SusanJ's 75 Books Challenge - Thread 3

Welcome to my third thread for 2012. I'm up to 129 books so far and hoping to reach 150 by the end of the year.




I thought I would add my favourite books from my last thread:

Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton
Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
All He Ever Needed by Shannon Stacey

And in the non-fiction category:

The Austerity Olympics by Janie Hampton (a surprise winner there, as I am totally uninterested in sports)
Family Britain by David Kynaston

I'm succeeding with my goal to add variety and branch out from romance...but I still haven't read as much non-fiction as I hoped to this year. That's something I want to work on for 2013, as I have felt a bit over-noveled this year.

and I'm first to congratulate you on your new thread!

NIce new thread, Susan!

Hi Reba and Mamie, and thanks for visiting! Post 1 looks a bit empty, I think. I'll have to add some more to it, like my top reads of the year so far.

Congrats on the new thread Susan! I agree with Mamie about Cinder. It is a fun and fast read. 129 books! Wow!!!

#5: Hi Roberta! I'm looking forward to Cinder. It's going to be a weekend read.

I've added my favourite books from thread 2 to the first post now, and I am going to make some progress with my first finish for this thread now.

Very belated (sorry!) congratulations on getting through Clarissa!! Something to be proud of, even if you didn't like it.

I thought I'd be done with those very old classics for a while, but last night I also started The Monk and I will be following the tutored read.

#7: Thanks Nathalie! I am so pleased to be finished. The tutored read for The Monk is excellent. I'm a little bit ahead at the moment so I'm not going to read any more till the weekend.

Nice new thread, Susan!

#9: Hi Roni! Thanks for visiting.

I finally have a book to add to my new thread:



130. A Fine Day For A Hanging by Carol Ann Lee

Where I got it: Library

Why I read it: Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be executed in Britain, in 1955. I knew this, and I knew that she'd shot someone, but that's about all I knew about this famous case. There was a little bit about it in Family Britain, which I read over the summer, and then I saw this new book about the case mentioned in one of our newspapers, so I reserved it from the library. Funnily enough, on the day I picked it up they had two copies waiting, so evidently I wasn't the only person interested in it.

The book looks at Ruth Ellis's life, her time in the seedy club-world of London in the 1950s, her meeting with David Blakely and how the relationship went so wrong that she ended up shooting him in the street on the Easter weekend of 1955. It also explores her trial, which took just two days, and what happened afterwards as the Home Office was beseiged with pleas to spare her, and just as many demands that she should hang. The author takes the view that, although she was hanged, public revulsion at the sentence led to the eventual abolition of the death penalty in 1969.

The book is a good mix of her life story and the trial, which was astonishingly short for a murder trial, even then. Today, there is a defence of diminished responsibility which might have worked for Ruth Ellis, but it didn't exist at the time of her trial, so the fact that she had been beaten and abused over a long period by Blakely was ignored. However, it also seems that she didn't want to get into the story in front of the court. The author asks whether the justice system at that time, peopled by public-school-educated lawyers with private incomes, really gave her a fair trial, but then again she did seek Blakely out on the day she killed him, and she fired six shots at him. It wasn't a spur of the moment thing and she wasn't defending herself. I didn't realise that the Court of Appeal had heard an appeal in 2003 to overturn her conviction. It failed, and the judges criticised the fact that it had been brought at all, wasting valuable court time.

I would recommend this for anyone interested in the period, or in legal history, because it is a good read, and, as with Family Britain, you realise just how much things have changed in a comparatively short time.

I can't name book 131, as it is related to work, but I am going to count it anyway as it was quite a chunky read.

Very nice review Susan. Creepy to know they were still hanging people in 1950s.

Stopping by to visit your thread Susan and very interested in Carol Ann Lee book. I cannot remember when they stopped hangings as a form of capital punishment in Britain - I am sure it was part of my history lessons back in school - but I do know that the last execution in Canada by hanging was in 1962..... not really all that long ago, but it was also the last execution in Canada. Like Britain, we did away with capital punishment although there was an attempt back in 1987 to bring back the death penalty, which was defeated.

Hope you are having an enjoyable weekend!

#11: Roberta, I was surprised by just how many people had been hanged in the 20th century. I knew it was common earlier on, with the gallows at Tyburn making it into quite a public spectacle. Later it was moved to inside prisons, but one 1950s diarist quoted in the Lee book said that if it had continued in public, people would still have gone to look. I wonder whether that would be the case today. I suspect it probably would.

#12: Lori, I looked up New Zealand, to see how they compared, and they stopped it in 1961 for murder, although it continued for treason until 1989 (but I don't think anyone was actually executed). Periodically there are calls here for it to be brought back, particularly for child murders.

There was a film about Ruth Ellis in the 1980s, Dance With a Stranger.

Luci, I remember seeing it advertised, but I've never seen it. It has Miranda Richardson playing Ruth, and now I know the story I'll look out for it on TV.



132. The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman

Where I got it: Kindle ebook
Why I read it: This is the fourth in the Merrily Watkins series, which defies categorisation. Or, as the advertising for it says: "Single Mum. Parish priest. Cosy? I don't think so". And that is quite right.

This time, Merrily, who is the diocesan "deliverance consultant" gets involved in a story that has gypsies, runaway teens, a crooked property developer, an apparently cursed hop kiln, a ghost known as the Lady of the Bines and also the reappearance of Lol Robinson, her romantic interest from earlier in the series. I'll definitely be moving on to book 5. The library has the next few in the series as ebooks, which will save having to reserve them and hope they haven't fallen prey to the chain-smokers. I did have to buy number 3 because the library copy was so disgusting. That's the best thing about ebooks :-)

133. Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It's the next one in the series

This had some quite surprisingly sad bits in it, but the very lovely ending wrapped everything up nicely. I have the next one reserved as an ebook, so I hope it comes in soon and then I can add the final one in hard copy to my reserve list.

I've also started Cinder as my read-on-the-bus book, so that should be my next finish. I'm only about three chapters into it, but it's a fun read.

Wow, amazon has just announced that the Kindle Paperwhite will ship in the UK from 25 October. When they announced the new devices in the US recently, the Paperwhite wasn't included for the UK, and we assumed it would come out here next year. They also seem to have added a choice of special offers to the Kindle Fire, as the basic model (with offers) is now £129 and the one without is £139. I'm sure there was just one, for £129, before today. Decisions, decisions... We are also getting the Kindle Lending Library, but tied to a Prime subscription, which is £49 per year, so I won't be opting for that, although I suppose if they had brand new books to borrow, which would cost £20 in hardback, it would be worth it :-) Maybe I will wait and see what the selection looks like. But it is so nice not to be months and months behind, like we usually are.

Well, I track down your thread to say hello and thank you for the link you left on mine, and I find that you're reading some fantastic stuff and I'm sorry that I've been missing your threads! Consider yourself starred now!

#18: Hi Amber! Thanks for visiting. I'm having a good reading year, and trying to add a bit of variety to what I usually read, so I plan to continue with that.

For example:



134. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I saw it recommended on Stasia's thread, and some others I think.

I loved this, and wished the second one was out already so I could start it immediately. It is quite a change from my usual thing, what with the cyborg heroine and all, but I thought the story was excellent, and the world that the author created, with so much detail, was very believable. It's based on the story of Cinderella, but I'm not sure where it's going to go after this book. I'll certainly be interested to find out, though. (Ah, having checked the author's website, I see the new characters are going to be "Scarlet" and a man called "Wolf", so maybe I do :-) )

* * *

I had to call on the internet this morning for a recipe after I forgot to buy butter for the gingerbread I was planning on making. I was trying to find a recipe that used vegetable oil, which turned out to be easy, although it was an American site which also called for "AP flour", so I had to google that (all-purpose - durr. It's just called "plain" here) and molasses, but I'm pretty sure we don't have that here anyway, so I just used golden syrup, which is what usually goes in UK and NZ gingerbread. I put the mixture into muffin cases instead of a loaf tin, and they turned out really well, so that is one I will bookmark and make again.

#19 Is molasses the same as black treacle or is it different?

According to Wikipedia, they are similar, but not the same. I just looked up golden syrup, too, and learned that it is pale treacle. I'm not sure what I thought it was. Just something related to sugar :-) I bought a squeezy bottle of it today, which is much easier than having it in a tin.

I bet it smells good at your house! Molasses has a very distinctive taste -- we use it for gingersnaps, and of course, gingerbread and gingerbread cookies:)

I love gingerbread. For some reason I only think about it in the fall. My dad is a big fan of Lyle's golden syrup. He prefers that on pancakes to anything else.

Great review of Cinder. I plan on reading it next year.

*de-lurk* to nom nom over syrup. I just had a crumpet with syrup for breakfast.

Oooooh, gingerbread! Love the stuff. I've got a recipe for Pumpkin Trifle that involves layers of gingerbread, and it's amazingly delicious. Let me know if you're interested and I'll pass it along.

#22: Anne, yes, it was lovely. I might try treacle after I finish the golden syrup, to see what molasses is (nearly) like. Today I made granola again, so it was another fragrant day.

#23: Lori, I'm sure you'll enjoy Cinder. It's really well done, and also a quick read. I think this is the gingerbread season, isn't it? I am going to make some more next weekend.

#24: Bekka, mmmm, crumpets :-) I thought I had some in the freezer but sadly not. I've never tried them with syrup, though!

#25: Amber, that sounds like an intriguing trifle! If you have the recipe to hand, I'd love it.

Today has been quite cold and blowy, so I have spent it reading a library ebook because I have *run out of hard copy library books*. There is the Kindle stash, of course, but there are so many of them that all I feel is confusion when I open up the Kindle app.



135. The Lamp of the Wicked by Phil Rickman

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It's volume 5 in the Merrily Watkins series

LT reviewers think that this is the darkest book of the series so far, and I agree with them. The story is linked to the Fred and Rose West murders, and is pretty grim, but I also think that it's the best one of the five I have read, with lots of plot twists and turns as the now-familiar cast of characters tries to get to grips with what appears to be a serial killer of young women. At the same time, Jane is going through more teenage angst, and Merrily is trying to keep her relationship with Lol a secret, while he freaks out about his return to performing after nearly 20 years away from it.

Here it is:

Pumpkin Trifle

Ingredients:
• 2 packages (14 oz. each) gingerbread mix (or, 2 batches of homemade, each filling a 9x9-in pan)
• 1 box vanilla cook & serve pudding
• 1 can pumpkin pie filling
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 large tub cool whip (or your own sweetened whipped cream)

1. Bake 2 packages/batches of gingerbread as directed.
2. Cool completely.
3. Prepare pudding as directed.
4. Cool completely.
5. Stir pumpkin pie filling, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice into pudding.
6. Crumble 1 batch gingerbread into bottom of large glass bowl.
7. Layer on half of pudding mixture, followed by half of cool whip/whipped cream.
8. Repeat layers with remaining gingerbread, pudding mixture and cool whip/whipped cream.
9. Refrigerate leftovers.

Thanks Amber - that does sound delicious!

It is - step #9 is utterly unnecessary, as I've never had any leftovers!

Hi Susan! Thanks for being such a lifesaver on my thread - I really appreciated all of your comments. I read Cinder not that long ago and really enjoyed it - I 'm looking forward to the second in the series. That series by Phil Rickman looks right up my alley, too, so I'll have to check into that. And what a bonus - books and a great looking recipe! Totally trying that one out - thanks, Amber!!

Hi Mamie! Thanks for dropping by my poor neglected thread. I have had a grievous week at work and no energy to read in the evenings. I had a deadline yesterday and was looking forward to some peace and quiet, but half an hour after my document was finished, phase 2 of the project hit my desk, so there is no peace for me. But this morning I walked to the library to pick up 1939: The Last Season and I also got the new Jojo Moyes novel, so I plan to read at least one of those in the next couple of days. The first one in the Phil Rickman series is The Wine of Angels, which sets up the main characters in the series. I think there are 11 books so far.

Oh poor you - I know that feeling when you get home from work and just don't even have the energy to read :( Hope you have a better weekend than week.

Hi Bekka - I'm not used to losing a whole week of reading, but I just couldn't work up the energy. But I had a library ebook come in and I have read that today:



136. Hannah's List by Debbie Macomber

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It's the next one in the Blossom Street series

Although it belongs to the Blossom Street series, this one is more of a standalone novel, with occasional appearances from the Blossom Street characters. The "Hannah" in the title is a woman who died a year before the story starts, and who leaves her husband a letter telling him that he should remarry, and suggesting three candidates. A bit macabre, and I didn't love the character he ended up with it, but it was a sweet read for a chilly afternoon. And not so gripping that I couldn't have a nap in the middle of it :-)

Sorry about the heavy work load. And thanks for doing my homework for me- now I don't even have to look up which book is first in the series! Hoping you get some much needed down time.

Hi Susan -- hope things lighten up for you at work! Are you able to enjoy your weekend at least?

Just popping by to say hello - hope you manage to get some more reading done soon.

Hi Susan, here's hoping your upcoming week will be better, and you get lots of reading time in. The Merrily Watkins series sounds like something I would like and so, The Wine of Angels is going on the list.

#34: Hi Mamie, I did get a bit of reading in over the weekend but mostly thought about work this week. However, so far it is OK - two days of solid drafting with no time to internet - ewwww!

#35: Anne, thanks! I keep visiting your thread and not posting, but some of your recent reads sound excellent.

#36: Hi Rhian - I see from your own thread that you're not well, so I hope you start to improve soon. I'm sure Daisy's comforting licking will help :-)

#37: Judy, I hope you enjoy The Wine of Angels. I'd never heard of the author until I read a rave review on Diana Gabaldon's blog. But, if you're not a Gabaldon fan, don't worry - they're nothing like the Jamie and Claire novels :-)

I am making reasonable progress with 1939: The Last Season but could do better. That is my mantra for the week.

Excitement! The Kindle Fires were released here in the UK today, and I just bought one. The bookshop in the mall under my office was advertising them, and I wondered whether they might all be pre-ordered, but I went in this morning just to see, and the notice said "in stock" for all of them, so I asked, and the assistant went out to the secure cupboard and got one for me. I was their very first Kindle Fire customer!

Now it is locked in my desk drawer, when all I want to do is play with it. But at least I've got it, and it is lovely not to be worrying about when it will come in the post, as I did with the last one, which went missing and which took them weeks to replace. There is a lot to be said for being able to walk out of the shop with your coveted item, particularly when there is no price difference...

Ooh, just in time for a Kindle sale as well! They haven't announced the sale yet (or not when I last looked) but there must be one on, lots of good books on special offer.

Which bookshop is that? Is it a chain? I'm considering getting one but getting anything delivered other than by paying for their evening delivery is such a hassle, even now I'm supposedly at home. (I'm actually out at nursery for over an hour in the morning and then current pickup time is the postman's favourite time and usually couriers' favourite time to deliver - hoping Conor will settle in to staying from 9-12 soon).

Luci, it was Waterstones at Canary Wharf (apparently they don't have an apostrophe in the name any more, which is upsetting). They had all the Fires in stock, but not the Paperwhite. They didn't have a display one to play with, but then I did go in about five minutes after they'd opened, so maybe they were getting to it.

Congratlations on your new Fire!! I'll bet you're going to be busy with it in every spare moment for a while :-)

Thanks Reba! I've just set it up, and it was sooo easy! Because I bought it from a shop it wasn't registered to my account like they are if you get them from amazon, but it was super-easy to do it, and I like the way that they show the password fields, too, instead of just having dots. I remember having to have a few tries hooking the old Kindle up to my wi-fi because the password was a range of letters and numbers and that's hard on an unfamiliar keyboard when you can't see what you're doing. But this time I could see it, so it worked first time. All my ebooks are there, and my Cloud music, and screens full of things to buy (ahem) - I will have to get a game later and see what that's like. I will have to be careful not to wreck my neck with it, but I am trying to get into good habits right from the start, and really I want it as an ereader with add-ons, rather than something to do everything on for hours at a time. Maybe I will finally get some more reading done, as the past couple of weeks have been terrible for reading.

Oh how fun - have fun with your Kindle Fire, Susan! We love ours!

Hi Susan, have fun with your Kindle Fire. I can definitely see one of those in my future. My Kindle is still working just fine (knock on wood) so I will carry on with it for awhile. Isn't it funny how quickly we come to rely on e-readers!

Thanks Judy - I am having fun so far! I was a bit disappointed last night to find that it doesn't do book collections like the other Kindles, so the bookshelves are just many screens of covers (but it is lovely to have the covers, and it does help to see what sort of book it is, which is partly why I had collections, as a reminder).

But today I have discovered that I can get the Overdrive app, which is the library ereading one, so I downloaded it, looked up the library, checked out an ePub book, and woo-hoo! I have always had to read those on my laptop before because of the incompatible format, but now I can have them on the Fire, so I am really pleased about that.

I've found a few more apps, including a cute one of jigsaw puzzles, but I think I will save a more detailed investigation for the weekend. And reading some books, of course...

I was surprised to find the other day that you now buy the audio part of a book separately with Kindle. It's read by a human but still works so that you can go back and forth from the audio to the visual without losing your place. It sounds like a big improvement over the old computer read thing but the audio costs more than the book so I don't think I'll indulge.

Reba, I've never tried buying an audiobook, so I hadn't noticed that. And they are expensive, so I wouldn't want to pay twice.

I finally re-charged the Fire through a USB cable at work, but they aren't kidding when they say you should use a plug to do it faster! I just have no plug sockets left in my office, unless I unplug something like the phone. Hmmm...

Ooh, the thing about the library ebooks is worth knowing - I'm thinking of getting a Kindle Fire but I want real opinions from people who would use it the same way I probably will.

Yes, I love the library book availability. I didn't expect that.

Today I have discovered just how much charging they take - hours and hours! I plugged it into a socket today, instead of using a USB charger, and it was faster than yesterday but it doesn't take long to use up the battery. I did watch something on the iPlayer last night to see how that worked, so maybe that took up a lot of battery, and I doubt I will do it again as I have a bigger screen on the laptop, but I didn't use it that much before it needed topping up. It will be no use for travelling anywhere (the travelling part, I mean, where it can't be charged en route). Of course, after what happened to my old Kindle, I was going off the idea of Kindles during the journey! And as I seldom go anywhere, that isn't a huge problem for me. But I would say that you need to be within range of some facility to charge it every day, and for a reasonable period of time. That's a big change from the old Kindle, which used to last for ages on a single charge.



137. 1939: The Last Season by Anne de Courcy

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I saw a review of this author's latest book, and looked up what else she had written. This one also looked good, so I reserved it.

This book is about what was going on in 1939, before WW2 started on 3 September. It is centred around "the Season", which was the upper-class round of balls and parties and the presentation of the debutantes at court, but there is a lot in it about what was going on in the wider population too.

There was a really interesting level of detail in this book about all the social events, and who wore what, and the food and the decorations, which I suppose could have been gleaned from newspaper articles published at the time, but this book was originally published in 1989, and parts of it read like the author had actually spoken to some of the people who had attended them. And, in 1989, a lot of the debutantes from 1939 would still have been alive.

While people were starting to prepare for war, life seemed to go on much as normal, at least for the wealthy, but there were changes in staffing levels for some of the grand houses as staff joined the war effort, and you can see the beginnings of the decline of some of the big estates, which never really recovered after the war as people's expectations grew bigger than a life in service. There was a TV series on here recently which had a similar theme, so it was a good time to read this book.

Recommended for anyone interested in social history, and it has made me want to get on with Juliet Gardiner's The Thirties, which I have had in my TBR pile for a while now.

138. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: I saw this reviewed on Anne's thread. I read it now because I was looking for an ebook to try with the Overdrive app on my new Kindle Fire, and it was in stock at the library

I liked this, although it does suffer a little bit from "Downtonisation", where the upper classes are rather better behaved and more philanthropic towards their servants than was probably the case at the time. But that aside, it is a good story, about Maisie's humble beginnings as a "tweeny" for a posh house in Belgravia, her progress to Cambridge University and her time in France as a nurse during WW1, following which she starts work as a private investigator in 1920s London. This book sets up the key characters for the rest of the series, and I will look for the second one, although of course my library's next ebook is number 7.

The Overdrive app allows customisation of fonts, backgrounds, spacing etc just like on the Kindle, although when I finished each chapter and tapped for the next page, it would go to half way through the following one, or right to the end of it, meaning I had to tap my way back to the beginning. I thought it might just be this file, but I have checked out my next book and it's still doing it. I've just looked at the reviews on the Google Play store and other people seem to be having problems too, after a recent upgrade to the app, so I hope they fix it soon.

My next library ebook is The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, The Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches, which has been on my library wishlist for a while. I've also just started, in hard copy, Jojo Moyes' The Girl You Left Behind, which is also partly set during WW1.

My Kindle (4 years or so old) will "read" the books to you and move between that and text seamlessly. It comes as part of the ebook (no extra charge) and isn't really an audio book. The reading is electronic and has some problems...things like: it will pronounce homographs the same no matter the meaning/context; it reads the footnote numbers; and, it goes from the last sentence of a chapter to the chapter title to the first sentence of the new chapter as though they were just sequential sentences in the same paragraph. The new system seems to be that you can buy the audio book version of the ebook and they will coordinate like the old version but it costs like $20+ extra -- which I won't pay either!

No, that sounds crazy! I remember the "robot voice" on my old Kindle, but I only used it once, to show someone how it worked. And then I couldn't turn it off....in the office.

I have just been reading the books section of the Sunday Times and I am THRILLED to learn that there is a new book by Catherine Bailey just published - The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery, which is not a mystery novel, or indeed any sort of novel, but is instead about the family of the Duke of Rutland. Or, as the amazon blurb says: "For the first time, in The Secret Rooms, Catherine Bailey unravels a complex and compelling tale of love, honour and betrayal, played out in the grand salons of Britain's stately homes at the turn of the twentieth century, and on the battlefields of the Western Front. At its core is a secret so dark that it consumed the life of the man who fought to his death to keep it hidden."

I'm sure I have raved about her first book, Black Diamonds, which is the BEST non-fiction book I have read in the last few years, so I am really looking forward to this one.

Hi Susan, stopping by for a visit to your thread. I have been shopping around for an e-reader so very curious to read your experiences with the Kindle Fire and the Overdrive software as that is the same software our library system uses for e-books. I have my fingers crossed they will get the paging issue fixed!

I haven't heard of Catherine Bailey but I do have a Gothic category for my 2013 challenge - as well as a new releases category - so I am very exited to add her name to my list of 'new to me' authors and keep an eye out for her book to be come available this side of the pond. Thanks!

... just checked my local library catalogue. They have The Secret Rooms on order! They don't have Black Diamonds, oh well, can't expect to get everything from the library. Based on the current holds, I may see this one sooner rather than later. ;-)

Hi Lori - that's great that your library is getting the new one. I hope you see it soon!

I'll keep you posted on the Overdrive app. Once you know that it's skipping to the middle of chapters, it's not quite so distracting because you just have to page back again, but I've seen people complaining that it's showing blank pages (at the *end* of chapters) and they don't seem to realise that they just have to go backwards and the chapter will appear. Still, in a book with long chapters it would be annoying (but then there would be fewer chapters, I suppose!).

Last night I was reading in bed with music playing from the Cloud Player. When they launched it over here a month or so ago, it found the five songs I had previously bought from amazon and put those in, and there was a discount code for a 99p album from a selection, so I bought a best of Bach CD which is HOURS long and I have never got to the end of it. I am determined to listen to all of it, but I want to see tonight whether it remembers where I was up to and starts there, or whether I can bookmark it somehow.

I went to the library at lunchtime to return a book, and found Counting One's Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother so I put back the two novels I had seen and got that instead. It is a real chunkster, but the editor is the same man who wrote the biography of the Queen Mother that I read a couple of years ago, and I loved that, so I am pleased that I found this one. Also it is brand new, which is always a good reason to borrow something. I will have to cut back on the amount of time I waste online in the evenings and get stuck into it.

I love the Overdrive is wonderful. I use it on my Kindle, my Mac and even for audio books on my phone so I can listen while I'm out walking.

Roberta, I hadn't even thought of it being an app, but it seems there are apps for everything now! I'm really pleased I found it.

Tonight I have finished the library book I started yesterday, which was wonderful:



139. The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: It's the new one by this author, whose Me Before You I loved a few months ago

This is a very different story, starting with a young woman living in occupied France in 1916, married to an artist who had painted her portrait. In 2006, the portrait belongs to Liv Halston, whose husband bought it for her in Spain as a wedding present. But how did it get from France to Spain to London? And is Liv really entitled to keep it? Switching back and forth between 1916/17 and the modern day, this is an excellent story about war and art, with a little bit of romance thrown in. Very highly recommended, although it doesn't seem to have many owners on LT, so it might not be out in the US yet, I suspect.

140. The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches by Harry Patch and Richard van Emden

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: This ebook had been on my library wishlist for a while, and when I discovered I could read library books on the Kindle Fire I checked it out

This is a memoir by the man who became the last surviving soldier from WW1, and lived to be 109. He was born in the same year as my grandmother, so I loved all the bits that discussed what was happening in the world during his early years, because her experience of those things would have been much the same. The focus of the book is on his time in the army, and the various battles in which he fought, and it was interesting to read his thoughts about going to war. We tend to think these days that it was a time of intense patriotism with everyone keen to join up and fight, but Harry Patch said that it was just something that he had to do because that was what was expected of him. And he went and did it, but had a very long life to think about the futility of it all. As he became very old, he was turned into something of a celebrity just because of his old age and uniqueness, and went back to Europe for various events, which included meeting a German soldier from WW1 despite his initial misgivings. I thought this was an excellent, thought-provoking read, and with the centenary of the beginning of the war just a couple of years away, also very relevant to what we're going to start hearing about in the news.

As well as this book, I've read about half of Counting One's Blessings this week, which is a really, really good read. I'm up to the "Queen" section now, having finished "Elizabeth" and "Duchess of York" and I'm mid-WW2, during which Buckingham Palace was bombed, and it seems that half of the crowned heads of Europe fetched up in London expecting to be looked after. I know that the royal family has a life of immense privilege, but I think too many people overlook just how hard they work for the country, and the letters are a real insight (but in a droll way, not whining) into the constant demands made of them. The Queen Mother's relationship with her daughters is so, so sweet, with lots of letters filled with long lists of food they were hoping to eat, which must have been a family joke. There are diary entries interspersed with the letters, and extracts from interviews later in the QM's life, as well as explanations from the editor of key events referred to in the letters. I'm so glad I found it, and brand new too.

Another royalist in the group -- hooray!!

#59Another royalist in the group -- hooray!! - I'll go away now and not say anything or people will throw things at me!

#59: Reba, this book and the biography that came out three years ago would make the most wonderful gift for a royal fan (although I suppose most of them would already have read the biography).

#60: Rhian, this *may not* be the book for you :-) But there is a lot about what was going on at the various times, so it is interesting from a social history point of view quite apart from the royal one.



141. Counting One's Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother edited by William Shawcross

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I really enjoyed the biography by William Shawcross which was published in 2009. In fact, it was one of my first Kindle purchases when it came out in paperback in 2010

Today has been wet and blowy and cold, so I decided to stay at home and read my way through the rest of this excellent book, which is beautifully edited and which shows a side of the Queen Mother that perhaps wasn't evident from all the ceremonial things that the general public saw her doing. There are lots of family letters, and one of my favourite sections (also in the biography) was when Prince Charles was a baby and toddler, and the QM's letters to the Queen about all the things he got up to. The Queen and Prince Philip were travelling extensively, and lived in Malta for a while for his Naval duties, but Prince Charles stayed in England, and spent quite a bit of time with his grandparents. It was obvious that they doted on him, and the letters are very sweet. There are fewer letters from the 1980s onward, partly because, as the editor explains, the Queen Mother became wary of putting much in writing, given all the troubles that the family was having and the intrusiveness of the media, which meant that there was so much more of a risk of things leaking. There are lots of names to keep straight, but very good notes at the bottom of the relevant pages, so no flipping back and forth to the end of the book, which was good as it is huge. The hardback version is beautiful - perhaps I just don't read that many hard copy books any more but the paper was gorgeous, and it was lovely to read it as a hard copy and not an ebook. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the royal family or just the Queen Mother.

Hi Susan, Counting One's Blessings looks lovely. What amazing changes she lived, and what an interesting woman! Hope you are doing well.

Hi Anne - I just saw Colorado on the TV news, although it was Boulder. All our news programmes are running virtually non-stop coverage of the US elections, and they were going round the swing states. I don't think there can be many journalists left in the UK as they seem to be popping up all over the US. I thought there would be snow in Boulder, but it looked warmer than here.

I think all the changes that the Queen Mother saw are one of the most interesting things about the period of her life. Born during the ages of horses and carts, and seeing Concorde and the moon landing - amazing. And born before radio, I think, and living to see the internet. But probably most importantly, born before antibiotics, when people used to die of the most ridiculous things that these days would be cured with a visit to the doctor, never mind hospital. There are a lot of references to bouts of "flu" which I don't think could have been real flu, because she had several bouts a year, but the treatment was days or weeks in bed, whereas today I'm sure we would just to go the chemist and soldier on.



142. A Night of No Return by Sarah Morgan
143. Woman in a Sheikh's World by Sarah Morgan

Where I got them: Harlequin Mills & Boon ebooks
Why I read them: They are the new releases from one of my favourite HM&B authors

These are linked novels, with the first being a boss/secretary plot, and the second one a Sheikh story, which usually I'm not that keen on, but that one was my favourite of the two. There was lots of angst and running around in the desert, plus some excellent supporting characters. They were sweet reads for a chilly weekend, but now I don't have them to look forward to any more, which is always the downside to binge-reading a favourite author. I've used the US covers in this post because the UK ones are still *hideous*, and I can't imagine whoever thought they were a good idea. Fortunately both books were released at the same time in the UK and the US, although I see the second one won't turn itself into a touchstone.

Susan I'm glad to see you are enjoying your new Kindle Fire.

We're having an extraordinarily warm fall. We had snow a couple of days last week and assumed winter was here, but it's been in the 70s most days. Colorado is supposed to have snow! As much as I dislike driving in it, I love having seasons, and our drought will be more severe if we don't get good snow soon. Boulder is not too far from me -- probably about 35 minutes or so. Colorado is definitely a swing state, though Boulder is decidedly liberal -- a counterpoint to the decidedly conservative Colorado Springs.

Counting One's Blessings sounds like a perfect book for my epistolary category for my 2013 challenge. Great review Susan! Like you, we are socked in with rain - it did clear this morning for me to jaunt over to the store for some groceries - but I always find it disconcerting to have to turn on the lights at 3:00 pm because it is so dark outside!

#64: Roberta, I am slowly getting used to it, and the battery seems to last longer if I turn down the brightness, which was a tip from an iPad-owning friend. When I commented that it needed charging *every day* he said "Welcome to tablet-owning"! I have discovered that Overdrive also loads books I have bought, although I'm not sure whether they have to be DRM-free. I tried with one from my Harlequin bookshelf and it was fine (but still subject to the weird page-skipping bug). I'm not sure whether Harlequin have DRM or not.

#65: Anne, it did look pretty warm. They were in a nature reserve sort of place, with hikers, and interviewed a young couple with a cute toddler in a backpack with a little canopy over his head, which is not something I have ever seen before (possibly because we don't get that much sun). Tonight's news is mostly from Chicago, and Ohio, but I am not kidding, I don't think there are any reporters left here at all, so I just have to hope we don't have any news!

#66: Lori, I hope you like it! I had the light on all day yesterday, in my south-facing living room, with the floor to ceiling glass doors...But today was brighter. I went for a walk at lunchtime with one of my super-fit friends, so that was my exercise for the next few days. Now I am going to flake out on the sofa with my two new library books, a Debbie Macomber and London Belongs to Me, which I read about on Rhian's thread. The library now has a "London" section where they hide all the London books, so a brand new copy was sitting there just like it was waiting for me.

I hope you enjoy London Belongs to Me - although I didn't manage to get it read for my book group I thought it looked promising and intend to read it in the not too distant future. And as I said on my thread, Mr SamdDune really enjoyed it despite it not really being his sort of thing,

Thanks Rhian, it looks like just my kind of thing and I wonder why I have never heard of it before. Not that I have heard of all the books, but there are always some famous ones that I know are out there, even if I've never read them.

Today I did a Bad Thing and freaked out the assistant in Gilly Hicks by trying stuff on. For anyone who hasn't seen a Gilly Hicks, it's part of the Abercrombie and Fitch group, and is a Bondi Beach-inspired boutique aimed at label-conscious teenagers (five pairs of "down undies" knickers for £25 - I've seen more fabric in a hanky. But do go in if you ever get the chance, because the shop fit-out and lighting is amazing). I was looking for some jogging bottoms/sweat pants for my gym induction on Monday (eeeeeee) and they had some yoga pants which looked like they had a more generous cut than their sweat pants. Also the sweat pants have G I L L Y H I C K S down the side of them in a contrasting colour, which, when you are 15 is A W E S O M E. When you are 44 is it N O T. But the yoga pants only had a small logo, and a nice stripy turnover top. I was looking at a pair when the assistant came over and very politely asked me if I needed any help.

Now, middle-aged ladies are always well received in these shops because we have the MONEY that 15-year-olds do not have. But our function is limited to handing over credit cards when the whining hits fever pitch. We are not supposed to want to try things on. "They're very fitting", she said, looking dubious. "What size do you have there?"

"A large," I said.

"And what size are you normally?" she asked.

"A 10 - 12", I said (US 6 - 8).

"Yes, you're definitely a large," she said, looking embarrassed for me. But then, as if remembering the training manual, and maybe wondering whether I was some sort of evil mystery shopper, added "but I'll get you a medium too, so you can compare them." The medium looked like it would have been a tight fit on a Barbie, but I took it anyway. And the large fitted! It was indeed *too* fitting for what I wanted, but that was the cut, not the size. Roll on Granny Hicks and I'll be first in line. The gym is at work, and I don't want to run into people I work with in proper "gym" clothes. I usually lurk about the office in things that cover me right up. I don't have anything in my wardrobe that outlines me. So in the end I didn't give the assistant a properly tragic ending to her old-lady story, but I got what I needed at Uniqlo (love that shop) and so now I just need some trainers for Monday morning. I am trying to find a non-ugly trainer, which I am not sure is possible.

I've nearly finished my Debbie Macomber novel, which is the last in the Blossom Street series (although I think there are more in the pipeline) and today picked up a Susan Wiggs, which looks excellent.

#69 I'm not very good in those sorts of shops at all. I occasionally venture into Hollister in Cambridge in search of things for J. But the mood lighting is so very dim that it's really difficult to see what you're looking at - last time I couldn't even decide which was section was male and which was female and I was just too embarrassed to ask.

I hadn't heard of London Belongs to Me before either - hope you enjoy it.

#70: In Hollister, look for the entrance labelled "Dudes". The girls' side is labelled "Bettys". (I read about it in the paper and had to visit when I was next passing. At Westfield the Hollister and the Gilly Hicks are opposite one another, although who on earth in east London has that sort of money, I have no idea). I did get a bit lost inside both of them, but it was very entertaining anyway. I am going to start London Belongs to Me on the weekend.

#71 In Hollister, look for the entrance labelled "Dudes". -that makes sense - there were two entrances now you come to mention it. I really must give Westfield a go one day - until we went to the Olympics I didn't realise just how easy it was to get there from where we live.

> #69 - LOL! Love your shopping experience story Susan. I can soooo relate to that. I am just now coming to terms with the fact that my metabolism has slowed down and that my body doesn't just 'snap' back into a svelte physique like in my younger days. I walk to and from work - 3 km each way - as my fitness program and there are days when I feel that just isn't cutting it. If I walked into Gilly Hicks and wanted to try on things, I would have received the same sort of response from the sales clerk, which for me is a bonus as I enjoy watching the sales clerk squirm as they mentally try to figure out how best to assist me when they are so used to dealing with a much younger shopper.

Great shopping story, I've finally gotten to the age when those type of stores or clerks don't intimidate me anymore. But then I also remember when a size 10 -12 was considered medium!

LOVE that story, Susan! Too funny! And what a great job you did telling it to us - thanks for sharing!

Smiling at your shopping story! :)

Susan, your shopping experience made me laugh out loud! Glad you could find something that works for you:)

#72: Rhian, Westfield is a fun morning out, but get there early, as it gets horribly busy later on (like most places, I suppose). I thought late night shopping would be busier, but it wasn't as bad as I had envisaged.

#73: Lori, a few years ago I wouldn't even have dared to go in, which is so silly! I spent years being intimidated by "cool" people, and they hire on looks in those places.

#74: Judy, the average UK female size is now a 16, according to recent reports, which I think is a US 10. And, while I found the whole experience funny, I would have been less impressed if my (imaginary) 15-year-old daughter had come home with the same story. I think a brand that is squarely aimed at young women shouldn't have a UK 10 as its largest size, and it certainly shouldn't call it "large" (8 - 10 is small here, 12 - 14 medium and 16+is large). I don't know what a self-conscious teenager would have thought about being told that she was too big for the (tiny) clothes, particularly in a group of friends. Maybe that's why I was the only customer in the shop!

#75: Hi Mamie! I am finding the whole purchasing of gym wear quite a challenge, as you can probably tell! Today I finally braved the trainers, and got this horribly ugly pair:



Note the velcro fastening - I am embracing my inner old-lady :-) All the trainers looked ugly, so once I worked that out it took some of the pressure off.

#76: Hi Carol. I should just stick to book shopping!

#77: Hi Anne - I hope it all works, but Monday morning will be the test. I am going round the gym with a gym person who is going to write me a programme to improve my aerobic fitness and do something with my shoulders, which they think might help with the pain I am still having. I should be focusing on the exercising and not the clothes! Gentlemen and Players is in transit to the library so I hope to have it next week.



144. A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: It's the next one in the Blossom Street series, and the last one at the moment

This is a Blossom Street book, but it's all about one of the characters from the previous books, and her family, and a road trip from Seattle to Florida, which was entertaining, but there was a bit too much will-she/won't-she over getting back with the horrible ex-husband vs a new man they met on the trip, and that made me a bit impatient. I was hoping she would decide that she was better off as a singleton, but alas :-)

This afternoon I have started London Belongs To Me, which is excellent so far.

145. London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I saw it mentioned on Rhian's thread. As I love books about London, and I had never heard of it before, I was intrigued. And it was right there in the library, and brand new.

This book shows one of the greatest things about LT, and that is random recommendations of amazing books that otherwise we would never have heard of. I LOVED this. LOVED IT. It is one of my top reads of the year, and already I am recommending it to people and I only finished it this morning.

Set in London and starting in December 1938, the book is about the people who live in a house in Kennington, where the widowed Mrs Vizzard lets rooms, and what happens in their lives over the next couple of years as the war starts and London is bombed. The war is not a huge part of it, or at least it is in the background while lives continue as best they can, until it starts to intrude a bit more.

According to the introduction to the book, the author "does not rank as one of the great literary novelists of the period", but this book sold 884,000 copies when it was published in 1945, and I would bet that many more people enjoyed it than slogged through some of the worthier offerings.

It has a lovely droll tone - "And this evening everything was warming up nicely. The dining-room was full of prosperous-looking men and sleek-haired women all wearing that season's fashionable haggard expression. The women were mostly rather younger than the men and the most of them looked as though a course of good nourishing food might still be able to put them on their feet again. The men on the other hand all looked as though if they went on as they were going they would soon be off theirs forever" and an excellent range of characters. It is a bit like a literary soap opera, with episode after episode in the various lives, which often intersect, and I loved every page of it.

Five stars.

Susan, I'm so pleased that you got London Belongs to Me off my thread, especially when I haven't even read it myself yet! I really liked the look of it but just couldn't manage another long book alongside Dombey and Son. I have pencilled it in for my next year's reading in the 13 Category Challenge

London Belongs to Me sounds like a perfect read! I will have to hunt around for that one. Great review Susan. Hope you have an enjoyable weekend.

#80: Rhian, it is long, but it just flies past as it is so entertaining and you can't wait to find out what happens next. I'm sure you'll love it when you get to it.

#81: Lori, it's definitely worth finding! There is a Kindle version out here - not sure about overseas, though.

Today I went to the Cecil Beaton "Theatre of War" exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, which has been on for a little while and closes on 1 January. I went to the exhibition at the V&A about his royal photography earlier in the year, but I didn't realise then that he had been one of the official war photographers for the Ministry of Information during WWII, and today's exhibition was mostly about those photographs. I had hoped to see more of London during the war, but it covered all the other places he visited too, including the Middle East and the Far East, and also had some photos and memorabilia from his theatre design work after the war. As he is mostly remembered as a photographer of royalty and for his fashion work, it was really interesting to see another side to his work. I walked there, as the Museum is only about three miles from me, and the instructions on walkit.com were very clear. Also it was a good excuse for a sit down and a coffee and a cream scone when I got there :-)

I have done one week of my new fitness drive now, and today is the first day since Monday that I don't ache all over, which must mean something. My gym induction was pathetic, but I think the trainer found it entertaining, so that was one of us :-) I am tall and thin and I *look* as though I should be fit. In reality, my favourite thing is the sofa, and I had never set foot in a gym before Monday. So it was all quite confusing, but I now have a programme of exercises to help with my neck and shoulder troubles, and a choice of cross-trainer (elliptical trainer), treadmill or some evil bike thing for my aerobic fitness. I've also attended a stretching class (which nearly killed me) and I'm going to try pilates as well. While I do walk a lot in London, it's really hard to go *fast* and stay fast, not least because of all the roads that need crossing, so the gym should make that easier, as there are no traffic lights on a treadmill. The major freaky thing about it all is walking into the ladies' changing room and seeing people from work in their underwear...or worse. And I don't understand, if someone is going for "worse", why they would do it right opposite the door...

Lol - I never get that either. But then I'm not happy being naked even in front of myself so I probably don't have the answer.

I'd love to get to some of the London museums/galleries. Next time we're over at the in-laws (prob easter) we're thinking about ditching Will and taking Cass up to the science museum/natural history museum. She'll be 5 by then and I think she'd love it.

Congrats on completing the first week of your fitness drive! I don't know how comfortable I would be at seeing people from work in various stages of undress in the change room either, especially when I am only used to seeing them fully clothed!

The kids go to the Science Museum a lot - the queues are less crazy than at the Natural History museum for some reason. But it's quite hard to get them out of the play area in the basement. If we were in the area we'd be there every day, and I bet some kids in Kensington/Notting Hill are.

#83: Bekka, both of those museums do seem to be very popular with families, but I've only been to the Science Museum recently. The school trips were having a great time!

#84: Thanks Lori - I wonder whether it will get any easier in week 2. At least I have stopped feeling like I've been steam-rollered. I'm going to put the treadmill on an uphill setting tomorrow :-)

#85: Luci, they really are an amazing resource, aren't they? Even the museum shops are full of interesting things.

Today I went with a friend to see the new Twilight film, which was lots of fun although I did wonder how some of the cast managed to get through their lines with a straight face. But we have been to all five of them together now (my friend, Mrs Cullen, is a Twihard) so it's the end of an era, really. They had a trailer for The Host, but that didn't appeal to either of us, so we will have to find something else to follow now (and it won't be Fifty Shades of Bad Writing, either). We saw it over the other side of London, so I had two tube rides to start my new book, The Winter Lodge, which is a nice romance set in a small town, and part of a series. That ticks every box for me :-)

Susan cheers for the new workout routine! I WANT London Belongs to Me! It's not available on Kindle in the U.S. yet but the book is available on Amazon US. My library doesn't have it so I'll add it to my wish list.

#87: Hi Roberta! I hope your library gets London Belongs to Me so you can enjoy it too. Thanks for the workout cheers! I went again last night, and discovered that the cross-trainer and treadmill have programmes on them so I tried one of those, which included hills. I was exhausted by the end of it, but not achy today, so my office roomie says I have to do it for longer next time. But one of the gym staff came over and helped me with one of the weight machines - I wonder whether it is my bright white trainers that give me away, or the fact that I am just hopeless. I may as well have NEWBIE written on me in neon. They are all very friendly, though. Tomorrow is stretching class at lunchtime so I should be aching again by Thursday one way or another.



146. The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: It's the second one in the Lakeshore Chronicles series

This is such a lovely series, set in the small town of Avalon, in New York state, and about the extended Bellamy family, who own the local camp. This book was about Jenny Majesky, the owner of the town bakery, who discovered in the last book that she was really a Bellamy, and the half-sister of that book's main character, Olivia. I love the interlocking storylines and the setting, and I'm looking forward to number 3, which is apparently on its way to the library for me.

147. Ever The Diplomat: Confessions of a Foreign Office Mandarin by Sherard Cowper-Coles

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: This book was excerpted in one of our papers when it was published recently, and it looked like an entertaining read.

Not my usual sort of thing, but I really enjoyed this memoir by one of the UK's most senior diplomatic staff, who started with the Foreign Office in the mid-70s and worked in Egypt, Washington, Paris and London before becoming Her Britannic Majesty's ambassador to Israel, and then Riyadh, and then Kabul. There isn't much about Kabul in the book, as it is the subject of an earlier book, Cables from Kabul, but some of the stories about his time in the other countries are very funny (for example, when his boss, the Permanent Under Secretary, was introduced by a confused translator in one foreign country as the "Immortal Junior Typist"), and for me it was an excellent introduction to how the process of diplomacy actually works. I'm going to put Cables from Kabul on my list for the future, although at the speed my library reserves are currently arriving, it will be next year before I get to it. Last weekend I read a very good review of a new book, Prairie Fever and then saw it on display at the library on Monday, so I had to get it. And now I have to read it pretty quickly!

That sounds so interesting, Susan. It's funny because I was reading that title and thinking that this doesn't sound like something you would read, and then you state that it is not your "usual sort of thing"! I'll have to see if our library has that.

#90: Mamie, one of my goals for this year was to try some different types of books, as last year I seemed to read rather more romance than I had intended, so I've been keeping a lookout for possible candidates. Plus, of course, there is my natural love for anything new and shiny...

I just logged on to the library website to check whether any more books were on their way (I have three to pick up on Monday). I usually click on the ebooks link when I'm there, to see if they have anything new. The fiction total has been stuck on 3,621 for some time, but today has jumped to 4,600. Woo-hoo! I am going to make some tea and go through what's new. I don't NEED any more books, of course, but then when did need have anything to do with it? I can wishlist them, at least. That is an excellent feature of their revamped site.

That's quite a jump in the number of ebooks! Very exciting! That reminds me that I really have to check out the online options of my new library. Our last library in Indiana was very small, and they didn't have any online stuff, so I am excited about the possibilities of downloading to my Kindle.

Love the job title translation (the perils of translating word by word and not thinking of context I guess).

Dashing out in the rain to inspect local indie bookshop's 3 for 2 sale (no, of course I don't NEED anything).

Wow, Susan, what a recommendation for London Belongs to Me -- I can't wait to read it! I also like your description of Ever the Diplomat. Hope you're having a great week.

Sounds like you are going to be having a nice time, sipping your tea and browsing the new e-books. I have noticed the same thing with my library, the e-books are growing by leaps and bounds, I guess that's also true in the world of publishing. E-books are very popular right now.

#92: Mamie, I hope your new library has a good e collection. They should have audiobooks as well as e books, so if you're an audiobook fan you should find plenty to like!

#93: Luci, I think you made the right decision checking out that sale anyway. I mean, what if there turned out to be something you DID need? :-)

#94: Hi Anne! I hope you enjoy London Belongs to Me. I'm picking up Gentlemen and Players tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes.

#95: Judy, it was good to have new things to look at, but it was a bit disappointing. Or at least there were some good new things, but I had already read them in hard copy. Lots of icky-looking erotica, which I think is a waste of my council taxes, no new romance (humph) and quite a bit of non-fiction classified as novels...I keep hoping for better!



148. Prairie Fever: How British Aristocrats Laid Claim to the American West by Peter Pagnamenta

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I read a good review of this last weekend, and then found it all brand new at the library. In the UK it is actually subtitled "How British Aristocrats Staked a Claim to the American West" and the cover picture is slightly different, showing a posh-looking chap on a horse, being chased by a buffalo. I wonder why the US and UK covers/names are different. Anyway, only the US version shows up on LT at the moment, so I have put that one in.

I always thought that the US was mostly settled by people of modest means, in search of better - Ellis Island, the huddled masses, etc. (One of my English great-grandmothers was going to emigrate there with her first husband and family in the 1890s, but he went first and he died on the ship in New York harbour before he had even arrived. When her next husband wanted to emigrate with her and his stepsons and their own two children, she stipulated that it couldn't be to the US, which is how we ended up in New Zealand). But this book looks at the fascination that the midwest and "Far West" of America had for the aristocracy in England, whose younger sons travelled there for adventure, and looking for things to hunt, some of them with a view to staying on and settling there.

The author looks at some of the best-known visitors, who arrived from about 1830 when St Louis was a new town, and headed off into the wilderness, often with only a couple of local guides and the most basic of provisions. Roaming around over the prairies, shooting buffalo, they thought they had found paradise, and the term "Prairie Fever" soon came to be used to describe the longing for outdoors adventure once they had got back to civilisation again.

But as more arrived, and started to settle, they came in for criticism from the settlers who had been there longer, and who were focused on business rather than the hunting, shooting and fishing lifestyle that the English went in for, with maybe a bit of farming on the side. As some of the richest ones bought up vast acreages, there were fears that they would import all their bad landlord behaviour that had caused so many problems in Scotland and Ireland, and laws were eventually passed stating that land could only be bought by people who had applied for American citizenship.

Running in parallel to the story of what was going on in the US was how audiences in the UK and Europe were devouring any books they could find about life in the prairies, with James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving being huge hits, followed by writers like Captain Mayne Reid. There were even exhibitions in London and elsewhere of scenes from the prairies, painted on to huge screens which were wound from spool to spool as the audience sat in front of them, to give the impression that the audience was moving. More controversial were the groups of American Indians who were brought to the UK to perform in the exhibitions, but they ran for years and there was competition between various event organisers to get the biggest crowds with the best scenery and artefacts.

It is interesting to think of a time when an entire country's knowledge of a place was filtered through what a novelist or commercial promoter wanted them to think or believe. Not only can we see pictures of everywhere in the world nowadays, but if someone purported to write about a little-known tribe somewhere, it probably wouldn't be long before one of the tribe got onto Twitter to say "This is nonsense." But in Victorian times, novels and pamphlets were all people had to go on, and a lot of the pamphlets were produced by people looking for settlers to travel out and lease land from them, so they weren't particularly truthful. The author notes the peculiar fascination with America and the Indian tribes, noting that there was no similar frenzy about the indigenous people of Australia or New Zealand, but the big advantage of the US, of course, is how quick it was to get there in comparison to those other countries. One writer explained that an aristocrat could see out the Parliamentary session, go to the US and be back home in time for Christmas, which must have been handy :-)

The book has excellent maps at the front of it, which include the routes that the various explorers followed, and I found them essential to understand where they had gone. Someone with a better knowledge of US geography might be able to do without them, but otherwise I would recommend getting this in hard copy rather than as an ebook, as maps don't tend to work that well on the Kindle, for example.

I have downloaded a James Fenimore Cooper novel which I am planning to read over Christmas. I'm pretty poorly read as far as American writers go generally, and now I know how popular he was in the 1800s I am interested to see what his books are like. I don't know where my great-grandmother and her family were planning to go when they got to the US, but presumably they too were influenced by all the writing about it during the 1800s, so they may have planned a life somewhere other than the east coast, particularly as the west was pretty well developed by the time they were going to leave and there seemed to be virtually limitless opportunity for hard workers.

Wow, that sounds interesting. Straight onto the TBR list.

Very interesting Susan. My library has it and I have it on my wish list now. Great review.

I read Fenimore Cooper and all the early American writers in a high school literature course. So many moons ago! I tried to reread The Last of the Mohicans about ten years ago. It was not as enjoyable as I remembered in high school. It's a little long winded in some parts.

I didn't get any new books yesterday, but they did sell me 6 books from the secondhand section for a total of £6, including a Swedish crime novel by someone I've not heard of, published 2012, which was in such good condition Simon thought it was a new book. I also found 3 books in Oxfam which were more expensive but worth it, and I picked up a few more books this afternoon too...

#97: I hope you enjoy it, Reba.

#98: Roberta, it seems to be one of those books that was published at the same time in the US and UK, or maybe earlier in the US if your library has it already. It's brand new here. I've got an earlier Fenimore Cooper, so I'm expecting a bit of long-windedness!

#99: Luci, what a great deal! You see, you did need those books after all...



149. She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor

Where I got it: Kindle sale earlier this year
Why I read it: I know relatively little about the monarchy before the Tudors, despite loving the Jean Plaidy novels when I was a teenager. I think I've forgotten most of what I learned. This has been my Kindle Fire bedtime read for the past few weeks and I finished it this evening while I was waiting for some work emails (sigh).

This book looks at Matilda (1102 - 1167), Eleanor (1124 - 1204), Isabella (1295 - 1358) and Margaret (1430 - 1482) and then Mary Tudor. It examines the role of queens in a world where the rules of succession were uncertain, and so were the rules about what consorts could do. There is a lot of historical detail in the book, and much running around and derring-do. What struck me most, having finished it, was how peaceful life is today compared with the lives that these queens lived, when the whole country seemed to be repeatedly in turmoil, with endless plotting and scheming. We had the abdication crisis in 1936, but it wasn't really a crisis compared to what happened when kings died hundreds of years ago. There was no gathering of armies and threats of war before King George took over from his brother. In a thousand years, there really won't be much to write about :-)

Recommended for history buffs and anyone with an interest in pre-Tudor England.

I've never read Fenimore Cooper, but I have read Mark Twain's "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses," which is A) hilarious, and B) has lessened my desire to read the works themselves.

Hi Susan -- Prairie Fever sounds like a fascinating book. I love your own history included there and how your family ended up in NZ instead of the US :)

Hope you had a good weekend, and that you enjoy Gentlemen and Players!

Visiting your thread is dangerous to my TBR list. Both Prairie Fever and She Wolves are heading to my TBR list.

#101: Susanna, that was hilarious! (I wonder what he would have thought of The Da Vinci Code, or Fifty Shades of Grey). I still think I'll give The Pioneers a try, though, just so I can say I've attempted it.

#102: Hi Anne! I picked up Gentlemen and Players, but I have gone a bit overboard, library-wise, being enticed by a brand new book about the Titanic (or specifically the people on it) - and The Secret Rooms, which I mentioned further up my thread, plus a romance and another novel which I saw reviewed on the weekend and which just happened to be sitting on the shelf at the library today. I had to search around a bit for the *right* shelf, but I found it eventually. I think I can see how the weekend is going to pan out.

#103: Hi Lori! I've had my share of book bullets from your list, so I'm glad I can return the favour :-)

150. Dockside by Susan Wiggs

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: It's number 3 in the Lakeshore Chronicles series

Strictly speaking, the UK title is "Dockside at Willow Lake" but I prefer the US cover :-) I didn't like the central romance in this book as much as the two that precede it, but the secondary story was good, and will form the basis of a later book. And the author has plotted out a meticulous backstory for each of the characters, so as the books go back and forth in time it all works out perfectly. I've reserved number 4, but I'm hoping it doesn't arrive too soon as I have been a bit enthusiastic with the reserves and have quite a lot to get through.

Today I went to the "Mughal India - Art, Culture and Empire" exhibition at the British Library, which is excellent. If anyone saw "Garden and Cosmos" at the British Museum a couple of years ago, you'll love this. I think India is going to be my non-fiction project for 2013. I haven't just decided this - I've had a book reserved about the Raj for quite a while now (no sign of it yet, though) but there are other things that have been published over the last few years and which also look good.

On the way home I found myself in Moorgate, due to transport vagaries, so I popped into Bargain Books and got The Churchills: In Love and War by Mary S Lovell, which looks like a cracking read. And I've just started The Secret Rooms, which I am trying not to read too fast because then I will have finished it. But I'm failing - it is a gripping story, and I love it. Unusually, rather than just telling the story, the author explains the book that she *was* researching when she found what she is now writing about, and how her plans changed as she researched more and more. So it's a bit like a story within a story.

Prairie Fever and She-wolves both look very interesting, Susan. That exhibition sounds so wonderful, and I think that focusing on one particular country for non-fiction reads for next year is such a great idea - might steal that! Now I'm off to check out The Secret Rooms as I have no idea what it's about.

Hey Susan, stopping by to see how things are with you. Great reading as always and the museum exhibit sounds fascinating! You got me with Secret Rooms and I want to thank you for that.... that sounds like my kind of book! Even better, my local library has five copies on order, so I am at the start of the request queue for when the books arrive. Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Secret Rooms sounds so good! My library does not carry it and it's not available on Kindle here. I may just have to *gasp* buy the book. :)

Susan audible.com has it (Secret Rooms) free with a free 30 day trial. The narrator sounds a little like a male Siri. it's "free" though. Oh, what to do? Your thread holds many temptations.

#106: Mamie, the exhibition was fascinating. I've seen plenty of old European paintings, but the Indian style was so different, and so incredibly detailed. And you can see when the Jesuit missionaries arrived with European books, and the Indian painters started experimenting with perspective, and Christian religious figures. There was a lot of information about each exhibit, including where it had come from if it wasn't part of the British Library's own collection. A lot of things had come from one of the (apparently) famous collectors of everything Indian, but my favourite description was on a case of coins, one of which was described as "On loan from the British Museum. Donated by King George IV."

#107: Lori, that is great that they have so many copies! Funnily enough, when I went to pick up my reserved copy, they had another one on the new books shelf, unborrowed. I wanted to pick it up and say "read this!". The rest of the weekend has been pretty lazy, as I haven't been out today, but I have had a busy week at the office, so I was looking forward to it.

#108 + #109: Roberta, it is brand new here so it might come in for you in a little while. Having now finished it, I would recommend a written copy rather than the audio version, because there are illustrations in it (apart from the photos) which it is good to be able to see, and there are quite a lot of people mentioned so it's handy to be able to check in the index if you forget who one of them is or where they last appeared.



151. The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery by Catherine Bailey

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I loved this author's last book, so this was an auto-borrow for me

I read this in a day and a bit, because it is such a good story, in the sense that you just want to keep reading and see what happens next. Part of the interest in the book is the author's explanation of how she came to write it, so I don't want to give too much away, but essentially she was at Belvoir Castle in 2008, researching the book she thought she was going to write, when her plans suddenly changed as a result of what she found there. The story is about the 9th Duke of Rutland, and the "secret rooms" are the rooms on the ground floor of the castle in which he was cataloguing all the family papers. But why had no-one else been allowed in them? And why were they shut up after his death? The author's research took her all over the country as she tracked down details missing from Belvoir, and that was as interesting as the story she was telling.

This book has everything I like - castles, scheming Duchesses and high-society stories as well as quite a bit about World War I and its impact on the men from the estate and the surrounding villages. There is a helpful family tree at the beginning, and some fascinating facts about Dukes, explaining that, in the pre-war world when there were thirty Dukes, they were the leading celebrities of the day, and "such was their grandeur that, in the course of their public appearances, it was customary for trumpeters to announce their presence." If I were a Duke today, I would definitely re-instate that tradition!!

Highly recommended. I'm sad to have finished it now, though.

I want that book - I think Reba was talking about the audio because it is the only way that the book is currently available here in the States. I'm not sure why that is, but good to know that waiting for the print version is the best option. Lovely review - thumb for you!

Susan - I'm back to add that I can't thumb your review because it is not posted. If you decide to post it, I will thumb it. There is currently only one review available, so adding yours would be helpful.

I have an ARC of The Secret Rooms which I'm reading, as other online people also highly recommended it.

Mamie it is available in hardcover here in the States. I just rarely buy hardcover or buy books in general except second hand. This book sounds so good I may treat myself to it.

Susan thanks for the added information and steering me clear of the audio book. The photos sound like they definitely add to the whole. The narrator of the audio book really does sound a bit like a computer. I wonder if he talks on elevators and gps. :)

It is? *runs off to check again*

Roberta - Where are you finding the hardcover edition?

Eeeks! You are right Mamie, the hardcovers are used editions sold from second hand parties at Amazon. Wah!!!! Sorry!

I want to read this book so much!

ETA: I may break down and order from Amazon UK if this is not going to be available in the US for awhile.

Oh shoot, I was hoping that you had found it somewhere! I wonder when it is going to be available in the US.

Oooh, adding that one to the wishlist - sounds amazing!

#111 + 112: Mamie, I'm glad you liked the review! I've never posted an official one, though - I don't think I'm very good at doing it "properly" and taking into account all the things that a serious reviewer would do. I just know what I like :-)

#113: Luci, I hope you're enjoying it. The one LT review there is says that the reviewer read some sort of advance copy (maybe earlier than yours?) and thought that the finished version would be better. But I don't really know how advanced an ARC is.

#114: Roberta, yes, there are parts of the book where it definitely helps to be able to see the page. There is a bit on ciphers, for example, where the author sets out the code on the page - I have no idea how they would handle that in an audiobook.

#115 + 116 + 117: I'm sure it will make it to the US soon - it's the sort of book that would appeal to fans of Downton Abbey because of all the detail about the aristocracy, and I know there are a lot of those fans in the US so I bet the publishers are keen to get it out there!

#118: Hi Amber! I really hope everyone likes it, or no-one will ever trust my recommendations again! I hope you're feeling better. I saw on your thread that you were poorly - never good at this time of year.

I've just started Gentlemen and Players, which is excellent so far (thanks Anne!). And I'm reading A Tale of Two Cities with the group read, because my plan to read more Dickens this year went badly awry, and this will only be my second one. I still don't like his way of writing, but I'm 20% of the way through it on the Kindle, which is something. All my library books are a bit manky at the moment, so A Tale of Two Cities is my read-in-bed book. I have finally started to get a bit more stamina after going to the gym for three weeks, so I no longer have to go home and go straight to sleep. That must be progress! I have mastered the settings on the treadmill but there is also other cardio equipment to try, including something that is either stairs or mountains, and which I might try next time.

Thanks, Susan! And yes, I'm feeling better, but I've been poorly off and on for long enough now that I'm nervous at ever little itch or pain that something feverish my way comes... Tis the season for that, I suppose.

Nic who has reviewed the book on LT will have got her copy the same way as I did - we both got review copies from Amazon Vine - she's posted the review there too and it's shown as being a review of a book she got through the programme. My gripe is that the endnotes are a bit halfbaked and don't include page numbers, although they're not the sort of endnotes that have lots of extra information in so it's not that big a deal.

#120: Amber, I know what you mean, and somehow it is always worse at Christmas, with so much to do. I hope you've used up your quota of illness and have a good time!

#121: Luci, I have returned the book so I'm not sure whether the endnotes were fixed in the final version, but I don't think I looked at them at all.



152. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: Because of the excellent review on Anne's thread

I really enjoyed this. I haven't read this author before (all the hullaballoo over Chocolat put me off) but I will definitely be looking out for her books now. In fact, I think the book exchange at work has some of them, so I will investigate further on Monday. I don't think I could add anything to Anne's great review, so I would recommend that everyone reads that. It took me until about two-thirds of the way through the book to guess the big secret in it, and even then I wasn't sure I was right, so really I was guessing a bit until the end. I thought it was very cleverly constructed, with the timeline moving back and forth, but I'm glad I had a hard copy because I was flipping back and forth quite a bit to start with. There are two narrators and it got a bit confusing working out which was which at the beginning.

Adding that one to my WL, Susan, as I recently read the aforementioned Chocolat and absolutely loved it. Now I am wondering what hullaballoo you are talking about - I must have missed it. I bought the second book in the series, The Girl With No Shadow, but I haven't read it yet.

#123: Mamie, "hullaballoo" might not be quite the right word, but I remember how heavily the film was promoted here, with endless articles about chocolate, and women and chocolate, and I can't stand things that reduce women to chocolate, cupcakes and kitten heels, which so many books seem to do these days. But that might be unfair to the author, so I will, at some point, read Chocolat.

Today I am supposed to be reading a brand new library book about the Titanic, but I just can't seem to get into it, so I might switch to a novel instead. I have Gods of Gotham and So Brave, Young and Handsome (hi again, Anne!) so I'll see what they are like.

Oh, the film. I had forgotten the film. The book is not really about women and chocolate. The writing is beautiful and the characters are wonderful. If anything, I'd say it's about how narrow minded thinking can justify evil done in the guise of righteousness. It's about how pettiness is always threatened by an open heart and an open mind. I liked the hidden depths of a well told story that had me thinking about it well after I'd finished reading it.

I have heard good things about Gods of Gotham, which is on my WL, but I have not heard of the other book- must investigate! Hope you have a lovely weekend, Susan!

I loved that film and think it was exactly as you described the book, Mamie -- evil done in the guise of righteousness, etc.

I second that the film, Chocolat, is exactly as Mamie describes the book.

Susan I thought of you this week. I'm reading A Tale of Two Cities in the group/tutored read. I was using a paperback copy from the library. It was so old! It wasn't dirty or stained so I was reading it, but then realized it was triggering my asthma! Ah!!! I returned it for a new hardback copy published last year. I thought to myself, I really need to up my standards like Susan and just leave the old copies at the library. LOL

Edited for spelling. I said triggering me asthma instead of my asthma. Speak like a pirate day is in September not December.

Chiming in to agree that the movie of Chocolat was excellent! Haven't read the book, but I think it's somewhere on my wishlist...

#125: Mamie, I will have to give it a try. I think all the articles were probably bandwagon-jumping - any excuse to go on and on about chocolate. I just remember feeling irritated at the time (also I don't like Juliette Binoche) and vowing not to jump on it myself.

#126: Hi Reba! Maybe I will have to get over my dislike of Juliette and watch it!

#127: Hi Roberta - OK, I am convinced :-) I saw your new cover on the group read thread and I loved it! It's very funny. But I imagine that the older Dickenses could get very old indeed, even if they haven't fallen prey to the worst library borrowers. I'm glad you can continue the group read in good health. I'm using a Kindle freebie and not doing too badly.

#128: Amber, I'm keen to read more Joanne Harris now, and I wish I'd discovered her earlier. Ah well, there is nothing as much fun as going through an entire backlist in double-quick time, so there is that compensation :-)



153. Titanic Lives: Migrants and Millionaires, Conmen and Crew by Richard Davenport-Hines

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I read a great review of this recently, and there it was at the library, all brand new and shiny :-)

The story of the Titanic is one of those topics, like Watergate and Marilyn Monroe, that is a virtual cottage industry, and quite daunting for the novice to know where to start. I've seen the film (years after it came out) and I went to an exhibition of Titanic artefacts at the National Maritime Museum a few years ago, but that was really the extent of my Titanic knowledge. I thought this book looked interesting, though, as it is mostly about the people on the ship, rather than great amounts of detail about what happened to it (although there is some of that).

It's really about more than just the passengers, as it looks at the wider society at that time, and how the American millionaires had made all their money, contrasting their lives with those of the third-class passengers who were trying to get away from various sorts of turmoil in their home countries. So that was an additional point of interest, and the accommodation arrangements were also interesting, as it was just four years earlier that my grandmother had gone out to New Zealand, and left me wondering whether they had gone second or third class, and exactly what her ship was like (some internet research looms).

The book was written for the centenary of the sinking, and the author acknowledges that there are many more detailed works on various aspects of it, but I thought this was a good introduction and raised a lot of interesting issues, particularly about "women and children first" (or only), which led to so much wasted room in the lifeboats, and the castigation of those rich men who survived.

That book looks interesting - I am wondering if our library has it. And yes, please do try reading the book Chocolat - I think you'll be charmed by it.

Hi Susan - Not sure I've commented over here. But I lurk a lot! Always enjoy your posts.

The only Joanne Harris I have read (so far) is Five Quarters of the Orange which was wonderful. I think you might like it. I have several others of hers (including Gentlemen and Players) on my TBR shelves, but not Chocolat. I've been resistant to it for reasons similar to yours, but Mamie's and others' comments are making me reconsider!

I'm not a big movie buff...enjoy many of them but don't know alot about them or those who act in them. As a result I was able to go to Chocolat with no preconceived notions (still don't know any of the actors actually) and was delighted by it. Hope you will be too.

I'm not a big fan of Binoche, either (and the fact that she plays the love-interest of Johnny Depp doesn't help her case with me one bit), but the movie was so well done that I didn't mind.

#130: Mamie, I'm sure US libraries will be interested in it, as so many of the passengers were from the US.

#131: Hi Katie! Thanks for delurking. I will look out for Five Quarters of the Orange but first I will visit your thread!

#132: Reba, I'll keep an eye out for it. I'm sure I've seen it scheduled in the past.

#133: Amber, I didn't know Johnny Depp was in it :-) Hmmm...

The freezing fog has finally hit London, which at least means the forecast was right (well, vaguely right. Most of the day it has been fine and sunny but when I left the office it was all foggy). I walked over to the library to return a couple of books and see what they had for my Christmas reading, as they are now dating them for return on 2 January. I wanted Juliet Gardiner's The Blitz but it appeared to have a sneeze on the front cover, so I put it back. There is a cleaner copy at the other branch I go to, so I will get it there. I did get the next Susan Wiggs novel, which I had reserved but which was sitting in the middle of a display of books, and another one about Londonders. I have one to pick up from tomorrow at the other branch and I am hoping the new Karen Maitland novel will come in before Christmas. Only 14 more sleeps till Santa, as they were saying on the radio this morning. I got an amazon voucher from my father today, so I have to think about what to buy with that (pirate romance ebooks, of course).

Hi Susan, your thread is a dangerous place to be! I have added both Secret Rooms and Gentlemen and Players to my wishlist. I haven't read anything by Joanne Harris yet, but I have been meaning to fit her in at some point.

#135: Hi Judy - your thread is also dangerous! I hope you like both books when you get to them.



154. So Brave, Young and Handsome by Leif Enger

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: Because of the great review on Anne's thread

This was a really lovely read, and it fitted in well, place-wise, with Prairie Fever, which I read a few weeks ago. It is set in 1915, so a later time period, but it seems that the west was still pretty wild even then. I'm looking forward to Peace Like a River, by the same author, which I have reserved at the library.

*Drive by waves* Hope London isn't as cold as one of my colleagues made out - she wouldn't shut up about being cold after her trip this week!

#137: Hi Bekka - it has been very cold indeed, but it is warming up now as the rain arrives :-)

I am still assembling my Christmas reading, although I *do* only have 11 days off, and about 40 likely candidates...

You have ELEVEN days off at Christmas! My initial reaction is envy but I'm trying to be zen. So I took a deep breath and am experiencing joy for you Susan. That is wonderful. I work in a hospital and we aren't allowed to take more than 5 days between Thanksgiving and New Years. It stinks but its necessary. We are open 24/7 365 so rules have to be put in place to make sure our patient's needs are met.

What are you most excited about reading?

#139: Hi Roberta! Thank you for the joy :-)) My 11 days includes weekends and public holidays (the 26th and New Year's Day are both public holidays here, as well as Christmas Day) so it is quite a lot of leave for comparatively few days of my annual holiday allocation. A lot of people are taking next week off as well, or the whole of the week starting 31 December, and getting in a full fortnight, but I will be stir-crazy by 2 January with no-one to talk to. Plus I seem to have been signed up to give a presentation to some keen young people on 3 January. I hope you manage to get some time off, but I bet a hospital will be busy over Christmas with accidents, particularly if the weather is bad.

I've saved the new Shannon Stacey romance for Christmas Day, so that will be fun. But other than that, I'm not sure what I will read in what order. I have some library books and some (well, 300) Kindle books, and a few in my hard copy TBR pile so I shouldn't run short!

More annual leave is the norm here - legal minimum leave entitlement is more in the UK than in the US anyway if you're an employee. Hospital staff obviously still have to keep hospitals going and my partner worked for many years in social care, looking after people in a residential home which of course needed to be staffed all the time, so nearly always had to work Christmas. Fortunately, he now works in the trade union office and has office hours and holiday. Many organisations and companies shut down at lunchtime on Christmas Eve and open again on 2 January. Schools are closed for longer. I don't have an employer to have holiday from right now, and my first paid work as a freelance is suddenly showing up now just before Christmas when I have far too much other stuff to do, but we shall see.

Enjoy your holiday reading.

I beat you by 1 day Susan, I have 12 days off - but only because I don't normally work Fridays so I'm not in work on the 21st.

Adding to the holiday envy :( I'm off Xmas eve and the 27th but that's it - too many other people off this year so I have to be in. I'm having a hellish time trying to sort out childcare! Ah well - it'll be nice to have a few days with them anyway.

11 days off.... I can relate to that.... I am so looking forward to having the last week of December off. I want to spend most of it under blankets with a pile of books by my side but I know some of that time will be spent on other activities. ;-)

#141: Luci, I hope you can fit the work in OK with everything else. It sounds like a positive start for the New Year, anyway.

#142: Rhian, I am so tempted to take the end of this week off...I'll see how busy I am. After a year of being flat out, things are a bit easier now, but that will only last until the next huge matter comes along.

#143: Bekka, make sure you schedule all the picking up of the brightly-coloured plastic for a time you're not there! Your kids must be so excited - they're the perfect age to get into it all.

#144: Lori, I hope you get your wish, even if it's not for the whole time. I have bought the two-week TV guide and started to circle things but I really want to get lots of reading done.

I started Gods of Gotham on Thursday night, and got through 50 pages, but last night I realised I wasn't looking forward to continuing with it, and that I would much rather read the next Susan Wiggs book, and my mystery novel narrated by a dog. So that's what I've been doing instead. I can see why Gods of Gotham is getting such good reviews, but I don't want reading to feel like work, or at least not now.



155. Snowfall at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: It's the fourth one in the Lakeshore Chronicles series

The main character in this book has never come across as a sympathetic character in the earlier books, but this time she gets her own story and I loved it. The hunky vet hero didn't hurt :-) As usual, there were secondary plots involving other recurring characters, which set up the future novels. I'm really enjoying this series, which fortunately has another three or four books to go. I have the next one reserved already but it's probably too much to hope that it will come in before Christmas.

I'm about half-way through Dog On It, which is a very sweet read, and hoping to finish that later.

Dog On It sounds so good! I put it on my library wish list and I'm fairly sure I will have room to add it to my 2013 challenge. Now I just need to figure out if I will put in my mystery category or my book bullet category. :)

I'm glad you switched gears with your reading. It really shouldn't be a chore.

#145 Yup - well Cass is anyway, Will is still a bit young, but mainly just hyped up on all the extra chocolate that's floating around. We have a great Fete de Noue as well so town is very christmassy - its a nice feeling :)

#146: Roberta, I'm sure you'll love it! I'm glad I didn't spend the day slogging through Gods of Gotham.

#147: Bekka, I just looked up the Fete and it looks great. I have heard of a couple of Christmas markets in London but haven't been to any.



156. Dog On It by Spencer Quinn

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I saw it (or another one in the series) reviewed on someone's thread, but I can't remember whose it was

This is a crime/mystery novel, involving a private detective and his dog, Chet, and is narrated by Chet. This means you giggle on nearly every page as Chet describes the world through his own eyes (or quite often nose). He is sweet, brave and loyal, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I want to buy copies of this for all the dog people in my life, but I think it would be fun for anyone, dog-lover or not.

Next I have a couple of non-fiction library books, but I also found Fall of Giants in the book exchange at work the other day, so that may well be my major Christmas read, particularly as I picked up the second one recently when it was 20p on the Kindle (much to the fury of Ken Follett's publisher, apparently).

Oh joy, I have just finished my Christmas shopping. For me, this constitutes typing my credit card number into a number of sites for gift vouchers, which are sent straight to the recipient in New Zealand, but still. I have to try and think of new sites before I inevitably resort to Westfield vouchers, and that takes time. So I feel most un-Grinchly, although the Grinch did appear this morning at the supermarket when I saw...chocolate bunnies. BUNNIES. EASTER BUNNIES. Appalling. But if they're doing Easter already, I must look out for half-price 2013 calendars.

I've read a bit more of A Tale of Two Cities but have also started a great new book called Listening to Britain, which is Home Intelligence reports made to the Ministry of Information between May and September 1940.

Listening to Britain sounds fascinating. Can't wait to hear more.

I read and reviewed Listening to Britain for the Bookbag a while back, there should be a link on the LT page under reviews. I'm currently reading C J Sansom's Dominion, in which Britain conceded defeat in 1940, and reading that book before does help me understand how that might have happened, and just how scary things looked at that time.

I hope Dominion is a good read as I've just bought that for Mr SandDune for Christmas.

#150: Reba, it is very good so far. I'm doing a week at a time, and each week is preceded by a little write-up explaining what was going on at that time.

#151: Luci, Dominion sounds interesting. What I like about Listening to Britain is that it was all written before anybody knew how things turned out, which gives such a different view of events than "Well, it was tough but we won".

#152: Rhian, I also recommend Dog On It for a Christmas present - I've just sent a copy to my father and recommended it to a friend. I would send him one too, but we have a Christmas non-aggression pact, so I just sent the recommendation :-)



157. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Where I got it: Kindle freebie. As with Nicholas Nickleby I just put that Penguin cover in there so I don't look too cheap

Why I read it: The Group Read was just the prodding I needed to read some more Dickens in this bicentenary year

My Dickens plan fell apart this year, because it turns out that I don't really like Dickens. But still, it is good to have read at least a couple of things (and I have also read Oliver Twist) because they are so famous. I do have an actual Penguin Classics hard copy of Bleak House which I also plan to get to at some point, but in 2013 I'm going back to Trollope. Yay!

I returned some library books at lunchtime (another Pre-Overdue notice arrived yesterday...) and got another Susan Wiggs and a Lisa Kleypas, so I think it's going to be a romancey Christmas. And that's not even counting my recent amazon downloads. Pirates, pirates everywhere. I sent a link to a particularly flowery pirate romance novel to one of the young guys I work with the other day, as I thought he would love the excerpt on the amazon page (the whole concept of romance novels appals him), and now he says he is being chased around amazon by pictures of shirtless men, and Will Get Me Back. I don't suppose this involves sending me a pirate.

LOL - love the idea of being stalked on Amazon by shirtless men. Though to be fair - nowhere near as bad as what followed me round for some time when I ordered some Marquis de Sade (1,001 - honest!).

I just downloaded an Oxford World Classics edition of Oliver Twist for 49p.

Dominion was pretty good - I still have a few pages of his notes to read but I've finished the novel. I was a bit upset to learn that he was diagnosed with blood cancer while writing this though, crossed fingers that treatment will mean he's around to write lots more books yet.

Have you come across Choc Lit? Their books are chicklit/henlit (some of the chicks are nearly as old as us!)/romance - contemporary and historicals, and they offer most of their books at about £2 on Kindle. They put them out in paperback too, and your library might well have some.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like Dickens. Whew, I said it...guess I"m out now.

#154: Bekka, I am always stalked by the shirtless, but I suppose if you are used to seeing other things, it must be a shock. I can just imagine what you got with the Marquis de Sade!

#155: Luci, I read The UnTied Kingdom earlier this year (I think - possibly 2011) and that was a Choc Lit title. I'll have a look at what else they have.

#156: Reba, you are not alone! His books are interesting from a social history point of view, as he was writing about the pressing issues of the time, but I don't like them as novels. Too wordy, and his female characters are saps. But at least I've tried!

Last night I delved into the Kindle, and started Spanish Serenade as my read-in-bed book. Who could not love a book that starts like this?:

"Pilar Marie Sandovaly y Serna knew that what she was doing was nothing less than madness. To meet the brigand El Leon, the lion of the Andalucian hills, by chance and in daylight was dangerous enough, but to invite him to come to her at midnight in a dark patio garden was to place her honor and her life in his hands. The danger did not matter; some things were worth the risk."

I was instantly transported back to my stroppy teenager-dom, when these books were my favourite reading. This is one of a box set of four I downloaded from amazon recently, all about the history of Louisiana (where Pilar and the lion are currently headed, sharing a cabin on a ship) so obviously I am reading partly for the historical interest...and only partly to see what happens. No, I realise I don't sound at all convincing.

Spanish Serenade sounds like a blast. That's going on my library list.

Cynara, it is very old-skool and a fun read. It not only has Spanish brigands, but Barbary pirates, an evil harpy who knows the truth about El Leon (who is currently pretending to be someone else on board ship), a sojourn in Cuba and a jousting tournament, and they haven't even reached Louisiana yet. It doesn't score well on LT, but no-one has reviewed it so far so I'm not sure what they don't like about it.

There seems to be a lot of Dickens reading going on in the group right now. Tis the season? I'm giving A Christmas Carol a re-read at the moment.

Amber, it is indeed the season for A Christmas Carol :-)

Today has been fine and sunny in London, so I went for a giant walk, having decided yesterday that I would take the day off work because I still have so much holiday to use up. I walked from home to the British Museum, and then down Charing Cross Road to the National Portrait Gallery, and then down to Embankment for the tube home. There isn't that much on in the various galleries at the moment in terms of exhibitions, but I saw a few good things, including a room of Mario Testino royal portraits at the NPG, and it was good exercise. And warm enough not to need a hat or scarf or gloves. I stayed well away from the super-busy places, but the good weather should help the shops.

Now I'm continuing with Listening to Britain and Spanish Serenade and contemplating dinner from the contents of various foodie gifts that I have been given. It's so nice to be on holiday!

Enjoy your day!! Sounds like a lovely way to begin the holiday weekend.

That does sound amazing - it's a lovely feeling when you've finished for a few days too isn't it :)

Oh, that sounds like a wonderful day!

#162: Thanks Reba! Yesterday turned out to be the best day for it, too, as today it has rained all day.

#163: Bekka, I am very pleased to be finished for a while, although with the BlackBerrys we are never *really* away from it...

#164: Amber, usually when I go out on the weekends I'm very focused on whatever it is that I'm going to see, so it was fun to just wander around. I knew where I wanted to end up, but that was about it.

Central London is starting to empty out (of residents, not shoppers!). I went up into the City this morning, to the big Marks & Spencer at Moorgate, as most of the shops in the City are closed on the weekends, so I thought it would be quieter than other branches. Usually the bus up there is busy, even on the weekends, but today there were about six of us, and on the way home there was mostly just me. A couple of other people got on for a stop or two, but there were no tourists, and the streets were very quiet. The store was indeed nearly empty (of people, not groceries, fortunately) and I was finished so quickly that I was too early to visit House of Books, the remainder shop in Moorgate. But the rain had got worse by then, so I really just wanted to get home.

According to the TV news, the big shopping centres are expecting their busiest ever day in the history of the world, so I'm glad I didn't have to go into the West End. Usually the busiest day would be tomorrow, i.e. the day before Christmas Eve, but large shops are only allowed to trade for six hours on Sundays in the UK, so the crush has moved forward by a day. The Government changed the rules during the Olympics, but wouldn't change them again.



158. Spanish Serenade by Jennifer Blake

Where I got it: Kindle freebie
Why I read it: Nostalgia :-)

This book was written in the 1980s, and is set variously in Spain, Louisiana and Texas in 1788. Among the real-life events in it were the fire in New Orleans in that year, and some of the historical figures are real, but the rest of it is just purely delicious romancelandia, and a really fun read. This was one of a box set of four Louisiana historicals, offered free by the author, so I am going to (a) read the other three and (b) buy the other box set, as there are eight novels in all.

I used to go to that M&S quite a lot - I'm a bit surprised that it's open at the weekend at all!

Oh yes, I miss Marks & Sparks!! I love their ready to heat and eat selections -- perfect when you're a tourist staying in an apartment as we usually are.

#166: Rhian, it has always surprised me too. But maybe they get people from the Barbican, or from the streets north of Moorgate.

#167: Reba, I pretty much live on ready-meals :-) They do have some lovely ones.



159. 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

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: It's the sort of Londony thing that I like

This is a collection of the experiences of all sorts of Londoners, who talk about their lives, or their work, and what they like or don't like about living in the city. I've been reading it for the past few days, and thought it was very well done. It would be a great gift for anyone who has lived in London and loved it (or even not loved it). I'm not sure I agree with all of the views, but there were certainly parts where I found myself in complete agreement with the interviewees. Both my library branches seem to have multiple copies, so it must be the "in" book of the moment.

>168 susanj67: I've added Londoners to my wish list. You find the most interesting books about London!

Hi Susan -- oh, I am so far behind! I am thrilled that you enjoyed Gentlemen and Players and So Brave, Young, and Handsome as much as you did! I have enjoyed Joanne Harris -- I really liked both Chocolat and Five Quarters of the Orange, so there's some good reading ahead of you if you get those. As for Peace Like a River, it is one of my top five books of all time. I can't wait to see what you think of it.

As usual, you've been reading excellent books that temp me sorely. I'll be looking for a copy of The Secret Rooms. The back story you teased us with is so fascinating!

Oooohhhh..... I miss Marks & Spencer's!!!! We used to have one here in Victoria right downtown but it closed.... dare I say, 10-12 years ago????? A very sad day when that happened. I miss the food center, they had the best biscuits (their current ones were my favorite!). *sighs*

#169: My libraries now have "London" sections where they put all the London-related fiction and non-fiction, so it is easier to find things now! I am still kicking myself for not making a note of an excellent Tube-related book I saw a few weeks ago. I hope it reappears.

#170: Hi Anne! Yes, your recommendations are doing well :-) Peace Like A River is still on the reserve list, but things are taking a while to come in.

#171: Lori, I had no idea M&S had made it so far overseas. I have bought a box of their Florentines for Christmas and I am making myself wait before I start them.

Today I have started a Susan Wiggs novel after the Lisa Kleypas one turned out to be part of a series. It would be so helpful if publishers would put this on the back of the book somewhere...I've also done a few weekly chapters of Listening to Britain, which continues to be an excellent insight into wartime Britain, although the parachuting nuns seem to have disappeared from the "rumours" list now.

Hi Susan - just dropping by to wish you a very Happy Christmas.

Yes, M&S went far and wide.... kind of like the British Empire back in colonial times. Sadly, they appear to have contracted their market space in the past 10-20 years..... They used to have a store in Calgary (Alberta) which is also now closed. *frowny face*

Anyways, the reason I really stopped by was to wish you best wishes for the holiday season and into the new year!

#173: Hi Rhian! I hope you're feeling better now and all shopped up for the big day :-)

#174: Lori, I don't know what I would do without M&S! Cook more, I suppose. Thank you for the holiday card :-)



160. Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I like this author's Lakeshore Chronicles series, and this book, while not part of the series, was sitting on the shelf

The main characters in this book do in fact have a little walk-on role in one of the Lakeshore books, and it is obvious from that appearance that their marriage is failing. This book is about what happens next, and takes place in a small town in California. The LT reviews give away far too many plot points, so fortunately I didn't look at the page for this book until I was adding it to my collection just now. The next Lakeshore book is on its way to the library for me, but I won't get anything until next week now. I have half of one library book left, but fortunately mountains on the Kindle and a couple of chunksters from the book exchange at work.

161. The Pirate Next Door by Jennifer Ashley

Where I got it: Kindle
Why I read it: I like this author's Captain Lacey mysteries, written as Ashley Gardner. This is one of her historical romances.

Should Alexandra Alistair add her handsome next-door neighbour to her list of potential husbands? Or is he, as rumoured, truly a rakehell pirate? This is the question posed on the cover of this fun Regency-with-pirates romp, which is the first in a trilogy. Yes, I'll be buying the others...

I also want to finish the Captain Lacey series in 2013. Maybe I should add them to my ROOT thread right now, so I remember to retrieve them from the depths of the Kindle bookshelf.

Hi Susan, just stopping by to wish you a very Merry Christmas. As I will be out of town until the new year, I will look for you on the 2013 threads.

Merry, merry Christmas to you, Susan!

Merry Christmas Susan!

I wish you a very Merry Christmas Susan, and all the best for 2013!!

Judy, Anne, Bekka and Nathalie, thank you all for your Christmas wishes!

It is a rainy day here in London, so perfect for reading more romance...



162. All He Ever Desired by Shannon Stacey

Where I got it: Harlequin ebook
Why I read it: This is book five in the Kowalski series, which is one of my best romantic finds of the last couple of years

I've been saving this book as a Christmas Day treat, although I couldn't resist starting it last night. It's another cute story with a happy ending, and I like the way that the previous characters recur. There is one more of the series coming out in January, and I thought I'd seen a reference to three more after that, but I may have been dreaming.

163. Blackberry Summer by RaeAnne Thayne

Where I got it: Harlequin ebook
Why I read it: I like this author's category romance novels, and this is the first one in a new series set in a small town in Colorado

This was a lovely read, and I'm looking forward to the others in the series. There are two more so far, and I hope more planned.

I had a slight techie nightmare this morning when I lost my phone/broadband connection for a little while, and, while I seem to have fixed it now, it did make me go onto my Kindle and download a lot of things from "cloud" to "device" just in case the fix doesn't last. I'm not worried about the phone as I get about three calls a year, but having to make do with no broadband, particularly when I'm on holiday from work, would be awful! I suppose there is always a wireless dongle if the worst happens. I'm crossing my fingers now that the worst doesn't happen, and that the socket plate is still safely sellotaped to the wall for many months to come :-)

Merry Christmas, Susan! Hope your day is filled with fabulous things!

I hope you had a fabulous Christmas Susan!

#183: Thanks Mamie! The day was quiet but fine. I'm doing well with the romances.

#184: Thanks Roberta! I am eating my way through the fridge, so it is going pretty well :-)



164. All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins

Where I got it: Kindle
Why I read it: I love this author.

This one had remained unread on the Kindle for some months, and I'm not sure why. Possibly because I have too much stuff on the Kindle. But my downloading yesterday moved it to the top of the queue, and it was another fun read. I'm enjoying my romancey Christmas, although I am getting a tiny bit tired of the Kindle, so it might be time to tackle something in hard copy next. I managed a walk this morning for about an hour before it clouded over and started raining, but fortunately I was home by then. There were tons of tourists everywhere, and I was nowhere near the West End sales. Maybe not everyone comes for the shopping.

165. Listening to Britain edited by Paul Addison and Jeremy A Crang

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: It looked like an interesting addition to my recent reading about 20th century social history

This is an excellent book which reproduces the reports written by the Home Intelligence department of the Ministry of Information for five months in 1940. The aim of the reports was to allow the policy-makers in Government to know what the public was thinking at the beginning of World War II so that official communications and policies could be tailored to stop rumours, help evacuees and let people know what was going on, insofar as that was thought wise. And it is very clear from this book that it wasn't always thought wise to let people know too much.

The system for reporting was very simple. Regional Information Officers had to report each day by telephone on morale in their regions. A report was then compiled with a general summary, "points from regions", "rumours" and sometimes suggestions about actions that could be taken in specific places or country-wide.

One of the reviews quoted on the cover describes the book as "a strangely liberating and liberated catalogue of everyday grumbles, both great and small", which is an excellent description of it. One of the big problems at the start of the reports was rumours which whipped around districts and created alarm, and they could be anything from enemy agents parachuting into the country dressed as nuns to Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose being sent to Canada, to reports of an imminent full-scale invasion.

The book notes that a number of people were prosecuted for spreading "alarm and despondency" by making "defeatist" remarks or expressing sympathy with the enemy, and the legal nerd in me would have loved a footnote setting out the legislation under which this was done, because this country virtually runs on alarm and despondency and the courts would be packed with defendants if it was still in force today. One of the things that the Ministry of Information tried to do was to stop the rumours, and there was even an Anti-Lies Bureau to help.

Although a lot of news reports skipped over the detail of just how many casualties had occurred and the specific areas in which raids had happened, there was still thought to be too much news, particularly in London, with one report noting that "London...needs a firmer and more stable background tone instead of a less-integrated and more changeable emotional tone." Whether that happened isn't clear, but in a later report on the country generally, it was noted that "Requests that news bulletins should be broadcast only at 1pm and 9pm continue to be received, and Information Committees stress the bad effect which continued listening for repetitive news has on women."

There were also complaints from the public about things published in newspapers which members of the public would not be able to say, such as an announcement "that Hitler will invade Britain on Friday." Members of the public complained that they would be prosecuted for saying such a thing, and could be liable to imprisonment. This is, of course, the very opposite of the situation today, with the established media all complaining that they are subject to far too much regulation in comparison to citizen bloggers and tweeters.

Another familiar complaint was that too much coverage was given to London. I'm not sure this complaint has ever gone away, because people still seem to hold this view today. And, when the Blitz started in London in September 1940, there were comments from the regions that people seemed to think that London was entirely aflame, or at least that the whole of the East End had been flattened. (There were parallels with this in the riots last year, when all the news programmes were showing pictures of lawless youth setting things on fire, and people were ringing me from overseas asking how long I thought it would be before I could safely leave the house. Most of London was, of course, entirely unaffected, but that wasn't the impression the media was giving).

The reaction to food rationing decisions was also monitored closely, with almost constant complaining when the tea ration was cut, and a jam crisis when extra sugar rations were allowed but the fruit was then too expensive to buy. Eggs were another point of contention.

The reports are grouped into weeks, with an editorial summary of events at the beginning of each week, followed by the reports themselves. Some of them related to events that weren't included in the summary, and it might have been helpful to have those explained, but the book would have been about three times as long, so I can see why they weren't. I read a week or two at a time, which worked well, as all the reports follow the same basic template and would, I think, get a bit "samey" if read right through rather than broken up. But it is interesting to see how concerns changed as the months went on.

I really want my next book on this subject to be Juliet Gardiner's The Blitz, so that is on my list for when the library reopens next week.

Oh, I love Kristin Higgins' work as well! Can't recall if I've read that one (I think so?) but I have a few of her books that I have yet to read. She seems like a nice person, too -- I wrote her a little Facebook message email last year to let her know how much I enjoyed one of her books, and she wrote me back! Personally, not a form email either. I love when that happens. :)

I remember thinking when reading Listening to Britain how terrifying that period must have been, something we don't always appreciate with historical hindsight. At the same time, there was a lot of prejudice reported against various groups of refugees and people from abroad here, some very nasty stuff and some amusingly silly but still unpleasant.

I think the way that you read it was much better than the way I read it - I felt even at the time that it would read better in smaller chunks.

#187: Hi Faith! That is nice to hear about Ms Higgins, and the sort of thing that would make me keep buying. I asked another well-known romance writer if/when her books were going to come out in the UK as ebooks and got no response at all. Evidently she must be making plenty of money in the US.

#188: Hi Luci. Yes, I agree it must have been terrible not to know how long it was going to go on for, and at the beginning people seemed to think it would all be over quite quickly, so what it must have been like in 1942, 43, 44...as it dragged on, I can't imagine. Have you read Their Finest Hour and a Half? It's a novel about a young woman drafted into the Ministry of Information to script their films, and is one of the best things I have read in the past few years.

I had a fun afternoon at the Museum of London in Docklands, including a guided talk, but it was spoiled by coming home and being charged a whopping fare as I left the tube station. I queried it, and they gave me a printout which showed I had an incomplete journey (for which you pay the maximum possible charge). In fact, there seems to be something wrong with one of the card readers I have to use halfway through my (very short) trip as I change lines, but instead of saying "Sorry about that Madam, we'll tell Canada Water there's a problem and refund that charge" they told me:

(1) I had touched the wrong reader (and yet they weren't on the train with me, and I do the same thing day in and day out, every day, as my travel history would show)

(2) there was no need to touch the pink reader (despite big notices saying there is a £50 penalty fare if you don't, and this is repeated on their website),

(3) "We can only go by the printout" (from the incorrectly programmed reader) and

(4) "You'll have to take it up with the Oyster people" (on their 0845 phone number, where you can spend pounds before anyone even answers the phone, and presumably they too would just "go by the printout").

In the end, one of them said he had refunded me the money, but I have put in a complaint just in case, as their website shows a lower balance than I should have had, and he probably just wanted to get rid of me. It's a while since I have encountered such a smug jobsworth as the other one, but maybe he can explain to his supervisor why he thinks it's OK to accuse customers of being liars or idiots or both. This is why I hardly ever go out.

What a rotten end to the day!! So sorry. Hope it you do get your refund.

Sorry to see your day out to the museum had such a frustrating/annoying conclusion! I also hope you have been refunded your money, Susan. The downside of technology is that when you try to explain that the technology has 'glitched out' it usually takes more than one complaint before the human accepts that something might be wrong with the system. I guess it is just so much easier to assume a guilty until proven innocent approach but talk about not trying to be their for your customer base! Our transit system in Victoria is still low-tech in that we don't have a subway or light rail transit system... just buses with drivers monitoring fares/tickets/passes as passengers board, which makes it a lot easier to dispute problems, like when the card reader for the monthly passes is acting up.

Yes, I've read the Lissa Evans book, though I think one of my favourite homefront novels is a Persephone - actually, they publish a few good ones set during the war - Barbara Euphan Todd is better known for Worzel Gummidge but Miss Ranskill Comes Home is about a woman who has been stranded on a desert island for a long time and has just made it back to Britain - in 1942 I think - rationing is in full force and there are all kinds of other rules and issues which people here would take for granted but which she simply knows nothing about, so everyone is angry with her all the time... It's funny, but there's quite a sad and serious note to it as well.

#189 That sucks! I have found train workers can be the most enfuriatingly useless *bleeps*. A few years ago I was travelling from the south of England to North Yorkshire - the ticket machine crashed as I tried to pick up my pre-paid (£100) tickets and then locked them so that I couldn't get at them... VERY stressful and involved me having to buy new ones (another £100) and worry about it later. Needless to say the platform staff basically said that it was my fault and then I nearly missed my train trying to speak to a woman who had no idea about anything. Still - I got a refund eventually so I hope you do too.

#190: Thanks Reba. I was having a good time before that, as I love the Docklands museum, and I hadn't seen their new(ish) "Sugar and Slavery" gallery, so that was an interesting addition.

#191: Lori, you are so right about the multiple complaints. That is the only way they will ever accept that anything is wrong, and even then only grudgingly. What really annoyed me was not so much the money as their insistence that it was all my fault event though they knew nothing about what had actually happened. "The customer is always wrong", if you like, and they were quite aggressive about it too. If I'd had problems with English, or hadn't been entirely sure about what had gone wrong, I would have given up and walked away. If that reader had been faulty all day, they would have made a FORTUNE out of it. And for a lot of people in this area, £4.60 is a lot of money to lose. They could tell by my account history that I have made the journey a gazillion times before, and they should have given me the benefit of the doubt.

#192: Luci, I'm going to reserve Miss Ranskill Comes Home just as soon as a library reserve slot opens up :-) Frustratingly the libraries in this borough are closed until 2 January.

#193: Bekka, the problems with Oyster cards in London are legion, and a more helpful staff member at another station told me one day that half of it is down to people not using them properly, but the other half is faulty gates and readers and Transport for London knows this very well. Your trapped tickets situation sounds like a nightmare - how many people wouldn't have an additional £100 that they could just magic up to pay for new tickets? At least they refunded you, but what a hassle. I think my refund has been processed but I'll have to keep a careful eye on the screen next time I go through the ticket gates. And that will be hard when I am glaring at the ticket office at the same time :-)

Today has been gloomy again, weather-wise (and spirit-wise), so I have spent much of it reading Fall of Giants. Mr Follett is never going to win a literary prize, but it is a sweeping family saga story of the type that I usually like, and it is going quite well. There is a bit too much about the politicking of World War One, and the characters do seem to have a knack for being in exactly the right place at famous moments in history, and speaking in quite modern English but I should finish it tomorrow, I think. I have the sequel on my Kindle so I will follow the story up at some stage, but I should probably cheer myself up with another romance next.

194: ooh, I hope you don't hate Miss Ranskill now! Is that about a limit on the number of reservations you can place? I got a load of very tasty looking and very new library books before Christmas that were just sitting on a new book table saying borrow me, and now I'm worried I'll have to make a special trip to the borough I used to work in just to return a bunch of unread books. And I have my only outstanding reservation waiting for me at Mike's work (he's not in the library but in the library building, and reservations are free there rather than 80p/£1 in my other libraries, so he kindly collects various books for me on his library card, including chicklit with bright pink covers (which I wouldn't pay 80p to reserve).

191: That's appalling. My incomplete fares are usually my mistake, and I've always been refunded, even when I only asked a few days later (in that case I hadn't even realised it had happened until I thought, hang on, I haven't spent that much since I last topped up). I hope this isn't a change in policy.

Oh no, what a horrible tube experience! Hope your week gets better, and at least your museum visit was a good one!

#195: Luci, I'm sure I won't hate Miss Ranskill :-) I can only reserve 12 books, and I was whittling down the reserve list, but I filled it up again after Listening to Britain with the "people who bought this also bought" suggestions from amazon. Now I just need the library to open again. They've even "closed" the ebook library (possibly by accident) as it now just shows a blank page when you click the link (although it is possible to get in via the website of another London Library Consortium borough). Craziness!

#196: Hi Anne! Yes, the rest of the afternoon was good, and has made me want to go up to the Museum of London in the Barbican to see what new things they have there. I did see a poster for an exhibition about early surgeons and "resurrection men" (who used to get the bodies from graves for their experiments) but that wasn't *quite* what I had in mind. I might walk up there tomorrow and see what else is on.

Meanwhile, I have finished the chunkster I've been reading for the last few days:



166. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Where I got it: Book exchange at work
Why I read it: I'd bought volume 2 for my Kindle when it was just 20p a couple of months ago, so I intended to get this one at some point. And the copy at work looked *brand new*, so I couldn't pass it up.

This is a sweeping family saga which starts in 1914 and finishes after WW1. It follows a number of families in different countries, and what happens to them. There are too many instances of the characters being in just the right place to witness major historical events, and that is a bit irritating (and kept reminding me of that TV series about the Romans (the name of which I cannot remember, but maybe "Rome") in which two soldiers are standing by a river, and one of them says "But this is the Rubicon! Once we cross it, we can't go back!"). Also, many of them behave in a very 2000s way despite the fact that they are in the 1910s.

I see the LT reviews all (or mostly) complain about the amount of canoodling in it, which I have to say didn't strike me as even vaguely excessive, but that's what a lot of time in romancelandia does for a person...

The second volume starts in 1933, and must go through WW2, so I will have to read that before I forget who everyone is. There is a character list at the beginning but on the Kindle that is pretty useless. But now, I think, I am going back to a romance of some sort as my last read of the year. Since I started listing things from the Kindle for my ROOT challenge, the screens and screens of books look a bit less terrifying, but I still need to read some. And stop buying them.

WOW for reading - and finishing - Fall of Giants, Susan! I tend to dodge the really big tomes and as such, have yet to read anything by Follettt. Maybe I won't be quite so intimidated if I went for the e-book version. That way it wouldn't be quite so obvious how many pages I still have to read.... that is how I made it through Great Expectations and Don Quixote this year.... just keep reading and doing the finger swipe across the screen. I used to love the big chunksters as summer reading in my late teens and early twenties - devouring Edward Rutherford and the likes - but that was back in the days of summer when I would wile away entire days with a book, and could stay up all night reading!

#198: Lori, it was one of those books that is perfect for a holiday week, when you can really get stuck into it. I read Pillars of the Earth a few years ago when I went back to New Zealand, and it took me all the way out there and half way through the two weeks there. I know there's a sequel, but I haven't read that one. I remember reading Sarum and London but I don't think I've read the others. There's a lovely trilogy by Penny Vincenzi called Spoils of Time - No Angel, Something Dangerous and Into Temptation - which is also a huge, chunky and very entertaining read if you're looking for another chunkster experience at some point :-)

Yesterday I read my final book of the year, which brings me up to 167 books for 2012 - 135 fiction and 32 non-fiction.



167. Betty Zane by Zane Grey

Where I got it: Project Gutenberg ebook
Why I read it: I saw a review on Judy's thread of another book in this series just after I had finished Prairie Fever, and was interested to read more

This story is set in 1782, in Fort Henry in Ohio, and I'm sure Betty Zane's daring feat is well known to Americans, but I had no idea who she was or why she was famous, so the story was quite a revelation. I thought the book was a great read, and the story really raced along. There was, however, enough explaining of key points to make it easy (or easier) for people to understand if they didn't already know the history. I've downloaded the next one in the trilogy, although the Gutenberg version of Betty Zane had quite a few wacky typos, so I am wondering whether one of the Kindle collections might be better.

Thanks to everyone who has visited my thread this year, and I hope to see everyone over in the 2013 group for more excellent recommendations to increase my TBR pile.

I really enjoyed the Vincenzi trilogy - I find her present day set books a bit inconsistent, though I do like to get hold of them all to read at some point.

Have you read the Morland Dynasty books by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - there are now 34/35 books, though I've long since forgotten most of the first 25 or so - I would have started reading it in about 1991/1992.

I agree about the "modern" Penny Vincenzi books, Luci. I do remember enjoying Old Sins many years ago but I think that was also one of the sweeping family saga type of books.

I looked up Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, and I think I have read The Founding as it does look familiar from the various descriptions of it. But that may have been before the library's online catalogue, which makes it much easier to order things. I think I'll get it again when I have a spare reserve slot, and think about the whole series. I'm also tempted to reread the Poldark novels, but maybe not in 2013.

Lovely reviews, as always, Susan. Stopping by to wish you the happiest of New Years! Looking forward to another year on the threads filled with good books and good friends. Thanks for making my thread such a fun place for me to hang out this past year- I enjoyed all that you shared and so appreciated your advice and support.

Happy New Year, Susan!

Adding a few extra Happy New Year wishes to the pile - see you on the other side :)

Happy New Year, Susan!

Thanks Mamie, Bekka and Katie! Not long now till we're back at zero for the books :-) I've started Phil Rickman's The Prayer of the Night Shepherd, which is another Merrily Watkins novel, although I'm a third of the way through it and no-one has died gorily yet...

167 books!! Wow, I'm truly impressed.

Stopped by to wish you a wonderful 2013. I look forward to moments of living again in London (vicariously) and to your wonderful book reviews.

Happy New Year Susan! I'm so glad I discovered your thread this year. I have so many books on my wish list from your reading adventures.

Here's to a great new year ahead, Susan!

Thanks Reba, Roberta and Roni! I've loved having visitors to my thread, and I'm up and running for 2013 here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/146517 I hope to see you over there!