CarolineMc is keeping track - 2016 (Part 2) mulled wine

I decided I would have a new thread to start that season of hibernation. I can't resist heading it with my reading chair.

Currently Reading

Golden Hill (Francis Spufford) (*/12/16) (Kindle)
The Consolations of Autumn: Sages in Hard Times (Hazhir Teimourain) (*/12/16)
The Lunar Men (Jenny Uglow) (*/12/16)

The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) AAC ROOT
The Abundance (Annie Dillard) AAC
The Shelf (Phyllis Rose) ROOT
Eugene O'Neill: A Life in Four Acts (Robert M Dowling)
Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (Frans de Waal)

Selected Poems: Emily Dickinson
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Clayton) ROOT (15 years on the shelf!) AAC
Georgia O'Keeffe and her Houses (Barbara Buhler Lynes and Agapita Judy Lopez)
Conversations with James Baldwin ROOT
The Letters of Samuel Beckett vol 1 1929-1940 ROOT



I'm taking a wild guess she is from the early 1900s. I found her in an old wooden frame in a little junk/nick-knack shop (barely antiques) and fell in love immediately. I haven't tried to gussy her up as somehow I felt that would spoil her, so back she will go in her old brown frame and back onto the bookshelves to make me smile when my eye lights on her!

Read in 2016

January

1. The Warden (Anthony Trollope)**** (novel) ROOT
2. Small Hands (Mona Arshi) **** (poetry)
3. The Beautiful Librarians (Sean O'Brien) *** (poetry)
4. Chick (Hannah Lowe) ****1/2 (poetry)
5. 40 Sonnets (Don Paterson) **** (poetry)
6. Loop of Jade (Sarah Howe) ****1/2 (poetry)
7. Waiting for the Past (Les Murray) ***1/2 (poetry)
8. The Loney (Andrew Michael Hurley) ****

February

9. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris David McCullough ****1/2 (history)
10. Ho'oponopono (Ulrich E Duprée) ****
11. The Long Ships (Frans G Bengtsson) ***1/2
12. Gratitude (Oliver Sacks) *****
13. Candide (Voltaire) ***
14. The Noise of Time (Julian Barnes) ****
15. Mothering Sunday (Graham Swift) ****

March

16. That Old Cape Magic (Richard Russo) ***1/2. LL
17. The Butcher's Hook (Janet Ellis) ****
18. How to Measure a Cow (Margaret Forster) - her final novel, unless there is a posthumous one! ***1/2
19. On the Move (Oliver Sacks) ****1/2 (31/03/16)

April

20. For Two Thousand Years (Mihail Sebastian) (07/04/16) ****
21. 84 Charing Cross Road/The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (Helene Hanff) (08/04/16) ***** reread. ROOT
22. Tolstoy: A Russian Life (Rosamund Bartlett) (20/04/16) **** ROOT
23. 1984 (George Orwell) - reread (27/04/16) ***** ROOT

May

24. The Whistling Season (Ivan Doig) (06/05/16) ****
25. In Gratitude (Jenny Diski) (11/05/16) ****
26. The Little Red Chairs (Edna O'Brien) (12/05/16) ****1/2
27. The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury) (16/05/16) ****1/2 ROOT
28. Men Explain Things to Me (Rebecca Solnit) (18/05/16) ****
29. Life After Life (Kate Atkinson) (30/05/16) ****1/2

June

30. Quicksand (Henning Mankell) (04/06/16) ****
31. A God in Ruins (Kate Atkinson) (13/06/16) ****
32. The Invisible Woman (Helen Walmsley-Johnson) (22/06/16) ****1/2
33-35. The Levant Trilogy: The Danger Tree/The Battle Lost and Won/The Sum of Things (Olivier Manning) (29/06/16) ****1/2 ROOT

July

36. A Country Road, A Tree (Jo Baker) (04/07/16) (LL) ****1/2
37. One Fine Day (Mollie Panter-Downes) (11/07/16) ***1/2
38. A House Full of Daughters (Juliet Nicholson) (17/07/16) *****
39. Long Time no see (Hannah Lowe) (29/07/16) **** ROOT

August

40. The Man Without a Shadow (Joyce Carol Oates) (01/08/16) ****
41. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work (ed Mason Currey) **** ROOT
42. The Lonely City (Olivia Laing) (Kindle) (13/08/16) ****1/2
43. Peacock and Vine (A S Byatt) (13/08/16) ****
44. Chamber Music (Doris Grumbach) (14/08/16) (LL) ***1/2
45. James Baldwin in Turkey (photographer: Sedat Pakay/ text various) (14/08/16) *****
46. Secrets of the Sea House (Elizabeth Gifford) (15/08/16) ****
47.The Dig (Cynan Jones) (17/08/16) ****
48. Serious Sweet (A. L. Kennedy) (** as a reading experience **** as a writing experience)

September

49. How to Age (Anne Karpf) (04/09/16) ***1/2
50. The Trip to the Echo Spring (Olivia Laing) (05/08/16) ****1/2
51. Another Country (James Baldwin) (19/09/16) ****1/2 ROOT
52. His Bloody Project (Graeme Macrae Burnet) (Kindle) (25/09/16) ***1/2
53. The Book of Joy (Dalai Lama/Desmond Tutu) (28/09/16) ****



October

54. When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi) (05/10/16) ****1/2
55. Autumn: A Folio Anthology (various) (08/10/16) **** ROOT
56. Ariel: A Literary Life of Jan Morris (Derek Johns) (10/10/16) ***1/2
57. Exposure (Helen Dunmore) (23/10/16) ***1/2
58. The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead) (30/10/16) ****1/2

November

59. The Little Book of Hygge (Meik Wiking) (01/11/16) ****
60. Winter: A Folio Anthology (Various) (02/11/16) ****
61. The Listener (Tove Jansson) (Short Stories) (04/11/16) ***1/2 ROOT
62. Bowie/Collector (Various) (08/11/16) *****
63. Unforbidden Pleasures (Adam Phillips) (17/11/16) ****1/2
64. Speak (Louisa Hall) (23/11/16) (315/16,030) ****

December

65. Reading Turgenev (William Trevor) (01/12/16) **** ROOT

(ROOT: read our own tomes = 11)

Total pages: 16,253

I wish I could afford to purchase this one...



Numbers purchased second half of 2016:

July (46 last year)

6 books (to 30/07/16)
7 e-books

August (33 last year)

11 books (to 31/08/16)
9 e-books

September (25 last year)

14 books (to 30/09/16)
10 ebooks

October (39 last year)

15 books (to 25/10/16)
2 ebooks

November (36 last year)

7 books (to 18/11/16)
6 ebooks

December (52 last year)

3 books
4 ebooks

Last year (2015):
July = 46
Aug = 33
Sept = 25
Oct = 39
Nov = 36
Dec = 52

**Over Two thirds fewer books purchased this year. Yay.**

TOTAL of whole year to date paper book purchases: 122 (440 to end December last year)

So glad you kept your cozy reading corner for this thread. Your framed image in >2 Caroline_McElwee: is reminiscent of Jessie Wilcox Smith and someone else whose name is currently escaping me.
>3 Caroline_McElwee: 75% less than the second half of last year is a tough goal, no matter what the original number was. You are doing well as it is.
I notice you cleverly count only purchased books!

Nice reading chair, Caroline!

Autumn and Winter see me sitting in that chair a little more often Sassy, and Darryl. A friend made me the beautiful turquoise lap quilt that goes over my knees as required.

54. When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi) (05/10/16) ****1/2

A very moving autobiography of a neurosurgeon receiving a terminal diagnosis in his mid-thirties.

The thing I will carry forward in my emotional tool kit from this book is Kalinithi's realisation that under such circumstances it isn't possible to reclaim the past, but with the right support, you could carve a new future (p166). Most people in extremis tend to want to get back to how they were, something that is for most nigh impossible, but thinking oneself into a new future, however short it may be, would likely be more satisfying and successful, and the earlier one sees that the better.

The book also gave me a powerful sense of the work involved in his job. And of his passion for it.

The book is concluded with an epilogue by his wife.

Nice review of and excellent observations about When Breath Becomes Air, Caroline.

That Little Bookworm print is priceless, Caroline. And I totally agree it should not be prettied up in any way.

55. Autumn: A Folio Anthology (Various)

A wonderful selection of mostly poetry and letters, with some other quotes including from Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Clare, Shakespeare, Erich Maria Remarque, Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Jekyll, Virginia Woolf, Allison Uttley to name but a few.

Aside from a binge in January, my poetry consumption has been a bit light this year, I plan that will change in Autumn and Winter.

>8 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl, it was a touching and thought-provoking read. I also appreciated his realisation of the true understanding of pain, which he admitted he only learned as a patient. It is impossible for anyone to understand it until they experience it. No amount of intellectualisation will give you that knowledge. Sadly he had to learn it in extremis.

>9 laytonwoman3rd: I've had her for some years Linda, and she still makes me smile.

56. Ariel: A Literary Life of Jan Morris (Derek Johns)

Mixed emotions about this. I somehow thought it was going to be as much about her reading, as about what she wrote. An appreciation to mark her 90th year, and a good introduction to those yet to sample her work, but I'd rather read the work than the little snippets. Good as a quick reference to her oeuvre though.

I promised a couple of my own poems in Joe's cafe:

The Snail House

Each tiny, tiny
shelf is filled with
snail dreams. Books
would be too heavy
for he has no wheels
to his under-carriage.
He is slow,
as dreams need
to be protected from
bumps and crashes.
Life for snails offers
no traffic-lights for
crossings. He fears
the human clodhopper,
especially in the morning
when it is more blind.
Dreams though, need
new horizons, so the
possibility of no motion
is not an option for a
snail. He rolls forward
his house, the house of
dreams, fragile and
intricate, in tow.
And each night, beneath
the shadow of long grass
he retracts and lets his
imagination go.

30 Dec 2013

The Stacks

Sometimes I go with
an intention, which
it fulfils – the library –
gives me a sip or two
of the cordial I require.
Leads me to the next
or the next, or the
next step. It is
wily, it bides its time.

The sudden lighting
of an avenue untrodden,
the click and hum.
I arrive to find that
I am alone, dust
settling perhaps, the opposite
of short circuit.
The lack of resistance leads me
on: ’I can resist anything
except temptation' my Irish
brother wrote. Oscar. I have found
thoughts about Oscar in the library,
thoughts I haven’t ‘thunk’, and
had you returned to me in a
fresh jacket. Dark emerald,
the jacket. Oscar.

Which, having taken a diversion,
reminds me of your own library,
lost library, library that
bled onto the street. Loved
library lost.

You had resolved
the conundrum of ‘personality
trait’ identification by annotation
or not, you kept two copies.
Loved library, lost on the bloody
street.

Now, where was I?
Lost in the library, lost
with Oscar …

4.1.14

>13 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks for posting these, Caroline. "The Snail House" is lovely. I like "The Stacks" - forgive me, I'm not sure I got the Oscar Wilde lost library part - is this connected with his being found guilty of gross indecency?

Hi Joe

Yes, when Oscar was tried the final time his creditors took his possessions and his books were thrown out into the street. Very occasionally they still turn up. There is a lovely book called Oscar's Books (Thomas Wright), where the writer tracked down as many as he could, including buying one himself, at auction, with money he won on a literary prize I think.

Glad you liked the poems.

Do snails dream I wonder? thanks for letting us read your poems.

>15 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks! That's quite a story, and one I didn't know. I'm making note of Oscar's Books.

I'm glad you like little bookworm Lisa. She's one of my little treasures.

I'm not sure I would reread When Breath Becomes Air, but I'm glad I read it.

Nice to stumble into some poetry here, Caroline. An unexpected and pleasant surprise.

Glad you enjoyed it Daniel. I'm not writing much at the moment, but may drop a few more of my earlier pieces in.

>16 baswood: Hi Barry, sorry I missed your visit. I'd like to think all sentient beings dream, wouldn't you?

57. Exposure (Helen Dunmore)

A spy takes a confidential file home in order to photograph it. An accident leads him to hospitalisation, and he entangles a previous lover in attempting to return the file, but things don't run according to plan for anyone.

In many respects a very domesticated perspective on the world of spying and the impacts it has on a variety of participants. It is also about how people can be forced into actions that under other circumstances they would never have undertaken. So the exposure is not just about a 'reveal' as about the process that might lead to unexpected behaviours.

For me, not Dunmore's best novel, but it kept me turning the pages.

>13 Caroline_McElwee: As another who scribbles, I enjoyed reading both your poems Caroline. I rarely venture away from the 75ers but it was worth it just to sample those.

Lovely to see you peeking round the door Paul, and to meet you and the Mrs earlier this year. Wasn't that a great afternoon? Glad you enjoyed the poims.

I'm just catching up Caroline. I enjoyed your poems and hope to see more.

I very much enjoyed your poems, thanks for posting.

Thanks Coleen and Tony. I'll have a look at the weekend and post a couple more.

A couple more of my poems:

Be giddy with happiness.
Wake with the sound of
your heart pumping
in your chest. Feel
the cool on your skin
as you step from the sheets.
Breathe deeply. Breathe.
Stretch your arms,
wiggle your fingers,
inhale. Be giddy
with happiness at a
new day on which
to etch your authentic life.
Plain intentions,
a warm bath, fresh bread.
Birdsong through
the open window. Be
giddy.

Pomegranate

The two halves have settled
facing each other, as if after
taking a bow they are
looking into each others
eyes with a glint of
charm. The two sanguine
halves of my pomegranate.
Juices, like blood, pooling
on the table beneath them.
The glistening jewels of their
seeds exposed to the light
and the lips temptation.
I salivate.

Beautiful poems. I definitely need a lot more giddiness in my life just now.

>29 AlisonY: Thanks Alison, we all need more giddiness me thinks.

58. The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead) (30/10/16)

Following the life of the slave woman Cora, this novel runs the gamut of experiences and emotion, but is never sentimental. As one would expect, there are harrowing sights to behold, but also moments of great warmth.

I had no prior knowledge of the existence of an underground railroad, and can barely imagine how it was created, something that is hardly touched on in the novel. That it did exist is a wonder.

As with the Jewish Holocaust, I am never immured to the horror of slavery, no matter how much I read about it. That people can ever have believed it was right or acceptable is beyond my understanding.

A finely wrought novel from a new writer to me, but I have another of his books in the tbr pile.

There was no actual railroad underground, Caroline. That is Whitehead's creation. The "underground railroad" was underground in the sense of secret, and a railroad in the sense of being an established route.

Do you know I did wonder about that Linda, it makes it even more astounding as a novel, as he made me believe it.

>30 Caroline_McElwee: Agree completely on not understanding prejudice but I suppose we look out at existence through twenty-first century eyes and what seems incomprehensible and inhuman to us made perfect sense to the more ignorant of the century which preceded the last one.

>28 Caroline_McElwee: Especially liked "Pomegranate" and thought the last line of two words so effective that I moved quickly to dab my own lips.

Enjoyed those poems, Caroline. Giddy is inspiring (I'll try not to be a grump tomorrow), and Pomegranate is saliva-inducing. :-)

I can't wait to read Underground Railroad. The true story of the Underground Railroad is amazing in its own right; sort of a "slavery resistance" effort to get slaves to freedom and safety through a chain of safe havens. Harriet Tubman is one of the heroes, but there were many.

And each night, beneath
the shadow of long grass
he retracts and lets his
imagination go.

I love that image. Thanks for sharing your poetry, Caroline.

Thanks Paul, Joe and Vivienne. I need to get back to some regular writing though, it's been a while.

59. The Little Book of Hygge (Meik Wiking)

I really enjoyed this little book which tries to explain the Danish concept of Hygge (pron something like Huooge) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSXiH_0HgwI – which in the simplest terms is about cosiness/homeliness, and I would say contentment, and pleasure in the simple things. Clearly I am a closet Dane, as many of the things that are Hygge are things I do innately (meat eating aside :-) ). The Danes repeatedly appear at the top of the lists of Happiest citizens in Europe, despite the weather and long dark nights, and Hygge is credited with much of this happiness. One could also say that it is about taking care of the self well. Pampering. It’s not something that is dictated by wealth or class (if the Danes consider themselves to have classes). But about paying attention. A starter perhaps for mindfulness.

60. Winter: A Folio Anthology (Various)

I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as the Autumn Anthology, but there was still a varied canvas, with few of the more obvious candidates. And always one or two writers you want to follow up on.

61. The Listener (Tove Jansson)

I’ve been a fan of Tove Jansson’s work since reading Fair Play, and I enjoyed this volume of short stories for its variety of intent. As you would expect they are quiet stories, most of which are quite unusual and quirky. Her observer’s eye is as ever acute. All that said, it is likely only a keeper for the final story ‘The Squirrel’ which I will certainly reread soon.

***
>37 This-n-That: Thanks Lisa. You might enjoy book 59 above!

On Monday I went to see the part of David Bowie’s art collection that goes under the hammer this week (apparently approximately 50% of his collection). As an artist himself (although his work is rarely shown) he had a fine eye and a very eclectic taste in art. From the Memphis group to Tintoretto, a Man Ray chess set to John Virtue, Elizabeth Frink, David Bomberg, John Bellany, South African artists, and a breadth of others. I would say I had heard of about 60% of the artists he collected, and will certainly be investigating others. If there is a weak link, for me, there were a shortage of women artists. But we are of course, only seeing what has been chosen for sale.

62. 'Bowie/Collector' (Various)

This catalogue has some wonderful insights, via its essays, of Bowie the collector, by the people he worked with in this area. He clearly had a good eye, a sound art history knowledge and a great passion.

Although this is the mini version of the catalogue (the Premier version runs to 3 volumes), it includes photographs of the complete sale, along with a number of fine essays and photographs of Bowie. It is my guess that Bowie himself was involved in preparing what was to be sold and the presentation, as it would have been near impossible to pull this standard of event together in the few months since his death. The estimated sale price for the collection in total is £10m, but I would be surprised if it raised much less than £35m.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37832486

http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/slideshows/2016/a-glimpse-inside-david-bow...

Sigh. I miss Major Tom.

I miss David Bowie too and now Leonard Cohen but, given my own specific interests I miss the great poets - the Ted Hugheses and the Seamus Heaneys

This is from 2013.

WHERE ARE THE POETS?

Where are the poets
Who raised the standard, now fallen
Tattered and degrading upon the ground;

As the battles rage never a-thwarted
Whose is the voice to be found

To set the calumnies before us
Such that the call is worth the sound?

Who now holds the mantle
In order to find the magic in the commonplace
To wade through weeds to waiting shore -

Whence the pen’s nib dries and the sword sharpens
And eloquence is placed in little store.

Who will stand with lyric of love and longing
Now that Heaney breathes no more?

Hani, is presently in Scotland, Caroline, and I hope to make it back to England in December. Itching to go anthology shopping.

Paul, the thing with dead poets (and musicians and artists) is they are never dead, they breath through their work into our minds, our imaginations. It was lovely to take in a bit of Bowie that was shared less.

'And elequence is placed in little store' how I notice that. If you use words that more accurately describe what you wish, you are elitist, showing off etc. I think there are a few younger wordsmiths out there, but at the moment, not enough IMO. I bought some of Kate Tempest's work this year, but haven't got to it yet, though saw an interesting documentary that included her recently.

I hope Hani is having a good time. Looking forward to poetry foraging, and maybe clinking cups of mulled wine next month.

63. Unforbidden Pleasures (Adam Phillips)

I have several of Adam Phillips's books and often dip in, but this was the first I have read through in a short period, cover to cover. I certainly didn't 'get' everything, and will be doing a reread reasonably soon. One of the things that snagged me were his use of the work of Oscar Wilde, and of Shakespeare's Hamlet to explore their thoughts on the forbidden and unforbidden. On obedience and disobedience. On how the focus on the forbidden obscures the value and variety of the unforbidden, and much else.

64. Speak (Louisa Hall)

5 characters offer the development of an AI, including Alan Turing. An interesting exploration of AI and its possible potential and pitfalls. The book opens with the voice of an AI describing its route to a dumping ground where now rejected AI’s are being abandoned. The remaining 4 voices are of those who in some way have helped to evolve this AI, but ‘she’ is telling their stories, as her memory can only be the memory (storage) of the stories she has been told about these characters, and she can only relay the stories as long as her battery is working. For me, one of the strongest ideas of the book is about the importance of memory to human life*, and how supposedly AI’s who are reliant on programmed behaviour and memory are unlikely to be able to create their own memories of their experience, only being able to replay the memories of others, which, if programmed into the stories of the internet, may be extensive, and may be able to interweave and make connections between these stories, but still have no memory they can call their own.

The novel is also about how humans become so connected to their robots that they cease to be able to interact with other humans, and having made those connections, how they become ill when deprived of them. Mirroring this, is the story of Alan Turing and his best friend who dies young, but Alan is always remembering him. So the suggestion may be made that some kinds of human behaviour whether with fellow humans, or robots, can lead to similar outcomes, although even that can be read primarily only in a simplistic way.

If you substitute the ‘bots’ from the story, and insert general personal technology, you might also apply the same outcomes. Making that leap, among the questions I am led to think about is: are we changing how we shape human memory, if our attention is so constantly on a gadget in our hands, what are we missing that we might otherwise store away in our memory banks (possibly unconsciously) that we may use later, and are what we are replacing these conscious and unconscious experiences with from the gadget going to offer the same kind of memory resources? And if so how that changes both our memory and impact on our lives. Moving about/commuting/travelling we also engage with others silently, via eye-contact, smiles, and the likes, and I certainly notice that because people are more likely to be plugged into something (mobile/music/podcast) there is more alienation because these generally friendly silent interactions happen less. In some ways, are we taking on elements of robotic behaviour?

I suspect all sorts of other thoughts and questions will percolate up from this novel, read for my local reading group, and would have been potentially missed otherwise. Someone once asked me what books I avoided, and I responded without thinking that I didn’t really ‘do’ Science Fiction. Then looked at some of my all time favourite novels which included; Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Blade Runner) by Philip K Dick among others, I realised I was kidding myself!

I certainly bought one book over recent years that explores how technology changes us as humans, so I will have to root around for that and other research, as this has now whetted my whistle a bit.

* memory was also the theme of another novel I read this year, but in a very different way: Joyce Carol Oates's The Man Without a Shadow exploring the life of someone with memory that lasted no more than minutes.

>44 Caroline_McElwee: Good comments on Speak, Caroline. I found it thought-provoking, too. I've got to say, as an old guy who wonders, "what was the name of that play again? Which actor played the lead?", I really appreciate the augmented memory we get with smart phones and so on. I just read a lovely story of a woman who was walking with her nephew when they saw a beehive. He asked how honey is made, and she had no idea. So they both searched on her smart phone, then decided the videos would be better on a computer, and went home and spent the afternoon learning about bees and making honey.

The resources we now have at our fingertips are staggering. Can you imagine how a Faraday or Tesla would feel about it?

Great story Joe. I do enjoy my gadgets (and just upgraded to a smartphone and listened to a podcast on the bus, as I can't read on buses) but I'm not as addicted I suppose, because I grew up with alternatives. I'm fascinated to see what it changes in people. That two year olds can use smartphones boggles me a bit, and I can see positives and negatives.

I often wonder what such bright stars in all fields would think. And the writers predicted so much too.

Yes - to our kids, all the new technology is just new versions of "appliances" that they're familiar with, like we understand toaster ovens and microwaves. I just had to have our 26 year old son take me through how to do what I want to do on my Surface Pro 4 tablet, because trying to figure it out from an instruction book was too time-consuming and frustrating. In about a half hour, he had me all squared away.

You had an instruction book, someone is slipping :-)

Caroline have you read any of the work of Alice Oswald? I have heard good things about her and will be looking for some of her anthologies during my next trip, which will hopefully be in December.

Have a lovely Sunday.

I've read Dart and Weeds and Wild Flowers some while ago Paul. Nature is her main theme, and she is rightly admired.

Caroline, I picked up a nice book this week which is a compilation of poets who have featured in the Forward books of poetry for each of the last 25 years. It has been narrowed down to choosing 100 poems from a 100 poets (a bit like one of my lists hehehe) and goes from Moniza Alvi to Benjamin Zephaniah. I will be reading it next month and featuring some of it's poems regularly.

Have a lovely Sunday.

I've enjoyed readings by both those poets Paul. And was lucky enough to see Zephaniah host Nelson Mandela at the unvailing of a statue of him in Parliament Square.

The Forward volume sounds good.

I notice that this month I've not been able to declare more than one completed read, though I should finish another today. I'm about half through several others. Still, two more working days, then I can settle to some reading for a few days, before the family gathering.

Wouldn't it be nice if 2017 was a year of peace and goodwill.
A year where people set aside their religious and racial differences.
A year where intolerance is given short shrift.
A year where hatred is replaced by, at the very least, respect.
A year where those in need are not looked upon as a burden but as a blessing.
A year where the commonality of man and woman rises up against those who would seek to subvert and divide.
A year without bombs, or shootings, or beheadings, or rape, or abuse, or spite.

2017.

Festive Greetings and a few wishes from Malaysia!

Merry Christmas and greetings from Canada, Caroline!

I can't top Paul's beautiful message!

Nice one Paul

>44 Caroline_McElwee: Interesting thought resulting from your reading of Speak.

>54 VivienneR: & >55 baswood: Thank you so much.

Belatedly, thanks for the lovely Christmas message Paul. Agreeing with it all.

Need to finish my reviews for the year, will do that tomorrow.

We lost so much extraordinary talent, too early, in 2016. My main constellation is they lived lives we might only dream of, and left so much behind.

I liked these thoughtful cartoon tributes to Carrie and Debbie:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38458042

I wrote a review on Oscar's Books. It was one of my favourite books in 2016.

Hi Edwin, I'm so glad you enjoyed it, thumbed your review https://www.librarything.com/work/6396488/reviews/108697558

(the link in >60 edwinbcn: goes to The DaVinci Code).

I have a recollection from the book that Oscar had both working copies as well as pristine copies of some of his books. I think I may reread Thomas's book in the New Year.

I will finish up here in the next day or two, but I've set up shop in the 75ers for 2017, come and say hi here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/244657

Happy New Year, Caroline!