2021 Reading efforts of PGMCC - Seventh instalment.

Read in 2021

I start the year with four in-progress reads.

Title; Author; Status; Start/end date; Number of pages

It was the best of sentences, it was the worst of sentences. by June Casagrande 17/02/2020 -
The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford 26/10/2020 -
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17/12/2020 - 03/01/2021 333 pages
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely 20/12/2020 -

Books started in 2021:

Title; Author; Status; Start/end date; Number of pages

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 04/01/2021 - 07/01/2021 pages
Reynard the Fox by Anne Louise Avery 07/01/2021 - 17/01/2021 479 pages
Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth 17/01/2021 - 31/01/2021 170 pages
The Lusitania Waits by Alfred Noyes 28/01/2021 - 28/01/2021 5 pages (Short story)
Call for the Dead by John Le Carré 31/01/2021 - 04/02/2021 156 pages
London Centric edited by Ian Whates 04/02/2021 - 15/02/2021 278 pages (Short stories)
"The House of Asterion" by Jorge Luis Borge 06/02/2021 - 06/02/2021 3pages (short story)
Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut 21/02/2021 - 01/03/2021 256 pages
The Dark Frontier by Eric Ambler 01/03/2021 - 07/03/2021 258 pages
Orlando by Virginia Woolf 08/03/2021 - 20/03/2021 Abandoned after 118 pages of 235 pages
The Hand by Guy de Maupassant 14/03/2021 - 14/03/2021 12 pages (short story)
Uncommon Danger by Eric Ambler 20/03/2021 - 26/03/2021 256 pages
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler 29/03/2021 - 02/04/2021 193 pages
Africa's Top Geological Sites by Richard Viljoen 02/04/2021 - 290 pages
Cause for Alarm by Eric Ambler 03/04/2021 - 05/04/2021 267 pages
Actress by Anne Enright 05/04/2021 - 224 pages ROA* DNF
Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler 07/04/2021 - 11/04/2021 240 pages
"I Spy" by Graham Greene Short story published in 1930. 11/04/2021 - 11/04/2021 4 pages
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke 11/04/2021 - 21/04/2021 ? pages
Red Harvest by Dashell Hammett 16/04/2021 - 24/04/2021 187 pages
Skytip by Eric Ambler 25/04/2021 - 26/04/2021 181 pages.
Judgment on Deltchev by Eric Ambler 26/04/2021 - 02/05/2021 291 pages
River of Gods by Ian McDonald 02/05/2021 - 20/05/2021 583 Pages
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev 21/05/2021 - 25/05/2021 212 pages
Quiller: The Striker Portfolio by Adam Hall 25/05/2021 - 04/06/2021 197 pages
Snowdrops by A.D. Miller 26/05/2021 - 30/05/2021 273 pages
Seven Demons by Aidan Truhen 05/06/2021 - 07/06/2021 344 pages
The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany Translated by Humphrey Davies. 08/06/2021 - 15/06/2021 272 pages
Tender to Danger by Eric Ambler 15/06/21 - 19/06/2021 174 pages
The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan translated from Tamil by N. Kalyan Raman. 19/06/2021 - 183 pages ROA* DNF 26 pages
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway 19/06/2021 - 03/07/2021 566 pages Reread
Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout 04/06/2021 - 12/07/2021 304 Pages
Attenuation by Nick Harkaway 12/07/2021 - 13/07/2021 ? Pages Short Story in Arc 1.2 Post Human Conditions
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 13/07/2021 - 28/06/2021 210 Pages
The Maras Affair by Eric Ambler 28/07/2021 - 02/08/2021 191 Pages
The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges 30/07/2021 7 Pages (short story)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro 02/08/2021 - 15/07/2012 307 Pages
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson 15/08/2021 - 15/07/2021 12 Pages (Short story)
Charter to Danger** by Eric Ambler 15/08/2021 - 19/08/2021 167 Pages
In the Woods by Tana French 19/08/2021 - 28/08/2021 592 Pages
The Economics of Inequality by Piketty 21/08/2021 - ? Pages
Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri 28/08/2021 - 01/09/2021 160 Pages
The Lost Girls of Foxfield Hall by Jessica Thorne 01/09/2021- 06/09/2021 347 Pages
The Sympathizer 06/09/2021 - 28/09/2021 295 Pages
Murmurs In The Dark Thirteen Ghostly Tales, edited Marissa Doyle & Shannon Page 28/09/2021 - 07/10/2021 194 Pages
The Bookbinder's Daughter by Jessica Thorne 07/10/2021 - 12/10/2021 330 pages
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene 12/10/2021 - 18/10/2021 194 pages
Silverview by John Le Carré 14/10/2021 - 16/10/2021 210 pages
Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen 18/10/2021 - 449 Pages
The Green Man's Challenge by Juliet E. McKenna 21/10/2021 - 28/10/2021 296 pages
A Man With One Of Those Faces by Caimh McDonnell 28/10/2021 - 04/11/2021 362 pages
The Terrible Door by George Simms 8/11/2022 - 12/11/2021 152 pages
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 12/11/2021 - 20/11/2021 336 pages
The Searcher by Tana French 20/11/2021 - 29/11/2021 451 pages
Beyond The Hallowed Sky by Ken MacLeod 29/11/2021 - 07/12/2021 372 Pages
Gambier (short story) by Oliver Onions 08/12/2021 - 10/12/2021 ? Pages
The Night-Comers by Eric Ambler 11/12/2021 - 16/12/2021 261 Pages
The Likeness by Tana French 17/12/2021 - 27/12/2021 696 Pages
Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu 27/12/2021 - ? pages

*ROA: Risk Of Abandonment due to lack of interest or pure boredom.

** Do not be deceived by everything you read in a Touchstone. The book "Charter to Danger" is a different book to "Tender to Danger". The Touchstones do not recognise "Charter to Danger" as a different book.

Two flights tomorrow with a five hour wait in Dulles airport between them. The first flight is 1.5 hours long and the second 6.75 hours. If I do not fall asleep I might manage to finish Beyond The Hallowed Sky. I am enjoying it so far. The beginning is set in the year 2067.

Move on, nothing to see here ...

Is it a thread yet?

>4 Karlstar: There's not enough of it yet to be a yarn.

Happy new thread-in-progress!

*waves*

I am delighted to see you all here. Packing, travel arrangements and wrapping presents to be left under a tree are activities delaying regular posting. Normal service will return post trans-Atlantic travel and jet-lag readjustment.

In the meantime I have reserved the GD function room and if you make your way there you will find a variety of cheeses and will be served the beverage of your choice.

For the enquiring minds that want to know, we had gravy and biscuits for breakfast yesterday. Very tasty. Something to be repeated in the future.

Mmmm. CHEESE!!!

Well, I am back home. I did not manage to read more than 25% of Beyond The Hallowed Sky on the plane. That is no fault of the book.

I did watch a funny film. It was a Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek and Samuel L. Jackson movie called, "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard". It is a bit of entertainment fodder with a lot of shooting and fighting, the type of film where twenty bad guys are shooting thousands of bullets at our three main characters and none of our three main characters gets hit, while they, in returning fire, take out all the bad guys.

I would say people either love or hate Ryan Reynolds humour, but I would also say the everyone loves Samuel L. Jackson and Morgan Freeman. Everyone should love Salma Hayek. Her portrayal of the hitman's wife was great comedic acting.

Now to go an hunt out some pictures from my trip to share.

My son-in-law is a big Star Wars fan. He brought us to the airport on Tuesday morning but until I saw this photograph on my laptop screen I had not been aware he used The Force to take us there.

>10 pgmcc: Have you seen the previous film The Hitman's Bodyguard?

>12 -pilgrim-:
Yes. That is why I decided to watch this one.

I just had one of those moments. I was looking across the room at an old paperback copy of The Lord of the Rings and it struck me that it is over forty years since I read it.

Carry on. Nothing to see here.

>8 pgmcc: Were the biscuits and gravy from Bob Evans?

>15 suitable1: I had a biscuit in Bob Evens with a little gravy on my chicken. My S-I-L made us delicious biscuits and gravy one morning and it was great.

E.T.A. I had my booster shot on Saturday. Responding o >15 suitable1: while in the queue must be the reason for all the errors I had to correct. It was quite chilly, but not freezing.

Of course, now that I have my booster shot all the nightclubs have been closed again. I just cannot win.

I am not getting a good run at Beyond The Hallowed Sky. Between booster shot, visiting daughter and family here, and being wiped out on Sunday after the shot I have made limited progress. On the trans-Atlantic flight I did not read much. My report card states, "Must Do Better!".

>17 pgmcc:
I have made better progress with Beyond The Hallowed Sky and am now in a state of great anguish and resent having to work as it is taking me away from the book. What was a relatively slow start has turned into an interesting and fast moving story.

I finished Beyond The Hallowed Sky last night. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next book in this trilogy.

Ken's stories often, if not always, raise issues of a social or political nature, and Beyond The Hallowed Sky is no exception, but it is not as blatant as in some of his books. This volume starts in the year 2067 and ends 2070. The world order involves three major political blocks: The Union, which is the current EU countries plus a few others, and, significantly, includes Scotland; The Alliance, which includes England and the USA amongst others; The Co-ordinated Countries, which includes Russia, China and some other countries.

The story involves AIs, the impossibility of Faster Than Light (FTL) travel, and alien technology. I like the characters and we can see their motivations and understand their actions in the context of their lives and environment.

Espionage is also involved in the story. Espionage in an age of AI proliferation.

Other issues making an appearance include climate change and political blocks using the management of stories in the media to influence the thoughts and actions of people in other political blocks.

Would I read more books by this author?
Yes, definitely.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes.

Who would I recommend it to?
Anyone who likes intrigue and exploring the implications of real world trends in a near-future environment.

Has this book inspired me to do anything?
Yes. Hanker for the next volume in the trilogy.

I am reading a short story called, "Gambier", from The Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions, published by Tartarus Press. The version I am using is the Kindle edition.

I have not had much time to pick photographs to post from our Cincinnati trip, but on 7th December my daughter did take a few photographs of our new grandson, twelve weeks old today, under the Christmat tree. I have to share these. Apparently he was in great form for a photo shoot. I hope you like the two I have selected to share.

Love the pictures. He's a cutie!

>21 pgmcc: He's just so cute! Great photos.

I have finished the short story, "Gambier", by Oliver Onions. It was not a ghost story, but it was a story in which minds have been twisted and affected by isolation and the remnants of ancient superstitions.

I will not start, The Night-Comers, by Eric Ambler. I think Touchstones if telling me this book is also called State of Siege. Apparently State of Siege is the title for the book outside the UK. A number of his books have different titles depending on what side of the Atlantic one is on.



My copy is a Kindle version.

This book was first published in 1956, the year before this small, insignificant planet saw the arrival of the individual I have a habit of referring to with the vertical pronoun.

Another must share photograph from our trip is my first serving of 5-way Chilli.



I say, "first serving" because it was my first ever serving of 5-way Chilli. If I return to Cincinnati I suspect I might have a second, and even a third, serving of 5-Way Chilli.

Thank you, @Karlstar, for the suggestion.

>21 pgmcc: Wonderful!

>25 pgmcc: Glad you enjoyed that large serving of local culture!

>21 pgmcc: oh my goodness! So cute!

>25 pgmcc: that chili looks delicious. Being from the west coast, I do not know what 5-way chili is.

>27 catzteach: I don't know what it is either, but that cheese makes me want to find out.

>26 Karlstar:
That was actually the medium portion with 700 calories. The large had 1,000 calories so I thought the medium was the right choice.

>27 catzteach: & >28 clamairy:
Research and experience informed me that a 5-way Chili, or Cincinnati Chili, consists of chilli, beans, spaghetti, diced onion, and cheese. I had no idea it existed until @Karlstar suggested I try it and I am glad we did.

We had it in Skyline Chili; the 2-Way is their signature dish. They are also famous for their Coney which is a hot dog with dice onion, ketchup and cheese. The pile of cheese on the left at the back of the photo is a coney; the pile on the right is a Chili Potato.

>21 pgmcc: That's quite a smile for such a little one! Adorable!

>31 MrsLee:
My daughter was surprised and delighted how “into it” he was.

I hope you are getting a lot of grandson fixes. I think we agree on the value of those.

Lovely photos! Your new grandson is a very photogenic chap, and looks like he is enjoying life to the full.

>21 pgmcc: Pleased to meet such a cheerful chappie!

>19 pgmcc: You are tempting me...again.

>21 pgmcc: Very handsome young man, and he has a beautiful smile!

Just a word that I followed your advice and watched The Hitman's Bodyguard, and The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard. They were exactly the sort of mindless violence I needed. ;D

>37 MrsLee:
Switch off brain and enjoy.

I am quite enjoying The Night-Comers by Eric Ambler. It is set at a time of revolution in an imaginary state beside Indonesia. Events are seen from the viewpoint of a British engineer who had been working on a dam building project and got caught in the middle of a military coup as he was attempting to return home at the end of his contract.

It outlines the difficulties and struggles faced by a country that has recently found independence from European colonialism and demonstrates the impact of events on individuals. It also highlights the fears and vulnerability of people who suffer prejudice from the majority population; they are particularly exposed at a time of rampant violence during the rising.

I have finished The Night-Comers by Eric Ambler. There will be more on this later.

In the meantime I am plunging into another Tana French novel, The Likeness, the second story in the Dublin Murder Squad series. At 696 pages this one might take me right into next year.

>40 pgmcc: I think The Likeness is my favorite book of hers that I've read. I only have one Dublin Murder Squad book left to read, and I'm waiting a while. I hate the idea of not having anything of hers left to read. (Also I want the get The Searcher out of my head. Haha... )

>41 clamairy: Also I want the get The Searcher out of my head. Haha...

I can relate to that, and must say The Searcher did have a part in my picking The Likeness as my next read. It was a bit like getting back on the horse after a fall. I really enjoyed the Tana French books I read before The Searcher and I knew you liked the other Murder Squad books you have read, so I concluded The Likeness was a safe bet for a good read. I am only 23 pages in but am enjoying it. The reason I am only 23 pages in is that it was 23:30 hrs when I reached page 23 and I forced myself to focus on the fact I was getting up at 06:30 hrs to bring my son to an exam.

After finishing The Night-Comers I was at a loss as to what to read next. I have a plethora of books I want to read, but either I felt they were going to take energy, or I forgot which ones they were, and so I was wandering about looking at books and trying to find the love. In so doing I spotted The Likeness and thought it would be good to jump into a good Tana French and ease out the feelings from reading a mediocre Tana French.

The more I think of it the more I am convinced the comparison between The Searcher and John Ford's The Quiet Man becomes stronger and stronger.

I am on page 62 of The Likeness. I am enjoying it but I do have one little issue with the story so far. Only read on if you have read the book.

We know Cassie is going to get involved in the undercover investigation. I am at page 62 and they are still pretending that she is considering whether or not to get involved. If she does not get involved there is no excuse for the following 630 pages. I just feel the lead in has been a bit too long.

>21 pgmcc: Oh! What a gorgeous baby! That smile!!! (Yes, it does warrant three exclamation points.)

>19 pgmcc: Beyond the Hallowed Sky is now on my neverending TBR list, so thanks!

>25 pgmcc: Look at all that cheese! My mouth is literally watering. I'm going to have to look up Cincinnati Chili.

>44 Storeetllr:
Thank you for all the exclamation marks. He is a very smiley baby. His sister was a smiley baby too.

I hope you enjoy Beyond the Hallowed Sky. Have you read his Corporation Wars trilogy?

The 5-way chilli was something that I enjoyed and was delighted to have been informed about. The one in the picture is a "medium". When it arrived I thought it looked a bit on the small side, but by the time I had finished it I had changed my mind. :-)

>19 pgmcc: I don't typically like near future sci-fi, but this one sounds interesting.

Cincinnati chili also typically has chocolate and cinnamon in it, so it's a touch sweeter than some people like.

Glad you enjoyed the food and your family. Adorable photos! Tiny ones have such big, natural smiles.

>30 pgmcc: other than the onions, 5-way Chili sounds delicious!

>47 catzteach:
The menu gave options for 4-way and 3-way, so you could drop some ingredients if you preferred.

The onions were very finely chopped.

The 2021 Hugo Award winners can be found HERE.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Well done to all the nominees regardless of their winning or not. It is a real achievement to get nominated.

I voted for S.A. Chakraborty's Daevabad trilogy for Best Series, but am not surprised Martha Welles's Murderbot series won given all the support expressed in the GD.

I am getting further and further away from knowing the names and works of recent Science Fiction and Fantasy authors. I am still wading my way through the wonderful literature of the past. If I were to devote my time to reading only recently written books I would be missing out on all the richness of the books that have been around for ages. Striking the right balance is the key. That balance is different for everybody.

One of the things I discovered when reading the works of more recent authors is that the theory of there only being a handful of stories is true. I get upset when I read a new book and discover it is basically the retelling of an old story. That is how I felt when I got to the end of The Girl With All the Gifts and realised it was basically a retelling, albeit modernised, of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.

Now I wait for the reactions. :-)

>49 pgmcc: I just gave this news its own thread, only to come in here and see you posted it as well. I didn't vote but I think that having read and loved both series I would have thrown my vote Martha's way. I believe her series is a bit more accessible.

>50 clamairy:
Our timing is synchronised.

I could see Martha Welles’s work was very popular and getting a lot of praise. The time for Daevabad to win was 2019, but that didn’t happen.

>43 pgmcc:
I am still enjoying The Likeness but RL is enforcing slow progress. Page 116 and it is only now getting into the meat of the story.

I have just bought, for £0.00, a Kindle edition of Ayala's Angel by Anthony Trollope. I have liked the Trollope I have read and reckoned that even if it is a poor quality Kindle edition I will not be losing much money at a price of £0.00.

>52 pgmcc: I didn't find the beginning too slow since it filled in Cassie's background so much, especially after the end of the first book and the confrontation with the killer. If it had been a straight up fight, it wouldn't have devastated her so much, but it wasn't. And the whole Rob thing. Jeez. So I think her semi-hiding in Domestic is worth delving into.

>55 Bookmarque:
There is a lot happening in RL and I am not getting much time to read, so I see my reading time as precious. To be 116 pages in and not having learned much more than is on the back cover is making me a bit impatient.

>56 pgmcc: I'm sure you'll find it more enjoyable when things calm down in RL.

>57 clamairy: I am enjoying it already. I am just an impatient bunny these days.

>59 clamairy:
Yep! That’s me.

>49 pgmcc: I agree on the balance between reading 'older' books and newer, I like to use the Hugo and Nebula nominee lists as 'TBR' lists, but I'm not getting through them fast enough.

>61 Karlstar:
I used to try to read all the Hugo nominated novels but gave up. When I was voting for the Hugos (I had voting rights as an attendee or as a supporting member) I wanted to be fair and to vote on the basis of knowledge of the nominated novels. Having gone through that process for a few years I realised not everyone did that, so I stopped. There were a few years when the winning books did not, in my opinion, warrant the acclaim and votes they received, but had more to do with other factors.

I hasten to add that this year is not one of those years. I can tell from the comments and enthusiasm for Martha Welles's books on LT that her work has brought great pleasure to her readers. I have been shying away from reading her books as I am reluctant to get drawn into any series. I believe I am fighting an internal battle that I will soon lose.

>62 pgmcc:

Wait for the omnibus edition.

>63 suitable1:
Do not tell anyone, but that is what I was thinking too.

>62 pgmcc: TOR gave away the first four novellas as e-books a while back. I have heard a rumour that a select few LT members might have them archived for future re-reads - or for if someone who missed the give-away were to show a sudden interest. A covert operation would be most applicable so... being aware of your lack of experience in that arena, (*nudge, nudge - wink, wink*), I will only say that a PM in the right direction might possibly garner a positive response.

As far as diving into a series... the first four books, and the latest, Fugitive Telemetry, are all novella-length so they are not a huge time commitment. Even the full-length Network Effect novel was a pretty quick read. There is also no harm in reading All Systems Red, (~150-ish pages), and stopping there as the ending wraps things up without a cliff-hanger.

I am currently closing in on finishing all of the Hugo winners. I have 14 books remaining on my to-read list. Along the way, I have also read many of the non-winning nominees - but have little interest in trying to read every single one found on The List.

The Likeness has picked up pace. Having woken at 4am and instead of going back to sleep I picked up the book and forced myself to stop reading at 4:44am I now have to declare that the story has stepped up the tempo. It was about page 160 it got going for me and I am now on page 200.

I have cooked the ham and am about to stuff the turkey, so things will be a bit hectic around here for the next few hours. That being the case I am wishing you all a peaceful and happy time for the holiday season. Keep well and, in the words of the great leaders:

"Be excellent to each other. Party on, dudes."

>67 pgmcc: party on to you too, Peter and family :)

>67 pgmcc: Happy Holidays!

>67 pgmcc: Happy Christmas to you and all of yours, Peter.

>67 pgmcc: Happy Christmas to you and yours!

>68 Darth-Heather:
Thank you, Darth. Have a great, peaceful, and relaxing time.

>69 catzteach: Right back at you!

>70 haydninvienna: Thank you, Richard. Have a lovely time.

>71 hfglen: Have a wonderful time, Hugh.

Happy Christmas and I hope your dinner was great.

>76 Karlstar:
Merry Christmas, Jim. We have just finished dinner now. Dinner was great, thank you. I hope your dinner was good. We are now stuffed and thinking of watching a film and dozing off to the land of slumber.

The Likeness progress report.
I am on page 366. Only another 330 to go.

I am grabbing the book any free time I get. That is always a good sign. I am enjoying the mystery.

Merry Christmas, Peter.

>79 -pilgrim-:
Merry Christmas, @-pilgrim-.

>80 pgmcc: Thank you. Are you both feasting or relaxing today?

>81 -pilgrim-:
Relaxing today. We cancelled the annual St Stephen's Day visit by Caitríona’s siblings because of Covid. Hence we are having a very relaxing day.

>77 pgmcc: Our dinner was good as well, thank you. We're lucky to have my daughter, SIL and granddaughter visiting and had my parents over as well for my wife's lasagna. Great stuff!

>78 pgmcc: I do not remember that book being so long.

>84 catzteach:
I am on page 554. Only 142 pages to go.
:-)

I finished The Likeness by Tana French this morning. It is a very enjoyable book. As @clamairy has said about the book, it is as much about the murder mystery as it is about what the case does to the minds of all involved.

Having been a bit disappointed with The Searcher my faith in Tana French's work has been restored by The Likeness.

I have started reading Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. I am about fifteen pages in and am enjoying the tone and pace of the book. It is a Gothic novel and it has started with the narrator describing the circumstances of a young lady of seventeen, whose father is widowed and is a rather distant person. It transpires that the narrator is this young lady and I am enamoured by the tone of the lady's descriptions and observations. I also see that Le Fanu has woven some humour into the tale.

In describing her father's habit of pacing up and down the length of the main room in their home she states it reminds her of Chateaubriand's father's pacing in the main hall of Château Combourg. "Why do you mention this here?" you ask. Well, I will tell you why.

I am a sucker for books that mention places I know. As this book was written by an Irish author I anticipated knowing some of the places mentioned. I did not expect them to mention a Château that I have visited and have fond memories of. When we visited the Château Combourg I learned that it was the home of Chateaubriand, the French nobleman whose name was given to the dish he created, and that my then fiancé and I had enjoyed years previously when we were on holiday. This is not the only food related link I have with Chateaubriand's Château. There is a little bistro in the village of Combourg which is snuggled up against the outer wall of the Château. We dined there on three occasions and had amazing service and food.

Uncle Silas is pusing very hot buttons in the early pages of this book. I am very inclined to like the book a lot.

ERRATA: Uncle Silas is set in England.

Oh, I LOVED Uncle Silas! Enjoy. It's fab.

OK, so I read my review and it wasn't love, exactly, but I really did enjoy it in an exasperating sort of way.

>86 pgmcc: Very glad to read this, and I am also pleased that you had such a wonderful Christmas.

Also, you need to step up your piffle game, if you want to be able to start your thread for the new year!

>88 Bookmarque:
I think I know what you mean. It is Gothic after all. Bwahahahaha...

>89 clamairy: I hope your Christmas was good and that you feel all the better for it.

>90 clamairy: Thank you for the PIFFLE PARTY ALERT!

HEAR YE! HEAR YE!

ON THIS 28TH DAY OF DECEMBER, 2021, ALL THOSE WITHIN GREEN DRAGON REACH ARE HEREBY INFORMED THAT THIS THREAD IS OPEN FOR A PIFFLE PARTY WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF REACHING 150 POSTS BY 31ST DAY OF DECEMBER THIS YEAR.

LET THE PIFFLING BEGIN!

Did I mention that a little rose bud has been coming out slowly in our garden since the week before Christmas?

Well, it has.

>90 clamairy: Piffle?!? Did someone mention Piffle?

>88 Bookmarque: That's another BB, Peter. I found the e-book of Uncle Silas on Gutenberg.org & have downloaded it.

>95 ScoLgo:
I hope you enjoy it. My copy is a beautiful Folio Society edition and I do not want to damage it. I was reading it in bed last night and decided I could not continue to read that copy in bet. This evening I picked up the Kindle edition for £0.41.

Welcome to the Piffle Party.

How was your holiday? Mine was beautifully quiet. My in-laws* did not come over on St. Stephen's Day, a tradition they started and continued despite our best efforts to stop the tradition they had established. This year we planted the idea that the surge with Omicron would mean it is unwise to gather in our house. This is the first silver-lining I have seen in this entire pandemic.

*This can mean up to eight people, from six different households, coming to spend the day with us, from about 3am and often up to 2am in the morning. I love them, but it is nice to have some quiet time to ourselves.

Cat-related pifffle:

Good news! My adopted feral cat has progressed a lot within the past couple months. I think the cold weather caused her to appreciate housecat comforts such as heated cat beds, and she's decided it's a good life.

She now lets me pat her with two hands. She's still terrified of being picked up, but at least I can get her to purr now. Progress!

Not sure I'm in the mood to piffle but this post should help you reach your goal.

>45 pgmcc: As far as I can recall, I've never read Ken MacLeod. I hope to remedy that soon.

>49 pgmcc: I fully agree with the Murderbot Diaries winning Best Series, but Network Effect was Best Novel of the year only because the others weren't imo. TBH, I only finished Network Effect and DNFd Piranesi and The City We Became. It's possible I just wasn't in the mood for them and will try them again, but maybe not.

As for Girl With All The Gifts being a retelling of I Am Legend, I don't see it, though both are about an apocalyptic pandemic that turned humans into monsters which became the new normal. Lots of books use similar tropes, such as The Passage (which I did not enjoy). Unlike Legend, Girl provides a dose of warm & hopeful in the midst of all the chilling & terrifying, with characters that are well developed and realistic/understandable.

A funny coincidence: Last night, I finished Ancillary Mercy and suddenly realized how many of the same tropes are used in Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries. Since Ancillary Justice was published in 2013 and All Systems Red was published in 2017, it could be said the Murderbot Diaries is a retelling of the Ancillary trilogy, but the way each are developed, as well as the differences in the main characters, make them distinct and unique.

Fun discussion! Thanks!

>97 Darth-Heather: glad your kitty is coming along. We just got back from the vet. One of ours has ringworm! So now we are on watch to make sure the other kitties, and ourselves, didn’t get it, too.

>86 pgmcc: glad your faith is restored. Broken Harbor is very good, too.

>99 catzteach: Funny you should mention ringworm.

Shortly after my wife's 40th birthday party, a neighbour brouht their new kitten to our house to show it to the children. A few days after that my wife and one of the children developed the tell-tale ring shaped rash and they headed to the pharmacy for advice and a cure.

The person serving them in the pharmacy gave them a treatment and told them when it was used up to come back for more if the rash had not gone away.

My wife's rash had not cleared up when the medication was finished so she went back to the pharmacist. It was a different person who served her and this person was a bit apprehensive. She asked my wife if she were pregnant. My wife said she was not. The person at the counter said her husband worked in a laboratory that was doing research on the particular drug my wife was requesting, and which she had been taking for a fortnight, and the research was indicating a level of deformaties (cleft pallets) in babies whose mothers had taken this drug during their pregnancy. The pharmacist said she would really like to make sure my wife was not pregnant before giving her this medication and asked my wife to take a pregnancy test.

That is how we discovered we were expecting our youngest child.

By the way, the ringworm was cleared up with other medication and our son did not suffer any ill effects from the two weeks use of that medicine.

>99 catzteach:

Also on the ringwork theme, my brother-in-law, who is from a very rural part of the country, has a traditional cure for ringworm. It was handed down to him by one of his grandparents. It involves mixing certain ingredients in particular proportions, and applying the resultant paste to the rash having heated it to open up the pores. The recipe is secret and he cannot reveal it to anyone other than the person he hands it down to.

He can take no more than one penny payment for this treatment if he takes anything at all.

The cure has been handed down from generation to generation for what must be approaching centuries now. Everyone in the area he comes from knows he is the person with the cure and he will receive phonecalls from ringworm sufferers asking him to treat their ringworm the next time he is in the area.

The cure is kept under these strict rules of secrecy and little or no payment to keep the treatment available to the poor people of the area. It appears to do the trick ok, and is not a faith based cure. The ingredients include gunpowder and butter, as well as some other things that I do not know. I also do not know the proportions.

Having done some research on ringworm medications I have come across some that appear to have elements that would not be a million miles away from my B-I-L's mixture.

It is nice to see a bit of folk history in action; something that has survive for centuries and been passed from individuals to their descendents to keep the tradition going.

>98 Storeetllr:
I hope you enjoy Ken's work. His work has entertained me for quite a few decades at this stage. He has space opera scale work and quite near-future stories. I enjoy them all.

I was disappointed in Girl With All The Gifts being simpy the same trope. It was very sophisticated in its journey to the end, but I was disappointed with the ending. The ending of the novel, I Am Legend realy hit home for me. I think it was because I had been used to seeing the story end differently in the films, so the book ending was a big reveal for me.

I have not read any of the Ancillary or Murderbots so I cannot comment. Although, when I was tidying my shelves today, I did come across a book called, "The Bluffer's Guide to Talking About Books You Haven't Read". I must read a few pages of that and get back to you.

>99 catzteach:
Broken Harbour is on my book shelf, so it could be my next Tana French.

Grandad and his latest grandchild.

This shot is from our recent visit to Cincnnati.

Can anyone tell me the subject of each of the images in the quilt hanging over the fireplace?

Looking good!

Broken Harbor is a good one, too, although I think the next in order is Faithful Place - it sheds light on Frank Mackey.

>105 Bookmarque:
Am I correct in thinking Broken Harbour is a standalone story and not part of the Dublin Murder Squad series? If it is not I will go for Faithful Place instead.

>106 pgmcc: They are both part of the Dublin Murder Squad 'series'. Faithful Place comes after The Likeness and features Frank Mackie as the MC while introducing 'Scorcher' Kennedy, the MC of Broken Harbour.

Right, ScoLgo - First we get In the Woods with Rob & Cassie, then The Likeness with Cassie and Frank, then Faithful Place with Frank and Scorcher then Broken Harbor with Scorcher and Richie.

>110 clamairy:
Thank you for arranging the catering for the piffle party. That is a lovely spread.

>109 ScoLgo: & >111 Bookmarque:
Right so, Faithful Place it is.

It makes for a nice transition for sure. I read them as they were published and even though I didn't really like the last two as much as the first three, I'll take them over The Searcher any day.

>112 pgmcc: That's my serving...

This one is to share...

>116 clamairy:
I like your style!

>117 pgmcc: There are over 4000 people in this group. Just playing it safe.

>104 pgmcc: Shamelessly using a baby to pad your post count!!

Great picture!

>102 pgmcc: Haha, after you've read it, maybe you can give me a few hints on how to bluff too.

Boy on the Bridge is a companion novel to Girl With All The Gifts set in the same world. It begins about 20 years earlier than Girl and ends after the events in Girl. It fills in some backstory and provides a more satisfying ending. I think it will make you happier with the story. As far as books with the same tropes go, I'm afraid you are going to be doomed to disappointment because, as you said above, there are really only a few stories being told in different ways.

>97 Darth-Heather: Mr Mistoffelees joined the family (from the SPCA) in 2015. In that last few weeks -- it's summer here, and warm at night -- he's decided that his pet hoomin needs company on his bed all night. The pet hoomin is far from objecting.

>97 Darth-Heather: That is wonderful. How old is she?

>122 clamairy: we think she's almost 3. we adopted her last winter, and the shelter folks were assuming she was about 18 months or so. she's incredibly tiny, but she had already had a litter of kittens.

This is Tiny Maisie with her very big brother Phinneas:



I guess it's good that she's so young; she is able to adapt fairly easily, but she was born to feral parents so it's an uphill battle to gain her trust with new things.

>123 Darth-Heather: I'm glad you've made such progress with her.

>119 Karlstar:

Oh! You noticed that, did you?

Thank you for your comment on the picture.

While you are here, let me introduce you to my one year old granddaughter, Oonagh.



Still shameless after all these years!

>125 pgmcc: She is so cute! 🥰

>120 Storeetllr:
I will let you know if I go for Boy on the Bridge and then you can chalk up a notch on your book bullet score chart.

>121 hfglen: Our cat, George, has fixed ideas about when the day starts and when breakfast must be served. In his mind 5am is the correct time for both, regardless of when I had planned to get up. He does not understand the concept of weekends or days off work.

>123 Darth-Heather:
We found our four cats in the garden when they were about four weeks old. Their parents were feral and their mother was hanging around the neighbourhood. Ours were so young it only took a few weeks to gain some trust. Food was the great persuader. George is the only one of the four left and he is very affectionate. It would not have been the case if he and his siblings had been any older when we got them.

A neighbour was feeding the mother and managed to catch her and have her neutered. She never took to close contact with humans but did sit in the neighbour's garden as the neighbour did the gardening. You have managed well to get as far as you have with a feral cat.

>126 clamairy:
Thank you, Clare.

Did you see that @Karlstar spotted my piffle plan; sharing a picture with the hope that it has a multiplier effect and generates many posts. I have not given up hope yet.

I must pop over to @jillmwo's thread and help with her Piffle Party.

This is where we were staying in Cincinnati. I was a bit disappointed that we did not get to meet Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa or Maggie.

That's because they're in Springfield, Massachusetts!

>132 Bookmarque:
We were in Massachusetts in 2016 and didn’t get to meet them then either.

>132 Bookmarque: >133 pgmcc: Sorry folks, it's not in Ohio or Massachussetts...

Matt Groening Reveals the Location of the Real Springfield

EtA: Originally named for Springfield, Oregon but Massachussetts also appears to be accurate as it is Mike Scully's hometown. According to wikipedia, Springfield is one of the more common place-names in the US and Groening intended people to think of it as, "their Springfield". A sort of Anytown, USA approach.

>134 ScoLgo: Interesting interview. I see he mentioned both Massachussetts and Ohio.

I had heard it was Springfield becasue every state had at least one Springfield. Interesting to see Oregon is home of the fictitious Springfield.

Thank you for sharing the link to the article.

>135 pgmcc: There is no Springfield in Connecticut. Google tells me that 34 states have a Springfield.

Away up there you asked about the quilt. Top panel is sunrise on the prairie, middle is nuclear bomb on the prairie and bottom is after giant earthquake melts the prairie into ocean, with an orca jumping. Easy Peasy.

Also, the baby and grandpa photo is sweet and precious, and your one year old Christmas pixie is adorable!

Interesting story about ringworm. I’m hoping I don’t need the cure. We were told the older one gets, the easier it is to fight it off naturally. I just hope I don’t take it into my classroom. Skippy is contagious for at least another three weeks!

Is that a Star Wars quilt?

I grew up in the town next to Springfield. The two towns are often mentioned as a hyphen: Eugene-Springfield. There is a Skinner’s Butte (Principal Skinner) and Warehauser has a factory there (the nuclear plant). I never met anyone with the name of Simpson while living there. ;)

>138 MrsLee: Thank you, Lee!

>137 MrsLee:
I admire your creativity. A closer look might help with accuracy.



If you are looking for a clue then look at the what is on the mantlepiece, or ask @catzteach to lend a hand.

>139 catzteach:
Good luck with the ringworm.

Interesting comments on Springfield. Perhaps the Simpsons have changed their family name to avoid publicity. It must be very invasive for them.

Is that a Star Wars quilt?

Good start. Any idea about the individual panels?

>136 clamairy:
No, I am not going to go looking for the other 15 states that do not have a Springfield. :-)

>116 clamairy: Zowie!

>144 2wonderY:
I can recommend @clamairy Catering for all sorts of functions. All dietry preferences catered for as long as they are cheese and wine.

Quilt: top row is Tatooine, middle is Cloud City, bottom is Endor. Cool quilt. Did your daughter make it?

>146 catzteach:

Full marks.

My son-in-law’s sister. She made several amazing quilts for them and they have them hanging on walls in the house. Unfortunately I did not photograph the other ones.

>125 pgmcc: Now a cuteness attack! So shameless.

>148 Karlstar:
You have no idea how deep my shamelessness goes. If this thread was more than one post from the magic 150 I would be throwing three more grandchildren into the charge, and a cat and a dog. How is that for shamelessness?

>145 pgmcc: Hey... There's all sorts of fruits and grains in there, too. And highly salted meaty stuff... LOL

>150 clamairy:
I find it appropriate that you wrote post #150 as you were the one to spot I needed a piffle party.

I only had eyes for cheese.

>151 pgmcc: I thought so, too. Cheers! 🧀🍷

>152 clamairy:
Cheers!
Sláinte!

I received the book above as a Christmas present from my son and his fiancée. They came over for dinner and we had a lovely time.

They knew a book would be a safe bet as a present for me.

Well, it appears you didn't really need any piffle from me, but I thought I'd at least make an effort. I have actually spent two hours catching up on your seven threads from 2021. I have been hit with one or two BBs. Congrats on the grandbaby who really is very, very adorable.

I think you're good to move into 2022 at this point.

>155 jillmwo:
I am delighted to see you here, Jill. Help yourself to some of the goodies that @clamairy provided in >116 clamairy:. Clare is a dab-hand at the catering. She pulled that lot together in only a matter of minutes.

Thank you for the congratulations on our latest grandchild, Liam. We are delighted with him. He is in Wisconsin at the moment with his other set of grandparents.

Looking forward to 2022 with wishes for a better year for everyone.

I hope you enjoy the BBs that hit you. Your gentle approach to Melmoth The Wanderer is probably wise.

>156 pgmcc: I have almost enough cheese, olives and wine in my house to put that together in reality. I had been buying enough to make platters for two parties that got cancelled thanks to omicron. So it goes.

Blessings upon you and all of yours, Peter. Not least Liam, who really is adorable. (How many is that now?) Hoping that 2022 is better for you and yours and all of everybody everywhere.

>158 haydninvienna:
Hello, Richard. Thank you for your good wishes and for you hopes for 2022. Everybody needs a break in 2022.

Liam is the fifth grandchild and the second grandson. Thankfully all five are in good health and enjoying life. The eldest is five years old at this stage.

I am delighted to hear your contract news for 2022. You obviously like that assignment.

On this New Year's Eve, I wish you and Mrs. H a wonderful 2022 with plenty of happy times mixed in with peace and relaxation.

>157 clamairy:
Sorry to hear about the cancelled events. We had a couple of those ourselves. That is why we ended up with a ham that was estimated to feed 22-24 people for a Christmas dinner with only three of us in attendance. The label on the turkey said it would feed 10 persons. Obviously whoever prepared that label had never met anyone from my family or understood how much we love turkey.

For the second year our annual St. Stephen's Day invasion by my wife's siblings was cancelled due to Covid. That led to one of the most relaxing Christmases we ever had. ;-)

Due to using up all my leave, not something many of my colleagues can say this year, I am back to work today, New Year's Eve. It will be a planning day as most of my colleagues are on leave. Keep well and have a wonderful 2022.

"Good news, everybody!"

My niece in New Zealand has been in 2022 for the past seven minutes. She says it's ok so far.

The rest of us are advised to raise our left legs just before the clock strikes midnight tonight. Then we'll be sure of starting the new year on the right foot.

>162 hfglen:
Sound advice. I hope everyone complies.

>135 pgmcc: and >136 clamairy: Pennsylvania is one of the 134 states with a Springfield in it. It's just about a ten minute drive away from me. Nice houses and shrubberies (not too expensive).

Let me add to the general hopes that 2022 is going to be the nearest exit ramp for the pandemic and that we will all gather together at some point soon.

>164 jillmwo: Thank you for the good wishes for 2022.

I will take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and all the best of 2022.

>161 pgmcc: Hahaha, let's hope it continues that way. Happy New Year!