HanGerg is aiming for the magic 75 in 2019

Hi everyone! Welcome to my thread for 2019! I'm Hannah. A 40 year old living in Lincoln, UK. This is my...eighth? year on LT, and although I don't get here as often as I would like, I really treasure this community of lovely people and all the great reads they have led me to! I read a lot of Science Fiction, a fair bit of mainstream contemporary fiction, and some older stuff too. I also read a smattering of non-fiction. Climate Change and what we can do about it are a big theme with me right now, so lots of books about that will probably be in order this year.
I'm doing a big ongoing reading challenge, reading 150 books taken from this list : https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/23/bestbooks-fiction, one for each year of the years 1865-2015. I've read only 29 from the list so far but I'm content to do it at that kind of meandering speed.
So, my big LT goal this year is to really try and get to the magic figure of 75 books! I haven't done it yet, but I really want to try this year! Also, the usual stuff about trying to get round to visit more threads and be more present on my own. Also REVIEWS! This year, I really, really am, going to keep on top of them. No really, just you watch me. Seriously. I mean it this time.

January
1.The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place - Julie Berry 3.5/5
2.Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari 4/5
3.Visitor - C.J.Cherryh 4.5/5
4.Ancillary Mercy - Ann Leckie 4.5/5
5.A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas 3.5/5
6.The Moving Finger - Agatha Christie 4/5

February
7.Tower of Dawn - Sarah J. Maas 4/5
8. A Princess of Mars -Edgar Rice Burroughs 2/5
9.Danny Champion of the World - Roald Dahl 3/5
10.Utopia for Realists - Rutger Bregman 3.5/5

March
11.Fool's Errand - Robin Hobb 4/5
12.The Duchess Deal - Tessa Dare 4/5
13.The Governess Game - Tessa Dare 2.5/5
14.One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson 4/5
15.Sons and Lovers - D.H.Lawrence 3.5/5
16.A Darker Shade of Magic - V. E. Schwab 3/5

April
17.Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson 4/5
18.The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington 4/5
19.A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas 3.5/5

May
20.A Court of Wings and Ruin - Sarah J. Maas 4/5
21.Convergence - C.J. Cherryh 4/5

June
22.Zorba the Greek - Nikos Kazantzakis 0.5/5
23.Animal - Sarah Pascoe 3.5/5
24.Gentlemen and Players - Joanne Harris 4/5
25.Autumn in Europe - Dave Hutchinson 4/5

July
26.Rosie's Little Cafe on the Riviera - Jennifer Bohnet 2.5/5
27.Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson 3.5/5
28.Bedsit Disco Queen - Tracey Thorn 4/5

August
29.Europe at Midnight - Dave Hutchinson 4/5
30.Marauder - Gary Gibson 2.5/5
31.Virginia Woolf in Manhattan - Maggie Gee 5/5
32.Fool's Fate - Robin Hobb 5/5

September
33.Little Women - Louisa May Alcott 3/5
34.One Child - Mei Fong 4/5
35.The Power - Naomi Alderman 4/5
36.Poirot Investigates - Agatha Christie 3/5

October
37.Record of a Spaceborn Few - Becky Chambers 4/5
38.The Ministry of Utmost Happiness - Arundhati Roy 4/5
39.The Pearls of Lutra - Brian Jacques 3.5/5

November
40.The Tea Master and the Detective - Aliette de Bodard 3.5/5
41.Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett 4/5
42.Penguin Lost - Andrey Kurkov 3/5
43.Kingdom of Ash - Sarah J. Maas 3.5/5
44.Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett 3.5/5

December
45.The Awakening - Kate Chopin 4.5/5
46.Planetfall - Emma Newman 4/5
47.Watchman - Ian Rankin 2.5/5
48.Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett 3/5
49.Spare and Found Parts - Sarah Maria Griffin 3.5/5

1865 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll READ 2.5/5
1866 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky READ 4/5
1867 The Last Chronicle of Barset - Anthony Trollope READ 3.5/5
1868 Little Women - Louisa May Alcott READ 3.5/5
1869 Lorna Doone - RD Blackmore READ 3/5
1870 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne READ 2.5/5
1871 The Coming Race - Edward Bulwer-Lytton READ 2.5/5
1872 Erewhon - Samuel Butler READ 3/5
1873 Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne READ 2.5/5
1874 Middlemarch - George Elliot READ 4/5
1875: The Crime of Father Amaro - José Maria de Eça de Queiroz
1876 Daniel Deronda - George Eliot
1877 L'Assommoir - Emile Zola READ 1/5
1878 The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy
1879 The Red Room - August Stringberg
1880 The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
1881 Bouvard and Pécuchet - Gustave Flaubert
1882 The Prince and the Pauper - Mark Twain
1883 Treasure Island - R. L. Stevenson READ 3.5/5
1884 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
1885 After London; or, Wild England - Richard Jefferies / King Solomon's Mines - H Rider Haggard
1886 Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson
1887 She: A History of Adventure - H Rider Haggard
1888 Pierre and Jean - Guy de Maupassant
1889 Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog - Jerome K. Jerome
1890 News from Nowhere - William Morris
1891 The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
1892 The Diary of a Nobody - George Grossmith READ 2.5/5
1893 The Odd Women - George Gissing
1894 The Prisoner of Zenda - Anthony Hope
1895The Time Machine - HG Wells
1896 Effi Briest - Theodore Fontane
1897 The Invisible Man - H.G.Wells
1898 The Turn of the Screw - Henry James / The War of the Worlds- HG Wells
1899 The Awakening - Kate Chopin /> READ 4.5/5
1900 Sister Carrie - Theodor Dreiser
1901 Buddenbrooks - Thomas Mann
1902 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
1903 The Way of All Flesh - Samuel Butler
1904 Nostromo - Joseph Conrad
1905 The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy /> READ 4/5
1906 The Man of Property - John Galsworthy
1907 The Secret Agent - Joseph Conrad
1908 The Man who was Thursday - GK Chesterton READ 3/5
1909 Institute Benjamenta - Robert Walser
1910 The Vagabond - Colette
1911 Zuleika Dobson - Max Beerbohm
1912 A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice BurroughsREAD 2/5
1913 Sons and Lovers - DH Lawrence READ 3.5/5 / Remembrance of Things Past - Marcel Proust *
1914 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert Tressell READ 2.5/5
1915 Pointed Roofs - Dorothy Richardson /Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman READ 3.5/5 / The Rainbow - D H Lawrence
1916 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
1917 Christine - Elizabeth von Arnim
1918 The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington READ 4/5
1919 Night and Day - Virginia Woolf READ 4/5
1920 Queen Lucia - EF Benson READ 4.5/5 A Voyage to Arcturus - David Lindsay /
1921 Rosa Sacaramouche - Rafael Sabatini
1922 One of Ours - Willa Cather
1923 A Lost Lady - Willa Cather
1924 The Rector's Daughter - FM Mayor / We - Yevgeny Zamyatin READ 4/5
1925 The Polyglots - William Gerhardie
1926 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie
1927 Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
1928 Ali and Nino - Kurban Said
1929 The Last September - Elizabeth Bowen / Berlin Alexanderplatz - Alfred Döblin / All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
1930 Narziss and Goldmund - Hermann Hesse
1931 Afternoon Men - Anthony Powell / Sanctuary - William Faulkner
1932 Invitation to the Waltz - Rosamond Lehmann* READ 4.5/5
1933 Frost in May - Antonia White / They Were Counted - Miklos Banffy / Love on the Dole - Walter Greenwood
1934 Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller
1935 Untouchable - Mulk Raj Anand
1936 South Riding - Winifred Holtby READ 5/5
1937 Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon
1938 Count Belisarius - Robert Graves / The Beast Must Die - Nicholas Blake
1939 Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood / Rogue Male - Geoffrey Household
1940 The Man Who Loved Children - Christina Stead / Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler
1941 No Bed for Bacon - Caryl Brahms and SJ Simon
1942 Darkness Falls from the Air - Nigel Balchin
1943 Two Serious Ladies - Jane Bowles
1944 The Shrimp and the Anemone - LP Hartley
1945 The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford
1946 Zorba the Greek - Nikos Kazantzakis READ 0.5/5
1947 Manservant and Maidservant - Ivy Compton-Burnett/ The Plague - Albert Camus
1948 I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
1949 The Parasites - Daphne du Maurier / The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
1950 The Case of Comrade Tulayev - Victor Serge / A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
1951 Foundation - Isaac Asimov / My Cousin Rachel - Daphne du Maurier
1952 The Family Moskat or The Manor or The Estate - Isaac Bashevis Singer / Excellent Women - Barbara Pym
1953 The Go-Between - LP Hartley /The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow / The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler
1954 I Am Legend - Richard Matheson / Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis
1955 Memed, my Hawk - Yasar Kemal / Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
1956 A Legacy - Sybille Bedford / Palace Walk - Naguib Mahfouz / The Lonely Londoners - Samuel Selvon
1957 The Fountain Overflows - Rebecca West / The Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham *
1958 Non-Stop - Brian W Aldiss READ 4.5/5 / Our Man in Havana - Graham Greene: *
1959 Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut / Zazie in the Metro - Raymond Queneau /Absolute Beginners - Colin MacInnes
1960 The L Shaped Room - Lynne Reid Banks / Rogue Moon - Algis Budrys / God's Bit of Wood - Ousmane Sembène
1961 Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A Heinlein (*)/ Solaris - Stanislaw Lem / The Moviegoer - Walker Percy
1962 The Garden of the Finzi-Cortinis - Giorgio Bassani / One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1963 The Group - Mary McCarthy
1964 Last Exit to Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr READ 3/5
1965 Dune - Frank L Herbert
1966 The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
1967 The Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien / A Season in Sinji - JL Carr
1968 A Kestrel for a Knave - Barry Hines
1969 The French Lieutenant's Woman - John Fowles / Travels With My Aunt - Graham Greene
1970 Ringworld - Larry Niven
1971 Chronicle in Stone - Ismael Kadare
1972 My Name Is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok / The Harpole Report - JL Carr
1973 Carrie's War - Nina Bawden
1974 The Forever War - Joe Haldeman * READ 4/5 / Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino / Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - John Le Carre
1975 Hello Summer, Goodbye - Michael G Coney
1976 The Painter of Signs - RK Narayan / The Hearing Trumpet - Leonora Carrington
1977 Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison
1978 Who Do You Think You Are? - Alice Munro
1979 Kindred - Octavia Butler / Sophie's Choice - William Styron
1980 Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban *
1981 Good Behaviour - Molly Keane / Sharpe's Eagle - Bernard Cornwell / Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (*)
1982 Sour Sweet - Timothy Mo / The Color Purple - Alice Walker / An Ice-Cream War - William Boyd

1983 Look At Me - Anita Brookner
1984 Money - Martin Amis
1985 Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy /Illywhacker - Peter Carey / White Noise - Don DeLillo
1986 The Sportswriter - Richard Ford
1987 In the Country of Last Things - Paul Auster:
1988 The Swimming-Pool Library - Alan Hollinghurst / Nice Work - David Lodge
1989 Hyperion - Dan Simmons * /A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters - Julian Barnes
1990 Vineland - Thomas Pynchon
1991 A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley
1992 The Children of Men - PD James / Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson / Hideous Kinky - Esther Freud/ Fatherland - Robert Harris
1993 Vurt - Jeff Noon READ 4.5/5
1994 Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith / The Sorrow of War - Bao Ninh
1995 The Unconsoled - Kazuo Ishiguro /Blindness - José Saramago / Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson / Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
1996 Death and the Penguin - Andrey Kurkov READ 4.5/5 / The Insult - Rupert Thomson / The Debt to Pleasure - John Lanchester
1997 Great Apes - Will Self
1998 Death in Summer - William Trevor / The Restraint of Beasts - Magnus Mills
1999 Darwin's Radio - Greg Bear / Cryptonomicon - Neil Stephenson / The Mighty Walzer - Howard Jacobson
2000 Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds * / The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon* /White Teeth - Zadie Smith
2001 American Gods - Neil Gaiman READ 3.5/5 / The Lecturer's Tale — A Novel - James Hynes:
2002 Light - M John Harrison / The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson
2003 Personality - Andrew O'Hagan
2004 Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
2005 On Beauty - Zadie Smith / Beyond Black - Hilary Mantel
2006 Genesis - Bernard Beckett
2007 The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett / A Quiet Belief in Angels - RJ Ellory
2008 The Night Sessions - Ken Macleod / The Sacred Book of the Werewolf - Victor Pelevin
2009 The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan
2010 Room - Emma Donoghue READ 4/5
2011 Embassytown - China Mieville
2012 2312 - Kim Stanley Robinson
2013 Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie READ 4.5/5
2014 The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
2015 The Just City - Jo Walton

Welcome back, Hannah!

Happy reading in 2019, Hannah!

Dropping off my star, Hannah!

Happy 2019
A year full of books
A year full of friends
A year full of all your wishes realised

I look forward to keeping up with you, Hannah, this year.

Happy New Year, Hannah. Love the picture at the top.

>4 drneutron:. Thanks Jim! First as always!
>5 FAMeulstee:. Hi Anita! And the same to you!
>6 ronincats:.Hi Roni! What a cheery looking star it is!
>7 PaulCranswick:. Thanks Paul. I shan't promise to keep up with you, but I shall certainly try and look in from time to time!
>8 SandDune:.Hi Rhian! Thank you - it was taken on our summer Euro road trip. This was on the home leg of the trip, when we stayed in Lausanne in Switzerland. Here we are down at the shore of lake Geneva. We went on to Geneva itself a day later. Both lovely places I would like to return to again.

Right, well, I've finished a book, and in keeping with my pledge to keep up with my reviews this year, I'm going to review it right now!


1.The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place - Julie Berry 3.5/5
A YA novel I picked up in the library because it looked like it would be fun, and it was, although I found it unexpectedly stressful too. It's a sort of historical murder mystery farce, in which seven young girls on the cusp of womanhood decide to cover up the death by poisoning of the disliked headmistress of their little boarding school, and that of her unpleasant brother, in order to retain their independence and not be sent home to their stifling family lives. It's meant to be a bold and daring thing to do, and one which leads them into all kinds of scrapes as they have to quickly start telling all kinds of lies and do all sorts of weird things to cover up the deaths. To me it was a fundamentally immoral thing that they did, and all the subterfuge I found stressful rather than fun. But it was well researched for period details and well written, the moral aspect of their behaviour is addressed at the end, and I liked the central conceit of a band of capable young women coming together in a common endeavour. I just didn't find it the hoot I was supposedly meant to. The murder mystery angle was what kept me turning the pages, and that was all done pretty well I think. So, a mixed bag for my first read of the year.

>10 HanGerg: I hope the rest of your reading year improves from here on out, Hannah!

Happy 2019!

>Hi Stasia! Me too! I'm currently reading Ancillary Mercy so I'm fairly confident that will be the case...
>Hi Susan! Thanks for the fireworks! They definitely add a touch of style to the thread!

Hi Hannah, sorry about the mixed bag of a first read- hope the next one is better. I love the topper: so much beautiful blue.

Hi Hannah! Happy New Year! I remember reading The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place a few years ago, and I gave it the same rating you did. I thought it was annoying how they called all of the girls by their long nicknames throughout the entire book. That's pretty much all I remember from that one! Hope your next read is more enjoyable!

>15 aktakukac: Hi Rachel! Thanks for dropping by! Yes, the nicknames were annoying, but then I was getting the characters a bit muddled, even with the nicknames to help me identify them. I had to keep flicking to the front to look at the little portraits to get it clear in my head who was doing what. A sign that the characterisation could have been a little better, I think!
I see you have a little one too! My little (or BIG! as he claims) one is slightly older; three last August. Still, it might be fun to swap book recommendations. I don't actually know how many British kids books make it over your side of the pond, and vice versa. I follow a few people on Instagram that are sharing recommendations for kids books in the US and very few of them are titles I recognise, but we shall see!

2.Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari 4/5
I've finally finished this, after dipping in and out of it for months. The early chapters about pre-history were totally mind blowing for me - which just goes to show how little I knew about this era. All the stuff about the extinct megafauna was a complete revelation ("there were 6 foot high giant armadillos!?!! Whaaaat????" *mind blown* would be a typical thought), as were some of his, presumably original observations, such as the fact that moving from a nomadic hunter gatherer society to a static, farming based one was actually catastrophically bad for the average human, even as it advanced human civilisation as a whole. Most provocative of all from my perspective, is that he debunks the idea that most societies are patriarchal because of men's superior physical strength. As he points out, most men that attain power in societies worldwide do not tend to be the strongest, rather the smartest, or most ruthless, or best at persuading others to do their bidding. Therefore, he argues, we don't really know why women haven't risen to the top in more instances. I found this an insanely interesting idea, but he didn't really go into it any further. I wanted a whole book on just this topic - perhaps it exists. But he was off again, onto the next thing, which was sometimes the weakness of the book. Also,I found it got less mind blowing as he moved into areas of history I was more familiar with, but even there he had some extremely thought provoking ideas. At the end he starts looking at what the future might hold - I believe the sequel is entirely about this and not doubt expands on some of the ideas here, about how our descendants might eclipse us to the extent that they can hardly be called human anymore, and all of humanity might just become a footnote on the road to something else. There were moments towards the end of the book where it felt like he was being deliberately obtuse, saying things such as, to paraphrase, "peasants in the middle ages were probably happier than us because they believed in an afterlife, so they were happy because they were deluded. But we modern humans, by trying to ascribe meaning to our meaningless existences, are equally deluded." Perhaps he's right, but I refuse to entertain that idea. Deluded I suppose. It's a rambling review, because the book is packed full of so much stuff it's hard to take an overview. Some of it is fascinating, some less so, but his analysis feels fresh and new in many areas, even if I find myself rejecting some of his conclusions.

>17 HanGerg: That one sounds very interesting. I suspect my reaction to the early chapters will mirror yours. Thanks for the recommendation and review, Hannah! I will have to see if the local library has a copy.

Right, well after that very meandering review (hey, at least I'm keeping up to date!), there's time for a quick RL update before I turn in.
So, it's been a funny time lately. We were in Hungary for Christmas, which was largely fun, although with some of the family tensions that characterise our trips to Budapest in recent years - nothing serious, just background tension stuff with a side order of resentments that occasionally break the surface. Normal family stuff, in other words. Anyway, the main thing is, when it nearly came time to fly home, we noticed a few ominous looking spots on Leó's torso....yep, it was chicken pox. So after an hour or two of furious brainstorming of possible ways to get back to England (my husband and his brother were driving Leó back to Lincoln in my husband's aunt's car at one point!), it was decided that I would travel home alone on the original flight on December 28th, and my husband would get tickets for himself and Leó for January 6th. That date was chosen as we were assured by everyone he would be pox free by then, and on the 8th of January we were due to go to Tenerife with my mum, so it was almost the very last moment they could return and still make that trip. So, that's what we did. I was looking forward to several days of just doing exactly what I pleased - every parent's dream! But as it turned out, I was mainly just missing the man/boy folk and procrastinating instead of filing a travel insurance claim and doing my tax return. But, I did manage to fit in some painting in the studio, and a couple rides on my lovely new electric bike. (That deserves a few posts all of its own - another time perhaps). Meanwhile, my poor husband and L were getting rather cabin fever-y, cooped up in my father-in-laws flat for much of the time, as L was so contagious. Anyway, I picked them up from Manchester airport yesterday, after a very nice day in Manchester re-visiting some old stomping grounds. Leó keeps saying "it's so nice to have you back mummy" which is both funny, and melts my heart into a little puddle. And we are flying to Tenerife for ten days tomorrow. So everything has come together in the end, despite a few nervous days of not knowing if he would recover in time, and having lots of disruption to our plans so early in the new year. I'm taking lots of books to read, some painting and sketching stuff, and I'm looking forward to eating lots of fish and seafood, although maybe not octopus, as we were discussing on Rhian's thread at the end of last year - as clever as the average three year old, apparently! They are so delicious though! I'll let you know how that one gets resolved, plus everything else, when I return.

>18 alcottacre:. Hi Stasia! You snuck in whilst I was composing my RL update! Yes, it is pretty fascinating. I would certainly recommend it, for the early chapters alone it's worth a read.

Just stopping by to drop a star and I get hit by Sapiens. Now to figure out where to fit it in.

Hello HanGreg!

>10 HanGerg: Excellent review. Even as I read it, I found myself nodding along with your concerns over the girls' actions. I'm also with you in that the premise of the girls coming together for some other reason would have been more entertaining.

>16 HanGerg: Yes, I'm always interested in children's book recommendations. I order books for all ages at the library I work at, and I love getting ideas for my son, nieces, and nephews, too!

<19 Oh chicken pox is a pain! I once lost a lot of respect for someone when she took her entire family camping in France while two of the younger children had chicken pox. I mean, how could you do that, it’s so contagious. I managed to avoid it as a child though, and got it as an adult which was not fun.

Welcome back Hannah! Hope you are enjoying your time in Tenerife and glad Leo's feeling better.

Hope you'll have a great Sunday.

Happy travels! Glad you got through the chicken pox crisis ok.

Hi, Hannah. Just stopping by to drop a star. Hope your trip to Tenerife turns out much better than the one to Budapest!

I bought Sapiens for my older son for Christmas last year, with the intent to read it after he was finished. He has been dragging it out for over a year now, so I think I'm just going to have to sneak it out of his room while he's not looking.

>3 HanGerg: What a great reading list.

Ooh, visitors! Hi! Pull up a comfy cushion and help yourself to some of these Hungarian pastries my husband made. No really, have as many as you like, I'm still recovering from Christmas!



>21 swynn: Hi Steve. Glad to provide a bb! THIS is why I have to post more reviews! It feels good to add to someone else's teetering TBR pile for a change!
>22 brodiew2: Hi Brodie! Welcome! Yes, I like that the book didn't have them squabbling and falling out as many would have - they did actually have each other's back to a pretty good degree. It's just a shame they weren't doing something a bit more worthwhile!
>23 aktakukac: Noted Rachel! I just discovered this beauty at the library the other day - do you know it? Hello Hello - Brendan Wenzel Beautiful illustrations linking animals of very different species by a single shared attribute. Very clever and fun to read with a 3 year old, and with an important message about protecting animals too. My husband brought home a copy of his other great book They All Saw a Cat from a trip to Toronto last year, which was the first I had heard of this author.
>24 SandDune: Hi Rhian! Yes, once you accept the fact that you can't fly because of the dangers of passing on chicken pox, you have to accept that you can't really go anywhere where other people might catch it, so you kind of have to go into quarantine! Loads of people offered advice along the lines of "just smuggle him onto the plane, the spots aren't that noticeable!", but I couldn't imagine that. And actually, by the day of the flight he was covered in spots all over his face, poor little love, so if that had been our plan it would have probably failed spectacularly!
>25 souloftherose: Hi Heather! We had a lovely time thanks! And L was fighting fit by the time we got there, although even now the spots are still pretty visible, on his torso mainly. They seem to take a long time to clear up!
>26 PaulCranswick:. Hi Paul!
>27 sibylline: Thanks Lucy!
>28 rretzler: Hi Robin. Budapest was fine actually, I really shouldn't moan. Generally a lovely bunch of people in a great place to visit, just they're family, so all the baggage that implies - especially with a big family celebration at the heart of the visit. Luckily, L only got sick towards the end of our time there, so it didn't overshadow Christmas. He loved hanging out with his big cousins, who he doesn't see that often. Bigger boys that are prepared to play with you! A three year old chap can ask for no more!

3.Visitor - C.J.Cherryh 4.5/5
Well! I did not see that coming! Something of a twist in the tale here, which has the potential to take the rest of the series in a completely different direction. Elsewhere, it felt like the series was winding down, as Bren faced one of his stiffest challenges to date, that made him draw on all his vast reserves of diplomatic skill and cunning, and caused him to reflect on what a long way he's come since we first saw him in book one, the cocky young padhi who tore up protocol left, right and centre. I really thought we were entering the endgame, but I see she has already written another book in this trilogy, and begun another. That must be the last one, surely, but with the surprise at the end of this one, it's anyone's guess where we might go from here. Exciting stuff!



4.Ancillary Mercy - Ann Leckie 4.5/5
More excellence from the new SF superstar. I loved this, there was so much to admire and so many satisfying moments. Breq has to be one of the best characters of recent memory, although also maybe trumped in this book by the Presger translator. Every book should have a character like her, she's an absolute marvel. But I do have questions, not just abut this book but about where SF is going in general. It seems that in this series, and in the Becky Chambers one as well, there's this slightly lazy assumption that AI would be kindly disposed towards humans and would behave in ways we would understand and be able to interact with. I mean, it's a nice idea that an enormous space station would care if a few of its inhabitants got sucked into space, but is that really likely to be the case? The cynic in me thinks it would be more like the Sea of Rust version - the AI robots would wipe us all out entirely, and then have the good grace to feel slightly shamefaced about it, occasionally. (That's not a spoiler btw, that's the case at the start of the story). Another issue is with this ancillary thing, and the fact that the ruler of the galaxy has made herself virtually immortal by claiming for herself the right to grow an unlimited amount of bodies to host her consciousness. Are you really telling me that this doesn't cause a bit of friction with other people in the Empire - surely they fancy a bit of that immortality too? Oh, and why is everyone so shocked when the ruler comes on the station and starts executing people and being generally horrible? The Radch was after all, formed by brutally annexing lots of planets. Do they really believe that the fact they they are citizens of the Radch will protect them from that same brutality? And yet, it does seem to be a deterrent. So, the universe she has created, although fabulous in many ways - I look forward to many more stories set in it - seems a little inconsistent at times. But I was drawn in completely and loved so many aspects of her creation, so these seem like minor quibbles really.



5.A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Mass 3.5/5
I'd passed over this one in the library a few times, but my Fantasy loving friend is a fan, so I gave it a go. I'm not generally that keen on stories with Faeries in, and I didn't really warm to this aspect of the story. Or the romance angle. And the book is weirdly paced, with the first half being about our heroine being forced to leave the land of the humans and enter the land of the Fae, were she must lounge around in a huge palace with only hot young male fae Lords for company, eating lovely banquets, going for horse rides and painting pictures. Oh, and being inexorably drawn to the tortured soul with the big muscles who is in charge. Something is very wrong in this land, but she only gets glimpses of what, and it's really on the periphery of all the flirting and whatnot. I was really not a fan of this first half. Then, after a weird interlude back in the human world, it abruptly shifts tone and tempo, and we have the villain of the story revealed, and a kind of Goblet of Fire style series of challenges. I was a much bigger fan of this half of the book, and wondered if we couldn't have got the first half over much quicker to get to this more meaty section. Still, I liked it enough that I will probably venture on with the series at some point.

6.The Moving Finger - Agatha Christie 4/5
I read an AC years ago and didn't particularly enjoy it, so got the idea into my head that she wasn't an author for me. But after really admiring the recent BBC adaptation of The ABC Murders (I must mention John Malkovich doing an excellent job in the Poirot role, playing him very much against type for those of us brought up on the rather more bright and breezy performance of David Suchet), and after lots of interesting Christie chat over on Heather's thread, I resolved to give her another try. This was my first foray, and it was very good. A Miss Marple story with very little Miss Marple in it, but the main character, who does a lot of the sleuthing, is engaging, although the love interest angle with him was a little creepy. The whodunnit aspect kept me guessing to the very end, but more importantly for me, she has that elusive quality that the very best writers have, I think. Which is, that she seems to have that special insight into human behaviour, and an ability to communicate it with all its many nuances. I wasn't necessarily expecting that of her, and it makes me eager to read a lot more of her work.

Those Hungarian pastries look yummy.

>32 PaulCranswick:. They are Paul! One of my husband's favourites to make - he gets very into baking around Christmas. This is called a Gerbaud after the famous coffee shop where it was first made. It's layers of light pastry filled with apricot jam and walnuts, and topped with chocolate of course. I wish I could say these artfully photographed ones were some of his, but alas, it's just an internet sourced one. (As a slight aside, although I'm a keen photographer, and would back myself to take a decent shot in most situations, I think food photography is very tricky to get right. A real Art - either that or there's just lots of industry tricks that I don't know).

Anyway, the reading continues, and in keeping with my new year's resolutions, that means, so doth the reviews!



7.Tower of Dawn - Sarah J. Maas 4/5
Well, what do you know? A YA Fantasy novel where the central romance actually didn't suck! I was quite drawn in by it, in fact, and found the conflicts and moment of drama in their deepening bond very well portrayed. It even made me feel some feels. And I'm not one for the romance angle at all in these types of books normally, so that seems like an achievement. Elsewhere, there's some action that moves the story in the Throne of Glass series along into some interesting new territory, which kind of surprised me as I thought this was a spin off novel, seeing as all the chief protagonists are off stage for the entire time. It needs to be part of the series proper though, because there's stuff in here you need to know before moving on to the recently published final book in the series. So that's an interesting choice by the author, and one that I think pays off. I have a few quibbles with the book, the main one being, it's been a while since I read the previous five books and Maas really doesn't help folk like me with any re-capping of the backstory - you just get thrown a bunch of names and prior events that you are meant to recall in quite a lot of detail to figure out what's going on, which made my understanding of what was happening suffer at times. And the romance is really the main thing in the whole book - it isn't just one strand, it is THE thing, with the main narrative elements kind of squeezed in round the edges. There are two secondary characters who have an interesting storyline and romance of their own that could have been developed more I feel, and there's a bad guy identity-guessing angle that's completely underdeveloped, but overall a strong entry into the series, that's wet my appetite for the final instalment very well.

>30 HanGerg: 'Breq has to be one of the best characters of recent memory, although also maybe trumped in this book by the Presger translator.'

Yep, completely agree about this!

' The Radch was after all, formed by brutally annexing lots of planets. Do they really believe that the fact they they are citizens of the Radch will protect them from that same brutality?'

I don't know - that thought process seemed to reflect how most people view their own countries in the real world to me. If I think about how a lot of people in the UK view immigration and foreign policy and trade negotiations at the moment there seems to be an expectation that there'll be one rule of behaviour to an outside group but that this won't mean the same people will turn around and behave badly to us. So the Radch view of how their own Empire would treat its own people didn't seem unrealistic at all. (I might not be explaining that very well.)

And Sea of Rust has been bumped up my list based on your comments.

'she must lounge around in a huge palace with only hot young male fae Lords for company, eating lovely banquets, going for horse rides and painting pictures. Oh, and being inexorably drawn to the tortured soul with the big muscles who is in charge'

Yeah, I think I'll skip that one....!

>31 HanGerg: Yay - so glad you enjoyed The Moving Finger!

>33 HanGerg: In general, do you recommend the Throne of Glass series? I'd sort of assumed that it would be the type of YA fantasy series that has a sucky central romance which would annoy me too much. But it sounds like that's not the case? Or was it just this instalment?

Hi Heather! Interesting comments all. I shall address them point by point:
1. Yes, I do see what you mean, and I agree with you. An aside about Britain and Brexit could be introduced here, but let's take it as read and skip to the book bits. (My brain is on the point of shutting down about the B-thing. It would be an act of self preservation to avoid a total systems failure). The thing that surprised me was more that it did seem to reign in Anaanda Minaai's behaviour when she realised her actions were being broadcast across Radch space, so it seems she cares about negative publicity. Perhaps a bit late too worry about that!

2.Sea of Rust is good. Pretty bleak, but good. I admired it more than loved it, but that's just my take. It's definitely very memorable; one of those books you think about long after it's finished.

3. Well, I did say the second half was better! But yeah, a bit annoying, for sure.

4.I think I do recommend the Throne of Glass series, but with some caveats. There isn't A central romance as such, as our main character is rather fickle (and annoying as hell in many ways, but I think that's deliberate), but the romance stuff can be a drag, especially in later books. There is a lot of violence, some very convoluted plotting, inconsistent character behaviour....several flaws suggest themselves. But I did race through the volumes until I'd finished what was currently published, so the story hooked me, and as it develops and the scale of the conflict widens, some really cool additional characters come on board, the universe of the story gets fleshed out more and it all gets pretty exciting. So, not perfect, but certainly worth a look.

Checking back in to say I have 10 hearts in the Valentine's Day Heart Hunt! Very exciting! I haven't taken part in one of these before, it's loads of fun! Part of me would quite like to be entered into the draw for a T-Shirt but I'm not sure if I've got it in me to get many more...

Back again to pose a question. So, I've just started getting interested in the question of badges, seeing as I will get a badge for the Heart Hunt. I started looking into what you can get badges for etc. Now, as I understand it, one should get a Bronze "Published Reviews" badge for posting 10 reviews. I've posted 27, and yet, no badge! It says the reviews have to be "published". Is that different from just putting them up on the book's page? And if not, then who can I complain to?! I want my badge, darn it!

>37 HanGerg: Did you post them recently? The badges have been awarded in rounds, so you'll get an email from Tim when they update them. That was the only thing I could think of why it wouldn't be showing on your account. I really like the 'spam fighting' one (more for the name than anything else).

>37 HanGerg: >38 charl08: It can't be just putting them on the book page - I've done that for almost every book I've read for the past year, and no such badges show.

>29 HanGerg: Mmm, Hungarian pastries! I miss a lot of Hungarian desserts, and food in general. Does your husband cook too, or just bake around the holidays? Yes, we have both Brendan Wenzel books at my library. I can see how they'd be fun to read with a three year old :) He has another one coming out this summer, and it sounds like it's going to have some environmental similarities to Hello Hello.

>38 charl08: >39 quondame: Hmm, well this is a puzzle! It did occur to me that maybe it's 10 in a calendar year or something, but that wouldn't explain why you don't have one, Susan. "Published" must mean something different from just putting it up on the page I guess, but what??

>40 aktakukac:. Oh, hey Rachel! We cross posted! Exciting news about Brendan Wenzel. He may become a favourite. Other favourites currently include Oliver Jeffers, Rob Biddulph, relative newcomer Benji Davies and the undisputed champ of children's writing for the under 5's in the UK, Julia Donaldson. Does your library have any titles by these guys?

My husband, I'm delighted to say, does cook! A lot! I have to demand time at the stove in fact, although that's changing a bit now that I am trying to become largely vegetarian. That's not a journey he's too keen to come on, although he said he'd be willing to give Pescatarian a go, and he has cut down his meat intake a lot, just because of the change in the way the whole family eats now. So, yes, he is an amazing cook! He loves making Hungarian stuff, but also British, French, Italian, Chinese, Indian... he's a real all rounder! Do you have a favourite Hungarian dish? Mine has to be Paprikás Csirke, with Nokedli, but it's essential to have a nice bowl of Uborka Saláta on the side. And then, for pudding, I do love a good Mákos Guba!





For any non-Hungarian speakers out there (Really guys? Seriously? It's only the second hardest language in the world, and only spoken by 15 million people worldwide - what's stopping you?!), that's Chicken Paprika with home made pasta, cucumber salad, and poppyseed er, guba. Not sure how you translate that. Sweetened dough balls? Something like that.

Gosh, this thread is in danger of becoming a Hungarian foodie thread! Let's change things up a bit with a quick run down of "recently finished things from my studio". All preoccupied with the sea to some extent, ranging in style from semi-figurative to very abstract, one of them already sold (yay!) and all of them works I'm pretty pleased with, in one way or another. After a long hiatus, I'm going to start trying in earnest to sell my work via the internet again. Do check out my page on artfinder if such things give you pleasure: https://www.artfinder.com/hannah-cawthorne#/. In true "me" fashion, none of these pictures are up on the site yet, but those that are unsold at the moment will be there soon.

>42 HanGerg: My mom's maternal ancestors spent some time in Hungary, although at the time the Austro-Hungarian empire was large, so who knows where really they were, and came out of there with a really good cucumber salad recipe, a tendency to fry yeast dough dumplings, and a tart beet borscht. Unfortunately, no pastry recipes were passed down.

yum! Stopping by to admire Hungarian food and your art! My dad's family is Hungarian and I have some great memories cooking with my grandma. I just made kolach with my mom and sister a few weeks ago and kifles are a family favorite (I've heard them both called different names- kolach=nut roll, and kifles are a filled, rolled cookie. Are those the terms you use?).

Beautiful paintings! The top left reminds me of Lake Michigan :-)

>35 HanGerg: Well Sea of Rust is definitely on the list and I think the Throne of Glass series I will keep as a maybe. But I suspect there are other books and series I'll read first if I'm in the mood for some YA reading.

>37 HanGerg: The Published Reviews badge is for adding links and extracts to book reviews published in newspapers and journals. But I agree it's not very well described anywhere. If you go to the work page for any book and scroll down there's a Published Reviews section below LT user reviews (or that's where it is when I look at it - I can't remember if the order of those sections is editable or not).

>42 HanGerg: Oh, yum!

>43 HanGerg: Oh wow to those pictures!

>42 HanGerg: & .>43 HanGerg:

Nothing wrong with hungarian food and certainly nothing wrong with our Lincoln correspondent's wonderful art work.

More of both please.

Have a lovely weekend.

>43 HanGerg: I love three of the four, Hannah! I have to admit the bottom left one doesn't do anything for me, but that may also be due to the way it is photographed. My husband would adore the top right one, with so much of his favorite color!

Oh, I'm loving all the people with Hungarian connections popping up!
>44 quondame:. Hi Susan. The cucumber salad recipe IS fantastic, I agree. I'm not sure about fried yeast dumplings - will have to check with the husband about that, and Borchst is not made in Hungary all that much, so I wonder where they got that recipe from?
>45 jennyifer24:! Hi Jennifer! Welcome! Thanks for the art love! The painting you like is actually of the sea from a beach where I have spent many a happy hour playing, both as a child and latterly, with my own son. I love that it can remind you of somewhere totally different though! I always go for universal feeling over localised detail in my work, so you're clearly picking up my vibe! : )
I recognise the name Kalács and Kifli, but not the description! But the husband says, and I quote "there's enormous regional variation of sweet brioches even within current day Hungary, let alone the wider region." So now we both know! He says kalács is generally a "plaited brioche loaf" Like so:
.
Kifli is the name for a crescent moon shape, and describes bread rolls in that shape, or these amazing crumbly biscuits made, (I think) with lots of ground almonds. A friend of the family makes them, only around Christmas time, and they are amaaaazing!

So, when I did the search for that image, I also found this:

That sounds kind of like what you described. I guess because the name is to do with the shape rather than a specific thing, there could be lots of variations.
This is reminding me, I need to get a recipe for those kifli biscuits. They are extraordinary.
>46 souloftherose:. Hi Heather! Yes, no need to rush at Throne of Glass. It's not going anywhere, and as you say, there's plenty of other YA Fantasy series that are more deserving of your time. Not bad though, if you ever do see it at a charity shop or something.
Thanks for clearing up the published reviews thing. That was starting to bug me!
>47 PaulCranswick:. I shall certainly do my best to oblige Paul! Just a word to the wise though: you're safe with me, but be very wary of ever telling a Hungarian you want more Hungarian food; you may never be allowed to leave the dinner table again!
>48 ronincats:. Lovely feedback, thanks Roni! Now I am very intrigued what your husband's favourite colour is. Hmmm, let me guess! Turquoise? (Second guess: Fuchsia)
It's interesting you like that abstract but not the other one. That is the most "out there" and experimental I think - a VERY abstract take on wave formations - kind of inspired by the movement of the ocean in the picture above, but taken to an extreme. It's not my usual style, but I think I achieved what I set out to do with it. As you noticed, it's really meant to be displayed portrait rather than landscape, although that makes it even more removed from its source of inspiration.

Enjoying the seascapes and the pastries! Lovely combination there. Kind of an ideal art appreciation class (but maybe that's just me!)

He loves red, Hannah, and that painting's lower half has lots of that color, although I'm guessing it tends to the fuchsia end of the spectrum in reality from your comment. That painting has a landscape quality to me that is very restful to the eyes despite the bright colors. The other two I like for the movement, the swirling effect of the waves. The other abstract is too static for me, I think. It doesn't flow.

Wow, those treats look great!

We have lots of books by Oliver Jeffers and two by Rob Biddulph (I really liked The Grizzly Bear Who Lost His Grrrrr!, and Blown Away was decent, but there are no polar bears in Antarctica!). The only Benji Davies books we have are ones he illustrated for Jory John, and I love Julia Donaldson – we have a lot by her. A couple other British authors who quickly come to mind are Richard Byrne and John Burningham, but I’m sure there are lots more in my library.

How wonderful that your husband cooks so much and such a variety, too! Mine never cooks, and is terribly picky and only likes “simple” foods. I’m slowly trying to get him to try more things, especially now that we have a 14-month-old who does not seem the slightest bit picky when it comes to food. I have lots of favorite Hungarian dishes! In Hungary, I did not care for liver, which they served at the school canteen every so often. I do not like fish or seafood, so I didn't eat the Christmas Eve fish soup, either. If I could have a lángos right now, I would be oh so happy! I am also a fan of Paprikás Csirke and Pörkölt, served with noodles. Stuffed cabbage was usually good, and since I love carbs, I liked paprikás krumplis tészta, because why not have potatoes and noodles together in one dish! I loved a lot of the desserts and baked goods of course, even Turo Rudi, but I preferred (sajtos) pogácsa, little cheese biscuits and I am working to re-create them here in the States. I think my absolute favorite food was sztrapacska, which I actually had more in Slovakia than Hungary. I know they have it in parts of Hungary, because we went to a Strapačky Festival one year. It’s similar to Bryndzové Halušky, which is the Slovak national dish and is little potato dumplings with sheep cheese. The cucumber salad, and pickles and pickled vegetables were often essential at meals since fresh vegetables were not incorporated a lot, unless you count some yellow pepper, cucumber, or tomato on a sandwich. Mmm, now I am ready for lunch!

I'm a fan of the top left and bottom right pictures, and agree with >45 jennyifer24: that it looks like Lake Michigan. Beautiful!

>49 HanGerg: I know the food my mother picked up at her grandmother's was a mixed lot and that though they said they came from Hungary in the 1880's I think it was to distinguish themselves from people who had come from Russia and Germany and had little to do with the current borders of Hungary. The paprikash was great though not like any I've had elsewhere.

Hi all! Busy as ever, but I have been stopping in, just not posting on my own thread. In exciting RL news, one of the things that has kept me busy lately, is arranging to have solar panels put on our roof! It has all happened very fast, mainly because we have to get them in by the end of March to qualify for a tariff from the government which they are then stopping! So it's all systems go at the moment. I've just spent most of the evening learning about the difference between micro inverter vs. optimised string systems to figure out which we are going to go for. I've learnt a lot about solar in a short amount of time, and I find it really fascinating. Plus, from a monetary point of view, it's a no brainer. Over 25 years we stand to make a 300% profit on our initial investment! I'm going to spend all my time from now on convincing my friends they need to get it too!

Anyway, to my visitors;
>50 charl08: Hi Charl. No, it's not just you. Art appreciation plus pastries sounds pretty perfect to me too!
>51 ronincats: Hi Roni! Well, what with your season based colour system and now your art critique, you have really been challenging my thinking a lot lately Roni, and I thank you for it! Yes, I see what you mean. I've been staring at it in the studio, and you are right. It doesn't have that "flow" that pictures of waves should have. I've thought about it, and concluded that in this particular image, I can live with that. I was hoping to capture something more formalised to do with the shapes and the interconnected energies of waves, in a very abstract way. I think it works, but I will bear what you said in mind when I paint my next in the seascape series.
>53 aktakukac: Thanks for dropping by Jim!
>54 quondame: We love Grrrrr!, that's one of Leó's favourites. Another great book by him is Odd Dog Out, a great story about embracing being different. Also, loving all the Hungarian food chat! Lángos never really did it for me before last summer; for some reason I really got into them, sat by Lake Balaton, eating them with friends whilst sipping a nice cool beer. My son loves them too of course! We both love Turo Rudi, and pogácsa as well. I think I've had szstrapacska, but it didn't really leave a big impression- maybe I just didn't have a good one. If you have experience of canteen food in Hungary, did you ever have that crazy pudding of cabbage, pasta, icing sugar and black pepper. I think they just call it "káposzta tészta", which doesn't really explain what you are getting at all! Weird as it sounds, I actually rather like it! (I call it pudding but actually I think it's sometime served as a main course. But when I worked in a kindergarten in Budapest, we had it for pudding!)
>54 quondame: I would love to have a peek at your family recipe book Susan. I bet there's some fascinating stuff in there!

Ok, so I've done a bit of reading, and all of a sudden I'm slipping behind on the reviews again, so let's get cracking!



8. A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs 2/5
I read this for my 150 books... challenge. Obviously it got on the list because it's a very early example of a SF adventure novel, but I don't think it had any redeeming features apart from it's pioneering nature. I know we shouldn't judge old books by today's standard, but I couldn't get past the boring, passive role of the female character, and the ridiculous machismo and war-like nature of our hero. He's always moaning about the "green men" of Mars being aggressive savages, but he thinks nothing of bringing a whole tribe of them down onto one of the cities of the more "civilised" red men, and letting them loose to slaughter thousands, just to rescue the aforementioned passive love interest. Also, it's written in this totally suspense sapping style that simply narrates the events without injecting them with any sense of atmosphere, or peril, tension, anything. Told another way, it could have been a rip roaring adventure, albeit a rather dumb one, but the writing style seemed almost deliberately uninvolving. Next!



9. Danny The Champion of the World - Roald Dahl 3/5
I read this as a friend bought it for L as she obviously had very fond childhood memories of it. I guess he will read it, or I will read it to him, at some point, but as a Dahl fan, I thought I'd give it a go for myself. It was OK. It didn't have any of the magical fantasy elements that many of his books have, but it did have a very nice father/son relationship at its heart. I also read it as sort of a museum piece of the 1970's, as the way the family live, although obviously meant to be unusual for the time, also reflects a simpler era in many ways. On the downside, the plot was very straightforward to the point where it all felt just a little undercooked. Everything happens and gets resolved in a very neat fashion with only the smallest of detours along the way, which makes it a less satisfying read overall.
As a side-note about Dahl, I always rated him as a children's author. The Witches, James and the Giant Peach and Matilda, are all books I vividly remember reading and really enjoying as a child. I also remember getting the part of Red Riding Hood in the class production of some of his Revolting Rhymes poems, and having to "pull a pistol from her knickers!" ("Ahh, simpler times!", etc etc). Anyway, my point is, I read something a while ago that suggested he is now considered "uncool", ie, not politically correct, because of negative female characterisations, bullying type attitudes and so on. I can't see it myself - surely Matilda is an amazing female character?! And don't the bullies in his stories usually meet sticky ends? But then, it was a long time since I read them. I can imagine he was writing with the attitudes of his time. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this either way? I'd like to think he was one of the good 'uns, but perhaps not...

>56 HanGerg: I still think Roald Dahl is one of the good ones. I didn't love all his books but The BFG, Matilda and The Witches are still among my favourites.

Aw, I'm sorry that Danny didn't work better for you - it's my absolute favorite Dahl book (and I love them all). The relationship between the son and the dad just melts my heart every time.

I'm a fan of the Danny book too, although unlike Amber I'm not sure if I have a particular reason. Just the whole package.
I have read criticism of Dahl's female characters - they're not big on nuance, are they! But then I think that's probably true of the male characters too - Matilda's dad, the evil giants in the BFG... (there I run out of Dahl knowledge). I was told that in the musical Matilda, Ms Trunchball is played by a guy in drag though not sure what that adds to the discussion.

>56 HanGerg: I can't disagree with any of your criticisms about A Princess of Mars but I remember enjoying it more than you did despite that. In fact I think I went as far as reading one of the sequels and then got sidetracked into other projects.

Re Dahl, I don't really remember the female characterisations being particularly bad or bullying attitudes. I think Danny was probably one of my least favourite Dahl books, probably because there's less of the fantastic in it. The Witches, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach I remember as being brilliant like you. Also both Charlie books. I think they're the sort of books children love and adults worry are too gruesome for children to read.

>57 FAMeulstee:, >58 scaifea:, >59 charl08:, >60 souloftherose:. Thanks for dropping by Anita, Amber, Charl and Heather! Glad we are all broadly on the side of Dahl being a good egg. I agree with you Heather, that kids love him exactly for the gruesome, sometimes rather sadistic bits that adults flinch at. Also, thinking back to my childhood, I think that often it was the adult characters that were the most ridiculous or stupid or mean, not the children, which is a very taboo busting thing for a kid - the idea that the adults might be the unpleasant ones and the children can outwit them by being smarter or by having more integrity. I guess Dahl didn't invent that, but he was certainly the first author I discovered that wrote in that way, and I remember enjoying it tremendously. Perhaps it does tend to dwell on the negative aspects of human nature a bit, and perhaps that's why he's now out of favour, but I remember finding it hugely exhilarating.

Ok, reviews are owing in their...several, so let's get going!



10.Utopia for Realists - Rutger Bregman 3.5/5
I bought this because I felt like hope for the future was something in very short supply, and I hoped this book might provide some. It was a big ask, but this book does at least partially deliver. The blurb on the back doesn't really explain what these utopian ideas are, and it turns out that most of them are ones I've heard before, albeit given a bit more backstory detail. The main ones are; universal basic income, the 15 hour working week, and universal open borders. The first two are ideas that have been widely discussed in other bits of the web I frequent so there wasn't too much new here, except some of the interesting history of times this idea has been raised (by none other than the Nixon government in the US, apparently) or trialed. My main gripe is, whenever you suggest radical ideas like these, the first question you will be asked is; " Ah, but how will that work? How are you going to PAY for it??" Which are not details that Bregman seems to trouble himself with. He does point out that a lot of these things make economic sense, as not doing them will ultimately cost more, such as the compelling evidence for why homelessness could be solved by the ridiculously simple solution of just giving each homeless person a house. As would alleviating child poverty. These things make economic sense, as well as fulfilling a moral obligation. But they interfere with the modern neo-liberal mindset that you have to earn a good standard of living, rather than have it as a basic human right. This is me riffing on his ideas a bit, as they are all things I've been thinking about a lot anyway, which is perhaps why I don't rate the book as highly as some others do. The open borders thing was a new idea to me, except for the immortal John Lennon lyric that I often think about "Imagine there's no countries, it's easy if you try..." which always felt like one of the most radical things I'd ever heard, and Bregman admits this is by far the hardest sell of all his ideas. But sign me up. I'm on board for everything he suggests in this book, and more. It's all explained a bit better than I manage here in this fairly succinct interview, if you can get through the inexplicably annoying bits of Owen Jones drinking tea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsutNKH7KiE. Some great ideas for sure, but I'm just not sure how many of the unconvinced he is winning over here.



11.Fool's Errand - Robin Hobb 4/5
Urged on by Heather, a group of us are working our way through Hobb's "Realm of the Elderlings" series. This is the first book of the third trilogy, and returns us to two of the central characters from the first trilogy, namely Fitz and the Fool. It was wonderful to be in their company again, particularly the Fool's, as Fitz can be such a tortured soul, bless him. Others had warned that this could be a gruelling read, as many of Hobb's book are - she puts her characters through the emotional wringer, and flouting novelistic convention, doesn't spare her main characters ordeals that would only be visited on minor characters in other's work. These are very much real, flawed, emotionally - and literally - scarred characters, even though they inhabit a fantastical realm of magic and dragons. But, I have to say, overall, I found this novel less heavy on the suffering than some of the previous ones, and it felt all the better for it. There was one very sad bit, about which I will say very little, for fear of spoilers, but I think Hobb handled it in a brilliant way that made it incredibly moving and poignant. And the book ended on a rare note of optimism for a series that has often ground its characters down to the very depths before raising them up again. Oh dear, that probably means the next one is going to be wall to wall misery! Oh well, continue I must, so vivid and well realised is this world, and so compelling the stories she tells us about it.

12.The Ducess Deal - Tessa Dare 4/5
Kathy, aka ArcheryGirl gave me this bb, a regency romance tale of a badly disfigured war hero Duke and the feisty seamstress with emotional wounds of her own that strike a dodgy deal to marry in name only to produce him a heir and then have nothing more to do with one another. Obvs, it doesn't quite work out like that, but the getting there was filled with genuinely funny and touching moments, not to mention a fair bit of sauce, plus there's a subplot of a clique of eccentric female friends that befriend our seamstress turned Duchess in a totally endearing way. A perfect bright and breezy read. Also, this is a Mills and Boon (which becomes more evident when you see some of the other, truly awful covers available on the book's page.) I haven't read a Mills and Boon in many a year, probably not since we girls in secondary school had a brief fad of passing around some of the more racy ones. They seem to have come a long way in terms of positive female characters and sauciness levels. I like it!



13.The Governess Game - Tessa Dare 2.5/5
I had so much fun with the previous instalment that I carried right on with the series. This story featured Alexandra the would be astronomer as its protagonist, one of the friends from the eccentric clique in the first book.This makes me suspect each woman from that group will get a book, which is sort of a cool idea but also a bit depressing - I like the fact that they are independent female characters who have complex personalities that don't include being romantically entangled with a man. Anyway, this one had lots of the things that were good about the first one - good dialogue, an appealing heroine, plus two feisty young girls to be won over when she, slightly by accident, gets tasked with becoming their governess. But what doesn't click is the central relationship, which in a romance novel is kind of a big deal. Like the male lead in the first book, Chase in this story has some emotional scar tissue that makes him reluctant to open his heart to the lady of his dreams, but his way of dealing with it feels much more dysfunctional and unkind to his love interest. This emotional disfunction makes the sex scenes less sexy, and the scenes towards the end when he does finally begin to connect heart to groin feels like a last minute change of character that's rather come from nowhere rather than the inevitable end point of their emotional journey. Very flawed, but still fun in parts. I hope the next in the series is more like the first though.

>61 HanGerg: Interesting review on the Utopia book, I wanted to add it to my list and found it was already there. The Dutch title is very different.
About borders: I have always dreamed of a world without borders, chances should not be determined by the place you were born. The borders made by the colonial empires have caused so much harm in the Middle-East, Africa etc. Recently I have been reading some books set before WWI, and was astonished that people could travel all through Europe, without passports or other documents. Of course traveling was mostly for the happy few, but Roma and other traveling people could too.

>61 HanGerg: Sold on Utopia for Realists, Hannah.

I really like Tessa Dare, but I do think that the pressure to write a book quickly shows in these more recent books.

Hope all is well in the great city of Lincoln, Hannah.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Very much enjoyed your thoughts on the Utopia book -- love the juxta with Regency romance and Robin Hobb (definitely one of my favorites!).

>61 HanGerg: 'a very taboo busting thing for a kid - the idea that the adults might be the unpleasant ones and the children can outwit them by being smarter or by having more integrity'

Oh yes, good point.

And I feel bad about having dropped off the group read on the Robin Hobb books - keep meaning to get back to Ship of Destiny and it keeps not happening. But I'm sure when I do I will want to move straight on to Fool's Errand.....

I haven't hosted a series or an author for a while. I'd like to do so this summer, during a month when the most interested folk have the time to do at least the targeted book, which is only 200 pp. long. I'd like to expose as many people as possible to the works of James H. Schmitz, a science fiction author who wrote from the late '40s through the 1970s. He is best known for The Witches of Karres, but imho has written much better works. Here is my bookshelf.


Many of his works, especially his shorter ones, were very hard to find for quite a while, but in 2000 and 2001, Baen published almost all of his oeuvre in a collection of 6 books, seen to the right of the shelf above. The book I would like to feature is Demon Breed, also found in the Baen collection The Hub: Dangerous Territory. Schmitz is known for his kick-ass female protagonists long before they became the current ubiquitous status quo in his stories about Telzey Amberdon, Trigger Argee, and the hero of Demon Breed, Nile Etland.

See my thread for more info if interested!

Oh gosh! Hi everybody! What a long absence! I really didn't mean for it to be like this, but once the nights start getting brighter I do tend to drop off the radar of LT as life in general seems to get busier, and this year is shaping up to get very busy indeed in the next few months! And it already has been for the last few weeks, with trips to Malta and Budapest amongst a host of other lovely things going on lately! (I seem to have flown more so far this year than I have for ages, and I'm feeling very guilty about it! But that is hopefully all the flying for this year done now! And for a while into the future, if all goes to plan).
So, first let's deal with my visitors and then let's talk reviews, which I am behind on as per!

>63 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! Yes, the book mentions that borders as we now know them were really a result of the war. It's fascinating to think that, seeing how deeply entrenched they are now into everybody's mindset about how the world works. And I agree with you entirely that your life chances shouldn't be dictated by where you were born, which they are very much so at the moment, and only likely to get more so once climate change becomes more and more of an issue. And of course, there's all kinds of issues around climate justice, and the world's poorest paying for the choices of the world's most prosperous countries that plays into this. I got given Mary Robinson's book called Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future which I must read soon. I wonder if free movement of people away from the worst affected areas is one of the solutions she is calling for.
>64 charl08: Hi Charl! Interesting thoughts on Tessa Dare. Has she become a big success and is now asked to churn out the books by Mills and Boon? I can see how that could cause the problems with the book I didn't like. In general though, I do count myself a fan.
>65 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Always lovely to see you round this way!
>66 sibylline: Hi Lucy! Yes, my reading this year has thrown up some interesting contrasts!
>67 souloftherose:. Fear not Heather! I haven't been around the threads much lately but Hobb is an author to be savoured, not to mention small doses are probably better due to all the stress she puts her characters, and by extension, us, through!
>68 ronincats: Oooh, sounds good Roni! Count me in and thanks for coming to let me know!

Right, on with the reviews!


14.One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson 4/5
The second in the Jackson Brodie series, although I read them out of order, so this was the third one for me. The series is really growing on me. They are compelling, hugely so. Realistic? No, not really, not in the way that all of the characters we follow connect up in implausible ways that rely too much on coincidentally being in just the right place at the right time, nor in the way that characters spill their innermost thoughts in such coherent reams of beautiful prose, but I do enjoy them nevertheless. Jackson Brodie himself is a bit of a drip thought isn't he? Just a convenient loom on which great female characters can be woven. So why not make the central character female and have done with it? These are questions I'd like to ask Kate Atkinson over a pint in the pub, as I have a feeling she'd be excellent for a bit of pub chat. I like her, in other words.


15. Sons and Lovers - D.H.Lawrence 3.5/5
There were times, reading this, that I got very excited, feeling that I had come across an immense writing talent, someone who I would want to read all the books of in quick order, but as the book wore on and on, not really going anywhere, that feeling petered out somewhat. It just doesn't have any narrative drive. I get that that was part of the point, it strives for a kind of realism that isn't served by a compelling storyline when real human lives are so messy and complicated and unfinished. There are moments where the human drama and emotions leap so vividly off the page it's like being in the room and claustrophobically close with these characters. But at other times it just dawdles along rather annoyingly. He does deserve a lot of credit for his take on the lives of women though. I can see that he was very ahead of his time in that regard, and these two positive aspects mean that I will endeavour to read more of his work in the future.

Jenn has posted a link for free online copies of all of Schmitz' work in those Baen compilations on the group read thread!
https://www.librarything.com/topic/307199#6833006

>71 ronincats:. Oooh, interesting! I'll hop on over there and check it out, thanks Roni!

I'm popping up to have a moan. I'm in a bit of a reading funk, only finishing two books in May and a bit stalled with early June reading too. I lay most of the blame for this at the door of the book I am reading at the moment as part of my 150 books from 150 years challenge, Zorba the Greek. I only have two days to finish it as then I have exhausted all my renewals at the library, but I'm still only halfway through. I just hate, hate, hate it. The vile misogny is one of the stumbling blocks, but I equally hate the pointless pontificating of the narrator and his silly man crush on the idiotic Zorba. The lack of any kind of plot is another problem. A quick look at the books page shows that several have the same issues as me, although perhaps not so strongly felt, but some seem to hail it as some kind of philosophising masterpiece. What they see in it is entirely lost on me! I rarely dislike books this much, but at the same time I feel I have to finish it for my challenge. Anyway, one way or another this will get resolved in the next few days and I get can back to some more satisfying reading.

I'm no help, as I would just tell you to dump the book and find another to fit your challenge, Hannah.

>73 HanGerg: I'm with Roni! Hope you've found something else you like better. You can always come back to it?

>73 HanGerg: Ugh - I would abandon I think. Can recommend some other 1946 books if you're looking to fill a slot in your challenge.

>73 HanGerg: You could just list it as a DNF. If you read past half way, I think you could still count it for your challenge. I think I would be tempted to skip to the end. Something I wish I had done with Moby Dick!

Hi everyone! I've been neglecting my LT baby again! I am a terrible parent to this thread! To be fair to me, RL has been pretty jam packed with stuff - an open studio event that just took place this weekend, that I helped plan with just a few weeks run up, other art workshop things that I've needed to spend time planning, various domestic stuff to oversee, a small son to look after and er.... Well, I don't know really. I feel like I'm constantly busy all the time but then I lift my head up for a moment and it can be hard to figure out just what I've accomplished. My husband and son just recently went away to Budapest for almost two weeks and I was full of such grand plans! I was going to do loads of painting, go for bike rides of my still hardly ridden new bike, see friends, do loads of tidying and sorting around the house, get lots of life admin done. And it felt like I did none of those things. And yet, I also felt like I never had a still moment of just relaxing either. What the heck did I do with myself for those 12 days? I really couldn't tell you! I feel like I'm going to have to start keeping a diary just so I can account for how my time gets spent. Part of it is being the parent of a young child I guess, but what the rest is, I don't know. Terrible time management skills, I suspect.
Anyway, thanks for everyone's advice about dumping the awful "Zorba..." I sort of skim read the last third, just to have my worst fears confirmed, based on what someone said in a review. The awful treatment of women in the book reaches its climax in the horrible deaths of basically the only two female characters in the book, one in the most brutal circumstances imaginable. It's not like the characters or the author are approving of these events, but it's still part of this awful world he created where a character's murder is a possible consequence of her condition, which is to be an attractive young widowed woman in a town of lusty young men. Also, it's written in this way that is weirdly divorced from the horror of what happens to the woman, and is instead all about how this affects the two central male characters Ugh. I guess I'll write a proper review at some point, but the point is, I can't remember reading a book I hated more. I'm flipping well counting it for the 150 reads challenge though, it took such a monumental effort to engage with it at all. And I'm not sorry I read it, it's very instructive of the kind of chauvinistic attitudes that were very prevalent at the time, and until very recently too. The kind of thing that I would have read as a younger woman and not even have spotted as the poison it is. But you know, I've taken the red pill (or is it the blue?) and I see it clearly now. Ok, I'm rambling now, but it's nice to be back here and be able to give vent to some of these more esoteric thoughts.
Right, I'm behind on reviews again (obvs) so I'm going to get cracking on them. But first, a quick visit around the threads I think....

>78 HanGerg: I don't remember hating Zorba so much, Hannah!

I was in Lincoln a few weeks ago and we had lunch by the waterside at Wagamama or whatever it is called. Didn't have internet or it would have been nice to have tried to get together.

Have a lovely Sunday.

>79 PaulCranswick: Waaaa! I missed you Paul! Darn it! I live not at all far from that part of town too! We may have even have crossed paths and not known it...

Oooof, I've disappeared again! This always seems to happen in the summer. I know things slow down on LT in general, but I really go off the rails! Will try to return soon with some coherent thoughts. I have been reading, just been too busy to write about it. More to follow!

Hi, Hannah!

I've barely been here either beyond struggling to review what I've been reading.

So too bad you missed Paul!

There are books that are so wildly misogynistic or just plain oblivious that they have become totally unreadable. It would be a fun list to make! I would put One Hundred Years of Solitude on it as well.

Just took in the topper -- what a lovely photo!

>81 ronincats: Hi Roni! Thanks for popping by!

>82 sibylline:. Hi Lucy. Yes, that list would be a long one, I'm guessing. I certainly submit "Zorba..." to it. I was one of those that didn't love "One Hundred Years..." like everyone else around me seemed to when I read it probably twenty years ago now. I was thinking of giving it another go at some point, but maybe I'll skip it if it's another of this problematic type.

The photo was taken on the edge of Lake Geneva, almost exactly a year ago, on the homeward leg of the big drive and camp around Europe we did last summer. This summer was much more domestically based, with just a few weeks with my mum down in North Devon as the main event. Not quite as spectacular as the Swiss mountains, but very nice nonetheless. It's resulted in me developing a bit of a mad passion for collecting sea glass, aided and abetted by some people on Instagram that have found some truly incredible things washed up on beaches. Long story short, a trip to Scotland to find beach pottery is now firmly on the wishlist. Anyway, back to the reviews, which I am way behind on, as usual...

16.A Darker Shade of Magic - V. E. Schwab 3/5
Perfectly serviceable but nothing special fantasy about a series of parallel universes, centred around the city of London. Our main character is one of a very rare breed that has the ability to walk from one universe to another. Lots of perilous adventures ensue. I'm not sure why this one didn't grab me more. A touch formulaic perhaps. Nothing you haven't read before if you like urban fantasy, but worth a look if you like that kind of thing. It's the first of a trilogy but I don't feel especially compelled to continue.



17.Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson 4/5
Well, I'm in up to my neck in it now, aren't I? I still have my moments of doubt - always too many coincidences for my liking - but maybe it's just the author's omniscience that she only shows us the people that are going to matter at the crucial moments. Anyway, I've pretty much made my peace with it and just enjoy the books for the masterful works of fiction they are. The thing for me is how angry they are, at bottom, about the appalling things that are done, nearly always to women and nearly always by men, in casually cruel, often unthinking ways. It's that banality of evil thing, but it shows that no perpetrator is an island but is instead a product of their society. And yet, there is kindness and wisdom in this world too, and people like Jackson, and like the character Tracey in this story, that have no illusions about how the world works, but will nonetheless put themselves in the way of harm to try and save others, not in a ridiculous, Hollywood action movie way, but in small, real ways, that nonetheless could cost them everything. I'm not a huge lover of crime fiction, but when it is done as well as this, I can see why so many people are. Wonderful stuff.



18.The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington 4/5
I read this book for my "150 books from 150 years" challenge, and I picked it up without any real expectation that I would enjoy it, so I was very pleasantly surprised when I actually got really engaged with it. It's the story of one family's loss of fortune and social standing as they fail to move with the rapidly changing times, just as the invention and widespread adoption of the motorcar fundamentally re-shapes American towns and society. Set against these well painted broad themes, the small scale human drama is also very involving, and in George Amberson, we have one of the great snobbish anti-hereos of all time. I would have cheerfully run George over several times in one of the motorcars of the day if I could have stepped between the pages of the book. It also had an interesting new angle for me, thinking environmentally as I do so often these days, to look at this crucial moment in the development of cars, and to see that there were many that were sceptical of their usefulness and wary of the changes their use would bring, and to wonder if things mightn't have turned out differently. Probably not, but it's interesting to speculate. The only thing that felt dated really, was the author's assertion that the lesson to learn from the Amberson's is that (to paraphrase) "Money flows away like mercury into cracks in the road" or something like that. These days, the Amberson's of our times seem to have learnt several tricks to make sure that their money stays right where they left it, thank you. An unexpectedly enjoyable and instructive read - exactly the kind that I'm doing this challenge for.

>84 HanGerg: Re. #16 I can't remember anything about it off hand, but as I only rated it at 2.5 it must not have tickled my fancy.

> Hi Susan! Nor mine! I didn't care much for the characters, and that can be a pretty fatal flaw I think.
Ok, more reviews!



19.A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas 3.5/5
More enjoyable YA Epic Fantasy nonsense. My big issue is how over the top everything is. Our main characters are the best, the wisest, the strongest, the villains the sneekiest and nastiest. Everything that happens is the most amazing or the very worst thing ever. Painting in broad brush strokes for the YA audience I guess, but it's possible to make works that are accessible but also more nuanced. That said, it's very fun to read - good escapist fiction for when you need such things. I'll certainly continue and see where this journey takes us, as it's a thrilling, if slightly silly, ride.


20.A Court of Wings and Ruin - Sarah J. Maas 4/5
And so continue I have! This one is the big epic showdown that the series has been building up to so far, and it has many satisfying moments. It's got deeper and richer as the list of characters has grown and the story arcs have lengthened, which is definitely an improvement on earlier chapters. There's really too much going on plot wise to attempt any kind of explanation, but overall I really like the way things are developing. One thing that bothered me about the plot was how devastated Feyre's sisters were about being turned into Fae. You just got made immortal and super hot! What's the big problem??!? Apart from that, this was a really solid entry into the series, and although it ended in a very satisfying way, it seems we are not done with this world yet, so I'm sure I'll be back with these crazy Fae warriors at some point in the future.


21.Convergence - C.J.Cherryh 4/5
A bit of a contrast in styles between Maas and Cherryh, who is the master of nuance, particularly when it comes to characterisation, but also the subtle details of situations that can arise whenever disparate groups of the people meet, especially when those people are from different species! This is a relatively quiet entry into the series, but if you've got this far you are surely a fan and you don't need me to tell you what's so good about it. It's interesting to see Bren on what would formerly have been "home soil", on the human island of Mospheira, but now feels like anything but, since he has become almost fully assimilated into the culture of the Atevi. A fascinating idea, brilliantly realised. You can almost see Bren through the eyes of his fellow humans, and imagine how odd he appears to them, but at the same time, much as he tries to cover it with his smooth diplomat's exterior, how increasingly at odds he feels with humans, even the ones he likes. Cherryh is a master of the genre, and has perhaps reached the pinnacle of her achievements in this series. Just wonderful stuff!

Glad to see the reading continues Hannah, despite everything else you have going on. Sorry you missed a meetup possibility! Please do shout if you're ever back (exhibiting?) in the Manchester area.

>84 HanGerg: I wasn't that taken with A Darker Shade of Magic either. It was OK but I wasn't very convinced by the feel of the London that was supposed to be 'ours'. Just didn't feel like London to me ...

I'm rereading the Kate Atkinson's prior to reading book 5, as it was a little while ago that I read them.

just parking this here for now, more on it later:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century

>89 HanGerg: Atonement? Really. I've read maybe 10 other of these and they are all worth more than Atonement, which is based on the universally acknowledged truth that lives of a few upper class Brits stirred up with some scandal are worth caring about. Ah, no, I'm not a Downton Abbey fan.

>83 HanGerg: Definitely pass Zorba by.

>84 HanGerg: Another Brody fan! Resistance is futile!

I saw a movie of the Amberson decline, Orson Welles maybe? I might like the book. And do you know, the electric car was well into development when the oil people flattened the competition. Could'a been a different story. Road not taken.

I quite the "Court of . . . " and I understand from others and now you (whose opinion I pay heed to as we tend to have similar responses) say the same thing -- that the books improve. Sigh.

That "best of" list kind of bothers me -- too many of those books have been made into movies, so i am suspicious it's some kind of promo thing.

Actually, most best of lists bother me unless it is simply personal, one person's most meaningful reads.

Hope you and fam are thriving!

Thanks for keeping the embers of my thread glowing whilst I neglect feeding it any fuel at all, Charl, Rhian, Susan and Lucy! I am a bad thread mother! But you know, busy as always. Do I achieve things? Yes, some things, but anything of note? Well, occasionally. I mainly seem to run around starting lots of things, and finishing none of them satisfactorily. I was moaning about this to my husband the other day and his view is, it's just what being an adult is like. Perhaps. But I think working from home is part of my problem - I'm forever putting on a load of washing, or checking a bill has been paid, or increasingly, replying to ever growing numbers of WhatsApp messages, between doing other more important things. And of course, my work day finishes at 2.40, when I have to go pick up Leó from school, so really it's not worth starting anything new after about 1pm, so although you may say "my son is at school now, so I have the DAY to do things", you don't really have a day, you have a morning, plus a good amount of time for lunch, plus a teeny bit of afternoon. Poof! It disappears like that!
So, this is my way of saying a) Leó is at school now and b) one of us is doing great things and making the most of their time to grow and evolve in amazing ways, the other one, not so much. But I do keep busy. I have arty stuff going on, including some upcoming Christmas markets, an application to do a design for a piece of public art to ponder on, some new adult art workshops under the heading "Art for Wellness" that I've just started running, some voluntary work, and a new distance learning course "Understanding Children and Young People's Mental Health". The voluntary organisation I work for pointed me in the direction of these courses, and they are free and pretty good, and there is a whole heap of them, so when I've finished this one I'll probably move on to another. It has slightly hit the reading stats but it will hopefully help keep me employable even in this time when I continue to just pursue my own goals for a bit longer. So that's a long winded way of saying I'm fine. Busy without being productive, it sometimes feels, but fine. And Leó is doing brilliantly at school, for those of you that follow his movements with interest. He attended the pre-school of this institution last year, for just a few hours a week, as well as another nursery setting, and my interactions with these sorts of institutional settings for children has kind of surprised me. I have worked for several such places in my career, and really thought I'd be on the same page as them. But I didn't factor in how much the tiger mother instinct comes out when it is YOUR child at the centre of things. I've sometimes felt the tug towards becoming one of those problem parents that teachers will hide from to avoid another telling off. I haven't picked any fights yet, deciding to keep my powder dry for something that really matters, but I was a little cautious about what full time school would mean for the little guy. But, he seems to be thriving, and what is most important to me, his teacher "gets" him and lets him blossom, and doesn't try to stifle him. That would be my fear, but they have a great relationship and son and mother are happy!
Ok, on to visitors and books!

>87 charl08:. Hi Charl! Oooh, a Manchester meet-up! That would be fun! I shall certainly bear that in mind. Are there any other LT-ers in your neighbourhood that we could join forces with?

>88 SandDune:. Hi Rhian. Yeah, agreed. I haven't been to London for a few years now actually - something I really should remedy sometime - but it didn't really have the right feel did it? I expect I'll get to the next Brodie shortly, although they are very popular at the library so it might be a little bit of a wait.

>90 quondame:. Ha! Susan. I hear you! I've never watched more than a few moments of Downton myself. All this fascination with aristocrats. What's that all about? Maybe it's part of this unhealthy nostalgia for a fictionalised version of our past that has got us into the terrible mess we are currently in, and as such, I would very much rather we did without it, thank you! As for Ian McEwan, I've only read the hot air balloon one. Enduring Love I see now after a bit of searching about. It had all the hallmarks of a very much over-appreciated, pontificating white male middle class writer to me, and I've steered clear ever since. Not my cuppa at all.
As for the list >89 HanGerg: well I counted and I've read twelve of them. These kind of lists always make me feel poorly read, but then lots of them are of the Atonement type that I probably wouldn't care for anyway. But I have jotted down a list of about twenty that I will keep my eyes open for the next time I feel like a bit of challenging contemporary writing. I actually have a few of them in the house already, somewhere on the teetering tbr pile, so I guess that would be a good place to start!

>91 sibylline:. Hi Lucy. Well, I am very flattered to be one of the people whose opinion you trust! Your reviews are always so very, very insightful. I feel like I am only scratching to surface in comparison at times. But yes, I saw that you gave up on "....Mist and Fury", and without giving away too many spoilers, the frustration you had with how the protagonist was enduring abusive dynamics with her partner is very quickly resolved with a positive message for intimate partner respect being one of the book's high points. Lots of silly sex scenes are a bit of a low point though. I've read a lot of Maas recently, with this series and her Throne of Glass series as well, and although I do enjoy her novels, I would never wholeheartedly recommend them. Her stories are compelling but she isn't the best writer, I think. It's hard to say if you really missed out by quitting on this series. They're not bad, but there is a whole world of brilliant novels out there, and only one lifetime to read them all in, so...
Interesting fact about the electric car. It makes me want to find out more actually. We are thinking of getting an electric car for our next car, but the husband's been looking into it and thinks it will be a few years before there's one in the price range we can afford that will have the travel range and everything else we need. It's surely the only way from here on out though.
The fam and I are indeed thriving. Thanks for the good wishes! I hope the same for you and your loved ones over there in chilly Vermont. I'll have to pop over to your thread to see if you've already had some of those huge snowfalls you get in your lovely part of the world!

>92 HanGerg: I'm glad to know you and yours are well!

>92 HanGerg: Leo is at school?! That came round fast! Glad to hear he has settled in well though and lovely to hear from you.

Lovely update, Hannah, that I am only now getting to!

Hope all is well, Hannah.

Have a lovely Sunday.

Hi Susan, Heather, Roni and Paul! Thanks for popping by!

>94 souloftherose:. Leó going to school has indeed come around fast. By one of those little quirks of fate, because he was born three weeks early, that actually bumped him up a school year. He is an August born child so he is one of the very youngest in his class, and was only just four when he started school. Lots of his friends are just the other side of the threshold and will therefore not start school until next September. Luckily, he has a couple friends that were also August born boys who were put in his class. But this is where the tiger mother comes out, when I am told things like "he's a little bit behind with reading", because they mean, for the class, not for his age, so I want to shout at them "For heavens sake, he's almost 12 months younger than some of these children, and he's been reading for about two minutes! If he was in Hungary right now, he'd still be in kindergarten doing totally self-directed learning and would be expected to have an afternoon nap! Give him a break!". But well, like I said, I'm biting my tongue for now. As long as the parents don't buy into this constant monitoring of kids attainment, and make it clear to the kids that they don't need to worry about it either, then hopefully it doesn't drain all the fun out of learning before they are even in double digits. Sigh.

Ok, so look. I'm totally behind on reviews again. I know, I swore this year would be different, but it wasn't. But I am going to do some super quick reviews that are better than nothing. Here we go

22.Zorba the Greek - Nikos Kazantzakis 0.5/5
Pontificating nonsense about a Buddhist turned rampant capitalist and his bromance with a sort of idiot savant, set against a backdrop of deep misogny. Can't think of a book I hated more.

23. Animal - Sarah Pascoe 3.5/5
Feminist thoughts from a stand up comedian. She's clearly done her research and makes some very important points pretty well, but it doesn't quite transcend a personal journey of discovery to become something more universally important.

24.Gentlemen and Players - Joanne Harris 4/5
Some twisty turn-y plotting in this compelling thriller of an outsider that worms their way into the corridors of that ultimate closed society - the British boarding school. It has a big twist that I still can't decide if it is a) too contrived and implausible or b)absolute genius.

25.Autumn in Europe - Dave Hutchinson 4/5
The first part of the highly unusual alternate future trilogy that Heather put me onto. We're in a future Europe divided into many small nations states with lots of complicated borders between them. The main character is a likeable chef turned courier that gets dragged into serious trouble when he starts digging into some of the more mysterious goings on in this fractured continent. Our hero and therefore we the reader have very little idea what's going on for most of the book, and the bigger mystery that's developed over the next two books is only beginning to take shape by the end, but this is a very original and timely look at the state of Europe.

26.Rosie's Little Cafe on the Riviera - Jennifer Bohnet 2.5/5
I picked this very traditional escapist nonsense - "woman gets hurt in love so runs away to France to pursue her dream of opening a cafe by the beach" as a bit of light relief, but it was way too light to really give anyone any satisfaction. There's just no obstacle placed in the main character's way - her cafe is a success almost from day one, the love interest turns up straight away and their relationship developes steadily with no drama, even her estranged father pitches up and starts rebuilding their relationship, all without her really lifting a finger. So, what was the point? Kind of hard to see how this ever got published, when it makes such a basic error. 2.5 feels quite generous looking back on it.

27.Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson 3.5/5
My first non-Brodie Atkinson, and I liked it without being blown away, even though at times it felt like it had the potential to open out and become a really great novel. It's a family saga looking at the intertwined fate of several generations of the same family, which includes its fair share of tragedies and untimely death. There's a bit of a mystery at the heart of the novel that gets explained at the end, but to me, it only detracted from the story that didn't need such a writerly flourish to give it emotional impact, which it did have in abundance. What it didn't quite have was a plot that elevated it above the everyday I think.

28.Bedsit Disco Queen - Tracey Thorn 4/5
A well written and dryly comical biography of an unlikely pop star, detailing her rise from being the shy awkward suburban kid who just wanted to make music, to fleetingly becoming a pop superstar after her band - "Everything But the Girl" - have a huge hit with their single "Missing". (if you were living in England in the late 90's there's no way you could of avoided it. It's that one with the rather poetic chorus, "...and I miss you, like the deserts miss the rain". You know, this one: https://youtu.be/IAkY5m00rpY). It was an excellent look from an artists P.O.V at how the music industry works, as well as an unvarnished account of how difficult it can be to hold onto your creative mojo and be inventive and uncompromising at the same time as having success as a pop act. Recommended if you have even a passing interest in the band's music, which is all I had, or if you are interested in creatives taking on that juggling act of remaining true to yourself but also making enough money to pay the bills.

29.Europe at Midnight - Dave Hutchinson 4/5
The second part of this highly original series, which is even odder and therefore more compelling than the first.

30.Marauder - Gary Gibson 2.5/5
Mediocre space opera that lost a whole star for really abruptly and pointlessly killing off one of the best characters. I mean, why??? It also felt very hurried towards the end - writing to a deadline I suspect.

31.Virginia Woolf in Manhattan - Maggie Gee 5/5
So this is a breathtakingly bold conceit that could have gone disastrously wrong, which is partly what prompted me to pick it up. I did start it with a bit of an attitude of waiting for it to fall apart, but it never faltered, and it carried me with it right to the end. So the idea is this - Vigininia Woolf, the very actual, living breathing person, is, by some fantastical literary magic, willed back into existence by an author researching her work for a conference paper, in New York circa 2014. She has all her memories up to and including the moment she dies, and she quickly becomes aware that she has skipped forward in time. Her reactions to this, apart from a certain lack of curiosity about how it came to have happened, which she accepts fairly placidly, seem absolutely spot on from what I know of her life, and at times are portrayed with heart rending emotional insight. The first person viewpoint switches from Virginia to the author who conjured her into being, who acts as her tour guide to twenty first century life. There's a sub plot involving the author's rather neglected daughter's rite of passage quest to track her mother down, which felt like the least vital part of the story, and there's an attempt to explain it all to some extent at the end that felt unnecessary. It also, at times, perhaps takes too many liberties with Woolf's inner life, but then I think it has been meticulously researched, so perhaps I should bow to Gee's superior knowledge of her subject, and also, she acknowledges in a foreword that part of the reason for writing the book is to tackle Woolf, to, in an affectionate way, bring her down from her sacred pedestal as the champion supreme of women writers. It's an enormously bold undertaking, and despite the odd flaw, I have to award it full marks for sheer chutzpah I think. It's also a hell of a ride. Highly recommended for all Woolf fans.

>97 HanGerg: What a great set of reviews. You do seem more generous in your stars than I would be, mostly, and it does sound like an interesting set of books on the whole.

I have the Hutchinson's on my "list" for potential xmas books for the "house" (I give them to the spousal unit, but we all know they are for all of us) -- the reviews of the first one are so all over the place. What do you think?

Ah, the school odyssey begins!

>97 HanGerg: Also impressed by the reviews.
Smiled at your, erm, ambivalence for Zorba but enthused to go and look for Maggie Gee's take on Virginia Woolf in Manhattan.

Or in other words, Happy Christmas! And have a great New Year as well.

Have a comfy, caring, and very

Merry Christmas!

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, some other tradition or none at all, this is what I wish for you!

Thank you for keeping me company in 2019.......onward to 2020.

Thank you for keeping me company in 2019.......onward to 2020.

>97 HanGerg: That is frustrating if the teachers aren't taking into account the age difference at this stage. And glad you are enjoying the Hutchinsons :-)

I will look out for Virginia Woolf in Manhattan as I enjoyed some of her earlier books very much (My Cleaner and My Driver)

Hope you, Leo and the family are enjoying the Christmas period!

Another resolution is to keep up in 2020 with all my friends on LT. Happy New Year!

Ah, thanks everyone for dropping by! Belated season's greetings to all my LT friends! I fell off the radar again, and totally lost track of the reviews once more! I will try and do better in 2020, honestly! Ok, I'm off to set up the 2020 thread - hopefully see you there!

New thread is up! See you there I hope! http://www.librarything.com/topic/315202