SusanJ's 75 Books Challenge - Thread 6

Hello and welcome to my sixth thread for 2014.

As with 2013 I'm going to run a ticker for my total number of books read and tickers for fiction and non-fiction, because I found that really useful in keeping myself on track.

In 2013 my goal was one-third non-fiction to two-thirds fiction, and I reached it. For 2014 I thought I would aim for half and half, but non-fiction has crept ahead because there is just so much interesting stuff out there!

149. One Shot by Lee Child

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: Because I couldn't help myself

I really don't know how the movie producers could have cast Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, but here he is on this cover anyway. In this instalment, five people are shot dead by a sniper. The arrested man denies doing anything wrong, and asks his lawyer to "Get me Jack Reacher." Ooooh. Jack is still off the grid, but shows up of his own accord to investigate. Cue lots of shooting etc in another excellent tale.



150. (ta-dah!) Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom and Deception in the New World by Greg Grandin

Where I got it: Brand new library reserve
Why I read it: I read a review of it somewhere, but evidently not closely as when I picked it up I thought it was about the slave revolution on Saint Domingue, but it wasn't. I always skim reviews in case of spoilers, which I think is why.

This was a superb read. It's about an episode in the Pacific, off the west coast of South America, in 1805, when a Massachusets sea captain found a boat drifting off the coat and went on board to see whether it needed assistance. There he met a Spanish captain, and a number of slaves, all of whom were pretending that it was just an ordinary slave voyage although the slaves had in fact taken over the ship and were holding the crew captive. The book then looks at the sea captain and his voyages and how he got there, and how the slaves came to be on their ship. It's an intricate and extremely well-researched look at what slavery meant in those days and at how the "Age of Liberty" meant freedom for some but not everyone. At the end it picks up the story of the drifting ship and looks at what happened next, so there's an element of suspense running through it. The episode is the basis for Herman Melville's novella Benito Cereno and there's also quite a bit about Melville in it, and his attitudes to the topic some decades later.

It happens to go extremely well with a course I'm doing at the moment on the origins of the Civil War, which has started with several weeks on slavery and how it developed, so I found it interesting from that point of view as well. Very highly recommended.

Happy New Thread, Susan.

I read and reviewed a previous book by Greg Grandin, Fordlandia, about Henry Ford's operations in Brazil.

My library reading group is discussing The Black Jacobins this month, which was first published in 1938, and is about the slave revolution on Saint Domingue, now Haiti, I believe. I think it's partly been chosen because it's Black History Month.

Congratulations on the new thread!

Hi Susan, happy new thread to you!

Re: Message 196 from your last thread I must steal/borrow a "snork!" from Amber. The Idea Store???? Oh. My. Word.

Empire of Necessity is going right onto the ol' wishlist. Sounds really good!

Hope you have had a good Saturday, Susan!

Sounds like a fascinating book, Susan. Happy New Thread!

>7 Fourpawz2: *grins*

Happy New Thread, Susan!

>3 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara :-)

>4 elkiedee: Luci, Fordlandia is definitely on my list! I've seen a reference to Black Jacobins somewhere - maybe it was the book review for Empire of Necessity...

>5 inge87: Thanks Jennifer :-)

>6 AMQS: Thanks Anne!

>7 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, honest to goodness it is an Idea Store :-) http://www.ideastore.co.uk/home It's the new name for some of the Tower Hamlets libraries. Others are still just "libraries". Yesterday I visited the Watney Market one, which was very disappointing. I think it must tick a box somewhere for "new library in a poor area" but there were hardly any books. I did manage to find *something*, obviously...but it was a very thin collection. Although it pains me to say it, I think the Canary Wharf branch is one of the best-stocked ones.

>8 ronincats: Roni, it was!

>9 scaifea: Thanks Amber. I borrow a "ding dang!" from you on occasion, to go with Charlotte's snork.

Last night I had a very funny call from the nephews and my brother. The initial caller was Oldest Nephew, whose birthday it was in NZ at the time of the call. "Happy birthday!" I said. "Thanks," he said, "and thank you for my present." I said I hoped he had fun spending it, and he put Youngest Nephew on.

"Thank you for my present," Youngest Nephew said (his birthday was on Friday). I asked him what he thought he might spend it on and he said he was going to put it towards a phone. (At 11!). Then I asked about their party, and we discussed the mini-golf they were going to play after the call. Then he said "I'll put my Dad on now."

There was a muffled conversation in the background and Oldest Nephew came back on. "It's me again," he said. "Dad said I have to have a conversation."

"I'm very sorry," I said solemnly, and he giggled.



151. Private Island: Why Britain Now Belongs to Someone Else by James Meek

Where I got it: Library reserve
Why I read it: Book review (in the Guardian, naturally)

This is an examination of the privatisation of a lot of former public assets in the UK, and it looks specifically at Royal Mail, the railways, healthcare, council housing, water and electricity. It doesn't argue that assets should necessarily be renationalised, but rather looks at the alternatives to the types of privatisation that happened, which now mean that our water companies are owned by overseas pension plans and tycoons, electricity is controlled in many places by the *French* state electricity company EDF and the proposed changes to the mail system might see the end of compulsory six-day deliveries and postal jobs becoming the sort of unskilled "zero hours" occupations that they've become in the Netherlands.

The author argues that it shouldn't have been a case of public ownership vs giant shareholders but rather that attempts should have been made to explore different types of privatisation (for example, ownership by employees, like the private company John Lewis, or ownership by members, like some of the building societies), While shares were offered to the public in each of these cases, they quickly fell into the hands of large institutional investors meaning that ordinary people now have no control over their utilities. They can't protest about what the French government does with the electricity sector. They can't protest about a Hong Kong squillionaire profiting when they turn on their taps, and so on.

It's a very interesting read, although I think the same criticisms could be made of a lot of countries. There's a big debate in New Zealand about the wisdom of selling off huge tracts of farmland to overseas investors, and their postal system sounds like a complete mess. I do think there's a tendency in Britain to think that everywhere else is better, that UK politicians are somehow *uniquely* inept and short-sighted and that we're all going to hell in a handcart when in fact plenty of other countries find themselves in a similar position, but notwithstanding that I'd recommend this, especially to UK readers.

>10 susanj67: Hi Susan! Happy new thread! Your latest book reminded me that I flew on British Airways the day it was privatized. My flight took off within 10 minutes of the time that the shares became available. All of the passengers received swag. In economy class we got a pen and a chocolate airplane. I'm sure the first class passengers got fancier stuff. I was on my way to my grandmother's funeral and I hadn't paid attention to the news ahead of time. It was a nice surprise and added a little cheer to an otherwise sad day.

I love the Nephew conversation! Ha! And you're welcome to all the 'ding dang's you need, but hopefully you don't need them very often...

Happy new thread, Susan! Private Island does look interesting. It is always a challenge, isn't it? Should government control assets that may be better managed under private (non-government) control and if so, what is the best mechanism to make that happen? I know here in BC our ferry system and our hydro are both operated as crown corporations. They are still accountable to government but they have autonomy in certain matters. Personally, I don't think our ferry system has benefited from this process. All we have seen is year over year increases in passenger fees and, ironically but not surprisingly, a corresponding decrease in the number of local users of the ferry system. Bit of a broken business model, I would say. ;-)

I also love the nephew conversation! Too funny! Happy new thread, Susan!

>11 cbl_tn: Carrie, chocolate airplanes should become a more frequent feature of in-flight dining!

>12 scaifea: Amber, some days are more ding dang-y than others, that's for sure :-)

>13 lkernagh: Lori, yes it is a challenge. I wasn't here before the privatisation of British Rail, but the current system of multiple companies and complicated fares doesn't seem like much of an improvement over what people used to complain about. And there were some bad accidents in the late 90s, which saw big panics over track maintenance. I do remember the telephone directory service being put out for tender. I think it was either free or low-cost with British Telecom, but now there are numerous directory services companies and it costs a fortune. That seems totally pointless.

>14 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! The irony is that my brother was much like Oldest Nephew at that age (14), and he's still not a chatty person by any means.



152. Sea Change by Robert B Parker

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It's #5 in the Jesse Stone series

This one was quite disturbing in terms of the main plot and the horrible people involved, but there was a lovely police officer in Florida helping Jesse out long-distance and their conversations were a delight. A notification for number 6 popped up in my inbox just as I finished this, so I downloaded it immediately. But I do have a Jack Reacher on the go at the moment, naturally.

Susan I'm glad to see you are still enjoying the Jesse Stone series. I definitely need to check it out.

>16 luvamystery65: Hi Roberta! As fate would have it, I've started the next one and it's not grabbing me at all so far. D'oh! Maybe I'll change my mind. I'm so envious of your mini-break with Katie - I hope you get lots of dancing done!



153. The Hard Way by Lee Child (no LT touchstone, which is odd)

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It's Jack Reacher #1 squillion

Actually I think it's #10 but it was another exciting read, and part of it took place in England which was fun. Amazingly, given the very American tone of the books, Lee Child is actually English so the English details were all correct (I still hold it against Daniel Silva's publishers that they published a Gabriel Allon thriller in which a London BUS appeared on Christmas day even though buses don't run on that day). I had held off borrowing the next one even though there was a copy available at the weekend, but by the time I went to check it out it had gone and I had to place a hold on it. Ding dang! (Hi Amber!)

Last night I went to the first class of Tai Chi in the gym at work, and it was excellent. I might finally have found an exercise I can actually do. We walked very slowly for a while (harder than you might think) and then learned Heaven and Earth and three of the Five Gates. I'm definitely going to continue. I feel great this morning.

>17 susanj67: I took Tai Chi in college as part of the physical eduction requirement for graduation. It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately there are no local teachers where I am now. It's a very accessible form of exercise.

Happy new thread Susan and congratulations on reading 75 81 non-fiction books this year! I might set myself a non-fiction goal next year as I have found myself wanting to read more non-fiction this year (probably inspired by all the interesting books you're reading!)

>2 susanj67: Empire of Necessity sounds good - it was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction.

>10 susanj67: "I do think there's a tendency in Britain to think that everywhere else is better, that UK politicians are somehow *uniquely* inept and short-sighted and that we're all going to hell in a handcart"

*looks sheepish* Although I don't know whether it's more depressing to think our politicians are uniquely inept or to realise that politicians everywhere else are just as bad.... :-P

Private Island also sounds interesting and I love the nephew conversations!

>18 inge87: Jennifer, I feel quite faint at the thought of a phys ed requirement at University - I would never have passed!

>19 souloftherose: Thanks Heather! And I realise now where I got Empire of Necessity from - it was indeed that longlist. I must have read little paragraphs about each book and thus been vague about its exact subject. And politicians everywhere are just as bad! I wonder how long it will take Lord Freud to resign today. By teatime, at least. Maybe even lunchtime.

This morning I picked up A Share in Death, which is the first in a series recommended by Carrie (Hi Carrie!). It's taken an age to come in, and is pretty grubby. Not up to my brand-new-hardback standards for the library, that's for sure :-) So I borrowed Saturday Night and Sunday Morning as well, which I read about recently somewhere (possibly in Modernity Britain). It's even grubbier, but I can always read them over a newspaper or something that can be put in the rubbish afterwards :-)

A Share in Death is a decent read, but the series gets better as you go on. I'm up to number 5 or 6, I think!

>21 katiekrug: Katie, that's good to hear! I've just seen The Boom on your thread but I can't seem to run down a copy here yet, darn it. I bet it's interesting, though.

>20 susanj67: PE requirements, where they still exist in the US, are mostly a holdover from the old British system of educating the "whole man". Ours was also due to the fact that our founder believed strongly that women needed to be active (she had her students walking and doing calisthenics daily from the very beginning of the college in 1837).

Luckily for me, by the time I had to deal with this PE had become non-graded; you just had to show up and do what your instructors said for three semesters. Inevitably there were some people who became very fit the last semester of their senior year because they put it off and had to squeeze all six credit hours into one semester. But the only people I knew who actually failed a PE class were students who didn't bother to follow the absence rules and missed too much class.

>21 katiekrug: I'm reading #13 in the Gemma James/Duncan Kincaid series at the moment. I like the fact that Gemma lives in Leyton at the beginning of the series - one of the few places in London that a single mum on a public sector salary could have afforded to live at the time of its publication. I wonder if her US publishers said to her that her characters had to live in places Americans have heard of.

That aside, for an American who still lives in the US, Deborah Crombie does a reasonable job of writing a series set in the UK (mostly London) - better than Elizabeth George.

>23 inge87: Jennifer, I think the British system gave up on educating the whole person some time ago :-) I suppose I could have shown up - but doing what the instructor said was always a challenge. I hated, hated, hated PE at high school and was so relieved when I was old enough not to have to do it. I think my last year of it was aged 14.

>24 elkiedee: Luci, 13 or more in the series sounds good, if I like it. I had a look this morning to see if the library had any more but they only had one and I couldn't see where in the series it belonged.

I had an extended moment of weakness this morning at the library. I went in for a copy of Family and Kinship in East London, which is apparently back on the shelf, but I walked past the new non-fiction books first and they had Women and the Vote by Jad Adams (no touchstone yet, it seems) and Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France so I got those. Then when I got to the 306s for the book I was actually looking for I saw Fordlandia on the next shelf so I got that too. I never did find Family and Kinship in East London. I can only take one home today as I have to get groceries after work, so I have to decide which one. So far no luck :-)

>22 susanj67: - The Boom is interesting, if a bit dry in places. I haven't been able to give it a lot of attention the last few days... See if you can find The Frackers over there. I haven't read it, but have heard good things, and it deals with much of the same subject.

>26 katiekrug: Katie, I have read The Frackers, which is why I thought The Boom sounded good :-) The Frackers was excellent.

Oh, whoops. I should have remembered that! I'd send you my copy of The Boom but I borrowed it from my boss.

>28 katiekrug: Katie, better not, then!! It will show up in the UK sooner or later, I'm sure (I'm now hoping not till I finish today's haul!). Fracking is a hot topic here too, although there is less room to do it.

>25 susanj67: Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France caught my eye somewhere on the internet recently. I'll be interested to see what you think of it.

>30 inge87: Jennifer, it's on the Samuel Johnson prize longlist. I thought this morning that it sounded familiar, and then I realised why. It's the one I've picked to take home for the weekend as it's so new and likely to be popular. I like to try and return those ones as soon as I can. They had God's Traitors there too this morning, and The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters but I thought I should draw the line somewhere :-)

Such a lot of interesting reading going on here! I heard an interview/podcast about Empire of Necessity and thought it sounded fascinating.

Just checking in for a wave!

>32 michigantrumpet: Hi Marianne :-) Empire of Necessity is an excellent read.

>33 BekkaJo: Bekka, I'm waving back from sultry London, where today is 21C and I didn't even *think* about wearing a coat when I went out. Me! No coat! In October! Unbelievable.

Today's exercise was a walk to the nearest Lidl, because I've never been to one. For overseas readers, Lidl and Aldi are low-cost European supermarkets which are allegedly stealing customers from the big UK supermarket chains by luring them in with great prices on amazing quality goods. There are none in my immediate vicinity, but there's one about a half hour walk away, so today I decided to visit it. It's always easier to go on a walk with some object to it, I think. Much of the route lies along the bus route I take to work, but instead of walking along the main road I went one street north and found a whole new world :-) East London changes around every corner because it was so heavily bombed during the war, and the rebuilding took a long time, so there are all sorts of different building styles side by side. But I did find a whole square of Georgian terraces with a garden in the middle, which was lovely.

Lidl was OK, but I don't really see how a person could do an entire family shop there, unless I was in a particularly small one. They had some good things, but there wasn't much depth to the selection and the layout was just strange - AP flour in a totally different place to bread flour, fruit and nuts all over the place and so on. I was mostly shopping for granola ingredients, and I did eventually get everything except the rolled oats, which looked awful, although to be fair the picture on the packet was very honest. Fortunately there's a Tesco Express directly opposite so I got some of their jumbo rolled oats afterwards. Still, it was an outing, and some exercise, but it made me want to order another Tesco delivery to fill in the gaps in my cupboards :-)



154. High Profile by Robert B Parker

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It's a Jesse Stone novel

I can only grade this one "meh", as it really didn't grab me at all. I'm sick of the neverending Jesse and Jenn story - get back together or don't but Make. A. Decision. Sheesh.



155. Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter by Pamela Cox and Annabel Hobley

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: This is the book that goes with a recent BBC series which was excellent

This was a good read, tracing the history of the female shop assistant, or "shopgirl". Female retail staff are the norm now, but that has only been the case comparatively recently. The authors look at how women broke into shop work and how their role developed as shops changed. Today the shop assistant is the subject of controversy again with the rise in "zero hours" contracts, which don't guarantee a fixed number of hours per week, and make staff subject to all sorts of bullying and abuse. It's an unwelcome and backward step.

My favourite quote from the book was this:

"...despite this cornucopia of wares, and the dedicated, professional service, many customers found the actual shopping experience unpleasant. French writer Francis Wey travelled around Britain in 1856...and was astonished at the detached, indifferent attitude of London shopkeepers, who seemed - to him - to have no interest in making a sale. 'I had the greatest difficulty in getting the assistant to show me more than two fingers of each glove, as though displaying the entire article was beneath his dignity'. It was not just the sales assistant: the cashier and the shopman himself both treated Francis Wey as if *he* should be grateful to *them*, rather than thanking him as a valued customer."

Francis, nothing has changed :-)

Susan, I wish you a fantastic weekend.

Lidl is always an experience! Aldi is a bit better I found (none over here so it's been a long while!) but still some very random selections. I remember buying alcohol from Aldi for a house warming party as a student. At the end of the year the Aldi booze was the only booze left - paint stripper eat your heart out!

You've also reminded me that I completely forgot yeast and bread flour (I have JUST walked in form the weekly shop). Somehow I don't think Cass and I are making fancy bread twists tomorrow after all!

We have Aldi over here, and it also has not much of a selection. I am not a big fan. I'd rather pay a little more for a better selection and to get all my shopping done in one stop.

>35 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara - you too!

>36 BekkaJo: Bekka, Aldi was recommended as better by a friend but the nearest one is miles away. I'd have thought east London might do better with the cheap supermarkets but at least there are Tesco Expresses all over the place. I hope you can find something else to bake tomorrow!

>37 katiekrug: Katie, yes, I agree. I think I'll make more of an effort with the Tesco home delivery. I now have an order coming tomorrow evening :-) I've discovered that if I link my Tesco Clubcard points to my Virgin airmiles account, my airmiles won't expire as long as Clubcard points are being added to it. But I need a certain number of points to get it started.

I've spent much of the afternoon watching my various MOOCs - the Columbia "Civil War and Reconstruction" one is stand-out fabulous but "Introduction to Key Constitutional Concepts and Supreme Court Cases" with the University of Pennsylvania is also excellent. But now I really must read something - I am just a tiny bit overwhelmed with books at the moment. But I recalled someone saying that you can suspend holds on the Overdrive system so I have done that and at least don't have a giant Simon Schama book to worry about.

156. A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: The series is popular on LT so I thought I'd give it a try

This is the first in the series, and was published in 1993, which makes it quite dated (it's in that vague zone between contemporary and historical) but it was still a good enough read. I'll get the next one at some point, but I have enough to keep me going for the moment. This took an age to come in as a reserve because the library system doesn't seem to have that many copies, and there are only two copies of the next book as well.

Today I'd like to read Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and make some more progress with the excellent Village of Secrets, which I'm about 90 pages into. And make granola :-) And watch the newly released lectures for yet another MOOC. And not play Gardens of Time all day.

#38 I've ditched the family for a few hours. I'm supposed to be cleaning but am watching Masterchef Australia. It's bliss :)

I may bake later!

>40 BekkaJo: Bekka, enjoy! I've made a batch of granola, and also chocolate cake muffins (i.e. half of my uncle's chocolate cake recipe, put into six muffin cases). I've also finally done something I should have done at least 20 years ago - stick all the loose recipes into my mother's recipe book. For 20 years they've been falling out every time I open it and I've just gathered them up and put them back in but now they are in permanently. And I found a recipe written right at the back for play dough, should I ever need it :-)

157. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I've heard it referred to as a modern classic, and it was discussed in Modernity Britain which I read recently

I'm glad this was relatively short, because the hero was repellent, and yet again it was a novel in which everyone was mostly drunk. A British classic, really? I'm tired of these "unromanticised working-class novels" (Daily Telegraph review, quoted on the cover). They show a very narrow slice of working class life. There were (and no doubt still are) many others working hard to better themselves and make a decent life for their families. They must object to being shown as violent drunks with no curiosity about the world or interest in anything.

But I've finished my hard-copy fiction, so I can pick up Village of Secrets again.

I remember home made play dough as a kid! How cool that your Mom had a recipe tucked away at the back of her recipe book. I love autumn. It's the time of year where I feel compelled to bake. I tend to go a bit crazy this time of year. Yesterday I made oat bran bread, spelt bread and some pumpkin, pecan and butterscotch chip muffins. Your chocolate cake muffins sound awesome! My dad wasn't and still isn't a big fan of chocolate anything unless it is actual chocolates so anything with chocolate in it still tends to get my mouth watering in anticipation.

>43 lkernagh: Lori, I'm pretty sure I remember my mother making play dough, and I suppose the home-made version was safer to eat than the commercial one! (Not that we would have had the commercial version back then). I mostly just use the recipe book for old baking favourites, as baking in New Zealand in the 1970s used a very limited amount of ingredients which I always have on hand. There was no running around looking for weird and wonderful things that you could only buy in specialist shops, as we didn't have any. (Today, for example, I copied out a recipe from a book I was taking back to the library, and of the five ingredients in it, three of them are completely new to me. And it's a little chocolate pudding recipe, not an exotic salad!).

My uncle ran a cafe so also did a lot of baking, and his chocolate cake recipe is another good one. It contains the controversial instruction "Beat the h*ll out of it" (twice), which my mother reproduced when she wrote it into the book, although the second "h*ll" is just represented with an "h" :-) Going through it yesterday I was surprised at how many of the other, non-baking, recipes I remembered her making, and there were some written out by her friends, or typed out on my first computer, so I stuck in everything that I am likely to want to try.

Your baking sounds lovely, and particularly the muffins! I love pumpkin. I wouldn't dare try and cut one up, being so clumsy, but I have seen tins of pumpkin pie mix here so I could always try one of those.

I love the chocolate cake recipe instructions! I can't be trusted with a pumpkin and a knife... I am liable to cut myself, leaving the pumpkin unharmed! I buy tinned pure pumpkin (not pie filling) which is great because the pumpkin is already a puree texture.

>39 susanj67: I love Crombie's books.

>44 susanj67: Now I'm wanting chocolate cake!

My local children's centres make home made playdough and show parents how to do it.

Eek, just wondering if we have some hidden under the sofa or something, I was given some to bring home! I don't know if it would have gone mouldy or kept because it had quite a bit of salt in it.

>45 lkernagh: Lori, ours might actually just be puree - there's a picture of a pie on the can but I suppose that's what most people associate with pumpkin. In NZ it is far more popular as a vegetable and I *love* it, particularly the variety with the shiny pale-green skins which I have never seen here. I still have a faint scar on my right index finger from a pumpkin-related disaster :-)

>46 thornton37814: Lori, I will post the recipe at some point as it's a good simple one for when the fancy ingredients run out :-)

>47 elkiedee: Luci, I hope your trip behind the sofa produced something worthwhile!



158. Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It's a continuation of the series

This one is set in summer, which is not my favourite time for Minnesota-based stories, as reading about survival in the extreme cold weather is much more interesting. But, as usual, someone dies, and Hannah finds them, although this time I guessed the killer far in advance, which is unusual for me. However, there was a genuine cliff-hanger at the end, a real "oooooh" moment, and I really want to find out what happens next, but I now have so many hard-copy library books that I'm just going to have to be patient.

Morning, Susan! I'm just down the road from you...

*waving from the BA Lounge in Terminal 5*

Hi Katie! Waving back! I hope your onward flight is OK - I heard that Heathrow was cancelling flights today because of the weather, but they usually cut the domestic ones first.

So far, so good. It looks beautiful out so hopefully I get out of here before the weather deteriorates. I'm with my boss but he has a later onward flight and may get messed up. Better him than me - bwahahaha!

Excellent. We were promised much worse weather than this. Yet another "D'oh!" moment for the Met Office. Shame about the boss...unless he is not a nightmare from h*ll - oh, it seems I am still not over that :-)

Nothing beats a handwritten note in an old cookbook, hmmm? I have several of my grandmother's old books -- opening them evokes mind pictures of her at her stove and teaching all sorts of wonderful things.

I see some baking may be in my future!

>34 susanj67: Gah, Shopgirls also added to my wishlist.

I've got several of my grandmother's cookbooks, including a notebook containing handwritten recipes. Several years ago I made cookbooks for the other women in the family using the recipes from the notebooks that were family favorites. My grandmother wrote notes every time she used a recipe, partly as a journal to remember the occasion and partly to leave herself reminders for how she wanted to adjust the recipe the next time she used it. My favorite is the recipe for Hot Milk Sponge Cake. It's an all-purpose cake recipe that she used many, many times over the years. She had written notes about baking the cake for one of her sibling's birthdays. Several of the siblings and their spouses were there and they spent most of the evening assembling a TV stand. It took nearly a dozen people about 4 hours to assemble the TV stand. Reading her description of the evening brings them all back to life for me.

Hi Susan! Lots of great reading being accomplished over here I see.

For my bridal shower, each guest brought me a handwritten copy of a favorite recipe. It was a lovely, thoughtful gift which I treasure. Many of my older relatives have since passed away, including both of my grandmothers, so it is really nice to have those recipes written in their own hands.

*waving* at Susan

I love cookbooks and recipes in general. I don't really think that either of my grandmothers really wrote recipes down, but I have some that are written in my Mom and Aunt Daisy's handwriting that date back to the mid-20th century. We also have a Thornton family cookbook to which members of the families of my grandfather's and his siblings' families contributed which provide tons of the recipes.

>56 Cobscook: What a lovely idea for a shower gift! I adore this!

I love this idea - I don't think my mother or grandmothers ever kept anything like this which makes me sad. And determined to keep notes of experiments/best bakes etc for my kids.

Saying that I do have my hubby's gran's recipe for flapjacks somewhere :)

For about 10 years now, I've been keeping a little notebook alongside my rather sizable cookbook collection. I tend to make a wonderful recipe only to forget from whence it came. The little notebook keeps track of that, as well as any changes/notes about the recipe.

>53 michigantrumpet: Marianne, I don't know what happened to my grandmothers' cookbooks - I suspect my favourite grandma's went to my Uncle but I don't know about the other one.

>54 souloftherose: Heather, you won't regret it :-)

>55 cbl_tn: Carrie, what a lovely thing to have. The instructions on some self-assembled furniture would take at least that many people!

>56 Cobscook: Heidi, that's a lovely idea!

>57 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! I hope you're enjoying your all-too-brief time off from school :-)

>58 thornton37814: Lori, a family cookbook is a great idea. There aren't enough of my family to do that, but it must be a great way of staying connected to a wider family.

>59 michigantrumpet: Marianne, it might also work for a housewarming party, perhaps.

>60 BekkaJo: Bekka, my mother used to keep a notebook of who came to dinner and what she served, so she didn't repeat recipes. I don't know what happened to that but it would also be nice to have. But from the recipe book I can tell that "Kids wouldn't eat" the Crisp Coconut Biscuits at the beginning of "Biscuits". I wonder why! I've just found a recipe for ant poison if anyone needs one.

>61 michigantrumpet: Marianne, that's a good idea. I'm sure I would mislay the notebook though!

Here is my Uncle's chocolate cake recipe:

*****

Uncle Alan's Chocolate Cake

Sift into a bowl:

1 3/4 cups of flour
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Add 4 oz melted butter, added to 1 cup milk and some vanilla essence {no measure given here but I'd say 1 tsp}. Beat the hell out of it.

Add 2 eggs and further beat the hell out of it.

Bake at 375F for 40 minutes or more. {My mother has written here "Try 4th shelf from top" but I suppose that depends on what sort of oven you have}

*****

I halve the recipe and it fills six large muffin cases which I bake for about 20 minutes. I love them with vanilla ice-cream or, since my sugar-reduction drive, some unsweetened natural yoghurt. I don't ice them. I think we used an 8in x 8in square cake tin for the full mixture.

This week has been crazy busy at the office, and about a gazillion library reserves have all arrived at once. I have reached critical reserve mass (I'm sure that's an actual thing). Plus I have lots of MOOCs on the go, so I'm really not sure what to turn to first. Probably Gardens of Time isn't the answer though.

Okay I love an instruction that has 'further beat the hell out of it"!

>63 BekkaJo: Bekka, my mother disapproved of my uncle (her brother-in-law) but nevertheless wrote it in just like he said it :-) I hadn't made it in years, until I bought my Kenwood mixer last Christmas, and then I had the perfect recipe for beating really well!

I have to list my current books in order to clear my head.

1. Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France - well into this one. It's interesting but not awesome.

2. Fordlandia - I snuck in the first chapter of this while I was waiting for a train, and it looks excellent. I'd rather be reading it than Village of Secrets if I'm honest

3. Women and the Vote - I'm looking forward to this one but I'm not sure I'll get to it this time round

4. The Mighty Dead - very tempted to start this

5. A Colossal Failure of Common Sense, which is about Lehman Brothers. I reserved this because none of my reserves was showing up. Ha! It was mentioned in one of my MOOCs.

6. Please, Mr Postman, the Alan Johnson memoir which I am going to read next. Or maybe even sooner.

7. The Godwulf Manuscript - the first Spenser novel. I reserved this because none of my reserves was showing up and I fancied a change from the Jesse Stone series. Also, there is a GR of the Spenser series going on this year and it sounds like fun. Hi Roberta!

8. A Jack Reacher novel. Ahem.

I must log off, go to bed and read something.

Susan, I wish you a fantastic weekend.

>65 susanj67: Hi Susan! The first Spensers are wonderful. He is so hilarious and inappropriate. Susan Silverman and Hawk show up later. Susan S. is not annoying in the first 10 or so books. Enjoy!

This is an early quote in the first book. The office of the university president looked like the front parlor of a successful Victorian whorehouse. That Spenser!

>66 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara - you too!

>67 luvamystery65: Roberta, I'm looking forward to it. I hope to start it later today or tomorrow but I have to finish something else first. Too many library reserves and I'm feeling slightly pressured!



159. Village of Secrets by Caroline Moorhead

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: It's a nominee for the Samuel Johnson prize this year

Funnily enough, when I looked at the list of nominees I didn't pick this one out to reserve. I found it on the new books shelf at the library so I borrowed it, but it just didn't grab me. It's an important subject, and I did learn a fair amount about Vichy France, but overall there were just too many people to keep track of and I kept reading it because I thought I should rather than because I really wanted to. But that's not to say it wasn't well-written, because it was. It just didn't "click" for me, I suppose.



160. Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It's Jack Reacher again

In this book, Jack meets up again with some of his old team as they try to investigate, and then avenge, the deaths of four other team members in Los Angeles. Yet again Jack has no possessions apart from his folding toothbrush, although now that it's post 9/11 he also carries his passport and an ATM card. But he still changes his outfits by just buying new ones. Just sometimes I'd like to see him with luggage :-)

I MUST NOT borrow the next one (or even reserve it) until I've finished the six outstanding library books. I started Alan Johnson's Please, Mr Postman last night and it looks excellent and I hope to read the rest of it today but I need to go out, as yesterday was a pyjama day while I caught up with all my MOOCs.

Lots of great reading going on here. I'm impressed by how you are able to keep several books going at the same time.

I'm especially interested in your take on Colossal Failure of Common Sense

>69 michigantrumpet: Marianne, I usually have one fiction and one non-fiction on the go at the same time, but sometimes it depends on what I've got on the Kindle. My hard-copy reads are usually non-fiction while the Kindle is fiction, but not always.

I've given up trying to get to three in my pile and I'm going to return them at lunchtime. I'm "overbooked" at the moment, so there's no point stressing myself out with a thousand pages I'm not going to be able to read. The three are all from my local branch so I'll find them again at some point. I'm keeping the three reserves that have come in and which are shorter. But "Please, Mr Postman" is *such* a disappointment, particularly after I'd been looking forward to it for so long. I'm tempted to give up on it and return it too. That would just leave A Colossal Failure of Common Sense and The Godwulf Manuscript. Maybe I'll have one last try tonight, but then I've been saying that since the weekend and I just watch hours of TV instead. (There are some good things on, though - for any Gothic fans the BBC's "The Art of Gothic" is excellent if you can iPlayer it. Episode 1 talks about The Castle of Otranto, so I have downloaded it and bookmarked the tutored read thread from a couple of years ago).

Sorry to hear that Please Mr postman is a disappointment. It had such good reviews as well. What is it about it that you don't like?

>71 SandDune: Rhian, I don't like the writing, which seems to be full of lazy cliches, and there is a huge amount about the unions in it - fair enough I suppose given the subject-matter, but it's (whispering) really dull. It reads to me like it's been written by a different person. Maybe I'm misremembering This Boy, but I remember loving it, and racing through it, and it was one of my top reads of 2013. I took this one back to the library this morning, unfinished, and I now feel a lot better.

Last night's instalment in the ongoing battle with retail Britain:

Me, to a shop assistant in a shoe shop at Westfield, as I held a suede wedge shoe in my hand: Do you have this style in the leather version?

Him: I think we've stopped making it in the leather.

Me: It's brand new on your website.

Him: Well, I could check the stock room.

And lo! Funnily enough they had them in the leather, and in at least two sizes, including the one I needed. I suspect they had all the sizes :-)

Last week I wore a skirt for the first time in years, but dug out a pair of court shoes to wear with it and could hardly walk the next day. My new wedges have an elasticated top, so that shouldn't be a problem in future. They'll replace (or supplement) an elderly pair that I've had for years but couldn't really wear to the client meeting. I wore the skirt again yesterday. "Oooh," giggled my office roomie, "I see legs!" I bought another skirt last night too. Both are straight black skirts but it's a start.

Venturing into skirts? But it's autumn - you want long, full or thick skirts now - they don't show legs - either that or hide legs under woolly tights.
I'm the opposite in that regard, I haven't worn trousers for work in a couple of years (well apart from jeans the last time we moved office, but I take that as an exception). It can be difficult if I have to go into the cleanroom, where we have to wear full andy pandy suit, but I try and avoid that if at all possible, as getting a skirt into one of those is problematic, to put I mildly. I've put on weight in the last few years and while I can get into skirts, I can't seem to get trousers the fit at the thigh, hip and waist all at once.

>73 Helenliz: Helen, skirts are off the agenda now for a couple of weeks at least after I fell over splat yesterday and wrecked my knees (also a pair of trousers, but fortunately they were my least favourite ones). Sigh. Fortunately my homely Ecco shoes were fine :-) It seems to be quite hard to find a simple skirt, which I know is a ridiculous thing to say with all the shops in London, but they all have to be made different (and awful) somehow rather than just being straightforward. And the mania for exposed zips bewilders me.

I went home yesterday as I couldn't really continue at the office with giant holes in my trousers, and decided I needed something to cheer myself up, and what better than a charming sheikh romance by the fabulous Sarah Morgan?



161. Lost to the Desert Warrior by Sarah Morgan

Where I got it: Kindle
Why I read it: Sarah Morgan is an autobuy for me

Poor Princess Layla is about to be married off to a henchman of her late father unless she can find a way to save herself and her sister from the sinister forces at the palace. The only solution she can see is to search out the rightful ruler, living in exile in the desert, and suggest that he marries her instead. Cue lots of oases and palaces and a meet-up with the ruler of a neighbouring territory and his lovely wife, who featured in an earlier book. There are also horses. This was another lovely read, and I suspect the next book will be the sister's story.

Boo on annoying shoe shop assistant and yay for skirts! Black skirts are wonderfully versatile. They work with any accent colour. Who has time in the morning to mess around putting together a shade coordinated wardrobe, anyways? ;-)

>74 susanj67: - What do you mean you "fell over splat yesterday and wrecked my knees"? Did you trip over some lose sidewalk paving or something? What happened?!

And the mania for exposed zips bewilders me.

That isn't over? Well, that is another fashion season down the drain....

>75 lkernagh: Lori, I must have tripped. We were walking on an area next to Millwall Dock, which is paved with horrible cheap bricks, and very uneven. I hate that feeling of pitching forward, trying to recover and knowing that you just can't. And then - WHACK. Straight onto my knees, wrecking my trousers (and knees). And it was in front of people, and I couldn't get up and my friend had to help me. So embarrassing! It really shook me up, even though I've been clumsy all my life and I'm always tripping or banging into things. This is the worst for a while. Fortunately I always keep a tube of bruise gel in the house so I came home, cleaned myself up and started putting that on the bits that weren't broken skin. It brings out the bruise quicker, so I'm pale green and purple at present.

I hope the zip thing stops soon. The skirt I bought had the zip put in properly, and then the split at the bottom is also a zip and it too was put in properly. I feel quite old-fashioned :-)



162. Candlelight Christmas by Susan Wiggs

Where I got it: Kindle
Why I read it: I was still in the mood for a comfort read

This is the tenth instalment in the Willow Lake series, which is one of my favourite romance series. It's the latest, but I hope not the last. This time the hero was Logan, father of Daisy Bellamy's son Charlie, and the heroine was a new character. I liked it a lot, and it's always fun to see characters come back from previous books. Charlie was just a bump in the first book, and in this one he's ten, but then at one book a year for about a decade I suppose that's about right!

I'm reading an excellent non-fiction one at the moment, which was supposed to be third in the queue, but I started it on the bus last night and just kept going.

Susan, I wish you a lovely weekend.

Susan, I'm so sorry about your fall. I remember tripping over pavement stones frequently when I walked around London. I never had any bad falls, but I saw one or two. I hope the bruise cream is helping. I became a fan years ago when I used it on a badly bruised hand. I've looked for it here but I don't think they sell it here. :(

I am famous for tripping on perfectly smooth walking surfaces. My personal record was walking around Washington, DC with a colleague when I managed to trip and fall - in front of people - twice within one hour.

Hope you are healing up well!

Add me to the list of self trippers. When you come to Texas and Katie and I show you around we may need rent a golf cart for safety. ;-)

Most of downtown Victoria is uneven sidewalks and paving stones that one can easily twist an ankle or take a tumble on so I am always amazed to see people walking around staring at their smart phones and not paying attention to the ground they are walking on. I have had the odd tumble even when I was paying attention. In my case it was a matter of walking too quickly and not lifting my foot enough over the shift in the pavement height. I actually skinned my knee that time. I have never figured out how to fall gracefully but it is one of the reasons why I never wear shoes with more than a 1/2 inch heel when I am out and about. ;-)

That bruise cream sounds pretty amazing!

Sorry to hear about the fall. I'm another klutz who trips over speed bumps and turns her ankle on a pebble or uneven surface, so I feel for you!

The second day is mostly the most terrible one. I hope you don't have too much pain today. Get well soon.

BTW ibuprophen helps to cut down the inflammation.

>77 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara.

>78 cbl_tn: Carrie, I couldn't do without it! Today I have turned a paler yellowy-green, which isn't bad going :-)

>79 katiekrug: Katie, oh dear! I haven't managed twice in an hour - maybe something to aspire to?

>80 luvamystery65: Roberta, LOL! We'd better get one with seat belts, though, because if I can't fall over I'm bound to fall out.

>81 lkernagh: Lori, I was wearing flat shoes too - it doesn't seem to matter for me! The bruise cream is called Hirudoid over here, and it's a heparinoid cream. I've just done a quick google and it also seems to be available in Canada, imported from the UK.

>82 ronincats: Thanks Roni. I've been clumsy all my life so I suppose some people just are. I blame being left-handed in a right-handed world. Somehow.

>83 Ameise1: Barbara, it's getting better but it's still sore - not so much the knees but around them (but not behind them, which a Doctor told me once was a sign of DVT after a fall).

Today I'm having a pyjama day and reading and watching the Create & Craft channel, and I've just finished a brand new library book which I bookhorned into the queue because it was such an engaging read:



163. The Rich: From Slaves to Super-Yachts - A 2000-year History by John Kampfner

Where I got it: Library reserve
Why I read it: I read a review of it somewhere - perhaps the Guardian

For a book from the Eat-The-Rich side of the fence, this wasn't as hatey as I expected. It's written more in sorrow than in anger, and looks at the rich through history, taking examples from various time periods, right back to a Roman called Crassus, who built up a property empire by having his slaves buy up burning houses from their owners and then repair them. Rumour had it that sometimes the fires were started by the very same slaves, but Crassus seemed to be Teflon-coated long before Teflon had even been invented.

The author also looks at the "robber barons" of the US, the Russian and Chinese oligarchs, the Silicon Valley geeks and "the bankers", which now seems to be a pejorative term for anyone who works in a bank, rather than the people at the top who actually made the bad decisions and lost all the money (his points about that subset were fairly made, though).

Particularly interesting was the transformation from rich person to philanthropist, which has been going on for centuries and was examined mostly in the context of Andrew Carnegie and the modern-day tech tycoons like Bill Gates. One of the big points of discussion at the moment is the extent to which corporations and rich individuals think that they can do better than governments to address social problems - for example, the Gates Foundation's efforts to eradicate polio, and numerous other initiatives to make the world a better place. But can they? Should they? Or should they just pay a lot more tax? These are not new questions.

The Carnegie libraries crop up as an example in more than one chapter. Would those libraries have been built had the monies been paid to the relevant governments or local authorities instead? I would guess not. So that seems to be one excellent legacy where the tycoon really did know best, although I would be interested to know what people were saying at the time. These days, when companies take advantage of low-tax regimes and use the savings to lower prices or pay bigger dividends, that is seen as a very bad thing indeed. But if you're a person on a modest income who can buy twice as many books from Amazon as you could from Waterstones, isn't that a benefit to society too? (This para is me, not the author)

I thought this was an excellent read, and it's given me a lot to think about. But now I must get back to my scheduled reading before more reserves come in.

>76 susanj67: I think I'm in the mood for a Christmas book already too. Maybe soon!

>85 thornton37814: Lori, for once I didn't think it was too early, although I am still trying to read books from my Kindle carousel, and it was right there. This year my office roomie and I are going to have some decorations, and a Godiva Advent calendar. We had a good time over Diwali with battery-operated tea lights in a little display and my roomie is quite keen to do Christmas too. Apparently it's really popular in India. I'm going to get some "Merry Christmas" mugs and then we'll think about decorations. I have a "Twelve Days of Christmas" cross-stitch that I've been meaning to get framed for ages, so I'll try and take it in this week.

LOL - I sit next to Christmas mad girl. I've banned her from talking about it for the last 2 months but I guess I'm going to have to give up soon. Odds on she comes in wearing a Christmas hat in the run up...

>86 susanj67: I have a little Christmas tree in my office. I'm sure I'll probably try to get a few more miniature ornaments for it this year. I said that I'd get a few more each year until it has enough ornaments.

>87 BekkaJo: Bekka, I think you're going to lose that battle pretty soon :-) Usually I'm very "bah humbug" about Christmas because I have no-one to celebrate it with, and all the kerfuffle seems pointless, but this year I'm quite looking forward to it, in the office at least. I need to resist buying a 17-inch high "folk Santa" decoration from Lakeland, or maybe I don't...



>88 thornton37814: Lori, that sounds like a good plan. And if it's small you could add a couple of really nice ones every year.

Yesterday my roomie gave me City of Djinns by William Dalrymple, which is one of her favourite books. What a lovely gift! I read his The Last Mughal (the book which led to our discussion about "The Indian Mutiny" vs "The First War of Independence") and liked it, so she said I would love this one. I'd like to save it for my two weeks off (woo-hoo!) over Christmas, but I feel I should read it now so that I can say I've read it.

Wow, the Local Government Minister has taken over Tower Hamlets council today - yay! http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/04/eric-pickles-tower-hamlets-londo...

Lots of people have been waiting a long time for this, and, in the Parliamentary statement and questions, MPs from all parties AGREED with one another. Amazing. But now the library website doesn't work (it was working this morning, before the report into maladministration was published). I hope that's just a co-incidence, although I have to say I'd give up the library if it meant an end to the current administration.

Amazing? Unheard of!

And such a sweet thing from you roomie! I was trying to encourage some of my work team to join me in the BAC or AAC challenges next year - they looked at me like I was insane. I do wish they would try a book occasionally :/

>91 BekkaJo: Bekka, I don't really know any readers in real life. Or at least not readers who read the same things I do. I'm forever recommending things and getting exactly that look. True, my reading list is a bit...completely random...eclectic but surely that increases the odds that someone will like *something*!

Agreed - a lot of my friends are readers, most of the like completely different things to me. But I seem to have a bunch at work who haven't read a book this year and it makes me sad because I feel like they are missing out. I don't really care what it is but it's such a big part of my life I'd like to share it.

And your reading list is no more random that most of us - albeit more non-fiction than mine ever will be!

>93 BekkaJo: Bekka, I do know people who read entirely one thing, including one pal who only reads fantasy and won't even try anything else. So frustrating!

Much hilarity at the Wharf this morning with the Most Famous Celebrity Book Signing in the History of the Known World. On Wednesday my roomie was reading an email and said "Oh! Sachin Tendulkar is going to be signing his new book in the mall on Friday!" She paused, and said "Do you know who I mean?"

"Well of course," I said, hoping I did. "He's a famous...Indian...cricketer." Jackpot!

"And a GOD," she said.

"Actually I saw a programme about the Ganges a couple of weeks ago," I said, "and the presenter visited a village where they'd built a shrine to someone and were worshipping him as a god. I think it was him."

"That wouldn't surprise me," she said, adding that one of her friends was going to take the day off work to come out here and get in the queue.

Yesterday she went to Waterstones to see if she could buy the book, but they said they were only selling them from today. So she asked what time the queue usually started for a book signing. They said that for super-famous celebs it would start at 11 for a 1pm signing. But they were expecting this one to start at 8.30, as soon as they opened and the book went on sale. We walked through the mall yesterday afternoon on a short break. "Take a good look at the floor," she said to me, "because you won't see it tomorrow. Half of India will be down here."

I checked out the queue just before 9.30 as she will be late in to the office, and there were 60 people in it already. I happened to mention this to someone in the kitchen just afterwards, when another Indian lawyer came in and asked who we were talking about. I explained. "He's HERE?!!!!!" she said, "TODAY?" This guy seems to be quite popular ;-) I'm going to go down later and see how many more people are there. I do love True Fans in these days of endless cynicism and hating.



164. A Colossal Failure of Common Sense by Larry McDonald with Paul Robinson

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: It was mentioned in one of my MOOCs

The is subtitled "The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers" and is written (with a ghost-writer) by a former trader in the distressed debt group. It's an appalling picture of mismanagement, greed and giant egos, but it certainly explains the crash of 2008. The most horrible thing, though, which the author mentions only briefly, was the effect of the behaviour of the US parent company on the European subsidiaries/branches. The US office basically took their money, and it became wrapped up in the US insolvency, sending the European offices crashing into bankruptcy even though they were OK in themselves. I still remember that day in 2008 when everyone in the UK office lost their jobs, and were chucked onto the street with just a box of things each, trying to dodge the news crews who were filming it all. Their building is near mine, and some of them tried to escape through the shopping mall to the tube just to get some privacy. A horrible, horrible day.



165. Nothing to Lose by Lee Child

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It was the next in the series

I thought this was the weakest so far, as nothing seemed to happen and it went round and round in circles, perhaps not surprisingly as Jack was going back and forth between two small Colorado towns, trying to work out why he'd been thrown out of one of them as a vagrant and what the town was trying to hide. I'm glad this wasn't my first Reacher book.

>94 susanj67: Your roomie sounds so fun Susan. I wonder how many selfies there will be? Just checked Instagram #sachintendulkar and WOW!

Susan, I hope your bruises are healing and not too colourful. Wishing you a gorgeous weekend.

>95 luvamystery65: Roberta, yes, she is sweet, although she is 20 years younger than me and I'm sure would rather be sharing with some hip young person. Yesterday was crazy. Here's an article from the local paper which shows the eventual size of the crowd: http://www.wharf.co.uk/2014/11/record-crowds-for-sachin-tendu.html One of the girls along the corridor rang my roomie about 1pm and said "You know all the Indian people who don't live in India? They're all down in the mall, and they're climbing on one another's shoulders to get a picture of the *empty chair* he'll be sitting in." We decided we had to go down and see what was going on, but he was very late arriving and I felt I was taking up space that a True Fan could have used, so I came back upstairs. But I saw two short video clips later that captured the roar of the crowd when he arrived. I think Canary Wharf security was totally overwhelmed by the numbers - not that it was a bad crowd, far from it, but the sheer pressure of people was a bit scary.

>96 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara :-) You too. Well, I hope you don't have bruises to heal but you know what I mean!

166. The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B Parker

Where I got it: Very skanky old library copy. Eeew.
Why I read it: Because the Spenser read-along this year sounded like fun

I did enjoy this, the dreadful old copy notwithstanding. It was written in the early 70s and my goodness, I can almost see what people mean when they set "period" TV dramas in the 80s now. It definitely belongs to a different time, however horrifying a thought that is! I liked Spenser, and particularly the way he cooks. Jesse Stone doesn't cook. And so far there is no annoying "will they or won't they" plot with a laydee. I think that might come later though, from what I've read on Roberta's thread (Hi Roberta!). The library doesn't seem to have the second or third ones (they're listed in the catalogue but with 0 copies and "Do not try to reserve this" for each book) but there's a second-hand omnibus on Amazon that has them, so I'll get that instead.

Next up for me is Rough Crossings by Simon Schama, which is about the role of black slaves and free men in the American Revolution. I'm about 20% of the way through the ebook at the moment. Then Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street which I saw on Lori's thread, and Real Britannia, which was a random library book I found last week, about the ten best (individual) years in British history. It sounds like fun. And of course there's a Jack Reacher in there too...

Oops, and The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science which I picked up this morning when I was returning something. It's just out in paperback and I read the review over the weekend, but the library had the hardback, which looks like no-one has ever borrowed it.

Just popping in for a quick "Hello!"

Apropos if somewhere further upthread re: exposed zippers in skirts (Boo!)

I hate that trend, as well as anything with tons of hardware on it ... i.e., every purse in our local stores.

There are several shops here that will sell suits as separates. I've taken to just buying the skirt or pant part, just because they are so wonderfully simple and unadorned.

Hi Susan. Hope you are having a good day.
I don't hate exposed zippers, but I don't think I would want to own anything with one if only because it is the sort of thing which will scream 'this piece of clothing is hideously out of date' four seconds after the EZ trend falls out of fashion.

>100 michigantrumpet: Hello Marianne! I am hoping that zips will go back to normal in a season or two. The irony is that, when the garment is turned inside out, they look lovely!

>101 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, the week has been busy but not too bad. And a Christmas market is appearing outside my office, so that should be fun when they finish it, as long as there aren't loud carols playing for six weeks.

A mystery book appeared on my Kindle overnight, and by "mystery" I probably mean "mysterious" as I didn't order it and haven't received an email confirming my purchase. It's an erotic vampire thriller, apparently. I wonder whether it's a "free to all customers" book like that U2 album on iTunes recently. Very strange!



167. The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I read what I thought was a review of it, but it actually wasn't

The article I read was by the author of the book, written for the paperback release, looking at crazy conspiracy theories like Ebola being man-made, 9/11 being an inside job and so on. But those particular subjects weren't covered in the book at all. It was more a look at how people convince themselves they're right about things (the book looked at creationism, recovered memory and Holocaust denial as some examples) and got right into the neurological science. It was really interesting, even if it wasn't quite what I was expecting. The author essentially argues that we all create our own reality, with ourselves at the centre of it, and "see" things in a way that supports the beliefs we decide, often in an instant, to have. Rather than evidence to the contrary telling us we're wrong, we distort it to provide proof of our "rightness".

Hi Susan. Trying to get caught up. I thought of you on the trip while talking about books with a table mate. I recommended Pioneer Woman and Letters of a Woman Homesteader to her. She thought they sounded amazing.

>103 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Reba! Welcome back. Funnily enough, No Time On My Hands arrived yesterday from Thrift Books in the US. It's another pioneer story that comes highly recommended on LT and it looks to me to be brand new, notwithstanding that officially it's secondhand. I'm having lots of luck with Amazon Marketplace purchases this year.

Can't wait to see how you like it. I often buy books from Amazon, especially ones that are out of print or otherwise hard to find in bookstores.

>105 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, it's in my "Christmas pile" for my two-week festive holiday. I think at the moment there are enough books for a couple of months at least! I've been impressed with the books I've got from Amazon. It's useful for books that are all the rage in the US but which haven't made it over here yet, and also for the textbooks used in my MOOC classes.

It's raining here, and our lift is broken (it said "15" on the display last night, but we only have seven floors) and I don't fancy tramping up and down with shopping (I'm on 6) so I decided to have a nice day in, with some baking and housework and reading. My chocolate cake muffins are nearly finished, and I'm going to make a batch of Scotch Oat biscuits which were always a favourite. And then granola. The whole flat smells like baking - yum!

I am a huge fan (and buyer) of Amazon 3rd party books. There are 542 books from that source in my library right now and another one is on the way - my largest source by far.

Bet your house smells great today! Enjoy your day amongst your books. I love reading on rainy days - my favorite days of all.

Susan, I wish you a lovely weekend.

>107 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, 542! I don't think I'd have room for that many in the house :-) Everything does smell good, and my Scotch Oat biscuits are a real taste of the olden days.

>108 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara! You too :-)



168. Rough Crossings by Simon Schama

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It looked interesting

And it was! This was a superb read, all about the role that escaped slaves and free black people played in the American Revolution, when many fought for the British, and then what happened next, when they were sent first to Nova Scotia and then to Sierra Leone, in an attempt to resettle them back in Africa. The slaves' stories were told alongside an account of the campaigning in the UK for the end of the slave trade and then the end of slavery. It made much more sense to me having watched the Yale course on the American Revolution than it would have without that, as I was at least familiar with the main events and places of battles. And of course I knew the difference between a loyalist and a patriot :-)

I'm aiming to finish the book about Wall Street next - I seem to have read a few chapters of too many things, which is slowing my finishes.

And of course I knew the difference between a loyalist and a patriot :-)

Ahh,yes, that would help. I read an account of the Spanish civil war and kept getting muddled up between the fascists, communists, anarchists, and every other set of ists you could find. Not sure that helped my comprehension of the matter at all!

Your place must smell heavenly with all that wonderful baking, Susan! Luckily, we live on the top floor of a four story building so when the lift goes out I just grumble a little as I lug stuff upstairs. I think the two extra flights of stairs you have would stop me from heading out shopping!

>109 susanj67: - I bet the oat biscuits do taste great. Are they easy to make? (Can you tell I am hinting for the recipe?)

Rough Crossings looks interesting. It's going onto wishlist.

>110 Helenliz: Helen, I'm sure that would have made it a challenge! I was looking at the new biography of Joan of Arc at the library the other day, and then I remembered how confused I am by French history, so I put it back :-)

>111 lkernagh: Lori, when the lift was out for a full overhaul some years ago I got really fit and I could reach my floor without even seeing black spots! But I'm so out of shape that I had to stop half-way up on Friday night and open my mail and then continue. And that was with just one bag of groceries.

>112 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, the oat biscuits are super-easy and I've put the recipe below.

*****

Scotch Oat biscuits

6 oz flour
3 oz Scotch Oats
4 oz sugar
4 oz butter
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla essences

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the well-beaten egg and then the other ingredients and mix. Roll out and cut into rounds, and place on a cold tray. Bake for 15 minutes in a moderate oven.

*****

Yesterday I gave mine ten minutes at 180C although I think my oven is running a bit hot. I halved the mixture, wasting some egg, and it made 13 biscuits (cookies). I even found a pack of cutters that I didn't know I had. I wonder what else is lurking at the back of that cupboard.

I'm determined to get a "Twelve Days of Christmas" cross-stitch framed this year, and when I got it out I saw that I'd cut all the threads off at the back and it was pretty much ready to go. And then I gave it a proof-read. Everything was fine except the "12 drummer drumming". Oops. This morning I had to find the pattern, find the thread and add the missing "s" and *now* it is ready to go, once it has one more press. My roomie has gone on holiday so I'd like it ready by 1 December when she gets back and we start to decorate the office for Christmas.

Thanks for the recipe, Susan. They look pretty easy to make and I bet they taste amazing. Gotta go get me some oats beaucoup soon.

>114 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, I remember them being spread with butter and stuck together in my lunchbox, so I've been buttering them again. I think they'd be fine without it though. I'm wishing I'd made the whole mixture because I want MORE but I'm saving them for work this week.

169. Real Britannia: Our Ten Proudest Years by Colin Brown

Where I got it: Random library book
Why I read it: It looked like fun

This *was* a good read. The idea came from a YouGov poll in 2010 asking Britons which of a list of years they thought was the proudest year in British history. The author looks at those years, and at what really happened. Is Magna Carta really the basis of the "due process" right we have come to associate with it? Did Elizabeth I make her famous speech at Tilbury knowing that the Spanish Armada had given up and sailed for home? And was Emily Davison trying to kill herself when she jumped in front of the King's horse in 1913? There are seven additional famous years in the book and I found it an entertaining but thought-provoking read.

I just bought...a Christmas tree! My first one ever. I thought I'd decorate it for when my roomie gets back, which is 1 December. I've found some Advent "buckets" - little numbered felt buckets on a cord which wind around the tree, but it's big enough (about 90cm high in total) to need some decorations too.



(Photo from the John Lewis website)

But woah! All the themes and trends and things that go with things - I hadn't really thought about that. At my parents', the tree had a pretty random collection of things on it, but now I have to theme and style it. I'm thinking about John Lewis's "Croft" range http://www.johnlewis.com/christmas/baubles-tree-decorations/c700007211#!/christm... but "Christmas Past" looks good too http://www.johnlewis.com/christmas/baubles-tree-decorations/c700007211#!/christm... .

There are battery-powered lights now, so I think some of those are essential too. And a fairy for the top of it, unless a star would be more appropriate for the office. I need to find some wrapped chocolates for the Advent buckets, and I thought I'd add a lame Christmas cracker joke to each one.

>116 susanj67: That looks like a fun book! The Magna Carta has been in the news here recently. The Lincoln Cathedral's copy is on loan to the Library of Congress until the middle of January. Princess Anne was here to cut the ribbon for the opening of the exhibition a couple of weeks ago.

>117 susanj67: I love both of those John Lewis ornament lines. I think I'd go with "Christmas Past" at home and "Croft" at the office.

LOVE those little Christmas advent buckets - were they John Lewis?

>119 BekkaJo: Bekka, yes they are: http://www.johnlewis.com/store/john-lewis-felt-christmas-advent-buckets-multi/p4...

The buckets are dead cute - but I can't get my head round having a tree up for the 1st December. Mine goes up on the 23rd (bah humbug). The themed decorations are interesting - certainly better than the fad of a few years back to have the tree all in one colour. I don't get it. My christmas decorations box has got a mishmash of decorations. bought at different time, in all sorts of colours, sizes, etc etc etc. In fact some are older than me, where I've bagsied the christmas decorations during house clearing and downsizing of various relatives over the years. Each year it looks different, depending on which boxes get used. Maybe I'm just not stylish...

>121 Helenliz: Helen, it has to be 1 December for the Advent aspect of it :-) And, as the Christmas market outside my office is already playing Christmas songs, I think by 1 December I will be in the mood (not for Christmas songs, though).

I think I've decided on a folk/Scandi theme for the tree - if I'm having the red buckets then I can't go all pale with the other colours so I'll keep the red and add a couple of other colours. I found these at Next which are the sort of thing I want: http://www.next.co.uk/inspiration/Festive-themes/christmas-rustic/8

I would love the angel we had at home, except (1) she's probably an ex-angel by now and (2) we agreed on nothing religious (yes, I know...)

We have a real tree. Therefore the decoration takes place on the 23th. Now, mostly my daughters are decorating it. We have decorations which go back to my grandparents (1900) but I buy new pieces each year.

You'll have to send us pics Susan - I like the folk/Scandi idea. I'm generally a stickler for traditional tackiness. But silver and blue tinsel and baubles to add a little less tack to it all (hubby has some VERY early 80s ideas about tree decoration).

Plus exceedingly happy that this year we have room for the tree, rather than cramming it in. Yay!

>117 susanj67: - Wahoo for you first Christmas tree purchase! My parents do the random collection of ornaments - my Mom has boxes and boxes of ornaments. The last time I was there for the holidays, I had just arrived, hadn't even put my suitase in the bedroom and I was tasked with decorating the tree. Usually my Mom corrals my neices and nephews to do it so I decides to try and make a theme tree based on what was available. Everyone commented on how bare the tree was! ;-)

I have a red, gold and wood theme, and white lights, for our tree. Rather traditional and somewhat boring, I know but I am not quite ready to do the blue or pink frosted tree thing, just yet.

I like the John Lewis "Croft" decorations but only as accent pieces..... a little on the icy side for me if I went full on frosted white..... Of course, I am getting some wonderful ideas from the links you provided for some possible ornament creations!

We put up a real tree, and I like to leave it up until Epiphany, so we usually buy one about mid-December. And my tree has evolved a theme of all cat ornaments over the years.

I'm a bit of a bah-humbug but nevertheless our tree will be going up this coming weekend as we are taking advantage of having the grandkids for the weekend. My husband is having an operation at the end of the month so he wants to get it done so he can recuperate by lying on the sofa and admiring the tree.

>123 Ameise1: Barbara, how lovely to have decorations from such a long time ago, passed down through the family. One of my friends, who lives a grown-up life in a proper house, buys new things every year for her daughters to start off their collections. When they travel and she buys souvenirs, she gets ornaments wherever possible.

>124 BekkaJo: Bekka, maybe you need to do what Monica did in Friends - have half a tree of each and just turn it round as necessary :-) I found the cutest little nativity set of ornaments at Paperchase last night while I was killing time waiting for the bus, and I'm sort of tempted.

>125 lkernagh: Lori, I'm sure your parents' tree would have looked lovely! You have a great eye for colour and design. I like the idea of "Croft" as accents - you see, you have given me a new idea already!

>126 ronincats: Roni, what a fun theme :-) I'd like a real tree if I had the sort of life where anyone else would see it/gather round it but I'm pleased with the little one for the office. I've seen quite a few owls during my browsing, so maybe I could start off an owl theme.

>127 DeltaQueen50: Judy, historically I have been very bah humbug too, but I've said before that my office roomie is young enough to be my daughter so I thought well, if I had a daughter I would decorate a tree so I'll do one for her. She and her husband work crazy hours and are going overseas at Christmas time so they won't have one at home. I hope your husband's operation goes well and he can recline and admire :-)

>122 susanj67: I love those red and white ones, too! I haven't decorated for Christmas the last few years because I hate undecorating so much. I may need to rethink at least getting my tabletop tree out this year. We do have a tree at work that someone else decorates and undecorates so I can enjoy the holiday atmosphere there.

I love the little buckets for the tree! Our tree always goes up the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and that's one of my very favorite days of the year.

The Advent buckets are really cute, Susan. Checking out the John Croft site, I think I could really run amok in the Christmas Past section. Those ornaments make me think of my grandmother's trees. She had a great collection of ornaments - some of them dating back to the early 1900's. Of course she had some absolutely hideous ones too - in particular one fashioned from an old prescription medicine bottle with glitter and an awful pipe-cleaner for a hanger, coming out of the cover. *shudder*

Haven't put up a large-size tree for years because Willie was always trying to climb it (and when he wasn't doing that he was trying to chew the the cords from the mini-lights). But I do have a tiny tree (18") that I bought a few years ago. Think I should put it up as it is Jane's first Christmas here. Maybe I'll get her a collar by then so there can be a present under it. Wrapped of course.

We always buy a real tree as well - I adore the smell.
And it's very uncoordinated - just the boxes of decorations collected over the years.

>129 cbl_tn: Adrian would love it if you decorated a Christmas tree for him. Once you see a pet with Christmas decorations, you'll never doubt that it is worth it again. That said, I'm going to miss Brumley so much this Christmas.

>129 cbl_tn: Carrie, there's a space under my desk, well away from my feet (the desks run right along the wall) where I think I could store it, decorated, until next year :-) It should be fine there covered up with a big plastic bag. The huge trees in the mall are decorated the same way every year, so I think they do the same thing. Somewhere there's a storage facility full of decorated Christmas trees and a huge Santa's grotto, which is also the same one every year.

>130 scaifea: Amber, you must have so much fun at this time of the year with Charlie. He's old enough to get into it but still young enough to believe in Santa, presumably :-)

>131 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, you should definitely celebrate Jane's first Christmas with you! A collar sounds sweet. I suppose there are cat treats as well.

>132 SandDune: Rhian, if I had a family then I would go all-out, I think. We had an artificial tree in NZ because Christmas is in summer over there, and also I'm not sure how many fir trees there are. But the advantage of an artificial one, as the instructions for my new one spell out, is that "it doesn't drop needles like a real fur (sic) tree." Of course, having demonstrated it to an office buddy, it immediately dropped needles. I covered it up again and made a mental note not to touch it too much :-)

>133 thornton37814: Lori, you gave me the idea for a small tree, so thank you!

>134 susanj67: Charlie is *so* excited for Santa to come this year! The holidays are such a hoot with a little monkey around to be excited with and for...

I love how you are going all out for your Christmas decorating Susan.

We have an artificial tree with lights permanently installed. NOTHING puts me out of the Christmas spirit quicker than having to wrestle lights onto a tree. But I love our ornaments which are a collection of ones we've been given and ones we've collected on our travels. I just love holding them and thinking about where they're from as I put them on the tree.

>135 scaifea: Amber, I hope Santa can bring everything he asks for, assuming a pony isn't on the list :-)

>136 luvamystery65: Roberta, I thought it was maybe time to try it!

>137 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, I've never heard anyone say something good about Christmas lights. I'm going for some battery-operated ones but I suppose the bulbs are just as temperamental.

I took my "Twelve Days of Christmas" cross-stitch in for framing on Wednesday so I'm hoping to have that back the week after next. If they do a decent job then I'm going to get more things framed.



170. Business Adventures by John Brooks

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I saw it reviewed on Lori's (lkernagh) thread

Subtitled "Twelve classic tales form the world of Wall Street" this book, written in the 60s, is a well-written but ultimately depressing account of various business failings. Depressing because people are still doing all the dumb things that got companies into trouble nearly 50 years ago. Will we never learn?! But I loved the writing style, and some of the stories were entertaining. The history of Xerox was good, and particularly the view in the very early days that copies of things were unnecessary because they just cluttered up an office. Also a copy had a slightly...fraudulent character somehow. They were certainly wrong when they thought it would never catch on!

>170 lkernagh: - Will we never learn?! Doesn't look like it, does it? ;-)

Susan, I wish you a lovely weekend.

>139 lkernagh: Lori, no it doesn't. As I was reading it I was wondering what the author would have thought of the last few years of shenanigans.

>140 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara!

So far the weekend has been busy as I went out to Westfield for Project Rudolph (my Christmas tree decorations). It was calm and quiet to start with, and then...not. I was glad to get out, and I came away with 20 baubles for the tree (a mix of red, cream and a sort of bronze, variously glittered/sequinned), some small pinecones sprayed the same sort of bronze-y colour, which are currently airing on the balcony to get rid of the solvent smell, and a felt reindeer and felt robin ornament. Not a huge haul, but I put things back in other shops because they didn't seem to be interested in selling them, so I might order online and click and collect. I think I'll secretly decorate the tree this week and see what it looks like and what else I need. The mall was playing Christmas songs, but I still haven't heard Fairytale of New York (although that would be totally inappropriate for a place with children in it!). However, the Pret Christmas sandwich is on the shelves and overseas readers might like to see the John Lewis Christmas ad, which is another (fairly new) Christmas tradition. http://www.johnlewis.com/christmas-advert-2014-montys-christmas?s_kenid=69d8a1d7...



171. Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s by Alwyn Turner

Where I got it: Kindle
Why I read it: It's British social history

This is the furthest forward in time I've got with my social history reading, which has tended to be post-war and up to the mid-60s. But this one looks at the 1970s, which I only know as involving three-day working weeks, a "winter of discontent" and ending with the election of Margaret Thatcher. This was a really good read and I have the others in the trilogy which look at the 80s and the 90s. As I came to the UK in 1995, I should recognise about half of that one!

Your 'Project Rudolph' sounds really interesting. I hope you'll post some photo so that we can have a look too.

>142 Ameise1: Barbara, so far this is what I have. I need some individual baubles and some more ornaments, but I've also got the Advent buckets and I'll have some lights and it's quite a small tree. Fortunately all these things will be fine for it. A lot of the ornaments really require a full-size tree!

All photos from the John Lewis website.

Lovely things you bought. It will look fantastic.

>141 susanj67: I will definitely try to make that Pret Christmas sandwich for myself this year. We aren't having Turkey for Thanksgiving but I know at least three sets of relatives that will try to pawn off their turkey leftovers to me. That's why I don't make turkey at home. ;-)

That John Lewis ad is shamelessly sentimental!

The Sainsbury's christmas advert is another tear jerker, although in a very different style. It's not Chrismas without the Pogues!

Yay for Project Rudolph and I LOVE the John Lewis ad. Everyone should have a Monty in their lives. ;-)

I haven't been paying any attention in the malls lately to see if they are playing Christmas music but they must be by now since Canada has no holidays between now and Christmas.

> 147 or a Mabel. >:-)

>144 Ameise1: Barbara, thank you! I'm going for a "Woodland Christmas" theme, so my other ornaments will include some more little critters. I've had so many great ideas from LTers!

>145 luvamystery65: Hi Roberta! That does sound like a lot of turkey :-) I had my first one last week and I think they're smaller than before, but they taste the same. I love the John Lewis ads. Last year they had a snowman going on an epic journey, and it turned out that he was buying a hat and scarf for his snow lady. At least I think that was last year - time flies!

>146 Helenliz: Helen, I agree about the Pogues! I haven't seen the Sainsbury's ad all the way through, but just on news programmes discussing the big retailers' Christmas ads...

>147 lkernagh:, >148 Helenliz: Lori, the penguins have apparently sold out, even at £95! Anyone who's selling penguin Christmas tree decorations will be thanking their lucky stars, though. I did see one yesterday.

This morning I am going to bake, and sort out my tins and plastic boxes cupboard (shudder). But I did find the tin of biscuit cutters yesterday and they are shaped ones, which include a gingerbread person and a Christmas tree. I'm thinking that I could make some salt dough Christmas trees for Project Rudolph, as the cutter is the perfect size. I just need some green food colouring. And some plain salt, as I think rock salt might spoil the look :-)

Today's internet meandering turned up a NEW "World's Biggest Jigsaw" by Educa - makers of the famous "Life" a few years ago. This one has a whopping 33,600 pieces:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Educa-Borras-Wildlife-Puzzle-Pieces/dp/B00IA3HH5K/ref=sr...

I would need a new *house* to put it in, but I would love the challenge! (of doing it, not finding the new house). It even comes in a box with wheels. Wheels! Anyway, I thought I'd post it as I know there are other LT jigsaw fans.

I've had a day of zero reading due to finding five episodes of a new Australian drama on the iPlayer, so there went my afternoon. Oops.

I went to John Lewis on Saturday as Danny and I went to an event where we were rewarded with vouchers - £50 John Lewis and £10 Amazon. That reminded me I had £35 in vouchers from an old JL credit card. They have lovely Monty Penguin kids' pyjamas but I'd promised the kids they could share the £50 voucher on toys (I'm using the Amazon voucher!) The penguin window display is quite fun and they also have penguins on their smaller carrier bags.

Haven't seen the Sainsburys ad, but was intrigued that everyone on Gogglebox, even the people I think of as a bit rightwing, were discussing the anti-war message. For those outside the UK or haven't seen it, Gogglebox has couples, families and groups of friends discussing a selection of TV programmes, it sounds ridiculous to watch other people watching television but they've found some great real-life characters.

>150 susanj67: - I would love that puzzle.... but at 5.7 meters long, you need a really long table to work on it! At work we have a smaller meeting table set up in an open area and usually there is a jigsaw puzzle in progress on the table. Anyone who likes puzzles can work on the puzzle during their breaks or spend a few minutes with the puzzle during the day to 'palate cleanse' their mind. Because of the table size, the puzzles have not exceeded a 1,000 pieces.

Hi Susan! Just checking in. Hope you're still loving Watership Down.

>151 elkiedee: Luci, I'm doing my Christmas tree project with John Lewis vouchers :-) I had quite a few after my furniture purchases last year so I thought I'd turn them into something fun. Your children must have loved picking out their toys!

Here is the Sainsbury's ad: http://inspiration.sainsburys-live-well-for-less.co.uk/tv/our-christmas-2014-adv... I looked it up because there's been quite a bit of controversy about it, but it's made in conjunction with the Royal British Legion so I suppose if it's OK with them then I can see why Sainsbury's went ahead with it. It must take up a whole ad break.

>152 lkernagh: Lori, what a great idea at work! There is definitely something very "cleansing" about jigsaws if you've been using a different part of your brain all day.

>153 AMQS: Hi Anne! Yes, I am. I'm about 60% of the way through it now as I lost yesterday afternoon to the TV, and I think I'm now into the part that I haven't read before. I definitely had my own copy of it when I was a kid, which I suppose I must have bought with Christmas/birthday book vouchers. Reading it has made me want to catch up on some other classics that I've never read. Black Beauty, The Wind in the Willows and so on.

I enjoy an occasional jig saw puzzle but 33,600 pieces?!? yikes

Wow, that's a heckuva puzzle! I've done a 5000 piece puzzle that took a looong time, can't imagine how long that would take!

I must confess that I had to send that link to my nephew. He can work a 1000 piece puzzle in a few hours. I told him that this one should keep him busy a little longer.

>155 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, it would be quite a project! Some people do these puzzles and blog their progress, which is fun to read through.

>156 drneutron: Jim, the pieces do come in ten bags, so it would be like doing a 3,000-piece ten times. Actually I have a table big enough for 3,000 pieces (if I extend it and lose half of the living room) - just nowhere to assemble the ten sections! There is a debate in the jigsaw world as to whether doing the bags separately is cheating and they should all be mixed together, but I can't imagine how long it would take to find the corners!

>157 thornton37814: Lori, if you see him at Christmas then you might be working on it :-)

I just decorated my tree to see if I had enough things for it. And I do! My pinecones were a bit of a hanging disaster as they had great big loops of twine on them, so I cut those off and just pushed the pinecones in towards the centre of the tree, which looks perfect. The baubles are stunning and the robin and Rudolph look right at home. I bought a few Shaker-style plain shapes at lunchtime (little stars, hearts and Christmas trees) and they will look good once I replace their ugly thick twine with some invisible thread, and much smaller loops. And then maybe a little birdhouse...I'm going to leave the lights for the time being as the baubles are sparkly anyway. I'll see what my roomie says. We could always get some battery-operated candles and uplight it, like they do in Trafalgar Square :-) I'll take a picture once I've fixed the twine problem. The Advent buckets are going to be separate, running along the shelving which runs right along the wall (just behind the tree) and I've just bought all the chocolate for them. I even have some left over :-)

I think we need a picture of this tree!

ETA: Oops, now I see you already promised a picture. My bad!

>158 susanj67: I can't wait to see the tree once you've sorted all the details out.

>159 katiekrug: Katie, I hope tomorrow! Except I do need a tree topper for it and I still can't decide. Or more accurately can't find one that I like.

>160 luvamystery65: Roberta, this afternoon I tested the Advent chocolate with a friend at work just in case it was...you know...poisonous or something, but we both survived.

At lunchtime I picked up The New Jim Crow from the library, but it is so unbelievably filthy despite only having been borrowed a handful of times that I'm not even taking it home. But the John Grisham book that Katie recommended has come in as an ebook so at least I have that to be going on with. I also have the new Andrew Martin book, Belles & Whistles, which is "Five Journeys Through Time on Britain's Trains". I love his writing.

Your tree sounds lovely, Susan!

>162 lkernagh: Lori, I'm pleased with it. A few of the buddies have been given a sneak preview. One said "I like the way you've tried to disguise it with the plastic bag, and failed." Currently Rudloph is peeping out of one of the bottom branches. I'm brought in a selection of threads to re-tie the ornaments with ugly twine so I'll do that at lunchtime. My stitching stash provided quite a variety!



172. Watership Down by Richard Adams

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: It's been on a longlist of "classics I must get to". Then last week it popped up as an answer in one of those quiz apps on my Kindle. And then I saw the great review on Anne's thread. It was like fate! So I borrowed the ebook version. My Overdrive library also has the audiobook which Anne loved so that would be worth checking if you have an Overdrive ebook collection at your library.

Aaaah, this was lovely. But totally different to what I used to read when I was younger, so I can understand why I didn't finish it the first time round. It's a long book for a children's book, and there is quite a lot of scenery in it. The author says in a foreword that he struggled to get a publishing contract for it because it fell in between a children's book and an adult's book, and I can see that. I wonder what would happen to it today, because, from what I have seen of kids' books, which admittedly isn't much, the language is a lot more sophisticated in Watership Down than in modern writing, but I might be wrong about that. But the chapters are nice and short :-) I see from Wikipedia that the book has been criticised for its portrayal of the doe rabbits as just breeders to keep the numbers up, and it is very much a book about the "boys", but that's probably a reflection of the time it was written.

Goodness, Black Friday is off to an unruly start with police called to various stores, including the Tesco I sometimes go to. The Daily Telegraph has a live blog updating the mayhem: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11258888/Black... It is a bit ridiculous given that it's not even a British thing, and it's certainly not a holiday here. Even the Museum of London has a Black Friday offer, which they just emailed me about.

I'm still missing a tree topper, but, other than that, Project Rudolph is ready to launch on Monday. I'll try and find a topper this weekend and then I'll post a picture.

I have never understood the Black Friday mayhem, or the Boxing Day mayhem for that matter. Black Friday is slowly becoming a Canadian thing but it is more of a Black weekend, Black week.... kind of a hit and miss thing. I have never seen the door crasher deals here like they advertise in the US. For some reason, its mid-January when the good deals happen that I have come across. ;-)

>165 lkernagh: Lori, it's been crazy here. The police are complaining that the shops should have had more security staff, as police were called to a number of places where there was mayhem. In another newspaper live blog, they have a video of a police officer which they describe as follows:

*****

In {the video}, Hopkins says “people have been trampling on each other”. Scenes in some Tesco stores overnight were, he adds, “akin to a mini riot”.

He says that in Tesco stores across Greater Manchester:

Three people were arrested.
One woman suffered a broken wrist.
One wheelchair-user had a TV dropped on them.
A security guard was punched.

"People need to take a long hard look at themselves and ask, what on earth was I doing?"

*****

It seems to be mostly TVs that are causing all the problems here. There are going to be a lot of people barely breaking even on eBay, I suspect.

In other news, I found an ornament that I have turned into a tree topper, so the tree is now complete and I will try and post a picture in the next post. It doesn't look as sparkly in the photo as it does in real life, though...

Project Rudolph, 2014:



The ornaments aren't really that visible although you can see the reindeer at the bottom with his red scarf and the robin near the top right. More white baubles appear in real life! The birdhouse ornament is a little cross-stitch pillow that my best stitching buddy made for me, and out of sight there is another little ornament that she made - actually a scissor-keeper with a rabbit on it, repurposed for the season.

Very cute! Well done Project Rudolph 2014 :)

I am studiously avoiding Black whatever day by enjoying a day off work in the new house and loving it all the more in the sunshine (its been raining pretty much since we moved in). Feel all rejuvenated and ready for Christmas!

>167 susanj67: - Love the tree, Susan! We are putting ours up this weekend, and I've been contemplating getting one for my office, too...

The stupid thing about Black Friday, at least in the US, is that the deals aren't actually that great. You're more likely to get a good deal closer to Christmas, or in January when stores are turning over their inventory. Anyway, I have never gone shopping on Black Friday. The only venturing out we do is to see a movie, and only at a theater no where near a shopping venue!

Looks like Project Rudolph is a wonderful success and I absolutely love the star at the top of the tree!

I will admit that I stopped in town on my way to work this morning - to go to the bank machine - and was rather surprised that the entire mall was open at 7:00 am.... not that there was a stampede of shoppers or anything but still, a bit of a surprise to see. The stores here don't open at midnight for Black Friday, or Boxing Day sales. 7:00 am is the door crashing time. ;-)

>167 susanj67: Wow, so beautiful Susan. I wish you a fabulous weekend.

>168 BekkaJo: Thanks Bekka! Your day sounds lovely. New house, sunshine - I hope you found some time to look for the camera cable :-)

>169 katiekrug: Thanks Katie :-) A few people have been complaining that the deals here really weren't that great either, but I think a lot of people were just caught up in the frenzy of it and didn't care. Some of the deals were supposed to be extended over the weekend but I went out today and didn't get trampled :-)

>170 lkernagh: Thanks Lori - I saw the star when I bought the matching Christmas tree ones further down to the tree but I was fixated on an "official" topper at that point. It didn't occur to me that I could just alter something to make it into a topper. I need to think laterally! 7am for a mall opening! Wow. That would never happen here - it's either midnight for special occasions or 9 at the earliest, for the shops, anyway. Food courts might open earlier.

>171 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara - you too :-)



173. The Innocent Man by John Grisham

Where I got it: Library ebook
Why I read it: I saw Katie's review

John Grisham is best known for his crime novels, but this is a non-fiction book about a shocking miscarriage of justice in a small town in Oklahoma in the 1980s that saw a man sent to death row for a murder he had nothing to do with and another man serving life in prison for the same murder, which had nothing to do with him either. The ineptitude at every level of the criminal justice system was appalling, and, although the book focused on one particular murder, it turned out that the same system had locked up two other innocent men for another murder, except that they had no hope of getting out. In a way, that case was just as dreadful, although without the death row element. It was even more staggering to read, at the end of the book, that the prosecutor in both cases was, in 2006, *still in office* despite the convictions of the first two men being overturned after DNA evidence proved that they were not responsible for the crime. Some people have no shame, although I did wonder why the local bar association or other relevant body hadn't revoked his licence to practice. This was an excellent read, and brought home just how important DNA evidence can be in miscarriages of justice. Of course, we would hope today that DNA testing would stop a lot of bad convictions from happening in the first place, but as DNA wasn't an issue in the second case it couldn't help those two men. Thanks Katie for the great recommendation!

Lovely tree, Susan. I bet your office is a fun place to be.

I don't understand the way Black Friday is now (apparently) migrating around the globe. In my whole life I've only known 2 people who ever even did the whole BF thing. Everyone else that I know stays as far away from stores on the weekend after Thanksgiving as they can. As far as I can tell it is certainly not an enjoyable time and only garners notice because of the bad behavior of so many of the participants. Another ugly American thing that we all could have done without.

Hope your weekend is going well...

>172 susanj67: - Glad it was a good read for you! It still makes me mad when I think about it. A retiring judge on the Court of Appeals in Texas just made a bit of a news ripple when he announced in a dissenting opinion that he was against the death penalty and feels it should be abolished. Unfortunately, his dissent was on a capital case and the individual, who suffers from extreme mental illness, is scheduled to be executed on 3 December, I think. Shameful.

>173 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, the weekend is going well so far. I went out this morning, and sent a text message to a friend which said "There's a Superdry in Croydon!" He replied "WHAT are you doing in Croydon? OMG". True, there was rioting there during the rioting, but it's fine in the early morning :-) It has some good shops too, including the craft shop that I went to visit. Also it's a direct train ride (with a seat) from my station, which is a nice change from being squeezed onto the tube. I got my craft things and a couple of other bits and pieces and tomorrow I will start assembling my Christmas cards. This afternoon I watched the first Harry Potter movie, because I've never seen it and I'm getting in some practice for the December Christmas movie challenge. It's going to be like Amber's, but mostly with Made for TV Christmas movies. All the good ones seem to be on the Sky Christmas channel (Sky = satellite TV) which I don't have, but never mind.

>174 katiekrug: Katie, I thought mental illness stopped people being executed - wasn't there an uproar a few years ago when a death row inmate ordered his last meal and said he'd save the pudding for later? Or maybe that was an urban myth. But it was a good (well, "good", I suppose) read, and Grisham's novel-y style suited the narrative, I think. I was surprised to read that Oklahoma is the state that executes the most people.

174. Belles & Whistles: Five Journeys Through Time on Britain's Trains by Andrew Martin

Where I got it: Library
Why I read it: I love Andrew Martin's writing

Andrew Martin is the author of Underground, Overground, which I read either last year or the year before. He writes a lot about the history of transport in the UK and he used to have an excellent column in the Evening Standard in the 1990s from which I learned most of what I know about the tube. In this book he looks at five classic British train journeys (The Golden Arrow, The Brighton Belle, The Cornish Riviera Express, The Flying Scotsman and The Caledonian Sleeper) and tries to recreate them as best he can on modern trains. That alone is entertaining (standards have fallen very far indeed) but so is all the social history in the book. This was an excellent read, and not just for train buffs but for anyone interested in what Britain used to be like in the golden age of rail.

Now I have *no* library books (except a Joanne Fluke ebook which I can't get to because the server is down for maintenance). That's quite a novelty! However, over the weekend I watched the first two parts of a very good series on science fiction, presented by Dominic Sandbrook (well worth iPlayering, UK LTers) and made a list of the books he mentioned in it. There have also been various programmes broadcast or put on the iPlayer in conjunction with it, so I've now watched four episodes of The Day of the Triffids and the first two Quatermass movies. I had fun yesterday :-)

Tonight I start my Christmas movie challenge, and I have about 12 films to choose from which I've recorded over the last few days. "The Elf Who Didn't Believe" may be edging ahead at this point. But there's also one about a dog. When I switched the radio on this morning the first thing I heard was a Christmas song, so we're officially into it now!

The office tree turned out delightful Susan!

>172 susanj67: I can't even get started about what passes for justice here.

>172 susanj67: - hurrah - that's a husbandly christmas present identified. >:-)

>177 luvamystery65: Thanks Roberta! My roomie got back yesterday and she loves it :-)

>178 Helenliz: Helen, I'm always glad to help :-)

Last night was movie 1 of my Christmas movie challenge (stolen from Amber). I watched "A Christmas Tail", about a dog who creates chaos every time he gets into the house, but who has to be turned into an Inside Dog for the family's move to New York. Cue Operation Christmas Miracle, with a sub-plot involving some inept thieves of pedigree dogs. It was cute :-)

>179 susanj67: Awesome! I love setting trends (*snork!*). We watched our first Christmas movie on Sunday (Elf), but won't start up again until Thursday.

>180 scaifea: Amber, I'm hoping for Elf a bit closer to Christmas - I think the TV channels hold back their best ones.

I'm drinking a cup of Swiss Miss "Marshamallow Madness", which my roomie brought back from holiday (they went to India but her husband's aunt had just returned from the US, so the sachets are well-travelled). The marshmallows have dissolved so I think I did something wrong when I was making it, but never mind.

>176 susanj67: Another one to add to my "The next time BookDepository has a sale" list . . .

ETA: Those Swiss Miss marshmallows always melt, it's them not you

We watched our first one this weekend too - but we met Halloween halfway and introduced the kids to A Nightmare Before Christmas. I thought it would freak them out but they loved it.

Am I the only person left who hasn't watched Elf?

No, I haven't watched it either!

Lovely office tree, Susan!

>183 BekkaJo: no you're not alone in the "having no idea what the thread is on about" corner. I'm even less erudite about films than I am well read in books.

It looks like Operation Rudolph was a success! It's a lovely tree.

I watched Elf for the first time last Christmas. I had seen parts of it here and there but I hadn't watched it all the way through. I loved it.

Once again you hit me with a BB with Belles & Whistles. Your thread is one of the most dangerous for me.

>182 inge87: Jennifer, that's good to know about the marshmallows!

>183 BekkaJo: Bekka, I've never seen Elf either. But I feel I should :-)

>184 ronincats: Thanks Roni!

>185 Helenliz: Helen, I don't watch a lot of films either. I haven't seen most of the classics, and film references in everyday lfe usually go straight over my head, unless it's something like "To infinity and beyond!" (I do love the Toy Story films)

>186 cbl_tn: Thanks Carrie! Sorry about my dangerous thread (not really...)

Today I've added the framed "Twelve Days of Christmas" to my decorating, but the framing didn't turn out like I'd hoped. The frame and mat are OK but the stitching isn't pulled taut enough or lined up properly, so the edges look a bit wonky. I've put it on a high shelf in the office so no-one can get too close to it. It looks OK up there, but I won't go back to that framer. I really need to learn how to lace things if I'm going to get anything else framed.

Last night's Christmas film was "K9 Christmas", which was supposed to be a family film, but some really horrible things happened to the dog, and upset even me, who is not a pet person, so I certainly wouldn't watch it with a child.

But there was excitement this morning with an email offering personal tickets for the corporate box at the O2 centre - they have Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds on 13 December. I would LOVE to go, so I've applied for a ticket as apparently it's the last time that the show is touring (I saw an interview on TV a week or so ago). Now I need to cross everything!

From the Marks & Spencer chocolates aisle:



("It is an offence to sell a product containing explosives to any person under the age of 12 years")

No naked flames near those liqueur chocolates, y'all.

>188 susanj67: - LOL! That would just tempt me to experiment... :)

I'm glad to see you practicing your Texan speak. I predict Roberta and I are going to have an awesome time at our retreat next week and want to do it again next year. YOU WILL HAVE TO COME!

>189 katiekrug: Katie, I'm getting my wardrobe together for next year, inspired by Whitney and Bonnie from Big Rich Texas:

What >189 katiekrug: said!

ETA: Susan we will have to take you to Caché so you can get a Whitney and Bonnie inspired dress. ;-)

>190 susanj67: and >191 luvamystery65: - Crap! Ro, is that what we're supposed to be wearing?!?!

You both might enjoy this:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/javiermoreno/its-like-a-different-country?bffb

>192 katiekrug: We are definitely the outliers Katie!

OMG that is so true! All of it.

>191 luvamystery65: Roberta, I will need sleeves, though...I'm not sure I've ever seen Whitney or Bonnie with sleeves. Actually this one looks good: http://www.cache.com/dresses/textured-gold-and-black-lace-sheath as long as it was worn as a tunic, over trousers :-)

>192 katiekrug: Katie, I loved the Buzzfeed link! I was giggling helplessly last night and I only understood about half of them. I did some googling this morning and learned what an A&M is, but, even more amazingly, about the whole mum tradition for homecoming dances. But on number 32, the map of things Texans say about other regions of the state, what is "weird smells" near the eastern border? I think my favourite was the welcome board that said "If you kill someone, we will kill you back".

>193 luvamystery65: Roberta, some of it is a tiny bit scary :-)

Last night's Christmas movie was "A Christmas Tree Miracle", about a family which fell on hard times and was taken in by an eccentric Christmas tree farmer. It was sweet. I'm getting some interesting...alternative... suggestions from other threads!

>192 katiekrug: I did the second year of my degree at UT Austin (go Longhorns),so a few of those raised a giggle. It's a very odd place (said in the nicest possible way).

>194 susanj67: - Susan, the "weird smells" could be a combination of things - meth labs, oil refineries (near the coast), and Louisiana :)

>195 Helenliz: - Hook 'em, Horns! I'm not from here originally, so I look on most of it with mild bemusement. And occasional head-shaking disgust or pants-wetting terror :)

Well now I need to try and set fire to a Marks and Spencer's liqueur chocolate, just to see what will happen.

>195 Helenliz: Helen, I read a very funny article by a UK journalist who'd found herself living in Texas, I think after her husband was transferred there for his job. She said she'd bought a bumper sticker that read "I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as soon as I could," which went down well :-)

>196 katiekrug: Katie, poor Louisiana! I also liked the "half-way to Los Angeles" description of the western part of the state.

>197 lunacat: Hi Jenny :-) Take care with those chocolates, now. I'm part-way through a Belgian selection and I haven't found any dynamite yet.

Last night's Christmas movie was "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", but I didn't see anything particularly festive about a little boy worrying himself sick all through the film that his parents were getting a divorce. I'm not sure what tonight's will be, but I've recorded a documentary about people's crazy Christmas lights (one man can't even boil his kettle while the lights are on, as they use so much power) and that looks like fun.

What I want for Christmas: A half-day alone in the book exchange downstairs at the office, so I can put it in order. I don't want the stamps and dry-cleaning lady spying on me, or the hairdressers looking at me curiously. Can't they all SEE what a mess it is, with random books everywhere, and piles of stuff falling over because there are no shelves left?! How can they even work NEAR it without just wanting to tidy it up every morning? I think a half-day would do it. Whenever I go down I do a tiny tidy, which usually involves rounding up a few books by the same author and putting them together. Well, it's a start. Today I rounded up as much non-fiction as I could find, and put it all in the same place. Not sorted - apart from putting four biographies in order, which isn't much - but again it's a start. In my sorting dreams, I see categories a bit like WH Smith has for their fiction, which include a "romance and saga" category. There is quite a bit in the romance and saga line. I might add a "bonkbuster" category based on all the Sidney Sheldons and Jackie Collinses. Jody Picoult and Sophie Kinsella will have their own shelves. Dan Brown needs his own bookcase.

#199 Snarf! Love this post :)

>200 BekkaJo: Bekka, I had some spare time this afternoon and thought I deserved a treat after running yet another workshop for Graduate Recruitment, so there is now a romance/saga/bonkbuster section (I decided to combine them) which is coming together nicely. Of course, every time I turn around I find more Catherine Cooksons, so it is she who needs her own bookcase. The stamps lady leaves at 4 and one of the hairdressers turned out to be quite sympathetic to the mess issue, so I didn't feel too nerdy. And I'm sure it will raise more money for charity (50p in the tin per book borrowed) if people can actually see the collection and find other books by authors they like (particularly if those authors include Maeve Binchy and Danielle Steel). I'm going to need a foreign language section, it turns out, but I wonder whether Stephen King is correctly shelved as "horror" or something else. Currently I'm just collecting him together, to decide later.

Definition of "bonkbuster," please?

>202 katiekrug: What KAK said.

>202 katiekrug:, >203 luvamystery65: Katie and Roberta, a bonkbuster is a saga (often a multi-generational, sometimes rags to riches sort of thing) with lots of sex ("bonking"). There's no coy cutaway to the next scene as there is with the more chaste versions of the saga novel. Bonkbuster writers include Judith Krantz, Shirley Conran, Jackie Collins and Jilly Cooper.

It's the weekend! Yaaaaay!

>204 susanj67: - Love that term!

Hi Susan, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Hi Susan, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

>205 katiekrug: Katie, I didn't stop to think that it might not be used outside the UK!

>206 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara!

I'm going to start a new thread, so see you all there!