Orange is not the only Penguin (book) - charl08 reads #4

Welcome to thread four.

I picked up one of these little books (essays really) and only realised today they are also penguins.



Independent book store day poster

Books read in 2017 - 51

March 6
Becoming Unbecoming (F, UK, graphic memoir)
A Gentleman in Moscow (M, US, novel)
The Murderess (M, Greece, novel)
All for Nothing (M, Germany, novel)
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage (F, UK, GN/history)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (M, UK, fantasy)

February 21

Darling: new and selected poems (F, poetry, UK)
Sweet Little Lies (F, fiction, US)
I will have Vengeance (M, fiction, Italy)
Alpha (F & M, GN, Belgium & France)
Seven Minutes (F, fiction, US)
The Bodyguard and Mrs Jones (F, fiction, US)
How to Survive a Plague (M, non-fiction- popular science/politics, US)
Smoke Over Malibu (M, Fiction, UK)
Too Loud a Solitude (M, fiction, Czech Republic)
The Refugees (M, fiction, US)

Slaughterhouse 5 (M, fiction, US)
It Takes A Scandal (F, fiction, US)
Once Upon a time in the East (F, Memoir, UK/China)
Head Land (multiple authors, fiction, multiple nationalities)
The Longest Night (M, fiction, Netherlands)
Last Fair Deal Gone Down (M, fiction, US)
Bitter Herbs (F, Memoir, the Netherlands)
Huck (Multiple authors, GN)
Love in a time of Scandal (F, fiction, US)
The Gigantic Beard that was Evil (M, graphic novel, UK)

Leaving Lucy Pear (F, fiction, US)

January 24
The Long, Long Life of Trees (F, non-fiction, UK)
Tsing-boum (M, fiction, UK)
Human Acts (F, fiction, South Korea)
What a woman wants (F, fiction, US)
The Dry (F, fiction, Australia)
In Gratitude (F, Non-fiction, UK)
The Darkroom of Damocles (M, fiction, Netherlands)
Warpaint (F, fiction, UK)
Before we kiss (F, fiction, US)
The Chalk Pit (F, fiction, UK)

Even Dogs in the Wild (M, fiction, UK)
Second-hand Time (F, non-fiction, Belarus)
Moonglow (M, fiction, US)
Three Simple Words (F, fiction, US)
The Lonely Londoners (M, fiction, Trinidad)
The Watcher (M, fiction, UK)
Essex Poison (M, fiction, UK)
Hold Me (F, fiction, US)
The Descent of Man (M, non-fiction gender studies, UK)
Marrying the Ugly Millionaire (F, poetry, UK)

Maigret, Lognon and the Gangsters (M, Fiction, Belgium)
Kingdom of Twilight (M, Fiction, Germany)
Two of a Kind (F, Fiction, US)
Streets of Darkness (M, Fiction, UK)

March
F 2 M 4
Europe 5 (UK 3) US 1
Fiction 4 Non-Fiction 1 Graphic Novel 1
Mine 2 Library 4

Feb
F11 M10 (1 book dual author, plus one edited collection)
Europe 10 (UK 4) US 10 (1 book dual author)
Fiction 16 Poetry 1 Non-Fiction 2
Library 9 Digital 9 Mine 3

Netgalley 4
RH 1

January
F 13 M 11
Europe 16 (UK 12) Asia 1 US 5 Australia 1 Caribbean 1
Non-Fiction 4 Fiction 19 Poetry 1
Library 11 Digital 11 Mine 2

RH challenge: 4 Africa challenge 0 Student books 0 Netgalley 5

Goals:
1. Last year I read over 300 books: I'd like to do the same this year.
2. Read Harder Challenge (Bookriot) 8 down...
Read a book about sports.
Read a debut novel. The Dry
Read a book about books.
Read a book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author.
Read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative.The Lonely Londoners
Read an all-ages comic. Huck
Read a book published between 1900 and 1950.
Read a travel memoir.
Read a book you’ve read before.
Read a book that is set within 100 miles of your location. Becoming Unbecoming
Read a book that is set more than 5000 miles from your location. Human Acts (South Korea)
Read a fantasy novel. The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Read a nonfiction book about technology.
Read a book about war. The Darkroom of Damocles
Read a YA or middle grade novel by an author who identifies as LGBTQ+.
Read a book that has been banned or frequently challenged in your country.
Read a classic by an author of color.
Read a superhero comic with a female lead. Ms Marvel: volume five
Read a book in which a character of color goes on a spiritual journey
Read an LGBTQ+ romance novel
Read a book published by a micropress.
Read a collection of stories by a woman.
Read a collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love.
Read a book wherein all point-of-view characters are people of color.

More goals...

Goals - continued

3. Reading more diverse books. In 2017 I'll try and read across the African continent.

I'm reading Under the Udala Trees (Nigeria)

4. Reading from the 'what students read' list

http://ideas.ted.com/required-reading-the-books-that-students-read-in-28-countri...

This month I'm going to read

Cyprus The Murderess (1903) by Alexandros Papadiamantis (I've got 5 days left!)

Does anyone know anyone who grew up in Cyprus and would be wiling to tell me if they read The Murderess?

Is it safe? Happy new thread, Charlotte.

Happy new one, Charlotte!

Happy New Thread, Charlotte!

I missed your birthday yesterday? What? Happy Birthday, my friend.

Happy new thread, Charlotte!

I missed your thread yesterday, and therefore, your birthday. Happy Birthday! I hope it was a good one.

Ditto but wishing you a great year to come! Hope that you had a wonderful day.

>5 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara. Hope your reading is going OK, despite the pain.

>6 katiekrug: Thanks Katie.

>7 msf59: Nope, it's today Mark. You've missed nothing!

>8 susanj67: Thanks Susan.

>9 nittnut: Jenn the party continues (if by party, I mean books and reading).

>10 mdoris: Thanks Mary. Love those penguins.

>11 charl08: I enjoy my reading and listening very much. I thought I could handle the pain but now I caught a terrible cough which isn't so nice with a broken rib.

Happy new thread, birthday girl. xx

>13 Ameise1: Ouch! That does not sound good.

>14 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul.

Reading The TLS, which has a review of Hockney's new exhibit at Tate Britain. 'The overarching theme is one so rare in art: happiness'. I want to go!

A reproduction of this one was on the wall at school, along with several swimming pool ones. Now I think of it, pretty forward thinking by someone.

Happy new thread!

Thanks Jim. Just listening to a radio programme discussing the British space industry. Surprising.

Huck
I saw this on the library GN list, and thought I'd give it a whirl, it turns out to be both touching and a X men style story, about a guy who does something kind everyday...

Happy new thread Charlotte and happy belated birthday too!

Now reading All for Nothing one of my birthday haul books.

Happy New Thread, Charlotte, and continuing happy birthday wishes!

There were some David Hockney portraits at the Tate Britain last September that we loved. I assume they were from the permanent collection. I wish we could see this exhibit. He's a favorite artist of ours.

I think you're right Joe re the permanent collection. I've been lucky enough to see quite a few of his works that are held in the art centre he supports in Saltaire. One of the comments in the review of the exhibit was that they don't include his posters or theatre design: I can smugly say I've seen large displays of both...

>22 charl08:

Re: British space, Yup a company called Surrey is a leader in small satellite technology I've worked with occasionally.

Oh, Huck sounds lovely. I'll hunt down a copy for my son.

>17 charl08: Apparently there's quite a lot of British space connected industry. I have a friend who works in education in that field.

Happy Friday, Charlotte. I hope the storm is over. BTW here the storm is called Thomas.

Love that top book cover, and its Penguin too huh? Perfect :)

Happy belated, and happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Charlotte!!

I thought I had left a message on your new and shiny thread yesterday... but appearently I didn't...
Happy new thread Charlotte!

Happy Friday, Charlotte!

Happy new thread, Charlotte, and Happy Friday.
Love your topper. The poster is beautiful and I love the cover of the McFarlane.

>23 jnwelch: Its not too far from Paul's new stomping ground. Maybe there's a Hockney meet up in your future? (I can recommend the cafe too!).

>24 drneutron: They had a rep from Surrey speaking. It was all very interesting. I had no idea they built satellites in this country.

>25 RidgewayGirl: I wasn't sure at first, but it won me over. Hope your son likes it too.

>26 SandDune: So they said Rhian. Although there was some debate over whether SkyTV could be counted in its entirety. (Space agency rep was pro, presenter thought it was spurious).

>27 Ameise1: Sun's out and I've put the bird table back up. Phew.
Naming storms is pretty new to me. Apparently it helps us to take them more seriously, which seems like a sensible thing.

>28 LovingLit: Its a lovely essay about how he was influenced by another reader, who gave him lots of books when they were both in China.

>29 scaifea: Thanks Amber. I went looking for Gaiman in the bookshop yesterday, but no luck.

>30 FAMeulstee: No worries Anita. And thank you. You left a lovely one on the old thread, so there was no rush!

>31 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie. Made it!

>32 BLBera: Thanks Beth. I rather fancy a copy of the poster. We have a colour printer at work, and rather sad, bare walls...

I've made a version of this (without the fancy decoration I probably should point out). Hopefully I'll get some RL help to eat it this pm otherwise it's a lot to get through!
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2005/fudgy-dark-chocolate-cake

Yum! I'll be by to help you eat it. :)

Count me in.

>35 BLBera: >36 Ameise1: I cut up the cake and left it with the teas and coffees at the refugees' meet and greet. It disappeared! I was flattered.

I'm surrounded by books and have no idea what to read next.

And now I come back after reading the last bits of your last thread and see that there are many many variations on penguin-themed birthday greetings and presents!!! Happy belated ;)

Thank you. All those fun things were much appreciated. And so environmentally friendly too...

Guardian reviews non-fiction



Rebel Crossings by Sheila Rowbotham reviewed by Barbara Taylor
"A host of thinkers and organisations appeared in Britain and America dedicated to building a new Jerusalem free from “sex slavery”. The US east coast was especially rich in visionaries. Most were obscure, with few adherents and few traces left behind them. But in the mid-1970s, Sheila Rowbotham found a little book in the British Library written by one of them..."

Hit Makers by Derek Thompson reviewed by Steven Poole
This "...interdisciplinary book goes in search, it announces at the beginning, of “the secret to making products that people like”. It is no spoiler for me to reveal that, in fact, there is no such singular secret – obviously, since if the author knew it, he would have gone off and become a trillionaire entrepreneur instead of writing a book."

The Bughouse: The Poetry, Politics and Madness of Ezra Pound by Daniel Swift reviewed by Robert McCrum
"...an idiosyncratic biographical analysis that marries lit crit and memoir in a sometimes awkward fusion."

Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman reviewed by Richard Seymour
"...if the book contains little news, it makes the old feel new. Venerable leftwing causes such as affordable housing, and a reduction of the working week, are refurbished with new data, expert interviews and historical anecdotes. Myths about the poor, migrants and GDP are ritually slaughtered with gusto. And if some of what Bregman proposes is uncontroversial enough to be policy – as deficit-spending and universal basic income already are in Canada – the book tries to radicalise these ideas and push them beyond the current liberal mainstream."

Check out www.guardian.co.uk/books
Including (horrors!):
The decline in books stocked by public libraries may be far worse than official figures indicate, with industry sources claiming that it may be many millions higher than the 25 million books recorded as missing, meaning that the number of books available to borrowers has plummeted by more than 50% since 1996.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/23/25-million-books-missing-from-uk-l...

Morning Charlotte :0) Have a lovely weekend!

Hi Lynda! I'm not sure why I'm up...

Guardian fiction reviews



The Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrère reviewed by Tim Whitmarsh
"The real scandal of this book is its relentless narcissism. Only someone with Carrère’s mountain-sized ego could reinvent the story of the early church as a parable for his own life (and, perhaps, vice versa). Luckily for the reader prepared to grapple with this complex, intellectual but compelling book, he is also witty, painfully self-critical and humane."

Hmmm

Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?by Kathleen Collins reviewed by Colin Grant
"For three decades the stories kept the company of woodlice in a trunk where Collins’s forgotten manuscripts lay yellowing and undisturbed. Now, through happenstance and the determination of her daughter, readers may be as surprised as I was by the rich range of the seasoned literary voice – modern, confident, emotionally intelligent and humorous – that emerges from the pages..."

I've heard good things...

The Doll Funeral by Kate Hamer reviewed by Melanie McGrath
"When Ruby discovers, on her 13th birthday, that Mick and Barbara aren’t her biological parents, her heart skips a beat. A common teenage fantasy has suddenly come true. "

I didn't read her first novel The Girl in the Red Coat, so not sure.

Christodora by Tim Murphy reviewed by Olivia Laing
"What makes this novel remarkable, though, is the way it captures the full arc of Aids in New York, a subject Murphy has long covered as a reporter. The past few years have seen a spate of films – The Normal Heart, How to Survive a Plague and United in Anger among them – that reckon with the crisis, detailing in particular the crucial role that direct action played in securing a treatment. Murphy brings to life the demos and die-ins, the people who turned themselves into world-class researchers by sheer force of will, the packed meetings “that were like a gay disco but with slogan T-shirts and sign-up boards”."

This sounds amazing.

Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak reviewed by Natasha Walter
"...as this complex heroine moves from Istanbul to Oxford and back again, as she jumps from surreal visions into inevitable compromise with real life, as she moves from compliance towards anger and finally understanding, there is an unflagging energy to her story. Perhaps because there is so much at stake for her that might be at stake for the reader, too, her dilemmas and desires seem to persist even after the novel is ended."

I liked this novel, although not as much as I loved Forty Rules of Love.

My Sister’s Bones by Nuala Ellwood reviewed by Alison Flood
"Ellwood, one of the Observer’s “new faces of fiction” for 2017, comes from a family of war reporters. She received Arts Council funding to research the post-traumatic stress disorder she explores in My Sister’s Bones, a work partially inspired by the late Marie Colvin, “who always sought the human story within the chaos of war”. She paints a disturbing, harrowing picture of Kate’s mental state as she struggles to convince both her family and the police that there is an abused Iraqi boy living next door, a boy only she has noticed, who reminds her of the heartbreaking death of a child she befriended in Aleppo."

Not sure. Although if it turns up in the house, I'd probably pick it up!

Thanks for the reviews, Charlotte! I've just reserved the Rowbotham and Hit Makers. The utopia one hasn't shown up in the catalogue yet, darn it.

That cake looks lovely. I'm not surprised it all disappeared, fancy icing or not :-)

Thanks Susan! That was quick work. I'm tempted by the Rowbotham, but have one of her earlier ones sitting unread, must read my own shelves...

Happy Saturday, Charlotte! Hope you can find some time for the books this weekend.

I like the sound of The Bughouse. That could easily fit our current administration.

Happy weekend! Thanks for the reviews. :)

Hi Charlotte - Thanks for the reviews. Several fiction sound promising and the NF Rebel Crossings and Hit Makers sound good.

The library article is horrifying!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Went to the cinema to see Hidden Figures (v. Good) and there was a trailer for Their Finest Hour and a Half. It looks good!
https://youtu.be/FlN0BT8r5y4

>46 msf59: Thanks Mark. I hope so too. I just gothought a late birthday present of The Beard that was Evil and Waterlog.

>47 nittnut: My pleasure Jenn.

>48 BLBera: It is horrifying. Where have they gone?!

The Gigantic Beard that was Evil
A birthday present, a man with a single hair suddenly finds that he has a beard that won't stop growing, in a place called 'Here' that won't tolerate facial hair.

>49 charl08: That trailer does look good! Definitely one I'll go to.

Elif Shafak in the fiction is the only writer I am particularly familiar with this week. I do like the look of the Ezra Pound biog and the recipes towards a realistic Utopia in the non-fiction.

Trust that you'll have a splendid weekend, Charlotte.

>49 charl08: I liked Hidden Figures too, even if it was a tad soapy it was a fantastic watch.

Happy new thread and happy belated birthday, Charlotte. Hope this comes in handy

Happy Sunday, Charlotte.
I looked up Carrère's Le Royaume because my library has got a copy of it. I'm not sure if I'll read it. I suppose with more then 500 pages it's too long after reading a review.

>51 susanj67: I think I'd go just for Bill Nighy, but really hoping all the jokes aren't in the trailer. I really loved the book, so also hoping they do the humour justice.

>52 PaulCranswick: The Utopia book looks really good. I like the reviewer's suggestion that we could just move to Canada if we want some of the policies.

>53 LovingLit: Yes, I could have done without the romantic storyline. Felt a bit like it was a nod to the anti working women brigade.

>54 Familyhistorian: That made me laugh, thanks.

>55 Ameise1: I think it would be quite an investment in terms of your time Barbara. It didn't appeal to me, though if someone raves about it I reserve the right to change my mind :-)

>56 charl08: Charlotte, the book is still one of my Very Top Reads. I wonder why they changed the film title, though, unless the "hour and a half" reference would confuse people about the length of the film. I assume it's not exactly an hour and a half :-) "Their Finest" is a rather strange title.

Happy belated birthday, happy Sunday and happy almost new thread! BBs flying at me, I'm ducking, but I fear some have hit me.

>56 charl08: That is why Deb and Chelle and Nancy et al are always so happy with life. Trudeau does seem pretty popular and is a sort of Anti-Trump North American.

>57 susanj67: I think they had problems with another film (Their Finest Hours) released last year, and with the Dad's Army overlap. Suspect for a lot of older British people you automatically fill in the end of the Churchill phrase, but I agree, it's odd sounding.

>58 Deern: Thanks Nathalie, hope you're well on the way to recovery.

>59 PaulCranswick: That explains it! Good point.

I've been pootling around in the garden, planting some shrubs for a bit of colour, a bargain basement Holly plant that I'm hoping will cover a rather ropey looking back fence, and cream primulas, just because I really love them. The robins were super bold and singing away right next to me, which was lovely. Madly, after years of no flowering, t he two helibore plants have decided to flower - pinky purple, and because of the angle of the plants, practically invisible unless you're right next to them! Ah well.


Wikipedia picture - mine is similar to the bottom left.


Spotted in the garden centre...

Currently reading Leaving Lucy Pear, the story of two women in prohibition era US, one who has abandoned a baby, another who has taken the child in. The book isn't about reading, but I liked this bit about reading Woolf.

“I have to admit,”she said, shaking To the Lighthouse, “I don’t understand this book at all. Do you?”Bea had finished the book last week and had not stopped thinking about it but she did not think that understanding—the way Rose meant it—was its point. She understood that Mrs. Ramsay was her mother and that she, Bea, was “the sudden silent trout”pinned against the glass (if she read again she would see they were not pinned but “hanging,”but that was the difference between this kind of understanding and Rose’s), and Bea understood that the book as a whole was about her own life and that other people probably understood it to be about theirs. But her understanding in this way was vague—the book had stayed with her through the week like a glowing, invisible pet she could not risk touching. “I think it’s about memory,”she said. “And about how the present is always becoming the past, both in our consciousness of it and in reality. And about the confusion, or maybe the elision, between the two, and also between reality and a person’s vision of reality. Very little happens but a lot is happening. A character can stand with a foot on a threshold and her whole world shifts.”

>49 charl08: - Reminds me I still have to read Their Finest Hour and a Half. But the film looks good. I do love Bill Nighy, and I think that was Jeremy Irons in one scene - love him too!

Happy Sunday, Charlotte.

Ooh Katie you really do. If I wasn't a bit embarrassed by the crazy amount of books that have come into the house lately I'd buy my own copy to reread it. So funny.

Not funny is Roads to Berlin, talking about living in Berlin in 1989, a Dutch witness to the collapse of the Wall.

Berlin is one big party. Cars can no longer get through, and the city has descended into madness. The people have become one whirling body, a creature with thousands of heads, undulating, rippling, flowing through the city, no longer knowing whether it is moving or being moved, and I flow along with it, having become crowd, news picture, nobody....nothing can catch up with this crowd, because it is making the news itself. The crowd knows that, and it feels like a mass shiver.

I love the Leaving Lucy Pear quote. I am going to search for the book.

is Their Finest Hour and a Half a film? I must see it - loved the novel.
Roads to Berlin also sounds good.

It's an unusual book for me, Beth, not something I think I would have picked up without Netgalley: but glad I did.

'Their Finest' (as it now is) was on the trailers at the cinema this weekend. I guess US release dates may well differ though. Roads to Berlin is like a little time capsule. I remember it as being an optimistic time, strange to look back on.

More baking tonight, only not sharing these ones (but hoping they'll freeze for lunches).
http://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolate-and-hazelnut-muffins

Hi Charlotte--Just trying to get caught up here...I missed your birthday!! Sorry. Here'a a belated Happy Birthday present...

I read the first Kate Hamer book, and found it very "samey" -- yet another suspense novel with a woman/young girl in peril. Yes, there were some distinguishing characteristics, but yet again there's a woman whose view isn't believed by those around her, etc. etc. It annoyed me, I confess! I did just download the Elif Shafak novel.

And happy belated birthday!

Thanks Kim. I don't think I own anything in RL with penguins on. Apart from the books. Perhaps I should change that. I'd quite like to blow up one of my photos onto a canvas.

Suzanne, thanks for the wishes. After someone pointed out about all the novels with girl in the title about women I have been less tempted to pick them up I think. Shafak's picture of growing up in Turkey made for a good read, and I've got her memoir Black Milk on the TBR pile.

Leaving Lucy Pear (Netgalley)


Fascinating story of a young woman who gives up her illegitimate child and the woman who finds the baby and adopts her. From very different backgrounds in a small community the women are connected by a businessman, but also by the demands of prohibition and the limitations of their lives as women. The baby, Lucy Pear, has her own agenda, and is desperately saving to leave. Compelling and touching, with no easy answers.

>70 charl08: Sounds like a good book. Unfortunately my library hasn't got a copy.
Wishing you a good start into the new week, Charlotte.

>50 charl08: I remember enjoying this one as well. Creepy little book.

It's Pre-Tuesday, Charlotte. Here's hoping it doesn't bite any of us. How were the chocolate hazelnut muffins?

A bit dry Mamie, I think I overbaked.... Live and learn.

I am rather amused, as the usual quiet as anything library is full of a youth group. This may prove entertaining if the refugees turn up...

Just to add hurrah - A Gentleman from Moscow finally arrived in the library. Shiny new copy too...

>70 charl08: Sounds great Charlotte.

I took banana bread to school today and was very popular.

I bet Beth. I've been cracking some banana bread. Maybe I'll make some this weekend.

I bought the new China Mievelle (surrealist monsters in Nazi Paris) and have picked it up this lunchtime as A Gentleman in Moscow was just to heavy for the bag this morning. The Mievelle is Bonkers.
ETA The Last Days of New Paris

And then finally when all the screaming and the shots were done, Thibaut raised his head slowly from amid the dead, like a seal from the sea. He was looking into a metal grille. The visor of a plumed knight’s helmet. It was vastly too big. It was centimeters from his own face. The helmeted presence stared at him. He blinked and its metal trembled. He and it were all that moved. All the Germans were dead or gone. The manif lurched but Thibaut was still. He waited for it to kill him and it held his gaze and let him be. It was the first of many manifs to do so.

ETA Craving. Not cracking. Although perhaps I have inadvertantly invented a new sport.

Palgrave have a sale on ebooks - it's a lot of academic stuff, but you might find something you fancy?
http://www.palgrave.com/gb/shop/valentines?&token

More swimming


(Sadly no points for sitting in the sauna. Although it was lovely)

Happy Wednesday, Charlotte! And look at you swimming right along - nice progress!

I am looking forward to reading A Gentleman In Moscow, but I don't dare request it at the library yet. I am moving on from packs to swarms of library books.

Yup, I left my book at home. Gah!

>80 Crazymamie: I didn't swim much: odd cramp in my leg that meant I was half hopping to the pool! But ooh the sauna was lovely.

>81 nittnut: Swarms? Yikes. I've got one waiting. It may wait a while at my current rate...

>83 lunacat: I like February!

Still reading A Gentleman in Moscow:
As long as there have been men on earth, reflected the Count, there have been men in exile. From primitive tribes to the most advanced societies, someone has occasionally been told by his fellow men to pack his bags, cross the border, and never set foot on his native soil again. ...But the Russians were the first people to master the notion of sending a man into exile at home.

>84 charl08: Oh my. You really are making it hard to resist requesting that book.

It's a wonderful book Jenn. Hope you can squeeze it in.

Poem a day has this today:

Elsa Is Involved in a Clandestine Love Affair
Angela Veronica Wong

There is no fixed place and by that I mean
take a look at things that are. Split by the
turn of year, its newness and all it brings,
which of its possibilities can we trust?
Elsa is involved in a clandestine
love affair which, let’s be honest, should be
all love affairs until they’re over. She finds
herself dreaming of children and many
other delicacies. Sugared eggs. A
lost palace. But night brings a great expanse
and it’s much too quiet in these hallways.
On her back, Elsa holds her breath, her hands
beneath her, resisting, resisting. That
temptation can be such a dirty rat.

I wonder if I can find a collection by her...
https://m.poets.org/poetsorg/poem-day

ETA £22! Wow.

>79 charl08: wow! That is excellent progress. And here I was thinking my piddly 1,000m was amaaaazing ;) Ha ha.
Saunas also have their uses.

Saunas are amazing. For a while, my dad was watching a programme where a guy in the wilds somewhere built his own house. I always seemed to catch it when they were building the sauna, and it just looked Amazing.
Although in a semi-detached house with an overlooked garden, perhaps not...

>87 charl08: - Love it.

>77 charl08: Or maybe banana bread is like crack?

With chocolate, definitely addictive!

I love the line 'of children and other delicacies'. Just catches something in my imagination.

Enjoying the adventures of the former MegaGirl (she's trying to be an ex super hero...)
Available as books, but also as a Web zine. I'll be sas when I've finished all the back issues and have to wait for the updates.
https://strongfemaleprotagonist.com

Now reading about Conrad in Lives of the Novelists. He turned up (note entirely flatterigly) in the biographical account of Roger Casement I read, who was also a trader in the Congo. Tempted to read a biography, as Conrad sounds like he has an interesting youth, if nothing more.

Happy Friday, Charlotte.

>93 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara

>94 lunacat: Cute!

Well I'm glad it's Friday.

Becoming Unbecoming is a graphic memoir, the story of growing up in Yorkshire during the attacks of a criminal know as the 'Yorkshire Ripper'. In the dark vein of Fun Home it's unflinching in showing the ways that a young person experiences trauma, here written specifically focused on a young girl who is repeatedly abused. So not a light read, but ultimately a powerful one about reclaiming a life.





And on a different note:
From a recent article on Banksy opening a new hotel looking at the Israeli wall:
My accountant was worried some people will be too scared to travel to the West Bank, but then I remind him – for my last show they spent a whole day in Weston-super-Mare.”

>89 charl08: your post reminded me of friends who were trying to view the fire we had on the hills close too our city 2 weeks ago. They found they could get a great view of it by jumping on the trampoline....well, for a few seconds at a time anyway. Well, their neighbour noticed them *looking* and after having seen the face(s) appear above their fence many times, the neighbours shut their curtains! I think they made the mistake of waving at them, this may have given them the impression that they actually were peeping toms!

I like the cover of Becoming Unbecoming!

Happy Saturday, Charlotte.

Happy weekend, Charlotte!

If anyone wants to read Becoming Unbecoming, I'd be happy to mail it along. It's quite a small publisher so I suspect it's not that easy to get hold of. (So nice to be able to offer to do this again!)

>98 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara. Hope you are feeling recovered.

>99 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. I am mostly hoping to be doing as little as possible, especially since I woke up at 5 and couldn't convince myself it wasn't a work day...

>100 DianaNL: Thanks Diana. I must come visit your thread. I have been lax since the job started.

>87 charl08: I like the poem, Charlotte. You should share it on the (75) poetry thread. It has been pretty quiet over there.

Becoming Unbecoming sounds really good. If we lived closer, I would take you up on that offer.

Happy Saturday, my friend. Enjoy your weekend.

>102 msf59: Mark, I have a job now, SO I can mail books again. Hurrah! Pm me your address if you would like me to send it. I think this writer/artist needs a bigger audience.

If it is too expensive, don't worry about it. If you do send it, I will make sure to pass it on to another LTer. It is what I do.

Happy Saturday, Charlotte! Will there be cake today?

>97 LovingLit: Too funny!

Thanks Mark. I've vegged out completely this am, so will have to see when I can get to the post office. When are we going to be able to book a personal delivery robot drone to do all the important stuff whilst I'm at work?



Looking forward to a prosecco filled do this weekend for a friend's significant birthday. Make mine a refillable one...

Guardian reviews fiction

The Long Drop by Denise Mina reviewed by Peter Ross
"Manuel, “the Beast of Birkenshaw”, murdered eight people in Lanarkshire between 1956 and 1958, and is therefore a ripe subject for drama – hence the recent ITV series In Plain Sight. But Mina is interested, in particular, in his relationship with William Watt; Watt (rightly) suspected Manuel of killing his wife, daughter and sister-in-law, a triple homicide of which the bereaved man himself had, for a time, been under suspicion. Watt, therefore, had every reason to hate him and wish to see him hang. Instead, they went drinking."

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson reviewed by Adam Roberts
"The waters have risen 50ft, submerging much of New York City. Every street has become a canal; every skyscraper an island, linked by sky bridges and boat taxis."

The best recent thrillers review roundup
The Legacy by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Agents of the State by Mike Nicol, The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths, Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner, Written in Bones by James Oswald, Born Bad by Marnie Riches, The Pledge by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/03/the-best-recent-thrillers-review-r...

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid reviewed by Andrew Motion
"confidently adopts yet another kind of voice – a tone of radical simplicity that in the opening 50-odd pages borders on brutality, and makes every conversation, every detail, every scene feel at once vital and under threat.
Predictably enough, this is most obvious in scenes of outright violence as militants close in on their city prey. "

Darke by Rick Gekoski reviewedby Alfred Hickling
"...as the narrative develops into an increasingly bilious catalogue of his various dislikes it becomes clear there is very little that Darke is fond of. “It is hard to make a relationship with a cat. I don’t like them”; “I have no time for the schoolmaster’s pastoral role”; “I hate the telly. Stupid stuff”; “Why has literature become so dull?”; “I once loved Paddington station”; “I’ve never been a great admirer of weather … I don’t much like natural light either.” It’s not until page 97 that he mentions something that meets with his approval: “I love the internet … the hunting ground of thieves and butchers. What surprises me is not how much malice I find there, but how little.”"

And in other news...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/01/barack-michelle-obama-book-deals-p...

I'm going to read the nonfiction reviews tomorrow.

Happy weekend, Charlotte!

I'm pretty excited about the Obama book deals, myself...

Me too Amber. One for the wishlist of the future.

Happy weekend, Charlotte. Becoming Unbecoming sounds great. Thanks for the reviews. I just read a novel by Yewande Omotoso. I was thinking of you - have you read anything by her?

>110 BLBera: I haven't Beth, although this one is on my list. It's funny when I read the summaries I didn't pick up it was set in Cape Town at all.

I think you'll like it. The characters are great.

Thanks! I'll have to squeeze it in there somewhere...

I did finish A Gentleman in Moscow and it was just as great as everyone else said it was. Thanks to all who recommended it. I loved the gentle picture of ageing, and of someone adapting to the limitations of a new life. The picture of Russia as it changed in response to Communism was so well done, and so clever within the confines of a once capitalist hotel. Rostov was a character I didn't want to leave, as he was dealing with petty rules and charming colleagues from different backgrounds.

After all, what can a first impression tell us about someone we’ve just met for a minute in the lobby of a hotel? For that matter, what can a first impression tell us about anyone? Why, no more than a chord can tell us about Beethoven, or a brushstroke about Botticelli. By their very nature, human beings are so capricious, so complex, so delightfully contradictory, that they deserve not only our consideration, but our reconsideration—and our unwavering determination to withhold our opinion until we have engaged with them in every possible setting at every possible hour.

For as it turns out, one can revisit the past quite pleasantly, as long as one does so expecting nearly every aspect of it to have changed.

(Quotes shamelessly lifted from Goodreads)

>107 charl08: Stealing that to put on the Obama group read! Thanks. And, also...

>79 charl08: Wow Charlotte I love the idea of your swims and keeping track on a ticker. Have you ever read Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox? I should set some goals myself.

I saw a doc about a mechanized penguin robot that was able to shift into a colony and get all sorts of much needed research information. He was pretty adorable! Sending you a similar link.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/animal-magic/2014/nov/03/penguin-robot-behav...

>114 Berly: You're welcome Kim

>115 mdoris: There's been a TV series looking at the ways hidden cameras in robots can get close to animals. I loved the swimming otters- v cute.

I really could do with being home with my books just now. Lovely friends, but...

Guardian Non-fiction reviews

Raymond Chandler by Fredric Jameson reviewed by Brian Dillon
"A case can be made, writes Fredric Jameson in this dense, brief study, for Chandler as “a painter of American life”. "

Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson reviewed by Joe Moran
"His method is to start with an odd detail and then trace its even odder effects on unrelated fields. About 4,000 years ago, for instance, the Minoan peoples of the Aegean found that the secretions of the murex sea snail could be used to make a rare purple dye. The lure of purple led ancient seafarers, in search of snail dye, to sail beyond the Mediterranean into the Atlantic for the first time. Further journeys in pursuit of uselessly beautiful dyes, patterns and fabrics led to the emergence of fashion, consumerism and the shopping mall."

Time Travel: A History by James Gleick reviewed by Steven Poole
"At first, time travel seemed a harmless fantasy, until Kurt Gödel showed Albert Einstein that his equations of relativity allowed solutions in which time travel appeared to be possible, although no one yet knows exactly how. Mathematicians and physicists got to work, and they haven’t stopped yet."

Cold War Freud and Freud: An Intellectual Biography reviewed by Lisa Appignanesi
"...the derestriction of the now fully digitised Sigmund Freud Archives in the Library of Congress from 2000 on has ushered in a new era in Freud studies, one rich in contextual detail."

The Torture Report by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón reviewed by Rachel Cooke
"...the committee, under the chairmanship of Senator Dianne Feinstein, duly published its 6,770-page report. Not only did this reveal the appalling extent of what could only be described as torture, it also suggested that, contrary to the CIA’s claims, no intelligence had been gathered by these means that couldn’t have been discovered using other, legal methods. The Torture Report is Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón’s graphic adaptation of the 576-page summary of the committee’s 2014 findings..."

Tempted by the book about time travel.

Wellll, I seem to be number 3 in the reserves queue for Wonderland. Thanks Charlotte! Happy Sunday, which I hope you can spend with the books.

Happy Sunday, Charlotte.

>118 susanj67: It sounds really interesting Susan. Hope you don't have to work all day today.

>119 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara.

Happy Sunday, Charlotte! I want the book about Chandler. And I knew you would love A Gentleman in Moscow - those quotes are making me want to read ti again. MUST get my own copy.

And to you too Mamie. I want my own copy too. I wasn't all that sold on his previous book but this one worked for me. Lovely LT : I don't think I would have picked it up otherwise.

I have a Shameful Confession to make.
Susan, look away now.

I spilled water all over my copy of Aboulela's book, and now have to pay the library for a replacement copy of it. Oh dear.

Apart from having to pay the library for the book, I hope your Sunday is treating you well! At least it was only water so it is still readable, unlike if it were something more potent.

So, you now own a waterlogged copy of the Aboulela book. Silver lining?

I have to make time for A Gentleman in Moscow soon. A kind LTer sent me a copy.

>122 charl08: You totally crack me up, Charlotte! I have so many shameful library incidents in the past , well, just two , that I understand. The book I lost in my teens and was afraid to face the librarians about it, so I never darkened the door of the public library until my name changed when I married. Yes, I was that scared of the librarians back then. I got a letter from the library citing me as a " juvenile credit delinquent " or some such thing. Scared me half to death ;)

>122 charl08: Looking forward to your comments on Aboulela's water-logged book.

>124 BLBera: Ooh do Beth. There's a folk tale aspect to it I really liked.

>125 vancouverdeb: It sounds to me like you've been pretty well behaved librarywise Deborah (I'm sure generally too, but just speaking about the library here!). I suspect I have been so keen to read sometimes I haven't always treated the books with as much care as I could...

>126 RidgewayGirl: Yes, it would be good if I actually finished it!

I've been reading All for Nothing one of my birthday purchases from the local bookshop. It's set in a big German house just as the Russians are about to come charging over the hills. There are all sorts of praise puffs on the cover including one from Rachel Seiffert (I'm a fan) but I'm not really getting it. Different characters in the house narrate their experiences, from the distant wife of the owner to the Nazi auntie taken in when she lost her home. But I'm not sure what the point is...

Now reading The Murderess - apparently a Cypriot classic taught in schools.

>122 charl08: Oh no, Charlotte, so sorry, I would feel terrible if that happened to me.

Hi, Charlotte.

I also like the cover of Becoming Unbecoming. Sounds like quite a graphic memoir.

I'm glad you enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow. Such a charmer. I won't forget the Count any time soon.

Sorry about the library book.

EEEEK! Sorry about the spilled water. I am cringing with you.
I hope your weekend was nice and relaxing, other than that...

>117 charl08: The time travel book called to me too from that little lot, Charlotte.

>122 charl08: I only ever managed to do that with Hardback copies. I fell asleep with Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom and both of us were out in the rain!

I'm adding Christodora and Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? to my wish list.

I also love the cover of Becoming Unbecoming which is also going onto my wish list. And I have a Denise Mina on the shelves, need to give her a try for pleasure/thriller reading. The Long Drop sounds good.

Oh no, spilled water iver a library book. I had this once too and felt so awful.
Wishing you a good start into the new week.

>130 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. I'm a bit of a clumsy person. Stacks of books don't help!

>131 jnwelch: It was a powerful read. I'd not come across the publisher before, but they have a strand specifically encouraging new GNs.
http://www.myriadeditions.com/about/graphic-novels/

And yes re A Gentleman in Moscow - definitely a character I can imagine that stays with you. Beautifully done.

>132 nittnut: Jenn, I was out celebrating a friend's 40th in a loud club Sat night. Great to be there, to be invited but I was really glad to get back to my books!

>133 PaulCranswick: I hope it's warm enough in Yorkshire for you to fall asleep outside Paul...

>134 EBT1002: I do love reading a post with so many wishlisted books Ellen. I love that Librarything makes me feel normal about my hope to read All the Books...

>135 Ameise1: Not a great feeling Barbara, that's for sure. I'll be glad when I've paid the fine and have it off my conscience!

I've finished The Murderess but want to Google it a bit before I write a review.

It's my thingaversary!

Congratulations!!! Whoohoo!! Do you have any bookish plans to celebrate?
Acquisitions you have been waiting to justify?

Happy thingadingy, Charlotte!!

>122 charl08: Ha! But accidents happen. The shameful thing would have been not to own up, and for the library to keep it in circulation so that future borrowers wondered...and wondered... That's what my library does. I'd actually be grateful for stains that I knew were just water.

>136 charl08: Yay! Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary, Charlotte! 10 years? Wow! You are a true veteran. This will be my 9th.

Happy Thingaversary! 11 books to choose - how exciting :)

Happy 10th Thingaversary, Charlotte, I am glad we share our Thingaversary, I came to LT exactly one year later :-)

Oh there's always a wishlist Kim. I'm tempted to hold on for a bit though because I have quite a few shiny new books to read just now!

Happy thingaversary, Charlotte.

Have a great week. Bailey's longlist out this week. Still no predictions?

Happy thingaversary from me too Charlotte. Ten years but not as many in the group of course. You have been a great addition to our little number of these last few years and a constant source of delight, humour and illumination. Enjoy your day dear lady. xx

Hi Charlotte - I've set up a group-read thread of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall if you're still interested here in March. I'm a little late setting it up, but maybe you have time to join...

https://www.librarything.com/topic/250589

Happy Thingaversary, Charlotte!

>146 ctpress: Hmm, I keep meaning to read Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Maybe this would be a good time.

Happy Thingaversary, Charlotte. Looking forward to your book haul ;-)

>139 susanj67: Thanks Susan. I duly walked into the library and paid up, and they were very nice about it...

>140 msf59: Thanks Mark. I signed up and did very little after feeling smug having entered my library. These past few years have been the busy ones!

>141 lunacat: Thanks! Lovely picture.

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary, Charlotte!!

>142 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. That's so nice that we have the same day...

>144 BLBera: Beyond having everything crossed for Autumn, you mean?

>145 PaulCranswick: I'll just have to keep going for another eight years in the group then Paul..?

>146 ctpress: I wish I had more time to read Carsten. I'll follow along with the thread, at least... Thank you for the post.

>147 jnwelch: Thanks Joe. Sounds like this would be the ideal time - almost retirement and a thread...

>148 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara. I'll have to think a bit about it...

Happy Thingaversary!

I do wish time travel were possible. Maybe I should just read that book? Or perhaps read more of the books about time-traveling historians?

'O God, why should another one come into the world?'
As the old woman rocked the child, she could have sung the whole saga of her sufferings over the cradle. In the course of the previous nights she had really lost track of reason in the catalogue of her sufferings. The whole of her life, with its futility and it's emptiness and hardness, had come into her mind in pictures and scenes, and in visions.

The Murderess is a short novel set on a rural, isolated Greek island where men leave for work, women outnumber men, life is hard and one elderly woman suddenly snaps. 'Old Hadoula, sometimes known as Jannis Frankissa' (and then again as Frankojannou) findex her own solution to the difficulty of too many babies, especially too many girl babies. At no point does her solution seem particularly extreme: her own experience of poverty after an arranged marriage, her daughters' endless pregnancies, the lack of healthcare... A book that gives plenty of food for thought for the reader, and feels oddly contemporary given that it was written in 1903.

>153 Chatterbox: Oh, I definitely think reading is the answer Suzanne!
I like the quote about us all being time travellers through our own lives.
But I still want one of those H G Wells machines...

Penguin Problems



Oh this is a wonderful picture book. Made me laugh out loud.
Thank you to the person who recommended it!



(Suzanne I like the bag even more now!)

Happy Thingaversary, Charlotte!

Now reading A Chinese Life

>157 katiekrug: Thanks Katie!

A belated Happy Thingaversary, Charlotte! Yes, what are your predictions for the Bailey's list? I've been checking on line for any hints.

>152 charl08: Yup. I'm with you on that one. I also gave some predictions on one of your threads, I think. Of course, I don't remember what they are...

The Murderess sounds good. Onto the list it goes.

>156 charl08: he he, that looks right up your alley!!!!

>158 charl08: oooh, is that a graphic novel?

>160 vancouverdeb: I'm not sure Deborah. I wonder if Home going is eligible because it's UK publication date is so much later than the US one. Ali Smith, and maybe the new Helen Dunmore. This time of year I seem to remember that I don't read enough new fiction! Too many books...

>161 BLBera: I'm not the only one struggling to remember Beth. Thanks for that.

Lives of the Novelists reading continues. Sometimes Surherlans's emphasis is odd. He reports that Conan Doyle spoke in a Scottish accent for all his life (he was born in Edinburgh). And?
Intrigued by Ella Dixon though, who wrote The Story of a Modern Woman. Hopefully I can track down a copy...

And after the library was unable to get a copy of Another Brooklyn, my use of the late book voucher birthday gift is imminent...

Picked up a Netgalley with my tea, after a Long day I'm hoping the tension eases off soon...
On the plus side, at least I wasn't born a Borgia...
In the Name of the Family
She is back there again; hearing the howling inside her ears, as she stands in front of her brother, a cohort of armed men at his back as he tells her how the death was necessary, how his own safety had been threatened by a plot against his life. Coward! Liar! At the time she had met his deceit with ice rather than fire, but standing here now she has a different image of her grief, seeing it as a raging wind, sucking him up, lifting him across the room, smashing him through the windows and hurling him into a fire-spitting vortex, one of the circles of hell made flesh by Dante’s violent poetry. Only what then? What would that mean for her? To be a woman without a husband or a brother. A fast shiver runs through her.

I've seen Homegoing on more than one blog that tries to pick the possible Bailey's long list, but I am not sure if if qualifies, as you say. I've seen the new Helen Dunmore too. Meanwhile, we are having a bit of a slushy snowfall! Say it's not so! But Poppy and I are going to go out for our walk. It might be rather short today. Argh!

I posted the longlist - I don't think I picked even one. :)

There are 16.

>165 vancouverdeb: Slushy snowfall Deborah? Oh no!

>166 BLBera: I guess they couldn't narrow it down after all?!
I've lifeed this from your thread Beth.

Bailey's Women's Prize Longlist:
Read
Hag-Seed
The Gustav Sonata
The Power
Barkskins
Do not Say We Have Nothing
The Dark Circle

To Read
Little Deaths - 1st novel
Stay with Me - 1st novel
The Mare
The Lesser Bohemians
Midwinter -1st novel
The Sport of Kings
The Lonely Hearts Hotel
THe Essex Serpent
First Love
The Woman Next Door

Of the ones I read - Do Not Say We Have Nothing would easily be my favourite.

>167 charl08: Thanks Beth and Charlotte for the longlist. I've read four! Look at the good influence y'all literary fiction readers are having on me. I used to just look at the list and think it was all too hard.

Are you planning to read all of them, Charlotte? You have a great start.

I'm surprised Autumn and Swing Time didn't make the list.

And I'm glad they did 16. There's an article in The Guardian about it.

Hi Charlotte! I'm waiting for the Baily short list. sobsobsob I want to read everything but I'm forced to do other things like cook and clean!

>169 BLBera: Gah. I'm horribly behind in my Guardian reading...

>170 Carmenere: Hoping to get some reading in tonight. Last night was swim and then collapse with a bowl of cereal in front of cute zoo baby programme.

Green shoots in the garden!

^ Sob.

>172 susanj67: That's at Lynda's lack of time, not my poor little tulip, is it?!

No, that's at you missing me in post 168.

Sniff.

>174 susanj67: Sorry Susan! Missed the post and the reminder about the post. It's been one of those days...

Oh I liked Penguin Problems too. I was looking through some of my old threads and 365 penguins came up, not sure if you've seen that one.
A chinese Life looks good, I've just brought home a number of GNs, including two by Isabel Greenberg.

Anyway came to highlight Dunedin's Penguin Hospital which I did not know existed till just now -

Today is sunny, Charlotte! As to The Conjoined, I got it out of the library to read, but I was not that delighted with it. I'm not sure why - perhaps the story did not ring " true" to me. But I did not finish it, so I could be wrong. Others have enjoyed it, so don't take my word for it. Thanks for the list, I was not aware of it. I have read The Parcel by Anosh Irani from that same list and that was dark but very engaging. It really opened a new world for me.

I've only read Do Not Say We Have Nothing from the Women's fiction list as of now.

>176 avatiakh: That penguin book looks like fun Kerry. Look forward to hearing more about those GNs too. That little penguins looks like he's been in the wars: barracuda bites sound pretty painful...

>177 vancouverdeb: Glad you got some sunshine Deborah. I remember you warbling about the Parcel. I wonder if there has been any change about the availability of the book here. Will you be looking for any of the other longlisted books?

Ordered a few of the Orange list, Little Deaths Midwinter and First Love. I'm 30th in the queue for Little Deaths, so some people in Lancashire have clearly been much quicker off the mark than me!

Charlotte, someone else at work has just had a baby and called her Charlotte. I thought of you and fourpawz Charlotte when I saw that ;-)

My library doesn't have many of the titles yet. I did reserve The Essex Serpent and The Lonely Hearts Hotel. I'd like to read Barkskins, but that is a long one. I might have to save it for summer.

>180 susanj67: Harumph. Someone in the office was interviewing a Charlotte. Johny come latelies, I say, in a curmudgeonly fashion... What's wrong with Katie? Or Laura?

>181 BLBera: Yup, Barkskins is a project of a read. I've heard several good things about The Essex Serpent but for some reason I don't want to pick it up.

No sign of Another Brooklyn at the bookshop yet...

The Bailey's long list is appealing a lot more than the Booker books that I have been reading.

I hope Another Brooklyn appears soon, Charlotte. Although I did like Brown Girl Dreaming more.

>183 SandDune: Usually I find the Bailey's list more rewarding, Rhian. And I do like to support women writers.

>183 SandDune: I thought there were some good Bookers last year.I haven't read most of the older winners though.

>184 BLBera: Thanks Beth. Me too. Disappointed the library cancelled the order and seems unconcerned about it.

All For Nothing
Picked this up as part of my birthday haul, wanting to support fiction in translation on sale. Kempowski was (according to the bio in the book) an award winning German writer, this was published in 2006 and was his last work.

This book is set in a German mansion as the Russians make German territory, pushing a wave of refugees in front of them. The detached wife has to make choices about helping a local pastor, whilst her young son tries to avoid the Hitler Youth. Some refugees stay, some move through, until finally the Russians are so close everyone packs up for the road. There's a strong sense of menace in the book, waiting for the bogeymen to arrive over the hill. Distinctive and compelling.

All for Nothing does sound good, Charlotte. Hooray for birthday hauls.

I really want to get to Brown Girl Dreaming soon- I have heard such good things about it!!

Charlotte, I gave in and purchased two books from the Women's Long list , The Woman Next Door and The Dark Circle. Both are being shipped from the UK, so it will take a month or so - one is from the Book Depository and the other from " Wordery Canada" under the auspices of amazon ca. I'm looking forward to the Booker Longlist. All for Nothing does sound good!

>186 BLBera: Indeed. Although I do think I want to read something a lot lighter next!

>187 LovingLit: Me too! So many books though.

>188 vancouverdeb: A month to ship? Yikes. Hope you're in a patient mood Deborah.

Have you read the The Gifts of Reading by Macfarlane yet? If so what did you think? I looked it up and we don't get it in Canada until June. We must be patient as Canadians!

I have - a nice short essay. It didn't take long, so I didn't count it!

The Bailey's longlist is just lovely. I'm more excited by it than I have been about previous lists.

Great. Look forward to reading your reviews.

I'm now reading The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage.

Happy Weekend, Charlotte. I really enjoyed The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. Much of it sailed over my head but I was quite impressed with it, and so was Joe. I hope you feel the same.

Staying on the GN front- Is My Favorite Thing Is Monsters on your radar? If not, you have to find a copy. It could end up being the best GN I have read this year. It is amazing.

Thanks Mark. I love the illustrations I'm not so sure about the footnotes... I have been looking at you and Joe rave about the Monster book. Temptation!

Guardian Reviews Non-fiction

Enlightened Princesses edited by Joanna Marschner reviewed by Kathryn Hughes
"In this brilliant book, published to coincide with an exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, which will head to Kensington Palace this summer, a lineup of leading historians chart the myriad ways in which three individual women, far from blocking out the Enlightenment, helped refract its sunbeams over Georgian Britain. All three were German princesses who married into the ruling royal family. "

The Bughouse by Daniel Swift reviewed by Mark Ford
"It would have been awkward for the US to hang one of its best-known poets, and although Pound would have undoubtedly enjoyed expounding his views in court, the risk of a guilty verdict was high. A plea of insanity was accepted on skimpy evidence, and il miglior fabbro – “the finer craftsman”, as TS Eliot called him – spent the next 12 years in St Elizabeths Hospital on the outskirts of Washington, or “the bughouse” as Pound semi-affectionately referred to it."

Wear and Tear: The Threads of My Life by Tracy Tynan reviewed by Kate Kellaway
"Kenneth and Elaine were – as parents – worse. They were beyond rotten. But Tracy Tynan – born in London, in 1952 – does not appear to be on a vengeful mission..."

From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds by Daniel C Dennett reviewed by Tim Adams
"...it is required reading for anyone remotely curious about how they came to be remotely curious. The title is a reddish herring..."

On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder reviewed by Richard J Evans
"How we defend our most fundamental freedoms has once again become a matter of great urgency. The historian Timothy Snyder has produced this short book as one response. History, and especially the history of the 20th century, has lessons for us all, he contends..."

www.guardian.co.uk/books

>195 charl08: Oh my word, ALL of them! Off to investigate the library catalogue. Thanks Charlotte. I hope your weekend is a good one. Any sign of that roast dinner?

Gosh that's early work Susan. The meat has been purchased, and we have two bags of potatoes after a shopping misunderstanding, so I'm hoping for ample roast potatoes. Mmm.

Guardian reviews fiction



The Accusation by Bandi reviewed by R O Kwon
"In story after story, industrious North Koreans, “innocent people whose lives consisted of doing as they were told”, accidentally run afoul of the state and lose their last political illusions. They then get jailed, escape, die, or go mad, but the real culmination of each story occurs in that instant of revelation, when they realise that, despite everything they have always been told, the state is malign. It’s like living in an evil garden, one character says: they are slaves ruled by a demon, secluded from the rest of the world by high walls. "

Stay With Me by Ayòbámi Adébáyò reviewed by Diana Evans
"In Nigerian society a childless woman is a tragedy, and considered to have probably brought it on herself. And it is not just her apparent inability to conceive that Yejide is up against. Her husband, Akin, has been coerced by his mother, Moomi, to take a second wife, in the hopes that he will get her pregnant instead."

The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy reviewed by Sarah Ditum
"Our narrator is Edie, short for Eurydice. She is an employee of the Elysian Society, which is a kind of bordello for mediums. The Possessions’ universe is, fundamentally, our universe, with one tweak: the spirits of the dead persist and can be channelled, with the help of a pill called “lotus”."

A Natural by Ross Raisin reviewed by Jude Cook
"...as with most sports novels, it’s not really about sport. It’s about ambition, friendship, rivalry, talent, and how early potential always meets the implacable wall of adult reality. Also, it’s about the love that still dare not speak its name."

Children's - Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel reviewed by Imogen Russell Williams
"... for a reader mature enough to handle the pungent, realistic detail of 19th-century life, it’s a fascinating, fast-paced, rich and provocative novel. Appropriately, its author specialises in adventure that takes place on boundaries and frontiers. Kenneth Oppel’s Silverwing trilogy, with its cast of migrating bats, has been compared to Watership Down, selling over a million copies worldwide."

>198 charl08: I like Ross Raisin but I cannot imagine him writing a novel on sports.

Have a great weekend, Charlotte.

I've not read anything by him Paul - what would you recommend?

Thanks for the reviews, Charlotte. Stay with Me is the one that really pops. But I am trying to resist additions to the list.

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
Joe and Mark and Bill (WeirdO) have all warbles about this one, I spent most of it wondering about the footnotes, and what I thought about them! I loved that she is 'rescuing' the story of Adam Lovelace, the exceptional mathematician, for a whoever new audience. The explanatory diagrams of Babbage's analytical machine (which I think I have seen in a museum somewhere, or at least, ones built to his designs). The alternate history was fun, and the historical detective stuff and reproduced documents pleased me no end. I want my own copy (of course!).


This gag pleases me greatly, and I am tempted to print it and put it on my desk.

Thanks for the Bailey's Women's Prize Longlist:

I have a Powell's Bookstore visit next weekend so I might try to snag copies of Do not Say We Have Nothing and Hag-Seed. I already have Barkskins in my TBR Tower. Now if I could just find more time to read...

Happy weekend!

Happy Saturday, Charlotte.

Ooh, Powell’s. They're on my wishlist for bookshop visits. One day... Wishing you reading time this weekend.

>204 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara. Hope those students improve this week.

>202 charl08: Oh good, Charlotte. What an unusual one, right? I loved that "appeal to the footnotes" gag in Thrilling Adventures, too.

> Incredible! You read over 300 books last year!

>207 jnwelch: It was more the humanity/ies Joe. But the footnotes bit was fun too!

>208 Whisper1: Thanks. On current rates, it'll be more like 200. Sigh.

Now reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I think this is my first Gaiman.

Thanks for sharing the Guardian reviews, Charlotte, some look interesting, but sadly none is yet available in Dutch... so I wait and see.
Happy weekend!

>210 charl08: Ha, that's my currently audio and my first Gaiman, too. I like it so far.

I climbed up a rope ladder to the lowest branch of the big beech tree, sat on it, and read my book. I was not scared of anything when I read my book: I was far away I ancient Egypt, learning about Hathor, and how she had stalked Egypt in the form of a lioness...

This was great. Totally different from what I usually read, but one of those stories that just catches you up.The Ocean at the end of the Lane

>211 FAMeulstee: Oh dear Anita. Sorry about that. Happy weekend to you too.

>212 Ameise1: How funny! I liked it a lot, hope the audio continues to be as good.

Well, Thrilling Adventures is on the list.

I just finished another book from a series that you introduced me to, A Cast of Vultures - I love Sam!

And I have American Street from the library, so that is next on the list. I think you asked me about that one as well.

Ooh, I have yet to get my hands on that one. Maybe the library has a copy...

I've just picked up Life and Fate. This might take a while...

>210 charl08: you think its your first Gaiman? Don't you know? ;) (hint- consult LT)
My first was Coraline, my second American Gods- and I don't think I need return to him after that.

>213 charl08: I loved The Ocean at the End of the Lane! So glad you did, too. What? And it took you two hours to read? Since I like spending money on my books, I would be broke if I read that fast! LOL

>200 charl08: I enjoyed God's Own Country, Charlotte, by Ross Raisin.

Hmm- Stay With Me sounds appealing. I think it is on the Women's Lit list? I'll have to look into that, Charlotte.

>216 LovingLit: Ha! Well yes, but the quality of the data depends on the human who put the data in.
Or forgot to put the data in...

>217 Berly: This is why I need a library Kim! I think I had started it at the point I'd posted that first post, though.

>218 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. I've added that one to the wishlist.

>219 vancouverdeb: Yup, that's right Deborah, it made the list. I want to read it, will have to try and squeeze it in.

>213 charl08: Glad to hear that it is good until the end. I finished a book about Nigeria yesterday day. I think it's one you would like to read too. My thoughts about Every Day Is For the Thief is on my thread.
Happy Sunday, Charlotte.

I was also impressed with The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. Those footnotes were a struggle at times though.

>221 Ameise1: I think it's a great story Barbara. I'm a fan of Teju Cole. Your review makes me want to reread him.

>222 avatiakh: They were pretty long. The maths went over my head.

I wondered if she was making a point about the importance of Lovelace's addendum to the original paper?

More swimming. A Long Way to go to finish this year!

Oooh, your first Gaiman!! WOOT!!

>224 scaifea: Thanks Amber. If I ever see some Gaiman-themed pom poms, I know who to send them to! :-)

"Now reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I think this is my first Gaiman." Ooh, fantastic place to start. I hope this is just the beginning of a long love affair.

Happy Sunday, Charlotte.

Happy Sunday, Charlotte. Go swimming! My first Gaiman was Neverwhere. One of my favorites though is The Graveyard Book.

>226 msf59: Well, I liked it, but so far, I think more of a cordial friendship than anything more.

>227 BLBera: Thanks for the recommendation Beth. Thanks for the recommendation- I'll add them to the wishlist.

The Clothing of Books has popped up on my digital library account. Tempting...

I've finally cracked open The Warmth of Other Suns. What a gripping book. I just wish it wasn't quite so heavy so I could carry it to work.

Well, I can't seem to settle to one book.

Marina Warner has explained how different fairy tales: literary and local, are not actually always so distinct. (Once Upon a time)

In Life and Fate, the Russian senior army officers have just been rescued from an oil fire by the Volga. I thought this would be difficult to read but it's immediately compelling.

And in The Warmth of Other Suns I leaned there was a lynching every four days in a period in the late 19c e20c, and that Frederick Douglas died depressed at the loss of Reconstruction's advantages to segregation.

Dr Marion Wynne-Davies, professor of English literature and co-ordinator of children’s literature at the University of Surrey, describes giving a child a book as a “gift of love”.

She said: “Buying a book for a child is not only about helping them learn to read and improving their literacy skills. Rather, it is a gift of love. Whatever their age, take them to a bookshop and join them in searching out the books they find stimulating and exciting.”

In 1970, a study began to explore the difference reading for pleasure can make in people’s lives. Since its inception, the British Cohort Study has followed the lives of more than 17,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales. During their lives, researchers collected data on factors such as economic circumstance, education, health, physical and social development.

Of the participants, 6,000 took various cognitive tests at 16. Children from the same social backgrounds who tested as having similar ability at age five and 10 were compared. The study found children who read frequently at ten had higher results across all spectrums. Reading books when they were younger actually increased their mathematical abilities a few years down the line.

Reading had an impact four times greater than having a parent with a post-secondary degree.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/15132718.Feature__The_amazing_power_of_readin...

>225 charl08: Oooohmygosh. Now, ridiculously, I want them.

If I was good at photoshop, there would be a picture here of Gaiman pom poms.
As I'm not, we'll have to go with the power of imagination!

Just read Cloth Lullaby: the woven life of Louise Bourgeois. Beautiful book.

And in contrast, back to The Warmth of Other Suns and thinking that I'm going to have to read something else before bed because the lynching stories are going to give me nightmares.

I need to get back to The Warmth of Other Suns. I stalled out about halfway through, but you're re-inspiring me, Charlotte.

I only discovered the art of Louise Bourgeois a few years ago, but she is amazing. Have you seen any of her cells or her spiders?

>231 charl08: So encouraging! I truly started reading my first son board books as soon we got home from the hospital! :) I started collecting children's books for my kids when I was in my teens. Not that having children was my total goal in life, but it was a definite one for me. My parents and grandparents read to me - and my maternal grandma was a gifted narrator! She could add fabulous voices and inflections . I was a really blessed that way. I definitely wanted to pass that along to my sons. When I was about 7 years old, my mom used to take all of we kids ( and there were 5 of us by the time I was 9 years old ) and she would say to we kids - each of you pick out a book that you'd like me to purchase for you to read.

My daughter in law teaches kindergarten in a somewhat disadvantaged school, and I know that she notices a difference in how well the children do according to their home life. She tries hard to make up for those that are less advantaged, but I know at times, she gets discouraged/ frustrated. I've seen her in tears, concerned that she can't " love " each of her students equally. I was so touched by that. My son married a lovely girl. ( and he is lovely too! )

>236 jnwelch: Its really chilling reading about the slip back from the advances of Reconstruction, Joe. I love the way she has used personal stories of migrants to build a bigger overall narrative about leaving being a political act.

>237 RidgewayGirl: I don't think so Kay, although the book included a lovely photo of the artist with one of her creations at the back. Such a beautiful picture book. There's also one about Kahlo that I want to read.

>238 vancouverdeb: It's an intriguing bit of research Deborah. I feel totally vindicated in buying picturebooks for the children of friends and family! Serenade sounds like a very committed teacher. I'm sure she must be appreciated by the school and the children.

Picked up the Sarah Dunant book about the Borgias, In the Name of the Family. I didn't think she would be able to catch my imagination in the way she did with Sacred Hearts, but this one is going the same way. Lucrezia Borgia being married off after her brother killed off her second husband (not a spoiler) is a captivating figure. Macchiavelli has just appeared in the background though...

>233 charl08: I think Neil would totally approve of The Pom Poms of Imagination...

Glad to hear it Amber.
I'm still reading The Warmth of Other Suns: I'm rooting for the three whose biographies make up key narratives in the book. One young teenager speaks back to a white stranger who asks him to procure a woman. At the same time, so impressed and terrified for him...

>239 charl08: I really do need to read some Sarah Dunant books as the period she writes about is eminently fascinating but about which I know very little.

Paul I've enjoyed all her books that I've read, but really loved Sacred Hearts, partly because Radio 4 serialised it and just did it so well. It's set around a period when convent choirs were used to gain status with local authorities, and the period when the church tried to crack down on female independence within convents. But it's also a love story.

I'm reading about daffodil blindness, as lots of mine have come up without heads. Apparently my choices include a bug, not having planted them deep enough, or not having fertilised enough. Ah well. Maybe next year Il crack it!


Not my picture.

Hello, Charlotte! All caught up with you, and hooray for Gaiman! LOVE him - Ocean at the End of the Lane is my favorite by him so far. And if you read the hardback - the little boy on the drainpipe on the back cover is actually him!

Thanks Mamie! Off to look at the hardback cover :-)

Having learned today about a colleague's daughter who fell out of a tree, heart in mouth re that one. I was impressed he clarified that modern drainpipes are *not* suitable for climbing...

I hear you, Charlotte. We did stuff like that all the time when we were kids - somehow life seems less fragile when you are very young.

I love the cover of Life and Fate above. My cover was boring, but the book was anything but.

You are inspiring me to pick up my recently acquired copy of The Warmth of Other Suns

Hope the job is going well; at least you still are doing some fine reading.

>249 arubabookwoman: Isn't it beautiful! I love the cover. I'd buy the others in the series too, which are equally beautiful, but way too many books. The info on the publisher website says they are based on heritage textiles. Someone did a wonderful job in design.

Time for a new thread, I think.