PAUL C WITH A CLEAN SLATE IN '22 - Part 15

SCENES FROM MY PAST

When I was at university in Warwick, I would frequently cycle up to Stratford Upon Avon, birthplace of the Bard, to get some exercise and soak up the atmosphere. It is a scenic if sometimes crowded spectacle on a weekend.

The Opening Words

I have been waiting for Mrs England by the promising young British writer of historical fiction Stacey Halls who brings to bear everything I adore in fiction by sitting me down and telling me a story.

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"The woods at night were far from silent. Nightjars and owls called their strange solos, and my boots crunched on the stones littered across the track. All around was the sound of water : noisy little brooks and streams made their ceaseless descent to the river, bubbling, chattering, murmuring. The rain had stopped and the moon peered out from behind her misty veil. I pulled my cloak more tightly at the neck, closing my shawl around my face."

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
55. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (1961) 128 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 1000 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

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AMERICAN AUTHOR CHALLENGE



January - Graphic Books - The American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 by Khor Shing Yin
February - Tess Gallagher - Portable Kisses
March - Bernard Malamud
April - Louise Gluck (Wildcard)

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

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 OWNED
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton OWNED & Reading in Apr 22
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak OWNED
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller OWNED & Reading in Apr 22
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich OWNED & Reading in Apr 22
This One Sky Day by Leone Ross OWNED

READ 1/16

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

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 one is yours

Happy new one! Got here before you are set up but >1 PaulCranswick: lovely topper!

>18 figsfromthistle: You are super fast this time, Anita. You well deserve the virtual bookshelf:

>19 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul!

Happy new thread!

>20 figsfromthistle: More than welcome, dear lady.

>21 amanda4242: Thank you Amanda!

Happy New Thread!

>23 mahsdad: Thanks Jeff.

Happy new thread Paul!

>25 mdoris: Thank Mary; always a pleasure to have you visit. xx

Happy new thread, Paul!

>27 bell7: Thank you Mary. This thread will see me God willing reach 4,000 posts in April which is the earliest that this has been achieved since 2014. I am about 150 posts short of that number right now.

Happy new thread!

>29 cbl_tn: Thank you Carrie. I have a strong sense that it may be a bitter sweet thread as my family should be reunited but I fear my MIL is about to leave us. I pray that I am a wrong and we can celebrate at least one more Eid Adha together if it is not too excruciating for her.

Happy new thread, have a good weekend. Not really the right words. But I pray for a peaceful weekend for you

>31 Kristelh: Thanks Kristel; after a few hours at the office I intend to try to lose myself in books.

Wordle 294 4/6

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Strange game wherein I lucked out completely first round and almost pulled a blinder in the second then it was a choice of two in the third round and obviously I guessed wrong so safely home in 4.

In case you missed it the Booker International Shortlist has been announced:
Shortlist
Heaven by Mieko Kawakami
Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro
A New Name: Septology VI-VII by Jon Fosse
Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

I own currently 4 of the 6 and want to read some of them before the winner is announced but there are two absolute chunksters amongst them.

Grats on the new thread. And sympathy re your MIL. FWIW, my mom was another who refused some treatment, figuring it would reduce her quality of life, and not do all that much to extend her life.

>35 ArlieS: Thanks for sharing that, Arlie. I think we all do have to come to terms with our mortality.

Happy new thread!

>1 PaulCranswick: Scenic indeed!

>1 PaulCranswick: Stratford is a wonderful place to visit, Susan. Culture, history, and pretty too.

>38 PaulCranswick: I remember the worn steps of the cottage, but that was 1967, so long ago as well as far away.

Kinokuniya is also a good place to visit and I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that this may be my last Saturday of book buying freedom and also because I know new stock of the rather attractive Alma classics had just arrived and I wanted to buy some classics I haven't read and add some that I have read many moons ago but no longer own.

Take advantage you will agree I did:

283 The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
284 The Abyss and Other Stories by Leonid Andreyev
285 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
286 The School for Good Mothers Jessamine Chan
287 Dear Child by Romy Hausmann
288 Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
289 The Answer to Everything by Luke Kennard
290 Good Neighbours by Sarah Langan
291 The Couple Next Door Shari Lapena
292 Pleasantville by Attica Locke
293 She Lies in Wait Gytha Lodge
294 How to Disappear by Gillian McAllister
295 Little Girl Lost by Brian McGilloway
296 Paradise Lost by John Milton
297 The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
298 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
299 On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev
300 Ten Great Works of Philosophy commentaries by Robert Paul Wolff
includes:
301 The Death of Socrates by Plato
302 Poetics by Aristotle
303 Meditations on the First Philosophy by Rene Descartes
304 An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume
305 Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics by Immanuel Kant
306 Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill
307 The Will to Believe by William James

ETA
Edited I took out counting the works by Thomas Aquinas and Saint Anselm as separate works as they are but extracts and I have combined the Plato work into one as they obviously belong together.

>39 quondame: I'm sure that in 1967 Stratford was not a paid up member of hippie culture.

Happy new thread, Paul!

Any news yet about when Hani will return?

>34 PaulCranswick: Only one of those is available in Dutch translation. The Books of Jacob was already on mount TBR.

>40 PaulCranswick: A real Cranswickian haul :-)

>40 PaulCranswick: That book haul looks like a whole lot of philosophy and not necessarily easy reading.

Happy new thread, Paul.

>1 PaulCranswick: Nice picture

And have a good weekend.

>40 PaulCranswick: Nice haul. Will you start reading at once?

>42 FAMeulstee: Hani can start to plan from Monday when she gets her doctor's appointment hopefully settled.
The selection of Jon Fosse is a problem in so far as it is 3rd in a trilogy and though the other two are also translated none of them are available in Malaysia.

>43 Kristelh: Not really, Kristel. Of the 25 8 are philosophy but all contained in the one weighty little volume. There are 5 Alma classics, There are eight mystery books, two works of fantasy and two works of contemporary fiction.

>44 EllaTim: Thanks Ella!

I am reading but just not as fast as I'm adding!

Happy new thread, Paul!
Thinking of you and your family.

And all the best on your way to 4,000!

Happy New Thread, Paul. Love the Warwick topper and all those lovely swans.

>47 SirThomas: Thank you Thomas, my friend.

>48 SirThomas: 4,000? Even I won't add 4,000 books in a year, Thomas!

>49 msf59: Thanks Mark. You are sort of right - it is Warwickshire at least. The town is Stratford Upon Avon - Shakespeare's home and birthplace.

But you are on a good way...

Hi Paul, I see you need much love and many hugs. {{{{{Paul}}}}}

I hope Hani, Yasmyne and Kyran will arrive in time, so you can all have moments with Hani's mum and of course with each other. xxx

>2 PaulCranswick: I am interested! Of course, my local library does not have it though, lol.

>40 PaulCranswick: Nice haul, Juan!

Happy new thread!

>50 PaulCranswick: Wasn't 4,000 posts your goal for April?

>39 quondame: Utilitarianism and On Liberty are both very much worth reading. I hope the commentaries shed the needed light! I had a philosophy prof to do it for me.

>2 PaulCranswick: *trudges off to Ammy*
*shakes fist equatorward*

Happy new thread!

>52 SirThomas: Unless I slow down I am going to add more than 1,000 books for the first time in about five years.

>53 DianaNL: Diana!! What a wonderful surprise and thanks for the kind words.

>54 alcottacre: It is quite a new novel and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize which is one of my favourite prizes given that I always like historical fiction.

>55 FAMeulstee: Ah! That makes sense, Anita. And I think that is probably what Thomas meant and which I should have picked up on.

>56 richardderus: I have read a fair bit of JS Mill, RD. I did in fact major in Politics, English and History at Warwick until I realised I would be unlikely to find work. Always found Kant incomprehensible and I hope that the commentaries help me with him.

Gotcha with a BB!

>57 banjo123: Thank you, Rhonda - lovely to see you.

Happy new-ish thread! You move so quickly. Sorry your MIL's health is in decline.

Happy new thread, Paul. Sorry to hear about your MIL I hope everyone gets there soon.

>61 thornton37814: Thanks Lori, she has had a pretty good day in fairness other than checking herself out of the hospital!

>62 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg.

Let's hope Hani does well at the clinic on Monday. Kyran obtained dispensation from his university to come back and study on line, which will be a comfort to Hani as she didn't want to travel home alone.

>64 PaulCranswick: That's good news. It will be less stressful for Hani to have company on her travels, so better for her BP.

>64 PaulCranswick: Good news Kyran has been released and can return with his mum/mom, Paul.
.

Hi Paul, I know how much you will cherish having your family nearby soon. We have daughter #3 arriving in a few days with family, sons 9 and 5. We haven't seen them for well over 2/& years. I can hardly wait. We have chartered a boat for them so they can see a bit of the B.C. coast and hopefully catch dinner! The boys love to fish and but it is mom who catches the big ones.

>64 PaulCranswick: That's great news, PC! Hani will feel so much better if all y'all are there, and Kyran's already got it sorted for when the inevitable happens. Not to mention Father Goose has his goslings all together.

Silver linings....

>65 cbl_tn: It might also help her blood pressure as well. He is a sensitive soul and he was quite desperate to be able to see his 'nana'.

>66 Caroline_McElwee: It will be a great help to her but only in terms of comfort as he is even more impractical than I am.

>67 mdoris: That sounds simply delightful, Mary and really something to look forward to.
If it isn't impertinent to say Mary you are possibly blessed with the most children in the group.

>68 richardderus: It is indeed great news, RD. Haven't slept a wink as I am making sure my books are all sorted and stowed prior to the chieftainess' return.

>70 PaulCranswick: Lucky lucky me.

>40 PaulCranswick: oooh, some heavy philosophy in there! I have a few philosopher greats in my stacks, but mainly modern ones, and mainly John Raulston Saul, to be fair. I need to read more!

>71 mdoris: Children are a real blessing, Mary, and I may be old fashioned but I do think that I would have had a fairly aimless existence without them.

>72 LovingLit: I have quite a bit too, Megan but mainly general overviews these days - Grayling, Russell, Scruton etc.

Wordle 295 4/6

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A couple of wrong guesses but very safely home.

Happy new thread, Paul, and enjoy the new books.

Hi Paul, Wishing your family safe travels. Sending love to Hani.

>1 PaulCranswick: Oh, that photo is lovely. So peaceful.

>75 AnneDC: I am about to go and wish a friend of mine a happy new thread as I noticed that she has just started one.

>76 Copperskye: Thank you Joanne and nice to see you here. Stratford usually gets a visit when I am in the UK.

>55 FAMeulstee: Thank you very much, Anita.
This is a good example of the 3 levels of communication:
1 What the speaker wants to say
2 What he says
3 What the listener understands
All 3 should be in agreement.
>50 PaulCranswick: You thought I meant books,
>52 SirThomas: I thought you were joking....
Have a wonderful Sunday.

>78 SirThomas: You are welcome, Thomas.
And so we help Paul to reach his goal this month ;-)

>78 SirThomas: Very nicely put, Thomas - and I understand this one perfectly :D

>79 FAMeulstee: You are a star, Anita. xxx

>80 PaulCranswick: Only 88 messages to go! :-)

>74 PaulCranswick: Wordle 295 4/6

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Greetings

>81 FAMeulstee: Well done, Anita you were exactly right!

>82 Kristelh: Different way to get to the same place, Kristel!

Spent most of the evening and early morning sorting out a home for all the books I have added this year. 307 books is no joke to accommodate into already teeming shelves but I managed it. I also took the opportunity to put together in my reading cabinet the books I have planned for the coming period. Some Asian books, some longlist stuff, a pick of my recent additions, some "great books" I haven't yet got to.

>84 PaulCranswick:, always a pleasure to spend time with one’s books!

Sorry to read about your MiL's illness, Paul.

I am impressed you managed to fit in 300 new ones on your shelf. I managed to gift 4 on to a friend's daughter yesterday, but the spaces created on the shelves were taken almost before they were created!

>85 Kristelh: Indeed it is, Kristel! I hope it will renew my slightly flagging reading mojo which has been impacted this couple of weeks by RL.

>86 charl08: Lovely to have you stop by, Charlotte - I have missed your regular presence in the group. I do have rather a lot of books but also rather a lot of shelves.

>87 HarrisonEllis: How interesting to have a name that both your names could be given names or surnames; perhaps it would be more interesting to talk about books than get yourself flagged.

PC, I picked up The Barbary Figs this morning...I know it's here because of you, but I can't remember: did you send it to me? did I get it because you reviewed it? I can't find any mention of it anywhere in Talk and there are zero reviews on the book page! ...help...

>86 charl08: This! I'm once again contemplating what else to double shelve.

>90 richardderus: Honestly RD I don't remember if I sent it to you or you added it after I read it back in 2017. I remember the book as one that I enjoyed without being absolutely blown away.

>91 ArlieS: Virtually everything I have is double stacked, Arlie.

Wordle 296 3/6

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Thought this one out carefully and had a eureka moment!

Paul, do you have any pictures of your (vast) collection of books?

>94 mdoris: I did put up some pictures of my shelves some time ago, Mary. Let me go and see whether I can find them again.

>93 PaulCranswick: Yay for eureka!

>92 PaulCranswick: Drat! Old men who can't fire a neuron between 'em, that's us.

>96 richardderus: I gave myself a stare in the bathroom mirror this morning RD and said to myself and quite possibly aloud, "Shit you look old!"

>93 PaulCranswick:, Great job on Wordle, Paul
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Antiwordle #64
7 guesses

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>99 PaulCranswick: And you have the hang of anti-wordle for sure, Kristel.

Last day in NYC, and I'm resting after a manic 2 weeks here. I will try to catch up on my own thread when I return to Florida,
I have a question re >6 PaulCranswick:--how does The Guardian 100 have 352 books on it? Where is that list?

Hiyah, Paul! Happy new thread!

>100 arubabookwoman: Nice to see you Deborah I was wondering whether you were home or not yet from NYC and now I know!

Well done for spotting the typo with the Guardian Books. It should be 1000 books not 100 and I have so far read 352 of them. I went 14 threads without once noticing that!

This is the link to the full list if you are interested.

Darned keyboard is playing up again!

>101 drneutron: Thank you, Jim. You get a post on your own because it is hard work eking out each thread at the minute. I will switch to my mobile for a while.

>92 PaulCranswick: If I were insanely rich, my first indulgence would be a home big enough for all the shelves I'd need to have all my books single-shelved, and servants to keep up with cleaning such an enormous estate ;-)

Hopelessly behind on your threads, but wishing your family safe travels and health and you, their comforting presence soon. Oh, and some books. : )

Hi Paul, mate, a belated Happy New Thread. 307 books so far this year, you do seem to be on target for 1,000 books added to your collection, we are trying to be careful on adding books with the goal to read what is already on the shelves. So far we have added 68 books, we should be OK until we go down to Newton Abbot for our holiday at the end of July, i have had a look at what is in Newton Abbot and there are lots of bookshops to visit as well as other places around the area so we will probably come back with a decent haul.

Sending love and hugs mate from both of us.

>104 ArlieS: If we look at the zeitgeist section of the site we can see that the largest personal library has some 90,000 - I would certainly challenge that number if there was no check upon my finances.

>105 Berly: Great to see you here Kimmers. One day closer to the family being reunited.

>106 johnsimpson: I don't think that I have ever been to Newton Abbot, John, but it sounds as if I should!
Hope that all is well with you and yours.

Wordle 297 5/6

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Steady but unspectacular

Book #55



The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Publication Date : 1961
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 128 pp

Reread for my reassessment of Muriel Spark's best books.

My warm experience reminiscing about Hardy has been marred by this second take on Brodie - the most celebrated of all her novels.

What to my earlier eye looked like frivolity and well intended manipulation came across to me through the lens of this more knowing and cynical age as something distinctly more cynical.

She really was grooming her set and not merely to be the "creme de la creme" but as a literary Ghislaine Maxwell of those slate grey pre war Edinburgh days. There are more layers and dark subtlety to this than I first realised.

I am able to abhor and pity the eponymous character in near equal measure just as I can despise and in parallel sympathise with her nemesis.

Human nature is flawed. This book is flawed. Both are essentially splendid things.

>110 PaulCranswick: - I remember seeing the movie of this book (with Maggie Smith, if I remember correctly, in the title role), many years ago. I read the book only a year or two ago, for some reason, and was not impressed. I felt much as you did and didn't find the characters very sympathetic.

>59 PaulCranswick: I am also an historical fiction fan, so I am going to have to start keeping an eye on the Walter Scott Prize.

>84 PaulCranswick: One of my favorite parts of getting new books!

>110 PaulCranswick: I still have not read that one.

>111 jessibud2: Impressed by her writing but I didn't like her characters and I am not e\ntirely sure that we were supposed to, Shelley. Ms Spark was very good on human frailties.

>112 alcottacre: Some really good books have won the Walter Scott Prize, Stasia. I get an almost unseemly gratification from cataloguing, pawing and otherwise poring over my books.

>84 PaulCranswick: Seems I found the right community. I recently had to accommodate room on my very limited shelves for the 34 books I bought the other weekend and was scolding myself for spending more money on more books when I'm so behind on what I already own. In comparison to 300+ though I feel less bad about my addiction to adding to my collection - though that many would be a dream, even if it meant not being able to walk in my space.

>114 WhiteRaven.17: Great to see you venturing out, Kro. I am a little fortunate that we do stay in a rather spacious apartment / condo (it is approx 350 m2) but even so I still have to be inventive to keep finding space for all my additions.

>1 PaulCranswick: I love Stratford Upon Avon. Sadly not within cycling distance for me.

>55 FAMeulstee:. This was a 5 star read for me when I read it the first time.

Wordle 297 3/6

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>116 sirfurboy: Nice to see you Sir F. Stratford-upon-Avon is even further out of reach for me these days!

>117 Kristelh: I don't think that it is a perfect novel, Kristel, but she managed to insinuate much into less than 130 pages.

>118 Kristelh: You were more on the wavelength of the game than I was today.

>119 PaulCranswick:. I looked up my review of the book to see what I had said. And for some reason I really connected. When I get back to Minnesota I will have to look for the book or notes to see why it was a 5 star. I don't give them out that often.

>121 Kristelh: In my honest opinion Kristel she was a \\fantastic writer - not, I think my absolute favourite by her but great nonetheless.

I took Bleak House with me on vacation. I read fairly diligently on the train, and reached the halfway point on the trip home. It's interesting. How goes your Dickens reading, Paul?

>123 justchris: You are doing better than I am, Chris, as my reading has suffered due to my MIL issues and the stresses of trying to get my lot home. I want to start it very soon and concentrate upon it. I did read both Thomas Hardy and Muriel Spark in my six authors reassessment and I have Murdock, Greene, Maugham and Dickens to come.

>124 PaulCranswick: If you would like a reading partner for Murdock, Greene, Maugham, or Dickens just let me know. Murdock (Murdoch?) is the one that will be hardest for me to come by so I would need some time there.

I did a tentative timetable for them on the last thread but also try fit them into TIOLI challenges where I can.
This month I am reading:
Far From the Madding Crowd by Hardy (DONE)
Jean Brodie by Spark (DONE)
The Sea, The Sea by Murdoch (damned autocorrect)
Moon and Sixpence by Maugham
Brighton Rock by Greene
Bleak House by Dickens

Only Dickens is not a reread.

>126 PaulCranswick: Saw the series of Bleak House with Gillian Anderson a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. Have not read the book though.
Haven't read much Dickens. His Great Great Grandson Gerald Dickens comes over every Christmas season and performs A Christmas Carol at our local library.
He is very good. Except for Covid we've seen him the last 4 or 5 years. It's a tradition.

>126 PaulCranswick: I will join you in the Maugham, Greene, and Dickens, if you do not mind :) I cannot get the Murdoch book from my local library at any rate. I would not be able to fit it into April's TIOLI either as I have a ton more books that I am already signed up to read this month - including at least 5 that are over 500 pages in length.

>127 hredwards: That is a great story Harold. I can just imagine it. Does he look anything like the great man?

>128 alcottacre: I would be delighted of course Stasia. Cannot think of anybody I would sooner read with. You get me moving to keep up!

>110 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul >

Writing isn't flawed, but flawed humans abound in The LATECOMER, with some great surprise story twists.

This book is # 801 of LT Books I've reviewed in the past 6-7 years.

>129 PaulCranswick: He does look somewhat like him.
He is a great performer, doing all the characters. He does other dickens stories also.
This year we got to see him twice. Once he did the Christmas Carol, the other performance he did a short story called "The Watchman". A ghost story set by a railroad tunnel.
It was made especially spooky as that particular Library is set next to some railroad tracks and a train happened by at a conveniently good spot in the story.

He has just written a book of his own about his Great Great Grandfather and a train wreck he was involved in at Staplehurst. I have a copy but haven't read it yet.

>131 m.belljackson: I will look out for that one, Marianne but it isn't in the bookstore here.

>132 hredwards: The train incident was quite celebrated as in famous as an event in Dickens' life. Some say that the stress of it fatally damaged his weak heart.

Wordle 298 4/6

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Routine after a blank first round.

>124 PaulCranswick: I hope the family situation improves all around--MIL getting better, Kyran and Hani returning to you, etc.

Just as well I am getting a head start on the Bleak House opus. I can't match a speed demon like you. I'm enjoying it so far.

>135 justchris: I'm just polishing off a couple of books I have started and after that I will start it. Hopefully our reading will overlap a little on it.

>134 PaulCranswick:, took too long to get it today.
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>137 Kristelh: Safely home though, Kristel. xx

Wordle 299 5/6

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After a sloppy start I managed to pull it off in 5.

Some more additions last night:

308. The Waves by Virginia Woolf
309. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
310. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
311. The New Oxford Book of War Poetry edited by Jon Stallworthy
312. The Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey
313. Peril at End House by Agatha Christie
314. The Foundling by Stacey Halls

First three are replacements of books mistakenly given away by my daughter and which could benefit from a re-read.

It is a while since I bought a general poetry collection and war has prompted some of the finest poetry ever. Agatha Christie is a banker and covers a year I don't have any British books unread on the shelves. Chidgey's Women's Prize longlisted novel is not yet available here but I came across an earlier one. I am currently reading and loving Halls' latest book and I now have the three she has written.

I remembered late last night that I hadn't attempted Antiwordle. I doubt I will ever replicate this score.

Antiwordle #65
12 guesses

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I have been cogitating on my 100 books 100 authors list and I realise how inadequate it is because of the paucity of my reading. It already caused me to want to re-examine\reassess some of the authors whose work I have loved and hence my challenge to read six books each by six of the writers most important to me (and maybe do six more after that). I am doing Hardy, Spark, Maugham, Greene, Murdoch and Dickens. I plan Steinbeck, Austen, Zola, Forster, Trevor and Wharton for next year.

Additionally my list omits works much lauded by others and omits it on the simple basis that I haven't read it. I really do need to improve that and so I have decided to read one MAJOR classic/modern classic which is missing from my reading canon per month. That means eight books from now until December and I will read them in date order of publication.

This is what I will read :
MAY - Don Quixote by Cervantes
JUNE - Tom Jones by Fielding
JULY - The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Sterne
AUGUST - Lost Illusions by Balzac
SEPTEMBER - Moby-Dick by Melville
OCTOBER - War and Peace by Tolstoy
NOVEMBER - Middlemarch by Eliot
DECEMBER - The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky

I will dedicate the first week of each month to the reading of these gems.
Anyone who would be interested to join me is most welcome.

>147 quondame: Wow that is hugely impressive, Carrie! It is a game that I have so far displayed little or no aptitude for - 6 being my best effort so far. My skill set is in determining the word and I seem to play this game too similarly to succeed!

>142 PaulCranswick:
Don Quixote--Some good parts, but it goes on forever.
Tom Jones--I'm planning on reading it for the BAC so I'll probably join you.
Tristram Shandy--Just read it a couple of weeks ago. It's made up entirely of obscure satire and dick jokes.
Moby Dick--Really dull.
Middlemarch--About time you read it, Paul.

>142 PaulCranswick: Reference my list I also want to go back to books I had struggled with early or which for some reason I didn't feel moved me enough to make my list when I read it first time around. I am not going to order such a list right now but it is likely to include:

(1) The Waves by Woolf : her fiction has always puzzled me - could just as easily be To the Lighthouse or Mrs Dalloway
(2) Madame Bovary by Flaubert : my callow self found this a right royal snooze-fest
(3) The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner : As I Lay Dying almost made my list but this one I found utterly incomprehensible.
(4) Ulysses by Joyce : Now this one I didn't hate it is just that when I soldiered through it in university, I think the younger Paul was insufficiently well-read to fully appreciate it. I remember reading this fuelled by Irish whisky (Tullamore D.E.W. typically) so my memory of it is fond but fuzzy
(5) The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald : Left me completely cold back in the day
(6) Anna Karenina by Tolstoy - I need to reread this one as my memory of it has diminished in the 35 years since I read it first
(7) The Heart of Darkness by Conrad : A writer whose importance I note but who I have never much enjoyed
(8) The Naked and the Dead by Mailer : His style used to grate upon me hugely
(9) Lucky Jim by Amis K : Supposed to be funny but I didn't smile
(10) Lord of the Flies by Golding : He always painted on too sparse a canvas for me
(11) Blood Meridian by McCarthy : I admired this but I think its propensity to appall succeeding in appalling
(12) The Red and the Black by Stendahl : Bubbling below my list like Joyce and McCarthy - did I get it wrong?

>144 amanda4242: Sterne has fallen out of fashion along with jokes about penises but the satire should test my historical knowledge.
Eliot you are right it is long overdue.
I have head such mixed reviews of Moby that I really need to make up my own mind!
All of the books are "lengthy" including Quixote!
Tom Jones - I hope it's not unusual (sorry) and that's a date!

>142 PaulCranswick: That is tempting. I did have a go at Tom Jones when the Albert Finney movie came out and I was denied admission even though I was with my mother. Since I didn't read the essays at the start of each chapter, I can't credit myself with the read. War and Peace I did complete, but almost as long ago from my current perspective, though I counted myself much more mature at the time.

>147 quondame: Would welcome the company on the voyage of discovery, Susan!

>130 PaulCranswick: Well, I completely missed the part where you were reading all of those this month. I will do one a month starting in May, so you are going to be ahead of me all the way!

>140 PaulCranswick: Nice, Juan!

>142 PaulCranswick: I will think on doing shared reads with you of those. I have not read Tom Jones, Lost Illusions or The Brothers Karamazov yet. You could not pay me enough to re-read Don Quixote, lol.

ETA: I have read The Brothers Karamazov as I discovered when I pulled it off my shelf. However, if I have forgotten that I read it, I need to re-read it!

Im not convinced Juana that misremembering having read something that chunky is a great recommendation to go with it again!

>150 PaulCranswick: I checked to see when I read it last and that was in June 2010. 12 years ago! Long overdue for a re-read.

>151 alcottacre: Where does the time go, Stasia?!

Another set of writers I want to reconnect with are those 20th century British authors who have fallen out of favour somewhat and whose books are - with a few exceptions out of print:

I am thinking of:

Alan Sillitoe
Howard Spring
Richard Llewellyn
John Braine
AJ Cronin
J.B. Preistley
Hugh Walpole
John Cowper-Powys
RF Delderfield
LP Hartley
Eric Linklater
Vita Sackville West

I will be looking to do so over the coming months

>152 PaulCranswick: If I knew that, I would probably be a millionaire!

>153 PaulCranswick: Psst. C.P. Snow.

>154 alcottacre: Hahaha I wish we both were and I know what we would buy - even more books!

>155 quondame: Good shout and I actually put him down first and then put in Vita Sackville West because I thought the absence of any women in the list would be frowned upon and rightly so!

>142 PaulCranswick: I might join you with Lost Illusions in August, Paul.
I loved Don Quixote and Moby Dick, and really liked War and Peace (skip the second epilogue!) and Middlemarch. The Brothers Karamazov was okay, others liked it way more than I did.

(12 msgs to go!)

>157 FAMeulstee: I am already hugely fond of Balzac's work so I am really looking forward to it.

Hahaha you are keeping better watch on my posts than I am!

>142 PaulCranswick: I loved War and Peace. And I might try The Brothers Karamazov.
Hesitating about Don Quixote.
I had a look at the WorldCat list of it, interesting! So many versions and editions, and translations. Going for a new translation, for readability. But would love to see those old books.

>160 PaulCranswick: I have hesitated too long with some of these great or at least lauded books and we really don't know what life has in store for us.

>142 PaulCranswick:
MAY - Don Quixote by Cervantes, ‘I’ve read it and have no desire to reread. It’s too long.
JUNE - Tom Jones by Fielding, I would like to reread this one.
JULY - The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Sterne, I have not read this one.
AUGUST - Lost Illusions by Balzac, I have not read this one.
SEPTEMBER - Moby-Dick by Melville, I did not mind this one
OCTOBER - War and Peace by Tolstoy, I’ve read it, it is too long and IMO Anna K is better
NOVEMBER - Middlemarch by Eliot, a reread would be a good idea
DECEMBER - The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, I liked this one best on your lists here.

(1) The Waves by Woolf : her fiction has always puzzled me - could just as easily be To the Lighthouse or Mrs Dalloway(I haven’t read The Waves but I have read To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway,” I prefer Mrs Dalloway I think
(2) Madame Bovary by Flaubert : my callow self found this a right royal snooze-fest, Read it 3 times, maybe you should read some other book by Flaubert??
(3) The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner : As I Lay Dying almost made my list but this one I found utterly incomprehensible. I’ve read both. I prefer as I Lay Dying.
(4) Ulysses by Joyce : Now this one I didn't hate it is just that when I soldiered through it in university, I think the younger Paul was insufficiently well-read to fully appreciate it. I remember reading this fuelled by Irish whisky (Tullamore D.E.W. typically) so my memory of it is fond but fuzzy. I think this book is phenomenal but it takes some work.
(5) The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald : Left me completely cold back in the day, Definitely cold.
(6) Anna Karenina by Tolstoy - I need to reread this one as my memory of it has diminished in the 35 years since I read it first. My favorite Tolstoy is The Kreutzer Sonata
(7) The Heart of Darkness by Conrad : A writer whose importance I note but who I have never much enjoyed. Agree
(8) The Naked and the Dead by Mailer : His style used to grate upon me hugely. I’ve only read The Executioner’s Song. It was very much about the dead.
(9) Lucky Jim by Amis K : Supposed to be funny but I didn't smile, “not funny” enjoyed Changing Places by David Lodge more.
(10) Lord of the Flies by Golding : He always painted on too sparse a canvas for me, saw the movie first. Read book twice I think
(11) Blood Meridian by McCarthy : I admired this but I think its propensity to appall succeeding in appalling. Much prefer his other books over Blood Meridian.
(12) The Red and the Black by Stendahl : Bubbling below my list like Joyce and McCarthy - did I get it wrong? Boring, boring.

>139 PaulCranswick: Wordle 299 4/6

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>142 PaulCranswick: I have only read War and Peace and Middlemarch on that list Paul, and love both.

I watched the BBC dramatisation of War and Peace, with a very young Anthony Hopkins as Pierre, in my early teens, and made attempts every decade at the book from then, getting about 2/3rds through, finally reading it complete in my late 40s. It is due for a reread. I still haven't read Anna Karenina yet.

>145 PaulCranswick: i have a theory that very few people love Virginia Woolf's novels on first reading, but if you are drawn back, you will build a lasting relationship with her. I have read Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse at least five times each. The Waves twice, and all but Flush, the only one I haven't read, but will this year, once.

>153 PaulCranswick: I have a pile of Howard Spring to read at some stage. I read him in my teens, and reread one a few years back, which made me collect more. I guess there are so many fine writers, it's impossible for them all to remain in vogue.

>161 Kristelh: So I may get you along for some of them but not May and October for sure.

>162 Kristelh: Only two of them not yet read is impressive Kristel. Ulysses should really have been on my list as I have read it and did note in rather inebriated fashion my awe of it, but I would have felt a fraud listing it because I cannot at this remove remember enough of it.

>163 Kristelh: You are regularly doing just one guess better than me!

>164 Caroline_McElwee: Wasn't it on TV again more recently, Caroline? I originally had Grossman's Stalingrad on my list instead but felt that the jump to modern was too sudden. If you are able to bear with me then I do have Anna K on the horizon once these are done?

You may be right about VW as I really enjoyed her A Room of One's Own last year.

Howard Spring was a joy in my late twenties and I still have a few of his mouldering through lack of due care and attention.

>166 PaulCranswick: Has Life and Fate disappeared from your list, Paul?

>167 FAMeulstee: Not at all, Anita. I really want to read it but I should read Stalingrad first as that is sort of the prequel to it.

>168 PaulCranswick: I had it in mind for next month, Paul. But as you want to read Stalingrad first, I will rethink.

(*goal reached*)

>169 FAMeulstee: I wanted you to get the "honour" of putting up the 4,000th post on my threads this year - the second fastest ever!

I may shoehorn in Stalingrad and then will be good to do in June if that suits, Anita! I may even be able to fit in reading the last few chapters with you in the Netherlands if things work out!

I want to say a big thank you to anyone and everyone who has visited here this year and helped rack up 4,000 posts here already. Only the second time that 4,000 posts have been reaching in the first 15 weeks of the year. And only the 77th time overall that milestone has been passed since 2012.
Only Mark has completed 4,000 posts in every year except this one.

>170 PaulCranswick: I'll see, Paul, in June we will be a week in Kassel, Germany, so planning my reading is a bit tricky for June. I think we will be away from June 18th until June 26th, not sure about the exact dates, as I don't have the scedule near.

Congratulations Paul on 4000

>166 PaulCranswick: Yes, there was a new dramatisation of W&P a few years back, but for someone who had read it, it was but a summary Paul.

I do own that there are times in the novel you want to leave the war disquisitions and get back to the stories of the characters, but Tolstoy never did describe it as a novel.

>145 PaulCranswick: I reread Gatsby not too long ago.
First read it in school and agree that it left me cold. didn't get much out of it.
Read it again a few months ago and enjoyed it a little more. Guess I understood it a little better since I am older?

Yay for 4K!

Julien Sorel is my rôle model. The Red and the Black is superbly witty; it isn't terribly action-packed; and its cynical take on gawd and religion offends many.

Permaybehaps The Charterhouse of Parma? It's still witty, but because it's more about the vigor and passion of Napoleonic France, it might not leave you quite so cold.

Happy Friday.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/341193

>171 PaulCranswick: Congrats!

>171 PaulCranswick: Wow!

>172 FAMeulstee: Let's see then, Anita, because I would like to visit the Netherlands fairly quickly after my return to the UK.

>173 Kristelh: Thanks Kristel - a fair number of those posts have been by you!

>174 Caroline_McElwee: I recall reading The Hedgehog and the Fox, Caroline which in essence was all about Tolstoy's concept of history and mainly how he portrayed it in War and Peace so clearly Isaiah Berlin considered it more than a novel!

>175 hredwards: I think that is a good point Harold - I believe that the time in our lives we read certain books and our disposition when we are doing so will be an indicator of whether we will appreciate them.

>176 richardderus: Thanks RD. You are the only other group member to hit 8,000 posts in a year three times.

The Red and the Black didn't leave me cold, RD - it very nearly made my list. I read it in 1997 and it is due a re-read. I wanted to reassess it; Kristel is the one who inexplicably found it boring. The Charterhouse of Parma is a good tip - I will look to add that one soon. Used to have it many moons ago in the UK.

>177 SilverWolf28: Thanks Silver!

>178 figsfromthistle: Thank you Anita x

>179 ArlieS: And you, Arlie xx

Huff, puff, can hardly keep up. So many good books mentioned on your thread. Hope all is well with your family arriving at last.

Congratulations on 4000 posts!

I remember 2 W&P dramatizations, one with Audrey Hepburn (1956) and the Russian production of the 1960s, the latter more for the fact that my date was into me enough to spring for the two tickets, not that the movies weren't grand in themselves.

>184 avatiakh: Always a pleasure to see you here Kerry.
Yasmyne has booked her ticket and will be here on Tuesday!

Hani is suffering badly from stress induced hypertension - her blood pressure has been as high as 205/110 and is consistently at 160 plus over 90 plus and I am very worried about her. She is going onto medication and the doctor wants to see her below 140 before her lets her fly. I have asked Kyran to go and stay with her a while.

>185 quondame: Made me smile, Susan. I remember the pretty poor Fort Apache, the Bronx starring Paul Newman for a similar reason - though I was buying the tickets! My first school sweetheart moved schools and we lost touch - when her mum fell sick we got reacquainted and dated. I wasn't the beefcake I think she was looking for and she went on to make a disastrous marriage to an Italian chap she met on a cruise ship. Her late mother was disappointed - I think she liked me more than her daughter did!

4000, WOW, amazing!

Paul, Hani's, B.P. readings are most concerning. Sure hope the medication works well and fast.

>186 PaulCranswick: Sending healing vibes to Hani. I hope she gets that blood pressure under control soon! BP meds should help. I recently had a scare of high blood pressure after a lifetime of low blood pressure, but mine was due to a medication I started taking. When I stopped it, it went down again.

>186 PaulCranswick: That's very scary...she needs the meds for sure! I'm sure it's stress, is this a doc who would give her some valium? This is a real problem!

>182 PaulCranswick: I see...I conflated the two responses, sorry. I do think you'll really enjoy Charterhouse when its turn comes.

8,000! Wow!!

>188 mdoris: I don't want her on that type of medication as it tends towards long term dependancy. I manage my own BP very carefully using deep breathing exercises, plenty of garlic in my diet, and I take olive leaf extract and apple cider vinegar gummies religiously but I don't have Hani's propensity to stress induced issues. I want her home actually so I can take care of her.

Thanks for being such a regular and supportive visitor, Mary xx

>189 Storeetllr: Lovely to see you Mary. I always pass on the kind messages to Hani who appreciates them very much. I am hoping it will prove a temporary issue for her too.

Thinking of you Paul and Hani too. Sounds like you have some very good management strategies. Meditation is very effective as well. Of course you want her home as soon as possible. xx

>190 richardderus: Funnily enough RD, I suggested she ask for valium to get her through the stress spike, but I'm pretty sure that she did not speak up. To be honest I don't know her doctor in Sheffield as I am still registered with my mum's doctor.

Your halcyon posting years were 2012-4 |:
2012 : 8,852 posts
2013 : 8,647 posts
2014 : 8,747 posts

Those numbers would have seen you comfortably at the top all years since 2017.

>192 mdoris: Indeed, Mary. She needs to be taken care of and spoiled a little bit. I told her yesterday that after this no more going off on her own to the UK alone.

Wordle 300 4/6

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Par for the course but this is a minefield with lots of possibles if they fall for you as they did for me!

>191 PaulCranswick: Hi - tried to find out what BP medication Bill Clinton was on, but no new information (Aspirin and Beta blockers!)
except that Cholesterol was also reduced...as well as stress.

Hani may decide that dependence on a safe dose of a BP medication may be a fair exchange to not sticking around longer, No?
Valium or other not so strong anti-depressant would also be a good choice esp. before plane flights...sure hope that Malaysia
will allow you to accompany her to be with her Mother!

>156 PaulCranswick: You better believe it. Like I always told my kids, "You can never have too many books or too much money!"

>186 PaulCranswick: That is not good. I hope the doctor's can get Hani's BP under control soon!

How frustrating for Hani. I do hope she can get some relief for her anxiety and blood pressure so she can get back to you which is probably the best medicine of all. Such a hard time for her and so far away.

And checking my ratings; I actually gave The Red and Black 4 stars and Charterhouse of Parma 3 stars. I mostly don’t appreciate Stendhal I think but I did find that Red and Black better. Interesting, the author considered himself a scientist of love.

>196 m.belljackson: If it was a binary choice between Hani and medication or no medication & no Hani then the medication is welcome!

I am sure that they would give her some valium to ease her anxieties but they will not offer it.

>197 alcottacre: And conversely Juana whilst there are so many books, I will never have enough money!

\\\

>198 Kristelh: She loves being in the UK and this has meant that she has spent too much time away from me recently but the lack of benefit to this has been exposed by the COVID and now the blood pressure.

I was a little surprised at your comment on Stendahl earlier because I thought that I had seen a less than scathing assessment of it from you before!

>199 PaulCranswick: True!

>201 alcottacre: I want to start Moon and Sixpence tomorrow if that is convenient, Stasia?

>186 PaulCranswick: That is worrysome, Paul. I hope the meds bring Hani's BP down, so she can travel.
Happy for you that Yasmyne will be on her way soon.

Ahem, some more additions whilst I still have chance to do so.

315. Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
316. Prep by Curtis Sittenfield
317. The Years by Virginia Woolf
318. Darkness Visible by William Golding
319. The Last Family in England by Matt Haig
320. Seasons of Purgatory by Shahriar Mandanipour
321. Painting Time by Maylis de Kerangal
322. Naked Earth by Eileen Chang
323. Child of God by Cormac McCarthy\
324. River by Esther Kinsky
325. Stet by Diana Athill
326. Animal by Lisa Tadeo
327. The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm
328. Sonnets by William Shakespeare
329. The Italian by Ann Radcliffe
330. Flamingo by Rachel Elliott

>203 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita. She needs to get home soon. x

>204 PaulCranswick: I liked Esther Kinsky's Grove when I read it for an online bookgroup, so ordered River, but haven't read it yet. Hope your mention might get me to go pick it up. If I can remember where I put it!

>206 charl08: There is something about those Fitzcarraldo editions that attracts me as a moth to a flame.

>186 PaulCranswick: Sorry to hear about Hani's health delaying her travel. I'm sure having Kyran nearby will help Paul,

Child of God is one of my least favorite books ever!

>204 PaulCranswick: The Italian! Good gravy, PC, are you going Gothickall on us? Black nailpaint and eyeshadow coming soon?

Turn back! While there is still time, turn back or risk your immortal Soul!

>195 PaulCranswick: My combination of right-place letters S_A_E meant it took me all 6 to get there, and damned grateful to get it at all. "Phew" indeed.

>193 PaulCranswick: Wow! Those were some busy threads. I don't know that I could keep up that pace anymore. There's quite a difference in one's sixties compared to the fifties.

>208 Caroline_McElwee: Kyran, will give me peace of mind too Caroline as I want to have someone with her especially at the moment.

>209 ursula: I have been watching for that book appearing in the stores here, Ursula - I am in the mood for some McCarthy!

>210 richardderus: Hahaha I needed to add it as it was on very special offer. Wouldn't have added it at full price. I did go to the store in hope of finding The Charterhouse of Parma but it wasn't in stock.

I don't like the wordle games that leave too many options at the end. When I surveyed my position after three guesses I realised that there were four options with three guesses to go but fortunately I got it with my first try.

They were great days for me RD when you and I would skate through January and February with a welter of posts.

Wordle 301 3/6

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Not shabby today

Yesterday's additions nicely at home on Hani's dining table!

>202 PaulCranswick: You will need to go ahead without me, Paul. I am not going to get it read in April. I have it down to read in May, the Greene in June, and Bleak House in July. Sorry, but I did not realize you were intent on reading them all this month. We shall just have to compare notes afterwards :)

>204 PaulCranswick: Nice, Juan! Better stockpile while you can.

>214 PaulCranswick: Lovely.

>215 alcottacre: Ok Juana will do :(

I have a soft spot for the Fitzcarraldo books with their plain blue fiction and plain white non fiction covers - I also love the versions of McCarthy's books that I have. And the Alma Classics have great covers too (Shakespeare's Sonnets and The Italian are Almas).

>145 PaulCranswick: I love Golding, but instead of rereading Lord of the
Flies, I recommend you read (if you haven't already read these), The Inheritors, Pincher Martin or The Rites of Passage trilogy, all of which I loved. I would like to reread The Spire soon, but although I remember liking it, I read it so long ago I can't remember much about it.

Hi Paul, hope Hana's health improves and she can travel soon.

>217 arubabookwoman: I plan to read/reread William Golding from October in my next set of six authors to reappraise, Deborah. Golding and Cormac McCarthy are on that list and I am thinking Cather, Woolf, Faulkner, and Priestley.

>218 banjo123: She needs more rest and less stress, Rhonda and hopefully she will get some soon.

I have a guilty secret to announce as I know you will keep my secret.

I was back in the bookstore from work and brought my book additions in the space of 7 days to a ridiculous 66. I wonder if this is a recognisable illness at this point. Here were today's 18 additions, although to be fair two of them are books I have read and lost; those two first:

331. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (replacement as someone borrowed it and failed to return it)
332. Suttree by Cormac McCarthy (I closed the book and left it on the train station platform accidentally)

also

333 Dark Avenues by Ivan Bunin
334 The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
335 The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
336 Wild Palms by William Faulkner
337 Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez
338 The Mother by Maxim Gorky
339 Cathedral by Ben Hopkins
340 Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence
341 The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
342 The Wall by Jean-Paul Sartre
343 Desiree by Annemarie Selinko
344 In America by Susan Sontag
345 Smoke by Ivan Turgenev
346 Virgin Soil by Ivan Turgenev
347 The Castle of Otranto by Hugh Walpole
348 The Attack on the Mill by Emile Zola

>142 PaulCranswick: That is a good list. I've had Don Quixote on my list forever but don't think I could commit to it next month unfortunately. On the other hand I've had War and Peace on my bookshelf for awhile now and should get around to reading it so I might join you on that one. Also, if I pick up a copy of The Brothers Karamazov between now and then I would be up to finishing that one as well.

>145 PaulCranswick: I just picked up a copy of Heart of Darkness a week ago myself so I'll be looking out for when you attempt that one. Otherwise I've only read The Great Gatsby and Lord of the Flies from that list and honestly I don't remember being completely enthralled by them either. I'm glad I read them and they were decent but definitely not at the top of any of my lists.

>220 PaulCranswick: Wow, you are really packing them in before Hani arrives!

>220 PaulCranswick: Oh yes, definitely a recognisable if rare illness Paul. I have probably only bought on that scale one year, but for no other reason than I live in a small apartment which is full to bursting, and I'm not good at letting books go.

>221 WhiteRaven.17: Nice to see you here Kro. I hope that you'll be able to join me for the stuff that suits you.

>222 alcottacre: I'm doing my best to live up to my name, Stasia!

>223 Caroline_McElwee: It is as if I am trying to seize any possible opportunity to get myself to the bookstore!

>220 PaulCranswick:, I’ve had Desiree on my shelf for a very long time. I really need to get that one read.
The Cathedral book, did you want that one or were you trying for The Cathedral by Oles Honchar?

Antiwordle #69
2 guesses

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I think this is so hard because we see words.

And at least I redeemed myself from yesterdays bomb. Wordle 301 4/6

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Happy Weekend, Paul. I hope all is well there. Yep, you are a major book hoarder that is for sure, but of course that is not necessarily a bad thing. 😁

>226 Kristelh: I got the one I wanted with that one - it was based on a really positive review in the group - I can't remember without checking who had been enthusiastic about it.

>227 Kristelh: That is spectacularly good/bad getting that one in two.

Antiwordle #69
2 guesses

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I think this is so hard because we see words.

But I made up for yesterday’s bomb. Wordle 301 4/6

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>228 msf59: I don't see me getting a cure anytime soon.

>230 Kristelh: That is a bit of an echo, Kristel, but I still think it is amazing you got that one in two while supposedly trying not to! xxx

As usual, you’ve snuck in quite a haul, there!

>223 Caroline_McElwee: I'm on target for over a thousand books this year again, Jim.

>234 PaulCranswick: No, actually I've never got that high in one year Paul. 450 857 in 2014 is probably my highest. I had inherited a little money and started ordering every book I ever wanted, irrespective of where I was going to put them all! I know I will never have time to read all the books I already own, and I'm a rereader!

Btw, how did Kyran do with your list of recommendations? Are your three big readers. Children of readers either become big readers, or resist books I've noticed.

>236 PaulCranswick: 857 isn't shabby at all, Caroline!
As far as I know Kyran is still struggling along with A Farewell to Arms. He likes audio books but heavy philosophical texts normally - he will read Christopher Hitchens for light relief!
Yasmyne likes to read and favours quite modern fiction. Belle used to be quite the reader but I now need to encourage her to pick up a book.

>234 PaulCranswick: "over 1000 books this year" WOWZERS!

>237 mdoris: At 348 books already, Mary, in 106 days I am on target for 1,198 books this year.

Wordle 302 5/6

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Not desperately bad considering a first guess wipe out.

>231 PaulCranswick: I don't see me getting a cure anytime soon.

If ever! (unless, of course, Hani puts her foot down!)

Happy whatever, Juan!

>240 alcottacre: I'm sure that she'll let me away with it, Juana, if I am able to make it my only vice!

I left a photo for you on Facebook

>242 RBeffa: I will go and try and access it, Ron, as I have not accessed it for a while.

ETA Miraculously, it opened first time and that is a good statue - the trees looked like his arms coming up!

>243 PaulCranswick: success! I must have subconsciously framed it that way caused I was surprised at the effect.

>244 RBeffa: Hahaha whatever it was, it worked buddy!

>241 PaulCranswick: Yep, Kerry puts up with my hobbies with good grace too.

>246 alcottacre: I find Hani displays far more good grace the longer she remains in ignorance, Stasia!

Took too many, too many possibilities
Wordle 302 6/6

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>214 PaulCranswick: Sadly only a white square. I tried logging off and on again, which sometimes solves the problem, but no joy.

How is Hani doing today Paul?

>248 Kristelh: At least once you made it to five you were sure to get home!

>249 Caroline_McElwee: Caroline I will reload it when my keyboard stops playing up. Hope it helps you to see the books!

Hani is struggling still with the BP but has stabilised at least. Was out getting fresh air in the countryside outside Sheffield when I called her earlier.

Just stoping by to say hello.

>252 witchyrichy: That is lovely Karen, thank you.xx Have a lovely day!

Wordle 303 6/6

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Almost a disaster - nearly lost for the first time.\\

>254 PaulCranswick: I'm not there yet, obvs, but 302 was a "Phew" day for me and was I glad to see it!

>255 richardderus: My first pick drawing a blank didn't help of course and with two guesses left I thought I was toast.

>251 PaulCranswick: I sympathize with Hani. I recently started BP medicine. Not happy about it. Trying to work on diet and exercise. I hope Hani improves enough to fly.

>257 justchris: Thanks Chris. That is tough! I manage my own BP very carefully and self test three times a week - I drink plenty of water with filtered for lower mineral content, I take olive leaf extract, garlic and apple cider vinegar supplements and all conspire to keep any tendency to raise BP under control.

Hani will be OK soon God willing.

>247 PaulCranswick: I completely understand that!

>259 alcottacre: Observations of womankind are not usually something I will venture unless by an exposition of the obvious

>142 PaulCranswick: I received a copy of Lost Illusions today, Paul, so I will join you in that one for sure.

>261 alcottacre: I will slightly amend my intended books but Lost Illusions will still be there. Put something on your thread.