SusanJ's 75 Books Challenge - Thread 1

Hello, and welcome to my first thread for 2016.

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 a lot more non-fiction, so my reading is now pretty much half fiction and half non-fiction although I'd like to make it one-third to two-thirds. I typically aim for 150 books and this year I want to read at least 50 books from Mount TBR (which counts as anything bought before the end of 2015) instead of maxing out my reserve slots at the library. I wonder how that will go :-)

January

* = book from Mount TBR

1. A Notable Woman
2. The Grand Duchess of Nowhere
3. The Worst Hard Time*
4. The Night in Question
5. Nicholas and Alexandra*
6. The Happiness Industry*
7. How the Other Half Lives*

This year I'm starting a new NF challenge, which is to read the non-fiction winners of the Pulitzer prize. I stole this idea from Reba, who is doing a fiction challenge. Hi Reba! This is a long-term project, rather than something to be completed this year. But I've read three of them already :-) If I can't find the relevant non-fiction winner easily in the UK, I propose to substitute the winner of the history category.

Here's the list:

2015 The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

2014 Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin

2013 Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King

2012 The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt

2011 The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

2010 The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman

2009 Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A Blackmon

2008 The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 by Saul Friedländer

2007 The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright

2006 Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins

2005 Ghost Wars by Steve Coll

2004 Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum

2003 A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power

2002 Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution by Diane McWhorter

2001 Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P Bix

2000 Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower

1999 Annals of the Former World by John McPhee

1998 Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

1997 Ashes To Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, The Public Health, And The Unabashed Triumph Of Philip Morris by Richard Kluger

1996 The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism by Tina Rosenberg

1995 The Beak Of The Finch: A Story Of Evolution In Our Time by Jonathan Weiner

1994 Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days Of The Soviet Empire by David Remnick

1993 Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills

1992 The Prize: The Epic Quest For Oil, Money & Power by Daniel Yergin

1991 The Ants by Bert Holldobler and Edward O Wilson

1990 And Their Children After Them by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson

1989 A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan

1988 The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes

1987 Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land by David K Shipler

1986 Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families by J Anthony Lukas

1986 Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White by Joseph Lelyveld

1985 The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two by Studs Terkel

1984 The Social Transformation Of American Medicine by Paul Starr

1983 Is There No Place On Earth For Me? by Susan Sheehan

1982 The Soul of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder

1981 Fin-De Siecle Vienna: Politics And Culture by Carl E Schorske

1980 Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R Hofstadter

1979 On Human Nature by Edward O Wilson

1978 The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan

1977 Beautiful Swimmers by William W Warner

1976 Why Survive? Being Old In America by Robert N Butler

1975 Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

1974 The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker

1973 Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam by Frances Fitzgerald

1973 Children of Crisis, Vols. II and III by Robert Coles

1972 Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945 by Barbara W Tuchman

1971 The Rising Sun by John Toland

1970 Gandhi's Truth by Erik H Erikson

1969 The Armies Of The Night by Norman Mailer

1969 So Human An Animal by Rene Jules Dubos

1968 Rousseau And Revolution, The Tenth And Concluding Volume Of The Story Of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant

1967 The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture by David Brion Davis

1966 Wandering Through Winter by Edwin Way Teale

1965 O Strange New World by Howard Mumford Jones

1964 Anti-Intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter

1963 The Guns of August by Barbara W Tuchman

1962 The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore H White

>4 susanj67: LOL! It's lovely to see you here, Susan. Currently reading The House at Sea's End.
Happy reading 2016.

>5 Ameise1: Hi Barbara! I think we have some Elly Griffiths books in the book exchange. I'll have to check them out when I go back to work :-)

Do you have to work this week?

>7 Ameise1: No, I'm back next week, so I have six more days to get more reading done :-)

:-) Enjoy it.

I have you starred!

Hi Susan! You're starred:) That's a very ambitious reading list, but I expect you'll have it wrapped up by April or so;)

Happy, happy new year to you!

>3 susanj67: Interesting challenge. Without meaning to I have read a number of these. I would particularly commend The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, and Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan.

A Problem from Hell was so good that I am anxiously awaiting Ambassador Power's retirement from the UN so she can get back to writing. Her book Chasing the Flame was excellent too.

Great to see you back Susan. xx

Dropping off my star, Susan, and looking forward to following your highly entertaining thread once again!

>9 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara :-)

>10 thornton37814: Hi Lori!

>11 AMQS: Hi Anne! Ha! Well, maybe if I had them all in front of me...But I've made a list (!) in a new notebook (!!) of what's available from borough libraries (good for stepping adventures), and what I can reserve from the wider consortium. And then a Better World Books sale email appeared in my inbox, so I've just bought eight from them that didn't show up in the library system at all. I think I should be able to get most of them.

>12 Oberon: Thanks Erik. The Looming Tower is the only one that I can find as a library ebook, so that might be my first one, although The Swerve is a 20-minute walk away in hard copy. I'm looking forward to broadening my horizons a bit - there are quite a few that I would never normally pick up.

>13 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul :-)

>14 Crazymamie: Mamie, welcome!

Hi Susan! Looking forward to another year of following your reading, library, and book exchange adventures :)

Dropping off a star for 2016.

Found and starred!

Hi Susan - happy new year!! I love your Pulitzer non-fiction challenge and will be looking forward to following your progress. It certainly is a long-term project. If/when I finish the Pulitzer fiction books I'm thinking about starting on some of the National Book Award books...maybe biography...maybe history. But I'm going to have to make better progress than in 2015 if I ever want to get there lol.

Hi, Susan. I've wrapped up my 2015 summaries and set up the 2016 thread, so I'm officially here! Happy New Year!

Just dropping in to star as always :)

Happy new thread and new year Susan. I admire your goals re the library reservations, and reading 50 from the TBR sounds good. I doubt I'll get that far, although I have designated a specific shelf to clear / read.

Most of the Pulitzer winners you've listed sound interesting. I'll be following along.

>16 katiekrug: Thanks Katie! Here is the book exchange in its new place. Left to right, the first two bays are romance + saga, the second two are crime + thriller, the next one is general fiction and out of the picture on the right is the non-fiction. I need to make some new signs but you can just see the current ones at the top of the shelves. The book exchange is now in our cafe, so the table on the left of the picture has baked goods and chocolates on it.



>17 Helenliz: Thanks Helen!

>18 lkernagh: Hi Lori!

>19 DianaNL: Thanks Diana!

>20 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara!

>21 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Reba! I thought I needed a new challenge to keep me going, apart from read my own books, which has variable success :-)

>22 ronincats: Hi Roni, and welcome!

>23 BekkaJo: Hi Bekka! Welcome!

>24 charl08: Thanks Charlotte. I wonder how the library reserves will go, but so far so good :-) 365.5 days to go!

I'm reposting this article from the Guardian, which appeared on my last thread, as I thought it had some good suggestions for the new year. I've already started number 10, and read my first poem. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/28/new-year-new-you-how-to-be-h...

I've also been for a 13,000-step walk around the Isle of Dogs which is quiet and uncrowded, although some shops in the mall were open when I got up there, so I had a coffee at Pret and then bought a large bag of stuff from Holland & Barratt. I wore my new Uniqlo fleece coat for the first time, which was perfect. It's this one:



It's microfleece on the outside, and "fuzzy boa fleece" on the inside - toasty warm but not boiling hot. And it even has a double zip.

Today is the first day of the War and Peace read, which I'm joining in the Category Challenge group, and also the first day of the Penguin History of the World read which Katie, Mamie and I are doing (Hi shenaniganistas!). And I have to finish A Notable Woman (mostly for the sake of putting in it in the bag to go back to the library on Monday rather than a due date - everything is stamped to 9 January - as I just can 't be doing with the whining any more. Hers and mine :-)).

Look at you getting those steps in right away in the New Year! Good work! Your new coat looks very stylish and comfy - sadly, I would never get to wear that in Georgia. Although today is only going to 56F, so I am very excited about that.

Your book exchange looks most impressive in its new location. You are reminding me that I really need to tidy up my own shelves. Right now I have giant stacks in front of the bookcase in the bedroom - I'm out of shelf space! And the shelves in the living room have books going every which way as books new to the house are just hanging out trying to get acquainted with the current residents.

And hooray for shenaniganistas!! That made me laugh. And so did: "...as I just can 't be doing with the whining any more. Hers and mine"

Happy New Year, Susan

Happy New Year Susan! The Swerve and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek are both on my list of books to read this year. I read The Guns of August a couple of years ago when I focused on WWI and I loved it.

I'm liking the book exchange with attached coffee shop. What could be better, books and coffee? Well apart form books and coffee and cake, of course.

>25 susanj67: Ooof, I love the look of that fleece coat!

Happy New Year, Susan!

Just saw your Better World Books letter on your old thread. I love it! Believe it or not, I've been to Mishawaka, Indiana. I think your books will be much happier in London! ;-)

Happy New Year, Susan. You would not believe how many steps I got in every day when Scout was here -- even on the day we didn't leave the house! Today, I'm going to be a slug.

The book exchange looks great, very appetizing.

I love the fleece.

>26 Crazymamie: Mamie, I was trying to set myself a good example with the steps :-) I intended the coat for "in between" seasons - maybe March/April rather than the supposed depths of winter, but I think it will prove quite useful if things don't get colder. We're at about 46F today, so the news person covering the Lord Mayor's Parade wasn't being entirely accurate when he said "It's bitterly cold here". You sound as though "Ma'am, there are books everywhere" (I still love that quote). Happy rearranging!

>27 cbl_tn:, >30 cbl_tn: Thanks Carrie! Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is one of the books coming from Better World Books, so I may get to that one quite soon, depending on how long the post takes from Indiana. I love that you've been there - it sounds like they have a few good businesses there, from what the books tell me :-)

>28 Helenliz: Helen, they also have cake :-) It's basically non-stop sugar in that part. Around the corner from the romance shelves is the "deli" part where they make sandwiches to order, and have a toaster available for most of the day. I think they should also have hot chips on tap, but sadly they don't.

>29 scaifea: Amber, you would definitely find it useful in Wisconsin! There are some reviews on the UK site from US customers, so it seems to be available over there.

>31 BLBera: Beth, I can just imagine! I bet there were lots of lovely stairs, too :-) Enjoy the rest.

Well! Book 1 finished for 2016, although I read most of it last year. I wanted to start the reviews on a more positive note, but I really, really disliked this book.



1. A Notable Woman by Jean Lucey Pratt, edited by Simon Garfield

These are the edited diaries of the woman better known to many as "Maggie Joy Blunt" from the Mass Observation diaries that have been edited by Garfield. The MO diaries covered only the war years, but Jean Pratt started her diary when she was 15, and kept it going, more or less, until just before she died aged 78. The newspaper reviews are all glowing, and the Amazon buyers love it, but I found her one of the most annoying people I can remember reading. There was something to make me cross on pretty much every page. Eventually I realised that she reminded me of someone who used to work for my firm - not particularly well-known to me, but more to Super-Fit friend, so I heard about her second-hand. She shared with Jean Pratt the same opinion that she was special, different, that the world should fall at her feet etc when really none of those things was true. Jean Pratt lived at least partly from inherited income, which she refused to supplement with a proper job, believing instead that the world should recognise her writing talent. She was immensely privileged at a time when a lot of people were bombed out of their homes and had nowhere to live, and her constant complaining was really just too much, as was her borrowing of other people's husbands in the absence of one of her own. My patience ran out at a slightly faster rate than her capital, and in the end I couldn't wait to finish it so I wouldn't have to read it any more.

Ah, that feels better :-) Clearly I'm in a minority of one, but I don't even care.

So, NO then. Thank you for not hitting me with a book bullet first thing in the New Year. How lovely of you!

"My patience ran out at a slightly faster rate than her capital..." I do so love reviews of books that people detest. They are like candy to me!

>32 susanj67: Ouch. I guess the advantage of a collection of diaries would be that you don't get stuck with the one person who drives you nuts.

Hope book 2 is better.

>33 Crazymamie: Mamie, always happy to help :-)

>34 charl08: Charlotte, the funny thing was that I don't remember the "Maggie Joy Blunt" entries in the MO collection to be annoying. But she does say in one of the entries in this book that she wasn't showing her true self in the diary she kept for MO, so that must have been why :-) One reviewer said that there was a lot of good information about how life was lived back then, by people of a certain class and with a certain income, and that's true. I was surprised at how much travelling around she did on the trains and tubes - places I would never attempt to get to in a single day now, for example. Still, it drove me mad :-)

Howdy Susan! Happy New Year to you. Look forward to seeing what you read in the new year.

Happy new year, Susan! The book exchange looks great, and, like Mamie, it's reminding me I need to do some organization of my own shelves.

i am hoping to start both W&P and the PHW today, but we shall see. I have to drive up to my cousin's house for a birthday dinner for my uncle, but I am planning to plead a headache and leave if it drags on too long ;-)

>36 luvamystery65: Hi Roberta! I'll do my best to read some good things :-)

>37 katiekrug: Hi Katie! I've read the very beginning of the PHW, just explaining who the authors are, but I wanted to finish a library book ready for Monday.



2. The Grand Duchess of Nowhere by Laurie Graham

Laurie Graham does a nice line of novels told from the point of view of characters observing key times in history - Gone With the Windsors, The Importance of Being Kennedy, A Humble Companion - but I think this is the first one where the main character has actually been a real person, rather than someone being observed by a fictitious main character, if that makes sense.

The narrator of this story describes herself as the "Grand Duchess of Nowhere" because, although she is a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria, and of a Russian Tsar, much of the story takes place as Russia slides into revolution, and all her titles and royal way of life become meaningless. Known to her family as "Ducky", she started life as Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Edinburgh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Victoria_Melita_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha before becoming the Grand Duchess of Hesse upon her first marriage, and then Grand Duchess Viktoria Fyodorovna after her second marriage. At its heart it's a domestic story, with bossy mothers, hopeless husbands and various eccentric royal in-laws, but with the unavoidable politics in the background, making many of her choices for her. I loved the way it was done, but then I like nearly all of Laurie Graham's books. If you don't like real-people-as-fiction, this might not work for you :-)

Already two books read! I'm impressed. I love fleece jackets I'm wearing them all the time except in winter.

>39 Ameise1: Barbara, they were mostly read before today :-) I just finished them so that I can take them back on Monday. But I am glad that my tickers aren't at 0 any more!

:-)

>25 susanj67: Thanks for the Guardian article. I've seen the advice before, but this year i need to do more than read about it! And I love both the swap shelves and your coat! Happy New Year.

Susan! Two books already. The Pratt diary sounds like a good one to avoid. Great comments.

Hi Susan. My, my - your thread just exploded! I was afraid it was going to get completely away from me.

Thanks for your review of A Notable Woman. I get to do something I don't think I've ever done with a wishlisted book before now - chuck it into oblivion!

Somehow I missed your letter from Better World Books on the old thread, but Carrie read it to me today. I got a big laugh out of it.

I really enjoyed seeing the new home of your book exchange, Susan. And the coat looks very comfy. And Ms. Pratt sounds egregiously annoying indeed!

We went out this afternoon to walk the dog and I forgot to put my Fitbit on after recharging it. :-(

Somehow I left you out of the Threadbook. All fixed now!

Hi Susan, I'll hopefully be joining the War and Peace read -- looking forward to it, and hoping the company can keep me on track!

Happy new year Susan. The book exchange with baked goods and chocolate nearby sounds far too dangerous to me!

>32 susanj67: Sorry your first book of the year was a dud but at least it's out of the way now.

>35 susanj67: 'she does say in one of the entries in this book that she wasn't showing her true self in the diary she kept for MO, so that must have been why'

Then I think I will not try this one just because I liked her in the MO diaries.

>25 susanj67: I just love your book exchange...actually I would like to have that wall in my house, maybe adjacent to three more just like it :) Most impressed that you've read two books already and also glad I don't have to add the first one to my wish/TBR pile.

Just dropping in for a quick hello. Hello.

>41 Ameise1: Barbara, it's really *hard* to go from 200+ books on the ticker back down to single figures :-)

>42 ffortsa: Hi Judy! Welcome :-) Yes, I'm also good at reading about how to live better and then doing the same old thing!

>43 BLBera: Thanks Beth. But everyone else thinks it's wonderful, so I don't want to put anyone off...

>44 Fourpawz2: Hi Charlotte! You might like the book - I'm the only one who seems not to :-)

>45 thornton37814: Thanks Lori. I thought it was very cute :-)

>46 ronincats: Roni, oh no! All those lost steps! I feel for you. Maybe the dog needs another walk?

>47 drneutron: Thanks Jim!

>48 AMQS: Hi Anne - it will be great to see you in the War and Peace thread. That reminds me, I must bookmark it on my computer. I only have it on the Kindle at the moment. And I must actually start the book!

>49 souloftherose: Heather, I'd hate to put you off if it's just me who's being curmudgeonly. But I think there are better things to read, even if it *is* amazing.

>50 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, yes, although I would need a new house first, to put the room in :-)

>51 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! I was doing my steps around a shopping mall this morning as heavy rain was forecast, because I remembered you saying that your mall was popular with walkers too. I was buying a few bits and pieces in between the stepping, but I got them all done. Yay! And the mall was big enough that I could do a few laps without looking suspicious. Quite how suspicious a middle-aged lady carrying slippers from the Fatface sale can actually look though is open to question. I bought these:



Today's interesting booky article is this one, about how long books (and podcasts) are coming back into vogue, contrary to the "clickbait" nature of the internet which was supposed to give us all the attention span of a goldfish.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/commentisfree/2016/jan/02/longer-novels-podcast... I've got to try the podcast he mentions. Maybe not the Wilbur Smiths right now, although they're great for long flights :-)

I was laughing about you being worried about looking suspicious at the mall - you are too funny. I like your slippers - they look comfy. And safe. Now I'm off to read that article...

>52 susanj67: LOL, I guess your ticker is rising up quickly.

Have a wonderful bookfilled 2016, Susan. xx

>53 Crazymamie: Mamie, the slippers are lovely. And they have soft soles, which can be hard to find (or maybe it's just the cheapskate in me and they are readily available at, say, Ugg prices). I can't risk clomping all over the downstairs neighbours. How I wish the upstairses held this view...

>54 Ameise1: Barbara, I'm doing my best!

>55 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. I think that young lady should take herself to the Uniqlo sale for some Heattech garments!

I'm just over half-way through The Worst Hard Time, which is hard to put down. But this afternoon I started my tax return online (the date is 31 January here or, as the website told me, 28 days to go). I thought maybe it would give me a grip on the sense of dread I associate with tax returns (which mostly arises from trying to get interest details out of HSBC, to be honest, as I get a different answer every time I ask) and it worked. I've pretty much done it, save for one last call to the bank and one to my pension company, as the tax return form requires some information that the help notes assured me my pension company would have given me. Ha! I wish. But that's best done tomorrow, so I've done enough for today, and I'm rewarding myself with a cuppa and the last of the Christmas cake. I had two little ones this year, both gifts, but I'm turning into quite a fruit cake fan.

Well done you with the tax return! Ours arrived in the mail yesterday :/ As always... and I mean EVERY year... we have the trauma of finding where we've shoved the kids childcare payment receipts. you'd think we'd learn... but nope. For someone who spends their working life being massively organised for multi million pound deals, in my home finance life I suck!

Thanks for the vote of confidence re the Chaucer book. I had forgotten you were the reason I got it (sorry!). Well done on the tax returns. I have been distracted by the Holmes flashback thing. I do much prefer the Victorian era Holmes, and the jokes about the women's absence are clever.

Um...no fruit cake for me, Susan. You go with those taxes - I am thrilled that since moving to Georgia, we have ours done by a professional. Since Craig and his partner own their business and the building that they are in, the taxes get complicated, so they hire that done, and the firm gives them a break on their personal taxes if they do those, too, so...

>57 BekkaJo: Bekka, it's funny, isn't it? I'm the same at work, and I'd never dream of leaving something till so near the end of a deadline, but at home...well... I put everything into a foolscap-sized plastic envelope as it comes in, but I have trouble picking up the envelope and dealing with the contents. This year, though, it's been something of a blessing, as the pension people unexpectedly sent me something in *September* relating to the tax year ending last *April*, so if I'd done my return in better time, HMRC would no doubt have fined me for doing it incorrectly. I have no excuse from September till now, though!

>58 charl08: Charlotte, I have seen the kerfuffle over Sherlock, although I don't watch it so it went over my head a bit. But apparently the twitterati was not pleased and found it too hard to follow. I'm looking forward to War and Peace tonight.

>59 Crazymamie: Mamie, the silly thing is that my situation isn't complicated. I just need to make myself do it. You know it's bad when you'd rather vacuum.



3. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

This is a *superb* account of the Dust Bowl in the High Plains area of the US in the 1930s. It's been sitting on Mount TBR for months, and it proves why I should read my own books instead of being distracted by things form the library that turn out to be disappointing. Timothy Egan looks at a number of specific families and how they got through the drought (or, as they say it there, "drouth") as well as what was going on in the rest of the country, and how the Government had to deal with some sort of relief for the people affected. It's a real page-turner, and if you were one of the people who recommended it to me, thank you! Funnily enough, one of the people featured in the book had moved to the area after the Galveston hurricane. I thought that sounded interesting. And also slightly familiar. I looked at Mount TBR, and Isaac's Storm is on there, dealing with exactly that subject.

I have The Worst Hard Time on my shelf - no clue why I haven't picked it up yet, since I've heard only raves about it.

And Isaac's Storm is excellent! Hope you get to that one soon.

Sounds like a great start to the TBR challenge this year! I'm getting distracted by all the new TV shows. I do like this time of year.

>60 susanj67: That one is in a box awaiting reading. Maybe I'll get to it this year!

Hi Susan! Happy new year! I want to read more NF this year, so I'll be keeping a close eye on your reading. I have The Worst Hard Time on my TBR shelf - glad you enjoyed it.

And I laughed as I read about your Better World Books letter! I used to live right by Mishawaka, IN, when I worked at the University of Notre Dame.

>25 susanj67: - Love the book exchange!

I knew you would love The Worst Hard Time! I have Isaac's Storm on the shelves, and it's been sitting there awhile even though everyone keeps saying how good it is - I really need to get to that!

>61 katiekrug: Katie, pick it up! Do it now!! I'm going to make Isaac's Storm my next hard copy read.

>62 charl08: Charlotte, I was very pleased that it was so good, as I'd gone to all the trouble of getting it (it must have been something that wasn't available here through the library). What did you think of War and Peace? I've started reading it for the Group Read. But after eight minutes of last night's episode, it had caught up with my reading :-)

>63 thornton37814: Lori, you should!

>64 porch_reader: Hi Amy! I do read lots of NF so I hope you'll find some recommendations. I just read a good book about Notre Dame - Notre Dame vs The Klan, about an incident in 1924 (I think) which the author said was a little-known part of its history. There was quite a bit about the founding of the University.

>65 lkernagh: Thanks Lori :-) I was a bit worried that the patrons would have trashed it last week (I work with people who appear to have been raised by wolves) but it wasn't too bad. There were even some new donations.

>66 Crazymamie: Mamie, Isaac's Storm is next up for me, so I hope you get to it soon and then we can discuss it. And you were right about loving The Worst Hard Time! I also have Rising Tide, about the Mississippi flood of 1927 on Mount TBR, which does seem to have something of a natural disaster bias at present...

Currently I'm reading War and Peace, the Penguin History of the World and, on my Kindle, Nicholas and Alexandra, which is excellent (three chapters in). I thought I'd read it while all the characters were in my head from The Grand Duchess of Nowhere.

In a strange co-incidence, just a couple of minutes after I mentioned Rising Tide about the 1927 flood, I got an email from the University of Chicago with details of their free ebook for January - The Thousand-Year Flood: The Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937 http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/freeEbook.html

That's one I'll definitely be getting, even though their books don't work on the Kindle and have to be read through Adobe Digital Editions.

I didn't watch it, as Endeavour was on the other side. I'm thinking that I might record all the episodes and watch WP in one long Napoleonic splurge on a rainy day. Jonah's Gourd Vine is due back at the library tomorrow, but other books tempting me... (as usual, rather shiny).

Dropping by for a quick hello! No taxes to worry about here as yet, employers don't even have to get out the slips til the end of February, I think it is . Ours are easy - peasy and we can do them online. Nice!

>69 charl08: Charlotte, that would be fun! Last night they all referred to one another by name a lot, which is quite "episode 1", but it's quite good to have faces to put to the names in the book, as I remember being very confused last time I read it. "Dickensian" might also be good to watch like that if you haven't already started. (If you haven't, it also has Stephen Rea in it, but when I listen to the actor playing Scrooge, I just hear Montgomery Burns from The Simpsons, which is distracting). I have to go to the library shortly to take back the books from over Christmas. I'll have to try and avoid Favourite Library Assistant in case he asks me why I don't seem to go any more. Or I could just tell him about his rude colleagues, and Mount TBR, I suppose.

>70 vancouverdeb: Hello Deborah! I'm doing mine online too, as I can save it and return to it later to fill in more sections which is handy. And I have all the information I need now, so I can file it tonight. Woo-hoo! The tax people have a funny advertising campaign going, which shows people in various meditation poses, telling customers to "File your Self Assessment tax return online and find inner peace."

Ha re library assistant. I hope you get the nice guy with the recommendations. I live in hope of a recommendation :-)

De lurking to say I enjoyed the photo of your book exchange-did you notice that if you squint your eyes the two romance shelves look very light and the two mystery shelves look very dark?

As I said, I have mostly lurked on your thread, but I enjoy following your reading.

I loved The Worst Hard Times; there was a series on the Dust Bowl that was also excellent. I think the show used some of Egan's material.

The Thousand-Year Flood sounds good, too. I'll watch for your comments.

Have you read The Johnstown Flood by McCullough? Good flood story.

>73 charl08: Charlotte, there was no sign of FLA and their displays were dismal so he might still be on holiday. I returned my books, resisted the urge to tidy up the reserves shelf and left quickly.

>74 arubabookwoman: Hello Deborah - thank you for delurking! I love that about the book exchange - I should just put a "girl" figure above the romance and a "boy" above crime, although crime does seem popular with both genders. Not the romance so much, though :-)

>75 BLBera: Beth, I'll try not to download it and just let it sit there. This is my year to read the TBR and I mean it!

>76 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, I haven't seen that one, but by golly there are lots of books on Amazon about that flood!

I filed my tax return - yay! And I do feel a bit more peaceful, inwardly. They're simplifying the system in the next few years, so we won't have to run around trying to get details of interest we've been paid, which the banks tell the tax department anyway. They're just going to go with the figures from the banks. Durr!

One of my Pulitzer books arrived, from Better World but via Amazon, so not part of the parcel that sent me the letter :-) It's Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, The Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris. It originally came from the American Community School in Uxbridge, which is just outside London, so it must have been in their warehouse here.

>68 susanj67: I also downloaded the University of Chicago Press book. I loved the McCullough book about the Johnstown Flood too. Back in the 1970s, I read a fiction book on the Johnstown Flood that has stayed with me over the years. It was Julie by Catherine Marshall.

So glad you enjoyed The Worst Hard Time so much! I have another of his on my TBR: The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America. Teddy Roosevelt figures prominently in our family history, so I'm drawn to books about him (maybe I should clarify that I am drawn to collect books about him -- like you and many LTers I *have* many books sitting around unread!), and since I liked Egan's work so much I figured it would be win-win.

>78 thornton37814: Lori, I had a quick look at the preface of the University of Chicago book last night and it looks like a good one! I also downloaded an old, out of copyright freebie from Amazon about the Johnstown flood, as a starting point.

>Anne, I just checked the library catalogue, and The Big Burn is available as an ebook! How funny - they have that one in e format and The Worst Hard Time in audio, but nothing else at all.

I've almost downloaded the U of C book. Am afraid it is going to send my iPad over the edge. Wish I could put it on the Kindle, but apparently that is verboten. I've got the Johnstown Flood book and The Worst Hard Times. I really, really, really want to read them, but at the same time I really want to sit on them anticipating how much I will enjoy them. I am definitely from the Save-The-Best-Til-Last school.

>81 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, I know what you mean, but you could always enjoy them right now :-) I have In The Heart of the Sea, which you mentioned yesterday, and I also mean to get to that very soon.

Today I carried out a New Year tradition - buying a half-price calendar from Waterstones. Three times I've looked at my wall calendar and seen just a blank space. I feared I might only have Peppa Pig and Frozen to choose from, but they had this lovely one, from the British Library:

That looks like a good one, Susan!

>82 susanj67: That looks like a calendar I'd enjoy seeing all year!

Like Lori, I also loved Julie when I read it years ago, but I didn't remember that it had anything to do with the Johnstown Flood. I just remember it has to do with journalism.

Hey Susan did you see they've souped up the fitbit? Ooh.

Fitbit Blaze: the fitness tracker with some of Apple Watch's perks
http://gu.com/p/4fh45?

I just got a new (replacement) Fitbit and now you tell me there's something soupier?!?

Yup Reba - now with optional croutons :-)

>82 susanj67: Gorgeous calendar, Susan! And at a bargain price. Yay!

>83 Crazymamie: Mamie, it's the best one I've had for a while. So pretty!

>84 cbl_tn: Carrie, yes, there isn't a duff month as far as I can see. I love the old medieval illustrations.

>85 charl08: Charlotte, I hadn't, but funnily enough I just got an email from them, with a pre-order button! It looks too fancy, though. I think I'd need to do a lot more activity to use all its functions.

>86 RebaRelishesReading: >87 charl08: Reba, I think you'll be fine with yours :-) My email is full of people doing strenuous activities, and it's not even 9.30. It made me feel tired just looking at it.

>88 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, my thoughts exactly! I usually always wait till they're cheap (like me). Last year I had a full-price one from Kew Gardens, which I bought when I took a friend from NZ there, but I'm back to Waterstones now.

That's a lovely calendar. I usually get stuck with the ones that I pick up from the local dry cleaner!

Lovely calendar, Susan.

I got this one.

You all are making me jealous of your calendars.

I'm impressed with your ability to ignore the new fit bit. I do like a new gadget.

Reading Five Days at Memorial is not doing my respect for disaster planning any favours. Why would a place regularly hit by hurricanes not have a more detailed plan for hurricanes than other less likely disasters? Or a generator system that was high enough to be out of the water? Jesus wept.

>90 michigantrumpet: Marianne, I don't think my dry-cleaner even does calendars!

>91 BLBera: Beth, I googled that one and it's gorgeous! I love that American naive art. Amazon.com gave me the option to buy it from the UK site, and it turns out that we also had it. Humph. Plus several gorgeous calendars by Charles Wysocki. Next year I am giving up the Waterstones sale rack and getting something from Amazon.

>92 thornton37814: Lori, it's not too late! Surely you have room in your life for one more :-)

>93 charl08: Charlotte, I know what you mean about the new gadgets, but it does too many things. I've barely got to grips with the stepping. Also, I see that people in the US are bringing a class action about Fitbit's heart-rate monitoring, on the basis that it's just wrong. Five Days at Memorial doesn't give you much confidence in disaster planning, does it? But London would be the same if the Thames Barrier failed - the flooding would take out 16 large hospitals and you can bet they have no plans in place either: http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/feb/19/thames-barrier-how-safe-london-maj... I think the problem is the (alleged) "once in a lifetime" nature of these events. There are just no votes in spending money on something that might never happen.

I have an hour at home this morning while I wait to go to an appointment. It's so nice to have some daylight for putting on my face! I always worry slightly when I'm doing it by artificial light. And I'm going to catch up on some threads, which I see are still whizzing along!

Enjoy!

>91 BLBera: I love that one, too! I have a Friends of the Library calendar with historical photos of Sevier County. A friend gave it to me for Christmas.

>94 susanj67: the flooding would take out 16 large hospitals and you can bet they have no plans in place either

Actually I'd be hugely surprised if they didn't have one! Even as a small organisation we are required in our contract with the local authority to have a Business Continuity Plan in place, to carry out a practice run through on an annual basis, and to ensure that key suppliers that we are depending on also have plans. Any public organisation is going to have a Business Continuity Plan that covers the obvious risks such as fire, flood, flu pandemic, terrorist incident etc. Whether that plan is sensible and will work in practice is another matter.

>95 DianaNL: Thanks Diana :-)

>96 cbl_tn: Carrie, I like it when there's just one calendar as a Christmas present. Otherwise it means too many choices to be made.

>97 SandDune: Rhian, yes, I meant "plans that will work in practice", or "a plan for after the first plan fails", like in York, where they had that flood barrier but decided not to lower it because something else would be damaged! You couldn't make it up. And even if the hospitals somehow managed to stay open and working, no-one would be able to get to them because of the flooded roads and tube lines. We are DOOMED! (On a less snarky note, I was sorry to read about the chest infection and I hope you're soon better).

Just dropping in for a bit of delightful conversation, which your thread never fails to provide. agree with you about the newest Fitbit - it does too much, and also I don't like how it fastens. I recently purchased the Fitbit Charge HR when they had that Black Friday sale with free shipping, and I never wear it because I don't like how it fastens and how it fits - much prefer my regular Charge. SO Abby will probably get it because her old Fitbit died. Pity because I loved the orange color.

Happy Friday, Susan! Oh - meant to mention that you made me smile when you mentioned "putting on your face" up there - my favorite aunt used to always say that, and I have always loved that expression.

>93 charl08: I agree that to a certain extent there was a lack of adequate planning for evacuation, etc. However, the flooding in N.O. after Katrina was caused by the failure of the levees, which were poorly and inadequately built. In other words it was a man-made disaster, not a natural disaster. It would have been as devastating had the levees failed at a time not contemporaneous with (or immediately after) a hurricane. That being said, Five Days at Memorial is a great book isn't it? (BTW, my 3 oldest children were born at that hospital).

>3 susanj67: I've only read two of the books on the list but they're both excellent - The Emperor of All Maladies and The Good War.

On A Notable Woman - I've just finished and quite liked it, I found it interesting, though I didn't always agree with her on things. I always have several books on the go, though, and I think that helps because I read this book in smaller chunks. For those who are reconsidering reading it, I would say, see if you can borrow it from the library and read a bit - if she gets on your nerves, take it back and don't try to press on. I'm hopeless at abandoning books, though. I have a Netgalley.

Wishing you a most lovely weekend, Susan.

>99 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! I feel that I should master my 11K steps every day before I attempt anything else! I've done today's courtesy of a walk right around the Isle of Dogs to the supermarket. And then around the supermarket trying to find the nuts. No luck. My Delia Smith fruit loaf will just have to be made with brazil nuts instead of pecans. I will report later.

>100 arubabookwoman: Deborah, I thought it was a great (if depressing) read.

>101 elkiedee: Luci, I saw The Emperor of All Maladies at the library this morning, but it looked pretty chunky, so I left it for another time. Maybe I should have read A Notable Woman in smaller bits, but that would just have spun it out! I'd agree that trying a library copy is the way to go, although mine was but, like you, I find it hard to give up on books, and particularly as I'd really been looking forward to it.

Reading progress has been a bit slow this week. I'm reading, reading and reading Nicholas and Alexandra, but the progress bar is hardly moving. It must be chunkier than I thought. I was near the little library branch that has the new Laurie Graham novel this morning so I popped in to get that, as maybe a deadline will motivate me. This is the library where the old cards don't work on the self-service machine. The assistant got out a new card and tried to sign me up, but I objected as my wishlist is tied to the current card. She looked at me like she had no idea what a wishlist was, but eventually agreed to scan the book out to my old card. I'm sure peace treaties have been negotiated in less time. I think it's time to email the person in charge. The old cards work on the machines at the other branches, and they're the *same machines*. They've obviously done something moronic to theirs, but it shouldn't be the customers' problem.

>102 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara!

Oh, dear. I can't eat the Brazil nuts - I'm allergic to those, which is too bad because I love them.

I like getting my steps in first thing, too - always feel better when I can do that. Then anything else is a bonus. Yesterday I somehow managed to pause my exercise tracker just 1.3 miles into my walk, so I didn't collect my stats - love seeing those! Do you use that feature - where you can track your exercise with the Fitbit app by using the GPS on your phone. It's so fun to see your walk all mapped out for you.

Happy Saturday to you, dear!

>104 Crazymamie: Hmm, Mamie, with the nuts and all the fruit (like fruit cake!) this isn't one that I'll bake when you come to London :-) This is my first "new" recipe in the new oven, though, so I'm interested to see how it works. I haven't seen the Fitbit tracking thing - I wonder if that's with all of them. How do you do it?

Well, the fruit loaf is in the oven, where it's supposed to stay for 1 hour 10 minutes, which seems like a long time to me. However, there is a light in the oven (which works! The light in the old one gave up a while ago) so I can keep an eye on it, and cover the top with foil if it looks like it might burn.

The National Lottery has now emailed me *twice* to remind me that the website will be busy later because of the giant Lotto draw tonight (£60 million, which I know doesn't compare with the US Powerball, which I have just heard is $800 million, although winners here don't pay tax on what they win) so they're really hyping it up. It's the largest UK Lotto draw EVAH, although the EuroMillions prize (a Europe-wide lottery available through the same operator) often goes higher. The Daily Mail explained the other day that, while the odds of winning the Lotto (picking six numbers out of 59) weren't good, the odds of winning EuroMillions (picking five numbers out of 50 and then two "Lucky Star" numbers out of 1 - 11) were even worse because "it's a Europe-wide lottery and more people play it." Yeah. Or...no.

Ooh, cake smell! I must check it.

On the phone app, if you scroll down to under active minutes, you'll see "track exercise" - if you slide this to the left it will say track and show a stopwatch. If you click on that, then you can map and track your walk by pressing start. It will track your walk and give you your mileage and time every mile, which is fun. AT the end, when you hit finish, it will pull up a map of your walk and give you your stats for that walk. I LOVE this feature!

>106 Crazymamie: Mamie, my "track exercise" only allows me to log previous exercise - no stopwatch, sadly. But then I have the One, not the Charge. Maybe the app tailors itself to the type of device once you link it up. There's a stopwatch on the little tracker itself, but no magic map afterwards doing it that way.

Bummer!

I read Nicholas and Alexandra in my teens, and remember it as quite a substantial book - I have the Kindle version but haven't actually looked at it. Amazon says the Kindle version is 640 pages.

Why didn't the library assistant issue the book anyway? I confess that I like just using the self service machines to "return" and then take out the books I've renewed too many times, and not have to explain my complicated stuff, or explain how many books I have out, or that I have and use Mike's library cards too, but I know a lot of library staff don't really approve of them and I can understand that - I do prefer to have staff there - and most that I know would be happy to help you directly.

Hi Susan, I was so rubbish at keeping up last year, I vow to do better in 2016. I like your Pulitzer Non-Fiction challenge. I've noticed that many people are giving themselves personal reading challenges in 2016 so it looks like it's going to be a fun year.

I loved Nicholas and Alexandra when I read it years and years ago.

I feared I might only have Peppa Pig and Frozen to choose from LOL -- your calendar is beautiful! Well done. For a couple of years I had calendars by Kate Endle. I actually met Ms. Endle at her stall at Seattle's Pike Place Market, so of course I had to buy her 2016 calendar from her:)

>108 Crazymamie: Mamie, it sounds like something I would have enjoyed, but never mind. Outwards and stepwards!

>109 elkiedee: Luci, apparently "management" has told the staff that customers must use the self-service machines. And I can see that, if there's a huge queue, and half the staff are away sick, having the option is helpful, and customers might usefully be reminded that the machines are there *if* they wish to use them. But yesterday when I got to the library there were two guys using the computers, and me (it's a tiny branch), and three staff, who were sitting at the desk chatting. I was looking around at a few books, so I was there for maybe 10 minutes or so, and eventually one of the staff got up and wandered off from the conversation, and the other two went into the kitchen to make tea. They were doing *nothing*. And yet still the look of outrage when they're asked to take five seconds to scan a barcode.

>110 DeltaQueen50: Judy! Welcome! As soon as I finish this post, I am coming to find you* in the Category Challenge group.

*Not in a scary way

>111 AMQS: Anne, that's lovely! I googled it and saw all the pictures - I love that collage technique. I'm sure it will cheer you up every day.

I decided I really needed to finish something or my tickers might ossify, so I stayed up late and finished the book I borrowed yesterday.



4. The Night in Question by Laurie Graham

When I read The Grand Duchess of Nowhere I noticed that Laurie Graham had an even newer book out, and this is it. It's the story of the Jack the Ripper terror, told by Dot Allbones, a music hall artiste from Hackney. This is one of Graham's "ordinary people in extraordinary times" books, and it's really well done. Dot is a fictitious character, as are many of the others (particularly the other "turns" she performs with, who are flat-out hilarious) but some real people also appear, and the mystery of Jack the Ripper is solved after an entertaining 360-odd pages.

The two LTers who've left reviews on the page for this book didn't love it, but one of them made a point I agree with, about the very interesting social history in the book, in the form of how Dot lives - how much things cost, what sort of houses were available for the not-rich-but-not-grindingly-poor and so on. So often we read about the extremes of society, but Dot is somewhere in the middle, living in a modern (but still rented) house in Hackney, with a spare room, and a "daily" who comes in to clean but no other staff. There are all sorts of interesting details that don't overwhelm the story, but show that it's been really well researched. I liked this a lot.

Crumbs. Maybe your librarians should do an exchange with ours. We have the machines, but with photocopying problems, computer issues, children reporting on their books and people wanting reservation stamps, unless I go on a Friday night there is always a queue. There was a lovely young man (max age six?) telling the librarians about the best books he'd read lately with great enthusiasm last time I visited. Very cute.

>113 charl08: Charlotte, I've just filled in the form on the "Contact us" page, asking them to please fix the machine as their staff seem to feel that they are far too grand to actually issue books. Let's see what happens! How sweet about the little fellow at your library. He would be talking to himself at an Idea Store, sadly.

Yesterday's fruit loaf turned out beautifully, although it only needed 40 minutes in the oven (2lb loaf). But I was keeping a close eye on it, and it also passed the taste test afterwards. Twice. Ahem. It's *meant* to be for afternoon tea at the office, so I can give up canteen puddings, but I'm not sure it will last that long, particularly as it apparently toasts really well too. Here's a link in case anyone has a craving for fruit loaf, toasted or not: http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/very-fruity-irish-te... Now I have a batch of granola toasting, and I love the fact that the new oven can have shelves added, so I can do it all at once instead of in two batches.

>114 susanj67: Your fruit loaf sounds wonderful! It's the sort of thing I love for breakfast.

>115 cbl_tn: Carrie, this one is more of a cake than a bread, but then again I could probably eat it for breakfast :-)

This afternoon I'm going to have a big push to finish Nicholas and Alexandra, so I'll be back later to report on progress. And maybe even review it! #queenofwishfulthinking

>113 charl08: The 6 year old telling about his books sounds lovely

>114 susanj67: That sounds mad to me. I've seen nothing like that at the libraries I use.

>117 elkiedee: Luci, it seems mad to me as well. I just don't get it. I wonder whether they're just general council employees rotated around different jobs, although the chap at the branch I usually go to is excellent, and a really booky person.



5. Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K Massie

This was a great read! It was a lot longer than I expected, but it didn't drag - I was just surprised that the percentage bar moved so slowly when I was reading so much of it. I suppose this is one problem we don't have with hard copies. It's a detailed look at the last Tsar of Russia and his family, and, while I knew a lot of the story from Four Sisters, which I read a couple of years ago, there was also a lot that was new. This is one that I probably should have got to before, as it's as old as I am, but never mind :-)

Interestingly, the epilogue (written in 1967) notes that Vladimir Romanov, son of Grand Duke Cyril and Victoria Melita (narrator of The Grand Duchess of Nowhere) was considered to be the head of the Romanov family. The epilogue of *that* book was in the voice of Vladimir, but according to Wikipedia there is dispute about whether that line has any right to the title.

>118 susanj67: I noticed that my mum has that in her bureau ( the only space she has for displaying - mainly my books) and I will definitely requisition it now.

>106 Crazymamie: Hey, cool, Mamie! When I start walking again I'll try to remember to do that.

>119 PaulCranswick: Paul, it's definitely worth a read.

>120 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, enjoy!

This evening I went to my usual library branch to return The Night in Question and look at what they had in the Pulitzer line. I picked The Making of the Atomic Bomb and as I was checking it out (on the machine, where there is nothing wrong with my card) FLA came over and said Happy New Year and I mentioned my Pulitzer challenge. He didn't look at me like I was an alien, but instead said, at the end of the conversation, to let them know if they could help with getting the books. This is what libraries should be like!

I got an acknowledgment of my complaint this morning and it has been passed on to the correct person, but that's it so far.

Such a sad day today with the news about David Bowie. It's led the news websites here all day, with even the Archbishop of Canterbury saying that he was a fan back in the 70s.

>121 susanj67: I would imagine that Oak Ridge will come up in The Making of the Atomic Bomb. It's very close to Knoxville, and it's essentially part of our metropolitan area now.

Hurrah for FLA (and good luck with those Pulitzers). I'm quite pleased to find Five Days at Memorial counts according to the cover!

Stopping by to get caught up and to wish you a lovely week, Susan!

Good job with your steps! 11K every day would be a problem for me. I did less than 2K on Sunday. I seem to have at least one day a week where the idea of walking just doesn't appeal to me.

>105 susanj67: - Fruit loaf? Curious! Is this something heavy in texture like a fruit cake or more like a pound cake with 'fruit stuff' added to it?

£60 million as the largest UK Lotto draw makes me think the UK lottery has similar payouts to the Canadian lotteries. In Canada, we have a couple of lotteries (649 and LottoMax come to mind) that are national in that they are available in all provinces and territories, but the ticket distribution is managed at the regional level but different government corporations. BC has its own lottery corporation, while Aberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are lumped together in the Western Canada Lottery Corporation. When the LottoMax prize payout reaches $50 Million, they add $1 Million draws, but the main prize stays at $50 Million. Also, same as in the UK, Canadians don't pay tax on what they win.

>112 susanj67: The Night in Question sounds interesting for the social history side. Somehow I have not come across Laurie Graham's books before so I will look out for that.

>118 susanj67: I've heard lots of good things about Robert K. Massie's books and I need to try them at some point. Glad you enjoyed that one.

I remember loving Nicholas and Alexandria when I read it way back, I think that book launched my fascination with the Russian Revolution and I read so many books set during that time period that I pretty much over-dosed!

Your fruit bread looks delicious and if I was more ambitious it would inspire me to do some baking, but I am feeling very lazy today and so plan on catching up on threads and reading.

The latest big lottery here is supposed to reach $1.3 billion. Even with taxes, one could do a lot with what remains! I suspect my chances are substantially lessened by not playing at all! :-)

>122 cbl_tn: Carrie, it hasn't so far, but we're in 1930s London at present :-) I'm only a couple of chapters into it. I tutted at a reference to "British physicist Ernest Rutherford" because he was a Kiwi, but then later on the author went into a lot of detail about how he was a Kiwi, so that might have just been an editing slip. There are so few famous Kiwis that we know them all!

>123 charl08: Charlotte, yes, you could start your own challenge for the investigative journalism category! My Better World Books arrived yesterday, so I am getting quite a stack of them.

>124 lkernagh: Lori, I don't know what a pound cake is, but the loaf is close-ish to a fruit cake, but with not quite so much fruit. The picture in the link above looks like mine - evidently I got something right! I tried some toasted last night, and felt like Homer Simpson with his drooling face. One of Saturday's ticket-holders has come forward and gone public - I always think that's silly because they'll never have a moment's peace. The other ticket still seems to be unclaimed, so someone out there is in for a nice surprise.

>125 souloftherose: Heather, they were two good reads. Kindle has a box set of this one and his Peter the Great and Catherine the Great ones for £6.99, which is a great deal. I bought this one separately but it would still be cheaper to get the box set than the other two separately.

>126 DeltaQueen50: Judy, it's super-easy. You just have to remember to soak the fruit overnight and then it takes about five minutes to put it together. But I can't blame you for LTing instead :-)

>127 michigantrumpet: Marianne, we are getting a few stories on the news here about the Powerball. I was in New York when it was a huge amount in 2013 and wondered whether I could/should buy a ticket, but I didn't get an opportunity. How long can it keep rolling over?

The Powerball won't keep rolling over because I AM GOING TO WIN IT TONIGHT!

;-)

>129 katiekrug: Katie, that's AWESOME! You could send a private jet to collect up LTers and we could all come to Texas for a giant meet-up! Yee-ha!

Not that I am one of those people who would send begging letters or anything.

No.

Good luck!!

If I win the big lotto tonight I will definitely send for you Susan so Katie and I can give you the Grand Tour of Texas! First stop is to get you some cowgirl boots!

>131 luvamystery65: Roberta, yay! Maybe you and Katie could share the jackpot, because half each of $1.3 billion would still be pretty good for y'all. (Note my use of Southern there). Our winners from Saturday seem like nice people, so at least my money hasn't been spent on people I disapprove of :-)

And good luck!

>132 susanj67: And if they share the jackpot, they'll both be qualified to appear in Big Rich Texas. Everyone on that show is a power reader, right? ;-)

>133 cbl_tn: Carrie, yes! I believe one of the BRT ladies has actually written a book. Or "written" a book. And Bonnie has a PhD, which boggles the mind.

Nicholas and Alexandra comes up quite often as a Kindle bargain - I seem to have bought about 6 of his books on Kindle including that, Catherine the Great, Peter the Great and The Romanovs: The Final Chapter at different times but at 99p or less each.

Katie and I barely wear makeup and we don't have big hair. I think that disqualifies us from the show. We can get you a BRT makeover when you come to Texas Susan!

Snow is coming Susan! SNOW! Let the weather panic/ discussion to the exclusion of all other news begin.

>136 luvamystery65: You can buy wigs after you win the jackpot just to wear on the show! ;-)

>135 elkiedee: Luci, I bought Nicholas and Alexandra as a Kindle deal for 99p. I haven't seen the others at that price, but I'll have to look harder! I haven't received their email for the last few days - I hope I haven't somehow fallen off the list.

>136 luvamystery65: Roberta, I'm thinking that "Big Reading Texas" could be the next big thing. It would follow readers as they attend author events, book remainder stores and yard sales, and discuss issues like "She only paid $10 for the WHOLE SERIES?!! OMG!" and whether it is ever permissible to read things out of order (which would be a pretty short discussion).

>137 charl08: Charlotte, I'm excited! Although it will be chaos if it happens, as usual. One of the train companies down here blamed the wrong sort of sunshine on delays to their service earlier in the week. I'm really not kidding: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/12/wrong-kind-of-sunlight-delays-sou... If they can't run a service on a calm sunny day, there is no hope for when it snows.

>138 cbl_tn: Carrie, I see that one of the winners is from Tennessee!!! I am available to travel at short notice :-) . I am slightly bemused by the fact that, as I write, three winning tickets have been confirmed, in California, Tennessee and Florida. Surely the lottery software must know immediately how many winners there are!

>139 susanj67: The winning ticket was sold in Tipton County, which is way over on the other side of the state. It reminded me that I know someone in Tipton County, Indiana, who has won the lottery twice!

Shockingly, I did not win :(

I would totally watch "Big Reading Texas"!!! You ladies are cracking me up!

>141 katiekrug: My condolences, Katie.

>139 susanj67: Carrie, I hope it turns out to be someone nice!

>141 katiekrug: Katie, I did think how funny it would be if I woke up and saw Texas as one of the winning states! Our EuroMillions is £61 million on Friday, so it will be my turn to fly y'all to London.

>142 Crazymamie: Mamie, I'm working on Big Reading London now. The Readers will visit to the British Library, Daunt Books and maybe go on a Dickens guided walk, and there will be a discussion of UK vs US covers.

>137 charl08: it's doing its best to snow here now, but it's too wet to settle. One of the chaps in the office is Brazilian, and has never seen snow before; he's been bouncing round the office and videoing it. Awwwww.

I bought the Robert Massie books I have in a period of about 15 months, 1 at a time. I'm sure I've seen some on offer since. Will try to let you know if I see another bargain offer apart from N&A.

Snow came and left again. Boo! For about twenty minutes perfect pretty landscape.

Had big clean yesterday and Mary Wollstonecraft reemerged. Hurrah. So thinking I'm going to read that and the In Search of Mary: The mother of all journeys, as I realised my biography reading has been a bit over bloked lately.

>144 Helenliz: Helen, it's just *so exciting* when you aren't from a snowy place!

>145 elkiedee: Luci, that would be great. My Kindle Daily Deal emails restarted this morning, so that looks like just a glitch.

>146 charl08: Charlotte, boo! It is rumoured to reach Cornwall by the weekend. Cornwall! It's definitely colder down here than it was, although out at the Wharf there is a wicked wind chill, due it being a peninsula *and* full of tall buildings creating a wind tunnel effect. Great news that Mary Wollstonecraft is back with you! I like the sound of that Bee Rowlatt book as well.

I'm about a hundred pages into the atomic bomb book, which is still on scientific developments early in the 20th century, Rutherford/Bohr etc, but it's surprisingly readable even if I can't pretend I understand all the science (or any of it, in fact). I also have a couple of things going on the Kindle, but I've decided to give up on War and Peace. I was rereading it in conjunction with the BBC series, but I'm way behind and I do remember all the war in it, which I couldn't really get on with last time. So it's going quietly back on the shelf.

Have a lovely weekend!

Susan - How did I get so far behind. I loved Nicholas and Alexandra when I read it years ago.

So, no LT lottery winners?

I love Anne's Kate Endle calendar. I used to get calendara with children's book illustrations, and I loved them, but I haven't seen those for a few years now.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend - and enjoying the sunshine! Makes a change form the sleet of yesterday.

Just realised I'm presuming you have the same weather as us... hope you do :)

Atomic bomb book sounds good (if a bit sciencey for me). I watched a doc about the anniversary of the local telescope (names are escaping me this morning, but finally: Jodrell Bank) and was kind of surprised at how many scientists were talking together across the barriers (I) would have expected because of the Cold War. Have just rediscovered Gandhi Before India in my library pile. Not sure why I waited so long. Love biographies with lots of newspaper clippings and random details (essays he had to write for matriculation to university included: The Benefits of a Cheerful Disposition).

>148 DianaNL: Thanks Diana :-)

>149 BLBera: Beth, there are no winners *yet*. EuroMillions has rolled over to £68 million on Tuesday, though :-) So many people have mentioned Nicholas and Alexandra as something that they read years ago that I'm starting to think I just wasn't paying attention!

>150 BekkaJo: Thanks Bekka, you too! It is lovely here, and I have done lots of steps this morning. I walked up to Shoreditch library in Hackney, to borrow The Book of Unknown Americans, and back again via the supermarket.

>151 charl08: Charlotte, what I'm finding interesting about the book is how science works in terms of x publishing something, y building on it, z applying it another field, and so on. Even though I don't understand the science, the process is interesting, which sounds much like what happened in the Jodrell Bank book (although I'm still pre-WWII at the moment). The Gandhi book sounds excellent. And it seems to have just jumped onto my library wishlist :-)

Last night I signed up for Netflix, so now I have Even More TV. I joined so I could see Marking a Murderer, which everyone is raving about, including Erik over on his thread, but already I've watched two episodes of Orange is the New Black as well as the first two episodes of the documentary (which is indeed excellent). Huh. I suppose I should finish one series before starting e.g. House of Cards. I also need a house rule along the lines of "No Netflixing before 6pm" on weekends, unless it can be combined with something else (ironing, I'm looking at you).

To be honest, there isn't masses on there that I'm desperate to see - I believe, from all the whining I read on the www, that the US version is a lot better, but at least I can catch up on some things. The roomie tells me I must watch Jennifer Jones, although it doesn't seem like my sort of thing at all. But, as I watched every episode of Gossip Girl over the years, I can't get all judgey :-) I reassured her that I would just be watching Netflix and not inviting anyone over to Netflix and chill, thinking that she might be impressed that I, an old lady, knew what that meant, but she said "What?" "Netflix and ch - never mind," I said, but then there was typing as she googled it. "Oh!" she said.

Right, I hear the iron calling :-)

Lol Susan. I wonder what the current equivalent of 'chill' is...

My favorite response to "What would you do if you won the lottery: Buy a billion things at the dollar store.

>153 charl08: interesting discussion. I just read Orange is the New Black. Review just posted on my thread.

Happy Weekend!

Susan, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

<152 We subscribed to NetFlix a couple of years ago, shortly after it became possible to stream it but only kept it for a year. We were hoping to have access to movies and BBC series we had missed but found very little we wanted to watch on it.

>153 charl08: Charlotte, I think "chill" is still current - it's more "Netflix and chill", which does not mean watching TV :-)

>154 michigantrumpet: Marianne, I didn't know it was a book!

>155 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara!

>156 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, I'm finding it quite hard to get beyond the "recommended for you" or "trending now" categories, at least on the TV and Kindle apps. On the computer it's a bit easier, particularly after I found an article with all their category codes to make searching easier.

The link to the article with the Netflix category codes is http://whatsonnetflix.com/netflix-hacks/the-netflix-id-bible-every-category-on-n... in case anyone else is interested. Ignore the word "hacks" in the URL title - there is nothing dubious about it. It's just a way of accessing the Netflix catalogue to find the content you're interested in. There are links on page 2 of the article, and it takes you into your Netflix account in your country and shows you what they have in those categories. I've found some documentaries that look good, and I'm hoping that once I've watched some, the site will start recommending others in those categories. My home page now has a "continue watching for Susan" section - is this my Netflix queue? I have always wondered what that meant when people referred to it :-)

I've watched five episodes of "Making a Murderer" now, and Erik is right - everyone should watch it! Quite apart from the human interest part, there's lot of nerdy legal stuff in there for the lawyery types among us, and I just can't get over how different the procedure in criminal cases is in the US (the series is about Wisconsin). So far the most jaw-dropping thing has been the press conference given by law enforcement explaining just what the defendant had done, *after he'd been arrested*. Yikes! Not only would that never happen here, but there are even restrictions on reporting the initial court hearing at which those details are given. I'm going to watch some more today tonight after 6pm. It's beautifully put together and Wisconsin looks amazing, quite apart from the story.

But I'm still making progress with the atomic bomb book, and I'm hoping to read another 100 pages today (ooh, a goal!). I should also go out stepping, but I have another fruit loaf baking right now, partly as an excuse because it's sooo cold. There is an Annie Leibovitz exhibition on *just around the corner* so I really should make an effort and see that. http://www.eastendreview.co.uk/2016/01/11/annie-leibovitz-new-portraits-wapping-...

Hi Susan! I found Making a Murderer and added it to my Netflix queue. Some other shows I've enjoyed on Netflix are Longmire (the books are similar to C.J. Box's Joe Pickett series), Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, andWhite Collar. Cedar Cove streams on the U.S. version of Netflix. I'm currently watching a pretty good Danish crime drama, Dicte. I also watched a Belgian (I think) crime series that I enjoyed called Witnesses. I loved the series Psych when it was on cable TV here and it streams on the U.S. Netflix. I haven't watched Turn: Washington's Spies yet, but it's in my queue.

>158 cbl_tn: Thanks Carrie :-) I checked those and we have White Collar and Miss Fisher, but that's all. Still, White Collar has five seasons :-)

I just watched another episode of Making a Murderer over lunch. Ahem. Back to my book!

I love that you got goggled, Susan! We have Netflix, and we love it. I like to use the computer to put what I want to watch in my queue, and then I can just go straight to the queue when I use the tv. We like a lot of the same things Carrie likes! Also Broadchurch, Endeavor, Sherlock - ahem, we are slightly addicted to crime shows!

"Continue Watching" is a grouping of shows that you started but didn't finish yet. Your queue is "My List" - when you are looking at show and your run your cursor over them, you have the option to add them to your list. Then, if you go straight to your list, you will find all the shows that you earmarked you were interested in. I like it because then you can skip all the other categories and go directly to your own list. On your computer, you get to your list by scrolling over the "Browse" button at the top of your screen (left hand side), a list of options will drop down, and one of them is "My List". On the tv, it should be a category.

Ok. Note to self, do not say Netflix and chill to a young person. Thanks Susan!

Small person has just visited for lunch and I am resisting the temptation to now lie down in a darkened room...

We watch (and enjoy) Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on our local PBS station. That girl is something!

>160 Crazymamie: Mamie, thanks for explaining that. I now have a list! (But why does everyone call it a queue?) There are some good documentaries, including a Ken Burns one on the Civil War, which I think might be famous. The documentary, that is. I already know about the war. I had hoped for some dramas that I wished just too late that I had started watching, but none of them seems to be on the UK version. I am considering "Sons of Anarchy", though :-) And somehow I seem t have watched eight episodes of Making a Murderer since Friday night. But I've read my pages of the atomic bomb book, so Netflix has not yet taken over my life.

>161 charl08: Charlotte, we had a hilarious discussion about Tinder at a work meeting the other day, in which one of the trainees was asked to confirm whether it was for dating...or not. "Well", he said, "I do know some couples who've met on Tinder. But most of my friends - "and at this point he realised how that sentence was going to end, and who his audience was, and started to blush - "use it for, um..." and everyone cracked up. It's a whole new world, and makes me feel very old. I hope you had a good long nap. Small people seem to be exhausting in inverse proportion to the amount of space they take up, I have found.

>162 RebaRelishesReading:, Reba, I'll have to take a look!

Well, as I mentioned, I'm now eight episodes into Making a Murderer, and I could finish it tonight, although there is good stuff on tonight anyway. Decisions, decisions. Maybe I'll save it for tomorrow, and watching Tough Trains, Call the Midwife (starts again tonight!)" and War and Peace. I've just nervously microwaved the first ready-meal in the new oven, taking their 850-watt timings and guessing at what they might be for 1000 watts. So far I've survived :-)

You're welcome! And I think that maybe it was originally called a queue, so everyone still calls it that even though now it's called a list.

>163 susanj67: >164 Crazymamie: The Netflix app on my smart TV still calls it my "instant queue" even though the website still calls it "my list". And the website still uses "queue" for DVDs.

>128 susanj67: - A pound cake is more cake than loaf, if that makes any sense. You cannot - or really shouldn't - slice and then toast pound cake. According to Google and Wikipedia, pound cake got its name from the fact that the cake used to be made with a pound of the following four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs and sugar. ;-)

Your fruit loaf sounds wonderful and much healthier than the pound cake!

Sorry to see you have decided to give up on War and Peace. I like your idea of watching the BBC series.... I am looking forward to doing that after I finally finish reading it.... It has only taken me 30 years of attempted reads, but I am further this time then any of my previous attempts... so I am feeling pretty confident I can finish it this time.

Netflix! We don't have that. Not yet anyways. Currently we only subscribe to Acorn TV because of their British offerings. In Canada, there are more and more of these monthly subscription TV offerings.... all of the big telecom providers offer phone, internet and cable services so its not surprising that they are now starting to offer their own versions of monthly subscription TV offerings.... rather suspiciously, they are all in the $8-10/month price range, similar to the Netflix pricing over here. ;-)

>164 Crazymamie: Mamie, I see re the queue. Old habits die hard. I still call cling-film by the NZ brand name in my head, even if not out loud as no-one here would have a clue :-) (It's Saran Wrap in the US, Glad Wrap in NZ and "cling-film" here, oddly).

>165 cbl_tn: Carrie, my TV app calls it a list, but then I have just activated the app :-) I'm really impressed with the way it streams - the BBC's iPlayer is forever buffering and drives me mad, and I thought it must be my wi-fi, but Netflix streams perfectly. And I can get subtitles by pressing the subtitles button on the TV remote, which seems amazing. And I've learned how to rewind. My office roomie warned me that it just keeps playing episodes and it's addictive, and I can see what she means.

>166 lkernagh: Lori, we may have pound cake here under another name, but I can't say it sounds familiar. And I agree that it probably shouldn't be toasted! I made another fruit loaf yesterday, but sliced it up and put it in the freezer, out of the way of instant toasting temptation. I've given up on the BBC version of War and Peace too. Somehow I found myself watching another episode of Orange is the New Black instead :-) We also have a bewildering choice of TV, internet and phones, and it has taken me ages to get Netflix, which has been around here for a while. I used to have the LoveFilm DVD rental (which then became Amazon) but stopped it in 2008 when I bought the PVR, as I never seem to get below about 100 hours of things recorded on that. One of my friends is an early adopter and gets everything going, so I usually wait till he's tried it out and passed judgement :-)

Hurrah for the early adopters. I'm still waiting for mine to be in the right tv region so she can tell me whether amazon prime or Netflix is a better deal (!)

>168 charl08: Charlotte, one comment I did read about Amazon is that they only have some parts of a series as part of the subscription, and then you have to buy other parts, so you end up paying more. But I don't have it so I can't be sure. I've just found a UK Netflix fan site over lunch which puts up lists of what's being added and removed every week, so that looks handy. Another site compared Netflix libraries around the world, and we have just over 50% of the amount of content that the US has. Still plenty to be going on with :-) I think the reading may suffer, at least at first...

>169 susanj67: We've used both Netflix and Amazon Prime at different times - currently using Prime - but I find neither has quite as many things to watch as I think it will. Or, rather, there are always lots of things I'd like to watch that aren't included!

Prime sometimes has only certain parts of series (by which I mean it might include Series 1-4 but not Series 5 of a particular show) but I found that to be the case with Netflix too. I guess the newer series cost more and so they wait a while to include them. I find Amazon Prime is better at showing you what's available before you sign up - I think you can browse everything available under Prime on their website. Netflix don't seem to give that option (or perhaps I just haven't found it) and I have to go to unconnected sites to find what programmes are available.

Also (and this is the reason I left Netflix last year) Netflix removed series we were in the middle of watching with no warning which really wound me up! They might have fixed this now (apparently it's been a feature of the US site for some time?) but Amazon send me emails if something in my watchlist will be removed from Prime in the next month.

>170 souloftherose: Heather, thanks for that! It is good to hear from someone who can compare both of them. I was looking at my list on Netflix last night and a couple of the documentaries had "Available until" dates, so it seems they have introduced those, at least for single programmes. I've also found a UK fan site which lists the new additions and removals every day, although I think once a week would probably be enough :-)

I said to Early Adopter friend yesterday that I was thinking of starting Sons of Anarchy, and he emailed back and said it was AMAZING and I must watch it, and to take holiday if I had to. Quite an endorsement! So I watched the first one last night. 95 more to go! *makes mental note to revise ticker totals downwards. Significantly*

I also read a (long) chapter of my hard book, and watched Victorian Bakers, which is not a Great British Bake-Off imitation, but a social history of bread and baking in Victorian times, and really interesting. True, they have some modern bakers attempting to do it the old-fashioned way, but the presenters are (food) historians. It's well worth a watch on the iPlayer if you're in the UK and didn't catch it.

Victorian Bakers sounds really interesting, Susan.

>171 susanj67: I love culinary history.

I've enjoyed Victorian Bakers too - it's no Supersizers (my ultimate go to comfort watch - love Giles Coren and Sue Perkins) but it was interesting.

>171 susanj67: Of course, now you have Netflix and are going to comment on all the programmes you're watching, it's going to make me want to switch back or (*gasp*) subscribe to both. I'm happy Victorian Bakers is on iplayer :-)

Have you seen Lucy Worlsey has a new TV series on the Romanovs? Haven't watched it yet but it's on iplayer waiting for me. It's called Empire of the Tsars.

>169 susanj67: That sounds like a very amazon tactic!

Victorian bakers does sound good, and I've missed it totally.

>172 Crazymamie: Mamie, it was. It's amazing just how much of Britain was built and developed by people who were pretty much just living on bread. I knew that people had eaten a lot of it in Ye Olden Days, but not quite how much. There was one episode that looked at adulteration of the ingredients (which was common) and the bakers had to add various things to their flour, and said it broke their hearts to have to bake such rubbish.

>173 thornton37814: Lori, I'm definitely getting more interested! There's a book on food scandals of Victorian times that I've seen at the library. I'll have to try and find it again.

>174 BekkaJo: Bekka, yes, I learned a lot. I thought it was going to be another reality show, but Super-Fit/Keen Cook friend alerted me to it after the first episode, so I caught up and then watched the second two. One of my great-grandmothers kept a shop in Lancashire which sold cakes and pastries, I think, so she would have fallen into programme 3, but I want to ask my father if he knows any more about it, because I'm sure she wasn't doing all that heavy work.

>175 souloftherose: Heather, I'm going to stick to Sons of Anarchy and Orange is the New Black, I think, with a documentary as my "non-fiction" (hey, it also works for TV!). So you're probably safe until I've got through 92 + 35 more episodes. And tonight there is ordinary TV because there are a couple of good things on. I've seen the first Lucy Worsley one about Russia, but she does irritate me. I'll see if I remember to watch the next ones. I think I set the series to record.

>176 charl08: Charlotte, it's all very confusing. And the roomie is going on holiday tonight for a week, so I won't even have a Young Person to explain it to me. The iPlayer will serve up all the episodes of Victorian Bakers (see what I did there?). Enjoy! It will make you hungry.

And I've finished a book!



6. The Happiness Industry by William Davies

I bought this in the Verso summer sale, mostly because I liked the cover, and it's a good read. Subtitled "How the Government and Big-Business Sold Us Well-Being", the author looks at the idea of happiness, and at various theories about how to maximise it, and also at how current thinking (mindfulness etc) is too focused on conversations with the self, instead of more outward-looking behaviours which have the potential to Change Things. Change, the author argues, is against the vested interests of those who are in charge of the world. There's philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, neuroscience and much more in this book, and I did find the first three chapters a bit dense. But overall it's definitely worth a read.

>177 susanj67: That one sounds interesting! I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

>178 cbl_tn: Carrie, and look at the cute cover! I'm so shallow :-) I just posted on your thread. Snap!

Susan, please be advised that I may be in London at the end of September. Just sayin'.

>180 katiekrug: Katie, yaaaaaaay! Keep me updated!

I just took the office roomie shopping for all the gifts she has to buy for relatives in Bombay. We power-shopped Monsoon and then L'Occitane and got it all done. She said I could email her any Netflix questions. I reminded her that prior to her last trip she'd said that her iPhone didn't work in India. "Oh, that's right," she said. Hmmmm :-)

I really like the bursting into flames test. Totally stealing that...

Did you see Manchester is putting up a statue to Pankhurst? Thought that was Quite Good.

Lots of wonderful discussions going on here! Liked your reflection on thecdifferences between the British and US criminal systems. On my one visit to London in 2009, I made my husband sit through a day of testimony in a murder trial at the Old Bailey. As a former prosecutor, I was most struck by the extent to which the Judge commented on the evidence as it was coming in to the Jury. Never would happen in any of my trials! I think the attorney concerned would call a sidebar and plead with the Judge to let them win or lose the case on their own!

>182 charl08: Charlotte, I didn't see that about the Pankhurst statue. I hope they manage to get that one past the haters - I'd have thought she was too middle-class and privileged to deserve one :-)

>183 michigantrumpet: Marianne, our systems are certainly very different. I couldn't get over how they picked a jury from right there in the county when there had been so much highly prejudicial press coverage. They moved the trial to another county, but with the same jury!



7. How The Other Half Lives by Jacob A Riis

I bought this for my Kindle after reading about it in another book, but I can't now remember what that book was. Something about poverty in cities, or maybe New York, because that's what this is about, and it's subtitled "Studies Among the Tenements of New York" and was written at the end of the 1880s. It struck me as sort of a companion book to Jack London's The People of the Abyss, and it's certainly just as depressing, but it does show what a long way we've come since the bad old days. Recommended for people interested in social history in the US and anyone who thinks that "poverty" means not having the newest sneakers.

I started The Book of Unknown Americans last night and it's excellent so far, so I hope to finish it tomorrow. And my atomic bomb book has moved on (a bit) from the science, and into the politics of who was researching, and who should help, and who should pay for it. I decided not to feel dumb that I don't understand the science, because it is nuclear physics, after all. And the human story of the process of research and development is still interesting even if you're not a nuclear physicist :-)

>184 susanj67: I know about that book but I haven't read it. I may read People of the Abyss later this year, so I could try reading the two together as you suggest.

Happy weekend, Susan. Stay safe and warm.

>185 cbl_tn: Carrie, I think both at the same time might be *too* depressing, but it's an interesting comparison! Four hundred pages into the atomic bomb book, they've just bought some land in east Tennessee :-)

>186 DianaNL: Thanks Diana :-)

>187 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara. It is warm here again, so I have been out.

I went round the corner to the Annie Leibovitz exhibition this morning and it was very good, although quite small. But they had video running of lots of pictures, and that was good. And the security people and attendants were all incredibly smiley and polite - maybe they'd never done it before. Then I walked up to the library near home and borrowed The Tenderness of Wolves, which I didn't find on the shelf, but spied in a display just as I was about to leave, and then I kept walking up to Whitechapel to go to the supermarket up there, which I haven't been to for years. And I walked all the way back :-) This afternoon I need to read my chapter of the bomb book, and maybe finish The Book of Unknown Americans. And Netflix is now emailing me with new things they think I might like. OK, one thing so far, but I can see a pattern emerging...

>188 susanj67: I thought it had to come up at some point!

Hi Susan...what a great goal you have for yourself. I love the cute Ticker Factory score keepers you are using what a great idea. Good luck with your goal, you've got some mighty hefty reading to do!

"And the security people and attendants were all incredibly smiley and polite - maybe they'd never done it before" This totally cracked me up!

Happy Saturday, Susan!

>188 susanj67: - four hundred pages and they just bought the land? How long is this book?

>189 cbl_tn: Carrie, I was looking out for it specially :-)

>190 meem2: Hello Meem! I see you've just joined the group, so welcome! I find that the tickers keep me honest in terms of what I'm reading and goals. The Pulitzer books are a multi-year project (particularly at the speed the current one is going) but I thought it would be fun to read about all sorts of different things.

>191 Crazymamie: Mamie, I was *amazed*! They even had free coffee, and an arts and crafts area for little kids in the foyer, so that the grown-ups could visit the exhibition in peace. By the way, I tried the hot chocolate from the block I got for Christmas this morning, and it was pretty good!

>192 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, :-) 788 pages, in fact. And my goal is a chapter per day, but the chapters are about 40pp. It started at the point in the 1920s when the first person had a thought that ended up being the bomb. Of course, it was just an interesting science problem at that point. Then they thought it might be good for fuel. It's interesting to read about their reactions when they realised just what they'd done by continuing the research and making a bomb possible. It's that human side that I'm enjoying, rather than the sciencey parts which are just too hard for the general reader.

Look at you trying new things! The exhibit sounds delightful - I love her photographs. In other news, you went screaming by me on the Fitbit leader board!

I once had a lecture by a professor who'd worked on the science for the atomic bomb. And he was chatting about "going to argue with Einstein" and was mentally right with it. Up to the point that he started to discuss the nuclear science he did, which was one of the many pieces that went towards understanding how the physics would work. And he just disintegrated. Suddenly looked the 80 odd he was when minutes earlier he'd been a lively as a man much younger. Really sad to see that it still sat on his conscience.

>193 susanj67: That's longer than the Elvis Costello autobiography of tediousness. You have my admiration.

I got a brand new book from the library today, only purchased on the 19th. All shiny and everything.

>194 Crazymamie: Mamie, I don't often try new things, so I was pretty pleased! I still have a tin of Stonewall Kitchen Farmhouse Pancake and Waffle mix to try, but I haven't got to that yet. I'm sure the Fitbits must be malfunctioning if I'm in the lead! I don't plan to go out today, though...

>195 Helenliz: Helen, it's hard to think of any other science that has had such a terrible outcome. That must have been very hard to live with.

>196 charl08: Charlotte, it's not tedious, just...challenging. But they've set up at Los Alamos now, s it's moving along. Envy for the brand new book...ooh :-)

Today is warm but rainy in London, so I'm not planning to go out. I'll read my chapter of the hard book, and try and finish The Book of Unknown Americans. And bake (granola and another fruit loaf. I'm like a one-trick pony, but actually I had to buy 1kg of mixed fruit last weekend and I want to use it up. The loaf freezes beautifully too). And maybe watch hours and hours of Netflix a moderate amount of TV.

Whatever you do today, Susan, I hope it's relaxing and fun!

Happy end-of-weekend, Susan -- hope you have a great week!

Glad your book's not tedious Susan - just meant to sympathise on the length. Hope the entirely reasonable amount of time spent watching Netflix was fun. And I wish I could just grab a slice of toasted fruit loaf. Lots of butter on mine...

>198 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, in the end I went out and did my steps, because the sun came out and I really had no excuse :-) Then I binge-watched Sons of Anarchy :-)

>199 AMQS: Thanks Anne! I have presentations to give this week, but fortunately I am never short of words :-)

>200 charl08: Charlotte, I was just discussing it with FLA, who saw a play a few years ago which dealt with the same subject, so that was fun. I have five more chapters to go, so I should be finished it by the end of the week. And meanwhile I have The Tenderness of Wolves as something different, and Jane Smiley's Some Luck, which I found this morning and borrowed in a moment of weakness.

And now it's time for a new thread! https://www.librarything.com/topic/217871