2014: MrsLee Reads Through the Lonely Mountain of Books

I say Lonely Mountain only because of The Hobbit. Really, my TBR mountain is visited daily, I actually live in it since it is on shelves throughout my home. Yes, you might call me a bit of a Smaug.

So, first books finished this year.
The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan. A book from Audible, narrated by Simon Vance. I enjoy this series of cozy mysteries immensely. I adore the thief and having Simon Vance narrate does it no harm. Some of the mystery was very transparent, but I enjoyed the read to the end.

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan, Kindle. I didn't quite finish the series before 2014, so this was the first of the year. A very enjoyable read, and I would read his other series as well, if I didn't have so many books in my house which need finishing.

Books which I have begun reading.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke. I am not loving this, but am not very far into it. Just a ho-hum cozy, I think, but I need to move it along off of TBR shelves.

Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology by Theresa Bane. This is an ER book which I am using as a bathroom read. I may finish it by June. Huge. The entries are sometimes interesting though. Wish there were illustrations.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. An Audible book narrated by Lorna Raver. I haven't actually begun this, as I save audio books for my commute to work, but Monday I will begin it.

My goals for January.
I have an audio CD of The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith, which I want to finish, but I realized last night that I haven't read the three previous books, so I will have to read The Double Comfort Safari Club, The Saturday Big Tent Wedding and The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection, before I get to that.

My goals for the year.
I did not read any William Shakespeare last year, and I want that to change this year. Also, I really want to read What to Listen for in Music by Aaron Copland, but I've decided that as I read the chapters, I need to listen to the pieces he references to understand it, as I have no musical training. So that will take awhile. As always, I hope to read at least 100 books in 2014.

Found your thread, and starred. :-)

In re Copland's book. I would never challenge his accomplishments as a composer, but as an analytical writer he was a fourth-rater. There is a whack of better books, depending on what it is that you're looking-for. Without knowing that, I am reluctant to recommend other titles, but no matter what you seek, you will never regret reading The Composer as listener by Irving Kolodin, likewise the various diaries of Ned Rorem. Also, any of the spirited books by Nicolas Slonimsky. A little headier stuff is found in the many books by Father Owen Lee, but anybody who posts here can certainly deal with him. Then there's my own book, but of-course, we're not supposed to self-promote, so I won't. Instead, I'll suggest a nice Dover anthology, Three classics in the aesthetics of music. I may have the wording of that title a little off, but if you're really interested, I can help you find it: I think I have a copy somewhere around here. Happy hunting -- and listening!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder was one of my SantaThing books a couple of years ago. I'll tell you what I thought after you finish.

Enjoy your reading this year!

#3 - Well, I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but the title of this one might sum it up. I enjoy music in the same way I enjoy wine. I know little to nothing about the nuances, meanings or techniques, but I know what I like and what I don't. I suppose I would like to see if I could become a bit more informed about the whys and wherefores. I've read the first two chapters, and though I found them intense, calling for my full attention, they still interested me very much. This is a book I have on my shelves, so I'm going to give it a good try this year, but I have no qualms about quitting a book which ceases to interest me. :) I don't ever expect to be a professor of music, just want to be able to discuss it intelligently with my husband.

Sylvia, I'm about to give up on the Cookie Murder book. Will skim it tomorrow to see if it gets more interesting later on.

Why oh why am I up at 3:33am? We had a lovely dinner with my son, then I got absorbed into the world of Pokemon, and now I'm in that weird place of being tired but unable to sleep. Good thing I have tomorrow off!

Just touching base, and dropping my star. Love your thread's topic. I'm looking forward to perusing your Lonely Mountain of books both read and heard. :o)

So sorry about your Pokemon induced insomnia, though.

Wow. My dreams were something else last night. Quite the adventures with Pokemon/Hobbit/Percy Jackson overtones. Maybe it was the cheeseboard appetizer we had last night at my son's birthday dinner, or the Ovila (a special plum beer) or all of it together. :P

I think it sounds lovely :-)

That dinner sounds great!

Both were quite fun! :)

I quit reading The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder. Let us just say it is a cookie cutter cozy and be done with it. Frankly, it is the type of mystery which makes me want to scream and throw the book at the wall, but that's just me, I'm sure a lot of folks would find it a fun read. Though I don't know why. I am in my brutally honest phase apparently.

I will begin The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith as soon as I crank out some cooking to clear my mind of that last book. On the menu today, shrimp and pesto (or garlic cream sauce, I haven't decided) pasta, slow cooked pork chili/curry (in other words, lots of spice, some bacon and probably simmered a long time in some beer) with roasted veggies. Also will roast some mushrooms and spinach. This has become a great favorite of ours.

The thing that bugged me about The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder was that there was absolutely no justification for her to be investigating the murder. And she wasn't even subtle about it—she would just walk right in and start asking questions.

Ayep. And she was supposed to be helping her brother-in-law get a promotion to detective? How insulting is that? A woman with no credentials, experience or expertise waltzes in, goes against all police procedures, "solves" the crime and hands it to you on a cookie plate? Excuse me while I go retch again.

I just wanted to let you know I had this thread starred but it looks like you're already in full swing!

Looking forward to following your reading this year, and to more honest dicussion about what you love and hate (as above!).

Starred!

Starred!

Starred!

I'm here. I may not like everything you like, but I enjoy your comments nonetheless. And if you dislike something, I probably will too.

*Takes of his one ring to deliver a star

I feel that perhaps some refreshments are in order, since you are all kind enough to stop by.

Yum!

MrsLee, you are the most thoughtful of hostesses.

I've been lurking in your threads for about a year now, and thought it high time to say hello. Our reading tastes are only somewhat similar, but I really enjoy your commentary.

Also, we lost our dear boxer recently, and my heart broke all over again hearing about the loss of your dog. They take up a big place in our hearts and leave a terrible void when they're gone.

Aha! Refreshments lure out the lurkers! ;)

Thank you for commenting, bjappleg8. I am sorry about your boxer, as well. I look forward to knowing you more. I see from your profile that you are reading Fer de Lance by Rex Stout. I'm always pushing him as one of my favorite authors, do you like him, or have you read anything else by him? That wasn't my favorite Nero Wolfe novel. It was ever-so-slightly stilted, being the first, but still laid a terrific foundation for the rest of them.

I began listening to The Age of Innocence. I am loving it, and just a bit impatient with it, too. I think I have to get back in the rhythm of books like that. I do enjoy them, but I find the habits and assumptions of the highest levels of society to be so much piffle. The barbs of humor are great though.

Lurker here. I love Edith Wharton -she wrote the best ghost stories! And I read about class society rather objectively these days, just history - how it used to be (for the most part).

#24. Ha ha, yes... if you feed them they will come.

I just this last year discovered Rex Stout - I've read four or five of his books so far and I'm stretching them out to make them last. I don't get too caught up in the mysteries, but I love the characters and the humor.

26 - I really do like here style of writing. It reminds me of Jane Austen.

27 - That is exactly how I feel about Stout. Of course, even though I read mostly mysteries, it is never for the puzzle, it is for the characters and settings, and humor is a big part of whether I love them or not.

Today I finished Double Comfort Safari Club. It was exactly the comfort read I needed, and since I still need comfort, I'm diving right into The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party.

I had to take my beloved Ophelia (her of my profile photo) to the vet today. Found her huddled in a flower bed. She has had some issues the past month or so, but I thought it was getting better. I can't afford extreme measures, but the vet suggested we treat her with antibiotics and fluid IV overnight and make the decision tomorrow based on whether she improves or not. 2014 has not been a good year for my pets. Anyway, for that reason and others, I'm doing a lot of denial and escapism lately to survive mentally.

Sorry to hear about Ophelia. I hope she feels better tomorrow. I can relate on the comfort reading. I did a lot of that over the summer during a bunch of family stress. I hope you start feeling better soon, too.

Cuddles and best wishes to Ophelia, hugs to her Pet Human.

Good luck for Ophelia.

Sorry to hear about Ophelia. Hope you both feel better soon.

I hope Ophelia is okay, and you, too.

Sending get well vibes to Ophelia ...

Edith Wharton is one of my favourite authors. The custom of the country has one of the best anti-heroines I've ever met; she is just delicious to read about.

Best of wishes for Ophelia. The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency sounds like the perfect series for the moment. They're so soothing, and I like the focus on the little mysteries.

Hugs Lee, it's awful when our fur family gets sick. Hope she'll be on the mend soon.

Thank goodness for comfort reads. Hope Ophelia is feeling better.

Thank you again for the sentiments. Good news! The vet said she responded very well to the antibiotics and fluids, so she is keeping her over the weekend, just to make sure the medicine goes in, then we can pick her up Monday. I am SO glad not to be losing another loved pet so soon. Also, it was my daughter's birthday today, so this made a better birthday announcement than the other.

Aw, that's wonderful news!

You're quite right. It's a marvelous bit of news to incorporate into a birthday celebration. And I'm so glad for your sake!

So glad to hear she's recovering. *phew*

Great news!

So glad the news was good!

I'm glad Ophelia is getting better. What a relief!

Goodness, MrsLee, your family has a lot of January birthdays. I hope you have some Unbirthday celebrations during the rest of the year so it's not all over at once.

LOL, yes, 3 out of 5 of us were born in January, as well as a lot of our extended family. Sometimes I'm really glad when January is over. For me, the holiday celebrations start October 31st and continue on through January, so some quiet months the rest of the year are a welcome rest. Of course, now that the children are all grown, none of that is intense, more a mental thing. We are pretty laid back about holidays now.

Good to hear the positive news about Ophelia. *hugs*

I'm also listening to The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon. I haven't read the whole series, but other than Mma Makutsi's shoes talking to her (whoa when did that start happening?!), I'm sailing through fine. I'm behind on my LTER books, and since I get bored reading too many of a series at once, I thought I'd just jump in.

Good news about Ophelia. May she continue to do well! I've shed many tears over a Siamese I lost in November. I think it was just the final straw in a stressful autumn for me.

I'm also going to try to make more progress on old William this year. Last year I managed rereads of Macbeth and Hamlet. I think I've mentioned previously that my bro gifted me with his Teaching Company Shakespeare class audios and books after he finished them. I'm vaguely thinking of doing Merchant of Venice next. Like you've also mentioned, I look for a version or two of the play on Netflix to watch. Let me know what you're reading and perhaps we could do one together.

I think Mma Makutsi's shoes started talking in Blue Shoes and Happiness ;)

Yay for healing cat news!

So glad Ophelia is doing better!

It's horrible when a pet is sick, and such a relief when he/she turns the corner and gets better. Glad to know your baby's okay.

I need to include more "good-for-you" books in my rotation this year. The Age of Innocence sounds like a good possibility.

Glad to hear Ophelia is doing well! It's so hard when we know our fur friends are hurting, but they can't tell us what's wrong.

I haven't picked up Shakespeare in ages, but this may be the year for at least one. I watched Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing a couple weeks ago, and loved it. Now I want to read the play to see what I missed, because the dialogue goes by so fast, before my brain can translate or decipher the nuances. Then I want to rewatch Much Ado with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branaugh. Then maybe Joss Whedon's again because I enjoyed it so much.

I also feel an urge to wallow in your Lonely Mountain of books. Do you have enough so I can bury myself down deep into them?

sandragon - I have yet to see Joss Whedon's version, but I really want to. I love the Kenneth Branaugh one.

As for wallowing in my mountain of books, yes, there are plenty to be buried in! Unlike most dragons, I do share them, however, if you turn down the corners of the pages or break the spines, you will regret it. Deeply. ;)

I worked an eight hour shift at our sister hotel last night as a favor. Wow. It was sooooo slow. Only checked in 8 people, and the phone rang maybe that many times. Happily, I took my Kindle and was able to finish The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party and moved right along into The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection. These books seem to meld into one when you read them a lot at a time. I don't usually do that, liking to save books I know I will love for that time when I really need a book I know I will love, but as I said above, I need to move these along so I can read the latest one for ER. Also, I know I have a stack of unread Miles Vorkosigan books I can fall back on in times of need.

52: I wouldn't want that every day, but every now and then a chance to read fun stuff at work would be nice!

52 - As a book lover, I know the consequences of crossing a fellow book lover would be dire.

I used to treat my books abominably, but my brother has rubbed off on me. He wouldn't let me borrow his books until I promised, on pain of losing book access privileges, to treat them with kid gloves. Now I treat my own books the same way, and get twitchy if I decide to lend them out.

Today, after shopping, picking up my sweet kitty, gardening, cooking enough to last the week (except for the special African recipes I will make on Wed.) and washing clothes I finally sat down to read and finished The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection. I may have liked this one better than the other two I read this month. Delightful to meet Clovis Anderson!

I read the blurb about the author and when it told me that he is a professor of medical law and serves on some international bioethics committees, it made me feel good. I don't see how someone who writes these beautiful and most sensible stories could go wrong in ethics.

OK, in line with my goal of making progress on Mt. TBR, I selected a book inherited from a friend long ago. She gave me three by this author. The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro. I think I will either love it, or hate it. I enjoy some snark, but an overload of it without the feeling of a decent person behind it annoys me, so we shall see what this turns out to be.

56: I enjoy some snark, but an overload of it without the feeling of a decent person behind it annoys me

Very well said! That's exactly what bothered me about Lamb and any number of other books that have been classed as humor and pronounced hilarious by somebody. That's also why I dislike listening to many comedians. All humor contains an element of pain, but when the cruel side of humor is foremost, I don't care to spend my attention on it for long unless it comes with a compensating measure of heart--or justice.

Glad to hear Ophelia responded to treatment! Hugs.

3 cheers for healthy kitties!

@MrsLee, I was browsing my 2013 thread and noticed your recommending Du Maurier's Scapegoat, a book I acquired on the basis of that recommendation. Now that I recall the recommendation I have added it to my list of planned reads for 2014.

Scapegoat is great. I think it made my top 5 a couple years ago. Once you let the premise go and let it tell the story, it's brilliant.

:D I hope you will enjoy it!

I am sure I will. I have not yet read any du Maurier thay I did not like, and like very much at that.

Oh, great, another addition to my list for this year.

The Scapegoat sounds interesting. I'd never heard of it, but Doppelgänger stories do fascinate me. I've just added this one to my library list.

I am adding it to my list as well. It does sound good and it seems there's a number of novels by Du Maurier that I've missed.

*rubs hands in delight at the downfall of her friends*

I will not say that I love every Du Maurier novel, but there are four or five which I could read again and again. Scapegoat is one of those.

Forgot to mention that I began reading The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide vol. 1. I did not realize it is an encyclopedia. So now I'm reading two encyclopedias. One on fairie and one on Tolkien. This may take awhile.

47 - streamsong, I haven't read The Merchant of Venice yet, so if you start it, let me know and I'll read/watch along with you.

Oooh, what's the one on faerie? I'm a sucker for anything by Katherine Briggs in that vein.

For the record, the De Niro version of Merchant of Venice is terrific, but one of the best set of performances I ever saw from Merchant was a dual reading by David Suchet with one interpretation of Shylock followed up by a reading by Patrick Steward of the same speech so that you could really see the difference in interpretation. It is part of a DVD set entitled Playing Shakespeare that ran on PBS twenty years ago. (You may still be able to get that set via Amazon as I know I "gave it to my husband as a Christmas gift". We had both enjoyed it when it was on PBS. At least, that was my rationale).

The Stewart/Suchet project sounds cool. And I think you mean Pacino not De Niro. I like the movie, too. Have never been able to read plays. Prefer performances.

jillmwo - It's an ER book titled The Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology by Theresa Bane. It is not something to sit down and read through for the stories. She has tried to list everything with a short entry on the source of it/them and the basic info. Would be great for a writer, but quite repetitive. Apparently, one of the Titans, Oceanids(?) had a LOT of named daughters, and many Nymphs were nurses to Zeus. That sort of stuff. I enjoy the fact that it lists the Dwarves from The Voluspa, the first in a collection of Old Norse poems, and many of the names are those Tolkien used in LotR. This book could really benefit from some illustrations, it gets repetitive and dreary, which is why it is consigned to the bathroom for reading. It has been supplanted for a time by a gardening magazine though.

I just went to YouTube to see if I could find some clips from your DVD set. Results below. I WANT TO WATCH THAT WHOLE SET OF DVDs! I LOVE this! It doesn't hurt that it is Suchet and Stewart, but the director as well, I loved every moment of these clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU_zqBIITDM - The actors and directors discussing it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Kaqq8l8Po - An example of Suchet and Stewart's performing the same speech with their own interpretion

It doesn't hurt that Suchet is such eye candy at this age, I adore him, and of course, Stewart.

I just went to Amazon and bought season 1 for $17.99 to watch on Prime. :) Something to look forward to in the evenings. In fact, when I looked up the title, I found there is also something called "Acting Shakespeare" with Ian McKellen, which I was able to rent for $2.99 and "Shakespeare Uncovered" which is free to Prime members. I think I'm going to get into my Shakespeare sooner than I anticipated this year. *Does happy dance in chair*

Oh, wow. I watched the clip of the two readings, and just...wow. I'm off to watch the discussion clip now.

Oh, yes, I recommend the whole series as highly as possible. (The DVD set is still available and Amazon is showing me a price of $45 and change. The clips on YouTube are not enough.) Worth every single penny and then some because Judi Dench and Ian Mckellan are just as young and vibrant in this series as Suchet and Stewart. And watching Ian McKellan in that one man show, Acting Shakespeare, is equally wonderful. He does the speech from Henry V. And bits of Macbeth. I wasn't quite as enamoured of Shakespeare Uncovered but it's still solid. You'll sink into Shakespeare and not think of anything else for weeks! I think that was in part why I fell into two months of uninterrupted views of Hamlet last year.

And @bookmarque is quite right. I did mean Pacino (but I hadn't had my second cup of coffee when I posted that).

I watched the first four episodes last night and I am LOVING it! Even more than the wonderful actors, I am loving watching John Barton coax the very best out of them. Amazing how just a couple of words/suggestions from him change the whole performance. Awesome symbiosis. Barton is delightful all on his own. His love of Shakespeare bubbles over in a good way. He seems like a cross between Mr. Rogers, the Happy Painter man and an Oxford professor.

Coincidentally, I've been watching the 1984 series "Playing Shakespeare" too, from Netflix. Disc 2 has just come in. Seeing young performers such as Stewart, McKellen, Suchet, Kingsley, Dench, and Rees working so compellingly at their craft under such inspiring direction adds a significant dimension to my appreciation of their performances both then and later, and to others' renderings of Shakespeare as well.

The first disc of "Playing Shakespeare" is on its way from Netflix. :-)

Not only book bullets, but DVD bullets as well!

And AAAAARRRRGGGHHH! The final disc of my LTER audio of The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon won't play - my computer says it is blank. I tried to call the company but had to email instead since they are closed for the holiday today. How frustrating! The good thing of course, is that these are not edge-of-your-seat-can't-go-to-sleep-until-I've-finished thrillers, but aaaarrrgghh all the same.

75 - Oh noes! That is next on my list for my commute. I wonder if mine will have the same problem? I might have to try it tomorrow to find out.

As for the DVDs, I know you will love them! I just finished last night, I'm assuming there was only one season, as I couldn't find any more, but now I will have a friend over on Sunday nights to watch them with me. A series I really won't mind watching again.

I finished The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club. Not very impressed with it. There was no depth, as I expected. The author writes well, but she has nothing to say. The chapters on public bathroom etiquette and gynecologist visits were funny, the many chapters on her being a drunk, slovenly, lazy smoker, not so much. I get the sense that she isn't really what she describes herself to be, but those chapters come across as pathetic rather than funny. Guess it isn't my kind of humor. I was given three books by this author, I will read the next, I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies), hoping that her humor matures. If not, I won't be bothering with the third.

After watching "Acting Shakespeare" with Ian McKellen tonight, I couldn't resist picking up The Merchant of Venice. I read it straight through, and I must say, that from my reading, I could see both Stewart and Suchet's take on the character of Shylock. I think that Stewart is right, Shylock is a man who would be a narrow miser no matter his race or religion, and Suchet is right in that he is despised because he is a Jew.

I don't think we can underplay the racism of the work, because it was huge at that time in England. From what I've read, the kingdom had borrowed very heavily from the Jewish moneylenders over the centuries, and every time it came time to pay up, they were expelled, outlawed and demonized. I don't think the attitudes written in the play justify the play's bed reputation though. It is a slice of social history, however unpalatable. I also don't see the focus of the play being the Jewish question so much as the question of the qualities of mercy and justice.

What I also noticed, was that Shakespeare took pains to point out the inconsistencies and hypocrisies of the Christians, as well.

It quite annoyed me that at the end, he added some foolish nonsense of setting up some men to fail in their oaths to some women, which could have been edited out as far as I'm concerned. Made me want to shake the women, and it subtracted from the very powerful courtroom scene which had gone before.

Finished reading I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies). It was refreshingly better than the first one. She and her writing and humor are maturing.

Began "If it Wasn't For the Customers I'd Really Like This Job: Stop Angry, Hostile Customers Cold While Remaining Professional, Stress Free, Effiecient and Cool as a Cucumber." by Robert Bacal. Not sure if it can live up to its title, but I need something to train myself and my staff with, so I'll give it a shot. I'm only to the third chapter, and I've found several helpful insights so far.

I've yet to read a mystery this year, which is unheard of, so will begin The Clairvoyant Countess by Dorothy Gilman, sent me by my SantaThing friend. :)

I liked this one. Dorothy Gilman is always light and fun, and this was more mystery than the Mrs Pollifax stories.

I hope you don't have too many angry hostile customers, @MrsLee...

Oooh, let me know about that book. I have a friend in retail which she loves except for the ugly customers.

Will do, Morphy. So far it is quite redundant, but it has some good points, I think.

Finished The Age of Innocence yesterday. I liked it, although if I had been reading it instead of listening, I might have tired of the slow pace. Here's part of my review.
"The real delight of this story, is the peek at the inner workings and mores of the upper crust, a narrow society with very strict rules. I love the way Edith Wharton describes the characters, there subtle dialog and the manners of the times. To be honest, Newland Archer drove me crazy, and I didn't care what choice he made, but the very careful way that Wharton laid out the choices and the consequences was a treat."

Oh, the narrator, Lorna Raver, was masterful, too. I sometimes didn't care for her Newland Archer voice, but her inflections and such were dead on.

Began The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith today. Another terrific narrator, Lecat Lissete, and of course I love the story.

Finished The Clairvoyant Countess last night. It is a charming and pleasant read, though not really much on the mystery end of things. I would compare it more to the #1 Ladies Detective Agency books as far as the mysteries go. I hadn't connected this author to Mrs. Polifax, but I have always enjoyed her stories, too. Not what I would necessarily seek out, but happy to read if it falls into my hands.

Next up will be The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman. I haven't been in his world for awhile now, time to visit again.

The Clairvoyant Countess is definitely more about the characters than the mystery, and is more a series of connected stories than a novel. Don't worry, I won't look askance at you for not loving it. ;)

Am I misremembering The Clairvoyant Countess? I could have sworn there was more mystery involved, whereas the Pollifax books were more like adventure stories.

I guess it depends on how you look at it. If you're expecting a single mystery, with traditional clues, it's not there. But there are shorter mysteries, solved using psychic clues. Certainly more mysterious than Mrs. Pollifax. Gilman also wrote a sequel almost 30 years after the original book, called Kaleidoscope.

Yes, there were crimes to be solved, but the solving could supposedly only be done psychically, although, I pretty much didn't even need psychic help. They were fairly obvious. Sylvia, I truly did enjoy it for what it was, a light, easy, happy read. Those are very important.

ouch. I think you hit me with Clairvoyant Countess. I'm bleeding!

90 - You will feel better when you are resting with the book. ;)

I finished The First Eagle. As always, I love the setting and characters, but I was surprised at the transparency of the mystery in this one. I remembered Hillerman as being pretty good at setting the mystery up, but this one was obvious from the very beginning. I hope it's not because I've read too many mysteries and can peg them now.

Started Another View by Rosamunde Pilcher. It is a novella, but in large print, so looks like a regular book. It has me nervous, because the protaganist is the daughter of an eccentric artist and they reside in Porthkerris, Cornwall. Just like The Shell Seekers! Hoping the novella form will make it better.

Well, I finished Another View. Ms. Pilcher has one more chance, then I'm done with her. This book pissed me off. Here's my review, and it's the meanest one I've written in awhile.

A short novella about a young woman who has a crap dad who happens to be a genius artist. When he hies off to another woman in another country, she then takes up with a crap boyfriend who is a genius actor. There is also an emotionally remote man who is supposed to be a decent fellow, I guess. I have never been so disappointed in a happy ending in my life. All these broken people suddenly become loving, understanding, caring and decent. Nope, this was not an interesting story, and the end was like having your nose twisted.

yuck!

I've never been drawn to a Rosamunde Pilcher book. Now, I'm even more sure I don't want to try one.

Thank you, Lee! You have confirmed my rightness in avoiding the woman like the plague.

Writing an honest review that isn't favorable is not mean! Some books are disappointing, and others who share your tastes deserve a warning. This author didn't attract me anyway, but I'll sure avoid her now. Thanks.

I've read about 5 or 6 of her books so far, and they range from some of my very favourites to completely forgettable. I haven't found one that has made me mad yet, but the potential is there. The hope of finding another excellent one makes it worth the risk of hitting a few duds.

IMO Winter Solstice (Love Elfrida) and Coming Home are her best. Under Gemini is the one that made me mad. The shorter ones are pretty forgettable. I need to review her short story collections. Some of the short stories are quite good, others, forgettable. I am pretty sure I have read all of her books and own many of them.

Oh, you said "pissed off!" You must have been really disappointed. (That's pretty much how I felt about Winter Solstice.) Hope whatever you read next takes your mind off that stinker.

MrsLee, I'm sorry you didn't like that book. I have liked most of her books that I've read. Your opinions are honest and heartfelt and I respect them. Getting a bad book will help you really enjoy the next good one.

99 - >:D ayup!

97 - The only one I will still try is Coming Home, then I'm done. This sort of book isn't really my cup of tea anyway, except I really DID like Winter Solstice, against all expectations. Weird, huh?

Today I begin A Pale Horse by Charles Todd, and I will be very surprised if I don't like it, so far I've really enjoyed the books I've read by Todd.

Holy bleep, there's 16 of them now? I've only read two and I did enjoy them, though one was much better than the other IMHO. Apparently I own two more that I haven't read yet. I wonder where they are... :o/

102 - 16? There are 18 Inspector Rutledge mysteries, is that what you were talking about?

If you count the prequel and that 'half' one, yes. Why would there be a half one? I am very confused.

http://www.librarything.com/series/Inspector+Ian+Rutledge+Mysteries

PS - I know there are two people writing these, but that's a lot of books even for a team of two.

104 > Not only that they also are writing the Bess Crawford mysteries as well. Both series are great. Bess is a nurse during WWI.

oh good, I'll avoid Pilcher like the plague. the 'romance' tag is another warning sign.

105 - *Pow!* You got me again. I had not heard of those and they sound right up my alley.

107 :) Great minds and all that.

Finished If it Wasn't for the Customers I'd Really Like This Job. I think it will be quite helpful at work, now I have to go back through it and see if I can't reduce it to some simple training sessions for the non-readers.

This isn't without its faults as far as typos and proof-reading, also it is quite redundant and slow. The author says there is a purpose in that, but I have my doubts. What I truly do appreciate about it are the explorations of anger and frustration and the validity, as well as the way an employee can validate a person's anger without compromising the company, themselves or weakening policies. I really like the plan which says you cannot help a person who is lost in their anger, you have to move them beyond that first, then seek for solutions.

I'm going to have my staff practice on one another, once they have learned the basic techniques, so that each day they will have the lessons brought to mind. I'm thinking the one on shift can do a verbal attack of the one coming on shift, so the one coming on can practice diffusing at the beginning of their shift. Just a simple quick exchange to keep it fresh.

109: Sounds like you've found a good resource. Congratulations.

This line just raised a red flag with me, though:
I'm thinking the one on shift can do a verbal attack of the one coming on shift...
I don't know if you're interested in an opinion, but that kind of role-play sounds dangerous to me just because someone is apt to (perhaps inadvertently) make it too realistic: strike a real sensitive spot, express an actual grievance, give genuine offense. Your folks have to continue to work together. I've read that role-play can be a really powerful tool and can also get out of hand quickly if the facilitator doesn't have the training for it. So--just mentioning this word of caution, for what it's worth.

Are there case examples or sample dialogues in the book that you could do as a read-aloud, or supply a script based on one of those websites about terrible experiences with customers??

Thank you for the warning, I agree. I was thinking that there would be clearly defined rules, dialogues and such. Yes, the book does have sample dialogues, and those would be what we would use. It would also be a voluntary thing, if each person wanted the practice.

I will start The Stars My Destination next, but probably not until tonight.

Pause on The Stars book. My husband started it on his Kindle, so I have to wait until he is finished. He is a slow reader.

I love the idea of listening to the music as you read the book. So clever! ~ L

Finished The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon yesterday. It is as always a friendly and nice story, but what made this stand out, was the narrator, Lisette Lecat. She is an excellent reader, giving each individual their own personality in the reading, and the setting is greatly enhanced hearing the accent and pronunciation of the characters speech and names of places.

Also finished a Pale Horse by Charles Todd. 3 stars for this. It is readable, but somehow the problem solving didn't go down well with me. I simply can't see a Scotland Yard agent working in the way Rutledge worked in this. Also, the dialogue lacks. People seem to go from calm to all out furious without any reason. The little community didn't ring true. Not blown away by this, but I will read one or two more of these to see if it was a fluke.

For my commute reading, I will start The Art of Reading from The Great Courses, by Professor Timothy Spurgin of Lawrence University. I'm not all that keen on it, but a friend has lent it to me with great urgings to try it. Since it is in CD format, I'll give it a go, but make no commitments.

I'm always interested to read reviews of The Great Courses, so let me know how The Art of Reading goes. I've had good luck with them so far, but I've been very selective.

I haven't read A Pale Horse yet but of the 3 I've read Proof of Guilt was the best one IMO, so I would recommend that one for your next try.

115 - It is early days yet for me to decide, but I must say, he keeps referring to the "Artful Reader" and all I can think about when he says that is a person reading on the sly when they aren't supposed to be. Dodging their regular work. ;) I'm not real big on being instructed on how to read, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. There is much I don't know about what I would call the "science" of reading (when you dissect the material and author's intention and such), but as far as the "art" of reading, well, I'm too busy enjoying books to think much about it.

116 - I gave The Confession 4 stars. The other book I have on my shelves is A Matter of Justice. I don't think I'll buy another (at least at full price) until I determine whether they are 4 or 3 star mysteries for me. If Proof of Guilt shows up at a bargain though, I'll try it.

The Confession is one of the 3 I've read, I gave it 4 stars, but that was rounding up, it's more like 3.75... Proof of Guilt is the one of the 3 that felt like a real English murder mystery.

My reading took a hit this weekend while I've been wallowing in Sherlock. Bought all three seasons (#3 is delivered tomorrow!). After watching commentaries, I believe it is time to read at least some of the Sherlock stories again, so I'm getting down my copy of The Illustrated Sherlock Holmes and The Original Illustrated Arthur Conan Doyle. The second is full of stories not Sherlock, but I want to look into them anyway. Both of these books are VERY large, printed small in two column format, so I'm probably not going to read straight through them. The Sherlock one, I will pick and choose to go with the TV series, the other I will read here and there.

MrsLee - My husband said the same thing after we watch the S3E3 of Sherlock. I read the Complete Sherlock Holmes when I was 12 (A Christmas present from my parents. Go figure). I remember lots of it, but maybe I should read it again....

I've been dipping into The Complete Sherlock Holmes for about 4 years now. I'm about halfway through. A couple nights ago, I was reading The Adventure of Black Peter and got really excited when Holmes walks into his flat with a harpoon under his arm and Watson exclaims “Good gracious, Holmes! ... You don’t mean to say that you have been walking about London with that thing?” Excited because I remember the scene from one of the BBC Sherlock episodes. And I love it when the reverse happens as well, when I see a scene on the show that I remember from one of the stories.

It's been a long time since I read and reread all the stories, but I noticed a lot of sly allusions and parodies in the first two seasons, beyond, of course, the titles and main storylines. The shows really are a feast of succulent tidbits for the reader.

However, I do not at all care for this TV series' realization of either Moriarty or Mycroft, especially Mycroft. In my mind there's nothing at all about him that resembles the character in the stories. Whenever he's in a scene, I cringe and wait for it to be over.

Lee, my thoughts went to you today - there's a venue about three blocks from where I live which has been hosting a rather bland sports bar. It closed about a week ago and now there are huge signs announcing that Marcus Samuelsson will open a restaurant at the spot :)

#122 Meredy Mycroft. In my mind there's nothing at all about him that resembles the character in the stories. Whenever he's in a scene, I cringe and wait for it to be over.

I think one has to take into consideration that the actor playing Mycroft is also one of the writers of the series. He will therefore have a level of control over his own character that an actor would not normally have. I do not offer this as an excuse or justification for his character being different from that in the book, but simply as a possible explanation.

124: Yes, I know that, and I think that was a bit of self-indulgence that detracts from the series.

122, 124 & 125 - About Mycroft, I never remembered him being outright cruel to Sherlock in the stories. I thought the stories hinted around enough at the power he wielded to justify some of his actions in the modern take. I am not sold on the new Mycroft, although I haven't found him as painful watching this second time around. It was interesting to listen to the commentary and their reasoning behind what they did to him, one of which is that he is younger and on a diet to match the Sherlock energy, but to be honest, I don't really remember. I find so often with commentaries that I tune the talkers out so I can hear what the characters are saying! :)

I forgive the writers much, because of their out and out geeky love of all things Sherlock Holmes.

123 - YUM! You have to go try it when it opens and let me know what you think. :D I still wish I could teleport to The Rooster in Harlem for dinner one night. It seems so full of energy and creativity.

121 - I get those little thrills too! I just started reading Scandal in Bohemia after watching that episode last night. I love finding the bits of modern in the old and the bits of old in the modern.

120 - Yes! The short stories are manageable, you don't have to wade through the biggies until you are convinced they are worth it.

#126 - What I really dislike about the Swedish version DVD's are that there are no extras. No commentaries, no nothing :(
As a true geek I find that... I mean - what did they think (not at all, I guess...)?!?!

127 - Oh, that's just sad. There aren't enough of them as it is. Well, in my opinion. Of course, with the producers being who they are, there are lots of bits of Dr. Who talks in the commentaries, too. They said they cooked up the idea of Sherlock while sharing their love of the stories on their train rides to Cardiff, while filming Dr. Who. The Doctor is behind every good thing. ;)

Yesterday one of our regular guests came in bringing a big box and a large bag full of beautiful books to share from our hotel. Warms my heart, it does.

Now that's a good guest!

That was nice of the guest. They must like you. *thumbs up*

I borrowed the compete set of Sherlock stories from a friend. Maybe we should have a group read over 2014. A relaxed, read as you can one.

#132 - That's a brilliant idea! I'm in!

I might be up for that as well!

Someone else would need to start it since I'm running the monthly reads.

I think we should try to lure PeaBee back in for that. He's a Sherlock aficionado.

Yes, I agree. I'm reading A Study in Scarlet now.

Any suggestions on this reading thread for a Holmes group read? For myself, I'm mostly rereading stories which have been incorporated into the Sherlock series. Should that be the theme of the thread, or simply an addition to it? I'm A Study in Scarlet seems a logical place to begin, the beginning of both the original stories and the Sherlock series.

I'm just going to start at the beginning of The Complete Sherlock Holmes and go from there.

I read A Study in Scarlet last year and enjoyed it a lot.

I downloaded several Sherlock Holmeses from Project Gutenberg, and seeing my tablet is now speaking to me, I can join in. Not particular where we start.

I'm in. I think I can still find my Annotated Sherlock Holmes. My regular one-volume Complete Sherlock Holmes is still front and center on my oldest bookcase, a gift from my parents when I was in my teens.

We need a dedicated thread.

I've got a two volume set.

I'm in. I downloaded the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on my iPad. I read A Study in Scarlett a couple of years ago in book club. I'd like to read more of them now that I've watched the series.

I'll have to wrestle my copy of The Complete Sherlock Homes from the husband. Maybe if I distract him with a new Star Wars book, I can snatch it from him.....

144 - I know you are up to it! The proper bait, and that book is yours! :D

I finished listening to the lecture series of "The Art of Reading." It was helpful in the sense that it gave me proper words and terms for the processes I already go through when I read a book. I don't, however, dissect a book as much as this man does. Not on the first reading, anyway. I like to approach a book without preconceptions, and to enjoy it without stopping to analyze why I might be enjoying it. That is all very well and good for when you have to lecture about a book or discuss it in a book group, or perhaps even when it is a difficult read and you need to go back to it to understand, but the process is not for me in my everyday reading. Nice to know it can be done though.

Hmm. I don't think "The Art of Reading" is one that I need to pursue. Since I'm not required to analyze my reading, I think I'll just carry on with my mindless enjoyment.

145: Now that you've read (euh, listened to) that book, is it still possible to read a book without analyzing it, @MrsLee? I wouldn't mind some more vocabulary and to know a bit more about book analyzing, but I'm worried I would never be able to read a book again without analyzing...

I've never read A Study in Scarlet and would be glad to join in.

>124 pgmcc:,125 I think I'm probably the only one, but I did not realize that was Gatiss was playing Mycroft until I was watching a special on the show that PBS aired before the most recent season... My Mom and I kept going back and forth when they were interviewing him as a writer about whether he was the same guy that was playing Mycroft or not until she made me look it up...

I've never read the stories, and my TBR pile is already too high for me to commit to another group read right now I think, but I'll be very curious to read everyone's comments in the thread and revisit when I do get around to reading the original stories.

>147 zjakkelien: I can't speak for MrsLee, but I feel like learning more about writing and critical analysis has helped me to understand why certain books work for me and others don't and communicate those reasons more clearly. While I do generally analyze as I read more than I used to, I think that learning how some of the magic tricks work has only increased my appreciation when I see them performed well. (For example, I'm full of admiration for the way Melissa Scott has worked out everything from computer systems and alien politics to public transportation and clothes shopping and breakfast foods in Burning Bright, my current reread- and she's done so without dragging down the progression of the plot.)

That said, I think you have to find a type of analysis that works for you personally to get anything out of it. I've found examining books through lenses of tropes and implications works for me, but there are ways of analysis that drive me up the wall. Most of the literature classes I took in school seemed to treat works of literature like Lego sets, where you could disassemble and end up with a symbolism brick here or a theme brick there and so reverse-engineer the blueprint from the construct, which will let you find out what the builder meant by the work.

Trying to read a book that way absolutely destroyed any enjoyment in it for me (for one, I always had a hard time with the assumption that every writer starts out with a message and constructs a book to support it), yet I can (and often do!) go on about things like gender roles in a created setting, and how that implication does or doesn't line up with reality as I know it and gender stereotypes in the genre and society at large, a topic that interests me. Many other readers, however, find that kind of analysis drives them up the wall, however- it's just not something that's important to them when reading.

149: Thanks, @sandstone78! That's really helpful. I remember stuff about themes and what not from classes in highschool, but that didn't help me enjoy books. That I actually got from English class (I'm Dutch, so that was a secondary language class), which was way less strict in book choices. After all, it was about learning a language, not about learning about literature for most of the time.
I really like your analyses, by the way. I had never looked at books from a gender perspective before, until I came here and found a few people who do.

147, 149 - This professor starts the very beginning of the lecture saying how very few authors begin with a message, or are even trying to convey a message when they write their stories. He doesn't analyze for the message. He analyzes to find the bones of the writing. Which I found helpful to know. As for application, with my memory, I don't think it will hinder me at all in my reading. As Erma Bombeck says, I have the mind of a steel sieve.

I don't tend to look for bug-a-boos when reading a story. There are some which are deal breakers for me though. I am not good at expressing myself after I've read a book. Wondering if the lecture will help. Right now, all the books I'm in the middle of are so huge I have no hope of finishing any of them soon, so in all likelihood, I will have forgotten every constructive thing in the lectures and be back where I started. I have a very large lazy bone in my body/mind. Always have.

Jim53 - The more the merrier!

Analysing fiction is quite hard, I think. I mean, you can analyse for structure, type of story, execution, character development, world building, message/s... Then, delivering a structured analysis based on all those point is a challenge in itself, not to mention how difficult actually write up said analysis in a way others might enjoy.

Analysing the stories that I read has made me more conscious of why some things speak to me while others don't; also I can see why some stories spoke to me at certain points in time, or why some stories work well for me but maybe not for everyone.
What it also has done to my reading is to make it harder to accept badly executed stuff. A good idea can only carry things so far and I am hyper-sensitive to repetitive use of words and figures of speech, and to over-use of archetypes. If an author uses the same image or almost the same scene in different works I think they are stereotyping themselves. For example eggs, tea, and red-haired protagonists reappear across universes and works in the writing of C.J. Cherryh, Jon Courtenay Grimwood has had almost the exact same sex scene in at least three of his stories, Guy G Kay is also guilty of reuse - many of his protagonists have been almost carbon copies of each other and both symbols and scenes can be spookily similar (even if nothing specific comes to mind right now).

It's like those painters who paint the same image again and again and again, filling room after room with almost-copies - they get too predictable to entertain, to challenge.
Not that I'd accuse any of the mentioned authors of that (or I wouldn't still be reading their books, lol) - only to illustrate what I meant.

But I've also become hyper-aware that preference for style or story is highly personal, so there's that ;-)

151: Thanks, @MrsLee! It sounds like a good lecture...

What I am curious about, every now and then I come across people here who say a book is or isn't well written. I'm never really sure what that means. Is it a personal preference, or are there some rules or things to look out for to determine if writing is good or not? If so, I'd be interested to know them... Does anyone have an idea?

152: Ever since I discovered LT, I've been writing reviews for the books I read. I usually just try to write something about the experience, how it felt to read it, what stuck out for me. It tends to be easier if I didn't like the book, because then I need to think about what I didn't like. Somehow I find it much more difficult to say why I do like a book...

This is a good discussion, thanks, guys :)

When I was younger, people thought I should get a degree in English because I was a good writer. But, from what I remember high school English to be like, I was pretty sure I'd be a worse writer after having to study literature and writing itself. And all those essays! Yuck! For me, analyzing writing would make me self-conscious about my own writing. And I like to read good stories without studying the skeletons. My best writing is done on the spur of the moment, just letting the words spill out and hoping I can keep up with them.

I'd like to be able to do review books I've read but I can't remember the particulars well enough. And the few times I've tried to review for LT, some technical problem interfered, which I took for an omen. For instance, a couple of days ago I started a review of The Martian by Andy Weir but I accidentally hit a button that closed the LT window and by the time I got back to it I was so mad at myself that I didn't start again. If I ever try reviewing again, I'll write it elsewhere first and copy it into the review spot.

154: Aha! You were a good writer! So someone at least must have had some idea of what that means! Do you have any idea?

I commiserate on all the reviewing problems... I always copy my entire review before I (intentionally) hit any buttons, because I've had reviews disappear that way as well. Plus, I put my reviews both here and on Goodreads, so I have to actually copy it to something anyway.

154 &155

I type my reviews into a Word document first and then copy and paste them into LT, or wherever. I too was burnt too often by the erroneous pressing of a key that sent all my hard work far away and over the hill, never to be seen again.

#153 - It is always harder to rationalise why you like a book, I feel, and I think it is because to most of us what we like instinctual; not a conscious act.
I don't really try to rationalise it, either. I just look at the things that I liked, and hope it's something in there ;)

Writing it down helps, at least for me - writing is one of the tools I use for anaysing: placing the words in front of me helps me structure my thoughts.

To be honest, though, in the past year despite not reading much worth mentioning (due to multiple stress overload, but that's another topic) I have realised that there's a pattern to what I like in books. This has taken a lot of introspection, triggered by deaths, terminal illnesses, and other disasters, all in my family, during the past 18 months.

Not convinced this insight was worth the pains.

There are some books that are written very well and I disliked thoroughly (Wuthering Heights). There are some books that aren't written well that I enjoyed (Fifty Shades of Gray. )

I think it really depends on what you are looking for in a book. Some people look more at the structure and language. Others look more at the story and tone (me.) Doesn't mean either is right or wrong. People are just looking for different things from books.

Sometime in the future I'm going to be putting a list on my thread of classics I want to read to get suggestions. But I'm going to be sure to tell people that I'm looking for a good story. If the language is thick, flowery or "lyrical," if the plot is slow and plodding or if it is too dark, I'm simply not going to enjoy it.

It doesn't mean that those books are "bad writing," it just means that they won't work for me.

155: I say that I was a good writer (and apparently still am at times) because people really liked what I wrote - usually funny things that happen in my life - and they told me so. That's the only way I would know. I also am a good business writer. If the words flow, then it works, and for business, if I know what I need to say, then I can make it work by sticking to the facts and being polite.

And as for how I know that a book is good, it's good if it feels good to me. It's very personal. If a review says a book is beautifully written or lyrical or whatever words they like to use, then I probably won't like it. But if they say it's a good story with interesting characters, I probably will.

I think one of the things the professor in that lecture was trying to get across, was to teach people how to evaluate writing to get beyond the "I liked it" or "I didn't like it" phase. To be able to see the good in the writing, even if you didn't like the story, and to know why. He will still, never convince me to spend the time I need to spend to understand modernist writers like James Joyce or some of the other deconstructionist writers out there. I'm too old to have the patience for them.

He wanted to help the student to understand the basics and the structures which you could find in every work of fiction, even the deconstructionist works. I really did like his reasoning on why reading fiction is important. That as opposed to helping us learn about the facts of the world we live in (although some fiction does that), it helps us learn about ourselves and humanity by telling us stories. That, my friends, is a very broad explanation, because the sieve effect has begun and I can't remember exactly what he said, only that I liked it.

I did learn the difference between plot and story. The story is everything which happened in chronological order. The plot is everything which happened, in the order which the author chooses to present it. If something is well plotted, you will not be able to rearrange it or remove any of the pieces without damage to the presentation. He said that works for movies and books.

I began the Audible version of The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, narrated by Patrick Lawlor (whose voice is a bit more high and pinched than I enjoy, but he's doing a good job). I am really enjoying this so far. It is what I've wanted to do with my family history for a long time. I want to research the time and place they were living in, then write a story around them of those times. Not fictional, just rounding out the picture of the place and time so that the people become real and not just names and dates on a page.

I also began reading one of the non-Sherlock stories by Doyle. It is terrific so far. Great adventure. I'm wishing for The Strand to start up again. How much fun must that have been, waiting for it to arrive, then reading the stories. I'm sure some children tried to snatch it and run and hide to read it first. Or perhaps it was a family rule that everyone would wait until after dinner when father or mother would sit and read to the family. :)

#161, I love that idea. Waiting for the next bit of story to arrive, gathering together and reading it. Exclaiming and enjoying and marveling. I guess it's similar to us watching episodes of a tv show together. We watch it, and then discuss and debate and mull over the action and what's going to happen next.

I started reading An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler last night. It is quiet and gentle reading. I love many of her thoughts on how cooking should not be the stressful high stakes craft for elite chefs, but a simple joy for everyday.

There are also a couple of things I would disagree with her on; like for instance, that every dish needs added salt, even early sweet peas from the garden. I do not need or want salt on most of my fresh steamed vegetables and especially not on fresh veggies from the garden. But it's a small point. She also advocates tasting at every point of the cooking, so that you may learn. Me, I don't taste most of the food I cook until the end to adjust the seasoning (mostly salt), and I find that most everything comes out just fine.

However, what she says about boiling stuff, and cooking eggs, and using every bit of what you cook, even if it is re-purposed in another meal, those things I love. Can't really say I get as worked up (orgasmic) about eggs as she does, but I like them fine. I've only read three chapters so far.

Hmm. I like eggs and all, and have a lot more interaction with them than the average person, but I don't like them that much.

I can get pretty excited about eggs. Not as excited as I get about cheese of course, but close.

Thinks: must lay a trail of cheese crumbs and lure Clam to Oudtshoorn, and there introduce her to an ostrich egg ... equivalent to 24 ordinary ones.

OOOOO! I've seen them, but never tasted one. :o)

The ladies in the family have twice made fruitcake from a Mrs Beeton recipe that calls for 2 dozen eggs, using one ostrich egg. It's a performance getting the innards out of the egg (an adult man can stand on an empty one without damaging it), and eventually you end up with ton quantities of cake.

How do you get through the shell then? A drill? A chisel and hammer?

A drill. And a skewer to break through the membranes inside. And a lot of blowing. And a big mess.

170: I'm shocked! A drill! For an egg! Never realized they were so hardy.

Wow. I'm sure it's worth the effort, but still. Sounds like a major hassle.

I guess the hatchlings must be pretty tough little cookies by the time they chip their way out. Better not mess with those guys.

We have an Ostrich egg (innards removed) in the studio - you could brain an intruder with it, easily.

#174 - Do you get many intruders that need braining?

OK, I've had a martini tonight, but I have to say that the direction this thread has taken has me in hysterical giggles. :D

Hugh, we have trouble thinking what to do with the two or three yolks left over after my son removes them from his scrambled eggs. 24 eggs in one?! Whew.

clammy - There are always Cheeeeeseee omelets! If ever there were a perfect marriage, it is that.

Yes, I make those for breakfast frequently! I experiment with different unusual cheeses and various kinds of ground pepper. :o) One of my favorites is Jarlsberg and green peppercorns.

I often boil about 15 eggs at a time, and leave them in the fridge for the kids to eat. With an ostrich egg, I could just boil one, and the kids could whack chunks of it off whenever they needed a snack.

Only cockroaches, and trying to get one of them with an ostrich egg would be like bowling at a matchstick, with an oval ball. Rubber band guns work better.

An ostrich egg and a funnelator, however, would be the low tech equivalent of cannon shot. (funnelator = a large kitchen funnel, strapped on each side with four feet of rubber surgical tubing, plus three operators: two to stand as 'the posts' and the other, to cock back the funnel - think GIANT slingshot - these will shell water balloons across a parking lot and into a 4 story window, or sail one OVER a stand of white pines onto a patio an acre away....don't ask/it was my PARENTS actually borrowed the device and shut down a very noisy late running party with that trick. They had tied a few on, too, bet on it.)

Rack up another triva fact you didn't wanna know.

176: You're a good sport, MrsLee. I think your reading journal should get the thread-drift-of-the-month award. You'll certainly have my vote.

179: I'd like to see a diagram of that funnelator. I'd also love to see it turn up as a device in a mystery. Low-tech is often less detectable than the most advanced weaponry, don't you think?

"Inspector, all the doors were locked. The window was open, but it's four stories up a sheer wall. He seems to have been killed by something smashing the back of his head. Why, it looks like it might have been this ostrich egg over in this corner! Do you think it dropped off the bookshelf and killed him?"

(Applause, cheers, whistles.) We have a winner!

LOL!
Having met a live ostrich I think getting killed by a random egg beats getting killed by the actual animal ;-)

Isn't there a short story in which a woman bludgeons her husband to death with a leg of lamb, cooks it, and invites the police investigating the murder to lunch?

Yes. It's a classic by Roald Dahl. Here you go, Marissa:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_to_the_Slaughter

There's also one that I recall in which the murder weapon conveniently melted. It was an icicle.

Yes! I thought it might be Dahl but I wasn't sure. Thank you!

#180, (a bow to the good sport MrsLee) - you asked...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk_2R7dprHc

For the record, I'm a big fan of drifting things; threads, cowboys, continents, you name it. Besides, my reading is going slow right now.

And by the way, MrsLee...since you posted this on my journal thread, I've started that second book. Ugh. I was choking before I'd gone half a dozen pages. I went on, but I don't think I'm going to make it to the midpoint. A decent, quirky character has become a repugnant self-parody, spiteful and contemptuous, smarmy, coy, a terrible mother (to a brute of a child) and such an unattractive partner that her husband's sanity and powers of perception are in doubt. Even an operatic-cliche misunderstanding on a large enough scale to disrupt and eventually heal the romance would have been better than this nasty brew of marshmallow fluff and hydrochloric acid. So--see? We do hate some of the same things.

Mrs. Lee, 1 raw (slightly stirred) egg plus 1 cat often equals 1 messy big purr.

>189 Meredy: Now Meredy, tell us how you really feel... ;)

But yes, they did turn into self-parody, didn't they?

Meredy - You said that very well! :)

I finished An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler. I enjoyed it, it inspired me and brought back wonderful memories of cooking with or watching my grandmothers and mother cook. This is how they did it. One meal lead into another, all were creative and tasty and nothing was ever thrown out.

One reviewer on Amazon took issue with the author's tone, which could come across as condescending (she uses the words "should" and "must" a lot), but I found that she provoked much thought and inspired me, and so the things which I disagreed on, I simply shrugged my shoulders, said "to each their own" and moved on.

What I am shaking my fist at Tamar Adler for are the book bullets. BAM! BAM! BAM! and $44 later, I will soon be the proud owner of three books by M. F. K. Fisher. They sound wonderful, and that writer was Adler's inspiration.
The books are:
How to Cook a Wolf - written during WWII
The Art of Eating - You should see all the big chef recommendations for this one
Measure of Her Powers: An M.F.K. Fisher Reader - A collection of many of her writings over the course of her life, not just about food.

How have I never heard of this woman before?

Oh, still listening to The Worst Hard Times with a sick fascination. There was a time I thought I couldn't take it anymore, because it is heartbreaking. I was raised on a farm by a man who loved the land and was a part of it, and for all his love he still went bankrupt and lost the farm. So I get weepy with this stuff.

This goes beyond everything though. It is tedious to hear of duster after duster and the devastation they caused to the land and the people, but how these people survived (at least the ones who did) mentally, more than physically, and STAYED there on the land? That is what I am hoping to find out. The author held out the promise at the beginning of the book of visiting with the survivors in the present day, so I'm hoping he answers some of these questions.

192: Really, @MrsLee? There is a book called How to cook a wolf? What a brilliant title! I hope you'll report how you like that one. I have a sister who really likes cooking and owns loads of cooking books, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't have that one!

I really enjoyed Consider the Oyster by MFK Fisher, though I don't remember the details now. I always meant to read more by her. How to Cook a Wolf is a great title, and all her books you mentioned definitely sound interesting.

195 - I pondered very much about Consider the Oyster! I decided for the other two besides the Wolf book, because a whole book about oysters, really? I may go ahead and get it though if I like the ones I ordered. Not all of her books are within my price range though!

If anyone has a first edition, or hardback version of her books, hold on to them, they are priced like gold.

Finished The Stars My Destination. It was a fun read for a cloudy day on which I intended to do nothing but read. Mission accomplished.

Began American Gods today. I am intrigued so far. I can see why my daughter thought I wouldn't like it. The language and sex is rather rough and tumble. Not usually my cup of tea. I'm hoping it doesn't take the stage, but remains on the side. I am very curious about Shadow and keep trying to figure out who he is and why everyone wants him to work for them.

198: Yes, I keep wondering about that as well. The thing that bugs me a bit is that it seems to be mostly story-driven, so far the characters are rather flat. Every now and then there is a scene that draws me in, but then I get thrown out again almost immediately. I'll definitely finish it, because I am interested in the story, but it would be even better with better characters...

196 - I'm rather enamoured of oysters :o)
I read two whole books about oysters in 2007: Consider the Oyster by Fisher and The Big Oyster by Mark Kurlansky. And I bought another one in 2007 I haven't read yet, The Oysters of Locmariaquer.

My husband doesn't like oysters, and used to avoid them altogether. Now he will buy and cook them for me. The first time he decided to buy me a tub of oysters to cook for dinner, there was a tiny pearl in one. The memory still makes me smile :)

200- That is very sweet. My husband does not enjoy them at all. When my brother comes to visit, I tell him to bring some jars of oysters and I will fry them for him like my grandmother did. Last time my mom was there too. We had a wonderful breakfast! I've never shucked an oyster.

199- I'm trying to apply the test for roundness to the characters in American Gods, which is (according to Faulkner, I believe) whether a character is capable of surprising you, and if when they do, it is believable. I think Wednesday could, Laura for sure and Shadow. In fact many of them. So I don't think I would call them flat per that test, but they are not personable. However, I gasped when Shadow was told he was being released early because Laura died.. I felt a physical pain then. I have the idea that Shadow will open up into something awesome, but I don't know what yet.

201: I have to think about that. Is the rule that the character must have surprised you at some point, or that you can imagine the character is capable of surprising you? Because so far, Shadow hasn't surprised me. Or actually, he has, it surprises me how little he reacts to anything around him, and I do not find it believable.

I'm not entirely sure I agree with the definition, though. Or maybe I'm talking about a different concept, but to me, a character is flat if he/she doesn't feel like a real person. I think that comes about either when there is not enough information about that person, or when the information doesn't ring true. I'm not sure if you've read any of the Kushiel books by Jacqueline Carey? I almost feel like I know the main character, Phedre no Delaunay, but I can't remember her actually surprising me at any point. So would that make her flat? I guess I should try to read up on the entire concept of flatness...

202 - I'm not entirely sure I agree with the definition either. :) As for Shadow and his lack of reaction, that is what I mean about his potential. I think he is hidden even from himself and when we are allowed to see what he is, WOW, then everyone might be surprised. Of course, I could be dreadfully wrong, and then I will be disappointed. But I have confidence in Gaiman to surprise me, so I hope.

Whatever the 'test', I quit American Gods halfway through because there was no character I'd found to care about.

204: I can see how that might happen, @majkia. The story is interesting enough for me, plus it's this month's OLOB, but normally this might cause me to quit as well.

203: I hope you're right. I'm sure something is going on with Shadow, and I hope it's something cool. Maybe in the end it will become clear why he is reacting so little now. Right now it's not helping, though...

I'm thinking maybe Shadow is in shock, from his wife's death. The way he's described, his actions, not reacting to the bizarre events, seem like someone in a cocoon. Maybe he hasn't accepted his wife's death, and everything that has happened since he left prison is as surreal to him as his wife's death, and there will be some kind of delayed reaction later. I read this for the Green Dragon group read way back when, but reading it now (I'm at the House on the Rock) I don't remember at all what happens.

206: That could be, but I wish he would snap out of it. I'm at 70% of the book now (end of chapter 14) and there are all kinds of things happening, but still not a lot of reaction from Shadow. This while even his strange surroundings are falling apart (SPOILER!!!!!!!Wednesday has died and he seems to regret this (although I don't see why, there didn't seem to be much of a relationship between them), but other than that, no reaction)
I'm hoping something will happen soon, I guess it must.

207 - I haven't read your spoiler part of your post yet, but I was thinking about this last night. The story seems to be implying a Native American heritage for him, so I wondered if that is where some of the reticence and stoicism is coming from. It can be a cultural thing, easily misinterpreted by people who expect lots of emotional reactions to conversations and such.

206 - I don't think Gaiman would pull the "It was all a dream" thing, but honestly, I've wondered a bit if it would be something like that, having to do with the shock. I know that I cocoon myself when a big shock comes into my life.

I liked the mention in last night's reading that we are all islands, and have to be so to survive.

208 - I'm not thinking it'll all be a dream, but that Laura's death and subsequent events may seem dreamlike for Shadow as a result of the cocooning.

208, 209: I'm with @sandragon on this. I don't think Gaiman would do that to us, and if he did, I would consider throwing the book out of the window, except I'm reading it on my ereader, so that's not really an option. I HATE 'I'm-pretending-to-be-fantasy,-but-hah,-fooled-you!-It's-all-just-a-dream/I'm-crazy-and-this-is-not-real' kind of stories.
I found a great quote on this subject:
He hoped he would live through this, but he was willing to die, if that was what it took to be alive.

I guess there's a reason for Shadow's attitude, but I think it would have been better for the book if the reason hadn't been there... Still, I am enjoying the book. I'm at 70 % now...

Off-topic question, but it applies mostly - How do you like another person's user name in the comment box? I want to do that when I reply, but can't figure it out? Anyone?

>211 empress8411: put a > in front of the post number that you are responding to with no space in between if you want to refer to a specific post. Then folks can follow the link back to the post.
If you want to just refer to the user, put an @ in front of their username (again no space in between), then if they click on it, they go to the User's profile:
@empress8411

>212 MDGentleReader: Very cool, I did not know that. :)

Just a throwaway thought about the book which is not a spoiler, I wanted to smack Gaiman for the way he wrote the hotel scene and the comment about smoking in a nonsmoking room "just put towels under the door and open a window." AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

NO! DO NOT DO THAT! DO NOT SMOKE IN A NONSMOKING ROOM, DAMMIT!

Whew. Had to get that out of my system. I get so tired of inconsiderate assholes taking a nonsmoking room, signing the card agreeing that it is a nonsmoking room, then smoking is said room and getting all butthurt when we charge them $150 for doing so. They are not the ones who have to do the cleaning and no matter how much we clean we have to hear the complaints of the next five guests that stay in that room that "It smells like someone smoked in there and what are you going to do about it, I want a free room.

OK, now I'm done. I think. I don't think I'll go to a book signing any time soon though. Don't trust myself.

>213 MrsLee: My Goodness MrsLee! And I agree with you completely. I used to clean in a motel and I know it costs more than $150 to get that smell out.

We should start a thread on the strange and horrible things we've found in guest rooms.

>214 nhlsecord: Too much? ;) Some days that vent hatch gets stuck open.

I finished The 7th Month by Lisa Gardner, an audio book, very short. It was kinda fun. I would probably read another of her books if it fell in my hands, but if she usually deals in serial murders I would not.

Also finished American Gods. I think I'll digest a bit before I review, but I had to push myself to finish. I got pretty bored the last half of the book. Nothing kept happening.

I'll begin A Free Man of Color tomorrow.

As an audio, I've begun Army of One: Star Force Novella by B.V. Larson. I didn't expect much from this, or even think I would like it. Pretty sure it was a freebie from audio. However, I am enjoying it enough that I would consider reading more of this author. I understand that this novella was written to come somewhere after the fourth book in his series, so that bodes well. If I like him, it means there are at least four books, and probably more, to read.

>215 MrsLee: I've finished as well. I liked the book, sort of, but it's not my kind of book. Shadow never did manage to become alive (there are even comments about that in the book, but I don't think it was explained?). Does anyone know when the OLOB discussion will start? I thought it was march, but I haven't seen any new discussion threads yet...

>215 MrsLee: & >216 zjakkelien: - Yup, yup. It's the only thing of his I've read that I didn't really enjoy. I'm so glad I didn't give up on him, though.

>217 clamairy:: For me it's the other way around, there's something missing in all of the books I've read by him. This was the last book I was going to give a try, and I think my conclusion is that he is just not my kind of author.

I think the OLOB discussion begins on the 10th. There is a sort of early impressions thread there now.

I believe it was Shadow's story which disappointed me so. My hopes were much higher than his reality. Also, the tedium of everything after the first half had me nodding in my chair. Was this an early work of Gaiman? I will say that for the most part he and I do not connect on the soul-level, but I usually enjoy his stories. I could have enjoyed this one. I loved the concept, but not the execution.

It's actually one of his later works. It was published in 2001 which was after he'd made it big with Stardust and was well after Good Omens with Terry Pratchett. It was prior to some of the more noted children's tales -- things like Odd and the Frost Giants and Coraline and Graveyard Book.

I think I may be more partial to his children's stories.

I think I am in the same boat as @zjakkelien as American Gods is the next Gaiman I intend to read and I am going to read to give him a last chance to impress me. I was not impressed by the other Gaiman's I have read, apart from Good Omens which I will not count as a pure Gaiman for obvious reasons. My enthusiasm for reading American Gods is dwindling after the recent posts here.

>215 MrsLee: If the steam is in there, best to let it out |-0

In my opinion, the key to reading Gaiman is to see his work as an extension of the mythological tradition.

That makes him sound drearily academic, I guess, and he is anything but. However, his work is obviously steeped in mythological lore, sometimes overtly (as here) and more often (as in, for example, Ocean) plainly but not explicitly. Some of his work (such as Neverwhere) is practically a textbook example of Jungian archetypes.

The reeneactment of themes from the Norse myths occurs in American Gods. This lends a quality of timelessness and a special resonance for readers who recognize the mythic elements. How much you enjoy his work, and perhaps this one especially, may depend in part on how much of the source material it calls up for you and whether there are moments of bright recognition. Even without that, he does invest his writing with a mythic quality that few writers achieve; Orson Scott Card is another who does. I can't say exactly what it consists of, but I know it when I see it.

I haven't read deeply in Norse mythology, but I'm about to delve into it. I've absorbed enough of it over time, though, to see those patterns in the weave of American Gods. Maybe after my excursion into the Prose Edda and its history I'll reread this novel and find a whole new story there.

>222 pgmcc: - I feel just like you about him. American Gods is the only one of his books that I didn't dislike, but it wasn't anything special, either. Anansi boys put the final stone to the tomb - it will take something very very special to have my try one of his books again.

I think the key for me is that he is more interested in the myth and the mythological figures than he is in their respective stories, and so he doesn't add anything. It's like with Guy G Kay's Fionavar, or that Last light of the sun - so much myth (and so much academic interest in the myth) as to appear as Deux ex Machina devices. Magic stag/spider saves the day? Yeah, right. You need to be one good storyteller to make my buy that!

I think that's why I enjoyed American Gods so much. I recognized the Norse mythos. "Ooooh, that's Odin!" "Oooh, that's Loki!"

>224 Meredy: Yes, I agree, and that is why I loved the concept of American Gods so much, but in the end, the execution didn't live up to my expectations of it. He saw a different story than I did. His wasn't bad, but it also didn't resonate with me (and took far too long to happen).

>226 Morphidae: To my everlasting chagrin, I did not see Loki coming until it was revealed, and I was LOOKING for him. Bopped myself on my head with the palm of my hand.

I didn't see Loki either the first time I read American Gods, until he was pointed out to me. And we'd even named our dog after the god of mischief.
*hangs head in shame*

>228 sandragon: We are not alone! I was just reading over in the OLOB discussion threads. Made me feel a little better.

>212 MDGentleReader: - Thank you!

I finished Army of One: Star Force Novella by B.V. Lawrence yesterday, enjoyed it enough that I bought the first in the Star Force series, Swarm. Now that I've read this short story, which happens after the fourth book, I kind of want to find out the backstory and all. I call that a win.

My new audio is Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang by Ian Fleming, read by David Tennant. It is absolutely delightful. Wasn't sure how he would be as a reader, but he's great, and because I know his face so well from Doctor Who, I can "see" him reading it with all his expressions. :)

I listened to several How to Train Your Dragon books, just because they were read by Tennant. He was wonderful! I could just imagine him reading bedtime stories like this to his own kid. Unfortunately, the library doesn't have Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on audio. I'd love to listen to Tennant read another story.

I remember reading Chitty-chitty-bang-bang as a kid. It was a birthday present (a hardcover) and I got such a kick out of it. I found the movie to be *such* a bast**dization of the original; a few memorable musical numbers but virtually nothing to do with the original text.

Jill, my husband was taken to see the movie at the age of six after having the book read to him, and had to be bodily removed from the theater because of his very vocal indignation over what they did to it. I swear he has PTS flashbacks over it.

LOL about the movie. Yes, it seems to have very little to do with the book.

In hearing this story now, I can see why my mother chose to read it to my brother and I. It is a terrific book for boys who really aren't into stories or reading but are into anything to do with vehicles. I find myself interacting with it a lot. I laugh, I gasp at some of the predicaments, I answer the questions when they are posed. Yes, Tennant is wonderful at reading, but I'm also quite impressed with the writing of the book. Perfect for a read aloud.

I'm intrigued! I've not read the book; I saw the movie as a kid but never liked it. I will have to read (or listen to) the book.

ETA: it's interesting to me that this children's book is by Ian Fleming -- not what I would expect from the creator of James Bond!

I've been wanting to read Chitty-Chitty-bang-bang for a while now. Maybe I'll have to listen to it instead! I also want to read Mary Poppins one of these days.

I highly recommend listening to it. Tennent is simply superb.

I download Viriconium by M. John Harrison today to listen to for my commute. I haven't had enough time to know if it is my style or not. Being one of Neil Gaiman's special Audible recommendations, and it must have been a good deal, I don't mind giving it a try.

>238 MrsLee: - I'll be interested to hear what you think of Viriconium as that is another tome somewhere near the bottom of Mount TBR - it might even be part of the foundation upon which the rest precariously teeters! It's certainly been there for upward of ten years! I think its size might be part of why it's never moved higher, I'm daunted by it, can't remember why I bought it way back in 2002 (according to Amazon!), as I don't know anyone else who's ever read it.

LOL, well, I have 19 hours and 50 minutes of commuting before I will know for sure, unless I give up right away. It was a bit complicated at the beginning, because the author was trying to set up the world for me and everyone else (never me!) was driving like idiots, so I was a bit distracted. But once I got safely underway, I was able to track better and the story moved from the world in general to a specific character, so it was more compelling.

I finished A Free Man of Color today. Will go to the group read thread to read the discussion if I don't slit my throat before I get there.

Will break from fiction and read How to Cook a Wolf by M.F.K. Fisher next, but first I'm going to fry some chicken. I have been CRAVING fried chicken ever since I made it last Sunday. Some cravings must be fed.

"if I don't slit my throat before I get there."

Bit of a downer, eh?

Oh yeah.

I have the Viriconium books in an omnibus edition and have read about 2/3s of it. The prose is quite dense and it's all very odd but I kinda like it. I can only describe it as a sort of fusion of Dying Earth and Weird fantasy. I should go back and read the rest of the book!

I am enjoying Viriconium very much. It is not a fast story, but it is lyrical and lovely (and horrifying). I may have to read this with my own eyes as well as listen to it. The narrator, Simon Vance, is terrific. One of my favorites, but the words and writing have me wanting to linger over it, to absorb it, and I don't always do that so well with my hearing. I want to look back a sentence or two and read it again.

I'm still trying to finish the Wolf Cooking book, which is somewhat quaint, but tiring at the end. Also began Love, Ellen: A Mother/Daughter Journey by Betty DeGeneres, about the thought processes she went through when her daughter told her she was gay. She is a mother after my own heart.

>245 MrsLee: That's one of the reasons I have so much trouble with audiobooks. When I'm reading, I almost always want to read a line or a paragraph, or bit of dialogue over again, and with audiobooks, I just feel rushed past it. I've done a few, but it's never my go-to.

244. 245: I've been hit! On the wishlist it goes.

>248 majkia: I like it more and more as the world is revealed.

Finished How to Cook a Wolf last night. I wasn't blown away, but it is a product of its time. She seems to think she is speaking to and for every homemaker, but I don't think she has a lot to say to the farmer's wives or lower middle class women. She rather assumes that everyone has a fond memory of living or traveling abroad before the war, or of flitting to cocktail parties, etc. Also, I did not find most of the recipes appealing. However, her philosophy on food, our enjoyment of it and our treatment of it is very modern, interesting and instructive. It was also interesting to read some of the food shortage issues which I hadn't known about for WWII. For instance, she mentioned fish, because so many of the fishing waters had been mined, the Italian fishing fleet out of San Francisco had been stopped (because they were Italian) and the Japanese workers in the canneries had been placed in custody.

I will be interested to read some of her other works, to see if they hold up.

How to Cook a Wolf sounds very interesting and rather fun. I enjoyed your comments.

I love the interesting variety of books that you read.

Finished Love, Ellen. Sadly, I can't really recommend it. It has some terrific insights and advice, but they are buried in mind-numbing details of the mother's entire life.

What next? I can't decide right now.

Is it time for Shakespeare yet?

>252 jillmwo: Probably, after the book I just picked up. I had to do the eenie-meenie-minee-mo thing, but I landed on Q's Legacy by Helene Hanff. I'm 20 pages in and can hardly put it down. I love her humor and writing style. Just what I needed after my last read!

Speaking of Shakespeare, I'm thinking I want to invest in some lovely solo versions of his plays. Trying to decide which ones. Hamlet and Macbeth are a given. Possibly Taming of the Shrew, but it's been so long since I've read it I would want to read it again to be sure. What I want, are hardcovers. I have a "complete works" hardcover, but it is hardly reader friendly. Good for a first read of a play, but not for luxuriating in a read.

Henry the V is good. So is Twelfth Night. Much Ado About Nothing is fun. (Speaking entirely for myself, I would avoid Titus Andronicus, if I were you. The Bard was having a really bad day.)

I think I'm due for an historical play. I try to alternate.

I bought more books for the hotel yesterday, and was fixing them with our stickers tonight, when one of them begged and pleaded to come home with me so it could spend some quality time before it was drafted into service. It was Garlic and Saphires: the Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl.

>255 MrsLee: >254 jillmwo: Henry IV is, of course, the backstory for Henry V.And Henry IV part 1 is one of the few school set works I recall with any pleasure. The scene in the pub after Hal-and-them have waylaid Falstaff-and-them is hilarious.

I think I'll need to get some Shakespeare in Swedish translation. The real old English ones are virtually indecipherable for someone like me... ;-)

>254 jillmwo: I second the recommendation on the avoidance of Titus Andronicus. *shudder*

I've really enjoyed both Ruth Reichl books I've read. Garlic and Sapphires got 8/10 stars and Tender at the Bone got 7/10.

My micro-review of Garlic: Oh what fun. I love her writing and her stories are humorous and touching. She dons all these disguises so the restaurant doesn't "make" her and she takes on the character she plays with all their strengths and weaknesses. Some are nice, some not so nice. But all are interesting.

Big hugs to you, MrsLee.

Hugs from me, too.

Thank you, both.

So, Viriconium. SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW:

The first book was good. Slow building, beautiful language, interesting world, rather sad. The second book is, involved and convoluted to the point that I am very annoyed. Still a fascinating world and idea. Still beautiful wording, but it is like modernist (not sure that is the right term) art. I know there has to be a point to it all, but it is so twisted and disjointed that I can barely follow it. Depressing, oh, oh, oh. Today, on my 30 minute commute, it was clear that a character had to die, and I knew how he would die and why. I'm OK with that. But by the time I got to work, HE STILL HAD NOT DIED. I mean, he's falling from the sky in a dead ship, how long does that take? DIE already!

I didn't listen on the way home, since I was more concerned in what the clouds were doing all around me and if any funnels were forming. I will finish this book, but then I need a break.

Finished Q's Legacy by Helene Hanff. Definitely a keeper. This is the story of her quest to become a writer. Not able to afford college, she went to the library and started in the 800 section under "A." She examined every author trying to find one she could understand and who had something to say. There was only one author under "Q," Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, M.A., a Professor at Cambridge. Thus begins her education, and her memoir.

Hanff's warm personality and humor shine in this. It is a wonderful example of how to pursue something you want very much. I was impressed with her courtesy towards her fans and her stick-to-it-iveness. The story loses a bit of its edge towards the end, but her humor keeps it pleasurable.

Next up is Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl. Morphy gave it good praise, and that's enough for me to put it at the top of my TBR pile. Also, I think the Viriconium is so heavy it makes me not want to read another fiction at the same time. When I'm done with that I'm going to have to get into a fun mystery to lighten up my life.

Seconding Morphy--Garlic and Sapphires is wonderful. I like all of Ruth Reichl's books, but I think this one's my favorite. Some of the other well-known food writers can get a little precious at times, but she never does.

I tried Garlic and Sapphires on audio a few years back, but didn't get along with the reader. Maybe I should try the paper version.

The title alone makes me want it...

It has been terrific so far. Very hard to put down. I picked it up just to look at it and ended up reading until 3am.

Score!

Oh, my poor bulging Kindle...

EDT: I'm getting it from the library instead. This will be my first real paper book of 2014. Not sure if I should be ashamed or proud. (I did real some of A Study in Scarlet on paper, but probably only about 5% or so.)

Finished Garlic and Sapphires today. It took me to the very end before I twigged that she became the editor of Gourmet magazine, which I used to read faithfully. At that moment, I said, "Of course!" because her name was naggingly familiar the whole time I was reading the book. The only thing which stops me from rushing out to get her other books is that one of my FB friends, who has very similar reading tastes, said she loved this book, but the others not so much, and one of the others made her want to slap the author. This is a very gentle friend. So if I stumble over them, as I did this one, I will try them.

I also decided today that I will never finish reading The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide. I like him, but not that much. Not enough days left in my reading life to plow through that, but I will keep it as a reference, which is what it is meant to be.

I've begun another VERY THICK BOOK off of my shelves, 30 Stories to Remember. The first one is a Daphne du Maurier short which I read not too long ago, so I remember it and skipped it. Moving right along! The next in the book is titled The Theft of the Mona Lisa by Karl Decker, which I thought was funny, since jillmwo was just talking about a story of that theft in her thread. I don't think hers is this one. :)

>271 MrsLee: What is the Du Maurier story you skipped?
I have just finished The Scapegoat. There are some ramblings on my reading thread about it. I keep thinking of other comments I should add. I enjoyed the novel and now my son's French teacher, who is a Breton, wants to read it. She is familiar with Du Maurier having read a biography.

>272 pgmcc: "The Split Second" a short story which was in her collection called Kiss Me Again, Stranger. As short stories go, it was pretty good. What fun to have someone there to share The Scapegoat with! I love being able to loan a book I enjoyed to someone else who may also love it.

>271 MrsLee: Fascinating! When did she edit Gourmet? I have some old (c. 1963-1975) back numbers, which I treasure, and would love to add older ones if I could lay hands on them -- the recipes are often brilliant. Later issues became, to my mind, too 'over the top' to be any actual use to real people.

>274 hfglen: Hugh, this is what Wikipedia says, "the last editor-in-chief of the now shuttered Gourmet magazine." I agree, that in its later years Gourmet became more of a food fantasy magazine, but still, I like fantasy now and then. I quit subscribing sometime in the '80s.

In one of those weird reading connections, she mentioned in her book that she knew M.F.K. Fischer when she lived in California. :)

Ah. Long after their gifted columnists Lucius Beebe, Leslie Charteris, Lilian Langseth-Christensen and so many others were no longer available to keep the show going ....

Many thanks.

I'm contemplating beginning the George R.R. Martin books as an antidote to Viriconium. I'm into the third story now (decided I was so far through I'd rather just get it over with, and Simon Vance is delightful to listen to), and I can't believe how an author can write a character who we should have empathy for (an artist dying of consumption), and yet, he makes me howl, "Diiiiieeeeee already!!!!!!!!!" I know that Martin has no trouble with killing characters, and frankly, after this, I might be in the mood.

>277 MrsLee:
Just be prepared for surprises.

There is an interesting factoid about George R.R. Martin. Apparently he is not on Twitter because he killed all 140 of the characters.

>279 pgmcc: *rim shot*

:-)

279> Wonderful.

>263 MrsLee: Depressing, oh, oh, oh. Today, on my 30 minute commute, it was clear that a character had to die, and I knew how he would die and why. I'm OK with that. But by the time I got to work, HE STILL HAD NOT DIED. I mean, he's falling from the sky in a dead ship, how long does that take? DIE already!

>277 MrsLee: I can't believe how an author can write a character who we should have empathy for (an artist dying of consumption), and yet, he makes me howl, "Diiiiieeeeee already!!!!!!!!!"

It seems to be a theme with that book! My sympathies...

Does this fall into the same category as "perhaps he had better do it and decrease the surplus population"? Should this artist dying of consumption follow Scrooge's suggestion? I take it you think this character might well fit into the category of surplus...

284 - Nope, I have nothing against the artist herself, only in how long it is taking her to reach the inevitable conclusion of her life. That I blame on the writer, not the artist. I think she would like to be finished with it, too.

Here's the thing. There is something about the writing which makes me want to keep on with the book. He describes dreary, hopeless, depressing, eroding cultures in exquisite and vivid details. So, although I don't usually read this sort of book, I can't seem to help myself. He can draw out death like no other.

I read Viriconium through the three novels, and three short stories. It devolved. Each story became more and more incoherent. Finally, yesterday, I gave up. Think I quit when there were three or four short stories left to read. After reading about this author and his works, I believe it was his intention to devolve into incoherence, but it is my intention never to waste my time reading.

The stories began well. The Pastel City had an interesting world to offer, characters with growth and lots of interesting places the story could go. The rest of the stories became more and more nightmarish, heavily depressing and dreary. Tedious.

I get the idea, the author despises plot lines and detailed worlds, and so he has created a very interesting world, then proceeds to deconstruct it, wrapping it all in beautiful and poetic language. One particular reviewer online expressed it well, the beauty of the language all blended together after a time, until one became lost. I was blaming this on the fact that it was an audio version, but I think now it was the intention of the author.

Anyway, when I realized I was being jerked with I lost all patience.

As an antidote, I began The Good Thief's Guide to Berlin by Chris Ewan. Also narrated by Simon Vance. It makes me laugh.

MMMM, I love Simon Vance's voice.

>287 clamairy: - Me too!

Not sure whether this is a temporary thing or not, I thought that reading short stories would be just the thing for my limited time and concentration, but I don't seem to be enjoying them at all. I can hardly bring myself to pick up the collection to read it. So far, the stories I've read are not gripping and have that depressing overtone that stories from the earlier part of the century had (possibly all "literary" stories have). Anyway, I'll do some skimming, but I want to find a book I can get lost in.

>288 MrsLee: I've been having the same problem with short stories of late - it feels like it's too much effort to start each new one when I have to reinvest in discovering characters, setting, plot and I don't know whether it's going to be worth the investment. At least with a longer book, I feel like I'm making that commitment to trying it once and that I'll figure out whether it's working or not as the book progresses, but not have to start over every twenty pages or whatever. I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me. I struggled my way through Fragile Things but ended up admitting defeat with The Mammoth Book of Steampunk. The weird thing was that I was reading the latter because some friends had been enthusing about the genre and I thought I'd try it out and the stories I read were fine. In fact I enjoyed them more than the majority I read in Fragile Things but perhaps the struggle to make it through FT was actually what put me off?

>289 Peace2: - That makes absolutely perfect sense to me.

>288 MrsLee: I spent quite a lot of effort trying to write some short stories. Then I realized I didn't have enough recent exposure to the genre; most of the stories I knew were from the 19th century and earlier--Doyle, Poe, Hawthorne. So I bought ten years' worth of the Best American Short Stories series and plunged in.

Somewhere around 2006 or 2007*, more than halfway through my set, I ran out of steam. That's about when the question struck me: why am I trying to write in a genre that I don't really like? I'm a novel reader--rich background, deep characterization, complex plot, slow buildup to a climax and then a denouement, please--and not one for quick strokes, fast resolutions, and extra helpings of ambiguity.

However, I didn't have the staying power to see a novel through. And that pretty much short-circuited my fiction-writing aspirations.

When I'm feeling scattered and having trouble concentrating, I want to read a novel that's a known quantity, such as a cozy mystery in a trusted series: it's long enough but not too long, it's not going to be too gruesome, and it's going to turn out all right. The Cadfael stories have stood by me through some difficult seasons. Unfortunately I'm going to run out of them soon.

----

*As a side note, it's remarkable to observe how much those anthologies vary depending on which celebrity author is the guest editor who gets to pick the couple dozen stories actually included, after the series editor has narrowed the year's field of choices down to a hundred. I really liked Michael Chabon's collection, for instance, but not Ann Pratchett's.

291> Have you tried The Ladies No. 1 Detective series? It's about what you described lighthearted mysteries, not very long, not gruesome, and always turns out all right.

>292 pwaites: Yes, I read the first one. And I agree, it does meet that description. For me, though, it was maybe just a little too cute. I wasn't moved to go on with the series.

>289 Peace2: I totally agree with you. Starting something new is always an effort, and I believe more so in fantasy and SF, because besides having to get to know the characters, it can be quite some effort to get to know the world. I find the effort justified for a good book, but not so much for short stories. Particularly since I think most short stories are not much good.

I think this is also the attraction of a series, you don't have to invest again at any of sequels. And it's the reason I get grumpy if a sequel starts with someone I don't know yet. I particularly dislike it if it turns out to be someone who is only there to observe something and then doesn't come back for the rest of the book. You've just made an effort to figure out who this person is and how he/she is connected to the previous book, and then it turns out it was all for nothing...

>291 Meredy: - I delved into Poison by Ed McBain yesterday at the dentist's office. Mysteries are my go-to genre. Not so much police procedurals, but having read one of his books, I thought it worthy of a second try. Besides, it was the book my son grabbed when I told him to grab one off the shelf, I didn't care which. That would be my TBR of mysteries shelf.

I did give the compilation of short stories one more try last night and ran across a story which pulled me in, surprisingly by William Faulkner, and more surprisingly, not horribly depressing, only a bit sad and poignant. It was called "Two Soldiers." Next one up is an Agatha Christie, so I'll give that one a try as well.

Oh, I also took The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli to work the other day. Wanted to see if it was readable by me. So far, yes, but not very gripping.

I was browsing online, and I came across this site called Try Audio Books that offers titles for free download- one of the selections is Garlic and Sapphires, so I thought of your thread and thought you or others who read your thread might be interested after your positive review earlier. It looks like you have to provide an e-mail address to get the download, but I assume it's just MP3s or something like that.

>296 sandstone78: - Sounds interesting, I don't think I'll do Garlic and Sapphires again, but maybe there are others!

>287 clamairy: - I highly recommend The Good Thief Guides for your walks. They are great fun. I'm especially enjoying the Berlin one, but I've liked every one I've read so far. Some are more plausible than others, but with Simon Vance reading, and the humor involved, the plausibility doesn't really matter.

>297 MrsLee: So pleased to see a recommendation for The Good Thief's Guide to Berlin- I've just picked it up from the library audio section. :)

>298 Peace2: I do hope you enjoy it! The humor might not appeal to some *cough* Meredy *cough* but I laughed almost all the way to work listening to the ridiculous predicaments.

>299 MrsLee: Now you're making me want to go read it.

Ok there? Here, have a slug of Robitussin.

>300 Meredy: LOL

>301 MrsLee: ...and guess what: I just checked out the first of the series on Amazon, and it sure sounded like one I'd enjoy, so I ordered it.

Maybe I'm rubbing off on you! I will look forward to hearing whether you enjoy it or not.

I'm glad I didn't give up on my short stories book yet. I've had a run of nice ones by Faulkner, Christie and Thurber. Also, The Incredible Journey was in it and I've never read that before. I really enjoyed it. So, I'm still skimming in the book, looking for the gems.

Finished The Good Thief's Guide to Berlin. I really hope the author plans to write another, because this ends as a big cliffhanger. Also, I think he is getting into his stride of writing this character and I don't want him to stop!

I realized at the end that I accidentally read it out of order, so I'm reading The Good Thief's Guide to Venice next. The order isn't really crucial in these stories, each is self contained, but there are little relationship developments which evolve. I'm having conflict about listening to this last story, because there aren't any I haven't read in the series after this. I may have to check out the two other books this author has written to see if I like them.

My current short story is The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benét, which I am skimming a bit. I think I've read it before, but I don't remember how it ends. I have mixed feelings about Benét's writing.

Tonight I read Gigi by Colette. Very sweet, even though it is a story describing women preparing their 15 year old granddaughter to be the mistress of a 33 year old man. Now I want to watch the movie again.

I have to admit I had no idea that Gigi was a book. I love the movie! I've added it to Mount TBR.

I too love both the book and film of Gigi. My edition of the book also contains The cat, a story that will have you looking askance at your feline companion and wondering just what exactly is going on inside that furry little head ...

NB: Couldn't get a touchstone for The cat, but the one for Gigi should lead to the edition that contains it.

The film of Gigi was always a favourite in my family home. When I first read books by Guy de Maupassant I thought Gigi must have been based on a novel by him. Then I came across the book, I know not where, and realised my mistake. It is in my TBR range of mountains and I must dig it out. I think proper mining technology may be required to extract it at this stage.

Maurice Chevalier was marvelous in the film. Ah yes! I remember it well.

When I was very young, I was much more in love with Maurice Chevalier than with any of the other young, handsome or dashing actors he starred with. :)

I'm skipping the stories in this huge book which are only extracts of larger books. One more cheat under my belt. The next story is my W. Somerset Maughm. This will be a first for me, although I have a two volume set of his stories on my shelves to read.

>309 MrsLee: Somerset Maughm is an author I have often considered but never tried. I will be interested to know what you think of his work.

I also have a bunch of his sitting together on a shelf. I think most of mine are novels, not short stories though.

>310 pgmcc: - The judgement on Maughm will have to wait. It was not unreadable, but also didn't grab me. Took a long time to get into the story and I didn't have the patience for it. I skipped to the end, and a character was committing suicide, which does not bode well for Mr. Maughm. I don't care for depressing stuff. It may be awhile before I get to the collection, or, I may start sooner than I plan, because if that is the tone of his works, I don't need them taking up space on my shelves.

>312 MrsLee: I believe you have helped me make a decision on that author.

Thank you, @MrsLee!

I will report here if anything changes my opinion! :)

>313 pgmcc: Seriously? One suicide and you're going to pass, pgmcc? You who reads all of those Haruki Murakami tomes? ;o)

>315 clamairy: I have just read one death in Kafka on the Shore and someone else is thinking about ending it all. In Murakami it all seems to fit into the system but the book is enjoyable. I can't stand those morose, "Oh woe with me books!" and I get the impression that is what we are talking about with Maughm.

By the way, for those interested, Kafka on the Shore has graphic scenes of both violence and sex. I know that puts some people off. It is funny but when I think about Murakami's books I forget those scenes until someone else brings them up. I remember the looking at things from different viewpoints and the attempts to discuss some philisophical points, but not the sex and violence. Perhaps that is why I like his books so much more that some other people. I forget the bits that put others off.

Anyway, I still don't think I'll put must effort into investigating Maughm.

Skipped a few more, then I read The Adventure of the Priory School by Doyle, it is a Holmes tale, so of course I loved it. I don't remember reading it before, but that means nothing. I tore through all of the Holmes stories when I was in my twenties or thirties, and they blurred together.

What made me post in here though, was a Truman Capote story called A Christmas Memory. I LOVED it. I haven't read anything by him before, to my recollection, and I will have to remedy that. The sweetness and heart of that story, along with the vivid details which brought up so many memories from my own childhood certainly give promise that I may like his other stories. We shall see.

Capote was brilliant, MrsLee. Stay away from In Cold Blood though, if you want to avoid the violence. You might want to try Breakfast at Tiffany's, which is a wonderful collection of short stories.

>318 clamairy: Hmm, that touchstone takes me to a movie page, but not the book. Found the book, it is on my wishlist.

I have a little book that collects three of Capote's holiday stories, A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & The Thanksgiving Visitor. My first and favourite Capote book. I love reading this during the Christmas holidays. Not long ago, I saw somewhere the theory that Dill, from To Kill a Mockingbird, is based on Capote. These three little stories make me believe he could be.

>319 MrsLee: Ooops. I'll fix that.

>320 sandragon: Oh, he definitely was Dill. According to her bio Mockingbird Harper Lee and Truman Capote were friends since childhood. She helped him do much of his research for In Cold Blood. They stayed close until her only book won every literature prize that existed and he grew jealous of her fame.

>321 clamairy: That is fascinating information about Capote and Harper Lee. I read In Cold Blood and To Kill a Mockingbird and enjoyed them both but, not having done any author research, never knew Capote and Lee were friends.

Your story about Capote's jealour reaction reminded me of a friend who is an accomplished author and poet. He has been writing for decades and making a living by his pen (keyboard now-a-days of course, but pen is more classy) but he always wanted to win the Hennessy Short Story competition (a quite prestigious literary competition in Ireland sponsored by Hennessy Brandy) and had entered it three times with second place being his highest position.

He was amused one year when his wife, who had never been a writer, decided to enter the competition. He wished her luck, just to be nice of course knowing that she would not win, but was somewhat taken aback when she won first place. To this day her winner's plaque sitting on the mantlepiece in their livingroom gives him an irksome feeling everytime he sees it.

>322 pgmcc: Nice story, pgmcc!

>321 clamairy: I have Mockingbird waiting to be read. Sad about the jealousy. If their friendship was anything like that in To Kill a Mockingbird, they must have had some great memories together.
>322 pgmcc: LOL!

>322 pgmcc: Oh my. He must not have been too happy. Not knowing him I can only feel badly for him. Does he deserve being forced to look at that award all the time? LOL

I did know about the friendship of Capote and Harper, and that Dill was modeled on him. To be honest, when I was reading that story, the tone of it reminded me greatly of To Kill a Mockingbird. I am sorry to hear that their friendship cooled. He had nothing to be envious of by my reckoning, if the rest of his stories are as well written as this one was, he was masterful, and more prolific.

Talk about your reading slumps. I finished 3 books in April, and two of those were audio books. Ah well. I need to finally decide about the last short story in the collection I'm reading, then get into some fast, easy fun reading for awhile. Trouble is, I haven't had the energy or will to devote enough time to this last story to decide whether or not I want to read it. :/ That probably says something right there.

Yesterday was bittersweet. I finished my last Good Thief book. Now I have to wait and see if the author will write another one. I enjoyed this one which takes place in Venice, too. I think the last two he wrote are by far the best, I really hope he doesn't quit now.

Today's audio will begin At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. Not really my kind of story I think, but I hear everyone talk about the author, so I thought I would have a go at one, and it was a special on Audible. Narrated by Edward Herrmann. I've never heard him before, so we shall see.

>327 MrsLee: You've never heard of Edward Herrmann???!!!!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001346/

You've never seen Eleanor and Franklin or The Lost Boys?

I love Lovecraft, but I do think you have to be in certain mood to enjoy him. If you've been in kind of a slump, MrsLee, this might not be the best time. I hesitate to recommend . . . but I do hope you find something of the right temperature and texture that goes down easy.

>328 clamairy: Nope! I've never seen ANYTHING he was in, except possibly St. Elsewhere, which was so long ago I don't remember much. However, I think his voice is perfect for the narration for this. I do not hate it yet. I do find it hard to follow, my mind wanders off here and there, but that might just be my mind.

Finished another short story, thought it was the last, but there are more. :/ This one had its moments, it was a romance, and I wasn't retching at the end, so that's saying something right there. It was by Alice Duer Miller.

I'm going to have to bug my brother into returning my Bujold books. That's what I feel like reading.

Glad I didn't give up altogether on the short stories. Read one last night called Mrs. 'Arris goes to Paris by Paul Galico. It was delightful.

So glad you enjoyed the Good Thief books, I love them and Chris Ewan is a really neat guy. Also love Gallico - read Scruffy this year and The Man Who Was Magic and my all time favorite of his is Jennie. Read any of those?

Here's a picture of Ewan for you. (and me)

Yes, Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris is a lovely read. The damage done in the end was however (at least for me) so painful that I've never felt able to go back and re-read it.

>332 mysterymax: Thank you for the picci. He has a FB page, but it seems to be his personal one, and not one you can just "like" so I hesitate to make a "friends" request. Seems so presumptuous. :)

>333 jillmwo: It really did take the heart out of one, and yet, the revelation she had was marvelous I love the fact that her joy ended up not depending on the material item, but on the process and the people involved in getting that item. It is something I try to remember constantly, to not be wrapped up in the "things" of this life. I have some pretty special antiques from some of my ancestors, some of them even very valuable. I still let my children handle them, wash them and use them. As my mother-in-law told me early on, "If it doesn't breathe, and it doesn't eat, it doesn't matter."

It was a shame that the selfish woman ruined the dress. One could hate her for that, and yet, she would be impervious, so why bring that emotion to ones self? The impulse of sharing something beautiful, of saving the day, is an open-handed impulse, and sometimes one gets burned, but we are still better for letting go than for hoarding. This is why I share my books, movies, etc. Sometimes I lose them, it makes me sad. But then I can go on the treasure hunt to find them again. As the woman said, she could get the dress fixed, but it really was never about the dress, it was about the journey.. The story reminded me in a way of the movie, The Tales of Manhattan.

Finally am finished with the 30 short stories. I only read 18 of the stories, skimmed a few more. Didn't even begin those which were excerpts from longer books.

And now for something completely different, I am going to eat brain candy books for awhile until I get my reading mojo back. Today will begin To Fetch a Thief by Spencer Quinn. I like the title, it's about a dog detective, Chet, who works with a human, P.I. Bernie Little. Sounds fluffy to me!

I am "ho-hum" about Mountains of Madness. The reader is good, otherwise I would have quit before now, but the endless descriptions of all the stuff these two men were supposed to have divined in one afternoon about a pre-historic culture which they label stuff like "blasphemous" and "diabolic" and all sorts of other ominous words with no reason at all that I can see except for the fact that it was ancient, and not human, is very wearing on me. Tedious. I don't believe it, am not invested in it and don't really care. Plus, for some reason I keep thinking of Daleks whenever he talks about them and it makes me more inclined to giggle.

Alright, so something horrible happened at the camp and a lot of dogs and men were killed. I should care about that, but this narrator can't seem to make me. I think the real problem is, I can't identify with or believe the narrator, so he bores me. I find myself tuning out to minutes at a time of the story and not really missing anything. He talks about the city and environs being horrific, but they sound pretty cool to me. He talks about them being completely other-worldly, but then describes them and they sound completely earthly. Meh.

>336 MrsLee: I think you just neatly summed up the problems with Lovecraft :)

>336 MrsLee: My daughter's biggest complaint about him was that he was a racist. I think I'll pass.

Oh, dear, @MrsLee, you were right after all. I just wrote a disappointed review of The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam.

Probably not for the reason you might have thought, though. I was fine with the story, and I didn't expect a terribly deep character or much in the way of literature and philosophy. It was a stylistic quirk that got to me--to the point that I don't think I can stand another one. Too bad, because I really wanted to like it (if only to add some crisscross lines to our shared pattern).

>338 clamairy: Quite probably, although that is a problem with many authors of that era, but for sure he is against alien races and cultures. I can quite easily see him writing a dark and disturbing tale about the depths of Africa, going on about the menacing and devilish drumbeats, the sinister looks of the people, etc. All because they are different from what he thinks is the "ideal." I may be doing him wrong, I'm not saying he did this, but I can see it being possible after reading this story. Thankfully I'm finished with it, and I now feel no compulsion whatsoever to try any more.

>339 Meredy: I will go read your review soon, but I was afraid you wouldn't like it mostly because it reminded me so much of the book by Hugh Laurie that you loathed and I loved. :) At least you tried!

We are back from our lovely trip to the Historic Benbow Inn in Garberville, CA. The hotel was lovely, constructed in the late 1920s with lots of beautiful wood trimmings around doors, windows and baseboards. The stairwells and paneling were beautifully carved as well. Personally, I would have liked to seen a bit more effort put forth into polishing said wood, but servants aren't what they used to be. ;)

The heat soared while we were there, about 94F, and their A/C wasn't working properly, so we did a lot of sitting, reading, napping, drinking cool drinks and fanning ourselves. We decided that we were experiencing the "historic" bit of no cooling systems. I was able to finish four books on this trip, Mountains of Madness, see above comments on that, I never changed my mind on it, To Fetch a Thief, which was good fun, The Prince, I am now ready to rule any minor principality which will have me (or maybe I'll just MAKE them have me), and Poison, which has settled my mind about Ed McBain, he is not for me.

After all that book finishing, you would think I would be happy because I've cleared some space on my shelves, but you would be wrong. There were several terrific used/new bookstores on this trip and my husband is an enabler. In fact, he bought three for himself, so that means that the ten I bought hardly count. I'll list them in the new books thread. This may provide a little insight into how I could read over 500 books in the last few years and yet still have no room on my bookshelves, or be any closer to reading all of them.

Anyway, the trip was relaxing and fun, just the way we like it. We stopped in at The Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka for lunch on the way home. Very good, and their 8 Ball Stout was wonderful. OH tried a special brew called Sharkinator which was good, but more citrus flavor (grapefruit) than I care for. Good for one sip for me. That was the only restaurant which didn't mess up our orders, but the mess ups at the other places were not bad, and ended up good for us. I had two wonderful burgers for the price of one, even though I told them I was fine with the one I was served, they insisted on giving me the one I ordered as well. Both were very good, and no, I did not eat both of them at one sitting!

I doubt we will go back to Garberville anytime soon though. Not much there. However, the drive through the lovely ancient redwoods was a delight to the senses. The only thing which would have improved that would be if we rounded a corner and saw The Green Dragon pub.

The book I started on the trip is A Play of Dux Moraud by Margaret Frazer.

That sounds like a great trip, MrsLee. I would love to see the redwoods...and the Green Dragon Pub.

Ditto what @pgmcc said. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. :o) Yay

As for the Lovecraft, sounds like he made good use of his xenophobia. You were better off reading that Machiavelli then. At least there are some useful workplace skills to be learned there. ;o)

Hahaha! It would be easy to transform The Prince into a "management seminar" or booklet. Probably has been done. Personally, I love Machiavelli's views on the nature of humanity.

"Finished" which means I've read all that I'm going to, The Original Illustrated Arthur Conan Doyle. It was interesting. I'm sure I would have found it more so if The Strand Magazine came to my house once a month with one of these suspenseful little stories, or part of one, in it and I couldn't afford to have a houseful of other reading material. As it is, I became impatient with them. Again, short stories do not seem to be working well for me right now, and the esoteric interest of these wasn't enough to hold me. I missed Holmes and Watson. The mysteries in these were flat and mostly depended on confession for the resolution. Whether Doyle liked writing Holmes or not, in my opinion, that is where he shines.

I've begun Einstein's Cosmos by Michio Kaku, a real departure for me, but so far it is both interesting and understandable. It is on audio.

Also reading Wicked Bugs by Amy Stewart. The perfect book to get ready for summer, right?

I read Wicked Bugs 3 summers ago, and had fun making myself squirm; better than a horror story any day. I also stopped eating pork...

I saw Wicked Bugs in a store downtown last weekend. I almost bought it because it is a beautiful book. I don't know if I could handle reading it, though. *shivers at the thought*

I'm not even going to look that one up!

>345 sandragon: I don't want to stop eating pork. :( I almost stopped eating sushi and sashimi back when I was in college because of a science class I took. But it wore off. We'll see how I feel after I read this!

>346 catzteach: Her books are beautiful. I also have Wicked Plants, which made me want to stay in the house. Maybe a good one for you would be The Drunken Botanist, not scary.

>348 MrsLee: To be honest, I had been considering going porkless for other reasons. Wicked Bugs just helped me be firm about it.

I finished A Play of Dux Moraud. I enjoyed it, although the licentiousness which ran rampant in it seemed a bit odd to me. Had me wondering what these people were eating. I was also in doubt that the manor and household could be so decent and well run considering the rot at the core of it all. The author gave me the reason, but I didn't really buy them. Still, the players and their relationships were delightful and I enjoyed the read. I love the author's descriptions of the times. One can truly "see" them and it makes history come alive.

I've begun Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH for the Morphy's Monthly reading group. I'm enjoying it very much and am not sure how I missed this one. I have a surmise where the rats of NIMH are from, got the idea at about page 86. We'll see if I'm right. I'm about half way through. I really like the way the animals are portrayed, they still have all their animal traits, just enhanced by understanding and learning. Although, the rat community is a departure from that.

>348 MrsLee: I saw The Drunken Botanist in the store. It did look less scary but just as interesting. :)

I really enjoy the Rats of Nihm. I've used it in book groups quite a bit over the years. The first year I read it with a class of fourth graders. We then watched the movie. It is rated G so I figured "no worries" on content. Yeah, somewhere in there one of the rats says "damn". The kids gasped, I turned red, and I haven't shown it ever again.

Finished Einstein's Cosmos today. This was a complete surprise for me. I enjoyed it so much. I won't pretend that I understood all of it, but like fine art, I can appreciate the beauty of the thoughts and the genius of the women and men who are working to understand our world. I was impressed with the way Michio Kaku explained such complicated ideas so that even a numskull like myself could at grasp the concepts. The audio was read well by Ray Porter.

Next up will be A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage, read by Sean Runnette.

Finished Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH yesterday. My comments are in the group read thread. Or they will be soon.

Began Willie & Joe: the WWII Years by Bill Mauldin. This is one of those books that FEELS good to read. The pages are smooth and silky, as are the edges. The fabric cover is soft to hold. The cartoons may be about the tragedy and hardships of war, but the book is luxury itself.

>348 MrsLee: & >349 sandragon: I don't eat pork, except on that rare occasion when a host is serving a dish with pork in it and I don't want to be rude. I started to cut back at least 15 years ago, and at some point just stopped buying it or ordering it altogether. Although I did have a Clams Casino pizza a few months ago with a bit of verboten bacon on it that was really yummy. Would be easy enough to duplicate with uncured turkey bacon, though.

>353 MrsLee: Ah, that tactile pleasure of certain books. :o)

A book I've been dipping into at odd times when I have nothing else to read is Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain. Not sure how I feel about this. I don't know much about Bourdain, but so far he seems like a judgmental, egotist asshat. I'm wondering if that is simply the style he likes to put out there, or if he will change as the book goes on? As much as I enjoy food and cooking, I don't really follow the world of the "celebrity chefs" so I was curious. Anyway, I'm on chapter 4, and will continue if only out of curiosity.

I've read that one and Kitchen Confidential and the biggest thing I got out of it is how great it is to be Anthony Bourdain.

>356 Bookmarque: LOLOLOLOL!

>355 MrsLee: >356 Bookmarque: I've always been tempted to try something of his, but now I think I'll pass. Thank you!

It isn't all bad, but boy, the ego on that guy. Except where he fakes humility and sucks up to certain chefs/restaurant owners. Strangely though, even when he's delivering a pummeling to someone he doesn't like, he pulls his punches sometimes. I mean if you think the guy's an asshole, just come out with it. I went into it more in my reviews of both books (with a reference to Metallica if I remember rightly) if you feel like a laugh.

>359 Bookmarque: I'll check out your reviews after I've finished. If I finish. A couple of my FB friends tell me to watch his show "No Reservations" before I finish my judgment of him, and also that he wrote some good mysteries. I'm not sure I can get past the constant profanity to enjoy anything he writes.

His potty mouth doesn't bother me since I basically have one, too and there aren't really any spoilers in my reviews of these so you should be ok if you want. I heard his non-food books are quite good, but Mount TBR is already high enough, you know? I think I've watched No Reservations once or twice, but not enough to change my mind.

I wasn't too keen on Kitchen Confidential, thought it interesting, but Bourdain somewhat loud and vulgar. I liked A Cook's Tour more. It's a memoir of his experiences with different cuisines and cultures as he travels around the world.

Lee, I have been so far behind in reading your thread that I decided the best thing to do was to skip to here and carry on in June.

Happy June 1.

Skimming a few of the posting above I see you are, as usual, into some interesting books. I look forward to keeping up with you from here on....

>363 maggie1944: :) Thanks for stopping by, maggie! See you in my new thread! I'm setting up a new one, since this is quite long and we are only half way through the year.