Paul's Books and Stuff in 2013 Part 28

I started off the year with thread photos charting my life. Back to the theme and student days.
When I went to University I stayed in this student house - Lynden House in Coventry. There were 50 students housed there 32 guys and 18 gals and we had so much fun.

Continuing my search for the finest living poet, I turn to John Ashbery.

This is his poem Alcove which reminds me that spring is far off (several thousand kilometres) although the Antipodes are probably enjoying theirs right now.

ALCOVE

Is it possible that spring could be once more approaching? We forget each time what a mindless business it is, porous like sleep, adrift on the horizon, refusing to take sides, "mugwump of the final hour," lest an agenda—horrors!—be imputed to it, and the whole point of its being spring collapse like a hole dug in sand. It's breathy, though, you have to say that for it. And should further seasons coagulate into years, like spilled, dried paint, why, who's to say we weren't provident? We indeed looked out for others as though they mattered, and they, catching the spirit, came home with us, spent the night in an alcove from which their breathing could be heard clearly. But it's not over yet. Terrible incidents happen daily. That's how we get around obstacles.



Born in New York State in 1927.

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 : A Warning from History 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

November

135 Kid by Simon Armitage
136 A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton
137 Silesian Station by David Downing
138 Selected Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks

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
5. Selected Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks

Reading Plan for November

First to finish the pile of unread books from October before my eyes stopped me reading.

Next to concentrate on my category challenges and the TIOLIs but mainly to read whatever the hell I want to.

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 (13/13)
11 Then and Now (13/13)
12 Prize Winners (9/13)
13 Asia Pacific (7/13)

Total Number of Challenges 169

Completed to Date 1165

Percentage Complete 68.05%

Physical Books TBR

Books at Start of Year on KL Shelves - 1,676
Added in 2013 - 854
Read in 2013 - 135

Revised TBR Total - 2,395

Pages to read at start of year - 639,135
Pages added in 2013 - 274,587
Read in 2013 - 37,464
Revised Pages to read - 876,258

3 Kindle books read: Kindle stats in prep.

Current and Upcoming Reading

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.

Is it too soon to jump in, Paul?

Yes. Is it? Because we could always come back later.

What a nice dorm house up top Paul. Any pics from your University days?

Lynden House looks enchanting! The perfect student digs.

Mamie, I think Paul passed out from the effort to construct the 12 posts he needs to start every new thread. Poor dear. We should do something. I think I'll have a cookie.

>17 rosalita: LOL
I think you are right!

eta: how rude! Hello Paul, lovely new thread, and I look forward to the joys it no doubt holds in store for us all.

Poor, poor, Paul! Still out cold, eh? I should come back with a leggy blonde and a frosty pint. That might revive the old boy.

Julia - You win! I don't think you've won yet? So PM me your address and I'll eventually get round to sending you something nice from my pals at Book Depo.

Mamie - I do hope you will come back later too but now is fine also.

Roberta - I think my mum probably still has some; I'll see what I can unearth but I may need her help and she's not IT savvy.

Lucy - It was perfect. A great blend of boys and girls but of course a little too much licence and many late nights.

Julia - I have revived (actually I had to pop into the office) so I don't mind sharing one of those cookies.

Megan - We started threads about the same time this time. I hope to titilate with statistics shortly.

Mark - I should pretend I am cold and then I can enjoy the leggy blonde and frosty pint.

I won? I won! I never win! Woo-hoo!

Here, have one of these triple chocolate beauties to celebrate:
 

Oh, you're awake! Well, here goes anyway:

For a minute I thought I was on Mark's thread but then I realized that the beer/beauties may show up just about anywhere. Nice new thread Paul.

Mark, that's a lotta ... beer for a sickly fella to handle all at once.

Lovely dorm/house in Coventry. Someone please pass that plate of chocolate baked goodies to me! YUM!

Julia - My God those cookies look good. A few weeks into a lifestyle changing fitness regime that is not the sort of temptation I should be looking at!

Mark - The two beauties on the left make me especially thirsty for beer.

Bonnie - Thanks, I am hoping that Mark wasn't intending the beers for sharing!

Julia - You know, I'm suddenly feeling a whole lot better.

Lori - Happy but mainly drunken memories abound of the place. The abiding memories would be of playing soccer with a group of the lads across the road in the park and deciding to form our own society soccer team (we won quite a lot of competitions), eating and chatting in the huge communal kitchen and of spending entire weekends in bed with my first serious love.

The dorm looks lovely. I bet a lot of interesting things happened on that lawn.

I really liked the Asbury poem--thanks for posting it.

Howdy, Paul. Hope your work week is starting out well.

Co-ed back in those days, eh? Guess there was lots of fun.

*yawn*smack*smack*

Oh a new thread. mmm

Need coffee.

I'm wandering back after having been gone for so long. Hope to do some reading today. I'll take some coffee, too, thank you.

Nice to see you rolling along with another new thread. I'm "caught up" now (after skipping all of the last thread, sorry to say.)

Hello Paul. Good to see your student house - looks like a pleasant place to study (and party!)

Hope your work week has started off as positively as your new thread.

Rhonda - Nice to see you. Ashbery is a very direct poet and I will read one of his later collections soon. I must admit that I don't remember that much greenery out the back of the House but there was King Edward VIII School across the road on Warwick Road and a nice park with playing fields across on Spencer Road. The school was built in the same style as Lynden House only posher:


Roni - Working week started great; had a book delivery from Book Depo which I will report below and a gift book from one of Kyran's girlfriends (sweet).

Well RD, I am only following your example. Joe does the coffee best but since you asked:

Karen that is a pretty large espresso and I'll replicate it for you as and when required my dear. No problem just to dip into the threads wherever you jolly well feel like. I showed a coupe of my staff your house today and they couldn't believe that the States could have a house like yours at under $500,000.

Calm; thanks. I don't remember much studying going on.

BOOKS!

Firstly a nice surprise from the young lady who you may recall I discussed the merits of Eliot and Wendy Cope and Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney (she is just 15 too!) at the bookstore yesterday. She passed to Kyran a book she bought for his "cool" Dad. Wow since when was poetry cool?!

Perfect picture spoilt by the fact that it was a fantasy novel (we also discussed that I loved Jo Walton - and ok I bought her Among Others). So I added her gift:

Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan, to my collection.

as I was glowing from that I then came back from a very successful meeting to find that Book Depo had delivered 9 books to the office:
Tudors by Peter Ackroyd
Post War by Tony Judt
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
Touch Wood : Poems and a Story by Dannie Abse (no touchstone)
The Hawk in the Rain by Ted Hughes
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Phantom Fortune by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Maggie, A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
South Riding by Winifred Holtby

791 physical books in 2013

Ha! I should see if we can ship it over to you….

I read an assessment of the house by a "objective" source recently and was interested to see they called it below average construction, too. It is a typical developer house. They bought some farm land which was part "wet lands" and divided it up into small lots and slapped up over 100 cottages, ranging from two bedroom/one bath to four bedrooms/three bathrooms. Interesting. The popular area for living these days is in the city where transportation to work is easy - bicycles, transit etc. Small spaces. A very real retreat from the "flight to the suburbs" we experienced in the late 1900s. I liked it when I bought it for being close to my niece's home, and for having access to a little "forest" and has a little, manageable yard, and a garage for my precious car.

Thank your for the espresso. I think it will do for me this morning. I'm going to settle down in the office and try to get some work done, or maybe some reading.

I will keep my fingers and toes crossed for you, Karen, that the bittersweet experience of moving is quick, painless and profitable.

Thank you, very much, Paul. I am hoping for the same three items. (-:

Monday again? I was up early! Shouldn't this be Tuesday by now?

#34 I know you're not a fantasy fan - but Canavan's series is rather good... go on go on go on...

Karen - I have positive vibes about a sale coming soon. xx

RD - Already is Tuesday here dear fellow. 3.00 a.m. in fact. My "lovely" wife woke me via telephone at 2.00 a.m. to inform me that the midnight movie she had watched with her friend had finished and "did I fancy bringing her home?" I hope when I get back to sleep and awake it is still Tuesday.

Bekka - I was so touched by the gift that I will definitely read it as I will be worried that I bump into young Ruby and she seeks out my opinion.

But it is Tuesday ........

I'm living on Asia/Pacific time. Here on the Atlantic coast of America, it's Monday afternoon and I'm not happy about it.

>40 PaulCranswick: "did I fancy bringing her home?"
haha! That is an odd request seeing as it was not pre-arranged. So I take it you didn't fancy? I wouldn't have fancied, I don't think.

Tuesday morning here, 957am. I must away to get a costume made for Wilburs school production :)
He has been fastidiously practicing his "dance moves". One involved putting one arm up, then the other, then one arm out, then the other. After this complex series of movements, he sighed and smiled saying "that was hard".

Alex - and it is still Tuesday, thankfully and the first day of the Islamic New Year. Violence is not permitted during this month so it will be interesting to see if it makes any difference to the fruitcakes in the Middle East.

RD - As it is probably nice and cool Eastern Time right now I would gladly swap you mate. I don't think you'd revel in the 36 degree heat yesterday.

Megan - It wasn't really optional, I surmised.
Wilbur, as we all know, will go far. I hate dancing with a passion or should I more accurately say it hates me.

Strangely enough, Paul, it's 36° now! Of course, mine is Fahrenheit, and it suits me beautifully.

Had to LOL at this It wasn't really optional, I surmised. I bet not!

It is 25 degrees F here at 8:23PM. There will be some frost on the pumpkin in the morning I'd say. The good news is, it will be Tuesday.

thank you Paul, your intuitions may be working, I've had a favorable conversation with the real estate gal, no offers yet, but all the preliminary comments… and questions…. from two parties. Can you smell a bidding war? oh, shhhh I'd better not get "too big for my britches" as my Mom would say.

Still Monday evening here, definitely having frost on our pumpkins here.

Hahaha RD, I did wonder whether I'd get a retort in Fahrenheit.

Heidi - Frost on the pumpkins? Very poetic for a Tuesday morning.

Karen - As I said fingers, toes and everything else I can safely and decently contort are crossed for you.

Hey Paul, I'm just wondering when Mr Bear will be old enough to meet nice young women who will give me book recommendations... Sounds like an unexpected plus to having kids - meeting new book aficionados! :)

I must say Tania that I get a real kick out of interacting with Yasmyne, Kyran and Belle's friends. Kyran is surprisingly tall for his age - 5 ft 9 at 14 and his best buddy is, shall we say, petit. Yesterday I collected Kyran from his friend's house and said to the friend: "Hey! Faslan let's see who is the tallest now". He gamely lined up next to his oversized friend before realising it was me he was measuring up against!
Always lovely to see you on your flying visits to the 75ers. xx

44 > Lets hope so, it will be a pleasant surprise if so ........

Indeed, Alex

STAT TIME:

UPDATE ON POSTING/THREAD LEAGUE

Been a while but here is the update for those interested. By my reckoning 245 individual's threads now have garnered more than 50 posts. Here they are:

1 PaulCranswick (Paul) 8026
2 richardderus (Richard) 7376
3 msf59 (Mark) 6190
4 jnwelch (Joe) 5290
5 Crazymamie (Mamie) 5047
6 EBT 1002 (Ellen) 3972
7 Ape (Stephen) 3484
8 kidzdoc (Darryl) 3430
9 mckait (Kath) 3429
10 ireadthereforiam (Megan) 3338
11 scaifea (Amber) 2606
12 cameling (Caro) 2311
13 katiekrug (Katie) 2237
14 brenzi (Bonnie) 2222
15 ronincats (Roni) 2171
16 norabelle414 (Nora) 2121
17 sibyx (Lucy) 2105
18 LizzyD (Peggy) 2091
19 bahzah (Cee) 2060
20 Whisper1 (Linda) 2053
21 Donna828 (Donna) 2013
22 Morphidae (Morphy) 1993
23 TinaV95 (Tina) 1947
24 SandDune (Rhian) 1926
25 Chatterbox (Suz) 1838
26 wilkiec (Diana) 1690
27 Maggie1944 (Karen) 1664
28 lit_chick (Nancy) 1550
29 UnrulySun (Kathy) 1502
30 leahbird (Leah) 1501
31 ChelleBearss (Chelle) 1417
32 DorsVenabili (Kerri) 1387
33 drachenbraut23 (Bianca) 1343
34 MickyFine (Micky) 1333
35 DeltaQueen50 (Judy) 1313
36 Esquiress (Es) 1293
37 tymfos (Terri) 1285
38 susanj67 (Susan) 1274
39 lyzard (Liz) 1227
40 saraslibrary (Sara) 1220
41 lindapanzo (Linda) 1165
42 Vancouverdeb (Deb) 1154
43 AMQS (Anne) 1087
44 souloftherose (Heather) 1058
45 BLBera (Beth) 1038
46 cbl_tn (Carrie) 1035
47 rosalita (Julia) 1029
48 bohemima (Gail) 1015
49 lauralkeet (Laura) 1010
50 thornton37814 (Lori) 983
51 Carmenere (Lynda) 969
52 RebaRelishesReading (Reba) 966
53 Avatiakh (Kerry) 954
54 Dejah_Thoris 946
55 Coppers (Joanne) 917
56 lkernagh (Lori) 903
57 alcottacre (Stasia) 881
58 paulstalder (Paul) 862
59 Smiler69 (Ilana) 859
60 phebj (Pat) 856
61 gennyt (Genny) 844
62 bell7 (Mary) 838
63 The_Hibernator (Rachel) 805
64 labwriter (Becky) 793
65 luvamystery65 (Roberta) 775
66 Humouress (Nina) 696
67 drneutron (Jim) 686
68 porch_reader (Amy) 619
69 Berly (Kim) 610
70 cyderry (Cheli) 575
71 Cobscook (Heidi) 574
72 tututhefirst (Tina) 573
73 ctpress (Carsten) 571
74 BekkaJo (Bekka) 568
75 alsvidur (Emilie) 565
76 cushlareads (Cushla) 559
77 tloeffler (Terri) 554
78 qebo (Katherine) 544
79 Deern (Nathalie) 543
80 SqueakyChu (Madeline) 502
81 Inge87 (Jennifer) 491
82 streamsong (Janet) 487
83 Nittnut (Jenn) 484
84 Foggidawn 483
85 Calm 478
86 banjo123 (Rhonda) 476
87 tiffin (Tui) 450
88 laytonwoman3rd (Linda) 437
89 Swynn (Stephen) 427
90 johnsimpson (John) 423
91 Luxx 421
92 LauraBrook (Laura) 416
93 Mirrordrum (Ellie) 405
94 beserene (Sarah) 404
95 brenpike (Brenda) 404
96 fourpawz2 (Charlotte) 404
97 rebeccanyc (Rebecca) 403
98 kassilem (Melis) 399
99 PawsforThought (Paws) 398
100 karenmarie (Karen) 382
101 cammykitty (Katie) 381
102 ErisofDiscord (Eris) 381
103 dk_phoenix (Faith) 375
104 mstrust (Jennifer) 349
105 Samantha_kathy (Samantha) 347
106 RosyLibrarian (Marie) 338
107 bluesalamanders (Blue) 336
108 lovelyluck (Jennifer) 333
109 Zoe 327
110 fuzzi 323
111 ffortsa (Judy) 320
112 PersephonesLibrary (Kathy) 313
113 NielsenGW (Gerard) 312
114 Ursula 304
115 sjmccreary (Sandy) 299
116 klobrien2 (Karen O) 296
117 weejane (Brit) 294
118 lunacat (Jenny) 293
119 TadAD (Tad) 291
120 Storeetllr (Mary) 285
121 whitewavedarling (Jen) 283
122 elliepotten (Ellie) 266
123 majkia (Jean) 255
124 Linda92007 (Linda) 246
125 lycomayflower (Laura) 245
126 AnneDC (Anne) 243
127 fairywings (Adrienne) 228
128 PrueGallagher (Prue) 225
129 JustJoey4 (Monica) 219
130 roundballnz (Alex) 219
131 xieouyang (Manuel) 208
132 SugarCreekRanch (Carol) 205
133 HanGerg (Hannah) 201
134 tapestry100 (David) 201
135 arubabookwoman (Deborah) 199
136 PiyushC (Piyush) 199
137 seasonoflove (Becca) 196
138 AuntieClio (Stephanie) 192
139 Tanglewood (Michelle) 191
140 susanna.fraser (Susanna) 189
141 crazy4reading (Monica) 182
142 Eyejaybee (James) 179
143 lilkim714 (kimberlee) 179
144 Katelism (Katie) 174
145 scvlad (Steve) 174
146 aktakukac (Rachel) 171
147 vivians (Vivian) 169
148 mskeens (Monica) 159
149 CDVicarage (Kerry) 155
150 Emrayfo (Charles) 152
151 torontoc (Cyrel) 152
152 Cariola 151
153 suslyn (Susan) 150
154 kiwiflowa (Lisa) 147
155 jadebird (Renee) 141
156 RandyMetcalfe 139
157 BBGirl (Bryony) 136
158 markon (Ardene) 136
159 yoyogod (Nathan) 134
160 jjmcgaffey (Jennifer) 131
161 sandykaypax (Sandy) 131
162 chexmix (Glenn) 129
163 LibraryLover23 126
164 susiesharp (Susie) 124
165 plt (Peg) 122
166 Familyhistorian (Meg) 121
167 Mercury57 (Karen) 121
168 Beeg (Brenda) 118
169 aquascum 117
170 amanda4242 116
171 Cynara 116
172 Oregonreader (Jan) 116
173 thomasandmary (Regina) 116
174 Elkiedee (Luci) 114
175 kmartin802 (Kathy) 111
176 curlysue (Kara) 108
177 PensiveCat (Catherine) 108
178 mmignano11 (Mary Beth) 105
179 apachecat (Jess) 103
180 Rbeffa (Ron) 102
181 HelenBaker (Helen) 99
182 Helenoel 99
183 Jodyreadseverything (Jody) 99
184 lulu150 99
185 ccookie (Cathy) 98
186 KarenElissa 98
187 cal8769 (Carrie) 94
188 JechtShot (Nick) 94
189 meanderer (Tony) 93
190 xymon 90
191 tigerlyly (Liliana) 89
192 Sandydog1 (Steve) 87
193 tjblue (Tammy) 87
194 Sanddancer 86
195 mausergem (Gautam) 85
196 cpg (mitchma) (Paula) 81
197 applebook1 (Yoona) 80
198 bookiebeth 80
199 kgodey (Kriti) 80
200 lalbro (Liz) 80
201 hairballsrus (Chris & Paula) 79
202 bohemiangirl35 (Sacil) 78
203 karspeak 77
204 Tafadhali (Emma) 77
205 TomKitten (Stephen) 77
206 Oberon (Erik) 76
207 blackdogbooks (Mac) 75
208 HenriMoreaux (Henri) 75
209 KimD66 74
210 muddy21 (Marilyn) 74
211 jayde1599 (Jess) 71
212 mahsdad (Jeff) 71
213 Deedledee (Dee) 70
214 flissp (Fliss) 70
215 Ganeshaka (Gregory) 69
216 That Guy Zero 68
217 Dara85 67
218 ipsoivan (Maggie) 67
219 JenMDB 66
220 librarian1204 (Kathleen) 66
221 madamediotte 66
222 Sir Thomas 66
223 willie costello 66
224 magicians nephew (Jim) 65
225 kirconnell 63
226 Octane (Jan) 63
227 no1bookaddict 62
228 KSZR 61
229 dulcibelle (Riva) 60
230 billiejean (B.J.) 59
231 Bumpersmom (Sue) 59
232 topcat21 (Tom) 58
233 benuathanasia 57
234 brucekrafft 56
235 allthesedarnbooks (Marcia) 55
236 DFED 55
237 kkunker 55
238 ladylenneth (Melissa) 55
239 prop2gether 54
240 Tangledthread 53
241 JBD1 (Jeremy) 52
242 Sarabird (Sara) 52
243 goonergirl1982 (Rosalind) 51
244 BBleil (Beth) 50
245 CatyM 50

STATS:

BOOK READING LEAGUE:

A note on method.
Apparently I am a human being and therefore prone to error. The following is as accurate as I am able but depends upon the individuals own posting. I check every thread to produce the record and the methods used by each of us to record how many books we are reading varies greatly. Some, Jim (Magician's Nephew) for example, keep no discernible list and I calculate by reading the posts and adding them up as I go. Some such as Luci rarely update their threads (too busy reading!) and in her case I have conveniently taken her total from her profile page (library cataloguing).
Sure not free from error so I would welcome corrections.
A-D threads were updated yesterday so books posted today won't probably make it onto this this.

1 Chatterbox (Suz) 369
2 alsvidur (Emilie) 340
3 That Guy Zero 285
4 suslyn (Susan) 284
5 Morphidae (Morphy) 249
6 Inge87 (Jennifer) 240
7 Elkiedee (Luci) 235
8 HenriMoreaux (Henri) 202
9 NielsenGW (Gerard) 188
10 kassilem (Melis) 180
11 Whisper1 (Linda) 176
12 Avatiakh (Kerry) 168
13 DeltaQueen50 (Judy) 161
14 souloftherose (Heather) 156
15 Foggidawn 154
16 jjmcgaffey (Jennifer) 153
17 saraslibrary (Sara) 151
18 thornton37814 (Lori) 151
19 susanj67 (Susan) 146
20 LauraBrook (Laura) 145
21 ronincats (Roni) 145
22 msf59 (Mark) 144
23 CDVicarage (Kerry) 143
24 Deern (Nathalie) 143
25 vivians (Vivian) 142
26 yoyogod (Nathan) 141
27 amanda4242 137
28 Crazymamie (Mamie) 136
29 Eyejaybee (James) 136
30 cameling (Caro) 135
31 cbl_tn (Carrie) 134
32 PaulCranswick (Paul) 134
33 Dejah_Thoris 133
34 rosalita (Julia) 133
35 scaifea (Amber) 133
36 paulstalder (Paul) 129
37 Octane (Jan) 128
38 richardderus (Richard) 128
39 tloeffler (Terri) 128
40 arubabookwoman (Deborah) 127
41 lyzard (Liz) 127
42 JBD1 (Jeremy) 126
43 aktakukac (Rachel) 125
44 sibyx (Lucy) 125
45 Swynn (Stephen) 125
46 lindapanzo (Linda) 123
47 ChelleBearss (Chelle) 121
48 lilkim714 (kimberlee) 121
49 brenpike (Brenda) 120
50 mckait (Kath) 120
51 jnwelch (Joe) 119
52 Smiler69 (Ilana) 117
53 Nittnut (Jenn) 116
54 bluesalamanders (Blue) 114
55 cpg (mitchma) (Paula) 114
56 kmartin802 (Kathy) 113
57 prop2gether 113
58 torontoc (Cyrel) 112
59 tymfos (Terri) 112
60 DFED 111
61 klobrien2 (Karen O) 107
62 kidzdoc (Darryl) 106
63 Cobscook (Heidi) 104
64 Donna828 (Donna) 103
65 mstrust (Jennifer) 102
66 susanna.fraser (Susanna) 100
67 benuathanasia 99
68 Calm 99
69 seasonoflove (Becca) 98
70 Storeetllr (Mary) 98
71 tututhefirst (Tina) 98
72 lulu150 97
73 UnrulySun (Kathy) 97
74 RosyLibrarian (Marie) 96
75 Sarabird (Sara) 95
76 fuzzi 94
77 ireadthereforiam (Megan) 94
78 AnneDC (Anne) 93
79 rebeccanyc (Rebecca) 93
80 bell7 (Mary) 92
81 cyderry (Cheli) 92
82 BLBera (Beth) 91
83 drneutron (Jim) 89
84 hairballsrus (Chris & Paula) 89
85 porch_reader (Amy) 89
86 SandDune (Rhian) 89
87 lovelyluck (Jennifer) 87
88 EBT 1002 (Ellen) 86
89 kkunker 86
90 SugarCreekRanch (Carol) 86
91 lkernagh (Lori) 85
92 RebaRelishesReading (Reba) 85
93 susiesharp (Susie) 85
94 wilkiec (Diana) 84
95 majkia (Jean) 83
96 whitewavedarling (Jen) 83
97 aquascum 82
98 AuntieClio (Stephanie) 82
99 TinaV95 (Tina) 82
100 Jodyreadseverything (Jody) 81
101 streamsong (Janet) 81
102 banjo123 (Rhonda) 79
103 karenmarie (Karen) 79
104 luvamystery65 (Roberta) 79
105 LibraryLover23 ( 78
106 LizzyD (Peggy) 78
107 gennyt (Genny) 77
108 Oregonreader (Jan) 77
109 KarenElissa 76
110 ladylenneth (Melissa) 76
111 Luxx 76
112 Mirrordrum (Ellie) 76
113 xymon 76
114 chexmix (Glenn) 75
115 bookiebeth 74
116 ccookie (Cathy) 74
117 katiekrug (Katie) 74
118 Sanddancer 74
119 Tafadhali (Emma) 74
120 brenzi (Bonnie) 73
121 kgodey (Kriti) 73
122 KimD66 73
123 madamediotte 73
124 RandyMetcalfe 73
125 tapestry100 (David) 73
126 bohemima (Gail) 72
127 cammykitty (Katie) 72
128 bahzah (Cee) 71
129 Deedledee (Dee) 71
130 MickyFine (Micky) 71
131 BekkaJo (Bekka) 70
132 laytonwoman3rd (Linda) 69
133 Ursula 69
134 Familyhistorian (Meg) 68
135 Helenoel 68
136 johnsimpson (John) 68
137 Sir Thomas 67
138 JenMDB 66
139 markon (Ardene) 66
140 applebook1 (Yoona) 65
141 BBGirl (Bryony) 65
142 librarian1204 (Kathleen) 65
143 mskeens (Monica) 65
144 sjmccreary (Sandy) 65
145 Cynara 64
146 flissp (Fliss) 64
147 HelenBaker (Helen) 64
148 Sandydog1 (Steve) 64
149 drachenbraut23 (Bianca) 63
150 Cariola 62
151 Ganeshaka (Gregory) 62
152 thomasandmary (Regina) 62
153 AMQS (Anne) 61
154 bohemiangirl35 (Sacil) 61
155 Humouress (Nina) 61
156 PiyushC (Piyush) 60
157 Rbeffa (Ron) 60
158 alcottacre (Stasia) 59
159 brucekrafft 59
160 ipsoivan (Maggie) 59
161 norabelle414 (Nora) 59
162 Oberon (Erik) 59
163 curlysue (Kara) 58
164 Dara85 58
165 qebo (Katherine) 58
166 SqueakyChu (Madeline) 58
167 tjblue (Tammy) 58
168 meanderer (Tony) 57
169 dk_phoenix (Faith) 56
170 DorsVenabili (Kerri) 56
171 labwriter (Becky) 56
172 lit_chick (Nancy) 56
173 lycomayflower (Laura) 56
174 no1bookaddict 56
175 tiffin (Tui) 56
176 mmignano11 (Mary Beth) 55
177 sandykaypax (Sandy) 55
178 Bumpersmom (Sue) 54
179 Coppers (Joanne) 54
180 dulcibelle (Riva) 54
181 mahsdad (Jeff) 54
182 scvlad (Steve) 54
183 KSZR 53
184 Tangledthread 53
185 topcat21 (Tom) 53
186 CatyM 52
187 Esquiress (Es) 52
188 lunacat (Jenny) 52
189 PensiveCat (Catherine) 52
190 TomKitten (Stephen) 52
191 The_Hibernator (Rachel) 51
192 xieouyang (Manuel) 51
193 fourpawz2 (Charlotte) 50
194 magicians nephew (Jim) 50
195 Vancouverdeb (Deb) 50
196 lauralkeet (Laura) 49
197 ctpress (Carsten) 48
198 fairywings (Adrienne) 48
199 lalbro (Liz) 48
200 JechtShot (Nick) 47
201 Ape (Stephen) 46
202 Zoe 46
203 apachecat (Jess) 45
204 leahbird (Leah) 45
205 Berly (Kim) 44
206 mausergem (Gautam) 44
207 Carmenere (Lynda) 43
208 crazy4reading (Monica) 43
209 karspeak 43
210 kirconnell 43
211 BBleil (Beth) 42
212 JustJoey4 (Monica) 42
213 PersephonesLibrary (Kathy) 42
214 Beeg (Brenda) 41
215 jayde1599 (Jess) 41
216 cal8769 (Carrie) 40
217 ffortsa (Judy) 39
218 kiwiflowa (Lisa) 38
219 HanGerg (Hannah) 37
220 Emrayfo (Charles) 36
221 TadAD (Tad) 36
222 beserene (Sarah) 35
223 elliepotten (Ellie) 34
224 Linda92007 (Linda) 34
225 PrueGallagher (Prue) 34
226 weejane (Brit) 34
227 allthesedarnbooks (Marcia) 33
228 roundballnz (Alex) 33
229 muddy21 (Marilyn) 31
230 jadebird (Renee) 30
231 willie costello 30
232 phebj (Pat) 29
233 PawsforThought (Paws) 28
234 Maggie1944 (Karen) 27
235 billiejean (B.J.) 26
236 goonergirl1982 (Rosalind) 25
237 Tanglewood (Michelle) 23
238 tigerlyly (Liliana) 23
239 cushlareads (Cushla) 22
240 Katelism (Katie) 20
241 Samantha_kathy (Samantha) 20
242 blackdogbooks (Mac) 18
243 plt (Peg) 16
244 ErisofDiscord (Eris) 15
245 Mercury57 (Karen) 15

It has not been my best year for reading, but as usual, I'm enjoying what I do find time to read! Thanks for the stats, they are fascinating.

I'm behind where I've been the last couple of years. I did a triple and then some last year. I did a triple the year before. I've exceeded a double this year, but I have no chance of reading the amount of books needed for a triple this year (unless I go sit in the picture book section at the public library and just read and review, which I'm unlikely to do just to get numbers up). I'd like to get to 175, but I'm not even sure that is doable.

Karen - As someone who has recently had a little bit of issue with the eyes I can only marvel you managed to read so much before getting your eyes more or less sorted.

Lori - I will do the double for the first time in three attempts on LT. I always make three figures but since I came to Malaysia I have rarely exceeded 150 and never 200. Back in my college days I was at about 5 books a week but I'll need to get retired to do that now!

Our university students say that they don't have time to read. I find that sad. In all honesty, there are a few who make time to read. Those will be the life-long readers. Most of the ones who make the excuse will probably not read much as adults.

Lori - I agree, they shouldn't be in university if they don't have time to read.

I should catch up with some missing reviews:

131.

Nazis : A Warning from History by Laurence Rees

Apparently written to accompany a documentary film commissioned by the BBC this is certainly cinemagraphic in scope and realisation.

Rees sought out survivors of the Nazi regime from all sides: War criminals, Wehrmacht generals, Nazi sympathisers, resisters, survivors of the holocaust from european jewry, communists and left wingers from across Europe and especially Russia.

Fascinating and immediately vivid. Learned and illuminating without being academically intimidating this is a great introduction to the subject and important reading for the coming generations who are beginning to forget the lessons that should have been gleaned for ever by the sacrifices forced upon a generation.

Recommended.

8/10

So fun to drop in here and see some new stats to pore over, Paul! I'm ahead of my reading pace of last year, when I notched 150 books, which is a bit surprising to me. I probably won't exceed it by much as reading tends to slow toward the end of the year when other activities increase. But we'll see.

Hurrah for all of us who have read even one book this year! Too many people in this world don't even manage that. I feel a bit sad about that.

Julia, It is strange that I attract so many comments from people because I always have a book with me. I would be lost frankly in my spare moments without the recourse to one of my latest reads. Especially noticeable is the looks I get (mainly of astonishment) when I have a poetry anthology with me: it's like "who reads that shit anymore?" - a worry certainly for the future.

I know I spoke to someone last week who said they were "lucky" if they read one book of year. I was the one with a look of astonishment on my face.

I'm embarrassed to say how far behind I am in posting my book reviews. I'm going to try to get caught up the next day or two.

132.

The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven

This was a phenomenally successful when first published in 1971. Candid and urbane, very much his screen persona in fact, Niven comes across as a witty, generous and warm individual. He admits to various indiscretions of a sexual nature but is quite the gentleman in not naming any names.

He was the participant in two whirlwind marriages. The first to a forces sweetheart met during the war who tragically died in a fall at Tyrone Power's house. Secondly he married a Swedish beauty whom he obviously loved to distraction and who apparently treated Niven cruelly in later life. These matters are not dealt with in this volume of autobiography.

In some ways the telling of his life is a shade formulaic and slightly dated but that probably accentuates the debonair charm of the man if anything. Enjoyable.

7/10

Morphy - I was surprised actually reading through your thread today that you hadn't added any books as read for the longest time. I hope that the health issues you have been dealing with are not getting you down too much. xx

133.

The Chef at War by Alexis Soyer.

It seems that M. Soyer was the first Celebrity Chef in the mid 1800s. This is ostensibly about his efforts, at great personal risk and considerable expense, to improve the diet of the British forces during the Crimean campaign.

Some of his recipes are extremely interesting and he charmingly calls them "receipts" and he introduced a type of field cooking stove that was still being deployed by the army 100 years later.

Ringing with self-importance as it is, the book is of value as a record of its time. Soyer did, it is recorded, succeed together with Florence Nightingale and others, in improving the lot of the common soldier and making them healthy. Didn't quite have the desired impact on Soyer himself though as he returned from the Crimea in ill-health and died shortly thereafter.

6/10

134.

Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan

This novel apparently won the Bram Stoker prize. Poor fellow must be spinning in his grave but this was absolute pap.

Premise improbable, characterisation both wooden and flimsy. I couldn't have cared less what happened to any of the characters a few garrulous chapters in.

That I finished it had more to do with TIOLI and not knowing how to delete books from my Kindle.

Finally a word about the inane chapter headings. Rot.

I am not a fan of the genre it is true, but this would be bad whatever the genre. I am going to go back and check the shortlist of the Bram Stoker Prize that this book defeated and make damn sure I don't read anything that a panel of obviously dimwits thought this better than.

3/10

Hmmmm. That's a shame. I've enjoyed some of her earlier work.

>62 PaulCranswick: *perk* I am completely in sympathy with this attitude towards poetickallnesse!! How can I sign on to promote the long-overdue death of poultry as a popular medium for expressing one's inner thoughts, which if they were of the slightest interest to others would be matters of common conversation so belt up already?? Where do I go and how much money do I need to bring?

Is it my imagination or are the stats, for all but the top 5, down this year over last?

I'm glad to see you're doing better Paul....

Thanks for the stats updates! You never cease to amaze me with your ability to crunch those numbers!

I didn't rate it quite as badly as you, 5 out of 10, but still...

"Meh. Not scary. Somewhat interesting character study but I found it hard to like any of the main characters, especially the boyfriend. Won't read anything else by this author."

Jim - I don't know how much it is me not liking the genre and how much it was rubbish. I read the reviews on the workpage and there were as many in sympathy with my view as thought it wonderful.

RD - There must be some verse or poetry that hits the spot with you? Ginsberg? Pound? Auden? No? Ok I surrender. Will check on last year at the same time and let you know.

Tina - It seemed to take me longer than normal this time. Around 6 hours solid in truth and it doesn't normally take nearly so long.

Morphy - Still we both didn't like it. That is rare enough in itself to deal a killer blow to the book. xx

I wouldn't toss all the Stoker Awards out though. Here's the ones I've read.

American Gods - Neil Gaiman - 8/10
Audrey's Door - Sarah Langan - 5/10
Bag of Bones - Stephen King - 7/10
Boy's Life - Robert McCammon - 7/10
The Green Mile - Stephen King (many years since I've read it, but at least a 7, maybe an 8)
Misery - Stephen King - 8/10
Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris - 8/10
Swan Song by Robert McCammon - (many years since I've read it, but a favorite end of the world story)
Zombie by Joye Carol Oates - 7/10

Morphy, I did mean the ones specifically that Audrey's Door prevailed over. I do intend to read some Stephen King soon.

Richard. To compare with last year the top twenty threads at the beginning of November were:

1 Paul 7952
2 Richard 7346
3 Kath 6504
4 Joe 6431
5 Mark 6126
6 Mamie 4470
7 Darryl 4002
8 Stephen 3976
9 Ilana 3890
10 Claudia 3590
11 Caro 3148
12 Amber 3124
13 Megan 3016
14 Donna 2787
15 Bonnie 2552
16 Lucy 2514
17 Ellen 2491
18 Chelle 2467
19 Suzanne 2234
20 Linda 2201

2013 top twenty at the same time

1 PaulCranswick (Paul) 8026
2 richardderus (Richard) 7376
3 msf59 (Mark) 6190
4 jnwelch (Joe) 5290
5 Crazymamie (Mamie) 5047
6 EBT 1002 (Ellen) 3972
7 Ape (Stephen) 3484
8 kidzdoc (Darryl) 3430
9 mckait (Kath) 3429
10 ireadthereforiam (Megan) 3338
11 scaifea (Amber) 2606
12 cameling (Caro) 2311
13 katiekrug (Katie) 2237
14 brenzi (Bonnie) 2222
15 ronincats (Roni) 2171
16 norabelle414 (Nora) 2121
17 sibyx (Lucy) 2105
18 LizzyD (Peggy) 2091
19 bahzah (Cee) 2060
20 Whisper1 (Linda) 2053

You and I are almost the exact same figures as last year.
Mark has maintained and jumped over Kath and Joe. Kath is at about 55% of last years activity.
Slightly down it is true overall.

Last year at this time Nora was 30th with 1,363 post
This year Leah has over 1,500

Last year Gail was 40th with 1,150 posts
This year Sara has 1,220 in 40th

Last year Anne (AnneDC) was 50th with 860 posts
This year Lori has 963

Last year Cynara was 100th with 341 posts
This year it is Karen Marie with 382 posts

Last year at this stage 194 had 100 posts
This year it is 180.

Add it all up and not so different I suppose overall.

<58 Have pity! I didn' t have time to "read" when I was at university either. I was only able to be there by holding down a job, sometimes full-time, in addition to taking a full course load. I did read, but it was all related to my classes. After university I was working and seemed to always be behind with my professional reading (I did have a son, husband and house to look after too). The greatest joy of my retirement is being able to read for pleasure so, you see, I never lost the love of reading even though I couldn't indulge it for many years.

But Reba when you "weren't reading", how many books would you complete on average per year? I don't believe it was ever zero.

>76 PaulCranswick: Aha! I see...the trend is flat-to-down. Interesting that we're almost precisely the same pace as last year! What will 2014 bring, one wonders. Who will out-Mamie Mamie, f/ex?

I'm going to be out-Mamied? Oh, dear!

Happens to the best of us, me lurve, you out-Ilana'd Ilana....

Love the stats mate, can't believe I've made it into the top 100 in the posting league and am on track for 75 books by the end of the month.

I see Warney is up to his old tricks again but Beefy is heading there after his charity walk in Sri Lanka so will sort him out.

RD - The posting numbers of Mark, Linda, yourself and myself are a little eerie in fact. I thought Es was going to do a Mamie this year before she went and got herself incarcerated in her own home but the leading newcomer (post-wise) is Tina followed by Holland's own Diana. One trend is the falling off of posts on Canadian threads. Chelle is too busy making babies and Ilana is taking a breather pretty much whilst Deb has also almost abandoned her own thread. Nancy has the most posts of any Canadian in 28th place in comparison to Ilana who this time was in the top ten and Chelle in the top 20.

Mamie - You'll be a phenom here always methinks.

RD - I suppose Paul S has just about out Paul'd me too this year as he has added almost identically the same physical books to his collection as I have this year.

John - I commented to myself yesterday when I saw you cemented safely in the top 100 "John will be pleased". Glad you noticed mate. I think the Aussies are going to push us all the way this time.

*hanging in there in top 10*

Hi Paul- Thanks for the stats! I like taking a look at them, every once in awhile. One thing you have to say about the top 3. We sure are consistent. That is almost scary.
I also love looking at the amount this group reads: Wow! I am so lucky, I have my audios to add to the mix, otherwise I would be far down in the nether regions.
Hope the week is going well.

Megan - This year your posts are ten per cent up on last year and you are one of the few that can say so. You lead the way for the antipodes for the second straight year. Also increased substantially is your reading volume which I seem to recall you predicting that you'd never surpass 2012.

Mark - If I am not mistaken nobody is getting as many posts as you presently. The smart money should be on you for next year! RD seems fated to end up 2nd and will have done so for the third straight year. 2011 the leading poster was Stephen (Ape) who has been 8th and 7th subsequently.
You reading this year is also up on last years if I'm not mistaken.

I was interested to see that the Crime Writer's Association has voted The Murder of Roger Ackroyd the best example of the crime novel ever written.

What do you all think?
Could we come up with our own shortlist?

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-murder-of-roger-a...

I didn't read much "for fun" in Uni, probably in the summer holidays. If I picked up a book to read in Uni I would feel guilty because there was always, always, something I could be reading for my courses. History and Politics - there was no such thing as finishing the reading list.

Lisa - I started on politics, english and history which basically involved reading. Even after I switched to construction management I carried on reading. Probably why I am scraping a living in Malaysia nowadays!

I must preface the next comments by first saying that I am not trying to drive RD from these environs as the dear fellow is only slightly less allergic to poultry as he is to Chuckles; however:

I am starting a weekly read of an anthology of poetry by a different poet every week for the forseeable future.

This week I am looking at Simon Armitage and reading his debut mainstream collection, Kid which was published in 1992.

He was born in Marsden, near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire (my own neck of the woods so to speak) in 1963. His style is described as a dry Yorkshire wit combined with an accessible, realist style and critical seriousness. (Rachael Ogden).

He has been the recipient of many awards for poetry in the UK and was awarded the CBE for contribution to literature in 2010.



Since I spent most of the end of last month with dodgy eyes, I have taken this from his poem At Sea

"I am steadying the ointment
that will bite like an onion, piping
a line of cream while avoiding the pupil
and in no time it is glued shut
like a bad mussel"

>86 PaulCranswick: increased substantially is your reading volume which I seem to recall you predicting that you'd never surpass 2012.
I had very low hopes for this years book total as I had anticipated my foot surgery to come early in the year, and for me to be out bringing home (some of the) bacon by now! Little did I know that I would become a reading machine ;)

Paul, your featured poet looks a tad like your good self! Are you sure its not you with a pen name?!

>87 PaulCranswick: I am not sure I read "crime novels" although crimes have certainly been committed in books I have read. ;) What actually constitutes a crime novel then?

Hej in your new thread

A reading machine is right I would say Megan.
Armitage certainly originates from the same turf. He is thinner and less hirsute than I am but I would like to emulate his ability to write for sure.

Paul - always nice to see you wending your alpine paths towards my humble abode.

>83 PaulCranswick:, I think you could be right mate, just hope our top order gets its act together. Nice to see Carberry and Cook getting some good batting practice against Australia A, 318 -0 is a top effort on day one. I'm looking forward to reading Ponting's autobiography which comes out tomorrow, I have £20 on a Waterstones gift card left so i'll put it to good use. Hope the eyes are getting better mate.

That is an impressive shift John. Root must be getting worried if Carberry plays like this. He is of course also an excellent fielder.
You mean Ponting can write? hahaha. Eyes are spot on now mate thanks (well as good as they're ever going to get)

I thought that photo of Armitage looked like you, too, Paul! I enjoyed that brief blurb as I had not heard of him before recently reading his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which I very much enjoyed. I will be waiting for your thoughts on Kid.

And thank you for the lovely compliment up there even though Richard assures me that I am to be out-Mamied.

Adding that Rees book you reviewed up there to my giant WL, so thanks for that.

Wishing for you a lovely rest of the week.

Ah! The Stats! Thank you Paul.

I am a fan of David Niven from way back - he was a decent man if a bit of a gadabout.

Mamie - I think I know what RD meant; it was a sort of back-handed compliment but the back of the dear fellow's hands are sizeable! I wouldn't swap him for a golden bunny as the group would be so much lessened without him in it. I know he's one of your favourites too although he's not everyone's cup of tea - he's certainly Earl Grey for me.

I have finished Kid already and am just re-reading some of the poems that struck me most. Liked it. Wasn't high-brow but who says poetry should be.

Lucy - I haven't seen the word "gadabout" in print for a goodly while. Lovely word and so descriptive of Mr. Niven. He carried it out with grace marvellously.

#34 - I'm planning to listen to an audio of Maggie, A Girl of the Streets this month. Go figure!

Oh, what an embarrassing showing for me in the books read stats! It's been a weird year. I am sort of trying to make it to 75 by choosing short stuff for the next two months. We'll see how that goes.

135.

Kid by Simon Armitage

This was the first mainstream anthology by Armitage from 1992 which, whilst perhaps not fully mature introduces an unmistakably Northern English voice.

As comfortable in the world of nature or suburb or social interaction he is a wry observer with a deft turn of phrase. Accessibility is a keyword often used to determine the impact of the verse upon the reader and I, for one, am puzzled by puzzles and put off as a result. Simon Armitage's themes are easy to see and grasp and there is a swagger and confidence in this collection which he almost pulls off but not quite.

I like his habit of having a title and running it straight into the first line of poems but I liked less his recurring character Robinson which was an unhelpful distraction.

This extract is from the poem Wintering Out one of a number of poems that deal with the experience of growing into maturity with little money and snatching moments:

the bathroom with
no lock, the door that opens
of its own accord, the frostless glass
and pretty curtains
that will not meet.

It only takes one night,
your mother,
having one of her moments, out
at midnight
undercoating the gutter to catch us

in the bath, fooling around
in Cinemascope. Nothing for it but to dip
beneath the bubbles,
take turns to breathe through the tube
of the loofah, sit tight

and wait for summer.

I am looking forward to seeking out more by Armitage as this anthology hints at a talent primed to be fully realised.

7/10

What a nice environment for a student house, Paul. Congratulations with your not-very-new topic!

Kerri - 19 books in two months is not out of reach of the Rock Princess for sure. I bought Maggie, A Girl of the Streets for next year as I want to try to read at least one book from each of the last 150 years (I know I'm crazy) and I didn't have anything unread for 1893!!

I like that Armitage poem, Paul! Thanks for sharing it with us.

A very nice review, Paul. I'm thinking I would like him. You'll get a kick out of knowing that Abby follows your stats and always checks to see where she would fall in the reading league! She will be joining the 75ers next year, so perhaps she will get to see herself on that list!!

And I know what Richard meant. I was just joking back about being out-Mamied. I absolutely ADORE Richard, you know that. He is just my cup of...coffee (I'm not a tea drinker).

Diana - If I get to another thread this year I will probably put up some more sights of Coventry which was devastated during the war with the Cathedral being destroyed. It was replaced by a monstrosity of a building. Our own sweet Genny has relocated to Coventry's bigger and previously very scruffy neighbour, Birmingham and I am sure that she has an opinion on the Cathedral.

There are some more sparkling fragments Julia. If I get chance I will post up one or two more.

I know you do Mamie but please let's not tell him.
That is good news that we are soon to have the pleasure of Abby's company. I'm sure that she will be a chip off the block and figure prominently in both the lists. I for one will look out for her.

My lips are sealed.

:D.......xx

*snorp*smack*smack*

...wauzzigh merfl...?

I fell asleep in the choking oxygenlessness of poetical dullness, what did I miss?

<78 I think there were many years when I read nothing that wasn't related to study or work :(

Happy New Thread!

#90 I think Armitage looks a little like the second son-in-law on Downton Abbey....you know, the Irish one.

I also didn't get to read for pleasure much during college. Boy, did I make up for it on holidays. There's never been any year, since I've been able to read, where I only managed to read one book. I think I would end up loony if that ever happened!

RD - You didn't miss anything much dear fellow.

Reba - Well at least now your able to push the boat out - it took you all around the world already!

Kath- Thanks my dear I hope your week has started stress free.

Heidi - There is a British comedy actor Matthew somebody or other who looks a spitting image of Armitage. Sounds like my college days were perverse then as I have never managed to do as much reading since!

Thought I would drop in and say hi! I will be absent for a couple of days as work load is getting heavier. To add to it, this weekend is the big Louisiana State University versus The University of Alabama football game. It is in t-town this week and tomorrow ESPN Game Day will be setting up across the street. The e-mail went out notifying us that our regular access to the parking garage will not be there starting at 10:00 p.m. tomorrow night so we have to take the detour route just to get to the parking garage. Since I am chair of the Promotions committee of our college this year I wonder if there is a way to demote the Vice President for Student Affairs and the Vice President for Facilities (the former is in charge of the game day regulations, and the later is in charge of Parking Services)? Oh well, I guess it is part of the job so I should shut up or get out.

Much fun, as always, in analyzing the stats. I have to start reading faster--I'm falling back!

Hope your week is progressing well.

University politics are immensely interesting Benita. Don't work too hard and I hope your team prevails this weekend.

Roni - I got my act together on Monday here as I had promised you the stats would be out and I didn't want to disappoint. I get a buzz that it seems the stats are enjoyed. Week is so far going well other than my screen on my mobile phone has decided not to work anymore. It is under warranty so I'll try to get them to fix it quickly.

>105 PaulCranswick: If I get to another thread this year...
If!!??
LOL, ROTF *oh my sides*, stop, stop the madness!

Never pays to count one's chickens Megan. xx

I love the idea of reading at least one book from every year going back as far as possible. I've got a spreadsheet (Morphy would be proud, I think) to keep track. It's solid back into the 1910's, but then at that point a blank shows up here and there. One of these days I'll get round to focusing on filling in the blanks...

>118 scaifea: You didn't have one before? Tsk tsk. :D

My first missing one is 1928. Then missing 1927, 1921-1924, 1919, 1913-1917, 1909-1910, 1907, 1901.

So basically I'm missing a lot in the first quarter century.

#117 by @PaulCranswick> Very wise to leave those chickens uncounted, Paul. You never know when we might all suffer a simultaneous brain spasm and decide to just stop reading your thread. I mean, it's not like we come here because we like you, or because you've created a little worldwide community of eccentrics, or anything. I'm sure it could all disappear like *poof* a puff of smoke.

/shaking my head

Amber - I did do the exercise last year and I have read something from every year from 1820-2012. I am talking about trying to cover 150 years in a single years reading, without reading the same author twice. Preposterously difficult I think but I love failing preposterously.

Morphy - From my present shelves I am planning to read the following next year to covering your "missing years:

Octopus by Frank Norris 1901
The Iron Heel by Jack London 1907
And Then by Soseki Natsume 1909
The Village by Ivan Bunin 1910
Reeds in the Wind by Grazia Deledda 1913
Once a Week by A.A. Milne (Kindle) 1914
The Golem by Gustav Meyrink 1915
Inclinations by Ronald Firbank 1916
The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad 1917
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 1919
Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini 1921
The Enormous Room by EE Cummings 1922
The Inimitable Jeeves by PG Wodehouse 1923
Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki 1924
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder 1927
And Quietly Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokov 1928

1901 Present favourite read Kim by Rudyard Kipling
1907 The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
1909 Martin Eden by Jack London
1910 The History of Mr. Polly by HG Wells
1913 O'Pioneers by Willa Cather
1914 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
1915 The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan
1916 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
1917 His Last Bow by Arthur Conan-Doyle
1919 The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham
1921 Chrome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
1922 The Waste Land by TS Eliot
1923 The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
1924 A Passage to India by EM Forster
1927 To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
1928 Undertones of War by Edmund Blunden

Julia - See I thought so.... :)

Paul - you and Hani may breathe a big sigh of relief....your evening torture under the eagle eye of your personal trainer will not have to be interrupted. I don't think I'm going to be able to meet you guys during this trip because I've got a late evening meeting with a client which is likely to merge into dinner with them after. I'm sorely disappointed since I'd much rather enjoy your company than to listen to the often inane prattle of this particular client during what is supposed to be my downtime. :-(

That is a blow Caro as we were so looking forward to seeing you. Let me know if there is any change or you have any slots as we could always grab a coffee or something.

Hi Paul- I was thinking about doing an American Author Challenge, next year. Pick an author a month and try to read at least one book by him or her. Of course, many of those would be books I have on shelf. Would you be interested in something like that? I think this would be a perfect excuse to get to some of those neglected titles. And maybe the following year, we could do international writers?

Hi Paul, just passing through and checking out your new thread before I wander off to do some reading. Hope everything is going well with you.

Mark - I woud certainly be happy to try to fit it in mate. What would be the list of suspects?
EL Doctorow
Philip Roth
Joyce Carol Oates
William Faulkner
Ivan Doig
John Updike
David McCullough
Saul Bellow
Thomas Pynchon
Kurt Vonnegut
Willa Cather
Jack London
Ha Jin
Toni Morrison
Chang Rae Lee
Alan Furst
James Baldwin

See which ones you would prefer (including your own suggestions - I have books by all of them on the shelves.

Judy - Everything is fine my dear except that my car is playing up and I'll have to send it off for service in the morning.

>126 PaulCranswick: Oooh.....will there be 17 months in 2014? Cool!

Linda - Hahaha I was trying to Mark some options.

Last week I played a game in the bookstore whilst I was killing time of seeing which book I would pick from each shelf. I knew when I was doing it that it was asking for trouble.

Yesterday, I put my game into practice somewhat. I took:
One book from each of the politics and history shelves (14 books)
One book from each of the first half of the literature shelves (13 books)
One books from each of poetry, sci fi/horror, historical, asian, thrillers, new releases and biography.

This is what I bought:

From a Buick 8 by Stephen King
Varamo by Cesar Aira
1913 : The Year Before the Storm by Florian Illies
Some Girls : My Life in a Harem by Jilian Lauren
Dog Boy by Eva Hornung
Sharon : The Life of a Leader by Gilad Sharon
Thirteen Days by Robert F. Kennedy
The Zimmermann Telegram by Barabar W. Tuchman
The Year of Dreaming Dangerously by Slavoj Zizek
Mariana by Monica Dickens
The Midas Touch by Mark Daniels (No touchstone)
The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
The Lore of the Playground by Steve Roud
A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
Scapegallows by Carol Birch
About Schmidt by Louis Begley
Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos
The Black Count by Tom Reiss
Sutton by J.R. Moehringer
Pakistan : A Personal History by Imran Khan
Shrapnel by William Wharton
Dead Man's Time by Peter James
From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp
Don Juan : His Own Version by Peter Handke
Why America Needs a Left by Eli Zaretsky
Together : the rituals, pleasures and politics of cooperation by Richard Sennett
The Taxi Queue by Janet Davey
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johan Wolfgang Goethe
Vanished Years by Rupert Everett
The Orphan Choir by Sophie Hannah
The Accidental Apprentice by Vikas Swarup
The Murder of Halland by Pia Juul
Up the Junction by Nell Dunn
Collected Poems (Oxford India) by Nissim Ezekiel

34 books this time

825 physical books in 2013

>126 PaulCranswick: I like your list Paul (except Pynchon, unreadable in my opinion) and have most of them on my shelf. I would add Edith Wharton, Russell Banks, John Irving, Henry James.

Paul- Thanks for your list for the American Author Challenge. I think I have a list drawn up, which includes many of those same authors. Of course, we can only select 12, so that leaves a multitude out. I'll post it later on.

Bonnie- I like the idea of Banks and Irving being on there. I have not read Pynchon. Cannot comment.

Bonnie - You may be right about Pynchon. He is certainly a difficult one. I thought I had put Wharton on the list and Irving and Banks are certainly solid additions.

Mark - Probably also we ought to throw in Stephen King

Several people suggested great genre writers. I also thought of Chandler and Hammett but there are just not enough months in the year.

Maybe for M & M next year, we will pay partial tribute to those great crime godfathers. I know I am due.

Holy maloley, Paul! That is one *serious* book haul!

I am with RD! That is one helluva book haul! Wow! You go boy!

I like your style, Paul! You are the Bookacquistionmeister!! Now only 175 more to go in order to make an even 1000 books acquired.

Yes mate as Linda pointed out 17 months hasn't yet come to be considered as a year!

RD/Mark - I only took "half" the literature shelves and didn't look at the sports, travel, music/film or economics sections of the store (another 16 books; 50 total) - I had intended in truth to do so but realised:
1. I might not be able to carry them (four bags as it was).
2. It would be even more difficult to sneak them past SWMBO. As it was I managed to get one bag upstairs when I came home from work and descended for the other three when she went for a shower!
I'll do the rest next week. btw I was paid a bonus for the completion of one of my projects so it doesn't seem hugely reckless as what else would I spend the money on?

Mamie - Not counting, of course, the several thousand e-books I got for free in a job lot. That seems like cheating and they are just not the same as physical books. Paul Stalder, our Alpine Accumulator has been swapping with me all year for most physical buys (that I am aware of). Paul so far has 793 "add-ons" (as he calls them) and led me by 2 before yesterday.
By the way I was also pleased to note that I have now exceeded 10,000 books catalogued and still have virtual piles to log from my kindle job-lot. Since my wishlist items are in the hundreds I am quite pleased with the number.

I posted the American Author Challenge. I hope the troops will be pleased.

Off Stateside to check it out Mark

136.

A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton

This book intentionally does for philososphy what E.H. Gombrich did for world history.

Concise, readable and understandable. I noticed that he started the book as if to a younger audience than he completed it which is probably the right way to go, leading us into complex theorems explained cogently.

I read most of the philosophical mainstays in my youth but never, in truth, really understood or was able to wade through Kant or Hegel to the extent that I derived either benefit, illumination or the slightest pleasure therefrom. Reading Warburton I almost understood both of them......well nearly. I had to smile Kant is so complicated that he was the only one of forty or so philosophers through history that got two chapters.

A very good introduction.

8/10

I have both books mentioned in the above post :) I bought them as coffee table books to read a chapter here and there as time permits...

Lisa - They are ideally suited to reading like that. The Warburton is 245 pages long and split into 40 chapters. Very chewable.

I've had to add the Warburton to my wishlist, thanks Paul. Philosophy is one of those subjects I feel I should know more about, but I am daunted by it. This sounds like a good way to dip a toe in.

Julia, it is indeed a great intro into a difficult subject.

Paul, I am once again flabbergasted at your book haul, and I have to assume that you have 8-10 rooms in your house dedicated to shelves :)

I wish Kath - I have books in piles all over the place - more than 1,000 books atop our bedroom's wall of wardrobes; shelves in the hall way two straining bookcases one wooden stand with hundreds of books on it and an antique linen cupboard bought as a home for Hani's knick-knacks only to be sequestered and filled with non-fiction.

I also plan to read The Octopus next year (for my century challenge.) We're on the same wavelength this week, Paul. Ha!

Have you seen the Big Star documentary? We watched it last night and, while it's not great (mostly due to lack of band footage), I recommend it, if you like the band. I cried like a four-year old through the last quarter. What a tragic story. Sigh.

Homes for knick-knacks?! Faugh! Pshaw! Stuff and nonsense. Unnecessary useless little things, knick-knacks. All brummagem little bibelots need to be recycled.

Brummagem! Great word. *makes note to hide bibelots when RD comes over*

Paul - I'll definitely text/call you next week while I'm in KL ...and if I can swing an coffee slot or if one of meetings (preferably the evening one ...*wish, wish*) is rescheduled for breakfast the next morning, I'll let you know asap and do a happy dance. :-)

Just de-lurking for a little wave and to wish you a good reading week to come. :)

*delurking, belatedly*

I've worked it out; I'm addicted to books.

It all started with reading, of course, and then to acquiring books for the express purpose of reading that book. But in the course of looking for that book, I'd inevitably browse the shelves and make note of other books.

Then came "Well, I don't need any more books, as I need to make inroads on Mt. TBR first, but - as there's a bookshop right here - I'll just pop in for a quick browse". But sometimes I pop out again several hours later and think "But I have nothing to show for it. I really ought to have just a little something…" and back I pop. Until several hours after that i finally emerge with a little (but not too little) something - and Mt. TBR expands again.

Do you have that problem, Paul? ;0)

Just walking into a bookshop, I can feel a little tension drop away from my shoulders, and a little flutter of excitement begins inside, contemplating the vast array before me.

and I just keep telling myself that there are worse addictions lol

#129 :0 Wow! That is a book haul. I love that you made your bookstore game a reality. The only one I have read is From a Buick 8.

My better half likes to tease me every time I get a book in the mail from Paperback Swap or one of my LT pals....usually something along the lines of 'oh good, I was thinking that your TBR pile was looking low, good thing you're getting it stocked back up'! He is not a reader so he doesn't understand the addiction. There are definitely worse ones!!

Kerri - I must say that the reviews for The Octopus are amongst the most mixed I have seen for any book. For example MeditationesMartini (who I don't know) rated the book only 1/2 a star and ended his/her review with the carefully considered:
"Fuck off, Frank Norris. You and your evil book."
Our very own RD on the other hand noted that Norris had an "astonishing story telling eye".
I'll rely on RD's judgement. ..........and .......here he is

RD - I am also not one to encourage knicks or knacks especially in the bedroom where the offending cupboard is located. To be fair to SWMBO her items are hardly brummagem as is evidenced by the fact that the cupboard has two doors to ensure no display.

Joe - There are not many in this group or elsewhere able to bend, mould or create phrases like Mr. Derus.

Caro - I will also *wish, wish, wish* along with you my dear as I do look forward so to your visits. It is funny because SWMBO used to be a tad negative about my groupdom but I have met separately 6 group members (Caro, Megan, Prue, John, Rhian and her husband Alan) and Hani 5 of them (she didn't meet Prue). Those meetings allied with comments and postings she has enjoyed on her regular domain of facebook from RD, Peggy, Amber, Bekka, Kath, Linda and others has left her with a very positive view of all of us! She will be disappointed if you're here and we don't get to meet-up.

Bekka - It is always nice to receive a wave and a visit from our lone Channel Islander. I'll be along to wish you the same sometime today after haircutting.

Nina - Am I addicted to books? Mmmmm, I think all aspects do intrigue me. I love reading of course. I am inspired by words. I love the accumulation and recording of books (which makes it inevitable that I would be an LT junky). I also thrive upon the danger of smuggling the books into the house and hiding them in clear sight of SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Indang Suharni Sudin (Hani, or SWMBO for short). The sense of danger is akin to being circumcised in Middle Europe at the beginning of the 1940s.

Reba - There are indeed. We are then back to RDs brummagem bibelots are we not?

Heidi - Spousal sarcasm is something I am well versed in. Her cutting wit doesn't hurt me of course but I remain concerned that she might leave off with the wit and just start cutting.

Hi Paul! I have been sadly neglecting my friends' threads and I'm finally trying to catch up with yours.

I'm adding A Little History of Philosophy to my wishlist and heading off to check out Mark's American Authors challenge for 2014. I can't believe we're already planning for 2014 (but then, I honestly think we were doing that before we were much into 2013).

I'm surprised to see myself still firmly ensconced in 6th place in the posting "league." I doubt I will be that active next year as I try to shift my attention even more fully toward reading, training for the late summer hike of the West Highland Trail, and just staying sane while essentially working two jobs.

Happy Sunday, Paul!

the sense of danger is akin to being circumcised in Middle Europe at the beginning of the 1940s I almost woke Lisa up with a snort of laughter at that one, Paul!!! You're too funny!

>121 PaulCranswick: I am still working on my book a year faves from the 1900s. Of course my list is on paper though, and I take great pride in adding another to the list tat I have completed.

>129 PaulCranswick: I like the sound of that game!
Your book buying in Malaysia sounds like my CD buying in Taiwan when I lived there for a short time. CDs were then less than half the price that they were in NZ, so I bought up big time. Being on my first ever full time wage helped....being payed in cash it ended up that not that much of my pay-packet ended up getting home.

I will add my own wishes to the meet-up between you and our Caro. I would like to have one myself! I know that you two have met up before, but even so. Friends need to get together, right?

As for the tchotchkes .. I do dislike them as well. I have two shelves in my DR where I display some that were gifts, and a tiny shelf in my LR that Craig made in shop class in high school... and I have a few there, too. I am always wishing to receive nothing instead of a tchotchke, but at least one or two show up each year.

I think that the rooms in your house might qualify as book porn, so maybe you should share your favorite piles of books :) I continue my struggle to have none of those, and I continue to have at least a couple . . . My recent super culling has left me with no idea where to find some of my books, so I need to do some re-structuring of my shelves. That is a project I may tackle soon....

Ellen - I am surprised I still have the most posts what with my dodgy eyes and increasingly busy work schedule as well as RD and Mark flying at the moment, especially Mark.

Tina - Adherents of islam are circumcised whereas many Christians are not. I am a twin and my brother is not circumcised but for reasons I have never quite fathomed I was. Saved me a great deal of discomfort later on, I can tell you when I swapped faiths.

Megan - Belle had me at the bookstore again today and I planned out the second half of my literature buys (another 13 shelves). Belle bought some pens, pencils and erasers and the cashier looked a little non-plussed that I didn't actually buy anything.

Kath - Meet ups with Caro are always fun and a good excuse to feed myself heartily. I have posted photos of straining shelves and piles of books before, but it doesn't have quite the same verve as when RD does it.

You went to a bookstore and bought no books.

o.O

YOU.

O.o

I fervently pray there will never be an earthquake in your neighborhood. Has anyone ever been killed by an avalanche of books?
I have to say, that idea for book buying is creative/fun. I would love to try it myself... on paper, of course. Would not want to go w/o groceries and heat for a month!
Ron, a beginning reader (slowly evolving from a non-reader) is of the opinion I already have ALL the books ever published. lol I should tell me about your addiction - hahaha! I have not read even one of the books you bought. Go, Paul! But go carefully...especially in the dark.

>129 PaulCranswick:: Oooh, I like your bookstore game, Paul. I might try a similar game to reduce the number of unread books in my house: choose a book from each shelf. My books are scattered so I have plenty of shelves to choose from -- 15 in my snuggery, 11 in the family room, and 22 in a combination of built-ins and free-standing bookcases in the four bedrooms upstairs. I could stretch it out by consulting my husband's shelves in the man cave and choose one book a week from each shelf next year. Thanks for the idea!

I've never played that game in a bookshop before.... now you have me thinking of it!

I have however played that game when faced with a huge book list - like the 1001 books you must read before you die list - picking one book out of every 10 to read. On a slow day at work...

<163 -- actually in the one sort-of serious earthquake there has been in San Diego in recent memory a man was either hurt or killed (forget which) when the large bookcase next to his bed fell over on him and buried him in books. I'm careful to anchor my bookcases to the wall securely

Passing by to catch up a bit - I ordered some bookshelves that come complete with a ladder - and they are due to arrive this week (happy dance). Will be very excited to get my pretties out of the boxes!

RD - I KNOW! In my defence I was casing the joint for Friday.

Cee - I am perhaps fortunate that SWMBO is afeared of sleeping in the pitch dark. One of the benefits of her recent trip to Singapore was that I got to spend three nights with the light off!

Donna - I do try to balance out the shelves and piles too and take from the them in turn but it doesn't really work as they get replenished faster than they get used.

Lisa - I wouldn't recommend doing the game in a full-priced bookstore in NZ unless you are a very recent beneficiary of the lottery. Second hand bookstore would be fun though although they are not often so well organised.

Reba - Malaysia is fortunately not in an earthquake zone so I don't have anything stapled down.

Prue - I would love full height bookshelves requiring a ladder - maybe when I build my house. xx

137.

Silesian Station by David Downing

This is the second in the John Russell series set in Nazi Germany on the cusp of the Second World War.

Russell has a difficult balancing act that, despite his distaste for the Nazis, he needs to protect his son and girlfriend from the regime. This is a regime not averse to using family members as bargaining chips to get what they want. Our hero finds himself working for all sides as he tries to stay safe. In the midst of everything a young Jewish girl has gone missing and Russell agrees to try to find her.

This is a superior type of period thriller very much in the mould of Alan Furst. Good series.

8/10

An earthquake? * shudder* Hope that never happens!

How can I have missed posts of your books Paul? Maybe because of the fleeting nature of your threads.. lol

Kath, It is funny you missed the books because I have just sneaked another one in and finished off my trawl of the literature section of the Kino.

I found out that I might have to spend a few days in Brunei at the end of the week so I would have missed my planned completion of the "one per shelf game", so, quite reasonably, I brought it forward:

I bought:
Literature shelves (13)
Gone to Soldiers by Marge Percy
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut (planning for next year)
Beyond the Blossoming Fields by Junichi Watanabe
The Giant, O'Brien by Hilary Mantel
The Coffee Story by Peter Salmon
February by Lisa Moore
The Postman by Antonio Skarmeta
Crimson China by Betsy Tobin
The Main by Trevanian
The Brothers by Asko Sahlberg
Serve the People by Yan Lianke
Old School by Tobias Wolff
In the Shape of a Boar by Lawrence Norfolk

I also bought

A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Mirror to Damascus by Colin Thubron
A Zoo in my Luggage by Gerald Durrell

841 physical books in 2013

A Zoo in My Luggage! Oh, those Durrell brothers. Always fun reads.

RD, I have read My Family and Other Animals a number of years ago and loved it so I'm looking forward to that one.

POET OF THE WEEK:

This week I am reading Gwendolyn Brooks and specifically her Selected Poems



She is described on the cover as "Probably the finest black poet of the post-Harlem generation" and my immediate reaction was that the pigeon-holing her because of her race was unhelpful. I must say however that, so far, her work does seem very rooted in her background and experience. Her modus operandi seemed to have been very direct and the spoken voice is apparent and ready to emerge upon the surface of my consciousness with an absurd regularity.

Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Kansas in 1917 and died of cancer in 2000 in Chicago where she is laid to rest.

Her Selected Poems date from 1963 and are apparently a good overview of her ealier work. I will carry a few excerpts from the book this week.

Hi there, Paul! it's AWOL Lynda! Everything looks copacetic here, so on my way.

Lynda - You are right, things are in excellent order over here, if a little quieter than normal due to overwork. Lovely to see you as always.

Hi Paul- I have Silesian Station on my to-read list. Loved the first one. Hope your work week is going well.

Yo ho ho, Paul, swashing in to buckle about a bit.

I read My Family and Other Animals years ago, too.... I might have to look at Zoo. I have Old School on the shelf somewhere..

Have fun traveling :)

Paul, I think Gwendolyn Brooks was the first contemporary poet I was ever aware of, due to the fact that we read some of her poems in grade school (that was when I lived in Illinois, and Brooks as I'm sure you know was Poet Laureate of Illinois at the time). I remember liking her very much, even though the world she described was very different from the rural white existence I was living at the time.

Just catching up and a lot of good books on your latest haul. Loved Gone to Soldiers when I read it in my 30s, The Giant, O'Brien, A Time of Gifts, and A Zoo in My Luggage which I read along with all the other Gerald Durrells when I was a young teen. Mixed feelings about Serve the People!

And I enjoy Gwendolyn Brooks although I haven't read her in quite a few years.

RD - I am a bit buckled myself tonight too. I am doing a court case wherein I am appointed as an "Expert Witness" in a dispute relating to a termination of a construction contract. The Judge decided today that the two witnesses would participate in a "hot tubbing session" with the Judge. It is a very contentious case and I, as always, am doing a bit of a Robin Hood in representing the poor downtrodden Contractor against, on this occasion, a very influential Government-Linked Development Company. (I wouldn't work for them anyways and certainly will never be able to after this). It is interesting as it is the first time this method of dispute resolution has been tried by a Judge in open court here before. The fact that she is a rather attractive lady judge adds a little piquancy to the matter but of course there is no real soap or water involved. A test-case for sure but it is no good doing such a case only to lose. The other side have money and an expensive legal team but I reckon we'll beat 'em.

Kath - Lawrence Durrell was a writer of beautiful construction but Gerald Durrell is the more enjoyable to read.

Julia - I came across her work accidentally on the web when I was looking for something else but I have not been disappointed thus far. This very visceral effort was from an early collection A Street in Bronzeville which is also in her Collected Poems.

the mother

Abortions will not let you forget.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,
The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,
The singers and workers that never handled the air.
You will never neglect or beat
Them, or silence or buy with a sweet.
You will never wind up the sucking-thumb
Or scuttle off ghosts that come.
You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh,
Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye.

I have heard in the voices of the wind, the voices of my dim killed children.
I have contracted. I have eased
My dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.
I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized
Your luck
And your lives from your unfinished reach,
If I stole your births and your names,
Your straight baby tears and your games,
Your stilted or lovely loves, your tumults, your marriages, aches, and your deaths,
If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,
Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.
Though why I should whine,
Whine that the crime was other than mine? -
Since anyhow you are dead.
Or rather, or instead,
You were never made.
But that too, I am afraid,
Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?
You were born, you had body, you died.
It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.

From "the mother" (1945)

Ick on the court case, Paul! No fun and all work...hope it's lucrative.

Rebecca - I did notice when I catalogued it yesterday that you had the Marge Piercy. It was by far the longest of the books I bought yesterday.

I read a lot of Marge Piercy back in the 70s and 80s, and haven't read anything by her since. Gone to Soldiers is probably her best; there were others I liked, but they fit my mood at the time and might not hold up.

RD - Lucrative depends upon winning too I am afraid. Lawyers here are not allowed by the bar council to take "contingency fees" but I am not practising as a lawyer in Malaysia (all the examinations are in the vernacular which I do speak, as Caro can vouch, but I would suffer horribly with the documents. I am wearing my Quantity Surveying hat so I can charge a percentage of whatever they win in the case. I don't think I'll be retiring on the case, let's put it that way.

Rebecca, I am planning to be travelling quite regularly to Brunei on a project building a facility to house a number of simulator machines for helicopters, aircraft, tanks and military medicine for the Brunei government via my Canadian clients. I mention this gleefully because it means plenty of airport time and plenty of otherwise unoccupied hotel time. This means loads of reading and ample opportunity to chew some chunksters. Gone to Soldiers might not have to wait its turn too long.

Then I hope that your side wins the case, so the Poor House doors don't swing wide.

>186 PaulCranswick: Wow...lawyers can't charge contingency fees but expert witnesses can? Disorienting to this denizen of the American legal community.

>182 PaulCranswick: The other side have money and an expensive legal team but I reckon we'll beat 'em.
I cant decide if that is the power of positive thinking, or just plain crazy talk.
A hot-tubbing session sounds unorthodox to say the least!

Wow! 'the mother' is brutal.

Good luck on your court case. It sounds like it should be movie!

RD - I'll be ok but if my client loses big they will not remain in business so there's not much pressure on me at all.

Linda - Useful of course to have qualifications in both! Most law firms do levy continegencies very much on the quiet, but there is no body controlling the fees of expert witnesses so we can charge as we like. My soft-heartedness makes me popular for such causes of course. We have taken on and beaten several of the huge developers here. In one case I acted for 69 plaintiffs suing a developer for selling them "a luxurious condominium" that had all the grace and style in actuality of a low cost apartment. The case dragged on so long even until being dismissed by the Federal Court that we won more in interest payments than in actual damages.

Megan - Well yes, there is always a touch of both in truth. It is a case of slick (them) against {homespun} us. In our favour is an exceptional judge who thus far seems to see through some of the obnoxious ruses of Defendant and his team of highly paid Lackeys.

Heidi - It is a bit isn't it and there is much more of the same in the collection. Well if Devito can become a star there is hope for yours truly I suppose!

Speaking of Devito, I had my fitness training just now (hurt like hell to be honest) and I am pleased to record that I have dropped my first 7 pounds (1/2 stone - 3.2 kgs). Might not sound like too much but I am a little bit chuffed.

3.2kgs is heaps!
I am still only planning my future weight loss ;)

#193
Planning a weight loss? I am planning on my weight gain! trying to hold it to a minimum.

Megan - Thanks, it certainly has been hard won. I do feel a bit more energetic in truth.

We have a little health scare on the home front as Hani's mum, my MIL has some chest pain and the doctor believes that she probably has some arterial blockages. She is Singaporean so Irlia (the elder of my two SILs) has gone back to Johor to take her into the hospital in Singapore this morning. All jokes about Mother's In Law to one side, I think the world of her, so hopefully she'll be ok.

Hahaha Benita that is one way of doing it I suppose. I have gone up in steady increments ever since I stopped fairly active sports about 20 years ago. When I raced I was at about 57 kgs but I got as big as 100 kg ~ in other words from 125lbs to 220 lbs. I am now 212lbs so it is a long overdue start.

Good MiL-health *whammy*

Thanks RD.

Oh I do hope you MiL is effectively diagnosed and treated - must be a worry for all of you. On the weight front, congratulations! I know from my own experience that weight loss over the age of 40 is only achieved through vigilance determination and hard work. Steve and I are currently doing the '5:2' programme - and of course the weight is falling off him (and he doesn't need it at all) and slowly slipping from me. You eat normally for 5 days then 600 cal (men) and 500 cal (women) for two days (which don't have to be consecutive). Steve saw this program on BBC Horizon about the long term health benefits of this kind of intermittent 'fasting'. Must say, I am finding it really easy to do - each time it is 'just one day' and though we are trying to stick to a regular schedule of days, this week I am moving the day because of a friend visiting for lunch. There are loads of books on this - the one I have is called 'The Fast Diet'. Worth checking out?

Prue - I have heard and read up on the benefits of intermittent fasting. According to Nicholas our fitness trainer he recommends it too but only after your body has trained itself a little first. Planning to go to 5:2 myself in December. xx

Quick update at the top of the thread posting league and note the surges being made by our Illinois pals Mark and Joe

Mark has had 224 posts in the last 7 days with the universal success of his American reading challenge adding to his already magnetic charm. Joe has fared almost as well with 200 posts as the peeps yearn for his coffee and good cheer.
RD and myself are steady as usual with 148 (me) and 145 (he) posts respectively. Mamie and Ellen also have over a hundred posts with Kath hinting at her previous fiendish energies to have 98 posts. Stephen's hibernation and Darryl's overwork have meant that she has jumped two places in the top ten to 7th. Megan has been as consistent as usual this last week with 51 posts.

1 PaulCranswick (Paul) 8173
2 richardderus (Richard) 7521
3 msf59 (Mark) 6414
4 jnwelch (Joe) 5490
5 Crazymamie (Mamie) 5173
6 EBT 1002 (Ellen) 4076
7 mckait (Kath) 3527
8 Ape (Stephen) 3509
9 kidzdoc (Darryl) 3442
10 ireadthereforiam (Megan) 3389

Good day, sir! I just chronicled over on my thread all the new books I have acquired this year and was startled to see the total was 99! Which I realize is just a good day's shopping to you, but it gave me quite a turn.

I'm sending my best wishes along to your MiL as well, for a speedy resolution to her health woes. It must be especially difficult for Hani to be somewhat far away while it's all happening as well.

All the best for your MIL, Paul.

Great start on your weight loss though I am concerned about the amount of pain you are feeling with working out. That type of pain typically means you are doing something wrong and you need to stop.

All good thoughts for your MIL, Paul. As a recent traveler on the road of arterial blockage I can tell you that what they can do to unblock and keep them open these days is nothing short of amazing. I hope it all goes smoothly for her.

Just stopping by to say hello, mate. Way to go on dropping the weight. I've got a friend who's back to his high school (teenage) weight, which I can't even imagine. But I keep working on getting south of the number I'm at, with a lot of walking and treadmilling since running has been removed from my repertoire. My MBH and I have talked about my working with a trainer at her gym when I retire. That sounds good to me - I'm sure it helps to have someone who knows what they're doing and can push you.

Maybe I missed it, but what are you reading these days? My main one is Rough Passage to England, a novel about a packet ship captain making runs between NY and England in the 19th century. Pretty good yarn.

Julia - 99 is a nice number for sure. Books are not ridiculously expensive over here which helps me to accumulate. Thanks on the MIL. I spoke to Irlia yesterday and it seems she couldn't be persuaded to go to the hospital yesterday and will only be going today. Bit scared I think.

Reba - Thanks. She is quite a character actually and very accident prone. She once drank the best part of a bottle of engine coolant in the mistaken belief it was a derivative of coca-cola. The doctor thought it was a suicide attempt which bemused her tremendously.

Morphy - No it is just that I am a big baby. Basically yesterday I was doing stretching of my muscles with the assistance of the trainer and the contortions my body was put to was something it was not used to.

Thanks Linda. My MIL needs a healthier diet in truth. My brother-in-law lives with them together with three small grandkids. My MIL is the one in the house who eats the most candy, fizzy drinks and tit-bits.

Joe - I met my trainer going to a gym owned by a friend called the "Men's Refinery". He (Nicholas) focuses on nutrition, stretching the muscles, TRX training, strengthening of the core and a gradual build-up of cardio. He also does trigger-point therapy which sounds scary but targets muscle groups which are problematic for the individual. It seems I don't need this.
I am reading quite a slew of books at the moment mate and should have some completed ones to report very soon.
Rough Passage to England sounds interesting.

>207 PaulCranswick: trigger-point therapy Oh, oh I've had quite a bit of experience undergoing that Paul. Hurts like h*** while it's administrated but make you feel so much better afterwards. No pain, no gain taken to its utmost.

I know Bonnie because Hani is doing it. There is a roller to roll out knots in our muscles and I am convinced that I have more knot than muscle.

I hadn't heard of Gwendolyn Brooks until a few months ago. It seems that she was the first African-American lady to win a Pulitzer prize.

Now, at this moment, her vivid images are painted across the canvas of my consciousness and I am thoroughly agog reading her Selected Poems. There are selections from her collection Annie Allen for which she received the said Pulitzer and this is from one of the poems therein the children of the poor

What shall I give my children? who are poor,
Who are adjudged the leastwise of the land,
Who are my sweetest lepers, who demand
No velvet and no velvety velour;
But who have begged me for a brisk contour,
Crying that they are quasi, contraband
Because unfinished, graven by a hand
Less than angelic, admirable, or sure.
My hand is stuffed with mode, design, device.
But I lack access to my proper stone.
And plenitude of plan shall not suffice
Nor grief nor love shall be enough alone
To ratify my little halves who bear
Across an autumn freezing everywhere.

Gwendolyn Brooks 1949

Hi Paul- I am glad to see, I still have that certain charm. My wife is laughing in the background, let's hope it's due to a funny TV program.
Have you read Motherless Brooklyn? If not, you must have it in those mountainous stacks of yours, so pluck it out and crack it open. Yes, it is that good!

All caught up here Paul, and I am sending good thoughts for your dear MiL. And Megan is right - 7 lbs is heaps - good work!! I loved reading through your latest book haul and am impressed by Gwendolyn Brooks.

And thanks for those stats - good to know that Mark hasn't lost his charm! LOL! I can't imagine that happening anytime soon. What a wonderful group this is!

Mark - Thanks for the heads-up mate on the Jonathan Lethem book. I do believe that I have it somewhere. Your missus can scoff but your numbers in the last month or two indicate that next year RD and myself will be left trailing in your wake. Having put up the most numbers for the best part of two years I am due a rest I think and I am guessing that yourself, Joe and Mamie will surpass my thread's posts next year and I fancy Kath to make a big comeback.

Mamie - MIL is being difficult apparently. Irlia's car seemingly cannot enter Singapore because of an outstanding traffic violation and they will need to pay it if they enter (another one for brother-in-law to sponsor by the sounds of it) and parents-in-law are refusing to go by a friend's car. All patent excuses because she is afeared of going to the hospital. I am going to Johor Bahru tomorrow evening and looks like a few heads will need knocking together as respectfully as possible!
No secret that Mark is one of my favourites in the group (but I could say that about so many, including a certain inhabitant of a Georgian Pecan Paradisio) and I agree wholeheartedly that this group is not half bad.

I am preparing a list of which are the most popular writers on LT (NUMBER OF MEMBERS PER AUTHOR) born in a particular state or country.

Looking at the Zeitgeist page 38 USA states are represented in the top 300 authors listed. The UK feature the most prominently but have a little matter of history on her side I suppose.

I am guessing that a writer born in the state of Alaska will not be among the top 1000 writers in the Zeitgeist. From what I can see so far David Vann leads the way for Alaska with 994 members.

Here are some that you might not guess.

Who is the most popular writer on LT born in?:

India
Greece
Ukraine
Russia
Algeria
Cuba
Peru
Kenya
Northern Ireland
South Africa

India: Arundhati Roy
Greece: Nikos Kazantzakis
Ukraine: ...people there write?
Russia: Tolstoy
Algeria: either Frantz Fanon or Assia Djebar
Cuba: Oscar Hijuelos
Peru: Vargas Llosa
Kenya: *blank*
Northern Ireland: Gawd
South Africa: J.M. Coetzee

>207 PaulCranswick: Oh dear lord. Here I was all worried about you. Would you like some cheese for that whine?

:D

Good job on the 7 pounds lost Paul....I'm afraid they've crossed the planet and wound up on me in Maine!

Best wishes for your MIL full recovery.

#215 LOL! Ukraine writers indeed!

Kenya: Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Elspeth Huxley,

>207 PaulCranswick: Oops, my bad, Paul. I meant Rough Passage to London. My review's on the book page now. Good nautical yarn based on a remarkable real life fellow.

Strengthening the core is one my MBH recommends highly, and it seems difficult to do without a trainer. I look forward to your thoughts as you get further into this.

Hi Paul, well done with the seven pound loss mate, keep it going you might be needed for the Ashes. I'm keeping up with Sachin's progress in his last test, hope he goes out with a hundred, he will be missed. I hope we get a definitive Autobiography of the man in a year or two's time, it would be a good read.

RD - Hahaha good try and you got a remarkable zero correct. Some fellows were born in unexpected places. The right answers are:
India - George Orwell
Greece - Homer
Ukraine - Those that write don't stay there....Joseph Conrad
Russia - Isaac Asimov
Algeria - Albert Camus
Cuba - Italo Calvino
Peru - Isabel Allende
Kenya - Phillipa Gregory
Northern Ireland - close but it was C.S. Lewis
South Africa - J.R.R. Tolkein

Morphy - I am prone to exaggeration slightly as might have become evident. I cannot say I particularly enjoy the training sessions but I do think the trainer knows his stuff. xx

Heidi - Hahaha now however did they manage to travel so far. I would have been far happier to drop them on, say Ethiopia, where they would be far more useful.

Linda - Both of those two excellent writers are not in LTs favourite 1,000 authors. Ngugi wa Thiong'o is 3,842 nd
and Elspeth Huxley a surprisingly low 7,011th.
When I was doing my usual anorak checking I was interested to note how many famous writers were born in countries other than the one they were citizens of. Phillipa Gregory being born in Kenya a case in point - she is a lofty 158th in the LT standings with her books having 41,465 members.

Joe - I guess that one must be interesting because it has attracted 21 reviews onto the workpage with only 37 members.
One exercise we do for the core is called the plank whereby you hold yourself in the push-up position but on your forearms and stay for repetitions of one minute. It is remarkable that when fit I could do 5 minutes at a time but now 1/5 of that is an achievement.

John - I'll get SWMBO to wash the whites. Could probably get picked as the spinner at the moment given that Swann doesn't seem particularly interested.

I loved the quiz! I did 'fair' - but not great!

Lucy - Without having done the research I would have only gotten Albert Camus and Algeria. New York is considered a hot bed for cutting-edge fiction so it is so inappropriate that the writer born in New York with most LT Members is in fact James Patterson.

I knew Tolkien from reading a bio and Asimov and Orwell, I guess from reading about them????? Interesting about Calvino, which I did NOT have a clue about. I think somewhere I did read that C.S. Lewis was born in Northern Ireland, but it did not stick.

Was the Greece/Homer one the 'giveaway' ?

And oh, yes, I knew Camus too - from studying him in school.

Lucy - Well Homer was the only non-trick question, I suppose although his popularity is quite astonishing. 83rd

#222
The "Plank" is a yoga pose. I have been doing yoga for 15 years and doubt that I could hold it for a full minute. If it is done right it is very difficult. Remember - those arms straight down from the shoulder, (don't even think about putting them out in front of the shoulder) elbows face forward, and keep those arms close in to the rib cage.

I never could do pushups in my most fit days, so doubt I could even achieve the plank positon at all now! However, after 2.5 weeks of a de-tox diet, I have lost 11 pounds. I went to a luncheon today and was full before I ate a third of a meal, which is good, because it will be portion-control that makes the biggest difference as I add foods back in. No consistent exercise yet (still have the plantar fasciitis in my heel and am waiting for my new orthotics) but I've been working in a couple of gentle yoga stretches. Keep up the good work, Paul!

Benita - You are right it is nowhere near as easy as it sounds. I can manage a minute but not every time in truth. I used to do circuit training as part of my winter conditioning when I was cycle racing and used to regularly do 100 push ups and 500 (!!) sit-ups. Looking back I must have been mad.

Roni - Wow! 11 pounds is jolly impressive. Portion control is definitely an important way to lose weight as is eating more slowly and masticating properly. I used to eat as if it was the last supper and I didn't want to be last in the queue for feet-washing.

>215 richardderus: Northern Ireland: Gawd roflol

CS Lewis, Gawd, whassa diff anyhoo? :-)

OK you guys, I have to say it. Since last March I've lost 30 pounds -- portion control, trying to eat more veg and fewer refined carbs. It's been very slow but it doesn't feel like a diet and that, I think, may be the key to hanging in there (because there's still quite a way to go).

Kath - The only reason I wasn't rolling around too is that I would have trouble getting back up again.

RD - Yes, as I said you were originally very close.

Reba - That is precisely what I am going for too. 30 pounds is pretty damned terrific.

Ha! I knew Greece would be Homer, of course.

Amber - I bet you are keeping half the copies for yourself as I don't know many others reading him nowadays!

Going back to the quiz in 221, surprising origins for some writers; I certainly never would have guessed that Italo Calvino was born in Cuba, or that Isabel Allende would be more popular than Mario Vargas Llosa. One could also quibble and point out that Ukraine was part of Russia when Conrad was born!

Just curious how you got this info. I know how to find the 100 most popular authors, but did you then look up each one to find out where he or she was born? Or is there some list of this somewhere?

Best wishes for your mother-in-law, and good for you for the weight loss and exercise.

Paul: You're clearly running with the wrong crowd, then.

Rebecca - I was also surprised when I saw that Calvino was actually born in Cuba. There are other weird one such as the fact that W. Somerset Maugham one of my own favourites was actually born on British soil technically but only just - he was born in the British Embassy in Paris.
To avoid any territorial disputation I have used todays world map to determine which place belongs to which country. That also makes the famous Austrian Sigmund Freud, Czech as he was born in what is now a part of that country not Austria.
I know also few would get the Most popular LT Author born in China..........Katherine Paterson.
Isabel Allende is of course Chilean but was actually born in Lima, Peru.

Amber - I certainly am my dear - I have my copies of Homer handy on the shelves!

I was the proud recipient of a Member card to PAY LESS BOOKS today which has one store in town as far as I am aware. I just so happened to have a meeting adjacent to the Mall where the store is housed in order that I could collect the card. I was running late for my next meeting so I excused the heavy Kuala Lumpur, Friday afternoon traffic and bought:

The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth
Zuckerman Unbound by Philip Roth
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
The Vagrants by Yi Yiyun
War Trash by Ha Jin

I also received one book from Book Depo:

The Sea Runners by Ivan Doig

848 physical books in 2013

Giovanni's Room! Ahab's Wife! My my my, you're lookin' for a cheery upbeat little read-a-thon, eh what? All that nasty diet-and-exercise gubbins.

848 books acquired versus 137 read (as of the last post). The calculator on my phone (since I could never figure out where they hid "accessories" in Windows 8) says that you are acquiring them 6.18978102 times faster than you are reading them, Paul. (How's that for a statistic?)

RD - I got Giovanni's Room new for $1.50 and Ahab's Wife for a little over double that which made both no brainers.

Lori - Hahaha I had to check that that wasn't one of my own posts! It is slightly better as I have finished the Gwendolyn Brooks collection. Still over six though in a ratio of book bought to read.

Weekend away in an internet-free Johor Bahru visiting my MIL and trying to get her to take her heart health scare a little more seriously. Her eyes lit up when I arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning as she made clear that she thought a chinese seafood gorge would do her the world of good. It was a feast of almost Caro-esque proportions:
Two huge sea-bass (one steamed in nyonya spices; one fried and served tiga rasa - literally three flavours; sour, sweet and spicy);
Four huge crabs with black pepper;
Over-sized oysters steamed in garlic;
Clams in a chinese wine broth (didn't tell the folks as they don't drink alcohol);
Sizzling bean curd
Prawns in oatmeal
Squid floured and fried with salt and pepper;
Baby kailan cooked with salted fish
Broccoli in oyster sauce;
A mountain of seafood fried rice.

Wonderful meal but the place included a karoake package which a large chinese family had taken up and one lady in particular regaled us throughout the meal with vocal lamentations in a strained soprano that was piercing enough to awaken Mao Tse-Tung from his slumbers. Teeth-gratingly awful but somehow a suitable counterpoint to a sumptuous meal by the seaside at Kong Kong near Johor Bahru where the aroma of the delicious food competed manfully with the blocked drains and the conversation about the health of the Matriarch was doused by the death throes of chinese balladry.

Made it back to Kuala Lumpur only to realise with ensuing great grumpiness that I had left the book I was enjoying The Blue Hour by Alonso Cueto at the highway stopover (I vry rarely make such stops other than for fuel) . I had read twelve chapters earlier in the day and was hoping to finish it tonight. I'll have to go to the shops tomorrow and rescue a replacement.

Paul- Hope you had a nice little getaway. Sorry to hear about the book left behind. Good book haul. Looks like a few AAC book titles in there. Good Man!
I saw the photo of your girls reading in the car on FB. The perfect topper, I say!

Oh boo on the forgotten book! How annoying to have readus interruptus like that.

Mark - You are right. One of those will be the next thread topper. They were reading whilst I was driving and silently fuming because my book was on a poorly cleaned table 150 kilometers down the road.

RD - It is funny; I have several thousand unread books available and am bothered hugely about the one-that-got-left-behind.

I completely understand and relate. I'd be pantiwadulous too, since I was reading it when it got left behind.

pantiwadulous is a word not often seen used correctly Mr. Derus but it is entirely appropriate in the circumstances.

Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing passed away today. Capable of some sublime work she was a prolific and patchy writer who nonetheless contributed some excellent work in Novel, short story and memoir to the post-war worl of literature.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-nobel-laureate-author-dor...

Her debut novel The Grass is Singing is a favourite of mine and I also enjoyed The Good Terrorist. It is fair to say that I didn't like all her work quite as much but when she was good, she was very good. RIP

138.

Selected Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks

Essentially this is an anthology of selections culled from her first three mainstream publications with a few "new poems" added on and in truth a little superfluously so.

The second publication Annie Allen won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1950 which was a landmark for african american literature but Ms. Brooks preferred her first collection A Street in Bronzeville as she felt there "was more humanity in it". I actually think the poems from her third collection The Bean Eaters are still more rounded.

Racism, childhood and poverty are key concerns of Brooks and she looks at all three through a very crisp and dissecting lens. "The Ballad of Rudolph Reed" is the final selection from the three and possibly the best saved for last. It is so good that I am not going to quote from it here as I would encourage you to buy the book. Here instead is a sonnet to love : A Lovely Love:

Let it be alleys. Let it be a hall
Whose janitor javelins epithet and thought
To cheapen hyacinth darkness that we sought
And played we found, rot, make the petals fall.
Let it be stairways and a splintery box
Where you have thrown me, scraped me with your kiss,
Have honed me, have released me after this
Cavern kindness, smiled away our shocks.
That is the birthright of our lovely love
In swaddling clothes. Not like that Other one.
Not lit by any fondling star above.
Not found by any wise men, either. Run.
People are coming. They must not catch us here
Definitionless in this strict atmosphere.
Gwendolyn Brooks 1960

8/10

Nice review, Paul! Maud Martha, a novella of Brooks', is a favorite read of mine.

I need to re-visit Ms. Brooks' poetry! Thanks for the excerpts and samples, Paul.

I sympathize with the MIL visit and discussion. My sister called today to tell me that my mother is all pantiwadulous because her Medicare Supplemental insurance will now be $500.00 per month. My sister and I are wondering why a couple on Medicare would need supplemental medical insurance? I know that supplemental medical prescription insurance is needed but wonder about the medical. It looks like, sometime soon, I will be making a trip home to help my parents get this straightened out and to learn what I can about the situation.

I should add that my sister is an insurance agent but her company does not deal with health insurance. However, my mother thinks that is irrelevant and that my sister is the expert. We have tried to tell her several times that real estate insurance is not the same as health insurance, but that hasn't worked.

Oh, that food list has me salivating. Oysters, squid, shrimp, broccoli and fried rice for starters, please!

Putting Gwendolyn Brooks on the must-read list. I assume our library has some of her poetry collections in stock and she appears well worth making the acquaintance. And I see that you are gathering books in preparation for Mark's 2014 challenge.

Hi Paul. I'm trying hard to make the rounds of threads, worrying that folks will think I fell off the edge of the Earth (which edge being the primary question). Congratulations on your steady weight loss. I would have a hard time, I think, with the 5:2 but may do a bit of reading. If I could break my addiction to worthless sugar snacks, it would help no end.

I hope your coming week is a good one.

Nice bit of poetry from Gwendolyn Brooks. I have read her novels, etc. but no poetry. Must remedy this.

Finally back on line I see. It doesn't bear thinking about what the consequences would be if the shut down was protracted.

RD - Not like you to say nice things about a "poultry" review, but thanks mate anyways. Maud Martha is one that I will hunt down for sure.

Julia - She was a writer I was unfamiliar with actually and I was pleasantly surprised by the collection to be sure.

Benita - With my MIL I will not escape scot-free in terms of payments I am sure but the Singaporean system of medi-save (forced deductions from salaries) does help.

Roni - I particularly liked the Sea Bass (locally it is called ikan siakap the steamed version was so fresh you could still taste the sea.

Ellen - I had an entire weekend away from LT in Johor Bahru so I am as much in danger of being forgotten as anybody! I certainly don't think you will need to do the 5:2 given all the miles of running you get through. xx BTW There are cupcakes in the office fridge which I would normally have made short-shrift of. I have been very good though and my office snacks has been a couple of Swedish crispbreads, dry.

Jenn - I do believe that she was known more as a poet but I do notice that there is some memoir and some reportage amongst her canon too and the work of fiction that Richard pointed out above.

As mentioned yesterday I lost my copy of The Blue Hour by Alonso Cueto after rushing through eleven chapters of it. Of course therefore I had to get to the bookstore and see to its immediate replacement today. I am not going to count that as another addition but I did also add the following:

The Mirabelles by Annie Freud
Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks (heartily recommended by RD)
The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton (rushed to rerelease because a slightly thicker tome of hers hit paydirt)
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (I really liked her Secret History but I have noted dodgy reviews for this one. Bought it as it finally comes in a half attractive cover, binding and reaable font)
The Elixir of Immortality by Gabi Gleichmann (huge book with 30% discount and great reviews)
The Town in Bloom by Dodie Smith : Her none "Castle" stuff is ordinarily hard to find but a few have been reissued.

854 physical books in 2013; sorry Lori the average just got worse.

I have not read any Gwendolyn Brooks but as I adore poetry I will have to check it out.

Like Julia, I need to re-visit Ms. Brooks. Onto the WL her selected poems go. Thanks for the good review, Paul.

Abigail, nice of you to stop by. We have plenty in common then starting with a love of "poultry". I am reading a work of poetry from a different poet each week. This week is the english poet Wendy Cope.

Joe - I think she would be right up your windswept alley mate.