2017 Part Two; Jillmwo's Reading Thread

Just launching the reading thread for second quarter 2017. As far as I'm concerned, these threads really can't be shanghai'd or de-railed. Conversation and book recommendations always welcome, puns recognized as the lowest form of humor, and coffee recognized as the nectar of the gods.

*starts gin-induced alternative music driven dance party*

>2 clamairy: Woo Hoo! I am so there! Although I'm not sure what alternative music is.

Wow, part 2 already? I'll try to keep up this time. I really don't like feeling out of touch.

Sorry I'm late. Any bean bags free?

Just reserving my space here to sit back and enjoy the entertainment!

Just to make sure you all see it, the finalists for the 2017 Hugo Awards were announced today:
http://www.worldcon.fi/wsfs/hugo-finalists/

I find myself in my standard situation with regard to reading awards. There are maybe 3 titles that I can claim to own or to have actually read. This year, we have Bujold's Penric and the Shaman, Le Guin's Words Are My Matter, and Gaiman's The View from the Cheap Seats. (I also have Gaiman's Norse Mythology awaiting me, but that's not up for a Hugo.).

I did about as well with the Dramatic Productions. I have seen Rogue One, will be getting Hidden Figures on DVD and have a son strongly recommending Arrival as a viewing choice (given that the cable company has it on demand).

Meanwhile I'm at that point in wedding preparations where I'm second-guessing myself and everyone else. (Will the earrings I thought I would wear really going to work with the dress? Should I contact the restaurant to have appetizers ready for our arrival for the rehearsal dinner? Should Patrick wear the white shirt (dull but safe) or the new grey shirt (fashion forward, but running the risk of looking like an undertaker)?

Most of all, who is going to train me on how to take pictures with my phone? (I'm woefully behind in this realm. I don't think I've ever even done a selfie.)

>7 jillmwo: Not wanting to add to your dilemma but wanting to ensure you are totally prepared for the day, I would suggest that perhaps you should invest in a selfie stick. :-) Just be careful that other snappers do not catch an image of the Groom's Mother taking selfies with her selfie-stick. Such photographs may not portray the dignity that you wish to exude on the day.

a son strongly recommending Arrival as a viewing choice
I am starting to re-read the Ted Chiang story that Arrival is based on, Stories of Your Life and Others, as I do not want to watch the film until I have full recall of the story.

>7 jillmwo: My recommendation is to always pass the phone off to someone taller* than yourself. Or you could get that selfie stick that Peter recommended, and disguise it as a back-scratcher or a walking stick.

*Remember this FB meme?

>7 jillmwo: I'm sure the earrings are fine.

Peter should wear the gray shirt with a devastating tie.

At my son's wedding, I took a few photos with my camera before the event, mostly of my son and his friends getting ready. Then I found that I simply wanted to focus all my attention on the people and happenings, so put the phone away and let the professionals and friends take all the photos. Much more enjoyable, I assure you.

>10 MrsLee: I think it's possible Jill was asking about taking selfies so she can get people's opinions on her earrings and dress, etc.

>11 clamairy: In that case the job is only half done when she has the selfies. She still needs to post them here for us all to comment ;)

Still no selfies. But I did successfully take a picture on my phone of the empty ballroom (all nicely decorated before the guests arrived). Since you asked, the earrings were fine. Patrick did wear the fashion forward grey shirt. The ceremony went well and the priest wore a stole of Irish wool featuring Celtic symbols. Following that, the maid of honor's toast and the best man's toast went well (humorous, but not overly sentimental.) The sentimental stuff didn't overflow until I danced with my son to Kermit's wonderful song, The Rainbow Connection, at which point I'm told many relatives BECAME sentimental. Then of course all what-sis broke loose. The crowd from the groom's academic institution got up and DANCED and then the family members on my side got up and DANCED. My sisters and I DANCED. (As did at least three nieces and two nephews.) As the evening went on, the Best Man shed his bow tie, his vest and his jacket and finally, even his shirt tail came untucked (just like when he was a little one). The bride's side was up dancing once they saw all THAT going on. Much happiness was spread about and I was exhausted by the time Monday rolled around. Today was the first day back to "normal".

As soon as someone explains to me how to post a photo here, I will.

Jill, look here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/177029

It's the fifth item down. If you don't know the link to the photo then right click on it and then click on "Copy Image Location" or "Copy Image Address". Just paste that into the place where you see JPB wrote "http://host.com/picture.jpg" and you have to leave the quotation marks with no spaces.

If your photos aren't already online somewhere then you'll have to upload them to your LibraryThing member photo gallery first.

>13 jillmwo: Sounds like a wonderful day, with many lovely memories for the future. I'm glad it all went well, and hope you can take some well-deserved time to relax.

>13 jillmwo: I'm glad it all went off so well! I hope you've recovered from the festivities.

Thanks for the report on the earrings and shirt. I was wondering.

Just wanted to mention that the photos on Facebook are lovely, and it looks like everyone was enjoying themselves. :o) I'm glad it all went smoothly, and now you can decompress a bit.

So very glad that a lovely time was had by all. Memories to fuel you with happiness for a long time to come.

Hi, I am back to hanging out in the Green Dragon and am so glad to hear there's been lots of DANCING going on! Congrats on a great day!

Hearty congratulations!

I said I’d not been particularly focused on reading anything in the past month. However, I’m working my way through the following:

Nabakov’s Favorite Word Is Mauve by Ben Blatt - There are a few people who gather in this pub who I think would truly enjoy this book. What do you know about statistical analysis and/or text mining? This author looks at some 50-60 name-brand writers (Stephen King, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, James Patterson, and others of that ilk) and shares insights about their bodies of work (in total, roughly 1500 books). I admit that my eyes kind of skimmed over the actual discussion of his statistical analysis, but found the discussion intriguing nonetheless. One of the early discussions was about the use of adverbs in prose. Conventional wisdom is that writers should minimize the use of adverbs ending in -ly (hastily, angrily, etc.); someone has decided that good writing conveys such meaning without having to explain to the reader. I’m not sure I buy that particular line of thought, but for the sake of discussion, it’s a good place to start in explaining how the application of algorithms and statistical analysis can reveal various facets of a writer’s practice. Blatt looks at the use of exclamation points (apparently Elmore Leonard had a horror of those) as well as “thought verbs” (a concept I’d never encountered before). I’ve not finished this one yet, but so far at least it has changed my perceptions of some of the other lighter works I’ve picked up.

Five Little Pigs - Blatt’s book above didn’t give over much *explicit* commentary to Christie’s work, but it did prompt a little more analysis in my thinking about this one in advance of a book group discussion later this week. I think this title really is one of the unsung classics by Christie. There’s real craft in this one, equal to Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile or Then There were None.

On the Sofa with Jane Austen - Maggie Lane is a wonderful reader of Jane Austen; what other expert would note that any man with an umbrella appearing in Emma has matrimony on his mind? It’s enough to send one back to re-read the novels just to see whether the symbolic detail carries over in Austen’s other work. This is a brief collection of her columns that had appeared in the UK publication, Regency World, and I’ve not read all of them yet. (Okay, I’ve only read two of the twenty-one essays. But I’m working on it.

Ask a Policeman is another collaborative novel that emerged from the Detection Club in the ‘thirties. John Rhode establishes a challenging murder in the first third of the book, but I’ve not gotten far enough into the various other contributions to tell whether the rest of it holds up.

The Methods of Sergeant Cluff isn’t a puzzle mystery; it’s more the tale of a righteous and upright policeman who is untiring in his pursuit of a murderer. Kind of like Inspector Javert if Javert had had the capability of seeing how his society had failed Valjean. Not a cozy traditional British mystery, by any stretch.

You got me with Nabokov's Favorite Word is Mauve—if I can ever find it at a decent price.

Quick hello, Jill! and hope you're doing well.

Nabokov's favourite word... does sound good.

>24 Sakerfalcon: It's thought-provoking. Let me return to something I referenced up there in #21. In the second chapter of Five Little Pigs, Christie uses several -ly words to describe the mannerisms of a particular witness.

"Guilty as hell," said Mr. Fogg succinctly

Later Mr Fogg says something bluntly, something else slowly, and finally something quietly. Now depending upon who you listen to, this use of an adverb makes Christie a poor writer. She is however quietly in the head of Poirot when she describes Fogg's manner in responding to queries from the detective. It's a way to let the reader observe the witness and possibly draw significance from the responses. Poirot conversely is never described (at least in this chapter) through the same technique. Now, I might not have thought about that technique or even noticed Christie's usage if I hadn't picked up Nabakov's Favourite Word Is Mauve . (Drat the wretched touchstone technology here on LT. I'm talking about a real book and they do have it in their database and yet the silly automated link isn't being enabled.)

Statistical analysis isn't a particularly compelling topic (at least to my mind), but Blast demonstrates how this form of analysis applied to textual narrative reveals the author's practices and/or thinking. This could be one of my top five books for the year, simply because I have found it to be -- again -- thought-provoking.

Definitely worth your time.

On the other hand, I read Lois McMaster Bujold's The Hallowed Hunt while traveling and enjoyed it immensely. Sometimes one just wants to read a fantasy in order to be transported elsewhere. It opened up as a kind of murder mystery but expanded nicely. I like the books based in her World of the Five Gods; adventurous but at the same time so full of engaging characters. It reminds me very much of the line I once heard from Marian Zimmer Bradley about plot -- Johnny gets his ass caught in a bear trap and has many adventures getting it out. Bujold's characters get caught in surprisingly complex bear traps and then have interesting adventures throughout the pages of whatever book of hers I'm reading.

Something else that hit home last week(?) were the comments left by @clamairy, @morphidae and @stellarexplorer about my failure to have read Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman. So I did get my hands on a copy and I read it and you know what my take-away really was? How depressing it was to discover all these people who really write circles around me. I mean, here's Fadiman, elsewhere Michael Dirda, and Neil Gaiman coming up behind me with his View From the Cheap Seats and then I read my own brief essays and well, you can imagine.

(small black cloud of existential angst floats above Jill's head) And this work week just demands more than I can produce!

Edited to note that I followed @pgmcc's recommendation of spelling "Favourite" according to British practice (see below in #26), but doing so had no discernible effect on the touchstone. Clearly, I live under a little black cloud of existential angst..

>21 jillmwo: OK! I confess. You got me with Nabokov's Favourite Word is Mauve. (Touchstones worked for me. Perhaps the problem was your colonial spelling of "Favourite".) :-)

Having been a member of the Institute of Statisticians for many years, having specialised in quantitative analysis and mathematical modelling, and having read a couple of books containing chapters/ references to statistical textual (including The Code Book), I was smitten by your remarks on this book.

I have been hit by two BBs in two days: your Blatt book and A Gentleman in Moscow. I shall have wait until I am back at home base before I can determine the acquisition paths for these targets.

Oh, by the way, we watched a training video last night: "Mr. & Mrs. Smith".

>26 pgmcc: Your next assignment, should you choose to accept: The In-Laws, with Peter Faulk, 1979 version.

>27 MrsLee: >26 pgmcc:

Followed by "True Lies" (At least the first two thirds)

>27 MrsLee: & >28 suitable1:
You two are mean. What am I to do now? Read Nabokov's Favourite Word before reading your posts, or take the risk and read them anyway?

>27 MrsLee: & >28 suitable1: I took the risk and those are two of our favourite films.

One of our early training videos was "Undercover Blues"

>26 pgmcc: May I also suggest 'Hopscotch' starring Walter Matthau? I recently watched this and found it both charming and humorously entertaining.

>31 ScoLgo: We have our copy of 'Hopscotch' worn out. It is wonderful. Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson are excellent in it. Apparently Matthau wrote the scene where their characters meet over night. The director and he were wondering how to introduce the relationship between the two characters and Matthau said he would think about it and came in the following day with the scene written. It was filmed in one take.

>32 pgmcc: I loved it. Didn't realize until the end credits that it was Matthau's son playing the agent that he snuck up on while the FBI was busy with Ned Beatty's house, (I really enjoyed Beatty's role too!).

>33 ScoLgo: Beatty was great.

The last time we watched it we watched the additional information on the second disc. It turned out to be a 25 year edition and there were interviews with the director and the author of the book the screenplay was based on, Brian Garfield. The author collaborated on the screenplay as he had not be happy with other adaptations of his works.

I tracked down the book. It is quite different from the film but it is still good fun. I prefer the film but I would read other work by Garfield if I came across it.

"Cutter" was the name of Matthau's son's character. The pilot was Matthau's daughter-in-law." There is a funny story told by the director in the interview about how Matthau's relatives ended up in the film. If I had more time and a better Internet connection I would tell you about it. Possibly next week.

Message for @jillmwo
Thank you for providing this dead-letter brop for Le Societe de La Chat Noir!

>34 pgmcc: Isn't it time to give Le Societe de La Chat Noir its own thread?

>35 clamairy: Shshshshshshshsh! It's supposed to be undercover. A thread would lead people through the labyrinth.

*Laughing*

>38 MrsLee: :-)

My wife and I want to rewatch all those training videos again.

Just including a quote from Anne Fadiman here:

Books get their value from the way they co-exist with the other books a person owns, and that when they lose their context, they lose their meaning.

I imagine that this is one of the reasons I find it difficult to part with my various and sundry volumes. When I look up from the couch and see Paradise Lost sitting next to an Easton Press edition of Le Guin's The Dispossessed, there is an emotional coupling and connection for me with those titles. The former reminds me of the internship work in my college library (which is where I read Milton for the first time and regretfully had to turn it back in before I was done because the college was closing for the summer) and how *that* compelling (if partial) reading experience excited me while finding it so disappointing that there was nobody around me who found reading something like that to be as exciting.

The latter, the copy of The Dispossessed, reminds me of the expense of acquiring that particular hard cover book and the story someone told me about the images that opened each chapter of the book which told the reader which planet that chapter of the narrative was "on". When some edition (a paperback version) got assigned a professor for a class, she told me that she hadn't realized that those very important design elements had been stripped out (probably to save money) and how that had impacted the reading experience of her students. Having spent some amount of money for such a collectors edition, I was so very relieved to realize that Easton Press had actually included those drawings at the head of each chapter (which is why I can't ever give it away or trust an ebook edition (which may also have stripped out those illustrations on the grounds of publisher expense). But that wonder at reading Milton (and finding it compelling) was a memorable moment of existence for me and that experience sits right next to the philosophical argument that Le Guin had with herself regarding capitalism and socialism as economic models for sustainable living. (Because there are times when I have that same argument with myself as an adult...). It's the life of the mind which ordinary daily life doesn't always reflect in external ways -- other than via a collection of books on a shelf.

It's a flaky combination of books that reflects who I am and my husband may never really "get" why I can't just shed excess copies, but I really do understand what Fadiman is talking about there.

Just a passing thought on this sunny Friday afternoon.

>40 jillmwo: Nicely stated. It's true, our books don't stand alone. I can't take a Dorothy L. Sayers off the shelf without noticing the Pern books filling a whole shelf above, and the Nevil Shute and D. E. Stevenson books below, and my mind makes connections between them that might not exist without that proximity. That is one of the things that gets lost when reading ebooks.

I have succumbed to the "Buy Button" because some trio were talking on a thread about Georgette Heyer. I think you, @SylviaC, might have been talking to @Marissa_Doyle. At any rate, I have downloaded Devil's Cub to my Kindle. (When really I should be pursuing *heavier* titles on my shelves.) I will say that The Three Musketeers translation by Will Hobson really does read much more rapidly than my older translation.

I"ve got a book group this afternoon at the library. Back eventually.

That darned "Buy Button"! Devil's Cub isn't a favourite of mine, but lots of people love it.

Not my favorite either--the 18th century-ishness gets a little labored at times--but there are a couple of scenes that are worth the price of admission.

>44 Marissa_Doyle: Yes, there's one in particular that makes the whole thing worthwhile.

>44 Marissa_Doyle: and >45 SylviaC: You must tell me which scenes you thought were particularly good. I admit to speeding through this one but I am afraid I wasn't as charmed (or as soothed) as I might normally be. (Leonie was just too, too... for my personal tastes.)

Meanwhile, while I can't go into too much detail about the two books that took up this weekend (as both had to do with both politics and religion), I will just say that The Benedict Option started off well but then went off the rails. This was a book that the New York Times reviewer called one of the most important religious books of the decade and I watched a five-person panel on C-Span discuss it for two full hours. While I finished it, I'm not sure if I'm going to hold on to it. It was surprisingly conservative -- something that didn't emerge when I was listening to the discussion on C-Span. I don't think I agree with his presentation of Benedictine spirituality nor do I believe that isolationism is the right solution to the social problems the author names. The book that I read as a counterweight was from 2012 --Christianity After Religion but it was conversely SO liberal that I wasn't sure I could buy into that one either. (I am struck by one comment referenced in one of the two books, "We don't make progress forward by holding on to nostalgia." That one is still bouncing around in my head today. I'm just trying to work out what the practices are that sustain me as an individual.

Otherwise, I am about a third of the way through The Girls at the KingFisher Club -- a title that I think was discussed over on @Sakerfalcon's thread. Having been told that it was a retelling of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, I was expecting something very different just on that basis, but it's rather intriguing and very well-done (at least so far). Can someone just remind me if this was being marketed as a YA title? It doesn't really read like one to me. Of course, YMMV.

Hi Jill, stopping by after an absence and seeing how much I've missed! Felicitations on the wedding, the earrings, the dancing, and everything! I must keep an eye out for the copy of The Dispossessed with the pictures; I've only owned a couple of paperbacks of it and I don't think I ever saw such a luxury. Still a wonderful book; for my Bibliography course back in the day I wrote a paper about criticism of TD and The Left Hand of Darkness, and it ended up with a picture of UKL on the cover of the Bulletin of Bibliography. The Mauve book looks like a lot of fun, and my library even has it on order. Now I want to go watch Hopscotch.

>46 jillmwo: Re the scene(s) I enjoyed the most--the one where Mary shoots Dominic is fun, but I mostly enjoyed the scene toward the end of the book where Mary has dinner with Justin at the inn, not knowing who he is. His reactions to some of the things she tells him are priceless. But it's by no means in my top five favorite Heyers, or even top ten. Leonie gets on my nerves, too. If you're looking for truly charming, try The Unknown Ajax.

>46 jillmwo: Exactly what Marissa said. I really don't care much for this one, because Dominic is a spoiled brat. I tried to reread it recently, but just ended up skipping to the good part—which was pretty short.

>46 jillmwo: Neither amazon or The book smugglers blog (where I think I first heard about Girls at the Kingfisher Club) classifies the book as YA. I agree that it reads like an adult novel despite the young ages of the protagonists. Glad you are enjoying it!

Okay, I did manage to finish a book this week -- the novella length The Dispatcher by John Scalzi. It's not bad. The basic premise is essentially an exploration of the question "Can we ever escape death?" This is vaguely-Chandler-esque, but only vaguely. There are some very funny moments, but as always, Scalzi manages to hit the reader with a fascinating punchline ending.

Fun. Not overly weighty in its themes. I kind of chortled at the scene involving undergraduates at the University of Chicago battling one other with broad swords which doesn't sound like it should be funny, but it really kind of was.

>51 jillmwo: I think I took a teensy-weensy bullet on this one.

Given that it was over in 130 pages, I'm pretty sure that hitting you with a teensy-weensy book bullet is entirely appropriate.

>52 Jim53: You mean a book BB? From a BB gun? If it helps any, I really enjoyed The Dispatcher as well. My husband and I listened to it on a car trip.

>51 jillmwo: I am always amazed at the scenarios authors come up with to help us ponder life and death and other weighty matters.

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is an exquisitely framed novel and I’m not quite sure how it was managed. It’s a re-telling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses which is what the marketing campaign for the book was built on. However, such a cultural reference suggests to me that this ought to have featured sparkling bursts of magic and women in hennin headgear of cloth-of-gold and jewels, wearing long swirling gowns beneath silver trees shimmering in the moonlight. Quintessential high fantasy, with a European flavor.

Which is why the author’s re-telling shouldn’t have worked for me on some levels. Her setting is so dramatically different from the fairy tale. It’s got just sufficient flavor of the photographed historical record in it as to make it impossible for it to sustain any sense of the magical bedtime story.

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club takes place in New York City of the 1920’s. Big taxis, jazz babies and speakeasys. Champagne. A fast Charleston and plenty of partners. Cops on the take and all those associated elements. There is darkness as well. The overbearing pater familias. The cold, unwelcoming brownstone. The grittiness of a dank alleyway.

Genevieve Valentine skillfully weaves all of these real-world, historical elements into her retelling of twelve sisters escaping into the night to go dancing and to be young. She manages to avoid all manner of saccharine happily-ever-after resolution.There are moments of stabbing pain and yet it all ends up sparkling with the multi-faceted brilliancy of twelve different women come into their own. It’s not really a coming-of-age story, but it is a story of achieving maturity. (Yes, that’s contradictory, but there’s a nuance there that makes it an accurate description.)

She takes an inherent element of the original fairy tale (that of restrictive protection) and builds out a tale of release. I really liked it and all credit must be given to @Sakerfalcon for bringing it to the Pub’s attention.

>55 jillmwo: So, that's on my wishlist now.

>55 jillmwo: Uhoh. I think that was a direct hit for me as well.

>56 MrsLee: and >57 clamairy:. Don't blame me, it was @Sakerfalcon. Pretty skillful kind of BB when it comes at you from another thread altogether, right?

Seriously, knowing your tastes, I think you'd each enjoy it.

>55 jillmwo: I've heard some mixed reviews about that one, though they all seem to revolve around people's expectations of what a fairytale retelling is (or should be), so it's really nice to see reviews like yours. I think there's a chance I'd be thoroughly disappointed by it if I went in expecting a moew traditional kind of retelling, but knowing what to expect means I'll be able to enjoy it for the story it is. It sounds fascinating!

>55 jillmwo: I'm so glad you enjoyed The girls at the Kingfisher Club! And well done for redirecting my bullet - team work at its best!

A quote for you to mull over:

To read well, one must be at leisure. Disinterested reading involves moving into a different zone that permits placid reflection. A good book, like good wine, cannot be savored in a hurry. It needs time to breathe. A mind cluttered with many preoccupations is not free for reading... Michael Casey in Strangers to the City

Now there is a certain degree there with which one might quibble. But for the most part, I like the quote.

One additional tidbit. I went to a bookstore today and bought two books - IceHenge by KSR and Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I was horrified by the going price of a mass-market paperback book. ($8.99 each) and I will spare you the usual rant I might offer on the production specs.

*sound of strangled noises, as Jill swallows imprecations against publishing practices*

*pats Jill's hand* Yeah, me too.

>61 jillmwo: I find that quote to be more true for me now than it used to be. Lately I don't even have the desire to pick up a good book when others are around, whereas I used to be able to sink into a good book anytime, anywhere.

Went to a bookstore that's a forty minute drive from us this morning. (I love retail shops that are open early in the day.) I can strongly recommend a visit to Wellington Square Bookshop & Cafe (see http://www.wellingtonsquarebooks.com/). Fantastic stock (albeit limited in some genres) but every title on the shelf is a GOOD BOOK! I mean, seriously someone has looked carefully at what's out there and has only brought in the good stuff -- not all modern day but not all 100 year old classics. Not remainders but in many instances, signed first editions. And at remarkably reasonable prices.

Patrick found something to read as did I, and we didn't have to fight traffic to get there although Google's driving directions were a bit "off". Not going to drive 40 minutes every time I am restless but it was a lovely treat. I bought a hardcover first edition of Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End and Patrick got some book about character actors in film, entitled OK You Mugs Writers on Movie Actors.

The store also realized that customers frequently require notebooks and pens. (You know how many bookstores overlook that key necessity of readers?) And they had great comfy chairs for their reading groups' use. The guy even told me that I could buy a latte and then sit in the great comfy chair with all those books around me and browse my selections.

I really liked that store. Must go back.

>65 jillmwo: Sounds perfect!

>65 jillmwo: I probably haven't mentioned that I am from Philly, accidentally moved to the NY metro area 30 years ago in my 20s, and got stuck here? All my family members still reside in the Philadelphia area, so I can't wait to check this place out next time I'm in the neighborhood!

The pictures of their cafe remind me of a New Yorker cartoon I saw--

Man is at checkout counter of bookstore, and says "What! No cappuccino! And you call yourselves a bookstore!"

>65 jillmwo: that's very close to one of the areas where we've been looking at homes. Maybe it will become a factor.

>68 Jim53: Us too. A definite maybe.

>67 stellarexplorer: and >68 Jim53: Spouse and I lived in NYC for 17 years; he's a native New Yorker. Some things about the city back in the 'eighties and 'nineties, I thoroughly enjoyed. For one, there was a broad range of bookstores -- the Strand, the big B&N on Fifth Avenue below 23rd, a small bookstore-cafe that specialized in stuff from the thirties and forties that was ultimately sold because the owner was ready to retire. She served a great afternoon tea. *sigh* Patrick and I would go to the Strand on Friday nights and then to a greasy spoon hamburger joint as our regular Friday night date.

Now that I'm down in the Philly area, I miss that kind of access to used bookstores. (Amazon can't replicate every experience of book-buying. Serendipity used to play a big part of my exposure to new titles.)

>65 jillmwo: This sounds like a wonderful bookshop! Probably a good thing I never discovered it while I lived in Philly. I did make the most of the used bookstores in the city though.

Hoping to finish Mistborn this weekend. It's not bad, but I'm not nearly as immersed in the story as I had been in the stories of The Emperor's Soul and Elantris.

I just had to get away from Agatha Christie and the British Golden Age for a bit. Meanwhile the non-fiction I'm reading (while engaging to my mind) doesn't really lend itself to public discussion in the Pub. I also read one or two pieces of Wilkie Collins' short fiction. (Folio Edition, so it had nice illustrations). Oh, and I read a sample of Vera which @clamairy and @Sakerfalcon had been talking about on their threads.

Okay, I was wrong. I thought there was a problem with Mistborn and the real issue was that I just hadn't read far enough along in the story. For the first two thirds of the novel, I just wasn't as entirely immersed in the novel as I'd have chosen to be. I didn't love it the way I loved The Emperor's Soul but now, having gotten through the 686 pages, it's entirely worthwhile as a story. Brandon Sanderson as the author pulls it out of the hat and I (as the reader, identifying with Vin's learning curve) felt at that moment that I really should have seen it coming. All the clues were there.

I don't know if I'll want to read all three volumes in that trilogy. They deserve full attention and frankly better production values than I encountered in the mass market paperback copy I had in hand. (Seriously tight leading between the lines on the page, 9pt font, and margins of 1/8th or even less. Tor -- as publisher of the US edition -- ought to be ashamed.) Those production values really played against my enjoyment of the book. As did the cover art. That said, the reasons for not necessarily returning to the universe are not entirely due to problems with the physical artifact. Sanderson's universe is not a pleasant one and the magic system in Mistborn was too convoluted for my tastes. It seemed too much like Kell and Vin always had superpowers -- super speed, super hearing, etc. all at point of need.

But then he hit me with the way in which Kell triumphs and I just felt gobsmacked. Son of a gun, he got me. There was a POINT to it. Kudos to Sanderson. And this will be my next example when someone asks me why I don't stop reading at fifty pages when a book isn't doing anything for me. Because sometimes, sometimes it really can be worth struggling through it.

So of those you've read, which Sanderson would you suggest to the complete Sanderson novice?

>73 jillmwo:
How many adverbs did he use?

>74 stellarexplorer: Oh my gawd, man. LOL You have asked this question at least twice before and everyone (including myself) has suggested that you start with The Emperor's Soul. I know I sound cranky, but I'm actually cackling with glee here because your short-term memory might be worse than mine.

>73 jillmwo: I would have bailed as well if my daughter hadn't raved so about it. And yes, it was well worth the slog.

>76 clamairy: Did you consider that I might actually be collecting a range of opinions? Are you serious - did I really ask this before? :)

Yeah, I know I did.

I am considering reading a book by Andy Sanderson called The Sole Emperor.

>74 stellarexplorer: I haven't read all that much of Sanderson's work. I read The Emperor's Soul first, I think and was blown away by it. (So well done.). It's novella length and I think I tried it first because it was a way to get a brief sense of his writing without investing a lot of time. That one had a brilliant premise and was brilliantly executed. By contrast, his earlier novel Elantris is several hundred pages (500+) in hardcover. I found the premise in Elantris to be intriguing; the protagonist faced a problem that required more than sword-fighting and derring-do. Mistborn was just the third of his stuff I'd tried. If, like me, you're limited on available time to read, I would certainly recommend beginning with The Emperor's Soul because it's just such a beautiful piece of writing. But if you're looking for a nice *long* book to take with you on vacation, Elantris would be a satisfying choice. I'll put it this way -- neither of those two titles have been sent off to Goodwill to be "re-homed". I'm not sure I'll keep Mistborn, given the lousy mass market paperback format. It's such a turn-off (although probably some 13 year old, desperate for entertainment this summer, would not find it overly objectionable to take on a family vacation. Heck, he or she might even gulp it down in three days. Youth.)

>75 pgmcc: Not an excessive quantity. Nor was there an overly-enthusiastic profusion of exclamation points. BTW, am I right that Blatt doesn't say how he got hold of the various corpora of best-selling authors in order to do his analysis? He doesn't reference any long drawn-out negotiations with publishers over permissions to text or data-mine, does he?

And I find it fascinating that in the time it took me to frame the above responses, @stellarexplorer and @clamairy had time for a full exchange regarding what Sanderson thing should be recommended as a first introduction.

>78 stellarexplorer: Is it a book about fish then? Or shoes?

>79 jillmwo: We're hasty. Or at least I am. What can I say? Sorry you had to read such a crappy copy. I think I can loan you the other two volumes for Kindle, but I have the trilogy in one volume and Amazon would only let you keep it for two weeks.

>80 clamairy: I thank you for the kind offer, but no. I am looking about at the available books on my shelf to see what is immediately at hand that will suit the mood. Ideally something short, and thus suited to a "bear of little brain".

>80 clamairy: It's a variation on The Fisher King. Either that or a biography of the CEO of Nike.

I'm sure I've entirely written off perfectly good authors just because the first of their books I read was physically hard to read. One advantage of an e-reader is that I know that it isn't just the font that's to blame if I can't get into a book.

Dodging that Nabokov BB for now, but maybe I'll come back in a bit and just sort of stand in its path.

Actually, @Meredy, I think you'd enjoy it!

Only read short material this past week, which is not to say that it wasn't an interesting week. In particular, I read a Kindle edition of The Gospel of Sheba by Lynday Faye. The reason I bring it to your attention is because Faye is up for an Edgar Award for her full length novel Jane Steele which has been promoted on the basis of parallels with Jane Eyre. The Gospel of Sheba however is a novelette-length historical mystery, published via the Mysterious Press as part of their Bibliomysteries series. As it happens, this one is told in epistolary style with accounts from individual letters, diaries, etc. The protagonist is a librarian who is approached for assistance by a gentleman who is investigating various grimoires. (Initially the writing style led me to wonder if we might be entering M.R. James country but fortunately this wasn't actually the case.) As one might expect, the librarian reacts to the patron's requirements with some degree of skepticism, but he is invited to a gentlemen's club that is focusing on the particular genre of supernatural documentation. The characterization is good, the style redolent of Victorian gaslight and the resolution satisfying. A relatively inexpensive and easy read.

>86 jillmwo: save yourselves, lads, I'm hit...

Found this past week over on Tor.com: http://www.tor.com/2017/06/15/enchantment-death-and-footwear-the-twelve-dancing-...

Posted as relevant to the discussion of The Girls At The Kingfisher Club reviewed up there in #55.

Finished George Bellairs' Intruder in the Dark which is rather on the "talk-y" side of mysteries. The inspector travels back and forth but no car chases or moments of high danger. The book was written in the mid 'sixties and the postman complains that he's not been provided with a little red van to drive about on his route. Definitely of the puzzle variety. This is the June selection for the mystery/sf book group. Very male-centric in its view.

Finished The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer. LOTS of historical slang in use which might put some folks off, but I think one can follow the general gist of it. Unknown heir introduced into slightly-off-kilter family group.The plot culmination is particularly well-executed, served up with just the right mix of humor and suspense, and the courtship between hero and heroine is managed quite charmingly. Interestingly the one does not overshadow the other which also makes it a good read.

I know all I've been doing lately is the lightweight stuff, but some years life doesn't allow for anything other than that. Maybe I really am getting tired of working for a living.

>88 jillmwo: I found that article a very interesting read! I was pleased that others recommended Robin McKinley's version of the story.

>89 jillmwo: >90 Sakerfalcon: After reading the article, I had to go and reread Robin McKinley's story. It really is beautifully done.

Any of my buddies here heard of or read the children's book Loretta Mason Potts? Children's literature that is apparently one of those sleepers that isn't particularly well known but fondly cherished by those who have encountered it at just the right age?

Dipping into the Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson this weekend.

Just briefly, I never actually documented why I liked The Emperor's Soul which I re-read over the weekend. One of the greatest selling points is the way in which the narrative is crafted. The details supplied in the novella are exactly those needed to understand the point the author is making. You're not overwhelmed with the number of characters and you are provided with just the amount of information needed to understand those characters' motivations. The prose itself may not be lyrical, but the weaving of the narrative is exquisite.

In terms of themes, The Emperor's Soul is a meditation on the creative act of imagining of another person's life experience. Somewhere I read someone's view that this is an account of how one may grow to empathize with another. It's a story that illuminates how the creative author brings a character to life. Shai (the main character) is both thief and forger. She is caught in the theft of an object from the palace and is subsequently made into an unwilling accomplice, becoming party to a palace intrigue. On one level, it's about the ultimate political power and influencing the choices made by that person.

This holds up on a slow, second read. @stellarexplorer, you really should go read this one.

One side note to self: I read this initially back in October of 2013.

Holy smokes -- my Thingaversary is in two days. I'm just this side of verklempt. Clearly, one cannot keep glossing over these anniversaries. (And it's the eleventh one...)

>95 jillmwo: Enjoy your Thingaversary. I love working with multiples of eleven.

>95 jillmwo: >96 pgmcc: The drugs could lead to some interesting variations on multiples of eleven.

Woo hoo! Eleven years. Congratulations, Jill! Isn't LT grand?

Happy celebrating! So glad you are here. :)

Congrats, my dear! :o)

Happy Thingaversary! Of course now you know the enforcers will be watching...

Happy Thingaversary! In emergency situations, you might try the Daedalus Books catalogue...

I have a plan, you all! You're talking to a woman with a lengthy wish list and phenomenal skills in finagling immediate gratification without spending the whole of the retirement fund. Admittedly, still spending too much money, but it's summer time and I'm going to have time to read something at some point in either July or August.

Wait 'til you and those enforcers see my reading list. Everyone will be stunned with the brilliance of my creative cheating -- erm, thinking -- and the general diversity of my tastes.

I am Woman. Hear Me Roar.

>103 jillmwo: Sing it, Sistah!

Okay, so here's my approach to Thingaverary in 2017. I'm going to show you 12-14 titles:

Death on the Last Train by George Bellairs
Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim
Holy Disorders by Edmund Crispin
Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin
Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King
Amberwell by D.E. Stevenson
Post Mortem - Patricia Cornwell
In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead by James Lee Burke
Mysterium and the Clerical Crime Novel by William David Spencer
The Incredible Crime by Lois Austen-Leigh
Jane Steele by Lindsay Faye
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Loretta Mason Potts by Mary Chase
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis Taylor

However my plan to baffle the enforcers has to do with classification. Those few titles may be mixed up and re-organized as follows:
6 titles from off my shelves (that is already owned in one format or another but as yet unread)
6 titles that are new to me (that is, not previously owned and as yet unread)
3 non-fiction titles (or works of erudition, if you prefer)
4 titles owned in Kindle format only
7 mysteries
1 children's literature title
1 science fiction title
1 family saga/domestic fiction title
3 British writers
3 works of historical fiction
6 female writers
6 male writers
5 titles purchased as "used"
1 title purchased as "print on demand" format
3 titles purchased specifically for book group discussions
7 titles purchased in hard-cover format
3 titles published from the past two years
5 titles with original publication dates prior to the year I was born
and 2 titles related to Jane Austen (one actually about her and the other written by a great-great-grand niece)

Add up all of those various figures in all the different categories and the final sum -- the GRAND TOTAL -- is 76. That's more than six times eleven, this being my eleventh Thingaversary. It's more than five times 12 (the number of years on LT plus one to grow on). I dare you to find a Thingaversary requirement that I have failed to satisfy. Diverse subjects and genres. Reading across formats (digital as well as print, hard-cover, etc.). Dates of original publication spanning darn near a century (1921 up to 2017). Equal numbers of male and female writers.

So you see, I WIN!! And I want to thank all of you who so courteously and generously delivered book bullets.

*this is your cue to render thunderous applause for creative accounting*

Congratulations!!! That is truly impressive arithmetic! I am in awe of your skills. You are an inspiration to us all.

>105 jillmwo: Well, you scored ten out of for obfuscation. Reading that was like reading a politician's speech: full of irrefutable facts that have no bearing on the matter in question. Well played!

By the way, I just heard the enforcers' alarm bells ringing.

Happy Thingaversary.

>105 jillmwo: I fully endorse this list, or any other list you choose to make. My philosophy is and always will be: "It's your Thingaversary, so you do with it whatever you like!" :o)

>105 jillmwo: This is why you are my hero.

>105 jillmwo: I hear the enforcers are now asking for receipts...

Happy Thingaversary!

Hi Jill!

Impressive! Creative accounting at its finest. Plus 76 is so much better than 11!

Today's moment of excitement came when I opened up the door to find 5 (five) packages had arrived by mail, each containing a book in them. So there's that thrill. But THEN came the moment when I successfully added all five to my catalog using the LT Android App. That's when I felt so positively spiffy-doo!

In other news, the refrigerator has died and we had to spend money to get a new one. Clearly I do not have the same capacity for the enjoyment of refrigeration technology as I have for the enjoyment of mobile technology. It's just that one would miss it if one had to go without. One's coffee requires milk -- which carries with it the requirement for being kept cold.

Harrumph.

>113 jillmwo: Maybe it would help if the refrigerator came with bookshelves.

>113 jillmwo: And now I know what to call that feeling!

We may be looking at a new refrigerator in the near future. We were thinking about it last night because ours is not behaving quite right, and realized that it is at least 30 years old. You are right. The thought of it isn't nearly as exciting as the new LT ap.

Refrigerators are a necessary evil. I hate our side-by-side. If I had it to do over again, I'd have a full-size refrigerator and a full-size freezer in the kitchen.

The fridge in our new apartment is tiny. I'm appreciating the bigger ones we've had over the years, and prioritizing some cold capacity for our next home.

Not sure if this one will be behind the paywall for some of you:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/us/college-summer-reading.html

Interesting. When I was an incoming freshman in college, we had to read Perelandra by C.S. Lewis. Don't know why because I don't remember any discussion of it during the orientation.

>118 jillmwo: Is this a particularly American tradition? It's not something I've come across in my fairly limited experience of Canadian universities and colleges.

>118 jillmwo:

In my second year at secondary school one of my books for English was Out of the Silent Planet.

>119 SylviaC: It is something that has gained more visibility in recent years (say the past 10-15 years), but it wasn't unheard of before that. As I noted, there was an assigned reading for me back in the mid-seventies; but the practice wasn't particularly emphasized. I think most recently the interest was in (a) establishing a common experience for first-year students; (b) ensuring that those who'd grown up with some degree of affluence were exposed to the experiences of those less fortunate and/or of those whose cultural heritage or upbringing was particularly different; and (c) demonstrating that the insights gleaned from such reading would be applicable across all majors -- a kind of cross-disciplinary approach to instilling critical thinking processes in students. (Not sure how well that last aspect worked).

In some instances, the schools would pay for all copies of the books and distribute free of charge to students. (The article references Purdue ending the program because they needed to save $75,000.) Other institutions expected the student to buy his or her own copy. In an era where students complain bitterly about the cost of textbooks, that's not always a way to win the hearts and minds of your "customer" or community.

>121 jillmwo: Well, I don't suppose it could hurt to encourage them to read.

When my son was choosing his university courses, I was surprised to learn that they are not required to take any sort of English or writing course. I'm sure English was required for everybody in first year when I was in university, no matter what the major. We all had to take a science, too. My son is majoring in Economics, and the required courses are all in business, economics and math. (He is taking elective courses on Harry Potter, criminology, Ancient Greece, and film. At least I don't have to worry about him focusing too narrowly on a single subject.)

Interesting article. I get that colleges want to encourage some broadening of students' perspectives. Although, I have to say, what's up with Washington State? While I have no doubt that many don't share my ambivalence for* the flawed romp Ready Player One (Unfair review here ;)) But still, to decide incoming freshmen must read it is baffling.

*(Can you have ambivalence for something?)

>118 jillmwo:, >119 SylviaC: That was an interesting article. Here in the UK students might be expected to read some of the books that will be on their reading lists over the summer to prepare for the term ahead, but this sort of cross-departmental shared book list is not a thing. I do remember seeing the tables of "summer reading" books in the university bookshop at Penn when I lived in Philadelphia, which were meant to support the reading programme.

>124 Sakerfalcon: My son's university doesn't even release the textbook list until sometime in August. (They start classes on September 7th.) The business professors just advise them to follow the news.

>120 pgmcc: I think I had encountered Out of the Silent Planet first in high school but then tripped over the unpronounceable names for the aliens. Pfifltriggi? Please. But then I read That Hideous Strength which had strains of Arthurian myth to it and enjoyed that quite a bit. Perelandra was the last of the three that I'd read and I think I found it intriguing because it explored the idea of how would things have unfolded if no one had taken that bite of the apple. At any rate, none of the three were particularly new to me by the time I hit college. (At least, I think that's the case -- but you know how memory can be.)

By the way, on your recommendation I am reading Imprimatur. Just a year after you'd recommended, I think, which for me is speedy!

>123 stellarexplorer: I think one is ambivalent *towards* something. I do not know why.

>123 stellarexplorer:, >124 Sakerfalcon:, and >125 SylviaC: This is the Penguin-RandomHouse page about what they're currently offering for exactly such programs: http://www.penguin.com/services-academic/campuswide/

For more on the topic:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/06/28/books-race-social-justice-issues-...

and a follow-up piece with more links from the National Association of Scholars (a highly conservative group):
https://www.nas.org/articles/the_new_york_times_and_others_cover_nass_beach_book...

>120 pgmcc: >126 jillmwo: You remind me of a story from my yoot. When I was in what is now called Grade 9, the school had a book sale To Encourage The Boys To Read. Now I'd already read two of the C.S. Lewis books in the series, and so was well pleased to find the third one on the sale, at an affordable price. Unfortunately, the English teacher was on duty at that precise time and place. And he tried valiantly not to sell it to me Because I Was Too Young To Understand It. However, eventually I managed to prise it out of him. The end of the tale is fitting: having rubbed all the boys up the wrong way, the git had a nervous breakdown and went back to England, unmissed and unsung.

Hi Jill!

I went off to college in 1971 and there was no incoming reading assignment for Freshmen. They have one here in NC at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (probably other campuses as well) but there was a big kerfuffle one year over the choice. I'd be amazed if you could pick any book that wouldn't get some group up in arms these days.

I still have my mass market paperback copies of Lewis' Space Trilogy. I love the cover artwork.

Ol' Jack could be quite heavy-handed--Ransom has to change his name to Fisher-King to get an inheritance? Really? Subtle as a jackhammer. But I love the chapter in THS where the the planetary gods come into the house. And I've always regarded OotSP as a wonderful first-contact story, which of course sets up the other two stories. I found Perelandra tough sledding, but it has some good aspects.

>126 jillmwo: I enjoyed The Cosmic Trilogy. Out of the Silent Planet was probably the second Science Fiction novel I read, the first being, The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which was the English reading for my first year in secondary school.

I look forward to reading about your reaction to Imprimatur. I enjoyed it a lot and the inside cover has many of my notes to sections of the book that I found interesting. Last year I gave my copy to a friend but I do not think she has read it yet.

One of the memories I have of Imprimatur is the description of gazettes: "it’s not that newspapers are quite useless: they are simply not made for searchers after the truth."

Another is how "knowing the truth is the greatest of obstacle to those writing gazettes."

I have never found a newspaper report about any subject or event about which I know in detail to be accurate. My experience in this regard relates to TV and any on-line news sources too.

>127 hfglen: You have reminded me of a story from my yoot (Have you watched, "My Cousin Vinny"?). At secondary school we had an English teacher that was not popular with my class. During my first year at university I was with a former school mate and we bumped into the teacher in question and had a pleasant conversation. Apparently he had left the school and taken up a lecturing post at a local teacher training college. My friend and I found it difficult not to burst out laughing as we were both familiar with Oscar Wilde's comment that, "Those who can, do, those can't, teach, and those who can't teach, teach teachers to teach."

>131 pgmcc: Never heard of "My cousin Vinny"; I got that one from Clam. I like your story, though. For no particular reason I googled my one's name about a year ago; it seems he's now making a church council in Lincolnshire miserable.

>132 hfglen:

My Cousin Vinny is a fun movie!

Something about Game of Thrones that might not otherwise cross your radar:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/7/15909708/game-of-thrones-convention-fan-fest-r...

>134 jillmwo: Awesome piece. I had no idea this was even happening.

Imprimatur

One review called this novel “baroque” and the adjective fits. Reading this novel is not too far removed from trying to parse a painting from that period. There’s excess at a number of levels; there’s dramatic lighting and contrasts. How much of the detail included is necessary to understanding? This is not a fast read as I think @Meredy pointed out when she first made an attempt at reading it, following @pgmcc’s recommendation. The novel was originally published in Italy in 2002, but subsequent translated by Peter Burnett and published for the English-reading population in 2008. The fact that the authors claim suppression of their work by the Vatican for its own purposes simply adds to the political narrative that drives events described. Like the baroque painting, the novel is both realistic and exaggerated.

It begins simply with an alarming death of a guest at an Inn and the subsequent quarantine of the other travellers housed there. The great question then is who has been murdered and why? At times, the novel balances a contrasting narrative of humor and the macabre. There are two corpisantari (tomb robbers) who help the two primary sleuths -- an abbot and an apprenticed youth employed by the Inn who finds himself left in charge when the owner of the Inn suffers what appears to be a stroke brought on by fear and apoplexy. This is a political thriller with various elements of that genre -- midnight forays in the city, assassination attempts, power plays beyond the level of the individuals confined to the Inn for fear of spreading the plague. As the book progresses, the question asked by the young apprentice is whether anyone is who they claim to be. How is one to know the truth?

According to Monaldi & Sorti, “The past should help us better understand the present. Accordingly, everything in our novels, down to the smallest details, is historically documented or at least historically probable.” The novel’s subtext is about the use of archival documents and objects to reconstruct historic events and interpret their significance. (Quote from authors found at http://www.attomelani.net/index.php/the-books-of-monaldi-sorti/ )

This one might be hard to find (limited print run, currently out of print, etc.), but if you’re into political intrigue and acts of betrayal, the novel of 600 pages or so provides a remarkable reading experience. However, reading it does require attention and concentration. It’s not a light beach read, but you may well find it is worth the effort.

>136 jillmwo: Nice review. What did you think of the book? Did you like it? Do not be afraid of hurting my feelings. I am well accustomed to people not liking books that I like.

I'm not sure I can truthfully answer that question yet. I'm not being coy or difficult; I just don't have the right word for how I feel about Imprimatur. It was, as I said, remarkable. It's not an easy read, from my point of view. I can't really say that it was light entertainment and therefore slurped down in the wink of an eye. It was intriguing and as a reader I wanted to figure out what was really happening. It was challenging. I had to slow down to work it out. The reader (just like the narrator) is overwhelmed with so much specific detail about events. It takes time to work out what is important and what may be trustworthy. And you have to understand that much before you can get the author's point. There's this bit:

"If you would understand matters of state, you must take a different view of facts from that which you employ in the ordinary way. What counts is not what you think but how. No one knows everything, not even the King. And, when you do not know, you must learn to suppose, and to suppose truths which may at first sight appear to be utterly absurd: you will then discover without fail that it is all dramatically true."

That's the author speaking (in veiled fashion) about how archivists piece together their accounts of history -- re-imagining how something must have happened. It's also how the reader is expected to experience the mystery or the historical novel. Studying what has been presented and trying to put him or herself in the place of the various characters. It's not always straight-forward.

For example, I didn't immediately understand the humor of the corpisantari any more than did the book's narrator upon his first meeting with them. And yet they were intended to be broadly farcical. Once you pick up that tone, however, you have to rethink the tone of the other characters' interaction.

This is one that I have to think about. On one level, I don't think I did "like" it because it required a certain mental effort for me to get through it. I couldn't just drop into it and be swept along. But that's not anywhere near the same thing as saying that I'm sorry I spent time reading it or that I felt it was a badly done work. It's not. I think it's quite artful. Being art, I can't say whether it is good or bad, but only whether it "speaks" to me. And I'm still making up my mind.

I don't suppose any of that clarifies.

>94 jillmwo: It's scheduled for August, as much as these things can be scheduled. Thank you!

>138 jillmwo: I think I understand your post. There is so much in the book that the mind is in a bit of a whirl. Apart from wallowing in the lushness of the story in terms of the language, humorous asides, and the atmosphere, I had the added advantages of knowing some of the history addressed in the story and, of course, have a general interest in espionage and all things related to spying.

The most controversial element of the story, or the point that the authors want to emphasise as controversial, is the financing of William of Orange (King Billy) by the family of a pope when William was invading England and Ireland, hence leading Catholic England to become Protestant and laying the basis for the political/religious divide in Ireland that still rumbles on today. This financing of King Billy by a pope has been demonstrated as accurate in a number of ways over the past decades but it is something that is still denied by the Unionist community in Northern Ireland.

If you finally decide that you liked Imprimatur I suggest you would enjoy the authors' second novel, Secretum. One of my favourite quotes from "Secretum" is, "If order is to be maintained in states and in kingdoms, the people must never know the truth about two things: what there really is in sausages and what takes place in courts of law."

While the third book, Veritas, is equally luxurious and historically accurate, the story is based on more fanciful ideas and you may not enjoy it as much as the first two.

Of course, my recommendation of the second book depends on your deciding that you would like to return to a similar atmosphere to the first.

>140 pgmcc: Well, for what it's worth, I've included the sequel to Imprimatur on my Amazon wish list. Used copies may be had at reasonable prices. I will mull it over as I pay off the freakin' fridge expenditure. (The worst thing the business community in this country ever came up with was the concept of planned obsolescence.)

And I won't tell you what my husband said when the toilet seat broke and needed to be replaced this week -- not the toilet, just the seat.

>141 jillmwo: Try running a hotel with 55 toilets! We had to keep at least 5 seats on hand at all times. People would be embarrassed when they told us, or they simply wouldn't tell us, but we knew it was a common problem. I get so mad because the little do-hickies in the tank are always wearing out.

>142 MrsLee:

Definitely a first-world problem.

>142 MrsLee: and >143 suitable1: One of the things I want to investigate is what the common material is for manufacturing of toilet seats. Is it no longer wood? I suspect the spouse wanted one of the soft cushy kind, but I can't imagine those stand up to long-term wear. Did you have those in the hotel, @MrsLee? Have you any advice to offer? I can always upgrade from the version currently in place. (He tried to tell me it was for my comfort rather than his, but I'm suspicious.)

Seems to me that the conversational level is apt to deteriorate quickly if I don't post something distracting. I'm going to read a nice simple British Library Crime Classic this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes; it's by a great-grand-niece of Jane Austen so we'll have to see if the theory of good composition genes holds up.

>144 jillmwo: Plastic and plastic-coated chipboard here. Varnished pine for higher-status models.

>144 jillmwo: I think in the hotel it was a composite of some sort. I've been buying the thin plastic ones, since none of them seem to last anyway. We had a heavy composite type, but once the surface chipped, moisture set in and it became icky. We have had the cushion foam ones, but they seem to crack or separate at the seams, and then, ick. Our current model is rather thin plastic, which has a lid that closes softly by itself if you give it a gentle tap. So far all is well. Easy to clean, no cracks or other mishaps yet. It is a year or two old. It is also neither cold or hot.

The Incredible Crime by Lois Austen-Leigh

There are times when one can just ignore a book’s title. This is one such instance. There’s no crime of particular note contained within this novel. It’s a fun book for mystery lovers, but not necessarily for the reasons that the author or publisher might have put forward at point of publication.

The heroine in The Incredible Crime is Prudence Pinsent, an independent young woman of thirty living in Cambridge in 1931. She’s of the privileged class and largely this book is intended to examine the concept of established privilege when class behaviors run up against a changing social landscape. It is about such practices as smuggling and fox hunting. There’s a romance in it, as well, and to some extent one might see a comment about the behaviors of independent women when up against a romantic attraction. (Unlike The Unknown Ajax where I noted above that the romance didn’t overwhelm the mystery, the two elements aren’t balanced quite as skillfully in The Incredible Crime. Part of the problem is that this is more of a novel of suspense than a mystery novel.) True Spoiler contained behind these tags: Honestly, this is very nearly a case where the butler turns out to have done it. Clues are dropped somewhat heavily even as the attention of the reader is loudly drawn to the suspicious behavior of the butler in unsubtle ways. Okay, it wasn’t the butler, but certainly a designated member of the servant class. Because even though the landed gentry have been indulging in the odd bit of smuggling for centuries, it’s simply impossible that a member of the privileged class would behave criminally without due and just cause. By the end of the book, we’ve seen that neither the privilege of the educated Cambridge don nor the privilege of the landed gentry permits them to be held under suspicion. It’s more a problem of entrenched practice than any real crime being committed. Everyone is just supporting their on-going lifestyle as part of the game That said, the author certainly broke one of the cardinal rules of the Detection Club by making it be the “butler”. The author keeps making it seem that a member of the privileged class is the one most likely to have sunk to such a level. But as one might expect, moving through the narrative we see that they’re all too demonstrably well bred to be serious career criminals. Mind your manners and appear not to notice behaviors near the edge.

Despite what I’ve written so far, this was a nicely entertaining read. For one thing, Prudence is shown doing active things -- climbing stone walls, operating a motor boat, hunting to hounds. For another, despite heavy handed clues being planted, I did not identify the real culprit. (I ought to have done, but wasn’t thinking outside of the Detection Club rules.) The novel was well-paced and I kept checking to see if I had time to read another chapter.

Not a must read for any of you, but if it happens to fall in your way, The Incredible Crime is an enjoyable read. I came away with a better snapshot of life as it was experienced back in 1931. And I’d read another by her if one of the three other mystery titles she wrote were to be released by the British Library.

>144 jillmwo:, >145 hfglen: & >146 MrsLee: I'm pro the more solid types. I've had the Mayfair seat with the Ivy* in my master bath for a decade, at least. The soft ones only last about a year, but they are a lot less expensive, and my kids love them because of the comfort. My biggest issue is that the hinges & screws rust on every seat I buy, no matter how much I spend.

* https://www.amazon.com/Mayfair-34ECA-000-Sculptured-featuring/dp/B000HM9O8A?th=1

>147 jillmwo: I'm usually a compulsive spoiler-peeker, but this time I resisted because that looks like a book I might read.

> 149 I do think it would be to your liking, @SylviaC. Our tastes coincide to that extent.

Have just read the short story Vaster than Empires and More Slow by Le Guin and have successfully managed to give myself the heebie-jeebies. I thought I had read this one before, but would I really have been as freaked out by reading it this evening if I had? I shall have nightmares.

She also has suggested in interviews that this was a story about the environment and protecting the living Earth, but that's not quite how I read it. I picked up more on that Invisible Ever-Enveloping Presence part of the story that drives a few of the Team members quite mad.

I must go read something soothing now and at the other end of the spectrum -- something unchallenging, like Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day perhaps. Or watch Antiques Roadshow and absorb that calm British aura of considered valuations.

>151 jillmwo: I recently read Vaster than empires in a collection of Le Guin's short stories and it was indeed powerful and disturbing. It didn't give me nightmares but it was certainly haunting. Hope you found something soothing to follow it with!

Actually, @Sakerfalcon, I stopped reading after "Vaster Than Empires" but this morning picked up with two additional short stores from The Wind's Twelve Quarters. The first was a long-time favorite -- probably the one that first got me into her work forty years ago -- "April in Paris". It's a sweet time-travel tale that brings four disparate spirits together in late medieval Paris. It's about scholars recognizing each other across time and like-minded souls recognizing each other across time. It's a delight.

The next story in the collection is one called "The Masters". It's also about the drive to acquire knowledge, but the scholars in this one are less charming. They're struggling against a social structure that is loathe to take in new ways of thinking, to the point of torture. One might see this almost as the anti-thesis of "April in Paris". There is no happily-ever-after.

Now I won't be able to put this one down until I've re-read all of the stories contained. This woman is so good and, over my lifetime, she's developed her craft to such a phenomenal point. I will cry when she leaves us and there are few authors about whom I feel that way.

Edited to Add: Today is the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death. If you need a summer or vacation reading project, go read everything she ever wrote. Or go out and find a recent book of scholarship or criticism on her novels. I may be revisiting her novels very soon simply because, in my worldview, there's Ursula K. Le Guin and there's Jane Austen and then there's everybody else.

>153 jillmwo: One hundred percent agree about Le Guin. She is remarkable. I have her Changing Planes collection slated for a challenge read I am doing but, after seeing these posts, I have swapped it out for The Wind's Twelve Quarters, which I also have on my shelf. I am a big fan of Le Guin but have not yet read either of these collections.

>155 jillmwo: I enjoyed both of those collections. However, they're both very different in tone (at least to my way of thinking).

I also wanted to bring forward this March 2017 interview with Ursula K. LeGuin. Lot of humor in those responses!
http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/twenty-questions-ursula-le-guin/

So Jill made "April in Paris" sound so good that I had to go and buy the short story for my Kindle. Thanks.

Another short story from The Wind's Twelve Quarters. This one Le Guin had originally wanted to call "Things" but for publication in 1970, Damon Knight as her editor renamed it as "The End". It's an interesting tension there. The author sees it as a story about the things you possess, the things you use to build something. The editor sees it as a response to the question of "How do you face the end of your world?". The ending is ambiguous, so you aren't sure who finally triumphs.

Told you I wouldn't be able to put this collection down until I finished it. Le Guin writes disturbing shorts. (Except for "April in Paris", @SylviaC; I promise you're safe with that one. You'd also probably like "The Word of Unbinding" and "The Rule of Names". Those two short stories are early stories -- both published originally in 1964 -- that Le Guin set in the Earthsea universe.)

BTW, I think each of the stories in this collection is currently available for the Kindle as a separate file and at an individual purchase price. The full volume (for the Kindle) is the better bargain, as one might expect, containing all of the stories.

I tend to forget individual short stories when I've read a single-author collection. "April in Paris," OTOH, is one that has always stood out for me. One thing I like about that collection is that it's full of virtual links to her other work: "Semley's Necklace" is the beginning of one of her first Hainish novels, Rocannon's World; "Winter's King" presages The Left Hand of Darkness; "The Rule of Names" is from Earthsea; and I'm probably forgetting at least one more.

I believe I'll take this as a hint that I should go re-read at least AiP and maybe a few more.

>153 jillmwo: I read Vaster than empires in The wind's twelve quarters too, and found the whole collection to be of a similar high standard. I think there were 2 stories that I wasn't keen on, and I can't remember which they were without the book in front of me. I too loved April in Paris. I made myself read just one or two stories at a time so as not to run the risk of them blurring together in my mind, and also to make the book last longer. My copy also contains The compass rose, so I'll be reading that soon.

Another Game of Thrones thingie: Apparently George R.R. Martin has deposited his literary archive to Texas A&M.
http://www.chron.com/local/education/campus-chronicles/article/Texas-A-M-library...

It was George's quote about Texas A&M being able to operate as a site of resistance against any incipient zombie apocalypse that made me snort.

The Stars Below -- another story from the collection, The Wind's Twelve Quarters

Builds on the earlier story of The Masters (see above in #153). This is one of the stories where Le Guin is talking about the drive of the researcher or the scientist to know MORE. Just as in the case of The Masters, the individual scholar is penalized by the larger institution or society for flouting existing belief structures. In this one, the scholar-astronomer is hidden in a cave after being burned out of his observatory. He’s bewildered by his situation but determines that if he cannot look up into the sky, then he will turn his attention to the ground beneath. (Just giving you the bare bones of the story here, but will refrain from providing the punch line.)

Given that Le Guin was a Fulbright Scholar, I have to assume that she understands what goes on in the mind of the researcher. The driving curiosity; the need to understand what something means or signifies. There’s a thread of this through a lot of the stories in Wind’s Twelve Quarters. Of course, yet to come is the story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. That’s the one with the real punch to it. I’m assuming everyone within the sound of my voice here has read it. It’s like a THING.

Prompted by the recent discussion in this thread, I decided to dive into The Wind's Twelve Quarters today. There are several stories I have read before as part of either novels, (Semley's Necklace is included in my copy of Rocannon's World), or in other collections, (A Fisherman of the Inland Sea or The Birthday of the World*), but there are plenty here I have not experienced before.

I love her introduction to Darkness Box...

"When my daughter Caroline was three she came to me with a small wooden box in her small hands and said, "Guess fwat is in this bockus!" I guessed caterpillars, mice, elephants, etc. She shook her head, smiled an unspeakably eldritch smile, opened the box slightly to that I could just see in, and said, "Darkness."

Hence this story...

----

I love it when an author shares their inspirational moments.

* For those that have not yet read it, I highly recommend The Birthday of the World collection.

>162 ScoLgo: Great inspiration! Children can be so unearthly at times, and at the same time, nothing can bring you down to earth like a child can.

>162 ScoLgo: awesome quote - thanks! I sent it around to people who would appreciate it!

>162 ScoLgo: Now that you mention it, over the years, I have always remembered that reference to her daughter's eldritch smile more clearly than the specifics of the story that it introduces.

>163 MrsLee: So true!

>164 stellarexplorer: It gives me a delicious little frisson each time I re-read it.

>165 jillmwo: Yes! The intro is more memorable, isn't it? I have to add that, so far, I am finding the stories in this collection quite a bit darker - more grim, even - than other UKLG shorts I have read prior. I'm rather enjoying that... ;)

Semley's Necklace is still heart-stabbing. It's a blend of fantasy and science fiction; the story line arcs to reflect the movement between the one and the other. But I'd forgotten her windsteed -- a purring fur-bearing beast with wings. The Gdemiar (aka the Lords of the Dark Realm, aka the Clayfolk, aka the dwarves) don't trust it.

Someone around here was reviewing the Tam-Lin stories. This isn't a direct retelling of that by any means, but there are some elements in common

Needing to spend some time with non-fiction, I turned to a recent book on Jane Austen, specifically Jane Austen: The Secret Radical. So far, the only real radical is the author behind this work. I'm rather suspicious about whether or not she even likes Austen's material; she seems to need to twist things about in order to make the novels palatable. I am having a bit of trouble with her interpretative analysis of Austen's use of vocabulary. Reading between the lines is all very well in literary criticism but references to bedchambers, laundry lists, and cotton counterpanes do not necessarily equate to sex. I find her thoughts on the men in S&S only slightly more within reason, although I think her explanation of the legal structure of intestacy and entail is solid. All that said, I'm honestly fearful of progressing on to the chapter on P&P. I miss the good old days of literary criticism as it was done in the 'eighties.

You kids, get off my lawn.

>168 jillmwo: A friend of mine just read this book and has had a similar reaction to it as you. She felt the author was so desperate to prove her theories that her analysis of the novels became very far-fetched. My friend wasn't convinced at all.

>169 Sakerfalcon: I think I'll take it in stages (chapters) so that I don't become too irate in the midst of what is supposed to be an enjoyable leisure activity. The portion I've read so far does seem to be far-fetched, although....(thinking)...It may just be that for the trade press, the author didn't think she should go too deeply into the specifics of the academic reasoning she followed. On the up-side, one can think of it as "thought-provoking" as one has to stop and think about why there is disagreement with her reasoning.

Last year in the run up to my Thingaversary, I turned to you folks here in the Pub and sought recommendations. One of those recommendations came from @tardis who felt strongly that Howl’s Moving Castle was one that I’d enjoy. Well, it’s been about 13 months but a recent bout of insomnia allowed me to gulp down this delightful fantasy from 1986. (The year explains why I didn’t read it when it first came out; I’d given birth in 1985 so was probably distracted from such things.)

I can understand why so many folks love this book. It really is a fun and slightly off-beat fantasy. Lots of humorous moments with just the right amount of romance. Poor Sophie has the mental perception of herself as being the unlucky eldest. Everyone knows that, in fairy tales, the eldest and middle siblings are less lucky in seeking their fortunes than the third and final child who invariably completes the impossible task, wins the kingdom and marries the most wonderful of any available (eligible) offspring of the King. She’s persuaded herself that she’s bound to fail. As it happens, she is visited by a witch who -- for no discernible reason -- places the poor Sophie under a curse. This happens in the first 30 pages and the delightful outcomes unfold from there. Before the end, there’s a certain amount of confusion and chaotic activity, but it culminates in a happily-ever-after!

It was a delightful read and exactly what I needed to cope with the misery of insomnia. I chortled over Sophie, Howl, Michael and Calcifer and rejoiced at their victories. I will tuck this one away for future sleepless nights because it is a soothing and light-hearted read.

Yay @tardis and my gratitude for such a solid recommendation.

>171 jillmwo: You're welcome :) I adore that book and am always thrilled when someone else likes it, too.

Oh, and the witch transforms Sophie because Sophie is unwittingly enchanting the hats, and the witch sees her as competition :)

>171 jillmwo: >172 tardis: I've seen the film version, which was directed by my man Hayao Miyazaki. It was fun, if I remember correctly.

>173 clamairy: The film version was fun, but had a very sketchy relationship to the plot of the book. the book is better!

>174 tardis: That's what my daughter always said when we watched the film.

I've been slowly working my way through Jane Austen: The Secret Radical as referenced up there in >168 jillmwo:. Sadly, the material has not improved. I made it through the chapter on P&P without losing it, but then hit her chapter on Mansfield Park. I appreciate that many people have issues with the institutional Church of England and that ire is frequently deserved. Kelly is indeed outraged by the historical connection between the C of E and slavery; she devotes pages to the discussion of Fanny's wearing the cross given here by her brother and Henry's chain that is the gift from Mary for her coming out. To her, that whole thing of chain vs ribbon that goes on is indicative that MP is Austen's commentary on attitudes towards slavery. I'd need to completely revisit that segment of the novel to see how frequently the two words are used together in that phrase which I have not done. That's not my issue. It's when she writes the following of Edmund that I want to hit her over the head with her own doctoral credentials:

She takes exception to Edmund moving forward in his ordination because that taints him with the same whiff of tolerance for slavery as she sees in the Church itself. She takes one of his comments as indicating that he has no true calling to the Church and that he's only doing it for the money. In conjunction with her research on the Church and slavery, she then writes: "He's a towering hypocrite, perfectly suited to a career in the Church of Engalnd."

She then proceeds to chastise Fanny for loving such a man, making a particular point of noting that Fanny should reject Edmund on the grounds that she wasn't Edmund's first choice. As it happened, I had a paperback copy of MP with me on the couch and I went to that point in the novel when Austen ties up the loose ends. She makes a particular point of saying that Edmund ends up loving Fanny as much as Fanny loves him and as much as Fanny herself requires. Austen is quite specific on the point.

I don't mind the researcher trying to bring forward some of the historical context of Georgian England, but I do object when she ignores the actual text in layering her own interpretation on the novel.

In case you can't tell, I am outraged. I will finish the book, but mostly because I think she brings some interesting historical research forward in ways not seen elsewhere. But given the woman's Ph.D. in literature, I think she does an extraordinary disservice to Austen's work. (P.S. I also object to anyone who refers to Jane Austen by her first name when writing formal commentary. She's Austen or Jane Austen. It's disrespectful otherwise but Kelly must feel she's entitled in some fashion. I coped with it initially because I think it's part of her framing, but 2/3 of the way through, I'm finding it increasingly offensive.)

I am hopping up and down, being in such an emotional state. Think back to the fairy tale. Doesn't Rumpelstiltskin rip himself in two in his frustration at the end? I might be on the verge of doing that as well.

Do those of you here in the Pub ever find value in reading books that provoke your temper?

>176 jillmwo: May I suggest that you rip the book in two, instead of yourself? You are precious to us, whereas it sounds like none of us will miss that book. Thank you for taking the hit for us.

When I read a book like that, I find it a balm to write nasty, sarcastic notes in the margin. Or sometimes, if I don't want to pass it along to poison anyone else, I take great pleasure in ripping the pages out, one by one. Burning I have not done, but recycling, yes.

>177 MrsLee: "ripping the pages out, one by one"

And hanging them on a nail in the "smallest room" for recycling?

>178 hfglen: Ooo, good touch!

>178 hfglen: *snork*

>178 hfglen: That could be torture. One might be sitting there minding one's own busines and read a fragment of paper from the nail, get interested in what is written and then not be able to find the continuing piece of paper. One could spend days in the loo trying to jigsaw the pieces together.

I can't recommend that any of you read it, but the author's intent in writing Jane Austen: The Secret Radical is to make clear the social issues and unpleasantness of Georgian England (Jane Austen's reality) and diminish the perception of Austen as simply a writer of romance novels. Readers who only know her as a writer of love stories miss the larger implications of Austen's importance as a novelist and her artful insights into her time. Kelly worries that those who only know her work from television adaptations will underestimate the works themselves. I love that message; I just don't accept some of Kelly's framing of the cultural and political sub-texts in Austen's work. (It doesn't help that I've caught two honest-to-Pete errors in her discussion of events in the novels themselves.)

However, as an antidote, I started The Making of Jane Austen by Devoney Looser and I find her discussion of Austen's publication history to be much more satisfying. Two chapters in, and I do feel like I'm getting thoroughly researched and authoritative insights. As it happens, Looser gave a chapter over to the early illustrated editions of a number of Austen's novels, including Mansfield Park. In the early years of publication of Austen's work, there was a publisher who tapped a well-known artist of landscapes to illustrate MP. Given the many references to Repton and to improvements to be made to the various estates in MP, I think that's an interesting choice. The publisher chose to do MP as a stand-alone, rather than as part of a matching set of all of the novels which again suggests that there might have been a difference in thinking about MP as a serious novel. (She also reviews the first set of illustrated editions of Austen's novels and it explains a good deal about the unfortunate costuming selections showing up in that 1940's film adaptation of P&P with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier.)

So far, Looser's book is intriguing.

Edited to add that I went to a neighbor's party this weekend, did grocery shopping and further bulked up the freezer (still not full), and actually managed to sleep late on Saturday morning. Oh, and did you know that Swarthmore College has an endowment of 1.8 Billion dollars? And that one of their earliest professors was a female professor of mathematics and astronomy? (Learned that today -- Sunday -- while enjoying the Swarthmore arboretum on a day of gorgeous sunshine and low humidity.)

Oh dear. Jane Austen, The Secret Radical is in my bedside TBR pile, and now I'm afraid it will do bad things to my blood pressure.

Oh, dear >183 Marissa_Doyle:, It's not that I care nothing for your blood pressure, but I still hope you'll go ahead and read and comment on it. I may be overly hasty in my estimation and if that's the case, you are someone I'd trust to call me to account and keep me honest!

Oh, that silly jillmwo! She went off half-cocked on that one, didn't she? It says right there on page XXX that...

Starting the weekend early. The plan is to read a book. I'm about a quarter of the way into The Essex Serpent, a historical novel that I understand was quite well received in the UK. What are the rest of you reading?

This post from Tor Publishers goes into a sophisticated discussion of The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas so it's worth your time: http://www.tor.com/2017/08/07/ursula-le-guins-the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas...

Even the comments are good.

I read The Essex Serpent this past weekend. Two things had brought the title to my attention a few months back. The first was a discussion of the book’s cover art on a publishing industry listserv. (It really is quite lush.) The second was a throw-away comment from that same list that noted that the book had been tremendously popular in the UK market but less so in the US market. I wondered why. I happen to like historical novels (particularly those tinged with the Gothic) so I figured it would be a nice treat for my Thingaversary.

The writing style is purposely, carefully crafted. A sample is this:

Time was being served behind the walls of Newgate jail, and wasted by philosophers in cafes on the Strand; it was lost by those who wished the past were present and loathed by those who wished the present past.

That single sentence was part of a paragraph length meditation on time. Did you note the way in which alliteration was used in that second half? Lost and Loathed. Past, present and present past. Sarah Perry doesn’t over-use the stylistic flourishes but they are there and one needs to slow down a little to savor the prose properly. (@Peace2, this style and pacing may be why it didn't work particularly well for you as an audio book. I was fine with the print reading experience.)

The stylistic element adds to the Gothic atmosphere. The novel opens with a drunken swim on New Year’s Eve, one that the swimmer doesn’t survive. A feeling of unease is heightened by vague threats sensed rather than seen. The reader’s anxieties are fed by those hints. That’s the theme of the book -- the anxiety that springs from the unknown, the drive that humans then have to examine and master that which is unknown, and the role that having knowledge plays in assuaging our anxieties over the unknown. The characters are well fleshed out but represent different attitudes towards our internal anxieties. There’s uneducated superstition, there’s unproven faith in an ordered and reasoned universe, there’s avid curiosity, and there’s the true researcher. How should we cope with medical conditions that resist cure through knowledge. Are the things that are happening in this remote village due to the return of a mythical creature or are they due to other causes?

I may have made this sound rather weighty, grim and dark. It’s not. There are likeable characters who the reader cares about, but there are no easy answers for any of their situations. The son who is more than eccentric -- perhaps autistic; the woman whose condition may only be saved by an experimental surgery, the physical injury that may take away a professional man’s livelihood. How do we cope? How do we survive? Sometimes there are hidden but perfectly ordinary answers to life’s questions; sometimes there are no answers. Whether in a small English village or a metropolis like London, Perry’s characters have to sort through the myth and the factual and make sense of things for themselves.

>187 jillmwo: You make it sound worth giving another try - and as I have both audio and ebook versions, I shall try the ebook next time around and see if I get along better!

>186 jillmwo: Thanks for this pointer. That story was quite perplexing when I first read it as a teen, but seemed much simpler upon re-reading.

>187 jillmwo: I think you may have winged me with that one.

>187 jillmwo: You struck me too. I have to acknowledge a palpable hit because I went straight to my library request list with it. Contemplative digressions? Bring them on. Digressions R us.

>191 Meredy: I think (and I hope) you will like this one!

>189 Jim53: That's the thing about The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. It's a philosophical question that the author poses and while you might know which way she thinks you should lean in responding, she goes out of her way to not specify a final or easy answer. Utopia for the greater portion of the population at the cost of a single individual's misery or misery for all because not all can share equally in the perfect world.

>188 Peace2:, >190 pgmcc: and >191 Meredy: I think (and I hope) you will enjoy it. I wasn't sure I would initially, but I was hooked into finding out where the author thought she was going with all the various points of friction. Not one to be rushed...

Here are the Hugo award winners! I actually got one! *By which of course I mean, I own a copy of one of the titles that received an award, rather than that I meant I won something*

http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2017-hugo-awards/

Le Guin beat out Gaiman!

>195 jillmwo: I have Words Are My Matter on my 2017 TBR. I rarely buy brand new books any more but this title was an exception. Really looking forward to it and really happy to see her win the award.

Which one from the list do you have?

>195 jillmwo: Le Quin beating Gaiman is only right.

>202 clamairy: Ow. Direct hit.

Well, this was a busy week at work so once again, I only dipped into short stories during the evenings. However, back in 2016, @SylviaC had strongly recommended that I include in a Thingaversary binge the collection by Mollie Panter-Downes, Good Evening, Mrs. Craven. I find I am shot through with feelings from the various stories. Panter-Downes has the same gift for capturing human foibles as Jane Austen. Whoever wrote the preface in my copy noted that these are stories of physical and psychological survival during wartime. They were all published in The New Yorker across a five year period (1939-44). The title story has to do with a woman whose lover (a married man) is leaving for the front; she realizes that if something happens to him, she'll have no way of knowing. His lawful wife will be soothed and empathized with, but she (merely masquerading under the title of Mrs Craven) will not know, will not be informed, will be left hanging. It's a devastating truth brought home. All of the stories are -- on the surface -- simple snapshots of brief interactions, but they each offer a glimpse into the deeper emotions behind. One picks up on the experience of isolation, of being imposed upon, of managing ordinary life in the stop-and-go of wartime activity.

So my thanks to @SylviaC for pushing me towards a book I might otherwise never have picked up. I am off to the Book Depository to see if I can buy a copy of Panter-Downes' London War Notes at a reasonable price.

>208 stellarexplorer: I'm glad you enjoyed it! One of the things that fascinated me about the stories was the author's awareness of the permanence of the social upheaval that was happening. She had no illusions about things going back to normal after the end of the war. My favourite story was the one about the elderly lady and her servant in the manor house that was taken over by the army.

>209 pgmcc: The short story you reference, Cut Down The Trees also struck me. That poor woman trying to preserve the world she knew (the psychological survival mentioned), even as the very people she was doing it for recognized that the change in routine or practice might be less catastrophic than feared. It was social upheaval and some were more ready to cope than others (a theme of the collection as you note.)

>195 jillmwo: I'm late to the party because I'm still catching up on threads. Thanks for the Hugo list. :o) Also thanks for the Howl's Moving Castle recommendation on my thread. I am enjoying it quite a lot.

Tragedy at Law has arrived. I hope you are proud of what you have done young lady

>212 jillmwo: I feel I am fulfilling my life's purpose.

>212 jillmwo: My copy has arrived too. I'm saving it as my reward for when I accomplish my current heavy reading.

>214 MrsLee: I am currently comfort reading so I might get to Tragedy at Law sooner rather than later.

>213 stellarexplorer: I am glad to be fodder in your campaign for personal fulfilment.

Yes, I have been reading (amidst much work-and-home-related busy-ness).

The Nightingale - by Kara Dalkey. This is a 30 year old fantasy novel that was originally published in 1988 as part of the Ace book series of novelized fairy tales, edited by Terri Windling. Most specifically, this is a retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale originally published back in 1843. Dalkey places it in Imperial Japan and mixes together well the realistic and fantastical elements of the story. This isn’t a very lengthy read, but it is pleasant one. With just the right amount of happily-ever-after.

I tried two novels in the Rowland Sinclair mystery series, A Few Right Thinking Men (the initial introduction of the sleuth) and the second one, A Decline in Prophets. I found them to be a mixed bag. The Australian history is rather interesting but the mystery elements tend to get lost. There are also some unnecessary additions to the ordinary troupe of participants (the ugly lop-eared dog introduced in the second novel is very nearly a cliche). The pseudo-poet who is a hanger on or friend who tries to pass off famous lines of poetry as his own; the joke works once or twice but not in every scene in which the character appears. There are lots of characters but not as much creative puzzling as I might have hoped for. And I’m still trying to work out why they don’t seem genuine to me. Surely those artistic folk back in the 30’s wouldn’t sound exactly like our modern dilettantes. I’m dipping into Gaudy Night to see if I can pinpoint what’s off about this author’s dialogue and delivery.

And one for @MrsLee to read in her bathroom. Daily Rituals by Mason Currey is an odd compendium of the working habits of artists and writers of the 18th, 19th, 20th and even 21st centuries. Short entries exactly suited to one’s brief visits to the water closet.

BTW, someone's trying to lure me into adopting an adorable beagle-bassett mix. The dog is just as sweet as they come and she fell asleep on my lap last night. (And you know, there's something soothing about the way a dog's coat smells while shedding hair all over you....)

Oh, and do I need to start a new thread? Is this one becoming a pain?

>216 jillmwo: Following along quietly recently: No, its fine. Only if its a pain for you.

>216 jillmwo:
I attended a sales course many moons ago. One of the techniques presented was the "puppy dog" sale. It involved "lending" the client the product for a period of time so that they get to love it like a puppy dog. Who could return a puppy?

Sounds like your friend knows that technoque.

I hope you and your new family member are very happy together.

>216 jillmwo: It so happens, I think that book is already on my shelves! Good to know it is readable.

>218 pgmcc: This would be why the owners of our car dealership are happy to let people (mostly long-time customers) take home cars for the weekend or the day at least. It very frequently ends in a sale.

Enjoy your new canine companion, Jill!

One of the abandoned cats that adopted us was on my lap last night. He kept looking at me to see if that was really what he wanted. I think we are both reserving judgement at this time. He did decide that while he was there, I should be busy performing my duty of scratching and petting and not reading. He even got a little playful. This is the first time he has relaxed enough to do that.

>218 pgmcc: and >219 jillmwo: The adorable dog has not yet been absorbed into this household. I'm trying to do it gradually (if at all). Haven't entirely made up our minds and the next six weeks are so busy. Son coming home this weekend, a family wedding later in September and then to Europe for a flying business trip in October. Not a good time to introduce any skittish creature into a disastrously kept and disorganized home. Every time we've gone over to visit these friends, spouse and I have warned each other not to get lured into a commitment, and yet then dog gives me a look and I unthinkingly scritch just the right spot below her jaw and the next thing you know she's in my lap.

>217 Jim53: Remarkably communicative brevity...

From the introduction to the Library of America two-volume collection of Ursula Le Guin's Hainish Novels:

“Vaster than Empires and More Slow” is the only stand-alone story in this volume.

My poetry and my fiction are full of trees. My mental landscape includes a great deal of forest. I am haunted by the great, silent, patient presences we live among, plant, chop down, build with, burn, take for granted in every way until they are gone and do not return. Ancient China had our four elements, earth, air, fire, water, plus a fifth, wood. That makes sense to me. But China’s great forests are long gone to smoke. When we pass a log truck on the roads of Oregon, I can’t help but see what they carry as corpses, bodies that were living and are dead. I think of how we owe the air we breathe to the trees, the ferns, the grasses—the quiet people who eat sunlight.

So I imagined a forest world. A world of plants, interconnected by root systems, pollen drift, and other interchanges and more ethereal linkages so complex as to rise to full sentience and perhaps intelligence. The concept filled my imagination to an extent not fully expressed by “Vaster.” But I am glad I wrote it. And happy to know that recent research confirms not only the possibility but the existence of systems of communication among the trees of a forest that are as essential to their being and their well-being as speech is to us.

My print copies should be here next Tuesday. The anticipation!

>220 SylviaC: Yes. But brief is far better than none. And it's not for lack of interest or investment. :)-

>221 pgmcc: Sounds as if that author and Tolkien would have found some common ground in the forests, anyway.

>220 SylviaC: The puppy can go to kennels for your trip to Europe.

May we know where in Europe or are the details of the trip classified?

>224 Meredy: The flying trip is to Geneva where I will be on the ground for a tightly constrained 36-42 hours. I am not particularly enamored of the prospect. Other details are as yet unsettled and/or classified. My understanding of the Swiss is that they are an orderly population. I will stick out by a country mile, no doubt.

Reading The Norths Meet Murder. The writing is delightful. More feedback once I've really completed it. Sample: He awoke in the morning and groaned to find it day again and constabulary duty to be done." Imagine a New York detective who thinks in terms of Gilbert & Sullivan!

>225 MrsLee: ooh, that sounds like fun.

>225 MrsLee: Geneva...for a tightly constrained 36-42 hours.

You cannot get more covert than that.

By the way, in terms of the Swiss, they are not just orderly but also very precise. Had a Swiss person been saying how long you will be in Geneva he/she would not be as vague as to say, "36-42 hours". The Swiss person would say something lik, "35 hours and 27 minutes", and that is exactly the length of time you would be on the ground in Geneva.

Are you parachuting in or arriving on a C130?

Oh, dear. I'm in one of those reading troughs where I sample all kinds of things and nothing appeals. The kind of reading trough where one looks at that towering TBR pile and moans about how one has nothing to read. Domestic fiction is too sweet and simple in its outlook. Gothic novels are too over-the-top and silly. Agatha Christie is simply lacking in any kind of flavor. The classics are cliched but the latest bestseller is just bad. Biographies are too long but novellas are too short. Digital content evaporates in the brain but print is somehow challenging.

>228 suitable1: Perhaps now is the time to write that mystery novel we've all been waiting for. Or maybe a book of literary criticism.

>229 jillmwo: My vote is for the mystery novel.

>227 pgmcc:

Clever how she changed the subject.

>231 jillmwo: Standard operating procedure.

>228 suitable1: Oh, dear. That's exactly the restless sort of mood in which my father used to go into the kitchen, open the refrigerator, and stare into it mournfully, saying, "I want something, but I don't know what it is." He'd make several gloomy visits and take long looks, and nothing appeared that hadn't been there before. Nobody could help. The affliction just had to run its course.

Once upon a time, my husband and I rented the video of The Gods Must Be Crazy. About half an hour in, we both said, "This isn't doing anything for me," and we ditched it.

A couple of years later, somebody mentioned it, and we told him that. He said, "You have to take another look." We did--and it turned out to be one of the funniest, wisest, and most entertaining films we ever saw.

The movie didn't change. We were just in the wrong state of mind for it the first time.

Don't worry, this'll pass. Meanwhile, how about going with something you know you'll hate, just for the fun of hating it? You can be mentally preparing your scathing critique right from page 1. With that attitude going in, you'll find a target-rich environment (as they say)--some egregious fault on every page. Take notes so you don't miss any.

>228 suitable1: I suggest a good adventure/travel book, like something by Thor Heyerdahl. I happen to be reading one now. Sometimes I wonder if it is entirely believable, if it were a novel, I would say not, but it is the memoir of a couple who took a canoe/sail boat/kayak thing down the Pacific coast from San Diego, CA to the Panama canal.

When my mother gets in that mood, she reads magazines or catalogs until it passes.

>234 MrsLee:

Cereal boxes work, too.

>235 SylviaC: As reading material to break a lull, or as material to use in building a vessel to cross an ocean?

>236 ScoLgo:

Sure!

>231 jillmwo: and >232 jillmwo: The meeting in which I'm participating will be held in a airport hotel. Parachuting in would be rather more noticeable than simply arriving by airplane. Again, trying to keep a low profile here. Which leads me to ask whether donning a fedora hat and double-breasted raincoat upon arrival is suitable "blending" garb for October in Geneva.

>238 MrsLee: Indubitably!

More LeGuin is available to you, but I don't know how long the full text will be available. It's the short story, The Day Before The Revolution. A good read. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.loa.org/images/pdf/Le_Guin_Day_Bef...

Ssshhh! No one must tell my spouse that I've successfully smuggled a complete (second-hand) matched set of Folio Society editions of Jane Austen's works onto the bottom shelf of the bookcase in the dining room/office. I'll move them up to the more accessible shelves once sufficient time has passed that I can airily respond to any inquiries with something like "Oh, my dearest love, those aren't new. Those have been on that shelf for MONTHS."

>241 Mum's the word!

A secret shared is money in the bank...for the blackmailer.

>241 A woman after my own heart.

>241 See now, the advantage to having a spouse who has no interest at all in books is that any number of interesting items can appear on my shelves, and he will never, ever notice. (Mind you, we have something similar happening out in the machinery sheds: "I didn't know we owned one of those!" "Oh, it's been here for ages.")

>241 >244 Herself's closet has similar magical properties... as do my home recording studio and bookshelves... ;)

Why is it that receipt of one set of Folio society editions sends me off to another set? I was rearranging the bookshelves and came across my Folio set of Tolkien's works (Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion, The Hobbit) and as one does, I opened up The Silmarilion and was caught up by that opening creation story and the overall style (vocabulary, rhythm, etc.) of Tolkien's writing. It's really beautiful. It catches at the heart.

Personal note: I'm going to start up a new thread any day now...

>246 *sitting here a little green with envy*

>247 Don't be jealous, my dear twin Skippy! The Folio editions I own were strictly purchased used or found on sale. (There's very little to bequeath otherwise to the offspring. I'm honestly hoping that the ones I own may be resold at something of a profit upon my death, assuming I don't spill coffee on them or rip the slipcase by tripping over my own two feet. I'm not fully persuaded of the ROI, but every little bit may help.)