flissp makes a hopeful attempt to keep track again in 2014

Happy New Year all!

So. I'm doing this again, in the full knowledge that I'll probably be just as rubbish about keeping up to date as I have been the last year, but here's to a fresh start anyway!

Before I set out my goals for next year, I thought I might sum up some of the wonderful things I saw, heard and read last year...:

TOP 5 NEW READS OF 2013 (in no particular order):
Reflections: Diana Wynne Jones
Born Weird: Andrew Kaufman
Magic For Beginners: Kelly Link
The Collector Collector: Tibor Fischer
The Not Yet: Moira Crone

Honestly though, although I very much enjoyed all the above, this hasn't been a particularly great reading year and I would have to say that my only completely stand out read of last year was the Diana Wynne Jones.

BEST MUSICAL STUFF:
The Secret Garden Party
Billy Budd at Glyndebourne

Secret Garden Party is one my favourite festivals - great music (including loads of new stuff you haven't heard of yet) and lots of random stuff in a very beautiful setting. Plus it has the added benefit of being very close to home. ;o) Billy Budd was a wonderful production with a particularly great Chorus line. Never fails to make me cry - I'm very lucky to have parents who treat me to things like this...

BEST THEATRE:
The Bane Trilogy (Soho Theatre)
Fortunately the Milk book launch
The Light Princess (National Theatre)

I've gone on about Bane before, so I won't again, but it's great fun (black comedy, film noir-esque one man show with a blues guitar). The Fortunately the Milk book launch was just one of those nights where everything goes perfectly - Neil Gaiman reading the book in its entirety, with help from various friends and family along with lots of other random stuff, which was fantastic in and of itself, but also, even though I didn't turn up ultra early, I managed to find a seat bang in the middle of the front row (there are pluses to going to things on your own sometimes), randomly sitting next to someone with whom I had a really great chat before the show (one of those really pleasing random stranger conversations). The Light Princess I probably wouldn't have gone to if it hadn't been for a mate of mine who is a little obsessive about Tori Amos (who wrote the music) - the music itself was OK, not life changing, but the production was really beautiful - a mix of an extremely inventive set, some puppetry and very clever production. The storyline was (very) loosely based on a fairytale and I suspect it wouldn't be for everyone, but we both enjoyed it very much. This was topped off by coming out of the theatre (the NT on the South Bank) to the start of Bonfire Night fireworks over the Thames (it was a matinee), which was completely unexpected (Bonfire Night was closer to the previous weekend). Lovely.

Ah, and the other hightlight was the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton just a few months ago, which was great fun (and so much smaller than I expected!), even if I did get food poisoning (at least I saved on food bills)!

I'll probably come back to put a few photos up here as I didn't post many last year.

OK. So. On to my reading plans for this year. Well, I'm going to set myself fewer goals this year, but here are a few:

My ticker:




Goal 1: Non Fiction - I don't read enough non fiction, so for the last few years I've challenged myself to read at least 10 (excluding travel guides) - I've not succeeded yet, but I'm slowly building...

i) Empire Antarctica: Gavin Francis
ii) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Maya Angelou (Reading)
iii)
iv)
v)
vi)
vii)
viii)
ix)
x)

Goal 2: Books to Read - One for each month of the year.
(I never get through these, but the list reminds me of books I want to read.)

i) Daniel Deronda: George Eliot
ii) The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck
iii) War and Peace: Leo Tolstoy
iv) We Need to Talk About Kevin: Lionel Shriver
v) Schindler's Arc: Thomas Keneally
vi) Sophie's World: Jostein Gaarder
vii) The Luminaries: Eleanor Catton - Msg47
viii) The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Michael Ondaatje
ix) The Turn of the Screw: Henry James
x) Peter and Wendy: J. M. Barrie
xi) The Secret Agent: Joseph Conrad (Reading)
xii) The Sound of Things Falling: Juan Gabriel Vasquez

Goal 3: Group Reads - I particularly failed with this one last year, but some books really benefit from reading with other people, so I'll see how it goes (and which books crop up!).

i) Sandman: Neil Gaiman Group Read here (I started this last year, but got distracted by other things)

Absolute Sandman Volume 1: (2013 Thread, Msg22)
- Preludes and Nocturnes - my comments here
- The Doll's House - yet to add comments to the thread
- Dream Country - yet to add comments to the thread
Absolute Sandman Volume 2:
- Season of Mists (Reading)

ii)

Goal 4: DWJ in order - Diana Wynne Jones in order of publication (continued from 2012). Actually, I finished this last year, but I've only updated comments on this thread in the DWJ group for about half of them. Maybe I should have a ticker for updating that too:




I shall also update this map with each author's origin as I read:


3 countries (1.33%)
map

...and here are links to my previous threads:

Thread for 2013 (unfinished)
Thread for 2012
Thread for 2011 pt2
Thread for 2011 pt1
Thread for 2010 pt4
Thread for 2010 pt3
Thread for 2010 pt2
Thread for 2010 pt1
Thread for 2009 pt2
Thread for 2009 pt1
Thread for 2008

Another thing I started to do last year (which I think I'll begin again as I only updated one and didn't get very far anyway) is a corruption of Heather's "A Century of books". I'll be doing my life in books instead of a century (to see if I can do it in a year) and as with last time I'll add a music track for each year too.

1977:
1978:
1979:
1980:
1981:
1982:
1983:
1984:
1985:
1986:
1987:
1988:
1989:
1990:
1991:
1992:
1993:
1994:
1995:
1996:
1997:
1998:
1999: Book - Timbuktu: Paul Auster, Track - Papa Was a Rodeo: Magnetic Fields
2000: Book - The PowerBook: Jeanette Winterson, Track - Beautiful Day: U2
2001:
2002:
2003:
2004:
2005: Book - On Beauty: Zadie Smith, Track - Six Queens: Larrikin Love
2006:
2007:
2008:
2009:
2010:
2011:
2012: Book - The Grimm Legacy: Polly Shulman, Track - Lightening Bolt: Jake Bugg
2013: Book - Fortunately The Milk...: Neil Gaiman, Track - GMF: John Grant
2014:

Felicity! You're home! Happy to see you threading. Hope it goes well.

Oooh and I think I'll keep track of our book group reading here this year too...:

January: Selected Stories: Alice Munro (Msg47)
February: The Trouble With Lichen: John Wyndham (Msg36)
March: Martha Quest: Doris Lessing (Msg47)
April: Rebecca: Daphne du Maurier (Msg47)
May: The Summer Book: Tove Jansson (Msg50)
June: Lady Into Fox: David Garnett (Msg50)
July: North and South: Elizabeth Gaskell
September: Shock of the Fall: Nathan Filer (original read: Msg13)
November: The Luminaries: Eleanor Catton (original read: Msg47)
December: Northanger Abbey: Jane Austen

#4 Thanks Richard - thanks for dropping by and me too (better than last year anyway)!

...off to bed now as I've just noticed it's 02.45, I shall take a look at other people's threads tomorrow...

Hi Fliss, glad to see you back again! Good luck with your reading plans - especially the 'Life in Books'. It's a good idea - but if I tried it, I'd have to add another 15 or so years which would make it a longer challenge!

Welcome back, Fliss!

Welcome back!

*waving* at Fliss

Hi Fliss!

Glad to see you here! I think your life in books is really interesting too, and love that you are adding a piece of music for each year.

Hallo all, good to see you over here!

Genny, Cait, we'll see how it goes - when I tried last year (admittedly far to near the end of the year), I found that all the books I was reading seemed to come from the same years...

So, it's been a slow month reading-wise, but here's what I've read so far this year...:

1) Fortunately the Milk... - Neil Gaiman
(15Oct13, Westminster)

A father nips out to get some milk for his children's breakfast while his wife is away at a conference, but gets waylaid by pirates, dinosaurs, wumpires and aliens with very bad taste. This is the story of how he gets that milk safely back to his children.

The only reason I've taken so long to get round to reading this is that I saw it read live not that long ago (see msg1!) - I can't wait to read it to my niece who loves pirates and dinosaurs...

2) The PowerBook - Jeanette Winterson
(03Oct13, Charing Cross Rd)

Reality and fiction blend as Ali writes stories for her lover as their relationship disintegrates.

I've been meaning to try something by Jeanette Winterson for ages. It was interesting - I'm a fan of the ambiguous - but I'm afraid didn't really carry me away with it.

3) On Beauty - Zadie Smith
(30Jun06, present)

Centering around the Belsey and Kipps familes, both dysfunctional in their own way, the fathers, waring academics, both stubborn and egotistical, the wives forming an unlikely (and to me, unconvincing) friendship despite this. This isn't a very good description of the book, but there's too much to summarise in a couple of sentences when I'm not feeling very succinct!

This was last November's Book Group read. I'm afraid I didn't read it in time which is annoying as, in retrospect, I actually have quite a lot I would have liked to discuss with people. There is little to like about the majority of these characters, so it was hard to sympathise a lot of the time - it's one of those books that was enjoyable enough to read as I did so, but that I never really wanted to pick up. I did, however, particularly enjoy the final scene, which was very visual (not because it was the end of the book!), but I did feel that there were some plot holes and odd diversions (I wasn't really convinced by the sub-plot revolving around the town's immigrant Haitian population.

4) The Grimm Legacy - Polly Shulman
(25Jan13, Kindle)

A random 99p Kindle purchase that caught my fancy. Elizabeth (a pseudo-Cinderella), gets a job in a very unusual library through her favourite teacher. This library lends objects rather than books and has a couple of particularly special collections. Elizabeth is particularly fascinated by the Grimm Collection - as you might guess from the name, a collection of fairy tale items. But things and people are going missing...

Stock characters (plus a very irritating 3 year old, who isn't like any 3 year old I've ever met) and a not particularly novel story, but it was a speedy and fun enough read - glad it was a cheap deal though.

5) Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer
(17Dec13, Cambridge)

This year's Costa winner (and also winner of the First Novel award - which Rachael/FlossieT helped pick). An absorbing and very believable description of the development and progression of Schizophrenia and day to day life with it, written in the first person (at the computer in a community care centre) by Matt a 19 year old who blames himself for his brother's death as a child. One of those books you can't put down, I would definitely recommend this, although if I do find a flaw, it's that at the start of the book, Matt doesn't really sound as old as 19 (this improves). Largely set in an area of Bristol I know fairly well too (I don't know why reading about places you know is pleasurable, but it always is...)

Shock of the Fall is one that I definitely want to get around to. I've heard a lot of good things about it.

Ohmygoodness - you witnessed Gaiman reading Fortunately, the Milk live and in person and in the front row!! So, so very jealous right now...

#14 I'm afraid my paragraph about it isn't very good, but I'd definitely recommend it!

#15 ;o) hee. I'm going to see him reading Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains from row B in July too...

Here's another book (OK, novella really...):

6) Timbuktu - Paul Auster
(19Jan14, Kings Cross)

The story of Mr Bones, a mongrel, and his owner Willy G Christmas a wandering vagabond who is trying to find his favourite schoolteacher to pass on his writings before he dies.

Told from the point of view of the dog, I was initially a bit worried about this (and actually quite surprised I bought the book, except that it's Paul Auster...) - in general I'm really anti books that anthropomorphise animals. However I did enjoy this and was pulled in much more than I expected, despite some rather long-winded ramblings from Willy on occasion. Mostly down to Auster's writing style I suspect.

I've realised I still haven't topped up my "life in books" thingy yet - will do so when I get home tonight...

Hi Fliss! Sending transAtlantic hugs.

>16 flissp:: Oh, ding dang. Really? Trying to be happy for you and not turn pea-green in the process...

#17 Hi Richard! TransAtlantic hugs returned! I will drop by your thread again one of these days... It's just a tad intimidating in its length!

#18 Sorry (mwah ha ha aha haa!) ;o)

...So I've done some "life in books (msg3)" updating finally...:

1999: Book - Timbuktu: Paul Auster, Track - Papa Was a Rodeo: Magnetic Fields
2000: Book - The PowerBook: Jeanette Winterson, Track - Beautiful Day: U2
2005: Book - On Beauty: Zadie Smith, Track - Six Queens: Larrikin Love
2012: Book - The Grimm Legacy: Polly Shulman, Track - Lightening Bolt: Jake Bugg
2013: Book - Fortunately The Milk...: Neil Gaiman, Track - GMF: John Grant

...of course the trouble is that a lot of the time I have about 6 tracks I'd like to use for each year... ...and I'll keep on coming across the same year all the time (I did last year anyway), but I'm going to go with the first book I read for each year (even if that is The Grimm Legacy for 2012...)

Today's a rather beautiful day, I'm feeling very weekendish - there's actual sunshine instead of rain, all the flooding has more or less gone (more or less) in this part of the country anway (if not everywhere else...), and this was the view from my office window yesterday evening:



(Our team is going to be moving to a different building in a month or two - I'm going to miss this view). Oh, and I'm going to Sweden again next Friday - expect more photos... ;o)

7) The Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes
(18Oct13, Kings Cross)

Harper has found an unusual house that allows him to be a different kind of murderer. He always goes after the brightest, most vibrant girls and women, but as his victims are spread out unsequentially across the course of 60 years, the police don't realise that the deaths are down to a single serial killer. Kirby, the sole survivor of one of his attacks is determined to find her murderer...

I think this was a nominee for last year's Orange Prize (or whatever it's called now) wasn't it? Will check at some point... At any rate, I actually read it because I very much enjoyed Lauren Beukes' two previous books (in particular Zoo City) - both set in South Africa, they seemed fresh and a bit different to me.

This is an interesting idea (a time travelling serial killer), I enjoyed that the book was set in Chicago (a city I know reasonably well, albeit all set before my first visit) and the characters were, in general, engaging and diverse. However, I was never really completely pulled into the story - perhaps because I'm not much of a crime fiction reader, perhaps because it was occasionally just too gruesome (actually probably not the latter as there were only a couple of occasions in which this was the case). An enjoyable quick read anyway, but it won't be a re-read.

...also nearly finished The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, which I've been meaning to read for years (big fan of the Anthony Andrews/Ian McKellan film - it's so silly). Will probably update at the weekend, although I'm going to have a massive cleaning/sorting session as I'm hosting our Book Group on Monday, plus it's the 6 Nations (rugby), so no promises...!

Good ol' Baroness Orczy! What a fabulist she was. Happy weekend *smooch*

Hi, Fliss! How are you?? I haven't seen your thread until today, or else I would have stopped by earlier :) I was actually looking for my own thread in this massive jungle, but I found yours instead!:)

Have a wonderful day!

I had been missing your thread all year, too!! and now feel sheepish...

HELLO!

#20 ...and a happy new weekend to you too Richard! Very much enjoyed the ridiculous-ness of The Scarlet Pimpernel - soooo silly! In fact I've just started the next in the series, so you can fully expect me to whoosh through these now in much the same way I did with the Sharpe books (I reckon that after reading all of those, I could still load a rifle without help, even now it's been a couple of years...)

#21 Hi Bente! I'm good thanks - enjoying a rather lovely spring day, some interesting stuff to do at work and the anticipation of the weekend at the moment :0) Frankly, I've been extremely rubbish at keeping up to date on LibraryThing these last couple of years, so I'm amazed anyone has managed to re-find my thread at all!

#22 HALLO Suzanne!

No need to feel sheepish at all (see comments to Bente above)! ;o) I'm afraid I don't stop by here nearly as much as I mean too, largely because I find it a bit intimidating to keep up with these days (same reason I'm not a natural on Twitter - the completest in me always needs to read all the posts I've missed...)

OK, again, I've got loads of books to catch up on, but I've also got quite a bit of work to do today, so shoudn't really be on LibraryThing. I'll come back to update properly later, but expect comments on:

8) The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
9) The Trouble With Lichen - John Wyndham (reread for book group)
10) American Gods - Neil Gaiman (reread just because the last time I read it was when it had just come out)
11) The Monarch of the Glen - Neil Gaiman (another reread for completeness - it follows American Gods)
12) The Commitments - Roddy Doyle (yet another reread, anticipating The Guts)
13) The Snapper - Roddy Doyle (reread, 2nd in the Barrytown Triology)
14) The Van - Roddy Doyle (NOT a reread, 3rd in the Barrytown Trilogy)
15) Jimmy Jazz - Roddy Doyle (novelette, released prior to The Guts, probably shouldn't really count on it's own, but hey ;O))
16) The Immortal Circus - A R Kahler (one of those 99p Kindle books - I was still in Sweden)
17) Fyre - Angie Sage (final in the Septimus Heap series)
18) Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones (multiple re-read - good "knackered just back from holiday" book)
19) Violent Cases - Neil Gaiman (surprisingly never read this before - picked up to put off Martha Quest)
20) Martha Quest - Doris Lessing (book club book - I have discovered Doris Lessing and I don't get on)
21) A Month in the Country - J L Carr (wonderful recommendation from Suzanne)

...and I'm currently reading (in no particular order):

Selected Stories - Alice Munroe (still)
The Secret Agent - Joseph Conrad (even more still)
Sir Percy Leads the Band - Baroness Orczy
The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton (I think I may need to restart this one and read exclusively)

Sir Percy Leads the Band!! Oh my heck! My grandmother loved that book.

As to The Luminaries, I'd recommend that course of action.

Isn't Doris Lessing grim? I don't think the woman ever had a happy thought.

You do know that you're not allowed to express anything other than glowing praise for The Luminaries, right? Rachael and I will gang up on you if you don't love it.

#25 Darryl, I am aware. It is possible I may be a little intimidated to share my opinion ;o)

#24 Richard, Sir Percy Leads the Band is proving even sillier than The Scarlet Pimpernel - great stuff!

Re The Luminaries - yes, it does strike me as a book you need to get stuck into properly. I suddenly remembered a couple of days ago that I'm going to see Eleanor Catton interviewed by Robert McFarlane at Union Chapel next Thursday, so I need to get cracking. I can already see how I will be spending this weekend!

The main problem I had with Doris Lessing is I just couldn't stand her writing style - I just found it so unnecessarily florid and pompous. More on this at some later point however, I need to go and rescue something in the lab right now...!

Re Lessing -- even when I shared her opinions, I found it hard to decipher 'em -- drowning in verbiage. And sometimes, the amount of verbiage annoyed me so much, I simply decided that I no longer wanted to share the opinions! :-) (Yes, bloody-minded...)

>23 flissp:: Well, I should probably join your club then, I didn't know you hade been rubbish at keeping up to date in here, since I've been quite absent too. Good to know I'm not alone! I actually went to London twice last year, first time ever in England, and I really enjoyed it. Next time I go, I think I want to see more of the country, not only the big city!

I hope your day is good:)

Just dropping by to squeeeee, having bought my first Edinburgh tickets of the year (for the International Festial...)

#27 Suzanne, I am Queen of the Bloody Minded (it's a bit of a family trait). Yep, I actually would quite like to know how the Children of Violence quintet continues, but I just can't face reading any more of them. I noted down some of the particularly ridiculous descriptions, I'll copy one or two in when I come to comment on it...

#28 Hi Bente. Definitely not alone! Well next time you make it to the UK, you must come visit us in Cambridge as well - I can show you all the best places to watch people falling in the river cafes and pubs.

...and a lovely day to you too and anyone else dropping by! I should be out in the sunshine, but I'm just about to embark on The Luminaries, which is also important, obviously.

I so hope The Luminaries will give you the reading pleasure that it did me.

>29 flissp: You have sunshine??? *envious* *very envious*

#31 Suzanne - not very much and temporarily!

#30 Richard - me too - I'm not sure I could show my face to Rachael or Darryl again if it doesn't! (Enjoying it so far anyway).

Hi Fliss - I have to admit to only coming across your thread today and I haven't been that great at keeping up with everyone this year anyway. I also hope you are enjoying The Luminaries though will acknowledge that it hasn't charmed everyone (I loved it).
Are you looking forward to the last DWJ book, The Islands of Chaldea, or has it got too much of her sister's writing to interest you? I know nothing about it except that its about to be published and was 'tidied up' by the sister.

#33 Hi Kerry! Well, as you can see, I'm not here that much, although I mean to be here more often... ;o) Actually, I was thinking of you this evening - I've just been to see Eleanor Catton with Rachael/FlossieT at Union Chapel - and I remember that it was you who sent me The Rehearsal originally. It was a fun evening, she was interviewed by Robert MacFarlane.

Re The Islands of Chaldea, as you might have guessed, I've got mixed feelings. A third of me is been excited that there's another book, a third thinks that if anyone can capture her plans & style then it's probably her sister, but the final third is extremely apprehensive - I'm not a fan of books being finished by other people. We shall see - unlike Eoin Colfer's sixth Hitchhiker's book, I'll definitely read it anyway.

>29 flissp:: might just take you up on that, Cambridge is definetely a place I want to visit (if just to see people fall in to the river)!!:) I hope you've had a god weekend!

#35 Well let me know if you ever make it over here! (yes, watching people falling into the river is amongst my favourite Cambridge summer pastimes ;o))

OK, so finally a couple of the missing book comments (more to come):

8) The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
11Feb14, Kindle

Egad this is nonsensical stuff!

Very silly, but good fun nonetheless. As I think I mentioned above, I'm a big fan of the Anthony Andrews film, but I'd never actually read any of the books. Very much of their time and full of "little white hands" and brave, strapping young men, it was still a fun quick read. Not sure how accurate it would be to the French Revolution however (certainly, it's a completely different world to that in which Jean Valjean grows up!)

9) The Trouble With Lichen - John Wyndham
Several & Various; Book Group



Another book group read, but this was actually my suggestion. One of the group said she'd never read any sci-fi and wanted to try some - I'd recently bought a first edition (top left) and thought it wouldn't be too revolutionary for someone who hadn't read any sci-fi before, plus there would be a lot to discuss.

So. It is possible that 4 copies of the same book is a bit extreme (hem) - it's not even my favourite John Wyndham. However, it was a seminal one and I love those old orange penguin editions, so I would find it hard to part with any of them. I read it when I was 16/17 (bottom right) and trying to decide on what to do for university - despite all science A-Levels, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life and this was the first time it occurred to me that Research and Biochemistry might actually be a career. OK, so they're actually Molecular Biologists really and the science around the central plot is all a bit unlikely (although he carefully avoids discussion of most of the actual science, which is a very good thing), but that isn't really the point. It was important.

Centered around Diana Brackley, an unusual and bright school leaver who goes to work at the privately funded research institute run by the brilliant biochemist Francis Saxover. Independently, they both discover that one of the samples of lichen they are working on has a very special property.

This book is very much of its time, something that anyone reading it should really bear in mind. While Diana is an independent and ambitious woman, this was first published in 1960 and it tells. It's almost implied that she could be either an efficient and intelligent woman whose life revolves around her career, or she could be a home-maker (and most of the examples of these are very blinkered and/or silly, with one rather frustrated exception) - there doesn't appear to be an in between. I'm sure that John Wyndham was progressive at the time, but it takes more than a couple of years to shed ingrained societal beliefs and there are still sentences that itch (it seems to be very important how good Diana is at dressing herself well with very little etc etc).

This said, if you can ignore this, it's an interesting story, full of enjoyably flawed characters and some thought-provoking issues. Interestingly, the central issue (which I don't really want to mention as it's a spoiler), is something that we, over 50 years later, are already partially dealing with (although not to the extent projected in the book). While he correctly anticipates some of the problems that are arising, Wyndham completely misses or missguesses others. To this extent, it's fascinating. If a miracle medicine comes along that has its origin in a very rare source material and will never be available to everybody, how does society cope? Who has the right to decide who gets it and who doesn't? If society in general lived 2 - 5 times as long as it currently does, would we take advantage of this and be able to think more in the long term and how would this affect society?

Incidentally, I've just discovered a whole bunch of BBC archive (mostly quite short) interviews with authors, spanning from Virginia Woolf in 1937 to the present day. One of these is with John Wyndham discussing, amongst other things, the nature of evil in his books and (quite amusingly), the difference between British and American sci-fi readers (something that I suspect has changed!). There are a whole bunch that I'm looking forward to going back through though - W Somerset Maugham on his top 10 novels; Aldous Huxley on Brave New World, E M Forster on his life and work; T H White on Arthurian legend and English tradistions; William Golding; Christopher Isherwood; JRR Tolkein; Daphne du Maurier; Jean Rhys - all sorts of people I never expected to hear speaking given that they mostly died before I read them. Great stuff!

*sigh* I've now wishlisted six Wyndham books I'd never read. Only ones I have read are The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos, so there were a gracious plenty awaiting my attention.

Just dropping by because I heard something that I think most of you will appreciate on the radio this morning when various people were discussing Gladstone's Residential Library (yes, a residential library - I can tell everyone is salivating). Anyway, the rather lovely thing (besides the fact that there's a residential library somewhere out there in N. Wales) is that Gladstone (British Prime Minister and massive bibliophile from the late C19th for those who haven't come across him) apparently read about 22,000 books in his lifetime, but (and here's the important bit), he owned about 33,000.

Sometimes I despair of my TBR pile, but clearly, I have nothing on Gladstone!

#37 Mwah ha ha haha!

I have to admit that I didn't particularly enjoy The Midwich Cuckoos, or Chocky for that matter - but I read them when I was about 13/14 and I'm not sure if they would have improved on me by now. There's a reason why The Day of the Triffids is the one that everyone knows though... I'm also a big fan of The Chrysalids and really enjoyed a lot of his short stories. Ooh and The Kraken Wakes is good too, if slow to kick off. Hmmm. I may have just warmed myself up for some John Wyndam re-reading. Maybe I should go in search of his John Beynon books instead...

10) American Gods - Neil Gaiman
28Jul01, Cambs + 05Aug13, Kindle
11) The Monarch of the Glen - Neil Gaiman
(check), Cambridge + 01Mar14, Kindle

So these belong togther really as The Monarch of the Glen, published as a novella at the end of Fragile Things, is a sequel to American Gods

Both are re-reads. I haven't read American Gods since it came out (when I practically inhaled it, I was so excited there was a new Neil Gaiman book) and I just felt like it was time. This was one of the books I read while I was in Sweden (shall I put a few pics below?), so it was on my Kindle, which meant that it was the 10th anniversary edition "author's preferred text". Usually I'm a bit wary of this kind of thing (surely they were edited for a reason), but honestly, I can't say I particularly noticed the difference. This said, it has been 13 years since I last read it!

Following Shadow, a large, stoic, insular man whose life revolved around his wife until he landed in prison, not entirely through his own fault. The book begins on his release - instead of putting his life back together to start afresh as he plans, events lead him sleepwalking into the role of bodyguard to the mysterious Mr Wednesday and a world where Gods walk the Earth.

This is a tome of a book, but really doesn't feel like one when you read it. I've always loved myths and fairy-tales and Gaiman is a master at adapting elements from the traditional tales into his own (completely new) myths. I think that this is one of those books that people tend to love or hate (I've yet to come across anyone who just thought "meh"), but you can count me as one of those who loved it from the get-go (next to Neverwhere, it's my favourite of his stuff) but I'm not really sure I can tell you why. Perhaps just that I love the characters, figuring out who is who (not very hard actually), and just that it's a well told story that keeps you guessing until the end. That and, while I may not always like his stories, I love his writing style - it just fits me. It's probably the subtle humour in everything (even the grisly bits) that does it.

Oh and there's a particularly vivid part based at The House on the Rock which was one of those occassions that I read about a place I knew I'd have to visit one day (and I did, and it was amazing - one of those occassions where everything goes perfectly - I practically had the whole place to myself, which I'm sure doesn't happen very often there).

Hmmm. I'd better do some work, but I will be back with more updates, it may just take a while (going to Stratford-Upon-Avon this weekend to see Henry IV pts 1 & 2 with a great mate I don't see nearly enough of, driving back via Oxford on Sunday to see the 26 Characters Exhibition at the Story Museum and another mate...)

Hi Fliss. I'm stopping by to see what you are reading and how you are doing.

Happy Wednesday.

>36 flissp:: Can't wait!:) Hope your weekend is good!:)

#39 & #40 Hi Linda, hi Bente! I'm currently at work looking out of the window at one of those oddly bright cloudy days - it's rather beautiful, and the weekend is not far off, so good thanks! Hope you're both well!

I've caught up on a few comments, although I'm still not up to date:

12) The Commitments - Roddy Doyle
02Aug97, Cambs + Kindle
13) The Snapper - Roddy Doyle
02Aug97, Cambs + Kindle
14) The Van - Roddy Doyle
02Aug97, Cambs + Kindle
15) Jimmy Jazz - Roddy Doyle
19Jan14, Kindle

I went to see the (mostly) excellent West End production of The Commitments with my sister and cousins not that long ago. My sister, (girl) cousins and I are all quite close in age and the film adaptation is one of those films that everyone saw and watched repeatedly as we were growing up (the others being Trainspotting, The Princess Bride, Lost Boys, *hem* Top Gun and Dirty Dancing - maybe one or two more...). I love that film. Which was why I read the book in the first place and how I discovered Roddy Doyle. Roddy Doyle has recently released a fourth Barrytown book (The Guts), set 30 years later, centering again around some of the characters from The Commitments and I wanted to re-read/read the trilogy before reading the new book as it's been quite a while since I last read them.

Set in Dublin in the 1980's, the story centres around Jimmy Rabbite, the eldest of a large family, obsessed with music and always ahead of the game with the next big thing. When his mates Derek and Outspan decide to quit the band they're currently in, he convinces them to join him starting a new musical trend - Dublin Soul. An ad is placed in the newspaper and The Commitments are born. They're a ramshackle group of individuals including a man old enough to be their father, but who has played with all the greats; a pianist training to be a doctor; a novice saxophonist who shows disturbing tendencies towards jazz; a drummer who models himself on Animal from the Muppets and can't stand the lead singer, Deco (an arsehole with the voice of an angel). And of course, The Committmentets, Bernie, Natalie and the lovely Imelda.

It's a very funny but touching story - the band is full of rivalries and fighting, but nonetheless brings something extra to the lives of everyone involved. Great story.

The Snapper, a couple of years later, follows Jimmy's sister Sharon who has just discovered she's pregnant, but won't tell anyone who the father is.

Again, there's a bit of a plot (mostly Sharon coming to terms with her pregnancy), but mostly (as with The Commitments), this book is all about people and their relationship to each other (in Sharon's case, redefining those with her family and friends as they respond to her pregnancy).

Returning again to the Rabbite family, The Van centers around Jimmy Sr this time. Recently made redundant, unable to find a new job in a depressed society and struggling to support his large family, Jimmy slides into depression. When his best mate Bimbo is also made redundant and decides to buy an old fish & chip van with his redundancy money, they decide to go into business together. But the constant stress and close proximity to each other takes a toll on their friendship.

This is the only one of the trilogy I hadn't already read, so I wasn't sure what to expect and in a way, this is by far the most depressing of the three books. This is not to say that there isn't a lot of humour - there is and many touching moments, but the trouble Jimmy Sr has accepting his redundancy and managing to provide for his family do hover over the whole book (which is as it should be).

Basically I sincerely recommend this whole trilogy!

Jimmy Jazz is a Kindle Single, that pre-empted the release of Roddy Doyle's recent addition to the Rabbitte cannon. Also set 30 years later (not sure yet if it's before or after The Guts, but I suspect after), Jimmy Rabbitte (Jr), hater of jazz, dismissive of his wife's taste, promises her that he'll go to a jazz concert.

A very simple story, but enjoyable and I now feel warmed up ready for The Guts (which I'm waiting to come out in paperback. Maybe I'll buy the hardback after all.).

16) The Immortal Circus - A R Kahler
11Feb14, Kindle

One of those Kindle Daily Deals that keeps on cropping up. I finally caved as it was only 99p and it made quite good holiday reading (I was restricted to my Kindle while I was in Sweden as I was travelling very light).

A rather silly murder/fantasy story focusing around Vivienne, new recruit to a very unusual circus. Not terribly well written, with rather cardboard characters and full of cliches, this was nonetheless a fun enough light read that I liked well enough to (cheaply) buy the 2nd in the trilogy (although I haven't got round to reading it yet and may not).

17) Fyre - Angie Sage
07Aug13, Kindle

The final in Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series. These have always been great fun to read, they definitely come under the heading of comfort reads, however, they're well written with believable characters and interesting plots (although this one took a little while to get going). I'm a little sad the series has come to an end, although I notice that there is going to be a new series centered in the same world, around a new set of characters. Not sure about that - I never was a big fan of continuing a series using new characters (I got particularly cross with the Dunston Wood books when I was small). We'll see.

18) Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
??, Cambridge

Angie Sage gave me Diana Wynne Jones cravings, so I felt that it was time for a re-read of this. I've commented on this before on my DWJ thread and reviewed it here. One of my favourites.

OK, that's enough for now. I've still to comment on:

19) Violent Cases - Neil Gaiman
20) Martha Quest - Doris Lessing
21) A Month in the Country - J L Carr
22) Sir Percy Leads the Band - Baroness Orczy
23) Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (reread)
24) The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (reread - hadn't thought I'd reread these - blame the film)
25) Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins (reread)
26) Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins (reread)
27) Selected Stories - Alice Munro
28) The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton

(Bother, I can never get the touchstones to work when I copy text over these days. May come back to edit tonight to try to make them work...)

Hey, Fliss, you are missed over here. Don't feel you have to comment on all those books!

Hey Fliss!!!

*enthusiastic wave*

Genny has stayed at Gladstone's library; in fact, I think one of her recent threads includes some notes on her most recent stay.

I'm rather glad that I don't have Gladstone's TBR problem, as I simply don't have a residential library to house all the books... though I'm trying hard to transform my home into one!

I think Fliss is still chasing Neil Gaiman all over Europe.

*sigh* No wonder life feels so empty and pointless. Fliss left us. *sniff*

Hi all! Ahh, I'm touched - nope, I haven't left for good - I'm just a bit rubbish ;o)

#42 Thanks Roni! Yep, some of them are definitely going to be one liners. But I quite like to leave some comment, partly for my own reference really!

#43 Hi Suzanne *enthusiastic wave back!* - Oh, I'm so jealous of Genny now! I'm definitely going to have to go there at some point. I think that you're probably the person amongst us most likely to compete with Gladstone Suzanne!

#44 Bah! Slander Darryl! ;o) They were all DIFFERENT events I tell you!

#45 I return, I return! ...and will drop by your thread at some point this week to say hallo. *waves* ;o)

I've been doing all sorts of interesting things since I last dropped by more than briefly. Let's see.

Some photos of Sweden, from the start of the year are here if anyone is interested. It was a bit cold:

But perhaps not as cold as last year... (-14C)

I saw Eleanor Catton talking to Robert McFarlane at the lovely Union Chapel with Rachael/FlossieT, which was interesting (no I didn't finish The Luminaries in time) and I left feeling that, while she said that a knowledge of astrology wasn't necessary, that it would have augmented the story quite a bit if I knew anything about it (but I didn't feel the pull enough to rectify this) and also that they are clearly both lovely people (which shouldn't matter, but is nice to know).

I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon for the first time in years to see my great mate Sally and Henry IV parts I & II, both of which were excellent. I do like the re-vamp of the theatre, which is now in the round and we were right in the front row for both - supposedly restricted view seats, but really, they were pretty good, even if I did nearly get impaled in part II. Thankfully, there were no particularly bad spitters amongst the cast.

I saw Neil Gaiman talking to Tori Amos at the British Library as part of their Comics Unmasked exhibition. The exhibition itself was interesting, but not as interesting as I had hoped. The chat before hand however was fascinating. But then I'm a bit of a fan. In case you hadn't realised (no comments Darryl).

Then there was the WONDERFUL production of Onegin at Glyndebourne (I really am very lucky to have parents who treat me to these things and it was particularly lovely this time as my sister was there too - usually we go separately). It was one of their productions that was filmed and I think it may have been one of those that has been shown at cinemas at various points. If it crops up again, I'd definitely recommend it - quite beside the fact that the music is, of course, so beautiful, we all agreed that the Tatyana was particularly good. Not as amazing as the Billy Budd we saw last year (oh do find this if you can - I think it's on YouTube), but that would be pretty hard.

Then there was a long weekend in Germany, near Lake Konstanz to see some mates who recently moved out there (such a beautiful spot and a small gang of us went out, which was lovely) and a week in Wales with my parents, my sister and her family and (hem) my brother in law's parents (interesting). The latter was in the farmhouse that my mum's father and step-mother lived in - it's half way up a mountain in the middle of nowhere near Snowdonia National Park. My childhood memories, besides those of playing in the wonderful gardens, up the mountain and in the nearby stream are of a rather dilapidated building, lots of (very scary) geese (and even scarier grandmother) and chicken poo tramped everywhere, but when they died, my Uncle did the whole place up in a major way, to rent out, converting the barns beautifully. It's an amazing place now (actually, here's a link: Maes y Wern Goch - you never know who might be interested!), so strange to be back there in such different circumstances.

What else? Dave McKean at the British Library again - a bizarre mix of of gig and film, that was great fun. A screening of the wonderful Almeida production of Ibsen's Ghosts (so glad not to have completely missed that). Jarvis Cocker, then Anthony Horowitz and Meg Rosoff in conversation at the newly re-vamped Charing Cross Road Foyles. Neil Gaiman again reading The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains at the Barbican (excellent). The play adaptation of Orwell's 1984 for my birthday (belatedly) (worth seeing, but I think everyone's rave reviews lead me to expect too much from it). I'm definitely going to have to re-read 1984 again soon - it was a truly seminal book for me. ...and finally a jaw dropping production of The Crucible at The Old Vic (also beautifully re-vamped) with the very beautiful Richard Armitage as John Proctor (although the whole cast were fantastic). We read this when I was at school and I've always wanted to see it performed, but somehow never have. Best thing I've seen this year. Easily. But I never want to see it again (too distressing). Truly chilling. Oh, and the Tour de France came through Cambridge (?!?!) and prevented me getting to work on Monday 7th July (all the roads past where I work were closed - what a shame):


Next post BOOKS

19) Violent Cases - Neil Gaiman
(14Mar14, Cambridge)

I realised the other day that this was one of the very few things Neil Gaiman has written that I'd never got around to reading.

20) Martha Quest - Doris Lessing
(Rock Road Library, Book Group)

Oh I had a hard time forcing myself through this (and wasn't alone in book group)!

Unlike those of the rest of the group who disliked it however, it really wasn't to do with the story. This is a semi-autobiographical book about a teenaged girl, Martha Quest, growing up and slowly developing a political conscience in South Africa in the 1960s (although I assume most of this conscience develops in the next books of the series, it's definitely only burgeoning throughout this installment). That part was actually quite interesting to me, being a long way from my own personal experience. I would actually quite like to know what happened to her friend Joss - if it didn't mean having to actually read the rest of the series. Neither did I dislike Martha herself in the way that most of the rest of the group did - she's a product of her time, age and upbringing and I wouldn't say it's uncommon for teenaged girls to be self involved! No. What I couldn't stand was her writing style!

Rather than writing an essay here, I'm just going to type out some notes and quotes I jotted down as I was reading:

1) Writing style feels pompous, forced and too florid. Too many similes and forced comparisons. (I wrote this only a few pages in.)
2) Characters are stereotypes.
3) Mrs Quest's eyes: "blue eyes as candid as spring sunshine." - Ugh. Ridiculous.
4) "But then, who was she to be like? Her mind turned towards the heroines she had been offered, and discarded them." - POMPOUS! and why does she need to be LIKE anyone? Does anyone really think that way about themselves?!
5) "...but the pity she refused herself flooded out and surrounded the black child like a protective blanket." - Ugh!
6) The kind of writer who uses "for" all the time.
7) Of the father, when he's being irritable and avoiding conversation with arguing family "but such is the lot of peacemakers - not even slightly a peacemaker!
8) They live in what sounds like a shack, but they still have a servant?!
9) Of maize: "and its whispering against the wind was the sound of a myriad fluttering leaves" - Really?!? Not in my experience. Too many unconvincing similes.
10) pg 219 in general - all the bollocks about the modern flat etc (excuse my language).
11) Contradicts herself about Martha. eg She's supposed to be clever, but re reading philosphers, "she had not read either of them, or any other other author, if reading means to take from an author what he intends to convey"
12) Joss as deus ex machina

Can you tell I had a rather violent reaction and actually resented reading this?! Whenever I got past the dreadful writing style, I was submerged into another paragraph reminding me exactly why I didn't like it in the first place. Suffice to say I won't be reading anything else by Doris Lessing.

Apologies to anyone who enjoys her writing - appreciation of differing writing styles is a highly personal thing after all ;o)

21) A Month in the Country - J L Carr
(12Jun13, Charing X)

Picked up on Suzanne's recommendation - thank you Suzanne, I loved this one, which I have since bought for several other people.

It's very simple really - a young man recovering from shell shock (WWI) and from splitting up with his wife spends a summer in rural Yorkshire, renovating a church fresco.

It's just so gently and beautifully written, albeit tinged with sadness.

22) Sir Percy Leads the Band - Baroness Orczy
(Rock Road Library)

The second book in a very silly, dated series that was, nonetheless, quite fun.

23) Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
(? Cambs - missing! Borrowed from my mum in the interim, Book Group)

This is a re-read - although I haven't read it since I was 16, so it was very intriguing to come back to. I was worried it wouldn't be as good the second time around but, while it take a bit of getting in to, it was still as gripping as the first time, despite knowing the outcome ...and the multiple twists.

A young, naive (and definitely of her time) school leaver working as a companion to a brash older lady on holiday meets the mysterious Max de Winter on holiday and falls in love. They marry in a whorlwind and he takes her back to his estate, the sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers and the ghost of his ex-wife Rebecca. Great stuff.

24) The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
25) Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
26) Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
(Jun 2012, Hinxton & Kindle)

I hadn't intended to re-read these so soon (having only read them about a year and a bit ago), but I went to see the film adaptation of Catching Fire, which ends on something of a cliffhanger, so I had to go and re-read Mockingjay. I had intended just to skim it, but the Kindle version I have (my paperbacks are on loan) has all 3 books together and I just got sucked in. The re-read of all 3 only took a day anyway. It's that kind of series.

I wrote brief comments here back when I read them last time.

27) Selected Stories - Alice Munro
(04Dec13, Cambridge, Book Group)

I'm ashamed to say I'd never read any Alice Munro until this was picked for book group.

A collection of short stories that were interesting enough to read, but that I wasn't blown away by - I couldn't really see why she would stand out enough to have won a Nobel - there are other short story collections that have had far more of an impact on me. Only a few months later, I can't say that I particularly remember any of them, except one of the last in the books about a turn of the century female poet who was a bit of an eccentric - that one stuck with me.

28) The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton
(Originally borrowed from Rachael/FlossieT Dec13)

I'm really not sure what to say about this one, I think I'll have to leave it to comment on when I come back to re-read it (and I think it is a book that will benefit from a re-read). We're probably going to do it for book group in a couple of months, so maybe I'll skim read it and comment then (although it feels a bit soon for a re-read).

Basically though, yes, I really enjoyed it - it was atmospheric and there were some lovely descriptions - but no, it didn't knock my socks off (which it seems to have done for many others).

Still to update (but I need to go to book group to talk about North and South now):

29) The Magicians - Lev Grossman
30) The Summer Book - Tove Jansson
31) The Aerodrome - Rex Warner
32) The Magician King - Lev Grossman
33) Lady Into Fox - David Garnett
34) Skin Game - Jim Butcher
35) A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing - Eimear McBride
36) The Truth is a Cave In the Black Mountains - Neil Gaiman
37) Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan
38) The Interestings - Meg Wolitzer
39) Lost At Sea - Brian Lee O'Mallely
40) North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
41) The Right Sort - David Mitchell
42) The Guts - Roddy Doyle

...although I won't comment about all of them...

Right. I'm late.

>46 flissp: Neil Gaiman and Tori Amos in the same room, chatting?! Bliss.

#49 Yes, it was pretty special! I went with one of my best mates who is a MASSIVE fan of Tori Amos, even though he doesn't really know Neil Gaiman, so it was interesting hearing his take on it too (from the opposite perspective!).

Some more books:

29) The Magicians - Lev Grossman
(Kindle)

A while back, I came across one of those "if you liked this, then you should try this" lists, taking children's books and recommending adult books. While I normally ignore this kind of thing, there were quite a few on there that intrigued me and this was one of them (for if you liked Harry Potter).

Genius teenaged boy mildly obsessed by a series of books about a magical kingdom called Fillory (a very thinly veiled Narnia) discovers that magic is real when he is recruited for an exclusive academy full of other geniuses (hmmm, is that the right plural form?). Real world and magical college compete with each other fairly interestingly, if with rather irritating, self-obsessed cardboard characters (who are all apparently oh so brilliant - hmmm) and it's a fun enough speedy read. However, it would be a lot more fun if he didn't keep on going on about Fillory/Narnia. I quite like magical realism, but I really don't think it overlaps with high fantasy very well and this book feels disjointed as a result. Still. I quite wanted to know what happens next, so read the sequel and shall read the final part of the trilogy when it comes out too.

30) The Summer Book - Tove Jansson
(?13, Cambridge, Book Group)

Something I've been meaning to read for years. A young girl whose mother has died spends her summer holiday(s?) with her grandmother in the (basic and isolated) family holiday home in the Finnish Island. This is really a collection of short stories happening over the course of that/those summer/s.

Gentle reminisces, mainly about the relationship between the girl and her rather blunt, but (to me) very likable grandmother, with very vivid imagery. Enjoyable, and feel-good in the right way, but nothing mind-blowing.

31) The Aerodrome - Rex Warner
(May, Central Library)

A young man growing up in a rather insular village located next to a large (also insular) airbase becomes fascinated with both it and the arrogant pilots and staff following a rather shocking revalation from his parents on his 18th(?) birthday. This is not fantasy or science fiction really, but it does seem (note "seem") to be set in an alternate reality around the start of the C20th (I would place it in the 1920s/30s I think), but seemingly unaffected by WWI.

I randomly picked this up in the library. It's rather a strange book - all the characters feel more like Punch and Judy style caricatures than real people, but no worse off for that. It did mean that I never really engaged with any of the characters, but it was an interesting book, pondering social responsibility and isolation amongst other things.

32) The Magician King - Lev Grossman
(Kindle)

Sequel to The Magicians (see above).

33) Lady Into Fox - David Garnett
(?Jun14, Cambridge, Book Group)

A Victorian lady wakes up one morning having turned into a fox, but still present in spirit. Her husband decides they should just carry on as normal (more or less).

Not a book I would have picked up on my own, but it was short enough. Very predictable. Washed straight over me if I'm honest. We were supposed to read the short story Mrs Fox at the same time, but I keep not getting round to it.

34) Skin Game - Jim Butcher
(Kindle)

Most recent Dresden Files book. They're silly, but they're fun. Good holiday reading anyway.

35) A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing - Eimear McBride
(12Jun14, Cambridge)

Winner of whatever the Orange Prize for Fiction is these days (Baileys?)

Well yes. Hmmm. What to say...

It took me a very long time to get into this, purely due to the stream-of-conciousness style writing (and this is a REAL stream-of-conciousness - think about it - we very rarely think in complete sentences and usually there are several thoughts going on there at a time...). I say this as one who has never had trouble reading vernacular in the past (I'm thinking Irvine Welsh in particular here).

But oh my what a sad story. Basically the life story and perspective of the girl in the title and of her relationship with her brother, who very nearly died from a brain tumour when he was small (in fact much of it feels almost like a prayer to him). They're a mixed up family - the father completely out of the picture when both kids are young, a mother traumatised by her son's cancer and her own overbearing and judgemental father and then there's the full weight of Irish Catholic guilt. Not to mention the aunt and uncle most in their lives.

Somehow, despite the fact that this is quite a distressing and difficult book to read - amplified in the tense, stressful moments as the stream-of-conciousness very believably becomes more and more muddled and confusing, something kept driving me through it, despite moments when I honestly wasn't entirely sure what was going on. It's a visceral, bleak and upsetting story and I can't say I particularly enjoyed reading it, but I'm very glad that I did. It is also not impossible that I will return to it at some point as I suspect it would become clearer through re-reading. Discussing it with Rachael/FlossieT at Book Group on Monday, she said that she had heard a part of it read by the author and it suddenly became much clearer, which makes a lot of sense. I always find poetry easier to understand when it's read aloud too and despite the confusion of the writing style, it's also quite lyrical. I definitely intend to see if there are any recordings of her reading it (or if there is an audiobook - but it would need to be a Southern Irish reader I think).

Hi, Fliss!

Good to see you back! Looks like you've had an eventful summer so far:) What did you think of Ghosts by Ibsen? I remember doing an exam paper of it in uni, haha, so much adultery and syphilis;)

I read The Magicians earlier this year, and I had mixed feelings about it, too. Not really sure if I'll try the two next, at least they're not my top priority. I had problems with the whole Fillory/narnia thing too. Why put a magic world inside a magic world? Though the plotline was intriguing enough in the end, I sort of got a little bored in the middle, and I didn't like the authors need to diss other fantasy books (like Harry Potter).

Was The Magician King worth the effort?

Fliss, welcome back! Wow, what an eventful year you have had! I can see why you haven't been around.

>52 Apolline: It has been a while since I read either The Magicians or The Magician King, so take this with a grain of salt. I seem to recall Fillory being a bigger deal in the second book. Nested magical worlds don't really bother me too much, because once you've decided there's a magical alternate world, what difference does it make if Earth Prime is magical or not? The Chronicles of Narnia are clearly a huge influence in Lev Grossman's life. I feel as though he was trying to write in response to Harry Potter and give a more "realistic" approach to a magic school and wanted to explore how that "realism" would impact Narnia. I kind of wish he had only done one or the other.

There's an interview with Lev Grossman on the Atlantic today that covers his love of Narnia in more depth.

#54 "I kind of wish he had only done one or the other" - ah, but this is my point exactly (if perhaps more lucidly made).

I don't mind worlds within worlds, I just felt that he was trying to do too many things and that made the The Magicians in particular rather disjointed for me. I particularly disliked the mix of magical realism with high fantasy partly because there really wasn't any reality about Fillory - but then I don't really like high fantasy much most of the time (Narnia being one of the exceptions - but then I read them so young that I completely missed the religious inferences until I got to The Last Battle). I don't know - I didn't dislike the books, they just rate as average for me.

...but, out of interest, more "realistic" approach to a magic school in comparison with Harry Potter in what way (asking as I didn't feel that either school was more realistic than the other particularly)?

I'd be interested to read the interview that you mention - do you have a link? I don't know the Atlantic...

#53 Hi Roni! Well, it's also slackness and fear of keeping up... Will trot over to see you at some point this month(!) ;o)

#52 Hi Bente! I'll probably continue to fade in and out. I'm off to Edinburgh for the Fringe next week (yay!), so will probably be running around like a headless chicken for a while longer, although things have temporarily calmed down a bit... This assuming that my accommodation cock-up (not my fault) has been fixed, otherwise, I'll be spending the next few days trying to fix it myself (not an easy thing now it's August - please cross your fingers for me!)

I really "enjoyed" Ghosts (we really do need a better word for enjoying a distressing play/film/book!) - it was a good production (and would have been my best of the year so far if it hadn't been for The Crucible). It was the first time I'd come across the play (as in I knew of it, but hadn't read or seen it before), so a lot still to ponder. We studied A Doll's House at school and it's one of the plays that we read that particularly stood out for me, but knowing that Ibsen's plays are all rather bleak has rather put me off reading any more - I prefer to wait until I see them on stage. I do think that he was very good at writing good, strong, interesting roles for women though, which I think is fairly unusual given the time he was writing and is something I appreciate.

Re Magician King, I'd say I like it neither more nor less than the previous book. As AlferdPacker says, there's more time spent in Fillory (which is the part I like the least), but the book as a whole feels less disjointed than The Magicians. I'm probably not the best person to ask as I'm usually pathologically unable to quit half way through a series of books unless that series is truly terrible. I just need to know how the author wants the thing to finish up... It is true that this means I've read some books that I really would have been better without...

Actually Ender's Game was an exception to that - I enjoyed the book, but feel absolutely no need to read the sequels as I think it ended just as it should have done. Maybe that's partly because I've heard bad things about the sequels, so I'd rather leave it with the satisfactory ending.

>52 Apolline: Sorry, I meant to include the link.
Confronting Reality by Reading Fantasy

...but, out of interest, more "realistic" approach to a magic school in comparison with Harry Potter in what way (asking as I didn't feel that either school was more realistic than the other particularly)?

The wizards in Harry Potter don't interact with the "real world" at all. In a world where magic is real but hidden, why would any wizard still be poor except by choice? I believe that he was trying to show how magic users would really behave and react to having powers beyond the ken of mortal men. He does this first in the "real" world and then in a fantasy world.

I can see why he included Fillory, I just don't think he was as successful in his goals.

#56 Thank you for the link - I very much enjoyed the article.

Re realism in Harry Potter vs The Magicians - ah, I had thought you were referring to the schools in particular, both of which I felt were probably fairly real (ignoring the magic part).

I don't entirely agree that the wizards in Harry Potter don't interact with the "real world" - sure, they have there own magical communities within London and the countryside, but then you get distinct communities within cites all the time - the area of town I used to live in was largely French for example. I disagree that the Weasleys (to whom I think you're referring) are poor entirely through choice - they're supposed to be a very moral family, so are hardly going to manipulate the so-called muggles for their own gain. Families like the Malfoys evidently do do this... ...On the other hand I do see where you're coming from - Harry Potter isn't particularly grounded in reality!

I can see why he included Fillory, I just don't think he was as successful in his goals. Yep, me too (both counts) - I just didn't really enjoy that part...

I still haven't got round to the Grossman books so can't add anything to that and I still haven't read The Islands of Chaldea, had it out from the library but sent it back unread. Just wanted to say that I found the Ender series quite interesting reads though I still haven't read the Bean books.

Enjoy Edinburgh.

#58 Hi Kerry, me either re The Islands of Chaldea, although I did download it to my kindle (which says a lot about how I feel about it in itself - I would never have done that for a DWJ book - a 2nd copy for my kindle, certainly, but not the 1st version...

Re the Ender series. Hmmm. Well maybe I'll give them a shot at some point then. :o)

Had a great time in Edinburgh thanks - I'll return to give a bit of a breakdown at some point...

In the meantime, I've been reading the long version (accidentally) of The Stand at the moment and taking rather a long time over it for some reason (yes it's ridiculously long at ~1350 pages, but I usually find Stephen King very quick to read. I think I probably would have got along better with the original version as there have definitely been bits where I've found my mind wandering. This said, I am generally, on balance, enjoying it, although I have been a bit disturbed at just how one dimensional all the women seem to be. Not one of them do I find convincing (and I find Nadine actively irritating) and they all seem to spend a disproportionate amount of time feeling themselves up in a way that feels far more like a schoolboy's fantasy than real life.

Has anyone else found this? I usually very much enjoy Stephen King's writing style, or is it just that I haven't read anything significant by him since I was ~17/18? I know I thought that Carrie was great precisely because she wasn't a one dimensional evil monster, but is that just because I was less particular at that age? I don't think so (I was reading a lot "better" at that point - a lot less fluff generally), but now I'm unsure...

Anyway, it's been a while since I was last here, so I'm going to list what I've been reading, in case I don't get round to commenting on all of them:

36) The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains - Neil Gaiman (off the back of going to see him read it live (see msg46))
37) Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan (hadn't realised that this was such a cult book when I picked it up. Fun.)
38) The Interestings - Meg Wolitzer (Mixed feelings - ignoring the story itself, I did enjoy the perspective on friendship)
39) Lost at Sea - Bryan Lee O'Malley (ahead of seeing him in Edinburgh. I loved Scott Pilgrim, but this one was a little lacklustre - not bad, just not as good)
40) North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell (re-read for book group)
honorary mention) The Right Sort - David Mitchell (his Twitter short story - whetted my appetite for The Bone Clocks)
41) The Guts - Roddy Doyle (Most recent in his Barrytown series)
42) Sense and Sensibility - Joanna Trollope (proof picked up from Rachael/FlossieT at our last book group - I felt like fluff - fun)
43) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou (not sure why it's taken me so long to get round to reading this)
44) Northanger Abbey - Val McDermid (Iheard her talking about it on the radio - it sounded like she'd retell it well, which she did. Also, set during the Edinburgh Fringe, ahead of me heading up there).
45) We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler (Sorry Darryl, I did enjoy this!)
46) The Circle - Dave Eggers (easy to read, but as subtle as a sledgehammer, with "twists" you can see coming a mile off)
47) Seconds - Bryan Lee O'Malley (after seeing him speak - better than Lost at Sea, not as good as Scott Pilgrim)
48) Beasts of No Nation - Uzodinma Iweala (Richard, I picked this up on your thread - thank you)

...and I'm currently reading about 5 other books besides The Stand (which hopefully I'll finish this week - I want to get on with The Bone Clocks!). Also currently re-reading/skimming Shock of the Fall ahead of book group on Wednesday...

I confess that I liked the Grossman books -- perhaps because I'm not an avid fantasy reader and so was not judging it from that standpoint, but reading it more as an adventure yarn? I think I liked book #2 the best -- #3 felt like a rush to tie up loose ends, and had some fairly improbable visits from past characters just because Grossman felt he could, I think. He pushed the envelope a little too far. I liked the "quest" theme in book #2.

Clearly with Trollope's S&S and McDermid's Northanger Abbey, the publishers are having authors retell Austen. I think these are both the same publisher/series? (covers look similar?) I like both authors, normally, but both of these left me lukewarm, I confess; the McDermid was def. the better book.

#60 Oh I didn't really dislike the Grossman books Suzanne and I'll probably read the last one at some point when it comes to Kindle (I'll admit that it is a book I don't want a hard copy for). I think there were just lots of little niggles for me and I wasn't a fan of Fillory as it just felt too derivative (of Narnia) and I'm also not a fan of all that Courtly stuff - I would have preferred it if he'd stayed in the "real" world the whole time really I think, although, of course, that would be a completely different story.

I see what you mean re reading it as an adventure yarn though, although I would say I probably did the same - although I've never really thought of the books I read in terms of genre (in fact dividing books up into various genre is a pet hate of mine) - but I suppose categories do happen and I've never been much of an adventure yarn reader ;o) Actually, it's only the last few years I've started to read quite so much fantasy - my reading profile has changed quite a lot in the last 10 years - I read a lot more fluff than I used to. Probably there's an escapist factor there...

Re Trollope's S&S & McDermid's Northanger Abbey, yep, they're part of a series, part of The Austen Project - there are more en route. Usually I'm not a fan of all the spin-offs, prequels and sequels that happen to classics (and particularly Jane Austen), but I do think that if you're going to ape an author, then retelling it completely differently is the way forward, so unlike you, I actually quite enjoyed both of these, although they were definitely fluff. I would never have picked up the S&S if it hadn't been a proof copy that Rachael/FlossieT was giving away, but it was fine for a wet weekend. I do agree that the Northanger Abbey was easily the better of the two though, although it paled on me once they had left Edinburgh, so probably a large part of my enjoyment was down to my pre-Edinburgh Fringe trip excitement!

So... another quick update before I head to San Diego this Friday for a conference:

49) The Stand - Stephen King
(05Aug14, Kindle)

Most of the world's population is wiped out by a hugely infectious and deadly form of the flu virus. Those who survive (few and far between) slowly begin to aggregate into two camps - one in Boulder, following the 108 year old, god-fearing Mother Abagail and one Las Vegas following the terrifying and mysterious Randall Flagg, also known as The Dark Man.

I'm almost certainly going to rub people up the wrong way when I say this (given that it's his most popular book), but I really don't think this is his best work. It kept me reading, but (maybe because this was the extended version), it did sometimes feel like a bit of a slog and by the time I got to the end, I felt like I had been reading it forever. It just didn't have the tension of, say, Carrie or Misery. Again, maybe this is because it was the extended version (I didn't notice this when I bought it, or I would have gone for the original version). I should add that I did enjoy it to a degree, or I would never have kept reading (through ~1350 pages).

I also think that a large part of why I didn't enjoy it as much as his other books that I've read was the characterisation of the women. I know that it was written in 1978, but even bearing that in mind, I found the women hard to swallow. As I mentioned in #59, the women are, without exception, paper-thin and very one dimensional - not one of them is a believable human being. I was rather shocked by this as I don't think of Stephen King as being someone who can't write women (I loved Carrie mostly because she's so sympathetic - admittedly, I read it when I was 17/18, but I don't think my memory is that bad). They mostly seem to exist to further the plot for the men and to act as fantasy figures (there are a lot of descriptions of women in sexual poses, alone or not and descriptions of their looks in general - very little of the men - I'm not a prude and it frequently read like a schoolboy fantasy). This really did spoil the book in quite a major way for me.

Anyway, I don't regret reading it, but I was disappointed.

Updates still pending for most of the books in #59 and the below...

50) The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell (I couldn't wait to read this and I wasn't disappointed, although I did find the last section a little out of place (if still absorbing) and that final chapter also contained a rather clunky Deus ex Machina - so clunky in fact that one of the characters even pointed it out as such!.)
51) Orfeo - Richard Powers (currently about half way through this. A bit of a mixed bag. There's a very good description of PCR on the first page ;o))

Wow. How is it already nearly Christmas?!

I'm at work at the moment, so I'm just going to post a catch up list of everything I've read since my last post, but I'll try to drop back to fill it out a bit before the end of the year!

51) Longbourn - Jo Baker (Pride and Prejudice from the servants perspective - my mum offered it to me before taking it to charity, so I gave it a go. I liked the difference in perspective, but thought the ending was rubbish).

52) A Madness of Angels - Kate Griffin (Recommended to me by Roni - partly because it's very evocative of London. Also, my mum taught and was fond of Catherine Webb and it's nice to be able to tell her I enjoyed her book - which I did ;o))

53) Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel (Enjoyable post apocalyptic story following a nomadic community of actors & musicians across America).

54) The Sleeper and the Spindle - Neil Gaiman (Beautifully illustrated and nicely adapted alternative spin on a mash up of the usually very passive Snow White and Sleeping Beauty - recommended).

55) Orfeo - Richard Powers (Yes, it took me this long to finish it. Honestly, a bit nonplussed by this one. I'm still not 100% certain why he chose the title - didn't seem to have a lot to do with the Orpheus myth to me, despite the musical connection).

56) Magic Breaks - Ilona Andrews (Most recent in this very silly but fun series. Bit of a direction change).

57) Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin (This is one of the books I've had on my LT Wishlist for the longest. I think it was Rachael/FlossieT who made me want to read it, mostly for it's Cambridge/Fenland connections as I'm not much of a crime fiction reader most of the time. Enjoyed it very much).

58) Where'd You Go Bernadette - Maria Semple (From somewhere near the bottom of my TBR pile - one down! Bernadette is the very unusual mother, of a gifted and nearly as unusual teenage daughter and bane of the lives of other local mothers. She has just gone missing prior to a family holiday to Antarctica. I really liked this - witty with lots of grey areas).

59) A Song For Issy Bradley - Carys Bray (A Costa Prize nominee. Wonderfully real and well written, surprisingly witty description of a (Mormon) family falling to pieces on the death of the youngest daughter. Just brilliant. I wanted to give it to lots of people, but everyone I can think of who would appreciate it currently has small babies and I think those that do might struggle).

60) Eugene Onegin - Pushkin (I saw a wonderful production of this fairly recently and there was also a dramatisation on Radio 4 (sort of a mix of Onegin with a biography of Pushkin - I can't seem to find the right link which is a shame as I enjoyed it), both of these made me want to read this finally. Sadly, I managed to pick a terrible translation which pretty much spoiled it for me - really forced rhymes. Bah).

61) Vowed - Liz de Jager (Follow up to Banished - a freebee I picked up at last year's World Fantasy Convention that I enjoyed much more than I expected. Sort of a Buffy without the vampires set in the UK. Fluffy stuff, but fun).

62) Divergent
63) Insurgent
64) Allegiant - Veronica Roth (I'm not sure now why I bought this series (cheapo e-books - another YA post apocalyptic series, but rather an inferior one in my opinion), or why I then plodded on with them as I slowly got more and more irritated with the plot line and the characters. Probably because the first one is enjoyable enough and I wanted to know how it would turn out. Pretty weakly is the answer. The last one was particularly badly written and thought out for some reason and felt as though it had been hurriedly pulled together from a list of keywords and key points that had to be made. Not recommended).

65) Dawn Wind - Rosemary Sutcliffe (I felt the need to read some well written children's fiction after that and this is one of Rosemary Sutcliffe's books I'd yet to read. Not one of her best, but still enjoyable).

66) The Death Maze - Ariana Franklin (Sequel to Mistress of the Art of Death and again very readable - this time shifting near to Oxford. I'm currently reading the third, set in Glastonbury and am starting to wonder how many tourist spots she's going to tour to! Fun though)

67) Love Nina - Nina Stibbe (An edited collection of letters Nina Stibbe wrote to her sister whilst nannying for Mary Kay Wilmers, editor of The London Review of Books during the 80's. Very funny).

That'll do for now...

I'm glad you enjoyed A Madness of Angels, Fliss--I would have hated to have misled you. And Station Eleven is probably on my tar list for next year. It was so nice to meet you when you came to San Diego. It's Chrismas Eve's eve, and so I am starting the rounds of wishing my 75er friends the merriest of Christmases or whatever the solstice celebration of their choice is.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Christmas Fliss!

Merry Christmas, Fliss! I look forward to seeing you and Rachael again in 2015.

Belated Christmas wishes and Happy New Year, Fliss.