EBT1002 (Ellen) reads 75 in 2014 - Part 10

Oban, Scotland

Northern coast of Scotland

My Rating Scale:

= Amazing! Perfect!
= Wow, this was great, among my favorites of the year!
= Very good. Definitely recommended and I'll certainly read more by this author.
= Quite good, has several redeeming qualities, I'm likely to read more by this author.
= Pretty good, with a few things done well. I might read more by this author.
= Average. I probably won't seek out this author in the future, as life is too short to read average books.
= A bit below average. A waste of time.
= Nearly no redeeming qualities. Really rather bad.
= Among the worst books I've ever read.

COMPLETED IN JANUARY

1. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
2. A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards
3. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
4. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
5. The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna
6. My Ántonia by Willa Cather
7. Two or Three Things I Know For Sure by Dorothy Allison
8. Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
9. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

COMPLETED IN FEBRUARY

10. The Blue Place by Nicola Griffith
11. The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon
12. An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
13. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
14. Above Suspicion by Helen MacInnes

COMPLETED IN MARCH

15. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
16. Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
17. Native Son by Richard Wright
18. Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh
19. Home by Toni Morrison

COMPLETED IN APRIL

20. Blonde: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates
21. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
22. The Property by Rutu Modan
23. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
24. Someone by Alice McDermott

COMPLETED IN MAY

25. Last Train to Paris by Michele Zackheim
26. My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace by Kate Bornstein
27. Laidlaw by William McIlvanney
28. Sula by Toni Morrison
29. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
30. The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
31. Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan
32. Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett
33. Plainsong by Kent Haruf
34. Mission to Paris by Alan Furst

COMPLETED IN JUNE

35. Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlman & Kerascoet
36. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
37. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
38. The Two Hotel Francforts by David Leavitt
39. The Arrival by Shaun Tan
40. The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
41. Byrd by Kim Church
42. A Death in the Family by James Agee
43. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
44. Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys

COMPLETED IN JULY

45. Natural Causes by James Oswald
46. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
47. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
48. Never Go Back by Robert Goddard
49. Stay by Nicola Griffith
50. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

COMPLETED IN AUGUST

51. Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa
52. A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
53. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris
54. Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas
55. Still Midnight by Denise Mina
56. The Human Stain by Philip Roth

COMPLETED IN SEPTEMBER

57. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
58. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
59. The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

Currently reading:

.. ..

The Furies: A Novel by Natalie Haynes and The Best American Essays 2013 edited by Cheryl Strayed and The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel (Early Reviewer edition)

Currently listening:



The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

I started reading Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales last evening and after the first two tales I was underwhelmed. I am SO glad I kept reading! This morning, after reading the fifth tale while eating my cereal, I went back and quickly read through those first two tales again. Exquisite.

Ellen - Happy new thread. It sounds like I may have to take a look at Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales.

I fell terribly behind on your old thread Ellen, but jumping on my chance to stay up to date with your new one. Is it me or have you been listening to The Dogs Stars for an age now? I guess it's the opposite from me with you as I usually get through audiobooks super fast!

Happy New Thread!

Happy new thread! Gorgeous pictures.

I love your pictures, Ellen! Someday I'm going to visit someplace absolutely beautiful...

Eh, wot??? That second picture of yours above--it's just not right!

Great review of The Boys in the Boat Ellen. You and Mark have made me glad I picked up the Kindle deal last weekend.

I read Revenge last year and thought it was both unsettling and brilliant. The linking of the stories is incredibly intricate.

Beautiful picture of the Scottish coast.

Ah, Scotland!
Happy New Thread, Ellen!

I am on the road again - back to the Land of Oz. Made it as far as Marion, IL before I packed it in for the night. I am listening to White Princess by Philippa Gregory. I thought this was going to be the last book in this series but I found out the other day that there will be one more. King's Curse will be out in September. This woman must be a writing machine as White Princess came out in a year ago. Even though this fictionalized history is overwrought and overly romanticized they make great road trip books. One of these days I am going to Netflix the Starz series just to see how they do it.

>9 BLBera: Hi Beth! You're first! I will weigh in more definitively once I complete Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales but I think it's going to be a winner. As Bonnie says in >14 brenzi:, the linking of the tales is quite intricate.

>10 Smiler69: Hi Ilana! Yes, indeed, I have been listening to The Dog Stars for a looooong time. This is how it works for me and audiobooks. I tend to only listen when I'm walking alone or weeding in the garden. I can tell you that I've had very little solo walking time this year and the bindweed and dandelions are happily thriving in the back yard.... :-)
It's a good one, though, so perhaps I will try to dedicate some time to it this weekend.

>11 banjo123: Hi Rhonda and I'm glad you like the pictures. In a few weeks, I'll have my own photos to post. :-)

>12 tloeffler: Oh Terri, have you never visited anywhere absolutely beautiful? I do think that must be rectified. You could come visit several LTers in the Seattle area! ;-)

>13 ronincats: Hi Roni and I kind of agree. It's the north coast of Scotland so we might see this spot. If so, I will photograph for documentation.... We're spending one night in Mey, the northernmost town/village on the mainland of Scotland. I'm excited to be so far north.

>14 brenzi: Hi Bonnie! Your description of Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales (I can't get the touchstone to work if I don't type out the whole title) is perfect: "...both unsettling and brilliant. The linking of the stories is incredibly intricate." The collection is not "scary" in the Stephen King sense, but dark and beautiful.

>15 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! We're under three weeks until liftoff! Yay!

>16 benitastrnad: Hi Benita. I've never read Philippa Gregory although I have occasionally peered at her work and I believe P read and enjoyed one or two of them. We'll be rejoining Netflix this fall in order to continue our viewing of the series Orange is the New Black. We watched the first four episodes but the CDs were due back at the library and the queue is looong. We LOVED it.

Okay, I "joined" Goodreads today as ebt1002. Such a different website but I joined it because my colleague told me she can just download the names of books she wants using the app.... this could be dangerous.

Shin update:

I had a massage this evening. Not a woo-woo-fall-asleep-on-the-table massage, not that I don't think those are lovely. I do. But this was a therapeutic massage which was all about the front of my shin/ankle. He went deep and I had to breathe into it, big time. It feels SO much better! Not 100% so I will still spend the weekend resting, icing, and reading (and watching the Blue Angles do their thing above Lake Washington and my home), but I'm amazed at how improved it is! I scheduled two treatments next week and one each week after that until we fly to Glasgow. Please cross your fingers that I'm able to do the trek!

You'll be able to do the trek, Ellen me lurve. Never you fear.

Sent you a GR friends request. xo

>21 richardderus: Thanks for your confidence and encouragement, Richard. I suppose the truth is that I'll do this trek unless I think it's going to kill me. I mean, there will be whisky and ale for easing the pain at lunch and at dinner!

Oh boy, my first GR friend request. :-)

Happy New Thread, Ellen!

Happy new thread, Ellen. Gorgeous photos for the opening.

Happy new thread and yay on the therapeutic massage. Yes, you will be able to drink your way through it!!

Happy new thread! Glad the massage was a success!

Happy Beautiful Saturday! I envy your ability to watch the Blue Angels do their thing over Lake Washington. Seafair is a great time of year!

I am clearing the deck to put a coat of paint on it, sooner, rather than later. This is the very time when the rain is less likely to be a problem. Of course, then I hear thunder outside. What is that?

I've had a couple of Instacart paychecks, small but welcome, and many good hours of reading time. I've finished The World Inside within a day or two because of my enforced reading times! Yay! I've picked up Tales of the City for the fun of it, and because Richard wrote such a nice review of the last book in the series. I read it so long ago it feels like a new read! Ha ha ha. It is so 1960s-70s San Francisco! What a hoot! Working also on Virginia Wolff's Monday or Tuesday (another book I pulled out of reading Richard's threads) and Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck (a gift).

The HOA work has lessened as the Clubhouse Manager is back from his surgery and recovery. Thank goodness. That was just too much work for me. I'm retired! After all!

Oh, I forgot. When my shift takes me into the dark dusk, and I can't read my books, I'm listening to The Fault in Our Stars. Yup. All of that. And occasionally I get an order for some groceries to shop and deliver, too.

I hope the weekend is swell for you, and that your shin pains are only sufficient that you will do lots of reading, and the pains will go away just before you leave on vacation! Good luck, my friend.

Shin problems can be big ones. Glad that the massage seems to be working. Take that rest on it and you should be good to go for the Scotland hike.

I am on my way back to Kansas - again. This time for a week's vacation and a wedding. My sister told me the sweet corn is ready so we will be freezing sweet corn as well. That will be fun compared to what I have been doing. Then I will be getting ready for the fall semester. It starts on August 20. Not sure I am ready for it.

I'm glad the massage was helpful, Ellen. Just keep your feet up while you're reading, and use it as an excuse to avoid anything you don't want to do. I'm still playing the anesthesia card whenever I mess up: "Oh! sorry! Must be a holdover from the anesthesia!" A nurse friend told me that anesthesia can stay in your system for up to 6 months, so I'm golden! Take care!

51. Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa
4.5 stars



These elegantly and intricately connected tales are less about revenge than they are about loss, longing, and jealousy. Vaguely macabre, more than one of the stories actually made me chuckle with appreciation for Ogawa's ability to twist ever so slightly the reader's grasp of reality. After reading the first two tales, I wasn't sure this collection was for me but after the fourth I went back and read those first two again and Ogawa's genius became apparent. The unfolding web of connections between characters, settings, events, and emotions is simply delightful. And Ogawa masterfully exposes the layers upon layers of her scheme. In "The Man Who Sold Braces" the narrator finds himself in a house full of antiques, most of them instruments of torture. He comments, "As I studied the mass more closely, I began to feel that it was not the product of random accumulation but that it actually had a coherent form all its own; and while the individual items were dirty and deteriorating, taken together they were like a strange piece of art." Indeed.

Next up: A Month in the Country.
Or After I'm Gone.
Or We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.
Or Still Midnight.

It's hard to decide after a French 75. :-)

>23 scaifea: and >24 Ameise1: and >25 Berly: and >26 DorsVenabili:
Amber, Barbara, Kim, and Kerri -- thanks for warming up my new thread!

>27 maggie1944: Hi Karen!
We looked at composite materials today for the new front porch. I'm done with cleaning and painting it every year! But we'll see how the estimate comes back.

Watching the Blue Angels was fun. They always roar right over our house at least one time during the show. I posted a short video on FB. I don't know that it was great for my shin to be standing out on the roof of the garage for all that time but I couldn't resist.

Your gig with Instacart is, at least, turning out to be interesting. I should do that since I've been listening to The Dog Stars for months. I think it took me 9 months to listen to The Likeness but sitting in a car waiting for a grocery order might take care of that.

I'm still nursing the shin. Went to REI and bought a pair of hiking shoes this morning. My plan is to alternate between the boots (which may be aggravating the lower shin area) and the shoes. Both are waterproof. In the meantime: ice, rest, Aleve, and massage.

>28 benitastrnad: Benita! I love living in the Pacific Northwest but one thing I miss from the midwest is the sweet corn. YUM.

>29 tloeffler: Terri, LOL! Yes, I will join you in using medical adversity as an excuse not to get up off the couch. So far, it's working. P made French 75s and brought me a small bowl of baked chips.... We've just been invited to some friends' house for lasagne for dinner. Life IS good!

Hi Ellen! Such gorgeous photos up there at the top.

Good to hear the shin treatment seems to help.

edited because as >35 Berly: noted - shit and shin are not the same thing (also I need to proofread better) LOLOL

>34 SuziQoregon: Shit treatment? LOL Hey, whatever it takes!

Oooh, French 75s. Nice!

Happy new thread, Ellen! Those thread topping pictures are simply breathtaking!! Wow!

Sorry to hear about your shin issues, but I'm glad you found that therapeutic massage can be helpful. I hope it keeps working for you.

I also hope those hiking shoes will make a difference! I know how much you have looked forward to this all year long!!!

Lasagne. So envious. So so so envious.

I'm sure you'll be all better for your trip. I'm sure pin issues are the shits. ;)

Happy new thread, Ellen! So glad to hear that the massage is working. Love the thread toppers - so gorgeous. And I added the Ogawa to my WL - nice review!

>30 EBT1002: Glad you enjoyed the strange intricacy of Revenge. That museum of torture instruments is a setting that stays with you, isn't it?

Good morning!

Book group is one week away, eh? We will be able to talk about The Boys in the Boat. Thank you for suggesting the group read it. Great idea.

Yes, the Instacart gig seems to be working for me. I like the fact that I can change when I am available to work each week. Try mornings, and then if I'd like the following week I can try evenings. Or half and half. I love flexibility.

Seattle Storm won a game last night and we had a great time. Logan has not been able to go as often as in the past so it was fun to see him enjoying the energy of a live sporting event. Due to the kids mostly being left to their own devices this summer he has been glued to the big screen, with game controls in his hands, way too much. I fear for next school year. School does not have a chance in the "excitement" competition. Even friends do not seem to be as much fun??? Argghhhhh.

I'm working my way through Fault in Our Stars on audio when the job carries into the darker hours; when there is sunlight, I'm reading Tales of the City and looking forward to reading the whole series which I have not done previously. I received More Tales of the City from Amazon yesterday. Also, reading I Feel Bad About My Neck which a friend gave me. Nora Ephron is a hoot!

>42 maggie1944: My favorite essay from I Feel Bad About My Neck is the one on purses. Have you gotten to that one yet?

Ellen, I just made a reservation for dinner at Curate on the 20th and had to share :) Thanks again for the recommendation!

I need a French 75 recipe, please. With emphasis on the *need*.

Hoping you are well on the mend.

>45 michigantrumpet: - I don't know the exact ratios, but it's gin, lemon juice, and sugar over ice and then the glass is filled with champagne. Apparently, some people use cognac instead of gin but that's an abomination ;-)

Ah! Sounds like a winner!

>20 EBT1002: those massages can be tough to endure, but work wonders right!? I have only ever had a couple of massages, and I have to say , I prefer the gentle ones. If you do too just ask for more efflurage*. Less pummeling!

*I may or may not have the right term here, but it sounds right-ish, so Il will leave it for someone to confirm or correct :)

Also, I am wondering what a French 75 recipe is?!

>48 LovingLit: Sounds right to me.

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

Just dropping by to say hi Ellen. Hope you're doing well.

Happy new thread, Ellen! lovely pics of Scotland! Sighhhh, someday!

52. A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr




This delightful short novel deserves more attention! The story of Tom Birkin, a veteran of WWI (not yet known as such), is hired to uncover and restore the ceiling painting of a village church. As he gradually lets the residents of Oxgodby and the dramatic fresco affect him, a bit of healing occurs. This is a simple story of basic human experience told with an edge of humor and a straightforward appreciation for the mundane. Without bitterness, our narrator notes that "We can ask and ask but we can't have again what once seemed ours forever...." That about sums it up.

I started reading An Officer and a Spy last evening. So far, so good.

>34 SuziQoregon: and >35 Berly: LOL, Juli and Kim -- I'm actually glad I need shin treatment rather than shit treatment!

>36 katiekrug: The French 75s were indeed quite nice, Katie. It's one of my favorite cocktails, especially on a warm day.

>37 TinaV95: Thank you, Tina. I had another massage treatment yesterday. I don't think Shaun was as good as Adam, but I figure this is a process anyway. Tomorrow I have yet another treatment with yet another LMT.

>38 richardderus: Richard, in all honesty, the lasagne wasn't the best I've ever tasted. I adore my friend Jen and she is a good cook but even she would say that this experiment fell a tiny bit short of her best efforts. Still, we and fun and the sunset over Elliott Bay and the Olympic Mountains was gorgeous!

>39 Morphidae: LOL Morphy. I hope you're right. I'll do the walk whether it hurts or not but I would prefer no pain. :-|

>40 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! I'm glad you liked my review of Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales. I think you will enjoy it -- and hopefully you'll remember my encouragement to savor the stories and move back and forth among them as intricate connections become apparent.

>41 swynn: I totally agree, Swynn! I have a very vivid mental image of the museum of torture!

>42 maggie1944: Karen, Book Group is next Monday! I believe I have scheduled a massage but it will be done in time for me to drive north. The drive north right at rush hour is not my favorite thing, but perhaps I'll pop in my audio of The Dog Stars to see if I can concentrate on the narrative and the traffic at the same time!

I'm very glad we switched out The Boys in the Boat for The Big Burn. As much as I liked The Big Burn, it's been a while and I needed the nudge to read TBitB which is turning out to be one of my favorite reads of the year.

A friend of mine recommended I Feel Bad About My Neck. With your nudge, I will add it to my WL.

>43 Morphidae: Purses. Hmmmm.... As one who refuses to carry a purse, that will be interesting! Okay, now I really want to get a hold of I Feel Bad About My Neck.

>44 katiekrug: Katie, you are going to LOVE Curate! Be prepared to leave the restaurant with a very full tummy and very happy tastebuds. I'll look for your report on the 21st (which is fly-to-Glasgow day but we leave late in the afternoon).

>45 michigantrumpet: Oh dear, Marianne, needing a French 75 sounds bad. Sorry I have been absent for so long that your need went unmet!

Here you go:

>46 katiekrug: I don't know the exact ratios either, but P used Aviation Gin, a little simple syrup, lemon juice, and Prosecco. She did a particularly nice job with the lemon twist. :-)

I think some recipes call for a splash of orange liqueur to replace the simple syrup, too. Cognac just sounds all wrong for this drink!

>47 michigantrumpet: Perfect for a warm day!

>48 LovingLit: I actually like my massages deep, Megan, but these "therapeutic" massages are downright challenging to tolerate! I don't like pummeling. It feels weird. And you've taught me a new word! And see above for the French 75 idea. I do recommend trying one. :-)

>49 Morphidae: Thanks for looking it up for us, Morphy. I could just click on your link and my vocabulary went up by one word. I'm even trying to channel my high school French for pronunciation purposes.

>50 Smiler69: Hey Ilana! Thanks for dropping by!

>51 Carmenere: Lynda, I hope I follow through with my plan to post photos of Scotland that I actually took with my very own camera! I'm not very good about the follow through on such things, but it is my intention.

>43 Morphidae: I don't think you'd truly appreciate the essay unless you were or knew a purse person - especially the part about the tissues.

Ooooh! An Officer and a Spy is one of those books I envy anyone for discovering the first time around. It'll definitely be a reread for me and I still look forward to non-fiction reading about the Dreyfus Affair which it sparked interest in.

Wishlisting A Month in the Country. Is that a verb? It is now.*

*eta: it was already on the wishlist, apparently had spotted it on the Folio Society list of old publication. Got the much more affordable NYRB edition from an Abe vendor, thanks for the suggestion, my first buy for August! :-)

I loved A Month in the Country --so much in such a quiet book. It was made into a film starring Colin Firth and Kenneth Branagh, in their much younger years. I managed to track it down at my library. I still prefer the book, but the film was nicely done.

>61 lauralkeet: will have to seek out the film once I'm done with the book!

Hi Ellen - I was pretty sure you would love A Month in the Country - one of the year's bests for me. How's the shin? Are you counting days yet?

I ran off to WL A Month in the Country only to find an enigmatic entry --- I either already have it somewhere(?) or I read it and don't remember my rating of it, or I meant to WL it and it didn't take, which happens and which I am careful to check.... but whatever I did it was back in 2011..... sigh.

Love your opening pix.

And I hope your shin is improving. Back in my field hockey days, as a wing I ran around a lot and had a terrible time with shin splints. I think it was combined, though, with growing pains too....

I can't believe I just wrote that 'back in my field hockey days' - that was a long long time ago!

I'm like Lucy - I think I may already have A Month in the Country, but if I don't, I have to get it now. Thanks for the additional push, Ellen.

Very happy to see you, Kerri and I am pretty sure someone else here in the group, have given wonderful reviews for A Month in the Country! I will move that one up my TBR pile.

How goes your countdown for your Scotland trip? I always get excited in the lead up to a trip. I am also a compulsive packer and usually start packing my suitcase a week in advance. ;-)

>52 EBT1002: *adds another One-Clicking to Ellen's Satanic Book Warbling Misdeeds list*

Ellen, just saw this image of mountaineering in the Scottish Highlands on Instagram and of course instantly thought of you. Isn't it glorious? You can go here to find out about it and see more. xx

>59 Morphidae: Well, I know several purse-people (this conjures up such wonderful images) so I bet I'll enjoy it. :-)

>60 Smiler69: Ilana, I'm very much enjoying An Officer and a Spy so far. I was almost hoping for a lousy commute home yesterday just so I could keep reading it. Alas, my connections went very smoothly and once I got home I had to do chores and spend time watching an episode of "Vera" with P. I love spending time with P, mind you, and I adore the "Vera" series on Masterpiece Mystery, but I really wanted to be reading.....

I'm glad you snagged an inexpensive NYRB edition of A Month in the Country. It's a great read. I had gotten mine back when the U Bookstore was having a massive sale on NYRB editions. I bought more of them than I should perhaps have done but I'm glad this was among them!

>61 lauralkeet: Laura, "so much in such a quiet book" is such a perfect description of AMitC! And I must track down that film. Even though it's less good than the book (which is usually the case, right?), I am a bit of a fan of both Firth and Branagh, so I'd like to see it.

>62 Smiler69: Me too!

>63 BLBera: Beth, you were absolutely right. I'm still not entirely sure why I didn't give it five stars. Still considering....
A Month in the Country reminded me some of That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern (which I have with the title By the Lake). I read and adored that many moons ago and I think I must do a reread.

My shin is slowly improving. I have another massage treatment (ugh) this evening and I've been very good about limiting my activity. I'm going stir-crazy not being able to walk much or run at all, but it will be worth it. Two weeks from today we get on the plane, so tomorrow I will start counting in days. :-)

>64 sibylline: Hi Lucy! I recommend finding a copy of A Month in the Country, regardless of what happened back in 2011. LOL.
My shin is improving (see comment above). I still don't know exactly what the "issue" is, but I am developing a phobic reaction to even the thought of putting on my newish hiking boots. I suspect they are the culprit. I'm using a dowel to break down the uppers a bit more (without using my shin to do so) but still..... I may be hiking 96 miles in my newer low hikers rather than those boots.

P was a field hockey player, too. She played pre-Title IX and some of her stories about what the team had to do in order to compete with other college teams are often amusing and usually astounding by today's NCAA standards.

>65 jnwelch: Since you are like Lucy, Joe, I will say to you what I said to her: find a copy. It's a great read.
.
.
.

I want to give a nod here to Kerri for her comments about A Month in the Country. It was her praise of the novel that nudged me to go find it on my own TBR shelf and read it. I'm so glad I did!

>66 lkernagh: Lori, I hope you do read it. Kerri and I can't both be wrong, right? Several others have also mentioned it along the way. It's a quiet book and our praise has been, I think, similarly quiet. But heartfelt nonetheless.

>67 richardderus: Yes, well, turnabout it fair play, Richard. Right? xo

>68 Smiler69: Ilana, I love that picture! That will be me in less than three weeks, shin be damned! Thank you for posting it!

I was almost hoping for a lousy commute home yesterday just so I could keep reading it.

Always the sign of a truly great book, that! For me, I know I'm onto a great audiobook when I can't wait to do home chores I normally can't stand and only do upon threat of torture normally, like cleaning windows or ironing clothes on a hot day, just to create more listening time. And Officer and a Spy was one of those. Wish I'd taken notes on which chores I did for that one!

Sincerely hope the shin is all healed in time for your trip and that the new boots are not to blame. New boots can be dangerous, true enough...

Two weeks eh? You must be feeling butterflies by now! :-)

I love French 75's. The best one I ever had was at LUC's restaurant in New Orleans. That is one of John Besch's restaurants in that city. Very good food and great drinks. The Sidecar there wasn't bad either.

Spent two days this week putting up sweet corn. The corn was perfect for cutting off the cob. Tastes very good.

Hi Ellen, wow, I see you are starting to count down the days to your trip. It's really coming up fast.

Sorry to read of your shin troubles and hope everything is ship shape when you leave.

I am glad your shin is getting better! The low hikers sound like a good idea... Did you get the others from REI? Maybe you could take them back.

>69 EBT1002: You probably will then. The part that made me laugh the most reminded me of my grandmother and all the tissues she had in her purse.

Hi Ellen, I wish you a fabulous Sunday.

Ellen, I'm glad your shin is getting better. I know you will need a pain-free body (at least to begin with) for all the hiking you plan to do in Scotland. I am getting excited for you and P!

Oh my, I learn all kinds of things from reading the threads in this group. A French 75 sounds kind of naughty! I can't wait to order one sometime. ;-)

I've read and reviewed the deeply beautiful and immensely satisfying short Great War novel, A Month in the Country. See why I love it in my thread...post #103.

I hope that shin is showing improvement...

>52 EBT1002: - I love your review of A Month in the Country too!

French 75s sound lovely. I'm thinking of exploring some interesting cocktails this week, since I'm on vacation and all.

Best wishes on continued shin improvement!

FAMILY! Argh! I love my family, but having my BIL and his wife in town from Micronesia, and having our nephew and his wife and their 5-year-old son from BC staying with us, and therefore having various other family (92-year-old FIL, several nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews and.... you get the idea) descending upon our home..... I was actually kind of glad to come to work this morning!

So, brief updates:

1. The shin/ankle is improved but not yet 100%.
2. We depart in 10 days!!!
3. I'm almost done with An Officer and a Spy and it's being a wonderful read.
4. I've got a little stack of Scottish mysteries that I'm thinking I'll take with me but I'm in that pre-vacation phase of changing my mind daily regarding what I want to take. I love this phase.
5. I'm planning to start Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas tonight, having received it as an ER book.

It's heading up to 93F in Seattle today. Ugh. But then back down into the 70s by Wednesday with a slight chance of rain. Much more like it.

Okay, I'm going to try to do some catching up with folks before my colleagues arrive and start needing my attention....

Word to Wise: Travel LIGHT. Only essentials! Only essential things you NEED. You will encounter plenty of entertainment, you'll not NEED a great deal of reading. And having choices may not be worth the extra weight.

End of sermon. Smirk.

Hi Ellen, happy work-as-refuge week!

MICRONESIA?!

Woo Hoo! Just 10 days. Heal shin, heal!

>83 maggie1944: I know, I know. I keep reminding myself that I'll be walking and touristing, not so much time for sitting around reading. On the other hand, I can imagine fewer horrible things than being on vacation and not having something good to read! P keeps noting that they do have bookstores in Scotland.....

>84 richardderus: Thank you, Richard.
Yes, Micronesia. P's brother lives on Palau.

>85 Smiler69: Thanks for the shin-healing mojo, Ilana! I get another massage torture treatment this evening and I feel like I'm 80% recovered.....

>72 Smiler69: Ah, this is a good reminder, Ilana. I will be frantically cleaning the house on Friday, after the relatives depart and before my staff arrives for a party. I will be listening to the next installment of The Dog Stars!

>73 benitastrnad: Benita, I'm also a fan of sidecars. I don't generally like sweet drinks but a French 75 and a sidecar fall just under my limit for that.

>74 DeltaQueen50: Judy, thank you, m'dear. As I noted above, I think my shin is about 80% recovered. I still have TEN DAYS to rest it, ice it, and generally heal. Oh boy. Down to counting the days on two hands!

>75 banjo123: Hi Rhonda. Yes, I did get them at REI and I'm thinking about taking them back. I don't think it's the boots' fault, per se, but trying to break them in rather aggressively. Still, it's hard to imagine ever putting them on again. Ha!

>76 Morphidae: Morphy, I think Karen is sending me her copy of I Feel Bad About My Neck via book group this evening. It might be a good on-the-plane read.

>77 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara! My Sunday was hectic and chaotic and fun (see post above about family visiting and baseball games and all that). Next Sunday should prove to be more restful. :-)

>78 Donna828: Donna, I highly recommend ordering a French 75 sometime. They are special and celebratory. And not in the least bit naughty. Heh.

>79 richardderus: I'm so glad you liked it, Richard. After Kerri's comments, I rushed home and read A Month in the Country and I'm hoping our shared chorus of "read this, everyone!" helped influence its current visibility around these parts. Your lovely review will help, too. I think Laura's description of it as "a quiet book" is so perfect.

>80 ronincats: Thanks, Roni. I think we've reached 80% recovery....

>81 DorsVenabili: Hi Kerri! I hope you do try a French 75 while you're enjoying your staycation! It's a wonderful hot-weather treat.

All caught up here, albeit not specifically in chronological order.....

Palau. Wow. The entire other side of the globe. I am SO JEALOUS of P for her sibling being that far away.

#92
And a great place to make a return visit. They have some really good diving in that lagoon due to the WWII battle that was there.

TEN MORE DAYS!

Only 10 more days? Already?

I bet you are bouncing!

Healing shin whammies (as RD would say). :)

Well damn. I deal with suicide and suicide risk all the time. It's a big part of my job!!. But Robin Williams, funny man and brilliant soul.... This one hurts.

I absolutely loved and adored A Month in the Country. It is one of my desert island books.

And I adored the movie, too. It's where I first made the acquaintance of both Colin Firth and Kenneth Branagh. (I had seen Natasha Richardson on stage, but this is one of her early film roles.)

I am heartsick about Robin Williams. I wrestle with depression day in, day out. I always get annoyed when people say, oh, but so and so had so much to live for, because it betrays such a lack of understanding of what depression is. That said, I am mourning the fact that he couldn't find enough sense of purpose in what he did to serve as a counterweight to the black dog. His poor children. Much of the time, it's my responsibility to the cats that keeps me going. If I weren't here, nobody would be looking after 'em for me, making sure Cassie had her special Greenie treats at bedtime.

Wouldn't it be horribly ironic if his biggest legacy proved to be not his tremendously freewheeling humor and wit, a serious and far-reaching discussion of depression? To the point where people begin to understand that it's not a character flaw, but a disease? Because when someone like Robin Williams reaches this point and can't continue, it's time for us all to stop pretending that it's just about weak people who can't cope.

OK, finished venting.

Speaking of Scottish mysteries, have you read AD Scott's books? They aren't great, but they are atmospheric. A Small Death in the Great Glen, etc. Set in the 1950s, in the Highlands.

Hi Ellen! I am so sorry for my absence. Somehow, someway, I had the "ignore" button on. WTH?? I saw you bopping around on the threads, so I know you didn't leave us, which would have been devastating.

I am so glad you are loving An Officer and a Spy. That is such a great read. I am sure you are buzzing with anticipation on the upcoming Scotland trip. Sounds wonderful.

I leave for Asheville, a week from tomorrow. Smiles...

Thinking of you with all of the family around. I've just had my fill of the stuff for a good while... Ha!

Sending you a hug. Suicide does hurt. Depression is a serious illness and deserves all the understanding and treatment we as a culture can muster up, and then a little bit more.

A Month in the Country is lovely. I think it is an excellent example of a lovely piece of writing that would stand up to many re-readings. I almost read the whole thing last night during my long shift. I receive pay day #4 today, and that combined with the lovely reading time it provides makes me say I think I like this new little part time job.

>96 EBT1002:. Fully agree. If the ole black dog can take someone who has touched so many lives of people he has never met, it can take anyone. Very sobering and a ringing silence about it here on LT.

53. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris




Despite losing its momentum for me in the last 80 pages or so, this is a page-turning fictionalized telling of the Dreyfus Affair from the perspective of Colonel Georges Picquart. Picquart follows his conscience in trying to address the army's unjust court-martial and imprisonment of Alfred Dreyfus for treason. A mild anti-Semite himself, Picquart nonetheless suffers as he watches his beloved institution decline further down a road of corruption and dishonor. Told well and (I believe) relatively true to history, the novel is filled with interesting characters, entertaining twists of espionage, and a satisfying conclusion.

I have been interspersing the essays in The Best American Essays 2013 with my fiction reads and this is working well for me. Reading one essay was a good 1am activity for someone with a bit of insomnia last night. :-)

I will start Barracuda today; I received it as an Early Reader edition.

>102 EBT1002: I am so looking forward to getting that one in front of my eyes!

*smooch*

>101 streamsong: A ringing silence perhaps because so few people know what to say? I finally posted something last night, but have been more active on FB, where I know more people in real life, and so they know what I have been dealing with IRL. It's tough. And it's hard to put oneself in the shoes of someone like Robin Williams and imagine the kind of pain that he has been masking for decades with his manic comedy. Masking and, perhaps, deflecting.

I haven't watched the news today re: Williams, but it seems to me that this is a great opportunity to educate/discuss depression and suicide. I wasn't seeing any of that yesterday, which was very disappointing.

>106 BLBera: I wasn't seeing it here, but I was seeing it all over the Internet and media, generally.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexisnedd/things-nobody-tells-you-about-being-depressed...
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-robin-williams-last-days-20...
http://time.com/3102414/robin-williams-depression-struggles-go-back-decades/
http://www.boston.com/health/2014/08/12/robin-williams-death-reminds-misconcepti...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/12/robin-williams-first-take/1...
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/08/12/4286194/robin-williams-death-focuses-atten...
https://www.yahoo.com/health/robin-williams-death-the-difference-between-depress...

These are just a few of the things that I've had people post or otherwise send to me; perhaps a quarter of what I've seen in the last 24 hours alone.

I think the real test will be what happens going forward. Newton, for instance, put gun control firmly in the spotlight. And nothing happened. Everyone resolved to do something different -- but nothing really changed. Depression could be a bit like that. In this case, not because there is some NRA-like organization opposing it, but simply because it's hard to determine what to do, I think. More research? Better funding for mental health cliniics? Certainly addressing the stigma would be lovely.

I have noticed the silence here.

I was very interested to hear some mental health folks comment that the "Genie, You're Free" post (done by someone, maybe in Disney?) was not really helpful as it implies suicide is a way to become free. Sigh.

I hope he is freed from pain, and yet I understand suicide is not an alternative we want in any way to encourage.

There you go, a really good example of "doing better mental health care" is such a complicated issue. And then, there's the whole cultural attitudes towards mental illness.... I remember when people were that way about Cancer. No one would talk about it. It was considered to be a death sentence and no one wanted to acknowledge that. My parents age, and the age of their parents, was a time to not go to the hospital because that is where you went to die. So similar now if you just substitute mental health for cancer. Sigh.

I am so sorry for this and for all the other families who deal with mental health challenges.

Hi Ellen. It seems like just yesterday when you started talking about Scotland and now its almost time to go. Yay! I know you will have a wonderful time!

I also loved A Month in the Country when I read it a few years ago. And I apparently loved An Officer and a Spy more than you did.

Started watching "Salmon Fishing in Yemen" tonight. Great film. Too sleepy to finish it tonight but I LOVE the images of Scotland.
Less than one week and I will be there. :-)

Less than a week! Oh how gorgeous...how much I envy you and P!

What Richard said. I don't suppose you'd like me to tag along, Ellen? It's been ages since I was in Scotland .. oh well, I'll have to visit vicariously through your postings and photos during or after your trip.

How are you liking Barracuda? I had hoped to get that as an ER book, but wasn't successful.

Color me envious too!

Hi Ellen! Like all the rest, I'm following your countdown and wishing you and P a gloriously Scottish time. Hope you're having a good weekend and hope it's a little cooler.

So, did you buy a Kindle to take with you to scotland??

And are you comfortable with your new camera?

Wow, your trip seems to be coming up so quickly! Less than a week, you and P must be getting so excited.

Scotland, here WE come. Ellen, you do realize that many of us will be with you in spirit as you and P hike and see the wonderful sights. "Salmon Fishing in Yemen" was a delightful movie and a good one to get you even more psyched for your trip.

Seahawks looked good on Friday! It will be nice to get the entire starting offensive line back.

Hi Ellen! Hope you are having a wonderful summer
Enjoy your trip!

54. Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas




More about this Early Reviewers book a bit later this evening.

>92 richardderus: Richard, I think P would have said that about this sibling for many years but now we enjoy his company. Of course, he only visits every 2-3 years....

>93 benitastrnad: Benita, Palau is on my to-visit list, that is for sure! I want to go snorkeling there!

Ellen I am beyond behind.

-Sorry about the shin and I'm sending you healing whammies to get better and STAY better for your trip.
-Robin Williams I have no words yet. Lots of emotions though.
-Happy Belated Birthday sweet Ellen!
-A Month in the Country & Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales are added to the ever growing TBR.
-Did someone say Colin Firth? Yum
-Are you by chance a huge fan of the Seahawks?
-SCOTLAND!!! Whoop!

54. Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas




Danny Kelly is a swimmer. He is obsessed with swimming and with his dream of winning Olympic gold for Australia. Well, he doesn't care all that much about the Australia part but: winning. He cares about that a lot. The oldest of three children in a working class family, he is granted a scholarship to attend an expensive prep school where he will receive the best coaching. As hard as it is to leave his friends, especially soulmate Demet, he grabs this opportunity and blocks out everything except the goal. Initially an outcast at the new school, things shift perceptively for the better for him. He wins competitions and he wins the respect of the wealthy "golden boys" who are his class- and teammates. However, after he experiences his first major loss he has a meltdown which sends him into a spiral of devastating actions and consequences. As the narration shifts between then and now, first person and third person, we follow Danny's trajectory, learning the details of his life in bits and pieces.

Earnestly written and weirdly engaging, this is a novel about ambition, humiliation, and shame. It's almost a novel about forgiveness and redemption but Tsiolkas falls just short of convincingly pulling this off. Given the character he has created, pulling it off would be quite an accomplishment. Being in Danny's head is unpleasant. And at just over 400 pages, the novel spends a lot of time there. In the end, despite Tsiolkas' courageous and skillful storytelling, I wasn't certain that it had been worth it. I might read something else by him, but not for a while.

>94 BLBera: and >95 TinaV95: Beth and Tina, well, it was ten days when you posted on my thread!
Now it's down to less than 48 hours. Woo Hoo!! :-)

#I'vebeenawolagain

^No, I don't have a twitter account, but I kind of like the way people make editorial comments using hashtags, so I'm taking liberties.

>97 Chatterbox: Suz, I agree about A Month in the Country. I also agree about the possible irony of Williams' truest and deepest legacy turning out to be increased awareness and compassion about depression. It's a brutal disease and what I believe is that he must have felt terrible, terrible pain and hopelessness. I feel sad when I imagine the depth of it. And I also hear you about the cats. Having a responsibility, having someone who depends on you, it gives a sense of purpose and meaning. That is no small thing. I'm glad you have them and that they have you!

Hmm... I've not read AD Scott's mysteries (yet). I will investigate.

>98 msf59: Hi Mark! I'm glad you realized you had ignored me! I've been rather awol but you know I love having you visit my thread and I try to visit yours when I'm bopping around LT, as you say. :-)
Now you are in Asheville and Booktopia starts soon (tomorrow? Thursday?). And yes, I'm so excited about the great Scotland trip that I can hardly contain myself. ONE MORE DAY of work!! Hooray!!

>99 scaifea: Amber, I love family and it is good to have them gone. After the nephew and his wife and son, BIL and wife came for a couple of days. I'm looking forward to the quiet time on the West Highland Way!

>100 maggie1944: Hi Karen! We are in full agreement about depression and about A Month in the Country. :-)
Pay day #4, way to go!

>101 streamsong: streamsong, you echo my sentiments. Depression does not discriminate.

>104 richardderus: I think you will like An Officer and a Spy, Richard. When I saw your post, my initial thought was "oh, I'll send it to him!" Alas, my copy was a library book. It just took me a second or two to remember that. :-|

>105 Chatterbox: Well put, Suz. I think about Robin Williams' "manic humor" and now it seems "easy" to see behind it just a little bit. I'm not sure that makes sense but it's what you're saying about masking and deflecting. Putting on a brave and funny face, trying to find meaning when he was apparently feeling so alone.... sigh.

>106 BLBera: It's been a few days now, Beth (my absence), and I think there has been a bit of coverage (which Suz shares in >107 Chatterbox: -- thanks for the links, Suz!). For those of us doing prevention work with at-risk folks, it can be nervous-making to see how media outlets will cover it. Contagion is a real phenomenon. I do think this is an opportunity and some good discussions about the universality of depression are occurring. Let's hope it continues.

>107 Chatterbox: Suz, I totally agree. Right after Sandy Hook, I naively thought something would shift with regard to gun control. Not so much. I fear that momentum is hard to sustain.

>108 maggie1944: Karen, I posted that image with the "Genie, you're free" comment on my FB page and someone asked for my professional opinion about whether it conveyed that suicide is a way to be free from pain. My response was this: "It's hard to say. He was clearly in a tremendous amount of pain and had been in & out of rehab. I fully embrace the "it gets better" mantra because it almost always *does* get better. But RW was 63, he knew the ups & downs of life. Not sure this is my professional opinion as much as my personal reaction. Sometimes I just have to react as a person." I think you're spot on when you say it's complicated.

>109 brenzi: Hey Bonnie. Scotland is almost here! Or, I'm almost there!! :-) In either case, I'm very excited!!

>112 richardderus: and >113 cameling: I think your envy is well-placed, Richard and Caro. I'm feeling very lucky.

>113 cameling: Caro, see my review of Barracuda above in >125 EBT1002:. I really struggled with whether to give it 3 or 3.5 stars. In the end, I gave him a half-star nod for courage and for engaging my attention despite myself. :-)

>114 maggie1944: That would be green (dragon), right, Karen!?

>115 Carmenere: Lynda, thank you for the vacay wishes!

>116 Chatterbox: Suz, I did not purchase that Kindle yet. So I'm having to decide which books to carry with me. And, of course, I've scoped out a couple of bookstores in Glasgow. We'll be spending a couple of complete days there before we head to the start of the hike. I mean, we'll be spending a couple of days in Glasgow, not a couple of days in the bookstores. Although.....

>117 maggie1944: Oh Karen, the camera. That is a whole 'nother story. I did figure out how to use it as a wi-fi hotspot but the details of actual photo-shooting are a bit overwhelming. I'm just not that much of a detail person. And, I now remember that I was going to practice the wi-fi thing (I had to find a video on line and watch it twice; the manual was useless!). Too many things to do!

>118 DeltaQueen50: Definitely excited, Judy!

>119 Donna828: Donna, that is so sweet. Most of the places we'll be staying will have wi-fi so I'll try to stay in touch a wee bit. I'm not taking my laptop, though, so it will be iPhone-dependent. I may be fairly silent for the next 3 weeks....

>120 DorsVenabili: Yes, Kerri, they did! It was fun to see them finding their rhythm, even in a pre-season game. It will be weird to miss the first game (or two?) of the real season.

>121 ChelleBearss: Thank you, Chelle! Nice to see you!

>124 luvamystery65: Lordy, Roberta, no apologies to me are necessary for being absent for a while. I feel like my time on LT has plummeted in the past year and the past few weeks have been among the worst. I have such good intentions but RL is demanding and busy and I really am trying to get in some reading....
In any case, I'm glad you stopped by!

Whew. Caught up. Of course, all bets are off for the next month or so. Tomorrow (Weds) P is taking me out for a nice dinner at one of our favorite Italian restaurants. We're taking along a bottle of Brunello which we purchased several years ago and have been saving for a special occasion. My birthday (a couple of days belated) and the night before a wonderful trip seem like together they form a special-enough occasion.

Meanwhile, I've started reading Still Midnight and I'm trying to decide which books to take with me to Scotland.

Happy belated birthday (I think) and have a safe trip!

Ellen - What Kerri said. I hope you had a great birthday, with many, many more. Have a wonderful, safe trip. I hope you'll share the highlights when you get back. Are you still interested in The Mind's Eye? If so, I'll mail it -- maybe wait until you're back?

Ellen, Ellen, Ellen: take it from a crazed photograph buff - if the new camera is too daunting, take a small point and shoot. They are so much better than they used to be! Now you can take excellent photographs with them, and they are small, and light weight, and will not be ignored because they are too complicated. Please find time to pick one up, maybe even at the airport?

Have a wonderful trip!

Will we hear from you, or do we have to hold our collective breath until you've finished the hiking?

Happy Belated Birthday, Ellen! Hope you had a great dinner with P.

Getting very close to the big trip, yes?

Hi Ellen, sorry for not commenting for so long, I've visited and lurked many a time, but on my iPad, from which I don't like to type as it somehow inserts commas and weird characters all the time and generally makes typing a real pain, so that I had to hold off for a while.

So... a belated Happy Birthday for starters. And Wow, trip! So soon!

Sorry An Officer and a Spy lost it's steam for you in the end, but you still found it a great read... awesome!

On my part, I just received delivery of A Month in the Country yesterday, so will try to fit it in soon, seeing what a tiny volume it is.

As for Robin Williams, I must say it hit me quite hard last week, and it lingers with me still. As I've said a few times, it felt like losing a war buddy of sorts, though of course we didn't know each other, though we fought similar battles. I know my mum, who's also been a life-long depression sufferer took it very badly (says she cried about it like a baby all day when the news broke out, although she wasn't particularly a fan or anything), and Suz and I exchanged a few words about it on FB, and yes, I did find people were rather quiet about it here on LT. I'd posted about it on my thread, but barely got any responses about it. I guess most people don't know what to say when it comes to depression, never mind suicide. Not pleasant subjects, to be sure, and nobody has any answers. In light of the news about his Parkinson's it seems like he probably felt like it was just one more thing he just couldn't cope with. But I'd always found he looked so terribly sad, even/especially when he was smiling... always that downturned mouth of his. Don't know that I have anything useful to add. Just feelings I don't know how to express.

Whether you post from overseas or not, I hope we get to see plenty of pictures from your travels!

Oh my goodness, have I missed the grand farewell!!!?? I remember when this trip was just a twinkle in your eye :)

Travel well, have fun, soak up the highlands, have a baked potato in Edinbugh (I recall mine fondly). I hope you can get a few posts in with pictures too!!? (too demanding?) See you soon!

Have a wonderful trip!

Keeping the thread warm and cozy while Ellen and P. are happily vacationing in Scotland. I am surely wishing I were a little birdy sitting on one of their shoulders.

Have a great trip, Ellen! Check in whenever you can. Hugs!

Completed Still Midnight. Started The Human Stain for Mark's AAC. Doing LT on my iPhone is untenable. Scotland is fabulous.

Yes, LT on the phone is not advised. Please continue to have a lovely and safe trip!

Wow, news from Scotland is certainly unexpected! Happy travels!

~~~~ waving hello !!!

I'm starting to read some in The Bully Pulpit - book club's book for October. A big tome! It may take me the 5-6 weeks from now until then....

How is the shin doing?

Looking forward to photos!

Hope you're having a wonderful time!

Oh boy oh boy oh boy they're there and I cannot WAIT for photos!!

Glad to hear that you're safely arrived. Enjoy Scotland! :-)

Glad that Scotland is fun! Enjoy.

Enjoy your holidays Ellen! Looking forward to the photos.

Have a great time, Ellen!

Hi Ellen, I am picturing you among the heather, surrounded by breathtaking scenery and with bagpipes playing in the background! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Hope you're having a spectacular time!!!

"Scotland is fabulous"

Hooray! We have word, however brief ;)

Finished The Human Stain. A surprising four stars.
Starting We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves this evening.

We're halfway done with the West Highland Way. Tired feet. Happy souls.

Ellen, I hope the weathet is fime. Enjoy it!

>160 EBT1002: - "Tired feet. Happy souls."

Sounds about right!!

Thanks for checking in with us. Happy to read you are content.

Whew! I'm amazed you even manage to keep in touch at all Ellen. I can't begin to fathom the sights you must get all around you on a daily basis. Must be amazing. Totally awesome. Those words get overused, but I'm sure they take on their full meaning where you are. I'm hoping for lots of pics when you get back!

"Tired feet. Happy souls." I love it. Happy walking. I'll be anxious to hear more about The Human Stain.

Glad you are having a nice time!

Oho! The Human Stain delivers! Have even more of a wonderful time.

Half-way done--guess the shin must be holding up!

" Tired feet. Happy souls" sounds like vacation success to me!

Hi Ellen! Just checking in for updates. 'Tired feet. Happy souls' sounds like a good time is being had. Carry on!

Just checking in to say I hope you are continuing to have a wonderful time! We all love and miss you around here! :)

Love the motto, "tired feet; happy souls." Sounds like your kind of heaven!

"Tired feet; happy souls" is pretty much the perfect combination.

Happy trails for the second half!!!

Late! Late! late!! But I love the sound of "Tired feet; happy souls." Keep it up!

Tired feet. Happy souls Yes! Sounds great, Ellen. An adventure of a lifetime for you and P.

Well, we did it. I've posted a gazillion photos on FB but I don't know if any of you with whom I'm also connected on FB can post a few of them here for me. It might not let you. And you might have better things to do. :-) But posting photos here with my wee iPhone just isn't feasible.

The walk was AMAZING. Unlike anything I've experienced before -- that goes without saying, but it's impossible to describe. Day 6 of 8 was perhaps my favorite although every single day held something awe-inspiring and remarkable and beautiful. Day 6 was 13 miles across the Rannoch Moor, the most vast, wild, windswept landscape imaginable. Every step was breathtaking.

Oh, and books! I've finished We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and gave it a slightly ambivalent 4 stars. Today on the train back from Mallaig (more beautiful scenery) I started The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. I can tell I'm going to like it.

Tomorrow we bus to Inverness where we rent a car for a few days. My new mantra: Drive on the left.

And I just read that I've been selected to receive a copy of Hilary Mantel's The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories. Hooray!!

Congratulations.

Our Real Life Book group has cancelled our Monday meeting for want of people attending. I'm off to continue trying to read The Bully Pulpit by the October meeting.

So very glad to hear from you here, Ellen! Happy trails!

I'm dying to see the photos and would have been happy to help you post them here, but just realizing we're not FB friends (yet). Hope you'll allow me into that circle! Good going on the Hilary Mantel story collection!

>175 EBT1002: wow, that is fantastic! (your amazing walk)
I love 'tired feet happy souls'. Just as it should be. I am not friends with you on facebook either- you don't usually go on there do you? But I would post some pics if I could, as we are all dying to see some/.

Glad you made it throughout the strenuous part of the trip, shin or no! Enjoy the rest and we'll see your pictures when you get back. I'm really looking forward to that.

WooHoo for finishing the walk! What an accomplishment!

Ellen asked for some help posting some the pics from her Scotland trip from FB onto her thread. There are over 150 photos to choose from and and I don't know which she would have preferred to show here, so I'll post a small selection and hope she'll be happy with my choices! Here goes (includes Ellen's comments):


Day One: Milngavie to Drymen. 12 miles. Done.


The Pot Still, our favorite pub in Glasgow. Twice we had locals chat us up & buy us a drink.


First part of Day One. Leaving the suburbs.


Day One: beautiful countryside and the Glengoyne Distillery.

More to come in next post...

Thanks, Ilana! Looking forward to more. Looks great, Ellen!

Day two: Drymen to Rowardennan.


Day Two: approaching Conic Hill at the south end of Loch Lomand.


Day two: killer steps over a ridge near the end of a 14-mile day. And we had already climbed Conic Hill.


At the end of Day two: the Rowardennan Inn and the view from our room.

More to come in next post...

>184 jnwelch: Joe, she's got so many great photos, it's really hard to choose, but I'm relying on my photo editor skills from my magazine days and hoping she'll be happy with what I've done, then figure if there's anything she would have wanted to show, she can post those when she gets home, right? More coming...

It's been a real treat looking through all these in high resolution on the iPad let me tell you!

Day 3 started off misty.


Day 3: The Way was a bit muddy but the loch and woods lovely.


Day 3: views from the north end of Loch Lomand.


Day 5: Crianlarich to Bridge of Orchy. Weather gradually improving. Wild & vast farmland.


Day 5: Bridge of Orchy (and River Orchy).

More to come in next post...

Day 6: Bridge of Orchy to King's House. 13 amazing miles. This is in the early part of the day.


Day 6: much of today's trek was on 18th century military roads, built so that my English ancestors could subdue my Scottish ancestors.


Day 6: cairn at the top of the day's hike on Rannoch Moor.


Day 7: At the top of Devil's Staircase. The highest point on the West Highland Way.

I hope Ellen won't mind; I found this photo so astounding that I did a bit of photo editing to saturate the colours slightly, in hopes it'll look more like what the camera couldn't translate...


Day 7: The iconic Glen Coe.

Ilana, you did a wonderful job of choosing and posting a selection of photos. I'm laughing that there are no photos from Day 4. It was our short day (only 7 miles) and it pretty much poured all day. But it was the only full-on rainy day we had. We got SO lucky!!
Nice job posting -- thank you!

Gorgeous photos, Ellen. Thanks for posting them Ilana.

Gorgeous pictures -- I've been so enjoying my vicarious travels. How goes the driving on the left, thus far?

Lovely photos! Glad you haven't been having too much rain.

Beautiful photos, Ellen. I think Scotland may be my spiritual homeland! Ilana, thank you so much for posting Ellen's pictures here.

You beat me to it, Ilana...the picture posting, that is. You chose well out of so many fantastic pictures. Ellen, this was truly the trip of a lifetime. So many memories for you and P. We miss you!

Great job, Ilana. Thank you!!

OOh! Oh! Oh!!!!
Those are such wonderful pictures in the first place, and Ilana, you obviously chose well. My little five-eighths Scottish heart is beating fast. Gorgeous! Gorgeous! Gorgeous!!!!!! ---- and a couple of handsome women too, I must say.

Wow! and Holy Cow!

The pictures are great and actually being there was the trip of a lifetime. So glad all went well and looks like it lived up to all your expectations :-)

I'll take Day Two! but they all look amazing...

Beautiful photos!! Makes me want to go there!!
Glad you are having a great time :)

Just lovely! And the weather looks quite familiar!

BTW, Go SEAHAWKS. (watching, end of 1st Q)

Thanks for all the thanks, it was really my pleasure to help out, given I had the spare time to do it, and looking over the photos a few times did satisfy my wish for greener pastures vicariously.

Hi Ellen - Beautiful photos. It all looks wonderful. Enjoy the rest of the trip and come home safely.

Such gorgeous photos, Ellen!

Forgive the potentially silly, silly question, but is this the same route taken in the Emilio Estevez movie, The Way? I loved the movie, but I can't quite remember the setting for it.

Amazing photos! Great job, Ilana.

What a fantastic trip, Ellen! It sure looks like my kind of place.

I believe the Estevez movie is set in Spain.

Great photos, Ellen. What a trip! I'd love to try that some day.

>205 maggie1944: *SNORK!* I was way off! Clearly I need to watch it again...

#203
That movie was set on the pilgrimage trail to Santiago de Compostela. It is a movie that I would like to see.

>208 benitastrnad: You should - it's really lovely, but be prepared to cry...

Wow! Awesome photos!

Are you ever coming back, or did you move there? :-)

I hope the driving went well! I was in London for 24 hours once and couldn't get used to keeping left on staircases and escalators, so I can't even imagine the driving.

Ellen, I wish you a gorgeous weekend.

Loving the photos - thanks so much Ilana!

What Kerri said. We miss you. Also, you are very brave to drive. And thanks for Byrd! It was a wonderful little book.

Holiday Reading Update:

55. Still Midnight by Denise Mina

56. The Human Stain by Philip Roth

57. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

58. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

59. The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

>215 EBT1002: #59 Not gonna be an Erast Fandorin fan, huh?

Sending you and P no-jet-lag whammys!

I'm back! I'm jet-lagged as hell. This is the second day in a row on which I've gotten out of bed before 6am when I don't have to go to work!! Yesterday we roared around unpacking and tidying and filling our empty refrigerator with vegetables and thoroughly cleaning the cat boxes and all those things you do after almost 3 weeks away. Today we have a few other projects we want to do before I go back to work tomorrow. Blerg.

I received my Early Reviewer copy of The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel so I'll start reading that today, too. My copy has the front and back covers reversed (is this a publisher trick for ARCs?) and it does not contain the title story. I knew that in advance and I'm surprised at how disappointed I am. How can I evaluate a collection of short stories when the title story is not available? Hrmph.

Rather than respond to each individual post here, I think I will set aside some time today to start a new thread and I plan to download some more photos which I will share (but I want to acknowledge Beth, Lucy, Barbara, Kerri, Rhonda, Amber, Benita, Joe, Karen, Mark, Ilana, Chelle, Cee, Peggy, Donna, Laura, Judy, Rhian, Marianne, Roni, Megan, Richard, Suz, Tina, Juli, Katie, Joanne, Mark, and Janet -- all of whom visited and posted while I was away). And to answer >203 scaifea: Amber's question, I haven't seen the movie but I think Karen is right that The Way was about a 500-mile trail in Spain, the Camino de Santiago (?). In any case, I have a friend who just retired who is currently on her way to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago. She is taking 7 weeks to complete it. I'm terribly envious!

I am SO pleased that Ilana was able (and willing!) to post some photos while I was still away. It's very cool to see them here on my laptop. I couldn't tell on my iPhone how they had translated and I'm very pleased! Looking at them takes me back to particular moments on the 96-mile, 8-day trek. So, Ilana, THANK YOU!!

The walk was truly amazing. If it had been a book it would absolutely have earned five full stars: profound and life-altering.

>216 richardderus: Richard, I really wanted to like this one. It had excellent moments but all in all I decided I would not likely invest in reading him again, so....

>211 DorsVenabili: "Are you ever coming back, or did you move there?" Oh, Kerri, it was SO tempting! But no, we did not move there. We did start fantasizing about spending six months there after retirement..... Heh.

Driving on the left ended up being relatively easy. Learning to shift with my left hand took some doing and when I got in my car here to drive, I kept looking for the gearshift on the left (and we have an automatic transmission!).

Welcome home, Ellen. It must be tough to be heading back into work tomorrow, I always find it takes me a few days to get back into the home rhythms after being away for a length of time. Your trip sounded just about perfect and you and P will have lots of memories to look back on.

Ellen, it really was entirely my pleasure to post the photos for you. I felt, in a small way, like I was somehow joining you in the trip, and looking over and over at the photographs to make sure I chose my favourite ones really gave me a good feel for the places you visited, so really, it was all quite a selfish thing I did! :-)

DO let me know what other photos you'd like me to apply my 'magic wand' to. I know the camera all too often doesn't translate what the eye sees and a bit of external intervention is needed to bring back what was lost in the process. I'll be happy to do what I can. xx

Welcome back!

>220 EBT1002: Manual transmission while shifting with your left hand = pretty bad-ass! I drove a car in Italy and that was terrifying (mostly because people drive like lunatics), but at least it was a keep to the right situation.

>221 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy! I'm glad that I intentionally made my first day back in the office a Friday. I also scheduled NO meetings (this never happens) so that I can catch up on email and just do conversation with colleagues who I know will want to reconnect. Then I get a weekend. :-)

And yes, the memories are amazing. I find myself going over details of the trip over and over, hoping to cement those memories!

>222 Smiler69: Ilana, I'm glad you enjoyed the project. :-) I will definitely let you know other photos on which I'd like you to work your magic. One thing the camera absolutely fails to capture is that the heath was all in bloom. Even to the human eye, a hillside covered with blooming heath is sort of blackish purple, but the purple hue does not come through in the photos.

>223 DorsVenabili: Thank you, Kerri! Yes, I felt rather bad-ass driving around Scotland's narrow winding roads, shifting with my left hand and staying to the left. I'm SO right-handed.

I drove in Italy back in 2007 and it was much scarier. I agree with you -- they drive like lunatics. I remember being on the expressway and if you don't get back in the right lane the instant you (barely) finish passing someone, you get yourself honked at with serious emphasis.

Okay, I have to upload some computer updates and I'm trying to read the first story in Hilary Mantel's collection, but then I will start my new thread. Oh, and I have to transfer some more photos from our "real" camera to my phone so that I can transfer them to the computer. Modern life is so complicated.

Oh, one more comment. I went for a 3.5-mile run this morning and damn! I felt so strong! Hiking 100 miles in 8 days was apparently good for me. :-)

Welcome back Ellen - You and Kerri are much braver than I. I would NEVER drive in Italy - they are crazy. Good luck coming back to the real world. I missed you.

Ellen, I don't think you have to take photographs off your camera on to your phone to put them on here. You can put your photographs from your camera onto your computer. I think there is "an easier, softer way".

I am delighted you had a great time!!!!

Welcome back home, Ellen. It looks like you had a wonderful time in Scotland.

Yay, you're back and posting!!! Glad to see you and to hear that you're getting yourself back together for the real world after having been elsewhere. I'm looking forward to the new thread and more pictures.

I have no doubt you must be in some kind of MEAN shape with all that walking you did on that wonderful trip of yours. I mean... didn't you have to train up to make sure you could handle it to begin with?! Bravo!

Wow, I wish I had Ilana's knack with photo editing software!! That's a fab pic of Glencoe -- and what a wonderful trip. I'm so glad it lived up to all the expectations!!!

Glad you're settling in, Ellen. Totally understand the jet lag and waking up too early ( we're gradually adjusting to the 6 hrs ahead here - getting up early is the hard part).

Can't believe you drove a left-handed stick shift on the left hand side! We're constantly on hyper-alert just walking in the city, worried about our wrong instincts for the reverse traffic flow.

Sorry I didn't get back here yesterday to set up a new thread & post more photos. I went into a total mood dive in the afternoon. Work today, I suppose. That, and I couldn't set up our camera to transfer pics to P's PC. Our camera has wifi but our router is an Apple AirPort which doesn't have an access point button. Grr.

Anyway, I read the first 3 stories in the Mantel collection & two of them were excellent. I also started The Furies by Natalie Haynes. I'll keep reading the latter on the bus this morning but the first 13 pages were not promising.

The weekend approaches. :-)

>232 jnwelch: Can't believe you drove a left-handed stick shift on the left hand side!
It's actually rather amazing when you try it, how quickly your brain flips everything around for you and it all just makes sense. Not the first time -- that's hair-raising -- but once you've successfully done it you can move back and forth relatively easily. My biggest problem is walking up to the wrong side of the car to get in, but once I'm in the driver's seat I'm OK.

But don't get me started on the narrow country roads!

The left-hand side of the road thing reminded me of the time I was in Northern Ireland and missed a country Ulster Bus in County Antrim because I was standing on the wrong side of the road waiting. I was directly under the bus sign but didn't figure out what I had done until almost an hour later. Fortunately I had a book with me to pass the time until I figured it out. I did get the right bus eventually.

Ellen, I wish you a lovely weekend.

>235 benitastrnad: ha! That's a great story!

Well. I finally found out that I could just insert the memory card into the side of P's computer and directly download the photos. I feel really silly. BUT, this is progress. :-)

Yes. That reminds me of almost all of my interactions with tech. I almost always say something like, "oh, duh, right there in front of my nose".

I'm glad you learned how easy it is.

>226 BLBera: Beth, I encourage you to keep Italy on your list of places to visit. The driving is not so bad in the rural parts of the country. :-)
And thanks for welcoming me back.

>227 maggie1944: Hi Karen, see my comment above. Why I wasted all that time trying to do wirelessly something that was so EASY when done the old fashioned way, well, I can't explain.

>228 Ameise1: Hi Barbara, and thank you. The word that keeps coming to mind to describe our Scotland adventure is "AMAZING." :-)

>229 LizzieD: Hi Peggy and thanks for the enthusiastic welcome words! I know that work will (sigh) be busy in the coming months but I'm going to try to keep up a bit more regularly around here.

>230 Smiler69: Thank you, Ilana. We did a lot of walking in the last several months getting ready and over the course of the 8 days on the Way I could definitely feel my legs getting even stronger. I went for another run this morning and it feels good to feel this strong.

>231 Chatterbox: Hi Suz. I agree that the photo of Glencoe is pretty fabulous (and made more so with Ilana's assistance). It turns out that we took about 600 photos. No wonder it took 8 days to complete the walk!

>232 jnwelch: Hey Joe! It sounds like you're having a good time over there in the UK. We saw lots of "YES" signs throughout Scotland; I wonder if there is any talk about the vote for independence there in England.

I always love it when cities in the UK have "Look Left" and "Look Right" at zebra crossings. Very helpful.

>234 lauralkeet: "My biggest problem is walking up to the wrong side of the car to get in, but once I'm in the driver's seat I'm OK."
I totally agree, Laura. Also, I kept reaching over the wrong shoulder to get the shoulder belt. The narrow roads (with "passing places") are a hoot and an adventure.

>235 benitastrnad: Great story, Benita! I'm glad you had a book with you (don't we usually have books with us?). :-)

>236 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara. Dinner with BIL & SIL last evening, an excellent 3-mile-run this morning (and it's a GORGEOUS day in Seattle!!), lunch at our favorite Mexican bistro, and the Washington Huskies are trouncing Illinois in football. So far the weekend is indeed being lovely.

>237 lauralkeet: I agree!

>239 maggie1944: Karen, thank you for not ribbing me as much as I deserve.... ;-)

In books:

The Furies by Natalie Haynes has picked up and I am enjoying it. It's set in Edinburgh, which I'm assuming is what motivated me to put it on hold at the library. I had been feeling like the writing, itself, was rather pedestrian, but I'm realizing that the narrative voice is exactly what the protagonist would sound like, and there are some nice subtleties emerging.

I also read another story in the Hilary Mantel collection and it continues to satisfy. I'll try to finish it in the next couple of days and write a formal review (must keep enhancing my chances of getting ER books that I request).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Time for that new thread!

>240 EBT1002: I wonder if there is any talk about the vote for independence there in England.
There is certainly a lot in our house. If the 'yes' votes goes through I am quite concerned on its effect on the politics of the remainder of the UK. The 'no' camp is ahead at the moment, but some of the polls are very close indeed.