Sylvia's Books and Bits (2013)

I read for pleasure, and I only write a review if I really have something to say about a book. This is where I can write down a few quick observations and opinions about the books I'm reading.

I have always loved reading, but I find that I don't have the attention span that I used to. I think it mainly has to do with the little voices that keep saying, "Mum, look at me!", "Mum, look at my video game", "Mum, listen to this line from my book...", and, of course, "Mum, what's for supper?"

I have become perfectly willing to abandon a book that doesn't catch my attention right away, although I will sometimes skim ahead to see if it gets better. At the moment I have the equivalent of a large bookcase full of unread books, there are thousands of other good books to read, and my reading life is probably at least halfway through.

This is my first attempt at keeping a reading thread, so I'll just have to see how it goes.

Good luck!
I'm only too familiar with "mum, listen to this" and "mum, look at this"...

The book that I'm most actively reading now is A Nation Worth Ranting About by Rick Mercer, a very popular Canadian comedian. It's a collection of "rants" from his TV show. They are entertaining, but familiar, since I always watch his show.

In my husband's truck I have Late Night Thoughts by Lewis Thomas, a collection of short science essays. This is for reading while I wait for my husband to come out of farm dealerships.

In my own car I have Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher. This is a huge book, and I read it while I wait for my brother to run his errands.

>2 Busifer:

Thanks!

Starred!

Have noted your thread (and laughing that you keep your book tucked in your spouse's truck).

Read for pleasure - check
Few reviews - check
Little voices in head saying "Mom, look at this. Mom watch me do this" - check
Large overstuffed bookcase of books to be read - check
Willing to abandon a book - check

Yup. Could be me. No truck for me to keep a book in though :o)

Good luck on your reading thread. I'll be lurking...

Looking forward to reading your observations and opinions over the year ahead!

I finished A Nation Worth Ranting About. A lot of it was kind of disappointing--five year old political commentary doesn't age well. A couple of excellent longer pieces written specifically for the book make it worth keeping, though.

To everyone who has commented, thank you for your interest. I didn't really expect that anyone would notice. This should keep me motivated.

In a fit of indecision I let my daughter select one fiction and one nonfiction book that I should read next. (Truly judging books by their covers.) She selected The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville and Right Hand, Left Hand by Chris McManus. I will look them over and decide which one to proceed with.

I selected the new book for my bedside table. It is, appropriately, The Bachelor Brothers Bed-and-Breakfast Pillow Book. For reasons of marital harmony, and an increasing need for a good night's sleep, I only read in bed for 15 or 20 minutes at a time.

Now I'm going to work on my jigsaw puzzle.

LOL, I often have one of my "children" (none of whom are teens anymore) pick a book for me off of my TBR shelves. I'll point them to the shelf, and then tell them, "pick." Takes off the pressure of the books calling out, "pick me!" "pick me!"

Let me know what you think of The Bachelor Brothers Bed-and-Breakfast Pillow Book. I read the first one and really liked it.

Morphy, the first few chapters of Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast Pillow Book (finally got the touchstone) are good, including a very funny letter from someone whose house was redecorated by burglars.

The Idea of Perfection was pretty much a washout. I had high hopes because is contains some of my favourite elements—small town, romance between socially awkward characters, very low key action. But as soon as I realised there were no quotation marks, I hit a wall. I skimmed ahead to see if I could get caught up in it later, but I just couldn't get past that punctuation. I can't believe that in all of the 27 English LT reviews, no one mentioned that there were no quotation marks.

I am happier with Right Hand, Left Hand. It is going to take me a long time to read, because it is very technical. I had no idea there was so much to say about left and right. I like the way the author inserts an amusing reference to something like Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or a Flanders and Swann song into a highly scientific or philosophical discussion.

A lack of proper punctuation would put me off as well, @SylviaC. I know that there are authors who feel it is their prerogative to choose and place punctuation (saying essentially to the reader and/or editor "I'll tell you if I need a comma there, thank you very much" because they think it is a key element to their message) but I think it's an affectation that should be wiped out. If I were in the position of a publisher, I'd reject any such presentation of a tale.

I don't know if the author thought the story would flow better without quotation marks, but it had the opposite effect. I was constantly pulled out of the story to wonder, "Is this line part of the narrative voice, or is it a line spoken by a character? Is it spoken out loud, or is it a thought or observation? Just who is saying it, anyway?" At least I've gained an awareness of the extent to which I use punctuation as road signs in my reading.

I just finished Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast Pillow Book. The first book, Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast, established the characters, and this one continues where it left off. There is a great new character, Caedmon Harkness, the brothers' new handyman. I like these books, and will look out for the third one, but I'm not keeping them, as I doubt that I wil re-read them. One of those decisions that I will probably regret someday, but there is only so much shelf space.

The next book on my bedside table is English Eccentrics by Edith Sitwell.

Glad to know the sequel is good. So many aren't. I'll bump it up on Mount TBR.

I finished Right Hand, Left Hand. It took me less time than I expected, as it was surprisingly engaging. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know (a lot) more about the concepts of symmetry/asymmetry, left/right, and handedness. Some of the disciplines the author brings in are biology, chemistry, physics, linguistics, literature, philosophy, psychology, and history. There are lots of little diagrams to illustrate his points. Some of the details of the chemistry and physics were beyond me, but I was able to get the gist of it. This one had both sides of my brain working.

Next up is The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel, borrowed from the library, of course.

Needed a quick fiction fix, so I read an old favourite, Alice, Where Art Thou? by Elizabeth Cadell. Light and fun. About three young women sharing a flat and enjoying their independence, until a murder occurs downstairs. It is much more about the characters than the plot.

I'm still reading The Library at Night, and enjoying it very much.

The Library at Night was good, but I preferred the first half to the last. Definitely worth reading.

The Left-Hander Syndrome by Stanley Coren. A very negative view of left-handedness. I'm glad I read Right Hand, Left Hand first, as it refutes some of Coren's more pessimistic ideas.

Today I read An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. Lots of fun, though not as good as The Fault in Our Stars.

I need to get The library at night. There has been so much praise for it here recently.

I enjoyed The English Eccentrics, even though, as I said over in the "Tattered but lovely" group, sometimes reading Edith Sitwell's prose is rather like eating spaghetti with your hands. A lovely example is the following sentence:

"That queer irascible old rascal, Captain Thicknesse, who, in spite of his violent temper (which may have been due in part to the fact that he suffered from gallstones and was in the habit of drinking large quantities of laudanum in order to soothe the pain), had a real, if strangely constituted heart, and his descriptions of his sufferings when his wife and daughters died, is moving--all the more so, perhaps, because it is an artless production, for Captain Thicknesse was no writer."

Having read nothing else by Sitwell, I don't know whether this was her normal style, or whether she was mimicking the 18th and 19th century biographers from whom she copiously quoted.

I found some of her subjects interesting, and some not at all, but the most fascinating character in the book was the author herself. She would describe some highly improbable situations in a completely non-judgmental manner, and she clearly had a soft spot for some of the frauds, but then she would treat some relatively innocuous character with biting sarcasm. Her opinion of misers was especially low.

While I have no desire to read any of the biographies she has written, I would like to learn more about Edith Sitwell. I think I'll look for her autobiography and her letters. Searching through some of my anthologies, I've found a few of her poems, and would like to investigate those further, too. Some of them would be fun to read aloud, because she plays with words beautifully.

I'm having one of my infrequent fits of thinking I really should exercise a bit, so I'm borrowing some audiobooks to listen to on my phone while on the treadmill. I tried Rabid by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy. I found I couldn't focus on it, so I'll probably try to borrow it some other time in a print format. So now I'm listening to Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain, which is going much better.

#26 Do please read the Façade verses as well. There used to be a recording of them recited by Dame Edith herself, with William Walton's music. Delicious, IMHO.

Oh yes, I love Facade! I heard it performed at Yale a few years ago with Walton's widow reading the verses, probably about the next best thing to hearing Sitwell herself.

>28 hfglen: & 29

I will look for that! Thank you.

I've got Quiet in my LT Recommended collection. I may move it up depending on your review.

@hfglen & @sakerfalcon: I found a couple of "Façade" videos on YouTube, and was quite intrigued. I see there are some albums available on iTunes, so I think I'll buy one next time I have an iTunes card.

@Morphidae: Any book that can hold my attention on audio is probably a good bet. I've listened for an hour so far, and probably have another 9 or 10 hours to go. One thing I don't like about audio books is that I can't read at my own pace.

Be aware that if you see something called the Facade Suite, it almost certainly won't have the words, just the music. But hopefully iTunes will tell you who the performers are so you'll know whether it's a narrated version or not.

I saw a couple with Edith Sitwell listed as reciter. There are others with Lynn Redgrave or Cleo Laine (with a really funky psychedelic cover), but I'll go with the original. There is also an album of Sitwell reading some of her other poetry.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking was very good. I will certainly be buying a print copy of it, for myself and to lend to my kids when they are older. This book is highly appealing to introverts, because the author's premise is basically that the world would be a better place if everyone would just recognize all of our finer qualities. She backs everything up with science, which is nice (and she also lets us know when that science is controversial). There are a lot of excellent points that I wish schools and workplaces would take into consideration.

My one concern with the book is that at times the author may get too negative about extroverts. While she does make a point of saying several times that the world needs both personality types, it seemed to me that she sometimes promotes introverts at the expense of extroverts. I would really like to hear the opinions of some extroverts who have read this book.

26: I'm reading The English Eccentrics right now on the strength of your recommendation--enjoying it and yet also finding your simile very apt: "sometimes reading Edith Sitwell's prose is rather like eating spaghetti with your hands." I haven't read her other work either, but I'd put my money on the notion that this is her style and not a conscious imitation of anything. She does not sound like the type to yield to much in the way of guiding influence or model.

#35 - " it seemed to me that she sometimes promotes introverts at the expense of extroverts."

I found this is a different book about introverts which I read. While it is nice to have confirmation of our nature, it would also be nice to know how to relate well with and understand extroverts, since there are several I love, and several I work with. :)

>36 Meredy: @Meredy: I have ordered another book by Edith Sitwell, and also her letters, so I'll be able to compare. I know from her poetry that she was very conscious of word usage and patterns.

>37 MrsLee: @MrsLee: There is a chapter in Quiet about how introverts and extroverts in relationships can work at accommodating the needs of one another. She also gives a lot of advice on how an introvert can fit into a workplace geared towards extroverts, without going crazy. There is information for extroverted parents of introverted kids, but nothing about introverted parents of extroverted kids. There is also nothing about the whole family being introverted--which I can tell you has some challenges of its own!

Quiet is on my wishlist--time to move it up. My whole family--DH and our three children--are introverts, and it works beautifully because we all understand each other. Of course it means we don't have much of a social life...but that hasn't bothered us much. :)

@Marissa_Doyle: I can relate to that!

Fragile Earth: Views of a Changing World A coffee table book with before-and-after photographs of places that have been affected by natural disasters or human intervention. Not much from a literary perspective, but the pictures are impressive.

I spent a lot of time in the last week updating my wishlist. As could be expected, one thing led to another, and I'm now waiting for three orders to arrive. I held out for two months, but it had to catch up with me.

After a Famous Victory by Lucilla Andrews. I loved it. Lucilla Andrews is one of my favourite authors, and some of her lighter romances are among my best comfort reads. Most of her books are hospital romances from the 1950s-70s, but several of her later books take place during the Second World War, and draw on her own nursing experiences. While her WWII novels are still considered romances, the romantic element is secondary to the war itself. The descriptions of bombs dropping around the hospitals, and the convoys of of injured soldiers are immediate and vivid, while the daily hardships of shortages of necessities and sheer exhaustion pervade the books.

After A Famous Victory is a short book, only 169 pages, and episodic. Most of the story takes place over four or five nights throughout November and December 1943, in a ward of severely injured soldiers at a hospital in the British countryside. As in most of her novels, there is a somewhat unrealistic romance, but the focus of the story is the soldiers and the war. Despite its short length, the book gives a strong impression of a vicious war that has been going on for four years, with no end in sight.

Happily Ever After: A Collection of Cartoons to Chill the Heart of Your Loved One by Charles Addams: A compilation of previously published and unpublished cartoons. Since it focuses only on dysfunctional relationship cartoons, this is grimmer than most Addams compilations. I would only recommend it to the hardcore Charles Addams fan.

Poor Puppy and Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel: Even though my kids are well beyond the early childhood years, they still like me to read them the occasional picture book. The Bad Kitty books are fun to read aloud, while the kids provide sound effects.

I've never read a "hospital romance" - first I've heard of them, in fact. Interesting.

>Morphy: I had an aunt who used to be a nurse, and when I would visit her as a teenager, she would give me stacks of Harlequin romances, most of them about nurses. It is still a fairly significant subgenre but I think they call them medical romances now.

After a number of recent mentions, I decided to reread The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery. I read it frequently as a teenager, but it's been more than 20 years since the last time. Surprisingly, I think I like it even more now. I had forgotten the entire middle portion of the story, and I think that is now my favourite part.

By the way, I have you starred now.

I had Puzzles of the Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov on my bedside table, and finished it this morning. I always enjoy reading Asimov's short mysteries, even though the solutions are generally petty weak.

I borrowed Readers' Advisory by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum from the library. It's an Unshelved compilation. The comic strips are funny, and the "Book Club" summaries are great. I wish my library system had more of the series.

I've been dipping into What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool. It is more of a reference book than a "read from cover to cover book". Useful as a quick reference, and has a 134 page glossary, but I have my doubts as to the book's reliability. It could also use a lot more illustrations.

Re What Jane Austen and and Charles Dickens Knew It's semi-reliable, SylviaC--because it covers both the Regency period and the early Victoria era, it includes information that might be correct for one period, but not so much for the other. I actually like it best for the bibliography, which I used to acquire a lot of earlier, more specific sources for my own research.

Thanks, @Marissa_Doyle. It's useful to hear from someone who actually researches the era(s).

Flood by Stephen Baxter. The LT reviews are quite mixed, with an average rating of 3.3 stars, but I really liked it. The author takes the idea of rising sea levels, and goes to the extreme. Characterisation is not a strong point—it's all about the disaster. I just couldn't stop watching that water level rise.

Finished the last couple of essays in Late Night Thoughts. I always enjoy Lewis Thomas' writing, although this one is quite dated. Most of his late night thoughts are touched by the threat of nuclear war. Unfortunately, some of his concerns are still valid 30 years later.

Armageddon Science: The Science of Mass Destruction by Brian Clegg. Pretty light on the science. A couple of interesting bits, but overall unimpressive. And a totally bizarre section at the end about many scientists being on the autistic spectrum.

The Addams Family Album by Charles Addams. A posthumous collection of some of Addams' best known cartoons, mostly featuring that wonderfully creepy family. There was nothing that I hadn't seen before, and I probably have them all in other books, but it is great to have a collection of favourites. Excellent.

I borrowed The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head: A Psychiatrist's Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases byGary Small on audio, but only listened to the first chapter. If I'd had it in print, I might have flipped through to see if there were any high points, but since it's audio, I'm just scuttling it. It's not about the patients, it's all about the doctor--what he thought, how he reacted, what he said, how he fixed the problem.

In the last week or so I've been reading The Barmaid's Brain: And Other Strange Tales from Science by Jay Ingram. Jay Ingram has been the host of popular science shows on radio and TV in Canada. Unfortunately, his broadcasting skill doesn't seem to transfer to writing. This is the second of his books I've read, and while they're okay, there's no spark. And I doubt if I'll finish this one, because I got yanked up short when he said pigs are hairless mammals. Um...

On a more positive front, my new book in the truck is Letters From Wingfield Farm by Dan Needles. I've seen a couple of the Wingfield plays at the theatre, and so far the book seems promising.

On the bedside table is Feast Days: Recipes from "The Spectator" by Jennifer Paterson, from her pre-"Two Fat Ladies" days. Wonderful to read.

My previous bedside book was Temples of Convenience, and Chambers of Delight by Lucinda Lambton. Lots of nice pictures for anyone who appreciates indoor plumbing. Unfortunately, the print is minuscule.

All of those sound like something I would have picked up--good to hear your thoughts on them.

I have begun reading Edith Sitwell: A Unicorn Among Lions by Victoria Glendinning, in tandem with Selected Letters of Edith Sitwell edited by Richard Greene. I'm hoping that the biography will give me a good context for the letters. This will probably be a fairly drawn-out project, not least because the print in the biography is tiny, so my aging eyes won't tolerate long sessions with it.

I quite agree with the problems of miniscule print! You'd think publishers were immune to the issues associated with middle-age vision!

Maybe publishers are so exalted that they don't conform to the laws of nature!

Several years ago, I read The Velocity of Honey by James Ingram. I love reading science-based essays, but I finished the book without being enthused by it. 'No spark' is the perfect description for it. I'd wondered about giving him another chance and trying The Barmaid's Brain, but you've convinced me I shouldn't bother.

I felt the same way about The Science of Everyday Life. I thought it was a fluke, so I tried again, but now I'm ready to give up on him.

#58 & #59 - Oh, miniscule print. I think we had a whole thread dedicated to aging eyes here at one point. I feel your pain, so to speak.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. Re-read for the group read. I enjoyed the characters, pace and atmosphere.

Finished What Jane Austen Ate. It contained lots of interesting information. I think the most surprising thing I learned was that average farm sizes in Victorian times were very similar to what they are now. It was also news to me that the butler had to sleep with the silverware.

The book could have been improved by the inclusion of many more drawings. It would be nice to see what the different carriages, articles of clothing, or pieces of furniture looked like.

I enjoyed What Jane Austen Ate as well. It's a light history -- on the same order as To Marry An English Lord -- but there are those tidbits that you mention that capture the interest.

The Groaning Board by Charles Addams. Vintage Addams. It contained a few cartoons I hadn't seen before.

The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg. It's about a group of people preparing for and attending their 40th reunion, with the usual range of highschool stereotypes. My feelings were mixed about this one. It irritated me that it was written in present tense, but as I got immersed, I eventually tuned that out. I liked the story, the style (except for that tense thing), and the characters. Even the characters who seemed obnoxious turned out to have lots of redeeming qualities, and there was lots of rather obvious character growth (this is Elizabeth Berg, after all). So I was very eager to see how the reunion would come off, and how the characters would interact. Then reunion happened, and it was fine, but didn't tie up the loose ends. That happened in a chapter tacked onto the end, where everything was tied up in a nice neat present with a big pink bow, and no explanation of how everyone got from Point A to Point B.

I felt like I was on my way to an eagerly anticipated vacation spot, and three-quarters of the way through the trip, the train stopped, and someone said, "Look, here's a picture of your destination."

Love that last paragraph! Very nice description of reader reaction.

Thanks!

A Scientific Romance by Ronald Wright. Literary science fiction. Time travel, post-apocalyptic. A young man travels to the future to look for a cure for the disease that killed his girlfriend, and is killing him. Boy, is he in for a surprise. Some of it I liked, some of it I didn't, and some of it went right over my head. I can see strong connections between this book and the author's pessimistic non-fiction work, A Short History of Progress.

The Hydronauts trilogy recently came up in a Name That Book thread, and someone posted a link to a site where Carl L. Biemiller's son has made his father's books available to read for free. So far I've read The Hydronauts, and I will continue with the series. Straightforward YA science fiction, with really likeable characters.

I have an omnibus edition of the Hydronauts books - good stuff!

I love The Hydronauts et. al and reread them every now and again.

Finished Feast Days: Recipes from "The Spectator" by Jennifer Paterson. I can't imagine actually making any of the recipes, but they are fun to read. They run from 1984-1990, and are heavy on mousses and aspic, with a good sprinkling of organ meats. Anyone who has watched "The Two Fat Ladies" show will be able to hear Jennifer's voice while reading such comments as, "I have no idea how the rabbit got into Easter: pagan fertility stuff or Walt Disney cuteness? Whatever the reason, my feeling is eat it."

My turn on the waiting list for the library e-book version of At Home by Bill Bryson came up, so I've downloaded it, and need to read it in the next two weeks. Not the greatest timing, but I'll try to juggle it with The Great Influenza and the start of busy, busy time on the farm.

Oh, you only get two weeks for a library ebook? Ouch. Is that through Overdrive?
Good luck with that juggling!

Yes, Overdrive. And I had to set the two weeks in my preferences—the default is one week. It's the same for audio books. But if I borrowed a real, solid library book, the loan period would be three weeks.

Yeah, same here for the solid books, unless it is considered brand new and then it's two weeks. I made sure all my Overdrive settings are on three weeks, but I am pretty sure that is the default through my library portal.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through At Home, and enjoying it very much. Unfortunately, it will go poof in two days, so there's no way I'll finish it this time. I like the way Bryson looks at an item that we take for granted, explores its history, and connects it to the wider social picture. Maybe I'll get to the library next week and borrow a paper copy.

Well, I did it. By spending every possible minute reading, neglecting my housework and family, and skimming the Bathroom chapter (which didn't tell me anything I wasn't already very familiar with), I managed to finish At Home before it vanished. I can now enthusiastically second @clamairy's recommendation. It was very entertaining and nicely put together. I found it useful to have a computer at hand so I could google some of the houses and other items he wrote about, just to see what they looked like from various angles. The only downside for me was that after reading the last few chapters, I was starting to think nothing good ever happened in the Victorain era. But overall an interesting way to look at history.

Oh, that does sound like one for me, Sylvia. I just found it on Amazon in hardcover, new, for bottom price, so I jumped at it. I really liked Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Good find, @Meredy. I think it has a similar feel to A Short History..., just covering a much shorter timeframe.

#81 - Well done!!! I am impressed with your steadfast determination to finish it, Sylvia!

#82 - Meredy, I think you'll be pleased, but don't smite us if you're not. ;o)

Now I can get back to The Great Influenza.

Oh, I need to dredge up that discussion thread. Saying I enjoyed that book makes me sound ghoulish, doesn't it? But I did.

And what does it say about me that I enjoy reading nonfiction books about disasters and epidemics, but have no interest in fictionalised accounts? I'd rather know about the awful things that really happened than what someone thinks would make a good story. Don't play fast and loose with the facts!

84: Oh, don't worry. The smiting, if any, takes place in my review. Even at that, I don't always blame the book if I don't like it. Sometimes I'm just the wrong audience. But this one (like Winchester's Their Noble Lordships) sounds like the perfect complement to the fiction reading I do.

I don't think enjoying The Great Influenza makes you sound particularly ghoulish. If you were reproducing at great length all of the specific passages describing the worst cases and how they died, THAT might be edging toward ghoulish. (At least in my little corner of the universe...)

I finished The Great Influenza. Anyone following the group read can read my comments there. In short, I found somewhat over half the book interesting, and the rest was extraneous information. The writing style was repetitive and overly dramatic. Despite its flaws, I really enjoyed the part of the book that actually dealt with the flu, and had a hard time putting in down.

Inspired by @sandragon's thread, I re-read The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. It is such a pleasant, easygoing book, and Lottie makes me smile. For me, the only cloud is the obnoxious Mellersh. But I suppose as long as Lottie has rich friends he'll be nice to her.

I borrowed The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond from the library. I just couldn't get into it at all. A lot of it simply didn't interest me, and it seemed rather repetitious and predictable. I did like the section on children and the elderly, and there were other bits here and there that caught my attention. I ended up skimming, though, because it just wasn't worth the effort of struggling through. Disappointing after my enjoyment of Guns, Germs, and Steel.

#92 - Uh oh. I bought that one thinking it would be a keeper.

Maybe you'll like it better than I did. For me it brought back memories of my first year sociology professor, who lectured in a monotone, relating every topic to the small African tribe with whom he did all his fieldwork. Jared Diamond's narrative is certainly more engaging than his, but I was still reminded of how much I disliked sociology in university. Loved psychology and history, though.

*snork* Well, maybe I can read it when I have insomnia. :oD

#94 Mostly irrelevantly, you remind me of a good friend alas now deceased who, when he wasn't being a connoiseur of elderly gramophone records (he taught me all I know on that subject, and that's the link), was Reader in Psychology at Edinburgh University. His car registration (USAnian: licence plates) was PSY 2 L, which he swore was co-incidental.

I had a friend whose license plate began with the letters XEX. Every time I got a parking permit for her, I had to say, "No, that's XEX."

91 - I found Mellersh didn't bother me so much at the end. He reminded me of a faithful dog: always eager to help, there for you if you need him, but he's also happy just for the company.

#97 Much milder, but our town's code letters are NU, so around here we all drive nu cars, whatever their age. Actually, KZN plates are fun. I'd hate to live in Underberg (up in the mountains where it's cold in winter), because then I'd have to drive around in the NUD. Moving down the hill might work, but NIX to Ixopo ... and so on.

No, you wouldn't want to drive around in the NUD in the winter. I like the name Ixopo.

It's said to be onomatopoeic, being derived from the noise the cattle make crossing a muddy ford in the vicinity (the x is a squishy click).

Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie Mallowan. Very good. Agatha Christie wrote about her life during three years of archaeological digs in Syria during the 1930s. I was pleasantly surprised at how funny it was. Her mysteries have plenty of humour, but for some reason I expected this non-fiction book to be more serious. The first chapter, describing her preparations for the trip, is laugh-out-loud funny. The book gives a strong sense of time and place. I think Agatha Christie would be distressed by the current situation in a country that she loved.

>101 hfglen: The term "squishy click" is giving me an interesting auditory image (or whatever you would call the auditory equivalent of a mental image).

*snigger*

#102 - I have been looking for that book for a long time. Maybe it's time to step it up from a "if-I-stumble-across-it" to a "put-it-on-my-wishlist" search. :)

>104 MrsLee:
It's a fun book, @MrsLee, that takes you to another world.

The Chalet School in the Oberland and The Chalet School Does It Again by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer. They were quick, light reading for a hectic weekend. I liked both of them, but slightly preferred the Oberland one. It really would have been nice if there had been more books about the finishing branch of the school. It was interesting to have a whole book about almost-adult interests and issues, and without the familiar prefect system.

Perhaps someone who has read the hardcover or GGB version of Oberland can answer a question for me: Is there a resolution to the "Edna" storyline? In the first part of the book, she is introduced as one of the "problem" students, then pretty much disappears except for a skiing scene, and then on the last page she says, "I love school now!" Was a chunk of her story cut out, or was it one of those things that EBD started then dropped? And why would any author name two of the main characters Edna and Elma?

These are my last two books in the Chalet School series--I now have the entire 62 book series. I have the Armada Series, so unfortunately, quite a few of the books are abridged. At this point though, I'm not about to go back to start collecting the more complete Girls Gone By versions. Now that I have them all, I would like to read the whole lot in order. Maybe sometime later in the year when I have more leisure time.

According to that Friends of the Chalet School website, there were major cuts in Oberland. Edna's story was a bit secondary to Elma's but it was finished out - she learned not to be such a prig. The name similarity annoyed me, too.

Thanks, tardis. It was one of the longer books, so I was hoping it hadn't been cut too much. Now I'm probably always going to be wondering what's missing from all the abridged books. But I'm not about to start all over again with more expensive versions.

I read The Mind of Mr. Mosley by John Greenwood, from a series recommended by @CMBohn. A cozy, funny mystery. Farcical, even. Inspector Mosley is a placid but determined man, who quietly carries on his investigation with absolutely no regard for police procedures, to the consternation of his superior officers.

If Mosley had put pen to paper about a routine visit, it would have meant that he was covering his flanks in preparation for something even more than usually devious, something that could only herald trouble in the remote future.

Mosley has reservations about a suicide in Upper Crudshaw. He sets things into motion before going on a two-week vacation, and while he's gone all hell breaks loose. Upon his return, he pulls all the strings together, gets everything straightened out, and sits cozily at home while the truly ridiculous climax plays out.

This was a fun, rather silly book, although it got pretty complicated at times. The title is deceptive, because there is very little insight into the workings of Mosley's mind. There are two more Mosley books waiting for me at the post office right now.

>106 SylviaC:. Sylvia - I started late enough collecting the Chalet School books that I am going for the GGBP versions. That means I have a wait before I get to 62. They did promise to publish them all, though. I have the GGBP Oberland one. The names being so close contribute to my not quite remembering what happened with Edna verus Elma. I'll have a look in the next few days - now it is bugging me. I think that I remember Edna's story being secondary to Elma's in the GGBP version as well, but there were definitely a few minor incidents involving her.

>MDGentleReader

You will have a nice collection when you are done. Hopefully it doesn't take 35 years like my collection did!

Letters from Wingfield Farm by Dan Needles - farm humour - Walt Wingfield leaves his job as a Bay Street CEO to try to run a 100 acre farm using old-fashioned methods. His results are not profitable, but very funny. The importance of neighbours working together is the main theme.

Black Maria by Charles Addams -another classic Addams Collection

Bizarre Books by Russell Ash -just lists of odd titles and author names, with occasional editorial commentary

I adore the Wingfield farm books and the original plays - have seen them all and we have them on CD, too. Wonderful fun.

I've been to a couple of the plays—they're great! I love how Rod Beattie switches characters so perfectly. There was one here last weekend, but we couldn't go. The trouble is, they always come to our theatre in spring or fall when the farmers are busiest, which is kind of ironic.

Rod Beattie is a genius, all right. He just twitches a shoulder or sticks out his jaw or puts on a hat and somehow he's a different person. You should complain to your local theatre about their terrible timing. January would be a perfect time :)

106> I've had a terrible cold for far too long. It made re-reading the Chalet School in the Oberland the perfect choice when I couldn't sleep...

*****SPOILER alert *****

Elma: troublemaker, was about to be thrown out of prior school
Edna: Think Eustacia Benson, prim, proper know-it-all, doesn't know how to relate to people

Edna's character development? Well, it wasn't really there in the GGBP edition either.

Early on, Peggy explains that it might be her attitude of always being right that is probably putting people off.

Just before start of the Feast of the St Nicholas celebration, Peggy helps her with make up and hair. Peggy explains that it is a civic duty to look fairly decent becuse other folks have to look at you. It is mentioned that she was giggling during Feast of St. Nicholas elebration.

Edna complained about being sore after first skiing of the season and is put in the San on a invalid diet and learns not to complain so much.

Gets hysterical when funicular halts, but not much is said about that it is really Pamela and Elma's show.

In general Peggy works hard to include her in things from the very beginning, but the above are pretty much all of the Edna mentions in the book.

*****End SPOILER alert *****

There was no mention at all of Edna in the St. Nicholas chapter, and it skims over the girls getting dressed. Other than that the Edna scenes are the same. I guess it was just one of those storylines that EBD set up, then abandoned.

Greensleeves by Eloise Jarvis McGraw was one of my favourite books when I was in my early teens. I used to borrow it over and over again from the library, but then I moved, and was never able to find it again. So finally, after 30 years, I found an affordable copy. I was very excited to receive it, but then almost afraid to read it in case it had lost its lustre. I managed to overcome my fear, though, and started reading it the first evening.

Shannon is an 18 year old girl who has spent her life shuttling between continents and parents and relatives and schools. After a miserable final year of highschool, she needs some breathing space to figure out who she is, and what she wants to do with her life. An old family friend offers her a chance to live on her own for a while, so Shannon takes a job as a waitress and a room in a boarding house. She also takes on an entirely different identity and personality. The book is about Shannon getting to know herself and her new neighbours.

I found that Greensleeves is still an excellent book, although I look at things a little differently now. I now question more of Shannon's actions and decisions, and feel more ambivalent about the conclusion. The book is all about the characters, and those characters are (mostly) very likeable. I'm glad I finally found it, and I will likely re-read it again, although not with quite the same degree of enthusiasm I had as a teenager.

Carney's House Party by Maud Hart Lovelace. An offshoot of the Betsy-Tacy series. Light-hearted, pretty straightforward romance. I enjoyed it, but probably would have gotten more out of it if I had read the other teenaged Betsy books within the last two decades.

Greensleeves sounds intriguing.

>120 jillmwo:

I like it, but I have a history with it. I don't know what it would have been like to read it first as an adult.

That's so cool to find it again and still find it enjoyable in a different way. I tried to think of something I enjoyed a lot a long time ago, that I could look for again, and I'm just not coming up with anything. A while back I found the Burgess Bird Book for Children online, and couldn't believe I had ever liked it at all.

I have a few books on my shelves that I haven't read since I was a kid. I'm reluctant to re-read them now because it's unlikely that I'll love them as much as I did then.

#123 - Yes, you have to watch out for the suck fairy. She's cruel.

>124 clamairy:

Yes, I try to jab at her with a hatpin when she gets too close.

See if you can stick her to one of those insect mounting boards*, so she leaves me alone. Or do you think we each have our own personal suck fairies?

*I swear I saw Tinkerbell in a butterfly display in a Mad magazine as a kid.

I'm expect we each have a personalized suck fairy. But we could all go together and make a collage of them. Or maybe something like Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book.

Ack! Sylivia, you didn't! Yes, you did just point out another book for me to crave in post 127. *sigh*

>MrsLee: Glad I could help!

That book looks hilarious. :oD

I've had the suck fairy hit childhood favorites (Five Little Peppers and How They Grew) and then not (Little Women). You just never know.

Both of those are among the ones I'm wary of. Heidi fared well, though.

#127 and #128 and #130, It's illustrated by Brian Froud. How could you NOT crave possession of Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book?

I actually own Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book and it is hilarious.

Good Evening Mrs. Craven : the wartime stories of Mollie Panter-Downes. An excellent collection of stories about normal, mostly middle class people during World War II. There is no action, no romance, no bombs are falling; just everyday stress and tedium on the Home Front. A few of the stories deal with evacuees and other unwelcome guests, some are about women parting with their husbands or lovers, some are about sewing parties. The characters live with loneliness, fear, and hunger, and carry on.

Although that all sounds very depressing, it really isn't. Some of it is sad, some is hopeful, and some is funny. In 'Date with Romance'(1939), a woman reunites with an old boyfriend, who keeps talking about his stomach problems: "With difficulty escaping from Gerald's stomach, which seemed to pursue the conversation like some particularly active octopus, they chatted about theatres." In 'Mrs. Ramsay's War'(1940), a woman is burdened with an invasive houseguest: "Her roguish eye implied that without her restraining chaperonage Mrs. Ramsay would be helling around Sussex, probably in the nude." This kind of humour is more prevalent in the earlier stories.

One of the most notable things I found in some of the stories was an awareness of the huge social changes that were happening. Not just the immediate wartime upheaval, but the long-term changes to the social order. In 'Year of Decision' (1944), a husband who has spent the war in an office job reflects: "Yes, everybody was in the same boat all right, although it sometimes seemed to Mark that Janet and the rest of their class were making unnecessarily heavy weather of it by refusing to recognise that they were bang in the middle of a social revolution." One of my favourite stories is 'Cut Down the Trees' (1943) about an elderly lady whose big house has been taken over by the army. Mrs. Walsingham adapts to all the changes in her home, and accepts a simpler lifestyle, while her equally elderly maid fights change and believes everything will go back to the old ways after the war.

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in life during the war years.

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow. Who knew math could be so interesting?

136: A hearty second to that thumbs-up. The actual math-math parts of it weren't really for me, but I was fascinated with the way the author overturned (with full explanations) so many intuitive and conventional notions of odds and probabilities.

>136 SylviaC:: Have you read One fine day, MPD's novel about post-war life? It's an excellent treatment of those long-term social changes you mention.

>137 Meredy: @Meredy
I remembered enough of my stats course that I could at least follow the math part, but his application of probability and randomness to the real world is the fascinating part. I really, really do NOT want to get involved in the justice system.

>138 Sakerfalcon: Sakerfalcon
I'm actively looking for more of her books.

139: Excellent point. It was serving on a jury that made me declare that I never wanted the fate of anyone I cared about to depend on the outcome of that process.

Crystal Clear by Elizabeth Cadell. Fairly typical Cadell book. Good but not outstanding. Paul Saxon is surprised to read the announcement of his engagement to an unknown girl. He and his relatives set off to to find out who she is, and everyone makes unexpected discoveries. It is all quite cheerful and silly. At first I didn't think I was going to like Paul. On the first page, he is happy to be graduating in 130th place in a class of 150. It quickly becomes clear that he is a young man of wealth and privilege, whose life has been pretty carefree. But as the story develops, it turns out he is also a very nice person.

I borrowed this book from openlibrary.org, and read it online as a scanned image. I'm trying to borrow their books in different formats, but am finding rather fiddly. Still it looks like this could be a good resource for some hard-to-find books.

Wool (book 1) by Hugh Howey. I liked it, and will probably continue the series sometime.

#142 - Glad you liked it. :o)

>143 clamairy:

So many books to read...

I know... it's one of life's more bitter truths. I will never get to read everything I want to. Could be worse. There could be a lot less books to choose from, right?

Well, let's just say a brief moratorium wouldn't be all that bad, would it? There would still be so much from which to choose!!!

I could go on for years just reading the unread books I already own.

*whispers* I calculated it would take me at least 15 years to read mine.

Ack! I just recalculated. It would take me 11 years. That number's jumped in the last couple of years. It doesn't help that I seem to be reading slower than I used to, but I'm accumulating faster.

I right up there with you two. Sigh. Well, at least I'll always have a book to interest me!

>150 majkia:
I guess there's some comfort in that thought. Maybe.

148, 149: How in the world did you calculate that?

At the moment, I have 446 books in my home that I haven' read. (I keep track using LT.) If I read about 40 books a year, it'll take me a bit over 11 years to read them all. And that's if I don't read library or other borrowed books, or buy any more. And if my reading pace doesn't slow down even further.

Oh, goodness, I haven't any idea how many books I have. There are probably a couple thousand that I haven't got around to cataloging yet. At the rate of one a week or a little more, I expect I've got enough to last me the rest of my life. However, that doesn't seem to be slowing me down. I've added six or seven just in the past week. Yikes.

The Perfect Summer: Dancing into Shadow in 1911 by Juliet Nicolson. This book had lots of interesting information, but it wasn't presented well. It just seemed very cluttered. My favourite chapter was the one about servants. I would like to read What the Butler Winked At, from which Nicolson got much of the content for that chapter.

The Empty House by Rosamunde Pilcher. Short, undemanding fluff. Just right for my cold-filled brain.

I am reading Wild Mountain Thyme by Rosamunde Pilcher for exactly the same reason.

>157 MDGentleReader: Have you read that one before?

Yes.

The Recycled Citizen by Charlotte MacLeod. I was having a hard time getting into it, then about half way through, I realised I'd read it before. Clearly it wasn't very memorable, even though the author is one of my favourites.

The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer. Very enjoyable. It lagged a bit in the middle, but the rest of the book made up for that. I like the way Heyer could make fun of the romantic conventions that she herself had developed, in this case by having the most prosaic of heroines (named Drusilla, of all things). The hero, the Earl of St Erth, is likeable, but we get very little inkling of his thought process, despite the fact that he is the main focus of of the narration. The humour is more low key than in some of Heyer's books. It is good, but not one of her best.

I wasn't sure whether she was trying to write a regency or trying to write a mystery with The Quiet Gentleman. As I recall, the romance was secondary to the mystery, but the mystery wasn't very absorbing. I chose this one for one of my book groups in order to provide them with a direct contrast with Envious Casca and they much preferred Envious Casca.

The romance was VERY low key, and the mystery was so drawn out that it lacked suspense. It is certainly not in the same league as The Grand Sophy or These Old Shades, for example, but still nice to read.

Heh--nothing's in the same league as The Grand Sophy!

Sophy is the ultimate heroine!

Indeed.

The Haggis: A Little History by Clarissa Dickson Wright. A cute little gift-type book, based more on opinion and legend than sound research.

A & The; or, William T. C. Baumgarten Comes to Town by Ellen Raskin. Picture book. As original as her other picture books, but not one of my favourites.

Two Unshelved books: Library Mascot Cage Match and Book Club by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum. The kids and I all love these comic strips.

Yet another Unshelved collection, Large Print. I have two more in the mail, as I zip through ten years worth of comic strips.

I seem to be in the middle of several books right now, in various locations and formats. Next Wednesday life should suddenly slow down in a big way, following my son's Grade 8 graduation and the school closing events. When they move to their new schools, I don't plan on getting as firmly enmeshed in organizing things as I am now. Of course, I didn't exactly plan on this, either. Years ago I told the kindergarten teacher I wouldn't mind volunteering in my daughter's class, and now I'm up to my eyebrows in everything that happens at the school. I also didn't plan on wandering off topic like this, but with the school closing forever next week, I'm doing a fair bit of reflection.

So, as I was going to say before my digression, hopefully next week I'll manage to finish reading some to the multitude of books I've started.

168> I am re-reading Large Print right now, too.

It's very sad about the school closing. School buildings are such an important gathering place in small communities. I looked up the school where my aunt lives - 25 students in K-5. I guess they keep trying to close it but the parents have been successful in keeping it open. Also, it burned to the ground fairly recently and was rebuilt, so it would seem pretty wasteful to close it. I am pretty sure it serves several other towns in the area, there just aren't many schools around. I think the school your husband and children went to had 100 students. I remember thinking at the time that that was a lot of students to disperse.

Yes, there are a little over 100 students, which seems like a sustainable number. Projections are that enrolment numbers in the region have stabilized, so it is unlikely that the number would have decreased in the near future. But the goal seems to be to concentrate the students in as few locations as possible, preferably in towns. Community-wise, this means that the rural area between the towns will no longer be considered a unified community, but will be split into sections that are just outlying appendages to the towns.

Anyway, our Community Fun Day went beautifully, with lots of past and present students and staff, and plenty of smiles (and just a few tears). My daughter got to hang a snake around her neck, and my son held an alligator. Kinda creeped me out (especially the snake), but they were happy.

Spilling the Beans by Clarissa Dickson Wright (one of the Two Fat Ladies from the British cooking show). Written in the time-honoured tradition of the overblown celebrity autobiography. Outspoken, opinionated, exaggerated, name-dropping, gossipy, and highly entertaining. I don't agree with some of her opinions, some of her anecdotes and "facts" are questionable, but she is definitely an interesting person, who has led a life very far removed from my own experience. Much of the book deals with serious issues of abuse and addiction, but I never felt that I had to put it down because it got too depressing. The behind the scenes look at the production of the "Two Fat Ladies" show is fascinating, as is the glimpse at a privileged lifestyle that was not all that it seemed. It is not great literature, but it is everything one looks for in a celebrity memoir.

The Private World of Georgette Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge. An adequate biography. The best aspect of the book was the way the writing of each of Heyer's novels was placed in the context of events in her life. The first half or so of the book flows nicely, but later things start getting repetitive, and I began noticing a few inconsistencies and contradictions. I suspect Jane Aiken Hodge simply didn't have enough information to flesh the story out more. I have the hardcover edition, which is lavishly illustrated.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. I can understand why his writing is so popular, but a lot of his humour just didn't appeal to me.

The Fair Miss Fortune by D. E. Stevenson. Nice, light and frothy. I downloaded it as my free sample from Audible, and it didn't matter if I missed some details while I was listening, because I always knew exactly where the story was going. (Auditory processing isn't one of my strong points.) My only complaint was that it ended rather abruptly. Perhaps if the book had been published during D. E. Stevenson's lifetime it would have been rounded out more.

Bad Kitty for President by Nick Bruel. Not as good as the other Bad Kitty books. Basically a civics lesson.

I have The Grand Sophy from the library and will be reading it soon. It will be my first Heyer.

I've read one Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and wasn't impressed either. I doubt I'll read anything else by him.

Morphy, The Grand Sophy is a good first Heyer book to start with. It's number one on the LT list of favourites. If you don't like it, you probably won't care much for any of her regencies. But I hope you'll like it!

I just found something not nice about Sedaris' humour, and I don't like the way he makes himself sound so very unpleasant.

Bibliovores by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum. The latest Unshelved collection--still going strong. Since I ordered the book from their website, the authors signed it and drew a picture of Dewey's baby on the title page.

I've been to two plays so far this summer. The first was "Beyond the Farm Show" at a nearby theatre that does professional summer theatre with a strong rural focus. This was an updated version of the original "Farm Show" from about 25 years ago. The actors went out and visited local farmers all over the county, then put together a series of skits based on their discussions. This produces a very entertaining show, because we often know the people who are being portrayed, and as fellow farmers, we share their experiences. My husband and I enjoyed most of the show immensely, but were surprised at some of topical (and controversial) issues they covered. For about three quarters of the the show, which was mostly funny and occasionally sad, my husband and I were deeply engaged and really enjoyed ourselves. Then they did a skit, song and slideshow about how many rural schools have closed. And they named some of the schools that had been closed in the last two years...including ours...which had only closed the day before! Well that hit a nerve, and neither one of us was able to get back into the play after that. I do appreciate that our school was acknowledged and memorialized, but the timing just wasn't good for us. But then, if they hadn't mentioned it, that probably would have been upsetting, too. So I just keep trying to remember the earlier parts of the show that I liked best.

The kids and I went further afield for the second play, which was "Spamalot". We had a fantastic time--it was absolutely hilarious. The older child loved the rude jokes and King Arthur and the knights and swords and quests, and the younger child loved the rude jokes and all the singing. I loved watching them get drawn into the magic of it all. And we all liked the fluffy bunny rabbit.

>178 SylviaC:: That's wonderful! As a librarian, I really appreciate that cartoon.

I wanted to see a play this Spring but couldn't find something that my husband would be willing to go see. He's pretty picky. I'll keep looking and maybe something will eventually come along.

My husband enjoys going to the plays at our nearby theatre, because they are mostly about farmers and rural life, but he wouldn't go to Spamalot with us. We also live about an hour away from a big Shakespearean theatre, and he has no desire at all to go there.

My husband is the opposite. No way he'd go to see farmers and rural life, but he'd go see Spamalot. He loves Monty Python.

I want to get the DVD of Monty Python and the Holy Grail to watch with the kids. My husband will just shake his head and leave the room. He has a great sense of humour, just not that sense of humour.

Inspired by @trisweather, I re-read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Having finished reading it at 11:15 pm, I now have to try to fall asleep with this book in my mind. Not the best timing. It is still a remarkable book, that I will be sure to read many more times. Hazel has got to be one of the nicest characters ever, Gus is loveable, and their dialogue is brilliant.

The Fault in Our Stars was my favorite book last year. Typically I don't care for YA books but it far surpassed anything else I've read in that genre.

At my bookclub yesterday we had a good discussion about it. Most in the bookclub never read YA books and most liked this one. Some were planning to read it again. Not a typical YA book or a typical ''cancer book''. To me it is a very true book

A Very Great Profession by Nicola Beauman. A look at the lives of middle-class English women based on women's literature of the time. I found it interesting, but I wasn't always sure what direction the author was taking. She would present "this passage" and "this passage" and "this passage", but not always tie then together cohesively. It was like she was presenting her evidence, without stating her thesis. I enjoyed the chapters on "War", "Surplus Women", and "Domesticity" the most. The last four of the eight chapters were titled "Sex", "Psychoanalysis", "Romance", and "Love". With such interlinked themes, that half of the book seems kind of scrambled. I found it very readable, and I'm glad I read it, but I doubt if it is something I'll go back to. And the majority of books she focused on seemed pretty depressing.

Every Tuesday and Thursday evening in the summer, the historic jail (gaol) in one of our local towns holds tours with costumed volunteers acting as Victorian prisoners and staff. All the characters are based on real people in the prison records. My son plays a 15 year old pig thief in solitary confinement because of his bad attitude, and my daughter plays a 9 year old whose family was arrested for vagrancy. They are both loving it, despite having to wear Victorian clothing in their HOT, HOT cells. At least I can provide them with discreet icepacks, which is more than the Victorians had. They are also learning about living conditions in the past, without the comforts that they take for granted. My daughter said, "You mean they put kids like me in jail, just because they had no home?" We went yesterday to do the tour, and were impressed with what a good job all the actors did, and how well they stayed in character.

>190 SylviaC:: That is brilliant! What a great experience for your children, and for visitors, to experience history so vividly.

>191 Sakerfalcon:
Yes, I'm so glad an opportunity like this is available in our rural area.

I love that they get a role from actual prison records. It will mean so much more to them rather than someone telling them that "sometimes this happened."

They know the last names of the prisoners that they're playing, but they aren't allowed to tell the visitors, because many of the prisoners would still have families in the area.

Ha! Sounds like the community I grew up in!

The regional news show just did a segment about the jail program. Both kids were on it, and my son got to talk—so another fun experience.

Just sorting out my "Currently Reading":

A Little Book of Language by David Crystal - bedside table

Stuff : compulsive hoarding and the meaning of things by Randy O. Frost - my main book right now, from library

The Missing Mr. Mosley by John Greenwood - in truck when I have to wait

On Looking : eleven walks with expert eyes by Alexandra Horowitz - audio, while walking the dog

Toscanini's Fumble by Harold L. Klawans - in the other truck when I have to wait

Little by Little : a writer's education by Jean Little - at the pool while kids swim

Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher - in my car when I have to wait

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett - audio, reading with my son while we do chores

What an interesting assortment of books!

I hadn't noticed, but I guess it is pretty varied. At least I won't get them mixed up!

I want to hear more about the Stuff:Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things book. I've come to the conclusion that I only acquire things when I'm bored. Therefore the objective is to keep otherwise occupied with brain and/or hands.

@jillmwo
I'm finding it very interesting and thought-provoking. I'm over half way through now, and will report when I finish.

I am continuing this at the link below.