Paul C's a mellow fellow in 2015 - 14th with returning mojo

Tomorrow (Sunday) is my son Kyran's 16th birthday. Lovely kind hearted boy with bags of artistic talent (art & music), but of course I am not in the least bit biased. Love him loads.

Here is a sample of his drawing work for a school assignment. A bit too deep for me.

Philip Levine died on Valentine's Day this year. Blue collar to his roots, here is an extract from his well known poem : What Work Is

We stand in the rain in a long line
waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.
You know what work is—if you’re
old enough to read this you know what
work is, although you may not do it.
Forget you. This is about waiting,
shifting from one foot to another.
Feeling the light rain falling like mist
into your hair, blurring your vision
until you think you see your own brother
ahead of you, maybe ten places.
You rub your glasses with your fingers,
and of course it’s someone else’s brother,
narrower across the shoulders than
yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin
that does not hide the stubbornness,
the sad refusal to give in to
rain, to the hours of wasted waiting,
to the knowledge that somewhere ahead
a man is waiting who will say, “No,
we’re not hiring today,”

Books Read in 2015 - First Quarter

January

1. A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro (1982) 183 pp
2. The Photograph by Penelope Lively (2003) 236 pp
3. Best, Pele and a Half-Time Bovril by Andrew Smart (2014) 332 pp
4. The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers (1951) 157 pp
5. The Volcano by Norman Dubie (2010) 79 pp
6. Wanting by Richard Flanagan (2008) 252 pp
7. The Bat by Jo Nesbo (1997) 425 pp
8. Talkative Man by R.K. Narayan (1986) 123 pp
9. Complete Poems by Basil Bunting (2003) 236 pp
10. Her by Harriet Lane (2014) 235 pp
11. How it all Began by Penelope Lively (2011) 248 pp
12. Winter King by Thomas Penn (2011) 378 pp
13. New and Selected Poems by Al Alvarez (2002) 73 pp
14. This Boy by Alan Johnson (2013) 286 pp
15. An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (1986) 206 pp
16. Watching the Dark by Peter Robinson (2012) 405 pp
17. Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis by Wendy Cope (1986) 59 pp
Total Pages : 3,913

February
18. Farthing by Jo Walton (2006) 316 pp
19. Twirlymen by Amol Rajan (2011) 379 pp
20. A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh (1934) 312 pp
21. Magician : Master by Raymond E. Feist (1982) 499 pp
22. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot (1939) 59 pp
23. What Maisie Knew by Henry James (1897) 309 pp
24. The Mirabelles by Annie Freud (2010) 62 pp
25. Morgan's Run by Colleen McCullough (2000) 890 pp
26. Affinity by Sarah Waters (1999) 352 pp
27. The Sense of Movement by Thom Gunn (1957) 55 pp
28. The Cast Iron Shore by Linda Grant (1996) 434 pp
29. 1222 by Anne Holt (2007) 352 pp
Total Pages : 4,019 (7,932 total)

March
30. Great Britain's Great War by Jeremy Paxman (2013) 288 pp
31. King Rat by China Mieville (1998) 421 pp
32. Racing Through the Dark by David Millar (2011) 346 pp
33. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (1936) 302 pp
34. Wessex Poems and Other Verses by Thomas Hardy (1898) 72 pp
35. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes (2013) 367 pp
36. Zealot : The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan (2013) 216
Total Pages 2,012 pages (9.944 total)

Books Read in 2015 - 2nd Quarter

April
37. Death in the Olive Grove by Mario Vicchi (2008) 244 pp
38. Foundation by Peter Ackroyd (2011) 462 pp
39. The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham (1908) 233 pp
40. The Killing of Richard III by Robert Farrington (2013) 401 pp
41. Personal by Lee Child (2014) 460 pp
42. The Lost Leader by Mick Imlah (2008) 126 pp
43. Wise Children by Angela Carter (1991) 232 pp
44. The Round House by Louise Erdrich (2012) 374 pp
2,534 pages (12,476 pages total)

May
45. Jacobs Beach: The Mob, the Fights, the Fifties by Kevin Mitchell (2009) 288 pp
46. The Millstone by Margaret Drabble (1965) 167 pp
47. Fiere by Jackie Kay (2011) 64 pp
48. Lionel Asbo : State of England by Martin Amis (2012) 276 pp
49. The Purity of Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen (2012) 584 pp
50. The Gingerbread House by Carin Gerhardsen (2013) 385 pp
51. Cinderella Girl by Carin Gerhardsen (2014) 362 pp
52. The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olsen (2013) 576 pp
53. All Russians Love Birch Trees by Olga Grjasnowa (2012) 324 pp
54. The Puzzleheaded Girl by Christina Stead (1967) 278 pp
3,304 pages (15,780 total)

June
55. Kaddish for an Unborn Child by Imre Kertesz (1990) 120 pp
56. Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge (1998) 212 pp
57. Waterloo : Four Days, Three Battles and Three Armies by Bernard Cornwell (2014) 340 pp
58. Outrage by Arnaldur Indridason (2007) 398 pp
59. Black Skies by Arnaldur Indridason (2008) 451 pp
60. The Gaffer by Neil Warnock (2013) 354 pp
61. The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon (2014) 748 pp (updated edition)
62. Napoleon Symphony by Anthony Burgess (1974) 390 pp
63. This Great Unknowing by Denise Levertov (1999) 68 pp
3,081 pages (18,861 total)

Books Read in 2015 - Third Quarter

July
64. Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry by B.S. Johnson (1973) 187 pp
65. The Killer's Art by Mari Jungstedt (2006) 423 pp
66. The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson (2014) 359 pp
67. Coming Out to Play by Robbie Rogers (2014) 222 pp
68. Russian Roulette by Giles Milton (2013) 342 pp
69. The Burning Perch by Louis MacNeice (1963) 47 pp
70. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (2006) 219 pp
71. The Search Warrant by Patrick Modiano (1997) 137 pp
72. Seven Days by Deon Meyer (2012) 396 pp
73. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin (1968) 187 pp
74. Family Life by Akhil Sharma (2014) 210 pp
75. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925) 213 pp
2,942 pages (21,803 total)

August
76. The Last Champions by Dave Simpson (2012) 388 pp
77. Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat (1847) 408 pp
78. Handwriting by Michael Ondaatje (1998) 75 pp
79. Angelica's Smile by Andrea Camilleri (2010) 279 pp
80. The Dead of Summer by Mari Jungstedt (2008) 380 pp
81. The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene (1943) 221 pp
82. The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch (1968) 362 PP
83. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (2006) 456 pp
2,569 pages (24,372 total)

September
84. Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry (1997) 752 pp
85. The Last Lullaby by Carin Gerhardsen (2010) 326 pp
86. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut (1965) 167 pp
87. Sailing Close to the Wind by Dennis Skinner (2014) 317 pp
88. Grimus by Salman Rushdie (1975) 314 pp
89. Angry White Pyjamas by Robert Twigger (1997) 316 pp
90. Enemies : A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer (1966) 226 pp
91. Rain by Don Paterson (2009) 61 pp
92. The Long Song by Andrea Levy (2010) 398 pp

BOOKS READ IN 2015 - FOURTH QUARTER

October
93. The Song of Lunch by Christopher Reid (2009) 66 pp
94. The Siege by Helen Dunmore (2002) 291 pp
95. Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor (1965) 269 pp

Monthly Summaries

January 17 books - (7 literary fiction, 4 poetry, 3 thrillers, 3 non fiction) - Book of the month - Winter King by Thomas Penn

February 12 books - (5 literary fiction, 3 poetry, 3 thrillers, 1 non-fiction) - Book of the month - The Cast Iron Shore by Linda Grant

March 7 books - (2 literary fiction, 1 poetry, 1 thriller, 3 non-fiction) - Book of the month - Great Britain's Great War by Jeremy Paxman

April 8 books - (4 literary fiction, 1 poetry, 2 thriller, 1 non-fiction) - Book of the month - The Round House by Louise Erdrich

May 10 books - (4 literary fiction, 1 poetry, 4 thriller, 1 non-fiction) Book of the month - The Gingerbread House by Carin Gerhardsen

June 9 Books (3 literary fiction, 1 poetry, 2 thriller, 3 non-fiction) Book of the month - Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell

July 12 books (5 literary fiction, 1 poetry, 3 thrillers, 3 non fiction) Book of the month - Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

August 8 books (4 literary fiction, 1 poetry, 2 thrillers, 1 non fiction) Book of the month - The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch

September 9 books (5 literary fiction, 1 poetry, 1 thriller, 2 non fiction) Book of the month - Enemies : A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer

CURRENT READING

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE


Here is the link to the latest thread : https://www.librarything.com/topic/196373

Here are the Selections:

2015 selections

January : Penelope Lively & Kazuo Ishiguro
February : Sarah Waters & Evelyn Waugh
March : Daphne Du Maurier & China Mieville
April : Angela Carter & W. Somerset Maugham
May : Margaret Drabble & Martin Amis
June : Beryl Bainbridge & Anthony Burgess
July : Virginia Woolf & B.S. Johnson
August : Iris Murdoch & Graham Greene
September : Andrea Levy & Salman Rushdie
October : Helen Dunmore & David Mitchell
November : Muriel Spark & William Boyd
December : Hilary Mantel & P.G. Wodehouse

Thirteenth Month : Bernice Rubens & Aldous Huxley

Reading Plans for October

Category Challenges

1 A.A.C - Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor READING
2 a) B.A.C. - The Siege by Helen Dunmore COMPLETED
2 b) B.A.C. - The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell READING
3 Anniversaries -
4 Catching up my series reading -
5 1001 First Edition books -
6 Nobel winners - Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich READING
7 Stagnating shelves -
8 Just to be contrary -
9 Poetry - The Song of Lunch by Christopher Reid COMPLETED
10 Biography -
11 Sports -
12 History -
13 Scandi -
14 Anzac Challenge - The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes READING
15 Random Read -

TBR Physical Book records

Records restarted from 1 July 2015

Physical Books to read - 3,357
Read : 21

Revised Remaining from Stacks : 3,336

Pages to Read - 1,187,170
Read : 5,959

Revised to read from Stacks 1,181,211

Books Bought and Read Since 1 July 2015 (separate list)

New Books Bought (Since 1 July 2015) 77
New Books Read : 7

Pages Added 29,335
Pages Read 1,948

Pages Left : 27,387

Overall TBR Summary

Books to read : 3,434
Read since 1 July 15 - 28
Total TBR Balance : 3,406

Total Pages : 1,216,505
Pages Read : 7,907
TBR Total Balance : 1,208,598

Nobel Prize Winners Read

2014 Patrick Modiano
2013 Alice Munro
2012
2011 Tomas Transtromer
2010 Mario Vargas Llosa
2009 Herta Muller
2008
2007 Doris Lessing
2006 Orhan Pamuk
2005 Harold Pinter
2004
2003 J.M. Coetzee
2002 Imre Kertesz
2001 V.S. Naipaul
2000
1999
1998 Jose Saramago
1997 Dario Fo
1996
1995 Seamus Heaney
1994 Kenzaburo Oe
1993 Toni Morrison
1992 Derek Walcott
1991 Nadine Gordimer
1990
1989
1988 Naguib Mahfouz
1987 Joseph Brodsky
1986
1985 Claude Simon
1984
1983 William Golding
1982 Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1981
1980
1979
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer
1977
1976 Saul Bellow
1975
1974
1974
1973
1972 Heinrich Boll
1971 Pablo Neruda
1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1969
1968 Yasunari Kawabata
1967
1966
1966
1965
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre
1963
1962 John Steinbeck
1961 Ivo Andric
1960
1959
1958 Boris Pasternak
1957 Albert Camus
1956
1955 Halldor Laxness
1954 Ernest Hemingway
1953 Winston Churchill
1952 Francois Mauriac
1951 Par Lagerkvist
1950
1949 William Faulkner
1948 T.S. Eliot
1947 Andre Gide
1946 Hermann Hesse
1945
1944
1939
1938 Pearl Buck
1937
1936
1934 Luigi Pirandello
1933 Ivan Bunin
1932 John Galsworthy
1931
1930 Sinclair Lewis
1929 Thomas Mann
1928
1927
1926 Grazia Deledda
1925 George Bernard Shaw
1924
1923 W.B. Yeats
1922
1921 Anatole France
1920 Knut Hamsun
1919
1917
1917
1916
1915
1913 Rabindranath Tagore
1912
1911
1910
1909
1908
1907 Rudyard Kipling
1906
1905
1904
1904
1903
1902
1901

56/111

Booker Prize Winners Reading Update

1968 Something to Answer For P.H. Newby
1969 The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens
1970 Troubles by J.G. Farrell READ
1971 In A Free State by VS Naipaul ON SHELVES
1972 G. by John Berger ON SHELVES
1973 The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell ON SHELVES
1974 The Conservationist by Nadien Gordimer ON SHELVES
Holiday by Stanley Middleton
1975 Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala READ
1976 Saville by David Storey READ
1977 Staying On by Paul Scott ON SHELVES
1978 The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch ON SHELVES
1979 Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald READ
1980 Rites of Passage by William Golding ON SHELVES
1981 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie READ
1982 Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally READ
1983 Life and Times of Michael K by JM Coetzee ON SHELVES
1984 Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner READ
1985 The Bone People by Keri Hulme ON SHELVES
1986 The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis READ
1987 Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively READ
1988 Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey ON SHELVES
1989 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro ON SHELVES
1990 Possession by AS Byatt READ
1991 The Famished Road by Ben Okri ON SHELVES
1992 The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje ON SHELVES
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth READ
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle ON SHELVES
1994 How Late it Was, How Late by James Kelman
1995 The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
1996 Last Orders by Graham Swift READ
1997 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy READ
1998 Amsterdam by Ian McEwan READ
1999 Disgrace by JM Coetzee ON SHELVES
2000 The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood ON SHELVES
2001 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey READ
2002 Life of Pi by Yann Martel ON SHELVES
2003 Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre
2004 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollighurst ON SHELVES
2005 The Sea by John Banville READ
2006 The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai ON SHELVES
2007 The Gathering by Ann Enright READ
2008 The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga ON SHELVES
2009 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel READ
2010 The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson ON SHELVES
2011 The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes READ
2012 Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel ON SHELVES
2013 The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton ON SHELVES
2014 The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan ON SHELVES
2015 A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James ON SHELVES

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE

January 2016



SUSAN HILL

Actually I had pencilled in Fay Weldon but there was simply more interest shown in Ms. Hill so I bowed to this.

I will start a set up thread for the Group Challenge next year shortly.

And so onto the Gentlemen.........................

I will be back shortly as Hani and I are going to look at potential new homes.

Good luck house hunting!

>15 PaulCranswick: Good luck finding a new home and hopefully there will be more room for books in whatever you find.

>16 amanda4242: We saw two houses in the same housing development but they were quite different both in terms of upkeep and style. The first was owned by a British couple who were looking to move down to Singapore and was lovely whilst the other was owned by a Malay chap going through a divorce and obviously wasn't being lived in. Both were set in a compound named Beverley Heights and were 4 storey semi-detached homes with an integral lift. Hani will let me know but Yasmyne is worried about traffic congestion.

>17 Familyhistorian: Both would have ample space for me to create a reading den. The top floor is given over to a master bedroom area in two sections - half would be strewn with books and shelves and the other half would accommodate Hani's predeliction for shoes and handbags via the walk in closet.

Happy New Thread, Paul. Why are you looking for a new home?

Looking forward for the BAC 2016 thread.

Wishing you a most lovely weekend.

>19 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara. We are not in a desperate hurry to find a new place but those homes were in a location Hani has wanted to stay for a while so we just took the opportunity to go and look.

Happy new thread, Happy Birthday to your talented son, and happy house-hunting! Tomm, Charlie and I may be doing that again soon ourselves...

>21 scaifea: Thanks Amber. He has told me that he wants something called a Key-tar which is something like a cross between a keyboard and a guitar. He is heavily into his band at the moment and making music. He asked for for a suitable band name and I suggested "The Reprobates".....he didn't smile.

>22 PaulCranswick: A key-tar, eh? Very '80's - I love it!

>23 scaifea: Apparently looks like this :
:

Next thing he'll be wanting an afro!

January 2015 Male Shortlist:

We are going for literary fiction with an occasional historical twist for January. The shortlist is:

Peter Ackroyd

Sebastian Faulks

or

Barry Unsworth

Peter Ackroyd



His books can be seen :

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/peter-ackroyd/

A Londoner born at the height of post-war austerity in 1949, Ackroyd studied at both Cambridge and Yale. He has had a varied writing career writing literary fiction often set in the distant past followed by history and he is also a formidable biographer.

He has won most of the major British literary awards including the Guardian, Somerset Maugham, James Tait Black and Whitbread Prize and he has been shortlisted for the Booker for Chatterton in 1987.

>24 PaulCranswick: A Flock of Seagulls haircut would be more appropriate, I think...

Sebastian Faulks



His books can be seen:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/sebastian-faulks/

From the home counties (Berkshire), Faulks has the credit of being viewed as a "serious" writer whose books are actually popular! Probably most famous for his books on WW1 Birdsong and WW2 Charlotte Gray, major literary awards have still escaped him.

In recent years he has turned his talents to recreations of both James Bond in Devil May Care and released a Jeeves novel last year to much acclaim.

I vote for Sebastian Faulks.

Barry Unsworth



His work can be seen:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/u/barry-unsworth/

Barry Unsworth grew into being a tremendous author. I say that because I didn't much care for some of the earlier ones. Like myself from a Northern coal mining community (he was from County Durham in the North East), Unsworth is best remembered for the Booker winning (actually it shared the prize), Sacred Hunger. He was also shortlisted on two other occasions including for A Morality Play which is my favourite of his to date.

He died of lung cancer on the same day that Ray Bradbury passed.

>27 scaifea: I'll tell him Amber. xx

>29 Ameise1: Noted, Barbara.

Good luck with searching and finding a new home. Moving can be daunting. When I realize just how many books I have and how hard it would be to move them, not to mention all the stuff in the hue basement of our house, it stops me in my tracks and thoughts of moving are cancelled.

We are close to some of our neighbors, both young and old. Seventeen years ago these lovely condos were built. We are close to local hospitals and stores. While Will longs for the country, he is realistic enough to know that the days for that were long ago in his now 70 year old life.

Still, it is nice to dream and think of what we might have done years ago.

On another subject, I've studied Kyran's drawing. I am most impressed with his ability to accurately show muscles in legs, and the correct proportion in the feet. While I love Pre-Raphaelite drawing, some of this group of highly talented folk could not accurately draw the human foot. Hats off to Kyran. And, Happy, Happy Birthday to this young boy you love bunches.

Then, I want to say I am amazed that you compile such detailed lists. Perhaps Kyran obtains his ability for detail from you.

Happy Day To You Dear Paul! It is fall here in NE Pennsylvania. The air is crisp and cold, the leaves are turning to burnt orange. I think a cup of tea and a good book are the order of the day.

This image is not my own, but reflects a fall day in PA:

My first choice is Peter Ackroyd because it will help reduce my TBR stash. Second choice is Barry Unsworth since a couple of his books are on my library TBR list. I would probably skip Sebastian Faulks. I abandoned the one book of his that I've tried - something I rarely do. It was supposed to be one of his best (Birdsong).

I'm fine with any one of the three gentleman. Have got a couple of Ackroyd books in the TBR piles and if you pick Unsworth I'll give up reading Sacred Hunger right now and save it for January (not very far into it so that would work perfectly well for me).

Gosh, I love this process. How sad is my life... 😕

>32 Whisper1: A lovely post and a lovely photo from a lovely lady. Kyran does certainly have some of my characteristics (he is soft-hearted and untidy just like I am) but I cannot draw (other than with words) for toffee. There is a bittersweet quality to the almost-coming-of-age of my boy. I can remember so distinctly little episodes from his growing that while making me smile remind me of the lack of mercy time has for all of us.
I was a little saddened by the fact that I read on FB today that you had had a little set-back in your recuperation but your stoicism and cheerfulness made me admire you the more. xx

>33 cbl_tn: Carrie, I had a feeling that this pick would be a close run affair. Ackroyd has versatility on his side, Faulks sells the more books and Unsworth has written two of my favourite novels of the last 25 years.

>34 Fourpawz2: Then my life is at least as sad, Charlotte as I am like a little boy again planning the theatrics of it all. xx

Happy new thread, Paul!

>37 foggidawn: Thanks Foggi!

Congratulations on the new thread, Paul. Such a great Philip Levine poem.

I've read the three male authors proposed for January, and don't have a preference.

>39 jnwelch: Thank you Joe. Philip Levine's voice is very clear isn't it?

I have a slight preference for Barry Unsworth but would be happy with any of these authors.

Ooh, new thread! If pushed I think I'd go Ackroyd, but I'd be happy to read any of these authors for the challenge (or at any time really!).

Happy Birthday to Kyran! Your boy certainly shows a lot of promise as an artist, both in drawing ability and strong imagination. I'd seen this particular drawing on FB and had left a similar comment there, I think.

Exciting to be looking for a new home to fit all your books into!

I have a few William Trevor books on the tbr by now, but picked up The Children of Dynmouth because you've been such a strong advocator for it. I usually only read about 30 pages before sleep, and while this one is a slim volume, I still managed to ignore my usual bedtime and read it in three sittings... it was absolutely unputdownable and I HAD to find out where the story was heading. A wonderful writer. I look forward to reading more from him, but am putting Dynmouth on my "To Reread" list right away!

Pleased with the Susan Hill selection!

As for January choices for the men... a bit tough. I'm naturally pulling for Barry Unsworth as I adored both Morality Play and The Ruby in Her Navel... and am greatly looking forward to tackling Sacred Hunger. I've also got Ackroyd's Foundation and Tudors to look forward to, which I'm more likely to make room for to fulfil a challenge, whereas I wouldn't need much arm twisting to pick up Unsworth again. Faulks's Birdsong was vastly underwhelming for me, so I would probably skip that author if he was chosen for the final selection.

>41 amanda4242: I have plenty on the shelves for all three so I was fully expecting to follow the consensus only to find no consensus! Looks like I am going to have to make my own mind up.

>42 charl08: I will probably read Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I by Ackroyd anyway. I will probably read Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Faulks anyway and I will probably read The Quality of Mercy by Unsworth anyway. Choosing is and isn't difficult.

>43 Smiler69: I am of course pleased that The Children of Dynmouth was well received given me banging its drum so loudly. Hani is in awe of your Metro series of work (as I think many of us are) so positive comments from Ilana will certainly be cherished by her!
Not sure how quickly we will move Ilana but space for books is of course a must.
You were but one who helped change my mind on Susan Hill. For each three I have a preferred candidate and I had thought Fay Weldon but at the end of the day, it would not have been right to ignore the weight of comments in favour of Hill.
The men is close but it looks this time as I will have to make a decision. xx

I probably won't end up doing the BAC next year as I've made such a poor showing this year. That said I agree with Ilana, Faulks for me is a middling writer. I did like Birdsong but not so much the other two of his I've read, Engleby and Charlotte Gray.
In contrast Barry Unsworth's historical fiction is always interesting, I've got a few more of his to read. Ackroyd, I still haven't read but intend to (meaning I have several of his books languishing on the stacks).

I don't know enough about any of them to make an informed opinion, but Ackroyd would probably be my preference too. I've heard of Faulks. I had never heard of Unsworth, but his work sounds interesting. I'm sure I'll find something by any of the three to read though.

>45 avatiakh: I think the challenges are amongst the least structured and demanding out there. I have followed Mark's lead with his AAC and by keeping open a thread for each month there is no pressure on following any of the challenges in the month they are set. In effect if you read any of the 24 authors chosen then you will have completed that little part of the challenge.

>46 thornton37814: For the January challenges I have plenty by all of the writers shortlisted. Some of the other months I have less but none of the writers will be as obscure as BS Johnson was this year.

I am a bit behind so I will start off with congratulations X3 - for last thread (which I have only tonight gotten around to), for this thread and special congrats to Kyran, the birthday boy and budding artist!

I loved reading the BAC suggestions that came in fast and furious on your previous thread. I am happy to it back and watch the BAC 2016 unveil... I am enjoying using the various author challenges as a way to expand my reading. Did I see mention on your previous thread of a possible Canadian author challenge next year?

.... and I see that you are now involved in a home move? I love moving because it is the perfect opportunity to purge stuff, except when it involves debates with my packrat other half, and then I grow to despise moves. Here is hoping you find the home you want and that the move is a smooth one!

>48 lkernagh: Thank you so much Lori. The Canadian Author Challenge depends upon the Canadians amongst us and the willingness of one of you to take it on! I would really like to see such a challenge but I do think it most appropriate that the joys of Canadian Lit are introduced by a Canadian.

I am about to go out with Kyran in order to buy his birthday present but I wanted to unveil January's male author for BAC first.

As I said I am not sure how long we will be about deciding on a move but I will definitely keep all informed.

So now .........................................

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE

January 2016



BARRY UNSWORTH

Fairly close between all three of them but I got the deciding vote this time and plumped for Mr. Unsworth

Yeeeee!

eta: Canadian reading challenge? I might consider arranging that. Might. I'll sleep over it for a few nights before deciding. Maybe a fellow Canadian will be quicker on the draw in the meantime.

>51 Smiler69: I will be in for sure if you decide to go ahead with it, Ilana.

Hey Paul. I see you just finished The Long Song. I brought that with me on this conference trip and plan to read it right after I finish Frankenstein. :-o

>50 PaulCranswick: I LOVE that "we" are starting to plan for 2016!

Hi Paul, may I ask you a favour please. Would it be possible to put the discussion and chose for BAC 2016 in a separated thread? It would make it much easier for me to follow and find the authors. So I can compare the list with my local library. Thanks so much.

>53 EBT1002: & 54 I am sure that you will enjoy it Ellen. It won't exactly be light relief after Mary Shelley though.
Planning started early already as much to get me back in the swing of the group as anything elese. xx

>55 Ameise1: Barbara, I will be starting a thread today for the BAC 2016 formation thread, but I will keep discussion on possible over here so that the challenge thread is "clean" so to speak.

The Planning Thread for the 2016 BAC is up and can be found here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/199234

Thanks so much for putting it up, Paul. Makes my life much easier.

>58 Ameise1: No problem - here is for chatter and clutter and there is for order and clarity. xx

We do however have to turn to think about February 2016 BAC Ladies.

After the headlong dash of the first month I think we already need a breather from literary fiction and so for the ladies we'll be looking at Queens of Crime. I could have included Margery Allingham and Dorothy L Sayers or even PD James but the three choices I am putting up are:

Agatha Christie

Helen MacInnes

or

Ruth Rendell

No McInnes for me because there is no book of her in the library. Both other ladies I love.

Agatha Christie



To refer to her books :

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/agatha-christie/

Dame Agatha Christie is famous the world over as the creator of the dapper Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and the geriatric genius Miss Marple. According to the Guinness Book of Records she is the highest selling author of all time (although Ms Rowling is catching up steadily) with upwards of 2 billion sales and has been translated into 103 languages.

The avid reader has 30+ Poirot novels and more than a dozen Marple books to go at amongst the huge body of her work. Always a pleasure to read.

>61 Ameise1: Noted Barbara. We may remedy that somehow if Ms. MacInnes was chosen.

Helen MacInnes



To view her work :

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/helen-macinnes/

If Dame Agatha was the Queen of the Detective Story then Helen MacInnes would have been Queen of Spy Novels. A classicist by education she was proficient in French and German and was actually married to a real life spy. She emigrated to the USA with her husband in 1937 but always considered herself Scottish to her roots.

Her second novel Assignment in Brittany was thought so authentic it was required reading for those embarking for France in the war.

Any of these three ladies will help me whittle down my TBRs. I will be reading several Christies any way, so my preference would be one of the other two that I wouldn't necessarily read otherwise.

Ruth Rendell



see her work here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/ruth-rendell/

Whether as the creator of Inspector Wexford, writing her suspenseful thrillers or in her alter ego form of Barbara Vine, Rendell was hugely successful and won virtually ever award available in the genre.

She was also created a Baroness and sat in the House of Lords for the Labour Party where she campaigned vigorously against female genital mutilation and scottish independence - not of course that the two are in anyway linked!

Ruth Rendell died in May this year following a stroke.

>65 cbl_tn: I am sure that most of us have something by Rendell and Christie on the shelves but I am hopeful that one or two have an interest in MacInnes. I have decided that I will read at least one book by all the authors I put up as shortlisted this year which means that 72 reads are spoken for already!

>67 PaulCranswick: I have several unread MacInnes novels that I inherited from my grandmother. I'd love a good excuse to read one. So far the only one I've read is Assignment in Brittany, and I enjoyed it very much.

>68 cbl_tn: There was a reissue of most of her novels two years ago, Carrie and I think that most of them would be readily available. I am keen to re-read Murder on the Orient Express and I would also like to read one of Rendell's books as Barbara Vine because i have such a lot of them on the shelves.

>67 PaulCranswick: Gosh that seems ambitious (not that I don't think you'll do it though!). I would lean towards McInnes because she is new to me.

>70 charl08: At least Christie, MacInnes and Rendell are all relatively quick reads. Some of the others coming up will take much more of my time, I am sure.

Hi Paul! You'll have to tell me what you think of The Bone Clocks. I got it as a Christmas present last year and read it... and read it.... and read it..... just having had cataract surgery it took quite a while!

I have pretty much everything of Agatha Christie's and have read most of them multiple times (with the exception of Tuppence and Tommy, who irritate me). I also have two Helen MacInnes books. I've read Above Suspicion, but haven't yet read Assignment in Brittany 1942.

Ruth Rendell was a wonderful author. My absolute favorite is A Judgment in Stone, with Anna's Book coming in a close second. I've read most of the rest of her books on my shelves.... all 33 of then and 3 as Barbara Vine. I haven't deliberately saved any of them, but it's nice to know that when the mood strikes I'll have a "new" Rendell to read.

Happy New Thread, Paul. Love your son's artwork. Thanks for sharing.

Nice to see you posting again, with gusto. Hope that continues.

How is Bone Clocks coming? Hope it is still working for you.

Karen, I am enjoying it along with the other three I am reading.....sometimes it is a little difficult to decide which one to pick up and which one to put down.

I think this years BAC was probably a little too serious in terms of writers chosen so I wanted to mix it up a little more this next year.

>73 msf59: Yeah, I reckon I am back Marko. Posting as much as I have done all year, I guess. The Bone Clocks is coming along fine.

I am happy with the selection of Barry Unsworth as I have several of his books on my shelves and will be happy to get them off while participating in the BAC.

I am inclined to lean towards Ruth Rendell as I have never read anything by her.

>66 PaulCranswick: I hadn't realised Ruth Rendell had passed away this year, so was surprised to see you mention her in the past tense till I got to the end of that post. My vote goes for her books for the BAC, because I happily read Christie just about every other month (or so it seems, lately) and haven't any MacInnes on the tbr, while a Rendell choice would help me whittle down that ever-growing collection!

>76 benitastrnad: There was no real consensus on the male choice Benita so it was down to me to choose and I thought that Unsworth deserved to edge it.

>77 Smiler69: PD James and Ruth Rendall sadly died within six months of each other after so long jointly carrying Ms Christie's mantle as the doyenne of female crime writers. Not counting Kindle, as I am sure I have a lot of the Wexford books in that medium, I have 8 of Rendall's books on the shelves.

Am hoping, hoping, hoping that February's lady will be Christie. Am very much not a fan of spy novels in general and though I have read a little Rendell and enjoyed her stuff, I will be reading Chriistie anyway. I'd probably even get 2 or 3 of them read as they are usually on the small side, page count-wise.

>79 Fourpawz2: This one looks another where I have managed to pick out three that appeal to a lot of the group to various degrees and there will be no winning by acclaim as Susan Hill did. Food for thought certainly, Charlotte.

>18 PaulCranswick: What more could you want than a place for both books and handbags! LOL
>26 PaulCranswick: If you choose Ackroyd I might even join the challenge. I have 7 of his books waiting patiently on the shelves and I really should read at least one before I am tempted to buy more.

I'll cast my vote for Agatha Christie.

Hello there, Paul! I love to watch how the dust will settle when the ladies are selected for your BAC. So intriguing!

Hi Paul, first off a very happy 16th birthday Kyran and what a talented artist he is. I hope the house hunt goes well mate and you get the right amount of space for your books. Hope you have had a good weekend mate and it was a shame that bad light ruined England's chance to win the test after Rashid had got them into a good position.

Hi Paul. I am a huge fan of Ruth Rendell. She gets all three of my votes. :-)

And thanks for putting up the planning thread for 2016!

>81 Familyhistorian: Aaaargh Meg you cast a vote a day late and Ackroyd lost to Unsworth by a short-head!

>82 amanda4242: Duly noted Amanda. The three ladies seem to have gotten votes in equal number for this one.

>83 Carmenere: Lynda, nice to see you. I am enjoying this excruciatingly extended selection process immensely. xx

>84 johnsimpson: Thanks John. Rashid is what England need from a spinner - potentially a second innings match winner. He should clearly be bowled very sparingly in the first innings though!

>85 EBT1002: Despite you obviously being a favourite of mine Ellen, there is no way I could allow you three votes.............two perhaps!

I vote for Agatha! Anytime she's in a contest, I'd vote for her!

>88 thornton37814: Interesting life story as well especially with her mysterious disappearance in 1926 where she left her philandering husband and went missing to public sensation only to turn up in a hotel in Harrogate booked in under the name of her husband's mistress - the mind boggles and the mystery of her disappearance and its intentions were taken to the grave with her. One mystery she didn't help us to solve!

>86 PaulCranswick: Oh well, I guess I can blame my busy Saturday for that. I probably wouldn't have been able to keep up with the challenges anyway.

>90 Familyhistorian: No sweat with any of the challenges, Meg. You can dip in and out and read which of the authors selected you fancy.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE

February 2016

Agatha Christie



This was a close call in truth. I was very mindful of the fact that she is simply too well known and her books so widely and consistently read. I did say that the challenge can stand the occasional megalith and in fairness the number of votes for the Dame slightly edged out the other two ladies beating Ruth Rendall by a whisker and Rendell being slightly ahead of MacInnes.

Getting ready for 2016 already - my goodness how time does seem to fly! I realized while looking over your suggestions of male authors for the BAC that I don't seem to read many male British authors - nothing by any of the ones listed. I should fix that sometime. Susan Hill is a favorite of mine and I have a few of hers here, unread. I'm looking forward to seeing who you pick for the remaining months. Even if I don't participate much, it's fun to see who everyone will be reading!

Searching for a new home! Never a dull moment - have fun and good luck, Paul!

>51 Smiler69: Ilana, I'd love to see a Canadian Author Challenge!

>93 Copperskye: Lovely to see you Joanne. The male nominations for February may give you something to think about.
I would also be pleased to see Ilana or another of the Canadian contingent take up the mantle.

I have a Ruth Rendell omnibus still to read, I love her books.
I read Agatha Christie when I was a teen and have no desire to revisit for all that I loved the books at time.
I've read a few by Helen McInnes and would consider her but maybe her work is now hard to find?

edit: oh, I'm too late, I didn't refresh before posting.

Despite her megalithic status, I've never read Christie so I'm quite happy to see she made the cut. Off to dig out that omnibus of her work I know I have somewhere.

>95 avatiakh: Kerry a few minutes may have made a difference because it was that close. A quick read that Christie is may tempt you for a few short hours around Valentine's Day?!

>96 amanda4242: I don't imagine that there are so many people that read the number and quality of books that you do yearly Amanda that could say that they hadn't read anything by Dame Agatha yet. I will be going with Hercule, I think.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE 2016

February Males

We shall be on our travels in February with the gentlemen as my choices will be three aces of travel writing. I considered Norman Lewis and Eric Newby but in the end the shortlist is:

William Dalrymple

Patrick Leigh Fermor

or

Colin Thubron

Hmmm...all three look interesting. After careful consideration, my top choice is Patrick Leigh Fermor, followed by William Dalrymple and Colin Thubron.

ETA: Just looked at Fermor's Wikipedia page, where he is described as "a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene." Definitely want to read him now!

William Dalrymple



A list of his work can be found on his website:

http://www.williamdalrymple.uk.com/books

Scottish born Dalrymple was 50 this year and has written extensively on India and its regions prior to partition. Originally specialising in travel writing he has added historical perspective to his writing that has won him great acclaim. He has honorary doctorates from fully five international universities and has won most major history and travel writing awards.

Patrick Leigh Fermor



A list of his work can be found on the website created in his honour:

http://patrickleighfermor.org/bookshop/

Fermor lived to the ripe old age of 96 after a full life, indeed a life full of derring-do (he famously participated in the kidnapping of the German general governing Crete in WW2) travel, greek culture and physical exertion. He remained supremely fit until the end despite an astonishing intake of five packets of ciggies a day.

Possibly most famous for his three book recall of his travels on foot through Europe to reach Greece in time for the war!

Colin Thubron



A list of his work can be found here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/t/colin-thubron/

The present President of the Royal Society of Literature, Thubron is possibly the most versatile of the three writers on offer for February having also published seven well regarded novels in addition to his extensive and erudite travel writing. Russia and the Middle East have been the prevailing source of inspiration for Thubron in his travels. The Times ranks him in the top 50 British writers since World War 2.

>99 amanda4242: I think in terms of life story Amanda it is a no-brainer - Leigh Fermor definitely has it. As a writer he has a slighter output than the other two (Thubron in particular) but what he did write made its mark. Dalrymple is a very interesting one and I was surprised by how many voices were raised in his support when he was mooted as a possible option. Another one which will take some thinking over, I feel.

Just wanted to vote for Christie, but saw that she already made it into the BAC 2016 without my help. It's nice to have an "easy" one in a challenge from time to time and I still have some unread ACs on my Kindle.

Have a great week!

I love Leigh Fermor (who must also have the sympathy of anyone who has ever suffered from writer's block) and am a fan of Thubron, but would really love the push of the challenge to read some Dalrymple. I'm particularly keen to get to White Mughals as this has been on my shelf for an age, plus saw his recent documentary on the subject and my interest is piqued in early relationships between Indians and British elites.

>104 Deern: Pleased to make you happy, Nathalie. I figured that February normally arrives with the reader tired after a January surge. That explains the reason why I thought it imperative to have an "easy" one.

>105 charl08: I have bought a couple of Dalrymple's books this month knowing that he would more than likely (it is devised by me after all!) be shortlisted for a spot. I have decided as I stated yesterday that I will read something by all the shortlisted writers next year.

I love travel literature! I woukd be happy with any of the three men for February. The Category Challenge group's 2016 GeoCAT will focus on Central Asia in February, and it looks like both Thubron and Dalrymple have written books that would work for that challenge.

>107 cbl_tn: Wow Carrie, it looks like inadvertently I had put the travel writers, complete with bags packed, in exactly the right slot!

Nice new(ish) thread, Paul! I'll follow next year's British Authors Challenge from the bench for now, as I don't want to commit to it unless I do a better job of meeting my own literary goals in 2016, especially since 2015 has been a subpar reading year so far.

>92 PaulCranswick: I'm in the midst of a years-long project of rereading Christie's mysteries in publication order. I'll read whatever is next in February. I'm not sure what that will be yet. It depends on how many of her books I read between now and then.

Christie offers several choices for non-mystery readers. Some of her short story collections delve into the supernatural/paranormal. She wrote a few plays. Her autobiography is very good, and I also enjoyed Come, Tell Me How You Live, a memoir about travel and archaeology in the Middle East with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. She also wrote several non-mystery novels as "Mary Westmacott".

>109 kidzdoc: Just chip in where you can Darryl. At least one of your very favourite authors will be shortlisted for April.

>110 cbl_tn: Yes she didn't only publish crime Carrie but I am not sure that Mary Westmacott would have sold many books without them! Her autobiography is interesting more as to what she leaves out than what she puts in. For those seeking an explanation of her disappearance dissapointment will ensue.

For what it's worth I would like to see William Dalrymple as Mr. February.

>112 Fourpawz2: It is worth more than a little, Charlotte! I take note carefully of everyone's comments in making my mind up. For example for January, I had sort of planned for Fay Weldon only to find a clear consensus for Susan Hill so Ms. Hill it was.

Then you shall have my input right through the choosing process. I don't know a thing about any of the three gentlemen, but some of Dalrymple's books appealed to me.

>111 PaulCranswick: Christie's autobiography is one of my favorite books. I admire her for being able to keep her secret about the "missing days" even though I'd love to know where she went and what she did. I've only read one of her Mary Westmacott books (The Burden) and I didn't care for it. I haven't decided yet if I'll be a completist and read them all, or if I'll just stick with the books she published as Agatha Christie.

>114 Fourpawz2: Of the three I have only read Patrick Leigh Fermor's A Time of Gifts which is the first part of his journey from London to Constantinople on foot. To be honest it is quite lyrical and probably not to everyone's taste but I thought it exceptional. Leigh Fermor suffered badly from writer's block and did an amazing job considering he published that book only in 1977 about a journey he took over 40 years earlier. To compound matters the notebooks he had studiously kept up were lost at some stage and he had to recreate from memory.
Dalrymple's books have been acclaimed for their sureness of touch. It helps that his family descendants were amongst the original Raj establishment that governed India for Her Majesty. Thubron is someone I have meant to read for ever and a day.

>115 cbl_tn: As one completist to another, Carrie, if I got started on reading them all - read them all I surely would. xx

I don't have a strong preference on any of the three. I can find one book by Dalrymple in my public library's catalog and one e-book at the university library. I can find one book by Fermor in the public library. Oddly enough the university only has a book he translated which was written by someone else. The university library has three by Thubron. In other words, I can find something by any of them, but more by Thubron. Still, I have no preference. I enjoy travel writing so I'm looking forward to whichever one is selected.

>117 thornton37814: In my twenties I read everything by Eric Newby and of course one travelled far in the novels and other writings of Graham Greene and Somerset Maugham both of whom have remained favourites of mine into middle age. Paul Theroux's travel books were devoured by me before any of his fiction was. The late Bruce Chatwin promised to be the king of the genre before mortality caught up with him.
Oxfam the charity published a book called OxTravels : Meetings with Remarkable Travel Writers (Ox Tales) which was a book of travel essays by the great and the good edited by Michael Palin. All three of our shortlist have writings in there and I might give them a glance before deciding.

Can't resist - after following and enjoying your threads for most of the year - adding a link that's got nothing to do with BAC, but should be interesting to most of you. Obama In conversation with Marilynne Robinsom (as a podcast too):

http://www2.nybooks.com/articles/s3/2015/nov/05/president-obama-marilynne-robins...

I'll definitely join the BAC next year, and happy to let your choices guide me.

Haven't read any of the February male author choices, but I vote for Patrick Leigh Fermor. I have three of his on the shelf.

I've got no preference on these writers, I have books by all but not read any. I did read a little about Fermor's war exploits in The spy who loved.

>119 charlottenlund: Who would have thought he liked Gilead so much! Thanks for that Charlotte and for posting here. I look forward to your company in the BAC and the 75ers next year.

>120 laytonwoman3rd: Linda, having only read something by Fermor, I am also interested to read the other but whether within or without the BAC we shall see fairly soon!

>121 avatiakh: Kerry, I did read their contributions to the Oxfam book yesterday and there was no clear winner. This one is a tough choice.

No preference to state on the choice for the men, as I'd be interested to read anything by any one of them.

>123 Smiler69: No preference, but all ok seems to be the consensus dear lady so it is down to me again! I feel a little like Fay Weldon when the Booker Prize panel was deadlocked on either Shame by Rushdie or Life and Times of Michael K by Coetzee in 1983. As Chairwoman she had the casting vote. According to reports she initially chose Rushdie only to change her mind as the result was being phoned through.
I am not going to change my mind but I do agree with you that all would almost equally suffice.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE FEBRUARY 2015

William Dalrymple



I couldn't overlook the early surge of interest in Dalrymple when I mooted him as a possible. In fact it prompted me to buy a couple of his books in expectation!

I read three short extracts yesterday - one each from Dalrymple, Leigh-Fermor and Thubron in the Oxfam book. Dalrymple's was fascinating about the Jain ascetics of Karnakata whilst Leigh Fermor was colourful around a campfire in the Balkans and Thubron trudged enticingly towards Tibet. Dalrymple shaded it closely.

>125 PaulCranswick: He's a Scot so that works for me! Honestly, I haven't been familiar with any of the three under consideration, so I'm pleased with your choice out of ignorance as much as anything.

I am anxious to see the nominees for March. :-)

>125 PaulCranswick: I'm sure any of the three would have made for a good month of reading.

>126 EBT1002: Ellen - Scots is good enough is it? Hahaha Next month is St. Andrew's Day, the patron saint of Scotland and explains why the BAC will have William Boyd and Muriel Spark.

March lady shortlist is imminent.

>127 charl08: I did get the feeling that there would have been few complaints whichever of the three had been selected.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE MARCH 2016

After a month of light relief we get back to slightly more serious stuff with three ladies who grew up in the frozen north after the Labour Party had introduced the Welfare State and it helped propel them as writers:

AL Kennedy

Ali Smith

or

Jeanette Winterson

I've got a book by Winterson on my wishlist, but I really think I would prefer Kennedy.

I'm keen to read Ali Smith, I haven't read Kennedy and prefer to skip Winterson.

I'm not very familiar with any of the three. I haven't read any of them and I don't have anything by any of them on the WL. I've taken a look at their work and I'm most interested in Ali Smith.

>130 Fourpawz2: Charlotte I actually I had four names that I had considered. I was also toying with Jackie Kay and to whether to make it an all scottish troupe instead of Winterson but I felt that the poet/author may be a little too obscure.

>131 avatiakh: I have a goodly number of Ali Smith books without having read any of them and would welcome the chance to prioritise her. Kennedy's Day was an award winner whilst I have all of Winterson's 1001 books.

>132 cbl_tn: All three of them are interesting characters Carrie. Kennedy is a stand up comedian which may be suprising given the sombre tone of some of her writing. Smith's books are felt to be quirky whilst Winterson's deal often quite overtly with issues of sexuality and she was openly gay at the age of 16 in a period when such bravery would have been frowned upon.

A.L. KENNEDY



Details of her work can be found here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/a-l-kennedy/

Alison Louise Kennedy was born in 1965 in the Scottish city of Dundee. From an academic family her alma mater is the same as mine as she studied at Warwick University a year ahead of me (I vaguely remember her) where she is now an Associate Professor. She is a prolific sort story writer but is probably best known for the Costa Book Award winning Day. She has recently brought out a Doctor Who book!

Ali Smith



Details of her work can be found here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/ali-smith/

Another Scottish' writer (she was born in the Northern town of Inverness), Smith is loved by the literary critics. Her last four novels have all been multi award nominated; three of them shortlisted for the Booker and she has won the Whitbread, Women's Prize, Costa Book Awards, Goldsmith's Prize and the Folio Prize the last four being for How to be Both.

Jeanette Winterson



Details of her work here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/jeanette-winterson/

Mancunian Jeanette Winterson seems to have been around forever! She had Oranges are not the Only Fruit published in her early twenties in the 1980s and it was quickly hailed a modern classic. She won the Whitbread Prize for that and the John Llewellyn Rhys prize for The Passion. Several of her books have been honoured with Lambda Awards and sexuality features in her writing prominently. Openly gay (like Ali Smith) she has been a sharply feminist voice whose writing would appear to have been rather unfairly overlooked by some critics as a result.

I've been too late to chime in on the previous choices for women authors, and now that I'm here for the discussion, I've nothing to say! These three women have all crossed my radar at times in the past, and I have never been tempted to read any of them. So I guess I'll say nothing. I'll be watching for reasons to be tempted as others indicate their preferences.

>137 laytonwoman3rd: Well Linda I will also admit that I have never come very close to reading any of them either! This is despite having plenty of their books as ornaments strewn all over the house. I will be interested to see which way the wind is blowing on this shortlist because I will be reading slightly out of my comfort zone as modernist/post modernist and magic realism which are often phrases that crop up with these writers doesn't sit too well with me usually.

I figured in all fairness that I couldn't just select a list of all my favourite writers or I would lose my friends quickly!

I like to read travel books, and really like travel literature with a dose of history in it, so am looking forward to the Dalrymple read. As for these three ladies I don't have any preference. So far not a single title by Ali Smith has appealed to my reading tastes but I know that she is well regarded by other readers. Same is true for Winterson. I guess that means that my vote would be for the other author, whoever she might be.

#122
Gilead was one of my personal Best-Books-of-the-Year back in the day so I CAN understand why Obama liked it so much. I thought it was nearly a perfect book. Unfortunately, none of the other books by Robinson have hit quite that same mark with me. In fact, Home was a real let-down. I haven't read the latest one by her - yet. I hope to do so at some time simply because I liked Gilead so much.

>139 benitastrnad: Almost Sherlockian in the art of elimination Benita! I really must read Gilead soon.

No preferences for these three ladies. I would find a book of each of them.

>141 Ameise1: OK Barbara, so far I am none the wiser really.

I read Ali Smith's How to be Both as it was nominated (and then won) the women's fiction prize this year. Loved it, and am keen to read more by her, so hoping that she might be the choice. How to be Both is just an amazing novel about a young woman who has lost her mother, and the process of her grief, but also the intrusion of technology into her young life, and particularly what that means when you are a girl just discovering your sexuality. The other half of the book (and which half comes first depends on which copy you pick up) is the life story of a young medieval Italian painter, which at first seems to have no similarities at all with the modern day protagonist.

>143 charl08: I did notice your enthusiasm for How to be Both from your thread, Charlotte. It did come pretty close to a clean sweep of prizes in the UK last year.

Paul, you couldn't go wrong on the men in February as far as I was concerned, and will happily read City of Djinns by William Dalrymple, which came to my attention ages ago because I liked the book cover (as good a reason as any, right?). I'll hurry up and order it asap.

As for the women, I have Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, but in no hurry to get to it. Not really interested in discovering A.L. Kennedy (does she always look so dreary? i.e. like a Middle Ages nun? Based on that photo, I worry I wouldn't enjoy her writing much, but of course that is pure prejudice). On the other hand, I've had Ali Smith's Booker Prize shortlisted The Accidental in the stacks since 2010 and would love to have an extra excuse to pick it up sooner than later, and will very likely take in How to be Both too while I'm at it, since I'm intensely curious about it.

I'm a thread behind again (though part of me is glad to be a thread behind every time I blink ;) ).

Liking the BAC choices so far. I'd probably plump for Winterson with Smith a close runner up. Wouldn't be upset with Kennedy though! I know... I'm not helping...

>145 Smiler69: So the upshot is Ali Smith, Ilana! Let's see if you're in luck. She certainly seems to have made a positive impression so far. Any more thought to a Canadian Author Challenge? xx

>146 BekkaJo: Must admit I have slipped back into my old sort of posting speed which is as pleasing to me as it is tiring to me and others! I know, Bekka, you used to be indecisive but now you're no so.....

A bit slow on the reading front as I have two doorstoppers in The Fatal Shore and The Bone Clocks together with the New Nobel winner to go at but I did managed to exit largely intact the skewed world of Flannery O'Connor just now by completing Everything That Rises Must Converge. It is a collection that will remain with me but which was more than a little unsettling in parts.

My vote goes to Kennedy; her books look interesting even though she doesn't. Winterson would be my second choice.

Nothing by Smith is available to me at my libraries (public and university). There is one e-book on Tennessee Reads by her if I'm lucky enough to be the one to get it at the time. I can get something by either Kennedy or Winterson.

I forgot about The Accidental by Ali Smith. The reason - I Pearl Ruled it. I read more than 50 pages, but just couldn't find a single person in that novel that I liked, so I dumped it. I did feel guilty about it because it seemed to be on so many prize lists.

Hi, Paul! I've been lurking, enjoying the back-and-forth on the BAC choices for next year. So far, at least, I'll probably be in for the January BAC, since I've been reading the Simon Serrailler series but am taking a break after finishing the fifth. I should be ready to pick it back up by January. Other than Hill, I am unfamiliar with the work of the Feb. choice and March candidates. Might be a good time to try some new(-to-me) authors.

Weird but strangely compelling image up top. Your son has talent!

Hi, Paul! Looks like BAC II, is going to be another interesting outing. I have Jeanette Winterson's latest, in both print and audio, so I should get to it soon. Plus, I've been meaning to read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for ages.

Still have not read Ali Smith. Bad Mark!!

^I did not even realize she was English.

>149 amanda4242: I find the fact that Kennedy does stand up comedy yet writes immensely serious fiction an interesting juxtaposition.

>150 thornton37814: I am surprised that Smith is a little difficult to obtain in Tennessee, Lori, considering she has had three books Booker shortlisted and the last one won the Folio and Women's Prize.

>151 benitastrnad: It is not a good sign when you have to Pearl Rule 'em Benita. Her work has been described as modernist and post-modernist. I am not exactly au fait with differentiating between the two but it daunts not a little.

>154 PaulCranswick: Lori's experience isn't representative of the whole state. If I counted correctly, my county has 9 of Ali Smith's works available, with most of them available in multiple formats.

>152 Storeetllr: Mary I certainly don't expect anyone to read all 24 writers next year although I will be happy if and when someone does. The idea of having two per month originally was to provide a choice and it ought to be an ideal sort of thing to dip in and out of. xx

>153 msf59: First of all mate Smith is not English'. I will try to save you from the wrath of our Scottish and Scottish origin compadres by pointing out that she is Scottish!
For those who like to read the 1001 books then Winterson is a must as she has several in there.

>155 cbl_tn: Doesn't Tennessee's library system have that shared arrangement whereby books can be transferred between locations?

>157 PaulCranswick: Library systems are run by the counties. There are regional libraries that support the rural county libraries. The rural libraries collectively share a statewide ebook collection, but the metropolitan counties (including Knox) don't have access to the statewide collection. The cities each have to fund their own ebook collections. I'm not sure how interlibrary lending works at the regional library level. My county library system has lots of branches. I can request a book from any branch in my county and pick it up at the branch of my choice.

>158 cbl_tn: Absolutely fascinating, Carrie. There is no library system at all to speak of here much to my financial detriment. I am sure that we can find a way to help Lori in the eventuality that Smith gets the nod.

Thanks for correcting me on Smith. I do not want to rile the troops.

>160 msf59: Hahaha Mark, I know from personal experience of working in Scotland several times and having a number of Scots friends that the worst thing you can call them is English!

>156 PaulCranswick: You don't expect *anyone* to read all 24 authors next year? Not even one person?

Well, I am with Ilana in being daunted by A.L. Kennedy's grim expression. On the other hand, William Dalyrmple has such a winning smile, maybe we can put up with some gravity from the lady of the month.

I am a huge Winterson fan, and I think she makes for good discussion.

>162 amanda4242: Hahaha I am pretty sure that you will Amanda but I can't very well demand it can I? hehehe. You will probably read two or three from each of 'em.

>163 banjo123: I find it very hard to imagine her doing stand-up comedy Rhonda, I must say.

Well it is with some trepidation that I announce that the March lady is:

Ali Smith

*sigh* The one I have almost zero intrest in. Oh well, Girl Meets Boy : The Myth of Iphis looked mildly interesting--and is short.

>165 PaulCranswick: Yay! There's a nice article here on her work (although now I am overflowing with possible choices!)

Ali Smith's joyful curiosity about language, love and everything else
http://gu.com/p/49f6g?

>166 amanda4242: I was a little torn on this as I had actually anticipated Jeanette Winterson and realised that overwhelmingly the majority preferred Ali Smith.

>167 charl08: With three Booker shortlists there must be something to like about her work so I will go into it hopefully. xx

Now the March gentlemen.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE MARCH 2016

If we have had the moderns for our ladies I think that we have to cast a little further back for our chaps. Last year I only included writers active from 1900 onwards but for March 2016 we will choose between three giants of the 19th century novel. I have not included Charles Dickens as his work is simply too familiar and has been group read too often and I have overlooked Wilkie Collins due to the number of negative comments his mere suggestion prompted. So the shortlist is:

Thomas Hardy

Sir Walter Scott

or

Anthony Trollope

Trollope has, I know been well read in the group but there is a wealth of choice there.

Thomas Hardy



Details of his work can be seen here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/thomas-hardy/

Hardy's Wessex is not exactly a mythical kingdom within the western marches of England being based, albeit with altered names, on the actual towns, cities and villages of Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset and Devon. It is, however, a place that helped to bring to life the wonderful novels of Thomas Hardy. On the day I commenced my university education, if I was asked to choose who I thought was the greatest British novelist ever I would I have said unhesitatingly "Hardy". Far from the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Casterbridge which for me represented the high point of late Victorian literature. Today, being I think, a little more well read whilst still scratching the surface, I am less sure but he is still a favourite.

Trollope is easily my favorite of the three. I loved Ivanhoe but it's the only Scott I've read. I've read a bit of Hardy, but it's mostly been a chore rather than a pleasure.

Sir Walter Scott



Details of his work can be seen here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/sir-walter-scott/

The Wizard of the North, Walter Scott came to novel writing in the immediate aftermath of Waterloo. A time of social uphevel and discontent and he addressed this content largely by writing of the past. Probably the first great British historical novelist, he was celebrated in the old century as a poet and balladeer of distinction and published his novels anonymously to avoid the chagrin of his father.

Financially ruined in the 1920s his work remained popular but the romantic elements have aged less successfully than some of his more realist contempories and near contempories. His books are rich and comforting for a winter evening by the fire which most of you would still benefit from in March.

Anthony Trollope



Details of his work can be seen here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/t/anthony-trollope/

In appearance the nearest thing we produced to Tolstoy! Bewhiskered as he was I believe his time was taken up in bringing forth his prodigious written output rather than using the newly coined safety razor. Hugely prolific and somewhat unfairly considered a workaday author in his time he is now amongst the most revered writers of his age.
Both the Barchester and Palliser series remain wholly in print and of his 47 (yes 47) novels perhaps the stand alone The Way We Live Now remains his masterpiece.

Three towering figures but which one do we want for March?

>171 cbl_tn: Surprised Carrie as I would have thought Hardy the easiest of the three to read today. I came later to the work of Trollope and he understood people and their petty foibles as well as anyone who has put pen to parchment. He dealt largely in grey rather than absolute blacks and whites which is the colour of so many peoples motivations.

>170 PaulCranswick: I'm going to let others decide as 19c fiction not my thing!

>175 charl08: Honestly Charlotte I am more in my comfort zone there than with the very contemporary fiction that will accompany it vide Ms. Smith. Hopefully the juxtaposition of the old and the new will work.

My heart goes with Thomas Hardy.

Hardy is a favorite of mine, so of course I've read all of his major works (The Mayor of Casterbridge being the favorite), but I've still got a couple of the lesser works to read. I've got a Trollope or two around here somewhere. Scott is tough for me to read which is why My gaze kind of slides over them when I confront them on my shelves. Even the ones I've read have never seemed really read as my mind tends to wander while I am 'reading' him. So I guess my vote is sort of a negative one - please, no Walter Scott.

Really wanted Kennedy, but will try Smith. After all this is what the BAC is about - trying new things - yes?

>177 Ameise1: Reminds me Barbara of the story of Thomas Hardy's heart. It had been his wish to be buried in Dorset in Stinsford. Because of his public standing authorities requested he be interred at Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. His wife mindful of his wishes placed his ashes there but his heart was to be buried in Dorset. Unfortunately the doctor removing the said heart left the room momentarily and returned to find his cat eating Hardy's heart. The upshot is that Hardy's heart and the cat that ate it are both interred in Stinsford.

>178 Fourpawz2: My own favourite is Return of the Native, Charlotte but his major work is uniformly good. On the other hand some of his lesser work is not particularly good in my opinion. The Trumpet Major being quite a slight piece of work.

Great story about Hardy and his heart. I read lots of Thomas Hardy in my teens, I really loved them. If he gets chosen I'll listen to the audio of Return of the Native which is narrated by Alan Rickman and everyone here seems to swoon over it.
I read Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott years and years ago and liked it, would like to read more in the Waverely series.
My choice would probably be Anthony Trollope as I want to read him and haven't as yet.

>180 avatiakh: Happy to see that wichever one garners the most favour you will be picking up something or listening along. I still haven't read enough Trollope.

>179 PaulCranswick: What a wonderful story, Paul. Thanks for sharing it.

>182 Ameise1: Hardy's life was quite an incident filled and interesting one, Barbara. The biography of him by Claire Tomalin is quite well regarded.

Here is his gravestone in Stinsford but it doesn't tell the whole story!

I did manage to squeez in a visit to the Temple of Bookdom this afternoon between meetings. What I bought will probably help to demonstrate my preoccupation with the BAC!

265. Scott on Waterloo by Sir Walter Scott (1816) 412 pp
Amazingly no touchstone and no other member has this book. Originally called "Paul's Letters to His Kinfolk".

266. Mani : Travels in the Southern Peloponnese by Patrick Leigh Fermor (1958) 310 pp
Fermor journeying amongst the Greeks, the book that established his reputation

267. List of the Lost by Morrissey (2015) 118 pp
A novella by the former Smith's frontman - can he write prose to the standard he composed songs?

268. Coast to Coast by Jan Morris (1956) 238 pp
First book by the celebrated History and Travel writer.

>269 Smiler69: Indelible Acts by A.L. Kennedy (2002) 212 pp
Short story collection from the miserable looking Scottish stand-up comedienne. Perhaps she should sit down?

>270 amanda4242: Lila by Marilynne Robinson (2014) 261 pp
I had been waiting for this one in paperback

>169 PaulCranswick: I don't think you could go wrong with any of those. I'll try to remember to join in during that month, so I'll go ahead and venture a vote for Hardy. (Trollope is probably my favorite of the three, but I own a couple more by Hardy that I keep meaning to read.)

>185 foggidawn: No votes for poor Sir Walter yet then Foggi. He ended up literally poor. due to the collapse in 1825 during a banking crisis of the printing company he held shares in. He was saddled with debts of what today would have been $15 million. After that all the proceeds from his writing was put into trust to the benefit of his creditors and he was able to pay them off - shortly after he died!

I've been meaning to read Ivanhoe for ages so I'll vote for Scott, with Hardy my next choice.

I'll be happy with any of the three proposed men, as I have something by all three which I'm looking forward to on the tbr, including a lovely Folio Society edition of Waverley by Sir Walter Scott, as well as his Ivanhoe on audio. Of the three, I have Hardy most well-represented on said tbr, including the recording of The Return of the Native Kerry mentions higher up, i.e. with the much-lauded Alan Rickman narration. I greatly enjoyed Tess of the D'Urbevilles, the only novel of his I've read so far, and am waiting to have several more under my belt before acquiring the no doubt excellent biography, aforementioned by you, by Claire Tomalin. As for Trollope, I've got the next in line for the of the Barchester novels in queue, but just now procured The Way We Live Now which had been on the wishlist for a while, following your recommendation of it.

As for a Canadian Author Challange (CAC), I'm seriously considering it, just not sure how much interested there would be? Other than Lori and Joanne that is who are clearly up for it. As you know I've been much less active here this year and would want to be sure to do it right, and not sure how I would promote it other than via your well-populated thread perhaps, since mine is quite understandably (considering I don't update it much) less visited these days.

eta: I was forgetting to mention that Slightly Foxed, issue #46 recently had an article about The Journal of Sir Walter Scott, which he apparently wrote in large part to help pay off his debts. It came highly recommended.

>187 amanda4242: I managed to find a new book by Scott yesterday on visits he made to Waterloo in the aftermath of the battle there. I may read that or Waverley next year whether or not Scott gets selected. It is a mark of the esteem her was held in Scotland that, when the train station in Edinburgh was opened it took the name Waverley in 1847 in homage to the great man and the name remains to this day.

>188 Smiler69: I will start with the last issue first. Your thread remains a popular destination for many and amongst Canadian group members you have definitely had the most posts over a four year period. Deb, Nancy, Lori, Judy (if she'd return to us!), Micky, Cyrel, Chelle, Megan, Meg, Valerie etc etc all would do a fine job I am sure (and these ladies are given as examples only I am not intentionally leaving anyone out) but you were always a lady I was likely to appeal to, if you know what I mean!
I still have a couple of unread Hardy books but I would probably re-read Return of the Native as well as one of his poetry collections. I have lots of Trollope to go at.

I would enjoy a Canadian authors challenge, although I probably coukdn't participate every month. I think there would be a fair amount of interest. Atwood April has certainly been well received.

>181 PaulCranswick: Paul, I'm most likely to get to Trollope at some stage regardless of the challenge. If Scott is chosen then that will be the push for me to finally pick up Waverley.
Return of the Native would probably be a re-read for me, it's so long since I read every Hardy I could lay my hands on that I don't know which ones I read apart from Tess and Far from the Madding Crowd.

>190 cbl_tn: Carrie, I know little of French Canadian lit but many of my favourite writers hail from that vast place.

Rohinton Mistry - A Fine Balance, I would probably select as the best novel written in my lifetime - where the heck is he by the way?

M.G. Vassanji - The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is very good.

Robertson Davies - The Fifth Business is indeed the business.

Alice Munro - pretty much any of her short stories.

Margaret Atwood - I really enjoyed Alias Grace

Brian Moore - The Colour of Blood ought to have won the Booker.

Carol Shields - deservedly won acclaim for The Stone Diaries

As well I would like to read Gil Adamson, Andre Alexis, Joseph Boyden, Timothy Findlay, Rawi Hage, Helen Humphries, Wayne Johnston, Guy Gavriel Kay, Alistair MacLeod, Yann Martel, Michael Ondaatje, Mordechai Richler, Gabriel Roy, Dan Vyleta and many others I am sure.

>191 avatiakh: I am not sure which Trollope I will read, Kerry. The Way We Live Now has been longest on the TBR but it is so sweeping that to finish it could take a fair bit of wind from my sails.

I aam not a big fan of the Victorian authors. I have read both Hardy and Scott but not a single Trollope. I did not like Hardy at all. The other two would have more appeal for me.

>188 Smiler69:, >189 PaulCranswick:, >190 cbl_tn: and >192 PaulCranswick: - Sounds like there is some interest in a CAC. Don't mind me Paul, I am just going to hi-jack your thread for a minute or two. ;-)

>188 Smiler69: - Ilana, I think you would be great as a host for a CAC. I also understand wondering how to promote it. How about a seperate thread in this year's 75 group to test the waters? It can be just to see if there is any interest in a 2016 CAC and to test reactions of possible authors. I shamefacedly admit that I don't read enough CAC so if I was trying to come up with an CAC list it would definitely include authors I have never read but would like to.

> 192 - Nice list, Paul! Some good choices that would also be on my list, such as Robertson Davies, Timothy Findley, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields, Helen Humphries and Gabrielle Roy. I would replace Margaret Atwood with Margaret Laurence and I would add David Adams Richards and Michael Crummey. There are stacks more, but that is the 'off the top of my head' list. ;-)

>194 benitastrnad: Benita to be fair to Scott he was dead before Victoria ascended the throne but he was a great favourite of that old debauchee George IV. Trollope's concerns are of middle england but surprisingly are universal enough that his appeal has retained. I suppose Hardy is one that you love or loathe. I am in the former camp.

>195 lkernagh: Another ideal candidate no? I am sure that there is sufficient interest in such a challenge. I have had the same problem generally with Atwood (Alias Grace aside) as Benita seems to have had with Hardy!

Slightly taken aback just now to note that another group "Book Talk" actually garnered more posts than we 75ers did last week. Being so used to having us at least five times more than any other group - we cannot have this now guys can we?

Checked them out and seems they were set up by the site founder and I don't really see anything special in the traffic there.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE MARCH 2016

MALE

THOMAS HARDY



Love or loathe him? I gleaned that there were more prepared to be in the former camp. I enjoy all three of them but it would have taken an avalanche of support for Scott / Trollope for it not to have been Hardy.

>197 PaulCranswick: Book Talk is the default group if you're posting from the Talk tab so they get most of the spam. Lately they've been inundated with Korean bots advertising online casinos--sometimes dozens in a minute-so I'm guessing that's why they have more posts.

>199 amanda4242: It must be something like that Amanda because when I look at the details on the group page the was only two legitimate posts recorded yesterday with this thread alone having 32. Amber appears to have more posts on her threads alone than the entire activity of that group for the whole year.

>200 PaulCranswick: It was the spam inflating the number. Tim did some fixing and it dropped about 1500 posts.

Also, glad to see Hardy made it to the list.

>202 PaulCranswick: Must say I feel a bit better now! BeGads that Tim fellow moves quickly; one slight gripe and it is tweaked immediately.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE APRIL 2016

LADIES

I am sure that you have heard that expression, "what is good for the goose is good for the gander". In other words we went back an extra century to find our March gentlemen so we will stay there in April and dine with their female contemporaries. We shall choose between:

Maria Edgeworth

George Eliot

or

Elizabeth Gaskell

>203 PaulCranswick: Well, I it was part of a larger fix, but whatever gets us back to our correct place in the hierarchy!

Oh! Elizabeth Gaskell! I have North and South in the stack by my bed, waiting patiently to be read.

>204 amanda4242: & >205 amanda4242: Hahaha I was a little surprised that we were supplanted so surreptitiously is all! North and South is the only Gaskell I have read to date and I liked it.

Read only the very strange Castle Rackrent by Edegworth which was also quite short. I read three Gaskells, liked one (North and South), disliked the second (Cranford) and hated the third (if you want to read something short and completely over the top re. what a woman might have to suffer through, Half a Lifetime Ago is my recommendation), and three Eliots of which I loved one and "quite liked" two. So my vote goes to Eliot, but I'd sure also find something short by the other two to read for the challenge.

Glad that Hardy was selected, I might finally get to that dreaded Tess.

Maria Edgeworth



Novels include

Castle Rackrent (1800)
Belinda (1801)
Leonora (1806)
The Absentee (1812)
Patronage (1814)
Ormond (1817)
Helen (1834)

Undoubtedly the 19th century's first female literary star and she was the pre-eminent novelist from 1800 until the defeat of Napoleon when she was replaced in the Public's affections somewhat by Sir Walter Scott.

Anglo Irish and this is reflected in much of her work Edgeworth was a lady of some contradictions. She was a leading figure in the relief fund work for the Irish Potato famine and yet would only grant the full relief to those of her tenants whose rents were paid up. A friend of the Duke of Wellington and Walter Scott she was accused of anti-semitism in her novel The Absentee she followed this with an entire novel Harrington written in apologia.

>207 Deern: Nathalie, in the event of Edgeworth, I shall read Helen; Middlemarch for my first Eliot and probably Mary Barton for Mrs. Gaskell.

Again I think I might duck out of this one. I've read North and South and Cranford because of the TV adaptations. Liked them both, but not sure how much the amazing actors 'playing' the characters in my head as I read were responsible for that. I did appreciate the fictional depiction of the history of northern industrialisation in both (although having written that, sounds like the most unlikely selling point ever!).

George Eliot



Details of her work can be found here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/e/george-eliot/

Never has a girl named George caused such a stir or left such a lasting impression. Born in provincial Nuneaton in 1819 her novels often dealt with provincial life both in terms of its politics as well as its social mores. Mary Ann Evans used the pen name George Eliot as she felt that a woman's work would not receive the serious attention she felt it due and her work has certainly received plenty of attention. Julian Barnes and Martin Amis famously disagree about most things but they do apparently agree that Middlemarch is the finest novel ever written in English.

Her life occasioned much scandal during the Victorian period living as a common law wife to a Gentleman after a string of dalliances and embarrasing infatuations met with public disfavour. Her views on religion as an agnostic were also very much against her with the public and she was refused a burial at Westminster Abbey taking up with Markx and his bunch of dissenters down at the Highgate cemetary where the dissenters were stowed.

>210 charl08: Maybe one of the shorter works of one of those ladies, Charlotte (*He pleads*). No pressure my dear. xx

By the way, I don't want to spoil the fun but this will be the last foray to a period before 1900 in terms of the main output of work of the authors named.

Jumped on your bullet train for a moment, only to discover Mark has dodged a gruesome death, never suggest one of Scottish descent is English ... fate worse than death!

Nice to see Ali Smith mad the list, will encourage me to read, never quite made it my reading piles, don't need the push to read Winterson probably read more of lessor known titles though ...

did I spot a new reason to put Middlemarch back on my toppling book shelf ?

Do hope you are loving Bone clocks will be fascinated to see what you think ......

>213 roundballnz: Alex, poor chap is from Chicago Illinois and couldn't be expected to realise that such a comment would be a request for a bruise-fest on the other side of Hadrian's Wall! I am having my plans swayed with the ladies as both Fay Weldon and Jeanette Winterson would have gotten themselves chosen if I hadn't asked to rely on comments, but I prefer the inclusiveness of it. It feels almost feminine being able to change my mind in this way. So far with the three gentlemen I have ended up with the writer I had originally favoured.

I am enjoying The Bone Clocks although it is as mad as a bagful of spanners. I am just finishing up the third section and will be done this weekend. The Fatal Shore is also very good.

No Maria Edgeworth for me. Can't find a book in our local library.

I would prefer Elizabeth Gaskell.

>135 PaulCranswick: I did not expect Ali Smith to look like that. Not sure where she was in my mind's eye on the spectrum, but her hair was definitely at the lighter end.

I nearly missed a whole PC thread! That was close...I am nearly back online...just dipping back in for a minute as have a night off writing my big essay.

Elizabeth Gaskell



Details of her work can be seen here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/elizabeth-gaskell/

When Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson wrote she was often simply referred to as "Mrs Gaskell". She was the first and perhaps only authorised biographer of Charlotte Bronte and is best remembered for her "industrial fiction". Seeming to comply with Victorian conventions her stories eke out the problems facing the working class especially the factoried class and have been of use to the social historian. Her work is also feminist to the extent that her female characters are usually dynamic and not the lifeless waiters-on-men that were often portrayed at the time.

>215 Ameise1: Noted Barbara. I am very much open minded on this one having only read one book between the three of 'em.

>216 LovingLit: Megan, am I pleased to see you! I suppose you do get an idea in your mind what a writer looks like (unable to hide my svelte good looks for example hahaha) but my first Ali Smith book had a picture of her on the inside cover so it is pretty imbedded there already. Good luck with the essay. xx

>218 PaulCranswick: I was greatly perturbed to find that a book I was reading and had thought written by a man, was actually written by a woman. It wasn't the sex at all, it was just that I had it in head that it was a man and by then, some image had formed of the author, and well. Clearly I need to relax :)
Which I will, after my essay is handed in. It's a report on the mini research project I did over the semester, and is coming together nicely thanks! I'm so looking forward to being back on LT!

>219 LovingLit: I am looking forward to you being back in the full fold of the group too. I have had my hiatus and breather where work and life conspires to kick you solidly in the groin and I finally came to the realisation that I can live with the ache and I can also kick back! I love the group and all it brings into our existences and that is why I am back posting as I was doing a year plus ago. xx

Authors who use initials are dangerous viz their gender:

DJ Enright
AS Byatt
MJ Hyland
GP Taylor
DE Stevenson
RL Stevenson
JG Farrell
MC Beaton
CV Wedgewood
AJP Taylor

Now five of those are gentlemen and five are ladies but which are which?

I want to read Far from the Madding Crowd before seeing the movie so that will be my choice for March.

I've liked everything I've read by Elizabeth Gaskell and I still have North and South to look forward to. I read Castle Rackrent earlier this year and liked it. I have not read anything by George Eliot but would like to do so. Both Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda are on my TBR list. Works by any of the three will be easily obtained from Project Gutenberg.

>221 cbl_tn: Nice to see a relatively happy camper Carrie. xx

I have never read Gaskell and I would like to read more Eliot. Middlemarch was a knockout.

I have still not read Hardy. Bad Mark!

>224 PaulCranswick: Will be interested to see if Mark goes into the Love Hardy or Loathe Hardy camps. Read Far From the Madding Crowd or The Mayor of Casterbridge as the safest bets.

Paul, I am quite convinced that our new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau is at least as competent as he is photogenic. Some of the foreign presses reaction to him were quite ridiculous , to the effect that he is Canada's new sexy, pot smoking etc Prime Minister. The outgoing Conservative party of the evil (if I may say so ) Stephen Harper ran a lot of negative ads depicting Harper as an incompetent lightweight , " but he does have good hair". That rather backfired on the Conservatives and I am glad of it.

For a change, I am good with any of the proposed April girls.

And that's that.

>225 vancouverdeb: As may posts will probably attest Deb my politics could never be described as conservative but I am not against all conservatives; some are well intentioned but wrong. By all accounts Mr. Harper was wrong and not particularly well intentioned so good riddance to him. Good luck to Trudeau and to Canada.

>226 Fourpawz2: Charming and succinct, Charlotte, a little like the lady who posted it. xx

>224 PaulCranswick: I am definitely more of a lover, than a hater, so the odds are good, Paul. LOL!

>228 msf59: You and me both Mark. Has sometimes gotten me into trouble though in the past!

>192 PaulCranswick: >195 lkernagh: Thanks Paul and to you too Lori for your helpful comments and trust in my ability to run a CAC. I think your comments have hit their target and I am now quite keen to get the thing up and going. I'll take your advice Lori and start up a thread shortly to gather more suggestions (though between you and Paul, we're doing pretty well already!) and see if we can also muster interest among the 75ers and visitors to our group. Most of the authors you've named between the two of you are either on my tbr or wishlist, or in any case available at the library. My first thought would have been to include Margaret Atwood, but then since she gets the whole month of April to herself thanks to Mark's Atwood April, this gives us a reason to give her spot to someone else. Robertson Davies has been a favourite of mine for over 25 years, so I think it's a pretty sure bet that he'd be featured considering I'll have my say on the matter! That being said, I do want to pick authors who will garner the most interest, so I'll start up a thread and post the link here asap.

Paul, very happy about the Hardy selection. As I'd said and meant it, I'd have been fine with any three of the men suggested, but I do have Hardy most well-represented on the tbr and this might give me an excuse to pick up more than one book of his that month, which would bring me closer to Tomalin's bio. Have to say it was quite unexpected and rather delightful to find you've made room for some 19th century authors in this edition of the BAC.

Quite a few of us read Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent earlier this year thanks to a group reading headed by Liz. It was an enjoyable read, and I wouldn't mind picking up more of her work, but I think my vote would lean toward one of the other two authors. I've read and loved Silas Marner and Middlemarch, this latter so much so that I plan to reread it as often as I can during the rest of my lifetime, but I do have quite a lot more George Eliot work on the shelf and would be most keen to have an added excuse to start on another of her novels. I've really enjoyed Mrs Gaskell as well, with Cranford my latest read by her just last month I believe. I do plan on reading her Charlotte Brontë bio eventually, but in the meantime still have Wives and Daughters and Mary Barton to look forward to from my vast audio file catalogue.

Hi again!

I've put together the CAC (Canadian Author's Challenge) 2016 thread here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/201195

Come one, come all to discuss which authors you'd most like to see represented!

>220 PaulCranswick: I confess to knowing nothing about the gender of these authors!! Flannery O'Connor and George Eliot have confused me in the past, and even Erich Maria Remarque has a curve ball in there! SE Hinton threw me too, not just for the gender neutral initials, she was only 16 when she wrote The Outsiders. Unbelievable.

>230 Smiler69: & >231 Smiler69: I think I don't have to say that I am very pleased to see that you have taken up the cudgel! Will be a resounding success, I am sure. xx
I am fine too with all three April ladies for the BAC as my reading of them to date has been exceptionally limited.

>232 LovingLit: Megan - it is probably the point that the ladies wanted to make that it doesn't matter what gender the writer is so long as the writing is great.

>169 PaulCranswick: I see I missed the male vote. Trollope was my favorite of the three, but I can handle the winning Hardy.

>203 PaulCranswick: I like George Eliot or Elizabeth Gaskell. I have a Gaskell book on my TBR list. I've read at least one work by Eliot and remember enjoying it although it's been a long time.

I don't really have a preference for any of these three. I've read and enjoyed Middlemarch and The mill on the Floss by Eliot. The other two I have yet to get to. I want to read Gaskell, Edgeworth has never been on my reading radar.

I am a big Middlemarch fan; but perhaps I would prefer Gaskell for the BAC, since I have never read anything by her.

>234 thornton37814: I am glad Hardy seems in favour. He has his detractors as well as his advocates. I am in the latter camp.
Haven't seen many votes for Edgeworth and I must obviously take this into account.

>235 avatiakh: Kerry, not having read two of the three intrigues me a little. I want to read them and, whilst my aim is to read all the shortlisted ones I know I will definitely read the chosen one.

>236 banjo123: Rhonda. mmmmmmm more food for thought.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE APRIL 2016

LADIES

Well I had four votes clearly favouring one of the ladies and three for another with five expressing no clear choice between either so going entirely with the narrow vote the April lady is:

GEORGE ELIOT



Thank you for helping me make up my mind as I was one of the five who couldn't choose between Gaskell and Eliot. By the by when I first wrote down a possible 12 they were both on the list but I thought it may have been Victoriana overkill!

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE APRIL 2016

Gentlemen

When our April ladies were writing Britain maintained an Empire that spanned the globe. I believe that the Britain I was born into in the immediate post-colonial times has evolved over the span of my lifetime into a culturally diverse society that has benfitted tremendously from the input made by the descendants of its former colonies who settled in the United Kingdom after respective independence. I am proud that my country has never been much of a breeding ground for far right nationalist sentiments (unlike Germany, Spain and Italy the fascist got pretty short shrift and we do not have a party equivalent on the scale of Le Pen's nationalists in France) and has proven to be an environment that encourages its ethnic minorities to express themselves and especially on their place in a modern Britain. Rose tinted? Well, a little perhaps but I don't think we've done so badly.

So April's gentlemen will be culled (as in selected not killed!) from Britain's minorities who have enriched our literature as well as our communities. So the choice will be between:

Hanif Kureishi

Timothy Mo

and

Caryl Phillips

I had considered V.S. Naipaul too but he 'became' British at a much more advanced age and therefore his influences were necessarily different.

>239 PaulCranswick: I'd vote for Phillips, purely because I have his books on the shelf largely unread.

Hanif Kureishi



Details of his work can be seen here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/hanif-kureishi/

Born in London to a Pakistani father and an English mother, Kureishi has followed Rushdie in making an eminent impression on English Literature since he burst on the scene with the screenplay of My Beautiful Laundrette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. He consolidated with the novel The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) for which he won the Whitbread Prize and which became a successful TV adaptation. His other eight novels have received consistent praise from the critics with two of them in the 1001 Books first ed. He was awarded the PEN/Pinter prize in 2010.

Over on Charlotte's thread there has been a discussion on gentlemen who write with a female nom-de-plume. Add Kureishi to that list as he wrote very risque stuff in the guise of Antonia French with a spectacular lack of success!

>241 PaulCranswick: That was quick Charlotte!

Timothy Mo



Details of his work can be seen here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/timothy-mo/

Timothy Mo is an enigma. There cannot be many other writers talented enough to be shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize and to win award with two other books not nominated for the prize but who seems to float in and out of the public consciousness with alarming ease. He is the forgotten man of english literature partly because he has published himself his last three novels and therefore gets insufficient market exposure.

Born in Hong Kong he moved with his family to the UK aged 10 and was educated at Oxford before moving into a writing career.
Multi award winner:

Geoffrey Faber Memorial for Monkey King
Hawthornden Prize for Sour Sweet
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Renegade or Halo2
The EM Forster Award

and Booker Shortlisted an impressive three times for:

Sour Sweet
An Insular Possession &
The Redundancy of Courage

I have read the first and third of these and the latter, set in a locale obviously East Timor, was superb.

Caryl Phillips



Details of his work can be seen here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/caryl-phillips/

Born in St. Kitts but brought up in my home county of West Yorkshire (Leeds), Phillips is probably the leading British writer of West Indian extraction who grew up in the UK.

Educated at Oxford University where he read English, Phillips has produced a number of plays but is primarily a novelist of some grace and power. He won the Commonwealth Writer's Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His novel Crossing the River in addition to winning these prizes was shortlisted for the Booker in 1993 being possibly unfortunate not to win.
He presently has an academic post at Yale University.

I liked A State of Independence when I read it last year and I'm interested in trying more of Caryl Philips' work. He would also fit nicely into the April GeoCAT (2016 Category Challenge) with its focus on islands and bodies of water. Kureishi doesn't appeal to me at all, and I have no library access to any of Mo's books.

Can only find a book by Hanif Kureishi.

Am in total ignorance here, so anybody among April's gentlemen will likely do for me.

>245 cbl_tn: Phillips carries a fairly low profile in the UK. Our one and only Kidzdoc, Darryl is a huge huge fan of Caryl Phillips so he would surely join for a read in April if he proves to be the one.

>26 PaulCranswick: Rather proves my point about Timothy Mo. How can someone with three shortlisted Booker books be so difficult to get hold of?

>27 scaifea: Ditto, Charlotte, ditto

Paul, I live in Switzerland and there are other priorities, I suppose. BTW my local library with its branches is one of the biggest in our country.

>249 Ameise1: Barbara I am not crass enough to think that the world starts and stops with English Literature - it probably should, but I know very well it doesn't. xx

>232 LovingLit: It's just that girls mature faster than boys. AmIrite?

Happy Friday! Suddenly, we have a plethora of Author Challenges for '16. It will keep us hopping, that is for sure.

I am not familiar with many of these U.K. choices. Should be interesting...

>251 weird_O: Bill, Hani my long suffering better half often reminds me of the point, normally when she is the one proposing something really childish.

>252 msf59: Same to you Mark. Well you are the one who started it with this type of challenge buddy.

I'm going to get in here with a vote in timely fashion!! Caryl Phillips. Please.

>254 laytonwoman3rd: Prompt and very much to the point, Linda.

I vote for Hanif Kureishi.

I vote for a quick hello best wishes for a fantastic weekend, Paul.

Paul, all three authors seem like great options; they are all on my wishlist (in at least one case because of a recommendation of yours) and it looks like I need to discover all three for myself one way or another. In other words, it looks very much like it's your pick!

I don't have a preference for any of these, I've heard of all three just haven't got round to reading anything by them as yet.

My library has one book by Kureishi and one by Phillips -- none by Mo.

>256 amanda4242: Amanda, poor old Timothy Mo. Such an accomplished writer and nobody seems to have heard of him. Nobody seems to be able to find his books and nobody seems to want to look for them! Hanif Kureishi is a very interesting chap and I have four of his novels on the shelves unread.

>257 karenmarie: Hahaha that sounds like a winning vote for me, Karen. Thank you!

>258 Smiler69: I have read Sour Sweet and The Redundancy of Courage and I thought both were exceptional novels. Timothy Mo is obviously a very obtuse individual because after writing the latter he seemed to fall out with the world of mainstream publishing and now self-releases his work to little fanfare obviously.

>259 avatiakh: Kerry this was a selection of three in which I had my own preference but felt sure that it would not hold sway and I am probably right in this.

>260 thornton37814: I can see that I am going to have to get all philanthropic with the Libraries of Tennessee and increase their stock of British lit. I didn't set out to be obscure, honestly. xx

>261 PaulCranswick: There are three of Mo's books available through my local library, but I voted for Kureishi because I liked My Beautiful Laundrette and would like an excuse to read his books.

>262 PaulCranswick: LOL

>262 PaulCranswick: My public library has lots of options for both Phillips and Kureishi. It's the difference between a larger metropolitan library system and a smaller county library. My county library system has 17 branches in addition to the main library downtown. They're able to use the additional shelf space for deeper runs of authors where smaller libraries have to limit their selections to one or two representative works of less popular authors.

>263 amanda4242: I am impressed with the Fresno public library system then Amanda, I must say!

>264 thornton37814: Giving away or donating or buying people books is something I will admit to getting quite a kick from Lori but I am not sure that I could stretch to supplying the whole of Tennessee!

>265 cbl_tn: Carrie you will find that I make lots of comments about libraries mainly on the basis that I don't get to enjoy one here!

Then I'll vote for Timothy Mo because he is the underdog and because you've recommended The Redundancy of Courage before and I can also get it at the library. He obviously needs more exposure!

eta: also, if he was good enough for the Booker Prize Shortlist, then he's good enough for me!

>267 Smiler69: Well I have read a number of Booker winners and shortlisted books that I would sooner had not, Ilana, but I wouldn't put his books into that category.

>268 PaulCranswick: I know what you mean Paul, but since that book had the double distinction of a Booker nod and your admiration, it's obviously one not to be missed!

>266 PaulCranswick: Fresno doesn't have a lot going for it, but it does have some decent libraries. Its actually part of a 7 county library system where patrons can have books sent from any branch in the system to their local one. Add in the fact that 2 of the top 10 most populous cities in the state--Fresno and Bakersfield--are part of the system and you get a surprisingly well stocked collection.

>269 Smiler69: No pressure, of course my dear!

>270 amanda4242: Surely got loads going for it Amanda, not least its LT contingent! Any city named after the lovely ash tree gets some brownie points from me already.

My vote would be for Hanif Kureishi no radon other looks a n interesting chap & screenplay for one of my all time favs My Beautiful Laundrette ....

catching up last few days, find it curious that in 2015 we are still so mightily concerned with the Gender of a an Author ... befuddles me esp as we in the west are becoming more accepting of gender fluidity ... "is is good story?" surely that is what counts

>272 roundballnz: I couldn't agree more about gender Alex. It certainly wouldn't affect me choice of what book to buy or read.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE APRIL 2016

HANIF KUREISHI



So here's the thing. I sort of pre-selected Timothy Mo who garnered no votes at all save a sympathetic one from Ilana whilst the other two were tied with four votes each. I couldn't foist Mo on you all as the unavailability of his books must be considered so I had to choose. Do I go for my hometown boy in Phillips or head south for Kureishi. In the end Kureishi shaded it because his books are slightly easier to find than Phillips'.

Oh good. I kind of wished I'd gone with HK, so now I can have my cake and eat it. I will have to try and read Phillips by myself (no hardship) now I've been reminded about him. I hadn't heard of Timothy Mo, thanks for putting him on the radar.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE MAY 2016

Late Starting Ladies

May can be a month in which the winter chills often persist and spring comes late. For the May ladies I am looking at late bloomers. Three ladies who published their first adult works on the cusp of 50 and beyond but went on to be hugely successful and award nominated/winning authors:

Penelope Fitzgerald

Jane Gardam

or

Mary Wesley

>275 charl08: I couldn't resist plugging Timothy Mo a little but I really don't understand why he doesn't go to a mainstream publisher.

Penelope Fitzgerald



Details of her work can be seen here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/penelope-fitzgerald/

When most are considering retirement at sixty that was when Fitzgerald embarked upon her literary career. In 1979 she won the Booker Prize for the novella Offshore and she was shortlisted three other times.
Her book The Blue Flower is regarded as a near perfect historical novel (one of the best ten ever according to The Observer newspaper).

If I have an ambition left (remember Suz) it would be to own and run my own bookshop and she did just that before turning to recreating some of those experiences into print.

Jane Gardam



Details of her work can be found here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/jane-gardam/

Another who came to serious adult fiction at almost 50 years of age, Jane Gardam's novels and short stories have seemingly become more popular as she has gotten older.

Yorkshire born (like me), she may have started late but is now particularly prolific with 15 books out in 20 years. Women's Prize, Folio Prize and the Booker have all shortlisted her but she remains the only writer to win the Whitbread Prize for best novel twice.

Happy Saturday, Paul! It looks like you and Ilana, have been busy, with your challenges. It is nice to sit back and observe. LOL.

Good to see you posting so much again. If we can only find Mamie...

Mary Wesley



Details of her work can be seen here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/mary-wesley/

Ms. Wesley started the latest of all - her first adult novel was published at the amazing age of 71!
She still managed to publish 10 successful and critically well received novels in 14 years which sold collectively well over 3 million copies.

She was apparently quite a character and had ordered her own coffin beautifully resplendent in red lacquer. She had offered to be photographed sitting up in it for an english magazine who didn't share her sense of humour and declined!

>280 msf59: It's the Postie With The Mostie! Hiya Mark. Well Ilana and I have a tougher job than you do. With 2/3rds of the group being from the USA we have to sell our foreign wares far more aggressively!

>282 PaulCranswick: Isn't that the truth, Paul, we foreigners to have to sell our wares more aggressively! Just checking in to see what you are reading! :) Now I'll read about Mary Wesley.

Still slugging through three, Deb:

The Fatal Shore is a great book but it is immensely detailed and is taking me some time.

The Bone Clocks is a door-stopper too but is well on the way

Voices from Chernobyl by the new Nobel winner is touching

Jane Gardam is already on my TBR list. The other two sound interesting as well. The public library has plenty of choices for all three writers. Gardam would be my first choice, then Fitzgerald, then Wesley.

No Mary Wesley for me. Can't find a book of her.

My vote goes to Jane Gardam.

Happy weekend, Paul.

>285 cbl_tn: Pleased to see the library so well stocked with these three august ladies. I have books by all three on the shelves and have only to date read Fitzgerald.

>286 Ameise1: Surprised Barbara considering her immense popularity not so long ago. Gardam two zip so far.

Here a proper Happy Weekend, I love all your thoughts about the BAC 2016.

>288 Ameise1: Love the picture Barbara, but I am not planning a stag party!

Have a great weekend. Paul. Impossible to keep up with you; I was waiting for a new thread...I'll watch for your comments on The Bone Clocks. I would like to read that soon.

I have a feeling Jane Gardam will take the winning cup, which would be fine by me, but my heart goes to Mary Wesley, whom I discovered a few years ago and has become a great favourite of mine. I still have several of her books to read. I'm sure she can be found rather cheaply on AbeBooks for second-hand copies for those who have a harder time sourcing her books.

>289 PaulCranswick: Well, I posted deer etc. all over because we coming to the end of the hunt season here.

>290 BLBera: I am enjoying October, Beth. I haven't got over 600 posts in a month since February so it is nice to be back buzzing a bit. New thread is imminent, I believe. The Bone Clocks is a good but strange one.

>291 Smiler69: Let's see, Ilana. I am a little surprised how Mary Wesley has fallen off the radar in recent years to be honest.

>292 Ameise1: I was only kidding Barbara - couldn't resist the pun. xx

I would have multiple books from which to choose with Fitzgerald or Gardam. Only one Wesley, so I'd be stuck with Haphazard House if it is available at the time. I think I can find something with either Fitzgerald or Gardam.

My first novel by Mary Wesley was Part of the Furniture, and it was love at first book. Sad that she has fallen off the radar, but so many great ones do. That's why I love Slightly Foxed Quarterly... which keeps them alive despite changing fashions and whims, though now I think of it I don't think I've seen them cover Wesley yet... will have to check their index to see if they have done yet.

>294 thornton37814: Availability of books is obviously one factor I do have to consider, Lori

>295 Smiler69: And at the same time it is amazing how popular Jane Gardam has become with time. Old Filth really is amongst the group's favourite books I would say.

>271 PaulCranswick: It's clear you've never been to Fresno, Paul! It's not really a destination as much as it is a place to get gas on your way to your destination.

>297 amanda4242: hahaha, well you are right, Amanda, I haven't been to Fresno. I guess Hani has enough gas for the both of us!

Hi Paul. Just dropping by to wave. As usual, I can't keep up with you, especially given my reduced time on LT. Belated birthday wishes to your son.

He does seem to be a good artist, though I can't be called any kind of judge, to be honest. Today in the library, a little 5 year old sketched a pumpkin that was probably better than one I could produce - though his 'skull' did look more like a sinister jellyfish. More a fault of concept than execution, though, I feel; he is only 5 after all.

Also voting Jane Gardam. (Fingers crossed) I loved the trilogy about Old Filth and would very much like to explore her back catalogue next year. I didn't know that she started writing so late. Interesting stuff.

I am going to hijack your thread for a minute to let you know that I finished reading the biography Crazy Horse, The Strange Man of the Oglalas by Mari Sandoz. Sandoz is a native of the far western reaches of the state of Nebraska - the Sand Hills, which happens to be the same country in which Crazy Horse was born in and lived in for his entire life. I am sad to say that Sandoz, while popular when she was alive seems to have fallen off the modern radar, while Willa Cather seems to be much more popular.

This biography of the Oglala Sioux known as Crazy Horse is a biography ahead of its time. It was published in 1942 from source material collected in the 1920's and 30's by the Nebraska Sand Hills native author Mari Sandoz and a friend of hers. It was panned when it was published by the critics, my guess is, because it was not done in the accepted writing style of the time. I think that if this book were published today it would find a wide audience, due to its depiction of the Indian side the story of the Sioux Wars.

It is clear that the author's sympathies are with Crazy Horse and the Native Americans, as a reading of the source material indicates a majority of the sources for the narrative are from Native American sources. The use of this type of material would have been unusual and probably suspect back in 1942, hence the poor reception of this work at that time. Subsequent reviews and interpretations of the source material has been much more sympathetic to the viewpoint of the Native Americas regarding the events that took place in the Sioux Wars. There has also been a greater acceptance of the role inter-tribal politics played in the affairs of the Sioux Wars over time. Back in the 1870's the Native Americans were seen as one hegemonious group with one hegemonious agenda. That viewpoint is severely contested today - with good reason - and inter-tribal politics has ben given a greater place in the history of the times. This later view probably gives us a better picture of what was going on at the time. Readers, amateur historians, and historians of today should be thankful for writers like Sandoz who took the time to gather this primary information and preserve it for people today.

This biography reads like a work of narrative oral history. That takes some work to become accustom to, but it is worth it. It is a very thorough and satisfying biography of a very important figure in America History.

I have read none of the three authors on the May list so don't care which one you put on the final list.

I am disappointed that you didn't venture out and put the obscure author on the list. Most libraries in the U.S. have access to Inter-Library Loan, and this makes books available to people even if they are not owned by that library. Granted, some libraries ask people to pay for Inter-Libary Loan, but that cost is still cheaper than buying a book.

The ironic thing is, that the more often an author is requested through Inter-Library Loan, the more likely it is that the library in question will purchase books by that author and have them on the shelves waiting for readers when they want them.

In-other-words, readers who use libraries should avail themselves of that service. It makes all the libraries better to do so.

#270
I have been to Fresno and they have a great library at Cal State Fresno. I suspect that the public might not be able to use it, but I would check it out and see. If so, as an academic library you would have access to most of the books in the U-Cal and Cal-State systems.

#288
That looks like an Elk to me and October is prime rutting season for the elk in the high country of the Rockies. If you have never had the pleasure of hearing the Elk bugle you have missed one of the most primal joys in life. It might be a giant stag party, but it is an amazing event to hear and see. Stag party of not, I am glad I got to witness bugling elk.

>303 benitastrnad: I've been very lucky getting ILLs through my public library and some of them have been from CSU Fresno. I haven't visited their library in person since I don't particularly like going to Fresno--too many insane streets with insane drivers on them!

#304
I can certainly understand that reasoning. We have the same problem in Tuscaloosa. Th growth at the University has outstripped the ability of the city to handle it. The library on campus allows the public to purchase a yearly library card and then use all the campus libraries, but there is no parking at any of the libraries. The only access is by walking. That makes it difficult for the public to use the library.

>299 humouress: Thanks Nina. I can sympathise with your comments as I have absolutely zero skills when it comes to drawing. If genetics are at play here with Kyran, it is not my genes that are being utilised!

>300 charl08: Apparently she had written a couple of books for children but her first adult novel was published at nearly 50. Wesley of course has the honours here starting at 71!

>301 benitastrnad:, >302 benitastrnad: & >303 benitastrnad:

This will be a Benita post!

I am so pleased that you have unearthed that biography of Crazy Horse. Just the sort of thing that I like to read and I have a tremendous interest in the subject. I will go and scout whether this one is available to buy online.

The reason I didn't put Timothy Mo into the mix is not simply because he is obscure (which is a shame) but because he was clearly not the choice that the consensus wanted. I thought about the purpose of having a consultative process and reasoned that there would be no point asking everyone what they wanted if I then get pig-headed and ignore them all! I hope that one of the reasons people express their views is that the one receiving that view may listen and change their own mind. I have a feeling one or two may read Timothy Mo anyway now since I have spent a day or two plugging him shamelessly!

I am sure that the libraries of Fresno and its environs are far superior to those I "enjoy" in Kuala Lumpur despite the place being apparently more suited to a fuel-stop than a stop-over.

I have to bow to your superior knowledge of ruminant mammals, but it is interesting that to "ruminate" is to think deeply and I have never before considered the elk as a fount of philosophy!

>304 amanda4242: The drivers are probably over tired Amanda having come out of their way to use the town as a place to fill gas!

>305 benitastrnad: I never has a problem parking when I was at university. Since the May lady BAC theme is late-bloomers I must admit that I obtained my driver's licence at the 'old' age of 26 and Hani still is unable to conceive as to how I managed the feat even then!