PAUL C WITH A CLEAN SLATE IN '22 - Part 14

SCENES FROM MY PAST

I spent my university years in the city of Coventry and I may go more in depth in future but this is a bit eye-catching:

The Opening Words

Pilgrims Way by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Abdulrazak Gurnah is the current Nobel laureate and his books are being re-released thankfully by Bloomsbury books. This is his second novel.



"It was just after seven and the pub was almost empty. The only customer apart from Daud was a thin, old man leaning over his drink at a corner of the bar. The barman was talking to him, and nodded at Daud to show that he had seen him and would presently attend to him. It was getting towards the end of the week and money was short, so Daud bought himself the cheapest half-pint of beer and sat in the alcove by the window. The beer tasted watery and sour, but he shut his eyes and gulped it."

"Interested..............?"

Books Read First Quarter

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

5,715 pages

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
29. Redemption Ground by Lorna Goodison (2018) 164 pp Non-Fiction
30. The Blue Between Sky and Water by Susan Abulhawa (2015) 288 pp Fiction /Asian Book Challenge
31. Door into the Dark by Seamus Heaney (1969) 44 pp Poetry
32. The Yellow Wind by David Grossman (1988) 218 pp Non-Fiction/Asian Book Challenge
33. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (2017) 343 pp Fiction / Booker Winner
34. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin (1974) 197 pp Fiction
35. The Wrecking Light by Robin Robertson (2010) 90 pp Poetry
36. The Others by Sarah Blau (2018) 239 pp Thriller /ABC
37. Portable Kisses by Tess Gallagher (1992) 80 pp Poetry/ AAC

2,063 pages

MARCH

38. Rise Like Lions : Poetry for the Many edited by Ben Okri (2017) 258 pp Poetry
39. Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin (1958) 179 pp Non-Fiction
40. Intimacies by Katie Kitamura (2021) 225 pp Fiction / Asian Book Challenge
41. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi (2013) 283 pp Fiction/ Asian Book Challenge
42. Songs of Mihyar the Damascene by Adonis (1961) 116 pp Poetry/Asian Book Challenge
43. Tales of the Tikongs by Epeli Hau'ofa (1983) 93 pp Fiction /Short stories
44. The Twits by Roald Dahl (1980) 87 pp Fiction /YA
45. The Historians : Poems by Eavan Boland (2020) 67 pp Poetry
46. Night Haunts by Sukhdev Sandhu (2007) 144 pp Non-Fiction
47. The Old Boys by William Trevor (1964) 170 pp Fiction
48. Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgaard (2015) 244 pp Non-Fiction/Memoir
49. The Fell by Sarah Moss (2021) 180 pp Fiction
50. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926) 203 pp Fiction
51. Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi (2018) 243 pp Fiction / Asian Book Challenge
52. Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney (2021) 337 pp Fiction

2,829 pages

Books Read Second Quarter

APRIL

53. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979) 180 pp Science Fiction/1001
54. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (1874) 389 pp Fiction/Re-read Reassessment

Current 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 : 2 (36 / 57)
The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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 3 (322)
My Name is Red
Tarka the Otter
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

GUARDIAN 100 BOOKS READ BY DEC 2021 : 349
GUARDIAN BOOKS IN 2022 3 (352)
My Name is Red
Lolly Willowes
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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
February - Mo / Renault
March - Between the Wars - Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

AMERICAN AUTHOR CHALLENGE



January - Graphic Books - The American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 by Khor Shing Yin
February - Tess Gallagher - Portable Kisses

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
1. The Blue Between Sky and Water
2. The Yellow Wind
3. The Others

MARCH - The Arab World - Writers from the Arab world
link to thread https://www.librarything.com/topic/340000
1. Frankenstein in Baghdad
2. The Songs of Mihyar the Damascene
3. Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi

APRIL - Persia - Iranian writers
link to thread : https://www.librarything.com/topic/340943#n7802013

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
2. Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World
3. Intimacies
4. Night Haunts

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
52. Jamaica - Redemption Ground by Lorna Goodison - AMERICAS
53. Palestine - The Blue Between Sky and Water by Susan Abulhawa - ASIA PACIFIC
54. Israel - The Yellow Wind by David Grossman - ASIA PACIFIC
55. Iraq - Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi - ASIA PACIFIC
56. Papua New Guinea - Tales of the Tikongs by Epeli Hau'ofa - ASIA PACIFIC
57. Oman - Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi - ASIA PACIFIC


Create Your Own Visited Countries Map

100 NOVELS 100 AUTHORS

1 Things Fall Apart Achebe, Chinua
2 Watership Down Adams, Richard
3 Half of a Yellow Sun Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
4 Jack Sheppard Ainsworth, William Harrison
5 Northanger Abbey Austen, Jane
6 The Twin Bakker, Gerbrand
7 Another Country Baldwin, James
8 The Black Sheep Balzac, Honore de
9 Silence of the Girls Barker, Pat
10 The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett
11. Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres
12 The Sheltering Sky Bowles, Paul
13 Orenda Boyden, Joseph
14 Rumours of Rain Brink, Andre
15 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
16 Wuthering Heights Bronte, Emily
17 The Good Earth Buck, Pearl
18 The Plague Camus, Albert
19 Jack Maggs Carey, Peter
20 O' Pioneers Cather, Willa
21 The Woman in WhiteCollins, Wilkie
22 To Serve Them All My Days Delderfield, RF
23 David Copperfield Dickens, Charles
24 Crime and Punishment Dostoevsky, Fyodor
25 Justine Durrell, Lawrence
26 Invisible Man Ellison, Ralph
27 The Round house Erdrich, Louise
28 Passage to India Forster, EM
29 The Promise Galgut, Damon
30 Sea of Poppies Ghosh, Amitav
31 I, Claudius Graves, Robert
32 The Quiet American Greene, Graham
33 The Growth of the Soil Hamsun, Knut
34 The Return of the Native Hardy, Thomas
35 The Go-Between Hartley, LP
36 Plainsong Haruf, Kent
37 The Rainbow Troops Hirata, Andrea
38 Les Miserables Hugo, Victor
39 A Prayer for Owen Meany Irving, John
40 The Dig Jones, Cynan
41 Mister Pip Jones, Lloyd
42 The Far Pavilions Kaye, MM
43 Small Things Like These Keegan, Claire
44 The Dictator's Last Night Khadra, Yasmina
45 Darkness at Noon Koestler, Arthur
46 The Unbearable Lightness of Being Kundera, Milan
47 To Kill a Mockingbird Lee, Harper
48 The Grass is Singing Lessing, Doris
49 If Not Now, When? Levi, Primo
50 The Road to Lichfield Lively, Penelope
51 How Green is My Valley Llewellyn, Richard
52 Lovely Green Eyes Lustig, Arnost
53 Palace Walk Mahfouz, Naguib
54 The Fixer Malamud, Bernard
55 A Place of Greater Safety Mantel, Hilary
56 One Hundred Years of Solitude Marquez, Gabriel Garcia
57 The Moon and Sixpence Maugham, W Somerset
58 Bel-Ami Mauppasant, Guy de
59 The North Water McGuire, Ian
60 Docherty McIlvanney, Hugh
61 A Fine Balance Mistry, Rohinton
62 The Redundancy of Courage Mo, Timothy
63 The Colour of Blood Moore, Brian
64 The Bell Murdoch, Iris
65 A House for Mr Biswas Naipaul, VS
66 The Financial Expert Narayan, RK
67 Hamnet O'Farrell, Maggie
68 1984 Orwell, George
69 Jean de Florette Pagnol, Marcel
70 Cry, the Beloved Country Paton, Alan
71 The Sunne in Splendour Penman, Sharon
72 The Memory of the Forest Powers, Charles T
73 The Yellow Birds Powers, Kevin
74 The Shipping News Proulx, Annie
75 The Wedding Queffelec, Yann
76 All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
77 Shame Rushdie, Salman
78 The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
79 Fame is the Spur Spring, Howard
80 Golden Hill Spufford, Francis
81 The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck, John
82 This Sporting Life Storey, David
83 Waterland Swift, Graham
84 The Gift of Rain Tan Twan Eng
85 The Heather Blazing Toibin, Colm
86 Lord of the Rings Tolkien, JRR
87 The Road Home Tremain, Rose
88 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Tressell, Robert
89 The Children of Dynmouth Trevor, William
90 Breathing Lessons Tyler, Anne
91 Sacred Hunger Unsworth, Barry
92 Rabbit, Run Updike, John
93 The In-Between World of Vikram Lall Vassanji, MG
94 Fingersmith Waters, Sarah
95 Ethan Frome Wharton, Edith
96 The Nickel Boys Whitehead, Colson
97 Night Wiesel, Elie
98 A Picture of Dorian Gray Wilde, Oscar
99 The Shadow of the Wind Zafon, Carlos Ruiz
100 Germinal Zola, Emile

50 Genre Books

WOMENS PRRIZE LONGLIST 2022

The Women's Prize Longlist has just been announced and as usual I didn't forecast so accurately:

https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/features/features/news/announcing-the-wo...:

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith OWNED
Careless by Kirsty Capes OWNED
Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejidé
Flamingo by Rachel Elliott
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead OWNED & READ
Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
Salt Lick by Lulu Allison
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason OWNED
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki OWNED
The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini OWNED
The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton OWNED
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak OWNED
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller OWNED
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich OWNED
This One Sky Day by Leone Ross OWNED & Reading

READ 1/16

BOOKS OF THE MONTH

January - Small Things Like These
February - If Beale Street Could Talk
March - Intimacies

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 READ MAR 22
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 READ FEB 22
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 READ APR 22
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. Portable Kisses by Tess Gallagher READ FEB 22
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
73. The End of the Day by Bill Clegg
74. The Last Green Valley by Mark Sullivan
75. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
76. Mad Boy by Nick Arvin
77. Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria READ FEB 22
78. Sleeping on Jupiter Anuradha Roy
79. Son of the Century by Antonio Scurati
80. Political Order and Political Decay by Francis Fukuyama
81. The Manningtree Witches by A.D. Blackemore
82. Vertigo by WG Sebald
83. In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova
84. Redemption Ground by Lorna Goodison READ FEB 22
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 READ MAR 22
95. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
96. They by Kay Dick
97. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
98. The Silence of Scheherazade by Defne Suman
99. Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford
100. Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
101. The Tyranny of Merit by Michael J Sandel
102. Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen
103. In the Darkroom by Susan Faludi
104. The Inequality Machine by Paul Tough
105. 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
106. The Fell by Sarah Moss READ MAR 22
107. Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney READ MAR 22
108. Learwife by JR Thorp
109. Matrix by Lauren Groff
110. Ghosted by Jenn Ashworth
111. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
112. The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey
113. I Will Miss You Tomorrow by Heine Bakkeid
114. The Fine Art of Invisible Detection by Robert Goddard
115. All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton
116. The Late Sun by Christopher Reid
117. A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself by Peter Ho Davies
118. The Interpreters by Wole Soyinka
119. Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
120. A Vicious Circle by Amanda Craig
121. How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
122. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy
123. The Collapse of Globalism by John Ralston Saul
124. Land : How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World by Simon Winchester
125. Moonglow by Michael Chabon
126. We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan
127. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
128. Fault Lines by Emily Itami
129. Tenderness by Alison MacLeod
130. The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
131. The Great Level by Stella Tillyard
132. The Pact We Made by Layla Alammar
133. Spring by Ali Smith
134. Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
135. The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini
136. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
137. The Book of Form & Emptiness Ruth Ozeki
138. This One Sky Day by Leone Ross
139. The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
140. The Push by Audrey Audrain
141. When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
142. A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp
143. Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia
144. The Familiars by Stacey Halls
145. Ill Feelings by Alice Hattrick
146. How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
147. Burntcoat by Sarah Hall
148. We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
149. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
150. Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
151. Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
152. Assembly by Natasha Brown
153. The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley
154. Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson
155. The Colony by Audrey Magee
156. For the Good Times by David Keenan
157. The Anarchy by William Dalrymple
158. The Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi
159. Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
160. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
161. Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski
162. Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howarth
163. Southernmost by Silas House
164. A Man by Keichiro Hirano
165. Signs for Lost Children by Sarah Moss
166. Songbirds by Christy Lefteri
167. Pandemic by A.G. Riddle
168. The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton
169. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
170. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
171. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
172. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
173. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
174. Male Tears by Benjamin Myers
175. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy READ APR 22
176. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
177. The Moon and Sixpence by W Somerset Maugham
178. The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
179. The Bell by Iris Murdoch
180. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
181. The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch
182. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
183. Call it Sleep by Henry Roth
184. The Clocks in this House All Tell Different Times by Xan Brooks
185. The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
186. O'Pioneers by Willa Cather
187. The Four Winds by Kristin Hann
188. The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
189. Nostalgia by Mircea Cărtărescu
190. Mansfield Park by Jane Austin
191. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
192. The Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrere
193. Push by Sapphire
194. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
195. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
196. Dignity by Alys Conran
197. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
198. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
199. A Burnt Out Case by Graham Greene
200. The Rack by A.E. Ellis
|201. Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgaard READ MAR 22
202. Winter by Karl Ove Knausgaard
203. Spring by Karl Ove Knausgaard
204. Summer by Karl Ove Knausgaard
205. The Magician by Colm Toibin
206. Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
207. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
208. Careless by Kirsty Capes
209. Pilgrims Way by Abdulrazak Gurnah
210. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
211. The Angel of History by Rabih Alameddine
212. The President's Gardens by Muhsin Al-Ramli
213. In the Country by Mia Alvar
214. Poetry Will Save Your Life by Jill Bialosky
215. Multitudes by Lucy Caldwell
216. Confession of the Lioness by Mia Couto
217. Transit by Rachel Cusk
218. West by Carys Davies
219. In the Name of the Family by Sarah Dunant
220. The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis
221. The Witches of St. Petersburg by Imogen Edwards-Jones
222. Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
223. The Turner House by Angela Fournoy
224. A Tall History of Sugar by Curdella Forbes
225. Old Men in Love by Alasdair Gray
226. The Quiet American by Graham Greene
227. The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths
228. Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff
229. The Evening Road by Laird Hunt
230. Hitman Anders and the Meaning of it All by Jonas Jonasson
231. The Transition by Luke Kennard
232. A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline
233. Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
234. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
235. The Man Without a Shadow by Joyce Carol Oates
236. Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje
237. Almost Love by Louise O'Neill
238. The Portrait by Willem Jan Otten
239. First Love by Gwendoline Riley
240. Looking for Mr. Goodbar by Judith Rossner
241. The Humbling by Philip Roth
242. The Butt by Will Self
243. The World to Come by Jim Shepard
244. The Gallery of Vanished Husbands by Natasha Solomons
245. The Dictionary of Animal Languages by Heidi Sopinka
246. In the Days of Rain by Rebecca Stott
247. The Neighborhood by Mario Vargas Llosa
248. Remember Me by Fay Weldon
249. Kipps by HG Wells
250. Resolution by A.N. Wilson
251. Animalia by Jean Baptiste Del Amo
252. The Autumn of the Ace by Louis de Bernieres
253. White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
254. The Mother by Yvette Edwards
255. The Human Factor by Graham Greene
256. Memory of Departure by Abdulrazak Gurnah
257. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
258. Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes
259. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
260. Writers & Lovers by Lily King
261. Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
262. The Painted Veil by W Somerset Maugham
263. The Razor's Edge by W Somerset Maugham
264. On Politics by Alan Ryan
265. The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
266. Batlava Lake by Adam Mars-Jones
267. Dottie by Abdulrazak Gurnah
268. Vilette by Charlotte Bronte
269. Sovietistan by Erika Fatland
270. Mother Mother : The Sunday Times Bestseller by Annie Macmanus
271. Evelina by Fanny Burney
272. Go Big by Ed Milliband
273. Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles
274. A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson
275. 20 Fragment of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
276. Bomber by Len Deighton
277. Mrs England by Stacey Halls
278. The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky
279. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
280. Elective Affinities by Johann Wolfgang Goethe
281. The Cruel Way by Ella Maillart
282. Travels With Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski

ADDED : 282
READ : 16
BALANCE : 266

BOOK STATS

Books read : 52
Books added : 250

Days per book : 1.73
Projected total : 211
LT yearly best : 157

Pages read (completed books) : 10,607
Daily average : 117.86
Projected total : 43,017

Longest Book : 671 pages
Shortest Book : 44 pages
Average Book Length : 203.98

Gender
Male : 28
Female : 22
Various : 2

Genre :
Graphic Books : 1
Poetry : 9
Thriller/Mystery : 4
Non Fiction : 11
Fiction : 26
SF/Fantasy : 1

Origin :
USA : 12
UK : 15
Turkey : 3
Germany : 1
Egypt : 1
Ireland : 4
Norway : 2
Argentina : 1
Canada : 2
Iceland : 1
Netherlands : 1
Jamaica : 1
Israel : 2
Iraq : 1
Syria : 1
Papua New Guinea : 1
Oman : 1
Various : 2

Challenges :
British Author Challenge : 2
American Author Challenge : 2
Non-Fiction Challenge : 1
Asian Book Challenge : 13
1001 Books First Edition : 2
Guardian 1000 Books : 1
Around the World Books : 9
Holocaust Reading : 2
Booker Winners : 2
Pulitzer Winners : 1
Rebecca NYC Reads : 1

Next up is yours

Happy April, Paul. Happy New Thread! I had Intimacies on my radar and now it is firmly on my TBR. Have a great weekend.

>2 PaulCranswick: I love those opening words.

>18 msf59: Great to see you, Mark, especially up first!

Intimacies is a good read.

Happy new one!

>20 figsfromthistle: Always a pleasure to see you here, Anita. x

Happy new thread, Paul!

Yesterday I got Small Things Like These from the library. Good to see it as best read of January on your list.

>22 FAMeulstee: I do hope you like it, Anita. It was a very moving little novel.

A trip to the bookstore for my first additions of the month.

251. Animalia by Jean Baptiste Del Amo
252. The Autumn of the Ace by Louis de Bernieres
253. White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
254. The Mother by Yvette Edwards
255. The Human Factor by Graham Greene
256. Memory of Departure by Abdulrazak Gurnah
257. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
258. Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes
259. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
260. Writers & Lovers by Lily King
261. Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
262. The Painted Veil by W Somerset Maugham
263. The Razor's Edge by W Somerset Maugham
264. On Politics by Alan Ryan

Del Amo is a French novelist that Fitzcarraldo have championed.
De Bernieres is an author I have neglected for too long.
Bracht's book looks intriguing.
Edwards has had Booker nominating success with her books
Greene is the last one I wanted to re-add to my collection to reassess his best.
I am slowly collecting Gurnah's books
For Hardy see my comments on Greene above but this is a nicely bound hardback
Haynes is an approachable classicist
Ishiguro got Booker nominated for this one - the premise of which is interesting but I'm not sure about
The Lily King book has gotten some love on LT
The Meg Mason has been longlisted for the Women's Prize
The two Maugham's also give me like Greene and Hardy my complement of 6 chosen books to reassess.
Ryan's book is a very weighty tome.

Happy new thread!

>1 PaulCranswick: Oo, I like that!

Happy new thread, brother. I hope you have a wonderful whatever!

>25 amanda4242: Thank you Amanda x

>26 alcottacre: I thought it was a little bit different and I found it striking.

I have gotten off to a good start book additions wise, Juana, now to get some read!

Happy new thread and congrats on the new haul! I'm too distracted by the 1950 U.S. census release to even think of books!

READING PLANS FOR APRIL 2022

TIOLI 1. - Pilgrims Way by Gurnah
TIOLI 2. - The Late Sun by Reid
TIOLI 3. - The Saddlebag by Nakhjavani (Asian Book Challenge)
TIOLI 4. - Billion Dollar Whale by Wright
TIOLI 5. - Sisters by Johnson
TIOLI 6. - Search Sweet Country by Laing
TIOLI 7. - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Spark (Six Author Reassessment 1/6) REREAD
TIOLI 8. - The Sea, The Sea by Murdoch (Six Author Reassessment 1/6) (1001)
TIOLI 9. - The Paper Palace by Heller (Women's Prize Longlist)
TIOLI 10 - The Walking by Khadivi (Asian Book Challenge)
TIOLI 11 - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Adams (1001)
TIOLI 12 - White Mughals by Dalrymple (Shared read with Juana)
TIOLI 13 - Resolution by Wilson
TIOLI 14 - Reading Lolita in Tehran by Nafisi (Asian Book Challenge)
TIOLI 15 - This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
TIOLI 16 - The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Walton (Women's Prize Longlist)
TIOLI 17 - Brighton Rock by Greene (Six Author Reassessment 1/6) REREAD
TIOLI 18 - The Empty Throne by Cornwell

Weaveworld by Barker (British Author Challenge)
A Village Life by Gluck (American Author Challenge)
The Sentence by Erdrich (Women's Prize Longlist)
Far From the Madding Crowd by Hardy (Six Author Reassessment 1/6) REREAD
Bleak House by Charles Dickens (Six Author Reassessment 1/6) (1001)
The Moon and Sixpence by Maugham (Six Author Reassessment 1/6). REREAD

>28 thornton37814: Thanks Lori. I will go and have a look at the census release.

The April Asian Book Challenge thread is up and we are off to Persia this month:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/340943#n7802013

>2 PaulCranswick: I'll get to him eventually. I just started "The History of Rome, Book I" by Theodor Mommsen, and it's ponderous...

Happy new thread.

>32 ocgreg34: I was planning to read that too this year, Greg! It is available on Open Library but, I agree, it does look a slog.

>33 ArlieS: Thank you Arlie. x

Happy April, happy second quarter, happy new thread.
Love the topper!
Did you like Townsend Warner? I have not read her and I own a couple of her books. The reviews were not encouraging.
Klara and the Sun just won the Rooster. I have not read any of the Rooster books this year. Will be interested in what you think.

>35 Kristelh: A quirky strange little book, Lolly Willowes but much lauded. I have read and more enjoyed her The Flint Anchor.

Nice to see Ishiguro win the Tournament of Books and fairly decisively in the final.

Happy new one!

>37 drneutron: Thanks Jim

Happy new thread!

>1 PaulCranswick: That is a potent image.

Happy New Thread Paul, mate.

>39 quondame: Thanks Susan. I loved my time there and I have a fondness for the city even though I hardly recognised the place last time I was there.

>40 johnsimpson: Thank you, John. Root rather ridiculously still portrays himself as the man to captain England moving forward. Stokes doesn't appear to want the job and I don't think he is right for the job given the number of matches he misses for one reason or another. Stuart Broad would be a better bet but I would select one of the three good county captains - Rhodes, Mullaney or Abell as specialist captain and drop Crawley or Lawrence to accommodate them. They also add a bowling variation especially in England. I think they need a right old shake up.

>29 PaulCranswick: I have started Madding crowd and as the introduction notes, Hardy is documenting a rural way of living from his youth that was rapidly vanishing thanks to the industrial revolution. This it seems is an underlying theme of almost all the Hardy I have read. This was, I think, Hardy's first novel and the story is not grabbing me yet. We will see. I am looking forward to your read and reaction.

>28 thornton37814: the san francisco census is driving my wife and i crazy. If i see one more not at home entry ...

Happy new thread Paul, love all the categories above especially the book of the month!

>42 RBeffa: I am starting it this weekend, Ron. I have fond memories of it so I hope I don't get off to a sluggish start. His first published novel was Desperate Remedies and Far From the Madding Crowd came third after Under the Greenwood Tree but it was the first of his 'major' novels and the reason I'm starting again there.

>43 RBeffa: As you can imagine a statistician like myself loves census information.

>44 mdoris: Thank you, Mary. Your visits always brighten my day. xx

>29 PaulCranswick: love moon and sixpence in fact got hooked on Maugham a while back, and i think I read all of his books. Have you read him before?

Happy new thread, Paul!

Turn about is fair play. Happy New Thread. Happy Weekend!

>29 PaulCranswick: I'll try and join you on Brighton Rock. I have it and it is one of Greene's that I have not read before. He is one of the authors I plan to revisit this year.

>47 cindydavid4: I have read pretty much everything he has written and published Cindy other than some of his plays. Moon and Sixpence was my pick among my 100 Novels by 100 Authors exercise ( see >11 PaulCranswick: )
Since I limited my selections to one book per author, it set me wondering whether my tastes have changed over time and/or that I had trouble definitively choosing my favourite books from my favourite authors.
Therefore over the next 6 months I will read (and in many cases re-read) 6 books by 6 authors to reassess whether I think I made the right call in my original selection. You are welcome to join me with any of the books.
My tentative schedule is (and I will juggle it to fit TIOLI challenges):

APRIL :
DICKENS : Bleak House (new read)
GREENE : Brighton Rock
HARDY : Far From the Madding Crowd READ
MAUGHAM : Moon and Sixpence
MURDOCH : The Sea, The Sea (new read)
SPARK : The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

MAY :
DICKENS : Our Mutual Friend (new read)
GREENE : The Heart of the Matter
HARDY : Return of the Native
MAUGHAM : The Magician
MURDOCH : The Sandcastle
SPARK : The Ballad of Peckham Rye

JUNE :
DICKENS : Dombey and Son (new read)
GREENE : The Quiet American
HARDY : The Mayor of Casterbridge
MAUGHAM : The Painted Veil
MURDOCH : Nuns and Soldiers (new read)
SPARK : The Comforters

JULY :
DICKENS : David Copperfield
GREENE : Our Man in Havana
HARDY : The Woodlanders (new read)
MAUGHAM : Of Human Bondage
MURDOCH : A Fairly Honourable Defeat (new read)
SPARK : Memento Mori

AUGUST
DICKENS : Little Dorrit (new read)
GREENE : A Burnt Out Case
HARDY : Tess of the D'Urbervilles
MAUGHAM : The Razor's Edge
MURDOCH : The Black Prince (new read)
SPARK : The Girls of Slender Means

SEPTEMBER
DICKENS : A Tale of Two Cities
GREENE : The Human Factor
HARDY : Jude the Obscure
MAUGHAM : Cakes and Ale
MURDOCH : The Red and the Green (new read)
SPARK : The Mandelbaum Gate

>48 cbl_tn: Lovely to see you, Carrie

>49 mahsdad: Nice to see you here, Jeff, fresh from your own brand spanking new thread.

>50 RBeffa: It is a very good read as I remember, Ron. It will be my third read of it!

Wordle 287 4/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
🟨🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Comfortable win today

>51 PaulCranswick: oh I will definitely join you for the Maugham discussions! Funny the one that I have not read, that he is most known for , is of human bondage I tried to read it at a time that I couldn't focus very well (masters thesis and all that) but Id like to give it another try. Please send me the links to these discussion

>55 cindydavid4: I will do a Maugham review thread then Cindy if you are up for that. Probably will have it up next week.

>53 PaulCranswick: I should make a little list like yours at >51 PaulCranswick: to keep myself on track. Maugham is also one I am thinking of including besides Greene and Hardy. Pearl Buck, Nevil Shute and Robert Harris are on my short list for consideration to focus on this year.

>57 RBeffa: Also writers I enjoy Ron but I won't physically manage more than six at a stretch.
I was thinking of another six for October onwards though.

UPDATE ON THREAD POSTING STATS
AS OF JUST NOW :

1 PaulCranswick 3,609
2 KatieKrug 2,150
3 richardderus 2,143
4 scaifea 2,023
5 msf59 1,465
6 alcottacre 1,201
7 laurelkeet 1,179
8 karenmarie 1,162
9 crazymamie 1,119
10 jnwelch 1,113
11 FAMeulstee 833
12 bell7 806
13 FamilyHistorian 706
14 figsfromthistle 700
15 drneutron 646
16 Berly 605
17 MickyFine 551
18 BBLBera 545
19 mstrust 481
20 SandDune 473
21 rebarelishesreading 428
22 Caroline_McElwee 421
23 LizzieD 417
24 Whisper1 411
25 AMQS 405
26 lyzard 400
27 curioussquared 395
28 EBT1002 376
29 jessibud2 358
30 klobrien2 352
31 Weird_O 343
32 cbl_tn 341
33 Donna 324
34 thornton37814 319
35 Quondame 307
36 laytonwoman3rd 306
37 swynn 300
38 Humouress 292
39 johnsimpson 289
40 ronincats 269
41 brenzi 263
42 foggidawn 254
43 avatiakh 235
44 mahsdad 235
45 sibyline 230
46 loving-lit 224
47 SqueakyChu 202
48 Ursula 202
49 ffortsa 191
50 EllaTim 187
51 Carmenere 183
52 coppers 183
53 Streamsong 182
54 ArlieS 181
55 Sir Thomas 177
56 AnneDC 171
57 fairywings 163
58 mdoris 162
59 Banjo 159
60 Aunt Clio 152
61 Oberon 142
62 Chatterbox 140
63 zuazer 134
64 London 131
65 witchyrichy 123
66 fuzzi 118
67 Rbeffa 104
68 tiffin 104
69 kristelh 95
70 PawsForThought 92
71 PersephonesLibrary 91
72 aktakukac 83
73 CDVicarage 81
74 vivans 81
75 BBGirl55 79
76 ChrisG1 79
77 Feca67 74
78 kgodey 74
79 PaulStalder 71
80 CassieBash 70
81 elkidee 70
82 jayde1599 70
83 Dianekeenoy 65
84 harrygbutler 64
85 torontoc 64
86 The_Hibernator 63
87 amanda4242 62
88 silverwolf28 62
89 hredwards 60
90 Morphy 59
91 vikzen 58
92 bumblybee 56
93 lindapanzo 56
94 tymfos 55
95 kaida 53
96 ctpress 52
97 justchris 51

>29 PaulCranswick: Juan, let me know when you want to start White Mughals. I am ready whenever you are.

Looks like a lot of good reading there, Paul!

>60 alcottacre: I am hoping to start it on Monday if that is ok, dear lady.

I have Pilgrims Way, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Far From the Madding Crowd to get through today and tomorrow.

>61 PaulCranswick: That works for me. I am trying to both The Fell and Black Birds in the Sky finished over the weekend plus getting reading done in all of the library books I currently have checked out.

>62 alcottacre: I am going to update the reading stats also this weekend to take account of the first quarter and I expect you to figure VERY close to the top!

>59 PaulCranswick: You are firmly at the top, Paul! A record for this time of year?
I am very pleased with my place, as 11 is one of my favorite numbers :-)

>64 FAMeulstee: Without checking, Anita, I would guess that my starts in 2013, 2014 and 2017 were probably faster but I will have to reconfirm that.

You are comfortably leading European again but I am sad that friends such as Diana, Connie, Nathalie and Monica are not posting this year and I miss them a lot.

>64 FAMeulstee: I did check for you and 2014 was the fastest start but resulted in my complete burnout.

At end of March 2014 I had a startling 4,793 posts and Richard hot on my heels with 4,278 posts. Both of us blew up that year and Amber with just over 3,000 posts at that stage coming past the both of us in December to lead the year end figures for the first time.

I had slightly fewer posts 3,142 in 2017 at this stage when I passed 10,000 posts for the only time it has been done in a year. Richard and myself remain the only two who have managed 4,000 posts in a quarter and only in the first quarter of 2014.

>66 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. I always can rely on you to find the numbers.
We are, and always have been, a very chatty group.

2017 was the only year I had over 3000 posts. Now I know why ;-)

>67 FAMeulstee: You almost replicated it the following year, falling only a little over a hundred posts short of 3,000 posts again.

Happy new thread, Paul, and happy weekend! I'm starting Celestial Bodies a little late for the ABC challenge, but hopefully will make more progress over the weekend (and hopefully will decide quickly if I like it enough to finish).

>59 PaulCranswick: I'm continuing to blow up my own stats this year, aren't I? I'm amazed at folks like you, Katie, Amber, Richard, Mark, etc. that can keep an even faster pace up.

>63 PaulCranswick: I've just updated my thread with my reading, so at least at the moment I'm all up-to-date!

>69 bell7: Lovely as always to see you, dear Mary. I do think that you are on schedule to break your own records again threads wise this year. I guess I spend a lot of time trawling the threads and making lists which does seem to derive a few responses. Katie has gotten progressively busier threads over the years, like you and it is the first time that she is running consistently second.

Celestial Bodies was an ok read for me but I am a little surprised that it was a prize winner.

>71 JohnEThomas: I believe that there is a good reason why you are called John Thomas.

>61 PaulCranswick: this is your first read of hitchickers guide! Oh I am jealous I wish I could experience that first read all over again. Enjoy! (the next two books are wonderful too, after that it gets kinda silly, just sayin)

>73 cindydavid4: Amazing isn't it! Certainly suits my sense of humour.

oh yes! He died so young, such a great loss. But he did leave us laughing. BTW his books Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul are also wonderful

Did not know this: Two days before Adams died, the Minor Planet Center announced the naming of asteroid 18610 Arthurdent.In 2005, the asteroid 25924 Douglasadams was named in his memory.

tho technically it should have been called "DentArthurDent"

>72 PaulCranswick: LOL!

>75 cindydavid4: I will certainly look for and read his other books, Cindy, his prose skips happily across the page.

>76 cindydavid4: I couldn't help that!

Ramadhan starts today so my fasting will be more than intermittent for a month. It is a time of the year that I very much enjoy.

Hani is still testing positive by the way.

Also in life updates my Mother in laws medical prognosis is sadly worse than feared as cancer has also been detected in her colon and bones in addition to her lungs. She already looks something of as shadow of herself and it is quite upsetting to see. I always think of her as a proud, strong and vital woman but life is taking its toll upon her. She has had to face the loss of her husband a year ago and enforced isolation for much of that time from her sisters in Singapore who at least she can spend time with right now. As soon as Hani is free from COVID she will return home.

>72 PaulCranswick: forgive me but I keep laughing at your comeback. verrrry good.

I have always wanted to read a Delderfield novel. My mom had one or two and I always loved their covers, but I never read one. Today I picked up God Is An Englishman which goes in the someday pile. I'll keep my eyes alert for To Serve Them All My Days, your choice in the 100 list. It sounds really good.

>78 PaulCranswick: {{hugs}}

>59 PaulCranswick: Thanks for the stats. I am pleasantly surprised by my 14th place.

>78 PaulCranswick: I am sorry to hear about your mother in law. It is a difficult thing to watch.

So sorry to hear the news about your mother-in-law Paul.

>79 RBeffa: Delderfield is always a good read, Ron. Just the style of storytelling that I am a real sucker for.

I always try to respond to everyone who posts here, even the ones whose reasons for being here are more pecuniary!

>80 amanda4242: Thanks Amanda. Could do with a few more of them at the moment. The boss seems quite a long way away at the moment and I know how much she is hurting right now. She had a video call with her mum yesterday and it upset her terribly.

I am very sorry for Hani's continuing illness and the decline of her mother's health.

>81 figsfromthistle: Your posting has been something of a revelation this year, Anita. As a regular visitor to your threads for the last number of years, I cannot say I'm surprised to see your posting numbers steadily gain momentum. x

She has always been such an ally of mine in the family (after being so set against my union with her daughter initially) and the culinary favouritism she has shown me over the years always making sure my favourite dishes got priority at family gatherings was something of an in-joke at home. I can say without hesitation that I love my MIL very much and I honestly think that without her influence at times Hani and I would have torn each other asunder!

>82 SandDune:. Thank you, Rhian.

I am quite worried for my three girls - Hani, and Yasmyne and Belle. Both grandmothers have both had more than their share of the big C and my mum already succumbed to the dread disease.

>84 RBeffa: Thank you, Ron. This kindness so prevalent in the group is a constant source of succour and support to me.

Paul - Sending hope that your Mother in Law can just "let go" and not suffer.

Your Family has endured so much in this short time...

>87 m.belljackson: I wouldn't put much money down on her letting go, Marianne, as she is a real tough cookie and remains far more cheerful than the doleful faces around her. I am concerned though about Hani who is a hypochondriac at the best of times and now has fuel for her own health insecurities.

I'm here while you're still in double digits...I do think it's the nastiest bit of getting older, honestly, dealing with the exit trajectories of our elders. Please tell Hani I'm wishing her mum a path of ease and comfort not the Other Kind.

>89 richardderus: I was just over at your pad while you were dropping much needed words of comfort here, RD, and being entertained by Mark's thoughtful reminders.

I will certainly pass on your wishes to Hani my friend.

{{hugs}} all around, Paul.

>91 jessibud2: Thank you, dear Shelley - your hugs mean a lot to me. x

It's so upsetting about your MIL more complex condition. As for the younger generations, is there any less smoking in the environments they've spent the most time in? I think there's some less asthma in latter millennials than earlier decades so I hope that has made some dent in future cancers as well.

>83 PaulCranswick: {{{{for your whole family}}}}

>93 quondame: That is a good point Susan. Belle certainly doesn't smoke and I never have other than the odd cigar which isn't sucked into the lungs and Yasmyne to my knowledge only the occasional whacky baccy as students tended to do. Yasmyne in particular is very serious about not eating much in the way of processed foods and I have started this year keeping them from my diet too.

>94 cindydavid4: Thank you, Cindy x

Wordle 288 5/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Struggled over the line today but still never failed to complete it within the six allotted guesses.

Ramadan Mubarak, dear Paul.

I'm sorrier than I can say that Hani's mother is so ill and that Hani can't come to her. I devoutly hope and pray that Hani will be free to get home almost immediately. Love to all of you!

(I've never failed a Wordle yet either, but I expect that it will happen tomorrow since I've been so bold as to state that fact!)

>97 LizzieD: Lovely to see you, dear Peggy. Hani also started fasting yesterday against my advice, I must say, as I want her to keep taking fluids to ride herself of the virus and get home.

I suspect I will also regret informing about my 100% record too!

>78 PaulCranswick: I am sorry to here that the prognosis for your MIL is not looking good, Paul. I am also sorry to hear that Hani continues to test positive. I am sure that she did not intend to come home to such unwelcome news.

>99 alcottacre: Yeah, she is not in a really great place emotionally at the moment.

Thanks for the kind wishes, Stasia. x

>78 PaulCranswick: Paul, sending more hugs your way.....

>101 mdoris: Gratefully received, dear lady. x

Happy new thread Paul.

Sorry to hear that your MIL is worse than first thought and Hani is also under the weather. Hoping she's better soon so she can fly back.

Just been through the world cup final. I have one boy in each camp so I could hear the progress of the match but I couldn't bear to watch, though I kept track of the score online. I think our girls put up a fantastic fight but kudos to the Aussies who have a pretty good track record at the moment.

So sorry to hear about your MIL and Hani. I hope that Hani can be well soon so she can travel and see her mom. It’s a gift to value when we have time to spend with family. One which you were unable to have with your own mother. These are hard transitions and my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

>103 humouress: Lovely to see you, neighbour. Hopefully next week she will get the all clear. I must admit that I was never a devotee of women's cricket but the media is doing a good job of promoting the support for the game. Good luck to the ladies and I hope that they get plenty of coverage and, more importantly sponsorship. The Aussie batswoman was tremendous.

>104 Kristelh: Thank you, Kristel. She is still testing positive today but hopefully she will be clear soon. I am so blessed by my friends here.

Went to KLCC Twin Towers with Belle to buy roast chickens to break fast later but also to pick up a couple of books I had on order:

265. The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
266. Batlava Lake by Adam Mars-Jones

Mendelson is on the Women's Prize longlist and Mars-Jones is an author that fascinates.

Adding to the {{{Hugs}}} Paul. Sorry to hear your MiLs prognosis is worse. Glad she can at least spend some time with her sister's though.

Hoping Hani becomes covid free soon, it seems to be taking about 12 days for most. Then she can be with you and her mom.

Enjoy your Ramadan.

>51 PaulCranswick: That's an ambitious reading list!

>108 thornton37814: I do ambition quite well, Lori, but living up to my ambition has proven occasionally problematic!

>98 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul - not sure if this will help, but Muslim Hazrat Ininat Khan
(Asian reading and we have family friends who are Sufi)
said something related to fasting
and other human imposed body "challenges," like kneeling for hours, etc.,
which was "Does God really care?"

Hello Paul, I am so sorry to her about your mother in law and about Hani. Like you, I feel that fasting may be unwise while fighting COVID. Im glad she'll be coming home when over it, but sorry that the circumstances are so sad. I am thinking of you.

Hi Paul, so sorry to hear of the worsening prognosis of your MIL and the fact that Hani is still testing positive, mate. Rest assured that all our thoughts and prayers are with you all and sending very special Yorkshire healing hugs to you all at this testing time.

>107 Caroline_McElwee: Thank you Caroline. Hani is taking the full 12 days at least then as she is still testing positive at 11 days. First day of Ramadan done which is always the toughest.

>110 m.belljackson: I'm not really sure how that is supposed to help, Marianne?! I generally enjoy the fasting and love the communal and familial joys it brings.

>111 cindydavid4: Now I am intrigued, Cindy, by what you may have posted. x

>112 AMQS: Sometimes being stubborn is an advantage, Anne, but I feel that this is not one of those times.

>113 johnsimpson: Thanks John (and Karen).

>115 PaulCranswick: Help in the sense that Hani can let the fasting rest until she recovers...?

And, Not Drinking can be bad for nearly any health concern.

Hi Paul! I hope that Hani is better soon, and wishing you a good Ramadan and an easy fast.

Wish you a peaceful time during ramadan and really good recovery for Hani, best regards to her

>117 m.belljackson: I do agree, Marianne, that under the circumstances Hani's fasting is ill advised. There is certainly no compulsion to fast if we are having a medical condition.

>118 banjo123: Thank you, dear Rhonda.

>119 paulstalder: Thank you Paul and it is lovely to see you around the threads again my friend.

Wordle 289 3/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟨🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Sort of got it in 2 after lucking out totally in the first round.

>115 PaulCranswick: sending you a message

>123 cindydavid4: Ok, Cindy. xx

>122 PaulCranswick: Now I have to stay awake until midnight so I can figure this one out!

>122 PaulCranswick: Hey me too! :)

>125 richardderus: I think that you'll enjoy this one, RD.

>126 figsfromthistle: Et tu, Anita.

Have fun you guys!

BOOK #53



The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Publication Date : 1979
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 180 pp

Rather extraordinary that I got into my fifties without reading this.

Appeals to my own very British and rather obtuse sense of humour, especially the gallows humour emergent when the characters are more than occasionally facing certain death.

I am sure that this would have appeared more cutting edge as Britain was on the cusp of being Thatchered, but it is nevertheless still an entertaining romp. I believe that it is unique amongst 1001 book inductees in being generated from radio screenplays but it is not unique in being included somewhat in the face of a dearth of literary merit.

Recommended as light relief if you can consider the Earth being demolished for higher purpose as "light".

>128 PaulCranswick: I enjoyed it most hearing the radio recordings with the quirky soundtrack! But that was when I'd just turned 30.

>128 PaulCranswick: I seem to remember listening to the late and pretty great Peter Jones on the radio too, Susan, and I certainly remember it making quite the splash in the UK at the time.
Doesn't displace anything on my 100 Books or 50 Genre books but I did like it quite a bit.

>128 PaulCranswick: It's been so long since I read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I really should reread it. I spent a couple of Towel Days in college actually carrying a towel with me everywhere.

>128 PaulCranswick: My 11 year old went as Arthur Dent for World Book day this year... safe to say it does have a special place in our family :)

Hugs for everything else. Hope Hani gets back soon. X

>131 kgodey: At least you had no bulldozers to lie down in front of, Kriti! Incidentally, it is lovely to have you stop by .

>132 BekkaJo: World book day or Hitchhiker or both?! I am trying to re-visualise Arthur Dent from the book but isn't he extraordinary by his very ordinariness?

Always makes my day when I get a visit from you, Bekka.

Hani will have test number twelve shortly and I hope this one will be clear!

I'm so sorry to hear about Hani and her mother; serious illness is always dreadful for family members but the distances and restrictions involved magnify the problems at the moment.

I seem to have lived with H2G2 all my life - I was a teenager when I heard the radio editions, it was also televised a few years later with mostly the same cast and while I was a student I saw a theatre version, which made use of the audience for some of the characters. I have the book, of course - the trilogy in five parts - and an audio version read by Stephen Fry. I think my favourite is still the original radio version.

>128 PaulCranswick: I read Hitchhiker's Guide when I was in high school, and loved it.

A few years later, I went to a reading by Douglas Adams on the book tour for Mostly Harmless. It was great, of course. He also did a fair amount of talking about his travels for Last Chance to See. Definitely a good memory.

>134 CDVicarage: The problems of distance and travel are slowly resolving themselves, Kerry, but Hani's COVID positivity casts an inversely negative pall upon things.

I did get some quizzical looks from Belle for chuckling to myself while reading H2G2.

>135 ursula: I will try to find Stephen Fry narrating it as it must be well worth the listen, Ursula.

I’ve read all the Douglas Adams that made the 1001 list and my favorite is probably The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul and I tried to watch the TV series for Dirk Gently and I couldn’t do it.

>137 Kristelh: I will definitely go and read his other books as they are jolly good entertainment, Kristel. It will never be my absolute favourite genre but I am so pleased that I finally read it.

I discovered HHG though the PBS series that I just happened to turn on and was instantly hooked. Have reread the books countlless number of times, very much a comfort read for me (as it Good Omens by another great late write)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_(TV_series)

>139 cindydavid4: I suspect this one will get itself a re-read Cindy.

Hi Paul, and happy new thread.

From your last thread, I think I’m very lucky that my husband supports my book buying and book reading habits. He’s happy that I got 39 books at the sale. I’d be miserable having to sneak books into the house.

>1 PaulCranswick: Beautifully eye-catching.

>3 PaulCranswick: Fantastic first quarter, congrats.

>29 PaulCranswick: Quite ambitious, and I wish you luck on achieving it. No illnesses, no family illnesses, no deaths, no work issues, no drama, no etc.

>59 PaulCranswick: Thank you for publishing the stats. Well. Being 8th makes me very happy, for sure.
8, 1162. 8*1 = 8, 1*(6+2) = 8. And, for good measure, ((8*1)*(1*(6+2)) )= 8 squared.

>78 PaulCranswick: I’m sorry Hani is still testing positive, and that your MiL’s medical prognosis has worsened with the spread of the cancer. Hani must be beside herself at not being home. I’m sending prayers and good wishes that she can get home in time. (((hugs))) to your own wonderful self as you have to watch somewhat helplessly as this all plays out.

>85 PaulCranswick: I can understand your worry about the big C and your family. In my family it is heart issues on my mother’s paternal side, which manifested in me last November.

>120 PaulCranswick: Ah, that answered my question about fasting during Ramadan with a medical condition. I hope you can persuade her to let go of the fasting.

>128 PaulCranswick: Recommended as light relief if you can consider the Earth being demolished for higher purpose as "light". Things do seem rather dark these days in the world, plus your own concerns with your MiL and Hani. Hang in there.

>78 PaulCranswick: So sorry to hear that Hani’s mother has advanced cancer. I hope Hani recovers from Covid soon and is able to spend time with her. Paul, I’m thinking of your entire family as you go through the difficult days ahead. These past two years have been hard enough and now this. ((hugs))

I'm so sorry to hear about your mother-in-law's worsening news, and how terrible that Hani can't get home. Hopefully she will get the all-clear very soon. Best wishes to all of you!
I see you've been very busy with books.

Sending love and healing thoughts for Hani's mother.

Life has kept me from LibraryThing but hope to be more faithful as I head into the last few months of regular work.

>128 PaulCranswick: I read Hitchhiker's guide for the first time recently & I'm 63, also despite hearing about it for so long. I found it a disappointment only relative the adoration poured upon it by it's fans. It was cute & silly & a quick read, but I doubt I'll be inclined to reread it or proceed to any of it's sequels.

>78 PaulCranswick: I'm so sorry.

>141 karenmarie: I always look forward to your comprehensive retrospectives, Karen.
I'm not overly serious about Hani's disdain for my bookish additions - I enjoy painting her as a pantomime villain sometimes but I have just sent some books to her in Sheffield which she will bring home for me.
I of course recall the huge scare you gave all of us last year and I must say how full of admiration I am for your slow and steady road to recovery. xx

>142 Donna828: Thank you, Donna. These few years have been tough on so many of us and, though we still have so many blessings to count, we have also been sorely tried. I will live forever with the pain and regret that I was unable to be with my mum in her final days and that I was effectively prevented from being at her funeral knowing Malaysia would not have allowed me back at the time.

>143 AnneDC: Thanks Anne. She was optimistic about yesterday (today)'s test but was putting it off a little too as she doesn't have many of the NHS provided tests left.

I have had my best first quarter for a good while reading wise.

>144 witchyrichy: Thank you, Karen and lovely to see you venturing out in the threads again. xx

>145 ChrisG1: I can certainly see your point, Chris, but I did like it a little better than you did. I wasn't entirely blown away but it did enough to get me to - eventually - pick up the next one.

>146 ArlieS: Thanks Arlie. I guess these are times when we have to stand tall and for someone only 5 feet 5 1/2 inches tall that isn't the easiest thing to do (the 1/2 inch is of course vitally important to mention).

UPDATE ON BOOKS READ STATS

Usual riders about my personal fallibility and the fact that entries for some may be a day or so behind. Let me know if I have anything grotesquely wrong!

Qualification - all threads with more than 60 posts

1 alcottacre 128
2 Chatterbox 123
3 silverwolf28 120
4 amanda4242 98
5 FAMeulstee 89
6 klobrien2 78
7 Quondame 69
8 cbl_tn 65
9 FamilyHistorian 62
10 AnneDC 58
11 richardderus 54
12 PaulCranswick 53
13 fairywings 52
14 curioussquared 48
15 vivans 46
16 CDVicarage 45
17 Dianekeenoy 45
18 figsfromthistle 45
19 kgodey 44
20 swynn 44
21 tiffin 44
22 scaifea 42
23 Whisper1 42
24 Sir Thomas 41
25 avatiakh 40
26 thornton37814 40
27 hredwards 39
28 kristelh 39
29 BBLBera 38
30 lyzard 38
31 Oberon 37
32 fuzzi 36
33 harrygbutler 36
34 KatieKrug 36
35 mstrust 36
36 ChrisG1 35
37 crazymamie 35
38 foggidawn 35
39 brenzi 34
40 jnwelch 34
41 bell7 33
42 Berly 33
43 sibyline 33
44 msf59 31
45 Weird_O 31
46 karenmarie 30
47 Donna 29
48 drneutron 29
49 Caroline_McElwee 28
50 elkidee 28
51 MickyFine 28
52 rebarelishesreading 26
53 ronincats 26
54 torontoc 26
55 CassieBash 25
56 AMQS 24
57 Feca67 24
58 laytonwoman3rd 24
59 Streamsong 23
60 ArlieS 21
61 mahsdad 21
62 Rbeffa 21
63 SandDune 21
64 witchyrichy 21
65 zuazer 21
66 Aunt Clio 20
67 Banjo 20
68 EBT1002 20
69 mdoris 20
70 coppers 19
71 EllaTim 19
72 jayde1599 19
73 Ursula 18
74 johnsimpson 17
75 loving-lit 17
76 PersephonesLibrary 17
77 laurelkeet 16
78 ffortsa 15
79 aktakukac 14
80 London 14
81 PaulStalder 14
82 Humouress 12
83 LizzieD 12
84 SqueakyChu 12
85 jessibud2 11
86 BBGirl55 10
87 Carmenere 10
88 PawsForThought 10
89 The_Hibernator 2

From >150 PaulCranswick:

Six of the selection already passed 75 in the first quarter and three beyond 100 already.

Leading lady and American - Stasia
Leading gentleman - Richard
Leading European - Anita
Leading Canadian - Meg
Leading Brit - Paul (non-resident), Kerry (resident)

Those on schedule to meet 75 book "target" (19 books) 72/89 ; 81%

I know I haven't been keeping up on my stats, Paul, but I'm only up to 29 books for the year so you aren't too far off, given my glacial pace.

Best energy sent both for Hani and her mother!

>152 ronincats: Thanks for the much needed energy boosts, Roni. I knew that your total would have been out by a few at least as with a number of others - Silver for example must have more than I have listed.

>150 PaulCranswick: Thanks for the group stats, Paul. Very pleased to be in the top 5.
Fun with numbers: 89 members listed, I have read 89 books ;-)

>154 FAMeulstee: Nicely pointed out, Anita, I hadn't noticed that. I am happy with my own total so far too but feel that I could have been doing even better.

Wordle 290 5/6

⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Usual awful scenario where there were umpteen possibilities and it came down to whether you can guess it before you run out of guesses.

>122 PaulCranswick: matched you
Wordle 289 3/6

⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
⬜🟨🟩🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

>157 RBeffa:
Well done, Ron! How ya doing with Tommy Hardy?

>158 PaulCranswick: left you a note on my thread. All done this morning.

>159 RBeffa: Will go and have a gander.

Hani tested negative finally today. Kyran is trying to get leave to study online for a few weeks so that he can follow her home. I'm a bit happier.

>161 PaulCranswick: Oh, that's nice Paul. You needed some good news!

>161 PaulCranswick: good news but what an ordeal for her.

>162 cbl_tn: It is welcome for sure, Carrie. x

>163 RBeffa: She can be resilient sometimes, Ron. Busying herself making gyoza for her fast breaking tomorrow. I think that she is mightily relieved and also expectant as she has hated being cooped up in the house.

>150 PaulCranswick: I'm definitely down at the moment. I'll see if it picks up later this year. I'm just busy right now.

>165 thornton37814: You are normally at 1.5 times my number, Lori! RL does get in the way rather sometimes doesn't it?

>161 PaulCranswick: All the yay! (Not to mention *whew*)

>167 richardderus: Plenty of both, RD, but some trepidation too. Belle and I always call her when we are breaking fast mostly to gloat over the great food we are having and by video call. I passed the phone to Belle and somehow she caught sight of the hoard of books carefully strewn on the remainder of her dining table. Belle, bless her, covered up quickly and explained "Dad has only just put them there to organise them" (a chip off the old block) - later she reminded me that I'm "gonna be in big trouble when she gets back". Gulp.

Good news Paul on Hani finally testing negative. Now for the travel plans!

>169 mdoris: She will get Kyran's news about whether he can study from here for a short while and we could have the whole team together for the first time since 2018!!!

>128 PaulCranswick: It has been a couple of years since I read that one. Probably time for a re-read, but I have no idea when.

>150 PaulCranswick: I am in some elite company!

>161 PaulCranswick: Glad to finally hear some good news where Hani is concerned.

Have a wonderful week, Paul.

>171 alcottacre: To be well over 100 books in the first quarter especially having visited Las Vegas and struggling to overcome a pretty bad bout of COVID is pretty astounding if you were to ask me.

I think that she will be heading home in less than a week, Stasia. :D

Glad to read some good news, Paul.

>170 PaulCranswick: The whole family together would be wonderful!

>173 FAMeulstee: I have been something of a misery these weeks past I suppose, Anita! I am happier than I can tell for having some good news to impart for a change.

Happy new thread and Eid Mubarak, Paul.
And again I missed a lot...
Thank you for the impressive statistics.
So sorry to hear about your MIL - All the best wishes for you and your familiy.

>175 SirThomas: Thanks Thomas. Great to see you as always my friend.

>152 ronincats: That's not glacial. You are on track to make your 75, and ahead of me.

>161 PaulCranswick: Yay!

>177 ArlieS: To be fair until last year, Ron, was a regular 20 book a month reader and I don't recall when I last appeared above her in these type of lists, Arlie.

>161 PaulCranswick: Tickets will be bought over the coming days.

My MIL is in hospital today - they called her back early which is not, I suppose, a good sign.

Glad to hear Hani got the negative test back and will be home soon.
Sorry your MIL is back in the hospital. ((((Hugs)))) for the whole family.

>172 PaulCranswick: I am glad to hear that there is at least a bit of good news, Paul. I am sure that having Hani home will be welcome to you both!

>179 bell7: Thank you, Mary. It will be nice to have everyone together for a while even though we would wish the circumstances different.

>180 alcottacre: I drive her potty, Stasia, but at least I'll be pleased!

>150 PaulCranswick: Oh, Paul! There I am almost on the way bottom of your books read thread. LOL!

I’m sorry to learn of the health struggles of Hani and her mom. I’m so glad Hani will get to come home to you soon.

>182 SqueakyChu: Quality over quantity dear lady!

I am quite worried about my MIL as she has to go into the hospital again in Singapore today (your Wednesday).

>183 PaulCranswick: I hope and pray your mother-in-law’s condition stabilizes quickly so she won’t have to remain in the hospital.

>184 SqueakyChu: Thank you, Madeline. xx

Just came by to say "Happy whatever," Paul and see if there were any further updates.

>186 alcottacre: No new news as yet, Stasia, which I hope is good news! xx

Wordle 291 5/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
That perplexed me for a while.

Thoughts and prayers with you and your family.

Wordle 291 5/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

>189 Kristelh: That is similar to my own experience, Kristel.

I had a slightly easier time than you helped along by my third guess MOCHA

Wordle 291 4/6

🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟨🟩🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I struggled with this one, but I had eliminated so many letters after 3 guesses that the only word I could come up with for the 4th guess was the right one. I had A C O after 3 guesses so I was just missing the M

Wordle 291 4/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

>187 PaulCranswick: I am with you there!

>192 cbl_tn: You are right Carrie after my first two rounds I was wondering whether I had any letters left!

>193 alcottacre: She has been admitted to Tan Tock Seng hospital today and is cheerful enough. I have got a ticket for Yasmyne for a week's time and Hani is waiting on the NHS giving her the clearance she needs to organise coming back.

>194 PaulCranswick: I am glad to hear that your MIL is cheerful. Surely her mood will help at this time? Tell the NHS to get the lead out - Hani needs to be home!

>195 alcottacre: She keeps telling one of her sisters that she is not long for this world - I told her that she has to get well and back home for the end of Ramadan as I want her biriyani rice!

MIL is relatively ok, had a good night in the hospital and remains quite positive and looking forward to her favourite Grandchild (her first one too) Yasmyne coming home next week.

I learned about a new word game today. In Antiwordle you are trying to avoid typing in a specific word. It's harder than it sounds. You can't repeat gray letters (not in word) in subsequent guesses, you have to continue to use yellow letters (right letter, wrong spot) in subsequent guesses, and you have to leave red letters (right letter, right spot) in the same position in subsequent guesses. The more guesses, the better your score.

Antiwordle #59
7 guesses

⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨
⬛⬛🟥⬛🟨
⬛🟨🟥🟨⬛
🟥🟥🟥⬛⬛
🟥🟥🟥⬛⬛
🟥🟥🟥⬛🟥
🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥

I took all six tries today. *sigh* Maybe I need to get a cleaner wrasse busy inside my brain?

Thanks to Rob's genius solutions to two different but interlocking issues, I'm regularly using the hotspot function. As long as it keeps working....

I'm sorry to hear of your MIL's illness Paul but glad Hanni can finally attempt to get home. That will be a relief to her mother I'm sure.

>200 brenzi: Lovely to see you here Queen of Reviews. I am getting my hopes up that before the end of Ramadan I shall have the full complement of my household under the same roof for the first time in literally years.

>199 richardderus: I had a worry, RD, that I may lose my first game with that one RD. I'm so pleased that Rob is able to help keep you with us in the interim. If and when we ever get to meet up, I give him a hug.

>198 cbl_tn: That sounds tough, Carrie, but I will go and try it during my "lunch" break. I have tried quordle and worldle too with inconsistent results!

>196 PaulCranswick: Well, that should give her reason enough to hang in there!

>203 alcottacre: I did solicit a laugh at least, Stasia!

BOOK #54


Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Publication Date : 1874
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 389 pp

Re-read to Reassess which I consider Hardy's best novels (1/6) Position so far (Duh).

It must be closer to 40 than 30 years since I last read this novel and I had almost forgotten how good it was. Pathos, romance, action, tragedy and comedy are all present in this wonderful story of a proud young woman and her three suitors. As is prevalent in much of Hardy's work the role of chance or fate or coincidence depending how one sees it, is very much to the fore here. Fanny going to the wrong church, the Valentine sent to Boldwood by the toss of a coin

I have fond memories of his novels (I have read 5 of the 6 I have chosen) but it will be some novel to displace this.

Wordle 292 4/6

⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Par for my course!

>198 cbl_tn: You are right it isn't easy to get it wrong. Harder than it sounds!

Antiwordle #60
3 guesses

🟨⬛⬛🟥⬛
⬛⬛⬛🟥🟥
🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥

Thomas Hardy is one of my favorite authors. Have not read this one yet. Wish I had time to fit it in.

Antiwordle #60
5 guesses

⬛⬛🟨⬛🟨
🟨⬛🟨⬛🟨
🟨🟥🟨⬛🟨
🟥🟥🟨🟨🟨
🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥

Wordle 292 5/6

🟨🟩🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟨
⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

>208 Kristelh: I can't believe how badly I did with the anti-wordle, Kristel.

When I was pondering over my Hardy selection I could have honestly picked any one of five of the books I will be reviewing. FFTMC lived up to my memory of it.

Just spoke to my MIL by video call and I am more than a bit teary. Seems that they have discovered she has brain cancer too and the prognosis for the lung cancer is poor. I do hope that Hani and Yasmyne and Kyran can get home quickly - they may need to.

{{your family}}

>210 PaulCranswick: (((hugs)))
That sounds bad, Paul, hoping with you that Hani can be with her mother very soon.

My thoughts/prayers are with you Paul and your family. Hope Hani can get home soon.

>211 cindydavid4: Thank you, Cindy - those hugs are gratefully received.

>212 FAMeulstee: It is Anita. Watching such a rock of woman sobbing into the video phone and tanking me for taking care of her family is too much for me to bear actually. I know that without her support and love Hani and I would have torn each other to pieces years ago.
I am pretty devastated in truth.

>213 Kristelh: Thanks Kristel. Hani is at her local National Health Clinic trying to get the clearance papers she apparently needs to travel next week.

I am so sorry that the news keeps getting worse for your MIL. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

>216 cbl_tn: Thanks Carrie; they are gratefully received. I am constantly blown away by the thoughtfulness and sincerity of my friends in this group.

By the way I got some light relief by playing your recommended game although it was fleeting as I proved rubbish at it!

Are Kyran and Yasmyn on their way already?

Hang in there, Paul, and hopefully, everyone will be together sooner rather than later.

{{strength}}

{{{Cranswicks all}}}

I'm so sad her last days will be ones a kind universe wouldn't deal out to a horrible person, still less your sweet MiL. She's been a staunch and faithful friend to you in times that tested every bond. That's not nothing, and it is the very best way for someone to be remembered.

>210 PaulCranswick: {{hugs}}

>210 PaulCranswick: I'm so sorry.

Paul - so sorry to hear more sadness for Hani's Mother and hope that all countries and airplanes can expedite your Family's quick return.

>210 PaulCranswick: So sorry to hear this Paul. I too hope everyone can get back in time to be with her.

This read for month's 20 Classics written by people of colour, chosen by people of Colour:



https://www.librarything.com/topic/337035#7807388

Paul that is such sad and difficult news about Hani's mom. Sure hoping the family can all be together very soon.

>210 PaulCranswick: I am so sorry. I do hope your family members can return in good time to support each other through whatever ordeals are ahead for the family.

>204 PaulCranswick: Well, they say laughter is the best medicine so that is something.

>205 PaulCranswick: I need to read that one again. I have been eying Jude the Obscure for my Classics reading this year, but am thinking I need to give all of Hardy a read or re-read as the case may be.

>210 PaulCranswick: I am so sorry that the news is not better, Paul. ((Hugs)) to all of you. I hope Hani and the rest get there soon!

Hi Paul, i am so sorry to hear that things have got even worse for your MIL, mate. I hope that the dratted paperwork can be expedited quickly so that Hani can get home as soon as possible, surely the circumstances will mean that they pull their finger out to enable Hani to travel quickly.

Sadly it seems that paperwork at the moment is the bane of good folks, Britain said yes we will help Ukrainians to come to the UK, thousands of families say they will take them in and yet it is just a trickle due to paperwork, are the authorities using Monks to fill them in for crying out loud.

We both send love and hugs and keep you all in our thoughts and prayers mate.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/341090

>218 jessibud2: Thanks for the support, Shelley. Yasmyne I have booked a flight for early next week and she will be first back. Kyran is awaiting dispensation from Birkbeck to undertake study temporarily online.

>219 richardderus: Thank you, RD for the kind words. I don't want yesterday's conversation with her to be what I remember most, dear fellow - I want to think of her as proud and strong and funny and loving and opinionated exactly like her daughter. Sharp tongue and big heart.

>220 amanda4242: Gratefully received my dear Amanda.

>221 ArlieS: Thank you Arlie. Another twist this evening is that when Hani went to the clinic to get her travel dispensation her blood pressure reading was 197/97!!!! They want to see her on Monday to gauge whether she is up to the strain of flying! You couldn't write this stuff.

I updated my March reading numbers.

>222 m.belljackson: Thanks my dear Marianne. It does seem that international travel is still pretty complicated at the moment.

>223 Caroline_McElwee: She is a bit woozy with morphine right now, Caroline (I just called the hospital) but I know she will persevere for Yasmyne, Kyran and Hani. She is a person who wears her heart on her sleeve and cannot hide her favouritism sometimes comically so. Her favourites in different degrees are her son (Andi, who unfortunately has a history of drug use which makes him nervous of visiting Singapore), Yasmyne and my nephew Firdaus (Andi's eldest) as favourite grandkids and yours truly as favourite in-law.

>224 Caroline_McElwee: I have it on my reading table ready to go, Caroline. I hope our books can be a welcome distraction. xx

>225 mdoris: Thank you Mary. It is a little tough to take having lost two parents from four already in a little over a year.

>226 quondame: Thank you Susan for your constancy in support and kindness. x

>227 alcottacre: I don't foresee that biriyani this side of heaven, Stasia. She couldn't hold the phone yesterday and I had to call her adopted sister and talk on her phone. I have to say that the Malay extended family structure is a heart warming thing to behold at times of crisis.

I am so pleased I decided to reacquaint myself with Thomas Hardy.

>228 johnsimpson: Thank you John, you made me smile at least. I'm sure that the monks would be much more efficient mate!
Cricket season started - perhaps they should use the Easter or Whitsun break for the 100 (please just play 20/20) and the heart of the season could proceed with proper cricket plus a 20/20 Sunday league. Another of my absolute pet hates is that we have two leagues now of 10 and 8 why not make sure that all of the teams play at the same time. Why on earth are Yorkshire not starting at the same time? The scheduler is a moron, especially in England where they all should get the same weather.

>229 SilverWolf28: Thanks Silver. I need to join as I am already behind this month

>232 SilverWolf28: Genuinely exciting news. I will go and check and update my own stats. x

ETA I have edited my stats above to take you to the end of the first quarter.

>231 PaulCranswick: I'd bet the blood pressure reading is due to stress. Some of that stress being all the roadblocks between her and getting home to her mother. The big question of course is how much of it will go away the moment she's out of the clinic, and how much will stay with her.

>238 ArlieS: Definitely it is, Arlie. I remember when she had laser treatment to breakup kidney stones her blood pressure shot up over 200 in a matter of a couple of minutes on the monitor much to the alarm of the medical staff.

Paul - I may have missed this, but can You go to be with your Mother in Law?

Stress will definitely knock blood pressure sky high > my daughter had about the same as Hani when she went for a root canal -
one reason why dentists do not routinely take blood pressure readings.

Going for a Colonoscopy brings many folks up to President Clinton's highest BP.

Prayers to You and Ukraine.

>240 m.belljackson: Thank you, Marianne. I will be able to go but I do still need special permission and it is still not entirely clear what are Malaysia's current rules on those under their spouse programme visas.

Wordle 293 6/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Skin of the teeth stuff. I hate it when we get so many possible combinations toward the end of a game.

I am sorry to hear the news about your mother-in-law. I hope that your travelling family will be home soon.

>210 PaulCranswick: that is very sad news Paul.

Glad you loved the Hardy as much as you remembered it. I am looking forward to my reads and rereads.

>210 PaulCranswick: So sorry to hear that Paul. Hoping the gang will be back in town soonest.

>243 torontoc: Thank you, Cyrel. Lovely to see you here by the way.

>244 RBeffa: Thanks for dropping by, Ron.

I was savouring some of the turns of phrase - I did agree with you that some of the dialogue can jar a bit but that aside it is a great story well told.

>245 humouress: Yasmyne first, followed by Hani and hopefully Kyran if his Uni permits.

So sorry to hear about your MIL, Paul -- I hope everything aligns and your family can get home!

>248 curioussquared: Thank you Natalie. xx

Is it therapy? Maybe I don't need an excuse? Maybe I'm getting some in before the Matriarch returns?

267. Dottie by Abdulrazak Gurnah
268. Vilette by Charlotte Bronte
269. Sovietistan by Erika Fatland
270. Mother Mother : The Sunday Times Bestseller by Annie Macmanus
271. Evelina by Fanny Burney
272. Go Big by Ed Milliband
273. Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles
274. A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson
275. 20 Fragment of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
276. Bomber by Len Deighton
277. Mrs England by Stacey Halls
278. The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky
279. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
280. Elective Affinities by Johann Wolfgang Goethe
281. The Cruel Way by Ella Maillart
282. Travels With Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski

I wanted Robert Byron's Road to Oxiana but the last copy had just been sold (so they said) so I compensated with Maillart, Kapuscinski and Fatland all of whom are acclaimed too.

Bronte, Burney, Dostoevsky and Goethe are of course classics for my 1001 book challenge.
Milliband is the ex-Labour Party leader, fellow Leeds supporter and now concerned with Environmental policy.
I am collecting Gurnah's books whilst they are available.
The Mary Lawson and the Stacey Halls I have been waiting patiently for their arrival by paperback.
Bomber is on the Guardian list
MacManus caught my eye and I like the blurb.
I don't know why I haven't bought Daisy Jones before now.
Guo is part of a series on female authors I am following
Bowles was the wife of the Moroccan based author Paul Bowles and this is considered a minor classic.

>242 PaulCranswick:, I failed, too many possibilities for wordle today.

Antiwordle also two possibilities and I chose the wrong one.
Antiwordle #61
5 guesses

🟨⬛🟨⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟥⬛🟥
⬛⬛🟥🟨🟥
⬛🟥🟥⬛🟥
🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥

I’ve read Villette and Daisy Jones. The Gambler is not on my 1001 list

>251 Kristelh: I got five too this time. An improvement but I still don't really have the hang of the game yet.

You are right the Dostoevsky is not on the list - even the combined one - ah well!

Antiwordle #61
5 guesses

⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟥
⬛⬛⬛🟨🟥
⬛🟨🟨⬛🟥
🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥

Happy Weekend, Paul. I have not read Far From the Madding Crowd. As a matter of fact, I have not read any Hardy. Bad Mark?

>250 PaulCranswick: A surprising number of ladies names in those titles, Paul.

Happy Saturday!

>254 msf59: You ought to, Mark - he was a great storyteller.

>255 humouress: Could be, Nina. I am consciously trying to balance my reading by adding more female authors if that is perhaps a cause.

>256 richardderus: Well almost RD. Another two hours to go.

>250 PaulCranswick: Too bad you could not get the Byron book, but I am glad to see that you could compensate for it, Juan. I am pretty sure that the only book that I have read on your list is Travels with Herodotus.

Happy whatever, Paul!

>259 alcottacre: I'm going to add it to my order for Hani to bring me, Juana. I'm not so easily defeated!

>250 PaulCranswick: . Travels With Herodotus

on my list of top ten reads last year!

>261 cindydavid4: That is great to know Cindy!

>260 PaulCranswick: Good! I hope you enjoy it when you get your hands on a copy, Juan!

>263 alcottacre: If you rate it, Juana, then I am sure to!

>263 alcottacre: I should be finishing it up over the weekend. Right now, it is a solid 4-star read for me.

>263 alcottacre: I have ordered it already!

So sorry that your MIL news just keeps getting worse, Paul. I hope your family is able to rejoin you quickly.

>250 PaulCranswick: I don't think I've read a single one of those books! Except the Dostoevsky, a long time ago.

>267 AnneDC: Interestingly I was over at your thread while you snuck in here!

My MIL decided today she doesn't want a biopsy done on her brain and has determined to head for home. My SIL and her own sisters are trying to talk her out of it but she is a stubborn woman and will have her way, I feel. I am sure that I will be called upon to speak to her but I am not sure that my advice will help on this occasion as I think I understand her well enough. They declared the lung cancer as basically inoperable so I think she is of the view that there is little point at this stage taking a risk with her cognitive retention. Her deterioration over a matter of a couple of weeks is frankly frightening.

Hani cried today when I told her I had paid zakat basically a religious tithe for all persons and we are supposed to pay for anybody dependent upon us as well as ourselves. It is a nominal sum (equivalent to about $2) but one that muslims take quite seriously. I paid for Hani, Yasmyne, Kyran, Belle and Erni as usual but also for Hani's mum (as the senior male left in the family). I am notorious for normally paying the tithe right at the end of Ramadan much to Hani's annoyance but she was touched that I took the trouble to do it early this year - I didn't tell her that I passed the table set up for the purpose in KLCC on my way to the bookstore!

Paul, So sorry to hear of your news. I am praying for you all.

I can understand as before my Father passed in December, we finally had to decide to just let him be at home and be as comfortable as we could make him before he passed. It was hard to do, but ultimately what was best for him.
Praying you all find peace and comfort and that your MIL isn't in a lot of pain suffering.
Take care my friend.

>269 hredwards: Thank you for the kind words, Harold. I have now said this a few times but I do feel so grateful to this special group of people who have stopped by to provide much needed comfort support and succour.

>268 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul - Never heard of a biopsy on a brain and bet she did not want to go under another surgery.

If You or Hani can find newly released MORE AFTER THE BREAK, it has an incredible story about a woman,
Isabella de la Houssaye,
who survived many Lung Cancer tumors...

...just did a Search. It turns up plenty of inspiration.

>268 PaulCranswick: I totally get your MILs decision Paul. I have already apprised my sibs that in the event of extreme illness, unless there is a strong possibility of two years life expectancy after treatment, I won't be dying of the treatment rather than the disease. Of course, at the moment I'm not in the situation, and may change my mind if I were, but it is good for them to know and have time to absorb.

>271 m.belljackson: Thanks for that Marianne, I will look for it.

>272 Caroline_McElwee: I won't go against her wishes anyway, Caroline, I have made up my mind that she will get her wishes. She asked Hani to look after her brother today - Hani's brother has a problem with drugs but has four young children and I know that they are living off the money we give Hani's mum every month - I dread to think what would happen to the kids if we did not intercede for them.

I also totally get your MILs decision. Sometimes it is best to choose quality of life over treatment and to enjoy that time with family.

Oh, Paul - devastating news about your MIL. I'm so sorry. I hope Hani and the kids are able to be home soon. Hugs to you and all your family, and loving thoughts to your MIL. She sounds like a wonderful woman!

Paul, What a hard time for you right now. Hoping that having your family home will lessen or at least share the burden. Your MIL is making her choice, which is reasonable if hard for those she will leave behind. Wishing peaceful transitions for all your family through the upcoming adjustments to life.

>274 Kristelh: I think that she has set her face against the treatments, Kristel

>275 Storeetllr: Thank you, Mary. She is a wonderful woman indeed.

>276 Helenoel: Thank you for the kind words, Helen.

Hi Paul, i can understand your MIL's wishes to be at home, we had the same issue with Karen's Dad. After his stroke he developed Vascular Dementia and they moved him to a home in Horbury and sadly we were waiting for someone to die who had a care package so that it would release staff so that he could go home and get a care package. I promised him that i would do everything in my power to get him home.

He wanted to be at home where he could be near his late wife Beth, he had a statue in the garden that he could see from the living room and some of her ashes were buried underneath the statue. I got him home only to find that he had bowel cancer, he went into hospital after an angina attack and then he had another mini stroke, he was due out on the 23rd Dec 2013 and after cockups we got him home at 3pm on Xmas eve. Sadly, shortly after the care team came to see him at 3.50pm he had a massive stroke and was rushed back into hospital and finally passed away on 2nd Jan 2014. I had kept my promise to get him home and in the short time he was at home, he managed to tell me that i was a good lad for getting him home.

Like Cec, your MIL feels better if she is at home to pass from this world to the next, i just hope that Hani, Yasmyne and Kyran can get home in time, even if it is only to say their last farewells. Be strong mate for your family as i was was for mine, it is not an easy time or task but something we have to stand up and do for our loved ones.

Sending love and hugs to you all at this very sad time mate from both of us dear friend.

We spent the end of my mother-in-law’s life with her basically tired of living. So I get how your mother-in-law might want to just let life happen. But it’s hard on the family, especially the care givers. Praying for you, Hani, your family, and especially your mother-in-law.

>280 drneutron: Thank you, John. Those kind words mean a lot.

>281 PaulCranswick: A do yours Jim. I sometimes think without trying to be cliched, that how we did is a testament often to how we have lived.