Spot the Orange Penguin? Charl08 (Charlotte) reads in 2016 #14

I'm still to see one of these 'in person' but they certainly look good on screen.

They've set up a lovely site where you can preview the books' first pages.
http://www.pocketpenguins.com
(I'm such a sucker for a typeface )

Total read 268

October 8
Perfidia ( US, M, Novel )
Saturnalia ( UK, F, Novel)
The Fires of the Gods (US, F, Novel )
Shadow Game (South Africa, M, Novel )
Fish Have No Feet (Iceland, M, Novel)
The Funeral Party ( Russia, F, Novel )
Village of Secrets (UK, F, History)
Pond (UK, F, Connected short stories?)

Plus GN Ms Marvel Vol 4

September 22
Telling Tales ( UK, F, Poetry )
Conspiracy (UK, F, Novel )
Reader I Married Him (UK, F, Short Stories )
Istanbul Passage (US, M, Novel)
Born on a Tuesday (Nigeria, M, Novel)
Barbarian Days ( US, M, Autobiography)
A Masked Deception (Canada, F, Novel )
The Fortunes ( UK, M, Novel )
Between the World and Me ( US, M, Memoir)
The Schooldays of Jesus (South Africa, M, Novel )

How I Became a North Korean ( US, F, Novel )
The Golden Scales (UK, M, Novel )
A Man Lies Dreaming ( Israel, M, Novel )
The Cairo Affair (US, M, Novel)
Known and Strange Things (US, M, Non-fiction Art)
The Plague Road ( UK, F, Novel )
Nutshell ( UK, M, Novel )
Commonwealth (US, F, Novel )
Dr James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Time (South Africa, M, Biography)
Lady Cop Makes Trouble ( US, F, Novel )

Falling Awake (UK, F, Poetry )
Lumen ( US, F, Novel )

Plus GNs: Agatha: The Real life of Agatha Christie and Rinse, Spin, Repeat

Stats
October
F 5 M 3
US 2 South Africa 1 Europe 5(UK 3)
Fiction 7 Non-fiction 1
Library 6 (digital 1, audio 1), Netgalley 1, Mine 1

September
F 10 M 12
Europe 9 (UK 8) US & Canada 10 Africa 3
Poetry 2 Fiction 15 Non-fiction 4
Library 18 Mine (Temporarily!) 1 Digital 3

Previous reads here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/223566
http://www.librarything.com/topic/230395

American / British /Canadian challenges books read

January
AAC Anne Tyler The Tin Can Tree
BAC Barry Unsworth Pascali's Island.
Susan Hill Strange Meeting
CAC Kim Thúy Ru
Robertson Davies What's bred in the Bone

February
AAC Richard Russo On Helwig Street (Read)
BAC Agatha Christie biography and White Mughals William Dalrymple read
CAC The Collected Stephen Leacock Read a couple of articles, decided it wasn't for me.
True story the life and death of my brother by Helen Humphreys (Read)

March
AAC Jane Smiley didn't fit this in - will have to try harder.
BAC Ali Smith The Firstperson and other stories Read
CAC Farley Mowat My Father's Son and Anita Rau Badami The Hero's Walk (Read)

April
AAC Poetry
BAC Middlemarch oops
CAC The Handmaid's Tale oops and Sweetland Read

May
AAC Work Song Read
BAC Jane Gardam The Sidmouth Letters Read
and Robert Goddard
CAC Emily St John Mandel Last night in Montreal Read

June
AAC Annie Proulx Barkskins currently reading
BAC Joseph Conrad The Secret Agent currently reading
CAC Timothy Findley Dinner Along the Amazon read

July

AAC
BAC Bernice Rubens The Sergeants' Tale Read
CAC One of the lovely Anne of Green Gables books

August
(Pass for African reading - my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!)

Gratuitous lighthouse picture



And the swimming continues too

Happy new thread, Charlotte!

Happy New Thread, Charlotte! I have so too many books in from the library to read in time! The Parcel is in, as is Stranger: A Novel and I also have All That Man Is. In the purchased pile is Eileen and Born on a Tuesday - and I'm still in the midst of Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd. What to do? If only I could read as quickly as you do.

Hope you are enjoying your time at your aunt's place.

Oh, a new thread. Happy Days.

Happy new thread!

Happy new one, Charlotte!

Happy New Thread, Charlotte! Like those new Penguin editions.

This graphic novel, Notes on a Thesis by Tiphaine Rivière came up on my twitter feed, it might appeal to you. My library doesn't have it on order so I'm going to make a suggestion to purchase.
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1110528/notes-on-a-thesis/

Happy new thread, Charlotte! I love the Penguin editions, too!

Happy new thread, Charlotte.

Happy new thread, Charlotte! I will have to look into those new Penguins. So pretty :-)

Happy new thread, Charlotte - those new Penguins are very enticing...

Happy new thread Charlotte, I like the Penguin covers.

>1 charl08: So what's up with those colorful Penguins? I mean, each has the same old words, in the same order, with the same punctuation. Couldn't you just get the fresh covers? Heehee.

Happy new one, Charlotte! Love the looks of those Pocket Penguins.

>5 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl. Hope your travels continue to be wonderful.

>6 vancouverdeb: Sounds like you're going to be busy reading for a while there. I'm tempted by all of those bar the Flavia series, which has passed me by.

>7 avatiakh: Thanks! I've been at the beach but I would rather have been in Australia drinking, sorry, tasting at a festival vineyards...

>8 cbl_tn: Thanks. Hope all your paving is done and dusted.

>9 katiekrug: Hope your Dubai trip is going to plan Katie.

>10 msf59: Thanks Mark. Hope those polar winds aren't too chilly in your book...

>11 avatiakh: Thanks Kerry - looks like fun. I love the phd comics, looks like a similar theme. Have shared with similar post academic friends.

>12 scaifea: Thanks Amber. Went past a sign for a ...'cester' place today, but didn't have time to stop.

>13 connie53: Thanks Connie. Hope the Ozeki is a worthwhile read. And that Peet feels better soon.

>14 susanj67: Hey Susan. It may be marketing, but I like it!

>15 BLBera: Thanks Beth. They are, aren't they. I'd like to pick one or two and try and collect as many covers as I could. Maybe when I win the lottery.

>16 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. Do you think they will make it to your neck of the woods? I have looked for more Mulisch.books, have plenty to read just now but will get to them eventually.

>17 weird_O: Don't stress Bill. Nothing can stop me buying the second hand ones (too) :-)

>18 Crazymamie: They are a credit to a designer somewhere Mamie.

Came home to these flowers, finally open. (Two out of about twenty bulbs planted!)



They smell beautiful.

>21 charl08: They will probably be available at some point, Charlotte, but personally I rarely buy English books. I do like good covers :-)
If you let me know when you want to start a Harry Mulisch I might join you.

>22 charl08: They look & smell good, Abessynian Gladiolus (translation of how we call them). I had them in the garden, but they only survived one mild winter.

Thanks Anita! One thing I've learned this year, I need to keep better records of what I plant. I don't think I'd plant them again as they were so unsuccessful in the garden - only the ones in pots (which came up much later) actually flowered.

I'll let you know about the Mulisch. And speaking of books , there are two I've finished...

Known and Strange Things

I've read Teju Cole's two novels, based on characters that bear a close similarity to himself, walking and thinking around New York and Lagos. Here his other writing, for Granta and as Photography Critic for the New York Times. His articles (essays) cover a huge range of topics from the election of Obama to technological tools used by artists 'curating' digital images to create (possibly) new art. I enjoyed his provocative article challenging the widely loved idea about the improving role of reading (weirdly, this point had also just been made in A Man Lay Dreaming, where "'Wolf'"s love of books is repeatedly emphasised and supported with footnotes!)

His essay on mob violence in Nigeria brought back a couple of unpleasant memories. I wish the collection included more on the Nigerian and West African art scene - hopefully he will consider writing a longer work of photographic criticism with this as a focus. I can't say that I found his photography of Switzerland as interesting. I appreciated his point that as tourists we end up replicating the same kind of images, and the same ideas about places (Switzerland mountains, Paris the Eiffel tower) - but I'm not convinced that his images shown briefly in this book, do what he hopes.

I read the whole book through in a bit of a rush as someone else (now two someone elses) had requested it at the library. I suspect it's best dipped into. The essay topics are so wide ranging, most readers will find something of interest here.

Enjoyable crime novel set in time of the Plague of London. John must try to navigate London's infected streets to find an important letter. Full of historical detail, the dirt and doubt of Londoner's lives amidst the plague provides a fascinating backdrop to the increasingly complicated mission on behalf of the King's government.

The author's historical note, with reference to an amazon critic who suggested she had done too much research (what?!) amused me greatly. Long live sarcasm.

Well, goodness, I didn't mean to but I missed a whole thread. Happy new one and hopefully I'll keep up for a bit!

Happy New Thread from me too, Charlotte! I'm getting around so little in comparison with my old practices. At least I'm going back to see what you have to say about Mulisch; I own one and am curious.....

Happy new thread, Charlotte!

Happy new thread!

I'm glad that you enjoyed Known and Strange Things, Charlotte, as I bought a copy of it last week.

>27 bell7: The last one went pretty quick, Mary.

>28 LizzieD: The Assault is brilliant. Highly recommended.

>29 Carmenere: Thanks Lynda. Underground Railroad comes out the first week in October, looking forward to that.

>30 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda.

>31 kidzdoc: Hope you enjoy it Darryl.

>22 charl08: They are lovely! I've never seen such flowers before.

"Underground Railroad comes out the first week in October". Hooray! It is such a terrific book. I wish I could send all my friends a copy.

>33 connie53: I'm not sure I'm keen to grow them again - so little actually flowered!

>34 msf59: Thanks Mark. I appreciate the thought :-)

Just been to pick up some library books: Nutshell was waiting for me, along with Commonwealth so I'm looking forward to reading that. Also two Canadian challenge books Where Nests the Water Hen and Solomon Gursky Was Here, plus a new biography, Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary.

Managed to squash in some veg picking today...

The 2016 Baillie Gifford prize longlist:

Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich, translated by Bela Shayevich (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
The Vanishing Man by Laura Cumming (Chatto & Windus)
Being a Beast by Charles Foster (Profile Books)
Stalin and the Scientists by Simon Ings (Faber & Faber)
Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson (Granta Books)
This Is London by Ben Judah (Picador)
The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar (Viking)
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Bodley Head)
East West Street by Philippe Sands (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey by Frances Wilson (Bloomsbury)

>36 charl08: "squash in"! Hee :-) Those look great!

>38 susanj67: Trying to come up with a decorative function for them (they don't really taste of anything!)

LOL! They sure are pretty, though.

Oh your squash are so cute! They sell tiny squash around here in the grocery stores to use for decoration. I'm not sure if people pile them into a bowl, or line them up on their mantle, but I've always that they looked very cute!

>40 Crazymamie: >41 vancouverdeb: My dad suggested I put them on a string and make a necklace. :-)

If they keep growing I'll have about the same amount again so might offer them to my mum's church for Harvest festival time.

Reading (slowly )Waterlog , lovely stuff about swimming and natural Britain.

The great thing about an aimless swim is that everything about it is concentrated in the here and now; none of its essence or intensity can escape into the past or future. The swimmer is content to be borne on his way full of mysteries, doubts and uncertainties. He is a leaf on the stream, free at last from his petty little purposes in life.

>37 charl08: I had This is London as a library e-book for a couple of months but never got to it. I read a couple of pages, enough to think it would be an interesting read. Same for The Assault, sitting on my e-reader but the loan kept expiring before I got going.

>42 charl08: I managed to snag a copy of Waterlog on inter-library loan. There are only 2 copies in all of British Columbia library systems. Well snag not really, it's on its way from somewhere! It sounds intriguing to me (as a swimmer). There were some wonderful swimming references in Helen Humphreys, The River about "wild" swimming in rivers close to Kingston, Ontario. I have lived there so I could really picture it. Nice.

>37 charl08: I am tremendously enthusiastic about Laura Cumming's book about Velazquez; it will end up on my top 10 of the year, I'm sure. Hisham Matar's memoir also was excellent; in some ways, I enjoyed it more than his second novel, which was just a variant on the themes he explored in the first, of a fatherless boy. The memoir makes sense of those themes... The Ben Judah book is on my Kindle, but I'll get to the ARC of his new book, about Ukraine, before I read the London book, alas. Looks like a great list. Glad that Svetlana Alexeievech's books are appearing in English at least. Some were available in French, but not all of them even then...

Yes, definitely dip into the Teju Cole essays. That's what I've been doing, with the goal of finishing up the book for next month's non-fiction challenge, since many of them are political, or for November, when we'll be reading essays. We'll see...

>44 mdoris: Oh dear, not a major Helen Humphreys fan, but I may have to get that, as I went to Queen's!

What do you think of the Man Booker shortlist, Charlotte? I've only read two of the longlist books thus far -- My Name is Lucy Barton and Work Like Any Other -- and neither wowed me, so I'm just as pleased that both are gone. I've tiptoed into the Madeleine Thien, but it's going to require more time and concentration than I can muster right now.

I started reading the Judith Flanders mysteries and love them, though, so thanks for that tip. Exactly what the doctor ordered.

>43 avatiakh: Hope you get a chance to read The Assault - for a relatively short book it packed a punch.

>44 mdoris: I'll have a look for The River. Note to self. Never call a book 'The River' (hundreds of them!)

That sense of familiarity has been hitting me over the last couple of chapters of Deakin's book. Despite spending most of my childhood weekends (it feels like) in one or other of Cambridge's swimming pools I had no idea about the history of swimming in the rivers. The stuff about the fens was lovely too - one of my teachers was very keen on local history before communities were dried out, and it reminded me of talks about eel baskets and boats :-)

>45 Chatterbox: Great to hear more feedback on the non-fiction list. I like the way you've managed to work Cole's book into two month's themes. I expected to love it a bit more than I did.

As far as the Booker shortlist goes I was glad Do Not Say We Have Nothing made it. All That Man Is is a great read but I was never convinced that it was a novel. Maybe I should reread it. Deborah Levy's book I liked but didn't love, which is odd given that the daughter character is pretty much in my situation (workwise, not parentwise!) . His Bloody Project was an ok read but didn't wow me either.
The other two I've not read...

Hurrah for Judith Flanders.

>46 charl08: Kingston was a wonderful magic place for me winter and summer with that gorgeous huge lake Ontario, trails, cross country skiing, sailing, ice sailing ( I hitched a ride), swimming in deserted small lakes north. Oh boy, such good memories. Long time ago however. Hope that you got to see some of this when you were at Queens Chatterbox! I didn't go to Queens but had my first Speech Pathology job in Kingston, looking out towards the lake.

Great to see the reviews of the Booker short list books. Thank you Charlotte! Your childhood swims and memories sound wonderful.

That sounds lovely Mary. Active and full of fresh air.

I've just read his description of a brine spa that's not horribly far away and I wondered why I'd not come across it. Sure enough, it closed in 2009. On the flip side, the Roman baths in (surprising this) Bath are now accompanied by what was (to me) a wonderful new spa facility complete with a rooftop pool you can watch the world go by in...

Now reading

Dr James Barry

Hi Charlotte - Waterlog sounds great. Do Not Say We Have Nothing is one book I'd like to read - the Booker list did not call to me this year. You took care of that for me!

All of this lovely swimming chatter ! My memories of swimming in the wild are a little less " pleasant." Richmond, my part of the city, was full of open ditches to manage the fact that Richmond is at sea - level and the water had to be able to flow through the city at high and low tide ( since we are at the mouth of the Fraser River and on the Pacific Ocean. Thus, I am sure most every child feel into a ditch and I think that is how I learned how to float on my back. They were quite filthy however. One did not swim in them, but we did jump the ditch as a contest and if you were unlucky, you sometimes fell in. We also used the really big ditches to launch rather shady water craft, like a big piece of corrugated plastic. But we did also have the ocean, which I recall as very cold. My favorite place to swim was the neighbour's pool, which they kept at 86 F and I've never been able to tolerate anything much less clean or warm .

edited to add - those ditches are now 90% covered and replaced by big underground pipes. Yes, we have a dyking system in Richmond so as to stay above the water.

>50 BLBera: I just came back from the library where mum and I volunteer for a refugee meet and greet. It was still on the shelf. I felt like putting a sign on it! Take this book!

>51 vancouverdeb: Those ditches don't sound like my cup of tea Deborah. I was never a particularly brave kid, I'd have been avoiding that jumping game altogether. The bit of Waterlog I read that has struck home is his claim that cold water has loads of health benefits, boosting immunity and metabolism.

I suppose that those ditches weren't really anyone's cup of tea, but when you're a kid playing outside all day, you develop a use for those ditches. Jumping the ditch was a pretty exiting game . Oh that's so nice that you and your mum volunteer for a refugee meet and greet! So lovely of you. Earlier today I realized it another Can Lit Prize Shortlist was up and guess what - The Parcel by Anosh Irani is on it. The one I purchased ( shhh ). So I think maybe I should be a Can Lit judge ;)

>53 vancouverdeb: I suspect I would have been reading by the side of the ditch (it's what I did in playparks for years)!

I'm not sure about the lovely. It's a very small thing. They are so desperate to practice English - unlike in Canada, we seem to be behind in funding and running classes (at least from what I've observed here).

Way to go with the CanLit look forward to hearing more about your choices.

Guardian Reviews Non-Fiction


Far & Away: Reporting from the Brink of Change by Andrew Solomon reviewed by Caroline Moorehead
"...reflect the central concerns of his life: art, mental health, gay rights and countries in momentous times..."


Born to run by Bruce Springsteen reviewed by Richard Williams
"...as rich in anecdote and detail as in anguish and doubt."


A Little History of Religion by Richard Holloway reviewed by Tim Whitmarsh
...at his best in the closing chapters, where he explores the meaning for us today of thousands of years of reflection on religion, this most peculiar aspect of human culture."


Hero of the Empire: The Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard reviewed by Kwasi Kwarteng
"...unusual in the attention it pays to South Africa as the scene of Churchill's military adventures."


The Senecans: four men and Margaret Thatcher by Peter Stothard reviewed by Emily Gowers
"...artful blend of truth and fiction is the right device, as it was once for Tacitus and Seneca, to nail the absurdity of those times..."


The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla reviewed by Sandeep Parmar
"...interrogate a British national culture trapped in a post-imperial state of nostalgia. There is a strong sense throughout that white universal experience is a fiction against which black and Asian writers must racialise themselves for a reading audience."


The Ethical Carnivore: my year killing to eat by Louise Gray reviewed by Steven Poole
"Most wince-inducing, Gray writes of her "gratitude" to birds and animals she has just slaughtered by firearm or knife... as though the beasts had generously volunteered..."

Guardian Fiction reviews


Sex and Death edited by Sarah Hall and Peter Hobbs reviewed by Chris Power
"...surprisingly little actual sex, and no descriptions of death to equal the "evil smelling emptiness" Hemingway writes of in The Snows of Kilimanjaro..."


The Wonder by Emma Donoghue reviewed by Justine Jordan
"...draws out the suspense with her customary combination of historical verve and emotional delicacy..."


All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan reviewed by John Burnside
"...working in the great tradition of tragic fiction...the same shadowy spaces as Emma Bovary or Anna Karenina.

(Interrupted by lunch. Back soon...)

ETA


Conclave by Robert Harris reviewed by Ian Sansom
"...there is only one word to describe Robert Harris's new novel, and it is this: unputdownable.... not a necessary indicator of its overall quality."


No knives in the Kitchens of this City by Khaled Khalifa reviewed by Robin Yassin-Kassab
"...turns the setting, Aleppo, into the novel's central character. "Cities die just like people".

Plus crime fiction roundup featuring Out of Bounds, Wilde Lake, Blood Wedding Black Night Falling and Blackwater.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/23/the-best-recent-crime-novels-review...

All reviews in full at www.guardian.co.uk/books

Happy Saturday, Charlotte! I want to read the Springsteen memoir. I wonder who will narrate the audio version, because I would love to go that route.

I have the Millard Churchill book, ( I have a slight crush on Millard) waiting nearby. I NEED to find time for it. Been hearing good things about the Donoghue too.

A crush on Millard? Oh my.

I've not read any Donoghue, but this one might tempt me.

I've already read Conclave, thanks to NetGalley. It's not up to the standards of his Cicero trilogy, but it's entertaining. I saw the twist coming from a mile away, though.

Needless to say, have already downloaded the Donal Ryan novel. I'm a MASSIVE fan.

Hm, the one about Aleppo sounds like it might be interesting.

>59 Chatterbox: I've read a few of Harris' books - I loved Enigma - but this one didn't appeal. I'm hoping the Ryan is in the library sharpish.

>60 ursula: I'm tempted by that one too. I know very little about the country and with everything going on that seems foolish.

I've picked up Commonwealth. I love it when a favourite author has a new book and you can just slip into it...

The Aleppo one sounds good to me, too. Lots of promising ones in the review this week, Charlotte.

I've tried others of Khalifa's novels and have found them hard to get into. Quite possibly my fault, so... That said, my memories of Aleppo as a beautiful, vibrant, history-filled city are so vivid, I don't want to read a novel about life the despoiled city. The news is bad enough.

>62 BLBera: I'm trying to be good because the reserves are overwhelming at the moment. Despite that there are several that I want to read!

>63 Chatterbox: Fair enough. I liked the sound of a sweeping historical novel that might give me some insight into why now, why at all. Hope the Ryan is good - I am hoping I might be able to snag a copy in the library where the refugees meet.

Ooh, the Winston Churchill one looks good. It's gone onto the library wishlist. Thank goodness there are no limits on the number of books that can be added to that. Happy Sunday, Charlotte!

>65 susanj67: our library system has lists Susan. I have twenty something at last count... Handy. I think my dad might have that Churchill book under the tree for Xmas. Only (mumble mumble) shopping days to go, right?

I finished Commonwealth. I love Ann Patchett. Even things that annoy me in other books I like when she writes it. Will have to think of something intelligent to say about it (or failing that, just something to remind myself when I can't remember the plot in a month's time...)

Still reading Dr James Barry: James (Margaret) has made it to Cape Town as an army surgeon. Evidence from letter suggests that Napoleon’s right hand man, held under guard after trying to smuggle letters out of St Helena, described Barry as having the appearance and voice of a woman. Why did noone challenge her?

Anyone going to see Ann Patchett talk about her book (only in the US, weeps bitterly to self)

Upcoming Author Events
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
7:30 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
SYMPHONY SPACE, 2537 Broadway New York, NY 10025
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
7:00 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
HARVARD BOOK STORE, The First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
6:00 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
AN UNLIKELY STORY BOOKSTORE, 111 S ST Plainville, MA 02762
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 06
7:30 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA/MONTGOMERY AUDITORIUM, 1901 Vine ST Philadelphia, PA 19103
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 07
7:00 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
PITTSBURGH ARTS AND LECTURES, Carnegie Library Lecture Hall 4400 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15213
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11
7:00 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
MALAPROPS, Humanities Lecture Hall, UNC, Asheville
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12
7:00 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
RAINY DAY BOOKS, Kansas City, MO (Unity Temple on the Plaza 707 W 47th St)
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13
7:00 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
LEFT BANK BOOKS, 399 North Euclid Avenue St. Louis, MO 63108-1245
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18
7:00 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO/TALKING VOLUMES, THE FITZGERALD THEATER 10 E Exchange ST Saint Paul, MN 55101
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21
5:30 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
MCLEAN AND EAKIN BOOKSELLERS, 307 E Lake ST Petoskey, MI 49770
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22
7:00 PM
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett will be featured on/at:
HORIZON BOOKS, Lars Hockstad Auditorium, 301 Seventh Street, Traverse City

I'm digging a new border. This has turned out to be much harder work than I anticipated. What you can't see in the picture is that the tree at the end of the garden has roots everywhere...

Whoa, that looks like work. Outside work at that. Best of luck, friend. I do love the fence!

And Happy Sunday!

>69 charl08: Of course it's more difficult than expected. Has any gardening task ever been easier than expected?

I may have gotten a bit over-excited when we were in the Netherlands and now I'm faced with so many bulbs to plant. Luckily, it's been warmer than usual, so I'll be able to put it off until early November, but it will be a lot of work.

Charlotte, that border looks like hard work. I'm sure it will be beautiful when it's done. I'm going to see if there are still tickets to see Ann Patchett in St. Paul.

Charlotte, that looks quite hard enough even with the tree root situation. Don't hurt your back!

Hi Charlotte! Beautiful Squash!! Picture perfect, in fact.

So, I've checked my library for the Bailie Gifford LL and I've found 5 of them, I think, and placed a request for them.
Some of these awards are more accessible to me than others. I'll root out those and add them to my 2017 thread.

>70 scaifea: Ooh, all my own work (well, I painted it, anyhow).

>71 RidgewayGirl: That's been my experience! I like digging (it's a rare example of immediate tangible results) but the roots, not so much. Still, good exercise!

Do you have a fancy bulb planter? I want one of these...

Via http://www.eckman.co.uk

>72 BLBera: Fingers crossed for tickets Beth.

>73 susanj67: Thanks Susan. Mostly the glutes feeling it now. Hoping all the physio "core" exercises have worked.

>74 Carmenere: That makes sense. The CanLit ones can be tricky to get hold of here. Go with what works for you.

>69 charl08: Preparing a border is hard work, Charlotte, and roots of trees make it even harder.
I planned to do some work in the garden this weekend, but the weather was (again) way to warm to do anything outside, so the garden has to wait a few more days... But so I had a lot of reading time ;-)

Hi Charlotte! Hope you had a great weekend!

>69 charl08: Looks great! I started a garden this year, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted. The hostas didn't really squeeze through and I only got two carrots.

>77 FAMeulstee: I was tempted to stay in and read, but it was lovely weather for digging here. I want to get in some seeds which say they can survive the winter - at least to try!!

>78 The_Hibernator: Sorry about your garden. There are lots of things that didn't work for me this year, and things that grew in completely unexpected ways. Hope your hostas make it next year. Ours were eaten to the ground by slugs for years but seem to be making a comeback...

From Alice Oswald's new book Falling Awake
....
beans synchronised in rows
soft fanatical irresponsible beans
behind my back
breaking out of their mass grave

at first just a rolled up flag
then a bayonet a pair of gloved hands....

So I've read two books lately by big hitters Ian McEwan and Ann Patchett. The first, Nutshell was an intriguing idea for a novel - narrated by a foetus - but didn't really grab me. On the other hand Commonwealth I just wanted to read in one big go and ended up reading at five am instead of turning a podcast on and dozing back to sleep.

I'd read Nathalie's comments on the McEwan, and agreed it didn't quite work. For me I was able to suspend belief that the foetus somehow had picked up notions of colour from description and politics from podcasts but weirdly the point where it fell down was the wine drinking. Who drinks multiple glasses of wine when pregnant these days? Irrational, but I just disconnected at that point. Framed around a murder plot, but it was almost incidental to his narrator's discovery of the world. I wouldn't rush to recommend it.

Patchett's novel on the other hand had the weight of feeling real, authentic. Using a large step-family as a connection over decades, characters fall in love, age, fall out, get sick and with the benefit of hindsight see their relationships with siblings and parents in new ways. If that sounds super vague, good. Read the book for the good stuff. If you like Elizabeth Strout and Ann Tyler this should be your bag (but I know lots of us know this already! I'm pleased to see my fellow library users have requested this too - ten waiting).

Happy Sunday, Charlotte. I am so glad you enjoyed Commonwealth. Looking forward to that one. I wish I was off that weekend in late October. I would definitely consider driving up to Petoskey MI, to see and hear Patchett.

Boo, she is not coming to the Chicagoland.

I've glad you enjoyed Commonwealth. I have " seen it around" in the stores etc, but I have so many TBR, that for now, I'm not biting. We have such totally different cover on the book here in Canada. I think I prefer ours. As for Ian McEwen, he's just not my bag. I've read The Children Act, which was okay, and Atonement which I thought was quite out of date. I think Ian McEwen cannot write from a woman's point of view. Maybe I'll try Nutshell, but the idea of the book being narrated by a fetus is not my thing.

You've convinced me to read Commonwealth.

>1 charl08: Those pocket penguins are going to be tempting!

Great comments about Commonwealth. I'm fairly new to Patchett and I have that one on hold. I'm #95 in the queue for one of 214 copies so I should get it pretty soon. I believe she was here in Seattle last week (?) but I couldn't fit it into the week....

Tried to put All We Shall Know on hold but they don't have it yet. I read and loved The Thing about December by same Donal Ryan.

Have a great week, Charlotte!

>81 msf59: Look forward to hearing what you think Mark. Loved it.

>82 vancouverdeb: Deborah, when you have some space, hope you can get hold of a copy. It reminded me of Did you ever have a family - but better. I'm a bit scared to reread Atonement - I loved it, but it was a long time ago that I read it.

>83 RidgewayGirl: My Patchett proselytising has no bounds. Hope you like it!

>84 EBT1002: Yup. I've yet to see one in a bookshop and that's all that is stopping me! Hope your copy of Commonwealth comes soon, and that your library manages to find the Ryan.
Hope P is feeling better too.

>80 charl08: Charlotte, Commonwealth sounds really good. Onto the list it goes. (Naturally I had to check the library catalogue just to satisfy myself that it's not sitting over the road, and it's not. Whew! Particularly as I've just been there, and I've earmarked lunchtime to look more closely at Waterstones' classics offerings.)

>86 susanj67: Hope you had fun in Waterstones Susan!

Accidentely stumbled upon a very special penguin:
http://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/books/2016/09/21/winnie-the-pooh-new-cha...

Charlotte--Popping in to wish you a Happy Monday! Love your recent reviews, especially Comonwealth. I do love Patchett. And, actually, your review of Nutshell was also valuable, because I think I am going to pass on that one!! LOL

>88 FAMeulstee: So cute!

>89 Berly: Valuable? I'm leaning towards avoiding McEwan in future unless someone raves about a book. In which case I will reverse my position posthaste.

Have just realised that the sequel to Girl waits with Gun is out. Sod the library books, the digital library books, the TBR pile and the netgalleys. I'm reading Lady Cop Makes Trouble.

>68 charl08: I wish the one in Asheville was some other night, preferably a weekend.

Hi Charlotte - They were sold out. :( I need to look into getting season tickets for the author events. Colson Whitehead is also coming, also sold out.

I have to do some grading and then back to Commonwealth.

>91 thornton37814: Sorry to hear that!

>92 BLBera: Crumbs, I guess they're popular people :-) Season tickets sound like a fun thing to have. I looked into membership of the Edinburgh book festival - you got advance ticket access, which appealed!

Dr James Barry
This was a fascinating slice of history as well as a detailed biography. Barry was in South Africa when the Cape was a small trading post, in the Caribbean before the end of slavery, saw Florence Nightingale's reforms at Scutari... The amount of research the authors have done covers different continents, private and state archives and has turned up new and intriguing evidence of how Barry kept her/his secret.



Barry was an argumentative character, so the records include evidence of disagreements (and near court martials), making for great sources for the historian. The author's medical knowledge means the cases are discussed in terms of current insight as well as what was known to Barry.

I got a bit annoyed by the recreation of 'James' wandering around the different towns and cities as if the authors had a direct line to his memories, but by the end I had accepted it as poetic licence. Well worth reading.

Female Cop Makes Trouble
I loved Girl Waits With Gun so read this immediately when I found it had been released on kindle. It's a sequel, so I think you'd miss most of the plot (and the point) if not reading the first one. Constance Kopp, the 'female cop' of the title is the main reason I enjoy these so much - she's a woman in 1915 who finally finds a place where she fits - in the sheriff's department. She's fun to read - confident in her own abilities and questioning what's going on around her. I liked this a lot, but it is Girl Waits with Gun that I'll continue to recommend.

Hi Charlotte - I'll look for Dr. James Barry; it sounds fascinating. I think I'll pass on the Stewart; I really liked the first one and thought it was just fine as a standalone. Why does everything need a sequel?

True. I get the feeling Stewart did so much research she had plenty more on the real Kopp to draw on. The power of the secret of who Fleurette really is, and the sisters' discovery of independent living was missing though.

Digging continued round ours today - Dad got his axe out to give me a hand with some of the more tenacious roots. I've not cleared all the roots - when we noticed the concrete base of the fence was wobbling, decided to let some remain.

I've put in some of the plants, just to get an idea of what I night do with it in Spring. The raspberry I'm hoping will survive the winter with a bit of insulation.

>95 charl08: Dang! I was hoping for a more enthusiastic endorsement of Lady Cop Makes Trouble. But you said you liked it so I still added it to my ever-growing TBR series list.

Ooh, Lady Cop Makes Trouble. I have had an ERC of this one for several months. I just couldn't book horn it in. Girl Waits With Gun is a tough one to top but I am glad you are still recommending the follow-up.

>99 Berly: I really really liked the first one Kim. My expectations were completely unreasonable...

>100 msf59: The tough second book Mark. I'd be interested to hear what you make of it, of course.

Still reading Waterlog
...The previous year, the Farleigh swimmers had been joined one hot Sunday by a bullock which leapt in beside them off an old diving board support. A crowd of 200 watched it swim downstream pursued by club members with a rope. It had eventually scrambled back ashore. Nothing like this ever happens in swimming pools.

Ooh, a new Ann Patchett! I am excited!

Hope you get to read it soon! V. Good.

>98 charl08: Charlotte, it looks like you had some sun yesterday. The border is looking good. (Wise move re the fence, though). The James Barry book looks interesting - I'm trying not to look it up in the library catalogue. Maybe I should go to a meeting and that might stop me.

Going to a meeting seems a bit extreme Susan...

Thanks for the encouragement re the border. I looked at it this morning and thought 'what a mess'. Then I went and bought snowdrops from aldi for 99p. This made me feel better. Rain means I've got an excuse to have a break today...

Dr James Barry sounds interesting, Charlotte. I did a double take when I looked at the book cover in detail and noticed the subtitle "A Woman Ahead of Her Time"!

>107 kidzdoc: Yup, in this case the title does not exaggerate. First surgeon, first senior army commission, the list goes on.

Alice Oswald Falling Awake



It is a story of the falling rain
to turn into a leaf and fall again

It is the secret of a summer shower
to steal the light and hide it in a flower

and every flower a tiny tributary
that from the ground flows green and momentary

is one of water's wishes and this tale
hangs in a seed-head smaller than my thumbnail...

Hi, Charlotte.

I'm glad you liked Lady Cop Makes Trouble. I'll add it to the WL.

Hello, er...



:-)

>95 charl08: I really liked the first book, and am looking forward to this one. Her grouchy sister cracked me up.

To the Tower and off with my head for not getting out early in the damp to see Kate and Will! :P Nearly finished Born on a Tuesday. I'm enjoying, just been busy with " real life" and of course, following the Royal Tour from the comfort of my own home via TV and the Royal Blogs :)

>112 rosylibrarian: Yup, I liked the sisters too. The Pigeon messages cracked me up.

>113 vancouverdeb: Hope the royal blogs tell you what you need Deborah! Seems like the kids went to the zoo yesterday!

Reading update

Outstanding Netgalley books

Stalin and the Scientists: A History of Triumph and Tragedy 1905-1953 The Guardian liked it. I think.
Days Without End I like Barry's other books.
Another Day in the Death of America Yonge's book about the children shot dead in one day in the US has the potential to be harrowing.
The Black Prince of Florence: The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro de' Medici Fletcher, I forgot I requested this one.
The Wangs vs The World Not calling my name.
The Futures Pitoniak, Anna Ditto.
Fish Have No Feet reading this one - mad book about am Icelandic publisher having a breakdown (I think...)
The Power
The Long, Long Life of Trees Annoyingly, the formatting is rubbish on this one, though the illustrations are beautiful. Behold the Dreamers I got stuck. Beth is enthusiastic, so I'm going to try again.
Swing Time Love Zadie Smith.

Library books to read
Too many

Digital (Borrow box) books to read
Perfidia (only 900 digital pages to go!)

Happy Thursday, Charlotte! We have the exact same books out from the library.

What a coincidence, Mamie!

Lumen
German army officer in Poland in 1939 finds that there is more to the death of a nun than Polish resistance gone wrong: and a can of worms is opened... a bit too much catholic guilt for my taste (and for some reason 'hand carry' instead of 'carry by hand' annoyed me each time she used it. Unfair).

Found a copy of this today :-)

Wanted to write "Happy New thread" bus as I already missed 119 posts, I'll say "Very Happy Thread" instead. :)
>4 charl08: Now that's an original lighthouse! and on a beautiful beach...

Might be time to reread Siddharta with all my spiritual readings right now. Lovely cover!

>115 charl08: Charlotte, when I came by yesterday your post just had the headings - "Outstanding Netgalley books" "Library books" etc but no titles and I thought you finally had too many to list :-) I saw that Gary Younge book somewhere - maybe Waterstones. His writing for the Guardian always annoys me, but it looks like a worthwhile read. I'm doing Stoptober (for books) this year, as well as No!vember, which wasn't the world's biggest success last year because of all the library reserves. So I basically have today to get anything else :-)

>120 Deern: Holidays can include LT too! Hope you're feeling better. I've only ever looked at Hesse's poetry before, and not got very far, so would be good to read this.

>121 susanj67: Crumbs. I definitely have plenty to read on the shelves. Will have to think if I'm going to make November - far too many reserves already for October to work.

>75 charl08: I hope you find this handy dandy bulb planter, then you too, can wear your dress shoes and gold watch while gardening ;0}

I had Behold the Dreamers visiting my house from the library but had to return it unread. I also want to read it based on Beth's warbling. Guess I'll have to wait my turn once again.

ETC: where/wear

Doesn't everyone garden in their best clothes?!!

I need to get on with Behold the Dreamers. Hopefully soon!

Well, no photo of the gardening as it was mostly bulbs (hyacinth and tulips) so Nothing to See Here people... Hopefully there will be plenty to see next spring.

I now have to document 35 hours of looking for a job each week, by order of Big Brother, so unless anyone can think of a way I can count reading and LT as searching for work, I'm guessing my reading will go down. Although I am applying for publishing jobs, so...(!)

Oh dear, Big Brother. Best wishes finding a publishing job. I am certain you would be wonderful in any book related job! ( or anything else ) .

>126 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah! From your typing fingers to someone's tick box on an interview panel.

Thought this was interesting - translation day.

What's your favourite book in translation?
(Mine is Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/30/translated-book-sales-are-up-but-b...

Hi Charlotte - Have a lovely weekend. I hope it's rainy so you can rest from digging. ;)

Hmm - Favorite book in translation? That's a tough one.

I LOVED Commonwealth - beautifully written snapshot of contemporary families.

It is tricky to narrow it down to one book! I'm having a similar problem with a competition to win a book a month for the restof your life. What's the book that means the most to me? No idea.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/30/london-bookshop-offers-prize-of-a-...
(Amused that they say you never need to buy a book again. Only buy 12 books a year?!!)

Guardian Reviews Fiction


Eve Out of Her Ruins by Ananda Devi reviewed by Deborah Smith
"...a stunning immersion in Troumaron, an impoverished area of Port Louis, and in the surges of teenage lust. But these sensory details are more than a mere backdrop: they are an environment where poverty, combined with tropical heat, seems to produce identities still uncomfortably in flux."


Holding by Graham Norton reviewed by Jenny Colgan
"...an utterly unblarneyfied vision of rural Ireland which makes it seem dreary, sad and miserable, yet still draws you in. "


Nicotine by Nell Zink reviewed by Joe Dunthorne
" Zink is brilliant at the brutal contradictions of end-of-life care, the ethics of navigating between painful consciousness and comfortable death, between sentience and anaesthetic."


The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross reviewed by Bernadine Evaristo
"...characters are always powerfully delineated through brilliant visual descriptions, dialogue that trips off the tongue, and keenly observed behaviour. He excels at creating empathetic female characters. "


The Trees by Ali Shaw reviewed by Hannah Beckerman
"The strength of the novel – Shaw’s third – is in the visceral descriptions of the forest: the reader feels, smells and hears the trees, convincingly portrayed as sinister, formidable and with unnerving intentions of their own."

I want to read Eve Out of Her Ruins , don't think I have read anything from Mauritius. Also like the sound of The Bone Readers.

Guardian Reviews Non-fiction


Kenneth Clark by James Stourton reviewed by Mary Beard
"It is always dangerous to investigate marital wars from beyond the grave, and even more presumptuous to try to apportion blame. But biographers should watch their rhetoric and at least let the different parties keep their dignity. Stourton tries, but does not always succeed."


The Making of the British Landscape by Nicholas Crane reviewed by Andrea Wulf
"Britain’s destiny was shaped to a surprising degree by the sun and by southerners. "


The House of the Dead by Daniel Beer reviewed by Donald Rayfield
"The worst aspect of the tsarist penal system was corruption (although bribery often mitigated the prisoners’ pain); the best aspect was the sympathy people felt for the “unfortunates”


The Book of Hygge by Louisa Thomsen Brits reviewed by Zoe Williams
"...reliably delivers small pages and an incredibly large font,"


Walls Come Tumbling Down: the music and politics of rock against racism by Daniel Rachel reviewed by John Harris
"...a tale of resistance: first, against a surge of racism and bigotry that an inspired group of activists and musicians played a key role in rolling back"

I like the sound of hygge but I don't think this is the book about it for me!

>129 charl08: Only twelve books a year? Bless :-) Maybe they have a lending library side to the business. I'd be tempted to nominate The Pursuit of Love, as Nancy Mitford used to work there. But if it's a random draw then I suppose it doesn't matter. Just pick something that you're actually interested in, because the books for life will no doubt all be on a similar subject!

Sorry about the 35 hours a week - how on earth are you supposed to document it?!

>131 charl08: That excerpt from the review of Hygge made me laugh out loud! And I think I'm going to be exploring that concept myself during winter here. :)

I remember really liking Miss Smilla's Feeling of Snow ("Smilla's Sense of Snow" on this side of the pond), Charlotte.

Because I'm a Murakami nut, I'd pick Kafka on the Shore, translated by Philip Gabriel, as my favorite.

I've also been repeatedly impressed by Stephen Sartarelli's translations of Andrea Camilleri's Italian Montalbano mysteries, which somehow manage to give the local flavor so well.

Hi Charlotte - Happy Guardian review day. Several look good to me, but I love the Shaw cover!

I chuckled at Susan's comment - 12 books a year and you never have to buy another book? I wish!

Have a great weekend.

>133 ursula: Can you tell she wasn't a fan? I do love the idea (not least because some seems to involve reading in front of open fires) though.

>134 jnwelch: Funny that different title Joe. I think he created such a great character in Smilla, but the translator did an amazing job conveying so much in a readable way when the cultural and geographic context was so complex.

>135 BLBera: I'm not sure we're the target market for this (unless maybe we signed up for the same thing at about 6 different bookshops?!) Hope you have a good weekend too.

Argh, I missed >132 susanj67:

The 35 hour thing reminded me of a job presentation by a management consultant who said they billed in margins of fifteen minutes.

I like your thinking re Mitford. Apparently they're going to compile the answers as a list of best reads, so I better up my game from 'its just really good, ok?!'

Next up is The Gene. It's a total brick at 500 pages plus, but it's got a time line, so that's good. Someone else has requested it so I better get on with it. (35 hours permitting)

Appalling pun warning. Mendel apparently tried breeding mice before looking at the heredity in peas. 'The abbot had acquiesced. He drew the line at mice, but didn't mind giving peas a chance.' (!)

Hmm- my favourite translated book? That would be a challenge to narrow it down. Maybe All Quiet on The Western Front, or the mystery series from Karin Fossum.

Enjoy The Gene! Cloudy here today! Off to walk the dog soon .

Thanks Deborah. He's such an engaging writer, I'm enjoying the science so far. Hopefully I'll still be enjoying it when he gets to the hard stuff in the 20c.

I finished the James Ellroy I had been reading through my library's new digital app 'Borrowbox'. I'm not sure if it was the medium or the length of the book (1800 digital pages) but I struggled with this one, despite enjoying his books in the past and thinking the period setting (corrupt LA after Pearl Harbor) was fascinating. The book alternates between the narrative of Kay, a young woman living with a corrupt cop, Hideo, a Japanese American working in the police lab, and two rival police officers chasing their own ends Real people, especially Bette Davies, drip through the narrative too. I'd have happily just read about Hideo and Kay!


Bette helping the war effort.


Trying to counter anti-Japanese feeling

>138 charl08: Ooh, that one looks good :-) I have his The Emperor of All Maladies on my Pulitzer list, but I'm in no danger of getting to it any time soon.

>139 charl08: LOL :-)

>138 charl08: Oh! I loved his book Emperor of All Maladies, I hope this book is just as good.

The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross looks good...

I just put The Gene on hold at the library. It's so big, I may have to just buy it instead, though.

Happy October!

Finally caught up on your thread, Charlotte, and you've got me even more excited about Commonwealth than I already was :)

>142 susanj67: I want to read that one too. Probably not soon though, if this one is the same size...

>143 The_Hibernator: It's very good so far, very readable.

>144 EBT1002: I'm tempted by that one too Ellen.

The Gene is a lovely edition. Definitely worth the money (I'm such an enabler)

>145 katiekrug: Katie, I'm amazed you're not buried under a pile of packing (or a list about packing?!) I am so going to grab the first clean second hand copy of Commonwealth for my shelves.

Well, I've spent the last four hours applying for a job I could have done better two degrees ago. Never mind, eh... I think tonight calls for a crime spree. Will see if there is one available online!

>146 charl08: - Not too much packing to do, as the relocation package includes full service packers and movers :) Just need ot pack the things I don't trust someone else to..... So I've been nice and lazy this weekend!

Nothing calls to me from this week's Guardian reviews. Just as well, since the WL is already overflowing.

Good luck with the job application!

Good luck with the job? You don't sound super enthusiastic...

Enable away! Roberta and I are meeting at the U Bookstore tomorrow evening and I must have one item for purchase, right? I'll look for a copy of The Gene as well as The Bone Readers.

>148 katiekrug: Ooh, packers. That sounds very good. We had then as a kid. I loved the cardboard wardrobes they used so much I was sad to throw them out :-) Simpler time.

>149 cbl_tn: Thanks for the wishes.

>150 BLBera: Managing expectation - I think they will have lots of applications, as there are lots of library closures around here and they were asking for reference skills.

>151 EBT1002: Meeting in a bookshop? Sounds lovely. Have fun.

Morning, Charlotte! Happy New Week!

Thanks Amber! And to you...

Just got an email about a Free ebookfrom Chicago UP

Nuns Behaving Badly: Tales of Music, Magic, Art, and Arson in the Convents of Italy
Craig A. Monson
264 pages | 25 halftones | 5½×8½ | ©2010

E-book Free! See below (about e-books)
ISBN: 9780226534626

“All of the stories are engaging, and all triggered crises that might have disrupted convent life for generations.… If readers discover that they have purchased something quite richer in texture and historical content than the mildly humorous exposé of naughty nuns that they might have been expecting, so much the better.”—Historian

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/freeEbook.html

>154 charl08: I'm definitely downloading that freebie. I read an enticing review of Nuns Behaving Badly recently...yes, Barry (@baswood) from Club Read reviewed it in February.

>155 kidzdoc: I've just downloaded it, so thanks for the push to read it! I looked at the contents and it reminded me of Sarah Dunant's amazing novel Sacred Hearts, about the reforms that took away many of the freedoms of cloistered women.

Good luck keeping big brother happy, Charlotte. The Gene looks really good. Are you at the modern part yet?

Nuns Behaving Badly sounds kind of fun and interesting, Charlotte.

Saw this and thought of you, Charlotte. Maybe you've seen it.

>157 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg. I've only just reached the 20th century. Seatbelts on.

>158 vancouverdeb: I love the title, even though it does sound like an old Eric Idle film.


Via wikipedia

>159 weird_O: LOVE it! The page turning is so clever.

Hi, Charlotte! I am forced to do some skimming on the threads, due to overload, so I hope all is well and those books are treating you well.

Looking forward to getting back to full-throttle reading tomorrow.

>148 katiekrug: Katie, having now done several moves with relocation companies (seven!), my advice would be to pack any books you own yourself. We've had fewer than half of the movers know how to properly pack books, and there's nothing sadder than discovering distorted and destroyed books at the bottom of a box. If you want advice on how to pack a box of books to both withstand a move and save the movers' backs, let me know.

>161 msf59: Glad you made it home in one piece Mark!

>162 RidgewayGirl: I'm dismayed to read this. Your poor books...

Finally got myself caught up here Charlotte. Hardly surprised but still impressed that you have managed 263 books already this year. xx

>162 RidgewayGirl: - Tips are always welcome! I"ve been going back and forth about whether I want to pack them myself. Time constraints are an issue, but I don't want them to get damaged....

>164 PaulCranswick: Paul I don't know how you manage to fit in touring all the threads with everything you do!

>165 katiekrug: I'll pack them for you Katie. Reasonable rates!
(Seriously, I wouldn't have a clue. What are the top tips?!)

Saturnalia
I stayed awake through an audio book! This one was great - Falco and his family encounter a German friend from an earlier adventure. The harsh aspects of slave life in Rome are explored in this book: eye opening.

The Fire of the Gods
This was a fascinating crime novel set in the royal administration of 11th century Japan. Full of detail, as our hero loses his civil service job, and when he tries to find our why, is accused of a murder.

Oof. After a day with an uncooperative printer, time for reading g today has been rubbish. I've started what I'm terming 'the scary eugenics section' of The Gene. I always forget how popular the movement was in America - Mukherjee explains the process of legalisation of forcible sterilisation.

I'm also reading Shadow Game which I fear is not going to End Well for the gay couple at the heart of the story. The apartheid police are onto them. It's not legal to be gay, or have a relationship across the 'race' lines, let alone live together. Different times. Thank goodness.

Punwatch continues in The Gene (although in this case more like unlikely reference watch)

Discussing genetic experiments on fruit flies:
"Muller imagined he could possible push the evolutionary cycle into hyperdrive, even creating entirely new species and subspecies in his laboratory - acting like the lord of his flies."

>168 charl08: Sorry about the unco-operative technology. So irritating.

>169 charl08: Ha! I hope his cancer one is as good, although I'm tempted to read this one first. After the end of November, obviously.

And well done re the audio book! I go straight to sleep when I try them, like someone has flicked a switch.

Katie and Charlotte, here are my book packing tips. I learned most of them while packing up boxes of books for a non-profit that provides summer reading to elementary schoolchildren - the boxes would be stacked high on pallets and stored for months, so they had to be well-packed.

Choose smaller boxes. Ideally, you should be able to lift the box once it's packed. Keep it at under 50lbs/25kgs. If the boxes are larger (Katie, the relocation company should be overjoyed you're doing their work for them and will happily provide you with a stack of their smallest boxes), then top the box off with soft goods like blankets and sweaters.

Books must be stacked in the box. Collect books of the same size and stack them up. Liberally fill the space around the stacks with wadded-up packing paper. DO NOT arrange the books spine up in a row. This is how spines are broken and books are twisted out of shape. (Most of the damage of the books packed for me was due to the books being arranged like this, then more books stacked on top). A stack of books will not be damaged if weight is added on top, so if the box collapses a bit, the books are still fine. That's pretty much it. It's not difficult, but most packers don't learn specifically how to pack books and so inadvertently damage them. I've also been told that they hate packing books,

>171 RidgewayGirl: - Thanks, Kay!

>170 susanj67: I was thinking the Hamish Macbeth one I'm listening to now would work as a soporific but so far no. Lovely Scottish accent.

>171 RidgewayGirl: >172 katiekrug: Hopefully Katie's books will now arrive in mint condition. I'm still a bit boggled by how many times Kay has moved. I did it three times in one city and that was bad enough.

After yesterday's joyful printing experience, rotivating some of the plot and trying to help teach English (why do we say it that way? Er...) some Jacky Fleming always makes me smile.

Prize lists - I picked up a winner of this prize recently, and came across this just now.

I won't pick them all up, but several look really good!

This is the 27th year the Alan Paton Award will be bestowed on a book that presents “the illumination of truthfulness, especially those forms of it that are new, delicate, unfashionable and fly in the face of power”, and that demonstrates “compassion, elegance of writing, and intellectual and moral integrity”.
This year’s Alan Paton Award judging panel is Achmat Dangor (chair), Tinyiko Maluleke and Pippa Green.

2016 Alan Paton Award longlist

Empire, War & Cricket in South Africa by Dean Allen

JM Coetzee and the Life of Writing by David Attwell

Democracy: More Than Just Elections by Brigalia Bam

The Secret Society: Cecil John Rhodes’s Plan for a New World Order by Robin Brown

The Black Sash: Women for Justice and Peace by Mary Ingouville Burton

Papwa: Golf’s Lost Legend by Maxine Case

Birthmark by Stephen Clingman

The Pavement Bookworm Philani Dladla

To Quote Myself by Khaya Dlanga

Rape: A South African Nightmare by Pumla Dineo Gqola

What If There Were No Whites In South Africa? by Ferial Haffajee

Operation Lock and the War on Rhino Poaching by John Hanks

In Enemy Hands: South Africa’s POWs in World War II by Karen Horn

Eugene de Kock: Assassin for the State by Anemari Jansen

Leading for Change by Jonathan Jansen

How Long Will South Africa Survive?: The Looming Crisis by RW Johnson

We Have Now Begun Our Descent: How To Stop South Africa Losing Its Way by Justice Malala

Capitalist Crusader: Fighting Poverty Through Economic Growth by Herman Mashaba

God, Spies and Lies: Finding South Africa’s Future Through its Past by John Matisonn

Run Racist Run: Journeys Into The Heart Of Racism by Eusebius McKaiser

The Rainy Season: Three Lives in the New South Africa by Maggie Messitt

Deliberate Concealment: An Insider’s Account of Cricket South Africa and the IPL Bonus Saga by Mtutuzeli Nyoka

A Perfect Storm: Antisemitism in South Africa 1930 – 1948 by Milton Shain

Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness by Richard Steyn

Showdown at the Red Lion: The Life and Times of Jack McLoughlin, 1859–1910 by Charles van Onselen

http://bookslive.co.za/blog/2016/04/04/the-2016-sunday-times-alan-paton-award-lo...

>36 charl08: wonderful haul! (squash haul, for those who aren't going to refer to the picture)

>130 charl08: I take it the book about Ireland by Graham Norton is by Graham Norton the TV personality? S he's moved into fiction? Or is it more memoir I wonder?

I love the penguin reading gif gifted by Weird O ;) and the top (>1 charl08:) pocket penguin editions.

Oh, and >173 charl08:
Yes! My take on it exactly!!

>175 LovingLit: It is by that Graham Norton (I had to edit the author page. Exciting times!), but it's a story about rural Ireland. He has been on all the talk shows saying it is quite dark - and I am intrigued.

Argh. Printers. This one claims to do all sorts of whizzy stuff, but in reality it has a mind of its own!

I made a list!

https://www.librarything.com/list/11005/all/Alan-Paton-Non-fiction-Longlist-2016

Computers!

That's a long longlist. So, I was thinking of you, Charlotte, and the Orange prize. Too early to speculate for next year? I have three: Commonwealth, Homegoing and This Must be the Place. :)

Ohh lists and more lists! So many lists, not enough time! :) Yes, my printer gives me trouble too. Very temperamental.

>174 charl08: That is some list Charlotte and one that I don't yet have a single book to speak of.

>171 RidgewayGirl: What great advice, Kay.

Oh, Graham Norton! Love him! Must read.

>179 BLBera: I haven't speculated yet Beth. I'm still wondering what the impact of a shorter long list will be. More established writers?

>180 vancouverdeb: I do love a list Deborah. Printers on the other hand...

>181 PaulCranswick: None of them? Wow.
I think Kay's advice might come in useful in the future. I've just got to remember where I save it now.

An article topper from the TLS reviewing a study of Weimar era bookjackets.

Whew! Totally...exhausted...after...catching...up...280...posts since I left.
Great squash haul. Nice border, Still reading like nobody's business, I see!

Looks like an interesting book jacket review. I've not seen a book jacket review before.

>185 ronincats: Roni I'm impressed - reading all of those posts in one go after a holiday surely goes WAY beyond the call of duty. Next time by all means just skim to the bottom and say hello!

>186 vancouverdeb: Deborah I missed out the vital point it's a lengthy review of The Book Cover in the Weimar Republic. It sounds wonderful, but costs (gulp) £45!! (I'm amazed it has a link).


I finished Fish Have No Feet, which started out as an ARC, but has actually been out here since August. Oops.

Where should one stop in a story; how many stories should one tell, and what becomes of the lives that we ignore, leave behind in silence, do we compel them to a kind of death?

Wonderfully meandering book rooted in Keflavik, a small community trying to recover in the present from the departure of an American airbase and the sale of fishing rights.

Folk who live in Keflavík can hardly be said to live in Iceland, and hardly in the world, either; they live elsewhere, behind everything, within the three cardinal directions.

Stepping back into family histories of fishing, families and emigration, love stories and terrible losses. Peppered with philosophical musings on identity, motherhood and knowing each other, alongside the dark humour of the unlikeliest restaurant name, obsessions with Revolver and the power of teen love.

Memories are heavy stones that I drag behind me. Is it heavy to remember? asked Ari. No, only what you regret or long to forget - regret is the heaviest stone.

Unlike anything else I've read.

>171 RidgewayGirl: I'll also second the advice for small boxes for packing books. Makes all the difference for the removal people.

Delurking (I have no book talk in me at the moment) to add to the boxes discussion: there are actually book boxes, of which I bought many when I moved to Italy and used them again for my move this year. Bought them over the internet, they were cheap and were easy to fold/ unfold. At first I thought they were too small, but once filled they were just heavy enough. I also filled some bigger boxes with one layer of books and then added cushions, blankets and other super-light but space demanding soft things.

Wishing you a very happy weekend!

>188 avatiakh: I learned after packing my own books (to move myself) to never fill a box full - smaller boxes sound very smart.

>189 Deern: Sounds a good move Nathalie. I've just heard I've got an interview so instead of just prepping my mind has gone straight to moving house, where I would want to live... lol. This kind of thinking is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Time to think about it later on....

Happy Friday, Charlotte! Hope you had a good week. Fish Have No Feet sounds good. I am always interested in Iceland.

Same to you Mark. Fish have no Feet is available on audible...

Good luck with your interview, Charlotte. It's hard not to speculate. I hope the job would be a good fit for you.

Good luck with the interview, Charlotte. When is it?

>193 BLBera: Thanks Beth.

>194 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg. Not til Tuesday. I'm meeting up with a friend after so I can cry/laugh and get all that stress out after...

Best wishes with the interview, Charlotte! I can only say that the place of employment will be very lucky to have you on board. Let's hope that they have the sense to realize that.

Thanks Deborah - first one in ages so I'm trying to be realistic about my prospects. Have several other applications going too.

The Funeral Party
This reminded me of Mrs Dalloway, or do I mean the book about Woolf? I can't remember the title. (The Hours. Thanks Imdb!). Alik, a Russian émigré is dying in New York, surrounded by other migrants including his childhood sweetheart, his wife and his lover. It's boiling hot, he's losing muscle control, and to add to the sense of chaos, the TV news reports an attempted coup in Moscow. I'm not sure what it all meant, but it was intriguing reading.

Good luck with the interview, Charlotte. Print off your threads and they would sign you up in a trice.

I am sure you could get a teaching job in Malaysia (just sayin') - not a very subtle hint, I suppose, for some LT company!

Have a great weekend.

>198 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. I guess it depends if the hirers are readers or not!

Malaysia sounds lovely - a friend from school had close links there - but I would miss my family too much travelling so far permanently I think.

Guardian Reviews Fiction


Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst reviewed by Katy Guest
"Parkhurst confounds expectations. If this novel is part Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and part We Need to Talk About Kevin, it also contains shades of Lord of the Flies."


Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood reviewed by Alexandra Harris
"This Tempest is a chancy rock gig, glad of big noise and scuffled improvisation. Though endings are much discussed, it’s a book of fretful striving rather than repletion."


Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple reviewed by Suzi Feay
"Semple reaffirms her gift for creating memorable, monstrous characters..."


Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra reviewed by Chris Power
"... it blends fiction and memoir and messes enthusiastically with form. It is funny, melancholy, surprising. It is silly at times, profound at others."

www.guardian.co.uk/books has all the reviews plus more articles on the National Book Awards and the rise of the psychological thriller.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/08/how-we-got-to-the-girl-on-the-trai...

Guardian Reviews Non-fiction

Simon Reynolds reviewed by Sukhdev Sandhu
"...a suitably (ridiculously?) gargantuan study of “a time when pop was titanic, idolatrous, unsane, a theatre of inflamed artifice and grandiose gestures”."

The Trials of the King of Hampshireby Elizabeth Foyster reviewed by Harry Wallop
"...unpicks a complex family battle with great gusto, revealing the shabby treatment of Portsmouth by his younger brother who was trying to gain the family title and vast annual fortune of £18,000. It also shines a light on the febrile political atmosphere of the 1820s, where both anarchy and insanity were to be feared in equal measure."

The History Thieves by Ian Cobain reviewed by Ian Jack
"Why were British governments so determined to obscure and bowdlerise their country’s colonial record? .... We like secrets. "

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal reviewed by Matthew Cobb
"Virtually every characteristic that has been claimed to be uniquely human has eventually turned out to have some kind of a precursor in a close relative."

>200 charl08: >201 charl08: I've wishlisted a couple of the novels, Charlotte, and it seems that Hagseed is waiting for me at the library (reserved a while ago). The History Thieves is the one I saw at the library, about the Official Secrets Acts, and I also like the sound of The Trials of the King of Hampshire. A pretty good (imaginary) haul for me today!

I hope the interview goes well. As for what to ask, I read that a good question is "Who succeeds in this job and why?" Also "What will my goals be for the first six months of the job?" That one might weed out interviewers who aren't exactly sure what they want. I hope they realise what a gem they have sitting in front of them, and make the right decision!

Thanks Susan. Hoping I'm not double posting here.

I've requested the history thieves - I appreciate the theory but am sceptical how much he can actually have got through in the hidden archive, given how recently they admitted it existed! (Still want to read it though)

Hoping my library has Hagseed soon.

Happy Saturday, Charlotte. I have had an advanced copy of Harmony for months. I really like her work too. Will have to bookhorn it in.

Hey Mark. The review sounds intriguing, look forward to hearing what you make of the listen.

Nice view from the walk to the apple event today. There were lots of nice apples too, but I didn't take pictures.

I forgot to add a bit of a rant: The Gene includes the Watson/Crick discovery, and their horrible treatment of Franklin. Every time I read about the way the two Cambridge guys got away with using her research and taking the credit for the discovery it makes me hopping mad.

Multiple Choice is one of the books that Penguin has taken to sending me at random -- I hope this doesn't stop when they discover that my Guardian job has ended! I have a NetGalley version of Hag-Seed that I want to read when my life is less chaotic, and I got The Trials of the King of Hampshire with the last of my Kindle settlement $$ for my US Kindle. I've got a library hold on the Maria Semple novel, but it will be a while. The secrecy book looks appealing, but it will wait...

Good luck with the interview!!

Thanks Suzanne. Beth was underwhelmed by Multiple Choice http://www.librarything.com/topic/227954#5717437
so it was intriguing to read this review. I've not read anything by him so am tempted.

Thanks to someone here I've discovered LitHub, which took me to this lovely essay about a bookshop in China. I'm going to look for Browse: The World in Bookshops.

.... all things considered, life was spectacularly good: upon entering middle school I was chosen to be a librarian’s assistant. I had not set foot in a library until then, and two roomfuls of books on tall shelves almost promised the happily-ever-after.

https://granta.com/all-that-offers-a-happy-ending/

>184 charl08: that's the kind of newspaper I would read :)

Tha above cover looks spectacular also. I am reading (dipping in and out of) a Granta journal at the moment, an old one (always second hand with me!). The cover is amazing, with printers letter blocks, in reverse of course, all looking very arty.

Oh I'm the same Megan. I love it when I find Granta in the second hand shops here. Do you add them on here?

Hi Charlotte - Yes, I was underwhelmed by Multiple Choice; I applaud writers who experiment with form, but this did not work for me. I'd like to try others of his, though.

I loved Hag-Seed and the other two fiction look good. I also loved Where'd You Go Bernadette.

Good luck on your interview - what would the job be?

I wil try to, but I only add them if I read almost all of the stories in them. And if I can find the edition on here.

Hi Charlotte. I have missed heaps, but I'm just going to pick up here and try to keep up. *grin*

>211 BLBera: It's not one that I'll order but if I see a copy I might well pick it up Beth. The job's not academic but it's local enough to mean I could move out and still be able to come home often as both my siblings are more than two hours away.

>212 LovingLit: I looked at the list. Big mistake. So many I want!
http://www.librarything.com/series/Granta

>213 nittnut: Sounds good. Hope the move is going well.

I've got Today Will Be Different from the library, but I'm not sure if I'm going to read it during its 3 week check - out time. I've so many TBR's and my reading has slowed a bit lately. I think I've nearly got things sorted out with/for my elder son.

Hope you manage to get to it Deborah - sounds good.

I've been out and about today checking out a new Picasso touring exhibit at the Lady Lever Art Gallery (in the model village Port Sunlight).


Picasso linoprint, Chinese grave figures and a dome in the museum.

>217 charl08: That looks like fun! I'd love to see one of the model towns, too.

>218 susanj67: If you have the chance Susan, visit in the summer - the rows of roses outside the gallery must be amazing in full bloom. The different houses are so lovely. My friend and I played the 'if you won the lottery, where would you want to live' game. So many different styles to choose from...

They do sound lovely. For all that people criticise the old industrialists, I can't see the Mike Ashleys or the Philip Greens doing anything similar today. I read a book last year about model villages, which looked at a few of them: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/26/dreamstreets-a-journey-through-bri...

Glad you're enjoying The Gene. I just put it on my gigantic TBR list

>220 susanj67: Although the village is lovely (as is Bournville and Salt, the other two I've been to) It was interesting that there was very little mention of the link between the vast wealth and the raw materials used to get it. The joys of capitalism.

>221 The_Hibernator: You remind me that I must get back to it! It's not the kind of light book you can take to read on the train.

I'm reading Village of Secrets which is a fascinating look at a French community that protected Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. Still reading The Gene, and should (hopefully) finish Pond sharpish as it's due back at the library soon for another borrower. I'm tempted to just keep reading the latest in Parker Bilal's stories about the Sudanese investigator in Cairo. Several of the refugees I've met recently are Sudanese, and the story has links to the refugee population in the city.

I love the model villages - what fun. Village of Secrets sounds good, too.

>173 charl08: Oh, I have felt that way many a time.

Fish Have No Feet sounds quite interesting! I couldn't tell if you would recommend it....??

>223 BLBera: If you like chocolate Beth, Bournville is beautiful (although the homes don't belong to workers in the factories anymore). The smell is straight from Willy Wonka. Saltaire is the same with housing now owned privately - and they've converted the industrial buildings into an enormous gallery full of David Hockney art. Lovely.

>224 EBT1002: Jacky Fleming is a genius. I was a bit ambivalent about Fish Have No Feet - loved parts of it, but it was quite a dislocated novel - I'd be wrapped up in the story of teenagers mugging US army food supply vans in the 70s and it would jump to a tale of postnatal depression decades before. I think the digital format didn't help there.

Still reading The Gene: an intimate history. Got to the bit I never did in school, and I think my head might explode with the cleverness of the embryo development science (in flies). He's still slipping in the book titles though. Discussing Sydney Brenner's choice of a tiny worm to study genes and their impact on cell fate. "Brenner became a connoisseur of tiny organisms, a god of small things."

>200 charl08: I had Multiple Choice home from the library a few weeks ago and after thumbing through a few pages decided I couldn't be bothered with it.

Happy Monday, Charlotte. Your interview is coming up, correct? Best of luck.

>226 DianaNL: Thanks Diana

>227 avatiakh: Certainly getting a mixed response Kerry!

>228 BLBera: Yup. There has been less reading!

Although I did squeeze in a GN: Ms Marvel: Volume IV. I do like the bits where she turns into a geeky superfan and meets her heroes.

In case I don't catch you in time tomorrow, good luck with the interview!!

Thanks Katie!

I've just finished the last few pages of Village of Secrets. Really moving.

And on a really flippant note, someone should totally make a film version of Virginia Hall's life. How many female spies with prostheses (called Cuthbert) have there been in history (who survived the Nazis no less)?

I saw The Gene in the bookstore ( one day I went " mall walking " because it was raining so much ). Looks a bit like a door stopper. Glad you are enjoying it . Best of Luck with the interview on Tuesday! If they are smart , they will hire you on the spot!

Mall walking sounds like a good idea in horrible weather Deborah.

Re the Mukherjee - It is a tome but he writes beautifully and includes stories about how the scientists got on with each other, and the medical history of his own family, to lighten the weight of the chemistry. I can't say I understand it all but I do feel I have learnt something, which is good.

All the best for today, Charlotte. I'm sending LT mojo your way :-) The Gene does sound great - he obviously has a sense of humour. I'm always motivated to continue with hard books if I think the author sounds like a good person.

Thanks Susan.

I'm impressed with your Stoptober, well, stopping. I just cancelled a pile of reservations as there's no way I'm going to get the ones I have read in time. Couldn't bring myself to cancel Vita Brevis the new one in the Medicus series, or Underground Railroad or Hag-Seed, and The History Thieves, so it's not that much of a change really!

Hi Charlotte, I finally caught up here. You've done some great readings. I was for too long absent on LT and I missed your threads.
I wish you a lovely week.

Howdy Charlotte! I don't think I'll look into any of the Patton longlisters as I'm inundated with National Book Award nominees. *must read faster, must read faster*.
Nice view from the apple fest. That's just how I imagine the skies of England to look.
I'll definitely read the new Semple as Bernadette was so darn good!

ETA: I've got The Gene home from the library with a few other non-fiction books which I know came from a long list of some kind but I don't know which one it was, do you? *sob sob sob*

>236 Ameise1: Lovely Autumnal colours there Barbara. Lovely to see you back here.

>237 Carmenere: It's on the shortlist for the Royal Society's Science book prize. Not sure if that's the one you saw....
https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/book-prizes/science-books-prize/

>238 charl08: >237 Carmenere: nope, not that one. *sigh* I've got to get my self better organized for next year!

>238 charl08: >239 Carmenere: Found it! Baillie Gifford Prize long list. I'd really like to get some non-fic in my reading and many look very good and I've got my little hands on the majority of them!

Glad you found it Lynda!

Well I'm all done and dusted so can now go lie down in a darkened room.

Oof. Another thanks to everyone for the good wishes. I used Susan's killer question (good tip Susan!) and it was really useful. I'm not sure how prepared they were for a serious question about their goals- and that gave me lots to think about*. Plus they were very nice and said there had been a big field and I had done well to get shortlisted. It was really interesting as what they said my job would be was not the impression I got from the application material - so note to self, phone and talk to someone first!

*or maybe they just thought they'd answered it already?! Oops.

It sounds like it went well, Charlotte. When will you know if you get offered the job? Fingers crossed.

Not until the end of the week. I'd be surprised as I suspect other people would have had more relevant experience. Good to try, and good to get a reminder of what they're like!

Now reading By Gaslight. It's a brick of a book!

My brother just sent me this. No idea why...

I love it!

>246 charl08: - That is so great! And true...

Oh yes! Gaslight looks like a brick of a book, but fascinating. I've seen it " in real life" and I am in the queue in the library. 750 pages or so? By the way, I have not created a review for The Wonder by Emma Donoghue, but it was an interesting page turner. I liked it much more than Room. Recommended and a quick read at ? 280 pages.

Best wishes with your job interview. If they don't hire you it will be their loss!!! ( or a better job is waiting for you ).

By Gaslight looks like something P might like. I'm always on the lookout for such.

I have NO idea why your brother sent you that comic strip. He really doesn't know you, does he?

I am in the library queue for The Gene but I think I might have to buy it. It seems like a book to be read in chunks, and savored. I love the book references/puns. I hope they will release it in softcover (she thought, considering the weight in her bag during her work commute).

>246 charl08: LOL

>242 charl08: Charlotte, it sounds like it went well (and I'm sure they're to blame for the unclear goal situation - it's very easy to get wrapped up in what you're doing and expect the rest of the world just to know). Fingers crossed for Friday!

>246 charl08: Love it! And how sweet of your brother to send it :-) I like the "Mayor of Failure" sash in particular.

I might have to wishlist By Gaslight. But that's OK, because wishlisting is allowed :-)

>247 BLBera: >248 katiekrug: It's hit the nail on the head I think.

>249 vancouverdeb: Hey Deborah The Wonder sounds intriguing. I am enjoying Gaslight - very atmospheric so far. Thanks for the good wishes. Lovely to have the support.

>250 EBT1002: Ellen I am enjoying Mukherjee's book but am glad that I was able to renew it. I need time to absorb the science. Good case for an ebook!

>251 Ameise1: I think the cartoon found a good audience!

>252 susanj67: Well, I heard back and it's a no.

On the plus side, it was good to have the interview practice without being too wedded to wanting a 'perfect' job. (Although being offered a job is always nice!!)

Happy Wednesday, Charlotte. Getting ready to start The Glorious Heresies. Did you read this one?

I also just finished A Whole Life, which was very good. A nice LT rec.

>254 charl08: Sorry to hear that, Charlotte. I hope something else comes up soon.

It is indeed good to get interview practice, and hopefully this means that a job more suited to you is waiting around the corner.

>245 charl08: Oh good! I've been wondering about that one, Charlotte. I look forward to your comments on it.

>246 charl08: Great! There's my book life in a nutshell.

You are so right about the interview practice. I kept stressing that with The Wayne when he was looking.

By Gaslight looks good!

>255 msf59: Hi Mark, yes I read it earlier in the year and liked it a lot. I think I recommended it to you as one I thought you would like, but I might be remembering that wrong...

>256 susanj67: Thanks Susan. I hopefully will be a bit more relaxed for the next one.

>257 RidgewayGirl: Thanks! All the encouragement is much appreciated.

>258 jnwelch: It's great so far Joe. He's got the convoluted Victorian sentences down to a t. Fog - check. Muck - check. Unhealthy Londoners coughing everywhere etc etc

>259 katiekrug: Thanks Katie. I'd go for the kindle copy if you have a choice - my wrists are complaining.

>260 charl08: :-)

>261 jnwelch: Looking forward to hearing what everyone else makes of it.

I feel like passing out and it's only 6.30! Did some more clearing of the allotment this morning, taking out the beans and squash and trying to trim the plot next door (in the hope that someone on the allotment waiting list will take it. Apparently people have turned them down. I was a bit taken aback by this, as there are waiting lists and I would have thought that people would snap them up. But no). Then raced back to change and go volunteer as an extra person for language class. They have felt a bit out of control lately (a class that starts with five people ends up with twenty, and often two or three other languages going on as people try to translate for each other) but it was a small group and the teacher got through a lot today. There are a lot of laughs - but the refugees work hard and are always so polite - and appreciative even of very small contributions.

Bummer about the job! I find job-hunting extremely stressful, and that, unfortunately at times, makes me very conservative about ever leaving a job. I hope something better comes up soon for you.

>173 charl08: So funny!

It's interesting how different people approach the market - I look back on what I've done and wish I'd been more risk-taking. Hindsight is wonderful.

Love Jacky Fleming


This one is an old favourite.

Her website is www.jackyfleming.co.uk

>264 charl08: Oh I'd love to read the book The Trouble with Women.

>265 vancouverdeb: When I get a job (if?!) I'll post it to you Deborah. Fun. Maybe your DIL would enjoy it - it's a quick read.

I've done the chopping up the tomato plants (and the job searching, if Big Brother is reading) but what I really want to be doing is reading By Gaslight. It's just the right amount of Sherlock Holmes with added Sarah Waters (Fingersmith, not the Paying Guest).

Do Not Say We Have Nothing has a lovely page full of images linked to the book.

http://donotsaywehavenothing.tumblr.com

I think I could become a fan of Jacky Fleming as well.

Too bad about the job, Charlotte. I hope the dream one does come up.

Oh do post the job to me, when you get it, Charlotte. I'd love to see what it is that you do. You will get a job, I have full confidence! And oh you are making Gaslight so tempting, but I am still on the list at the library. Plus I have quite a few books to read this year to get to 75 books - if I do!

>269 BLBera: Thanks Beth. All encouragement gratefully received. Cookie consumer in Chief is the dream...

>270 vancouverdeb: Oops Deborah - I meant the book, not the job description. I need to be more specific when I post. But I guess I could stick that in the parcel too...

I finished Pond - what a surreal little read. Will be intrigued to see what the author writes next. I'm not sure I buy in to all the rave reviews, but if you like adventures with form you might like this one too.

>264 charl08: Ouch, that's so true about the computers!

>262 charl08: How weird about the allotment refuseniks. What do they think is going to happen when they start growing things - that the plants will magically weed themselves? Good on you for helping to tidy it up. Maybe you'll get a nice new neighbour who grows totally different things, and you'll be able to swap.

Ha Susan. That was my thought exactly about the weeding. And they seem to have missed that they get a free raspberry bush which looks to be in excellent health. I suspect the real reason is that we have a small group of kids who sit in the grounds that surround the plot and (usually) cause no problems. Tesco is chipping in for a big fence (and a new water line) so hopefully that will reassure people.

Cathng up... I'm very sorry the job wasn't offered to you, but I also agree about the interview experience. You'll be totally relaxed in the interview for the right job then. And Susan's questions are great, I wrote them down for possible use in future interviews.

Some interesting books which I'm trying to ignore (as usual this *** year), because right now I'm only ever buying without reading. Books on the shelf at least are visible every week when I'm dusting, but the Kindle ones just disappear from my memory once they move to page 2 of the list on the device.
Have a lovely weekend! :)

>254 charl08: Believe it or not, Charlotte, I have never attended an interview for a job despite working for some fairly biggish companies. I was either headhunted and offered a position or recommended by someone already in situ. Now I am the one doing the interviews and rarely do them in any structured way as I am more concerned getting to know who may be a colleague for an indefinite time. It is more important for me to like them and get a feel for their attitude towards work and the type of jobs we do.

I am sure that the interview will stand you in great stead for the right opportunity which is just around the corner.

Have a lovely weekend. xx

I always knew I should have gone into engineering Paul! I do think it's interesting that jobs are now supposed to be based on the best person for the job - but how you fit with the team must be so important.

I am feeling happy because a couple of the guys who come to the refugee group have their leave to remain (ie permission to stay in the country). Sighs of relief all round.

I finished Pond - such a surreal book. Really hard to summarise in a paragraph or two - a bit like All That Man Is with linked but disconnected*

>275 Deern: Nathalie I missed you! Thanks for visiting. You sound like you are working so hard - I'm not surprised you can't keep your eyes open to read...

(I'm totally keeping Susan's questions too - it made me feel like I had a bit of power in the experience. Susan as career consultant anyone!? I think so...)

*chapters. Maybe the same character, but with flights of fancy about tomato puree and giving bad academic papers.

I think I liked Pond more than you did, Charlotte. It reminded me of Walden. And I loved her language. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with next.

No problem, certainly post both the book and the job posting when you mail it off to me! ;) Happy Friday! Very windy here today,hoping that the power won't go out over the next couple of days - some sort of rain/ windstorm has made " land fall" as the meteorologists call it. The tail end of some sort of typhoon from ? Japan or something like that.

>277 charl08: I'll share in your happiness, Charlotte, that is a big thing for the refugees!

Does the time you spend on voluntering add to your job searching time? It would here.

>279 BLBera: I didn't realise I'd managed to (briefly) review it twice!! Time for a new thread I think.

>280 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. I'm hoping your power is fine. We have had quite a few mild days, so I'm sure we are due some rain.

>281 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita. Yes, they take off four hours for the time I spend. I had a good time yesterday. It restores my faith in people a bit, seeing locals volunteer their time. Especially after the vote to leave the EU, it helps.