PAUL C WITH A CLEAN SLATE IN '22 - Part 7

PLACES FROM MY PAST

I worked on the Rye House power station in Hertfordshire and stayed in a place called Cheshunt. Occasionally able to get out into the gentle Hertfordshire countryside.

The Opening Words

This month I will read Philida by the late Andre Brink and my favourite African writer bar Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie



"Here come shit. Just one look, and I can see it coming. Here I walk all this way and God know that is bad enough, what with the child in the abbadoek on my back, and now there's no turning back, it's just straight onto hell and gone. This is the man I got to talk to if I want to lay a charge, they tell me, this Grootbaas who is so tall and white and thin and bony, with deep furrows in his forehead, like a badly ploughed wheat field, and a nose like a sweet potato that has grown past itself."

Interested...........?

BOOKS READ

JANUARY

1. American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 by Khor Shing Yin (2019) 160 pp (AAC) - GN
2. The Forward Book of Poetry 2022 by Various Poets (2021) 155 pp - Poetry
3. Absolution by Murder by Peter Tremayne (1994) 274 pp - Thriller/Mystery
4. Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill (2008) 183 pp - (NF Challenge) NF
5. My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (1998) 671 pp - (Asian Book Challenge{ABC}) Fiction; 1001
6. The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz (1962) 158 pp - (World Books/Food) Fiction
7. The Children Who Stayed Behind by Bruce Carter (1958) 216 pp - (BAC) YA Fiction
8. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (2021) 114 pp - Fiction
9. Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar (2020) 343 pp - (ABC) - Fiction (?)
10. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings (1982) 192 pp - SF/Fantasy
11. Days in the History of Silence by Merethe Lindstrom (2011) 230 pp - Fiction/Holocaust
12. The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty (1972) 208 pp - Fiction; Pulitzer
13. My Two Worlds by Sergio Chejfec (2008) - 103 pp Fiction/Rebecca NYC reads
14. Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine (2002) - 131 pp Non Fiction / Holocaust
15. Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin (2002) 384 pp Fiction / Asian Book Challenge
16. Up With the Larks by Tessa Hainsworth (2009) 278 pp Non Fiction
17. Cheryl's Destinies by Stephen Sexton (2021) 88 pp - Poetry
18. Hotel Bosphorus by Esmahan Aykol (2001) 246 pp - Thriller/Mystery / Asian Book Challenge
19. The List of Books by Frederic Raphael (1981) 154 pp - Non Fiction / Reference
20. Disquiet by Zulfu Livaneli (2017) 163 pp - Fiction / Asian Book Challenge
21. Turkey : A Short History by Norman Stone (2017) 185 pp - Non-Fiction
22. Black Out by Ragnar Jonasson (2011) 247 pp - Thriller/Scandi
23. The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck (1992) 63 pp - Poetry
24. A Foolish Virgin by Ida Simons (1959) 216 pp - Fiction
25. Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson (1928) 329 pp - Fiction / 1001 Books
26. The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (1969) 224 pp - Fiction / Booker Winner

FEBRUARY

27. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel (2015) 244 pp - Fiction
28. Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria (2021) 156 pp Non-Fiction/ABC

Currently Reading

BOOKERS, PULITZERS, NOBEL WINNERS, 1001 BOOKS FIRST ED. & ETC

I have an ongoing challenge to read all the Booker Winners, all the Pulitzer Fiction Winners, something by each Nobel and all the 1001 Books First Ed Books. I will track my progress here:

BOOKERS READ BY DEC 31 2021 : 34 / 57
BOOKERS IN 2022 : 1 (35 / 57)
The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens

PULITZERS READ BY DEC 31 2021 : 19 / 94
PULITZERS IN 2022 : 1 (20 / 94)
The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty

NOBEL LAUREATES READ BY DEC 31 2021 : 74 / 118
NOBEL WINNERS IN 2022

1001 BOOKS FIRST ED READ BY DEC 2021 : 319
1001 BOOKS IN 2022 2 (321)
My Name is Red
Tarka the Otter

GUARDIAN 100 BOOKS READ BY DEC 2021 : 349
GUARDIAN BOOKS IN 2022 1 (350)
My Name is Red

WOMEN'S PRIZE WINNERS READ BY DEC 2021 : 7 / 26
WOMEN'S PRIZE WINNERS IN 2022

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE



January - YA - The Children Who Stayed Behind by Bruce Carter

AMERICAN AUTHOR CHALLENGE



January - Graphic Books - The American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 by Khor Shing Yin

ASIAN BOOK CHALLENGE 2022

Here is the link to the General Thread
https://www.librarything.com/topic/337731#n7692635

These will be the monthly jaunts for the ABC challenge.

JANUARY - Europe of Asia - Turkish Authors link to thread
https://www.librarything.com/topic/338244
1. My Name is Red
2. Last Train to Istanbul
3. Hotel Bosphorus
4. Disquiet

FEBRUARY - The Holy Land - Israeli & Palestinian Authors
Link to thread : https://www.librarything.com/topic/339017

MARCH - The Arab World - Writers from the Arab world
APRIL - Persia - Iranian writers
MAY - The Stans - There are 7 states all in the same region all ending in "Stan"
JUNE - The Indian Sub-Continent - Essentially authors from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
JULY - The Asian Superpower - Chinese Authors
AUGUST - Nippon - Japanese Authors
SEPTEMBER - Kimchi - Korean Authors
OCTOBER - INDO CHINA PLUS - Authors from Indo-China and other countries neighbouring China
NOVEMBER - The Malay Archipelago - Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian Authors
DECEMBER - The Asian Diaspora - Ethnic Asian writers from elsewhere
1. Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar

I was able just about to cover the whole of the continent and I didn't include one for Russia as most of the authors are decidedly European in their ethnicity and leaning.

AROUND THE WORLD IN BOOKS SINCE 2021

Around the world in books challenge. I want to see how many countries I can cover without limiting myself to a specific deadline. Continued from last year.


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
41. Lebanon - The First Century After Beatrice by Amin Maalouf ASIA PACIFIC
42. Spain - The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon EUROPE
43. Somalia - The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed AFRICA
44. Malaysia - Strangers on a Pier by Tash Aw ASIA PACIFIC
45. Mexico - Sudden Death by Alvaro Enrigue AMERICAS
46. Latvia - The Hedgehog and the Fox by Isaian Berlin EUROPE
47. Malawi - Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver AFRICA
48. Turkey - My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk ASIA PACIFIC
49. Egypt - The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz AFRICA
50. Argentina - My Two Worlds by Sergio Chejfec - AMERICAS
51. Iceland - Black Out by Ragnar Jonasson - EUROPE


Create Your Own Visited Countries Map

BOOKS OF THE MONTH

January - Small Things Like These

BOUGHT AND READ IN 2022

1. Appaloosa by Robert Parker
2. The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare.
3. Without a Claim by Grace Schulman
4. Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
5. Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
6. There, There by Tommy Orange
7. Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
8. Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin READ JAN 22
9. Another Now by Yanis Varoufakis
10. A Separation by Katie Kitamura
11. Travelling in a Strange Land by David Park
12. Free Food for Millionaires by Lee Min Jee
13. Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller
14. The Lady from Tel Aviv by Rabai Al-Madhoun
15. Run Me to Earth by Paul Yoon
16. Manchester Happened by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
17. The Others by Sarah Blau
18. The Order of the Day by Eric Vuillard
19. Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay
20. King Cnut by W.B. Bartlett
21. Dear Future Boyfriend by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
22. Ottoman Odyssey by Alev Scott
23. Has the West Lost It? by Kishore Mahbubani
24. A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth
25. A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet
26. Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely
27. Days in the History of Silence by Merethe Lindstrom Open Library Loan READ JAN 22
28. My Two Worlds by Sergio Chejfec (Open Library Loan) READ JAN 22
29. Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine (Open Library Loan) READ JAN 22
30. Benjamin's Crossing by Jay Parini
31. Outlawed by Anna North
32. Bestiary by K-Ming Chang
33. The Ruin of Kasch by Roberto Calasso
34. Roundabout of Death by Faysal Khartash
35. The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans
36. Salt : A World History by Mark Kurlansky
37. The Greek Myths : The Complete and Definitive Edition by Robert Graves
38. Liar by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
39. The Histories by Tacitus
40. Silent House by Orhan Pamuk
41. The Generation Game by Sophie Duffy
42. Wild Grass by Ian Johnson
43. This Living and Immortal Thing by Austin Duffy
44. Until I Find Julian by Patricia Reilly Giff
45. The Boy With the Tiger's Heart by Linda Coggin
46. The Day of Silence and Other Stories by George Gissing
47. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
48. The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
49. Beast by Paul Kingsnorth
50. The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
51. Heading Inland by Nicola Barker
52. Rift by Beverley Birch
53. The Cry of the Go-Away Bird by Andrea Eames
54. Modern Gods by Nick Laird
55. Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington
56. The Sands of Mars by Arthur C Clarke
57. Coromandel Sea Change by Rumer Godden
58. A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons by Geoffrey Hindley
59. The Profiteers : Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World by Sally Denton
60. In the Wolf's Mouth by Adam Foulds
61. Daydreams of Angels by Heather O'Neill
62. The Red-Haired Woman by Orhan Pamuk
63. Opium by Salar Abdoh
64. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel READ FEB 22
65. Three Light-Years by Andrea Canobbio
66. Prague : A Novel by Arthur Phillips
67. The Lie of the Land by Amanda Craig
68. The Dark Circle by Linda Grant
69. Academic Year by DJ Enright
70. Down Among the Wild Men by John Greenway
71. Fate is the Hunter by Ernest K. Gann
72. The Lover of Horses by Tess Gallagher

ADDED : 72
READ : 5
BALANCE : 67

BOOKS BOUGHT IN 2021 365
READ IN 2021 : 35
READ IN 2022 : 8
BALANCE OF 2021 ADDITIONS : 322

BOOKS BOUGHT IN 2020 BALANCE AT 1/1/22 = 212
READ IN 2022 : 1
BALANCE IS : 211

BOOK STATS

Books read : 27
Books added : 72

Days per book : 1.19
Projected total : 307
LT yearly best : 157

Pages read (completed books) : 5,959
Daily average : 186.22
Projected total : 67,969

Longest Book : 671 pages
Shortest Book : 88 pages
Average Book Length : 220.70

Gender
Male : 14
Female : 12
Various : 1

Genre :
Graphic Books : 1
Poetry : 3
Thriller/Mystery : 3
Non Fiction : 5
Fiction : 14
SF/Fantasy : 1

Origin :
USA : 5
UK : 9
Turkey : 3
Germany : 1
Egypt : 1
Ireland : 1
Norway : 1
Argentina : 1
Canada : 2
Iceland : 1
Netherlands : 1
Various : 1

Challenges :
British Author Challenge : 1
American Author Challenge : 1
Non-Fiction Challenge : 1
Asian Book Challenge : 5
1001 Books First Edition : 2
Guardian 1000 Books : 1
Around the World Books : 3
Holocaust Reading : 2
Booker Winners : 1
Pulitzer Winners : 1
Rebecca NYC Reads : 1

Next is yours

I can't believe it! I'm early!

>14 richardderus: Guess you sleep as well as I do, RD! Hope your gout is not plaguing you too badly.

You get the virtual book shelf.

Happy new thread!

>16 amanda4242: Thank you, Amanda.

I am about to put up the Books Read stats and you are currently sitting at the top of my unreliable research!

Happy new thread!

>1 PaulCranswick: Wow!

>17 PaulCranswick: Yes! Top of the heap!

BOOKS READ STATISTICS UPDATE

Again apologies for any inaccuracies or out of date information. My computer has been a bit testy. There are five threads in the top 140 posting wise that I cannot see any reading info for. I have not included those five as in most instances I cannot believe they did not read anything.

1 amanda4242 50
2 alcottacre 47
3 Chatterbox 41
4 silverwolf28 38
5 FAMeulstee 37
6 klobrien2 31
7 kmartin802 30
8 richardderus 30
9 cbl_tn 29
10 PaulCranswick 28
11 yoyogod 27
12 Quondame 26
13 fairywings 25
14 avatiakh 24
15 FamilyHistorian 22
16 Dianekeenoy 21
17 Whisper1 21
18 CDVicarage 20
19 figsfromthistle 20
20 ronincats 20
21 AnneDC 19
22 harrygbutler 19
23 Oberon 19
24 thornton37814 19
25 swynn 18
26 curioussquared 17
27 lyzard 17
28 mstrust 17
29 vivans 17
30 ChrisG1 16
31 foggidawn 16
32 GerryBookshelf 16
33 kristelh 16
34 scaifea 16
35 Sir Thomas 16
36 tiffin 16
37 zuazer 16
38 BBLBera 15
39 Berly 15
40 lindapanzo 15
41 nrmay 15
42 Auldhouse 14
43 crazymamie 14
44 ejj1955 14
45 jnwelch 14
46 justchris 14
47 kaida 14
48 mdoris 14
49 ocgreg34 14
50 tjblue 14
51 brenzi 13
52 elkidee 13
53 hredwards 13
54 laytonwoman3rd 13
55 Weird_O 13
56 bell7 12
57 Deedledee 12
58 DFED 12
59 kgodey 12
60 bluesalamanders 11
61 bumblybee 11
62 Donna 11
63 EllaTim 11
64 KatieKrug 11
65 MickyFine 11
66 msf59 11
67 sibyline 11
68 ArlieS 10
69 BBGirl55 10
70 Caroline_McElwee 10
71 dreamweaver529 10
72 drneutron 10
73 kac522 10
74 PawsForThought 10
75 sjgoins 10
76 Streamsong 10
77 torontoc 10
78 arubabookwoman 9
79 Aunt Clio 9
80 blackdogbooks 9
81 brewbooks 9
82 CassieBash 9
83 Feca67 9
84 fuzzi 9
85 mahsdad 9
86 rebarelishesreading 9
87 Alphaorder 8
88 AMQS 8
89 AndrewPNW 8
90 Banjo 8
91 Carmenere 8
92 jonrob 8
93 karenmarie 8
94 PersephonesLibrary 8
95 Rbeffa 8
96 tymfos 8
97 witchyrichy 8
98 coppers 7
99 EBT1002 7
100 lottpoet 7
101 SandDune 7
102 SuziQOregon 7
103 Tallpaul 7
104 walklover 7
105 aktakukac 6
106 dmulvee 6
107 ffortsa 6
108 Helenoel 6
109 jennyifer24 6
110 meanderer 6
111 SqueakyChu 6
112 tangledthread 6
113 jayde1599 5
114 johnsimpson 5
115 laurelkeet 5
116 LizzieD 5
117 London 5
118 loving-lit 5
119 magicians_nephew 5
120 Ursula 5
121 cariola 4
122 Fourpawz2 4
123 HanGerg 4
124 Humouress 4
125 jessibud2 4
126 PaulStalder 4
127 _zoe_ 3
128 crazy4reading 3
129 ctpress 3
130 elliepotten 3
131 RandyMetcalfe 3
132 lycomayflower 2
133 vikzen 2
134 nerdytheorist 1
135 The_Hibernator 1

>18 quondame: Thanks Susan. I would wager a princely sum that I don't stay ahead of you in terms of books read for too much longer.

>19 amanda4242: By my reckoning you currently are, Amanda, yes. x

>2 PaulCranswick: Philida is on my list of books to read this year, Paul. It will be interesting to see how my thoughts on the book compare to yours.

Happy new thread!

>22 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia. Another poor sleeper, I see. xx

Happy new thread, Paul. I like your topper, not the least because it shows a part of the world where I've done family history research. My great grandfather was born in Cheshunt.

>24 Familyhistorian: What a small world we have nowadays, Meg!

Always lovely to see you here.

Happy new thread Paul!

>26 humouress: Thank you Nina!

Happy new thread, Paul,
Wow I am in the top 40 of books and made it in the top 30 in your thread.
Have a wonderful sunday!

Happy new thread, Paul.
You keep finding lovely pictures for your toppers. And your book of the month is on my TBR-list.

Happy new thread, Paul.
And thanks for the stats of the reading league.
Glad I to see myself at #5. With Stasia's return, I wasn't sure I could keep up ;-)

Happy new thread, Paul.

>28 SirThomas: About to take Belle for Mexican food. Thanks Thomas - you are consistent both in reading and posting.

>29 EllaTim: I think that is the last place bar one in the UK that I worked at so I will be moving overseas soon, Ella.

>30 FAMeulstee: Anita, Stasia is a lovable force of nature! Bear in mind she is struggling through COVID too - remarkable. Your reading over a number of years has been spectacular too.

>31 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita. xx

Greetings! Happy new thread Paul.

>2 PaulCranswick: It's years since I read André Brink Paul. They made his Dry White Season into a movie, it had Donald Sutherland in, and the last performance of Marlon Brando.

>34 Kristelh: Thanks you, Kristel. Lovely to see you here.

>35 Caroline_McElwee: Some of his 1970s novels were really good, Caroline. He was quite brave at the time speaking out against a system like the one then in existence in South Africa and without running away from it. I have always rated his novel Rumours of Rain among my favourites.

Happy new thread, Paul!

I should be used to it by now, but I always find it amusing that I'll stay solidly in the middle of the pack of LT/75er numbers read when outside of LT, I know very few people who read as much as (or more) than me.

1972 MUSIC FIFTH WEEKEND .

Essential Tracks :
ERIC ANDERSEN : Blue River
The album track is unrivalled but this is an interesting version with Joni Mitchell live in 1990.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzFVwrs2tDU

JOAN ARMATRADING : Whatever's For Us
Another title track from her debut album track and Joan is my favourite female singer songwriter from the 1970s and 80s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x97NlkdMV0

DAVID BOWIE : Soul Love
Starman is one of my favourite Bowie cuts but a little too obvious for this. Soul Love is just one of many great songs from this seminal album. Boy David Bowie was cool in this period.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kx9o1idWrE

FLEETWOOD MAC : Dust
Most would place "Rumours" near the top of their favourite albums of the 1970s but I love the more raw brilliance of this album in which Danny Kirwan was at his zenith. This is a great but sadly mostly forgotten track. You even get some of the vinyl click on this version. Lovely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_yzRik4VCA

VAN MORRISON - Redwood Tree
Van the Man was brilliant throughout the 1970s but close to his best on this sublime album. Not many could write such a great song about a boy losing his dog and sheltering from rain and thunder in the forest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMT0NVvBnzE

STEVIE WONDER - Blame it on the Sun
I used to listen to Santana and Stevie on long driving trips up to Sellafield but this was the first album of his I bought and this is my favourite track - the version here is a duet with Mr. Tom Jones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URy4ykLkcd4

I hope you will enjoy these snippets of songs that originated on these 1972 albums.

>37 bell7: I understand that completely, Mary. I out-read all my pals and then some but can't keep up with the ladies here but for only a few weeks a year.

The music brings back pleasant memories, Paul.

Happy new one, Paul! Love the topper. Thanks so much for the reading stats - always fun to look through.

Hi Paul, and happy seventh thread!

>1 PaulCranswick: Beautiful.

>11 PaulCranswick: Do you ever deliberately get rid of books? Just curious…

>20 PaulCranswick: Sigh for only 8 books so far this year. 93 and 8. (9 + 3) = 12. (1 – 2)*-1 = 1. 1*8 = 8.

While I wasn't looking you started another thread! Happy new thread, and thanks for the reading stats.

I still need to read A Dry White Season and realize I haven't read anything by Andre Brink.

>40 SirThomas: I am pleased that the music was pleasurable, Thomas.

>41 Crazymamie: The numbers are pretty impressive, Mamie, and long may it continue.

Happy new thread! I love the beautiful peaceful Hertfordshire photo atop your thread.

>42 karenmarie: I do sometimes give books away to school libraries and orphanages, Karen. Mainly stuff I have read and don't particularly want to keep.

>43 AnneDC: I am a big fan of the late Andre Brink, Anne, and would recommend him. Can be a bit raunchy on occasion as I recall though!

>45 thornton37814: The picture really is how I remember the place, Lori. Very peaceful. There was a village on the way down from where I was then living called Nasty which was anything but!

Happy new thread, Paul! So proud I managed to visit before 200 posts! I hope you have a wonderful week. I hope you and Belle had a fun Mexican food outing!

>47 PaulCranswick: I can just imagine the jokes about living in "Nasty."

>21 PaulCranswick: Ah, well, I won't bet against myself, and you do have the potential for a much more eventful year than I do. Still, we are not the entirely the masters of our barque.

Happy new thread!

Happy new one! I think I have the Threadbook issues worked out. Thanks for helping me with it.

Happy New Thread!

>3 PaulCranswick: I read Hana's Suitcase a few years ago, and liked it a lot. It is an excellent teaching tool for grade school children.

Seven threads for you already! I'm not surprised at all. I love your opening image. It is so very peaceful!

Hi Paul, happy new thread mate. So Ashley Giles, Chris Silverwood and Graham Thorpe have all gone and Sir Andrew Strauss is taking temporary charge with Root still captain.

I don't know what is going on at Cricket Australia but now that Justin Langer is a free agent, would Strauss consider him for the England job, he knows him both from Ashes battles and his time at Middlesex and within the County Championship. One thing for sure is that a better leadership team is needed when selecting the Test Team and i think Root should have a bit more say and do a Morgan to get for the Test team what Morgan got for the One Day and T20 teams.

Have a good week ahead mate and we both send our love to the Cranswick clan wherever in the world you all are.

>48 AMQS: Yes thank you Anne, Belle and I had a nice meal together and a good chat too. Sometimes I do feel that she is older and more sensible than I am!

>49 thornton37814: Some of the chaps working for us on the Power Station project were in lodgings in Nasty and we did rather have some fun with the place name.

>50 quondame: That is true, Susan. More leisure time for me is preferred but I didn't make too much use of it in the last week as my reading slowed.

>51 AuntieClio: Thanks Stephanie!

>52 drneutron: Thanks Jim and you are more than welcome. I am a little bit miffed that I wasn't the one you were sending into space though! Seriously, I don't know how you keep up with the administration there as I know from my stats stuff that it is a lot of work.

>53 ArlieS: Thanks Arlie!

>54 Whisper1: It is a very touching and thought provoking book isn't it, Linda? The Japanese teacher is quite an inspiring and admirable lady.

>55 johnsimpson: Hi John. I think it was entirely right that Giles, Silverwood and Thorpe were sacked. Joe Root is a lucky fellow to keep his place as captain as he is the most inept captain tactically think I have ever seen. It is a decision they bottled to be honest but until they change the way that the season is organised in England, we will struggle to produce a winning test team.
I would have no qualms about Langer but my own choice would probably be Dizzy Gillespie.
Thanks for the kind wishes mate.

>59 PaulCranswick: Gosh, you really have no hopes for English cricket, Paul.

>60 humouress: Root is a great batsman, Nina, and I will always want him to do well but I just wish they would realise that the best player does not have to be captain, especially when it is clearly not his forte.
Three County Captains - Will Rhodes (Warwickshire; Championship winners), Tom Abell (Somerset; perennial challengers for the title) and Steven Mullaney (Nottinghamshire; much improved their team) are all worth consideration and have the distinct advantage of being able to bat and bowl.
It would have shown that the failure over the last three main series will not be tolerated and that a new direction is favoured. A captain that loses badly in three series twice to India and once to the Aussies cannot be kept in place.

>61 PaulCranswick: I'm not a die-hard cricket fan and our feed here comes from India, so I haven't been following English/ county cricket unless they show the highlights of England playing.

I must say, the Indian commentators take the art of biased commentary back to the early 80s.

>62 humouress: It is humorous rather than humouress isn't it?!
I can also get the Sky cricket channel as well as the Indian one and it is comical how strongly the Indian commentators favour their own teams.

FINALLY

Received today (according to DHL):

84. Redemption Ground by Lorna Goodison

I will start it pretty much straight away. Thank you to Stasia and Caroline for your patience and wonderfully good grace to wait for me.

Just a Monday morning check in from over the seas :)

I saw on the BBC (British Bias Corporation) that GoFundMe have seized the donations made in excess of C$10 million for the "Freedom Convoy" protests in Canada. This is outrageous and almost certainly a criminal breach of trust.

They are arguing that an originally peaceful protest has become a "violent occupation". That they would intervene in the politics of the dispute on the side of the establishment is chilling. It demonstrates that governmental control of the people has become authoritarian and fascist.

The BBC report, even while mainly taking the side of the establishment, that there have only been three arrests in Ottawa for public disorder issues. Compare this to the violence and damage caused in the wake of the protests by BLM & Antifah across American cities in 2020 and there was no call quite rightly for any seizure of good faith donations.

The Trudeau government seems to be trying to incite the protestors to violence to justify a clampdown on the right to assembly and protest. The stories of widespread take-over by racist thugs does seem to be largely an exercise in mis-direction, some isolated incidents notwithstanding. Trudeau needs to man up and address these protestors head-on and end the inconvenience to Ottawa instead of hiding away and hoping smears will do the work for him.

It is time to live with the virus and work out a viable and sensible plan to take everybody forward in a way that does not permanently alienate parts of the communities not in agreement with the mainstream.

>66 BekkaJo: Always a pleasure to see my favourite Channel Islander.

>59 PaulCranswick: You say that Root is the most inept captain tactically, but I am not sure if he is worse than Cook. Both were awful, and it is their personalities (no skeletons in the cupboard) that kept/are keeping them in a job. I hope that if Langer does get the role then he immediately changes captain by refusing to publicly back Root as captain.

Ireland will be forced into T20 qualification in 11 days and are in a quadrangular tournament starting this Friday as warm up. I find more enjoyment in associate cricket nowadays and so it will be interesting to see how much progress Germany has made and whether they could shock people and qualify for a major tournament

>69 DMulvee: Actually you have a good point there as Cook was equally terrible. Vaughan was a good captain. Strauss was OK, Hussain could lead men and Atherton was also knowledgeable about the game and its tactics at least.

I would love to see the English County game be sorted out so the balance between red and white ball is more proportionate. The introduction of T20 on the old Sunday league basis would achieve that.

I would be fine with Langer or Gillespie as Head Coach. They are proven winners and our mentality has to change.

>65 PaulCranswick: I will be starting it today, Paul!

>71 alcottacre: Me too! I have loads of books on the go and enjoying pretty much all of them, Stasia.

Look forward to comments from Caroline and yourself on this LONG awaited read. x

>70 PaulCranswick: I rate Vaughan very highly and would be interested to see him in charge of the ECB though the racism scandal at Yorkshire means this might never happen.
Strauss was a good captain but the implosion of KP shows that he can only handle certain individuals and this harmed the team

>73 DMulvee: Yes, you are right, Vaughan is unlikely to be considered and on the basis of completely hearsay allegations against the backdrop of an utterly unblemished playing career in which he lead England with wisdom and inclusiveness.

Your comments about Strauss are also spot on. Colly is appointed interim coach and I see little actual change there. I do hope that there are a few new names for the WIndies.

>67 PaulCranswick: Hello Paul I so appreciate your sensitive and enlightened response to the truckers freedom protest in Ottawa. It is such a mess and i agree the government response is trying to insight violence. To say it is a fringe protest when 10 million can be raised in days is ridiculous. I am worried about my country. Thank you for your words.

>74 PaulCranswick: I loved Collingwood as a player (and captain). He took Durham to Southport (once a year Lancashire play at Southport) and Durham must have stayed for a couple of hours after the game mingling with the crowd:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/specsavers-county-championship-division-one-...

When you add the fact that he was captain when England won the world T20 I hope that he can do a good job, but we’ll have to wait and see

>75 mdoris: Thank you, Mary. I think it is patently obvious what he is trying to do and the failure of the mainstream media to cover this issue properly or with even a shred of impartiality is extremely disconcerting.

They are no longer the fringe. In an NBC poll this last week 70% of Americans agreed that we should start living with the virus.

>76 DMulvee: I like Paul Collingwood as well and certainly wish him well. He had resilience as a player and was one of our very best fielders. If that part of our game improves under him it will be a good start anyway.

So...Queen Camilla it will be.

Aren't you proud.

>79 richardderus: Oh Richard, I am egg-static.

Still quite comfortably maintaining my unblemished run on Wordle:

Wordle 234 4/6

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>67 PaulCranswick: Hmmm - so, it's okay to shut down a country at the border because your idea of Freedom

is NOT to protect those people who may die from your refusal to get a vaccination...?

>81 PaulCranswick: Hmmmmmmmmm

Interesting. I can't wait for 00.01!

>82 m.belljackson: Hasn't that chestnut already been disproven a thousand times over, Marianne?

Firstly the jabs are not effective as a vaccination as they do not provide immunisation and never pretended to. They don't stop transmission either. This is not even something that is open to serious debate any longer.

That does not mean that you shouldn't jab. I have had my booster and was happy to do so BASED ON THE SCIENCE that it has been empirically shown to significantly help anyone contracting the virus in fighting the effects of the virus. It should be sold on that basis and not misrepresented hysterically as something else. What puts people's lives at risk is telling them "don't worry if you are vaccinated you cannot get the virus and you don't need to mask any longer."

I am all for following the science. It is obvious that masking in closed and close environments is helpful if the mask is of sufficient grade and despite my own asthma issues I think common sense and civic duty dictates on this.

I am not against consequences for not getting jabbed, but I am against mandates. Those who do not get jabbed are a risk TO THEMSELVES. They are also more likely to put a strain on already overloaded health services. I would adopt a strategy that if you have refused a shot and you have no prior certified medical reason for having done so AND you have not previously contracted the virus (as clearly the immunity for what it is worth in having previously contracting the virus should be counted as it is just as effective as a jab according to many independent studies). then you should be footing the bill of any ICU care you subsequently require.

The mandates themselves will shut down the country at the border, Marianne. Think about what the policies are for goodness sake. You are requiring truckers to jab OR to quarantine!! How will the supply chain get rectified with such a ludicrously uncommercial policy? The truckers have to earn a crust and they cannot be stood down for several days either side of the border as their income will fall below the poverty line. This has become a class issue. The liberal elites are not seeing the plight their well-intentioned but not thought-out policies are bringing to many blue-collar workers. These folks are the ones, in the main, protesting and I can see why.

The politics and hysteria should be taken out of this now and people have to learn to live with the virus and start on a return to normalcy.

>83 richardderus: I know! Wordle has had an unusual impact. It makes us all look forward to the end of each day!

>84 PaulCranswick: As the United States moves toward a Million dead, EVERYONE needs to get vaccinated all the way through boosters, wear a mask,
stay home unless you need to go out for whatever good reasons...
and just Shut Up.

>84 PaulCranswick: Paul, I am sorry to say that you have much misinformation on your thread, regarding Canada and the Trucker Convoy. I won't try to change your mind, because I don't believe that can be done. As for the Truckers going back and forth between Canada and the USA, they are not required to Quarantine if they are double vaccinated.

Here is a link to the Canada Government Website :https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2022/01/requirements-for-truckers-entering-canada-in-effect-as-of-january-15-2022.html

or here https://www.mltaikins.com/immigration/essential-truck-drivers-required-to-show-p...

Your statement that fully vaccinated trucker were required to also quarantine caught my attention because my two brothers are airline pilots and travel internationally on a weekly basis. They too are mandated to be vaccinated, which they were well in advance of the mandate , but they have never had to has also quarantine, unless they were directly exposed to another crew member who had tested positive to the Covid Virus.

I would also note that a great deal of the money supporting the Trucker Convoy has come from the US, and other countries. Trump has made a statement of support for the Trucker Convoy. That tells me a lot . Here is the statement.

https://twitter.com/AdrianMorrow/status/1489661479561437186?s=20&t=lfq6f-cQ0...

>86 m.belljackson: Thanks for your view, Marianne. You are entitled to that view but it won't change my own. I am pro jab and have taken mine. I will "Shut up" now as you direct, although I thought this was my thread.

I give freedom to anyone and everyone of my friends to come here and give their opinions and I respect all opinions even those that don't coincide with my own.
It does unfortunately seem to be the trend these days that those who don't agree with what is dictated to them face being silenced, cancelled and ostracised. Don't like it to be honest.

You will always be welcome to express your views here on any subject you like as long as there are no personal attacks involved. I know you feel strongly on this issue and I give both credit as well as some leeway as a result of this. x

>87 vancouverdeb: Firstly Deb, it is lovely to see you here, I have missed you so much in the group.

Your comment on the quarantining of truckers is attached with the proviso "if they are double vaccinated." There was a typographical error in my earlier post as I meant to type "OR" instead of "AND" and I apologise for that and have amended it. Thank you so much for pointing out my error.

The jab does not vaccinate and this has been proven beyond reasonable argument. Are we going to continue this farce indefinitely and pretend that that is the solution to all our virus woes when it clearly isn't or are we going to start living with the virus, as we have to one day? Doesn't impact me personally as I am triple jabbed but really are we going towards a society when people must carry vaccination papers forever more or do we reset at some point in the near future? Governments have to give hope to their people and set a roadmap for getting back to normal. This is happening with some reasonable success here and across much of Europe.

There was no misinformation in my post, Deb, other than as corrected, whether you agree with my position or not. I respect your right totally to hold a different viewpoint but that is the essence of informed and respectful debate.

I don't particularly like to be on the same side of any argument as Donald Trump but that does not alter my view that they should not be mandated to the extent of losing their jobs when your country and the USA should be allowing them essential services exemptions. Everybody is free to donate to whatever cause they believe in and I don't see the relevance of that comment. Are you saying that I was wrong to give money to the BLM protests in support of George Floyd because I have never been to Minneapolis or is it because this particular cause is one you strongly disagree with?

Paul, there have been many vaccine mandates in the past. In the nineteenth century many countries had mandatory smallpox vaccination and the world didn’t come to an end. How is it only the individual’s decision when fully vaccinated people are dying of other things because the unvaccinated are taking up the I.C.U. and other hospital beds? If the unvaccinated were refusing treatment as well then it would truly only have implications for them, but they’re not. We have the longest cancer wait times in history because of the backlog treating COVID patients most of whom now are unvaccinated.

And all borders have rules. We can’t go to France in the summer unless we are fully vaccinated and boosted and France is perfectly in its rights to set whatever rules it likes.

I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

>90 SandDune: No Rhian and the smallpox vaccine stamped out smallpox because it granted immunisation from the disease and meant you couldn't pass it on. That is the difference here as the jabs don't provide that and were not designed to do so. It is not an apple to apple comparison.

I agree with the premise on the strain it places on health care systems and have said so if my posts are read. We agree on this. It is the best and as far as I can see using dispassion as my guide partially justified argument in a call to mandate. The backlog however is the impact of the pandemic in total and my solution as I stated above is make them pay for their own treatment if they want their freedoms. Are they are threat to us one or way or another with or without the jab. If you accept that the jab doesn't immunise a la smallpox or polio then it makes no difference and I, like you have had my shots and don't care what the heck they want to do.

Yes I agree with you that a country has a perfect right to set its border rules. Not disputing that. My point is that the people of that country also have a perfect right to protest those rules as long as they do so peacefully. What I objected to is the attempts to shut down and cancel those protests and to silence anyone who doesn't agree with everything spewed by the establishment.

I have no problem with disagreements in emphasis on this or anything else Rhian, especially because you always articulate your arguments cogently and respectfully. I respect your opinions even whilst retaining my own.

>91 PaulCranswick: - the people of that country also have a perfect right to protest those rules as long as they do so peacefully.

How is it *peaceful* when they are taking the city hostage? How is it peaceful when they are desecrating public monuments (The Terry Fox statue, a Canadian icon who represents absolutely nothing having anything to do with vaccines, mandates, freedom). How is it peaceful when they are urinating and defecating on the lawns of private citizens who just happen to live near to where they park their trucks, how is it peaceful when they are waving Nazi swastika flags (a hate symbol which, by the way, is illegal in Canada), how is it peaceful when they are blaring their airhorns (not the little beep beeps of a car horn) 24/7. Yes, 24/7. No one can sleep, it's going on almost 2 weeks. Would you feel the same, Paul, if a truck horn was blaring outside your home 24/7, depriving you of sleep, for 2 weeks? Would it still be their *right*?

There is nothing wrong with peaceful, civilized protest in a democracy. Nothing at all. But their words do not match their actions. They are behaving like animals, like barbarians, not like civilized people with a legitimate concern. I don't agree with them but if they have a concern, let them deal with it in a manner that will actually be meaningful and have them be heard (and - imagine! - listened to). But they don't want *negotiation* or even conversation. If they were truly concerned about their so-called jobs, they wouldn't be partying and using this as an excuse to behave badly. This is truly no longer about *mandates*. It is about bullying, so-called strength in numbers. Shame on them and shame on everyone who supports and enables and abets this disgraceful and unlawful behaviour. They don't even represent the majority of truckers, and are ruining the reputations of so many truckers who work long hard hours doing an essential service for every citizen.

What they are doing is taking the city hostage. That is an act of terrorism. No government should engage or negotiate with terrorists. Those truckers are lucky that ordinary Canadian citizens aren't armed like so many are in the USA. Because if they were, there would have been bloodshed in the streets by now.

I always felt that LT was a safe, sane and reasonable place and it saddens me to no end to see these divisions invading this space. I don't live in Ottawa, though the truckers were here in my city as well. But I feel intensely rattled and angry and stressed by all this and I just had to express this. Sorry it was here on your thread but this will be my final input on this topic.

>92 jessibud2: I agree Shelley. They don't have a right to break the law. What you have described is disturbing the peace pure and simple and should be stopped.
I was talking about the right to peaceful protest. I don't agree or support protests that are not peaceful, it goes against everything I have believed in all my life, but I will always uphold someone's right to protest so long as they do it peacefully and within the confines of decency.

We should be even handed in these regards. I condemned the violence in some of the protesting in the US for a cause I believe in and I won't support violence and mobbish behaviour under any circumstances. I repeat that I am triple jabbed and am not a spokesman for the truckers - I have no cards in the game - I am merely pointing out the fact that the right to protest is a basic human right in a decent society and I also pointed out the fallacy that the mandates will somehow stop transmissions when that is not what the jabs were ever intended to do.

People are allowed opinions and courteous discourse is important whether one agrees or disagrees with some of the points made. You will receive no discourtesy here, Shelley and certainly not from me. Differences of opinions do not equate to divisions unless we allow them to.

Paul, I very much appreciate your openness to respectful discussion. I live in a region with one of the lowest shot rates in the US. There are multiple reasons for shot hesitancy. For some people I know, it boils down to fear of the long-term consequences of the shots. They’re more afraid of the future unknown risk than of the short-term risk of COVID. Others like me who have taken the shots and boosters are more afraid of the short-term risk of illness than the long-term unknown risk. Fear is an emotion, and it needs to be acknowledged.

I have also observed that a percentage of healthcare workers are among those who fear the long-term unknown risk of the shots more than the short-term risk of the disease. These workers are leaving the profession, whether by choice or by employer or government mandate. I also note that Gallup’s annual rating of the honesty and integrity of various professions was released last month, and nurses top the list of trusted professions at 81%. Politicians and journalists are at the bottom end of the list, all below 20%. For many people who know one or more nurses who are reluctant to take the shot because of its unknown future risk, that carries a lot more weight than anything they hear from a politician or journalist.

INTERLUDE FOR NICE MUSIC

Here is Joan Armatrading with her beautiful song "Love and Affection"

Much happier sentiments than those above - I would much prefer people to come here for the family fun and gossip. I would much prefer people to come here for the stats, for the good books, the music, nice food, and the books (oh yeah, I said that).

Let's all remember that we are friends and treat each other with respect and courtesy. xxx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oag3I4VRXyM

Tagging onto what Carrie said in >94 cbl_tn: (since we live in the same part of the country), the nursing faculty is probably the least-vaccinated group on campus. I suspect that hesitancy extends to the nursing students, but I can't be certain.

>94 cbl_tn:
Carrie, thank you.

I am a little concerned to be honest that some of our dear friends are a little stressed and upset by the issues raised and they are uncomfortable. I was prevented from being with my dear mum who died during this awful period because I followed the rules and people here needed me. I know the pain and hurt caused by COVID and I don't intend to hurt others.

I am certainly worried about decency and honesty in public life. Politicians and public administrators have for generations taken the people for fools and treated us all with disdain. I excuse no political hue from that charge - some though are obviously worse than others.

Instant social media platforms especially twitter, IG and FB have dumbed down discourse and people no longer treat differing opinions with the respect they deserve. I am not active on twitter or IG and go on FB to find out what my wife has been cooking or eating and to steal her photos!

I do not know enough about the specifics of the jabs to make specific comments about their efficacy other than in the most obvious and undeniable ways. For myself the jabs made sense and I am glad that I took them knowing at the same time that I can still catch the virus, but I do feel safer having done so and would never discourage anyone from doing what I did.

>96 thornton37814: I do not want to advise people one or another on whether to get the shots. It isn't my place, Lori. I don't know enough about it to make an informed comment for other people and there isn't much in the way of jab hesitancy in Malaysia to be honest.

I took the jabs so my opinion on their efficacy is self-explanatory. Whether I would have made the same choice if I were the 20 year old guy thirty five years ago active in cycle racing, I have no need now to determine. I will never cycle race again!

According to my brother, like you, he knows a number of nurses (his own wife was a nurse) who are profoundly hesitant or actually hostile to the idea of the shots. I don't though know these people myself and have no knowledge of why they hold the views they do but Carrie's assumptions are most probable.

INTERLUDE FOR NICE FOOD:

South Indian breakfast food - Dosai or Tosai - tissue paper bread! The accompaniments are delicious honestly:

INTERLUDE FOR AN ENGLISH SCENE.

I worked with a friend when I was in Derby. His name was Peter Gotobed and this is the village he hails from (perfectly true!). Hani was there yesterday.

INTERLUDE - BECAUSE THIS IS WHY WE ARE ALL HERE!

A recent splurge!

I don't think I've commented on your topper. I lived in Hertfordshire back in the day. St. Albans. It's a beautiful county! I don't think I ever visited Cheshunt. I didn't stray any farther east than the A1.

>101 PaulCranswick: I'm relieved to see evidence of Cranswickian haulage. That Godden is a good read, if very old-fashioned for the 1990s.

I don't think I've even heard of that Pamuk! *scurries off*

>102 cbl_tn: Hahaha Carrie - the A1 does have the habit of stopping people travelling. I had ten happy months working down there and got out and about on my bike at every chance I could. It is the last time I was really fit.

>103 richardderus: That, RD, is the very photograph that my spiteful youngest child sent winging to her terrifying mother. I took the photo off of her FB!
It is a fairly recent Pamuk - so recent that I nabbed it in hardback!

Who knows, maybe our paths crossed at some point during the time I lived in England (1986-1990). Probably in a book shop somewhere!

>105 cbl_tn: Quite possibly, Carrie! We do spend a larger proportion of our time in such establishments than is probably healthy for our bank balances. xx

>88 PaulCranswick: Geez = re-read what I wrote = "shut up" was not directed at you = pointed at the whole COVID "thing" that's going on

in Canada...and here...

and choosing to live here and there with what we can control by direct action.

>107 m.belljackson: It is ok, Marianne. No harm done, I am old enough and have an abundance of love and good will for my friends - and you are and will always remain my friend as far as I am concerned. xx

Jazz, food and fiction are the safest of topics between us :D

I respect you and your opinions always, don't worry and I know you weren't really attacking me personally.

>108 PaulCranswick: How about non-fiction too? - recall that our most recent trade (the previous one being for Harry)

is for me doing the Asian Challenge while you round up and read The 1619 PROJECT, which has a lot about Britain!

I'm a Pythagorean on food, so skip a lot of photos...

Fiction, yes, I'm now reading Kartography for The British Challenge and more than halfway
through A Book That Was Lost for The Asian Challenge.

>109 m.belljackson: Yes, Non-Fiction is certainly one topic I was trying to avoid as you have me cornered and unable to defend myself from a tome that could bankrupt a small nation! I will of course do as promised. x

I have made only a little inroad on A Book That Was Lost myself Marianne and am finding the religiosity of some of it a bit difficult to comprehend and to wade through,

Just about survived with my unbeaten Wordle sequence.

Wordle 235 6/6

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>110 PaulCranswick: Agreed, Paul, about A Book That Was Lost - I tried to be inspired by the devotion,
but often check to see when a story will end.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

((FYI = USA Republicans are sending support to the truckers.
Have never used this expression before, but = just sayin'))

I find it interesting that the truckers in Canada can find the wherewithal to gather together to protest vaccinations but they can't do the same to protest things like standardization of weights for loaded trucks, lengths for trailers, noise levels for Jake Brakes, etc. etc? In-other-words, things that should matter just as much to truckers who regularly cross international boundaries. The state by state regulations that truckers have to deal with boogles the mind, just as they do for crossing international boundaries. I think it is a valid point that these protests are being funded by out-of-the-country sources for purposes other than making truck driving easier. It is also interesting that the very party that created many of the problems with crossing an international boundary is now the party that is funding protests regarding vaccination regulations. In this case, it is Donald Trump. It was the Trump administration that rescinded the NAFTA treaty that created ways for the US, Canada, and Mexico to discuss more seamless ways of carrying goods across these international boundaries. This made life more difficult for all truckers. But these same truckers can gather to protest vaccination regulations? I find that interesting. I also think that the question of funding these "protests" has been proven to come from credible sources (Wall Street Journal reporters said that money is coming from Trump PAC's) so I think that this particular protest has moved from being a protest against mandates to something else and that something else smells suspiciously like a former President of the US making trouble for a fellow head of government who opposed him. Reminds me of Putin and the Ukraine.

An interesting England squad for the WI. I would have included both Broad or Anderson, as they are still our best bowlers and bowling the opposition out for a small total could take some pressure off the batsmen. However maybe it will all come good.

>20 PaulCranswick: The count is 15 now. ;-)

Happy new thread!

Hello Paul, i know you to be a sensitive and kind hearted person so hoping that lots of the expressed negativity and angst on your thread is not affecting you adversely. You are a good sport to welcome diverse opinions here! None of us are ants on the hill in this protest so it is hard to determine and understand some truths but I cannot accept the "basket of deplorables" that the truckers here are described to be nor can I accept that Mr. Trump, or the Russians, have had any influence. Polls suggest that a majority of Canadians share the concerns that the protesters have.

Thank you Paul for sharing your space over here.
Thank you for the INTERLUDES. Much needed!

>99 PaulCranswick: Yum. I think I'll get dinner from Mayura if I can hold out that long and don't go get some later today!

>111 PaulCranswick: Wordled in 4 today. : )

Wordle 234 4/6

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My first time trying the game

Hi Paul, something has happened at the ECB, they have picked a good squad finally for the West Indies Tour.

Root*
Bairstow
Crawley
Fisher
Foakes
Lawrence
Leach
Lees
Mahmood
C.Overton
M. Parkinson
Pope
Robinson
Stokes
Woakes
Wood

>112 m.belljackson: Yeah, Marianne and I have the "and other stories" version that is pretty long. I think it will be a slog.

>113 benitastrnad: Nice to see you as always Benita my dear friend. I note your points with interest as I always do but I said earlier that I would drop the Canadian commentaries as it was clearly upsetting some of my Canadian friends so respectfully I will refrain from a full response other than I did see where some of the funding was coming from and to note that it had been illegally seized so the truckers never got the money anyhow.

>114 DMulvee: It is an interesting squad and the inclusion of Fisher did surprise me a little. I think Lees, Parkinson and Mahmood deserve a chance. I would actually have done what they did with Broad and Anderson as I genuinely think they need a rest, especially Jimmy.
Pope is a lucky fellow as is Leach.

>115 ocgreg34: Great to see you, Greg. Noted and the figures will be updated and reposted later in the month all being well.

>116 mdoris: Thanks for those kind words, Mary. I am a little upset that emotions did get a little the better of some of us and it was not and never has been my intention to be an agent provocateur to stir up such heated-ness.

I hope the interludes work a little to reset.

>117 quondame: It isn't the healthiest food in the world is it, Susan, but boy can it be tasty!

>118 Berly: I don't know, Kimmers, maybe political debate addled my brain! I barely got the thing today and it is only the second time I have been taken to the full and final 6th guess.

>119 RBeffa: Well done then, Ron. The American English was nearly my downfall. I forgot that I am playing it in a foreign language!!

>120 johnsimpson: Well it is better, John, yes but the batting is terribly thin. Malan struggled after the first two tests but made two good scores in the first two and after being full of angst due to the impending birth of his child. I don't see how he gets stood down but Pope retains his place after flattering to deceive so often. Livingstone and Bohannon in particular are unlucky. There is no back-up opener and the question will be who comes in at 3?

Overstocked in the bowling department. Craig Overton for the West Indies - really?

>123 PaulCranswick: I never knew it was breakfast food. This restaurant with the biggest south Indian selection is only open for lunch and dinner with most of the menu only available at the latter. It is starchy, but vegetarian, so of course it's healthy! I'd add in some Bhel Puri for a bit of crunch.

>92 jessibud2: Thank you for your response--in my mind, I was echoing everything you said. The Ottawa blockade is terrorism, nothing safe or sensible about it.

Karen O.

>101 PaulCranswick: Wow! That is ton of books, Paul!

Hi Paul - well I finished the final Montalbano and won't say any more about it apart from I'll miss all those lovely food descriptions. Will need to browse through some Sicilian cookbooks.

Kudos to you for standing up for everybody's right to free speech. I know from your posts through the years that your heart is in the right place with this, politics and media have divided us over the last few years.
I could talk about the situation here in NZ where we've had our own convoy but will focus on books and reading instead.
Yesterday my husband got an invite to 'A conversation with Art Spiegelman' that was organised by local groups in Greater Chattanooga. There were over 10,000 of us from around the world who joined it, the FB link to view is here.

>99 PaulCranswick: I loved having dosai from time to time before these lockdowns ruined all that. Now we mostly just eat at home.

This morning I had football on both sides of my work area - my husband watched Derby in the kitchen and my son watched West Ham in the lounge. I went out for library books and coffee.

>77 PaulCranswick: >84 PaulCranswick: I just deleted a perhaps incendiary response to post 77. After reading to post 84, I've decided that my post was well within bounds, and will attempt to reconstruct it.

Unfortunately, reasoned discussion of these issues has been in short supply, unlike partisan posturing. Here are two points I'd like to see considered together.

1) Essential workers and the poor have been living with covid from day one, long before there was a vaccine, and too often dying of it. They'd have to be candidates for sainthood, not normal human beings, not to want to see everyone else sharing their risks - or at least everyone who's so far been spared due to their better paying jobs being adaptable to work from home.

2) Some quantity of those opposing measures to reduce the risk of covid are the kind of "rugged individualist" that in practice figures that society should contribute when they have a problem, but everyone else should have to live with "the results of their own choices". This isn't everyone opposed to anti-covid measures; for all I know it's not even a large proportion of them. But a few selfish bastards go a long way, particularly when many of them put a lot of work into sharing their desire for what they sometimes refer to as "freedom".

These two between them may account for a lot of the heat in this discussion, beyond the basic division between US left and US right.

>126 quondame: Traditionally dosai is taken as a breakfast option in South East Asia - well Malaysia and Singapore anyway, Susan, that I am able to speak to. That said, the restaurants that serve that type of food (roti, chapatis, biriyanis, fish-head curries, etc etc) are usually 24 hour operations so it is certainly not confined to breakfast and nobody would be in the least surprised to see you eating it at 10 pm or 10 am!

>127 klobrien2: Thanks for your view, Karen. Lovely to see you here as always. I hope we are all as quick to condemn in future when courthouses are set alight and molotov cocktails thrown. I condemn violence in protests whosoever perpetrates it and in what supposed cause.

>128 alcottacre: You are right, Stasia and it is therefore not surprising that they got me into a spot of trouble!

>129 avatiakh: Thank you so much for those kind words, Kerry. My intention was always to promote decency and honesty in discourse and I have never stood for violence.
We need to be careful with censorship and the cancel culture that exists more and more prevalently every day. We cannot only afford rights to those who are already pre-disposed to us we must grant them to everyone - even when it is uncomfortable to us. I saw complaint about desecration of statues and that is horrific and I will not support anything of the sort and I condemn them with the same vehemence that some of our friends rightly have, but when the Queen's statues were being decapitated and besmirched voices were largely stilled.

Thanks for the FB link - looks interesting.

I have skin in the game slightly when it comes to Derby as I lived there for a while and would hate to see them go out of existence.

>130 ArlieS: Thanks for your comments Arlie. Reasoned debate is in short supply in these polarised times and I do understand some of the depth of emotion having not being able to be with my mum when she passed and not having seen Yasmyne for 30 months. Your contributions are reasoned and not incendiary as far as I can see. x

We must be grateful to the essential workers. As you rightly point out they put their lives on the line at a time when we knew so little about the virus and before treatments of any kind were in place. In many instances they continue to do so. The world owes a debt of gratitude to the doctors, nurses, porters, hospital & care ancillary workers, policemen, firemen, truckers, bus drivers and so on and it is one we should recognise and honour.

I agree that the motives of some opposing measures to address and/or contain the virus are most likely suspect and selfish. I have never said that the exercise of their "freedom" should be without consequence.

>121 PaulCranswick: Hello again, Paul - I finally finished the "And Other Stories," having deep-pearled the "PISCES" story -
and found the Glossary to be one of the memorable parts of the book.

Will NOMAD by Ayaan Hirsi Ali work for the Arab World since her original country was considered Arab...?

>134 m.belljackson: You are better than I am, Marianne, as I am nowhere near finishing it yet!

It is an Asian Book Challenge and Ali was born, brought up and sadly mistreated in Somalia which is in Africa. I don't think I can allow that it meets an Asian Book Challenge but I would be up to reading it along with you next month if that helps?

Paul, have you read anything by Edward Said? Just out of curiosity as I am currently reading one of his books for the Asian Author Challenge.

The older I get, the more I find out how much I do not know. Said is doing a good job of pointing that out to me.

>135 PaulCranswick: Yep, Somalia's still in Africa yet When I did a Search "Was/Is Somalia an Arab Country" - it says that Somalia is part of the "Arab League."

>136 alcottacre: I have read a number of essays of his, Stasia, but not a complete book. I have his memoirs slated to read this month. He was an extremely erudite man.

>137 m.belljackson: It is indeed part of the Arab league, Marianne and some would say the only non-Arabian member of the 22-country club. Not sure myself of what really constitutes a country becoming an Arab state but it is not an Asian one which I also used to disqualify books from Egyptian writers.

This does explain some of the difficulty in determining the "Arabness" of countries.

https://insidearabia.com/somalias-arab-affinity-exacerbates-internal-clan-strife...

>138 PaulCranswick: OK, I was just curious. Thanks! I completely agree about his erudition. I would have loved to have had him for a teacher. He does not "talk down" to me in the book, but rather explains why such-and-such is so. Unfortunately, as I noted on my thread, the essays in the book are 20+ years old.

>139 alcottacre: It seems remarkable that he has been gone some 18 years already. As I recall he was supposed to visit Warwick University when I was there in the 1980s but for reasons I cannot recall he didn't make it so I never got to meet him.

>140 PaulCranswick: Well, I had never heard of him until this challenge, which seems to me a shame.

BTW - Have you started Team of Rivals yet?

>141 alcottacre: Funny your should mention that but I read the first few pages of the book stuck at the traffic lights in from of Kuala Lumpur's Times Square this morning. I think I will enjoy it.

>142 PaulCranswick: It is a re-read for me and I am appreciating it as much this time around as I did the first, which was years ago - shortly after it came out, I think.

I always look at the picture of Edward Bates and think he looks like a pirate :)

>143 alcottacre: I have left it in the car otherwise I would rush to confirm!

>144 PaulCranswick: At least it is what my idea of a pirate looks like, lol.

>145 alcottacre: No peg leg or parrot?

>100 PaulCranswick: Love it! There are some excellent English place names. Near my in-laws is a place called Scratchy Bottom!

Also - Mr Gotobed. He was a character in the Puddle Lane books I read as a kid. And read with the kids. Love them :)

>147 BekkaJo: Has the most considerable benefit of being perfectly real too, Bekka! Peter Gotobed was also a real associate but I can confirm that people refused to believe his descriptions of where he hailed from.

I used to know a guy called Bob Toogood. I was so disappointed that he wouldn't adopt me...I'd've been Dick Toogood.

ETA the reason I came!
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Streak: 100%, 3 tries now 45% followed by 4 at 40%, only 15% at five and no scrubs yet.

>149 richardderus: Murrican.

>101 PaulCranswick: Nice haul there! There are a couple I'm surprised you didn't already own.

>100 PaulCranswick: I love the village name!

>149 richardderus: I almost lost in the early hours of this morning but my record is just about unblemished, RD.

You wouldn't have been keen to seek adoption from my neighbour growing up RD. His name was Charlie Small.

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>150 humouress: You are right of course, Nina, it is rather unfair when we are asked to squeeze a six letter word into only five! Darned foreign language!

>151 thornton37814: One very obvious one, Lori, which I used to own and which my beloved older daughter gave away mistakenly to her old school library passing them the wrong box - I lost some good books that day!

>138 PaulCranswick: Well, Boo, I will look for a different Arab on my shelve...

>153 PaulCranswick:, >150 humouress: The (ETA British, I point out with no small amount of glee) Wordlemeister merely compressed the useless vowel out of the word, as all right-thinking English speakers do in pronouncing it.

>155 richardderus: Ooooooh! Oh no, no, no!

>155 richardderus: Do you care to clarify, richardders? *glowers dangerously*

>157 humouress:, >156 BekkaJo: Ain't no clairifyin' needed...you ain't say the letter so what's it doin' there?

Melvil Dui wuz kerrekt.

>158 richardderus: Getting murkier, Richad

>159 humouress: "Richad"? There's a second "r" before the "d" that indicates a proper pronunciation of /ˈrɪtʃərd/.

>160 richardderus: Mmhmm. Really?

>154 m.belljackson: I had a look for one of Hirsi Ali's books yesterday in Kino but they only had her latest hardback and it was almost $40 so I will wait and try to order the book you mentioned.

>155 richardderus: The glee is palpable RD! Same with throwing all the Z's where the s's should be.

>156 BekkaJo: Yes. can. of. worms. opened.

>157 humouress: Oh no Richard what have you done? Don't get my neighbour riled!

>158 richardderus: Since when was the English meant to be made easy or logical? I thought the war of independence was for tea leaves and taxes not inaccuracy in spelling.

>159 humouress: *Hastily assembles sandbags, and retreats behind them with his concise Oxford dictionary*
and his hope for a safer world.

Well *this* ought to be good. Pass me the popcorn...

>160 richardderus: Don't you mean "propa pronunseeashun", RD?

>161 humouress: Really, Nina, really.

>165 drneutron: Hahaha Jim. I will be a total coward and let Nina and Bekka double-team the Long Island Lexicographer.

>125 PaulCranswick:, I think Paul, that Strauss is wanting to try some other players and then when a new coach is in place he will be able to look at this series and see what if anything has been gained. I agree about Pope but they seem to think that he is the new Ian Bell and are desperate for him to succeed and so he keeps getting chances. The problem with Pope and a lot of other players is that the Bish, Bash, Bosh cricket has become so ingrained that they don't know how to build an innings against decent bowlers. Pope's big Double hundred in the last game of the season against Glamorgan was scored at a fast rate due to indifferent bowling and bowlers and there was no chance of a result in the game after Glamorgan had racked up 650+. He doesn't seem to learn from his constant mistakes, he doesn't need more bloody chances, he needs to watch each knock where he fails and then asked what he is doing wrong and then given a bollocking and then told that he has X amount of Tests to sort himself out or ship out. I think they need to be cruel to be kind with these wannabee Test cricketers, harsh it may be but i am sick of seeing constant failure. I can take it if the batsmen is out to an unplayable ball, a stonking delivery but not incompetence.

I am pleased for Lees, Parkinson, Fisher, Foakes and Mahmood, but they must be given their chance and not just along for the ride.

>168 johnsimpson: I applaud Lees, Parkinson and Mahmood in particular, John. Fisher surprises me and let's see how he does. I think the squad is a bit unbalanced - we have no obvious number 3 and no reserve opener.
Lawrence hasn't convinced and I think the constant chances given to Crawley (who keeps his place despite a horrid record if you take that one great score away against a terrible Pakistan team) and Pope who hasn't made a decent fist of things at all. Unfortunately Crawley had to be retained but the other two really needed to make way and be told that their performances are just not acceptable. Instead of Overton (who appears unsuited to conditions) they needed an extra opener.
Bohannon and Livingstone are unlucky and I would have added Rhodes into the set up as a sign to Root that your place as captain is not guaranteed.

>162 PaulCranswick: Ayaan Hirsi Ali's first book was INFIDEL, then NOMAD...I'll save that one for NF biography.

After she moved to the U.S., I've read that her writing became more conservative, so haven't read anything recent.

Is Ahlem Mosteghanemi okay for an Arab country writer?

>170 m.belljackson: Also it is a negative, Marianne. Algeria / Tunisia are both in North Africa. For the same reason I disallowed Egypt, Libya and Morocco.

Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq are the qualified countries for the Asian Arab world.

>169 PaulCranswick:, Apparently Root wants to bat at three and Stokes to come in at four, we will see what happens.

>172 johnsimpson: I don't understand why Stokes keeps moving further up the order. He is, or should be an all rounder and should be told you bat at six. His average doesn't justify the hype to be honest.

Rhodes would have been useful as a captain in waiting and also to offer some bowling when Stokes "breaks down" and cannot bowl as invariably happens. He has a much better first class bowling average than Stokes, albeit that he is not essentially a front liner.
Root should have batted at three years ago.

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Safely home.

>173 PaulCranswick:, I think that they are hoping that should we be 10 for 2 , both Root and Stokes will settle things down and re-build the innings and give whoever is at five a good foundation to come in at. I agree with you that Root should have been batting at three for a long time, i wonder if he is putting his foot down and saying i bat better at three and make that his own by the time he either relinquishes the captaincy or is relieved of it. In the short term i have no problem with Stokes batting at four but we need reliable four and fives and then Stokes can bat at six, hopefully with a bit of freedom. Maybe Foakes can nail down one of these positions and i hope he is given a good run with the gloves as he is a better keeper than Bairstow and Buttler.

I recently tried Wordle but failed because I didn't know a letter could appear twice. Sigh. So I have 1 win and 1 loss. LOL

>175 johnsimpson: With what we are taking Lees and Crawley must open. If we go with Root and Stokes at 3 and 4 Jimmy Bairstow is at 5 and Lawrence or Pope are in at six. Three tests but we only have seven batsmen total. I don't understand that as it includes an all rounder and a spare wicket-keeper.

>176 Berly: That almost caught me out in one of my early games, Kimmers. I am very happy it is only one game per day otherwise my reading would slow even more!

>177 PaulCranswick:, Hopefully we will remain injury free but i have seen that Joe Leach is on standby should anything happen injury wise. With the way the squad has been chosen, Lees will play all three tests as long as he doesn't pick up an injury, maybe Strauss is working on the principle that they have to stay safe and that they will get a three test run at least.

With Strauss taking over at short notice and without having some of an English season to look at players, this is the best he could think of, he doesn't really want this job and to be honest, i think he should be taking over from Harrison. The ECB needs good ex-test cricketers at the helm, they know what is needed within the game and they should be predominantly wanting Test Cricket as the main game and therefore the County Championship given precedence, as we have both agreed, the T20 should be played on a Sunday and dump the bloody Hundred.

>179 johnsimpson: We agree on the reorganisation of the season.
You mean Joe Clarke of course as the stand-by batsman which is fine and we'll see what they do if we lose an opener to injury.

>171 PaulCranswick: Well, her book sounded SO good...alas, how about good old Kahil Gibran from an Arab Country?
(or else, I'm about to wind up with "Ahab, the Arab, Sheik of the Burning Sand...)

For the far future, would Hazrat Inayat Khan work for India?

>178 PaulCranswick: My husband plays wordle in English, Hebrew and Italian. The Hebrew one is difficult and the italian he finds easy plus is not limited to one a day.

>181 m.belljackson: The book does sound good and I want to add more feminist writing to my shelves and add to my woeful knowledge of the subject, Marianne.

Hazrat Inayat Khan does indeed work for India. He was born in Mumbai.

>182 avatiakh: That is so impressive, Kerry.
It is also in Malay and I have played that too with reasonable success.

>183 PaulCranswick: Kahil Gibran?

>184 m.belljackson: Fits of course. He was from Lebanon.

>162 PaulCranswick: I read Infidel when it first came out and found it fascinating. I want to read more by her.

>186 AuntieClio: I am definitely going to hunt down something of hers, Stephanie. She is a brave lady.

So yesterday, Mitch McConnell broke with the Republican National Committee and called the 06-January-2021 insurrection what it was, violent. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes to make him do that but it's interesting to read about.

Today, on CNN, Marjorie Taylor Green said "Nancy Pelosi and her gazpacho {sic} police ..." Multiple times she said "gazpacho police." Speculation from the anchors was that she meant "gestapo" but used "gazpacho" to elide it. I think she's too stupid to know the difference and may have thought the gestapo was really named gazpacho. She is a deplorable, uneducated loon. And I willingly take the karma points for saying that.

>188 AuntieClio: I actually commented on this issue in the NY Times yesterday in response to an article on it, Stephanie. I said:

I don't often agree with Mitch McConnell but this is one of those times.
To describe January 6th as "legitimate political discourse" is the same leap as describing the last POTUS' twitter account as "Presidential."
Whether it amounted to a planned armed insurrection or not, and I didn't see much planning there, it was anything but legitimate.

Surely that is something most people can agree upon?

I didn't see the quotes as I am trying not to look at too much political stuff (believe it or not?!) at the moment but perhaps she should be punished by being forced to eat some of the disgustingly cold soup!

>189 PaulCranswick: Though MTG's mouth befouls the word, gazpacho is seriously good food! And I like vichyssoise and cold beet borsch as well.

>190 quondame: We are usually in accord, Susan, when it comes to food, but I have a Northern English horror at the idea of cold soup! I think it is a state of mind - too many tepid school dinners perhaps.

>191 PaulCranswick: Growing up in a desert climate may have influenced my acceptance. Is there no cold soup tradition in South East Asia?

>192 quondame: No, Susan, not that I can think of. Not in so far as it relates to the Malay archipelago anyway.

The Koreans in North Asia do enjoy chilled noodle soup which is refreshing (apparently) and which I have endured as part of a drinking session with my colleagues.

The Thais are quite adventurous with their flavours and the modes to enjoy them. I haven't tried it but one of my friends did tell me that this is good.

https://www.thefullhelping.com/thai-carrot-coconut-lemongrass-soup/

I think I missed the opportunity for linguistic battle! Ah well.

Soup looks good - definitely hot rather than cold please. Having Northern UK parents, I don't think I had anything over than Cream of Tomato/Vegetable/Chicken and Vegetable growing up.

Fun anecdote - when my parents married, my Mum made a spag bol and my Dad couldn't understand why the pasta was, well, pasta coloured. Turns out his Mum had always put a tin of cream of tomato soup in with the cooking pasta... I don't think Nana ever really got to grips with the concept of pasta!

>That is quite the story, Bekka. I never heard of anyone making pasta that way!

Favourite soups :

French Onion



Sicilian Minestrone



Sichuan Hot and Sour Soup



Bouillabasse



Winter Vegetable Soup

Mmmmm, those look great! As far as soups go, my go-to is gumbo - of the chicken and andouille Cajun-style variety.

>197 drneutron: I like any flavours remotely cajun, Jim.

Hani surprised me today when I asked her what was her favourite soup. She replied "Leek and Potato" she is fast turning into an English Rose.

More Favourite Soups:

Some of these - goulash and gumbo especially are also stews depending somewhat on consistency.
But I'm not into semantics - a crusty bread and I'll enjoy all of these!

SHORBAT ADAS



BORSCHT



GOULASH SOUP



CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP



CHICKEN GUMBO



LEEK AND POTATO SOUP

The coffee shop in our building accidentally ordered the wrong soup for yesterday. Wednesday's soup is usually chicken noodle. They ordered "Wicked Thai Chicken and Rice." They had me sample it early because one of the women doesn't handle spicy foods well, and the other is a vegetarian. I ended up getting it for lunch. I doubt they'll order it again because it is much more expensive than the others, but it sold really well.

>200 thornton37814: Sounds tasty, Lori. Of course the king of Thai soup is Tom Yum Goong Goong being prawn.

>146 PaulCranswick: I can just imagine them into the picture, lol. And how do we know about the peg leg anyway? The picture does not include his legs!

Paul - For those who can bear political drama, my former 4th grade student,
Quadren Wilson, dominates the news in Madison, Wisconsin.

I like my soups to be as thick as stew, and my stews to be basically a thinnish sauce on whatever the star of the dish is. Somehow that just says "comfort" to me.

PC, have you read Maria Dahvana Headley's Beowulf yet?

>204 richardderus: I found Headley's version gimmicky and the slang already laughably dated. https://www.librarything.com/work/2449742/reviews/190734117

>202 alcottacre: True - could have thighs of the finest mahogany!

>203 m.belljackson: I will go and look at that, Marianne. I have no idea who she is to be honest.

>204 richardderus: Soups and stews are the ultimate in hearty comfort aren't they?

RD, the only version I have at home of Beowolf is the "translation" by Seamus Heaney.

>205 amanda4242: *scurries off to see what Amanda's linked*

>205 amanda4242: Interesting point...go bigger or go away with that "Bro!"-ness is the burden of your refrain as I understand it. Intrigues me....

>208 richardderus: I haven't read my Heaney version either and I have only read the story in school versions before so I am intrigued by both!

Skin of the teeth job again today:
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>208 richardderus: Pretty much. I can't say I would have liked it more if she had fully committed to the slang, but it wouldn't have given me tonal whiplash.

My thoughts on the few Beowulf translations I've read:
Burton Raffel: not the most inspired, but very accessible
Seamus Heaney: dense, but very beautiful
Stephen Mitchell: robust, full of vim and vigor
Maria Dahvana Headley: tweetable

>211 amanda4242: I am impressed, Amanda, that you have read five translations of Beowulf.

>212 PaulCranswick: Actually four, plus a couple of adaptations.

>193 PaulCranswick: Lemongrass is among my favorite soup inclusions. I'm in for some of that. I also am fond of the Japanese cold, but soupless, ramen, garnished with various flavors and textures.

>196 PaulCranswick: Add some avgolemono and mulligatawny and mushroom barley for a perfect soup fest! Oh! and the Taiwanese braised beef noodle soup of utter delight!

>201 PaulCranswick: And that one too! I order it 2outa3 times when getting Thai food.

>213 amanda4242: I'm impressed by more than one. Well, I'm impressed by one to be honest.

>213 amanda4242: I count for a living, Amanda. If I keep on like that, I'll lose my job!

>214 quondame: Hani (and Erni) use lemongrass frequently and I obviously like it but I am not really au fait with cooking with it myself as they tend to use it to infuse and I don't have a subtle enough touch for it.

I could do quite a few more sets of six, Susan, as I do love soups and mulligatawny is a particular favourite. I like barley in soup but, for some reason I don't like mushroom soup although I like it as an ingredient in virtually everything else.

Hani would eat Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup every week and she makes it to die for!

I am not an expert on Tom Yum but visiting Thailand or the many "regional" Thai restaurants here in Malaysia, you can find hundreds of different variations of the soup which I could never explain or give justice to.

>215 quondame: Me too! Those Middle English classics are a difficult read.

>215 quondame: It's actually a pretty entertaining story. The trick is finding a translations that clicks for you.

>217 PaulCranswick: Beowulf is *Old * English. Today doesn't seem to be your day, Paul!

I love soup too. My homemade rotations are pea soup (if I have a ham bone), mushroom soup, leek and potato soup, chicken soup (with lots of veg after a roast chicken), onion soup, cream of veg soup with squash, tomato, carrots and/or sweet potatoes, fish soup with scallops, salmon and shrimp, clam chowder.

Love the soup talk!

>218 amanda4242: Problem is Amanda it wasn't yet day! I was posting at 4 in the morning when not even I am at my best. You are of course right in that Beowulf (which many scholars believed was part of the oral storytelling tradition) was put down in Old English approximately 100 years before the Norman Conquest ushered in Middle English.

>219 mdoris: There are some hearty soups there, Mary!
I like but am moving away from the more creamy types of soups but those which would leave a debate as to whether it is soup or stew would probably be my absolute favourites. There is a Mexican five bean soup that Hani has made me a few times that I really like.

>220 PaulCranswick: 4 A.M. is not a time to be awake unless you are on your way to bed.

>221 amanda4242: Not sleeping too well for some reason but I did fall asleep early-ish. Got about three hours in total.

>219 mdoris: >220 PaulCranswick: A friend's mother used to make a beef based (broiled and braised beef flanken) split pea with other legumes that was maybe the heartiest and most delicious earthy soup I have ever encountered. No restaurant has had anything close.

>223 quondame: Ooh I could eat it made with beef flank - I don't partake of pork/ham but that sounds like quite the alternative.

>224 PaulCranswick: Next time I find the recipe I'll send it to you!

>225 quondame: That'll be great and I'll pass it on to the relevant parties at home to recreate it! x

After seeing all the Wordle on peoples threads I had to try it and have played it a total of 3 times. Yesterday I didn't even get it in 6 but how was I to know they used US spelling. That was an allowable miss as far as I'm concerned and today I got the word in 2.

I'm not going to weigh in on the trucker protest other than to say that it's gone on long enough and blocking the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor to Detroit is making supply chain issues even worse.

>203 m.belljackson: Oh no! I'm so sorry.

>227 Familyhistorian: I thought it darned unfair to throw such an Americanism into the mix, Meg and I only got it at the very death.

Nobody comes out of the "trucker protests" very well in my opinion. I think that there is clearly a question of whether ends justify means by now. Incessant hooting of horns is a public disturbance for sure and preventing people from the everyday intercourses - going to the store, to work, to sleep will only have the result of turning those sympathetic to their rights against them. Trudeau has handled the whole thing terribly too - governments need to set out a positive vision for the future but his juvenile insistence on refusing to do so has turned many against him as well. Trust in politicians and the establishment (whatever that is) the world over is at an all time low. That encapsulates those on the right as well as my own comrades on the left.

I was taught by the late and very great Tony Benn to stand up always for the principles you believe in and I believe in personal freedom within a caring state. We don't seem to have much of either at present in all our countries.

In the UK : we have a pathological liar who parties while the population endured
In the US : we have a polarised system just trying to score points off of each other
In Canada : public order has broken down and the Prime Minister ran into hiding
In Australia : travel is still not back to anything approaching normal
In NZ : Pregnant New Zealanders are being prevented from returning home

It is a sad shambles and all the while the most repressive regime of all and where the virus started and became another of its monopolistic exports, the Chinese are laughing up their sleeves at the paucity of leadership in the West.

>203 m.belljackson: & >228 AuntieClio: That is a very disturbing news story, Marianne/Stephanie. What sort of system is shooting people several times when they already have their hands in the air? What sort of system allows him to be prevented from humane and reasonable medical care upon his arrest?

The reports I can find are very sketchy to say the least but it is not something you want to read about anyone even less when that someone is known to you.

Lunchtime at the bookstore:

85. The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
86. A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
87. Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry
88. The Powerful and the Damned by Lionel Barber
89. The Better Half by Sharon Moalem
90. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
91. Downsizing by Tom Watson
92. Desert Flower by Waris Dirie
93. Common Ground by Naomi Ishiguro
94. The Blue Between Sky and Water by Susan Abulhawa
95. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

The Nobel winners latest book is a huge tome.
Anam, Maolem, Alam, Ishiguro, Abulhawa and Harari fit the ABC challenge
Barry's book I thought I had bought before but seemingly not
Watson is the previous UK Labour deputy and lost 112 pounds in weight in a year
Marianne got me thinking about Somalian heroines.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/339492

Happy Weekend, Paul. Yep, I am back. It looks like I missed nearly 500 of your posts, so I did A LOT of skimming. I hope all is well, my friend and that you are enjoying those current reads.

>231 PaulCranswick: Night Boat is delicious, I hope it makes its pleasures yours. Watson lost 112lb in a year?! Wow! It took me over a year to lose 100lb back in the Aughts. Still, glad I did.

>229 PaulCranswick: You'd have to go to my blog to read it, but suffice to say that my review of Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World: What China's Crackdown Reveals About Its Plans to End Freedom Everywhere is pretty much aimed directly at you. The link's on the book page.

>223 quondame: In two California cities, we have a restaurant called Pea Soup Andersen's ( http://www.peasoupandersens.net/ ). To me, they always serve the best split pea soup, in a sourdough bread bowl along with a variety of extra toppings (diced ham, bacon bits, shredded cheddar cheese, chives). Munching the soup-soaked sourdough is heavenly.

>228 AuntieClio: >203 m.belljackson:

Thank you for your concern.

I called both Madison's Mayor and Senator Tammy Baldwin yesterday to ask them
to transfer Quadren back to the University of Wisconsin Hospital.

So far, there has been no action reported in the media.

To think of him in a hospital jail with the murderers and their supporters all around him is unreal.

>235 ocgreg34: Pea Soup Andersen's. Ha, only been there once. But you can't help but know about it, with their Burma-Shave style advertisements. Every other billboard on the way to San Luis Obispo seems to be (or was) one of theirs. Need to plan another road trip.

>232 SilverWolf28: Thanks Silver.

>233 msf59: Nice to see you Mark. I have been keeping tabs on your trip with a slight tinge of envy.

>234 richardderus: Read the opening bit as is my wont before I buy and I reckon Barry's book will be just right for me.

I'm off to read your blog straight after this.

>235 ocgreg34: You do make the soup sound good, Greg! Soup in hollowed out bread is a great idea; there was a hotel restaurant here in KL that served a goulash soup exactly like that and I adored it.

>236 m.belljackson: I hope the situation resolves itself, Marianne. What was he arrested for in the first place?

>237 mahsdad: Hi Jeff. I awake at an ungodly hour only to be made immediately hungry by you guys!

>240 PaulCranswick: Quadren was arrested on a "disorderly conduct" warrant.

>241 m.belljackson: What a sad and abhorrent state of affairs when people can be shot for "disorderly conduct" whatever that is. In the UK our police do not generally carry guns and we are not lumbered with all your Second Amendment controversy. I have never seen a gun carried by anyone in the UK outside of a sporting meet and the country is palpably safer than the US.

>242 PaulCranswick: It is odd because statistics show that the U.K. is only marginally safer than the US (and the French less safe).

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/crime-rate-by-country

This assumes all crimes are equal which is of course untrue

>244 DMulvee: If you look at a list of the 100 most dangerous cities in the world there isn't a single one in Europe. You are right in that the UK and France do not make the same distinctions on misdemeanours and felonies as the USA does.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_murder_rate

Gun related deaths per 100,000 of the population stood at :

Australia : 0.88
Canada : 1.94
France : 2.33
Germany : 1.04
Ireland : 0.87
New Zealand : 1.24
UK : 0.20
USA : 12.21

The source to be fair is on the latest year of reporting and isn't exactly the same for each year. The figures are not exactly ambiguous though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

>231 PaulCranswick: Once again, a nice haul. I have the Anam set aside to read later in the year for the Asian Authors challenge. I have all 3 books of the trilogy, so I hope I enjoy the first one!

>235 ocgreg34: >237 mahsdad: I have been to Pea Soup Andersen's a number of times, though the most recent involved hitting a doe on the way and being stuck at PSA for hours (they were very nice) while waiting for a long distance tow truck. The Pea Soup is good, but not in the same class as the home made I have had.

>223 quondame: >224 PaulCranswick: Speaking of beef based pea soup, I was unable to find the recipe, but online are several versions of "Split pea soup with flanken". I didn't see mention of roasting the flanken to intensify the flavor or the inclusion of lima beans, but I suspect a skilled chef could tune the online recipes to perfection.

>246 alcottacre: That is the problem when you buy trilogies isn't it, Stasia? I have several unfinished ones and strangely in most instances I have enjoyed the earlier ones.

>247 quondame: I don't think you can ever beat the home made stuff, especially if the cook is skilled.

I have asked Hani to think about such a soup - she loves making soup too and I guess she will try it in order to make me miss her even more!

>231 PaulCranswick: Ha, I don't feel quite so bad about my failing to keep my acquisitions down as much as planned this year (so far), after watching your misbookhaviour, Mr C!

>249 Caroline_McElwee: I started out with the very best of intentions this year, Caroline, but it didn't last very long!

Misbookhaviour really should be a word. :D

>250 PaulCranswick: Cranswickian misbookbehavior?

>245 PaulCranswick: I may have been nitpicking. You wrote “…the country is palpably safer than the US.” Whilst I wouldn’t want to live in the US because of fears of guns (and the health system), I was surprised that the crime rate in the US as a whole was lower than France (I don’t think this is comparing apples to apples however).

>251 FAMeulstee: That sounds almost like a double whammy of blame, Anita!

>252 DMulvee: I wouldn't want to live in Paris or Marseilles either but if we are talking about violent crime then it is clear that gun related deaths is 60 times worse in the USA than in the UK. For me therefore I am comfortable in saying that therefore the UK is palpably safer than the USA.
As I said, the way that crimes are reported in the UK which makes no difference between misdemeanours and felonies will always skew the figures unless you compare apple-to-apple.

>253 PaulCranswick: No blame, Paul, more a honorary title!
And I am just a tiny bit jealous on those bookhauls. ;-)

>253 PaulCranswick: I think you are right. The only reason I hesitate is that I think that though gun crime is much higher in the US, it is possible that knife crime is higher in the U.K.
I can see that data indicates that homicides per 100k of the population in the US was 4 times more likely than in the U.K. (though this data is from 2018), but wonder whether this gap was reduced in 2019 as knife crime appeared in the media more frequently (given Covid I think the past two years would be outliers even though we don’t have the data)

ETA: Actually the chance of being a homicide victim in the US being four times higher than the U.K. is crazily higher, not sure what I am arguing!

>254 FAMeulstee: Hahaha well I can certainly bask in such a honorary title, Anita.

>255 DMulvee: We also have to bear in mind that America has just been recording in the last year generationally high murder rates across most of its major cities - we are talking double digit percentage increases across all of their cities. The figures would look much worse now.

Paul - Quadren is no saint, but he served his time for his petty crimes

and did not deserve to be set up as the next George Floyd.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The power of the NRA, racism, questionable leadership,
and the militarization of the police make a mockery of any democracy.

>257 m.belljackson: I think that is clear, Marianne. George Floyd was not a particularly model citizen either but that was never the issue - people don't deserve to be shot, killed, or physically abused in any way just for infringing the law. It is for the police to enforce and uphold the law not to take it into their own hands.

There are also disturbing images from Ottawa, whatever your political beliefs and whether or not you believe the demonstrators there are exceeding the bounds of peaceful protests, of an old man being extremely roughly manhandled by two large Canadian policemen to the extent that he has been caused actual physical harm. That is just brutality and excessive force, pure and simple.

Had a spot of trouble this morning as I had a puncture in my car tyre. It literally blew up but fortunately both I an the car are fine. Had to get a Grab/Uber to work and I'll get one of the drivers at work to go and help me later to get the tyre changed.

Soup - My favourite has to be ciorba - Romanian meatball soup, I like the chicken version, love that sour taste from the lemon juice.
I also make a few versions of lentil soup, rassilnek or pickle soup and my own version of Spanish chorizo soup with lots of veggies.

>260 avatiakh: Ciorba does look interesting, Kerry, and I will have to try that one. I am very fond of lentils too.