kidzdoc in 2013: Old World, New Imports part 10

A typical home in the Garden District of New Orleans










Currently reading:

    

Harvest by Jim Crace
Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis by Helen Bynum
Algerian Chronicles by Albert Camus

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 (TBR)
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
54. The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell (TBR)
55. The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna (review)

July:
56. Enon by Paul Harding (review)
57. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
58. The Amen Corner by James Baldwin (review)
59. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (review)
60. The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh (review)
61. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
62. The Blue Riband: The Piccadilly Line by Peter York (review)
63. Drift: The Hammersmith & City Line by Philippe Parreno (review)
64. A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire (TBR) (review)
65. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

August:
66. The Testament of Mary by Colm Toíbín
67. What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube: The District Line by John Lanchester (review)
68. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (review)
69. The 32 Stops: The Central Line by Danny Dorling (review)
70. The German Mujahid by Boualem Sansal (TBR) (review)
71. Dark Heart of the Night by Léonora Miano (TBR)
72. 419 by Will Ferguson (review)
73. The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah (TBR)

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. The Alienist by Machado de Assis (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore) ✔
66. Ways of Going Home by Alejandro Zambra (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
67. Satantango by László Krasznahorkai (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
68. The World Is Moving Around Me: A Memoir of the Haiti Earthquake by Dany Laferrière (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
69. That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
70. City of a Hundred Fires by Richard Blanco (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
71. On the Imperial Highway: New and Selected Poems by Jayne Cortez (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
72. Engine Empire: Poems by Cathy Park Hong (1 Jun; City Lights Bookshop)
73. Disposable People by Ezekel Alan (2 Jun; Amazon Kindle e-book)
74. Sons for the Return Home by Albert Wendt (8 Jun; Amazon Kindle e-book (free))
75. The Secret River by Kate Grenville (11 Jun; gift book from Paul Cranswick)
76. Enon by Paul Harding (12 Jun; May LT Early Reviewer book) ✔
77. The Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke by Yuzan Daidoji (19 Jun; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
78. What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine by Danielle Ofri, MD (19 Jun; Harvard Book Store)
79. The Dark Road by Ma Jian (19 Jun; Harvard Book Store)
80. Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis by Helen Bynum (19 Jun; The Harvard Coop)
81. AIDS at 30: A History by Victoria A. Harden (19 Jun; The Harvard Coop)
82. Contagion: How Commerce Has Spread Disease by Mark Harrison (19 Jun; The Harvard Coop)
83. She Came to Stay by Simone de Beauvoir (19 Jun; The Harvard Coop)
84. The Quiet American by Graham Greene (19 Jun; Raven Used Books)
85. Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua (19 Jun; Raven Used Books)
86. Regeneration by Pat Barker (20 Jun; gift book from Caroline)

July:
87. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (4 Jul; Amazon Kindle e-book)
88. My Struggle: Book Two by Karl Ove Knausgaard (14 Jul; Archipelago Books)
89. The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico by Antonio Tabucchi (14 Jul; Archipelago Books)
90. The Woman of Porto Pim by Antonio Tabucchi (14 Jul; Archipelago Books)
91. Country Boy by Richard Hillyer (16 Jul; Slightly Foxed Bookshop)
92. Wreaking by James Scudamore (16 Jul; Slightly Foxed Bookshop)
93. Perfect by Rachel Joyce (16 Jul; Slightly Foxed Bookshop)
94. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann (16 Jul; Slightly Foxed Bookshop) ✔
95. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (16 Jul; South Kensington Books)
96. Othello by William Shakespeare (16 Jul; South Kensington Books)
97. The Blue Riband: The Piccadilly Line by Peter York (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop) ✔
98. Fireflies by Shiva Naipaul (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop)
99. North of South: An African Journey by Shiva Naipaul (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop)
100. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop) ✔
101. Between Friends by Amos Oz (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop)
102. The Childhood of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop)
103. The Amen Corner by James Baldwin (20 Jul; National Theatre Bookshop) ✔
104. The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh (20 Jul; Waterloo Bridge stalls, South Bank, London)
105. The Reprieve by Jean-Paul Sartre (20 Jul; Waterloo Bridge stalls, South Bank, London
106. The Night Alive by Conor Mc Pherson (24 Jul; National Theatre Bookshop)
107. The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh (24 Jul; National Theatre Bookshop) ✔
108. East-West: Penguin Underground Lines (24 Jul; Kindle e-book) ✔

August:
109. 419 by Will Ferguson (9 Aug; LTER book)
110. Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson (9 Aug; The Book Depository)

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
          Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
          TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
          The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
          The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan

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 August (subject to change):

Nathacha Appanah, The Last Brother - completed
NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names
Helen Bynum, Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis - reading
Stan Cohen, What to Feed Your Baby
Jim Crace, Harvest - reading
Assia Djebar, Children of the New World
Danny Dorling, The 32 Stops: The Central Line - completed
Will Ferguson, 419 - completed
Richard House, The Kills
Dany Laferrière, The Return
John Lanchester, What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube: The District Line - completed
Léonora Miano, Dark Heart of the Night - completed
Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being
René Philoctète, Massacre River
Donal Ryan, The Spinning Heart - completed
Boualem Sansal, The German Mujahid - completed
Colm Tóibín, The Testament of Mary - completed

Book #64: A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire

   

My rating:

Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) was a legendary and influential Caribbean poet, playwright and public intellectual, who was also one of the creators of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature, whose aim was to unite the peoples of the Caribbean and African French colonies in opposition to the "mother country".

Une saison au congo is the third of four plays that Césaire wrote in his lifetime, which is about the brief and tumultuous career of Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo. Lumumba, a former beer salesman and political activist, was elected to office in July 1960 after the country gained its independence from Belgium, but he soon ran afoul of Belgium, the US and other western European nations and the United Nations, which resulted in his arrest by his top general Joseph Mobutu and his subsequent torture and assassination in January 1961 by Belgian and Congolese soldiers.

This play was written in 1966, and was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Est Parisien the following year. The central question of Une saison au congo is the choice that newly liberated African countries must answer: whether to choose dipenda, an state of quasi-independence in which foreign governments, former colonizers or appointed dictators and their cronies choose the country's path and steal the majority of its wealth while the majority are condemned to poverty and premature death, or uhuru, the Swahili word for freedom, in which all citizens can participate in the country's destiny, free from external or internal domination or intimidation, and have the opportunity to succeed and thrive alongside their neighbors. The second path is the more difficult one to take, but it is the one that will more likely result in an improved standard of living for its citizens, and long term stability for the country.

Lumumba was targeted and imprisoned by the colonial police force in 1959 for his political activity as the leader of the Congolese national movement (MNC), after a demonstration in Stanleyville led to the deaths of 30 protestors. Due to political pressure from his MNC colleagues he was freed and allowed to travel to Brussels early the following year, where he participated in the conference that led to the declaration that the Republic of Congo would be granted its independence. He was hailed as a hero by the Congolese people, but he first invoked the ire of the Belgian government on Independence Day, when he gave a spontaneous speech that was sharply critical of Belgium and its colonial rule, in the presence of the Belgian king.

Lumumba was faced with crises through his seven month term in office. The Belgian government, concerned that losing the wealth contained in the Congolese mining industry would cause it to become the "Liechtenstein of Europe", secretly collaborated with the leader of Katanga, the richest province, and supported a separatist movement whose aim was to keep profits flowing from the Congo to Belgium in exchange for enriching the Katangan leader and his cronies. Lumumba, with the support of President Kasa-Vubu and the chief of the military, Joseph Mobutu, engaged in a military strike against the separatist movement. Lumumba sought support from the United States, which turned him down, and the United Nations, which took a passive and indifferent stance toward the Congolese government. He then turned to the USSR for support, which led Belgium, the US and possibly the UK to secretly plot his removal and assassination. Mobutu removed both Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu from power, and ultimately Lumumba was captured, brutally tortured and executed by Congolese and Belgian troops loyal to Mobutu on 17 January 1961.

Césaire portrays Lumumba as an idealistic, fiery and uncompromising leader, whose political naïveté and inability to see the dangers posed by his former close friend Joseph Mobutu led to his downfall. He was passionately committed to a democratic Congo and a united African continent that was free of foreign domination, national corruption and regional differences, but he was also self-righteous in his beliefs and refused to accept counsel from others who urged him to proceed slowly and with great caution, given the political landmines that surrounded him.





As I mentioned previously I saw the interpretation of A Season in the Congo at the Young Vic Theatre earlier this month, and I read the script earlier today. It was a brilliant, powerful and innovative interpretation of Césaire's play, which starred Olivier Award winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor as Patrice Lumumba. His physical resemblance to the Congolese leader was striking, but was exceeded by the strength and conviction of his outstanding performance. The supporting cast was solid, and the play was enhanced by the use of puppetry to represent the colonial powers and the UN (such as the Belgian government in the second photo above), a wise old man who spoke in Swahili throughout the performance, soothing African music, and especially the very athletic and stirring dance routines that were mesmerizing. The performance was true to the spirit of the play, although it didn't follow the script line for line; in my opinion this provided more freedom to the performance, as it removed some of the rough language and mundane dialogue contained within it, and allowed the spirit of Patrice Lumumba and the Congolese people to be portrayed in greater color and brilliance.

I couldn't have been any closer to the stage of the Young Vic Theatre, located on The Cut a block or two away from the famed Old Vic Theatre. The audience on the floor sat in chairs around small patio tables, and my chair abutted the front of the stage, as several of the actors including Ejiofor were within easy reach on numerous occasions, which made the performance that much more powerful for me. It lasted over 2-1/2 hours with a 15 minute intermission, making it one of the longest plays I've seen recently, but I was engrossed from the first scene to the shocking one at the end of the play, which caused an audience member to shriek in horror. The cast was given a solid 4-5 minute standing ovation at the play's conclusion, which was well deserved. I give four stars to the script of A Season in the Congo, and 4½ stars to the superb interpretation of it by the director and cast of this month's production at the Young Vic.

Place holding post.

Place holding Post 2

Happy New Thread! You're reminding me I've yet to list my not inconsiderable book purchases for July. A scary prospect...

I'm so glad you'll get to see The Audience Darryl. Hellen Mirren can do no wrong in my book. I just watched her in the role of Prospera in Julie Taymor's film adaptation of The Tempest on Friday (borrowed from the library), and it was quite a trip. I don't know if your are familiar with that Shakespeare play, but the main character was originally written as Prospero, definitely a man, so it's fun to see how Taymor adapted it, and I was glad I'd already read the (annotated) play so I could appreciate the subtleties.

Darryl, I see you are reading Algerian Chronicles, I am looking forward for your opinion on it.

Welcome Richard, Paul and Ilana, the first visitors to my new thread. Help yourself to some crawfish étouffée, seafood gumbo and red beans & rice (with Andouille sausage, of course):

.





>8 Smiler69: Thanks for mentioning the NT Live re-broadcasts, Ilana; I probably wouldn't have found out about the local showing of The Audience otherwise. The production of The Tempest that you mentioned sounds very interesting, so I'll have to see if I can rent or borrow it, too.

>9 xieouyang: Right, Manuel. I hope to finish it before the end of the month, as it's one of the books I had intended to read for my TIOLI challenge, but I'll read it later in the week if I don't.

Congrats on the new thread, Darryl. Excellent review of A Season in the Congo. Hope you're having a good weekend, and are settling in upon your return.

Pic of Pepto-Bismol, please?? I find I can't eat lots of very spicy or rich foods any more without trouble... another peril of old age. That and my perennially sore big toe joint, and the weird little tag on my skin near an eye that looks like a beauty mark when I get mascara on it accidentally and too many other dismaying things to ponder. Most dismaying of all? These will go from being dismaying to seriously affecting my quality of life...

I have a recently-published non-fiction book about the Congo in French; it was nominated for a French prize and recommended by a friend whose nonprofit, Pragmora, is doing a lot of work in the area. Must make time to read it. And 27,000 other books.

Ah, I see that Darryl must have another trip to New Orleans in the works. That means plenty of food porn here!

I posted a couple of replies on your last thread before I saw your "new thread" post.

8> Ilana, I hope you hop back to Darryl's last thread and see the comment I left for you regarding Transatlantic.

Ah, wonderful new thread here, Darryl. Would love to visit New Orleans one day: the agriculture architecture and the food alone are enough of a draw.

Excellent review of A Season in the Congo.

eta: LOL, that'd be architecture

Popping in to say Hi while I can still keep up!

Oh, yum, that food looks marvelous, Darryl!

Ah, New Orleans. Maybe in August I'll read something set there. It's a wonderful city with fabulous food -- and an excellent setting for a novel.

I hope you're re-adjusting to your time zone, Darryl!

I went to sleep early and woke up just before 5 am, as I'm not yet adjusted to Eastern Daylight Time. That gave me enough time to finish TransAtlantic by Colum McCann, which was a quietly beautiful novel and is definitely worthy of the Booker longlist IMO. I'll give it 4-1/2 stars for now.

My current Booker longlist ranking:

1. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
2. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw

I'll read The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín and The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan later this week.

ETA: I should get ready for work, so I'll catch up on posts later today.

Glorious-looking food. And here it is just supper time, too.

>11 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. I'm still a bit jet lagged, in part because I stayed in all weekend and didn't get exposed to the sunlight that would have reset my circadian rhythm to a greater degree.

>12 Chatterbox: I'll have to find some nonspicy and not overly rich Louisiana food for you, Suz. Thinking...

I'd like to hear more about that book when you do eventually read it.

>13 Cariola: Right, Deborah. The 2013 Pediatric Hospital Medicine conference is being held in New Orleans from August 1-4, and I and four of my partners will be in attendance. Three of us will be on the same flight on Thursday morning, and I'll fly back on a later flight from my two colleagues on Sunday afternoon. We won't have a lot of time to tour the city, and it will be very hot and humid this week, with heat indices in the low to mid 100s, but we're still planning to visit the Garden District and eat out as often as we can.

Now that I've finished TransAtlantic I completely agree with your reply to Ilana about the book.

>14 lit_chick: Right, Nancy. New Orleans is one of the few truly unique major cities in the US, due mainly to its architecture and cuisine. You can order Creole and Cajun food elsewhere, but it's rarely comparable to the real thing. Unfortunately there are a number of mediocre restaurants that cater mainly to tourists, so it's better to get recommendations from the locals, especially the hole in the wall places where the best food is often found.

>15 tloeffler: Hi, Terri! I doubt that this thread will zip along as quickly as the last one did, although I'll probably take photos of New Orleans and mention the places we go and the restaurants we eat in, as I did last year when I attended the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) national conference here.

>16 ronincats: Thanks, Roni. I love fresh seafood, and New Orleans cuisine is one of my favorites.

>17 EBT1002: I can't think of many novels I've read that are set in New Orleans, Ellen, other than A Confederacy of Dunces and by Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje. I wasn't overly fond of either book.

I think I'm adjusted to Greenland now. It's after 7:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time, but it feels as though I should be going to bed now. Fortunately my work day is almost over, and I'll turn in shortly after I arrive home.

>19 laytonwoman3rd: I can't see those photos using my iPad on the hospital's WiFi, Linda. That's probably a good thing, as I would have been far less satisfied with dinner from the hospital cafeteria if I could view them.

I got my ticket for the December 16 broadcast of Macbeth today.

:)

May I recommend a New Orleans novel or two, Darryl? Anne Rice's Feast of All Saints, which is not part of her vampire series, was quite good; I've read the first two in the Benjamin January series by Barbara Hambly, A Free Man of Color, and Fever Season--those were enjoyable too; for 20th century settings, Grishams' The Client and The Pelican Brief, if you care for legal thrillers, and James Lee Burke's early Robicheaux novels for gritty detective fare.

>5 kidzdoc: that certainly sounds like some heavy reading material. I recall a film form the Human Rights Film Festival of some years ago that featured The Congo, it was very violent quite frankly terrified me. I do try to face the facts head on though, so thought it important to see it.

>10 kidzdoc: oh boy. I am hungry for that. All of it. I must try to get here earlier next time to get me some! Why is it I get so excited at the thought of spices and flavour and piles of food? Sheesh. You'd think I hadn't just eaten most of a (homemade) Guiness and Steak pie just a few hours ago.

Hi Darryl! I finally got caught up on your thread! Looks like you had a wonderful trip!
I've added TransAtlantic to my booker wishlist now

Hi Darryl, looking forward to the bookers lists and your comments. I'll be starting The Testament of Mary in a couple of days.

I just read a really really good short New Orleans novel, Darryl: THE WISDOM OF ASHES. Gave it 4-1/2 stars. It was a Small Press Book Review assignment, and to date I'm the only one who has a copy on LT, so the touchstone won't work yet.

Just to let you know that The Luminaries became available to buy on Amazon UK today. I added that and The Marrying of Chani Kauffman to my UK kindle. Am not sure about buying the Irish novel. Would prefer the price to come down a bit more before I bite! It sounds appealing, but... My ARC of The Lowland arrived today.

On your last thread, you cited the dates for the Othello. We will be on a cruise until the 28th so will have to get tix to the second showing. Maybe Jim already has.

Lovely new thread, Darryl. New Orleans is a city which fascinates me -- I truly hope to visit there one day!

You know, I'm in the queue for TransAtlantic at the library but I may just have to break down and go buy this one.

Can't believe I made it early-ish to your new thread! Yay to the drool worthy food pics up top.

I'm still gobsmacked that you got to see Daniel Radcliffe act on stage!!! :)

My short but intense work week is over. I'll fly to New Orleans tomorrow morning for the Pediatric Hospital Medicine conference, which runs from Thursday to Sunday. At least two of my partners will be on the same flight, and six of the doctors in my group will be going. I may not have much free time to post here, but I'll do so when I can.

Catching up...

>22 Cariola: Well done, Deborah! I hope that I can see Macbeth, although I don't know where or when.

>23 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks for those recommendations of NOLA books, Linda. Hopefully we'll have time to stop in one of the bookshops in the French Quarter; I'd like to visit Faulkner House Books, located on Pirate's Alley just behind Jackson Square, which is supposed to have a good selection of literature and books about the Crescent City. The Feast of All Saints sounds particularly interesting, so I'll buy that if I see it.

>24 LovingLit: The script of A Season in the Congo wasn't a bad read, but the performance at the Old Vic was much more memorable and enjoyable. There were numerous scenes that will stick in my memory for some time, and it was practically as good as the National Theatre performance of Othello I saw last week.

>25 ChelleBearss:, Hi, Chelle! Yes, the trip to London was splendid, and I can hardly wait to go back there again later this year. TransAtlantic was superb, so I hope that you enjoy it as well.

>26 mausergem: I plan to bring The Testament of Mary with me to New Orleans, and I may read it as early as tomorrow.

>27 richardderus: Who is the author of The Wisdom of Ashes, Richard?

>28 Chatterbox: Thanks for letting me know about the UK availability of The Luminaries, Suz. I've just ordered it and Unexploded by Alison MacLeod. I ordered Almost English earlier this week, so I now only need to get The Marrying of Chani Kaufman and The Lowland to complete my acquisition of this year's Booker longlisted novels.

I'll bring The Testament of Mary, The Spinning Heart and Harvest with me to NOLA tomorrow. The first two are very short books, at 104 and 156 pages respectively, and Harvest is around 275 pages. I might be able finish all three books by Sunday night, depending on the conference and social schedule while I'm there.

>29 ffortsa: Sounds good, Judy.

>30 tymfos: Thanks, Terri. I think that everyone, certainly those who live in the US and Canada, should visit New Orleans at least once (although I wouldn't recommend going there in the middle of summer). There aren't many places in the Deep South that are worth a visit IMO, including Atlanta, but NOLA would be at the top of the list. I still haven't been to Charleston or Savannah, but hopefully I can visit both cities within the next year or two.

>31 EBT1002: TransAtlantic is certainly worth its purchase price, Ellen. If I have time I'd like to read it again before the prize announcement, as I think I'd enjoy it even more on a second reading.

>32 TinaV95: Hi, Tina! I'm looking forward to more Creole and Cajun food, hopefully starting with lunch tomorrow after we arrive. Three of us, and possibly a fourth, will travel on the same flight to MSY, and we'll probably go out for lunch after we check in to the New Orleans Marriott and get settled. I'll have to look at the conference schedule to see what sessions are taking place, but I don't think there are many sessions that are taking place before Friday morning.

I haven't seen any of the Harry Potter movies, so I'm largely unfamiliar with Daniel Radcliffe's acting ability. He gave a solid performance in The Cripple of Inishmaan, although I enjoyed the work of the lead actors in A Season in the Congo and Othello considerably more.

I've been to Charleston and Savannah, Darryl, and I liked them both. Actually, Savannah is a favorite city of mine. Hope you get to them soon, and enjoy them!

>33 kidzdoc: The Wisdom of Ashes is by Jonathan Kline. A really good book, quite compact.

You may not want to bother with The Marrying of Chani Kauffman, Darryl; I would say this is a book that definitely is not up your alley and will cause you to huff & puff in indignation at the Booker judges... It's not bad, just only mildly appealing, and primarily a woman's novel, I would say.

Really want to go to see Savannah and Charleston.

I've had a splendid time in New Orleans so far, as seven of my partners and nearly as many other people I know are also attending this year's Pediatric Hospital Medicine Conference. The conference adjourns at noon today, and I'll fly back to Atlanta later this afternoon. I've been posting photos and mentions of restaurants on my Facebook page, and I'll do the same here in the next day or two.

We've been busy, so I've only finished one book so far this month, The Testament of Mary by Colm Toíbín, which was very good. I'll start The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan today, which was longlisted for this year's Booker Prize, and I should finish it today, as it's just over 150 pages in length.

Current Booker longlist ranking:

   1. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
   2. The Testament of Mary by Colm Toíbín
   3. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw

>35 tymfos: Charleston and Savannah are probably 4-6 hours away from Atlanta by car, so they are both very doable trips, Terri.

>36 richardderus: Thanks for mentioning The Wisdom of Ashes, Richard. That will have to be a future purchase, as I won't buy any books on this trip.

>37 Chatterbox: Bleh. The Marrying of Chani Kaufman sounds unappealing, Suz. I think I've ordered it already, though. Checking...no, actually I haven't yet. I've ordered Almost English, The Luminaries and Unexploded from Amazon UK, which leaves only The Lowland and The Marrying of Chani Kaufman left to buy. I still want to read the entire longlist, but I may save this one for last unless it's chosen for the shortlist.

Seven of your partners and you are in NO! Who is minding the kids?

ETA: I won't buy any books on this trip. Hmm...really?

NO sounds great, Darryl! I also very much enjoyed The Testament of Mary. Harvest is very good, too. Will be standing by for your thoughts on The Spinning Heart.

I think Harvest will be my next Booker nominee. It is due back at the library soonish.

>34 kidzdoc: If I have time I'd like to read it again before the prize announcement, as I think I'd enjoy it even more on a second reading.



Impressed!

I have been a Booker-groupie this time around....tagging all the library copies and following their progress here....awaiting them eagerly...ready to pounce. Just finished A Tale for the Time Being which I was less than impressed with...can't win 'em all.

I returned to Atlanta safely yesterday afternoon. The trip was roughly 50 min wheels up to wheels down, so I had just enough time to read most of the NYT and the local New Orleans Sunday newspapers, so I didn't make much progress in The Spinning Heart. I should finish it today, though.

Even though it was nearly 90 degrees when we arrived in Atlanta the weather here felt noticeably cooler than it did in NO, which was only slightly warmer but was much more humid. The heat index when we left New Orleans was at least 105 degrees, as compared to 87 degrees when we arrived in Atlanta. Despite the oppressive weather (which required two and sometimes three showers and changes of clothes per day) we had a fabulous time, and I hope to return for a long weekend visit to see my old college roommate later this year.

>39 luvamystery65: Correction: six of my partners went to the conference; I included one of the hospitalists who works at one of our other hospitals, who technically isn't a partner of ours.

There are over 20 docs in my group, Roberta, so we had plenty of staff available to cover the service.

No books were purchased on this trip, and I didn't make it to any bookstores either. Except for Saturday afternoon and evening, when I didn't feel well and stayed in my hotel room, I was on the go from early morning to late evening. I hardly did any reading, either. However, I'm off from work for the next 10 days, and I'll use this time as a "staycation", so I'll have plenty of time to read. I'd like to read 10 books in those 10 days, which should be a relatively easy goal to achieve, barring injury, as I have several short books on my planned reading list.

>40 lit_chick: New Orleans is a great place to visit, Nancy; IMO everyone should go there at least once. The music, architecture and cuisine are unique, and the restaurants are fabulous. It's important to avoid the areas that are infested with tourists, especially Bourbon Street, which is little more than a freak show. The nicer parts of the French Quarter, along with the Garden District and Uptown, have plenty of charm and are peaceful and quiet places to take a leisurely stroll (except on steamy summer days, although we did that on Saturday morning; photos to come).

>40 lit_chick:, 41 I'll read Harvest after I finish The Spinning Heart, and I'll probably read The Kills after that.

>42 LovingLit: I'll probably read A Tale for the Time Being and We Need New Names when I go to San Francisco in two weeks, as I bought the Kindle editions of both books late last month. However, those two books are toward the bottom of the longlisted novels that I'd like to read, and I'll receive The Luminaries, Almost English and Unexploded from Amazon UK next week, so I may decide to read one or more of those books instead.

Glad you had a good time in NO, Darryl. You're making great progress on the Bookers! The Spinning Heart is the one that most interests me, so I'll be looking for your thoughts. The NYT had a short op ed piece on the authors last week--well, really more of a piece on writers who persist despite rejections and the state of publishing, following the Penguin/Random House merger.

Ah, Darryl, I think Jim and I might hire you as a guide to NO when we finally get there. Avoiding tourist traps is paramount, along with getting a flavor for the real place.

"It's important to avoid the areas that are infested with tourists"

Except, presumably, for Cafe du Monde ;-)

I'll be in NOLA at the end of September, Darryl, so be sure to at least tell us what restaurants you made it to!!

One of the best books about New Orleans I've ever read is Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum. Although it was written after Katrina, and is partly about that experience (but only partly), I think it conveys what New Orleans and her people are like more authentically than any other book I've read. Although it's nonfiction, it is as compelling a read as the best fiction can be. The New Orleanians into whose lives the book delves are so colorful they couldn't be living anywhere else. (I lived in NO for 18 years, and have some pretty deep Louisiana roots).

BTW--Mother's on Poydras is famous for its po'boys, but did you know they do a great breakfast? Biscuits to die for.

>44 Cariola: Thanks, Deborah. I'm reading The Spinning Heart now, which is a collection of first person accounts in a rural Irish village after the financial collapse. I'm about a quarter of the way through, and it's very good so far. I'll finish it by tomorrow at the latest.

>45 ffortsa: I am definitely available for hire as a NOLA tour guide, Judy! I was given that task by my partners who attended the conference, as the New Orleanian in our group is in her 39th week of pregnancy and couldn't make it. I had a good time planning our activities, and my partners, who were largely or completely unfamiliar with New Orleans, appreciated seeing the different sections of the city.

>46 katiekrug: Right, Katie. Café du Monde is one of the essential elements to any visit to New Orleans, tourists or not.

My NOLA travelogue, including the restaurants where we dined, is forthcoming!

>47 arubabookwoman: Thanks for reminding me about Nine Lives, Deborah. I bought it at a bookshop in Berkeley last year, and I'll be sure to get to it soon, hopefully in September.

I ate at Mother's twice last year when I attended the American Academy of Pediatrics national conference, as the hotel I stayed at (Staybridge Suites) was directly across from it. We didn't go there this time, though. I've never had breakfast there, so I'll have to remember to go there when I return, which will hopefully be sometime in the fall.

I and three of my partners took the same flight from Atlanta to New Orleans on Thursday to attend this year's Pediatric Hospital Medicine conference, which was held at the New Orleans Marriott on Canal Street, the main thoroughfare of the Crescent City. Three others, along with a hospitalist from one of our other children's hospitals, arrived on other flights on that day or the next one.

My hotel room was on the 31st floor of the Marriott, and although I reserved a King sized bed none were ready at the time we checked in. Fortunately I was given a better room, a Double that was a corner room, which provided great views of the city.

Here's a view of Canal Street. In the center of the street you can see tracks for the Canal Street streetcar. If you look closely, you'll see two streetcars on the corner of Canal and Carondelet, which is two blocks from the hotel. The one that is turning onto Canal from Carondelet is the famed St. Charles streetcar, which will make a right turn onto St. Charles Avenue, the street closest to the lower left corner of the photo. A Canal Street streetcar is stopped at the intersection, waiting for the St. Charles streetcar to pass.



The streetcars currently in use on the St. Charles have been in continuous operation since the early 1920s. The line passes through two of the most beautiful sections of New Orleans, the Garden District with its beautiful plantation houses (such as the one in the first message of this thread) and Uptown, home to Tulane University, Loyola University and the Audubon Zoo. It's an essential element of any first time visit to New Orleans.



After we checked in, we regrouped with one of my partners who had arrived earlier in the day, and had lunch at Cochon, a relatively new restaurant on Tchoupitoulas Street in the Warehouse District that has received rave local and national reviews and awards. We had lunch there several times last fall, as it's a short walk away from the Convention Center and you can usually walk in and get a table at that time. I had my two favorite dishes there, fried alligator in a garlic chili aioli sauce as an appetizer, and rabbit with dumplings as my entrée, with a bottle of Abita Turbodog to accompany it.

We attended the conference, then went to dinner at R'evolution, another highly lauded restaurant that we dined in last year. It's located on Bienville near Bourbon in the French Quarter, which was a four block walk from the Marriott. Highlights of dinner included Death by Gumbo (with Roasted Quail, Andouille, Oysters, Filé Rice); Crisp Sweetbreads (with Herbsaint Meunière and Forest Mushrooms); Truffle Mashed Potatoes; Brick Oven Brussels Sprouts with Bacon; Sheep Ricotta Gnocchi with Lobster; the Striped Bass with Turnips; and White Chocolate Bread Pudding Crème Brûlée with Lemon-scented Apricots and Salted Bourbon Caramel Sauce. One of my partners described this meal as "near perfect", and I couldn't agree more. As I told them, I am hard pressed to think of a restaurant that I like better than R'evolution, in New Orleans or anywhere else.

On Friday morning we somehow managed to get up early and to have an appetite for beignets, so we walked to the legendary Café du Monde, which celebrated its 150th anniversary last year. After a full day at the conference and a rather disappointing lunch we were famished, so we proceeded to Tommy's Cuisine, which is also located on Tchoupitoulas Street, a bit closer to Canal Street than Cochon. It's set in an old warehouse building, and the owners maintained its ambience. (The restaurant was nearing closing time when I took this photo; it was packed when we entered.)



The Escargot Aux Champignons and Sweetbreads appetizers were amazing, and the Turtle Soup and the Duck Tchoupitoulas were both superb. I had my first Sazerac (a New Orleans cocktail with whiskey, absinthe and Peychaud's Bitters) as well.

We were bad little boys and girls on Saturday, as several of us decided to skip the morning sessions to take a tour of the Garden District and Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, the city's oldest public cemetery. The ringleader of this outing was the head of my group, so my tail was covered. As you probably know, NOLA's average elevation is six feet below sea level, so the burying of corpses below ground was not practical, and families had mausoleums built to house its deceased members. This cemetery dates back to the 1830s, and it contained numerous victims of the city's yellow fever epidemics of the second half of the 19th century.

Two of my female partners, Nancy and Diedre, flanked by Diedre's cardiologist husband Don and their two lovely girls:



Me with Nancy, Don and the girls:



This mausoleum contains three victims of the 1878 yellow fever epidemic, which claimed the lives of two members on August 30th and the third the following day:



Two typical 19th or early 20th century mausoleums, which have deteriorated due to the humidity of the city and the effects of the flood waters of Katrina and other hurricanes:





We were particularly interested in this mausoleum, whose front was obviously far newer than most despite its much older roof. It honored two recently members of the Rusha family:



However, a side view revealed that it was built in the 19th century, and seeing the deaths of numerous members of the Rusha family, presumably in childhood, made us pause and reflect on the difficulty of life back then:



I made a reservation for dinner at Lüke, a Franco-German brasserie that was recommended by the hotel staff. Unfortunately I didn't feel well and the others were worn out, so we didn't go.

The conference ended at noon on Sunday, and we went to the French Quarter, intending to visit Central Grocery, the century old Italian grocery where the muffaletta sandwich was created. Unfortunately it is closed on Sundays, so we ate at The Market Cafe, a nearby open-air restaurant that featured a live jazz band. It was a bit touristy, but the food was better than I expected; I had alligator tail and an oyster po'boy, which were both good.

The Market Cafe:



A photo of two of my partners, Ann and Jennifer, and to the right of them is Jamie, a former classmate of Jen's who is a hospitalist in northern Virginia:



Although I enjoyed lunch at The Market Cafe I was both excited and disappointed to learn from the driver who took us back to the airport that a branch of Dooky Chase's, a famed local restaurant founded by Leah Chase, known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine, had recently opened there. Had I known that I would have definitely recommended having lunch there, as it was one of my favorite restaurants when I lived in NOLA from 1978-1981. I'll definitely make that my first meal on my next trip to New Orleans, though!

Muffalettas *drool*slobber*drip*

Loves me some muffalettas!

The Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 trip was fascinating. And you lucked *out* on the room!! Cheers for sharing it all with us.

That's too bad that you weren't feeling well. I hope 10 days of reading perks you up.

Love the photos. Those little girls are adorable! And I've always liked cemeteries. The Lafayette cemetery reminds me of one I visited in the Yucatan, many years ago.

Superb photos of NO, Darryl : ). So glad you posted them.

Thanks for the wonderful pics again. My cousin relocated to Alabama recently and now I get postcards from New Orleans on an almost monthly basis - but the postcard pics. don't do the place justice.

The food. It's the food that makes the trip :) I really love hearing about your travels and the meals it is made of!
I also love cemeteries. I grew up flanked by 2 (not immediately next door, but well within playing distance). I find the history and the feel of them so fascinating.

>51 richardderus: We were very disappointed that Central Grocery was closed, Richard. I haven't had a muff from there since 1990, I think.

We would have liked to have spent more time exploring Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, but it was a hot day and the girls were getting cranky and tired. Fortunately they perked up after breakfast; unfortunately Camellia Grill, my favorite Uptown restaurant, was packed, but we found a decent place to eat nearby (I can't remember the name of it, though).

When I checked in the clerk at the front desk of the Marriott asked me politely if I "minded" having that room instead of the one I had requested. I thought about it for 0.0001 seconds before I told her that the room she suggested was fine.

>52 banjo123: Thanks, Rhonda. It was just a temporary flare of IBS, which hit with a vengeance after dinner on Friday and lasted until Saturday afternoon. I ordered room service at the Marriott that night, as I was concerned about a relapse, but I did fine. Dinner there was surprisingly good; I had crab cakes, a cheddar cheese and bacon burger, and white chocolate bread pudding, which I saved for breakfast on Sunday.

The girls (Saria and Sage) were very cute! Nancy and I hadn't met them, or Don, before, so we enjoyed sharing a family outing with them. I played with Saria (the older girl, who is 4-1/2 going on 14) quite a bit on the streetcar ride back to the CBD (Central Business District), particularly when we were stopped for 20 minutes due to track work. She pretended to take off my lips and replace them with new ones from her bag, while I pretended that they were ones from different animals, and she forced me to eat horrible food (dirt, thorns, glass, etc.) while she fed her father much more delectable fare, and we provided entertainment for her parents, Nancy and other passengers.

>53 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy! I'm glad that you enjoyed them.

>54 avidmom: You're welcome, avidmom. Photos rarely do justice IMO, unless you were part of the experience and they serve as a visual memory of it.

>55 LovingLit: The food. It's the food that makes the trip :)

I agree completely, Megan, and that holds true for New Orleans more so than any place else I've lived or visited. It's difficult to describe how good the food is here, and although you can get Louisiana cuisine in most US cities it rarely comes close to the real thing.

I'm with you and avidmom; I've been fascinated by cemeteries since I was a kid. My mother would take me to Greenwich Village and Lower Manhattan when we lived in Jersey City, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from NYC, and we would pass by one cemetery (whose name escapes me) that had headstones that dated back to the 18th and 19th centuries.

ETA: I think the cemetery we visited was the Trinity Church Cemetery, which consists of three separate burial grounds.

Love the NO travelogue, Darryl. We nearly crossed paths way back when...we lived across the river in Gretna from 1972 to 1975 while my husband was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Belle Chasse, LA.

>57 laytonwoman3rd: Right, Linda. You can't get much closer to New Orleans than Gretna or Algiers. I am completely unfamiliar with the cities along the Westbank, as I probably only crossed the Mississippi River bridge from NOLA once or twice in the three years that I lived there.

Apparently I made the right choice in choosing pediatrics as a medical specialty, according to this chart. I didn't like everything, my grades in medical school were okay, I was an average nerd compared to my classmates, and I love kids.

Oh! So that's why my youngest says he wants to be a forensic pathologist!
It makes sense now.
:)

LOL, that is a great chart, Darryl! Love the Plastics who like driving shiny cars around LA in their free time. No doubt!

>60 avidmom: Hmm, it sounds as though your youngest isn't exactly a social butterfly, avidmom. :-)

>61 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy. One of my fellow pediatricians posted a link to this flow chart on his Facebook page earlier today. Many of the choices are spot on, IMO. Several of the guys who became orthopaedic surgeons were notorious for picking up undergraduate college girls on Pitt's lower campus when we were students. We would occasionally see one of them with their arm around the glassy eyed floozy of the month on Forbes Avenue, where the bars and restaurants were, wearing a white medical student coat and talking smack to their "date". I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were regular attendees of the city's strip clubs either (hopefully without their white coats).

I love that chart Darryl. And all the pics from your NO trip. The food looks particularly wonderful.

>50 kidzdoc: seeing the deaths of numerous members of the Rusha family, presumably in childhood, made us pause and reflect on the difficulty of life back then. I'll say.

Thanks for being so good about posting photos of your time in New Orleans, Darryl.

And I'm glad the chart (and your life) suggest that you chose a good career path for yourself. :-)

The Dan Baum book is terrific, Darryl. I gave it a rave review on Amazon when it came out, and I got the nicest e-mail from Baum after that. We e-mailed back and forth for a while. His new book, Gun Guys, also is, ahem, fascinating. He owns a gun, it seems, and sets off to investigate gun culture.

Woo hoo! My partner who makes our work schedule sent me an e-mail earlier this morning to let me know that she has me blocked off from work from Oct 10-23, as I have eight vacation days remaining. So, I will plan to return to London then.



I promise to behave a little better than this while I'm there, though.

I've read two books the past two days: What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube: The District Line by John Lanchester, one of the dozen books in the Penguin Underground Lines, which was almost infinitely better than the first two books I read in this series; and The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan, which I liked far less than most who have rated it here and elsewhere. I'll review both books, and The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín, which I finished this weekend, today and tomorrow.

My current Booker Prize longlist ranking:

   1. TransAtlantic
   2. The Testament of Mary
   3. Five Star Billionaire
   4. The Spinning Heart

>63 brenzi: Thanks, Bonnie. That flow chart is far better than the one I posted here a year or two ago, as it is surprisingly spot on, and humorous to boot.

>64 EBT1002: You're welcome, Ellen.

>65 Chatterbox: I'm glad to hear that you loved Nine Lives, Suz. I'll plan to read it next month.

Happy dance, indeed! Lucky you, lucky London!

He doesn't look happy to me, he looks like a ninja having a conniption. Scary.

London again in October. I see.

Richard's "I see" gives me visions of dolls and long pins. I hope you picked up some anti voodoo whammy while you were in NO Darryl.

Where to start!?!

Love the medicine flow chart!! I was pre-med in college, but TOTALLY freaked out when I blanked in a quiz bowl on medical stuff I aced in class and switched over to psychology immediately. I had immediate fears of operating on someone and blanking on what the organs were. Thinking back to that rash 18/19 year old's decision, I laugh. *And cry, a little. LOL*

Will you be my tour guide if I ever make it back to NOLA? You have the best planning for trips I think I've ever seen! I'm sorry you had a bout of stomach issues, but sounds like you were able to recover quickly.

10 days off sounds like heaven ~~ if I got to have uninterrupted reading time! I wouldn't know what to do with all that reading time! Where would I even begin in the huge stacks? Oh, I'm an envious woman right now, but I'm sure you will regale us with wonderful reviews that will make it all better!

>67 brenpike: Right, Brenda. I had hoped to visit London twice last year but didn't make it, so I'm glad to have the opportunity to do it this year.

Apologies for my enthusiasm outweighing my humility.

>68 richardderus: I think he's happy, Richard, although his dance partner might need a change of underwear.

>69 luvamystery65: I visited Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo in the French Quarter this past weekend, Roberta, and bought antidotes for Richard's voodoo. Besides, I ain't a-skeered of him, never you mind. All I have to do is hook him up with plenty of bacon buttys and loads of fish & chips and he'll be as docile as a newborn puppy.

>70 TinaV95: We were talking about that same topic on Saturday when we went to the Garden District, Tina. Don & I were both hesitant to apply to medical school, as neither of us felt that we measured up, but each of us was inspired by a mentor who helped us overcome our fear of failure. As Don said, so many prospective medical students eliminate themselves from consideration before they take the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) or apply to medical school.

If my restaurant meals are paid I would be more than happy to serve as your NOLA tour guide! I'm hoping that the Cranswicks decide to visit New Orleans when they come to the US, as I would enjoy showing them around one of my favorite cities and former homes.

Today has been a complete waste, as I haven't read anything and I've been wandering around aimlessly since breakfast. I'm still trying to get back to a normal sleep pattern after I returned from London two weeks ago, so I'm glad that I decided to stay in Atlanta and not make another trip this week.

If TransAtlantic is better than The Testament of Mary (the latter's status as a novella and the associated questions about its nomination notwithstanding), I simply must read it. The Testament of Mary was exquisite.

Very cool that you get to return to London in October! I'll be in San Diego around that same time, which promises to be lovely, as well.

Right, Ellen. Despite its short length The Testament of Mary was a very rich and beautifully written novel, one that gave me plenty to think about. It certainly bears re-reading, and I'm tempted to wait to post a review of it until I give it another go. I'm also tempted to re-read The Spinning Heart again, as my rating of it (3 stars) is considerably lower than that of most other people. Mmm, I should look at the Mookse and the Gripes Booker Prize forum to see what readers there thought of it.

My partner who makes our work schedule gave me the go ahead to make plans for London. As I mentioned on my Facebook page Delta is having a sale on transatlantic flights that ends on August 12th, so I'll make my plane and hotel reservations soon. According to the notice, "Travel may begin September 3-November 30, 2013, and all travel must be completed on or before December 10, 2013." I checked the cost of the flights I will probably take yesterday, and the cost was roughly $500 less than what I paid for my ATL-LHR trip last month. More info if anyone is interested: Flights to Europe

San Diego in October sounds delightful! I'm sure that you'll have better weather than I will. :-)

Book #68: The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan

   

My rating:

My father still lives back the road past the weir in the cottage I was reared in. I go there every day to see is he dead and every day he lets me down.

This novel was the most surprising one to be chosen for this year's Booker Prize longlist, as it was rejected by 47 publishers before Doubleday Ireland decided to accept it. It is set in a rural Irish town during the financial crisis of the last decade, after the local building firm has gone under. The book is divided into short chapters, each narrated by a person in the book that is linked to all of the others. The main character is Bobby Mahon, a handsome young married man who is embittered by the recent loss of his job at the building firm and by the knowledge that his boss, Pokey Burke, has cheated him and his work mates out of their pensions. He also has a difficult relationship with his father, a widowed old drunkard who wasted away the family's savings and seems to hang on to life to spite his son, who will inherit the cottage once his father dies. Bobby's loathing for his father is strong enough that he often thinks about killing him, to gain the property and to be rid of his presence forever.

Through the accounts of the other characters the main theme of the novel comes into focus, similar to a tapestry created by multiple weavers, and the reader learns how the country's economic collapse has ruined the lives and dreams of those who live there. Multiple story lines surround the tragic central one, which ends with a surprising twist.

I found The Spinning Heart to be far less satisfying than most other readers. The characters in this novel are almost all deeply unhappy, bitter, and speak ill about those who are closest to them. I found their rants to be frequently repetitive and gossipy, and I soon lost interest in them and the book as a whole. It is a well written book, but I wasn't engaged by it, and I would be surprised if it was chosen for the Booker shortlist. It is a short novel at just over 150 pages, so I may give it another go to see if I like it better the second time around.

Just chiming in to say I LOVED The Testament of Mary as well. Gives us what seems like such a balanced and realistic view of Mary and is of course beautifully rendered.

>75 Smiler69: I agree with you, Ilana!

Book #67: What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube: The District Line by John Lanchester



My rating:

London as it exists today would not be the same place without the Underground. The Underground is what gave the city its geographical spread, its population growth, its clusters of spaces and places.

This brilliant book by John Lanchester, whose most recent novel was the highly praised Capital, is part of Penguin's Underground Lines series, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, and it is one of the four books contained in the East-West: Penguin Underground Lines e-book I recently purchased. Unlike the trivial and very disappointing books on the Piccadilly and Hammersmith & City Lines, Lanchester's contribution is a superb exploration of the District Line, the Underground as a whole, and the profound effect that the system has had on the growth of the city and the everyday lives of its residents.



A District line train at its terminus at Richmond station

The District Line, which is aptly described as being like 'an older aunt who has seen better days', originated as the Metropolitan District Railway, and was later known as the District Railway, in order to distinguish it from the Metropolitan Railway, which began underground service in October 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon stations. The District Railway was created to provide a circular subsurface link to the major train stations in London, in order to allow commuters coming from the city's suburbs to quickly travel to their work places without having to navigate the city's congested streets. The first District Line service began operation in December 1868, which carried passengers between the South Kensington and Westminster stations, using steam locomotives to pull wooden carriages. The line has expanded significantly over the subsequent years, providing service to as far west as the posh suburbs of Richmond and Wimbledon, and as far east as Upminster.



A photo of Gloucester Road station, built in 1868, which was shared by the Metropolitan and District Railways (this was the first Underground station I entered on my initial trip to London in 2007)

Lanchester begins his book with a journey on the 4:53 am westbound train to Richmond leaving from Upminster, the first train of the day on the system. He observes his fellow passengers, initially blue collar workers from the East End off to their jobs in the City, who are then replaced by professionals who are employed in the financial district as he approaches central London and makes the return eastbound trip. He comments about the differences and similarities of the social and demographic groups that use the Underground, and the eastward displacement of the working classes, as the City and immediate East End neighborhoods have become less affordable to those earning modest salaries. Lanchester also speaks to Transport for London (TfL) workers throughout the book, who provide him with valuable insights into the Underground and the passengers who use it:

I asked TfL workers about the demographic difference between the two ends of the line. 'Put it like this,' one of them said. 'If they're annoyed about something, at this end of the line' — we were at Dagenham — 'they yell at you. You know about it straight away. At the other end,' he said with a shudder, 'they write letters.'

In subsequent chapters Lanchester expands his horizon to view the Underground as a whole, the effect of rapid transit on the development of cities, and the comparison of it to the metros of other cities such as Paris and New York, who created their systems decades afterward. He also discusses the psychology of passengers who ride the system; distinguishes between the terms Underground, which refers to the entire system, and the seemingly synonymous term Tube, which properly refers to the deeper level lines such as the Piccadilly, Northern and Bakerloo lines, and not the subsurface ones such as the Circle, District and Hammersmith and City lines; his personal fear of being in Underground tunnels, particularly when the train is halted between stations; the new air conditioned trains that will soon replace the 30+ year old ones that currently are in service; his experience riding alongside the driver of a train, and how it differs from being a regular passenger; the monotonous work day of an Underground train operator; and the different personas that Londoners assume when they travel underground.

The only complaint that I have about this book is that it ended far too soon. I absolutely loved it, and reading it has made me eager to drop everything else and read Lanchester's latest novel as soon as possible.

Glad to hear that at least one of the Penguin Underground series was worth your time and money, Darryl. And I'm sorry to hear that The Spinning Heart was such a downer--although it makes me less irritated that it won't be available in the US for awhile.

Love that review of What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube, Darryl! You've got me wanting to read a book I wouldn't have thought of reading in a million years. Thumb from me!

Excellent review of The Spinning Heart, Darryl. This is one of the LL I'll pass on.

>78 Cariola: Thanks, Deborah. There is one more book in my East-West: Penguin Underground Lines e-book that I haven't read yet, The 32 Stops: The Central Line by Danny Dorling. I read the first page of it several days ago, and it also looks to be good. I plan to read the remaining books in this series over the remainder of the year, two every month through December.

I've looked at other reviews of The Spinning Heart, and they seem to be divided into two camps. Most loved it, but the remainder had opinions that were similar to mine.

>79 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe! I think a passing knowledge of the Underground would be helpful in appreciating What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube, although I wouldn't say that it's essential. I wasn't aware of the Penguin Underground Series until I saw all of them prominently displayed at Foyles Bookshop last month. Three e-books that each contain four of the books are available in the US, and I'll purchase the other two soon.

>80 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy. I can understand why The Spinning Heart was rejected by multiple publishers, and IMO there are better books that could have been chosen for the Booker longlist.

I thought spots of Lanchester's book were brilliant, but that while there was a narrative arc, there were still some disjointed bits in there, so it wasn't a five star book for me.

I'm still debating whether to fork over 8 quid for an English Kindle version of The Spinning Heart. The setting intrigues me -- Ireland has suffered so tremendously, after being one of the biggest beneficiaries of monetary union, and I've spent a chunk of time there during the final bit of the glory days (2005-2007) so I'd like to read a novel with that backdrop. But -- 8 pounds for 150 pages?? I always hated people who would walk into the bookstore where I worked and balk at spending more than x per page, but now I'm starting to understand them. But it won't be out here until next year. Grrrr.

Mister Doctor. Your challenge to my mojo is accepted. *gleeful handrubbing*

>82 Chatterbox: Suz, I originally gave What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube 4-1/2 stars, as Lanchester spent more of the book in a discussion of topics that weren't directly related to the District Line. However, when I wrote my review and looked back through the book I realized what a pleasurable read it was and how much I learned from it, so I decided to give it that extra half star.

BTW, I just finished the fourth and last book in the East-West: Penguin Underground Lines collection, The 32 Stops: The Central Line by Danny Dorling, which was about as enjoyable as eating an unseasoned and severely overcooked turkey breast. So, given that I didn't like three of the four Underground Lines books, I'll reconsider whether I want to read the rest of the books in this series.

>83 richardderus: Hmm. I now understand where this summer cold has come from. I was going to blame it on one of my colleagues who attended Tuesday's hospital committee meeting, but apparently it has originated from Long Island. No bacon buttys or fish and chips for you, sir.

Darryl, I just found out that Vargas Llosa published a new novel, about 4 months ago in fact. It's called in Spanish El Heroe Discreto - the discrete hero. It's not available in the U.S. but I pre-ordered through Barnes & Noble.

Ironically, the edition in Spain costs over 18 euros ($22+) and it's only about $15 in the U.S.

>84 kidzdoc: Thanks for that good news, Manuel! I just looked at this article in a Peruvian newspaper about El héroe discreto, which mentions that it features Sergeant Lituma, who appeared in Death in the Andes and The Green House. Apparently it's a novel about extortion and vengeance that takes place in the town of Piura, the setting for The Green House, and in Lima, the Peruvian capital. I look forward to your comments about it.

Thoroughly enjoyed your review of What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube: The District Line. Thanks for including the pictures too!

What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube just went firmly on the must-have list.

It is interesting, this whole "what we talk about when we talk about..." trend, no?

Morning Darryl- Hope the week is going well. I started the Lowland and it's perfectly lovely. This is a perfect companion piece to A Fine Balance, although I hope it doesn't kick you in the stomach like that one. Also, a friend from work lent me "Harvest", so I hope I can bookhorn that one in, in the next couple weeks.

Oh, that new Vargas Llosa sounds good! Looking forward to it.

#84 - Darryl, Lituma en los Andes is a favorite of mine. So it'll be good see Lituma return again.

>82 Chatterbox: I forgot to reply to your comment about The Spinning Heart, Suz. Unless you are attempting to read the entire Booker Prize longlist, as I am, I wouldn't recommend reading it. However, other readers like it far better than I did, so I'd suggest looking at reviews of it to help you decide.

>87 avidmom: Thanks, avidmom. I'll be passing through the Gloucester Road station frequently in October, as I'll stay at the Millennium Bailey's Hotel, which is just across the street from it.

>88 EBT1002: There have been quite a few What We Talk About When We Talk About ___ books published recently, Ellen. Hopefully this trend will end soon.

>89 msf59: Happy Friday, Mark! I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying The Lowland. I checked Amazon after I read your thread, and it seems as though the release date is still set for September 24th in the US. IMO publishers who nominate books for the Booker Prize should agree to release them at the time the longlist is announced! I'll check strandbooks.com now to see if any advanced review copies are available; if not I'll visit the bookshop in NYC next month to look for it.

>90 rebeccanyc: Same here, Rebecca! I still haven't read his two latest novels, The Dream of the Celt and The Bad Girl, but I'll definitely do so in the fourth quarter of the year, for the Reading Globally challenge.

>91 xieouyang: I agree, Manuel. I'm glad that MVL is writing about Lituma again.

88, 92> I've been a bit puzzled by the resurgence of the "What We Talk About When We Talk About . . . " titles in 2013. As far as I know, it originated back in 1981 with Raymond Carver's short story, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." It was very appropriate for that story and the collection of the same title; not so sure about these newer ones.

Darryl, I was mildly disappointed by The Dream of the Celt and haven't' read The Bad Girl yet, either. There are several more MVLs I haven't read yet too.

I had little interest in reading the books about the London Underground, but your review of Lancaster's contribution has tempted men. As you know, I recently read Capital, and rated it very highly. Years ago I read his Mr. Philips which I also found very good, and I was haunted by it for years after. In terms of nonfiction, after Capital he also wrote a book about the financial crisis, which I have on my Kindle.

>81 kidzdoc: We do have a passing knowledge of the Underground, Darryl, as we've been to London a few times now, and always use the Tube ( I didn't know there was a distinction). We're going back next year, and I've got Quiet London for that, too.

>93 Cariola: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver is also the first book I'm aware of that had such a title, Deborah. Hopefully this repetitive trend will end soon.

>94 rebeccanyc: I haven't been eager to pick up The Dream of the Celt and The Bad Girl, due to lukewarm reviews from you and others, Rebecca. I also have several books by MVL that I haven't read yet, particularly The Green House, Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, and Wellsprings, which consists of the three Richard Ellman Lectures in Modern Literature that he gave at Emory University several years ago, one of which I attended. I'll read these three books before I start his two newer ones, so I may not get to those this year after all.

Oh! Speaking of the Ellman Lectures, Paul Simon will be giving them this year, as I've probably mentioned already. Good news: the lectures will take place from September 22-24, and I'll be in town and not working then. Bad news: there are no online sales, and tickets go on sale September 9 at the box office; I'll be out of town visiting my parents then. I'll have to call the box office to see if I can get tickets that day, as the lectures are sure to sell out in no time flat. Otherwise I'll miss out on seeing him (and disappoint Megan as a result).

>95 arubabookwoman: I definitely remember your glowing recommendation of Capital, Deborah, and that inspired me to read it sooner even before I read What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube. However, given my reading plans for the year it's possible that I may not get to it until sometime next year.

>96 jnwelch: I figured that you were at least fairly knowledgeable about the Underground, Joe. The tube distinction makes sense to me. When I grew up in Jersey City, NJ the PATH system, which provides rapid transit from Jersey City, Hoboken, Newark and Harrison, NJ to NYC, was known by older riders as the Hudson Tubes, as the tunnels through which the trains ran under the Hudson River were tube shaped, similar to the deep lines of the London Underground.



You'll have to let me know when you do go back to London, as I suspect that I'll return there three or four times next year. I have tickets to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies on March 26th, and it looks as though I'll be off for the entire month of June, as my work group is incorporating a new plan by which some of us can work more shifts in the late fall and winter, when our needs are highest, in exchange for a month off from work in June to August, which won't require any use of vacation days. If I get that, which seems almost definite, I'll consider spending two weeks in London, a week in Paris, and possibly a week in Barcelona. I'll probably also return later in the summer, possibly in July to pick up next year's Booker longlisted titles as I did this year, and perhaps again in early autumn, to see more plays at the National Theatre.

I forgot to bring Quiet London with me last month, but I'll definitely do so in October.

Wow, that month off sounds like a dream come true, Darryl. We hope to spend two weeks in London next year, and in the future use it as a jumping off place for trips to places like Paris and Barcelona. I'll let you know when we're going next year once we pin it down.

>98 jnwelch: The month off will be good, but we'll have to work many more shifts from November-February in return. I'll have to see how it goes this first attempt, as I/we may decide that it isn't worth it if we're working too hard during those busy months.

It sounds as though you have the same idea as I had. I was thinking of going to Paris in October, and I may still take a day trip there during that time if I have a completely free day, but I think I'd rather have an extended period of time to make my first visit. One of my work partners grew up in Barcelona, so I'll be able to get good recommendations on where to go and what to do beforehand.

I forgot to mention that I received Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson from the Book Depository today; The Luminaries and Unexploded will likely come in the next day or two. I may change the order in which I read Booker longlisted books, although I'll read Harvest next. I'll probably take The Kills with me to San Francisco next weekend, and read The Luminaries in early September.

Barcelona is one of my favourite European cities - I hope your plans to visit work out.

Progress reported on the malarial vaccine in this week's Nature:

http://www.nature.com/news/zapped-malaria-parasite-raises-vaccine-hopes-1.13536

#97 I really loved Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, which is basically a sex farce with politics and religion thrown in; MVL must have had a lot of fun writing it! The Green House was probably the most difficult to follow and understand of any MVL I've read, but it was great. I have Wellsprings too, but haven't read it. I also own but haven't read, in addition to The Bad Girl, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, This Way to Paradise, The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta, and A Fish in the Water, which is an autobiography. Too much on the TBR!

A month off sounds great, but maybe not if you have to work so hard the rest of the year.

Delighted you will get to London again this fall, Darryl -- because that means all of us get to go, too! Will be interested to know how the month off works out with the extra shifts Nov-Feb.

*skimming through*

I woke up just after 3 am, after another unpleasant dream. Fortunately I don't have any major plans today, other than my usual Saturday morning visit to the supermarket, so I can go back to sleep whenever the urge hits.

I finished The German Mujahid by Boualem Sansal late last night, which was superb. I'll review it later today or tomorrow.

>100 SandDune: Thanks, Rhian. I've wanted to visit Spain for quite awhile, after I (foolishly) turned down an invitation from one of my classmates from residency to accompany her on vacation there years ago.

>101 streamsong: Thanks for posting the link to that article about the new malaria vaccine, streamsong! I saw the CNN Breaking News about it on Thursday, and I definitely wanted to read more about the study. I read that it was created from weakened Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites, and that it conferred 100% protection against the development of malaria in the six subjects tested in the phase 1 study, which is a very small sample size (but not unusual for an initial study, right?). I'd be interested to see the data from the phase 2 and the phase 3 studies, and whether this vaccine also provides protection against Plasmodium vivax, which also causes significant morbidity and mortality. It seems as though its use may be limited, due to the apparent need for five injections (over what time period?) and for the vaccine to be stored in liquid nitrogen. And, I assume that these features would make it prohibitively expensive for use in mass vaccination in second and third world countries, unless the cost is heavily subsidized by the WHO and other organizations. The importance of this study may be in its demonstration that an effective vaccine against malaria is possible, and that subsequent efforts are needed to develop one that is cost-effective and easily stored and administered (i.e., an oral or injected vaccine that requires fewer doses and can be stored at room temperature or in simple refrigeration devices).

>102 rebeccanyc: I knew that you liked Captain Pantoja and the Special Services but I didn't remember if you had read The Green House or what you thought of it, Rebecca, so I'm glad to hear it. I enjoyed Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, and The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta was also good. I own the other books you mentioned, but I haven't read them yet, either.

A month off sounds great, but maybe not if you have to work so hard the rest of the year.

I'm currently a 0.8 FTE (full time equivalent), and I would work as a 1.0 FTE during November-February. I have worked full time in the past, so it wouldn't be something that I haven't already done. And our scheduler, by a mutual agreement, already gives me more shifts during the winter months, in exchange for having more time off in the late spring to early fall, which is why I have so much time off this spring and summer. As I mentioned I'm currently midway through a 10 day break from work, which doesn't involve the use of any vacation time, and I'm only working seven days this month (not counting the conference I went to last week). So, it may not be as big a difference for me as it would appear to be on the surface.

>103 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy! BTW, Joyce (Nickelini from Club Read, who occasionally posts to several 75er threads, including mine) has just returned from a visit to the UK, and she is in the process of posting a fabulous set of photos and descriptions of her family's whirlwind travels, which you can read about on her thread:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/155123

I'll definitely let everyone know how the four late fall and winter months go at work. I may also need to be reminded that I chose to do this, and that I'll receive a vacation-free month in June in compensation.

>104 humouress: *waves at humoress*

Book #66: The 32 Stops: The Central Line by Danny Dorling



My rating:



The Central Line, as its name implies, cuts through the heart of central London, traveling from West Ruislip station in Hillingdon eastward to its terminus at Epping station in Essex. It passes through several key junctions with other lines en route, particularly those at Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Holborn, Bank and Stratford stations. It is the longest Underground line, as the journey from West Ruislip to Epping is nearly 55 kilometers (just over 34 miles), and it serves over 260 million passengers every year. Service between the Shepherd's Bush and Bank Stations began in 1900, and the line was lengthened considerably in the years following World War II.



Mosaic tiles in Tottenham Court Road station

Danny Dorling, a professor of human geography at the University of Sheffield, has written widely on social inequalities in England. In The 32 Stops: The Central Line, he applies that topic by comparing and contrasting the average General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) scores, life expectancies, percentage of children in poverty, household incomes, etc. of the residents who live in the neighborhoods served by 32 of the 49 stops on the Central Line. Each station includes a brief narrative about a typical person or family that lives there, which is interspersed by the author's descriptions of the differences and similarities of those who live from one station to the next, which are enhanced by graphs and charts.

Although I applaud Dorling's work in elucidating the human geography of the Londoners who live alongside the Central Line, I did not enjoy reading this book. The narratives felt contrived and quickly became tiresome to read, especially when the characters began to quote statistics that enhanced Dorling's points but seemed forced and surreal. Other than very brief descriptions at the beginning and end of the book there was no discussion of the Central Line itself, which made this a very dry and tasteless read, similar to eating a dessicated turkey breast on Irish soda bread.

Darryl, how long is the flight from Atlanta to London? Every time I come back from Europe I try to scheme ways to get back more often, but the one hurdle I can't get past is the 9+ hour flight each way. I love being places, but just hate the traveling part!

>107 Nickelini: Joyce, it's about 9½ hours from LHR to ATL, if I remember correctly. Let's see...my flight last month left LHR at 12:50 pm BST (7:50 am EDT), and it probably arrived at ATL around 5:20 pm EDT...yep, 9½ hours. The planes to and from ATL-LHR don't fly in a straight line between the two airports; instead they travel due west from England to Newfoundland, and then fly down the Atlantic Coast the rest of the way, which I assume is meant to minimize the time that they fly over open water, in case of an emergency. So, it basically ends up being a London-St. John's-Atlanta route, which probably adds one or two hours of additional flying time.

I did fly back to JFK from LHR last September, and it was a much shorter flight. Checking...the Delta flights take 8 hr 5-15 min, whereas the ones on Virgin Atlantic (which Delta recently became a minority owner of) take 7 hr 40-50 min(?). ATL is about 750 miles south of JFK, so you would be taking a significant southward detour if you went LHR-ATL-YVR.

ETA: I've become increasingly more used to and comfortable with flying across the Atlantic, provided that I'm able to get an exit row seat with plenty of leg room, preferably a seat in row 30 (A, B, F or G) on a Delta 767-300 series. Those are bulkhead seats, but there is unlimited leg room, as there is space for one of the flight attendants to sit across from you during takeoff and landing. Even if my seat mate is sleeping with his legs fully extended there is plenty of room for me to stand up and walk past him. The last time I was seated in a standard coach seat, on an overnight flight from ATL to LHR, I didn't sleep at all, as I felt cramped and couldn't get comfortable.

I love Charlotte's London video! I truly did laugh out loud when I watched it.

The flight times are funny, aren't they! Vancouver--Europe (UK, Amsterdam, Paris, Germany) seems to be between 9.25 and 9.5 hours, but it's the same if you fly Toronto or Montreal to Europe too. But Vancouver to Toronto is 5 hours, which makes the trip way more onerous. We've done that far too many times.

The Vancouver-Europe flights tend to go up and over the Arctic (the "polar route") and sometimes fly over Greenland and then down across Northern Ireland.

BTW we were quite happy with Virgin Atlantic and would fly them again.

>109 Nickelini: Ah, that makes sense. I wondered why it would take just as long to go from LHR to Vancouver as it did from LHR to ATL, but you're much further away from the equator and closer to the North Pole there than I am here. I was also surprised at how many hours of sunlight there are in London in July; I think sunrise was just after 5 am and sunset wasn't until nearly 10 pm.

I had meant to look for direct flights on Virgin Atlantic when I made my LHR to ATL reservation this week, as I have heard good things about the airline and because I can now redeem miles on Virgin Atlantic flights on my Delta frequent flier account. Checking...no; the only direct flights (3) are all on Delta, although I know that British Airways offers at least one daily nonstop flight between the two airports. I will give Virgin Atlantic a try the next time it's feasible, though.

>106 kidzdoc: ... very dry and tasteless read, similar to eating a dessicated turkey breast on Irish soda bread.

...I think I threw up in my mouth a little...

It's not the flying over land that is the issue -- it is where the trip is shortest, adjusted for the wind patterns. (if you look at a globe rather than at a flat map, you'll see what I mean...) The winds are different over the open ocean, which is part of it, and if you look at a globe I think it should become clear that even for Atlanta, you're covering fewer miles via that route than going across the Atlantic. Also -- it should be faster going from west to east, i.e. flying to Europe from the US, since that's the way the prevailing trade winds blow. I've done that trip in under six hours from NY, on occasion, while you need to budget 7.5 hours for the return leg. Trade winds are different at different times of year, too. There's one period in the winter when you can fly all the way to Taipei without a change or a refueling stop, but I think it's only in a particular time of year (January/February?)

ETA: I think that's the second reference I've seen you make to tasteless turkey in your comments of late, Darryl!

>111 richardderus: Yes, The 32 Stops was as unappetizing as my culinary metaphor of it. Academicians and those who enjoy statistics and graphs will like it much better than I did, and the two LTers that reviewed it gave it four and five stars, so I'm out of line with their opinion of it.

>112 Chatterbox: Interesting information about transatlantic flights, Suz. I know that it takes over one hour less time to fly from ATL to LHR (just over 8 hours) than it does from LHR to ATL (9½ hours), and a similar but smaller difference holds true from SFO to ATL flights (~5 hr 15 min) as compared to ATL to SFO flights (~4 hr 35 min).

I think that's the second reference I've seen you make to tasteless turkey in your comments of late, Darryl!

It's Barry's (baswood from Club Read) fault; he said "I think you should include one of these food metaphors in all your reviews" when I made my original comparison of The 32 Stops to a dry turkey breast earlier this week.

Turkey's just disgusting anyway, why not make use of its revoltingness to describe how very bad a book can be?

I like the dark meat of a turkey, but turkey breast is often dry as a bone and flavorless. And, the Irish soda bread I've had in London has been inedible unless you slather it with butter and/or jam.

I'm happy to eat turkey sandwiches, but with a good quality sliced turkey and usually with something else in there -- a flavored light mayo or cranberry sauce. When it comes to the roast bird, yes, gimme a leg every time!

I'm not a big bread eater, not bread qua bread anyway, so slathering it with stuff is a minimum requirement for me. Including hot, fresh-from-the-oven bread. Must have fats or not eating it. Sugars are negotiable.

>116 Chatterbox: I agree completely, Suz. A good quality turkey breast can be very good, but I'd still prefer to have a light dressing or spread on it. Turkey legs, at least the way my father makes them, are very tasty!

>117 richardderus: Fresh artisan breads are one of my biggest weaknesses, especially if the loaves are hot out of the oven. I'm not a fan of most sweets, with one notable exception being hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts. There is a bakery/restaurant not far from me, the Buckhead Bread Company/Corner Café, which makes fabulous breads that don't require any butter or jam. Whenever I visit my best friends in Madison, Wisconsin I am required to stop there first and bring several loaves of bread, especially for my classmate's wife. Her usual greeting to me is "Hello, Darryl! Did you bring bread?" One time I told her that I forgot, and she looked utterly crestfallen, so I had to immediately tell her that I was just kidding.

Thankfully I have weaned myself off Krispy Kreme... That said, I love cinnamon rolls, cherry pie and other kinds of pastry. Cake and cookies not so much, and it can't be too sweet. I adore sorbet. My newest sweet addiction is the lemon cake they make at Seven Stars bakery here in Providence -- it's an institution, in the best sense of the word.

Darryl - How great that you get another trip to London quite soon.

I too was enamoured of The Testament of Mary but I still feel that the Booker Prize is an award for novels and Toibin's work is not that, exquisite though it was.

I went to sleep early this evening, woke up at 1 am, and finished Dark Heart of the Night by Léonora Miano, a Francophone author from Cameroon, which was a powerful and disturbing novel set in an isolated African village that is set upon by militants. Its main themes were fatalism and the responsibility that each person has (or should have) toward others. I'll give it 4 stars for now and review it early next week, after I catch up with previous ones from this month.

I'll head out later this morning to the Midtown Art Cinema (which is barely a mile from where I live) to see the National Theatre Live rebroadcast of The Audience by Peter Morgan, which stars Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. She won the 2013 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance in this play, and the 2006 Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Elizabeth II in The Queen, so I'm looking forward to this broadcast. My group's practice manager will join me, but probably no one else will make it. She lived in London for several years, and is a lovely person who enjoys literature and the theatre, so it will be enjoyable to see it with her.

>119 Chatterbox: I did go to Krispy Kreme early yesterday morning; there is one in Midtown about two miles away from where I live. I think this was the second time I've been there this year, as I limit my visits to no more than three or four times per year, and only when the "Hot Now" light is on. I'm not a huge fan of pastries, pies or cakes, but I love the organic strawberry rhubarb pie that is sold by a Bay Area company. I often buy one from the Farmers' Market in front of the Ferry Terminal Building when I go to San Francisco, so hopefully I'll be able to get one next Tuesday. I have a late afternoon flight to SFO on Saturday, and I'll be there until the following Saturday.

Having said that, the lemon cake at Seven Stars sounds divine!

>120 PaulCranswick: Right, Paul. I did have eight days of vacation left this year, and I think we can only carry five days from one year to the next, so I had thought about using them for an early fall return to London several months ago.

I think I'll reread The Testament of Mary tomorrow, and write a review of it then. I think it's the shortest book to ever make a Booker longlist, and it certainly would be the shortest to ever win if it were to do so. The 1979 novel Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald, at 132 pages, wins that honor, followed by Sense of an Ending at 150 pages. My UK paperback copy of The Testament of Mary has 104 pages with moderately large and wide spaced text, so although it isn't appreciably shorter than Offshore, it feels much more like a novella. I relegated it to the second position in my current Booker longlist ranking behind TransAtlantic largely because of its small size.

Oh, I should have looked for an NT rebroadcast of 'The Audience'! It was in its final week when I was in London, and the ticket prices were (cheapest) 120 pounds, via resellers. That just wasn't happening!! Now I'm kicking myself for not having thought of this, since although it was in the West End, it was an NT production, wasn't it?

I thought The Testament of Mary felt more like a novel than did Sense of an Ending -- at least, as if there was more in there. I'm still reflecting on it, months after reading it. Could it have been longer? Absolutely. But it's distilled down to essentials -- it's the skeletal structure of a novel, without any unnecessary 'decoration'. And yet, when reading it, I didn't feel that anything that had been pared away was something that I really needed, as a reader.

I would kill for a cronut.

>122 Chatterbox: Good news, Suz. I checked the NT Live web site for The Audience (which you can access via the link I posted in message #121), and it's being broadcast at Symphony Space in NYC multiple times in August and September, starting next Saturday, and at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Boston on Saturday. Medha and I absolutely loved it, and I suppose I'll have to give it 5-1/2 or 6 stars out of 5, since I gave Othello 5 stars.

>123 richardderus: I would kill for a cronut.

I had to do a Wikipedia search to find out what a cronut was, although I've seen it mentioned on your thread, or possibly Joe's. I'd like to try one, but from the looks of it I think I'd rather have a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut, or definitely hot beignets from Café du Monde.

Better yet, I would kill for pastrami salmon (or, better yet, smoked sturgeon!) and cream cheese with onions and capers on a bialy from Russ and Daughters, or a slice of plain cheesecake from Junior's, or even a knish with mustard from a NYC street vendor. Heaven...

You're making me hungry! All I've got in the house for lunch is the fixings for a portabella pizza.

I didn't know what a cronut was either!

Theatre review!

The Audience by Peter Morgan



My rating: (5.0/5.0)

Every Tuesday, at approximately 6:30 p.m., the Queen of the United Kingdom has a private audience with her Prime Minister. It is not an obligation. It is a courtesy extended by the Prime Minister, to bring Her Majesty up to speed. The meeting takes place in the Private Audience Room located on the first floor of Buckingham Palace.

This play, which was sponsored by the National Theatre and performed on the West End at the John Gielgud Theatre, features Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, during her meetings with 11 of the 12 Prime Ministers of Great Britain that have served during her 60 year reign.

These audiences were meant to be completely private and confidential, although some details about them were leaked by insiders. However, Peter Morgan, in an enlightening interview during the intermission, said that these conversations were ones that he largely invented, based on knowledge provided by historians and those closest to the Queen and Prime Ministers. The action took place almost entirely in the Private Audience Room, save for one scene at a weekend retreat in Scotland that the Queen and her family shared with the Prime Minister and his or her family on an annual basis.

The relationships between the heads of the British government and the head of the Crown were at times confrontational, but were generally cordial and occasionally warm, ranging from Churchill's paternalistic and dismissive treatment of the young Queen immediately after her father's death in 1953, to her difficult relationships with Margaret Thatcher and John Major. In her closest relationships, one in particular, the two were able to put aside formalities and become close friends who exchanged frequent laughs and witty barbs. One would occasionally serve as a confidant or a therapist for the other during their most difficult days, disclosing sensitive information that they had not yet shared with their spouses. Mirren portrays Elizabeth as a hands on and sharp witted Queen, who read everything that was passed onto her from the Prime Ministers and Parliament, and although she supported the Prime Ministers' decisions and policies faithfully, she asked tough questions of them and made her position clear when she disagreed with them. She is a sensitive and caring woman, one who most Prime Ministers feel comfortable talking with about affairs of state, as well as their own personal matters.

Between each meeting of the Queen and a Prime Minister a young Margaret appears, who often speaks to and gets advice from her older self.

The performance was very humorous from start to finish, and occasionally quite moving; at the end of one scene near the end of Act Two I choked up a little bit, and I noticed that my companion wiped tears from her eyes. The costumes of the Queen at the different stages in her life were exceptionally well done, and on at least two occasions the Queen managed to change appearance either just off stage or at the edge of the stage within seconds, in apparent sleights of hand that were discussed but not disclosed during the intermission, when the costume and stage designers and other staff members talked about their work in a short film.

Mirren's performance was easily one of the best I've ever seen on stage, and she certainly deserves the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress that was given to her this year. The actors who played the Prime Ministers were all superb, but the ones who portrayed Margaret Thatcher, Harold Wilson and John Major, as seen in order in the photo below, were magnificent.



Even though this was a re-broadcast in a cinema, several audience members, including myself, clapped at various moments in the performance, and it was all I could do to keep from standing and cheering the actors at its conclusion. My companion and I gushed about The Audience after we saw it, and I can't adequately express in words how much I enjoyed this amazing and unforgettable production.

>125 Cariola: Sorry, Deborah. I picked up a burrito from Moe's (a Mexican restaurant chain which is only in the Deep South, I think), otherwise I couldn't have typed that message.

>126 avidmom: Apparently a true cronut only comes from the Dominique Ansel Bakery in NYC. I may have to stop there one day next month when I visit the city.

The Audience sounds wonderful. I love Helen Mirren and remember really liking her in The Queen.

I may have to stop there one day next month when I visit the city.

Geez, kidzdoc, I think you've convinced me I need to get out more.
LOL!

I make cronuts, too, but lack the raw materials at the mo. I would still commit heinous and reprehensible acts to get one.

Oh my, what a wonderful review of The Audience Darryl. You really brought it to life for me. Now I have to see if it is being shown anywhere near me.

Darryl, thanks for reminding me about NT Live. There's a venue in Bryn Mawr, yay! I can't make it to their showing of The Audience, but I'm seriously considering Othello in October (the one you saw in London) or Macbeth in November (with Kenneth Branagh).

Just madly trying to catch up - great reviews as always!

>129 avidmom: Thanks, avidmom. I haven't seen The Queen yet, but Medha convinced me that I had to see it after we left this cinema this afternoon.

Geez, kidzdoc, I think you've convinced me I need to get out more.

Medha more or less said the same thing, particularly when I mentioned that I would be going to San Francisco on Saturday, visit my parents in suburban Philadelphia (which is an easy commuter train ride away from NYC) for the first half of September, and would return to London in October. She and her husband lived in London for seven years, and although she did make it back last year she wasn't able to see any plans or museum exhibits. Even though she's an American citizen she is probably more of an avid Anglophile than I am, and although she loves her husband and kids to pieces she'd kill someone (probably me) in order to take my place during one of my London trips.

>130 richardderus: I would still commit heinous and reprehensible acts to get one.

Umm...how is this different from your normal daily activities, sir?

>131 brenzi: I just checked out of curiosity, Bonnie, using the link I posted in message #121. If you are able to easily get to Toronto there are plenty of cinemas showing it there.

>132 lauralkeet: Depending on my November and December schedule I may want to see the NT Live rebroadcasts of Othello or Frankenstein in NYC or Bryn Mawr when I visit my parents. Even though I would have to cross two state lines it may actually be easier to see it at Symphony Space in NYC, as my parents live about 15 minutes away from Trenton train station by car, and if I visit my mother's sisters in Jersey City it's a much shorter trip.

>133 PrueGallagher: Thanks, Prue!

My son and I just finished watching Hitchcock. Helen Mirren is bloody brilliant in that as well!

Helen Mirren ROCKS!

I love Helen Mirren in anything, but she is awesome as the Queen! I'm looking forward to your review of The Testament of Mary, Darryl. My copy was only 81 pages. I jokingly said that it took me longer to write my review than to read the book. Thanks for reminding me that there have been other short books to win the Booker Prize.

After reading your review of the Helen Mirren play this morning, I happened to watch a Jon Stewart episode from a few weeks ago (whilst folding laundry) and John Oliver interviewed her. She was delightful! Actually, the two of them were delightful. I think I want to go rewatch all the Helen Mirren films that I have on DVD and then see where I can see this play.

How do you find out about these performances? Is there one website, or ??

>135 avidmom: Thanks, avidmom; I'll have to look out for Hitchcock.

>136 lit_chick: If her performance in The Audience is indicative of her work then I have to agree with you, Nancy.

Perhaps someone can explain to me why The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the first entry that appears when I type the touchstone for The Audience by Peter Morgan. I know that Collins' book is slightly more popular than Morgan's, but still...

>137 Donna828: Ha! It may take me longer to write my review of The Testament of Mary than read it too, Donna. Although it is a slight book I do think it deserves a place on this year's Booker longlist.

I'll have to see if I can find that Jon Stewart-Helen Mirren episode online. In the short film during the intermission of The Audience about the Queen's costumes Helen Mirren is shown talking with the costume designer, and comes across as warm, funny and genuine. Although I basically don't watch movies (the last one I saw in a cinema was Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore in 2004) I'll have to look for ones that Helen Mirren appears in, starting with The Queen. I'll also check to see if past NT Live performances are available in DVD format.

The website for NT Live is http://www.ntlive.com. There you can search for current and upcoming rebroadcasts and whether or not any cinemas in your area are showing them. You can also receive e-mail messages from NT Live, which I believe is how I found out that The Audience was being shown at the cinema that is the closest one to where I live.

I just saw two memorable quotes as I was scrolling through Facebook, which I will add to my list of favorites. The first came from George Whitman, the late owner of the Shakespeare and Company Bookshop in Paris, which was accompanied by the following photo:

     In a bookstore one generally sees the charming side of people.



The second one came from Salvador Dalí:

     I don't do drugs. I am drugs.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Book #70: The German Mujahid by Boualem Sansal, translated from the French by Frank Wynne
     Original title: Le village de l'Allemand ou le journal des frères Schiller
     UK title: An Unfinished Business



My rating:

Here I am, faced with a question as old as time: are we answerable for the crimes of our fathers, of our brothers, of our children? Our tragedy is that we form a direct line, there is no way out without breaking the chain and vanishing completely.

This powerful, thought provoking and unsettling novel is narrated by Malrich Schiller, a young man born to a German father and an Algerian mother. He was sent from his home village of Aïn Deb in Algeria to a Parisian banlieue by his parents, in order to seek a better life there. Malrich, an abbreviation of his real name, Malek Ulrich, has dropped out of school and has frequently run afoul of the local police in his neighborhood, which is populated by Arab and African emigrants who are largely unemployed, bored and trapped in a meaningless existence, while being cowed by local Islamic fundamentalists. His much older brother Rachel, short for Rachid Helmut, also lives nearby; he has a college degree, a successful career in a multinational corporation, and an enviable but troubled marriage. Despite this, he is viewed as an outsider and a sell out by many residents of the banlieue.

Rachel committed suicide in April 1996, after he became increasingly erratic and unreliable, which caused him to lose his job and his wife, Ophélie. After his death she gave Malrich the keys to their house to live in after she moved to Canada, and he soon discovered his brother's diary.

Their parents and dozens of other residents of Aïn Deb were murdered by Islamic fundamentalists two years earlier, in a senseless response to the Algerian military crackdown that followed the election of an Islamist government earlier in the decade. Rachel traveled to his home village soon afterward, and while retrieving his parents' belongings he makes a shocking discovery. His father Hans emigrated from Germany to Egypt and eventually Algeria at the end of World War II, earned the title Mujahid, or Islamic freedom fighter, after he converted from Christianity to Islam and fought bravely in the resistance during the Algerian War for Independence, and was given the honorary title Cheïkh Hassan by his fellow villagers, who often consulted him and respected him for his wisdom and fairness. However, in his personal effects are honorary medals and papers that indicate that he willingly served in the SS during World War II, and was stationed in several of the most notorious concentration camps.

Rachel is profoundly disturbed by this discovery, and feels a suffocating sense of guilt that haunts him over the remainder of his life. He ignores his responsibilities to his job and his wife, and spends his days retracing his father's path from Germany to Egypt to Algeria, in an effort to learn what role his father played in the Holocaust, and how a man who was dearly loved and respected by his family and neighbors could have participated in such monstrous acts. He is likewise troubled by the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria and the banlieue where he resides, and he sees an uncanny parallel between the two.

When my parents and everyone else in Aïn Deb were murdered by the Islamists, Rachel got to thinking. He figured that fundamentalist Islam and Nazism were kif-kif—same old same old. He wanted to find out what would happen if people did nothing, the way people did nothing in Germany back in the day, what would happen if nobody did anything in Kabul and Algeria where they've got I don't know how many mass graves, or here in France where we've got all these Islamist Gestapo. In the end, the whole idea scared him so much he killed himself.

Malrich is also deeply affected after reading his brother's diary, as his brother hid this knowledge in an effort to protect him, and he is faced with a dilemma: can he stand by and passively accept the atrocities and restrictions that are being inflicted by the Islamic fundamentalists in the banlieue, or even join them in their cause, or should he stand up to them and openly reject their efforts to impose sharia on the community, knowing that he will could potentially pay for his indiscretions with his life?

The German Mujahid is a valuable and necessary book, which explores the history of former Nazis who escaped to Arabic countries toward the end of the Second World War, and compares their crimes to those being committed by Islamic and other religious fundamentalists and dictators throughout the world. It also questions the roles of citizens in these communities, who frequently passively accept or actively participate in crimes against their neighbors. This novel, and much of Sansal's work, was banned in Algeria after it was released. Sansal was recently vilified after his decision to attend the 2012 Jerusalem Writers Festival, which led to the revocation of the €15,000 prize he was slated to receive after he was awarded the Prix du Roman Arabe last year for his novel Rue Darwin. Sansal is a unique and courageous writer, whose voice must not be allowed to fall silent, and this reader eagerly looks forward to the translation of his past and upcoming works into English and the distribution of his books throughout the Arabic world.

I was very moved when I read the book about a year and a half ago.

The website for NT Live is http://www.ntlive.com.

Thanks! There are several showings near me in the next few weeks.

I'm green with envy over your review of "The Audience", Darryl. How lucky you are to have seen that! Helen Mirren is a force of nature.

Intriguing review of The German Mujahid, too. I'd never even thought about former Nazis escaping to Arabic countries. Fascinating to hear about the comparison of fundamentalist extremism.

The German Mujahid sounds like a pretty thought provoking book. When I think of "escaped Nazis" I usually think of South American countries - not Arabic ones. Interesting.

The German Mujahid sounds an interesting and thought-provoking book Darryl. I'd not heard of that author at all before.

That is a superb review of The German Mujahid, Darryl. And I love the memorable quotes from Shakespeare Company Bookshop and Salvador Dali.

Glad to see the positive review of The German Mujahid, as I have a copy on my TBR shelves.

>142 torontoc: I remember your comments about The German Mujahid, Cyrel. I think that Tad was the first person whose review I saw, back in 2010, as I bought it soon afterward.

>143 Nickelini: You're welcome, Joyce. I look forward to your comments about The Audience, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

>144 jnwelch: Joe, I would encourage you and anyone else interested in The Audience or any other National Theatre Live performances to check out its web site, which will allow you to search for cinemas that are showing NT rebroadcasts. I took a quick glance just now, and noticed that a theatre on Northwestern's campus will feature The Audience in the near future.

>145 avidmom: When I think of "escaped Nazis" I usually think of South American countries - not Arabic ones.

Neither did I before I read this book, avidmom. I think that was one of Sansal's goals in writing it, to bring this hidden and shameful history to light.

>146 SandDune: I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of Boualem Sansal before, Rhian. The German Mujahid (or An Unfinished Business in the UK) appears to be his only book that has been translated into English. From what I read his first novel wasn't published until he was 50 years of age, after he retired from a career in the Algerian government. Apparently he has published six novels since 1999, all of which have been published by Gallimard, and four of them, including The German Mujahid, have won one or more literary awards. Hopefully Europa Editions, which published this book in the US, has plans to translate and release his other novels in the near future.

>147 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy!

>148 katiekrug: Great; I hope that you also enjoy The German Mujahid, Katie.

>149 kidzdoc: Thanks for the tip, Darryl! I didn't know about this. I'm checking with the schedule keeper about Tues 9/10. And I'm bookmarking that NTL site!

Just wanted to point out to those of you interested in the NT Live broadcasts that in addition to Othello, Macbeth, and The Audience, there is an awesome production of Frankenstein coming. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternate the roles of Victor and the Creature and co-won the 2012 Olivier Award for Best Actor. Also: Tom Hiddleston in Coriolanus, which ran at the Donmar Warehouse, an amazing venue.

Book #72: 419 by Will Ferguson

   

My rating:

"Four one nine is not a game, it is a contest of wills," Ironsi-Egobia continued. "It is Nigerian cunning versus oyibo greed, and in such a tussle, cunning always has the advantage. Why? Because greed clouds men's eyes, fogs their gaze. Cunning focuses it. We are tax collectors, Adam. We charge a tax on greed. We should be congratulated, not prosecuted, and yet it is we who are called the criminals. Criminals! They talk about Nigeria's 'culture of corruption.' What of Europe's 'culture of greed'? What of America's? What of these oyibos agreeing to schemes that are so clearly illegal, were they to be true? Moving millions of dollars out of a poverty-stricken nation, profiteering on Nigeria's hardships? Are the mugus not criminals too? Aspiring criminals, but criminals still. Are they not accomplices as much as they are victims? This is what the fools at the EFCC fail to see."

419, the winner of the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize, begins with a mysterious automobile accident in Calgary that claims the life of Henry Curtis, a retired schoolteacher. That is the first of a series of surprises that follow, as his wife, his son Wallace and his daughter Laura soon find out that Henry was the victim of a Nigerian e-mail scam that has claimed his and his wife's life savings and has left them nearly $200,000 in debt. The local Canadian police share details of the conversations Henry had with a supposed Nigerian bank executive, but the family is informed that this money is lost forever, and they should not attempt to reclaim it by contacting Canadian or Nigerian officials. Wallace verbally expresses his anger and frustration with vehemence, while Laura quietly plans what action she can take to gain revenge for her father's death.

Winston is a university educated young Nigerian who operates out of an Internet parlor in Lagos creating 419 e-mail scams alongside other yahoo boys (419 refers to the section in the Nigerian Criminal Code that concerns fraud). He works independently and is quite successful, and as a result he is selected by Ironsi-Egobia, a local strong man, to run his scams in private under his "protection".

Nnamdi is a bright village youth selected by Dutch oil company officials for training as a mechanic, and later becomes a Shell Man, who earns a hefty salary but is loathed by other young men nearby. He later collaborates with some of them, and undertakes an even more lucrative job whose risks are outweighed by its potential profits.

The lives of these three main characters converge in Lagos, a chaotic city where corruption is rampant and danger is always present. The story progressively picks up speed as it reaches its terrifying and unexpected conclusion.

419 is an action packed novel that takes big risks, yet largely fails to deliver on them, in the manner of a batter who takes a mighty swing at a baseball and hits a high drive that falls well short of the outfield fence and lands harmlessly in a fielder's glove. The story regularly strained credulity, and ultimately I lost interest in the lives of its characters. Although it does seem to paint a believable, though bleak, picture of modern Nigeria and provides information about the effects of 419 scams on Westerners and Nigerians, it ultimately was an unsatisfying read.

>151 jnwelch: You're welcome, Joe. I hope that you and the missus get to see The Audience next month.

>152 Cariola: I definitely plan to see Frankenstein and Coriolanus, Deborah! Thanks for mentioning those plays to everyone else.

Oh gosh, I have so much to catch up on.

The London Underground stuff you have been reading has made me feel so nostalgic! It is such a part of living in London, even if you aren't using it all the time, the stations, the exit/entry points dotted about the place, the rattling of the above ground trains and squeal of the wheels. It is all a big part of my memory of London. Oh, and the waiting - haha. It looks like the little editions aren't up to what you would hope, but the What we talk about when we are talking about.....one looks like it is fantastic.

And I take it you loved Helen Mirren production! I wonder if this is how I could over come my reticence with live theatre...see it recorded and played back on a big screen. That way it could feel like a film!?

And, it looks like you are going great guns on the Booker reading! Well done, I have got as far as 2, but then, availability is a problem.

Terrific review of The German Mujahid Darryl. I've wanted to read it since Tad recommended it a few years ago. Thumb!

And another excellent review of 419, Darryl. I read this one last year and also found it to be a disappointment. Let's see if we can get you goin' on two HOT reviews : ).

Darryl, I'm really pleased you enjoyed The Audience as much as you did. I haven't seen The Queen yet, but after seeing her playing the role so excellently in The Audience, I'll definitely look out for it. I think it's probably available on iTunes, which I can watch on my large screen via AppleTV.

I'm also one who added The German Mujahid to my tbr pile after reading Tad's review. Good to see another positive review for it.

Helen Mirren is pretty much excellent in everything she does. I loved her Prime Suspect series from years back.

Another Helen Mirren fan checking in. And compliments to your review of The German Mujahid.

The Audience sounds great, and Helen Mirren is so excellent!

Hi Darryl - glad to hear of all your travel plans. I still haven't managed a trip to Barcelona but it's definitely on my wishlist and my husband and I are big fans of Paris.

#127 There's an encore showing of The Audience at the beginning of September so I've added it to my calendar in the hope that I can make it.

"Mirren portrays Elizabeth as a hands on and sharp witted Queen, who read everything that was passed onto her from the Prime Ministers and Parliament" From what I've heard, this is true of the real Queen too.

>155 LovingLit: The London Underground stuff you have been reading has made me feel so nostalgic! It is such a part of living in London, even if you aren't using it all the time

The same can technically be said of the NYC subway system. Practically everyone uses it, particularly if you live in or commute to Manhattan or Brooklyn. However, I doubt that many locals, commuters, frequent visitors or casual tourists have feelings of nostalgia about it in the way that people do about the Underground. I remember taking the PATH subway from nearby Jersey City across the Hudson River to Midtown Manhattan, followed by a NYC subway from there to the Bronx to visit my mother's parents when I was a small child. However, those faint memories pale in comparison to vivid ones of the window displays at Macy's and Gimbel's on Thanksgiving and Christmas, the smell and taste of roasted chestnuts, potato knishes and Sabrett's hot dogs sold by street vendors, and the actual visits to my grandparents' house in the summer months and winter holidays.

The NYC subway system celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004, but I seriously doubt that anyone seriously considered publishing a series of books about the original subway operators (BMT, IND, IRT) or the individual lines (A, B, D, 1, 4, 7, etc.). For the most part it doesn't have station entrances or houses similar to those in London, and the entry ways to most stations are stairs that look identical to each other or elevated platforms that are functional more than visually appealing. On the other hand, entering the Gloucester Road station, built in 1868, (see the photo in message #77) for the first time on my initial trip to London was a memorable experience, as I stood and gazed at the old ticket stands and the 140+ year old architecture of the station and the arches on the platform level.

I wonder if this is how I could over come my reticence with live theatre...see it recorded and played back on a big screen. That way it could feel like a film!?

Good thought! I mentioned to Medha that it was a bit of an odd experience for me, as that was the first time I had seen a "movie" in a cinema since 2004. I found it slightly awkward to applaud at different parts of the play and at its conclusion, and apparently I wasn't alone, as I could hear other members of the audience clap their hands with me.

It was far easier for me to get this year's Booker longlisted titles than most people. I didn't check my mail yesterday, but I should have received The Luminaries and Unexploded, which I ordered from The Book Depository last month. Once they arrive I'll have 11 of the 13 books, all but The Marrying of Chani Kaufman and The Lowland, which aren't scheduled to be published in the US until September.

>156 brenzi: Thanks, Bonnie. Tad's excellent review made me want to read The German Mujahid sooner, and I'm glad that I did.

>157 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy. 419 was a major disappointment, and it was a curious choice for last year's Giller Prize. I was also disappointed by the 2011 prize winner, Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, as I thought The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje was a much better book.

>158 Smiler69: Ilana, you'll definitely have to let us know if you find The Audience or any other NT broadcasts on iTunes or other media. There are several past plays I would love to see, and I'd jump at the opportunity to purchase them. I'll also stop in the NT Bookshop in October to see if any DVDs of past performances are available for sale.

ETA: I visited the online store of the National Theatre Bookshop just now. It does sell DVDs of movies and some plays, including ones produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, but I couldn't find any NT performances, though.

>159 avatiakh: Tad was definitely spot on with his favorable review of The German Mujahid, Kerry.

I'll certainly look for movies in which Helen Mirren has appeared, starting with The Queen. I'll find out if my mother and her sisters have seen it; if not then I'll probably buy it, so that we can watch it together when I see them next month.

>160 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen!

>161 wilkiec: The Audience was fabulous, Diana; I'd highly recommend seeing it if you can.

>162 souloftherose: Thanks, Heather. Medha, my group's practice manager, and I were talking about the month off plan during the intermission of The Audience, and she said that it may even be possible that one or more of us could have a second vacation free month in a year, although that wouldn't take place before 2015. I'll find out more in the upcoming week or two, but it seems that I'll definitely have the entire month of June off, and still have four weeks of vacation to use throughout the year (though probably not between November and February).

I hope that you're able to see The Audience next month, and I look forward to your comments about it. Has anyone else seen it?

I also had the sense that the Queen was very engaged and sharp. I could say a lot more about her relationships with her prime ministers in The Audience, but I'd rather not spoil it for anyone who plans to see it.

Darryl, keep checking the NT site. They are having Encore broadcasts of some of the older plays (like Frankenstein and Hamlet). As someone who teaches Shakespeare, I have been hoping they would put some of these on DVD, but I doubt that they will if they are making good money with the broadcasts. The Globe does, however, sell DVDs of some plays as well as the RST.

Here are a few Helen Mirren film suggestions for you:

The Last Station--Based on the last year of Tolstoy's life; with Christopher Plummer. Ms. Mirren was nominated for an Academy Award.

Elizabeth I--She plays the aging queen, with Jeremy Irons as her favorite, the Earl of Leicester. I believe she won an Emmy for Best Actress.

Three Shakespeare plays: A VERY young Helen (and a VERY young Diana Rigg) in A Midsummer Night's Dream; as Rosalind in the 1978 BBC production of As You Like It; and, as someone mentioned above, as Propera in The Tempest.

The Madness of King George--playing yet another queen in a sticky situation.

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover--not everyone likes Peter Greenaway's films, which can be a bit kinky, but Ms. Mirren is awesome here, too.

She was also great in 'Hitchcock' and in the recent HBO TV bio, 'Phil Spector' (with Al Pacino).

I have the collection, 'Helen Mirren at the BBC.' I haven't watched all of it yet, but she is wonderful in a Jacobean tragedy that I will be teaching again this fall, The Changeling, and in The Country Wife, a Restoration comedy.

>153 kidzdoc: SO disappointed to read this. I was hoping the book was better than I'd heard others saying it was. Drat!

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover is a terrific film. Mirren is awe-inspiringly good in that role.

>165 Cariola: Will do, Deborah. I'll have to wait for my group's October-December schedule to come out before I know where I'll be, and if I can see NT Live performances in Macon, GA, Philadelphia/NYC or elsewhere. I'll just miss seeing the encore screening of Hamlet in London on October 22nd, as my flight leaves the day before. It looks as though I'll work on Christmas, and be off on Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, so hopefully I can see Frankenstein at Symphony Space in NYC on December 29th. That's a Sunday, so I don't yet know if that day will be included in the Christmas work stretch or the New Year's one, and it's possible that I may spend New Year's with my friends in Madison, WI, as I often do.

Thanks for those great Helen Mirren film recommendations! I fell in love with Diana Rigg when she starred in The Avengers (really dating myself now), so I'll definitely look for that film. I've favorited your message, and I'll keep it in mind when I go back to London in October. I noticed that the NT Bookshop is selling Helen Mirren at the BBC, and I forgot to mention that several DVDs of performances at the Globe Theatre are also available there.

>166 richardderus: There seem to be as many positive reviews and ratings of 419 as mixed or negative ones. You might want to look at some of the other ones on LT. If you decide you want to read it, let me know, and it's yours.

Thanks for the recommendation of that Helen Mirren film. Apparently I'm the only one here who wasn't familiar with her before I saw The Audience on Sunday!

P.S. Judi Dench is also in that version of A Midsummer Night's Dream!

Oh, and if you enjoy crime dramas at all, Helen Mirren's long-running series 'Prime Suspect' is a winner.

>169 Cariola: Judi Dench...didn't she star in The Last of the Haussmans at the NT last year? Checking...no, that was Julie Waters. I think I've seen her in something...no, nothing that I can tell. I've certainly heard of her, though.

I'm not a fan of crime dramas, but my father is, so I'll ask him if he watches Prime Suspect.

Before Sunday I thought I was the oddball in my group, as I rarely watch TV (I've probably had it on for less than two hours total since I returned from NOLA nine days ago). However, Medha told me that three of my partners, all of whom have children, don't own a single television set!

However, Medha told me that three of my partners, all of whom have children, don't own a single television set!

Good for them!

I like TV - not too much of it, though - a little goes a long way - and using TV as a babysitter is a big temptation. Not good for family togetherness. My son (the one in college) plays online video games and gets rip-roaring mad when he hears little kids playing games that are not appropriate. (8-year-olds shouldn't be playing Call of Duty, in his opinion). So now even video games have become a built-in babysitter. YUCK!

Don't forget Helen Mirren in Red where she wields an assault rifle as an assassin:



Red 2 will be out soon.

Virginia Woolf fans: earlier today Joyce (Nickelini) posted a gorgeous set of photos of her and her older daughter in her Club Read thread, as they took a Mrs Dalloway walk:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/155123#4238887

>171 avidmom: I agree. I see numerous families in the hospital use television, video games or activities on iPads and other devices to keep their children occupied. It has its place, sometimes, but often this impedes their educational and social development. My friends in Madison have a television, but the only times I've seen them watch it in the 10 years I've visited them there were to watch a local news channel to get weather information during a particularly bad snowstorm, and once or twice to temporarily placate one of both kids by letting them watch a PBS Kids show. If someone broke into their house and stole their TV it would probably take them several days before they noticed its absence.

>172 brenzi: Whoa. *struggles to imagine Queen Elizabeth firing an assault rifle*

#165: Oh yes, "The Last Station" is a great movie. I haven't read the book but will do eventually. I thought she was good in "The Debt". Sounds like she does a lot of research for these type of roles.

I adored The German Mujahid when I read it a couple of years ago; it definitely fueled my addiction to Europa's publications. They seem to have a knack for picking up interesting and provocative books from Europe, including a lot that emphasize the 'new' Europe, made up of migrants and immigrants, and the culture clash that results.

Too bad that you didn't find the Will Ferguson novel more compelling. I've heard raves from lots of my Canadian friends, and it has been sitting here for a year, patiently awaiting my attention... Have you tried Linden Macintyre's novels yet? Dark themes, but compelling.

Now I really am interested in The German Mujahid....maybe I'll return Geek Love unread (I read the back, it freaked me out a little bit as I had trouble figuring out what that even meant) and get Mujahid instead.

I plan on taking Beowulf into hospital, if not to read then at least to look good on my bedside table ;)

Rise and shine, kids! Coffee's on, and the garlic cheese grits are almost ready.

>174 avatiakh: Thanks, Kerry; I'll look for The Last Station.

>175 Chatterbox: I've been very pleased by the Europa Editions titles I've read so far: The German Mujahid, Old Filth, In a Strange Room (although I read it in The Paris Review), Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, Divorce Islamic Style, and Hygiene and the Assassin.

There have been numerous positive reviews of 419 on LT, and Steven (Steven03tx) from Club Read, whose opinion I highly respect, also liked it. However, there have been plenty of reviews in the 2-3 star range, including mine. I thought it lacked depth, and in some cases credulity, and it has a "made for Hollywood" feel about it. (I hate Hollywood.) I'll be eager to see what you think of it.

I can't say that I'm eager to try Linden MacIntyre; I don't think he's my kind of writer. And, after recent book hauls in London, Philadelphia and Boston, I'm up to my earlobes in "must read soon" books, so I don't need to add anything else at the moment.

BTW I cancelled my planned trip to San Francisco next week, and I'll stay in Atlanta instead. There isn't much to do in the city in August, as many of the musicians, authors and actors leave town that month, and the only person I had made plans to see was Zoë, as my neither of my close friends from medical school will be around next week. I wasn't even that excited to go to City Lights, since I've bought so many books in London, SF, Boston and Philadelphia the past two months. I'll still visit my parents for the first half of September, and of course the October trip to London is still on.

I wasn't even that excited to go to City Lights,
*gasp*
Are you sure you're OK?

>177 kidzdoc:, 178 Who are you, and what have you done with Darryl?

170> Oh, my, Judi Dench has been in tons of things! But then you say you rarely watch TV or movies. I saw her onstage a few years ago in All's Well that Ends Well in London. She played Elizabeth I in 'Shakespeare in Love,' Lady Catherine de Bourgh in a fairly recent 'Pride and Prejudice,' M in several James Bond films, Miss Matty in the Cranford series, Queen Victoria in 'Mrs. Brown,' Eleanor Lavish in 'A Room with a View,' and one of the retirees who went to India in 'Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.' Those are just a few of my favorites amongst her many roles. She still performs onstage as well. Sadly, I read that she can no longer read scripts due to macular degeneration--but she still learns them by having someone read them to her and has no intention of giving up acting.

I think one of the first things I remember seeing Judi Dench in was 'A Room with a View', which i LOVED.

Darryl, I'd be surprised if you didn't find something in Macintyre's novels that appealed. They are bleakly literary... :-D They made my "best of" list in either 2010 or 2011; the third is also on the TBR tower.

>180 Cariola: I really liked Best Exotic Marigold Hotel simply because of Judi Dench!

Judi Dench starred in "Peter and Alice" at the Noel Coward Theatre this spring: http://www.london-theatreland.co.uk/theatres/noel-coward-theatre/peter-and-alice...

I know this because I saw standing beside Daniel Radcliffe in posters all over London.

>178 avidmom: Are you sure you're OK?

>179 richardderus: Who are you, and what have you done with Darryl?

Ha ha! Yes, I'm fine, avidmom and Richard. I realized several days ago that I wasn't that excited about traveling to San Francisco this coming weekend, after a spent a couple of largely fruitless hours trying to find anything to do there, and after I learned that my friends Yvonne and Anlin weren't going to be around next week. I was eager to meet up with Zoë, but I'll almost certainly be able to catch up with her in NYC next month. At the same time I and my UK LT friends have been making plans to get together during my return trip to London in October, and as I was excitedly looking at all the things I want to do and see there I contrasted it with how little there is to do in SF next week, and I became less interested in going there. I can also use my time productively here at home and at work, and it seemed like a waste of time and money to take that trip (my hotel and flight reservations are completely refundable, so I was able to cancel them yesterday without penalty). And, after I bought nearly 70 books in the past three months, I would much rather read those books than buy new ones at the moment.

>180 Cariola: Unless Judi Dench appeared in James Bond films of the 1960s and early 1970s I wouldn't have seen her in any of the productions you mentioned, Deborah.

>181 Chatterbox: I'm still not at all eager to read anything by Linden MacIntyre, Suz, especially as I gaze at my bookshelves and stacks of nearly acquired books and see at least 200 titles I'd like to read ASAP. I'll also admit that I've been quite disappointed by the highly touted books I've read recently by Canadian authors, with books by Jacques Poulin and Michael Ondaatje being notable exceptions. I loathed Annabel, and I was unimpressed by The Sisters Brothers, Half Blood Blues, and Life of Pi. I'll read Ruth Ozeki's book A Tale for the Time Being, which made this year's Booker Prize longlist, but it's one of the two books I'm least interested in (along with The Marrying of Chani Kaufman).

>182 avidmom: Is that a movie or a play, avidmom?

>183 Nickelini: Ah, yes; I saw those posters too, Joyce. Her face is awfully familiar; I still think I've seen her perform on stage sometime in the recent past.

Recent stage roles--Judi Dench

2001 The Royal Family - Fanny Cavendish – Theatre Royal Haymarket
2002 The Breath of Life - Frances – Theatre Royal Haymarket
2003 All's Well That Ends Well - The Countess - Royal Shakespeare Company Stratford and Gielgud
2006 Hay Fever - Judith Bliss – Theatre Royal Haymarket
2006 The Merry Wives of Windsor - Mistress Quickly - Royal Shakespeare Company Stratford
2009 Madame de Sade - The Marquise – Wyndham's Donmar at Wyndham's
2010 A Midsummer Night's Dream - Titania/Elizabeth I – Rose, Kingston
2013 Peter and Alice - Alice – Noel Coward Theatre

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a movie and a book, which I gather was originally titled These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach. I simply caught the movie while bored and channel surfing one day. Judi Dench makes the movie, IMO.

>187 avidmom:: I agree with you, avidmom! Judi Dench is wonderful. I recently learned she had the lead role in the West End production of Cabaret in 1968 which amazed me, having known her only as a "mature" actor.

I wish to modify my previous post that wasn't favorable toward Canadian authors. I loved A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, and I do want to read more by him, Dany Laferrière and Rawi Hage, along with books by Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro. However, I was disappointed by the last two Giller Prize winners, and I did buy The Sentimentalists, the 2010 winner, but it has received largely negative reviews here, so I'm not eager to read it.

>186 Cariola: Thanks for posting that list, Deborah. I didn't see any of those productions, so I'm probably mistaken in thinking that I've seen Judi Dench perform on stage.

>187 avidmom: Thanks for that clarification, avidmom.

>188 lauralkeet: I looked at Judi Dench's page on Wikipedia, and was impressed that she has been a constant presence on stage and in television and movies since 1957. I looked at all of her credits, and I can't find a single one that seems even remotely familiar.

I looked at Judi Dench's page on Wikipedia, and was impressed that she has been a constant presence on stage and in television and movies since 1957. I looked at all of her credits, and I can't find a single one that seems even remotely familiar.

She's also done print ads and PR social justice work, so I'm sure you've seen in passing along the way.

>190 Nickelini: You're probably right, Joyce. Her name and face is awfully familiar to me.

Oh Darryl, it must be you haven't been reading the right Canadian authors because there are a bunch of really good ones that I have consistently loved including Joseph Boyden, Robertson Davies, Helen Humphreys, and Wayne Johnston in addition to the ones you mentioned.

I would love to see Judi Dench perform on the stage. I adore her in the screen roles in which I have seen her and I admit to being a fan of the sappy but funny British sit com, "As Time Goes By."

Hi Darryl! I hope your time in Atlanta ends up being wonderful (I think time off from work but in one's own home locale can be pretty rejuvenating). San Francisco will still be there next time you want to go. I, on the other hand, am anxious to get there and go to City Lights Bookstore (for my very first time).

Can I just whisper that I liked Linden MacIntyre's The Bishop's Man?

I really liked The Bishop's Man but thought that MacIntryre's later book on the same family wasn't as good.

Oof. My first day back to work was a doozy (13-1/2 hours in length), as the inpatient census has exploded now that the wee ones are back in school and are thoughtfully sharing their germs with one another. Fortunately I'll be off again for another nine days after tomorrow's shift.

This thread is taking forever to load. I'll start a new one after I cross the 200 message threshold, instead of waiting until I pass 250 messages as I normally would.

>192 brenzi: I suspect that you're right, Bonnie; many of the books I've read recently by Canadian authors have been duds. I had planned to at least read the novel that won the Giller Prize every year, but after two consecutive disappointments (Half Blood Blues, 419) and a probable one in The Sentimentalists I'll put that goal aside. I'll have to look at the other major Canadian literary awards, to see if those books are more appealing to me.

>193 EBT1002: I'll have to find out if Judi Dench is performing in any plays in mid-October, during my return trip to London. I've already made reservations to see two plays, Chimerica at the Harold Pinter Theatre on 10/14, and Much Ado About Nothing (with Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones) at the Old Vic on 10/15, which I'll see with Heather, Jenny and Rachael. There are three plays at the National Theatre that I'd like to see, so that doesn't leave much room for more than one or two other plays during this trip.

I was a complete bum during these past 10 days that I had off and stayed in Atlanta, and I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I had planned to do, which is part of the reason why I'd rather stay here next week instead of traveling to San Francisco. I'll participate in a couple of meetings at work next week that I'd ideally like to participate in, and start working on my primary CME (continuing medical education) activity for the year, so it will be a bit of a working vacation.

I think I'm also beginning to get a bit bored with SF, especially in the summer when there is little to do there. London is similar to NYC, in that the "problem" I have is trying to decide what thing I want to do the most from a set of enticing options, rather than trying to find anything to do. I'll still go there at least once or twice a year, but I'll plan to go to London much more often, at least 2-3 times per year.

You definitely need to visit City Lights, Ellen! You're much closer to SF than I am, and I think you'd love the bookstore, the unique selection of books, and the people who work there. As much as I love London and its bookstores there's no question that City Lights is my #1 favorite bookshop.

>194 Linda92007:, 195 If I do read a book by Linden MacIntyre it will be The Bishop's Man, which I have heard good things about. However, it's still a book that I'm only marginally interested in reading, and even if I were to get a free or severely discounted copy it would probably still languish on my bookshelf for a year or longer.

Just saying hello to help you get to 200 :)

Another Canadian author you might want to consider is Howard Norman. I've read one novel , The Bird Artist, and a memoir In Fond Remembrance of Me, and found them both quite good.

Another vote here for The Bird Artist. Great book.

200!

Another vote for The Bird Artist. I really enjoyed that one last year.

Oh, I have The Bird Artist in my TBR stacks--will have to dig it out soon.

Canadian authors, I haven't read that many but Timothy Findley comes to mind. I added a few of his books to my Mt tbr after reading The Wars.

Mordecai Richler. Canadian, Jewish, depressing. St. Urbain's Horseman is a finely made book that will make you want to slit your own throat.

#204 - That sounds lovely. Looking forward to pulling that one out of my TBR pile. I wonder if that's why it didn't win the Booker the year it was nominated?

Darryl - one of my favourite Canadian novels is Kiss of the Fur Queen by Thomson Highway. I also loved Green Grass Running Water by Thomas King. Both of them are by First Nation writers who bring humour to their stories.

>197 lauralkeet: Hi, Laura! Thanks for the nudge toward 200.

>198 laytonwoman3rd:, 199, 201, 202 I haven't heard of The Bird Artist, but I'll take a look at it tomorrow. Thanks for the recommendation.

>200 avidmom: Thanks for the final push to 200 avidmom!

>203 avatiakh: Thanks, Kerry; I'll look at books by Timothy Findley tomorrow.

>204 richardderus: Thanks, Richard; I'll also look at St. Urbain's Horseman.

>205 Nickelini: First Nation writers are definitely of interest, Joyce. I'll look at Kiss of the Fur Queen and Green Grass Running Water.

New thread here!