Chatterbox's 2013 Adventures in Bibliomania -- Episode Two

Belatedly adding my poem for this thread. It's by John Masefield, originally published in 1902.

SEA FEVER

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

He wrote this when he was only 22, and it was later set to music by John Ireland. I may actually find the song even more beautiful; it sends shivers up and down my spine. Here's a version recorded by the great baritone Thomas Allen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbQEuIBzuNk

Thread two, and while I'm reading a lot so far this year, the caliber of what I have read has been fairly uneven.

But here's the usual info, complete with a list of reading for this challenge:

The bottom line: I like to balance my reading between non-fiction and fiction; between "serious" tomes and more frivolous fluffy books that provide great entertainment if little in the way of nutritional value. I'm a big mystery fan, I read historical fiction and chick lit and am tip-toeing into the worlds of fantasy and sci-fi, although VERY selectively. Any kind of book can be a "thumping good read"; I'd rather read a mystery that falls into that category than a much-acclaimed or buzzed-about book that I find pretentious or self-conscious (one in which the author seems more intent on telling the world how smart he or she is than on capturing the reader's full attention.) Good writing, good characters, a great plot are the keys to a good writing -- all need to be present and accounted for. When it comes to non-fiction, my expectations are a little lower -- I can cope with more clunky writing if the story being told is fabulous. This year, I'm going to try to keep my non-fiction reading to about 25% of the total.

Here's the running tally of the books I've read in total for 2013:




And here's the ticker for the 75-book challenge:




Below you'll find the usual list of what I have read for the 75-book challenge. I'll comment on everything that I'm reading in this thread, although I'll only log the non-2013 category challenge books in the list below.

A guide to the ratings, which are highly subjective:
1.5 or less: A tree gave its life so that this book could be printed and distributed?
1.5 to 2.7: Are you really prepared to give up hours of your life for this?? I wouldn't recommend doing so...
2.8 to 3.3: Do you need something to fill in some time waiting to see the dentist? Either reasonably good within a ho-hum genre (chick lit or thrillers), something that's OK to read when you've nothing else with you, or that you'll find adequate to pass the time and forget later on.
3.4 to 3.8: Want to know what a thumping good read is like, or a book that has a fascinating premise, but doesn't quite deliver? This is where you'll find 'em.
3.9 to 4.4: So, you want a hearty endorsement? These books have what it takes to make me happy I read them.
4.5 to 5: The books that I wish I hadn't read yet, so I could experience the joy of discovering them again for the first time. Sometimes disquieting, sometimes sentimental faves, sometimes dramatic -- they are a highly personal/subjective collection!

Stars/scores are given in brackets after the book details.

Asterisks (*) mark books that I have re-read. I'll be trying to keep re-reads to 5% of the total this year. I'd like to think that I'll acquire fewer books than I read, but I also am resolving not to be delusional about anything in 2013, so... Audiobooks will be marked as such.

Average Rating for all books to date: 3.91 stars

1. The Futures by Emily Lambert (3.3), STARTED 12/26/12, FINISHED 1/2/13 (non-fiction)
2. The Boyfriend by Thomas Perry (3.4), STARTED 1/2/13, FINISHED 1/3/13 (fiction)
3. The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie (4.2), STARTED 1/2/13, FINISHED 1/4/13 (fiction)
4. On Saudi Arabia by Karen Elliott House (3.8), STARTED 1/3/13, FINISHED 1/5/13 (non-fiction)
5. I, Jane: In the court of Henry VIII by Diane Haeger (3.0), STARTED 1/4/13, FINISHED 1/5/13 (fiction)
6. Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places by Bill Streever (4.5), STARTED 1/4/13, FINISHED 1/6/13) (non-fiction)
7. Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer (4.5), STARTED 1/5/13, FINISHED 1/7/13 (fiction)
8. Blood Sisters by Sarah Gristwood (4.1), STARTED 1/4/13, FINISHED 1/7/13 (non-fiction)
9. Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay (4.35), STARTED 1/2/13, FINISHED 1/8/13 (fiction)
10. *The Warden by Anthony Trollope (4.25), STARTED 12/30/12, FINISHED 1/8/13 (fiction)
11. The Mao Case by Qiu Xiaolong (3.6), STARTED 1/9/13, FINISHED 1/11/13 (fiction)
12. The Big Truck That Went By by Jonathan Katz (4.8), STARTED 1/9/13, FINISHED 1/12/13 (non-fiction)
13. The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin, (4.3) READ 1/13/13 (fiction)
14. The Dead of Night by John Marsden (3.7), STARTED 1/13/13, FINISHED 1/14/13 (fiction)
15. WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy by David Leigh (3.9) STARTED 1/12/13, FINISHED 1/14/13 (non-fiction)
16. Taj by Timeri Murari (3.7), STARTED 1/12/13, FINISHED 1/15/13 (fiction)
17. The Ophelia Cut by John Lescroart (3.4), STARTED 1/15/13, FINISHED 1/18/13 (fiction)
18. A Killing Frost by John Marsden (3.5), STARTED 1/17/13, FINISHED 1/18/13 (fiction)
19. The Round House by Louise Erdrich (4.3) STARTED 1/17/13, FINISHED 1/19/13 (fiction)
20. Funeral of Figaro by Ellis Peters (4) READ 1/20/13 (fiction)
21. Darkness be My Friend by John Marsden (3.8), STARTED 1/20/13, FINISHED 1/21/13 (fiction)
22. The Chess Men by Peter May (4) STARTED 1/21/13, FINISHED 1/24/13 (fiction)
23. Play Dead by Harlan Coben (2), STARTED 1/18/13, FINISHED 1/26/13 (fiction)
24. Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers (3.3), READ 1/26/13 (fiction)
25. The Black Russian by Vladimir Alexandrov (4.25) STARTED 1/20/13, FINISHED 1/27/13 (non-fiction)
26. Patrick O'Brian's Navy by Richard O'Neill (3.6), STARTED 1/10/13, FINISHED 1/28/13 (non-fiction)
27. Codex by Lev Grossman (2.8), STARTED 1/26/13, FINISHED 1/29/13 (fiction)
28. *The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning (3.9), STARTED 1/18/13, FINISHED 1/30/13 (fiction)
29. Shake Off by Mischa Hiller (3.25) STARTED 1/19/13, FINISHED 1/30/13 (fiction)
30. Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy (3.2) STARTED 1/29/13, FINISHED 1/31/13 (fiction)
31. Burning for Revenge by John Marsden (3.4), STARTED 2/1/13, FINISHED 2/2/13 (fiction)
32. The Night is For Hunting by John Marsden (2.9) READ 2/2/13 (fiction)
33. Going Clear by Lawrence Wright, (4.3), STARTED 2/2/13, FINISHED 2/4/13 (non-fiction)
34. The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier, (3.4) STARTED 2/3/13, FINISHED 2/4/13 (fiction)
35. Fireproof by Alex Kava (2.9) STARTED 2/7/13, FINISHED 2/8/13 (fiction)
36. Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (4.3), STARTED 2/3/13, FINISHED 2/8/13 (fiction)
37. The High Road by Terry Fallis (3.7) STARTED 2/7/13, FINISHED 2/10/13 (fiction)
38. Eminence by Jean-Vincent Blanchard (3.8) STARTED 2/3/13, FINISHED 2/11/13 (non-fiction)
39. The Other Side of Dawn by John Marsden (2.8), STARTED 2/10/13, FINISHED 2/12/13 (fiction)
40. The Frozen Shroud by Martin Edwards (4.2), STARTED 2/13/13, FINISHED 2/16/13 (fiction)
41. The Lost Carving by David Esterly (5), STARTED 2/14/13, FINISHED 2/17/13 (non-fiction)
42. Syria: The Fall of the House of Assad by David Lesch (3.6), STARTED 2/16/13, FINISHED 2/18/13 (non-fiction)

Reserved

A post dedicated to tracking various odds and ends -- books purchased, books from the TBR mountain read, etc. I'll include any special challenges, like series books read, or whatever else is worth being tracked.

Clearly, I've been acquiring a lot of books this year. The good news is that about 2/3 or 3/4 were either Kindle sale books ($3.99 or less), Amazon advance reader copies via the Vine program, or books from NetGalley, where I've been auto-approved by several publishers. I don't include library books or gifts on this list.

But... From my book acquisitions last year (not counting library books, but including galleys from publishers, directly or via GR, LTER, Vine, or NetGalley), I still have 374 unread. I'm going to try and read half of those this year -- not just 187 books, but 187 from that specific list. Since I didn't include audiobooks, neither of my first two reads was on it. Oh, dear.




Keeping tabs on my year-to-date acquisitions for 2013...




... and trying to keep up with reading them! Here's the number of those acquired in 2013 that I have read so far this year:

I should be asleep, but instead I'm checking in on your new thread, and wishing you good reading for the next few weeks to give you something positive while dealing with landlord etc.

*waving* at Suz

Aaargh, yes, I remember your anal-retentive landlord. So sorry, Suz, that he's raised his ugly head again.

Dear Suz - sorry to see you so down in the dumps and all because of a grasping landlord. Going back to the last thread - alas the place is sold already (and at not much profit) - I don't think that I am landlord material as I oftimes try to be be actually civil to people.

Don't let the bastards grind you down, I'm sure things will turn out ok.

Congrats on your new thread amid the blues.

I'm terribly behind on the threads, Suz, but I've managed to catch up on your last one and this one. So sorry for the obnoxious landlord and uncertainty re: your lease. I've got no brilliant advice to offer, so hang in there, and I hope it resolves itself in your favor.

Chiming in late with my condolences about the landlord situation. How unfortunate that you have to deal with such a bizarre person! Best of luck in finding something better in the future.

Hi Suz, you are getting ahead of me with the John Marsden series!

So sorry to hear of your on-going landlord problems, I applaud your patience in dealing with this man. I would probably over-react and end up on the street, because he sounds like a guy that even if found in the wrong, wouldn't hesitate to get his own back. Hope this all works out.

I've been in a real funk this weekend; doing nothing but sleeping and reading a bit -- and no, not embarking on yet another cleaning spree just yet. I'm postponing that and work until tomorrow.

So I have finished up some books, at least.

26. The Round House is the first novel I've read by Louise Erdrich, and I'll certainly follow it up with another soon. This is a deceptively simple and straightforward narrative, of the aftermath of a woman's rape and attempted murder on a North Dakota Indian reservation, told through the eyes of her 13-year old son as he puts together the clues and attempts to solve a crime that the justice system -- legacy of more than a century of paternalism and discrimination -- apparently is unable to address. It's only when I paused to think about it that I realized fully how tightly interwoven each narrative thread is; how every detail contributes to the whole, without over-ominously foreshadowing what would come next, or leaving gaps that I would have to fill in with my imagination. A straightforward theme, in some ways, but it's very hard for anyone to build something so intricate and cohesive so well. 4.3 stars.

27. Funeral of Figaro by Ellis Peters -- I had thought that I had read every book by this author (with a few exceptions of her more overwrought prose in some of her modern-day novels written as Edith Pargeter) but it seems as if I was wrong about that, as I have no memory of ever seeing it before. (I may have been confusing it in my mind with another of her novels, set on the continent, that involves a group of musicians.) In this case, the setting is an opera rep company, a tight-knit group shaken up by the arrival of a world-class baritone to sing Figaro, filling in for someone who had been killed in an accident. It turns out that won't be the only Figaro who will meet a violent end... Peters' mysteries are really only peripheral whodunnits, with the mystery taking a back seat to the characters. Over the years, these have begun to play the role of "feel good" books to me. Enjoyable, but only for the author's fans. 4 stars.

28. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor. Hmmm, difficult to sort out my feelings about this. Certainly depressing, and the wrong choice of book to read right now. And the nature of the plot and prose felt decades older than it was -- in some points, almost Victorian, once you leave aside the setting details and some of the themes. Taylor is interested in having her characters play specific roles, it seems, and with a few exceptions (eg Hermione) we never get a sense of them as three-dimensional characters. The title character of Angel is clearly meant to be monomaniacal -- she becomes the epitome of a crazy cat lady -- and yet while Taylor takes us just enough inside her head to show us how her obsession with imagination vs reality began (and how the former ended up becoming vastly more important, so that reality was never allowed to intrude), we only occasionally get glimpses of a real person. I often felt that I was seeing enough inside to support what Taylor wanted me to see, but never the real character. That's not to say that it wasn't entertaining -- how could the tale of a 15-year-old girl writing larger-than-life, florid drivel and convincing others to take her seriously enough to become a Grande Dame of letters not be? But from early on, it was clear that all this grandiloquency would End In Tears, and that kind of ate into my enjoyment of the novel. I knew where the author was taking me, and I was being lead along a straight little avenue to the grave -- the very kind that Angel Deverell herself rejected. I'm very split on this novel -- some excellent writing and pungent observations, but... 3.75 stars. I'll probably read more by this author, but not for a while. For my 2013 Categories challenge.

And one more....

29. The Reverse of the Medal by Patrick O'Brian is yet another book in the Aubrey/Maturin series that ends on a kind of cliffhanger. Yes, we know Jack's fate, after he falls afoul of what at first seems to be a great opportunity to reverse his fortunes now that he is back on land; we know that Stephen, after his own misfortunes, finally seems to be closing in on the conspiracy being overseen by some very high-powered traitors. It reinforced my fondness for books that combine land and sea, and this one has some big developments in both the personal stories of the two long-term friends, and some great Napoleonic espionage. So I had to move promptly on to the next book in the series, of course... Still consuming this series via the audiobooks narrated by Patrick Tull. 4.1 stars, for the 2013 categories challenge.

Hi Suz, Sorry to hear of your landlord issues. What a troll. I'd be appalled if my husband went through my sock drawer much less a stranger.

I haven't read The Round House yet. You have some good reading ahead with Erdrich's earlier work!

Oh Suz, I just spent the last hour catching up with you and your reading and I can certainly understand why you're feeling down these days. What a lot of stress and unpleasantness to contend with! I'm very sorry and you have my heartfelt sympathy, for what it's worth.

Lots of great stuff on the reading front. I wanted to comment on a bunch of things and all of it has popped out of my head... Have definitely added several books to the wishlist, including The Testament of Mary, which sounds fascinating and The Graves Are Walking (having a better understanding about that period would certainly be helpful). I've purchased Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places, which was still $2.99 on Kindle, which I guess is the 'regular' price. Was pleased to see you'd enjoyed The Best Laid Plans so much; it's been sitting on my tbr for a while and I'll look forward to it now with more enthusiasm.

As I was catching up with you, I realized that you really do influence many of my reading choices and have not so far led me astray. I did pick up the first entry in the Aubrey/Maturin series on audio (the Tull version of course) when they had one of their many sales. I was rather wondering how I'd enjoy it, given that I'm not all that keen on descriptions of the various parts of boats which are inevitable in sailing adventures. That being said, I loved Amitav Ghosh's first two parts of the Ibis Trilogy, so it may not matter here either. My audiobook collection is getting so huge that it's anyone's guess when I'll actually get to it though!

Thanks so much for 'liking' and commenting one some of my instagram photos, always makes me feel good when you do!

I really hope things take a positive turn for you soon Suz, but whatever the case, you know you always have the support and love of your many LT friends.

Oh my dear, I wish so that I could find a way to help! If it's any comfort at all, I cast a mean whammy, and have done so on this rotten-souled simulacrum of a human being.

The Taylor doesn't sound like a good aetheric fit, and I'm sorry it came along at this moment in your reading.

Sending hugs from me and Stella! (Who has, incidentally, finished eviscerating Duck and is not working on dismembering the poor thing.)

The Round House is at the top of my wish list, and I'll probably buy it within the next month or so.

Thanks, all...

Just to add to the general unpleasantness, I've been battling a mean bout of heartburn in the last several hours. This stuff started a few months ago, and I've had maybe half a dozen times where I've had to pop a Zantac, but this time even that isn't working. That did mean, however, that being unable to sleep meant being able to finish up another book.

30. Darkness Be My Friend by John Marsden is #4 in the "tomorrow" YA/Dystopia series I've started reading. This one opens in New Zealand, where the surviving teenagers have been living for 5 months when they are asked to go back to Australia to lead a group of guerilla soldiers around their former home on a sabotage mission. But nothing goes remotely as planned this time. Quite good. 3.8 stars. Escapism.

Heartburn, heartaches, migraines and assorted irritations fiscal and physical but reading prowess undiminished. 30 books in 20 days; present total forecasted based on reading rate 548 books in 2013!

I would gladly you were to slow down by say a 100 books this year if it solved all the other issues. x

Bah humbug to heartburn and evil landlords - I hope things start getting better for you soon.

...anyway, dropping by your thread to say hallo and belated Happy new Year as you've very handily started a new thread I can pretend to myself that I don't need to catch up on all the old posts. ;o)

What a nasty situation you're in, Suz. I hope your landlord will ease down. *hugs*

I enjoyed The Round House too. You might want to read The Plague of Doves next, as it is the first in a planned loose trilogy (with The Round House the second. Each book can stand alone, though.

Came along to say hello

*waving to everyone*

Have been listening to audiobooks as I clean. Have sort of realized that whatever happens, the landlord is going to boot me out. I think he has realized he can get funding to do renovations now, and that's a good reason to get rid of me. Which means I will have to find someplace else to live. Which means I'll probably have to leave NYC. Which probably means returning to Canada. It's all a mess. Or, I can hire a lawyer. After all he's been doing this to-and-fro since September. First he was going to renew for a year come March. Then, in November, he threatens he won't. Then he relents and sends me the new lease. Then I get an e-mail 10 days later saying if I don't pass his "inspection", he won't. Meanwhile, I made professional commitments based on what he told me in September.

Oh my Suzanne you do have a lot on your plate. I hope you get some kind of resolution soon on the rental issue so you can at least give your life some direction. That landlord is the absolute pits. I'm sorry you have to suffer through him.

I hope your health improves but can't help but think the two are connected. If you choose to read The Plague of Doves next in the Erdrich oeuvre, you'll find a much more nuanced novel (much better, IMO) and more like her earlier novel with their non-linear construction. That's always been what made Erdrich such a compelling writer, to me at least.

Really sorry to hear about your continuing issues with that idiot of a landlord. Hope you manage to work something out.

Meanwhile, a pic of yor landlord:

Wasting work time today by perusing Craigslist apartment listings in various parts of the eastern seaboard. What do you guys think of this one?

http://providence.craigslist.org/apa/3564230452.html

Sounds lovely except that you need to discuss the cats.

Ooo, Providence! Such an up-and-comer. The house looks lovely. Cats could be an issue.

Train to Boston, train to NYC, neither one a significant trip. DC becomes more troublesome, but that's still not horrendous. City with mass transit, so that's good.

I'd far rather have you stay where you are, so lawyer up and holler.

Well, I sent an e-mail, including the cat info, so we'll see... I loathe the idea of moving, but I also loathe all this melodrama. Bonnie right, I'm sure it's affecting my health.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if you owed at least some of the migraine issues to the stress of dealing with this idiot.

Wow! What a gorgeous place. Am overcome with a sudden desire to move to Providence...

My brother stayed in Providence for a little while a couple of years ago. Loved it, one of his favourite places in the world.

I am assuming you checked out other places in NYC, like the northern part of Manhattan and places like Astoria, etc.

Well, the owner loved my e-mail letter, has no problem with the cats, so I'm off to Providence to take a look, I suspect!

Oh my goodness Suzanne, so much activity going on here! I just came by to thank you for recommending the dvd version of The Buccaneers. which I very much enjoyed, and I seem to have fallen into a, possibly huge, transition for you!
Well, the apt. looks gorgeous, so much character but I'm so sorry that you have to go through any of this at all. Well, good travels to Providence. How apropos is that?!

Like the look of the place Suz - I missread the write-up and thought it was a plague house which I thought odd - dyslexia rules KO. The landlords writing style bodes well for a good environment to live in.

Suz, full of sympathy for your situation but no constructive suggestions or help. What I do know is that you are bright and capable, so you'll solve this. It doesn't sound like a good living situation so the short term pain could lead to long term gain, re the move.

Do you know how long he's renting it for? That is, if he comes back from the South Seas, does he want to live there himself? Other than that, looks great!

It's a she, and she has been living in Tahiti since 1999, while keeping a small third-floor apartment... so that doesn't seem to be much of a risk! There is a couple interested, so I'm going to try to see it as soon as I can.

Coolio! I think Judy's idea is worth thinking about, though, Inwood is *lovely* and, while farther away than Brooklyn to your usual haunts downtown and midtown, it's closer than Providence....

I have a good.friend who lives in upper Manhattan and finds the express subway a very adequate commute. She might be able to give you some suggestions and/or an intro to the area.

Judy, I have already talked to several brokers up in Inwood (did that last year when idiot landlord started getting idiotish again) and for a variety of reasons (including being self employed and having a fluctuating income) it would be a no-go, or at least, very difficult. Plus, in NYC, there's the broker's fee, on top of the deposit & moving expenses. At any rate, I'm going to go up and take a look at this place on Saturday. It seems very large, with a perfect office and three other rooms -- the red room in the picture would be the bedroom and the yellow room the parlour, then there is a "library" as well. The kitchen also seems very big. Downstairs tenants are a voice teacher and an oceanographer turned painter. We'll see. It's a big move, but really, I'm tired of being held hostage, and if this place is as nice as it sounds... After all, can always hop on a bus or a train and come down to NYC for book circle and other events.

Good luck with the trip to Providence, Suz. The pictures of the place are amazing, it looks very warm and inviting. Fingers Crossed for things to work out for you.

I think that house is perfectly charming, and I'm hoping that you love it and get it and can get out of that idiot's control. GOOD LUCK!!!

>46 LizzieD:: ditto

Oh, I agree Suzanne--everything you report about the house in Providence sounds like a good fit for you. I've been thinking, but I didn't want to say: You have to move eventually anyway, so why not move sooner rather than later and get away from your idiot bully landlord. Wishing you all the best!

Sigh. It's always better to get a place without going through an agent, I agree. And prices up in Inwood and the surrounding areas have gone up as more southern prices have.

For what it's worth, my sister interviewed for a library position at Brown some years ago, and thought Providence perfectly lovely, culturally interesting, and quite affordable. Maybe we'll visit!

Would you need a car?

Am going up on Saturday. Meanwhile, battling apocalyptic migraine today (day 2 1/2) and ER is a possibility if it doesn't improve in the next few hours. Prayers/whammys welcome.

Thanks, all, for the moral support...

PS, Judy -- my friend Susan thinks I might. But then, people with cars tend to think that cars are necessary. I have a bike here, there is public transit (just not as easy as NYC, but then what is?) and I probably will get my driver's license if I'm there and more likely to use it.

Boo on that migraine. i was also thinking you might need to change doctors - never an easy thing, but maybe you'll get lucky and find someone with the magic you need.

Oh, no Suz, another migraine? Gentle hugs sent your way. I'm sorry for the full plate you are carrying and sincerely hope things get better soon.

*whammy*whammy*whammy* begone vile migraine get thee behind she!

Car ownership is a drag in cities. Providence has Zipcar, so why buy what you won't need every day?

Still, a driver's license could be very useful.

Robert

Safe travels, Suzanne. I hope it is perfect! But wait, what about your little toddler friend upstairs? How would you break the news to him?

Lynda, I think Theo will be devastated whatever/whenever happens. His dad said on the weekend that I might go to live in a new house, and he started to cry. I would miss him horribly, too, of course... And Becky is right -- this has to happen sooner or later, and if this place works out, then that would be wonderful (touch wood). I would have preferred to wait a year and do more planning, but if it feels like the right place, I don't want to say, well, maybe if I hang around and see if I can do better. Because there is the math to consider: one more year's rent here would cover THREE years of rent at the Providence apartment... If I stayed in NY, the best I could do for a two-bedroom apartment (which I need, in order to accommodate books and office space -- would be about $2,000, unless it's the basement of a house (and I can't work all day without natural light...)

OK, book update -- as that's what this is all about, right??

31. Chess Men by Peter May is the third in a trilogy of mysteries set on the Isle of Lewis, off the northern coast of Scotland. The backdrop is a big part of the allure of this short series, but I also like the way that the author blends the life of Fin, the quasi-hero/detective/investigator, during his years growing up in the remote community with a mystery set in the present date but that have some connection to this past life. In this case, the mystery involves a circle of friends at secondary school together, some of whom went on to stardom as a Celtic rock band, all of whom must confront their past when a plane containing a body is found at the bottom of a remote loch. I liked this series, although I wish that May had stuck either to first or third person; the past segments are first person, perhaps to distinguish them, although that can be done via chapter titles or dates, too... Worth checking out if you can find 'em; I ordered from the UK. 4 stars.

32. Thursday's Children by Rumer Godden is a re-read of one of my favorite books by this author, set against the world of ballet training. Doone and his elder sister Crystal are the children of a greengrocer; their mother is a classic stage mom, with big dreams for Crystal that risk spoiling her and her dancing technique; could Doone, overlooked, actually end up the greater star? Crystal can truly be her own worst enemy, self-important and with a big feeling of entitlement, but beneath it all talent and a real love for dance, even though she can be far more distracted than Doone, who turns out to live for ballet but must struggle, against his parents' reluctance and his sister's envy. Doone, perhaps, is a little too good to be true, but I found the story holds up well and is a great read if you're a ballet fan. 3.9 stars, for the 2013 categories challenge.

Reading a fascinating galley, The Black Russian by Vladimir Alexandrov. Akin to Tom Reiss's book about Dumas's father, but set against the backdrop of tsarist and pre-Revolutionary Russia.

Hey Suz, while the topic of mysteries is mooted, thought I'd mention that the UK premiere of the third series of four Vera movies will air on iTV around Easter, so probably summer-ish here.

Ooh, thanks! I think I have said this before, but one of my best investments ever is my region-free DVD player. UK DVDs are very cheap, relatively speaking, so I can order them for about $10 and pay only $3 shipping...

Landlord e-mailed to say he isn't coming by mid-February after all, but I am still going up to Providence to look at this place, and if it's as good as it sounds, I'll probably jump at it. I've been thinking about leaving NYC for years, if just for reasons of cost and the endless noise (the last time I had 8 straight hours of sleep, I was so astonished that I actually posted about it on Facebook...) So we'll see. I hate the feeling of being bullied by a landlord. Perhaps this will all work out....

While reading The Black Russian as my non-fiction book, I've also been racing through Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell, which I'm enjoying almost as much as Doc. Then I have the new Elly Griffiths ARC to read!!

(Oh, the Providence library system seems to have a lot of good books...)

Oh, the Providence library system seems to have a lot of good books...

Well, that in itself is almost reason enough to move. ;)

Oh I hope this works out for you. Providence used to be such an armpit (sorry, but it really was in the 70's) but it really is nice now.

*pats foot awaiting Providential Report*

Suz, I had fallen way behind and I'm just so sorry you've been having to go through all this!
sending whammies for the migraine to go away and chiming in that I think the place in Providence looks lovely. I spent a week in that town this past October and it has much to be said for it. If the library system is acceptable, and the owner will consider the cats (Richard is so nice to you about your cats), and you decide this is what it is, I hope it works out for you.

I find myself having this fantasy of about a dozen LTers flying to the east coast (or just driving if they are already there) to pack boxes and help with the move. If your current landlord showed up while we were all there with our sleeves rolled up, it would not be a pretty sight.

Hang in there -----

I would just love it if you upped sticks and moved out on your current landlord. Serve him right.

Got behind here but saw post on FAcebook a few days ago re the Providence visit - so I have checked in to see how it went, but I guess you've not had a chance to post yet. Eagerly awaiting news, and I hope it works out - and indeed getting away from evil current landlord will surely lessen stress and perhaps reduce frequency of migraine.

I have one of the Peter May books from a Kindle sale - but it was book 2 not the first in series as I initially thought. Trying to resist forking out nearer full Kindle price for volume one, for now - perhaps if I'm patient it will end up on special offer too one day...

A Thread of Grace and Doc were both 5 star reads for me Suzanne. She is closing in on the end of writing the sequel to Doc BTW. A Cure for Anger is the title.

Waiting to hear about the Providence apt....

Fingers crossed that your accommodation woes are sorted soon Suz; that must be contributing to your constant headaches methinks.

Sorry to hear about the idiot landlord being an idiot once again, Suz. I hope that your housing woes are worked out to your satisfaction soon!

You may be moving to Providence? Wow. That's almost in my back yard! :^)

Sorry I have not kept up, and hope things settle (in a good way) soon.

Well, the apartment would only work out in a pinch. Each of the rooms is quite small, and most of them radiate off the large-ish kitchen, which has ugly tiles. So, when you enter, you go into the yellow room in the pics, then the red room (where the wallpaper is actually a dark ox blood red, not bright as in the pic) is to your right. Then you go into the big kitchen, and the bathroom and large bedroom (brown walls, would need repainting) are off to the right and a small den area at the back. It also hasn't been terribly well maintained -- the entire place would need repainting and even then I'm not sure I could both live and work in the space comfortably.

But... My friend Susan picked me up at the train station and drove me around a bit before we went to the apartment, and then we were invited to the home of her friend Andy, who apparently knows everybody in Providence. He has a place about three blocks from the one I looked at, right on a park. Within about 30 mins, he had not only given me a complete overview of the city, but had said, well you need to talk to this broker and that broker. I pointed out lack of stability as a freelancer, and sub-par credit, so he called a friend of his who works with one of the big property firms in the area, and said he vouched for me, would this be a problem, here is what she has been paying in NYC, etc. Basically, anyone Andy vouches for is cool. And Andy vouches for me because Susan vouches for me... (And anyway, after last year I would be able to prepay a year's rent if I had to, at these rent levels). So he thinks I could find a completely rehabbed two bedroom apartment for the same price. There is one I could have gone to look at tomorrow for $1,000, and we drove around some of these streets to look at the places. I have to say, I loved these neighborhoods. The houses are old clapboard, tree-lined streets, very relaxed and laid-back. A dim sum place here, a movie theater showing classics and art house films there... Went to the 7 stars bakery, which lived up to its rep. And I could be downtown on my bike in 10 minutes... There's also the Athanaeum, a subscription library that has great group book discussion sessions (they're working through Balzac, in one group, and Proust, in another, right now.)

So, I'm sold on Providence, if not this apartment. It would have been lovely if it had been perfect, but I would have been closing my eyes to lots of things that just didn't feel quite right.

Ellen, I love the idea of an LT moving party!!

Oh, and the train gave me lots of time to read, so I managed to finish two books and read a third cover to cover. *grin*

33. Play Dead by Harlan Coben -- the author says at the beginning not to bother reading this, as it's his first effort and not that good, and he's quite right. I rather like the few of his books that I have read -- at least they are in the 3.4 to 3.7 star range, which means they were entertaining and kept me focused while I was reading. In contrast, this one was horribly bad. It's as if Coben is trying out all the plot devices he'll use -- much better -- in later books, and I just found myself wincing all the time. Avoid. 2 stars.

34. The Bride of New France is a Canadian novel by part Quebecois author Suzanne Desrochers that I picked up in Toronto last year. Leaving aside the fact that she feels Quebeckers were subjugated for much of their history (Really???? The language and culture seem to have survived pretty well...) the reason to pick this one up is that Desrochers does a great job of imagining what it might have been like to live in New France circa 1670. Marginally interesting to me, given the brief appearances by people I studied in grade 8 social studies -- Jean Talon, Marguerite Bourgeoys, etc. -- but the author's Idea transcends her ability to craft a compelling story. The plot is tissue-thin and the characterization mediocre and unconvincing. Which means it relies on the descriptions, which are powerful and excellent, but that's not what I read a novel for... 3.4 stars.

35. A Thread of Grace is Mary Doria Russell's much more successful attempt to turn into fiction another, more recent, set of historical events: the period from the capitulation of Mussolini's regime in 1943 to the Allies and through the Nazi direct control of Italy, to the final end of the war in early 1945. So, this covers about 18/20 months, and it does so through a variety of eyes: some Jews who are Italian born (and whose ancestors have lived in Piedmont, in the north of Italy, for many centuries); some Jews who flee Nice and other parts of Italian-occupied France across the Alps into northern Italy to escape the SS and Gestapo; some Italians who resist the Germans locally and a German doctor who we meet in the first pages, who has seen too much of what is being hidden about the fate of the Jews. It's a bleak story; as liberation comes closer, the violence escalates and the deaths multiply. But it's compelling and vivid and I couldn't put it down. 4.5 stars. For my 2013 categories challenge.

36. Letter of Marque by Patrick O'Brian is the next in the Aubrey/Maturin series, which I had to move right on to listening to because the last one ended on such a cliffhanger -- would Maturin and Sir Joseph Blaine catch the spies and clear Jack Aubrey's name? Well, Aubrey is still under a shadow, and sailing as a "private man of war" (aka privateer) but has some astonishing successes; fate finally seems to be swinging his way. And we see Maturin's attempt to win Diana back. No spoilers, although I'll say that at least this time I didn't feel as if I was being left in suspense, so that I can quite readily take a break from the series for a little while!! 3.9 stars. For my 2013 categories challenge.

#69 -- Glenn, yes, I know -- which means we can actually see more of each other, which would be nice... btw, am supposed to be at a party chez Rachel, who has now moved to Flatbush, just 2 blocks from me @ 4th, with new husband, but am too tired after trip, so... And I've been really crap at keeping up, too; I have at least two major e-mails from you unanswered and yes, I feel horrible about it.

ETA: yes, I'm sure the uncertainty surrounding my landlord/home situation is contributing to the anxiety. The rent here has never been cheap, heaven knows, but as Glenn knows, I do get my money's worth in terms of space (at least, by NYC standards). I also get the landlord, however. And that is contributing to my stress levels; I even have dreams about him appearing at the front door and just staking it out until I open & let him in.... *eyes roll*

Sorry to hear that the apartment wasn't up to spec, but sounds like you've found a good area to move to.

It sounds to me like the Providence visit was a win, if in an unexpected way. I have a hunch you'll find a place soon.

Even though the apartment didn't work out, it sounds like lots of new doors were opened for you, Suzanne. I have confidence you'll be able to find something suitable in those lovely neighborhoods. Granted, it will mean a succession of trips up there, but keep the end result in view.

I do hope so, Roni... It may not be easy, but people seemed confident I wouldn't have a problem finding the right place.

37. The Black Russian by Vladimir Alexandrov is a fascinating biography of a man who defied fate by being born to former slaves in Mississippi in the years immediately following the Civil War. His father became vastly more successful as a farmer in the early years of Frederick Thomas's life, only to lose it all due likely to the envy of his white fellow residents; Frederick left the South and headed off to try something different, traveling to Chicago and on to New York, working in what was one of the best kind of service jobs available for an African-American at the time: as a waiter or maitre d'hotel in top restaurants and hotels. The charming and gregarious Thomas acquired skills and the kind of manners that would have enabled him to cut a swathe through any society other than the race-conscious United States of his era -- but then, Thomas didn't stick around. Instead, he headed off to Europe, where he found color was almost a non-issue, except to his fellow American travelers. By the eve of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Thomas was a millionaire in Moscow, owning the city's most popular nightspots. But he had incredibly poor judgment: he had taken out Russian citizenship only a few years before the revolution, had invested most of his wealth in property (striking a big deal only a week before the February revolution!), and when he finally flees Odessa for Constantinople, it is without knowing whether he will ever be able to rebuild. The opening chapter puts Thomas in Odessa in May 1919, chronicling his escape, and then walks us through his astonishing rags to riches to rags to ... whatever next?? saga... A damning indictment of American politics and society that remained ridden by racism into the late 1920s, and while Alexandrov is sometimes too admiring of his subject for my taste (he seems to have had remarkably poor judgment in several areas, which the author glosses over), it's still a fascinating tale. 4.25 stars. Probably an intriguing companion read to the new book about Dumas's father, The Black Count. I finished this unable to stop wondering what might have happened to Thomas had he stopped his wandering around somewhere other than Russia -- although perhaps only in Russia would he have been able to accomplish what he did. (I kind of wish the author had explored this, even though I admit it would have been hypothetical...)

ETA: This was an e-galley from NetGalley; the book comes out on March 5.

oh, I finally posted a poem for the intro to this thread, and wanted to add a version of the song version written by John Ireland. YouTube always suggests options for additional listening, and this time it included a great recording of Rule Britannia from the Last Night of the Proms, possibly my FAVORITE EVER music series and event (I've been to lots of Proms concerts over the years and have been lucky enough to score tickets to the event in Albert Hall three times just by hanging out in the tickets office, and went to one of the Hyde Park events). This will showcase in part the combination of goofiness and serious music that I love about the proms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR_bJFpilu8&feature=endscreen&NR=1

and this, from the last Last Night I was at...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ0oCmDXrVk

You can't see me in the crowd, but I'm seated in the first group of seats, between the standing "Prommers" and the first row of boxes. Occasionally there's a glimpse of a German flag hanging down; I'm slightly off to the right (closer to the stage) and about halfway down. What a great evening that was...

Good morning Suz, the news from Providence sounds good even if that particular apartment isn't the one - sounds like a good place to be and some good people to support you in finding the right place.

The Black Russian made me think about The Black Count immediately before I got to the bottom of your review where you mention it - a fascinating sounding pair of books.

And I love Sea Fever - one of those poems I've never quite learned by heart but many of the lines are so familiar there is a great chime of recognition in reading (or hearing) it again - love the Ireland setting too. Was Sea Fever as this thread's choice prompted by all those Patrick O'Brien's you've been reading?

As for the Last Night of the Proms, what fun it must be to attend in person! - I've never done that. I will always associate the Last Night with my uncle, who was staying with us one year when it was on, so we watched it on TV together and he got very drunk (or at least more drunk than as a 12 year old child I'd ever seen an adult before) and was carousing around the living room waving his beer in one hand and an imaginary flag in the other, and conducting the rest of us in joining in all the singing!

The Black Russian sounds like a fascinating read.

Well, at least the apartment pulled you to Providence to have a look around. I do hope something comes up for you there as the present situation sounds just too darn stressful. Will watch the Proms when Himself isn't sleeping in the next room (awful headcold).

I'm in touch with another landlord who has two apartments coming open, although one may not be until April, which would be too late, if I don't renew here. I think I'll try to get back to Providence at some point this weekend, even though that will mean spending my b-day there stedda at home... *sniff sniff*

80. It could be tons of fun celebrating your birthday away from home. Just make sure you do something else other that apartment hunting all weekend. Treat yourself to finding new favourite spots (to when you move there) - bookshops, cafés, boutiques...

Suz - Providence sounds great and quite apt given the meeting of your helpmeet there.
It could only be you that announces you read two books and then joke about a third and then review four!

Well, the fourth was one I had finished the night before I left, Paul, so it all computes, really!

Am undecided about whether to go to a June journalism school reunion. I didn't have the best experience there, and have not be in touch with anyone from the program other than one person, whereas the others still seem to be tightly connected. I found the group to be claustrophobic, plus it was a brutal year for me (two of my grandparents died during the 8-month term time; my parents announced their divorce, and I spent much of the winter walking around with pneumonia...) So, not many fond memories.

Um, yeah, I would pass on that reunion. Though there is something to be said for striding in, oozing success. But it would still just transport me back to how I felt THEN, rather than now, and send me into a funk.

But maybe those are just my issues :-)

What Katie said!

Suz, I hope everything works out for you to be able to move soon. Please keep me updated with your new address. I have some books I need to send your way.

Will do Stasia, but -- books?? More books??? Eeeeek. I will have to be VERY ruthless in further pruning mine ahead of any move. It's utterly out of control.

Speaking of which...

38. A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths is the next instalment (to be released in early March, I think?) in the mystery series featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway. Ruth is roped in to investigate some mysterious bones after the sudden death of a former university classmate who had discovered them, in a suspicious house fire. There's some interesting historical context for the possible identity of the bones, but they do kind of slip into the background, with Ruth doing only perfunctory archaeological explorations in this book. Instead, she is being stalked by people sending Warning Messages that unaccountably she doesn't share with the cops. Not as strong as some of the other books, but I like Griffiths' ability to create characters, so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and a 3.9 star rating. For my 2013 categories challenge.

84. When I received an invitation to my school reunion I ceremoniously set it (the invitation, not the school) on fire. never felt so good in my life.

>83 Chatterbox:: sounds to me like you've made your decision. I'm with Katie!
>87 PawsforThought:: oh that's hilarious.

Too bad the first apt didn't suit your needs, Suz, but I'm sure there is one in Providence that is just perfect. The city itself sounds terrific and celebrating your birthday there could be a lot of fun and you can mingle with the locals while wearing a party hat, ok maybe not the hat. Also a good time to check out their bookstore and gift yourself crazy!

I'm with Katie too.

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I think it's kind of a lose-lose scenario. If I do go, I'll feel uncomfortable. If I don't, they'll be talking about me behind my back, and about how stuck-up I am. (Which is pretty much what was happening at the time; I took the course explicitly to get into the job-track for newspaper staff positions, but throughout the year I was writing freelance stuff. Guess what, it worked... But some of the others thought that I was arrogant bec. I was already working on stuff and getting paid for it. Erm, so what? Sigh.

Oh, the good news -- broke my ER book blight and will be getting Hilary Reyl's Lessons in French. The first win since August! Sadly didn't win the new Mohsin Hamid book, but have no problem buying that one -- indeed, already have a pre-order out!!

OK, back to work. Worked from 10 a.m. until midnight last night -- argh.

Well, I was pulling for the green house, but the insides didn't sound ideal. Hope this weekend's hunt will locate perfection.
I'd listen to Bry Terfel sing - anything - and he probably has.

Argh indeed! Good decision re: reunion, IMO, because people don't often bother to change and, if you didn't like them then, why would you like them now?

Providence! I'm excited for you. Of course I'd prefer you stay closer, but the costs are INSANE in the metro NY area, and I suspect that a $1000/mo apt in Rockville Centre by the trains w/2br wouldn't appeal as much...?

It's not that I either liked or disliked them. Most of them probably would have been likeable, but it was one of those group dynamics things where they clearly didn't like me, and my memories of that year are bad anyway -- it was a real day to day struggle to keep going.

Providence is close, and yes, Richard, you're right about Rockville Centre. I can't imagine there are apartments in nice old Victorians; they would all be boxy noise-transmitting 1950s vintage claustrophobic nightmares.

Peggy, I think Terfel sings part of that Rule Britannia -- one of the verses -- in Welsh. And am in complete agreement with you re his voice. Fabulosity.

Glad to hear that things are shaping up nicely for Providence. It sounds like a great move.

Reunions, granfalloons, didn't Vonnegut call them?

Just came over to say hello - you are busy not just reading, but also working and apparently planning major moves.

More vocal fabulosity, from my fave singer ever, I think. Dvorak, from 'Rusalka'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwVYFpY3VL4

Frederica Von Stade and "Moon Song" - strangely and possibly fortunately unavailable on karaoke! Wonderful stuff.

I agree with RD on the reunion. The ones you liked you would have kept in touch with anyway; the ones you didn't so much well you didn't and shouldn't.

>86 Chatterbox:. I'm glad to hear your report on the newest in the Ruth Galloway series, Dying Fall. I like Griffiths' characters in this series, so, like you, I'm pretty much willing to give her a pass. I enjoy the series. If I can give a book like this a 3.5, then I consider it a win.

Based on your description, put me in the "Vote No" column re: the reunion.

Books du jour:

39. Patrick O'Brian's Navy by Richard O'Neill is a good collection of text and illustration -- it's really a coffee table book, filled with lots of contemporary engravings, paintings and maps, combined with some modern diagrams of sails, the anatomy of various kinds of ships of the line in the British Navy in the Napoleonic era -- but if you're looking for something that will correlate directly with the Aubrey/Maturin novels, this isn't it. I did learn some more about rigging, but it would have been helpful to have arrows pointing to specific spots mentioned in the book, like the lubber's hole, or here is where Maturin and Martin sat to play chess in the rigging one day. There are some gaps that I'll have to fill elsewhere, even in the glossary. Still, it's a good starting point, and there are oodles of fab historical images. Better for naval history buffs than series addicts like myself. 3.6 stars.

40. Codex by Lev Grossman is a real disappointment. Had I read this first and only later gone on to read The Magicians -- well, I probably wouldn't have gone on to read them. Edward Wozny is a banker on gardening leave -- he's in between one job and another in London -- and he gets caught up in two bizarre and possibly related things, a complex simulated reality computer game that is so sophisticated he finds himself caught up in that world, and a quest for a 14th century codex at the behest of a Duchess (not a duchess, heaven forfend...) Well, let's just say that in one way or another, our Edward is kinda clueless and ends up in a rather bewildered trance much of the time. The Duchess behaves erratically; the Duke doesn't want him to find the codex. He gets entangled with a young woman researcher. This lurches along, and only about 50 pages are really interesting and suspenseful at all, the rest of the time I was just bewildered. The author is clearly clever, but had waaaay too much going on here and no idea of how to rein it all in. The fact that it was about ancient books and did have those bits at the end where it sort of comes together makes it 2.8 stars, but really, I'd avoid it. Just go right on to Grossman's next two books about teenage and 20-something magicians, which I adored.

OK, moving right along....

Reading along. Nothing to say. Love Bryn Terfel's voice as well.

I remember someone else giving Codex the thumbs down a year or two back; the manuscript- related content made me like the sound of it, but I guess not the way the subject is treated.

I'd avoid it, Genny...

On the other hand, I have to confess that I just ran amok among the "Bloomsbury Reader" titles for Kindle. In the US, these run about $7.99, but some of them are only $1.99. It's a very odd assortment, some golden age mysteries, some novels that are probably out of print elsewhere (I have already picked up a lot by Ann Bridge here, but there are some by Emma Tennant, Dirk Bogarde, Hilary Bailey and a whole bunch of authors I have never heard of!) There are a lot by H.R.F. Keating, and I was very happy indeed to get The Governess and his two other titles written under the pseudonym of Evelyn Hervey; Victorian mysteries that I v. much enjoyed the first go-around. There are a cluster of of books by Monica Dickens, although not all of my favorites. Still, that list includes No More Meadows. I'm trying an Edmund Crispin mystery, and one by Nicholas Blake. Picked up A Person from England by Fitzroy Maclean, about the oddball cast of characters who haunted Central Asia. I was able to add some childhood faves from Jane Aiken Hodge to the Kindle, and found two books by Margaret Irwin that are must-reads for historical fiction fans, Royal Flush and The Proud Servant. Worth taking a look to see what you can find for $2....

A quick note about

41. The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning, the first novel in the Balkan trilogy, which I first read back in the early 1990s, after the TV series with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. Hmm. I really liked reading this, and I adore the TV series, which I think is one of the best things around. BUT this time I listened to the audiobook and while that drew my attention to some fine details which I relished, Harriet Walter's narration really got on my nerves. She makes Prince Yakimov sound like a South African... and reduces his quirks to querulousness. Revisiting the book reminds me of the details of Manning's characters, including Harriet's burgeoning frustration with Guy, who loves the world in general but can't seem to devote himself to any single member of it, and the exasperating hapless Yaki (who was incredibly well served by Ronald Pickup's portrayal in the TV series). I may continue with the series, but odds are that I will do so via the book rather than the audiobooks. Sigh. The fundamental story is fascinating and it's worth investing the time in, dealing as it does with the very zeitgeist of a certain kind of young English man/woman on the outbreak of WW2, and vignettes of life in lesser known regions in which the conflict eventually took place (with this starting in Bucharest in September 1939). 3.9 stars, marked down for the reading.

When you discuss available titles like that Suz it is pushing me towards either Audible or Kindle with a rapidity that is almost disconcerting. Edmund Crispin and Nicholas Blake (aka late poet-laureate Cecil Day-Lewis and father of Daniel) are both good value as period tec series.

Thought you might like this Cecil Day-Lewis poem that presaged the Second World War in 1938 -

The Volunteer

Tell them in England, if they ask
What brought us to these wars,
To this plateau beneath the night’s
Grave manifold of stars –

It was not fraud or foolishness,
Glory, revenge, or pay:
We came because our open eyes
Could see no other way.

There was no other way to keep
Man’s flickering truth alight:
These stars will witness that our course
Burned briefer, not less bright.

Beyond the wasted olive-groves,
The furthest lift of land,
There calls a country that was ours
And here shall be regained.

Shine on us, memoried and real,
Green-water-silken meads:
Rivers of home, refresh our path
Whom here your influence leads.

Here in a parched and stranger place
We fight for England free,
The good our fathers won for her,
The land they hoped to see.

BTW - In his Nicholas Blake novels Inspector Strangeways is apparently modelled upon WH Auden.

How interesting re Auden, Paul! and thanks for the poem. It's a far cry from Auden's poem at about the same time; more idealistic/Rupert Brooke-ish.

In your shoes, I'd get a Kindle Fire. Then you could look for the cheap Bloomsbury Reader editions (and others!) but also keep an Audible library there. You'd have a tough time keeping it out of the hands of your kids, of course...

Thanks for the information about the Bloomsbury Reader books, Suz. I checked out Bloomsbury Publishing's web page, and I found over 800 BR titles on the UK web site! I'll have to go back and look at the ones that are available to US customers.

I loved Yakimov in the series, so that's a real no-go for me.

Suz - Day-Lewis dabbled with communism in the early thirties when part of Auden's set as they used to like to call it, but by the late 30's he became certain that war was both necessary and unavoidable. He writes a lovely poem about his experiences as a Home Guard (as in Dad's Army if you remember that gentle comedy) which is evocative and touching but I can't place it for now.

Darryl, Amazon has about 350 of them, but it's worth sorting through them -- you never know what will pop up. I found that very cool book by Fitzroy Maclean, who was one of the great ramblers/adventurers in Central Asia early/mid 20th century, fab.

Lucy, I know... I just kept wanting Ronald Pickup to burst in upon the narration and say get thee hence, Harriet Walter, and take over.

Paul, and of course he was right -- and of course we learned the wrong lessons from the 1930s (that we should usually fight because we usually can persuade ourselves that it's another just Cause... I'm not a pacifist, but I'm very wary of historical determinists who point back to the 1930s and warn about the dangers of 'appeasement'. Still, the Day-Lewis strikes me as a very idealistic poem (Brooke) rather than a resigned one, which I think was more characteristic of his peers who felt that way.

Just want to recommend a NYC cultural event - the East-West Divan Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (performances through SUnday) - the complete cyle of Beethoven's symphonies. I went last night and the orchestra (comprised of kids and young adults under the leadership of Daniel Barenboim) was terrific. (Can I brag and mention that my brother wrote the program notes...)
Highly recommended.

112. That sounds amazing. Really, really amazing. I'm more jealous than I have words to describe.

#112 Oh, thanks for the tip! Maybe I'll check it out on Saturday. I know of the orchestra, and I'll be in the area tomorrow midday so I can check on tickets. I'm going to hear Angelika Kirschlager sing on Sunday.

Realized I forgot to update my reading again...

42. Shake Off by Mischa Hiller is an ER book that I've been putting off reading for quite a while, and now I recall why. It plods, ambles and meanders. Perhaps the detailed tradecraft and routine precautions is more like what life is like for a 'real' spy, but if you're more than 100 pages into the book and still have no idea of what the point is and are wondering whether it will ever pick up, that's a sign of trouble. Yes, it eventually gets a bit better, but never really delivers on the promise implied by the fact that the spy in question is working for the Palestinians, and trained by the Soviets, or on the very good writing. The pacing, however, is a real problem -- and that's coming from a reader with a high tolerance for character-driven novels. 3.25 stars.

43. The Golden Scales by Parker Bilal is quite another kettle of fish, however. It's an excellent mystery, beautifully written (the author's moniker is a pseudonym; he is Sudanese/British, Jamal Mahjoub, and it's set against the backdrop of Cairo in about 1998, which means Mubarak still has a firm grip on the country even as the Muslim Brotherhood are revolting. Makana, his protagonist, is an exile from Khartoum and we learn slowly (at just the right time, in the right way) how that happened and what happened to his own family. In this novel, Makana ends up tackling, as a freelance investigator, two other cases of missing children: the 4 year old daughter of an English woman who vanished in Cairo back in 1981; and the death of the protegee of a Cairo tough turned powerbroker, Saad Hanafi. The young man is a footballer, a key member of Hanafi's team, but there is more to his disappearance and his identity than that. An excellent balance between the mystery/tension and the characters. I'm elated that I just got the e-galley of book #2 in this series, and I'll be looking for the authors non-mystery novels, too -- the writing here is excellent. A great discovery! 4.4 stars, for my 2013 categories challenge.

I have about another 25 or 30 pages to read in A Week in Winter, Maeve Binchy's (final?) posthumous novel, then I'll see if I can wrap up 419 by Will Ferguson before it is midnight in Los Angeles... :-) (Since I seem to be living on California time...)

I think I'm going to skip the next Elly Griffiths book. I've been extremely unhappy with the last few. She has become so antagonistic toward Christianity that I simply no longer enjoy her work.

The Golden Scales sound really interesting, adding this one to my wishlist.

Bought myself some more books for my birthday. Sigh. Including Under the Dome, which will be my second Stephen King novel, and Lawrence Wright's book about Scientology. He did such an excellent job with the book about 9/11 that I'm confident this will be an interesting and not hysterical in tone book.

#116 -- I didn't pick that up, precisely, but then she does have the figure of Cathbad in there, and the idea of druidism. To me, that kind of fits with Ruth as a forensic archaeologist, and the whole idea of disrupting buried graves, etcetera, especially given that some of the discoveries are essentially pre-Christian. But then I probably am not approaching the books from the same POV, so...

#117 -- yes, yes -- this is a fascinating series indeed. I'm eager to read the next Makana book; the author does a very good job of combining him as sleuth and person. There's a bit too much of pick up bad guy and slam him into wall when he is nasty (there are three occasions I remember where Makana resorts to violence, albeit always against someone who is a rather unpleasant person), which I found not very enjoyable to read, but then it's also true to the character and the setting. Had he turned and walked away it would have made the book implausible.

Will update on the Binchy novel later; I didn't get through 419, as it needed more of my attention than I appear to be able to provide right now. Exhausting work week.

But a happy birthday I hope!

Meh, OK. Was going to meet someone about doing some more work, but when I got to the place at 11 -- after a big race to make it -- she wasn't there. Only then did I get the message she was sick. *eyes roll* But she is now v.v. shamefaced & profuse apologies. And my Fiscal Times editor took me to lunch. Now back at the salt mines, slogging away...

As I'm not at all religious, I don't have an issue with Ruth's rejection of religion - her parents are evangelical Christians and she has turned away from that - but I can see why it might cause some people difficulty. She's not really drawn to her friend's paganism either.

Ah, yes, Luci, that may be the issue. I suppose I saw that as more of a parent/child conflict that happened to revolve around an issue of religion, but that could have been controlling parents with any kind of world view (ie. what they want their kids to be when they grow up). Anyway, obviously it didn't even register! Yes, Ruth is really a pragmatist.

I don't have a problem with the figure of Cathbad. It's the remarks that Ruth has made in the last few installments.

Richard -- Theo from upstairs just came home with three big helium balloons for me for my b-day, so that is my treat! They also are proving to be a cat treat, as they come with tantalizingly long ribbons on the end -- but do whatever he tries, Tigger CANNOT get to the balloon. It's hilarious, and I only wish I could find a working camera right now.

Happy belated birthday! Hope you love Under the Dome! I loved it

Happy Birthday!

Thank you both! It has been a looong week, and a looong day, so am just going to curl up with cats & books this evening. Very very tired.

Happy Birthday, Suzanne! And it sounds like it'd be loads of fun to watch Tigger and the helium balloons.

While I can still say it, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Suzanne!" Glad you got our to lunch and glad you and the cats are enjoying balloons. My wish is that you finish the slog and get on with the celebrating for the rest of the weekend.

Happy Birthday from my own personal Drunk Tank.

A latish happy birthday from me, well, it's still your birthday there, isn't it. Aaah at the balloons!

A very happy birthday to you, Suzanne!

Happy birthday, Suz! I hope the curl up with the cats and books helps.

Happy Birthday

Slipping in under the wire to say Happy Birthday!

and now, cross-posted, from Joe's, a request:

Thinking caps at the ready, folks. My sister is starting a side business to do academic indexing and editing, and she has a prospective client so she needs a company name fast! Something a little funky but clear and to the point. All suggestions will be passed on to the ambitious creature asap so get your best in now.

And thanks.

Happy birthday.

Robert

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Suzanne. Thanks for the tip on the Bloomsbury Readers, I'll be checking those out when I get somewhere with a reliable Internet connection. This morning my son and I are off to Seville, looking forward to the tapas but not so much the look for a suitable place to park the car!

Thank you all! Did some reading, had a small nap this evening, which really felt like luxury...

Judy, I'll don my thinking cap, but I am notoriously uninspired when it comes to things like company names, headlines, etc. I think I wrote my last good headlines in 1985...

Kerry, v. envious about Seville; sounds fabulous! Go hear some good flamenco for me!! I have great memories of Andalucia, and found the city of Ronda particularly intriguing. There are some cool little museums there, including one devoted to banditry, if I recall correctly!

g -- slightly worried about the Drunk Tank??? sending Skutch a hiss from Tigger. :-)

Happy Birthday from me as well!

Zum Geburtstag viel Glück / joyeux anniversaires / Buon compleanno / 생일 축하합니다

Late to the party, but Happy Birthday!!

Belated birthday best wishes, Suz. Hope the year ahead is a good one for you!

Ha. Fret thee not. I had just arrived home from the Friday Do at work and was feeling ... waggish.

Skutch has been unbearably cuddly and sweet since Pez left the Earth.

Was in Ronda yesterday and we saw the banderilleros museum but didn't go in. Read in my guidebook about Alexandre Dumas bribing a local bandido. Seville was fun, a bit cold today, we are staying outside Seville, in Carmona in the parador, Don Pedro I Palace, a Moorish fortress. It's very cool with a wonderful rural outlook. back to Seville tomorrow. My son is loving all the history, we did go to a couple of museums in Ronda, and went down the path into the gorge. I'm reading Elizabeth Nash's Seville, Cordoba & Granada: a cultural and literary guide which is good. She mentions a Lindsay Davis book set in Cordoba in Roman times.

Happy belated birthday!

Even *I* like the image of the Terror Cat chasing the ribbons!

I love that Theo got you balloons. It will be hard to leave them all behind when you do move.

Richard, and the reality is probably even funnier than you can imagine... Yes, it will be horribly sad to say farewell to Theo, and the probability is that he will be very upset. I'm going to try to negotiate that I stay here until May 1 although my lease is up April 1, so that I can be here for his b-day in early April.

g -- I had this mental image of you and Skutch blearily eyeing a bottle of Laphroaig! Molly also has changed since Jasper's death -- if you can imagine, she has become a cuddle-cat. Whenever I sit down on the sofa, she will jump up beside me. If I'm lying down, her spot has become the niche between my head and my shoulder. (She's still terrified of Cassie, so she won't come into the bedroom, except if I've been away overnight; Cassie is the "upstairs cat".) She and Tigger have a modus vivendi in the office, however. I think Molly is still a little frustrated that she can't transform me into a proper cat -- that despite her mewing I still persist in human talk, and despite her attempts to groom me, I refuse to grow fur or a tail or proper ears. But while still easily spooked, she has become exponentially more affectionate.

Kerry -- that sounds fabulous!! The other museum I remember well from Ronda was one perched on the edge of the gorge -- an old house, the Mondragon Palace. I saw that they offered short summertime Spanish courses -- a month or so -- and for the next year or two I fantasized about going back to do that. (I had just been with the WSJ long enough at that point to have earned a full four weeks of vacation!) I picked up quite a lot of Spanish very quickly, and was reading newspapers and following dinner party conversations within 10 days or so -- very eerie, really. I also loved Cordoba.

I think Lindsay Davis set those mysteries everywhere in the Roman empire! I read the first one and quite liked it but wasn't overwhelmed. I then read her two long Roman sagas and didn't like them, and her English Civil War series, which dragged incredibly, so never got back into her as an author. (The exception to this rule was The Course of Honour, a standalone Roman Empire book.)

Book updates later today.

We're all going to miss your Theo stories, I think.

LOL, Luci....

When Theo gave me the balloons, he pointed to the two slightly bigger ones (orange and purple) that have fancy stripes on them, and said that those were for Tigger. Then he pointed to the smaller pale yellow one, and said that one was for Molly. So I asked, well, does Cassie get a balloon for my birthday. Silence. Pause. "Molly can share with her." No prizes for guessing Theo's favorite cat from the bunch of 'em!! And when we go to the library, he always wants to find "cat books".

OK, catching up on books. Not that impressive a list, really, mostly mindless (the Marsden books) and some comfort reading (Binchy). I am reading some non-fiction, including a bio of Cardinal Richelieu, so I seem to be over-compensating at the other extreme!!

44. Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy is definitely comfort reading -- no real spicy flavors, a bit like rice pudding, really. Like several of her more recent books, it's a really a series of short stories linked by a setting or some other device, which I kind of feel is cheating a bit, as there is no time to build up a real sense of involvement in the characters' lives as happens in some her earlier, longer 'real' novels. I do like the pacing/rhythm of her writing at times, though, as it reminds me of the way the Irish speak. So, the common device here is the return home to Ireland of an expat, a woman with secrets who takes over an old house and turns it into an inn. Chicky's secrets never become a plot element as we turn too quickly to the lives of others -- her staff, her first guests -- for anything to really register. Still, it's heartwarming in places; very little that is deeply unpleasant really impinges forcibly on Binchy's world. 3.2 stars.

45. Burning for Revenge by John Marsden is #5 in the "tomorrow" YA dystopian series that I have been reading. Now only five of the teenagers who took to the outback when Australia was invaded by people from a nameless foreign country are still fighting, and they accidentally find themselves in a position to undertake a dramatic act of sabotage. Fast paced, and one of the group is having a nervous breakdown of sorts. 3.4 stars. This one was a physical library copy, so happily don't have to cope with the dreadful typos in the digital versions.

46. The Night is For Hunting by John Marsden is the book in which the teenagers turn babysitters for some feral kids. It's an unconvincing plot twist, and perhaps it's there because Marsden couldn't find another way to remind us that they're people wrestling with human emotions and not just teenage guerillas? (Having been through the teen angst, the romantic tension and the debates about killing in prior volumes...) This plot twist really didn't work for me. I'll read the final volume just because I'm curious, but this is a weird side track, and a reminder to authors not to let their series go on and on. Underwhelming, and the dramatic action in this one is as silly as you'd find in a video game. 2.9 stars.

Happy belated birthday Suzanne!

Thanks, Anne!! ... and thanks to everyone else for the b-day greetings...

I'm off to look for some meatier fiction as I simply can't face heavyweight biography this evening.

A belated Happy Birthday from me too Suz! All caught up with you now, but don't know what to start commenting on as so much going on... Over 500 titles available from the Bloomsbury editions on this side of the border, though I wouldn't know where to start looking... started with the $2 offerings, but haven't read any of those authors before. Hm. I quite liked Harriet Walter the first time I listened to her, which was on Brazzaville Beach. I've had that Balkan trilogy on my wishlist for quite some time now, so perhaps will spend a credit on the first book since I just received one more today... it takes everything for me to spend those as I tend to hoard them for some reason. Then if I end up hating the recording too, I'll come back to tell you to tell ME "I told you so". :-)

Also a belated birthday greeting from me Suz. Behind for once, sorry! xx

#146 Yes, we visited the Mondragon Palace Museum too and the plaza de Toros Museum.
I studied a year of Spanish at uni many years ago. I don't recall much, just enough to fool myself probably. My pet hate here is when they have two menus,one in English and one in Spanish and only give you the English one, all the food sounds so unappetising, yet read in Spanish, I'm all in! Yaron is trying all sorts of unusual tapas, luckily if it's not that great you haven't spoilt your whole meal.

what is scary here in Andalusia is the unemployment figures, it's the highest in Spain at 33%. Malaga has the highest for the region and the unemployment rate there for under 25s is now 55%. Not that you see evidence of this just wandering round.

Hi Ilana! The book is fascinating, and the narration is basically quite acceptable, but I just don't think the male voices were convincing. I suppose that's always the issue, but it's particularly problematic with Yakimov, who moves from character to caricature. I imagine you'll probably enjoy it, as there's a lot here to enjoy, and I've already got the other two books in the trilogy for audiobook so may alternate between listening and reading. In no rush to move on. Sometimes, it seems, narrators grate on me; in other cases, they are what makes it work, like whoever read Creole Belle by James Lee Burke.

Thanks, Paul!

OK, my January book overview is here:

Books read: 44
(and NO, I will not be keeping up this pace all year!!!)

Audiobooks: 6/44
Re-reads: 4/44
Library books: 3/44 (sigh)
ARCs/e-galleys: 7/44
Series books: 14/44 (not counting Trollope, etc.)

Favorite books, in no particular order:

Non-fiction:
Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places by Bill Streever
The Big Truck that Went by by Jonathan Katz

Fiction:
Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer
The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin
Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
The Golden Scales by Parker Bilal
A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
A Question of Identity by Susan Hill

Biggest disappointment: Codex by Lev Grossman. After really enjoying his two later novels, I was hoping for something almost as good, but this novel is confused rambling underwhelming story about which I was still puzzled after finishing it. Other books were even worse, but I didn't have as high expectations for them.

Another belated happy birthday wish, Suzanne!
I've put A Thread of Grace on hold at the library based on your comments.

For a first book Codex showed some promise, but no more than that.....

Very belated Happy Birthday.

I love your book summary Suzanne. It gives me great ideas for what to read sooner.

Looks like I can put Codex on my 'Do Not Read' list. Still, it looks like it was the only clunker in an excellent reading month for you, Suz. Congratulations!

Stasia, I had more clunkers than that, just not that I chose to highlight! Real clunkers, though, are the ones that appear to have potential -- it's a bigger let down.

Here is a YouTube version of a Liszt song from one of the two singers I saw perform this afternoon, Angelika Kirschlager:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsNKF0Q_wv4
And the other was tenor Ian Bostridge:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uKFOHjFYj0

Bostridge is an intense guy, rambling all over the place like he does here, but both really threw themselves into the music -- all Hugo Wolf, from the Spanisches Liederbuch. Excellent, expressive voices. I can't remember how I wound up with this seat, but it was in the second row, off to the side, though, so I could see the pianist. It was Julius Drake, who accompanies Bostridge in the above. I imagine that his rambling around would drive some accompanists mental...

Ugh, slept very badly last night, and have been battling some work stuff that I can't get done. I'm responsible for it being done, but since it requires getting people to co-operate in working on charts for me that I don't have the access to do myself, and since one of the people who worked on them did a very poor job and then said she couldn't do any more, I'm kinda up the proverbial creek. I don't have any authority at all, just responsibility.

OK, enough whining.

47. Going Clear by Lawrence Wright is the author's look at Scientology. I admire his work tremendously, especially his book on the roots of 9/11, and am interested in these 'new religions' or mass movements that lay claim to religious status, and Wright does an excellent job looking at the history of L. Ron Hubbard and the Scientologists. Cult or fledgling religion? Wright points out that a younger Christianity had its problems (Inquisition, anyone?) and that any theology, when viewed through the eyes of someone who doesn't share it, looks goofy. (Virgin birth??) So, on the one hand Wright forcefully addresses some of the abuses that clearly seem to be taking place within Scientology and the lavish claims it makes, but the real issue that lurks below the surface and sometimes rises above it is that giving religion a privileged position as a tax-free "business" enables not just the churches we support that do good work in and outside their communities, but also those like Scientology who profit from the free labor of their teenage members of the Sea Corp. (paid $50 a week and, if they try to leave, presented with 'freeloaders bills' for hundreds of thousands of dollars guaranteed to bankrupt them). It's an uncomfortable book to read, since it really did make me stop and realize that one of the reasons we distinguish between newer and older religions is simply that we are more accustomed to them. Still, if you leave a Catholic convent or monastery, these days no one will forcibly imprison you in a dungeon or blackmail or bankrupt you. Yes, the whole celebrity angle is covered here, too, and although I had long since given up going to see Tom Cruise in anything (I mean, the guy is always just Tom Cruise, playing a role -- he never is the character), the sheer level of entitlement boggles my mind. Wow. In one way, this is a depressing book, but it's also well-researched and oddly compelling. 4.3 stars.

48. The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier is a strangely muted story of Honor Bright, a young Quaker woman who travels with her sister to America. Grace has promised to marry a former member of their Quaker meeting in Dorset who now lives in Ohio, but when tragedy strikes, Honor has to find a new way to live in a new land. She is living only a few miles from Oberlin, a major stop on the Underground Railroad, and in the spirit of the Quaker legacy, she finds herself helping runaways along their way to freedom, even though a slave-catcher seems oddly drawn to her and follows her everywhere. This is a merely OK novel; the setting is fascinating, and Chevalier does a great job of presenting this new world through the eyes of a new arrival who doesn't quite fit in and doesn't know how to begin to do so. But Honor herself emerged as a character that I just wanted to shake, drifting through life. Plausible, perhaps; but there needs to be something more for this to be a convincing character portrayal. We get lots of little moments that I suspect only a white woman could write (and I am one, so if I recognized this...) in which Honor realizes -- wow, I'm sitting beside a Negro woman! Helping a Negro child! as if they are alien beings. Once, that is effective. Six or seven times, it's patronizing and silly and pointless. Not a book that I'll re-read, so I'm glad it was a library book. Still, not a bad depiction of the basic story, even if there were few really convincing portrayals of characters. I'm beginning to wonder whether Chevalier isn't drifting in the direction of Jodi Picoult, whose characters are just vehicles for the Big Idea and the Big Sentimental Scenes? (Only in this novel, there were none of the latter, which at least was appropriate.) Meh. 3.4 stars. Not a winner for me; others may like it better, though.

Going Clear has been on my Waiting-For-The-Paperback wishlist for some time now, but I am glad to have it confirmed. And I am happy to know a little more about what to expect.

Robert

Hmm, I was interested in the new Chevalier... Definitely going to get it from the library now, if at all.

I liked Remarkable Creatures but have really been underwhelmed by the two that I have read since. Girl with a Pearl Earring felt as stylized as a Vermeer painting and not nearly as clever as the author clearly thought she was being; this one was interesting but un-engaging. Sigh.

Robert, if you're interested as much in the concept of religion and what makes a religion, you'll find stuff here to chew on. I also liked the fact that Wright focused throughout on a lesser known Scientologist's experience, Paul Haggis. Although part of the Hollywood connection, he is a writer rather than an actor and thus not in the Travolta/Cruise leagues in the public eye, which makes his story -- over decades -- more intriguing. I gather he was the subject of a NYer profile by Wright, which I didn't see.

So, a book that did really keep me reading was a re-read of:

49. Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge. I remember reading this in my teens, I think, roughly when it first came out in paperback in Canada. It has been years since I picked it up, as the paperback in question was poorly bound and since has fallen apart at the seams. It's the story of Hatshepsut, daughter of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Thutmose I, who names her his heir, and her struggle to rule independently. It's a moving story, especially in the final chapters as Hatshepsut realizes that her young male heir will no longer be content to wait peacefully on the sidelines and that there likely will be no happy ending for her and her coterie of loyal supporters. Did it happen as Gedge portrays? Well, ancient Egyptian scholarship has moved on in the last 35/40 years, and the ending may not have been precisely as Gedge depicts it, but it's not impossible and it certainly is of a piece with the story as we know it to be. And Gedge does an amazing job of capturing life in ancient Egypt as it would have been lived some 3,600 years ago... (Just think, we are probably closer in time to Attila the Hun or Constantine than either were to Hatshepsut...) A thumping good read, now reissued and available on Kindle. Am happy to see a lot of Gedge's books now are on Kindle, so I imagine I will be re-reading more of them this year. 4.2 stars, for my 2013 categories challenge.

Sorry to hear about the work stress and the accompanying insomnia, Suz. I can relate as both happen to me all too often. I'm trying to get better at sitting up, turning the light on, and reading. It beats lying there stewing.

LOL, Ellen -- I need to get better at turning OFF the light once I get sleepy after using that technique! It can be so hard to put a book down...

Just catching up, but The Black Russian sounds intriguing, and I'm a big fan of The Balkan Trilogy -- isn't it remarkable how young Guy and Harriet are???

And happy belated birthday!

Thanks Rebecca! Will catch up later. I have been reading, but not much, and I've been working flat out. (Though I confess I got a bootleg copy of "Zero Dark Thirty", one of the ones made for voters for the award season, and spent an evening watching that, too...)

Hoping to get back to Providence this weekend to take a look at four or five apartments that are available there. But... there is a big winter storm set to swoop in tomorrow night, and I'd be going up on Saturday -- if the trains and buses are still running. Sigh. Murphy's law.

OK, must try this sleep thing again...

Hope you were able to get some sleep Suz. I'm guessing you guys were also hit with this big storm. Hope you can still get around this weeked and wishing you luck with the apartment hunting.

Horrible migraine, so it's just as well that I won't be going anywhere until at least Sunday & possibly later, depending on how things are in Providence. Here it's just a winter storm, but the low pressure system is delivering a real whammy, so I can't really enjoy any of the books or DVDs I have stockpiled...

As the head permits, I've been immersed in Child 44, which is gripping....

I think they've closed all the roads in Connecticut and Rhode Island anyway, Suz. Things looks much better in the "city that doesn't sleep" on The Weather Channel. It looks like they have done a good job pushing that snow out of the way. The huge amounts they are getting in Connecticut and Maine are just amazing.

Yes, Providence is snowed in. Doubt I'll be going up there tomorrow -- maybe Monday/Tuesday. I'll check on things tomorrow morning. 3 or 4 feet of snow everywhere. It's annoying, as I want to nail down an apt asap. I also got a weird query from my landlord about where the lease renewal is -- the one I mailed weeks ago. If he asks for me to resend before I have a new apartment, then I'm not in a good position, now that I'm emotionally committed to the idea of moving but don't have a specific place. Gah.

Here it is pretty much a non-event -- nowhere near what we had two years ago around Xmas time. This is just a normal heavy snowfall. My head isn't as bad although I'm still sleep-deprived bec of the pesky migraine. Will be back later today with a book update.

Well, since I'm awake & battling the migraine still (heading into day 3...) figured I might as well post my recent reads. Not surprisingly, nothing all that intense or fascinating, with one exception:

50. The Racketeer by John Grisham -- I clearly have never really recovered from reading The Firm, the epitome of a thumping good read. Grisham will never write eloquently or develop convincing characters, but at his best his pacing and plots can be tremendously entertaining. This one isn't his best... Grisham's character, Malcolm, aka Max, is trying to spring secrets on us, the reader, just as he does on his adversaries in the novel, but it just comes across as a clunky story of a too-smart lawyer caught up in an implausible scheme who then structures his own implausible scheme, while taking revenge on the authorities and the bad guys. If you want to read fantasy, read fantasy; if you want Grisham, re-read The Firm or the Runaway Jury. Avoid this clunker with its clumsy attempt to develop an unreliable narrator. 2.8 stars. For my 2013 categories challenge.

51. Fireproof by Alex Kava -- Another of these books that I read when my brain is overtaxed (and I'm trying to get them back to the library...) With this one, you know what you're getting: fast pace, suspense (sometimes implausible), a Very Bad Villain and an intrepid yet flawed heroine. You get it, you read it and you move on. This time, a serial arsonist is at work and bodies also are found. Thin, but OK for purely mindless reading. 2.9 stars.

52. Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith is a book I had started to read several times, only to bog down in grueling introduction, set in the deliberately orchestrated starvation by Stalin in the Ukraine in the 1930s. I realized later why it had to be there, but it took three attempts to get through it... Ultimately, the novel is about the fall from grace of Leo Demidov, if you can describe having a promising career in the political/security police under Stalin in the early 1950s as "grace". Which is kind of what Leo himself must grapple with when a far uglier underling conspires to have him demoted and sent to the Urals to toil in obscurity in the militia, where Leo realizes that a serial child murderer is at work. Alas, the Soviet system doesn't admit that such a thing could exist in their perfect society, so Leo must investigate and identify the killer not only without the support, but with the active opposition of those who should be his allies. For those who don't want to read the non-fiction books about the oppressive Soviet regime and Stalin's terror, this will give you a great insight into what it might have meant for ordinary citizens -- it's suspenseful and chilling on this level. It also works well as a conventional thriller, right up until the last pages when the author loses points from me for a denouement that is altogether too tidy and a bit bizarrely coincidental. Let's just say that we know Leo has lied to himself about a lot of things, from his job to his marriage, but the revelations?? Well, the story would have worked without the final coincidence, IMO. Still, 4.3 stars, and I'll def. be moving on to the next book the series, which I found as a library discard several months ago.

I'm still reading the Richelieu biography, Ashes and Diamonds, as suggested by Cushla (excellent!) and the sequel to the Terry Fallis novel that I really enjoyed in January, The High Road. The latter isn't as good as its predecessor, but still good, lightweight reading.

Hoping to get up to Providence on Tuesday/Wednesday.... I have to be here Thurs to see my neurologist, and really don't want to wait until the weekend.

I"m happy to note that of all your not so intense or fascinating reads this past week I have the one which was the exception. I will get to child 44 eventually.
Hope you get to Providence this week and hope the neurologist will provide some relief to you.

One more, light & fluffy, like the snow...

53. The High Road by Terry Fallis is the second in a series of slightly goofy books about an accidental Canadian MP, Angus McClintock, widowed engineering professor, cantankerous and outspoken; his adventures are told through the eyes of disillusioned parliamentary aide Daniel Addison, who is cautiously regaining his faith in what politics can be thanks to Angus. When seen at the conclusion of book #1, a dash up the Ottawa River in his hand-built hovercraft brought the rival Tory government down to defeat; now there's a new election, only months after Angus was first elected. This time the Liberal candidate wants to be elected, but can he win? And will he win the bigger battle, to bring credibility back to politics? OK, the novelty isn't there any more, and the humor is sometimes a bit heavy-handed, but it's still entertaining in half-serious, half-frivolous way. Canadian readers will get the most out of it, and more if they have read the previous book, Best Laid Plans. Curiously, while this one leaves open the prospect of a third book, Fallis seems actually to have moved on to write something entirely different. Haven't yet decided to hunt it down; it's not on Kindle in the US and I'd have to order it from Canada. This one? 3.7 stars, recommended for anyone in the mood for fluff.

How's the migraine?

It has retreated, I think, Judy -- thanks for asking. Nastiest one since before Xmas. Now am just very very tired. One more thing to edit and then I'll have an early night...

I just downloaded Child 44 to my Kindle so I'm glad to know you enjoyed it--and I will remember to perservere through the beginning. Good news that the migraine has lifted.

suz, very happy to read that your migraine has gone and that you're liking Ashes and Diamonds!

Might have to hunt out Child 44 - and the first Canadian MP book ( brain fried... You know, the one you just reviewed!)

Cushla -- my brain was so fried I had to look it up, too -- Best Laid Plans is the first of the two! It really is very Canadian, but you may enjoy. It's on Kindle... *dangling temptation in front of Cushla's face*

I think you would enjoy -- if that is the right word -- Child 44, based on your reading of Snyder & Applebaum, and your liking for the David Downing mysteries. In fact, I'd be surprised if you didn't. If you take Downing, make it a bit grittier, make the protagonist a part of the system and chronicle his disillusion as part of the mystery, well, you've got a Soviet John Russell, in some ways.

Having a hard time getting into something new, though. Trying The Painted Girls but it hasn't quite grabbed me yet. Need more brainpower to finish Ashes and Diamonds.

Child 44 is on my TBR, thanks to Berly, who urged me to buy it when I was in Portland at Powell's. I'll have to move it up!

Another quick update...

Am I getting pickier, or am I just picking "meh" books to read?? I am trying to read my way through my giant library stash -- all three of the following are library books -- but confess I'm disappointed by the dearth of overwhelmingly engrossing books of late.

54. Eminence by Jean-Vincent Blanchard is a brisk and reasonably interesting book, but not as interesting as I think it could have been given the subject matter (Cardinal Richelieu and the religious and family wars of the early 17th century). It was a bit uneven; I would become engrossed in one particular bit and then either Blanchard's writing style or the focus would shift and I'd feel as if I were plodding along. Pity; I had hoped it would be fascinating. It did convince me to try out Dumas & the musketeers later this year!! This bio was 3.7 stars.

55. The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan did an interesting job of using a young dancer at the Paris Opera to explore the entire world of late 19th century Paris (pre-dreyfus affair) and in particular the burgeoning eugenics movement, as put forth in literary form by Zola. (Marie's elder sister, Antoinette, appears in a staged version of L'Assomoir in this novel, and Marie herself is tormented by the conviction that her narrow and ugly face reflect an inner evil, as those at the time were prone to suggest. That occasionally gets a bit heavy handed, and there's too much telegraphing of these Big Themes and not enough devoted to making the backdrop more convincing than the author's description of a Degas painting of one of the scenes that Marie and Antoinette inhabit in real life. Buchanan's use of language, too, is a bit overwrought, and the staccato phrasing and poor grammar (after all, we are reminded, this is Paris's underclass speaking!!) become wearing over 350 pages. Interesting but not engrossing. 3.6 stars. For my 2013 categories challenge.

56. The Other Side of Dawn is the final (7th) volume in a dystopian series by John Marsden that should have been confined to perhaps four books. By this point, he was going through the motions -- there may be new experiences and events, but no fresh outlook on them. By the time I turned the last page, I was very fed up with Ellie and have no interest in reading about her postwar experiences in the (shorter) sequel series. A good idea that ran out of steam long before it ended, but which I was curious enough to read to see the mechanics of the ending. (The resolution has been more or less clear since the beginning of book #6.) 2.7 stars.

>184 Chatterbox:: nothing here grabbing me. Hope your head is behaving itself.

Tui, argh, I have failed in my mission to deliver one book bomb after another!! (but seriously, I don't blame you...) I am now reading The Aviator's Wife, which is actually turning out to be much better than I had feared (yet another one of those "Paris Wife" stories about the women behind great men, rapidly developing into a little sub-genre of its own...) It is another book that is due back at the library soon... Then I just may have to move on to The Secret Speech, even if it isn't as good as Child 44.

>175 Chatterbox:. I clearly have never really recovered from reading The Firm, the epitome of a thumping good read.

Well said, and I feel exactly the same. I'm sorry to hear The Racketeer is a bomb, but it sounds like you saved me from a meh read. Fingers crossed re: your trip to Providence!

OK, have found a fabulous apartment, submitted application and deposit, so pray/send whammies, etc. that they will take me as a tenant. It is the ground floor of a Victorian building, completely newly renovated. But, best of all, when you walk into the building, there is a front room off to the left -- big, large bow window, sunny, looking over a park -- that is separate from the other rooms -- a self-contained office!!! Then on the right is the entrance to the rest of the apartment -- medium sized living room with fireplace (decorative); kitchen with fancy island, all new appliances/countertops. On the other side of the kitchen is a door leading to a wide short hallway (room for bookshelves!!), a small bathroom (shower only, no tub, the only downside) and then on the left, a small/medium sized bedroom. Not as much space as some of the other places I saw (some were gargantuan -- one had three large rooms plus 2 bedrooms, for $1,100), and a bit more expensive, but the price includes central air, heating, hot water, etc. etc. -- all utilities. And it's still less than half of what I'm paying now. So keep your fingers crossed....

If it doesn't work out, there are two other nice places that would also work and that would cost less within 1/2 block of this v. nice park....

All crossables crossed :)

*whammy*whammy*whammy*

Sounds divine, Suz! Are there pics anywhere?

Sounds like a really great flat, Suz. Holding my thumbs that you get it!

That sounds wonderful Suzanne. So glad you will have room for bookshelves!

This is it, Richard:

http://providence.craigslist.org/apa/3584679548.html

Can I move in, too? That looks lovely!

It sounds marvelous, Suz (although I would really miss that bath), and I am sending whammies like mad that you get the apartment!

Oh that's gorgeous. What a find!

To me, that shower makes the move-in inevitable. How gorgeous the kitchen is, too! And the loveliness of the red-walled bay-windowed office...!! The kitchen, the kitchen...oh my heck yes, I will happily make meals there...oh wait, it's your apartment, not mine. Darn!

It looks a lovely apartment. I love the look of those sort of houses as they're so different from what we have in the UK. Keeping fingers crossed for you.

Crossing my fingers for you Suz!! It looks gorgeous and I cannot get over the price. (And going to find my Kindle. First night of stopping prep for school before 11 pm in a few days deserves a small reward...)

Sending whammies!

Wow, that's an absolute beauty! All crossables crossed for you, Suz. I'm still aghast at the rent costs down there though...that's a mortgage payment on a very nice home up here!

Great Apt. Suzanne! That office looks like the perfect place to pen a new tome! Sending acceptance vibes galore!

Sadly, the whammies/vibes, etc. didn't work. I guess for this landlord/agency, I'm just as difficult a tenant to accept as I am in NYC. Now, the agency with this property is NOT the same one that I have been working through primarily. And the latter showed me two properties very nearby that were larger and cheaper, if not as gorgeous. So, I'll move on to one of those. Obviously, whammies still desperately needed....

Sending more whammies!

Further whammying forthwith!

Hoping things will work out for you.

Add me to the whammying crew!

Frammin' at the jim-jam, frippin' in the krotz! Wizard of Id spell complete.

Thanks for the whammys/whammies/spells, etc. etc. I will send off the new application tomorrow, although I may not know anything until Monday or Tuesday. Meanwhile, my landlord insists that he hasn't received my lease renewal, so I have to send him another copy of that, even though I don't know whether he'll countersign or if he'll break the lease if he decides to countersign. So life is getting more complicated.

I have decided to opt for the larger of the two properties near the one I was turned down for. It's actually right across the street, and the apartment is still being renovated, so it's a bit hard to see what it will look like. Two doors, side by side; mine is a private entrance on the left opening into a small lobby. Then that opens onto the first part of a double parlour, at the front of the house. (I'd have the whole ground floor.) I would put up a screen between the two halves of the double parlour and use the front part as my office. The second part, a step back, has a window on the side and then its other side opens up into a massive kitchen -- a huge space. The kitchen itself takes up half of it, and a retro 1950s turquoise blue wide kitchen counter separates it from the main room, where I could install a wall of books, some chairs, etc. and turn that into a hub of sorts. The other half of the double parlour is a more formal room, and has a fireplace that I think I could make a working fireplace. Now the layout gets a bit complicated. Toward the back of the house, there is a small second bedroom -- it's one back corner (the kitchen occupies the majority of the back of the house.) Then, off the other side of the big kitchen area, kind of parallel to the parlour, there is a small hallway with the bathroom and larger bedroom. Back bedroom could be for book overflow and guests. It's a complicated layout, and I don't have any pics. The landlord would install my own double decker washer/dryer (there aren't any laundromats nearby) for an extra $35 a month in rent, in the vast kitchen.

The other apartment was a little more condensed -- a mid-sized kitchen, with enough room for a table; two bedrooms, one sizeable, the other not so much, and two parlours, almost side by side, one at the front of the house and one set back slightly beside it, but behind it a bit. The bathroom separates the two bedrooms, one of which is in the middle and the other in the back. I found the bedrooms a bit dark, so that I would have wanted to use one of the parlours as an office, and yet those parlours couldn't really be separated from the main apartment as readily.

Anyway... there it is. There are two other possibilities, but one has broadloom in the bedrooms (a no-no with the cats, as I don't want them wrecking it) and the other has rather violently-colored walls (turquoise, bright red, bright green) that would clash with anything I would want to hang up and probably would give me a migraine. But all are cheaper & larger than the gorgeous one that they turned me down for.

I finished The aviator's wife, which I continued to like more than I thought, and will report back on that shortly, after I get some sleep & catch up on work. Meanwhile, am enjoying the next Patrick O'Brian and the upcoming mystery by Martin Edwards, The Frozen Shroud. The Lost Carving by David Esterly also seems promising, but requires more brain space than I have available right now, so will have to wait until the weekend.

'whammies'? okay, here they are, whatever they are (I have no clue)

I pray for the best in this apartment plot.

Sending you the whammies that you need! Sorry the first apartment didn't work out for you! Hope you get an awesome one soon!

Shame about the lovely apartment, but at least the other options are a bit cheaper. Hoping the current choice works out for you, and that you don't have any more complications from the current landlord messing you around...

I'm just catching up and have been on a roller coaster of lust and hope and disappointment for apartment 1, but I'm now sending all positive vibes from crossed fingers that you get #2 and get away from THAT MAN.

Everything crossed!

Sending good thoughts on the next application, but tuned in too late to get too invested in the first one--lovely though it was. Best of luck!

Thanks, all. They are now processing the second application... fingers & toes crossed.

Paul, whammies are secular prayers, good vibes, commissioning of genies and good spirits to make things work out the right way...

So tired that I can barely think.

ETA, Peggy, LOL re "THAT MAN". Sounds as if he's a toxic ex bf!!

Cleaning off my acceptance vibe machine so that no small particle gets in the way of this apartment. Eyes crossed too.

It worked!!! I just have to provide documentation demonstrating that I and my LLC are one and the same, and that the cats are neutered/spayed, and we are good to go. It will mean taking Tigger and Molly in for an exam, as Molly has never been to this vet -- she is v. healthy and has massive anxiety attacks that become medical emergencies when she is taken outdoors -- and Tigger was spayed somewhere else too, before their current vet opened her doors.

So, I will have a new place to live....

Oh Suz, this is SUCH GOOD NEWS!

BRAVA!!!! I am so so happy for the stability this offers you, and freedom from that complete lunatic of a landlord.

Congratulations, Suz!

Great news indeed! Good luck at the vet. Is that standard to have clauses about the health and status of cats in a tenancy agreement?

Congratulations, Suz!

Congratulations! Brooklyn's loss will be Providence's gain. And good riddance to your landlord too!

Yay! Congrats!

Hurrah, Suz! Goodby to the Monster Landlord!

To your current landlord: Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, hey, hey, hey, gooooodbyyyyeee :o) Congrats on the acceptance, Suz

Thanks!!!

Genny, I don't think it is, but it's completely reasonable. I think they probably want to ensure I'm not a crazy cat lady, and that there won't suddenly be hordes of kittens running around the place.

Plus, un-neutered tomcats can start marking their territory and spraying all around the house. Not recommended and understandable if the landlord wants to be somewhat sure it won't happen.

Very true, Paws... The last time I moved, it was with an elderly, female, declawed cat (who died a few months later). It's a sign of how long I have been here that the resident felines are ten years old (except for Cassie, who is 8). And I now have multiple cats, albeit a declining number.

But here's a book update; the first two are for my 2013 categories challenge.

57. The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin was significantly better than I had expected. I had feared a repeat of The Paris Wife -- or the wave of other books about "women behind famous men who aren't royalty in the 20th century" that appears to be sweeping over the publishing world. The Paris Wife was a meh read for me, and I kept feeling that the idea was interesting enough that everyone got excited about that and could overlook the flaws in the writing. In this case, the writing is very good indeed, so if you are interested in the complexities of the Lindberghs, this makes for a great read. The author's decision to have it read as if written partly in retrospect, with a bit of an omniscient voice, helps address the issue of "how could she have been so weak as to put up with this??" I've never been really caught up in the whole Lindbergh thing, but found this very intriguing indeed. 4.3 stars.

58. The 13-Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian, in which our fearless heroes set off on an official mission -- only to be recalled and sent off in a different direction! This time, it's to SE Asia, which gives the author lots of opportunities to deal with the culture of the Malay peninsula, some fun encounters with orangutans, and dealing with an official envoy with folie de grandeur... Ends on a cliffhanger, so I've had to start the next one -- shucks. 4 stars. This was #13, and the series ends at #20, so at some point this year, I will be coping with withdrawal symptoms...

59. The Frozen Shroud by Martin Edwards is an excellent continuation of the "Lake District" mystery series -- I'd describe them as "soft police procedurals", akin to the Bruno, Chief of Police series. Very readable; you can see my full review on the book's main page. 4.2 stars.

I'm glad the second application worked out. When is the packing party?

Hmmm, a book packing party -- that's not a bad idea!!

Wonderful news Suz that your problems regarding home hunting is all but over. Now you can really enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Fantastic news Suz!

Great news Suz, congrats!

So glad to read the good news of your new apartment! Hope all the moving/packing/etc. goes smoothly for you.

Yes, the packing and moving is going to be daunting, not to mention the sorting beforehand and the cleaning up afterwards. 11 years in one place is a record -- and nearly double the previous record. It would be fine if it were MY place, but this has been an experience that has reminded me not to become too ensconced in a place that isn't my own...

Book update; since I have spent the afternoon and early evening curled up on the sofa reading, with the Mollycat curled up in the crook of one arm, fast asleep and pinning me in place. (I already know the big shock awaiting those of you about to tune in for the Downton Abbey finale...)

60. Ashes and Diamonds by Jerzy Andrzejewski is a fascinating novel set over the span of a few days just as peace is formally declared in Europe in May 1945. Its location is a town or small city in already-liberated Poland, 'liberated', that is, by the Soviets. Already, even as peace is declared, new violence is erupting, as former partisans become anti-Soviet partisans and others become officials in the new regime -- simultaneously, people are forced to consider what it is that has happened and what will happen next. At the heart of the story is the Kossecki family: the father, interned at Grosse Rosen concentration camp, has survived, but at what price? Meanwhile, one son is caught up in a group of partisans who now are opposing the Soviet takeover, while the other is caught up in a group of young anarchists. It's an ensemble piece, which brings with it some weaknesses; I also kept imagining it as a stage play of sorts, despite the large cast. Fascinating vignette of the immediate aftermath of war & the conflict of ideologies, recommended by Cushla. 4.3 stars. For my 2013 Category Challenge.

61. The Lost Carving by David Esterly may be the best book that I have read this year. Ostensibly, it's about the author's year spent recreating a masterpiece of limewood carving by Grinling Gibbons, destroyed in a fire at Hampton Court in 1986. But it's really about what it means to be a creator (who imagines and conceives an idea) and a maker of objects (who executes that vision in a tangible form). Esterly does a wonderful job of making the process of fine wood carving so vivid that I could almost feel a chisel in my hands, but as he wrestles with what it means to capture a vision, with what it means to be taken over by that vision, well, what results is something altogether different. It's hard to define this book, but it is its own kind of masterpiece for anyone interested in the theme/idea of creativity and the arts. I borrowed this from the library, but have decided that I need to own my own copy. A full 5 stars.

This is very exciting!

The books or the pending move, Lucy?? :-)

Now that it's almost a done deal, I'm jittery of leaving NYC -- have spent 17 of the last 19 years here and I do love it. But it's not the only big city that I love, and I just can't afford to stay here with only a single income. I'll always be lurching from season to season, and never able to buy (even if I wanted to, and I'm not convinced that this is where I will want to be when I'm 70...)

And you won't be all that far away anyway, will you? New beginnings!

I thought Ashes and Diamonds was terrific too; in fact, it has grown on me in the time since I read it. The Polish movie of it is pretty good, although it sticks to the main strand of the plot without the more complex and morally ambiguous sidelines.

So happy to learn that you have found a place in Providence (I love that name), good luck with the whole moving process, it really is too bad we all aren't closer so we could all pitch in and help. Looking forward to learning all about Providence as you get settled into your new residence.

Congrats on the apartment! What a big change for you (and a lot of work in the offing), but very exciting.

Yes, now that it's all but certain it's quite scary, actually. Plus I got a call from my landlord early this evening, demanding what address I had sent the lease back to in mid/late January (before he threatened not to countersign/renew it) and upon my telling him it was the one he had sent me in the e-mail, demanded to know how I could possibly run a business when I couldn't tell him immediately what address I had sent this to. So of course, I had to open the e-mail and read it to him, and then was told I mispronounced the street. (It's in Germany...) Sigh. Until a lease is signed in Providence, I have to keep everything calm....

>193 Chatterbox: Really? That place is gorgeous! If that is your new home, congrats!

I want to get a copy of Ashes and Diamonds.

It's not, Ellen, alas. On the other hand, my new home is both larger and less expensive! (If not as glam...) And it's right across the street, literally, so the same nice views of the park.

It was def. worth waiting for the library to locate Ashes and Diamonds although it was The Lost Carving that really blew me away.

Right now I'm hastily finishing up The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius ahead of our book circle meeting tomorrow, while also listening intermittently to The Iliad, as narrated by Derek Jacobi. I've also been reading the new mystery by Parker Bilal, the sequel to The Golden Scales, and I'm delighted to say it's every bit as good so far.

But meanwhile...

62. Syria: The Fall of the House of Assad by David Lesch is a scholar's overview/summary of what has happened in Syria in the last two years. I think of it as being to an interesting book what a skeleton is to a human being; without it, you don't have the infrastructure to support the rest of the body, but on its own, it's not that interesting except to anatomists. This is a good chronicle, and it's worth reading through to mine the various insights into Bashar al-Assad and what transformed him from ordinary guy (Lesch knows him and many people close to him) into repressive tyrant. There's the 'absolute power corrupting' stuff, of course, and the fact that the need to succeed within Syrian's authoritative regime demanding skills and convictions that lend themselves to represssion, and there's a lot of cognitive dissonance on all sides. It's all very depressing, too; I remember vividly my summer 2001 trip to Syria and how much I enjoyed the places I saw (Damascus, Aleppo, Palmyra, the area around Krak des Chevaliers, Hama) and the people I met, and it's heartbreaking to think of what has happened. People were far more welcoming and friendly than I had imagined: I remember meeting a soldier, guarding an ancient Roman site all by himself, rifle slung over his back. I was slightly nervous when he came bounding over to me, rifle in hands -- but it turns out he was so excited to see me that he wanted to show me around the deserted site, and what he had found -- the marks of ancient carts, and where people had carved a tic-tac-toe board in the stones some 1,900 years ago. A reminder not to jump to conclusions. Anyway, if you're curious, read the final chapter of this, which pretty much summarizes Lesch's main points. I've got another Syria book on my Kindle that I hope to read in the next month or two and hopefully it will be just as enlightening but include more historical context and more about the various social groups beyond the dry details. 3.6 stars.

Interesting comments on Syria - very sad. I fear for your soldier and hope he has somehow managed to stay safe.

oooh I wish the other place would get confirmed so you could tell the nutsoid landlord to blow it out his ear. And don't let him threaten you with eviction in a week once you do tell him. Surely to goodness there are laws to protect you against this kind of harassment.

Nutsoid landlord has pondered stuff overnight and withdrawn the lease renewal offer. So now I'm really anxious. Landlord (new/potential version) has everything he requested in the way of documents except the cat neutering confirmations (which he should realize he will be getting and the key thing is that he has them before I move in with the cats).

Nope, the laws are written in a rather fuzzy manner. It is all what is deemed reasonable. And my landlord can look respectable and even charming when you first meet him. Then something happens to trigger his temper and he rants and raves. For instance, on the phone last night he agreed I could get the lease back to him by next weekend (as long as it was back by the 28th, that complies with the law). When I confirmed the address in the e-mail in an e-mail to him, as requested, he noted that I hadn't put Germany on the end in his reply this morning -- and then informed me he is withdrawing the lease renewal "to make it easier for both of us." So there's a LOT riding on this...

It will be really good to get away from that nut.

Will you have to be out by the end of the month, then?

Suz

Congratulations on a new abode!!!!

The Aviator's Wife is on the tbr pile. I read The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin and enjoyed the writing style.

Judy, it means he can demand that I leave on 30 days' notice at any time. He hasn't given me notice to quit as of April 1, but he has until Feb 28 to do that. I have already sent him one copy (signed) of the lease renewal in January. I simply don't believe he didn't receive it. Basically, after 11 years, he is turfing me out. Thank goodness I had already started looking or I would be in a blind panic. Well, let me rephrase. I'm currently in a partially-sighted panic, as I haven't heard back confirming that everything is OK with the new place & it's just about signing the lease.

Oh good. That's more margin. Don't worry, we can order pizza and pack everything.

Seriously, I quite understand the long traumatic effort of.moving. that's partly why I haven't moved in almost forty years. Even moving my office was a huge effort. But the new place sounds great and will give you more economic ease as well. Jim is already planning a visit.

Would it be pointless and perhaps annoying to contact the new place landlords and see how things are going re a decision?

Tui, I did that with the agent this morning; they were already aware of the situation re my current landlord (and Paul, my neighbour, had independently confirmed what was going on & his volatility) so I just said that he had decided to rescind his offer to renew, making it more important that I ensure that this place will work. It turns out the documents I sent late yesterday as an attachment hadn't "stuck" to the e-mail properly, so I resent them & she says they look good. In principle, it's OK, but until things are signed and settled, it's going to be hard for me to stay calm at this end.

Judy, you and Jim will be welcome once I'm settled! There will be oodles of room for guests, I think.

Valium and a G & T, Suz, until the new folk say yes. Which they will, they will.

Now have the neuter/spay confirmations for Tigger & Cassie, and will have one for Molly by midday on Thursday. When Paul brings Theo home from today's play-date, he'll scan them for me and I can send them off.

Ohhhhhh that landlord is just.....crazy! I hope this gets resolved for you soon Suzanne.

I want them signed and settled too. I am thrilled that they're going to be. If THAT MAN thinks he is going to find a better tenant than you have been, he's certifiable. He's certifiable anyway.

The prospective landlord has decided that two cats are his limit. This, after a week and on the verge of signing a lease, and with the current landlord basically telling me that I will have to leave.... It's like being asked to give up one of your children...

260. Oh, Suz, I'm so sorry to hear that. So, what will you do now?

I have NO idea. I'm sitting here, looking at each one in turn -- all of whom have been part of my 'family' for 9 or 10 years -- and trying to think which one?? I may have no choice. Cassie had been out on her latest trial adoption, but that didn't work (she's so scared of other people she didn't come out from under the bed for a month) and it took Molly about 8 years to trust me enough to pick her up, but now I am her new Jasper -- a surrogate cat. Tigger is feisty and has the most personality, but maybe too much of a personality. He and Molly get along well; Cassie is a bit of a loner, but clearly is unadoptable.

Oh good grief, what a choice to force on someone! Could you say that you will actively try to find a home for one of them but that it may take some time, so could (s)he let you bring all three with the understanding that you will end up with two as soon as you are able? Two things might happen then: you have time to find a good home for whoever, or, the landlord will see that three aren't really a bother after all.

That's what the agent (who is utterly brilliant, btw) is working on for me. I think it would have to be Tigger...

So sorry to hear you have such a difficult decision. Hope everything works out in the end.

Oh my Suz, this is a clliffhanger. I did mean the apartment, thinking it was settled, - but this is hard about your cats. Very hard. We got one of our dearest cats exactly that way, taking him when a friend couldn't keep him in her rented house, same thing, two cat limit. The landlord did let her keep the three until she found a good home which did take her a few months. But she had been living there awhile already.

I am sorrier than I can say, Suz.

I am also sorry to hear the news, Suzanne. After all this stress that you are going through I am wishing for the remainder of year to be filled only with good things for you.

Thanks to everyone. I'm so tired and fed up with this. Will do a book update later. All I have energy to do after finishing my work is crawl upstairs to bed.