PAUL C'S SECOND HOME - PART 17

SCENES FROM MY BOOKS

A Kind of Loving by Wakefield writer Stan Barstow is one of the most enduring Angry Young Men / Kitchen Sink English novels of those first post war generation of writers. I remember watching it as a TV drama and later seeing the film with Alan Bates. The novel dates from 1960 and people like Barstow with his background showed people with my background and upbringing that they had suddenly an even chance to make their way in the world of letters.

POETRY

Don Paterson is a favourite living poet of mine. Accessible and technically very adept he has a way of reaching me that I really appreciate. This is his poem to Tony Blair.

Reading Record First Quarter

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

4,313 pages.

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

3,211 pages

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
33. Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon (2015) 101 pp
34. Some Experiences of an Irish RM by Somerville & Ross (1899) 223 pp
35. The Age of Improvement 1783-1867 by Asa Briggs (1959) 523 pp
36. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1853) 203 pp

1,706 pages

Reading Record Second Quarter

APRIL

37. Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham (2013) 439 pp
38. Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid (2000) 270 pp
39. Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-Ha (2013) 200 pp
40. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2001) 428 pp
41. Blue Horses by Mary Oliver (2014) 79 pp
42. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1864) 160 pp
43. The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers by Fouad Laroui (2012) 134 pp
44. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham (2014) 457 pp
45. Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana (2019) 244 pp
46. Figures in a Landscape by Barry England (1968) 208 pp
47. Echoland by Per Petterson (1989) 132 pp
48. Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith (2019) 205 pp

2,956 pages

MAY

49. The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley (1984) 330 pp
50. I Choose to Live by Sabine Dardenne (2004) 210 pp
51. Three Poems by Hannah Sullivan (2018) 71 pp

611 pages (maybe my worst ever performance!)

JUNE

52. Still Waters by Viveca Sten (2008) 434 pp
53. Half a Life by VS Naipaul (2001) 211 pp
54. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (1969) 169 pp
55. A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (1944) 269 pp
56. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (2020) 370 pp
57. Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti (1982) 181 pp
58. My Country : A Syrian Memoir by Kassim Eid (2018) 194 pp
59. Vita Nova by Louise Gluck (1999) 51 pp
60. The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim (2019) 241 pp
61. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (1946) 154 pp
62. Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood (1935) 230 pp
63. Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons (2010) 355 pp
64. Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge (1977) 212 pp
65. In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen (2014) 244 pp
66. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (2015) 438 pp
67. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1851) 1,179 pp
68. Cat and Mouse by Gunter Grass (1961) 191 pp
69. No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo (1995) 191 pp
70. Look at Me by Anita Brookner (1983) 192 pp
71. Vice Versa by F. Anstey (1882) 219 pp
72. The Age of Revolution by Eric Hobsbawm (1975) 308 pp
73. Mrs Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw (1893) 98 pp

6,131 pages (best for a while)

Reading Record 3rd Quarter

JULY

74. Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling by William Fotheringham (2015) 345 pp
75. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling (1997) 332 pp
76. Rendang by Will Harris (2020) 85 pp
77. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (2016) 383 pp
78. Corridors of Power by C.P. Snow (1964) 352 pp
79. Arab Jazz by Karim Miske (2012) 242 pp
80. The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier (1949) 136 pp
81. The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (2000) 395 pp
82. The Quality of Madness by Tim Rich (2020) 417 pp
83. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (2006) 404 pp
84. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838) 162 pp
85. The Devil's Pool by George Sand (1846) 119 pp

3,372 pages

AUGUST

86. Poetry Please! edited by Charles Causley (1985) 113 pp
87. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich (2020) 448 pp
88. Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World by Edward Shepherd Creasy (1851) 380 pp
89. Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell (2011) 380 pp
90. Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2021) 85 pp
91. The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell (2013) 345 pp
92. The Return by Dulce Maria Cardoso (2011) 267 pp
93. Here and Now by Stephen Dunn (2011) 103 pp
94. I am, I am, I am by Maggie O'Farrell (2017) 285 pp
95. Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe (1958) 189 pp
96. The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1954) 322 pp
97. At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop (2018) 145 pp
98. A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow (1960) 345 pp
99. The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi (2000) 282 pp

3,689 pages

SEPTEMBER

100. Pew by Catherine Lacey (2020) 207 pp
101. Northlight by Douglas Dunn (1988) 81 pp
102. A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende (2019) 349 pp

CURRENTLY READING

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.

BAC



January: Children's Classics https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317610 9 READ

February: LGBT+ History Month https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317871 2 READ

March: Vaseem Khan & Eleanor Hibbert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7318561 1 READ

April: Love is in the Air https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7319432 2 READ

May: V. S. Naipaul & Na'ima B. Robert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320231 1 READ

June: The Victorian Era (1837-1901) https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320541 3 READ

July: Don't judge a book by its movie https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321220 9 READ

August: Bernard Cornwell & Helen Oyeyemi https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321374 2 READ

September: She Blinded Me with Science https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321899

October: Narrative Poetry https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7322840 2 read

November: Tade Thompson & Elizabeth Taylor https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7323772

December: Awards & Honors https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325017 2 READ

Wildcard: Books off your shelves https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325595 15 READ

48 BOOKS READ TO DATE

AMERICAN AUTHOR CHALLENGE



Please see:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/327669#7354831

January : Keep it in the Family :
February : Ethan Canin
March : Roxane Gay
April : Makers of Music : Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith
May : Mary McCarthy
June : Ken Kesey
July : Native American Themes : The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
August : Connie Willis
September : Howard Norman
October : Attica Locke
November : Albert Murray
December : YA Fiction

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 READ
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 33 of 56 WINNERS

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
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 ON SHELVES
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
2021 THE NIGHT WATCHMAN - Louise Erdrich


19 READ
37 ON SHELVES
38 NOT OWNED OR READ

94 TOTAL

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 - READ
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 - READ
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 73 OF
117 LAUREATES

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
18. Pakistan - Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid ASIA PACIFIC
19. South Korea - Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-Ha ASIA PACIFIC
20. Morocco - The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers by Fouad Laroui AFRICA
21. Thailand - Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana ASIA PACIFIC
22. Norway - Echoland by Per Petterson EUROPE
23. Belgium - I Choose to Live by Sabine Dardenne EUROPE
24. Sweden - Still Waters by Viveca Sten EUROPE
25. Trinidad - Half a Life by VS Naipaul AMERICAS
26. Sudan - Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih AFRICA
27. Uruguay - Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti AMERICAS
28. Syria - My Country : A Syrian Memoir by Kassem Eid ASIA PACIFIC
29. Ghana - The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim AFRICA
30. Austria - Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl EUROPE
31. Germany - Cat and Mouse by Gunter Grass EUROPE
32. South Africa - No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo AFRICA
33. Mauritania - Arab Jazz by Karim Miske AFRICA
34. Cuba - The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier AMERICAS
35. Nigeria - Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie AFRICA
36. Portugal - The Return by Dulce Maria Cardoso EUROPE
37. Japan - Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe ASIA PACIFIC
38. Senegal - At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop AFRICA
39. Malta - The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi EUROPE
40. Chile - A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende AMERICAS


Create Your Own Visited Countries Map

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

1838 NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET by Poe
1843 FEAR AND TREMBLING by Kierkegaard
1845 THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Dumas
1846 THE DEVIL'S POOL by Sand
1850 PENDENNIS by Thackeray
1851 FIFTEEN DECISIVE OF THE WORLD by Creasy
1853 CRANFORD by GASKELL
1857 TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS by Hughes
1864 NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND by Dostoevsky
1870 A LEAR OF THE STEPPES by Turgenev
1873 AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS by Verne
1881 PRINCE AND THE PAUPER by Twain
1882 VICE VERSA by Anstey
1893 MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION by Shaw
1899 SOME EXPERIENCES OF AN IRISH RM by Somerville & Ross
1900 THREE SISTERS by Chekhov

16/64

QUEEN BETTY CHALLENGE

From December 2020 70 Years 70 Books 70 Different British Authors

1952 A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell
1954 The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner
1959 The Age of Improvement by Asa Briggs
1960 A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow
1961 What is History? by EH Carr
1962 The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side by Agatha Christie
1964 Corridors of Power by CP Snow
1966 A Fall from the Sky by Ian Serraillier
1968 Figures in a Landscape by Barry England
1969 Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Framer
1970 The Great Fire by Monica Dickens
1973 Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
1975 The Age of Capital by Eric Hobsbawm
1977 Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
1978 The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy
1983 Look at Me by Anita Brookner
1984 The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
1985 Poetry Please! edited by Charles Causley
1987 Bury the Dead by Peter Carter
1988 Northlight by Douglas Dunn
1989 Plague 99 by Jean Ure
1996 Junk by Melvyn Burgess
1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
2000 The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
2001 Half a Life by VS Naipaul
2003 Judge Savage by Tim Parks
2005 Woods, etc. by Alice Oswald
2010 Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons
2011 Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2013 A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre
2014 The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham
2015 Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling by William Fotheringham
2017 I am, I am, I am by Maggie O'Farrell
2018 Three Poems by Hannah Sullivan
2019 A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson
2020 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

36/70

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 : Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham READ 2 APR
Week 11 : Relating to fire : Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid READ 4 APR
Week 12 : Title Starting with D : Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-Ha READ 6 APR
Week 13 : Includes an Exotic Animal : Life of Pi by Yann Martel READ 11 April
Week 14 : Written by an author over 65 : Blue Horses by Mary Oliver READ 14 April
Week 15 : Book Mentioned in a book : Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky READ 15 April
Week 16 : Set before 17th Century : Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell READ 5 June
Week 17 : Character on the run : Figures in a Landscape by Barry England READ 26 April
Week 18 : Author with 9 letter surname : Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti READ 6 JUNE
Week 19 : Book with a deckled edge : In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen READ 21 JUNE
Week 20 : Became a TV series : Corridors of Power by CP Snow READ 12 JUL
Week 21 : Book by Kristin Hannah : The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah READ 22 JUNE
Week 22 : A Family Saga : Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons READ 14 JUN
Week 23 : Surprising Ending : Still Waters by Viveca Sten READ 2 JUN
Week 24 : Book to be read in schools : Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl READ
Week 25 : Multiple POVs : Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys READ 11 JUL
Week 26 : Author of Colour : The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim READ 8 JUN
Week 27 : 1st Chapter Odd Page : The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner READ 25 JUL
Week 28 : Little known historical event : The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier READ 20 JUL
Week 29 : The Environment :
Week 30 : Dragons : Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling READ 8 JUL
Week 31 : Similar Title : The Return by Dulce Maria Cardoso READ 9 AUG
Week 32 : Selfish Character : The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner READ 24 AUG
Week 33 : Adoption : The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi READ 31 AUG
Week 34 : Five Star Read : Poetry Please! by Charles Causley READ 1 AUG
Week 35 :
Week 36 : Nameless Narrator : Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe READ 22 AUG
Week 37 :
Week 38 :
Week 39 :
Week 40 :
Week 41 : Endorsement by Author : At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop READ 28 AUG
Week 42 :
Week 43 :
Week 44 :
Week 45 :
Week 46 :
Week 47 :
Week 48 : Woman Facing Away : A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow READ 30 AUG
Week 49 :
Week 50 :
Week 51 : Published in 2021 : Notes on Grief by Adichie READ 7 AUG
Week 52 :

SERIES PAIR CHALLENGE

January : Andrea Camilleri - MONTALBANO DONE
February : Agatha Christie - MISS MARPLE DONE
March : Ben Aaronovitch - PETER GRANT DONE
April : Harry Bingham - FIONA GRIFFITHS DONE
May : Megan Whalen Turner - EUGENIDES DONE
June : Bernard Cornwell - UHTRED DONE

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 READ MAR 21
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 READ AUG 21
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 Capital by ERIC HOBSBAWM 1975 READ JUN 21

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 READ JUN 21
12 A Crime in the Neighborhood Berne
13 Stand By Me Berry
14 Love Story, With Murders Bingham READ APR 21
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 READ APR 21
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 Frankl READ JUN 21
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 READ JUN 21
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 READ APR 21
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 READ APR 21
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 READ APR 21
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 READ APR 21
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 READ JUL 21
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 READ JUN 21
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 READ APR 21
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 READ MAY 21
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 READ JUL 21
223 The King of Attolia Turner READ JUL 21
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 : 31
LEFT : 219

THIS YEAR'S ACQUISITIONS

1. Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Somerville & Ross READ MAR 21
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 READ JUN 21
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 READ JUN 21
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 READ JUN 21
47. Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
48. The Europeans by Henry James
49. Vice Versa by F. Anstey READ JUN 21
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 READ MAR 21
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
68. Selling Manhattan by Carole Ann Duffy
69. Rendang by Will Harris READ JUL 21
70. The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
71. No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
72. Amnesty by Aravind Adiga
73. The Awkward Squad by Sophie Henaff
74. The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan
75. Afternoon Raag by Amit Chaudhuri
76. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
77. The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
78. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
79. Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer
80. The Eastern Shore by Ward Just
81. The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
82. The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck
83. Vertigo& Ghost by Fiona Benson
84. Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
85. Soot by Dan Vyleta
86. Deacon King Kong by James McBride
87. Abigail by Magda Szabo
88. Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugresic
89. Coming Up for Air by Sarah Leipciger
90. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
91. Selection Day by Aravind Adiga
92. The Voyage by Murray Bail
93. Peace : A Novel by Richard Bausch
94. The Third Reich by Roberto Bolano
95. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
96. The Kingdom of this World by Alejo Carpentier READ JUL 21
97. My Life as a Russian Novel by Emmanuel Carrere
98. Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau
99. Man V. Nature by Diane Cook
100. The Melody by Jim Crace
101. SS-GB by Len Deighton
102. Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald
103. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
104. The Beautiful Indifference by Sarah Hall
105. Munich by Robert Harris
106. Bodies Electric by Colin Harrison
107. The Punch by Noah Hawley
108. Spook Street by Mick Herron
109. London Rules by Mick Herron
110. The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
111. The Land of Green Ginger by Winifred Holtby
112. The Wreck of the Mary Deare by Hammond Innes
113. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
114. Exiles in the Garden by Ward Just
115. Duffy by Dan Kavanagh
116. The Good People by Hannah Kent
117. The Life to Come by Michelle de Krester
118. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin
119. 10:04 by Ben Lerner
120. Home is the Hunter by Helen MacInnes
121. Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan
122. The Blood Miracles by Lisa McInerney
123. The Girl in Green by Derek B. Miller
124. Arab Jazz by Karim Miske READ JUL 21
125. Bodies of Light by Sarah Moss
126. Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates
127. The Changeling by Kenzaburo Oe
128. The Horseman by Tim Pears
129. Echoland by Per Petterson READ APR 21
130. Last Stand by Michael Punke
131. The Waiting Time by Gerald Seymour
132. Home Run by Gerald Seymour
133. Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith
134. To the Back of Beyond by Peter Stamm
135. They Know Not What They Do by Jussi Valtonen
136. The Tulip Eaters by Antoinette Van Heugten
137. Smoke by Dan Vyleta
138. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
139. That Eye, The Sky by Tim Winton
140. Fear : Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
141. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell READ JUN 21
142. Gerta by Katerina Tuckova
143. My Country: A Syrian Memoir by Kassem Eid READ JUN 21
144. Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann
145. The Hotel Tito by Ivana Bodrozic
146. Strange Hotel by Eimear McBride
147. Blame by Paul Read
148. House of Lords and Commons by Ishion Hutchinson
149. To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek
150. Your Story, My Story by Connie Palmen
151. Wake Up : Why the World Has Gone Nuts by Piers Morgan
152. Death of a Coast Watcher by Anthony English
153. Limitless by Ala Glynn
154. Toddler Hunting and Other Stories by Taeko Kono
155. Daughter of the Tigris by Muhsin al-Ramli
156. Don't Call Us Dead by Danez Smith
157. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
158. Incomparable World by S.L. Martin
159. The Dancing Face by Mike Phillips
160. Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors
161. Sharks in the Time of Saviours by Kawai Strong Washburn
162. The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
163. Rest and Be Thankful by Emma Glass
164. Minty Alley by CLR James
165. The Fat Lady Sings by Jacqueline Roy
166. Actress by Anne Enright
167. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
168. The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan
169. Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas
170. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov *Replacement*
171. Summer by Ali Smith
172. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor *Replacement*
173. Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
174. The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima
175. The Girls by Emma Cline
176. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich READ AUG 21
177. The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner READ AUG 21
178. The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro
179. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
180. The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
181. Just Like You by Nick Hornby
182. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
183. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih READ JUNE 21
184. The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
185. The Dig by Roger Preston
186. The Historians by Eavan Boland
187. Selected Poems by Elizabeth Jennings
188. The Deemster by Hall Caine
189. When Rainclouds Gather by Bessie Head
190. Maru by Bessie Head
191. Derek Mahon: New Selected Poems by Derek Mahon
192. A Move in the Weather by Anthony Thwaite
193. Door into the Dark by Seamus Heaney
194. Driftless by David Rhodes
195. Independence Square by AD Miller
196. Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga
197. Lot by Bryan Washington
198. A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende READ SEP 21
199. The Wandering by Intan Paramaditha
200. Fire and Ice by Dana Stabenow
201. Aria by Nazanine Hozar
202. Waking Lions by Ayelet Gudar-Goshen
203. Victim 2117 by Jussi Adler-Olsen
204. The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell READ AUG 21
205. The Quality of Madness by Tim Rich READ JULY 21
206. Ghosts of the Past by Marco Vichi
207. The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray
208. Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie READ AUG 21
209. Here We Are by Graham Swift
210. Deaths of the Poets by Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts
211. I am, I am, I am by Maggie O'Farrell READ AUG 21
212. The Whale at the End of the World by John Iremonger
213. Precious Bane by Mary Webb
214. Bina by Anakana Schofield
215. Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen
216. At Night the Blood is Black by David Diop READ AUG 21
217. Muscle by Alan Trotter
218. The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai
219. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
220. Missionaries by Phil Klay
221. Pew by Catherine Lacey READ SEP 21
222. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
223. Selected Poems by Anna Akhmatova
224. The Safety Net by Andrea Camilleri
225. Corpus by Rory Clements
226. Nucleus by Rory Clements
227. The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins
228. The Hill Station by JG Farrell
229. Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut
230. The Abstainer by Ian McGuire
231. The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray
232. Mating by Norman Rush
233. One by One by Ruth Ware
234. The Yield by Tara June Winch

234 added
23 read
211 nett additions

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
March 2021 BONNIE (brenzi) for DRIFTLESS by David Rhodes
April 2021 KERRY (avatiakh) for THE DIG by John Preston
May 2021 DEBORAH (Cariola) for I AM, I AM, I AM by Maggie O'Farrell
June 2021 ES (Esquiress) for not failing any challenge
July 2021 CAROLINE (Caroline_McElwee) for Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford

BOOKS OF THE MONTH

January : The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
February : Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
March : The Return by Hashim Matar
April : Life of Pi by Yann Martel
May : The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
June : Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

BOOK STATS :

Books Read : 102
Books Added : 222
Nett TBR Addition : 120

Number of Pages in completed books : 26,647
Average per day : 107.02
Projected Page Total : 39,062

Number of days per book : 2.44
Projected Number : 149
LT Best : 157

Longest Book read : 1,179 pages
Shortest Book read : 51 pages
Mean Average Book Length : 261.25 pages

Male Authors : 60
Female Authors : 42

UK Authors : 51
USA : 17
France : 3
Italy, Russia : 2
NZ, India, Libya, Pakistan, South Korea, Canada, Morocco, Thailand, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Trinidad, Sudan, Uruguay, Syria, Ghana, Austria, Germany, South Africa, Mauritania, Cuba, Nigeria, Portugal, Japan, Senegal, Malta, Chile : 1

1001 Books First Edition : 13 (317)
New Nobel Winners : 1 (73)
Pulitzer Fiction Winners : 3 (19)
Booker Winners : 2 (33)
Around the World Challenge : New countries : 27 (40)
BAC Books : 47
AAC Books : 2
Queen Vic Books : 16/64
Queen Betty Books : 36/70
52 Book Challenge : 37/52
British Historians : 4/12

OVERALL TBR RECORD/UPDATE

TBR at Midnight 31 May 2021

Books Unread : 4,425
Pages Unread : 1,555,749
Average Book Length : 351.58 pages

Books Read : 51
Pages Read : 13,829 pages

Books Added : 47
Pages Added : 13,954 pages

Books Culled : 180
Pages Culled : 77,262

Revised TBR
Books Unread : 4,241
Pages Unread : 1,478,612
Ave Book Length : 348.65 pages

Next one is yours.

Happy new thread, Paul!

ETA: An almost sleepless night gives me a chance to be first on your thread ;-)

>26 FAMeulstee: Thank you so much, dear Anita.

Happy new thread!

>28 amanda4242: Thank you, Amanda.

Happy new thread!

>30 quondame: Thanks Susan. It is taking me a while to set up today in between meetings!

Happy new thread! 24 pages of set-up--impressive.

Happy new thread, Paul - and the best wishes for the health of your loved ones!

>32 AnneDC: Thanks Anne. In fairness it was getting a bit out of hand so I did away with a couple of posts from earlier threads!

>33 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas. Everyone here is ok at the moment.

BOOK #94



I am, I am, I am by Maggie O'Farrell
Date of Publication : 2017
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 285 pp

Challenges :
Queen Betty Challenge : 32/70

After two books this year, Maggie O'Farrell is fast becoming a favourite writer of mine. Simply excellent partial memoir which relates 17 examples of extreme danger in her life.

Brilliantly informative, this is really how a writer of tremendous skill can place the reader in her place. She does seem to have had some difficult times - encephalitis, narrow escapes from assaults, near drownings, close calls with road and air accidents, miscarriages, botched labours and a child having a very dangerous allergy. Plenty of fuel for her writing and for this book and she realised it admirably.

Recommended.

Happy new thread, Paul!

Happy New Thread, Paul. I hope everything is going well on your side of the world and I am sure you are enjoying those books.

I second your recommendation of I Am, I Am, I Am, Paul. I enjoyed it as well.

President Biden is getting some flack for the withdrawal from Afghanistan overnight. In all fairness he was continuing a policy commenced by his predecessor in office. I just wish he hadn't sounded so confident two weeks ago when opining on the then Afghani government's ability to defend itself. Not only were they not able to do so a huge arms cache has fallen into Taliban arms.

The critics of the withdrawal would sooner the USA do what exactly? Continue in place on dangerous foreign soil for another twenty years trying to achieve the unachievable. My heart goes out especially to the young ladies and girls who will now be prevented from schooling and the reprisals on others which will surely follow.

An orderly hand-off to the United Nations should have been the way but by all accounts the UN was not interested or felt it had no capability. It does beg the question as to what exactly is the purpose of the United Nations in 2021.

The current administration have enough to do tackling gun violence in its major urban centres, formulating a coherent policy to deal with its border with Mexico, trying to manage the repercussions and challenges to the American economy in the post-pandemic era and all the while trying to unite the country again behind centrist ideals. I worry very much for Mr. Biden but I think he got this very tough decision right although I think the scale and pace of the meltdown there took us all by surprise.

>36 thornton37814: Thank you Lori. Lovely to see you as always.

>37 msf59: Thanks Mark. Nice to see you buddy.

Some news from this part of the world in that our Prime Minister (being unable to command a majority in Parliament) has resigned. Now the Agong (King) is considering who should head the next government - he has already directed that an election can only be held when the COVID-19 pandemic is deemed more manageable here.

Three Prime Ministers in three years is unprecedented in Malaysia.

>38 kidzdoc: I think she is a wonderful writer, Darryl.

Conversational but with a lovely habit of drawing you into her world.

Hi Paul, and happy new thread.

>39 PaulCranswick: I agree that getting out of Afghanistan was absolutely necessary for the US. It was and is not a sustainable situation, and we need to permanently get out of a nation-building mindset. I don't know what it means in the longer run, however, since apparently Russia and/or China will try to fill the power void being left by our withdrawal.

My only quibble with your post is in the post-pandemic era. We are in the middle of the pandemic era, IMO, especially here in the US with the delta variant now ratcheting cases and deaths up to levels not seen since the pre-vaccine days of early 2021. Sigh. Bill and I had started spreading our vaccinated wings in July, but have returned to being hunkered down, only going out for minimal errands and not socializing in person with anybody again.

>40 PaulCranswick: Will this cause huge political upheaval or just be a bit disruptive before getting back to 'normal'?

>42 karenmarie: Thanks Karen.

Perhaps a bit glass-half-full on the post-pandemic stuff. I'm still under lockdown here so it certainly doesn't apply to me! There is going to be a time when we are going to have to learn to live with the lingering presence of this virus but perhaps that time is not quite yet now.

Probably won't make a lot of difference a change of leadership here. Let's see but I will be on hand to report anyway. xx

Happy new one! Weird and disturbing stuff happening in the world these days... I'm just glad for a place like this where we can try to keep some sanity.

>39 PaulCranswick: I agree criticizing the withdrawal decision itself is pointless. However, the execution of it seems to have been disasterously planned...if "planned" can even be asserted. Evacuation of US citizens seems to have been an afterthought, let alone helping Afghans who are in danger for helping.

>43 PaulCranswick: Current Pandemic in U.S. resulted in kids being returned to schools where they are now being quarantined,
hospitalized, and dying...Texas and Florida leading the pack.

>44 drneutron: Thanks Jim and I agree wholeheartedly with that!

>45 ChrisG1: I'm not sure it was planned at all Chris. His words of two weeks earlier are coming back to haunt him already but for me the fact remains that this cannot be the USA's "job" alone. The UN was set up for dealing with such matters, but leaving some people high and dry does seem to have happened. Joe Biden is right though that the Afghan's were unwilling to fight for themselves.

>46 m.belljackson: That is news to me, Marianne, I have to say as I haven't seen much reporting of children of schooling age dying of COVID - We certainly have had no such cases here.

I did read somewhere that 25% of the Mexicans coming across the border illegally in Texas had COVID but that could also be propaganda. COVID doesn't have political affiliation and will kill a Republican just as easily as a Democrat especially those in an at risk group health wise. The key thing is to get vaccinations rolled out such that 85% of the adult population have been immunised and then herd immunity can take over. The vaccines also possibly need to be tweaked and boosters given to handle the more virulent of variants. That isn't politics, it is just good common sense.

Biden's point: "why should we keep doing what the Afghanis won't do for themselves?" is spot on. Sadly, he takes the fall for applying practical politics to an intractable situation wished on us by President Dick Cheney, I mean President Bush! silly me, decades ago. The people of Afghanistan like the Taliban. Let 'em have it.

Disgusting to say. Truth frequently revolts my sensibilities.

>5 PaulCranswick: Great reading list so far!

>49 richardderus: Manner of doing it not well executed, RD, but the basic premise is right.

>50 ocgreg34: Thank you, Greg. Nice to see you here.

Happy newish one, Paul.

>52 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley,x

Hi, Paul! Did you see that the stats page has been revamped?

https://www.librarything.com/stats/MEMBERNAME/overview

>51 PaulCranswick: There was no good way to accomplish the final invalidation of a bad, stupid policy that wasted trillions of tax dollars.

Bad news about the PM resigning, what?

>51 PaulCranswick: Ask Malala and Ayan Hirsi Ali if they think the WOMEN of Afghanistan welcome the Taliban.

Happy new thread, Paul!

>48 PaulCranswick:

FYI (or just do a Texas hospitals Search):

"Babies hooked to ventilators."

"Dallas-Fort Worth out of ICU beds for children as surge in COVID19 continues"

>42 karenmarie: Maybe China will have the usual luck in Afghanistan, but often their pragmatism doesn't lead them into the same traps our bizarre mix of idealism/greed does.

>54 amanda4242: Well, that pretty. I don't read philosophy apparently. What a surprise.

Happy new one!

>54 amanda4242: I hadn't seen that, Amanda, but I'll go and study it right after these posts. x

>55 richardderus: Yes that is true, RD, and what is happening now and the flak flying his way is the logical conclusion of twenty years of a failed policy.

>56 m.belljackson: I don't need to ask anyone, Marianne, it is a sad day for the women of Afghanistan. Eventually though it is the people of Afghanistan who have to deal with this and I don't believe it to be a sustainable policy that the US continue there indefinitely. Successive Presidents from Obama to now have been promising to bring your troops home.

>57 swynn: Thanks Steve.

>58 m.belljackson: My reading on this since seeing your post shows a few things that I was already saying:

1 Vaccination rates need to be higher. Many of your Southern States still have relatively low take up on adult vaccinations and take up would clearly reduce cases in children even if vaccines for kids are not yet approved.

2 Even today in the US deaths from COVID amongst children is less than half of one percent of all deaths from the virus there. Even one death is one too many of course but the percentage falls much further still if children with underlying health issues are not included.

3 The Delta variant is more transmissible but less deadly and we have to be careful to separate news and analysis from propaganda. The propaganda is understandable as health officials want to encourage (and rightly) vaccine take up.

4 There are clearly localised surges and resources need to be allocated to deal with these.

5 School policies need to be catered for conditions. In the USA many civil libertarians baulk against the wearing of masks and the inconstant messaging on their benefits has not helped this. In Malaysia there is no such reluctance to bear with mask wearing whilst and until the pandemic has been mastered but the USA and the UK seems to be different.

https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2030

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01897-w

>59 quondame: Well they outstrip the West in greed for sure, Susan and they don't let small issues such as religion, politics or human rights get in their way.

>60 figsfromthistle: Thank you Anita. x

Happy new thread, Paul!

Thank you, Mary.

Happy new thread. I still haven't read anything by Maggie O'Farrell, one of many good writers I've yet to get to.

Talking about Covid, Auckland has just gone into a 7 day Level 4 lockdown, just 6 hrs notice, with one Delta Covid case though already there are several more testing positive around this one case.
Fiji had tight restrictions all through this pandemic but for the past few weeks reporting many deaths and positive cases.

Happy new thread, Paul. Looks like you have done some fabulous reading.

>67 avatiakh: NZ's relative isolation is now a distinct advantage isn't it, Kerry?

I would certainly recommend Maggie O'Farrell.

>68 tymfos: Lovely to see you, Terri. I have been on a good run reading wise.

I stated the other day that the thrust of American policy to bring its troops home was a sound one and a bipartisan one but that the execution of doing so has left much to be desired.

It does seem to me that it is simple common sense to have evacuated civilians before removing forces instead of the other way round and why give up the secure and easily defendable Bagram airbase than rely on an international airport the access to which the cooperation of the Taliban is needed?

Mr Biden inherited the withdrawal policy but the pre-conditions imposed on the Taliban to enable that withdrawal were not met and the manner of withdrawal has done much to damage the US reputation not only in the wider world but with its close allies too.

This is a quite excellent speech in the UK parliament by an ex-service man whose emotions and convictions are palpable and entirely convincing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rthKSEDw9TU

Happy newish thread, Paul. You're a hard man to keep up with. As I was reading your previous thread I, of course, wanted to comment on one of your posts there. (That seems to be happening a lot lately, I'm so far behind with the threads.)

It was your read by Creasy, The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World which was written in 1851 and so the writer had no knowledge of what was to come. You remarked on his linking of the British to the Germanic peoples. That would have probably gone over well with the French as traditional enemy.

I think that the link was even felt later in the 1920s, as when my father went to school in London, German was the second language taught rather than French which I thought was odd. But then I went to school in Quebec and the second language we were taught was French, of course.

ETA. I now have a strange hankering for Yorkshire pud.

Hi Paul! SO glad you enjoyed I Am I Am I Am--such a great collection of stories from her life. Maggie O'Farrell is turning out to be a good one!

I am glad to see the US out of Afghanistan but I think we should have had a better handle on evacuation plans. And I feel incredibly sorry for all the women and girls who remain there because it is not going to be pretty.

>54 amanda4242: And I love the new stats page!!

>71 Familyhistorian: Of course, Meg, I don't know whether it was merely his personal bias or a more widespread impression but of course the book was written less than 35 years after the despatching of Boney to St. Helena. We had also to that point little in the way of armed conflict with the Germanic states to that point - of course Germany as a nation was still in a formative state at that time.

>72 Berly: She is a new favourite for sure, Kimmers.

To come out was difficult but the right decision but boy has he made a mess of the execution of it. The fact that he didn't call a single one of his allies until after it was underway and irreversible is a little bit of a slap in the face to Britain, Australia and some of the European nations that stood four-square with the USA. The failure to secure Bagram Airbase is apparently a terrible strategic error and the common sense of moving out the vast majority of your people and those who have so supported you and risked their lives BEFORE you pull out the forces hardly needs to be said. He has lost a lot of goodwill with his allies because of this debacle.

The thing that most disappointed me was both the noticeable irritation with the media for even questioning him on it (his NBC interview made very uncomfortable viewing - when people are falling off planes two days earlier he simply snapped that "was four, five days ago" as if it made it alright). He came across as a little bit callously indifferent and his acceptance that chaos was inevitable stands in marked contrast to his words a mere 12 days earlier when he said it was "highly unlikely" that the Taliban would regain a foothold. Your service personnel and those who supported your service personnel on the ground clearly have been unappreciated and insufficiently supported.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/334562

Thanks Silver.

>73 PaulCranswick: I was just reading Flashman which covered a 1841 withdrawal from Afghanistan. Has anyone withdrawn from that rock heap in good order?

>70 PaulCranswick: The whole thing has been an utter shambles Paul. I tried to listen to the Question Time debate on Afghanistan, but it made me so mad, I gave up. I have no idea how they are going to unravel the mess. My heart is with this nation who have suffered so much, and that any gain that was made will be more than lost. I feel that they have been used for our own ends, as ever, the first world were intending to protect themselves, and any benefit to the Afghans was only a by-product of that, and now it doesn't suit us, tough.

Separately, the humanitarian NGAs work has been scuppered.

I also feel for the military who were doing their jobs, and the deep pain that will be felt by families who lost loved ones for what they will feel was a waste. That MP ex soldier in parliament was very moving.

>76 quondame: Hahaha that is a jolly good point, Susan. Those books are really great fun. Also read William Dalrymple's Return of a King which covers the same period and without quite the same humour musters the same sense of debacle.

>77 Caroline_McElwee: Yes it is a shambles, Caroline. I can understand the sentiments of coming out but it had to be undertaken in a planned and orderly manner that doesn't give the clear impression of a rout.

I thought the speech was extremely moving and transcended political leanings in a way that all very good speeches can. It is a shame we didn't get that same sense of passion and caring from the US President or even the dummy who pretends to be running our country.

With all the chaos and upheaval, how does the Taliban continue to feed all the people?

>76 quondame:
Not even Alexander the Great managed to withdraw from Afghanistan in good order. I said that it was a mistake back in 200whenever we went there and that the Republican's would be sorry they even thought of it. Well, I was wrong on that score - the wise old men who started this stupid war on that "Rock Heap" will come out of this smelling like roses and Joey Biden is going to come out of it smelling like the dung heap - or maybe the rock pile - if he is lucky.

>73 PaulCranswick:
It makes me angry just to think of it. The Republican's started this war to get those who participated in the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and not a single member of that group was from Afghanistan. By the time Osama and his gang executed the World Trade Center attack even he wasn't in Afghanistan and the CIA knew that. Clearly nobody in the CIA at that time had read a history book, or they would have looked at Afghanistan with a very jaundiced eye. Twenty years later another Republican president made the decision to get out and made a stupid deal with the Taliban. Who is going to get blamed for that decision? Joey Biden (he of the crazy aviator glasses) that's who.

I would say that none of this is Biden's fault, but he is correct when he says he is the final decider. I would have liked to think that somebody in those big rock piles in Washington D. C. had taken the time to think and plan a withdrawal during the last 6 months, but apparently not. Of course, they didn't even plan for peace in either Afghanistan or Iraq, back on '03 so what do we expect from those ensconced in the rock piles in Washington, D. C. - the Marshall Plan? More like Galipoli or Dunkirk. How about Dieppe? Dare I say that the U. S. is simply following precedent with its withdrawal from Afghanistan? At least Joey Biden is going to leave Afghanistan with more than 1 survivor of that withdrawal. (remember Elphinstone's withdrawal) We hope.

It is a rare withdrawal that is done in orderly fashion. In fact, I can think of only two - the Russians in 1812 and that one is debatable, and the Germans on the Eastern Front in the withdrawal from the Vistula to the Oder in order to form a final line of defense on the Selow Heights east of Berlin.

>79 m.belljackson: Not sure that I know exactly what point you are trying to make there, Marianne.

>80 benitastrnad: Biden is not to blame for making the correct decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. He is being held to account and seemingly rightly for the manner of it and apparently his not listening to the military and logistical advice given to him. There are a few points at issue which bear reminder:

i) His narrative less than two weeks earlier that everything would be hunky dory and that the Taliban takeover would not happen.

ii) The order of withdrawal was clearly wrong. Civilians, equipment and then forces is how it should have been done not the other way round.

iii) Why didn't he hold Bagram first and use that to evacuate quickly?

iv) Why did he not brief his NATO allies instead of leaving them scrambling? So much for America being an international partner again.

v) Why doen't he send his forces beyond the airport and bring his people home? The British and French have been doing that successfully.

vi) Why didn't he destroy the arms caches and equipment and air bases that he is leaving behind instead of gifting them to the enemy?

You did not use the best examples and especially Dunkirk where the British successfully evacuated 338,000 service personnel against overwhelming forces across a body of frankly exposed water. Here the overwhelming force was anything but until emboldened by strategically an inept Commander in Chief.

Let us not be mistaken here. Mr Biden is not to blame for the USA and its allies being in Afghanistan that was started by Bush Jr in response to 9-11 to root out "safe havens". It undoubtedly became something else but the President is now responsible for the lives of US citizens trying to get out of there and morally responsible to provide erm "safe haven" for the Afghani's that helped the USA at great risk to themselves and their families.

Paul = No point, it is just something I don't understand.

>81 PaulCranswick:
My point was that all military withdrawals, with a few exceptions, are sloppy poorly executed affairs. Even Dunkirk. If Dunkirk had been done correctly, orderly, and planned, Mr. Churchill would not have had to call on civilians to do the evacuating. Most history books will say that Dunkirk was a military debacle - even if in the end a large portion of the military personnel made it back to Britain. As for Dieppe - ask the Canadians if they think that evacuation was successful? As for Galipoli, ask the ANZAC forces about the success of that military operation and the subsequent withdrawal. Elphinestone - that was probably a cheap shot. The First Afghan War ended in 1841, so it shouldn't be compared to this war. I did so only because of the 16,000 who set out from Kabul, approximately 12,000 were women and children and others who worked for the British Army. It seemed to me that this similarity in accepting the responsibility for those in the employ of the military and their dependents was important to the British military in the fall of 1840, and it seems to me that this evacuation/retreat was not very successful. Hence, my comparison of those two historical events - the British army from Kabul in 1840 and the U.S. and its allies in the present day.

I do agree with you that the U.S. shares the largest share of the blame for this one, because it was, at it's center, our war. We dragged others into it, to give it a better "look" to the rest of the world. I also think that it is another military debacle, as most withdrawals are. That does not excuse the withdrawal mess, after all, the U.S. has had years to plan the withdrawal. However, I also wonder why the other allies weren't evacuating their Afghan employees sooner. Prior to last week I only saw one small notice in a European news source stating that the French had begun evacuating their embassy personnel and employees. I don't claim to be all-knowing on this one because I don't read any other language but English, but I did not hear things from any news sources that other governments were rushing to the rescue much sooner than was the U.S. It is possible that they were more forthcoming with visa's than was the U.S. and so were doing more evacuations early on than the U.S.

I think it is clear that the U.S. administration believed that the Afghan military and government would hold out longer than it did. The questions I have is

1. why did the U.S. administration believe that?
2. what planning did they do for the withdrawal?
3. why have Afghans been so slow to be processed through the U.S. immigration process when all of us knew, starting in 2007, that the U.S. was going to withdraw from Afghanistan and these people would be in danger.

Question 3 is probably my most urgent question. If these people worked for the U.S. military or U.S. NGO's there should not have been delays in getting them into this country. The U.S. has known for 15 years that it was eventually going to withdraw from Afghanistan, so there should not be any stories of 5 year delays in getting immigration visas for our dependents. I believe that the answer to that question is a political question having to do with tensions in the U.S. Congress and current groundless popular political beliefs in the U.S. about immigrants in general. Most people in the U.S. are anti-immigrant and I think the events of the last week show the results of this type of thinking in detail.

Paul - just wanted to take a moment to tell you that I appreciate how you seek out those of our group that haven’t been around and encourage them. I wish I was better at it, but I’m glad you’re here to do it!

>82 m.belljackson: I'm with you on not understanding so many things going on these days, Marianne.

>83 benitastrnad: Thanks for that detailed comments, Benita.

Britain's Afghan War in the 1840s was certainly a debacle but the harsh terrain and lack of communications made it an exercise not really comparable to a modern evacuation. Dunkirk was a case of the British basically alone and against overwhelming hostile force providing what they could to get British and French personnel out. It's services capabilities were not sufficient to cope.

All this sadly is not the case here. As you point out the US had years to plan this. Their allies did not have the same luxury as Mr. Biden decided to proceed to remove forces without reference to his allies and didn't even inform them until it was done. This is a major source of anger in London, Paris and Canberra. The British have sent forces into Kabul to rescue its own and those who supported its own and I believe that the French have followed suit.

It appears from what is emerging that the administration were briefed about the likely outcome and chose to ignore this and proceed anyway. Apparently this is fighting season there and if the US had waited for October it would have seen the Taliban in "rest mode". Logistically it is stunningly obvious that people should have been first, equipment second, bases destroyed third and only then withdraw forces. Apparently again the President decided to do it his way and to heck with the consequences.

I agree with you that there is a lot of politics around immigration and there also seems to be more than a little hypocrisy.

>84 drneutron: Thanks for that Jim. Fact is I miss 'em!

>85 PaulCranswick: This is the only thing I've seen related remotely to agriculture:

"If they don't have jobs, they don't get fed."

Wonder how that will work for women who are now longer allowed to have jobs
and have no other support for themselves and dependents...

>87 m.belljackson: Well, Marianne, it is a stark fact that most non-first world societies do not have any welfare system to speak of. This includes my adopted country and the nationality of my wife and children (albeit dual in the kids' case). It is expected in Malaysia that it is the role of the extended family to provide for those members of the family not working or unable to do so, to care for their elderly and infirm.

I AM DOUBLE DOSED AND FULLY VACCINATED!!!!!

>90 quondame: Yay! A couple of weeks and you'll be good to go!

I'm waiting for booster shots to be available......

>85 PaulCranswick:
I don't know that I would say that Britain was alone at Dunkirk. The French, Norwegians, and Danes were still fighting as were Belgium and the Netherlands. I think even though the U.S. was still officially neutral there was aid coming to Britain covertly. I am going to stand by my position that Dunkirk was a military debacle. Great historians have also said that same thing. People like John Keegan and Basil Liddell-Hart.

I also stand by my statement that military withdrawals are usually sloppy and messy. The current one is not an exception, but it certainly is not unprecedented as most military organizations have experienced this kind of unplanned withdrawal and Britain can not call the kettle black when it comes to poorly planned military withdrawals.

>90 quondame: I am looking forward to be able to take my full place in society!

I do think that booster shots are going to be necessary.

>91 benitastrnad: Strange comments, Benita, and historically a little bit shaky.

The French were obviously involved in the Dunkirk evacuation 26 May to 4 June 1940. There were no Norwegians or Danes involved. Denmark declared itself neutral in September 1939 and were nevertheless occupied by the Germans on 9 April 1940. Any Danes fighting at Dunkirk would have been on the German side. The occupation of Norway began in April 1940 and its forces capitulated on 10 June 1940 and its King and government escaped to London. They were not in France.

The Netherlands surrendered on 15 May 1940 after the bombing of Rotterdam and Belgium surrendered on 28 May 1940.

I have read both Liddell-Hart and Keegan on the Second World War and their view of Dunkirk was that the "escape" was largely facilitated by Hitler in the hope that the British would be grateful and come to peace rather than being critical of the feat of the evacuation itself.

The fact remains that the evacuation was a remarkable feat and 338,000 British Empire forces (there were a few hundred Indian soldiers too) and French forces were spared to fight another day and quite possibly preserved the British war effort much to the later benefit of an isolationist USA. Without the propaganda coup Churchill's exhortations may have fallen on deaf ears and it paved the way for the RAF to defeat the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. The original estimate was to get out 45,000 so it was a success on any level.

The two events are totally, totally different. The USA is the party with overwhelming force and it has executed no plan whatsoever in removing its people. At least the British and French have ventured into Kabul to extract its people and those that helped us.

As to pot, kettle and black - Many Brits are deeply offended by what Biden has done. We don't particularly like Boris Johnson but to avoid his call for 36 hours and not inform his NATO allies of his plans (or absence thereof) is a shameful stain on American honour. British, Australian, French and assorted NATO forces answered without reservation the USA's call to arms after 9/11 and stood shoulder to shoulder. Maybe we should be more calculating in our resolve henceforward. I am as everyone knows very pro-American so I am hurting this week.

Hello Paul, thank you for your weekend wishes, but I think I'm a bit late to return them as your weekend must be over by now!

Yes, there is certainly a lot of resentment in the U.K. about Afghanistan. Not about the U.S.’s right to withdraw but about the way it was done. And also about Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab’s decisions to go on holiday when there was clearly a major international crisis looming. Dominic Raab should of course have resigned if he had any ounce of decency, and if he did not then Boris Johnson should have sacked him, but of course neither of these things has happened, despite even a lot of Conservatives being deeply upset about the whole business. The one establishment figure who seems to have come out of it well is the British Ambassador to Afghanistan who has been staying in Kabul to personally process visa applications.

>93 CDVicarage: Lovely to see you, Kerry. Still got a chunk of Sunday left actually but am a bit groggy after my jab so I may sleep through a lot of it.

>94 SandDune: Agree totally, Rhian.

Cannot expect decency from either of those clowns to be honest (Johnson and Raab, I mean). Kudos though to our people over in Afghanistan who clearly do know what is the right thing to do.

Also agree that it was the right policy but Jeez the administration ought to have come on LT and borrowed "Strategy for Dummies" and at least gloss over some of the bullet points.

>89 PaulCranswick: Congratulations on your second vaccination, Paul!

>96 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. Not feeling so celebratory at the moment.

>97 PaulCranswick: Sorry, Paul, what is the matter?
Are you suffering from side effects, or is it the terrible situation in Afghanistan, or are there other problems?

>98 FAMeulstee: No, Anita, nothing too dramatic - just a slight fever after my second dose of AZ this morning.

>99 PaulCranswick: You had some side effects with the first, I hoped this one would give you less trouble.

Congratulations on your vaccination! In Ontario a majority of people have been vaccinated but the Delta virus is badly affecting those who are not vaccinated or who have had only one dose. So- most people are still careful with activities.

>100 FAMeulstee: So far only mild discomfort, Anita. Fingers crossed.

>101 torontoc: Mask wearing is mandated here, Cyrel, and to be fair there is no kick back really against it. The government has recently introduced rules that - other than food shopping - stores will only allow in customers with both vaccinations and only after the second week of the second jab.

I don't see the populace in the West going along with that one.

BOOK #95



Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe
Date of Publication : 1958
Origin of Author : Japan
Pages : 189 pp

Challenges
1001 Books First Ed : 12 in 2021 / 316 total
Around the World Challenge : 37th Country
52 Book Club Challenge : 33 / 52

I don't think that Japanese literature will ever be quite my thing but I can at least see why this book is still in print 63 years after it was published.

A sort of regional Lord of the Flies, the story focuses upon a group of reformatory boys abandoned in the wilds of rural Japan in the last days of the war. Their efforts at community and at survival and of trying to comprehend why they had been abandoned makes this at times compelling.

Forced into acts of desperation and brutality in order to survive, it is the small acts of kindness that the boys favour each other with amid the more barbarous moments that probably unnerve more.

Glad I read it but a re-read may never happen.

Finally caught up with you, Paul. Happy newish thread! And hooray for getting your second vaccine - if I am remembering correctly, Abby, Birdy and I all felt achy and tired for about 72 hours after the second dose. Hoping you fell better soon.

>104 Crazymamie: Lovely to see you, dear Mamie. Taking on plenty of fluids and Hani obliged me wonderfully by humouring an irrational craving I had this morning for ratatouille nicoise. She really is a champion!

Here is the ratatouille my sweetie made me in my hour of need (exaggeration on need only!)

That looks delicious! How thoughtful of Hani - it's those small acts of kindness that make all the difference in life.

Wow, that looks yummy!

Congrats on your second dose, Paul and hope the side effects are erased by the ratatouille! A lot of businesses here are suddenly announcing that they will require employees to be vaccinated if they want to do business in person (banks, govt businesses, schools, universities, etc). Our Premier refuses to mandate this so businesses are stepping up and doing it themselves. I am sure there will be legal fallout as the crazies scream about their *rights* and *freedoms*. Thing is, there are laws on the books that people have a right to a safe workplace and frankly, no one has (or should have) a right to make others sick. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Meantime, I am among those cautious ones. I always have my masks with me and I do limit my social activities.

I have heard talk about a third booster but so far, that seems to be all it is: talk. The focus here remains to try to get as many resisters vaccinated as possible.

>107 Crazymamie: I really am spoiled, Mamie. I get scolded almost as much as I get spoiled but moments like that makes every second worth it.

I will manage to do more rounds of the group a little bit later - all being well.

>108 jessibud2: It was delicious, Shelley and i have just polished off the little bit left over from earlier.

The issue of stores refusing entry to customers not fully vaccinated (whether wearing masks or not) is a tough one but this is actually government directed here. I don't know - I can understand it and have little qualm about the mask mandate here but it is unsustainable as policy on an indefinite basis, surely?

Hi Paul!

>89 PaulCranswick: Congratulations and whew! Good for you. Here in the US we’re hearing 8 months after the second dose we’ll be eligible for a booster. Some immuno-compromised people are already getting boosters. I’ll be eligible in October.

>111 karenmarie: Thinking of my twin today as I heard of the passing of Don Everly. Even though he and Phil weren't twins I always thought of them as such as me and my brother used to sing along to them on the old 8-Track my father kept in the car.

My twin is anti-vac but I owe it to my family to try and stay healthy and take good care of all of 'em. I can only say to my own twin.....Wake up (Little Susie).

Lovely as always to see you, Karen.

>106 PaulCranswick: yummy. Hope the symptoms pass soon Paul.

Is Hani feeling better herself, from recent diagnosis?

Yay for your second shot, Paul! It looks like we may be able to get boosters here starting in September sometime, if all goes well with the FDA approvals. You have to be 8 months out from your second shot, which means December for us, I think.

>113 Caroline_McElwee: Thank you, Caroline. She is feeling reasonably ok but pushing her husband towards more exercise that I can see will eat into my reading time!

>114 scaifea: Lovely to see you Amber. No real talk of boosters here yet but the vaccine distribution recently has been pretty impressive to be fair.

I am a little late but my book recommendation award for July goes to Caroline for Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford. I am really remembering the great recommendation of Golden Hill which was a favourite read of mine last year. Thanks Caroline.

Maybe only the women of Afghanistan will survive if the newly installed burquas serve as masks.

In the U.S., maybe only the vaccinated will be around to vote in the next election.

Joe also has lost friends by holding onto donald's refusal to stop killing grey wolves.

I recommend Torn Lilacs for September.

>117 m.belljackson: A sort of (un)natural selection, Marianne?

I do believe that the Democrats will be thinking of a new candidate in 2024 and I hope that the GOP do too. Be nice to have a choice that isn't heads I win and tails you lose.

Not in favour of killing grey wolves but am equally pleased I don't have one staying across the corridor.

Congratulations on getting your second SARS-CoV-2 jab, Paul. I'm not familiar with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which has not received Emergency Use Authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but a significant minority if not majority of my colleagues and friends who received the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had side effects roughly 16-20 hours afterward, including low grade fever, chills, headache, nausea, fatigue, and mild to moderate swelling and redness at the injection site. I had all of those symptoms except headache. Those symptoms lasted for less than 24 hours; mine resolved completely 12 hours after they began. Most of us were comforted by those symptoms, as to us they indicated that the vaccine was doing what it was supposed to, inducing an intense and protective response by the immune system to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

I hope that your symptoms are equally as brief, and as mild, as ours were.

The Biden administration announced this week that it would recommend a booster dose of one of the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) for people who are fully vaccinated, which is to be given eight months after the second jab. I had mine on January 13th, as I fall into the Phase 1a distribution scheme (front line health care workers who provided care to COVID-19 patients), so I'll be due to get my third jab on or any time after September 13th. One of my colleagues was quite ill last week with a moderate case of COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated, and breakthrough cases are increasing here in the US due to the delta variant, so I am as eager to get this additional protection as soon as I can, along with the influenza vaccine.

Hani's ratatouille looks amazing. I'm grateful that she posted the recipe on her Facebook thread, as I'll almost certainly make it for my parents next week, although I'm sure my version won't taste as good as hers.

>92 PaulCranswick:
I am sorry I took up so much of your space on your thread as it is clear that I must have totally misunderstood your earlier points about the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan.

I will stand by my point that military withdrawals are ALWAYS messy affairs and nobody comes out looking good. We simply have to weather the vicissitudes of historical events the best we can and muddle on through making the best decisions we can at the time given the knowledge we have at that time. Funny enough that was the one of the points of the book I finished last night that was published in 1956 about the Peloponnesian War. Mary Renault's Last of the Wine.

>119 kidzdoc: There are three vaccines authorised here Darryl. AZ, Pfizer and the Sinovac one. I cannot take the latter as it would affect my ability to travel. AZ was provided first but the Pfizer one is now widely available too.

I don't feel great at the moment but I don't feel terrible either.

The ratatouille was excellent but I am sure that yours will be great too and I'm sure that your parents will love it just as they will be overjoyed to see you.

>120 benitastrnad: Never any need to apologise, Benita, as I always welcome and look forward to your passionate and strongly argued posts.

There is no argument that withdrawals are always messy and invariably chaotic but we would differ only on the use of the word "debacle" to describe Dunkirk which arguably provided the British Empire with sufficient resolve to sustain.

It is interesting that I also have a Mary Renault book awaiting my attention - The Persian Boy.

>122 PaulCranswick:
That book Persian Boy is also on my list to read. After reading Last of the Wine I can understand why Renault's work was considered controversial in its day. It was first published in 1956 and the version I read was an old yellowed paperback from 1971. I found it to be harder to read than I anticipated due to the style in which it was written. It isn't exactly a clear point-to-point narrative and is told more in the form of an uncompleted memoir of one of the main characters. I found myself having to do lots of background research on people, places, and events. Her use of the archaic names for places was confusing at times, but once I could place them on a map, I did much better.

>123 benitastrnad: Often wanted to read her, Benita, so hopefully I will do so soon.......she sounds like something of a challenge.

>89 PaulCranswick: very good. I hope your side effects are minor. I don't remember it but my wife tells me I had minor aches and chills during the night following our second pfizer dose in March. She had an achy arm for about 24 hours.

>103 PaulCranswick: I think Oe's books are strange in my experience but it has been many years since I read him. I have one on hand but never have the resolve to tackle it!

>106 PaulCranswick: yum!

>124 PaulCranswick: Start with The Bull from the Sea.

Happy for your fully-jabbed-ness, and your extreme good fortune in securing a lifetime's joy with Hani. You lucky devil...that ratatouille is adultery-causing delicious-looking. And you may quote me.

>124 PaulCranswick:
I was going to start with Bull From the Sea but I had this copy of Last of the Wine at home so decided to read it first simply because of convenience. It seems to me that Bull from the Sea is the first in a trilogy? Does that mean that I would have been suckered into reading two more books? :-) I wonder if reading her books in order of publication might be a good idea?

>127 benitastrnad: The Bull from the Sea is actually the second in a duology.

>125 RBeffa: I has a decent sleep, Ron and am feeling pretty ok so far.

I did like this one more than the only other book of his I had read (A Personal Matter) but it was still stylistically very different.

>126 richardderus: I am a lucky guy, RD, but in consequence when someone asks me how long I have been married I normally reply "40 kilos".

>127 benitastrnad: One of the joys and terrors of this group is that it is going to add to your shopping/book buying.

I have three books by her on the shelves.

>128 amanda4242: I think that I have The King Must Die in the UK, Amanda.

Congrats on the second vaccination! I am eagerly awaiting the booster shot. Hani gets points. I hope your twin comes round. Hugs.

>131 Berly: I will look forward to the booster when the pain in my arm lays off, Kimmers!

Hani does get brownie points - in her case often for brownies!

Hi Paul - the ratatouille looks great. I can't make anything like that as courgettes are one of the most expensive veggies at present. I recently paid $2+ for a small one. Just made a batch of peanut butter cookies.

I know you like book lists and found this one I bookmarked a while ago, The 2018 Hay Festival, in collaboration with The Pool, published this list of 100 books by women:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/100-books-by-women-you-have-to-read-1.3...
I've read 27 of them.

>133 avatiakh: I had a double take before realising that you weren't trying to make peanut butter cookies with courgettes!

That is a great list (although the inclusion of a cookery book raised my eyebrows). Read 35 of them which rather surprised me.

>133 avatiakh: How utterly strange - this time of year we joke about people leaving zucchinis on neighbors' porches sneakily in the dead of night because the surplus is out of control.

>135 quondame: Clearly a distribution issue then, Susan! Long haul across the Pacific could make someone some money presumably.

Be grateful for your masks and lockdowns, Paul:

"Mission, Kansas. - Many overwhelmed hospitals, with no beds to offer,

are putting critically ill COVID patients on planes, helicopters, and in ambulances

and sending them to far-flung states for treatment."

>137 m.belljackson: I'm not complaining, Marianne!

Kansas is 34th among states in the US for the number of cases and have suffered 5,494 COVID deaths out of a population of almost 3 million

Malaysia has suffered 3 times more deaths but with a population eleven times that of Kansas which means that you would be more than 3 times more likely to die of COVID in Kansas as Kuala Lumpur.

>134 PaulCranswick: I did the same double-take, PC...plus for me it's Land of the Zucchini now, being Harvest.

"40 kilos" heh

>134 PaulCranswick: Didn't put my sentences together that thoughtfully did I. We are in the last days of winter and with a lockdown too. The few courgettes I buy are grown in greenhouses. I should expand my veggie garden from just herbs.

I've been baking almost every day during lockdown mostly muffins or cookies. I've made coffee halva muffins, spiced apple muffins, tangelo poppyseed muffins, herb & ricotta scones, chamomile tea cupcakes and those peanut butter cookies. My next mission is to make some Spanish magdalenas.
I have heaps of tangelos as a couple of weeks ago my brother invited me to try and strip one of his trees, I got a huge shopping bag full and the tree looked the same when I finished. I have a few recipes involving tangelos lined up.

I have a copy of The Bull from the Sea around here somewhere.

>139 richardderus: Unfortunately no exaggeration on the weight front. Courgettes/Zucchini are great but I am more in the Kerry camp availability wise with the difference being I have no idea of the price! Don't believe that they are overly expensive though.

>140 avatiakh: You and Hani would get along swimmingly with all that baking, Kerry. The lockdown has had exactly the same impact upon her (us).

Hi Paul. Interesting discussion on the evacuation from Afghanistan. Dutch media are now saying that the French and the English forces have been quietly evacuating their people for months. Very smart of them. Our dutch government has mainly been working at ignoring the issues. And are now very surprised, no we didn’t see it coming. Sigh.

Glad for you, your second vaccination, and a good dish of ratatouille! It’s bound to help with those nasty side effects.

>142 EllaTim: I think they all (the Nato allies) knew it was going to happen but not the exact plan or seeming lack thereof.

In the UK media there seems to be thorough criticism of the British government and especially the Foreign Secretary for holidaying during the crisis. The fact remains though that the rest of the allies were awaiting the American lead and the Biden administration seems to have taken them all a little by surprise.

The ratatouille was very therapeutic and I am slowly shaking off the side effects.

Hooray for being all vaccinated, Paul! And the ratatouille sounds delicious.

>144 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda. I'm almost feeling 100% again just a slight heaviness in my arm now.

BOOK #96



The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Date of Publication : 1954
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 322 pp

Challenges :
Queen Betty : 33/70
52 Book Club Challenge : 34/52
BAC : 45 books

Why are chapter breaks so helpful in aiding one to read a novel?

This book doesn't have any chapters and only the very occasional paragraph breaks which always complicates reading for me as I never know where to leave off.

Ultimately though the reader must come away from this experience largely fulfilled. Satiated by Warner's marvellously acute characterisation - her clear understanding of the foibles and selfishness of familial love and her remarkably deft turn of phrase.

Set largely on the Norfolk coast in the decades following the Napoleonic Wars, we follow a mercantile family's progress from wealthy landowning stock to, erm, wealthy landowning stock but the inuring interest is not without incident.

This is a fine novel.

Evening, Paul! I have not read anything by Warner - is that a good starting place? I am so with you on feeling slightly disoriented by books that don't have chapters or paragraph breaks.

>147 Crazymamie: It is the only one have read so far, Mamie, but I would have thought not. Most people mention that Lolly Willowes is the best of her novels.

Thanks for that. And Lolly Willows was written in 1926, which was my Dad's birth year - I'll start there.

Lolly Willowes is mos' def' the best of La Townsend Warner's stories. I've never heard of The Flint Anchor and "it is not without incident" doesn't ignite my nosehairs with wind from the rush to procure it.

Anyway. Hoping your PM survives more than ten months. Stability without corruption would be lovely in the pandemic.

>149 Crazymamie: I might read it with you, Mamie.

>150 richardderus: It is on a few writers best of lists, RD, not exactly action packed and the absence of chapters palled but I am sure you would appreciate some of her fine turns of phrase.

As you know one of my beefs is the politicising of the pandemic - no government was ever going to deal with this issue without extreme difficulties and to be fair the politicking in Malaysia isn't really to do with lockdowns and masks and vaccines and the corruption is a part of the game here long before the pandemic. New fellow despite being Deputy Prime Minister for a short while does not have a huge profile but, at least, was not one of the previous leaders with his hand in the till.

>151 PaulCranswick: It is inconceivable that the pandemic response wouldn't be deeply politicized. The issue we can reasonably take is with its efficacy or lack of same. The thievery endemic in Government throughout space and time is also inconceivable in its absence. Put that much money in that few hands and quite a lot of it will stick.

Hi Paul, mate, we had a lovely time down in Salisbury and the surrounding area, we visited two large Secondhand Book places, one in Wantage and the other in North Warwickshire and we bought a decent amount of books, these are listed on my thread.

Well, it has been a good first day of the Third Test at Headingley, Finally Kohli won a toss and made the wrong decision to bat. Jimmy Anderson started the rot in the Indian batting with the first three wickets including his rabbit, Kohli. Both Curran and Overton were on a Hat-trick and they were all out before tea for 78, then the new opening partnership of Burns and Hameed got England off to a good start for once and at close of play we were 120 for 0 with both of them passing Fifty. A full house got value for money and finally saw a good performance from somebody other than Root with the bat, hopefully they can continue and then it is a Yorkshire trio at 3, 4 and 5 to follow.

Hope all is well with you, Hani and the family mate and that you are having a good week, sending love and hugs to you all from both of us dear friend.

>152 richardderus: What we would do without that jaundiced eye, RD. Sad that you are largely right too.

>153 johnsimpson: I'll go and have a gander at what you bought shortly, John.

Kohli will be ruing his decision to bat but England bowled well. Anderson, Overton and Robinson are obvious picks at Headingley and although I wouldn't pick Curran he did chip in with two at the tail.

Much better balance looking at our batting and the opening pair a better mix without the Tavare-esque Sibley included. Hameed plays very correctly and I am chuffed for him. I will have my fingers and toes crossed for Malan as I have been advocating his inclusion.

A very belated thank you for your good wishes, Paul - I'm happy to return it.
Congratulations on your 2nd vaccination and the wonderful looking ratatouille, which also tasted as good as it looks.
It's still early in the morning for me, but I'm getting hungry again....
Best wishes and all the best for the rest of the week

>155 SirThomas: Ha! Go and enjoy your food, Thomas!

I'll get along to wish you good wishes at the weekend, my friend.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/334745

>157 SilverWolf28: Thanks Silver.

>22 PaulCranswick: *sigh* too many book bullets here.

>106 PaulCranswick: I am drooling over all the food pics that Hanni puts on fb! She cooks a mean meal :)

>146 PaulCranswick: well, I do love a remarkably deft turn of phrase...

>22 PaulCranswick: Surely a contradiction in terms on book bullets!?

I can guarantee that the food tastes invariably at least as good as it looks, Megan.

She was a remarkably good writer.

My Friday additions:

214. Bina by Anakana Schofield
215. Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen
216. At Night the Blood is Black by David Diop

The first one is termed "a novel in warnings" and is intriguing from Canadian author Schofield. The second by a Finnish author who I have been looking for to add to my Scandi ranks and the third won the International Man Booker Prize by Senegalese/French author Diop.

I have made a habit with my recent penchant for buying books in troikas to read one of them immediately. It will be Diop's.

Hi Paul, our top four did the business and then 5,6 and 7 failed, 432 all out with a lead of 354 sounds and looks good but to be honest we should have been looking at a total near to 600, the Indians would have shit themselves facing a 500+ deficit. Buttler's catches should not sway the selectors, Bracey would have caught them, Bairstow has failed to take his chances and Moeen is poor on recent batting performances. I was pleased that Overton (Craig) took his chance with the ball and a nice but short cameo innings.

It is a different India batting second time around and unless we do something special on the fourth morning, we will be set a target, it may not be a big one but small targets are sometimes hard to get as we both know and it is Headingley.

I am forwarding to this book review. It was a starred review in the librarian journal "Publisher's Weekly." This book won't be for sale until October, but it might be one to wait for.

Churchill’s Shadow: The Life and Afterlife of Winston Churchill
Geoffrey Wheatcroft. Norton, $40 (656p) ISBN 978-1-324-00276-5

Journalist Wheatcroft (The Strange Death of Tory England) delivers a fresh take on Winston Churchill’s life and legacy in this invigorating biography. Claiming that Churchill was both “the saviour of his country” and “far too often in the wrong,” Wheatcroft succeeds in separating the myth (much of it created by Churchill himself in his histories and memoirs of WWII) from the reality. The most damaging and durable myths, according to Wheatcroft, include a misreading of prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement with Nazi Germany that has been used to justify disastrous wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, and a misleading British national pride that “sustain(s) the country with beguiling illusions of greatness, of standing unique and alone, while preventing the British from coming to terms with their true place in the world.” Wheatcroft doesn’t shy away from Churchill’s racism and imperialism, which “were already retrograde by the standards of his age,” or his support for the merciless bombing offensive against German cities and civilians that culminated in the destruction of Dresden, while expressing sincere admiration for his eloquence and ability to inspire strength and action. The result is an exhilarating reassessment that will appeal to Churchill buffs and newcomers alike.

>162 PaulCranswick:, >161 PaulCranswick: Little Siberia is darkly funny. I think you'll appreciate poor Everyman Joel's intersecting predicaments.

Happy weekend's reads!

>165 richardderus: Have you reviewed Little Siberia?

>163 johnsimpson: John, I was pleased for and also disappointed for Malan when he was out for 70 in the final ball before the interval. He played really well and was, for me, as you know so obvious to play at number three instead of the hapless Crawley. Bairstow is doing what Pope did and flatter to deceive whilst Ali and Buttler need to take a hard look at themselves.

Game isn't over.

>164 benitastrnad: Wheatcroft pretty much sums up Churchill but I'm not sure that he misrepresented Chamberlain's appeasement policy in that Churchill was scrupulously fair to Chamberlain who had himself repudiated his own policy and would have remained in the war cabinet had it not been for ill health.

Just a correction also as the UK refused to involve in the Vietnam war.

>165 richardderus: I picked up several books as my third choice yesterday but dropped them in favour of that one when I read the blurb. Looking forward to it RD.

>166 quondame: Yes, do tell.

>165 richardderus: >166 quondame: >168 PaulCranswick: $0.99 on Amazon today.

>164 benitastrnad: Andrew Roberts wrote a scathing review in The Spectator UK on Wheatcroft's book. I read this review a week or so ago.
'Churchill as villain – but is this a character assassination too far?
Revisionist biographies of the great wartime leader are nothing new, but this one really takes the biscuit.'
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/churchill-as-villain-but-is-this-a-character...

>169 quondame: Much less than I paid yesterday!

>170 avatiakh: Yes I do think revisionism in history is something that needs careful appraisal - Roberts did an excellent and very balanced job in portraying Lord Halifax in a recent biography which was clearly well balanced and whilst erring on being an apologist for him did point out that some of the "facts" about his role in the lead up to war was frankly not true.

Churchill, even when in office, was a divisive figure, but his role as inspiring war time leader cannot be taken away by the revisionists as hard as they try. His role in galvanising the Empire was pivotal at a time when there really was a groundswell for suing for peace. Had he done so, I dread to think how many more innocents would have perished under Nazi annihilation.

>161 PaulCranswick: I started Bina but didn't get into it. A mood thing probably Paul. At Night All Blood is Black is near the top of the pile though.

I have Bina on my kindle, in the good intentions pile. I liked Little Siberia though. I can't think of any other Finnish authors I've read.

>172 Caroline_McElwee: I have a feeling that the Diop book will be excellent. Will report back soon.

>173 charl08: Lovely to see you, Charlotte. I have probably got about four other Finnish authors on the shelves but you are right they seem under-represented compared to the other Scandinavian writers. I did read Purge by Sofi Oksanen a couple of years ago which was good and I have Unknown Soldiers by Vaino Linna to read soon.

I found the Diop book very good, Paul, I hope it will be the same for you.

The only Finnish book I have read is Unknown Soldiers. Finnish is not related to the other Scandinavian languages, and more difficult to learn. That might be a reason for their under-representation.

Happy weekend, Paul! I haven't heard of any of the books from your latest haul, so I look forward to your thoughts on them.

Happy Weekend, Paul. I hope you are enjoying some R & R.

>175 FAMeulstee: It is good, Anita.

Good point about the difficulty of the Finnish language. I have a number of Finnish friends as the elevator company Kone have undertaken the vertical transportation works (providing the lifts) for a number of our projects. I communicate with them in English of course but their world view is often very interesting.

>176 bell7: Nice to see you, Mary.
I have a feeling that the Diop book is going to become very well known.

>177 msf59: So far it has been a relaxing one, Mark. I will get along to your thread over the weekend to check up on grandpa!

>166 quondame:, >168 PaulCranswick: No, it'll be a Burgoine at some point. Enjoyable but not memorable.

>180 richardderus: I can live with enjoyable, RD.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend, Paul, and getting to spend time with the books.

>182 Familyhistorian: I am slowly easing into my weekend, Meg. Hope to have a good Sunday with a couple of my books done and dusted.

BOOK #97



At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop
Date of Publication : 2018
Origin of Author : Senegal / France
Pages : 145 pp

Challenges:
Around the World Challenge : 38th
52 Book Club Challenge : 35/52

Winner of this year's International Booker Prize, Diop's short novel is a powerful study of friendship, kinship, masculinity and the horrors of war.

Two "Chocolats" enlisted in the French army were inseparable in their village in Senegal and are inseparable in the trenches and beyond. When one of them is mortally wounded he looks to the other to put him out of his misery the failure of which leads the other to ponder and act upon the brutality of war.

Thought provoking and pretty sure to be read beyond this generation.

Hi Paul, I will start from here down! To many posts to read. Happy Sunday!

>185 connie53: Hahaha, no problem Connie; I'm more than happy just to have you drop by. xx

>186 PaulCranswick:

>184 PaulCranswick: Glad you liked At Night All Blood is Black, Paul. It was among my top reads last year.
Over here it won the prize for best translated book from the EU in 2020.

Hi Paul. Just zooming through. I hope you have had a good weekend.

>184 PaulCranswick: Well, that was quick!

I have started on Lolly Willowes, and I am liking it so far - thanks for suggesting it.

Your Sunday is almost over, so I shall wish you a week that behaves itself.

>187 connie53: That's cute, Connie.

>188 FAMeulstee: It was a quick but very thought provoking read, Anita.

>189 karenmarie: So far so good, Karen. Always better when my pals stop by here. xx

>190 Crazymamie: I reckon your current read will be a quickie too, Mamie. Warner was some writer.

Hope all is well at the Pecan Paradisio.

Just finished Yesterday - the author Felicia Yap grew up in Kuala Lumpur and has put together an alternative now with some real quirks.

Saw an interesting discussion online about the recall vote in California on the Governor whereby the postal vote envelope comes with perforated holes through which a black mark made to recall is visible when reinserted into the envelope. That seems to me to be something guaranteed to provide the suspicion of abuse and voter fraud. What would be the reason for those perforated holes?

Seems bizarre given the environment of mistrust in American politics that such a thing would be done as it doesn't smell quite right though it may be entirely innocent.

>193 quondame: I haven't heard of that one, Susan, and I should go and look for it.

>194 PaulCranswick: As far as I know the hole - which was unmistakably there, didn't actually line up with any vote viable. It could be that since I did not vote to recall, I wouldn't have seen the alignment, but more likely the hole had to do with aligning the envelope to open it automatically. Dunno.

>195 PaulCranswick: It's interesting but not a must read and I could have done with a bit less of it. Not bad for a first novel though.

>196 quondame: Not sure, Susan, but it did seem to line up unless the ballot was put in backwards. Seems a bit strange but so does the idea of recalling someone democratically elected when surely the way to change the incumbent is by way of a scheduled election.

I know next to nothing about Californian politics but it appears that the question about the Governor is one of competence not crimes and misdemeanours. I would have thought that competence is what the electors are periodically not exceptionally called upon to decide.

>197 PaulCranswick: The recall is about Republican opportunism and money. Competence in CA governors is a pretty random occurrence, but then the Republican standard for competence is letting them do as they please while not taxing them.

>198 quondame: Yes it doesn't quite seem right somehow, but then again I am not used to even the idea of the principle of recall.

Our British system for right or wrong is quite different in that the executive is more inseparably accountable to the legislature than in the US and we don't have a federal system of government. Any Prime Minister could be brought down immediately by a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons which would precipitate either a General Election or the Monarch calling upon another who was felt to hold the confidence of the House to form a Government. An errant Prime Minister who can no longer carry his party could be removed as Prime Minister (although not necessarily party leader by the collective cabinet). In recent times both Labour and Conservative parties have made it more difficult to remove incumbent leaders which I understand but don't agree with.

The issue of impeachment is a fairly foreign one to us Brits too although I think Boris' attempt to stand down parliament to force through Brexit before the last election caused more than a few to think of it. It seems to me that it is often used as a mere expression of political displeasure than anything else. I have seen some talk of trying to impeach Biden and/or the Secretary of State over the mishandled withdrawal from Afghanistan. I would suggest that politicians should be very careful as to equate incompetence with high crimes and misdemeanours would place almost all of them in the firing line! I think it is difficult not to agree that the withdrawal was badly executed but there is nothing impeachable in it - reproachable yes; impeachable certainly not.

>199 PaulCranswick: Doesn't the UK have the vote of confidence when the leadership has openly diverged from currently acceptable, rather than wait for the regular election cycle?
Of cycle we have recalls, which are rarely anything than party power plays, but theoretically could be.

>200 quondame: There are provisions for any Member of Parliament to table a motion of no confidence in Her Majesty's Government. If the motion passed the government is bound to seek dissolution. There is some feeling that impeachment is obsolete in the UK and this was the view of Parliamentary Select Committees in 1967 and 1999. Interestingly this did not stop a member of the Welsh Nationalists tabling a motion to impeach Tony Blair because of the Iraq war. Although the motion did not make it to debate a number of MPs (though not enough to move it forward) supported the motion including, interestingly, Boris Johnson.

That said effectively the House of Commons can decide on such matters as it is the law making body for the UK and could in theory at least carry a motion to impeach. Motions of Censure are a much more common thing and has been seen umpteen times and there is a time honoured tradition that a minister being found to done something unacceptable to the public as expressed by Parliament would resign. The no-confidence route is a time-worn and proven path and would be the British way of removing those politicians who had erred so badly it couldn't wait for the electorate at large to get rid of them.

BOOK #98



A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow
Date of Publication : 1960
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 345 pp

Challenges :
BAC : 46
Queen Betty Challenge : 34/70
1001 Books : 317th
52 Book Club Challenge : 36/52

Some of the dialogue took me straight back to my hometown (from where this author originates) and I could almost imagine the smell of coal smoke in icy Yorkshire air.

Told unsympathetically in the first person we follow Vic from love and lust and marriage and regret as fickle youth tries to come to terms with adult responsibility.

Loved the film and the TV series and now the book makes three!

The last post by the way was my 5,000th on my thread this year. Love and thanks to everybody who has visited and posted here this year - you all make everyday the more worthwhile for me. xx

Congratulations, Paul! ...and you for us.
All the best for the upcoming week.

>204 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas.

>203 PaulCranswick: You will always have far more posts than I do.

California recall is nuts, but Wisconsin is in the running = after the Arizona vote check debacle,
Republicans here who still control the legislature (despite our very decent Democrat Governor)
are now authorizing $680,000 to do the same vote check disaster.

And why? to prove that trump actually won in Wisconsin.

>206 thornton37814: Sometimes it is quality as well as quantity, Lori. Your thread has always been a place I like to hang out.

>207 m.belljackson: That doesn't seem a very smart spending of $680k, Marianne.

>202 PaulCranswick: Quite a book. I thought it was filmed but never heard of the TV series...what a downer that'd be!

>203 PaulCranswick: Congratulations!

>209 richardderus: The TV series covered all Barstow's three Vic Brown books and I remember enjoying it, RD.

>210 PaulCranswick: Simply being depressing isn't a gauge to one's enjoyment of a story, of course, but TV *series* don't tend to last too well if they're as relentlessly unhappy as this novel was. Though I've never read (nay, heard of!) sequelae.

>211 richardderus: Yeah there were three books in total, RD, but he only got the first book to sell well. The British "kitchen-sink" dramas of the 1960s weren't exactly jolly affairs, I'll give you that.

>212 PaulCranswick: They assuredly were *not* jolly in any way. But they were honest, and they spoke truth about previously underheard people's lived experiences.

>213 richardderus: They did that and the observed characterisation - as someone from a similar background - is spot on.

Congrats on 5000 posts, Paul.

>215 connie53: Thank you, Connie.

Still over 800 posts behind the dizzying, Amber, who has her best numbers since 2016.

>201 PaulCranswick: there is a time honoured tradition that a minister being found to done something unacceptable to the public as expressed by Parliament would resign. I think we’ve given up on that one in the current government.

>217 SandDune: Well it would have been true up until recent times, Rhian!

The American soldiers are on the way home and out of Afghanistan but unfortunately a significant number of American citizens and those who helped the USA have been left behind.

President Biden promised to stay there until he got all the Americans home and he promised the Taliban he would leave by 31 August. The bitter truth is that he kept his word to the Taliban and broke his word to the American people. Pretty shameful.

Checking his watch as the bodies of the servicemen that died as a direct result of his terrible strategic blunders were coming onto the tarmac is not only bad optics, it is hugely disrespectful to the fallen. No wonder many of the families of the deceased refused to see him.

Still I am sure that the Taliban will put to good use the huge cache of weapons gifted to them by USA when butchering those left behind. At the very least the Secretary of State Blinken and General Milley need to take some responsibility and resign.

It is so sad because this was the right policy but so terribly executed that the culpability for it really needs some redress.

BOOK #99



The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
Date of Publication : 2000
Origin of Author : UK/Malta
Pages : 282 pp

Challenges :
BAC : 47 books
Queen Betty : 35/70
52 Book Challenge : 37/52

Shirley Bassey with her big voice and wide-eyed smile hailed from the rough dockside area of Tiger Bay in Cardiff, Wales. This first novel of unremitting sadness was set there and featuring an immigrant family from Malta struggling to cope and told largely from the point of view of the youngest daughter of six.

This was shortlisted for the Booker in 2000 and it creates some extremely vivid characters and Shuggie Bain bears a little trace of it in the slight backward/forward lilt of the story and it's thematic bent.

Where Azzopardi shows the callowness of youth though is in the stringing together of the narrative which gets completely lost on occasions but there is enough in this first attempt to believe that her later work has the potential to be stupendous.

>203 PaulCranswick: Congratulations on over 5,000 posts, Paul!
My post numbers are about 1/3rd of yours this year.

Thank you for hanging out with us :-)

>221 FAMeulstee: Without friends, Anita, all our threads would be lonely places. Amber is well clear this year for a good reason - she works hard on her thread, she is very welcoming, and shares whatever is happening in her family life and almost always remains upbeat. I do think that my place is more sombre this year as some events political and personal have upset me so.

I am blessed every time you visit. xx

Hi Paul!

>197 PaulCranswick: and >198 quondame: Being from California, I would have to say that when Democratic governors are in power things are run competently, if leaning liberal and therefore trying to take care of people not corporations, and when Republican governors are in power things go to hell in a handbasket, necessitating Democratic governors to get things on track again. As goes California, so goes the nation… substitute president for governor and you’ll have my take on national politics.

>203 PaulCranswick: Congrats on 5,000 posts so far this year.

>222 PaulCranswick: I love visiting Amber’s thread, and I love visiting your thread. Each has something unique to offer, in line with their author.

I don’t stop visiting friends when their threads are more sombre, and I appreciate honest sharing. Everybody has things that are not good in their lives. Some folks share, some don’t. *shrug*

>223 karenmarie: I'm not in California so I cannot comment on the competency or otherwise of the current Governor. My interest was in the process itself as it is an unfamiliar one to this Brit. Seems to me the whole point of an election is to give someone a term in office and if they perform well they will more than likely get re-elected and if they perform badly they will lose. If they have broken the law in some way then by all means find a way to remove them but otherwise surely he won the election and should serve his term.

I have my favourites of course and someone who finds the number 8 more often than not is certainly in the front row, but I do tend to visit everybody's thread as often as I can.

I promise that my threads won't always be sombre, Karen!

>222 PaulCranswick: Political events have upset me as well, Paul.
Sometimes I try to write a reply, but then find myself looking up so many words to translate... An other language than my own makes it hard to express myself, so I give up and erase.

>225 FAMeulstee: I don't know how you guys are so articulate in English. I am pretty much perfectly fluent in Malay but hate writing in it.

>222 PaulCranswick: Aw, thanks for those kind words, Paul! I think I just don't have the mental energy to type out my feelings about the political and pandemical dumpster fire these days. *sigh*

>227 scaifea: Just one among many of your devotees here, Amber.

I don't blame you for the ennui with politics - none of them are any bloody good.

I said it over on Facebook, but I'll share the good wishes here as well (to remind those who forgot ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You old fart! (no offense, I'm older than you by a couple weeks)

>223 karenmarie: I think things tend to go less wrong under a Democratic governor, but that's not to say they always go well, but yes, the repulsicans do a great deal of damage and fortunately some of the Democrats have had the competence to handle the clean up.

It's your birthday? Oh, have a Happy Birthday!

>229 mahsdad: Hahaha no offence, Jeff, the truth shall set you free!

Thanks mate.

>230 quondame: I'm not sure that competence per se is a result of political affiliation although often its impression can be fostered by bad policies poorly pursued.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Susan. 55 today (2 September).

>231 PaulCranswick: It's not that competence is associated with political party, but if you must deny the truth to maintain power, the amount of good you can do to anyone but those who fund you is quite limited. The right is quite competent in sequestering wealth to itself, but that has been known to lead to major social disruptions which make things much worse even if things do improve temporarily for "the masses".

Happy birthday, Paul!

>232 quondame: Wouldn't disagree, Susan. As a committed socialist I think it would be pretty tough for me to vote GOP!

>233 amanda4242: Thank you, dear Amanda

Happy Birthday!

>235 figsfromthistle: Thank you so much, Anita.

AUGUST READING ROUND-UP

Not bad all considered this month

BOOKS READ : 14 (YEAR TO DATE 99)

PAGES READ : 3,709 PAGES (YEAR TO DATE 26,010)

PAGES PER DAY : 119.65 PAGES (YEAR TO DATE 107.04)

LONGEST BOOK : 448 PAGES (THE NIGHT WATCHMAN)

SHORTEST BOOK : 85 PAGES (NOTES ON GRIEF)

AVERAGE BOOK LENGTH : 264.93

BOOKS BY MEN : 8

BOOKS BY WOMEN : 6

ORIGIN OF AUTHORS : 8 UK ; 2 USA ; 1 FRANCE, PORTUGAL, JAPAN, NIGERIA

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE : 7 BOOKS
PULITZER WINNERS : 1 BOOK
AMERICAN AUTHOR CHALLENGE :
1001 BOOKS FIRST ED : 2 BOOKS
NEW NOBEL WINNERS :
QUEEN VIC BOOKS : 1 BOOK
QUEEN BETTY BOOKS : 5 BOOKS
AROUND THE WORLD BOOKS : 5 COUNTRIES (NIGERIA, PORTUGAL, JAPAN, MALTA, SENEGAL)

BOOK OF THE MONTH :

I AM, I AM, I AM by Maggie O'Farrell

Happy Birthday, Paul.
May the hair on your toes never be thinning...

>238 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas.

I haven't heard that saying before but I did have a quick look at my feet and everything seems to be ok!

Happy Birthday Paul!

Happy birthday, Paul!

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Paul!
Happy birthday to you!

READING PLAN FOR SEPTEMBER

My aim is to beat my best LT monthly score this month which is 27 books but I would guess it will be tough!

Here is my plan:

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende (Around the World)
The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Queen Vic)
The Opposite House by Helen Oyeyemi (BAC, Queen Betty)
The Maid Silja by FE Sillanpaa (Nobel, Around the World)
The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin (Queen Vic, BAC)
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (Booker, 1001 Books)
The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty (Pulitzer, 1001 Books)
What is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman (AAC)
PostColonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan (Nobel, Around the World
A Time to Dance by Melvyn Bragg (Queen Betty, BAC)
Metroland by Julian Barnes (BAC, Queen Betty)
Tales of the Tikongs by Epeli Hau'ofa (Around the World)
Ursule Mirouet by Honore de Balzac (Queen Vic)
Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna (Queen Betty, BAC, Around the World)
The King's Peace by CV Wedgwood (Queen Betty, British Historians, BAC)
At the Jerusalem by Paul Bailey (Queen Betty)
Bitter Lemons by Lawrence Durrell (Queen Betty, BAC)
The Persian Boy by Mary Renault (BAC, Queen Betty)
The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves (BAC, Queen Betty)
Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves (BAC, Series Pair)
Northlight by Douglas Dunn (BAC, Queen Betty)
Blackout by Ragnar Jonasson (Around the World)
Rupture by Ragnar Jonasson (Series Pair)

Buy and Read x 4

>240 SandDune: Thank you, Rhian!

>241 CDVicarage: Thanks Kerry.

>242 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. Kyran sang me the Malay version of that song last night and I realised he had my twin brother's singing genes. i.e. the poor fellow is tone deaf!

Happy birthday, Paul! I have 3 friends who share this birthday! You'd be the 4th :-)

>246 jessibud2: Thank you, Shelley - I'm sure that I am in good company!

BIRTHDAY BOOKS

217. Muscle by Alan Trotter
218. The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai
219. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
220. Missionaries by Phil Klay
221. Pew by Catherine Lacey
222. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

Modern / new fiction. Gyasi and Klay are award winners; Sittenfeld's book has garnered a lot of attention, the Vietnamese writer has also been lauded whilst the other two additions drew me originally by their covers.

Pew has also been a contender for various awards.

>249 elkiedee: Including the Dylan Thomas Prize which I normally keep my eye on too, Luci. Have you read it?

Happy birthday for a couple more hours, and good haul indeed! The Mountains Sing is everywhere, suddenly. Why? I have it in my DRCs but it's just popped up like mushrooms. Award nom? Hm.

Happy Birthday, Paul! Hoping it has been full of fabulous.

>243 PaulCranswick: Very ambitious! Wishing you good luck with your quest. I have read three of those and liked each of them - The English Patient, The Crow Trap, and Blackout.

Hi Paul -

Remembering your Very Elegant Birthday Cake from last year - Hope this is a Good Day too!

And, can you reprise the photo of That Cake?!?

Adding my birthday greetings Paul. Nice birthday haul. I've read and liked Transcendent Kingdom and Pew.

I'm sure there will be good food and cake. Did you get a day off? I haven't worked on my birthday for 20 years now.

Happy Birthday, Paul. Nice birthday book haul too. I am curious about the Klay book. I haven't seen much LT buzz on that one.

>252 richardderus: I did like the blurb and the first para which I read in the store, RD.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, dear fellow.

>253 Crazymamie: Thank you dear Mamie. I often flounder in my ambitions but that is part of the fun of setting the bar as high as possible.

The day has been a good one - a couple of old friends remembered me and called which put a spring in my step but I ended it snoozing on the sofa after imbibing a very generous glass of an Argentinian medoc.

>254 m.belljackson: Thanks Marianne. I will ask Hani to help me find it and will post it up again for you. She is sleeping at the minute though so I better wait for our morning!

>255 Caroline_McElwee: I have the option at present of going into site or working from home, Caroline, so it is obvious which one I chose today! Didn't do much but I had a couple of online meetings which I really couldn't avoid.

>256 msf59: Thank you, Mark. Well his earlier book - the slimmer Redeployment hit the mark with so many and I guess this one just seemed so topical.

Yikes! I think I technically missed wishing you Happy Birthday on your official birthday in Malaysia, but it's still your birthday here in central NC, US.

I hope you had a wonderful day, even if you did have to endure Kyran's singing. *smile*

Happy Birthday, Paul!! We're still celebrating here in the states!

Happy Birthday Paul. Lovely that you got books.

Hi Paul, Happy birthday mate from both of us, dear friend.

Normally I am a person who Knows My Own Mind. Startling, I realize, for you to hear this...as I've always been such a soft-spoken crowd-goer-alonger.

Stop laughing.

Anyway. I need help. The wisdom of the crowd is sought to help be decide between two equally strong contenders for Read of the Month. I am simply incapable to unparalyzing myself from the FOMO I get thinking about this problem.

Please vote on the poll or you will be directly responsible for my re-admission to the Goofy Garage this birthmonth.

>260 karenmarie: I think it still counts as on time, Karen! One of the best things about the time differences for me is that here I can make 24 hours into 37 or 38 quite easily! Thank you, Karen. xx

>261 ronincats: That's lovely. Thanks Roni and so great to see you over here. xx

>262 avatiakh: Probably a fairly unsurprising turn of events, Kerry, that I would add a few books to my TBR mountain. I did notice from my email that your book has been despatched from the UK.

>263 johnsimpson: Thank you John (and Karen).

Funny day at the Oval yesterday. We bowled quite steadily if unremarkably and got India out for less than 200 even though their lower order runs flattered them again. The openers capitulated straight after and then they got Rooty out just before the close. It will be a tight game but I am pleased to see Malan again justify my earlier calls for his inclusion - he looks full of confidence and application.

>264 richardderus: You know RD, I have instituted a policy whereby I read one of the books just bought immediately upon buying them. I am normally just as decisive as you are and get Hani to help me choose (not that I always follow her suggestion).

Will be pleased to make my contribution to keeping you out of the Goofy Garage.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/334948

Thank you, Silver. I'm expecting a busy weekend - bookwise.

>266 PaulCranswick: Paul, the book arrived yesterday. My son collected it from the mailbox so I didn't notice till late last evening. An Israeli author, many thanks.
I've read one of his books, World Cup Wishes.

>270 avatiakh: It was recommended to me by Paul Harris, another LT'er who is knowledgable on Israeli fiction. When I used the app in your profile page (what should you borrow), I was surprised you didn't have it as I figured I had to choose either an Israeli writer or a YA author. Enjoy. x

Sorry I missed your birthday Paul. But glad it was a good day. With a nice haul of books!

>243 PaulCranswick: I like your reading plans for September.

>272 EllaTim: Thank you, Ella.

Am immersed in my reading plans and hope to have an update on books finished soon!

Belated Happy Birthday Paul!

>274 humouress: Thank you, Neighbour! How are things in Singapore?

Your birthday is one day before mine! Hope you had a great one!

Thanks Anita, I hadn't realised but I'll get across and wish you a very slightly belated birthday. xx

BOOK #100



Pew by Catherine Lacey
Date Published : 2020
Origin of Author : USA
Pages : 207 pp

I don't quite know what to make of this novel.

Displacement and gender and religious conservatism are themes in this disturbing little novel which frankly asks more than it answers. She is a writer I will watch for as she clearly has plenty to say even though I am not entirely sure what that something is.

BOOK #101



Northlight by Douglas Dunn
Date of Publication : 1988
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 81 pp

Challenges :
BAC : 48 books
Queen Betty : 36/70

What is it about poets from Scotland that strikes such a chord - Norman MacCaig, Edwin Muir, Carol Ann Duffy, Mick Imlah, Don Paterson and Douglas Dunn.

This collection requires a couple of reads to mull over and digest these word paintings. Dunn has a technical excellence which is missing in much of modern poetry and he ranges this over the landscapes of home, in homage to friends and heroes, in appreciation of jazz and in short bursts of fire and ire over the political issues besetting the world far and near.

I know that poetry is not for all of us but if it is for you then you really ought to get acquainted with Douglas Dunn.

>278 PaulCranswick: I would say I felt pretty much the same Paul. I liked it, but it left me a bit off kilter re understanding or intent, but will at some time revisit.

>280 Caroline_McElwee: I liked it, Caroline, but it was a bit disturbing as well. I guess that was the point of it.

>279 PaulCranswick: I first heard of Douglas Dunn at school, though I'm not totally sure why - he wasn't a set text but an English teacher brought in a copy of Elegies, Dunn's volume of poems about the life and death of his first wife. Very powerful and moving.

I know where my copy of that book is, but I'm hoping that I'm not just imagining that I have a copy of Northlight and that it's not hidden somewhere totally inaccessible.

>278 PaulCranswick: Congrats on book #100, Paul!

>282 elkiedee: I liked Elegies better, Luci, but this one has more than its share of moments too.

>283 karenmarie: Thanks Karen. I have done ok this year although I always expect to do better!

>278 PaulCranswick: Yay for your passage into triple-digitry!

May the trend upward continue with more trenchant, tendentious, but less obscurantist writing.

You are probably setting up your new thread even as I post this. Wishing you well.

>285 richardderus: Thanks RD.

We can't all read the same stuff, dear fellow.

>286 witchyrichy: Yes, I guess it must be soon, Karen. x

Drive by drop in... and I'll admit to a great deal of skimming as I was so far behind.
>103 PaulCranswick: I read this recently too - it is very good, but I won't be re-reading ever. Far too traumatic!
Belated Happy Birthday wishes too :)

Oh and re >133 avatiakh: >134 PaulCranswick: Love a list! 41 for me.

Congratulations on 100 Paul!

>288 BekkaJo: I had a good reading month last month with a couple of 1001 books and several others that will stick in the memory.

>289 BekkaJo: Pretty decent score I would guess, Bekka.

>290 humouress: Thank you, Nina

Just swinging by to say hi.

>293 BBGirl55: Lovely to see you, Bryony!

a belated happy birthday, and congrats on a good reading month!

>295 banjo123: Thank you, Rhonda.

BOOK #102



A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
Date of Publication : 2019
Origin of Author : Chile
Pages : 349 pp

Challenges:
Around the World Challenge : 40th country

Good old fashioned storytelling.

This seems to be a book that sharply divided opinions but I loved it.

From the Spanish Civil War, a French internment camp to Chile and a wander through the post war history of that far flung land. I was sold from the opening page.

Is one result of the pandemic that as we gradually try to move out of it the postal service suddenly becomes super-efficient.

It normally takes up to a month for books to arrive from Book Depo here but I ordered 15 books around my birthday time and 12 of them showed up yesterday (a mere 4 days after despatch). Remarkable!

Here is what arrived:

223. Selected Poems by Anna Akhmatova
224. The Safety Net by Andrea Camilleri
225. Corpus by Rory Clements
226. Nucleus by Rory Clements
227. The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins
228. The Hill Station by JG Farrell
229. Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut
230. The Abstainer by Ian McGuire
231. The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray
232. Mating by Norman Rush
233. One by One by Ruth Ware
234. The Yield by Tara June Winch

Akhmatova I have always admired. I was frustrated waiting for the next Camilleri in my series reading especially as I have noticed the one following this one in the stores here already. The Clements' books have been recommended to me by a close friend. Billy Collins is Billy Collins. Farrell's unfinished 4th novel is something I have been looking for for a while. I have read and loved other work by Galgut and McGuire. I have seen a lot of Douglas Murray debating on TV and only some of which I agree with. Mating won the National Book Award and Winch won the Miles Franklin. The Ruth Ware book is actually meant as a surprise for Hani.

>299 PaulCranswick: WOW! Four days is some kind of record, surely.

>297 PaulCranswick: I've seen some sharply divergent opinions about this book. I honestly understand not liking Allende's writing...I'm lukewarm at best...but the outrage over the marriage part on many reviewers' takes utterly undid me. Do these folks imagine such a thing never happened? Do they think Neruda didn't make, erm, capricious decisions?

Allende doesn't write romances....

>300 richardderus: I also can see why someone wouldn't like the book, RD, trying to digest the history as it goes along, but I thought it realistic rather than otherwise and I am sure that some of the hard choices made by the characters in the book happened.

"100" candles are for the books and the cake is for your birthday!!
; )

>302 Berly: Gosh I'm glad it isn't the other way around, Kimmers!

Thank you. xx

Smooch. : )

>304 Berly: Smooch right back xx

>289 BekkaJo: >299 PaulCranswick: Wow, that's a great haul, and a lovely set of covers :)

>306 LovingLit: I am a sucker for a cover, Megan. I really like the new Camilleri covers.

Hi Paul mate, congrats on reaching 100 books read for the year so far.

>308 johnsimpson: Thank you John.