LizzieD: 2013*10 (October: National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month)

May, this is for you!
May was a dumpster dog, rescued with her puppies, taken to our local shelter, adopted, returned, and languishing until we offered her our home for life. She's our darling. I write the thank yous for Robeson County Humane Society in gratitude for their saving her for us. Pictures of some of their local residents to follow!







MOST SIGNIFICANT FROM THE THREE QUARTERS OF 2013

The Sisters Brothers
Above All Things
Precursor
Defender
Hotel World
The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors
The Philosopher's Pupil
Explorer
Dr Thorne
Cleopatra: A Life
The Shutter of Snow
Life After Life
Master of the Senate
We Are At War
Life and Fate
When We Were Bad
Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 1: 1884-1933
A Particular Place
The Wasp Factory
Religions of Rome
Embassytown
The Daughters of Mars
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh

READ IN OCTOBER
Indifferent Heroes
Madam, Will You Talk? (reread)
*Critical Mass
Welcome Strangers
The Cloister Walk
*The Civil War: A Narrative: Fort Sumter to Perryville
Books Do Furnish a Room (reread)
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

NEW TO MY HOUSE IN OCTOBER
Madame de Pompadour - AMP
Silverlock - Kindle Daily Deal
The Hollow Hills - Library Sale
Sharpe's Trafalgar - Library Sale
Village School - Library Sale
Evening in the Palace of Reason ✔ - PBS
Guinevere - PBS
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena - Kindle (birthday!)
The Quarry - Kindle Daily Deal
Anarchy and Old Dogs - Library Sale Table
The Luminaries - Kindle (birthday) ✔
King of Swords - Kindle Daily Deal
King of Morning, Queen of Day - Kindle Daily Deal
White Doves at Morning - Kindle Daily Deal
Among You Taking Notes - AMP (birthday)
Wartime Women - AMP (birthday)
Slipstream - AMP (birthday)

READ IN NOVEMBER

BELLE

Giant Schnauzer, Irish Wolfhound baby

CURRENTLY READING


,

Hi Peggy! Excellent choice for your October theme. May is a beauty and a very lucky dog.

I have The Cloister Walk waiting for me at the library hold desk. Don't know if I'll actually read it this month but will definitely try a few pages and see if it needs to go on the list!

Yay, Pat! First visitor!
I think you'll be attracted to The Cloister Walk. I'm reading it the right way for me, which is a few pages at a time every day.

Second! The beautiful May plays the starring role. Cloister Walk is a book I want very much to read.

May is beautiful. I've had two labs and dearly loved them both (although they tested that love during the puppy chewing stage lol)

Happy new thread, and nicely timed for the beginning of the month.

I put my hand up and admit to not being a dog person. I don't know what they're going to do and that, frankly, freaks me out. Is that thing barreling towards me going to eat me or lick me to death? No earthly way on knowing. Like playing Russian roulette with a furry bullet.

I know the theory - there are no bad dogs, only bad owners. But in that case there are far too many poor owners giving dogs a bad name.

Great theme for this month's thread! Happy October, Peggy.

Great to see May again, Peggy! I should have known which theme you'd pick.

Nice theme, Peggy.

>9 Helenliz:. Helen, I would just say that there's nothing like the unconditional love of a dog. My 12-year-old black Lab, Docker, would die for me--literally.

As far as Kathleen Norris is concerned, The Cloister Walk, I've read everything she's written, and I think she's an amazing human being. TCW is one of those "books of my life" that I read and reread every few years.

(((((May)))))

Great "month" choice, Peggy!!

May is a beauty, indeed!

I didn't make it to the last thread before you continued, but I have to mention Lucy's awesome post! I loved that little paragraph!! It made me grin!

I have come to enjoy and appreciate dogs, but I'm going to remain a cat household... Dogs are just a little more difficult, with a couple of daily walks, barking, etc. When I was little, however, I desperately wanted a King Charles spaniel...

May and I both appreciate the compliments, Lucy, Reba, Roni, and Tina. She is as good as she is beautiful.
Helen, I agree with Becky. No love like a dog's love! I'm trying to imagine a situation in which somebody allows his dog to run at you......not nice.
Laura and Suzanne, I'm glad that you like the theme. I maintain that the best household has both cats and dogs. I can say this because my DH walks May twice a day, and I join them once most days.
Oh dear. On the book front I'm back into *Civil War* - just now reading about troop movements at Shiloh. What a dreadful, bloody mess!
Indifferent Heroes continues to please. I should simply sit down and finish it.

Hi Peggy - lovely photo of your dog! I think we will be getting one in the next few years - all of a sudden Fletcher is lobbying quite hard for one and it seems manageable now that the kids are a bit older.

How far through Zealot are you? I'm hoping to finish it this afternoon and have enjoyed it. I'm good at buying books about religion but less good at reading them, so that alone says a lot!

Cushla, May and I thank you. A boy and his dog and a girl and her dog are two formulas for happiness and expanding sense of responsibility, I think.
I confess that I haven't started Zealot at all, so my pictures up there are lies... Maybe you have spurred me to start it today.
First, though, I have to read some *Civil War*. I wish I could talk about it, but it's really mostly troop movements.

INDIFFERENT HEROES by Mary Hocking

I enjoyed this second book of the *Good Daughters* trilogy as much as the first. It follows the Fairley family and their friends through WWII. Alice, the middle daughter and the central character, becomes a WREN stationed in Egypt. There she sees the world, learns about herself, falls in love. Louise, the oldest daughter, sends her husband off to fight and takes care of her children. Claire goes to the university and also falls in love.
I like these books! The characters are real, ordinary/extraordinary people who live life as it comes. I'm pleased by the observations, as for example, when one of the girls picks the one photograph of herself that she finds pretty and is sure that this is the way she looks. (I know the feeling well.)
On to the next, Welcome Strangers!

Hi Peggy - Nice review of the Hocking book -- I'm going to have to check them out.

I'm finishing up Zealot this weekend and enjoying it.

Great picture of your dog, Peggy! I have wanted to read The Cloister Walk for a long time, and it's on my shelf; it only wants to be taken down and read. As do the other 700+ books there...

I will get to Zealot soon because my book group has chosen it. I'm anxious to read it.

I am adding the "Good Daughters" trilogy to my wish list. It sounds like my cup of tea.

Colleen and Beth, I think you'll be very happy with Mary Hocking.
May and I thank you, Terri! My book group chose Zealot too, at my instigation, I might add. Everybody whose opinion I respect seems to have enjoyed it, and that includes Suzanne.
Meanwhile, I'm still with Jefferson Davis having troubles in the Confederacy, but I've read more of it than I realized, so that was a good surprise when I noticed that I was approaching page 400 rather than 300!

Well, I'm still #141 on the list for the book (Zealot) at the SD Public Library.

Yow. That looks like my place for almost everything current at PBS, Roni.

Hurray for May and animal shelters! Cloister Walk is on my wishlist...

Peggy, that is a heartmelting story about May. You are both very fortunate to have found each other. Our Lucky was a dumped dog. People can be so cruel.

I loved The Cloister Walk and other books by Kathleen Norris. I think you are wise to read a few pages a day and let her marvelous words settle into your heart. I may reread it as my nighttime book so I can go to sleep with a smile on my face.

I'm here lurking, peggy. Mind blank alas.

Thanks for the visit, Heather, Donna, and Lucy. I'm sorry I don't have anything really interesting going on although maybe I will when I finish The Cloister Walk. I'm liking Norris a lot. And I think that May was meant to be ours!

MADAM, WILL YOU TALK? by Mary Stewart

Just what I needed! It's not as good as *9 Coaches*; she has to engineer a huge bunch of coincidences to pull everything together. That's O.K. I was ready for something well-written and very light-weight, and this one is all that.

So comment on Reza Aslan's book on JC over, I think, on Cushla's thread. I'll be interested to see what you make of it.

Have a lovely weekend, Peggy.

*lurk, lurk*

Hi Peggy!
May is a lucky dog and you are lucky people. It will come as no surprise that I love that you selected National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month for October. I'm all about the animals.

Hi, Paul, Roni, and Ellen!
I have to read the book before I can comment, Paul, but at least I've started now. It seems to go very quickly.
Roni, I lurk at your place too.
Ellen, we love our 4-footed furzers.

De-lurking to say hello. Nothing to add of any significance, just "hi". :)

National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month? How wonderful! Our dog is not quite a shelter dog, but a rescue nonetheless. Whistler is a retired greyhound, rescued by a terrific organization here in CO, and placed with an inmate in the state prison in Pueblo to be trained. The dogs graduate from the prison program and are placed in foster care while awaiting adoption. Lucky us we found each other!

#35 placed with an inmate in the state prison in Pueblo to be trained. The dogs graduate from the prison program and are placed in foster care - I've seen something about a similar scheme in the UK as well - sounds like a really good idea.

Congratulations to you all and Whistler, Anne! Rhian, our humane society has a similar program that we call "New Leash on Life," and it has been very successful all around.
Tina, a "hi" is always welcome!
Not much reading time for me this week, I'm afraid. Doggone RL for intruding!

Yippee! Just looked at the notice that says that I'll be getting Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice from ER! An Amazon reviewer says, " echoes of C.J. Cherryh, Iain Banks, and Frank Herbert " and "intelligent and surprising." I'm excited! (Roni, did you get this one? Lucy? Tad?)

Since I haven't gotten any message from ER one way or the other, I'm thinking maybe I forgot to request anything for September! :-(

(Driving by honking the horn to say "Hello!")

I do like the fact that while Mary Stewart was writing chick lit or some kind of genre fiction, it was EXCEPTIONALLY literate and well-written of its kind. I like having the feeling that she chose to write the stories she did, but that she had the knowledge/background to write "uber-literary" novels had she chosen to do that. The combination is a good one in terms of producing tremendously readable fiction.

#39 -- I missed out this month, which isn't too shocking given that I'm behind on several reviews. The reason? I won a few non-fiction books, which keep getting bumped from one month to the next since I'm not willing to take that kind of deep dive just yet. Ho hum. There were a few books I wouldn't have minded snagging, but I realize I requested one or two from Amazon Vine anyway.

Hi Peggy, good choice for this month. My Buddy also came from a shelter and we couldn't believe our luck.

Wow, Bonnie. May is a very mixed breed (her tongue is blueberry, suggesting some chow somewhere), but Buddy looks like a blueblood!
Suzanne, I was surprised and delighted to find how well MS wrote. I'm not in the mood for the Merlin stories yet, but I have a feeling that they may be exceptional. I can't say that I'm resenting every moment I spend on the Civil War, but I do cast longing looks at my fiction from time to time, so I completely understand waiting for the deep dive.

My grandmother read the Merlin stories when they were first published in the 1970s or so and kept trying to persuade me to try them. I balked - even then, I wasn't a big fan of magicians and warlocks in novels. I finally got around to them & read the first two back to back, I think in 2011? I've got one more left. They are indeed EXCELLENT. And fascinating, too, in the way that she blended history with fiction.

Hi Peggy!

Just a quick hello and wish for a lovely day. Of course if it's like here in Central NC, you've got rain coming your way.

If you read Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy (and you should -- it's excellent) you have my permission to omit the "sequel" to it The Wicked Day.

Without Merlin's narrative voice the story based on Mordred is both (a) depressing and (b) dull.

People who don't know the books sometimes expect them to be sword n' sorcery stuff, instead of very real stories about very real people who you come to care about -- a lot.

And then for dessert you might try the story from Guinevere's side.

Guinevere and The Chessboard Queen by the amazing Sharan Newman.

Puts Arthur and his queen in the same time frame as Stewart, amid the dying flames of the pagen world and the ashheaps of Roman Britain. Worth a look.

Thanks for the recommendation of the S. Newmans. I haven't read those. I did read the MS Merlins + Mordred long ago, and I think that they came out before the 70s, but I'm not sure. I know that my ma still has her original mass pb copy of The Crystal Cave..... I cared enough to look it up, and it looks as though it came out in 1970. Anyway, I read them all. I keep mentioning Rosemary Sutcliff, Rosemary Sutcliff, Rosemary Sutcliff, and she remains my gold standard for fiction about Arthur.
Yep, Karen, we're getting drear and winds that have blown down a lot of pine cones and walnuts but not much else, thanks to your namesake.

Back to say that I have the SN Guinevere ordered from PBS. I love it when it's that easy! Thanks, Jim.

Me too, Peggy!

Ah yes, my namesake! The only real time I remember TS/Hurricane Karen is when I was 10. Didn't know anything about hurricanes, living in So California, but remember reading about it. So here we are again, TS Karen.

I wore a turtleneck today and was not overheated. Could have even worn my down vest. Brrrrr.

A Wednesday morning flyby hi! Loving that pic of May up top but then I'm a complete sucker for dogs.

Good day to you, Peggy!

Things are cooling off around here too - 33 F this morning!

Karen, I think that Lucy puts up in our place. Thank heaven that it wasn't 33° here this morning!
Hi, Roni and Tui. Tui, I think our dogs must look a lot alike.
Nothing going on here including reading. This is an awfully good Sara Paretsky though - better than some!

Hi Peggy, happy new thread. How wonderful to dedicate this one to May. She is beautiful : ).

Thank you, Nancy. May wags her thanks too.

CRITICAL MASS by Sara Paretsky

I reviewed this one on the book page since it was an ER ARC. I like Paretsky a lot, and this one is a good'un. The plot is complicated and the characters are complex and interesting. Well --- the villains are a bit cardboardy, but everybody else is genuine. Even though this is the last of the series so far, I don't think much would be lost by starting here since the continuing characters don't play huge roles.
This book reminds me of my reasons for loving mysteries for years and years and years.

Hi Peggy - Nice review of the latest Paretsky -- I'm trying to work my way through her series in order. And I'm way behind. Maybe I should take your advice and skip to this one. I've heard a lot of good things about it.

Thanks, Beth. This is one of the few series that I've actually kept up with over the years. I think I've missed one of the later ones, but that's all. I know somebody else around here who used to read her has gotten tired of her, but I always think that Paretsky does what she does very, very well. Sometimes I have to read awhile to be engaged, but this one sucked me right in. Oh! I neglected to say that Petra isn't in this one, but you may not have read as far as Petra, Beth.
I am now being totally self-indulgent and starting The Light Years, the first of Elizabeth Jane Howard's *Cazalet Chronicles*. Silly because I haven't read the third of the Mary Hockings, but that's me.

Hi Peggy - I have a hard time reading a series through, even when I like it. I haven't gotten to Petra yet -- my next one is Tunnel Vision, I think. I love that she always organizes her mysteries around a social topic.

I loved the Cazalet Chronicles! I did read all of them years ago -- and they were not always easy to find.

I ordered the first Hocking book, but who knows when I'll get to it.

Havent read ANY of those, but still here to say top o' the mornin' to ya, Peggy.

And the rest of the day to you, Roni! And that reminds me of a question I've meant to ask. I don't remember making a Scottish or an Irish friend here at LT. Surely there must be many of both. Who are they?
Beth, if you're like me, you may be itching to have the book in your hand, but you can't read it right when you get it anyway - at least most times.

Hi Peggy: I saw this and thought of you. Latin in the news...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10370809/Vatican-pulls-me...

Hi, Linda. Oh my goodness! Somebody misread LESUS for IESUS. I can almost see how that happened. Thanks!

My friend who told me about it asked what you'd call a proofreader in Latin.

Hi Peggy. I was a rabid reader of Paretsky way back when and haven't read anything by her in a very long time. Nice to be reminded.

We listened on audio books (back when they were on tape!) to a bunch of Paretsky's but not since.....

If I am not mistaken Peggy, you have something to celebrate Malaysian time. I'll get in first given the vagaries of being 12 hours further on than you and wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Btw Irish group member would Orlaith
Scottish would be jenthepen

You've still got an hour and half to go on your time, but I'll also get in early birthday wishes. Have a great one, Peggy!

Is it your birthday? I hope it s lovely!

Hippo burfday Peggy.
That'll be cake and doggy treats* all round then?

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday Peggy!

I will also give my agreement on Mary Stewart's Merlin stories being excellent and add that I really want to read the Cazalet Chronicles. Enjoy!

Happy birthday Peggy!

Happy Birthday, Peggy. Many happy returns.

Happy, happy birthday, Peggy. Enjoy your special day!!

They do it much better than I could:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjF1bG5LUcs

Well, actually, it's just Paul, but you get the idea.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, friend : ).

Hope you get this! Happy birthday, dear friend!

DANCING CORGI

Oh, Lucy, that was darling! I loved the scene where the other dog is sitting there watching, and also the one at the school--either kinder or preschool I'd guess from the rug.

And another set of birthday wishes now that it actually IS your birthday, sweet Peg.

What a treat to come and be wished well!! Thank you, Roni, Lucy, Nancy, Jim, Tui, Linda, Beth, Laura, Heather, Rhian, Helen, Anne, and Paul! You make me happy, and I'll get back to you later, I trust.
Big church day, so I'm going to make a little sofa time now!

Happy Birthday, Peggy! Many Happy Returns of the Day.

And, sibyx, although not a serious dog person, I loved the video of Lance!

Oh, Lucy, the dancing Corgi is to sweet! Bust a move, indeed!

Happy Birthday!

Thank you, Karen and Katherine.
It has been a long, good day. I got birthday $ (yay!) but beyond A Constellation of Vital Phenomena for my Kindle, I don't know how I'll spend it.

Happy Birthday Peggy.

Oops, missed your birthday, Peggy. I hope you are still celebrating today. Happy Belated Birthday!

Gauisus demoror natalis

OK, I used the on-line translator for that but hope it makes up for missing your birthday yesterday (and hope it actually says what I hope it says)

There's a new book in the Cazalet chronicles about to come out in the UK, so your decision strikes me as completely rational! I'm about to start re-reading them myself. Or rather, I'll listen to the first on audiobook, then re-read the three that follow.

I'm disappointed that the dramatization of the series stopped partway in. Not sure why.

Reba, that's funny, but thank you for the belated birthday wish. The only form I truly recognize is "natalis."
Suzanne, I did sort of know that the latest book is coming out. Maybe I'll be ready for it when it gets over here and the cost comes down. I'm mainly reading Welcome Strangers now, so I guess I should take The Light Years down ---- nah. It can wait.
Thank you, Bonnie, Ellen, and Donna! I appreciate the good thoughts! Now my big question is how badly I want TransAtlantic this very minute. I certainly can't read it and *Constellation* at the same time. If only greed were a virtue!

I've been trying to get to TransAtlantic, too, Peggy. Actually, it just went back to the library unread -- and I've had to request it again. Some months there are just more books than there are reading hours!

O.K. Here's one reason I love my DH. He just came in and said, "Great day, Grady! It's a grade A gray day!"

That's funny Peggy. My mom's maiden name is Grady and I've never heard that before!

I googled it and didn't find it. I don't know that anybody's heard it before. It's from the mind of the man who refers to Oil of Old Lady.

Oh, make me chuckle between Grady and Oil of Old Lady.

We're having a grady too. Your DH and mine, cut from the same cloth.

Most likely plaid.

One of those in this house too. Bless them.

Glad you like his sense of humor, Nancy, Lucy, and Tui. A tartan plaid for sure, Lucy.
I went to our local library for the first time in a year or more looking for pictures to use for my Dry Tortugas study club program. Bad news: nothing. Good news; Anarchy and Old Dogs on the sale table for $1 - mine!

It was my intention to save some of my birthday $ for later. Doesn't seem to be working out that way. Besides downloading The Luminaries today, I also ordered 3 of the WWII women's writing that Heather was talking about on her thread. *happy sigh*
Meanwhile, 30 pages of S. Foote is about all I can take at one sitting. (572/816)

Nicely done, Peggy! Happy sigh indeed.

I'm going to wait for a paper copy. I can't read anything but fluffish stuff on my Kindle because I go back referring to things frequently and I can never find them on the Kindle.

Tui, I go back and move around in the good stuff too. I've come to like the Kindle because I can bookmark passages if I'm smart. Otherwise, I've come to find the search feature less and less cumbersome.
Thank you, Laura, I think it was nicely done too!!!!!
I don't think I've said lately how much I'm enjoying Welcome Strangers, the third of the M. Hocking trilogy. On the one hand, I'd like to make it last. On the other hand, I'm itching to get into the first Cazalet. It's all good!

Enjoy The Luminaries and the WWII writing Peggy! Sorry for leading you astray... :-( But I think you've returned the favour as I have nearly decided on getting The Light Years.

I'm here and that is about all I have to say except I really do have to get serious about the Hocking books - anything you like that much is almost a sure thing for me.

Heather, it's not really astray that you've led me --- it's just deeper and deeper!
Lucy, I think you'll also find the Hockings pleasurable.
Not but 4 pages of S. Foote today. Oh dear. Oh dear.

I've still not mastered bookmarking and highlighting on my Kindle Touch. :-(

Your struggles with Mr. Foote make me think that next year I'm going to read my way -- very slowly -- through the complete essays of Virginia Woolf. They have been slowly -- very slowly -- publishing volumes in the collected works for about 20 years now, and I happen to believe her essays are gems, so that will be a great project. I have the first three books, and have wishlisted the fourth and fifith, and if I tackle a few a week -- three perhaps? -- I may make some progress. I do wish they had been grouped thematically rather than chronologically, however.

Roni, my problem with the Touch (which I try to manage for my ma) is that they keep changing the set-up - or at least I think that's true. I used to have no problem getting books from the archive into the active collection. Now I'm going to have to read about it again. Yawn and ho-hum.
Suzanne, I agree about Woolf's essays. I'm one of those dreadful people who appreciates them more than her fiction, or at least that was true 20 years ago. I've read only the first *Common Reader* though. A think that Becky and I have in common is reading her diaries and letters together through the years. That was one of my best reading projects ever! More power to you.

WELCOME STRANGERS by Mary Hocking

Mary Hocking is a treasure! I'm very happy to have another couple of her novels waiting for the right time.
This one rounds off the *Good Daughters Trilogy* to my great satisfaction. As with the other books, enough surprising events happen in the lives of the Fairley girls to command our attention. Enough is simply life to make the whole thing believable.
WHY is Mary Hocking not well-known and lovingly read by women (and discerning men) in the thousands rather than by the 27 who own this book on LT? It's a deep, deep mystery to me.

I missed your big day Peggy so here's a big old belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY wish for you!!!

Happy Belated Birthday!

Thank you both, Tina and Linda! It was a busy, busy day, so I'm enjoying a little down time now.

Hi Peggy, I just wanted to drop by and thank you for the reading choice you made for me last year, which was, as you'll recall Music & Silence by Rose Tremain. I started it a few days ago and took to it from the first page. Am about halfway through now and, reading it in bed at night as I do, always end up putting lights out much later than I should because I simply can't put it down.

Ilana, you're very good to let me know that you're reading and enjoying the book. One of the great joys of LT is proselytizing for a beloved author!

Glad you are liking it Ilana - I loved it too, and had never heard of Rose T. until LT.

Peggy, you've introduced to me another new Virago author in Mary Hocking : ).

Hi, Lucy!
Nancy, I think that you'll be grateful to meet Mary Hocking. She's solid!
Dear cyber-gurus. Does anybody know where I got the code for the random generators that I have on my profile page? I have a new friend who would like the random member one.

It’s from Home > Folly > LibraryThing Roulette. Right click on the link and select Copy Link Location from the menu (on a PC). Can do this either on the Home page or on your Profile page. Or just copy this: http://www.librarything.com/random.php?type=member .

118: hm, I never knew about that. LT is full of gems isn't it?

Thank you, Katherine. I tried for awhile to find it from my profile page but had no luck. I'll scamper immediately to let markwinston know.
Laura, it's fun when you have nothing else to do. (ha ha ha)

*waving* at Peggy

I think the Sheby Foote three volume The Civil War:A Narrative is an amazing work but it suffers I think because it is a narrative - almost a day by day through the war.

It's an indispensible reference work but best taken in short drafts, I believe. And with other books alongside for cross reference.

Hi Peggy! I need to get on the Mary Hocking bandwagon.

Hi, Stasia, Jim, and Heather! I'm happy to be able to write a response to you at last. I've had Internet troubles over the weekend. Everything is working well this morning except that I'm not able to log in at LT with Mozilla. I'm currently using explorer, and here I am. *sigh*
Jim, you're right, but I'm now within 125 pp of the end, so I'll keep on marching every step of the way with him. I am looking at the pictures in the Ken Burns book as I go - it's a sad experience. I'll just add that it's no wonder those poor southern boys were barefoot! They walked forever.

Glad your internet is back, Peggy. Funny how we feel so cut off when it isn't working, isn't it?

It's insane. I'm not happy to be using IE, but it beats nothing every time!

Grr, nothing more frustrating than Internet troubles, Peggy. I don't like using IE either.

Glad you have internet back!

You're almost there, keeping marching along! I feel that way about my current Virago read, it's not a long book, but it is slow slow slow. And partly for the same reason - it is a day-by-day kind of narrative.

glitter-graphics.com

Hi, Peggy! I've made it through the first 2 volumes of the Foote. I must get to that last one . . .

Terri, you're my idol, and I appreciate a doggy birthday greeting! I now have 80 pp to go in #1 - surely I can finish this weekend!!!!! I will feel FREE!
Nancy and Lucy, my DH eventually found that a 404 error involved a corrupt file. He dumped all my history, and behold! I am here with Mozilla on my own computer. Joy!
(I can't wait to start The Luminaries!)

Glad the computer problems are cleared up, Peggy!

Hooray for DH fixing the computer problems!

Amen for the Hooray!

THE CLOISTER WALK by Kathleen Norris

I did thoroughly enjoy Kathleen Norris's walk through her understanding of monastic life from morning to night, birth to death, and Advent through Easter. Along the way she contrasts the holy simplicity of monastics with the complex evasions of life lived in the rest of the world. She looks at desert fathers and the lives of other saints, and she writes from time to time about her own life and reactions. I think it's almost impossible not to romanticize the cloistered life for those whose fancies turn that way, but Norris manages to keep her feet on the ground. I think it's almost impossible for a poet not to romanticize poetry, and Norris manages this task a little less well. Her own sincerity, at any rate, shines through.
This is a book to read slowly in bits and to return to from time to time. My thanks to whoever recommended it to me some time ago.

Having been off-line again, here I am one more time. A tech is coming in the morning. We have very nearly had it with AT&T!

WOOT W00T Rooty-toot-toot! I finished!!

THE CIVIL WAR: A NARRATIVE: FORT SUMTER TO PERRYVILLE by Shelby Foote

I did. I did. I read every word. Even when I despaired of ever finishing, I read and read and read. I gave it 5 stars too because it is a monument. Shelby marches every army over almost every mile of every day of the war from Jefferson Davis's farewell to the U.S. Senate to the aftermath of Perryville. His goal was to make the reader a participant, and he largely succeeded. I learned things that I never knew and more than I wanted to know about strategy and tactics and the sheer bloodiness of the war itself. I bogged down in swamps. I imagined marching the miles without shoes or food.
I was vastly relieved when the narrative turned itself to politics, whether Union or Confederate. I loved the Lincoln stories (could he borrow McLellan's army since he wasn't using it?) and the pictures of Stonewall Jackson sucking his lemon, and the appearance of Polk at Perryville at a Federal gun emplacement (he was wearing a new, dark uniform, and realized too late that the soldiers he was yelling at to stop firing at their own men were actually Yankees. He brazened out their questions and rode slowly away from them expecting a bullet at every heartbeat) and Bragg requisitioning supplies as commander and denying them to himself as quartermaster.
I came away astounded at how many men moved over huge distances. I was astounded also at the number of generals on both sides. I was astounded at how many mistakes were made because of miscommunications or some general deciding on his own to do something different from the battle plan. I was humbled and full of pity for the gallant, ignorant men on both sides who marched or ran into gunfire or turned tail and ran.
I wish that he had mentioned the year a little more often. I wish that he had included a listing of the generals by army (but I made my own). Otherwise, I find that I am glad to have spent the time I spent in this book, and I suspect that I'll move on to volume 2 next year when I've recovered.

ETA: DH reminds me that S. Foote wrote the whole thing with a nib pen - dip and write, dip and write, dip and write.
I see that volume 2 is even longer.
This was #75!

135: What a charming review! And that's not a word I'd associate with the Civil War. I hope you'll post it officially.

Katherine, thank you! All I need is one little nudge and it's done!

Excellent review of The Civil War, Peggy. A monster of a book. I've read several chunksters this year and it feels like such an accomplishment when finished. :)

Congratulations on finally finishing Book 1, Peggy!

Congratulations on being back online!

Congratulations of reaching the 75 BOOK mark!

Migosh! With a nib pen, no less. Well done, Peggy, for all of it: finishing Book One, reaching the 75 mark, and getting your hinterwebs fixed.

A short story: Himself is fascinated by the American Civil War. Many moons ago one of our lads had done something meriting punishment (what it was is lost in the cobwebs of this mind now) but rather than grounding him, Himself set the lad the task of reading about the battle of Gettysburg and giving a summary at the end of the week. Several books were provided. Day one: much grumbling, "I don't want to read about this dumb stuff", etc. Day Two: more grumbling. Day Three: "Well, I guess I'd better go read my punishment now." Day Four-Six: "This stuff is pretty interesting!" and "I'm going to read about Gettysburg now." Day Seven: a very thorough and interesting summary from a 13 year old, with a detailed analysis of what the lack of shoes meant to the soldiers.

You ploughing (plodding?) your way through Shelby Foote's book reminded me of this.

I can't believe I nearly missed a whole thread!

Happy belated Birthday!
Congratulations on getting 75! And what a book for #75!!

Nice way to hit 75.
And at least the t'interweb issues have been resolved. I think it odd how websites seem to look and work completely different when using a different browser. (or is that just me).

Peggy, congrats on your Shelby Foote accomplishment!! Way to go!!

Congratulations Peggy on both reaching 75 and completing the Shelby Foote. Thumb for a very enticing review.

Hi Peggy - Congrats on hitting 75 and finishing that monster book. It's on my shelf -- it sounds fascinating.

Congratulations on 75, Peggy!

Wow! I should hit 75 more often! (I really should.)
Many thanks for the visits, Nancy, Beth, Bonnie (with a thank you for the thumb), Linda, Helen, Jenn (I had practically lost you too - if I knew that you were going Down Under, I had forgotten!), Tui (what a great reading story!), Roni, and Colleen! Really, it's like a second birthday.
So today I tried to make some progress in Zealot....I'm finally through the background and into the main scene, I think.

A charming review indeed and quite an accomplishment to finish it.

Congrats!

The Foote Feat, accomplished. The 75 also DONE! I love it when the 75th book is the perfect one.

Oh dear, I missed your birthday, your #75 and the finishing of the monumental Foote.
Belated congratulations for all 3!!

Can I say I don't feel tempted to try the Foote despite the 5 stars?
But the Virginia Woolf discussion reminded me that I have so many of her books still unread on my shelves + her biography. 2014 could become a VW year.

Thank you, Nathalie, for all three!
I have a hard time imagining why you'd even consider the Foote. I grew up on War Between The States family stories....not one of my ancestors was a general!
And I haven't gotten to The Luminaries yet. I'm being good and trying to finish Zealot and Books Do Furnish a Room. SOON!

ER notifications are going out this morning. I've been hanging around hoping, and I did indeed win a copy of Alison Weir's Elizabeth of York. Excitement reigns! (I can hardly rein in my emotions!) (Who cares if it rains?)

>153 LizzieD:: I almost requested that one, Peggy, but went for McCorkle's Life After Life instead. And got it!

I got that one earlier, Laura, and liked it O.K. (You remember that Jill is from my hometown?) I hope you enjoy it.
Yay for us!

I had a few mysteries in mind. I "won" my second choice, which is fine since I've already got the first choice on library reserve.

>153 LizzieD: Envious of your win, Peggy. I love anything from that time period, and Alison Weir is great. I've never signed up for any of the ER things. I wasn't quite sure how it worked.

Colleen, I left a message on your profile page about signing up. You should do it!

BOOKS DO FURNISH A ROOM by Anthony Powell

Nothing need be said at this point about the intricacies of interaction among the continuing cast of characters in book 10 of *Dance to the Music of Time*. I remain a fan, and very happy to see Widmerpool marry his match in Pamela Flitton - at least in this book.

Don't you have to read & review within a certain timeframe though? That would be the bit that I think I might struggle with. Although I'd find it hard to pass up a new book by Alison Weir.

BTW that touchstone goes through to Pride & Prejudice - which i'm fairly certain wasn't what you've just won!

Congratulations on reaching 75 books and an ER win!! Woot!

Thank you, Helen. I thought I had fixed it earlier, but now I have for sure.
Uh - no --- there really is no time limit for reviewing an ER book. Especially when you're trying to get yourself into their system, it's good to read and review quickly. But if you read our friends' threads, you'll see many who have 3 or 4 ER books sitting around unread, and they still get review copies. I ask for only one book a month though, and only when I really want the book (or think I do), so I try to get through the process within the next month in order to look good to the algorhythm. I have to say that the kiss of death for a book is knowing that I have to read it within a certain time. What a perverse person! I can be dying to read something, and then as soon as I have only a limited time for it, I suddenly want to read anything else.
A curtsy to Heather with thanks! Pretty nice!!

Wooooo hoooooo on reaching 75, Peggy!!! Congratulations!

Ooooo you lucky thing getting the Weir!

FYI, going back to your previous thread... Billy Collins was on The Colbert Report yesterday: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/430060/october-29-2013/bi... .

I certainly missed it. Thank you for the link, Katherine! That was a lot of fun - and I had no idea what Mr. Collins looks like.

Congratulations on achieving the 75 goal, Peggy, with such a good book. I haven't read anything by Mr. Foote but I adored him on Ken Burns' Civil War series on PBS. We've watching it twice now.

Many thank yous, Donna! I haven't watched the Ken Burns all the way through. I did use the book to give reality to my reading. One more thing I need to do!

ZEALOT: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JESUS OF NAZARETH by Reza Aslan

I just finished this and really haven't had time to get far enough away from it to think about it. It seems to me a pretty good effort at sifting through what "we" know about the historical Jesus and his time. Some of his choices of interpretation seem questionable to me. I don't think that there's any doubt that Jesus was zealous in his understanding and service to the God of Israel. On the other hand, Aslan dismisses the Suffering Servant of 2nd Isaiah with a sentence or two. I think that these passages are among the most profound of the Hebrew Testament, and since the earliest church jumped on them as being messianic prophesies almost immediately, it seems reasonable to think that Jesus would have known them and used them in the development of his self-understanding.
I will discuss this with my theology group next week and likely be back to report our thoughts here.

Hi Peggy, I am impossibly behind, but doing a drive-by anyway : ).

Hi, Nancy! Glad to see you drive by!!
I'm just getting into The Luminaries. It hasn't taken fire with me yet - at 11% read - but I'm enjoying it.
I would be starting some non-fiction and some scifi, but I'm waiting impatiently for Sept. and Oct. ER ARCs to turn up. I never really relax about them until they are in hand even though I've had only one, I think, that never showed up. I guess that it could still come, but I'd be unhappy to have it now, I think.....something about a Jar from the Middle East. Shoot. Now I have to go see what it was.
ETA: The Bottom of the Jar by Abdellatif Laabi, a Moroccan poet.

I'll be looking forward to your post-discussion review of Zealot, Peggy. I think one of his points was that Judaism never linked the Suffering Servant verses with the Messiah--that was a Christian innovation.

Alos looking forward to comments from your discussion group about Zealot Peggy. I am going to the library today to pick up The Luminaries and The Ocean at the End of the Lane and The Great Hunt. As I've just started Can You Forgive Her? that will be 3 800+ page chunksters this month, 2 of which need to be read and returned to the library in three weeks. Eeep!

Peggy, I just got The Luminaries for my kindle. It is such a hefty book, I think that I would rather get my exercise elsewhere. :) I am trying to decide whether to wait until after the holidays to read it. There is so much I want to read. I am looking forward to your review, although Laura's review pushed me to get it sooner rather than later.

I agree somewhat on The Luminaries, Peggy. It is a slow burner isn't it but elegantly written and with just enough vim to keep you going with it ~ it keeps getting better with age too like a good wine.

Have a lovely weekend.

Just hanging out, monitoring your progress and reactions to The Luminaries. I finished The Lowland last night and really liked it -- more than I expected to, actually. Review coming sometime this weekend.

Laura, I'm enjoying it, but I'm not in love with it yet. I haven't read but about 100 pp though - and I must say that it feels more as though I had read about 50. I'm eager to love! And that agrees with your comment too, Paul. I won't put it down, and I trust that it will get better. Colleen, I'm with you. Laura is the reason. I think it would be a good holiday book if you have a great block of time that you can use to read. Laura, I'm looking forward to what you have to say about The Lowland. 2013 turns out to have been a good year!
Heather, I have to find out what you thought of *Eye* - obviously, you can't be too displeased or you wouldn't be picking up *Great Hunt*. It had been so long that I had forgotten that the stuff I like is in my current #3 - The Dragon Reborn. I'm a fool for all that Aes Sedai stuff! You do have a formidable month or 3 weeks (eep!) blocked out for yourself.
Roni, I know that that was one of his points, but there is the connection in the gospels, and somebody Jewish from that period made it. I guess I don't see why it's more acceptable coming from a follower than from Jesus himself.
Happy day! I have good stuff going, and I have time today (I hope) to read it!

Ahem. Has someone looked at the calendar recently? It is November. Not that I don't like May's picture at the top of the thread, but I want to know that November's thread theme is going to be!