kidzdoc in 2013: Old World, New Imports part 7

Currently reading:

  

The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell
What to Feed Your Baby: Cost Conscious Nutrition for Your Infant by Stan Cohen, MD

Completed books: (TBR = To Be Read book, purchased prior to 1/1/12)

January:
1. Quiet London by Siobhan Wall (review)
2. The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul (review)
3. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif (review)
4. The Eleven by Pierre Michon (review)
5. Pediatric Advanced Life Support Provider Manual by Leon Chameides, MD (review)
6. Communion Town by Sam Thompson (review)
7. Damascus by Joshua Mohr (TBR) (review)
8. The Walls of Delhi by Uday Prakash (review)
9. Inspiring Quotes: The Greatest Quotes of Martin Luther King Junior by Martin Luther King, Jr. (review)
10. A Happy Death by Albert Camus (review)
11. Place of Mind by Richard Blanco

February:
12. Great House by Nicole Krauss (TBR) (review)
13. In the House of the Interpreter by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (review)
14. Bill Veeck's Crosstown Classic by Bill Veeck with Ed Linn (review)
15. Stone Upon Stone by Wiesław Myśliwski (TBR) (review)
16. Big Machine by Victor LaValle (TBR) (review)
17. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (review)
18. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid (review)
19. The Other City by Michal Ajvaz (TBR)
20. A History of the Present Illness by Louise Aranson
21. Domestic Work by Natasha Trethewey
22. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
23. Vertical Motion by Can Xue (TBR)

March:
24. Liquidation by Imre Kertész (TBR)
25. Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman (TBR)
26. Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah (TBR)
27. Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke (TBR)
28. Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
29. The Jokers by Albert Cossery (TBR)

April:
30. All My Friends by Marie NDiaye (review)
31. Palliative Medicine in the UK c. 1970-2010 by Caroline Overy and E.M. Tansey (review)
32. Childhood Asthma and Beyond by Lois Reynolds and E.M. Tansey (review)
33. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (review)
34. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (TBR)
35. Pow! by Mo Yan
36. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
37. There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra by Chinua Achebe
38. Burmese Days by George Orwell
39. Requiem: A Hallucination by Antonio Tabucchi
40. No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

May:
41. A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis (TBR)
42. The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo (TBR)
43. Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn (TBR) (review)
44. Bad News by Edward St. Aubyn (TBR) (review)
45. Some Hope by Edward St Aubyn (TBR) (review)
46. Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre
47. Why Me? : A Doctor Looks at the Book of Job by Diane M. Komp, M.D. (TBR)
48. The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
49. Skios by Michael Frayn
50. The Aftermath of War by Jean-Paul Sartre
51. Where There's Love, There's Hate by Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo

June:
52. The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner
53. The Alienist by Machado de Assis

Books acquired in 2013: (✔ = completed book, bold = purchased book)

January:
1. The Eleven by Pierre Michon (5 January; LT Early Reviewers book) ✔
2. Place of Mind by Richard Blanco (21 January; Kindle e-book) ✔
3. A History of the Present Illness by Louise Aranson (29 January; Kindle e-book) ✔

February:
4. Old Man Goriot by Honoré de Balzac (15 February; Kindle e-book)
5. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid (15 February; LT Early Reviewers book) ✔

March:
6. The Return by Dany Laferrière (1 March; Alibris)
7. Brazil Red by Jean-Christophe Rufin (7 March; Alibris)
8. Palliative Medicine in the UK c. 1970-2010 by Caroline Overy and E.M. Tansey (9 March; free e-book) ✔
9. Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam (16 March; Kindle e-book)
10. All My Friends by Marie NDiaye (16 March; ARC copy received from avaland) ✔
11. Mortality by Christopher Hitchens (17 March; Barnes & Noble) ✔
12. Burmese Days by George Orwell (17 March; Barnes & Noble) ✔
13. Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora by Emily Raboteau (17 March; Barnes & Noble)
14. Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi (17 March; Barnes & Noble)
15. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (19 March; LT Early Reviewers book) ✔
16. The Outsider by Albert Camus (21 March; The Book Depository)
17. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (24 March; Kindle e-book)
18. The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber (24 March; Kindle e-book)

April:
19. Childhood Asthma and Beyond by Lois Reynolds and E.M. Tansey (1 April; free e-book) ✔
20. El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency by Ioan Grillo (7 April; Barnes & Noble)
21. Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre (7 April; Barnes & Noble) ✔
22. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (7 April; Barnes & Noble) ✔
23. There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra by Chinua Achebe (7 April; Barnes & Noble) ✔
24. Crock-Pot Slow Cooker Bible (7 April; Barnes & Noble)
25. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (16 April; Barnes & Noble)
26. The Crow Road by Iain Banks (16 April; Barnes & Noble)
27. Experiment Eleven: Dark Secrets Behind the Discovery of a Wonder Drug by Peter Pringle (21 April; Strand Book Store)
28. Lenin's Kisses by Yan Lianke (21 April; Strand Book Store)
29. Requiem: A Hallucination by Antonio Tabucchi (21 April; Strand Book Store) ✔
30. No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe (21 April; Strand Book Store) ✔
31. All Decent Animals by Oonya Kempadoo (21 April; Strand Book Store)
32. Julius Caesar (Modern Library Classics) by William Shakespeare (21 April; Greenlight Bookstore)
33. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (21 April; Greenlight Bookstore)
34. Firefly by Severo Sarduy (22 April; gift from Caroline)
35. The Gate by François Bizot (27 April; Kindle e-book)
36. In the Land of Israel by Amos Oz (28 April; Kindle e-book)

May:
37. You Were Never in Chicago by Neil Steinberg (1 May; free e-book from the University of Chicago Press)
38. Hack: Stories from a Cab by Dmitry Samarov (8 May; free e-book from the University of Chicago Press)
39. The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna (15 May; Amazon UK)
40. The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (15 May; Amazon UK) ✔
41. The Remarkable Story of Great Ormond Street Hospital by Kevin Telfer (15 May; Amazon UK)
42. Basti by Intizar Husain (18 May; Joseph Fox Bookshop)
43. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (18 May; Joseph Fox Bookshop)
44. What to Feed Your Baby: Cost-Conscious Nutrition for Your Infant by Stanley A. Cohen, M.D. (20 May; advance review copy)
45. Where There's Love, There's Hate by Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo (26 May; City Lights Bookstore) ✔
46. The Bottom of the Jar by Adellatif Laâbi (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
47. Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
48. And Still the Earth by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
49. Blue White Red by Alain Mabanckou (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
50. Transit by Abdourahman A. Waberi (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
51. The Girl with the Golden Parasol by Uday Prakash (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
52. Salt by Earl Lovelace (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
53. A Muslim Suicide by Bensalem Himmich (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
54. The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner (26 May; City Lights Bookstore) ✔
55. Southern Cross the Dog by Bill Cheng (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
56. Raised from the Ground by José Saramago (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
57. From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia by Pankaj Mishra (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
58. Ten White Geese by Gerbrand Bakker (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
59. A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
60. Percival Everett by Virgil Russell: A Novel by Percival Everett (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
61. Algerian Chronicles by Albert Camus (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
62. Blacks In and Out of the Left by Michael C. Dawson (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
63. The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop by Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
64. Mingus Speaks by John F. Goodman (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)

June:
65. Disposable People by Ezekel Alan (2 Jun; Amazon Kindle e-book)
66. Sons for the Return Home by Albert Wendt (8 Jun; Amazon Kindle e-book (free))

2013 reading goals (✔ = completed goal):

1. Booker Prize group
     a. Finish reading the 2012 longlist
          Communion Town by Sam Thompson
          The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
          Skios by Michael Frayn
     b. Read the entire 2013 longlist by year's end, and the shortlist in advance of the award ceremony

2. 2013 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature ✔
     a. Finish the shortlist in advance of the award ceremony in late January
          Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif
          The Walls of Delhi by Uday Prakash

3. Orange January/July group
     a. Read selected books from the shortlist of the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction (WPF) in advance of the prize ceremony
          Bring Up the Bodies by Hilarly Mantel (read in 2012)
          NW by Zadie Smith (read in 2012)
          Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
     b. Read 8-12 or more books nominated for the Orange Prize or the WPF in any year, or novels written by women which would be eligible for the prize
          Great House by Nicole Krauss
          Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

4. Reading Globally group
     a. Read 3 or more books for each 2013 quarterly challenge
          *Central & Eastern European literature
               Stone Upon Stone by Wiesław Myśliwski
               The Other City by Michal Ajvaz
               Liquidation by Imre Kertész
          *Southeast Asian literature
               Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
               Burmese Days by George Orwell
               The Redundancy of Courage by Tash Aw
          *Francophone literature
          *South American literature
     b. Read 6 or more books for the 2012 4th quarter challenge, China & neighboring countries
          Vertical Motion by Can Xue
          Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke
          Pow! by Mo Yan

5. Author Theme Reads group
     a. Read 4-6+ books by Simone de Beauvoir

6. Literary Centennials group
     a. Read books by Albert Camus throughout the year
          A Happy Death

7. Patrick White 100th 101st Anniversary challenge
     a. Read at least 1 of the 3 books that I own and was supposed to have read last year

8. Medicine group
     a. Read 12 or more books on medicine, science and public health throughout the year
          A History of the Present Illness by Louise Aranson
          Palliative Medicine in the UK c. 1970-2010 by Caroline Overy and E.M. Tansey
          Childhood Asthma and Beyond by Lois Reynolds and E.M. Tansey
          Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre
          The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner

9. African/African American Literature group
     a. Read 20 or more works of fiction from the African diaspora
          Big Machine by Victor LaValle
          Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman
          Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
          All My Friends by Marie NDiaye
          Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
          No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

10. Read Mo Yan group
     a. Read 4-6 books written by Mo Yan
          Pow!

11. Other
     a. Read books longlisted or selected as finalists for these other literary prizes:
          * Wellcome Trust Book Prize (medicine in literature)
               Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif
          * National Book Award
          * Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards (African diaspora)
     b. Read more books spontaneously from my TBR collection:
          The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul
          Damascus by Joshua Mohr
          The Jokers by Albert Cossery
          Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn
          Bad News by Edward St. Aubyn
          Some Hope by Edward St Aubyn

Planned reads for May:

The Aftermath of War by Jean-Paul Sartre (completed)
Bad News by Edward St. Aubyn (completed)
Bad Pharma: How drug companies mislead doctors and harm patients by Ben Goldacre (completed)
Firefly by Severo Sarduy
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis (completed)
In the Land of Israel by Amos Oz
Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn (completed)
Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal
A Pediatrician's Journal: Caring for Children in a Broken Medical System by Brian G. Orr, M.D.
Power, Politics, and Universal Health Care: The Inside Story of a Century-Long Battle by Stuart Altman and David Shactman
The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo (completed)
Some Hope by Edward St. Aubyn (completed)
The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (completed)
The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell
Skios by Michael Frayn (completed)
Umbrella by Will Self
Where There's Love, There's Hate by Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo (completed)
Why Me? A Doctor Looks at the Book of Job by Diane M. Komp, M.D. (completed)

That's the best opening picture yet!

Great opening picture. Someone's starting early :D

Bring up a child in the way he should go ----
What a great picture!
I enjoyed seeing you in Philly, Darryl. Glad you guys had such a great time and posted so many pictures!
Happy new thread!

Love the photo up top too. I was going to mention something about the Man Booker International choosing another American, but then thought that at least it went to a woman so kept quiet. There are so many great writers out there, I do wonder how they came up with this decision. Anyway, enjoy your time in SanFran, sounds like you are set up for a relaxing stay.

Great photo!

Have a wonderful break in SF, Darryl!

Happy Saturday Evening Darryl.

It was a cold, windy and blustery day.

Great thread topper, Darryl! Hope you have a good and relaxing time in San Francisco. I look forward to following along....

Perfect opening photo, Darryl : ). Looking forward to continuing to follow your literary adventures.

That picture of the baby with the book is just too cute!

Darryl, as usual I am inspired and in awe of you and your groups and planned reads!
I might finish The Stone Diaries this evening and start Skios next. There goes my own so-far-followed-to-the-letter plan! I will just bookhorn in one I've been meaning to read. It happens. I hope you can join me, and I know that you will polish it off so much faster than me so no matter if you start it a bit later than me.

>5 avidmom: Thanks, avidmom. I like that photo, but not as much as the one that is in the first message of my current Club Read thread:



According to lilisin, she is reading The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima.

>6 Samantha_kathy: It's never too early to start reading, Samantha!

>7 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy. I thought that the Philadelphia meet up would be tremendous fun, but I think it exceeded everyone's expectations, including mine.

>8 avatiakh: Right, Kerry; with three North American authors being chosen for the most recent awards, the Man Booker International Prize seems rather limited in scope. I'd much rather see the prize go to someone from a non-Western and/or non-English speaking country that is little known in the West and is deserving of wider recognition. The latest choices of Alice Munro, Philip Roth and Lydia Davis are bland, safe, least common denominator choices, which serve only these authors and their most ardent fans IMO.

>9 Cariola: Thanks, Deborah; I have two or three similar photos, which I'll use to open new threads in the future.

>10 tiffin: Thanks, Tui. As expected I crashed not long after I checked into my hotel room. The work week wasn't bad, but I didn't sleep well after I returned from Philadelphia. This week will be low key, so I'll be well rested in a day or two.

>11 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda. It's early morning on the East Coast, so I'll wish you a happy Sunday. It was great to meet you this weekend, and I only wish that I could have spent more time with you and everyone else who came to the meet up.

I hope that it warms up soon. It was a nice day today, but it will be cloudy and cool the next few days here, with highs in the mid to upper 50s. I like cool weather, which is one reason I like to come to SF in the late spring and early summer, so this weather is fine with me.

>12 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie. I'll start my usual SF routine tomorrow, as I'll pick up the Sunday NYT, have breakfast and read for a couple of hours at Caffè Greco in North Beach, and then make my first trip to City Lights Bookstore.

>13 lit_chick: Nancy, I do plan to read several books during this trip, and buy many more. If I didn't mention so already, I finished the last half of The Sound of Things Falling, the new novel by Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez that I ordered from Amazon UK earlier this month, as it won't be released in the US until later this year. It was very good, and I'll review it in the next day or two. I'll also write some mini-reviews of past books while I'm here.

>14 Emrayfo: Thanks, Charles!

>15 LovingLit: I had planned to read Skios this week, Megan, so I could read it alongside you. I haven't started Umbrella yet, so I could start Skios tomorrow or Monday. After I finish these two books and The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman I'll be finished with last year's Booker Prize longlist.

Darryl

It was a busy week at work and the memories of the lovely Philadelphia meet up kept me smiling throughout.

I hope you are enjoying SF.

Oh, I have to disagree with you- I think that Alice Munro is a master storyteller and definitely worthy of the Man Booker International Award.
I believe that there is a story that a couple of years ago ( or last year) -she didn't want her latest book sent for consideration for one of the big Canadian literary awards ( Giller? Writers' Trust) because she wanted some of the newer, younger writers to win.

I agree about Alice Munro; she has great insight into character, too.

>18 Whisper1: Linda, I'm glad that you came to Philly last weekend, and we'll definitely have to meet up again there or elsewhere in the near future!

I am enjoying SF so far. The weather today is nicer that the forecast suggested, as it is mainly sunny and currently 65 degrees. I thought that the city would be jam packed with visitors, given that it's Memorial Day weekend, but it's nowhere near as crowded as I expected.

I made my customary first full day visit to City Lights Bookstore this morning. As usual, I loaded up on books until my arms were full with a stack of 13 books, most of which came from my wish list:

Where There's Love, There's Hate by Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo: I've read Casares's best known novel The Invention of Morel and I've heard of Silvina Ocampo, but I didn't know that these highly regarded Argentinian writers were married to each other. They co-wrote this novella in 1946, which is a witty suspense novel set in a seaside Argentinian town.

The Bottom of the Jar by Abdellatif Laâbi (wish list): This autobiographical novel, which was recently published by Archipelago Books, is set in colonial Morocco in the 1950s, as the country begins to demand independence from France during the author's young adulthood.

Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe (wish list): This is the final novel in Achebe's "African trilogy", which is centered around an Igbo chief priest who is jailed due to his refusal to participate in the British colonial administration, and sees his influence wane as Christian missionaries infiltrate his local villages.

And Still the Earth by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão: A dystopic novel set in São Paulo Brazil, which was originally published in 1981 and released by Dalkey Archive earlier this year.

Blue White Red by Alain Mabanckou (wish list): An adventure novel involving Africans torn between the allure of France and the poverty and limited opportunities in postcolonial Africa.

Transit by Abdourahman A. Waberi (wish list): A reflective history of Djibouti told through the stories of two immigrants who escape their war torn country and struggle to establish new lives in France.

The Girl with the Golden Parasol by Uday Prakash (wish list): A bittersweet love story set in contemporary India, in which a non-Brahmin boy falls for a Brahmin girl despite the caste system that is meant to keep them apart. I read and greatly enjoyed The Walls of Delhi by Prakash earlier this year.

Salt: A Novel by Earl Lovelace (wish list): The 1997 winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, which is a magical novel about the diverse people of Trinidad who strive to make sense of their lives in a country that is trying to make sense of itself.

Well Darryl contrary to the Man International Prize there is some diversity in your recent book purchases. Salt: A Novel in particular looks interesting.

For the record I think you're a bit harsh on Munro and little too hard on Roth (not one of my favourites in truth) but fair enough with Lydia Davis who seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

More books:

A Muslim Suicide by Bensalem Himmich (wish list): This novel, which won the 2012 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, explores the life of the 13th century Sufi philosopher Ibn Sab'in, who was forced to journey from Spain to Egypt to Mecca due to his radical Islamic views, and grapples with the ethical questions "Who am I?" and "What are my obligations to others?"

The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner: This book tells the story of the discovery of the Philadelphia chromosome in 1959 by David Hungerford, a mutated piece of DNA found to be the cause of chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML, along with the subsequent efforts to understand cancer on a molecular level. I learned about the Philadelphia chromosome as an undergraduate student and in medical school, but I hadn't heard of this book before (thank you once again, City Lights!).

Southern Cross the Dog by Bill Cheng (wish list): I missed seeing the author speak in Decatur, a nearby suburb of Atlanta, on Thursday, but City Lights had a signed first edition of his debut novel, which is set during the Great Flood of 1927 that decimated several Mississippi towns and has received critical acclaim in the past few weeks.

Raised from the Ground by José Saramago (wish list): First published in 1980, this is family saga set over several generations in 20th century Portugal.

From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia by Pankaj Mishra (wish list): Shortlisted for this year's Orwell Prize, Mishra's latest book examines the lives of several of the most influential thinkers in postcolonial Asia, including Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore in India, Liang Qichao and Sun Yat-sen in China, and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Abdurreshi al Ibrahim in the fading Ottoman Empire, as he shatters numerous stereotypes about them.

>19 torontoc:, 20, 22 I have to recant my unfair criticism of Alice Munro, as I haven't read anything by her. I don't think I own anything by her, either (checking...oh yes, I do own Lives of Girls and Women, which I haven't read yet). Any recommendations of books by her would be appreciated.

I haven't read much by Philip Roth, but I haven't been overly impressed with his writing overall, although I did like The Plot Against America. I had meant to criticize the judges for the three most recent Man Booker International Prizes rather than the chosen authors themselves, as I would have preferred to see authors who are largely unknown in the English speaking world chosen as winners rather than well known and established North American authors like Munro and Roth, for whom this prize adds little to their reputation.

Such a diverse list of books and authors, and some very interesting ones as well. Many with deeper meaning/thought behind them, it seems. *looks at her own stack of cozy mysteries by US authors and Agatha Christies*

>17 kidzdoc: ...so I could start Skios tomorrow or Monday.
oh great, I started it last night (Sunday evening) as I had a lovely other with a snoring problem, so decamped to the couch (hmph). But it did mean I got an extra bit of reading time in :)

If you dont feel like clogging up your (or my) thread with discussion, we could discuss it here (my Booker thread).
So far? Light weight, but amusing. Kind of reminds me of a Hugh Grant movie..... that isnt exactly a compliment either ;)

my customary first full day visit to City Lights Bookstore this morning
I take it that means you will be going back before the week is through ....
Lots of interesting finds there in your list. Look forward to your reviews on them.

>25 Samantha_kathy: Thanks, Samantha. City Lights has a great selection of books that are difficult to find in most bookstores, including literature in translation, nonfiction books from small publishers and university presses, and poetry by little known but well regarded authors. You won't find books by best selling authors such as Dan Brown, Louise Penny or Janet Evanovich, though.

>26 LovingLit: Thanks for letting me know, Megan; I'll start Skios today then.

Ugh. I don't watch movies, so when I think of Hugh Grant I think of his arrest with that skanky prostitute several years ago.

>27 avidmom: Definitely, avidmom; I'll probably go there on Tuesday and on Friday, just before I leave town.

Dont watch movies??!#??#!*@!
really?
I suppose every movie watched is 2 hours or so reading not done.....

I'm also with Darryl in saying it's the judging panels that need to be looked at rather than the writers themselves.

Great selection of books from City Lights.

I watch movies, but I have to agree, not watching movies with Hugh Grant in them is a good policy.

Love the photos on your new thread! & wish I were close to City Lights. I always think of Allen Ginsburg when I hear about City Lights bookstore. They used to publish small chap books of poems, yes? Looking forward to reviews of all your new books. Especially Saramago. I couldn't take Blindness but would like to give him a try on a different novel.

>30 LovingLit: Really. I think the last movie I saw in a theater was Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore's 2004 documentary. The only movies I've seen since then are Ice Age and one or two other children's movies at my best friends' house with them and their kids.

I also don't watch much television, definitely less than 10 hours per week.

>31 avatiakh: Right, Kerry. I had originally meant to criticize the judges, not the authors. IMO prizes like these should introduce Westerners to authors from non-Western countries, who are highly regarded in their own countries and regions but aren't well known in the English speaking world. This year's judges did choose several notable finalists that are deserving of recognition in the West, such as Aharon Appelfeld, U R Ananthamurthy and Yan Lianke, but IMO they completely dropped the ball by choosing Lydia Davis as this year's winner.

I'll probably read at least a couple of those books this week. Several of them are novels that I wanted to read for the two upcoming Reading Globally challenges, Francophone literature and South American literature, but I'll probably read many of them ahead of time and post reviews of them in RG once the threads are up.

What an amazing book haul!

>32 cammykitty: I didn't know that Hugh Grant was still starring in movies; I thought that the prostitute scandal wrecked his career. Then again, many Hollywood actors seem to find work despite being utter train wrecks (e.g. Lindsey Lohan).

City Lights is a very dangerous place! It's probably for the best that it isn't closer to me, as my library at home would have at least twice as many books if it was nearby. City Lights does publish several dozen books per year, particularly poetry collections in its Pocket Poetry Series.

I'm a huge José Saramago fan and I was blown away when I read Blindness, so I'll buy anything published by him that I don't already own.

>34 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda! I'll definitely buy more books this week, but probably not as many as I did today.

Awesome book haul! You know you will be next on Richard's hit list for influencing him to buy more books! LOL

I'd love to attend an Atlanta LT meet up this summer! That sounds fantastic.

Have a lovely trip ~~ leave some books in City Lights for the other customers. ;0)

Sounds like you're having a great time in SF - loved reading about the book haul.
I've only read one short story collection by Alice Munro but loved it - The View from Castle Rock.

I'm awake for a bit after I dreamt that I was an action hero engaged in innumerable battles, all of which I won of course. I have no idea why I had this dream, since I dislike action movies, TV shows and books.

>37 TinaV95: I've bought off Richard, so he won't complain about my book haul. Besides, he's not a fan of my three-hanky-and-a-pistol choice of reading material.

The Decatur Book Festival would be a perfect venue for an Atlanta LT meet up IMO. Unfortunately I'm usually working or out of town on Labor Day weekend. I'm off from work on Memorial Day and Independence Day this year, so I strongly suspect that I'll have to work over Labor Day weekend. I'll post a message on the moribund Atlanta Bibliophiles thread, to see if there is any interest in a summer meet up, and to gather ideas if so. (BTW I'm happy to let someone else plan this meet up!)

Despite my best efforts and repeated visits I never seem to be able to deplete City Lights's stock of books. New books come in on a daily basis, and because of its relatively small size most of the shelves are stocked with only one copy of each book, especially in the new nonfiction and translated literature sections. So, I've not infrequently found books of interest on second and third visits that weren't there a few days before.

>38 cushlareads: Thanks, Cushla. I've heard of The View from Castle Rock, so I'll look for it if I like Lives of Girls and Women.

Back to sleep...

The View from Castle Rock was one of my favorite Munros, and I also liked Too Much Happiness and Dear Life; all of these are relatively recent collections of her stories. I thought Lives of Girls and Women was a novel, and Munro is much better known for her short stories, a genre she is definitely a master of.

Great haul of books Darryl. I don't know where do you have room to store all the books that you continue to acquire. Or how do you find the time to read.

Hi Darryl- Haven't been by in awhile, so I thought I would check in and see how you were doing. I see, you are reading & acquiring books, like a dedicated bilbliomaniac. Yah! I have only read one Munro book, which is a shame. I NEED to get back to her. Have you read Llosa? I am currently enjoying The Feast of the Goat, my first by him. Potent stuff.
Hope you are having a great holiday weekend.

35> Hugh Grant is still making movies, after both the prostitute scandal AND the one where he threw a container of baked beans in a paparazzi's face. He also testified in the UK phone hacking case last year. (I really don't spend hours watching TMZ, but I do glance at the headlines on my ISP home page.)

Alice Munro: I have mixed reactions to her work. I've been moved by some of her stories but found others rather dull. But I give her a big round of applause for passing on awards to younger writers.

I envy your treks to City Lights; I so miss having a decent bookstore anywhere near home.

Enjoy the rest of your trip!

>39 kidzdoc: What a dream! It sounds like a pleasant one, though - at least you won your battles. In my TV nightmare I couldn't get the TV to turn off. Remote control. No. Still on. Button on the TV. No. Still on. Unplugged it. No. Still on. That was 15 years ago. Still scares me!

>43 Cariola:: ditto your thoughts on Alice Munro -- I've loved some of her short story collections, but read one earlier this year that didn't do anything for me. I have The View from Castle Rock on my TBR to read soon, probably over the summer.

45> I couldn't finish The View from Castle Rock, but I know that many readers loved it.

>46 Cariola:: oh dear. I have been hopeful since it's one of her better-known books. Well, we shall see.

lol- love the superhero dream, Darryl. It sounds like it was fun! The closest I have come to flying in a dream was a skiing one I had once, where I got massive air between each jump- and actually flew down the hill!

Leaping tall bookshelves with a single bound, no doubt! It sounds like you spent a good bit of time saving the world, Darryl. Good for your subconscious mind.

Have a wonderful time in SF.

Just popping in to say hello, and tell you what a great time I had in Philadelphia last week! Thanks for all you did to pull it together!

@35 & 43 And I believe Hugh Grant even made a movie about a man being caught with a prostitute right before his upcoming wedding. I may be wrong. I don't follow him, but like Cariola said, sometimes you just hear things about people.

Darryl, interested to hear you liked Blindness. I was having trouble suspending disbelief - perhaps wasn't in cynical enough mood at the time - which is ironic because I'm usually cynical enough to believe that a government would throw a bunch of contagious people into quarantine and forget about them if there wasn't a watchdog group talking about it all over the world news. I've seen the movie version of his The Stone Raft and liked that, if only for the scene where the British are celebrating with bagpipes and Guinness because the Rock of Gibraltar didn't go out to sea with the rest of the Iberian peninsula. I'm sure the book is better, if not as noisy.

I have an Adolfo Bioy Casares, 'Asleep in the Sun', that I bought recently and that I plan to read soon (as soon as I get through this stack of books ahead in the TBR line). I knew he and Silvia Ocampo were married but not that they co-wrote anything, though I should have guessed. I haven't read anything of Ocampo's but I do have one of her novels in the original Castellano back home in Australia. Did you know that Bioy Casares did also co-write a series of detective/mystery stories with Borges? I must admit I haven't read any of them either.

Darryl, I'm way behind, as usual, and I adore the topper for your "new" thread! Teach 'em young, I say!

Hi again- are you making any progress with Skios? Its a good one for when a quick read is needed. I am nearly at the end (have/will direct a message toward you on my Booker thread in case you dont want spoiler discussion here)
Happy travels.

>40 rebeccanyc: Thanks for those Munro recommendations, Rebecca. You're right, Lives of Girls and Women is a novel. I bought in nearly four years ago, and I don't remember why I picked it up (LT recommendation?).

>41 xieouyang: Thanks, Manuel. My reading output has slowed down over the past two years, but I should still be able to reach my goal of 125 books.

>42 msf59: Good to see you here, Mark. Yep, I'm still buying books, but my hauls are puny compared to those of the Master, our own Paul Cranswick.

I can't say that reading Alice Munro is a high priority for me, but I'll pick up on of her short story collections if I happen to see it on sale.

Mario Vargas Llosa is my favorite living author. I read The Feast of the Goat years ago, pre-LT, and it blew me away. I own 23 of his books, which I think is more than any other of my favorite authors, and I've read 14 of them. My favorites, besides The Feast of the Goat, are The War of the End of the World, The Time of the Hero, and Conversation in the Cathedral.

>43 Cariola: Hugh Grant gets a thumbs up from me for dousing a member of the paparazzi with baked beans.

Thanks for your comments about Alice Munro, Deborah. I'll need a very good reason to pick up one of her books, including the one I own.

Atlanta is surprisingly bereft of good independent bookstores, given its well educated population. Now that the Druid Hills Bookstore, which was on the edge of Emory's campus, has been incorporated into the main university bookstore, my favorite Atlanta bookstore is my nearest Barnes & Noble (which is a nice and friendly place, but still...).

>44 avidmom: I didn't enjoy that dream very much, avidmom, as I wasn't enjoying the battles and was looking to get out of the crazy place I was trapped in. At the end of it I thought I had made my escape, but just before I could leave a hand grasped me on my shoulder. However, it was far less disturbing than some of the dreams I've had.

Your dream sounds far worse than mine!

>45 lauralkeet:-47 Ugh. I think I'm less interested in reading Alice Munro than I was before I made my comment about her selection as a winner of the Man Booker North American International Prize.

>48 LovingLit: Nice dream, Megan!

>49 ffortsa: I think I misspoke a bit when I described myself in the dream as an action hero, Judy. I was only trying to escape from a castle or building that I was trapped in, and I wasn't trying to rescue anyone or defeat a particular foe. It was an utterly pointless and mildly unpleasant experience.

>50 tloeffler: You're welcome, Terri! I'm very glad that you and Brenda came, and the success of the meet up had everything to do with both of you and everyone else who came and made it such a fun filled weekend. Although I'm enjoying my stay in San Francisco so far, it is quite mundane compared to that weekend.

>51 cammykitty: And I believe Hugh Grant even made a movie about a man being caught with a prostitute right before his upcoming wedding.

Nice! I don't think I'm missing anything by not watching Hollywood movies.

I didn't know that a movie was made about The Stone Raft, Katie. I read it roughly 10 years ago, and loved it. I don't remember that scene in the book, though.

>52 Emrayfo: I also own Asleep in the Sun, Charles, but I haven't read it yet. I'll probably get to it during the Reading Globally fourth quarter challenge on South American literature. No, I didn't know that he co-wrote anything with Borges! I'll go back to City Lights tomorrow, and I'll keep an eye out for anything written by the two of them.

>53 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen. I'm still behind on LT threads, but hopefully I'll catch up in the next day or two.

>54 LovingLit: Megan, I started reading Skios early this morning, and I'm on page 27, at the beginning of Chapter 7 (fortunately my Kindle edition of the book has page numbers). It's an easy read, as you said, but it's only been mildly interesting and enjoyable so far.

I spent yesterday and Sunday struggling with Umbrella by Will Self, and The Aftermath of War by Jean-Paul Sartre. I think I'll leave the Self for now, but I'm nearly finished with the Sartre, which I should finish by no later than tomorrow.

I spent yesterday and Sunday struggling with Umbrella by Will Self,
From the description I read, Umbrella sounds like it has the makings for a great book and have been looking forward to what you have to say about it. If you are struggling with it then .... yikes!

>58 avidmom: I still want to read Umbrella, avidmom. As Rhian and others have said it does require a lot of attention, probably more so for non-Britons. I thought that this week would be a good one to tackle it, but I'll probably wait until my trip to London in mid July to give it another go.

I've made my flight and hotel reservations for my mid July trip to London. I'll arrive there on the 14th, and leave on the 26th. I'm in the process of sending invitations to LTers I know who live in or near the capital, to see if anyone is interested in individual or group meet ups during that time, but if anyone else will be there then please let me know.

#55 I second your Vargas Llosa recommendations of The War of the End of the World and Conversation in the Cathedral, and I would add Captain Pantoja and the Secret Service and The Green House, and possibly Death in the Andes, and subtract The Time of the Hero and The Feast of the Goat.

>61 rebeccanyc: I'm glad that you have such favorable opinions of Captain Pantoja and the Secret Service and The Green House, Rebecca. I own both, but haven't read either one yet. I'll definitely read them during the fourth quarter Reading Globally theme on South American literature (although I probably own two dozen other unread books that would qualify for that challenge).

Speaking of South American literature I started to buy I, the Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos from City Lights, but I couldn't remember what other LTers had said about it. Matt (msjohns615) loved it, but Andy (depressaholic) wasn't anywhere near as fond of it. I see that you own it; have you read it?

I just finished eating my first burrito de lengua (beef tongue burrito) at my favorite hole-in-the-wall taquería in San Francisco, Taquería el Farolito, located next to the 24th & Mission BART station. It's reportedly Farolito's most highly regarded dish, and I can see why; it's the best burrito I've ever tasted!

Darryl- Thanks for your other Llosa recs! I WILL be reading more of this guy. Wow, I can't believe you own 23 of his books. That's quite an endorsement.

>21 kidzdoc:, 23 *purrs contentedly at kindly benefactor's acquisition of more books*

Lydia Davis should, in my well-informed opinion, stick to translations from the French. Although one does rather savor the irony of a writer whose own ouevre is all microflash fictions doing the most gorgeous imaginable translation of Proust....

Alice Munro is must-read. Even for "hang-me-now-life's-too-cruel-to-go-on" Darryl.

Hooray for best burritos ever! Im fairly sure you could direct me on a "best eateries tour" of the States, if I ever get there (again) and undertake such a mission.

Finished Skios- meh. Onwards and upwards!

>66 LovingLit: I think that Anthony Bourdain would be a better choice to direct the "best eateries tour", although I appreciate your compliment!

What? Only 2 stars for Skios? I liked it much more than you did; I gave it 2-1/2 stars. This should have never made last year's Booker longlist.

So, after finishing it I've read 10 of the 12 longlisted books from 2012. I'll read The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman next month, and finish the longlist with Umbrella by Will Self in July. Here is my updated ranking:

1. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
2. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
3. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
4. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
5. Communion Town by Sam Thompson
6. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
7. Philida by André Brink
8. The Yips by Nicola Barker
9. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
10. Skios by Michael Frayn

I made my second trip to City Lights this morning and bought seven books, four from my wish list, two which my friend Scott, who works there, recommended, and one which I hadn't heard of:

Ten White Geese by Gerbrand Bakker (UK title: The Detour): The winner of this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, which is a "seductive blend of solace and menace" set in rural Wales, as a mysterious woman rents a remote farm upon leaving Amsterdam, after leaving her husband due to an affair. She takes in a young man and appears to be living peacefully, until she learns that her wronged husband is looking for her. I enjoyed Bakker's earlier novel The Twin, which won the 2010 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, so this was on my wish list even before it won the IFFP.

A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam: The first novel in Anam's Bangladesh Trilogy, which centers around Rehana Haque, a young recently widowed woman in East Pakistan who plans a celebration for her two children as they are about to leave for university, but the onset of the 1971 Bangladeshi War for Independence rips the three apart from each other. I read The Good Muslim, the second novel in this trilogy, which focuses on Rehana's children, which was one of my favorite books of 2011.

Percival Everett by Virgil Russell: A Novel by Percival Everett: Everett is probably my favorite living African American novelist and my favorite living comic novelist, who writes brilliantly about American culture and spares no one from his sharp pen. His latest novel is set in a nursing home, as the father of a writer shares stories with his son, while he writes the novel he imagines his son would write -- or is it vice versa? Several narratives intersect amongst the characters of the nursing home, and as the plot threads twist around each other, chaos ensues. This sounds like typical Everett wackiness.

Algerian Chronicles by Albert Camus: This recently released book was originally published in 1958 as Actuelles III during the midst of the Algerian War, and it consists of Camus's shifting thoughts about his country of birth from 1939-1958, as Algeria shifts from a largely docile French colony to a fierce foe of her colonizer during its struggle for independence.

Blacks In and Out of the Left by Michael C. Dawson: This book consists of the W.E.B. Du Bois Lectures at Harvard that Dawson, a distinguished professor of political science at the University of Chicago, delivered in 2009. He examines the causes and consequences of the decline of the radical left of the 1920s and 1930s and the Black Power movement in the 1970s, and argues that the current generation of left wing African American politicians and leaders have failed the black community as a whole, and must return to the roots of their forbearers to ensure its prosperity. I wasn't aware of this book before today, and it's a typical example of a book of interest that I would find at City Lights that wouldn't be prominently displayed in any of my other favorite bookstores.

The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop by Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr.: Scott is a bigger jazzhead than I am, and he recommended this book, which he is reading it now, along with the following one. This book looks at the life and influence of one of the greatest bebop pianists of the 1940s and 1950s, known for his breakneck and complex solos, before his career was derailed by several brutal beatings by racist police officers that caused traumatic brain injury and subsequent mental illness, alcohol abuse, and his early death.

Mingus Speaks by John F. Goodman: This is a collection of in depth interviews that took place during Mingus's comeback tour in 1972, some of which were published in Playboy by Goodman, along with commentary by and about the great jazz bassist.

Planned reads for June:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah (2013 Booker Prize longlist?)
Machado de Assis, The Alienist - completed
Ned Bauman, The Teleportation Accident (2012 Booker Prize longlist)
Percival Everett, Percival Everett by Virgil Russell: A Novel
J.G. Farrell, The Singapore Grip (Reading Globally - Southeast Asian literature) - reading
Aminatta Forna, The Hired Man (2013 Booker Prize longlist?)
Paul Harding, Enon (LT Early Reviewer book for May)
Paul Harding, Tinkers (a bit of a prequel to Enon)
Colum McCann, TransAtlantic (2013 Booker Prize longlist?)
José Rizal, Noli Me Tangere (Reading Globally - Southeast Asian literature)
Preeta Samarasan, Evening Is the Whole Day (Reading Globally - Southeast Asian literature)
Jessica Wapner, The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level (Medicine) - completed

The novels by Adichie, Forna and McCann are among several that have been touted on The Mookse and the Gripes Forum's 2013 Speculation thread as strong contenders for the upcoming Booker Prize longlist, which will be announced on July 23. I've read three other books that have received positive reviews in this forum: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid, and Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw. I'll be in London on the date of the longlist announcement and will buy whichever books I don't already own, but I want to get as much as a head start as I can, as I plan to read a dozen or more books in the third quarter for the Reading Globally Francophone literature quarterly theme. Most of you probably know that I host the Booker Prize group on LT, and I'll start discussing this year's prize later this week.

I am thinking of reading Americanah in June as well, so it will be fun to see how you like it.

Already picking the Booker longlist! yay, the countdown begins.

Skios turned out to be a dud huh? I was shaking my head with incredulity while reading it. Now I am on the Wolf Hall bandwagon, and may already be sucked in. I like it, but then, it does have a good story and very good writing, so its not surprising.

Ten White Geese has been on my wish list for several months now; A Golden Age, The Singapore Grip, and Transatlantic are in my stacks. I tried to read the latter last weekend but couldn't get into it after the first section. I'll get back to it soon as I know it involves characters in three time periods, so perhaps it will pick up.

>64 msf59: You're welcome, Mark. Mario Vargas Llosa is a superb author who writes in several different styles, and does it well. For example, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, another favorite MVL book that I didn't mention, is an excellent comic novel, based closely on his life as a young student and scriptwriter and his marriage to his older cousin-in-law.

>65 richardderus: I wish I had brought your book with me today, as I was just across the street from the Parkside Post Office when I went to Kingdom of Dumpling for Shanghai soup noodles and pot stickers at lunch time. I'll put it in the mail tomorrow, though.

Good to hear that you like Alice Munro, Richard. I'll probably give her a try, although I doubt it will be any sooner than next year.

Unfortunately my tote bag that I use for books is completely full after today's City Lights book haul. I'll still make one more trip there on Friday, as I told Scott that I would let him know about the acoustics in the new SF JAZZ Center. I have a ticket to see Miguel Zenón's Rhythm Collective there tomorrow night.

>70 banjo123: Rhonda, several members of The Mookse and the Gripes's 2013 Booker Speculation thread have read Americanah and felt that it was her best book, and one which deserves to be on this year's Booker Prize longlist. This thread has replaced the forum on the Booker Prize's web site, which was taken down after the discussions there became very personal and heated in 2011.

>71 LovingLit: Definitely, Megan. I'll set up a speculation thread on the LT Booker Prize page this weekend, although I don't expect that there will be much conversation about this year's prize until the longlist is announced.

Wolf Hall is utterly brilliant; the only other Booker winner that I've read and liked as much is The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

>72 Cariola: I may read Ten White Geese next month if I have time, Deborah. TransAtlantic will be published in the US on Tuesday, so I'll buy it next week. I've had The Singapore Grip on my TBR pile for a couple of years. I loved the first two novels of the Empire Trilogy, Troubles and The Siege of Krishnapur, so I'm eager to finally get to this book.

I cannot put into words how impressed I am by your reading and ranking (and anticipation of) key literary prizes longlists.

>74 Emrayfo: Thanks, Charles!

You can call this a pet peeve if you'd like. I prefer to think of it as justifiable homicide.

Hear, hear!

Agreed!

>76 kidzdoc: "...but you weren't doing anything!" is something I never hear when interrupted reading.

In my dreams.

Oddly enough, if I'm watching TV, there is no interruption. Ever. Bass ackwards priorities.

Well, you and Megan have answered my questions about Skios, Darryl. Appreciate the two of you reading that one for me. I am delighted that Gerbrand Bakker has won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for Detour. I love his writing and thoroughly enjoyed both The Twin and Detour. On that note, Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses comes to mind; very worthwhile if you haven't already read.

Interesting article in the NYRB online relevant to the discussion of Alice Munro; here's the headline and blurb:

Against Alice Munro by Christian Lorentzen

Reading ten of Alice Munro’s collections in a row has induced in me not a glow of admiration but a state of mental torpor that spread into the rest of my life. I became sad, like her characters, and like them I got sadder. I grew attuned to the ways life is shabby or grubby, words that come up all the time in her stories, as well as to people’s residential and familial histories, details she never leaves out. I saw everyone heading towards cancer, or a case of dementia that would rob them of the memories of the little adulteries they’d probably committed and must have spent their whole lives thinking about.

(That makes me wonder why Richard says, in #62: Alice Munro is must-read. Even for "hang-me-now-life's-too-cruel-to-go-on" Darryl. And reminds me of what I didn't particularly care for in her writing. I'm off to finish the article and see where it ends up.)

Here's the link to the Munro article, although I'm not sure that everyone will be able to access it. There's some small praise, but overall, it's a pretty devastating retrospective of her work. A lot of it had me nodding in agreement; I've never quite understood all the hyperbolic accolades.

Darryl, regarding post #76..Last night I said to Will "Five minutes, just five minutes please, five minutes of quiet to finish my book!"

Oh my; Munro is beginning to sound more and more like Anne Tyler.

Good comparison, Belva, although I would say that Munro is a much better writer. I used to like Anne Tyler but got bored with her work after reading four or five of her novels. The article even drops her name at one point.

Mario Vargas-Llosa as favourite living author? Mmmm I would probably want to choose between Rohinton Mistry and William Trevor.

I haven't seen you mention it so I thought I would bring to your notice that the Commonwealth Writers Regional Awards were announced this month with a fairly interesting and somewhat obscure list. The overall winner to be announced at the Hay Festival today.

Regional Winners:
Africa - Sterile Sky by E.E. Sule (No touchstones for author or book as yet!)

Asia - Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera

Canada & Europe - The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell

Caribbean - Disposable People: Inspired by True Events by Ezekel Alan

Pacific - The Last Thread by Michael Sala

>77 Emrayfo:, 78 I'm glad that you agree, Charles and avidmom.

>79 richardderus: That isn't true for me, Richard, at least not when I'm visiting my parents. My mother always has the TV on, mainly for company, and the more engrossed we are in a program or story the more likely it is that my father will interrrupt at a key segment (although admittedly it's usually for a good reason).

At home my television is primarily a decoration piece for my TV stand.

>80 lit_chick: Megan and I took one for the team by reading Skios. In the right hands it has all the ingredients for a successful theatrical comedy, but it didn't have enough meat on its bones to warrant its selection for an otherwise strong Booker longlist IMO.

I'm glad that you liked The Detour/Ten White Geese, Nancy. (I have no idea why Penguin, the US publisher, chose to give it a different name, though.) I think one of my partners has read Out Stealing Horses, so I'll see if I can borrow it from her.

>81 Cariola: Reading ten of Alice Munro’s collections in a row has induced in me not a glow of admiration but a state of mental torpor that spread into the rest of my life. I became sad, like her characters, and like them I got sadder.

Yikes. This makes my usual choice of reading material seem light and fluffy in comparison.

Off to read the LRB article about Munro...

>82 Cariola: Ouch. That's a pretty devastating evisceration of Munro's work. I have a subscription to The London Review of Books and can read all of its content online, but the full text of that article is available to non-subscribers. I skimmed over the contents of the June 6th issue, which I assume is waiting for me at home, and I'll look for Contagion: How Commerce Has Spread Disease by Mark Harrison today.

I have plenty of books on my TBR pile to read, especially after the addition of 20 books this week and three last week, so I think I'll leave Alice Munro aside for now.

I'll make one more trip to City Lights after breakfast today. I'm hoping that I'll be able to buy an advance copy of TransAtlantic, even though its official release date is Tuesday.

>83 Whisper1: Linda, you may want to show that e-card, and my comment about justifiable homicide, to Will. I take it that he's not the reader that you are.

>84 rainpebble:, 85 Anne Tyler...Anne Tyler...oh, right. Another lauded North American author I've heard of (The Accidental Tourist, Digging to America, Back When We Were Grownups) but have no strong desire to read.

Eyes glazing over...

>86 PaulCranswick: *snaps to attention after mention of Mario Vargas Llosa* Right, Paul. When José Saramago was alive he was my favorite living author, but for me no one comes close to MVL.

Admittedly I haven't read anything by Rohinton Mistry yet, although I do own A Fine Balance and Such a Long Journey. Thanks for mentioning him, as I did want to read at least one of these two books this year.

I enjoyed Love and Summer by William Trevor, and I do want to read Selected Stories this year, although it's a door stopper (ack, the first touchstone for Selected Stories is Alice Munro's book). I think I'll make it a summer long read, and delve into and out of it over several months.

Thanks for posting the regional winners of this year's Commonwealth Book Prize. Admittedly I've become less interested in this award, after its administrators decided to focus only on debut novels this year.

I just found out that Colum McCann is coming to Atlanta on Monday June 10th, to talk about TransAtlantic. He will speak at the Carter Center, the site of former President Jimmy Carter's official library, which is about a 10 minute drive from home. I'm in town that day, and unless I have a hideous day at work I should be able to attend.

*happy dance*

What a coincidence. I just recently read something by Mario Vargas Llosa: a paragraph on the back of my copy of Santa Evita! It is a very good paragraph. :)

>90 avidmom: Ha! I'll have to look for that very good MVL paragraph then.

I'm now back in Atlanta, after a full and enjoyable day yesterday. Included was one last visit to City Lights. I thought I might find one or two books, after two previous visits in less than a week; instead, I came away with eight books, most of which were from my wish list:

The Alienist by Machado de Assis: This is one of Melville House's Art of the Novella series, published in 1882, which is about a Brazilian scientist who achieves fame in Europe and returns to South America, where he opens the first insane asylum in a small town. Using his new found knowledge he recruits a small number of patients, but soon the asylum is overflowing with the supposedly insane. ("Till now, madness has been thought to be a small island in an ocean of sanity. I am beginning to suspect that it is not an island at all but a continent.")

Ways of Going Home by Alejandro Zambra (wish list): A novel set in Santiago, the Chilean capital, which consists of two parts linked by a protagonist, who is a 9 year old boy caught in a large earthquake outside of the city in the first part, and who narrates the second part, as he writes a novel while simultaneously reflecting on his life and his relationship with his father, who apparently is a supporter of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. I enjoyed his novellas Bonsai and The Private Lives of Trees, which I read several years ago.

Satantango by László Krasznahorkai (wish list): The winner of this year's Best Translated Book Award, set in a deserted and decrepit Hungarian village, whose dozen inhabitants are paid a visit by the "Messiah"—or so they think.

The World Is Moving Around Me: A Memoir of the Haiti Earthquake by Dany Laferrière (wish list): An first hand account of the author's experience during the devastating 2010 earthquake, which hit as he was ordering dinner in a restaurant in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (wish list): This novel, which has won several literary awards including the 2011 Miles Franklin Award and is another strong candidate for the upcoming Booker Prize longlist, is set on the coast of Western Australia during the initial colonization of the region by Europeans, who are first welcomed by the aborigines but find themselves at odds with them after they attempt to assert their dominance over them.

City of a Hundred Fires by Richard Blanco (wish list): An award winning debut poetry collection by the author of this year's presidential inaugural poem, which was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 1998.

On the Imperial Highway: New and Selected Poems by Jayne Cortez (wish list): A selection of poems from the recently deceased author, taken from several of her previous works.

Engine Empire: Poems by Cathy Park Hong: This is a trilogy of lyrical and narrative poems, which are set in the 19th century Western US, industrialized China, and the distant future. I own her previous collection Translating Mo'um, which I haven't read yet.

Darryl--I love your book buying, it makes mine look very moderate. I am telling my partner about it so she will realize that I am a book-buying piker.

I've had a copy of That deadman dance sitting on my beside table for at least a year. Good to see that you are whittling down your wishlist.

So jealous of your City Lights trips! I'll be interested to see what you have to say about the two jazz books, the one on Bud Powell and Mingus Speaks. I read Mingus' "autobiography" Beneath the Underdog. Ha! & I saw the documentary of him being evicted. He was bigger than life.

>92 banjo123: Rhonda you have spoken for me as well. Except my partner refuses to believe I am a moderate book buyer even when I present the evidence of my much higher volume book buying LT friends!

I have also tried finding copies of some of the Miles Franklin winners but many of them are not available over here or even via Beook Depo. If I'm not mistaken Kim Scott is a twice winner.

>89 kidzdoc: happy dance!
Love'em.

I saw a review in the paper here for Transatlantic, it was very favrourable, but I have to say it didnt grab me.

>92 banjo123: Thanks, Rhonda. You should tell your partner about Paul Cranswick, who makes all of us seem like book-buying pikers!

BTW, I corrected my post in message #91 to indicate that the two novellas I read and liked were by Alejandro Zambra, not Machado de Assis.

>93 avatiakh: Kerry, I'll probably read That Deadman Dance in July. It was mentioned as a strong candidate for this year's Booker Prize longlist, as it apparently wasn't published in the UK until the end of last year.

>94 cammykitty: Thanks, Katie, I think. :-)

Fortunately nearly all of the 28 books I bought at City Lights fit into my tote bag and shoulder bag, as I only had to put three books into my suitcase. I realized yesterday that I didn't visit the bookstore's basement, which was probably a good thing, as I almost certainly would have come away with more books from there.

I'll almost certainly read the books about Bud Powell and Charles Mingus in July or early August. I usually visit San Francisco in August, when it's hot and muggy in Atlanta and cool and foggy in SF. Scott, my friend who works at City Lights and recommended the Bud Powell book to me, is enjoying that book now, so he'll probably want to talk about it when I return there. He asked me if I had read another jazz book that he had recommended to me last year, and seemed a bit disappointed when I told him that I hadn't read it yet!

I loved Beneath the Underdog. I have at least one other book about Mingus, which was written by his widow. Let's see...hmm. That book is entitled Tonight at Noon: A Love Story by Sue Graham Mingus, but it isn't in my LT library. It could be in one of my boxes of older, uncategorized books (along with Beneath the Underdog), or perhaps I don't own it after all.

>95 Emrayfo: Believe it or not I looked at but didn't get well over a dozen other books at City Lights that were interesting, but not as enticing as the ones I bought. So, I did show some moderation while I was there.

*pats self on back*

>96 PaulCranswick: If I'm not mistaken Kim Scott is a twice winner.

You are not mistaken, sir. He was the first indigenous Australian writer to win the Miles Franklin Award in 2000, for Benang: From the Heart, and That Deadman Dance won the award in 2011. I'm not very familiar with this award, although I have read two of the winners, Carpentaria by Alexis Wright, which was superb, and Breath by Tim Winton, which was very good.

It seems a bit odd that the Miles Franklin award winners wouldn't be available in Malaysia, given the relative proximity between the two countries.

>97 LovingLit: Hopefully Tina will also be able to see Colum McCann with me later this month; if so, this will be the first time I've met an LTer in Atlanta!

I saw a review in the paper here for Transatlantic, it was very favrourable, but I have to say it didnt grab me.

I can't remember if I've read a published review of TransAtlantic yet, but the LTER reviews have been very favorable, and the contributors to The Mookse and The Gripes Forum who have read it have also had good things to say about it. Let's see...nope, the New York Times doesn't have a review of it in today's Book Review. It won't be published here until tomorrow, so I imagine that it will be reviewed in the paper this coming week.

I saw Colum McCann speak a few years ago. You should go if you are able, Darryl. I have been thinking more about his writing and Transatlantic. I think it was absolutely the beauty of his language that drew me in. The storyline itself could not compare to Let the Great World Spin, although I did find the segments on Frederick Douglass and George Mitchell to be quite interesting and would have liked to have seen those expanded.

I agree with you in rating Vargas Llosa as my favorite living author. In my view, he is one of the few exceptions really deserving the Nobel prize given out the last 10-20 years. My favorites among his are pretty much the same as yours, Conversacion en la Catedral, La Fiesta del Chivo (Feast of the Goat), Pantoja, La Guerra del Fin del Mundo (War of he End of the World, etc.

One other thing that I admire about Vargas Llosa is that he is also, in addition of being a superb fiction writer, a thoughtful writer on literary, political and perhaps philosophical issues. The advantage I have of knowing Spanish (accidental by having been born in Guatemala) is that I have been able to read several analytical and historical books that he's written on other authors. My favorite one is the in-depth exploration of Madame Bovary which, unfortunately, was time consuming because of the large number of quotes and references in French which I had to translate relying heavily on a dictionary.

A very interesting one is the compilation of three essays, titled in Spanish Carta de Batalla para Tirant lo Blanc, that he wrote about the book Tirant lo Blanc and its author Joanot Martorell. The best part is the narrative of the letters that Joanot wrote challenging another knight to a duel for having deflowered his sister with a promise of marriage that he never fulfilled. It's amusing to see letters going back and forth for several years between the two knights trying to agree on the terms of the battle, never agreeing on anything. Joanot's attempts to salvage the reputation of his sister aren't met, while her reputation was probably ruined further by the public communications and challenges.

Through another of his literary criticism works I was lead to read the Uruguayan author, Carlos Onetti, who I had never considered reading before.

Darryl, do forgive if we've discussed this before and I've simply forgotten: Have you read Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington? Such a heart-wrenching book. Very grim reminder that racism is Murrika's biggest export: The depatriation of Aboriginal kids was modeled after our own treatment of Native American kids. Like South Africa's much-maligned apartheid was an outgrowth of Murrikin Jim Crow laws.

Read Alice Munro. Just not ten at one go. No author on earth can stand up to that level of scrutiny. Her work is grim, miserable, horrifyingly bleak. You'll adore it.

>99 Linda92007: I just ordered a ticket to Colum McCann's talk, Linda, which includes a signed copy of his book. I'm working with a third year pediatric resident that week, who will be in the last month of his or her training, so my work load that week will be much lighter, and I shouldn't have any problem leaving work in time to hear him speak.

There isn't a review of TransAtlantic in today's NYT, but there is a feature article about him in the NYT Magazine today (thanks, Rebecca):

Colum McCann's Radical Empathy

>100 xieouyang: Thanks for your comments about Mario Vargas Llosa's nonfictional work, Manuel. I suspect that he is Rebecca's favorite author as well. I did see him speak in person once, as he gave the Ellman Lectures at Emory several years ago, but that lecture was almost entirely in Spanish, and I spent much of it translating what he said to a non-Spanish speaking friend who accompanied me. The subjects of those lectures are contained in the book Wellsprings (The Richard Ellmann Lectures in Modern Literature), which I own but haven't read yet.

I'll definitely read Captain Pantoja and the Secret Service and The Green House during the fourth quarter, for the Reading Globally theme on South American literature, and probably The Dream of the Celt as well.

The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary by MVL was one of the books that I saw at City Lights that looked interesting but wasn't enticing enough for me to buy, mainly because I haven't read Madame Bovary.

I'll also read at least one of Juan Carlos Onetti's books for the Reading Globally challenge, most likely Let the Wind Speak, which I already own.

>101 richardderus: Richard, I haven't read Rabbit-Proof Fence, and I don't remember you mentioning it. I shall add it to my now depleted wish list.

I think I'll read the novel by Alice Munro I already own,Lives of Girls and Women, before I decide to tackle her short stories. However, I suspect that she'll have to win the Nobel Prize in Literature or some other major literary award before I read anything else by her.

All this talk of Mario Vargas Llosa got me curious. My library has tons of his books (the list went on for about 13 pages!) but, with the exception of one or two, they're all in Spanish. I don't think the five sentences I know in Spanish will get me very far. *sigh*

Darryl, thanks for the link to the article on McCann. Really interesting. I have several of his books in the stacks (including an ER copy of Transatlantic) but haven't read anything by him yet.

Re: Munro. I have no opinion, as I have not read any of her work, but she is acknowledged as a master of the short story, so to judge her on a novel may be misleading.

Thanks for sharing your time in SF with us. I look forward to more travelogue entries when you go to London!

>95 Emrayfo:: Except my partner refuses to believe I am a moderate book buyer even when I present the evidence of my much higher volume book buying LT friends!

I think this is true of many of us around here!

I've only read one Mario Vargas Llosa (The War of the End of the World) but I loved it and definitely want to read more of his work.

I'm glad your plans for London are developing, Darryl, as I always enjoy following your travels.

>96 PaulCranswick: Paul, Darryl - a good source for Australian authors (or any authors really) is www.booko.com.au - a site that searches the online catalogues of multiple Australian and international online booksellers (many of the Australian ones of which are merely the online presence of local bricks-and-mortar stores). Booko then ranks from cheapest to most expensive showing both book price and postage. Worth checking out.

Also, the award itself is named after Miles Franklin, a female author who wrote under a male pseudonym for the same reasons as George Eliot, George Sand etc. Interestingly, a female-author award has been launced recently in Australia using Miles Franklin's real name: The Stella Prize (from Stella Maria Franklin)

The 2013 Miles Franklin shortlist was dominated by female authors, which was great, and also puts into question the necessity of a separate female-only prize.

Darryl, you must read Madame Bovary- it's one of those books that I continuously think and want to read again. I'm looking for a different translation though. Perhaps I should try it in Spanish; I wouldn't dare in French.

Darryl's is the place to be if you want to find the prize winners and break the book budget!

From the Commonwealth Prize list, Disposable People: Inspired by True Events is on sale now at Kindle for $1.99--so hurry on over people.

I also bought for Kindle That Deadman Dance, but not such a grand bargain at $9.99.

I'll second Richard's recommendation of Rabbit Proof Fence. When we were in Australia, we got to spend some time with an elderly man who was one of the aboriginal children who was taken from his home and family and placed in a mission school near Alice Springs. His personal feelings were ambivalent, since he felt that he would not have lived as long and been in good health had he stayed in the aboriginal camp. I know you don't like movies, but the book was made into an excellent movie of the same name, which included interviews with the women on whose experiences the book is based.

If you get to Rohinton Mistry this year (and I highly recommend that you do, I think you should read A Fine Balance. It is an unforgettable book, and while his other books are good, they did not impress me or move me as much as did A Fine Balance--one of my 5 star books.

#107, For a contrary opinion to Manuel's, I have read Madame Bovary twice (once as a teenager and once in my forties) and didn't like it either time. A friend gave me a relatively new translation of it (by the Lydia Davis whose Proust translation I liked and who just won a prize, I forget which), but I've not been inspired to try it a third time.

>103 avidmom: That's regrettable, avidmom. Hopefully you can find MVL's books (in English) elsewhere.

>104 katiekrug: You're welcome, Katie. I've read two of McCann's books, the Pulitzer Prize winning novel Let the Great World Spin, and Everything in This Country Must: A Novella and Two Stories, which were both very good.

I'm glad to share my travel adventures, although admittedly most of what I post about my trips appears on my Facebook page. I saw a great jazz concert on Friday night at the new SFJazz Center, which featured the Puetro Rican saxophonist Miguel Zenón in performance with his four piece band, along with a 10 piece woodwind section, Alma Adentro. They played updated versions of classic Puerto Rican music, in what he called "The Puerto Rican Songbook", which he likened to The Great American Songbook. I'll write a more detailed review of it in a few days, particularly for the other jazzheads in Club Read.

Good point about Munro. I really should give one of her short stories a try to get a better idea of whether I'll like her work or not.

I found a great hotel deal on Hotels.com for my London trip next month; I'm staying at the Tune Hotel King's Cross, a four star hotel on Gray's Inn Road close to the train station, and the average cost for my 12 night stay is $105, not including ~$20/night in taxes. I'll definitely meet up with Fliss, Rachael, Jenny, Luci and hopefully Charlotte from Club Read in London and Cambridge while I'm there on multiple days, so it should be a fun trip. And, before then, I'll meet up with Caroline and a close friend from medical school in Boston and Cambridge on the 19th and 20th of this month. I haven't seen Caroline since the 2011 Boxing Day LT meet up and my classmate in nearly three years, so I'm looking forward to seeing both of them then.

>105 EBT1002: Definitely read MVL, Ellen. Fortunately his books are (or should be) readily available in good independent bookstores, and he is a relatively prolific writer, although it seems like his latest novels (The Bad Girl, The Dream of the Celt) aren't nearly as good as his novels from the 1960s and 1970s.

There are at least five plays that I want to see in London, and two museum exhibits that I know of so far. So, as usual, I won't have any problem finding things to do in the capital.

>106 Emrayfo: Thanks for mentioning that website for Australian books, Charles. I'll definitely check it out. I haven't had any significant problems finding books by Australian authors in the US or UK so far, though.

Interesting information about the Miles Franklin and Stella awards! I didn't know that.

>107 xieouyang: Thanks for your glowing recommendation of Madame Bovary, Manuel. It is a classic work of literature, so I'll have to read it in the near future (though probably not this year).

>108 arubabookwoman: Deborah, I'll gladly accept the title of Book Prize Central for this thread. However, I think Paul Cranswick (who has purchased well over 400 books so far) is the ultimate budget buster in this group. (Don't ask how much I spent at City Lights this past week, though...)

Thanks for mentioning the Kindle sale on Disposable People; I bought a copy of it.

Thanks also for your recommendation of Rabbit Proof Fence; I'll look for it on my upcoming book jaunts. Another book about the aboriginal population in Australia that I thought was superb is Carpentaria by Alexis Wright, which is set adjacent to Carpentaria Bay in Northern Australia. She is an aborigine, as is Kim Scott, the author of That Deadman Dance.

Thanks for your recommendation of A Fine Balance. I probably should read the two books I own by him first, but I'll probably buy that book sometime this summer, too.

>109 rebeccanyc: Uh oh, conflicting options about Madame Bovary from two LTers whose opinions I highly respect. I'll probably still read it, but I'll keep your comments in mind, Rebecca.

I'm nearly finished with my current book, The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner, which has been superb so far. It's a perfect example of why I love to go to City Lights; I hadn't heard of this book before, but it was on display in the new nonfiction section, and unless it goes seriously off track it will be one of my favorite books of the year.

Charles - Thanks for your info on another book resource. I think that there is some evidence that positive discrimination of authors does work. I am sure the sales of Orange/Women's Prize winners have spiked enormously as a result but with the guys now trailing somewhat it may be time to hit back with a mens only literary award - We would need a very macho sponsor to come forward to kick things off.

Darryl - I would second Deborah's championing of A Fine Balance. Great book.

I am very fond of Alice Munro, our Canadian Chekhov. Like Chekhov, she writes stories where nothing much happens, plot isn't all that important but a lot of truth takes place. I read Munro and think "yes, this is true, this is real". Place matters to her, particularly that of southwestern Ontario. She writes of that part of our province in the way certain southerners write of the South, with a deep, gritty understanding of its people. Her family came from not far from where my mother's family originated in the Borders of Scotland so many of the values, the superstitions, the prescriptions for life are deeply familiar, especially in The View From Castle Rock. She writes of young girls coming to grips with their southwestern Ontario small town surroundings but she also writes of the aging and elderly with tremendous insight and compassion.

I hope you give her a chance, Darryl. She isn't yadda yadda, rah rah sis boom bah, in your face and up your nose...far too subtle for that...but what she has to say about things like the inexorable nature of time, well, few do it better.

#109, Rebecca, did you not like Madame Bovary because of its subject matter or the writing itself? Or both?

Manuel, I think mainly I didn't like it because I couldn't work up any interest in the characters, and I found Emma Bovary herself extremely irritating. I admire Flaubert's writing, and the subject is a more or less universal one, but I guess I just didn't care about the characters. (I don't have to like the characters in a novel, but I do need to be interested in them.)

The Philadelphia chromosome sounds great--I am adding it to my wishlist. I just started Henrietta Lacks and this sounds like a good follow-up.

Tiffin, you make me want to try Alice Munro again. I haven't gotten too engaged when I tried to read her stories in the past, but I do love Chekhov.

Hi Darryl, go look at Facebook.

I don't know how I managed to get so far behind on the threads but whew ... it's a challenge catching up on all the conversations.

I have to second Deborah's recommendation of Rabbit Proof Fence. It's an incredible story about the Australian aboriginal children who were taken from their families and placed in English schools, primarily to be taught how to become domestic helpers and farm hands for English families and farmers. I watched the movie as well and that was very well done. I think you'll enjoy this book and the movie too.

AM Homes.

No. Seriously. AM Homes won the Orange Prize. Or whatever they call it this year.

SMH

Favorite living author? That's an interesting one to think about, Darryl. I do like Mario Vargas Llosa, but the first ones that come to mind for me are Murakami, McCarthy, and Lahiri. And I know there are more. Maybe a top 10 list?

I know I have come very late to this discussion BUT the most admirable and esteemed (by me!) Richard Ford really rates Alice Murno, so I intend to give her a red-hot go. And just lemme at whoever criticised Anne Tyler - who I think is effortless in her writing, understated and quiet. All qualities to be admired, IMHO.

I know I have come very late to this discussion BUT the most admirable and esteemed (by me!) Richard Ford really rates Alice Murno, so I intend to give her a red-hot go. And just lemme at whoever criticised Anne Tyler - who I think is effortless in her writing, understated and quiet. All qualities to be admired, IMHO.

Oh and Darryl, if you are interested in books exploring Australian aboriginal issues, I recommend The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally (of Schindler's Ark fame).

Favorite living author? No question about it for me Darryl---Hilary Mantel. Well the new Orange Prize has devolved into an entirely different kind of prize and I'm not sure I have any interest in it anymore. The judges passed up my favorite author, and Kate Atkinson and Barbara Kingsolver to come up with this year's winner. Very disappointing.

Way back you mention that TransAtlantic might be a candidate for the Booker but McCann has Irish roots but I believe he's American. Maybe I don't know what the rules are.

Do pick up a book of stories by Alice Munro, or even just read a story or two.

I think you deserve an award for your singlehanded attempt to keep independent bookshops everywhere going! I've almost certainly bought more books than you this year, but I don't know if I've spent as much money as you or Paul, because most of my purchases are secondhand or very discounted on Kindle.

On the Women's Prize for Fiction, I'm surprised but am glad that they didn't just give the award to the predictable choice. I liked Mantel, Kingsolver and Atkinson very much indeed, and would have also been happy enough to see the award go to Zadie Smith, but I do like to see prizes and the recognition that goes with them shared around. I've also enjoyed several longlist titles, and the prize is one of those that gets libraries to buy books so it's easier for me to try the new to me authors. I have the Homes book on Kindle, bought last month, and have just reserved Semple at the library.

>101 richardderus:/102 The film version of Rabbit Proof Fence was pretty amazing. I hadnt heard of the book.

>119 richardderus: SMH!!! I SO know what that means (now).
I am up with the play, kickin' it with the cool kids, cutting edge. :)

I love Beneath the Underdog too. It's just leaning a bit into the fictional. I read part of a biography about him where they were fact checking Beneath the Underdog and all his friends said "Oh no. We wish! None of the girls would let us get that far." etc. I quit reading the bio because Beneath the Underdog was much more fun. At some point, you really don't want to know whether he was or was not the only person Ellington ever fired, and if he got fired in such a colorful way. You just knew you were listening to his personal tall tales that he told when he'd had a few... whatever it was he'd have a few of.

Just de-lurking to say another Rabbit Proof Fence fan here. It is quite an incredible work.

...Darryl...?

>129 richardderus: I have the same question.

Apologies for my absence. I had an unusually busy work week, with plenty of complicated sick kids and several hospital committee meetings and administrative tasks. After I came home I drank a mug of coffee so that I could stay awake and read, then promptly fell asleep for five hours. I slept for nine hours, but I'm still pretty brain dead, and I may go back to sleep soon even though I've only been awake for two hours.

I just realized that today is my seventh Thingaversary! I don't think I need any more books, after I bought 28 books at City Lights last week, but I did see Kerry's message about a free Kindle e-book, Sons for the Return Home by Albert Wendt. According to her it's available for free for a week, so I "purchased" my copy just now.

I'll catch up on posts here and elsewhere this weekend, as I have a full work week coming up on Monday.

>112 PaulCranswick: I am sure the sales of Orange/Women's Prize winners have spiked enormously as a result but with the guys now trailing somewhat it may be time to hit back with a mens only literary award.

Hmm. I'm surprised that Paul's well meant comment didn't generate any discussion here. Lois (avaland from Club Read) would certainly have had something to say if she was an active member of this group!

It's pretty well established that women read and buy more books than men. Although (to my knowledge) there are roughly an equal number of male and female authors in the English speaking world, book by male authors are more likely to be reviewed in print and online publications, and I'm all but completely certain that more men win and are selected as finalists for gender neutral literary awards. There are far fewer female than male book reviewers, as well. I don't think that the guys trail the women, and we certainly don't need any male only literary awards IMO.

I'd love to see some hard data to back up my opinion, e.g. a look at the finalists and winners of major literary awards over the past 10-20 years by gender, including year to year trends. I'd do it myself, but I'm way too busy and tired at the moment.

Interestingly the focus of today's Guardian Review is gender disparity in UK literary culture. I haven't read the Review yet, but I'll definitely do so later today or tomorrow.

     Gender balancing the books

     The gender balance of UK literary culture – graphic

     How we calculated the gender balance of UK literary journalism

132> And creating a "women authors only" award may spike sales, but I don't think it does much to elevate the status of women writers, who just aren't taken as seriously, for the most part, as male writers. After all, who will be running out to buy the winner of the Women's Prize? Mostly women readers, methinks.

Something else I wonder: how many of the female-authored novels that have won major prizes feature male protagonists or narrators? Several jump to mind: Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies), Marilynne Robinson (Gilead), Barbara Kingsolver (The Lacuna), Rose Tremain (The Road Home)--many more, I'm sure. Hmmm . . . .

>113 tiffin: Lovely comments in support of Alice Munro, Tui. You've convinced me to give her a try, then. If you were to recommend one book by her, which would it be?

>114 xieouyang:-115 Thanks for that discussion of Madame Bovary, Manuel and Rebecca.

>116 banjo123: The Philadelphia Chromosome by Jessica Wapner was superb, Rhonda; I gave it 4½ stars. I'll write a review of it later today or tomorrow. I mentioned the book to several of my colleagues, including one of the oncologists who I've known since my intern year. None of them had heard of this book, although nearly everyone had read The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddharta Mukherjee. Mukherjee's book is spectacular, one of the best books about medicine I've read and very accessible to all readers, whereas Wapner's book contains much more molecular biology and genetics, which I think would make it a bit more challenging to the reader who doesn't have a casual knowledge in these areas. However, she did a superb job in explaining it, and she got her information right. I'd suggest reading The Emperor of All Maladies first, then moving onto The Philadelphia Chromosome, although that certainly isn't necessary.

BTW, the most enticing blurb on the back cover of The Philadelphia Chromosome was written by Mukherjee:

"The story of the Philadelphia chromosome is truly the story of modern cancer biology—from the very earliest description of a chromosomal abnormality in cancer cells to the development of a targeted medicine against a formerly lethal type of leukemia. Jessica Wapner stitches the whole story together with tenacity, diligence (and humor). This is a wonderful, readable, and highly informative book."

>117 richardderus: Richard, I found out right away that A.M. Homes was the surprise winner of this year's Women's Prize for Fiction. I haven't read May We Be Forgiven, as I wasn't interested in its premise, and I was disappointed that neither Life After Life nor Bring Up the Bodies was chosen instead. I have yet to read a review of the Homes in print or on LT that makes me want to buy it.

BTW, today's Guardian Review includes a short story by A.M. Homes. I probably won't read it either.

     Zoo Story, by AM Homes

I read Some Things You Should Know: A Collection of Stories and Music for Torching. A novel, some stories. That's a fair shot for any writer.

I found her storytelling skills and choices wanting. I never found any sort of surprise, or pleasure, or unexpected moment that would cause me to return to her work.

C'est la vie de lecteur.

>118 cameling: I agree, Caroline. I've been skimming the threads to look for book reviews, as there is no way for me to keep up with most of the conversations.

Thanks for your hearty recommendation of Rabbit Proof Fence; I've added it to my Kindle wish list.

>119 richardderus: Right, Richard. I still can't remember the name of her book...oh yeah, May We Be Forgiven. I'll probably forget it again within the next hour.

>120 jnwelch: Good idea for a top 10 living author list, Joe. Let's see...in no particular order (except for MVL), these authors are solid choices:

Mario Vargas Llosa
Hilary Mantel
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Caryl Phillips
Haruki Murakami
Ian McEwan
Ha Jin

There are over a dozen authors who I would consider for the final three spots on my top 10 list, including Amos Oz, Abraham Verghese, J.M. Coetzee, Edwidge Danticat, Colm Tóibín, Natasha Trethewey, Salman Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh.

>121 PrueGallagher: Oops. I wasn't the one who criticized Anne Tyler, Prue, as I haven't read anything by her. If I had to guess, I'd blame Richard (a generally reliable policy IMO).

>122 PrueGallagher: Oops. I wasn't the one who criticized Anne Tyler, Prue, as I haven't read anything by her. If I had to guess, I'd blame Richard (a generally reliable policy IMO). ;-)

>123 PrueGallagher: Thanks for recommending The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Prue. I've added it to my Amazon wish list.

>124 brenzi: Good choice on Hilary Mantel as your favorite living author, Bonnie. She's definitely in my top five list, and possibly as high as second behind only MVL.

Well the new Orange Prize has devolved into an entirely different kind of prize and I'm not sure I have any interest in it anymore. The judges passed up my favorite author, and Kate Atkinson and Barbara Kingsolver to come up with this year's winner. Very disappointing.

Sigh. I had the same thought this week after the prize announcement, which is a discouraging one. Even though I was disappointed by the choice of the Homes book (uh...right, May We Be Forgiven), my thoughts about the award are bolstered by the books that were chosen for the longlist, particularly Life After Life, which I suppose many of us wouldn't have read or have heard about if it hadn't been chosen. On the other hand that is the only longlisted book so far that I hadn't previously read, so this year's prize hasn't had the impact on my reading than it did in previous years. And, I was very discouraged by the longlists for the 2010 and 2011 Booker Prizes, but the 2012 judges restored the prize to its previous high standing for me, along with many others, I assume.

>125 elkiedee: Do pick up a book of stories by Alice Munro, or even just read a story or two.

Will do, Luci.

I do like to support independent bookstores (City Lights, Book Culture (NYC), Harvard Book Store, London Review Bookshop, Foyles(?), etc.), even if I have to pay full price for the books I buy there. I'd rather give my money to them rather than Amazon (who gets enough money from me for my non-book purchases) or Barnes & Noble.

Now that it has multiple branches does Foyles still count as an independent bookshop?

>126 LovingLit: I am up with the play, kickin' it with the cool kids, cutting edge. :)

*rolls eyes like a teenager*

>127 cammykitty: I quit reading the bio because Beneath the Underdog was much more fun.

I agree, Katie. It may not have been entirely accurate, but it was very entertaining!

Anne Tyler...boooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnngggg.

Happy to oblige.

138> Thank you, Richard. (Actually, it was Belva and me--sorry!)

The only Caryl Phillips I've read thus far is The Nature of Blood a few years ago. I remember it as being an incredible book. I've been remiss about reading more from him, although I do have The Right Set, a collection of tennis stories from him in my TBR Tower that I'd like to.

I hope your weekend is more relaxing and you get some much deserved rest, Darryl.

>128 rainpebble: Clearly I need to read Rabbit Proof Fence. Thanks, Belva!

>129 richardderus: Reporting for duty, sir...

>130 avidmom: ...and ma'am. I didn't get home until 9 pm or later Monday through Thursday last week, so I only had a couple of hours off before I went to bed for the night. On days like that I normally don't look at LT.

>133 Cariola: I agree, Deborah. I don't think May We Be Forgiven will garner much crossover appeal here or in the UK as a result of its WPF win. I know that some person or organization tallies the sales of the longlisted and winning Booker novels in the UK, and there have been notable upticks in the number of books sold after the longlists, shortlists and winners are announced. I wonder if anyone has done this for the Orange Prize/WPF?

Ugh. I make a motion that we refer to the Women's Prize for Fiction/Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (or whatever it will called in 2016, when Baileys' sponsorship will expire) as the Orange Prize, regardless of the current or future names of the award. Anyone want to second this motion? All in favor say "aye".

Something else I wonder: how many of the female-authored novels that have won major prizes feature male protagonists or narrators?

Right. Probably the majority, I would suspect. Add The Song of Achilles to that list.

>135 richardderus: I didn't know anything about A.M. Homes before the prize announcement, and I assumed that she wasn't from the US, as I hadn't heard of her. I'm not the slightest bit encouraged to read May We Be Forgiven or anything else by her. In contrast, last year I did read the entire Orange Prize shortlist before the award ceremony, and I was very pleased that Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles was chosen as the winner.

Oh. Speaking of unexciting award winners, Kevin Barry won this year's IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for City of Bohane this week. I won't be reading that book, either.

>138 richardderus:, 139 So, Richard wasn't the guilty party (and I knew that), but I'm not surprised at his comment about Anne Tyler. Sic 'em, Prue!

>140 cameling: I hadn't heard of The Right Set, Caroline! I'll have to look for it. I greatly enjoyed his recent collection of essays Colour Me English, which may be a good place to start. My favorite novels by Phillips are A Distant Shore (5 stars), Foreigners (4½ stars) and Dancing in the Dark (4½ stars), with Crossing the River and Cambridge being nearly as good (4 stars each). The only book of his that I didn't like was his latest novel, In the Falling Snow (3 stars).

I'll (try to) put off my outstanding administrative tasks until next week and relax instead. I'd like to read all of The Singapore Grip, the last novel in J.G. Farrell's Empire Trilogy, by Sunday night. It's nearly 600 pages long, so I may not finish it by then. One of the gastroenterologists I work with has recently written a book about infant nutrition, What to Feed Your Baby: Cost Conscious Nutrition for Your Infant, and he had an advance copy sent to me. Hopefully I can finish it before I leave town next Saturday.

I was going to post that gender disparity article as well Darryl. Although the tone of the article is that there needs to be much improvement in gender equality, it seems to me that if you look at fiction alone then the figures do not actually show a lot of gender disparity. The overall fiction figures for all publications came to 50% male / 50% female for the sex of the reviewer, and 54% male /46% female for the sex of the authors. And that is after including two publications (Mail on Sunday and London Review of Books) who have no female reviewers listed.

I'm glad you managed to also get a free copy of Wendt's book. The Order of New Zealand is the highest honour here in our Queen's Birthday List, only 20 living New Zealanders at a time can hold it.

Happy Thingaversary Darryl! I'm thinking that 4 - 1 ratio (28 books for 7 years) seems about right for celebrating the occasion . . .

>131 kidzdoc: happy thingaversary! I hope you aren't getting 7 year itch.

Happy Thingaversary, Darryl.

As for Richard, I wouldn't expect a man who hates cats to enjoy Anne Tyler...but more's the pity. There's joy in both, for them as can appreciate it. I also like Alice Munro, though I couldn't have made her case nearly as eloquently as Tui has done (and it's to her credit that I know the woman's work at all).

Happy Thingaversary, Darryl!

Wow! 7 years! I'll be there in July, so please set a high book-buying standard for me to match! And enjoy it!

Happy Thingaversary and happy reading, Darryl!

I never bothered to check, but I see that my sixth is coming up on June 17.

Morning Darryl- Happy Thingaversary! Seven years. Wow! Tomorrow is mine. 5 measly years. By the way, track down A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. It's an incredible read and I think it's right up your alley too. My favorite read of the year.

151> Glad to hear that you think highly of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. I just got it and will put it at the top of my TBR pile.

Does six months count? I don't seem to need an excuse to buy more books. :)

Linda3rd is right...reading an Anne Tyler novel is like having tea from a cracked, dirty mug in a slatternly neighbor's cattified kitchen, having to blow the cat hairs off the chair and the table before sitting down and expiring of allergies.

Seven years! Good gravy!

#154 My words have been grossly misrepresented. Grossly and with malice aforethought.

:-)

Book #52: The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner



My rating:

In 1959 two Philadelphia researchers, David Hungerford, a scientist at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Peter Newell, a physician studying cancer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, made a momentous discovery that revolutionized the understanding of cancer. Hungerford, who specialized in studying and photographing chromosomes from a variety of species, looked at a slide of the cancerous cells from a patient with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), using a technique of halting chromosomes during division that was designed by Newell. To his great surprise, Hungerford noticed that one of the chromosomes was significantly shorter than it should have been. He took a photograph of the shortened chromosome and showed it to Newell, who subsequently prepared slides of cancerous cells from several other people with CML. Each of these patients had the same abnormal chromosome. The two published their findings in a three paragraph article in Science the following year. The study was largely ignored, as the study of genetics was in its infancy, and essentially no one suspected that cancer could be caused by chromosomal abnormalities.

Over a decade later Janet Rowley, a geneticist at the University of Chicago, studied these same cells from CML patients, using staining and visualization techniques that weren't available to Hungerford and Newell. She found the same shortened chromosome, which was by then determined to be chromosome 22, but she also found that chromosome 9 was also abnormal, being longer than it should have been. Through meticulous study of these chromosomes she correctly determined that a portion of chromosome 22 had migrated to chromosome 9, while a similar portion of chromosome 9 appeared on chromosome 22, in a process that is known as chromosomal translocation:



This translocation led to the creation of a fusion gene, made up of a portion of the abl gene of chromosome 9 and the bcr gene of chromosome 22. The bcr-abl gene, known as an oncogene, led to the production of a protein that allowed the affected cell to rapidly multiply without the normal controls exhibited by other cell types. Similar to the famous Trouble with Tribbles episode of Star Trek, the cancerous cells, which are derived from immature white blood cells, overtake the bone marrow, leading to decreased production of the normal bone marrow cells: red blood cells, normal white blood cells and platelets.



Initially this causes anemia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia, or decreased red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets in the circulatory system, respectively. As the cancerous cells continue to multiply they escape from the bone marrow and make their way into the bloodstream in large numbers, which causes profound leukocytosis, or an excessive number of white blood cells in the circulatory system. Leukemia is often diagnosed at this stage, when the blood is filled with abnormally large white blood cells.


Photo Credits: Eric V. Grave / Photo Researchers, Inc., ISM/Phototake

Without any treatment to block the uncontrolled multiplication of these leukemic cells they migrate to other organs, which leads to organ dysfunction and ultimately death.

(Got it? Quiz on Friday.)

In The Philadelphia Chromosome, Jessica Wapner brilliantly describes the painstaking research by scientists and clinicians to elucidate the mechanisms on a genetic and molecular level that lead to cancer, including the study of cancer causing viruses such as Rous sarcoma virus and Moloney virus, and the discovery of tyrosine kinase and other protein kinases, which are essential to normal function and growth in healthy cells but can cause unregulated division in cancerous cells. The bcr-abl in CML cells was discovered to code for an abnormal tyrosine kinase, and a collaboration between academia and the pharmaceutical industry led to the eventual development of the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor, imatinib mesylate, which is also known as Gleevec in the US and Glivec in most of the rest of the world. The use of this and subsequent tyrosine kinase inhibitors has allowed people with CML to live near normal lives by taking one pill a day, with minimal side effects; until the 1980s CML was a universally fatal disease. Other kinase inhibitors and similar compounds are under development, which have not yet been as successful in treating other malignancies but hold promise that cancer can be successfully controlled, if not cured, in our lifetimes.

The Philadelphia Chromosome is a carefully researched and very well written book, given the complexity of the techniques used in molecular biology and genetics, which also reads like a suspense novel as Wapner describes the hurdles that the discoverers of the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor faced in getting Novartis, its manufacturer, to approve the drug for clinical trials and make it available to the general public. It is a very important and timely book, which I would recommend to all readers, although it may prove to be a bit of a challenge for those readers without a basic science background. It is nearly as good as Siddharta Mukherjee's Pulitzer Prize winning book The Emperor of All Maladies: The Biography of Cancer, and it would be a perfect next step for those wishing to learn more detail about cancer research after reading that book.

*applause, applause* Aaaand the award goes to Darryl a/k/a kidzdoc, for the most imaginative use of Star Trek iconography to inform and delight in a book review!

Reading about cancer is, for me, just damned good and depressing. Iain M. Banks died of gall bladder cancer this morning, US time, and the number of different cancers that humans are prone to is, to put it mildly, a disheartening inventory.

Off to sob into my slice of pineapple upside down cake.

>143 SandDune: I still haven't read that article, Rhian, but I'm surprised that the study showed as little gender disparity as it did. If I remember correctly a similar study was performed in the US, and there was a significant amount of disparity in the major publications here.

No female reviewers listed in the LRB? I'll have to ask a certain someone about that when I travel to London next month.

>144 avatiakh: Thanks for mentioning that book, Kerry; I'm certain I wouldn't have found about it otherwise. That is quite an honor; good for him.

>145 brenpike: Thanks, Brenda. That was a good ratio for this year, but I doubt that I'll buy 32 books within a week this time next year.

>146 LovingLit: I think I'm safe from the seven year itch, Megan. I'm not married yet, despite the tireless efforts of a certain ex-girlfriend, and I don't seem to have scabies.

>147 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Linda. I like cats (although my immune system doesn't; achoo!), so maybe I should give Alice Munro and Anne Tyler a try. Tui did make an eloquent case for reading Munro, as you rightly said.

Absolutely fascinating. My science background isn't great, but I'm always interested in reading about those kinds of things, as long as they don't go too far over my head. I'll have to keep an eye out for those two books.

>148 ronincats: Thanks, Roni!

>149 rebeccanyc: Thanks, Rebecca. I'm surprised that it's been seven years since I first joined LT! My pre-Thingaversary book haul of 28 books is a high book-buying standard IMO, although it's probably only an average week's haul for Paul.

>150 Cariola: Thanks, Deborah. I only remember the date of my Thingaversary in the back of my mind, and it's only because someone else (Donna?) mentioned her Thingaversary that I remembered mine, both this year and in the past few years.

>151 msf59: Happy day before Thingaversary, Mark! You may not be as "old" as me, but you're as influential and popular as anyone on LT! I still remember your comment from several years ago, in which you wondered if you could hang with the "big dogs". There aren't many people who can hang with you now!

Thanks for recommending A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. I've added it to my Amazon wish list (which I can access on my smartphone), and I'll look for it when I go book shopping with Caroline next week.

>152 Cariola: I look forward to your comments about A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Deborah.

>157 kidzdoc: Thanks for that review of The Philadelphia Chromosome. Although most of it made sense to me, I think I'll have to reread it before the quiz on Friday. ;)

This week my son won an award at school: "Most Likely to Grow Up and Cure Cancer."
I wouldn't put it past him. One can hope. :-)

>153 NanaCC: Six months on LT is plenty of reason to celebrate, Colleen! Not that any of us need an excuse to buy books...

>154 richardderus: reading an Anne Tyler novel is like having tea from a cracked, dirty mug in a slatternly neighbor's cattified kitchen, having to blow the cat hairs off the chair and the table before sitting down and expiring of allergies.

If you removed the mug and cleaned up the kitchen that could describe the homes of more than a few LTers, I think.

Although I've technically been a member of LT since 6/8/06 I've only been active for a little less than 5 years. I probably wouldn't have joined this group if akeela and deebee1 (who have since migrated to Club Read) hadn't invited me in late 2008.

>155 laytonwoman3rd:, 156 Someone is in trouble. Then again, when is Richard not in trouble?

>158 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Linda!

*bows gracefully*

>159 richardderus: Oh, no! I didn't realize that Iain Banks had died before I saw your message; how sadly ironic. Although I haven't read anything by him I did purchase two of his books, The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road, after he made the announcement that he was terminally ill with gall bladder cancer a couple of months ago. I had planned to pose a TIOLI challenge in his honor, in the hope that he would still be alive. Since my original idea, which I shelved this month due to my work schedule, I've come up with another TIOLI challenge that I'd like to pose for July. Hopefully someone else will post an Iain Banks challenge next month.

>161 tloeffler: Thanks, Terri. In the first part of my review I wanted to describe the basic molecular biology and genetics behind the discovery of the Philadelphia chromosome and the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor, mainly to give an idea of what the book was about and the level of detail that it contains. The Philadelphia Chromosome is written for the general reader, and if you can understand my review I think you'll have no major problems reading the book.

This book and The Emperor of All Maladies are two of my most favorite books about science and medicine written this century, so I would highly recommend them to you and everyone else.

>163 avidmom: You're welcome, avidmom. BTW, the science contained in this book is very familiar to me, as I was a microbiology major in college and worked in a molecular biology research lab that studied murine leukemia viruses and oncogenes after college and before I went to medical school. I'd be happy to be a resource to anyone who chooses to read The Philadelphia Chromosome.

This week my son won an award at school: "Most Likely to Grow Up and Cure Cancer."

That's fabulous! Congratulations to your son; you must be beaming with pride. :-)

Yeah, thass me, always in trouble for thinkin' my own thoughts and makin' 'em public. Heh! One of life's little pleasures.

>166 richardderus:

Ha! Great GIF!

Hey Darryl... I'm not going to make it to the event tomorrow. I'm sorry.... Was really hoping to meet you! Hopefully next time.

No problem, Tina. Thanks for letting me know.

BTW, Khaled Hosseini will be speaking at the First Baptist Church in Decatur on Thursday at 6 pm about his new novel And the Mountains Echoed. I'm on call that day, so I won't be able to go.

I would love to hear Khaled Hosseini. I loved his latest, well actually I loved all his books.

Thumb for that excellent review Darryl and Happy Thingaversary:-)

Thanks for the Phillips recommendations, Darryl. I've added your 4 star and above ones to my obese wish list. Btw, bring an extra bag for books when you come to Boston next week. :-) We need to celebrate your Thingaversary when you're here.

Darryl -
Did you happen to see what Khaled Hosseini said about Alice Munro in the "By the Book" section of the NY Times Book Review today? Said that she was one of his favorites and that she was "one of the classic underappreciated writer among readers".

Great review of the Philadelphia Chromosome.

I do like Anne Tyler. Many years ago, just out of my teens, I gave a copy of Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant to my mother. My mom read it and then said "I hope that you didn't give this to me because you think that's what our family is like." That hadn't been my intent, but when I thought about it, maybe she was right. (So I'll have a cup of tea in the chipped mug with cat hair on the side. That's a great description, Richard)

>171 brenzi: Thanks, Bonnie. I own two of Khaled Hosseini's books, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, but I haven't read either one yet. If I have a very quiet call day and can leave work by 5 pm there is a chance that I could drive to Decatur (which is immediately east of Atlanta) in time to attend his talk. However, I would guess that he will draw a much larger crowd than Colum McCann will at the Carter Presidential Center tomorrow night. I'll take a picture or two if I can and "review" his talk.

>172 cameling: You're welcome, Caroline. I'll bring my tote bag with me (after I remove the books I bought last week in SF), along with a City Lights shoulder bag, which is usually large enough to hold a single day's purchases. Usually.

>173 catarina1: I haven't read today's paper yet. For that matter I haven't read much of anything this weekend; I was too tired to focus yesterday, and although I'm more awake today I'm nearly as unfocused. Even though I'm enjoying my current book, The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell, I can't seem to pay attention to it for more than 15 minutes at a time. Hopefully I can read for at least a couple of hours before I go to bed tonight.

>174 banjo123: Thanks, Rhonda!

159/165 - Tis very sad news indeed - at least Iain saw his last book in the published form before he passed on - it was one of his wishes .... as things settle down will make an effort to read/re-read some of his work this year .....

I am looking forward to your comments on The Singapore Grip that I've been thinking of reading, ever since I finished The Siege of Krishnapur that I found "gripping."

>176 roundballnz: Maybe we can have a group read of Iain Banks's works later this year, Alex. I'd like to read The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road in the next month or two.

>177 xieouyang: Will do, Manuel. I've only read 100 pages, but it's outstanding so far.

The Wasp Factory is a perfect group read. Perfect.

178/179 - Yes The Wasp Factory would be a great group read - not too long either ........ let me know I will read along with you all .

I just read the first chapter of The Crow Road and I'd love to keep reading but have errands to run.

Add my name to the list of those who like Anne Tyler's books. I was hooked when I read Dinner at the Homesick Restuarant.

I admit though that I'm not a huge fan of her recent meanderings.

I'm ducking while Richard throws the chipped tea cups my way.

Thanks for your great review Darryl!

I should have known better. I meant to take a quick nap before I left home to hear Colum McCann speak last night at the Carter Center. Instead I slept for two hours, and missed it entirely. I'll go to A Cappella Books later this week to pick up my signed copy of TransAtlantic.

>179 richardderus:, 180 A group read of The Wasp Factory sounds good to me. I could do it in July, or later if it's better for a majority of people.If you vote "No" but still want to read the book, please indicate what month would be better for you.

>181 avatiakh: I bought The Crow Road, but I my copy contains just over 500 pages. I'm having a subpar reading month so far, so I suspect that some of my planned reads for this month will be deferred to July, which will make it difficult for me to read The Crow Road then.

>182 Whisper1: There are clearly split opinions on Anne Tyler and Alice Munro. I'll just have to try one recommended book by each author, although it almost certainly won't be anytime soon.

You're welcome, Linda! I'm glad that you enjoyed my review of The Philadelphia Chromosome.

Off to work...

Popping in to say a quick hello Darryl. RL has kept me in lurking mode and way behind on threads. Take care.

>183 kidzdoc: I'm sorry you slept through the lecture last night, kidzdoc.

I like Ann Tyler too. I searched my library and found I marked Patchwork Planet as a personal favorite - but then I had to look up the book description to remember what it was about. Saint Maybe is another one I like from her, I remember it.

I really liked Saint Maybe the best of any Tyler novels I've read. I think I have A Patchwork Planet still waiting for me...somewhere... That may be one for my ROOT challenge.

For Tyler, I would recommend The Accidental Tourist. I see it's one of her more highly rated books. I also liked the movie with William Hurt.

#187 That was definitely a good one, too.

Darryl, if you slept through it simply means that you needed that rest and sleep more than the lecture. You can probably see that on youtube anyway.

And I would recommend Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, still my favorite Tyler.

Where is everybody? Daryl?

Ann Tyler must have scared them all away.

HA!

Maybe we're all off studying for that threatened quiz he was supposed to give us today on The Philadelphia Chromosome.

Nah.

>187 banjo123: Well, you've convinced me to read The Accidental Tourist next, anyway :)

Morning Darryl!

Woo! Another busy work week has come to an end. I'm off from work for the next seven days, so I'll take a flight to Trenton, the New Jersey state capital, this afternoon to visit my parents and celebrate Father's Day with them tomorrow. On Tuesday I'll take an Amtrak train from Trenton to Boston, and Caroline & I will meet the following day, where we'll eat, hit a museum or two, eat, buy books, and eat. One of my closest friends from medical school will be flying from LA to Boston that evening, for an amateur piano competition in Cambridge, and we'll hang out in Cambridge during the day, and hopefully meet up with Caroline that afternoon or evening. I'll take the train back to Trenton on Friday morning, visit my parents for a few hours, then fly back to Atlanta that night. I haven't seen Caroline in a year and a half and Yvonne in nearly three years, so I'm excited to see them and spend a few days in Boston or Cambridge. I'll bring my camera and take plenty of photos, which I'll post here.

The Atlanta area experienced a line of severe thunderstorms, with at least one embedded tornado, on Thursday night. The tornado was headed toward the hospital I worked at, so all of the patients were evacuated from their rooms and placed in the central portion of the patient care areas until the danger had passed. Fortunately the tornado fell apart just before it entered Sandy Springs, and the hospital wasn't damaged by the strong winds, heavy rain and hail that passed through. Unfortunately numerous branches and whole trees, small and large, fell on power lines, homes and cars, causing widespread damage, power outages and street closures. Several people I work with were affected, but fortunately no one was seriously injured.

As usual during a busy work week I did essentially no reading, so I'll still working on The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell, which I should finish early next week, probably during the nearly six hour trip to Boston. I love long train rides, as long as they are uneventful, so I'm also looking forward to some quality reading time on Tuesday and Friday.

Catching up...

>184 luvamystery65: Hi Roberta! Like you I've been too busy to read or post on any threads this past week. I'll catch up this weekend, though.

>185 avidmom: Right, avidmom; I'm sorry that I missed Colum McCann's talk. No one else I know saw him speak, so I can't ask anyone about it. If I have time I'll stop by A Cappella Books this afternoon to pick up my signed copy of TransAtlantic.

>185 avidmom:-188 Thanks for the Ann Tyler recommendations avidmom, Linda and Rhonda. I'll keep them in mind when Caroline & I go book shopping on Wednesday.

>189 xieouyang: Right, Manuel. I definitely needed that rest, and it's possible that I may have gone to the talk and fallen asleep there, especially since there wouldn't have been anyone there to keep me company (and keep me awake). Good point about YouTube; I'll look to see if the Carter Center has videotaped lectures of its author performances.

>190 brenzi: Thanks for that additional Ann Tyler recommendation, Bonnie.

>191 tangledthread: I'm here, tangledthread! Not for long, though, as I need to do some laundry and pack for my flight this afternoon.

>192 laytonwoman3rd:-193 Nope; I'm not scared of Ann Tyler. I do want to stay on Hilary Mantel's good side, though, given her recent comments about Kate Middleton.

>194 avidmom: Quiz! Thanks for the reminder, avidmom. There will be a quiz on Monday.

>195 LovingLit: Hallo, Megan! I would wish you a good morning back, but I have no idea what time it is in Upside Down World Christchurch. Checking...you're 16 hours ahead of the East Coast of the US, so it's just before midnight on Saturday. So, have a good night and a lovely Sunday!

The Garden of Evening Mists won the Walter Scott Prize over La Mantel's latest. Ha!

Have fun in Boston. Remember that any one of the people you and Caro see could be carrying the pineapple upside down cake you dread.

>199 richardderus: Don't tell Hilary, but I was glad that The Garden of Evening Mists won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction over Bring Up the Bodies. I loved both books, but I gave a slight edge to Tan Twan Eng's book as my favorite of the two in my 2012 Booker longlist ranking.

Uh oh. Caroline & I will have to keep our eyes peeled for any Long Islanders carrying inedible cakes. Hopefully the Puritan ban on carrying or consuming pineapple upside down cakes in Massachusetts is still in effect.

>200 kidzdoc: You poor, deluded sap. Elbridge Gerry, he of the "gerrymandering" debacle, rescinded that ban in 1812. Now no one is safe.

>201 richardderus: Damn. Can I remove the pineapples and cherries and just eat the cake?

As there is pineapple juice in the cake, and I also dislike those glassine-wrapped cherries, sure!

Pineapple juice in the cake? Gack. Never mind...

WTF? I received an e-mail telling me that my flight on Frontier Airlines from Atlanta to Trenton has been cancelled. That's the only flight of the day! I'm now on hold, to find out if this information is correct; the estimated wait time to speak to an agent is 19 minutes. F*** this; I'll cancel this flight and try to get a flight on Delta to Philadelphia today or tomorrow morning.

Royally pissed off...

Yay for The Garden of Evening Mists! That would've been my pick, if they had asked. Have a good time with your folks and Caroline and Yvonne, Darryl. I'll bet you're ready for a week off.

Whoops, just saw your post on the canceled flight. Hope it all sorts out okay. Frustrating, I'm sure.

Nice of you on going to see your folks, and especially your father on father's day. Enjoy the vacation- well deserved.

Hope your travel plans work out.

>196 kidzdoc: where we'll eat, hit a museum or two, eat, buy books, and eat.
Best plans ever.

I'd be royally pissed off, too. Hope you are able to rebook without hassle and get to Trenton for Father's Day, Darryl. Will be following your adventures here. Sounds like you have a great few days planned!

Hope you aren't still hanging on hold by now--and that you make it home for Father's Day. Frontier should give you a nice voucher and a full refund; I've got my fingers crossed that they don't try to charge you a cancellation fee.

Darryl - if it helps brighten your mood, I'm pleased to inform you that all inedible and poisonous pineapple cakes are contraband in MA. I've planned out some eating options to keep us fueld during our day out next Wednesday. And yes, I'll see you Thursday too because I've managed to move some stuff around. :-)

Sorry to hear your flight was cancelled. I hope you get to book a flight on Delta instead.

Hope you've found another flight! That really stinks. I'd be royally peeved too. :(

Bad news: Frontier Airlines has no flights from Atlanta to Trenton before Monday, as the plane that was supposed to leave for Trenton today suffered mechanical difficulties on the flight from Trenton to Atlanta yesterday (or actually today, as it landed just before 3 am this morning instead).

Good news: I have plenty of frequent flier miles on Delta, so I was able to book a flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia tomorrow morning, and a return flight from Boston to Atlanta on Friday, which cost $5. So, I'll be able to spend Father's Day with my parents and brother after all.

Alls well that ends well mate. Have a lovely day with your family tomorrow. Like pineapple juice but why waste it in a cake?

>206 jnwelch: Joe, we're both fortunate to live in cities with major airports that have thousands of arriving and departing flights every day. I had no problem finding a seat on a Delta plane from ATL to PHL, as there are roughly a dozen or so flights each way between the two cities every day.

>207 xieouyang: Thanks, Manuel. My father turns 79 this year, so I don't know how many more Father's Days I'll have with him. Fortunately he's in relatively good health and remains very active. My mother will turn 78 this year; she isn't in as good a physical condition as my father is, but she's better off than most other women I know in their late seventies.

>208 avidmom: Thanks, avidmom. I was just telling Caroline that I actually saved $113 by switching itineraries, as I'll receive a full refund of my $118 Frontier round trip tickets.

Best plans ever.

I feel very fortunate and blessed to be able to spend time with my parents and brother, and to have good friends like Caroline and Yvonne that I am very fond of. I love my books, but nothing beats spending time with people that you treasure.

>209 lit_chick: Definitely, Nancy! This should be a very enjoyable week.

>210 Cariola: Frontier didn't charge me a cancellation fee, Deborah, as there are no other flights from ATL to Trenton until Monday (Frontier only provides flights between the two cities four times per week). Although it would be very convenient to fly into and out of Trenton I will be very reluctant to use Frontier in the future, as I would possibly have been in trouble had this cancellation happened on Friday's return flight to Atlanta. I'm on call on Saturday, and there is a good chance that someone would have had to work for me that day if I couldn't get a flight to Atlanta on short notice.

>211 cameling: *happy dance for seeing Caroline on Wednesday and Thursday!*

Today is a perfect example of why I'll remain a loyal Delta customer. I was able to book seats on flights on short notice, saved over $100 by doing so, and got upgraded to flrst class on tomorrow morning's flight. Bye bye, Frontier.

That's a busy seven days you've set yourself - sounds fun, though. I'm glad you were able to sort out your ticket problem - yay for frequent flyer points! I hope that other airline gives you a full refund. As for pineapple, it's supposed to be good for the digestion!

Wow Darryl, I'm sorry you had such trouble with Frontier. I noticed last week they fly out of a small airport near here, but I don't think I'll bother checking them out now!

>214 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. I dislike pineapple juice as much as I dislike pineapple upside down cake, though.

>216 Emrayfo: Only one or two of those days will be busy ones, Charles, definitely Wednesday and possibly Thursday. However, they will be the most enjoyable days of next week.

>217 lauralkeet: Laura, that small airport is Trenton Mercer Airport (TTN), located in Ewing, NJ, which is about 5 miles south of Princeton and 9 miles north of my parents' house, so it's much closer than PHL, which is nearly 30 miles away from them. Delta used to provide a single daily nonstop flight from ATL to TTN and back, until it cancelled service about 4-5 years ago because of low ridership (the last time I took that flight from ATL there were six passengers on board). Flying into and out of TTN would be an attractive option for people who live in Bucks County and central New Jersey, who would have to drive much longer distances to PHL or Newark. Frontier now flies from TTN to 10 destinations, including Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Atlanta and four of the major airports in south Florida, so it seems to be committed to servicing the area. However I won't fly with Frontier again until it regains my trust, if it ever does.

214 > am with you on the pineapple juice ........

The final interview with Iain Banks - "… let's face it; in the end the real best way to sign off would have been with a great big rollicking Culture novel." .... Tis very true!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/15/iain-banks-the-final-interview

>198 kidzdoc: Checking...you're 16 hours ahead of the East Coast of the US, so it's just before midnight on Saturday. So, have a good night and a lovely Sunday!
Ah ha! So it was you who cursed my sleep last night!
At about the time you posted that I was woken by Little Lennys pitter patter of feet. And then 2.5 hours later I was up for 2 hours with Wilbur who is still suffering from a sore tummy/virus/gastro bug. So I hit possibly 4 hours sleep last night....in 3 sessions.
This does not make a fertile breeding ground for health, consequently my cold is still lingering.

Thanks for asking ;)

PS medical advice please....when, during the course of an illness, is it appropriate to use alcohol as part of the solution? (My name is Megan and it has been 8 days since my last drink)

eta: have fun catching up with Caro!!

220 >

"PS medical advice please....when, during the course of an illness, is it appropriate to use alcohol as part of the solution? (My name is Megan and it has been 8 days since my last drink)"

You know the answer is not at all .......

When you're more than 100 post behind, it's best to just own it and start all over.

Hi Darryl. How ya doin'?

>218 kidzdoc:: They also fly out of a tiny airport in Wilmington, DE, even closer for me than Trenton. From there you can get to Chicago, Houston, Orlando & Tampa. Not something I need to do frequently but I (originally) thought it an interesting possibility.

>219 roundballnz: Thanks for posting the link to the final Iain Banks interview in The Guardian, Alex. I missed it when I looked at the Guardian Review last night, although I did read the review of his last book, The Quarry:

The Quarry by Iain Banks – review

>220 LovingLit: Ah ha! So it was you who cursed my sleep last night!

According to your message, Megan, Wilbur and Lenny got up in the middle of the night and woke you up. So how is it my fault?

when, during the course of an illness, is it appropriate to use alcohol as part of the solution?

I've been lobbying for years with hospital administration my idea of having vodka cabinets in each patient room and in the nurses' work stations. I think our customer satisfaction scores would skyrocket if we did that.

>221 roundballnz: Uh, right. Alex is absolutely right. Forget I mentioned anything about vodka cabinets.

>222 EBT1002: They also fly out of a tiny airport in Wilmington, DE, even closer for me than Trenton.

Ah. So that's what the Frontier customer service representative was talking about. She was going to try to get me on a plane to Wilmington/Philadelphia, but I declined that offer and asked for a full refund instead. Is Wilmington airport closer to you than PHL, Laura?

Morning Darryl- Wow, I missed a lot over here. As usual! So I am a Big Dog now, huh? LOL. Hey, at least I am in excellent company. I am hosting a G.R. of A Fine Balance next month, but I might be able to bookhorn in The Wasp Factory. How long is it? I have never read Banks.
Did you see that Ken Burns is doing a doc series on The Emperor of All Maladies? How cool is that? And since I haven't read it yet, now is the time.

I've been lobbying for years with hospital administration my idea of having vodka cabinets in each patient room and in the nurses' work stations. I think our customer satisfaction scores would skyrocket if we did that. Darryl, too much! Thanks for the chuckle. And I'd bet you'd be absolutely right about the customer satisfactions score, LOL.

Re vodka. When a friend of mine was hospitalized, his wife filled a water bottle with vodka and labeled it "not water" to prevent people from accidentally drinking it! It certainly improved the mood of all the visitors!

Good suggestion! One request: Maybe a selection of spirits for the non-vodka drinkers among us?

I started reading The Wasp Factory on the train to commencement yesterday and I can tell it's going to be wonderful.

Yesterday was a relaxing and very full day. I flew to PHL in the morning, and spent the day at home with my parents. My brother came over for several hours, and soon after he left several neighbors visited, to spend time with my father and me. We didn't go out for dinner or a movie as we had originally considered doing, but I suspect that my father had a far more enjoyable time at home, in the presence of good company.

I hope that all of the fathers in LT Land had an equally enjoyable Father's Day!

Poor Phil Mickelson. He will win the U.S. Open one of these days. We watched most of yesterday's final round while we chatted, cheered along with the fans on the course when he hit a brilliant stroke to earn a share of the lead, and groaned when he gave away the lead for good after two miserable wedge shots.

Although I'm still enjoying The Singapore Grip I seem to be making no progress in it. After two weeks I'm only on page 156, with over 400 pages to go. I'll be reading it all week, and I'll be fortunate to finish anything else.

>225 msf59: Good morning, Mark! Yes, you are without question one of the Big Dogs, with 14 threads and nearly 75 books read in the first half of the year.

I would love to read A Fine Balance with you next month. I do have an unusually light work schedule in July, but I'm possibly overcommitted to different group or theme reads already (Reading Globally, presumptive 2013 Booker Prize longlist). I'll plan to buy it when I see Caroline on Wednesday, and try to fit it in.

A Wasp Factory is less than 200 pages, and if I remember correctly my copy has wide spaced text, so it should be easily read in an afternoon.

I didn't know that Ken Burns is doing a documentary based on The Emperor of All Maladies! That's exciting news; thanks for letting me know.

>226 lit_chick: Nancy, I suspect that our customer satisfaction scores would feature two widely spaced peaks, with plenty of 5's (excellent) but an equal if not greater number of 1's (poor), with the 1's coming from teetotaling parents who weren't impressed by the shoddy care provided by inebriated doctors and nurses.

>227 rebeccanyc: That's a great story, Rebecca!

The best (or possibly worst) drinking story in my hospital took place several years ago, which I heard from one of the subspecialists and a nurse. The mother of a patient left the hospital, while the father stayed with the child. She was supposed to have picked up some things from home and come back in an hour or two. She didn't return until many hours later, and what she picked up was a guy that she met in a local bar. The amorous couple was found in the hospital lobby late at night by a security officer as they were making out on a sofa, rounding second base and heading for third. Both of them were so drunk that they could barely stand.

>228 Emrayfo: One request: Maybe a selection of spirits for the non-vodka drinkers among us?

There are non-vodka drinkers in this thread? More heresy. That's fine, Charles; how about a Pimm's cup, then?

>229 EBT1002: I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying The Wasp Factory, Ellen. I look forward to reading it next month.

A general question to the thread: If one has never read Iain Banks, is The Wasp Factory to book to start with, or is there another one better suited for a start?

We watched Mickelson yesterday too. That eagle was amazing, it's a real shame he couldn't hold on to the lead. I really like him.

Darryl- I checked the length of the Wasp Factory and it will work for me. LOL. I'll have to find a copy. I'll probably set the Group Read for A Fine Balance, on the 15th of July, so I can clear my book schedule. Glad you are considering joining.

>232 tangledthread: Good question, tangledthread. Richard and Alex mentioned in messages 179 & 180 that The Wasp Factory would be an excellent group read, and it is Banks's debut novel, but I haven't read anything by him yet, so I don't know if it's the best Banks book to read first.

>233 lauralkeet: I like him too, Laura. I was pulling for him to win, as were millions of other viewers, I suspect. And, it would have been perfect for him to win his first U.S. Open on Father's Day, as he is a dedicated husband and father. Unfortunately he finished as the U.S. Open runner up, for the sixth time.

>234 msf59: Good news, Mark. And thanks for letting me know about the timing of the Group Read of A Fine Balance. I'll be in London from July 14-26, so I'll plan to purchase a copy of it there and read it then.

I'm off from work from July 5-9, so I'll plan for a group read of A Wasp Factory on July 1. I'll set up a thread for it later this week, probably during tomorrow's train ride to Boston.

I've been following the conversation about Alice Munro and Anne Tyler with amusement. Having read both of them, I'm not getting the comparison at all--maybe it's that they're both women who have names that start with 'A'? I've enjoyed Anne Tyler in the past, but I think my tastes have changed and I probably won't read much more of her work, if any (although I never say never). Ooops--I'll bet I'll have to eat those words, as I do have one of her audio books sitting on my kitchen computer and might listen to it one day. Anyway, I don't get the chipped cup and cat hair reference at all, but maybe I didn't read enough of her to get that. Alice Munro is a far more literary writer, in my experience--she's definitely studied at the university level, where I don't see Anne Tyler getting a lot of academic attention (none in my academic circles anyway).

Also enjoying the vodka conversation.

I repurchased The Wasp Factory yesterday Darryl and will join in for a group read of it next month. I'll also put up a TIOLI this month to include a homage to Banks and some of the other sadly departed of recent months for July.

By the way and given your interest in literary awards I have created a spreadsheet of incumbent winners of 105 awards which can be found over at chez moi.

Darryl - scanning your thread, I can't find where you mentioned it, but were you looking for this article/study?
"Men still dominate books world, study shows: Research by US group Vida shows continuing bias towards writing by men and about male authors"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/06/men-dominate-books-world-study-vida

>236 Nickelini: Interesting comments about Alice Munro and Ann Tyler, Joyce. I'll read sometime by Munro in the future, but probably not anything by Tyler.

>237 PaulCranswick: Excellent, Paul. I'm glad that you'll join in next month's group read of The Wasp Factory, and that you'll create a TIOLI challenge based on recently deceased authors. I have another TIOLI challenge in mind for July, so I'll submit that one in place of an Iain Banks challenge.

Thanks for letting me know about your spreadsheet of literary award winners. I'll look at it soon, after I finish updating my mother's laptop and cell phone.

>238 Nickelini: Thanks, Joyce. That's the US study I was referring to.

I would suggest starting an acquaintance with Banks via The Wasp Factory...but be prepared. It's challenging subject matter in that slim little volume.

>240 richardderus: That's good to know; thanks, Richard.

Hi Darryl, I can't promise to have read this whole thread, let alone the previous few that I have missed, but I've skimmed to see what mention there is of your planned visit to London.

You mention likely meet up with Fliss, Rachael, Jenny, Luci and others - do you have definite dates for any of those meetings yet and will there be one meeting or several? I am asking because there is a possibility I could make it down to London, as a chance to catch up with a few people there and/or in Oxford (a Canadian friend will be visiting London and Oxford around the same time that you are over). My trip if it happens would either be some time around 14-19 July, or the following week 23-27, as I have friends visiting me over the weekend in the middle. I need to contact some other friends to see what is possible with them, but it would be good to have the excuse of an LT meet up to cement my travel plans, so if you do have any definite dates for meeting fixed yet, perhaps you could let me know by PM.

I'll be in London from July 14-26
Shame, as you'll miss Lenny's 2nd birthday party, but Im sure you'll still ave a great time ;)

The alcohol/hospital stories are pretty intense! I am glad that its at least not the patients who are getting sloshed, I know every time I have been hospitalised I have certainly not felt like drinking!

My lovely other is certain that the reason he has escaped any of these bugs we have had in this house is his "live cultures" in his home brewed beer. Im not so sure about this, but am willing to let him have the glory of masterminding his own successes!

>242 gennyt: Genny, although Fliss, Rachael, Luci, Jenny, Bianca and I have commented about getting together and discussed possible dates and locations for meeting, in London and Cambridge, we haven't made any specific plans yet. I'll send you a PM with excerpts from our comments shortly.

>243 LovingLit: When is Lenny's second birthday party, Megan?

*checks flights from Heathrow to Christchurch* ;-)

Actually (and unfortunately) it's not unusual for me to care for a teenager who has overdosed on alcohol or some other substance, especially during the summer when they are off from school and much more likely to get into trouble. Last week I took care of a girl who OD'd on Benadryl (a first generation antihistamine) after her BF dumped her for someone else, who presented with altered mental status including hallucinations and inability to stand or walk.

Your lovely other is unwisely boasting, IMHO. I've had dozens if not hundreds of parents, especially fathers, make similar comments about being the only one in the family who didn't get sick from the illness that landed a child in the hospital, only to become ill a day or two later. And, for that matter, I've been burned more than once after making a similar comment.

Hi Darryl, nice book haul in SF. Some interesting conversation about short stories.

>246 kidzdoc: Thanks, Gautam. I'll certainly have another book haul tomorrow, when Caroline & I will meet up for more book purchases in Boston and Cambridge. I'm on an Amtrak train now, which will arrive in Boston in roughly 5-1/2 hours. Good reading time!

I'll create a new thread soon.

chugga-chugga-chooo choooooo...... safe travels, Darryl. Hope you're getting some good reading in while you're on the Amtrak.

Can't wait to see you tomorrow morning!

I envy you your train trip!

>247 cameling: Thanks, Caroline. The train will arrive at New London station in the next few minutes, and we're two hours away from Boston. It's been a very pleasant, relaxing and relatively scenic trip so far, although I haven't read as much as I thought I would. Fliss, Genny, Luci, Jenny, Bianca & I have been making specific plans to meet up during my visit to London next month on Facebook Messenger since early this morning, so I've been using my time productively.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and Thursday, too! I did feel a bit guilty at leaving my parents, though. They were happy that I was taking a trip to visit good friends, but I could tell that they were disappointed that this trip was such a short one (less than 48 hours, after Saturday's Frontier Airlines snafu). I'll plan to stay with them for a couple of weeks in September, so we'll be able to spend more time together then.

>248 avidmom: Sorry, avidmom! This is the first long train ride I've taken in years, a nearly six hour trip from Trenton, NJ to Boston. I've never ridden a train north of NYC before, so this is a new experience for me.

The last time I was on an Amtrak train had to be when I was in medical school in the mid-1990s, so it's been at least 16 years. I would like to take a train ride along the Pacific coast sometime in the future, maybe from SF to either LA or Seattle/Vancouver.

Darryl - my sister-in-law took the train from Vancouver to SF a couple of years ago. In southern Washington they were served Washington state wine & cheese, and then in Oregon they got Oregon wine & cheese, and then in California--guess what? Yes, more local wine and cheese. It sounded pretty rough.

>250 Nickelini: Nice, Joyce! That sounds like a perfect train ride.

>249 kidzdoc: I would like to take a train ride along the Pacific coast sometime in the future, maybe from SF to either LA or Seattle/Vancouver.

The Coast Starlight! We've been wanting to take that trip for a long time.

>250 Nickelini: How did they survive such a terrible fate? LOL!

Darryl

I hope you have a wonderful meet up in Boston. Please give our dear Caro a hug for me!

And, then there will be another meet up for you in Merry England!

I dare say that you are now crowned The King of the Meet Ups!

>252 avidmom: That's the one, avidmom. Wow...it takes nearly 24 hours to travel from Seattle to Oakland, and another 12 hours to reach Los Angeles. I've wanted to visit Seattle and Vancouver during a long stay in San Francisco, so maybe I'll plan a flight to SF/train to Seattle/bus to Vancouver/flight to Atlanta trip in the next year or two.

>253 Whisper1: Will do, Linda! Caroline will pick me up from my hotel later this morning.

It's 59 degrees and sunny this morning in Boston, with a projected high of 75 degrees. On Sunday morning when I left Atlanta it was already 74 degrees and muggy.

Yes, meet ups for my trip to England are starting to gel. There will be a sizable meet up on Tuesday 7/16 (make that 16/7; sorry, Fliss), and there will be smaller get togethers throughout the trip.

Thanks for the crown! I think I'm at least a prince, but I do have competition from Paul Cranswick, at least. He will be surely crowned king after his tour of the US.

So who is Queen of the Meet Ups? Caroline, Zoë, or someone else?

New thread here!