Paul's Books and Stuff in 2013 Part 27

The last few threads showed the lord and lady of the household. This one celebrates the other four permanent members of the family. Yasmyne, Kyran, Belle and Erni. Erni has been with us since Kyran was a babe-in-arms and I couldn't imagine life without her or morning coffee delivered with anything other than her permanent smile.

Continuing my theme in the search for the greatest living poet (we have had Mary Oliver and Derek Walcott to date), we consider Richard Wilbur.



Born in 1921 in New York, he has won almost every literary prize available. This is his poem, The Writer, told in his direct and accessible manner:

The Writer

In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,
My daughter is writing a story.

I pause in the stairwell, hearing
From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.

Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.

But now it is she who pauses,
As if to reject my thought and its easy figure.
A stillness greatens, in which

The whole house seems to be thinking,
And then she is at it again with a bunched clamor
Of strokes, and again is silent.

I remember the dazed starling
Which was trapped in that very room, two years ago;
How we stole in, lifted a sash

And retreated, not to affright it;
And how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door,
We watched the sleek, wild, dark

And iridescent creature
Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove
To the hard floor, or the desk-top,

And wait then, humped and bloody,
For the wits to try it again; and how our spirits
Rose when, suddenly sure,

It lifted off from a chair-back,
Beating a smooth course for the right window
And clearing the sill of the world.

It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish
What I wished you before, but harder.

2013 Books Read January-June 2013

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

February
15 The Shortest History of Europe by John Hirst
16 Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo
17 The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
18 The Green Hat by Michael Arlen
19 V by Tony Harrison
20 The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell
21 This Sporting Life by David Storey
22 Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer
23 A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins
24 Back When We Were Grown-ups by Anne Tyler
25 On the Road to Babadag by Andrzej Stasiuk
26 Island in the Centre by Rex Shelley
27 Andris Apse : Odyssey and Images by R.D. Crosby & Andris Apse
28 I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson
29 50 Amazing Places in China by Dong Huai
30 Greyfriars Bobby by Eleanor Atkinson

March
31 Fallen Angel : The Passion of Fausto Coppi by William Fotheringham
32 Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva
33 Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
34 After Rain by William Trevor
35 Jean de Florette by Marcel Pagnol
36 He (Shey) by Rabindranath Tagore
37 Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

April
38 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
39 Little Big Man by Thomas Berger
40 Billy Brown, I'll Tell Your Mother by Bill Brown
41 Rhodesia by Nick Carter
42 The Mersey Sound by Adrian Henri, Roger McGough & Brian Patten
43 The Dance of the Seagull by Andrea Camilleri
44 Crimsoned Prairie by SLA Marshall
45 Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

May
46 The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
47 History of the Second World War by B.H. Liddell-Hart
48 Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro
49 Time and the Conways by J.B. Priestley
50 A Slipping-Down Life by Anne Tyler
51 Manon des Sources by Marcel Pagnol
52 Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist
53 One Hand on the Claret Jug by Norman Dabell
54 A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr
55 Loving Sabotage by Amelie Nothomb
56 The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books by Elif Batuman
57 My Michael by Amos Oz
58 Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon

June
59 What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander
60 East of the West by Miroslav Penkov
61 In the Penny Arcade by Steven Millhauser
62 Drifting House by Krys Lee
63 Ten Sorry Tales by Mick Jackson
64 Stay Awake by Dan Chaon
65 Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Zsuzsi Gartner
66 Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson
67 The Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo
68 A Wanted Man by Lee Child
69 After Daybreak: The Liberation of Belsen, 1945 by Ben Shephard
70 Tinkers by Paul Harding
71 Ten Little Aliens by Stephen Cole
72 Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
73 The Savage Altar by Asa Larsson
74 The Captain's Verses by Pablo Neruda
75 What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe

2013 Books Read July-Dec 2013

July

76 We Might as Well Win by Johan Bruyneel
77 The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
78 Redemption aka A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen
79 The Albemarle Book of Modern Verse Volume 2 edited by FES Finn
80 This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
81 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
82 Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan
83 A Blessing on the Moon by Joseph Skibell
84 The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
85 Salvage by Robert Edric
86 The Killing of the Tinkers by Ken Bruen
87 Waiting for Anya by Michael Morpurgo
88 Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood
89 The Clock Winder by Anne Tyler
90 Licence Renewed by John Gardner
91 The Birds on the Trees by Nina Bawden
92 Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
93 Among Others by Jo Walton
94 On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
95 The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
96 Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
97 Charles Dickens by Jane Smiley
98 The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black
99 In Praise of Hatred by Khaled Khalifa
100 The Natural by Bernard Malamud
101 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
102 In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar

August

103 The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
104 The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin
105 Autumn Journal by Louis MacNeice
106 World War One : A Short History by Norman Stone
107 This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jalloun
108 Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men by Colin Bateman
109 Wodehouse at the Wicket by P.G. Wodehouse
110 I'm Not Really Here by Paul Lake
111 A Bloody Field By Shrewsbury by Edith Pargeter
112 Human Chain by Seamus Heaney

September

113 In the Darkness : An Inspector Sejer Novel by Karin Fossum
114 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
115 Field Work by Seamus Heaney
116 A Question of Proof by Nicholas Blake
117 Sharpe's Gold by Bernard Cornwell
118 Season of the Beast Andrea H. Japp
119 The Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden
120 The Collection by Harold Pinter
121 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
122 Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong

October

123 Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
124 Dominion by C.J. Sansom
125 Chancy by Louis L'Amour
126 Selected Poems by Derek Walcott
127 A.A. Gill Is Further Away by A.A. Gill
128 Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
129 The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling
130 The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
131 The Nazis by Laurence Rees
132 The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven
133 The Chef at War by Alexis Soyer
134 Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan

Best of 2013

Non-Fiction
1 Promised Land : A Northern Love Story by Anthony Clavane
2. A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins
3. After Daybreak: The Liberation of Belsen, 1945 by Ben Shephard

Fiction
1 The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
2 The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
3 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4 Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
5 What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe
6 Among Others by Jo Walton
7 The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

Thrillers
1 Phantom by Jo Nesbo
2 Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer
3 A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr
4 A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen
5 Dominion by C.J. Sansom

Poetry
1. Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
2. Autumn Journal by Louis MacNeice
3. Human Chain by Seamus Heaney
4. Field Work by Seamus Heaney

Reading Plan for October

In October will be a 32 genre challenge for Suz. I have chopped my target down to a still challenging 24. With these genres to choose from and fill in.

1 Debut Novels The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
2 New Novels The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton
3 Modern Fiction Shallows - Tim Winton (shared read with Mark)
4 Classical Fiction The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling Completed
5 In translation The Reprieve by Jean-Paul Sartre
6 Historical Fiction Lincoln by Gore Vidal
7 Alternate History Dominion by C.J. Sansom Completed
8 Humour/Satire For Crying Out Loud! by Jeremy Clarkson
9 Westerns Chancy by Louis L'Amour Completed
10 Sci-Fi Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep? by Philip K Dick
11Fantasy Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton Completed
12 Scandi The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson Completed
13 Series Thriller Shatter the Bones by Stuart MacBride
14 Spy Thriller Silesian Station by David Downing
15 Poetry Selected Poems by Derek Walcott Completed
16 Plays Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
17 Criticism Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill Completed
18 Biography The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven
19 History The Nazis by Laurence Rees
20 Economics End the Fed by Ron Paul
21 Travel A.A. Gill is Further Away by A.A. Gill Completed
22 Sports That Near Death Thing by Rick Broadbent
23 Cookery The Chef at War by Alexis Soyer
24 Philosophy / Religion A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton

No expectation of completing it but I will see how many I can manage.

Category Challenge

1 Works Originally in French (7/13)
2 Historical Fiction (13/13)
3 Poetry/Plays (13/13)
4 Works by Anne Tyler (4/13)
5 Books on Sports (8/13)
6 Books on Travel or Places (6/13)
7 Short Story Collections (13/13)
8 Between the Wars (4/13)
9 Scandi (7/13)
10 Old Friends (12/13)
11 Then and Now (13/13)
12 Prize Winners (9/13)
13 Asia Pacific (7/13)

Total Number of Challenges 169

Completed to Date 115

Percentage Complete 68.05%

Current and Upcoming Reading

Physical Books TBR

Books at Start of Year on KL Shelves - 1,676
Added in 2013 - 771
Read in 2013 - 131

Revised TBR Total - 2,316

Pages to read at start of year - 639,135
Pages added in 2013 - 248,778
Read in 2013 - 36,013
Revised Pages to read - 851,900

2 Kindle books read: Kindle stats in prep.

MOVIES SEEN AT THE CINEMA IN 2013

1 The Hobbit
2 Jack Reacher
3 Les Miserables
4 Parental Guidance
5 The Life of Pi
6. Flight
7. Lincoln
8. Django
9. Oz, The Great and Powerful
10. Iron Man 3
11. Oblivion
12. The Great Gatsby
13. After Earth
14. Monster University
15. The Lone Ranger
16. RIPD
17. The Conjuring
18. Tanda Putera
19. Grown-Ups 2
20. We're the Millers
21. Gravity

Series List:

Please refer to my page on fict-fact

http://www.fictfact.com/list/PaulCranswick/ALL

NOBEL CHALLENGE (This year's read additions in bold)

NOBEL WINNERS READ WITH FAVOURITE WORK READ SO FAR:
2013 Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro
2011 The Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Transtromer
2010 The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa
2009 The Appointment by Herta Muller
2007 The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing
2006 Snow by Orhan Pamuk
2005 The Caretaker by Harold Pinter
2003 The Master of Petersburg by J.M.Coetzee
2001 A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
1998 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago
1997 Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo
1995 Station Island by Seamus Heaney
1994 A Quiet Life by Kenzaburo Oe
1992 Selected Poems by Derek Walcott
1991 July's People by Nadine Gordimer
1988 Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
1987 On Grief and Reason by Joseph Brodsky
1983 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1982 A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1976 Herzog by Saul Bellow
1972 Billiards at Half-Past Nine by Heinrich Boll
1971 The Captain's Verses by Pablo Neruda
1970 Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1968 Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata
1964 The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
1962 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
1961 Bridge On the Drina by Ivo Andric
1958 Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
1957 The Plague by Albert Camus
1955 The Atom Station by Halldor Laxness
1954 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
1953 History of the English Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill
1952 Knot of Vipers by Francois Mauriac
1951 Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist
1949 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
1948 The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
1947 The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide
1946 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
1938 The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
1932 A Man of Property by John Galsworthy
1930 Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
1925 Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw
1923 Collected Poems by W.B. Yeats
1921 And the Gods Will Have Blood by Anatole France
1913 He (Shey) by Rabindranath Tagore
1907 Kim by Rudyard Kipling

UNREAD NOBEL WINNERS ON THE SHELVES

2012 Red Sorghum by Mo Yan
2008 The Interrogation by J.M.G. Le Clezio
2004 The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
2002 Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz
2000 Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
1999 The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
1996 Poems New and Collected by Wislawa Szymborska
1993 Jazz by Toni Morrison
1990 The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz
1989 The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo Jose Cela
1986 Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka
1985 Flanders Road by Claude Simon
1984 The Poetry of Jaroslav Seifert by Jaroslav Seifert
1981 Kafka's Other Trial by Elias Canetti
1978 Enemies : A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer
1973 Voss by Patrick White
1969 Molloy by Samuel Beckett
1966 A Book That Was Lost by S.Y. Agnon
1965 And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov
1950 A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
1939 The Maid Silja by F.E. Sillanpaa
1936 A Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill
1934 Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
1933 The Village by Ivan Bunin
1929 Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann
1928 Kristin Lavransdatter : 1 The Wreath by Sigrid Undset
1926 Reeds in the Wind by Grazia Deledda
1920 Hunger by Knut Hamsun
1909 The Saga of Gosta Berling by Selma Lagerlof
1905 Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

So far read 46 laureates
30 laureates unread on the shelves
35 laureates whose works neither owned not read.

Boo Paul!

Did I scare you?

Roberta wins! Just in time for my next batch of orders as my credit card issues have been settled (due to a lot of credit card fraud my issuing company had temporarily barred on line transactions) lifted this week.

Please PM me and I'll pick you something nice.

I can't believe I got here so fast1

I'll be away from computers, etc. from Sunday until Friday, so no action expected.

Have a wonderful week, Paul, and enjoy your beautiful family.

Thanks so much Gail; I'll be across anon to wish you bon voyage.

Hey, Paul, great picture of the young 'uns up top.

Thanks Roni; Yasmyne has already complained (she is studying in my reading room as I type) that it doesn't show her off at her best! It was the only one I could readily find with all of them together with Erni. It was on the occasion of Erni's birthday in August 2 years ago at their favourite Japanese restaurant.

Paul, great picture and great poem. I usually do not like poetry much, and I often skim or skip, but I read this one, word for word. It almost brought tears to my eyes. Quite good, I think. Universal feelings of parents, eh?

Hope your weekend is going very well indeed. Mine has been good so far.

Tomorrow I may be able to get bunches of reading done as I'll be "babysitting" at my niece's house. Her kids are no longer "babies" (so they tell me) so I probably can sit with my feet up, while they entertain themselves.

Lovely children, Paul! It's not at all hard to believe that dashing young couple of a few threads ago grew up and produced such lovely offspring.

Very nice picture of your beautiful family Paul with an appropriate poem to boot! I actually understood that poem....not a usual thing for me.

Karen - Richard Wilbur has a very direct voice so to speak which helps bring his work to a wider audience. Isn't that the purpose of writing. Some poets tend to be perversely obtuse and inaccessible and that seems to me not the point of writing at all. I like to read poetry celebrating beautiful lyrical writing and therefore Yeats, Dylan Thomas, Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney are favourites, but I also love some of the turns of phrase of such writers as TS Eliot, Philip Larkin, WH Auden, Louis MacNeice, Cecil Day-Lewis and dear John Betjeman. I don't much care for poetry where the poet is far too clever for me and I haven't a clue what the message is that is being delivered.

Julia - You go close to the top of my Christmas present list! Hani has stronger genes than I is my only riposte every time I see the fine physical specimens we created together! Every foible they have from Belle's poor eyesight, and Yasmyne's moody demeanour to Kyran's wandering eye are accepted as part of why they belong to me. xx

Heidi - hahaha pretty much what I was saying as we cross-posted.

As requested by Caro on the thread here is the link to the Christmas Swap she has so kindly set up. That the swap is going truly international is a cause for celebration in this remoter part of the world:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/160027

A new thread already? But, but….but I'm not caught up with the old one yet…I guess I'll just have to claim a seat here and then go back to see what I have missed. Lovely thread topper! And I liked the poetry selection, too! You're off to an excellent start, Paul!

Thanks Mamie - I am giving up on catching up myself for an hour or two. Hair in desperate need of cutting. Considered the Birdy treatment but decided I'd leave it its natural fading colour for now. xx

LOL! I'd love to see you with blue hair, Paul! Today marks one full year for us as owners of the small piece of happiness that you so aptly names the Pecan Paradisio. Oh what a year it has been!

Mamie - Time flies as they say or "Time is a jet plane; it moves too fast" as a certain Bobby D sort of sang.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege sharing in some small part your adventures of discovery in Georgia in this last year. Do you miss Indiana much?

I am missing the Fall colors right now, and in the winter I will miss the lovely sight of snow falling, although I rejoice in not having to rake leaves or shovel snow. Mostly, I miss seeing my sister Julie and her family, who always celebrated all the big and small moments of life with us.

You and me both Mamie; I think if I type "autumnal hues" many more times my computer will shed tears too!

Hello Paul! Oh I love the photo up top, and the poem as well.

I remember my mother really loving the David Niven books -- I'll look forward to your thoughts on The Moon's a Balloon.

Happy weekend -- I know yours is almost over:(

Dear Anne - I still have half of my Sunday ahead of me, so I'm not complaining and a holiday to come on Tuesday as it is the Haj celebrations then.

In a strange parallel, the two Niven autobiogs were my own mother's favourites too.

Whoops I forgot to mention a small poetry laden splurge yesterday whilst I was out ostensibly buying fitness equipment (weighing scales, training mat and training ball; yikes of all yikes)

1 Family Values by Wendy Cope
2 Ariel by Sylvia Plath
3 The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney
4 Selected Poems by Gwendolen Brooks
5 Turtle Island by Gary Snyder
6 Harvest by Jim Crace

742 physical books added in 2013

btw I weighed in at a disturbingly heavy 99.5 kilos or 218 llbs. May not sound terrible but considering I got married at 67.5 kilos (149 llbs) and am only 5 ft 6 it shows I have a tremendous amount of work to do. I reckon I have lost a couple of pounds this week by dietary tweaks - I am not going this side of 100 kilos ever again and will be under 200 llbs by Christmas ~ watch this space!!!

Interesting Phillip K Dick choice ( up yonder in the October reads) .... will be interested to see what you make of it

Hopefully I'll get to it in time Alex.

Hi Paul- Congrats on #27! You are as popular as ever and deserve every minute. Love the photo of the precious kids.
I am also impressed by the eclectic "current reads". Ron Paul? Wow! I need to get back to the Downing series. I don't know why I dragged my feet on that one.

As Dylan seems to be happily absent from this newest thread, I think it safe to pop in for a bit. I sympathize with the weight-loss woes, as I sit here working on my second donut of the morning, vowing to get back on the treadmill tomorrow morning...

Congratulations on the latest thread Paul.

18 pounds in two months will be a big challenge but I'll be cheering you on!

Mark - Ron Paul is another read like the book on Cheney. I do think Paul is one of the most interesting of the conservatives and certainly a maverick although some of his ideas are plain odd.

Amber - 2nd donut? Now that's just cruel! I was tempted to put some Bob up in retaliation but I like you too much.

Calm - Thank you my dear; on a sweltering Sunday here it seems a world away from West Wales.

Morphy - I am determined to feel better in my clothes and not be one of the wheezy boys who struggle climbing the stairs. Fingers and toes crossed.

^ It's difficult to pick one deserving American author for the Nobel, but I'll go with Cormac McCarthy. I plan on reading or rereading a couple of his books next year.
(I posted this on my thread too.)

Mark - I have to say I half expected your reply to be Cormac McCarthy.

IMO the USA is quite overdue a win in the Nobel Prize; some obvious contenders other than your own nominee:

Fiction
Philip Roth
Thomas Pynchon
Don Delillo
Joyce Carol Oates

Poetry
Richard Wilbur
Mary Oliver
John Ashbery

Drama
Edward Albee
Neil Simon

Four interesting novel choices for the Nobel, Paul. If you were to recommend one thing to read by each of them, for someone (me) who has not yet read anything by any of them (hanging head in shame), what would you choose?

Exciting times of weight-loss ahead! I need yo join you on that, I am not sure how much I weigh, but I know that my post-operative morphine-induced weight -loss has now been fully put back on. I am nearly at the walking for exercise point again, but not quite. However, I am eating like I am fully mobile.....any tips for getting rid of a few pounds!? Meal tweaking aside.

Greatest living poet? Paul Simon :)

I am getting there with The Luminaries, Paul. I hope you have plenty of reading time up your sleeves this October as that book alone is 850-odd pages, and evens too if I'm truthful ;)

#44 I am interested in this recommendation as well. I think I read something by Philip Roth in college....maybe Goodbye, Columbus?.....but I haven't read anything by those others.

Hi Paul!
I'm #47 ! That's pretty good for me ;-)

Good luck with the weight loss program. If it works - let me know how to get started. *groan*

Regarding Nobel for an American - Joyce Carol Oates. Hands down. The woman has written enough for two lifetimes, and these books have had an impact on the lives of millions. Including Oprah Winfrey. That alone should garner her the award. But seriously, her work has dealt with so many issues about women that at some point somebody should reward her for bringing these things to the attention of world wide readers. I also think the same thing about Margaret Atwood.

I keep hearing that Alice Munro was picked because the committee was trying to say that the short story format needs to be rewarded as a serious form of the art. I thought that was the reason for awarding Doris Lessing the prize a few years ago?

This weekend I decided to drop in to the public library to check out the Cosplay festival they were having. They had signs up in the yard advertising The Friends of the Library Used Bookstore sale. I couldn't resist the temptation and walked out with 14 books for $41.00.

Before you start hounding me for the titles here is the summation of the haul.

Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Troubled Man
Faceless Killers
Sidetracked
Dona Flor and her Two Husbands
Mrs. Bridge
Mr. Bridge
Fatal Waltz
Oscar and Lucinda
Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia
Vendetta
Fifth Witness
Recipe Club

Paul, good luck with your weight loss. I feel like I have gained weight lately, and would like to reverse that/lose a few. I eat pretty well, and always cook fresh, but I have a hard time fitting exercise into my schedule. I need to make it a priority, and bring the family along as well.

Love the latest photo. Especially your youngest. What a darling photo of her.

From the last thread.
Thanks Richard for that assessment of why Nobel winners are so predominately from certain countries in Europe. However, Unlike you I think Murakami should win. His work is outstanding.

There is no doubt that the role of the translator is vital to a world wide audience. Jose Saramago said as much in an essay he wrote soon after the translator for Blindness and some of this other works died.

I have a very well read German friend (reads equally well in both languages) who told me once that what sounds good in one language often doesn't sound good in another. He said that was why the poetry of Rilke was not as appreciated in English as it was in German. He thought that, while impressive in English, Rilke's work lacked the grace it had in German. Since I can't speak, or read, German, I was never able to assess the truth of this statement, but it seems to have much of the same sentiment as what you said.

Several years ago at an ALA conference I spoke with a publisher about why there weren't more translated works (this was a YA and children's publisher) and was told there were two reasons. 1. Translation is expensive. 2. The books don't sell well enough to justify the expense. Ever since then I try to make room in my book budget to purchase some translated books. I especially like the Europa imprint titles. I am also pleased to see so many American's reading the Andrea Camilleri books. The more financial success that authors like him have, the more likely publisher are to take a risk on publishing like works.

I think that Amos Oz, Margaret Atwood, and Haruki Murikami should get the Nobel. That they have been ignored this long is shameful.

No American's on my list. Can't stand Philip Roth. Nothing written by Cormac MacCarthy appeals to me. Joyce Carol Oates would be my pick, but only if I HAD to pick an American.

45 > abs are made in the Kitchen not the gym - sadly for omnivores the same goes for weight loss ..... tweaking can do wonders ....

Ellen:

Joyce Carol Oates rated Them and Blonde as the best of her work. We Were the Mulvaneys and You Must Remember This I have read and liked.

Don Delillo - I would recommend White Noise as I found Underworld a drudge of a read.

Philip Roth - His work is more chewable but can also be patchy. Many consider American Pastoral his finest work (haven't read it yet) and he placed Sabbath's Theater and Portnoy's Complaint as his best (see link below) and I would presently go with the last one although it is a little narrow in its concentration upon sex, gentile ladies and libido.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/17/philip-roth-picks-his-best-novels

Thomas Pynchon is a difficult read at the best of times. I liked Mason & Dixon although Gravity's Rainbow is considered his masterpiece.

I suppose people will also look to Cormac McCarthy (Mark did) or perhaps E.L. Doctorow as possible winners or maybe even Paul Auster (whose writing I don't particularly like).

I have Philip Roth's The plot against America lined up to read sometime in the next few weeks having enjoyed The Human Stain a few years ago. Still haven't read Don Delillo, though have at least one of his on Mt tbr, same for Joyce Carol Oates.

Megan - Paul Simon would be an interesting nominee my dear and I'm sure would find scant favour with traditionalists. Bob Dylan himself has been put forward many times but if you hear him being interviewed as to his creative juices you'd put that nomination back in your pocket.
I have started The Luminaries and hope to make good headway tomorrow.

Heidi - I think American authors should get more appreciation and recognition. Pynchon and Delillo are both fairly difficult reads but usually reward a little readership persistence.

Benita - So one clear vote for Joyce Carol Oates. I'm not sure why Doris Lessing got the award in truth but I can't believe it is for the short story as hers are nothing particularly to write home about.

Benita 2 - Less than $3 per book is my sort of gig. Recognise and have read a fair few of them too especially the three Inspector Wallenders.

Anne - I think it has to be a combination of both. I had a week simply of eating well and doing a little walking as a primer for the exercises starting today and already felt better for it. Today was still as tough as hell though I have to say.

Jenn - Thanks so much. Belle generally doesn't like her photo taken but a combination of Midori restaurant (the Japanese Buffet there is her idea of a little slice of heaven) combined with her best buddy having her birthday (Erni) put colour in her cheeks and a smile on her face.

Benita - Your comments on the difficulties of translation are wise (as were RDs') and are a topic I have often wondered about. It could be that some genres and languages translate to others more naturally. Scandi is a case in point perhaps and my struggles with German language writers being another.
IMO Camilleri would be great whatever the language.

Benita 2 - Honestly give me a vote (just 1) and it has to go to William Trevor. Given my love of poetry I would also like a poet put forward and probably Richard Wilbur for reasons of longevity as much as any other would probably sneak my vote.

Alex - I think you are probably right mate but there is a combination involved. I don't think at my age I'll out exercise a bad diet.

Kerry - I have read a little but not that much from each of the four I listed.

Just toying with the idea of a 75ers books of the year awards:

Maybe the following:

Novel of the Year
Best Debut Novel
Body of Work Award
Best Series or Thriller Award
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Award
YA Award
Non Fiction Award

Of our 800+ members there is enough craft to come up with shortlists and nominate a judging panel for each. December given over to reading the say five books nominated in each category and the producing of a winner.

Anybody?

58 > Yeah you are right there, I always think of Exercise as health ie a good healthy heart etc & Diet as weight - you need both & one or the other depending on your personality will lead you to healthy habits in the other. For me I need to exercise to eat right, without exercise it leads to nowhere good ..... anyway must be scaring you donut eating omnivores we can't do that .....

back to book talk!

No more donuts for a goodly while for me Alex. My problem was always huge portions. Whilst I was racing bikes it was no issue but the pounds piled on as I stopped the exercise but kept the same diet.

Paul- I love the idea of having awards. Are the top 2, just books published this year? It has been a stellar year for book releases.

I think E.L. Doctorow is also a solid Nobel pick. I have not read enough Delillo, Roth or Pynchon to have an opinion.

Mark - It would be a bit difficult, I suppose with different release dates for books depending upon origin, but I do think our combined opinions would come up with some solid picks.

Best series Shortlist Anyone:

Inspector Montalbano - Andrea Camilleri
Dr. Siri Paiboun - Colin Cotterill
Harry Hole - Jo Nesbo
Carl Morck - Jussi Adler-Olsen
Inspector Gamache - Louise Penny

I do like EL Doctorow.

Walt Longmire- Craig Johnson
Jack Taylor- Ken Bruen

Of course I am crazy about Dr. Siri but I am so glad you included Carl Morck.

I love the idea of a 75 Awards thingie. But please not in December - holidays make the month crazy. Can we do the reads in January?

I just went to my first library sale. I got 48 books for $15 - that's 31.25 cents a book! A list is on my thread.

Having lost 190 pounds, my biggest piece of advice for losing weight is to track your food. It makes a HUGE difference. Second piece of advice: Don't drink your calories. Third: Eat more fruits and vegetables.

127.

A.A. Gill Is Further Away by A.A. Gill

Forget Chatwin; he's gone.
Forget Thubron and Theroux and Newby; they're old hat.
A.A. Gill is the real deal amongst travel writers.

In his newspaper columns as a travel and restaurant review writer Gill has made far more enemies than friends with his forthright and decidedly unflattering views on Wales, the Isle of Man and Gordon Ramsay.

Here we have more of the same with Minnesota, Dubai and Northern England (grrrrr) getting a venting of spleen for strange reasons.

He is cynical, opinionated, wonderfully sarcastic, sometimes borderline rude but with a superlative turn of phrase, a keenly observant eye, an irritating habit of being oftimes right and I suspect deep down really quite nice. If I may a sort of Richard without the dodgy knees.

Readable and recommended.

8/10

Mark - both had releases this last year or so and would qualify.

Morphy - Good idea. Would you be up to nominating some new books for Fantasy and Sci-Fi?
Thanks for the dietary tips. xx Hani, who is also, on a plan is a big tracker of calories.

I like your series picks, Paul. No surprise, I'd add in Jack Reacher - Lee Child.

Novel of the Year: Benediction by Kent Haruf
Best Debut Novel: The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope by Rhonda Riley
Body of Work Award: David McCullough
Best Series or Thriller Award: Dr. Siri by Colin Cotterill/Inspector Gamache by Louise Penny (tie)
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Award: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
YA Award: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Non Fiction Award: Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

I know the last is probably controversial, but I thought it was great.

If you had a graphic novel category, for me it would be Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon.

Sure, when the time comes. Though I tend to read older stuff. I might not have read enough 2013 books. We'll see.

> 55, 62 Doctorow, yes. Although I'm afraid Roth would have more support, and that's a shame.

Joe - solid picks there. Good call on David McCulloch, not enough historians have won major prizes.

Here are mine so far since we have made this a Meme already:

Novel of the Year The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
Best Debut Novel The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
Body of Work Award William Trevor
Best Current Series Montalbano by Andrea Camilleri
Sci Fi & Fantasy Award Among Others by Jo Walton
YA Award The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Non Fiction Award Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

2012/3 books to allow for the vagaries of release times.

Morphy - I had the same issues preparing my list above.

Linda - Yes, I agree just about. Doctorow is probably a more rounded writer.

Ooo. Like the awards idea. I've assumed the winner in each category must be alive.

Novel of the Year: TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
Best Debut Novel: The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
Body of Work Award: Pat Barker
Best Series or Thriller Award: Inspector Gamache by Louise Penny
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Award: Among Others by Jo Walton
YA Award: no vote, don't care
Non Fiction Award: Yokohama Yankee by Leslie Helm

I'd back David McCullough for sure. That man can take a topic I'm not at all interested in and make it a page-turner for me. I never cease to be amazed by him.

I would've joined you on Yellow Birds, The Fault in Our Stars and Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Paul, except I read them last year. Same for RD's pick of Among Others. I'd join you on Montalbano, too, if I could pick three. Three superior mystery series there.

Oh dear.... behinder and behinder.

Love the thread topper!

>76 mckait: Me too Kath!

I'll have to think in the awards, Paul. Are you wanting published in 13? I'm like Morphy & read mostly older ones.

I'm going to need more details Morphy -- 190 pounds?!? That is amazing!

RD - I preferred Among Others too but I only counted books published since 2012 and I had that down as 2010. If I'm wrong I'm changing my vote too.

Reba - I need to get to some David McCullough by the sounds of it.

Joe - There are so many good series out there - Reacher as you mentioned and the Station books by David Downing are another.

Kath - Thanks., It is holiday time here to celebrate the Haj so I hope to make a smallish dent in The Luminaries.

Tina - I was thinking 2012 and 2013 since books are released at different times in different places.
Morphy is an amazing lady period.

McCullouch's book on John Adams (pres #2) is sublime. A great great biography.

Paperback pub date 3 January 2012 in the USA! I checked.

Wow so much to think about Paul, as usual. First off, Joyce Carol Oates for the Nobel, possibly the most prolific writer ever. I've read several of hers (they're almost always fairly dark) and have Blonde and her memoir on my shelf.

I'll have to wait and give some thought to the meme. Do they have to be books published in 2013?

Lucy - I will seek out his stuff at Kino on Friday. I have his biogs of Truman and Adams both wishlisted and hopefully one of them will be in stock.

RD - OK then I'm changing my vote too, Among Others was a great little book.

Bonnie - No I think published since 2012 would do it because books get released at different times in US-Canada-Europe-Asia.

Love the idea of an LT awards - not sure I've read enough books published 2012-2013 to participate. I do have one of your list on my bedside table. If I get to The Fault in Our Stars, I'll have to see if I agree with you. :) Is there a magical button here that tells me when the books I have read were published? I am pretty sure there is one on Goodreads...

Paul, thanks for the input (#55). I already own American Pastoral and this evening, since I was at the bookstore for RL Book Club, I bought a used copy of Blonde: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates and a lovely new copy of DeLillo's White Noise. I think I'll leave Pynchon alone for the foreseeable future.....

McCullough's book on building Panama Canal, Path Beteen the Seas, was also great imo.

I'm waiting until at least December until making my award decisions. Sheesh! That's 6 more weeks of reading! Who knows what I'll read before then!

Jenn - No magic buttons but the book itself normally has the information on the date it was first published.
For instance I'm reading Tooth & Claw by Jo Walton which states inside the first few pages in the publishers blurb: "Copyright (c) Jo Walton 2003"

Ellen - Almost bought City of God today by EL Doctorow but resisted (probably for not much longer). I did recently buy Blonde for inside of $5.

McCullough is definitely on my Friday hitlist, Reba; I'll see what the store has.

Morphy: Thought maybe we close nominations in December. Have judging in January and announce beginning of February - I bet the potential winners will be holding their collective breaths shortly.

Saw the Bullock/Clooney flick "Gravity" this evening and it was a little uncomfortable seeing whether they would make it back from space. Not too bad but SWMBO and Belle hated it; Kyran slept throughout and Yasmyne thought it "pretty good".

The tribe insisted on coffees afterwards which I didn't want so I went across the way to the bookstore where I was pretty abstemious:

Berlin Cantata by Jeffrey Lewis
and
The Suspect by Michael Robotham

were all I added

744 physical books added in 2013

TWO books?! That bookstore must've been going out of business. Two! A measley two! Good-lookin' ones, though.

RD - There is an old quite bald cashier with a cleft palate and a habit of not speaking to anyone but we always exchange pleasantries (Times Bookstore in Pavilion Mall) today he asked me: "Have you finished the last lot already?"

The Jeffrey Lewis book is an extremely good looking book



It has turned over ends to make it appear like a traditional dustjacket (even though it is a soft cover) and jumped out from the shelves at me.

Fine, so I'll wait until Thanksgiving weekend! That's five weeks!

>87 PaulCranswick: City of God was a tough one, Paul. I have to admit it stumped me. You might want to be familiar with the original by St. Augustine, and with Wittgenstein as well. (Not assuming you're NOT familiar with both, naturally.)

Five weeks is about 32 books at least for you Morphy anyways

Linda - Not so familiar with either in truth. Did read both a little at Uni but can't imagine them sitting too well in a modern novel. EL Doctorow's novels either work fantastically for me (Ragtime) or not at all (The Book of Daniel).

I don't think I read The Book of Daniel. Is the Daniel of the title suppoed to be one of the Rosenbergs' sons? Believe there was a movie based on it that I did see, but not much of it stuck. I think the crux of my admiration for Doctorow is that when one of his books doesn't work for me, I blame myself, not him. Sometimes he's just too smart for me, and I can't find fault with him for that.

Early reports from ABC has Eleanor Catton for The Luminaries winning the Booker!! Glad that Toibin didn't win with his novella or Crace for his "last" book (yeah right).

Linda - Love that when you think a writer is so good that even his failings are your fault.

LOL Paul. But you forget. I have recently sold/donated pretty much all of my books. (*heaves a deep sigh)
I will have to go back through my list and figure it out.

ETA: Hooray for The Luminaries!

Jenn - If we'd stayed close by I could have got the lot off you in a job lot!

Paul!

You know, as a teenager I wanted badly to go to NY and take courses from Doctorow. I had read The Waterworks and found it terribly boring and I didn't understand much of it. But, the book had such glowing reviews I felt I must be missing something and wanted to find out!

Kathy I would guess that if he bored you as a writer he would be excruciating as a teacher!

Paul, that would have done a lot for your book count, not that you need help. :) I didn't count, but there were a LOT of books. 30 boxes or so.

a musical link for you from the New York Times, Prince Peacock. do you know Wu Man? i'd never heard of her but this bleeeewww me away. it's both a visual and auditory treat.

http://tinyurl.com/k3g66yg

interesting you didn't like Book of Daniel. i read it years and years ago, came across it recently and contemplated reading (listening) to it again.

marvelous thread topper. gorgeous family.

Hello Paul!

Love the lists! Love the opening photo! What a lovely family!

You're right of course, but this was my Superior phase, and it seemed so very hip to take courses from a famous writer.

I think I came across his book at a used book shop or a garage sale-- the cover seduced me. I felt Superior carrying it around at school.

88 > Interesting take on Gravity am being told its a must see esp in 3D ..... have not made it myself

Excellent stuff on The luminaries ......

Hi Paul, can confirm that Eleanor Catton has won the MAN Booker prize.

I was a big fan of Book of Daniel, but then again, I read it nearly 30 years ago. The film is very good too! Ragtime is his master-work.
I think he has a new book coming out?

Happy newish thread, Paul. Another great pic of you family. I have enjoyed the chance to "meet" all of you. Must be fun times at your place.

Jenn - Sorting through 30 boxes of books is my idea of heaven

Ellie - What an interesting clip! Not sure what I'd do if the young lady was playing for me. Could grow on you I suppose, a little like fungus. xx

Thanks Linda; life is certainly rarely dull with them all around.

Kathy - It wouldn't make much difference over here as nobody would have heard of him.

Alex - I actually quite enjoyed it although I did feel claustrophobic for Sandra Bullock at times - she definitely played "panic" realistically. I can't say I would be overly keen to take a ride in that rocket ship myself based on the film.

John - I stayed up into the early hours here ostensibly to see if England could lay to rest the ghost of 1973 (they did!!!) but also to watch for the Booker. By process of elimination I felt Eleanor Catton had to win (I mean how can you give it to a book barely 100 pages long?) I wouldn't have been too sad if Jim Crace had won but the "give him the prize it's his last book" brigade set me against him a little. Jhumpa Lahiri didn't ought to qualify for the prize (American citizen - they are going to win enough in coming years I would hazard) and the other two were clearly fodder making up the numbers.

Mark - Not bad mate; at least we agree about Ragtime.

Lynda - Thanks; it is a lively place to stay is Chez Paul. The three ladies of the manor are all extremely combustible individuals, Kyran is a Mr. Bean clone with the soul of Warren Beatty and a trail of disappointed young ladies in his wake and I am constantly dodging bullets and comparing notes with dear, even-tempered Erni, the Princess of Arabica.

Paul, I love your description of your household. From the combustible ladies to the heartthrob son and you, the befuddled center of it all. Cheers to you and yours!

Julia - "befuddled" goes well with me my dear I may confusedly admit. xx

I hadn't heard much about The Luminaries on this side of the pond, but now am very curious about this book. The announcement on NPR this morning said that it was the longest book (832) pages to every win the Booker. I was surprised to hear that it was about the New Zealand gold rush. Didn't Rose Tremain write one about that topic? Seems to me that a friend read it several years ago and highly recommended it.

>107 msf59: I just finished Doctorow's latest book, Andrew's Brain, which I got through LT's ER program. I think it's due for publication in January. I haven't written my review yet, but it isn't going to rise to the level of Ragtime or even Homer and Langley in my estimation. My reaction to it is similar to my reaction to The Testament of Mary---"that's IT? That's all you've got?"

>61 PaulCranswick: Whilst I was racing bikes... I didn't know you did that! Very cool.

Linda - I got the impression with Toibin's books as if he'd dashed it off in a fortnight and was able to disguise it with his effortless and fluid prose. EL Doctorow can plainly be just as much miss as hit.

Anne - 40 kilos ago I was regarded as something of a mountain goat in cycling parlance leaving the heavy boys behind in a blur of fast spinning pedals. Gravity would certainly increase my descending speed these days in the unlikely event I was able to cycle to the peak of an alpine col.

LOL, Paul. My husband Stelios is a cyclist, and climbing is his specialty. He rides every chance he gets, and often wishes he had discovered the sport earlier. Given the dearth of cyclists in Cyprus, he could likely have had an international career.

Another reason for you to come to CO, Paul. Some of the best cycling anywhere.

Anne - I hope to be fit-ish at least when I get there! I've seen Stelios' photo and he still looks in trim.

128.

Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton

Jo Walton really is a whizz.
When you are preaching to the converted it is easy. I on the otherhand have been taken to task severally for my reluctance to embrace either sci-fi or fantasy with anything other than a whimper.

Imagine then our humble correspondent enthralled by the romantic adventures and derring-dos of a family of dragons who mix notions of the heart, motivations of upward mobility and a social conscience in almost equal part. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Will say again; Jo Walton really is a whizz.

8/10

Yay! I am so glad you enjoyed Tooth and Claw. I thought it was super fun too.

That sounds promising! Onto the wishlist it goes.

I'm happy that Jo Walton's wit snuck in under your SFF radar. I think she's the shizizzle.

I have had Tooth and Claw on my to read list for some time. After reading Among Others I thought this one should be next, but then along came Sharon Kay Penman and her books about Henry II and Eleanor, so they got shoved aside.

Too many people around here are reading books that I want to read and talk about with somebody. This one with Paul and Joe. Mark and Karen are going to start Housekeeping and Ellen and Karen just finished Boneshaker. Karen is now reading Good Omens and I am trying to finish up Devil's Brood and start on Lionheart for the group read. Gosh, this group keeps you stuck to a book.

EEEK! Book bullet How did that happen here :(

Tooth and Claw it is.

Heidi - What's not to like Dragons in love, the charming details on their etiquette, history and habits hsows a tremendous breadth of imagination. Jo Walton would be a great writer in any genre.

Julia - Probably came in second to Among Others but not by a great deal.

RD - Have you read any of her other novels? Having just read and enjoyed Dominion an alternate history of Britain making peace with Nazi Germany, I see she covered similar ground in the book Farthing. I'll bet a farthing to a pound of dragonflesh that her take on the subject was leftfield.

Benita - Sharon Penman distracts me too in truth. Her long, long, long historical re-tellings are difficult to put down once picked up aren't they? Jo Walton is a very different type of writer but just as difficult to ignore once you venture into the realms she creates.

Kath - You'll lap that one up - I've seen it described as "Jane Eyre for dragons" or "a tale about dragons as if penned by Trollope" (at least I think there was an e on the end of the last quote).

Well, my library had 'Among Others' e-vailable, but not 'Tooth and Claw'. Glad to hear you recommend it as well.

Hi Paul. As usual, due to my general resistance to purchasing hardcover books and the fact that I end up competing with other citizens of this reader-heavy metropolis, I have only read a couple of the Booker shortlist candidates. I enjoyed The Testament of Mary more than you did and was not put off by its shortness, and I liked Harvest, although I was critical of the last quarter or so of the narrative. I will purchase The Luminaries the minute it comes out in softcover and dedicate a few weeks to reading it. I'm not sure, but it seems that readers are generally more pleased with the winner this year than in some years past.

I have had E.L. Doctorow on my must-read authors list for years. I'm mulling over "challenges" I might set out for myself in 2014 and one thing I'd like to do is read something be a good number of the authors on that list of mine. As for Doctorow, based on your comments and Mark's, it sounds like Ragtime is as good a place to start as any.

Paul, thanks to your TIOLI Challenge this month to read a book by an author from New Zealand, I have been introduced to a new author whose chilling, creepy book, The Cleaner blew my socks off. Can't wait to read more from this author, whose first name is appropriately Paul!

Great to see you praising Jo Walton as I am planning on reading Among Others next month.

The Small Change trilogy...Farthing, Ha'Penny, and Half a Crown...are wonderful books. Yes, left field indeed. Quite, quite Orwellian.

For all of us who enjoy John Simpson's company here on the threads, please take a moment to go to his thread and offer some support. Things are rough for him and his wife Karen just now, and I feel sure he'd appreciate some kind thoughts and sympathy.

Benita - kudos for getting into Devil's Brood. I'll probably continue with the series next year, I just couldn't sustain reading so many books about Royal in-fighting in one year. I might switch to her de Quincy books.
I have done better with Mervyn Peake as I'm onto the last 80 pages of Titus Alone, though I limit myself to 20 pages a day or I might end up as crazy as his characters.

Paul - I have Tooth and Claw on my tbr pile, so pleased to see it was a hit for you.

Julia - Among Others is probably just the better book IMO.

Ellen - It is unusual for me to already have 4 of the 6 on my shelves so early. I have read Toibin's slight epic and will almost certainly finish Harvest and The Luminaries this month.
Start with Ragtime. It is a wonderful evocation of that period.

Dear Guru; I surprisingly did guess Paul Cleave. I have one of his books on my shelves unless I am much mistaken and will get to it soon (probably about 2017!)

RD - I did look at the workpage for Farthing and noticed it was in your collection. Walton being Orwellian is worth reading for sure. Been over to John's place, thanks so much for the head's up dear fellow. I am not my usual self zipping round the threads in the last week or so as I am trying to get a bit more reading done before a catch up proper this weekend.

Kerry - IMO One Penman a year is plenty. I did When Christ and His Saints Slept in January and I'll do another probably next January.
I am sure that you will be charmed by Jo Walton.

Glad you enjoyed Tooth and Claw Paul. It's one of those books that in theory shouldn't work, but which work wonderfully in practice. I enjoyed it hugely when I read it earlier in the year.

I thought you might curl an eyebrow Rhian with me embracing a sci-fi/fantasy tome so enthusiastically.

>118 PaulCranswick:: Sold! If you're recommending SF/F, I shall certainly look into it.

Checking in, and you're only less than halfway through your 'new' thread.

Nina - Yes it does seem a little strange doesn't it; a bit like the Republicans advocating the social responsibility of government or Singapore saying that rules don't matter so much.

I checked through the Kindle additions (which I am cataloguing painfully slowly) and saw that there were 2 by David McCullough 1776 and John Adams so I think I'll read one of 'em next month.

>134 PaulCranswick: -- *chuckle, chuckle*

>135 PaulCranswick: -- both are good reads. Obviously they're about American history so don't know how deep your interest goes there but then all of his books are. 1776 is much smaller than John Adams so might be a good place to get your McCullough feet wet.

Reba - 1776 it will be then.

>109 PaulCranswick: oh, Paul. you . . . you . . . you spurned my audio *sniff* visual *sob* offering *wail*! fungus indeed! she's *gorgeous.*

gotta say, Farthing sounds most interesting and audible has it. it's in my audible.com cart now along with Ragtime and Luninaries -- oops Luminaries, although Luninaries works too. when i'll get to any of 'em is beyond me.

ook. i just looked and i'm writing you at 4 in the morning tomorrow. i do hope you and yours have a festive weekend.

Ellie - I am actually sleeping much better lately so I didn't get to read your post in realtime! I am on the lookout for Farthing and presently reading The Luminaries. Ragtime would be one of my favourite American novels.

I did play your video again.....to the cats.....Bambi I can tell you seemed to like it very much indeed if his knowing the chorus counts at all.

129.

The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling

Anyone seeing the excellent movie made of this Rudyard story would be expecting an epic chunkster and instead we have a richly told novella.

The tale of Peachy and Dravot as related in stages to Kipling (he is in the story as a newspaper reporter) of how they venture beyond the borders of the raj and become rulers of Kafiristan is well told and brings to life something of the era and place as I would imagine it to be.

Without spoiling the story for those few that are not intimate with it the two had promised to leave off booze and women in their royalty, loyalty pact. One feels that disaster will strike if they don't keep to the bargain.

Elements of what we would now view as rascist language jar a little as does the references to free masonry but taken in context this is a delightful little slice of the British empire as was and the characters it created.

7/10

I went through the list of books by Sharon Penman and did not find any that averaged below 4 stars. Any recommendations on which would be best to start with?

Linda - One hundred per cent you should start with The Sunne in Splendour - basically Edward IV and Richard III, great stuff and puts some of the bunkum spouted in Shakespeare's plays at least partly to bed.

>141 Linda92007:, 142 Seconded! Terrific book.

I've found Kipling, like many 19th-century pop authors, hasn't aged well. Too much needs overlooking or explaining away. When the goalposts move as definitively as they have done in the past 40 years, it makes a lot of the culture of the past feel...unpleasant.

Hi Paul- great to see you have dived into The Luminaries. I was very pleased that it won, as now I dont have to add to my list of Booker winners to read! My goal at the start of the year was to read one past Booker winner a month, and I have read now, exactly ONE- and at the time I read it it wasn't even a winner yet! haha.

Carry on enjoying your weekend, if in fact you were.

Hi Paul! I have only read John Adams by McCullough but I really enjoyed it. I don't think you can go wrong with either of those titles by him.

I just finished reading McCullough's The Path Between the Seas. It's a definite chunkster, but it is fascinating. Hope you enjoy 1776.

RD - I think you're right about the ageing process damaging Kipling. Well written certainly but the reference to "niggers" and the patronising view of the "natives" was a tad leaden to behold. Not exactly offensive because it can be taken as of its time but not pleasant either. That's why I marked it down a bit.

Megan - The Luminaries is slowly winding up its tale. As you know I was pleased she won and being the youngest winner with the longest book to win she also suits my craving for trivia. Pretty lady too.
I'll be across to your lovely abode shortly to catch up.

Heidi - John Adams has been wishlisted for ages so I was glad to pick it up in my Kindle wholesale grab - and to get it for free is even more pleasing.

Lori we cross posted there. That one is about the creation of the Panama Canal right? I can see I am going to have to work my way through his works.

Paul, that's right. It really was a marvel of engineering.

Of all group members Amber is probably the one to keep the most balls in the air at the same time (reads the most books together at any one time).

I am presently rivalling her a little as I am part way through the following tomes:

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
The Moon is a Balloon by David Niven
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Nazis by Laurence Rees
For Crying Out Loud by Jeremy Clarkson
That Near Death Thing by Rick Broadbent
and
Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan (Kindle)

will get most of them finished in a few days time

Lori we've done it again! I read something about it in Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris as Roosevelt was President at the time.

I've only got one book in progress at the moment. It's a NetGalley on Eastern Europe. It is a chunkster, just like The Path Between the Seas was. I had three going until yesterday, when I finished the cozy mystery. I finished the McCullough today, so I only have that one in progress. I'll probably start another NetGalley later this evening, if I don't spend too much time talking with a friend.

You always read more than I do Lori in any event, whether singly or a spate of books together. 145 already with the McCullough.

My reading has been slowing down a lot lately as I've been spending more time talking at night than reading.

Reading aloud would work too though hehehe.

#141
I have not read Sunne in Splendor but I am working my way through her Plantagenet series that starts with When Christ and His Saints Slept. In general, these are great stories but they are chunksters. My current read Devil's Brood is 900 pages. Penman does an exceptional job of fictionalizing history, but she doesn't do it nearly as succinctly as does Phillipa Gregory, so whichever of her books you choose to start reading go buy your groceries for the next couple of weeks before you do so.

I have read some McCullough and think he is a great storyteller. I have not read any of his biographies, partly because they have been about people I already know a great deal about and am not sure that even McCullough could make them more interesting to me. I am much more interested in his other works like the one on the Brooklyn Bridge and the Johnstown Flood. I read Path Between the Seas and liked it. It was very broad in scope taking in the history of how the canal came to be built where it was, when it was, and how it was, with the how getting a little short changed. I have a copy of 1776 and think that will be my next foray into his oeuvre. I am also interested in his book on the American expatriates in paris during the Belle Epoch, but won't have time to read either one this year.

Can you tell us a little about the fires around Sydney? I haven't seen Wookie posting lately. I am sure that she is OK, but I just heard about the fires and can't seem to find any details among my usual sources.

I think I will have to put the Luminaries on my Christmas wish list. Right after my yearly request for a popover pan.

I decided to participate in the Librarything group read of Dave Eggers book The Circle so right now I am sitting at the local coffee shop watching the football traffic leave town and the brilliantly white full moon rising in the sky. My full moon web site says that you saw the full moon yesterday and I hope you got to enjoy it.

Now that my weekend is half over I am planning on spending tomorrow at an art fair, and hope that I don't spend too much money with the remainder of the afternoon and evening spent making baked apples. I have read about a new method of baking apples and can't wait to try it as the weather here has finally turned fallish. Baked apples now appeal to my palate.

Have not decided whether to take the plunge with The circle will be interested to see what others think ......

All caught up here, Paul! I'm adding the Kipling book to my WL, so thanks for that review. Guess your weekend is pretty much over by now, so I will wish you an unharried upcoming week.

Benita - Ms. Penman has produced chunksters a plenty but they are jolly readable ones in fairness. I haven't seen anyone with a bad word to say about McCullough as yet so I really must get to his books soon.
I have read nothing by Dave Eggers yet either
Have a lovely time at the art fair.

Alex - Same here for me. I have 5 of his books on the shelves already but none of them read. It is becoming a familiar pattern as my magpie tendencies continue to assert themselves.
Regular visitors will of course note however that I added no books this week!

Mamie, thank you my dear but, alas, I am expecting a pretty torrid week ahead. Tomorrow particularly.

Regular visitors will of course note however that I added no books this week!

...that you've admitted to...

Nice review of The Man Who Would Be King, Paul. Hope you're having a great week.

lol Richard.

Hi Paul, quite a good mix of reading going on there. No opinion on Eggers or McCullogh as I haven't read either of them. One of the things I like about the kindle app is that you can download a sample chapter of most books which does slow down the impulse buying.

160 > + 1 ......

How did you restrain the inner magpie or was it done by an external force ??? :)

Paul, I hope your upcoming crazy week is not as bad you expect. And if it is, just keep plowing ahead. There's another weekend out there somewhere.

Paul, I must have been buying books in your place this week. I had an uncontrollable urge to shop for books and before I knew it I had ordered about sixteen books. Plus my Kindle has taken a hit or two in the last couple of days as well.

Hahaha RD. I noted that you got your delivery of The Luminaries this week so I'm behind you in the book buying for a week at least.

Anne - To be honest it is one of those rare occasions when the film is better than the book. The Man Who Would Be King well written as it was, was more like a sketch for a book than the actual thing itself. The film was more filled out and was glorious entertainment.

Kerry - I am still very much of a novice with the Kindle and still not fully au fait with all its workings.

Alex - No external forces other than just being too busy to justify sloping off to the bookstore. Kyran had his birthday this weekend which also took up a bit of time.

Julia - I have had a gulp or two already and am about to start on the week. Will keep you posted!

Judy - ahhh now I didn't say I hadn't ordered anything. I did order a few books on book depo (for me and some of my thread winners this weekend).

*waving* at Paul

>150 PaulCranswick:: that is a lot of books to be reading at once, Paul!
I have a couple of David McCulloughs around here, not yet read. 1776 seems like a good starting place.

I hope you have a good week ahead of you, my friend!

See ordering books via BD does count as well Paul .......

Stasia - lovely to see you my dear for however long it may be!

Ellen - I'll join you on 1776 when you are ready to read it. xx

Alex - Now in keeping with my pessimistic world view I only count ordered books when they are delivered.

Jumping on the wagon as another fan of McCullough. I've read the Adams bio and The Great Bridge, both of which are amazing, and right now I'm halfway through The Johnstown Flood and very much enjoying it.

I liked 1776 a lot, and also his The Greater Journey. I might try the John Adams one next.

I've read all of the McCullough's and loved them all. I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite.

I made it back! Woo! It's been crazy at mi casita. Mom was back in the hospital but I am very happy to report that she is back home.

I haven't read The Man Who Would be King but I am gearing up for The Jungle Books. I am inspired by The Graveyard Book. It was lovely.

Amber - Another non-dissenter! For a historian to win near universal acclaim he must be good.

Joe - Noted you liked 1776. It was of course before my time!

Reba - Go on, try!

Roberta - Pleased to see your mom is back home with you. Kipling's sheer storytelling gets around some of the outdated elements in his yarns.

Hi Paul- Hope your work week is starting okay. I know we were recently discussing Doctorow. I got lucky and snagged on ARC of his latest, Andrew's Brain.

I want to slowly work my way through his books Mark. I want to read The March soon.
My working week has started off just as badly as I expected. Yesterday had a particularly fraught meeting at one of our project sites where we have terminated the services of our main sub-contractor and are struggling to re-energise the works.

Sorry work is starting off in such a grim way. Hope it smooths out. Opinion seemed to be mixed on the March but I liked it and of course I love reading about the American Civil War.

>176 msf59: Have you posted a review of Andrew's Bran yet, Mark? I've finished it, but haven't had the time or focus to compose my thoughts about it.

Mark - Today was a tad better. Pep talk for the gang this morning I think was well received. Energised day and a happier client.

Linda - Andrew's Brain will definitely be on the hitlist at some stage although it is nowhere near the shops here.

Paul, I get in and out and in the hospital, and the moment I look, you have 180 posts. Wow! Good luck with the work troubles.

Work officially blows :( De-lurking to add my wishes for a steadily improving week.

This morning NPR had a feature story on the fires in Australia and I was shocked to learn that most of them are set by arsonists. I don't know why that should shock me as most of ours in the U. S. are caused by the same reason. The huge fire in Yosemite this summer was caused by a hunter's campfire.

The story about Australia was followed by one about the smog in Beijing.

I haven't seen evidence of Wookie. I know she lives in Sydney and am going to assume that she lives far enough into the city that these fires won't be a problem for her.

Hope you are feeling much better Diana. Work is a bit of a bummer this week in truth. Slowly edging towards the weekend but it still seems quite far off.

Bekka - I will agree wholeheartedly with that my dear.

Benita - I did notice that Tania (Wookie) has posted on her facebook page on 21 October so I think she is ok. I for one miss her regular visits to the 75ers.

Happy birthday to Kyran. October birthdays are always good ;0)

I have a vague idea that Wookie lives in the Sydney suburbs, and my parents told me last week that the fires are further out, in the Blue Mountains. Though I did hear on the news yesterday that they are moving closer to the outer suburbs, now. It's earlier than usual for bush-fire season, I believe, though it's apparently been very dry. Of course, the eucalyptus and gum trees scattered around the place don't help ...

Hey, Paul, lurking my way through. Oops, did I just blow my cover?

Hi Paul! Hope your work week is improving.

Hello Paul - trying to catch up after a frantically busy period at work (we have our Q3 business results to communicate). Of course I would vote for Richard Ford for a US Nobel, closely followed by Philip Roth.

On the fitness front, Steve and I are going to start following the 5:2 program - he say a BBC Horizons program about it and was very impressed by the health benefits bestowed by the regime. Essentially, one eats normally for 5 days and on 2 days (which can be but don't have to be consecutive) one is restricted to 600 calories (men) and 500 calories (women). We have a cookbook that neatly gives appropriate ideas within the range and quite delicious to boot.

I saw 'Gravity' is 3D and absolutely thought it was terrific. Bit of a waste of George, but I thought it was really tense and that the 3D sense of outer space was particularly apt and well done.

The Man who Would be King is one of my all-time favourite movies.

I'm a bit of a Dave Eggars fan - and have two signed copies of his books from seeing him in person at the Melb Lit Fest a few years ago. He is simply a Good Guy with a real passion for books and publishing and building literacy.

I also read The Waterworks and didn't really get it - thought it was a bit of a wheeze to be honest. Must read Ragtime or The March. Love the thread-topper - such a great-looking family.

Linda- I haven't read Andrew's Brain yet. I just got it yesterday. LOL. I probably won't get to it for a few weeks. Did you like it?

Big hearty waves to Paul!

I have to say that to some degree I disagree with you regarding Sharon Kay Penman. I have read two of her books and find them very long and in some places not that interesting. I feel like she is trying to do a fictionalized historical chronicle and I am not sure that it works. That said, I am still reading the third book in the Plantagenet series and I now engrossed. Maybe the series gets better as it progresses? In short she is a better than average writer of historical fiction but I don't think she is in the same league with Winston Graham or M. M. Kaye.

I don't add books to my collection at your weekly totals, but I just added up my credit card expenditures for books for this month and it came to $140.00! Wow! I have been trying to watch what I spend at restaurants and for entertainment so this is not good. Not good at all.

Nina - Thanks on behalf of Kyran who is a giant of a boy for 14 - already 5ft 10 ins tall and four inches taller than I am already. If he transgresses I now need to seek his permission and a step ladder to give him a cuff round the ear! That leads me on to a record of a surprising discussion with Norul (my loyal and lovely secretary). We had the same joke about Kyran and she mentioned one of her three brothers almost coming to blows with her father. When I tut-tutted and said this was hardly good she explained that it was because her father was beating her mother! Apparently it has been going on systematically since as long as she can remember. No wonder Norul is still single and in no apparent hurry to subject herself to a marriage if that is her impression of its routine outcome.

Roni - Cover well and truly blown!

Heidi - Putting out fires slowly and things are slowly improving.

Prue - If I had a pound or two to have spared my money for your vote it would have gone on Richard Ford and then Anne Tyler. Personally I think we need to see a little more over the next decade or so from Ford before he deserves mention in the company of people like Doctorow, Roth, Oates, Pynchon, Delillo, Wilbur and, it would seem by acclaim, David McCullough.
I have read about the 5:2 programme also and it would appear to work. My trainer (still presently bedridden!) has told us that he does want to eventually incorporate some elements of fasting into our programme.
I enjoyed Gravity more than the rest of my clan I'm afraid. I thought George was really good in it and so was La Bullock.
I don't often believe that the film is better than the book but The Man Who Would Be King is a definite exception.
I must get to some Dave Eggars soon as his work is backing up somewhat.
I thought that Ragtime was great, I didn't like The Book of Daniel and I could read but was slightly disappointed by Billy Bathgate.

Mark - Waving back at yer mate.

Benita - I have read The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye and I have to say that I thought it very plodding in parts and, whilst very different, Sharon Penman would be my choice every time. I plan to re-read Ross Poldark very soon - I read it as a teenager.

Benita 2 - I suppose I am blessed by having a little disposable income which invariably gets left behind in a bookstore or a restaurant! I try not to keep score (it's hard to believe being me I suppose!) but, if I had to hazard I would guess about $700 this last month has gone towards contributing to my library.

188 > saw the same BBC programme from sounds - very good - got me back on the fasting wagon so to speak.....

Oh, Poldark...how I loved those books, and the BBC series. My daughter was nearly named "Angharad" after the lovely Welsh actress who played Demelza. Couldn't convince anyone else in my family that it wasn't a hideous thing to do to a child of mostly Dutch heritage, and they were probably right.

Alex - That 5:2 idea is an attractive one in truth. Today was one of the fives as I slipped a bit knocking back three pretty quick pints meeting up with my aviation partner. Well, if you can't get high with your aviation partner. :)

Linda - Hahaha. Kyran was nearly saddled with the name Wallace in the aftermath of watching Braveheart. Luckily those decisions are subject to SWMBO's formidable powers of veto.

I'll be curious to see how you get on with the 5:2 diet, Paul.

Sorry to hear about your work troubles; hopefully things will improve from here.

The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye I think I read that in high school... was it published around 1970? I thought it was good, and still think of it today.. although parts were rather grim if I can recall correctly..

MAn Who Would Be King was a good movie
Now You See Me was good..
All time favorite movie for me? Dunno... Certain ones I will watch over and over... like GHOST

My mother wanted to name my second sister "Debbie" after Debbie Reynolds. My father put the kibosh on that by staring at her like she was crazy and saying, sarcastically, "Debbie Derus?"

Thus was a crime against humanity prevented.

#198
Once again into the breach dear Richard.

I laughed out loud. Somewhat disconcerting to the students sitting outside my office door. I do have to say that Debbie Derus doesn't sound nearly as bad to me as the name Misty Brooks. Or Dusty Rhodes. Both real people I was acquainted with.

I am surprised at all of you. I thought that celebrity naming was a new thing. For instance - around home lots of guys in their teens named Garth. That name was unheard of twenty years ago. But the name that I really have to wonder about is Tristan. Who names their child after a famous adulterer?

Candace Barr....an attorney of my acquaintance. Think about it a minute. Also Kurt Kwak, Kirby Upright, and Ellen Bach. These sound like some of Click and Clack's fictitious crew members, but they're real people. Both of the women were born with those names and chose not to change them when they married.

My dad was a dispatcher for the Louisiana State Police for quite a while. His favorite license check was for a woman named Delicious Peters. :)

Back when I was working for a student-loan collections outfit, I had a repeat offender named Velvet Couch, and another named Fluffie Cardigan.

Hej Paul, nice kids topping your thread - and not just that, I guess

oooooo I like Fluffie Cardigan. Sounds like a corgi! Actually all those names are marvelous.

So glad to hear Gravity is good - we're hoping to get to see it this week.
And Oh My I haven't seen The Man Who Would Be King in eons.

I agree Benita - Tristan is an odd one and very very popular in Vermont. A big tough carpenter in his twenties or early thirties or somesuch turns up and is .... named Leaf or Ariel or Tristan. I think that fad has gone by here, I hope so.

When I worked for an insurance company, I saw a driver's license for a poor fellow named Seymour Peters.

My brother was named after Sean Connery. But Sean Hames is a nice solid name.

I went to school with a Chanda Lier and a Noah Fence. And years ago, when the kids were little, we had a babysitter named Velvet Fox.

I need to mention my girl scout friend from long ago -- Sandy Beach.

A full day away trying to keep my little business empire, well, in business! Need a little splurge between meetings tomorrow for sure. Tiring, tiring week but a pretty productive one eventually.

Darryl - Thanks but I won't be starting the 5:2 diet for a couple of weeks yet, especially with my bedridden personal trainer.

Slightly later than that Kath. The Far Pavilions first appeared in 1978. My Dutch friends favourite novel for some unaccountable reason.
Favourite movies? Tough one really but The Searchers and Michael Caine in Get Carter would be two of them. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is another.

RD - Debbie Derus does have a comically alliterative ring to it doesn't it? Of course a typical shortening of your first name would produce Dickie Derus which is perhaps even better.

Benita - Dusty Rhodes is a good one. When I first moved to this region in 1994 I used to chuckle at some of the wonderful names the local chinese community produced, especially from their habit of using the initials of the given name. There was for example an extremely changeable secretary named P.M. Tee. We dealt with electrical subcontractors who went by the name Fuk Yue which raised the odd eyebrow I can tell you when they answered the telephone. "Fuk Yue, Good Morning" or the alternative "Good Morning, Fuk Yue". Finally there was the girl in the document office with kissable lips called Chin Suk Yoo.

Linda, it is common for people to play with names and it has in fact been going on for many years. The British members here will remember a 1970's children's cartoon called Captain Pugwash. The captain's crew were named Master Bates and Seaman Staines. The show went out to a family audience for many years and I don't recall a single complaint made.

Jim - A name like delicious would be very easy to swallow (sorry). I grew up with my name being a source of amusement to our peers at school. My twin brother is Peter and I am Paul. I don't know how many classmates got evil looks for singing the old "Two little dickie birds sitting on a wall" song.

RD - Fluffie Cardigan sounds like James Bond meets Mills and Boon.

Paul - Thanks mate. High praise when I see some of the stunning photos you post up in your little Alpine retreat of a thread.

Lucy - I sometimes think that the parents must be fairly sadistic to lumber their poor children with such names. Would be fun to have a friend named Fluffie although Seymour I am not so sure.

Morphy - I had a classmate in college named Justin Case. He used to get very irate when we tried to convince him that his given name normally signified someone with a small penis....Just-in. (sorry for the ribaldry but its been a long long long day and I am at my most mischievous just before retiring to SWMBO!)

Mamie - Surely not! That is as trite as the Welshman named Ivor Biggun or the russian eunuch Igor Bolokov.

Reba - And I know a Sandy Lane and also went to school with Michael Jackson although he could neither sing nor dance. I have checked online and it seems that there is also a poor chap called Smokey Pipes.

My father, also Richard, is called "Dick." "Daddy Dick" was how his grandkids were trained to call him, and his nieces and nephews write to his as "U Dick."

I was, in fact, called "Dickie" until 1 January 1966, when I announced extremely firmly, "My NAME is RICHARD not Dickie." The New Year's brunch halted, everyone swiveled to look at me, and I said, "So call me RICHARD."

I've never not known my own mind.

I went to school with a guy named Dick Eaton.

A minimum-coverage insurance company uses a spokesperson in commercials named "Justin Case".

And then there is the MSNBC commentator Krystal Ball.

In my early days as an editor, I used to keep a list of people's names that were appropriate to their profession, but I've long lost it. I also kept a list of funny common typos, also long lost.

And Richard it shall remain RD.

Nora - I would guess his perambulation was a bit ungainly.

Linda - Appropriate for cause would also be the gardener Lorne N Hedges.

Rebecca - I had a friend who used to speak in typo. He informed me one morning that the project site secretary was leaving to become an Artillery Nurse and that his colleague had damaged knees which were due to poor cartridges. :)

Snickering at U Dick...

130

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo were the pioneers of Scandi; Henning Mankell consolidated the genre with his excellent Inspector Wallender mysteries but it was Stieg Larsson that captured the imagination of a global readership and made Scandi the phenomenon it is today.

This is the first part of the Millenium trilogy and is the hype justified? Well yes, it is partly. Blomqvist is an investigative journo in trouble and Salander is a misfit computer hacker whose methods are devoid of normal moral foundation. Their paths coincide in uncovering a mystery that had lain dormant for more than thirty years.

Well told and well paced with many elements that were to reappear in works such as Jo Nesbo's and Jussi Adler-Olsen in particular (sexual deviance, methods normally beyond the pale, incarceration of victims, etc).

Not my favourite Scandi of all time by any stretch of the imagination as the characters are just a little bit annoying at times but I can understand why it marked a flag for Swedish thrillers.

8/10

Mark - One of many titters these last couple of days looking at the perversity of names! I can just visualise all the grandkids earnestly calling for grandpa in such a manner.

My husband went to school with a young man by the name of Dave Parts. He (perversely) joined the army just so he could be 'Private Parts'.

Not a lot they could do with my first name, Lenora. Menorah was the only thing really. However, they had a great time with Hames as there was a popular commercial at the time with the tag line, "Gentlemen prefer Hanes."

In real life, I go by Nora. I used to allow only family to call me Nora. It was reserved for my mother, brother and husband. But several years ago I got fed up with people mutilating my name - Laura, Lorraine, Eleanor, Leonora, Lenore, etc. It's really hard to mess up Nora.

P.S. I'll always be Morphy here at LT!

Dear Prue, That one would have lead to plenty of barrack room banter for sure. LOL

Morphy - My given name tends to be one that doesn't get shortened (I'm pretty much short enough anyway) and if anything it will get get lengthened on occasions. SWMBO will call me Paulie when she has her regular designs on the small leather bag in my trouser pocket.

Nora's a great name, Morphy. My wife and I have been Nick and Nora Charles fans for ages, even though they were before our time.

Well I did rush a small splurge between meetings but my heart wasn't in it as much as usual (probably too rushed for time). Still I got:

Planisphere by John Ashbery
77 Dream Songs by John Berryman
The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Malavita by Tonino Benacquista
A Journal of the Flood Year by David Ely
Abraham's Children by Heather Stroud (no touchstone)

750 physical books in 2013

Dream Songs!! I love those, Paul. Right up my alley. Hope you have a good time with them.

Joe - Couldn't agree more mate; I also like the name Nora, but Morphy has a sort of ring to it don't you think and I can't imagine changing now!

Joe2 - I am planning to embark upon reading a different poet every week for the forseeable future. I have a fairly formidable collection of poetry anthologies and I am enjoying reading of poetry with the same level of enthusiasm as I had done in my college days - I went a decade stagnating and my own writing consigned to memories. LT has tweaked both and as you are one of the gang who is a fellow traveller in being a devourer of poetry, I guess you're at least partly to blame; Poetry and Pancakes!

Malavita..."The Godfather written by Carl Hiaasen"...sounds interesting!

The poultry, of course, sounds dreary.

I love the name Nora...my one and only niece, the mother of my mother's one and only great-grandchild, is named Nora.

RD - As you know I'm not a-verse to a little poetry. Apparently Malavita or Badfellas as it is alson known is about to be made into a movie.

Linda - Roan is of course an anagram of Nora and a very poetic word IMO which adequately if not eloquently describes my own over long shock of hair. I like both names.

When I was in middle school everybody called me "Bore-a" :-(

Of course Nora there is a double entendre inherent in that nickname. I take it, being a middle school, they were referring to bookish tendencies.

My son goes to a semi private high school that also accepts foreign dorm students. When the Asian kids arrive here they get to choose an 'American' name to use. A brother and sister were called respectively Harry Wang and Ophelia Wang...... this is what happens when you let teenagers pick their names!

Hi Paul!

>199 benitastrnad: - But the name that I really have to wonder about is Tristan. Who names their child after a famous adulterer? And I laughed out loud. Oh The pitfalls of illiteracy.

Funny names is a never ending source of hilarity for me. The most infantile and fun possibility to me was that the following name could have actually happened. Aaron Packer's mum married Dr Fudge, an actual university lecturer when I was there and could have become Aaron Fudge-Packer!
I can barely control my laughter now just thinking about it.

Christine Cross? Known as Chris. A read lady.

Oh, and my sister's name is Tristin. We have asked out parents why a lot, they cannot explain.

Heidi - the habit of taking a western name is still very common in Asia. Harry is of course the name taken by Lee Kuan Yew himself. I have a Korean colleague with pretensions of gradeur who for reasons known only to himself assumed the name "Duque".

Jenn - Yes indeed! Illiteracy or dyslexia can be a curse. The dyslexic chap who was directed to a wharehouse and ended up in a whorehouse obviously being a case in point.

Megan - Chris Cross is a classic. Or of course John Major on his National Service and promoted to Seargeant Major and the whole battalion thought there was an echo in the building when his name was announced.

Very entertaining name chatter here. I have no stories. My bullying resulted from my curly hair, back in the straight as a board 70's. My name was so common, there was often ( and still is actually ) a bit of consternation in the beginning, trying to sort out who would answer to what.

I have heard recently that Messiah and Prince are actually becoming common names. Not just the little Messiah whose name was briefly taken away by a judge ( what nerve!) but others. Odd choice. I often wonder what people are thinking when they name kids. We have a little patron Ziva at the library, due to NCIS. That is interesting.. not bad, just different..

When my son was born a woman on the ward had a girl a few days older and she called her Scarlett. Nothing too outlandish about that... until I saw the woman's surname on the ward bed list. Mrs Bush. She called her child Scarlett Bush. Seriously?

For me, my maiden name was Jolley so I'm pretty sure you can imagine my school life!

Also fun fact - in a random coincidence my father, Mr Jolley married my mum, Miss Rogers...

My mother declined to marry a man she loved because his last name was Frost. Her first name was Winter.

Come to think on it, his first name was John. They would have been Winter and Jack Frost.

I had a Jack Frost in my elementary school. Also a Jack Fink.

Kath - I would take an ego the size of Texas to call your kid Messiah.

Bekka - If your mum had done a Chris Evert-Lloyd she would have been Mrs Jolley-Rogers; too good!

RD - Ms. Winter your mom? There was a guy in school called Winters who we all nicknamed Snowy.
Ideal name for a coastguard?: Mr. C Shaw.

Bonnie - There was a lady in our village back home Mrs Green who had twin girls and called them Jade and Emerald.

>233 PaulCranswick: the habit of taking a western name is still very common in Asia
When I taught in Taiwan a kids parents wanted him called King (possibly a very auspicious name). He didn't last long with that and was eventually called Tim, after my friend. I also nicknamed a boy "monkey-boy" as he jumped about so much, and he reminds me so much now of my own beloved Wilbur ;)

Megan - A fairly common chinese family name is Hoe. The number of chinese males named Ivan Hoe is surprising in a country that pretends it doesn't read so much.

Mr SandDune used to work with someone called Richard Head which was unfortunate when you started thinking about abbreviations.

Best baby names for kids I've taken care of in the hospital this month:

Sailor (female): Her parents' nickname for her is "Silly Sailor". The baby was jittery at birth and tested positive for marijuana; are you surprised?

Masterful Ali (male)

Silver (female)

However, my all time worst name continues to be Precious. That would have been bad for a girl, but it's utterly criminal to curse a boy with that name!

#242
Precious? Unless you are Precious Rematzwe. (I don't think I spelled that correctly.) the lead character from Alexander McCall Smith's books set in Botswana. then the name can mean millions. As in millions of pounds of profit for a hit title and series.

I wonder why that series was not renewed by Starz? it had viewers.

I went to the used bookstore in Birmingham, Al. - 2nd and Charles - and came out with 8 new books. Well, not new, but new to me.

Bring Up the Bodies by Hillary Mantel
Sacrilege by S. J. Parish
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - now I can read this one at my leisure instead of having to get it back to the library before I get very far into it. Got this one for $2.00!

I got four of the Sharon Kay Penman medieval mysteries.
Prince of Darkness
Cruel as the Grave
Dragon's Lair
Queen's Man
I wonder if Penman will ever have her detective hero try to solve the mystery of how William Marshall the Younger died? It will be interesting to see how Penman writes mysteries since I have been reading her Plantagenet series for most of the last year.

#243 My daughter and I loved the tv series based on the Number 1 Ladies Detective books! We are very sad there have never been any more made after the first season.

Hiya Paul! Hope your weekend has been restful.

Rhian - Kyran asked me why Richard is shortened to Dick traditionally. It is actually because of the old english habit for rhyming slang. Richard became the diminutive Rich which also became the alternative Rick. Dick was used as a rhyme for Rick as the "D" sound is easier to pronounce than the "R" sound.

Darryl - Must admit that Precious is a simply horrid name for a boy. Fancy being called something that slips mischievously onto Frodo's finger.

Benita - For a girl's name it is not too bad I think; "my little precious" is an oft used term of endearment in the North of England.

Benita2 - Nice little haul! A Fine Balance is definitely on my top ten list.

Hey, Paul, hope you have a good work week ahead and a good weekend behind!

Heidi - My weekend has been restful and needed to be so as I was a little punch-drunk from the week that went before! Spent the whole weekend recuperating and my LT time was limited as my eyes have been a bit strained.

I just have to slip in the name of Precious McKenzie who overcame his name to be quite the little weightlifting champ.

In high school, I knew a man named Tiny Stewart. He was 6ft3in, at least 250lb, and was a three-pound preemie who wasn't (in 1957, in Texas, born to a single African-American mom) expected to live when he was named "Tiny Little Stewart."

I don't remember one soul saying a word about it.

Would YOU say something about the name of a 6'3" 250 lb. guy? I sure as heck wouldn't.

The nickname that I have never quite figured out is "Fanny" for Veronica. I have lots of females named Veronica in some of my ancestral lines, and they all seemed to be called "Fanny."

Our pastor's name is Dick - but he is Dutch, so he is aloud to do that. And anyway 'dick' in German means fat, so we call all fat persons dick.

and, I must add, 'Dickie Dick Dickens' is a German mystery series on radio http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickie_Dick_Dickens

Ha! I shortened Richard's name to Dick on my thread, but for reasons other than rhyming!! ; )

Seriously behind with your thread Paul so some quick skim reading had me just stopping to read your review of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and to make note of the other authors you mentioned as my recent read of Larsson's book is my first dip into what some call 'Scandi-crime' books.

I think I enjoyed The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo slightly better than you did, only because I was motivated to dive right into book two, The Girl Who Played with Fire. Not far enough along in that one to make any comparisons between the two books but overall I am sad that Larsson died as young as he did, with no other books for posthumous publication.

>252 thornton37814: That might just be a family tradition...I've known a few Fannys, and it was always short for Frances.

And >253 paulstalder: makes me think of all the poor souls given basically the same first and last names---Jack Johnson, Bob Roberts, Jimmy James.

Yep, I've got a Jack Johnson in my family tree.

Hey Paul.... I'm terribly behind everywhere, but trying to catch up. Laughing aloud at the name theme... I have a few to add.

My mother's maiden name was Gandee and her parents named her Sandra. Of course, she was nicknamed Sandy and ended up hating her name "Sandy Gandee." When my dad first met her in Sunday School he thought they announced her as "Sandy Dandy" and still wanted to meet her. It was love at first sight for sure!! :)

Speaking of my father, his best friend's (turned best man) name was Roy Rogers. And of course, Roy had a pet dog named Trigger. ;)

We had a client once named Roy Rogers. And a woman who worked here named Betty White.

256> Linda, It's actually a quite common nickname among those of us with Amish/Mennonite heritage. It's not just my family. If you Google it, you will see it is widespread back in the 18th and 19th centuries.

#256 by @laytonwoman3rd> I worked with a very nice fellow once named Randy Randel — and yes, Randy was a nickname for his formal name, Randall. You have to wonder what his parents were thinking.

Hi Paul- Hope this week is a bit less harried for you. We can not have you straining your peepers.
Sorry to hear about Lou Reed. I was a huge fan.

Sorry to hijack your thread, but as you & our friends are great purveyors of books .....

I saw couple of historical fiction books on my rounds today - anyone read these are they the 'deal' or just 'fluff'

Wars of the Roses: Stormbird
The pagan lord

in Return for hijacking Paul, I think you shd take a look at this, it may just be your thing Red or dead

Sorry for my absence for 48 hours - largely due to the vicissitudes of overwork and eyestrain. This has also dented my (as always) overly ambitious reading plans for October. I hope to finish off a few more books this month now that the eye drops are beginning to have some effect.

This has been my normal pose in the last few days if truth be told:

Sorry to hear that you have been under the weather, Paul. Hopefully, you will get yourself rested and back into fighting shape soon. Take care of yourself.

Catching up:

Kerry - I do remember Precious McKenzie who was a regular pocket rocket with no hair if I recall correctly.

RD - A bit like the Little John idea from the heavy handed school of irony. Kyran has a friend in class barely above Kyran's midriff in height and every time I see him I mention his prodigious growth!

Reba - Exactly. At 5ft 6 I could of course do extremes of damage to Tiny's knee-caps.

Lori - I haven't made that connection myself before. Fanny is an even more unfortunate name in the UK than the states. In the USA I understand it is an epithet describing the bottom whilst in the UK it is more commonly referring to that part of the female anatomy also covered by her bikini pants.

Paul - Slang terms for Dick would therefore be equally confusing across languages as it means something else entirely in England.

Hahaha Kim; I don't think RD is too enamoured of that shortened form of his name.

Lori - I did enjoy The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and have the other two awaiting me on Kindle I believe if I can get them all catalogued this year. Is it the best Scandi ever? - possibly not, but good nonetheless.

Linda - I am more familiar with it as an abbreviation to Frances too. There is a website looking at the origin of names and this is from thence: http://www.behindthename.com/name/fanny
The most common in the UK would probably be John Jones and John Smith (great beer by the way). Spare a thought though for the poor Koreans. Some 70% of their people bear one of three family names: Kim, Lee or Park. I have had a situation on the Korean subway rushing and failing to keep up with my friend Mr. Park. I hailed him by name in a crowded station and was assailed by a veritable sea of faces.

Morphy - We don't have a family tree as we are not allowed full sized plants living in a condominium! There are plenty of common family names in my family history - Walsh, Evans, Crooks being three and Newitt / Cranswick being less common. Welsh, Irish and Yorks blood intermingled nicely.

Tina - Sandy Gandee would rush most ladies to matrimony!

Linda - I have at different times met or known individuals called James Carter, John Adams, Andrew Johnson, Andrew Jackson, John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. I have also a good friend Robert Lee but since he's chinese and looks dreadful in grey the similarity is fleeting at best.

Lori - Interesting. I have often seen the two names paired together in lists from the 19thc. Here is an example that proves that your families' usage was not unique: http://media.hersheyarchives.org/archon/?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent&id=...

Glad you are feeling somewhat better and the eyes are less stressed. Take CARE of them. They are not optional equipment.

Julia - Randell Randell would be a little bit much wouldn't it? I had a material controller on one of my projects in the uk called Frank Franklin and he had a colleague "H" or Harry Harrison.

Mark - Still harried mate (but not Harrisoned). Getting a little bit better though. I wouldn't count Lou Reed amongst my favourite performers but his contribution to popular music was certainly significant.

Alex - Three writers there that I enjoy. Conn Iggulden's books on Genghis Khan and his line are good. His book on the War of the Roses (favourite historical period despite the wrong result) ought to be very good and will cover some of the same ground as The Sunne in Splendour. I have read the first four of the Saxon Chronicles by Cornwell and I don't know how Uhtred manages to escape with his life every time. David Peace's book is a follow up or companion piece to his The Damned Utd which charted the fall from glory of my own team following Brian Clough replacing The Don.

Judy - thank you dear guru. I am so rarely under the weather that I always surprise myself when I am.

Roni - I certainly realised that I had them over the last few days because they were so itchy and sore. xx

Paul, Hope those eyes of yours are ecovering after this rest, got to look after them, after all there is a lifetime of reading still to be read :)

Hi Paul, sorry to hear you have been under the weather recently, hope everything is well with you now but take care my friend, as others have said the eyes are a precious thing and with the amount of books we both have to read we need them in tip top condition.

I see Cook is not playing in the opening warm-up game due to a stiff back but I am looking forward to the Ashes battle when it commences on the 21st Nov, could be a tight series. Give our love to Hani and the kids and we always send best regards to you my friend.

It's been rather disconcerting these last few days to log in to LT in the morning and not see double-digit unread posts on your thread, Paul! I'm glad to hear the explanation is relatively benign, although eyestrain is a horror for us readers that it wouldn't be for avid TV-watchers, I reckon.

Here's hoping for a strain-free rest of the week for all of us!

I'll join in the positive wishes that your eyes relax and stop giving you a hard time, buddy. Maybe mix in some audiobooks?

We're getting ready for Halloween tomorrow night here in the U.S. Great excitement among the young ones.

Hope your eyes are doing better.

Alex - I couldn't agree more mate - I have a lifetime of reading pretty much already before me on the shelves and the Kindle (over 6,000 books - 30 years reading even going like Morphy).

John - Not at my best I have struggled a bit with Eleanor Catton a little. It is just too long and bloody heavy for me to whizz through it so I am taking my time with it and getting the most from it as a result. It is lovely to hear from you mate and I'll be across anon to catch up with you. Hani says hello and sends her best (with me) to you and yours.

Julia - Don't worry my dear I can't stay away for too long! I am a bit daunted by the catching up I have to do on the 200 or so threads I follow but I'll get aound all the threads by the end of the weekend for sure.

Joe - Perhaps I should be really unreasonable and trace my troubles to the Kindle! I haven't spent enough time on it to have a case though. Computer related for sure mixed with a liberal dollop of project stress; Nizam my faithful lieutenant is down with bronchitis too to compound my woes. He returned to work today almost to a cuddle from his grateful and relieved boss.
I will also celebrate Hallowe'en tomorrow - it is SWMBO's day after all. We are going to the restaurant I introduced Caro to last time she graced our shores. Have a good time mate.

Reba - Thanks; I think they are well on the mend. One of the blasted things has developed a slight tick (more like a murmur really) which I normally only get at times of extreme stress. I did notice it had lessened too - could be that some fees have been collected this week!

What do you do when you're slightly down?
When life is tough and you're not feeling yourself?
When you are recovering and want a pick-me-up to cheer you?

You splurge!

Met SWMBO and Yasmyne for dinner in KLCC where I had Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding in Harrods followed by Raspberry Creme Brulee (screw the diet for Wednesday).
SWMBO told me that Nicholas the Personal Trainer is walking again and our torture training will recommence on Saturday. She hinted that I might consider buying her some new training clothes and training shoes (local custom is that it is bad luck to buy footwear for loved ones so I told her it was impossible to follow her there and I would see her in the bookstore) and I gave her some pocket money as a ruse to give myself some too (she has bloody big pockets too).

So to the bookshop:

1 A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toews
2 The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark
3 The Complete Poems of Hart Crane by Hart Crane
4 By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart
5 The Assumption of the Rogues and Rascals by Elizabeth Smart
6 Three Strong Women by Marie N'Diaye
7 Light Shining in the Forest by Paul Torday
8 District and Circle by Seamus Heaney
9 Last Man Standing : Memoirs of a Political Survivor by Jack Straw
10 Ice Road by Gilian Slovo
11 The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes
12 My Education by Susan Choi
13 Ignorance by Michele Roberts
14 The Road Not Taken by Frank McLynn
15 Professor Andersen's Night by Dag Solstad
16 Bloody Foreigners by Robert Winder
17 Free Fall by William Golding
18 Popular Hits of the Showa Era by Ryu Murakami

Bought for Yassie but I'll count them anyway as there is an outside chance I'll read 'em

19 Every Day by David Levithan
20 Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
21 Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher

771 physical books in 2013.

I will get around to some more threads after a little sleep (the old eyes are getting heavy and it is not even Cinderella's hometime yet).

An envy-inducing haul there, Bat-Blind One. You need to thin your shelves down and reduce temptation. I herewith volunteer to accept your poor, homeless tomes. My address is....

I know your address dear fellow. I may surprise you one of these days if I can see to get the postal address right.

Paul, I am sorry to hear your eyes have been troubling you. That is tough for us readers. You might try your Kindle with the font size turned way up to give yourself a break. I see sore eyes didn't slow you down any at the bookstore though! LOL

Heidi, I know that bookstores so well that I can feel my way to the best books. xx

Hi Paul! I truly hope the eye business gets sorted. What a terrible thing.

I suppose one good thing about stress is the stess-induced book-buying binges you can get away with. I think I need one of those. :-)

I have been having eye problems too. I went to the optometrist and spent four hours there. It seems that I need to have my contact lenses changed. That was what was causing me to get a twitchy eye later in the evening. Too much squinting. However, I have to go back for another round of testing without the contact having been in my eyes for at least three days. I get to spend the weekend wearing my lovely Danish designed Chinese made glasses. I told the optometrist it wouldn't be a big chore as I was seeing much better with the glasses these days than the contacts. I hope that the three days in glasses will end the twitchiness as that tick drives me batty.

Glad to see you back. I'd been wondering where you are hiding. Glad you are feeling better enough to post, and I hope your eyes make a complete recovery soon. Nice book haul.

I get eyestrain too - I've gotten much better at sitting somewhere where I can look up and do a 'distance focus' quite frequently. Luckily too I am so basically ADDish that I never do anything for terribly long - but now and then when I get on a writing roll on the 'puter I get in trouble. The glowing screen is much worse than a book page, sadly.

Hope you are better soon.

Eye problems are the worst thing imaginable for a reader. I am trying to "listen" better so I can give my eyes an occasional rest with an audiobook. I love your pick-me-up book splurge. It's amazing how therapeutic new books can be. Take care, Paul, and have a relaxing week end.

Kerri - it is lovely to see you back posting also! I will be ok this weekend I think because there is a long weekend here until Wednesday as Saturday (Divali) and Tuesday (Awal Muharram - The Islamic New Year) are public holidays.

Sorry that you also have issues with your "minces" Benita. Thankfully my twitch is lessening and my eyes are not too sore. I anticipate being able to spend a full day on LT tomorrow catching up properly.

Lori - Not hiding but certainly seeking and not seeing very well at my seeking!

Lucy - I suppose it is a bi-product of being tied to a computer screen, going through the small print of contracts and reading quite a bit. You are right about the computer being to blame for most eye strains these days.

Donna; thanks so much. I cannot really get into audio books at present largely because my backlog would take decades to clear as it is!
Splurges help give a pick-me-up. Had another little bit of therapeutic exercise this afternoon between meetings:

1985 by Anthony Burgess (have it in UK; read more than 25 years ago) (would also fit this months TIOLIs)
The Blue Hour by Alonso Cueto (Peruvian writer with Darryl's TIOLI in mind)
The Silent Wife by ASA Harrison (another TIOLI fit)
The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus
Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple (only about half of the group like this so let's see)
The Mouse Deer Kingdom by Tei Chiew Siah (Another promising Malaysian author)

777 physical books in 2013

No wonder that last one didn't sound familiar. Interesting...let's hope the USA gets more adventurous as the numbers of readers shrink, and more unAmerican authors show up here.

I can dream.

Nice book haul, Paul. I'm glad that you bought The Blue Hour for my TIOLI challenge. I bought a copy of it at Daunt Books two weeks ago, so I'll plan to read it with you this month.

Reaching way back up there to names....My great grandfather's name was William Williams. I have been told this is a common Welsh tradition?

Hope all is well Paul!

RD - It does look interesting. Although she is a Malaysian author, she lives in Scotland and the book is published by Picador.

Darryl - You're on mate.

Kath - Williams is a common welsh name for sure. William Williams possibly less so but I guess most people would have called him Bill.

I think you know already that I particularly enjoyed Where'd You Go Bernadette, Paul. I hope you end up liking it. I am very fond of epistolary style books.

Happy Friday to you!

No, Heidi - happy Friday to you! I am 8 hours into Saturday already!

Happy Saturday to you, Paul! Hope the eyes are much better, and the family settled.

I recently purchased Where'd you go Bernadette but don't have plans to read it just yet. I have heard good things about it. Several of the students who are readers liked it enough to talk about it to me.

Roni, family are fine but all sleeping still. Eyes are much improved. Working my way alphabetically through the threads to catch-up.

Benita - I am also not sure when I will get it either. XX

*ahem* You know, we didn't get any stats last month. What's the prognosis for this month?

Glad your eyes are better. I hate to say, the older you get the more your eyes get tired and strained. Not fair! Now that I have the time to read, my eyes are a limiting factor.

Thanks for correcting my count of books read on my thread. That's the best thing that's happened to me all day :) Nice to have a statistician on board to help me get over the hump of number 70!

Your book hauls astound, as usual. I have not even heard of most of them. Hopefully they are no good so I don't have to add them to my WL. LOL - only kidding.

I got paid yesterday so that means that I will go to Barnes & Noble and buy those two books I have been eyeing with lust in my heart. I will be sure to let you know if I give into temptation.

I decided to participate in the LT group read of David Eggers new book The Circle. The discussion starts on November 18 and already the multinational group is hurling insults at each other. The introductory thread reminds me of the Krushev shoe banging episode. (I don't think that name is spelled correctly, but I am referring to the Russian head of state who took his shoe off and banged it on the desktop. I am not referring to the shoe throwing incident involving George Bush, Jr. Although, now that I think of it both incidents serve very well to express frustration.)

So sorry to hear of your eyesight issues Paul. Rewarding yourself with a new significant biblio load is certainly an unconventional way of dealing with it;-)

Definitely going to get them this month Roni. My guess is that it will be Sunday/Monday.

Cee - I am sure that there are a fair few duds in there amongst the good ones. I have just finished a dud in fact. Audrey's Door which is a Bram Stoker Award winner was, IMO, drivel. Poor old Bram.

Benita - Kruschev looks a tad like my Secretary's mother. They say that if you want to see the daughter in older years look at the mother - yikes no wonder dear Norul is single still.
Must go and look at that thread, it sounds like a barrel of laughs.

Bonnie - Unconventional perhaps but, given the award recipient, not entirely unexpected. xx

It looks like I have been ignoring my favorite Brit buddy. Sorry, to hear you are feeling a bit down and overwhelmed. I hope you can take this weekend and charge the old batteries and clear that jumbled head of yours. Will things start to slow down for you?

Mark - I am almost back to normal (well as close as normal and I ever get anyway).

Hej Paul good to hear that you are recovering - I wish you a quiet weekend, with books, obviously.

Hope the eyes are on the up too Paul - big empathy :/ I had an adverse reaction to some pain drugs the other day, ending up in me calling the out of hours doc whose reaction was singularly unhelpful - stop taking the tablets. Well duh! But it basically ended up in an extreme conjunctivitus like reaction. Gross! And still sore a week on.

So be careful with those eyes but good luck with the November challenge!

Paul - Good to know you're recovering. You still have read a PILE of great books. Take care of those eyes and have a lovely weekend.

Paul - I had a bit of a spat with SWMBO yesterday as she realised my own version of the Matterhorn, composed entirely of books, was far greater than she had anticipated.

Bekka - Had a pretty full day using the eyes yesterday with about 300 pages read and all my threads caught up (a-p - Jim, that threadbook is a godsend). Hope yours too are now functioning a-ok.

Beth - I did keep snatching at books. After all my eyes were just a bit impaired, I wasn't quite dead yet!

A very good weekend to you as well - though I suppose yours is nearly done. Hope your eyes are better. Take good care of them :).

I haven't read the Burgess in your most recent acquisitions list, but I do like his stuff - I think I'll have to add that one to the wishlist...

So glad to hear that your eyes are on the mend. We'll be heading to a pediatric specialist this week, as we found out last week that Charlie has a severe case of ambliopia (his right eye isn't working properly at all and so he sees nothing but a blur out of it, and as a result his brain has been ignoring it and his left eye has been doing all the work). So, yeah, glasses (and possibly a patch for awhile) and they expect to be able to correct it fully. Whew!

Your latest book spree - I haven't read a single one! Except we did read Hart Crane's poems in high school. He's very good.

I reckon you are back at work already, Paul, so no use wishing you a good weekend. Instead I'll wish for a calm and productive work week ahead!

Jenn - I'm not done yet, it is still Sunday evening here. We had a very full day. Brunch as a family at a friends restaurant. Belle then sent to a friends house for a sleepover party, Hani, Kyran, Yasmyne and I onto the twin towers of KLCC. Hani wanted to buy clothes for the kids and I, without ever intending to spent two full hours in the bookstore and planned a good deal of future purchases, I can tell you.
Met one of Yasmyne's classmates in the poetry section and had a lovely conversation with her (nice to have a youngster so obviously keen on reading in general and poetry specifically), then met our good friends the Kimuras (Masao, my good Japanese friend, his Malay wife Mazita and their two grown children Shuri and Ryu) and they treated us to a lovely japanese meal. Masao sneaked off and paid the bill explaining it was because I employed Ryu for his work experience earlier in the year. Great guy.

Amber - Sorry to hear about Charlie's ocular problems. I guess it is what we used to call "lazy eye". We have a friend locally whose little boy had the same problem but is now pretty much recovered. The trouble becomes also that the eye that works over compensates too. Give the little fellow a hug for me.

Lucy - ah! but that is not my latest spree!

Julia - Another 9 hours or so before I set off to work! I am expecting (well hoping) for a less taxing week.

Even though I spent several hours in the bookstore today I reined in my purchases somewhat.

People of the Earth by W. Michael Gear
The Cloud Corporation by Timothy Donnelly
Thinking the Twentieth Century by Tony Judt
The Human Part by Kari Hotakainen

781 physical books in 2013

I passed the time with a little planning exercise.
The following sections in the bookstore have number of shelves as follows:

New Releases : 2 shelves
Historical Fiction : 2 shelves
SF/Horror/Fantasy: 5 shelves
Thrillers/Crime: 12 shelves
Poetry/Plays : 3 shelves
Literature : 26 shelves
Asian Literature : 4 shelves
History : 7 shelves
Politics/Current Affairs/Phil etc : 7 shelves
Economics : 4 shelves
Sports : 2 shelves
Music/Film : 2 shelves
Biography : 2 shelves
Travel : 2 shelves

80 shelves in all. So my fantasy game was to pick a book to buy from each of the 80 shelves. Kills a couple of hours. But the scary thing is that if Hani wasn't meeting me later I could well have proceeded to put all 80 through the cashier!

If you still had a driver, I'll bet you would have Hani or no Hani.

The Donnelly sounds intriguing.

I think your bookstore planning exercise sounds fun! Its like the best window shopping ever!

I hope the upcoming work week is much better for you.

Not sure the Donnelly is made for you RD. It is poetry. John Ashbery who is apparently no mean judge is quoted as saying:
"This is an extraordinary collection - the poetry of the future, here, today."

Heidi - I do enjoy such exercises I must admit and the next time I give myself a bonus RD is right I will probably do it. xx

Tony Judt's work is excellent. I have one of his books in my collection but have not read it yet. I have read some of his essays but not the books.

I have 200 pages to go in Devil's Brood and hope to knock that out today. It will be good to read accompanied by the smell of baking apples - my Sunday culinary adventure for this week.

I go to the eye doctor tomorrow to get fitted for new contact lenses and I hope that when they arrive that will fix my twitchy eye muscles. Glad to hear that your peepers have somewhat recovered.

Do you reckon you'll hit 1000 books bought for the year, Paul!? If you do, I recommend a huge party as that is certainly a milestone to commemorate.

Back to nicknames, my mum sometimes still calls me "Little Tuppence Pudding", and my dad still refers to me as "Grub". Its funny, and I dont mind it a bit. :)
My kids get called Scallywag, Rascal, Pudding, Bruce, Nincompoop and Little Person by their various granparents. The kids crack up.

POULTRY! ICK!! No thanks, nuh uh, skippit, nix, nyet, nein.

Benita - Good luck with Ms. Penman and especially with the contact lenses.

Megan - Means I have to do 219 in two months - can't see it unless I have a major windfall or find a huge book sale. Katie (katiekrug) managed to add more than 1,100 physical books 2 years ago.

Richard - thought so.