kidzdoc achieves TBR domination in 2014, part 10

My photograph of the Palau Nacional (National Palace), which was designed by Eugenio Cendoya and Enric Catà and built for the 1929 International Exhibition in Barcelona. Since 1934 it has served as the home of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (National Art Museum of Catalonia).




Currently reading:

    

History of the Rain by Niall Williams
The Inevitable City: The Resurgence of New Orleans and the Future of Urban America by Scott Cowen
The History of Catalonia by F. Xavier Hernàndez

Completed books:

January:
1. Homage to Barcelona by Colm Tóibín (review)
2. 1914: A Novel by Jean Echenoz (review)
3. How I Became Hettie Jones by Hettie Jones (review) (TBR)
4. How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon
5. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordechai Richler

February:
6. Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Secret Past by Giles Tremlett (TBR)
7. Christmas in Purgatory: A Photographic Essay on Mental Retardation
by Burton Blatt & Fred Kaplan
8. Down's Syndrome: The History of a Disability by David Wright
9. Lizard Tails by Juan Marsé (TBR) (review)
10. The Comedians by Graham Greene (TBR) (review)
11. No Name in the Street by James Baldwin (TBR)
12. The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop by Guthrie Ramsey
13. An Unexpected Twist by Andy Borowitz (TBR)

March:
14. The Enormity of the Tragedy by Quim Monzó (TBR)
15. Between Friends by Amos Oz
16. Chewing Gum Dreams by Michaela Coel
17. The Weir by Conor McPherson
18. Wounded: A New History of the Western Front in World War I by Emily Mayhew
19. The Husbands by Sharmila Chauhan
20. We Are Proud To Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915 by Jackie Sibblies Drury
21. Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks
22. 1984 (play script) by George Orwell

April:
23. Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England by Sarah Wise
24. Ruin Lust: Artists' Fascination with Ruins, from Turner to the Present Day by Brian Dillon
25. Secret Barcelona by Veronica Ramirez Muro and Rocio Sierra Carbonell
26. Barcelona by Robert Hughes
27. Everyman Mapguide Barcelona
28. Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry (TBR)
29. The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
30. Notes for a Spanish Odyssey by Calvin Baker
31. Kicking the Sky by Anthony De Sa
32. I Am a Japanese Writer by Dany Laferrière (TBR)
33. Gone by Colum McCann

May:
34. The Colonel by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi (TBR)
35. Gasoline by Quim Monzó (TBR)
36. Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje (TBR)
37. Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut
38. Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen
39. Morphine by Mikhail Bulgakov

June:
40. The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra by Pedro Mairal
41. Quietly by Owen McCafferty
42. Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life by Alex Bellos
43. Shanghai Nights by Juan Marsé (TBR)
44. This Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood by Alan Johnson
45. Vlad by Carlos Fuentes
46. Rochester Castle by Jeremy Ashbee
47. The Sant Pau Modernista Precinct by Richard Rees
48. Lost Luggage by Jordi Puntí
49. Baedeker Barcelona by Baedeker Guides
50. Gaudí: Introduction to His Architecture by Juan-Eduardo Cirlot

July:
51. Barcelona Scams by Jonathan Stone
52. Gaudí: A Biography by Gijs van Hensbergen
53. Paul Robeson: A Watched Man by Jordan Goodman
54. The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat : The Story of the Penicillin Miracle by Eric Lax (TBR)
55. Kieron Smith, boy by James Kelman (TBR)

August:
56. All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu
57. How to Be German in 50 Easy Steps by Adam Fletcher
58. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
59. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris
60. Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS by Rebecca J. Anderson
61. Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

Purchased and acquired books (purchased books in bold):

January:
1. 1914: A Novel by Jean Echenoz (1 Jan, Strand Book Store)
2. The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe (1 Jan, Book Culture)
3. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild (1 Jan, Book Culture)
4. U.S.A. by John Dos Passos (1 Jan, Book Culture)
5. Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities by Mark Anthony Neal (1 Jan, Book Culture)
6. Levels of Life by Julian Barnes (1 Jan, Book Culture)
7. Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat (1 Jan, Book Culture)
8. How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon (1 Jan, Book Culture)
9. My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit (1 Jan, Book Culture)
10. Brave Genius: A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize by Sean B. Carroll (1 Jan, Book Culture)
11. The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally (8 Jan, Amazon Kindle e-book)
12. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark (18 Jan, History Book Club)
13. The Marsh Arabs by Wilfred Thesiger (18 Jan, Michael C. Carlos Museum Bookshop)
14. The Odyssey: A Dramatic Retelling of Homer's Epic by Simon Armitage (18 Jan, Michael C. Carlos Museum Bookshop)
15. Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey by Robert O'Meally (18 Jan, Michael C. Carlos Museum Bookshop)
16. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis (19 Jan, Kindle e-book)
17. The Tuner of Silences by Mia Couto (25 Jan, Kindle e-book (reimbursement))
18. The New Spaniards by John Hooper (25 Jan, Kindle e-book (reimbursement))
19. Barcelona by John Hughes (25 Jan, Kindle e-book (reimbursement))
20. Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends by John Leguizamo (26 Jan, Kindle e-book)
21. Just Kids by Patti Smith (26 Jan, Kindle e-book)
22. The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles (26 Jan, Kindle e-book)
23. The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge (26 Jan, Kindle e-book)

February:
25. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup (6 Feb, Kindle e-book)
26. Christmas in Purgatory: A Photographic Essay on Mental Retardation by Burton Blatt, Fred Kaplan (9 Feb, PDF download)
27. Spain in Mind by Alice Leccese Powers (16 Feb, gift book)
28. The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (21 Feb, Kindle e-book)
29. Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues by Martin J. Blaser, MD (LT Early Reviewers book)
30. The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (25 Feb, Kindle e-book)
31. Wounded: From Battlefield to Blighty by Emily Mayhew (25 Feb, Kindle e-book)
32. Creation: The Origin of Life by Adam Rutherford (25 Feb, Kindle e-book)
33. Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks (25 Feb, Kindle e-book)
34. Far From the Tree: A Dozen Kinds of Love by Andrew Solomon (25 Feb, Kindle e-book)
35. Inconvenient People by Sarah Wise (25 Feb, Kindle e-book)
36. An Unexpected Twist (Kindle Single) by Andy Borowitz (27 Feb, Kindle e-book)

March:
37. Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker: 200 Recipes for Healthy and Hearty One-Pot Meals That Are Ready When You Are by Robin Robertson (3 Mar, gift from Karen W.)
38. Thrombosis & Bleeding: An Era of Discovery by Cecil Hougie (5 Mar, Kindle e-book)
39. On the Rez by Ian Frazier (9 Mar, Kindle e-book)
40. We'll Always Have Paris by John Baxter (10 Mar, Kindle e-book)
41. The Nonexistent Knight by Italo Calvino (20 Mar, Kindle e-book)
42. The Cloven Viscount by Italo Calvino (20 Mar, Kindle e-book)
43. Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino (20 Mar, Kindle e-book)
44. Chewing Gum Dreams by Michaela Coel (20 Mar, Kindle e-book)
45. 1984 by George Orwell (22 Mar, Foyles Bookshop)
46. The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer (22 Mar, Foyles Bookshop)
47. The Weir by Conor McPherson (22 Mar, Foyles Bookshop)
48. A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride (22 Mar, Foyles Bookshop)
49. Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut (22 Mar, Foyles Bookshop)
50. Sol Campbell by Simon Astaire (22 Mar, Foyles Bookshop)
51. Nomad's Hotel: Travels in Time and Space by Cees Nooteboom (22 Mar, Stanfords Bookshop)
52. The Husbands by Sharmila Chauhan (23 Mar, Soho Theatre)
53. The Hill Station by J.G. Farrell (24 Mar, London Review Bookshop)
54. Gob's Grief by Chris Adrian (24 Mar, London Review Bookshop)
55. Falling Out of Time by David Grossman (24 Mar, London Review Bookshop)
56. Plague and Cholera by Patrick Deville (24 Mar, London Review Bookshop)
57. The Making of Mr Hai's Daughter by Yasmin Hai (26 Mar, Foyles Bookshop)
58. We Are Proud To Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915 by Jackie Sibblies Drury (26 Mar, Bush Theatre)
59. The Last Asylum: A Memoir of Madness in Our Times by Barbara Taylor (27 Mar, Daunt Books)
60. Gaudí: A Biography by Gijs van Hensbergen (27 Mar, Daunt Books)
61. Ruin Lust by Brian Dillon (27 Mar, National Theatre Bookshop)
62. King Lear by William Shakespeare (27 Mar, National Theatre Bookshop)
63. 1984 (script) by George Orwell, adapted by Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan (29 Mar, Almeida Theatre)

Purchased and acquired books (purchased books in bold):

April:
64. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (11 Apr, Kindle e-book)
65. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (14 Apr, Kindle e-book)
66. An Introduction to the Catalan and Valencian Languages by David S. Luton (14 Apr, Kindle e-book)
67. Kicking the Sky by Anthony De Sa (15 Apr, LT Early Reviewers book)
68. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Callahan (19 Apr, Kindle e-book)
69. Notes for a Spanish Odyssey by Calvin Baker (20 Apr, Kindle e-book)
70. Gone (Kindle Single) by Colum McCann (20 Apr, Kindle e-book)
71. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (30 Apr, Kindle e-book)

May:
72. Lost Luggage by Jordi Puntí (6 May, Kindle e-book)
73. The Dolls' Room by Llorenç Villalonga (7 May, Kindle e-book)
74. All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu (10 May, Barnes & Noble)
75. Living Language Spanish, Complete Edition (10 May, Barnes & Noble)
76. The Gray Notebook by Josep Pla (10 May, Barnes & Noble)
77. The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke (16 May, Kindle e-book)
78. Pocket Rough Guide Madrid by Simon Baskett (19 May, Idlewild Books)
79. Barcelona Baedeker Guide (19 May, Idlewild Books)
80. Madrid: A Cultural History (19 May, Idlewild Books)
81. Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life (19 May, Idlewild Books)
82. Morphine by Mikhail Bulgakov (19 May, Book Culture)
83. Spilt Milk by Chico Buarque (19 May, Book Culture)
84. Family Life by Akhil Sharma (19 May, Book Culture)
85. Book of Hours by Kevin Young (19 May, Book Culture)
86. Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture by Hisham Aidi (19 May, Book Culture)
87. Stokely: A Life by Peniel E. Joseph (19 May, Book Culture)
88. Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture by Gaiutra Bahadur (19 May, Book Culture)
89. The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra by Pedro Mairal (21 May, St Mark's Bookshop)
90. Glyph: A Novel by Percival Everett (21 May, St Mark's Bookshop)
91. Sleet: Selected Stories by Stig Dagerman (21 May, St Mark's Bookshop)
92. Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty (21 May, St Mark's Bookshop)
93. Paul Robeson: A Watched Man by Jordan Goodman (21 May, St Mark's Bookshop)
94. A French Book by John Christy (24 May, Kindle e-book)
95. Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende (25 May, Kindle e-book)

June:
96. The Londonist Book Of London Pub Crawls by Matt Brown (1 Jun, Kindle e-book)
97. River Gardens by Lynda Kiss (2 Jun, Kindle e-book)
98. Lancelot by Walker Percy (3 Jun, Kindle e-book)
99. The Physician by Noah Gordon (3 Jun, Kindle e-book)
100. Quietly by Owen McCafferty (3 Jun, Soho Theatre)
101. In the Approaches by Nicola Barker (5 Jun, London Review Bookshop)
102. The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez (5 Jun, London Review Bookshop)
103. I Am China by Xiaolu Guo (5 Jun, London Review Bookshop)
104. The British Dream: Successes and Failures of Post-War Immigration by David Goodhart (5 Jun, London Review Bookshop)
105. Lost for Words by Edward St Aubyn (6 Jun, Brick Lane Bookshop)
106. This Boy: A Memoir of Childhood by Alan Johnson (6 Jun, Brick Lane Bookshop)
107. The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin (8 Jun, Baggins Book Bazaar)
108. Fima by Amos Oz (8 Jun, Baggins Book Bazaar)
109. Don't Call it Night by Amos Oz (8 Jun, Baggins Books Bazaar)
110. Our Street: East End Life in the Second World War by Gilda O'Neill (8 Jun, Baggins Book Bazaar)
111. Rochester Castle by Jeremy Ashbee (8 Jun, Rochester Castle gift shop)
112. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham (12 Jun, gift book from Bianca Buchholz)
113. All Quiet on the Western Front by Eric Maria Remarque (12 Jun, gift book from Bianca Buchholz)
114. The Ingenious Gentleman and Poet Federico Garcia Lorca Ascends to Hell by Carlos Rojas (13 Jun, London Review Bookshop)
115. The Iraqi Christ by Hassan Blasim (13 Jun, London Review Bookshop)
116. Outlaws by Javier Cercas (13 Jun, London Review Bookshop)
117. Mr Loverman by Bernadine Evaristo (13 Jun, Oxfam Bloomsbury Bookshop)
118. Vlad by Carlos Fuentes (13 Jun, Waterstone's Gower Street
119. Portobello Road: Lives of a Neighbourhood by Julian Mash (13 Jun, Waterstone's Gower Street
120. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (13 Jun, Foyles Bookshop)
121. A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie (13 Jun, Foyles Bookshop)
122. Gaudi: Introduction to his Architecture by Juan-Eduardo Cirlot (17 Jun, Divers Newsagent, Estació Sants)
123. The Sant Pau Modernista Precinct (20 Jun, Hospital de Santa Creu i Sant Pau gift shop)
124. The Arch and the Butterfly by Mohammed Achaari (23 Jun, Come In Llibreria Anglesa)
125. Fear and Loathing in La Liga: Barcelona vs Real Madrid by Sid Lowe (23 Jun, Come In Llibreria Anglesa)
126. The History of Catalonia by F. Xavier Hernàndez (23 Jun, Come In Llibreria Anglesa)
127. A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present by Howard Zinn (29 Jun, Kindle e-book)

July:
128. The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy by David Halberstam (1 Jul, Kindle e-book)
129. Thomas Jefferson by Christopher Hitchens (1 Jul, Kindle e-book)
130. Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS by Rebecca J. Anderson (2 Jul, LTER book)

This is a list of the TBR books I'd like to read the most. I hope to complete 10-15 or more tomes (500 pages or longer), and 30-35 shorter works. This is a first draft, so the books that are listed here will almost certainly change as the year progresses.

TBR Books to Read in 2014

Tomes (500 pages or more):
      Nicole Barker, Darkmans
      Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins
      Douglas Brinkley, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
      Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March
      Ralph Ellison, Three Days Before the Shooting...
      Ian Gibson, The Shameful Life of Salvador Dalí
      David Grossman, To the End of the Land
      Lawrence Hill, Someone Knows My Name
      George E. Lewis, A Power Stronger than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music
      A.J. Liebling, Just Enough Liebling
      David Macey, Frantz Fanon: A Biography
      Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety
      Paul Murray, Skippy Dies
      Patrick O'Brian, Picasso: A Biography
      Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason: The Modern Foundations of Body and Soul
      Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
      William Trevor, Selected Stories
      Patrick White, The Vivisector

Non-tomes (less than 500 pages):
      Stuart Altman and David Shactman, Power, Politics and Universal Health Care: The Inside Story of a Century-Long Battle
      Kwame Anthony Appiah, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers
      Bernardo Atxaga, Obabakoak
      Amiri Baraka, Tales of the Out & the Gone
      Eleanor Catton, The Rehearsal
      Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco
      Randy Christensen MD, Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them
      Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, The Colonel
      Jean Echenoz, I'm Off and One Year
      Percival Everett, Percival Everett by Virgil Russell
      Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
      Louise Erdrich, The Plague of Doves
      Paul Farmer, Haiti After the Earthquake
      Juan Eslava Galan, The Mule
      Jerry Gentry, Grady Baby: A Year in the Life of Atlanta's Grady Hospital
      Amitav Ghosh, The Calcutta Chromosome
      Juan Goytisolo, Forbidden Territory and Realms of Strife
      Juan Goytisolo, Juan the Landless
      Graham Greene, The Comedians
      Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of Paris
      Jonathan B. Imber, Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine
      Hettie Jones, How I Became Hettie Jones
      James Kelman, Kieron Smith, boy
      Robert Klitzman, When Doctors Become Patients
      Karl Ove Knausgaard, My Struggle: Book One
      Eric Lax, The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle
      Charles Lemert, Why Niebuhr Matters
      Juan Marsé, Lizard Tails
      Juan Marsé, Shanghai Nights
      David A. Mendel, Proper Doctoring: A Book for Patients and their Doctors
      Simon Mawer, Mendel's Dwarf
      Claire McCarthy, Everyone's Children: A Pediatrician's Story of an Inner City Practice
      Ian McEwan, Atonement
      Andrew Miller, Pure
      Quim Monzó, The Enormity of the Tragedy
      Quim Monzó, Gasoline
      Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
      Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Petals of Blood
      Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History
      Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost
      Laura Katz Olson, The Politics of Medicaid: Stakeholders and Welfare Medicine
      Brian Orr, MD, A Pediatrician's Journal: Caring for Children in a Broken Medical System
      Orhan Pamuk, Snow
      Roy Porter, Madmen: A Social History of Madhouses, Mad Doctors and Lunatics
      Graham Robb, Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris
      Edward W. Said, Out of Place: A Memoir
      Giles Tremlett, Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Secret Past
      Mario Vargas Llosa, The Green House
      Richard Wright, Black Boy

Recommended reads for the CanLit 2014 Challenge (by Canadian LTers) (books in bold are ones that I'm most interested in reading):

   Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace (Joyce, Nancy, Cait and Cyrel)
   Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin (Cait and Joyce)
   Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (Tui)
   Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride (Joyce and Nancy)
   Anita Rau Badami, Tamarind Mem (Tui)
   Anita Rau Badami, Tell it to the Trees (Cait)
   John Bemrose, The Island Walkers (Lori)
   Marie-Claire Blais, The Day Is Dark and Three Travelers (Suz)
   Joseph Boyden, Three Day Road (Suz and Cyrel)
   Joseph Boyden, Black Spruce (Suz and Cyrel)
   Wayson Choy, The Jade Peony (Nancy)
   Michael Crummey, Galore (Sassy)
   Robertson Davies, The Deptford Trilogy (Suz, Cait, Tui and Zoë)
   Suzanne Desrochers, Bride of New France (Zoë)
   Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers (Nancy)
   Kim Echlin, The Disappeared (Cait)
   Timothy Findley, The Last of the Crazy People (Lori)
   Timothy Findley, The Piano Man's Daughter (Tui)
   Timothy Findley, The Wars (Suz and Joyce)
   Kenneth J. Harvey, Blackstrap Hawco (Sassy)
   Tomson Highway, Kiss of the Fur Queen (Joyce and Tui)
   Helen Humphreys, Coventry (Tui)
   Helen Humphreys, The Frozen Thames (Tui)
   Helen Humphreys, The Lost Garden (Tui)
   Wayne Johnston, Baltimore's Mansion (Tui)
   Wayne Johnston, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (Cyrel)
   Thomas King, Green Grass, Running Water (Joyce)
   W.P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe (Tui)
   Margaret Laurence, The Stone Angel (Tui)
   Mary Lawson, Crow Lake (Lori)
   Linden MacIntyre, The Bishop's Man (Suz)
   Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief (Cait and Nancy)
   Beatrice MacNeil, Where White Horses Gallop (Nancy)
   Rabindranath Maharaj, The Amazing Absorbing Boy (Cyrel)
   Rohinton Mistry, Family Matters (Tui)
   Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance (Tui)
   W.O. Mitchell, Who Has Seen the Wind (Tui)
   Lisa Moore, February (Cait)
   Alice Munro, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (Suz)
   Alice Munro, Too Much Happiness (Cyrel)
   Alice Munro, The View from Castle Rock (Cyrel)
   Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost (Joyce)
   Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient (Cait)
   Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion
   Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table (Suz)
   Jacques Poulin, Mister Blue (Suz)
   Mordechai Richler, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Cyrel)
   Timothy Taylor, Stanley Park (Joyce)
   Kim Thúy, Ru (Suz)
   Michel Tremblay, The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant (Lori)
   Jane Urquhart, Away (Tui)
   Jane Urquhart, The Stone Carvers (Tui)
   Ronald Wright, What Is America?: A Short History of the New World Order (nonfiction) (Tui)

*waves* I'm not Canadian but I respectfully recommend you read The Bird Artist by Howard Norman at some point.

And try some crispy scrapple, if you can get it.

Too early? Just finished up some scrapple (teehee) and thought I'd wander over. Happy new thread, Darryl!

>7 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks for that recommendation, Linda. I'll be on the lookout for The Bird Artist.

I'll bet dimes to dollars that at least one eatery in the Reading Terminal Market sells scrapple. Even if that isn't the case I'd bet pennies to dollars that I can find it at a market close to my parents' house.

>8 michigantrumpet: Not too early, Marianne! Good to see you here. Scrapple for everyone (except Laura)!

Scrapple definitely needs to be sliced up and fried. A college friend was traveling through Amish country and stopped in at a diner. He saw scrapple, and ordered it, thinking it was something else. "Fried?" the counter help asked. Trying to be healthy, he elected to have it plain. He couldn't understand the strange looks from the entire place UNTIL he got his order.

"healthy" and "scrapple" don't belong in the same sentence. It looks, before frying, like I imagine the insides of clogged arteries to look. (Just in case anyone needed more encouragement to avoid it!)

Just marking my spot on your nre thread, Darryl. Here's to lots of reading time on your present days off.

I just threw up a little bit thinking about "plain" scrapple. Darryl, you'll have no problem finding it at Reading Terminal, at any place that serves a cooked breakfast. Oh, and I want photographic evidence of your taste test!

mmmmmmmmmm
fried scrapple

>11 laytonwoman3rd: I shall try scrapple anyway, despite your recent effort to convince me otherwise.

>12 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy. I just finished Paul Robeson: A Watched Man, which was very good, and I'll read at least a few pages of The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Penicillin Miracle before I turn in for the night.

>13 lauralkeet: As long as I meet at least one LTer at Reading Terminal Market there will be photographic evidence of the scrapple taste test, Laura. Although I haven't looked for it, I'm certain that I can get scrapple there.

>14 richardderus: Apparently the popularity of scrapple extends beyond the Delaware Valley.

It's the only place I've ever had it. Man, is it good!



My idea of a gooooooood breakfast: meat, eggs over easy with pepper, hash browns. Add an ocean of coffee and a hot man across the table and I am in *heaven*.

>16 richardderus: and a hot man across the table
You suggesting a meetup with Darryl there, RD?

Mmm. I'll definitely take the meat and the ocean of coffee, and definitely the eggs over easy with pepper, but I'll mix it in grits and skip the hash browns. I'll pass on the hot man, or for that matter a hot woman, as she would likely be a distraction until I've eaten and been sufficiently caffeinated. I'm generally incoherent and occasionally grouchy until the coffee has kicked in.

Hmm. Speaking of coffee...

Laura, he said hot, not middle aged and rounded.

I forgot to mention that I made reservations for my August vacation yesterday. I'll visit my best friends in Madison, Wisconsin from August 9-13, then fly from there to Philadelphia and spend two weeks with my parents (August 13-27). I also received confirmation this week for my request for 1-1/2 weeks of vacation from September 8-18, so I'll return to London then. I'll also be able to go to the national conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in San Diego from October 11-14. If I have any vacation days left over I'll either visit a couple of friends from medical school in SoCal or take a quick trip to San Francisco (I'd love to ride the Amtrak train that travels along the Pacific Coast from San Diego to San Francisco).

ETA: Sheesh. To travel from San Diego to San Francisco (actually Oakland, across the Bay) by Amtrak, a journey of just under 600 miles, takes just over 15 hours, including a change of trains in LA. As a comparison, the high speed TGV train from Paris to Barcelona that I was supposed to have taken last month takes 6 hr 40 min to go a distance of roughly 640 miles. Never mind...

American train service was deliberately slowed and crap-ified to placate the new airline industry after WWII. Did 2 things: Employed returning veteran pilots and smacked the hugely powerful railroads in the teeth.

Of course it left normal people screwed for generations to come, and left the railroads free of annoying passengers instead of crapping on them the way it was meant to, but still...good intentions...

Happy New Thread, Darryl and I wish you a fantastic weekend.

Ok, I'll bite: what is scrapple?

ETA: oh man, pass on that. From Wikipedia: "is traditionally a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and wheat flour, often buckwheat flour, and spices. The mush is formed into a semi-solid congealed loaf, and slices of the scrapple are then pan-fried before serving. Scraps of meat left over from butchering, not used or sold elsewhere, were made into scrapple to avoid waste."

Holy clogged arteries, Batman.

Barcelona Scams huh? Is that a literal title?

^Holy clogged arteries, Batman.
LOL

Hi Darryl, nice new digs. I am getting in early before all the photos mean it takes *seconds* to load on my computer. I am part of the *I want it now* after all. Well, nearly.

Hi, Darryl! Somehow I lost track of your LT thread, but I've got this new one marked.

I've never tried scrapple (and don't think I will), although it's readily available in grocery stores here in central PA.

>20 kidzdoc: Yeah, I was going to say... I love train rides, I like Amtrak, but I don't consider it if there's anything like a deadline involved. That theoretical 15 hours could easily expand to a day or more. My family took the train from Oakland to Portland once (about the same distance, I think) - we'd scheduled to come in early, a day ahead of the prep for the wedding we were going to, to spend some time with our friends beforehand. Pleasant train ride, but we got in half an hour after the rehearsal dinner had started - just about 24 hours late.

>21 richardderus: Yep. And the formation of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s, along with the increase in car ownership in the booming postwar economy and the consequent desire of Americans to travel by private automobile instead of by train or bus, only added to the demise of passenger rail travel in the US in the 1950s and 1960s. The streetcar systems in most major cities were also dismantled en masse during this time period, as residents preferred to drive their cars whenever they could.

It's ironic that Atlanta, a city which began at the terminus of two major railroads (its original name was "Terminus", BTW) and for much of its history was the leading passenger railway hub of the Deep South, now only has one tiny Amtrak station and is only served by one train, the Crescent, which runs once a day in either direction between New York and New Orleans.

>22 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara! I hope that you're also enjoying the weekend, as you prepare for your trip to England. You're leaving tomorrow, right?

>23 tiffin: Right, Robin. Scrapple isn't for the faint of heart, my young friend.

Darryl, our flight is tomorrow at 7am. This is very early. We have to leave home at 5.20am. I guess we are sleeping during the flight. Marina already left for England.

>24 LovingLit: It is, Megan. Barcelona Scams is an e-book that I borrowed from the Kindle Lending Library, which is a guide for visitors to keep them abreast of the most common schemes used by pickpockets and sham artists in the city. I found it useful, and I suspect that the methods used by these petty criminals would apply to most other tourist destinations in densely packed areas.

I mentioned in my last thread that a Moroccan man approached me as I was taking pictures of the Barcelona Cathedral (la Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia), the medieval church in the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gòtic). We had an amiable conversation in Spanish for about 10-15 minutes, and toward the end of the conversation he told me that he was in dire financial straits and needed money to call his family back home. I gave him the change out of my pocket, but when he said that he needed 20 euros, I knew that he wanted me to take out my wallet, so that he could grab it out of my hands. That's an old trick, and as a rule I never remove my wallet from my pocket to give money to a beggar. I stared at him as he cried fake tears, and within seconds we walked away. After he left I carefully checked to see if any personal items were missing, but he was apparently operating by himself, so other than the change I gave him he didn't get anything else from me.

There shouldn't be many photos on this thread, as I'll be staying in Atlanta for the next three weeks.

>25 Cariola: Hi, Deborah! I'm not at all surprised that scrapple is readily available where you live. I'm now mildly curious about scrapple, so I'll give it a try next month.

>26 jjmcgaffey: Definitely so, Jennifer. In 1990 I traveled by train from Trenton, New Jersey to Montgomery, Alabama with my mother and her two sisters, in order to go to a family reunion in Troy, AL. It was a misadventure of epic proportions, and we arrived either four or six hours late, as my elderly great aunt and her children waited patiently for us on a brutally hot summer day. I vowed that I would never take a long distance journey on Amtrak again after we made the return trip from Atlanta to Trenton, although I do enjoy long train rides, and I still may travel from San Diego to San Francisco if I have several days off from work after the conference.

As I was typing this message I received an alert from NBC News, which announced that the American actor James Garner has died at the age of 86.

>28 Ameise1: That's right; I did read on your thread (I think) that your flight leaves at 7 am tomorrow. How are you getting to Penzance?

We're travelling by train from Paddington Station. Leaving 10.06am and arriving in Penzance at 3.11pm.

>31 Ameise1: That makes sense, since the Heathrow Express terminates at Paddington Station. I wish you happy and safe travels tomorrow!

Today is another gloomy, humid and rain filled day in Atlanta, a good day to stay inside and read again. I finished The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle by Eric Lax yesterday, which was superb (4-1/2 stars). Today I plan to read Kieron Smith, boy by James Kelman, a coming of age story set in Glasgow, which is another book from my TBR list.

The Booker Prize longlist will be announced this coming Wednesday, June 23rd. Many of you know that I'm the administrator for the Booker Prize group on LT, and that I'm obsessed with a fan of this literary award. Anyone who is interested in the prize is welcome to join us!

I've created a preview thread to discuss this year's award. As you may have heard, the eligibility for the Booker Prize has been changed, as any novel written in English and published in the UK for the first time between October 1st of last year and September 30th of this year is eligible, regardless of the author's country of origin. Previously only novels published by citizens of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland qualified for the prize. The main effect of this change is that novels from the US are now included in the mix.

I have to work on Wednesday, but I should be able to post the longlist shortly after it is announced, especially if the announcement holds true to past form and takes place at noon British Summer Time (7 am Eastern Daylight Time).

Happy Sunday Darryl. Your vacation plans sound very exciting.

>33 kidzdoc: What a crock that change is.

Happy Bookerweek!

>33 kidzdoc: >35 richardderus: I don't care for the Booker change either. I was reading an article on Dutch Baroque painting and novels last night, and it was mentioned that The Goldfinch is expected to make the list--and is a real contender to win. I liked the book, but it has many flaws and is not something I would consider Booker-worthy.

I'm looking forward to the Booker Prize debate that will no doubt ensue after Wednesday's announcement. I'm sure The Goldfinch will be nominated, but really really hope another book wins. I share Deborah's opinion about it.

I echo Deborah and Laura on The Goldfinch assessment and I wish they had not changed the rules. So there!

Happy new thread, Darryl! Love this scrapple conversation. Scrapple showed up as a food item in one of my book reads earlier this year, Inamorata by Jospeh Gangemi, and I still shudder at the thought of it.

I'm one of the fans of The Goldfinch, so I'd be happy if it did well.

I really liked The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat when I read it, Darryl. I look forward to hearing your more knowledgeable views on it when you're done.

Just stopping by to say hello on your new thread! I hope we'll have a chance to meet up when you are next in London, assuming you survive your encounter with scrapple ...

Scrapple = Spam?

>42 cameling: Nooo.....not at all. Two completely different things. Although I can see why you might think so. Spam pretends to BE meat. Scrapple is basically corn meal mush with added protein bits.

Spam IS meat, compared to scrapple.

>44 Cariola: True.

>34 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda! I hope that you had an enjoyable Sunday as well. Let me know if you would be interested in and able to meet up in Philadelphia or NYC next month. Now that my dates are set I'll look to see what's on in both cities during the two weeks that I'm there.

>35 richardderus: I agree, Richard. I'm opposed to the rule change that permits authors from the US to qualify for the Booker Prize, and many of us will be very curious to see how many American novels will make the longlist, and which ones the judges choose. Fortunately we'll all know in less than 36 hours.

>36 Cariola: I've been fooled by the books that the Booker judges chose for the longlist, shortlist and the prize itself in years past, so I won't be surprised if The Goldfinch is or isn't one of the Booker Dozen. Although I haven't read it and I do have the Kindle version of it, I'd rather see another book chosen for the longlist.

>37 lauralkeet: The only thing that's certain is that there will be heated debate about the longlist when it comes out on Wednesday, Laura.

>38 Berly: Right on, Kim! I'd love to see the Booker administrators go back to the original eligibility rules next year.

>39 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori. It makes sense to refer to scrapple as a food item, similar to calling Cheez Whiz a cheese product and Cool Whip imitation whipped cream. I'm now intrigued enough to give scrapple a try, so I'll give it a go when I go to Reading Terminal Market next month.

>40 jnwelch: I'm glad that you enjoyed The Goldfinch, Joe. I'll definitely read it even if it doesn't make the Booker Prize longlist.

I'll write a review of The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat later this week, hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday. I'm a bit sleepy this evening after I slept poorly the past two nights, so I'll probably go to bed soon.

>41 Sakerfalcon: Hi, Claire! I found out this morning that I'll be off from work from September 2-21, which is twice as long of a holiday as I had asked for, so we should definitely be able to meet up. I'll probably take an evening flight from Atlanta to London on September 1, and I'll stay in London for at least 10-14 days, depending on what's on there (museums, plays).

BTW did you ever try scrapple when you lived in Philadelphia? If so, what did you think of it?

I may have to give Marmite a try when I return to London next month. If I like it then I'll apply for British citizenship.

>42 cameling: I may have to do a comparison taste test, Caroline. I've never had scrapple, and it's been at least 25 years since I've had Spam.

>43 laytonwoman3rd:, >44 Cariola:, >45 laytonwoman3rd: You two are making me question my decision to give scrapple a try.

I don't mean to put you off scrapple, Darryl. As I have said, I quite enjoy it, although it's mostly on my "can't have that" list these days.

>47 kidzdoc: I quite like Spam, in small amounts. I'll chop up a canful and have it, diced, in omelets for several days in a row - once you open the can it doesn't keep well. But diced and fried it's quite tasty. I've never had scrapple or headcheese, though these descriptions actually sound interesting. I doubt I could find any in California, but I'll keep an eye out (or if I go to New England).

>47 kidzdoc: "which is twice as long of a holiday as I had asked for" I wish that happened when I booked leave at work :-)

2-21 September duely noted in the diary... Did I see something on facebook about The Crucible?

>47 kidzdoc: What a nice surprise about your holiday! If that happened to me it would certainly be taken out of my leave allowance so I'd be short when I really needed the days.

No, scrapple never even came close to tempting me away from vegetarianism! Nor did cheesesteaks.

Marmite is best used sparingly; I recommend it in sandwiches with lettuce or cucumber. Or in the form of Twiglets :-)

I'll pass on the scrapple - thanks but no thanks.

Otherwise, Happy New Thread, Darryl!

>48 laytonwoman3rd: My comment about you and Deborah putting me off on trying scrapple was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek one, Linda. I'll still give it a try next month.

>49 jjmcgaffey: I suspect that scrapple is limited to the Delaware Valley and maybe central Pennsylvania. I didn't look for it when I lived in Pittsburgh (or anywhere else for that matter), so I don't know if it's available in western PA.

Good news! You can buy scrapple on Amazon. A 6-pack (1 lb/pack) of Habbersett scrapple only costs $55.99.

http://www.amazon.com/Habbersett-Scrapple-Lb-Pack/dp/B00IOPDDAM/ref=sr_1_2?s=gro...

>50 souloftherose: You did, Heather. Bianca wants to see The Crucible, and both Fliss and Lesley Hossner (Rachael's friend, who saw Much Ado About Nothing with you, me and Jenny) gave it high marks. Once I find out from Bianca which days she'll be off from work I'll let you know, as you would be more than welcome to join us. Anyone else who is interested in going, particularly your husband, would be invited as well.

I'll look to see what's on in London during the time that I'm off. Fliss wanted to meet up with you as well, and I mentioned to her on Facebook that I'll be returning to London in September. I didn't get to see Rachael last month, so I'd like to see her as well, either in London or Cambridge.

>51 Sakerfalcon: Right, Claire; that was an unexpected surprise to have 20 days off in a row in August and September. My partners and I work shifts, unlike primary care pediatricians, so our schedules can be very flexible. I work 80% of a full time schedule, which means that I generally work a little over half the days every month and have off days built into my schedule. For August and September my partner who makes the schedule combined my usual days off with my requested holiday time, so that I'd be able to have the maximum consecutive days off from work possible. I'm willing to work holidays (including Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Christmas and New Year's) and a heavier than normal schedule during our busy season (late autumn to early spring) in exchange for having time off in the late spring to early autumn to be able to travel, so my partner who makes the schedule (who I've known since we were in residency together in the late 1990s) is willing to give me the maximum time off possible whenever I request it.

I'll also keep you (and other UK LTers) posted once I hear from Bianca about what days she is off and would be available to see The Crucible at The Old Vic, or whatever else I do with other LTers in and outside of London.

Ah, I didn't realize that you were a vegetarian, even though we ate two meals together in London and Rochester last month. I'd like to start eating less meat and more vegetables, and starting this coming weekend I'll make one or two slow cooker vegetarian meals using the vegetarian cookbook that one of my partners gave me earlier this year.

Thanks for that recommendation about Marmite. I'd like to give it a try, but I'm not exactly pining for it. BTW, what are Twiglets? I've heard that word mentioned, but I have no idea what they are (which may be a good thing).

>52 scaifea: Thanks, Amber! I hope that you enjoyed your weekend in Indiana. I'll be in touch once I have a better idea what my friends and I plan to do in Madison next month.

I can attest to the availability of scrapple in Pittsburgh (where I lived for 17 yrs) and on the Eastern Shore of Maryland ( where I lived for 4 yrs). Never tasted it. Put off by its appearance - a grey blob - as well as its list of ingredients. But there are an awful lot of sane-looking people around who love it!

This year's Man Booker Prize longlist has just been announced:

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt
J by Howard Jacobson
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee
Us by David Nicholls
The Dog by Joseph O'Neill
Orfeo by Richard Powers
How to be Both by Ali Smith
History of the Rain by Niall Williams

From the Man Booker Prize website:

"The first Man Booker prize to admit novels from across the globe as long as they are written in English has published its longlist. Following much discussion, the six judges chaired by philosopher Anthony Grayling chose 13 books by four Americans, six Britons, two Irish writers and one Australian.

"One former Man Booker winner. Howard Jacobson, is on the longlist along with two previously shortlisted authors, Ali Smith and David Mitchell. Also on the list are David Nicholls, whose previous novel, One Day, was filmed with Anne Hathaway, and the Anglo-Indian writer Neel Mukherjee.

"The American writers longlisted include Richard Powers, Siri Hustvedt, Joshua Ferris and Karen Joy Fowler.

"Following extensive consultation the Man Booker trustees decided this year to change the rules which had previously allowed only British and Commonwealth authors to be considered for the prize. New Zealand author Eleanor Catton, winner of the 2013 prize, commented: "I think it's a really great thing that finally we've got a prize that is an English-language prize that doesn't make a distinction for writers who are writing from a particular country."

"The Man Booker, which is awarded to the best novel of the year in the opinion of the judges, is worth £50,000 to the winner. Previous winners include Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring up the Bodies, and two novels where sales have topped two million copies each, Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

"The judges will meet again to reduce their longlist to a shortlist of six titles which will be announced on Tuesday 9th September. The winning novel will be revealed on the BBC television’s Ten O’Clock News direct from a black-tie dinner in London’s Guildhall on October 14.

"The judges for this year’s prize are Sarah Churchwell, Daniel Glaser, Jonathan Bate, Alastair Niven and Erica Wagner under the chairmanship of Anthony Grayling."

Let the discussion and the reading begin!

I've read History of the Rain and liked it very much. I bought We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves on Kindle a few months ago. I didn't know Ali Smith had a new book out, or coming, will have to look for it.

David Nicholls? I've only read one book by him, One Day and thought it was chick lit (or lad lit?) and it wasn't even that good an example in that genre. I'm rather surprised by his incluson on the longlist.

So no Donna Tartt? What a surprise! I liked The Goldfinch when I first read it, but it has a lot of laws (especially the preachy ending), and it's one of those books that I like less in retrospect.

I am in the middle of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves right now. It's an unusual book and I'm quite enjoying it, but it's not something I'd consider Booker-worthy. A few of the others on the list (The Blazing World, The Bone Clocks, Orfeo) I decided not to put on my wish list after reading blurbs. That's all I've got!

>53 kidzdoc:: From wikipedia: "Twiglets are crisp wheat-based snacks with a "distinctive knobbly shape" similar to that of a small twig. The taste of Twiglets derives from the yeast extract used in its coating, and has been compared to that of Marmite. They are marketed in the United Kingdom and packaged in 24 gram, 45g and 105g bags, and in 200g tubs."
Hmm, I've just learned something - I always thought that actual Marmite was used to make them, not a generic equivalent. The taste is the same though.

That Booker longlist doesn't look to have such a diverse mix of authors at first glance - only four nationalities represented. I don't scrutinise the lists but I usually expect to see one or two African, Caribbean or Asian authors in the running. I'm interested to hear what you who follow the prize more closely think of the selections.

History of the Rain looks good, and I've read good things about The Bone Clocks. I've read none of these on the list, so it will be interesting to hear the comments.

Thanks for the Booker LL, Darryl. I will post this on my thread as well. No Donna Tartt? That's fine by me (not that anyone asked, LOL), but I predict the decision is going to generate a LOT of discussion.

>59 Sakerfalcon: That Booker longlist doesn't look to have such a diverse mix of authors at first glance
Besides nationality, there are also only three women.

Well, I looked into the nominees that I know nothing about. The one I really want to read is The Wake--but it will be a long haul because of the style. It takes place shortly after the Battle of Hastings, and the author has developed a language that is more understandable for modern readers than Old English--but it's still a bit difficult, from the sample I read. I'm also interested in How to Be Both (which doesn't come out in the UK until September 4), The Narrow Road to the Deep North, The Lives of Others, and The History of the Rain.

Us doesn't come out in the UK until September 30, and all that AmazonUK has to offer is that it's a brilliant book about love and family--meh. The rest of the list just doesn't appeal to me, but if you like scifi, you might find something wish listable. Who knows, I just might end up rooting for We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.

>59 Sakerfalcon: Nice to see you here, Claire. Neel Mukherjee is Indian, though he's educated here, not sure if he lives here, but the listed novel is set in Calcutta and he was born there. I have his first novel on my Kindle (still tbr) and he wrote the introduction for the most recent Virago edition of Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor.

>63 Cariola: Not sure about The Wake (Paul Kingsnorth) - links seem to be wrong, but I'd like to read the others you mention, and I'd be interested in Siri Hustvedt - I liked The Summer Without Men.

It still seems to be a very undiverse list, and there are too many books which don't even come out until September, so when they might be available from the library is anyone's guess.

>64 elkiedee: Thanks, I fixed all the touchstones except Us, which I couldn't find in the list.

I agree that there seem to be a lot of similar books on the list, in addition to the prevalence of male writers. Heavy on scifi and books about artists or depressed loners.

I kind of wish Donna Tartt was on the list just to up the number of women. I don't know the ratio of men to women on the judging panel but this is very disappointing....again. I didn't read David Nicholl's book, One Day because so many people described it as chick lit which isn't a genre I usually imbibe in. I'm not familiar with any of the others except We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, which I picked up as a Kindle deal and will make my next read. I probably won't read many of these unless I start to see some LT raves. I like to wait for the short list.

>66 brenzi: here's your answer re the judges:

"The judges for this year’s prize are Sarah Churchwell, Daniel Glaser, Jonathan Bate, Alastair Niven and Erica Wagner under the chairmanship of Anthony Grayling."

So 2/3 men, 1/3 women (don't know if the chairman gets a vote, however).

I was sooo sure that Tartt would make it to the longlist. I'm quite disappointed.

Interesting long list, many books that I wasn't interested in reading though might look at them now. Probably the Howard Jacobson when it comes out.
So many other books stirring my interest far more than those on this list.

eta: Also the David Mitchell eventually

Perfect timing. I was thinking today "it seems like time for the Booker nominees to be announced; I'd better check Darryl's thread to see if there is any news." Thank you for posting the list and for administrating the LT thread.

>56 kidzdoc: I saw the list mentioned on.....someone's thread....litchick/Nancy? I am going to have to wear blinkers this year to avoid it I think. The whole timing thing is off off off. My next paper at university involves writing 2 essays (3500 words each) plus a half hour presentation, I have several evenings at the readers and writers festival to attend and at least 4 films to see from the Intl Film Fest. I am going to be a busy girl with all that and - oh yeah- my kids and lovely other to look after! I just don't think I can bookhorn in any (many) Booker books.

I will be seeing Eleanor Catton (part of a panel of 7) speaking at the Readers and Writers Festival in August, would you like me to hold up a sign that you say hello!? ;)
The author of We Need New Names is also on that panel, and author of The Interestings. Not to mention Kristin Hersh of the rowing Muses (band) that I love. I am really excited.

>56 kidzdoc: I loved We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, but I don't venture into literature enough to opine about its prizeworthy merits. Also a fan of Richard Powers, but wasn't aware of Orfeo.

Interesting Booker conversation here. That's what I love about the 75ers -- we can go from scrapple to the Booker long list in a flash.

I am so excited! Having not had a pet for many years, I brought home a beautiful black male cat yesterday from our SPCA. He is gorgeous, charming, friendly, medium size at 11 pounds … and presently hiding in my furnace room, completely overwhelmed. Need some help with a name. I'm hoping that he'll eventually choose his own name, but If you feel like some fun and have a minute: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/63LPMVC (shelter name was Coal, but I don't find it terribly original, and I like two syllables in a pet name).

Another busy and emotionally exhausting work week has come to an end. I thought that I would catch up here last night, but I fell into a dead sleep just after 9 pm. Now that I've gotten older I've replaced Friday night meet ups with friends with Friday night meet ups with my couch.

>57 elkiedee: I'm glad that you enjoyed History of the Rain, Luci. I bought the Kindle versions of the six Booker longlisted books that are currently available in the US, including that one, and I'll probably start reading it later today or tomorrow.

I created a list in the Booker Prize group of the availability dates of the longlisted books last night:

To Rise at a Decent Hour: currently available in US and in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North: available 12 Aug in US (hardcover and Kindle); currently available in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves: currently available in US and in UK (hardcover, paperback and Kindle
The Blazing World: currently available in US and in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
J: no release date in US , available in UK 14 Aug for Kindle, 25 Sep for hardcover
The Wake: currently available in US (Kindle) and in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
The Bone Clocks: available in US and in UK 2 Sep (hardcover and Kindle)
The Lives of Others: no release date in US, currently available in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
Us: available 28 Oct in US (hardcover and Kindle and 30 Sep in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
The Dog: available 9 Sep in US (hardcover and Kindle); available 31 Jul in UK (hardcover)
Orfeo: currently available in US and UK (hardcover, paperback and Kindle)
How to Be Both: no release date in US, available 4 Sep in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
History of the Rain: currently available in US (hardcover and Kindle) and in UK (hardcover, paperback and Kindle)

The availability dates of the books that haven't been published in either country are very likely to change, now that the books have been chosen for this year's longlist. I'll do my best to update them as the summer progresses.

I didn't read One Day, but it seems like a pretty lightweight effort. Hopefully Us will be a more substantial book.

I'll look at the longlisted books in more detail this weekend. My first impression of the longlist, which was backed up by the three panelists on this week's Guardian Book Podcast, was its striking lack of diversity, with only one book written by an author of color (Neel Mukherjee's The Lives of Others), the lack of representation from British Commonwealth countries, and the gender imbalance of its authors (10 men, 3 women). That's not to say that it can't be an excellent longlist, of course, but at first glance it isn't one that is as exciting to me compared to those of previous years.

>58 Cariola: The men who participated in the Guardian Books Podcast this week were also disappointed that The Goldfinch wasn't chosen, along with the new novel by Sarah Waters. BTW, here's a link to the podcast:

Summer reading and the Man Booker longlist

I was disappointed that A God in Every Stone, the new novel by Kamila Shamsie, wasn't chosen, as I loved her previous novel Burnt Shadows. I bought it in London last month, so I'll read it anyway.

I'll create threads for each of the longlisted books in the Booker Prize group as soon as I catch up here, so that we can share our impressions about each book. If I didn't said so already I haven't read any of the longlisted books yet, so I'll have my work cut out for me if I intend to read the entire longlist before the award ceremony in October. I've never accomplished that feat since I started following the prize closely in 2007, but I do have three week holidays in both August and September, so I might be able to get it done this year.

>59 Sakerfalcon: Thanks for that description of Twiglets, Claire. Now that you mention it someone else had told me about Twiglets in the past, possibly one of the former Emory pediatric hospitalist fellows whose parents live in London. I brought Cadbury Crunchie bars for her earlier this year, since they aren't readily available in the US if at all, and she may be a Twiglets fan as well.

>60 jnwelch: I agree, Joe; History of the Rain and The Bone Clocks are two of the most interesting titles on the longlist IMO, along with The Lives of Others.

>61 lit_chick: You're welcome, Nancy. I'm sure that others were surprised that The Goldfinch wasn't chosen for the longlist. I'd still like to read it this summer or in the early autumn, but I may not get to it until later in the year.

>62 lauralkeet: Oh, I missed Claire's second paragraph in message #59, so back to that for a moment.

You're absolutely right, Claire. The longlists usually do include more books from African, Asian or Caribbean authors than this one does. Neel Mukherjee is of South Asian descent, and his latest novel is set in India during the 1960s, but that's it. He lives in London, but I don't know where he was born.

The fear amongst some was that the longlist would replace books from the Commonwealth with books from the US, and unfortunately that seems on a first glance to be the case this year. Although I haven't read it yet I was also hoping to see All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu on this year's longlist.

Besides nationality, there are also only three women.

The judging panel had four men and two women on it, which may have something to do with the lack of books written by women authors on the longlist.

>63 Cariola: Thanks for mentioning the style in which The Wake is written in, Deborah. Here's an excerpt of the first few paragraphs of the book (BTW, the US Kindle version is currently on sale for $3.95):

the night was clere though i slept i seen it. though i slept i seen the calm hierde naht only the still. when i gan down to sleep all was clere in the land and my dreams was full of stillness but my dreams did not cepe me still

when i woc in the mergen all was blaec though the night had gan and all wolde be blaec after and for all time. a great wind had cum in the night and all was blown then and broc. none had thought a wind lic this colde cum for all was blithe lifan as they always had and who will hiere the gleoman when the tales he tells is blaec who locs at the heofon if it brings him regn who locs in the mere when there seems no end to its deopness

none will loc but the wind will cum. the wind cares not for the hopes of men

the times after will be for them who seen the cuman

the times after will be for the waecend

I don't have enough of a feel for the longlist to know which one to root for, although I should also add The Dog to the list of books that I'm most eager to read. Since Joseph O'Neill lives in the US (although he was born in Ireland) I would hope that its publication date gets moved up by a few weeks.

>64 elkiedee: I read that Neel Mukherjee lives in London, but I didn't know that he was born in Calcutta. I read his first novel A Life Apart, but I didn't like it much (I gave it 2-1/2 stars, but I didn't write a review of it).

If I remember correctly the unavailable Booker longlisted books in past year have almost always had their publication dates moved up after the longlist was announced, with one notable exception being The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri last year. I'll keep a close eye on the US availability of the longlisted books, and I'll try to do the same for the UK as well (although, needless to say, you and the other UK LTers will probably find out before I do).

>65 Cariola: I had to add a couple of books to LT, including Us. I found that book's ISBN-13 number of Amazon UK, and created a new entry by adding it to my library as an Unread book, although I don't own it yet.

I agree that there seem to be a lot of similar books on the list, in addition to the prevalence of male writers. Heavy on scifi and books about artists or depressed loners.

Hmm. That second sentence is depressing in itself. This may be a less than ideally enjoyable reading summer if that's the case.

>66 brenzi: I'm looking forward to reading We Are Completely Beside Ourselves, which I may read as early as next week (I'm off from work Wednesday through Friday). I bought the Kindle version, which is currently selling for $7.99. BTW, the shortlist will be published on September 9th.

>67 Cariola: If I remember correctly one judge was added to the panel this year, who is from the United States, and in years past the chairman did get a vote, as there were reportedly several 3-2 votes in choosing the eventual winner. However, with an even number of judges this year, if the chairman does get a vote that sets up the possibility of a tie, which could mean that two books could potentially win the prize. That has happened before, but not in recent years. Let's see...it's only happened once, in 1974, when The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer and Holiday by Stanley Middleton were announced as co-winners.

>68 cameling: I'm a wee bit disappointed that The Goldfinch wasn't chosen, Caroline, but I'll still read it anyway. She did win this year's Pulitzer Prize and I understand that she's made gobs of money on the book already, but I'm sure that she wanted to see her book on the longlist.

>69 avatiakh: From the discussion on the Guardian Books Podcast, the new Jacobson is a complete departure from his previous work. I think they said it is a dystopian or sci-fi novel, and that it has little or no humor in it.

>70 EBT1002: You're welcome, Ellen! I'm happy to be your source for Booker Prize news. :^)

>71 LovingLit: Hi, Megan! You do have a busy schedule ahead, so you're officially exempt from participating in Booker mania (doctor's orders).

I don't know that holding up a sign with my name on it during Eleanor Catton's talk would accomplish much, although if you put Rachael's (FlossieT's) name instead she would likely recognize it, as they have met at least twice, when Rachael interviewed Eleanor for her article in Belletrista and when Rachael attended her party on the day of last year's prize ceremony.

I'm glad that you'll get to go to the Readers and Writers Festival! I look forward to comments from you about it.

>72 qebo: Hopefully I will have read We Are Completely Beside Ourselves by the time we meet up next month, Katherine. (BTW, is there a particular day that we should think of meeting up? Other than a day trip to NYC to visit an old friend I haven't made any formal plans yet.) I haven't read anything by Richard Powers yet.

>73 michigantrumpet: Right, Marianne! I enjoy the varied conversations on my favorite threads, including my own. :^)

>74 lit_chick: Congratulations, Nancy! I'll head over to that survey now.

Of the list, I've read two books, Siri Hustvedt's novel (which I loved: it made my list of the top novels I read in the second quarter, as a brilliant example of metafiction that actually WORKS) and To Rise Again at A Decent Hour, which was a trudge. Let's just say that if you've ever wanted to know a lot about a man obsessed about very little, from dentistry to his religious identity or lack of same, this is the book to read. But reading it felt like a forced route march. Yes, the writing itself is often very good, and the author's imagination is turned on, full blast, but that isn't enough to wow me. That is kind of "table stakes", at this level.

In the case of two other authors I have read previous books which makes me wonder WTF their latest offerings are doing here. These are the aforementioned David Nicholls and Karen Joy Fowler, whose best known book remains a supermarket favorite, The Jane Austen Book Club. This one is a coming of age story about a young woman who has felt a literal sense of twinship with a chimpanzee, and the dysfunctional family of research scientists to which she belongs. I passed on it... I don't intend to read either.

I have had a pre-order for the Kindle version of Richard Flanagan's in place for about a month, since it started showing up on my recommended list. I've also had The Wake here for a month or so, but it's VERY difficult to read. I'm fascinated by Hereward and the whole historical subject -- and I'll be reading Marc Morris's book about the Norman invasion soon -- so I may revisit it. But while short, it ain't easy.

A contact at Bloomsbury sent me the Niall Williams book, and I bought Orfeo recently, too. The list prompted me to pick up the UK Kindle version of "The Dog" by Joseph O'Neill.

So that leaves me with two that I have read, two that I have no intention of reading, some others that I will read (Flanagan, Williams, O'Neill, Orfeo and possibly the David Mitchell novel, if I can get a library copy) and several others about which I'm uncertain!

Re the list's makeup: I'm meh about extending this to include American writers. There are so many literary prizes that are either open to American writers only or English language writers of all kinds, that I think changing the rules of this particular award means that it's less likely it will throw up some interesting new voices from places like South Africa, Australia, and other Commonwealth nations in Asia, the Caribbean and Africa. I like the fact that the judges are going for quality, but am sad that this means that in their eyes it will mean less diversity -- that they seem to believe this is the tradeoff.

And can we really, truly argue that for a 13-book list, the judges really couldn't find more than three books by women worthy of inclusion? I don't know Ali Smith's writing, but Karen Joy Fowler as one of those?? My jaw is going to require surgical reattachment to the rest of my skull. (Either that, or I'm going to have to radically revisit the view of Fowler's writing formed by reading that one book, so maybe I'll have to read the short-listed book...) Seriously, though, without advocating for any specific books, I can't help wondering what their criteria were that they could end up with such a very disparate list and yet fail to include very many women.

Actually, it feels to be like quite a wild and woolly list. Established writers who are familiar to Booker-followers, like Mitchell and Jacobson; established literary writers, like O'Neill and Hustvedt. Then David Nicholls and Karen Joy Fowler. Or Joshua Ferris, who I think was one of the New Yorker's 40 under 40, and who may not even be 30 yet. And a prose poem written in a modern variant of Anglo Saxon.

>79 Chatterbox: Great comments, Suz. I may start the Hustvedt this weekend and read the Williams during my midweek break, since at least three LTers whose opinions I respect liked it. I have relatively little interest in reading the Ferris, which seems to be the sort of middle class Americana angst-ridden novel (à la Jonathan Franzen and Lorrie Moore) that I usually loathe. I may skip it if it doesn't make the shortlist, even though I'd like to read all 13 books.

The Nicholls doesn't sound all that interesting, but the Fowler seems promising, at least. I haven't read anything by either author, so I can approach them without prejudice, which wouldn't be the case if something by Franzen or Moore had been chosen (thankfully neither of them has written a novel so far this year).

Supermarket favorite: ouch.

I'll probably read the Flanagan next month, and reserve the Kingsnorth until my holiday in September, when I can concentrate on it, now that I've read Deborah's comments and the first few paragraphs of it. Its setting is of interest to me, though.

I think changing the rules of this particular award means that it's less likely it will throw up some interesting new voices from places like South Africa, Australia, and other Commonwealth nations in Asia, the Caribbean and Africa. I like the fact that the judges are going for quality, but am sad that this means that in their eyes it will mean less diversity -- that they seem to believe this is the tradeoff.

I agree completely, and others have made similar comments. Unfortunately it seems as though our concerns have come to fruition this year at least. Now that the Commonwealth Writers' Prize only focuses on short stories and the Man Asian Literary Prize has been eliminated, I fear that authors from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean will become increasingly marginalized and obscure, which would be a tragedy for them, and for the reading public.

I'm also disturbed by the relative lack of women authors on the longlist. I depend on awards such as the Orange Prize and the Booker Prize to help me choose books written by women, especially since 2/3 to 3/4 of the books I read are written by men, so this disparity is more than a little disappointing.

Having said that I'm still looking forward to reading this year's longlist, and I'll reserve judgment on it until October.

I suppose this list is another reminder to me not to treat juried literary prizes as arbiters of merit. Regardless of the merits of what DID make the list, clearly there are shortcomings: the lack of women and individuals from countries that aren't already literary powerhouses. Essentially, the list's makeup seems to mirror demographic/economic power to a remarkable extent.

I may try the Fowler, in case I'm biased by that one book. It is available via the library. The Nicholls is a definite no for me; One Day was saccharine, romanticized tripe. Think John Green for grownups. Another supermarket favorite.

I just realized I also have a library hold request on The Bone Clocks but it doesn't come out until September.

So, my near-term reads will be Orfeo, History of the Rain by Niall Williams, "The Dog" by Joseph O'Neill (am NOT going to hunting for that touchstone today...) Sometime in August, when it arrives on my Kindle, I'll read the Flanagan novel, and then in September, David Mitchell. With a call option on Fowler. And if I'm feeling REALLY brave, The Wake. It's not that long, but it will require every iota of my attention. I would be astounded if it won.

Do read Lost for Words by Edward St. Aubyn -- very entertaining send-up of the whole Booker phenom.

>81 Chatterbox: I suppose this list is another reminder to me not to treat juried literary prizes as arbiters of merit.

Right. Although I suspect I'm as big a fan of literary awards as anyone else around these parts, I do recognize that the jurors' tastes and biases are likely to be different from mine.

Essentially, the list's makeup seems to mirror demographic/economic power to a remarkable extent.

It does seem as though this year's longlist is comprised largely if not entirely of the titles nominated by the large publishing houses in New York and London, and not a reflection of the world's best novels written in English. I'll be interested to see which books I and others believe should have made the longlist in the coming weeks and months.

One Day sounds awful. I may skip his new book.

I bought Lost for Words last month, so I'll read it soon.

Darryl - do you follow the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. I've just read one of the 8 winners, The Dig by Cynan Jones and it is quite stellar.
'The Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize looks beyond debut novelists and bestsellers to the depth and vitality of British writing, responding to the real challenges writers face in gaining and maintaining traction within their careers.'
'We are delighted that our founding of the Prize monies will provide financial support directly to each writer, and hope this will also help to take the influence of the Prize to a next level.”

>83 avatiakh: I don't follow that prize closely, Kerry, although I probably should. I bought Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo last month, and subsequently saw that it was one of the eight winners of the Fiction Uncovered Prize a few weeks later. Thanks for mentioning The Dig; it isn't available in the US so I'll look for it when I return to London in September.

My reading slump continues. I've been working on Kieron Smith, boy by James Kelman for the past two weeks, and I still haven't reached its halfway point. It's a coming of age novel narrated by a working class Glaswegian boy sometime during the latter half of the 20th century, which would normally be the type of book I'd enjoy, along the lines of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. This book is filled with Scottish dialect, as he uses the word "ye" in nearly every sentence and "wee" (or some derivation of it) in practically every paragraph, and nothing particularly momentous has happened so far (or will, from what I understand). It's been a bit of a slog, though not an entirely unenjoyable one. I do want to find out what happens to "Smiddy" and his family and friends, so I'm determined to finish it today.

Morning Darryl! Happy New thread. I hope you can relax a bit today after such a grueling week.

I like the Booker Long List and look forward to checking out some of those titles. I also loved We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and can't wait to get my mitts on the new Mitchell. I've heard some good things about The Narrow Road to the Deep North too.

How is All Our Names?

>85 msf59: Good morning, Mark! I hope that you have an enjoyable Sunday ahead of you. Today will be another lazy day for me, as yesterday was, but hopefully it will be a more productive reading day. It's supposed to reach 94 F (34 C) in Atlanta today, so I'll probably stay inside until this evening.

At this early stage I'm a bit disappointed in the Booker Prize longlist, as it appears that the four books written by authors from the US (five if you count Joseph O'Neill, who was born in Ireland but has lived in NYC since 1998) have replaced books that would typically have come from authors from the British Commonwealth, particularly countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, but also Canada and New Zealand. As John Dugdale wrote in the Guardian earlier this week in his article Man Booker prize 2014: why the longlist has bewildered the bookies,

And if the first longlist under the new rules is any guide, it may have paradoxically become less international, not more, as a result of introducing them.

Last July, the 2013 longlist included five writers from the Commonwealth beyond the UK, including the eventual winner, New Zealand's Eleanor Catton. This time, the equivalent number is just one, Australia's Richard Flanagan, with the difference corresponding neatly to the number of Americans selected.

With notable exceptions, American novelists tend to write about the US, and none of the four – Joshua Ferris, Karen Joy Fowler, Siri Hustvedt, Richard Powers – set their selected books abroad. So although non-western countries are depicted in works by Flanagan, Neel Mukherjee and Joseph O'Neill, there's a marked sense of restricted horizons when set against a 2013 longlist full of travellers and immigrants, and in which Catton, NoViolet Bulawayo, Richard House, Jhumpa Lahiri and Ruth Ozeki all pulled off ambitious intercontinental narratives.

The longlist is heavily tilted toward male authors, as only three of the 13 books were written by women.

However, that's not to say that this year's longlist is, necessarily, a bad one because of the exclusion of Commonwealth writers, and there are books that I'm eager to read, particularly The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, The Dog by Joseph O'Neill, The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee, and History of the Rain by Niall Williams. I'll almost certainly read We Are Completely Beside Ourselves soon, possibly as early as this coming week, and The Narrow Road to the Deep North sounds promising.

I haven't read All Our Names yet, due to my aforementioned reading slump. I'll probably read it during my mid-week break, though.

>78 kidzdoc: BTW, is there a particular day that we should think of meeting up? Other than a day trip to NYC to visit an old friend I haven't made any formal plans yet.
Well, your trip includes two weekends, which would be simplest for me, and I'd guess for anyone else interested in a Philadelphia meetup.

>87 qebo: I have a slight preference for Sundays over Saturdays, depending on the train schedules and your and others' plans. I'll take SEPTA Regional Rail into Center City, and I can get off at 30th Street Station, or Market East Station if we wanted to meet up for breakfast at Reading Terminal Market (and have scrapple!). If you haven't been yet I'd love to see several exhibitions at the Penn Museum. The museum is open at 10 am on Saturdays and Sundays, and Reading Terminal Market opens at 8 am on Saturdays and 9 am on Sundays. Either weekend works for me (16th/17th or 23rd/24th), as I've only made one plan so far (I'll meet an old friend in NYC on the 19th or 20th). I'll create a thread in the LibraryThing Gatherings and Meetups group shortly to see who else might be interested in coming, and which day(s) would be preferable.

Here's the link to the Philadelphia meet up thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/178396

>84 kidzdoc: I think you'll enjoy the Cynan Jones book and it's a quick read. I'm definitely going to read something else by him. I found out about the Fiction Uncovered Prize when writer Matt Haig was on the judging panel this time round. I like Haig's books (you probably wouldn't) and have enjoyed following him on FB and twitter where he strongly recommended The Dig after the Awards were announced.

Reading funks seem to have hit a lot of us this year. I've had a better reading month this July though I seem to have been mainly reading lighter fare.

>79 Chatterbox:, >81 Chatterbox: You actually might want to reconsider Karen Joy Fowler. While The Jane Austen Book Club could best be described as chick-lit, that isn't true of Sarah Canary or We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. In fact, I wouldn't apply the term "coming of age novel" to the latter; that's a category I tend to avoid, and I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It is, to some extent, about the main character 'finding herself,' but it also raises a lot of questions about animal research and whether philanthropic causes actually have the best interests of the animals at heart any more than the animal researchers do. Lots of points made about our relationships with the creatures with whom we share the earth. As for the dysfunctional family, it's there, but the novel explores the reasons for that dysfunction, which all trace back to one event. I'm not necessarily recommending that you put it on your list as it may not be something you would enjoy. I just didn't want you to write it off entirely based on The Jane Austen Book Club. And she actually writes quite well.

>84 kidzdoc: I recently read an ARC of Rachel Seiffert's The Walk Home. She did the same thing with Glaswegian dialect. It was readable, but not one of her best work (and I really like her).

>91 Cariola: Thanks for the suggestion. I've put in a library request for it. I certainly won't be buying it based on the novel that I have read and one or two short stories of hers that I've read -- or, for that matter, the book's description. I can see the potential for what you describe, but I'm also a bit wary, as Bit Themes of that ilk can also be explored in a heavy-handed manner. We'll see... :-)

>90 avatiakh: I'll definitely look for The Dig next month, Kerry. Ah...I thought that the Fiction Uncovered Prize was for debut authors, but I see that Cynan Jones has published several other books. Let me know if you read anything else by him, and what you think of it.

I've been more tired these past few months, and I find it hard to concentrate on reading if I'm sleepy. I still haven't read much of Kieron Smith, boy today, so I may not be able to finish it tonight as I had hoped.

>91 Cariola: Thanks for those comments about We Are Completely Beside Ourselves, Deborah. Your description makes it sound quite interesting, and I'll definitely read it later this week or in August.

>92 Cariola: That's right; I remember your review of The Walk Home now. I'll probably end up giving Kieron Smith, boy a similar rating (3 to 3½ stars) as you gave that book.

Katy Guest, the literary editor of The Independent on Sunday, wrote a humorous article which lampooned this year's Booker Prize longlist and the Booker Prize in itself, and provided an alternative list of the best books of the year, titled The Guest List 2014: Forget the Man Booker longlist, Literary Editor Katy Guest offers her alternative picks, based on the books that were actually chosen. Here's her list:

The award for the most American writer we can find, to show that we're, like, totally embracing the new rule allowing Americans into the Man Booker Prize: The Unwitting by Ellen Feldman

The award for a snazzy title that book clubs will love if only they can remember it: A Highly Unlikely Scenario: Or, a Neetsa Pizza Employee's Guide to Saving the World by Rachel Cantor; The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe by Romain Puértolas.

The "You Saw Them Here First" award for Independent columnists and other writers you've read in The Independent on Sunday books pages: The Emperor Waltz by Philip Hensher; The Amber Fury by Natalie Haynes; Touched by Joanna Briscoe; The Lemon Grove by Helen Walsh.

The up yours award for ignoring big publishers and doing it yourself: When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow by Dan Rhodes.

The Margaret Atwood award for sneaking genre fiction on to the shelves of the Booker-buying public: After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman; The Fever by Megan Abbott.

The Relate award for making people think twice about marriage: Marriage Material by Sathnam Sanghera; Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo.

The oh my God they're brilliant at every sort of writing award (but not everybody has abandoned short stories for Booker glory): All the Rage by A.L. Kennedy; Storm by Tim Minchin.

The Salman Rushdie award for the best novel about everyday people affected by political events in the Indian subcontinent: A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie.

The Anne Enright award for the Irish novel most guaranteed to make you cry: The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters by Michelle Lovric.

The best novel featuring a dog now that Kate Atkinson's book jackets have all been redesigned so they don't have off-putting big ugly dogs on the covers any more: A Dog's Life by Michael Holroyd.

The best book about a world war in a year full of really predictable world war anniversary books: The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis; The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters.

The 'middle-aged man on a road trip' novel of the year: Frog Music by Emma Donoghue; The Planner by Tom Campbell.

The "look how self-aware we are" award for a novel that best pokes fun at the art or literary world: Fest by Mark McCrum; Lost for Words by Edward St Aubyn; The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.

Thanks for listing the alternate Booker list--very amusing!

Love the alternate list, Darryl!

Eta: anyone know what these annoying new links are: BOOKS, SURVEY, etc? Argh!

>96 Berly: You're welcome, Kim. Even though it's a satirical article I think I like Katy Guest's longlist better than the actual one, although her list has 25 books on it. I decided to post them here for everyone to see, but also because I'll also want to check out some of the books I don't already own, especially the ones by Philip Hensher, Sarah Waters and Emma Donoghue.

>97 lit_chick: I'm glad that you liked her list, Nancy.

What "annoying new links" are you referring to?

I'm going to be reading the Ellen Feldman novel, and am intrigued by the Independent's conclusion that she has been "strangely overlooked". She's not well known, sure, but she has a reasonable following. Excellent wordsmith.

I've got an e-galley of the Lovric novel and probably will read the Martin Amis book.

LOLing away at the categories...

>95 kidzdoc: Like >99 Chatterbox:, I'm laughing at the categories. Very clever.

>82 kidzdoc: One Day sounds awful. I may skip his new book.
It was vaguely entertaining to me. Maybe a tad more than that. I read it for a bookclub read and wasn't that impressed. And now our next bookclub meeting involves reading (optional) "The Hundred Year Old Man Who Jumped out of the Window and Disappeared" (or something like that) and then seeing the movie. Based on comments and synopses I have read on that, I won't be participating in either I don't think.

I can't say I am yet drawn to any of the Booker nominees....probably as I have yet to see the covers all together. Then- it'll be a different story.

I sped through the last half of Kieron Smith, boy and I did finish it tonight after all. I had hoped that it would pick up as Kieron hit his preteens, but he became more whiny and repetitive instead. I'll give it 2-1/2 stars, as it was a very disappointing read.

>99 Chatterbox: Ellen Feldman did garner some attention when her novel Scottsboro was shortlisted for the Orange Prize several years ago.

I may get Martin Amis's new novel as well.

>100 lauralkeet: I liked Katy Guest's categories, but the books that she chose were even better.

>101 LovingLit: Ugh; vaguely entertaining isn't a description that makes me want to read One Day, or Nicholls's new novel for that matter.

I can't say I am yet drawn to any of the Booker nominees....probably as I have yet to see the covers all together. Then- it'll be a different story.

Your wish is my command.

Heard good things about Ali Smith & David Mitchell Books ..... personally really want to read The Bone clocks

>95 kidzdoc: - Love the alternate Booker list! I am actually looking forward to reading The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe. ;-)

Hi Darryl, I am slowly finding my way back into LT after long phases of absence this year. Interesting Booker discussions here as usual. I wanted to comment on your post
>86 kidzdoc: and the quote:

set against a 2013 longlist full of travellers and immigrants, and in which Catton, NoViolet Bulawayo, Richard House, Jhumpa Lahiri and Ruth Ozeki all pulled off ambitious intercontinental narratives.

I remember last year's laments that the LL wasn't really as international as it pretended to be with Jhumpa Lahiri and Bulawayo setting at least huge parts of their books in the US (and actually living there) and there was also something about Ruth Ozeki. The argument basically was: if they all have to dig out their barely visible Commonwealth roots to be eligible for the BP, we can as well include the US authors. Funny that they are now falling back on exactly those authors to prove how international last year's list was.

>93 Chatterbox: I hated The Jane Austen Book Club so much I couldn't finish it. Fortunately I have a bad memory for author names and only realized who Fowler is when I was half through her listed book. And very, very fortunately I didn't know what is everywhere called "the twist", because I wouldn't have wanted to read it then. I'd say it's actually quite well done, although she did some strange things to the side characters towards the ending. But I can't say how the first third would be perceived by a reader who knows what is coming.

>103 roundballnz: I'm looking forward to The Bone Clocks, Alex. I also liked There but for the, so I'll read How to Be Both regardless of whether it makes the Booker Prize shortlist or not. Both books are scheduled to be published in the UK in early September, so I'll buy both during the first week that I'm in London.

>104 lkernagh: I read the description of The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe on Amazon UK, and it does look interesting:

One day a fakir leaves his small village in India and lands in Paris. A professional con artist, the fakir is on a pilgrimage to IKEA, where he intends to obtain an object he covets above all others: a brand new bed of nails. Without adequate Euros in the pockets of his silk trousers, the fakir is all the same confident that his counterfeit 100-Euro note (printed on one side only) and his usual bag of tricks will suffice. But when a swindled cab driver seeks his murderous revenge, the fakir accidentally embarks on a European tour, fatefully beginning in the wardrobe of the iconic Swedish retailer.

As his journey progresses in the most unpredictable of ways, the fakir finds unlikely friends in even unlikelier places. To his surprise - and to a Bollywood beat - the stirrings of love well up in the heart of our unlikely hero, even as his adventures lead to profound and moving questions of the perils of emigration and the universal desire to seek a better life in an often dangerous world.

The hardcover edition is being released in the UK today, so I'll take a look at it in September.

>105 Deern: Hi, Nathalie! It's great to see you back on LT.

You make a great point about the 2013 longlist; I hadn't thought of that. Half of We Need New Names was set in the US, as you said. Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London and moved to the US when she was two, and NoViolet Bulawayo has lived in the US since she graduated from high school. I had started to state that Eleanor Catton and Tash Aw would have been the only longlisted authors that reside outside of the Western world, but Aw has lived in the UK since he studied law at Cambridge. And, since Lahiri, Bulawayo, McCann have lived in the US for years, they could rightfully be called American authors, along with Ozeki.

I'll start reading We Are Completely Beside Ourselves later today or tomorrow, after I finish All Our Names.

I just saw a humorous video by The Onion about the new Kindle Flare, which loudly broadcasts to others around you what book you're reading:

http://www.theonion.com/video/new-kindle-helps-readers-show-off-by-shouting-titl...

LOL, one has to love The Onion! Great video : ).

"...Now that I've gotten older I've replaced Friday night meet ups with friends with Friday night meet ups with my couch."

Oh. My. Yes.

Lots of humor going on your thread these days. Especially enjoying the alternative Booker List and the Onion. Thanks for the smile.

>108 lit_chick: I'm glad that you liked that video, Nancy.

>109 michigantrumpet: And you too, Marianne!

>106 kidzdoc: The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe sounds rather intriguing

Both Ali Smith books are on my want or is that wish list ..... will be interesting to see who gets on the shortlist, some books will be read either way though.

> 95 Funny!!

>95 kidzdoc: I like the bit at the end, too, about the new iPad that loudly lets everyone know you have an iPad.

That Onion video was followed, for me, by another one announcing that the new Ninja Turtles movie will feature startlingly realistic CGI penises on the four heroes. Maybe it's time for me to get back to work.

>113 jnwelch: Why work when you are having so much fun

>95 kidzdoc: LOL. .... I actually clicked on that snazzy "Pizza" title book. How disappointing; I really thought that a book with "pizza" in the title would be good. *sigh* There's actually more than one title there that actually sounds worth pursuing .........

>107 kidzdoc: That Onion Video is funny! Thanks for sharing.

"...Now that I've gotten older I've replaced Friday night meet ups with friends with Friday night meet ups with my couch."

And Sunday night meet ups, and Monday night meet ups, and Tuesday night meet ups ..........

At least, that's me and my couch's schedule. ;)

I'm curious as to how you're finding We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. I've just started it, too.

I'll just do a copy and paste of this bit from my thread, since I'm feeling very lazy here on LT:

I started We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. I figured I might as well join the LT rush. I met Karen Joy Fowler at the Montana Festival of the Book last year. She was part of a panel on relationships in fiction and then signed books afterward. Since I'd never read anything by her, I listened to the audiobook of Jane Austen Book Club while driving back and forth to the festival. I thought it was just OK - gave it three stars and considered it fairish chick lit- not my genre. It didn't inspire me to buy a copy of WAACBO which had just been released in hardback.

She related the story that she had originally written the book as a linear tale with the twist being known by the reader from the very beginning. Her publisher wanted her to not do the reveal until the very end. She said she couldn't rewrite it that way, so revealing it partway into the story was the compromise position. She insisted it wasn't a spoiler, though, and talked about it freely since it's hard to talk about the book without it being mentioned.

>114 roundballnz: Seems like life's eternal question, Alex. :-)

Just dropping by to say hi!

....but what on earth is scrapple?! (and HOW COULD YOU chose grits (icky icky icky) over hash browns (mmmmmmmm)?!?!)

#33 #56 Aha! Booker thread tagged. It's an odd list, isn't it? I'm really looking forward to The Bone Clocks when it comes out and did enjoy We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (I hadn't even registered that she wrote The Jane Austen Book Club when I picked it up, or I might not have done!), but I'm not convinced it should be on the Booker list. Ditto rather surprised to see David Nicholls there (enjoyed Starter For Ten, but disliked One Day intensely - a common opinion it seems!) - I would definitely count his books as holiday fluff. We shall have to see about the rest...

#53 And yes, definitely recommend the Old Vic production of The Crucible - truly chilling.

Hi Darryl, just passing and waving!

>118 flissp: Scrapple is pictured in >16 richardderus: above (top of the plate), and described in >23 tiffin:.

Knock knock knock.
Kidzdoc?
Knock knock knock.
Kidzdoc?
Knock knock knock.
Kidzdoc?

*leaves a note, came by to say hi*
Hope all is well.

>121 avidmom: I bet he has to work extra hard this week to justify the rest of the month off.

Hello Friend Darryl. I'm stopping by to see if you have posted any food photos that would make me smile.....

>123 Whisper1: You should come to Philadelphia on the 17th and watch him eat scrapple.

(What, spellcheck? Scrapple is too a word.)

Ack! It's been over a week... Don't work too hard, Darryl, or you'll be too exhausted to enjoy your time off!

Woo! I finished my seven day work week last night, and this morning I flew from Atlanta to Madison, Wisconsin to visit my best friends. We had a nice buffet at Taste of India, a restaurant that we all like, and we're now relaxing on a perfect summer day (partly cloudy and 81 degrees).

I'm typing this one handed on my iPad, as Charlie the Wonder Dog has given me the task of petting him nonstop. Apologies for any typos.

Catching up...

>111 roundballnz: The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe does sound potentially interesting, Alex. I'll be on the lookout for it when I go book shopping next week in NYC, or next month in London if it isn't available in the US.

Which is the other Ali Smith book that you're referring to?

>112 banjo123: I'm glad that you also liked that list, Rhonda.

>113 jnwelch: Oh, my. I think I'll skip that video by The Onion...

>114 roundballnz: Good point, Alex.

>115 avidmom: I looked at the reviews of A Highly Unlikely Scenario, or a Neetsa Pizza Employee's Guide to Saving the World and it doesn't seem to be anywhere near as interesting as it sounds.

And Sunday night meet ups, and Monday night meet ups, and Tuesday night meet ups

Yep. Now I nearly always meet up with friends in town on days that I'm not on clinical service, as my work days are usually too unpredictable to make definitive plans.

>116 streamsong: I had only read the prologue of We Are Completely Beside Ourselves last week before I read the first 20 pages on the flight to Madison this morning, so I don't have much to say about it yet. I should get a lot more reading done starting today, as I won't return to work for nearly three weeks.

I understand that there is a key "spoiler" or a plot twist in the novel, so I've avoided reading reviews of it on LT and elsewhere.

>117 jnwelch: Most of us have to work to pay the bills for our fun, right?

>118 flissp: ....but what on earth is scrapple?!

I'll try not to think of the description of scrapple when I try it for the first time next weekend, Fliss. I'll let you know how it is.

and HOW COULD YOU chose grits (icky icky icky) over hash browns (mmmmmmmm)?!?!

Grits can be absolutely horrendous if they aren't made by someone who knows how they are supposed to taste. Most good Southern restaurants can make at least passable grits, but outside of the South you are taking your chances, unless the place specializes in Southern food. I've had good grits in several restaurants in NYC, but I wouldn't dream of ordering them in a standard American restaurant in the Northeast, Midwest or West Coast.

Hmm...I wonder if there are any restaurants that serve Southern US cuisine in London? I would be surprised if there wasn't at least one.

Due to my work schedule up until yesterday I haven't paid that much attention to the Booker longlist for the past two or three weeks. It certainly wasn't the list I was expecting, but I've always been surprised in the books that are chosen since I started following the prize in 2007. From what I've read so far, especially from Nathalie, it seems as though most of the novels have been good ones, so I'm looking forward to getting started on them.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing The Crucible next month!

>119 connie53: Hi, Connie! I hope that you're enjoying your weekend.

>120 laytonwoman3rd: I'll be surprised if Tui's description of scrapple makes it seem appealing to Fliss.

Hey Darryl! WAY behind on your thread. But I'm here now. The Onion video was really funny. Now I'm sad that my Nook doesn't announce my awesome reads.

Back again...

>121 avidmom: Sorry that I wasn't home when you came a-knockin', avidmom!

>122 qebo: You're spot on, Katherine. I worked well over a full FTE (full time equivalent) in the past 5+ weeks to be able to get 20 consecutive days off in August and September.

>123 Whisper1: Ah! I could have posted photos of crispy pigs' ears when I ate at Barcelona, a Catalan-themed restaurant in Atlanta, a couple of weeks ago, or the goat curry we had for lunch today at Taste of India in Madison.

>124 qebo: Scrapple is a staple food in Pennsylvania, so I'll bet that Linda is a fan of it.

>125 katiekrug: I did make a concerted effort to sleep as much as I could this past week, so that I would be as rested as possible when I came to Madison. I'm a bit tired, but definitely holding my own even though I've been awake since 4 am Eastern Time (3 am Central Time).

>128 The_Hibernator: Hi, Rachel! I have a lot of catching up to do on threads as well. I probably won't be fully caught up until after I fly from Madison to Philadelphia on Wednesday.

I've started reading We are All Completely Beside Ourselves and if the spoiler in question is the identity of a sibling, well, it's revealed in the book's description and on the jacket (not to mention the illustration...) I do like the oblique way she moves into it, and think a more straightforward way wouldn't have worked as well. As it stands, the writing is OK with good spots; it's the structure that is holding my interest. The plot is interesting, but it seems to be based on some well known stuff that I won't discuss here in case it's spoilerish, since Darryl is still reading!

I picked up an ARC of the Richard Flanagan novel via Amazon Vine, so now I just need to decide whether I want to read the Howard Jacobson novel when it's released next week in the UK. Am not sure at this point.

Hi Darryl, I wish you a fabulous Sunday.

>130 Chatterbox: I haven't gotten very far into We Are Completely Beside Ourselves yet, as I didn't read much on the flight from Atlanta to Madison and I spent most of yesterday catching up with my friends, who I haven't seen in a year and a half. I should be able to finish it before I leave here on Wednesday, I would think.

Thanks for mentioning The Narrow Road to the Deep North. It will be published in the US on Tuesday, along with Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami, so I'll see if Murielle and the kids are up for a visit to Barnes & Noble in Middleton or another local bookshop that day.

>131 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara! I'll spend the day with my best friends and their rapidly growing but still precious kids in Middleton, Wisconsin, a nearby suburb of Madison, so we'll definitely have a fabulous Sunday together. I hope that you have an equally splendid day.

>132 kidzdoc: Darryl, I will. I'm reading The Goldfinch currently and I like it very much so far.

>133 Ameise1: I'm glad that you're enjoying The Goldfinch, Barbara. Since it didn't make the Booker Prize longlist it's been pushed further down my list of books to read this summer.

Fortunately for me two of my LT Early Reviewer books arrived this week, namely Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, and The Inevitable City: The Resurgence of New Orleans and the Future of Urban America by Scott Cowen. I brought both of them with me, along with Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS by Rebecca J. Anderson, another LT ER book, and The History of Catalonia by F. Xavier Hernàndez, which I bought in Barcelona last month. Six of this year's Booker Dozen are on my Kindle, and I just accidentally bought the Kindle version of The Path to Power, the first book in Robert Caro's lauded series The Years of Lyndon Johnson, so I have plenty of reading material for the next three weeks.

I've only read History of the Rain from the Booker SL, but it was very good, Darryl.

I totally think you should read Path to Power; but I wonder if there is a way to return accidentally purchased items. I once accidentally bought a flatscreen TV from Amazon, and they let me return it super-easily.

There is a way to accidentally return a Kindle book, but you have to do it reasonably promptly. If you buy it on the Kindle itself, you can do it immediately. If you do it online (via the Amazon site), I think if you call them in a day or two, you can return it. I believe they won't accept returns after a week, however.

I'm nearly halfway through We Are Completely Beside Ourselves, so I'm past the point where the surprise has been revealed. I'm glad that I didn't read any reviews or descriptions of the book, as I was caught unaware and it so far has made me more eager to read the book, after my interest was beginning to flag a bit.

>135 lit_chick: I'm glad that you enjoyed History of the Rain, Nancy. I'll probably start reading it tomorrow or Wednesday, after I finish We Are Completely Beside Ourselves.

>136 banjo123: Although it wasn't on my Amazon wish list, The Path to Power is very high on the list of books I want to read soon, so I'll keep it.

>137 Chatterbox: I think you're right, Suz. Let's see...here's the statement from the Kindle Return Policies page: "Books you purchase from the Kindle Store are eligible for return and refund if we receive your request within seven days of the date of purchase."

As I'm typing this my precocious 11 year old niece is practicing George Perlman's Israeli Concertino for Violin and Piano on her violin. Amazing. At her age my talents were limited to reading prodigiously (which she has done for years), playing sports (on my best days I was an average stoop ball, stickball and football player), and remembering inane facts about the bus and subway lines in Jersey City, Manhattan and the Bronx. Mary has also won a statewide spelling contest in Wisconsin this year, and she is a superb artist and a budding writer. She, her 9 year old brother and the girl next door also made a very amusing short movie on the computer yesterday, with graphics, credits and music. Yikes. I'm waaay out of her league.

I know, kids today make me feel that I should sign up for a voluntary euthanasia program...

The trick with the Kindle book returns, though, is that it won't work on pre-orders. Sure, you don't GET the book until the day it is released, but if you placed the order way back whenever, that is counted as they day you ordered it. So basically you can't ever return a pre-order, even if you try to do so two minutes after it lands on your Kindle. It's a very poor policy; a loophole in their data-driven system.

>139 Chatterbox: Yep. The kids, particularly my nephew, just finished giving me a lesson on different species of mammals, which was very educational and provided further evidence that I was nowhere near as smart when I was in elementary school. Tommy is about to enter 4th grade, and Mary will start 7th grade. I think I'll scrap any plans to serve as a contestant on the show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

That's good to know about Kindle pre-orders; I didn't realize that.

I'll say precocious 11 year old niece. Very accomplished!

>141 lit_chick: It gets even better. I didn't realize until this morning that Mary is also a member of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra (WYSO). Her parents had mentioned an "orchestra" to me, but it was only when Mary played a CD of the WYSO after she practiced on her violin that I put two and two together (Mary's uncle is a bit slow on the uptake sometimes). She performed on several selections in the WYSO concerts in Madison last autumn and this spring (and the CD we listened to was the recording of the autumn concert), and in a year or two she will likely be able to play with the most senior of the four orchestras, which gives concerts internationally every couple of years. And, hopefully her brother will be able to pass an audition and be able to join the most junior orchestra next year.

Needless to say I'm incredibly proud of the two (not so) little cheeseheads, and I treasure them and their accomplishments as much as I would if I was biologically related to them. They are regular kids, though, so they get into trouble and have to be disciplined like any other children, but they are turning into precious and lovable little adults.

Today is my last full day in Madison, as I'll leave tomorrow morning to spend two weeks with my parents in Philadelphia. It's always a sad day when I say goodbye to my dearest friends, especially the kids, but I'm also eager to see my biological family.

I should finish We Are Completely Beside Ourselves by this evening, and I suspect that it will earn 2-1/2 to 3 stars from me.

You are so lucky to have such a wonderful family as friends. I have read about your visits with your friends over the years here on LT and all I can say is congratulations to Mary's uncle. Enjoy your visit with your parents.

>143 catarina1: Thanks, catarina. I feel very blessed to have such a close relationship with my friends in Madison, and I thoroughly enjoy seeing the kids grow up and become independent and very intelligent children.

I'm afraid I'm going to be in the minority in my opinion of We Are Completely Beside Ourselves, the first book from this year's Booker Prize longlist that I've read. I didn't like it at all, as I found the narrator to be an incredibly annoying and unsympathetic person, and I couldn't identify with any of the characters. This book felt disturbingly similar to the current crop of American novels I've read that feature unlikable and very weird middle class characters who engage in perpetual navel gazing and blame their parents, siblings, teachers and lovers for their own failures and f*cked up lives. I'll give it 2 stars, and I earnestly hope that most of the remaining books on the longlist are far better than this one.

I return Kindle books all the time, mostly if the price drops within a week of buying it, but occasionally when I've bought something by mistake. You can do it in Manage Your Kindle on Amazon UK. Apparently it takes a few days to process the refund. It gives you a list of reasons that doesn't include anything about the price dropping - I usually choose "better price elsewhere".

I see that you actually do want to read the book in this case.

>144 kidzdoc: oh boy Darryl, you don't usually feel so strongly negative about a book. As you say, you may be in the minority opinion, but I just picked it up from the library so I'm very curious now what I'll think of it.

Hi Darryl! Just checking in. Hope all is well. Sorry you didn't care for We Are Completely Beside Ourselves. It really struck a chord with me. Hope your next read is more satisfying.

>144 kidzdoc: Huh, perhaps applying a different mental filter than I did. I spent most of the book worried about the sister (I read it because she was a chimpanzee, otherwise would not have been interested), and it got me to read Nim Chimpsky, which is a sad sad and alas true story.

>145 elkiedee: Right, Luci. I do want to read The Path to Power, and since it's nearly 1000 pages in length I'll keep my "accidental" Kindle purchase of it.

>146 lauralkeet: I'm now in big trouble with Rachael (@FlossieT), who wrote the following response when she saw my 2 star rating of We Are Completely Beside Ourselves on Facebook:

"Noooooooooooooooooo! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. I loved this."

Since you haven't read it yet, please ignore the hidden spoiler comments below.

>147 msf59:, >148 qebo: I thought that Rosemary was ridiculously chatty, cutesy and immature, and having to "listen" to her narration spoiled the book for me. There were innumerable times that I wanted to tell her to STFU! Do any of you know people who talk and act like these characters, or come from families that are as weird as those portrayed in this book? I don't!

I was very interested when I learned about Fern's identity, and very much interested in the topic of animal experimentation and the human-primate interaction, but I thought that Fowler handled it badly and very superficially. Reading this book reminded me of reading two execrable American novels, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore, and I had a hard time reading more than 20 pages of it at a time without wanting to take a break from it. I finally decided last night that I wasn't going to like it, so I sped through the last half of it today so that I would be done with it.

>149 kidzdoc: ignoring you as instructed :)

>150 lauralkeet: You ignore me anyway, Laura, so there is nothing new here! ;^)

Bad news: I've just said goodbye to my friends in Madison, and I'm at the MSN airport now. Good news: I'll see my parents late this afternoon, after I fly to Philadelphia via Detroit. Worse news: I seem to have dislocated the tip of my left middle finger after a freak accident as I was going through Security. Fortunately it doesn't hurt, which makes me think that it isn't broken, and hopefully I'll be able to make it to Philadelphia without incident.

Here's a photo of my bent finger in the middle; that's as far as I can straighten it.

>151 kidzdoc: OUCH Darryl. While it doesn't hurt yet, it sure seems to have that potential.

>151 kidzdoc: Well, you can still type. :-) I'm curious about this "freak accident"?

>151 kidzdoc: I love that I can see LT in the background ...

>149 kidzdoc: "Noooooooooooooooooo! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. I loved this."

Oh dea. *whispers* If there's a fight then I think I'm on Rachael's side.... I wouldn't say I've read a lot of American novels with unlikeable narrators and dysfunctional families so perhaps that has something to do with it.

>151 kidzdoc: Ouch!

>154 lauralkeet: :-)

Thanks to a Children's nurse who is a friend on Facebook I'm pretty sure that I have a mallet finger, which is a tendon injury rather than a fracture or dislocation. I'll probably need X-rays to assess the injury, and wear a splint for up to 8 weeks if that is what it is. It doesn't seem to be a severe injury so I shouldn't need surgery. I have an appointment to see s hand specialist in suburban Philadelphia tomorrow afternoon.

I'm on the plane in Detroit now.

Happily dodging a bb. Thanks, Darryl.

Mallet finger sounds like it should be something useful in home repairs, rather than an injury. A splint would be awkward, but better than surgery

I just got diagnosed with an "impingement" from carrying a heavy bag to and from work. I'm going to have to lighten the load, among other things.

Safe travels, buddy.

Yikes, hope that you get good news from the hand specialist tomorrow afternoon. Enjoy your time with your parents : ).

Oh, ouch!

I haven't read the Fowler book, as it never interested me - neither before I knew what the "twist" was nor after. Sorry it was a dud for you.

Hope you continue to enjoy your time off!

Ouch. Glad you aren't a surgeon...

I'm still plodding through the Fowler novel. Didn't expect it would appeal to you much. I'm enjoying it more than you did, but mostly because the writing is better than I had feared. While the structure is interesting, the plot is pretty much what I had expected, given the twist. I think I knew about the twist well in advance -- perhaps from a review?

I made it to Philadelphia without further injury. My finger has swelled up quite a bit, but I'm still largely pain free.

One of my medical school classmates, who is an orthopaedic surgeon, and our own Karen (kiwidoc), who is a family practitioner in Canada, also agreed that mallet finger,, an injury of the extensor tendon of the distal finger, is the most likely diagnosis. Who knew that Facebook could be used as a medical diagnostic tool?

My dear friend Caroline gets the prize for the meanest funniest comment on Facebook in response to my photo: "Well, I guess you're not going to be flipping the bird to anyone during this trip."

>152 Whisper1: This injury could have been a far more painful one if I had avulsed my distal phalanx, Linda, especially if the bone had broken through the skin or into the nail bed. If that had happened I would have called Murielle or had EMS transport me to UW (University of Wisconsin) Hospital, where Dave works.

>153 qebo: Right, Katherine. I'm typing one handed, but I can use the unaffected fingers of my left hand. I was placing my carry on items on the conveyor belt that leads to the scanner when this injury happened. I think I removed my (heavy) messenger bag from my right shoulder, and as I swung it onto the belt somehow my left middle finger got in the way and its distal portion was jammed against the bag. It didn't hurt much when I did this, but I knew right away that something was wrong, since my finger was bent at the DIP joint and I couldn't straighten it.

>154 lauralkeet: Good pick up, Laura!

>155 souloftherose: Smart move to take Rachael's side, Heather, especially since I'll apparently be one handed for the next 6-8 weeks (although I am deeply disappointed and hurt that you chose her POV instead of mine ;^) ). I seem to be the only person who didn't like We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, so I wouldn't avoid it based solely on my opinion about it.

Oof, I can barely keep my eyes open, so I'll finish catching up here in the morning.

Ouch, that certainly looks painful. Strange (and good) that it doesn't hurt!

I am sorry that you disliked the Fowler so much, Darryl. I generally enjoy "navel-gazing" books, because I do a lot of that myself, I admit, and so often can relate to those self-centered characters in some way, even to that dentist in the Ferris book everyone else hates.

The Fowler is far from being my favorite and had some real weak parts, but the general issue of how the human brain handles early memories was something I liked a lot.

I just finished The Lives of Others which so far is the least self-centered book and also the most "international" one (set 100% in India) I read from the list. Maybe that would be a better book for you? I posted a long and quite spoiler-free review on my Booker thread.

The others however? Dentist worrying about his faith and feeling lost, misunderstood artist with gender issues, musician wondering if his life has been wasted, lonely sick girl philosophizing on her family, quite lonely guy in the English woods in 1066 believing to be che chosen one and endlessly wondering what his duty is... Sounds like a list for ego-people. :)
The Flanigan book maybe. I didn't like it much but others did.

My finger looks better today, as it is less swollen and it doesn't hurt at all, even though it's less numb now. I can't passively straighten the distal end of it, but I can actively do so, although I didn't try to fully extend it, in case the extensor tendon is partially torn or ruptured.

Back to >155 souloftherose: Heather, I have read a couple of notably bad novels which featured (to me) unrecognizably strange American middle class characters and families who I couldn't identify or sympathize with, and reading We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves reminded me particularly of Lorrie Moore's execrable novel A Gate at the Stairs, whose central character was also a quirky female college student. However, I seem to be in a minority of one, so I don't want to discourage you or anyone else from giving the Fowler a try.

>157 jnwelch: Right, Joe! Unfortunately this bent finger is only useful for conversation and observation instead of home repairs. I'm very eager to see the hand specialist this afternoon and learn what the diagnosis and treatment plan will be. Although wearing a splint for 6-8 weeks will be a pain, it's a far better option than undergoing surgery, although if I have to do that now is as good a time as any, as I don't have to return to work until the 29th. I'll be especially motivated to follow the hand specialist's treatment plan because my father has several fingers which are also permanently bent at the DIP joint. The tendons did not respond to splinting and have become shortened; he can use those fingers, but he would need to have surgery to straighten them out.

>158 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy. I'll keep my LT and Facebook friends updated later today and going forward.

>159 katiekrug: Fortunately this injury is nowhere near as painful as it looks, Katie. I did take two Aleve tablets last night to try to decrease the swelling; I didn't need anything for pain.

The central plot of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves was a unique and interesting one, but I was disappointed in how Fowler handled it.

>160 Chatterbox: Very good point, Suz! I don't know what I would do if I was a surgeon and had to wear a splint for 6-8 weeks. I might opt for surgery, especially if it meant that I could return to work sooner.

I didn't read the reviews of the Fowler closely enough to realize what the plot twist was, and I'm glad of that. In general I don't pay close attention to reviews of books I know that I'll read soon, so that I can approach them with as open a mind as possible.

>162 Deern: I think I generally prefer more expansive novels to ones which feature extensive navel gazing, Nathalie, although I loved The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. I decided somewhat masochistically to start reading the Ferris yesterday, and so far it is as bad as everyone said it is, and definitely worse than the Fowler, as it is quite vulgar and tasteless in spots. I plan to speed through it so that I can be done with it, sort of like a child who quickly eats turnips or some other awful vegetable so that he can get to his dessert.

I look forward to reading The Lives of Others, even though I wasn't fond of Neel Mukherjee's earlier novel A Life Apart.

The others however? Dentist worrying about his faith and feeling lost, misunderstood artist with gender issues, musician wondering if his life has been wasted, lonely sick girl philosophizing on her family, quite lonely guy in the English woods in 1066 believing to be che chosen one and endlessly wondering what his duty is... Sounds like a list for ego-people. :)

Ugh. This may end up being a bad year for the Booker Prize, although hopefully not as horrible as 2011 was.

I forgot to mention "The Dog": single guy being bored in Dubai with too much money on his hands staring at building sites... another one that's probably not for you (neither for me in this case). :)

The Ferris so far is the weakest one, so if you're reading that at least it can only get better (speaking of the published ones of course). Although I liked the Flanigan even less, but that's probably as personal as my dislike for the Toibin book last year.

Just read the "J" test chapter during lunchbreak. Now that's a weird book. Dystopean is another genre I touch only rarely, and 340pp. Can't say I fell drawn to it.

Hi Darryl- I was also disappointed in A Gate at the Stairs, although I loved the first half. I would really like to try her short fiction. It sounds like that is where her strengths lie.
Hope the week is going well. Sorry, to hear about the finger. Ouch!

OOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo, hope that finger heals quickly.

I was meh about We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves which is why I was curious what your opinion would be. I enjoyed the author as a speaker, however, when I heard her talk last fall just after WAACBO came out. I would definitely go hear her speak again.

I'm carrying coals to Newcastle here, but having needed several fingers splinted over the years (darn horses!), may I say that the splint will be more comfortable if you can keep the swelling down before you see the doc- ice, elevation, anti inflammatories, - you know the drill. :-) Good luck with your appointment!

>165 Deern: I enjoyed Netherland, so I was looking forward to reading The Dog, but the reviews of it that I've read have been lukewarm at best, and mostly negative. I'll still read it, though.

I'm nearly halfway through To Rise Again at a Decent Hour: utter rubbish. WTH is wrong with this year's Booker judges?

>166 msf59: Hi, Mark! I understand that Lorrie Moore's strength lies in her short stories, but A Gate at the Stairs left such a bad taste in my mouth that it's very unlikely that I'll willingly read anything else by her again. Too many books...

>167 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba; however, from what I've read and been told, this won't be a quick healing process, and I'll need to be patient and vigilant to avoid a permanent deformity. I'm soaking it in cold water now (and typing with one hand)), and I took another Aleve tablet a bit earlier, as it was beginning to swell again.

>168 streamsong: "Meh" is a good description of We Are Completely Beside Ourselves; I think a more accurate name for it would have been We Are Completely Full of Ourselves. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Fowler's talk, though.

Thanks for your very wise advice! In addition to what you mentioned I've also been passively extending my finger by placing it palm down on a table and using tension to keep it as straight as possible.

Sorry that We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves was a bummer for you, Darryl. I liked it better, but I can see where it wouldn't be to everyone's taste. You may have the same general reaction to the characters when you get around to The Goldfinch.

>166 msf59: I do enjoy Lorrie Moore's short stories--although they are not for everyone.

>165 Deern: and >169 kidzdoc: The Booker list has few nominations that interest me this year. I have no interest whatsoever in fantasy/sci fi/dystopian lit, and there seems to be a lot of that on the list. Also a number that seem to feature characters who would probably bore me in situations that I wouldn't care about.. I downloaded only two to my Kindle but haven't read them yet: History of the Rain and The Wake. I am grateful for the ability to sample before buying!

I "finished" To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris, the second Booker Prize longlisted book I've read, and the second one written by an American author. It was awful, with an immature, pathetic and intensely dislikable main character, and this novel was considerably worse than We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, so I'll give it one star.

>170 Cariola: I'm now more curious to read The Goldfinch, although I probably won't get to it until I finish the Booker longlist.

I'll start History of the Rain next, and I'll probably wait to read The Wake until September, when I can devote my complete attention to it.

How disappointing to hear about the two Booker nominations, Darryl. Honestly! There is so much fabulous literature written every year … what gives?

>171 kidzdoc: OK, that's one Booker nominee I'll take a pass on. I'm reading the Fowler now, and am just past the "spoiler point." It's OK, I am not finding it as awful as you did, but it's not knocking my socks off.

Maybe they purposefully picked bad American novels so they can say it isn't worth including them and get the criteria changed back to the original ;-)

I went to see a local hand surgeon today, and I do have a mallet finger injury of my left middle finger. However, it is a significantly worse injury than I had suspected, as the extensor tendon (which connects the two most distal bones in the finger) has been disrupted, and in doing so a small fragment of the distal phalanx (finger bone) was avulsed, or pulled away from the rest of the bone:



I have two options: wear a finger splint 24/7 for 10-12 weeks, which will hopefully allow the ruptured tendon ends to reconnect by scar formation, or undergo surgery, in which a pin will be inserted between the distal and intermediate phalanges and align the two bones in an anatomic position, which would make it easier for the broken bone to heal and for the tendon ends to reconnect:



I chose the conservative approach for now, but I'm starting to learn toward getting it surgically repaired, as I would need to wear a splint for as long of a time. Unfortunately the hand surgeon I saw today is on holiday next week, so I would have to find someone else to do it here in the Delaware Valley, or have the hand surgeon who has treated me previously and takes care of patients in the hospital I work at do the surgery later this month. I'll see how it goes for the next few days, and make a decision early next week.

>172 lit_chick: I don't get it either, Nancy. I'm not fond of most contemporary American novels, for reasons that aren't completely clear to me, but I don't think anyone on LT on in the Booker Prize forum in the Mookse and the Gripes group who has read To Rise at a Decent Hour has had anything good to say about it.

>173 lauralkeet: I hope that you like We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves much better than I did, Laura. I look forward to your comments about it.

>174 katiekrug: Ha! If that was the judges' plan it has certainly worked so far IMO, Katie.

>175 kidzdoc: I hope you're right-handed?
avulsed
New word to me. Ouch. Aren't you supposed to be gallivanting around Europe soon? Not to mention dealing with children. 10-12 weeks in a splint would be quite a nuisance, I'd think.

>177 qebo: I am right handed, Katherine, so I'm grateful that this injury involves my left hand. An avulsion, as you may have learned, is an injury in which a portion of a bone (or another anatomical structure) is forcibly pulled off by a traumatic injury. Both of the diagrams above show an avulsion of the bone which is similar to the one I have, which the hand surgeon showed me on one of the X-rays of my finger this afternoon. I'm surprised that this injury didn't hurt more than it did when it happened, given how bad it is.

You're right, I'm supposed to leave for London on September 1st. I truly hope that I won't have to cancel this trip. The splint itself isn't bad, as it only encompasses the distal 2/3 of my left middle finger, but wearing it for 10-12 weeks and making sure that I don't let my distal finger flex at all during that time will be quite a challenge.

Yoinks! Sorry to hear about your finger. Here's hoping wearing the splint won't be as taxing as you think it may be...

Bad finger! Bad books! I hope things improve quickly, my friend.

>179 scaifea: Thanks, Amber. The splint isn't all that large or bulky, as you can see in this photo that I took last night:



It's just a matter of getting used to it, keeping it dry, and most importantly keeping my finger in a hyperextended position 24/7 for the next 10-12 weeks to allow the bone and tendon ends to reconnect.

I think I'll go with the conservative approach for now, and avoid surgery if I can, especially since I still want to travel to London next month.

>180 msf59: Thanks, Mark! This could be much worse, as I'm in essentially no pain and it's a minor disability rather than a crippling one, and I have two weeks off from work to get used to this splint and this injury.

I started my third Booker longlisted novel, History of the Rain by Irish author Niall Williams, yesterday in the hand surgeon's waiting room. I'm only a few pages into it, but I love the writing and story so far.

Yoinks, indeed! Hope it gets better quickly!

>175 kidzdoc: Sounds painful Darryl! I hope it doesn't end up disrupting your trip.

>182 drneutron: This healing process will be anything but quick, Jim. Assuming that I don't undergo surgery I probably won't know if the avulsed bone has healed sufficiently and the tendon is working properly until sometime in November.

>183 SandDune: I spent much of the morning learning more about mallet finger, Rhian. It's a very common injury, especially among athletes that play basketball or baseball. It will take some getting used to, but right now I don't see any reason to cancel my trip to London next month. I've been thinking more about it, and I'm now leaning against having surgery later this month, although I will see the hand surgeon I know well in Atlanta before I leave on September 1st.

Darryl, how unfortunate that your finger is injured more badly that you had initially thought. 10-12 weeks in a splint is long time; surgery, on the other hand, is not an easy decision either.

>185 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy. I think that this injury will be little more than a mild nuisance by this time next week, especially after I receive the mallet finger splints I ordered from Amazon. I'm getting used to typing with only four fingers of my left hand, and other adjustments to my activities of daily living (ADLs) shouldn't be much of a problem.

>181 kidzdoc: at least you are not left handed so you can still read & write ? small mercies but still ...... hand injuries are never fun but they do remind us how much we use them (speaking from experience)

Sorry about the finger injury- my advice- for your trip- if you don't have one yet- buy yourself one of the really light new suitcases on wheels that roll along at 90 degrees( I hope that I am describing them well enough) I have one made by Delsey- very easy to move ( any size) so that you will enjoy your London trip and not worry about lifting heavy bags. I couldn't believe how much my older small suitcase weighed in comparison to the new one. Lots of books bought-hmm- put in the rolling suitcase and send your clothes back via mail.
The only two books on the Booker that I am interested in reading this fall are the David Mitchell and Siri Hustvedt. Mitchell will be in Toronto this fall- one of the bookstores is sponsoring a dinner with him- but I don't want to pay $100 for the event.

>187 roundballnz: Right, Alex. I can write and type one handed (although I'm learning to use my other four fingers on my left hand in place of the middle finger), and I'm learning to perform other activities of daily living without using the left middle finger. The splint keeps the DIP joint from flexing, which would disrupt the callus that needs to form for the fracture to heal and the tendon disruption to resolve, and I should have an easier time of it once the special mallet finger splints that I ordered from Amazon arrive.

I will travel to London next month, unless a serious complication develops, and I look forward to meeting you then.

>188 torontoc: Right, Cyrel. I brought a small Samsonite spinner suitcase with me on this trip, which is very light and has four wheels, so it requires very little effort to use it. I do have an older large Samsonite spinner that I can use to travel to London, along with a newer Timbuk2 one that I bought earlier this year; the new one only has two wheels, so I'll probably use the old battered (but still functional) Samsonite, or possibly see if I can use the smaller one that I have with me now. I'll have to be judicious about the books and other items I buy there, so that I don't have to carry a lot of luggage to the airport when I leave.

The Hustvedt has received lots of positive reviews on LT and elsewhere, so I look forward to reading it, too. I may get to it as early as this coming week, since I have the Kindle version of it.

$100 to see David Mitchell??? Nope.

The illustration of a mallet finger looks even more painful than the photo you posted of your finger on FB, Darryl. Yikes!

>190 cameling: I'm quite surprised that it didn't hurt more than it did when and immediately after I sustained the fracture, Caroline. That's the main reason I thought that it was only a torn or ruptured tendon instead of an avulsion fracture. It does hurt more and is more swollen now, after I finished picking tomatoes from the small garden in my parents' back yard, so I'll take one Aleve tablet.

>189 kidzdoc: Dam I thought just having hybrid pack/bag on wheels was luxury now I find bags come with 4 wheels ....

Looking forward to meeting up as well ( I am right we haven't arranged details aren't I ? - if not can you message me things got a bit chaotic last few weeks down here)

Wow, harsh on Ferris! I didn't think you'd like it (I didn't like it much myself, and like it even less looking back on it), but I did find parts of the writing very good. Not enough to save the book, though -- it felt like stunt fiction, too much of the time. I thought the premise of online identity hijacking was amusing, but it derailed quite badly.

My next one will be Orfeo. After I finish some overdue library books.

>192 roundballnz: Yep. I love the 4 wheel spinner suitcases, which (I think) most manufacturers offer, at least here in the US (Samsonite, Travelpro, American Tourister, et al.).

You're right; we haven't made any new plans for the past couple of weeks. I can see if anyone would like to see Little Revolution at the Almeida Theatre with us on the 17th, if you're still interested in going. I'll check on ticket availability, and then post a message to the Facebook Messenger group thread.

>144 kidzdoc: I absolutely hated the narrator of To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, and because of that I lost interest in the writing and whatever message Ferris was trying to convey in the book. It seemed to be a somewhat esoteric theme, and one that had little or no interest to me. I may give it another go if it makes the shortlist, but I think that's highly unlikely.

I agree, the online identity hijacking topic was an interesting and initially amusing one, but I thought that Ferris handled it badly. I think a more mature author (e.g., Ian McEwan) would have done a much better job and portrayed a much more believable set of characters. As was true in We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, I can't say that I've ever known or encountered people that were as distasteful or weird as the ones in these books.

I'll try to finish Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS today, and resume reading History of the Rain, which I'm enjoying so far.

I forgot to post this picture of my (non-biologic) niece and nephew (the little cheeseheads), which I took on Wednesday morning just before I left Madison (and just before I broke my finger):

I also forgot to post photos of yesterday's massive harvest of tomatoes from my parents' backyard garden. I noticed that the plants were loaded with hundreds of ripe (and past ripe) tomatoes, so I picked them in the afternoon:





Bianca, Laura, Caroline and one of my work partners gave us good ideas on what to do with the tomatoes. My mother and I will probably make roasted tomato soup today, and cook gazpacho tomorrow, when the larger tomatoes will be ready to be picked.

I've got a recipe for tomato confit if you run out of options, and have some jars handy.

I think I commented somewhere (my own thread?) that the common element of many of the Booker nominees is that even when they aren't actually set in dystopian or fantastical worlds, they all have elements of exaggeration or fabulist narrative in them in some way -- or many of them that I have read about seem to do so. Mitchell, Ali Smith, all three of the US entries (Hustvedt by virtue of her stylistic approach and the exaggerated unlikeability of her protagonist, Harriet -- be warned, Darryl, I don't think you'll find her terribly agreeable, although that is kind of the whole point of the book), Jacobsen, etc, are all doing this in one way or another, and so is Powers, in a different way. I can't speak to some of the other books, but that's already a pretty decent representation of the longlist. Whether the characters are exaggerated, the plot is dramatically slightly bizarre (chimps? strange religions?) or it's outright fantasy/futurist/dystopian in some way, that seems to be what they were looking for. The Flanagan may be an outlier here, and Niall Williams -- can't tell yet.

Aaaw what a cute photo of niece and nephew! :)

I hope those amazon finger splints fit and work well. Maybe it won't take the full 12 weeks?

The Booker books... Something's wrong with me because I was even able to like the dentist. Actually I didn't like the story (that identity hijacking was really handled badly), but didn't mind the guy as he was pre-Ulms. The same for Rosemary in the Fowler for whom I felt sympathy. Not for her parents though. Oh dear... I even liked that nameless protagonist in "The Dog".
The Orfeo guy however was someone I wouldn't want to meet in RL although I enjoyed the book. And yes Suzanne is right, Harriet IS unlikeable, but that's part of the story!

>197 Chatterbox: Thanks, Suz. Fortunately we're much less inundated with tomatoes at the moment, as my parents shared them with my aunt, who recently moved to Bucks County to be close to them, and several of their neighbors. The large tomatoes should be ready for picking today, so we'll be back in the soup today.

Interesting comments about the Booker novels. I'm still trying to grasp why I disliked We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and To Rise Again at a Decent Hour so much. I now think the main reason is not that the main characters were dislikable as much as I found them unbelievable, silly and, in the case of the dentist, vulgar caricatures of what IMO should have been more fully realized characters. I couldn't viscerally identify or sympathize with the narrators in either book, which made me quickly lose interest with them and the story, as I did with the main characters in Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs and Howard Jacobson's No More Mr. Nice Guy. I still need to think this through a bit, and I'll probably read reviews of both books, not to copy others' thoughts and ideas, but to help me clarify my own ones, and help me understand and be able to better explain why these books fell far short of my expectations.

I didn't do much reading this weekend, but I've enjoyed what i've read of History of the Rain so far.

>198 Deern: Thanks, Nathalie! I've known both kids since they were young babies and seen them on at least two dozen separate occasions, so they are both very close to my heart.

I couldn't find the mallet finger splints in any of the local medical supply stores, so I may look for them when I visit a friend in NYC on Wednesday if they don't come by tomorrow. I haven't changed the splint since Friday, as I've found it difficult to change the splint and wrap it without letting my finger flex, which disrupts the bone formation at the fracture site that it is necessary for the fracture to heal and the tendon to reattach to the distal phalanx (finger bone).

I'm going to assume that it will take at least 10 weeks for the fracture to heal. Weearing it isn't a big deal at all, as I hardly know that it's there unless I'm doing something that involves the use of that finger.

I couldn't stand the dentist in To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. I've met several sexist, immature and sex obsessed men, but I haven't met any who were as shallow, whiny and pathetic as he was. Rosemary to me was silly, fake, and nearly as unlikable as the dentist. Hopefully I'll get on much better with the characters in the other books.

>199 kidzdoc: I think, with the dentist, part of the issue is that we're seeing inside the guy's mind, as readers of his novel. Even the people around him, who know he is quirky, have no idea of the full extent of this; of all the psychological neediness that is driving him. But to some extent, isn't that true of all of most of us? Unless we've lived with someone for decades, people are like icebergs -- even those we work with and who are our friends. We see the bits that stick above the surface, not all the deep insecurities that linger beneath. Paul the dentist showed more hints than most of what was there (one reason for his social isolation) but whenever he did, people seemed astonished by it, rather than realizing aha. (I was thinking about this, post Robin Williams suicide, when I realized how many people I had thought I knew reasonably well and had never realized had been taking anti-depressants for many years.) My point being that you may well have met people like this -- but never known you were meeting them?

For my part, my problems with Rosemary's character weren't that she were silly, fake and unlikable. I'd quibble with the fake, actually -- is that because she disgorges information only selectively to the narrator? -- and say disproportionately fragile and volatile. And where I think Fowler failed as a writer is in explaining just why this trauma was such a trauma that she couldn't adapt, and why her parents couldn't address it. Of course that would have been inconvenient, leaving her without a story/protagonist, but that's the bit that was unconvincing. That said, given her isolation in her youth and adolescence, it's not surprising that she would end up being silly, in some ways, or unable to make judgments about people. (It's actually the character of Harlow who irritated me more: she's completely a caricature, there only to serve the interests of the plot and to highlight something in Rosemary.)

As Nathalie notes, Harriet in The Blazing World also is an unlikeable character. She's exaggerated, both physically and temperamentally. She makes people around her uncomfortable, and later (in the main plot of the novel) sets out deliberately to do so -- and the art she and her front-artists produce is often grotesque, exaggerated and uncomfortable, too. But if you are going to evaluate the novel for what Hustvedt is trying to do, it's vital to push past any dismay or disgust or repulsion you feel for that character, I think, to look at why Hustvedt has portrayed her in this way and what she is trying to convey about Harriet and the novel's themes. It's like Rabih Alameddine in An Unnecessary Woman, but in a more complex framework. Even characters we dislike or feel uncomfortable with are vehicles for the author to tell compelling stories: I can end up viscerally loathing a character, and if he/she came and sat down next to me on the subway I'd want to move, but that doesn't say anything to me, automatically about the caliber of the book. It can't. What DOES is how well the author does at convincing me that thisis a tale that is interesting, significant, vivid, coherent, important, etc. etc. Both Ferris and Fowler ultimately fail at THAT task, IMO. Hustvedt doesn't, I think, but she's going to give you the same kind of problems with narrators/characters, I suspect, Darryl.

Interesting comments, Suz. Clearly you got much more out of the Ferris and the Fowler than I did! I'll keep them in mind if I decide to re-read them (though hopefully not), and when I read the Hustvedt, which I'll try to approach with a more open mind.

>102 kidzdoc: oh my goodness, I am sorry it has taken me so long to get back here and comment on your "gift of Booker covers"! I am not sure whether to say *oh my eyes* or just WOW. But now that I can judge all the books by their covers, I can say that the ones I would read (if I made the time) are:

The Lives of Others
The Wake
The Blazing World
and maybe the Howard Jacobson one.

Love the cheesehead niece and nephew (non-bio) and all those tomatoes! WHen I have had a load of tomatoes, I have slow roasted them with capsicums (bell peppers) and garlic and S+P and then whizzed it and then frozen it in bags, and called it pasta sauce base.

Oh, and I think one of the reasons you disliked We are all Beside Ourselves is because the cover an obvious marketing ploy aimed squarely at a young to middle-aged woman. Just a thought :)

>202 LovingLit: Hi, Megan! I was waiting patiently for you to comment on the Booker longlist covers. The ones whose covers appeal to me the most are The Lives of Others, The Narrow Road to the Deep North and J.

I'm glad that you liked the photo of my niece and nephew. BTW "cheesehead" is a nickname for people who come from Wisconsin, where cheese is produced in massive quantities.

I've been busy making recipes with the tomatoes the past two days. This afternoon I made tomato pie, using slices of the larger tomatoes alternating with slices of mozzarella cheese:



And yesterday I made roast cherry tomato soup, which included Major Grey's chutney as an ingredient:



I'll probably make oxtail stew and gazpacho later in the week, as we still have a lot of tomatoes left to use.

It's been a slower than expected reading week so far, as I'm spending all week with my parents and helping them out, but it has been very enjoyable so far. Tomorrow I'll spend the day with a good friend in NYC who I haven't seen for several years, so I probably won't do much reading tomorrow, either.

Ha! Actually the US cover of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is different from the one in the UK, and it's also unappealing IMO:



Fortunately I bought the Kindle version of the book, so I didn't have to look at this garish cover.

>203 kidzdoc: Yep, that's the cover I had.

Don't forget Darina Allyn's tomato chutney!

migraine-inducing cover.

running for shelter.

>200 Chatterbox:: I love your comment!
I tend to find some often not-so-nice characteristic of myself in many of those "unlikeable" protagonists, also in Rosemary and in the dentist whose name I forgot, it's a bit like mirroring and I often learn something for myself even from those bad or mediocre books.

In the dentist case it was the wish to "belong" somewhere which is maybe a typical reaction of a single child not having grown up in a close community. There's something in those groups held together by fixed traditions, rituals and a common history that is very alluring and promises a 'safety' you might miss in your life.
I felt a strong attraction towards the Catholic church when I was a teenager and later also to Judaism (in the latter case, as a German, of course also triggered by feelings of guilt and shame). So that's why I felt sympathy for the dentist. On the other hand he was immature - even as a teen I understood that first of all you should believe if you want to be part of a religion, which he doesn't really get. The story itself that spun from the basic situation was very weak. Therefore: not a good book and not a Booker candidate.
But: I floss more regularly now that I 'know' it will make me live years longer! :)

And yes, I'd be annoyed by Harriet in RL and avoid her. But what Hustvedt did with her resulted in one of the best and most intense books I've read in a while. I need to read more by her.

>203 kidzdoc:: That pie looks delicious!! The soup as well, but I just love pies though never make them (I fear I'd eat them in one go...).

And what a stupid cover is that?? Big spoiler: The revenge of the publisher for her decision not to give away the "surprise" from the beginning?

Love the tomato pie! It's a treat for the eyes, as well as the taste buds (I assume).

>203 kidzdoc: Yikes, that cover is hideous. What were they thinking?
>206 Deern:: The revenge of the publisher...?
It was the other way around. She wrote the book with the "spoiler" known from the beginning, and the publisher asked her to revise. Or so I read, somewhere on the internet.

>208 qebo: I thought I read somewhere that she wanted to keep it a secret until the ending and the publisher wanted her to tell it at the beginning, so they compromised. But maybe I misunderstood or misremember (does that word exist?). Anyway - for me the solution they found is way better than any of the alternatives would have been.

>206 Deern:, >208 qebo: When I heard Fowler speak last fall, she said she had written it straightforwardly and not as a spoiler; but that her publisher had her rewrite it, starting in the middle. She did not consider it a spoiler when she spoke and talked freely about it. And, as others, have said, it's revealed on the back cover of the book.

One of the featured books at the Boulder Booktopia was on a similar topic, but I haven't talked to anyone who read that particular book.

Darryl, i have been totally unable to keep up with you, among others, this year. I see from fb that you paid a flying visit to nyc recently _ I think we may have been in Boston. Sorry to have missed you.

>204 Cariola: I'll have to see if we have enough tomatoes left to make chutney, Deborah. We've been enjoying them on sandwiches and fresh salads this week, so they may be nearly gone.

>205 Chatterbox: That is a painful cover to look at, Suz.

>206 Deern: Interesting comments about the characters in the Fowler and the Ferris, Nathalie. I grew up surrounded by numerous cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents of similar ages in the medium sized and very diverse city we lived in (Jersey City, New Jersey) and the much larger one adjacent to it (NYC), and we were intimately involved in a Lutheran church that was very progressive and also diverse, as well as the community we lived in. My parents, especially my mother, have had friends of different races and religions since childhood, and as a result I've also found it relatively easy to talk with strangers and to make and keep friends of all backgrounds and in different settings in the US and abroad. That may be part of the reason why I couldn't relate to the dentist or Rosemary, or find them to be believable characters or ones I could sympathize with.

Hopefully I'll get on better with the Hustvedt. I haven't done much reading these two weeks, as I've been spending quality time with friends last week and with my parents, close relatives and old friends this week. I did finish one of my LT Early Reviewers books last night, Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS by Rebecca Anderson, which was very good. I'll write a review of it soon.

The tomato pie was a hit; one of my closest partners at work gave me her recipe, and it was easy to make. I think it's the first pie I've ever made, so I was pleased that it turned out so well. Fortunately I made two of them, and we have a whole one left over, although the roasted tomato soup is gone.

The cover of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is awful. My 12 year old niece could have designed a better one than that.

>207 laytonwoman3rd: The tomato pie was very tasty, Linda! Thinking about it has now made me hungry for breakfast; back later...

>208 qebo: Right, Katherine. In comparison, these are the UK paperback and hardcover versions of the book:

  

In general I find UK and Canadian book covers to be more tasteful and appropriate than the US ones, but that American cover is particularly garish.

>208 qebo:, >209 Deern:, >210 streamsong: I'm glad that I bought the Kindle version of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and didn't read the reviews or book jacket blurbs closely, as I was pleasantly surprised by the revelation. It piqued my interest in the book, which was beginning to flag when I read it; unfortunately that interest was short lived.

>211 ffortsa: No problem, Judy. Hopefully we can get together later this year or sometime next year. The main purpose of this trip was to spend time with my family and visit my best friend in Madison and a dear friend who recently moved to Queens, and I did do that.

My cousin Angela posted this photo of the two of us yesterday for Throwback Thursday:

>214 kidzdoc: I wouldn't throw either one of you back! Too cute for words.

My US hardcover (from the library) of the Fowler book had the yellow cover.

>206 Deern: Thanks, Nathalie, for the kind words and additional insight! Yes, it's amazing the extent to which our personal characteristics -- whether those that we cherish or those we'd like to lose! -- tend to draw us toward or cause us to pull back in alarm from some books/plot themes/characters! Whenever I recoil from a book for reasons other than really crummy writing, I like to at least try to understand what it is that caused me to do so. Are there some kinds of plots that I think just represent lazy writing? Or some kinds of characters to which I have an aversion that i need to challenge myself about, because if I did, I might get more from the novel?

You and your cousin are just too sweet!

Wonderful photo, Darryl! Looks like a fun relationship, too.

>216 Chatterbox: my library copy of the Fowler had the yellow cover too.

Darryl, it looks like you have a fabulous time. I wish you a gorgeous weekend.

>214 kidzdoc: Love the photo Darryl. Looks like you just knew you were going to break that finger as you are favouring it even then!
Trust that the splint is helping you to recover steadily and that it is not impacting your work and life unduly.

Enjoyed as always catching up on the Booker discussions. Agree in the main that it is a strange looking longlist. Not a fan of Howard Jacobson who is Britain's inferior version of Philip Roth and I am staggered that Nicholls' got himself nominated. Popular doesn't necessarily mean bad but I read Starter for Ten a few years ago and it was not the work of someone destined for literary awards. The low number of ladies is surprising too, especially given that Donoghue, Waters and Tartt could easily have been included. I am not in favour of quotas for the sexes or for books from certain regions as merit should win out every time but this list doesn't seem to have put literary merit first.

Have a great weekend.

>215 laytonwoman3rd:, >217 lit_chick:, >218 jnwelch: Thanks Linda, Nancy and Joe! I'm glad that you liked that photo. I and my parents had never seen it before, so we were all very excited to see it. Angela is one of the daughters of one of my father's older brothers, and we were all very close when we lived in Jersey City. She was my favorite girl cousin, in part because we were only a year apart, and although we haven't seen each other in person in over two decades we are still very close, thanks in large part to Facebook.

>219 lauralkeet: The yellow cover of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is infinitely better than the horrible red cover.

>220 Ameise1: Thanks for the lovely photo (as always), Barbara! I hope that you're enjoying your weekend as well.

>221 PaulCranswick: Ha! Good observation, Paul. I'm getting used to the splint, and it will likely be no more than a minor nuisance, provided that I won't need surgery. I made an appointment to see a hand surgeon in Atlanta on Thursday, the day after I fly back there. He's a good friend and a colleague at work, as he also sees pediatric patients in consultation in the hospital I work at, and I've been in touch with him by text message about my mallet fracture.

I agree with you that the Booker longlist is a strange and disappointing one so far, although I've only read two of the 13 books on it. I liked Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question far more than most people, but I loathed his earlier book No More Mr. Nice Guy, and I can't say that I'm chomping at the bit to read J. I haven't read anything by David Nicholls, which is probably a good thing given others' opinions about him. I'm looking forward to The Bone Clocks, as I enjoyed The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, The Lives of Others, and History of the Rain, which I've put aside temporarily to read two very good LT Early Reviewers books this week, Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS by Rebecca Anderson (4 stars), and Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz (4-1/2 stars).

Katherine (@qebo) and I spent a pleasant day in Philadelphia yesterday, even though it rained nearly all day. We met at 30th Street Station, the city's main rail station, as we each traveled by train into Center City. The station opened in 1933 and after several decades of neglect it was rebuilt and restored to its former glory in 1989, with the installation of dozens of shops including cafés, restaurants and at least one bookstore. As Katherine said it's my favorite US train station as well (although I also like Grand Central Terminal in NYC, Union Station in Washington, and Union Station in Los Angeles):

  

After a two hour conversation over coffee at the station we walked to the nearby University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which is more commonly known as the Penn Museum. It opened in 1887, and it houses some of the best collections of materials from ancient, medieval and more modern societies throughout the world.



We spent most of our type in the Ancient Egypt, Africa and Human Evolution portions of the museum. Here are some photos I took with my smartphone:









We had planned to walk to Rittenhouse Square to have lunch and visit the Joseph Fox Bookshop, but we noticed that it was moderately raining. Fortunately the museum had a café, so we dined there, talked for another couple of hours, and shopped in the museum store instead. I bought gifts for family and friends, along with the book Native North American Art by Janet Catherine Berlo and Ruth B. Phillips for myself.

By that time it was nearly 4 pm and still raining, so we walked back to 30th Street Station and parted from there. It was a splendid day despite the rain, and hopefully we can have another Philadelphia LT meet up later this year with more attendees.

>223 kidzdoc: Hah, you've done some research since yesterday!

>224 qebo: Right, Katherine! I was curious to see when the Penn Museum was built, and as I suspected it opened in the late 19th century. I liked my first visit there a decade or so ago, but I enjoyed it considerably more yesterday.

Dr. Mütter's Marvels was a quick but very enjoyable book. I read a good chunk of it on the train yesterday and finished it early this morning. Cristin Aptowicz, the book's author, grew up in Northeast Philadelphia, and she did a marvelous job in vibrantly portraying the colorful and very influential Thomas Mütter, and I'm now eager to revisit the The Mütter Museum now that I know much more about him. I'll probably go there on Tuesday after I visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

>225 kidzdoc: Glad you're giving that book a positive review, because I have it too in the ER queue. Though I often don't share your taste in literature, I trust your opinion on medically oriented non-fiction.

Do you have a photo of the nails? I thought that was way cool. (I had a camera with me, somehow never got it out of the bag.)

Hi Darryl, I've been out of LT for quite some time. But it's good to be back and see that you are still as active as always. Furiously reading, extensively traveling, and widely commenting on sundry things that are always a pleasure to read. I missed that, but hopefully no more.

>226 qebo: I have some minor criticisms of Dr. Mütter's Marvels, Katherine, but they pale in comparison to the passion Aptowicz obviously had for her subject, the sheer enjoyment I felt as I read the book, and the knowledge she provided about Mütter, Jefferson Medical College, and the history of medicine in Philadelphia and the US. The book is written for a general audience, and it has an average rating of 4.39 stars on LT, which doesn't include my 4.5 star rating that I posted earlier this morning (I woke up just past 6 am, and I dived into it right away).

I did take a photo of the nailed figures, although it didn't turn out well. I started to bring my camera with me yesterday, but didn't because of the rain; I wish I had done so.



>227 xieouyang: It's good to see you back here, Manuel! I look forward to more book reviews and conversations with you.

I am glad that the finger isn't bothering you too much.

Thanks for posting the anthro museum pictures--looks like a great place.

>229 banjo123: Thanks, Rhonda. I've also become more aware of what my limitations are, and it's becoming progressively more easy to make adjustments. One of the biggest things I've had to get used to is typing with the other four fingers of my left hand, but that is getting better as well.

The Penn Museum is an excellent one, particularly for a university museum. Emory also has a very nice museum, but Penn's is significantly better.

>223 kidzdoc: >226 qebo: It sounds like you had a wonderful outing. I don't think I've heard of the Penn Museum - looks very tempting. Jim and I are trying to vary our weekend activities this year - maybe we'll head down to visit it.

Whew, caught up! I'm glad your injured finger isn't slowing you down on LT or in real life, Darryl. I think your 'niece' and 'nephew' in Madison are cuties for sure. I like how they are dressed similarly in that last picture you posted. I thought Madison looked like a great city to spend some time in. We stopped there for a night on our way home from Michigan, but were too wiped out to explore. Maybe next time.

I am enjoying all the Booker talk here. I'm waiting for the short list before I get too excited about reading them. I just happened to read the Karen Joy Fowler book after Mary Doria Russell raved about it on her blog. I enjoyed it for what it was…a fast, easy read. I don't think there could have been a spoiler given the cover of the book. I also read the similar book by Justin Go for Booktopia Boulder. I think I'm done with that topic for quite awhile!

Hi Darryl - I hope your finger is healing. I've enjoyed the Booker conversations. I've only read the Hustvedt, which isn't my favorite of her books, but am looking forward to David Mitchell's new book. I find the lack of diversity a little disappointing.

Once again, thanks for sharing your travels with us! Sorry that the rain put a damper on your plans, but if you're gonna have a rainy afternoon, I think a museum is a good place to spend it!

>228 kidzdoc: Love the Nkondi picture. I would very much like to visit the Penn Museum someday.

Hello Darryl, sorry I had to miss the Philly mini-meetup -- we were busy getting our daughters moved into their rooms at college. A busy but fun & exciting weekend. Sounds like you guys had a great time.

On the Booker front, just before leaving on our trip I picked up The Narrow Road to the Deep North from my library. I hope to start it in the next couple of days. For the most part the long list isn't exactly grabbing me this year, either.

>231 ffortsa: We did have a nice time, Judy. Although I've seen Katherine on previous meet ups we didn't talk as much as we did this time, which was very enjoyable, and the visit to the Penn Museum was equally as nice. It's an easy walk to the museum from 30th Street Station, and it isn't far from Rittenhouse Square either. As Claire (@Sakerfalcon) commented on my Facebook page, the museum is not as well known since it isn't on Benjamin Franklin Parkway and is west of the Schuylkill River, but it's also less crowded and noisy than the other ones.

>232 Donna828: Hi, Donna! Yep, my broken finger isn't giving me any trouble at all, although a big test will be when I have to carry luggage through the Philadelphia and Atlanta airports on Wednesday, and through the Atlanta and London airports and on the Underground next Monday. I think I'll be fine, though.

Tommy and Mary intentionally dressed alike on the day I left Madison, as they wore identical T-shirts and shorts which matched. Madison is a very nice town, with good schools, nice neighborhoods and restaurants, and relatively little traffic for a city of its size (roughly 250,000 people live there).

Katherine and I talked a bit about the Fowler when we met in Philadelphia on Saturday. She liked it more than I did (but so did everyone else), and in talking with her I realized that part of my disappointment with my expectation that any book that is longlisted for the Booker Prize should have a high degree of what I consider to be "literary merit", which this book did not. I admitted that I am no judge of what "literary merit" is for others, though.

>233 BLBera: Thanks, Beth. I can't tell if my finger is healing or not, and I'm not sure when I will know. I have an appointment to see a hand surgeon in Atlanta on Thursday, but even if he wants to get repeat X-rays I suspect that it may be too soon to see if the fractured bone ends are starting to come together.

I'm moderately looking forward to reading the Hustvedt, but I'm certainly not chomping at the bit to get to it. I'm now nearly a quarter of the way through History of the Rain by Niall Willams, and I'm enjoying it so far. As Donna said above I'll focus my attention on the books I think are most likely to make the shortlist, which will be announced on Tuesday of next week. I should be able to meet my goal of finishing four longlisted books this month. I intend to read six to eight more in September, and hopefully I can finish the longlist before the prize ceremony on October 14th.

I do think that several books that were more deserving were left off of the longlist. Three that I've read so far were worthy of consideration, and were certainly better than the Fowler or the Ferris: Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut, The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer (which won the Costa Award earlier this year), and All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu. As for books I haven't yet read it seems as though The Goldfinch, A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie and The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, which have all received glowing reviews, were arguably better books than many that were chosen for the longlist.

>234 avidmom: You're welcome, avidmom. You're right; Saturday was a good day to spend indoors with good company, in the train station café and in the museum.

>235 Oberon: Thanks, Erik. Philadelphia is an underrated city in general, and this particularly applies to its superb museums. Most people are familiar with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, thanks to the ?first Rocky movie, but there are over half a dozen excellent other ones within walking distance.

>236 lauralkeet: I'm sorry that you weren't able to join us, Laura, but your family easily trumps any LT meet up! I'm glad that your weekend was a good one.

I look forward to your comments about The Narrow Road to the Deep North, as I did download it last week and I'm considering reading it next.

>214 kidzdoc: now that photo would make a book cover that would sell!! I must say it's nice to read about a book I don't have to add to the wish list lol. Hope you find a splint for your finger. Would it help your flexing when changing split problem if someone else did it for you?

>239 RebaRelishesReading: Ha ha! Thanks, Reba. I did order a Stax mallet finger splint from Amazon, but it doesn't fit as snugly as the hand made splints that the orthopedic surgeon gave me, so I've gone back to using those. I've become much more adept at changing the splints without allowing the distal portion of my finger to flex, which would disrupt the healing process, and if anything I think it would be more likely to flex if someone did it for me.

>240 kidzdoc: At least that sounds like things are moving in the right direction. Hope the healing process goes quickly and smoothly.

Book review (don't faint)!

Book #60: Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS by Rebecca J. Anderson  

  

My rating:

Rebecca Anderson is a freelance technical writer and a former medical school professor and pharmacologist who previously worked in drug development for several companies, including Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, which discovered nevirapine (trade name: Viramune), an antiretroviral drug that demonstrated excellent activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Anderson used her personal knowledge of nevirapine and her contacts at Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) to write this interesting and informative book about the discovery, development and use of this drug, which is described in the larger context of the development of HIV/AIDS drugs, drug development from an insider's standpoint, and the history of pediatric AIDS in the US and Africa.

The book opens with the story of Ariel Glaser, the four year old daughter of the American actor Paul Michael Glaser, who starred in the 1970s television detective series "Starsky and Hutch", and Elizabeth Glaser, who contracted HIV from a blood transfusion she received in 1981 while she gave birth to Ariel. She later became a vibrant and determined AIDS activist who was a key figure in the push to develop antiretroviral drugs for children in the United States and Africa, and after her death the foundation renamed in her honor continues to support research into and implementation of AIDS treatment in the US, Africa and China.

The discovery of nevirapine as a potent antiretroviral agent began in the 1960s, as chemists at Boehringer Manheim painstakingly synthesized hundreds of compounds in an effort to find one that decreased the production of stomach acid and treated peptic ulcers. After one compound was chosen for this purpose the remaining ones were stored in a facility, where they sat for two decades until BI decided to study them to see if any demonstrated activity against HIV. Remarkably, one compound did work well, and the discovery of this prototype led to the development of similarly structured compounds, and the one that demonstrated the greatest efficacy in chemical assays (in vitro) and in living subjects (in vivo) and bioavailability (the amount of a drug that remains active and available in the body after its administration) was chosen for development; it was subsequently given the name nevirapine.

Although nevirapine wasn't the first antiretroviral drug to be used in adults or children with HIV/AIDS, it proved to be a potent agent when used by itself or in combination with other drugs such as AZT, ddI and ddC. Despite numerous studies demonstrating this, its use in the US and particularly in Africa was impeded by several factors, including the challenges of designing trials to test for efficacy and adverse effects in human subjects, particularly children, the extensive process required for new drugs to be approved for use in the US, and the reluctance of some countries, most notably and tragically South Africa under the Thabo Mbeki administration, to provide it to its citizens. The book closes with a summary of the state of antiretroviral drug development, and a tribute to the researchers and activists who were instrumental in the development of nevirapine and to several notable survivors of childhood HIV/AIDS.

Anderson provides technically detailed descriptions of the development and testing of nevirapine by BI, along with the studies and implementation of this agent, which I found to be quite educational but may prove to be a challenge to the average reader, although one which would be worthwhile in my opinion.

Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS is a valuable and highly recommended contribution to the ongoing story of HIV/AIDS and to the history of medicine and drug development and implementation, told from the largely unbiased standpoint of a pharmaceutical researcher who was closely involved in this account.

>241 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba! So far, so good.

I have a question for you: what would be the best way to travel from San Diego International Airport to the Convention Center area? I'm staying at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel at the beginning of Market Street. I would be inclined to take a SuperShuttle van, which only costs $8.00 round trip, but it looks as though one of the trolley lines passes in front of the airport. I made hotel reservations from October 10-15 (the AAP national conference runs from October 11-14), and if I remember correctly I'll just miss seeing you.

Book #61: Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

  

My rating:

I was somewhat familiar with Dr. Thomas Mütter, the famed 19th century Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, whose personal collection and funding led to the creation of The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, which is my favorite museum of medical history. However, after reading Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz's fascinating and compulsively readable biography of Mütter I realized how little I knew about him, and how influential he was to the development of modern surgery, the advancement of medicine as a science, and the reformation of medical education in Philadelphia and the United States.

Thomas Dent Mutter (1811-1859) was born to a mother from an established Virginia family and a father who was a hard working first generation Scottish immigrant. Although the Mutters were happy and modestly successful at the time of Thom's birth the family of four was quickly struck down by illness, and by 1818 he was an orphan with no surviving close relatives. Fortune did shine on young Thomas, as he was soon adopted by Robert Wormelely Carter, a wealthy Virginia landowner who was a distant cousin of his mother. Carter supported Thomas's educational endeavors, and after he realized that medicine was his calling he graduated from the medical school at the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 20.

After graduation Mutter (who changed his name to Mütter, in keeping with his flamboyant lifestyle and dress) sailed to Paris, where he learned the latest surgical techniques under the leading practitioners there, including the legendary Guillaume Dupuytren. He returned to Philadelphia, but he was unable to establish a successful practice as a general surgeon despite his clinical skill and growing reputation in the city's medical community. Mütter began teaching at the Medical Institute in Philadelphia, and soon afterward he joined the faculty at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia's second medical college after the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. There he quickly became a revered instructor who was noted for his active engagement of his students during his lectures, along with his skill in the operating theater and the compassion he showed to his patients before and especially during surgery, at a time when anesthesia was limited to wine and other spirits.

Mütter was closely linked to several advancements and innovations in 19th century surgery and medicine, including the use of a patient's own skin to form surgical grafts; the utilization of ether as an effective anesthetic agent during surgery; the adoption of antiseptic techniques to reduce the likelihood of postoperative infections and puerperal (childbed) fever; and the creation of postoperative hospital wards, where patients would be closely and compassionately cared for under his watchful eye.

Sadly, Mütter suffered from ill health throughout his life, which curtailed his brilliant career as a surgeon and teacher. Fortunately he ensured his legacy with the creation of the Mütter Museum, which opened in 1863 and moved to its current location on 22nd Street between Market and Chestnut Streets in Center City Philadelphia in 1909. The museum is open to the general public seven days per week.

Aptowicz does a superb job in her portrayal of Mütter, as her interest in and enthusiasm for the surgeon shines on every page. The book is written for a general audience, and it is filled with rich detail about the history of early and mid 19th century medicine, medical education and surgery. Dr. Mütter's Marvels is a captivating study of one of the most interesting and influential physicians in American history, and I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

>242 kidzdoc: Upgethumbed!

>244 kidzdoc: Between you and mahsdad/Jeff, Dr Mutter and I are going to become acquainted.

I am 2/3 done with The Blazing World and while I'm enjoying it in a mild sort of a way, it's not lighting my christmas tree.

>245 richardderus: Thanks, Richard! I gave a thumb to Jeff's review of Dr. Mütter's Marvels as well.

I may put off reading The Blazing World until the Booker Prize shortlist comes out two weeks from now, as I'm only moderately interested in reading it.

I was thrilled to learn earlier today that I won Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande from this month's batch of LT Early Reviewers books; I can't wait to dive into it.

Hi Darryl! Just checking in. Great review of Dr. Mütter's Marvels. That one sounds very good. I hope everything is going well.

>247 msf59: Thanks, Mark! Dr. Mütter's Marvels has received several positive reviews on LT, and deservedly so (it has an average rating of 4.36 stars at the moment). It will be published next week.

I'll fly back to Atlanta tomorrow morning, work the night shifts (8 pm to 8 am) on Friday and Saturday and a backup day shift on Monday (and I hope that I won't be needed), then fly to London on Monday night for a 2+ week stay there. I'll get to meet Joe & Debbi and see several other LTers while I'm there. Life is good.

Thumbs-up from this corner, too, Darryl. How perfectly suited to your profession, these two ER wins.

So, are you suggesting that a visit to the Mutter museum is in order on my next visit to Philly?!

Wow! Meeting Joe & Debbi?? You are in for such a treat, Darryl! Wonderful people.

Excellent review of Dr. Mutter's Marvels, Darryl. Thumb from me.

>251 msf59: Mark has a high tolerance level. Those two actually are very difficult and too easily drawn to coffee shops and baked goods.

Glad to hear that the finger is somewhat better, Darryl, and that you had a great time in Philly. Hope I can make it next time.

I know you aren't a big TV fan, but last week Anthony Bourdain's "Layover" was set in Philly He featured some pretty unique eateries and bars in and near the city, as well as the Barnes Museum and the Mutter. I DVRed it so that I can take notes before my next visit.

I've started The History of Rain and so far am enjoying it. While I did like We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves more than you, one of my first comments was that I don't really consider it "Booker-worthy." Like you, I expect works that are more conventionally literary--or experimental and still literary. To me, this was Pop fiction.

Classes started up this week, so I have less time for reading anything aside from assigned texts and student work. :(

Hi, Darryl! Sorry to learn of your finger injury. Glad you're having a good time in Philadelphia. It is truly a world-class city (I admit I'm biased, but it's a great city by any measure -- the history, the museums, the orchestra, the Free Public Library system . . .) I really miss Philadelphia.

I'm also very much enjoying Dr. Mutter's Marvels.

I'm now back in Atlanta after a very pleasant and quick flight from Philadelphia. The flying time is normally just under 1 hr 30 minutes wheels up to wheels down, but we arrived about 15 minutes early today.

It was a great trip, as I was able to spend time with friends in Madison, NYC and Philadelphia, but more importantly I spent two weeks almost entirely with my parents, and was able to go to several of my mother's appointments with her physicians and help her learn more about her upcoming surgery and the other significant medical conditions that she has, and to talk with her, my father and my mother's sister, who recently moved to an adjacent town, about Important Matters. I do like my job here in Atlanta, but it's becoming progressively more difficult to leave Philadelphia every time I visit my folks, and although they don't put any pressure on me I feel more and more eager to return there permanently sooner rather than later. I miss them already. *sniff

>249 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy. You're absolutely right; there are a good number of books on medicine or public health in the LT Early Reviewers program, and I seemingly always seem to win one if I request it.

>250 Sakerfalcon: Absolutely, Claire! The Mütter Museum is within walking distance of the Penn Museum, and I saw earlier this week that you can buy a single ticket that allows you to visit both museums in the same day.

>251 msf59: I'm looking forward to meeting Joe and Debbi, Mark! We have an LT get together planned for September 16th, which will include a visit to the Tate Modern art museum and an afternoon matinee at the nearby Globe Theatre, which is modeled after William Shakespeare's 16th century theatre in London. The two of them, Heather and Bianca and I will all be there.

>252 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. I'd consider giving away my copy of Dr. Mütter's Marvels, but I know that several of my partners, one in particular, is very eager to read it.

Mark has a high tolerance level. Those two actually are very difficult and too easily drawn to coffee shops and baked goods.

LOL! We have to go to Borough Market for lunch between our visits to Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre then. A branch of my favorite place to get coffee in London, Monmouth Coffee, is adjacent to the market, and there are several places to get baked goods in the market itself, including a nice bread shop on Southwark Street close to the entrance to the London Bridge tube station. It's within walking distance of the museum and the theatre, which are next to each other on either side of the Millennium Bridge on the south bank of the Thames.

>255 kidzdoc: That works! Good to have someone who knows their way around. Can't wait.

Darryl, I miss Borough Market even though we have a gorgeous market twice a week close to my home. Lucky you that you'll be soon back in London. Would like to meet you there. We've visited Tate Modern this month.

>253 Cariola: Thanks, Deborah. I did have a very nice time with Katherine, but I'm sorry that you, Monica and others weren't able to join us. I'll probably be back sometime in November and/or December, and maybe we can meet up then.

Thanks for mentioning that episode of Layover! My mother, the TV addict in the family, doesn't watch The Travel Channel (she prefers WHYY and MIND, two public broadcasting channels), so I wasn't aware of this program. Fortunately this episode is online in its entirety (http://www.travelchannel.com/video/philadelphia-3), and I'll watch it later this week.

Philadelphia has always been very underrated IMO, due in part to its blue collar reputation and its location between NYC and DC, but it has a lot to offer to visitors and residents, and it's far less pretentious and self-absorbed than its neighbors are (I am still very fond of NYC, though).

I'm glad that you also like History of the Rain. I read nearly about 75 pages of it on the flight from PHL to ATL earlier today, and I'm enjoying it far more than We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves or To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, although I'm not sure why. I agree with your comment that the Fowler felt more like pop fiction than Booker worthy literature, and the Williams seems to be a significantly more mature work. I'm just over halfway through it, and I should finish it by tomorrow.

>254 tymfos: Thanks, Terri. The finger remains only a mild nuisance at worst (I had no problem going through PHL airport today and NYC and Philadelphia last week), and hopefully I'll know more about the recovery process after I see my hand surgeon friend tomorrow. I completely agree that Philadelphia is a world class city, especially in comparison to Atlanta, which tries to make the same claim but doesn't come anywhere close to it. I also love that NYC, Baltimore and DC are all within two hours of Philadelphia by train, so there are nearly limitless opportunities to partake in cultural events in those four cities.

I'm glad that you're also enjoying Dr. Mütter's Marvels, and I hope that Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz will receive the attention she deserves for writing such a splendid book.

>255 kidzdoc: >256 jnwelch: so you two will be in London at the same time? That's a unique & memorable way to meet up!

You are making me want to visit Philadelphia. I've never been despite growing up just north of NYC and living in DC for 5 years. I did stop at 30th Street Station countless times, though, given my love of taking the train whenever possible :) I admit I've had a negative impression of the city, mostly due to horror stories related to its sports fans, but really, no city should be judged on such a thing. They often represent the worst of the worst!

Can't wait for your London trip. I hope you'll take Joe and Debbi to the book stalls under Waterloo Bridge!

>256 jnwelch: Same here, Joe, although this trip is coming up very quickly! I've been to Tate Modern at least half a dozen times, and I usually go to Borough Market afterward, although Bianca and I did find a nice place to eat in one of the high rises next to the museum and there are several others nearby if we're pressed for time.

>257 Ameise1: Right, Barbara. Caroline was the first person who told me about Borough Market. I think she described it as "foodie heaven", and I completely agree. I particularly like the food at Roast to Go, the stand that is adjacent to Roast Restaurant, which sells fabulous sandwiches and Scotch eggs.

I would love to meet you in London someday soon! Hopefully our paths will cross there, or elsewhere in Western Europe, in the near future.

What did you see at Tate Modern?

>259 lauralkeet: Right, Laura! We won't have as huge of a meet up as the one that gathered to celebrate your visit there in March, though. I'm very glad that I was invited to have breakfast with the Viragoites, particularly because I was able to meet Claire and Caroline for the first time.

>260 katiekrug: I'd love to show you around Philadelphia, Katie! We had a fabulous turnout for the LT weekend meet up there last year (roughly 20 LTers were there), and I think that everyone, particularly the first time visitors to the city, had a blast. It has a lot of charm, and it has a unique feel, spirit and pride. Despite the reputation of its sports fans (and drivers!) I find Philadelphians to be very friendly, and the city is considerably more relaxed and less crowded than NYC.

Ooh, great idea to visit the stalls under the Waterloo Bridge! Are the booksellers there during the week? I usually go on weekends when I see plays at the National Theatre, and I don't remember seeing the stalls on Mondays-Fridays. I'll check, though...

ETA: Yes, the book stalls are there on weekdays:

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visitor-info/shop-eat-drink/shops/southbank-cen...

258> Bourdain's 'Layover' is a little different from 'No Reservations' and his other show--less weird stuff, more just plain interesting. I'm really glad it's available online.

>263 Cariola: I've heard of Anthony Bourdain, but I'm not familiar with him. I'm also glad that this episode is available online; thanks gain for mentioning it!

264> His memoirs are pretty interesting. The other shows had him eating stuff like whale blubber, live razor eels, and beating cobra hearts.

>265 Cariola: Yikes! I'm an adventurous eater, but I'm not in his league.