Paul C's 2016 Reading and Life - 3

Mark was the one who said I should lead with this one!

January, February and March are easy months for remembering.
Belle has her birthday on 15th January
Yasmyne has her birthday on 27th February
Hani has her birthday on 5 March
Our Wedding Anniversary is 23 March & 25 March (a story I will tell another time!)

Current Reading Opening Lines:

I am reading a couple at the moment. This is from Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler which I am reading for Mark's AAC and she is an author who rarely disappoints:



While Pearl Tull was dying, a funny thought occurred to her.

BOOKS READ IN 2016

First Quarter

JANUARY
1. Ru by Kim Thuy (2009) 153 pp
2. A Story I am in : Selected Poems by James Berry (2011) 208 pp
3. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (1983) 200 pp
4. Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis (2015) 159 pp
5. Clem Attlee by Francis Beckett (2015) 476 pp
6. The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman by Denis Theriault (2005) 117 pp
7. 40 Sonnets by Don Paterson (2015) 44 pp
8. The Quality of Mercy by Barry Unsworth (2011) 294 pp
9. The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry (2010) 92 pp
10. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler (1993) 269 pp
11. Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen (1998) 104 pp
12. Coast to Coast by Jan Morris (1956) 238 pp
13. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler (1982) 314 pp
14. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (2014) 688 pp
15. The Perfect Stranger by P.J. Kavanagh (1966) 182 pp
16. The Manticore by Robertson Davies (1972) 255 pp

Reading Plans and a little about me

Me?
I am 50 this coming September and have enough unread reading material on my shelves to take me safely into my seventies! I have lived in Malaysia since 1994 and have a long suffering (but never quietly) wife, Hani (sometimes referred to as SWMBO), three children Yasmyne (18), Kyran (16) and Belle (12 - well almost), as well as a supporting cast which includes Saad Yasmyne's Egyptian boyfriend and very much part of the family fabric, my book smuggling assistants Azim (also my driver and a part time bouncer who, despite his muscles, lives in almost as much fear of my wife as I do) and Erni (my housemaid, almost-little sister and the worlds greatest coffee maker). On this thread you'll probably read as much about the vagaries of life, book buying and group related statistics as you do about the actual books themselves.



clockwise from top left: Kyran, Saad, Yasmyne, Belle, Hani & I

2016 Reading

British Author Challenge - This is on its second year with two books/authors a month. Since I administer this challenge I will keep up with this one fairly religiously.

American Author Challenge - Mark (msf59) is on the third year of this great challenge where the task is to read a work by a featured US author each month.

Canadian Author Challenge - This is its inaugural year and I will try to read (and find books for!) as many of the 24 authors featured as I can.

ANZAC Challenge - Set up by Kerry this year. I will try to follow this one alternating between Oz/Nz

Pulitzer Challenge - Bill has created a challenge to read a Pulitzer winner each month in 2016

Chunkster Challenge - Also set up by Bill to take care of that small matter of books over 600 pages!

Non-Fiction Challenge - Suz (Chatterbox) has put this up and I will follow this one too

TIOLI Challenge - Surely needs no introduction!

1001 Books First Edition - I am working my way through these. So far at 262.

Booker Prize Winners - Another one I am wending my way through

Nobel Laureates - I am trying to read something by all the Laureates - so far have read 57 of the 112 winners.

Poetry - I will be trying to read a different collection/anthology each week and at the same time promote poetry in the group (tough one that) which will include my own occasion clumsy scribblings.

Series I have so many I follow Montalbano, Reacher, Hole, Banks, Davenport, Sejer, Allon, Lennox .....and I will be trying to read many of those as I can.

History Another favourite of mine

Political Biography - I am of the left in political terms so I prefer to read more from my heroes than my villains but sometimes it pays to check out what the opposition are up to!

I will try to combine challenges as much as I can to do something in each challenge each month.

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE 2016

January thread : https://www.librarything.com/topic/211144

January : Susan Hill & Barry Unsworth
February : Agatha Christie & William Dalrymple
March : Ali Smith & Thomas Hardy
April : George Eliot & Hanif Kureishi
May : Jane Gardam & Robert Goddard
June : Lady Antonia Fraser & Joseph Conrad
July : Bernice Rubens & H.G. Wells
August : Diana Wynne-Jones & Ian McEwan
September : Doris Lessing & Laurie Lee
October : Kate Atkinson & William Golding
November : Rebecca West & Len Deighton
December : WEST YORKSHIRE writers
Wildcard : Rumer Godden and George Orwell

TBR Records

Round up of Stats

1001 Books First Edition - Read 262 of 1001

Nobel Winners - Read something by 56 of the 112 Laureates (half exactly)

Pulitzer Fiction/Novel Winners - Read 12 of 88 outright winners

Booker Winners - Read 21 of the 50 winners

January TIOLI Targets

There are 21 and this is my plan which also gives me a full house of other challenges:


1. ISBN has at least one number in its correct numeric position - The Manticore - Robertson Davies (CAC) COMPLETED

2. A book that you received as a gift in 2015 - Clem Attlee - Francis Beckett (NON-FICTION) - COMPLETED

3. A book published in 2015 that was underrated - Fifteen Dogs - Andre Alexis - COMPLETED

4. A book written by an author who died in 2015 - The Perfect Stranger - PJ Kavanagh COMPLETED

5. A book from a list of best or notable books of 2015 - 40 Sonnets by Don Paterson - COMPLETED

6. A book by an American author set primarily outside America - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain - Robert Olen Butler (PULITZER) - COMPLETED

7. A book with a name in the title in rolling alphabetical order - Demelza - Winston Graham (SERIES)

8. A book where a word in its title refers to a start or beginning - The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North

9. A book owned on 1 Jan 2015, but not yet read/finished - The Quality of Mercy - Barry Unsworth (BAC) COMPLETED

10. A Santa Thing book you received prior to January 2015 - Soldier's Heart - Gary Paulsen COMPLETED

11. A novel about real events on which another novel has been written - Rain - Barney Campbell

12. A novel written by a Caribbean author - A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James (BOOKERS) & (DOORSTOP) COMPLETED

13. A book where D or U starts a word in the title or initial of Author - Daughters of Mars - Thomas Keneally (ANZAC)

14. A novella that has been translated to English - The Library of Unrequited Love - Sophie Divry COMPLETED

15. A book from the travel literature genre - Coast to Coast - Jan Morris - COMPLETED

16. A book as part of a group read of either the author or the title - The Woman in Black - Susan Hill - (BAC) COMPLETED

17. A book whose first line answers the question When did it happen? - A Story I am in : Selected Poems - James Berry (POETRY)- COMPLETED

18. A book with something bad in the title - Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (AAC) - Anne Tyler COMPLETED

19. A short book which could be considered a history of some sort - The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman - Denis Theriault - COMPLETED

20. A book with one of the words happy, new or year in the title - New Finnish Grammar - Diego Marani

21. A book that mentions tea somewhere in the text - Ru - Kim Thuy (CAC) - COMPLETED

Hi, Paul, you sweet talker, you!

Happy new thread, Paul! Love that topper!

Love the Belle photo to top your thread, Paul. Just to clarify my post in your previous thread (you are zipping through them so fast, no wonder it is hard to keep up) when I talked about a stat holiday that is Canadian speak for a statutory holiday - one declared by the government. In this case the statutory holiday is Family Day declared by the government of BC which falls on February 8 this year, the same day as Chinese New Year.

>9 ronincats: It is funny Roni because I tend to keep a sugar free diet as much as possible!

>10 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie. How well I remember all your thread toppers back in the day of one or a combination or all of your gorgeous brood.

>11 Familyhistorian: Hahaha, Meg, I thought it a little bizarre to celebrate a holiday for statistics but I would like that one a lot!

I finished another book today. Red Necklace by Sally Gardner has been on my TBR list ever since I saw the cover. No matter my quibbles with the novel that cover is a winner! By itself it deserves to have 5 stars. I enticed me to listen to the book so whoever designed it should get a raise because the cover of a book is so very important.

This is another YA novel that can't quite decide what it wants to be. Is it historical fiction? Is it fantasy? The historical fiction parts of the book are well done. The author says that she deviated from the historical record in several places and I don't have a problem with that. Sometimes authors have to do that in order to place the characters in the plot and there is no historically accurate way to do it. I can excuse that. However, this novel adds in elements of fantasy that don't seem to fit and come out of nowhere in the middle of the book. The sudden addition of fantasy elements just didn't seem to fit and created confusion for me as reader. I didn't appreciate that. Personally, I think that the historical novel with its shades of Dickensian Tale of Two Cities could have stood on its own without the introduction of the magic. But that is just my opinion. The author obviously had other ideas.

This is a novel that many YA's would like and perhaps could lead them to read the classics of this Scaramouche sub-genre. Titles like Scaramouche and the Scarlet Pimpernel. I suspect that they might read it on the strength of that cover alone.

>13 benitastrnad: Sounds intriguing Benita. I am a fan of that type of historical humdinger, I have to say.

Hi Paul! I'm glad you're using Belle and her book shop as the topper for your latest thread. It's a great photo!

It is so nice of you to allow me to hijack your thread for my book reports! Soon after I joined the threads on LT I figured out that I would not have the time to sustain my own thread. However, I did want to participate, so I dipped my toes into the "What Are You Reading Now" thread and that lead me to you and others.

I am content to participate in threads rather than host them and as long as you guys let me do it - I will.

>15 cbl_tn: Thanks Carrie. I need to keep it quiet though as Belle is profoundly shy and will scold me for a week without ceasing if she knows she is the subject of my thread topper!

#14
Just remember that it is YA and is written for that age group. The plot is simple, as is the vocabulary and the structure, except for the abrupt appearance of the fantasy. That was totally unnecessary - in my opinion.

Now back to Jeremy Poldark.

>16 benitastrnad: I have to say Benita, I love that you are comfortable enough to use 'our' thread as a platform. You will always be welcome here, my dear. xx

A person has to be quick on these threads as they move right along. Before the follower knows it there are a hundred posts to skim over!

>20 benitastrnad: I used to be quick on the draw a la Billy the Kid, Benita, but nowadays I have to rely on feints of hand like Pat Garrett to keep up.

Catching up with my book reviews:



10. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler

Date of Publication : 1992
Pages : 269
Bill's Pulitzer Challenge - Won Fiction prize in 1993.
TIOLI Challenge January - #6 (10th out of 21)

This is a series of short stories (although one would be close to a novella in length) that depict the Vietnamese experience of the war there and struggles of relocation in the States. Told from the perspective exclusively of the South Vietnamese who lost the war as I take it that Olen Butler was intimate with that constituency from his time there.

Sensitive and varied, Butler does a splendid job in these tales of relating a difficult period for all concerned. 1992 was a relatively strong year for fiction but I would have thought that The Secret History or Bastard out of Carolina were more deserving of the Pulitzer than this collection despite it being meritorious.

8/10

11. Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen

Date of Publication : 1998
Pages : 104
TIOLI January : #10

I received this from my Secret Santa a couple of years ago and I am very grateful to have done so as this was an affecting and very effective little novelette about the horrors of war and, specifically, the American Civil War.

Our over sized fifteen year old signs up from his farmstead yearning for the excitement of war. What he faces makes a man of him but at what expense?

Paulsen does a great job of introducing a very difficult topic to a younger audience but there is much to appreciate here for the oversized children amongst us too.

8/10

Your reading targets have me convinced you have a tardis hidden away ......

12. Coast to Coast by Jan Morris

Date of Publication : 1958
Pages : 238
TIOLI January : #15 (12 out of 21)

In the 1950's Jan Morris was still James Morris and travelled through and across America with his/her (I will refer to Morris as her henceforward) wife recording his observations of the places and people he came into contact with.

This is travel writing at it's absolute best split into sections that dissect the USA into digestible and clearly separate chunks. Her descriptive powers of the natural world are unrivalled but it is the social commentary on an American world now, doubtless much changed that is most fascinating.

Her comments on the South and its rascist bigotry is wonderfully incendiary and her observations of the different groups across the country from the oystermen of Nantucket to the Amish to the Pueblos to the Mormons is fascinating in the extreme. Morris clearly loved her subject and had found her forte. Her book Venice is regarded by many as the premier work of travel writing in the last 40 years - it must be something to behold if it is better than this.

9/10

>24 roundballnz: Wouldn't that be great Alex. I would plot coordinates and come and see you for sure mate, but then again the TARDIS is notoriously unreliable in terms of reaching the destination you set out upon - very much like my reading actually.

TBR Records Update :

Year reading record to date:

January 1st frozen TBR : 3,714

Books read : 11

Revised TBR : 3,703

January 1st Pages : 1,300,667

Pages read in completed books : 2,195

Revised TBR pages : 1,298,472

Other Books added since 1 January : 20
Pages : 6,069
Read : 1
Read Pages : 159

Total Books Read in 2016 - 12
Total Pages Read in 2016 - 2,354

BOOKS ADDED SINCE 1 JANUARY 2016

1. Fifteen Dogs Andre Alexis (2015) 159 pp (Added 6 Jan) COMPLETED
2. Rain by Barney Campbell (2015) 362 pp (Added 6 Jan)
3. Coventry by Helen Humphreys (2008) 169 pp (Added 7 Jan -Secret Santa (Katie))
4. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro (2015) 362 pp (Added 14 Jan)
5. How Good We Can Be by Will Hutton (2015) 250 pp (Added 14 Jan)
6. Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco (1988) 641 pp (Added 14 Jan)
7. The Chimes by Anna Smaill (2015) 289 pp (Added 14 Jan)
8. Wild Swans by Jung Chang (1991) 669 pp (Added 14 Jan)
9. The Black Moon by Winston Graham (1973) 546 PP (Added 14 Jan)
10. Let Me Be Frank With You by Richard Ford (2014) 238 pp (Added 22 Jan)
11. Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker (1992) 270 pp (Added 22 Jan)
12. Cat and Mouse by Gunter Grass (1961) 191 pp (Added 22 Jan)
13. The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino (1969) 129 pp (Added 22 Jan)
14. The Enigma of Arrival by VS Naipaul (1987) 387 pp (Added 22 Jan)
15. Mao II by Don DeLillo (1991) 241 pp (Added 22 Jan)
16. A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham (1990) 343 pp (Added 22 Jan)
17. Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe (1958) 189 pp (Added 22 Jan)
18. Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord by Louis de Bernieres (1991) 280 pp (Added 22 Jan)
19. Spring Flowers, Spring Frost by Ismail Kadare (2000) 182 pp (Added 22 Jan)
20. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (1972) 172 pp (Added 22 Jan)

Happy new thread, Paul. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Your thread topper is belle. :)

>29 BLBera: I thought she deserved a turn at the top of things, Beth!

>1 PaulCranswick: !!!!!! What a wonderful photo! Love it.

Hello Paul, congrats on your new-ish thread, and happy weekend to you! A couple of my first graders did a Tech Challenge about Malaysia -- only this year I stood back and let the kids do the projects on their own, with just a little guidance for me. I'll send you the link. You'll laugh about the Malaysian wildlife. I think they got up to some creative clicking when they were on their "wildlife" research page, and found some animals that they fell in love with but most likely do not come from Malaysia. A six year old will not be deterred, though I did insist they replace "polar bear" with "proboscis monkey" :)

Paul, that is a wonderful thread topper! Beautiful!

Harkening back to your prior thread, I just want to say "doh!" I was thinking about "Poetry Month" for Mark's AAC and forgetting all about the first "A." Ha.

Thanks for the introduction to Jan Morris. I'll be finding either Venice or Coast to Coast.

>31 AMQS: Hahaha Anne - polar bears would be a little uncomfortable in Kuala Lumpur - I mean the traffic is shocking!

>32 EBT1002: I think as a well travelled American you will appreciate Jan Morris' debut work, Ellen. xxx

Quick update on posting stats which have largely passed me by as work commitments have kept me away from the group a little. Don't think I will be able to catch up or keep up with the ladies this year!

Last year 151 threads passed 100 posts - 52 have done so already and we haven't finished January yet!

Here are those threads :

1 scaifea 751
2 crazymamie 740
3 msf59 674
4 kidzdoc 579
5 PaulCranswick 558
6 jnwelch 488
7 EBT1002 406
8 KatieKrug 360
9 Charl08 344
10 Ameise1 327
11 lkernagh 305
12 cbl_tn 301
13 Berly 272
14 thornton37814 266
15 DianaNL 237
16 MichiganTrumpet 234
17 lyzard 232
18 BBLBera 225
19 mstrust 223
20 Carmenere 213
21 ronincats 210
22 ireadthereforeiam 206
23 SusanJ67 196
24 Whisper1 192
25 Chatterbox 184
26 vancouverdeb 181
27 Deern 177
28 FamilyHistorian 176
29 cameling 167
30 Ape 157
31 drneutron 156
32 SandDune 148
33 Sibyx 143
34 maggie1944 142
35 The_Hibernator 141
36 bell7 138
37 LizzieD 137
38 souloftherose 136
39 dk_phoenix 135
40 avatiakh 133
41 rosalita 132
42 lit_chick 131
43 smiler69 129
44 johnsimpson 125
45 coppers 120
46 Donna 119
47 RichardDerus 108
48 AMQS 103
49 MickyFine 103
50 Oberon 103
51 Weird_O 101
52 laurelkeet 100

Gender of those threads above 100 posts = 42 ladies and 10 gentlemen

Residency

USA 33
Canada - 7
UK - 5
NZ - 2
Australia - 1
Holland - 1
Switzerland - 1
Italy - 1
Malaysia - 1

Happy New Thread, Paul.

>36 Ameise1: Thank you Barbara.

About to set off to Melaka for a night away without internet. I have still to get to threads L-Z from Jim's threadbook and I will do that tomorrow.

Happy new thread.

You got me with Coast to Coast, Paul. Adding it to the list, and a very nice review!

Happy New Thread, Paul! You know I LOVE the Belle topper! One of my favorites.

Hope you are enjoying the Tyler. I finished The Manticore, which was excellent and now I will be moving on to Morality Play. My reading numbers will suffer a bit this month, due to a pair of mammoth Chunksters!!

I am not surprised to see the posting numbers booming. We have got off to a mighty chatty start. And it is great to see my pal Mamie, right there at the top.

Hey Paul, nice to see even more Stats. Sorry to hear your week has been so busy - hope you get more reading time this week.

Hi Paul! Happy Sunday.

Hi there, Paul! Wishing you a productive trip to Melaka and an excellent week!

Paul--Happy no computer for a day--enjoy!! Congrats on the new thread. Love the Belle topper. And I won't tell her. LOL.

>13 benitastrnad: Happy to see you and your reviews--wherever they land. : )

#45
Sometimes they land on several at once. It depends on what I have time to do.

Happy new thread!

Congratulations on the new thread, Paul, and getting a lot of good reading done. I see you picked up Tove Jansson's The Summer Book. That's a special one, IMO.

I just purchased Tove Jansson's Summer Book at the ALA conference. Now you have me curious about it so I will have to move it up on the reading list.

Happy new thread, Paul, that topper is such an adorable picture!
Hope you survive a day without computer ;-)

Happy new thread mate and the thread topper is great.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Paul!

Happy new thread! Great thread topper!

Great new thread!

>34 PaulCranswick: Yay! I love it when I make your stats. :)

Aside: You know something weird I've noticed working at the texting hotline for teenagers? They all make their smiley faces backwards like this (: I wonder if they know I'm old because I make them like this :)

Happy new thread and hope you have a good new week!

>56 The_Hibernator: I had noticed that --my daughter does ( :

What a nice surprise, I get back from a lovely night in Melaka to find 19 posts waiting for me!

We drove down there in the mid afternoon to rendezvous with my SIL, Yasmyne, Saad, Kyran and Belle who had travelled down earlier and checked into their suite. The plan was we would go straight for dinner and then a boat cruise on the Melaka waterways. Belle swapped cars to join us and made it clear she felt that the apartment Yabo had rented would "not be comfortable if you two join". We struggled to find the recommended restaurant and when we did they were queuing down the street so we went in search of somewhere else. After finally eating we went for the boat cruise and it was also oversubscribed. I did notice across the waterway a hotel I had always wanted to stay and had Hani call it and take a room for the two of us so we spent the evening and morning in the sublime lap of luxury in the Casa del Rio.

Here is a view of the bathroom from the bedroom area:



Here is Hani helping me towards Mark's American Author Challenge:



and this is the view from the balcony last night across the waterway:

>39 BBGirl55: Thank you Bryony. I am enjoying that so many of my buddies are enjoying something of a renaissance this year thus far.

>40 Crazymamie: I think you will enjoy that one, Mamie. Morris has a lovely gift of stringing words together like pearls.

>41 msf59: I put the Belle topper up largely because of your prompting mate. I haven't started The Manticore yet and it is slated to be next up once I have completed Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant for your challenge.
It is fun to see the Matriarch of the Pecan Paradisio so active at the head of affairs. Personally I think Amber will take some shifting from top spot - her threads are so well organised, she has her daily routine and she is always so engaging. You of course are the group's Mister Consistent and will post high numbers the year long. Joe's cafe will always have a wide patronage - the Doc with his travels and his huge heart will also be a contender as will Katie with her understated wry and dry wit and wisdom. I too will probably have my fits and starts!

>42 charl08: Well yesterday and today are pretty relaxed but the few days after that may be a little bit hectic, Charlotte.

>43 karenmarie: Thank you Karen - it was a lovely Sunday.

>44 Carmenere: Lynda, Melaka is one of my favourite places in Malaysia as it has a wealth of history and has done so much in the last ten years to beautify and renew itself. Just an hour plus from where we live and would be wonderful were it not for a proliferation of poorly synchronized traffic lights that make the trip back tiresome a little.

>45 Berly: Benita becomes something of a roving reporter, Kimmers. A bit like AFP or Reuters contributing to the daily papers. The dailies would survive but she makes them so much better.

>46 benitastrnad: And there is the lady herself right on cue!

>47 amanda4242: Amanda, thanks for taking time out from reading all those BAC titles; you are a sweetie.

>48 jnwelch: I do like the look of that one too Joe. It is a lovely looking book too.

>49 benitastrnad: Benita, I actually bought it because it is one of the 1001 Books First Edition books but I think it is there for a good reason.

>50 FAMeulstee: Thank you Anita. A day away from the computer is probably good for my health once in a while.

>51 johnsimpson: Thanks John. You of course are one of two group members who have met Belle and avoided being talked to death.

>52 foggidawn: Thank you Foggy. xx

>53 tymfos: Terri, lovely to see you. xx

>54 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda, I have been busted as Belle has seen the topper and she didn't look overly impressed.

>55 drneutron: Thanks Jim, I am amazed at how accurate and up to date your thread book is. For the 2015 stats I used the threadbook to check on all the threads and I found only three errors in the whole thing - bravo mate and thanks for all the work you do for all of us.

>56 The_Hibernator: That is interesting Rachel - I hadn't noticed that but I am sure that I will now you have mentioned it!

>57 Berly: Kimmers I will take a sneak peak at Yasmyne and Belle's texting and report back!

>64 PaulCranswick: Yeah, but I'm finding out a PhD in physics doesn't help with alphabetizing skills. :) I keep finding places where I just seriously got things out of order!

>65 drneutron: No mate, I wasn't being tongue in cheek I really do think you do a splendid job with the admin of the group. I guess I see it close up as I use the threadbook very often as an aid in compiling my stats and I cannot think of anyone who have missed out in your records. The odd link goes astray but a score of 98% in any test gets you an A* every time, Jim.

>66 PaulCranswick: I know you weren't, and I appreciate the comments! I'm glad the wikis I put together are useful to folks, and I love your stats, being an analytical kind of person. I just think it's funny that I find these odd out-of-order things from time to time.

>67 drneutron: I remember Carrie - cbl_tn - being out of place once but being able to remember examples tells its own story. I am a little OCD with things like that - a good friend had me organise his library several years ago when he moved house and I did so alphabetically by other and chronologically by title and he was pretty stunned when I came to visit six weeks later and spotted immediately he had put some of the books back in the wrong place. He had about 4,000 books in his library and thought his wife had tipped me off.

Evening, Paul. Hoping that your week has gotten off to a good start and that it will be a smooth one. Your hotel stay sounds wonderful and the balcony looked like a great place to grab a quiet moment.

>69 Crazymamie: It was indeed a super vantage point to view the waterway traffic this morning and be glad of a day of leisure, Mamie. If you ever travel out this way put it on your to do list.

Ha! Right. Because I travel so often. But a day of leisure sounds like just the ticket, so enjoy!

>71 Crazymamie: Well you did make quite a trip between Indiana and Georgia not that long ago!

True.

>73 Crazymamie: I don't know when life will allow Hani and I to make that long overdue trip to and tour of the USA. I must admit though reading Jan Morris' account of doing the self-same thing I have often dreamed of doing had me hankering after following up on that dream of mine.

Life gets crazy, doesn't it?! Whenever you do make it over, the masses will be thrilled to see you in person. Until then we will enjoy your presence here. SO lovely to have you back and posting more this year, Paul.

Hi Paul! Just getting around to drop off a star and see that I've missed two chapters already. Oh well, I will probably miss more before the year is out. Good to see your passion for statistics continues unabated, and it's great to see pictures of your beautiful family.

>75 Crazymamie: I got to the point Mamie when I thought -- "All the stresses and strains are not worth it, I'll concentrate on what makes me happy." Doesn't mean that all business matters are thrown to the four winds as I do like what I do and I have a good score or so of families dependent directly upon me getting most of the decisions right, but life is not all about chasing the dollar or worrying too much when it doesn't materialize. One downside last year of what was frankly, for a while at least something of a crisis, was that I didn't get to help a number of people I felt committed to helping and who may have felt that some of my undertakings to such effect were mere empty words - I do enjoy giving and, not being in a position to, sapped me of my normal vigour for a while. Hopefully I am almost back to normal life wise.

>76 AnneDC: Thank you Anne. My January has been a little less frenetic than usual as I normally am close to 1000 posts by now! I am enjoying being back in the fray though. xx

Happy is important, Paul. I always tell my kids that figuring out what makes them truly happy is essential in life. So good for you, and I mean, really, good FOR you. Health and happy are interconnected. And I get you about the not being able to help as much or as often as you wanted to, but that is why we do what we can when we can. Sometimes it is the small kindnesses of no monetary value that matter and mean the most. Life is full of up and downs, and that is actually kind of beautiful in its own way because it helps us learn to manage to ride it out. Wishing for you a year filled with happy!

>79 Crazymamie: Thank you Mamie, kind words indeed. xx

I'm a little late catching up on your threads and stats, Paul, so let me say a belated "proud to share the 40th spot for books read in 2015 with you." That brings my numbers up a bit from the last couple of years, and I'm well on my way to posting stats that match or surpass last year's as well.

Happy new thread and have a great week!

>81 bell7: I can think of few I would sooner share 40th place with Mary! To be fair if some of our peers had kept up their threads we would have been a little lower down the pecking order but I was pleased to get there at all after a torrid mid-year.

Here is a prediction - we'll both beat our numbers from last year.

I wouldn't be surprised if you're right on in your prediction, though I hesitate to go by my January numbers knowing that it's really typical for me to read more in the first half of the year than the second. Or used to be... now that I'm settled in a full-time work routine, it'll be interesting to see how that bears out, as it certainly wasn't the case last year - it was almost perfectly 50-50 with 61 books read by the end of June.

>83 bell7: True Mary. My Januaries are normally productive and I managed 17 books last year and I'll get close to that again this year.

Sounds like a lovely outing to a place I've never heard of before, Paul!

>85 ronincats: It is quite historic Roni actually - a great trading port and a place of Portuguese settlement which lingers in a small Indian-Christian Eurasian community. Here are some pics of the place:

Happy new one, Paul!

>87 scaifea: Thanks Amber. Sitting up massaging Hani's feet with one hand and trying to finish off Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant which I am holding with the other when I am not checking the threads. xx

>68 PaulCranswick: I remember Carrie - cbl_tn - being out of place once but being able to remember examples tells its own story.

I was out of place over the weekend but I'm right where I'm supposed to be now! ;-)

>86 PaulCranswick: It looks like you were out of place for a while this weekend, too! Melaka looks and sounds like an interesting place to visit. The photos are beautiful!

>89 cbl_tn: Ah but I meant only alphabetically not geographically in your case Carrie, dear!

Melaka is a charming place that, for once, Malaysia seems to have paid attention to keeping in good authentic trim. There is a night street market here along the wonderfully named Jonker Street (the Dutch also ruled here before the Brits chased them off)

Here is part of Jonker Steet of an evening:

This is Jonker Street during the day:

Thanks for sharing the pictures Paul. Much appreciated.

>91 PaulCranswick: - Beautiful photos, Paul!

>92 Oberon: Glad you like them Erik.

>93 jessibud2: Thanks Shelley, nice to see you here. xx

This is where we had our seafood meal yesterday night:

> Is it mainly a tourist town or does it have a substantial population year-round? It looks enticing!

>95 jessibud2: It is the state capital of one of Malaysia's thirteen states. It has an international airport (of sorts) and a population now a little over half a million people. It does get a fair amount of its revenue from tourism but its industrial and trading traditions survive.

Ah! Thanks so much for sharing a bit of Melaka on my thread today Paul! Looks like an enchanting place.

Happy New Thread! Can I still say that, 96 posts into it??

Happy to see your new books acquisitions. I adored The Buried Giant and curious to see what you'll make of it. I predict I will probably reread it more than once. I have the audiobooks with David Horovitch narrating, which is truly a sublime experience. But then he has a voice I would gladly go to sleep to every night. Not that he puts me to sleep, I'm just saying...

Now I think of it, The Guardian had included a sampling of the audiobook in their review last year. Here's the link if you're curious: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/04/the-buried-giant-review-kazuo-ishig...

When I saw Jan Morris up there, I right away wondered if it was the same Jan Morris who wrote Venice, and of course it is. I got that book at a much reduced price from none other than the Folio Society a few years ago, when they happened to have a few leftover copies they had unearthed from somewhere. I'd heard it was much praised, but glad to see your review about her writing. I should put it on the reading pile for 2016, most definitely. I'll look up Suz's NF challenge... I'm sure she must have a Travel category at some point. Will fit it in one way or another. It's really an object of beauty; filled with photos, wonderful binding:

>97 Smiler69: I read the first two Ishiguro novels last January, Ilana, and whilst they didn't blow me away I certainly liked them more than a little. Will work my way through his back catalog and I think his latest will get read sooner rather than later.

The folio edition of Venice looks as alluring as the place it was intended to depict and reminds me quite topically of the waterways we were looking at from our balcony last night in Melaka.

>86 PaulCranswick:, >90 PaulCranswick:, >91 PaulCranswick:, >94 PaulCranswick: - love the photos, Paul!

>99 jnwelch: Thanks Joe Thanks Joe Thanks Joe Thanks Joe

>101 jnwelch: :-)

>101 jnwelch: I like that Joe, very droll.

Stopping by with Happy New Thread wishes now that I have caught up. I continue to enjoy reading the stats you collect and post. Great string of reading... I believe I saw two 8/10 and one 9/10 rating.

Thank you so much for posting the pictures of Maleka. Looks like a wonderful place to escape to!

Love the Melaka pictures. Imagine a holiday based on the Portuguese settlements - from where you are to Goa, on to Mozambique... beautiful coasts, sunshine.... Sigh. Better buy a lottery ticket!

>103 lkernagh: Yes Lori I am enjoying my reading this year so far. No absolute duds yet.

>104 charl08: Great idea Charlotte.......what happened to the poor woman in Worcester who put her 33million pound lottery ticket in the washing machine?

Hi Paul, I love the pictures that you posted of Maleka. It looks like the perfect place to have some romantic time with your wife. The books do seem to be flowing rather quickly this month, of course I've been housebound so have had lots of extra reading time. We are starting to see some signs of early spring here so I hope to be able to get out and about more in February.

>105 PaulCranswick: Camelot claim that she is not the only person claiming to have lost/ damaged etc the ticket...!

Make the most of Belle being quiet at the moment mate as you know how the ladies can be sometimes, once they get talking they don't know when to stop sometimes. As Andy put it in his speech, he loves Karen to bits as she is just like her daughter in that she can talk without taking a breath.

It looks like it is going to be a uphill struggle to save the 4th Test unless Root and Taylor get going and hang around to upset the South African bowlers rhythm.

>100 PaulCranswick: LOL

Fabulous photos, Paul!

Loving all the photos of Melaka, Paul! Thanks so much for sharing!

>106 DeltaQueen50: Judy there is no sign of spring here.....or winter for that matter. I usually start the year well reading wise but it is trying to make sure that I don't tail off too badly.

>107 charl08: If the ladies' claims are real, she must be at her wits end!

>108 johnsimpson: This was partly about who won the toss, John, wasn't it? It appeared pretty tough last night for the England batsmen. I will be astonished if South Africa don't pull a win back.

>109 kidzdoc: Darryl, I can't resist quips like that! Glad that you liked the pictures.

>110 Crazymamie: You're welcome, Mamie.

>58 PaulCranswick: that balcony view is fabulous! I wish I could check in and leave my kids with the valet. Today has been trying.

I believe I bought a cool Chinese medicine tin in Melaka when I was there, are there a proliferation of antique stores there? I use it as a pen box now.

>113 LovingLit: They would have been pleased Megan - the Valet was a looker! Melaka does indeed have plenty of antique shops and is just the place for such a purchase.

Lovely photo's , Paul. Here in my area, we have an Asian Night Market over the summer, that is mostly Asian food , plus stuff to purchase. Really popular. But it certainly does not compare scenery wise. Lovely!

>115 vancouverdeb: The chinese are a merchant race and everywhere they have had any influence those sort of night markets tend to appear - great fun they are too!

Sounds like you are having a good time in, Melaka. Enjoy, my friend.

I am LOVING Morality Play. This is another author, I am very impressed with and I am all ready looking forward to Sacred Hunger.

>117 msf59: Back already Mark. Pleased to see you like Morality Play. I am always reassured when one of the buddies whose opinions I value agrees with me!

Is Melaka the same as the town famed for Malacca canes?

>119 arubabookwoman: It is indeed Deborah. Merely I am not using the now archaic english name for the city.

>88 PaulCranswick: That takes three hands you know. That and the fact that you must not sleep much...no wonder you get so much more done than the average person!!

>88 PaulCranswick: Hahaha Kimmers, I did say when I am not trolling the threads! An octopus I am not. xx

How beautiful - thanks for sharing all those pics here! And thanks for the stats, as long as no-one else turns up I'll be top-Italian!

I only today noticed that there was a #3 thread already on top of my unread list, so no wonder the other thread moved so slow (not at all) that I thought I can catch up anytime. :)
So happy quite new thread, Paul and happy week!

13. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler

Date of Publication : 1982
Pages : 314

American Author Challenge January
TIOLI January : #18 (13/21)

This novel reveals most of the strengths and some of the weaknesses of Tyler as a novelist. Making a virtue of the homespun and the domestic familiar she can often fade into the bland and the ho-hum humdrum. We have a tale of the struggles of being a single mother and the impact that the stresses and strains of her situation impose upon her three children and the sibling rivalry that develops between them and impinges upon the lives of all of them.

Not sure that this novel works as completely as some of her very best work but it is a worthy and worthwhile attempt nonetheless and a good enough start to my AAC for 2016.

7/10

>123 Deern: Top Italian indeed - nationality doesn't matter does it, Nathalie?

Paul, your spur of the moment hotel switch sounds perfect.....but reading? Really?
I Googled Melaka after you mentioned it and the history angle is very interesting. Thanks for introducing me to another spot on the map I would not have otherwise discovered.
Have a wonderful evening!

>126 Carmenere: I don't know what you mean Lynda! Hani and I are pretty good at multi-tasking!
Please that Melaka intrigues a little as you have done your part in threads to interest us in different locations. xx

>127 PaulCranswick: giggle

>128 Carmenere: Yes Lynda.....we did that too.

>122 PaulCranswick: I know you are not an octopus, LOL. ; )

Melaka looks charming, thanks for sharing the pics.

>130 Berly: A three tentacled octopus would be something to see don't you think?

>131 avatiakh: Kerry, almost all of Malaysia's retained and popular early history centres around the kingdom of the Melaka empire. It is now the only one of the mainland states without a Sultan.

>124 PaulCranswick: Glad you liked that one better than I did.

>133 thornton37814: I am not sure that I liked it so much better than you did Lori.......I thought it was Ok but not one of her very best.

I finished Jeremy Poldark by Winston Graham, the third book in the Poldark series that I am trying to read through. Not that they are a chore - they are lots of fun to read.

This novel is set in 1790-91 on the coast of Cornwall. The French Revolution is heating up and smuggling along the coast of Cornwall is too. Ross is hauled before the court on a trumped up smuggling charge, probably at the behest of his arch enemies the Warleggen family. His marriage is going south due to a misunderstanding between he and his wife and his continued fascination with Elizabeth the wife of his cousin. All of this while he watches his tin combine company go down the tubes at the hands of the same family. And so the adventure of the beginning of the Industrial Revolution continues with a great cast of characters and good tight writing.

This novel comes out of the tradition of great sweeping epic historical fiction that was popular in the 1950's and 60's. Even though the scope is huge this is a prime example of good editing and the good sense to break this story up into manageable sized and readable novels. This is how epic novels should be done instead of 1,000 page wristbreakers. Or the equivalent in digitized books.

>135 benitastrnad: I read the first one in December and was enchanted by it. I am hoping to read Demelza this month still despite having my mother completely spoil the plot for me! I agree with you that splitting the books as Graham did into a long series of novels is a palatable way of doing things.

I am enjoying Mark's AAC but I must admit being more familiar as well as comfortable with fiction from the British and Irish Commonwealth.
Any list prepared for our favourite books is of course restricted by the amount of reading we have done - I have probably read 4,000 books in the last 30 years and the vast majority of those are from the commonwealth.

I have selected 30 British and Irish Commonwealth novels from the last 100 years based on this 'limited' reading for this 30 years of reading. I have only included one book per author and my favourite book by individual author changes often (especially Greene) as otherwise some writers would be clearly over represented.

Here is my list :

1 The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham 1919 (UK)
2 A Passage to India by EM Forster 1924 (UK)
3 Parades End by Ford Madox Ford 1928 (UK)
4 I, Claudius by Robert Graves 1934 (UK)
5 Brighton Rock by Graham Greene 1938 (UK)
6 How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn 1939 (UK)
7 Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler 1940 (UK)
8 Fame is the Spur by Howard Spring 1940 (UK)
9 Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton 1948 (South Africa)
10 The Financial Expert by R.K. Narayan 1951 (India)
11 Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien 1955 (UK)
12 Justine by Lawrence Durrell 1957 (UK)
13 A House for Mr. Biswas by VS Naipaul 1961 (Trinidad)
14 To Serve Them All My Days by RF Delderfield 1972 (UK)
15 Docherty by William McIlvanney 1975 (UK)
16 The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor 1976 (Ireland)
17 Rumours of Rain by Andre Brink 1978 (South Africa)
18 Shame by Salman Rushdie 1983 (UK)
19 Waterland by Graham Swift 1983 (UK)
20 The Colour of Blood by Brian Moore 1987 (Canada)
21 The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo 1991 (UK)
22 A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel 1992 (UK)
23 The Heather Blazing by Colm Toibin 1992 (Ireland)
24 A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry 1995 (Canada)
25 Morality Play by Barry Unsworth 1995 (UK)
26 Jack Maggs by Peter Carey 1997 (Australia)
27 Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres 2004 (UK)
28 Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie 2006 (Nigeria)
29 The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng 2007 (Malaysia)
30 Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh 2008 (India)

Hi Paul,

thanks for the warm and wonderful welcome back to LT.
Still trying to worm my way through the threads.

I also love your pictures from Melaka which appears to be such a beautiful place. As you know quite a few of my friends in the UK are from Malaysia and keep bugging me to come with them, when they go and visit their families. So maybe, one day I will find myself there as well *grin*

>137 PaulCranswick: Quite interesting list Paul, also I do have to admit that I only have read a few of them. Some of my above faves are definitely The Moon and Sixpence also I prefered The Painted Veil and Of Human Bondage. I absolutely loved Half of a Yellow Sun and really enjoyed The Gift of Rain

>138 drachenbraut23: Lovely to see you back in the fold Bianca. I do hope that 2016 is kind to you health wise and that we will see you throughout the year as you are always missed. You would be welcome here in Malaysia anytime for sure!

I didn't consider Of Human Bondage because it was published in 1915 (101 years ago) and I preferred The Moon and Sixpence to his other two major novels The Painted Veil and Cakes and Ale.

>137 PaulCranswick: I've only read 10% of the books on your list. (Somehow 10% sounds more respectable than 3!) I loved Lord of the Rings and I really liked Jack Maggs and Half of a Yellow Sun. I own A House for Mr. Biswas and I hope to read it sometime this year. I almost read Morality Play this month, but I ended up reading Land of Marvels instead since it was available as an Overdrive ebook.

>140 cbl_tn: Carrie, I am going to have a think about American novels that I have read over the last thirty years and see if I can come up with a meaningful list. Since it depends what we have or haven't read I guess our lists will always differ somewhat but I always have fun compiling a list!

Top 30 American novels I have read in the last 30 years. (1 book per author limit)

1 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911
2 O'Pioneers Willa Cather 1913
3 Babbit Sinclair Lewis 1922
4 The Good Earth Pearl Buck 1930
5 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1939
6 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers 1940
7 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles 1949
8 The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway 1952
9 Invisible Man Ralph Ellison 1952
10 To Kill a Mocking Bird Harper Lee 1960
11 Rabbit, Run John Updike 1960
12 Another Country James Baldwin 1962
13 The Fixer Bernard Malamud 1966
14 Enemies : A Love Story Isaac Bashevis Singer 1966
15 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966
16 Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut 1969
17 Ragtime EL Doctorow 1975
18 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1979
19 The Sunne in Splendour Sharon Penman 1982
20 Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy 1985
21 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving 1989
22 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992
23 Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison 1992
24 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993
25 Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson 1994
26 In the Memory of the Forest Charles T Powers 1997
27 A Patchwork Planet Anne Tyler 1998
28 The House of Sand and Fog Andre Dubus III 1999
29 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999
30 The Yellow Birds Kevin Powers 2012

>142 PaulCranswick: I didn't do much better with your American novels list. I've only read four of them: O Pioneers (loved), The Good Earth (liked) The Grapes of Wrath (hated), and To Kill a Mockingbird (loved). I own Snow Falling on Cedars but I haven't read it yet.

>143 cbl_tn: That slightly surprises me, Carrie as I am not that widely read in American literature so tend to read the more familiar generally and those recommended for me. To be fair I actually prefer reading Of Mice and Men to The Grapes of Wrath and have read it several times but I do think some parts of the latter novel are sublimely poetic and the whole an important testament to a difficult period in your history.

>137 PaulCranswick: I noticed that as well, Paul. For many of the BAC and CAC authors I had the books already on my shelves but I have very few of the AAA authors in my personal library and there are many of the American authors I have never heard of. It is probably stranger for me than for you as the US is our nearest neighbour and is even closer than the next province to me. It is always interesting to see the stats. Thanks for that.

I've read 4 of the British and 10 of the American.

>137 PaulCranswick: I was almost surprised Meg that I could come up with 30 books so easily for the Americans.

>146 thornton37814: Ten is not so shabby, Lori. Which ones did you like/dislike?

Thanks for the visit to my thread! Your reading plans for 2016 look amazing......and fun to be introduced to your wonderful family in >4 PaulCranswick:.

Wonderful lists, Paul. I have read a lot more of the works by Americans than the Commonwealth list but I do have several of those on my TBR shelves.

Oh and, I hope you enjoy The Buried Giant when you get to it. I loved it!

>149 mdoris: Mary, lovely to see you here and thank you for your lovely comments about my errant tribe!

>150 EBT1002: I think that most of our pals from the USA will have read from the second list more than the first, Ellen. I will get to the Ishiguro soon, I hope!

>142 PaulCranswick: I've read 10 of your American book choices (and very few of your British/Irish ones). For me, I'd change The Grapes of Wrath to East of Eden, but otherwise I liked all of the ones I've read. You have one of my favorite books on there, A Prayer for Owen Meany. Which makes me wonder if you've read my very favorite, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien?

>152 ursula: Ursula, I haven't read East of Eden but I could just as easily have plumped for In Dubious Battle which was as convincing exposition of socialist theory as you'll ever find in American literature. I haven't read The Things They Carried but funnily enough I almost bought it last week but was put off by the price; my Yorkshire stinginess getting the better of me!

Lovely lists you have there, Paul!

>154 scaifea: I suppose I have two or three more to go. 30 books in translation, 30 non-fiction books and 30 poetry collections.

Greetings, Paul! It's always a joy to see want new list you'll post.
I've read 8 of the authors on the British/Irish List but only two of the books you've mentioned.
Likewise, 13 authors on the American list and read only 6 of the books mentioned.

Ursula is right, Paul - The Things They Carried is excellent. I have read a total of ten books from the 60 you listed - four from the British/Irish and six from the American.

Another vote for The Things They Carried, Paul. Great book.

Enjoyed your lists. I'd read a heck of a lot more on the American one. 18 USA and 7 Brit and Irish. Where's Laurie Lee on the latter? :-)

I don't know anyone else who has read To Serve Them All My Days. Quite moving, that one was.

>156 Carmenere: I am fast coming to the view that I must be something of an obscurist as nobody seems to have read half of the books I hold in esteem!

>157 Crazymamie: Then I may be adding it soon Mamie, expensive locally or not!

>158 jnwelch: 18 on the USA list gives me cause for relief Joe! Cider With Rosie will be on my non-fiction list for sure buddy but my list for the commonwealth was a fiction one. I am surprised that To Serve Them All My Days is not better renowned - it is an excellent read IMO and it gets a 4.15 rating on the work page which is pretty high.

>160 PaulCranswick: Ah, okay. I'll look for Cider with Rosie when you do the NF. I agree with you on To Serve Them All My Days.

I've hardly read any of then Paul, especially the older ones. Lots of ideas for more reading...

>161 jnwelch: I will get my thinking cap on Joe.

>162 charl08: That is one of the beautiful things about this group though isn't it, Charlotte? With so many in the group whose opinions I value I have been able to expand my reading horizons tremendously. I can give a little back by making lists all the time!

I've read 9 from your US list and only 1 from the UK (hmmm, wonder which one that is)

Only further goes to prove that I've got to push myself outside of my literal boundaries.

Cheers my good man. Happy weekend, almost.

I think that most of our pals from the USA will have read from the second list more than the first

Not me. I've read eight from the first list and six from the second, and I'll probably read progressively more British than American novels from now on.

I'm not sure if I could come up with 30 favorite American novels, but I'll have no problem listing 30 British ones.

>153 PaulCranswick: I read The Things They Carried last year. I do think it deserves its place among the very best books about the Vietnam War. Plus, it is written by a Minnesotan!

I've only read 2 of the books on your British list, although I've read other works by 9 of the authors. For the American list a lot of those books and authors were required reading for school so my count is quite a bit higher: 9 of the books and 14 of the authors.

Hi Paul, I see Yorkshire have signed Kane Williamson for six weeks, I wish it could have been for longer but six weeks is better than nothing. Hope everything is well at Chez Cranswick mate.

Paul--I'll second Ursula's recommendation of The Things That They Carried. It's one of the few books I tell everyone they HAVE to read.

I've read 16 of your British and 24 of your American list. Several of the ones I haven't read are books I've tried to read (sometimes more than once since I recognize them as important books), but have just never been able to complete. For example I've tried to read Lord of the Rings a few times and could never get into it Same with The Sheltering Sky. Just a question of taste, though a fair number from your list would also wind up on my list of favorites, should I ever make one.

>137 PaulCranswick: Oyyy! I've read only 4 of these books, and one of them, Cry the Beloved Country, I read in high school, more than a half-century ago. I have read 10 of the authors, but different books by 6 of them.

>142 PaulCranswick: Done better with the American authors. I've read 12 of the books and another 6 of the authors. And I have 2, and maybe 3, of the books/authors to be read this year. What surprises me is that there are 3 or 4 authors I don't think I've heard of. (Oh, the shame!)

>164 mahsdad: I was trying to guess.....Brighton Rock?

>165 kidzdoc: I should have known, Darryl that you would buck the trend. Since you spend more time in London than Queen Elizabeth no one will be in the least bit surprised!

>166 Oberon: I guess the Minnesotan thing makes all the difference, Erik!

>167 amanda4242: I am sure with your prodigious progress on BAC, Amanda, you will scoop many more of the Commonwealth books I have listed before too long.

>168 johnsimpson: Given the likelihood of players being called up for England we need Williamson. I think he has done a tremendous job every time he has been called up.

>169 arubabookwoman: 40 of my 60 is the most I have seen so far Deborah, I think. I have read LOTR more than once and fell for it as a child. I remember being called to my headmaster's room in Middle School and going there with some trepidation as he had a fearsome reputation and I couldn't really fathom what transgression I had made. He in fact had recognised that most of my spare time was spent in the school library and he wanted to turn over his personal library in his study for my use. The first book he 'insisted' I try was Lord of the Rings - I was 11 and never really looked back. I re-read it about 20 years ago and the circumstances of my first encounter with it came flooding back.

>170 weird_O: Bill, I do feel that some of my commonwealth reading is a little parochial - well especially my tastes. Saville by David Storey which just missed out and Docherty by William McIlvanney which I included are about the industrial working class experience especially faced by the mining communities. These would also apply to How Green Was My Valley.

I think my non-fiction reading is more impacted by recent reading than other genres possibly as sentimentality plays less of a roll. Some that profoundly left their mark obviously remain but many are books from the last few years as my recall is unscientific!

1 Histories Herodotus -450
2 The Twelve Lives of Caesar Suetonious 120
3 Seven Pillars of Wisdom T.E. Lawrence 1922
4 Undertones of War Edmund Blunden 1928
5 Goodbye to All That Robert Graves 1929
6 Testament of Youth Vera Brittain 1933
7 Homage to Catalonia George Orwell 1938
8 The Gathering Storm Winston Churchill 1948
9 My Family and Other Animals Gerald Durrell 1956
10 Coast to Coast Jan Morris 1956
11 The King's War CV Wedgwood 1958
12 Cider With Rosie Laurie Lee 1959
13 The Donkeys Alan Clark 1961
14 The Guns of August Barbara Tuchman 1962
15 The Pendulum Years Bernard Levin 1970
16 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Brown 1970
17 Love and War in the Appenines Eric Newby 1971
18 Cromwell Our Chief of Men Antonia Fraser 1973
19 The Fight Norman Mailer 1975
20 In Patagonia Bruce Chatwin 1977
21 A Time of Gifts Patrick Leigh Fermor 1977
22 The Fatal Shore Robert Hughes 1986
23 The Tyrannicide Brief Geoffrey Robertson 2005
24 The Lords of Finance Liaquat Ahamad 2009
25 Empire of the Summer Moon S.C. Gwynne 2011
26 A Short History of England Simon Jenkins 2011
27 This Boy Alan Johnson 2013
28 Ammonites and Leaping Fish Penelope Lively 2013
29 Being Mortal Atul Gawande 2014
30 H is for Hawk Helen McDonald 2014

I've read 10 from your British Commonwealth list, 10 from the American list and 5 from the nonfiction list. Many that I haven't read are longtime residents on my tbr pile. Thanks for putting them together, it reminds me of a few that I should be giving a priority to.
A passage to India was one of my sixth form English set texts, I hated that book, don't think I could ever look at it with any kindness.

>164 mahsdad: >171 PaulCranswick:. Nah, LOTR of course. :)

None of the non-fiction. But Hawk is on the shelf and Being Mortal is on the TBR

>148 PaulCranswick: O Pioneers is an all-time favorite. I did not like Slaughterhouse Five. I only gave it 2 stars. The others fall somewhere between. I'd guess that I would rate The Good Earth, The Grapes of Wrath, and To Kill a Mockingbird pretty high too. I didn't really like The Invisible Man when I read it years ago.

>174 PaulCranswick: I've only read The Guns of August from that list.

Well I've only read 7 of your Commonwealth favorites (but 15 authors) and 16 of the American titles (and 21 authors). I'm not even willing to say how few of the non-fiction books I've read. Fun lists.

>175 avatiakh: It is funny Kerry how we are impacted by our early reading! Sometimes when reading is forced on us then often it is unpalatable. Probably why I look so fondly on some of the books like Suetonius, Tolkien, Laurie Lee and the modern english poets is a direct product of that interest being so kindly nurtured by excellent teachers. I came from a Northern English working class background where it was de rigueur to have stone fights and play with motor bikes so I was a little bit of a stand-out sitting to one side in the school playground with a good book.

>176 mahsdad: That would have been my second choice Jeff!

>177 mahsdad: Fairly safe recommendations I think those two.

>178 thornton37814: Lori, I thought O'Pioneers was a wonderful short novel as to be fair are some of Willa Cather's other works. I did enjoy reading Vonnegut more as a younger man as I felt more in tune with him then. The last two books of his I have read Mother Night and God Bless You, Mr Rosewater were received much less rapturously and I can't help thinking it was because of me rather than him.

>179 AnneDC: Anne, I do think my non-fiction reading is quite coloured by both background and personal interests so I can understand that this would contain many books that others had not tried. The World Wars, travel writing, the English Civil War and the American Indian are subjects dear to me and this is obviously reflected in my reading.

Sad to report that I have only read one book in all of your lists, no British, no American and one non-fiction Goodbye to All That. What have I been doing all my reading life?

>174 PaulCranswick: I started from the most recent end on this list and thought I was going to end up with a big fat 0, but Homage to Catalonia and Testament of Youth saved me!

I've read 9 of your Commonwealth ones, 5 of the US and 9 of the non-fiction. I'm quite surprised that my non-fiction tally is so high, as generally I don't read too much non-fiction.

Loved your photos of Melaka by the way. I was really keen to get there when we were in Malaysia but it just didn't work out logistically.

Paul--I have read 17 of your American reads and 6 of your Commonwealth list. And for NF, 6 with H is for Hawk planned for later this year. Not bad!

And I see that you have already read it, but Megan (I Read Therefore I Am) and I are planning to do a read of another of Bowie's top 100 list, In Cold Blood for February. The thread is here for anyone interested.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/218310

>182 Familyhistorian: That does surprise me a little Meg as I would have thought we had fairly similar reading tastes!

>183 ursula: Couldn't have you drawing a blank entirely, Ursula.

>184 SandDune: I guess that there is a little shared background to 'blame' for the non-fiction amount Rhian!

>185 Berly: I have seen the Bowie list Kimmers. If I am not mistaken it is also put up as a TIOLI challenge for February so I will definitely be following Ziggy and Aladdin around Valentines.

Continuing my favourite reading of the last 30 years with 30 books in translation:

1 The Red and the Black Stendahl 1830
2 The Black Sheep Honore de Balzac 1842
3 Les Miserables Victor Hugo 1862
4 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866
5 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy 1877
6 Germinal Emile Zola 1885
7 Bel-Ami Guy de Maupassant 1885
8 The Gods are Athirst Anatole France 1912
9 All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque 1929
10 David Golder Irene Nemirovsky 1929
11 Zorba the Greek Nikos Kazantzakis 1946
12 The Plague Albert Camus 1947
13 Iron in the Soul Jean Paul Sartre 1950
14 Palace Walk Naguib Mahfouz 1956
15 Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak 1957
16 Night Elie Wiesel 1960
17 Manon des Sources Marcel Pagnol 1962
18 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez 1967
19 If Not Now When? Primo Levi 1982
20 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis Jose Saramago 1984
21 The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera 1984
22 Les Noces Barbares Yann Queffelec 1984
23 Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami 1987
24 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991
25 Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow Peter Hoeg 1992
26 The Reader Bernard Schlink 1995
27 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon 2001
28 Lovely Green Eyes Arnost Lustig 2004
29 The Twin Gerbrand Bakker 2006
30 The Dictator's Last Night Yasmina Khadra 2015

Have a wonderful weekend!

>189 DianaNL: How did you know, Diana! That single tooth is something I will surely go back to if I hold out long enough.

>190 PaulCranswick: Didn't I tell you? Once in a while, I'm omniscient. :-)

>191 DianaNL: That reminds me of a nice one about the correct use of words: Told the wife that one glass of single malt and I feel omnipotent; you better start taking viagra then she replied!

Always feel like doing a little dance when someone mentions Patrick Leigh Fermor. Other than that I have barely read any on these two latest lists (although also love Smilla).

Well, just two for me for the non-fiction and four of the translations - I have read a lot of those authors, though, just not the same titles.

Wishing for you a weekend filled with fabulous, Paul!

Further books added since 1 January 2016

Buckled under the weight of recommendations for The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien today. Published in 1990 this collection of theme related short stories on the experience of Vietnam. This was a finalist for the Pulitzer, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger.


Snipping at my 1001 Books First edition collection I also added Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell. From a year of European Revolution in 1848 this is Gaskell's tale of love amid industrial strife.

Another one within the 1001 Books is The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen from 1935 and which is apparently "her most atmospheric novel".

Thinking of attaining another Pulitzer as options for Bill's challenge I brought March onto the shelves even before February. Her novel setting out the father story from Alcott's opus this took the Pulitzer the year after publication in 2005.

Finally and after hearing of the plaudits heaped upon it, I couldn't resist Andrew Roberts' 2014 epic looking biography of Bonaparte : Napoleon the Great.

So five books added during a short breather on a Friday lunchtime.

>193 charl08: Some of our travel writers were prose poets posing as pedestrians, Charlotte. When I think of Patrick Leigh Fermor, Bruce Chatwin and Laurie Lee I really struggle to think of those writing more conventional fiction who could string words together quite so sublimely.

>194 Crazymamie: Which books to choose by which writer is something I often struggle with, Mamie; another reason I add books like Billy-O, I guess!
I hardly need add how fabulous it is to have you spread your fabulous so frequently and regularly in 2016 - long may it continue. xx

Thank you, Paul - you are so very sweet.

>197 Crazymamie: Welcome, Mamie - or as Mark likes to say; Go Mamie Go!

I can't believe that you didn't include Rise and Fall of the Third Reich on your list of best non-fiction. Or 900 Days. Or Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire. Or Hiroshima. Or any of the other monumental works about WWII. Is that because these are mostly American authors?

>195 PaulCranswick: I read Mary Barton a couple of years ago and liked it. Elizabeth Gaskell is becoming one of my favorite authors.

I have an audio edition of March to "read" later this year.

Loving all the lists, as always, Paul! I can't help but compare with what I've read and what's still on the tbr:

Commonwealth: 8 read, 9 on tbr
American: 12 read, 5 on tbr
NF: 3 read, 8 on tbr
In translation: 11 read, 8 on tbr

Surprised we don't have more in common from the Commonwealth list, considering I read so many books by British writers, but numbers are numbers!

As I've been reading War and Peace this month, I'm thinking of possibly tackling Napoleon: A Life (as it's known in NA) in February to continue on the Napoleonic theme.

>195 PaulCranswick: That's fast action! I guess I shouldn't be surprised. :)

And of your books in translation, I've read 6. I read Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi, but not that one. And others by Saramago, but I want to read that one because I read Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet last year. Also, I originally misread your title in #8 as The Gods Are Atheist!

>188 PaulCranswick: I've read 4 of those. I have 2 in TBR piles at the house. Another couple are on my wish list.

Huh. While several of your "top 30s" are on my list to read someday, I've only read 6 books from your American list, 2 from the British Commonwealth, and 2 in translation (I LOVED Shadow of the Wind), and just over half were read for school. Guess I gotta get going!

Hi Paul. Your top 30 lists are amazing. I've read a total of 19 among all the lists. I've got 10 more on my shelves.

>199 benitastrnad: Benita, I can only include books that I have read. Of those you listed I had only read Hiroshima and it wasn't far from my list. If I was putting 50 down it would have been there for sure.

>200 cbl_tn: I have read North and South Carrie and also liked it. This one looks like my cup of tea.

>201 Smiler69: I am sure Ilana if you produced similar lists we would get similar results - I would have probably read less than half your lists but enjoyed most of those there that I had read.
Andrew Roberts' biography of Napoleon has had fantastic reviews so it should be a good read but it is also one heck of a chunkster.

>202 ursula: Friday is my book shopping day, Ursula, as I normally browse the bookstore instead of prostating myself at the mosque. I guess therefore that your misreading of Anatole France's book is pretty much on point!

>203 thornton37814: I will have a look Lori to see which of the books I selected for each list are the most popular and which are the most obscure on LT. I would have thought that some of the books in translation were shoe-ins for the gang to have read.

>204 bell7: Mary, that is a fabulous novel isn't it? Very atmospheric.

>205 karenmarie: Karen the other area of reading that I ought to list is that of poetry but I reckon the numbers for those may be even lower generally in the group. I will probably list thirty poets rather than their work as much of the reading has been in Selected or Collected anthologies.
So pleased that you have enjoyed the lists so far. xx

I like your translation book list, I've read 15 and several others are on my tbr. I've read If This Is a Man and The Truce and The Periodic Table but not If Not Now When?. We discussed Primo Levi a couple of years ago and on your recommendation I went straight off and purchased If Not Now When? but still haven't read it. Another to move to the tower on my bedside table.

>174 PaulCranswick: Lol, just one from your non-fiction list H is for Hawk - Such a wonderful book, by the way.
>188 PaulCranswick: 8 in translation

Wishing you a delightful weekend!

>209 avatiakh: I realised Kerry that my translated reading has been extremely Francophile.
12 were originally written in French, 3 in Russian, 2 each in German, Czech and Spanish, 1 each in Arabic, Portuguese, Yiddish, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Greek, Italian and Japanese.

>210 Carmenere: At least the one you read Lynda would make your own list perhaps?
I will get round the threads shortly I hope.

Another long weekend as Monday is Federal Territory Day in Kuala Lumpur.

Not so good on your NF llist--I've only read 2--The Fatal Shore from right before my Australia trip in 2011, and H is for Hawk from last week.
Did better on your translated list--I've read 16.

Glad you succumbed to The Things That They Carried. Now just to find time to read it. :)

Paul have you read any of Robert Macfarlane or William Fiennes? Maybe not quite Leigh Fermor, but your comments above got me thinking - that they bear comparison. I am loving Macfarlane on routes across the UK in The Old Ways, and Fiennes' book following the path of The Snow geese is just beautiful on homesickness and travel.

The Thirty Poets who have had the biggest impact on me in the last thirty years. To my shame overwhelmingly modern but largely conventional, overwhelmingly British and overwhelmingly male.

1 Dannie Abse
2 Simon Armitage
3 WH Auden
4 John Berryman
5 John Betjeman
6 Gwendolyn Brooks
7 Charles Causley
8 Cecil Day-Lewis
9 Emily Dickinson
10 John Donne
11 TS Eliot
12 Robert Frost
13 Thom Gunn
14 Thomas Hardy
15 Seamus Heaney
16 Gerard Manley Hopkins
17 Ted Hughes
18 Rudyard Kipling
19 James Kirkup
20 Philip Larkin
21 Louis MacNeice
22 Edwin Muir
23 Norman Nicholson
24 Mary Oliver
25 Wilfred Owen
26 Don Paterson
27 Isaac Rosenberg
28 Carl Sandburg
29 Dylan Thomas
30 WB Yeats

>212 arubabookwoman: I think adding up from the three fiction sections, you have probably read the most of my picks Deborah.

>213 charl08: I haven't read either Charlotte, but it sure looks like I am going to! Sooo many books and so little time. xx

14. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Publication Date : 2014
Pages : 688
Booker Prize Winner Challenge
Bill's Doorstop Challenge
TIOLI January Challenge : #12 (14/21)

For much of this I thought the title as sarcastic as much of the dialogue accompanying the tale - it is only well into the 600th page that I understood the title.

This is a rambunctious and often crudely violent re-telling of the attempted killing of Bob Marley in December 1976 and its imagined aftermath as it applied to those making the attempt. What elevates it from a Tarantino/Ellroy-esque pastiche to award winning literature is the rhythm that James manages to develop and in truth which made it tolerable enough to complete.

I still think it is overly long and could have dropped 200 hundred pages while adding to its glory and some of the storytellers were superfluous on the whole and distracting from the main thrust and themes presented. I do believe that James deserves most of the kudos heaped upon him for the inventiveness displayed and the manner in which he realizes and makes graphically understandable what for most must be an alien world.

7/10

TBR Records Update :

Year reading record to date:

January 1st frozen TBR : 3,714

Books read : 13

Revised TBR : 3,701

January 1st Pages : 1,300,667

Pages read in completed books : 3,197

Revised TBR pages : 1,297,470

Other Books added since 1 January : 25
Pages : 8,136
Read : 1
Read Pages : 159

Total Books Read in 2016 - 14
Total Pages Read in 2016 - 3,356

Love the picture of you and Hani reading a book together! Perfect! Sounds like you had a lovely time. By the way, the Daily Mail is only my favorite on line newspaper for British Royalty gossip! So much fun! ;)

Whoa! The List-Master has been busy! Out of your 30 American novels, I have read 20 and would definitely like to read a few others. I will have to jot down a few of the British authors, many I am not familiar with.

Good review of Seven Killings. I think it worked better for me, since it was the best novel I read last year. The length didn't bother me, not like the relentlessness of A Little Life.

I am a HUGE fan of The Things They Carried. I hope you can work it into the busy rotation.

Wow, Paul. Impossible to keep up with you.

I love the Melaka pictures.

I love your lists. We share some favorites.

Thanks for the stats.

Have a lovely weekend.

>214 PaulCranswick: Hmm...but I feel that poetry is a very personal thing, don't you? I mean, when it comes to being able to relate to it and for it to have a memorable impact...so maybe it makes perfect sense that your list has mostly modern, conventional male authors on it. I feel like poetry appreciation and, well, "heart understanding" (for lack of a better phrase) comes from a different place inside of us than when we're reading fiction or non-fiction. Certainly the human experience can be expressed by any poet of any gender from any period or walk of life, but it makes sense to me that you'd have a specific segment of poets closer to your own experience who speak to you. *shrug* Just my morning thoughts...

I've read three of your favorite non-fiction books, and five of your favorite works in translation, along with at least a half dozen of the poets you mentioned.

I'm embarassingly bad with those lists - if I have looked right I read only 5 from the British list (I had expected a much better result there), 9 from the US list, one(!!) from the NF and not surprisingly most (15) from the translated list. Okay, without LT challenges and the 1001 list that would be 0/0/0/0, so I'm improving. I own and have read in 4 books by your listed poets.

Wishing you a happy long weekend!

>214 PaulCranswick: Your list of poets has many that have strongly affected me, too. I'm impressed you alphabetized them!

Nice to see Berryman on there.

T.S. Eliot and Yeats are probably at the peak for me.

Some women poets you might enjoy exploring if you haven't already: Naomi Shihab Nye, Sharon Olds, Adrienne Rich, Anna Akhmatova, Wisława Szymborska and Natasha Tretheway. (There are many others, like Jorie Graham, that just didn't have that impact on me).

Men poets for me would include Neruda, Ginsberg, Tony Hoagland, Billy Collins (not a favorite of yours, I know), and my old pal Han Shan. Hard to leave out Wallace Stevens, isn't it?

Wonderful review of A Brief History of Seven Killings, Paul. I've got this one in my iPad, but can't seem to bring myself to sit down to it. The fact that it could lose 200 pages does not encourage me to get to it any faster, but one day I'll likely take it on. Love this: it is only well into the 600th page that I understood the title. Said like only you can say it!

Hmmmm, see the number of poets on your list that I've read fluctuates based on whether it's a full collection (3) or random poems for school (11).

I enjoy Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Billy Collins and Natasha Tretheway myself. I should explore a bit more, I suppose, but I'm very picky and tend to get hung up on whether or not I feel like I can "understand" the poems or not.

Hi, Paul! Hope you're having a great weekend!

>90 PaulCranswick:, >91 PaulCranswick: Love the street shots!

I started to read (listen to) Seven Killings a couple weeks ago, but it apparently wasn't the right time for me. I did love James' Book of Night Women, which was a brutal and graphically violent story of slavery on a Jamaican plantation in the 1800s. Not easy reading, by any stretch, but so worth it. Relatively short (around 400 pages), comparatively. I'll be picking up Seven Killings again and hope I'm ready for it when I do.

I am in Starbucks in Johor Bahru stealing a few minutes to read my posts. Travelled down yesterday to see and stay with the in-laws and will come back tonight. No internet and back killing me from sleeping on the floor but it is good to see them.

>218 vancouverdeb: Hani does like to read Deb but she enjoys posing for a photo more!

I will make an admission that, despite (or maybe because) I am a Yorkist Ricardian, I am also something of a republican in terms of being in favour of abolishing the monarchy not conservatism of course. I do agree though that reading about their exploits is gun fun and tends to make my case stronger!

>219 msf59: I am certainly not surprised you have 20 already on my American list as some of mine came from you!
I did like Seven Killings though I felt it had the potential to be even better.

>220 BLBera: Beth what a well organised post!
In a very hot Johor Bahru and had dinner overlooking the straits towards Singapore late last night. Seafood meal was good but the low tide smells were not.

>221 dk_phoenix: Couldn't agree more Faith. That is partly the reason I didn't include specific works. We are creatures determined in part both by nature as well as nature so my reading habits shouldn't be a surprise, though to be fair I am making an effort to read outside my normal comfort zone.

>222 kidzdoc: I would have thought that there would be plenty for you to get your teeth into with my commonwealth list. My reading horizons have been broadened by virtue of this group and some of the well-read characters therein - a certain pediatrician based in Atlanta more than a little included.

>223 Deern: I reckon that you will finish the 1001 Books before I do Nathalie. I am sure if you had a similar list I would be castigating myself for not having read many of them.

I'm afraid the only way I could catch up was by skimming, but as always, lots of good stuff going on around here.

Delderfield was recommended to me by a friend when I was a teen and I remember loving To Serve Them All My Days.

You will not regret your purchase of The Things They Carried. Get to it - it's a marvelous book!

Happy weekend to you, Paul!

>224 jnwelch: The other lists were set out in chronological publication order mate but I couldn't do that with the poets.
Thought about you to be honest when I put down Berryman. I haven't read much by Adrienne Rich but Sharon Olds almost made my cut. I didn't include any poets in translation as they often don't translate quite like poetry for me. Having said then I am enjoying Szymborska presently.

>225 lit_chick: Thanks for the nice comments Nancy - I do like my reviews to be oftentimes unconventional.

>226 bell7: I haven't read full anthologies by all of the poets listed Mary (most of them though) but plenty of their work. My absolute favourites would be Thomas, Hughes, Heaney and Eliot. I have read a few american poets in the last five years where I frankly understood virtually nothing!

>227 Storeetllr: I think part of the need for length is that time is taken for the rhythm of the thing to soak into your being so to speak. Still think it is too long but it will leave its mark.

>232 Copperskye: Thanks for skimming Joanne. My thread is such a pot pourri that I am surprised I don't cause brain freeze occasionally. I will read the O'Brien soon....promise!

I've read only a handful from your lists, as I suspected -- our reading tastes don't overlap in many areas. I did enjoy I, Claudius and LOTR and a few others. Of the poets, Donne and Frost are probably my favorites. Whenever you tackle a list-making project like this, I'm always tempted to make a few lists of my own!

>235 foggidawn: Would be happy if you were prompted to make such lists Foggy. I enjoy reading lists almost as much as I like making them.

>124 PaulCranswick: this particular Anne Tyler sounds like it might appeal to me. Whenever I think single mother,I think of Margaret Mahy, a NZ children's book author. For some reason I was struck by her telling of her own experience of it, and struggling up the hill off the bus after work only to do all the days chores for/with her children that evening, and then sitting at the kitchen table writing til after midnight to try and achieve her dream of becoming a writer and escaping the daily grind. This was 1970s Christchurch, so all familiar locations for me.

>188 PaulCranswick: gah! I've only read four from your translated list. Tut tut Megan. Palace Walk has been on my list forever though, well, forever since I have known Darryl/kidzdoc :)

>237 LovingLit: I really like the premise of Tyler's book but I think the execution flags a little after a very good start.

I read the Mahfouz before Darryl did and liked it just as much! I did read it before my LT days though so I can't take any credit for spreading the word.

>238 PaulCranswick: you had me wondering then! I became determined to read it, well, the trilogy, after Darryl read it and rated it highly. But I have yet to get the three (matching editions, of course) so cannot start it yet.
Also to further illustrate my OCD-ness, today I spent a lot more time than I needed to in putting back together the Lego people that had been decapitated, and de-limbed (even de-handed *gasp*). I can just stand all the sets being mixed together, but I won't stand for mixed up lego people ;)

>239 LovingLit: wonder if the little people know about the Lego OCD ? Much fun could be had

#239 I remember one day stumbling across what I refer to as Cassie's lego theatre of cruelty - she'd taken all the heads off the figures and stuck them on one huge base board. Weird child...

Love your lists, Paul - I wanna keep this thread as a future reference. I did best on your american novels list having read nine of your chosen books. Several all time favorites of mine on the lists.

Spotted your reading of Gary Paulsen's civil war story. Wanted to read more of him - loved The Hatchet by Paulsen.

Another fan of Hatchet, here. He has "Brian" sequels, too, that are really good, like The River.

>239 LovingLit: And of course I am not OCD at all! I am sure that you would enjoy Palace Walk, Megan.

>240 roundballnz: Hahaha there could be Lenny and Wilbur isms a plenty Alex. I would love to be a fly on the wall, carefully avoiding the flying lego of course!

Hey Paul. Wow, you've been a busy reader this month.

Never read Hatchet. Was supposed to read it in 5th grade but then I switched classes 2 days before we were going to start it.

>241 BekkaJo: On her photos Cassie normally has a little glint in her eye but I thought it was just because she knows she's cuter than the average bear.

>242 ctpress: Thanks Carsten and more than welcome of course. Paulsen told a compelling story simply but very effectively.

>243 jnwelch: I saw them advertised on the inside cover of the book I read Joe, and guessed that they would be pretty good.

Hope you have had a good weekend mate, woke up this morning to find that Sir Terry Wogan had passed away and then shortly after Karen told me that Frank Findlay had also passed away.

>245 Thebookdiva: So I guess that, in essence, your move buried the Hatchet, Abby. (sorry)

Lovely to see you here by the way. Your Mom is leading the pack quite handily this year posts wise and is the first to pass 1,000 posts this year. Last looked the top ten looked like this:

Mamie - 1,028
Amber - 914
Mark - 840
Paul C - 771
Darryl - 725
Joe - 684
Katie - 502
Ellen - 485
Charlotte - 454
Barbara - 391

Scarily that is last years final top ten but in a slightly different order. I will put up January's final posting stats tomorrow,

#246 Cuter and scarier ;) I'm pretty sure you feel the same about your eldest!

>247 johnsimpson: John, the good and great are falling in some number in January. Frank Finlay was a very good actor and I remember him playing in Bouquet of Barbed Wire and as Van Helsing in TVs Dracula to pretty good effect. Terry Wogan was my companion many a morning with his Breakfast Show on Radio 2 which I much preferred to Radio 1. Always seemed such a warm individual - I hope he is receiving his Blankety Blank prizes inside those Pearly Gates, John.

>249 BekkaJo: All three of mine scare me to death, Bekka - along with their mother I am putty in their hands - and I reckon they have had lessons from Roni at that Potter's wheel as they know what shapes they want to mould me into - usually dollar shaped!

>250 PaulCranswick:, It certainly has been a bad month for losing the great and the good and to be honest if I was a celebrity or artist I would be a bit worried. Luckily we have Graham Norton who has stepped into Sir Terry's shoes doing the Eurovision contest and his words are just as waspish and cutting as Tel's. His series with London cabbie Mason McQueen on their food trip using an old guide was really good and I was hopeful that there would be more.

Hey Paul. I think I liked Seven Killings more than you did. I'd quite like to listen to it on audio for the accents, as I'm sure the voices in my head were wildly inaccurate.

After some rather grim reading, I'd quite like to read some funny stuff. Any chance of a Cranswickian top five funny? Under 'humour' librarything tags suggest Pratchett is a well loved favourite, along with Calvin and Hobbes. Good taste.

Terry will be sadly missed. My dad has a shirt he won for contributing to the old radio show: ''Do I come here often?' It says...

The only book of poetry I've read in the last year, and haven't finished it yet, is Enough Rope by Dorothy Parker. However, I think about poetry quite a bit, and favorites of mine pop up unbidden. Various sillies by Ogden Nash, O Captain! My Captain by Walt Whitmore, Jabberwocky by Lewis Caroll, and she being brand by e.e. cummings. I wrote quite a bit of poetry between ages 16-20 and have a yellow folder with my 16- and 17-year old efforts, currently well hidden from daughter. Some of them even make ME cringe. I love that I still have them, but just shake my head at my 16-year old self.

I have read 8 or more of the poets on your list. Not their complete works, but poems in anthologies. Wilfred Owen's poetry has the most powerful influence on me.

>248 PaulCranswick: Paul you crack me up.

>252 johnsimpson: I saw that Graham Norton is now doing the Eurovision instead of Terry. Funny how he has been taken to the hearts of the British people - his camp cheekiness is great fun always.

>253 charl08: Top funnies?

This is completely off the cuff:

Spike Milligan's various war memoirs are uproarious
PG Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster stories are evergreen and remain a smile for all occasions
Ogden Nash comes to mind and not just because Karen mentions him in >254 karenmarie:
John Mortimer's Rumpole books
The Picture of Dorian Gray has some of the funniest lines ever written in it.

Only allowed five so that'll do me.

>254 karenmarie: As you can see I like Ogden Nash too Karen.
As regulars here know Karen (you too, I'm sure), I still regularly scribble words in a semblance of verse. Got to the brink of being married convinced I would be a well known but impoverished poet. I got it half right.

>248 PaulCranswick: If I have cracked you too much Abby, I do hope that there remains some poly-filler from all those odd jobs you lot at the Pecan Paradisio seem to keep doing! xx

Hi Paul! Doing a bit of a catch-up for this year, and I'm so glad to see you (and your lovely family) once again. This year will be better than last! Hope you're all doing well, and you're reading something wonderful. *smooch*

I remember watching Terry Wogan during the years I lived in and around London. Somewhere I have a photograph I took of him when I was at the right place at the right time to see a bunch of celebrities. A friend and I were at Leicester Square when they were setting up barriers for the royal premiere of Crocodile Dundee II so we hung out there to see the celebrities. In addition to Terry Wogan, we saw stars from the movie, Richard Branson, Phil Collins, and finally Charles and Diana, whose Rolls stopped to let them out right in front of us.

>258 LauraBrook: Laura, smooch gratefully received. Lovely to see you and I am certainly in agreement about the need for a better year in 2016.

>259 cbl_tn: That is quite a collection of stars from different genres Carrie. Charles and Diana in 1988 were already apparently not exactly the World's happiest couple.

For me, I think the two funniest books I have read in recent memory were The Sister's Brothers by Patrick deWitt and MotorCycles & Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden Taylor. Both Canadian authors, but I think The Sister's Brothers is the better known of the two

>261 vancouverdeb: By me for sure Deb. I have not heard of Motorcycles & Sweetgrass before. I will go and look it up.

>262 PaulCranswick: Me three. Added to the wishlist.

I *love* Rumpole -have you caught any of the new radio ones with Benedict Cumberwotsit? He's very good. Although my favourite bit will always be voiced by Prunella Scales: 'Rumpole!'

>263 charl08: I hadn't heard of it to be absolutely honest, Charlotte. In truth, whenever I think of Horace Rumpole I will always see Leo McKern in my mind's eye.

I got to see John Mortimer's house in Little Venice. I think the walking tour guide was a bit nonplussed by my enthusiasm for Rumpole's creator.

Paul, I saw this and thought of you. Not great poetry, but pretty great.

>137 PaulCranswick: I've read three of those. Cry the Beloved Country, Lord of the Rings, and Half of a Yellow Sun. Loved all of them. Some of the other books on that list are on my to-read list. Therefore, it must be a great list. ;)

>142 PaulCranswick: I've read several of those.

>174 PaulCranswick: Only read two. Being Mortal and Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, again, I loved them both.

>188 PaulCranswick: I've loved several of these, too.

PHEW! It takes a long time to catch up on your thread. So busy.

Hope you have a happy new week!

Morning, Paul! Monday there, right? Stopping in to catch up and to wish you a stress free week. Any chance of that?

>265 jnwelch: Nice story Joe. John Mortimer was an interesting chap and a very good lawyer.

>266 Storeetllr: Poetry by numbers; almost literally, but it sort of works!

Just waving as I pass through!

>267 The_Hibernator: Rachel, a least the ones you read were all hits!

>268 Crazymamie: Yep, Mamie, I am into another public holiday Monday here and life is good!

>270 EBT1002: Ellen, I am not as observant as I used to be but thankfully I caught your wave just in time. xx

Hi Paul. Somehow I lost you at the end of your previous thread, and am just catching up now.

I missed you in Melaka - or rather, you missed me. We were there with my parents a couple of weeks ago. Sans internet, unfortunately, or I might have got in touch. We stayed in a golf course apartment in Ayer Keroh which was so brand new that the houses on the opposite side of the road and on the road backing onto ours were still being finished (electrics, painting and so on). Where did you go for your seafood meal? We went to the Portugese quarter.

I must say the people in your part of the world are very friendly and helpful, though it was nice to get home, because it was also HOT! :0)

>273 humouress: I have to agree that the people in Melaka are quite friendly, Nina. If I had known you were there........

Lists! Lots of lists! I *adore* lists!

It's interesting: Although you and I share many of the same authors, I see that we've gone for different books by them. Love that my favorite -- a woman! --tops the American list!

Have a great week!

>275 michigantrumpet: Ethan Frome is such a perfect little novel, I think, Marianne. I expect this week will be hellish with Chinese New Year putting all of Chinese extraction into collection mode.