PAUL C'S SECOND HOME - PART 8
This is a continuation of the topic PAUL C'S SECOND HOME - PART 7.
This topic was continued by PAUL C'S SECOND HOME - PART 9.
Talk 75 Books Challenge for 2021
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2PaulCranswick
Poem
Geoffrey Hill is a poet whose star seems to have waned over the last twenty years but many in academic circles believe him to have been one of the most important poets of the second half of the twentieth century. For me he is sandwiched (at least alphabetically) between Heaney and Hughes and rather pales in comparison to those two indisputable greats.
Hill had the ability to shock and to move. This is "Requiem for the Plantagenet Kings"
For whom the possessed sea littered, on both shores,
Ruinous arms; being fired, and for good,
To sound the constitution of just wards,
Men, in their eloquent fashion, understood.
Relieved of soul, the dropping-back of dust,
Their usage, pride, admitted within doors;
At home, under caved chantries, set in trust,
With well-dressed alabaster and proved spurs
They lie; they lie; secure in the decay
Of blood, blood-marks, crowns hacked and coveted,
Before the scouring fires of trial-day
Alight on men; before sleeked groin, gored head,
Budge through the clay and gravel, and the sea
Across daubed rock evacuates its dead.
Geoffrey Hill is a poet whose star seems to have waned over the last twenty years but many in academic circles believe him to have been one of the most important poets of the second half of the twentieth century. For me he is sandwiched (at least alphabetically) between Heaney and Hughes and rather pales in comparison to those two indisputable greats.
Hill had the ability to shock and to move. This is "Requiem for the Plantagenet Kings"
For whom the possessed sea littered, on both shores,
Ruinous arms; being fired, and for good,
To sound the constitution of just wards,
Men, in their eloquent fashion, understood.
Relieved of soul, the dropping-back of dust,
Their usage, pride, admitted within doors;
At home, under caved chantries, set in trust,
With well-dressed alabaster and proved spurs
They lie; they lie; secure in the decay
Of blood, blood-marks, crowns hacked and coveted,
Before the scouring fires of trial-day
Alight on men; before sleeked groin, gored head,
Budge through the clay and gravel, and the sea
Across daubed rock evacuates its dead.
3PaulCranswick
Reading Record
JANUARY
1. Plague 99 by Jean Ure (1989) 218 pp
2. Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes (1857) 309 pp
3. A Lear of the Steppes by Ivan Turgenev (1870) 117 pp
4. A Fall from the Sky by Ian Serraillier (1966) 78 pp
5. The Overnight Kidnapper by Andrea Camilleri (2015) 262 pp
6. Dove on the Waters by Maurice Shadbolt (1996) 198 pp
7. A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson (2019) 81 pp
8. The Other End of the Line by Andrea Camilleri (2016) 293 pp
9. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (2019) 208 pp
10. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (1930) 501 pp
11. Carrie's War by Nina Bawden (1973) 211 pp
12. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (2020) 430 pp
13. Judge Savage by Tim Parks (2003) 442 pp
14. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie (1962) 280 pp
15. Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer (1969) 227 pp
16. Jazz by Toni Morrison (1992) 229 pp
17. A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell (1951) 230 pp
FEBRUARY
18. Junk by Melvyn Burgess (1996) 278 pp
19. The Great Fire by Monica Dickens (1970) 64 pp
20. At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie (1965) 265 pp
21. A Room of Own's Own by Virginia Woolf (1929) 153 pp
22. Bury the Dead by Peter Carter (1987) 374 pp
23. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (2011) 390 pp
24. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (1873) 242 pp
25. Woods, etc. by Alice Oswald (2005) 56 pp
26. Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg (2015) 293 pp
27. A Burning by Megha Majumdar (2020) 289 pp
28. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch (2011) 373 pp
29. What is History? by Edward Hallett Carr (1961) 156 pp
30. A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell (1951) 278 pp
MARCH
31. The Return : Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar (2016) 239 pp
32. The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy (1978) 417 pp
JANUARY
1. Plague 99 by Jean Ure (1989) 218 pp
2. Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes (1857) 309 pp
3. A Lear of the Steppes by Ivan Turgenev (1870) 117 pp
4. A Fall from the Sky by Ian Serraillier (1966) 78 pp
5. The Overnight Kidnapper by Andrea Camilleri (2015) 262 pp
6. Dove on the Waters by Maurice Shadbolt (1996) 198 pp
7. A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson (2019) 81 pp
8. The Other End of the Line by Andrea Camilleri (2016) 293 pp
9. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (2019) 208 pp
10. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (1930) 501 pp
11. Carrie's War by Nina Bawden (1973) 211 pp
12. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (2020) 430 pp
13. Judge Savage by Tim Parks (2003) 442 pp
14. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie (1962) 280 pp
15. Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer (1969) 227 pp
16. Jazz by Toni Morrison (1992) 229 pp
17. A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell (1951) 230 pp
FEBRUARY
18. Junk by Melvyn Burgess (1996) 278 pp
19. The Great Fire by Monica Dickens (1970) 64 pp
20. At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie (1965) 265 pp
21. A Room of Own's Own by Virginia Woolf (1929) 153 pp
22. Bury the Dead by Peter Carter (1987) 374 pp
23. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (2011) 390 pp
24. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (1873) 242 pp
25. Woods, etc. by Alice Oswald (2005) 56 pp
26. Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg (2015) 293 pp
27. A Burning by Megha Majumdar (2020) 289 pp
28. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch (2011) 373 pp
29. What is History? by Edward Hallett Carr (1961) 156 pp
30. A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell (1951) 278 pp
MARCH
31. The Return : Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar (2016) 239 pp
32. The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy (1978) 417 pp
4PaulCranswick
Current reading
5PaulCranswick
READING PLAN
Reading Plan
1 British Author Challenge - set this year by Amanda in the 75er Group
2 1001 Book First Edition - Ongoing
3 Booker Challenge - Read all the Booker winners; I may get close to completing that in 2021
4 Nobel Winners - Read all the Nobel Winners
5 Pulitzer Winners - Read all the Pulitzer fiction winners
6 Around the World Challenge - Read a book from an author born in or with parents from all countries - I reset this challenge in October 2020.
7 Queen Victoria Challenge - Read a book from every year of Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901) with no repeat authors. Started December 2020
8 Queen Betty Challenge - Read a book from every year of Queen Elizabeth II reign (1952-2021) - British authors only and no repeats.
9 Dance to the Music of Time - One a month all year.
10. The 52 Book Club Challenge - A book a week from these selected categories https://www.the52book.club/challenges/2021-reading-challenge/
11. A Dent in the TBR - I have approaching 5,000 books in my TBR so I must read some of the 250 books I have bought in 2020 that end the current year unread.
12. Poetry - My first love in many ways and I am still something of a scribbler of lines to this day.
13. American Author Challenge - Linda came up trumps.
14. Series Pairs - I will choose one favourite series and read the next two books in that particular series I have slightly fallen behind with.
15 Great British History Writers - One classic work per month from a great British historian.
16 New Fantasy Series - I may take a couple of months over each so six may be the most I manage this year.
Reading Plan
1 British Author Challenge - set this year by Amanda in the 75er Group
2 1001 Book First Edition - Ongoing
3 Booker Challenge - Read all the Booker winners; I may get close to completing that in 2021
4 Nobel Winners - Read all the Nobel Winners
5 Pulitzer Winners - Read all the Pulitzer fiction winners
6 Around the World Challenge - Read a book from an author born in or with parents from all countries - I reset this challenge in October 2020.
7 Queen Victoria Challenge - Read a book from every year of Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901) with no repeat authors. Started December 2020
8 Queen Betty Challenge - Read a book from every year of Queen Elizabeth II reign (1952-2021) - British authors only and no repeats.
9 Dance to the Music of Time - One a month all year.
10. The 52 Book Club Challenge - A book a week from these selected categories https://www.the52book.club/challenges/2021-reading-challenge/
11. A Dent in the TBR - I have approaching 5,000 books in my TBR so I must read some of the 250 books I have bought in 2020 that end the current year unread.
12. Poetry - My first love in many ways and I am still something of a scribbler of lines to this day.
13. American Author Challenge - Linda came up trumps.
14. Series Pairs - I will choose one favourite series and read the next two books in that particular series I have slightly fallen behind with.
15 Great British History Writers - One classic work per month from a great British historian.
16 New Fantasy Series - I may take a couple of months over each so six may be the most I manage this year.
6PaulCranswick
BAC
January: Children's Classics https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317610
February: LGBT+ History Month https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317871
March: Vaseem Khan & Eleanor Hibbert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7318561
April: Love is in the Air https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7319432
May: V. S. Naipaul & Na'ima B. Robert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320231
June: The Victorian Era (1837-1901) https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320541
July: Don't judge a book by its movie https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321220
August: Bernard Cornwell & Helen Oyeyemi https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321374
September: She Blinded Me with Science https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321899
October: Narrative Poetry https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7322840
November: Tade Thompson & Elizabeth Taylor https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7323772
December: Awards & Honors https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325017
Wildcard: Books off your shelves https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325595
January: Children's Classics https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317610
February: LGBT+ History Month https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317871
March: Vaseem Khan & Eleanor Hibbert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7318561
April: Love is in the Air https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7319432
May: V. S. Naipaul & Na'ima B. Robert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320231
June: The Victorian Era (1837-1901) https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320541
July: Don't judge a book by its movie https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321220
August: Bernard Cornwell & Helen Oyeyemi https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321374
September: She Blinded Me with Science https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321899
October: Narrative Poetry https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7322840
November: Tade Thompson & Elizabeth Taylor https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7323772
December: Awards & Honors https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325017
Wildcard: Books off your shelves https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325595
7PaulCranswick
AMERICAN AUTHOR CHALLENGE
Please see:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/327669#7354831
January : Keep it in the Family : F. Scott Fitzgerald
February : Ethan Canin
Please see:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/327669#7354831
January : Keep it in the Family : F. Scott Fitzgerald
February : Ethan Canin
8PaulCranswick
BOOKERS
Personal Reading Challenge: Every winner of the Booker Prize since its inception in 1969
1969: P. H. Newby, Something to Answer For - READ
1970: Bernice Rubens, The Elected Member
1970: J. G. Farrell, Troubles (awarded in 2010 as the Lost Man Booker Prize) - READ
1971: V. S. Naipaul, In a Free State
1972: John Berger, G.
1973: J. G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur - READ
1974: Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist ... and Stanley Middleton, Holiday - READ
1975: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust - READ
1976: David Storey, Saville - READ
1977: Paul Scott, Staying On - READ
1978: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea
1979: Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore - READ
1980: William Golding, Rites of Passage - READ
1981: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children - READ
1982: Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark - READ
1983: J. M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K
1984: Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac - READ
1985: Keri Hulme, The Bone People
1986: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils - READ
1987: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger - READ
1988: Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda
1989: Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day
1990: A. S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance - READ
1991: Ben Okri, The Famished Road
1992: Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient ... and Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger - READ
1993: Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1994: James Kelman, How late it was, how late
1995: Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
1996: Graham Swift, Last Orders - READ
1997: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things READ
1998: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam - READ
1999: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace - READ
2000: Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
2001: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang - READ
2002: Yann Martel, Life of Pi
2003: DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little
2004: Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty
2005: John Banville, The Sea - READ
2006: Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss
2007: Anne Enright, The Gathering - READ
2008: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger - READ
2009: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall - READ
2010: Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question
2011: Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending - READ
2012: Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies - READ
2013: Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
2014: Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North - READ
2015: Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings - READ
2016: Paul Beatty, The Sellout - READ
2017: George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo
2018: Anna Burns, Milkman
2019: Margaret Atwood, The Testaments, and Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other
2020: Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain READ JAN 21
READ 32 of 56 WINNERS
Personal Reading Challenge: Every winner of the Booker Prize since its inception in 1969
1969: P. H. Newby, Something to Answer For - READ
1970: Bernice Rubens, The Elected Member
1970: J. G. Farrell, Troubles (awarded in 2010 as the Lost Man Booker Prize) - READ
1971: V. S. Naipaul, In a Free State
1972: John Berger, G.
1973: J. G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur - READ
1974: Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist ... and Stanley Middleton, Holiday - READ
1975: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust - READ
1976: David Storey, Saville - READ
1977: Paul Scott, Staying On - READ
1978: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea
1979: Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore - READ
1980: William Golding, Rites of Passage - READ
1981: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children - READ
1982: Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark - READ
1983: J. M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K
1984: Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac - READ
1985: Keri Hulme, The Bone People
1986: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils - READ
1987: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger - READ
1988: Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda
1989: Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day
1990: A. S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance - READ
1991: Ben Okri, The Famished Road
1992: Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient ... and Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger - READ
1993: Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1994: James Kelman, How late it was, how late
1995: Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
1996: Graham Swift, Last Orders - READ
1997: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things READ
1998: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam - READ
1999: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace - READ
2000: Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
2001: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang - READ
2002: Yann Martel, Life of Pi
2003: DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little
2004: Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty
2005: John Banville, The Sea - READ
2006: Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss
2007: Anne Enright, The Gathering - READ
2008: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger - READ
2009: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall - READ
2010: Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question
2011: Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending - READ
2012: Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies - READ
2013: Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
2014: Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North - READ
2015: Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings - READ
2016: Paul Beatty, The Sellout - READ
2017: George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo
2018: Anna Burns, Milkman
2019: Margaret Atwood, The Testaments, and Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other
2020: Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain READ JAN 21
READ 32 of 56 WINNERS
9PaulCranswick
Pulitzer Winners
As with the Bookers, I want to eventually read all the Pulitzer winners (for fiction at least) and have most of the recent ones on the shelves at least. Current status.
Fiction
1918 HIS FAMILY - Ernest Poole
1919 THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS - Booth Tarkington
1921 THE AGE OF INNOCENCE - Edith Wharton
1922 ALICE ADAMS - Booth Tarkington
1923 ONE OF OURS - Willa Cather
1924 THE ABLE MCLAUGHLINS - Margaret Wilson
1925 SO BIG - Edna Ferber
1926 ARROWSMITH - Sinclair Lewis (Declined)
1927 EARLY AUTUMN - Louis Bromfield
1928 THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY - Thornton Wilder
1929 SCARLET SISTER MARY - Julia Peterkin
1930 LAUGHING BOY - Oliver Lafarge ON SHELVES
1931 YEARS OF GRACE - Margaret Ayer Barnes
1932 THE GOOD EARTH - Pearl Buck
1933 THE STORE - Thomas Sigismund Stribling
1934 LAMB IN HIS BOSOM - Caroline Miller
1935 NOW IN NOVEMBER - Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936 HONEY IN THE HORN - Harold L Davis
1937 GONE WITH THE WIND - Margaret Mitchell ON SHELVES
1938 THE LATE GEORGE APLEY - John Phillips Marquand
1939 THE YEARLING - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1940 THE GRAPES OF WRATH - John Steinbeck
1942 IN THIS OUR LIFE - Ellen Glasgow
1943 DRAGON'S TEETH - Upton Sinclair
1944 JOURNEY IN THE DARK - Martin Flavin
1945 A BELL FOR ADANO - John Hersey ON SHELVES
1947 ALL THE KING'S MEN - Robert Penn Warren ON SHELVES
1948 TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC - James Michener
1949 GUARD OF HONOR - James Gould Cozzens
1950 THE WAY WEST - A.B. Guthrie
1951 THE TOWN - Conrad Richter
1952 THE CAINE MUTINY - Herman Wouk
1953 THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA - Ernest Hemingway
1955 A FABLE - William Faulkner
1956 ANDERSONVILLE - McKinlay Kantor
1958 A DEATH IN THE FAMILY - James Agee ON SHELVES
1959 THE TRAVELS OF JAIMIE McPHEETERS - Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 ADVISE AND CONSENT - Allen Drury
1961 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Harper Lee
1962 THE EDGE OF SADNESS - Edwin O'Connor
1963 THE REIVERS - William Faulkner
1965 THE KEEPERS OF THE HOUSE - Shirley Ann Grau
1966 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF KATHERINE ANNE PORTER - Katherine Anne Porter
1967 THE FIXER - Bernard Malamud
1968 THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER - William Styron
1969 HOUSE MADE OF DAWN - N Scott Momaday ON SHELVES
1970 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JEAN STAFFORD - Jean Stafford
1972 ANGLE OF REPOSE - Wallace Stegner ON SHELVES
1973 THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER - Eudora Welty ON SHELVES
1975 THE KILLER ANGELS - Jeff Shaara ON SHELVES
1976 HUMBOLDT'S GIFT - Saul Bellow
1978 ELBOW ROOM - James Alan McPherson
1979 THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER - John Cheever ON SHELVES
1980 THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG - Norman Mailer ON SHELVES
1981 A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES - John Kennedy Toole ON SHELVES
1982 RABBIT IS RICH - John Updike
1983 THE COLOR PURPLE - Alice Walker ON SHELVES
1984 IRONWEED - William Kennedy ON SHELVES
1985 FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Alison Lurie ON SHELVES
1986 LONESOME DOVE - Larry McMurtry ON SHELVES
1987 A SUMMONS TO MEMPHIS - Peter Taylor
1988 BELOVED - Toni Morrison - ON SHELVES
1989 BREATHING LESSONS - Anne Tyler
1990 THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE - Oscar Hijuelos
1991 RABBIT AT REST - John Updike
1992 A THOUSAND ACRES - Jane Smiley
1993 A GOOD SCENT FROM A STRANGE MOUNTAIN - Robert Olen Butler
1994 THE SHIPPING NEWS - E Annie Proulx
1995 THE STONE DIARIES - Carol Shields ON SHELVES
1996 INDEPENDENCE DAY - Richard Ford ON SHELVES
1997 MARTIN DRESSLER - Steven Millhauser ON SHELVES
1998 AMERICAN PASTORAL - Philip Roth ON SHELVES
1999 THE HOURS - Michael Cunningham ON SHELVES
2000 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES - Jumpha Lahiri
2001 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY - Michael Chabon ON SHELVES
2002 EMPIRE FALLS - Richard Russo ON SHELVES
2003 MIDDLESEX - Jeffrey Eugenides ON SHELVES
2004 THE KNOWN WORLD - Edward P. Jones ON SHELVES
2005 GILEAD - Marilynne Robinson ON SHELVES
2006 MARCH - Geraldine Brooks
2007 THE ROAD - Cormac McCarthy
2008 THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO - Junot Diaz ON SHELVES
2009 OLIVE KITTERIDGE - Elizabeth Strout ON SHELVES
2010 TINKERS - Paul Harding
2011 A VISIT FROM THE GOOD SQUAD - Jennifer Egan ON SHELVES
2013 ORPHAN MASTER'S SON - Adam Johnson ON SHELVES
2014 THE GOLDFINCH - Donna Tartt ON SHELVES
2015 ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE - Anthony Doerr ON SHELVES
2016 THE SYMPATHIZER - Viet Thanh Nguyen ON SHELVES
2017 THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD - Colson Whitehead ON SHELVES
2018 LESS - Andrew Sean Greer ON SHELVES
2019 THE OVERSTORY - Richard Powers ON SHELVES
2020 THE NICKEL BOYS - Colson Whitehead
17 READ
37 ON SHELVES
39 NOT OWNED OR READ
93 TOTAL
As with the Bookers, I want to eventually read all the Pulitzer winners (for fiction at least) and have most of the recent ones on the shelves at least. Current status.
Fiction
1918 HIS FAMILY - Ernest Poole
1919 THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS - Booth Tarkington
1921 THE AGE OF INNOCENCE - Edith Wharton
1922 ALICE ADAMS - Booth Tarkington
1923 ONE OF OURS - Willa Cather
1924 THE ABLE MCLAUGHLINS - Margaret Wilson
1925 SO BIG - Edna Ferber
1926 ARROWSMITH - Sinclair Lewis (Declined)
1927 EARLY AUTUMN - Louis Bromfield
1928 THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY - Thornton Wilder
1929 SCARLET SISTER MARY - Julia Peterkin
1930 LAUGHING BOY - Oliver Lafarge ON SHELVES
1931 YEARS OF GRACE - Margaret Ayer Barnes
1932 THE GOOD EARTH - Pearl Buck
1933 THE STORE - Thomas Sigismund Stribling
1934 LAMB IN HIS BOSOM - Caroline Miller
1935 NOW IN NOVEMBER - Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936 HONEY IN THE HORN - Harold L Davis
1937 GONE WITH THE WIND - Margaret Mitchell ON SHELVES
1938 THE LATE GEORGE APLEY - John Phillips Marquand
1939 THE YEARLING - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1940 THE GRAPES OF WRATH - John Steinbeck
1942 IN THIS OUR LIFE - Ellen Glasgow
1943 DRAGON'S TEETH - Upton Sinclair
1944 JOURNEY IN THE DARK - Martin Flavin
1945 A BELL FOR ADANO - John Hersey ON SHELVES
1947 ALL THE KING'S MEN - Robert Penn Warren ON SHELVES
1948 TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC - James Michener
1949 GUARD OF HONOR - James Gould Cozzens
1950 THE WAY WEST - A.B. Guthrie
1951 THE TOWN - Conrad Richter
1952 THE CAINE MUTINY - Herman Wouk
1953 THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA - Ernest Hemingway
1955 A FABLE - William Faulkner
1956 ANDERSONVILLE - McKinlay Kantor
1958 A DEATH IN THE FAMILY - James Agee ON SHELVES
1959 THE TRAVELS OF JAIMIE McPHEETERS - Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 ADVISE AND CONSENT - Allen Drury
1961 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Harper Lee
1962 THE EDGE OF SADNESS - Edwin O'Connor
1963 THE REIVERS - William Faulkner
1965 THE KEEPERS OF THE HOUSE - Shirley Ann Grau
1966 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF KATHERINE ANNE PORTER - Katherine Anne Porter
1967 THE FIXER - Bernard Malamud
1968 THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER - William Styron
1969 HOUSE MADE OF DAWN - N Scott Momaday ON SHELVES
1970 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JEAN STAFFORD - Jean Stafford
1972 ANGLE OF REPOSE - Wallace Stegner ON SHELVES
1973 THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER - Eudora Welty ON SHELVES
1975 THE KILLER ANGELS - Jeff Shaara ON SHELVES
1976 HUMBOLDT'S GIFT - Saul Bellow
1978 ELBOW ROOM - James Alan McPherson
1979 THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER - John Cheever ON SHELVES
1980 THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG - Norman Mailer ON SHELVES
1981 A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES - John Kennedy Toole ON SHELVES
1982 RABBIT IS RICH - John Updike
1983 THE COLOR PURPLE - Alice Walker ON SHELVES
1984 IRONWEED - William Kennedy ON SHELVES
1985 FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Alison Lurie ON SHELVES
1986 LONESOME DOVE - Larry McMurtry ON SHELVES
1987 A SUMMONS TO MEMPHIS - Peter Taylor
1988 BELOVED - Toni Morrison - ON SHELVES
1989 BREATHING LESSONS - Anne Tyler
1990 THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE - Oscar Hijuelos
1991 RABBIT AT REST - John Updike
1992 A THOUSAND ACRES - Jane Smiley
1993 A GOOD SCENT FROM A STRANGE MOUNTAIN - Robert Olen Butler
1994 THE SHIPPING NEWS - E Annie Proulx
1995 THE STONE DIARIES - Carol Shields ON SHELVES
1996 INDEPENDENCE DAY - Richard Ford ON SHELVES
1997 MARTIN DRESSLER - Steven Millhauser ON SHELVES
1998 AMERICAN PASTORAL - Philip Roth ON SHELVES
1999 THE HOURS - Michael Cunningham ON SHELVES
2000 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES - Jumpha Lahiri
2001 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY - Michael Chabon ON SHELVES
2002 EMPIRE FALLS - Richard Russo ON SHELVES
2003 MIDDLESEX - Jeffrey Eugenides ON SHELVES
2004 THE KNOWN WORLD - Edward P. Jones ON SHELVES
2005 GILEAD - Marilynne Robinson ON SHELVES
2006 MARCH - Geraldine Brooks
2007 THE ROAD - Cormac McCarthy
2008 THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO - Junot Diaz ON SHELVES
2009 OLIVE KITTERIDGE - Elizabeth Strout ON SHELVES
2010 TINKERS - Paul Harding
2011 A VISIT FROM THE GOOD SQUAD - Jennifer Egan ON SHELVES
2013 ORPHAN MASTER'S SON - Adam Johnson ON SHELVES
2014 THE GOLDFINCH - Donna Tartt ON SHELVES
2015 ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE - Anthony Doerr ON SHELVES
2016 THE SYMPATHIZER - Viet Thanh Nguyen ON SHELVES
2017 THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD - Colson Whitehead ON SHELVES
2018 LESS - Andrew Sean Greer ON SHELVES
2019 THE OVERSTORY - Richard Powers ON SHELVES
2020 THE NICKEL BOYS - Colson Whitehead
17 READ
37 ON SHELVES
39 NOT OWNED OR READ
93 TOTAL
10PaulCranswick
NOBELS
Update on my Nobel Prize Winning Reading:
1901 Sully Prudhomme
1902 Theodor Mommsen
1903 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
1904 Frédéric Mistral and José Echegaray y Eizaquirre
1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz
1906 Giosuè Carducci
1907 Rudyard Kipling - READ
1908 Rudolf Christoph Eucken
1909 Selma Lagerlöf
1910 Paul Heyse --
1911 Count Maurice Maeterlinck
1912 Gerhart Hauptmann
1913 Rabindranath Tagore - READ
1915 Romain Rolland
1916 Verner von Heidenstam
1917 Karl Adolph Gjellerup and Henrik Pontoppidan
1919 Carl Spitteler
1920 Knut Hamsun - READ
1921 Anatole France - READ
1922 Jacinto Benavente
1923 William Butler Yeats - READ
1924 Wladyslaw Reymont
1925 George Bernard Shaw - READ
1926 Grazia Deledda - READ
1927 Henri Bergson
1928 Sigrid Undset
1929 Thomas Mann - READ
1930 Sinclair Lewis - READ
1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt
1932 John Galsworthy - READ
1933 Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin - READ
1934 Luigi Pirandello - READ
1936 Eugene O'Neill - READ
1937 Roger Martin du Gard
1938 Pearl S. Buck - READ
1939 Frans Eemil Sillanpää
1944 Johannes Vilhelm Jensen
1945 Gabriela Mistral
1946 Hermann Hesse - READ
1947 André Gide - READ
1948 T.S. Elliot - READ
1949 William Faulkner - READ
1950 Bertrand Russell - READ
1951 Pär Lagerkvist - READ
1952 François Mauriac - READ
1953 Sir Winston Churchill - READ
1954 Ernest Hemingway - READ
1955 Halldór Laxness - READ
1956 Juan Ramón Jiménez
1957 Albert Camus - READ
1958 Boris Pasternak (declined the prize) - READ
1959 Salvatore Quasimodo
1960 Saint-John Perse
1961 Ivo Andric - READ
1962 John Steinbeck - READ
1963 Giorgos Seferis
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre (declined the prize) - READ
1965 Michail Sholokhov
1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Nelly Sachs - READ
1967 Miguel Ángel Asturias
1968 Yasunari Kawabata - READ
1969 Samuel Beckett - READ
1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - READ
1971 Pablo Neruda - READ
1972 Heinrich Böll - READ
1973 Patrick White
1974 Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson
1975 Eugenio Montale
1976 Saul Bellow - READ
1977 Vincente Aleixandre
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer - READ
1979 Odysseas Elytis - READ
1980 Czeslaw Milosz
1981 Elias Canetti
1982 Gabriel Garciá Márquez - READ
1983 William Golding - READ
1984 Jaroslav Seifert - READ
1985 Claude Simon - READ
1986 Akinwande Ouwoe Soyinka
1987 Joseph Brodsky - READ
1988 Naguib Mahfouz - READ
1989 Camilo José Cela - READ
1990 Octavio Paz
1991 Nadine Gordimer - READ
1992 Derek Walcott - READ
1993 Toni Morrison - READ
1994 Kenzaburo Oe - READ
1995 Seamus Heaney - READ
1996 Wislawa Szymborska - READ
1997 Dario Fo - READ
1998 José Saramago - READ
1999 Günter Grass
2000 Gao Xingjian
2001 Vidiadhar Surjprasad Naipaul - READ
2002 Imre Kertész - READ
2003 John Maxwell Coetzee - READ
2004 Elfriede Jelinek - READ
2005 Harold Pinter - READ
2006 Orhan Pamuk - READ
2007 Doris Lessing - READ
2008 J.M.G. Le Clézio
2009 Herta Müller - READ
2010 Mario Vargas Llosa - READ
2011 Tomas Tranströmer - READ
2012 Mo Yan
2013 Alice Munro - READ
2014 Patrick Modiano - READ
2015 Svetlana Alexievich - READ
2016 Bob Dylan - READ
2017 Kazuo Ishiguro - READ
2018 Olga Tokarczuk - READ
2019 Peter Handke - READ
2020 Louise Gluck - READ
READ 71 OF
117 LAUREATES
Update on my Nobel Prize Winning Reading:
1901 Sully Prudhomme
1902 Theodor Mommsen
1903 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
1904 Frédéric Mistral and José Echegaray y Eizaquirre
1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz
1906 Giosuè Carducci
1907 Rudyard Kipling - READ
1908 Rudolf Christoph Eucken
1909 Selma Lagerlöf
1910 Paul Heyse --
1911 Count Maurice Maeterlinck
1912 Gerhart Hauptmann
1913 Rabindranath Tagore - READ
1915 Romain Rolland
1916 Verner von Heidenstam
1917 Karl Adolph Gjellerup and Henrik Pontoppidan
1919 Carl Spitteler
1920 Knut Hamsun - READ
1921 Anatole France - READ
1922 Jacinto Benavente
1923 William Butler Yeats - READ
1924 Wladyslaw Reymont
1925 George Bernard Shaw - READ
1926 Grazia Deledda - READ
1927 Henri Bergson
1928 Sigrid Undset
1929 Thomas Mann - READ
1930 Sinclair Lewis - READ
1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt
1932 John Galsworthy - READ
1933 Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin - READ
1934 Luigi Pirandello - READ
1936 Eugene O'Neill - READ
1937 Roger Martin du Gard
1938 Pearl S. Buck - READ
1939 Frans Eemil Sillanpää
1944 Johannes Vilhelm Jensen
1945 Gabriela Mistral
1946 Hermann Hesse - READ
1947 André Gide - READ
1948 T.S. Elliot - READ
1949 William Faulkner - READ
1950 Bertrand Russell - READ
1951 Pär Lagerkvist - READ
1952 François Mauriac - READ
1953 Sir Winston Churchill - READ
1954 Ernest Hemingway - READ
1955 Halldór Laxness - READ
1956 Juan Ramón Jiménez
1957 Albert Camus - READ
1958 Boris Pasternak (declined the prize) - READ
1959 Salvatore Quasimodo
1960 Saint-John Perse
1961 Ivo Andric - READ
1962 John Steinbeck - READ
1963 Giorgos Seferis
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre (declined the prize) - READ
1965 Michail Sholokhov
1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Nelly Sachs - READ
1967 Miguel Ángel Asturias
1968 Yasunari Kawabata - READ
1969 Samuel Beckett - READ
1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - READ
1971 Pablo Neruda - READ
1972 Heinrich Böll - READ
1973 Patrick White
1974 Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson
1975 Eugenio Montale
1976 Saul Bellow - READ
1977 Vincente Aleixandre
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer - READ
1979 Odysseas Elytis - READ
1980 Czeslaw Milosz
1981 Elias Canetti
1982 Gabriel Garciá Márquez - READ
1983 William Golding - READ
1984 Jaroslav Seifert - READ
1985 Claude Simon - READ
1986 Akinwande Ouwoe Soyinka
1987 Joseph Brodsky - READ
1988 Naguib Mahfouz - READ
1989 Camilo José Cela - READ
1990 Octavio Paz
1991 Nadine Gordimer - READ
1992 Derek Walcott - READ
1993 Toni Morrison - READ
1994 Kenzaburo Oe - READ
1995 Seamus Heaney - READ
1996 Wislawa Szymborska - READ
1997 Dario Fo - READ
1998 José Saramago - READ
1999 Günter Grass
2000 Gao Xingjian
2001 Vidiadhar Surjprasad Naipaul - READ
2002 Imre Kertész - READ
2003 John Maxwell Coetzee - READ
2004 Elfriede Jelinek - READ
2005 Harold Pinter - READ
2006 Orhan Pamuk - READ
2007 Doris Lessing - READ
2008 J.M.G. Le Clézio
2009 Herta Müller - READ
2010 Mario Vargas Llosa - READ
2011 Tomas Tranströmer - READ
2012 Mo Yan
2013 Alice Munro - READ
2014 Patrick Modiano - READ
2015 Svetlana Alexievich - READ
2016 Bob Dylan - READ
2017 Kazuo Ishiguro - READ
2018 Olga Tokarczuk - READ
2019 Peter Handke - READ
2020 Louise Gluck - READ
READ 71 OF
117 LAUREATES
11PaulCranswick
AROUND THE WORLD CHALLENGE
Around the world in books challenge. I want to see how many countries I can cover without limiting myself to a specific deadline.
From 1 October 2020
1. United Kingdom - The Ways of the World by Robert Goddard EUROPE
2. Ireland - The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde EUROPE
3. Lithuania - Selected and Last Poems by Czeslaw Milosz EUROPE
4. Netherlands - The Ditch by Herman Koch EUROPE
5. Armenia - The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian ASIA PACIFIC
6. Zimbabwe - This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga AFRICA
7. United States - Averno by Louise Gluck AMERICA
8. Australia - Taller When Prone by Les Murray ASIA PACIFIC
9. France - Class Trip by Emmanuel Carrere EUROPE
10. Russia - The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov EUROPE
11. Denmark - Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard EUROPE
12. Democratic Republic of Congo - Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanze Mujila AFRICA
13. Canada - I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven AMERICA
14. Italy - The Overnight Kidnapper by Andrea Camilleri EUROPE
15. New Zealand - Dove on the Waters by Maurice Shadbolt ASIA PACIFIC
16. India - A Burning by Megha Majumdar ASIA PACIFIC
17. Libya - The Return by Hisham Matar AFRICA
Create Your Own Visited Countries Map
Around the world in books challenge. I want to see how many countries I can cover without limiting myself to a specific deadline.
From 1 October 2020
1. United Kingdom - The Ways of the World by Robert Goddard EUROPE
2. Ireland - The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde EUROPE
3. Lithuania - Selected and Last Poems by Czeslaw Milosz EUROPE
4. Netherlands - The Ditch by Herman Koch EUROPE
5. Armenia - The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian ASIA PACIFIC
6. Zimbabwe - This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga AFRICA
7. United States - Averno by Louise Gluck AMERICA
8. Australia - Taller When Prone by Les Murray ASIA PACIFIC
9. France - Class Trip by Emmanuel Carrere EUROPE
10. Russia - The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov EUROPE
11. Denmark - Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard EUROPE
12. Democratic Republic of Congo - Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanze Mujila AFRICA
13. Canada - I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven AMERICA
14. Italy - The Overnight Kidnapper by Andrea Camilleri EUROPE
15. New Zealand - Dove on the Waters by Maurice Shadbolt ASIA PACIFIC
16. India - A Burning by Megha Majumdar ASIA PACIFIC
17. Libya - The Return by Hisham Matar AFRICA
Create Your Own Visited Countries Map
12PaulCranswick
QUEEN VIC CHALLENGE
Regarding my Victorian Era Challenge which I started this month with the aim of completing it by the end of 2021. 64 years. 64 books. 64 authors.
From Dec 2020
1843 FEAR AND TREMBLING by Kierkegaard
1850 PENDENNIS by Thackeray
1857 TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS by Hughes
1870 A LEAR OF THE STEPPES by Turgenev
1873 AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS by Verne
1881 PRINCE AND THE PAUPER by Twain
1900 THREE SISTERS by Chekhov
7/64
Regarding my Victorian Era Challenge which I started this month with the aim of completing it by the end of 2021. 64 years. 64 books. 64 authors.
From Dec 2020
1843 FEAR AND TREMBLING by Kierkegaard
1850 PENDENNIS by Thackeray
1857 TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS by Hughes
1870 A LEAR OF THE STEPPES by Turgenev
1873 AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS by Verne
1881 PRINCE AND THE PAUPER by Twain
1900 THREE SISTERS by Chekhov
7/64
13PaulCranswick
QUEEN BETTY CHALLENGE
From December 2020 70 Years 70 Books 70 Different British Authors
1952 A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell
1961 What is History? by EH Carr
1962 The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side by Agatha Christie
1966 A Fall from the Sky by Ian Serraillier
1969 Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Framer
1970 The Great Fire by Monica Dickens
1973 Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
1978 The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy
1987 Bury the Dead by Peter Carter
1989 Plague 99 by Jean Ure
1996 Junk by Melvyn Burgess
2003 Judge Savage by Tim Parks
2005 Woods, etc. by Alice Oswald
2011 Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2013 A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre
2019 A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson
2020 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
17/70
From December 2020 70 Years 70 Books 70 Different British Authors
1952 A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell
1961 What is History? by EH Carr
1962 The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side by Agatha Christie
1966 A Fall from the Sky by Ian Serraillier
1969 Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Framer
1970 The Great Fire by Monica Dickens
1973 Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
1978 The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy
1987 Bury the Dead by Peter Carter
1989 Plague 99 by Jean Ure
1996 Junk by Melvyn Burgess
2003 Judge Savage by Tim Parks
2005 Woods, etc. by Alice Oswald
2011 Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2013 A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre
2019 A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson
2020 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
17/70
14PaulCranswick
52 BOOK CLUB CHALLENGE
Based on this challenge suggested by Katie & Chelle
https://www.the52book.club/challenges/2021-reading-challenge/
January
Week 1 : Set in a school : Tom Brown's Schooldays by Hughes Read 2 Jan 2021
Week 2 : Legal profession : Judge Savage by Tim Parks Read 28 Jan 2021
Week 3 : Dual timeline : Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer Read 29 Jan 2021
Week 4 : Deceased author : Jazz by Toni Morrison READ 30 Jan 2021
Week 5 : Published by Penguin : Junk by Melvyn Burgess READ 3 Feb 2021
Week 6 : Male Family Member : Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch READ 12 Feb 2021
Week 7 : 1 Published Work : A Burning by Megha Majumdar READ 19 Feb 2021
Week 8 : Dewey 900 Class : What is History? by EH Carr READ 28 February
Week 9 : Set in a Mediterranean Country : The Return by Hisham Matar READ 5 MAR 2021
Week 10 : Book with discussion questions :
Week 11 : Relating to fire :
Week 12 : Title Starting with D :
Week 13 : Includes an Exotic Animal :
Based on this challenge suggested by Katie & Chelle
https://www.the52book.club/challenges/2021-reading-challenge/
January
Week 1 : Set in a school : Tom Brown's Schooldays by Hughes Read 2 Jan 2021
Week 2 : Legal profession : Judge Savage by Tim Parks Read 28 Jan 2021
Week 3 : Dual timeline : Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer Read 29 Jan 2021
Week 4 : Deceased author : Jazz by Toni Morrison READ 30 Jan 2021
Week 5 : Published by Penguin : Junk by Melvyn Burgess READ 3 Feb 2021
Week 6 : Male Family Member : Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch READ 12 Feb 2021
Week 7 : 1 Published Work : A Burning by Megha Majumdar READ 19 Feb 2021
Week 8 : Dewey 900 Class : What is History? by EH Carr READ 28 February
Week 9 : Set in a Mediterranean Country : The Return by Hisham Matar READ 5 MAR 2021
Week 10 : Book with discussion questions :
Week 11 : Relating to fire :
Week 12 : Title Starting with D :
Week 13 : Includes an Exotic Animal :
15PaulCranswick
SERIES PAIR CHALLENGE
January First Half : Andrea Camilleri - MONTALBANO DONE
January Second Half : Agatha Christie - MISS MARPLE DONE
February First Half : Ben Aaronovitch - PETER GRANT DONE
January First Half : Andrea Camilleri - MONTALBANO DONE
January Second Half : Agatha Christie - MISS MARPLE DONE
February First Half : Ben Aaronovitch - PETER GRANT DONE
16PaulCranswick
BRITISH HISTORIANS
As if I don't have enough challenges! I want to polish up on my reading and re-reading of the British historians who either inspired me as a student or who I have since come to greatly admire
The French Revolution by Thomas CARLYLE 1837
The Age of Improvement by Asa BRIGGS 1959
The History of England by Thomas Babington MACAULAY 1848
The Making of the English Working Class by EP THOMPSON 1963
Fifteen Decisive Battles by EDWARD CREASEY 1851
What is History? by EH CARR 1961 READ FEB 21
The Course of German History by AJP TAYLOR 1945
The American Future by Simon SCHAMA 2009
The Face of Battle by John KEEGAN 1976
The King's Peace by CV WEDGWOOD 1955
The Age of Revolution by ERIC HOBSBAWM 1962
As if I don't have enough challenges! I want to polish up on my reading and re-reading of the British historians who either inspired me as a student or who I have since come to greatly admire
The French Revolution by Thomas CARLYLE 1837
The Age of Improvement by Asa BRIGGS 1959
The History of England by Thomas Babington MACAULAY 1848
The Making of the English Working Class by EP THOMPSON 1963
Fifteen Decisive Battles by EDWARD CREASEY 1851
What is History? by EH CARR 1961 READ FEB 21
The Course of German History by AJP TAYLOR 1945
The American Future by Simon SCHAMA 2009
The Face of Battle by John KEEGAN 1976
The King's Peace by CV WEDGWOOD 1955
The Age of Revolution by ERIC HOBSBAWM 1962
17PaulCranswick
FANTASY SERIES CHALLENGE
Ten New (for me) Fantasy Series to go at:
I will concentrate on one series every two months
N.K. JEMISIN - The Inheritance Trilogy
TAD WILLIAMS - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
C.J. CHERRYH - Chanur Saga
GENE WOLFE - The Book of the New Sun
DAVID EDDINGS - The Belgariad
DIANA GABALDON - Outlander
Ten New (for me) Fantasy Series to go at:
I will concentrate on one series every two months
N.K. JEMISIN - The Inheritance Trilogy
TAD WILLIAMS - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
C.J. CHERRYH - Chanur Saga
GENE WOLFE - The Book of the New Sun
DAVID EDDINGS - The Belgariad
DIANA GABALDON - Outlander
18PaulCranswick
READ MORE THAN ACQUIRED
Last year I added 300 books but read 50 of them. In addition I have another 4,500 plus on the TBR.
The challenge is not to make the situation of my TBR worse.
So I must read or remove from my wider TBR more than I acquire this year and I will gauge this against last years "new" TBR and any future incomings. Therefore the older TBRs don't count against this challenge.
The figure at the start of the year is 250 books and this number must be smaller by December 31. These are the 250 books:
1 Stay with Me Adebayo
2 American War Akkad
3 The Catholic School Albinati
4 The Unwomanly Face of War Alexievich
5 Saltwater Andrews
6 Big Sky Atkinson
7 At the Jerusalem Bailey
8 The Body Lies Baker
9 The Lost Memory of Skin Banks
10 Remembered Battle-Felton
11 Springtime in a Broken Mirror Benedetti
12 A Crime in the Neighborhood Berne
13 Stand By Me Berry
14 Love Story, With Murders Bingham
15 This Thing of Darkness Bingham
16 The Sandcastle Girls Bohjalian
17 The Ascent of Rum Doodle Bowman
18 Clade Bradley
19 The Snow Ball Brophy
20 Paladin of Souls Bujold
21 Parable of the Sower Butler
22 The Adventures of China Iron Camara
23 The Overnight Kidnapper Camilleri READ JAN 21
24 The Other End of the Line Camilleri READ JAN 21
25 Lord of all the Dead Cercas
26 Uncle Vanya Checkov
27 The Cherry Orchard Checkov
28 Blue Moon Child
29 Trust Exercise Choi
30 The Night Tiger Choo
31 The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side Christie READ JAN 21
32 At Bertram's Hotel Christie READ FEB 21
33 The Water Dancer Coates
34 The New Wilderness Cook
35 Hopscotch Cortazar
36 The Illumination of Ursula Flight Crowhurst
37 Deviation D'Eramo
38 Boy Swallows Universe Dalton
39 The Girl with the Louding Voice Dare
40 The Rose of Tibet Davidson
41 Dhalgren Delany
42 The Butterfly Girl Denfeld
43 Vernon Subutex 1 Despentes
44 Postcolonial Love Poem Diaz
45 Childhood Ditlevsen
46 Youth Ditlevsen
47 Dependency Ditlevsen
48 Burnt Sugar Doshi
49 Frenchman's Creek Du Maurier D
50 Trilby Du Maurier G
51 Sincerity Duffy
52 Sumarine Dunthorne
53 The Narrow Land Dwyer-Hickey
54 Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race Eddo-Lodge
55 Axiom's End Ellis
56 Figures in a Landscape England
57 kaddish.com Englander
58 Shadow Tag Erdrich
59 The Carpet Makers Eschbach
60 The Emperor's Babe Evaristo
61 Small Country Faye
62 To Rise Again at a Decent Hour Ferris
63 At Freddie's Fitzgerald
64 The Guest List Foley
65 Man's Search for Meaning Frankel
66 Love in No Man's Land Ga
67 Norse Mythology Gaiman
68 The Spare Room Garner
69 The Kites Gary
70 Gun Island Ghosh
71 Vita Nova Gluck
72 Trafalgar Gorodischer
73 Potiki Grace
74 Killers of the Flower Moon Grann
75 The Last Banquet Grimwood
76 Guapa Haddad
77 The Porpoise Haddon
78 Late in the Day Hadley
79 The Final Bet Hamdouchi
80 The Parisian Hammad
81 Nightingale Hannah
82 Coastliners Harris J
83 The Truths We Hold Harris K
84 Conclave Harris R
85 The Second Sleep Harris R
86 Tales of the Tikongs Hau'ofa
87 A Thousand Ships Haynes
88 The River Heller
89 Dead Lions Herron
90 Real Tigers Herron
91 War and Turpentine Hertmans
92 A Political History of the World Holslag
93 Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Honeyman
94 The Light Years Howard
95 Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself Huber
96 A High Wind in Jamaica Hughes
97 Ape and Essence Huxley
98 Me John
99 Nightblind Jonasson
100 Black Out Jonasson
101 How to be an Anti-Rascist Kendi
102 Death is Hard Work Khalifa
103 Darius the Great is Not Okay Khorram
104 Himself Kidd
105 Diary of a Murderer Kim
106 Dance of the Jacakranda Kimani
107 The Bridge Konigsberg
108 Who They Was Krauze
109 The Mars Room Kushner
110 The Princesse de Cleves La Fayette
111 The Other Americans Lalami
112 The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers Laroui
113 Fish Can Sing Laxness
114 Agent Running in the Field Le Carre
115 Pachinko Lee
116 The Turncoat Lenz
117 The Topeka School Lerner
118 Caging Skies Leunens
119 The Fifth Risk Lewis
120 The Three-Body Problem Liu
121 Lost Children Archive Luiselli
122 Black Moses Mabanckou
123 Blue Ticket Mackintosh
124 A Burning Majumdar READ FEB 21
125 The Mirror and the Light Mantel
126 Original Spin Marks
127 Deep River Marlantes
128 The Return Matar READ MAR 21
129 The Island Matute
130 Hame McAfee
131 Apeirogon McCann
132 Underland McFarlane
133 Hurricane Season Melchor
134 The Shadow King Mengiste
135 The Human Swarm Moffett
136 She Would Be King Moore
137 The Starless Sea Morgenstern
138 Poetry by Heart Motion
139 A Fairly Honourable Defeat Murdoch
140 The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov Nabokov
141 The Warlow Experiment Nathan
142 The Left-Handed Booksellers of London Nix
143 Born a Crime Noah
144 The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney Nzelu
145 Girl O'Brien
146 After You'd Gone O'Farrell
147 Henry, Himself O'Nan
148 Inland Obreht
149 Weather Offill
150 Dept. of Speculation Offill
151 Stag's Leap Olds
152 Blue Horses Oliver
153 Felicity Oliver
154 Will Olyslaegers
155 Woods, etc Oswald READ FEB 21
156 Night Theatre Paralkar
157 The Damascus Road Parini
158 Empress of the East Peirce
159 The Street Petry
160 Disappearing Earth Phillips
161 Arid Dreams Pimwana
162 Peterloo : Witness to a Massacre Polyp
163 Lanny Porter
164 The Women at Hitler's Table Postorino
165 A Question of Upbringing Powell A READ JAN 21
166 A Buyer's Market Powell A READ FEB 21
167 The Acceptance World Powell A
168 The Interrogative Mood Powell P
169 Rough Magic Prior-Palmer
170 The Alice Network Quinn
171 Where the Red Fern Grows Rawls
172 Such a Fun Age Reid
173 Selected Poems 1950-2012 Rich
174 The Discomfort of Evening Rijneveld
175 Jack Robinson
176 The Years of Rice and Salt Robinson K
177 A Portable Paradise Robinson R READ JAN 21
178 The Fall of the Ottomans Rogan
179 Normal People Rooney
180 Conversations with Friends Rooney
181 Alone Time Rosenbloom
182 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Rowling
183 The Watch Roy-Bhattacharya
184 The Five Rubenhold
185 Contact Sagan
186 The Hunters Salter
187 The Seventh Cross Seghers
188 Will Self
189 Moses Ascending Selvon
190 The Dove on the Water Shadbolt READ JAN 21
191 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World Shafak
192 In Arabian Nights Shah
193 The Caliph's House Shah
194 Mrs Warren's Profession Shaw
195 Arms and the Man Shaw
196 Candida Shaw
197 Man and Superman Shaw
198 Dimension of Miracles Sheckley
199 The Last Man Shelley
200 Temple of a Thousand Faces Shors
201 Year of the Monkey Smith P
202 Eternity Smith T
203 Crossing Statovci
204 Lucy Church, Amiably Stein
205 Rosencrantz and Guilderstern are Dead Stoppard
206 Blood Cruise Strandberg
207 Shuggie Bain Stuart READ JAN 21
208 Three Poems Sullivan
209 Rules for Perfect Murders Swanson
210 Cane River Tademy
211 Real Life Taylor
212 The Queen's Gambit Tevis
213 Far North Therous
214 Walden Thoreau
215 Civil Disobedience Thoreau
216 Survivor Song Tremblay
217 The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Treuer
218 The Small House at Allingham Trollope
219 A Nest of Gentlefolk Turgenev
220 A Quiet Backwater Turgenev
221 A Lear of the Steppes Turgenev READ JAN 21
222 The Queen of Attolia Turner
223 The King of Attolia Turner
224 Redhead by the Side of the Road Tyler
225 Outlaw Ocean Urbina
226 Plague 99 Ure READ JAN 2021
227 The Age of Miracles Walker
228 The Uninhabitable Earth Wallace-Wells
229 Judith Paris Walpole
230 Love and Other Thought Experiments Ward
231 The Death of Mrs. Westaway Ware
232 Lolly Willows Warner
233 Second Life Watson
234 Final Cut Watson
235 Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen Weldon
236 Before the War Weldon
237 Lazarus West
238 Educated Westover
239 The Nickel Boys Whitehead READ JAN 21
240 The Death of Murat Idrissi Wieringa
241 Salome Wilde
242 An Ideal Husband Wilde
243 Lady Windemere's Fan Wilde
244 A Woman of No Importance Wilde
245 The Salt Path Winn
246 The Natural Way of Things Wood C
247 East Lynne Wood E
248 A Room of One's Own Woolf READ FEB 21
249 Interior Chinatown Yu
250 How Much of These Hills is Gold Zhang
BEGIN : 250
READ : 16
ADDED : 55 (Nett after deducting those already read)
CULLED : 0 (AGED TBR)
PRESENT TOTAL : 289
Last year I added 300 books but read 50 of them. In addition I have another 4,500 plus on the TBR.
The challenge is not to make the situation of my TBR worse.
So I must read or remove from my wider TBR more than I acquire this year and I will gauge this against last years "new" TBR and any future incomings. Therefore the older TBRs don't count against this challenge.
The figure at the start of the year is 250 books and this number must be smaller by December 31. These are the 250 books:
1 Stay with Me Adebayo
2 American War Akkad
3 The Catholic School Albinati
4 The Unwomanly Face of War Alexievich
5 Saltwater Andrews
6 Big Sky Atkinson
7 At the Jerusalem Bailey
8 The Body Lies Baker
9 The Lost Memory of Skin Banks
10 Remembered Battle-Felton
11 Springtime in a Broken Mirror Benedetti
12 A Crime in the Neighborhood Berne
13 Stand By Me Berry
14 Love Story, With Murders Bingham
15 This Thing of Darkness Bingham
16 The Sandcastle Girls Bohjalian
17 The Ascent of Rum Doodle Bowman
18 Clade Bradley
19 The Snow Ball Brophy
20 Paladin of Souls Bujold
21 Parable of the Sower Butler
22 The Adventures of China Iron Camara
23 The Overnight Kidnapper Camilleri READ JAN 21
24 The Other End of the Line Camilleri READ JAN 21
25 Lord of all the Dead Cercas
26 Uncle Vanya Checkov
27 The Cherry Orchard Checkov
28 Blue Moon Child
29 Trust Exercise Choi
30 The Night Tiger Choo
31 The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side Christie READ JAN 21
32 At Bertram's Hotel Christie READ FEB 21
33 The Water Dancer Coates
34 The New Wilderness Cook
35 Hopscotch Cortazar
36 The Illumination of Ursula Flight Crowhurst
37 Deviation D'Eramo
38 Boy Swallows Universe Dalton
39 The Girl with the Louding Voice Dare
40 The Rose of Tibet Davidson
41 Dhalgren Delany
42 The Butterfly Girl Denfeld
43 Vernon Subutex 1 Despentes
44 Postcolonial Love Poem Diaz
45 Childhood Ditlevsen
46 Youth Ditlevsen
47 Dependency Ditlevsen
48 Burnt Sugar Doshi
49 Frenchman's Creek Du Maurier D
50 Trilby Du Maurier G
51 Sincerity Duffy
52 Sumarine Dunthorne
53 The Narrow Land Dwyer-Hickey
54 Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race Eddo-Lodge
55 Axiom's End Ellis
56 Figures in a Landscape England
57 kaddish.com Englander
58 Shadow Tag Erdrich
59 The Carpet Makers Eschbach
60 The Emperor's Babe Evaristo
61 Small Country Faye
62 To Rise Again at a Decent Hour Ferris
63 At Freddie's Fitzgerald
64 The Guest List Foley
65 Man's Search for Meaning Frankel
66 Love in No Man's Land Ga
67 Norse Mythology Gaiman
68 The Spare Room Garner
69 The Kites Gary
70 Gun Island Ghosh
71 Vita Nova Gluck
72 Trafalgar Gorodischer
73 Potiki Grace
74 Killers of the Flower Moon Grann
75 The Last Banquet Grimwood
76 Guapa Haddad
77 The Porpoise Haddon
78 Late in the Day Hadley
79 The Final Bet Hamdouchi
80 The Parisian Hammad
81 Nightingale Hannah
82 Coastliners Harris J
83 The Truths We Hold Harris K
84 Conclave Harris R
85 The Second Sleep Harris R
86 Tales of the Tikongs Hau'ofa
87 A Thousand Ships Haynes
88 The River Heller
89 Dead Lions Herron
90 Real Tigers Herron
91 War and Turpentine Hertmans
92 A Political History of the World Holslag
93 Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Honeyman
94 The Light Years Howard
95 Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself Huber
96 A High Wind in Jamaica Hughes
97 Ape and Essence Huxley
98 Me John
99 Nightblind Jonasson
100 Black Out Jonasson
101 How to be an Anti-Rascist Kendi
102 Death is Hard Work Khalifa
103 Darius the Great is Not Okay Khorram
104 Himself Kidd
105 Diary of a Murderer Kim
106 Dance of the Jacakranda Kimani
107 The Bridge Konigsberg
108 Who They Was Krauze
109 The Mars Room Kushner
110 The Princesse de Cleves La Fayette
111 The Other Americans Lalami
112 The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers Laroui
113 Fish Can Sing Laxness
114 Agent Running in the Field Le Carre
115 Pachinko Lee
116 The Turncoat Lenz
117 The Topeka School Lerner
118 Caging Skies Leunens
119 The Fifth Risk Lewis
120 The Three-Body Problem Liu
121 Lost Children Archive Luiselli
122 Black Moses Mabanckou
123 Blue Ticket Mackintosh
124 A Burning Majumdar READ FEB 21
125 The Mirror and the Light Mantel
126 Original Spin Marks
127 Deep River Marlantes
128 The Return Matar READ MAR 21
129 The Island Matute
130 Hame McAfee
131 Apeirogon McCann
132 Underland McFarlane
133 Hurricane Season Melchor
134 The Shadow King Mengiste
135 The Human Swarm Moffett
136 She Would Be King Moore
137 The Starless Sea Morgenstern
138 Poetry by Heart Motion
139 A Fairly Honourable Defeat Murdoch
140 The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov Nabokov
141 The Warlow Experiment Nathan
142 The Left-Handed Booksellers of London Nix
143 Born a Crime Noah
144 The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney Nzelu
145 Girl O'Brien
146 After You'd Gone O'Farrell
147 Henry, Himself O'Nan
148 Inland Obreht
149 Weather Offill
150 Dept. of Speculation Offill
151 Stag's Leap Olds
152 Blue Horses Oliver
153 Felicity Oliver
154 Will Olyslaegers
155 Woods, etc Oswald READ FEB 21
156 Night Theatre Paralkar
157 The Damascus Road Parini
158 Empress of the East Peirce
159 The Street Petry
160 Disappearing Earth Phillips
161 Arid Dreams Pimwana
162 Peterloo : Witness to a Massacre Polyp
163 Lanny Porter
164 The Women at Hitler's Table Postorino
165 A Question of Upbringing Powell A READ JAN 21
166 A Buyer's Market Powell A READ FEB 21
167 The Acceptance World Powell A
168 The Interrogative Mood Powell P
169 Rough Magic Prior-Palmer
170 The Alice Network Quinn
171 Where the Red Fern Grows Rawls
172 Such a Fun Age Reid
173 Selected Poems 1950-2012 Rich
174 The Discomfort of Evening Rijneveld
175 Jack Robinson
176 The Years of Rice and Salt Robinson K
177 A Portable Paradise Robinson R READ JAN 21
178 The Fall of the Ottomans Rogan
179 Normal People Rooney
180 Conversations with Friends Rooney
181 Alone Time Rosenbloom
182 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Rowling
183 The Watch Roy-Bhattacharya
184 The Five Rubenhold
185 Contact Sagan
186 The Hunters Salter
187 The Seventh Cross Seghers
188 Will Self
189 Moses Ascending Selvon
190 The Dove on the Water Shadbolt READ JAN 21
191 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World Shafak
192 In Arabian Nights Shah
193 The Caliph's House Shah
194 Mrs Warren's Profession Shaw
195 Arms and the Man Shaw
196 Candida Shaw
197 Man and Superman Shaw
198 Dimension of Miracles Sheckley
199 The Last Man Shelley
200 Temple of a Thousand Faces Shors
201 Year of the Monkey Smith P
202 Eternity Smith T
203 Crossing Statovci
204 Lucy Church, Amiably Stein
205 Rosencrantz and Guilderstern are Dead Stoppard
206 Blood Cruise Strandberg
207 Shuggie Bain Stuart READ JAN 21
208 Three Poems Sullivan
209 Rules for Perfect Murders Swanson
210 Cane River Tademy
211 Real Life Taylor
212 The Queen's Gambit Tevis
213 Far North Therous
214 Walden Thoreau
215 Civil Disobedience Thoreau
216 Survivor Song Tremblay
217 The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Treuer
218 The Small House at Allingham Trollope
219 A Nest of Gentlefolk Turgenev
220 A Quiet Backwater Turgenev
221 A Lear of the Steppes Turgenev READ JAN 21
222 The Queen of Attolia Turner
223 The King of Attolia Turner
224 Redhead by the Side of the Road Tyler
225 Outlaw Ocean Urbina
226 Plague 99 Ure READ JAN 2021
227 The Age of Miracles Walker
228 The Uninhabitable Earth Wallace-Wells
229 Judith Paris Walpole
230 Love and Other Thought Experiments Ward
231 The Death of Mrs. Westaway Ware
232 Lolly Willows Warner
233 Second Life Watson
234 Final Cut Watson
235 Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen Weldon
236 Before the War Weldon
237 Lazarus West
238 Educated Westover
239 The Nickel Boys Whitehead READ JAN 21
240 The Death of Murat Idrissi Wieringa
241 Salome Wilde
242 An Ideal Husband Wilde
243 Lady Windemere's Fan Wilde
244 A Woman of No Importance Wilde
245 The Salt Path Winn
246 The Natural Way of Things Wood C
247 East Lynne Wood E
248 A Room of One's Own Woolf READ FEB 21
249 Interior Chinatown Yu
250 How Much of These Hills is Gold Zhang
BEGIN : 250
READ : 16
ADDED : 55 (Nett after deducting those already read)
CULLED : 0 (AGED TBR)
PRESENT TOTAL : 289
19PaulCranswick
THIS YEAR'S ACQUISITIONS
1. Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Somerville & Ross
2. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome READ JAN 21
3. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
4. The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle
5. The Black Corsair by Emilio Salgari
6. The Prime Ministers : Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson by Steve Richards
7. The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim
8. Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante
9. Coningsby by Benjamin Disraeli
10. The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
11. The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
12. Death's Mistress by Terry Goodkind
13. The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey
14. Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi
15. Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai
16. Desert by JMG Le Clezio
17. For the Record by David Cameron
18. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
19. The Guardians of the West by David Eddings
20. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
21. The Council of Egypt by Leonardo Sciascia
22. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
23. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin
24. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
25. Rupture by Ragnar Jonasson
26. White Out by Ragnar Jonasson
27. The Age of Capital by Eric Hobsbawm
28. The World Turned Upside Down by Christopher Hill
29. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
30. Modern Times by Paul Johnson
31. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
32. The Warehouse by Rob Hart
33. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
34. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
35. Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
36. Magician's Gambit by David Eddings
37. Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
38. In Ashes Lie by Marie Brennan
39. The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
40. The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian
41. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
42. At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell
43. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant by Anthony Powell
44. The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell
45. The Financier by Theodore Dreiser
46. Still Waters by Viveca Sten
47. Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
48. The Europeans by Henry James
49. Vice Versa by F. Anstey
50. A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry
51. The Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler Olsen
52. Closed for Winter Jorn Lier Horst
53. News of the World by Juliette Jiles
54. Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon
55. A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri
56. Death in the Tuscan Hills by Marco Vichi
57. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
58. Good Morning Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
59. Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
60. The Enchanted by Rene Denefeld
61. The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
62. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis
63. The Innocents by Michael Crummey
64. Night Waking by Sarah Moss
65. Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
66. Throw me to the Wolves by Patrick McGuinness
67. Consent by Annabel Lyon
67 added
1 read
66 nett additions
1. Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Somerville & Ross
2. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome READ JAN 21
3. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
4. The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle
5. The Black Corsair by Emilio Salgari
6. The Prime Ministers : Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson by Steve Richards
7. The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim
8. Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante
9. Coningsby by Benjamin Disraeli
10. The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
11. The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
12. Death's Mistress by Terry Goodkind
13. The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey
14. Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi
15. Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai
16. Desert by JMG Le Clezio
17. For the Record by David Cameron
18. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
19. The Guardians of the West by David Eddings
20. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
21. The Council of Egypt by Leonardo Sciascia
22. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
23. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin
24. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
25. Rupture by Ragnar Jonasson
26. White Out by Ragnar Jonasson
27. The Age of Capital by Eric Hobsbawm
28. The World Turned Upside Down by Christopher Hill
29. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
30. Modern Times by Paul Johnson
31. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
32. The Warehouse by Rob Hart
33. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
34. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
35. Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
36. Magician's Gambit by David Eddings
37. Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
38. In Ashes Lie by Marie Brennan
39. The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
40. The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian
41. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
42. At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell
43. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant by Anthony Powell
44. The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell
45. The Financier by Theodore Dreiser
46. Still Waters by Viveca Sten
47. Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
48. The Europeans by Henry James
49. Vice Versa by F. Anstey
50. A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry
51. The Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler Olsen
52. Closed for Winter Jorn Lier Horst
53. News of the World by Juliette Jiles
54. Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon
55. A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri
56. Death in the Tuscan Hills by Marco Vichi
57. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
58. Good Morning Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
59. Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
60. The Enchanted by Rene Denefeld
61. The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
62. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis
63. The Innocents by Michael Crummey
64. Night Waking by Sarah Moss
65. Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
66. Throw me to the Wolves by Patrick McGuinness
67. Consent by Annabel Lyon
67 added
1 read
66 nett additions
20PaulCranswick
RESOLUTIONS
21PaulCranswick
BOOKS OF THE MONTH
January : The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
February : Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
January : The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
February : Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
22PaulCranswick
READING INFLUENCE WINNERS
A book for the book bullet that made the biggest mark on me that month. Only one win per person each year.
January 2021 MARK (msf59) for THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones
February 2021 ADRIENNE (fairywings) for THE BELGARIAD by David Eddings
A book for the book bullet that made the biggest mark on me that month. Only one win per person each year.
January 2021 MARK (msf59) for THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones
February 2021 ADRIENNE (fairywings) for THE BELGARIAD by David Eddings
23PaulCranswick
BOOK STATS :
Books Read : 32
Books Added : 58
Nett TBR Addition : 26
Number of Pages in completed books : 8,171
Avergae per day : 123.80
Projected Page Total : 45,188
Number of days per book : 2.06
Projected Number : 177
LT Best : 157
Longest Book read : 501 pages
Shortest Book read : 64 pages
Mean Average Book Length : 255.34 pages
Male Authors : 21
Female Authors : 11
UK Authors : 22
Italy : 2
USA : 3
NZ : 1
Russia : 1
France : 1
India : 1
Libya : 1
1001 Books First Edition : 3 (307)
New Nobel Winners :
Pulitzer Fiction Winners : 1 (17)
Booker Winners : 1 (32)
Around the World Challenge : New countries : 4 (17)
BAC Books : 11
AAC Books :
Queen Vic Books : 4 (7/64)
Queen Betty Books : 16 (17/70)
52 Book Challenge : 9 (9/52)
Books Read : 32
Books Added : 58
Nett TBR Addition : 26
Number of Pages in completed books : 8,171
Avergae per day : 123.80
Projected Page Total : 45,188
Number of days per book : 2.06
Projected Number : 177
LT Best : 157
Longest Book read : 501 pages
Shortest Book read : 64 pages
Mean Average Book Length : 255.34 pages
Male Authors : 21
Female Authors : 11
UK Authors : 22
Italy : 2
USA : 3
NZ : 1
Russia : 1
France : 1
India : 1
Libya : 1
1001 Books First Edition : 3 (307)
New Nobel Winners :
Pulitzer Fiction Winners : 1 (17)
Booker Winners : 1 (32)
Around the World Challenge : New countries : 4 (17)
BAC Books : 11
AAC Books :
Queen Vic Books : 4 (7/64)
Queen Betty Books : 16 (17/70)
52 Book Challenge : 9 (9/52)
24PaulCranswick
One more
25PaulCranswick
Next is yours. Computers in the office at work have crashed and the WiFi is down. Having started the new thread I'm now struggling on my mobile phone. Please have patience as I will be slow setting up this time
26figsfromthistle
Happy new one!
27PaulCranswick
Thanks Anita xx
29PaulCranswick
Almost a dead heat in fact! Thanks, Jeff
30PaulCranswick
By the way I would just like to say a big thank you to every one who has posted to my thread so far in 2021. Now passed 2,000 posts already this year. A few weeks faster than last year
34PaulCranswick
>31 banjo123: >32 quondame: & >33 humouress: Thank you Rhonda, Susan and Nina. Sorry for replying to you all together but I'm still waiting for Internet access.
35fairywings
Happy new thread Paul.
I'm pleased to see The Belgariad making the list for this months reads.
I'm pleased to see The Belgariad making the list for this months reads.
36PaulCranswick
>35 fairywings: Thanks Adrienne.
I would recommend you to keep an eye on my thread later as you may well be pleased that The Belgariad has made the list.
I would recommend you to keep an eye on my thread later as you may well be pleased that The Belgariad has made the list.
37fairywings
>36 PaulCranswick: I will stay tuned
38false-knight
Happy new thread!
40paulstalder
all the best for you this new week (and new thread)
41PaulCranswick
>40 paulstalder: Thanks Paul. The hearing has just started but I'm not so heavily engaged today as our concrete expert (there are such things!) is being cross examined. I will go back over the transcripts and sieve them for re-examination questions but I can catch up the thread whilst I am doing so!
42FAMeulstee
Happy new thread, Paul.
Belated happy birthday to Yasmyne.
And good luck with the trial.
Belated happy birthday to Yasmyne.
And good luck with the trial.
44karenmarie
Happy new thread, Paul.
There are experts in pretty much everything...
There are experts in pretty much everything...
45PaulCranswick
>44 karenmarie: Karen, thank you. I have been put down as an expert in disputes over quantum in construction disputes but I would say I am more of a generalist to be honest.
Today's hearings were good.
Today's hearings were good.
47PaulCranswick
>46 Carmenere: Thank you, dear Lynda. xx
48PaulCranswick
READING INFLUENCE WINNER - FEBRUARY 2021
I don't read sci-fi and fantasy overly. So to get me to include a fantasy challenge to me reading for the rest of the year is exactly what this award was set up for.
Susan, Nina, Ella, Anita, Benita, Roni and several others have played an indispensable role in assisting and recommending books for me to start my reading. The award goes however - for starting the whole thing going via a review recommendation of David Eddings - to Adrienne (fairywings)
Don't think I have the address so I will PM shortly and chose a book to say thank you.
I don't read sci-fi and fantasy overly. So to get me to include a fantasy challenge to me reading for the rest of the year is exactly what this award was set up for.
Susan, Nina, Ella, Anita, Benita, Roni and several others have played an indispensable role in assisting and recommending books for me to start my reading. The award goes however - for starting the whole thing going via a review recommendation of David Eddings - to Adrienne (fairywings)
Don't think I have the address so I will PM shortly and chose a book to say thank you.
50humouress
>48 PaulCranswick: Ooh, I got a mention.
Congrats, Adrienne!
ETA: It's been a while since I read the Belgariad; might you know which character that is?
I did have a look at the books the last time I was in Kino on the strength of Adrianne's reading and your conversations but I decided that the current covers don't live up to the (Corgi) originals.
Congrats, Adrienne!
ETA: It's been a while since I read the Belgariad; might you know which character that is?
I did have a look at the books the last time I was in Kino on the strength of Adrianne's reading and your conversations but I decided that the current covers don't live up to the (Corgi) originals.
51amanda4242
Happy new thread!
53curioussquared
Happy new thread, Paul! I'm not sure I ever made it over to the last one :) But I'm here now!
54PaulCranswick
>49 swynn: Thanks Steve.
>50 humouress: I haven't yet the foggiest, Nina. I agree those older covers have far more character.
>50 humouress: I haven't yet the foggiest, Nina. I agree those older covers have far more character.
55PaulCranswick
>51 amanda4242: Thanks Amanda. Will be starting another BAC read this week - The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy.
>52 laytonwoman3rd: I will be studying the challenge this month, Linda, as the author is someone completely new to me.
>52 laytonwoman3rd: I will be studying the challenge this month, Linda, as the author is someone completely new to me.
56PaulCranswick
>53 curioussquared: Thank you Natalie. You are always welcome. x
57ArlieS
>25 PaulCranswick: You have my sympathy (about the office computers being down, and general tech instability.) Empathy too - I've been there far too often.
58PaulCranswick
>57 ArlieS: The office IT is normally spot on, Arlie - it is Samsung for heaven's sake but today it just did not want to play ball.
59johnsimpson
Hi Paul, happy new thread mate, hope things are going OK with the case and it is not taxing you too much now. After two months i am already 2/3rds of the way to last years reading total and should draw level by the end of March.
Hope you have a good week mate and we send love and hugs to you all dear friend.
Hope you have a good week mate and we send love and hugs to you all dear friend.
62PaulCranswick
>59 johnsimpson: Thanks John. In terms of pages read are you ahead of last year?
>60 kac522: Still sure I won't keep that one week one thread malarky up, Kathy. The best that there has ever been is 37 threads in a year which has been achieved twice by me and once by Amber.
>60 kac522: Still sure I won't keep that one week one thread malarky up, Kathy. The best that there has ever been is 37 threads in a year which has been achieved twice by me and once by Amber.
63PaulCranswick
>61 drneutron: Thanks Jim.
64bell7
Coming by to wish you a happy new thread before it's not so new anymore, Paul! Glad your fantasy read was such a good one in February. I may have to add it to my TBR as well - I've never read The Belgariad.
65PaulCranswick
>64 bell7: I will let you know fairly quickly my impressions on it, Mary.
I started The Return : Fathers Sons and the Land In Between by Hisham Matar and it is really good. I have to say that I can see why it won a Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction.
I started The Return : Fathers Sons and the Land In Between by Hisham Matar and it is really good. I have to say that I can see why it won a Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction.
66fairywings
Oh my goodness Paul. I'm so excited for you to try something new. I hope you enjoy the series.
I look forward to your choice for me
I look forward to your choice for me
67PaulCranswick
It will be my pleasure to choose something for you. I am also excited to start the Belgariad which I will do soon. xx
69PaulCranswick
>68 connie53: Thank you Connie, really!
70AnneDC
Happy new thread Paul! Every time, I have to review your numerous lists at thread opening. If I ever get to Thread 2 I'm going to make some lists!
71thornton37814
I'm running behind, but since everyone else is wishing you "Happy New Thread" (even though you are over 70 posts now), I'll join in. Hoping I can keep up a little better now that I got the conference syllabi done. Now I just need to finalize the presentations for recording them!
72ChelleBearss
How do I always find your new thread already like 70 posts in! Oh man!
73PaulCranswick
>70 AnneDC: No reason for you not to get to Thread #2, Anne. Look forward to your lists!
>71 thornton37814: RL has intruded on both of us recently, Lori. My arbitration hearing will hopefully be completed in terms of witnesses today.
>71 thornton37814: RL has intruded on both of us recently, Lori. My arbitration hearing will hopefully be completed in terms of witnesses today.
74PaulCranswick
>72 ChelleBearss: To be fair, Chelle, I burden myself with 20+ posts at the beginning because I have so many challenges and stats I want to remind myself of.
75EllaTim
>67 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! I like this idea of yours, of picking a person who has inspired you to read a new book. And rewarding them with a book you choose for them. It's fun, and I am very interested into which book you will choose, and why that one. Will you be telling us?
Happy new thread!
Happy new thread!
76LovingLit
Hi Paul- Happy new one.
The trial sounds like a hassle for you, I assume you will be clawing back something if the outcome is favourable?
The trial sounds like a hassle for you, I assume you will be clawing back something if the outcome is favourable?
77PaulCranswick
>75 EllaTim: OK, Ella - I will tell but without spoiling the initial surprise for the winner. I like so much sending books to my pals and get just as much a thrill to know that they have received it than from adding to my own overloaded collection.
January 2021 winner was Mark msf59 who inspired me to add The Only Good Indians. I gifted him as his prize - History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund which was Booker nominated a few years ago.
>76 LovingLit: To make matters worse I stand to gain precisely nothing other than job satisfaction (which would be plentiful) from a successful resolution of the case, Megan.
January 2021 winner was Mark msf59 who inspired me to add The Only Good Indians. I gifted him as his prize - History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund which was Booker nominated a few years ago.
>76 LovingLit: To make matters worse I stand to gain precisely nothing other than job satisfaction (which would be plentiful) from a successful resolution of the case, Megan.
79jnwelch
Happy New Thread, Paul.
I'm glad you've got enough books in your TBR to keep you going for a while. :-)
I'm glad you've got enough books in your TBR to keep you going for a while. :-)
81EllaTim
>77 PaulCranswick: Nice Paul! No, of course, don't spoil the surprise.
History of Wolves seems a good choice for Marc!
History of Wolves seems a good choice for Marc!
82PaulCranswick
>81 EllaTim: He seemed quite pleased, Ella. xx
I have selected Adrienne's book already and it will be despatched today.
I have selected Adrienne's book already and it will be despatched today.
84PaulCranswick
Thank you, Roni. I am avidly following your progress towards your move especially my own desire to follow suit this year.
I am a little tired today as the Arbitration hearing has completed and I am left with a sore throat.
I am a little tired today as the Arbitration hearing has completed and I am left with a sore throat.
85FAMeulstee
>84 PaulCranswick: When will you get the results of the hearing, Paul?
86msf59
Happy New Thread, Paul. I hope you are having a smooth work week. I also hope you still plan on joining me for History of Wolves later in the month.
87PaulCranswick
>85 FAMeulstee: We must exchange closing written submissions on 1 April (April Fool's Day) and a final hearing on 28 April for the Panel to raise any points they see fit. I would guess that a month thereafter we will be furnished with the decision of the Tribunal.
>86 msf59: I am at your service Mark with the book - I also want to read The Only Good Indians too which your advocacy produced your inaugural award.
>86 msf59: I am at your service Mark with the book - I also want to read The Only Good Indians too which your advocacy produced your inaugural award.
88ocgreg34
>21 PaulCranswick: "The Nickel Boys" was a great book! I'm looking forward to The Underground Railroad which is on my To Read list.
89PaulCranswick
>88 ocgreg34: It was indeed and kept me spellbound from first page to last.
90SilverWolf28
Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/330321
91johnsimpson
Hi Paul, another poor batting display from England again and the pitch cannot be blamed this time. I think this will be a four day test as i think the Indians will want to bat long and if Pujara gets anchored in tomorrow morning then it will happen and i think Kohli is due a score.
After our two day debacle, Afghanistan V Zimbabwe followed suit with a ten wicket win for Zimbabwe.
Here's a radical idea to keep Test Cricket exciting, split the Test playing nations into two divisions with a two up two down promotion and relegation. Ten points for a win, three for a draw and bonus points for taking wickets and first innings lead. Add to this if a game is abandoned or badly rain affected then each side gets five points, the only problem i can see to this is that pitches like the one in the third Test would be the norm in Asia unless independent pitch officials could pass judgement on the pitch and if as bad as that one then points reversed and the losing side gaining the ten points and hopefully we would get a better game. You cannot avoid games like Afg V Zim as they were both quite poor and this would be a Div Two game until they improve vastly Just a wild thought, lol.
After our two day debacle, Afghanistan V Zimbabwe followed suit with a ten wicket win for Zimbabwe.
Here's a radical idea to keep Test Cricket exciting, split the Test playing nations into two divisions with a two up two down promotion and relegation. Ten points for a win, three for a draw and bonus points for taking wickets and first innings lead. Add to this if a game is abandoned or badly rain affected then each side gets five points, the only problem i can see to this is that pitches like the one in the third Test would be the norm in Asia unless independent pitch officials could pass judgement on the pitch and if as bad as that one then points reversed and the losing side gaining the ten points and hopefully we would get a better game. You cannot avoid games like Afg V Zim as they were both quite poor and this would be a Div Two game until they improve vastly Just a wild thought, lol.
92PaulCranswick
>90 SilverWolf28: Thank you, Silver. It could be a long weekend for me. See below.
>91 johnsimpson: I think it is a question of balance, John. Our side, because of the terrible batting in the third test is simply not balanced. Seven batsmen, a wicket keeper and three bowlers?!!! How on earth will we get the 20 wickets needed to beat India? Jimmy Bairstow should not have been rested when suddenly playing well and Moenn Ali should have stayed as he can at least play spin.
Virdi is our most penetrative spinner but he is not available to us. I know I am a stuck record but Hildreth and Jennings play spin well and should be in India just for that reason.
I would not really favour a two league test system as it would result in the gulf between nations increasing. India, England and Australia are the three big draw cards and the other nations need to play these in order to make things work financially for everybody.
I do believe though that the seasons have to be planned better and that England should play 12 tests per year and no more than 12 ODIs and 12 T20s (world cups excepted).
In 60 tests over 5 year period :
England should play : Australia 10 times, India 10 times, South Africa, New Zealand and West Indies 8 times each. Sri Lanka and Pakistan 6 times each and Bangladesh 4 times
Plus every year one test against an upcoming nation - Ireland or UAE or Afghanistan etc (used to blood players)
Let's face it, John, the game needs to be preserved and not just descend into a one day slog fest. The English County Championship should go back to playing 18-19 first class games - I would reinstate the Sunday league (although I loved the 40 over format but I might have to cave to a 20/20 league) and the one day knock-out and a 20-20 knock-out.
>91 johnsimpson: I think it is a question of balance, John. Our side, because of the terrible batting in the third test is simply not balanced. Seven batsmen, a wicket keeper and three bowlers?!!! How on earth will we get the 20 wickets needed to beat India? Jimmy Bairstow should not have been rested when suddenly playing well and Moenn Ali should have stayed as he can at least play spin.
Virdi is our most penetrative spinner but he is not available to us. I know I am a stuck record but Hildreth and Jennings play spin well and should be in India just for that reason.
I would not really favour a two league test system as it would result in the gulf between nations increasing. India, England and Australia are the three big draw cards and the other nations need to play these in order to make things work financially for everybody.
I do believe though that the seasons have to be planned better and that England should play 12 tests per year and no more than 12 ODIs and 12 T20s (world cups excepted).
In 60 tests over 5 year period :
England should play : Australia 10 times, India 10 times, South Africa, New Zealand and West Indies 8 times each. Sri Lanka and Pakistan 6 times each and Bangladesh 4 times
Plus every year one test against an upcoming nation - Ireland or UAE or Afghanistan etc (used to blood players)
Let's face it, John, the game needs to be preserved and not just descend into a one day slog fest. The English County Championship should go back to playing 18-19 first class games - I would reinstate the Sunday league (although I loved the 40 over format but I might have to cave to a 20/20 league) and the one day knock-out and a 20-20 knock-out.
93PaulCranswick
SWMBO is celebrating her birthday today!
First met in 1994 when I paid the hotel bill in Johor Bahru for RM20,000 with small denomination notes and I didn't need to then understand bahasa malay to know she was cursing me under her breath. She has been my rock through good times and bad and I am immensely proud and fortunate to have her by my side through thick and thin.
94Whisper1
>1 PaulCranswick: What a lovely topper. The colors are so beautiful...and you are beautiful as well!
95PaulCranswick
I am a bit under the weather today with a sore throat and the sniffles. Hopefully I am just a little rundown after my exertions of the past week. Decided to take the day off today to rest-up, celebrate Hani's birthday and READ!
96PaulCranswick
>94 Whisper1: And so are you, dear Linda. xx
98amanda4242
Happy birthday, Hani!
100false-knight
Happy birthday, Hani!
Enjoy your day off and get well soon!
Enjoy your day off and get well soon!
101PaulCranswick
Thanks Emery. I am coughing a little bit but I don't have any fever which is to be grateful for, I guess.
102humouress
Happy birthday to Hani!
>93 PaulCranswick: ... but you need to expand on that story, Paul. *drums fingers expectantly*
>93 PaulCranswick: ... but you need to expand on that story, Paul. *drums fingers expectantly*
103PaulCranswick
>102 humouress: & >93 PaulCranswick:
I wanted to make my mark, Nina. I knew if she had to process the payment of a bill for almost RM20,000 in the hotel for me and my then boss in cash notes denominations of 50s, 10s, 2s and 5s she would not forget me in a hurry - and so it was!
When I pursued her she didn't turn up at our first four dates before my persistence and unfailing patience won through. The rest is history. Roller-coaster history, but still history.
I wanted to make my mark, Nina. I knew if she had to process the payment of a bill for almost RM20,000 in the hotel for me and my then boss in cash notes denominations of 50s, 10s, 2s and 5s she would not forget me in a hurry - and so it was!
When I pursued her she didn't turn up at our first four dates before my persistence and unfailing patience won through. The rest is history. Roller-coaster history, but still history.
104PaulCranswick
Yesterday I ordered a cake to be delivered whilst she was out with some of her friends. She arrived home about 8 pm with one of her best friends and her sister and her friend in tow. Yabo (the sister) announced her departure at 11 pm and proceeded to hide in the car park downstairs for an hour as we had planned. Hani's friend got her out onto the balcony for a chit chat just before midnight and I had arranged that Yasmyne call her a couple of minutes before the hour.
Marvellously Kyran and Belle and Erni brought out the cake and the surprise and joy on Hani's face when she realised her sister had reappeared and not forgotten was priceless. I scored a few brownie points.
Marvellously Kyran and Belle and Erni brought out the cake and the surprise and joy on Hani's face when she realised her sister had reappeared and not forgotten was priceless. I scored a few brownie points.
105humouress
>103 PaulCranswick: Ah, she was behind the desk. I assumed she was behind you in the queue waiting for you to count everything out.
>104 PaulCranswick: Nice :0D
>104 PaulCranswick: Nice :0D
106PaulCranswick
>105 humouress: Yes, it was a calculated risk but has paid off I guess!
108PaulCranswick
>107 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas.
109PaulCranswick
BOOK # 31
The Return by Hisham Matar
Date of Publication : 2016
Origin of Author : Libya
Pages : 239 pp
Challenges :
Around the World Challenge : Libya 4 in 2021 (17)
52 Book Club Challenge : 9/52 Book Set in a Mediterranean Country
2009 or 2010 I was offered the chance to go and work in Libya on a project building 30,000 new homes for a Korean company, Hanil. The Project Director was an old boss of mine in Ssangyong and he was really keen for me to join him there. I decided against it and avoided the Libyan uprising which he mainly sat through in the relative unsafety of his compound.
This is a book about a father and a son and of a lost relationship when that father - a dissident againt Gadaffi - was kidnapped by the Egyptian Secret Service and delivered to his nemesis and probable executioners. It is in parts very moving and harrowing and helps explain to me even more the profound and disturbing literature written to date by Hisham Matar.
This is also, despite everything, a love letter to a country Matar lost by growing up in exile and one which he longs to re-connect with and help put right. Matar also has UK and US citizenship as far as I am aware but I wanted to declare him here for what he clearly wants to be, Libyan.
The Return by Hisham Matar
Date of Publication : 2016
Origin of Author : Libya
Pages : 239 pp
Challenges :
Around the World Challenge : Libya 4 in 2021 (17)
52 Book Club Challenge : 9/52 Book Set in a Mediterranean Country
2009 or 2010 I was offered the chance to go and work in Libya on a project building 30,000 new homes for a Korean company, Hanil. The Project Director was an old boss of mine in Ssangyong and he was really keen for me to join him there. I decided against it and avoided the Libyan uprising which he mainly sat through in the relative unsafety of his compound.
This is a book about a father and a son and of a lost relationship when that father - a dissident againt Gadaffi - was kidnapped by the Egyptian Secret Service and delivered to his nemesis and probable executioners. It is in parts very moving and harrowing and helps explain to me even more the profound and disturbing literature written to date by Hisham Matar.
This is also, despite everything, a love letter to a country Matar lost by growing up in exile and one which he longs to re-connect with and help put right. Matar also has UK and US citizenship as far as I am aware but I wanted to declare him here for what he clearly wants to be, Libyan.
110BekkaJo
>93 PaulCranswick: Happy Birthday Hanni! X
111Caroline_McElwee
>93 PaulCranswick: >104 PaulCranswick: Happy birthday Hani. What a great surprise. Glad everyone had fun.
114PaulCranswick
>110 BekkaJo: Thanks Bekka. She is currently out with her pals and just roundly scolded me for going out with Kyran when I am a bit under the weather. Couldn't tell her that she had just snaffled Chanel perfume and lipstick plus a baking book that I know she has had her eye on.
>111 Caroline_McElwee: I am so close to my SIL and was really happy that she did that for her sister because she stays in Putrajaya (45 minutes drive away) and needed to work this morning.
>111 Caroline_McElwee: I am so close to my SIL and was really happy that she did that for her sister because she stays in Putrajaya (45 minutes drive away) and needed to work this morning.
115PaulCranswick
>112 EllaTim: I could see that her brow creased a little bit when her sister wished her happy advance birthday and went off at about 11 pm so her joy at her unexpected reappearance was lovely.
>113 connie53: Thank you, Connie. I wanted to take her for a nice meal tonight with Kyran and Belle together but it looks like she might not want to as she seems to have been eating all day with her friends.
>113 connie53: Thank you, Connie. I wanted to take her for a nice meal tonight with Kyran and Belle together but it looks like she might not want to as she seems to have been eating all day with her friends.
116PaulCranswick
A couple of additions when I was out shopping for SWMBO's birthday. Well it is hard to resist!
57. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
58. Good Morning Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
The first one I did think a few moments over whether to pick it up but I do want to decide for myself what the fuss was about and uphold my view on reasonable freedom of expression in works of fiction. Please, please please I don't want to start that debate again.
The second one was recommended strongly by Ron.
57. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
58. Good Morning Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
The first one I did think a few moments over whether to pick it up but I do want to decide for myself what the fuss was about and uphold my view on reasonable freedom of expression in works of fiction. Please, please please I don't want to start that debate again.
The second one was recommended strongly by Ron.
118PaulCranswick
Next book up:
The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy for the BAC Challenge and the Queen Betty challenge
The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy for the BAC Challenge and the Queen Betty challenge
119PaulCranswick
People say as we get older we do not enjoy our birthdays too much any more. Apart from feeling quite under the weather I signally failed to make my lady enjoy her day- other than she enjoyed time with her friends.
Bought (well Kyran bought with my money - not sure how that works) a baking book (I got the Chanel) that she had had her eye on.
Le Cordon Bleu Pastry which she seemed to like much more than the Chanel.
I wanted to buy her Red Door by Elizabeth Arden as she wore it on our first date but they were out of stock. I was told that the stuff I had bought was old ladies' perfume and am currently sulking and feeling just a little bit crushed. She also didn't want to go out for a dinner to "celebrate" her birthday so I got no supper. Ah well back to my book.
Bought (well Kyran bought with my money - not sure how that works) a baking book (I got the Chanel) that she had had her eye on.
Le Cordon Bleu Pastry which she seemed to like much more than the Chanel.
I wanted to buy her Red Door by Elizabeth Arden as she wore it on our first date but they were out of stock. I was told that the stuff I had bought was old ladies' perfume and am currently sulking and feeling just a little bit crushed. She also didn't want to go out for a dinner to "celebrate" her birthday so I got no supper. Ah well back to my book.
121SqueakyChu
Dear Paul, I simply can’t keep up with your threads, but wanted to say hi.
Birthdays are mixed bags. There are good things about them and other not so good things. A cookbook is always a great birthday present! For one birthday, my older son gave me a gift card so I used it to buy a cookbook! Of course, I have tons of other cookbooks at home, but one can always use at least one more.
This past birthday of mine had interference from covid. My younger son and his wife and two kids came by after dark to present me outside with a homemade Happy Birthday banner which I loved because, at my age, I no longer want things to collect. Masked and distanced, I danced the hokey pokey with my family and have been suffering from back pain ever since!
On better note, I got my first Covid Moderna vaccine yesterday. I am so thankful.
Stay well, you and your family, and eat well (you always do!)
Birthdays are mixed bags. There are good things about them and other not so good things. A cookbook is always a great birthday present! For one birthday, my older son gave me a gift card so I used it to buy a cookbook! Of course, I have tons of other cookbooks at home, but one can always use at least one more.
This past birthday of mine had interference from covid. My younger son and his wife and two kids came by after dark to present me outside with a homemade Happy Birthday banner which I loved because, at my age, I no longer want things to collect. Masked and distanced, I danced the hokey pokey with my family and have been suffering from back pain ever since!
On better note, I got my first Covid Moderna vaccine yesterday. I am so thankful.
Stay well, you and your family, and eat well (you always do!)
122PaulCranswick
>120 scaifea: I'm a bit chesty, Amber and will see how I feel in the morning before deciding whether to work or not.
>121 SqueakyChu: Lovely to see you, Madeline. Birthdays are not my favourite any more but I did enjoy surprising her with the cake.
I pictured your "lockdown" celebration very vividly!
>121 SqueakyChu: Lovely to see you, Madeline. Birthdays are not my favourite any more but I did enjoy surprising her with the cake.
I pictured your "lockdown" celebration very vividly!
123PaulCranswick
Here is proof that she got the cake but not that she shared it!
By the way she had a cyst on her eyelid we haven't been involved in fisticuffs!
By the way she had a cyst on her eyelid we haven't been involved in fisticuffs!
125PaulCranswick
>124 drneutron: I will do that Jim when she eventually rises from her slumbers.
127PaulCranswick
>126 brenzi: Thank you dear Bonnie. You will see that in >117 PaulCranswick: I bit the bullet and bought that book yesterday which has finally arrived here in paperback format. The front inside cover and first few pages are awash with positive review comments on it including from some very revered authors and publications.
128PaulCranswick
PLAYLIST FOR TODAY'S READATHON:
ARGENT - The Best of
MAIRE BRENNAN - Perfect Time
RODNEY CROWELL - Sex and Gasoline
ANTONIN DVORAK- Symphony #9
EAGLES - Hell Freezes Over
FOGHAT - Fool for the City
ARGENT - The Best of
MAIRE BRENNAN - Perfect Time
RODNEY CROWELL - Sex and Gasoline
ANTONIN DVORAK- Symphony #9
EAGLES - Hell Freezes Over
FOGHAT - Fool for the City
129humouress
>121 SqueakyChu: I've noticed that about cookbooks. I don't seem to use them much but I'm always collecting them.
130PaulCranswick
>129 humouress: The cookbook was a winner at least! She said it was just what she wanted. I should have realised that Coco Chanel was a Nazi Collaborator by all accounts so SWMBO won't want to smell like that!
131humouress
>130 PaulCranswick: (I'm staying out of this one.)
132PaulCranswick
>130 PaulCranswick: Hahaha good call. It is funny because it never stopped her wanting her handbags!
133LizzieD
I can't catch up, but I hope you're feeling a lot better, Paul, and I wish Hani a belated happy birthday! And a trial from now to sometime in late April! Life never lets up, does it?
Read something good!!!!!
Read something good!!!!!
134PaulCranswick
>133 LizzieD: I can switch off the trial hearings for now Peggy. We have to prepare written closing submissions for 1 April 2021 which I will co-author with counsel in Singapore and Vancouver respectively. The next round of hearings (at which I will not speak) will be on 28 April.
I am reading old fashioned historical fiction by Jean Plaidy about Edward Longshanks and it is exactly what I expected.
I am reading old fashioned historical fiction by Jean Plaidy about Edward Longshanks and it is exactly what I expected.
135PaulCranswick
I know I bore most everyone to tears here by my occasional prattlings about the wonderful game of cricket.
One of the joys of my life here in Malaysia is that there are so many migrant workers from Bangladesh and Pakistan especially working either in gas stations or on one of my construction sites but they are invariably knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the game. It makes the world so small and the differences in life so ephemeral when I can chat for long minutes on end to people from Peshawar and Chittagong about a shared love of a simple game (that so many don't understand) that brings so many people together.
I have a little society of friends from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India from all walks of life and we will organise a game when the situation allows here. Workers from Bangladesh and Pakistan have had a really tough time of it in places such as Malaysia and Singapore and the Gulf nations working hard in often terrible living conditions to benefit their families. I am immensely proud that Samsung take great care to provide decent accommodation and welfare for their workers and that they gave me free and full rein when it came to holding the insurance companies to their policy when a worker was tragically fatally injured at the project site. They also ensure that the workers are not prey to agents and that they all get their salaries on the dot.
India thrashed England today in the Fourth Test match in Ahmedabad and I am going to get teased on Monday!
One of the joys of my life here in Malaysia is that there are so many migrant workers from Bangladesh and Pakistan especially working either in gas stations or on one of my construction sites but they are invariably knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the game. It makes the world so small and the differences in life so ephemeral when I can chat for long minutes on end to people from Peshawar and Chittagong about a shared love of a simple game (that so many don't understand) that brings so many people together.
I have a little society of friends from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India from all walks of life and we will organise a game when the situation allows here. Workers from Bangladesh and Pakistan have had a really tough time of it in places such as Malaysia and Singapore and the Gulf nations working hard in often terrible living conditions to benefit their families. I am immensely proud that Samsung take great care to provide decent accommodation and welfare for their workers and that they gave me free and full rein when it came to holding the insurance companies to their policy when a worker was tragically fatally injured at the project site. They also ensure that the workers are not prey to agents and that they all get their salaries on the dot.
India thrashed England today in the Fourth Test match in Ahmedabad and I am going to get teased on Monday!
136FAMeulstee
I hope you feel a bit better, Paul, and belated Happy Birthday to Hani!
137PaulCranswick
>136 FAMeulstee: Well I am still coughing a bit, Anita, but I can smell cooking with relish which means that my recovery is on track!
138msf59
Happy Belated Birthday to Hani! I loved American Dirt. I watched the film adaptation of Good Morning, Midnight, called The Midnight Sky, with George Clooney. It was pretty good.
I will be ready to go with History of Wolves next weekend. Sound good?
I will be ready to go with History of Wolves next weekend. Sound good?
139PaulCranswick
>138 msf59: I remember well your enjoyment of American Dirt, Mark.
Next weekend is pencilled in, buddy.
Next weekend is pencilled in, buddy.
140ChelleBearss
Hope Hani had a great birthday!
141PaulCranswick
>140 ChelleBearss: She did, I think, Chelle. She certainly enjoyed her time out with two old friends and managed to make herself too full for any birthday dinner.
142humouress
>135 PaulCranswick: *sigh* And that's one reason I don't follow cricket too closely.
Well, at least the fielders are socially distanced.
Well, at least the fielders are socially distanced.
143PaulCranswick
>135 PaulCranswick: The English ones especially, Nina, with the ball flayed to all parts of the ground when they are fielding.
144PaulCranswick
2020 Award Winners - American Literary Prizes
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction : The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead READ
Pulitzer Prize for Drama : A Strange Loop by Michael R Jackson
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry : The Tradition by Jericho Brown
Pulitzer Prize for History : Sweet Taste of Liberty by W Caleb McDaniel
Pulitzer Prize for Biography : Sontag : Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser
Pulitzer for General Non-Fiction : The End of the Myth by Greg Grandin & The Undying by Anne Boyer
National Book Award Fiction : Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu On shelves
NBA for Non Fiction : The Dead are Arising by Les Payne
NBA for Poetry : DMZ Colony by Don Mee Choi
NBA for Translated Fiction : Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yu
NBA for YA Fiction : King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
National Book Critics Circle 2020 Winners Announced on 25 March
2019 Winners
Fiction : Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat
Non-Fiction : Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
Biography : The Queen : The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth by Josh Levin
Memoir : Know my Name by Chanel Miller
Poetry : Magical Negro by Morgan Parker
Criticism : Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments by Saidiya Hartman
First Book (John Leonard Prize) : The Yellow House : A Memoir by Sarah M Broom
PEN/Faulkner Prize : Sea Monsters by Chloe Aridjis
PEN/Jean Stein Award : Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li
PEN/Hemingway Award : A Prayer for Travelers by Ruchika Tomar
LA Times Book Awards for 2020 announced in April 2021
2019 winners
LA Times Awards Biography : Our Man by George Packer
LA Times Awards Current Affairs : Charged : The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution by Emily Bazelon
LA Times Awards Fiction : The Topeka School by Ben Lerner On shelves
LA Times Awards History : They Were Her Property by Stephanie E Jones-Rogers
LA Times Awards Poetry : Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky READ
LA Times First Fiction : The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
LA Times YA Fiction : When the Ground is Hard by Malla Nunn
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction : The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead READ
Pulitzer Prize for Drama : A Strange Loop by Michael R Jackson
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry : The Tradition by Jericho Brown
Pulitzer Prize for History : Sweet Taste of Liberty by W Caleb McDaniel
Pulitzer Prize for Biography : Sontag : Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser
Pulitzer for General Non-Fiction : The End of the Myth by Greg Grandin & The Undying by Anne Boyer
National Book Award Fiction : Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu On shelves
NBA for Non Fiction : The Dead are Arising by Les Payne
NBA for Poetry : DMZ Colony by Don Mee Choi
NBA for Translated Fiction : Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yu
NBA for YA Fiction : King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
National Book Critics Circle 2020 Winners Announced on 25 March
2019 Winners
Fiction : Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat
Non-Fiction : Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
Biography : The Queen : The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth by Josh Levin
Memoir : Know my Name by Chanel Miller
Poetry : Magical Negro by Morgan Parker
Criticism : Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments by Saidiya Hartman
First Book (John Leonard Prize) : The Yellow House : A Memoir by Sarah M Broom
PEN/Faulkner Prize : Sea Monsters by Chloe Aridjis
PEN/Jean Stein Award : Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li
PEN/Hemingway Award : A Prayer for Travelers by Ruchika Tomar
LA Times Book Awards for 2020 announced in April 2021
2019 winners
LA Times Awards Biography : Our Man by George Packer
LA Times Awards Current Affairs : Charged : The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution by Emily Bazelon
LA Times Awards Fiction : The Topeka School by Ben Lerner On shelves
LA Times Awards History : They Were Her Property by Stephanie E Jones-Rogers
LA Times Awards Poetry : Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky READ
LA Times First Fiction : The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
LA Times YA Fiction : When the Ground is Hard by Malla Nunn
145PaulCranswick
2020 Literary Awards UK
Booker Prize : Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart READ
MAN Booker International Prize : The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld On shelves
James Tait Black Prize Fiction : Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellman On shelves
James Tait Black Prize Biography : The Photographer at Sixteen by George Szirtes
Hawthornden Prize : Reckless Paper Birds by John McCullough
Women's Prize : Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Costa Fiction : The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey On shelves
Costa First Novel : Love after Love by Ingrid Persaud
Costa Children's Book : The Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant
Costa Poetry : The Historians : Poems by Eavan Boland
Costa Biography : The Louder I Will Sing by Lawrence Lee
Ondaatje Prize : A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson READ
Orwell Prize Fiction : The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead READ
Orwell Prize Non-Fiction : Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy
Folio Prize : Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli On shelves
Goldsmith's Prize : The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M John Harrison
Dylan Thomas Prize : Lot by Bryan Washington
Walter Scott Prize : The Narrow Land by Christine Dwyer Hickey
Baillie Gifford Prize : One Two Three Four by Craig Brown
Duff Cooper Prize : Ravenna : Capital of Empire, Crucible of Empire by Judith Herrin
Wolfson History Prize : The Boundless Sea by David Abulafia
PEN/Hessell-Titman Prize : The Patient Assassin by Anita Anand
PEN/Ackerley Award : A Radical Romance by Alison Light
TS Eliot Prize : How to Wash a Heart by Bhanu Kapil
Forward Prize : The Air Year by Caroline Bird
Best First Collection : RENDANG by Will Harris
Booker Prize : Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart READ
MAN Booker International Prize : The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld On shelves
James Tait Black Prize Fiction : Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellman On shelves
James Tait Black Prize Biography : The Photographer at Sixteen by George Szirtes
Hawthornden Prize : Reckless Paper Birds by John McCullough
Women's Prize : Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Costa Fiction : The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey On shelves
Costa First Novel : Love after Love by Ingrid Persaud
Costa Children's Book : The Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant
Costa Poetry : The Historians : Poems by Eavan Boland
Costa Biography : The Louder I Will Sing by Lawrence Lee
Ondaatje Prize : A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson READ
Orwell Prize Fiction : The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead READ
Orwell Prize Non-Fiction : Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy
Folio Prize : Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli On shelves
Goldsmith's Prize : The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M John Harrison
Dylan Thomas Prize : Lot by Bryan Washington
Walter Scott Prize : The Narrow Land by Christine Dwyer Hickey
Baillie Gifford Prize : One Two Three Four by Craig Brown
Duff Cooper Prize : Ravenna : Capital of Empire, Crucible of Empire by Judith Herrin
Wolfson History Prize : The Boundless Sea by David Abulafia
PEN/Hessell-Titman Prize : The Patient Assassin by Anita Anand
PEN/Ackerley Award : A Radical Romance by Alison Light
TS Eliot Prize : How to Wash a Heart by Bhanu Kapil
Forward Prize : The Air Year by Caroline Bird
Best First Collection : RENDANG by Will Harris
146justchris
(>116 PaulCranswick: no comment)
>103 PaulCranswick: That's quite an amusing and annoying origin story. I'm glad you're still together.
>135 PaulCranswick: That is quite a paean of brotherhood and shared humanity!
>95 PaulCranswick: >104 PaulCranswick: >114 PaulCranswick: >115 PaulCranswick: >119 PaulCranswick: >123 PaulCranswick: >130 PaulCranswick: Thank you for sharing the birthday shenanigans. What a lovely cake! I hope it was just as tasty as it looked. Mixed results for birthday gifts is still pretty good. Perfume in particular has always seemed to me to be such an iffy option, even though it's presented as a cultural romantic standard.
>103 PaulCranswick: That's quite an amusing and annoying origin story. I'm glad you're still together.
>135 PaulCranswick: That is quite a paean of brotherhood and shared humanity!
>95 PaulCranswick: >104 PaulCranswick: >114 PaulCranswick: >115 PaulCranswick: >119 PaulCranswick: >123 PaulCranswick: >130 PaulCranswick: Thank you for sharing the birthday shenanigans. What a lovely cake! I hope it was just as tasty as it looked. Mixed results for birthday gifts is still pretty good. Perfume in particular has always seemed to me to be such an iffy option, even though it's presented as a cultural romantic standard.
147PaulCranswick
>146 justchris: Somehow we have almost made it to our 25th anniversary which will be on 23 March. I say somehow because I really don't understand how the poor lady puts up with me!
The perfume was in fact an unmitigated disaster as she thinks it is "old women's perfume" and since she is sensitive about her age it went down like a lead balloon. The one I wanted to buy was not in stock and is a safe one as it recalls our first date.
The perfume was in fact an unmitigated disaster as she thinks it is "old women's perfume" and since she is sensitive about her age it went down like a lead balloon. The one I wanted to buy was not in stock and is a safe one as it recalls our first date.
148justchris
>147 PaulCranswick: That's part of why it's such an iffy proposition. Scent leads directly to lizard brain so it brings out all the feels. And that's even before we get into perfume chemistry interacting with personal body chemistry.
I have a friend who has gotten intensively obsessed with recreating historical perfumes and other scented things from antiquity up to maybe the medieval era. And she's being global about it--scouring sources in a multitude of languages and pursuing recipes from classical Rome, ancient China, the Middle East, etc. I'm one of her test subjects, but not a particularly effective one as I pretty much never wear perfume and don't have much opinion about them. But I need to email her today with my comments on the last 3 she gave me to try out. Plus, she's already given me one scented necklace and is working on another--basically beads formed from scented solids--kinda like the baby that a perfume would have with an incense. She's presenting a paper at the Experimental Archaeology Conference at the end of the month.
I have a friend who has gotten intensively obsessed with recreating historical perfumes and other scented things from antiquity up to maybe the medieval era. And she's being global about it--scouring sources in a multitude of languages and pursuing recipes from classical Rome, ancient China, the Middle East, etc. I'm one of her test subjects, but not a particularly effective one as I pretty much never wear perfume and don't have much opinion about them. But I need to email her today with my comments on the last 3 she gave me to try out. Plus, she's already given me one scented necklace and is working on another--basically beads formed from scented solids--kinda like the baby that a perfume would have with an incense. She's presenting a paper at the Experimental Archaeology Conference at the end of the month.
149PaulCranswick
>148 justchris: I think because I wasn't feeling too well, my reaction to Hani's pretty blunt disavowal of the perfume was stronger than it would normally have been. I'm ok about it today but just a bit sad that I bought her something she patently doesn't like.
That would be fascinating but I don't envisage that the medieval damsels were the sweetest smelling of creatures generally.
That would be fascinating but I don't envisage that the medieval damsels were the sweetest smelling of creatures generally.
150quondame
>149 PaulCranswick: It's sad that Hani didn't like the perfume, but good that she felt she could let you know. Repetitions of disliked gifts can be poisonous.
151brenzi
>127 PaulCranswick: Uh huh....almost everybody liked it Paul hahaha
152humouress
>143 PaulCranswick: :0D
Although I actually meant that if you were to get a game together, most of the players would be socially distanced so you would’ve breaking coved rules. ;0)
As for perfume, with my teenage boys spending all their school break times running around the football field you can imagine that my eldest, especially, is discovering the necessity of anti-deodorants although sometimes I don’t know if the scents he picks aren’t more offensive. Each to their own, I suppose.
Although I actually meant that if you were to get a game together, most of the players would be socially distanced so you would’ve breaking coved rules. ;0)
As for perfume, with my teenage boys spending all their school break times running around the football field you can imagine that my eldest, especially, is discovering the necessity of anti-deodorants although sometimes I don’t know if the scents he picks aren’t more offensive. Each to their own, I suppose.
153LovingLit
>135 PaulCranswick: you don't bore me at all with your tales of cricket, Paul. I too love the game :) My mum talks about when she was in northern India and how cricket was the immediate inroads with anyone she met there. They could recognise her as a NZer through cricket, and I believe she even adjudicated over some informal matches while there.
154PaulCranswick
>150 quondame: I think she definitely right to tell me, Susan, and I won't make the same mistake again. I do think she could have done it in a slightly less forthright manner though.
>151 brenzi: Yes Bonnie. One of the more divisive reads of recent times. The furore shone a light on several Latino and ethnic minority writers. I noticed that Angie Cruz got her previously disregarded first novel re-issued and the sales and acclaim for her Dominicana far outstripped most expectations. I thought it an OK, readable but fairly unexceptional novel to be honest.
I think that the literary intelligentsia in the US has determined that it will be exempt from the criticism levelled at the publishers and try to foster ethnic minority authors. It is noted that I list the latest American Literary Prize winners in >144 PaulCranswick: and that on that list there are 12 creative awards and that all 12 awards went to ethnic minority authors. Could be a coincidence and it could be that they merely selected the best books (The Nickel Boys was fantastic IMO) but I would hazard that it is the first time that all 12 prizes were won by writers of colour/ethnic minority backgrounds.
The 12 were : Colson Whitehead, Michael R Jackson, Jericho Brown, Charles Yu, Don Mee Choi, Kacen Callender, Edwidge Danticat, Morgan Parker, Sarah M Broom, Chloe Aridjis, Yiyun Li and Ruchika Tomar
In many ways it is a positive development but I do hope that books are being picked as winners because they are the best and not because of politics. I have no reason at this point to think not.
>151 brenzi: Yes Bonnie. One of the more divisive reads of recent times. The furore shone a light on several Latino and ethnic minority writers. I noticed that Angie Cruz got her previously disregarded first novel re-issued and the sales and acclaim for her Dominicana far outstripped most expectations. I thought it an OK, readable but fairly unexceptional novel to be honest.
I think that the literary intelligentsia in the US has determined that it will be exempt from the criticism levelled at the publishers and try to foster ethnic minority authors. It is noted that I list the latest American Literary Prize winners in >144 PaulCranswick: and that on that list there are 12 creative awards and that all 12 awards went to ethnic minority authors. Could be a coincidence and it could be that they merely selected the best books (The Nickel Boys was fantastic IMO) but I would hazard that it is the first time that all 12 prizes were won by writers of colour/ethnic minority backgrounds.
The 12 were : Colson Whitehead, Michael R Jackson, Jericho Brown, Charles Yu, Don Mee Choi, Kacen Callender, Edwidge Danticat, Morgan Parker, Sarah M Broom, Chloe Aridjis, Yiyun Li and Ruchika Tomar
In many ways it is a positive development but I do hope that books are being picked as winners because they are the best and not because of politics. I have no reason at this point to think not.
155PaulCranswick
>152 humouress: Hahaha I only conceive of a game when the Covid restrictions are lifted. It is weird because SWMBO and Belle do not need to use deodorant and produces no smell whatsoever whilst Kyran, Yasmyne and myself must use the stuff daily to avoid losing friends.
>153 LovingLit: In some quarters it was considered a "gentleman's" game, Megan, but I think it is a wonderful leveller. I have had long and pretty intense conversations with our Pakistani Samsung driver, Shah, who hails from Lahore about the old game and why my All Time XI would definitely beat his!
>153 LovingLit: In some quarters it was considered a "gentleman's" game, Megan, but I think it is a wonderful leveller. I have had long and pretty intense conversations with our Pakistani Samsung driver, Shah, who hails from Lahore about the old game and why my All Time XI would definitely beat his!
156justchris
>149 PaulCranswick: Well, the medieval stuff she's been doing has been from Islamic sources and public bathhouses and regular bathing was a strong cultural tradition, so the damsels probably smelled just fine to modern sensibilities.
I'm sorry you're feeling particularly vulnerable and raw this year and taking negative reactions so much to heart. No doubt being under the weather was a contributing factor. The cookbook was great though!
I'm sorry you're feeling particularly vulnerable and raw this year and taking negative reactions so much to heart. No doubt being under the weather was a contributing factor. The cookbook was great though!
157PaulCranswick
>156 justchris: Arabian oud perfumes are very impressive, lasting and strong, Chris.
I am feeling much more positive today. x
I am feeling much more positive today. x
158PaulCranswick
2020 Literary Awards - Rest of the World
International Dublin Award : Milkman by Anna Burns On shelves
Irish Book Awards Novel : Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan
German Book Prize : Annette, ein Heldinnenepos by Anne Weber
Leipzig Book Fair Prize : Stern 111 by Lutz Seller
Prix Goncourt : L'anomalie by Herve Le Tellier
Prix Goncourt Lyceens : Les Impatientes by Djalli Amadou Amal
Prix Femina : Nature humaine by Serge Joncour
Prix Femina etranger : The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy
Grand Prix du Roman : La grande epreuve by Etienne de Montety
Prix Renaudot : Histoire du Fils by Marie-Helene Lafon
Prix Medicis : Le Coeur Synthetique by Chloe Delaume
Prix Medicis etranger : Un andar solitario entre la gente by Antonio Munoz Molina
Strega Prize : Il colibri by Sandro Veronesi
Premio Campiello : Vita, morte e miracoli di Bonfiglio Liborio by Remo Rapino
Viareggio Prize : Lontano dagli occhi by Paolo di Paolo
Libris Prize : Uit het leven van een hond by Sander Kollaard
International Prize for Arabic Fiction (2019) : The Spartan Court by Abdelouahab Aissaoui
Premio Planeta : Aquitania by Eva Garcia Saenz de Urturi
OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Lit : Epiphaneia by Richard Georges
Nordic Council Literature Prize : Vem dodade Bambi? by Monika Fagerholm
Miles Franklin Award : The Yield by Tara June Winch
Giller Prize : How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammovongsa
Griffin Poetry Prize Canadian : Magnetic Equator by Kaie Kellough
Griffin Poetry Prize International : Time by Etel Adnan
Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Novel : Aue by Becky Manawatu
Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Poetry : How to Live by Helen Rickerby
International Dublin Award : Milkman by Anna Burns On shelves
Irish Book Awards Novel : Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan
German Book Prize : Annette, ein Heldinnenepos by Anne Weber
Leipzig Book Fair Prize : Stern 111 by Lutz Seller
Prix Goncourt : L'anomalie by Herve Le Tellier
Prix Goncourt Lyceens : Les Impatientes by Djalli Amadou Amal
Prix Femina : Nature humaine by Serge Joncour
Prix Femina etranger : The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy
Grand Prix du Roman : La grande epreuve by Etienne de Montety
Prix Renaudot : Histoire du Fils by Marie-Helene Lafon
Prix Medicis : Le Coeur Synthetique by Chloe Delaume
Prix Medicis etranger : Un andar solitario entre la gente by Antonio Munoz Molina
Strega Prize : Il colibri by Sandro Veronesi
Premio Campiello : Vita, morte e miracoli di Bonfiglio Liborio by Remo Rapino
Viareggio Prize : Lontano dagli occhi by Paolo di Paolo
Libris Prize : Uit het leven van een hond by Sander Kollaard
International Prize for Arabic Fiction (2019) : The Spartan Court by Abdelouahab Aissaoui
Premio Planeta : Aquitania by Eva Garcia Saenz de Urturi
OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Lit : Epiphaneia by Richard Georges
Nordic Council Literature Prize : Vem dodade Bambi? by Monika Fagerholm
Miles Franklin Award : The Yield by Tara June Winch
Giller Prize : How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammovongsa
Griffin Poetry Prize Canadian : Magnetic Equator by Kaie Kellough
Griffin Poetry Prize International : Time by Etel Adnan
Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Novel : Aue by Becky Manawatu
Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Poetry : How to Live by Helen Rickerby
159PaulCranswick
In >144 PaulCranswick: >145 PaulCranswick: & >158 PaulCranswick: I listed the latest winners of 80 different literary awards.
28 from the USA
26 from the UK
26 from the rest of the world
Surprisingly there were 79 different books chosen in different awards and only Nickel Boys won two of the major prizes.
I have sadly only managed to read four of the 79 books to date.
28 from the USA
26 from the UK
26 from the rest of the world
Surprisingly there were 79 different books chosen in different awards and only Nickel Boys won two of the major prizes.
I have sadly only managed to read four of the 79 books to date.
160PaulCranswick
BOOK # 32
The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy
Date of Publication : 1978
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 417 pp
Challenges :
British Author Challenge : 11th of 2021
Queen Betty Challenge : 17/70
The is good old fashioned storytelling and indeed the re-telling of a story reasonably well known to the reader as it is a period of history I have always been interested in.
It lacks the gravitas of the works of Sharon Penman but is well researched for all that - there are but a few of the ages of the children muddled but that could be artistic licence. The novel covers the reign of Edward I of England or Edward Longshanks or even "The Hammer of the Scots ."
His reign was a long one by the standards of the time and an eventful one. One which saw the subduing of Wales and the rebellion & fall of William Wallace. It was also one in which the King exerted a stern authority over his people and introduced numerous laws to the benefit of stability. Plaidy does also deal with the expulsion of the Jews from England. Edward was religious and very much against usury which was associated with the Jews at the time. The novel is not overly critical of Edward by stating that he did banish them but allowed them to keep some of their property and thus avoided the pogroms against them that had marked the reign of his father.
Judged by the mores of his time, Edward was among the top echelon of monarchs and unlike almost all his ilk he appears to have been faithful throughout his two marriages and genuinely fond of his daughters.
The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy
Date of Publication : 1978
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 417 pp
Challenges :
British Author Challenge : 11th of 2021
Queen Betty Challenge : 17/70
The is good old fashioned storytelling and indeed the re-telling of a story reasonably well known to the reader as it is a period of history I have always been interested in.
It lacks the gravitas of the works of Sharon Penman but is well researched for all that - there are but a few of the ages of the children muddled but that could be artistic licence. The novel covers the reign of Edward I of England or Edward Longshanks or even "The Hammer of the Scots ."
His reign was a long one by the standards of the time and an eventful one. One which saw the subduing of Wales and the rebellion & fall of William Wallace. It was also one in which the King exerted a stern authority over his people and introduced numerous laws to the benefit of stability. Plaidy does also deal with the expulsion of the Jews from England. Edward was religious and very much against usury which was associated with the Jews at the time. The novel is not overly critical of Edward by stating that he did banish them but allowed them to keep some of their property and thus avoided the pogroms against them that had marked the reign of his father.
Judged by the mores of his time, Edward was among the top echelon of monarchs and unlike almost all his ilk he appears to have been faithful throughout his two marriages and genuinely fond of his daughters.
161karenmarie
Hi Paul!
Belated happy birthday to Hani, congrats on most of your birthday efforts going well.
I do hope you're feeling better.
>159 PaulCranswick: I only have 3 of the books listed. The lists are very interesting and thank you for compiling them.
Belated happy birthday to Hani, congrats on most of your birthday efforts going well.
I do hope you're feeling better.
>159 PaulCranswick: I only have 3 of the books listed. The lists are very interesting and thank you for compiling them.
162PaulCranswick
>161 karenmarie: I am on the mend, Karen, thanks, but SWMBO is sniffling now.
The lists did take a bit of creating but I found them fascinating. Obviously the European prizes are unlikely to contain so many familiar books given their recent (untranslated) release but I thought with 54 UK/USA prizes there would have been much more cross over.
The lists did take a bit of creating but I found them fascinating. Obviously the European prizes are unlikely to contain so many familiar books given their recent (untranslated) release but I thought with 54 UK/USA prizes there would have been much more cross over.
163EllaTim
>159 PaulCranswick: Interesting lists Paul. I favorited this post to be able to find it later.
>162 PaulCranswick: Getting a winner translated will take some time of course. Maybe previous years would result in more familiar books?
Very good there not being too much cross over, giving more books and writers a chance.
>162 PaulCranswick: Getting a winner translated will take some time of course. Maybe previous years would result in more familiar books?
Very good there not being too much cross over, giving more books and writers a chance.
164PaulCranswick
>163 EllaTim: I also thought it was a good thing that there was such variety of choices. Plenty of variety too.
166AnneDC
Thanks for doing all that research for us, Paul.
Of your 79 award winning books I have read 6--mostly the American prize winners except for Hamnet. Hmmm.
Of your 79 award winning books I have read 6--mostly the American prize winners except for Hamnet. Hmmm.
167PaulCranswick
>165 banjo123: I think she is regretting it this evening, Rhonda, as she seems to have picked up my flu symptoms!
>166 AnneDC: Lovely to see you, Anne. I plan to do the last 10 years on a spreadsheet and see how many I have read and whether I can see any trends and also which book has been the most awarded.
>166 AnneDC: Lovely to see you, Anne. I plan to do the last 10 years on a spreadsheet and see how many I have read and whether I can see any trends and also which book has been the most awarded.
168false-knight
>160 PaulCranswick: If you've read The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon, would you say this is comparable? (Never read 'em, but, similar time period and they've been recently reissued in translation, so if you haven't and you want to read more historical fiction about the same period, maybe worth a look?)
169PaulCranswick
>168 false-knight: That looks like a good spot, Emery. I haven't read that series but it does look like my bag.
170The_Hibernator
I'm always shocked at how many posts you can get in just a few days, Paul. Hope you had a great weekend!
171PaulCranswick
>170 The_Hibernator: In all fairness I have slowed a fair bit since my arbitration hearing took up so much of my time. Amber is the one going like an express train at the moment.
172Fourpawz2
I read The Iron King from that Druon series and loved it. So much so, that as soon as I finished it I immediately bought the second book. Need to read that one this year.
173PaulCranswick
>172 Fourpawz2: I will go and look for the series, Charlotte. I really am getting some excellent recommendations this month.
174avatiakh
Yaniv Iczkovits won the 2021 Wingate Literary Prize in the past couple of days, I loved his book, The Slaughterman's Daughter.
I started Auē by Becky Manawatu but only got a few pages in, must get back to that. The 2021 shortlist for the Ockhams has just been announced.
I started Auē by Becky Manawatu but only got a few pages in, must get back to that. The 2021 shortlist for the Ockhams has just been announced.
175PaulCranswick
>174 avatiakh: That is one prize that I managed to miss, Kerry. I haven't read The Slaughterman's Daughter but it does appeal.
176cbl_tn
Hi Paul! Just getting caught up here. I've had my eye on The Return for a while. I'll get to it eventually!
177PaulCranswick
>176 cbl_tn: It is a worthy book but somehow an inconclusive one, Carrie. Also a Pulitzer winner.
178AMQS
Hi Paul, can I still wish you a happy new thread? Things move so fast around here:)
Happy belated birthday to Hani! It sounds like you engineered a wonderful surprise. She is lucky. I know you would say you are. So you both are!
Did I really see you say on another thread that Malaysia won't vaccinate non-citizens? Yikes. Considering how greater vaccination means greater safety and faster return to normalcy for everyone, and considering how huge an impact non-citizens have on the economy (how many people do you employ?) that seems short-sighted. But I'll bet that reserving vaccines for citizens would be a popular idea among some here as well.
Happy belated birthday to Hani! It sounds like you engineered a wonderful surprise. She is lucky. I know you would say you are. So you both are!
Did I really see you say on another thread that Malaysia won't vaccinate non-citizens? Yikes. Considering how greater vaccination means greater safety and faster return to normalcy for everyone, and considering how huge an impact non-citizens have on the economy (how many people do you employ?) that seems short-sighted. But I'll bet that reserving vaccines for citizens would be a popular idea among some here as well.
179PaulCranswick
>178 AMQS: Never too late to say hello to one of my favourites, Anne!
I do feel blessed with SWMBO but she is also a very taxing character and when she is in a bad mood the whole house seems to feel her wrath and the very walls shudder.
I exaggerate a little Anne but the expatriates are lowest priority and all locals must get treated first. I suppose when can jump the queue by paying through the nose for it and I will probably arrange that prior to my home move.
I do feel blessed with SWMBO but she is also a very taxing character and when she is in a bad mood the whole house seems to feel her wrath and the very walls shudder.
I exaggerate a little Anne but the expatriates are lowest priority and all locals must get treated first. I suppose when can jump the queue by paying through the nose for it and I will probably arrange that prior to my home move.
181PaulCranswick
>180 Whisper1: It wasn't painless, Linda, but it was successful. She now has my fluey symptoms of a few days ago and is like the proverbial bear with the sore head. xx
183PaulCranswick
>182 connie53: Thank you Connie. Tuesday was OK but my body clock gave up a bit and I slept really early.
184connie53
Perhaps you needed the sleep. That's okay to give into after being a bit under the weather.
185PaulCranswick
Yes but with SWMBO also under the weather I got home at 8 pm and went straight to bed. Woke up full of vim at 1.00 am as 5 hours is considered a good sleep for me!
186PaulCranswick
I had a meeting in KLCC Twin Towers (Suria Mall) this evening and it just so happens to house also Kino, my bookstore.
I added a few whilst I was waiting for my meeting.
59. Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
60. The Enchanted by Rene Denefeld
61. The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
The first book won the Costa First Book Award 2020.
The second book won the Grand Prix du Premier Roman etranger
The third book won the National Book award.
So you can see that my research over the weekend on awards was put to use!
I added a few whilst I was waiting for my meeting.
59. Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
60. The Enchanted by Rene Denefeld
61. The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
The first book won the Costa First Book Award 2020.
The second book won the Grand Prix du Premier Roman etranger
The third book won the National Book award.
So you can see that my research over the weekend on awards was put to use!
189PaulCranswick
>188 DMulvee: Well yes, I think that is becoming apparent!
190PaulCranswick
The cough persists but SWMBO is much worse than I was. Poor thing had to sit up with me struggling to breathe normally. She asked me to buy some Vicks vapour rub at the pharmacy and now I am struggling to lose the smell of the stuff as I spent a good half hour rubbing it into her upper back. Thankfully she looks a bit more comfortable now.
191jnwelch
>189 PaulCranswick: becoming apparent?!!! Surely you jest, mon frere. We're way past that. :-)
You've reminded me about all the award winners I'll unfortunately never read, unless we get to live forever.
Angie Cruz is a friend of our DIL (they put out Asterix Journal together), and we were pulling for Dominicana to do well. I think I liked it better than you did. That slice of life was well-portrayed, although her writing style is straightforward and so far isn't at the level of, e.g. Jacqueline Woodson. I say "so far" in part because I really liked The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, and couldn't believe it was written by the same author who wrote a couple of somewhat clunky fantasy books I read a decade or so prior. Here's hoping Angie Cruz's writing improves that much.
You've reminded me about all the award winners I'll unfortunately never read, unless we get to live forever.
Angie Cruz is a friend of our DIL (they put out Asterix Journal together), and we were pulling for Dominicana to do well. I think I liked it better than you did. That slice of life was well-portrayed, although her writing style is straightforward and so far isn't at the level of, e.g. Jacqueline Woodson. I say "so far" in part because I really liked The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, and couldn't believe it was written by the same author who wrote a couple of somewhat clunky fantasy books I read a decade or so prior. Here's hoping Angie Cruz's writing improves that much.
192ChelleBearss
>188 DMulvee: >189 PaulCranswick: HA! Our dear Paul's TBR pile is a TBR mountain!
193PaulCranswick
Also since she sent me to pharmacy which just happens to be in the mall near to my bookshop.......well what can I say my willpower just isn't strong enough!
62. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis
63. The Innocents by Michael Crummey
64. Night Waking by Sarah Moss
65. Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
The first is a new translation of what Dave Egger's called "a glorious gift to the world".
The second prompted Ron Rash to say that "few novels have cast their spell on me as deeply..."
Sarah Moss's book was described by the Sunday Times as "tartly humorous, sad and clever."
Idaho had Rachel Joyce observe "unflinching, unfrilly multi-layered storytelling that is both beautiful and devastating".
62. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis
63. The Innocents by Michael Crummey
64. Night Waking by Sarah Moss
65. Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
The first is a new translation of what Dave Egger's called "a glorious gift to the world".
The second prompted Ron Rash to say that "few novels have cast their spell on me as deeply..."
Sarah Moss's book was described by the Sunday Times as "tartly humorous, sad and clever."
Idaho had Rachel Joyce observe "unflinching, unfrilly multi-layered storytelling that is both beautiful and devastating".
194PaulCranswick
>191 jnwelch: Oh Joe, I will certainly buy and read other books by Angie Cruz and there is clearly a nascent talent there but I don't think that Dominicana was fully realised but certainly not a bad read either.
My pithy remark about my, ahem, book collection was, of course, tongue very firmly in cheek. I am certainly not complaining about the diversity in the award giving which is surely to be welcomed....so long as the books justify the plaudits. In the only case I had from last year's awards I have to say that I haven't read a better novel than The Nickel Boys for quite some time.
>192 ChelleBearss: And as you may well have noticed Chelle, it isn't getting any smaller!
My pithy remark about my, ahem, book collection was, of course, tongue very firmly in cheek. I am certainly not complaining about the diversity in the award giving which is surely to be welcomed....so long as the books justify the plaudits. In the only case I had from last year's awards I have to say that I haven't read a better novel than The Nickel Boys for quite some time.
>192 ChelleBearss: And as you may well have noticed Chelle, it isn't getting any smaller!
196Oberon
Hi Paul,
Not sure how much you read state side coverage of the Premier League but I found this rather interesting https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/leeds-united-is-scoring-and-getting-scored-...
Not sure how much you read state side coverage of the Premier League but I found this rather interesting https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/leeds-united-is-scoring-and-getting-scored-...
197benitastrnad
>187 PaulCranswick:
I gave up on The Friend by Sigrid Nunez. I read about half the book and I didn't think it was going anywhere so I Pearl Ruled it. Sometimes I can't figure out how these books win prizes.
I gave up on The Friend by Sigrid Nunez. I read about half the book and I didn't think it was going anywhere so I Pearl Ruled it. Sometimes I can't figure out how these books win prizes.
198PaulCranswick
>196 Oberon: Thanks for that Erik. We have been by far the most entertaining team to watch this season and that is certainly not just my opinion. We have also been incredibly unlucky on occasions. Even in the 4-3 loss at Liverpool the champions benefitted from gaining two extremely soft penalties and we have had several goals ruled out for offside that the video technology indicated were dubious decisions. This included our game at West Ham on Monday night when we had 67% and had two goals disallowed in the first ten minutes (one certainly incorrectly) and had almost 20 goal attempts in the second half only to lose 2-0. Just to make things interesting our defending of corner kicks is shambolic.
Our relative success has been achieved with largely the same team that got us promoted as most of our additions (the brilliant Raphinha aside) have been injured most of the season and most of the issues of game domination, failure to convert chances, bad decisions and being hit by sucker punches are still prevalent.
This song from the last season says it perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In_PjqoZmh4
Our relative success has been achieved with largely the same team that got us promoted as most of our additions (the brilliant Raphinha aside) have been injured most of the season and most of the issues of game domination, failure to convert chances, bad decisions and being hit by sucker punches are still prevalent.
This song from the last season says it perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In_PjqoZmh4
199PaulCranswick
>199 PaulCranswick: One man's meat is another woman's poison, Benita. I am also flabbergasted sometimes when I read books that somebody actually thought them worthy of publication never mind to win a major award.
I remember The Sellout winning the Booker a few years ago and I thought it the most dreadful pastiche.
I remember The Sellout winning the Booker a few years ago and I thought it the most dreadful pastiche.
200brenzi
On the other hand, Paul,I loved The Friend and thought it was a tender, evocative look at what friendship means and, better yet, how much love a dog can provide.
202PaulCranswick
>200 brenzi: I read the blurb on it Bonnie and read the first para as I often do and thought it looked like something I will like. Always go into these things with an open mind. xx
203PaulCranswick
>201 humouress: Well I would say that I am developing a pattern of behaviour, Nina!
204false-knight
>186 PaulCranswick: Oh, The Enchanted looks really interesting…maybe I'll engineer my own fortunate coincidence!
205PaulCranswick
>204 false-knight: It is a skill I have developed over time, Emery!
206PaulCranswick
The Women's Prize Longlist is out:
https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/2021-prize
Because of You by Dawn French
Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
Consent by Annabel Lyon
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones
Luster by Raven Leilani
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
Summer by Ali Smith
The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/2021-prize
Because of You by Dawn French
Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
Consent by Annabel Lyon
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones
Luster by Raven Leilani
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
Summer by Ali Smith
The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
207PaulCranswick
>206 PaulCranswick: I think that there are a couple of surprises. Dawn French getting longlisted will make a number of serious authors boil, I guess whilst there is no place for the excellent Sarah Moss as well as the Costa Winner (The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey and the Miles Franklin winner (The Yield) by Tara June Winch.
I have no feel at this stage whether it is a strong list or not.
I have no feel at this stage whether it is a strong list or not.
208thornton37814
>195 PaulCranswick: The UK cover for The Innocents is much better than the US one.
I found it an enjoyable read. Our Irish lit prof loved it.
I found it an enjoyable read. Our Irish lit prof loved it.
209SilverWolf28
Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/330494
210LovingLit
>155 PaulCranswick: haha, an all time XI huh? I can't even begin an attempt to compile one of those :)
>187 PaulCranswick: The cover of The Friend is striking. The artistic design of book covers is amazing...if I was so inclined, that would be my dream job I reckon.
>206 PaulCranswick: is the Women's Prize the old Orange Prize?
>187 PaulCranswick: The cover of The Friend is striking. The artistic design of book covers is amazing...if I was so inclined, that would be my dream job I reckon.
>206 PaulCranswick: is the Women's Prize the old Orange Prize?
211hredwards
Hello Paul, Hope you are all doing well. Hadn't heard from you in a while, I was just checking out your reading lists. WOW. You read a lot more intellectual stuff than I do. I don't know how you keep up with all those challenges, I do good to remember to list the 75ers. Hope you have a good day and a wonderful weekend. Just wanted to say hello.
Harold
Harold
212false-knight
>205 PaulCranswick: Eventually everyone's going to catch on to the "Yes I do have to drive to this specific grocery store. No it has nothing to do with being across the street from the big Barnes & Noble" trick, but, while it lasts!
213PaulCranswick
>208 thornton37814: Yes Lori I do like my cover much better! He is a writer I have heard such good things about and I pounced upon the book as it is difficult generally to find good literature from the non UK commonwealth here.
>209 SilverWolf28: I will be in again, Silver.
>209 SilverWolf28: I will be in again, Silver.
214PaulCranswick
>210 LovingLit: It is great fun for what it is worth, Megan and NZ have two very obvious candidates in Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe.
I am impressed with so many of the book covers among my recent purchases. I do not have that level of artistry to make anything of such a job but it would be a lovely job to do with the requisite skills.
Yes the Women's Prize is the old Orange Prize.
I am impressed with so many of the book covers among my recent purchases. I do not have that level of artistry to make anything of such a job but it would be a lovely job to do with the requisite skills.
Yes the Women's Prize is the old Orange Prize.
215PaulCranswick
>211 hredwards: Lovely to see you Harold. I have been snowed under with work but things are easing a little and I should be back to close to normal shortly.
>212 false-knight: I was busted long ago, Emery!
>212 false-knight: I was busted long ago, Emery!
217PaulCranswick
>216 connie53: Thank you, Connie.
218BekkaJo
>206 PaulCranswick: Couple of those on the TB - many I've never heard of!
Happy Friday :) So glad I made it...
Happy Friday :) So glad I made it...
219PaulCranswick
>218 BekkaJo: I hadn't heard of maybe half of them Bekka. I owned one of them this morning. and now own two of them......well it is me who is posting!
Happy Friday. xx
Happy Friday. xx
220PaulCranswick
My addition numbers keep creeping up. Went for lunch in KLCC with SWMBO and afterwards she kindly followed me to the bookstore:
66. Throw me to the Wolves by Patrick McGuinness
67. Consent by Annabel Lyon
I always hear good things about McGuinness and he is good for my around the world challenge having being born in Tunisia. Lyon's book is longlisted for the Women's Prize.
66. Throw me to the Wolves by Patrick McGuinness
67. Consent by Annabel Lyon
I always hear good things about McGuinness and he is good for my around the world challenge having being born in Tunisia. Lyon's book is longlisted for the Women's Prize.
222msf59
Happy Weekend, Paul. I just finished my current print read so I am also ready to go with History of Wolves tomorrow. Looking forward to it.
223amanda4242
Happy weekend!
224PaulCranswick
>222 msf59: Read the first chapter in bed last night and it started slightly creepily.
>223 amanda4242: Same to you dear Amanda.
>223 amanda4242: Same to you dear Amanda.
225false-knight
Happy weekend, Paul!
226PaulCranswick
Current reading.
I want to finish the following books this weekend:
(1) The Age of Improvement by Asa Briggs
(2) Some Experiences of an Irish RM by Somerville & Ross
(3) History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
(4) Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham
All are underway. The Briggs is about half-way and I have just read his fascinating appraisal of the British government during the Napoleonic wars. The Irish RM is almost done and The History of Wolves and the Harry Bingham are a few chapters in each.
If I get those done then I want to start Pawn of Prophecy and a poetry collection - possibly the one just purchased by Ada Limon.
I want to finish the following books this weekend:
(1) The Age of Improvement by Asa Briggs
(2) Some Experiences of an Irish RM by Somerville & Ross
(3) History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
(4) Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham
All are underway. The Briggs is about half-way and I have just read his fascinating appraisal of the British government during the Napoleonic wars. The Irish RM is almost done and The History of Wolves and the Harry Bingham are a few chapters in each.
If I get those done then I want to start Pawn of Prophecy and a poetry collection - possibly the one just purchased by Ada Limon.
227PaulCranswick
>225 false-knight: Thanks Emery. Hopefully I will be along to all my pals this weekend.
228ChelleBearss
Good luck with your reading this weekend! Looks like a decent list there
229PaulCranswick
>228 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle.
230avatiakh
Hope the reading is going well for you. I did well on Friday, less so yesterday. I've become addicted to Korean tv shows on Netflix, so many to watch.
232PaulCranswick
>230 avatiakh: Netflix is the scourge of reading plans, Kerry. Unfortunately mum was taken back into hospital yesterday with breathing difficulties so I was a bit distracted again.
>231 banjo123: Still not 100%, I'm afraid, Rhonda. No worse though either. xx
>231 banjo123: Still not 100%, I'm afraid, Rhonda. No worse though either. xx
233quondame
>232 PaulCranswick: Sorry to hear your mother has been hospitalized again. I hope she returns home soon.
234PaulCranswick
>233 quondame: My brother did say that she seemed in better condition than in previous recent visits to the hospital, Susan. He seems to think it was a bit on the precautionary side.
235SirThomas
I wish your family a speedy recovery, Paul. I hope you can enjoy the weekend a bit despite everything.
All the best!
All the best!
236PaulCranswick
>235 SirThomas: Thanks Thomas. The positive vibes are always welcome.
237Fourpawz2
Sorry about your mom being back in the hospital. But at least people are on top of her care. That's got to be a good thing.
238karenmarie
Hi Paul!
I'm sorry Hani's been sick and that your mum's back in the hospital.
On the other hand, books...
I'm sorry Hani's been sick and that your mum's back in the hospital.
On the other hand, books...
239m.belljackson
>234 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul - Good that your Mom has Family support for these challenges. Did she get COVID shots?
240PaulCranswick
>237 Fourpawz2: She will be a little bit down because today has been Mother's Day in the UK and it is one of her favourite days.
>238 karenmarie: The books give me solace at least, Karen!
>238 karenmarie: The books give me solace at least, Karen!
241PaulCranswick
>239 m.belljackson: Thanks Marianne. Yes she has had the jobs already and reported no ill affects apparently.
242avatiakh
Sorry to hear about your mother and hope she gets out before too long. I'll be driving down to 'babysit' my mum this coming weekend. My brother and his wife will attend a memorial for a good family friend in Raglan, she died last year after a battle with cancer and no-one could attend her funeral due to lockdown.
I've just finished a children's book, another Carnegie Medal winner from 1941, We couldn't leave Dinah and thought you might like this blog I found it on - Around the British Isles in 80 Island Books.
https://aroundthebritishislesin80islandbooks.blogspot.com/2012/12/book-1-island-...
I've just finished a children's book, another Carnegie Medal winner from 1941, We couldn't leave Dinah and thought you might like this blog I found it on - Around the British Isles in 80 Island Books.
https://aroundthebritishislesin80islandbooks.blogspot.com/2012/12/book-1-island-...
243PaulCranswick
>242 avatiakh: That is fascinating, Kerry. I hadn't heard of the book before to be perfectly honest.
244PaulCranswick
I want to state something which has been bothering me all week.
I am a republican in a British sense not an American sense in that I would like our monarchy at some stage replaced by an elected head of state. I have no reason therefore to support the Royal Family but I do have to say that I am frankly appalled at the behaviour of Meghan and especially Harry.
I am a patriot and I do respect our Queen even though I think the institution she represents has almost had its day and to level allegations against the family she heads of racism, especially when very cowardly they wouldn't specify who they were referring to, is too much. They couldn't even get their stories straight and both gave conflicting versions of supposedly the same event. The story about the depriving of Archie of being a Prince (after she stated she wasn't interested in all the titles) was factually proven to be a falsehood. Statutes from George V dictate that in the event of Great Grandchildren only the first born of the direct line to the throne can be called Prince/Princess without special dispensation from the monarch. In the event of the demise of the Queen, Archie would take a generation closer to the throne and take the title of Prince.
They both committed terrible and damaging smears and slander upon the Royal Family posing as victims. They are not victims they are spoilt narcissists. Grumbling about security for his family living in a billionaires mansion and while having the benefit of tens of millions of the British taxpayers money (Princess Diana's legacy which came from the public purse). Screaming for their privacy when making further fortunes from netflix accounts and so on and going public to air grievances against an institution Harry has benefitted from the whole of his life and is honour bound to protect. Biters of the hands that fed them.
At the time of their courtship the couple were hugely popular with the British public and with the British media. Their wedding saw an outpouring of national joy. They became targets of criticism in the press not because of the colour of Meghan's skin, although she seemed to want to emphasise it at every opportunity but because their behaviour and demeanour was frankly poor.
Piers Morgan whom I do not particularly like was effectively forced to resign for saying he didn't believe her version that she took her mental health concerns to the palace and they ignored her. Well it is frankly incredible and I do not believe her either.
The Queen's riposte is also clear in expressing concern for her stated mental health issues that this was news to her and the fact of the phrase "recollections may vary".
Polling evidence in the UK is showing that the British public do not support Harry and Meghan's position but they seem to have fooled many Americans into believing their catalogue of whinges and whines. Shame on them.
I would like to know how much they received for the Oprah interview and I hope the money is used to buy them some humility and honour.
I am a republican in a British sense not an American sense in that I would like our monarchy at some stage replaced by an elected head of state. I have no reason therefore to support the Royal Family but I do have to say that I am frankly appalled at the behaviour of Meghan and especially Harry.
I am a patriot and I do respect our Queen even though I think the institution she represents has almost had its day and to level allegations against the family she heads of racism, especially when very cowardly they wouldn't specify who they were referring to, is too much. They couldn't even get their stories straight and both gave conflicting versions of supposedly the same event. The story about the depriving of Archie of being a Prince (after she stated she wasn't interested in all the titles) was factually proven to be a falsehood. Statutes from George V dictate that in the event of Great Grandchildren only the first born of the direct line to the throne can be called Prince/Princess without special dispensation from the monarch. In the event of the demise of the Queen, Archie would take a generation closer to the throne and take the title of Prince.
They both committed terrible and damaging smears and slander upon the Royal Family posing as victims. They are not victims they are spoilt narcissists. Grumbling about security for his family living in a billionaires mansion and while having the benefit of tens of millions of the British taxpayers money (Princess Diana's legacy which came from the public purse). Screaming for their privacy when making further fortunes from netflix accounts and so on and going public to air grievances against an institution Harry has benefitted from the whole of his life and is honour bound to protect. Biters of the hands that fed them.
At the time of their courtship the couple were hugely popular with the British public and with the British media. Their wedding saw an outpouring of national joy. They became targets of criticism in the press not because of the colour of Meghan's skin, although she seemed to want to emphasise it at every opportunity but because their behaviour and demeanour was frankly poor.
Piers Morgan whom I do not particularly like was effectively forced to resign for saying he didn't believe her version that she took her mental health concerns to the palace and they ignored her. Well it is frankly incredible and I do not believe her either.
The Queen's riposte is also clear in expressing concern for her stated mental health issues that this was news to her and the fact of the phrase "recollections may vary".
Polling evidence in the UK is showing that the British public do not support Harry and Meghan's position but they seem to have fooled many Americans into believing their catalogue of whinges and whines. Shame on them.
I would like to know how much they received for the Oprah interview and I hope the money is used to buy them some humility and honour.
245ChelleBearss
Happy Monday, Paul! Hope your mom is doing better.
I seem to be one of the only people that do not care a smidge about the Meghan/Harry/Royal interview and fallout. I didn't watch it, have not read about it, and could not care less about them. I do hope if she does have mental health issues that she gets help, and that's the extent I care.
I seem to be one of the only people that do not care a smidge about the Meghan/Harry/Royal interview and fallout. I didn't watch it, have not read about it, and could not care less about them. I do hope if she does have mental health issues that she gets help, and that's the extent I care.
246thornton37814
>244 PaulCranswick: I suspect you aren't hearing all the eyeball rolls in America. We're so used to "spoiled brats" from Hollywood and to people trying to lay the blame at the feet of others, that it's just another episode in a long soap opera to us.
247PaulCranswick
>245 ChelleBearss: Whatever may be said of Queen Betty she has always been a steadfast and enthusiastic supporter of the Commonwealth of nations and I know from personal experience she is much loved in Malaysia and particularly Ghana where I spent time severally.
I am not normally interested in royal issues either but I just despaired at both their behaviour and the silly reaction it received in some quarters.
>246 thornton37814: I'm sure Lori that many Americans are wise to them both but there does appear to be a majority there that is giving credence to their whining. I'm saddened because the fact of their marriage was a great opportunity to show that race shouldn't matter much in modern Britain but their playing of the race card from a position of privilege and palaces is cynical at best.
I am not normally interested in royal issues either but I just despaired at both their behaviour and the silly reaction it received in some quarters.
>246 thornton37814: I'm sure Lori that many Americans are wise to them both but there does appear to be a majority there that is giving credence to their whining. I'm saddened because the fact of their marriage was a great opportunity to show that race shouldn't matter much in modern Britain but their playing of the race card from a position of privilege and palaces is cynical at best.
248swynn
>244 PaulCranswick: Thanks for that perspective Paul. I studiously know nothing about the Royals, having a dislike for the idea of "royalty" in general but also feeling that really it's not my country, not my problem. Of course, when something like this happens I can't help hearing about it, and because of my determined lack of interest I can only view it through the lens of my own experience.
And the little I've heard rings true to me. That a family -- even the "best" of families -- can be well-meaning and welcoming and self-conscious about race and also sometimes say stupid, casually racist things? Sounds accurate. Or that a family has that one relative? Or two? Or in a large family a certain percentage? That relative who just can't hear themself, or maybe they just don't care, or maybe they know what buttons to press and delight in pressing and in playing the martyr when their target calls them on it? Sounds accurate, and I expect a portion of the sympathy they're getting in the States comes largely from that recognition of shared experience.
I mean, if Americans are rallying around Megan and Harry, it probably says at least as much about an American problem as any Commonwealth one.
And the little I've heard rings true to me. That a family -- even the "best" of families -- can be well-meaning and welcoming and self-conscious about race and also sometimes say stupid, casually racist things? Sounds accurate. Or that a family has that one relative? Or two? Or in a large family a certain percentage? That relative who just can't hear themself, or maybe they just don't care, or maybe they know what buttons to press and delight in pressing and in playing the martyr when their target calls them on it? Sounds accurate, and I expect a portion of the sympathy they're getting in the States comes largely from that recognition of shared experience.
I mean, if Americans are rallying around Megan and Harry, it probably says at least as much about an American problem as any Commonwealth one.
249m.belljackson
>244 PaulCranswick: Racism deeply rooted in England, Ireland, Scotland, & Germany, etc.
where it got transplanted to what became the USA...where many of us still
don't understand why there is still a "King and Queen,"
much less why any of the "royals" deserve reverence...
Witnessing how bi-racial people are treated in the USA,
one can only imagine how much worse in an even whiter country
with a much longer history of colonial racism.
Here, we can all be princes and princesses, for free.
No argument that Archie should not have been a "prince,"
but Meghan was definitely right that he needed security.
where it got transplanted to what became the USA...where many of us still
don't understand why there is still a "King and Queen,"
much less why any of the "royals" deserve reverence...
Witnessing how bi-racial people are treated in the USA,
one can only imagine how much worse in an even whiter country
with a much longer history of colonial racism.
Here, we can all be princes and princesses, for free.
No argument that Archie should not have been a "prince,"
but Meghan was definitely right that he needed security.
250curioussquared
>244 PaulCranswick: Paul, I'm not going to get too much into it, because I think we'll disagree and I don't think I'm quite educated enough on the subject to fully discuss it, but I do know that reportedly at least Harry and Meghan did the interview for free.
251benitastrnad
>244 PaulCranswick:
Well said. I don't believe them either. I think they are spoiled little brats.
I didn't watch the interview. I had made up my mind long ago when they left off serving their country and their adopted country. Put them in the same basket as Edward VIII. Spoiled little rich kids (which is what both of them are) don't deserve an audience. For them to walk out and leave on their own free will because they had to work to hard with no days off leaves me thinking that they should both have to work at Subway for 6 months as line cooks and servers. Biting the hand that fed them from their billionaires cottage - indeed. Since they don't want to work for their keep the British people should cut them off.
If they wanted to give an impartial interview they would have had an impartial news person do it. Not a personal friend. One of the replays I did see showed Oprah with this obviously fake look of astonishment on her face. She also lost credibility with this interview.
I thought the response from the Palace was tasteful and patient.
I watched the Stanley Tucci show on CNN that night and then right after that watched the excellent show on Abraham Lincoln. Both were much more uplifting and worthwhile expenditures of my TV time.
By-the-way, have you seen the Duchess of Cornwall's reading list?
Well said. I don't believe them either. I think they are spoiled little brats.
I didn't watch the interview. I had made up my mind long ago when they left off serving their country and their adopted country. Put them in the same basket as Edward VIII. Spoiled little rich kids (which is what both of them are) don't deserve an audience. For them to walk out and leave on their own free will because they had to work to hard with no days off leaves me thinking that they should both have to work at Subway for 6 months as line cooks and servers. Biting the hand that fed them from their billionaires cottage - indeed. Since they don't want to work for their keep the British people should cut them off.
If they wanted to give an impartial interview they would have had an impartial news person do it. Not a personal friend. One of the replays I did see showed Oprah with this obviously fake look of astonishment on her face. She also lost credibility with this interview.
I thought the response from the Palace was tasteful and patient.
I watched the Stanley Tucci show on CNN that night and then right after that watched the excellent show on Abraham Lincoln. Both were much more uplifting and worthwhile expenditures of my TV time.
By-the-way, have you seen the Duchess of Cornwall's reading list?
252amanda4242
>244 PaulCranswick: This American gives zero fucks about the lot of 'em. I think if you take away everyone's designer clothes then the whole mess looks a lot like an episode of Jerry Springer.
253benitastrnad
>252 amanda4242:
Thanks for the laugh.
Thanks for the laugh.
254drneutron
Adding my voice to the "couldn't care less" crowd... My impression is that the whole bunch needs a dose of real life.
255false-knight
I didn't watch the interview and my opinion of royal families in general is that they're parasites. I agree with >248 swynn: and >249 m.belljackson: though; I have very little trouble believing that the English royal family (I mean, the English royal family, for Chrissakes) would react privately in a racist manner to one of the princes marrying a black woman. So I have sympathy for Meghan insofar as I don't think anyone should have to deal with that from their in-laws (or from anyone else). However, I don't think anyone on Earth is entitled to or should try to have the amount of power and privilege that the English royal family currently possesses. All of them should go get real jobs (or in the case of Meghan, go back to her real job) and contribute something of value to society.
256msf59
Hi, Paul. I have just 40 pages left in History of Wolves so I have been buzzing through it. It will end up being a good enough read for me but far from the heights that I hoped for. She is a talented writer, though.
257avatiakh
>243 PaulCranswick: I was thinking you might like the blog which features books set in the islands around Britain rather than that particular book.
>244 PaulCranswick: I agree Paul and you've said it well especially how the British & Commonwealth embraced the couple in the lead up to their wedding. I can't believe how entitled these two twits are. They left the UK saying they wanted privacy and to get on with their lives yet here they are talking to Oprah with an audience of millions. Harry dissing on his own family is unforgiveable.
Very one-sided interview by the sounds of it with no challenge given to the claims put forward. Oprah has lost credibility with this interview surely.
Don't have much time for Piers Morgan, though he's right this time and should be entitled to freely express his opinion. Now Sharon Osbourne is in trouble for supporting his right to have an opinion.
Being from a Commonwealth country I've grown up with monarchy and royalty. Don't have a problem with it, these are traditions that can be respected. History tells us that there have been many unsatisfactory royals, not just the UK but also across Europe.
>244 PaulCranswick: I agree Paul and you've said it well especially how the British & Commonwealth embraced the couple in the lead up to their wedding. I can't believe how entitled these two twits are. They left the UK saying they wanted privacy and to get on with their lives yet here they are talking to Oprah with an audience of millions. Harry dissing on his own family is unforgiveable.
Very one-sided interview by the sounds of it with no challenge given to the claims put forward. Oprah has lost credibility with this interview surely.
Don't have much time for Piers Morgan, though he's right this time and should be entitled to freely express his opinion. Now Sharon Osbourne is in trouble for supporting his right to have an opinion.
Being from a Commonwealth country I've grown up with monarchy and royalty. Don't have a problem with it, these are traditions that can be respected. History tells us that there have been many unsatisfactory royals, not just the UK but also across Europe.
258DMulvee
>244 PaulCranswick: It was difficult to avoid the sensational parts of the interview, but I think most Brits have a tough time believing what Meghan and Harry say. They announced they would leave the U.K. for a commonwealth country, and had their spokesman deny on numerous occasions that they would head to the US, and yet in less than a year, this is where they ended up.
I do have sympathy for the Kate/Meghan crying story. If I was Meghan and there were reports in all newspapers that I had made Kate cry when it was the opposite, then I would be very unhappy at media coverage.
I do have sympathy for the Kate/Meghan crying story. If I was Meghan and there were reports in all newspapers that I had made Kate cry when it was the opposite, then I would be very unhappy at media coverage.
259PaulCranswick
>248 swynn: I prefaced my own comments Stephen by saying that I am in fact a republican and do not support the Monarchy in general terms.
I am from a mixed race family myself and have heard my own children being referred to as "half-breeds" by a member of my own direct family so I am not saying that such a comment wasn't made. What I didn't like was that she exaggerated the issue (her story was different to Harry's) to smear the entire Royal Family. The whole interview was self-serving.
>249 m.belljackson: Your comments, Marianne, throwing history at the British shows exactly why the entitled assholes interview was so damaging. Never mind the Queen has spent her life fostering ties and understanding with the commonwealth and so clearly is no racist. Never mind that it wasn't Britain who started slavery but it was us who were the first to end it and then policed an enforcement of the high seas on the African coast to prevent the other powers from carrying it on.
Racism is something no-one should be complacent about but immeasurably Britain has far less of a problem than you do in the USA despite the efforts of Meghan and Harry to pretend otherwise.
They chose to leave their royal duties and move from the protection of the Royal household. It is probably true that they need protection. Let them pay for it with their many millions.
I am from a mixed race family myself and have heard my own children being referred to as "half-breeds" by a member of my own direct family so I am not saying that such a comment wasn't made. What I didn't like was that she exaggerated the issue (her story was different to Harry's) to smear the entire Royal Family. The whole interview was self-serving.
>249 m.belljackson: Your comments, Marianne, throwing history at the British shows exactly why the entitled assholes interview was so damaging. Never mind the Queen has spent her life fostering ties and understanding with the commonwealth and so clearly is no racist. Never mind that it wasn't Britain who started slavery but it was us who were the first to end it and then policed an enforcement of the high seas on the African coast to prevent the other powers from carrying it on.
Racism is something no-one should be complacent about but immeasurably Britain has far less of a problem than you do in the USA despite the efforts of Meghan and Harry to pretend otherwise.
They chose to leave their royal duties and move from the protection of the Royal household. It is probably true that they need protection. Let them pay for it with their many millions.
260PaulCranswick
>250 curioussquared: I didn't expect everyone to agree with me, Natalie. I have checked this and the Sussexs' didn't receive any fee from the $9 million Harpo made from CBS immediately for the interview but of course it is part of her strategy to maintain her profile in the States.
>251 benitastrnad: Thank you, Benita. Yes that is true in that they left the UK because they did not wish to continue working for their keep and they should be cut off. Why should the British taxpayer have to pay for these two parasites?
I haven't seen the Duchess of Cornwall's reading list but I am relieved that she is at least able to read! x
>251 benitastrnad: Thank you, Benita. Yes that is true in that they left the UK because they did not wish to continue working for their keep and they should be cut off. Why should the British taxpayer have to pay for these two parasites?
I haven't seen the Duchess of Cornwall's reading list but I am relieved that she is at least able to read! x
261PaulCranswick
>252 amanda4242: Hahaha precisely Amanda. Typical of you to cut through to the point!
>253 benitastrnad: Exactly, Benita!
>253 benitastrnad: Exactly, Benita!
262PaulCranswick
>254 drneutron: Quite right, Jim. Couldn't you find a place for them in one of your rockets?!
>255 false-knight: Thanks for your comments, Emery. People don't have trouble believing her comments which makes them damaging. Fact is the couple were adored by the British public and tabloids and it is their entitled behaviour not skin colour that has changed that perception.
>255 false-knight: Thanks for your comments, Emery. People don't have trouble believing her comments which makes them damaging. Fact is the couple were adored by the British public and tabloids and it is their entitled behaviour not skin colour that has changed that perception.
263PaulCranswick
>256 msf59: Similar feelings Mark. My reading floundered this weekend with my persistent cough and having my mum back in hospital.
>257 avatiakh: Thank you Kerry. Your own thoughts encapsulated my own position perfectly. I am not mounting a defence of monarchy just calling out the hypocrisy of those two.
I did enjoy your islands posts and have made a spreadsheet of it!
>257 avatiakh: Thank you Kerry. Your own thoughts encapsulated my own position perfectly. I am not mounting a defence of monarchy just calling out the hypocrisy of those two.
I did enjoy your islands posts and have made a spreadsheet of it!
264m.belljackson
>259 PaulCranswick:
The White Lion, a British ship, if I recall correctly, brought the first slaves to what became the USA.
They were bought by British citizens.
The State of Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1780;
England in 1807;
and Haiti was the first Country to end slavery, non?
Yes, the Queen has done a lot, but that did not stop the British press from veiled attacks.
And, here's one you'll LOVE - from Teen Vogue:
"If a Black Princess Isn't Safe in Britain, Who Is?"
The White Lion, a British ship, if I recall correctly, brought the first slaves to what became the USA.
They were bought by British citizens.
The State of Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1780;
England in 1807;
and Haiti was the first Country to end slavery, non?
Yes, the Queen has done a lot, but that did not stop the British press from veiled attacks.
And, here's one you'll LOVE - from Teen Vogue:
"If a Black Princess Isn't Safe in Britain, Who Is?"
265PaulCranswick
>258 DMulvee: We do always speak from our own world view and perspective. On the who-made-who cry bit I am sure nobody much cares as it is petty and juvenile. Kate Middleton appears to be a nice person but I am sure that she is far from perfect. Meghan's first husband has attested that she is far from a nice person. On believability I would choose Kate over Meghan but I couldn't care less who made who cry.
266PaulCranswick
>264 m.belljackson: As I said, Marianne, it simply serves to allow the throwing of history at Britain. Pennsylvania is not a country as far as I am aware in the sense intended and their actions did much for the indentured of the American South?
What was the impact of a non-independent Haiti abolishing slavery?
The world is not just about America. Slavery didn't start and certainly didn't end there. It is a fact that Britain policed the high seas to prevent the further discharge of slaves after 1807. Has Britain got things in its past to be ashamed of - yes it has. Does that help in regulating its future conduct? - perhaps. Should British people today and the present Queen in particular be slandered and stigamatised as a result? - no I do not think so.
I repeat - the Sussexs' can say what they want - the had universally positive responses from press and public alike until they started behaving badly. Why should she be allowed to bully and traumatise her staff for example without being called out?
The Teen Vogue is sensationalism of the worst kind. When exactly wasn't she safe in the UK? She is complaining about her security now she has left our shores.
What was the impact of a non-independent Haiti abolishing slavery?
The world is not just about America. Slavery didn't start and certainly didn't end there. It is a fact that Britain policed the high seas to prevent the further discharge of slaves after 1807. Has Britain got things in its past to be ashamed of - yes it has. Does that help in regulating its future conduct? - perhaps. Should British people today and the present Queen in particular be slandered and stigamatised as a result? - no I do not think so.
I repeat - the Sussexs' can say what they want - the had universally positive responses from press and public alike until they started behaving badly. Why should she be allowed to bully and traumatise her staff for example without being called out?
The Teen Vogue is sensationalism of the worst kind. When exactly wasn't she safe in the UK? She is complaining about her security now she has left our shores.
267swynn
>259 PaulCranswick: I know you're no apologist for royals, which is why I'm grateful for your perspective -- it's one I can't dismiss. Out of context, the event struck a chord with my family, and I appreciate your added nuance. I now intend to go back to ignoring the lot of them.
268PaulCranswick
>267 swynn: Hahaha good idea buddy - I should follow suit!
269m.belljackson
>266 PaulCranswick: Hmmmm... my Search says Haiti became Independent on January 1, 1804, then ended slavery.
And, in 1803, Denmark-Norway ended slavery.
Ball still in your park, along with a long ago promise to read...
And, in 1803, Denmark-Norway ended slavery.
Ball still in your park, along with a long ago promise to read...
270PaulCranswick
>269 m.belljackson: Hahaha on the Potty Harry book, Marianne. I'm going to have to take it off the shelf and polish it off for you!
The historical context is precisely what is unhelpful is my point. Haiti being "independent" in 1804 is neither her nor there as their abolition was of no account in international terms. With respect to Norway/Denmark I must say the same as their "contribution" to the slave trade was one sided at that time in that they were purchasers not sellers. Of course Denmark-Norway had a terrible role in the history of slavery in Viking days but we will not blame them any longer for that.
The historical context is precisely what is unhelpful is my point. Haiti being "independent" in 1804 is neither her nor there as their abolition was of no account in international terms. With respect to Norway/Denmark I must say the same as their "contribution" to the slave trade was one sided at that time in that they were purchasers not sellers. Of course Denmark-Norway had a terrible role in the history of slavery in Viking days but we will not blame them any longer for that.
271PaulCranswick
>269 m.belljackson: Just a further point Britain did not abolish slavery per se in 1807 - they abolished the slave trade. In English common law in the 1706 case of Smith v Browne & Cooper, the then Lord Chief Justice Holt ruled that
"as soon as a Negro comes into England, he becomes free. One may be a villein in England, but not a slave."
In other words slavery in Great Britain itself ceased legally in 1706 and the slave trade internationally was abolished by Britain 101 years later and policed rigorously by us.
"as soon as a Negro comes into England, he becomes free. One may be a villein in England, but not a slave."
In other words slavery in Great Britain itself ceased legally in 1706 and the slave trade internationally was abolished by Britain 101 years later and policed rigorously by us.
272m.belljackson
>270 PaulCranswick: ..."in international terms" = say what? tell that to Touissant! (too late to check sp?)
All that said, it would have been welcome if Harry and Meghan had saved their interview until
after their Queen had joined The Great Beyond. They owed her that honor.
All that said, it would have been welcome if Harry and Meghan had saved their interview until
after their Queen had joined The Great Beyond. They owed her that honor.
273amanda4242
How's your mum doing, Paul?
274SandDune
I’m a republican too and would happily get rid of the monarchy tomorrow in I could, but I think probably on balance it is unlikely that the Queen is racist (except in the older relative not keeping up with the right terminology kind of way). Not at all sure about the rest of them, especially the older ones. I think some of the issues that Meghan experienced may have been due to cultural differences between the U.S. and the U.K., some due to the royal family itself being pretty dysfunctional and acting as if it’s the nineteenth century in terms of their entitlement. But I’m absolutely prepared to believe that she encountered some racist behaviour and also that she was treated appallingly by the tabloid press, both before and after her marriage because, well, I could see it myself. And the tabloid press are usually appalling. Whether her race made any difference to that I don’t know - it may well have done. Probably the fact that she wasn’t British and came from a different background did as well. Probably what mattered more was their desire to have some salacious gossip to sell their papers and if there wasn’t any just make some up. Whatever the truth of Meghan and Harry, I find it fairly appalling that he has been treated worse than Prince Andrew - obviously someone who is knowingly friends with a paedophile and is suspected of trafficking young women just isn’t so bad. As regards mixed race couples in Britain, I think something like 10% of people are supposed to be in mixed-race relationships, so it’s not particularly unusual. I certainly wouldn’t expect to hear any negative comments if someone I knew was in a mixed race relationship.
275PaulCranswick
>272 m.belljackson: We can agree at least Marianne that they should not have been airing all these issues whilst the present Queen is on the throne and his grandfather critically ill in hospital.
>273 amanda4242: Have not been able to speak to her yet, Amanda, but the reports aren't bad.
>273 amanda4242: Have not been able to speak to her yet, Amanda, but the reports aren't bad.
276PaulCranswick
>274 SandDune: I strongly hold the view that Charles will be a step too far as King and I do believe that with the present Queen's passing there will be a constitutional crisis of epic proportions.
I agree wholeheartedly that the focus of ire would be better centred on the despicable Andrew. I don't think he should be afforded immunity from the law in the event that it was found that he had had relations with ladies below the age of consent or involved in sex trafficking etc all of which seems to have been alleged.
I also agree that the tabloid press are pretty and unremittingly awful but the coverage for the couple had certainly been sycophantic and largely positive until fairly recently. I'm not saying there has been no racism towards Meghan, just that I didn't see any - the royal family is obviously dysfunctional and I wouldn't be surprised at much Charles and Andrew would do.
I just feel that they are spoilt, entitled brats whose personal travails are contemptible in the face of more real and pressing concerns of real people.
I agree wholeheartedly that the focus of ire would be better centred on the despicable Andrew. I don't think he should be afforded immunity from the law in the event that it was found that he had had relations with ladies below the age of consent or involved in sex trafficking etc all of which seems to have been alleged.
I also agree that the tabloid press are pretty and unremittingly awful but the coverage for the couple had certainly been sycophantic and largely positive until fairly recently. I'm not saying there has been no racism towards Meghan, just that I didn't see any - the royal family is obviously dysfunctional and I wouldn't be surprised at much Charles and Andrew would do.
I just feel that they are spoilt, entitled brats whose personal travails are contemptible in the face of more real and pressing concerns of real people.
277benitastrnad
I think that at the bottom of this the tabloid press. Libel laws are different in the UK than they are in the US. The US has much stricter libel laws about what papers can print than does the UK. I do believe that the Mrs. Sussex was probably unprepared for that level of intrusion in what she viewed as her private life.
It is easily forgotten that Mrs. Sussex has lived her entire life in privilege. She is the daughter of upper middle class american parents who sent her to exclusive private schools with the children of other very well off parents. Her's is a riches to riches story as far as I am concerned. I can't imagine that they would leave the highly personal protected environment in the UK for the freedom of the US and then complain about the lack of personal protection. I agree with previous statements that they can darn well pay for their own protection.
I sincerely hope that her career as a second rate actress is over and that both of them fade into the woodwork to quietly raise their children in their protected mansion and quit taking up prime time with their silly soap opera existence.
As for the Duchess of Cornwall's reading list. Early in the lockdown in March 2020 she was photographed carrying a book. Then later in an interview with Charles there was a stack of books on the table. When Charles was questioned about them, he started talking about the titles and telling what he thought about several of the books and telling which ones he and his wife particularly liked. (Does anybody remember the Blog postings of what was on the book shelves of people who were being interviewed on Zoom?) This was sort of the same thing. A reporter then sent a query to the Duchess asking about her reading. It took off from there, and during the long quarantine she did interviews with a couple of authors and talked about books in several places. You can do a Google search and find most of this information.
I do have to give a shout out to Google and Microsoft in Australia. Yesterday they both started paying the newspapers and news companies for the content that they post on their web sites. Huzzah! for the newspapers. Finally, somebody starts paying for the news they are reading.
It is easily forgotten that Mrs. Sussex has lived her entire life in privilege. She is the daughter of upper middle class american parents who sent her to exclusive private schools with the children of other very well off parents. Her's is a riches to riches story as far as I am concerned. I can't imagine that they would leave the highly personal protected environment in the UK for the freedom of the US and then complain about the lack of personal protection. I agree with previous statements that they can darn well pay for their own protection.
I sincerely hope that her career as a second rate actress is over and that both of them fade into the woodwork to quietly raise their children in their protected mansion and quit taking up prime time with their silly soap opera existence.
As for the Duchess of Cornwall's reading list. Early in the lockdown in March 2020 she was photographed carrying a book. Then later in an interview with Charles there was a stack of books on the table. When Charles was questioned about them, he started talking about the titles and telling what he thought about several of the books and telling which ones he and his wife particularly liked. (Does anybody remember the Blog postings of what was on the book shelves of people who were being interviewed on Zoom?) This was sort of the same thing. A reporter then sent a query to the Duchess asking about her reading. It took off from there, and during the long quarantine she did interviews with a couple of authors and talked about books in several places. You can do a Google search and find most of this information.
I do have to give a shout out to Google and Microsoft in Australia. Yesterday they both started paying the newspapers and news companies for the content that they post on their web sites. Huzzah! for the newspapers. Finally, somebody starts paying for the news they are reading.
278jnwelch
Thanks for that interesting perspective on Meghan and Harry, Paul.
I do think there's much more sympathy for them here in America than you describe. The breadth of Piers Morgan's insulting comments was broader in the reporting here, and the racist comments in British media were, it sounds like, more thoroughly reported. Both M & H didn't include the Queen in their complaints, both viewing her with respect and appreciation. It sure sounded like the internal "Firm" was mainly to blame here, and we've all (ha! many of us) watched The Crown, and can believe it. There's a lot of sympathy here, too, for Harry's concern that Meghan not experience what his mother Diana did. As far as how they're viewed in Britain, we're told that POC are much more sympathetic there than the rest of the populace, and that many have experienced things Meghan described, including family members worrying about the color of an interracial baby. What POC were reported saying (in general) was that Brits keep hush on the issue of race, and that it's a bit shocking how frankly it's discussed in the U.S. Of course, it needs to be frankly discussed here because outrages continue to occur, white supremacists are making an a lot of noise and endangering people, systemic racism continues to have unacceptable negative effects, and on and on.
I guess my main feeling for M & H is relief that they're out from under that particular, difficult microscope, and seem to be happy living here and growing their family. Royalty can be a beautiful fairy tale from far away, but not up close.
I do think there's much more sympathy for them here in America than you describe. The breadth of Piers Morgan's insulting comments was broader in the reporting here, and the racist comments in British media were, it sounds like, more thoroughly reported. Both M & H didn't include the Queen in their complaints, both viewing her with respect and appreciation. It sure sounded like the internal "Firm" was mainly to blame here, and we've all (ha! many of us) watched The Crown, and can believe it. There's a lot of sympathy here, too, for Harry's concern that Meghan not experience what his mother Diana did. As far as how they're viewed in Britain, we're told that POC are much more sympathetic there than the rest of the populace, and that many have experienced things Meghan described, including family members worrying about the color of an interracial baby. What POC were reported saying (in general) was that Brits keep hush on the issue of race, and that it's a bit shocking how frankly it's discussed in the U.S. Of course, it needs to be frankly discussed here because outrages continue to occur, white supremacists are making an a lot of noise and endangering people, systemic racism continues to have unacceptable negative effects, and on and on.
I guess my main feeling for M & H is relief that they're out from under that particular, difficult microscope, and seem to be happy living here and growing their family. Royalty can be a beautiful fairy tale from far away, but not up close.
279benitastrnad
>278 jnwelch:
Just remember that The Crown is a work of fiction.
Just remember that The Crown is a work of fiction.
280avatiakh
>279 benitastrnad: Indeed, I couldn't get past the first episode seeing Dr Who playing Prince Phillip.
281PaulCranswick
>277 benitastrnad: I will go and look up the Duchess of Cornwall's reading list although I have to say that I do not much care for her and her husband. Scheming and entitled all the way is Meghan, Benita and like you I hope they disappear.
>278 jnwelch: Indeed Joe, many Americans have fallen for their entitled nonsense. I don't like the Royals but they both knew what they were getting into. I don't like the tabloids in the UK and they can be visceral but I don't believe that the coverage of the couple was riddled with racism - she was criticised and often justifiably for some of the things she did. I don't like Piers Morgan but on this issue he is 100% right.
The so-called respect to the queen would have been demonstrated by not having an interview that seeks to undermine the very institution she has worked so selflessly to hold together. As Meghan's first husband has attested she is some piece of work and Harry along with large parts of America are her stooges. They are a terrible pair and their self serving interview demonstrated this. Oprah did a lousy job too I must say by not seeking proper clarification on some of the silly allegations made.
>278 jnwelch: Indeed Joe, many Americans have fallen for their entitled nonsense. I don't like the Royals but they both knew what they were getting into. I don't like the tabloids in the UK and they can be visceral but I don't believe that the coverage of the couple was riddled with racism - she was criticised and often justifiably for some of the things she did. I don't like Piers Morgan but on this issue he is 100% right.
The so-called respect to the queen would have been demonstrated by not having an interview that seeks to undermine the very institution she has worked so selflessly to hold together. As Meghan's first husband has attested she is some piece of work and Harry along with large parts of America are her stooges. They are a terrible pair and their self serving interview demonstrated this. Oprah did a lousy job too I must say by not seeking proper clarification on some of the silly allegations made.
282PaulCranswick
>279 benitastrnad: Partly so anyway, Benita.
>280 avatiakh: Hahaha Kerry - I wish he had used his sonic screwdriver on that awful pair.
>280 avatiakh: Hahaha Kerry - I wish he had used his sonic screwdriver on that awful pair.
283m.belljackson
>275 PaulCranswick: >278 jnwelch:
Well, here's a bit of a balanced headline from Pulitzer Prize winning American columnist Cynthia Tucker:
"At least racist royals don't undermine democracy"
After which she totally nails the murderous monster responsible for way more than 500,000 COVID deaths.
Well, here's a bit of a balanced headline from Pulitzer Prize winning American columnist Cynthia Tucker:
"At least racist royals don't undermine democracy"
After which she totally nails the murderous monster responsible for way more than 500,000 COVID deaths.
284PaulCranswick
>283 m.belljackson: How is it balanced calling them "racist royals"? Cheap shot and the murderous monster stuff is also frankly silly. Trump's policies were contemptible generally and he and so many other world leaders dealt poorly with covid but he didn't bring it to your shores. Your system of government and the lines between state and federal blur responsibilities and make it less than clear in the apportioning of blame. There is a level of culpability for governmental responses - Cuomo too with the New York care home deaths possibly - but it does not amount to murder. Sensationalist journalism at its worst.
The Ginger idiot is out of office and America should move on. If it wastes the next four years agonising over the last four that really would be criminal.
The Ginger idiot is out of office and America should move on. If it wastes the next four years agonising over the last four that really would be criminal.
285m.belljackson
>284 PaulCranswick: Cynthia Tucker has a different African-American female perspective.
As do I - having lost three good and loving family members to a disease which could have been prevented had the monster
acted with responsibility and respect.
We cannot "move on" since the his threats and those of his idiot supporters are still VERY ACTIVE.
As do I - having lost three good and loving family members to a disease which could have been prevented had the monster
acted with responsibility and respect.
We cannot "move on" since the his threats and those of his idiot supporters are still VERY ACTIVE.
286PaulCranswick
>285 m.belljackson: An African-American female perspective on COVID? Are you referring, Marianne, to the statistics that showed that ethnic minorities contracted the disease in proportionately larger numbers because I would agree that that does need careful analysis and understanding. That sections of society were more at risk than others was clearly worrying and terrible.
I dislike Chump almost as much as the next man and I am certainly not going to make posts in support of the asshole but there is a clear distinction between administrative culpability and murder. I'm not saying his incompetence was not actionable I would be more careful though about bandying about accusations of murder. The British people have, I think, also got genuine complaints over the poor handling of the crisis by the government there but I haven't heard too many voices calling for the incarceration of Boris Johnson.
All my family in England has contracted COVID at some stage though thankfully - with the help of our NHS all recovered.
America has to face its future in order to recover from its past. You are falling behind China in so many ways and your growing extremes in your society will tear you all apart if you allow it to.
I dislike Chump almost as much as the next man and I am certainly not going to make posts in support of the asshole but there is a clear distinction between administrative culpability and murder. I'm not saying his incompetence was not actionable I would be more careful though about bandying about accusations of murder. The British people have, I think, also got genuine complaints over the poor handling of the crisis by the government there but I haven't heard too many voices calling for the incarceration of Boris Johnson.
All my family in England has contracted COVID at some stage though thankfully - with the help of our NHS all recovered.
America has to face its future in order to recover from its past. You are falling behind China in so many ways and your growing extremes in your society will tear you all apart if you allow it to.
287m.belljackson
>286 PaulCranswick: Yikes - "falling behind China" because we did not hide a virulent virus...?
No, no, no - sorry for confusion - Ms. Tucker's perspective was on Meghan and racism,
adding that "Great Britain is one of the world's oldest and most stable democracies."
No, no, no - sorry for confusion - Ms. Tucker's perspective was on Meghan and racism,
adding that "Great Britain is one of the world's oldest and most stable democracies."
288PaulCranswick
>287 m.belljackson: I'm not saying you are falling behind China because of the virus, Marianne. I am talking about GDP and economic trends. I think China is a scary place and I would look there for much culpability on the COVID pandemic for which their official figures claim they had less deaths than Belgium!
I should perhaps read Ms. Tucker's comments on Meghan and Britain's old and stable democracy.
I should perhaps read Ms. Tucker's comments on Meghan and Britain's old and stable democracy.
290PaulCranswick
>289 m.belljackson: I might like it, Marianne - just as I always enjoy our respectful but passionate exchanges. Even oft-like minded people cannot agree on everything all the time. I certainly respect your perspective and opinions and have no claim to be right on issues just that I have an enquiring mind. xx
291quondame
>281 PaulCranswick: Every thing you say about M & H may be spot on, but to go by an ex-spouse's view on anyone seems a questionable choice.
292PaulCranswick
>291 quondame: Fair point, Susan and if that was all I had relied upon it would have been a just criticism.
293RBeffa
>284 PaulCranswick: I am in agreement with you here Paul.
294PaulCranswick
>293 RBeffa: Thanks Ron. I am often careful commenting on the politics of elsewhere but the "free world" needs the US to be strong and more at ease with itself. I think that positive politics will always win out if it is given full and proper rein.
295jnwelch
>279 benitastrnad: I'm sure you had a reason for your reminder, Benita. It eludes me.
>281 PaulCranswick: Woo, "fallen for", "entitled nonsense", and "stooges". Harsh, Paul. Meghan wasn't entitled, and didn't know. Who from here would? I like Harry, and believe him. I guess we just disagree. You're a Brit, and study up on it more, so you've got a leg up on me there. But I think your emotions have taken away your clarity, from my POV. I'm just glad two people I've grown to like and admire have gotten themselves to a happier place. If I'm a stooge and have fallen for their entitled nonsense, that's okay. I look forward to what they do going forward.
>281 PaulCranswick: Woo, "fallen for", "entitled nonsense", and "stooges". Harsh, Paul. Meghan wasn't entitled, and didn't know. Who from here would? I like Harry, and believe him. I guess we just disagree. You're a Brit, and study up on it more, so you've got a leg up on me there. But I think your emotions have taken away your clarity, from my POV. I'm just glad two people I've grown to like and admire have gotten themselves to a happier place. If I'm a stooge and have fallen for their entitled nonsense, that's okay. I look forward to what they do going forward.
296PaulCranswick
>295 jnwelch: We agree on so many things, Joe, but we will not quite see eye to eye on Meghan and Harry. As a republican (i.e. a supporter of the abolition of the monarchy) I believe that I am reasonably impartial in my view, but I will concede that I remain a Brit and more proud of my country than someone brought up with all the privilege that royalty provides - and I mean Harry to be clear.
Let the two of them sound off about being in tune with their feelings and preach to the masses on environmentalism from the sanctuary of their private jets. I am pleased that British taxpayer's money will no longer be wasted on the pair of them.
Let the two of them sound off about being in tune with their feelings and preach to the masses on environmentalism from the sanctuary of their private jets. I am pleased that British taxpayer's money will no longer be wasted on the pair of them.
297PaulCranswick
The general good sense of the British populace can be seen in the negative reaction to Harry and Meghan in the wake of their "lived experience" spew to Oprah.
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/03/12/public-opinion-...
Interestingly Charles didn't fare overly well either and I have a feeling - a partially satisfied one - that he will be toast when his mum is no more. William and Kate are, however, very popular and at least have an idea of reticent public service.
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/03/12/public-opinion-...
Interestingly Charles didn't fare overly well either and I have a feeling - a partially satisfied one - that he will be toast when his mum is no more. William and Kate are, however, very popular and at least have an idea of reticent public service.
298jnwelch
>296 PaulCranswick:, >297 PaulCranswick: OK, fair enough, Paul. Your post seemed uncharacteristically angry, more so than warranted, and I was thinking you might benefit by sitting for a few quiet moments and thinking about why. When I get angry, it tends to have more to do with me than the other person.
I don't see H and M as villains, just people trying to figure out the best way to live. I do love the way William and Kate represent the monarchy, and I'm hoping William, not Charles, becomes the king when the time comes.
I keep thinking about your open mind and appreciation of Roger Robinson's A Portable Paradise, among so many others. Systemic racism obviously isn't restricted to the USA, and I keep thinking the "general good sense of the British populace" both ignores this and doesn't include, for the most part, people of color.
I'll trade articles with you: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/03/robert-hazell-british-constitution-expe...
I don't see H and M as villains, just people trying to figure out the best way to live. I do love the way William and Kate represent the monarchy, and I'm hoping William, not Charles, becomes the king when the time comes.
I keep thinking about your open mind and appreciation of Roger Robinson's A Portable Paradise, among so many others. Systemic racism obviously isn't restricted to the USA, and I keep thinking the "general good sense of the British populace" both ignores this and doesn't include, for the most part, people of color.
I'll trade articles with you: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/03/robert-hazell-british-constitution-expe...
299humouress
Phew! Some passionate opinions here. I confess that I was a royalist up until Charles and Diana did their interviews on TV, at which point I got fed up. But I did watch all the available seasons of The Crown. I wouldn't have bothered about the Oprah interview except that my husband has been doing his two week WFH rotation and played snippets over his lunch breaks.
>259 PaulCranswick: Personally I think that while both the US and UK have issues with racism, there is a different ... (how do I put it?) 'feel' to it and I don't think Meghan does anyone any favours by stirring the pot.
>277 benitastrnad: >281 PaulCranswick: Cornwall, Sussex or Wales? I'm confused ;0)
I'm glad to hear that reports on your mum are looking up, Paul.
>259 PaulCranswick: Personally I think that while both the US and UK have issues with racism, there is a different ... (how do I put it?) 'feel' to it and I don't think Meghan does anyone any favours by stirring the pot.
>277 benitastrnad: >281 PaulCranswick: Cornwall, Sussex or Wales? I'm confused ;0)
I'm glad to hear that reports on your mum are looking up, Paul.
300PaulCranswick
>298 jnwelch: I was a bit narked, Joe, because I just don't think they have the relevance that everyone is giving them - me included probably.
Interesting article and the point made about Harry's redundancy was a valid one. I agree that the Royals do not exercise - allowed or otherwise - the right of reply generally and that is what makes some of the unspecified digs at them by Harry coming out of the family unfair in that he and his wife both know they won't be answered.
Racism is a scourge and should be called out and challenged wherever we find it. I would never say that Meghan has not encountered any racism in her lifetime and I would defend her to the core against anybody making any judgement or criticism of her based on race, creed, colour, gender or even as was most evident with her nationality. I don't see racism in everything though, Joe, and I honestly believe that the vast majority of British people were welcoming of the couple and that it was their behaviour that they were affronted by and not anything to do with race.
I have a mixed-race family, Joe, as you know and have spent most of my adult life fighting against racism sometimes directed towards me as the father of "half-breed" children. Very hurtful indeed and if anyone could empathise with Harry's comments about what someone in his family had said about the baby's skin colour it is me because exactly the same thing happened to me. There was, however something odd and unspecific about the whole thing and it clanged badly that they gave differing versions of the thing.
You like them Joe and I like and respect you. I don't however like them at all and my innate sense tells me that I will eventually have my doubts about them confirmed.
>299 humouress: Strange Nina because I am anything but a royalist.
The UK and the US do have different issues with race but they both do have issues with race. After so much progress we should never be complacent about racism but there is a danger that at some stage it will be a case of the "boy who cried "wolf" unless the race card is only played when there is racism to be called out.
Interesting article and the point made about Harry's redundancy was a valid one. I agree that the Royals do not exercise - allowed or otherwise - the right of reply generally and that is what makes some of the unspecified digs at them by Harry coming out of the family unfair in that he and his wife both know they won't be answered.
Racism is a scourge and should be called out and challenged wherever we find it. I would never say that Meghan has not encountered any racism in her lifetime and I would defend her to the core against anybody making any judgement or criticism of her based on race, creed, colour, gender or even as was most evident with her nationality. I don't see racism in everything though, Joe, and I honestly believe that the vast majority of British people were welcoming of the couple and that it was their behaviour that they were affronted by and not anything to do with race.
I have a mixed-race family, Joe, as you know and have spent most of my adult life fighting against racism sometimes directed towards me as the father of "half-breed" children. Very hurtful indeed and if anyone could empathise with Harry's comments about what someone in his family had said about the baby's skin colour it is me because exactly the same thing happened to me. There was, however something odd and unspecific about the whole thing and it clanged badly that they gave differing versions of the thing.
You like them Joe and I like and respect you. I don't however like them at all and my innate sense tells me that I will eventually have my doubts about them confirmed.
>299 humouress: Strange Nina because I am anything but a royalist.
The UK and the US do have different issues with race but they both do have issues with race. After so much progress we should never be complacent about racism but there is a danger that at some stage it will be a case of the "boy who cried "wolf" unless the race card is only played when there is racism to be called out.
301jnwelch
>301 jnwelch:. Your thread, Paul. You deserve the last word. I like you and respect you, too. 😀
302humouress
>300 PaulCranswick: I didn't accuse you of being a royalist :0) I was just saying I used to be.
303PaulCranswick
>302 humouress: Yes, Nina, I realised that - I was making reference to my earlier comments seemingly in support of the royals. Isn't it funny that we would both consider "royalist" as an accusation!?
Other than in terms of Ireland my politics remain utterly Cromwellian!
Other than in terms of Ireland my politics remain utterly Cromwellian!
304m.belljackson
>300 PaulCranswick: It seems you mentioned a long time ago that Hani had a racial confrontation in England?
305PaulCranswick
>304 m.belljackson: I am sure I did and I do recall it - as I recall of two incidents the one that annoyed her the most was directed at her by two Filipina ladies who obviously thought she was from their homeland and who took offence because she couldn't understand tagalog.
I have never denied the existence of racism in the UK, Marianne, it is just that I don't see racism in everything and do think it is fast becoming more the exception than the rule - thank heavens.
I have never denied the existence of racism in the UK, Marianne, it is just that I don't see racism in everything and do think it is fast becoming more the exception than the rule - thank heavens.
306ArlieS
>226 PaulCranswick: Naughty man; you've got me to add yet another book to my "would be nice to read this" list ;-) What little you've said about the Briggs book is intriguing.
307PaulCranswick
>306 ArlieS: I have almost finished it and parts of it make wonderfully enlightening reading. The politics and characters of the day are brought to life very ably.
This topic was continued by PAUL C'S SECOND HOME - PART 9.
