A Room of Charl08's Own: Feminist Penguins #2

I'm Charlotte, I have an important birthday this year (ouch) and I'm celebrating 100 years since (some) UK women were (finally) given the vote in 1918 in 2018.

My plans for this year include attending lots of talks, seminars and exhibitions on this theme, organising a few myself, and - you guessed it- reading about the history of the campaigns, feminism and women's fiction and non-fiction more broadly , likely to be heavy on the autobiographies and biographies.

I just heard about this new National Trust exhibition at Quarry Bank mill (Manchester).


Unlike a lot of their other venues, this one will tell the story of *working* women.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/quarry-bank/features/a-womans-work-is-never-don...

Eta Turns out this was last year! One to follow on suffrage though!

I love penguins, both this kind

And the book kind.

Every year, increasingly tenuously, I attempt to shoehorn these two themes into one thread.

My theme book for January is one by Jill Liddington and I'll be working my way through the others here, (*hopefully* mostly on my TBR shelf already) through the year. (Still haven't picked the next one!)

Books read in 2018 24

January 19
Broad Strokes: 15 women who made art (F, US, art history)
Slow Horses (M, UK, fiction)
Zen and the Art of Murder (M, Germany, fiction)
The Burgess Boys (F, US, fiction)
A Study in Scandal (F, US, fiction)
The Huntsman's Tale (F, UK, fiction - audio)
The Burning Gates (M, UK, fiction)
The Break (F, Canada, fiction)
His Lordship's Last Wager (F, US, fiction)
Slow Horses (M, UK, fiction)

On Balance (F, UK, poetry)
I am Hutterite (F, Canada, memoir)
Persepolis (F, Iran, graphic memoir)
Someone to Wed (F, Canada, fiction)
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (F, US, fiction)
A Duke in Shining Armor (F, US, fiction)
Rain Dogs (M, Australia, fiction)
Frogkisser (M, Australia, fiction)
The Wedding Date (F, US, fiction)

February 5
Real Tigers (M, UK, fiction)
Velkom to Inklandt (F, UK, poetry)
Miss Wonderful (F, US, fiction)
The End of Days (F, Germany, fiction)
A Hat Full of Sky (M, UK, fiction - audio)

Overall stats

Gender This Month F 3 M 2 Joint 0 Running Total F 16 M 8
Fiction/Non? This Month Fiction 4 Non-fiction 0 Poetry 1 Running Total Fiction 19 Non-fiction 3 Poetry 2
Source This Month Library 2 Mine 3 Running Total Library 6 Mine 17
Author home
This Month: Africa 0, Asia 0, Australasia 0, Europe 4 (UK 3), Middle East 0, US & Canada 1, Other 0.
Running Total: Africa 0, Asia 0, Australasia 2, Europe 10 (UK 8), Middle East 1, US & Canada 11, Other 0.

Copied from the last thread

I finished two books:
Dead Lions the second in the slow horses series about failed London spooks. In this one, old Russian spies come back from the Cold War. There's plenty of dark humour and plot twists. The author keeps up his habit of knocking off characters you've come to feel affectionate towards rather unexpectedly.

On Balance

I want my own copy of this book of poetry, not just because it has a beautiful reproduction of a historic islamic engineer's fountain from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices on the cover. There's also a rather great poetic inspiration to find out more about Lilian Bland, who built and flew her own plane in 1910.

And 'The Rope' about playing with your siblings on the front drive (opening below) which makes me want to call my sister and brother.

>6 charl08: That poem is lovely.

Happy new thread and congratulations on your "important" birthday year :)

Happy new thread, Charlotte!
The exhibition in Manchester sounds good.

Did you know that today is Penguin Awareness Day? I feel like you should know that.

Happy new thread! I think the penguins of both sorts go very well together.

Would it be indelicate to ask which significant birthday? I'm guessing not 21 the first time round. >;-) Although if wishing made it so, would you be 21 again? I'm not sure I would.
My husband is 50 next month, which feels very odd, as in my head he's maybe 35. He's always been a bit middle aged, so while I think I'm 26*, he is a bit older.

* Well, I think I'm 26 until I go to spin class, do some exercise, or meet a genuine 20-something at which point all my years weigh heavily!

Happy new thread, Charlotte. When abouts is that important birthday coming up this year?

Happy new one, Charlotte! Love "The Rope" - so joyful it made me smile.

>6 charl08: Lovely

Happy New Thread , Charlotte.

30? Right Charlotte?

Happy New Thread, Charlotte.

Like Judy, I enjoyed that poem.

>15 jnwelch: ha, I love it.

Happy new thread Charlotte.

Happy New thread, Charlotte! I too am curious about your " significant " birthday . I'll have to go back to your previous thread to have look at the Guardian Reviews.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

Here to play!!

Jumping over from Suffragette City with my star!

>1 charl08: That exhibition looks very interesting!

Happy New Thread, Charlotte.

>6 charl08: Love the poem.

>7 ffortsa: I've not come across her work before, but Id like to read more.

>8 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba!

>9 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. I'm hoping to get to some further south as well. There are a couple of books Ive come acrossthat talk about votes for women across Europe.

>10 PawsforThought: I did not know! Thank you. Just watched a lovely video of penguins with bubbles at Edinburgh zoo :-)

>11 Helenliz: It wouldn't be indelicate to ask. I might not answer though :-) Purely because of internet security, obvs. They haven't asked me for id at the supermarket when buying wine lately though.

I'm being threatened with some kind of event at work. I'd rather be at home with biscuits.

>12 Familyhistorian: I don't want to put the date down! Soon though.

>13 Crazymamie: It's a lovely one Mamie. She ends talking about the 'rope' that binds siblings together, years later, all those shared memories.

>15 jnwelch: Love it!

>16 Caroline_McElwee: Isn't it great Caroline. Have you been to the London library again recently? I saw someone on twitter posting from the Gladstone library and was So Jealous...

>17 vancouverdeb: See Beth's answer Deborah. Lol. The Guardian books were damgerous this week - I've added four to my wishlist.

>18 thornton37814: >19 drneutron: Thank you!

>20 Berly: Cute penguin Kim!

>21 libraryperilous: I've started a 'suffrage' playlist. That's on it (of course)

>22 EBT1002: There's some great ones going on! I'm spoiled for choice.

I've just remembered it's bookgroup this coming week and I have to talk about graphic novels. Cue reread of Persepolis: what a brilliant choice!

Happy Sunday, Charlotte. And Happy New Thread. I hope you are enjoying the weekend and getting some reading in.

Happy new thread, Charlotte! I'm going to do that FutureLearn course on your last thread, which looks really good. And it will fit in well with the talk we're going to :-)

>25 charl08: at the moment Charlotte, I try to go to the London Library for a few hours most weeks (I’m between jobs, so it’s more doable). The Gladstones Library is lovely, I haven’t been for a couple of years, but went a couple of times a year the two preceding years. I even bumped into LT Genny there once.

There is something about sitting and reading, or thinking, in a Library. After twenty minutes my whole body just relaxes.

Happy Sunday, Charlotte and Happy new thread!! I love reading in a library especially those with fire places.

Happy new thread, Charlotte!

>28 msf59: Thanks Mark. You too!

>29 susanj67: I'm going to sign up too Susan.

>30 Caroline_McElwee: I found it such a great setting to work, I'd love to go back. So quiet! The London library is on my list to visit.

>31 Carmenere: A fireplace is always nice. I'm settling for a warm fluffy blanket :-)

>32 scaifea: Thanks Amber.

>29 susanj67: I'd completely missed that, thanks for mentioning it. I've done courses on FutureLearn before but it's been a while. This one looks really interesting - I might sign up too.

>29 susanj67: >33 charl08: I'm in as well. Never tried an online learning experience, so this will be interesting on more than one front.

>34 PawsforThought: >35 Helenliz: Hope you both enjoy it. I'm going to share it as part of launch events at work too.

Finished I am Hutterite : great read, thanks to Carrie (cbl_tn) who recommended it, and to my secret santa Lori, (thornton37814). I'd not come across this religious group before, so Mary-Ann's account of life in a small, cooperative religious group was fascinating reading. Her contrast of her lovely free childhood, eating together and sharing play space across a farm with her parents' experience of dictatorial leadership.

I loved this quote about trying to work out what their tv owning friends were talking about:

Also: Netgalley. Outstanding...
Must try harder...

Maybe Esther Katja Petrowskaja

Feel Free Zadie Smith

Things Bright and Beautiful Anbara Salam

The Wife’s Tale Aida Edemariam

The Darkness Ragnar Jónasson

Bookworm Lucy Mangan

Painter to the King Amy Sackville

The Cactus Sarah Haywood

The Woman at 1,000 Degrees Hallgrímur Helgason

Happiness Aminatta Forna

The Word for Woman is Wilderness Abi Andrews

Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward

The Well of Ice Andrea Carter
Algorithms of Oppression Safiya Umoja Noble

Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng

Oh, glad you enjoyed I am Hutterite. I know I'm not the source of the rec, but I really enjoyed the book too. I have a friend who is Mennonite and she moved to Manitoba to a farm after completing University in Winnipeg. We grew up together. When I went to visit her, I ran across quite a few Hutterites. They were invariably so friendly and polite. We had trouble fiinding my friend's family farm, so we had to stop in at several places, and despite me wearing shorts and a pink short sleeved shirt ( this was in my early 30's) , and them wearing such modest clothes ,and and a lot of black and white , not one seemed uncomfortable with my appearance, though I worried about that. But it was fine.

Best of luck with Net Galley.

>37 charl08: Nice selection there.

Happy new thread, Charlotte. xx

So envious of Happiness. I really enjoyed Bookworm.

>38 vancouverdeb: I found the description of a very different way of life really interesting. I suppose that the UK is one of the places people were leaving from, so not surprising that I've not come across communities here.

>39 BLBera: Too many books!

>40 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. Hope you and Kyran are feeling better.

>41 elkiedee: I am hoping that this week will be a bit quieter for me, so that I can do more reading, and finish this book. Netgalley does illustrate for me how much I am influenced by a nice cover and a good review, either from here or in the papers.

Hi there, just wondering, have you read The Womens Room yet? I stumbled across it last year and utterly loved it :)
Hearts and Minds also looks good!

The Guardian changed their format last week, and with it the book review section. It gets a mini magazine now...

>44 charl08: Has it been a good change? I've only seen it online and it seems like the biggest difference there is the font (and the colours of the sections in the navigation bar). Mini magazine sounds good.

>44 charl08: I like the new Review - much easier to handle and I'll be able to leave it lying on the bench all week without throwing it into the recycling with the rest of the newspapers!

>45 PawsforThought: I only really read the review in paper form these days, so not sure news wise.

>46 CDVicarage: It does look nicer on the coffee table, I guess!

>44 charl08: Keepable, but like so much else these days, the font size is tiny. I don’t need glasses, but have had to use across-the-counter reading glasses since so many fonts have reduced, especially for reading in the evenings.

>48 Caroline_McElwee: Don't get me started on glasses - mine are driving me round the bend at the minute.

Adding this exhibition to the wishlist - 100 artists sounds like a brilliant idea. (Doncaster)
http://www.thepoint.org.uk/rebel-daughters/

darts (Doncaster Community Arts) has curated a brand new exhibition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first votes for women. Entitled ‘Rebel Daughters’, the exhibition will launch a year-long programme of activity in partnership with Doncaster Museums. Through the exhibition we’ll be showcasing a range of voices of all ages and exploring what being a ‘rebel daughter’ means to them.

Just under 60 women artists based locally, nationally and internationally have been selected to show their work from an overwhelming number of submissions to an open call in 2017. Rebel Daughters celebrates the passions and interests of women artists today, from the resin cast of a pig’s head ‘Teacher’s Pet’ by Michelle Clarke Stables to exquisite underwater photographs retelling the story of Shakespeare’s ‘Ophelia’ by Nicola Jayne Maskrey and photographs from the ‘Defying Conventions’ series by Shannon Langley, which places girls at the heart of a revolution.

The exhibition will open to the public on 18th January 2018 and will be on display at The Point until 7th April.

>49 charl08: I'm starting to feel like I need to take a year off work and just travel around checking out museum exhibitions on Women's History...

>50 PawsforThought: I would join you!

Adding A history of Britain in 21 women to your awareness list. Picked up a while ago, just now made it onto the reading pile as I'm going travelling with work. Being in 21 chapters, it's ideal for the pick up/ put down nature of modern flying. Looking forward to seeing who she has included; the introduction has a certain sass about it.

>42 charl08: Too many books - what a problem.

>44 charl08: I like it.

>37 charl08: So you received a copy of each of those? What a great list.

>52 Helenliz: Sounds good Helen. I love Jenni Murray's voice on the radio, interested to hear what you make of about the book.

>53 BLBera: There are worse problems, it has to be noted.

>54 EBT1002: Digital copies Ellen. I think netgalley reveals I'm really a paper person by preference!

Started reading Topaz last night, recommended when I was looking for more diverse reading last year. Not something I think I'd have picked up (not least because it has been moved into my library's reserve stock), and some of the language is showing its age, but still great story telling.

Forgot this!

2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge - 2 down!
http://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Reading-Challenge-2018-44138581

1. A book made into a movie you've already seen
2. True crime
3. The next book in a series you started Dead Lions
4. A book involving a heist
5. Nordic noir
6. A novel based on a real person
7. A book set in a country that fascinates you
8. A book with a time of day in the title
9. A book about a villain or antihero
10. A book about death or grief
11. A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym
12. A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist
13. A book that is also a stage play or musical
14. A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you
15. A book about feminism
16. A book about mental health
17. A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift
18. A book by two authors
19. A book about or involving a sport
20. A book by a local author -
21. A book with your favorite color in the title
22. A book with alliteration in the title
23. A book about time travel
24. A book with a weather element in the title
25. A book set at sea
26. A book with an animal in the title
27. A book set on a different planet
28. A book with song lyrics in the title
29. A book about or set on Halloween
30. A book with characters who are twins
31. A book mentioned in another book
32. A book from a celebrity book club
33. A childhood classic you've never read
34. A book that's published in 2018
35. A past Goodreads Choice Awards winner
36. A book set in the decade you were born
37. A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn't get to
Broad Strokes: 15 women who made art
38. A book with an ugly cover
39. A book that involves a bookstore or library
40. Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenges (you can easily Google these)

Advanced Reading Challenge

1. A bestseller from the year you graduated high school
2. A cyberpunk book
3. A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place
4. A book tied to your ancestry
5. A book with a fruit or vegetable in the title
6. An allegory
7. A book by an author with the same first or last name as you
8. A microhistory
9. A book about a problem facing society today
10. A book recommended by someone else taking the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

Not embarrassing at all - turns out >1 charl08: is last year's exhibition - there's a new one coming up.

Although now I type this, I've realised that I found out about the exhibition via the National Trust's 'suffrage' links, so am noticeably less embarrassed. (Ha, I've just been back to the original page, and they've removed the evidence. Quick work, Ms/Mr Digital manager!)

Also learned that they too have a suffrage exhibit opening in March, so that's good. Adding it to the list.

I also fancy this: (but not at £45!)

The Country House Library

>58 charl08: Bummer about it being last year's exhibition (although that makes me feel better about not being able to go see it.

>59 PawsforThought: I feel a little bit relieved. I have started a spreadsheet, a clear sign of things feel a little bit Much.

Although I can now add to the pile, for those times when I don't want to leave the house, the BBC offer me all sorts of TV and radio highlights linked to suffrage...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/history/suffrage

Very much enjoying and taking note of your suffrage studies.

Maybe we should try and organise an LT suffrage exhibition meetup at some point. Or a couple, say London and Manchester.

>61 sibylline: Thanks Lucy. I began to wonder if Im going to get to March and everyone will be "enough already".

>62 elkiedee: There has been mention!

Wondered if between us maybe we can rustle up an MP to show us their new women in parliament exhibit. I've only been to the HoP once but the food and the views were pretty good.

>63 charl08: that'd be good. Who has a female MP?

Me!

In other news, my abstract was accepted so I'll be giving a conference paperin June linked to suffrage and education. Very pleased.

>66 charl08: That is great, Charlotte!

>66 charl08: Way to go, Charlotte!! Most exciting!

>66 charl08: WOW BIG congratulations to you Charlotte. Did you ever look at the web site I sent? (amightygirl) I bet there are some books for kids on that site in your topic of interest but perhaps more of a North American leaning and childrens books may not be your focus. Anyway, very pleased for you!

>66 charl08: Cool! That's very exciting!

>66 charl08: great news!

>60 charl08: Ah, spreadsheets. I make them too - though more for fun than for overwhelmed-ness. (Yeah, I'm weird)
The BBC link looks great - I don't think I can access most of it as it is now (outside of the UK), but a friend of mine could help me "work around" that.

>66 charl08: Congrats! So pleased for you!

>67 FAMeulstee: >68 Crazymamie: >69 mdoris: >70 drneutron: >71 ffortsa: >72 PawsforThought: Thanks everyone! I'm excited to hear the rest of the papers as well as to participate.

>69 mdoris: I did have a quick look Mary! Trying not to buy too many tempting things!!

>72 PawsforThought: They make me feel more in control: an illusion, probably. I don't know if the tv programmes will make it onto BBC World, but the radio ones are usually available on the website.

I finished rereading Persepolis last night for the book group today. I realise I probably should have tried to steer the group to a different book, as I love this one so much I think I will have to really struggle not to overdefend it when people say it's not for them!! I downloaded a list of questions from the penguin site, so going to ask people to pick a question rather than our usual approach.

Ed. to fix the typos.

>66 charl08: That's wonderful, congratulations!

Charlotte, great news about your conference paper!

>74 Deern: Thanks Nathalie - hope you're feeling better.

>75 susanj67: Thanks Susan, hope things have calmed down a bit.

More event news: Anyone near Oxford for an exhibition in the library?
6 March 2018 — 3 February 2019
https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whatson/whats-on/upcoming-events/2018/mar/sappho-t...

Or the Albert Hall for a whole programme of events, including
SUFFRAGETTES AT THE HALL: IMMERSIVE DRAMA TOUR
CAMPAIGNING, MILITANCY AND THE VOTE 31st March - 10th June

DETAILS
Join our exclusive NEW immersive drama tour and hear the undiscovered stories of the suffrage campaign, as part of our Women and the Hall season celebrating a centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918.

100 years ago, the UK Parliament passed an act allowing women to vote for the first time. The Royal Albert Hall played a uniquely important role in the women’s struggle to gain this right to vote as the venue for 24 great women’s suffrage rallies between 1908 and 1918.

WHAT TO EXPECT
• Your friendly and informative tour guide will show you the stunning auditorium that played a crucial part in the women’s suffrage.
• ‘Meet’ Helen Ogston, the young Suffragette who smuggled a dog whip into a meeting, find out why she did it and the repercussions of her actions.
• Hear Lord Curzon explain why, for the sake of the Empire (and many other reasons), women should never have the vote!
• The tour will last one hour 30 minutes

Hopefully they won't be dealing with latecomers like this:


https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/series/women-and-the-hall/

Hi Charlotte! Just trying to get a bit caught up after being away...

Hey Katie, hope that the travel home was smooth.

Reading this. Shiny cover!

Charlotte, congratulations regarding your abstract! How exciting! Let me know what you think of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk. I took it our of my library sometime ago, but never actually read it. Your cover is so much more eye catching that the one here in the Canada.

>66 charl08: Congrats Charlotte.

Good luck with your discussion of Persepolis. Perhaps you'll be lucky and it will be one that everyone loves.

>66 charl08: I'll add my congrats, too, Charlotte. How exciting!

>79 vancouverdeb: It's very good so far Deborah. Light but very readable.

>80 BLBera: It went very well Beth, I think. Small group, but they all liked it, despite having not read GNs before. Talked about so many things, from social control to writing and reading memoirs. I've been trying to get all sorts of other things done, so didn't bring along other GNs whoch I'd meant to do. But hopefully some seeds planted.

>81 rretzler: Thank you! I was pleasantly surprised.

Hi Charlotte! Hope all is going well with you this morning! :)

It's already getting dark here (boo), but thanks.

I've booked to hear Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi in conversation with Ellah Wakatama Allfrey next month. Quite excited, (ed! it will be the) first book event I've been to in ages.

>84 charl08: Ooh, I just reserved her book Kintu yesterday after it popped up randomly in an ad for the Guardian bookshop. That's either an amazing coincidence or I have in fact heard of her on this thread and didn't just pick it for the cover :-) It's already in transit, which is exciting.

>78 charl08: - Oh, I like that cover much more than the US edition...

>86 katiekrug: Me, too!

Hello, Charlotte!

>85 susanj67: Yup, it was definitely me :-) Taking all the credit (nice cover, eh?!)


The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock (signed!)
The Story of the Night (I was so impressed by the bookshop having a lgbt classics table: not all lgbt, just the gold ones :-)
Swallowing Mercury

>86 katiekrug: >87 Crazymamie: And me.

>78 charl08: That's a great cover!

I loved Swallowing Mercury, Charlotte.

Hooray for a good book discussion. What is the group reading next?

>66 charl08: woohoo! That is fantastic!

>68 Crazymamie: ooooh, pretty cover! You know, I read both covers as "Julian Barnes" "Takes a Walk" and thought he had a new book out ;)
I have JB on my mind, on account of the GR of Arthur & George I suspect.

>3 charl08: Are these books you intend to read this year? I just read a very positive review of The Book of Emma Reyes on another thread, and immediately added it to my wishlist. I had never heard of her, but loved the cover art, which is apparently a detail of a painting of hers.

I am glad you had a good book group. Persepolis is so good!

>66 charl08: good news on the abstract being accepted.
And interesting exhibitions (again).

>89 PawsforThought: Wailing and gnashing of teeth: I got chocolate on my beautiful new copy. Fortunately not a library one or I'd be in Real Trouble with Susan.
In fact, we never had this conversation, and I deny everything.

>90 BLBera: Trust you to be ahead there! Looking forward to it even more now. We're reading Sapiens next, which has received, er, 'mixed' reports from those who have already started it in the group, so I'm predicting an interesting response at the next session.

>91 LovingLit: You're doing a group read, you say Megan? Fancy that (!)

>92 arubabookwoman: Hope so! I also loved the cover of this one, and the publisher blurb made me want to pick it up too.

>93 banjo123: It was one of the better discussions we'd had - I'm not sure if that's because I've got to know the group now, or that it was a smaller group so felt more participative and open. I enjoyed it though.

>94 Helenliz: I just found out about another one in London, from the comments 'introduce yourself' section of the online course Royal Holloway are doing, of all places. Really great that so many people are doing such interesting stuff.

I think I'm going to try and get to see this new exhibition in Manchester at the weekend. Bonus: it's free!


(Image credit: Walker Art Gallery)
Annie Swynnerton: Painting Light and Hope at Manchester Art Gallery, Chinatown, 23 February 2018–6 January 2019, free entry

As someone who had a profound impact on the status of female artists in her home city, and who was celebrated for her radical approach towards the representation of women, Annie Swynnerton’s first retrospective in nearly 100 years seems well overdue. But better late than never.

Painting Light and Hope at Manchester Art Gallery will feature 36 paintings by the pioneering artist, suffragette and feminist campaigner who was born in Hulme, Manchester, in 1844 (died 1933). Her canvases are dominated by women of all ages and social backgrounds, rendered in a style that boldly challenged traditional conventions of beauty at the time. Tate curator Alison Smith described Swynnerton as “one of the most daring female painters of the nude, often shocking audiences with her robustly painted figures.” And as such, her work captures the burgeoning sense of female power, strength and hope at the turn of the 20th century, when women’s roles and opportunities in society were beginning to change.
http://manchesterartgallery.org/exhibitions-and-events/exhibition/annie-swynnert...

I had a lovely time volunteering but getting there was a bit upsetting, have had some lovely taxi drivers in the past but this one told me he thought everyone should just go home, and that the refugee allowance was plenty (it's pathetic). They should be grateful, apparently. Every so often I get shocked by the outside of the lovely bubble where I volunteer with kind people and work with people who care about making a difference. And why do I think of the good answers half an hour after leaving this kind of conversation ?

Happy Saturday, Charlotte! I like the painting a lot, it's almost photorealistic in the face and hands, like taken from a not so happy RL situation (doesn't that woman look afraid, but also in awe and like she was taking a step back from something), but then she added wings and the landscape. I'll follow the link in a moment.

>96 charl08: I don't know what to do in such a situation except for changing cab if possible. If people are in that mindset, the best arguments from an outsider can't do a thing. Their media, their sources have to change, which I guess means concentrating on a different scapegoat than foreigners and the EU. And that won't happen anytime soon.

>96 charl08: some people are impossible. I sometimes wonder if they find it easier to blame another group than to accept their own shortcommings. As in "I can't get a job with all those immigrants taking jobs" rather than accepting they are a lazy, good for nothing. Extreme example, but you get the idea. You can't change some people's minds.

Finished A History of Britain in 21 Women * reviewed on my thread. It was interesting, but I found the collection somewhat unbalanced, with 5 politicians and 2 suffragettes/suffragists out of 21 women selected. I'm not that much of a political person, so found it unbalanced the collection somewhat. Your interests being different, might well enjoy it.

>97 Deern: Thanks Nathalie. It is a beautiful painting. I woke up this morning feeling like something the cat dragged in, so hoping to go tomorrow.

What was funny (in retrospect) was that I think he couldn't/ didn't think I had the right to "judge" his area (my accent marks me out as "other") as no good for refugees. So he was pissed off at me for implying the town is lacking (a whole other story: poverty, drugs, social problems ) whilst simultaneously arguing "they" shouldn't be housed there anyway...

>98 Helenliz: Nathalie talked on her thread about people being threatened by attitude change (as in e.g. what does it say about your choices if you have to rethink how you judge other women). I think there is something similar there about this attitude. If you have to accept that someone might challenge your myths about everyone pulling together after WW2 (what about all the people who'd headed off to Australasia?!) you have to start questioning why other people aren't also allowed to leave or move... Maybe!

It must be really tricky picking a list like the one in Murray's book. Might be fun to come up with your own list, too? I think I'd want Rosalind Franklin and Emily Davies (the founder of Girton).

Reading update -

Someone to Wed
Old fashioned romance (trope: marriage of convenience) with a very modern thread of self-empowerment running alongside.

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
Elderly lady looks back over her life as she walks across New York on new year's eve 1984. Her experiences (based ona real life woman copywriter) from tension in the office to dealing with her husband's fighting in Italy for two years fits really well into my theme for this year, whilst stil fiction.

A Duke in Shining Armor
Enjoyable fluff! I do like the bits at the end where the romance novelists defend themselves against historical pedants. Sometimes I might even learn something (doubt linked to memory not being what it was).

Guardian reviews
All accessible in full via www.guardian.co.uk/books


What She Ate by Laura Shapiro reviewed by Kathryn Hughes
"Shapiro shows herself keen to put biographical material to work in the service of a broader social history. In a particularly brilliant chapter on Barbara Pym, she uses the life and work of the novelist to offer a “radical retelling” of the dominant narrative of mid 20th-century British food, the one that has everyone existing on spam and soggy cabbage until Elizabeth David turns up in a flurry of garlic and olive oil to show everyone how it should be done."


The Minister and the Murderer by Stuart Kelly reviewed by Blake Morrison
"He was 24 when he killed his mother, battering her over the head, dragging the corpse into the garage (where it was found by his father and sister), and disappearing for two days, before returning to hand himself in. The murder, he later said, was inexcusable but not inexplicable: when his mother called his girlfriend “a dirty whore”, he lost it. His father would have made a more deserving victim; he’d been a nasty bully – “a church saint and a house devil” according to Nelson’s sister. Perhaps that explains why Nelson never asked for his father’s forgiveness. “I’ve forgiven myself,” he said, and that was more important"


How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt reviewed by David Runciman
"...want to get away from the idea that so long as the constitutional order is intact, democracy will be OK. They are deeply suspicious of any naive faith that deviant politicians can be “contained” by the right institutions, and not just because it didn’t work out for Weimar Germany with Hitler. They point out that US history is littered with examples of political behaviour that stayed within the letter of the law but still did catastrophic damage to democracy. The racist regime that prevailed in the American south during the first half of the 20th century was underpinned by a set of norms that made hard-won African American voting rights meaningless. "


Rave On: Global Adventures in Electronic Dance Music by Matthew Collin – reviewed by Kitty Empire
"...tries to understand (among many things) how impromptu M25 raves and Goan full moon parties and Ibizan beach bliss-outs became playpens with table service for the 1%, or festivals where branding is king."


The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers reviewed by Tim Adams
"The coffee Mokhtar produces is no ordinary brew: Port of Mokha espressos, sold at Blue Bottle coffee shops in the US, are priced at $16 (including a cardamom biscuit made to Mokhtar’s mother’s recipe). The price reflects not only the difficulties of production and shipping from a country in brutal meltdown, but also the quality of the product: Port of Mokha received the highest rating in the Coffee Review, the barista’s bible. More remarkable still, Mokhtar achieved all this from a standing start, knowing nothing about coffee... "


How to Be Human: The Manual by Ruby Wax reviewed by Brett Kahr
" I doubt that anyone will write a more engaging treatise on the subject. Nevertheless, much of the practical advice given here by the author (in conjunction with a kindly monk and a thoughtful neuroscientist) strikes one as rather pedestrian: myriad breathing and self-scrutinising exercises."

>66 charl08: Congratulations on getting your paper accepted, Charlotte.

I was doing some research yesterday and came across information on the World Anti-Slavery Conference in London which was held in 1840. It was supposed to be for gentlemen only but 7 female abolitionists attended so much of the first day of the conference was taken up with debate on whether the women would be allowed to participate.

>99 charl08: If you have to accept that someone might challenge your myths about everyone pulling together after WW2 (what about all the people who'd headed off to Australasia?!) you have to start questioning why other people aren't also allowed to leave or move... Maybe!

My maternal granddad was from England. He took his family back there when the depression hit Canada (great timing as they were there for WW2). After the war the family decided to go back to Canada but they were only there for a short while because they couldn't get their money out of England. So it probably wasn't as much everyone pulling together after WW2 as the government's rules hampering movement.

Hi Charlotte - Thanks for posting reviews.

Lillian Boxfish sounds good. Must check my library.

Have a great weekend.

>95 charl08: I made my only visit to Manchester a few years back, and really enjoyed the galleries. Especially the Whitworth (pre it's renovation).

>100 charl08: I loved Lilian Boxfish takes a Walk. I found it very evocative of the different periods in New York that Lilian has lived through.

Thanks for the Guardian book reviews. I was so taken by a book review in my own paper this morning, I actually ordered it from amazon. Not quite sure what to expect, but I hope it will be an enjoyable read. Currently reading Dead Lions - another BB caught from you.

>102 Familyhistorian: There's that too! If only you'd been in the taxi!

>103 BLBera: It's quite a gentle read, Beth, was perfect post-event reading after lots of talking and listening about heavy stuff re jobs and support.

>104 Caroline_McElwee: The Whitworth now is amazing! Just saying if you're considering returning...

>105 SandDune: I have never been but this book made me want to. It also chimed into Flaneuse and another book about artists in New York that I have completely forgotten any useful info about. That's going to bug me.

>106 vancouverdeb: Deborah, what was the book? Intrigued!

Reading Rain Dogs

The small people I volunteer with don't have many books. This is my excuse for buying:



Star in the Jar


There's a Tiger in the Garden


Three little Monkeys

Happy Sunday, Charlotte! Congrats on the conference paper. I also enjoyed Lillian Boxfish. I agree it is light but she created a memorable main character. Rooney is a local author. She actually lives near me, in the western suburbs. She also writes book reviews for the Chicago Tribune. Her husband is an author, I admire too and have met. This is probably much more than you needed to know...smiles.

>109 charl08: They all look fun! Off to check to see if Scout needs them...

>107 charl08: What taxi? I wasn't born yet. The problem was that the British government had put a freeze on taking money out of the country after WW2.

>110 msf59: How great she's a local author Mark. I'm keen to read her other books: any you'd recommend?

>111 BLBera: The lady in the bookshop said they'd been selling really well. I love that the dinosaur has a little girl owner.

>112 Familyhistorian: The taxi that started the discussion about immigration! I posted about the topic because of a conversation with a taxi driver. Sorry for the confusion.

>112 Familyhistorian: Oh yes, the taxi driver stuck in his own social strata. I wonder what he would have made of my accent. LOL.

I found it interesting that the 1840 anti-slavery conference was sidelined for a day about whether women would be able to participate. How too typical of the paternalistic society.

>114 Familyhistorian: I know so little about that period. Hope your research was fruitful.

I've opened The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, felt guilty about all the books I'm half way through and picked up Night Sky with Exit Wounds instead. Which is also a new book. Hmm.

Charlotte, I have just started The Dying Detective, and I am really liking it so far. And please go back to The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock because that one sounds interesting, so I am waiting for you to tell me if I should read it or not.

>115 charl08: The research went well. I thought that the info on how the abolitionist women were treated tied in well with your theme of feminism as it showed how women were shut out of things for so long so that every little bit of a push to be included in what was important in society counted.

>95 charl08: Oh, I love that painting! It's gorgeous.

>116 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie. The poetry in Night Sky with Exit Wounds is pretty heavy stuff, so I'm thinking about something lighter now, so maybe mermaids. It is such a beautiful edition.

>117 Familyhistorian: I appreciate the theme-relevant contribution :-)

>118 The_Hibernator: It is lovely. I gave up on Manchester after realising the usual trains were in the middle of engineering works, but I'm going for something else this week, so will try to see if I can add that too.

>108 charl08: That excerpt from Rain Dogs caught my attention, Charlotte! I'll wait until you finish it and report back before I go looking for it, though.

It was really good Julia, but unusually for me, I'm going to recommend starting with the first one in the series. Stuff happens in this one that makes more sense in the context of the stuff that happened before.
Vague much? Who me?!

It's the end of January, so it must be time for...

>122 charl08: we haven't got to the start of Lent yet, how can there be Easter eggs in the shops? I know, don't tell me, they were there on Boxing day and I'm just an old curmudgeon.

*harumph*

It doesn't help with the *shh* diet when one is short of willpower in the face of food.

>96 charl08: the good responses always come once you have exited the blowhard perimeter! When within the blowhard perimeter, the bad vibes affect ones' swift comebacks.

Hooray for speckled eggs! They always remind me of Robert Louis Stevenson:

Of speckled eggs the birdie sings
And nests among the trees;
The sailor sings of ropes and things
In ships upon the seas.

The children sing in far Japan,
The children sing in Spain;
The organ with the organ man
Is singing in the rain.

>122 charl08: I noticed Cadbury Cream Eggs in the grocery store last week. Stuff for special occasions keeps showing up earlier.

>123 Helenliz: Pass. As a born again heathen I just like the trappings.

>124 LovingLit: I even found a good website today about the history of migration to Britain, that would have been a good rejoinder.

>125 banjo123: Lovely poem, thank you. Although I think ai may have eaten too many speckled eggs.

>126 Familyhistorian: Now those, they can keep. Too sickly sweet for me.

Reading Frogkisser which is lovely and light and frothy: I like the princess discovering social justice, the band of robbers led by (gasp) a woman, and that the magic to change someone back from a frog is contained in pawpaw flavour lipsalve. Or is it watermelon? I forget. Anyway, it's a school night, so I won't be finishing it tonight. Much as I wanna (stamps foot, gnashes teeth, gusty sigh).

>121 charl08: Oh no, it's a series? Well, better to know now so I can backtrack to the beginning. At least that will make Susan happy. :-)

Congratulations on your conference paper acceptance! Very exciting.

Why did you have to point out that there's speckled eggs in the stores already? I hadn't noticed yet and now...I have no will power. ; )

>128 rosalita: Yup, only ever reading in order. Nothing to see here (nervous gulp).

>129 Berly: They never really went away with us: in the summer thwy brought out bags of "mini eggs on holiday" which were all yellow! Along with chocolate buttons, they're my favourite.
I'm both looking forward to and nervous about the paper, hopefully it won't be too nerve wracking.

Finished Frogkisser - lovely book to be reading when I feel like I've spent most of today racing between things whilst worrying about the things I wasn't doing! I think I'll pass this over to my friend for her two young readers, although I think it might be a bit long for them yet. I loved that the princess got her own quest, that knights and robber leaders were female, and that there was a whole theme of justice rather than just returning royal power status quo running through the story. And the humour was fun too: at one point the princess asks a chef if she was ever a witch: yes, she says, but I got sick of the coven committee meetings!!

Thanks to Roni for the recommendation, and to my secret santa for the book!

>125 banjo123: Love the Stevenson poem.

>122 charl08: Yum.

>131 charl08: I just pulled that out off the school library shelves to put in the Valentine's Day display (I admit that I haven't read it yet, but, well, kissing seems to fit...).

>132 BLBera: Me too re the poem, and the chocolate.

>133 scaifea: I thought it was a lot of fun Amber, I'd not come across the author before Roni recommended this one, but I would read more!

Two things - a kickstarter campaign to get a GN about the campaign for the vote - looks really good *looks sadly at bank balance*
ETA: weblink would help
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1965253475/we-shall-fight-until-we-win-pion...

New book! Very excitingly coming out this year! By Lissa Evans, about suffrage (for once, all the exclamation marks feel fully justified)

Old Baggage

Hello, Charlotte. Happy Wednesday! That is exciting about the new Lissa Evans book - you are reminding me that I have two of hers on the shelves thanks to you and Susan, and I need to be getting to them.

I am wondering if you read the other books in the series with The Dying Detective. I am really loving that one and thinking I need to go back and read the other books. Did you?

>134 charl08: this thread's dangerous! I can see my book list expanding by the moment...

>135 Crazymamie: Mamie! Come on! Read Ms Evans (please?!) I have no further info on that Scandi series. Look forward to fondog out more though, if you fancy doing the digging?

Eta What might fondog mean? I'm looking forward to finding out!...

>136 Helenliz: Have you read Lissa Evans? I am a big fan (perhaps you guessed?)

>137 charl08: So am I and I'm pleased to know there is a new book due - I've added it to my wishlist.

>138 CDVicarage: Have to wait until June. Grumpy face.

>137 charl08: Okay - I am putting Ms Evans on the agenda for February, which is an honor because I am walking the cat this year. I will even let you pick - should I read Their Finest Hour and a Half or Crooked Heart first?

And yes, I will do the digging.

>140 Crazymamie: - Those are the two I have on my shelf, too!

>140 Crazymamie: Either is great Mamie, but if you read Their Finest... you can also watch the film...

>141 katiekrug: Can we tempt you to crack one open, Katie?

>134 charl08: OMG a new Lissa Evans!!! I looked it up immediately I saw your post last night, but there was no sign of it in the catalogue, even as "Ordered". But a June publication date would explain it. I will keep looking, and maybe even lobby FLA.

I am "booked" for February, but I will prioritize one for March :)

>143 susanj67: I am so pleased she's done a book linked to the suffragettes too. Can't wait.

>144 katiekrug: We're honoured Katie ;-)

Amazing morning at The People's Museum, Manchester.
Check out my v. amateur picture of a beautiful banner!

http://www.phm.org.uk/

Very cool banner! Sweet Thursday, Charlotte. Their Finest it is.

>139 charl08: I've just realised: it's about Mattie before Noel comes to live her - a prequel to Crooked Heart!

>146 Crazymamie: A fascinating place, I'm really hoping the project works out.

>147 CDVicarage: Intriguing stuff! I am hoping it turns up on netgalley before June.

I finished two books Real tigers the third Jackson Lamb, and The Wedding Date, which was on a diversity list Ellen posted. Both good reads.

Real Tigers
This series (this is book 3) gets better and better: the twists and turns of the duplicitous MI5 and plotting apparatchiks. The black humour continues to flow and the Boris Johnson digs are entertaining.
"Taverner said, “This is not the sort of juggernaut you want to walk in front of, Jackson.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Don’t forget, I have my team to consider.”
“Really? That’ll be a first.”
“They have a natural respect for me.”
“That’s not respect. It’s Stockholm syndrome.”


Wedding Date
This book manages to both be a pretty conventional romance whilst using the term white privilege. Kudos.

Velkom to Inklandt

Beautiful poetry based on the author's memories of her German, Jewish grandmother. From memories of first arriving in London, to dealing with her husband's infidelities, all in a version of English that channels a strong German accent, with beautiful illustrations by the author. And funny, too.

From "London"
I try viz ze Busses, Herr Kondooktor eskink
me...for vot? I don't eckzectly remempber
Fess plees? To him, my Penny I hand ofa-
He notdz with kind smile - Fanks luv!
He sez. Oh! I em his Luff - turns Hentell
on Machine, out kurls a Tikett

Zis is ven I know zat here to settle iss OK. Zis
City will be Home, verr eefen on ze Buss is Luff.

Ohh, book bullet received ! I really enjoyed Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans , so I'l wish list Old Baggage. Currently still reading Dead Lions. I'm trying so hard to motivate myself out into the rain for the dog walk. I'm really sick of the rain and overcast. Day after day....

For some reason I picked up Their Finest, probably the WW2 connection. I didn't realize that Lissa Evans was so popular or had so many books out.

Lissa Evans Who?? I went to check her out and found that in addition to Charlotte, Crazy and Katie, these friends also have her books: Whisper1, EBT1002, BLBera.

Dang it.

>152 vancouverdeb: Oh no Deborah! Hoping for some sunshine for you. We have a cold cold wind, which is annoying, not least because I left my hat on the train yesterday (or in the coffee shop, or the museum. But I definitely had it at the start).

>153 Familyhistorian: She's one of those people who annoyingly not only had a successful first career (doctor) had another (TV/radio producer/ writer) and then was totally greedy and decided to write books for adults and kids. Seems a bit of an overachiever to me!!

>154 Berly: Ha Kim! The weight of LT is against you. Don't even attempt to resist. I like the film version too, although in fairness I have yet to watch anything with Bill Nighy that I didn't swoon over. Although that thing with Rachel Weisz was a bit too age-gappy to be comfortable, now I think about it.

I've left my green soup at home so need to forrage for something before my stomach noisily distracts everyone in the afternoon meeting.

>156 charl08: >:-)
Can't ever have too many books, it's just a quesiton of how many bookcases you need to put them on.

>156 charl08:

>156 charl08: I love it!

>156 charl08: LOL!
Wish we had place to put more bookshelves, but we are completely full ;-)

>156 charl08: Yes!

Hooray for a new Lissa Evans. Onto the list it goes. I wonder when we'll see it?

The Wedding Date and the poetry also hit me. Sigh. I'll get you back one of these days.

>151 charl08: BB for me as well, how funny to read in my accent! I'd better not read those aloud. :D
Happy weekend, Charlotte!

>151 charl08: ouch, bullet.

>156 charl08: ouch.

>157 Helenliz: I've started looking in estare agent's windows, wondering how many shelves I can fit in a wee flat.

>158 jnwelch: It's a cute one, I've not come across this artist before.

>159 rosylibrarian: Me too Marie. Hope the packing and planning is going well (are you taking shelves?).

>160 FAMeulstee: It's a challenge, I have wondered about taking a carpentey class to learn how to put shelves in unusual places...

>161 BLBera: The good thing about the publication date: my library has said they're not buying any new requests until the new financial year!

>162 Deern: It's a really touching read. I loved how it was as much about the granddaughter celebrating her grandmother as about her experiences of being a refugee.

>163 Caroline_McElwee: May your shelves always be plentiful, Caroline!

Guardian reviews

The best political books by women: chosen by Gloria Steinem, Mary Beard, Diane Abbott and more
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/03/the-political-books-by-women-that-...

The Word for Woman Is Wilderness by Abi Andrews reviewed by Sarah Moss
"... the mixture of literary forms is part of Andrews’ response to the obvious question, which Erin is bright enough to confront repeatedly, if not to resolve: if heading west into the wilderness is a patriarchal idea based on the conviction that the human (male) relationship with the natural world is essentially violent and dominant, what is a feminist doing alone in Alaska?"

Walking Wounded by Sheila Llewellyn reviewed by Elizabeth Lowry
"Executed with a commendable lightness of touch, the book’s harrowing clinical scenes pose wider and still pertinent questions both about power and consent in the treatment of mental illness and the connection between the mind and the brain. Leucotomy is the atom bomb of treatments, an operation that promises to solve the problem of suffering by destroying the very landscape it aims to liberate: as Daniel protests, “I just don’t see how you mend an unquiet mind by taking a slice of it away.”"

The Adulterants by Joe Dunthorne reviewed by Toby Litt
"... from its punning title onwards, is brilliantly knowing about its knowingness. It knows the only way we’ll tolerate a narrator as annoying as Ray is to punish him for the very virtues that make him a good narrator – nosiness and eloquence. "

The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson reviewed by James Lasdun
"...he had a combination of obsessions and personal experience that positioned him to tackle what has arguably become the representative tragedy of life today in the US, namely the drama of addiction and rehab. For where else are the culture’s destructive passions, dysfunctional politics and disconcerting faith in miracles present in such concentrated form? It wasn’t the only subject Johnson wrote about, but it lent itself peculiarly well to his gifts..."

Savages: The Wedding by Sabri Louatah
"The central premise is that France is about to elect its first president of Arab (Algerian) origin. Idder Chaouch – nicknamed the “French Obama” by the American press – is meant to heal the old wounds of race and religion in France with a new, liberal and inclusive government. He is charismatic and mischievous, a graduate of the elite Ecole National d’Administration who speaks fluent English; he is also aware that a dangerously large section of the French population wants to kill him. In the run-up to the final vote tension builds as the possibility of a terrorist attack – most probably from an Islamist group – grows ever closer."

>164 charl08: I do a version of that. I'm not planning a move right now, but I'm always checking ads for flats for sale and looking at the floorplans, to see if there is enough wall space for bookshelves.

>166 charl08: These sound great!

>167 PawsforThought: My town is experiencing a bit of housing development, a new estate and lots of conversion to student property. None of which helps me, but I can dream!

>168 BLBera: I've been quite slow today, so have added another couple since your message. Of the women who recommend books, one of them is Jess Phillips MP, whose book is in my pile from the library. They also mention Eleanor Marx, which I have been vaguely meaning to read for Yonks.

Happy Saturday, Charlotte!

>160 FAMeulstee: What about these, Anita?

Thanks Mamie. Wet and cold outside, but I am not planning to shift from under the fleecy blanket, so


(I'm not sure if my phone isn't showing gifs, or if it's broken.)

>171 EllaTim: This picture looks great. This house came with bookshelves opposite the attic conversion's spiral staircase.They don't get dusted very often, never mind read, as bringing them down is a bit of a deathtrap, as you have to reach out over the height of two floors . Although now I'm wondering if a drone would be able to grab a book...

The LRB came this morning.
I love the idea of reading this more than actually reading it, so think I'm going to cancel the subscription.



This letter (extract below) pleased me greatly. I like it when they get cross.

Oh awful thought. Maybe they're not really cross, just using the letters for self promotion... (Degas and his Model in this case.)

>165 charl08: Goodness, no new purchases until the new financial year? Yikes. That's still a way off.

>173 charl08: I know what you mean - I bought the TLS once and never quite managed to get through even that single issue. Heck, this week I'm struggling with the free Waitrose Weekend paper!

>172 charl08: And yes, the gif is working, and it's perfect for this chilly weekend. January is supposed to be over. I mean really.

>173 charl08: I know exactly how you feel about LRB. My brother bought me a subscription for it some years ago and I was so exited and grateful, but I don't think I read more than 2-3 pages tops in each issue. It's just too much for me.

<173 I think that is a common feeling Charlotte, when I had a subscription I read very little.

To be honest I read little of the Guardian Review either because I don't like to know too much about a book before I read it. But at least in its new format I'll keep it and maybe read the full review AFTER I've read the book.

SO happy you enjoyed Frogkisser!, Charlotte!

Thanks for the Guardian reviews, Charlotte! I'm the opposite of most people here on LT it seems. I like to know as much about the book as possible before purchasing it. A library book I'm less anxious about. I don't want spoiler in the review, but quite a few of the books I purchase I research fairly well before making the purchase.

I ordered two new book last night and they are to arrive today. Real Tigers by Mick Herron - thanks for the tip off to the series, as well as a " Canada Reads" contender, The Boat People. which had a very good review in The Globe and Mail in Canada a couple of weeks ago. I hope to find the right book for Black History month as well.

>174 susanj67: I'm hoping they mean none they haven't already planned, as otherwise I might be buying quite a few books! Thanks for the reassurance re the gif. I think it might be a data saver thing on the phone. The joys of tech.

>175 PawsforThought: It seems such a waste not to read it! All those smart people writing such smart things.

>176 Caroline_McElwee: I end up packing my stuff in guardian reviews, as I try to keep them and then get cross with myself for being a hoarder when I move. This then delays unpacking as I find reviews of books I had forgotten I wanted to read.

>177 ronincats: A lovely book, and ine I am hopeful I might persuade a young reader to pick up next.

>178 vancouverdeb: It is nice to have a review when you're spending the money Deborah, although so many books don't even seem to get reviewed these days.

I am wondering why the Mick Herron series hasn't been picked up for tv - wondering if it is the awful Boris Johnson character!

Miss Wonderful I got about half way through the first chapter and realised I had read this before (new cover deceived me). I decided to carry on anyway, as I liked it the first time round. Well written romance, that asks what might have motivated a regency era guy to be a 'dandy', as well as loads of stuff about organising a canal and surviving Waterloo.


The End of Days
This really was a brilliant read, and why I am up way past my bedtime (well, that and the student party opposite).

Like Atkinson, the author asks about surviving or not surviving by having her characters get both options. Unlike Atkinson, her characters are at risk of pogrom, Stalinist purges, the holocaust and the GDR, so a dramatic canvas. The characters, especially the family living in post WW1 Vienna, were so vulnerable I felt I couldn't stop reading. Despite being in translation, never felt distanced or clumsily rendered for English understanding. I really must read more by this amazing author.

'Comrade H' tries to understand the kafkaesque logic that motivates the Stalinist purges:

...Or perhaps that all of them together are dreaming a nightmare from which there will never be an awakening, and in this nightmare Stalin, the good father, creeps into the rooms where his children are sleeping with a knife in his hands.

OH! Amazon just arrived at my door with The Boat People and Real Tigers. I love amazon prime and their quick deliveries!!! As far as the Slough House series being picked up for tv, do you mean Boris Johnson, or Jackson Lamb? That fat, farting, cigarette smoking guy? I'm a bit stuck on River Cartwright myself, but I understand Jackson Lamb to be more central to the series. I do hope they don't kill off River Cartwright.

I've got to get onto Jenny Erpenbeck . Great review!

Hi Deborah: the politician in the books who is known as "PJ" is very similar to Boris. Posh networks, lots of affairs, skeletons in the closet, seen as a bit of a joke, etc.

Great comments, Charlotte. I loved her Go, Went, Gone, so your comments on The End of Days means there's another treat waiting.

>180 charl08: I’ve seen a lot of good things about Jenny Erpenbeck recently.

>183 BLBera: One of those books I just couldn't put down, Beth!

>184 SandDune: I had not come across her work before last year, yet she has had several books translated now.

I put a hold on an e version of Slow Horses. Then I noticed that they had *two* copies, and the other one was available. I was confused. I cancelled the hold, but didn't dare check out the available copy due to the hard copy TBR. But, I thought to myself, I could at least count it for the PopSugar challenge as a book recommended by someone else doing the challenge. Then I thought Wait, is Charlotte in fact doing it? And I'm not sure you are. So if you could join, that would be awesome :-)

And happy Sunday!

Hi Charlotte! Hope you're having a great weekend!

>173 charl08: Yes, I love the idea of reading The Economist more than I actually do reading it. *sigh Which is why I'm not doing magazines right now.

Happy Sunday, Charlotte. Trying to navigate my way through many neglected threads. Not an easy task.

I hope you had a good week and I hope your current reads are treating you fine.

2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge - 5 down!
http://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Reading-Challenge-2018-44138581

1. A book made into a movie you've already seen
2. True crime
3. The next book in a series you started Dead Lions
4. A book involving a heist
5. Nordic noir
6. A novel based on a real person
7. A book set in a country that fascinates you
8. A book with a time of day in the title
9. A book about a villain or antihero
10. A book about death or grief
11. A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym
12. A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist
13. A book that is also a stage play or musical
14. A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you Persepolis
15. A book about feminism
16. A book about mental health
17. A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift Frogkisser
18. A book by two authors
19. A book about or involving a sport
20. A book by a local author -
21. A book with your favorite color in the title
22. A book with alliteration in the title
23. A book about time travel
24. A book with a weather element in the title
25. A book set at sea
26. A book with an animal in the title
27. A book set on a different planet
28. A book with song lyrics in the title
29. A book about or set on Halloween
30. A book with characters who are twins
31. A book mentioned in another book
32. A book from a celebrity book club
33. A childhood classic you've never read
34. A book that's published in 2018 The Wedding Date
35. A past Goodreads Choice Awards winner
36. A book set in the decade you were born
37. A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn't get to
Broad Strokes: 15 women who made art
38. A book with an ugly cover
39. A book that involves a bookstore or library
40. Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenges (you can easily Google these)

>186 susanj67: Susan, I've updated the pop sugar posse, and can confirm that I recommend Dead Lions!

>187 The_Hibernator: Thanks Rachel. I really appreciate everyone chiming in on this, I thought it was just me!

>188 msf59: Mark, I saw your photos from your gorgeous holiday, I think a bit of LT catch up is a very small price to pay ;-)

Ohjoy, it's raining again. On the plus side, as I was refilling the birdfeeder I spotted some bulbs poking their heads out. So if they survive the snails*, there might be some spring flowers in my future.

*Always glass half full, you'll notice!

Oh dear.

*belly laugh*

>191 charl08: I tell my students that exclamation points feel like they are shouting at me!

>171 EllaTim: LOL, Ella, could work for the flat part of the ceiling upstairs ;-)

>180 charl08: Oh yes, completely agree, Charlotte, The End of Days was a great read.

>192 Crazymamie: I don't know what you mean?!!

>193 BLBera: I try and delete them. I'm not shouting...(eta honest...)

>194 FAMeulstee: Should have known you had read her Anita! Do you read her in Dutch or something else?

I always think that I have stacks of time to read on Sundays. Ha! Instead I discovered The Good Doctor on catchup and had to bake cakes for Tuesday. I really haven't got anything read. And I can't even eat the cakes!

>195 charl08: I read it last month in Dutch translation, so I wasn't much ahead of you. I want to read more by her, next one will probably be Go, Went, Gone.

>191 charl08: Like it.

>189 charl08: You're moving along with that challenge list, Charlotte. I'm thinking next year I will only do challenges that don't have months attached to them. I like the idea of completing a list/challenge but not having to read something that has a brown cover (for example) in February.

I know. It's February and I'm already re-thinking my plan for the year. Haha!

Uh oh. I'm big on exclamation points. They just come naturally to me, likely in conversation too. Oh, this feels so flat. Thanks for the information re PJ being Boris Johnson. I had no idea.

>172 charl08: love the gif :) Shaun the Sheep is so funny.

>191 charl08: Too true. I need to take note of that. Sometimes I use the "!" at the end of a sentence for emphasis, but a jokey kind go emphasis- but in reality, it is kind of pointless :)

Two of the 3 Erpenbecks I read were great. Well written, and really touched my soul - so much that I don't want to reread them. Heimsuchung, quite insufficiently translated as Visitation was extreme, it has the whole sadness in its not translateable title.
I have her Gehen Ging Gegangen on my shelf. I fear it might sadden me to the core, that's why I haven't touched it yet. Another ROOT, maybe.

>196 FAMeulstee: Me too Anita. I failed and returned GWG to the library unread, so want to read that too.

>197 Caroline_McElwee: I like it, whilst also thinking that what's wrong with laughing at my own joke? Also, that now I'm going to have to reach for a smiley face more often :-)

>198 EBT1002: I was quite surprised that it went so well last month, considering I'd pretty much forgotten about it. I have not been doing so well with the NF challenge, which I like a lot, but NF has been a bit of a struggle these past few weeks, I have definitely been more in the mood for fiction. Did you see that I read Wedding Date from your new POC books list in 2018? I was impressed by it.

>199 vancouverdeb: Me too Deborah. I realised after I posted that I think the PJ character gets bigger as the series goes on.

>200 LovingLit: I love Shaun! (or Sean, as I seem to have taken to spelling it).
Yes, I think I use it instead of a smiley, to try and say 'please don't take this too seriously'. Not sure if that comes across (*resists urge to type another exclamation point*).

>201 Deern: Hoping to get Visitation out from the library. With 'heim' in it, sounds like it might be 'homesickness' but I guess not!

Doesn't look like I'm going to get much reading done today either - there is icing cake frustration in my future. I'm guessing this will not be acceptable:

>202 charl08: I'm not that great at icing either, but I can usually make it look half-way decent.

Sprinkles, Charlotte, sprinkles. I've always struggled with icing.

Oh, hang it! I'm bringing back my exclamation points! A while back I made my son a Birthday Brownie and somehow mixed up the recipe. I could not figure out why the brownie did not fit the full pan, and the icing turned out really thick. Crazy thing and it would only spread 3/4 of the way across the brownie. I was at my wits end , but I thought, it's the thought that counts. It turned out that somehow I had misread the recipe ( was in a magazine ) . I served it to my son , husband and his then girlfriend (now wife ) to peals of laughter. Fortunately I have a fairly strong hide , plus I was convinced that the recipe must have had some flaws. Anyway, upon close examination of the recipe by the other, somehow I mis - read the recipe. That just made it all the funnier , but the brownie and the icing tasted yummy. Then there was the time when I was in a big hurry and accidentally doubled the butter in the shortbread I was baking. I had no idea and was so puzzled when the shortbread spread like crazy and started dripping butter over the sides of the pan onto the bottom of the stove. And then my error clicked with me. What mess, and what a waste. Into the garbage and much gnashing of teeth by me. LOL! In the past. Best wish with icing your cake, but don't be too hard on yourself. The bakery is my friend.

>203 thornton37814: At this point half decent would be something I would be proud of...

>204 BLBera: I knew I'd forgotten something vital.

>205 vancouverdeb: The revolution starts here Deborah.
Um "!!"
One of the refugees told me he had a very important letter so I said come round, thinking he wanted me to type something.

Anyway, turns out he wanted to revisit an exam paper, which could have waited. Argh. So the cake situation is no better.
Next time remind me to serve brownies.

>205 vancouverdeb: reminds me of the batch of fairy cakes my mother made. Without sugar. She used to make a batch of about 90 at a time. Couldn't eat these, even covered in custards, they were like little fairy cake bullets!

Chocolate cornflake cakes are my speciality bake. Not that they involve baking, of course.

>207 Helenliz: Well, at least I threw out the double butter shortbread cookies and cursed myself for waste and mess in the oven. In my defense. I had doubled the shortbread recipe and I've never enjoyed baking or cooking . I have a friend who loves to bake and says she finds it relaxing . I look upon it as a chore - especially the clean up. Sugarless fairy cakes. Yikes!

>202 charl08: I find this very original, people who don't like icing (like me) would happily take a big slice from the right half.

"Heimsuchung" is a negative word, there's also a verb "heimsuchen". Something gets you where you feel safest, i.e. in your home which can be a house or some other form of maybe inner safety. Then it really is the story of a house, over a century inhabited by very different families of whose lives we just get one or two episodes. The house again is "at home" in an eternal landscape for which the existence of the house is also just a short episode. It's clever wordplay. Hm, now I almost want to reread it.

The stories here made me laugh! Once I made cinnamon buttermilk muffins, and they turned out so beautifully - like works of art. Unfortunately, I had managed to put the baking power into the recipe twice, so they tasted truly terrible. It was very sad. I had to throw the whole lot of them into the trash. A bit later as the children were coming in from playing outside, I heard a loud gasp coming from the area where the trash bin was in the garage. "Don't eat them," I yelled, "they're ruined." Daniel's little head popped around the doorway, and he asked, "Are you certain?" His voice was so sad that it made me laugh. Luckily, I already had more in the oven.

That cake looks fine to me, Charlotte. It's all about the attitude - you have to own the icing. However it turns out, you serve it with a look of smug satisfaction on your face, letting people know, yes, I meant for it to look that way. It's the NEWEST thing.

I am going to come back and reply properly to the cake stories, but needed to add this new list of events.
(collapses at the thought of so much going on that I want to go to)
https://nvite.com/community/celebratingvotesforwomen

>211 charl08: and the futurelearn course stared yesterday and I've not had some much as a chance to look at this week's work.

>211 charl08: I forgot. Must do better.
Also this:

https://www.processions.co.uk/ (make a banner! Wear purple! March!) (forget good intentions about exclamation points!)

>207 Helenliz: Ninety fairy cakes? I like the sound of that (when they worked). Why didn't I think of crispy cakes?

>208 vancouverdeb: Oh dear. Thank goodness for bakeries!

>209 Deern: Why didn't I study languages? This is fascinating Nathalie.

>210 Crazymamie: That's such a sweet story Mamie. Pun unintentional. Honest!

Well, we launched the year of celebrations for women voting in work today. Had a fantastic turn out, and got to talk to lots of people about history, which was great.
This was the games stall before everyone arrived.


I also bought Harriet Harman's autobio and The Things I Would Tell You.

>202 charl08: I did see that you read Wedding Date, and I'm glad to hear it landed well. I need to make a trip to the bookstore to see if I can pick up some of those that were to be published in January.

>215 charl08: Cool!

Ooh, bulbs poking their little heads out! Nice! Always a good sign.

A little birdy told me that you are a fan of Helen Oyeyemi. I have 2 stories left in What is Not Yours. My first go around with her. Not always a smooth read but it has been growing on me, as it goes along. No question, she is a heck of smart writer.

What are your favorites of hers?

Charlotte, last weekend I read a review of The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore by Kim Fu, one of the February books from the 46 Books by WOC list. It sounded interesting but the review really made me want to read her first novel, For Today I Am a Boy, which received the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction. Have you read or heard of it?

>215 charl08: Nice! Good work, Charlotte.

>155 charl08: Lissa Evans' resume is a bit excessive or maybe she couldn't make up her mind? >215 charl08: Impressive looking games stall. It is good to hear that there was a great turn out.

We are starting to see the bulbs coming up here and there are buds on the trees. I also saw some early daffodils last week. It is good to know spring is on the way and our rain might finally stop for a few days!

>218 EBT1002: Ellen, I've read For Today I am Boy and really enjoyed it. I can't remember the details, but I gave it 4.5 stars. I'm pretty certain that Kim Fu is a Canadian author and it was up for some prizes. I've got to support those Canadian authors :-)

Hi, Charlotte. Just catching up!

Love all the baking stories. I remember one time when I was in high school and baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies; we didn't have any vanilla extract left. The only thing I could find was peppermint extract, and I thought, well...chocolate and mint taste really good together. The chocolate chip mint cookies were...interesting...to say the least! We did eat them, but I never replicated that experiment again.

>216 EBT1002: I think it bodes well for the rest of the list you posted Ellen - look forward to seeing what you read from it. Although perhaps I shouldn't say that given the state of my wishlist already.

>217 msf59: I've got bulb envy though Mark - snowdrops out at work, and daffs about to open on my walk to work. Although this weekend is predicted to be very cold (well, winter really) so not so good for flowers already on their way. Helen Oyeyemi's work is always fascinating, although I don't find it an easy or comfortable read. Her Boy, Snow, Bird was one of the most recent ones I read, but I think my favourite, although I also liked Mr Fox and have read a couple of her stories in other collections as well as What is not yours....

>218 EBT1002: I think Deborah has answered this one (thanks Deborah!). Just adding two more to the wishlist!

>219 BLBera: Thanks! It was a fun session. Some really great speakers including a local young(ish) politician who talked about not questioning that you are 'good enough', taking opportunities and not being afraid to be the different voice in the room. Powerful stuff.

>220 Familyhistorian: Thanks! One of the things that meant the most to me was one of the other volunteers came up and acknowledged the work that had gone into it. Since she had been involved from the start that meant a lot. Although I always love talking about history, so it was a great day at work altogether!

>221 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. Adding those to the wishlist! Good to see the Canada love.

>222 rretzler: Yeah, my schooldays cooking was a bit hit and miss too. Two lovely colleagues were running the cake store and swear blind that my victoria sponge (with fresh strawberries: not quite as good as sprinkles, but the same idea) and banana cake sold very quickly :-)

Picked up another Sarah Hall novel, How to Paint a Dead Man which for some reason I put down at 50 pages in. Really good. Why did I put it down?

The title alone makes me want to take a look at it.

She's very good Beth.

I've picked up two books courtesy of our inhouse short story competition. Not sure if I'm allowed to say what they are though, must check. But free books! (temporarily, only, which is good for the overflowing shelves).
https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2018/01/edge-hill-short-story-prize-2018-now-ope...

Also reviews of two of the new books about the suffrage campaign.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/04/hearts-and-minds-jane-robinson-ris...

Sure noone recognises this. Worst example I always quote was the questioner who asked Adichie to solve the problems of Nigeria (and then Africa) in a few pithy soundbites after sharing with us his own extensive er, knowledge.

>215 charl08: I have both of those Charlotte. A good year to be reading them, I'll nudge them up.

Glad your event was well attended. I bought a 'Votes for Women' badge at the Portrait Gallery this week. I didn't have time to see the exhibition, but will be back there soon (I went to see the Cezanne portraits).

Sounds good. I just checked out the NPG shop: tempting stuff.

Tempting stuff: further edition...


https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/aim-high/

>225 charl08: Yup. That's every academic conference I've ever attended. If there actually *is* a question, it's almost always, "Can you bend your research and talk about it in a way that's relevant to what I'm working on?" Yeesh.

I just watched an interview with Margot Lee Shetterly, author of Hidden Figures, in which the interviewer opened it up to the audience for questions, and with a laugh said, "And please make sure they really are questions." In this instance, to their credit, they really were questions, and good ones.

>229 scaifea: My favourite academic Q&A ever was one where my friend was giving a paper. The illustrious chair took a question (which basically asked my friend to define two or three major pomo theories that were really minor in what she had presented) and just said 'no, I don't think so' and moved on to another questioner. I nearly stood up and applauded.

>230 jnwelch: Yeah, humour is the way to go I think Joe. Well, that and ruthless management of microphone access.

Readers' Liberation
The Literary Agenda
Jonathan Rose
The Literary Agenda
Part of the new Literary Agenda series from Oxford University Press
Addresses some of the biggest questions of the internet and digital age: What should we be reading? Can we trust what we read in the mass media? Can we use the Internet to find out the truth?
Surveys the history of independent sceptical reading and explores censorship, surveillance, 'fake news', and mass manipulation through the media
Distills a large body of scholarship on reading
Written in accessible, engaging, and often humorous style

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/readers-liberation-9780198723554

(Edited to add: book put here because I want to remember that I was tempted by it in the TLS. Will try to resist until April when the library will let me ask for new books again!)

>202 charl08: I wouldn't sneeze at a cake like that! mmmm, icing :)

>213 charl08: (make a banner! Wear purple! March!) (forget good intentions about exclamation points!)
LOL (*resists temptation but figures point has been made with caps*)

>221 vancouverdeb: Kim Fu is indeed a Canadian author and I have put For Today I Am a Boy on hold at the library.

Adding Sarah Hall to my authors list and putting How to Paint a Dead Man on my wish list. I agree with Beth; the title is wonderful.

>233 LovingLit: I'm actually feeling a bit caked out, after my brother visited on his way down south, bringing a cake he'd been given, and we ate one in the office that I'd made that looked rough but tasted nice (poppy seed and lemon).

>234 EBT1002: Chalk that one up to Deborah! >235 EBT1002: Great. I've got to get back to this tonight. This week has been quite a different one for me with the event in >215 charl08:, that I've not been so good at picking up the books.

Having said that, I did start reading Jen Campbell's new short fiction collection last night, as well as a netgalley ARC The Woman at One Thousand Degrees set at the time of the Icelandic crash. For some reason I was thinking this was crime, but the first 5% seems to be comic fiction!

>231 charl08: Hahahaha!! YES!!

Charlotte, you run a dangerous thread. The Woman at One Thousand Degrees sounds fascinating . Let me know what you think of it. Perhaps yet another book bullet from you.

>237 scaifea: I don't think I'd have the chutzpah though.

>238 vancouverdeb: I always forget you have that brilliant link to Iceland Deborah. It was originally published in 2011 but came out in English last month. (So not so much an "Advanced" review copy!)

Three books have arrived at the library:
The book of forgotten authors

Frankenstein in Baghdad

Claire of the sea light (Katie's fault)

>239 charl08: I wouldn't have when I was still delivering papers at conferences, but I think I would now.

>240 charl08: - "Katie's fault". Ahem. I merely mentioned an author and you immediately went and got a book. My fault, indeed.

Happy Friday, Charlotte!

>232 charl08: Looks good. I'll watch for comments.

>236 charl08: Look good. Off to check my library... Love the cover of the Campbell.

Happy Friday, Charlotte.

>241 scaifea: Kudos!

>242 katiekrug: What can I say, you can't overestimate your influence!

>243 BLBera: It's a beautiful looking book.

From The Woman at 1000 Degrees For centuries on end, very little was said in Iceland. Because people so rarely met. And when they did meet , they systematically avoided conversation. In our living quarters, people listened to readings, in churches to sermons, at big birthdays to whole speeches; and when the population started to grow, in the twentieth century, we developed the perfect way to preserve our silence : whist. Icelandic was much more a written language than a spoken one. It wasn’t until we started to learn other languages that we realised we could use language for other things than poetry, writing and reading.

Like Katie, sounds like, I really enjoyed Claire of the Sea Light. That was my first Danticat.

>245 charl08: That sound interesting, Charlotte . I recall the pride my grandparents had in the fact that Icelanders were a " literate" people. Of course, even my grandparents were born in Canada, though they could speak Icelandic and my both of my grandma's parents immigrated to Canada. I less certain about my grandpa's family. I think his mom was born here in Canada, but his dad may have immigrated from Iceland as young person.

I only know one Icelandic saying that I can say in Icelandic . " Go home and kiss your cow". According to my grandparents, when your guests had overstayed their welcome , you just told them to go home and kiss your cow. " They would tease me and my sister when we stayed there over the holidays to go home and kiss a cow. I won't attempt to recreate that saying in Icelandic :-) The other thing I grew up with is that Icelandic folks don't use honourifics. So I called my parents mom and dad , and my grandparents Grandma and Grandpa, but beyond that I was taught to address aunts and uncle and other adults by their first names. But of course I was also taught to call those that wished to be Mr and Mrs or aunt and uncle etc to that outside the our family. We did play a lot of card games, and often if we beat my grandparents at cards, my grandpa would tell us to go home and kiss a cow. Another frequent Icelandic saying that my grandpa used was " slap me in the belly with a frozen fish." I can't remember what exactly the meaning of that was. I'll ask my mom. I think it was similar to saying -" that's not likely. '

>246 jnwelch: Thanks Joe! Danticatt is completely new to me.

>247 vancouverdeb: I love those sayings Deborah. My favourite South African one which was used in antiapartheid posters:

Guardian Reviews Non-fiction

Rise up women Reviewed by Caroline Moorehead

"Though this 10-year dramatic chronicle starts with 45-year-old Fabian and social reformer Emmeline Pankhurst, and her three daughters, Christabel, Sylvia and Adela, who founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in October 1903, Atkinson rightly dedicates much of her book to the many hundreds of less celebrated figures whose fight was no less dogged. "

Brave by Rose McGowan reviewed by Hadley Freeman
" This reads like a book written by a woman driven to near derangement by decades of abuse and gaslighting. At times I wished McGowan could filter her anger, highlighting the real abuses as opposed to folding them in among the generalised sexist garbage. But if she had been able do that she probably wouldn’t have written this book..."

Milkshakes and Morphine by Genevieve Fox reviewed by Sarah Crown
" it’s not until the moment when she leaves the present day and plunges into her personal history that the book breaks new ground. Fox, it transpires, isn’t the first member of her family to be diagnosed with cancer: in the 1970s, her mother died from the disease. Her illness, its terminal nature, even the form it took (“breast cancer, or liver cancer. I’ve never been sure which”) – all were kept from her children. Perhaps it was felt they had had enough to cope with: their mother’s death came hot on the heels of their father’s, three years earlier .... for many years, Fox, too, upheld the conspiracy of silence, fashioning for herself a rich, full life that required her to focus entirely on the present. But cancer, it turns out, is her madeleine."

The Secret Twenties by Timothy Phillips reviewed by Paul Laity
" While spies failed over years to identify the Comintern agent Jacob Kirchenstein, despite his rather conspicuous alias “Johnnie Walker”, they made much of the activities of Clare Sheridan, a cousin of Winston Churchill. Sheridan, a sculptor and socialite with advanced views on free love, had an affair with Soviet negotiator Lev Kamenev and paid a visit to the USSR, but while there was never a shred of evidence that she endangered national security she long remained one of the fledgling MI5’s most important suspects. Given her addiction to the limelight, Phillips reflects, “the idea that Sheridan could have functioned … as a secret agent is laughable”. There was “mania in the air”."

Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing the World by Snigdha Poonam reviewed by
Jason Burke
"... Poonam is clear-eyed on the challenges the youth of the Indian population present. At the moment, she writes, less than 17% of India’s graduates are immediately employable. Only 2.3% of the Indian workforce has undergone formal skills training (compared with 80% in Japan and 96% in South Korea) and India will therefore need to educate about 100 million young people over the next 10 years, a task never before undertaken in history. At least 1,000 universities will need to be built over this period and nearly 50,000 colleges. Around 117 million people need to be absorbed into new and more productive jobs. The growing gap between jobs and jobseekers may lead to what the International Labour Organisation calls a “scarred generation”."

>247 vancouverdeb: slap me in the belly with a frozen fish One can get a feel for what this means by imagining the impact;-)

>248 charl08: I love this one.

>249 charl08: Ouch those figures from India!

>223 charl08: "Helen Oyeyemi's work is always fascinating, although I don't find it an easy or comfortable read." Based on just reading What is Not Yours, I have to completely agree but she is such a smart and deep writer, I am drawn to read more of her work. I will have to try Boy, Snow, Bird.

Happy Saturday, Charlotte. Hope you had a good week.

ETA- Have you read The Power yet? I just started it but I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the reviews, Charlotte; Rise up Women and Dreamers sound interesting.

Yikes! My phone really doesn't like the length of this thread.

>250 EllaTim: The figures are pretty gobsmacking.

>251 msf59: I hope you do find Oyeyemi's other books, Mark! I thought The Power was brilliant.

>252 BLBera: They do!

New thread!