Paul's Books and Stuff in 2013 Part 8

Growing up during the industrial unrest of the early 1970's I was used to regular power cuts and the three day week (sounds great doesn't it?!) Tales by the fireside and homework via candle were common place. This is representative but is not me!

Quote on the Miner's Strikes and the Three day week must come from "King" Arthur Scargill. The very socialist leader of the Miner's Unions. His unions fought the Conservative government of Mr. Heath 1970-74 and won. They tried the same with the Conservative government of Mrs. Thatcher in 1984 and lost.

The labour movement had the best opportunity in 50 years to transform not merely an industrial situation and win an important battle for workers in struggle, but an opportunity to change the government of the day.

Arthur Scargill

2013 Books Read

January

1. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
2. Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton
3. Promised Land: A Northern Love Story bt Anthony Clavane
4. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
5. A Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block
6. That Awkward Age by Roger McGough
7. If Morning Ever Comes by Anne Tyler
8. Coffee, Tea or Me? by Trudi Baker
9. Among the Cinders by Maurice Shadbolt
10 Viper's Tangle by Francois Mauriac
11 Phantom by Jo Nesbo
12 When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Penman
13 The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji
14 An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah

Ferbuary

15 The Shortest History of Europe by John Hirst
16 Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo
17 The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

2013 Favourite Reads

Non-Fiction
1 Promised Land : A Northern Love Story by Anthony Clavane

Fiction
1 The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
1 The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
2 Among the Cinders by Maurice Shadbolt
3 Viper's Tangle by Francois Mauriac

Thrillers
1 Phantom by Jo Nesbo

FIRST 28 DAY READING RECORD (1/13) (FIRST QUATRAIN)

BOOKS READ - 13 (Target of 17)

CHALLENGE BOOKS READ - 11 (Target 13)

PAGES READ - 4,139

NEW NOBELS READ - Francois Mauriac 40/109

BOOKS BOUGHT - 98

NEW NOBELS BOUGHT- 5 Sigrid Undset (Kristin Lavransdatter), Shmuel Yosef Agnon (A Book That Was Lost), Grazia Deledda (Reeds in the Wind), Mikhail Sholokhov, And Quiet Flows the Don, Par Lagerqvist (Barabbas). Read/Owned 71/109

FAVOURITE FICTION - The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by MG. Vassanji

FAVOURITE NON-FICTION - The Promised Land : The Reinvention of Leeds United by Anthony Clavane

FAVOURITE THRILLER - Phantom by Jon Nesbo

BIGGEST DUD - Coffee, Tea or Me? by Trudi Baker (Truly atrocious)

Planned Reading for Quatrain 2/13 (Weeks 5 to 8) of 2013

(Provisional Listing - I may juggle a bit to fit TIOLIs)

1. Written in French (2nd of 13) - The Kill by Emile Zola
2. Historical Fiction (2nd of 13) - The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell
3. Then and Now (1st of 13) - The Shortest History of Europe by John Hirst Comp 2/2/13
4. Old Friends (2nd of 13) - Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer (Griessel)
5. Scandi (2nd of 13) - Death Sentence by Mikkel Birkegaard
6. Poetry/Plays (2nd of 13) - Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo - NOBEL LAUREATE READ Comp 3/2/13
7. Travel (2nd of 13) - On the Road to Babadag by Andrzej Stasiuk (Eastern European Global read)
8. Sport (2nd of 13) - Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (Horse Racing)
9. Between the Wars (1st of 13) - The Green Hat by Michael Arlen
10. Short Stories (2nd of 13) - Elegy for Easterly by Pettina Gappah (RD's challenge) Comp 31/1/13
11. Anne Tyler (2nd of 13) - The Tin Can Tree by Anne Tyler
12. Awards (2nd of 13) - The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (Guardian First Book Prize Winner 2012) Comp 5/2/13
13. Asia-Pacific (2nd of 13) - Island in the Centre by Rex Shelley (Singapore)

Also to finish off

14. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
15. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Also to catch up on 13 in 13 that are behind

16. Between the Wars (2nd of 13) - The Black Book by Lawrence Durrell
17. Then and Now (2nd of 13) - A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins

Books at Start of Year on KL Shelves - 1,676
Added in 2013 - 118
Read in 2013 - 17

Revised TBR Total - 1,777

Pages to read at start of year - 639,135
Pages added in 2013 - 35,049
Read in 2013 - 4,582
Revised Pages to read - 669,602

Current Reading:

FLICS SEEN AT THE CIMENA in 2013 (Not a typo - I call cinema; cimena just to irritate Belle.

1 The Hobbit
2 Jack Reacher
3 Les Miserables
4 Parental Guidance
5 The Life of Pi

List of my active series. Doesn't include series I own books but haven't started (far too many) or series that I have read all - Sherlock, Poirot, Marple, Dr. Who, Wallender, John Carter, Richard Hannay, Father Brown, Rougon MacQuart, etc etc etc

WRITER SERIES NEXT BOOK UP

1 Abbott, Jeff // Whit Mosley Black Jack Point 2/3
2 Adler-Olsen, Jussi // Department Q Disgrace 2/3
3 Akunin, Boris //Erast Fandorin Special Assignments 5/10
4 Atkinson, Kate //Jackson Brodie When Will There Be Good News 3/4
5 Aubert, Brigitte //Elise Andrioli Death from the Snows 2/2
6 Auel, JM //Earth's Children The Valley of Horses 2/6
7 Bateman, Colin //Dan Starkey Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men 2/7
8 Billingham, Mark //Tom Thorne Good as Dead 10/10
9 Black, Benjamin //Quirke The Silver Swan 2/5
10 Black, Cara //Aimee Leduc Murder in Belleville 2/13
11 Blake, Nicholas //Nigel Strangeways A Question of Proof 2/16

13 Block, Lawrence //Bernie Rhodenbarr The Burglar in the Closet 3/10
14 Blunt, Giles //John Cardinal Crime Machine 5/6
15 Box, C.J. //Joe Pickett Savage Run 2/12
16 Brand, Christianna //Inspector Cockrill Heads You Lose 2/6
17 Brookmyre, Christopher //Jack Parlabane Country of the Blind 2/5
18 Brown, Dan //Robert Langdon The Lost Symbol 3/3
19 Bruen, Ken //Jack Taylor The Killing of the Tinkers 2/9
20 Burke, James Lee //Robicheaux Neon Rain 2/19
21 Camilleri, Andrea //Montalbano The Dance of the Seagull 15/15
22 Carr, Caleb //Kreizler The Angel of Darkness 2/2
23 Chandler, Raymond //Philip Marlowe The High Window 4/7
24 Child, Lee //Jack Reacher A Wanted Man 17/17
25 Cornwell, Bernard //Saxon Chronicles The Burning Land 5/6
26 Cotterill, Colin //Dr. Siri Disco for the Departed 3/8
27 Crispin, Edmund //Gervase Fen The Case of the Gilded Fly 3/9
28 Dahl, KO //Frank Frolich The Man in the Window 2/3
29 Deaver, Jeffrey //Rune Death of a Blue Movie Star 2/3
30 Deighton, Len //Harry Palmer Horse Under Water 3/6
31 Deighton, Len //Bernard Samson Faith 7/9
32 DeMille, Nelson //John Corey Plum Island 2/6
33 Dibdin, Michael //Aurelio Zen Medusa 9/11
34 Downing, David //John Russell Silesian Station 2/5
35 Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan //Brigadier Gerard Adventures of Gerard 2/2
36 Dunnett, Dorothy //Francis Lymond Queen's Play 2/6
37 Eastland, Sam //Pekkala The Red Coffin 2/4
38 Edwardson, Ake //Erik Winter Frozen Tracks 3/6
39 Eisler, Barry //John Rain The Detachment 7/7
40 Finder, Joseph //Nick Heller Buried Secrets 2/3
41 Forbes, Colin //Tweed Double Jeopardy 3/24
42 Ford, Richard //Bascombe Independence Day 2/3
43 Fossum, Karin //Sejer The Caller 8/9
44 Fraser, George MacDonald //Flashman Flashman in the Great Game 5/12
45 Freeling, Nicholas //Van der Valk Because of the Cats 2/13
46 Fyfield, Francis //Helen West Shadow Play 2/6
47 Gadney, Reg //Alan Rosslyn Immaculate Deception 5/6
48 Ghosh, Amitav //Ibis Trilogy River of Smoke 2/3
49 Gilman, George G //Edge Hell's Seven 9/61
50 Gray, Alex //Lorimer A Small Weeping 2/9
51 Harvey, John //Resnick Cold in Hand 11/11
52 Harvey, John //Elder Ash and Bone 2/3
53 Hewson, David //Nic Costa The Seventh Sacrament 5/9
54 Hill, Reginald //Pascoe and Dalziell Ruling Passion 3/24
55 Hillerman, Tony //Leaphorn / Chee Dancehall of the Dead 2/18
56 Holt, Anne //Vik and Stubo The Final Murder 2/4
57 Hurley, Graham //Faraday and Winter Cut to Black 5/12
58 Iggulden, Conn //Conqueror Bones of the Hills 3/5
59 Indriadson, Arnadur //Erlendur Outrage 7/8
60 James, PD //Dalgleish A Taste for Death 7/14
61 James, Peter //Roy Grace Dead Tomorrow 5/8
62 Jardine, Quintin //Bob Skinner Skinner's Ordeal 5/22
63 Jecks, Michael //Medieval Mysteries The Merchant's Partner 2/31
64 Johnstone, William W //Mountain Man Ordeal of the Mountain Man 17/32
65 Jungstedt, Mari //Knutas The Killer's Art 4/7
66 Kerr, Philip //Bernie Gunther A Quiet Flame 5/8
67 Leon, Donna //Brunetti The Girl of His Dreams 17/21
68 Lovesey, Peter //Peter Diamond The Summons 3/13
69 Lucarelli, Carlos //Negro Day after Day 2/2
70 Ludlum, Robert //Bourne The Bourne Supremacy 2/3
71 MacBride, Stuart //Logan McRae Shatter the Bones 7/7
72 MacDonald, Ross //Lew Archer The Way Some People Die 3/18
73 Mahfouz, Naguib //Cairo Trilogy Palace of Desire 2/3
74 Manning, Olivia //The Levant Trilogy The Battle Lost and Won 2/3
75 Mantel, Hilary //Cromwell Series Bring Up the Bodies 2/3
76 Marklund, Liza //Bengtzon Paradise 2/6
77 Martin, Andrew //Jim Stringer The Blackpool Highflyer 2/8
78 McBain, Ed //87th Precinct Killer's Choice 5/55
79 McCall-Smith, Alexander Tears of the Giraffe 2/13
80 Nabb, Magdalen //Guarnaccia Death of a Dutchman 2/14
81 Nadel, Barbara //Ikmen Deep Waters 4/15
82 Napier, William //Attila The Gathering of the Storm 2/3
83 Nesbo, Jo //Harry Hole Phantom 7/8
84 Nesser, Hakan //Van Veeteren The Inspector and Silence 5/7
85 O'Brian, Patrick //Aubrey Post Captain 2/21
86 O'Brien, Martin //Jacquot Confession 5/7
87 Plaidy, Jean //Tudor Saga Uneasy Lies the Head 2/11
88 Price, Anthony //Audley The Alamut Ambush 2/19
89 Rankin, Ian //Rebus The Hanging Garden 10/18
90 Rees, Matt //Omar Yussef The Saladin Murders 2/4
91 Rendell, Ruth //Wexford From Doon With Death 3/23
92 Rickman, Phil //Merrily Watkins Midwinter of the Spirit 2/11
93 Robinson, Peter //Banks Watching the Dark 20/20
94 Russell, Craig //Lennox The Deep Dark Sleep 3/4
95 Russell, Craig //Jan Fabel The Carnival Master 4/6
96 Sandford, John //Lucas Davenport Buried Prey 21/22
97 Sansom, CJ // Shardlake Dark Fire 2/5
98 Sayers, Dorothy L //Lord Peter Wimsey Whose Body? 2/14
99 Sigurdottir, Yrsa Thora //Gudmundsdottir Ashes to Dust 3/4
100 Silva, Daniel //Gabriel Allon Portrait of a Spy 11/12
101 Simenon, Georges //Maigret The Crime of Inspector Maigret 9/98
102 Sjowall, Maj //Beck The Man Who Went Up in Smoke 2/10
103 Smith, Tom Rob //Demidov Agent 6 3/3
104 Taylor, Andrew //Dougal Waiting for the End of the World 2/8
105 Temple, Peter //Jack Irish Black Tide 2/4
106 Vargas, Fred //Adamsberg Have Mercy on Us All 2/7
107 Waites, Martyn //Joe Donovan Bone Machine 2/4
108 White, Stephen //Alan Gregory Privelged Information 2/19
109 Wilson, Robert //Javier Falcon The Silent and the Damned 2/4
110 Wingfield, RD //Jack Frost Frost at Christmas 3/6
111 Cornwell, Bernard // Richard Sharpe Sharpe's Gold 2/21
112 Enger, Thomas // Henning Juul Pierced 2/2
113 Forester, C.S. // Hornblower Lieutenant Hornblower 2/11
114 Tey, Josephine // Alan Grant
115 Taylor, Patrick // Dr. Laverty
116 Vichi, Marco // Inspector Bordelli
117 McGee, James // Matthew Hawkswood
118 Meyer, Deon // Benny Greissel // Thirteen Hours 2/3
119 Griffiths, Elly // Ruth Galloway // The Janus Stone 2/4

ALTERNATIVELY LOOK ME UP ON FICTFACT.COM WHICH HAS A FULLER LIST INCLUDING THOSE COMPLETED AND THOSE WHERE I HAVE THE BOOK BUT HAVEN'T STARTED THE SERIES YET (THERE'S A LOT OF THOSE)

NOBEL CHALLENGE (This year's additions in bold)

NOBEL WINNERS READ WITH FAVOURITE WORK READ SO FAR:
2011 The Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Transtromer
2010 The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa
2009 The Appointment by Herta Muller
2007 The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing
2006 Snow by Orhan Pamuk
2005 The Caretaker by Harold Pinter
2003 The Master of Petersburg by J.M.Coetzee
2001 A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
1998 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago
1997 Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo
1995 Station Island by Seamus Heaney
1994 A Quiet Life by Kenzaburo Oe
1991 July's People by Nadine Gordimer
1988 Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
1987 On Grief and Reason by Joseph Brodsky
1983 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1982 A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1976 Herzog by Saul Bellow
1972 Billiards at Half-Past Nine by Heinrich Boll
1970 Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1968 Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata
1964 The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
1962 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
1961 Bridge On the Drina by Ivo Andric
1958 Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
1957 The Plague by Albert Camus
1955 The Atom Station by Halldor Laxness
1954 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
1953 History of the English Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill
1952 Knot of Vipers by Francois Mauriac
1949 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
1948 The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
1947 The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide
1946 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
1938 The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
1932 A Man of Property by John Galsworthy
1930 Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
1925 Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw
1923 Collected Poems by W.B. Yeats
1921 And the Gods Will Have Blood by Anatole France
1907 Kim by Rudyard Kipling

UNREAD NOBEL WINNERS ON THE SHELVES

2012 Red Sorghum by Mo Yan
2008 The Interrogation by J.M.G. Le Clezio
2004 The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
2002 Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz
2000 Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
1999 The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
1996 Poems New and Collected by Wislawa Szymborska
1993 Jazz by Toni Morrison
1990 The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz
1989 The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo Jose Cela
1986 Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka
1985 Flanders Road by Claude Simon
1981 Kafka's Other Trial by Elias Canetti
1978 Enemies : A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer
1973 Voss by Patrick White
1971 The Captain's Verses by Pablo Neruda
1969 Molloy by Samuel Beckett
1966 A Book That Was Lost by S.Y. Agnon
1965 And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov
1951 Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist
1950 A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
1936 A Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill
1934 Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
1933 The Village by Ivan Bunin
1929 Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann
1928 Kristin Lavransdatter : 1 The Wreath by Sigrid Undset
1926 Reeds in the Wind by Grazia Deledda
1920 Hunger by Knut Hamsun
1913 He (Shey) by Rabindranath Tagore
1909 The Saga of Gosta Berling by Selma Lagerlof

So far read 41 laureates
30 laureates unread on the shelves
37 laureates whose works neither owned not read.

Haroo!!

*waving* hello before I get behind on yet another thread. ;)

Oh oops, sorry Paul. I was blinded by excitement.

Premature exclamation.

Wow, people move fast over here! Like jackals...but of course the sweet kind. LOL.

Congrats on # 8, my ubiquitous friend!

Kathy3 - It is more what I would term just in time! You win the prize! Please PM me your address and I'll get something to you soonish!

Mary - lovely to see you here; I noticed you have been busy this year and I will have to delurk with more frequency over at chez vous.

Mark - 1 minute too late mate, but always a pleasure to see you gracing this humble abode.

Will have to edit my new thread later, I have a client calling!

Client, Schmient. What about us? ; ) Happy New Thread.

le Gasp! Not I!

Wow, I am early for once. Happy new thread Paul! That's another great pic in the EP.

I'm with Kim. We should all just quit our jobs and hang out on LT. Oh, and read.
eta: I love the picture at the top of your new thread!

Space reserved for witticism

Kim - that's why I'm back so quickly! Client agreed to help me feed face with a huge dollop of Shephard's Pie and a quick two pints of Kilkenny ale and I'm back Caro'ed and buzzing.

Kathy - It is indeed and three posts to make triply sure, hahaha! I love the giving of books.

Nathalie - Industrial unrest was a feature of my pre-teen days. I distinctly remember playing games by the fire and having story time with my Mother and twin brother (sister not yet on scene). Halcyon days in truth.

Ellen - If we could only figure a way to circulate the money between us it could just about "work".

RD - And that post did just that and nicely so.

>18 Berly: LOL- good one !!

>22 richardderus: lol again- good one RD- takes time to come up with a good witticism, the one you come back with better be dynamite, as the existing one is pretty good already ;)

Hi Paul, great top pic. I remember the odd power cut when I was little, not heaps, but one winter there was a national power shortage and households were asked to cut consumption. We boiled water on the fire and used the gas ring camping stove, it was really fun!

Megan - Agreed; Kim and Richard both very droll. Richard's witticism is already in the post surely my dear!
I remember playing cards and charades and other games with my mother as the TV was inoperable and we had the radio as part of an electrically powered hi-fi until Gran came to the rescue - still love the radio.
Those olden days of radio in the UK were classic and it is hard to imagine all the dopes sitting around listening in turn to a juggler perform and sit agog as the ventriloquist did his stuff - I kid you not.

My lovely other still calls the radio the wireless.
He was born old.
But we really do enjoy sitting about in the evenings listening to the National Programme, like the oldies shows "Sounds Historical" and the request show which draws its requests primarily from the rest homes. We think of it as a historical doco- my mum thinks we are mad!

8th thread!!! 1st month!!! Good grief!!!

26 > Not that mad ......

"He was born old" - reminds me of the almost last (the last decent, as in the opposite of indecent) verse of the Dubliners classic song 'Seven Drunken Nights.

As I went home on a Friday night
As drunk as drunk can be
I saw a head inside the bed
Where my old head should be
I called my wife and I said to her
Will you kindly tell to me
Who owns that head with you in the bed
Where my old head should be

Well you're drunk, you're drunk
You silly old fool
And still you cannot see
That that's a baby boy
That my mother sent to me

Well there's many days I've travelled
A hundred miles or more
But a baby boy with his whiskers on
Sure I never saw before!

Here's a version of the song recorded a few years ago not long before the passing of Ronnie Drew (the singer in the vid).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVJK1Sl6My8

Reba - The first month's posting records should be out tomorrow and needless to say all records broken
3 threads over a thousand posts
Most posts ever in one month on one thread
2nd Most posts ever in one month in one thread
Most collective posts as a group in one month.
Most threads in one month.
Most people over 100 posts in one month

You'll have guessed Alex with my love of the Dubliners that the folk heritage is a particular interest of mine so I'll vote for the oldies any day. Good country music also meets that criteria some of Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson is right up there with Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie as chroniclers of the American age.

tikvenikcska - I suppose it still counts as one post doesn't it?

It's not you - but still.....I love the photo. The dog watch attentively...Great atmosphere.

Carsten - The photos of me from that time are all fun ones with me on my bicycle or digging sandcastles and so on. I liked the atmosphere of it too Carsten so I thought to share it as it also spoke of my time during the period I am reminiscing of.

gosh! ... can't keep up ...

Hi Paul:) Just to say I am still lurking around LT ... and keeping up with the mega post count this year!

Nina - You had me fooled nicely anyways!

Calm - I noticed that you have been discreet in the last week or two and I figured you were tearing up a storm with your reading.

Dear Paul, I'm signing in for Part 8. Thanks for another lovely photo in the opening!

You miss one day on LT - in my case last Saturday - and you get hopelessly behind! Am officially abandoning your last thread and starting over new here.

Aw come on - you must post of photo of yourself as a child so that I can make fun of your hair (I wouldn't stoop so low as to make fun of your children's hairstyles, so this will have to suffice).

Diana - Your welcome, at some stage during the year I want to get to the part of my story where I am making trips to Valkenburg.

Charlotte - With my blessings and pleasure - I've forgotten it already too!

O' Glorious day! Tomorrow is a holiday. Work going well. End of month payments mostly received. All in good health. Book Depository deposited the balance of its wares:

The Fortune of the Rougons by Emile Zola
V by Tony Harrison - No touchstone for this epic poem of West Yorks
This Sporting Life by David Storey

The first because I want to get the whole series together again in Malaysia and the next two West Yorkshire writers (Booker prize winner and Yorkshire's poet respectively) I always enjoy.

Amber - Ouch I had barely typed a comment on dear Ellen's thread about my sense of humour occasionally getting me into trouble but without intent to hurt and .......sorry to Charley......it will of course grow.
You can make fun of my hair anytime dear Amber - I remain daily amazed that I retain any.

In 3 minutes, Michael Rasmussen will give a press conference. About his use of doping, I suppose.

Late to the party again, Paul...but I'm here! Lovely new thread!

Well I do think Rasmussen has had his punishment already Diana but everyone knows a man of his size is not flying through the mountains in the manner he did without extra-special fuels.

Mamie - I noticed that you passed 1000 posts on your thread this month. Your first time and the first time that three have done it in one month before.

I did? Well, WahHOO to you for counting! Simply smashing!

I probably asked you this before but how do you keep track of your TBR stacks? It must be a monumental task. I have a tenth of what you have and I keep them in alpha order by author and I still have a hard time juggling what I have.

Amber- Did you see Paul's current hairdo? Will that suffice?

Paul, I agree. I've written down notes of the press conference in my thread.

Mamie - I do a quick count of the threads above 200 posts daily so I couldn't help but notice.

Mark - Mainly hard work. I have a data base of my unread books in KL that I update daily. When the books come in before I assign them a place somewhere in the house (or occasionally office) I log them into my database first.

For Amber when I am having a bad hair day SWMBO loves me still but Yasmyne not so much:

Diana - Off there now.

It helps to be surrounded by beauty! And yes, Yasmyne is quite perceptive!

I love the photograph. So much is said!

Cute cute photo!

As for the photo up top... what? Do you mean power three days a week?!

Mark - Ouch mate! Steady on, but you're right Yasmyne is perceptive; money must have been changing hands.

Karen - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I leave you to apportion as appropriate! Hani caught in a rare post-handbag moment of devotion; Yasmyne wondering where the next lot of pocket-money is coming from. Yours truly urgently in need of liquid refreshment.

Kath - Not quite. The government at the time put industry to work only three days a week in an effort to conserve energy resources to battle against the striking coal miners. Power was cut most evenings for a good while as I recall.

OIC. Wow.

Kath - It seems strange now how close we were to Eastern Europe only three odd decades ago in GBR.

Time...life... seems to have flown by, don't you think? And in that moment that is our life, the world has changed so very much. Not always for the better, I'm afraid .

Great photo, Paul!

LOVE the photo!

Kath - You know I am looking back and recalling perceived hardships and actually realising that they were times I look back to with fondness and no little joy.

Darryl/Mamie - Thanks; I can't always show the dear girl in such a bad light now can I?

>49 PaulCranswick: What a wonderful picture! It perfectly captures that moment, including your indulgent, "I just adore my family" facial expression, Paul. :-)

How wonderful that you have a holiday coming. It will probably launch you into your eighth thread!

Caught up, briefly!

I was in Holland during the 70s and so did not experience the power cuts and the three day week. But I do remember a petrol shortage crisis in the early 1970s, when the Dutch government decided to enforce the conserving of petrol by banning all driving on Sundays (I don't know if emergency vehicles were an exception, I guess so). I can remember walking on the completely deserted main road near our house: almost a motorway, but peaceful and silent for a change.

Genny, that was in 1973, the autoloze zondag! My parents had just bought their first TV and you saw all those deserted main roads on the news.
Yes, emergency vehicles were an exception;)

Ellen - You saw that did you! Well the thread is only half a day old and I am almost a quarter through it. Don't know why this seems to be the way this year but I am certainly not complaining. I notice every time it looks like we'll fall below 5000 posts there seems to be a spike to keep us all above it.

Genny - The 1970's were one heck of a decade weren't they? After the excitement and hope of the 60's the 1970's was the wake up call.

Genny/Diana - I hadn't heard of "autoloze zontag" but I think there is still a place for it in society where there is simply too much traffic on the roads.

Enjoying the stats up top - books read and whatnot - and the photo of you and yr. family.

Love the pic up top, Paul, although I can't make out what the poodle is studying. Great one of you, Hani, and Yasmyne, too. I'd take bad hair if I could get a hold of some, although my Debbi seems to find an aerodynamic top A-OK.

I'm with Berly in urging you not to let clients distract you from the important work you're doing here on LT.

Lucy - The whatnot is a new innovation this year. x I was enjoying watching a documentary of Ronnie Drew and one of Luke Kelly on You-Tube just before and it put me in mind of your own music so it is right on cue you appeared!

Joe - Hani does note that my hair is greying quickly and didn't appreciate the mathematical equation I was trying to explain where M = Marriage and H=Hair!
Aerodynamism Joe it makes the mind boggle so it does.
I'll try to follow yours and especially Kim's directions to the letter (she does after all have taikwondo to your turkish coffee.

Love the photo with SWMBO and Yasmyne! I give the same face Yasmyne gave whenever my parents show affection towards each other.

And here's a Doctor Who gif for the thread!



Not exactly Classic, but that is Sarah Jane Smith with the Tenth Doctor. :) She came back in Series 2 of the reboot, and even got her own spin-off show! I miss her. :(

the 1970's were one heck of a decade weren't they? After the excitement and hope of the 60's the 1970's was the wake up call. I guess they were - though as I was but an infant/toddler in the 60s, the 70s are what I remember, and whatever happened then was just 'normal' and accepted as just how things were - not paying much attention to the political situation and the world oil crisis or such matters. I do remember that the 'car-less Sundays' meant that I had to miss my piano lessons for a while, but I didn't mind that too much!

I think as a child if we had had constant power-cuts and needing to use candles all the time, that would not have seemed so strange, probably quite fun. Of course, we weren't dependent on computers and electronic gaming devices and i-gadgets for our entertainment in those days, so I'd have been quite happy with just plenty of candles and plenty of books. Indeed, so I would still be today, but I'd miss the camaraderie of LT if I never had any power to get online too!

A February Short Stories thread is up! Come and make suggestions, announce intentions, or browse for ideas of short story collections to sample this month. As always, reviews or links to them are most appreciated.

>63 gennyt:/64/65 wow, imagine now if they made driving banned on a weekend day. There would be chaos and civil unrest, Im sure. People freak out on the one day a year (or however many days its closed) the supermarket is closed, the day before it happens there is a rush on *everything*.

It could do a society good to hang about the house more, I reckon. Not going to the mall for a day wont kill anyone (I hear).

Not being able to drive doesn't have to mean hanging around the house of course: we have legs, and many of us have bicycles, and there are trains and trams and such close to some of us (if they are allowed to run in our imagined scenario). But yes, I imagine there would be a lot of protests today...

Hi Paul, love the photo of you,SWMBO and Yasmyne. Arthur Scargill was and is only out for himself, he lied on the ballot paper that started the 84/5 strike and even now he is in the courts saying that he should be allowed a union car every three years and the full use of the union flat in London for life. He never had debts after the strike like the members had and to be honest (pardon my french) i wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire.

I'm giggling at the photo Paul! Yasmyne's expression is priceless.

I wasn't around for rationing of any sort but my grandmother was a young woman during the Depression and WWII, so she taught me to conserve and reuse and make do, almost to the point of absurdity. It is funny though-- in talking to teenagers today I can see just how much has changed so rapidly from my own youth. Like a frog in a pot of warming water, I just don't always notice it changing.

Saw your post on another's thread and thought I'd stop by.

We share 310 books in our libraries :)

ahhh the seventies... I was very busy that decade ... lol. We had fuel shortages in '74 and could only purchase it on even or odd days, depending on our license numbers....

Eris - Sarah-Jane is the companion I remember best of all. I saw her spin-off when I went back to the UK for a holiday - it's pretty terrible in truth.

Genny - Pretty similar experiences I would say; I think we must be similar in age as I was a toddler too then (now I just toddle) being born in 1966 but the events from 1970 onwards I can recall often vividly. I noticed your Book Depo hasn't despatched yet!!! Trust me with obscure orders.

Richard - I will be along, Elegy for Easterly almost completed.

Megan - Now I do agreement with most of the sentiments expressed but with Friday being book buying day I better say little.

John - I remember his calling of the ballot and refusing to have it done properly was manipulated heavily by the Govt/NCB wasn't it? He got carried away in an ego trip trying to bring down an admittedly (for industry anyway) disastrous government in lieu of looking after the interests of his own members. Without him I think the mines would probably still be open.

Genny - You are right of course. I mentioned just a few days ago to SWMBO; "Let's hop on the train anf go to KLCC (twin towers) instead of taking the car", the train station (Light Rail Transit is across the road from our apartment building and goes directly into the mall itself) - she looked at me as if I was crazy.

Kathy - I rememberno pocket calculators never mind computers. I remember the gooble-d-gook of BASIC computer language and computer programmes for work whereby it was easier to do it the old way. I remember when people talked more and could actually do mental arithmetic and could remember each other's phone numbers.

kcrisell - Now I have never seen that - click your name and according to the powers that be you don't exist!?

Kath - I would guess those days will come again soon. It is a finite resource after all.

#78 - Yeah, her spin-off wasn't the greatest, I admit, but it was intended for wee little rascals, and not adult viewing. Considering some of the kids shows we have in the U.S. I was shocked that it wasn't worse!

kcrisell - Now I have never seen that - click your name and according to the powers that be you don't exist!?
I believe it is all down to a recent change of user name, try the thread book for a link or search Esquiress as the alternative and existing profile page.

Ellens thread must win a prize for "fastest growing"? Surely.
:)

Paul - I don't see how you keep up with all these threads, how many posts are on them, etc. Whatever would we do without you?

HI Paul! Just popping around the treads to say hello. I won't say catch up because we both know there is no way to keep up around here!

Lori, Paul probably mainlines Red Bull so he stays up till the wee hours logging in LT time. He also lives in a parallel dimension which allows him to post on 2 threads at the same time. It's either that, or Paul's an alien with multiple heads and tentacled arms so he can type in multiple threads.

#77 >I remember waiting in the car in long gasoline lines that went down freeway exit ramps on the days we could buy gas. My mother used to take us to the library and get stacks of books for us to read in the car while we waited.
I also remember the hostage crisis and the presidential election as being a subject of great concern for my parents. They will always be inseparable historical events for me. Probably for everyone. Reportedly, during the Carter/Reagan presidential campaign I asked my parents if they were "going to run all day and all night." That should give you an idea of how old I was. LOL.

Hi ya handsome! If you pop over to my profile, you will see that I have FINALLY FINALLY posted the photo proving our RL meet-up in KL! If I had any idea how to follow the instructions on LT, I would have posted to the thread. But I only work for a technology company - I know nothing about it!

Hi Paul - You've been reading a lot this year. Impossible to keep up with your threads. I just read my first Nesbo at the end of the year. What comes after Devil's Star

> 79
As IreadthereforeIam says, it was a badly timed (for me and posting) username change. Half of my posts show up with my old username and half with the new. :)

I can be found here. I will be making a new thread for Fantasy February, though.

Eris - I have always judged you to be a discerning young lady and I am relived to see we agree that the Sarah Jane stuff was pap.

Megan - I WILL track down our mystery visitor. I suspect subterfuge in Ellen's aid. Mamie and Mark seem to be at the forefront! hahaha. I remember something similar from Lucy last year whereby an appeal for help to 200 posts to start a new thread started an avalanche.

Lori - Little sleep and a wee bit of a system. x

Chelle - Aren't you supposed to be busy with, erm, cigars at the present? Lovely to see you nonetheless.

Hard to keep up around here, Paul! Nice picture of you and your women, though.

Caro - I preferred the intravenous Red Bull theory! Now come on you can vouch for me on the multiple heads one surely!

Jenn - I'm surprised that "That 70's Show" didn't ever seem to feature any of that sort of stuff. Age is just a number isn't it; trouble is the bloody number keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Dear Prue - I am off to see whether Kyran made a mess of the photos or not! I work for my own Project Management company and have trouble to change a lightbulb.

Beth - Technically The Redeemer is next but you may be advised to go back to The Redbreast which sets the scene nicely for some of the later novels and is the first Oslo Hole book.

Esquiress - Ah-a found you! Esquiress is a bit formal for me so until I know your name my dear you'll be Es around here! Lot of good reading over at chez-vous and I will lay down my marker there ere long.

Paul,
Es is fine by me!

Smallest one missing off the photo Roni but I'll remedy that later on! Thanks I am quite proud of the gals.

Es, Es it is then!

Yeah, smallest one isn't up to woman status yet. Won't be long though.

Seriously, really nice photo!

Different script this morning with book buying Friday as I had a meeting cancelled on me on another side of town near to the Curve mall housing three different book stores - A Borders, a Popular bookstore (meh) and a reputed second hand bookstore called SunMag. It turned out to have little choice, not be second hand but slightly discounted. From the three stores I bought.

Popular

1 The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
2 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (have both in UK but not here and haven't read either since school - both bought for $1 each)
3 Wild by Cheryl Strayed
4 Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart

SunMag

5 The Song Before it is Sung by Justin Cartwright
6 Death of a Murderer by Rupert Thomson
7 Oronooko by Aphra Behn (an indian published classics series $2)
8 Divisadero by Michael Ondjaate ($5 hardback)
9 Who Goes Home? by Roy Hattersley

Borders

10 Cheating at Canasta by William Trevor
11 Sadler's Birthday by Rose Tremain
12 Dois Irmaos (The Brothers) by Milton Hatoum
13 The Ultras by Eoin McNamee
14 The Shadow in the River by Frode Grytten
15 Tamburlaine Must Die by Louise Welsh

Just popping in to get my weekly book fix by proxy ... I can't find it did I miss it?

Thanks Roni. She is what I would call a little madam though!

Roni this one has all the gang included

oooo there it is!! sigh. nice :)

Hahaha Lisa we cross posted with your fix winging its way across the ether to you as you typed.

ETA well spotted; otherwise we would have crossed again.

yeah we are cross posting! lovely family pic :)

Hey, beautiful family, Paul!

I finally wrote my review of the charming first mystery Bruno, Chief of Police, over in my Crime, Thriller, and Mystery thread...post #20.

It's a series I suspect you'd enjoy. Very evocative writing and such real characters!

The labour movement had the best opportunity in 50 years to transform not merely an industrial situation and win an important battle for workers in struggle, but an opportunity to change the government of the day.

Yes, I like the book well. Honestly, I agree with most of the topic of the book.

>98 PaulCranswick: Another lovely picture of your lovely family, Paul.

You are starting to develop a good William Trevor collection. He is on my authors-to-read list.

My thread was hilarious today. I had a really busy day at work and I swear I thought something had gone totally haywire with LT when I saw that I had 131 unread posts. Mamie, Mark, and Katie (who is lucky she still has a job) appeared to be the primary shenanigans activists, but there were contributions made by many. It made my day. Heck, it made my week!

Lisa - Thanks my dear I can't think of anyone I would sooner cross-post with!

Es - Thank you, I try to take up as little room in the photos as possible.

RD - I will go and have a peek; I have the first on my shelves too and have heard good things of it.

Emma - Well that was a quote from Mr. Scargill and it is true as far as it goes. Whether he got carried away and over-stepped his remit as a Union leaders is more than a moot point. I don't know that many ex-miners that have a great deal of time for the man.

Ellen - Some of his older fiction is extremely difficult to track down. His short story collections less so.
I thought it quite comical when I saw the number of posts against your name, remembering your desire to start another thread and being quite sure that I had visited but recently!

Should help dear Prue and post this picture of the two of us (taken by Kyran on Prue's camera). This is from our meet up late last August.

Its Prue!!!
And you too, Paul, of course ;)

That's cool- I now know that the Prue-ster looks like! Lovely, might I add.

Loving all the pics - your family really are beautiful. Good book haul too - definitely a varied bag! Enjoy :)

Megan - The shirt is not my pajamas by the way before you ask me.

Bekka - Thank you so much x2

January Posting League Final Figures (All above 50 posts)

1 Paul (paulcranswick) 1895
2 Richard 1412
3 Mamie 1034
4 Joe 895
5 Mark 890
6 Stephen (Ape) 743
7 Darryl 665
8 Kath (Mckait) 646
9 Nora 619
10 Ellen (EBT) 616
11 Diana (Wilkiec) 600
12 Megan 565
13 Amber 557
14 Caro 556
15 Bianca 497
16 Katie (katiekrug) 436
17 Leah (leahbird) 426
18 Linda (Whisper1) 419
19 Kathy (Unrulysun) 418
20 Claudia 415
21 Roni 413
22 TinaV95 399
23 Suzanne 381
24 Bonnie 363
25 Rachel (Hibernator) 351
26 Chelle 338
27 Rhian 313
28 Stasia 292
29 Donna 291
30 Morphy 279
31 Karen (maggie1944) 278
Peggy 278
33 Kerri (DorsVenabili) 274
Pat 274
35 Paul (paulstalder) 264
36 Lucy (sibyx) 249
37 Lynda (Carmenere) 246
38 Liz (lyzard) 235
39 Deb 232
40 Reba 218
41 Kim (Beryl) 215
42 Carrie (cbl_tn) 213
43 Micky 209
44 Genny 206
45 Laura (lindsacl) 204
46 Terri (Tymfos) 200
47 Jim (drneutron) 198
48 Sara (Saraslibrary) 193
49 Cushla 191
Jenny (Lunacat) 191
51 Julia (Rosalita) 189
52 Joanne 187
53 Judy (DeltaQueen) 184
54 Kerry (Avatiakh) 181
55 Lori (thornton37814) 180
56 Gail 177
57 PawsforThought 173
58 Ilana 172
59 SusanJ 169
60 Anne (AMQS) 168
61 Heather 164
62 Dejah 163
63 Amy (porchreader) 160
64 Calm 158
Linda (lindapanzo) 158
66 Luxx 156
67 Faith 155
Samantha 155
69 Eris 152
70 Laura (LauraBrook) 151
71 Madeline 150
72 Michelle (Tanglewood) 147
73 Nancy 142
74 Lori (Ikernagh) 139
75 Beth (BlBera) 137
76 Nina (humouress) 136
77 Cheli (cyderry) 132
78 Emilie (alsvidur) 129
Mary (bell7) 129
80 Jenn (whitewavedarling) 126
81 Katherine (qebo) 124
82 Carsten 123
Heidi (Cobscook) 123
84 Brit (weejane) 121
85 Becky (labwriter) 116
86 Tina (tutu) 113
87 Terri (Toeffler) 112
88 Jude 109
89 Monica (justjoey) 108
90 Sarah (Beserene) 106
91 Anne (AnneDC) 102
92 Tad 100
93 Nathalie 99
94 Bekka 97
95 Judy (ffortsa) 96
96 Roberta 93
97 Ellie (Elliepotten) 92
Rhonda (banjo) 92
99 Kathy (persephone) 90
100 Tui 86
101 Sandy (sjmccreary) 85
102 Linda (9007) 84
103 Fuzzi 80
104 Zoe 79
105 Janet (streamsong) 78
106 Adrienne (fairywings) 77
Foggidawn 77
Jenn (nittnutt) 77
Jennifer (Inge) 77
Rebecca (nyc) 77
111 Marie (mbellerose) 76
Melissa (kasselim) 76
Ren (Jadebird) 76
114 Katie (cammykitty) 72
115 Brenda (brenpike) 70
Charlotte (Fourpwz) 70
Karen (mercury57) 70
118 kcrisell (Es) 69
119 Steve (Swynn) 66
120 Alex (roundballnz) 65
John 65
Karen O 65
123 Kara (curlysue) 64
Katie (katelism) 64
125 Peg (PLT) 62
126 Steve (sclvad) 61
127 Hannah (hangerg) 60
128 Jennifer (jjmcgaffey) 59
Linda (Laytonwoman3rd) 59
130 Gerard (GWNeilson) 57
Prue 57
Ursula 57
133 David (tapestry100) 56
134 Mary (storeettlr) 54
135 Cynara 52
Sandy (sandykaypax) 52
137 Piyush 51
138 Liliana (Tigerlily) 50

Compare the above with last year January's top 20

RICHARD 1095
PAUL 886
STEPHEN 875
KATH 814
MARK 760
JOE 703
ILANA 568
AMBER 524
CLAUDIA 523
DONNA 513
DARRYL 475
CHELLE 474
STASIA 462
CARO 443
LUCY 368
JUDE 355
SUZ 337
MICKY 315
SARA 305
RONI 304

This year top 20 - 14,304 posts
Last year top 20 - 11,099 posts

Increase of 29%

Last Year 72 threads were over 100 posts by 1 February
This year 92 threads were over 100 posts by 1 February

Last year 36 threads were over 200 posts by 1 February
This year 46 threads were over 200 posts by 1 February

Last year 10 threads were over 500 posts by 1 February
This years 14 threads were over 500 posts by 1 February

Last Year 1 thread had more than 1000 posts
This year 3 threads have more than 1000 posts

Safe to say it is a monthly record.

Book Reading League

Disclaimer firstly in that I know some are still updating. Where more books have been hinted at I have taken the hint. Please let me know if any of the entries are wrong because I have to decipher everybodies threads individual and, contrary to popular myth I am not a automaton!

Disclaimer secondly in that I know book lengths and difficulties differ, but hey! it is only for fun anyway. Noticed a dramatic increase also from last year. Only those with 50 or more posts are counted.

1 Amber 47
Emilie (alsvidur) 47
3 Suzanne 45
4 Jennifer (Inge) 28
5 Paul (paulstalder) 26
6 Dejah 24
Morphy 24
8 Michelle (Tanglewood) 23
Sara (Saraslibrary) 23
10 Linda (Whisper1) 21
11 Brenda (brenpike) 19
12 Lori (thornton37814) 18
Rachel (Hibernator) 18
SusanJ 18
15 Mamie 17
Melissa (kasselim) 17
Terri (Toeffler) 17
18 Caro 16
Jenn (whitewavedarling) 16
Jennifer (jjmcgaffey) 16
Judy (DeltaQueen) 16
Laura (LauraBrook) 16
Linda (lindapanzo) 16
24 Chelle 15
Jenn (nittnutt) 15
Liz (lyzard) 15
Stasia 15
28 Bianca 14
Heather 14
Karen O 14
Lucy (sibyx) 14
Paul (paulcranswick) 14
Roni 14
34 Cynara 13
Foggidawn 13
Gerard (GWNeilson) 13
Luxx 13
Mark 13
Tina (tutu) 13
40 Calm 12
Carrie (cbl_tn) 12
Fuzzi 12
Kath (Mckait) 12
Megan 12
45 Beth (BlBera) 11
Darryl 11
Heidi (Cobscook) 11
Ilana 11
Julia (Rosalita) 11
Mary (storeettlr) 11
51 Adrienne (fairywings) 10
Anne (AnneDC) 10
Cheli (cyderry) 10
Donna 10
Faith 10
Joe 10
Kara (curlysue) 10
Katie (cammykitty) 10
Kerry (Avatiakh) 10
Lynda (Carmenere) 10
Nathalie 10
Nina (humouress) 10
Rhian 10
Richard 10
Roberta 10
Ursula 10
67 Amy (porchreader) 9
Becky (labwriter) 9
Brit (weejane) 9
Claudia 9
Ellen (EBT) 9
Gail 9
Genny 9
Katherine (qebo) 9
Samantha 9
76 Anne (AMQS) 8
David (tapestry100) 8
Diana (Wilkiec) 8
Kathy (Unrulysun) 8
kcrisell (Es) 8
Mary (bell7) 8
Monica (justjoey) 8
Nora 8
Reba 8
Sandy (sjmccreary) 8
Terri (Tymfos) 8
87 Carsten 7
Charlotte (Fourpwz) 7
Deb 7
Joanne 7
Katie (katiekrug) 7
Kim (Beryl) 7
Lori (Ikernagh) 7
Marie (mbellerose) 7
Micky 7
Peggy 7
Rhonda (banjo) 7
98 Bonnie 6
Hannah (hangerg) 6
Jenny (Lunacat) 6
Jim (drneutron) 6
PawsforThought 6
Peg (PLT) 6
Ren (Jadebird) 6
Steve (Swynn) 6
106 Alex (roundballnz) 5
Bekka 5
John 5
Kathy (persephone) 5
Laura (lindsacl) 5
Linda (Laytonwoman3rd) 5
Nancy 5
Prue 5
Rebecca (nyc) 5
Sandy (sandykaypax) 5
Steve (sclvad) 5
Tad 5
Tui 5
119 Janet (streamsong) 4
Judy (ffortsa) 4
Karen (mercury57) 4
Kerri (DorsVenabili) 4
Leah (leahbird) 4
Linda (9007) 4
Piyush 4
Stephen (Ape) 4
TinaV95 4
Zoe 4
129 Liliana (Tigerlily) 3
Pat 3
Sarah (Beserene) 3
132 Cushla 2
Karen (maggie1944) 2
Madeline 2
135 Ellie (Elliepotten) 1
Eris 1
Katie (katelism) 1

I actually finished my 10th book yesterday on the way home from work, but as per usual am not up to date on posting. But, dear Paul, I accept my lowly position as fit punishment for a member of the chronically lazy alliance.

Interesting posting league figures for January, Paul, this place rocks!

It must be many years ago that I read 8 books in a month, it's great to get so inspired to read more than usual.

Oh, and 1966 was a good year, wasn't it? :)

Amazing stats! Are you sure you are not an automaton? Well no, you can't be, because an automaton would not be able to reply so charmingly and appropriately to each individual who posts on your thread.

Hi Paul - I actually read 13 books in January but haven't updated my ticker yet:)

Charlotte - The scores will right themselves when I do the next update. Some of the big hitters reading wise Susan and Luci in particular don't have 50 posts quite yet but the volume of reading is more impressive than the posting for me.
I know a few of Amber's books are what she calls bathtime books but 47! Emilie's mix of reading for her 47 is also impressive. Suz's figures full lengthers all at 45 is simply extraordinary.

Diana - I have read more than usual for me recently too my dear. I am told that 1966 was an excellent year;

Ten Music LP's from 1966
1 Revolver by the Beatles
2 Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys
3 Aftermath by the Rolling Stones
4 Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel
5 Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan
6 Finnegan's Wakes by The Dubliners
7 Face to Face by The Kinks
8 Buffalo Springfield by Buffalo Springfield
9 Animalisms by The Animals
10 The Soul Album by Otis Redding

Five Films
1 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
2 A Man for All Seasons
3 Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
4 Our Man Flint
5 Alfie

The Books of 1966
1 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
2 Silence by Shusaku Endo
3 Jean de Florette by Marcel Pagnol
4 The Magus by John Fowles
5 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
6 The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
7 The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
8 The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott
9 Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
10 The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron

January 1966; Mrs Gandhi becomes Indian Prime Minister
February 1966: Soviet Space Rocket lands on the Moon
March 1966: Then Crown Princess Beatrix marries her German fiance.
April 1966: Uniform Daylight Savings Time first observed in North America
May 1966: The Moors Murder Trials are concluded in England
June 1966: The Vatican abolishes its index of banned books
July 1966: England win the soccer world cup in, erm, England
August 1966: Beatles' last full concert in Candlestick Park
September 1966: Paul is bornThe debut of Star Trek
October 1966: The first regeneration of Doctor Who
November 1966: Ronald Reagan becomes Governor of California
December 1966: Walt Disney dies.


Genny - You are too kind; took advantage of my day off to have a solid couple of hours updating the stats.

Thanks Calm - I will have a revision of the scores when all the updates and so on are done.

Wow, you've been a busy boy over here, my friend. I love your lovely family photo and also the one with the equally lovely Prue. You look properly sober and refined in both.
Thanks for the '66 Lists. That music list is absolutely jaw-dropping. And I believe '67 may have even been better.
Sadly, I have only read 2 off that book list. And I call myself a reader. Pshaw!

In Cold Blood and Flowers for Algernon are both good books.

January 1966; Mrs Gandhi becomes Indian Prime Minister
February 1966: Soviet Space Rocket lands on the Moon
March 1966: Then Crown Princess Beatrix marries her German fiance.
April 1966:Diana is born Uniform Daylight Savings Time first observed in North America
May 1966: The Moors Murder Trials are concluded in England
June 1966: The Vatican abolishes its index of banned books
July 1966: England win the soccer world cup in, erm, England
August 1966: Beatles' last full concert in Candlestick Park
September 1966: Paul is born The debut of Star Trek
October 1966: The first regeneration of Doctor Who
November 1966: Ronald Reagan becomes Governor of California
December 1966: Walt Disney dies.

Thanks Mark. I could have included another dozen of so in the music list and your right 1967 was pretty damn good too. Don't feel glum I have only read four of them; plus throwing Wide Sargasso Sea aside a couple of times in irritation.

Sober? moi? Wasn't drinking with Prue as I recall as I was driverless that day and had to do a quick tour of the snarled roads so she could get a good view of the Towers.

Morphy - Yep they are two of the four I've read too and both are landmark books in their genres I guess.

Diana - hahaha I will put April in my diary!

Wow - I love the stats! Thanks! I can't believe I made the list on any of them given my abysmal year last year! I hope you're doing well, Paul!

>5 PaulCranswick: Paul, I always enjoy seeing the Nobels that you buy, as it gives me ideas for what to add to my own challenge. Today I found a free Kindle edition of After the Divorce by Grazia Deledda.

The stats are largely for this year Brit! You are well loved in these parts as you must know and I'm only surprised not to see your post figures higher. Reading quite a bit more this year too. Hope the boys and Whit are well.

Linda - I will add two more Nobel buys this month and two more in March and April respectively - after that it is starting to get a bit tougher. Will be interested to see whose Deledda most hits the spot as I know absolutely nothing about her.

98.... That is one good looking family, Mr. Cranswick!! Thanks for posting the pictures of you and your gorgeous gang!

I have no idea how you compile all those stats, but you are a numbers wizard for sure! Thanks for all your work in doing that so we can see just how much time we have spent on LT and books this month :-)

OH, and if I ever finish Anna Karenina I want multiple book credit ;0)

I've only read two of those 1966 books too : The Magus and Jean de Florette. Preferred the latter!

AMAZING growth in posts! Are you able to track that against gross membership for 2012?

September 1966: Paul is born The debut of Star Trek Richard starts second grade

Thanks for all those stats, Paul - truly staggering! I also love the picture of you and Prue, so thanks for posting that. And Mark is correct, 1967 was an amazing year! Just saying...

I'm not even done posting my January reads! LOL - I'll get caught up this evening if I can keep my eyes propped open. I went to the library's coffee shop to get a second cup of coffee this morning. It hasn't helped at all. All it did was make me need to go visit the facilities. I guess I need an IV of caffeine to keep me awake today.

Hej Paul

Paul -- I am always flabbergasted by how you can have a off-LT job and still keep all the detailed statistics on all of us 75-ers. Bravo, sir, bravo...

Tina - Thank you kindly for your comments about the gang. Since when did a keeper of stats, poster, and book magpie become some sort of book buying financial instrument! You do realize that the possibility of a lottery win for yours truly sans ticket is as unlikely as a snow blizzard on the way to my office tomorrow.

Genny - Those are two I have unread and waiting on the shelves.

RD/Old Timer - Difficult for me to track and membership is a little up but the the stats are based on the top threads posting so the numbers have definitely gone up considerably.

Mamie, hopefully Prue is ok with my moving it from her profil page where it was hiding a wee bit.

Lori - I was a little fast with the Book reading league post today methinks. In another day or two I'll zip around and make a few amendments as required.
Hope you made the facilities in good time.

Paul - Hey back mate. Hope things are OK all considered for Suki and you.

Gerard - Thanks so much. Lovely to see you here and to see you in the stats/figures posted up today. There aren't enough of us guys "competing" with all these lovely ladies.

I'm quite sure that keeping up with your thread counts as at least 2 books -- right?

Then how many books am I allowed to count Reba?

Reba - Then how many books am I allowed to count for the keeping of the thread! x

I truly feel a member of the 75ers now that i have featured in two of your lists, i am grateful for your statistical nous my friend. I hope you and your family have a good weekend.

Great work on the stats as usual!
Love the photo of your family! You are all so photogenic and lovely :)

I won't be partaking in the cigars that came home with us. Nate enjoys them and I don't mind if he smokes them outside but I'm not fond of them myself.

Well, at least we agree on Wide Sargasso Sea! Although I was able to finish it. Barely.

Popping by to say Hallo Paul! Amazing stats-keeping you've got going there. I think we can all feel the huge increase in posting activity just hanging around here.

>121 Morphidae: - Agreed, Morphy

Hey, Paul... do you just figure all these stats out by hand? Jeepers.

love the great details regarding specific historical events!

144 messages already on this thread....Well worth following

Happy Weekend!

John - Now well embedded I would say mate.

Thank you Chelle. I had half intended my referral to cigars to be euphemistic but I am glad you ignored that. I enjoy Cubans I must say. Favourite brand Monte Cristo but I probably smoke a half dozen a year tops.

Morphy - We agree about things far more often than we let on don't we?!

Kathy - some of the group have certainly been far more active this year, your good self included, which has helped to spice things up nicely. Conversely the top 8 threads, posts wise, for 2012 is the same top 8 at the end of January 2013 albeit scrambled just a little.

Es - All done by "hand" would be the right way of expressing it. The posts can be seen easily by sorting the group page on topics (some like Rachel and Sara last year change the beginning of their thread titles when they renew which means they are not grouped) so it is easier to do that list. The only proviso is that for some reason between the different pages of the group lists it will lose one thread per page change so you could miss someone if you're not careful.
The book reading league is more challenging because we all have different ways of recording what we read. Some have tickers but these are often not bang up to date. Some go through their threads numbering their reads as they go. Some don't number them. Some gloriously do a monthly summary of reads, some have them all listed up topand you can see by the edit date whether it is up to date or not. No choice but to read all those threads I'm afraid, but the results are, I think interesting.

Linda, by request (sort of) of Mamie I will do the same exercise for 1967. The music listed is all from my music shelves.

14.

An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah (Category Challenge Short Stories 2/13 - RD's Challenge)

The title probably has it pat as this is a 13-part lament for the state of Zimbabwe. We have grooms suspected of AIDS, pregnant simpletons in shanty-towns, the dispossessed and the repossessed, the repressed, the oppressed and obviously depressed.

The concerns in Gappah's Zimbabwe are escaping the place, being able to get by, to be able to scrape the money to bury one's family, the ever present hyper inflation turning dollars into confetti and the numbingly ever-present corruption and brutality of the regime.

This is a very good first collection and at least half of the stories are well worth another read. It could have been better but that is nitpicking somewhat with a debut anthology. Recommended but not by the Zimbabwean tourism board.

8/10

I love the 1966 summary, Paul (with a bit of help, I see, from Diana).
I'm also cracking up that I made it into the top ten in the posting league. Clearly, I should host flash mob parties at my thread more often. Or someone should.... :-)

Happy Weekend to you, my friend!

What a concise review Paul.

(I actually am quite intrigued! It has hit the wishlist.)

Kathy - It won the Guardian First Book Award and I think just about deserved it.

Hey Paul- dont sell your self short!
September 1966: Paul is born The debut of Star Trek

I think I know which is more important, to me, anyway!

Oh, and RD starts second grade, but Megan is exactly 9 years away from being born!

Megan - You young whipper-snapper you. The school systems being different from country to country I am befuddled as to RD's age. Does that make him 12 in 1966?

Does that make him 12 in 1966?

Hmm, lets see.....now we take 1966 away from 2013, and then another 12, that would be.....um....
Did you know I failed my only ever subject in 1998, and it was statistics, which is a form of mathematics. Which is why I refuse to even attempt to figure out RDs age. Although I am sure you are right, that he is absolutely ancient (isnt that what you were trying to say?) ;)
Gee, I hope I didnt just get you in trouble there ;)

see I missed out reliving the 70's .........

Hope you all are having a great sun soaked weekend

Paul, I read An Elegy for Easterly last June and had the same thoughts/feelings are you did. It was sad..very sad..to learn of how women are/were treated.

Hahaha Megan - you wouldn't be trying to get me into trouble would you? x If RD is 58 then his much-lived-in appearance behoves his experiences although I do perceive that his misfiring boiler has aged him a couple of years in the last few weeks.

Alex - Don't worry we haven't got to the 70's yet mate. The skies are bright this morning here for sure. We are attending a wedding this afternoon which is usually a wonderful excuse to eat some of my favourite food.

Linda - I saw your review on the book page this morning with interest. I know this is a book that has been read by a good number of my pals and I am relieved that most of us reached similar conclusions. For reasons of my own I especially hope Richard likes it.

Oh MY! *emoting strongly* I've dropped in the posting polls from last year--whatever shall I do? And you remind me--I posted my 15th book a few hours ago, but forgot to update my ticker. Off to do so, now. But first, let me reiterate how much I love your stats, Paul!

nerts! Gappah's book not available in audio. i probably wouldn't read it for a bit anyway so maybe it will get there. tell you what, reading what i've been reading the last few years, books like Say you're one of them, Crimes of conscience, Behind the beautiful forevers, Mountains beyond mountains, and Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent make it at least intellectually clear that even in very modest circumstances, my life is a veritable sybaris.

hope you're having a wonderful weekend. love the graphics.

Rochelle Jewel Shapiro: Books read in January, 2013
1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
2. The Invisible Bridge by Jullie Orringer
3. The Winter Palace--Eva Stashniak
4. Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

Roni - I realised doing the stats on the 1st that you would sneak in at least one more!
In absolute numbers you have increased from last year. Your posting this Jan would have put you 15th last Jan. It is only one place after all!

Ellie - My purchases could also be safely described as sybartic. I have at least 14 years reading ahead of me without buying anything else and I haven't got any of the one's you mentioned to tempt me with.

Rochelle - Thanks for that. I have read the first and have the second on the shelves. The other two are new to me. Would be lovely for you to make your own thread/join the group and I'm sure you would enjoy the banter. Have a lovely weekend.

>146 PaulCranswick:.
Woah. Kudos to you then, Paul.

Careful, Paul, or we'll all be asking you to do a thumbnail sketch of the cultural icons of our birth year.

Hi Paul, excellent review of Elegy for Easterly. I've been a slacker as far as squeezing in any ss collections. I read several really good ones last year so I want to try harder to get some in soonish if I can. I see you have Tunneling to the Center of the Earth which was one collection I loved last year. Move that one up on your TBR list if you like quirky.

Have a great weekend.

Es - Not really kudos because I love doing it.

Ellen - Well Mamie sort of did so 1967 is coming up next!

Bonnie - Thanks; I bought the Kevin Wilson collection precisely because my favourite reviewer reviewed it so enthusiastically last year!

Mamie - Sort of said 1967 beats out 1966 lets see:

Ten Music LP's of 1967 from my CD/vinyl collections:

1 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heartsclub Band - The Beatles
2 The Doors - The Doors
3 Are You Experienced? - Jimi Hendrix
4 Surrealistic Pillow - Jefferson Airplane
5 Carryin' On - Johnny Cash and June Carter
6 First - Bee Gees
7 The Days of Future Passed - Moody Blues
8 Between the Buttons - Rolling Stones
9 Something Else - The Kinks
10 Forever Changes - Love

Five Great Films from 1967
1 Cool Hand Luke
2 The Graduate
3 The Fearless Vampire Killers
4 In the Heat of the Night
5 Belle du Jour

1967 BOOKS
1 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2 Jerusalem the Golden by Margaret Drabble
3 A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
4 Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz
5 The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter
6 The Chosen by Chaim Potok
7 The Joke by Milan Kundera
8 Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
9 The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris
10 The Mersey Sound by Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten

Events
January - The release of Chaplin's last film
February - Suharto takes over power from Sukharno in Indonesia
March - The Torrey Canyon oil tanker sinks off Cornwall
April - Pompidou forms a new government in France
May - Elvis marries Priscilla
June - The Six Day war Israel/Arabs
July - The first colour TV broadcasts in the UK with the Tennis from Wimbledon
August - The first African-American Justice to the Supreme Court is appointed
September - There is a vote in Gibraltar on proposed union with Spain which is supported by a whopping 0.3 % of voters!
October - The Kray twins murder Jack McVitie
November - Robert McNamara resigns as US Defence Chief
December - Christiaan Barnard carries out the first heart transplant operation.

Judge for yourselves the more impressive!

Interesting, I found the change from left to right side driving in Sweden in September 1967 slightly more interesting than a Gibraltar voting ... but I am not British :)

Meh, not as impressed with the list of books.

Just for you, Paul, I'll add a books read number to the top of my threads.

Paul - I have to admit that September was a bit of a dull month!

Morphy - Thank you my dear but with your threads the books come so thick and fast that it is not greathardship weighing through one of my favourite spots anyways.

Paul- I LOVE your '67 lists! Pinnacle year. You did leave off The Velvet Underground & Nico and on a slightly lesser level, John Wesley Harding, but you did make up for the omission, by including Mr. Johnny Cash. I'm not sure I have heard that album.
And one GLARING omission from the film list: Bonnie and Clyde- The best film of that year, bar none! I sucked again on the books-only one. Give me a break, I was 8!

Paul, if I want to read a book in your honor for challenge 10 (country of origin of a friend and an author): which author would you suggest? There are so many British authors, maybe you give me something new to read

Not caught up.. I see some few lists and a couple of lovely photographs ....So I
took a quick look at each. The 67 books etc post was interesting and made me smile.. brought back some memories... even though the year I stumbled across them may have been a wee bit later.

Mark - 1967 in films was pretty strong wasn't it? The Graduate, The Fearless Vampire Killers and Cool Hand Luke are all in my top ten. As well as Bonnie & Clyde, I also left out Camelot, Far From the Madding Crowd, The Dirty Dozen, and Barefoot in the Park. Stellar year.

I should certainly have included John Wesley Harding as All Along the Watchtower is one of my absolute favourite tracks and it is a better album than most up there - that's what comes of being smart and skimming my CD database carelessly. I also have The Velvet Underground and Nico but it doesn't move me as much as some of the other. Big Brother and the Holding Company was another I considered and Procul Harum plus the ubiquitous Dubliners (but then again I'm always going on about them).

A book in my honour Paul by a British author has to be by one of Graham Greene, W. Somerset Maugham or J.B. Priestley. Choose 1 of :

The Comedians by Graham Greene
The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham
Bright Day by J.B. Priestley

of course anything by any of them would be great. Flattered in the extreme that you would think of your portly namesake.

Hej Paul, thanks very much for your quick answer, that gives me enough time to get the book and read it in time. I've got Leihen Sie uns Ihren Mann? at home, maybe I read that first and then go to one of the three you mentioned.

Have a nice weekend

I am a huge V.U. fan! Those 1st few albums were transcendent. Had anyone ever heard anything like "Venus in Furs" or "Sister Ray"? Wow! We also left out the Pink Floyd debut.

>172 PaulCranswick:: Oh, yes! Barefoot in the Park is one of my all-time favorites.

Hi Paul,
Lovely pictures of your family ;-) You are a lucky guy!

Statistics. I did it! I dropped out of sight. And really - yay!
I didn't want to feel the competition as I am now retired. heh.
Good for all of you who chat and read AND manage everything else in your lives very admirably :-)

I did not start my 2013 thread till Jan 1st. That helped. And as much as I would love to keep up with everybody, I really want to read more books this year. I had to find a way to balance my time here on LT since I am such a slow typist and I read every word of all my starred threads.
Never did learn how to speed read as I really don't want to miss anything - lol.

I do a lot more lurking everywhere this year and I hope you will forgive me for not always chiming in. I truly don't have anything to add most days... except -
Sheesh! 1966! That was the year I graduated from HS. You are all babies. And cute ones, too!

Paul - Thank you so much for also doing 1967! You are too funny! And if Richard started second grade in 1966, that would make him probably about 8 years old in 1966. We start kindergarten at age 5 or 6 in the States.

Events
January - The release of Chaplin's last film
February - Suharto takes over power from Sukharno in Indonesia
March - The Torrey Canyon oil tanker sinks off Cornwall
April - Pompidou forms a new government in France
May - Elvis marries Priscilla
June - Mamie is born The Six Day war Israel/Arabs
July - The first colour TV broadcasts in the UK with the Tennis from Wimbledon
August - The first African-American Justice to the Supreme Court is appointed
September - There is a vote in Gibraltar on proposed union with Spain which is supported by a whopping 0.3 % of voters!
October - The Kray twins murder Jack McVitie
November - Robert McNamara resigns as US Defence Chief
December - Christiaan Barnard carries out the first heart transplant operation.

Little old 1964 is feeling left out...

June 1966: The Vatican abolishes its index of banned books and Karen graduated from University of Washington, B.A. in U.S. History.

Sometime in 1967: Karen left the Pacific Northwest for Peace Corps training

Those were some great years!

Paul! Good lord man! You've completely *spaced* on the single most important event of 1967! Dangerous Visions was published. And The Outsiders! And Trout Fishing in America! And Rosemary's Baby! And Picnic at Hanging Rock!

Gracious goodness me, such oversights, lacunae, and lapses.

Mamie- Such a youngster! Thanks for the highlights!

What a fun thread -- thank you all! And what memories of 1967 you brought back. I was lucky enough to go to the Monterey Pop Festival that year - fabulous.

I love your '66 list, Paul .. but you forgot to mention the birth of cameling in February... a far more momentous event than the Soviets landing their space shuttle on the moon, surely?

>183 cameling: *quiet snort of disbelief* 1966 my lily-white one! 1986 more like.

Hi Paul, as usual I've spent an enjoyable 20 minutes or so catching up here. I love your recaps of the years 1966 & 1967. Of course those were very influential years for me as I was 15 and 16. (So I have to agree with Cee - you are all babies!)

Love your LT stats, I particularly like your reading stats. In RL both famly and acquaintances sometimes look at me strangely and accuse me of reading more books than anyone, so now I can proudly say that I barely crack the top 24!

Like Judy before me, I've just gotten caught up! As always, you have the most interesting (and occasionally educational) discussions on you threads!

Beautiful family photos, btw - you're a lucky man.

Thanks for all the stats - I enjoy reading them every month! What I want to know if with a family, a business and all your thread monitoring, how do you find time to actually read anything?

Love the stats and the events lists! My husband made his debut in October of 1967. :)

I have read 1 book off the 1966 list - Flowers for Algernon.
I have read 2.5 books off the 1967 list - I say .5 due to only making it through about 50 years of solitude...

I'd love to see what you come up with for 1972... since Judy was talking about babies. Nice to be a youngster somewhere. LOL

Hmm.....hmm....notice the last two digits of my user name sir? LOL

Paul that is a very decent short story collection. I have read all of Greene's short stories and, because I like his novels so much, often overlook his contributions to short story.

Mark - To be fair I considered Piper at the Gates of Dawn and my reissue copy has tracks on it not available in its original release. Arnold Layne and See Emily Play are added to my copy and would have possibly made the cut. See Emily Play is a great track but was only on the American album release not the UK one.
Going to re-listen to The Velvet Underground.

Amber - 1967 definitely wins for films over 1966 for me in terms of depth especially. I could have put Jungle Book in there too.

Cee - I know I'm a lucky fellow, I just like to pretend otherwise sometimes.
20th with a late start is hardly dropping off the radar my dear. I can confidently predict that your thread will remain a go-to spot for warmth, good humour and risque Maine bathrooms.

Mamie - Another one for the diary! So RD is less old than I had pegged him!

Genny - I have decided to go back to 1959 and help out Mark first as it started by a reference to user names and Mark's was self-explanatory. I'll move forward from there. I can't go too much further back than that as my music collection won't have 10 entries in it to put down. In relative terms my music collection is far vaster than my book collection so I shouldn't miss out too many favourites!

Karen - History probably remains my favourite subject. I have an irish friend whose father went to school to complain on seeing his son's terrible grades. He blithely informed the bemused teacher that the subject of history was unfair on the kids as they were being taught about things that had happened before they were even born!

RD - Rosemary's Baby was on the list! A list of 10 is always a bit difficult to prune to and I am of course a bit anglo-centric hence the Liverpudlian poetry and The Naked Ape.

Mark - Just the spirit; everybody born after the onset of the 1960's is automatically a youngster!

Susan - Lovely to see you over here. The retrospective does seem to hint at plenty of quality in film and music; I think recent times has more than matched the literary output.

Caro - If only I had realised; like Richard I would have placed you not a year older than ......*Shuts up quickly remembering SWMBO's consternation at a lady's age being mentioned*

RD - Quetionable maths, eyesight but not intention! Caro looks 27 you are right which is the same age Hani has remained for a very considerable period!

Judy - I'll post this one quickly so that SWMBO can come and change my nappy!
I am often accused of spending all my time reading. Hani looks in disbelief when I inform her of the feats of others in the group. "What about their spouses?" is the normal comment.

Dejah - Thanks for your appreciation of the stats and your praise of my genetic capability to produce children far better looking than I!
Well I don't enjoy doing nothing in truth. So I am not one for TV, I don't drink much, don't go to discos (if you saw me dance you would guess why), don't chase the ladies (now I had the, ahem, good fortune to have snared a good one) and survive on very little sleep. I like to read on the way to meetings, at lunch time, and in my evenings when SWMBO is watching her TV dramas.

Jenn - Love the comment on having only read 50 years of solitude; classic!
I will get round to 1972 for you soon. x

Roberta; hahaha I'll keep that one in mind too!

Ok, way too much for me to comment on here, considering how feeble-brained I feel right now, but it's always nice to get glimpses of the Neverending Party at Paul C's. I got The Wizard of Oz this week in a goahgeous Penguin Threads (Classics Deluxe) edition, and today started listening to Anne Hathaway interpreting the first book. I figured that's a good way to start of FF...

Dear dear Ilana - I have seen that edition and it is indeed splendid! Even with my lukewarm-ness of sci-fi/fantasy that is one that I can look forward to enjoying to.

Whew! I somehow lost your new thread and only just found it. I really cannot let that happen again, as so much interesting stuff happened here that it's too late to comment on. So I'll just sum it up: Lovely family photos, nice walk down memory lane in the 1970s, Prue!, a lot of us were born in the 1960s, the statistics are fascinating and I'm in awe of your compiling them.

OK, ready for your next thread now!

15.

The Shortest History of Europe by John Hirst

I'm not at all sure that this is the shortest history of Europe and it certainly is not the best.

Apparently compiled from a series of lecture notes and, on occasions it showed through plainly in what was a largely disjointed and unsatisfying effort. Parts of t were enlightening and the parts on the development of language and the role of the German hordes in defining the post Roman Europe were good but overall there was no real story. I like my history to flow and tell me a good story - the history of Europe is a great story but this doesn't get over in a tone that alternates between turgid and condescending to readable.

Not heartily recommended but not terrible either.

6/10

Hahaha Julia - I think a February breather is in order don't you?!

>165 PaulCranswick: #10 Forever Changes - Love, a great one. My fave from your list there.

Megan - That album is so overlooked these days but a classic IMO.

I'm looking forward to the 1965 list. It's the best year ever! And June is the key month.

Thank you, as always, for the stats.

My sister and I thought Our Man Flint was about the coolest thing ever - but I'm wondering how it has fared over the decades, whether it would be fun still or just awful. James Coburn was really something - on and off the screen, as I understand.

I didn't start listening to Pink Floyd until Dark Side of the Moon. I remember being at a outdoor party and someone had an eight-track (remember those?) and I was transported. I really never got into the earlier stuff, although I liked Meddle.



"Ticking away the hours that make up a dull day..."

good day, to you. I started to say Good Morning, and then I remembered you may very well be having a very Good Evening. I am trying to talk myself into getting started on doing Income Tax stuff (stuff I famously procrastinate) before dashing over to the Niece's house to watch the Stoopid Bowl with her family and invited guests. It is good for me to occasionally try to be sociable; but not too often, it interferes with reading!

Your stats and compilations of interesting facts is ever entertaining. Thanks.

I love the '67 list! How very interesting!

LOL - I like the '66 and '67 recaps but I can't really play this game... my parents didn't meet till about 1969...

Some very good books on the '66 list - The Magus is one of my favourites.

Morphy I will get to 1965 in less than a week 1959 first for Marky. He has seniority on his side and I have just enough music for him:

1959

1959 Music - Ten Selections from my Library

1 Songs of our Soil - Johnny Cash
2 Come Dance With Me - Frank Sinatra
3 In Person - Tony Bennett (with Count Basie)
4 Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
5 Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs - Marty Robbins
6 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't be Wrong - Elvis Presley (Technically a compilation but he was in the army)
7 The George and Ira Gershwin Songbook - Ella Fitzgerald
8 The Genius of Ray Charles - Ray Charles
9 Time Out - Dave Brubeck
10 Chuck Berry is on Top - Chuck Berry

Five Great Films from 1959
1 I'm All Right Jack
2 The 39 Steps
3 Ben Hur
4 Rio Bravo
5 North by North West

Ten Books from 1959
1 Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow
2 Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee
3 The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon
4 Advertisements for Myself by Norman Mailer
5 Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth
6 Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse
7 The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan
8 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe
9 Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
10 The Devil's Advocate by Morris West

Events 1959

January - Alaska becomes the 49th state
February - The Day That Music Died - Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper are killed in a plane crash
March - The first Barbie doll is sold
April - NASA chooses its first seven astronauts (The Mercury Seven)
May - 12 May Eddie Fisher was married to Debbie Reynolds in the morning and Liz Taylor by the evening
June - Singapore gains independence from Britain
July - Ben Gurion resigns as Israeli leader
August - The Mini motor car is launched
September - The first photo-copy machine (by Xerox) is sold
October - The Guggenheim Museum opens in NYC
November - The Clutter family is murdered and inspires Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
December - Walter Williams the last surviving veteran of the American Civil war dies.

Lucy - I also loved that film and thought Coburn ultra-cool. The part where he feigns death by slowing down his heart is classic.

Mark - It is a wonderful album (we'll have to wait for 1973!). My introduction to music was via 8-track cartridges and the small collection my Dad had which we used to sing along to. As I remember we had:
Beatles : Help!
Johnny Cash - Greatest Hits 1 & 2
Roy Orbison - Only the Lonely
Everly Brothers, Elvis x2, James Last, Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra.

Ten albums but such a lot of fun and memories.

Karen - Still good morning I think just for you. Wish you well with the income tax stuff *shuddering violently* x

Linda - I hope you like the 1959 lists too!

Bekka - Don't worry I'm sure we'll get around to your birth year unless everyone gets fed up of the lists first.

"Kind of Blue" & "Time Out" in the same year? My year? Can you beat that? The films were just okay. The Hitchcock & the Duke are classics. This was a remake of The 39 Steps, with a different director?
Okay, let's not forget the 400 Blows, which is one of the most important foreign films, IMHO. I think '59 was a breakthrough year for foreign films. There is a long list of incredible films.
And then the comedy masterpiece, Some Like it Hot and Anatomy of a Murder was terrific too!

Mark - The 39 Steps stars British actor Kenneth More and I included it because it is a film I loved when I was younger and I remember watching it several times as a boy. I'm All Right Jack is a classic blackish British comedy about Union power starring the great Peter Sellars.
There was certainly a jazzy feel to my music list. I have some stuff from the same year by Ornette Coleman, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Perry Como and Sam Cooke which didn't make the cut.

I haven't seen the 400 blows. Some Like It Hot is a better film than The 39 Steps but I included the latter because it was important to me growing up.

I added some more comments to my post above. Wow, it sounds like your Dad had great modern taste in music. Very cool. What a great bunch of 8-tracks. My Dad was a country & western fan. No rock. But I have always had a strong affection for old-school C & W.

I also grew up with it Mark. My favourite album from the 1959 list may be either the Johnny Cash or the Marty Robbins. I am fine with jazz when I'm in the mood only but I can always listen to El Paso and Big Iron by Robbins or Five Feet High and Rising or The Great Speckled Bird from Johnny Cash's first concept album.

Hi Paul! I'm enjoying all of the stats and year breakdowns! But really Paul, the Doors above any Kinks album?! Have you lost your mind?! I thought we were one in our Kinks solidarity. : ) (Lighthearted teasing, of course.)

Anyway, back to the photo and comments up at the top: Do you have non-fiction recommendations about the industrial unrest of the 1970s and subsequent Thatcher takeover of the the early 80s. I just read The Radiant Way, which covers that time period, and while I'm aware of the general historical outline, I'm interested in learning more.

My mom had that '50,0000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong' LP and I about wore it out when I found it in the 1970s. Both the actual record and the album cover, with its multiple images of sexy young Elvis in that gold lamé suit!

I don't remember if we had those specific Cash and Sinatra albums, but I know we had a bunch of 'em. I do remember and still love the Marty Robbins 'Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs' album, though. I even bought that one on iTunes.

Sadly, while I've heard of some of the books I'm not sure I've ever read any of them.

Kerri - No way! The list is not in any order of preference. The Doors barely scraped my list - Something Else is a masterpiece!
I recently (the last few years) read When the Lights Went Out by Andy Beckett which is a good overview.

There is also A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr which is apparently very readable. and Dominic Sandbrook's State of Emergency : The Way We Were is also good.

For an insider's view you could also read the Tony Benn Diaries His 2nd and 3rd Volumes Office Without Power and Against the Tide: Diaries are very interesting for someone who loves the subject but may be a little too British!

Julia - Of the 1959 books I listed I have read 5 and have four of the others on the shelves.

#213 - Oh! In my skimming, I missed that it wasn't in any particular order. Phew. I feel better now. : )

Thank you so much for the recommendations! I will put those on the list. I didn't know where to start.

Kerri, If I had to pick an album of the year for each of the years I would struggle but probably come up with:

1959 Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs - Marty Robbins
1966 Revolver - The Beatles
1967 Something Else - The Kinks

#216 - Wonderful choices! I love Marty Robbins!! Even drunk, cheezy, 70s Marty Robbins. And of course the Beatles and you know of my love for the Kinks.

I too am a big fan of Marty Robbins. Great opportunity to think back.... Some Like It Hot made me laugh so hard I almost peed my panties! And it has worn well, it is still funny.

The Doors - not so much. Listening to them is boring now, I think. Poor Jim Morrison - a victim of the times I think.

Woot! I've read 1 of the 1959 books on the list. The Manchurian Candidate. Excellent in a totally creepy way. :)

Paul, love the family pictures...what a good looking bunch! Along with everyone else I am amazed at your monthly stats reporting. Pretty exciting to see my name up there with all the big dogs.

I have read one of the books in the ten listed for 1959... Goodbye Columbus. I had to read it for a college English class.

1973 was a good year...just saying'....

I've not read a single book from 1959 but I'm glad Mark was born.
I wonder if I've read any of the top books from 1960......

The sixties comedy that made a big impression on my family was 1963's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Family legend has it that my aunt laughed so hard she fell out of her seat and into the center aisle of the theatre. Conversely, her daughter who was seven when she saw the movie a few weeks later, inquired about a third of the way into it "When does the funny part start?" She always was a very serious child.

Hi Paul, just stopping by to catch up...

I've seen you mention J B Priestley a few times, so I had to go dig out my copy of Bright Day to thumb through. On doing so, I noticed it's a first edition! One of these days I'll have to actually read it. :)

Karen - Jim Morrison didn't wear that well in actual fact did he? I do think though that there is something about some of their work that is quintessentially 60's.

Jenn - I have that one on the shelves to read at some stage, (this year?)

Heidi -I think you have fitted-in nicely alongside "the big dogs" whoever they may be! 1973 will be featured I'm sure!

Ellen - Mark being born is certainly an agreed highlight of '59! Let's see whether you've read any of my picks from 1960 later today.

Charlotte - lovely story. I always take an aisle seat at the cinema as I am claustrophobic and don't like being hemmed in. Same on airplanes and buses and trains. Some of the cinemas are quite steep step wise so I could finish up rolling down to the bottom of the theatre if I watched too much of a rib tickler.

Kathy - A first edition of J.B. Priestley would surely be worth a few quid!

You think?

ETA: Not that I'd sell it. I'm oddly attached to it, as it's one of the few "old" books I own. I also have an 1899 Tolstoy's Resurrection I love to bits.

Looks like it's not valued as highly as we'd like, Paul-- maybe $20. Well, I value it!

16.

Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo (Category challenge Poetry/Plays 2/13 - Nobel Reads Challenge 41/109)

On the evidence of this, supposedly seminal work, Dario Fo did not win the Nobel Prize for excellence in literature, he won it for political correctness at a time when it was de rigeur to be somewhere to the left of socialism.

That said this play is an enjoyable read as politically heavy handed as it it. Inspired by the real-life "accidental" death of an anarchist falling from a fourth story police headquarter window in 1969, the plays major theme is the corruption of the police and the system to whitewash the affair.

It has plenty of farce and comedy as the lead character known as "Maniac" proves to be the only sane fellow on stage. Not in the least bit highbrow and I enjoyed this much more than my flirtations with Pinter last year but I really don't see the literary merit that propelled Fo to the laureate.

7/10

>220 Cobscook: Echoing Cobscook that '73 is a great year. I'd love to see what you come up with for the year that brought you all Cobscook & me! :)

Adding Accidental Death of an Anarchist to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Paul.

Tina - today is the unheralded (and so far unrequested) 1960. Do we have anyone born in 1960? I'm looking forward to 1973 which was a stellar year for books and music for sure.

Stasia - I liked the Fo a lot and I imagine a production of the play would be uproarious. VERY political though and towards the end overly so.

Valiantly trying to catch up--can only manage *hello*

I was born in 1960!!!!

Just sayin'.

Breezing through to say I hope you have a good week, and that this has been a most entertaining thread.

Anne - Nice to see you here being so valiant!

Ellen - Then 1960's list will be dedicated to you dear lady.

Gail - A bit worried by your use of tense there; hopefully it is not about to implode!

"...but I'm glad Mark was born." Me too, sniffling a little!

Hope the week goes well, Paul.

I really don't see the literary merit that propelled Fo to the laureate.

Your review of Accidental Death of an Anarchist really got my attention, Paul. I have only read his memoir and am now very curious to explore him further.

Mark - I think the group is unanimous on that one mate.

Linda - I certainly enjoyed the play; doing my normal habit of declaiming all the parts as they came up but really if Fo is the best writer in Italy then I should give up reading.

I forgot to add these two additions which I bought whilst choosing a book for Belle to read yesterday, hahaha

Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden (I remember Rebecca giving this one an enthusiastic review)

Not Dead Yet by Peter James (The lateset Roy Grace procedural)

1960 RETROSPECTIVE (for Ellen)

Music Selections from 1960

1 Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis
2 GI Blues by Elvis Presley
3 Ride this Train by Johnny Cash
4 Nice N Easy by Frank Sinatra
5 It's Everly Time by The Everly Brothers
6 Lonely Weekends by Charlie Rich
7 Change of the Century by Ornette Coleman
8 Travelin' by John Lee Hooker
9 Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger by Bo Diddley
10 Found Love by Jimmy Reed

1960 at the Movies

1 Spartacus
2 Psycho
3 The Apartment
4 The Magnificent Seven
5 The Alamo

A Pick of 1960 books

1 To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
2 Rabbit, Run by John Updike
3 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer
4 A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow
5 This Sporting Life by David Storey
6 Life and Fate by Vassily Grossman
7 The Flanders Road by Claude Simon
8 A Man for all Seasons by Robert Bolt
9 The Waters of Kronos by Conrad Richter
10 The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark

1960 Events

January - The Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya is over
February - Ebbet's Field Home of the Dodgers is demolished
March - The Sharpeville massacre in South Africa
April - Brazil gets a new capital city; Brasilia
May - The Israelis capture Eichmann
June - New Zealand gets its first TV station
July - The first flying of the 50 star Stars and Stripes in Philadelphia
August - The trial of the U2 pilot Gary Powers in Moscow
September - OPEC is formed
October - The first successful kidney transplant in Scotland
November - John F Kennedy is elected President of USA
December - The Supreme Court holds that Louisiana segregation laws are "unconstitutional".

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite classics.

Wow, 1960 had some excellent movies!

Has anyone mentioned 1962 yet? It's my birthday month so maybe Paul you can get in your time machine and bring back some gems?

And...Mary Beth was born in November 1960! Yay! And over the next 5 years developed reading skills which allowed her to read far above her grade level eventually leading her to find LT! (to which her husband gives full credit (blame) for her adding vastly to her already overwhelming amount of books to be read!)

Paul, Hi! I've been very busy on my thread and so have you I see! Love your family pics. I finally started to load my pics from my phone on here and my computer froze! I couldn't believe it! I have been trying to get to this forever. And for some reason my phone didn't charge although it was plugged in all night...so I will try again when it is charged. I just hope the computer cooperates. I have no clue what happened because a while later (now) it is fine. Anyway, I'm currently reading another ER selection as I had a few to read and review. There is a link to one review of an ER on here. It was very good. And the other is by Joyce Carol Oates and she is one of my categories to complete this year.

Very interesting posts on this thread. One can really obtain an edjumacashun on here.

Here are my most recent book reviews-
http://www.librarything.com/profile_reviews.php?view=mmignano11

for Drinking With Men and Mudwoman

To Kill a Mockingbird continues to be my all time Top 10 book and movie.

I graduated from high school in 1962. I have read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and To Kill a Mockingbird. JFK! Oh, how we loved him.

>244 cameling:: Agreed. Both are just fantastic.

75: Like a frog in a pot of warming water, I just don't always notice it changing.
James Fallows has been crusading against the boiled frog metaphor.

79: I remember no pocket calculators never mind computers
Slide rules! Logarithm tables! Here’s a wiki of obsolete skills.

Morphy - Harper Lee must be such a perfectionist not having released anything else much.

Amber - Good mixture isn't there? I always liked to watch Psycho and The Alamo. Kirk was brilliant in Spartacus but my favourite as a boy was The Magnificent Seven, great entertainment.

Lauren - tomorrow will be your day then my dear!

Mary Beth - I have Mudwoman on the shelves and always find Oates an unpredictable read. I would have pegged you for much later than 1960!

Caro - It certainly makes the top ten for books. Gregory Peck was born for the role wasn't he?

Karen - I suppose in some ways history has been kind to JFK because of his fate. Not sure how he would have been remembered had he told Jackie he didn't fancy a ride through Dallas. It is certainly true that he had charisma but I'm not sure that his record in office was startlingly good.

Es - To think that To Kill a Mocking Bird was nominated for but lost out for the National Book Award to The Waters of Kronos, bizarre.

Katherine - I don't come from a frog eating country but I'm sure our near neighbours from the other side of La Manche could verify this one.
Great link to the obsolete skills. "Making a Deer Fat Poultice" how on earth do we lose such vital skills? hahaha

Psycho! How delightful.
I saw that movie (by accident) on late night television when I was about 8 years old. It was well over a decade before I would take a shower when I was at home alone in the house.

To Kill a Mockingbird is definitely one of my top 5 favorite novels of all time.
I tried to read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich once....

I'm ignoring the music list. I think it was a better year for films than for music.

I'm one month older than OPEC. I'm not sure what to make of that. :-|

Thank you for doing "my" year, Paul!!

>248 PaulCranswick:: That *is* bizarre. Sigh.

Book description of The Waters of Kronos, of which I had never heard until this good moment:

From the time of its first publication in 1960, Conrad Richter's The Waters of Kronos sparked lively debate about the extent to which its story of a belated return to childhood scenes mirrored key events of Richter's own life. As was well known at the time, Richter had spent several years in the Southwest, where he collected the material for his first successful book, Early Americans and Other Stories, but by 1933, he had returned to live in his hometown, Pine Grove, Pennsylvania.John Donner, the main protagonist in The Waters of Kronos, traces a similar route from west to east, although he finds that his family home and native town have been submerged under the deep waters of a lake formed by the construction of a hydroelectric dam. As Richter narrates his alter ego's efforts to salvage his past, he moves beyond "semi-autobiography" to offer what are widely recognized as his most haunting reflections upon the power of family history, the fragility of human memory, and art's role in structuring the communal ethos.

David McCullough, a fellow Pulitzer Prize winner, met and befriended Richter in the 1960s and has called him "an American master, " praising The Waters of Kronos as "his most beautiful book." McCullough has contributed a foreword to this edition of The Waters of Kronos, which established Richter as one of the literary giants of the United States.

Penn State University Press edition book description

Permaybehaps I am an uncultured clot ill-read in the literature of my native land, but I have never heard of this man, or any of his other books: The Town, The Trees, The Fields, The Light in the Forest, and others. Never not once.

Whereas Harper Lee's book has been part of my mental furniture since 1971. Along with zillions of other Murrikin high-school brats.

Who earned the prize again?

Oh, I've heard of The Light in the Forest. Never read it though. I couldn't tell you what it's about, either.

2 from your 1960 list - To Kill A Mockingbird and Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Maybe Rise and Fall counts as 2...

Paul, I think you are quite right about JFK. I don't think he would be remembered as a particularly successful President; much of his so called success in the public mind is in fact due to LBJ's pledge to put into effect much of what JFK was advocating. The War on Poverty was LBJ's effort to not lose the momentum of the JFK myth, I think. Although, Robert Caro, LBJ's talented biographer would also argue that it was in LBJ's DNA to do as he did. Viet Nam was his big nemesis, unfortunately for us all.

Nittnut, I do think Rise and Fall of the Third Reich should count as two. And finally, I too have heard of The Light in the Forest but remember not at all why that might be. I also remember Conrad Richter's name, also no idea why. No steel trap mind, mine.

>227 PaulCranswick: you havent sold me that one sorry Paul. Even though 3.5/5 is a decent rating, Im going to skip it.

June - New Zealand gets its first TV station
And our one of only two for all of my childhood! Poor old NZ, I remember when TV3 arrived, it was so so exciting!

>244 cameling: To Kill a Mockingbird is next up for me! Hooray!

>253 nittnut:/254 The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin remains a favourite around here :)

Slide rules! Logarithm tables!

We had to master logarithms before we were allowed to have calculators. Understand the theory before taking the shortcut.

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin remains a favourite around here

Here, too. I didn't get where I am today without appreciating Reginald Perrin.

I just skimmed through the 1960 list again. That good ol' Supreme Court. Thank goodness some things were not put to a popular vote.

Ellen - No shower for a decade? I am glad I reread that one before posting! The music was largely jazz in my collection for 1960 and old folk stuff and french music which I doubt many would have been familiar with. I do like jazz but have to be in the mood for it. The movies were wonderful.

Es - The Pulitzer did go to Harper Lee to be absolutely fair.

RD - I also took the time, out of interest to find out about the book "that beat Harper Lees". It does seem that there was barely a negative review of the novel. Would we all love Lee's novel quite so much if she had followed it with four or five crud novels? The very fact of its oneness makes it have more allure than it might.

Mary - I must say Light in the Forest looks a winner and the subject matter is the sort of thing I normally devour with relish.

Jenn - I also have read 2 but own 8 of the 10.

Karen - It is one of the big ifs of modern history I suppose, but I do think in a sad way it preserved his reputation. The weight of following him and specifically carrying out his commitments did for LBJ but some of the laws enacted in that hot 4 and a half years made America a much better place for all its citizens.

Megan - I actually think you'd like it if was staged but reading plays is an acquired taste for sure.
I was actually going to put something else but I thought of you and so included the TV station first. I remember the excitement in UK when Channel 4 was launched - the first show it put on was a words and numbers game Countdown which was great fun.
Trust you to mix up Adolf and Reggie!

Liz - Brilliant! The first book in the series by David Nobbs captures the spirit of the show perfectly but after that I don't recognise Reggie in the other books.

Ellen - I think Huntsville was also in "your" year.

Hubs recently read Rise & Fall of 3rd Reich. I almost put my back out every time I had to move the thing. It should definitely count as two books.

Reba - hahaha a mere 1,300 pages! Three books would be more like it to be honest.

1,300 pages, it's a tiddler, try Gai-jin James Clavell, 1,578 pages not that heavy in paperback but awkward to hold.

oh, James Clavell, I have not thought of him for years

I know, i really enjoyed his books after seeing Shogun on BBC tv in the early eighties starring Richard Chamberlin, the only thing with them is that three of the series in paperback were in excess of 1,200 pages.

John/Karen War and Peace, A Suitable Boy Sharon Penman, Edward Rutherfurd, James Michener; sadists all!

I did crack open A Suitable Boy once or maybe twice, a long, long, long time ago. I don't think I even have a copy of it now. James Michener was all read when I was in high school or during the first year of college. Not so interesting today.

Sadists? well, maybe...... but then I'd have to confess that I am a ...... oh, never mind.

1961 RETROSPECTIVE

From my Music Archives

1. West Side Story OST
2. Lonely and Blue - Roy Orbison
3. The Lure of the Grand Canyon - Johnny Cash
4. The Genius Sings the Blues - Ray Charles
5. Showcase - Patsy Cline
6. Ring a Ding Ding - Frank Sinatra
7. Hellbent for Leather - Frankie Laine
8. Classic Scots Ballads - Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger
9. Civil War Songs of the South - Tennessee Ernie Ford
10. My Kind of Blues - Sam Cooke

1961 at the Movies
1 Judgement at Nuremberg
2 West Side Story
3 Breakfast at Tiffanys
4 A Taste of Honey
5 The Guns of Navarone

1961; a selection of Books

1. A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
2. What is History? by EH Carr
3. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
4. A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch
5. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
6. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
7. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
8. The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz
9. Scenes from Married Life by William Cooper
10. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Events from 1961

January : Kennedy inaugurated
February: The Beatles first perform at the Cavern club
March: South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth
April: The Bay of Pigs fiasco
May: Martial law in Alabama after race riots
June: Rudolf Nureyev defects to France from the Soviet Union
July: Hemmingway commits suicide
August: The Berlin Wall is constructed in 18 days
September: Dag Hammarskjold killed in a plane crash
October: The Soviet Union detonates a 58 megaton yield bomb - the biggest ever tested
November: Sean Connery chosen as the first James Bond when Patrick McGoohan turns down the role.
December: James T. Davis becomes the USA's first armed forces casualty of the Vietnam war.

Yeah Karen I like reading all of them too. x

Dont forget the foundation of the WWF 9/11 1961 and the birth of Alex Capus and the death of Carl Gustav Jung

Now we're talking.....
Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison.....
And "West Side Story" at the movies! One of my faves! And "Breakfast at Tiffany's".....



.'Nuff said.

..

I have read Catch 22 and The Winter of Our Discontent (Go Steinbeckathon!). A House for Mr. Biswas is on my 2013 To-Read list. I'd like to read A Severed Head (if only for the title!) and I should read Stranger in a Strange Land, it seems......

Still, all was not peaches and cream:
The Bay of Pigs
Martial Law in Alabama
The amplification of the Vietnam War

Sigh. What a turbulent decade was about to ensue.

Paul - Alex Capus? Not perhaps the widest read writer from outside of continental Europe. Jung's passing was a biggie of course.

Ellen - Wasn't Audrey Hepburn an absolute doll? I have read four of the list and have 8 of them on the shelves in total.

17.

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (Category Challenge Awards 2/13 - Guardian First Book Winner 2012)

First novel and what a novel. Undoubtedly the best thing I have read in many a moon. The stark realities of war, camaraderie and loss are set amid language of a lyrical cadence that jogs the reader along breathlessly to the end. Poetry is made of mortars and maimings; of wrong choices and wrong-headedness.
Cannot praise this one highly enough.

9/10

I'm quite proud that I have read at least one per year so far. My hubby would judge me, as always, for not having seen a single one of the films...though I'm sure Ben-hur and Spartacus have been on in the background many, many times.

As though my TBR pile isn't big enough, now my wish list is getting out of control!! You make The Yellow Birds very appealing.

Bekka - 1961 wasn't a vintage year IMO for films compared with the previous two and the music I had to dredge somewhat as we are moving from jazz and crooner era to the sixties rock and pop and 1961 is a transitional period.
1961 in books was a strong one though I think.

I am not a devotee of war novels (literary as opposed to the thriller variety) but this one had the lot Reba. My guess is that this one will stand the test of time.

Paul, that sounds like a very interesting war novel

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S ISN'T A VINTAGE FILM?!?
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You, sir, are a reprehensible ombrophobous jackanapes.

* extremely big book bullet, can't dive *

Very interesting review of The Yellow Birds, Paul, I need to read that book in the future.

The Yellow Birds is exceptional, isn't it, Paul? Excellent concise review of it.

I am disappointed, Paul. First, you didn't include a certain someone's birthday in the notable events of March 1961. Worst of all, your library doesn't include over a dozen outstanding jazz albums from that year. Here are some (but I suspect not all) of my favorite 1961 albums:

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: Mosaic; A Night in Tunisia
The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Further Out
Jaki Byard: Here's Jaki
Ornette Coleman: This Is Our Music; Free Jazz
John Coltrane: My Favorite Things; Coltrane Jazz; Lush Life; Olé Coltrane
Miles Davis: Someday My Prince Will Come; Miles Davis in Person, Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, Volumes 1 & 2
Eric Dolphy: At the Five Spot, Volumes 1 & 2
Bill Evans Trio: Explorations; Waltz for Debby; Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Grant Green: Grantstand
Milt Jackson & John Coltrane: Bags & Trane
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross: High Flying
Yusef Lateef: Eastern Sounds
Abbey Lincoln: Straight Ahead
Miriam Makeba: Miriam Makeba
Hank Mobley: Another Workout
Thelonious Monk: Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane
Wes Montgomery: So Much Guitar!
Oliver Nelson: The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Max Roach: We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite; Percussion Bitter Sweet
West Side Story (The Original Soundtrack Recording)
Randy Weston: Uhuru Africa

My most favorites, other than West Side Story (of course), are the three Bill Evans albums, Someday My Prince Will Come, Saturday Night Live at the Blackhawk, My Favorite Things, At the Five Spot (especially volume 1), and Max Roach's brilliant and searing protest albums.

IMO 1964 was the best year for music (jazz, rock & roll, R&B), and 1961 follows right behind it.

Glad you liked The Yellow Birds Paul. I've been waiting for your review.

Re 265, i read A Suitable Boy a few years ago and ploughed my way through it but as it was a bit heavy going i probably read a dozen other books in the period it took me to read it.

I have to admit i do like my chunksters and have read about 25 one thousand page plus books out of my 660 i have read since july 95 and i think i have the same amount waiting to be read. I reckon that of my 1300+ TBR pile at least 50% are 500 pages or more.

Uh oh. That's a hum-zinger (hum-dinger?) of a blue bullet.
The Yellow Birds is firmly ensconced on the wishlist.

I see you're still ignoring 1962 my arrival on the planet, and songs like The Twist, Duke of Earl, and The Lion Sleeps Tonight

wim-o-weh ...

I've been away for a week and I'm just going to skip this entire thread, Paul, and wait for the next one (which can't be too far away!).

Best thing about 1962:



*sigh*

Paul - It was certainly a supreme war novel.

RD - Not sure what my misdeed was/is here mate. I listed the film although not overly fond of it in a distinctly weak year for the movies. I would include it anyways for the delectable La Hepburn. Quite pleased in a strange sort of way as nobody before has had the vocab to call me, quite properly, a jackanape before!

Diana - I don't encourage my lady friends to dive as that sounds far too energetic. The Yellow Birds is beautifully written and says all it needs to say in only 230 pages.

Joe - Thanks mate.

Darryl - I do have a fairly extensive jazz collection mate (though not as extensive as yours by the look of it) and enjoy listening to it when in the mood. I am listing only the music in my collection but that does include:
John Coltrane - My Favourite Things
Bill Evans - Explorations
Hank Mobley - Roll Call
plus albums by Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz and Ella that you've not got listed.
1961 will be edited to become "your" year then Darryl.

Pat - I'll be very surprised if there are any bad reviews of the book.

In post 275 you imply that 1961, the year containing La Hepburn's glorious turn as Miss Holiday Golightly (Traveling), was not a vintage year for films!!

***IMAGINE*** such philistinism! ANY year containing such a cinematic gem is a year of Premier Grand Cru vintage!

John - I have A Suitable Boy on the shelves and my copy of it is a mere 1,474 pages long. Planning to read it next year. The average length of my TBR pile is 376.88 pages per book which means that I also have a yen for longer books.

Ellen - This year so far has been excellent for me in terms of my selections and I have only read a few duds so far.

Laura - No today will feature 1962 and will be dedicated to your good self. I have all three songs mentioned but on compilations and I am only listing "original" releases in my selections of albums from the year.

Rebecca - I have been very pushed for time in the last week with statifiying and with work and have not got round to visiting threads anywhere near as much as usual or getting my new thread sorted. You are right though it is imminent. x

Richard - Now you would look splendiferous going for a jaunt to your local five and dime ensconced in that beauty.

RD my comment was based upon the depth of films to choose from. In 1959 and 1960 I was spoilt for choice and left out several gems. In 1961, apart from possibly Barefoot in the Park, it would have been difficult to come up with many more worthies.

*beady-eyed stare*

Permaybehaps....

I am back at home and caught up with you. We had a great meetup in Seattle. Can't wait to do another one in a different city. It will be Chicago next.

RD - *looks at shoes and waits for RD to blink*

Benita - I hope to see you this year sometime and will be in Chicago at some stage for certain.

Well, I go away for a week or so to chase after my grandson Boden, and I've missed several threads. I may have to settle for just reading the 291 messages of this thread, and skip the others I've missed. I do want to go back and find your comments on The Viper's Tangle, which I also read in January. My goal is to read at least one Nobelist a month, and that was it for January.

Re the Labour movement--have you read David Peace's GB84? It's a novel about the miners' strike of 1984, when Thatcher was trying to break the back of the unions (a bit later than what you were referring to I think). It's a fabulous book, and I highly recommend it.

I read Conrad Richter's The Trees, The Fields and The Town (also known as The Awakening Land Trilogy years ago, and I loved them. They are on my reread list. Again, highly recommended. The Light in the Forest is a short book. My kids had to read it in junior high I think, so it is not a difficult read.

The lists for 1966 and 1967 make me especially nostalgic. Sometimes listening to the music from that time is so bittersweet for me (what a wonderful time is youth, can't ever go back, blah, blah blah) that I find I kind listen to too much at a time.

Deborah - Lovely post. Hope you are able to keep up with Boden and even if not I'm sure the trying to will be wonderful.
I have read all David Peace's books of the era. They are an acquired taste to be sure but once you're in on the books they are hugely addictive.

I do want to look up some work by Conrad Richter. Anyone who can have a book capable of persuading judges of its merits above those of Harper Lee should be looked at.