me, I guess this will change soon as more of his books will be published in Europe in e-format. Instead amazon offers me books by Ma Yan (hey, it's just one letter...) and by Yu Hua (at least similar letters), so they made an effort to sell me something.

The Yellow Birds should win the US National Book Award for Fiction.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers should win for Non-fiction, despite my many reservations about it; the story deserves the award, the reporting deserves the award, it's just not all that well executed.

I can think of no more pointless, useless thing to do with time and money than to award a prize to poets for writing poetry. How dead does this zombie artform have to BE before people give up pretending they like it?!

YA? Isn't that what the Newbery is for?

I have to confess I hadn't heard of Mo Yan at all before the Nobel prize discussion. I'm not sure that his books really appeal given the discussion above.

>165 PaulCranswick: Mo Yan's books seem to be much more accessible in the US than elsewhere, oddly enough. Six of his books are currently available here, and another novel will be published by the University of Chicago Press early next year. I wasn't surprised when I heard his name announced as the winner when I watched the live broadcast this morning, and although I was hoping that Amos Oz, William Trevor or Ngugi wa Thiong'o had been chosen, I wasn't disappointed at all, and I was quite pleased that I already owned and had planned to read one of his books this month, even though Rebecca and catarina have been disappointed by the books they have read by him.

>166 Deern: I haven't heard of Ma Yan, but Yu Hua has written at least a couple of books that have been released in the US in English translation. I own his novel Brothers, and I'm planning to read it in November or December.

I'm certain that negotiations will soon be underway to make Mo Yan's previously translated books available in the rest of the English speaking world.

>167 richardderus: I'll be very interested to see which works win the National Book Awards for Fiction and Non-Fiction, since I haven't read any of them yet and won't be able to read more than one or two at the most by mid November. I like the NBAs above the Pulitzer Prizes, because the jury announces a list of finalists, similar to the shortlists of the British literary awards, which provides recognition and increased sales to several books over the subsequent month and beyond.

I can't do it this year, but I'd love to see someone on LT create a thread or group dedicated to the National Book Awards, similar to what Jill is doing with the Orange Prize group (and I assume that most of you have heard that it has been renamed The Women's Prize for Fiction for 2013), and what Cait & I are doing with the Booker Prize group.

I'm very eager to read Behind the Beautiful Forevers, but I may not get to it until next year. Based on the comments I've read on LT and elsewhere I would tend to agree with you.

I have to disagree with you about the NBA for Poetry, though! I do like poetry, and learning about poetry collections and poets that I haven't heard of previously, such as Nikky Finney and Tracy K. Smith, the most recent winners of the NBA for Poetry and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, respectively. These authors don't gain anywhere near as much recognition for their work as the authors of fiction and nonfiction do (and this year's NBA Fiction and Nonfiction list of finalists is a perfect example), and this award, and to a lesser extent the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, allows them to get the attention and recognition they deserve.

I'll leave it to someone else to comment specifically about the merit of the NBA Young People's Literature award, and the importance of it compared to the Newbery and Caldecott Prizes, although I'm very supportive of a high profile national award for children's and young adult literature.

>168 SandDune: I can't remember who introduced me to Mo Yan, but I suspect that it may have been one of my Chinese-American friends from medical school who I'm still very close to. Although at least two people I highly respect have been disappointed by his work, I'm still very eager to read Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out next week, in order to form my own opinion of it. I will keep their comments in mind, though.

Darryl, I was chatting with the Rheumatologist and she said she was just getting back into reading after having had her last child. I jumped on the chance to give her Librarything.com and told her my screen name. I hope she checks us out and perhaps she'll end up in the 75 books group, after I convince her she does not have to really aspire to read quite so many books.

I also gave it to one of the nurses. I am silly about trying to get more pacific north-westerners onto this site.

Regarding the nominees for the National Book Award - Amazon is offering the Kindle version of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk for $2.99.

All this award talk has reminded me.
I cant wait for the Booker announcement.

>171 maggie1944: Well done, Karen! Most of the people I'm closest to at work know that I have visited friends in London, Cambridge and NYC whom I've met through my book club. Practically everyone in my group loves to read, even though who don't have time to because of family commitments (three of my partners are currently pregnant) and we regularly discuss the books we're reading or want to read. Quite a few of the specialists I work with are also avid readers, as are many of the nurses I know well.

I've also given my LT username to several close friends, and I tick the box to link my reviews to my Facebook account, so that my FB friends can read them there (where they can check out LT and my 75 Books and Club Read threads). I don't believe that any of my non-LT friends have joined LT, although several of them have Goodreads accounts.

I'm surprised that certain regions and cities of the country are apparently poorly represented on LT, particularly the San Francisco Bay Area and Philadelphia.

>172 catarina1: Thanks, catarina! I've just downloaded Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk onto my Kindle.

>173 LovingLit: Right, Megan. I'm eagerly and impatiently awaiting the award ceremony on Tuesday, although I might not finish Umbrella by then. I've read all of the other shortlisted books, and I'll stick with my vote for The Garden of the Evening Mists as the best Booker novel this year, slightly ahead of Bring Up the Bodies.

I seem to have been mistaken in stating that the Wellcome Trust Book Prize shortlist would be announced today, as it's already past midnight in London. The web site doesn't indicate a particular day in October for the shortlist to be announced, so I'll keep checking every day and post the shortlisted books once I read about it.

I am pretty sure there are lots of British Columbia to Seattle to Portland LTers. I just don't know them all, yet.

Poetry prizes *grumble* just encourages 'em *grouse* like we could stop 'em anyway *bitch* but make 'em think people, ordinary blokes not eggheaded pain freaks, like their *moan*

I've been enjoying the discussion of the Nobel nominees and Mo Yan; I've not read any of his works. I'll probably wait to give it a try (maybe I'll see if it shows up with the tag "rec by kidzdoc"....).

The National Book Award nominees (for fiction) are very interesting to me. I'll probably try to read each of them, in addition to continuing to try to get to those on the short list for the Booker. And I'm glad to see that you have Behind the Beautiful Forevers on your TBR, Darryl. It's a good one.

Interesting profile of Hilary Mantel in this week's (Oct. 15) New Yorker.

The shortlist for this year's Wellcome Trust Book Prize has been announced:

Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif
Perfect People by Peter James
Merivel: A Man of His Time by Rose Tremain
The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk Taking, Gut Feelings and the Biology of Boom and Bust by John Coates
The Train in the Night: A Story of Music and Loss by Nick Coleman
Circulation: William Harvey, a Man in Motion by Thomas Wright

The winning book will be announced in November. I've read the Wright, and I own the Hanif, the Tremain, and the Coates.

Shortlist

>175 maggie1944: There are quite a few people in the Atlanta Bibliophiles group, too, including markon (Ardene) and GCPLreader (Jenny), but I haven't met any of them yet.

>176 richardderus: Hmph. I've been called worse names in my lifetime, especially by Jenny and Caroline.

>177 EBT1002: Those three books by Mo Yan that are being sold for less than $4 are particularly enticing. And, all five of the books currently available for the Kindle are free to borrow for Kindle Prime members (which I'm not).

The NBA shortlists are very enticing. I'll probably get all of the books on the Fiction list, and I'll at least look at the ones on the Non-Fiction and Poetry list that I don't already own.

Hi Darryl,
just wanted to wish you a lovely weekend and answer your question from my thread. Yes, Brixton market is the one not far from the tube station and the second hand book store is located outside the market on Coldharbour lane. The store is not very big, but well stocked with nicely arranged reading categories, and the owner appears to know exactly which books he stocks, which I found quite impressiv. I definately will have a look in there again.
Just finished Atemschaukel (The Hunger Angel) by Herta Müller and my review will come up shortly. I thought that was an impressive little book which I enjoyed very much. I will start the Vivisector either tomorrow or on Sunday.

>180 drachenbraut23: Thanks, Bianca; I hope that you enjoy your weekend as well. I'm meeting friends from work for dinner at a Bangladeshi restaurant tonight, and I plan to do some serious reading this weekend. I still haven't finished a book yet this month, although I should complete Yukio Mishima's debut novel Confessions of a Mask by tonight or tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the info about Brixton Market and the secondhand bookshop there. I'll definitely make a trip there when I return to London in the spring.

I'll start The Vivisector this weekend or early next week, after I finish The Satanic Verses.

It's award nominee madness!
:-)

Awards, lists and all sorts of nominee stuff....mind boggling it is...
I seem to have missed an entire thread.. or more? oops!

Hope all is well :)

>182 EBT1002: That would be a good title for this thread...

>183 mckait: Happy weekend, Kath! Yes, all is well at the moment. I'm at the beginning of a two week stretch off from work, and I'll leave town on Wednesday to attend this year's national conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in New Orleans.

Have a great time in New Orleans!

*cranks up the whammy machine* see if HE ever sees London again OR City Lights, I mean San Francisco *evil Muttley laugh*

Sad to say, any and all mention of New Orleans makes me think of food. Have fun!

Enjoy your time off Darryl! I'm sure we'll get a lowdown on the sights and sounds of New Orleans while you're there!

Hi Darryl! I'm terribly behind. I'm interested to read your comments on The Vivisector (once you've read it.) I was hoping to read a Patrick White novel this year, but it hasn't happened yet.

Have a lovely Sunday!

How have you managed to not finish a book yet this month?! Shocking.

I hereby nominate you 'Slacker of the Month'......your reward? A very long nap!

I too am shocked to hear you havent finished a book this month! But how many have you started? :)
I am being very disciplined so far, and sticking o my list of ones I would like to get read by the end of the year. I feel so proud of myself I might just have to go to the library and grab an armful to interrupt my lists!

Just wanting to wish you a lovely time in New Orleans :). What are the topics of the National Conference of Pediatrics? Something interesting?

The Society for Neuroscience is in New Orleans for a conference right now. Perhaps you'll meet an attractive neuroscientist roaming the streets. :D

>185 richardderus: Have a great time in New Orleans!

*cranks up the whammy machine* see if HE ever sees London again OR City Lights, I mean San Francisco *evil Muttley laugh*

*checks Caribbean and Gulf Coast weather reports for tornadoes, tropical storms or hurricanes*

*breathes a sigh of relief*

Hmph. I won't be bringing back any crawfish étouffée or oyster po' boys for you, sir.

>186 mckait: any and all mention of New Orleans makes me think of food

Absolutely right, Kath. The first word that comes to mind when I think of New Orleans is food, too. I'm looking forward to revisiting some of my favorite restaurants from my college days (I went to Tulane from 1978-81, although I hardly studied while I was there).

>187 Smiler69: Thanks, Ilana! I'll definitely take plenty of photos while I'm there, and report on the sights, sounds and food of the city. I'll meet up with several former classmates from medical school and residency who will also attend the conference, and I'm especially looking forward to seeing my college roommate for the first time in over 30 years. I'll arrive there a couple of days before the conference starts, and I plan to drive around the city to see what it looks like, including the sections that were hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.

>188 DorsVenabili: Thanks, Kerri. I'll bring The Vivisector with me, and I'll probably start it on Wednesday, after I finish The Satanic Verses.

>189 lunacat: I'm finally on the score board for the month; I finished Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima last night, and Indian Nocturne by Antonio Tabucchi this morning. I hope to finish two or three more books before I leave town on Wednesday, and read at least two or three more over the following week.

>190 LovingLit: I too am shocked to hear you haven't finished a book this month! But how many have you started? :)

Let's see...in addition to the two books I've finished I've been reading The Satanic Verses, Domestic Work by Natasha Trethewey, Frommer's New Orleans and The Opium War by Julia Lovell. I should finish the first two books by Wednesday, and I'll bring The Opium War with me to New Orleans, along with Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan, The Vivisector by Patrick White, and maybe one other book.

>191 drachenbraut23: What are the topics of the National Conference of Pediatrics? Something interesting?

This is the annual four day conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which will be attended by roughly four thousand AAP fellows, along with an equal or greater number of other health professionals, from the US and other countries. Essentially everything related to pediatric medicine will be covered during the conference, including meetings of the different sections and chapters of the AAP. I'll attend the day long Section on Hospital Medicine meeting next Sunday, and the members of the Georgia chapter will meet for dinner that night. Most of the other lectures and sessions I'll attend will be related to hospital medicine, as well. Here's a link to the conference's program brochure, if you're interested:

http://www.aapexperience.org/2012/downloads/OnsiteProgram.pdf

>192 The_Hibernator: The Society for Neuroscience is in New Orleans for a conference right now. Perhaps you'll meet an attractive neuroscientist roaming the streets. :D

The Society for Neuroscience annual conference ends on October 17, whereas the AAP National Conference & Exhibition begins three days later. Hopefully that will be enough time to repair the damage that the rowdy and morally loose neuroscientists will surely inflict on the convention center and the city.

*waving* at Darryl - yes, I am behind once again on threads.

...damage that the rowdy and morally loose neuroscientists will surely inflict on the convention center and the city.
Well, you know what they say about those neuroscientists. They've got some nerve! ;)

>195 alcottacre: *waves at Stasia*

>196 avidmom: Well, you know what they say about those neuroscientists. They've got some nerve! ;)

No, you didn't just say that... ;-)

I am jonesin' for strawberry beignet. BAD.

(what language is RD talking? I swear I dont understand)

Well, you know what they say about those neuroscientists. They've got some nerve! ;)
LOL
Now that is funny! Come on Darryl, really. It is right?!
Or is it like sheep jokes for me, you've heard them all before? haha. Well, I liked it anyway. :)

The Society for Neuroscience annual conference ends on October 17, whereas the AAP National Conference & Exhibition begins three days later. Hopefully that will be enough time to repair the damage that the rowdy and morally loose neuroscientists will surely inflict on the convention center and the city.

Ah. You're probably right. It's probably best not to mix all you prudish pediatricians with the nervy neuroscientists (yes, pun stolen from avidmom).

>198 richardderus: Strawberry beignets? Never heard of 'em. I've only had plain beignets with powdered sugar from Café du Monde in New Orleans or Atlanta (there was a branch in Underground Atlanta for several years), or ones made at home from Café du Monde beignet mix.

>199 LovingLit: Megan, a beignet is a deep fried sweet dough pastry that originated in France and was introduced to the US state of Louisiana in the 18th century. It has now come to be associated with Creole cuisine, particularly in New Orleans. The best known place to get beignets is Café du Monde, a 150 year old restaurant in the French Quarter, which serves beignets with powdered sugar and café au lait made with chicory coffee 24 hours a day:





A trip to New Orleans is not complete without a trip to Café du Monde.

Jonesin = intense craving.

Now that is funny! Come on Darryl, really. It is right?!

Yes, although I've heard that joke before. :-)

>200 The_Hibernator: Prudish pediatricians??? We can be as wild and crazy as anyone else, as long as the kids have been put to bed and the dishes from dinner have been washed.

I did enjoy my stop at the Cafe du Monde when I was in New Orleans. I've been there a couple of times and both times loved it. I enjoyed shopping for lace. Are there still shops which sell a great deal of lace, and lace-y things?

I remember one hotel where they'd put the swimming pool on the roof, and my oh my, swimming on a hot evening and then enjoying the city lights! Pretty spectacular! That was pre-Katrina, so I have no idea if the place still has such amenities.

Darryl, I hope you have a very fun, and satisfying, time! And, oh, maybe learn a couple of things just for the fun of it, too.

>202 maggie1944: Are there still shops which sell a great deal of lace, and lace-y things?

You're definitely asking the wrong person that question! :-)

I haven't been to New Orleans since 1990, so I'm very interested to see the old, the new, and the lingering effect of Hurricane Katrina on the city.

Where was that hotel? Many of the popular areas of the city, such as the French Quarter, the Garden District and Uptown, suffered relatively minimal flood damage as compared to the areas that were closer to Lake Ponchartrain. Checking...a quick Google search came up with the Hotel Monteleone and Omni Royal New Orleans, both in the French Quarter, which I'll bet are still in existence and still have rooftop pools.

I've been to at least two AAP conferences before, so I'll selectively choose the talks and sessions that I haven't attended before, instead of spending all day (7 am to 5-6 pm) attending one session after the next.

Have a wonderful time, Darryl! New Orleans is among those places where I just have to travel some time in my life...

They have a seasonal pastry here, 'Krapfen', which must be quite similar to beignets. It's filled with puréed chestnuts, alternatively with jam or a sweet poppyseed filling. Love it! Must be even better with fresh strawberries... Now I want one, but there's a terrible storm outside with bad rainfalls (loads of snow up on the mountains), I certainly won't step outside today anymore.
Sachertorte/ Chocolate cake from the freezer will have to do. And where did I put that tin of cichory coffee?

Ah, I miss New Orleans, too, Darryl. Fun to remember it vicariously through your travels.

Prudish pediatricians??? We can be as wild and crazy as anyone else, as long as the kids have been put to bed and the dishes from dinner have been washed.

Hah! Love it! We're not pediatricians in our house, but it sure sounds like us.

Strawberry beignet = wash and hull a big box of in-season strawberries. Make the beignet mix. Stab a fork in the hulled part of the strawberry, dip it in the beignet batter, pop it off the fork with a knife directly into the oil, give it the same "until golden" time as usual, and don't forget they're hot and try to pop one in your drool-factory before it's really cool enough. Powdered sugar essential.

I got bored one day and tried this.

http://www.sodeliciousdairyfree.com/products/coconut-milk-ice-creams?gclid=CN2Ei...

rec from

http://www.librarything.com/topic/143119#3644288

but I brought the link to you so you won't miss it.

>207 mckait: Awesome Kath! I'm glad you linked it for Darryl because I'm still trying to get the hang of linking and posting pics on LT.

I'm not lactose intolerant but I try to get a "rest" from dairy as to not trigger my asthma or sinuses. I love coconut milk/creamer/ice cream because the texture and richness in flavor are as close to the real thing. I actually prefer it to the real thing.

Quite welcome Roberta :)

I am just glad to know this! I linked my son to the page on fb... he loves ice cream and this might be an option for him :)

Links.. I don't make them fancy.. just copy the link in the adress bar and paste in in the text box for a quick and dirty link like I used. I rarely get fancy and hide them in those hyper link fancy thingies.. folks can cope :P

photos, I do the easy way too.. I upload them to http://photobucket.com/ and that bies you several posting options in a drop down menu under each pick.. or beside it if you click on the photo ...easy peasy.

>209 mckait: Thanks! I'll give it a try.

>204 Deern: I looked up Krapfen, and found a description for a Berliner on Wikipedia. It sounds similar to a beignet, except that traditional New Orleans beignets served at Café du Monde don't have any fillings and are only covered with powdered sugar. The café has the most limited menu of any place I've ever eaten, as it only sells beignets (a single order consists of three of them) and chicory coffee, with or without milk, caffeinated or decaffeinated.

I think that I began my current coffee addiction by drinking chicory coffee at Café du Monde, then buying it in cans at the local supermarkets there (especially Community Coffee or Café du Monde's own blend).

I'd highly recommend a visit to New Orleans, which is arguably the most unique city in the US. You can get Louisiana food and hear its music in other places, but it isn't anywhere near the same IMO. And I'm certain that no other major US city lies mainly below sea level! I'll never forget walking up a decent sized hill to reach the northern bank of the Mississippi River from my aunt's house in Uptown during my first visit there.



The Mississippi River is on the left of this diagram, and Lake Ponchartrain is on the right.

>205 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. When where you last in New Orleans, and what did you and your family do there?

Most of my pediatrician friends are married and have children ranging from young infants to teenagers, as pediatrics is the most family friendly medical specialty. A good percentage of us are still single, but I'm hard pressed to think of many wild and crazy pediatricians, as compared to, say, orthopaedic surgeons or surgery residents.

>206 richardderus: That strawberry beignet recipe sounds good. Do you use Café du Monde mix, or someone else's?

>207 mckait: Thanks, Kath! I checked out the web site, and the major supermarkets (Publix and Kroger) closest to me sell So Delicious products. I'll probably go to Publix tonight or tomorrow, and I'll look for it there.

I can't drink anything with lactose in it any more, including Tiger's Milk and other nutritional bars and any coffee drinks with milk or cream; otherwise I'll have bad stomach cramps etc. that will last for two or three hours. I keep meaning to try soy ice cream, since I will drink and like the taste of soy milk, but I keep forgetting to look for it. I'll buy a small container of it and So Delicious, and compare them alongside each other.

Unfortunately, I don't think any dairy free product will replace my favorite ice cream, Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, preferably from a Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop:



>208 luvamystery65: Fortunately I can still eat most cheeses in reasonable amounts, particularly well aged ones, which contain far less lactose than fresh cheeses such as mozzarella and processed cheeses such as (shudder) Velveeta.

The winner of this year's Booker Prize will be announced in London tomorrow. Unlike last year there are several good candidates for the award, including Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, and Umbrella by Will Self, the bookies' favorite. I've set up two threads in the Booker Prize group for people to vote for their favorite book from this year's longlist or shortlist, including a shadow jury for anyone who has read all six books. I didn't finish Umbrella, so I'll allow anyone who has read at least five of the six shortlisted books to cast a vote. The other thread is for anyone who has completed at least one book to tell us what their favorite novel was. Everyone is invited to participate!

Shadow Jury thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/143176

Your ranking, please thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/143177

>209 mckait:, 210 Kath, I don't think I gave you proper credit for telling us about Photobucket, which has allowed me to post photos from my iPad. Thank you!

I'll try the photo bucket thing as well. I'm usually posting from my iPad and I can never do the photos.

Suffering an intense craving for beignets after seeing that photo, Darryl.

I've only read Bring Up the Bodies from this year's Booker list, so I can't compare it with others in the long and short list. I have GDEM and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry in my TBR Tower and if all goes well, I'll get to them before the year is out. I'm in a bit of a reading funk right now if truth be told.

I received an e-mail from Akashic Books earlier this afternoon; this publisher is probably best known for its Noir series of books set in certain cities, such as San Francisco Noir and Brooklyn Noir. Akashic is offering review copies of its latest book, Boston Noir 2:

Review copies are available for Boston Noir 2: The Classics edited by Dennis Lehane, Jaime Clarke, and Mary Cotton. See below for full list of contributors and more book details!

To request a review copy, please email Akashic7@aol.com. Please let us know who you review for and also your current mailing address (even if you think we have it!).

>214 SandDune: It's quite easy to use Photobucket on the iPad, as Kath said.

>215 cameling: I'm looking forward to having beignets, but I'm really eager to get a po' boy sandwich. The hotel I'm staying at, the Staybridge Suites New Orleans) is just across the street from Mother's, a Creole restaurant which has been there for nearly 75 years and is famous for its po 'boy sandwiches, jambalaya and seafood gumbo. Needless to say that will be my first stop after I check in.

#211: The local Krapfen variety looks like this - it's less fluffy than a Berliner and fatter, I guess it must come close to the beignets in taste and texture except for the form:



Thanks for posting all the information on New Orleans!

Have you ever had a mufellatta (?), from the Central Market - its on the same street as Cafe du Monde? Also wonderful!! Soon, you will have to start bringing food back for us.

Love the New Orleans travel info (one day it will come in handy for me, surely). And I love the 24 hour coffee and beignet shop. I would go there at midnight just because I could. And at 5am too....as Im so sure I love it already.

Building a city in a huge dip? Isnt that a little risky? I guess the nautical advantages of the day outweighed the perceived risks....

>217 Deern: Ah. That does look similar to a New Orleans beignet, Nathalie.

>218 catarina1: Definitely, catarina! Central Grocery Company is another famous New Orleans institution, as the muffuletta sandwich was created there over 100 years ago. I've had muffs in other sandwich shops, but none were as good as the original.





>219 LovingLit: I hope you do make it to New Orleans, Megan! I also hope that Paul and Hani decide to visit the city; I'd be happy to play tour guide for them, as the city isn't that far from Atlanta (barely one hour wheels up to wheels down by air).

A trip to Café du Monde is a popular and perfect way to end a late night in the French Quarter.

I have no idea why the founder and early settlers of New Orleans decided to live there, as opposed to someplace like Baton Rouge, the state capital, which is further up the Mississippi River and nowhere near as perilous. I don't plan to buy many books while I'm there, but I would like to get one which describes the city's origins and early history, especially one that describes the development of the levee system.

I'm so glad I already had dinner when I came back to your thread, Darryl ... that is one yummy looking muff. What's the weather there like now?

>221 cameling: It's 77 degrees and sunny in New Orleans, according to The Weather Channel. It will be seasonably warm this week, with high temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s, which I believe is pretty typical for this time of year.

BTW, in case anyone is wondering, a muffuletta is an Italian sandwich, made with a bread somewhat similar to but softer than focaccia, with a mixture of Italian meats and cheeses topped with a spread known as olive salad. Central Grocery's version of it is massive, as a whole sandwich can easily feed two or three people.

I love New Orleans, and I agree it is a must visit for as many as can find a way to afford it! The food is especially good as we are all raving here; the music is unique, and special, and can only be heard there, and is totally authentic. It is music as it should be...coming from the people without a bunch of fancy-dancy critical acclaims, etc. No one will every sound like Doctor John. Randy Newman! The Neville Brothers. And these are off the top of my head, even with my old lady short term memory problems. Fats Domino.

Oh, I know you will enjoy yourself.

Speaking of the Bookers, I have parted company for good from Narcopolis, a deeply unsettling book. See why in my thread...post #297.

>223 maggie1944: Right on, Karen. I'll add The Meters, The Wild Magnolias, Professor Longhair, Allen Touissaint, and The Wild Tchoupitoulas to that list of New Orleans musicians who are not well known but are greatly admired by local fans and famous musicians. Zydeco music from south Louisiana also receives little attention; Buckwheat Zydeco, Clifton Chenier, Boozoo Chavis are some of the best known zydeco performers. And, of course, you can't forget the New Orleans brass bands, who play in the French Quarter and lead the jazz funerals, which begin as dirges as the band accompanies the casket, mourners and followers to the cemetery, and end with high spirited celebratory music on the way back to the French Quarter. Here are a couple of examples (both are YouTube videos):

New Orleans Funeral

New Orleans Jazz Funeral for tuba player Kerwin James

I wish that janepriceestrada from Club Read was in this group; she's originally from Louisiana, and can give far better music and food recommendations than I.

>224 richardderus: Very interesting comments about Narcopolis, Richard. Based on what you said, do not, under any circumstances, read Pure by Timothy Mo. It had a similar character to Dimple, who was named Snooky (cringe), but this person was far more irritating.

Oh, kidzdoc! The Music, the Music! Gives me shivers to even think on it!

>226 maggie1944: Same here, Karen. I'll have to see if I can get a group to hear some live music while we're there. Unfortunately the AAP conference activities start early every day (usually 7:00-7:30 am), so I doubt that will happen.

I wish I could say that reading your thread is a substitute for eating all those delicious foods you're tempting us with, but in fact it just makes me hungry!

Timothy Mo and I are, as yet, unacquainted. I wonder if I need to fix that...LOVE the title Brownout on Breadfruit Boulevard!

>228 rebeccanyc: Unless you lived in New Orleans and had ready access to these restaurants I don't see my posts could not make you hungry!

When we had our LT NYC meet up two years ago I asked Jane (janepriceestrada) where she goes to get authentic Louisiana food in the city. She said that she hadn't found any places she would recommend, and if she has a taste for something she cooks it herself.

>229 richardderus: Pure is the only book I've read by Timothy Mo, so I can't recommend any of his works unreservedly. I own The Monkey King and The Redundancy of Courage, but I haven't read either of them yet.

Hi Darryl, are you staying up late to catch the Booker announcement?
...any moment now...I expect to hear it first on your thread :)

Breaking news: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel is the winner of this year's Booker Prize.

Booker...It's Bring up the Bodies via Huffington Post's live blog

I'm watching her acceptance speech. Well done, Hilary!

Congratulations to Hilary Mantel! She faced stiff competition this year, but Bring Up the Bodies is certainly a deserving winner of this year's Booker Prize. She is only the third author to win the prize twice, along with Peter Carey and J.M. Coetzee.

I can't see her acceptance speech at the moment, unfortunately. I'll watch it on YouTube once it becomes available.

Congratulations to Hilary Mantel! She faced stiff competition this year, but Bring Up the Bodies is certainly a deserving winner of this year's Booker Prize. She is only the third author to win the prize twice, along with Peter Carey and J.M. Coetzee.

I can't see her acceptance speech at the moment, unfortunately. I'll watch it on YouTube once it becomes available.

Now this is a surprise! :-)

I am quite surprised, but very pleased for her, to see Hilary Mantel has won. What an achievement for her! I was unable to watch too, as my computer is too old for the latest software.
How pleased she must be!
I do love a feel good story :)

She's the first woman to win it twice. Yay Hilary!

>231 LovingLit: It isn't late at all here, Megan; it's just after 5 pm. LT's clock is set to Eastern Standard Time in the US, which is the same time zone as Atlanta.

>233 tangledthread: The Huffington Post blog was on it quickly; I was following tweets from the Man Booker Prize web site (https://mobile.twitter.com/manbookerprize), and you posted the announcement less than a minute after I did.

>237 Deern: The surprise to me is that the judges didn't take into account Mantel's previous win and the book's position as a sequel. I nearly changed my vote from The Garden of Evening Mists to Bring Up the Bodies on the shadow jury, as I thought that Mantel's novel was a shade better than Eng's. I also didn't think that the jury would go for a sequel, and I hadn't finished Umbrella yet, so I stuck with the Eng as my top choice.

IMO this year's shortlist was the strongest one in the six years that I've been following the Booker Prize, and at least three of the novels could have won the award in any of those years.

>238 LovingLit: It's great to see Hilary Mantel finally get recognition, after years of producing outstanding books.

I forgot to post a tongue in cheek article in today's online edition of the Guardian, entitled How to win the Booker prize – in charts. The next to last chart showed that Mantel's sales of her books other than Wolf Hall skyrocketed after it won the Booker in 2009. I was largely unfamiliar with her until I read Wolf Hall, and I also bought several of her older books after I had read it.

>239 lauralkeet: I'll be interested to see if Bring Up the Bodies becomes the first book to win both the Booker and the Women's Prize for Fiction. It certainly deserved to win the Orange in 2010, as it was significantly better than The Lacuna, which won the prize, or any other book on that year's shortlist IMO.

I haven't got round to reading them yet Darryl but I am a little disappointed that Malaysia didn't get their first win in the Booker. Love the stats from the Guardian and most interesting to me was that no book has ever won that has been set in the future.

The Guardian Books gang had a brilliant discussion about Bring Up the Bodies, the other shortlisted books, and the success of this year's jury in selecting quality books as compared to last year's fiasco. The podcast of their 15 minute discussion is now up:

Guardian Books podcast: Hilary Mantel wins second Booker prize

The group was asked which books should have been selected for the longlist. They named NW by Zadie Smith, which I'll bring with me to New Orleans tomorrow, and John Saturnall's Feast, which immediately jumps to the top of my wish list. Both books are currently available in the US.

>241 PaulCranswick: I'm also a bit disappointed that The Garden of Evening Mists didn't come out on top, Paul. However, the book has received quite a bit of attention on LT, as it has received more ratings that any shortlisted book other than Bring Up the Bodies. Eng has written two novels, and both of them were chosen for the Booker Dozen, so I suspect that it's just a matter of time before he comes out on top. Mantel's quote in her acceptance speech speaks to this:

"You wait 20 years for the Booker Prize and two come along at once!"

Uh I don't want to mention this but...I do believe I called this when everyone else was predicting The Garden of Evening Mists. No back slapping necessary and I am actually mildly surprised that mantel won again but WOOT!!!

Hilary Mantel a winner twice. Pretty remarkable. I'm glad this year's selection is, overall, less controversial. I still have most of the books to read, including BUtB, and I'm looking forward to each of them (most especially The Garden of Evening Mists).

I haven't been to New Orleans since pre-Katrina, but it's a wonderful, mad city. Beignets.... yum. You'll not be surprised to hear that last time I was there I went for a run with a colleague (I was also there for a conference) and we ended our route at Cafe Du Monde because, well, just because......

Very disappointed The Garden of Evening Mists didn't win. I think the author is Mr. Tan, though. Twan Eng being his personal name. Could be wrong, since I don't know him.

Darryl- I haven't been by in a few days and see all I miss? Bad Mark. Sadly, I've never been to N.O.! We hope to make a trip in the next couple years. I would go crazy for the food & the music. I love The Meters too!
Have a great time!

RD - You are right; it is Mr. Tan. Amazingly the guy has got absolutely zero coverage here - not even in the bookstores.

>243 brenzi: Bonnie, if I can strut like a peacock after I called The Song of Achilles as the winner of the Orange Prize, then you are certainly allowed to celebrate for correctly predicting Bring Up the Bodies as this year's Booker winner.

>244 EBT1002: I think this year's biggest winner was the Booker Prize itself, followed by all 12 authors whose books were chosen from the longlist. You may remember that several authors and agents were planning to create a new literary prize after last year's disaster, but I haven't heard a word about The Literature Prize after this year's Booker Dozen was announced. I suspect that many readers, authors, critics, publishers and especially Ion Trewin and the other members of the Booker Prize advisory committee will remember 2011 for a long time, and that we won't see such a poorly selected group of judges as last year's was.

>245 richardderus: Good point, Richard. I suspect that you're right. Off to check...

From his BookBrowse interview:

"Note: In traditional Chinese style, the family name precedes the given name(s). Tan is the author's family name, Twan Eng his given names. Some authors choose to anglicize their names for the purposes of publishing in English, so that their family name appears on the book cover last not first, others such as Tan Twan Eng don't."

>246 msf59: Paul beat me to it, but you are right, Richard. Thanks for mentioning that.

>247 PaulCranswick: I seem to remember talking about or reading somewhere that Tan's lack of recognition in Malaysia was possibly due to his ethnic background, as he is Chinese and not Malayan. What do you think?

Might it also have to do with the fact he's expatriated to South Africa?

>249 richardderus: That makes sense. I should have thought of that, since the family name of the main character in The Garden of Evening Mists is designated at the beginning.

>251 richardderus: Really? I didn't know that!

>253 kidzdoc: Wikipedia quotes the Booker bio: "He has a first-dan ranking in aikido and currently lives in Cape Town."

>254 richardderus: The Booker Prize web site says that "He has spent the last year traveling around South Africa and currently lives in Cape Town."

Hard to blame the poor thing...all those years in tropical hell, then he experiences Cape Town and seasons for the first time at 40...!

He did attend law school at the University of London, but it seems as though he spent his entire childhood and the majority of his adult life in Malaysia.

I suspect that Paul's wife Hani is checking out flights from KL to JFK, in order to make you take back that "tropical hell" comment.

248> Yes, I agree. The Booker Prize is a winner, as are all of us who like to follow such awards and are enjoying this year's more interesting and varied set of novels in our pursuit of "reading all things Booker" (or, in some cases, "reading all things any Prize"). xo

Wow, what wonderful news about Mantel's big win! I would guess this is the first time an author has won the prize on two consecutive years? An amazing achievement and yes, highly surprising given all the points you've mentioned. Of course, no pressure at all for the third book in the trilogy now, right? heh. I saw a short BBC interview with her here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19965004

I haven't read any of the other shortlisted novels, though The Garden of Evening Mists is definitely on my radar.

My dad called me tonight because he was all fired up after hearing an interview with Deepa Mehta about her latest effort, Midnight's Children. I don't get around much these days, but did you talk about it on one of your threads already? I'd be curious to see what LTers have to say about it.

I also wanted to ask you Darryl if you would do me the honour of choosing a book for my 13/13 challenge... I'd be really interested to see what your pick would be... You'll find all the details right here!

eta: back to Mantel: you can definitely count me among those who will be reading her prior publications.

Great news about Bring up the Bodies! (Although this year it's the only one of the shortlist I've read - hope to read The Garden of Evening Mists soon.) I can't wait for the third instalment.