chexmix's 75 in 2013 thread of mystery and imagination

Back again! As of this post I'm still scrabbling to shoehorn in that 80th book for 2012 ...

Here's the record:

1. Maguire, Robert - Exploring Gogol (L)
2. Thwaites, Thomas - The Toaster Project (L)
3. Bök, Christian - Crystallography (R)
4. Shorris, Earl - The Life and Times of Mexico (R)
5. Ness, Patrick - A Monster Calls (S)
6. Saramago, José - All the Names (L)
7. Stenger, Victor J. - Timeless Reality (L)
8. Danielson, Dennis - The Book of the Cosmos (R)
9. Wong, Jan - Red China Blues (L)
10. Kaler, James B. - The Hundred Greatest Stars (R)
11. Zola, Emile - The Fortune of the Rougons (L)
12. Roberts, David - Devil's Gate: The Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy (S)
13. Pohl, Frederik - Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (R)
14. Morse, Stephen P. - The 8086/8088 Primer (R)
15. Voltaire - Candide (R)
16. Bowra, C. M. - Memories: 1898-1939 (R)
17. Haddon, Mark - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (L)
18. Jeans, Sir James - The Universe Around Us (R)
19. Dozois, Gardner, ed. - The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-third Annual Collection (R)
20. Gessen, Masha - Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century (L)
21. Glück, Louise - The Wild Iris (L)
22. Flaubert, Gustave - Bouvard and Pécuchet (L)
23. Asimov, Isaac - The Foundation Trilogy (R)
24. Caspar, Max - Kepler (R)
25. Melville, Herman - Typee (RE)
26. Paul, Erich Robert - The Milky Way Galaxy and Statistical Cosmology: 1890-1924 (R)
27. Mallarme, Stephane - Selected Poetry and Prose (R)
28. MacCormick, John - Nine Algorithms that Changed the Future (L)
29. Swift, Jonathan - Selected Poems (L)
30. Kiš, Danilo - Garden, Ashes (L)
31. Ammons, A. R. - Sphere: the Form of a Motion (L)
32. Storr, Anthony - Solitude: A Return to the Self (L)
33. Dawkins, Richard - Climbing Mount Improbable (R)
34. Finkbeiner, Ann - A Grand and Bold Thing (L)
35. Clarke, Susanna - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (R)
36. Reynolds, Alastair - Galactic North (R)
37. Vidal, Gore - Burr (R)
38. Bulgakov, Mikhail - Heart of a Dog (L)
39. Dann, Jack & Gardner Dozois, eds. - Futures Past (R)
40. Pratchett, Terry - Sourcery (RE)
41. Ketchum, Jack - Off Season (RE)
42. Sandifer, C. Edward - How Euler Did It (L)
43. Nietzsche, Friedrich - Beyond Good and Evil (L)
44. Smiley, Jane - Moo (L)
45. Hecht, Anthony - The Hard Hours (L)
46. Burger, Edward and Starbird, Michael - The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking (RE)
47. Morse, Garry Thomas - Minor Episodes, Major Ruckus (R)
48. John, Betty, ed. - Libby (S)
49. Simic, Charles - The World Doesn't End (L)
50. Smith, E. E. - Chronicles of the Lensmen, Vol 1 (R)
51. Mayle, Peter - A Year in Provence (L)
52. Woolcock, Iris - The Road North (S)
53. Shklovskii, I. S. and Sagan, Carl - Intelligent Life in the Universe (R)
54. Fraser, Angus - The Gypsies (L)
55. Smith, Douglas K. and Alexander, Robert C. - Fumbling the Future (L)
56. Sheckley, Robert - The Masque of Manana (R)
57. Vallejo, Cesar - The Black Heralds (L)
58. Nietzsche, Friedrich - On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo (R)
59. Ligotti, Thomas - The Nightmare Factory (R)
60. Freely, John - The Cyclades (L)
61. Gaustad, Edwin - Liberty of Conscience (S)
62. Malzberg, Barry N. - The Very Best of Barry N. Malzberg (R)
63. Japrisot, Sebastien - A Very Long Engagement (L)
64. why the lucky stiff - Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby (RE)
65. Green, Simon F. and Jones, Mark H. - An Introduction to the Sun and Stars (L)
66. Jackson, Shirley - The Haunting of Hill House (L)
67. Gerges, Fawaz A. - Obama and the Middle East (R)
68. Birney, D. Scott et al - Observational Astronomy (R)
69. Blum, Arlene - Annapurna: A Woman's Place (S)
70. Bateman, Scott - Disalmanac (R)
71. Harrington, Michael - Socialism: Past and Future (L)
72. Burroughs, William S. - The Soft Machine (L)
73. Lem, Stanislaw - The Star Diaries (R)
74. Burroughs, William S. - The Ticket That Exploded (L)
75. Burroughs, William S. - Nova Express (L)
76. Alexievitch, Svetlana - Voices from Chernobyl (S)
77. Easwaran, Eknath - Essence of the Dhammapada (R)
78. Kerouac, Jack - The Dharma Bums (L)
79. Zirker, Jack B. - An Acre of Glass (L)
80. Howe, Nicholas - Not Without Peril (R)
81. Confucius - Analects (RE)
82. Kerouac, Jack - Big Sur (L)
83. Schulz, Bruno - The Street of Crocodiles (R)
84. di Donato, Dinapiera - Colaterales/Collateral (R)
85. Stewart, Ian - Letters to a Young Mathematician (L)
86. Holden, Alan - Shapes, Space and Symmetry (L)
87. Hodge, Paul W. - The Spiral Galaxy M33 (RE)
88. Murakami, Haruki - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (R)
89. Codrescu, Andrei - The Posthuman Dada Guide (L)
90. H. D. - Trilogy (L)
91. Said, Edward W. - Out of Place: A Memoir (R)
92. Marcus, Ben - The Age of Wire and String (L)
93. Smith, E. E. "Doc" - Chronicles of the Lensmen, vol. 2 (R)
94. Michaux, Henri - Miserable Miracle (R)
95. Kant, Immanuel - Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics (RE)
96. Pratchett, Terry - Wyrd Sisters (RE)

FINAL:

(L)ibrary count: 42
(R)OOT count: 47
(S)omeone else's book count: 7
(E)lectronic
--------------------
Total: 96

Welcome back!

I wouldn't miss it. :^)

*waving from sleet-ravaged Brooklyn*

Hi Suz -

It's snowy up here ... actually kind of nice.

Glad to have you back with us again, Glenn!

Thanks, Stasia. Can't believe it's my third time ...

I know. It is hard to believe how long this group has been together and how many people who have joined in the fun along the way.

*waves*

Re your 2012 enthusiasm, are you aware that Zola is the featured author this year in the Author Theme Reads group?

@10 Aiee!

Hello Glenn! I hope you arrived well in 2013! Here's to a great reading year. :)

It's already off to a great start! :^)

I'm going to definitely get more poetry in my {reading} life this year. Just started Crystallography, which is near-literally a jewel of a book.

The title makes me think of some of those pics of stars you showed me eons ago -- the super complex structures, etc.

First book down! and another on its way very soon.

I'm keeping separate counts of library books and my own, off-the-shelf ones (for the Read Our Own Tomes challenge), as well as a Grand Total.

Found you and starred you! :)

Year's first doorstop done: Earl Shorris' absolutely amazing The Life and Times of Mexico.

I am thinking I will re-read The Cantos this year. It is a big fat book I need to get off my shelves because ... while it is in its way a landmark, it is ... sigh. It is. It begins so wonderfully, then fades into mud and pebbles, then flares into brilliance with The Pisan Cantos, then busts apart into fragments yet again, some of them undeniably beautiful but in the end ...

Okay, it's a re-read? And it's kind of wonderfull, but you do not have to re-read it, if you do not want to!

@20. Yes, a re-read. I figure it deserves another shot ... my memory of it (one complete read-through + many re-reads of individual poems) tells me that it is wildly uneven, with the 'Adams Cantos' being, well, the low point -- for me. As poetry, anyway.

@ 21. Since i'm from the Netherlands and don't read much English or American books (unless there is a Dutch translation available) i'm not really familiar with Ezra Pounds work. I know of him but I have not read anything by him. But if you want to try it again, you must certainly do that. I will be ROOTing for you!

Can you dip into it? And read bits and pieces? Or do you really need to read it cover to cover??

That Earl Shorris book looks fascinating. May have to see if it's available for Kindle.

Oh, I'm a completist, I am. :^)

The Shorris is really great. I tried to find his email address so I could write and tell him how much I liked it, but alas, he is no longer with us.

Hi Glenn! I haven't heard of Christian Bök. As I have a poetry category in my 13-in-13-challenge, I might give that one a try. I also have to remember The Life and Times of Mexico! Have a lovely weekend!

Adding The Life and Times of Mexico to the BlackHole, not that I will be getting to it any time soon. Thanks for the recommendation, Glenn!

@25,

Kathy, Bök is sort of ... "concrete poetry," in a way -- at least part of the time. Lots of play with form, based in crystal shapes.

Just sayin' ... it's not everybody's cup of tea. I think it's a brilliant book, especially the long poem "Diamonds."

Lots of interesting Canadian poets, really.

I'm "enjoying" (if that's the word) dipping into Pound again, though I guess I really should have a book like A Companion to the Cantos of Ezra Pound handy -- even for the earlier, easier-to-gloss poems.

Very OT: I miss college.

By the way, if you are into YA stuff, A Monster Calls is pretty awesome.

I don't miss college. Or rather, I miss the opportunity that I had then to explore interesting stuff. I don't miss college. This is my 30th college reunion & there's a 25th anniversary of J-school one year program (see my thread) that I am going to boycott.

May go back to providence this weekend...

#28: Me, too! That's why I might join a course at the adult education center... :)

I think the thing I miss is having a built-in social life. As good a hermit as I am, I occasionally miss human company quite a lot.

I feel as though since graduating from my Ph.D. program, I have been in search of life's Student Union.

Gonna do my best to get book #8 for January read tonight ... if I keep that pace up I will reach 100 (or nearly so) by the end of the year!

Did you finish the book?

@34, Yup -- see list above ;^)

Ahh, Okay! Well done.

I'm beginning to wonder whether I have the stamina for the whole "Song of Ice and Fire" thing. It isn't that the books are long (although they are), it's that they are long books full of leathers, feathers, and ill-shaved men grunting and fighting one another and downing flagons of alcoholic beverages and eating great big greasy turkey legs and stuff, and in the end I just wind up repeatedly asking myself whether I really give a shit, since it seems to be a particularly drawn-out Ren Faire.

In re: 37, I have decided that no, I do not have it in me. Am giving the remaining books in the series (the ones I have) to my coworker.

No hard feelings, it's just not ... ultimately, my cup of tea, really.

Hi Glenn! Well, A Song of Ice and Fire really is not for everbody. For me, personally, the eating-and-drinking aspect wasn't as dominant as it was for you. I've only read the first two books so far, but I like the descriptions and developments of all these (human and political) relationships and how Martin works with different perspectives. (And I'm usually not reading any Fantasy.)
Let us know if your coworker enjoys the novels!

I think she likes them quite a lot.

For me, I just don't think I'm the heroic fantasy sort -- even gritty heroic fantasy. I admire Martin's skill ... I have one extremely fond memory of his writing: the first science fiction magazine I ever bought had a long story by him in it. It was called "A Song for Lya" and many things from it are vivid in my mind to this day. It won awards back in the mid 1970s.

Hi everyone. I've been (and perhaps still am) sick. I hate it, though it does make for more reading time, at least when the discomfort isn't too distracting.

Starting my 2nd astronomy course at Swinburne Astronomy Online: "Galaxies and their Place in the Universe." Really looking forward to it. :^)

Get well soon, Chexmix!

Thank you. I'm feeling quite a bit better.

Getting sick is one of the times when it really stinks to have no one around. I don't say that to be all pitiful. It's just ... well, it is.

Of course it is not nice. Nobody to make a cup of tea for you or squeeze oranges. You even have to go out for groceries yourself if necessary. Completly understandable to feel a bit sorry for yourself. Glad to hear you're doing better.

I need to add a funny book to my 'Currently Reading' list. I need to laugh. Bowra's Memories is funny, but not in the way I need.

Maybe Stanislaw Lem or Terry Pratchett. I don't know.

The bad old world burns deep in my gut tonight.

Did you find your funny book?

I'm trying Candide. So far it isn't working quite right.

Hi Glenn, maybe you could try Bouvard et Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert, or the diaries of Samuel Pepys? Hope that you're feeling better soon!

And then on some days all you can do is listen to the Velvet Underground tear through all 17' worth of "Sister Ray" ... because your world is all wrong, and needs to be spanked.

It looks like I will have to take the Bury A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander back to the library: I'm on my third renewal, and if I recall correctly that's all they allow.

Well, I'll simply make a record of how far I managed to get, then pick it back up at another time.

It really is a fantastic book. Surrealistically enough, I only started reading it because one of the famous astrophysicists I occasionally drink wine with after work on Fridays said it was amazing.

What is really amazing is that they let someone like me work there at all. ;^)

O.T.

I am stunned by my irrelevance.

Bouvard and Pecuchet is a bloody marvel. I am so glad I read it ... although I must admit that, in the portraits of two oafs who start learning things just for the sake of learning them, I saw a bit of myself. :^)

I highly recommend it for all thoughtful people. And Mark Polizzotti's translation reads extremely well -- contemporary without overdoing it, and funny as hell.

I'm attempting once again to cut down the number of books I am simultaneously reading, not because a significant other (I no longer have one) recommends it but because I think it will help with retention / reading flow. I just added Typee which brings my current total up to 9. I had been heading steadily downwards but had to add Typee because it is next month's book club choice at my workplace ...

Hello Glenn,
I'm so glad you enjoyed Bouvard et Pécuchet!

Some LIbrarThinges are reading umpteen books simultanously. Since I'm a member I have started to read at least two or three different books, but they're strictly separated so not to destroy my reading flow too much.

Oh my, Mr Melville is tormenting me at the moment. I'm listening to an audiobook version of Moby Dick. The beginning was great, but now it gets a little bit long-winded.

Have a nice Wednesday!

Thanks, Kathy, and thanks so much for the recommendation!

I loved Moby Dick, even the cetology chapters. It's just so ... biblical.

If you want really weird Melville, try the book he wrote after Moby Dick: Pierre, or the Ambiguities. It will make you reel with ... well, with something.

I am reaaaaallllllly enjoying my astronomy course, but my need for more math is palpable. After I finish the four courses required for the Graduate Certificate, maybe I should take some time off to further beef up the math (especially since my first round with multivariable calculus came to an early end).

Upon my return home from work this evening, I picked up my cat Skutch (who was yelling) and said to him "You are a dusty tube sock of meat. Also, you smell."

This led directly to buzzing (purring). We smushed heads.

I talk to my cat this way all the time. Surely this is why women have always flocked to me.

Hi Glenn, it's great to hear that you enjoy your astronomy course! I don't know about your women, but greetings to "smelly cat". Have a nice weekend!

Thanks. Skutch says "muh-RAIR!" back!

The ... women seem to be invisible and non-corporeal. Please excuse the bitterness of a growing-old man. ;^)

My ex-wife/best friend is visiting for a few days! :: bounce ::

I'm vigorously adding poetry back to my reading diet -- I've been mostly away from it for too long. My tastes are eclectic - suggestions are welcome! :^)

OK, so I added a doorstop: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I was feeling guilty about chugging down all those slim volumes ... it felt like cheating!

And that really is a doorstop!

So far, liking Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I really didn't know what to expect from it, and what I've gotten is ... diverting.

That good to hear, because I really likes this book. But some of my bookfriends did not appreciate it much. On which page are you now?

Hi Connie,

I'm on page 244. Strange has just started taking "lessons" from Norrell.

Ahh, you're up to some good stuff!

Edited for clarity.

A Grand and Bold Thing is magnificent. I couldn't put it down. And hey! I work down the hall from one of the semi-major figures in it. :)

I just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It's really quite wonderful. By far the best fantasy I have read in a long time -- since John Crowley's Little, Big, I'd say.

I am happy to read that you enjoyed it!

Burr is really quite bloody good. Bravo!

Eeeehhh, my total leapt back up again: I'm reading 10 books. I wonder why I keep doing that ...?

I am going to do my best to do more reviews. I think this will help me feel like less of a pure consumer (not that there's anything wrong with pure consumption qua consumption).

"Blaster" Al Ackerman, one of my literary heroes from the 'thirdstream' underground, died in March. I only found out when I received a parcel of stuff from John M. Bennett's Luna Bisonte Prods, including a copy of "Ack's Last Hacks."

Rest in Peace.

Just a wave hello. Lost you there for a while. Have you been to the samurai exhibit at MFA? Am thinking about a jaunt to see it.

No, I haven't ... I don't really go anywhere except work :^(

Happy birthday to me. 52 today. Huzzah, or something.

Happy birthday! I'm 51, so right behind you...

Happy b-day!!! Sorry I'm late; lost much of the week to a migraine...

Like Jim, you know I am chasing you age-wise. At least there are still good books and B-movies to entertain us in our declining years...

Congratulations!

I'm 9 years ahead of you! ;-)

Thanks folkses. I'm a bit in the dumps today -- didn't hear from my Dad nor my ex-girlfriend (hey -- I remembered hers) yesterday. I suppose I shouldn't be so sensitive to things like that.

Well, that's not being to sensitive, I think. Just get out of those dumps!

Libby was a completely unexpected treasure -- a true gem of a book. Find it if you can!

Friday. Bleah.

But at least I get to read, with my cat alongside.

Sending Skutch a meow. Tigger is fast asleep at my feet; Molly on my lap, being a cuddle-puss; Cassie sulking in the bedroom after I told her she was naughty for bashing Tigger across the nose.

Fridays are good because it means I have two days ahead of me with the books and the cats; multiples of both is a Very Good Thing.

I love fridays! The weekend is almost there and I have lazy days to look forward to. Not having cats (I would like one ot two, but my husband does not), but I have lots of books around me. That makes me happy.

I am reading (finishing now) a book about Gypsies. I think I should have been a Gypsy, except that the prejudice would have worn me down.

Well, and you'd have to have a dog instead of a cat. And you'd have to keep moving around a lot.

Is it Bury Me Standing? If not and you want to read more about gypsies, try that.

Suz,

No ... it was The Gypsies and was part of a series called Peoples of Europe. Not great, but not bad.

Bury Me Standing looks good ...

On another note, today I got my first-evar spam LT comment. It was largely incomprehensible.

Suddenly I have two Early Reviewer books to go through ... :S

The Very Best of Barry N. Malzberg

and

Obama and the Middle East

August's choices are kinda lame, tho ... I have to say. Bleah.

Agreed re August. There were only two there that I even expressed interest in, and I don't much care whether or not I get them. I probably won't as I have a few more than five in my backlog, including Andrew Bacevich's tome about the US military, which should be provocative.

Tigger is pawing at the screen. I translate that, in cat, as meaning "hello".

August's list struck me as mostly lame genre stuff and kids' books. Even the non-fiction was of little interest. I requested a couple of things but, like you, am not that keen on either.

Just added a 15th book to my currently-reading list. Sheesh. It's The Cyclades by John Freely. Since Turkey started looking like a bad travel idea, I've been considering alternatives -- and the Greek islands is a possibility.

Notes, oddments:

Nietzsche is a perplexing author. I suspect he wanted it that way. He's one of those philosophers who, when encountered make one initially wonder "ok, so where's the philosophy?" This is partly, I think his style (at least in English) which is discursive, polemical and at times satirical -- so it is often unclear what side (if any) he is "really" taking.

I found Beyond Good and Evil pretty opaque, I must admit. It seemed to ... flail about a lot. Plus it has a lot of very unattractive stuff about women. On the Genealogy of Morals, though, is crystal clear, more focused, and has less of the misogynistic element in it. I don't know if the greater clarity is due to R. J. Hollingdale's contribution to the Kaufmann translation, or just the source material itself. I'm no Nietzsche expert by any means.

My next workplace Book Club book is A Very Long Engagement. I have to admit I took one look at the cover (a still from the film) and thought something along the lines of "Ah, attractive naked people in bed and in love. Finally, something I can really relate to" (you need to imagine that spoken -- or thought -- with rather a sardonic sneer to it). I need to grow up.

96: Since Turkey started looking like a bad travel idea
Avoid demonstrations and the border with Syria, they say... Noted because I have my eye on Turkey, though definitely not this year and probably not next.

Yeah ... I had kind of had my heart set on an Eastern Turkey tour when everything erupted. Just my luck. =(

We are going to Turkey in october! A place near Belek in the south. So we hope it will be safe to go.

Ooh -- will you be putting pictures anywhere on the Internet?

:: envy ::

I will put some on my profile page if you like to see them. But we don't really know if it is wise to leave the resort. We just have to wait and see.
I will let you know, Glenn

Polished off three books this weekend.

This is good, but I needed to have spent the time studying for my latest astronomy class. Unfortunately I am sick and my powers of concentration have not been at all good. It's been all I can do just to focus on a book!

Get well soon!

Feel better! I'm procrastinating, too -- no surprise there, alas...

ETA: Besides, aren't books an RX for any illness you may be battling??

Thanks, folks. I definitely feel better this evening.

And Suz,, yes -- books + cat(s) = panacea. =^)

Bleah. Still sick. =(

Ohhh, get well soon!

Had a nice lunch with ex-girlfriend today. That made it a worthwhile weekend.

The pile of books on my bed has become slightly more than faintly ridiculous.

Picture!!!! How many books are on that pile?

OMG if I posted a picture it would frighten people. Let me go count ...

23.

I guess that's not THAT bad, except when the piles go tumbling off the side ...

Or IS IT THAT BAD? :^)

THAT'S NOT BAD AT ALL...... MINE IS 36.
But it is a row and not a pile.;-) so less dangerous

I will post some pictures on my own thread.

Yes, mine is kind of a row, too, really. :^)

36. Hee!

112: On LibraryThing, it's normal. In the rest of the world, well, that's why many of us are here.

My "in the queue" list needed something delightful, so I added in Stanislaw Lem. :^)

#115 -- LOL Katherine, yes, it's group therapy for bibliomaniacs who have utterly zero interest in being cured of our obsession.

I have no piles on the side of my bed. I do, however, have three small bookcases stuffed with TBRs. Not to mention dozens of unread ARCs (booty from BookExpo & Amazon Vine) and a dozen or so unread library books.

G, we should try to meet up in Boston one of these weekends...

Suz,

That'd be swell! :^)

Let me know what your Saturdays look like. We can go and find a yarn shop and a bookshop and brunch!

Sigh and bleah.

Only four books left to go in this challenge! ;^)

Three ...

Gee, I have over 2 months left! I wonder if I should shoot for 100?

Things are slow right now because a major project in my astronomy class is due next weekend. But I have my lack of social life on my side ... ;D

Just go for it, CM. I'm sure you can do it.

Am plowing through Burroughs' Nova Trilogy. It's fairly brain-bending. After this I am going to have to re-read Naked Lunch.

SEVENTY-FIVE.

Right! You are doing great!!

Congrats!

Congratulations Glenn on passing 75.

I think I am going to depart my workplace book club. I feel a tad petulant doing so, but I just don't feel comfortable in the group (let's face it -- I don't feel comfortable in any group).

A related fact (I will leave the relation mysterious) is that I wish I could warm up to Boston, or it to me. It is a very cold town -- and as is no doubt obvious I am not referring to weather.

So, yeah, I'm kind of having a Beat thing right now.

I think it is not considered proper, in some circles, to actually like Jack Kerouac.

Well, fuck that shit.

Woot, woot -- 75!!!

I've heard that a lot about Boston, actually...

Providence may be the same. But I don't really know, because I hardly ever make it out the front door.

Thanksgiving weekend? You around?? MFA??

130,132: I miss Boston. :-(

I'd just like to point out that I have PASSED last year's total (80). I no longer hold much hope out for a century (100) -- unless, that is, I agree to stick to really short books for the rest of the year.

I should say "short and uncomplicated" ... I can think of many a short book that takes a good long time to read properly.

An example: Proofs and Refutations

Is it really December 2013? Am I really 52 g.d. years old? Depressed? A failure in most things?

Yes.

Hey, Chexmix! Keep your head up!
And yes it is december 2013. But who gives a ....
52 years old? .....You could be 60! (like me)
Depressed... that's sad, but you are not lost! You have us!
A failure?... you've passed the magic 80 books line! Why want a 100, when you might aim for 85!

Big hug!!

I bounced right off Thomas Nashe the first time I tried to read him -- smooth sailing this time. Very energetic stuff.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it!! @_@