Smiler Marks Her Reading Spot - Part 10

 
More from artist Catrin Welz-Stein: "Imagination" and "My first Origami Crane". She posts her work at: catrinwelzstein.blogspot.ca


Table of Contents:
• Reading Plans
• Books Completed September-December
• Books Completed May-August
• Books Completed January-April
• Picked for Me!
• American Authors Challenge
• WWI Centenary Reading
• Additional Books I'd like to read in 2014
• A Century of Books!
• Ongoing Series
• Booker Prize Books
• Reading Bingo
• Books Purchased Jan-Mar
• Books Purchased April-June
• Books Purchased July-October

Currently reading, listening to, and occasionally browsing through:
✔ Slightly Foxed: No. 23: Social Climbing by Gail Pirkis, Hazel Wood (Editors)
♫ Breakfast With Lucian: A Portrait of the Artist by Geordie Greig
✔ Greenwitch by Susan Cooper

    


Favourites of 2014: (★★★★½ and up)
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng ★★★★★ (review)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - reread tutored read
Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household (review)
The New York Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton
Lady Susan by Jane Austen (review)
Love and Freindship (sic) by Jane Austen (review)
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy - reread (review)
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan (review)
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (tutored read)
Restoration by Rose Tremain ★★★★★ (review)
The Quick by Lauren Owen (ARC) ★★★★★ (review)
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (review)
Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson (review)
Dissolution by C. J. Samson (review)
The Unstrung Harp: Or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel by Edward Gorey ★★★★★
Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ★★★★★
Treehorn Times Three by Florence Parry Heide & Edward Gorey
Merivel by Rose Tremain
Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling (reread)
The Bird King: An Artist's Notebook by Shaun Tan
Aya by Marguerite Abouet, illustrated by Clément Oubrerie
A Café on the Nile by Bartle Bull
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
The Waiting Game by Bernice Reubens
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar

My 31 Most Memorable Reads of 13

My rating system:
★ : Hated it! (May or may not have finished it)
★★ : It was just ok...
★★★ : Enjoyed it (Good)
★★★★ : Loved it! (Very good)
★★★★½ : Loved it—must read again! (Excellent)
★★★★★ : Brilliant!—will read again, and again... and again! (All-time favourite)

⅛ ¼ ⅓ ½ ¾ ⅞

♫ = audiobook
✔ = off the shelf
❉ = library book
ⓔ = eBook
☀ = TIOLI




Reserving first 15 posts for organizational needs. Also helps in post rankings ;-)

Reading Plans for October:

✔ Love-Letters Between A Nobleman And His Sister (Volume II) by Aphra Behn (tutored read) - COMPLETED
✭♫ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - TIOLI #15: Either a character or the author is named Henry (Henry Baker) - COMPLETED
✪✔ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - TIOLI #5: S and a T in the title that you've never read before - COMPLETED
✪♫+✔ A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel - Picked for Me! - TIOLI #12: by an author whose last book you loved - COMPLETED
✪ⓔ Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar - Net Galley - TIOLI #5 - COMPLETED
✪♫+✔ The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton - AAC - TIOLI#4: Read a book that is older than you - COMPLETED
✪✔ Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami - GR - TIOLI #5 - COMPLETED
✭✔ The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens - TIOLI #7: starts with a letter of HALLOWEEN in rolling order, A Century of Books! - COMPLETED
✪♫ The Children Act by Ian McEwan - TIOLI #2: A book with blood on the cover - COMPLETED
✪♫ The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier - TIOLI #8: Re-read a book you read for the first time at least 10 years ago (shared read)- COMPLETED
✭♫ Grave Peril by Jim Butcher - TIOLI #13
✭♫ Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor - TIOLI #13
✪♫ Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - TIOLI #6: historical fiction published prior to 1950
✪♫ Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson - TIOLI #8
✪♫ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - TIOLI#4 - COMPLETED
✪♫ On the Road by Jack Kerouac - TIOLI #11: a book that changed the world
✪♫ Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan - TIOLI #19: a cheese name in the title or author's name (Saga), A Century of Books! - COMPLETED
✪♫ Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris - TIOLI #7 - COMPLETED

Spur of the moment:
✭♫ The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien - TIOLI #9: won the Heartland Prize- COMPLETED
❉ The Ironwood Tree by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black - TIOLI #1: a species of bird named in the narrative - COMPLETED
✭♫ The Graveyard Book (Full-Cast Production) by Neil Gaiman (Reread) - TIOLI #13 - COMPLETED
✭❉ Amphigorey Also by Edward Gorey - TIOLI #12 - COMPLETED
❉ⓔ Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey - TIOLI #5 - COMPLETED

***

Reading Plans for November:

✭*♫ Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky - Picked for Me!, TIOLI#10: a book as an act of remembrance
✭♫ The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan - TIOLI #4: an author whose publication career spanned at least 15 years
✭✔ Greenwitch by Susan Cooper - TIOLI ##3: Read a novella from your TBR collection (purchased or acquired prior to 1/1/14), A Century of Books! - Reading
✪*✔ Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant - Picked for Me!, TIOLI #12: one plural word in the title
✭✔ Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor - TIOLI #4, A Century of Books!
✭❉ⓔ Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood - TIOLI #5: embedded word in the title (mat)
✭❉ Dora Bruder / The Search Warrant by Patrick Modiano - TIOLI #4
✭❉ The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt - TIOLI #4
✭❉ Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill - TIOLI #14: Title contains an object or noun from a children's nursery rhyme or hand game
✭❉+♫ Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - TIOLI #5
♫ Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis - AMC, A Century of Books!
✭♫ Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth - TIOLI #11: a book which represents a modern fairy tale or is based on a classic fairy tale
✭♫ The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri - TIOLI #14
✭♫ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling - TIOLI #14
✭♫ Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming - TIOLI #14
✭♫ Firesong by William Nicholson - TIOLI #16: a Dystopian Novel
✭♫ The Wall by Marlen Haushofer - TIOLI #16
✭♫ Breakfast with Lucian: A Portrait of the Artist by Geordie Greig - TIOLI #8: a book in which a major character shares your profession - Listening
✭♫ The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth - TIOLI #14
✭♫ Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne - TIOLI #1: Read a book with at least one element (earth, water, fire, wind, sky) in the title
✭♫ Chess Story by Stefan Zweig - TIOLI #3, A Century of Books!
✭❉ Essex County Volume 1: Tales From The Farm by Jeff Lemire - TIOLI #13: title completes the phrase "I am thankful for..."
✭❉ Essex County Volume 2: Ghost Stories by Jeff Lemire - TIOLI #13

***

* = Picked for Me challenge
** = Picked for Me challenge extra picks
♫ = audiobook
✔ = off the shelf
❉ = library book
ⓔ = eBook
✭ = TIOLI
✪ = Shared TIOLI

Books completed in October
189. ♫ Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan ★★★★⅓ (review)
190. ♫ The Children Act by Ian McEwan ★★★½ (review)
191. ♫ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ★★★★⅓
192. ✔ Slightly Foxed: 43: The Flight in the Heather by Gail Pirkis & Hazel Wood (Editors)
193. ♫ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson ★★★ (review)
194. ❉ The Ironwood Tree by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black ★★★★ (review)
195. ✔ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley ★★★★½
196. ❉ Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins ★★★★ (review)
197. ♫ The Graveyard Book (Full-Cast Production) by Neil Gaiman (Reread) ★★★★★
198. ❉ Amphigorey Also by Edward Gorey ★★★★
199. ✔ The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens ★★★★⅓
200. ♫ The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton ★★★★
201. ⓔ Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar ★★★★½ (review)
202. ♫ Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris ★★★½
203. ❉ⓔ Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey ★★★★⅓ (review)
204. ♫ The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier ★★★★
205. ✔ Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami ★★★★⅓
206. ✔ Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister (Volume II) by Aphra Behn (tutored read) ★★★★⅓
207. ♫ A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel ★★★★⅓
208. ♫ The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien ★★★★

Books completed in September
170. ♫ The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith ★★★★
171. ✔ Slightly Foxed: No. 22: Don't Give Up the Day Job by Gail Pirkis & Hazel Wood (Editors) ★★★★(review)
172. ❉ La Nuit du carrefour / Maigret at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon ★★★★⅓ (review)
173. ♫ A Five Year Sentence by Bernice Rubens ★★★½ (review)
174. ♫ Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud ★★★½
175. ⓔ The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann ★★★½ (review)
176. ♫ Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris ★★★★½
177. ♫ Night Soldiers by Alan Furst ★★★¾
178. ✔ A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr ★★★★ (review)
179. ♫ Rounding the Mark by Andrea Camilleri ★★★½
180. ♫ Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin ★★★★
181. ♫ The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters ★★★★⅓ (review)
182. ♫ Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen ★★★½
183. ✔ The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell ★★★★
184. ♫ The Patience of the Spider by Andrea Camilleri ★★★½
185. ♫ Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell ★★★★⅓ (review)
186. ❉ Un Crime en Hollande / Maigret in Holland by Georges Simenon ★★★½ (review)
187. ✔ Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister by Aphra Behn ★★★★⅓ (tutored read)
188. ♫ Scarlet by Marissa Meyer ★★★★

Unfinished
♫ A Test of Wills by Charles Todd
♫ The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Unseen Guest by Maryrose Wood (will read in print)

Books completed in August
142. ♫ The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri (reread) ★★★½
143. ❉ The Bird King: An Artist's Notebook by Shaun Tan ★★★★½
144. ❉ Aya by Marguerite Abouet, illustrated by Clément Oubrerie ★★★★½ (review)
145. ♫ The Persimmon Tree by Bryce Courtennay ★★★★
146. ❉ Aya of Yop City by Marguerite Abouet, illustrated by Clément Oubrerie ★★★★⅓ (review)
147. ♫ Cinder by Marissa Meyer ★★★★ (review)
148. ❉ Aya: The Secrets Come Out: Volume 3 by Marguerite Abouet, illustrated by Clément Oubrerie ★★★★ (review)
149. ♫ Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue by John McWhorter ★★★½ (review)
150. ✔ Slightly Foxed: No. 42: Small World by Gail Pirkis & Hazel Wood (Editors) ★★★½
151. ❉ Aya de Yopougon: Volume 4 by Marguerite Abouet, illustrated by Clément Oubrerie ★★★★ (review)
152. ♫ The Voice of the Violin by Andrea Camilleri ★★★★ (review)
153. ✔ A Café on the Nile by Bartle Bull ★★★★½ (review)
154. ♫ The Burning Bridge: Ranger's Apprentice, Book 2 by John Flanagan ★★★½
155. ❉ Le Chien Jaune / The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon ★★★½
156. ❉ The Pilot and the Little Prince: The Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry by Peter Sís ★★★★ (review)
157. ✔ Amsterdam by Ian McEwan ★★★★½ (review)
158. ♫ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (reread) ★★★½ (review)
159. ♫ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling ★★★★⅓ (Reread)
160. ✔ Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey ★★★★
161. ♫ Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri ★★★★
162. ❉ Amphigorey Again by Edward Gorey ★★★★⅓
163. ♫ The Waiting Game by Bernice Rubens ★★★★½ (review)
164. ❉ Aya de Yopougon, Tome 5 by Marguerite Abouet, illustrated by Clément Oubrerie ★★★★ (review)
165. ❉ Aya de Yopougon, Tome 6 by Marguerite Abouet, illustrated by Clément Oubrerie ★★★★ (review)
166. ♫ The Scent of the Night by Andrea Camilleri ★★★¾
167. ♫ The Good Girl by Mary Kubica ★★ (review)
168. ✔ The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje ★★★★
169. ♫ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling ★★★★

Unfinished
♫ The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

Books completed in July
114. ♫ Au bonheur des dames / Ladies' Paradise by Émile Zola ★★★ (review)
115. ❉ Amphigorey Too by Edward Gorey ★★★★⅓
116. ❉ The Little Prince Graphic Novel by Joann Sfar ★★★★⅓
117. ✔ Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken ★★★★ (review)
118. ❉ Monsieur Gallet décédé / Maigret Stonewalled by Georges Simenon ★★★★ (review)
119. ♫ Legend by Marie Lu ★★★⅓ (review)
120. ✔ Slightly Foxed: No. 21: All Washed Up by by Gail Pirkis & Hazel Wood (Editors)
121. ✔ Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger ★★★⅓
122. ❉ Codex Seraphinianus by Luigi Serafini (review)
123. ♫ Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst ★★★★ (review)
124. ❉ Le pendu de Saint-Pholien / Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets by Georges Simenon ★★★★ (review)
125. ♫ The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith ★★★ (review)
126. ✔ My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier ★★★⅞ (review)
127. ♫ Merivel by Rose Tremain ★★★★½ (review)
128. ❉ La Tête d'un homme / A Man's Head by Georges Simenon ★★★⅓
129. ♫ The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle ★★★½
130. ♫ The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri ★★★★ (reread)
131. ✔ Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett ★★★
132. ♫ Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling ★★★★½ (reread)
133. ✔ Sketches from a Hunter's Album by Ivan Turgenev ★★★★⅓
134. ♫ Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman ★★★★⅓ (review)
135. ♫ The Terracotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri ★★★½ (reread)
136. ♫ Journey Into the Past by Stefan Zweig ★★★★
137. ✔ The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler ★★★½
138. ♫ Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier ★★★★ (review)
139. ♫ Lost for Words by Edward St. Abyn ★★★★
140. ♫ To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee ★★★★ (reread)
141. ✔ Mister Pip by Lloyd Jone ★★★⅞ (review)

Books completed in June
94. ⓔ Revelation by C. J. Sansom ★★★★⅓
95. ✔ Slightly Foxed: No. 20: Shrieks and Floods by Gail Pirkis & Hazel Wood (Editors)
96. ♫ Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson ★★★★ (review)
97. ♫ The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan ★★★★
98. ⓔ Heartstone by C. J. Sansom ★★★★
99. ❉ Amphigorey by Edward Gorey ★★★★½,
includes (among 15 others):
The Unstrung Harp: Or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel by Edward Gorey ★★★★★ (review, sort of)
The Listing Attic by Edward Gorey ★★★★½ ('review' coming up)
The Curious Sofa by Edward Gorey ★★★★½ ('review' coming up)
100. ♫ The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir ★★★★ (review)
101. ✔ The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper ★★★½
102. ✔ Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy L. Sayers ★★★★⅓ (review)
103. ✔ The Day of the Scorpion by Paul Scott ★★★⅓
104. ♫ In the Woods by Tana French ★★★½
105. ♫ A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle ★★★★ (review)
106. ✔ A Russian Journal by John Steinbeck and Robert Capa ★★★½
107. ♫ Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed ★★★★ (review)
108. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ★★★★★ (review)
109. Treehorn Times Three by Florence Parry Heide & Edward Gorey ★★★★½ (review)
110. ❉ Pietr le Letton / Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett by Georges Simenon ★★★★ (review)
111. ✔ Cover Her Face by P. D. James ★★★½
112. ♫ The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning ★★★½
113. ❉ Le charretier de la Providence / Lock 14 by Georges Simenon ★★★★⅓ (review)

Unfinished
♫ Frederica by Georgette Heyer

Books completed in May
78. ♫ March Violets by Philip Kerr ★★★★ (review)
79. ♫ Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye ★★★★ (review)
80. ✔ Slightly Foxed: No. 19: A Lonely Furrow by Gail Pirkis, Hazel Wood (Editors) ★★★★ (review)
81. ✔ Small Island by Andrea Levy ★★★★ (review)
82. ♫ The White Queen by Philippa Gregory ★★★★ (review)
83. ♫ The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson ★★★★ (review)
84. ♫ The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith ★★★½ (review)
85. ⓔ Dissolution by C. J. Samson ★★★★½ (review)
86. ♫ The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley ★★★★
87. ♫ The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell ★★★★
88. ⓔ Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom ★★★★⅓ (review)
89. ♫ Bloody Jack; Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L. A. Meyer ★★★★
90. ♫ The Pale Criminal by Pillip Kerr ★★★ (review)
91. ⓔ Sovereign by C. J. Sansom ★★★★ (review)
92. ⓔ The Italian by Ann Radcliffe (tutored read) ★★★½
93. ♫ Room by Emma Donoghue ★★★½ (review)

Unfinished
♫ The Bees by Laline Paull

Books completed in April
52. ♫ The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope ★★½ (review)
53. ⓔ The Quick by Lauren Owen (ARC) ★★★★★ (review)
54. ✔ Rhyming Life and Death by Amos Oz ★★★★⅓
55. ♫ Frog Music by Emma Donoghue ★★★★⅓ (review)
56. ✔ Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark ★★★⅓ (review)
57. ♫ Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan ★★★★½ (review)
58. ✔ Slightly Foxed: No. 41: Cellmates by Gail Pirkis ★★★★ (review)
59. ❉ Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (tutored read) ★★★★½
60. ✔ The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith ★★★¼ (review)
61. ♫ Restoration by Rose Tremain ★★★★★ (review)
62. ❉ⓔ Wolf Story by William McCleery ★★★⅓ (review)
64. ❉ⓔ The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate ★★★★½ (review)
65. ♫ These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer ★★★★ (review)
66. ♫ In Chancery by John Galsworthy ★★★★
67. ♫ A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin ★★★★
68. ♫ Home by Toni Morrison ★★★½
69. ♫ The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill ★★★¾
70. ♫ The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood ★★★★
71. ✔ Pot-Bouille/Pot Luck by Émile Zola ★★★★ (review)
72. ❉ The Herbarium of the Fairies by Benjamin Lacombe ★★★★
73. ♫ The Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich ★★★★
74. ✔ Coventry by Helen Humphries ★★★★ (review)
75. ✔ Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson ★★★★½ (review)
76. ♫ The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin ★★★★ (review)
77. ✔ King Lear by William Shakespeare (reread) ★★★★⅓

Unfinished
♫ The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
♫ A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley
ⓔ The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller

Books completed in March
34. ❉ Goliath by Tom Gauld ★★★★
35. ♫ The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman ★★★★ (review)
36. ♫ Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler ★★★★
37. ♫ Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty ★★★ (review)
38. ♫ The Dark Frontier by Eric Ambler ★★★¼
39. ♫ The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov ★★★½
40. ⓔ Grumpy Cat by Grumpy Cat ★★★★ (review)
41. ♫ All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy ★★★★⅞ (review)
42. Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin ★★★★ (review)
43. ✔ The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott ★★★
44. ✔ Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout ★★ (review)
45. ✔ Slightly Foxed: 18: The Sensation of Crossing the Street by Gail Pirkis ★★★★ (review)
46. ♫ The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas ★★★★
47. ✔ Native Son by Richard Wright ★★★★ (review)
48. ♫ How It All Began by Penelope Lively ★★★
49. ♫ Le Bal by Irène Nemirovski ★★★★
50. ✔ The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood ★★★★⅓ (review)
51. ♫ The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally

Books completed in February
17. ♫ Longbourn by Jo Baker ★★★★⅓
18. ✔ Nana by Émile Zola ★★★★⅓ (review)
19. ♫ Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch ★★★½
20. ✔ Slightly Foxed: 40: Mellow Fruitfulness by Gail Pirkis ★★★★
21. ♫ The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater ★★★★ (review)
22. ⓔ 420 Characters by Lou Beach ★★★¾ (review)
23. ♫ An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine ★★½ (review)
24. ♫ Lady Audley's Secret Mary Elizabeth Braddon ★★★★ (review)
25. ♫ Tenth of December by George Saunders ★★★¼
26. ✔ Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household ★★★★½ (review)
27. ✔ The New York Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton ★★★★½
28. ♫ Lady Susan by Jane Austen ★★★★½ (review)
29. ⓔ Love and Freindship (sic) by Jane Austen ★★★★½ (review)
30. ♫ Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope ★★★★⅓
31. ♫ Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch ★★★¼
32. ✔ The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West ★★★★⅓ (reread)
33. ♫ The Light of Day by Eric Ambler ★★★★

Unfinished
♫ Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
♫+ⓔ An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
♫ The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Books completed in January
1. ♫ The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell ★★½
2. ♫ Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert ★★★½
3. ✔&♫ Bleak House by Charles Dickens ★★★★
4. ❉ Trouble with Trolls by Jan Brett ★★★★
5. ♫ The Weed the Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley ★★★¾
6. ♫ The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng ★★★★★ (review)
7. ✔ Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons ★★★½
8. ♫ Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë ★★★★½
9. ♫ 1914: A Novel by Jean Echenoz ★★★★
10. ❉ You're All Just Jealous Of My Jetpack by Tom Gauld ★★★★
11. ♫ Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris ★★★★
12. ⓔ O Pioneers! by Willa Cather ★★★½ (review)
13. ♫ The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard ★★★★⅓ (review)
14. ♫ Hygiène de l'assassin by Amélie Nothomb ★ (review)
15. ✔ Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - tutored read with Liz/lyzard ★★★★½
16. ✔ Coriolanus by William Shakespeare ★★★★

Unfinished
♫ Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian (will try again)
♫ Hygiène de l'assassin by Amélie Nothomb

♫ = audiobook
✔ = off the shelf
❉ = library book
ⓔ = eBook
☀ = TIOLI

This is my third year running this challenge, for which I asked my fellow LTers to pick books from my vast tbr. I'm falling a little bit behind with this challenge, but still have plenty of time to catch up.

1. ♫ Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan - picked by Fourpawz2 - COMPLETED
2. ♫ The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng - picked by Donna828 - COMPLETED
3. Sketches From a Hunter's Album by Ivan Turgeniev - picked by sibyx - COMPLETED
4. ♫ The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman - picked by PaulCranswick - COMPLETED
5. Love-Letters Between A Nobleman And His Sister by Aphra Behn - picked by lyzard - Reading
6. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - picked by phebj - COMPLETED
7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - picked by Crazymamie - COMPLETED
8. Coventry by Helen Humphreys - picked by Claudia - COMPLETED
9. A Russian Journal by John Steinbeck - picked by avatiakh - COMPLETED
10. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper - picked by souloftherose - COMPLETED
11. A Café on the Nile by Bartle Bull - picked by Deern - COMPLETED
12. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons - picked by luvamystery65 - COMPLETED
13. Rhyming Life and Death by Amos Oz - picked by Polaris - COMPLETED
14. ♫ Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed - picked my msf59 - COMPLETED
15. Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky - picked by SandDune
16. Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant - picked by calm
17. A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel - picked by kidzdoc - COMPLETED
18. ♫ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers - picked by EBT1002 - COMPLETED
19. Dissolution by CJ Sansom - picked by Chatterbox - COMPLETED
20. Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally - picked by DejaVoo

Extra picks
Some people couldn't pick just one book. This secondary list of extras is one I'll very gladly refer to in guiding some of my reading choices in 2014. I may end up switching items from one list to the other, the point being I'll read at least one book for each person who's done the picking.

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (reread)
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger - both extras from Lucy - COMPLETED
Watership Down by Richard Adams (reread) - extra from Paul
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - extra from Paul
♫ Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling - COMPLETED
♫ The Land Of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll - both extras from Liz
The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller (reread) - extra pick Kerry - Unfinished
♫ The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - extra pick Kerry - COMPLETED
♫ The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett - extra pick by Roberta - COMPLETED
The New York Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton - extra pick by Roberta - COMPLETED
♫ Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje - both extras from Paul Harris - COMPLETED
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim - extra from Rhian
Sula by Toni Morrison
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Babbit by Sinclair Lewis
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson - COMPLETED - all 9 extras from Ellen
♫ Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian - Read January/14 (unfinished)
♫ Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert - COMPLETED
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden - picked by Chatterbox - three extras from Suz

Not doing well with either of these challenges for some reason, but there's always hope I'll get back in the saddle! Definitely reading some Edith Wharton for the AAC this month!

American Authors Challenge

This is Mark's/msf59 baby. Each month will be devoted to a specific author, but as I want to read from my tbr, I've substituted some of the *official* selections with other equally deserving auteurs américains. Here's the list for now:

January: Willa Cather - O Pioneers! - COMPLETED
February: William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner - Gave it up, wasn't in the mood
March: Cormac McCarthy - All the Pretty Horses (reread) - COMPLETED
April: Toni Morrison - Home - COMPLETED
May: (Eudora Welty) Louise Erdrich - The Master Butcher's Singing Club - COMPLETED
June: (Kurt Vonnegut) Paul Auster - Moon Palace
July: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn (reread) or The Autobiography of Mark Twain
August: Philip Roth- American Pastoral
September: James Baldwin - Going to Meet the Man - COMPLETED
October: Edith Wharton - The Custom of the Country - COMPLETED
November: (John Updike) Sinclair Lewis - Elmer Gantry (could be another title)
December: (Larry Watson) Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God

***

World War I Centenary Reading: Fiction and Non-Fiction about the war and it's aftermath

Possibilities from my tbr:

✔ Anthem For Doomed Youth: Poets Of The Great War
✔ Birds Without Wings Louis De Bernieres
✔ A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway
✔ The Gendarme by Mark T. Mustian
✔ Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves
✔ Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence
✔ The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West (reread) - Completed February
✔ Regeneration by Pat Barker (reread)
ⓔ 1913: The Year Before the Storm by Florian Illies
ⓔ The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
♫ The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 by Barbara W. Tuchman
♫ The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman - Completed March
♫ Journey Into the Past by Stefan Zweig - Completed July
♫ Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson
♫ 1914: A Novel by Jean Echenoz (rec'd by kidzdoc) - Completed January
♫ The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally (rec'd by Chatterbox) - Completed March
♫ The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 by Margaret MacMillan (rec'd by Chatterbox and brenzi)
♫ The Beautiful Visit Elizabeth Jane Howard
♫ The Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich - Completed April

Other options:

The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart (rec'd by calm, Chatterbox)
The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hašek
The Radetzky March By Joseph Roth
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
An Ice Cream War by William Boyd
Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd (Rec'd by Chatterbox)
A Test of Wills by Charles Todd

Bedroom selections from my tbr

Additional Books I'd like to read in 2014

✔ Caravan of Dreams by Idries Shah (blindly picked by PiyushChourasia in 2012)
✔ Arabian Nights: Four Tales from a Thousand and One Nights by Marc Chagall (blindly picked by picked by Donna828 in 2012)
✔ The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende - (blindly picked by picked by LauraBrook in 2012)
✔ Nana by Emile Zola - Read in February
✔ Pot-Bouille by Émile Zola - Read in April
❉ Au Bonheur des Dames by Émile Zola (to continue with the Rougon-Macquart series) - Completed in July
✔ The Strangers in the House by Georges Simenon (on my shelf for over 10 years) - Completed in August
✔ Angels & Insects by A. S. Byatt (loved the movie, want to read my Byatt)
✔ Possession by A. S. Byatt
✔ Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafizi (want to read more about Afghanistan)
✔ Seven Gothic Tales by Izak Dinesen (wanted to read seemingly forever)
✔ Small Island by Andrea Levy (recommended a million times) - Read in May
✔ Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (waited to read Great Expectations, on my reading list for a couple of years) - Completed in July
✔ Kaspar by Michael Morpurgo
✔ The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo (love Morpurgo for not so light children's books)
✔ All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (reread) - Read in March
✔ The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
✔ Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy (finally want to finish the trilogy)
✔ A History of the World in 10½ Chapters by Julian Barnes (on the shelf since forever)
♫ The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (reread on audio this time to see if I like it better)
✔ Amsterdam Stories by Nescio (started in 2012 and unfinished)
✔ The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor (want to read more Taylor)
✔ Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark (want to read more of one of my favourite authors) - Read in April
✔ Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (reread in the original French this time)
✔ Living Well is the Best Revenge by Calvin Tomkins (wanted to read forever)
✔ The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace (much recommended)
✔ Moon Palace by Paul Auster (on last year's list)
✔ Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (on the shelf for ages, might get the audio which is supposedly very good)
✔ Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood (blindly picked by MickyFine in 2012)
✔ Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood (wanted to read forever)
✔ Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill (much recommended)
✔ Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken (to continue the much recommended series) - Completed in July
✔ The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (to start reading Rubens, much recommended by Kerry/avatiakh) - Completed in October
✔ The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje
✔ Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (on last year's list) - Completed in July
✔ Jamrach's Menagerie Carol Birch (on last year's list)
✔ The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (wanted to read forever) - Completed in July
✔ The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble (wanted to read forever)
✔ Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (wanted to read forever)
♫ Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami (haven't read him in a while)
✔&♫ 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (maybe this year, maybe not)
✔ The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith (want to pick up where I left off years ago) - Read in April
✔&♫ 2666 by Roberto Bolaño (meant to join the group read last year, didn't.)
✔ The Master by Colm Toibín (wanted to read forever)
✔ Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (been meaning to read more of his work for years) - Completed in August
✔ Felicia's Journey by William Trevor (an author I want to discover)
✔ The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje - Completed in August
✔ Zarafa by Michael Allin (stories about animals a must)
✔ The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood (on my tbr for ages) - Read in March
✔ The Colour by Rose Tremain
♫ Restoration by Rose Tremain - Read in April
❉ Ru by Kim Thúy (have seen her around lots and highly rec'd by Lori/lkernagh
❉ Alys, Always by Harriet Lane (strongly Rec'd by Prue last year)
♫ Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck (left over from 2012 Steinbeckathon)

17/54

A Century of Books! 1900-1999

I stole this challenge idea from Heather/souloftherose. I'm going to try and read a book published in every year of the 20th century. This is just for fun, but as I know I won't manage it in one year, I'll extend it for as long as it takes me.

1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913 O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918 The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926 These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer
1927
1928 Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy L. Sayer
1929 Journey Into the Past by Stefan Zweig
1930
1931 Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett by Georges Simenon
1932 Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
1933
1934 Miss Buncle's Book bu D. E. Stevenson
1935
1936 The Dark Frontier by Eric Ambler
1937
1938 Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler
1939 Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household
1940 Native Son by Richard Wright
1941
1942
1943 Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
1944 Dragonwyck by Anya Seton
1945
1946 Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey
1947
1948 A Russian Journal by John Steinbeck and Robert Capa
1949
1950 Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert
1951 My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
1952
1953 The Unstrung Harp: Or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel by Edward Gorey
1954 Bonjour tristesse by Françoise Sagan
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960 The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning
1961
1962 The Light of Day by Eric Ambler
1963
1964 Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
1965 Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin
1966 The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott
1967
1968 A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
1969 The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens
1970
1971
1972
1973 The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978 A Five Year Sentence by Bernice Rubens
1979
1980 A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988 Night Soldiers by Alan Furst
1989 Restoration by Rose Tremain
1990 The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard
1991 The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
1992 All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
1993
1994 The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri
1995 Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
1996 The Terracotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri
1997 Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin
1998 Amsterdam Ian McEwan
1999

Ongoing Series
An idea Heather (souloftherose) borrowed from Liz (lyzard), which caught on like wildfire. Ongoing series that I am actively reading; this doesn't include series I have in my TBR but haven't started reading yet (that is covered in the next list!)

❉ African Trilogy - Next up: No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe (2/3)
ⓔ Alan Grant Mysteries - Next up: The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey (1/6 - read out of order)
♫ American Gods - Next up: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (2/2) - Completed in July
✔ Anton Rider - Next up: The Devil's Oasis by Bartle Bull (3/3) - Completed in August
♫ The Australian Trilogy - Next up: Tommo and Hawk by Bryce Courtenay (⅔)
*ⓔ The Balkan Trilogy- Next up: The Spoilt City by Olivia Manning (2/3)
♫ Bartimaeus Trilogy - Next up: The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud (Prequel)
Bernie Gunther - Next up: A German Requiem by Philip Kerr (3/9)
♫ Bloody Jack Adventures - Next up: Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L. A. Meyer (2/12)
✔ Border Trilogy - Next up: The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy (2/3)
❉ Cannery Row - Next up: Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck (2/2)
*♫ Cazalet Chronicles - Next up: Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard (2/5)
♫ The Cemetery of Forgotten Books - Next up: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (2/3)
❉ Chief Inspector Armand Gamache - Next up: A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny (2/8)
♫ The Chronicles of Barsetshire - Next up: Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope (2/6)
✔ Claudius - Next up: Claudius the God by Robert Graves (2/2)
♫ La Comédie Humaine - Next up: Le curé de Tours by Honoré de Balzac (31/88 - read out of order)
✔ Commissario Brunetti - Next up: Acqua Alta by Donna Leon (5/21 - read out of order)
✔ Commissario Montalbano - Next up: The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri (9/18)
❉ Corfu Trilogy: The Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell (3/3)
♫ The Cousins' War: The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory (2/5)
*✔ The Dark is Rising Sequence - Next up: The Grey King by Susan Cooper (4/5)
♫ Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Next up: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor (2/3)
❉ De Luca Trilogy - Next up: The Damned Season by Carlo Lucarelli (2/3)
✔ The Deptford Trilogy - Next up: World of Wonders by Robertson Davies (3/3)
♫ The Dresden Files: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (3/15)
❉ Dr. Siri Paiboun - Next up: Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill (5/8)
♫ Dublin Murder Squad - Next up: The Likeness by Tana French (2/5)
♫ Easy Rawlins Mystery - Next up: White Butterfly by Walter Mosley (3/10)
ⓔ Elizabeth and her German Garden - Next up: The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim (2/2)
*✔ Empire Trilogy - Next up: The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell (3/3)
❉♫ Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström - Next up: The Preacher by Camilla Läckberg (2/8)
❉♫ Flavia de Luce - Next up: A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley (3/6)
♫ Forsyte Saga - Next up: To Let by John Galsworthy (3/3)
❉ Green Town - Next up: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (2/2)
❉ The Harlem Cycle - Next up: All Shot Up by Chester Himes (4/8)
♫ Harry Potter - Next up: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling (reread) (4/7)
❉ Hercule Poirot - Next up: Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie (8/39 - read out of order)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Dramatization - Next up: Tertiary Phase (BBC Radio Collection) by Douglas Adams (3/5)
♫ The House of Earth Trilogy - Next up: Sons by Pearl S. Buck (2/3)
The Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh - Next up: Awaiting publication (3/3)
❉ The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place - Next up: The Unseen Guest by Maryrose Wood (3/4)
Inspector Yashim Togalu - Next up: The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin (2/4)
♫ Isabel Dalhousie Mysteries - Next up: The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith (3/9)
♫ Jack Reacher - Next up: The Enemy by Lee Child (8/17)
✔ Jackson Brodie - Next up: When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (3/4)
♫ John Russell - Next up: Lehrter Station by David Downing (5/5)
Joseph O'Loughlin - Next up: Shatter by Michael Robotham (3/5)
♫ Kenzie and Gennaro - Next up: Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane (2/5 - read out of order)
♫ Kurt Wallander - Next up: The White Lioness by Henning Mankell (3/10)
The Last Lion - Next up: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone 1932-1940 by William Manchester (2/3)
Leviathan - Next up: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (2/3)
♫ The Lord of the Rings - Next up: The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (3/4)
✔ Lord Peter Wimsey - Next up: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers (5/15)
❉ Maigret - Next up: The Sailors' Rendezvous by Georges Simenon (9/76)
*ⓔ Mapp and Lucia - Next up: Lucia in London by E. F. Benson (3/8)
Matthew Shardlake - Next up: Lamentation by C. J. Samson (awaiting publication) (6/6)
Miss Marple - Next up: The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (2/12)
❉ Night Soldiers" - Next up: Dark Star by Alan Furst (2/13)
❉ The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Next up: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith (6/14)
♫ The Obelisk Trilogy - Next up: Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller (2/3)
Oxford Time Travel series - Next up: Blackout by Connie Willis (3/4)
Parker - Next up: The Mourner by Richard Stark (4/24)
✔ Philip Marlowe - Next up: The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler (6/9 - read out of order)
Phryne Fisher Mysteries - Next up: Death at Victoria Dock by Kerry Greenwood (4/20)
The Power Of One - Next up: Tandia by Bryce Courtenay (2/2)
The Prairie Trilogy - Next up: The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (2/3)
✔ The Raj Quartet: The Towers Of Silence by Paul Scott (3/4)
♫ Ranger's Apprentice: The Icebound Land by John Flanagan (3/12)
❉♫ The Raven Cycle Next up: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (2/4)
♫ Rivers of London - Next up: Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch 3/5)
♫ Robert Merivel Next up: Merivel by Rose Tremain (2/2) - Completed in July
❉ Les Rougon-Macquart - Next up: La joie de vivre by Émile Zola (12/20)
♫ Ruby Trilogy - Next up: Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier (2/3)
✔ Sally Lockhart Mysteries - Next up: The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman (2/4)
♫ Sherlock Holmes: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (4/9)
♫ A Song of Ice and Fire - Next up: A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin (5/7)
❉ Sookie Stackhouse - Next up: Club Dead by Charlaine Harris (3/14)
❉ The Spiderwick Chronicles - Next up: The Wrath of Mulgarath by Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi (5/8)
♫ Tales of the City - Next up: Further Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin (3/6)
♫ Tales of the Otori - Next up: Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn (3/4+prequel)
❉ Three Men in a Boat - Next up: Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome (2/2)
♫ Timothy Wilde - Next up: Unknown title by Lyndsay Faye (awaiting publication) (3/3)
*♫ Tom Ripley - Next up: The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (4/5)
❉ Victor Legris - Next up: La disparue du Père-Lachaise by Claude Izner (2/11)
♫ Wind on Fire Trilogy - Next up: The Wind on Fire by William Nicholson (3/3)
Wolf Hall Trilogy - Next up: The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (awaiting publication) (3/3)
Wolves Chronicles - Next up: Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken (3/11)
❉ Wyoming Stories: Bad Dirt by Annie Proulx (2/3)

***

First in Series on my TBR
*♫ Albert Campion: The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham (1/19)
✔ The American Trilogy: American Pastoral by Philip Roth (1/3)
✔ Aristide Ravel Mysteries : The Cavalier of the Apocalypse by Susanne Alleyn (1/4)
✔ The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson (1/2)
♫ Aubrey-Maturin: Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian (1/21)
♫ Avalon: The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (1/7)
✔ The Book of Lies - Twins Trilogy: The Notebook by Ágota Kristóf (1/3)
✔ The Borrible Trilogy: The Borribles by Michael De Larrabeiti (1/3)
✔ Carl Webster: The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard (1/3)
♫ Chief Inspector Adamsberg: The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas (1/9)
*♫ Chocolat: Chocolat by Joanne Harris (1/3)
*♫ Cicero: Imperium by Robert Harris (1/2)
♫ A Dance to the Music of Time: A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement, Spring by Anthony Powell (1/4)
✔ Danzig Trilogy: The Tin Drum by Günter Grass (1/3)
✔ Empress Orchid: Empress Orchid by Anchee Min (1/2)
✔ Hank Thompson: Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston (1/3)
✔ Haroun: Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (1/2)
*♫ Harry Hole: The Bat by Jo Nesbø (1/10)
✔ Henrietta's War: Henrietta's War: News from the Home Front 1939-1942 by Joyce Dennys (1/2)
✔ The Hummingbird's Daughter: The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea (1/2)
♫ In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (1/8)
♫ James Bond: Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (1/14)
♫ Joona Linna: The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler (1/3)
ⓔ The Kingkiller Chronicle : The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (1/3)
✔ Latin American Trilogy: The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts by Louis de Bernières (1/3)
♫ Leonid McGill: The Long Fall by Walter Mosley (1/4)
✔❉♫ The Magicians: The Magicians by Lev Grossman (1/2)
♫ McCaskill Trilogy: English Creek by Ivan Doig (1/3)
✔ Micah Dalton: The Echelon Vendetta by David Stone (1/4)
♫ Michael Forsythe: Dead I Well May Be by Adrian McKinty (1/3)
✔ Mistress of the Art of Death: Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin (¼)
*✔ On Foot to Constantinople: A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor (1/3)
♫ Outlander: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (1/8)
*♫+ⓔ Patrick Melrose: Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn (1/5)
✔ The Psammead Trilogy: Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (1/3)
✔ Quirke: Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (1/5)
♫ Revelation Space: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds (1/7)
♫ Shanghai Girls: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (1/2)
♫ Sprawl: Neuromancer by William Gibson (1/3)
♫ Sword of Honour: Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh (1/3)
♫ The Vampire Chronicles: Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (reread) (1/10)
❉♫ The Wolves of Mercy Falls: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (1/3)
♫ World War II Saga: The Winds of War by Herman Wouk (1/2)



✔ = in my TBR
♫ = audiobook (in my TBR)
❉ = library book
ⓔ = eBook
* = recent changes

Booker Prize Books Read in 2014 (in reading order)
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Shortlist 2012)
Restoration by Rose Tremain (Shortlist 1989)
Room by Emma Donoghue (Shortlist 2010)
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (Shortlist 2007)
Amsterdam by Ian Mcewan (Booker Prize 1998)
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (Booker Prize 1992)
A Five Year Sentence by Bernice Rubens (Shortlist 1978)
A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr (Shortlist 1980)
The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell (Booker Prize 1973)
The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (Booker Prize 1970)

Booker Prize Books Read in 2013
Good Behaviour by Molly Keane (Shortlist 1981)
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Shortlist 1986)
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (Booker Prize 1999)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Booker Prize 1989)
The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin (Shortlist 2013)
Harvest by Jim Crace (Shortlist 2013)
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Booker Prize 2013)
What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller (Shortlist 2003)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Shortlist 2008)
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (Booker Prize 1978)
Morality Play by Barry Unsworth (Shortlist 1995)

Booker Prize Books on my TBR
The Bone People by Keri Hulme (Booker Prize 1985)
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively (Booker Prize 1987)
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (Shortlist 1988)
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (Booker Prize 1988)
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood (Shortlist 1989)
Possession by A.S. Byatt (Booker Prize 1990)
Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer (Shortlist 1993)
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Shortlist 1996)
Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge (Shortlist 1998)
Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri (Longlist 2001)
Brick Lane by Monica Ali (Shortlist 2003)
The Master by Colm Toibin (Shortlist 2004)
The Accidental by Ali Smith (Shortlist 2005)
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (Booker Prize 2006)
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz (Shortlist 2008)
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (Booker Prize 2008) - reread
Heliopolis by James Scudamore (Longlist 2009)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Shortlist 2009)
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray (Longlist 2010)
Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch (Shortlist 2011)
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Longlist 2013)
Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson (Longlist 2013)
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (Shortlist 2013)

(more on the wishlist of course!)

Reading Bingo - FIRST CARD COMPLETED!
Only counting books I really loved toward this challenge (4 stars and up).



More than 500 pages: Bleak House by Charles Dickens ★★★★
Forgotten Classic: Coriolanus by William Shakespeare ★★★★
Book that became a movie: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - tutorial ★★★★½
Published this year: Frog Music by Emma Donoghue ★★★★
Number in the title: 1914: A Novel by Jean Echenoz ★★★★
Written by someone under 30: Love and Freindship (sic) by Jane Austen ★★★★½
Book with non-human characters: Trouble with Trolls by Jan Brett ★★★★
Funny Book: You're All Just Jealous Of My Jetpack by Tom Gauld ★★★★
Female Author: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë ★★★★½
Book with a mystery: Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon ★★★★
One-Word Title: Nana by Émile Zola ★★★★⅓
Book of short stories: The New York Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton ★★★★½
Set on a different continent: The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng ★★★★★
Non-Fiction: Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin ★★★★
First book by a favourite author: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen ★★★★½
Heard about online: The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard ★★★★⅓
Best-selling book: Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris ★★★★
Based on a true story: Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan ★★★★½
*Book at the bottom of TBR pile: A Café on the Nile ★★★★½
Book my friend loves: Grumpy Cat by Grumpy Cat ★★★★
Book that scares me: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman ★★★★⅓
More than 10 years old: Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
Second book in a series: In Chancery by John Galsworthy ★★★★
Blue cover: The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin ★★★★


For the following, I'll be counting any kind of books, not just YA.



A book with a female heroine: Lady Susan by Jane Austen ★★★★½
A book set in a high school: Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier ★★★★
The last book in a trilogy:
A book with a colour in the title: The White Queen by Philippa Gregory ★★★★
The first book in a series: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater ★★★★
A book set in the future: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson ★★★★
A book with a breakup: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy ★★★★⅞
A book without a love triangle: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood ★★★★
A book that became a movie: Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household ★★★★½
A book set in Paris: These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer ★★★★
A book set in the past: Restoration by Rose Tremain ★★★★★
A book with magic: Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson ★★★★
A book set in the summer: Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom ★★★★⅓
A book with a dragon:
A book that made you cry: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate ★★★★½
A graphic novel: Amphigorey by Edward Gorey ★★★★½
A book based on a myth: The Quick by Lauren Owen ★★★★★
A "classic" YA book: Bloody Jack; Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L. A. Meyer ★★★★
A book with a lion, a witch, or a wardrobe: Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling ★★★★½ (reread)
A book with an incredible fight scene: Goliath by Tom Gauld ★★★★
A book you heard about online: Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler ★★★★
A book set in another world: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin ★★★★
A book with an epic love story: Longbourn by Jo Baker ★★★★⅓
A book with music: Frog Music by Emma Donoghue ★★★★⅓

* = Most recent additions

Books Purchased in 2014

January
1. Prospero's Cell by Lawrence Durrell
2. ♫ The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally - Read in March
3. ♫ The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth
4. ♫ The Songs of the Kings by Barry Unsworth
5. ♫ The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War 1890-1914 by Barbara W. Tuchman
6. ♫ Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell
7. ♫ Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye - Read in May
8. The Book of Common Prayer (2nd hand FS)
9. ♫ Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (Audible Daily Deal)
10. ⓔ The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany (Kindle deal)
11. ⓔ Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace by Kate Summerscale (Kindle deal)
12. ⓔ The Snoring Bird: My Family's Journey Through a Century of Biology by Bernd Heinrich (Kindle deal)
13. ⓔ Voltaire Almighty by Roger Pearson (Kindle deal)
14. ♫ The Trembling of a Leaf by W. Somerset Maugham (Downpour Sale)
15. ⓔ Uncle Silas: A Tale of Bartram-Haugh by Sheridan Le Fanu (Kindle 99¢)
16. ⓔ Ham On Rye by Charles Bukowski (Kindle Daily Deal)
17. ⓔ Post Office by Charles Bukowski (Kindle Daily Deal)
18. ⓔ The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann (Kindle Daily Deal) - Completed in September
19. ⓔ 420 Characters by Lou Beach - Read in February
20. ⓔ The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles (Kindle Daily Deal)
21. ⓔ The Spider's House by Paul Bowles (Kindle Daily Deal)
22. ⓔ Ask the Dust by John Fante (Kindle Daily Deal)
23. ⓔ The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge (Kindle Daily Deal)
24. ⓔ D.V. by Diana Vreeland (Kindle Daily Deal)
25. ⓔ Hotel de Dream by Edmund White (Kindle Daily Deal)
26. ⓔ The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea by Philip Hoare (Kindle Daily Deal)

February
27. ⓔ Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick (Kindle DD)
28. ⓔ When We Were Bad: A Novel by Charlotte Mendelson (rec'd by Bonnie)
29. ⓔ The Light Years (The Cazalet Chronicle 1) by Elizabeth Jane Howard
30. ♫ Marking Time (The Cazalet Chronicle 2) by Elizabeth Jane Howard
31. ♫ Fools of Fortune by William Trevor (rec'd by Paul)
32. ♫ The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 by Margaret MacMillan (rec'd by Suz and Bonnie)
33. ♫ Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch (rec'd by Suz and Mark) - Read in February
34. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (Everyman's Library)
35. ♫ Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch - Read in February
36. ♫ The Dinner by Herman Koch (Audible Daily Deal)
37. ♫ An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine - Read in February
38. ♫ Selection of Katherine Mansfield
39. ♫ Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (read by Juliet Stevenson)
40. ♫ Realms of Gold: Letters and Poems of John Keats
41. ♫ The Beautiful Visit by Elizabeth Jane Howard
42. ♫ The King's General by Daphne du Maurier
43. ♫ The Two Destinies by Wilkie Collins
44. ♫ The Complete Barchester Chronicles by Anthony Trollope - (Dramatisation)
45. ♫ Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
46. ♫ Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon - Read in February
47. ♫ The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
48. ♫ Fraud by Anita Brookner
49. ♫ The Brimstone Wedding by Barbara Vine
50. ♫ The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov (Dramatised) - Read in March
51. ♫ Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty - Read in March
52. ♫ Imperium by Robert Harris (Rec'd by Suz, $5 on Downpour.com)
53. ⓔ+♫ Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence (for reread) - (special deal w/ Kindle)
54. ⓔ+♫ Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence (for reread) - (as above)
55. ♫ The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope - Read in April
56. ♫ Tommo and Hawk: The Australian Trilogy, Book 2 by Bryce Courtenay
57. ♫ How It All Began: A Novel by Penelope Lively - Read in March
58. ♫ Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
59. ♫ The Light of Day by Eric Ambler - Read in February
60. A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen by Harold Bloom (used)
61. High Rising by Angela Thirkell
62. Sanditon and Other Stories by Jane Austen (Everyman's Library)
63. ⓔ+♫ Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - (special deal w/ Kindle)
64. ♫ Philomena by Martin Sixsmith (Audible Daily Deal)

March
65. ⓔ+♫ Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope - (special deal w/ Kindle)
66. ⓔ+♫ Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope - (special deal w/ Kindle)
67. ♫ Firesong by William Nicholson
68. ⓔ+♫ Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (Kindle and Audio for special price)
69. ♫ Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler - Read in March
70. The Raj Quartet: v. 2 by Paul Scott (Everyman's Library)
71. ⓔ A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Kindle DD)
72. ⓔ Flannery O'Connor: Complete Stories (Kindle DD)
73. ⓔ Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie (Kindle DD)
74. ⓔ The Natural by Bernard Malamud (Kindle DD)
75. ⓔ Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales by Ray Bradbury (Kindle DD)
76. ⓔ Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund (Kindle DD)
77. ♫ The Dark Frontier by Eric Ambler - Read in March
78. ⓔ Grumpy Cat by Grumpy Cat - Read in March
79. ♫ Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith
80. ♫ The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin - Read in April
81. The Reef by Edith Wharton (Everyman's Library)
82. ⓔ The Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection (9 Books of Gothic Romance and Horror) (all for $1!)
83. ⓔ Marcovaldo: or the Seasons in the City by Italo Calvino (Kindle DD)
84. ⓔ Italian Folk Tales by Italo Calvino (Kindle DD)
85. ♫ I Am David by Anne Holm (Audible 2 for 1)
86. ♫ The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin (Audible 2 for 1)
87. ♫ Maurice by E.M. Forster (Audible 2 for 1)
88. ♫ Society's Child by Janis Ian (Audible 2 for 1)
89. ♫ Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Audible 2 for 1)
90. ♫ The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (Audible 2 for 1)
91. ♫ The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren (Downpour)
92. ♫ A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren (Downpour)
93. ⓔ The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christies (Kindle DD)
94. ⓔ Death on the Nile by Agatha Christies (Kindle DD)
95. ⓔ 4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christies (Kindle DD)
96. ⓔ The Body in the Library by Agatha Christies (Kindle DD)

Books Purchased in 2014 (cont'd)

April
97. ♫ The Bees by Laline Paull - Returned for refund
98. ♫ Cause for Alarm by Eric Ambler
99. ♫ The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux
100. ♫ Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
101. ♫ The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (Strongly recommended by Rhian)
102. ♫ The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn
103 ⓔ The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn (Kindle)
104. ♫ The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I by Edward Gibbon
105. ♫ Frog Music by Emma Donoghue - Read in April
106. ⓔ The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning (Kindle)
107. ♫ Merivel by Rose Tremain - Completed in July
108. ♫ Chocolat by Joanne Harris
109. ♫ These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer - Read in April
110. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (Everyman's Library)
111. Emma by Jane Austen (Everyman's Library)
112. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (Everyman's Library)
113. ♫ Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L. A. Meyer - Read in May
114. ♫ The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book II: The Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood - Read in April
115. ♫ The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill - Read in April
116. ⓔ Virgin Soil (with Biographical Introduction) by Ivan Turgenev (Kindle Deal)
117. ⓔ Stoner by John Williams (Kindle Deal)
118. ⓔ Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Kindle Deal)
119. ⓔ Sadler's Birthday by Rose Tremain (Kindle)
120. ♫ Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English by John McWhorter (Audible DD) - Completed in August
121. ♫ A Town Like Alice by Nevile Shute (Audible DD)
122. ♫ March Violets by Philip Kerr - Read in May
123. ⓔ The Complete Works of Josephine Tey (Kindle Deal)

May
124. ♫ The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker as the (Audible DD)
125. ⓔ Miss Buncle Married by D. E. Stevenson (Kindle)
126. The Fortnight in September by R. C. Sherriff (Persephone Books)
127. They Knew Mr. Knight by Dorothy Whipple (Persephone Books)
128. Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes by Mollie Panter-Downes (Persephone Books)
129. ♫ The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr - Read in May
130. ♫ The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell - Read in May
131. Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen (FS sale)
132. ⓔ Dissolution by C. J. Samson - Read in May
133. ⓔ Dark Fire by C. J. Samson - Read in May
134. ♫ The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years After by Alexandre Dumas (Downpour.com deal)
135. ♫ Louise de La Vallière by Alexandre Dumas (Downpour.com deal)
136. ⓔ A Judgement In Stone by Ruth Rendell (Kindle Deal)
137. ⓔ Summer Knight: Book four of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Audible DD)
138. ⓔ Death Masks: Book five of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Audible DD)
139. ⓔ Blood Rites: Book six of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Audible DD)
140. ⓔ Dead Beat: Book 7 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Audible DD)
141. ♫ The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (Audible 2 for 3)
142. ♫ Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne (Audible 2 for 3)
143. ♫ The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin (Audible 2 for 3) - Returned for exchange
144. ♫ The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin (Audible 2 for 3) - Returned for exchange
145. ♫ Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (Audible 2 for 3)
146. ♫ Dog on It by Spencer Quinn (Audible 2 for 3)
147. ♫ Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L. A. Meyer (Audible 2 for 3)
148. ♫ Under the Jolly Roger by L. A. Meyer (Audible 2 for 3)
149. ♫ The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan (Audible 2 for 3) - Completed in June
150. ♫ The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan (Audible 2 for 3) - Completed in August
151. ♫ The Icebound Land by John Flanagan (Audible 2 for 3)
152. ♫ You're Next by: Gregg Hurwitz (Audible 2 for 3)
153. ⓔ Sovereign by C. J. Samson - Read in May
154. Animal Farm by George Orwell (FS sale)
155. ⓔ Lucian Freud: Eyes Wide Open by Phoebe Hoban (Kindle DD)
156. ♫ A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin (Audible DD)
157. ♫ The Curse of Chalion (Downpour.com sale)
158. ♫ Shards of Honor (Downpour.com sale)
159. ⓔ Edwin: High King of Britain by Edoardo Albert (Amazon Deal)
160. ⓔ Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther ($1 Kindle)
161. ⓔ Revelation by C. J. Sansom - Completed in June

June
162. ⓔ Heartstone by C. J. Sansom - Completed in June
The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (Audible - exchange)
The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill (Audible - exchange)
163. ⓔ The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer (Kindle sale)
164. ⓔ Cotillion by Georgette Heyer (Kindle sale)
165. ⓔ Venetia by Georgette Heyer (Kindle sale)
166. ⓔ The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer (Kindle sale)
167. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (VDC from Abe)
168. The Unstrung Harp: Or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel by Edward Gorey (Hardcover from Abe)
169. ⓔ Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym (Bello editions deal)
170. ⓔ To War with Whitaker: Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly, 1939-45 by Hermione Ranfurly (Bello editions deal)
171. ⓔ Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson (Bello editions deal)
172. ⓔ The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson (Kindle Deal)
173. ♫ Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst - Completed in July
174. ♫ The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning - Completed in June
175. ⓔ Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - Completed in June
176. ⓔ Correspondance by Paul Cézanne
177. ♫ The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan (Audible DD)
178. ♫ The Unseen Guest by Maryrose Wood - Returned for refund
179. ♫ Sold by Patricia McCormick (Audible DD)
180. ♫ Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
181. ♫ Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
182. ♫ Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck by Amy Alkon - Returned for refund

Books Purchased in 2014 (cont'd)

July
183. ⓔ The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurty (Kindle Monthly Deal)
184. ⓔ What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullan (Kindle Monthly Deal)
180. ⓔ Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (Kindle Deal)
185. ⓔ A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Kindle Deal)
186. ⓔ Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose (Kindle DD)
187. ⓔ The Round House by Louise Erdrich (Kindle DD)
188. ⓔ The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
189. ♫ The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri (Downpour.com sale) - Completed in July
190. ♫ The Terra-Cotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri (Downpour.com sale) - Completed in July
191. ♫ The Smell of the Night by Andrea Camilleri (Downpour.com sale) - Completed in August
192. ♫ Rounding the Mark by Andrea Camilleri (Downpour.com sale) - Completed in August
193. ♫ The Patience of the Spider by Andrea Camilleri (Downpour.com sale) - Completed in September
194. ♫ The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri (Downpour.com sale)
195. ♫ The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri (Downpour.com sale)
196. ♫ The Age of Doubt by Andrea Camilleri (Downpour.com sale)
197. ♫ The Dance of the Seagull by Andrea Camilleri (Downpour.com sale)
198. ⓔ+♫ The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens (Audible/Kindle deal)
199. ⓔ+♫ Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens (Audible/Kindle deal)
200. Bliss and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield (Bloomsbury Classics)
201. The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield (Bloomsbury Classics)
202. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (Bloomsbury Classics) - Completed in August

August
203. A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr (NYRB - used) - Completed in September
A Five Year Sentence by Bernice Rubens (Audible replacement) - Completed in September
The Waiting Game by Bernice Rubens (Audible replacement) - Completed in August
204. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (VMC Designer Collection)
205. A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor (VMC Designer Collection)
206. ♫ The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony & Graham Spence (Audible deal)

September
207. ⓔ Leonardo's Notebooks by Leonardo da Vinci, edited by H. Anna Suh (Kindle Deal)
208. ⓔ Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I by Peter Ackroyd (Kindle Deal)
209. ⓔ Capturing the Light by Roger Watson and Helen Rappaport (Kindle Deal)
210. ⓔ Die a Little by Megan Abbott (Kindle Monthly Deal)
211. ♫ The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
212. ♫ The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles (Bonus credit)
213. ♫ Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster (Downpour.com Weekend Spotlight)
214. ♫ The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (Audible $4.95 sale)
215. ♫ The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Audible $4.95 sale)
216. ♫ Dissolution by C. J. Sansom (Audible $4.95 sale)
217. ♫ The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier - Completed in October
218. ♫ The Way I Found Her by Rose Tremain
219. ♫ Trespass by Rose Tremain
220. ♫ The Ghost Writer by Robert Harris
221. ♫ A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel - Completed in October
222. ♫ Affinity by Sarah Waters
223. ♫ The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters - Completed in September
224. ♫ The Good Apprentice by Irish Murdoch
225. ♫ Flight from the Enchanter by Irish Murdoch
226. ♫ Bruno's Dream by Irish Murdoch
227. ♫ Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
228. ♫ Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
229. ♫ Sword of Honour by Evelyn Waugh
230. ♫ Giovanni's Room by James Balwin
231. ♫ The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
232. ♫ The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
233. ⓔ+♫ Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence (Audible/Kindle deal)
234. ⓔ+♫ The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence (Audible/Kindle deal)
235. Everything Flows by Vassili Grossman (NYRB Classics)
236. ♫ Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst (Downpour.com Deal)
237. ♫ Black Mask 1: Doors in the Dark (Downpour.com Deal)
238. ♫ The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
239. ♫ The Bat: The First Inspector Harry Hole Novel by Jo Nesbø
240. ♫ The Finishing School by Muriel Spark
241. ♫ La vie en mieux by Anna Gavalda
242. ♫ Conspirata: A Novel of Ancient Rome by Robert Harris
243. ♫ Solar by Ian McEwan
244. ♫ Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
245. Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier (VMC Designer Collection)
246. ♫ The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer (Audible DD)
247. ♫ The Children Act by Ian McEwan - Completed in October
248. ⓔ Lucia in London by E. F. Benson (Kindle 99¢)
249. The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell (Better Wold Books gift coupon)

October
250. ♫ The Graveyard Book (Full-Cast Production) by Neil Gaiman - Completed in October
251. Pedigree by Georges Simenon (Amazon.ca)
252. ⓔ Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle (Kindle DD)
253. ⓔ The Railway Man by Eric Lomax (Kindle Deal)
254. ⓔ+♫ The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens (Audible/Kindle deal)
255. ⓔ+♫ The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Audible/Kindle deal)
♫ Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth (Audible replacement)
256. ⓔ Sunday Best by Bernice Rubens
257. ⓔ I, Dreyfus by Bernice Rubens
258. ♫ Past Caring by Robert Goddard
259. ♫ Stamboul Train by Graham Greene
260. ⓔ+♫ Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (Audible/Kindle deal)
261. ⓔ+♫ Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray (Audible/Kindle deal)
262. ⓔ+♫ Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy (Audible/Kindle deal)
263. ⓔ+♫ Night and Day by Virginia Woolf (Audible/Kindle deal)
264. ⓔ+♫ Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (Audible/Kindle deal)
265. ⓔ+♫ The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (Audible/Kindle deal)
266. ⓔ+♫ Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (Audible/Kindle deal)
267. ⓔ+♫ The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson (Audible/Kindle deal)
268. ⓔ+♫ The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith (Audible/Kindle deal)
269. ⓔ+♫ My Antonia by Willa Cather (Audible/Kindle deal)
270. ♫ The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham (Audible Sale)
271. ♫ Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham (Audible Sale)
272. ♫ All Our Worldly Goods by Irene Nemirovsky (Amazon.com)
273. ♫ Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey (Amazon.com)
274. ♫ The Road Home by Rose Tremain (Amazon.com)
275. The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton (Virago edition from AbeBooks)
276. A Pin To See The Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse (Virago edition from AbeBooks)
277. The Victorians by A. N. Wilson (Used, Folio Society from AbeBooks)
278. The Great Plague of London by Walter George Bell (Used, Folio Society from AbeBooks)
279. The Heather Blazing by Colm Tóibín (New from Book Depo)
280. ♫ Philosopher's Pupil by Irish Murdoch
281. ⓔ+♫ The Wings of the Dove by Henry James (Audible/Kindle deal)
282. ♫ Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
283. ♫ The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton
284. ♫ The African Queen by C. S. Foreseter
285. ♫ The Collector by John Fowles
286. ♫ Breakfast with Lucian: A Portrait of the Artist by Geordie Greig
287.



♫ = audiobook (Audible or Downpour.com)
ⓔ = eBook
FS = Folio Society

Because I know the last posts on old threads often go unread, I'm reposting the following from this morning.

Also, Charlotte, Lori, Heather, Mark, Joe, Ellen, Peggy, Judy, Amber and Roberta, I've left responses for you there which I hope you get to see!

Finished the Maigret book last night, and I guess I'll be ordering Volume 2 from the library for the next 8 books in the series. Will be reviewing it later today, or at least that's in the plans. I'll be starting on Frankenstein next, since I'm going to see a National Theatre Live presentation of the play on the 15th and have never read the book. I have a lovely Folio Society edition with dramatic woodblock prints to look forward to. On audio, started The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Unseen Guest yesterday, which is book 3 in the series.

The maple tree outside my window has turned distinctly yellow overnight, with all the leaves edged in gold. Soon they'll join the other fallen leaves scattered on the sidewalk below. Part of me now looks forward to the cold weather, partly because of the new grape purple cashmere sweater I've ordered on sale from JCrew and also because of my gorgeous new winter coat I bought last week to replace my old one, which was going on more than 10 seasons and wasn't doing a good job of keeping me warm any longer.

This is my new coat, though mine is several sizes larger and reaches to my knees:

I therefore comment

Hi Jenny! And congrats on being my first visitor to #10! Don't know if you saw the above from my previous thread?

An email I sent to Book Depo an hour ago:

Order No. BDU-732-8285296XXXX
placed on 20 Sep 2014 (06:16:48)

Hello,

I ordered the above to be delivered to my mum who lives in France as a birthday gift. This is the RSC Complete Shakespeare, which weighs 1.8 kilo and is over 2,500 pages. Unfortunately, it was delivered to her complete with a dent. The following pic should speak at least a thousand (Shakespearean) words.



I await your reply with bated breath.

Ilana Shamir

(just adding for my LT friends who might not know this, it seems the expression "With bated breath" was first coined by The Bard himself in The Merchant of Venice. Couldn't help slipping that in, though don't know if anyone at BD will notice it!)

Am wending my way slowly on a determined catch-up of my pals alphabetically using Jim's threadbook and am only at "C" but I couldn't resist a jump to "S" as a new thread by you my dear is just too much of an enticement. xx

I'm all in favour of a good winter coat :)

I need to get a better 'non-horsey' coat. I spend money on decent, warm, waterproof, substantial and hard wearing coats when they are to be worn with any horse related activity, and then generally shrug my shoulders and pull it on complete with mud, hay and eau de equine for 'normal' outings as well because I don't have a good everyday coat for other activities.

I always end up feeling a bit shabby when I do this, but it feels wrong to spend money on an excellent coat when 95% of my life is spent doing horse related things or around fellow horse people. Even while I'm shivering intensely in an unsuitable coat during the other 5%, I still can't quite justify it.

Perhaps this will be the year. But then I'll get a coat I really like and end up wearing it round the horses anyway because I can't be bothered to change ;)

I hope your coat fully insulates yourself against the Canadian winter. I think I'd need a whole flock of geese to insulate me in such conditions!

>21 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, always lovely to get a visit from you, no matter what the occasion, and in this case you are most welcome as visitor #2 to my new thread. You are very much missed around here, so it's always nice to see signs of activity on your part. Not saying that to make you feel guilty, just so you know your presence is appreciated. xx

>22 lunacat: But then I'll get a coat I really like and end up wearing it round the horses anyway because I can't be bothered to change

In other words, back to square one, more or less. :-) Well, if your live involves being around horses 95% of the time, there's nothing wrong with your clothing reflecting that. I can think of much worse things. I think a life spent around horses sounds quite wonderful. Horses and books. And cats. What could be better? My new coat should do a pretty good job of keeping me nice and toasty. It had better, because I did spend a pretty penny on it!

I'm with Ilana on the coat philosophy! Whatever works...

I like yours, btw, Ilana, although whenever I try the puffy ones I end up looking like the Michelin tire lady. I had a wonderful one for a few years in the 1990s that finally gave up the ghost in 2004; its replacement is now dead, and I'm on a quasi-replacement of that (Alpaca from Eileen Fisher) that doesn't fit terribly well. I love the alpaca and the textured look, though, so I may see if this season's are more styled.

I just caught Molly-cat licking the page of my steno notebook on which I had been making notes. I really hope that the pen I've been using isn't toxic...

Happy New thread, Ilana! Love the toppers .Sorry about the dented Shakespeare. Sad face.

I just gave up listening to The Unseen Guest. Katherine Kellgren narrates and there's lots of woofing and howling going on in this children's story, and I just couldn't take all the noise anymore, so I returned both this and the next book in the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series I'd bought on sale, The Interrupted Tale to them and will be getting them in print from the library instead. It was really driving me up the wall!

Off to work on the Rocky drawing in a mo. and will be starting on something else. Something much quieter.

eta: starting on Scarlet by Marissa Meyer as I work on Rocky's beard and his front left paw...



***

>24 Chatterbox: Welcome Suz! You are now visitor number 3! A good coat is essential up here, as I'm sure you know. A duvet coat does have a limited lifetime though, as it seems after a certain amount of years the feathers do get compacted and lose their insulating abilities, but this takes a long time and of course the higher the quality to begin with, the longer the coat will last. I got 9 good seasons out of my coat and then made a big mistake when I put in in the washing machine instead of brining it to the dry-cleaner's, after which it never kept me warm like before. This next one should do a good job. The fur on it isn't removable, so there's no question of it ever going anywhere but the dry-cleaner's. I loved Eileen Fisher. Haven't bought anything from her yet, but I've been meaning to for many years now.

Hope Molly is ok. She can't have licked off enough ink to get sick I wouldn't think...

>25 msf59: Hey Mark, welcome to my new digs! Did you see my note up in >16 Smiler69: and then at the end of my last thread directing you to the previous message I'd written you? I've noticed I often leave you messages that you then don't read somehow because you just skim over them, you bad boy!

Thanks for the lovely opening images and the link to the blog. As you know, I love illustrated artistry!

I hope you are well, and I hope you will be warm and cozy in your new coat!

>27 Whisper1: Welcome Linda! Thanks so much for dropping by! I was just now editing my message just above the one you've left me and added an update of Rocky, which I also just posted on FB.

I'm sure the new coat will keep me warm. It's made by a Montreal designer who is reputed for making great coats that meet our weather requirements. I'm as well as can be. Just a tad of an annoying head, but nothing terrible.

That is a very nice looking coat. And I am so impressed by your drawing ability. Rocky looks great. Sorry about the dented book - hope the company makes a replacement.

Hi Ilana,
The new coat looks cosy! I am always overly hopeful in winter and leave the house too scantily clad for the elements. A coat like that would solve my problems. I wont need to think about that as much now that it is warming up though, thank goodness.
Happy new thread, your sketch (if you can call it that as it is far too detailed to be 'just' a sketch) of doggie looks marvellous.

I may be guilty of skimming at times, (and not just you. LOL) but I did read your thoughts on abridged books. I just didn't comment on it. I avoid abridged titles, like the plague. Usually, the tip-off is, (if it isn't clearly marked) is the running time.

I landed an advanced copy of the Bone Clocks and wanted to read it in print. There are a few authors, that I prefer in print and Mitchell is one of them. Now, a reread, is a whole different ballgame. I think Cloud Atlas would have been tough on audio, at least for the first time.

Happy New Thread, Ilana! The drawing is coming along so beautifully!

>29 catarina1: Thanks Catarina, I'd been wanting to replace my winter coat for at least a couple of years now, and I really wasn't looking when I went shopping with my friend last week (I was just out for a pair of gloves), so of course that's when you are bound to find something you really like! Thanks for the comment on my drawing. It's growing a little bit day by day.

>30 LovingLit: Hi Megan, of course, Spring has arrived in your parts, so thought of Winter must be very foreign right now. It goes to show how mild by comparison your winters must be that ou can afford to go around too scantily clad for the elements. Around here, only kids do that, because anyone over 30 quickly learns it's really not worth it to freeze half to death.

I guess a drawing on which one spends more than 20 hours could be properly called a drawing at that point... ;-)

>31 msf59: You're right about the running times Mark, I still think abridged titles should be labeled as such. They've been tampered with and should carry a warning, is my thinking, because while the running time is clearly too short for some titles, it's not always so obvious either. Rant over. :-)

>32 scaifea: Hi Amber and welcome to the new digs! I'm really like seeing Rocky evolve too. I must say I was rather daunted at first by the challenge he presented; mostly variations of dark grey and black on dark grey and black with not much in between except tiny specs of light grey and white... kinda tricky, but then I do like a challenge!

***

Got a few books recently:

The Audible daily deal today is for The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer which had been on my wishlist for a while.

Yesterday, spend a two-year old gift coupon I had with Better Wold Books to get The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell, the third book in the Empire trilogy.

Spent an Audible credit to get latest Ian McEwan, The Children Act, which I'll be listening to this month.

On kindle, got Lucia in London by E. F. Benson for a whole 99¢

I also ordered and received the Virago Designer Edition of Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier from Abe a couple of weeks ago.

Total books purchased to date: 249

Congratulations on the new thread, Ilana! I sure like those Catrin Weiz-Stein illustrations, and will look for more of hers.

I hope you like Scarlet! Every one in the series has been successful from my POV.

What fun to see Rocky gradually emerge. Your patron is going to be very happy, methinks.

I just finished Leonardo and the Last Supper. Am I right that you read this one? I like Ross King's books a lot, but this one never quite took off for me. Even so, it was filled with interesting history and insights into the composition of the painting.

>34 jnwelch: Hi Joe! Welcome! I'm glad you're enjoying Catrin Weiz-Stein, because I've been very selfish about using her illustrations again this month; I just get such a booster every time I see her on top of my page! I chose the one with the cranes, which is one of her recent ones, for my mum when I sent her an email on her b-day this month, and she seemed to be especially pleased to discover this artist too.

As for Scarlet, I'm enjoying it more than I thought, because I was under the impression that the character of Cinder wouldn't appear in this book, so I was pleased to be proved wrong in that respect. Also, something new to me, I've been experimenting with the listening speed, and have found that for a YA title, I'm happy to listen at double speed, which is working with this one so far anyway, which is pretty cool as it means I can get through it twice as fast and not spoil the experience in the least!

I must say I'm really being spoiled by my first art patron. She shows her appreciation in more ways than one, and I can only hope she sets the tone for any future patrons to come! :-)

I'm sorry Leonardo and the Last Supper didn't lift off for you. I'm even more sorry I didn't take time to review it, because I did give it a rating of 4 stars, which tells me I enjoyed it quite a bit when I read it last year, though I can't remember specifics now. Haven't read anything else by Ross King, and nothing on the wishlist either, but I see you seem to have quite loved Brunelleschi's Dome...

Story of my life, back to square one ;)

A life spent around horses is great in spring and autumn, not so fun in summer and winter. Summer mostly consists of battling flies (horseflies, midges, house flies), sweating your *** off and smelling of sweaty horse. Plus the ground is too hard to feel comfortable riding on.

Winter is spent cold, muddy and wet with a chill that goes down to the bone and freezing cold feet that never warm up even when riding. The horses are also wet and muddy, and you have to trudge through a quagmire to get them in from the field. Or it's too wet to even venture into the field, in which case they go a bit doolally from being cooped up and leap around a lot.

Come to think of it, autumn isn't much fun either as they are growing their winter coat and so you get covered in fluff as the summer coat grows out. Then you clip them and end up even fluffier! A horse has a LARGE surface area so there is a lot of hair to come off.

And spring isn't great because they get the wind in their tails with the first hint of warmth and turn into small children, charging around everywhere.

Why do I have a horse again?

>35 Smiler69: Bruneleschi's Dome is my favorite of his, and it's a pretty slim one. I also liked Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling and The Judgment of Paris. Given the widespread love for Impressionist art these days, the latter was particularly enjoyable in depicting the difficulties they all faced in getting acceptance, and the contrasting popularity at that time of artists little-remembered today.

>36 lunacat: Why do I have a horse again?

Just when I was waiting for you to list all the advantages of having a horse! :-D

I'm sure there are many, they just don't happen to be related to seasonal concerns, is all, right? ;-)

>37 jnwelch: Thanks Joe, I'll add them to the list. Because of course, I don't have enough books to read. A common problem here on LT as I'm sure you know.

I do need to read The Judgement of Paris. My favorite Ross King is the one that never got any traction outside of Canada -- the one about the Group of Seven!

Thanks for the tip about The Grand Sophy. It's on my Audible library now, and I used a credit to get Station Eleven as well.

I have an ARC of The Children Act which I'll be reading between now and the end of the week, I think.

Suz, I really enjoyed my first Ross King experience, so I'll look out for more. I remember now he did write about the Group of Seven. Might look out for that one. I'll look out for your comments about Station Eleven too. Are you planning to listen to it soon? I've renewed my Platinum membership recently and managed to spend more than half those credits already, so slowing down by degrees now, though I did spend that credit on the new Ian McEwan partly to join you this month when I saw you'd listed it on the TIOLI wiki.

Happy New Thread! Happy New Coat!
I'm off to your old thread to see what you said and now thinking with regret that this may be the year that I have to replace my old everyday coat. I've loved it! It's made of some silky manufactured fabric on the outside that I love to touch, and it's been plenty warm for around here. It's also going on 20 years old, I bet.
Hooray for Sophy!
ETA: An abridged book is NOT a book. It's an abomination.

>40 Smiler69: Not sure whether I'll listen to Station Eleven soon. I've just finished The English Patient and need something less intense...

>41 LizzieD: LOL re the definition of an abridged book...

>41 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, and welcome!

An abridged book is NOT a book. It's an abomination.

Hear hear!

I don't understand why you say you need to part with your old coat if you still love it and it's been keeping you warm and it's still beautiful...

>42 Chatterbox: Oh yeah, The English Patient rates among the most intense books I've read this year. I've got the movie lying around, borrowed from the library, but I need to work up the courage to watch it now...

Your new winter coat is indeed gorgeous! May you have many cold, snowy days to laugh at while wearing it! Also, I hope you smile a lot more than the poor model above while wearing it :-)
And yay for more cashmere ;-) Wish I could wear it.

Rocky is coming along very nicely. I don't know how you do it, but I'm glad you do. Pat must be excited.

Sheesh, I didn't know horses were so much work. I hope the horses don't suffer so.

Somewhere you recently suggested I am reading books I feel an obligation to read and I should just read what I want. So, I'm gonna try that for October. Lighten up and all. Though I have to admit, the book I liked the best in Sept was the one I had to read for my philosophy class... Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams ... even though the author was struggling with her mother dying. Gotta find scary for October. Halloween and all.

Hi Ilana! I've been hearing good things about the Children Act and I NEED to read more McEwan, so it is on my To-Read list. I managed to snag the audio of Station Eleven too. I hope to get to that one soon.

>44 -Cee-: Claudia: I'd imagine that model is not very happy because she's had to skip meals for a while. Plus she doesn't have Coco to make her smile. But no desserts for her for sure; those coats are made pretty small, and to fit into an X-Small or just a Small even (i.e sample size), she would have had to be very tiny indeed. I'm not saying I'm a model-size by any means, but can you imagine I had to get an X-Large?!? Yeah, they're made to European sizing, that's for sure, considering I'm usually a size M or L at most normally. I almost didn't buy it because my vanity sort of took a beating with that one, but then I decided not to be ridiculous because I really loved the coat and nobody will be seeing the size label when I'm wearing it.

I don't know how you do it, but I'm glad you do
Re Rocky: up to 2-hour drawing sessions, no more. Otherwise I'd go insane.

I totally support your decision to read what you feel like this month. Go Claudia! Though, sure, sometimes I find scheduled reading to be highly satisfying too, otherwise I wouldn't bother planning so much of my reading, obviously.

>45 msf59: Hey Mark! I've been wanting to read a lot more Ian McEwan too, ever since I picked up my first book by him, which is when On Chesil Beach came out. Then I read Amsterdam this summer and loved it, and now I've gotten several on audio, and have quite a few on the tbr from years back, so a little push and a shove will get me there, and I know it's worthwhile, because he's an amazing writer.

Looking forward to feedback on Station Eleven.

***

Shared (i.e. reposted) lots of funny stuff on FB this evening. Wanted to do a second drawing session, but somehow that gobbled up the whole session right there. Oh well.

Just finished Scarlet, my last book for September. It's been good fun and I'll look forward to Cress which is already on the tbr. Starting on Frankenstein now.

Eeek, well, if you're wearing a size XL, I'm not ordering that coat!! :-) Because there won't be a size that FITS me.

Eileen Fisher has some pants that I like, and also some nice cotton/linen jersey tops that are great casual but not too casual wear. I've lucked out on occasion finding some sweaters and other things. The trick with their stuff is to avoid anything that looks boxy. Many of their styles are, and they look dreadful on me.

I adore cashmere sweaters, and try to pick up one or two at deep discounts ($100 or less) on Ruelalal.com at this time of year. The quality of cashmere has deteriorated a lot, however -- it's often too thin and pills quite badly. They used to last for years and years but now -- don't. Sigh. I should learn to darn, too. A good plain cashmere sweater and a nice pair of plain pants, either black or cream, and a good scarf, and I can go do anything in winter. That's my uniform. The scarves are so versatile. I have some long, rectangular ones that I bought in Laos and Thailand, and some French silk ones and some "play" ones that I found cheaply on stalls in various places.

Started reading The Children Act tonight, got a few pages into it and decided I needed something mindless. Back to some historical fiction instead.

New month! Happy October everyone. I got no less than three 6/49 lotto tickets for tonight. The draw is for 13 million, and if I could just get a small fraction of that and pay off a portion of my debts, I'd be very happy, so fingers crossed (along with the rest of Canada no doubt).

Here are my August Stats

Total books: 19 (9 less than August)

Mystery / thriller: 8
Literature: 7
Historical fiction: 7
YA: 3
Graphic Novels: 0
Non-Fiction: 0
Quarterlies: 1
Series works: 11
Male : Female authors: 8 : 8
TIOLI: 18, across 8 different challenges, 9 shared reads

Audiobooks: 12
Off the shelf: 4
Library: 2
eBook: 1
Unfinished: 2

Ratings:
5 stars: 0
4 & up: 11
3 & up: 8

Longest work: The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (21h28 audio / 576 pages)
Shortest work: Slightly Foxed: No. 22: Don't Give Up the Day Job by Gail Pirkis & Hazel Wood (Editors) (96 pages)

Oldest work: Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister by Aphra Behn (1684)
Newest work: The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (August 2014)

A Quick Summary
In September, I started slowly moving back into literature, while still making plenty of room for fun, entertaining reads. Took full advantage of September Series & Sequels, though was slowed down a bit in my plans when I took on the definitely unplanned The Paying Guest, which proved a rewarding, though very lengthy read. The tutorial for Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister by Aphra Behn made me discover 17th century fiction need not be as difficult as I thought it would. In this particular case it can actually be quite hilarious and also rather saucy... A steady diet of both Inspectors Maigret and Montalbano has moved me along both series and I plan of continuing at a similar pace if I can maintain it through the coming fall and winter months. Was happy to plunge back into the American Authors Challenge with James Baldwin, a new discovery for me, and much looking forward to Edith Wharton in October, who is already an old favourite, though I've yet to discover quite a lot of her work. Will be reviewing The Siege of Krishnapur, which I took in both in book form, and then (more or less accidentally) in abridged audio format narrated by a beloved actor, so I could be sure I got the full measure of the thing, complete with appropriate accents and intonations. I may yet complete the Empire trilogy this year perhaps. Two new series I've finally started on in September, Alan Furst's Night Soldiers and Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse, both of which I'd been looking forward to, both serving up very different forms of entertainment, and I'll be looking forward to plenty more servings from both authors in months and years to come. Finally, just finished Scarlet last night, another YA book which took me by surprise. Many have said this group has stretched their reading choices, and I've definitely learned to pick up more books just for sheer entertainment and fun, so I look forward to Cress in near future. Not doing as well as I'd like to on delivering reviews, but may still do write-ups for books I've read several weeks ago since I'm not keeping to a reading order... as long as they still leave some kind of impression behind...

Finally, must say the migraines, while still present, seem to have taken a back seat, which has been a real blessing. News I'm sure my neurologist will welcome when I see him tomorrow, though even less pain would still be best.

That's great that your migraines have decided to ease into the background a bit. Hopefully they'll get the message that they are entirely unwanted and vanish altogether!

BTW I'm blaming you for the fact I've been browsing new coats online. And I'll blame you even more when I end up purchasing one ;)

>48 Chatterbox: Suz, Mackage really cut their coats very small, it's kind of ridiculous. I've never had a bird-frame to begin with, but used to fit into a size M when not dieting or exercising to excess, in which case I did fit into a small, but only for brief periods of time. It seems I'm in-between sizes right now, because when I went to try coats the other day, the Canada Goose size Medium was just a tad too snug, and the Large a tad too big. Same goes with this coat, the L was a tad snug and there's plenty of room for extra layers in the XL, which also makes my waist look huge. According to the info on their web site, the model is 5'11" and is wearing and X-Small, which is kind of scary. I just tried on the coat again and now wondering about it. There's no denying it's a thing of beauty, but I look like a blimp in it. I've called Ogilvy's just now to ask them what their stock was like, and seems they've still receiving new arrivals this week, so while I still have 3 weeks to change my mind and return the coat I got, I think I'll pop over there between now and Friday to try on a few more to make sure I've made the right choice. I'll bring this one along too so I can compare the coats on site.

I started noticing the Eileen Fisher adds when I was quite young and was impressed because she was using 'normal' sized models. I don't come across her clothes very often, and when I do they're quite expensive, so haven't treated myself to any yet. As for the cashmeres, I've gotten all of mine on sale at around $100 each, mostly from JCrew, which seem to be of decent quality. The worst that's happened is the moths have gotten at them on occasion, and I've got a great seamstress who does almost invisible repairs, and not too expensive either. This summer I found that keeping my favourite ones out where I could see them saved them from moth attacks altogether. I started wearing cashmere because regular wool is too itchy for me. I've got really sensitive skin and it's the only kind of wool I can wear without going insane, and even feels nice to wear directly on my skin without an undershirt, as I'm doing right now.

I've just started getting into scarves fairly recently. I saw a few videos on YouTube showing various folding methods that were very useful. I should find those again for a refresher now that scarf season is here to stay for a good while.

>50 lunacat: That's great that your migraines have decided to ease into the background a bit.

Tell me about it! I've been tracking them daily, and mostly been rating them at around 5-6, which is still probably too high, but at around 5, I can mostly ignore them if I don't think about them, which I've learned not to do, the way I guess parents with screechy children learn to tune that kind of noise out, if you know what I mean. You know it's there, it sort of still drives you nuts, but you choose to put your attention elsewhere because there isn't much you can do about it, kind of thing.

Hope you find yourself a coat you like and isn't too expensive. ;-)

***

My accountant was just over. I'd waited months to do my taxes because I was SURE I was owed some money back, but seems I was wrong, wrong wrong, and I actually owe the govt a few hundred dollars. Nothing too abominable, but still. I was kind of in shock about that, considering there was his fee to pay on top of it, which I was counting on my refund to pay him out of. I'll get over the shock, but I'm worried now because I haven't got enough put aside for next year in terms of deductible investments, so I'll for sure end up owing quite a lot more. Now I need to pray I'll win at the lotto. Or, something... not buy anymore books for the rest of the year? Feed myself on Kraft Dinner from now on? Sell my cashmere sweaters?? What's a girl to do exactly???

>49 Smiler69: Migraines in the back seat sounds like a real positive, Ilana. I know it's too much to ask, but maybe some day you'll see the migraines in the rear view mirror, tumbling on the road as you leave them behind.

What a tasty smorgasbord of reading you had in September! Your my favorite kind of reader - some challenging, some classic, some just plain fun.

>52 jnwelch: Thanks Joe, I think the meds I'm taking are having some effect, but probably not as much as I'd like. We'll see what my neurologist has to say about it. Glad you approve of my reading mix. I'm quite happy with it too. The only thing missing is a bit of non-fiction in there to add in some information to the mix too, but at least the intention is there.

***

Staring on Fraçoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse in a mo, which has been sitting on the tbr for just way too long. The audiobook is just 3.5 hours and someone listed it on a TIOLI challenge, so now I don't have any excuse NOT to read it. Off to catch a bite and work some more on Rocky as I listen to the French narration.

Is the migraine news due to the Topamax or the Fioricet or the combo, do you think?

Mine are failing me right now, but I think it has a lot to do with stress and a big chunk of low pressure parked right overhead. (two straight days of rain.) in fact, now that I have realized that the UPS package I thought was coming today is in fact coming tomorrow, I can go to bed. Hurrah.

Ilana, love the new coat. I'm glad you will be warm and stylish this winter. Rocky is lookin' good these days. I'm sure Pat is pleased as punch.

I enjoyed your September summary. Lucy does that well, too. I'll stick with my lists for now. Oh yeah, my favorite part of your synopsis is the decline in Migraines. Very good news indeed!

Happy new thread, Ilana! I paid more attention to the YA Bingo card as I was scrolling and noticed the square "The Last Book of a Trilogy". Hum. Kind of assumes that there is an abundance of YA trilogies out there and that readers have probably already read the first two books of the trilogy - unless they were able to have books one and two fill other squares. Rather odd. Just a random observation I wanted to share.

>16 Smiler69: - Love the coat! Very urban chic.

>19 Smiler69: - 1.8 kilo and 2,500 pages for Shakespeare's complete works is an interesting statistic. For some reason, I thought he was a more prolific writer, and then I had to remember that he wrote plays, sonnets etc and wasn't a literary verbose author like Dickens, who would just go on for pages and pages and pages. That is quite some tome. ;-)

>46 Smiler69: - When it comes to European sizing I have found that I have to go two sizes up compared to North American sizing but I love the European cut because they get the arm length correct! With most North American styles I am always tugging on my sleeves... they are that tad bit too short. All the flippin' time. Drives me crazy and explains why the majority of my tops are either short sleeves or a deliberate three-quarter length.

>53 Smiler69: - Oh, I am soooooo looking forward to seeing what you think of Bonjour Tristesse! I was rather pleasantly surprised when I read it.

Hi Ilana, I am a bit late to your new thread but we have been celebrating family birthdays here. Put me down as another who loves your new coat and I am sure come January you will be so glad to have it! Love your opening artwork, but it's your portrait of Rocky that brings me to standstill to admire it. Excellent job!

Happy New Thread! I was just on the old thread and saw all the comments on Eleanor and Park. Or should I say I covered my eyes a little because I'm going to be reading it this month for my RL book group. A play list! Figures The Smiths would be on it. Emo with staying power. ;) I'm trotting over to the blog to see what's on it.

Made short work of Bonjour Tristesse yesterday, which is my first completed book for October. I really enjoyed it and I definitely want to write a review for it.

Am in a bit of a hurry now as need to get to my neurologist appointment soon, so will keep it brief.

As for the coat, trying it on yesterday again, I found that as much as I love the design, it's quite large on me and makes me look like I have a huge waist, so I'll go try out other coats at Ogilvy's where they have an excellent selection of urban chic styles that are also guaranteed to be warm, either today or tomorrow as I have 3 weeks left to return the first coat if I decide to change my mind.

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>54 Chatterbox: Suz, I'd imagine the Topamax primarily, and the Fiorinal second, and maybe the magnesium is helping too for all I know. I don't take the Fiorinal very often, maybe just 2-3 times/week so as not to go over the recommended 12 days/month my neurologist insisted I shouldn't go over to avoid rebound migraines. Took some today as woke up with what promised to be a painful day, so it's good to have that as a backup, whereas I had nothing of the sort to help me out before.

Sorry you're suffering lately. Hope that gets sorted out for you very soon.

>55 Donna828: Hi Donna, now I'm worried I might have jumped the gun a little with the coat... it's really a gorgeous one, but doesn't make me look anything like that model obviously, as she's 5'11" and wearing an x-small and I'm nothing of the sort and am between two sizes, so may need to find a coat that is cut better for my figure, but we'll see, as I really do like it a lot.

I got the idea from Lucy for my summary, and agree she does a great job of it. I think your lists are great and don't see why you'd want to change them. Thanks for dropping by!

>56 lkernagh: Hi Lori! Good thing I didn't restrict myself to YA books for that bingo card, as I have more chances of completing any kind of trilogy that way!

I shudder to think what an omnibus of Dickens's complete works would weigh, or how many pages it would take up if they were to print it on regular paper with a normal size font for comfortable reading!

I was a bit worried I wouldn't like Bonjour Tristesse because of some of the negative comments I'd seen about it, but ended up also being rather pleasantly surprised by it, so seems we're in agreement on that one. Hopefully I'll have time to do a writeup tonight about it. Otherwise I'll make time for it by this weekend for sure. I have a few reviews I want to catch up on.

>57 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy! Not at all late, I just put up the new thread a couple of days ago and you are most welcome! I'll either end up keeping the coat, even if it's a little large, or will find another I love just as much which fits me better today or tomorrow and if I do, I hope I can find a picture of it to show after I've made such a big fuss of it! Either way, I'll end up with a new winter coat I love and which will keep me nice and toasty through the worst of the winter cold. Thanks for the comments on the Rocky portrait. It's progressing day by day... it'll be fun to see the progression from start to finish on the blog once it's all completed!

>58 cammykitty: Hi Katie and welcome! I know what you mean, I don't like to read reviews for books I'm just about to read either. As for the playlists, the one of Rowell's blog is what she used as inspiration to write the scenes of the book, whereas the other one specifically lists each song mentioned in the book.

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Gotta run, wishing you all a wonderful day. Will be back later to catch up as best I can!

Started listening to The Children Act by Ian McEwan today. My neurologist increased my dosage of topamax for now, in hopes it'll further reduce the migraine pain. I'm seeing him in another three months to assess how that's working. Went to try a bunch of coats at Ogilvy's today, including the one I currently have in a size L as opposed to XL, which fits me well finally, so have returned to XL for now, but put aside two other ones and will return tomorrow with my friend K to choose among the three I had difficulty picking from today. Might well end up with the one I started with (only a size smaller), or maybe not. To be continued...

Really exhausted now and tempted to go straight to bed, but I'll spend an hour on Rocky and maybe watch the first episode of The X-Files before turning in.

Ha, we're on roughly the same regime, then! Incidentally, my mother swears by magnesium; says it has been a tremendous help.

And my migraines aren't nearly as bad as they were a year ago. They have been more frequent in the last few weeks, but not as severe and more easily managed. Which is good. And I've just confirmed that Fioricet with codeine is NOT covered by new rules on hydrocodone compounds, which limit prescriptions to one + renewals for 90 days, instead of 180 days. I think my neurologist, however, may be confused by this.

>61 Chatterbox: Suz, we'll be progressively increasing from my current 50 mg morning and night to 75 mg twice daily. I'm confused by this new ruling on hydrocodone compounds you mention. Don't know anything about it, so an explanation would be appreciated.

Loved your September summary and I am tickled! It's really nice, at the end of the year, to go back and read through them and see what's changed or evolved or whatever.

Especially happy to hear that migraines have been less harsh.

Oh coats! They are so difficult. Good luck with it. And when you visit we will go to the 'source' of inexpensive Eileen Fisher! Stowe is quite the resort town and many of the people with 2nd, 3rd or 4th homes there must fill their closets with clothes they wear once or twice and then pack off ..... I have loads and loads of Eileen now, and sometimes even find things clearly unworn! There was an article about her in the NYer a year or so ago, although I don't think the writer 'got' who she is at all. In fact, now that I think about it, although I liked learning more about how her company works, I was taken aback by the author's attitude - Fisher is trying to run her business in a particular way, yes, it is a hierarchy with her at the top, but it isn't run like that and the author was sort of odd about it, hard to explain, condescending? skeptical? it gave the article a weird cant for me, like it wasn't quite straight.

This pretty much summarizes the changes:
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2014/September/26/DEA-painkiller-reclass...

Since my neurologist wrote my a prescription with only two refills, I worried that Fioricet was caught up in this. But it isn't.

Basically, it would have meant having to obtain a new written Rx every three months instead of every six months -- a real hassle.

I posted the following update today on my blog just now, now that I've more or less reached the halfway point with Rocky, for those who are interested in the process as well as the visual: http://createthreesixty5.com/2014/10/03/rocky-halfway-there/.

Was going to write a review or two, but decided I'd rather spend the next hour drawing right now, after which I'm off back to Ogilvy's downtown to meet up with my friend Kristyna who will help me choose among the three coats I put aside yesterday. Will I end up with the same coat I started with, or one of the other two? In the running is this khaki coat (slightly cheaper than the first one I got but same quality):



***

>63 sibylline: Lucy, as I was saying to Donna, I totally stole the idea for the monthly summary from you. As you say, it'll be interesting to look back at the end of the year, though as I just started doing it last month, I'll just have a few months to look back on, but still interesting. Eileen Fisher eh? Just one more great reason for heading down there. Now if I could only get moving!

>64 Chatterbox: Thanks for the link Suz. I see what you mean about a major hassle if Fioricet/Fiorinal had been included in there. I used to only be able to see my neurologist every 6 months, and I'm sure this is the case for a lot of people. What to do then? They say the prescription can't be called into the pharmacy, but this couldn't be anyway, had to be faxed in, I wonder if that's changed at all?

Gosh, I feel like I need to slow down in my reading, if only to give me time to catch up with my reviews. In any case, I finished The Children Act. It was good, and I'm glad I read it, but I don't think it's essential Ian McEwan reading. I'll be busy with reviews this weekend. Just got Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood and Not that Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham from the library's OverDrive collection this evening. Might make room for both this month.

I think I've got my coat purchase finalized, but I have two weeks to change my mind. It's the third option, and unfortunately much more expensive. Also 100% down, completely waterproof and much thinner and lighter yet guaranteed to keep me very warm. Also slimming. If I take care of it, might last me more than the last one did, so I can make my investment really pay off. If I don't wake up in the nights in a cold sweat about how much I spent on it, I'll keep it. It looked like nothing on the hanger, but really looked great on me. The photo shows the grey one, but mine is a "shadow blue". The one I'd picked out originally (shown up top) really bulked me out and made me look very stocky (nothing like the model, that for sure!), even in the smaller size, so I let it go.

The salesman, Elia, was so helpful on the phone when I called on Wednesday I really wanted to have him help me in the store. As it turned out, he happened to be incredibly attractive and kind when I showed up yesterday. Today he wasn't supposed to work, but as he had training on site, he came in especially so I could try on the coats with my friend K to make my final decision (even though he's not technically on commission). I brought Coco too, and for some reason he (Elia) looked even more amazing today and showed great patience as I kept dithering back and forth. But Coco was totally unlike himself, going absolutely bonkers and generally making a nuisance of himself. As we were sitting down for coffee afterwards, K said Coco had been looking between Elia and me back and forth and was obviously picking up on some vibe and feeling jealous, unused to having another male grab my attention so fully. In the four years I've had him, he's never seen me flirting with a man that way! Too funny.

I loved that first coat but then again this new one looks good as well. I hope you are happy with your final choice. This past winter was so mild here that I never got to wear a coat.

I read Bonjour Tristesse several years ago and have collected quite a lot of her novellas from used bookshops since then. I really must read something more by her.

>67 avatiakh: Hi Kerry, I really loved that first coat too, and I was sad to part with it, but then it looked nothing on me like it does on the picture and easily added 20-30 lbs to my frame, which wasn't so flattering. Hence the switch. Bonjour Tristesse was a real threat. The narrator was really excellent too.

Here are my reading plans for October:

✭♫ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - TIOLI #15 - Listening
✪✔ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - TIOLI #5 - Reading
*✭♫+✔ A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel - Picked for Me! - TIOLI #12
*✭✔ Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant - Picked for Me! - TIOLI #5
✪ⓔ Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar - Net Galley - TIOLI #5
✪♫+✔ The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton - AAC - TIOLI#4
✪✔ Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami - GR - TIOLI #5
✭✔ The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens - TIOLI #7, A Century of Books!
✪✔ Greenwitch by Susan Cooper - TIOLI #14
❉+♫ Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - TIOLI #13
✪♫ The Children Act by Ian McEwan - TIOLI #2 - COMPLETED
✪♫ The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier - TIOLI #8
✭♫ Grave Peril by Jim Butcher - TIOLI #13
✭♫ Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor - TIOLI #13
✭♫ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling - TIOLI #13
✪♫ Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - TIOLI #6
✪♫ Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson - TIOLI #8
✪♫❉ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - TIOLI#4
✪♫ On the Road by Jack Kerouac - TIOLI #11
✪♫ Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan - TIOLI #19, A Century of Books! - COMPLETED
✪♫❉ Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris - TIOLI #7

* = Picked for Me challenge
** = Picked for Me challenge extra picks
♫ = audiobook
✔ = off the shelf
❉ = library book
ⓔ = eBook
✭ = TIOLI
✪ = Shared TIOLI

Hi Ilana!
I'm pretty sure, despite what you say, that any of the coats would look awesome on you. That being said - I do like #3 the best. (If you change your mind again, go back to #1.)
NOW - let it snow!!!!!

I have an LL Bean jacket for winter that is very warm when it's all together. The lining comes out and the two pieces can be worn separately. To tell you the truth, I mostly wear just the lining except of course when it's very cold, wet, and snowy. I just can't wear down coats at all - way too hot for me.

Thinking about it though, I don't walk around as much as you. I'm mostly in the car. Now I'm always "rural casual" with a sad lack of style. Quite a turn around from when I worked and according to my mother looking like I walked out of a style magazine. Ah, well.

SO happy to hear your migraines are somewhat better. Keep up the good work. And, I love how Rocky is coming out.

Cloudy and rainy today - good day for reading ;-) Have you made any apple crisp lately?

>70 -Cee-: Claudia, one of the advantages of being middle-aged is you've figured out by then what works and what doesn't for your body, so I was able to pick out coats rather easily that were flattering for my figure. Because I have an hourglass figure, I stay away from anything boxy and try to find coats that have waist definition, but also that don't add too much bulk, since I'm not exactly a lightweight—I know I'm not heavy either, but I've never fit my internal self-image, which has always wanted me to be a waif for some reason, taking up hardly any room in the world. You're right though—all three coats would have been good choices. The first coat though, seen from the side DOUBLED the size of my waist, and my gf K was determined to make me change my mind about it. I think what also influenced me was that Elia (♥︎), was all for the one I ended up picking, though of course I'll never know if that was because it was the more expensive one, though he seemed like such a genuine person, it could have nothing to do with that either. My friend K, before we got to the store had decided to discourage me also from spending on the more expensive coat, but when she saw me slip it on thought the other two paled in comparison. It really is very flattering on me, and that dark blue does wonders for my complexion. Since I kept my last coat for 10 seasons, I'm hoping to keep this one as long if not longer; it's a classic cut that's sure never to go out of style. Are you getting bored with all the coat talk yet??

I'm much less focused on being stylish than I used to be, believe it or not. Now my life mostly revolves around walking Coco, whereas when I was working, I was downtown all the time and going out to fashionable restaurants and clubs regularly, with the weekly dressy to-dos, even black-tie events now and again, and my job did demand I hold up a certain image in these affairs, though I could easily get away in jeans and t's on a day-to-day basis if I felt like it. But beyond that, I was attracted to that milieu because I was very much concerned with appearances in the first place, and used to put much too much emphasis on it. I wore full makeup these last two days to go to Ogilvy's, which is an upscale store, because I wanted to be sure to be taken seriously and get good service (and because I wanted to look good for Elia) and K said I looked really great with it on, since she's rarely seen me like that, and it's true it makes a big difference, but nowadays I can't be bothered, whereas when I was working I wouldn't so much as go to the corner store without a full face on. Priorities change, and for sure if I lived in a rural area or away from the city, they would further alter to even more "rural casual", as you say, and I'd definitely shop at LL Bean instead of J Crew.

I'm really hoping the increased dosage of Topamax will have a beneficial effect. As it'll take 2 weeks to reach the maximum dosage, I don't expect I'll start feeling the effects for another month or so.

Have NOT made an apple crisp yet. Bought a big bunch of apples last week and was going to be good and only make myself apple sauce. I think I actually might have lost 1 or 2 lbs in the last week. Not sure how that happened, just not taking in massive doses of sugar, maybe. I'm really dreading getting hooked on my rice pudding again. That stuff is deadly to my figure. If only I could make it last for a week instead of gobbling down a family portion in 2 days!

Always lovely to have your visits! xx

Am so glad to hear that Ogilvy's still exists! We used to shop there in Ottawa.

I do like the coat, and I'm a big believer in spending when it's clearly going to pay off -- quality, longevity, timelessness. I'll pay for a silk scarf that I'll wear for 20/30 plus years, for instance, but not for a t-shirt that won't last me for more than two years, because either the material is flimsy or the color is so tied to a specific season, or... Coats are tricky, because the designs can be fashion-oriented, which can limit the lifespan. Who wants to wear a coat designed in the late 80s?? But I think a decade or so is reasonable, and I'm perfectly willing to cost it out at between $50 to $75 per year for a coat, based on the frequency with which I'll wear it. (Daily, from December until the end of March, and sometimes longer.) That's my calculus. Similarly, if I find a great pair of jeans, that's durable and wearable and fits perfectly, I'll spend $100. Because I'll wear them every single day, 9 months of the year. (Not in summer...) It's about price/wear, and the quality of what it is that I'm wearing. As long as I don't go into debt in the first place, which I will. not. do. for. any. item. of. clothing.

Finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle this evening. 12 short stories which I greatly enjoyed. It took me a long time to start discovering the great detective, but it's never too late. Watched the pilot and first episode of The X-Files this afternoon. I couldn't help but notice how dated all the women's clothing and technology from the early 90s were. And both Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny were so young!

No reviews still, but they're brewing!

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>72 Chatterbox: Suz, unfortunately, I have a longstanding habit of using credit and getting into debt for everything, which I seem to have the hardest time getting rid of. Apparently we learn our financial habits from our parents, and my mother was always horrid with money, spending it when there was some around and making do when there wasn't and never thinking to save for a rainy day. I wish I'd learned from my father not to spend at all, but that's just another extreme.

As for Ogilvy, it still exists for now, but there's no telling for how much longer right now. My great-grandmother used to shop there, I remember going as a child and how special it was, the same Christmas display has been up every single year for probably for over 100 years, and I got my first real job there, when I wasn't quite 18 yet, so of course I have very fond memory of that place, but it was purchased by Holt Renfrew a couple of years ago and while everything is up in the air right now, I think the general idea is to turn it into a Holt's because the current Holt Renfrew on Sherbrooke will be turned into luxury condos in not too distant future. But ask anyone at Ogilvy's what's going on and they have no idea and all seem a bit apprehensive about what the future might bring. I believe the changes will be coming in February. I think it'll be a very sad day if they actually do take away the Ogilvy name and tradition—seems sacrilegious somehow, but nowadays there is nothing sacred. The Soviets tore down traditions in the name of Communism, we're doing in in the West in the name of Commerce.

Did a short 45 min drawing session just before I came to update my reading. Now will start on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde while I start on a second drawing session of an hour at most. Then off to bed and Frankenstein.

Happy Sunday, Ilana. Great new coat, it really looks like good quality and should serve some winters. I tend to buy cheap ones because I have to wash them, the drycleaner here has the most ridiculous opening hours (open during work hours when I am in the office and closed on Saturdays, I've no idea how his shop survives). After one or two rounds in the washing machine my coats start losing feathers, so I can't wear dark sweaters anymore, and they stop keeping me warm.

I own the Shakespeare edition you sent to your mother. I had another complete works edition first, but then saw that one and fell in love. The annotations were so helpful and I just loved the cover.

Bonjour Tristesse was the first book I read in French, I must have been about 18, the perfect age. I loved it then but have always been scared of a reread. Your comments encourage me, maybe it is a book for all ages.

I haven't had the time to listen to the other Bernice Rubens yet, but I ordered and received The Elected Member, her Booker Prize winning novel, and am planning it for November. Looking forward to your comments.

>75 Deern: Hi Nathalie, I'm feeling especially lazy this Sunday. It's quite cold outside, around 11 degrees C and I'm bundled up and sort of want to cuddle up on the couch, but I think I'll try to knock out 2-3 short reviews so I feel like I've at least kept my word and did what I said I'd do. The new coat was horrendously expensive, but it's also of very high quality and I know it'll keep me warm. The old one did too, until I put it in the wash, which I have no idea why because I have a dry cleaner just in my street block who is cheap and fast... just stupidity on my part.

I hope I can fit in The Elected Member this month because as usual, I've planned for too many books, but if not I'll join you next month. Thanks for dropping by!

That's a big problem with coats as well - washing the blighters! Fully waterproof coats that can survive torrential downpours and keep me warm are fantastic until they go through the wash. It doesn't matter how faithfully I follow the instructions or add the waterproofing solution, they still start to lose their proofing. I go for the tactic of not washing them which is fine during the winter when you can't see too much dirt but not so great for the rest of the year!

And down coats are wonderful although I can't really afford them, and the washing is an issue. I don't have a dry cleaner anywhere near me so it's not a very doable option.

I'm still waiting for someone to come up with a coat that keeps me warm and dry, and doesn't require magic washing to keep those attributes!!

Book #186: ❉ Un Crime en Hollande / Maigret in Holland by Georges Simenon ★★★½
Source: Municipal Library
Read for: September TIOLI Challenge #5: read a book you didn't buy
Series: Maigret (8 of 76)
Edition: Omnibus (2007), Paperback, 930 pages (French edition anthology)
Original publication date: 1931

In the eighth and last book in my omnibus edition, merely the first in a long series (Tout Maigret, Volume 1 of 10), Maigret is called away to Holland to help Jean Duclos, a French criminology professor away in Holland to give a conference, prove his innocence in a murder he claims he did not commit. All the Maigret novels I've read so far take place in small towns and this one is no exception. The action takes place in Delfzijl, Groningen, a seaport town in the Netherlands. Maigret can't speak a word of Dutch, but a few people speak French well enough to be of help to him. Getting in his way is not only the language barrier but also the vast cultural differences between the French and the protestant Dutch, who in this small community are very preoccupied with keeping up appearances and would prefer keeping things hushed up, even if it means inculpating the wrong person for the crime, in this case, the French professor, who is conveniently a foreigner. The murder took place just outside the house of Conrad Popinga, who was killed by a gunshot while he was putting away his bicycle behind a shed after having accompanied Beetje Liewens to her father's farmhouse. Just after the gunshot is heard, Jean Duclos is seen walking out of the house with the gun in his hand, which he claims to have picked up on the ledge of the open bathroom window. When Maigret starts digging a little bit, he quickly finds the murdered man was being unfaithful to his wife and making promises he did not intend to keep to Beetje Liewens, his much younger mistress, who longed to, more than anything else, get away from this small stifling town and her too strict father. Maigret tailors his methods with each situation and for this case, he asks all involved to recreate the night of the crime to find the culprit. I'm now a true Maigret fan. Simenon is a great writer, the books are atmospheric and full of tension, Maigret is complex and humane. I intend on reading the remaining 67 Maigret novels and the collection of 28 short stories within the next couple of years if at all possible.

>77 lunacat: Jenny, interestingly enough, I visited the website of the coat company (http://www.cinellistudio.it) and discovered I can apparently wash the coat myself. Needless to say, I'm highly suspicious of this and won't take a chance. The dry cleaner is not even 5 minutes away from me and charges only $15 which is really cheap for a long coat, which only needs to get done once a year, if that, and I'd rather be safe than sorry. You definitely have to pay the price for 100% down, but it's also the warmest option, and considering what winters can be like here, and the fact that Coco likes to take his own sweet time outside no matter how arctic the weather, I really need to be dressed for the elements. I was encouraged to read that this company uses geese that are also taken for their meat and only plucks the feathers from them after they are killed, as opposed to live plucking.

Book #189: ♫ Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan ★★★★⅓
Source: Municipal Library
Read for: October TIOLI #19: a cheese name in the title or author's name (Saga), A Century of Books!
Edition: French Edition, Audiolib (2008), Unabridged CD; 3h24
Awards & Distinctions: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006/2008/2010/2012 Edition), Guardian 1000 (Love)
Original publication date: 1954

Cécile, seventeen years old, has been living with her handsome widowed father Raymond, whom she adores, for the past two years, ever since he took her out of convent school and introduced her to his world of beautiful women and fashionable nightclubbing. Now he's rented a villa in the Côte d'Azure for the summer, and Cécile is looking forward to an easy and fun-filled summer by the beach, which she knows will be filled with his father's women, though she doesn't mind this—they come and go and he's always taken Cécile in his confidence, and she finds his frivolity suits his character just fine. His current mistress is called Elsa and all three get along very well. Then she meets a young man in his mid-20s called Cyril who seems to be in love with her and she indulges him in a love affair on a whim, to pass the time and because that is what is done by her friends, and certainly by the likes of her father.

All is fun and good times, until Anne Larsen appears on the scene rather unexpectedly. Anne had been a friend of Cécile's mother, now dead for 15 years. Anne is a serious woman who has her own fashion business; refined and cultured, she had taken Cécile in hand some years ago, had shown her how a young lady should comport herself, taught her proper deportment, how to dress, how to modulate her speech, in short, given her a veneer of sophistication the girl had lacked until then and has put to good use ever since. But now it seems Anne and her father are suddenly in love with each other, which seems so unlikely! Surely he is much too dissolute for Anne? Surely she is much to staid for his tastes? But overnight, they decide to get married, and now Elsa must leave the villa. Cécile is outraged; surely they can't just turn out Elsa without a word of explanation? But worse is yet to come. Anne has decided to take the young girl in hand again. She is not doing well in her studies and exams are looming, so now she must spend her time studying hard, and never mind the beautiful summer weather and the beckoning beach. Worse yet, Raymond sides with his fiancée whenever she adopts a hard line, which is completely unlike him. Cécile can't believe her loving father would let himself be influenced to that degree. She comes up with a plan which will surely put Anne in her place. She will orchestrate it all: she tells Cyril and Elsa to act like lovers and appear in front of her father as if coincidentally to incite his jealousy. He is in his 40s after all, and surely he will be jealous to see his beautiful former mistress on the rebound with a much younger handsome man. Cécile counts on Raymond's weakness for beautiful women to lead him straight back into Elsa's arm. She knows her father well. She truly believes this will teach Anne a lesson, that she will be forced to give them back a little of their former freedom if she truly loves them. But her plan backfires and brings tragedy instead.

I picked up this slim novel as an audiobook, extremely well narrated by French actress Sara Giraudeau, who was very convincing as Cécile, listening to it in just one short sitting. I'd forgotten what year it had been published in and assumed it was from the early 60s, and upon checking, was shocked by just how advanced it was for it's time. True, the French have always had different notions from the English when it comes to sexuality and the rearing of children, but all the same, the attitudes adopted by Cécile and her father here seemed more in tune with the anything-goes 70s or even our own era than the postwar early 50s, and more surprising yet was just how mature Cécile's voice was. Perhaps the way she decided to deal with Anne's strict presence showed her to be a child still, but her narration was sophisticated, and when one considers that Françoise Sagan herself wrote the book when she herself was only 18 years old, basing herself on personal experiences, it is clear she was a unique and exceptionally precocious writer. This book might not suit everyone, since the material may be shocking to some readers, but I really loved it for how beautifully it is written. Highly recommended for readers with a liberal mind.

Just started listening to The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. The audiobook is narrated by Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad fame. I'm sorely tempted to have a nap, can barely keep my eyes open, but I think I'll just turn in extra early tonight instead, maybe after the drawing session I'm off to now.

>73 Smiler69: Oh, I've had money woes, too, which is why I am so draconian with myself now. I will not take out stupid store credit cards that I do not need. And I won't put a purchase on a credit card if I can avoid it. Cash or debit card. It's just too easy to let even small purchases snowball. I will look out for one or two more cheap cashmere sweaters online and then one big bulky warm sweater to wear as a layer indoors, and then pick up a couple of long-sleeved tees for indoors at $10 apiece, and that will be my winter wardrobe. Each item replaces something that is worn out and no longer wearable. Would I like to splurge on a new silk scarf, if only so that I have something new to look at? Sure. Is it going to happen? Nope.

Hi Ilana! Trying to visit a few threads after, my long, disconnected weekend. Hope all is well and I hope you enjoy The Things They Carried, it is one of my favorite books and I bet that audio, narrated by Cranston is fantastic.

Too funny about Coco being jealous!

I am so glad you have the 'right' coat!! I need to get a new one and I'm just putting it off and putting it off!

I thought The Things They Carried was terrific, too, Ilana. And Bryan Cranston seems like a perfect pick for the audio narrator.

Just stopping and waving!

It's around 14 C or 59 F out there right now, which isn't that cold, but somehow seems unbearable to me today. I was out with Coco very briefly a short while ago, out at the tiny park across the street, and even he didn't seem to want to linger too long. I'm in PMS mode and sort of in a bad mood and wanting to lay on the couch and watch episodes of The X-Files and move as little as possible. Even the cats requesting attention is getting on my nerves. I'm out of milk which is usually my cue to go to market to get some essentials and stock up on fresh produce, but I don't think I'll bother today. I just had my midday meal: a couple of small quartered organic apples and bunch of Carr's crackers with a generous slathering of Labneh cheese, which is a Lebanese white creamy cheese I adore. Not exactly super nutritious, but filling. Now I'm onto a cup of Dave's Tea North African Mint Green tea with a dollop of honey, which is nice and warming.

In reading, just over halfway through The Things They Carried, which I may finish today if I spend a couple of hours drawing like I did yesterday. From the library, had The Ironwood Tree laying around since the summer and finally got around to it today. The superb line illustrations by Tony DiTerlizzi are what make me keep coming back to The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series about trolls and faeries.

***

>82 Chatterbox: Suz, I keep promising myself to make big reforms to get myself out of debt once and for all, but I've still got 5 years to go on my current payment plan, and while this winter coat really was an essential purchase, I do persist in making non-essential ones (and I'm not including books among these, since we all know those are a priority for any LT member!). But really, maybe I'm a bit hard on myself. It's just the cost of daily living and maintenance that's horrendously expensive, and as you must know, living alone doesn't come cheap either. That being said, I'll have to learn to further cut back, because my supposedly well-thought-out budget still manages to exceed my monthly revenue, though I have no idea where I can possibly make the cuts. Just goes to show how hopeless I am...

>83 msf59: Hey Mark, welcome back to the internet! I had added The Things They Carried to the wishlist after reading your enthusiastic review, so have you to thank for it. Cranston is definitely a great choice as a narrator for this material.

>84 sibylline: Hey Lucy, Coco may be a little guy, but he's all male all the same!

I put off coat shopping for as long as I could, which was at least a couple of years, when the old one wasn't keeping me as warm as it used to, and with the last winter we had, I really felt a huge difference, especially after putting it through the washing machine. I knew I was up against a big expense and that shopping for it would probably end up being complicated. My dad did offer to help me pay for it though, which is a huge blessing because otherwise I was just getting in deep with the credit card again.

>85 jnwelch: Hi Joe, I only saw a couple episodes of Breaking Bad, but when I saw Cranston was narrating TTTC I knew I had to have that audiobook, so didn't hesitate to spend an Audible credit on it. I'm not regretting it one bit.

>86 connie53: Hi Connie, thanks for dropping by!

Great review of Bonjour Tristesse, Ilana! I was also amazed with the level of sophistication Sagan wrote that one as she was still a teenager at the time. She was a rather worldly teenager, I think.

>88 lkernagh: Oh good, I'm glad you enjoyed my review Lori. Worldly seems like the perfect word to describe Françoise Sagan as a teenager, but then if she had the kind of life Cécile did in the book, I guess Sagan would have been raised in an environment that would have encouraged her to become that way.

***

Finished Frankenstein last night and really loved it. Hard to believe it took me so long to get to it, and I'm sure I'll read it again eventually. I look forward to the National Theatre Live presentation next week with Benedict Cumberbatch as the creature.

I had really enjoyed The Things They Carried, but then, with just three stories left to finish, the horror of the thing suddenly struck me full force like a delayed reaction last night when I tried to get back to it and finish it, and I couldn't keep listening. I feel kind of silly abandoning it at this point, so will just put it aside for now and hopefully get back to it within a few days. In the meantime, a new edition of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman has just come out, a full cast production on audio which I couldn't resist spending a credit on, so I've moved on to that. I'd been meaning to reread it sometime soon anyway, and this version with an all-star cast truly beckoned.

Been watching The X-Files kind of obsessively these last few days, maybe 4 or more shows per day. Seems like perfect viewing for October with the high spook factor, and as it's cold outside and I'm still not feeling very well (gastric troubles not helping matters), I'm happy to tuck up and call in sick on the couch. In fact, off to do that now.

Not been very sociable lately I'm afraid, but I'll be back to do the rounds soon.

eta: fixed touchstones

Yay for Frankenstein! Isn't it surprisingly good? So different from what I expected.

Understandable re The Things I Carried. Good idea not to abandon it, but set it aside for a while. An all-star cast production of The Graveyard Book! Now that's intriguing. I loved Gaiman's reading of it, and this one sounds like it could be great. Look forward to hearing your reaction to it.

We used to watch X-Files religiously. Bet it's fun to re-visit it.

>90 jnwelch: Thanks for dropping by Joe. I've been feeling quite miserable lately both physically and otherwise, and kind of wishing I had someone taking care of me, maybe like Montalbano's cleaning woman/cook (forget her name), who could keep my place tidy and prepare me a nice daily dish, which I'm sure would make me feel a lot better. Too bad it's not really part of our culture here, so would be kind of hard to find I think, and be ridiculously expensive too, unlike in Sicily I'll bet.

I'm honestly not sure I'll return to to The Things They Carried. I've always been weary about material set during the Vietnam War. Too close for comfort somehow, both in time and modern sensibility, which is why I stay completely away from Gulf war and any more recent war material, just can't deal with that stuff at all, throws me straight into depression—guess I just can't cope with reality to a certain extent. I'd been putting off listening to it for a couple of days, which is unlike me as I usually can't make enough time to get through audiobooks, but as I was listening to it I'd been getting into a worse and worse state of mind, and not seeing the connection right away, and I see now, after a day of reflection, that the horrors of war as Tim O'Brien was describing them were really affecting me badly. As I've said before, I have to be careful about my reading materials not throwing me into too much of a slump, because I never know when that slump can end up lasting longer than necessary, given my melancholy disposition, which no amount of medication seems to be able to cure. Last thing I need is not to be able to get out of bed for months at a time just because I'm determined to finish a book, right? But at the same time I don't want to systematically eliminate books as possibilities, so I try to keep an open mind as much as possible.

Believe it or not, I never did watch the X-Files before. I was too wrapped up with my studies and starting up my career twenty years ago, so didn't have time at all for TV, so it's all new to me now, which is sort of funny because it does seem kind of dated, but I'm enjoying it all the same. Some episodes are better than others, but the weather is helping with the spooky there... cold, grey, raining constantly. We even had a brief hailstorm yesterday!

eta: re: Frankenstein I'd seen many comments about Shelley showing sympathy for the creature, and I too couldn't help but feel it had gotten a raw deal. Such a tragic story and really well done, and yes, much better than I'd expected!

>91 Smiler69: Adelina is the one who leaves the mouth-watering food in the refrigerator for Montalbano and cleans his house.

I've certainly got reading subjects that are mostly a no-go for me - books that turn on the depicted murder or extensive abuse of a child probably top that list. I've got plenty of other books I can read.

Oh, what fun to watch the X-Files for the first time! We wouldn't let our kids watch it when they were younger, but they still like to tell stories about hearing us downstairs screaming (well, I was yelling in a very dignified way) as we got creeped out or grossed out. Some episodes definitely are better than others, but the top ones are really something.

Yes, I felt sympathy for the creature in Frankenstein, too. Lots of comparisons can be made with estranged and misunderstood people who get sent down the wrong path by the reactions of others. His life could've been quite different.

Oh for Pete's sake, my life gets out of control (again) and your new thread has 92 posts before I've even checked in! Sigh.

I think we all need an Adelina, right? Except that with the food she leaves for him, we would weigh in at well over 400 pounds. I never get how he eats all that fabulous food.... Solving all those mysteries is hard work, I guess.

I haven't read Frankenstein yet but I bought it at last winter's Portland/Powell's meet-up. My understanding is that the "monster" is indeed a sympathetic character and that the cartoons and such to which we were all exposed in childhood distorted that facet of Shelley's novel. I think it's a quick read (?) so I think I'll take it out of the bag in which it has been living and be sure to read it this year. I've given up on my secret goal of 100 books for the year (that sounds so pathetic around this crowd) but I still want to come as close as possible.

xo

Hope the weather, and your mood, have improved a little. It can't be much fun having winter beginning to set in already.

Hi Ilana, just want to say that I am half through and quite in love with The Waiting Game. Great audiobook, thanks for recommending it! Sadly The Elected Member was only availabe for me as paper book and after reading the blurb I find it far less inviting. But we'll see... it won a Booker after all.

Picked up The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens last night. It's off to a promising start, though won't exactly be a walk though the rose garden.

***

>92 jnwelch: Yes yes, Adelina! How could I forget? My Adelina would be leaving me desserts along with a savoury dish of course! If I ever win big at the lottery I'll start searching for her far and wide.

I guess we all have books or specific topics that are off-limits, I just always end up feeling extra badly when the books were recommended and well-liked by my LT friends, which is why I feel the need to perhaps over-explain myself.

Watching the X-Files has been great fun. I'll definitely reserve subsequent seasons from the library. I was really disappointed that the DVDs were in such a sorry state that I had to forego watching the last two shows of the season. The 6th DVD is so scratched up that to watch the first two shows on it, I had to constantly turn off the player and start it up again because the image kept seizing up and I ended up losing a bunch of sections, so I decided I was better off missing the last two shows altogether. Hopefully the season 2 set will be in better shape. I'd definitely not want my young kids watching this show. Talk about nightmare-inducing! Probably watching it 20 years ago would have been nightmare-inducing for me too, but I guess I've become desensitized to that sort of thing by now. Still loads of fun though, and perfect pre-Halloween viewing!

I felt sympathy for the creature in Frankenstein, too. Lots of comparisons can be made with estranged and misunderstood people who get sent down the wrong path by the reactions of others.

Couldn't have said it better.

>93 EBT1002: Don't worry about my thread growing so fast Ellen, I always give it lots of fertilizer at the start, with a good 15 posts to get it growing. :-)

I don't know how Montalbano looks in the TV shows, but I imagine him as being somewhat rounded when I'm reading the books. How could he be otherwise considering how much he loves food, and it's not like he seems to do a whole lot of exercise or exert himself much, does he? My Adelina would make lots of vegetable and fruit salads and soups too though, to make sure I'd keep fitting into my clothes. That would be part of her contractual conditions.

Frankenstein is a great story, and very well written. Much deeper than you might suppose from the way pop culture has treated the story. I'd say it's probably essential reading, and yes, the monster is a deep-feeling creature which you can't help but side with. I can't wait to see the play next week, I'm sure it'll reveal sides of the story I hadn't considered as I was reading the book.

>94 lunacat: Hi Jenny, it's sunny right now, but very cold, between 5 and 9 C, just a short while ago the sky suddenly went very dark, and it keeps going back and forth. The weather has been shifting dramatically from moment to moment this last week or so, one moment sunny, the next pouring rain then sunny again, then dark and gloomy, then mist and fog at night, the other day from sun to sudden hailstorm back to sunshine... all rather confusing as you can imagine. Getting dressed for it is tricky. You dress for the cold (or I do, in any case), then the sun comes out and suddenly you're much too hot. October always tends to get quite cold, but usually later on in the month. I've already worn my old winter coat a few times during walks with Coco. Keeping the new one for first snow. Mood is... well, it is what it is. Better than the weekend I guess. Trying to keep an even keel through it all.

>95 Deern: Nathalie, I'm so glad you're enjoying The Waiting Game. That is definitely an audiobook I look forward to returning to. I'm only sorry I didn't jump on Nine Lives and I, Dreyfus at the same time, because now they are unavailable to us here in Canada, though of course I can always get them in print. I don't know if The Elected Member was ever available on audio. I've had it in print for a good while now, and just started it yesterday. The subject matter is bleak indeed, but so far, given Rubens's wonderful dark humour, I'm finding it very amusing, and the whole subject of mental illness in a jewish family context is really very funny, because they are so unwilling to accept it, that it makes for great tragicomedy. The son is a drug addict and is seeing visions, but is unwilling to admit they are visions, so keeps insisting everybody else is crazy and not him. I've just gotten to the point of his hospitalization. It was all very tragic, but also laughable. Of course you have to be up for this kind of painful laughter thing.

Hi Ilana! Sorry, to hear you are having a bad stretch. Hope it wraps up for you soon.
You have definitely inspired me to read/listen to Frankenstein this month. Great timing too. Should get to it soon.

Hi Mark, thanks for dropping by. I'd say Frankenstein is perfect reading for the month of October, when ghouls and monsters are in the air. I think you'll enjoy it a lot. It's surprisingly deep, yet entertaining at the same time.

Book #196: ❉ Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins ★★★★
Source: Municipal Library
Read for: October TIOLI #1: Read a book with a species of bird named in the narrative
Edition: Random House (2001), Hardcover, 192 pages
Awards & Distinctions: ALA Notable Books for Adults
Original publication date: 2001

I'm not a natural to poetry; I really have to work at it and make a special effort to make time for it and pay attention, which is odd, because I have my quiet and unexpressed poetic way of looking at the world, but too often the language of individual poets is obscure to me, the imagery too specific or too filled with references I don't understand, rhythms I can't pick up on, moods I'm not in tune with. Billy Collins is new to me, and I decided to give this poetry collection a try after seeing a few of his best poems on Joe's threads. This collection gathers some "new" selections as of 2001, as well as older ones from collections from The Apple That Astonished Paris (1988), Questions About Angels (1991) The Art of Drowning (1995), and Picnic, Lightning (1998), from which comes one of my absolute favourites, which Joe transcribed in full on one of his threads, called Victoria's Secret. It's rather long, so here here are just the first three of nine verses:

Victoria's Secret

The one in the upper left-hand corner
is giving me a look
that says I know you are here
and I have nothing better to do
for the remainder of human time
than return your persistent but engaging stare.
She is wearing a deeply scalloped
flame-stitch halter top
with padded push-up styling
and easy side-zip tap pants.

The one on the facing page, however,
who looks at me over her bare shoulder,
cannot hide the shadow of annoyance in her brow.
You have interrupted me,
she seems to be saying,
with your coughing and your loud music.
Now please leave me alone;
Let me finish whatever it was I was doing
in my organza-trimmed
whisperweight camisole with
keyhole closure and a point d'esprit mesh back.

I wet my thumb and flip the page.
Here, the one who happens to be reclining
in a satin and lace merry widow
with an inset lace-up front,
decorated underwire cups and bodice with lace ruffles along the bottom
and hook-and-eye closure in the back,
is wearing a slightly contorted expression,
her head thrust back, mouth partially open,
a confusing mixture or pain and surprise
as if she had stepped on a tack
just as I was breaking down
her bedroom door with my shoulder.

What appealed tremendously to me about this particular poem I guess is I heard an inner voice, or was it the voice of my own mother maybe, who has a mean sense of humour and has always liked to put words in the mouths of the models on the glossy magazines we always had laying around the house, so there was something familiar about it, which took nothing away from the humour of it, and just made it all that more engaging in fact. Collins often writes poems about the process of writing poetry which are surprisingly appealing. There’s often a sense of playfulness in his work, though in his “new” work, there is more talk of death, since it seems he lost his mother around 2001 and was quite understandably more focused on themes of death and dying, but not always. My favourite poem from that particular collection is about a dog and like so much of his work, just seems so spot on:

Dharma

The way the dog trots out the front door
every morning
without a hat or an umbrella,
without any money
or the keys to her doghouse
never fais to fill the saucer of my heart
with milky admiration.

Who provides a finer example
of a life without encumbrance—
Thoreau in his curtainless hut
with a single plate, a single spoon?
Gandhi with his staff and his holy diapers?

Off she goes into the material world
with nothing but her brown coat
and her modest blue collar,
following only her wet nose,
the twin portals of her steady breathing,
followed only by the plume of her tail.

If only she did not shove the cat aside
every morning
and eat all his food
what a model of self-containment she would be,
what a paragon of earthly detachment.
If only she were not so eager
for a rub behind the ears,
so acrobatic in her welcomes,
if only I were not her god.

I wasn't familiar with this year's Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano or his work until he was announced as the winner this morning, but as soon as I saw the breaking news from nyt.com I went over to the municipal library's online catalogue and reserved some of his titles. All his novels are quite short, around 150 pages, with a very few around 200 pages. One of the advantages we have living in a French province is having access to books in both English and French, so I guess I can count myself lucky that I can pick up any of Modiano's books, since most haven't been translated, which will be frustrating to many readers around the world who will want to discover his work, no doubt. For now I've reserved:

L'herbe des nuits, which came out in 2012 and I think is not yet translated
Rue des boutiques obscures / Missing Person - won the Prix Goncourt in 1978
Dora Bruder / The Search Warrant
Un pedigree which is apparently an homage to George Simenon's autobiographical novel Pedigree (which I've just purchased for good measure!)
and Catherine Certitude which is also an autobiographical novel, this time a YA title which describes the relationship between a young girl and her father.

Which brings me to recent purchases:

Pedigree by Georges Simenon - Ppbk from Amazon.ca. Surprisingly was very difficult to find the original French edition!!!
ⓔ Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle - yesterday's Kindle Daily Deal, rec'd by Suz
ⓔ The Railway Man by Eric Lomax - another Kindle deal
ⓔ+♫ The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens - a Kindle + audiobook deal
ⓔ+♫ The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - a Kindle + audiobook deal
♫ Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth - Audible credit

Total books purchased to date: 255

I enjoyed The Elected Member, and I'd like to read more of Bernice Rubens's works.

I'll probably start A Place of Greater Safety next week. Thanks for reminding me about it!

Nice review of the Billy Collins poetry, Ilana. I like the idea of your mother supplying words for the catalog models.

I do enjoy his playfulness. Although he makes it seems so effortless and natural, it actually seems quite contrarian in the elevated world of academic poetry that you mention. I read a lot of what my son calls "page poetry" (as opposed to the slam poetry he does), and can enjoy the playing with language of someone like John Ashberry. ButI'm not a fan of how difficult so much of modern poetry has become for the unstudied reader to access. Yeats and Eliot for example, could do wonderful and challenging things with poetry, but still draw readers in and stir the heart. Collins invites readers in like no one else I've read. That "Victoria's Secret" poem is a great example of how clever, funny and inviting he can be, while causing us to take a fresh look at what we often take for granted.

>101 kidzdoc: Hi Darryl, lovely to have your visit! The Elected Member is my third Bernice Rubens book, and there will certainly be more. I have Kerry to thank for introducing me to her a few years ago when she made Rubens an object of her categories challenge. I've still got Madame Sousatzka on the tbr, and have just now, as I was composing this message, added I, Dreyfus and Sunday Best as Kindle books which were available quite cheaply from Amazon. She seems to be mostly out of print, so her books can be hard to find, but our library system has several titles available, so I will use that source and will purchase those titles I can't find via Abe in future as well, as I've really taken to her brand of dark humour and the little bit of Jewish heritage which has trickled down to me can definitely identify with her characters.

Not sure when I'll start on A Place of Greater Safety. Definitely this month, though I'm not absolutely committed to actually finishing it in October either, so could be in a week or two, but I certainly look forward to it.

>102 jnwelch: Hi Joe, I of course though of you when I wrote my review—how could I not?—and so glad you like it. I intend to keep reading poetry in hopes that in my old age I'll have acquired a real taste for it and maybe even have memorized some favourites which I'll be able to recite to myself once in a while just for the pleasure of it. There is an app I downloaded a couple of years ago which helped you do this which I enjoyed playing around with for a while called, aptly enough, Poems By Heart from Penguin, though I haven't used it since. Might give it a whirl now I've brought it to mind again.

***

Finished The Graveyard Book last night. Still my favourite Neil Gaiman novel of all, and one of my favourite books, period, so it's keeping it's original five-star rating, especially with this full-cast narration which can't possibly outdo Gaiman's own narration, but with Derek Jacobi as the main narrator and another of my great favourites, I was a very happy camper indeed. I hope to write some reviews this weekend, including for this one, even though it was a reread. Definitely several been brewing in my mind lately.

Today on our brief walk with Coco, to which I should have worn my old duvet coat as it was quite cold, but didn't because wanted to still be able to wear my Barbour autumn jacket (as worn by the British Royal family when visiting Balmoral!), I started on The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton, which I intend to continue on this evening as I prepare a Moroccan-style ratatouille improvisation with tomatoes and eggplants and peppers and coriander from the market with chickpeas and raisins and cumin. Shouldn't be too bad.

Yeesh (which my ipad wants to correct to eyeshadow.Odd as I rarely wear makeup!).

Eggplant/aubergine - yuck
Peppers - acceptable raw, yuck cooked
Coriander - yuck
Chickpeas - unpleasant but not a full yuck
Raisins - meh except when cooked, then yuck.
Cumin - meh.

Tomatoes are fine. Methinks I shall decline dinner however. Today you get a 'must do better' on your report card ;)

>104 lunacat: LMAO!!!

"Still my favourite Neil Gaiman novel of all, and one of my favourite books, period." Amen, my friend. I also feel the same way about The Graveyard Book. Smiles...

I also enjoyed your review of the Collins collection. I recently read and liked Aimless Love. Like you, I am a complete novice at poetry but this guy really really works.

Did I mention to you, that I picked up my library copy of The Custom of the Country? I won't be able to start it until after the Murakami G.R. but at least I have it in hand.

>106 msf59: Hey Mark, glad we agree about the Neil Gaiman. He wrote so much stuff, and to each their own. There was a afterword by him on this audiobook where he talked about the genesis of The Graveyard Books and hinted that he might be inspired eventually to write something based on some of the characters, he specifically mentioned Silas, who goes back to his own country at the end of the story, where we know many changes have taken place, and he said that perhaps the inspiration will come up someday to take it up. I would love it if it did of course and I'm sure I would NOT be alone!

I had The Custom of the Country in this Penguin Classics Deluxe edition I have containing three novels, but then got it on audio from a site associated with the library system and went with that since of course I'll be able to get to it faster this way, though I might pick up the book alongside too. It's another fantastic and classic Wharton, just like I love them. I just saw and starred the Murakami thread you started. Don't know if I'll start on the 15th, but am planning to start next week sometime.

I aim to please. Or alarm. Not sure which it ends up being most of the time ;)

Now, what are we having for dinner tonight?

Nothing really to add; just wanted to wish you a happy weekend, Ilana.

>108 lunacat: Now, what are we having for dinner tonight?

Oh dear. I'm only going to get a failing grade on the report card again. I made the moroccan-type rat-tat-tat-touille last night, and then let it cool and the flavours blend. Tonight I will actually be eating it. I usually cook for 6 of 8 persons so I can have enough for several days and portions to freeze as well. I know this will not please you Jenny. But as it happens, I happen to be very fond of ratatouille, so there. Will pumpkin pie for dessert earn me any extra points at all? :-)

>109 scaifea: Hi Amber, and thank you. Wishing you a lovely weekend too. Mine will be featuring plenty more pumpkin pie as it's Thanksgiving weekend over here, though that's my extent of celebration really.

Have had a v bad back for the past three days. The same bad back I suffered from for a month or two at this time last year, so I'm starting to wonder whether it could be seasonal and brought on by the cold. I'm taking Robaxacet which isn't doing much, but I didn't dawdle when I saw I was still in pain yesterday and that the stabbing pain is very much present even when I'm not moving, so called my acupuncturist. I'll be seeing him Monday evening and am quite confident he can help me. I know I'm being punished for not doing any exercise.

Making quick progress on The Elected Member. It's both awful and amazing, in the way certain Jewish families can be, to be sure.

Yesterday I bought a few books, including a couple more Bernice Rubens titles on Kindle, since she's mostly out of print. Also got a couple of audiobooks for good measure. Was feeling upset about something or other and had to drown my sorrows with book-shopping, but somehow, need to get more. Got the following for now:

ⓔ Sunday Best by Bernice Rubens
ⓔ I, Dreyfus by Bernice Rubens
♫ Past Caring by Robert Goddard - most Goddard titles have been removed from circulation on Audible
♫ Stamboul Train by Graham Greene - had been unavailable for a long time and narrated by someone I quite like

Total books purchased to date: 259

Ilana, I can't say that I really caught up with you, but I'm here and I'm reading....... I completely approve your coat choice. It looks so much warmer than the other two, and if it's the one that looks best on you, I'm happy that you bit the cost bullet and bought it.
I do enjoy Billy Collins, and I did enjoy your review!
You may finish A Place of Greater Safety this month. It's that good.
I got a copy of Sunday Best following your recommendation of Bernice Rubens. I haven't read it yet, but I certainly want to!
Nothing else going on. Continue to enjoy your weekend. I hope you're feeling better!

I'm sorry to hear about your back pain and I hope it gets cleared up for you at your appointment tomorrow. I am, though, completely jealous of the pumpkin pie right now - and Happy Thanksgiving!

Ugh, sorry about the back pain, I know how frustrating it is. I end up in pain a lot, thanks to the ME (CFS) that leaves me feeling like I've got flu if I dare to do a smidgen too much, with one of the main symptoms being incredibly achy bones.

Add that to the aches and pains that come from years of riding and falling off, lugging heavy things around and being yanked around by my horse and my back is fairly screwed. I'm so looking forward to getting old, seeing as I'm in this pain at 28!!

Hopefully yours is because you slept wrong or have pulled something and it eases up soon.

No comment on the yucki-touille. Perhaps if I come back tomorrow, you'll have cooked something far more palatable. And I dislike pumpkin as well so you have failed to redeem yourself! Outrageous!

Morning Ilana! Hope your back is feeling a bit better today. Fingers crossed.

259 books? Wow! I read quite a bit, in a year, but I somehow manage not to purchase as many, which keeps the wife happy and keeps the clutter down to a manageable level.

Oh dear oh dear. I've turned into the world's biggest klutz during the night. I'm sure the back-ache isn't helping and may be affecting my ability to hold things, because waking up to have a sip of water from the bedside, I somehow managed to drop the glass and shatter it around 5 a.m. I got up to pick up the pieces and then feeling a pang of hunger afterward, went to the kitchen to have a bowl of cereal. When I got up again this morning, in more pain than ever, I noticed I hadn't put the milk back in the fridge, and while doing so and pulling out the full Brita water container, it slipped from my fingers, flooding the kitchen floor at once. I did wonder whether I should just quit and go straight back to bed, but since an accident had already taken place there already...

Good thing Coco is easily contented with short walks, because I'm walking around bent in two. Hopefully the first acupuncture treatment will be helpful right away.

Finished The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens last night. Meanwhile, also picked up Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey as an eBook, which showed up among the new titles on the library's OverDrive collection recently. I can read that in spurts here and there, as it's made up of a bunch of short one-page sections about a great variety of artists, each describing their daily habits and various amusing anecdotes. I'll probably pick up Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar next, if only because it's a NetGalley title and I was a bad girl when I first joined, omitting to review the first book I read (Three Graves Full) and then never got around to actually reading Bellman & Black, which I guess I should get around to someday.

Gorgeous out there right now, though of course I can't take advantage of it much, besides which, it's cold anyway.

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>112 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, and welcome back! I definitely think my final coat choice will be the warmest option, being 100% down. My father helping to pay for it will take the sting out of the higher cost too, which did worry me for a few days after I'd gotten it, seeing as the first coat I'd gotten wasn't exactly cheap to begin with. I have no doubt I'll get sucked into A Place of Greater Safety. The only reason I wouldn't finish it is because I might start on it late in the month, because I have lots of other books I also want to get to in October is all.

>113 scaifea: No need to be jealous of the pumpkin pie Amber... I'm sure they are available in your area too, all you need do is buy/make one! This one is mighty good I must say. I've been accompanying it with late strawberries, and topped with whipped cream it's positively wicked!

>114 lunacat: I don't know if you'd told me about your CFS before Jenny, but you have my sympathies. I've long suspected I probably have it too, because I had mono (the kissing disease) when I was three years old, and was never quite right since. I went to see an internal medicine specialist about possibly getting an official diagnosis, but then it just seemed to me like a big waste of time and effort. I know it's very likely I have it, and with the lifestyle I have I'm already able to get all the rest I need, though must say I haven't made efforts to inform myself much about it. It does sound like your life being around horses would also be hard on your back though. I think mine is a combination of things. It seems to recur around this time of year, so cold and humidity aren't helping, but also the fact I haven't been doing exercise in a v long time is probably to blame. I carried a heavy cart up the stairs during the week and didn't feel any pain while I was doing it, but knew it was a bad idea. Last year it lasted many many weeks, so I'm not taking chances and getting treated asap, because it's a sharp pain that prevents me from doing a lot of things and puts me in a horrid mood and the cats are suffering as I won't let them lie on me when I'm on the couch or in bed as I usually do.

More ratatouille tonight on the menu, and probably tomorrow too, just thought I'd warn you. But you're always welcome for tea. I can serve biscuits instead of pie. ;-)

>115 msf59: Hey Mark, that's a negative on the back I'm sorry to say, as I'm suffering like the devil right now, and even sitting here at the computer isn't comfortable, so don't think I'll get around to the reviews as I was hoping to. Out of those 259 books, only about 22 are physical books, the rest are audios and eBooks, so clutter isn't really an issue, since I don't have room for them until my new shelves are up.

I bring you Autumn cat in the hopes he helps your back. Fingers crossed for no more accidents - your day so far sounds like a normal day for me, I've given up trying to do anything without causing chaos.

>117 lunacat: I need all the help I can get! Thanks for Autumn cat Jenny!

>111 Smiler69:: I sympathize with the bad back, Ilana. I know what caused my last spasmodic attack. That Molly is a CHUNK! But her impish smile melts my heart…

I think the down coat is an excellent choice. You will be so toasty and stylish in it! My stylish phase passed long ago. It's hard to look stylish when one has to wear granny shoes. Or sneakers. If my feet hurt, I am no good to anyone so I donated all my high heels and sexy shoes years ago when our church did a shoe drive of all things. I have been happy and unstylish ever since!

I hope your back feels better soon. Your adventures make me glad that I don't wander the house at night. I love my sleep too much.

Just finished watching The English Patient. The casting was so excellent that I think I ended up enjoying it more than the book, maybe also because the story was much simplified in comparison. Ralph Fiennes was certainly not hard on the eyes 20 years ago. Also helping was the fact I took some Fiorinal this evening which helped a lot with the back pain in the way of giving me relief.

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>119 Donna828: Hi Donna, maybe I'll stop saying it and actually act on it this time, but once I get this bout of back troubles fixed I'll start doing some regular weekly exercise to prevent future troubles, besides which exercise is missing from my life generally.

I thought I was over worrying about being stylish, but I guess not, even though the sum total of my outings revolve around my walks with Coco and the occasional screening of a threatre performance, or shopping expedition downtown. I still have my high heel shoes and boots hanging around in my closets but can't wear them much anymore, though I did get some rather high espadrilles in the spring that I wore a few times over the summer and managed with ok, which made me feel oh-so-sophisticated! I feel so dowdy most of them time and figure I'm still too young to give in completely and should still hang on to my sexy accessories, just in case, I don't know, I should maybe have a date to go on some day maybe??

I love my sleep too and do wish I didn't wake up several times at night, but it's been a long time since I've slept through the night. Even sleeping pills don't seem to do the trick.

Glad to hear you're getting your back treated ASAP. Back pain is so debilitating. I'm useless at taking care of myself in that way, the only time I've had my back looked at is when I felt it was having a negative affect on Connie and how she was performing. Ironically, she had her back looked at last month and we've been dutifully doing her stretches to help her flexibility, and she's got a physio appointment this Friday as well!

Sounds like you might well have CFS but as you say, a diagnosis is quite a palaver as there is no clear cut test for it. Mine came about after a dog bite about 8 years ago that caused a systemic infection my body didn't seem able to fight. Since then, I've had to significantly curtail things. Mostly I can forget about it as I lead a very quiet life with not much activity other than riding Connie 4 or 5 times a week, but I've learnt to structure my days so that if I have a big day - a competition or a day out sight seeing - I then have one or two down days where I can completely rest. I'm fairly non-functional that day, foggy head, lots of sleep, flu-like symptoms including highly fluctuating temperatures.

Internal temperature control is another big problem for me that has arisen from CFS. I am generally extremely cold, needing at least 2 layers more than the people around me, but I can also overheat while still having cold extremities, or break out into a cold sweat. It's rather unpleasant, particularly at night.

But....... c'est la vie! At least I am in the position where I'm able to mostly cater to my poor body's needs, however begrudgingly I do it.

Jenny, I don't really have a choice but to get my back treated asap, because I'm just in so much pain and just walking about is difficult (the Fiorinal is helping, but I can only take a limited amount of it), and seeing as I'm all on my own looking after myself, I can't afford to be disabled this way. As for the CFS, it's hard to tell sometimes what to ascribe to the fatigue and what to the aftereffects of the breakdown I suffered and ongoing low-level depression, but all I know is I can rarely, if ever, book more than one activity in the day, otherwise I get overtired and cranky, and like you usually need a couple of days to recuperate afterwards. I don't get a fever, but I do get very fatigued and need plenty of sleep. I haven't been taking art classes at all this year, but when I was I made sure never to schedule them on consecutive days as that proved too tiring for me. I'm usually among those who are most dressed up for the cold when I go outside; I haven't seen anyone bring out their winter coats yet, for example, but I'll routinely wear mine when walking Coco at night when it gets well under 10 degrees. It was around 5 degrees last night and I wore my new coat, which was a real treat and really toasty. Again, never really associated my body temperature with anything, but makes sense it would be associated with the fatigue. All I know is that now with the back pain, I tolerate the cold less than ever.

As you say, we're lucky that we can cater to our body's needs given they need extra care. Wishing you well. xx

Hi Ilana! I am happy to see the X-Files has made for fun watching. I remember being a religious follower of the show for the first four seasons. I need to find time to see if it has the same effect for me - I somehow doubt it - but I think I am in the mood for MacGyver re-runs, if I can find any, that is. I continue to be amazed at the uses he found for duct tape. ;-)

>99 Smiler69: - I am not much of a poetry reader but I do love poems that resonate with the reader, bringing a whole new meaning to the written words!

>103 Smiler69: - prepare a Moroccan-style ratatouille improvisation Oh, that sounds divine!

Sorry to read about your bad back. Is this sort of a chiropractic kind of thing? The only reason I ask is that whenever I have a sore back - usually from unnecessary strain to the area - I have found sleeping on the floor, with my feet propped up on the couch, works wonders. Of course, it is uncomfortable as h**l to lie on the floor, straight back with minimal cushioning but it does fix me.

I know this message is kind of late but I hope you have had an enjoyable Thanksgiving.

I'm trying to check in with a Happy Thanksgiving wish too - and a wish for much less back pain!
I don't know that doctors will respond to your correlation of fatigue with temperature, but it makes sense to me. I also try very hard not to schedule more than one outside thing per day, but it doesn't always work. And I don't have any issues except incipient old age.
Do take care!

>123 lkernagh: We used to joke that Macgyver reruns were always on TV on some channel, 24/7, Lori. That time came and went a number of years ago. Now it seems to be NCIS that's on all the time, even though they're not half as creative with duct tape.

Sore backs are tough, Ilana. Seems like that's the area of physical pain that's hardest to successfully address. Hope the treatment helps.

Hi Ilana! Hope the back is feeling better, my friend. Sending healing vibes...

Hi friends, I went to my first acupuncture treatment last night, and going to a second one tomorrow. I noticed this morning the pain had lessened slightly, but it was still bad enough for me to reach for the Fiorinal. The amount of codeine in those pills is enough to effectively remove the pain altogether, which is a blessing, only I have to be careful not to take more than 12 days of it in the month or I risk provoking more migraines than I suffer from already. So right now I'm in a drug-induced well-being, and slept for the better part of the day, so pretty much out of it.

About to go run some errands with Coco. We're having a really warm day, it's around 24 C or 75 F right now, so I'm not sure how to dress really, but I guess that's a good problem to have.

In reading, am close to finishing The Custom of the Country. It's a great classic Wharton, but the main protagonist of the novel Undine is so selfish and unpleasant that I've been angry at her through most of the reading. I'm now about halfway through Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey, which feels more like reading anecdotes and as such makes for light reading, and a third though Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar, which is really very good, but somehow makes me wish I knew more about the Bloomsbury group so I could understand the dynamics better, but then I guess it makes for a good introduction as well as it pretty well explains those dynamics.

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>123 lkernagh: Oh dear, MacGyver! I don't remember much from that show since I didn't really watch it, though I do remember duct tape being a regular feature! lol.

I couldn't say what the bad back is caused by. I think it's just punishment for not doing exercise. I've been really silly about that and am putting myself at risk for all sorts of unnecessary injuries by not doing a minimum of stretches and core training-type activities several times a week. I have so many great DVDs for yoga and pilates and tai-chi and I don't know what for just that sort of thing that I just need to start following again, once this bout of pain is under control again. I can't say I'm exactly dying to try out sleeping on the floor thing, but thanks for the idea all the same! ;-)

No worries about late Thanksgiving wishes, as I don't usually celebrate it, unless I get an invitation to my cousin's, which I didn't this year. I got myself a pumpkin pie at the end of last week and am making it last as long as possible, and that's about it. Hope you had lovely celebrations. I was over lurking on your thread and saw you were getting a turkey and all the trimmings.

>124 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, I feel like I'm just waking up to start the day a second time all over again today! I rarely have naps in the day anymore, and even less so naps that last 4 hours or more, but the back pain and codeine pills have been really knocking me out these last few days, and I don't try to battle it. About to get dressed and run some errands with Coco now, who I am sure will really appreciate getting out. 'Run' is the wrong word however, because I've been moving around excessively slowly. What? Me hurry?

>125 jnwelch: Hi Joe. I had acupuncture treatments for my migraines last year that didn't work, but they did seem to help with the back pain, which is why I'm giving them a try again now. I really hope those work, because while I've somehow come to manage with the migraines for better or worse, the back pain is more than I can handle and somehow puts me in a murderous mood. I must be good an do exercise again. I simply must.

>126 msf59: Hi Mark, thanks for dropping by and for the good wishes. I have every hope some relief is in sight.

I'm glad to hear that at least the codeine is keeping the pain at bay even though it's removing you from reality and consciousness. Hopefully the acupuncture will have the desired affect and relieve the pain more permanently. And that having to take the painkillers for your back doesn't kick start a migraine, that would be the last thing you need.

So sorry about your back - it's so unpleasant. Hope it gets better before the cold really comes in.

Just finished The Custom of the Country. Love the way Wharton chose to close the novel, in effect showing that our anti-heroine will never find contentment. She's a truly horrid creature, and I couldn't help wishing all along something really horrid would happen to her to teach her a lesson once and for all. Will start on another audiobook now as I wrap up my day. Can't seem to get enough sleep on a regular day, so now with all these pain killers, maybe I shouldn't bother getting out of bed at all, except I'd probably get much too restless, and I DO manage to run a few errands: went to the library to drop off books and to market today, so it wasn't a totally wasted day.

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>128 lunacat: Hi Jenny, I'll just have to try to keep tabs on how many days I've taken the Fiorinal. I'm usually really good and keep a written journal of my pain chart for my neurologist, including when I've taken the pain-killers, but I sort of let that slide these past couple of weeks. Better get back into it.

>129 sibylline: Hi Lucy, thanks for the sympathy. The pills almost make me forget about the pain altogether, until they start wearing out. I won't muck about and will really start exercising at least 3 times/week once I get a bit better. I'm much overdue and was really not being smart by omitting to do it considering I really do know better. No doubt it'll have all sorts of other benefits once I get back into the habit.

Good for you - and possibly for your back - for getting out a little! I'm all for exercise, and I know that you know better than to omit it.
I know I've mentioned it before, but I had a couple of high school juniors who read The Custom of the Country and thought that everybody mistreated poor Undine. When they read The Poisonwood Bible, they thought that the oldest daughter was the heroine, also misunderstood and mistreated. They weren't just pulling my leg; they really thought that beauty entitles a woman to the world in her change purse.

Hi Ilana, I've been reading Custom of the Country as well and have been repelled and fascinated by Undine. I think may truly be one of the most despicable characters I've every read about!

Hope you back is recovering and you are soon feeling better.

Hoping that you had a reasonable night and that the acupuncture today goes well for your back :)

Hi Ilana! Hope these treatments continue to give you a some relief. I am so glad you are enjoying The Custom of the Country. I plan on starting it, right after the Murakami.

>127 Smiler69: My MBH swears by acupuncture for all sorts of ailments, Ilana, and our daughter favors it for sinus problems. I tried it once for bad leg pains, but it was unfair, because it turned out my hip joint had turned to lace from arthritis and I needed a hip replacement. Hope it helps with your back.

Well, I should be feeling better from all the sympathy and encouragement I'm getting—thanks for all the visits and messages! I did wake up feeling less pain, though I can still feel that sharp stab that makes me grit my teeth, but in a much lesser degree now. I can't know for sure if it's the first acupuncture treatment taking effect or just the normal course of things. In any case, will be heading off to my second treatment in about an hour.

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>131 LizzieD: Peggy, I don't remember you mentioning that anecdote about The Custom of the Country and The Poisonwood Bible, and am somewhat horrified about how your students reacted. That being said, I'm sure there are lots of people beyond high school juniors who feel that way about beautiful women and always have, which is probably why so many of them have such a sense of entitlement and why when they are unaware of their charms they seem that much more beautiful. It's been a while since I read TPB and all I remember about it at this point is I really loved it, but not much detail.

>132 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy, my back today definitely feels like it's on the mend, which is very encouraging. Isn't Undine the most dreadful young woman? I can't believe Edith Wharton resisted the temptation to give her a bad case of the smallpox or something horribly disfiguring. She certainly would have deserved it!

>133 lunacat: Hi Jenny, and thank you. The night went by quickly and I'm glad Coco woke me when he did or I would have slept the whole morning away and not have had any LT time before heading off to my appointment.

>134 msf59: Hi Mark, I finished The Custom of the Country yesterday, and it was a mix or pleasure and extreme annoyance because of the main character who is an unspeakably spoiled brat and absolutely insufferable! But it's an excellent novel of course. I'm reading a NetGalley novel right now called Vanessa and Her Sister, but I should finish it within a couple of days and then will join you with the Murakami.

>135 jnwelch: Good morning Joe, it seems something has been helping with my back, because I woke up this morning in much less pain than I was suffering this weekend. I'd been taking pain killers since the weekend, so not sure what was going on in the intervening days, but I'm confident this second acupuncture treatment with be further help. Apparently half the battle is won if you believe in the treatment... though of course yours was an extreme case and no treatment save that hip replacement would have done much good. I'm fairly confident I'm not that far gone and will be able to maintain myself with regular exercise, hopefully.

All this talk about Custom of the Country made me go over to Amazon and download it. Don't know when I'll get a chance to read it (had just downloaded The Narrow Road to the Deep North last night) but thank you.

>137 catarina1: Catarina, I have to admit TCotC wasn't my favourite Wharton so far. That would be either The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, one of her shorter novels or her short stories, but it's definitely an excellent novel. I can foresee I'll probably reread it and enjoy it more eventually, now I know what to expect from the protagonist. Enjoy TNRttDN!

Hooray for whatever is doing some pain relief on your back!

I was actually in Manhattan today, taking the LD to the Met, and in the bus we passed a store called Smilers! Too fast for me to get a pic! Maddening as most of the time the bus crept, but we both hate the NY subway, so we walked and rode the bus.

Hi Ilana! Just catching up - happy to hear your back pain is easing and your migraines have been lessening. Really pleased you enjoyed Frankenstein so much - it's one of my favourites. :-)

I'm glad that your back pain is improving, Ilana!

Here's a photo of Smiler's:

Back is somehow more tender today than it was yesterday, but still much better than over the weekend, and I can do without pain-killers, so no complaints. I also have a third, and I think final, acupuncture treatment on Saturday afternoon.

Am really enjoying Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, which can be dipped in and out of since they are all short essays of no more than a page or two on each artist. This came in handy yesterday when I waited in line to get seats for Frankenstein. For some reason, they've done away with reserved seating for these screened theatre events this season, which is a real pain in the neck, as we have to arrive an hour in advance to make sure to get good seats. Usually the theatre is open in advance so we can sit while we wait, but this time they had us standing, which probably wasn't ideal in my situation, as I'd agreed with my friend K I'd arrive ahead of time and wait to hold our seats. Good thing I did too, because it was a full house and lots of people ended up having to sit in those awful seats in the very front of the screen where you have to crane your neck up and watch a distorted image. The play itself was extremely well done and the acting extraordinary. It was much closer to the book than the movie interpretation of the monster, showing him to be a thinking, feeling creature who only became vengeful through neglect and the lack of a partner, more or less.

Also enjoying Vanessa and Her Sister, written from the point of view of Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf's sister, who it seems had to put up with a lot from her brilliant but very difficult sibling. I think I'll sit on the couch and finish it in a bit.

Been buying up a bunch of audiobooks this morning, taking advantage of these whispesync Kindle/audiobook deals, as they come out quite cheaply when buying the eBook for just a couple of dollars or sometimes even for free. I'll list the purchases later as want to get off the computer and get cozy on the couch asap now.

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>139 LizzieD: Thanks Peggy, much agreed!

>140 sibylline: It's been such a long while since I've been in Manhattan! I don't mind the subway there, so don't think I've ever actually taken a bus in NYC, but maybe I should try it next time. I do recall seeing a Smiler's logo somewhere once.

>141 souloftherose: Hi Heather, glad you are back in good form from your tip. Frankenstein now ranks among my favourites as well. A bit scary maybe how well I could relate to the monster...

>142 kidzdoc: Hi Darryl, yes, the back is on the mend, thank heavens. I let the pain linger for weeks and weeks last year, and had no intention of doing the same again. Thanks for the pic of Smiler's. Guess what? It made me smile. :-)

Glad to hear that your back is improving, and that it has got better much quicker than it did last year. It's very strange that you have had this problem at this time of year twice. I wonder what causes it?

Hi Ilana! I thought I had Frankenstein all lined up for my next audio and it turned out I didn't have it saved after all. Big Sad Face. I requested the audio from the library but that could take awhile. Bummer.

I saw your suggestion on the Murakami G.R. and I think that is a very good idea. I am a 160 pages into the book and it has been good. Fast-paced too.

Hi Ilana - hope your back is on the mend. I only hurt my back once years ago and I never ever want to go back there again.
I'm not able to do the Murakami group read as I'm on another go slow with my reading and only hope to finish my current reads by the end of the month.

Glad you liked Frankenstein! It's one of my favorite books, but has never really been done well in the movies - they just can't do justice to it.

Speaking of Frankenstein, the critically acclaimed National Theatre Live rebroadcast of the 2011 play based on Mary Shelley's book is being shown in cinemas throughout the world, including the Cineplex Odeon Forum in Montreal next Wednesday 22 October, and several cinemas in metro Atlanta, Chicago and Washington within the next two months. I missed it the last time it came to Atlanta, so I'll definitely go this time, probably on November 16th at the arts theatre that is close to me. You can find details about it and other NT Live rebroadcasts here: http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/

Finished Vanessa and Her Sister yesterday, which I found excellent, and for which I will definitely write a review very soon, since I got this one from NetGalley. Picked up the latest Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (I DO wish the touchstone would work with the proper spelling of "colourless"!) last night and am 80 pages in, and so far it seems like a straightforward enough novel, no hocus-pocus magical realism stuff, which I’m kind of glad about as wasn’t in the mood for that, even though I consider myself a Murakami fan.

Met with my friend Liselotte today (now 95 years old) who wanted me to show her some pictures I took of her a few years ago as she says she’d like me to do a drawing of her. When I asked her if the drawing was to give to someone, she said she just wanted to have it for herself because it would be by me as she likes my work, which is so sweet of her. So that will be the next commission I'll work on once I've completed Rocky's portrait in good time. We've agreed I won't be doing a photorealistic portrait, but more of a sketch of just her face, though I have a photo of her sitting which I'd really love to do photorealistically to eventually show in a gallery, and of course need her permission for that. She's thinking about it. Keeping fingers crossed she'll agree to it as it would be quite stunning, I'm sure.

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>144 lunacat: Jenny, I can't be sure what the cause is, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the cold and humidity. A friend of mine told me that several people she knows who have recurring back problems are also in pain this week, so seems I'm not alone.

>145 msf59: Ah well, Frankenstein's been around since 1818, so I'm sure it'll keep for a couple more weeks or months, Mark! :-) True enough it's a bummer if you were all psyched up to get to it now though, I know the feeling.

It had been much, much too long since I'd read Murakami, and I'm enjoying getting back to him.

>146 avatiakh: Kerry, I've abused my body in all kinds of ways, pushed it to the limit while doing sports and abused of my strength and flexibility too often and now have neglected any form of exercise save for walks with Coco for quite a number of years, so I'm not exactly surprised my body is protesting. I really do mean to get back into some sort of exercise routine starting in a couple of weeks once my back has mended a little more and it's no longer as inflamed. I'm sure that will help in more ways than one.

I've had to opt out of many group reads over time, so understand if you can't join in for this one. There'll be plenty of other opportunities to join in I'm sure, and this Murakami will keep for another time!

>147 drneutron: Hi Jim, I'd say Frankenstein is now one of my favourites too. I think if you'd seen this play you'd find they had done justice to the spirit of the book, it was really well done and I don't see why they couldn't do a movie in a similar vein, that is, allowing the monster to have a soul and complex emotions and motivations.

>148 kidzdoc: Hi Darryl, thanks for the information. We have two NTL rebroadcasts of Frankenstein here in Mtl, which I believe is what they're making available around the world, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating roles as Victor Frankenstein and his creation. I went to the October 15th screening with Cumberbatch as the monster and Miller as Frankenstein, and on the 22 will be the reverse. I'd love to see both, but think I will content myself with the one presentation I've seen, which was really excellent.

I'm now looking forward to the broadcasting of Of Mice and Men starring James Franco and Chris O'Dowd, a Broadway production filmed on stage by National Theatre Live, with the screening premiere on November 6th, though we have an encore rebroadcasting here on the 13th as well (I believe there are more available on the 23 and 24th in other cities). Not sure which night I'll go to yet, just waiting on some friends to confirm their availabilities, but I saw the preview and it looked amazing!

I'm about 2 hours into the audio version of The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier and really enjoying it. Off to bed and Murakami in a few minutes.

Happy Saturday, Ilana! Were you able to watch the play? It looks fantastic!

I am on the 240 page mark, on the Murakami. Flying through it. Could be done tomorrow. Good stuff.

Yes, the NT Live rebroadcast of Of Mice and Men is also being shown in Atlanta on November 6th, and I plan to see it then.

Thirding(?) the recommendation for the NT production of Frankenstein to anyone who hasn't seen it - it was a really good adaptation of the novel.

>150 Smiler69: I read The House on the Strand on holiday and loved it so glad to hear it's working for you so far.

Back was tender as I was laying in bed reading last night, which had to be a very short session since I could barely keep my eyes open anyway. Had an appointment to see my acupuncturist this afternoon, but then woke up with a monster headache this morning so decided to cancel for today and let myself be slothful around the house for today instead. I'm popping Fiorinal like it's going out of style this week—it's helping for the pain, but hope it doesn't get me in trouble on the rebound.

Loving The House on the Strand, I can see I'm going to want to create listening occasions for this one. Daphne du Maurier hasn't disappointed me yet, which is a good thing, as I've accumulated quite a few or her books on the tbr by now!

***

>151 msf59: Hi Mark, thanks for the Saturday wishes. Body isn't cooperating, but I'm trying to keep the spirits up as best I can despite this. Wish me luck! You're leaving me in the dust with the Murakami, though I'll probably make time for quiet reading time on the couch today. Agree it's good stuff.

>152 kidzdoc: I really look forward to that screening Darryl, I got really excited when I saw the previews as the casting and acting seemed to be spot on!

>153 souloftherose: Heather, I'm really so glad we've got these NTL broadcasts available to us here, it's really opened up a whole world of theatre I didn't have access to before and is really enriching my cultural life.

Re: The House on the Strand, I was just saying on the TIOLI thread I was grateful to see it listed as a shared read on the wiki, which encouraged me to pick it up sooner than later, as I might have let it linger otherwise, and I'm really enjoying it now. Daphne du Maurier definitely had a lot of range and imagination, and was a great storyteller. I haven't read about her personal life, but have picked up on the fact she was apparently not a very good wife or mother, but that doesn't lessen my appreciation of her as a writer. Obviously she gave everything she had to her art, and it shows!

Fingers tightly crossed for no rebound migraine

Thanks Jenny, that's what I'm mostly worried about, though really, how will I know that's what it is if it happens, since I get them every day as it is? At this point I guess it's a non-issue. Usually I'm really good at keeping tabs on how often I take the Fiorinal, but this month I've been lax about my migraine journalling, which I just picked up on again yesterday. Ah well, I'm far, far, FAR from being perfect!

I just posted the above update of Rocky on my blog, which is what he is looking like after my latest drawing session last night. You can see the blog post here if you want to see the larger image and read the short post as well: http://createthreesixty5.com/2014/10/18/rocky-today/

Book #201: ⓔ Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar ★★★★½
Source: NetGalley
Read for: NetGalley, October TIOLI #5: S and a T in the title that you've never read before
Edition: Bond Street Books (2015), Kindle Edition, 256 pages
Projected publication date: December 30th 2014

What might have we learned if Virginia Woolf's beloved older sister Vanessa had kept a journal? Though we have quite a lot of written documentation left behind by various members of the famous Bloomsbury Group, perhaps none could come as close as this book at making an educated guess about what the two sister's relationship was truly like once Vanessa married, while Virginia was yet to meet her husband for some years to come. It seems Virginia Stephen had an unhealthy attachment to her older sister, whom she relied upon as a stabilizing force and a source of affection and approbation, especially once the sisters had lost both their parents by 1904, when their father died. The four Stephen siblings, Vanessa (born 1879), Thoby (born (1880), Virginia (born 1882) and Adrian (born 1883) all moved to 46 Gordon Square in Bloomsbury, where the instituted their Thursday nights which was when what was to become the famous Bloomsbury Group began to gather. Most of the members of the group had been part of Thoby's set at Cambridge, including Lytton Strachey, who became a famous biographer, E. M. Forster, the novelist and Lady Ottoline Morrell a society hostess, among many others. After Thoby died rather suddenly in 1906, Strachey became one of the closest friends of the sisters. He apparently went as far as making a bungled marriage proposal to Virginia, though he retracted it almost as soon as he'd made it; after all, he was a 'bugger' as Vanessa refers to him in this book, and had no intention of having full marital relations, but simply felt he ought to get married for propriety's sake. According to this novel, Strachey may have had a heavy hand in bringing Leonard Woolf and Virginia's marriage to fruition, which he may have done partly to come in aid to Vanessa Bell, who was hard done by in her marriage to Clive Bell due to Virginia's psychological manipulation. I've long been curious to find out about the Bloomsbury group and never quite known where to start, and found this novel to be a great introduction.

The novel opens in February 1905, shortly after the Stephen siblings have all moved into their Bloomsbury house, which somewhat horrifies their relations, as Gordon Square isn't exactly a reputable address at this point in time for persons of a certain standing, but their funds are limited and they are determined to make the best of it. Virginia has long decreed to her sister that she is the writer and Vanessa is the painter, so her journals are kept secret and we are made to understand from the first that Virginia is mentally fragile and is easily thrown off and her moods risk turning into something much worse, so that it seems the whole family and especially Vanessa tiptoes around her somewhat.

After a family trip to Greece less than a year later, Thoby appears to have contracted Typhoid fever and dies very suddenly, leaving everyone in shock, but the friends, instead of drifting away, gather and knit into an even closer unit and keep the Bloomsbury Group alive and thriving in his memory. Among his friends is Clive Bell, and art critic who falls in love with Vanessa and proposes to her several times, seemingly unphased by her repeated refusals, until she she agrees to marry him in 1907. Only, Virginia starts acting up while they are still engaged; she doesn't accept that anyone should come between her and her sister and she embarks on a sabotage campaign to make Clive fall in love with her as well. At first all is well with the newlyweds, until Clive ends up making his amorous pursuit of Virginia flagrantly obvious. Not content of having landed one of the lovely Stephen sisters, apparently he must have both, so that even Lytton Strachey cannot believe what a disgusting pig Clive is being and becomes a confidant to Nessa. Vanessa is upset at her sister, but how much can she really blame her? Virginia is unstable, Virginia must always be the centre of attention, Viriginia cannot resist charming everyone she meets, but still, the sisterly relations start to suffer—how can they not? as does her love for her husband of course. And then, two years into the marriage Clive disappears for several days without giving any news. When he comes back unrepentant after a tryst with an ex-mistress of his, he declares to his wife that she has misunderstood their marriage and that he never thought they would be "constricted by provincial fidelity", which not unsurprisingly comes as somewhat of a shock to Vanessa at this stage, although she's had some time to observe her husband's appalling behaviour.

Vanessa's fictional but convincing journals continue as the Bloomsbury group evolves, and as the love triangle between the sisters and Clive continues to do damage to all involved, with Clive typically blind to any difficulties arising from his actions. Virginia has a breakdown. Vanessa grows as a painter through all the difficulties and the birth of another child, while Roger Fry the art critic and scholar of the Old Masters unfortunately married to a woman who has progressively become violently mentally ill, takes on a larger role in the novel and in the art world with his first Post-Impressionist show, featuring works by Picasso, Césanne, Manet, Van Gogh, Gaugin and others which will scandalize the public and the media, convinced they are being exposed to pornography. Eventually, after years of correspondence between Lytton Strachey and his friend posted in Ceylon, Leonard Woolf moves back to England and Virginia Woolf is created. In the meantime, Vanessa had gone through her own transformation, but what of the sisters as a unit? Only they knew for sure what happened between them, though it seems Virginia Woolf wrote in 1925 "My affair with Clive and Nessa turned more of a knife in me than anything else has ever done." This novel does a great job at filling in the gaps.

***
This review was written in exchange for an advance reader copy from NetGalley.


Some Bloomsbury members, left to right: Lady Ottoline Morrell, Mrs. Aldous Huxley, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant, and Vanessa Bell.


46 Gordon Square in Bloomsbury

New additions:

Free from library's OverDrive collection:
♫ Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
♫ Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Free from Audible (for everyone):
♫ The Playground by Ray Bradbury

Cheap as Audible/Kindle combos:
ⓔ+♫ Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
ⓔ+♫ Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray
ⓔ+♫ Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy
ⓔ+♫ Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
ⓔ+♫ Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (already have another version)
ⓔ+♫ The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (already have another version)
ⓔ+♫ Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
ⓔ+♫ The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson
ⓔ+♫ The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
ⓔ+♫ My Antonia by Willa Cather

$5.95 - 2 first books in a series Audible sale:
♫ The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham
♫ Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham

Total books purchased to date: 271

Hi, Ilana! Ugh, sorry to hear about your back. This is just to let you know that I've set up the thread for Volume II of Love-Letters Between A Nobleman And His Sister - it's here. Hope you'll be able to join us again! :)

So many excuses, so little time. I am long overdue a visit and sorry to see that it coincides with the torment of back pain. Hani also has her fair share and I am frequently called upon to use what she believes are magical oil-assisted fingers to ease her troubles. One of the issues is to assuage the back into its proper posture and stroke and warm it in that position. Seems to work for my good lady.
271 books bought so far is good going, especially as a fair number of them are probably the price prohibitive leather-bounds that add beauty and elan to your living quarters. I bought The Ogre this week in homage to wonderful living French authors and as a penance for decrying their class. xx

Have a lovely Sunday.

>160 lyzard: Hi Liz, thanks for the sympathy. The back is doing much better this weekend than it was last weekend, to be sure, which is very encouraging. Thanks for the alert to the new thread. I'll be by to star it soon and of course will gladly join in again too, though probably at a slow pace what with all my other reading plans to keep to.

>161 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, lovely to get a visit from you. You remind me that I need to make an appointment with my new masseuse for a couple of weeks from now, when the inflammation is all gone and she can really do me some good.

Actually, as far as book purchases go, I've been fairly good this year as most of them have been bargain buys, with barely a collector's edition among the the lot. That being said, the Folio Society has released a whole new slew of books this year as they are wont to do every year, and the temptation keeps rising; with their upcoming Christmas sales and new shelves due to be built anytime now, I am bound to give in and put in a large expensive order sometime within the next couple of months. Hadn't heard of The Ogre before. In fact, you have been a source for me as far as discovering quite a lot of French literature. Will keep my eye out for your comments on it. Hope you've had a lovely weekend as well. xx

***

Woke up with relatively little pain today, such a blessing! Just all-over aches and extreme fatigue, but nothing unusual. We'd had some warm weather during the week, but now we're back to cold temperatures, and I pulled out my new winter coat on my walk with Coco last night, which was just the right thing to keep me warm. Need to run a few errands at the farmer's market today, but otherwise plan on sitting here and cranking out as many reviews as I possibly can—short'n sweet being the general intention. We'll see how that pans out.

Book #203: ❉ⓔ Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey ★★★★⅓
Source: National Library OverDrive Collection
Read for: October TIOLI #5: S and a T in the title that you've never read before
Edition: Knopf (2013), Kindle Edition, 304 pages
Original publication date: 2013

A fun book to dip in and out of, as it is composed of short essays of no more than one or two pages, each focusing on individual artists, mostly from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, though there are also entries from the 17th and 18th centuries such as John Milton and Wofgang Amadeus Mozart. Currey has based himself on various existing texts and biographies and personal interviews with contemporary artists to establish what their daily habits are which enables them to produce their various creative works. From famous authors, painters, composers, architects, what became glaringly obvious was there are as many ways of tackling the day as there are ways of expressing creativity, and that while some artists with a prodigious output such as Dickens and Balzac did indeed dedicate the better part of their lives to their writing and predictably enough a number of other artists used a great deal of stimulants like alcohol and amphetamines to drive themselves through long sleepless periods of manic work, a great many surprisingly spent no more than two or three hours each day on their labours and then went got on with the rest of their activities. I borrowed this from the library but wouldn't mind having my own copy to dip in and out of as a reference and inspiration on how to handle my own creative endeavours.

Book #190: ♫ The Children Act by Ian McEwan ★★★½
Source: Audible
Read for: October TIOLI #2: A book with blood on the cover
Edition: Recorded Books (2014), Unabridged MP3; 6h13
Original publication date: 2014

Fiona Maye is a British judge assigned to child welfare cases. One of her more recent cases has involved deciding against the parents of conjoined siamese twins who shared vital organs. One of the twins had chances of surviving if the twins were separated, while the other was sure to die. If they were not separated, both would have died. The parents wanted to let God and nature take their course. Fiona made the decision to let the stronger twin have a chance at life. Fiona's difficult professional life has had repercussions on her long-term marriage. Now nearing sixty, she no longer craves intimacy with her husband after all the accumulated stress. Her husband on the other hand decides what he needs is one last grand passion and wants to have his cake and eat it too, so tells Fiona he'd like to have an affair with a young woman, yet keep the marriage intact, which doesn't suit Fiona in the least.

Then another complicated case falls in her lap. A young Jehova's Witness, not yet eighteen years old, the age of medical consent in England, is urgently in need of blood transfusions. The hospital has made an appeal to the court, as without the transfusions, the leukemia he suffers from is bound to kill him in a painful way. Both the parents and Adam, the young man himself, are against the procedure on religious grounds, though the parents ultimately leave the choice in Adam's hands. For reasons she doesn't quite understand herself, Fiona feels compelled to make the trip to the hospital and meet Adam in person to see what should be done, and eventually persuades him to go through with the procedure. The consequences will have far-reaching consequences.

This was a very good book and ultimately seemed to me more about relationships and the impact individuals have upon each other than about medical and legal issues. But after having read and been completely flabbergasted by McEwan's Amsterdam this summer, I wasn't quite as impressed in comparison. Still, a very good novel worth discovering. This audiobook narrated by Lindsay Duncan was excellent.

Book #193: ♫ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson ★★★
Source: National Library OneClickDigital Collection
Read for: October TIOLI#4: Read a book that is older than you
Edition: Recorded Books (2008), OneClickDigital Unabridged MP3; 3h07
Original publication date: 1886

I remember reading this for the first time when I was a schoolgirl in 1982 and being tremendously impressed with the story about a Dr. Jekyll who invents a special potion which transforms him into his horrible alter-ego Mr. Hyde and goes so far as changing him physically into a shorter man, uglier and with a bad and violent character. I remember being under the spell of the gothic horror elements of the story, but somehow, reading it again this month didn't have the same charm at all. Not quite sure why. For one thing, the first half of the story is told by someone else, and we don't quite get to know what has happened to Jekyll nor Hyde, and I supposed I was impatient getting to the goods, so to speak. I'll try revisiting it in another 30 years and perhaps meet with better success next time!

Book #194: ❉ The Ironwood Tree by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black ★★★★
Source: Municipal Library
Read for: October TIOLI #1: a species of bird named in the narrative (hen)
Series: The Spiderwick Chronicles (4 of 5)
Edition: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (2004), Hardcover, 128 pages
Original publication date: 2004

In the penultimate book of this five-part series in which the Grace kids (9-year-old twins Simon and Jared, and 13-year-old Mallory) have discovered a book in the dilapidated old family home they've moved into which has put them in touch with the faerie world, Mallory is abducted by dwarves and given the Sleeping Beauty treatment, while her brothers Simon and Jared brave the dwarves's underground world to come to her rescue. The dwarves are skilled with metalworks, and the twins discover amazing creations such as a giant life-like tree made of silver and animated iron dogs they must escape. A fun adventure, once again made all the better thanks to Tony DiTerlizzi's gorgeous pen-and-ink illustrations.

Hi Ilana! Nice little flurry of book reviews. I really want to get my mitts on the new McEwan. Actually, I NEED to read many more of his. He is one of the neglected ones.
Hope you have a good week.

Wow, what a lot of good reading you've been doing, Ilana. That review of Vanessa and Her Sister is outstanding, and I thumbed it. (I think 75ers have gotten too far out of the habit of thumbing good reviews - I'd like to see this up on the front page, so I hope others thumb it). Madame MBH would like an involving book about the Bloomsbury group (which we heard a lot about while in London), and I'm going to mention this one to her. You also remind me that I'd like to find an involving book about the Post-Impressionists you mention. Is there anything you recommend?

Daily Rituals sounds intriguing, too. I think I may just not be an Ian McEwan type of reader. His work never draws me.

Cool that you re-read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At my sister's suggestion, taken from her book club, my MBH and I read it in combination with Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin, which tells the story from his maid's POV. That worked really well, and if you haven't read Mary Reilly, I can recommend it.

Great fun to see the progress on Rocky. Thanks again for sharing that.

Gosh, I hate to be complaining all the time, but I went to bed last night with a ghastly headache which kept waking me up through the night as it kept getting worse and predictably enough, woke up feeling awful this morning. Probably due to the sudden shift to very cold temps during the w/e. Didn't get out of my pjs till I absolutely had to today. No sense in taking painkillers really, but I did anyway, figuring it might at least reduce the pain a tad, and I guess it did, by a degree or two. I was more or less dead to the world, and the only thing I found to do to make myself feel better was buy more books. I found almost by accident the other day that certain audiobooks not available to the Canadian market via Audible can sometimes be purchased via the Amazon.com site, which has GOT to be a glitch in the system, so I went hunting for those titles on my wishlist that were 'unavailable', and ended up spending three credits on the following:

♫ All Our Worldly Goods by Irene Nemirovsky (yes, a French title in English translation... because I love Eleanor Bron, the narrator)
♫ Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey (Amazon.com) - narrated by Anna Bentinck instead of Davina Porter as I like her much better
♫ The Road Home by Rose Tremain (Amazon.com)

Now I'm dangerously low on credits and will have to renew my membership for the umpteenth time this year which makes me a very good Audible customer indeed, so that I have no compunction at all taking advantage of their "love it or return it" policy and they daren't ever refuse me either. I don't abuse it, but I don't love everything I listen to given the amount I purchase... normal.

Other books purchased today:

The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton - Virago edition from AbeBooks
A Pin To See The Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse - apparently the story Sarah Waters based herself on for her latest, The Paying Guests, only better, according to Heather - Virago edition from AbeBooks

Total books purchased to date: 276

Also got:

The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton (FREE Kindle)
Tales of Men and Ghosts by Edith Wharton (FREE Project Gutenberg)

*waving* at Ilana

Also: finished listening to The House on the Strand today as I was working on Rocky's portrait. He now has TWO eyes. Woo hoo! Re HotS: I didn't quite understand the full story. I truly believe some of my grey cells have been dying away in great masses over the last year, probably due to constant migraines, as I begin to grasp less and less rather simple information, but I still found the book very enjoyable, which says a lot about du Maurier's storytelling skills. I'll begin on the audio of A Place of Greater Safety tonight as I take Coco on our walk, and get ready for bed (and Colorless Tsukuru) and may end up alternating with the print book after I've finished the Murakami, but we'll see.

***

>167 msf59: Hi Mark, I was hoping to get more reviews written, but that's all I could manage yesterday, as ended up spending quite enough time on the computer. As you can imagine, that first review of Vanessa and Her Sister took quite a long time to put together, so even if the rest were quick, I had quite a job of it. Still, I'm ahead by 5 reviews which is very encouraging.

I'd been meaning to read lots more McEwan for years now, and ended up getting several of his books on audio recently to help me along with that resolution. Still, I have several ppbks on the tbr I hope to get to as well. Have you read Atonement? It's quite amazing and I strongly recommend it.

>168 jnwelch: Joe, I'm so glad you appreciated my review of Vanessa and Her Sister. I put in time for that one because I felt I owed it to NetGalley, with which I started off on the wrong foot, first NOT reviewing the first book I got and then not reading the second... which is just plain silly, and then secondly I really loved this book and want to do my part to get other potential readers interested in it, so glad about your response. Good question about the Post-Impressionists. I'd love to read about them as well. I'm sure there must be lots of non-fiction about them, though I always find that fiction is a good way to get my initial interest up.

Fair enough if you're not a McEwan fan. I am, but that doesn't mean I think the whole world should be too. At least you're identified that, so now you can spend that time on other authors. I'm always quite delighted when I identify a book, author, series or genre I don't want to read; makes me feel like I've freed up a bunch of time for books I DO want to make room for! Kind of illusory, but whatever works!

Have not read Mary Reilly nor seen the movie either, so will add it to the wishlist per your recommendation right away. I've found I quite enjoy reading well-known stories from different POVs. Longbourn was a real winner for me this year, for example, as I think it was for you too.

Thanks for the thumb by the way. You're right enough they seem hard to come by these days. What's up with that?

Hi Stasia! It's been a while! Thanks for the visit.

Yes, it has been a while. I have a week long break from school and am hoping to make the most of it!

Woo hoo on the break, Stasia. Hope you get to make the best of it. LT sure hasn't been the same without you, but we're all happy you're doing so great of course!

I'll second Joe's recommendation of Mary Reilly, especially as a companion to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It's a great alternative POV read.

Hi Ilana! Just trying to catch up a bit here.

I loved The Road Home by Rose Tremain. Paul sent it to me as my reward for being first on his thread (that one time) and it was a winner. I'm a fan of William Trevor, thanks to Paul, and this one reads similarly to Trevor's work. I hope you enjoy it.

Hugs to Coco and the other furkidz.

I'm sorry about the bad head again but delighted about the second eye of Rocky!
Add me to the vocal fans of The Road Home. LOVE IT!
Also a thumb for your review of Vanessa and her Sister. I'm not sure that I want to read something that trashes poor Virginia so completely - I've read her diaries and letters, but I very likely will ----.
Hope tomorrow is a good day for you!

Hi Ilana.

Catching up with your flurry of reviews :-)

>158 Smiler69: Vanessa and Her Sister sounds interesting. I think it's published in February over here so I'll look out for it next year. I have to confess that I don't like books which show people with mental illnesses to be very self-centred though - obviously some people with mental illnesses are, just as some people without mental illnesses are but I think I've heard too many people say that all people with depression etc. are self-centred and selfish and it pushes my buttons a bit.

>159 Smiler69: That's a great book haul! I hope you enjoy the Allinghams - the Campion series is an interesting one as the style of the books changes a lot over the series and the earliest books don't alreadys read like a traditional crime novel.

>169 Smiler69: Sorry to hear about your headache. But yay for more books! I hope you didn't spend too much on APtStPS - it's a slow burn but it's a book which has stayed with me (and sort of started my mini-interest in shopgirls of the early 20th century). I'm also very intrigued by Edith Whatron's ghost stories.

>171 Smiler69: Re The House on the Strand, I think I understood most of the story but I was a bit confused by the doctor right at the end - were we supposed to find him suspicious? Why did he say Dick couldn't join his family for two weeks?

>168 jnwelch: & >175 EBT1002: And now Mary Reilly is on the wishlist if I manage to reread The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this month.

>177 souloftherose: Hi Heather! Well, the flurry of reviews was inspired by you after all! I intend to do another, if the headaches can release their hold on me a little. Today isn't quite as bad as yesterday mind you, so I may give it a try again.

Re: Vanessa and Her Sister, I get the feeling it's not so much saying "all people with a mental illness are self-centered" so much as "Virginia Stephen was self-centered and overly attached to her sister". Anyway, that's what I got from it. That being said, I know that when I'm not doing well mentally, I do tend to fold in on myself. Hard to do otherwise really. I feel horribly guilty about it when it happens, but I'm afraid it's more or less a truism, which isn't to say people with mental illnesses are always selfish, but when their troubles are more acute, then it's probably difficult to focus on other things.

I forgot to mention about the book hauls that those books I already had other versions of are for rereads too. As for the Allinghams, I think I've read somewhere the first Albert Campion books aren't the best ones, and I did get The Tiger in the Smoke not so very long ago, which I believe is one of the best in the series, but couldn't resist getting these two on sale. Also, about those audiobooks I got on Amazon.com yesterday I couldn't get on Audible, there's a kind of rush I get from getting books that are more or less "forbidden" or in any case not available to Canada, so that they feel doubly valuable!

As it turned out, when I looked at the listing again, A Pin To See The Peepshow wasn't so horrendously expensive after all, it was just the added cost of the shipping which made it pricier, and even then, the shipping cost itself was quite reasonable given what it can be from the UK these days. As there was really nothing to make me feel better than shopping for books yesterday, I just went all out. I came close to putting in a large FS order, so I'm sure you'll believe me when I say this came out much cheaper! As for Wharton's ghost stories, I've been wanting to read everything by her I can get my hands on, and ghost stories are perfect to read in October and November I think, so I'll probably be reading those very soon.

The House on the Strand: for some reason I didn't quite follow all that was happening in the 14th century, as so missed a bit of the narrative there, though I think I got the essential gist of it, but got some of the names confused in my mind so had a bit of trouble following. This is a typical problem for me though as I always have trouble keeping names straight. I don't think we were supposed to suspect the doctor of anything, and if we were, that went right over my head, I just think he wanted him to stay in Cornwall for two weeks to make sure no surprising side-effects emerged all of the sudden because of the drugs, which he did say could have killed him!.

I read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde right away towards the beginning of the month to bag a shared read because it's so very short—just three hours on audio, so even less in book form. Please come to my rescue on the TIOLI thread... everyone has banded against me because I've made a remark as wanted people to keep listing shared reads together and now everyone in typical independent "everyone does whatever they want just because we can" fashion declares that's the way it should be done!

Oh, oops, skipped a couple of visitors, so sorry!

>175 EBT1002: Ellen, I'll add you as a recommender for Mary Reilly right away. The more the merrier! You are one of the people responsible for me jumping on The Road Home. I'd been wanting to get it for a long time on audio, but it wasn't available in the unabridged format to us kanucks, until I found this roundabout way of purchasing it yesterday, and now don't I feel clever about it! I look forward to getting to it. Rose Tremain is one of my favourite authors, but so far I haven't read any of her contemporary fiction as just love her historical fiction, which she truly excels at.

>176 LizzieD: Peggy, you are another of the proponents of The Road Home who indirectly encouraged me to possibly break some rules to get my hands on the unabridged audiobook version. I know that novel was much loved by several LTers I follow, and as I said to Ellen just above, it had been on my wishlist for a long time now. Now to fit it in and actually listen to it! I

Vanessa and Her Sister doesn't completely trash Virginia, but does hold her responsible for the role she played in more or less destroying Vanessa and Clive Bell's marriage, which, if you read that quote Virginia Woolf herself wrote, doesn't seem so far off the mark in the realm of possibilities... thanks for the thumb, much appreciated! :-)

This latest bout of migraine I've had since the weekend is really punishing and has put me in a seriously nasty mood. I usually don't bear up with the pain so well and am sort of grumpy, but now I'm actually almost in a rage, maybe because the pain is so bad. Sorry again to complain. Cancelled my appointment with my shrink today, even though I hardly ever see her because she keeps cancelling on me. She's a nice enough woman, but visits are sort of pointless since she doesn't ever take up my suggestions to make any changes in my meds and just keeps prescribing the same stuff over and over again; better be safe than try anything. Since she can call my renewals into the pharmacy, I figured I could skip the visit and talk, and see her in a couple of months. My neurologist is the one I really want to see anyway. That'll be in January.

Reading: nothing last night, save for the Folio Society Christmas catalogue, with lots of enticing new titles out. Will likely put in a big expensive order in soon (can I afford it? Of course not), taking advantage of their monthly payment schedule. Wasn't quite done with the catalogue when the power went out, so went to sleep early.

Making headway on A Place of Greater Safety. Am maybe 1/5th of the way in, which isn't much considering how long it is, but it's good.

My new winer coat: went out in 8 degree (46F) weather the past couple of days, which actually feels colder because of humidity, rain and wind, wearing the coat with a sweater underneath and a hat, scarf and warm gloves, and was COLD. This is a bad, very bad sign. I was definitely one of the most overdressed people out there. This is supposed to be the one of the warmest, best quality coats they have at Ogilvy's which is one of our best stores for quality goods, with many satisfied customers buying those coats every year according to the salesman I called in a bit of a panic yesterday. True I'm sickly and feel the cold more than most, but still, what will it be like when the weather goes below 0? I'm very worried, obviously.

Sorry to hear things are so bad. I've been in a pretty foul mood myself, dealing with some complicated issues and a visit that brings up SO much anxiety - I had 10mg of diazepam (valium) yesterday to try and cope and still ended up topping up with alcohol to make things bearable. Not ideal I know, but both my mental health nurse and my GP agree going the diazepam route is better than any alternative.

Thankfully my GP is fantastic and is always open to changing things up for me. I think I become immune to the effects of medication after a while and so need a change or a top-up. Slightly worried as to what will happen once I've worked my way through my options though.

I don't envy you with your struggles with heat. I woke up several times last night (I was awake more than asleep) with freezing cold feet and knees despite a 13.5tog duvet on and a hot water bottle. Being so cold led to me sleepily wrapping myself into the duvet which then overheated my upper half to the extent I was drenched in cold sweat while still having cold legs. Not pleasant. Two changes of pyjamas in the middle of the night doesn't lead to much rest. Hopefully you'll be able to find some solution - do you get good quality thermal base layers? I can't survive without them. Thin tights like the type you would wear with a smart skirt in the spring or autumn are also great at warming you up, the 15-20 dernier thickness. In the midst of winter I wear 1 thin pair of tights, one set of thermal leggings and top, and then my top layers.

I've been browsing the Folios on offer this Christmas as well. My mum and I often exchange at least one for Christmas, and I like to take advantage of the offers they do, such as the free diary with an order at the moment. The diary makes a good Christmas gift for someone else!

I'm really tempted by 1066 and All That as the illustrations look fun, and The Great Plague in London but not too much else in their new releases. Decisions, decisions.

Sorry to hear you're feeling so lousy, Ilana. The universe should give you a break, IMO. It's got to be frustrating. Doesn't sound like any pampering of yourself will help, but I hope you do anyway. I'm sure Coco is doing all he can to help.

Sending healing and positive thoughts, and hoping it lets up on you.

Too done in to comment on my own thread. I went and renewed my membership with Audible so I could purchase a bunch more books since the only thing I felt able to do today was... shop for books. Pathetic. May have to cancel a play for tomorrow night if this keeps up.

I'll get back to you tomorrow Jenny (@lunacat), need to pack myself off to bed asap right now, thanks for they sympathy.

Joe (@jnwelch) you probably won't see this for a while anyway, since you're traveling, but thanks to you too.

eta: got some pretty great audiobooks though. Will list them tomorrow.

Ilana, I hope the bad head does NOT keep up. Take care of yourself!
Meanwhile, shopping for books has to be good therapy, and I look forward to the list.

Thinking of you, Ilana...

Morning Ilana! I hope you wake up today, feeling a bit better. Sounds like a rough week. Canada has sure been in the news lately. Wow! Lots of drama for your quiet country.

Hugs!!

I hope that you're feeling better today, Ilana.

I'm not religious, as most of you know, but still I will say a little prayer to baby Jesus this morning for decreasing the pain level in my head somewhat when I woke up this morning, against all expectations, since I kept waking up with pain all through the night. Less is definitely more in this case. I quickly swallowed a couple of Fiorinal tablets just now to make sure to keep the migraine from increasing again during the rest of the day. Keeping fingers crossed it works. Thanks so much for the sympathy your guys. Being in pain all the time is unpleasant, but when it's mostly dull pain, it's at least bearable, but the last few days were like some circle of hell and I truly hope I'm out of the worst of it.

This means I should be able to attend tonight's National Theatre Live screening starring Carey Muligan and Bill Nighy, David Hare's "Skylight", directed by Stephen Daldry, who recently directed the sell-out West End production of "The Audience" with Helen Mirren which I saw last year and was an outstanding play. I don't know anything about this particular play, other than I really like Bill Nighy and what I've read from the synopsis (plus my friend K and I thought we'd just give it a try, with nothing much to lose since the cinema ticket are quite affordable at just over $20):

"On a bitterly cold London evening, schoolteacher Kyra Hollis (Carey Mulligan) receives an unexpected visit from her former lover, Tom Sergeant (Bill Nighy), a successful and charismatic restaurateur whose wife has recently died. As the evening progresses, the two attempt to rekindle their once passionate relationship only to find themselves locked in a dangerous battle of opposing ideologies and mutual desires."



Here's a 30 sec YouTube preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARouWhgpreA

>181 lunacat: Hi Jenny, dealing with anxiety is difficult at best, and I know sometimes nothing will do but popping pills for it. However, don't mean to sound like a mum here, but DO be careful about mixing the diazepam with alcohol. Mind you, on my birthday this summer, I'd been going through a similarly hellish phase as this week's with the migraines, and I had invited my friend K over for a nice b-day BBQ supper, so took THREE Fiorinal pills (definitely over the prescribed limit) to knock the migraine out that day knowing full well there'd be lots of drinking that evening too. Not something I intend repeating mind you. You're very lucky to have a good GP who is willing to try things. I think the trouble with my shrink is she's overbooked all the time, so she might be willing to try things otherwise, but she just doesn't have the time to manage all the side-effects and multiple appointments required with med changes, and truth be told, I have been more stable than ever since I've started seeing her, so I guess I shouldn't complain, it's just that when I saw the specialist who declared me permanently disabled on behalf of the insurance company a couple of years ago, he happened to be a psychopharmacology specialist and indicated things could definitely be improved in my cocktail mix to improve my general outlook.

Good suggestions about the tights. I do wear thin wool thermal long-johns in the winter when it's really cold but I've never liked the feel of tights, because my skin is so sensitive and somehow having my legs encased like that makes them unbearably itchy, but perhaps I will try it again this season as might make a big difference in the way of keeping me warm, as I seem to have trouble tolerating weather which to most other people doesn't seem that cold at all, judging by what they are wearing (short jackets, no hats, no scarves, no gloves!).

Isn't the Folio bird diary lovely?! I definitely want to get two or three, one to keep and a couple to give away as gifts. I got my hands on a cheaper copy of The Monks of War on the 2nd hand market last year, and am definitely tempted by The Great Plague in London in the same series as well. I've also been dying to get The Queen of Spades and Other Stories as am in love with the work of the Balbusso twins and have wanted Jane Eyre since it came out in September (even though I already own three other editions of it), and now dying to get their new edition of Wuthering Heights in the same series, and ogling their re-release of The Victorians by A. N. Wilson too. I've got a couple of coupons I can apply to my order, but I'm almost thinking I may as well make it a truly big one and pay over 10 months to make the monthly payments more affordable. Or maybe I'll call them to ask if they'll arrange that for me on a lesser amount... My Folio addiction definitely is a source of financial trouble! But yet so satisfying too! I'd heard they were supposed to release Emma for the Christmas season as well, so was disappointed to find they hadn't after all. More to look forward to in future...

>182 jnwelch: My dear Joe, you are away at the moment, but I do want to tell you that your healing thoughts, along with those of other dear friends here on LT and in RL must have had an effect, as I almost miraculously woke up today with a decrease in pain. I'd been suffering from an 8/10 pain level since the weekend and today it decreased to 6/10 which, under the circumstances, felt like a real breakthrough, and now having taken painkillers and strong coffee over 45 minutes ago, I feel like I am coming back to the land of the living! Hurray, hurray! I'm sure you had a lot to do with it, so many thanks!

>184 LizzieD: Peggy, I was far from feeling optimistic last night, and was almost sure I'd have to cancel my plans for tonight seeing how badly things had gone since the weekend round the clock, so you can imagine how pleased as punch I am now that I'm well enough to attend that play after all. Will keep taking those painkillers every 4 hours on the clock to make sure things stay that way, mind you. The book purchase list will follow shortly.

>185 scaifea: Thank you Amber. It worked!

>186 msf59: It worked, it worked! I really am feeling better this time! Alleluia! I must say I could do with Canada staying out of world headlines, considering what it takes to get into them these days. I say the only people who should be allowed to carry guns are soldiers in combat zones, period.

>187 kidzdoc: Hi Darryl. It's funny how all things are so very relative, because on any other day, this would just be yet another dull migraine day, and nothing to write home about, but today it's a great improvement on how things have been since the weekend, and for that I am immensely grateful!

>189 Smiler69:

It's very very rare that I take a diazepam at all as I tend to try and save them for a desperate occasion, but Tuesday was definitely one of those days. I also don't resort to alcohol very often either so I think a repeat performance is highly unlikely.

I'm not a huge fan of the classics so am not tempted by many of the Folio editions. I wasn't enamored with Wuthering Heights but the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous! Sadly I don't think I can justify the purchase of a book I don't like, simply for the artwork.

The Victorians is stunning and something I'd definitely enjoy but it's sooo expensive.

I think I'm going to ask for The Great Plague in London as one of my Christmas presents. Ordeal by Fire: Witnesses to the Great War is tempting me but I'd rather have illustrations than photos.

I hadn't let myself look at the other books still on offer, just at the new Christmas collection, but I still really really want The Deeds of the English Kings for it's uniqueness. At nearly £70, it's a BIG thing to ask for though.

Why do they have to be so pretty??

>191 lunacat: Yes, I felt silly giving you that warning about mixing the pills with alcohol, really none of my business, plus, I'm the same as you; I have a prescription for Effexor Ativan which I take very occasionally, hardly ever really; it's an anti-anxiety medication, but I take it to help me sleep, though it doesn't always work that well, but I only take it a few times a year. I also hardly ever drink, and then only in phases mostly, but I can go for months without a sip of alcohol, so mixing pills and booze is hardly ever an issue.

I DO love the classics, so Folio basically has me at every turn, don't they? I think they've done both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, two of the great Gothic novels of the 19th century great justice with the illustrations and gorgeous grey illustrated bindings too, which is why I MUST have them. I'm guessing they'll add to the series and dying to find out what will be next. Agreed Victorians is much too expensive. I've purchased nearly half my Folios on the 2nd hand market (in "as new" condition) at far lower prices than what Folio asks for them brand new. Have you considered doing this? Harder to do with the new releases, but for older titles they are quite easy to find, especially for you living in England, where they are plentiful and where shipping fees won't be an issue as they are for me (outrageously expensive overseas—often as costly as the book itself if not more!). The Great Plague in London is definitely one you will find on the 2nd hand market—there are LOADS of copies floating around in excellent condition, as Folio collectors are known to be particular about the condition of their books and tend to baby them.

Why do they have to be so pretty??

*BIG SIGH*

I know, I know...

>191 lunacat: Jenny, I've just been checking both Abe and eBay and see LOADS of copies of TGPiL, as I said, for less than half the price of what Folio is asking, including overseas shipping, so you could get it for much less than that, in brand new condition, I'm sure.

>191 lunacat: Just found a copy of The Victorians on Abe here in Canada in Fine/Fine condition for $20+shipping. Needless to say I jumped on it!

Latest book purchases:

From AbeBooks:
The Victorians by A. N. Wilson (Used, as new Folio Society for a fraction of what it cost reissued from FS)
The Great Plague of London by Walter George Bell (same notes as above)
The Heather Blazing by Colm Tóibín - another of those lovely little Bloomsbury Classic hardcovers I've started collecting. 1995 ed. (New from Book Depo)



From Audible:
♫ Philosopher's Pupil by Irish Murdoch
ⓔ+♫ The Wings of the Dove by Henry James (Audible/Kindle deal)
♫ Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters - just released on audio yesterday
♫ The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton - just released on audio yesterday. Really enjoyed the two other historical fiction books I've read by her so far
♫ The African Queen by C. S. Foreseter - been on my wishlist forever and saw Judy was reading it this week.
♫ The Collector by John Fowles - recently recommended by Jenny and Peggy
Am especially pleased about:
♫ Breakfast with Lucian: A Portrait of the Artist by Geordie Greig - been on my wishlist since it came out last year. Got it in a roundabout way from Amazon.com as isn't available in Canada as audio. Started listening to it yesterday and think will return to it often. LF was very much against biographies in his lifetime, and this one is very gossipy and perfect in audiobook format, narrated to perfection by John Standing, a great old English aristocratic actor.



Total books purchased to date: 286

Well now you've done it. I can get TGPiL for £8. I can get The Victorians for £10. And The History of the Kings of Britain for about the same, though that is the 1960's print and not the re-released version.

Darn it. While they were unrealistically expensive, I could manage with not getting them. But now they are within my reach.................

Oh dear. And I just searched my grandfather's most famous book as I knew it had been published as a Folio but now out of print, and I could get that as well. Silly really as I have my own copy with 'to my golden girl' written inside, but it would be quite cool to have.

> 196 Heh. Glad to be of service. :-D

Honestly though, with so many great Folios in good condition floating around all over the UK for reasonable prices on the secondary market, why should you deprive yourself? Sure, you don't get the nifty FS wrapping and that new book smell, but still.

>197 lunacat: Your grandfather has a book published by Folio?!? What book would that be? Do tell!

Yup, he has The Babylonians published by Folio. The most famous of his The Greatness that was Babylon which is still used as a teaching text at many Universities, as well as The Might that was Assyria and Civilisation before Greece and Rome. He was a worldwide respected historian in his day and an expert of the period in question, as well as on Semitic languages in general. I understand that the books and research are slightly out of date now, with new dating techniques and theories having been introduced, but I'm very proud to be his granddaughter.

>149 Smiler69: I'm now looking forward to the broadcasting of Of Mice and Men starring James Franco and Chris O'Dowd,
Oh wow. And now guess what I am looking forward to, should it ever get to my little ole country down here in the wop wops. Those two certainly have the stature (physical and actor-wise) to pull those parts off. We have NT Live showing at a movie theatre here once in a while, I should ask them if they will show this one.

>189 Smiler69: Yummy Folio Society diary! My favourite one ever was a Granta one, ring bound with a book cover on each LHS and the week on the RHS. I loved it so much, it was what started me on my Booker-book-reading-quest as it had lists in the front. *drool*
Diaries have to be the whole package for me, and if they are I don't mind paying an arm and a leg for them seeing as I see them mostly every day for a year. What most often lets a good one down is the layout for the week, all lines and margins, not enough space.

Sorry to see you have been feeling poorly lately, Ilana. I agree with you about the coat. If you feel cold wearing it now, what will it be like when the colder temps of winter kick in.

Hello Dear One!

#189: Oh, man, I want a copy of that folio bird diary. I collect owls, you know.

>200 lunacat: Ha! That's one of the few Folio books I actually do have! Awesomesauce!

Morning, Ilana! I love the look of the Nighy show...

>190 Smiler69:. Yay! Hope today's a relaxing and good one for you, Ilana.

"Skylight", the play I saw last night via National Theatre Live was truly excellent. I'm glad the migraine relented and I was able to attend. Bill Nighy is superb and he and Carey Mulligan played off each other energetically. Hadn't realized it was a reprise and an almost 20 year-old play, but so it was, though it felt completely contemporary. David Hare is a superb writer, and I was frankly amazed at how much he understood a woman's point of view, as here with this ex-couple sparring, Nighy the sexist macho businessman wanting to get back together with his former mistress now his wife has passed away, Mulligan his much younger ex-lover wanting to hold on to what he sees as a miserable life but she values as a meaningful one, being a teacher in an underprivileged neighbourhood. Really really bloody good, as a Brit would say.

Head is hurting today, but again, nowhere like it was at the beginning of the week, so am terribly grateful. Hurrah!

Got one Patrick Modiano book from the library this week, and off to pick up some more which have just arrived today, including The Search Warrant, which I'm getting on audio and will probably listen to very soon since it's very short at just 2.5 hours. Also have The X-Files Season 2 waiting for me, yay!

***

>200 lunacat: Oh yes, of course I've heard of The Babylonians, as that whole series, which includes The Phoenicians among others is quite popular with ancient history buffs. You have every right to be proud! When I was in school in Israel of course we covered semitic languages for a while which I found rather fascinating, and I can see myself wanting to return to ancient history eventually, though it's rather outside my scope at the moment. So many interests! How to make time for them all?? A problem we all struggle with here on LT I'm sure.

>201 LovingLit: Megan, the premiere of the world broadcast for Of Mice and Men is November 6th, so quite soon actually, so you might want to look into it sooner than later. I do hope for your sake they are screening it in your region because it promises to be a great show from what I've seen of the previews, and since you know those two actors already, you have some idea what to expect from them already.

This bird diary from Folio comes free with a purchase from their latest Christmas collection, or can be purchased individually for around $25 CAD plus shipping, which is around $12 CAD for one book. Not cheap by any means, but might be worth it if you are really enamoured with it. You can get more information about it here if you're interested: http://www.foliosociety.com/book/D15

>202 lkernagh: Thanks Lori, chronic pain is no fun, because every day involves discomfort somehow, it's just a question of degrees really, though I've come to really appreciate when the pain level is such that I can tolerate it because then I can put it out of my mind (which happens after years of habit). But when the pain is acute then things become really difficult. Thankfully I seem to be out of the worst of it as of yesterday. Not surprisingly, since yesterday the coat has kept me much warmer too. I have the feeling nothing could have kept me warm because feeling sickly I also felt frozen to the bone even when I was inside the house and wearing two layers of sweaters, if you see what I mean. Anyway, I'm dearly hoping this is the case. The salesman at Ogilvy's has given me every assurance this coat is the warmest they have (they carry many other brands, including Canada Goose), so I don't think I have other alternatives at this point.

>203 Whisper1: Hi Dear Linda, thanks for stopping by. I owe you a visit!

>204 alcottacre: Hi Stasia, and wouldn't you know it, a nice big owl right there on the cover. I can't say for sure, but I would imagine there must be one inside the diary somewhere too.

>205 scaifea: That show was so awesome too Amber! So far I must say all the National Theatre Live plays I've gone to see have been great. That's quite a good investment at $25 a ticket, tops, considering what it costs to go to live shows these days. Of course, this isn't quite the same thing as an actual live play, but it's still an amazing experience and you do get to see some of the best theatre in the world without having to board a plane or go through security!

>206 jnwelch: Hi Joe, and thanks, I do plan to make it as relaxing a day as possible. Only plans for today are to swing by the library on my walk with Coco later and to spend time on my Rocky drawing, as I've neglected him for a couple of days now and want to make some headway, but there's nothing stressful about that, quite the contrary. In fact, I'll be off to do that now—the sooner in the day I fit it in, the surer I am it actually gets done!

I'm so sorry your head is hurting. I want to let you know how impressed I am with the Rocky drawing. It is incredible. You are so very talented.

Sorry to hear you've been struggling with headaches and the cold :-( Enjoyed the discussion of the Folio books and glad to see you medicated by treating yourself to some.

I hope the headache has eased by the time you read this, Ilana!

Day 3 now of migraine back to normal levels, so I think I can safely say I'm out of of the crisis. Amen to that. I'm almost certain it was brought on by the sudden change in weather from Indian summer to cold temperatures over the weekend last week. Am off to my 3rd acupuncture treatment for my back very shortly and I think it's well enough now for me to start exercising, so will have to start working that into my weekly routines somehow.

Am halfway through A Place of Greater Safety now. It's a great book, and really breaks down the French revolution to the personalities who made it happen and the day-to-day while it was occurring, but unfortunately for me there are a great deal of characters in the book, always tricky at best for me to try to keep straight, so apart from the handful of major characters, I mostly float along not really remembering who so-and-so is from one moment to the next.

Had two drawing sessions on Rocky yesterday, for a total or nearly 4 hours. He now has two ears and is more or less complete. I still have lots of details to work out, plus a background to add, but he's definitely looking like he's getting there!



***

>208 Whisper1: Hi Linda, thanks for the sympathy my dear. The head hurts most every day, but I've learned to live with it except when the pain becomes really acute. I'm so very grateful it's become bearable again! I've made lots of progress on Rocky this week, as you can see above!

>209 souloftherose: Ha! You are ever so right Heather, I've been HEAVILY medicating myself with book purchases this week, culminating with Folio purchases, both used, and ultimately the real brand new thing from the source! My credit card won't thank me, but I'm almost certain it helped me feel physically better! :-)

Really enjoying the second part of Love-Letters Between A Nobleman And His Sister. Didn't expect it to be so very wicked—how perfectly wonderful! :-D

>210 alcottacre: Indeed it has Stasia, thank you so much! xx

Glad that the headache is abating. I have had A Place of Greater Safety on my TBR, for a long time, still unread. I know what you mean by too many characters to keep straight. I recently read Leslie Helm's Yokohama Yankee about generations of his family in Japan. Luckily Helm included a family tree which I had to refer to every chapter. And the drawing of Rocky is fabulous.

>211 Smiler69:. Oh, the drawing of Rocky is looking great, Ilana! I'll bet his owner is a happy camper.

Sounds like Skylight was mighty good. Those sure are two terrific actors.

Rocky is looking fantastic, I can't wait to see how he looks once he's done. I bet the picture will become a very treasured item. I'd love to get a portrait done of Connie - it's one of my 'life goals'. We had a portrait done of a friend's horses, the poor girl had lost both her horses within six months of each other (the second being bought as a replacement for the first and then having to be put down itself) as a memento and it now has pride of place on her wall.

>200 lunacat: That’s so cool!

>211 Smiler69: Glad to see the 2nd eye and ear!

I've been HEAVILY medicating myself with book purchases this week
Whatever helps. :-) I’m sorry the pain is such a horrible ongoing thing for you.

Argh, I wrote a huge post extolling the wonders that was my Grandie (and Grammie) and it vanished. I shall try again!

Here is his obituary if anyone is interested:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-hwf-saggs-520685.html

But he was such an incredible man, of course one single obituary can't sum him up.

When he went to the Middle East in 1946/47 to work as an interpreter, at one point he was the only interpreter that was trusted by both Israeli's and Palestinians to be unbiased and not prejudice in his dealings with them. He was as straight forward and honest as they came.

He went out to Iraq to teach at Baghdad University with his wife and four young daughters in 1956. My mother (the youngest) was just under a year old - in fact she took her first steps on the ferry leaving England! Grammie and Grandie always said living in Iraq was one of the happiest times in their lives. When it became prudent to leave, he stayed for a little while and Grammie drove home from Iraq to England on her own with just the three younger girls, diverting on the way when she wanted to stop off at a specific town or country.

He was a thoroughly modern father, perfectly happy to change nappies and take care of his daughters. In fact, the first time I was left alone for the night with him without either my mum or Grammie, the only problem he had was that he had never changed a disposable nappy. If I'd been in cloth nappies, he'd have been fine!

He had the most amazing imagination, sense of adventure and fun. I don't recall him ever saying no to a game, or getting cross. He'd fill his grandchildren with sugar and sweeties, wind us up and watch us go. Paddling in streams, balancing across small river dams, running from wild wolves in the forest (in the back garden ;) ), writing stories of dragons and fighting socks in the bedroom, he was the perfect grandfather.

And he chose my grandmother from a photo. They went to the same school but she was a couple of years younger and he had never spoken to her. She had had her picture taken at a photographer's shop and the portrait was put in the window as a display of his latest work, I guess. Grandie was walking past with a friend, stopped, looked at the photo and said to his mate, "That's the girl I'm going to marry."

He cycled ridiculous miles during the war to go and see her when she was evacuated.

Four daughters, nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren (now numbering six in that generation) and 69 years of marriage. Doesn't get much better than that :).

Jenny, that's a wonderful tribute to a wonderful man. If I live long enough, I'll remember him and expand my ancient history reading, which is now pretty much confined to Rome and things Roman.
Ilana, Rocky is such a darling! I'm still awed by your work.
I'm also happy that you were able to enjoy the play and that the migraine has retreated to a manageable level. Acupuncture and exercise and book-buying seem a formidable defense! And isn't *Greater Safety* a wonder? I'd love to find something else for right now that I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed that. It's one of the high points that keeps me reading....... well, O.K. I doubt that I'll ever be able to stop reading, but *APoGS* spurred me on.

I love the picture of Rocky and glad to hear your back and headache pain is reduced. A Place of Greater Safety is a book I keep putting off because I feel it's going to require a lot of concentration...

>216 lunacat: That's a really touching tribute Jenny.

Not sure where the day went yesterday. Had my acupuncture treatment, then ran some errands, among other things getting some jeans over to the seamstress to get hemmed. Had to order a size down as I've quite miraculously dropped some weight, no idea how as I continue to stuff myself with sweets—don't hate me—though I admit I don't eat a great quantity of food overall on any given day, eat few carbs and fats, but also do hardly any exercise. It's a mystery. Maybe all the pain has me burning calories as I sit there and suffer and grumble? Also picked up some art supplies needed to complete my Rocky project.

Then came home, took care of my furkids, sat down to watch The X-Files, and realized I MUST watch the last two episodes of season 1, as the first episode of season 2 made reference to them having been shut down the X-Files and reassigned Scully and Mulder to other sections. The library DVDs were so badly scratched up I hadn't been able to watch them. These new DVDs for the 2nd season were just as bad. I spent the next hour setting up a free membership with NetFlix, and then watched those two final episodes and will continue watching the series with them. No skipping, what a treat! The library is free, which is great, but the DVDs are always in an appalling condition. I'd discontinued my NetFlix Canada subscription several times because they just aren't as well stocked as the US version is, but with 9 seasons of X-Files in store, I'll be watching for a while to come.

Also returning two of the Patrick Modiano books I got on audio to the library unlistened to—hadn't realized they were abridgements. That's definitely a NO GO, so have reserved the French edition of The Search Warrant, originally called Dora Bruder (don't know why they had to change the title?) in print (it's only 146 pages). Did pick up two other audiobooks on CD from the library: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver and Landline by Rainbow Rowell.

Back and headache pain are down to tolerable levels. Head is a 6/10 on the pain scale right now, so could be better honestly, but I daren't complain after the hell I've been through.

Grey and cool out. Will watch a couple of episodes of X-Files I think.

***

>212 catarina1: I finally dug out my print copy of A Place of Greater safety from the bottom of one of my bedside piles and sure enough, there were five distinct character lists, for each five sections of the book, so I wasn't just imagining there was a huge cast of characters to keep straight! I get the feeling this is a book I might want to reread eventually. There are merits to both print and audio version. With the print version, it's easier to refer to the character list, but with the audio version, the narrator does various accents so well, also, one of the principal characters has a stutter and he does that very convincingly. I on the other hand have no imagination whatsoever for that sort of thing when I am reading from the page.

>213 jnwelch: Hi Joe! I get a distinct feeling from out communications that Pat is a happy camper indeed. She's sharing the images with her close ones and getting some positive feedback all around, so I must say it's been a positive experience all the way!

Skylight was really excellent. I must say attending these National Theatre Live performances has given me tremendous satisfaction these past couple of years and brought a lot more culture into my life! I hardly ever went to the theatre before, truth be told.

>214 lunacat: I certainly hope that picture of Rocky becomes a prized memento, and I have a feeling it will indeed. What a sad story about your friend losing both her horses in such a short time, but I'm sure that portrait must be a great consolation to her. Art can have so much healing power in that way, especially when it has such a personal connection like that. I've always wanted to do pictures of horses, but haven't plied my talent that way yet. They are such gorgeous creatures and I should hope I would be able to do all their powerful beauty some justice. I do hope that when comes the time for you to get that portrait of Connie done you will think of me, she certainly is a gorgeous girl.

>215 qebo: Much better now, thanks Katherine. And now I have that many more wonderful books! As if I were ever lacking! ;-)

>216 lunacat: Sorry you lost the original post Jenny, what a bother. I tend to write long messages, as you may have noticed, and it's happened to me rather too often. Now I tend to copy and paste them as I go somewhere either into the Mail application or onto "Notes" on my Mac, when I think of it as a backup measure, though of course I still lose some when I forget to do that, which is very often.

That story and obituary about your grandfather is amazing. He sounds like he was someone truly special. You must be very proud to have someone so unique in your family tree, and to have had the chance to get to know him in your lifetime too, and benefit from his kindness. I sort of envy you having had a grandfather at all, since both of mine had died by the time I wasn't quite a year old, so can't imagine what it must be like to have a grandfather you can be so proud of, who is a published notable that people around the world look up to and respect, yet was such a caring and loving person to his family too. He definitely sounds like someone should write a book about his life which would be wroth reading.

>217 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, I must say the Rocky project has been a real joy for the past six weeks or so. I'll be sad to see it come to a close. Both creatively and on the personal level, in terms of the interaction with Pat, it's been such a pleasure. I'll send out a wish for more of this kind of experience, as it's been very fulfilling. Pat has been hugely appreciative of the whole process too, and far from pushing me to complete the project and get RESULTS, has been enjoying seeing the image slowly emerge with the updates I've been posting online and the emails I've been sending her privately. Really gratifying overall, what more can I say?

I was so very pleased to attend that play. I really gave it up on Wednesday evening, when it looked like the monster migraine was here to stay for a good while longer still, and then through the night, waking up from the pain, but miraculously in the morning on the day itself, to find some measure of relief, and then what an amazing play it was too!

I must admit it took me a while to sink into A Place of Greater. As usually happens with me, I was somewhat put off at first by how huge the cast of characters was. My mistake was not pulling the physical book from my stacks from the beginning to have a good look at the characters lists, which might have been helpful in at least preparing me psychologically and to dip back into to once in a while. But now I'm well past the halfway mark and into the 5th section, I've fallen into Mantel's flow and just enjoying the general motion of the thing and all the clever details she is so good at. She is such an amazing writer, and I just feel I can't do her justice as a reader on a first pass and must simply reread her works to really catch as much as possible, which is all to her merit, since on first reading I do enjoy her tremendously, but just feel there is much more to be gotten on a second passage.

>218 souloftherose: I must admit Heather that my capacity for concentration, never a great strength of mine to begin with, has been much reduced for the better part of the year, ever since last November which is when the 24/7 migraine thing got started. I really do feel like my intelligence has been seriously compromised in many ways, and my ability to concentrate is the least of my problems at this point, so I'd say if I'm able to get anything out of A Place of Greater, you should be able to follow along as well.

I think what I've done over time is I've stopped worrying about catching every single detail, which was always beyond my capacity anyway, and just enjoying the general flow of the work and whatever details captured my imagination, and there's plenty here to catch hold of. I'd say it's more a question of putting aside the time required for longer works than anything else, as it's as entertaining a read as her other now better-known Tudor historical fiction books are.

Happy Sunday, Ilana! I hope you are feeling a bit better today. I did finish The Custom of the Country and it was excellent. Wharton has not disappointed yet.
I am also enjoying the progress of "Rocky". Are you in touch with Pat? If so, tell her she is missed.

Very well put that last paragraph about how you listen to the audiobooks!

Read every word of your review of the Virginia/Vanessa novel. Have you encountered Angelica Garnett's memoir (she is the daughter of Duncan Grant and Vanessa)? It's called Deceived With Kindness. You might also find it a good entree into Bloomsburyworld.

Rocky is so handsome!

I'm off to yoga tomorrow, inspired by you saying how you want to get started with some exercise and being very aware that my back is struggling at the moment and is only liable to get worse as Connie indulges in some enthusiastic leaps come winter! It's a very small class with a friend of mine so hopefully I won't feel too self conscious and useless which is my usual problem.

I feel very lucky to have had Grandie in my life for so long, especially as it was a real possibility that I'd never have existed. He had a devastating accident during WWII when the aeroplane he was in crashed into another one in a formation training accident, and both planes plummeted into the sea. Out of eight men, he was the only one who survived, and he did so with a broken back. Even the men at the nearby training camp didn't realise he'd made it, the news never got back there that there was a survivor. He somehow pulled himself out of the wreckage and onto a sandbank and safety before he drowned. I know the war and those experiences massively changed him as he had been going to go into the church as a Vicar or Reverend.

His younger brother was killed in a solo accident when training at as a pilot in the RAF in South Africa very shortly afterwards - so soon that they didn't tell Grandie immediately because he was still in danger.

Of course I'd have loved to have more time with him, particularly now I'm an adult and have many more questions I'd love answered. We had a very special bond, something that has been acknowledged by other members of the family, and as far as I know I'm the only one of my generation he ever had a long conversation about his brother about.

It would be great to write a family story, as we have a lot of wonderful (and not so wonderful) characters and sudden formative moments, but I know I'd never be able to.

A few of the odd people and moments:

My great-grandfather emigrated to NZ in 1913 and then WWI brought him back to the UK in 1919 after fighting in Egypt for the 4 years.

WWII changed Grandie's career path.

Grandie's father deserted him and his family to go and live with his 'second' family that they had no idea about, and became completely estranged - I have a great aunt somewhere that no one has anything to do with. I think that made Grandie become the amazing father and grandfather that he was.

My great-grandmother having a terrible accident in her early teens which stopped her growth so she was tiny but lived to 102! She broke her hip falling down the stairs in her late nineties because she was trying to move a table, and the only thing she was worried about was whether she'd broken her glasses. She also came face to face with a bear when they were living in Canada for a while.

I think family is very important, especially as I have had a lot of estrangement with my paternal side, and hold a lot of bitterness over that. It's hard at times to know a loving, welcoming family on one side and be completely ostracised by the other. Especially as things have become a lot more difficult since Grammie and Grandie died - they were a solid foundation and a place I was truly able to escape to.

I'm sorry that you were never able to have that kind of relationship with yours. Being in the younger half of the nine grandchildren meant others had a lot longer with them but I still had until I was 18 and that was great.

Just passing through Ilana and wanted to wish you a happy weekend, even though it is almost over. A Place of Greater Safety has been on my radar for awhile but like Heather I have been putting it off until I felt I could give it a lot of concentration.

Headache is back in a bad way since this afternoon. Fiorinal doesn't seem to help. I am not a happy camper. Will reply to messages tomorrow. Thanks for the visits.

>207 Smiler69: Not cheap by any means, but might be worth it if you are really enamoured with it.
Every year for the last 8 years I have had a Moleskin pocket diary....I got one for my 30th and have never looked back. I love them. But in the unusual event that one of those did not eventuate, I would jump at a Folio Soc one.

Ack on the recent headache (round of headaches!!). I maintain that headaches (and back aches) are the hardest to bear.I have had the luck to never have been afflicted with either, to any difficult degree. A headache just seems to take over everything. Rest well!

Woke up to what looks to be a beautiful day outside, but also a cold one. Head is so-so. I should probably take some pain-killers, but I've taken quite a lot this month and I worry I might overdo it. But then again... (off to take some Fiorinal, be back in a sec...). I'm not sure what's been going on with me, but these past few weeks the pain seems to have made me aggressive and easily angered, not a good development obviously. Strange, because at the same time, when I'm not suffering too much, I'm quite happy with the state of my life and feel generally well adjusted, but this new development is not helping me win popularity contests as can be imagined.

Had requested the just-released audiobook of Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming to be added to the library's OverDrive collection at the end of the week, and it appeared the very next day, which obviously was a nice surprise. I'll add it to my November plans.

Watched a whole bunch of X-Files, Season 2 episodes yesterday, and plan to do more of the same today.

>221 msf59: Hi Mark, I was really happy to have an excuse to read more Wharton this month, and have since added more titles by her to the tbr. I have indeed been in regular contact with Pat via email mostly which has been part of the project I've really been enjoying since I've missed her so much, and as it happens just yesterday was telling her that her presence was missed here on LT, but I'll let her know you left a personal message.

>222 sibylline: Hi Lucy, when I finished Vanessa and Her Sister I immediately started looking around for other books about the Bloomsbury bunch and I'm pretty sure I came across your review of Deceived With Kindness. I will add it to the wishlist now you bring it up again.

Rocky's been so fun to work on, and it might be funny to say, but it's so good not to have any pressure to deliver so that I can take a day or two away from him when I feel like it and then when I tackle him again I am doubly eager to get back to him.

>223 lunacat: Wow Jenny, I can't believe my mere intention to exercise has actually got you doing it! Now I'll have to derive inspiration from you to actually get going. You've just reminded me now (after a large breakfast) that I meant to start the day with a short exercise routine and of course forgot all about it, so will have to fit it in at some other point in the day somehow.

You know, maybe if you feel you're not up to writing your grandfather's story yourself you could find somebody who could help you do it, because you obviously have the inspiration and love to do it, and it would be a shame for his story to go untold as I'm sure there would be a public who would benefit from it. I have a feeling you would get a lot out of the telling of it too. I can tell from your posts it does you a lot of good to talk about him and he certainly was a fascinating person.

>224 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy, I guess I'll wish you a happy week in return, since I'm replying to you on the Monday. As I was telling Heather, if I can be reading A Place of Greater Safety with my much reduced capacities, I think you should be able to handle it just about anytime. It's really more about the characters that made the revolution and their interactions than anything else. Or anyway, that's what I'm getting out of it, given what I'm able to process!

>227 Smiler69: Glad to see that you are sort of enjoying your tussle with A Place of Greater Safety. Loved it myself and may have picked it for you had Darryl not done so. Sorry though to see you so down and your headache intruding so painfully upon your existence. I don't suffer them unduly myself but I do know that the rest of the world seems mundane compared to battling the throb and ache.

Sending positive and healing vibes. xx

Ilana, Rebecca (in New York!) is the only other person who expressed an interest in *Ruby* when Suz read it. Somebody else may have done so somewhere else. I think you may count me in.
Feel more like yourself today! (That's a wish, not a command.)

>225 Smiler69: :-(

>227 Smiler69: I'm glad you're enjoying your X-Files watching. I think there's something quite comforting about watching a TV series with repeating characters (as opposed to different films) and my husband and I are working our way through Star Trek: The Next Generation (incredibly geeky I know). They're fun and don't require too much brain or risk generating too much emotion. Perhaps similar to the way I also get hooked with book series.

Pain levels are somewhat normal today. That is, medium-level and almost tolerable, but not quite. Again, could probably do with pain-killers, but this month I've been taking them practically every other day, which is dangerously close to rebound-migraine territory.

One thing I've never shared and truly sucks about the migraine pain: Mimi's purring annoys me greatly. I wish it were not so, because it is such a lovely sound, but it just hits my brain the wrong way and aggravates the pain somehow so that I have to constantly push her away. I do try to get her to sit or lie on me, in which case it lessens the impact, but she is bent on sitting close by and staring at me while purring loudly, so that I shoo her away all the time and end up feeling cruel, though I've done much worse with actual humans recently.

Posted on Facebook yesterday:

"Big surprise! It turns out having a permanent migraine for the last year hasn't turned me into a nicer person, quite the opposite. Sucks. I was hoping for sainthood, but seems won't happen in this lifetime."

I'm close to finishing Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister and been really enjoying it. It was suggested on the tutorial thread that it might have been a direct inspiration for Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Chordelos de Laclos, which happens to be among my all-time favourite epistolary novels, and this seems to be a strong possibility, so I guess it's not so surprising I've taken such a liking to it. It definitely deserves to be more widely read and appreciated. Speaking of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, he happens to be one of the characters in A Place of Greater Safety, as it seemed he had a role to play during the French Revolution. Who knew? Well, I didn't until now. It'll probably take me till the end of the month to finish that one, as my listening time is being gobbled up by the X-Files, which I can't stop watching and is incidentally also gobbling up Rocky drawing time. Somehow, I'm sure Pat won't mind, though I do intend to deliver the piece to her in time for her to show it to her family and friends during Christmas celebrations.

***

>228 PaulCranswick: Paul, I really am enjoying A Place of Greater Safety, only as I'm operating with vastly reduced mental capacities, am far from doing it any justice. Still, Mantel is such a fabulous writer that she's put in plenty there for any level reader to have something to appreciate, but I would definitely want to revisit this work when I am able to enjoy it in it's more complex arrangements. And oh, maybe when I am also able to figure out who is who, that might be nice too, though at the moment it sort of has an impressionistic quality which is not uninteresting. Thanks for the visit dear man, you are always most welcome of course, though never pressured as I know you have much to do and many cares. xx

>229 LizzieD: Peggy, after a few exchanges with Kerry, I am convinced it was her after all, though must have happened somewhere else than on her thread (maybe on one of my own, which would not be unreasonable to conjecture after all). She is sort of overloaded with reading obligations, even though very eager to read A Ruby in Her Navel as well. I've told her I'm never 100% sure I'll read anything I've planned for on any given month since I always vastly overbook myself, so that I'll happily read it along with you if things work out that way, and if they don't then I'll arrange things so that she and I overlap our reading at another time. In any case, I look forward to reading it, whether sooner or later, though I will make an earnest effort to fit it in this coming month.

>230 souloftherose: I think there's something quite comforting about watching a TV series with repeating characters... Perhaps similar to the way I also get hooked with book series.

I definitely agree with you there Heather. Plus in this case, I'd say The X-Files and Star Trek: The Next Generation have in common that they both have a wonderful B-movie quality, which is quite deliberate and which makes them easy to take in, a great consolation for me because as I keep saying I am intellectually disabled by the pain to a certain degree and not having to use my brain too much does give me a break. I've got 7.5 more seasons to go too, so should last me a little while! :-)

Ilana re: "Big surprise! It turns out having a permanent migraine for the last year hasn't turned me into a nicer person, quite the opposite. Sucks. I was hoping for sainthood, but seems won't happen in this lifetime."

I suggest you cut yourself some slack. I can't imagine how you and others that are living with such constant pain can even begin to function normally. Any kind of pain totally changes me into either a downright monster or a whining bag of misery.

So if I was you, I would accept that there are going to be times that you lash out. Of course this probably means eating some humble crow now and again, but most people are more than understanding when they know what you are dealing with on a daily basis.

What Judy said, Ilana.

That kind of constant pain would drive me bonkers.

Marking a spot and then heading back up to the top to catch up Ilana. BRB

>232 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy, thanks for the understanding and encouragement. I've just always had this image of Audrey Hepburn as the perfect role model, imagining her to be some kind of saintly person and always poised and perfect and the complete opposite from my bumbling overblown messy self, although she had her share of troubles and suffering to live with. But no, we can't all be angels. I do try to endure the pain as quietly as I can and ignore the it whenever possible and function despite it all, and for the most part I do manage it, but sometimes I admit it just gets to be too much.

>233 jnwelch: Thanks Joe. I'm lucky to at least have understanding friends here on LT as well as plenty of quiet hobbies I can enjoy doing no matter how I'm feeling physically or mentally.

>234 luvamystery65: Hi Roberta, I wouldn't expect so much work from you, hope you decided to give yourself a break after all! :-)

***

Watched... I think 4 episodes of X-Files today, but I lost track. Off to have a second drawing session on Rocky now before calling it a day. I've apologized to one person I lashed out at last week and made a truly inappropriate comment to that I knew full well was unnecessarily hurtful and was besides truly beneath me to make in the first place. I don't know how the person will take it, and I don't expect a response either, but I feel better for at least taking that step. Not that the head feels better for it, but the spirits do, and that's something at least.

Hi Ilana

Thinking of you and sending all good wishes.

Just scored the audio version of Booker winner The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan from the library's OverDrive collection (which they just added tonight, looks like, since I check obsessively several times a day for new additions). Guess that's one more book to add to my November reading list, which I will post very soon. G'night kids!

>236 Whisper1: {{{{{Linda}}}}}

>234 luvamystery65: Well Ilana I was at work when I posted this. I didn't read every post thoroughly but I did read most and I'm sorry you have continued to have migraines and back problems. I LOVE the Folio journal. You are so incredibly talented.

Sending you positive and healing thoughts.

>232 DeltaQueen50: I used to have arthritis and learned not to talk about it too much, as no one likes a moaner. Sheesh.

When pain is all you can think about, it is so hard to be anything but in pain. This means niceties take a back seat. Migraines aren't obvious like having your leg in a cast or having no hair from cancer treatments is, but pain is pain is pain. I feel so so lucky to have had the luck of my pain being able to be removed by surgery, and I can say that the difference in being without pain is incredible. The sky seems higher somehow. Like I am not being pressed down by the invisible weight of pain. It's a burden!

>240 LovingLit: Glad to hear that surgery was able to take the pain away!

I expect anyone who has had to deal with living in pain understands the way it can change you. My hat is off to anyone who can live in that way. And, hey, I bet even Audrey Hepburn had her off days! ;)

Hi Ilana! A chilly, cloudy, fall day here! I did some outside chores, now I plan on hanging in the cozy house, with my books.

Congrats on the Flanagan. That is high on my To-Read list!

Thanks for the visit, Ilana! I know what you mean about RL getting crazy. Thank goodness this is a no pressure kind of place. You just pick up right where you left off. :) I hope you are doing well and feeling better these days. I saw some mention of surgery???

Loved the art at the top of your thread. Reminds me of the good old high school days when I was SO into origami..haha!

Must run to meet my friend Liselotte (95) at the Museum to see a Warhol exhibit in a minute. Am always late to things and don't want to keep her waiting, but just want to make a note that I finished the second part of Love-Letters Between A Nobleman And His Sister on Tuesday and just last night stayed up to finish A Place of Greater Safety (which was Darryl's choice for my Picked for Me! challenge. Will be starting a new print book and new audio later today then.

Thank you so much for all the visits and comments, I'll be sure to respond individually later today.

eta:

Question: Should I run my Picked for Me! challenge again in 2015 and would you be willing to pick out just one book for me?

Starting a new thread - will reply to individual messages over there soon once I get organized!