Sibyx's NOVEMBER thread

This is Gatekeeper - s/he doesn't quite have a name yet. We cleared out this area that is a kind of confluence, chi spot, a woods road and our driveway, a brook, and a gate all together at the foot of the hill. A group of huge old trees cluster at this spot as well, some alive some dead. Several of the apple trees are here too. I kept thinking there was some potential there, so I took another piece of the fallen tree and wedged it in as the lower jaw. Gatekeeper is part of the now dead cottonwood. I hope you can see her teeth.

November Reads
125. new Blackveil Kristin Britain fantasy ****
126. ♬ reread Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell Susanna Clarke *****
127. new/used The Bushwhacked Piano Thomas McGuane contemp f ****
128. new Stone By Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls Robert Thorson history/geology New England ****
129. reread The Haunted Bookshop Christopher Morley mystery ****
130.✔ Agent of Change Sharon Lee Steve Miller sf ****1/2
131. ✔Negotiating With the Dead: A Writer on Writing Margaret Atwoodwriting essays****
132. (new/used)An Unofficial Rose Iris Murdoch ****
133. ♬ Indian Pipes Cynthia Riggs mys ***
134.✔Carpe Diem Sharon Lee and Steve Miller sf ****1/2
135. ✔ Manhood for Amateurs Michael Chabon essays, memoir ****
136. library Love Minus Eighty Will McIntosh SF (future) *****
137. ☀Fingersmith Sarah Waters mys ****

***November Current Reads***
library Portal Eric Flint Ryk E. Spoor
Plan B Sharon Lee Steve Miller
♬The Geographer's Library Jon Fasman mys (car book)
On Hold new Life After Life Kate Atkinson (too big for trip)
library
On Hold What the Robin Knows Jon Young
Monthly Murdoch: DONE! The IM readers group is HERE
VMC Monthly Read Skipping November
Ongoing
New Yorkers July 2013 (4 issues): July 1,, July 8-15, July 22, July 29

Guide to symbols
♬ audio
✔ and # - (between one and three years in my sagging tbr shelves/monthly goal of 8)
☀TBR wallflower program. (Wallflower = On shelf 3 plus years.)
VMC Virago-of-the-month
GR= group read
new - (duh, I guess) means acquired since June 2012.

Best of 2013
January
fiction: The Bell Iris Murdoch
non-fiction: Swallowing the Sea Lee Upton on writing
February is a TIE and both are graphic memoirs
Marbles: Mania, Michelangelo, Depression and Me Ellen Forney
Fun Home Alison Bechdel
March
40,000 in Gehenna C.J. Cherryh sf
The Good Apprentice Iris Murdoch contemp f
April
The Sandcastle Iris Murdoch
Finity's End C.J. Cherryh sf
May
An Enlarged Heart Cynthia Zarin memoir/essays
Long Division Alan Michael Parker poetry
June
♬Chapters From My Autobiography Mark Twain bio ****
The Nice and the Good Iris Murdoch contemp f ****
July
Rebecca Daphne DuMaurier*****
runner up The Tortoise and the Hare Elizabeth Jenkins
August
The City & the City China Mieville ****1/2 "sf"
Selected Essays of Charmian Clift Charmian Clift ****
September
Once a Hero Elizabeth Moon sf **** sf
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth Reza Aslan history *****
Mrs Woolf and the Servants Alison Light bio ****1/2
October
The Book and the Brotherhood Iris Murdoch contemp f ****1/2

Resolutions
Yes, I really really do want to NOT buy any more books for the rest of the year - I know I will get a certain number for Christmas and I need to keep that in mind!

Plans
Try not to pick any clunkers that drag me down this month! Otherwise I'm pretty happy, no agenda.

October Reading
115. new Elsewhere: A memoir Richard Russo memoir
116. ♬ A Week in Winter Maeve Binchy *** contemp f
117. new/used The Book and the Brotherhood Iris Murdoch contemp f****1/2
118. ✔Ark Stephen Baxter apocalyptic! ***
119. newMidnight Riot Ben Aaronovitch urban fantasy ****
120. The Beginner's Goodbye Anne Tyler contemp f ***1/2
121.new Dragon Ship Sharon Lee and Steve Miller sf
122. ✔L.C. Susan Daitch historical fict. **
123. ☀The Mezuzah in the Madonna's Foot Trudi Alexy nf ***
124. June 2013 New Yorkers

October Statistics
Total: 10
Men: 3
Women: 6
Man-Woman Team: 0
Non-fiction: 2
History: 1
Memoir: 1
Virago: 1
Classic Fiction: 0
Contemporary fiction: 3
Historical fiction: 1
Short stories: 0
Graphic: 0
SF: 2
Fantasy: 1
Thriller: 0
YA or J fantasy: 0
F/SF hybrid: 0
F/SF/Mys hybrid: 1
Mys: 0
Humor: 0
Poetry: 0
New (to me) Authors: 3
Group Read: 0
From PBS:
Acquired within one year: 4
1-3 years on shelf: 2
Wallflowers (more than 3): 1
Library: 1
Audio: 1
Do Not Own: 0
Months of NYers: 1
Set aside: 0
Acquired: 13
Released: 12

October Reflections A scattered reading month, no discernible themes emerging unless..... you want to count reading books that took forever. Most of my reading either went zip! (Tyler, Russo, Aaronovitch) or else was so plodding..... but I did grit my teeth and get through them all. There is a point of no return for me with some books, if I've spent enough time on them, I ain't gonna quit. Reading L.C was probably the only one that was pretty much a waste of my time. I did come away reconfirmed that writing a novel with an 'agenda' is a bad idea. If it doesn't come from the heart, from a 'need to know' for the author, then it won't work for the reader. As for the Too Many Books problem, I was doing great until I drove by my favorite used bookstore near Middlebury and they were having a One Day 1/2 price fiction sale. Sigh. I managed to read one of my fossil TBR's too, so that's something. Better than last month.

Books IN
October
79.An Unoffcial Rose Iris Murdoch
80.The Message to the Planet Iris Murdoch
81.The Time of the Angels Iris Murdoch
82.The Italian Girl Iris Murdoch
83.The Red and the Green Iris Murdoch
84. The Unicorn Iris Murdoch
85.A Fairly Honourable Defeat Iris Murdoch
Viragos
86.The Three Miss Kings Ada Leverson
87.The Perpetual Curate Mrs Oliphant
88.The Land of Spices Kate O'Brien
89.Without My Cloak Kate O'Brien
90.Company Parade Storm Jameson
SF/F
91.Chernevog C.J. Cherryh
t =13

Books OUT
PBS - 4
HPL -4
Re-use - 3
Vassar alum lodgings library - 1
T=12

Totals For the Year
Total Wallflower (3 plus years on shelves): 13
Books off Shelf (one -three): 44
New (less than one year): 14
Library: 14
Audio: 14
Total Read: 124
Acquired: 91
Released to the wild: 81

January
1.new Rimrunners C.J. Cherryh sf ****
2. ✔ #1 The Devastating Boys Elizabeth Taylor ss ***1/2
3.☀ ✔ #2 The Wild Wood Charles de Lint fantasy ***1/2
4.✔#3 Swallowing the Sea: On Writing Lee Upton craft/nf *****
5. ✔#4 The Bell Iris Murdochf January Murdoch *****
6. ☀✔#5 Banner of Souls Liz Williams sf ****
7. ☀✔#6 The Reindeer People Megan Lindholm ***1/2
8. ☀✔#7 Wolf's Brother Megan Lindholm ****
9. ✔ #8 The Happy Foreigner Enid Bagnold January Virago F ***1/2
10. newCaptain Vorpatril's Alliance Lois McMaster Bujold sf ****
11.new On Basilisk Station David Weber sf **
12. newJaran Kate Elliott sf Bk 1 ****
13. ✔#9 Ragnarok: The End of the Gods A.S. Byatt f **** myth
14. ☀✔#10The Margarets Sherri Tepper sf ***

February
15. ☀✔#1An Earthly Crown Kate Elliott sf Bk 2 ****
16. ♬ West of Here Jonathan Evison F ***1/2
17. ☀✔#2 His Conquering Sword Kate Elliott sf ****
18. ✔☀#3 Arctic Dreams Barry Lopez nat hist *****
19. newThe Law of Becoming Kate Elliott (Jaran, bk 4) sf ****
20. newMarbles: Mania, Michelangelo, Depression and Me Ellen Forney *****
21.new A Severed Head Iris Murdoch f ****
22. ✔#4 In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination Margaret Atwood essays ***1/2
23. newThe Posthumous Affair James Friel f ****
24. newGlacial Period Nicolas de Crecy graphic ***1/2
25.new Fun Home Alison Bechdel graphic *****
26. ✔#5 The Land of Green Ginger Winifred Holtby f ***1/2
27. ✔ #6 Cyteen C.J Cherryh sf ****
28. ♬The Yiddish Policeman's Union Michael Chabonf ****

March
29. ✔#1 40,000 in Gehenna C.J. Cherryh sf ****
30. ✔#2Grace Coolidge and her Era Ishbel Ross bio ****
31. ✔#3 Ember and Ash Pamela Freeman fantasy ***1/2
32. new The Good Apprentice Iris Murdoch f ****
33. newGraceling Kristin Cashore fantasy YA ***1/2
34. ♬ The Paris Wife Paula McClain f (audio - library)
35.new Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age gave birth to the First Modern Humans Brian Fagan anthro ***
36. newFire Kristin Cashore YA fantasy (book 2) ****
37. newTripoint C.J. Cherryh sf ****1/2

April Reading
38. new Finity's End C.J. Cherryh sf *****
39. ✔#1 The Imperfectionists Tom Rachman f contemp **
40. ✔#2 Dragon Keeper Robin HobbVol 1 RainWilds/ fantasy ****
41. ✔#3 Dragon Haven Robin Hobb Vol 2 RainWilds/fantasy ****
42. new City of Dragons Robin Hobb Vol 3 RainWilds/fantasy****
43. library The Sandcastle Iris Murdoch *****
44. ♬ I Am Half Sick of Shadows Alan Bradley mys (audio- library) ***1/2
45.☀ ✔#4✔Krakatoa Simon Winchester nf ****
46.☀ ✔#5 ✔The Ring of Allaire Susan Dexter YA fantasy ***1/2
47. ✔ #6 The Ballad and the Source Rosamund Lehmann VMC April ***1/2
48.☀ ✔#7 Deepsix Jack McDevitt sf ****
49. new Serpent's Reach C.J. Cherryh ****
50. A big pile of New Yorker Mags - October through December 2012.

June
64. newThe Vital System C.M. Burroughs poetry ***1/2
65. ✔The Broken Kingdoms N.K. Jemisin****
66. newButch Geography Stacey Waite poetry ****
67. ☀A Voyage Long and Strange Tony Horwitz history ****
68. January 2013 New Yorker Magazines
69. ♬library Death Comes to Pemberly P.D. James mys ***
70. new Calendar of Fire Lee Sharkey poetry
71. ✔The Kingdom of Gods N.K. Jemisin fantasy ***1/2
72. ♬Chapters From My Autobiography Mark Twain bio ****
73. new The Nice and the Good Iris Murdoch contemp f ****
74. newFledgling Sharon Lee Steve Miller #1 sf ****
75. new SaltationSharon Lee Steve Miller #2 sf ****
76. newGhost Ship #3 Sharon Lee Steve Miller sf ****
77. newThe Night Circus Erin Morgenstern magic realism ***1/2
78. February New Yorkers

July
79. ✔Hex Hall Rachel Hawkins YA fantasy bk 1 *** 1/2
80. ✔Demonglass Rachel Hawkins YA fantasy bk 2 ***1/2
81. ♬ Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier reread (library audio) *****
82. newConflict of Honors Sharon LeeSteve Miller sf ****
83. new The Tortoise and the Hare Elizabeth Jenkins f Virago ****1/2
84. ✔The Lacuna Barbara Kingsolver contemp f ****
85. newDomina Un/blued Ruth Ellen Kocher poetry
86. new Spell Bound Rachel Hawkins YA fantasy ***1/2
87. The New Yorker March 2013, 4 issues
88. newRegenesis C.J. Cherryh sf ****

August Reading
89. ✔Selling Out Justina Robson #2 in Quantum Gravity F/SF hybrid ****
90. ✔The City & the City China Mieville sf/mys hybrid ****1/2
91.newBirds and Birthdays Christopher Barzak feminist sf/ss & essay ****1/2
92. ✔Going Under Justina Robson sf/f hybrid ****
93. ✔Charmian Clift: Selected Essays Charmian Clift essays ****
94. ✔Whispering to Witches Anna Dale fantasy j ***
95. ✔ Armour Wherein He Trusted Mary Webb novella, ss ***
96. Embassytown China Mieville sf ****1/2
97. The Sword of Calandra Susan Dexter fantasy ***1/2
98. The Mountains of Channadran Susan Dexter fantasy ***1/2
99. ♬☀Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett f 32 discs!!!!! ****
100!The Monsters of Templeton Lauren Groff magic realism? ****
101. ♬ Daughter of Time Josephine Tey mys ****

SEPTEMBER READING
102. Gossamer Axe Gael Baudino fantasy ***1/2
103. April 2013 New Yorkers
104. Let's Kill Uncle Rohan O'Grady mys ***1/2
105. The Last Templar Raymond Khoury *** thriller
106. The Eleventh Commandment Lester del Rey sf ***
107. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth Reza Aslan history *****
108. Once a Hero Elizabeth Moon sf ****
109. ♬Agnes Grey Anne Bronte f ***1/2
110. The Snail Watcher and other stories Patricia Highsmith suspense, ss ****
111. May 2013 New Yorker
112. Mrs Woolf and the Servants Alison Light bio ****1/2
113. Chasing the Dragon Justina Robson f/sf hybrid ***1/2
114. Are You My Mother: A Comic Drama Alison Bechdel graphic memoir ****1/2

Series started or continued so far in 2013

1. The Seven Kingdoms Kristin Cashore (2 of 3)
---next up Bitterblue
2.Liaden UniverseSharon Lee Steve Miller Series of four about Theo Waitley, (in the Liaden series books #12-15). Have read 4 of 4. NOW I have the rest of them to tackle - about 6-8 books!
3. Quantum Gravity Justina Robson (4 of 5) Next up: book 5 of 5
4. Rivers of London 1 of 5. Next up: Moon Over Soho

Series completed in 2013
1.The Jaran Kate Elliott (four)
2.The Acacia Trilogy David Anthony Durham (three)
*Ember and Ash Pamela Freeman - an addition to The Castings Trilogy - see below*
3.The Rain Wilds Chronicles (three) Robin Hobb
4. Flavia de Luce Alan Bradley (5 of 5)
5.Inheritance Trilogy N.K. Jemisin 3 of 3.
6. Hex Hall Rachel Hawkins 3 of 3.
7. Alliance-Union Universe C.J. Cherryh (many of many)
8.. Winter King's War Susan Dexter 3 of 3

Series completed - or caught up with - in 2012
1. The Castings Trilogy Pamela Freeman (three)* plus one, see above. *
2. Revelation Space Alastair Reynolds (many!)
3. Miles Vorkosigan Lois McMaster Bujold (all of many!)

What a blustery day we are having here - I was just complaining on Nathalie's thread that while it is probably the last day we'll have over 60 F until spring it is so windy it's no fun being out there. On the other hand, there are probably no bow hunters out today, not that I worry about them much, although I do wear a lot of red until now and the end of the hunting season (Sun after T-giving). Can't walk in the woods cause of flying branches and even the chance of a falling tree. The open field is really something else, I actually staggered a couple of times. Kind of exhilarating, but more than I like.

Happy new thread, Lucy. I love the photo of your Gatekeeper...

Lucy, I love the idea of a gatekeeper. Oh yes, I can see the teeth -- and a watchful eye. It's good to have a month without an agenda. I already have a stack of books laid out for November that is making me nervous. I think I'll feel better when I get The Golden Notebook read for next week's book group.

I thought of you last week when I bought A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. I haven't read any DFW since we read Infinite Jest. I'll take my time with the essays as I did with IJ.

Happy November!

I love "Gatekeeper"! Although I confess my first response, before even reading your paragraph, was to look for Miss Po in the photo. :)

Happy New Thread, Lucy! If you can get a pic of Posey barking at or otherwise interacting with Gatekeeper, I'll be thrilled.

Happy November, Lucy, and happy new thread. Your Gatekeeper looks excellent.

>10 LizzieD:: like.

1: I hope you can see her teeth.
A crocodile... gate-or?
9: Although I confess my first response ... was to look for Miss Po in the photo.
Hah, me too!

Yes I can see her teeth and I love that she looks serious but sort of friendly. I too immediately looked for Posey!!

Hi Lucy, I am impossibly behind but I LOVE Gatekeeper! Also enjoyed your rant on your previous thread. Oh, and happy November thread!

Exactly Reba. If you are a well-intentioned visitor you are welcome, if not, look out!

I will try to remedy the Po situation asap - today was mostly rainy and not the best for photography.

Eyesight not the best but I think I can see teeth...or maybe it's the power of suggestion. We blustered and blew here yesterday too. Many large limbs down and in town, a part of the city without power.

Happy November thread!Fascinating stuff on the last one about the stone walls, and how annoying of that geologist chappie to assume it was white folks that built them! Rant away, I say! I'm not familiar with the concept of a gatekeeper, but I like her.

Nice to have you here, Hannah - what is most frustrating about it is that most of the information in it is spot on. He rights as lucidly about geology as anyone I've ever read (I've tried) and he writes quite well and convincingly about the first settlements. However, I know, in that way a person does, from visiting various places and wandering about in the woods that there are a number of truly inexplicable things. No one piles stones 'decoratively' in a swamp - never cleared, never used for anything. The things he calls 'root cellars' - is it a root cellar when you have to crawl in thirty feet. Oh, and it's nowhere near where any habitation ever was? Would anyone waste their time on a busy farm building something that looks like this? (Have to go get, be right back!)

Native wall builders 'let the wind through' - the walls had sacred purpose not a practical one.

or how 'bout this one?


Would any colonial dude spend a minute doing this? I mean, seriously.

fantasy ****
Blackveil Kristen Britain

I am enjoying this series and of course, this one ended on a complete, uh, well, cliff hanger, doesn't quite capture it..... anyway.... luckily I was slow to get to this one so the next one comes out in the spring, hopefully before I forget everything..... Our Green Rider, Karigan of the Sacoridian Kingdom, currently the dominant and fairly benign force in the region is sent over the Wall (magical, and actually one of my more favorite parts of the book) with a troop (12 in all) of other Riders, soldiers and Eletians (immortal etcetera) into the corrupted forest of Blackveil, formerly Argenthyne, beloved homeland of the Eletians..... The evil Mornhavon, the Mr. Bad of this series still plots from some unliving but not dead existence to get Even with Everyone and get his Empire back, but that Karigan just always seems to get in the way at critical moments. I'm not doing a very good job and it sounds as though I'm making fun of it, but I'm not. Britain occasionally gets perilously close to overdoing the homage to Tolkien, but when she gets away from that, the story moves along strongly and with some originality. Many characters, like Laren Mapstone, Yates, Alton D'Yer - are memorable and likable and you care about them. ****

Hi Lucy,

I have always been amazed by the stone walls, etc over the years here in NE. When we lived in CT previous owners took apart some of the stone wall on our property to build his own retaining wall near the driveway. It broke my heart to see obvious spaces in the old stone walls. The retaining wall fell apart and we took as many of the stones as we could manage and put them back. Dang heavy! (We got an old stonemason neighbor from Italy to build a proper retaining wall with bluestone - beautiful.)
But those old stone walls were amazing - and everywhere, for miles and miles.

Love your gatekeeper - waiting for Miss Po ;-)

I am working on the Po' photo but it has to be just right...... I really want one of her 'Po standing dauntless and vigilant' on a log, listening for errant chipmunks. Have to have the camera ready and actually charged up......

New England's stone work is incredible, isn't it? I'm so happy you love it too. Maine has plenty of good neolithic stonework too. This is probably one of the nicest websites I've found. NEARA seems like a serious organization. http://rockpiles.blogspot.com/

And now that I've finished up the fantasy, I can move on to my Christopher Morley reread, although I am wondering what happened to my copy of Book One - Parnassus on Wheels. Wondering if I should wait and find that first???

Wonderful wall photos, Lucy. I think we may have to make our way to N.E. next summer and seek some walls.

If the stone walls in our area are any indication, early settlers were only thinking "get these damn rocks out of my field", as they put them on stone carts and either lugged them to the perimeters of the fields or made a great pile in the middle. I wonder if those earlier walls delineated territories between different tribes, with the space left for the wind to travel through, of course.

Colonial dude (got a great chuckle out of that!) or not, I love the stone walls, Lucy.

126. fantasy *****
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell Susanna Clarke

Loved it the first time, loved it the second time. Magicians return to 19th century England in a slightly alternative history to ours. No more needs to be said, other than that I am quite aware it's not everyone's cuppa.

Curiously enough, I'm one who didn't love it. Well, I really liked the faery parts, but the rest made me wish I had waited for a used pb. No predicting!

No, you weren't the only one, Peggy. I found it interesting but not engrossing.

I for one loooooved J S and Mr N. although it was one of the more spooky books I've read in quite some time. Those faeries could be freakin' terrifying! And that bit where JS is cursed by being in a constant pillar of darkness! Somehow that just spooked me completely.
Loving the ancient wall photographs. They are beautiful structures. I'm sure I've mentioned the work of the land sculpture Andy Goldsworthy on LT before, so I won't add another picture, but he's a modern day practitioner of this sort of spiritual connection with the landscape, and well worth checking out if you like that sort of thing. One of the stones in post 20 looks so much like an eagle's head...once seen it can't be unseen!

Hannah - go to the site mentioned in post 24 to see more - the rockpiles one.

We are all fans of Andy Goldsworthy in this household!

Meanwhile I'm grittily plowing my way through the rest of the book about stonework in New England. His determination not to 'see' what is right before his face is incredible, but I'll save it. I'm not a romantic about it - I would agree with him that 90% of the walls and rock structures are pre and post colonial. But it is that 10% that interests me. I can't understand really, what the reluctance is to accept a neolithic presence - when all the rest of the US is brimming with mounds and effigies, rock art and other rock structures - made of the materials that made sense for those inhabitants. Rock makes the most sense here. It's almost as if some of these folks (who take the author's position) are afraid of being declared nut jobs if they admit even the tiniest possibility of a previous presence. He even says somewhere how the rocks almost 'compel' you to settle them a certain way when working with them..... well..... duh! He also admits that some of the stonework is somewhat inexplicable..... but in that way that implies, if only we knew the story, there would be a logical colonial explanation.

Uh oh, foaming again.

I've been (re)reading The Haunted Bookshop with my reading time today. Morley refers to obscure books and writers on every page and it's so much fun to have the internet where you can look things up. Mark Twain really did write a truly raunchy piece imagining Queen Eliz 1 sitting around with Shakespeare and Marlowe and Raleigh and other luminaries talking, well, a mix of 11 year old humor and smut.
It was called 1601 - and it is hilariously funny - you can look at it on Project Gutenberg. Anyhow, last time I read it it wasn't possible to look things up. It's funny to see what was considered humorous in 1920. I'm always struck too by what seems 'long ago' and what seems more or less 'modern' in a book like this one.

Only 8 p.m. but I'm ready to crawl upstairs with a tome or two - it's been dark since 5ish. Eternity. Golly but winter seems to have come on in a rush.

Hasn't it just! Dark 5ish here too. Sat down to read while supper was cooking and fell sound asleep. Raw edge to the cold. And I loved Jonathan Strange.

28: Hmm, I have that one sitting on the Nook, been on the periphery of my mind for awhile.

#28 I, too, loved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell although it took me a while to get into it. I read it on my kindle and it was the first book that I highlighted phrases, never having been an underliner in paper books. There is a TV (I think, maybe a film) version being made at the moment. The only casting that I know is that Samuel West is playing Pole.

Oh Kerry you have made my day! Let us hope it is a GOOD movie with a good cast.
Oh Tui - hope nothing burned. It's ridiculous. I don't remember having this much trouble other years. It may have to do with the LD driving herself hither and yon - I am slightly overwhelmed by having more time and am wasting it liberally, I have to admit. It is to be hoped this is just a phase.

Meanwhile - I will say that latest chapter of my stone book was really excellent - all about the evolution of a stone wall once it is built, how it affects its environment, the forces (like 'soil creep' - what a great expression!) affect and eventually destroy it. This is where this guy comes to life!

You've made me want to come to Vermont to look for stone walls. Lucky we're spending summers in NY so it isn't too far. I'll need to look up your book to read just before we do it.

There are books I like better - I'll collect the titles and then you can read about them and decide.

The Spousal Unit came across this today and we were tickled by it!

Teenagers and Cats

For all of you with teenagers or who have had teenagers, or are a teenager, you may want to know why they really have a lot in common with cats: Neither teenagers nor cats turn their heads when you call them by name. No matter what you do for them, it is not enough. Indeed, all humane efforts are barely adequate to compensate for the privilege of waiting on them hand and foot. You rarely see a cat walking outside of the house with an adult human being, and it can be safely said that no teenager in his or her right mind wants to be seen in public with his or her parents. Even if you tell jokes as well as Jay Leno, neither your cat nor your teen will ever crack a smile. - No cat or teenager shares you taste in music. Cats and teenagers can lie on the living-room sofa for hours on end without moving, barely breathing. Cats have nine lives. Teenagers carry on as if they did. Cats and teenagers yawn in exactly the same manner, communicating that ultimate human ecstasy - a sense of complete and utter boredom. Cats and teenagers do not improve anyones furniture. Cats that are free to roam outside sometimes have been known to return in the middle of the night to deposit a dead animal in your bedroom. Teenagers are not above that sort of behavior. Thus, if you must raise teenagers, the best sources of advice are not other parents, but veterinarians. It is also a good idea to keep a guidebook on cats at hand at all times. And remember, above all else, put out the food and do not make any sudden moves in their direction. When they make up their minds, they will finally come to you for some affection and comfort, and it will be a triumphant moment for all concerned.

Who? Me?

127. contemp f ****
The Bushwhacked Piano Thomas McGuane

In short, Nicholas Payne is a rogue hovering at the edge of adult life, reluctant to jump on the bandwagon. We are to understand he is a big and not bad-looking fellow, that he likes risky ventures which going to work in his Dad's law firm definitely will not provide. So he's rebelling. It is sometime in the 1960's (the novel was written in 1971) and Nick is more or less a candidate for the Merry Pranksters, but he missed that bus and is doing his best to make his own party. I 'discovered' McGuane some time ago, and although somehow I haven't worked my way through his ouevre, I've enjoyed every novel or short story of his I have picked up and this is no exception. The plot such as it is, involves a pretty but probably unattainable (at least in his present mood) girl, and a man with only one leg and one arm who has come up with a scheme to build huge bat towers to take care of mosquito problems..... yes..... really. It's a clue, innit, that the plot is just a vehicle to take you on a ride with Nick. The thing is McGuane is a superlative collector of odd information, punctilious detail (there is a fabulous rodeo scene) and of American regional talk, so it's a fun ride if you just allow yourself to let go and hang on. Oh and Nick has terrible hemorrhoids. Just in case you don't get it that he is an ... ****

Seriously though, NOT for everyone. If you love Pynchon and Wallace and that ilk you'll like McGuane, if not, you won't.

> 39 - That made my whole day! ;-)

Mine too! What a hoot.

Definitely funny, and painfully true. Already I was absurdly grateful when she decided to accompany me to the market the other day - after only two weeks of independent driving! I do miss her, but I don't miss the driving.

128. history, geology new england ****
Stone by Stone Robert Thorson

Despite all my grousing, this is a very good book, solidly researched and well written. The strongest sections of the book pertain to geological matters, which makes sense, as Thorson is a geologist by vocation, clearly. He has valiantly done his research into the history of pre and post colonial New England, although he generalizes here and there, gets dates a little mixed up (I swear - it's something to do with being a person who thinks in hundreds of thousands of years - to keep track of a piddling fifty or so, it's too picayune - a grain of sand to a boulder). 'Mid 18th century' is the same time period as 'fifty or so years before the American Revolution' for example. The last three chapters are eloquent, describing the abandonment of New England (again, the history is a wee bit confusing, but the description of what happens once a house, barn, wall is left on its own is terrifically done. I did not know to what extent the stone walls are being pillaged for 'ruburban' landscaping - there was a time when people would remove barns wholesale and that is now a no-no, so I guess it's time to legislate that stone walls must stay as historical artifacts.
Here is Thorson himself on the magical compulsion rocks can have on one: "In every human brain, ancient or modern, is a mental package of instinctual feelings, something the psychologist Carl Jung deemed the 'collective unconscious.' One manifestation of this instinct is an affinity for stone, especially when it is weathered, as on a natural outcrop." (My italics) - he then goes on to describe stone being used ONLY for practical ends, a shelter, a game blind, a cache..... and yet all over the world stone is also used for spiritual purposes as well and has been - since man first 'awoke'. He talks elsewhere of prehistoric man has having been in New England as long as 12,000 years ago..... so........ why this reluctance to admit that a small but extremely important and significant percentage of stone work predates the colonial era? Just stubborn, I guess. but one more chapter about this would have made his book a five star for me. ****

It has a magnificent bibilography for further reading.

Some of the winners:
Susan Allport Sermons in Stone
William Cronon Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England
Tom Wessels Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England

I have read all of these, as well as some others and they are all five star books.

Where do I go to inform an LT genie that Stone by Stone seems to bring up the page and the touchstone for Great Expectations of all things!!!! Rather odd.

45: Where do I go to inform an LT genie
Stone by Stone - click on others and its 10-ish down the list. Don't complain... they might try to "improve" touchstones again.

Got it! Thanks Q

Fascinating, Lucy! I don't know that I'll ever get to any of these, but I've "favorited" the comment with thanks.

129. mystery ****
The Haunted Bookshop Christopher Morley

The fact I've read it twice says it all. It wasn't quite as fun this time around, I think because I am a bit more sensitive about gender and ethnic issues than I was the first time around. Morley's deep horror of the war (#1) is evident and gems like this one made it a delight: "It was not a sprightly journey. The train made its accustomed detour through West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia before getting down to business, and the two voyagers felt a personal hatred of brakemen who permitted passengers from these suburbs to straggle leisurely abord instead of flogging them in with knotted whips."
My book lost its jacket long ago and is blue with a slightly flattened (sideway) design embossed in black and white with the title in capitals inside. Maybe I'll take a photo of it one of these days.

TODAY is SOMEONE'S BIRTHDAY:



Miss Po, Doughty Chipmunk Wrangler. TWO years old today!

Rilly, I cannot believe she is already two years old.

I can't either! Where has the time gone?! She's a gorgeous little lady.

Happy birthday, Po, you chipmunk wrangler! Lovely photo, Lucy. Your woods are just gorgeous.

Neither can I: two! It doesn't seem possible. She's getting that deep Corgi chest though, so she isn't a baby any more. As I say to Esme all the time, "Who's that pretty girl!"

Miss Pretty or Miss Po. Yep. I was also noticing how she's been filling out - she's nice and trim though at 23 lbs. As long as she keeps up the chipmunk wrangling she'll stay svelte.

Meanwhile, just to mention books, I've had a GREAT week for getting books read, but things will slow down considerably now as I take on some 'heavier' tomes. Atwood essays on writing, another Murdoch..... although since I finished The Haunted Bookshop I'll probably pick up another Lee-Miller....... and that could end up being where my nose is all weekend.

Temperature took a mean dive this afternoon and flakes swirled around. And the LD is out there, working on lights for a play. I have sent her a request (an order framed as a request) that she come right home, not go to the after-get together at the Denny's in Burlington that always goes on wayyyyy late. Golly I hate this! What a nail-biter.

50: Oh my goodness, I'm dying of the cuteness. I secretly want a corgi, though my yorkie would never hear of it... :)

Happy birthday to Miss Posey and hope the LD gets home safely and early.

How is the book coming?

The LD did get home safely and is already today, Saturday, gone for the day, first to see the new Thor then to do lights and make-up at the play at her high school. This new footloose child is something else. Not a child, that's the thing!

Oh, I seem to be following my usual strange pattern of obsessing, getting a bit further, and then, just when you'd think I'd keep going, of going off and doing a little of 'my own' work.....this is what I do over and over again, so I can't get too wound out about it.

I am halfway through chapter 11 (I was writing Chapter 10 when I saw you in FL) which has been a doozy so far, as it is crunch time, plot coming to a head and all that. I hope to get close to being done with it by the time I go to Florida so that I can work on the last one (or two) chapters when I am back in Florida for and then considerably after Thanksgiving (until the 9th, eternity, belike). The Epilogue should be fairly simple and brief.

Then rewriting. Which is quite a different process easier in some ways and more demanding in others. You have to keep a lot going in your head all the time.

Oh! Miss Po! What a hard worker you are... and yet so stunningly beautiful. You keep on top of those pesky chipmunks! Loki is proud of you and wants you to know he is covering Maine.

I am following your experiences with a newly independent teenage driver with interest.....its helping me prepare for my turn with my son in January/February. It is awful to think about them driving in winter weather conditions.

Glad LD got home safely. It is hard giving them that huge increase in independence, isn't it? Also glad the book is going well. I've watched my husband in the multiple draft process and it's agonizing. I swear, sometimes he must end up back where he started given how many rewrites he does.

And I thought you were going to say that it was Posey's FIRST birthday, which sounded reasonable. No way it can be two whole years since you got her!

How did I miss Miss P's birthday? I'm sure it was a happy one, but I hope that she didn't actually get a chipmunk.
I agree with Roni. A first birthday sounds about right.
And oh - how I want to get back to Lee-Miller and even IM!

OMG, when you said it was Posey's birthday, I was thinking "oh, she is one year old today!" Where did that other year come from? Anyway, happy birthday to her and I'm glad a photo of her made it onto your new thread. I love the Gatekeeper (and I think I see the teeth) and the link to the stone walls site is cool.

Great reviews, too, Lucy. I think I might try to investigate McGuane although I'm not certain I'll like his work. The Bushwacked Piano sounds oddly appealing.

Ellen - I would try some of his short stories first - I think he's one of the best around. And let me think about it, I don't think Bushwhacked would be the best place to start - his more recent novels are less edgy or spiky or whatever (as are his more recent stories).

Want to mention that I am LOVING An Unofficial Rose - this month's IM - it is one of the sweeter ones with lots of young people and awkward romantic situations and big marvelous houses..... It might be a great 'entry' book for Iris - there is a pretty big cast and they all get introduced immediately at a graveside - so the beginning takes time, sorting them all out - but after that it's been pure fun, with a dash of the usual Murdoch seriousness.

63: I hope that she didn't actually get a chipmunk
LOL!

Years go so quickly now... I'm glad it's only two years and not a decade.

58: I seem to be following my usual strange pattern ... I can't get too wound out about it.
Yeah, don't want to mess with a creative process.

Hi Lucy. Glad to hear good things about Kristen Britain's series; I have the first one in Mt TBR and sounds like it might be a good time to start reading them if a fifth book is due out next year.

#28 And I'm another one who loved JS&MN - unusually for me I bought it as a brand new hardback which I rarely do unless I've read something by the author before. I haven't managed a reread yet though.

#50 Happy birthday Miss Po!

You'll all be happy to know Po has only ever gotten close to getting a chipmunk once, clearly a feckless young'un who got all panicked around ran around and around on this log in a tizzy - Po herself really didn't know what to do either. So it was an easy rescue all around.

Heather - just be advised this last Britain ends so suspensefully..... I would have waited for the next one to actually be OUT, if I had known! But spring is just bearable.

Unreal how fast time goes by, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised Posey is two already. But really?!

Gatekeeper is appropriately intimidating, and I think I can make out the teeth too.

Loved the teenagers and cats piece. They should have said it's also for anyone who's ever been a teenager too. They also forgot to mention that cats like to meow loudly for no apparent reason, same as teens tend to throw tantrums out of the blue.

Falling off the map here, haven't seen fit to post on my own thread since Sunday.... I'm working hard and that takes a lot of time, strangely enough!!!

It's been beastly cold and I've been in a state of shock about that. Snow, pond skinning over with ice. Muskrats have been crazy busy - they are all quite plump and sleek-looking.

I'm reading away at various things, two fiction, two non. Should finish one book tonight.

I'm planning to make bourbon chicken for dinner, a recipe that has no bourbon in it. Odd, that.

It's hitting over 80 here today, sun--perfect beach day if I didn't have to make jewelry! :^P

130. ✔ sf ****1/2
Agent of Change Sharon Lee Steve Miller

Well golly, this one was so much fun. I loved it! Val Con and Miri meet and of course there is Endless Delayed Gratification, which is at the core of this sort of romp. Lots of bad guys, funny guys - the Clutch turtles are simply wonderful. What can I say? Space opera at its goofy finest. ****1/2

I looked at the Chautauqua web cam a while ago -- lovely white snow cover on the ground -- hard to imagine from here

I am reading Agent of Change right now! I love the turtles and the romp. It was hard to put the book down to go to work!

I'll bet - I used it to bribe myself to do things!

I'm toying with the idea of dipping into the Liaden Universe (as if I didn't have enough series to be getting on with, but still…) Where does one start? I've seen this suggested as a possible starting place, as it was chronologically the first one published.

Let me rummage around and find you the site I am using - part of Sharon Lee's - it's a bit confusing, but ultimately worth trying to figure out!

Here you go: Correct Reading Order

I think I read Conflict of Honor first of all, then realized there was a chronology so switched to the pre-quels - Crystal Dragon and Crystal Soldier. Then, seeing that this one was a stand-alone, read the first one with Jethri Balance of Trade (the second one just came out) and more recently the four Theo Waitley books (starts with Fledgling. The ones I have left I think are the 'core' books they wrote first, about Val Con, Miri, Shan, Priscilla etcetera.

I think starting with Agent of Change would be excellent, basically!

No need to read the 'pre-quels' right away either.

Either Conflict of Honor or Agent of Change would be a good place to start--those are the first two you want to read anyway. Next read Carpe Diem and I Dare!. After that, you can branch around as the spirit moves you. The far past prequels Lucy refers to are truly only captivating to those who have read some of the main sequence where the characters in them and their history are frequently referenced. And those references make the occurrences in the prequels much more intelligible.

Lucy, the ones that aren't the "core" books are the three about Val Con and Shan's parents, of what you have left. And again, those are better read after the core books because the core books make you WANT to know these people better.

Just a wave hello to you & Miss Posey, as all the fantasy book discussion has zoomed right over my head!

Oh, I have Agent of Change on the shelves, so all of this info is good to know. Thanks Lucy and Roni!

Lucy, hoping that your weekend is full of fabulous.

Later today I head for points south again, destination Bronxville and Sarah Lawrence. I have not been back except one drive-through with a cousin soon after graduating. I loved it there academically, although socially I found it lacking in some ways - lots of intense people, including me, not always the best combo! I'll be very curious to see what the LD makes of it, Vassar seems much more her style to me. There is literally nowhere to stay in the area except horrible hotels (where you read 'we got bedbugs' in the comments) in Yonkers, so I am springing for a fairly expensive b&b for Mon night in White Plains. They seem a bit eccentric, but hopefully it will be nice and it's less than 15 minutes from the college, so that's all good. Meanwhile I'm up to my eyeballs today in all the chores I haven't done..... ugh.

We're stopping tonight in Saratoga at the b&b I love - we can't leave until 5 as the LD has an all day workshop today, but it'll only be two and a half hours, I think I can manage that ok.

Safe trip, Lucy! I'll be breathlessly awaiting your review of the eccentric b&b.

Sounds like a really fun trip to me. Have a good time and stay safe.

Hi Lucy,
I have a niece who graduated from Sarah Lawrence last year and she had a good experience. I think it was a good fit for her.

I hope your evening at the B&B was lovely and that you're having a good trip.

Re: Agent of Change, I love the term "Space Opera." I am certain I've never actually read anything that fits in this genre but the term encourages a reader to just relish in the melodrama and fun of the whole thing.

Hugs for Posey.

A friend's god-daughter is just finishing up at Sarah Lawrence, and has had a good experience.

Eccentric b&b -- oh dear. I'm thinking of two v. eccentric ones I stayed at -- in London in June and in Ireland back in 1998. The latter was hilariously entertaining. Dinner was included in the tariff and we all nearly starved by the time it was served at 10:30 p.m. but it was a bonding experience -- I made some friends while waiting that I'm still in touch with. But the place in London was just nasty eccentric, from rancid butter right through to the owners' grandchildren playing ball games against the French doors that were all that separated my room from the office space. Truly dreadful.

I remember that one Suz. The potential eccentricity of tomorrow's place is that I think it's an effort to preserve a grand old house in White Plains and I got the sense that the people are still getting it together, that it might be a new enterprise just getting off the ground - it's quite expensive, so I'm really splurging on this one, it's way more than the b&b we're stopped at here in Saratoga, Union Gables, which, if anyone has ANY reason to stop in Saratoga, they should make every effort to stay in..... (it's competitive with any reg hotel) cannot recommend it more highly!!! They really know what they are doing. Anyhow, this place, we'll see. One thing I'm sure of is that it will be quite beautiful as a house, and that it should have nice grounds. The photos look all right...... the people seemed very disorganized? One of my brothers (I have seven) is re-doing a grand old house in western NY state into a 'destination' wedding etc. kind of place and it's an incredible thing to take on. He's been doing that kind of work for awhile now, ran another former estate/retreat center- but this one will be more on the party end of things while the other one is more a retreat place. It's going to be beautiful when he gets done with it - they already do the weddings, and use some of the downstairs but he's redoing the upstairs now. Finding treasures, like the original notes of the carpenters written on the walls under the wallpaper - from 150 plus or minus years ago and that kind of thing. He's preserving and photographing all that stuff very carefully. I could go on and on about it but I'll stop. Needless to say I will be recommending that one too, when the time comes!

I think I read about two pages yesterday!

Ellen - if you ever watched any of the Firefly series or saw the movie Serenity then you've experienced space opera. If you haven't seen either YOU MUST! I'm pretty sure you'll love it.

Safe trip, Lucy. Enjoy the B&B.

I'm at my B&B - it IS eccentric, but it also is just fine. The eccentricity is more in the people running it - frankly - a bit out of an Anne Tyler novel. You are made to feel that they have done YOU a favor opening up their house etc. The hosts bought the house thirty years ago, after she/they retired they decided to do this, in the mid-90's. It's actually one of the houses that Hilary Clinton visited to see if it would 'do' for them after leaving the White House. So the first thing the now rather ancient owner tells you is that she stayed here and every single thing she said during her stay. But I have no complaints, internet, nice room, comfy bed, a fridge... a microwave even in a 'common room' so I can heat up leftovers from yesterday. She also made me park my car twice in different places and was hinting I might need to move it again, this for who knows or cares what reasons. I will comply.

Sarah Lawrence while physically somewhat changed felt exactly the same - what a great place, I'd forgotten! I expect the LD is going to go wild over it.

Always my concern with B&Bs. The independence and individuality are positive features in the abstract, but then there are actual people and perhaps an expectation of more interaction than I want.

131. essays about writers/writing ****
Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing Margaret Atwood

Atwood was asked to give a series of lectures at Cambridge and this book is the outcome. In six essays she covers some of the issues or challenges that all writers must confront or engage with. In the Intro she introduces the three questions 'posed to writers, both by readers and by themselves, Who are you writing for? Why do you do it? Where does it come from?" The essays attempt to shed some light on those questions, taking different approaches. In the first essay Atwood gives her own account of becoming a writer - specifics matter, but they can also ring true in a wider way and I think that was her intention - that all writers have a specific story. Next she addresses the 'split' that happens between the writer as a person just living a life and a person who steps back or out and observes and records - although I would say this pertains mostly to fiction and poetry. The third essay never quite came into focus for me, but in it I think Atwood is examining how artists/writers have been perceived 'over the ages' - in particular how women who devote their lives to the arts have only recently been allowed to break free of being seen as either 'a nun or orgiastic priestess' - (men broke free centuries ago). In the next essay Atwood examines the writer as a manipulator, a maker of effects, like the Wizard of Oz. She also talks about moral and social responsibilities and returns again to the fact that women writers are still judged quite differently from men. The fifth essay looks at the relationship between the reader and writer - it's not an essay that is going much of anywhere, more an exploration of the territory - the essential point being that the communication in a novel is One-on-one. The final essay, the best one, is about the writer's relationship to the 'underworld' the 'other' - it relates back to the second essay, I think, of the divided self. Atwood examines in literature the near universal theme of visiting the underworld to bring back wisdom, to bring back stories - that it is the dead who want their stories told - the presence of the essay rather than anything she explicitly states makes the point that writing is for that reason 'dangerous work' - you enter a tunnel, a dark road, not knowing where you will end up and you make this trip voluntarily (although in the first essay she is making a case that writers can't help themselves!). Who knows what my long-term take-away will be. As a writer, I am drawn to books about why writers write and this one gave me plenty to think about. But truthfully - Atwood is a bit of a heavy essay writer, her fiction is much better! ****

I have those issues too Q - my favourite kind of place is an Inn - just big enough to leave you alone but still a personal place, not a motor inn. As I get older though I am more willing to do the social bit than I used to be. I am also much more adept at disappearing when I've done what I consider to be enough! One thing about that B&B in Saratoga is that they are more like an Inn that way.

I have a great liking for B&B's. The thing that we always go for when choosing accommodation is character, and B&B's have usually got so much more than your average hotel. And I like the social aspect. But I'm also a great believer in Trip Advisor to see what sort of place they are first!

I have a guide to quality Bed and Breakfasts in the UK by Alistair Sawday British Bed & Breakfast (Alistair Sawday's Special Places to Stay which I can heartily recommend having used it to book a delightful B&B in Cumbria, North of the Lake District whose hostess produced possibly the most fabulous meals I have experienced out of home.

Alastair Sawday is one of my favourites as well: their idea of what makes a good stay usually coincides very closely with my own: they do several European countries as well.

I used to have a good guide, in the years before the LD we sometimes used b&b's (alternating with camping) when we traveled around. For years, motor inns have been the best bet, with a kid, they love the pool, the room is indestructible....but now things seem to be shifting again, so it might be time to look around for another good one. The internet is very tiring for that kind of search.

My room - while it has the prettiest view, truly awesome, is chilly this morning as it has two sets of french doors and the wind came up and now it is rather cold out, alas, November has returned. I asked for a room with a desk and somehow, got the one with no desk (I'm the only person here and all the doors are open!) Also all the other rooms are warmer! but I moved my chair up against the old-fashioned radiator (phew, I had to dig a bit for that word for some reason!) so I'll survive.

I have three hours here and then over to SLC to pick up the LD and light out for home. Should be easy driving with nice sunny skies.

We B&B'd it in Scotland and then in England. Very successful both times and much the preferred kind of accommodation for both of us. A proper English breakfast can carry you through the whole day, except for an apple and piece of cheese in a modified ploughman's lunch at noon.

Would have loved to have gone to Sarah Lawrence.

And am in full accord with you about pomegranates, granola and yogurt. Thank you!

Pomegranates! I forgot to mention I had a pomegranate Chobani last weekend and loved it.

#76 "I'm toying with the idea of dipping into the Liaden Universe (as if I didn't have enough series to be getting on with, but still…)"

What Hannah said, except I am going to stay strong and not start Liaden until I've finished Vorkosigan (next year, next year)

I'm also a fan of B&Bs rather than hotels, we've found some real gems over the years. Have a safe drive home!

Home safe and sound - there was an odd moment on Route 22a as we got into Vermont where there were a series of about seven small fires burning on the side of the road..... seemed to me to be an arson 'prank' of some sort - just set minutes before we came by we thought - the perps were probably not far ahead of us - at any rate that certainly got the adrenaline flowing - I'm glad we got past it before the fire trucks arrived, for, as you know, we would have sat and sat, no doubt. Very odd. It certainly livened up the last hour or so of the trip!

Oh yes, Heather, I would not mix up the Vorkosigans with the yos'Galan's of Liaden!

So --- how did the LD react to LSC?
I'm enthralled with the talk of inns and B&Bs. (You remember that I never go anywhere anytime!)

Echoing Peggy's question! And is she, like my senior, furiously composing applications and supplements these days? 'Tis the season and all that ...

Apparently the little acorn did not fall far from the tree..... my guess is had we gone there sooner she would have applied EA ..... My dream of Vassar (that campus!!!) is quickly fading, alas. In short, she took to it like a duck to water. SLC is a 'cosy' campus, the centerpiece is the Lawrence manse, but it's small and everything is tucked in among the rocks and hillocks of the setting (it's at the crest of one of those rocky bumps common to that part of New York and Connecticut, enough of a hill that in the old days, I'm sure there was quite a nice view from the verandah.) But what makes SLC different is that tiny as it is it is connected to NYC in a zillion ways - half the juniors and seniors do internships in town or abroad - incredible stuff actually.... I'm not sure how to express what she said succintly but her feeling is that at SLC the ferment will encourage her to push herself harder. She felt a balance between their system of supervision (too complex to explain, but unique to SLC) and independent study more strongly than anywhere else. There's some truth in that - the methodology was contrived to - literally - force young women to take charge of their lives, starting with academics and career goals (1928).

As I am going on and on I will conclude saying that I was ... oh what is the word?... gently flummoxed? by how MUCH the LD took to the place. I try so hard not to see her as a mini-me (not so mini, but you get the idea) as entirely her own unique blah blah person, but she just became radiant within fifteen minutes of being on that campus and seeing the students floating and flitting around (they all dress as quixotically as she does, some of them even more brilliantly, and I could see her just absorbing that) and I remember having just that same feeling of being in a place where I would be understood and could be myself. And by and large that was the case. The downside is that socially it can be rough - people are totally absorbed in their own thing and can drop you boom, when something comes up. My closest friend however, was truly truly a darling, gone, now, as he was gay and out in the early 80's and doomed. For that reason being on the campus was actually a bit hard. We met when we both were grabbing for the last paper cup of white wine at a freshman gathering and never stopped being chums and it was odd to walk through that building remembering that moment among others.

The LD by the way, reassured me by saying, "Mom, I'm not going to use the place the way you did - I'll be studying psyche and behavioral stuff and working in the city and you didn't do any of that." All true. You all know me, I READ and read and read!!!!!

Laura - back to add that the LD has been oddly secretive about her application process although she did say, on the way home, it was almost time to spend a day with me going over everything. (That said, she did read one essay to me the other day.) And we talked a lot about what to put in her 'folder' for SLC - they want to see anything and everything you think they might learn something from. So she's thinking hard about it. My guess is she's been waiting to finish her college visits (we are done now, the one far away college, St. Mary's in Maryland I said we would visit if she got in and still wanted to see it, but my guess is that SLC has trumped everything now) - she's very orderly that way - one thing at a time. But I can feel crunch time coming now.

Tui - you would have loved it - in fact a goodly number of LTers are naturals.

I had the closest Canadian equivalent, Lucy: Trent University. It was modelled on the Oxford model of faculty and students attached to each of the five colleges (3 on campus, 2 in town), so that no one was anonymous or neglected, but had a defined centre with a supervisor of studies who kept an eye on you all the way through. Personal creativity was nourished and fostered. Profs took an active interest in our work. And it was small: 1300 students when I went there. Now it has grown to a mid-size university and much that made it unique has been watered down or eliminated, which makes me incredibly sad. We saw ourselves as SLC North back in the early 70s, so I couldn't have asked for a better undergrad experience. Yann Martel went there, btw.

It sounds as though your daughter has her head screwed on right, knowing what she wants out of the whole process, with a good grasp of who she is.

WOW!

Lucy, I had a great time getting caught up with you. I feel as if I have dipped into a lovely memoir. Your conversation and musings about visiting colleges and your daughter and on b&bs and on Atwood's essays has left me completely charmed. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts so eloquently. Hoping that today is kind to you.

How wonderful to find such a wonderful fit for something so important as college. I'll be looking forward to hearing about her time there (which I'm sure will happen and will be wonderful).

Tui - I am so glad that Trent as a good place to be back then. Does Canada have any colleges like that now? Public or private?

Peggy! I know!

Mamie, you are too kind. I actually erased another long paragraph thinking..... gee whiz, tmi! I am exhausted, though, Mamie, and so far have barely done anything except dabble around the edges of all the things that need doing. The LD is so fried she had to stay home.

Reba- I just can't wait for the admission process to be over and the final decision made! I'm sure Laura feels the same way.

Sounds like you are both in need of a jammie day, Lucy. And oh, how I wish you had left that paragraph!

Wonderful news about SLC, Lucy. Julia has been very secretive or on the plus side, independent, about her applications but she has a wonderful counselor at school who is proofreading everything. Then and only then do we get to look at it. She almost applied ED at a school, but as November approached she was less certain. I was not surprised since she often needs to "try on" decisions for a while before knowing whether it's right. She plans to have all of her applications done before Christmas though, just so they aren't hanging over her head during the holidays and come January all she will have to do is press a submit button.

I also have to keep reminding myself that Kate was pretty set in her mind as of April 1 when her acceptances came in, and around April 28 (3 days before deadline) she made a different choice which I now firmly believe was the better one. So it's not over 'til it's over ...

That's quite interesting to hear about Kate, and comforting too.

On the reading front, because that's what LT is all about..... I am at that critical point in my latest Murdoch where I can barely read a word without flinching. There is always a period about 2/3 of the way where things get just excrutiatingly bad... people behaving so thoughtlessly or foolishly - oh many different ways. You want to kick them and pull their hair and make them behave.

Oh and I FORGOT. I had a moment of pure GENIUS yesterday while chatting with Peggy.

INTRODUCING:

NaReSoMo!!!!!

National Read on the Sofa Month.


So what month shall it be, my friends January? February? Let's make this big!!!!!

103: she just became radiant within fifteen minutes of being on that campus
I'm enjoying watching her vicariously. You must have have all sorts of emotions.

113: January? February?
February is so bleak; the holidays are gone, spring is a ways off, it needs something.

>114 qebo:: February is so bleak; ... it needs something. Other than my birthday?!
Well, yes, actually, you may be right. :)

Yipppeeeee! I'll vote for February, but I'm sorry that it's such a short little month.

I say it needs to be January AND February, LOL.

I'm leaning toward January, myself.

O.K. I'll vote for January too.

132. contemp f ****
An Unofficial Rose Iris Murdoch

Iris does it again and again and again - conjures up a cast of characters, throws them all into a terrible muddle of cross-purposes and misunderstandings and then let's it all play out. She is of course master-minding it all, but it doesn't feel that way reading it - as you read, even when you are flinching and saying. "Oh NO! Don't!" - each character is always acting according to his or her nature. In each novel Murdoch examines some aspect of character, in this case, the 'unconscious' quality of 'goodness', in every case, a character once conscious, loses the ability to simply live, desires enter in, greed and then scheming and then outcomes...... outcomes that often don't satisfy. The nature of good and evil are Murdoch's constant philosophical interest - not so much the ethics of good and evil, but the actuality, the manifestations of it in human behaviour. In each book as well, things settle, in the end into a kind of balance, better for some than others - no unalloyed happy endings for the good, but no just deserts for the bad, either. ****

133. mys *** ♬
Indian Pipes Cynthia Riggs

No need to say much - Victoria Trumbull is 92 and sprier than me...... she lives on Martha's Vineyard, so it must be that fine salty air. Murder and mayhem, and Victoria saves the day. I liked the setting. The reader was English which was a bit strange. In fact the book was a bit silly in many ways, but perfectly enjoyable while driving around when my standards for what I listen to are less rigorous than what I might ordinarily take on.

134. sf ****1/2
Carpe Diem Sharon Lee Steve Miller

Val Con and Miri are escape various pursuers - and end up stranded, but they do just fine. Meanwhile Clan Korval is beginning to get the idea that the Department of the Interior is up to no good - to be continued in "Plan B". Just plain fun! ****1/2

Man, I've been on a roll this week, a couple of times I've had unexpected unlooked for stretches of reading or driving around ..... I have to go see how many books I managed to read last year, but I think I'm close.

HA!!! I'm right on it. 133 last year and this last was #134!!! Yay!!!!! The goal is 150, of course, a nice even number. Don't know if that's possible unless I scheme a little and am careful about the width of the books I choose......

I think 133 is amazing and you've already passed that. I'm thinking I might, maybe, perhaps make 100 this year which would be pretty amazing for me.

I hate that cover--those people don't look at all like I imagine the characters--but Miri and Val Con rock! And you can take a breath/break after Plan B if you want, but not before. You've got to meet Beautiful.

Oh gee whiz, Roni! I sort of had that feeling - how can I possibly wait?????

That is a terrible cover - I actually have the two books in Agent of Change but it gets so confusing I just list them separately. The cover on that is better, at least Miri is a redhead and tiny and very tough-looking. Val Con is too big, hmm. and maybe he has more Shan's coloring, but oh well. It's too bad the book artists don't pay closer attention, but they don't. The cover of the next volume (that contains Plan B and I Dare is really 'daring'- Miri is barely wearing a top.

Here's what we've got: SNOW. The real deal. I am NOT ready.

I'm going to get in bed and pull the covers up to my chin. Until spring.

Snow?! Oh, do feel free to send it westward, preferably towards Vancouver Island. I miss snow. ;-)

I do hope the novels of Iris Murdoch don't disappear off the radar (I already see that they are more difficult to obtain these days). Especially her earlier novels are uniformly very good.

Reading on the Sofa month? I love to do that every month but the absence of seasons here means that I'll be glad to go along with y'll in more deciduous climes.

Have a lovely weekend.

>127 sibylline:: We are supposed to get ice and sleet tomorrow into Monday. In Dallas. In November.

Craziness.

Enjoy your hibernation!

I'm going to get in bed and pull the covers up to my chin. Until spring. Fine idea, Lucy : ).

Katie, snow in Dallas? Good grief!!

Snow? In Vermont -- yikes! In Dallas -- double yikes!
It's 23F as I write this, which is much colder than yesterday. Winter arrived with a bang I guess.

Picture worth 1000 words.......

The temp is presently 13 F and the wind chill is....... -1. And I have to walk Po! Who, of course, loves it. Was dashing around like a mad thing in the snow this morning when I first let her out!

Definitely time to get started with NaReSoMo a month early!

Missed Posey's birthday... 2 years, really? I still remember the puppy pics. She has lost none of her cuteness!

Such interesting discussions of campus life (completely different from here) and B&Bs (of which we sadly don't have many either). Another great Atwood for my tbr. And snow, yay!
Have a great week!

Oh, I love that picture of the snow. I'm hoping we get some snow this year. I do miss it. 13F is perhaps a bit chilly, but I used to love those frigid days following a good snowfall (back in my Wisconsin days). How does Miss Posey feel about the snow and the cold?

It's very cool how much LD fell in love (is that saying it too strongly?) with SLC, Lucy. I love your descriptions of your efforts to see her as her own person and how it feels to have her setting her sights on your own alma mater. Of course, she is her own person and it sounds like the place would be a good fit for her, differently than it was a good fit for you (of course). The application process blows my mind - I might not have gotten into any college if things had been this way in 1978!

I see that you're continuing your progress through the Iris Murdoch works and they seem to be, overall, landing in the worth-reading pile.

We have snow in the mountains but I don't have time to go up there.

Po was born in November and is a 'winter' dog - that's the first season she knew and there was snow on the ground when we brought her home. She tends to run hot. Every time she has been out today there has been a bit of 'crazy dog' where she runs around like a mad thing, or rolls in the snow, or stops to eat some.

What I'm doing lately Ellen is alternating a Virago with a Murdoch - it's slower but I was finding that I was falling further and further behind with my contemporary fiction (and occasional classics) as reading two of these a month was filling up all that space. Certain kinds of books are too much alike to pile on at the same time. I assume that Iris will end up in the Virago collection, she certainly belongs there.

My spousal unit did point out that her favorite college has been, so far, the one most recently visited. That said, I still think that her response to SLC was different in degree. And I agree about the app process. I have no memory at all of how I managed to get to SLC for my interview/visit- I guess the train from Boston? And where did I stay? I have absolutely no idea! I was so independent at 17! I just figured stuff out and did it.

135. essays, memoir ****
Manhood For Amateurs Michael Chabon

From first to last, all but one or two essays directly engage with what it is to be male: son, husband, or father. More specifically, Chabon looks at what is required for a male person to navigate the modern world. The new 'good' Dad, is he all that much different? or is it still the same old double standard dressed prettier? Is it possible to be manly and carry a murse? Some essays look at wider cultural issues (the evolution of legos, for example), others examine aspects of his own childhood and family (a tendency to OCD). Some essays are more serious than others - one or two gave me goosebumps, such as the one on how the children today do not have the vision of the future that we (brought up on Star Trek 1) had and his brief encounter with David Foster Wallace, a meditation on what might drive someone to suicide. I've never disliked any fiction of Chabon's and these are the first essays I've read, and I would happily read more. ****

Supposed to go down to 5 F tonight! ugh!

"I was so independent at 17! I just figured stuff out and did it."
Lucy, that is so cool. I was quite afraid of the world at age 17 and went to the college where my dad taught out of some combination of laziness and intimidation with the world beyond my experience. It took intentional effort for me to develop courage, but I'm glad that I did.

Stay warm and give Po a pat on the head for me!

I'll bet Po enjoys the snow. We also have snow in our mountains, but none here in town yet. Sometimes we don't get any to speak of in town all winter, but I do like a white Christmas.

4.3 F this a.m. and Miss Po did think that was rather cold, starting hopping around from paw to paw the way dogs do - thank heavens the wind has gone away.

So now I am in a flummox of my own making. Tomorrow I'm off to FL - a combo Thanksgiving/work trip (I'm staying after for what I hope will be THE critical push towards the end) - and - STUPIDLY all the books I'm reading are huge. I have a hardcover Life After Life, for example, so what was I thinking when I picked that up last week???? That will have to go on hold. The Liaden book is a bit of a problem too - it's a double volume with two novels in it..... but I can't stand the idea of leaving it, so I will, like an idiot, take it. We're are flying on el cheapo from Plattsburgh to St. Pete and they charge for EVERYTHING - the naked ticket is chicken feed, but you practically have to pay for bathroom privileges. You get ONE free carry-on that can't be too big. I have tons of stuff in FL. All I really need is work stuff and my concertina and things like my asthma meds. It's too bad that a) I like a big laptop and b) I still am addicted to paper because I seem to think that I'll be bringing quite a lot of it. So much of today needs to go into thinking about all this. (I also have plenty of books to read down there..... but I can't see them or remember what they are! Argh!!!) Oh well, if these are my worst problems!!!
I made a little carry-pack for the concertina out of a bubble-padded mailer - that is so far, my greatest achievement packing-wise. I also sewed four replacement buttons on the wrong side of a cardigan. I really should leave domestic tasks alone, I think sometimes.

Oh dear, Lucy, you poor thing. Hope you get it all sorted out OK and that you have a great trip. FL should be lovely by now.

Hooray for the bubble pack! Boo for the buttons! We certainly are sisters.
You, nevertheless, are as brave and take-charge at ___ as you were at 17, so I have no doubt that I'll be waving to you as you fly over tomorrow, totally organized and ready for some heat!
(I've never been as cold as 5°; 8, yes, but not 5!)

The snow _looks_ pretty, but I'm not ready to think about it yet.

142: THE critical push towards the end
Well that's exciting.

I have yet to read anything by Michael Chabon, though I've browsed a bit in bookstores.

I loved The Yiddish Policeman's Union.

*YPU* is the only Chabon I've read, but I have *K&C* sitting out on the READ IMMEDIATELY table right now. We'll see.

"I also sewed four replacement buttons on the wrong side of a cardigan."
See? I really think cardigans should just be left to their own devices.
(I actually own several, but I never feel 100% comfortable in them.)

I was surprised by how much I liked Kavalier and Clay. I hope you're able to figure out which book(s) to take with you, Lucy!

Ok, so is everybody sitting down? I am taking just ONE book...... and a pile of NYers to toss.

The airline we are flying on has a base line ticket that is very very cheap but then they make you pay for everything, practically even bathroom privs. You get ONE carry-on (and that means ONE, really, ONE) and for some reason we just baulked at paying 50 each for a second bag.... It's a direct flight to St. Pete from Plattsburgh (from the 're-purposed' air force base.) We spend a little more time driving than we do flying, however, but somehow it is worth it. Anyway by that price USPS boxes are extremely competitive!

May I go on a wee rant now? It used to be that you checked your bag. Then there were all the problems with baggage handlers and somehow nothing has been the same since......bags going missing mainly..... people started in with the two bags one for under the seat and one above, but the fact is, messing with bag slows down the planes and the airlines are beginning to hate that, stressed as they are.... plus it is more for the TSA people to have to look through..... times are changing once again. My guess is people will be mailing stuff to destinations as a regular thing soon. I know there is a service that does this, but it still is too expensive - they pick up and drop off, even. This could also be helpful for train travel if Amtrak would just get more with it and accommodate people with pets and lots of luggage...... but there is still the TSA-type headache factor.

Did I say that the book is 800 pages long, actually, two books in one.....

runs away laughing maniacally

Ah, Lucy, soon you will be in lovely, warm Florida and this will all be behind you (until you have to come home, of course). Have a great trip.

Book bullet in the form of the Chabon essays just struck....

Fabulous news about LD... I'm not all that surprised, as my sense of SLC is that it's a place that appeals to individualists. My friend's goddaughter has had her struggles fitting in, including some learning disabilities, but has really flourished in that environment (she's now in her senior year) and has made many firm friendships. And yes, she's in and out of NYC all the time -- it seems a very fluid environment, which is great for exploring something comfortably and safely.

It has been cold enough here to snow, but by the time the precipitation arrives tonight/tomorrow it will be in the form of rain, as the temperature is about to go up! A reminder to go out and rake some leaves while I can. Being on the coast, I get to listen to marine forecasts on NPR, and they are calling for a gale off Narragansett tonight.

"You want to kick them and pull their hair and make them behave" -- bwahaha! The problem with fictional characters is the logistical problems involved in this...

Have a good time in balmy Florida... You might want to ponder that mail option. I shipped some small suitcase FedEx boxes to myself here from Brooklyn, and the tab was only $25. I think a LOT of people are doing this. The only headache is having to sit around and wait for them to arrive so you can sign for 'em at the other end.

Lovely, warm Florida ... ah, yes!

Hopefully your "2-in-1" is the Liaden book!

ETA the only downside is how quickly it goes.

Yep, Roni, it's Plan B and I Dare - I love the Yxtrang, Nelirikk!!! I guess I'll probably just plunge into I Dare!

I'm here safely. Pouring rain! Big weather front and we got here ahead of it.

On my agenda tomorrow is making apple pie. Once that is under control I'll visit threads!

Glad you made it in before the weather. Apple pie sounds good, indeed. Yay for Korval!

I hope you have a great trip, Lucy! I have to admit to being one of those passengers that keeps carry on luggage to a minimum. When I travel home my carry on luggage is my purse and everything else gets checked. I sat in amusement my last plane trip watching as a woman rationalized her newly purchased billowing jacket (tags still on because she was still of two minds to return the product to the store), her enormous mountaineering backpack, her over-sized shoulder bag (as her purse), and her camera equipment (in yet another very large carry on bag) as carry on luggage allowable under the just instated one carry on bag rule. Yes, she actually managed to bring all that on board as carry on luggage, but probably only because the new rule had just be put into place. What annoyed/ disturbed me was that she had been sitting in the waiting area (too far away from the gate attendants for them to hear her) informing her fellow travelers, while waiting for the boarding call, that she never checks luggage - ever. I think you can blame/ thank travelers like her for the restrictions on carry on luggage that you are having to face.

Yes - she is probably the culprit! It was actually quite nice this time with only one under seat bag - none of that worry of dropping something on someone's head. I'm definitely going to get into the mailing stuff ahead whenever I have more than I can manage this method.

Big rain and today will be cool and windy I think, sunny though. "cool" being a relative term.

I have only recently succumbed to the small suitcase to be rolled aboard phenomenon, and that's because of the aforementioned problems with lost/damaged luggage. But I loathe people who are disorganized and puzzled when their big suitcases don't fit overhead and have to be taken from them once they're aboard the plane. Also annoying are the business types, who cart big briefcases and those roll-aboards on (and who usually get to board first) and stuff both in the overhead spaces along with duty free or coats and other stuff, and leave the ordinary folks with nowhere to put a small tote bag. I've no problem with frequent flyers getting free checked luggage but the preference that some of 'em get in terms of carryon luggage can actually result in the rest of us not being forced to stop and pull out a laptop, camera, etc from our small carry on at the gate and clutch it all in our arms as we board, because those extra carryons are taking up all the space to which we're entitled.

OK, climbing down off soapbox!!

Happy Thanksgiving, Lucy! Hope there is some family down there to spend it with.

For the last four years we have been coming down to spend T-giving with my 'courtesy aunt' - the widow of my godfather - we're very good friends. I expect we'll keep on doing it. She and the LD are a good match-up and I like for her (the LD) to get to know someone of that generation.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! May your Turkeys and Tofurkeys cook to perfection!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Happy Thanksgiving, Lucy! Hoping that your day is full of fabulous!

Happy Thanksgiving, Lucy : ).

Happy Turkey and Apple Pie Day!

Happy, happy Thanksgiving Lucy

136. sf/future ****1/2
Love Minus Eighty Will McIntosh

One word: Bridesicles. Yep. The premise you have to accept (without much examination) is that in this future, 100 or so years hence, cryogenics works, but is devilishly expensive. Also you can revive just the brain and face as often as you like, so you can be visited, at $9000 for five minutes. You can be kept frozen for as long as you can afford to buy a plan for - 500 or 1000 years - but the catch is you won't get unfrozen because that costs millions. The comfort in it, is that you COULD be unfrozen, which puts you in a not-quite-dead headspace.... ok.... but the cryogenics facility came up with the idea to preserve really beautiful women so that really rich desperate loser types could ask them if they would be a contract bride. Sounds terrible, but embedded in this story are wonderful characters full of heart and pluck, tons of romance, and some original imaginings about what the future could be like.
All my sf/romance/future friends this is a big winner! A sleeper! *****1/2

My spousal unit found this at the Sarasota Public Library - his words 'I picked it up to see what it was about and I could not put it down.' - I did the same thing, blew through it in two days. DON'T pick it up during a busy work week!

I'm already looking at this with excitement. IF I get Christmas $, I expect that it will land on my Kindle.
Hope you're happily winding down a lovely Thanksgiving!

Lucy - Slowly wending my way through the threads of my American friends to wish them a wonderful thanksgiving weekend. Its your turn!

How deeply bizarre but strangely compelling, Lucy!

Hope you're enjoying the Florida warmth...

137. gothic romp ****Fingersmith Sarah Waters

Ordinarily this sort of book isn't quite my cuppa, but Waters kept up the narrative in a way both quiet and headlong and with the characters sufficiently compelling that I just kept on reading. I'm not one for twisty plots, generally, and this one has about as serpentine a plot as it can get and with a bit more spice than the original gothics ever had..... sort of Dickens meets Cleland..... I probably read it faster than it deserved to be - the writing is so solid and the Victorian details are superb. A gothic romp. ****

>170 sibylline:: this was my introduction to Waters and I really enjoyed it. "A bit more spice" -- he he. Indeed.

So I had a total holiday yesterday - I walk/jogged about four miles, read Fingersmith PRETTY MUCH ALL THE REST OF THE DAY, ate leftover thanksgiving food (no cooking!), and took a hot tub.

Fabulous!

Okay, Love Minus Eighty has immediately gone on the wishlist.

Yesterday sounds wonderful. I'm off for another day of selling crafts.

I guarantee you will love it, Roni.

Hi Lucy, I hope this has been another fabulous day for you in Florida. I must say catching up on your thread has made me nostalgic for Westchester County--Bronxville and White Plains were often destinations for shopping, restaurants and movies. I also enjoyed seeing the picture of your snowy backyard but those major snowfalls are something I don't miss!

I'm looking forward to seeing what college your daughter picks. Sarah Lawrence does sound like a good fit and I think the internships in NYC would be a wonderful experience for her.

Congratulations on getting near the end of your first draft. It sounds like you're making good progress.

And, Love Minus Eighty just when on my library hold list!

Posting here to say that you sold me on Fingersmith... a gothic romp sounds perfect!

Will now follow you to your new thread.