SusanJ's 75 Books Challenge - Thread 2

Hello, and welcome to my second thread for 2016.

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

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

* = book from Mount TBR

January

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

February

10. A People's History of London*
11. The Queen's Man*
12. The Tenderness of Wolves
13. Some Luck
14. My Brilliant Friend
15. Missing Microbes
16. Captain Swing*

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

Here's the list:

2015 The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
2014 Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin
2013 Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King
2012 The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
2011 The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
2010 The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman
2009 Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A Blackmon
2008 The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 by Saul Friedländer
2007 The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
2006 Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins
2005 Ghost Wars by Steve Coll
2004 Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum
2003 A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power
2002 Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution by Diane McWhorter
2001 Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P Bix
2000 Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower
1999 Annals of the Former World by John McPhee
1998 Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
1997 Ashes To Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, The Public Health, And The Unabashed Triumph Of Philip Morris by Richard Kluger
1996 The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism by Tina Rosenberg
1995 The Beak Of The Finch: A Story Of Evolution In Our Time by Jonathan Weiner
1994 Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days Of The Soviet Empire by David Remnick
1993 Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills
1992 The Prize: The Epic Quest For Oil, Money & Power by Daniel Yergin
1991 The Ants by Bert Holldobler and Edward O Wilson
1990 And Their Children After Them by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson
1989 A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan
1988 The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
1987 Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land by David K Shipler
1986 Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families by J Anthony Lukas
1986 Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White by Joseph Lelyveld
1985 The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two by Studs Terkel
1984 The Social Transformation Of American Medicine by Paul Starr
1983 Is There No Place On Earth For Me? by Susan Sheehan
1982 The Soul of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder
1981 Fin-De Siecle Vienna: Politics And Culture by Carl E Schorske
1980 Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R Hofstadter
1979 On Human Nature by Edward O Wilson
1978 The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan
1977 Beautiful Swimmers by William W Warner
1976 Why Survive? Being Old In America by Robert N Butler
1975 Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
1974 The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
1973 Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam by Frances Fitzgerald
1973 Children of Crisis, Vols. II and III by Robert Coles
1972 Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945 by Barbara W Tuchman
1971 The Rising Sun by John Toland
1970 Gandhi's Truth by Erik H Erikson
1969 The Armies Of The Night by Norman Mailer
1969 So Human An Animal by Rene Jules Dubos
1968 Rousseau And Revolution, The Tenth And Concluding Volume Of The Story Of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant
1967 The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture by David Brion Davis
1966 Wandering Through Winter by Edwin Way Teale
1965 O Strange New World by Howard Mumford Jones
1964 Anti-Intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter
1963 The Guns of August by Barbara W Tuchman
1962 The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore H White

8. The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez

I borrowed this from the library after seeing Katie refer to it on her thread, but I know Beth also liked it (and maybe Charlotte?). It's a novel told in chapters by various characters, all of whom are immigrants to the US from Spanish-speaking countries in central America. They find themselves living in an apartment block in Delaware for various reasons. It was mostly about the immigrant experience, and how immigrants from that area are perceived in the US, although there was some angsty teen romance in there too. Highly recommended. Thanks ladies who read it and wrote about it!

>5 susanj67: Ooh, that sounds really good, thank you. And Islington has 5 copies, all on the shelf at the moment. I just need to remember to ask for it when I'm a couple of days after returning a book. Or maybe I'll look when I go to confess that I lost two books on the Tube.

Nor read it yet, but rather flattered to be mentioned in the recommenders company! On the list...

Happy New Thread! I saw on your kast thread that you brought home a book by Jane Smiley. Her month is coming up soon in the AAC and I still haven't made up my mind about what I want to read. Maybe A Thousand Acres. Have you read that one?

Happy new thread Susan.

>4 susanj67: That one made me smile - I bet it was a long two minutes.

>8 cbl_tn: I've got no idea either. She's got such a big backlist, it's difficult to choose.

>6 elkiedee: Luci, five copies seems extreme! But at least you should be able to get one.

>7 charl08: Charlotte, maybe I just assumed that because you have read So Many Things. Enjoy!

>8 cbl_tn: Carrie, A Thousand Acres is excellent. I'd recommend it for the challenge.

>9 PaulCranswick: Paul, can you imagine?!!

>10 charl08: Charlotte, you won't go wrong with A Thousand Acres. It's King Lear, updated. I read it ages ago and loved it.

>8 cbl_tn: Carrie, I have A Thousand Acres on the shelf since Katie and Susan and a bunch of others urged me to read it. SO we could compare notes if you chose that one as it's what I will be reading.

Happy new thread, Susan!! I just want to take a moment to say that we are tied for books read this year. *moment of silence* Since it will never happen again, and since it only happened this time because several of mine are GNs, I just wanted to enjoy the magic. Right then, Carry on!

Happy new thread, Susan! Glad you liked The Book of Unknown Americans.

Agree completely with you about A Thousand Acres - I may re-read it for the AAC in March....

>12 Crazymamie: Mamie, LOL :-) My Sons of Anarchy addiction may mean that we tie again! I have seven series and two episodes still to watch. Netflix is just soooo easy to keep watching and watching.

>13 katiekrug: Thanks Katie! I liked your review of The Book of Unknown Americans, although I waited to read it till I'd finished the book.

There are three boxes of Krispy Kremes in the kitchen, but no email announcing any sort of celebration and "please help yourself". Maybe it's some sort of psychological experiment. There might even be cameras. Luckily I didn't take too long deciding which one I'll have if the boxes are ever opened. In the meantime, I have a delicious fruit tea. Yum.

Susan, my magic moment of being tied with you has now lodged that song of the same title by The Drifters in my head. This one:



This Magic Moment

I crack myself up! A good start for a Monday.

I think you should get back in there and guard your chosen doughnut.

>15 Crazymamie: Mamie, you cracked me up too :-)

>16 Crazymamie: No email has come yet about the doughnuts. Someone opened one of the boxes and a few have disappeared, but it's really funny how, even though they're in the place for shared goodies, and clearly meant to be eaten, most people are reluctant to touch them without official permission. It's the same in the kitchen on the other side of the floor, which also has three boxes (suggesting management put them there, as usually birthday treats are localised to one side of the floor, and are not multiple boxes of expensive doughnuts). Having forgotten my slice of fruit loaf today, I went downstairs to get a banana, but got caught down there with my peanut M&Ms when a fire alarm message started, and the lifts ceased working. There was nothing for it but to tidy the book exchange while I waited for it all to be over.

Happy new thread, Susan. Nice comments on The Book of Unknown Americans. I loved that novel. I also like your cover. Why does it seem like you get all the good covers?

>12 Crazymamie: >13 katiekrug: You've convinced me to read A Thousand Acres for the AAC in March. I can't resist such good company! Should I try to read King Lear between now and then? It's one of the plays I haven't read yet.

>19 cbl_tn: I think yes, Carrie - I read King Lear for the first time last year.

>19 cbl_tn: - I would try to read King Lear first, Carrie, if you haven't - it's in my top 3 of Shakespeare plays. But if you have a basic knowledge of it, that's probably all you need to appreciate what Smiley is doing in A Thousand Acres.

Susan - I admire your restraint re: the donuts. If you do receive permission to have one, may I suggest sticking it in the microwave for about 10 seconds to warm it up? Heaven....

Happy New Thread, Susan.

Happy New Thread.
>6 elkiedee: (imagine a shocked face) Oh dear, loosing a book on the tube is bad enough, losing a library book on the tube is probably punishable by, um, having your wrists stamped.
Were they any good? Has the finder rejoiced in picking them up or do they deserve to be lost? >:-)

I rescued a box of Krispy Kreme that fell off a guy's pushchair this afternoon. He looked quite relieved, and a little face came round the side of the pushchair to check out what was going on, so perhaps avoided some tears before bedtime. Hopefully I earned enough brownie points to deserve my chocolate peanuts from M&S (and if not, er... too late).

Happy 2nd thread, Susan. I hope you were able to celebrate with the doughnut of your choice. ;)

Happy new thread Susan! I hear you on the office treats email. Sounds like they were left for consumption if there were that many boxes just lying around...... ;-)

Also: happy new thread and any news on the mysterious doughnuts?

Right, I was coming to check on the doughnuts, too. Did you get one?

>24 Helenliz: I enjoyed the one I read, and at least in the other case I have it available to read on my Kindle. I would have been even more upset if I'd lost a book I was in the middle of reading. I'm not looking forward to paying for the books, full price new would be over £30, and I'm annoyed that it's so hopeless trying to get anything back from London Underground. I've tried, and this is the third time, but they would have turned up by now.

>11 susanj67: I think the copies of Unknown Americans are at 5 different branches.

>18 BLBera: Beth, I prefer the US cover!

>19 cbl_tn: >20 Crazymamie: >21 katiekrug: *whispers* Lamb's Tales of Shakespeare

>22 katiekrug: Katie, sadly we don't have a microwave on the floor, but I'll have to remember that for another time :-)

>23 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara!

>24 Helenliz: Thanks Helen :-)

>25 charl08: Charlotte, what a good deed you did! I'm sure you earned those peanuts, and, if not, they're just prepayment for your next good deed.

>26 DeltaQueen50: Thanks Judy :-) Sadly I didn't get a doughnut. We never got an email and there were still a number left at the end of the day. Really strange. "It's probably an experiment," said one of the girls, *just after I'd made that comment in this thread*!

>27 lkernagh: Thanks Lori. Yes, they were definitely intended for us, but it was so strange the way that people waited to be asked!

>28 charl08: Charlotte, they remain a mystery.

>29 Crazymamie: Mamie, I'll have to wait till next time. They had some of these "Love Bug" ones which I haven't seen before:



>30 elkiedee:, >31 elkiedee: Luci, that would make more sense than one library!

And where have you been, young lady? We've been waiting to find out about the doughnuts. And you didn't even get one?! *sob*

>33 Crazymamie: Mamie, sadly I was felled by a headache today - stupid back/neck/shoulder. I fell over a couple of weeks ago, mostly into a shop front (cue massive bruises on my right arm) and I've been waiting for it to catch up with me. My old yoga teacher used to say that if we had pain, we should always think back a fortnight and that would be what caused it, and she was right. So I've been feeling sorry for myself and watching Sons of Anarchy.

Poor, poor baby, Susan. Sorry to hear that you are not feeling well and that you fell. Not good. Sending you healing mojo and all of my love.

Oh, no! Feel better, Susan.

>34 susanj67: Oh no. Get well soon. I nearly got blown over in the wind in the park today, and the worst is apparently due tomorrow. I might stay in having done my laps at the pool. The older kids were doing their pyjama test whilst I was swimming, making me laugh a lot as they made a big production of the whole process. (Internally laughing: didn't want to drown mid lap).

Ohh no!! so sorry to hear about your fall and current pain. Hope you feel better soon.

>34 susanj67: I do hope you get to feeling better. I came home with an eye injury from where the van seat attacked me. I was trying to move a backpack that was in the way, but I'd already lifted the handle, and it just started folding up and knocked my glasses off. I knew my hose was hurting, but I didn't know until the next day that I had an eye bruise that was bleeding. Fortunately they tell me at work that it looks better than it did yesterday. I'm horrible at being a judge of that myself.

Feel better.

Re: the covers. The grass is always greener...

Just came by to see if you were feeling better. Hope so.

Missing you, Susan. Keeping you in my thoughts and hoping you feel better very soon.

Thanks everyone. It's been an "ow" sort of week, and, to use the description so memorably shared by Megan's little Lenny last year, it still hurts a bit in between my skeletons, but the roundabouts of my eyeball are much better today :-) That is such a good description of a headache and muscle pain, for any age! It's the headaches that get me. The skeletons aren't so bad.

I had to come back in on Wednesday to do a lecture, and I have more young people this morning, in an entirely new room that I've never heard of (constructed as part of the office refurb) so I will have to set off a bit early to find that. On the reading front, I'm still plugging away on the bomb book, which I hope to finish over the weekend (it's due back on Monday). Let's draw a veil over the Netflixing.

I hope you feel better soon, Susan. Have a wonderful weekend!

>43 susanj67: I'm sorry your skeletons are still sore, but I'm glad the roundabouts of your eyeballs feel better! I hope the weekend gives you the rest you need to make a complete recovery and be ready for the "M" word. (That horrible day that comes every week without fail.)

Beautifully (if painfully expressed). Hope the weekend will be pain-free. I'm hoping the worst of the wind has passed so that I can get some walking in soon.

Loving you use of Lenny's language, Susan - I missed that one last year, but it is too good! Glad you are feeling a little bit better and hoping that you feel all the way better very soon. Birdy used too say that she was feeling stale when she didn't feel well. And sometimes she would complain of a migrating headache. Migraine I think you mean, I told her, surprised that she knew what it was - although that kid was born old, I tell you. No, she said, I've never had one of those. What I have is a migrating headache - sometimes it hurts more in my head and sometimes it hurts more in my tummy.

Sorry to learn that you took a fall and are now suffering through some pain, Susan. My old yoga teacher used to say that if we had pain, we should always think back a fortnight and that would be what caused it, .... Ah, interesting. I have had a pain in my left knee as if it has been bruised (no bruise is visible), but now you have me thinking back in my mind to see if I can recall having banged it.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, Susan, and take things easy.

Oh, I missed that particular Lenny-ism, but it's perfect! As is It's been an "ow" sort of week :( Poor you! Can you take a hot bath or something to soak away some aches?

Glad to see you on the mend Susan. I have had my share of Ow Weeks in the last year too.

>44 DianaNL: Thanks Diana. That's pretty much how I felt yesterday!

>45 cbl_tn: Carrie, I'm taking it easy this weekend although not sitting entirely still :-)

>46 charl08: Charlotte, I see snow in the weather report - I hope it's not piling up on you!

>47 Crazymamie: Mamie, I loved that phrase of Lenny's :-) I explained to one of the girls at work that it hurt in the roundabouts of my eyeballs and in between my skeletons, which was how he originally put it, and she giggled but agreed that it was perfect. Actually I just had the one troublesome eyeball - somehow that makes it worse, I think.

>48 lkernagh: Lori, I'm not sure why it's two weeks, as things like bruising etc start immediately, but I definitely notice now that if I disrupt my neck/shoulder/arms, a tension headache rolls along a fortnight later. Spooky. But I used to wonder what on earth I'd done to cause a headache when they seemed to come out of nowhere, so at least I know now.

>49 AMQS: Anne, knowing me I'd manage to fall out of the bath, so perhaps best not :-) It goes away eventually.

>50 PaulCranswick: Hey Paul. I sympathise with the ows - I was just lucky that Tuesday didn't contain anything I had to be in the office for.

Today I've been out for a little light shopping at Westfield (at least until the smallest wholemeal flour at Waitrose was 1.5kg and then it wasn't so light). I'm trying a blueberry muffin recipe this afternoon, and I also needed some blueberries, buttermilk, some dates and some date nectar. I thought that as the recipe is from the Waitrose magazine they might have date nectar, but no (although I see it now on their website). So I'm using dark agave nectar instead. Incidentally, UK LTers might be interested to know that Tate & Lyle is now doing agave nectar - it's gone mainstream!

I got a "pre-overdue notice" (grrr) from the library this morning for the bomb book, so I've renewed it. I have 113 pages left to go, and I really hope to finish by Monday, but just in case. My goal this afternoon is 50 pages. We'll see. At least I seem to have watched so much Netflix that I'm ready for a break, so that's good :-)

>51 susanj67: Happy Saturday! Your post reminded me that I have some blueberries in the refrigerator that I need to do something with. They were on sale so naturally I had to buy some. I may make a cobbler since it would be quick and easy.

Glad you're feeling more chipper.
The pre-overdue notice is the terminology our library uses. It is such a weird wording to use.

Hooray! She's back! Glad you are feeling somewhat better. I love blueberry muffins, so I hope the new recipe is delicious. Especially after having to tote the flour.

Happy Saturday, Susan!

>54 Crazymamie: How does she always put it so well. What she said. I've got ripe bananas here that need eating so might follow your example and make some muffins with them.

No snow yet, but it just hailed so I am re-evaluating my plan to return some books today. One of those army helicopters went over a few days ago and I expected the flood reports to start again but (fingers crossed) they were going home instead...

>52 cbl_tn: Carrie, that sounds lovely! I'll have 65 grams left over once I've baked (which will now be tomorrow) so I think I'll have them on my granola for breakfast.

>53 Helenliz: Thanks Helen. Yes, "pre-overdue notice" pretty much encapsulates all my issues with the running of my library :-)

>54 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie! It is so nice not to hurt. I will report on the muffins tomorrow :-)

>55 charl08: Charlotte, you should make muffins! I love banana muffins. Plus what else can you do with bananas on the turn? :-) It's the perfect excuse.

Well! The afternoon has been productive, and...



I've finished the giant hard book!!



9. The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Robert Rhodes

This is a Pulitzer read, and is definitely not something I would have read without the challenge. So already it's working! It's a meticulous look at how the atomic bomb was developed, but starting long before the Manhattan Project, when it was just an interesting science question being studied by scientists from many countries. Gradually, though, the expertise moved to the US (at least partly due to scientists leaving Europe during WWII) and the formal project started. There's lot of hard science, which I'm not going to pretend I understood, but also lots about the people involved, and how the project was set up and worked. And a final, terrible chapter on what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Written in the early 80s, before the end of the Cold War, it focuses on the US and Russia, although today the worry is that some far less stable group will get their hands on these weapons, which brings a new dimension to the issue. I learned a lot, and overall this was a good read, even if it took most of January.

>56 susanj67: - Yay for finishing the giant hard book! I love that gif of Animal. He and Fozzy the Bear are my favorite muppets. Also Oscar the Grouch (unsurprisingly).

What's next up to read?

>57 katiekrug: Katie, I was just posting on your thread! I also love Oscar. And Cookie Monster. Although I believe he now tells kids that "cookies are a sometimes food".

Next up, let's see. Isaac's Storm, which was on the list until somehow the giant library book distracted me. And I have A People's History of London going on the Kindle, which is good. Although it's not Ivanhoe, which is the ticker default. There's also a Sharon Penman novel, the first one in the Queen's Man series, but I am underwhelmed so far, so I'll focus on The Tenderness of Wolves and Some Luck, which I have in hard copy. Yeah, I should probably get on with all that :-)

Loving Animal. >:-)
Oh, and well done on finishing the monster book.

did I hear that correctly, "cookies are a sometimes food"? humph. Cookies (and indeed all forms of cake) are surely part of any balance diet. There's fruit (ie: fruit cake) vege (ie: carrot cake), meat, dairy (ie: cheesecake), cakes (all of them), sweets (chocolate etc) & wine. What have I got wrong there?

Congrats on finishing THE BOMB.

I see you have some more good reading ahead.

>59 Helenliz: Helen, I think you've got it exactly right. And my muffins have blueberries, dates and banana in them, so there's three of my five-a-day right there.

>60 BLBera: Thanks Beth! I am pretty pleased to have finished it. I'd like to read more, if it was lighter on the science I think. I started The Tenderness of Wolves last night, and so far so good! I asked my friend at work whether she'd got it, and she said she was reading a political biography instead. Huh.

The muffins have turned out beautifully, although they are enormous. But then again, that sounds like there's something *wrong* with a large muffin. Which there isn't. They are cooling, so I might have one for elevenses, even though it is only 9.46 at present. Suggestions welcome for using half a lemon - apart from slicing it to put in tea, which is what I'm doing at present. Maybe I should just get a tiny lemon next time, and use it all :-)

Pioneer Woman is on the Food Network, doing freezer cooking. For this she had to go to the supermarket, *an hour away*. America is big.

Just checking in - realised I'd been lurking and not posting again. Sorry to hear about the fall - hope all the aches are dropping away now.

mmmmm Muffins...

I slice them and stick them in the freezer. For gin a healthy alternative to cordial in water.

Those muffins sound amazing. Did I say that already?

>62 BekkaJo: Hi Bekka :-) I think I'm back to what passes for normal :-)

>63 charl08: Charlotte, great idea! I hadn't thought about freezing slices.

The muffin recipe, which I can't find online to link to:

300g plain flour
200g wholemeal flour
2.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
100g medjool dates, chopped
300g blueberries
2 large eggs
284ml carton buttermilk
100ml vegetable oil
0.5 lemon, zest and juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
150ml date nectar
100g mashed banana

Preheat the oven to 200C, gas mark 6 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cases. Whisk the flours, baking powder, salt and spices in a bowl. Stir in the dates and blueberries.

Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, oil, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, date nectar and banana. Fold into the dry ingredients until combined; don't overmix. Spoon into the muffin cases, piling them high. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I'm having a day at home today, for which I sort of blame the weather...ahem. But A People's History of London is going pretty well!

Those muffins sound yummy! I have never frozen lemon slices, but I will be trying that now! Another thing you could do with it is to make a lemon glaze that you could drizzle over the muffins or over cake or cookies...anything really. We make a lemon yogurt cake that we drizzle the glaze over, and it is fabulous. But really, Charlotte's idea is so much easier, and then you would have an excuse to make a gin and "healthy alternative to cordial in water".

Isaac's Storm is a good one! And those muffins sound awesome. Now I'm hungry. Having brunch in a couple of hours, so must be good and not snack... *sigh*

I used my last left over lemon to clean the microwave. Half lemon, squeezed a bit into a bowl of water. 3 minutes full power, eave 5 minutes, wipe innards of microwave clean. Smells better than kitchen cleaner does, especially next time you use the microwave. Nothing worse than jif smelling porridge.

>65 Crazymamie: Mamie, that's a great idea! I'll remember that for next time.

>66 katiekrug: Katie, mmmm, brunch. I could do with brunch right about now. Even though I've had breakfast already.

>67 Helenliz: Helen, another great idea! No more frowning at half-lemons for me.

I came close to finishing A People's History of London yesterday, and then five episodes of Sons of Anarchy got in the way. But series 3 didn't end on a cliffhanger, so I'm going to take a break from it. If I say that enough, it might work. I took the bomb book back to the library this morning. FLA wasn't there, or I might have asked for one of the certificates that they give the little kids for the summer reading programme. The new NF books shelf had some temptations, including a new book about the Mitford sisters, but I came away with no books. And that's just as well, really, as I have a hundred pages of the Penguin History of the World to read with Mamie and Katie. Hi ladies!

You went to the library and came home with...nothing!! Susan, I am concerned. Did you check for fever?

Interested that you''re liking A People's |History of London so much - maybe I should read it. I would have thought you'd be critical of their political perspective (they're long time leaders of the Socialist Workers' Party and now of a split in that organisation called Counterfire). And now I understand the Ivanhoe reference (crazy touchstones strike again).

>68 susanj67: - Glad to know you have your priorities straight re: PHW!

I usually just chuck in the whole lemon.

>69 Crazymamie: Mamie, I am not allowed to be ill - the roomie has come back from Bombay with a smog cough, so she is the ill one this week. Apparently a rubbish dump caught fire while they were there, choking the whole city and she staggered off the plane in London to breathe the, um, fresh London air with relief. You know things are bad when London air smells good.

>70 elkiedee: Luci, I think you should, particularly before you draw conclusions about the book or about me.

>71 katiekrug: Katie, yes, I have them straight ma'am! *turns off Netflix*

>72 charl08: Charlotte, ha! I love it :-)

>73 BLBera: Beth, I was tempted, but I'm a bit of a wimp re altering baking recipes. Plus now I have slices for that, er, healthy alternative to cordial in water.



10. A People's History of London by John Rees and Lindsey German

I bought this in last summer's Verso sale, where it was described as "The forgotten history of London, the world capital of revolution", and with a quote on the cover from Ken Loach, saying "The history of London we have been waiting for, told with elegance and precision." That led me to think that it was going to be full of new information, or at least a barnstorming polemic of some sort, but it really wasn't.

It *was* a good summary of protest in London, from before the Peasants' Revolt up to the present day, but it was pretty much just straight history, albeit from the viewpoint of the protesters. But there's been lots written from that point of view. I don't think the history of protest is "forgotten" at all. I did like the concise descriptions of the bases of some of the conflicts - the background to the Gordon riots was explained in a paragraph and the Suez crisis in about half a page, which is definitely easier to grasp than the pages and chapters written in other things I've read. It didn't get hatey and name-call-y till the last two (short) chapters, which looked childish and petty in comparison to the much better bulk of the book. Spelling "Queen" as "queen" doesn't make you Karl Marx. I think the authors (or at least the one who didn't write those chapters) will regret the tone of those chapters in time. There are much classier ways of making the point, as I'm currently seeing in Captain Swing, an Eric Hobsbawm book from 1969 which is my next Kindle read. But the rest of it is well worth a look for anyone interested in London.

Just heard two guys on the radio talking about learning what 'Netflix and chill' meant to the yoof. I was going to say 'and I thought of you' but, well, that doesn't sound right... 'I recalled your post on the subject some time ago'. Snort.

>75 charl08: Charlotte :-))) The yoof probably have some new term by now...if it's on the radio then the old people have taken it over and it can't be cool.

Ahem. Roberta and Julia and I are having a reading retreat the first weekend in April. Direct flights to Dallas from Heathrow really aren't *that* expensive :D

>72 charl08: I'm on a badge! I'm practically famous!!

Oh, dear! I hope you penciled yourself in for next week, just in case.

>77 katiekrug: Katie, I am soooo tempted! Right now I'm supposed to be in London then, to respond to a document that another party on a matter is due to file on 28 March, but if that timetable changes, I'll get back to you! My choices look like American or BA. The roomie says *on no account* to fly American, but you fly them a lot, don't you? I hated BA when I flew with them last time, although that trip was dire for many other reasons so I may be unfairly lumping everything together.

>78 Crazymamie: Famous-Mamie, sometimes I think I'm in danger of catching the roomie's hypochondria, but so far so good :-)

>79 susanj67: - I do fly American all the time and have never had any issues. I know some people hate it, but some people hate every airline :) Also, most of their trans-Atlantic flights are now on their brand new planes. If you pay a little extra for the premium economy, it's really quite comfortable.

I've only flown BA from Heathrow to Doha and Abu Dhabi and was not impressed. But those aren't terribly long flights so maybe they use nicer ones on longer flights...?

*knock knock*

Everything okay in Susan-land?

>81 katiekrug: Katie, my life has been taken over by an Excel spreadsheet, and not in a good way. But I'll have a couple of reviews tomorrow. I'm pushing to see if my case timetable is going to move. But silence so far.

Back home and trying to catch up -- hope you're feeling better after your spill.

>82 susanj67: Fingers crossed you get your meet up!

Excel spreadsheets are The Devil.

>83 RebaRelishesReading: Hey Reba! Yes, I'm OK now, thanks :-) And now at home, so I can write at greater length than on the bus!

>84 charl08: Charlotte, definitely! It's all so vague and hand-wavey at the moment. We agreed a timetable with the other parties and we're working towards it, but the Tribunal wants to set the hearing date before making a timetable order, so we're not sure whether they'll retrospectively approve the timetable (which means I'm stuck here), or start it running from the date of their order (which might mean I'm freeeee while one of the other parties prepares something). I have no control over any of it, which, as y'all can imagine, is stressful for a control freak :-)

>85 katiekrug: Katie, those were my EXACT WORDS to one of the Young People this morning!!!! I particularly hate the way you can't have line breaks in a cell (or, if you can, none of us knows how to do it) so there's just a big horrible chunk of text that looks very uninviting. I'm looking at documents, writing them up in the spreadsheet, and then copying things to other files - it's like an enormous jigsaw puzzle, except no fun.

11. The Queen's Man by Sharon Penman

This is the first in a series of crime novels set in the 1190s, and involving Justin de Quincy, who, frankly, is a bit of a Mary Sue character, but the story grew on me. I thought they were new, but in fact they were written in the early 90s, so they must have been republished as I bought the first two as Kindle deals last year. Now it turns out the library has them all as ebooks, and I'll probably get to the others. They'd be good for a flight - not too demanding but entertaining enough, although you do meet all the typical medieval tropes. It was a bit paint-by-numbers in that respect, but I was interested enough in the mystery to keep reading, and I liked Queen Eleanor :-)

>87 susanj67: you can make line breaks in a cell, use Alt & return and you start a new line of text all within one cell.
Phew - I've actually achieved something useful this week.

Susan, I know nothing about spread sheets, but should you need to ask about bed sheets or spread butter, I am here for you.

>89 Helenliz: Helen, thanks for that! I can hardly believe I'm actually going to be able to teach the Young People something about tech.

>90 Crazymamie: Mamie, I will definitely remember that :-) Actually I need butter. You have reminded me.



12. The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

I've been meaning to read this for ages, but then Beth reviewed it and it spurred me into action, or more specifically up to the library nearest to home, where a copy was in stock. It's a really good historical crime novel, and made me want to read everything the author has written, but that turns out to be just one other book. Such a shame, as I loved the writing style, and the characters, and the setting in the freezing Canadian wilderness. Thanks, Beth!

>90 Crazymamie: *Desperately tries to think of question about spread butter*

>92 charl08: *Fails*

Hey Susan. How's that spreadsheet coming?

This thread is making me giggle.

Line breaks in cell in Excel - no idea if this works as I've only used spreadsheets at a very basic level!

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/excel-tips/how-to-add-line-breaks-in-excel

Line breaks are pretty easy to add in most programs—all you have to do is press Enter on your keyboard, and voilà! One of the few places this doesn't work is Excel. If you've ever tried hitting Enter there, you know it just takes you to the next cell in your worksheet.

Not to worry. There's a simple keyboard shortcut that will let you add as many line breaks as you want—inside any cell. Go ahead and try it! This works in Google Sheets too.

Windows: Alt+Enter
Mac: Ctrl+Option+Enter

Interesting review of A People's History of London and I'm sorry for making unwarranted assumptions. I didn't realise it was published by Verso, will have to look for it if it comes up again in another of their amazing sales.

Have you read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States?

>91 susanj67: I've read her other book, and it's just as good!

And I don't recommend buttering your spreadsheets. Or your bed sheets. You'd just end up with a greasy mess. ;-)

Have a good one!

Susan? Oh, SUuuuusan?

Is she trapped in spreadsheet hell?

>100 Helenliz: Maybe if she just presses the ALT key she will be able to break free....

>92 charl08:, >93 charl08: Charlotte, it now has a lot more line spaces in it!

>94 katiekrug: Katie, I'm glad my spreadsheet nightmare is providing someone with entertainment :-)

>95 elkiedee:, >96 elkiedee: Thanks Luci. I haven't read the Zinn book. The reviews on LT seem quite polarised! I already have a few things picked out for the next Verso sale, which is one of the reasons I'm trying to read the things I bought last summer. And I only have two left from that sale.

>97 cbl_tn: Carrie, I will have to look further afield for it, as the branch nearest work doesn't have it. What a shame she hasn't written more, when there are people like E L James in the world...

>98 DianaNL: Thanks Diana!

>99 Crazymamie: He Mamie! It's Friday!

>100 Helenliz: Helen, not for the time being :-) One of the Young People has taken it over for a while. But you are our hero :-). I won't even tell you how many supposedly tech-savvy people have been working on this document, and had no idea. "Seriously?" one of them said to me this morning after the team meeting, when I told him. "Apparently," I said. "Let me write that down," he said. The other thing we'd love to know :-) is how, in a date column, to type a date and have it stay in the format you want it, like e.g. 2 February 2016 instead of changing itself to 02/02/16 all the time. Currently the date column is a hot mess of different formats. For a while it was defaulting to 2-Feb-16 but not consistently.

>101 charl08: Now Charlotte, that's the ESC key for breaking free. One of the partners has a cartoon on his door with someone hunched over a keyboard, saying "I keep pressing Escape but I'm still here."

Today I was supposed to take a friend from work to the library to join it, but she forgot her documents, so that will now be Monday, and hopefully FLA will be there so I can introduce her (and also casually mention that I finished the bomb book). I returned The Tenderness of Wolves and eyed books 2 and 3 in the Jane Smiley trilogy, but I should read book 1 first to see if I like it, and that's my book for this weekend.

Well, thank goodness. Here you are!

>102 susanj67:: Happy to help.
Ahh, yes format. Nightmare. Easiest is to format the whole column in the format you want to use. Sometimes it will default to the format in the cell above, but that's not always reliable. And depends on if you've copied data in, or if there are data in the cells below. Highlight whole column, right click & choose "format cells". We always use 05Feb16 format, so that's hidden under "custom" not date. If you do the whole column, it will (tend) to use that format for all later entries. Doesn't always work if you copy in, as you can copy in the format as well as the value.

I'm not an excel guru, I only know how to do what I do with reasonable regularity. There's probably acres of functionality I never use.

>103 Crazymamie: Mamie, here I am :-) I've just taken a break to go and curate the book exchange, into which every single copy of the Fifty Shades trilogy *on earth* seems to be making its way. I just get rid of one set due to - ahem - space constraints and another one shows up. Sheesh. Today some Stephen Kings arrived but I don't have a horror section any more, so I had to put them in with the crime and thriller. I have carved out the end of a shelf for sci-fi, as a few of those came last week. Yesterday one of the girls in my department came over at lunchtime as I was tidying, and said that she often wanted to borrow something, "But who has time to read?" I tried not to stare.

>104 Helenliz: Thanks Helen. That's really helpful. And we don't need a guru - we're struggling with the basics, as you can see!

Who has time to read? What IS she doing with her time?! The Fifty Shades phenomena cracked me up - it's like The Twilight Zone; there can never be just one set of those books, they will always mysteriously reappear.

You're welcome Susan. I'm go glad you liked it.

Excel is the Devil.

I think I liked The Queen's Man more than you did; I've read the second one, too, and thought it was pretty good. You've reminded me, I'm pretty sure I own the third and fourth...

Have a great weekend.

*posts Susan her insanely good excel mad husband*

Seriously - I think spreadsheets are right up there with me and the kids. Or maybe in front of us...

Happy weekend!

I learned to love Excel last year at the mortgage company. For a while it was the devil, but then I had so much time with nothing to do there that we became friends and I was able to do all kinds of neat stuff. Unfortunately I do not have a ton of use for it now in my current incarnation, but maybe some day I will...

I think you can also tell Excel to not format cells with numbers - to leave them as text. You can do it on a cell by cell basis, too, you don't have to do the whole document or column or row all the same way.

This!!! : >102 susanj67: "... I keep pressing Escape but I'm still here."

Who has time to read? *shudders in horror*

Sometimes I weep for our future .

Have a great weekend.

Ooh, another good review of The Tenderness of Wolves! I'm sold!

Ha - time to read. Maybe that's the next display theme?

I found something to do with the bazillion fifty shades books...

>106 Crazymamie: Mamie, and on the subject of Twilights, I also have all of those, repeatedly. I did feel momentarily bad about getting rid of them, as the book exchange should cater for everyone, but so many have been donated that it's clear that everyone in the building actually owns them.

>107 BLBera: Beth, I think I was expecting something different. I've never read any Sharon Penman, and maybe I thought she had a different sort of style. The mystery part was good, though. Happy weekend to you too!

>108 BekkaJo: Bekka, ha! I'm sure they're not :-) I really don't know why everyone rushes to create an Excel document when we need a table. We don't use any of its magic functionality - we just list dates, contents of documents and a document reference. I'd prefer a Word table myself, which can still be word searched, which is what we really want to do with it. But this isn't my matter - I'm just helping out with it so I have to do my best.

>109 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, I salute you :-) I should get some training, I suppose. We have IT floorwalkers who do little tutorials so maybe I could try that.

>110 katiekrug: Katie, thanks. I'll talk to the chief Young Person again on Monday :-)

>111 michigantrumpet: Marianne, yes it was sad. I really like the person in question, but now I've started to judge her. Happy weekend to you too!

>112 AMQS: Anne, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

>113 charl08: Charlotte, ha! Love it. There is a small space in which I could do that.

There's a madly irritating segment on Sky News as I type, about libraries. Someone from the Institute of Economic Development is making the point that books can now be bought for £1 each, and as every library visit costs £3.50, we could just give people three books instead, and taxes should not be used to allow middle-class people to read John Grisham novels for free. I wish the news anchor had asked him what good book he recently bought for £1.

I started Some Luck last night, and I love it so far. Much of the first chapter was told from the point of view of a baby, and it's charming and sweetly funny:

"It seemed that he could never get anything to his mouth that he actually wanted to get there. Whatever he grabbed was immediately removed and a cracker was substituted, but he had explored all the features of crackers, and there was nothing more about them that he cared to find out."

I'm going to read it this afternoon and not watch TV. Probably.

Happy weekend, Susan. I started Some Luck on Thursday. I love it too, so far.

I'll watch for your comments on Some Luck, Susan. I loved it. I'd forgotten about the baby's point of view -- was it Frank? Do you plan to read all of the trilogy at once?

Susan - no walking expeditions to anywhere for today?

>115 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara!

>116 BLBera: Beth, yes it was Frank. I think I will read them at once - was it you who recommended doing that? I was a recommendation on someone's thread. I've waited till now to read them because I wanted to have that option, anyway.

>117 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, yes, I did go out this morning, after reading an article in the Evening Standard yesterday about a proposed designer outlet mall at the 02 centre in Greenwich (the former Millennium Dome now turned into a concert venue and cinema multiplex). The article commented that London's only designer outlet so far was in Wembley, which made me stop reading and start googling as I'd never heard of it. So I thought I'd go out and have a look, and do my steps somewhere new and different. I haven't been out that way for years, and definitely not since they rebuilt Wembley Stadium, which is the big London football stadium. And it's amazing out there! All pedestrianised boulevards and fountains and trees - you would never think you were in Wembley (if you weren't facing the stadium, anyway). The outlet centre is just to the side of the stadium, so part of the same shiny development. As well as the shops there's a floor of restaurants and then a cinema upstairs. And nearby is a brand new civic centre with a lovely library on the ground floor, so I had to go and have a look at that too. (Great space, shame about the haphazard book displays - yes, I'm like a broken-down record). It was like one of those social studies "Cities of the Future" projects. Most unexpected! I wouldn't visit again for the shops, but it was fun to see somewhere new and different, and if I'm ever out that way for a concert or other event I know where to go for dinner. Now I'm hoping the proposal for the 02 centre is going to go ahead, because that is much closer to me and is supposed to include 100 shops. I wouldn't have thought there was room for 100 shops in the centre with everything else that's already there, but it seems there is spare space, and they want to get people visiting in the daytime rather than just at night.

Wow. Three whole free books from the government? That'll last us all ages... (!) I can't believe that someone would make that argument (and it nor be April 1st). What an idiot!

>118 susanj67: - I guess you did have an expedition today.

You are not wrong to complain about the book displays. After all Libraries are supposed to be about the books.

>119 charl08: Charlotte, he said that his parents weren't readers. All I could think was "And look what they raised". Looking at the "reserves for collection" shelves at the libraries I visit, people are not just reserving John Grisham novels! And even John Grisham novels can't be bought for £1. I don't know what you'd get for £1, or where. Yes, there are 1p books on Amazon, but always with £2.80 postage.

>120 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, it was a lovely library apart from that, though - a pretty good book selection and lots of computers and tables for people with their own who wanted the wi-fi. Notwithstanding the glitz of the stadium, it's a very poor area and there were lots of teens apparently doing homework. The returned stock didn't seem to be reshelved, though - just put on show in some random way. It would be quite a job to find something they had in stock if it wasn't on the correct shelf.

A cute post on book additions that I saw on the Harlequin Facebook page:

http://www.romancedeals.com/buzz/29-undeniable-signs-you-have-a-book-addiction/

I've just watched "Food, Inc", which yes, is a Netflix documentary :-) Very thought-provoking. And the book by one of the talking heads which was mentioned in it (The Omnivore's Dilemma) is available as an ebook through the library, so yay for that.

Well, dang. I tried to watch something on my PVR this evening and it wouldn't display the list of recorded programmes, either using the playlist button on the remote, or via the menu. A bit of googling suggested that if turning it off and on again didn't work, the only thing was to reformat the hard disk. And it did keep displaying a message asking me if I would like to do that. It meant losing all my recordings, though, and I had 180 programmes. I'm officially annoyed, but also I feel sort of...free. There are a few things I can watch via the iPlayer, but I'll have to wait for the rest to be repeated, or show up on Netflix. Weirdly, the recording schedule stayed intact, so I'll see how it behaves over the next little while before I rush out and buy a new one with Freeview Play (catch-up service) on it. I've had my current one for 7.5 years, so I suppose that's pretty good going these days. Maybe the lesson here is to seize the day, and watch things as they are broadcast!

>91 susanj67: So glad you enjoyed The Tenderness of Wolves. I also very much enjoyed her other book The Invisible Ones about the gypsies. Both of these treated subjects I was only vaguely familiar with and she certainly made them enjoyable and understandable.

Oh...almost forgot....for all you UK Lters - any chance of a meetup in May or early June. Hubbie and I will be visiting my daughter (who lives in Wimbledon) ffrom May 10 thru June 6. - We're going on a CIE tour of Scotland and Ireland from 17-27 May but maybe we can do a meetup on either side of the tour. Anybody game?

>123 tututhefirst: Tina, I will definitely look for The Invisible Ones!

>124 tututhefirst: That sounds like fun! The June end would probably work better for me, but I'm flexible :-)

I am in early, playing with my second screen, which was installed over the weekend. It will make the giant spreadsheet project easier as I can have the spreadsheet open on one screen and relevant documents open on the other one, so no more switching between programs, which is a pain. I just drag things over to the new screen - it's like magic :-) I need a Young Person to explain how to make it as bright as my original screen, but I can at least read it for the time being. Never, in the early days of my computer life, did I imagine that 2 x 24-inch screens would be normal, but most of the other lawyers have had two for a while. I am completely screened (no pun intended) from the door now - I feel like it's a hut :-)

I've nearly finished Some Luck, which I still adore, so maybe tonight. And I'm nearly half-way through Captain Swing, which is about the agricultural unrest in 1830, when gangs of labourers wrecked threshing machines. It's an interesting read about (one type of) protest outside of London, particularly as I've just finished A People's History of London. And it's intriguing to read that many of the problems started with what we would now call zero-hours contracts, and income support (from the parish in those days) to make up a living wage. Modern commentators present these as a new evil, but it seems that all the same arguments were being had nearly 200 years ago.

Hey Susan - sounds like you're all up there with the new tech. I do like it when it starts to do something new. I just recently worked out how to get the big telly to show my digital OS maps - all the little details are really clear and (when I eventually) plan a walk again I can hopefully avoid the big hills with ease....

I am trying to remember a book I read for a legal history course on popular protest. Something about a 'liberty tree'. It was good. Hopefully my brain will start working shortly and I will remember it. Completely tangentially, my favourite legal history books were the ones based on women in the church courts. Such brilliant use of the legal system to complain about the neighbours!

Hope your Monday has been kind.

Hello, Susan! Look at you using two computer screens!! Most impressive.

>126 charl08: Charlotte, legal history was my very favourite course at University, partly because it was so arcane and nerdy, but mostly because of the fabulous lecturer, who would often have us laughing so helplessly that no-one could write. I hope you can remember the book name!

>127 Crazymamie: Mamie, yes, even the roomie was impressed. And we have IT floowalkers around to assist the clueless, so my secretary got one to come in and brighten the screen, which used the buttons we'd been fiddling with, but it turned out we hadn't done enough fiddling. This morning has been much easier on the document-wrangling front. Excel is still driving me mad, but it seems to do that to everyone.

Oh pants. I was hoping you'd say oh yes, I've read that, it was such and such. Will have to go and dig around or it'll bug me now!

I love my two big screens, too :)

>129 charl08: Charlotte, alas :-)

>130 katiekrug: Katie, I'm not sure I'll keep the second one after this job is finished, but it has definitely been great to have it today. I have finished my folder of documents! Yay! Also I reminded myself how to merge cells, remembered what you said about customising date formats, and discovered that sometimes, with just one click, I could turn all the text in a cell into italics. Not consistently though... The roomie says I look a bit blurry, so it might be home time :-)

I just got an email from the library saying that My Brilliant Friend is available, so that's looking like my next novel.

>131 susanj67: I have suspicions you are not taking my problem seriously ; -)

It was Liberty against the Law by another old Marxist, Christopher Hill.

I'll watch for your comments on My Brilliant Friend, Susan. I found the setting and the characters very well done.

>132 charl08: Charlotte, I don't know why you think that... Thanks for the book title :-)

>133 BLBera: Beth, I saw your review but just skimmed it, which I always do till I've read something :-) I will definitely go back to it.



13. Some Luck by Jane Smiley

I borrowed this from the library because I'd intended to read the trilogy when the final book was finished, and then I saw on Beth's thread that the final book was in fact out there. I think I'd seen book two on the library's "New books" shelf and become confused. Anyway, I loved this American family life saga, which starts in the 1920s and sees six children born to Walter and Rosanna Langdon, who live in rural Iowa. The story follows them until 1953, which is where the next book starts. My American reading even meant that some events (like the drought of the 1930s) were familiar to me. I have My Brilliant Friend to read before the next one in the series, but I'll definitely be getting to it very soon.

Quote of the week (maybe the year), in this article about a Christmas light display still going in February: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/its-just-too-much-locals-hit-out-as-pimlic...

"Londoners can only tolerate a limited amount of cheerfulness and this is just taking the biscuit."

>135 susanj67: Love the quote!

LOVE the quote, Susan, and the article made me laugh out loud. I especially enjoyed this bit of irony: "I’m not a fan of Christmas anyway and just thank God my flat window doesn’t face this.”

>135 susanj67: Amen. Who needs cheerfulness in their daily life....(!)

The mind boggles. Bizarre what people get wound up over. They're suggesting that a murder / knifing assault case between neighbouring pensioners near here started as a noise complaint. Seems a bit extreme.

>121 susanj67: Heard Michael Pollan author of The Omnivore's Dilemma speak here in Boston a couple of years ago. The man makes a strong case for more intelligent eating/food production.

>126 charl08: >128 susanj67: Anglo-American Legal History was one of my favorite classes! Also, there was an historically important Liberty Tree here in Boston:

http://allthingsliberty.com/2015/04/visiting-bostons-liberty-tree-site/

One of the courts where I practice is located in the next block, so I saw that plaque quite frequently!

>136 cbl_tn: Carrie, it's a classic!

>137 Crazymamie: Mamie, I hadn't appreciated that until I read it in your post and thought about it!

>138 charl08: Charlotte, certainly there is not a great deal of cheerfulness here. But yes, it is odd that people went to the paper over it (unless it was a devilish ploy for free advertising from the company). I was annoyed by the giant white sled + reindeer over the road, which shone right into my bedroom, but it never occurred to me to ring up the Standard!

>139 michigantrumpet: Marianne, Michael Pollan appeared again in the documentary I watched last night - Cowspiracy. Sadly his book available as an ebook through the library is a "Young Readers' Edition", whatever that is, so I will have to look for the grown-up one in hard copy. Legal history is a fascinating topic, and I'm always interested to read about bits of it that are part of the current US system, even though things here have changed. It was the same in NZ. For example, although only a few clauses of Magna Carta still survive in English law, the whole thing is apparently part of the law of a number of US states, because it was adopted in those states before the changes here.

Last night I started Isaac's Storm, so finally I have dug something out of the hard copy Mt TBR. And I've also started My Brilliant Friend, which isn't grabbing me so far.

I just returned Some Luck and borrowed Early Warning, which is the next one in the trilogy. And, for good measure, Missing Microbes, because I saw it on Jennifer's thread and it was available right across the street! And I have poor impulse control in libraries. Also e-libraries, as mine has added lots of new books, so I checked out After You, which is the sequel to the fabulous Me Before You, and Becoming Vegan, more out of curiosity than anything. I think I could probably switch to vegetarianism, as I almost never buy meat to cook at home and the canteen at work has lots of excellent non-meat choices, but, as a Kiwi, I'm not sure I could give up dairy. My whole childhood was built on full-fat milk and ice-cream. But the documentaries I've been watching on Netflix (Vegucated, Cowspiracy and Food, Inc) are certainly thought-provoking.

I hope you are enjoying Isaac's Storm, Susan!

I have a friend at work who is vegan and she's always bringing in vegan "delicacies" to try to convert me. They aren't bad, and I enjoy the vegan restaurants we sometimes go to for lunch, but I could not go whole hog (ha!) and give up so many things that I love.

I need to read Me Before You which is on my Kindle. I didn't realize they were making it into a film.

Happy Wednesday, Susan! I could not go vegan, either.

Wow you're steaming through those Smiley's. I must add them to the library wishlist.

Re the veggie / vegan debate: the smell of bacon. Defeats me every time I think about it.

>142 katiekrug: Katie, yes, so far it's good, but I only read the first couple of chapters. I was very pleased to take something out of the TBR pile, though! I don't really think I could go the whole hog (ha!) either, but the documentaries also talk about reducing the amount of meat we eat, so I'll aim for that to start with. Today's lunch choices ("Taste of Persia" in the canteen) were nearly entirely vegan, except there was goat's cheese in the courgette fritters. We're luck to have lots of vegetable options and salads, and the buffet style means that I can just have a little bit of a meat dish if I want to, or not.

>143 Crazymamie: Mamie, there's butter to consider too. Mmmm, butter. I vowed, once I left home, that I would never eat margarine again, and I never have. We started having it when the great fat scare of the 80s hit, and my mother tried to healthy us up. I suppose there are those other fancy spreads now, but they're not butter. Although we do have one over here called "I can't believe it's not butter".

>144 charl08: Charlotte, helpfully the Smileys are all on the shelf at the library. They must have bought heaps of them. And yes, bacon. There is that too.

We have that one here, too, but like you, I prefer the real thing.

My mother used to buy margarine, but when I noticed that I was getting headaches every time I ate it I switched to butter. For the most part, I go for as few ingredients as possible.

I am looking forward to reading my first Smiley next month. I'm planning on A Thousand Acres.

Ah shelf serendipity. Good work. I am still a bit in awe that The Book of Unknown Americans was just sitting there last time I walked in. Inside LT knowledge paying off!

>146 Crazymamie: Mamie, I've never tried it and, having looked up the ingredients yesterday, can't say I'm tempted :-) I do sometimes buy the half-fat butter for spreading on things, but I cook with the real stuff.

>147 cbl_tn: Carrie, I think the fewest ingredients is the secret. Or as a talking head said somewhere a while ago, real food doesn't have a list of ingredients. Last night I watched "Food Matters", in which someone was advocating an 80% raw diet. I think that would be a real challenge! I do like the Netflix documentaries, and now they are recommending a lot more based on things that I've added to my list.

>148 charl08: Charlotte, that also sort of happened to me with The Book of Unknown Americans - not at my library but it was on the shelf at Shoreditch library which is not that far away. I see the touchstones are on the blink again.

It is clear and sunny here today, which makes me doubt we will get snow for Valentine's Day, as the Evening Standard seemed to suggest in yesterday's headline (but the story said only a 20% chance). It is supposed to be colder, though. Not American cold, but cold-for-London, which is a sort of whiney "where are my gloves?" cold, because no-one has needed gloves this winter yet unless they are outside all the time.

Yeah I really don't want snow on Sunday. Supposed to be going on adventures, but think they will be cancelled if it piles down. Annoying thing about living here is that it can be fine and thirty minutes down the road it's horrendous (although to be fair, this was a plus during the floods!). I returned the Americans book today. I felt like putting a big sticker on it 'Really good! BORROW ME!'. (But I didn't).

Staff in the library were discussing redundancies, the library is not open late on Mondays or Fridays (basically meaning if you work office hours you can only get there on Saturday) and further cuts are expected to be announced later today. I'm guessing it'll be buying policies as well as staff (the plan is also to cut museum funding).

Hello, Susan! We have made it to Thursday! My mom always bought margarine, so when I moved out I went straight to butter! The 80% raw diet scares me - these people must have really good teeth.

>150 charl08: Charlotte, I agree with Bill Bryson, who said to the Guardian: "I really, really hate this age of austerity. This is the sixth richest country in the world. We can afford to have things. There is this mania that we can’t afford things, which is not true. And if government really can’t afford to meet its bills then it should tax us more." I will cross my fingers for no snow for you for the weekend.

>151 Crazymamie: Mamie, I had salad bar for lunch, and I chose about half raw things, to give it a try. Sliced tomato, grated carrot, broccoli and then the rest was cooked (but vegetarian) - the salad bar includes roasted vegetables and cold frittata pieces and dips and things like that. I'm sure it takes more energy to eat the raw things than they actually give you! Also I'm confused about where grains fit into a raw food diet - I think they mostly have to be cooked. We do have two "supergrain" salads every day, which is an excellent newish addition. I will keep experimenting. I often have salad, but it has always included some cold turkey, or a scotch egg, or something with meat - not much, but some. Maybe raw broccoli was invented to fill that gap :-)

Just checking in with a wave :)

For the first day this week I didn't get soaked doing one or other - or both, of the school runs. Hope you had the sunshine too.

I need to go online now and check what they've decided to cut. Fingers crossed...

>153 BekkaJo: Hi Bekka! We did have sunshine, and we have more today. Cold, though.

>154 charl08: Charlotte, what was their decision in the end?



14. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

I started out really liking this, because it captured so perfectly the feeling of being a young child, not really understanding what's going on around you, and having to make do mostly with overhearing things and then drawing the wrong conclusions. But then the characters grew up and it was just endless teenage drama queenery, and I lost interest. I did finish it, but I won't be continuing with the series. I just don't like any of the characters enough to care what happens to them. Sad, as I love finding a great new series, but for me this isn't it.

As of yesterday night, nowt announced yet. I did find an article from last November that said they were going to cut the libraries in half. Argh!

Have a happy weekend.

>156 charl08: Charlotte, all those poor employees, waiting and wondering.

>157 DianaNL: Thanks Diana!

Today's gem from the Evening Standard: two similar-looking women spotted together on the tube. What's that called, that thing when two people look alike...the writer of this article didn't know it, anyway. http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/double-take-identical-women-spotted-readin...

I just had mac and cheese for lunch, with the vegetarian topping. Oooh. (The other choices were pork and chicken. It was "pimped" mac and cheese - "the most fun you can have with pasta apart from spaghetti and meatballs". I think they need to work on that snappy slogan.

Doppelganger. Happy Friday, Susan! You are making me feel better about not being taken with My Brilliant Friend - I had it out from the library and only managed the beginning before I had to return it, as it had been requested. t didn't grab me, but I thought maybe I just hadn't gotten far enough into it. I'm thinking it probably isn't for me.

>159 Crazymamie: Mamie, I was thinking "twin" :-) They look like twins to me, with their matching shoes and bags, and particularly if they've been seen before :-). Funny story: One of my friends is an identical twin, with that super-psychic connectedness to his brother, although he doesn't think it's anything unusual. A few months ago his brother was going through the checkout at a large supermarket near where they both live. The checkout lady glanced up, did a double take and said "Oh no! What happened? What happened to your shopping?!". The brother was confused for a moment, before answering "I think my twin may have been here already this morning." Apparently their groceries were almost identical too, "but that's because we'd been talking about our weekend meals," my friend said defensively. I pointed out that the *real* spooky twin thing was that, in that huge supermarket, they'd both picked the same checkout :-) Sorry you didn't like My Brilliant Friend either, but I suppose we can't all like everything and now we have room for six other books between us :-)

Um...eight books, right? There are four books in that series. Look at us clearing some room for some more books! Go us!

>161 Crazymamie: I've read one and you've partly read one, so that leaves 3 each that we don't have to read. Or 3.5 for you :-) But go us! Also, it's Friiiiiiday! With the 180 programmes I no longer have to watch on the PVR because it went kaput on me, I'm in danger of actually having some free time. I'm saving Sons of Anarchy till after the current phase of the case from hell is over. Which may be never, at the rate we're going, but I live in hope.

Oh, I see. Now I get ya! Hoping that the case from hell moves along quickly.

>160 susanj67: So they are not twins?! I had assumed that they were. If they weren't raised as twins, perhaps they really are twins separated at birth and adopted out separately.

>163 Crazymamie: Mamie, thanks. I need all the good wishes I can get!

>164 cbl_tn: Carrie, I'm sure they *are* twins and it's a non-story, but I loved the way the paper ran the story anyway, like it was the world's most amazing coincidence and the journalist and photographers had never heard of twins. Truly there are just too many news outlets for the amount of actual news.

Hi Susan - I'm so glad you liked Some Luck. I had a very similar reaction to My Brilliant Friend; the teen angst got a bit much. But overall, I still liked it. I'll read the others -- not right away, but eventually. I thought Ferrante did a good job with the characters and setting.

It makes me happy to see you using your library.

I loved the story of the Christmas lights. I did take mine down, but (she hangs her head) the decorations are still sitting on the shelf, waiting to be put away.

>166 BLBera: Beth, I plan to start the next Jane Smiley later today ;-) The library really came up trumps with the series. I hope #3 is still there when I'm ready for it.

I went out this morning, partly because we got a letter from the water company saying that our water would be off for four hours today between 9 and 5 (unhelpful) but, when I got home, there was a notice in the foyer saying that the work had been cancelled. But at least I got one load of laundry done last night, so I'm ahead of myself. I got rained on most of the time, but I did have an early lunch at McDonald's, where I tried their vegetarian deluxe burger (not bad at all. It would be better with the Big Mac special sauce, but then so would most things). And then I got rained on some more. However, I managed 10,462 steps so yay! That's my best total for a while.

Hi Susan,

Adventures are go (for the BBC weather forecast). Well done on the steps, that's impressive stuff. My step app nearly had a heart attack when I did more than 7000 one day this week, and kept buzzing away to declare new furthest walked awards. Quite how it would cope with you or Mamie I have no idea. Have a melt down?

I have sad cake news to report. Previously "too easy to mess up" recipe has been messed up. It seems such a waste to throw it all away, but it really does taste like I forgot the sugar (not coincidentally).

Hey Susan! I am so looking forward to rainy days to walk in and getting off my butt. Warmish rainy days, not the freezing, almost ice days. Love butter - grew up in a house where butter was the only thing served - but in recent years have been using it only for baking special stuff. Would like to incorporate it into the ordinary things that I eat, but I guess I am a victim of all the medical scare stories.

I tried to read My Brilliant Friend in December, but had to give it back only half-finished because I could not renew. Likely I would have finished if I had not also been trying to finish a doorstopper book for the BAC at the same time. I thought I would just re-order MBF from the library, but have not done it yet, mostly because I was not really loving it. I want to love it, but I just don't. Am becoming more convinced that I should not waste any additional time on it.

>168 charl08:. I'm sorry, the sugarless cakes made me laugh. Many years ago mum did a batch cook of fairy cakes, making about 100 of them. With no sugar. They turned out like bullets. Even lathered in custard they were inedible.

I have half an eye on a fitbit. I really need to do some more exercise, so I'm wondering if that might make me get out an d about a bit more than at present. hmmm. Maybe...

>168 charl08: Charlotte, oh dear about the cake. Could it be bird/duck food, or aren't they supposed to have cake? Excellent news on the adventures. Don't forget to set the step app going!

>169 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, I figure that I don't eat huge amounts of butter, and periodically it's back in the "yes" column, so I've stuck with it. I'm glad you're not snowed in, but it still sounds pretty cold. I wish for rain for you! In a good way. I think if MBF isn't calling to you then maybe pick something else. I also wanted to love it, because I do like series of things.

>170 Helenliz: Helen, I've definitely found the Fitbit motivating. I've found the winter harder because heavy coats don't really go with lots of walking, but I had a great summer with it (basically till it was time for puffa coats) and I plan to keep that up this year. I'm still accruing miles for my lifetime miles walked badge, but just very slowly right now.

Today's Netflix documentary - "Fed Up", about how the processed food manufacturers are killing young people. Although it's a US documentary, and some of the worst things over there (fast food companies in school canteens and junk food advertising during children's TV, for example) have now been banned in the UK, we still have all manner of junk available. It's amazing the stuff they've dreamed up since I was a kid, and there was plenty even then, and even in New Zealand.

15. Missing Microbes by Martin Blaser

I saw this on Jennifer's thread, and it was at the library near work so I borrowed it. And it's a superb read, that everyone should look for. The author thinks that antibiotic overuse, particularly in young children, is responsible for many essential microbes missing from people, which is causing the huge amount of obesity, and asthma/allergies, and even autism, all of which are much more common now than they were 40 years ago (I was glad to read this, as I was starting to think that I'd spent my life just not paying attention, but I can honestly say I never knew anyone with nut allergies as a kid, and there might have been maybe one or two chubby children in a class, but not the number found nowadays). It's a really interesting theory, and his work continues, but there have already been quite a few results which tend to support him. It's very thought-provoking, and very well-written. I read it nearly in one sitting, which is always the sign of a great read :-)

Netflix documentaries I managed to watch in between the reading: "Milk" and "Hungry for Change". I'm not sure Milk came out with a view - some people swear by it while others think it's the devil. I think I've existed on dairy for too long to give it up. Plus I don't want to risk my bones, not with all the falling over. Hungry for Change ended up by suggesting that juicing would soon have us all feeling better, but it does seem like a lot of work. I may also have eaten two hot cross buns with butter while I was watching it.

I started the next Jane Smiley last night, so I'm going to read a bit more of that now. I'm glad I continued on pretty quickly from the first one, as there are a lot of characters in it.

Happy Valentine's Day, Susan!

Nice review of Missing Microbes Susan. It sounds like an interesting book

>134 susanj67: I'm currently listening to Some Luck and I enjoy it very much so far.

Wishing you a great new week, Susan.

Good grief, I was 140 posts behind! Had an enjoyable time getting caught up here. I hope your spreadsheet wrangling days will soon be over. I love number crunching in Excel but like you, I tend to shake my head when Excel is used just because one wants to create a table.

I hope you have a lovely week, Susan!

>173 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie!

>174 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba - yes, it was. And of course it referred to another one that sounded good...

>175 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara. I don't know how it's Wednesday already!

>176 lkernagh: Hi Lori. I am still Excelling (ha!) and apparently the reason is that Word crashes if the tables get too big.

I spent Monday and Tuesday in a long meeting, with had the advantage of delicious lunches (I made sure to order the fancy version instead of the sandwich version in the room booking) and also the mixed blessing of lots of freshly-baked cookies. Today I'm having the "Go Figure" choice (500 calories) from the canteen - marinated paneer with pickled butternut and red rice. And it is FABULOUS. And I honestly mean that.



16. Captain Swing by Eric Hobsbawm

This is a detailed (maybe too detailed) look at the "Swing" riots of 1830, in which agricultural labourers smashed threshing machines and set fire to things, in a protest against poor wages and a lack of work. "Captain Swing" was the fictitious name used on letters sent to various landowners and clergy promising trouble if they didn't lower their rents and tithes so the farmers could pay their labourers more.

I would have liked more about how the movement arose and spread, and what it achieved. The authors wrote comparatively little about those issues, partly because it's hard to say much due to the general lack of attention paid to the rural poor in those days, but I'd be interested to see if there's anything more recent which revisits the issue, as this was written in 1969. Recommended for fans of English history, though. Overall it's very well done.

I had a moment of weakness at the library on Monday night when I returned Missing Microbes - I intended to get Spillover, which I did, but I also saw That's Not English and How Music Got Free on the new books shelf. Someone on here reviewed That's Not English last year and I looked it up in the library catalogue at the time, hoping to get it then, but it didn't appear. The other one was a pure impulse borrow :-)

>177 susanj67: I received That's Not English from the ER program a year ago.

Does Captain Swing suggest a connection between the Swing riots and the textile workers' Luddite riots 20 years earlier? The Luddite riots are an element of the plot in Charlotte Bronte's Shirley.

Yay for impulse borrowing. Hope they are as interesting as the titles promise. I have started the Agatha Christie autobiography, not sure I will get to the end. It resembles a brick...

Happy Wednesday, Susan! I love when you have "moments of weakness". I actually got all of my steps in yesterday. Go me!

The next time I'm in London, I'm just going to eat in your office canteen...

>181 katiekrug: Ha! Now I am picturing Susan walking into the canteen, and you are already there, and it's cracking me up. Yep. I'm easy.

>182 Crazymamie: - That would be so funny. I'd totally save her a seat :)

Then it would be the cool kids table.

Precisely.

>178 cbl_tn: Carrie, I thought it might have been you! It sounds like a fun read for the weekend, once the case from hell is paused for a couple of days. Captain Swing did mention the Luddites, but also said that the Swing riots were actually more successful, because the use of threshing machines remained comparatively rare afterwards for quite a long time.

>179 charl08: Charlotte, I just need more time now for impulse reading :-) The Agatha Christie book sounds good. I hope I don't see it any time soon :-)

>180 Crazymamie: Mamie, go you! (Also your new shoes are gorgeous - I have been reading threads).

>181 katiekrug:, >182 Crazymamie:, >183 katiekrug:, >184 Crazymamie:, >185 katiekrug: That would be awesome! We could also have a game of pool, because they've moved the games room into the restaurant for the time being (or maybe forever). And then I could make you admire take you to see the book exchange :-)

Ha! Compulsory library tours?
(Where do I er, sign up?)

Have been watching Life and Death Row on bbc iplayer, including following the students of a death row emergency programme at the U of Houston, where they try and get evidence for mitigation and a stay of execution for those about to be executed. It was gripping stuff, and the students were impressive young people. Recommended.

Hope the spreadsheet is behaving. I was hoping for a long walk today bit feeling low level grotty so giving it a miss and picking up one of Mamie's recommendations, Finding George Orwell in Burma.

>187 charl08: Charlotte, I'll let you know :-) Thanks for the iPlayer recommendation - I have just finished series 1 of Orange is the New Black on Netflix, and I'm saving Sons of Anarchy until the current phase of the case from hell is over, as my reward for surviving it so I'll check that out. The spreadsheet (in another case) is growing - not fast but getting there.

Oh, and I received a reply from the library, about my card complaint, which included the following (the "they" referred to below being the library staff)

"I would of thought that as a regular user they would of distinguished by now that your card does not work"

Library tours? Heck yes, with a focus on dictionary corner.

My sneakers thank you, Susan. They are preening in the corner as we speak. Happy Thursday to you!

>187 charl08: Oh, Charlotte, I hope you love it!

>186 susanj67: - Yes! I love pool (am terrible at it) and of course I'd have to see the book exchange... Perhaps take a few to bring home as mementos (and clear space for more copies of Fifty Shades of Grey for you)!

>187 charl08: I er, *would of* thought the spell/ grammar check would pick that up.... I suppose points for not using text speak?

Recent novel described 1930s county house guests playing game on 'billiards' table where you ran around the table while someone else tried to throw a ball into the pockets.
Must have been pretty dull before TV.

>189 Crazymamie: Mamie, I saw from your thread that you got some steps in yesterday - woo-hoo!

>190 katiekrug: Katie, at the bargain price of 50p each, they would be perfect for using up your loose UK change :-)

>191 DianaNL: Thanks Diana!

>192 charl08: Charlotte, no. No points. Demerits for shame. Mind you, it explains a lot about why things are the way they are. I hope no-one here reads that book about alternative billiards. There's no telling what might happen as people try to eat their peri-peri chicken in peace.

I started That's Not English last night, in between TV programmes. It's hilarious. And also fascinating on the subject of the word "Quite", which, as the author points out, only the British could use as a complete sentence. But I was interested in its use as a modifier, if that's the right word - "quite good" or "quite funny". In the UK it damns with faint praise - i.e. the thing was OK but nothing marvellous. But apparently in the US it's used to mean "very". This may explain an email I received a little while ago from someone in the office who is not a native English speaker, and who described some research I had done for her as "quite helpful". As it had answered her point entirely, this made me cross, but the roomie said "Oh, she didn't mean it like that" when I read it out to her. But the roomie didn't say anything else and I thought she was just making excuses for the person. But does this sound familiar to y'all in the US? If you describe someone as "quite intelligent", is that actually a compliment, rather than suggesting that there are cleverer people out there?

Yep. That sounds familiar, and that is how I use it, so if I say a movie is quite good, I mean it is very good. It's a positive expression here.

>194 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie :-) I never knew that. I'll have to reconsider book reviews that describe books as quite good, in that case!

I've read that about quite before. I'm not sure how I use it. Quite confused now (!)

>193 susanj67: I'm with Susan. I find it one of my mother's more irritating habits, that when she's praising a meal I've cooked, and she's just eaten, the strongest praise I will get is it was 'quite' nice. I definitely don't take that as being very positive. To be fair, my mother probably means it in a more positive light than most people here. It's just she can't bring herself to be more enthusiastic than that!

When I hear it or use it "quite" is a positive statement...pretty much equal to "very" as a modifier.

It is odd. I would use quite as a one word sentence meaning something like 'exactly' or 'I couldn't put it better.' But I suppose if I'm saying I'm quite tired, or quite busy I mean it as in the 'British' sense (could be tireder). But I still wouldn't use that 'quite interesting' to mean 'not interesting enough' which I took from Susan's original message.

It must be time for a new thread? Or not quite?(!) :-)

>196 charl08: Charlotte, but you are not all the way confused, right? Just a little bit. I had no idea that it was used so differently in the US. I'd rather thought (like Lynne Truss in her foreword to the book) that I was bilingual. I mean, all y'all know I can speak Southern, right?

>197 SandDune: Rhian, I'm sure your mother does mean it in a nice way, but I know what you mean!

>198 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, aha! More evidence for the American way.

>199 charl08: Charlotte, I wouldn't say "quite interesting" means not interesting enough, exactly, but rather "not hugely interesting", or "there are more interesting things out there" - i.e. it gets over a threshold of interestingness, but lags in the league table :-)

And look! It *is* time for a new thread! :-) I will start one tomorrow, once I've finished the book, which I think I will do tonight. Dickensian isn't on till 8.30 (followed by that good nature documentary on BBC2 on 9) so I should get a bit of reading in.

>200 susanj67: dear me no, we're two countries divided by a common language. I know I use "quite" in the not exactly enthusiastic sense.

>192 charl08: I've played that, we were at a work away do, we were all rather more drunk than we should have been and I remember it being hilarious. Mind you, that's the same evening I told the MD off for being bossy, so it's all a bit hazy...

>201 Helenliz: Helen, I really thought that I knew the differences, though. And I do know plenty. But evidently not all!