SusanJ's 75 Books Challenge - Thread 9

Hello, and welcome to my ninth thread for 2015.

I'm Susan, a Kiwi living in London for the past 20 years. During the working week I'm a lawyer so I love nerdy legal stuff, which crops up in more books than you might expect.

Over the past couple of years I've started to read mostly non-fiction, and this year my goal was 150 books, one-third fiction and two-thirds non-fiction. However, it's looking like half and half at the moment.

And earlier in the year I bought a Fitbit and turned into a stepper :-)













Top Fiction Reads of 2014

Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Tilted World by Tom Franklin

Top Non-Fiction Reads of 2014

Merchant Adventurers by James Evans
Deep Sea and Foreign Going by Rose George
Empire of Necessity by Greg Grandin
Cheek by Jowl by Emily Cockayne
In These Times by Jenny Uglow

July reads

115. Tales of the City
116. Bad Pharma
117. The Establishment: And How They Get Away With It
118. Outlaws of the Atlantic
119. Forgotten Fatherland
120. The Devil in the Marshalsea
121. I Take You
122. Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ
123. Crooked Heart
124. Concretopia
125. The English Spy
126. Trigger Warning: Is the Fear of Being Offensive Killing Free Speech?
127. The Quality of Silence
128. Temeraire
129. The Mistresses of Cliveden
130. More Tales of the City
131. War Crimes for the Home
132. The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression: Shirley Temple and 1930s America
133. Fire and Steam
134. Evelina

August reads

135. Dreamstreets
136. Wayfaring Stranger
137. Family and Kinship in East London
138. How to Clone a Mammoth
139. Station Eleven
140. The Great Explosion
141. The Vanished City: London's Lost Neighbourhoods
142. Homicide
143. The Raj at War
144. On Immunity: An Inoculation
145. Moral Tribes
146. The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London
147. The Dragonfly Diaries
148. The New East End: Race, Kinship and Conflict
149. Ghettoside
150. Summer Days
151. A Place Called Winter
152. Summer Nights
153. Land of Love and Drowning
154. Platform Souls

September reads

155. All Summer Long
156. Boomerang
157. Further Tales of the City
158. Just One Kiss
159. A Fool's Gold Christmas
160. Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde
161. Just Like Heaven
162. Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties
163. The People's Republic of Amnesia
164. A Perfect Crime
165. Blood and Roses
166. Guantanamo Diary
167. The Kindness
168. A God in Ruins
169. Black Earth

October reads

170. Babycakes
171. Pirate Hunters
172. The Making of Home
173. Empires of the Sea
174. Worktown
175. The Midwife's Child
176. Delucca's Marriage Contract
177. Rival's Challenge
178. His for a Price
179. His for Revenge
180. Some Kind of Wonderful
181. Redhead
182. Significant Others
183. The White House Mess
184. City of Djinns
185. Christmas Ever After
186. Crisis? What Crisis?
187. Watching the English
188. Sure of You
189. Willoughbyland: England's Lost Colony

November reads

190. The Great British Dream Factory
191. Rejoice! Rejoice! Britain in the 1980s
192. Michael Tolliver Lives
193. The Boys in the Boat
194. The Sixth Extinction
195. Mary Ann in Autumn
196. The Remains of an Altar
197. The Known World
198. Ban This Filth!: Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive
199. Imhotep
200. The Radioactive Boy Scout
201. The Planet Remade
202. Two of a Kind
203. Three Little Words

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

Where I got it: Kindle
Why I read it: I like British social history

This was an excellent read about Britain in the 1970s, which was not a place or time I knew much about, apart from references to the three day week and the "winter of discontent" which pop up from time to time. What I particularly liked were the references to the books and TV of the time, and how events were referred to in them. We got a lot of British TV in New Zealand, and I did remember the odd reference that the author quoted, although I suspect it was from a repeat rather than the original screening, when I would have been too young. But quotations from Rising Damp, George and Mildred and The Good Life are frequent, and very funny, as is the description of the various waves of popular fiction that reflected what was happening at the time.

There was a very interesting chapter on Mary Whitehouse and her campaign to clean up TV, so I've started Ban This Filth! Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive, which has been on Mount TBR since earlier in the year.

An overcast morning here, but that should make my trip to the supermarket brisk in both directions. Today I am actually going to cook something! And read. But I won't be making any phone calls, as yet again I have no phone. Thank goodness the broadband is OK! I hardly use the phone anyway. BT say that they'll fix it by Thursday. This is the second time recently that it's happened, and I think the whole building will be out, as they admit the fault is in their bit of the system, which must be outside.

>4 susanj67: Did they mention rubbish on the streets? Mention the 1970s to some of my relatives, and that seems to have been all they remember. That and the one hot summer!

>6 charl08: Charlotte, yes, there was a fair bit about the rubbish piling up, and also a mention of the gravediggers going on strike, when things apparently got so bad that someone in the Government suggested all the bodies should be buried at sea to get rid of the backlog. I've started Rejoice! Rejoice! Britain in the 1980s by the same author (I didn't think I owned it, but looking it up on Amazon the cover seemed familiar, and there it was hiding on the Kindle...). He has a really good writing style and I'm catching up fast on what I missed :-) I think the 1980s one is going to be mostly about Margaret Thatcher, which is perhaps inevitable, but at least I'll finally understand what she actually did, instead of just soundbites from her speeches. I've already read about "The lady's not for turning".

Ha! Further to the discussion about Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on my last thread, I was just at the supermarket, and I went down the confectionery aisle and found a little bag of the mini ones! They had no other US sweets that I could see, so I thought it was a sign. 8oz for £3, in case any US readers are interested, but reduced to £2.25. And they really were - not like two other things which magically appeared as more at the till. Grrr. I bought seven items and got overcharged for two of them. I'm only surprised their profits aren't higher.

But at least I got everything for my pumpkin macaroni cheese, which I'm making later. And now it's time to make some granola and file paperwork. Must. Not. Open. Gardens of Time.

Happy new one, Susan!

I just bought some Reese's cups at the grocery yesterday - here we have pumpkin-shaped ones in October (and Christmas tree-shaped ones during the holidays), which are superior to the regular ones, because you get more peanut butter in the PB-to-chocolate ratio...

Congrats on your shiny new thread, Susan and Happy Weekend.

Happy new thread, Susan. Reese's are dangerous -- so addicting. It's hard to eat just one.

>9 scaifea: Thanks Amber :-) My supermarket seemed to be trying to squeeze in Hallowe'en *and* Christmas, but there were no exotic Reese's products - just the usual UK stuff. A pumpkin-shaped one does sound like it would have lots of peanut butter in it, though!

>10 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara!

>11 BLBera: Thanks Beth. I'll just have to be strong. Or store them downstairs in the letterbox, and just take a couple out when I get home each night. I've never actually done that, but maybe this time will be the time :-)

I was watching the news earlier, about the storm in Mexico, and the newsreader said that they were going over to "Porta Val-ah-ta". It made me wonder whether The Love Boat had ever even been shown in this country. But the correspondent standing out in the rain was American, and he pronounced it correctly. I may have grown up at the bottom of the world in the dark ages, but even I know how to say it! I see the storm is headed for Texas now. Katie, Roberta, Jennifer - stay dry!

I LOVE that graphic in >3 susanj67:. Must steal it.

Yep, it's super rainy here. And it's not even from the hurricane yet! I had a harrowing drive home from the airport yesterday. Lots of standing water on the local roads and once I was on the highway, I couldn't see any lane markers because of all the water and mist being kicked up by the cars and trucks.

On the upside, we haven't had to put water in the pool :) And I am planning to hunker down all day with my book. I'm even tempted to see if the hubs would be willing to reschedule our anniversary dinner so I don't have to leave the house at all!

Hi Susan. Happy new thread and happy Reese's. :)

Happy new thread, Susan! I love Reese Peanut Butter Cups - the ones made with smooth peanut butter, not the crunchy ones. I highly recommend that if you come across the normal sized cups (not the minis) you give them a try. Believe it or not, but there is a taste difference between the the two. Maybe something to do with the peanut butter to chocolate ratio.... I don't know, but there is a difference. I haven't tried the pumpkin or tree shaped ones that Amber mentioned.

>8 susanj67: Pumpkin macaroni cheese? Looking forward to learning more about this seasonal take on comfort food.

>8 susanj67: >15 lkernagh: I've never heard of pumpkin macaroni cheese either. My favorite Reese's cups are the ones made with dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, but they are almost impossible to find. I like anything dark chocolate better. ;-)

I love the peanut butter cups. Two years ago we were in Kansas right after Christmas and the Salina Sears had leftover Christmas candy at half-price--and they had half-pound Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Those were SO good.

>13 katiekrug: Katie, I hope you had a great day of hunkering. There's something lovely about reading in the rain, provided you're not at a bus stop, of course.

>14 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba! I haven't had one yet, but they're there for when I run out of dessert items.

>15 lkernagh: Lori, I'll have to have a look at the Tesco at Canary Wharf. They have lots of foreign foods, including an American section. Even the newsagent in the mall under my office has lots of US things, probably for all the expats around. Here's the recipe for the macaroni cheese:

http://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/r/roas...

I halved the recipe and it made three decent servings, one of which I had last night, one for tonight and one for the freezer. It worked really well. Also, Waitrose sells bags of frozen butternut squash pieces, so that's much easier and safer than wrestling a whole pumpkin with a sharp knife.

>16 thornton37814: Lori, it's really just adding pumpkin/squash to an ordinary recipe but it gives it some colour and different flavour. My Reese's are milk chocolate too. I'll have to check that they don't export all the dark ones :-)

>17 ronincats: Roni, some of those sale deals are pretty good!

I think I'll make cheese scones today, to use up the rest of the grated cheese I have. I know it's freezable, but inevitably I forget to use it, and scones are lovely. I also want to finish Watching The English. Yesterday's day of filing and housework went really well although the steps suffered, so I used my extra hour of time today to do some extra steps.

And speaking of steps, look what I found down the street! It's the first Little Free Library I've seen in the UK. I wouldn't have expected Tower Hamlets to be a safe place for one, but I hope I'm proved wrong.

Thanks for posting the link to the recipe, Susan. That looks yummy!

YAY.... Little Free Library!

Gorgeous LFL. I zoomed in trying to see the titles.

That mac and cheese recipe looks nice. I gained an Italian recipe on my research travels (to glamorous, er, Birmingham!). One of my favourite veggie recipes ever, butternut bits boiled, mash with feta, add nutmeg to taste, add to pasta. So tasty (and also sounds to be good cold weather comfort food like yours).

Happy new thread Susan! I speed read my way through your last thread but just wanted to say that I have several William Dalrymple's books on my library wishlist so will enjoy following your reading on those. And I think Reese's peanut butter cups are an abomination but my husband loves them.

>19 lkernagh: Lori, it's super-easy to make, and I successfully heated up tonight's one with no problems. I always get stuck on how long to do it and at what temperature, but a Friend Who Cooks gave me a suggestion so I tried that.

>20 charl08: Charlotte, there was a Dan Brown, and one of those miserable Frank McCourt books and some other recent stuff - nothing earth-shattering but it's more the principle of the thing! I might have to seek out some feta and try your recipe, which sounds like it might be a good lunch thing. If there were cheeses in NZ in the 70s other than cheddar I never encountered any, so I'm a bit hopeless with cheese.

>21 souloftherose: Thanks Heather! Those abominations are currently cheap at Waitrose, if you're starting on the Christmas cupboard already :-)



187. Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox

This is a book exchange read (yay!) and I thought it was going to be an amusing stocking stuffer sort of book about weird English behaviour, but in fact it's a proper anthropological study of the English, using all the proper terminology and research methods. And yet it's still very funny. If you're English you'll nod along, giggling. And if you're not, this will explain why your visit was so confusing, why the people seemed not to take anything very seriously and why no-one talks to strangers if they can possibly avoid it. This should be recommended reading for everyone who comes to live here.

I just got an A+ in this "Can You Speak Texas Slang?" quiz. Only one wrong! Katie, Roberta, I'm getting there!

http://quizdoo.com/can-you-speak-texas-slang

>22 susanj67: Ah, another one that I need to read from my own shelves next month! I'm looking forward to it, been recommended by several RL as well as LT friends.

>18 susanj67: we can get cubed butternut squash here too and it's not only a lot easier than chopping up a pumpkin or winter squash yourself, it tastes a LOT better than pumpkin imho

>23 susanj67: - Apparently, I need to read more cowboy romances, because I only got a B+ (7 right)!

I'm sorry to say that I don't "get" the peanut better thing. Peanut butter on toast I can get on board with. The office rule is if anyone goes to the US they have to bring back peanut butter M&Ms. urgh. Sorry, I realise that's akin to blasphemy.

>23 susanj67: I got 8 of 10 right. I missed the pond one and the "big hat, no cattle" one. I've never heard either expression. The others are pretty much the same here in Tennessee.

>24 charl08: Charlotte, I'll be very interested in what you think of it!

>25 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, I'm forever comparing things to New Zealand pumpkin, which isn't a type I've ever seen over here. It's this one, with a shiny grey/green skin, and I like it a lot more than squash. But undoubtedly the handy frozen squash pieces are easier to use!:



>26 katiekrug: Katie, don't worry. I'll order the Cokes when we go out :-)

>27 Helenliz: Helen, ooh, peanut butter M&Ms! I only discovered the mint ones when I was over there, but then I didn't have much time. I wasn't a big fan of peanut butter as a kid, but I love it now. I'll have to investigate the Tesco American section.

>28 cbl_tn: Carrie, I missed "big hat, no cattle" too. But otherwise all that viewing of Big Rich Texas evidently paid off!

I was making a big ol' squash soup yesterday - odd coincidence, that. I use the whole butternut squashes when I make this soup - except for last Thanksgiving when my friend gave me the leftover squash from the feast, which was really great.

Went to the market yesterday and did not look at the candy at the checkout. But, oh, how I am really, really craving some peanut butter cups!

Got an A+ on the Texas quiz. Don't know how that happened. Never been there and I suspect that Massachusetts and Texas are about as different in almost every way as two states can be.

Hope you are having a good Monday, Susan...

Really craving butternut now. Maybe with some peanut based snacks to follow...

Made the mistake of going to the library 'just to return some books'. Long story short, I still have 16 books out. I fear No!vember is going to be A Challenge!

Been there, done that. :)

>30 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, I love pumpkin/squash soup. I haven't made it for a while (knives) but now I have the frozen squash I might have to try again! I've managed not to start the peanut butter cups yet, but I feel I am close. Well done on the quiz!

>31 charl08: Charlotte, mmmm. I looked for the peanut butter M&Ms today but no luck yet, although I only tried News on the Wharf downstairs. I think Tesco is a better bet.

>32 charl08: Charlotte, yes, quite a challenge!

>33 drneutron: Jim, I'm guilty of that too (well, not **16**, but some :-) )

I have to go shortly to pick up a reserve and I'm really hoping my eye doesn't stray to the new non-fiction shelf, or, if it does, that my hand doesn't follow it in the direction of some huge chunkster I can't resist. If only I was a stronger person...

#18 Need a like button for that one! Love the idea - we should have those over here.

>35 BekkaJo: Bekka, I just hope it survives.

Well I went to the library to pick up my one reserve. There was another reserve. And then I saw the brand new Dominic Sandbrook, The Great British Dream Factory and I caved. Caved like a cavey thing in caveland. No-one tell Charlotte.

>36 susanj67: - Your caving comments made me laugh.

>36 susanj67: I can't imagine how that happened. In completely unrelated news, I started a new Kingsolver on the kindle. Oops.

Are you watching this River thing on the telly? Your neck of the woods looks very glam on the BBC...

>37 katiekrug: Katie, I was copying that word pattern from somewhere, but I can't for the life of me remember where it's originally from :-) Honestly, though, I was standing in front of the new NF shelf, thinking how funny it would be if they had - OMG! They did! Charlotte mentioned it on her thread recently in the context of the Guardian reviews, and I commented that I really wanted to read it. So it wasn't a *total* impulse borrow. Do I sound convincing yet?

>38 charl08: Charlotte, nor can I. But the invention of science one was still there, and I managed to leave it there. I'm already about 40% of the way through Sure of You, which is book 6 of Tales of the City, and the other reserve has giant print and double-line spacing, like maybe the author couldn't quite find enough to write about. So that should be a pretty quick read. It's about the Willoughbyland colony in what is now Suriname. I was hoping for something chunkier, but maybe in the circumstances it's best not :-) The same author wrote The Sugar Barons, which was excellent. I haven't seen River, but I see it's all on the iPlayer, so I'll have a look on the weekend.

It's raining today, so I had to do my pre-work steps around the malls. Crowded and hot, but 5,300 steps anyway. Wa-hey! And a trip to Boots for various bathroom items that I've handily run out of all at the same time. *Multitasking*.

Remember how last year the library was displaying books by colour? (yellow and green at that time). Well, now they're doing purple, on the right-hand side of this display:



I still don't get it.

Is this the library with the friendly library assistant who likes to chat? You should totally ask him just exactly how bored they get that they are reduced to silly displays like that ;-)

maybe it's just a way to attract attention to them ... ?

I'd argue that it's visually attractive, even if it is illogical. I don't shelve by colour, but I could see the attraction...

>41 katiekrug: Katie, I don't like to mention it in case it was his idea :-)

>42 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, I suppose if someone comes in and asks for a book and all they know is that it's purple, it would be quite useful for that too :-)

>43 Helenliz: Helen, there is actually one book in the display that I want, but I prefer a theme!



188. Sure of You by Armistead Maupin

This is book 6 in the Tales of the City series and I liked it a lot. Book 7 is reserved, and book 8 is the one in the purple display at the library that I want. I'm sure number 7 will arrive before the three weeks is up if I get number 8. And they're very quick reads. But then November is not supposed to be about library books...

Tonight I hope to make some more progress with Willoughbyland (nope, still no ticker) and that will just leave me the Dominic Sandbrook on the library book front, unless I get a crime novel from Charlotte's thread at lunchtime. Which I might. Well, it's steps, isn't it? It's apparently on the shelf at Cubitt Town, which will add nicely to my early morning stepping.

I like purple, so I'm pro. (!)

I Forgot to say in my comments about The Silence of the Sea that it's a series, and this one was not the first. Sorry...

>45 charl08: Oh my word! Thank goodness I decided to have lunch first before setting out to get it :-) I see the first one is available over the road, and I do have to return Sure of You...But maybe I should be strong. I also love purple - by far my fave colour, and my pens at the office are all purple ink, at least partially so boys won't steal them (works like a charm. If they pick one up and write with it, they immediately look appalled and hand it back hastily).

Hello, Susan! Our library did one of those displays back in February, and I wish that I had thought to take a photo of it. All the books had red covers, and they had a sign that said, "Have you read these books?" The books formed a heart shape over the shelves with how they were arranged, so it was cute and drew you over to it. Although I usually prefer a theme to the displays, this one was visually stunning and had something for everyone because all they had in common was their red covers. The only bad thing was that I didn't want to check any out as it would ruin their display. LOL!

I see that you mention The Sugar Barons up there, and I had that one out, but I had to take it back before I finished it because someone had requested it. The nerve! I read another by that author that I absolutely loved - Goldeneye: Where Bond was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica. Very well done. I picked it up as a Kindle deal earlier this year.

Hi Mamie! Welcome back! I suppose red in February at least makes some sort of sense - maybe there is a meaning to purple in November that I have yet to discern :-) I loved The Sugar Barons, which is why I was a bit surprised that this new one is so short. I noticed the reference to Goldeneye at the beginning of the book, so that's one I'll definitely get if you liked it.

I swung by the Tesco here at the Wharf this morning, in the middle of my steps, and found the large-sized Reese's peanut butter cups - three to a pack for 63p or three items for £1.20. So I bought one pack after Amber said that the peanut butter to chocolate ratio changes the taste experience, and two bars of the new Cadbury Dairy Milk and Oreo bar, which I tried yesterday here at the office. Yummmm. I also found the dark chocolate Reese's (Lori, that's where they are!) and even a white chocolate one, but that seemed a bit icky with peanut butter. They also had a Reese's peanut butter bar. They have a few shelves of US products - Cheetos, Milk Duds, fruit roll-ups, various ceareals, Gatorade, Snapple (but not the iced tea version, which I loved in the US). Nearly everything costs a fortune but the Reese's things seem to be priced nearer to local products, so maybe it's part of a marketing push here.

>46 susanj67: Thank goodness crisis averted.

I am very interested in the reports from the Reese's coal face. We have a US sweeties market stall which seems to be popular (includes all sorts of M and M colour combinations which I'd not come across before).

>48 susanj67: I keep hearing references to purple being a halloween color on TV here (I always think orange and black but guess I'm just behind the times) so perhaps it was a halloween display -- ???

>49 charl08: Charlotte, yes, crisis averted! I decided not to get the first one at the moment. The Sandbrook is going to be a huge task :-) Happy No!vember! I saw "crispy" M&Ms yesterday (which I suppose must have a centre like a Malteser in terms of texture) but I'd still like to find the peanut butter ones.

>50 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, I googled and found a page with the following: "All of the Halloween colors seem to implicate some kind of connection to death and dying. Red is a classic implication of blood, fire and demons, while green represents goblins, monsters, and zombies. Purple draws in a bit of the supernatural and mysticism, while white reflects ghosts, mummies and a full moon." So maybe it *was* that!

Yesterday I went out to Gallions Reach (sic), which is the second to last stop on one of the DLR lines. There's a shopping park out there, but really I just wanted to walk home for my steps. But the shops were quite fun. I was trying not to weigh myself down (although Super-Fit Friend says that a weighty backpack makes the steps count for more) but I got a couple of tree decorations from TK Maxx, and some bits and pieces from the HUGE Tesco, which was so big that it had a second floor. And a travelator. I've never seen anything like it. There may also have been a McDonald's there. By the time I left I'd nearly done all my steps, and when I got to Canning Town I called it a day and got the tube the rest of the way home, but it was still 16,000 steps, so yay.

Today I think I'll visit the IKEA at Wembley, which I'd always thought was inaccessible to people without cars, but it turns out to be just 10 minutes from Neasden station, which is handily on the Jubilee line. I'm quite excited as I've never been to an IKEA before. They have some cute Christmas things on their website, but it's also 24,000 steps home. I don't think I'll do them all, but we'll see. I suppose it depends on what I buy. And I'd also like to get home and have some reading time.



189. (and my 100th non-fiction book!) Willoughbyland: England's Lost Colony by Matthew Parker

I like books about England's overseas adventuring, and this was about a venture I'd never heard of before - an attempt to colonise the region we now know as Surinam, which at the time (1500s and 1600s) was thought to be on the way to El Dorado. No-one ever did find El Dorado, but they did try. And, in the meantime, they set up a settlement in the river deltas which produced all sorts of things for export back to England, and then started to grow sugar. Unlike Barbados and the other colonies in the area, Willoughbyland didn't have the formal government structures of those colonies, or all the rules and regulations that caused so much trouble. At first, even the royalists and roundheads who'd escaped from England got along pretty well, and there was quite a big Jewish population too. But then came African slavery, and everything started to follow the pattern of other slave societies, and it all ended in massacres when the Dutch took over. Famously, the Dutch got Surinam as part of an exchange of territories under the Treaty of Breda, which saw the UK get New York but, as the author pointed out, the UK only had New York for about another hundred years, whereas the Dutch didn't leave Surinam until 1975, and it made them plenty of money. This was curiously short, but still really interesting. And it's given me some books for my reading list. Aphra Benn's Oroonoko is set in Surinam, and scholars are now convinced that she actually went there, as part of a spying mission.

Today is the first day of No!vember, a month in which we can refocus on our reading goals made way back in January, and just say no to whatever's getting in the way. If you're distracted by shiny new library books and making no progress with Mount TBR, just say NO to the library (and good luck with that). If you said you'd read a classic every month but you just can't resist shapeshifter romance novels, you can say NO to werewolves. And so on.

I'm saying NO to new library books (other than those that I've already reserved) but had a moment of weakness on Tuesday when I saw The Great British Dream Factory on the shelf and I just had to have it. And then The Sixth Extinction came in. But I'm going to stay away from the library and see what happens. aaaaargh. Just writing that seems like some sort of betrayal.

>52 susanj67: I used to shop at the IKEA in Neasden! It was fairly easy to get to from my location in North London.

>51 susanj67: From the title I was convinced this was some kind of Austen spin off. So, no. I read an old edition of Oronooko, so interesting to read the author is now thought to have travelled. Fascinating stuff.

I've posted my No!vember list. Here goes!

>53 cbl_tn: Carrie, it really is close to the tube station if you can follow the route marked by the little IKEA signs on the lampposts. But road works meant I was diverted a bit, and had two false attempts at getting there. Eventually I made it, though, and I knew how to come back quickly :-) It was pretty busy, and full of terse couples and screaming kids, so it's not somewhere I'll be going again, but finally I've been to one! I got some Christmas tree ornaments but I didn't need a huge bag or a trolley :-)

>54 charl08: Charlotte, no, it's a proper book :-) Yay for the No!vember list! I'm finishing my current library books, but then I have Plans for the TBR pile.

And now I'm going to read some of The Great British Dream Factory, having read the preface last night. If anyone sees me back before I've read a hundred pages, tell me off.

>51 susanj67: Congratulations on a great stepping day yesterday. I've been a real slacker lately. I'm having a hard time getting back into the habit after our late summer travels, however (drum roll) I did nearly 11,000 yesterday!!! I never have done 16,000 although I made it to 15,000 one day last spring. I'm glad you, Mamie and a local friend of mine are out there providing good examples for me

Willoughbyland sounds interesting. Am I correct in guessing that British Guiana (now Guyana) is what they had left after the Dutch came in and took part?

Yes, yes, excellent stepping! I have also been a slacker - yesterday I only got a few thousand in, and I don't know if I will meet my goal today or not. I would guess not since I am feeling lazy. But Monday I will be back at it. I will join you for No!vember and see what progress I can make on my poor neglected stacks. Happy Sunday, dear!

>51 susanj67: Congrats on 100 non-fiction books and Willoughbyland has gone on the library list (curse you!) - I thought it was going to be some kind of chicklit sequel to Austenland until I saw your review.....

>52 susanj67: Well, my reading goal was unplanned reading so I'm saying 'No' to all the author challenges and refocusing on impulse reading and the ridiculous pile of library books I have out from the library.

>58 souloftherose: Hurrah I wasn't the only one to completely misunderstand the title. Wonder if anyone has ever bought it on that basis!

I also thought of Austen when I saw Willoughbyland! South America is the first destination in the 2016 Category Challenge's GeoCAT. It would be a great fit for January if I can get hold of a copy by then. I may have to try Book Depository becuse it doesn't seem to have been released in the US.

>56 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, 11K steps is excellent! I've struggled with the change in temperature - it's too hot for my favourite coats if I'm walking a lot, so I'm a bit lost wardrobe-wise. The weekend is easier because no-one I know sees me :-) I'm not sure about Guyana - Willoughbyland seems to say that everything was taken over by the Dutch, but I see from Wikipedia that British Guiana was taken over from the Dutch in the late 1700s, so maybe they took some of it back.

>57 Crazymamie: Mamie, I'm sure you'll get back into it. Maybe when they come to pump out the tank :-) I hope those guys can come back soon and finish the project. Welcome to No!vember!

>58 souloftherose: Thanks Heather! I don't know enough Austen for Willoughbyland to suggest any sort of derivative story :-) I saw it written up in the Daily Mail with one of those olde-worlde maps, and I like anything that involves those :-) Welcome to No!vember!

>59 charl08: Charlotte, I suppose it would depend on how much of an Austen fan they are :-) I think the subtitle would give it away.

>60 cbl_tn: Carrie, I feel so under-read! It has literally just come out here, and it doesn't even work as a touchstone on LT although the cover is on here.

I've read 175 pages of The Great British Dream Factory and it's SUPERB. I put it down to watch a couple of episodes of Nothing to Declare Australia, but I've already seen the first one at least so I'm going to continue reading right through to Downton at 9pm.

Oooohhh... first trip to IKEA. Howe exciting! I know you have claimed November as a NO new library books months, but if you get a chance, I can recommend the book Horrorstor, which is a story that takes the whole idea of IKEA and gives it a bit of a horror story read. A must read for anyone who has shopped at IKEA because you cannot help but notice all of the IKEA references, making it more of a fun horror read, if that makes any sense.

.... and WOOT to a possible 24,000 steps!

>51 susanj67: - Willoughbyland sounds great! I must see if I can track down a copy over here.

>62 lkernagh: Lori, I read Horrorstor store after you recommended it :-) And I was thinking about it yesterday as I walked around, carefully following the arrows on the floor in case I got lost and was never seen again. I didn't walk home in the end - I'd done enough steps by the time I got back to the station, having investigated yet another giant branch of Tesco next to IKEA, so I called it a day. I wanted to go home and read instead of napping. I know the walking is good for me, but I haven't reached the point where I sleep better, so I'm pretty permanently wiped out.

It's so foggy here this morning that Sky News had a "live fog blog" on air. Lots of pictures of cars crawling along the motorway, and news of flights cancelled at Heathrow. But my bus was OK, so I reached the Wharf early and went walking up and down the mall, as it is quite damp and cold outside. But apparently it *could* be the warmest November day EVAH, with some parts of the country hotter than Rome and Lisbon. Ooh. I'll venture outside again later. Or do the mall again.

>63 susanj67: Wow. Your reports of Sky weather makes me realise how mad my country is. Russell Howard had a clever clip mocking Sky's coverage of the Chinese Premier's state visit: Kay Burley interrogating a fish and chip man about flavours of fish whilst every other broadcaster queries human rights....

As you describe it, Ikea on a Saturday is pretty close to the horror scenario already for me: I think the book might be beyond my fear allowance.

Glad the Great British Dream Factory is working for you. I refuse to admit I was wrong (at least until next month when I can order books at the library again).

>64 charl08: Charlotte, but look at the fog!:



(Canary Wharf this morning, courtesy of The Telegraph, via The View From the Shard)

The book is superb, and I will re recommending it to all the Brits :-)

Oh! I like that fog photo! It's so surreal. Your weekend sounds more exciting than mine was - well done.

>65 susanj67: That is one truly cool photo!!

Trust me to not remember that you have already read Horrorstor! ;-)

>65 susanj67: - What an amazing shot!

>65 susanj67: that's amazing. It looked a lot less fun from ground level while driving to work this morning...

>66 Crazymamie: Mamie, I'm not sure about exciting (you got that great book haul!) but it was steppy.

>67 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, isn't it? At first I thought it was taken *from* the Shard, but now I think it must be from a plane.

>68 lkernagh: Lori, that's OK :-) We can't be expected to remember all the reading going on.

>69 Helenliz: Helen, yes, I can imagine. It's better here today. I can actually see the ground from the office, and all the way to the Olympic stadium, but that's probably because I know what I'm looking for. Flights are still being cancelled at the airports.

No!vember is not off to the best start. Last night I went to the library to return Willoughbyland, and a Tales of the City reserve was waiting for me. That's OK - existing reserves are within the No!vember rules. But then the next book the series was sitting on the shelf (in the purple display, as it happens), and I thought how handy it would be to get it right then and not have to reserve it later (see post 44). Heh. Day 3 and I've broken the rules already. At least they're very quick reads, so they won't take much time away from Mt TBR. And The Great British Dream Factory is also reading up very quickly. I might even finish it tonight. Last night I had a break to watch The Secret Life of Books, which was about Confessions of an English Opium Eater, presented by a famous poet (John Cooper Clark) I had never heard of. Mostly I watched it for his outfits, but I think I learned something about the book too.

Day 3 and I've broken the rules Perhaps we should rechristen them 'guidelines'.

In not unrelated news, there is a bargain on the kindle site that I am sorely tempted by.

>71 charl08: Charlotte, I think you should get the Kindle book. As long as you don't read it during No!vember, then that's not against the ru - um, guidelines. This, of course, has nothing to do whatsoever with the giant haul of books that someone has donated to the book exchange, which include gems like a paperback copy of the great big new Napoleon book, and a copy of Salt, which I have shelved in the food section until I can go back with my donation money. Well, salt's a food, right?

>72 susanj67: Susan! The correct answer! Off to discover if the book is still 99p.

What about library books that one needs to get in order to complete a challenge? Would that be a violation of the whatever we're calling them?

>73 charl08: Charlotte, I hope the good price held :-)

>74 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, I think that would be a sub-rule guideline under reserved library books - books that you had *planned* to get to meet a challenge due to *finish* (in whole or in part) in November are OK because they fit with your planned reading. No!vember is really aimed at things that derail our planned reading, like shiny new library books you hadn't even heard of until you saw them, all enticing, on the shelf and were overcome with - no, wait, that way lies madness.

190. The Great British Dream Factory by Dominic Sandbrook

This is a look at Britian's "new" exports from the creative industries, which have replaced the products of heavy industry from the olden days. I was very keen on it at the beginning, as I commented, but by the end I felt very much as though it was the view of a forty-something male, and that a female author writing on the same topic would have produced something quite different. True, there are some things that must be included, like the Beatles (yawn) and Dr Who (bigger yawn) but I thought he went on at length about them and left other things out.

One of the most interesting chapters was about the British school story, which is apparently something that other countries don't really have. He traced the popularity of this genre from Tom Brown's Schooldays to Harry Potter, but entirely missed out any discussion of the contribution made by female authors before J K Rowling. Enid Blyton and Angela Brazil got *one* mention, in the same sentence, as having written these stories, but that was it. And yet I'd imagine that the female half of the population read and loved *those* school stories, rather than the ones read by their brothers. Whether you love or hate Blyton, she had a *huge* output that made its way overseas, just like some other authors he mentioned in detail (which included Catherine Cookson, so he wasn't going for the highbrow). Blyton's books were banned in NZ libraries, just like they were here :-) and I spent quite a while as a kid putting together the Malory Towers and St Claire's series from the book stalls at school fairs, with gaps filled in by book token purchases at Christmas. He did have quite a lot about Agatha Christie, but women in music were underrepresented. Lots about Bowie, almost nothing about Kate Bush, and yet I know from a True Fan that the tickets for her concerts in London last year sold out in record time, to people from all over the world.

By the end of the book I felt that quite a lot was missing, but I did learn a lot, and it's added gazillions of books to my list, so that's something.

Co-incidentally, the author is presenting a four-part TV series based on the book which starts on BBC2 at 9pm tonight. I wonder whether he'll attempt a bit more balance by at least talking to some people who have other views about what should be included.

Well! In new book exchange news, *six* cabinets have appeared in the new location, which are all for me. I mean, for the book exchange. That's more than I was told we were getting. The shelves are too widely spaced, so I need to sort that out, but I should be able to have six shelves in each if I can find enough shelves. *And I will*. And it all has to be done by the end of the month, when the current floor is closing. Originally they said Christmas. But that's OK as I've nearly finished the cull, and I can now stop it as I have more room. I need to rustle up a trolley from somewhere as I can't carry them all upstairs box by box, but the new location is great - a really heavy traffic area, and the donations will be taken from our canteen cards, so there will be no need for people to rustle up change.

>77 susanj67: - how exciting Susan and a relief, I would think to have that all sorted out. I think it is so neat that it is possible to run a book exchange at work with shelves and a serious number of choices. Have never seen such a thing in my town where the general populace is not at all interested in books. The closest thing ever was that sad little box in the kitchen of the real estate law office with its 12 or so books that pretty much never changed.

>77 susanj67: So fab. What good news about he location and the amount of shelving too. Will the first display be purple themed? (!!)

>78 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, I'm very pleased to have more room than I thought I would. I think we had quite a few little departmental collections, which found their way to the book exchange with the office moves. Certainly a lot of people here seem to like Fifty Shades of Grey (which have all been banished, because I'm a bad-writing snob like that).

>79 charl08: Charlotte, call me old-fashioned, but I'm going to try and find a theme :-) Actually also some book stands. If more people see the collection, and donate lots of stuff, then there might be a case for having more room again at some point, but we'll have to see. One of the partners was most interested this morning to know why I was looking so intently at a wall of empty shelves...

Your book exchange sounds like a lot of fun and I'm really glad you ended up with more space than you expected.

>81 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, yes, I'm very pleased :-) Today I have to measure things.



191. Rejoice! Rejoice! Britain in the 1980s by Alwyn Turner

This is from my Kindle, so getting into the spirit of No!vember, although I did start it earlier. It's the second in the author's trilogy about the 70s, 80s and 90s, and was another good look at what happened, although I thought it was a bit heavy on the politics when I would have preferred more popular culture. However, I finally understand why Margaret Thatcher was such a controversial figure. The author seemed to me to be quite balanced on the subject, but I suppose I have a neutral view, not having lived here then. I do remember when she stood down as leader, and John Major became Prime Minister, but apart from that I really only knew about her through soundbites, which seem now to be interpreted to mean whatever people want them to mean, without the historical context. Actually the Dominic Sandbrook book mentioned possibly her most famous one - "there's no such thing as society", now taken to mean that it's every man for himself, I think, when she said it in the context of a discussion about whether "society" could be relied on to help people who couldn't help themselves, and she actually said: "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours." That last bit seems to get left out a lot :-)

Overall I enjoyed this, and I'm looking forward to the third one, but I'll have a bit of a break I think. I have another 80s one on the Kindle (ironically, it is Andy McSmith's No Such Thing as Society) and one in hard copy about the 70s.



192. Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin

This is book 7 in the Tales of the City series, and set about 20 years after book 6. It was a good read, and kept me entertained during last night's long bus ride home (DLR strike, endless traffic, aaargh). The next one is the purple book from the library display, and I read a couple of chapters last night. I couldn't help noticing that book 9 is on the shelf over the road...

Now the book exchange is being moved next Friday morning, starting at 7. But at least the moves team is doing it. I hope I don't show up at 7 with a mug of tea to Keep An Eye On Things. But who can say? I have to lose about 7 metres of books in the meantime, but I can do that.

I just went over to the library to return books, and came back with no books! Here's what I didn't get:

The Invention of Science - still all new and lovely and tempting
The Days of Anna Madrigal
Electric Shock - the book about pop music discussed over on Charlotte's thread. I thought it was new, but the HB copy had various weird stains which put me off. Maybe it was a review for the PB.
Anything about Margaret Thatcher, even though they had her autobiography and the new Charles Moore biography.
Anything from FLA's new display, which was titled X-D (except rotate that 90% clockwise) with "LOL" underneath. I had no idea what that even meant, but I'm pleased to say that the books were a range of colours, so I don't think the purple display had anything to do with him. Interestingly, the purple book I borrowed recently has been replaced with another purple one. They must keep a box of spares.

Didn't I do well to come away empty-handed in the face of so much temptation?! Why yes, I did :-)

LOVE your list of what you didn't get from the library! Too funny! Good for you to stick to your guidelines. I failed the test of temptation yesterday when Abby and I went to the local bookstore - I came home with four new books and have started reading one of them already. *hangs head* Like Kramer, I am the first one out.

Hoping that all goes well with the book exchange move. WHEN you show up at 7 with a mug of tea to Keep An Eye On Things, try to appear nonchalant.

>84 Crazymamie: Mamie, it's early in the month yet for the guidelines. Every day is a struggle. But I suppose if I don't have things to return then it will be easier to stay away. I decided to blitz the rest of the books at lunchtime before someone interfered. So now it's done. Yay! The head of moving came down while I was there, with a tape measure. I also had my tape measure. I ran him through my calculations from this morning, and we worked out a Plan for Friday. I do love a Plan. I didn't mention showing up. I think I'll go for "Oh hi! Gosh, is that *today*?". Of course, I don't *usually* arrive at the office at 7am. Mostly the only people here then are the ones who've worked all night.

>83 susanj67: Um, well done on the not getting any new books. Sounds like you're going to have a big list to take to the library when the month is over. I'm still slowly moving through the life of Malcolm X, and enjoying a collection of short stories by Amy Bloom A Blind Man Can See I love you. Despite the pink cover worthy of a M&B.

>86 charl08: Charlotte, a M&B cover would have a couple on it, canoodling :-) I'm quite amazed I Just Said No at the library yesterday. But last night I got home and I just wasn't in the mood for reading (oh no!). I watched TV instead, or more accurately the iPlayer. That River programme is good, although there never seems to be an explanation of how a Scandinavian man is a detective in the Met, because I didn't think that happened. I love the shots of the Wharf, though. His office seems to be over at South Quay, which looks north across the dock. In last night's episode (number 2) he looked over at some people on treadmills and that might well have been our gym. There are also some scenes filmed at Wood Wharf, which is now the site of the new apartments/offices etc being built.

>87 susanj67: I love the shots at night in that programme, although I have to turn away each time Stevie's hairdo is revealed. I was a bit miffed at how the BBC advertised the show. I watched gogglebox and they got the full shock of the ending of the first episode, which had been Completely Ruined for me by the trailers.

(Sorry, I appear to have turned into a letter writer to Points of View).

I like to think that in casting a Scandinavian, they are going for showing the diverse potential for the Met. But suspect that they are more likely going after the Scandi crime ratings of shows like The Bridge.

More importantly: how did the relocation of the shelves go?

>88 charl08: The shelves are next week - in fact in exactly seven days' time they will all be done! I can't quite think now how the first episode ended, unless it was Stevie and the hairdo, which I agree was shocking. I'll have to watch the next two episodes over the weekend. Lesley Manville is excellent too.

I broke down and ordered a copy of Willoughbyland last night. It will take a while to get here, but I should have it in plenty of time for my South American excursion in the January GeoCAT.

Hi Susan - Good news about your library getting more space than you thought.

And hooray for breaking rules about reading!

That is a very cool picture of fog. It would be awful to drive in it.

>90 cbl_tn: Carrie, I hope you like it!

>91 BLBera: Beth, I'm very pleased about the extra space :-) We're fog-less at the moment, but it's raining...



193. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

This is a Kindle read, from Mt TBR (yay!) and there was lots that was good about it, but there was too much rowing. Yes, I know that's an odd thing to say about a book that looked at the US rowing eight from the Berlin Olympics, but there was too much detail about every single race that the main character rowed in from the time he joined the University of Washington team. I'd like to have read more about the debate over going to the Olympics, and more about the games themselves, but I suppose it wasn't about that. (It has made me interested in reading more, though). Recommended for rowing fans, who will love all the detail, but the non-sporty will be tempted to skim through all the race details and tune back in afterwards :-)

And I've given up on The City & The City, which was just too weird, so that's another one gone from Mt TBR.

I've just sent my emails to the various shops that annoyed me during my Westfield trip this morning - one to Paperchase asking them to please stock Diwali cards at Canary Wharf next year (technically that was a complaint about yesterday) and then one to M&S, about the *one* manned till (again), the giant queue, and the self-service machines that (a) wouldn't work and then, on my third machine, (b) kept asking me to scan my loyalty card and then didn't recognise it, telling me on the receipt how many points I could have got if only I'd had one. Grrrrr. Of course, if everyone has to use self-service, and then they don't get points, that's quite a points saving for the company, isn't it?

But I did triumph at John Lewis, where I was looking for these little decoration hooks for the Christmas tree. http://www.johnlewis.com/50-decoration-hooks-silver/p1969368 None of the staff had any idea what I was talking about, but amazingly didn't try to tell me that no such product had ever existed in the history of the world and, if it did, they wouldn't stock it, which is the usual reaction. They tried personfully to look them up, and then in the end I found them sitting randomly beside a box of baubles on one of the displays. The displays are themed, and they only had them with *one* theme, but I got them! The other thing I wanted, which is this gorgeous owl decoration was out of stock, but that's never really surprising. Also it doesn't *really* go with my theme, but I just like it :-)



I got these (a pack of 12), which are more of a champagne colour than they look on my monitor:



I'l lose the string and use the little hooks for these.

And I got this handsome fellow:



These are to add to last year's decorations, which had a theme of "Woodland Christmas", and I think I have enough now with the things I bought last weekend. I can do right round the tree, instead of just the 3/4 people can see :-)

Really cute Christmas decorations. Too bad you couldn't get the owl, though, because he really is lovely. We're going up to San Francisco to a rented condo for Christmas week this year (and to celebrate Hubby's significant birthday) and I don't plan to haul tree decorations with me so I'm planning to make some iced cookies and buy some candy canes to put on the smallest tree I can find up there. We buy decorations as souvenirs when we travel and I always love taking them out and remembering where they came from but that'll have to wait for next year.

>92 susanj67: Love the decs. I am still in the bah humbug phase of my Xmas preparations (to be followed by 'ooh, look at all the lovely Xmas drinks the coffee shops have' and 'blind panic shopping' phases). I admire your forward thinking. I bought Boys from the boat for the kindle when it was on sale a while back. I have to report backsliding: couldn't resist picking up Lt Boruvka today, although I am not getting the references to classic crime novels. Too busy enjoying the Czech communist atmosphere (makes the 2010s seem positively balmy).

#92 Sorry to hear that The City & the City wasn't a hit. One of my all time favourite reads, but Mieville is definitely not everyone's cup of tea :)

Susan - I will join you in the puzzlement? over The City & the City. I'd heard so many good things about it, but after two or three tries, I gave up. It maybe didn't help that I was reading it on my e-reader in the gym?

>93 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, I've signed up for an email when the owl is back in stock. I love the sound of your San Francisco decorations! If they're edible, there'll be no need to lug them home, either :-)

>94 charl08: Charlotte, I'm usually bah humbug about Christmas, but last year I bought a tree for the office for the first time, and decorated it for my roomie while she was away. Everyone loved it, so it encouraged me to do it again. Currently it's sitting on a high shelf, covered in a bin bag, which cracks my former office roomie up when he comes in. We also had little felt Advent buckets which I ran along a shelf and filled with chocolates, but she's on some crazy diet this year so I might give those a miss, particularly as I have my L'Occitane calendar for home. Never mind about Lt Boruvka - they're only guidelines :-)

>95 BekkaJo: Bekka, I was just thinking about you today, wondering how NaNoWriMo was going. So how's it going? :-) I had hoped to enjoy the Mieville, but alas.

>96 BLBera: Beth, ditto! I could see that there was a puzzle to be unravelled but I just wasn't motivated enough to do it.

I've started The Sixth Extinction, which is an excellent read. I'm nearly half-way through it, with Man v Food Nation (or maybe just "Food") on in the background. Border Security Canada is on at 8, though, and I love that. I'll stop reading and concentrate :-)

Count me as another who is sorry that the Mieville did not work for you. I loved it when I read it for the BAC last March (I think), but I can see where it might not necessarily be universally loved.

No Christmas spirit here. Would be perfectly happy falling into a coma from Thanksgiving night until approximately January 5th or so. But I do like your decorations - especially the little reindeer guy.

>92 susanj67: - Ah.... you gave up on The City & The City? In all fairness, that isn't my favorite Mieville - actually it sit near the bottom of the Mievilles I have read so far - so I kind of understand. ;-)

I can see why you like the owl ornament. That is a beauty! I love reading about your retail shopping experiences. It must be so frustrating for you but from this end, it is better than anything I have seen recently as 'reality TV'.

>97 susanj67: Eeek! Border Security Canada has made it's way to the UK! Such a dreadful show full of pompous fools of border guards. You have no idea how much I roll my eyes should it happen to come on TV here. A lot of Canadian TV is pure , cheaply made garbage. Our news casts are fine, but TV made in Canada - ugh!

>98 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, with all the love here I'm wondering whether I should read a bit more. I got to 20% though...

>99 lkernagh: Lori, frustrating is *not* the word! But I'm glad it's entertaining :-) When I signed up for an email when the owl is back in stock, the auto-reply said it might be three months. Hmmm...

>100 vancouverdeb: Deborah, yes, we've had it for a while :-) I really like seeing all the crazy things that people do. My favourites are the Americans who have no intention of going to Canada, but get in the wrong lane near the border and then have to confess to all their guns and what-not before they can go back. The best one was a young mother who had TWO guns in the car, one in her baby's diaper bag. The border officers were pretty much speechless. Last night a Canadian citizen came back from the UK, having overstayed his visa and been deported. "How long did you overstay?" asked one officer. "Fourteen years," he answered, and they all looked shocked.

>101 susanj67: - I have to say that I didn't understand it at first, but the longer I went on the clearer it became to me what it was that he was doing there.

>102 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, you must have more patience :-)



194. The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

I saw this mentioned on LT and reserved it a while ago. It's an excellent read, and I like the author's occasionally droll tone. The subject-matter is pretty grim - it looks at the first five big extinctions in the history of the planet, and at what humans are doing to cause the sixth. She visits lots of places and talks to lots of experts, but it's a very easy, popular science, read. Of course it has made me want to read more...

Now I just have one more library book! And one waiting to be picked up tomorrow. No!vember isn't really working out that well. I might have to extend it.

>103 susanj67: Extend it! I'm having enough trouble meeting a month.

Nice older librarian asked me how I read so many books today (I went in to pick up two reservations, as I had the fear they would disappear). I never know what to say when people say things like that: I guess the honest response would be I'm not sure how people survive *without* lots of books to chose from...

>104 charl08: I think an extension would be good (for me, anyway - I'll have to call it Duhcember, as in "Duh, I had the whole of November to read my own books and still couldn't manage it"). I'm (mostly) reading things already reserved, but we're a third of the way through the month and the TBR pile is still there. I was asked that very question about the reading just now. My answer is that I just don't have anything else to do. I've always been a big reader, but now I can't stitch any more that's taken away my other main hobby, so it's just reading. Or watching Empire and other worthwhile TV like that :-)

You cracked me up with your Duhcember comments! Your thread is always a delight, Susan. I am off to meet with the car insurance lady in a bit, so it's looking to be a pretty exciting day for me. NOT. Anyway, it's Monday, let's just get through it.

I'm definitely staying away from the library for the rest of No!vember (except for Memento Mori the one BAC book I am now reading this month. I don't, of course, take out anywhere near the number of library books that you guys do, but want to see if I can do it successfully. I have something in the vicinity of 50 wishlisted library books here on LT so I think I need to get back to getting that list moving again soon. I'll get to the TBR books that are around the house when I get to them.

>106 Crazymamie: Mamie, I hope the insurance meeting went OK. It seems like the perfect thing to have on a Monday, so it doesn't mess up any of the other days :-)

>107 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, I really don't think I can do it successfully. Every time I go in, the Invention of Science book is sitting there looking at me. Of course, I could stop going, but today I have to return something. Maybe I could ask Favourite Library Assistant to meet me at the door so I could just hand it over and run away ;-)



195. Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin

This is the purple book from the library display (borrowed in contravention of the No!vember guiderules). It's number 8 in the Tales of the City series, which means there is just one more to go. This has been a great series to binge-read, but I can see how these later books (written some 20 years after the series started) would have delighted fans who read the first ones years ago. It's like old friends visiting again.

I picked up The Planet Remade last night (reserved last month). Its subtitle is "How Geoengineering Could Change The World", and it's about what science can do to try and fix the problems caused by climate change. It's come at a good time, right after The Sixth Extinction, and looks interesting although I've only read part of the introduction so far.

borrowed in contravention of the No!vember guiderules

Snicker.

I can't remember if you are planning to read Welcome to the Anthropocene which might fit with The Planet remade.

>109 charl08: Charlotte, the link goes to a scarily hard-looking book, but the library catalogue offered Adventures in the Anthropocene, which sounds like just the ticket. Sigh.

Oh pants. The Welcome prize one. That's the one I meant....
Thanks for bearing with.

>108 susanj67: - Funny!! I'd like to see that.

Guess I am lucky that the new books at my branch are not displayed in a tempting way - only the spines are visible. I have to get out my reading glasses if I want to see them properly. Additionally the good NF books are shelved with a lot of self-help crap so I quickly lose interest. Yes, I know S-H is non-fiction, but to me it is the least interesting type of book. The straight NF stuff kind of gets lost amongst them.

Now, if I were still going to the branch located at the park with the zoo it would be a different matter. They like to put the best new books standing up on top of a low bookcase so likely I would get into a lot trouble there.

>111 charl08: Ahem...Royal Society Winton Prize...But that's taken me back to the website I discovered a while ago and had lost!

>112 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, spines only must be quite a challenge for the browser in a hurry. And I'm with you on self-help - every time my library adds new NF ebooks there are far too many of them.

Ooh, optical migraine - the typing will suffer so I'll be back later.

Optical migraine - don't know what that it is, but it sounds nasty.

Oh no. Get well soon.

>114 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, it's an odd thing where first you notice that the centre of your vision has gone (like you've looked at a bright light and it's dazzled you) and then it comes back but you get wavy lines radiating out to the edges of your vision. They last about half an hour, and they don't really bother me because I don't drive or walk tightropes or anything dangerous, but they make the typing a bit hazardous :-) Well, hazardous for the person reading it! Here's a link: http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/ocular-migraine.htm

>115 charl08: Charlotte, it's all fine now. They're the oddest thing, but once I'd had the first one and a friend told me what to google I realised that they're very common. And painless. And no nausea or anything like that. Just weird. They actually have nothing to do with the eyes - it's brainstem activity. I do hope the roomie never gets one, though, because she's such a hypochondriac that there would be ambulances.

>116 susanj67: - Well, I'm glad it's over and that it doesn't freak you out. I think it would me. Don't think I can actually read about it. I'm a semi-hypochondriac with an abiding dislike/fear of doctors and most medical professionals. Except for veterinarians. I would go to Jane's vets with no problem.

Susan! You are my hero. The past couple of years, I occasionally (maybe 2-3 times/year) have a weird vision thing happen that I've tried to describe to people. It's exactly as you describe it, and then the link you provided confirmed it. So glad to have a name for what it is (and to know it's basically harmless)! I occasionally get the headache afterwards, but it doesn't bother me much because I'm just so glad to see normally again :)

>117 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, the first time it freaked me out. I was watching the news and eating a bowl of tomato soup when it started. I wondered if somehow the soup had been poisoned! But it went away again, so I calmed down, and then described it to my friend the next day and he told me what it was. And they all follow the same pattern, and never last more than half an hour. I usually stop typing and look out of the window for a bit, or go down and play with the book exchange. Today it happened over lunchtime so I could divert myself with "Best of British". "That must be a small counter," said the roomie waspishly. She is not a big fan of the food here :-)

>118 katiekrug: Katie, I'm glad I could help! The graphic in that link really is perfect, I think. Poor you with the headache afterwards, though. I've never had that, which is amazing given all my headache issues.

You should set up a medical practice ;-)

The headache bit really isn't bad and responds to a couple of ibuprofen.

When it happens, I go into a dimly lit room and close my eyes and massage my temples. And concentrate on my breathing. It happened to me twice in two days a couple of months ago, and I think it was stress-induced. Other times, though, it's totally random. The worst was when I was driving and had to pull over.

>121 katiekrug: Most of mine happen at the office, and I wouldn't trust any dimly lit rooms here ;-) But the first one was at home. I had one ten days ago, but they're usually further apart. That link says all migraine is more common in the 30s and 40s, so we might grow out of them :-) Me sooner than you, obviously!

Mine are usually well spaced apart, but seem to happen equally at home and work. I sent that link to my husband because he's always been a bit skeptical when I try to explain what happens.... :-P

Well, he'll have to believe you now, because if it's on the internet then *everyone knows it's true.*

Yup.

There are Diwali treats in the kitchen* and I may be over-sugared.

*Don't worry if you were planning Diwali wishes to colleagues - Diwali is actually tomorrow. The treats are today because tomorrow is Armistice Day. That reminds me I must write in the card I bought for the roomie.

My husband gets a thing he was told is a "white migraine"...I wonder if it's the same thing. As to "growing out of them", bad news, he'll be 75 next month.

>125 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, I googled that but not much came up. It sounds weird, though! Does he have a headache with it? As I didn't start getting mine till my mid 30s, I'm hoping I'm typical of the "comes on in the 30s and then goes away" population, particularly as I've never had migraine headaches. Mine are all tension headaches from my back/neck etc.



196. The Remains of an Altar by Phil Rickman

This is a novel in the Merrily Watkins series, about a "deliverance consultant" (exorcist) who is called in this time when several road accidents are blamed on the ghost of Edward Elgar. It's not the strongest in the series, but it was still good. And I learned a lot about Elgar...

Yikes. That one sounds creepy. Since I am planning to read Audrey Niffenegger's Ghostly. I suspect that I will be all weirded out after that.

Sounds like your roommate needs some food challenges after those cheeky (if possibly accurate) comments about British food. Do we get to count Chicken Balti? How about Haggis? Or has she tried Bara Brith? Lots of cake is coming to mind here....

Enjoy the divali treats. Mouthwatering just thinking of them.

>127 charl08: Charlotte, the series is a bit creepy. The first one was on ITV recently, and I recorded it so I must get around to watching it. The roomie thinks Chicken Tikka Masala ("a dish unknown in India") should be included in "Best of British" but so far there is no sign of it. My odd combination of sausages, fish pie and cucumber salad was strangely good, though. Today was pasta day, and also Louisiana Creole ("the popular South American cuisine", as the poster persists in describing it) so I had to make a choice and pasta won out, as it usually does.

>126 susanj67: He has never had "regular" migraines and these "white ones" started when he was in his 60's. There's no pain, he just loses much of his vision for 20 minutes or so. One Excedrin takes care of it in a few minutes and he's on his way with no lasting effects. Now that I think about it, he hasn't had one in a year or more so maybe they've gone.

I get visual migraines occasionally too - mostly when I've been looking at screens a lot. My first encounter with what to call them came in Oliver Sacks' Hallucinations, where he talks about having them and what they are.

>129 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, fingers crossed they've gone!

>130 drneutron: Jim, mine tend to happen at work too. Fortunately I'm not doing anything that can't be redone. It must be worrying for e.g. pilots and surgeons.

Among all the gloomy news this morning was one piece of very GOOD news - the nurse who suffered an Ebola-related relapse has made a full recovery: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-34791692

>131 susanj67: Thanks for the good news about the nurse. Hope this means she's over it for good!

>132 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, yes, I hope so too. No-one seemed to think that it could come back like it did though, so maybe it could happen again. It really is a horrible virus - I suppose we never knew just *how* horrible for people who survive it because so few people survived it.



197. The Known World by Edward P Jones

Wow. This is an amazingly good read, and another book I bought because of the good LT reviews :-) I see now that it's also won a Pulitzer. There's a huge cast of characters and it jumps around in time quite a bit, so this is one that I'd recommend reading in a fairly concentrated time so as not to lose track of it all.

I'm now reading Imhotep, which is a very silly but entertaining time travel story in which three Americans exploring Saqqara find themselves back at the time it was being constructed, and the ancient Egyptians are captivated by these strange Gods who seemed to arrive out of nowhere, with their blue-fabric-covered legs and books of very white, smooth papyrus. I bought this ages ago and retrieved it from the depths of the Kindle as part of No!vember. It's light relief from the book about geoengineering, which is proving quite hard.

The book exchange has been packed up and partially moved to its new home. Romance + saga has been unpacked and shelved (everything fits!) while the other sections are still in crates, waiting, I suspect, for the morning coffee rush to die down so that the movers aren't getting in the way. I'll keep an eye on things and go down for a tidy-up later if everything's unpacked by then.

>133 susanj67: Cool! I only heard about this book through LT too.

I do like his approach: it felt authentic, and impressive that the story was about the whole community not just a couple of people (although I read those stories too, obvs). I read it in fits and starts and thought afterwards I should have concentrated on it a bit more. Ah well, maybe with his next book.

Good to hear about the shelving. Fingers crossed the move continues to go well: under careful supervision, naturally...

>134 charl08: I think I read about it first on Reba's thread, which would make sense if it's a Pulitzer book, because of her Pulitzer challenge (Hi Reba!). I loved the writing, and it was about a topic that really doesn't get much coverage at all (a former slave owning slaves, I mean). I have an urge to supervise the book exchange, despite saying above that I would leave it till later. But I suppose now *is* later...And I've just received THREE emails from OUP dangling exciting books in front of me, including one that I have seen at the library. aaaaargh.

I read The Known World a few years ago and liked it. I can't remember how I heard about it.

I'm glad the move has gone well so far! I'm sure your planning has a lot to do with that. Speaking of moving, I must get myself up and going. Stella is spending the weekend with me and her "parents" are dropping her off before I leave for work. I haven't told Adrian yet. He knows what "Stella is coming" means, and he rushes to his favorite perch on the back of the sofa and stares out the window until she arrives.

>135 susanj67: Lots to think about, but intrigued by the three OUP titles... Just going to have a wander over to their site. No harm in Looking at the New Books, right?

A bit off topic by now, but I used to get ocular migraines, but only two - three times a year. They still happen, but much less frequently. I had no idea what they were , and the second time I got one, I phoned my sister to pick me up from shopping, as I had waited a half hour for my vision to be restored to normal. I did not feel safe to drive my car home until it resolved. What do you know, but my sister got them occasionally too, so she understood completely. I mentioned it to my dad, and he said he got the same thing. And then my brother got the ' visual aura" of a migraine ( I think that is another name for an ocular migraine) , but he got the vomiting and headache too. He grew out of it. I think when I spoke to my doctor he called it the aura of a migraine, without the migraine. It sure made me realize how genetic it must be, given the number of people in my immediate family that had either an ocular migraine, or the whole thing. But they have been of minimal problem for any of us ( knock on wood.).

>136 cbl_tn: Carrie, how sweet about Adrian :-) I hope he has fun with his pal. The move has gone OK, in that all the books are now unpacked and shelved, but the general fiction and the crime have somehow been shelved together (in perfect alphabetical order, though - there is someone else in the building as obsessed as I am!) so I need to split them out again. And the romance and NF are partially shelved out of order, but they don't look too bad. There's too much to do till after work, though, so I now have to wait till 5.30 knowing that there are books out of order in the building. *Deep breath*

>137 charl08: Charlotte, it was worse than three titles - it was three emails *full of titles*. There was the "Chemistry Week 2015" email (not that tempting, but who knows? Science in Wonderland looks pretty good) and the "Books to give this Christmas" email (lethal, if "give" includes "to yourself") and the "Your popular science" update (sob). And THEN, as I was on my way back from Tesco carrying three packs of Reese's and an onion (yes, I forgot my bag) I ran into Favourite Library Assistant outside, who said "We've got lots of new books!"

>138 vancouverdeb: Deborah, I'm glad you're getting them less frequently now, and that is interesting about your family having them too. I must ask my brother whether he gets them. They're definitely the *sort* of thing that you assume must be serious the first time, and I can totally understand that you wouldn't want to drive, just in case. Fortunately I spend my life on buses :-)

Glad the books are in their new home. Hope the thought of their mixed-up condition does not cause major anxiety for you.

Reese's and an onion - sounds similar to way my grocery shopping has often gone.

I, too, read The Known World - back in 2008. I gave it 3.5 stars at the time, but I see, from my review, that I was definitely annoyed by some of it. It's sitting on the floor across the room right now, in one of the to-be-donated piles. Wonder if I should rescue it.

>140 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, it is causing anxiety, but there are only three more hours and 50 minutes to go until I can fix them :-) The onion is for soup. Marks & Spencer only sell packs of three huge ones, which are heavy when you have to carry everything home by hand. But the little Tesco in the other mall isn't that busy at lunchtime, and they have loose vegetables. I must get into the habit of taking a bag with me. Single-use plastic bags now cost 5p here, and with the charge seems to have come an implication that anyone who uses them must be planning to strangle a polar bear with them once they've carried the groceries home. There were a few amusing articles at the time of the recent law change, in which the writers said that the cupboard under their sink was now worth £1 million based on 5p per bag :-)

Lol re the plastic bags. Susan vs the polar bear. Someone call David Attenborough!

Did you watch The Hunt? Polar bear vs seal definitely my favourite.



Although I'm still not entirely clear how a poster can be "interactive".
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/thehunt

>141 susanj67: - OMG! I've got a fortune in my cellar!!!

>135 susanj67: Hi back, Susan :) Yes, I enjoyed The Known World when I read it -- looks like it was about 7 or 8 years ago (gulp!!!).

>142 charl08: Charlotte, I think a poster is interactive if you can look up more stuff about it, or scan a code or something - so newfangled. I caught up on The Hunt last night, and I loved the first sequence of the polar-bear-chasing-seals, particularly the music. What a great programme. Plus, of course, David Attenborough can pronounce "Arctic", unlike the head of Greenpeace, or the narrator of something I watched recently about "Antartica" (sic).

>143 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, I expect to see them on customs forms imminently - "Are you bringing back goods worth more than x, or five plastic bags?"

>144 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, that's interesting because I thought you'd just read it. I saw it on someone's thread. I wonder who it was? They read it and loved it and then I saw it cheap on Amazon and scooped it up. In my head, Pulitzer = Reba!

I got the books sorted last night, and it's looking good. Today I intended to walk to Asda round the long way, but it was raining, so I got the bus, but that was only going to Canary Wharf, and it stopped right opposite Waitrose...So the steps are a fail today, but I can't really get that interested, given what else is going on.

>145 susanj67: "Pulitzer=Reba" made me smile. I did read it but a few years ago.

I managed 11,000 steps yesterday. With your "wash out" (literally and figuratively) maybe I had more than you for once :)

Hope the library e-bundle is treating you well. My latest scandi was a bit meh so not sure where I'm going next with the next fiction. I've got Young Stalin on the go, which opened with a daring raid on a Tsarist bank carriage. Poor horses seem to have borne most of it, but the Bolsheviks made off with Lots of Cash. It never occurred to me that they had to fund Bolshevism through bank robberies.

>146 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, you definitely had more than I did! Yesterday I didn't even leave the house. Very poor.

>147 charl08: Charlotte, I'm using them to bribe my way through the geoengineering book, which is *whispers* very dull. But I did finish the Mary Whitehouse book.



198. Ban This Filth!: Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive by Ben Thompson

Brits will know who Mary Whitehouse is, and other countries probably have their equivalent campaigners against "filth" on TV (actually the title was not a phrase from one of her own letters, but from a speech given by a supporter), but Mrs Whitehouse has become part of the culture of the UK following her campaigning from the 1960s to the 1990s against the declining standards on television (and then in entertainment more widely). Often sneered at and hated in her time (and still) she is nevertheless slowly being proved right in a number of respects, and particularly on the subject of pornography, which she dared to say was not "liberating" but degrading to women, and just another source of profit for the pornographers.

This is a fascinating look at her "Clean Up TV" campaign, and the founding of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, known as "National VALA" (and not NVALA like an African chief, as the author points out). Today it lives on as Mediawatch. It's particularly interesting on the subject of her relationship with the BBC, which she thought should be more accountable to the listening and viewing public as they were paying for it. But they just sneered and hated, and pointed out, in response to her complaint about a song on "Crackerjack" that she said was clearly promoting paedophilia, that Mr Gary Glitter was a respected popular artist and she was misinterpreting things. (For overseas readers, Gary Glitter was later jailed in Vietnam for child sex offences, and when he came back to the UK he was jailed again for more).

But she also took on ITV (the commercial channel) and later the new Channel 4 (described by the author as "her worst cheese-dream"), and was responsible for a number of private prosecutions of obscene and blasphemous material, some of which succeeded. Unarguably, though, NVALA complained about things that, even at the time, were trivial and silly and which did their campaign no good. I think the author does a good job of looking at the whole of her work, rather than focusing, as many of the haters do, on just the parts that didn't work. I had no idea that she'd been responsible for the Protection of Children Act 1978, against some opposition apparently (opposition to children being preyed upon by adults - truly the 70s were a different time) and I would like to have read more about that, but it wasn't the focus of the book, which really looked at the campaign against "filth". And those whose daughters now feel pressured to behave like Rihanna or Miley Cyrus or the Kardashians will probably be grateful that at least someone once tried to stop it. Goodness only knows what the world would be like now if she hadn't.

199. Imhotep by Jerry Dubs

When this came up ages ago as a Kindle deal of some sort, I was a bit dubious. A self-published novel about ancient Egypt...ehhh...but then I saw that it involved some time travel (oooh) and the reviews were mostly excellent. And they couldn't *all* be friends of the author, right? So I risked my 99p :-) And it's a great read! Lots of fun as the modern-day Americans and ancient Egyptians run up and down the Nile as a plot to kill the king takes shape, and those in the know have to find the baddies before it's too late, and the Americans have to try and get back to the tomb that's the portal between past and present. There are also hot priestesses. And crocodiles. It won't win the Booker, but it's just as good as a professionally published novel in terms of plot and characters and not full of the grammos and typos for which self-publishing is renowned. Either the author is a naturally "clean" writer or he recognised the importance of a good copy-editor. There are three more in the series, which I sense I'm going to buy :-)

Oh how good to read about a self published book that is worth reading. (My auto correct wanted 'self punished', which seems oddly accurate for some of the authors I've tried).

I don't know a lot about Mary Whitehouse, so should probably read the book. There was a drama made of her life fairly recently, did you watch it? The BBC bosses did come across as just as arrogant and sexist as you describe. TV for the people rather than any sense of needing to register their opinions. I read something along similar lines that pulled archive letters to the BBC with their replies. Complaints were made about the racism of TV programmes for decades, where the writers were pretty much told that their views didn't matter.

That Gary Glitter example is so shocking. I don't know what else to say.

Charlotte, I didn't see the programme. Was it the one with Julie Walters? If rumours about the forthcoming report into Jimmy Saville's crimes committed at the BBC are true, there will be a lot more on the subject of what the bosses did and didn't know/care about. It's one thing to roll their eyes at a complaint about song lyrics, but that seems to have been part of a culture which said "anything goes" and allowed Saville to get away with all that abuse. Even today they never actually apologise for anything - they go as far as "We're sorry if you were offended", implying that there's something wrong with the complainant for being offended in the first place.

But, as Mrs Whitehouse said, if every second word is "bl**dy" today, then tomorrow they will be four-letter words instead. And, the author pointed out, now we have Gordon Ramsay, right on cue. I honestly don't know how people with children deal with TV these days. Often I'm watching quite innocuous things and something will be said or done that makes me really glad I don't have a curious seven-year-old in the room with me.

>149 susanj67: That sounds interesting! I'm going to mention it on the Bingo Dog thread in the 2016 Category Challenge group. We need to read a self-published book to complete one of the Bingo squares, and people are asking for recommendations.

>152 cbl_tn: Carrie, I've been trying to think of any other self-published ones I've read - Song To Wake To wasn't bad. It's the first in a trilogy, and I also read the second one, but the author took so long to publish book 3 that I gave up, although I see it's available now. It's at the YA end of the scale, and it's a fun take on the Arthurian legend.

I had a dream last night in which I was speed-borrowing library books. I think No!vember is getting to me.

Hmmm. Gonna have to check into Imhotep.

>154 drneutron: Jim, it would be a good book for a long flight - plenty of interest in it, but nothing that requires intense concentration or peace and quiet to appreciate the prose style :-) But it has made me want to read more about Ancient Egypt - I know nothing at all other than the pyramids and the Sphinx, and even there I'm a bit hazy. I do remember a BBC drama about the Ptolemys when I was a teenager and I loved that, but it was basically a soap opera with kohl.



200. (yay!) The Radioactive Boy Scout by Ken Silverstein

Someone recommended a book by Ken Silverstein a while ago, and I couldn't get it here, but this one popped up on Amazon Marketplace and looked interesting. It's the story of teenager David Hahn, who got so interested in chemistry that he ended up trying to build a nuclear reactor in his mother's potting shed. In a way it's a very sad story, because neither of his parents really took any interest in him, and that led to him developing the dangerous obsession that they should have stopped before it went as far as a clean-up by a team in full hazard suits, who refused to tell the neighbours what was going on. But there are excursions into the history of the elements that are used in nuclear power, including an alarming chapter on radium, which seemed to be basically a health supplement in the 1920s before people started dying from exposure to it. There's also a chapter on how he used his chemistry smarts to earn boy scout badges, although I think it's taking things a bit far to say that the reactor was part of a scout project. What was interesting was how easy it was to get hold of some of the elements in the mid-90s, and how helpful government officials were in answering "hypothetical" questions about reactor issues. These days you'd have a SWAT team at the door, but David was pretty much allowed to continue unchallenged. Worth a look if you're interesting in chemistry, or if your children are. You'll be taking much more of an interest in what they're doing in the basement after you read this!

Wow, what a great title.

And congrats on the 200 books, of course!

OMG 200 books! That's amazing! Especially considering that you work and all of the walking you do. When do you find time to sleep?

Well done on 200!

>156 charl08: Thanks Charlotte! I think it was the title that got me :-)

>157 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba :-) The steps have been dwindling this week with the weather, so maybe that's why :-)

>158 Helenliz: Thanks Helen!

And the weekend might see some more reading, because:



Yes, the forecast in London is for SNOW! In November! The Evening Standard has kindly published some pictures of past snow so we can remember what it looks like:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-weather-snow-forecast-for-capital-a...

Congrats on the 200 books, Susan, AND on the possible snow. As long as one can hunker down and just enjoy the sight of it, snow is great :) I am hoping to see some on our trip next week.

200 books - amazing! Congratulations.

My sympathies on the snow. Snow is only good if you don't have to drive in it. Also if it doesn't pile up on one's roof so that life, limb and house are directly threatened by it. We've not seen any yet and I'm good with keeping things that way for this whole winter. We had more than enough last season.

Wow, snow in November!! I did notice this morning that I'm ranked higher than you in the Fitbit stats. That's so unusual I'm not sure I can take it in. Lucy and Mamie are still way out there ahead as is my local friend so I need to get out there in a bit and move.

Wow! 200 books. Congrats. Enjoy the snow.

Congrats on hitting the 200 book milestone! And snow! They're predicting a chance of snow flurries here over the weekend but I don't think it's supposed to stick. The ground is too warm. We don't usually get snow with accumulation before Christmas this far south. We'd sometimes have snow at Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November) when we went to my grandparents' house in Indiana.

Hey, congratulations on 200!!

The Martian by Andy Weir was self-published initially, and so was Jodi Taylor's Just One Damned Thing After Another.

Snow? 80 degrees here today--I roasted at my craft show! (That's 26.67 in Celsius).

Did I read correctly?.... Snow? Wow. I take it that would be a bit of a weather anomaly for London in November. On the bright side, think of all the reading you can do if the snow impacts your ability to go to work. ;-)

Congrats on 200!

>160 katiekrug: Thanks Katie. I'm planning on hunkering, so I should cope :-) Today is a lot warmer than they were promising though...#fakesneralert

>161 Fourpawz2: Thanks Charlotte. Fortunately I won't have to drive, and for my "roof" I have the Clompingtons. I have my fingers crossed that I get all your snow this year and you don't have any :-)

>162 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, LOL! I remember once I actually got ahead of Mamie. I mentioned this to the roomie, who was quite concerned, and said "Do you think she's OK? Should you send her a message?" I explained that I could see *some* stepping, but just not the normal huge total. My efforts this week have been pitiful.

>163 BLBera: Thanks Beth!

>164 cbl_tn: Thanks Carrie! I'll have to take photos if we get any. I've never seen snow in November in 20 years of living in London, so it could be that the papers are just trying to drum up some excitement to take our minds off all the awfulness.

>165 ronincats: Thanks Roni! Gosh, I didn't know that about The Martian, or the Jodi Taylor book, both of which I've read. Of course, Fifty Shades of Grey was also self-published at some point, I think, which might be why my expectations are low :-)

>166 lkernagh: Lori, yes, it would be an anomaly. And I can't miss work - I have to file something next Friday which people *will not hurry up and contribute to/comment on* so next week is going to be a challenge...But I could have a nice hunkered-down weekend, with lots of Marks & Spencer on the menu. Not their lobster mac and cheese at £8.50 for a single serving (not a typo) but, you know, maybe the cottage pie with cheesy mash topping :-)

I am very close to finishing the geoengineering book, which is not a great read. I should have abandoned it, but I kept hoping it would get better. Fortunately Bad Feminist is a better read. As are the romances :-) This weekend I might get to start on another hard-copy book from the TBR pile. Excitement! I've been making some progress with the Kindle TBR pile, but the hard copies are still sitting there. There aren't *that* many of them, though (maybe 15 or 20) so I'm considering keeping No!vember running into next month. I'm sort of getting out of the hang of library book lust, with occasional moments of weakness. Maybe going cold turkey is too hard :-)

Thanks for the reading update. Admire your limited TBR. One of the funniest things about doing No!vember has been finding books I had forgotten I owned, so get to read. Has made me quite aware in the shops that I do *already* have plenty to read, even if the book is a bargainous 99p.

I'm trying to decide whether to finish Stalin or jump straight into Author, Author, as like The Master it is also a fictional version of Henry James' life. (I think it was one of those weird cases where two people had the same creative idea at the same time).

>168 charl08: Charlotte, I've found quite a bit on the Kindle, but the actual TBR pile has been staring at me for a while. But the Kindle is better than I thought on the non-fiction front - I only have my Verso summer sale books to read and about five (maybe ten) other NF and the rest are fiction (including quite a few silly romances). I'd continue with Stalin if I were you - too much Henry James might get tiring, and the books might blur into one :-) I had a lunchtime impulse to go to the library, but I was actually quite near it at the time of the impulse, so I made myself come back to the office and order my secretary's Christmas present on line instead of hanging out in the mall. Whew!

>155 susanj67: Well done Susan for passing gracefully beyond 200! This has probably been your best year in terms of posting but it hasn't slowed you down one jot.

Have a lovely weekend.

>170 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! We're having wintry showers here, so it's going to be a booky weekend.



201. The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change The World by Oliver Morton

I read this because because it was a Samuel Johnson prize finalist but it was a real slog. It's about how we could use geoengineering solutions to "cure" or at least reduce climate change, and should have been interesting, but it was alternately too hard, too woo-woo or just plain boring. I think it would work much better for a readership who understood the science, rather than being a popular science text (if that's what the author intended it as - I thought it was).



202. Two of a Kind by Susan Mallery

This is book 11 in the Fool's Gold series, set in a small(ish) town in California, and, while not a favourite, was still a decent read. Also there were no hard words :-) I've got the next one in the same ebook bundle from the library, so I'll read that this weekend.

There's no sign of actual snow, but we are promised "wintry showers" and it's freezing cold and raining, so maybe there will be sleet! I won't be going out. The Fitbit is sulking so I might have to do some running on the spot in the kitchen at intervals :-)

Hi Susan, I finally find time to do some weekend greetings. Wishing you a most lovely weekend.

come on then, weather update, where's that snow?

I saw some snow today! (No public transport was halted in the making of this status).

I just listened to Fool's Gold by Mallery set in a small(ish) town in the Sierra foothill gold country. Wonder if it's part of the same series.

Oops, it was called Chasing Perfect but was set in Fool's Gold

Ha,ha Just saw your post on my thread so now I know both why I got the book and that it is indeed part of the same series. Sounds like it may be worth reading further in the series. I'll have to check next time I'm on Audible.

>172 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara :-)

>173 Helenliz: Helen, that's a question that I hope someone is asking of the forecasters. Today is beautifully sunny with blue skies - cold but no sign of snow. Hmph.

>174 charl08: Charlotte, you win the snow!

>175 RebaRelishesReading:, >176 RebaRelishesReading:, >177 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Reba! I think there are about 20 books in the series so far. Just think of all those steps :-)



203. Three Little Words by Susan Mallery

Another fun instalment in the series, this time looking at *two* heroines finding their heroes. The main story has been bubbling up for a while, but the second heroine was only introduced in the last book. This book sets up the next trilogy nicely too. I've had to order one book from Amazon marketplace, but the library has the others, and I think the trilogy after that. Yay!

Sounds like perfect Sunday reading.

Just watching Sophia: Suffragette Princess. I didn't get on with the book, but finding the documentary fascinating.

>178 susanj67: it was always a bit unlikely, tbh. We had frost this morning, which I think is the first of the winter. It was clear and crisp and beautiful to look at - although bliddy cold when necessary to go outside!

>179 charl08: Charlotte, I liked the documentary too. Sorry the book didn't work out for you, though.

>180 Helenliz: Helen, yes, it was unlikely, but it would have been a change from all the doom and gloom. Today, however, there's this very sweet story about a seven-year-old hiccuping his way through the national anthem in Australia :-)
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/22/advance-australia-fair-wit... It was cold outside here too, although not hat weather. I walked round the long way to Asda and got all my steps done. And some groceries :-)

I abandoned the Roxanne Gay essays on the basis of too much woo-woo (plus too much detailed discussion of US reality shows I've never seen and books I haven't read) so I have no library books now *smug*. And it's only taken me most of the month! I've started The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson, which is a book exchange book, and I have another book exchange anthology of London writing on the go. And, on the Kindle, The King in the North. It's about Oswald of Northumbria. No, I don't know either. That's the beauty of the Kindle Dail Deal - all sorts of things I'd never think to look for.

I notice from Fitbit that you did go outside :) Even with your cold weather you beat me again (as usual). Now that I have the Mallery thing straightened out I'll have to go and look for the second one :)

>182 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, yes, it was OK yesterday but I should probably have worn gloves. Today is freeeezing but sunny. I wonder if that's the first frost for London, meaning that I can have the balcony doors open again and not risk giant spiders running inside. I'll have to ask my friend with a garden, who is also waiting for the frost so he can prune again (he is also an arachnophobe).

I have two library books to return at lunchtime or after work. Danger! They All Love Jack, the new book about Jack the Ripper, is in transit (another Samuel Johnson nominee) but it's been that way for a while.

Slade House has turned up at the library. Not sure I will manage to resist reading it until the end of the week.

>183 susanj67: - How giant is 'giant', Susan? I have a picture in my head of a row of spiders perched on your balcony railing, jostling for the best viewing position so they can rush forward when you open the door. Then they knock you down and stampede over your prone body, frantically searching out prime, dark cupboard locations. Ick.

I ordered a library book on Saturday, but I am sure, what with the library being closed on Thursday for the holiday and Friday which is its regular day for being closed that I will not be notified of the book's arrival until next Monday and I wouldn't pick it up until the Tuesday. I made sure to order my copy from an out of town library so the book must also be subjected to extra transit time. So, I figure that, technically, I have not violated No!vember rules.

>184 charl08: Charlotte. Yes You Can! Be strong! Don't give in! Or, I look forward to hearing whether you like it or not :-)

>185 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, think slightly wider in diameter than a Reese's peanut butter cup (ordinary size). That includes the legs, but maybe not fully stretched out. But black and scary. And fast-moving. Ugh. I hope your book arrives just in time to be timely, but in December :-)

I am waiting for comments on some documents from multiple parties, none of whom has responded yet. The stress! #controlfreak Deadlines, people, deadlines...

Hope the reservation timing works out. I 'just read a chapter' from the beautiful brand new hardback copy of The Hired Girl and looked up again 300 pages later. Whoops!

>187 charl08: Charlotte, I love it when that happens :-)

Goodness the reading has slipped this week. This is what happens when there are no library book deadlines :-)

Last night I went to an excellent event for women at Canary Wharf, on personal safety. It started with a talk by two officers from the Tower Hamlets Counter-Terrorism unit, who looked like sixth-formers. I kept thinking "Shouldn't you be 20 years older?" particularly when they said that Tower Hamlets is the second-most-likely place for an attack after Westminster. Then the head of security for Canary Wharf spoke about measures in place on the estate. That was really interesting, particularly when he mentioned the 40-feet-wide staircases that can evacuate the Jubilee Line platforms. We all want to know where they come out, and I suspect I won't be the only one doing a bit of exploring at lunchtime. And then there was a personal safety expert, from a company that trains staff who are going to dangerous places. I didn't stay for the self-defence practice part of that presentation, but I learned a lot anyway.

One of the main things is just being aware of where you are and the ways out. The Canary Wharf man said, using the food hall in the mall as an example, that you might think you had nowhere to go if you were standing in the middle of it and something happened, but in fact there are 14 exits within 50 metres of you. Similarly, if you have to run into a retail premises for safety, don't pick the bank, as there's no back door. Pick Marks & Spencer, which has three emergency exits you can use.

The most amusing part of the evening was when one of the attendees got up and left for a little while, and then came back with a takeaway dinner for herself and two friends, from a restaurant in the mall. And they unwrapped it and ate it while the talk was going on. Is this a new thing? OMG, as the young people would say.

Hmmm, as if sensing the slacking, the elibrary just emailed me with a book that I have no memory of ever having reserved. It's The Kingdom of Ice, which I saw on Diana's thread, and I have the hard copy on my wishlist, but I don't remember reserving the e copy, or I would never have wishlisted the other one. Still, a reserved book is a reserved book, right? The rules say so.

At lunchtime I found the doors to the secret tube exit - durr, I've been walking past them for *years* and never thought about what they were an emergency exit *from*. They even have my very favourite sign on them - "These doors are alarmed". Poor doors. And then I explored the mall, and there are heaps of emergency exits! They're like the visual equivalent of white noise, I suppose - our eyes just glide over them because we don't need them, and they mean "off limits except in an emergency". But, as they said last night, when someone's shooting and your heart rate is up to 190, there's no chance of rational thought. They also told us to work out how to silence our phones (including vibrate) so we can do it quickly - not an issue for me as mine is permanently silent due to the annoying spam calls, apart from the alarm at 7am, but maybe I'll reconsider that too.

>189 susanj67: >190 susanj67: That sounds like an excellent seminar. It's sad that we live in a world where it's important to know these things, though.

Your seminar sounds useful, Susan. From time to time, we have "education" on what to do on campus if we have an active shooter. Unfortunately, almost all of the information doesn't apply because 1. we don't have locks on the classroom doors; 2. most of the classrooms have only one door, etc. It would be nice if the safety people would look at our reality and talk about what we can do with what we have instead of using canned material. Rant over. Have a nice weekend.

>191 cbl_tn: Carrie, it is. And at times like this, New Zealand looks pretty appealing as a retirement option.

>192 BLBera: Beth, that must be frustrating. They showed a picture last night of people who had barricaded themselves into the Parliament building in Canada, but I'm not sure why they didn't just run for it as the chamber was huge and there must have been exits. However, the barricade was recommended as a technique and they'd done a pretty good job.

I just checked my library account page and a hard copy reserve has come in - my very last one! I'll head over now and pick it up. I have *finally* got sign-off on the document I have to file tomorrow - what a week of waiting and waiting, and tinkering with wording and then waiting some more. I'd better be super-careful between now and tomorrow morning.

Fingers crossed for a relaxing Friday (with no changes). Good news on the reservation, eh?!

>194 charl08: Charlotte, I hope so. It's gone out to a couple of people as a "FYI final draft" and I fear that one may try and suggest further changes, but we'll see. The book is a giant mahoosive 800-page uber-chunkster! "Holy carp", I thought, channelling Katie, when I saw it on the reserve shelf. And the 800pp is the actual text, not even notes. Well, two Appendices, but they look interesting. Just as well I'd managed to tear myself away from the new NF shelf, which still contains the Invention of Science book and three or four other things (including that 1966 one from your thread).

I love being channeled :-)

Hi Katie! I hope Santa Fe is fun :-)

I read the author's note part of the new book last night, thinking at least I could make a tiny inroad into the 800 pages. But dangit! Roman numerals.

I'm 25% of the way through The King in the North and I need to keep up with it or I'll forget who all the people are. Still, it's different enough from the library books not to cause confusion.

Yay! The document is filed! I may be the happiest person in the building. This afternoon I have to be a pretend witness for a course that's being run for the younger lawyers. I usually play it super-crabby (not that much of a stretch, really) but this afternoon maybe I'll make her distracted and impatient to get things over with so she can go Black Friday shopping :-)

Great news on your finalized document. Have fun with your acting.

Thanks Beth :-) The acting was fun. "You were a really great dreadful witness" said one of the girls. High praise! I was very reluctant to say anything, suspicious that I was being recorded, that I'd be fired, that no good ever came out of conversations with lawyers, and so on. Some handled me better than others, but I was a consistent nightmare. Still, at least I didn't actually shout at anyone, which can happen...Hmmm, maybe next time.

>200 susanj67: This sounds kind of mean. Necessary I suppose for the training but mean.

My favorite tactic is to give long rambling narrative answers. Getting yes or no questions can be a real challenge for younger lawyers.

One of the other roles requires a more garrulous approach (and is a lot of fun to play), but they're supposed to get experience with different types of witnesses. I was allowed to "reward" them with extra information if they picked up certain things I said and followed up. I've played all the roles but for some reason the trainer seems to think I'm a natural for the hostile, reluctant witness, and keeps asking me back :-)

>190 susanj67: - I, too, loved that 'alarmed door' sign. There was one on the back exit at my mother's nursing home that I always chuckled over. Another designation I love is the sign at the supermarket (all of them, I think) that identifies the "loose onions' and their price. I amuse myself by wondering which type of loose they are - generally or morally.

>203 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, I think exactly the same thing about the loose onions!!

>23 susanj67: *snork*!!! & I love that you told Katie you would order the Cokes when you go out! >29 susanj67:

Roberta, I did a "Which US state should you live in?" quiz recently (different to the one about which state I DO live in, where I got Texas), and the answer was once again...Texas.