SusanJ's 75 Books Challenge - Thread 8

Hello, and welcome to my eighth thread for 2018.

I'm Susan, a Kiwi living in London for the past 23 years. During the working week I'm a lawyer so I love nerdy legal stuff, which crops up in more books than you might expect.

Over the past few years I've started to read a lot more non-fiction, so my reading is now more balanced between F and NF than it typically has been. I think I spend more *time* reading NF than F, but NF books tend to be longer and more complicated than a quick novel.

While I have been reading mostly from the library, I do have a fair few books that I've bought (mostly for the Kindle) and I need to keep my eye on those so that I actually read them instead of just accumulating them. This year I want to focus on reading my own things (famous last words).

Here are my tickers. I'm aiming for 150 books in 2018 as I want to read some NF chunksters and I also want to read more magazines and internetty things. I can feel a bit pressured by a stack of library books, so I'm going to take it easy (and yes, I can hear that laughing from the cheap seats).

Books read during 2018

January

1. The Women's Room by Marilyn French
2. Snow Blind by Ragnar Jonasson
3. Orientalism by Edward Said
4. Roseanna by Maj Sjowall
5. Testosterone Rex by Cordelia Fine
6. Radical Technologies by Adam Greenfield
7. Long Road From Jarrow by Stuart Maconie
8. Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
9. The Spy Who Couldn't Spell by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee

February

10. Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
11. The Confession by Jo Spain
12. Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body by Jo Marchant
13. In Search of Mary Shelley by Fiona Sampson
14. Pandemic 1918 by Catharine Arnold
15. Artemis by Andy Weir
16. This is How it Ends by Eva Dolan
17. With Our Blessing by Jo Spain
18. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil de Grasse Tyson
19. Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street by Sheelah Kolhatkar
20. The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
21. The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taube
22. The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers
23. The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg
24. The Midnight Line by Lee Child
25. The Twelve-Mile Straight by Eleanor Henderson

March

26. Close to Home by Cara Hunter
27. Young and Damned and Fair by Gareth Russell
28. Exposure by Helen Dunmore
29. Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor
30. Hearts and Minds: The Untold Story of the Great Pilgrimage and How Women Won the Vote by Jane Robinson
31. Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky by Patrick Hamilton
32. The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths
33. The Power by Naomi Alderman
34. Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton
35. The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times by Xan Brooks
36. Dark Blood by Stuart MacRae
37. The Almighty Dollar by Darshini David

April

38. Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance
39. Man of Iron: Thomas Telford and the Building of Britain by Julian Glover
40. Common Ground by J Anthony Lukas
41. Flat Broke With Two Goats by Jennifer McGaha
42. The Last of the Greenwoods by Clare Morrall
43. Paradise in Chains by Diana Preston
44. Exceeding My Brief: Memoirs of a Disobedient Civil Servant by Barbara Hosking
45. Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
46. World Without Mind by Franklin Foer
47. The Deep Blue Goodbye by John D. MacDonald
48. Trouble in Paradise by Kathy Marks
49. A Problem from Hell by Samantha Power
50. The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
51. Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
52. The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

May

53. The Ministry of Nostalgia by Owen Hatherley
54. The Circle by Dave Eggers
55. The Net Delusion by Evegeny Morozov
56. Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham
57. The BBC: The Myth of a Public Service by Tom Mills
58. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
59. Wired for War by P W Singer
60. Rules of Prey by John Sandford
61. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
62. The Disappeared by C J Box
63. The Bone Keeper by Luca Veste
64. The Mesmerist by Wendy Moore

June

65. The Vaccine Race by Meredith Wadman
66. Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters
67. The Future of Humanity by Michio Kaku
68. Arms of Nemesis by Steven Saylor
69. Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik
70. Secret Pigeon Service by Gordon Corera
71. Bookworm by Lucy Mangan
72. MI5 and Me by Charlotte Bingham
73. Slow Horses by Mick Herron
74. Chasing the Harvest by Gabriel Thompson
75. To Be a Machine by Mark O'Connell
76. The Master Algorithm by Pedro Domingos
77. Lonely Hearts by John Harvey
78. Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump by David Neiwart
79. Charlotte's Web by E B White
80. 97 Orchard by Jane Ziegelman

July

81. The Leavers by Lisa Ko
82. The Romanovs by Simon Sebag-Montefiore
83. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
84. Proof by Dick Francis
85. If Only They Didn't Speak English: Notes from Trump's America by Jon Sopel
86. The Legend of de Marco by Abby Green
87. The Call of the Desert by Abby Green
88. Murder at the Grand Raj Palace by Vaseem Khan
89. Old Baggage by Lissa Evans
90. Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark
91. The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman
92. Damaged Goods by Oliver Shah
93. The Other Woman by Daniel Silva
94. Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee
95. A Shot in the Dark by Lynne Truss
96. The Murder Wall by Mari Hannah
97. Joining the Dots by Juliet Gardiner

August

98. Sleepless in Manhattan by Sarah Morgan
99. Sunset in Central Park by Sarah Morgan
100. Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan
101. Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd
102. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
103. The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil
104. Extreme Cities by Ashley Dawson
105. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
106. Clock Dance by Celeste Ng
107. Settled Blood by Mari Hannah
108. Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
109. Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

A couple of years ago I started a new NF challenge, which is to read the non-fiction winners of the Pulitzer prize. I stole this idea from Reba, who was doing a fiction challenge (and has now finished it. Hi Reba!) This is a long-term project, rather than something to be completed in a year or two. If I can't find the relevant non-fiction winner easily in the UK, I propose to substitute the winner of the history category.

Last year I didn't make great progess, so I'd like to read at least five this year.

Here's the full list:



2018 Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman
2017 Evicted by Matthew Desmond
2016 Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick
2015 The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
2014 Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin
2013 Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King
2012 The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
2011 The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
2010 The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman



2009 Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A Blackmon
2008 The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 by Saul Friedländer
2007 The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
2006 Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins
2005 Ghost Wars by Steve Coll
2004 Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum
2003 A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power
2002 Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution by Diane McWhorter
2001 Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P Bix
2000 Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower



1999 Annals of the Former World by John McPhee
1998 Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
1997 Ashes To Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, The Public Health, And The Unabashed Triumph Of Philip Morris by Richard Kluger
1996 The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism by Tina Rosenberg
1995 The Beak Of The Finch: A Story Of Evolution In Our Time by Jonathan Weiner
1994 Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days Of The Soviet Empire by David Remnick
1993 Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills
1992 The Prize: The Epic Quest For Oil, Money & Power by Daniel Yergin
1991 The Ants by Bert Holldobler and Edward O Wilson
1990 And Their Children After Them by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson



1989 A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan
1988 The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
1987 Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land by David K Shipler
1986 Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families by J Anthony Lukas
1986 Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White by Joseph Lelyveld
1985 The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two by Studs Terkel
1984 The Social Transformation Of American Medicine by Paul Starr
1983 Is There No Place On Earth For Me? by Susan Sheehan
1982 The Soul of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder
1981 Fin-De Siecle Vienna: Politics And Culture by Carl E Schorske
1980 Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R Hofstadter



1979 On Human Nature by Edward O Wilson
1978 The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan
1977 Beautiful Swimmers by William W Warner
1976 Why Survive? Being Old In America by Robert N Butler
1975 Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
1974 The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
1973 Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam by Frances Fitzgerald
1973 Children of Crisis, Vols. II and III by Robert Coles
1972 Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945 by Barbara W Tuchman
1971 The Rising Sun by John Toland
1970 Gandhi's Truth by Erik H Erikson



1969 The Armies Of The Night by Norman Mailer
1969 So Human An Animal by Rene Jules Dubos
1968 Rousseau And Revolution, The Tenth And Concluding Volume Of The Story Of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant
1967 The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture by David Brion Davis
1966 Wandering Through Winter by Edwin Way Teale
1965 O Strange New World by Howard Mumford Jones
1964 Anti-Intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter
1963 The Guns of August by Barbara W Tuchman
1962 The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore H White

Last year I did the Better World Books reading challenge, which was mostly fun. This year I'm doing the Popsugar challenge https://www.popsugar.co.uk/smart-living/Reading-Challenge-2018-44211686 and I've started sketching out my choices for each category. As I read them, I'll add the covers here.





15. A book about feminism - The Women's Room - COMPLETED
5. Nordic noir – Snow Blind - COMPLETED
32. A book from a celebrity book club - Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan - COMPLETED
2. True crime - The Spy Who Couldn't Spell by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee - COMPLETED
30. A book with characters who are twins - Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi - COMPLETED
34. A book that's published in 2018 - The Confession by Jo Spain - COMPLETED
16. A book about mental health - Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body by Jo Marchant - COMPLETED
8. A microhistory – Pandemic 1918 by Catharine Arnold - COMPLETED
27. A book set on a different planet – Artemis by Andy Weir - COMPLETED
35. A past Goodreads Choice Award winner - Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil de Grasse Tyson - COMPLETED
14. A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you – Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street by Sheelah Kolhatkar - COMPLETED
20. A book by a local author - The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar - COMPLETED
9. A book about a problem facing society today - The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taube - COMPLETED
22. A book with alliteration in the title - The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers - COMPLETED
38. A book with an ugly cover – The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg - COMPLETED
8. A book with a time of day in the title – The Midnight Line by Lee Child - COMPLETED
3. The next book in a series you started - The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths - COMPLETED
40. Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenges – A book that's been on Mount TBR too long – Common Ground - COMPLETED
26. A book with an animal in the title – Flat Broke With Two Goats by Jennifer McGaha - COMPLETED
9. A book about a villain or antihero – Paradise in Chains: The Bounty Mutiny and the Founding of Australia by Diana Preston - COMPLETED
12. A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist - Exceeding My Brief: Memoirs of a Disobedient Civil Servant by Barbara Hosking - COMPLETED
18. A book by two authors – Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - COMPLETED
39. A book that involves a bookstore or library - World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech by Franklin Foer - COMPLETED
36. A book set in the decade you were born – The Deep Blue Goodbye by John D. MacDonald - COMPLETED
28. A book with song lyrics in the title – Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo - COMPLETED
4. A book involving a heist - The Black Echo by Michael Connelly - COMPLETED
1. A book made into a movie you've already seen - The Circle by Dave Eggers - COMPLETED
6. A novel based on a real person – Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney - COMPLETED
11. A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym - Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters - COMPLETED
10. A book recommended by someone else taking the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge - Slow Horses by Mick Herron - COMPLETED
31. A book mentioned in another book – Orientalism by Edward Said - COMPLETED
10. A book about death or grief – To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death by Mark O'Connell - COMPLETED
6. An allegory – Charlotte's Web by E B White - COMPLETED
5. A book with a fruit or vegetable in the title - 97 Orchard by Jane Ziegelman - COMPLETED
37. A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn't get to – The Romanovs by Simon Sebag-Montefiore - COMPLETED
7. A book set in a country that fascinates you - If Only They Didn't Speak English: Notes from Trump's America by Jon Sopel - COMPLETED
13. A book that is also a stage play or musical – Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood - COMPLETED

Still to read

17. A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift – The Buccaneers
19. A book about or involving a sport – Berlin 1936
21. A book with your favorite color in the title – The Colour Purple
23. A book about time travel – 22/11/63
24. A book with a weather element in the title – The Snow Child
25. A book set at sea
29. A book about or set on Halloween -
33. A childhood classic you've never read – Anne of Green Gables

Advanced Reading Challenge

1. A bestseller from the year you graduated high school –Texas (James Michener)
2. A cyberpunk book - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
3. A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place
4. A book tied to your ancestry
7. A book by an author with the same first or last name as you - Is There No Place on Earth For Me? by Susan Sheehan

I have a few series on the go, so in this post I'm going to list them so that I don't forget where I'm up to. Reading in order is important to me :-)

Series I have started and still have squillions to go *happy sigh*

I'm going to list these in date order, because why not.

Steven Saylor's Gordianus the Finder (about 100 BC)

Roman Blood
Arms of Nemesis

Ruth Downie's Medicus (Britannia, 108)

Medicus
Terra Incognita

Priscilla Royal's Eleanor, Prioress of Tyndal (East Anglia, 11th century)

Wine of Violence

Ellis Peters' Cadfael (Shropshire, 1135 - 1145)

A Morbid Taste for Bones
One Corpse Too Many
Monk's Hood

Bernard Knight's Crowner John (Devon, 1190s)

The Sanctuary Seeker
The Poisoned Chalice

Michael Pearce's Mamur Zapt (Egypt, 1908)

The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet

John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee

The Deep Blue Goodbye

Mal Sjowall's Martin Beck

Roseanna

John Sandford's Lucas Davenport

Rules of Prey

Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch

The Black Echo

John Harvey's Charlie Resnick

Lonely Hearts

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Agent Pendergast

Relic
Reliquary

Harry Bingham's Fiona Griffiths

Talking to the Dead
Love Story, With Murders

Mari Hannah's Kate Daniels

The Murder Wall

Stuart MacBride's Logan McRae

Cold Granite
Dying Light
Broken Skin
Flesh House
Blind Eye
Dark Blood

Series I'm caught up with and waiting for the next one *tapping foot*

Lee Child's Jack Reacher, obvs
C J Box's Joe Pickett
Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon
Elly Griffiths' Dr Ruth Galloway
Vaseem Khan's Baby Ganesh Agency
Abir Mukherjee's Sam Wyndham
Lynne Truss's Constable Twitten

Not really a series but I need to keep track of my Dick Francis finishes (Hi Julia!)

Proof

Ooh I like all your popsugar covers, might steal that.

And >6 susanj67: Definitely!

Happy new one, Susan! I also love the popsugar covers! I can't decided what to read for "A bestseller from the year you graduated high school". None of them really appeal - I see you are going with Texas.

Happy new thread, Susan.
>6 susanj67: yup, never knowingly abandoned without a book.

Happy new thread, Susan! You certainly do keep moving along.

Happy new thread, Susan!

I like seeing that Dick Francis reference in >5 susanj67:, Susan. :-)

Happy new thread, Susan.

Just dropping in to tag the new thread.

>6 susanj67: Yup, yup, yup. Ditto for my son tbh.

Happy new one, Susan. I agree with everyone on you popsugar challenge.

>7 charl08: Charlotte, I stole the general idea from Megan, so go for it!

>8 Crazymamie: Mamie, I only picked Texas as the best of an uninspiring lot. And your post reminded me that I have an empty reserve slot, so I've reserved it. I could choose between a 1985 paperback (shudder - oh the filth) and a 1995 hardback (smaller shudder) so I chose the hardback. Heaven knows what state it will be in. But at least I can ask Katie lots and lots of questions about Texas when I'm reading it, as I know she misses living there a lot. Hi Katie!

>9 Helenliz: Helen, I've always been the same :-) And now I only need my phone. I still can't quite get over that.

>10 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks Reba! Mostly I move along because I always start a new thread at 200 posts :-)

>11 thornton37814: Thanks Lori!

>12 rosalita: Julia, I like to keep a list of who I have to blame for all my booky obsessions :-)

>13 BLBera: Thanks Beth!

>14 BekkaJo: Bekka, it's so easy, isn't it, with a reader?

>15 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara! I like seeing the cover collages on other threads, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I just checked my reserves list, thinking nothing was in transit,and finally The Girl Who Smiled Beads is on its way. I reserved this ages ago, and I'm tempted to blame credit Charlotte or Beth. Or it might have been on a list that someone posted...

>16 susanj67: Not guilty (but I hope you enjoy it). And thanks for the permission too. I've just realised I have Friday off, so I'm more than half way through the week.

>16 susanj67: - Snork!

Happy new one, Susan!

Happy new thread!

Hi Susan - happy new thread! Wow, you're amazing - I can't keep up with either your threads or your reading! Glad you enjoyed Exposure!

>6 susanj67: Yes!! Never go anywhere without a book!

Happy New Thread, Susan! And sorry to hear about the demise of the digital radio--hope you can find something else that works out.

>17 charl08: Charlotte, I'm envious of your Friday off! I look forward to seeing all the cover collages you make :-)

>18 katiekrug: Thanks Katie!

>19 drneutron: Thanks Jim!

>20 AMQS: Hi Anne! I enjoyed Exposure a lot, and now I want to look for more.

>21 ronincats: Thanks Roni - I am sad about the radio too. I will keep looking to see what else is out there but it's looking like another stereo at this stage.

Oof, only Thursday. And yesterday I was sure it was coming up to 5pm, and then realised it was only 4pm. I shared this angst with Former Office Roomie at the coffee machine. "Yeah," he said. "That happens to me too, but usually with the other 4 o clock and 5 o clock." I resolved to stop whining. They have just moved house, so the combination of toddlers, new surroundings and the very short hours of darkness seem to be keeping (or waking) everyone up. But his little boy likes his new bedroom, and is showing it off to anyone visiting the house, including the people from Virgin Media. They have also acquired an office in the garden (very fancy). FOR said it was advertised as a "music studio", which he thought was a bit over the top, but it turns out to be totally soundproof, as he discovered when he was working in it over the weekend and a couple of little faces appeared at the window without warning, scaring the living daylights out of him.

One of the Young People has just explained the snipping tool to me, and I am *so excited*. It's the best tech tip since Control-Y. I sense I'll be sending a lot of emails with pictures in them from now on.

The snipping tool is magic — so much easier than the old "Print Screen" nonsense.

Yes, I never did get to grips with print screen. I couldn't remember what to press to do it. But snipping is my new-favourite-thing, and I only wish I'd learned about it earlier :-)

I'm a massive fan of snipping, I just wish it was easier to find!

Helen, I just click the magnifying glass in the bottom LH corner (Windows 10) and type in "snip" and it comes up. I think I typed "snipping" the first time. It's a "desktop app", whatever that means.

And once you have it open, right-click on the icon in the taskbar and choose "Pin to Taskbar". Or you can "Pin to Start menu" if you don't like a lot of apps in the taskbar. Then it's right there whenever you need it, no searching required.

>26 susanj67: that I do every time.
>27 rosalita: ah, that's the bit I must try.

yay! go me!!

Thanks Julia! That would never have occurred to me, but I've done it now.

I will not tell the Young People about this conversation!!

>30 susanj67: Yay! A good morning's work, ladies. :-)

Oh this made me smile. Thanks folks.

>32 rosalita: Julia, I like this new crowd-sourced tech support :-)

>33 charl08: Charlotte, don't forget to add it to your taskbar. I am going to find some more things to add because I'd forgotten about that.

Heh - this morning I told the Young Person that the snipping tool was the best tip since Control-Y and he asked me what Control-Y was. I just bumped into him and he said "OMG Control-Y! I've just been doing a table and it's so useful for new rows!" So it seems that they don't know everything :-)

*raises hand*

I don't know what control-Y does.

But I do love the snipping tool!

I'm so glad I starred this thread; it answers all my tech questions - Scout is only four and can't do that yet. :) Maybe next year.

>36 katiekrug: Control-Y is when you get a little too carried away with Control-Z and need to re-do an un-do.

I had to goggle snipping tool.

Loved the story about the music studio! I need one of those.

Thanks, Julia!

>40 katiekrug: It takes a village ... to figure out Microsoft. :-)

Truth.

>36 katiekrug: Katie, I feel like I have come late to the snipping party...

>37 BLBera: Beth, Scout will be wowing you in no time at all. And we will want you to share what you learn :-)

>38 rosalita: Thanks Julia! I love it for adding rows to tables, at least as long as I don't do something else in between...

>39 Crazymamie: Mamie, apparently an arm appeared after the faces, and ushered them away :-)

>40 katiekrug:, >41 rosalita:, >42 katiekrug: So very true!

>43 susanj67: Too funny!

>35 susanj67: lol! A very 'now' conversation :)
I love the snip tool. Control-Y I am sure I can come to know too.

Oh my, a new tool to me. I'll give the snipping tool a try.
Happy Friday, Susan.

>44 Crazymamie: Mamie, he does tell a good story :-) His daughter (16 months) is now running around, so the mayhem of one toddler has doubled :-)

>45 LovingLit: Megan, Control-Y could change your life :-) The Young People at the office are pretty good at sharing their tech tips, once they can get over the fact that I don't know them already.

>46 Ameise1: Barbara, I hope you have fun with it!

Friday at last. And there is an afternoon tea for a maternity leaver, so there will be cake. Six hours till cake. That's probably the wrong way to start the day, but never mind. Last night I was supposed to be reading the spy book, but read a romance instead. This weekend I must finish the spy book, the AI book and read Smoke and Ashes.

Dropping some extra snipping love :)

I have to leave early to get the kids as there is no club on last day of term... so 4.5 hours to go! It's been a bloody long week.

>48 BekkaJo: Bekka, now I'm wondering what other amazing snipping-type things are available. It *has* been a long week, hasn't it? I hope your weekend is everything you want it to be :-)

Um, I probably shouldn't mention I'm not working today. Oops. Hope cake comes quickly.

>50 charl08: you can go off some people, you know. I am wading through piles of other people's mistakes and them trying to get out of putting it right. I could do with cake, but that's not compatible with the diet.
Not happy.

Enjoy your cake, Susan. I hope it's a good one. And happy Friday.

Happy newish thread, Susan. The snipping tool is one of my favourites, they have a similar tool on Linux too. I hadn't heard about Control-Y before (or Control-Z). Will have to try them out. Thx for the tech tips and have a great weekend!

>50 charl08: Charlotte, I hope you had a lovely Friday. Cake came pretty quickly in the end, and was a chocolate moussey sort of thing on a brownie-type base. Well worth waiting for :-)

>51 Helenliz: Helen, that sounds like a grim day! I had to be the adult supervision on a conference call, but I tried to let the Young Person lead it.

>52 BLBera: Thanks Beth!

>53 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg. I may be the last person on earth not to know about snipping! I love Control-Y, though :-)

Another very hot day here, so I have only been round the corner to get a paper and I plan to spend the rest of the day looking at the nice weather while staying out of the sun. But I do have two finishes to add:



90. Life 3.0: Being Human In The Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark

I think this author was one of the talking heads in the Do You Trust This Computer? film, because I reserved this book a while ago. At any rate, he's a giant Elon fan-boy, which was all very well when I started the book, but by the end I had a different view. And there was too much speculating about brains in jars on Jupiter and not enough about more pressing AI issues, like autonomous weapons systems ("killer robots"). Fair enough if he meant the book to be a look far into the future, but we might not actually get that far if the killer robots aren't sorted out first. So a cautious recommendation - there is a ton of physics from chapter 6 on which takes it out of the popular science category in my opinion, but it's thought-provoking.



91. The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal by David E. Hoffman

The is the story of Adolf Tolkachev, who was apparently one of the most famous Soviet spies working for the CIA. I'll leave it there in case of spoiler warnings. It's a good read, but I've read similar things and they all follow much the same pattern (which is perhaps inevitable).

Spies sound good Susan. Looks like rain here, thank goodness. Hopefully the hosepipe ban is off.
Hope you have a relaxing weekend.

We had some rain last night, came down heavily, but clearly not for long enough, my water butt is barely showing any increase in level. However the patch of straw currently masquerading as my lawn has a distinct green tinge that wasn't there yesterday.
Hoping for a nice dry weekend, it can rain when I'm back at work.

>55 charl08: Charlotte, good news about the ban.

>56 Helenliz: Helen, I hope it turns out like you want it to! It's still bone dry down here.

Here are today's reviewed NF books from the Times, with Amazon links:

Indianapolis by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic https://www.amazon.co.uk/Indianapolis-Lynn-Vincent-ebook/dp/B074ZQSQQJ/ref=sr_1_... - "The horrific story of an American naval disaster is part gripping history, part courtroom drama". If I see this, then yes. It does seem like an odd choice for the lead review in a UK paper, though.

Ctrl Alt Delete: How Politics and the Media Crashed Our Democracy by Tom Baldwin https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ctrl-Alt-Delete-Politics-Democracy-ebook/dp/B07FK3GYQX/... - "Video killed the radio star and Facebook killed everything else". This looks very good.

Invisible Agents: Women and Espionage in Seventeenth-Century Britain by Nadine Akkerman - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invisible-Agents-Espionage-Seventeenth-Century-Britain-... Yes yes yes

King of the North Wind: The Life of Henry II in Five Acts by Claudia Gold - https://www.amazon.co.uk/King-North-Wind-Life-Henry-ebook/dp/B01MTJV9M9/ref=sr_1... Yes again.

The Last Englishmen: Love, War and the End of Empire by Deborah Baker - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Englishmen-Love-War-Empire-ebook/dp/B07741QV3B/ref... Definitely.

Scots and Catalans: Union and Disunion by J H Elliott - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scots-Catalans-Disunion-John-Elliott/dp/0300234953/ref=... No.

The Bank that Lived a Little: Barclays in the Age of the Very Free Market by Philip Augar https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bank-That-Lived-Little-Barclays-ebook/dp/B07D45VRQP/ref... Probably.

Hmmm. Quite a few there :-) I started Smoke and Ashes today, which I think I said somewhere was the fourth in the series, but it's only the third. So many series, I confuse myself. I also started Damaged Goods, which is the book about Philip Green by the Sunday Times journalist Oliver Shah, and it's very good too. I didn't know much about Green's early career, but having now read about it the BHS disaster doesn't surprised me at all. I'm about a hundred pages into each of them. And I've done all the laundry and much of it is nearly dry! That's what I call a successful Saturday :-)

Invisible Agents: Women and Espionage in Seventeenth-Century Britain by Nadine Akkerman
This was reviewed in the Telegraph as well, got a very good review and it on my list as well.

>58 Helenliz: Helen, we will be able to discuss it!



92. Damaged Goods by Oliver Shah

This is the story of the collapse of BHS, which most of us in the UK will still be able to remember in some detail given all the Parliamentary Select Committee hearings and the calls for Sir Philip Green to be stripped of his knighthood. In short (for overseas readers), he sold the BHS department store chain to a con-man for £1, and ran away from an enormous deficit in its pension scheme. Fairly soon afterwards the company went bust. Eventually, he was shamed into paying a sizable amount into the pension fund which put things pretty much right, but it seems that the same will happen to Arcadia Group (Topshop/Topman, Evans, Burton etc) when he eventually gets rid of that. I was aware of Green as being very rich, but knew nothing about how he'd built up his fortune. Sunday Times journalist Oliver Shah tells the story right from the beginning, and it's a fascinating read. Very highly recommended, but maybe one for UK readers. Set a chunk of time aside, though - once you start this you'll want to read it in one sitting. Even though I knew the eventual outcome I couldn't wait to see what happened next. Quite a book!

Today's Sunday Times NF reviews:

The Reluctant Billionaire by Tom Quinn - despite the title this is *not* a trashy romance, or even a book about the genre (although I would totally borrow such a book if someone wrote it). Instead, it's subtitled "The Tragic Life of Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster", and he sounds like a sleazy creep. Nope. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reluctant-Billionaire-Tragic-Grosvenor-Westminster-eboo...

The Quest for Queen Mary James Pope-Hennessy, edited by Hugo Vickers https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quest-Queen-Mary-Hugo-Vickers/dp/1999777034/ref=sr_1_cc... Queen Mary's official biography was written in 1958 by James Pope-Hennessy, who was later murdered. In this book, editor Hugo Vickers has published Pope-Hennessy's unexpurgated interview notes, and "the result constitutes arguably the most riotously funny volume published this year." It sounds entertaining, but presents a question: Should I read the official bio first?

Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World by Adam Tooze - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crashed-Decade-Financial-Crises-Changed-ebook/dp/B079NT... The reviewer thinks this might have been written too soon in terms of being able to say what it all means. And can't be bothered reading about something we're still living through, so no.

Gypsies: An English History by David Cressy - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gypsies-English-History-David-Cressy-ebook/dp/B07DPP799... Maybe if I see it, but I won't make a special effort.

Queen of the Sea: A History of Lisbon by Barry Hatton - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Sea-History-Barry-Hatton/dp/1849049971/ref=sr_1_1... The reviewer thinks it's a bit confused. Not my thing, what with not really doing Abroad.

Brazil by Lilia M Schwarcz and Heloisa M Starling - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brazil-Heloisa-Maria-Murgel-Starling-ebook/dp/B079C9RRD... The review of this is much better, so maybe.

Brazil one looks good, Susan. Hope you are having a good weekend.

Wow, some nice reviews. Invisible Agents caught my eye too.

>61 charl08: Charlotte, so many of them look good...I think reading the reviews is giving me FOMO.

>62 drneutron: Thanks Jim! I will report on it when I track it down.

I saw cold infusion fruit tea advertised over the weekend: https://www.twinings.co.uk/tea/cold-infuse These are *perfect* for the current weather (31C in London today, rain now an urban myth) so I will scour the mall at lunchtime. By this I mean that I will go to Waitrose *and* Tesco if necessary, because I can do all that under air-conditioning. Tetley also do them, so there might be other brands too.

Ooh, the watermelon one sounds lovely. Please report back!

I'm on Teapigs superfruit tea which I make hot and find still tastes perfectly acceptable when cold. Which is good, as I'm a ****** for making a tea and forgetting to drink all of it. They suggest it as an iced tea, but probably not the way I make it!

>64 charl08: Charlotte, that was the one I liked the look of too!

>65 Helenliz: Helen, I drink any tea cold (I don't have it with milk) but there's something very handy about starting with cold water. All the Young People here have water bottles, but I have a large glass which I will use instead.

Booky Work Friend says Five Giants is very good. I also have that one on the Kindle. I asked whether I should read the Germany one or this one first and she said the Germany one so we can discuss it, so those are my orders :-) Currently, though, I'm on Cowboy Pride, which is the Overdrive Big Read for the month, and is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice with, um, cowboys. ("Everyone knows a rancher in possession of a large spread needs a wife"). I was mildly appalled to see that it's book 3 in a series but I think they may all just be set in the same place, rather than with connected characters like my favourite kind of series. Anyway, all y'all who thought you'd never see me reading out of order can be amazed now :-)

Amazingly, Waitrose had all but one of the cold infusion flavours in stock, and they also had some three-sachet sampler packs (all three sachets in the same flavour, though). Additionally, they had the water bottle + sachets combination listed on the Twinings site, discounted from that price to £8, I think.

I bought the watermelon, strawberry and mint flavour. The container has 12 pyramids and it is £3.80. It's a shame the container is plastic, though. They sell pyramids in other packaging and that would be more environmentally friendly.

I dropped a pyramid into my glass and filled it up with cold filtered water from the magic tap in the kitchen. The instructions say "shake" if it's in a bottle, but I stirred, and then waited the recommended five minutes, but you leave the bag in so I'm not sure why five minutes is the magic number. It's delicious :-) There is no sugar or sweeteners, so it literally is just flavoured water. It tastes mostly of watermelon, but there is definitely mint in there too. It's a lovely change from plain water, and far cheaper than the bottled alternatives, which are either full of sugar or sweeteners. A definite WIN for me, and I'll be trying some other flavours. The only downside for me is the unnecessary plastic packaging.

If you live somewhere properly hot, have a giggle at this heat wave warning from the Met Office. Temperatures may reach 86F so we must all stay out of the sun for the whole week. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/23/met-office-issues-a-heatwave-ale...

Yikes re the tea - just tried to buy it on amazon and it is on for more than 2x the price of Twinings website. Hopefully it will be available in my local shop instead...

>66 susanj67: I almost fainted, Susan. Good thing I was sitting down.

>68 susanj67: I loved this! Thanks for sharing - so I should stay out of the sun until Christmas. That's good to know.

>69 charl08: Goodness, that's daylight robbery! Sainsburys and Morrisons have them, according to Google, and I saw the ad in the Tesco magazine, so you should be able to get them from one of the supermarkets. I want to try the rose lemonade next, I think. Currently on my second large glass with the first pyramid and the taste is still strong.

Darn you, Susan! I went and downloaded Cowboy Pride from the library, thanks (?) to you. I'm on quite the P&P kick lately...

>70 Crazymamie: Mamie, that's right re the heat. Basically don't move, just in case, because that could *double* your risk of fainting. By Friday it will be Hotter Than Jamaica. Jamaica is on the list of places it is never hotter than, which the papers like to roll out to prove just how hot it is. Other popular candidates include Morocco and Greece. Of course, it is winter in Jamaica, but never mind.

>72 katiekrug: Katie, yeah, um, I read a bit more of it over lunch and returned it because it's just lame. And full of errors. Also why is Mr Darcy called "Rob" in this version when he could easily have been called "Will". And I'm sure one of the Bennet sisters is missing. Weren't there five of them?

Gracious, heat warnings and iced tea? Has the UK joined the American Midwest when I wasn't looking?! The Twinings fruit teas sound delicious. I cold-brew tea all the time by putting a few bags of any flavor of black tea into a two-quart pitcher of cold water and letting it steep overnight. It gets a lovely mellow flavor and it's pretty much impossible to over-steep into bitterness.

Edited to add: I also downloaded the cowboy Austen thanks to you and have properly lowered my expectations.

>74 susanj67: - Yeah, Mary the nerdy one seems to be missing. I've read 15 pages so far. I'm off work today and it's rainy and gloomy so wanted something I could just laze around with and finish in one day. We'll see.....

>75 rosalita: Julia, I'm going to try that with black tea. I'd assumed it had to be hot and then cooled down. I'm sorry in advance about the cowboy romance...

>76 katiekrug: Katie, well, OK, but you're a braver person than I am :-)

>77 susanj67: Let me know how your tea-speriment goes, Susan!

Welp, I finished it!

>79 katiekrug: that sounds like a woman in need of a pep-me-up. And a book that should be consigned to the depths of the dusty bookshelves, never to be seen again.

>78 rosalita: Julia, I will! I think I could try it at the office if I get a container for the fridge.

>79 katiekrug: *runs over to Katie's thread for the review*

*slinks back having found no review and fearing the worst*

>80 Helenliz: Helen, that sounds sensible. The Overdrive Big Library Read for that one finished yesterday. I think they're missing a good opportunity with these Big Reads. There was that stupid book about the entitled woman and the goats, and now this.

Yesterday the *most amazing thing* happened. I was looking at the library ebook site and clicked on the totals, because I nerdily know how many fiction and NF ebooks they have, and a change in number alerts me to new things. The fiction number had changed, so I clicked again to look at the new things. And there, all available and everything, was THE NEW DANIEL SILVA NOVEL OMG. I have never clicked faster. And now it is all mine. For three weeks, although I plan to read it in the next couple of evenings. I'm never first to the new things! They had heaps, too, although I only had eyes for Gabriel (the main character). I think I like Gabriel even more than Jack, and we all know I love Jack.

Still hot. Some newspaper front page madness for those in hot places, courtesy of the BBC website and the snipping tool :-)

I wonder if anyone is planning to take the Star into work as a reason for leave...

Glad to hear the news about Gabriel. I have a day of leave left, and lots of books for the Booker list on their way. Tempted to take it off and just read the books. Maybe in a hotel with room service.

>80 Helenliz: - Indeed!

>81 susanj67: - No review because there's really nothing to say. It was what it was - not actively bad just not well-written and totally predictable, which is about what I expected.

Does seem an odd choice for the Big Library Read...

Susan, I've been lured into the land of the Booker, who turn out to be sponsored by a certain Swedish chain this year.
That certain Swedish chain is hosting special events in their Wembley store...

Relax in the IKEA Reading Rooms
Tuesday 31st July – Sunday 5th August
As the boundaries between our work and home lives become more blurred, it’s become harder to switch off. Our homes aren’t the haven they once were. Yet reading for just six minutes a day can be enough to reduce stress levels by more than two-thirds.

That’s why we’ve created a series of reading spaces dedicated to pure relaxation at IKEA Wembley. Curl up with the finest fiction from The Man Booker Prize 2018 longlist. Book a slot from Tuesday 31st July – Sunday 5th August and get some well-earned time out.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/store/wembley/events-wembley/

ETA I just read the full thing - free book!

>82 charl08: Charlotte, there was a *cool breeze* this morning!! It didn't last long, but it was a promising start. Torrential rain is forecast for Friday so that will be exciting.

>83 katiekrug: Katie, at least it didn't take you long :-)

>84 charl08: Charlotte, I don't think the words "relaxed" and "IKEA" can actually go together in a sentence. I've been to the Wembley one and it is a *madhouse*.



93. The Other Woman by Daniel Silva

It's official - I'm more of a Gabriel Groupie than a Reacher Creature. I *love* this series. Love it. And this instalment had all the excellent recurring characters, as well as a great plot. The body count was perhaps lower than in previous books, but then again, like Jack, Gabriel only kills people who need killing. In this book the focus of the story was elsewhere. It's also super-interesting to read these in real time, as it were, because they're always about the major security threats/outrages of the day, which have shifted since the series began. I just wish Gabriel and his team existed in real life, to set the world to rights.

>85 susanj67: Argh. Are you really going to make me start another series, Susan? I suppose turnabout is fair play and all that. Off to the library website to see what they have on offer in the Daniel Silva line.

>86 rosalita: Julia, YES! You must read this series! And it's important to read it in order - I'm not just saying that. There are some story arcs which takes several books to develop, and a Bad Thing in Gabriel's past which explains a lot of his world view. You are SO LUCKY to have these all to read!!

>88 rosalita: My local library can be a bit hit-and-miss but they have a metric ton(ne) of Silva books, so it looks like I have no excuse for not digging in. I put myself on the holds for the first, The Kill Artist.

>86 rosalita: You got me, too, Susan! I snagged the first book because apparently I have no book budget this month. Luckily, it is currently only $2.99 on Kindle.

I have The Kill Artist around here somewhere, so I guess I'll join hands with Julia and Mamie and jump in :)

>89 Crazymamie: Oh, Mamie. Now why'd you have to go and tell me that? It's only $2.99 on Kobo, too. Doggone it.

>90 katiekrug: Hooray for peer pressure! ;-)

"...Dear Mr Silva, Please send my referral fee to - "

>88 rosalita:, >89 Crazymamie:, >90 katiekrug:, >91 rosalita: Oh, hi ladies! That's excellent news, although I can't believe I haven't converted ya'll before now. I'll look forward to you all becoming Gabriel fans. I'm thinking maybe we could have some sort of badge...

I hope things are cooling off for you, Susan.

I am shocked that you are reading something out of order. Shocked.

The cold tea infusion sounds good. Off to check to see if I can find it here.

>93 BLBera: Hi Beth! Things are getting hotter, if anything - here's a screen grab from the paper I refuse to link to. Note how the UK is hotter than all the really hot places. And tomorrow is "Furnace Friday", which will be like living on Venus. Or something.



I had to go to a meeting this morning, so I left early and went slowly as I needed frequent sit-downs en route. But thank goodness my destination had air-conditioning. I had to come back to the office on the Jubilee Line, which doesn't, so that was a bit grim, but amazingly my face isn't sliding off yet. Later on I have to go out for a work dinner on the Jubilee Line again, which won't be fun in rush hour. But I'm taking tomorrow and Monday off to be hot in peace. There is rain forecast for tomorrow - lots and lots of it.

Hi Susan - I hope you survive the heat wave. We've had only a few 35 C. days here this summer. Is it humid as well? I always think it seems hotter with high humidity.

Enjoy your long weekend.

>95 BLBera: Beth, yes it is humid, which I agree makes things worse. But, looking at the forecast, tomorrow now says 29C, and on Monday it should be 24C, so that's getting back to normal.

I really hope your temperatures moderate soon, Susan! I've gotten used to that sort of thing (I don't like it, mind you, but I know it's inevitable) but it really messes with my world view to know that you all are suffering like that. Doesn't Mother Nature know that the UK is one of my weather-fantasy escapes?!

>97 rosalita: Julia, I love that you have a weather-fantasy escape :-) I'm sure things will be back to normal soon. If we get the heavy rain then everyone will be moaning about flash-flooding. How's The Kill Artist going, btw? :-)

I haven't started it yet, but it's downloaded onto my e-reader and waiting for me to finish my current read. :-)

So sorry you're having such a hot summer!! We've been having some heat and humidity here but nothing that lasted more than 5 or 6 days. I hope yours gets over soon!

Hope you have a lovely long weekend, Susan. I just watered and then read about the storm predicted for tonight. Hey ho.

>99 rosalita: Julia, excellent news!

>100 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, yes, we are struggling to cope (trains cancelled, fires, drownings) and everyone hopes it will rain soon.

>101 charl08: Thanks Charlotte :-) I've just been down to Waitrose so I have supplies, anyway.

I have every door and window in the house open (total: 4) and the air seems to be circulating a bit. It probably wasn't the best day to be on holiday, but never mind. I bought another cold infusion this morning - passion fruit, mango and blood orange, and it is excellent too. Also I must have drunk a litre of water since I got home.

This morning's Politico London Playbook email had a list of what various political figures are reading over the summer, which looked interesting. Here's a link to the web version of the email: https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/politico-london-playbook-summ...

This afternoon I would like to finish Smoke and Ashes but that might be a bit optimistic.

I like the link. Jason Beattie made me laugh but I think I will pick up Washington's Spies. Although I did already pick up that book about women spies that you recommended, so maybe I'll be spy'd out by then?

My hubby was in London on Wed - his comment... 'I made it to the office alright. London is HOT!'

That said, it's hot here. My daughter just dropped an icepack (still icing her stupid bust foot) down my back - and instead of screaming and running around I just went ooooooooo! Well I might have squeaked a little...

>103 charl08: Charlotte, they'll be so different that I'm sure you can cope with two :-)

>104 BekkaJo: Bekka, your post reminded me about my emergency sweetcorn in the freezer :-) Today is considerably cooler with quite a breeze - lovely. I have to go out with some Kiwis later but it shouldn't be too bad even by then.



94. Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee

This is book 3 in the Captain Sam Wyndham series, set in Calcutta in the 1920s. It was a good read, although I do wonder whether the main character might be a bit liberal for the times. He seems convinced that Britain ruling India is wrong and must come to an end, but he's thinking this 25 years before it actually happened, and a lot went on in between. But I'm looking forward to instalment 4 anyway.

Today's not-so-outstanding offer from Norton Anti-Virus - renew my subscription for one year for £39.99! Or two years for £99.99 - an even greater saving! Ummm, I think that'll be one year, please.

I bought The Times on my way home from a fun lunch with the Kiwis at the German Gymnasium at King's Cross (which is now a restaurant, and does not involve any form of exercise) and then we walked around the newly regenerated bit. It's amazing. I usually just scuttle straight out of St Pancras to the British Library if I use that station, so it was like a whole new world. I'll be back with book reviews.

Non-fiction books reviewed in The Times today:

Milk of Paradise: A History of Opium by Laura Inglis - "fabulous", "a triumph, epic in scale and full of humanity" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Milk-Paradise-History-Lucy-Inglis-ebook/dp/B07CBXVTJJ/r... Definitely.

The Death of Truth by Michiko Kakutani - "a liberal howl of despair at the 'age of untruth'" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Truth-Michiko-Kakutani-ebook/dp/B07CR5TZYR/ref=sr... Yes.

Emily Wilding Davison: The Martyr Suffragette by Lucy Fisher https://www.amazon.co.uk/Emily-Wilding-Davison-Martyr-Suffragette-ebook/dp/B07C3... If I see it, then yes, but I think I'm suffragetted out.

The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, The MC5 and My Life of Impossibilities by Wayne Kramer https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Stuff-Dope-Crime-Impossibilities-ebook/dp/B07D3FF7... No.

Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World by Adam Tooze https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crashed-Decade-Financial-Crises-Changed-ebook/dp/B079NT... This is a more positive review than the one in the Sunday Times last week.

She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions and Potential of Heredity by Carl Zimmer https://www.amazon.co.uk/She-Has-Her-Mothers-Laugh-ebook/dp/B078H2BFV3/ref=sr_1_... Yes.

95. A Shot in the Dark by Lynne Truss

This is a deliciously snarky read, about Brighton in the 1950s, a town with no crime. This is because the two major crime families wiped each other out in the Middle Street Massacre in 1951, leaving town crime-free ever since, at least according to Inspector Steine, memorably portrayed as a hero in a film about the event But new recruit Constable Twitten doesn't think so...Highly recommended for a good giggle. And it's the first in a series :-)

Today's NF books from the Sunday Times:

This Dark Business: The Secret War Against Napoleon by Tim Clayton - "Britain is the villain in this groundbreaking history of the endless attempts to assassinate Napoleon and vilify his name" https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Dark-Business-Against-Napoleon-ebook/dp/B079M2CGZ6... Maybe.

The Pebbles on the Beach by Clarence Ellis - this is a reprint of a book that apparently lived in the glove box of every car back in the 50s. It's about collecting pebbles from the beach, and the various different sorts to look out for. Probably one for the British, as it's all about the geology of this part of the world. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pebbles-Beach-Spotters-Guide/dp/0571347932/ref=sr_1_1?s...

Mars by 1980: The Story of Electronic Music by David Stubbs https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mars-1980-Story-Electronic-Music-ebook/dp/B07C885Z5X/re...

Autumn In Venice: Ernest Hemingway and His Last Muse by Andrea di Robilant https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autumn-Venice-Ernest-Hemingway-Last-ebook/dp/B079N663MT...

Invisible Agents: Women and Espionage in 17th-century Britain by Nadine Akkerman https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invisible-Agents-Espionage-Seventeenth-Century-Britain-... This was a Saturday Times review last week and looks very good.

The Crossway by Guy Stagg - a memoir of the walk from Canterbury to Jerusalem - "a beguiling portrait of one young man's search into the hidden corners of Europe" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crossway-Guy-Stagg-ebook/dp/B078GTRSTD/ref=sr_1_1?s=boo...

The Death of Truth by Michiko Kakutani - see above from yesterday's reviews

Euro Tragedy: A Darama in Nine Acts by Ashoka Mody https://www.amazon.co.uk/EuroTragedy-Drama-Nine-Ashoka-Mody-ebook/dp/B07C77KV2N/... This looks very long and hard

Orphans: A History by Jeremy Seabrook https://www.amazon.co.uk/Orphans-History-Jeremy-Seabrook/dp/1849049424/ref=sr_1_...

Sounds like there is plenty to keep you busy for a while there Susan. I have the 17th century spies waiting for a good moment to pick up.

The Crossway was liked by the Guardian too. Is that allowed?!

Charlotte, I didn't think it was actually allowed! I might have to get it now :-)

<106 I hope their anti-virus coding is better than their arithmetic!

INvisible Agents looks interesting.

I hope your weekend was stellar, Susan.

>112 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, I hope so too!

>113 BLBera: Beth, yes, I definitely want that one. And All The Books, but never mind.

I have another day of holiday today, which is lovely. It is breezy and coolish, which is perfect. I plan to finish the Mari Hannah crime novel I'm reading, and maybe the Verso book that I have going on the Kindle. I read and read and read and it says 33%, so I jumped to the Acknowledgments to check how much of the book was text vs notes, and the text finishes at 56%. Heh. That has encouraged me to continue, although the style is uneven - part popular science and part PhD thesis.

96. The Murder Wall by Mari Hannah

This is the first in the DCI Kate Daniels series, set in Newcastle. I didn't love it, to be honest, but it was the author's first book so I'll get the second one and see what I think of that. The plot was good, but the main character was very full of herself, and some of the dialogue a bit clunky.

>115 susanj67: Here's hoping Book 2 is more in the flow.
I am also enjoying the cool down, as is the garden.

Did you order The Crossway in the end? I quite like the idea of a long walk like that, but suspect I would get bothered by the lack of clean stuff very quickly. I suspect I'd be signing up for one of those 'carry your bags' services!

>116 charl08: Charlotte, I thought that you had recommended Mari Hannah. Was it you, or was it someone else who reads lots of crime? (Hi Julia!). I haven't reserved anything from the weekend due to having no empty reserve slots, but I picked two books up this morning so now I can go CRAZY. I think I'll have lunch at my desk and a cruise through my wish list and recent reviews. Exciting!*



97. Joining the Dots: A Woman in Her Time by Juliet Gardiner

Awesomeness alert: This is a memoir by Juliet Gardiner, author of some excellent social history books (I particularly enjoyed The Thirties: An Intimate History) and it's about her life and its intersection with what was going on in the world at the time. It's only a couple of hundred pages long (the explanation for that is in the epilogue) but it's an excellent read. I started it yesterday evening and stayed up late to finish it and this morning I recommended it to FLA for his book group at the library.

While I was there, I picked up two reserves (The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs and The Girl Who Smiled Beads) and also Little Fires Everywhere from the new fiction and Settled Blood, which is the next Mari Hannah novel, from the crime section. "Everything has reserves on it," said FLA as he checked out one of the books for me because it had come from Far and didn't work on the machine. "But I got two of them off the shelf!" I said. Then I offered to surrender them but he said not to worry. I see now why some of my reserves take forever to come in. It turns out that they don't immediately start looking for them.

*I am such a library nerd

>117 susanj67: Hi, Susan! I'm so flattered that you think of me when you think of crime — just books, I hope! :-)

>117 susanj67: Not guilty, m'lud. (At least, I have no memory of reading or mentioning it: not necessarily the same thing!)

>118 rosalita: Julia, yes, just books :-) Although you must pick up a lot of tips that could turn you into a master criminal...

>119 charl08: Charlotte, that's really odd. Someone mentioned her because I reserved the first one and waited ages for it. Unless it was one of those best of crime reviews, but I don't think so. Hmmm.

I'm taking all my books home now, in my House of Commons Library bag. I managed not to point it out to FLA this morning but I really wanted to. And I have to get cracking with the reading because of all the people waiting for them. Humph. And four more things are in transit. This is why I shouldn't fill up all my reserve slots.

>108 susanj67: That one does sound humorous. I'm listening to Elly Griffiths' The Zig Zag Girl which is set in Brighton. I think the detectives in that one would disagree with the ones in your read!

>120 susanj67: Hope you're all caught up now Susan. I managed to return a book mum had taken out for me on her card, so couldn't take out the Bauer I was actually hoping to read last night.
Enjoying the cyberpunk that Chelle recommended for the Popsugar challenge though - did you read one for this already?

>121 thornton37814: Lori, what do you think of The Zig Zag Girl? I'm tempted, but there are so many series...I like her Ruth Galloway books.

>122 charl08: Charlotte, I made some progress with the dinosaurs last night and finished a romance. I haven't read a cyberpunk one yet - I'll check out Chelle's thread!



98. Sleepless in Manhattan by Sarah Morgan
99. Sunset in Central Park by Sarah Morgan
100. Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan

These are the first three books in the "From Manhattan With Love" series. There are six full-length novels and two novellas, and I read book 0.5 a while ago. I do like the longer novels, but I think there's something to the old saying "write what you know" because the characters in these just aren't American. They're *supposed* to be American, but it just doesn't work. They speak like British people, they go to all the touristy places in New York, which I doubt that locals would actually do (I mean, I go to the odd famous place in London but not all the time), and the books just don't ring true to me. Oddly enough, her sheikh and billionaire books seem more authentic (which I know is ridiculous). But I will (of course) read the remaining three. There are now three new books on Sarah's website, one of which (How to Keep a Secret) is new here and the other two forthcoming, and she seems to be moving away from romance to more general "women's fiction".

I agree about that series - it doesn't ring quite true for me either. And she gets some basic New York stuff wrong which doesn't help... But I've only read two and have at least two others on my Kindle, so I'll at least read those, I think.

>123 susanj67: You mean you don't stand in front of a major London landmark to use your mobile?

>124 katiekrug: Katie, in book 3 they went twice to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, which I think was a copy-editing error, because surely if you've seen it once you wouldn't go again. (Also I would only ever see the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square if I happened to be passing (and it's a famous one donated every year by Norway). I wouldn't make a special trip). I was also a bit dubious that people who live in Brooklyn would spend so much time in Central Park (book 2). And in book 3 the heroine asked the hero what he studied at college and he said he studied law at Columbia, but that's not really *college*, is it. It's law school. As far as I know, law isn't an undergraduate degree in the US like it is here and in other places. I feel nitpicky, but it's odd how those little things can just throw you right out of a story.

>125 charl08: Charlotte, generally not, because that is just asking pickpockets to come up and rob you :-) I've also never been on that bus from the movies that goes from Heathrow to Kensington via Tower Bridge. Sad but true...

>126 susanj67: - I have never been to see the tree at Rockefeller Center, though The Wayne keeps threatening to make me go ;-)

If I lived in Brooklyn, I think I'd be more likely to spend time in Prospect Park which is in Brooklyn and was designed by the same duo who did Central Park. That said, I don't think it's that uncommon for people from other boroughs to migrate to CP, but I'm no expert.

I've only ever heard of anyone being "pre-law" in college, and a quick look at Columbia's undergrad admissions page (because I'm obsessive) doesn't show law or pre-law as an area of study.

So your Ameri-sense appears to be in good working order...

>128 katiekrug: Katie, you will have to go and see the tree now :-) I have seen the skaters there, but that must have been in March (?) one year.

I hope no-one goes to that large railway station in the next three books, because it would really bug me if they got that name wrong...

Thank you for that research on the Columbia website :-)

"I hope no-one goes to that large railway station in the next three books, because it would really bug me if they got that name wrong... "

But then you could scream, "It's a TERMINAL not a STATION!!!"

I find it quite therapeutic :)

>130 katiekrug: Katie, I will definitely scream that if necessary :-) I'm trying to think if London has anything that people get wrong like that, but nothing occurs to me. Oh, Big Ben. It's the bell, not the tower. More may occur to me.

Eight books in transit from the library - gulp. I may have gone overboard again. But last night I started Little Fires Everywhere and it's a fairly fast read. I also read some more of the dinosaur book, which is excellent. And I remember bits of the Dino 101 course I did with the University of Alberta too. (It's here if anyone is interested: https://www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/dino101 - click the green button to enrol via Coursera) The weekend is supposed to be hot again, so I should make some more progress with things.

My accidental Prime order should arrive today, so I will post a pen update at some point. And my beauty box is also en route. Exciting! The neighbours get vast numbers of parcels and I seldom get anything.

Ooh, Texas has arrived at the library for me to pick up at lunchtime. No touchstone, but it is the James Michener one that I need for a book published during my last year of high school.

In other news, it is so warm *in* the office, I have taken off my cardigan. Yes, really. I need the roomie to leave and get a coffee so I can inspect the air conditioning dial and turn it down.

Holy carp - Texas is 1000 pages long with tiny print. Maybe I need a ticker. I have 21 days for it so that's 47 pages per day. Hmmm. That should be do-able, but I have all the other things...Maybe I'll make a big start on it over the weekend, as it's too big to take anywhere. Even taking it home tonight means I'll have to delay my weekend grocery shop until tomorrow morning.

I LOVE that you are a library nerd, Susan. I'm right there with you.

>115 susanj67: I'll wait to see if the books get better; thanks for checking them out for me. :)

Happy Friday.

Michener's books are all really long (at least the ones I've looked at are) which kept me from reading any of them until I was way at the end of the Pulitzer's and "had" to read South Pacific which turned out to be a great book. I hope Texas will be too in which case you'll probably whip through it before you know it.

I read Texas many years ago. I suspect I would appreciate it more now than I did then because I have lots of cousins I've researched through genealogy who ended up out there as well as one direct line ancestral couple.

>60 susanj67: despite the title this is *not* a trashy romance, or even a book about the genre (although I would totally borrow such a book if someone wrote it). I am currently reading Dangerous Books for Girls: The Bad Reputation of Romance Novels Explained which might fit the bill, Susan.

>134 susanj67: Ah, the pages count thing. I do that all the time because I keep on reserving things at the library and they all come in at once. Such pressure to read everything in time! I must say that your thread is murder on my library reserve list. I have the library website open at the same time that I read the posts on your thread and ended up with 2 Silva reserves among others but there was one book I put on my buy list because the library didn't have the Joining the Dots. Which reminds me I should read some of the Gardiners I have on the shelves but there are all these library books to read! *sigh*

>135 BLBera: Hi Beth! I have the second one in the series ready to go, so I should have an opinion by next weekend :-)

>136 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, that's good news :-) I do like a lengthy saga sort of book.

>137 thornton37814: Lori, if you have any names or places you want me to look out for, I can make a note :-)

>138 Familyhistorian: Meg, I love the sound of that book! So much, in fact, that I have now bought it. I am getting BBs on my own thread!! I find having the library catalogue open is always wise. It just annoys me that I can't do it easily on the bus :-) I hope you enjoy the Daniel Silva books - well, I know you will, so you're pretty safe there :-)

Hot again, but the news has switched away from the UK to Portugal where it may be 50C today. The record there is 48.4. Interestingly, though, the all-time Europe record was 48.something in Greece, in *1977*.



101. Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

I loved the cover of this book, and a couple of people read it because of that but also loved it, which prompted me to get it from the Amazon sale. The subtitle is "The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Everyday People", and it's about the letters, diaries and other observations of mostly British and American people who went to Germany in the 1930s. I haven't read a lot about what Germany was really like then - I suppose it is true that history is written by the winners - so this was a very interesting read. There was quite a variety of people in it, although I suppose they must have been people who could afford at least a cheap fare to get there, but it wasn't just the upper classes (although the Mitfords were there too).

My favourites were the two opera-fan sisters working in dull jobs in London who would go every year for opera performances. Seeing the way things were developing, they started to meet with Jewish people who were trying to get out of the country but couldn't take assets with them, and helped by smuggling their jewellery out so they would have some money if they got out themselves. The sisters would go to Germany on a Friday night, very plainly dressed, and return on Sunday evening by a different route, dripping with jewellery, ready to play helpless little women who didn't trust anyone at home with their gems when they travelled. There's an even more remarkable story that opens the book.

Very highly recommended, particularly if you've read a lot about WWII but never from the German side.

>139 susanj67: Oh go on then. This book still makes me laugh because of the nice cover being such a winner (it's the little things).

>140 charl08: Still just £2.89 for the Kindle, Charlotte!

Oh, but then I don't get the nice cover (my kindle is just black and white).
Also, do you want my copy of the Kushner booker book? Happy to post it to you.

>142 charl08: I see re the Kindle :-) And thank you very much for the offer of the book, but the teetering piles on the computer table are frowning at me, so I had better not!



102. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: The Untold Story of a Lost World by Steve Brusatte

This appeared in one of the "best of" lists I posted recently, so I reserved it. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had done a Dino 101 course and found it really interesting. And this is an *excellent* read, by a true dinosaur fanboy, who has met and worked with many of the leading paleontologists of the day. He's American, but currently at the University of Edinburgh. Even if you have never considered reading a book about dinosaurs, I would recommend this, because it is an amazing story quite apart from anything else, and the writing style is very accessible.

Darn you, Susan. You got me with both of these books.

I hope my library has copies because I am in the middle of putting books back on shelves after having to move them to get new flooring and am realizing I have a lot of books. :)

And both are now on hold.

>144 BLBera:, >145 BLBera: Oh dear, Beth. Sorry about that.

:-))

I've started The Girl Who Smiled Beads this afternoon, which is excellent so far. It's taken an age to come into the library but it is worth the wait.

In other news, my August Beauty Box arrived this morning, and here's what was in it:

A copy of Elle magazine
A Molton Brown 100 ml (!) body wash in ylang-ylang
A Balance Me Pure Skin Face Wash (40 ml sample size) https://www.lookfantastic.com/balance-me-pure-skin-face-wash-125ml/11419255.html...
An Erno Laszlo Firmarine Lift Essence lotion https://www.ernolaszlo.com/firmarine-lift-essence-lotion.html
A Mio Boob-Tube multi-action bust cream (30 ml sample size) https://www.mioskincare.co.uk/boob-tube-multi-action-bust-firmer-100ml/11098408....
A Brow Build Gel (2 ml sample size) https://www.lookfantastic.com/bbb-london-brow-build-gel-4.5ml-various-shades/117...
A Nails Inc Glazin Over Intense Colour Lip Glaze https://www.lookfantastic.com/inc.redible-glazin-over-lip-glaze-various-shades/1... My colour is "Double-Shot Day" which is a purply-brown colour and wrong for me on its own, but I'll try it as a topper over something else.

The Molton Brown is the winner from this box, but I do like another couple of things I've had from Balance Me, so I'm looking forward to trying that too. I have two more boxes before the year is up. I'm not going to renew the subscription because I've found lots of fun new things and brands to be getting on with, but I'm not keeping up with using them all. Plus the boxes themselves are beautiful, which is good in a way but means I now have a stack of boxes which are too nice to cut down and recycle.

Sure you are.

>139 susanj67: Well, you'll find the surname Harris in the book, but it won't be the right one. Mine were "nobodies" in the scheme of things. The other name was Cockrell. I'm pretty sure descendants of other lines ended up out there too, but lots of people went to Texas. I remember reading in middle school about the people who would leave other Southern States for Texas leaving signs with "G.T.T." which meant "Gone to Texas."

>147 BLBera: Beth! Are you doubting my sincerity there?

>148 thornton37814: Lori, I think my whole family were the "nobodies"! I'll see if Cockrell appears at all. I love the idea of the "G.T.T" signs. How easy it was back then compared to all the kerfuffle of moving these days.

I didn't post yesterday's Times NF review books, so here they are (with Amazon links) before I get today's paper. And some with covers, where they appear on LT.

The Colour of Time by Dan Jones and Marina Amaral - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Time-History-World-1850-1960-ebook/dp/B0784XXSNB... - the authors add colour (literally) to famous black and white images. Um, no.

Robert Graves: From Great War Poet to Good-bye to All That 1895 - 1929 by Jean Moorcroft https://www.amazon.co.uk/Robert-Graves-Great-Good-bye-1895-1929-ebook/dp/B07BSS1... "Was Robert Graves, the Great War poet, really a faker?" This is the first of a two-volume biography. I've never read any Robert Graves, so I suspect this isn't for me.

Jimmy Page: The Definitive Biography by Chris Salewicz https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jimmy-Page-Definitive-Chris-Salewicz-ebook/dp/B01A52I7I... Nope.



England: The Biography - The Story of English Cricket 1877 - 2018 by Simon Wilde https://www.amazon.co.uk/England-Biography-Story-English-Cricket-ebook/dp/B01N4M... Nope.



Killing It: Learning the Art of Butchery by Camas Davis https://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-Learning-Butchery-Camas-Davis-ebook/dp/B079DR7T... "This is a brave book, because it is now controversial to be carnivorous" Nope.

The Reluctant Billionaire - this is the Duke of Westminster biography reviewed by the Sunday Times further up the thread. The review is titled "How to be miserable with £9 billion".



Milk: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas by Mark Kurlansky https://www.amazon.co.uk/Milk-10-000-Year-Food-Fracas-ebook/dp/B077ZFR3RQ/ref=sr... Heh - I searched for this on Amazon using the author's name, and he has also written books about salt, paper and cod.* Actually all of those look good, as does this one, which is in the "Paperbacks" section of yesterday's Times (and pretty cover alert!):



The Hungry Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World by Lizzie Collingham https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hungry-Empire-Britains-Shaped-Modern-ebook/dp/B01LZ2QT5...

*And, according to the elibrary catalogue, the Birdseye frozen foods man and oysters

Goodness, I must have got up earlier than usual because the sun is still shining on my reading chair. This has meant I've had to do housework. And here are the books reviewed in today's Sunday Times:

The Lion and the Eagle: The Interaction of the British and American Empires 1783 - 1972 by Kathleen Burk https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lion-Eagle-Interaction-American-1783-1972-ebook/dp/B076... I see why 1783 would be the start point for this, but the review isn't clear about why it ends in 1972. It's pretty positive, though. This looks like a chunkster and Amazon lists the hard cover for £30 but the Kindle version is only £6.95, which is a good price in comparison, particularly for something that hasn't even been published yet.

More Wordcrime: Solving Crime With Linguistics by John Olsson https://www.amazon.co.uk/More-Wordcrime-Solving-Crime-Linguistics-ebook/dp/B07FH... This is the follow-up to a 2009 book, and looks fascinating. Yes please.



Turning the Tide on Plastic: How Humanity (And You) Can Make Our Globe Clean Again by Lucy Siegle https://www.amazon.co.uk/Turning-Tide-Plastic-Humanity-Globe-ebook/dp/B079X2S9VQ... Definitely.



The Beekeeper of Sinjar by Dunya Mikhail https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beekeeper-Sinjar-Dunya-Mikhail-ebook/dp/B079KJXBX7/ref=... "The story of the heroic farmer who, in 2014, set out to rescue dozens of Yazidi women enslaved and brutalised by ISIS". This looks good. The Guardian review is available on Charlotte's thread.



The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age by James Crabtree https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07B65ZR3B/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp... "It is hard to put this book down and be optimistic about India's future".

They also have the cricket biography, which is in my last post. And I'm still not tempted. And the butchery one. Ditto. And She Has Her Mother's Laugh, which I must have seen in a previous Saturday Times review. Oh, and The Briefing by Sean Spicer. Yeah, no.

I have the book about the hungry empire in the (rather large) pile of books from the library. Needless to say having 'only' 15 books out didn't last very long...

As usual lots of lovely books that I will try and ignore the lure of...

>151 charl08: Charlotte, that one has just come out in paperback, but I don't remember seeing it in hardback or even hearing about it. I must do better.

>152 Helenliz: Helen, good luck with that!



103. The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil

I saw this on a list somewhere, but I don't think I've seen it reviewed by any of y'all. It's a memoir by a young woman who escaped the genocide in Rwanda as a five-year-old child and spent years homeless in Africa with her older sister, who fortunately was old enough to look after her. Eventually they were accepted into the US as refugees, which was not the happy ending that they hoped it would be. The author and her sister appeared on Oprah some years ago, and I think she is now fairly well known in the US, and speaks a lot about her experiences. I thought the book was excellent, although perhaps lost focus towards the end. But I imagine that after surviving all that, it must be nearly impossible to work out what comes next, and what you want your life to be when you've been so focused on basic survival for so long.

I have Kurlansky's books on Salt and Cod. Haven't read them yet, of course. When this milk one shows up in an e-sale, I'm sure I'll buy it, too. Maybe I'll even read them someday!

>153 susanj67: This one sounds really good, Susan. Onto the list it goes.

>154 rosalita: Julia, I think I'd heard of the cod one (or *a* cold one) but haven't read any of his either. Hey, we could do a read-along of the cod one! It's available at my elibrary. I thought of you when I saw the review of More Wordcrime too.

>155 BLBera: Beth, yes, I think it would fit really well with what you've been reading.

Ugh, just been doing maths, including a table and many pieces of paper. I am hoping it is now time for dinner. Oh, nearly :-) As Poldark finished last week there is now a hole in my evening which I'm not sure I can fill with the Ed Balls Trump's America documentary, although I recorded part 1 last week, so maybe I should make the effort. For UK viewers with the iPlayer, I read somewhere that they now have an Archive section which includes famous wet shirts etc. So if you wear out your DVDs, help is at hand :-)

Others have also noticed the P&P is in the box set section :-)
Also, if you were still looking for UK free on Prime recommendations, I just loved The Marvellous Mrs Maisel.

>157 charl08: Charlotte, I must have a look at the archive to see what else is in there. The BBC's Wives and Daughters is superb if anyone wants something without Colin in it. Thanks for the Prime recommendation - I'll give that one a go if I have time. Yesterday I got a "Kindle First" book for free, which was nice. I chose All This I Will Give To You by Dolores Rodondo. And today Snap is a Kindle Daily Deal. Must. Stop. Acquiring. Stuff.

Clock Dance was waiting for me at the library this morning - yay! That leaves seven reserves in transit and three "Active". "Active" in this context means "Not really active".

I started Texas last night, and read 56 pages. Pages still to go: 944. But I did read the whole of the first chapter, which is about the very early Spanish/Mexican forays into what is now the US. It was really interesting, and also reminded me that I have a set of bodice-rippers set in that area from a bit later than that, which might go well with the general theme. I will delve into my Kindle library and try and find them.

Things you never knew #194:

From an article about rural thefts rising, and the measures farmers are taking to try and stop them:

"Others are using animals including geese, llamas and dogs as a low-tech alarm system, much as landowners did hundreds of years ago."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/06/farmers-using-medieval-methods-t...

What I want to know is why do medieval paintings, tapestries etc never seem to show all these British llamas?

Hi Susan: I hope your week starts well.

I was smiling at the length of Texas, but then your description made me add it to the list, darn it!

I'll watch for your comments on Clock Dance. I hope you like it. No pressure.

>161 BLBera: Thanks Beth - it's starting well but I just found out the Waterstones in the mall has closed forever, which is sad. There is still one in the other mall, but I would have thought Canary Wharf could sustain two bookshops.

I was just discussing books with Booky Work Friend, and mentioned that the Anne Tyler had come in. She hasn't read any, so asked what I would recommend. I said that she'd written one for the Hogarth Shakespeare series. "Based on Pride and Prejudice," I said. "Um," said BWF...

So I just emailed the details of Anne's book Vinegar Girl, based on The Taming of the Shrew, and Curtis Sittenfeld's Eligible. D'oh!

And the dinosaur one. BWF looked dubious, but wrote it down.

Ah, the much missed medieval llama...

I'd like a llama ... or maybe an alpaca ... not sure the difference!

I some how lost your thread. You are the second person that I have found tonight that I've neglected their thread! So sorry!

>163 charl08: Charlotte, I'm going to look closely at "goats" in pictures from now on, just in case.

>164 ChelleBearss: Hi Chelle! Never mind - it is easy to do, especially reading on phones. I'm not sure what the difference is between an alpaca and a llama but here is a link which explains it :-) https://modernfarmer.com/2015/09/difference-between-llama-and-alpaca/

Pages of Texas read: 81. Pages to go: 919. Last night was not a big Texas-reading night, but I made good progress with Little Fires Everywhere, which someone has reserved and which I want to finish quickly. Also I keep having to stop reading Texas and google things. Chapter 2 moves forward to the 1730s, and is all about a mestizo man (I think that term is still OK as it is in Wikipedia) finding a wife, who is the maid to a Spanish woman who must marry someone from Spain (a "peninsulare") or a white person of Spanish origins born in Mexico (a "criollo"). There's a lengthy Wikipedia entry about it all. I hope to finish that chapter tonight, particularly as it is supposed to rain later and be 10C cooler.

104. Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change by Ashley Dawson

This started out well, looking at the issues that many large coastal cities* will face as the planet heats up and crazy weather becomes more common. Its focus was Hurricane Sandy, but it also looked at cities in other parts of the world. The writing was a bit uneven - some of it read like a magazine article and other bits like an academic paper, but I stuck with it. But the last couple of chapters involved New York politics, which was boring, and the usual rant in a Verso-published book about how white people were responsible for every ill that had ever befallen the world. So it fell apart after a decent-enough start.

*A little-known fact, not from the book: If "coastal" is defined as an area subject to tides, then central London is a coastal city.

105. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

I got this from the library's new fiction shelf because I'd seen it on a lot of people's threads, and I loved it. Very highly recommended, and I must now look for her other books. Thanks y'all for bringing it to my attention! I read it quickly because someone else has reserved it, so I'm not doing too badly with the library books at the moment.

Texas update - pages read: 100. Pages still to go: 900. I'm still in the 1730s but didn't have a chance to read much of it last night.

Welp, you already know more Texas history than I do, Susan :)

>168 katiekrug: Katie, there may be a test when I've finished :-) Yesterday I also looked up the difference between Latino and Hispanic, so now I know that too. I feel very ignorant, but we really don't get that much news from Latin/South America and I have never studied it in detail.

Speaking of Hispanic, FOR's kids' nanny is from Colombia. His little girl is 16 months old now, and saying words. Spanish words, in fact. He says they will ask her "Would you like this?" and the answer is "Si". Apparently her accent is excellent :-)

>167 susanj67: Glad that you enjoyed Little Fires Everywhere. I have that waiting for me, at some point.

>169 susanj67: Never too young to start a world language. Plastic brain won't last for ever...

>170 ChelleBearss: Chelle, you have a treat in store!

>171 charl08: Charlotte, I agree! And if we have to find new markets after Brexit, Spanish actually makes a lot of sense because most of South America speaks it.

I will add Little Fires Everywhere to my WL, Susan. The cities one, I'll pass on.

Kids pick up language surprisingly fast, and it is a huge advantage to be multilingual.

>173 BLBera: Beth, yes, people are always saying here that English speakers are very bad at learning other languages (or perhaps it's people in the UK, although NZ is similar). We had French and German as options when I was at high school. Some schools offered Japanese, but Japan was richer back then, and China wasn't the booming economy that it is today. I'm not sure that Spanish is widely taught here but I think I read somewhere that it's the second most widely spoken language in the world (?). Or maybe that it will be soon. It's certainly a lot more widely spoken than French and particularly German, anyway.

Day off today, so I went down to Tesco with the pensioners. It's school holidays, though, so I thought there might be more kids there. There's a dinosaur activity thing running in the mall which looks like fun for kids, so maybe their parents are waiting to drop them off at that and shop in peace :-)

Texas progress: 177 pages read. Still to read: 823. And I've enrolled for a basic Spanish course via FutureLearn, by the Open University. https://www.futurelearn.com/programs/spanish-for-beginners It's free unless you want the certificate, which I don't. I may, however, need people to practice with :-)

Sad news at the office yesterday - FOR is leaving to go to a new job. Well, its excellent news for him but not for his pals left behind. No more toddler tales, for one thing, or pictures of his son in e.g. a police car. "Was it open day at the police station?" I asked. "Fortunately it was," he said :-) He only has an ambulance to go and he will have inspected all the emergency vehicles and tried most of the hats.

Puedes practicar español conmigo. (You can practice Spanish with me). The advantage is that Spanish has lots of cognates and is easy to pronounce.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your colleague.

Happy Friday, Scout's birthday!

Sorry to hear about the changes at work, Susan. The good ones are always the most sorely missed. You only got me with one book bullet this time for Travellers in the Third Reich. I finished the book about romance novels. It was very good even potential reread material.

Sorry to hear about FOR moving on, Susan. Hope your day off has been relaxed. Took three small people to a local aquarium as crazy weather meant the zoo was rained off (of course, as we drove home, the sun was blazing down...) Now going to lie down in darkened room.

>176 BLBera: Thanks Beth! I'll take you up on that :-) When I hear it spoken it seems to be a very fast language, even faster than I speak English :-)

>177 Familyhistorian: Meg, excellent news about the romance book! And Travellers in the Third Reich is definitely worth a read.

>178 charl08: Charlotte, I hope the lie-down was everything you hoped it would be while you were at the aquarium :-)

Texas pages read: 240 (woefully behind my ideal daily page count). Still to read: 760. Yesterday I read the very long chapter about people crossing into Tejas from Louisiana and having to convert to Catholicism before they were allowed any land. By the end of that segment, the white people were calling themselves "Texicans". At least I assume they were - there are a lot of fictitious people in the book but I doubt that the writer would just make up entire things like that. In a way it's like the Edward Rutherfurd books, which follow families through the years, but there's a clunky back-story pulling it all together. The narrator joining each story together is head of a task force assembled by the Governor to review how history is taught in Texas, so it looks at all the key developments (although as the stories start in the 1530s, maybe not *all* of them...). I keep wondering how the story would be told today.

Today I think I'll take a break and read Clock Dance as I know there are people in line for it, and I can return it on Monday.

"Texicans" was an actual thing.

ETA: I think. I've heard the term before in relation to Texas history, but I am unclear on how it differs from "Texian". I believe both are to differentiate from the "Tejanos" who were the settlers of Mexican heritage.

>180 katiekrug: Thanks Katie! I've found a novel called The Texicans, which is now in my Amazon basket :-)



106. Clock Dance by Anne Tyler

LOVED this. Just loved it. I've read all of Anne Tyler's books and enjoyed them all, so maybe it's not surprising. I think I'll recommend this one to Booky Work Friend who was looking for one to start with ;-)

Next up is Settled Blood, which is the second in the crime series that I started a couple of weeks ago, and then I'll go back to Texas. The book about the female spies is waiting for me at the library so I will pick that up on Monday.

Saturday Times NF reviewed books:



21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lessons-21st-Century-Yuval-Harari-ebook/dp/B0767FS76G/r... "The bestselling writer is good at identifying the crises to come but the syrupy platitudes here are no answer". No.

Till The Cows Come Home: The Story of Our Eternal Dependence by Phillip Walling https://www.amazon.co.uk/Till-Cows-Come-Home-Dependence-ebook/dp/B0792N2177/ref=... "The story of dairy farming by a former cowman turns into an elegy for a dying industry" Maybe.



Dopesick by Beth Macy https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dopesick-Dealers-Doctors-Company-Addicted-ebook/dp/B07F... "A devastating expose looks at how a greedy drug company helped to fuel an opioid crisis that claims seven victims an hour" Yes.



Gypsies by David Cressy https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gypsies-English-History-David-Cressy-ebook/dp/B07DPP799... Maybe.



Lords of the Desert by James Barr

US subtitle (shown): The Battle Between the United States and Great Britain for Supremacy in the Middle East.
UK subtitle: Britain's Struggle With America to Dominate the Middle East

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lords-Desert-Britains-Struggle-Dominate-ebook/dp/B077DH... "In a few decades the US pushed Britain out of the Middle East". Probably very hard, so no.

I've added Dopesick to the wishlist Susan. (The first touchstone that comes up is more than a little odd!)
(ETA: amusingly, my library has the other version of Dopesick on cd - I'm guessing it's a band that completely passed me by...)

>181 susanj67: I am so behind on my Anne Tyler books! I really must get to A Spool of Blue Thread first I think.

>183 charl08: Charlotte, I have changed that touchstone :-)

I'm particularly interested in why it's such an issue in the US but not really (or so much) here. I saw a warning recently about fentanyl patches here, but we don't seem to have anything like the scope of the problem the US has. I think I read somewhere that in the US the insurance companies won't pay for (enough) physical therapy/rehab after accidents, and it's easier just to medicate people and they get addicted and it flows from there, but I doubt the NHS has the money or staff to offer lots of physio/rehab etc, so there must also be the temptation here just to medicate (like there is with anti-depressants vs CBT, for example). Ah, here is a blog post on the very subject: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2018/02/26/why-has-the-us-opioid-crisis-not-spr... It seems that making people stick to one GP here means they can't go to multiple doctors for drugs, which is one reason for the difference.
And this looks like another good book on the US situation: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00U19DTS0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp...

>184 LovingLit: Megan, I am tempted to start rereading them, even though I never reread. I've loved her writing ever since studying Searching for Caleb in the 6th form.

>185 susanj67: I do remember watching a doc about a guy who was a big bodybuilder, but was taking so many painkillers, it was crazy. What was amazing was the programme took a detailed history, tracked it to a big injury he had had in his teens / early twenties, got him a good physio who was able to help retrain his muscles, and to all intents and purposes 'fixed' him. Quite how much the NHS might have saved on the tablets if they did that in the first place...

>186 charl08: The physio would probably all have come out of a single year's budget, though, whereas tablets are spread over years and years, and there is always the hope that people will just give up and stop going to the doctor. Or maybe I'm just a cynic...

>185 susanj67: Another reason may be that the actions of drug makers are more tightly regulated in the UK? Here the big drug companies are notorious for wining and dining and giving gifts and honorariums to doctors — essentially bribing them to prescribe their drugs more often. The L.A. Times newspaper did a great multi-part investigative package on the problem last year. 'You Want a Description of Hell?' Oxycontin's 12-Hour Problem is the first part; the other parts are linked from a menu at the top of that page.

I'm so happy you loved Clock Dance, Susan. Tyler does such a great job with her characters. And I love reading books with 60+ women in them.

>188 rosalita: Thanks Julia - sadly the LA Times is currently unavailable here due to data protection freaking-out - a number of US publications now geo-block us just in case they break some law. It's pretty silly, but if it ever comes back online I will check the link :-) There is wooing of doctors here by the drug companies, but the Bribery Act is pretty strict about what is appropriate, value-wise. Office stationery is fine, weekends away etc are not :-) In fact it applies to everyone - my firm has strict rules about what we can accept (and give) by way of gifts and anything nice has to be declared to the central compliance team. Sometimes we need permission before we can even open a gift, which is sort of embarrassing when you forget and you're half-way through a tin of luxury shortbread ten minutes after picking up a hamper from the mail room. Or so I believe :-)

>189 BLBera: Beth, yes, it was a real win for me. I love her writing style, and the fact that so much happens in even the quiet lives of her characters. I also loved Airplane :-)



107. Settled Blood by Mari Hannah

Ehhh - the writing isn't awesome (people "grin" a lot instead of, say, smiling, smirking, giggling etc, which they might do for variety) and I'm unconvinced by the main character, but I'll keep this series in my series post up the thread and get book 3 at some stage. Just not immediately.

That leaves me with Texas (no progress since Friday) and the one about female spies in the 17th century. And two Christopher Isherwood ebooks (the second one is for the PopSugar challenge) and another ebook that Beth loved. Not bad. Lots of things are in transit, but nothing has arrived since Thursday.

I had to link to this adorable story about a Very Good Boy carrying out a daring ocean rescue...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6055533/Dog-fears-owners-granddaughter-w...

It's better than the rest of the news, which yet again sees Westminster on lockdown after a car drove into people.

>191 susanj67: Such a very good doggo!

>192 rosalita: Aw. Very cute.

>185 susanj67: Vancouver has a significant fentanyl problem but it has to do with our illegal drug problem for which we are notorious. The problem is that fentanyl is being cut into heroin and other street drugs and leads to overdoses as the drug users don't know what they are getting. There is a news report that paramedics in BC responded to 130 overdoses last Friday. So where is the fentanyl coming from?

>177 Familyhistorian: You may have only got me with one BB last time, Susan, but I just picked up another of your BBs at the library yesterday, The Kill Artist. It was one of 3 reserved books that I picked up and it looks like there are 2 more ready for me. Maybe I should give up all other activity so that I can get them all read.

Dopesick looks good, Susan, but I will be waiting for your actual approval before putting it on the you-list. (There is a protocol, after all, about these things.) The Anne Tyler is going on the list. With such enthusiasm from you how could I not put it there? Don't know why I've never tried her before...

Hope your day is going well.

>195 Fourpawz2: I just ordered Dopesick for the library. I think we'll have a lot of interest in it because we have a lot of students in health professions and pre-professions degrees and because the Appalachian region where we are located often prefers natural remedies to prescription drugs anyway.

>192 rosalita:, >193 charl08: Wasn't he good? Determined to rescue people regardless of whether they actually needed rescuing at all :-)

>194 Familyhistorian: Meg, is fentanyl something that ordinary people can manufacture, like crystal meth? There might be a home industry in it. I've read about it here but not in great amounts (yet). We don't have a crystal meth issue here either, because apparently other drugs are much cheaper and more plentiful, and it is difficult to cook up, as fans of Breaking Bad will know :-) We are starting to see stories about "spice", though, which is rife in prisons and some other areas. I have no idea what it actually is, but when the Russian father and daughter collapsed in Salisbury it was originally thought that they were spice victims, which is why it took a while for the authorities to realise what had actually happened. Apparently it's not unusual to see people slumped unconscious on park benches in some towns, although I haven't read about it as a "thing" in London.

>195 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, yes, definitely wait until I have read it. The protocol is there for a reason :-) But get all the Anne Tylers you can find!

>196 thornton37814: Lori, I hope it comes in soon and you can sneak a look before it goes out for loan :-)

I've had today off, because it's still quiet in the office. It's been gorgeous after yesterday's non-stop rain, so I walked to the supermarket early.



108. Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
109. Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

Christopher Isherwood was mentioned a bit in Travellers in the Third Reich, where I read that one of the characters in Goodbye to Berlin was the basis for the musical Cabaret. I thought it would be a good book for the PopSugar challenge to read a book which was made into a musical. But, as they were linked books, I had to read the first one first. Of course I did. Boy were they boring. The first was worse than the second, and I still don't understand what the plot actually meant. The second was sketches written with a view to a very long book about Germany which was never written. The author appears as himself in that book, but it was still very dull. I'm super-glad to be finished them both, particularly as the "days left" counter in the elibrary was into hours by the time I did :-)

>197 susanj67: they have such fabulous covers. A shame you didn't enjoy the contents as much.

>197 susanj67: Total bummer about the Isherwood books - I also picked up one of his because it was mentioned in Travellers in the Third Reich, but the one I got was Christopher and His Kind.

>198 Helenliz: Helen, yes, it was a pity.

>199 Crazymamie: Mamie, that one seems to get some good reviews on LT, so don't despair!

Ooh, 200 posts. We know what that means! BRB...