PAUL C IN 23 (24)

This is the Howard's End featured in the BBC Adaptation - it is up for sale apparently:

The Opening Words

For the final month of the British Author Challenge this year, I am reading Howard's End by E.M. Forster.



"One may as well begin with Helen's letters to her sister.
Howard's End
Tuesday

Darling Meg,

It isn't going to be what we expected. It is old and little, and altogether delightful - red brick. We can scarcely pack in as it is, and the dear knows what will happen when Paul (younger son) arrives tomorrow"....

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

BOOKS COMPLETED - Q1

January
1. The King's Fool by Mahi Binebine (2017) 125 pp Fiction / ANC / Morocco
2. The Golden Ass by Apuleius (c 170) 216 pp Fiction / ANC / Tunisia / 1001
3. Driftnet by Lin Anderson (2003) 262 pp Thriller / Rhona MacLeod 1
4. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (1954) 292 pp Fiction / BAC
5. Free : Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi (2021) 310 pp Non-Fiction / NF Challenge
6. The Bridges of Constantine by Ahlem Mosteghanemi (1993) 305 pp Fiction / ANC / Algeria
7. Bloodlines by Fred D'Aguiar (2000) 161 pp Poetry / BAC
8. Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan (1958) 372 pp Fiction / 1001
9. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (2008) 300 pp Fiction / AAC
10. U.A. Fanthorpe : Selected Poems by U.A. Fanthorpe (2013) 153 pp Poetry
11. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (2006) 245 pp Fiction / ANC / Libya
12. Foundation : The History of England Volume 1 by Peter Ackroyd (2011) 462 pp Non-Fiction
13. Closed Circles by Viveca Sten (2009) 451 pp Thriller / Sandhamn 2
14. The Albemarle Book of Modern Verse edited by FES Finn (1961) 181 pp Poetry
15. Brooklyn Heights by Miral al-Tahawy (2012) 220 pp Fiction / ANC / Egypt
16. The Midnight Bell by Patrick Hamilton (1929) 221 pp Fiction
17. The Siege of Pleasure by Patrick Hamilton (1932) 118 pp Fiction
18. The Plains of Cement by Patrick Hamilton (1934) 188 pp Fiction
19. The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov by Vladimir Nabokov (1995) 663 pp Fiction / Short Stories
20. The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray (2019) 267 pp Non-Fiction
21. The Death of Murat Idrissi by Tommy Wieringa (2017) 102 pp Fiction
22. Foster by Claire Keegan (2010) 88 pp Fiction

February
23. Torch by Lin Anderson (2004) 230 pp Thriller / Rhona MacLeod 2
24. Things I Don't Want to Know by Deborah Levy (2003) 163 pp Non-Fiction
25. The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa (2004) 180 pp Fiction / ANC / Angola
26. Dearly by Margaret Atwood (2020) 122 pp Poetry
27. The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante (2002) 188 pp Fiction
28. The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy (2018) 187 pp Non-Fiction
29. The Lost Art of Sinking by Naomi Booth (2015) 86 pp Fiction / BAC
30. Poetry of the Thirties edited by Robin Skelton (1964) 287 pp Poetry
31. The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason (2017) 338 pp Thriller / Scandi
32. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig (2006) 345 pp Fiction
33. The History of England Volume II : Tudors by Peter Ackroyd (2012) 471 pp Non-Fiction
34. Male Tears by Benjamin Myers (2021) 264 pp Fiction / Short Stories
35. Woman of the Ashes by Mia Couto (2015) 254 pp Fiction / ANC / Mozambique
36. Real Estate by Deborah Levy (2021) 297 pp Non-Fiction
37. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (1971) 569 pp Fiction / 1001 Books / Pulitzer

March
38. Deadly Code by Lin Anderson (2005) 261 pp Thriller / Rhona MacLeod 3
39. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2003) 307 pp Fiction / ANC / Nigeria
40. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (1956) 308 pp Non-Fiction / Memoirs
41. What Goes On : Selected and New Poems 1995-2009 by Stephen Dunn (2009) 195 pp Poetry / AAC
42. I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel (2022) 203 pp Fiction
43. Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey (2006) 46 pp Poetry / AAC

BOOKS COMPLETED - Q2

April
44. Anne Boleyn : 500 Years of Lies by Hayley Nolan (2019) 282 pp Non-Fiction / BAC
45. Hotel of the Saints by Ursula Hegi (2001) 170 pp Fiction / AAC
46. Dark Flight by Lin Anderson (2007) 392 pp Thiller
47. Boulder by Eva Baltasar (2020) 105 pp Fiction / Spain
48. Moscow by Nick Carter (1970) 155 pp Thriller
49. Thirteen Months of Sunrise by Rania Mamoun Short Stories / ANC / Sudan
50. The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot (1922) 32 pp Poetry
51. Felicity : Poems by Mary Oliver (2014) 81 pp Poetry
52. Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin (2023) 238 pp Fiction / Vietnam
53. Justice on Trial : Radical Solutions for a System at Breaking Point by Chris Daw (2020) 264 pp Non-Fiction
54. The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott (1966) 488 pp Fiction
55. Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka (2010) 451 pp Thriller / Japan

May
56. Taste : My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (2021) 299 pp Non-Fiction
57. Tell Me the Truth About Life curated by Cerys Matthews (2019) 177 pp Poetry
58. Those Feet : An Intimate History of English Football by David Winner (2005) 268 pp Non-Fiction
59. The Arctic : Poems by Don Paterson (2022) 82 pp Poetry
60. Suffer the Little Children by Donna Leon (2007) 342 pp Thiller
61. The Missing Months by Lachlan MacKinnon (2022) 63 pp Poetry

June
62. Easy Kill by Lin Anderson (2008) 390 pp Thriller
63. Civil War : The History of England Volume III by Peter Ackroyd (2014) 470 pp Non-Fiction
64. Ruth Pitter : Collected Poems by Ruth Pitter (1996) 299 pp Poetry
65. Dance of the Jakaranda by Peter Kimani (2017) 350 pp Fiction / ANC / Kenya
66. England's Green by Zaffar Kunial (2022) 70 pp Poetry
67. Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (2020) 302 pp Fiction / Bulgaria
68. The Illustrated Woman by Helen Mort (2022) 82 pp Poetry
69. Oxblood by Tom Benn (2022) 245 pp Fiction
70. The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt (2011) 263 PP Non-Fiction
71. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (2005) 309 pp Fiction
72. The Breast by Philip Roth (1972) 74 pp Fiction 1001 Books
73. Heritage by Miguel Bonnefoy (2020) 149 pp Fiction / Venezuela
74. Doctor Who : The Androids of Tara (1978) 143 pp SF / BAC
75. Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho (1998) 210 pp Fiction /1001 books / Brazil
76. Collected Later Poems by Anthony Hecht (2003) 238 pp Poetry
77. Zazie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau (1959) 177 pp Fiction / France
78. Quiet by Victoria Adukwei Bulley (2022) 81 pp Poetry / ANC / Ghana
79. Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra (2006) 74 pp Fiction / Chile
80. Pyre by Perumal Murugam (2013) 194 pp Fiction / India
81. Small Country by Gael Faye (2016) 183 pp Fiction / ANC / Burundi
82. Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex by Oksana Zabuzhko (1996) 161 pp Fiction / Ukraine

BOOKS COMPLETED - Q3

July
83. Lenin on the Train by Catherine Merridale (2016) 291 pp Non-Fiction / Reading through time
84. Selected Poems by W.H. Auden (1979) 319 pp Poetry
85. Paradais by Fernanda Melchior (2022) 118 pp Fiction / Mexico
86. Final Cut by Lin Anderson (2009) 344 pp Thriller
87. John Heath-Stubbs : Selected Poems by John Heath-Stubbs (1990) 144 pp Poetry
88. Kingdom of Characters by Jing Tsu (2022) 280 pp Non Fiction / Taiwan
89. Cemetery Lake by Paul Cleave (2008) 347 pp Thriller / New Zealand
90. Fly Away, Peter by David Malouf (1982) 142 pp Fiction / Australia
91. East of Eden by John Steinbeck (1952) 602 pp Fiction / 1001 Books
92. Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy (1955) 226 pp Non-Fiction / AAC

August
93. Trespasses by Louise Kennedy (2022) 309 pp Fiction
94. August 1914 by Bruno Cabanes (2014) 196 pp Non-Fiction
95. The Shameful State by Sony Labou Tansi (1981) 116 pp Fiction / ANC / DRC
96. Told by Starlight in Chad by Joseph Brahim Seid (2007) 71 pp Fiction / ANC / Chad
97. The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng (2023) 304 pp Fiction / Malaysia
98. Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees by Sarah F Wakefield (1863) 87 pp Non-Fiction
99. Winchelsea by Alex Preston (2022) 334 pp Fiction / BAC
100. Blue White Red by Alain Mabanckou (1998) 147 pp Fiction / ANC / Congo
101. The Trees by Percival Everett (2021) 308 pp Fiction / AAC
102. Bound to Violence by Yambo Ouologuem (1968) 182 pp Fiction / ANC / Mali
103. The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah (2018) 438pp Fiction
104. Standing Heavy by Gauz (2014) 167 pp Fiction / ANC / Ivory Coast
105. So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba (1979) 95 pp Fiction / ANC / Senegal
106. The Following Story by Cees Nooteboom (1991) 98 pp Fiction
107. Requiem for a Wren by Nevil Shute (1955) 250 pp Fiction
108. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell (2022) 436 pp Fiction

September
109. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara (2020) 344 pp Fiction
110. Assembly by Natasha Brown (2021) 100 pp Fiction
111. The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (2021) 356 pp Thriller /BAC /Cyprus
112. Careless by Kirsty Capes (2021) 317 pp Fiction
113. The Cry of Winnie Mandela by Njabulo Ndebele (2004) 146 pp ANC / South Africa
114. In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B Hughes (1947) 222 pp Thriller / AAC
115. The Furrows by Namwali Serpell (2022) 266 pp Fiction / ANC / Zambia
116. Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (2023) 309 pp Fiction
117. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (2020) 419 pp Fiction
118. So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan (2023) 47 pp Fiction
119. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo (2016) 163 pp Fiction / South Korea
120. The Lonely Skier by Hammond Innes (1947) 176 pp Thriller
121. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (2023) 715 pp Fiction ANC / Ethiopia
122. Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry (2023) 261 pp Fiction
123. Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris (2023) 278 pp Fiction / Bosnia
124. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (2013) 290 pp Fiction ANC/ Zimbabwe
125. Our Town by Thornton Wilder (1938) 114 pp Drama
126. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (2023) 309 pp Fiction

Books Completed Q4

October
127. Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein (2023) 189 pp Fiction
128. The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb (1953) 246 pp Thriller
129. New Selected Poems by Philip Levine (1991) 292 pp Poetry
130. The End of Everything by Katie Mack (2020) 210 pp Non-Fiction
131. The Left-Handed Woman by Peter Handke (1976) 67 pp Fiction / Austria
132. Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga (2012) 250 pp Fiction / ANC / Rwanda
133. Luck is the Hook by Imtiaz Dharker (2018) 122 pp Poetry / Pakistan
134. Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates (1992) 154 pp Fiction / 1001
135. The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths (2011) 353 pp Thriller
136. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (2023) 643 pp Fiction
137. The Conquest of Plassans by Emile Zola (1874) 302 pp Fiction 150Y Challenge 1/150
138. The Dreadful Monster and its Poor Relations by Julian Hoppit (2021) 223 pp Non-Fiction
139. The Master of Ballantrae by RL Stevenson (1889) 228 pp Fiction 150Y Challenge 2/150
140. The Napoleon of Notting Hill by GK Chesterton (1904) 192 pp Fiction 150Y Challenge 3/150

November
141. The Heavens May Fall by Unity Dow (2006) 191 pp Thriller / ANC / Botswana
142. The Life of a Useless Man by Maxim Gorky (1908) 284 pp Fiction 150 Y Challenge 4/150
143. Western Lane by Chetna Maroo (2023) 161 pp Fiction
144. The Perfect Nine by Ngugi Wa Thiongo (2018) 227 pp Poetry ANC
145. Pearl translated by Gawain Poet (1390) 103 pp Poetry BAC
146. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (2001) 401 pp Fiction 150 Y Challenge 5/150
147. The Book of Paradise by Itzik Manger (1937) Fiction / Poland / 150 Y Challenge 6/150
148. Politics on the Edge by Rory Stewart (2023) 431 pp Non-Fiction
149. Something Fresh by P.G. Wodehouse (1915) 275 pp Fiction / 150 Y Challenge 7/150
150. Around the World in 80 Books by David Damrosch (2021) 443 pp Non-Fiction

December
151. By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah (2001) 245 pp Fiction / ANC / Tanzania
152. There Was a Country by Chinua Achebe (2012) 265 pp Non-Fiction / ANC
153. Howard's End by EM Forster (1910) 343 pp Fiction /1001/ 150Y Challenge 8/150
154. The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Saenz (2017) 449 pp Fiction / AAC
155. The North Ship by Philip Larkin (1945) 40 pp Poetry / 150Y Challenge 9/150
156. Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi (1994) 195 pp Fiction / 1001 / 150Y Challenge 10/150
157. The Devil in the Flesh by Raymond Radiguet (1923) 140 pp Fiction / 1001 / 150Y Challenge 11/150
158. So Distant From My Life by Monique Ilboudo (2018) 123 pp Fiction/ANC/Burkina Faso/150Y Challenge 12/150
159. The Darling Buds of May by H.E. Bates (1958) 137 pp Fiction / 150Y Challenge 13/150
160. The Broken House by Horst Kruger (1966) 171pp Non-Fiction / 150Y Challenge 14/150

African Reading Challenge 2023



Plans

January - NORTH AFRICA https://www.librarything.com/topic/347131 read 5
February - LUSOPHONE LIT https://www.librarything.com/topic/348039 read 2
March - ADICHIE or EMECHETA https://www.librarything.com/topic/348955#n8081025 read 1
April - THE HORN OF AFRICA https://www.librarything.com/topic/349799 read 1
May - AFRICAN NOBEL WINNERS https://www.librarything.com/topic/350564 Read 1
June - EAST AFRICA - https://www.librarything.com/topic/351192 Read 3
July - ACHEBE or Okri https://www.librarything.com/topic/351931 Read 1
August - FRANCOPHONE AFRICA https://www.librarything.com/topic/352728#n8220656 Read 6
September - SOUTHERN AFRICA https://www.librarything.com/topic/353344 READ 3
October - MUKASONGA / NGUGI WA THIONG'O https://www.librarything.com/topic/354018 READ 2
November - AFRICAN THRILLERS / CRIME WRITERS https://www.librarything.com/topic/354901 READ 1
December - WEST AFRICA https://www.librarything.com/topic/355623 read 2

Total : 28

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE



January - Rosemary Sutcliff & Fred D'Aguiar Eagle of the Ninth by Sutcliff, Bloodlines by D'Aguiar
February - Novellas & Short Stories - The Lost Art of Sinking by Booth, Male Tears by Myers
March - Vita Sackville-West & Tariq Ali
April - British Queens - Anne Boleyn : 500 Years of Lies by Hayley Nolan
May - RF Delderfield & Jan Morris
June - Time Travel - Doctor Who : The Androids of Tara by David Fisher
July - Nadifa Mohamed & Tom Holt
August - Seafaring Stories - Winchelsea by Alex Preston
September - Campus Books - The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
October -
November - Pre-Elizabethan - Pearl by Gawain Poet; translated by Simon Armitage
December - E.M. Forster & Malorie Blackman - Howard's End

AMERICAN AUTHOR CHALLENGE



January - YA Books - Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
February - Richard Powers
March - Poetry - What Goes On : Selected and New Poems by Stephen Dunn
April - Ursula Hegi - Hotel of the Saints
May -
June - Wildcard - No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
July - American Presidents - Profiles in Courage by John F Kennedy
August - Percival Everett - The Trees
September - Crime Queens - In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B Hughes
October -
November - Canadian Authors
December - Benjamin Alire Saenz - The Inexplicable Logic of My Life

150 YEARS OF BOOKS

150 years; 150 books; 150 authors; 15 months

Done: 1874, 1889, 1904, 1908, 1910, 1915, 1923, 1937, 1945, 1994, 2001, 2018

AROUND THE WORLD IN BOOKS IN 2023

Countries : 58 (25 December 2023)


Create Your Own Visited Countries Map

BOOK STATS

Starting Stats of the Year :

Present TBR : 5,679 books
Pages to Read : 1,943,264
Average Book Length : 342.18

Books Read 149 (20 Nov 23)
Pages : 36,386
Pages per day : 112.30
Average Book Length : 244.20 pages
Female Authors : 62
Male Authors : 84
Various : 3
Countries Read : 56 (UK, Morocco, Tunisia, Albania, Algeria, Guyana, Ireland, USA. Libya, Sweden, Egypt, Russia, Netherlands, Angola, Canada, Italy, Iceland, Mozambique, Nigeria, Spain, Sudan, Vietnam, Japan, Kenya, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Brazil, France, Ghana, Chile, India, Burundi, Ukraine, Mexico, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, DRC, Chad, Malaysia, Congo, Senegal, Cote D'Ivoire, Mali, Cyprus, South Africa, Zambia, South Korea, Ethiopia, Bosnia, Zimbabwe, Austria, Rwanda, Pakistan, Botswana, Poland)

Fiction : 79
Thriller : 18
Non-Fiction : 22
Sci-Fi/Fantasy : 1
Poetry : 23
Short Stories : 5
Drama : 1

1001 Books First Edition
Read 9 (336)

Nobel Winners
Read : (75)

Booker Winners
Read : (38)

Pulitzer Fiction Prize
Read 1 : (21)

Women's Prize
Read : 1 (8)

Books Added in 2023

442 (20 Nov 2023)

Books Read in 2023

149 (20 Nov 2023)

Books Culled in 2023

438 (20 Nov 2023)

Revised TBR : 5,534

PIP

Welcome to the 24th thread of 2023.

Happy new one, Paul!

Happy new one!

>1 PaulCranswick: If I had money, would buy it in a heartbeat…

Happy new thread Paul!

So has a better property than Howard's End caught your fancy?

>15 bell7: Thank you, Mary. Well done on being first.

>16 drneutron: Thanks, Jim. I would too, let me go and see exactly where it is and how much is it. Pretty sure that I cannot afford it either!

>17 quondame: Hahaha Susan - I'm not sure about a better house but I am still looking after coming pretty close recently.

Thanks for being so constant here in 2023.

Happy new thread!

As an update on >1 PaulCranswick: & >16 drneutron:

It seems that the 9 bedroom cottage (Peppard Cottage) is in Oxfordshire. It dates back to the 14th Century and was advertised for sale at $5 million.

>20 amanda4242: Thank you, Amanda.

Happy new thread Paul!

>13 PaulCranswick: Very cute photo of Nami - though do warn her about that very toothy monster sneaking up on her.

>21 PaulCranswick: A bit out of my price range, unfortunately.

>1 PaulCranswick: Paul, if we all pulled together money from our piggy banks do you think the group could purchase this lovely home?

>24 Whisper1: But do you think it has room for all our books?

>25 humouress:...We could always add additions to the "cottage."

>26 Whisper1: Alright! It's a plan, then; let's do it!

I'll start counting my change.

>23 humouress: Hahaha she has a few months enjoying looking like Steptoe! Me too at GBP3,500,000, Nina.

>24 Whisper1: Well I could stump up the deposit probably, Linda, and my brother could help all of us get a loan but paying it off may be a tad difficult!

>25 humouress: That is a good point because Forster makes a point on the first page of his novel about the wider family being crammed into the home!

>26 Whisper1: Well there is plenty of land around about it but planning permission in the UK on listed house like that one must be is no east matter. A separate annexe / library possibly.

>27 humouress: Blackwell's bookshop would be a short drive away!!!

>28 Whisper1: Let's check back in later to see how much we can stump up to buy "Howard's End"!

THE 2024 WAR ROOM



Conflict has marked human relationship ever since Adam & Eve had a contretemps regarding the sharing of a shiny apple.

Next year in lieu of my "normal" geographically based challenges I am going to delve into the subject of war. These will be the themes each month.

JANUARY - The Ancients (Greeks, Romans etc)
FEBRUARY - The American War of Independence
MARCH - The War of the Roses
APRIL - Wars of Religion
MAY - The Napoleonic Wars
JUNE - The English Civil War
JULY - Colonial Wars
AUGUST - World War Two
SEPTEMBER - The American Civil War
OCTOBER - American Follies (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Gulf Wars)
NOVEMBER - World War One
DECEMBER - The Spanish Civil War
WILDCARD - Pick your own fight!

>32 PaulCranswick: So excited! I've already started making a list of potential reads!

Happy new thread, Paul!

The house in your topper is beautiful, sadly not affordable for us either ;-)

Happy new thread, Paul!
>1 PaulCranswick: Unfortunately the house is out of the question for me, my garden shears are broken...
>13 PaulCranswick: How cute - thank you for sharing!

>33 amanda4242: I went one better, Amanda, and added a few potential reads too. Including my Mary Renault and Rosemary Sutcliff (will detail them later).

>34 FAMeulstee: At least it is something we will mostly all have in common.

>35 SirThomas: Hahaha I love that, Thomas. If you buy the house, I'll gladly chip in with the garden shears.

Monday additions

489. Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
490. When We Were Warriors by Emma Carroll
491. Tamar by Mal Peet
492. The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault
493. The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff

I think themes can be detected there!
I don't know how many times I have bought the first Famous Five book over the years.

>1 PaulCranswick: I like the house. Has quite a nice charm.

Happy new thread, Paul

Greetings Paul on your new and maybe second to last thread of 2023.
I really enjoyed Howard’s End as I sure you will as well.
Looking forward to the 2024 war challenge. I’ve been working on my list of potential reads as well. I think I will try for mostly if not all fiction.
Next year I also am going to try to get more Booker and Pulitzer reads off my lists.

Hope you are feeling better.

Kristel

>39 figsfromthistle: It is the sort of house you'd set a novel in, isn't it, Anita?

>40 Kristelh: Thanks Kristel. I want to try to read as many non-fiction as fiction next year and I am looking forward to it immensely.

Happy new thread, Paul. So, is this the month you make *the move*, for good?

>42 jessibud2: It is going to be nip and tuck, Shelley. I will be sharing my plans soonest with my pals here as a priority. xx

Happy new thread, Paul! I hope your sore throat has abated. I read Howard's End back in 2011 -- I remember that I enjoyed it, but not much else.

>28 Whisper1: I'll check between my couch cushions for spare coins.

>44 foggidawn: There are 419 group members Foggi so for $11,933.17 each the place can belong to the 75ers~!

Throat is still a bit tight when swallowing but I did manage a full day of work.

>1 PaulCranswick: >44 foggidawn: Oh dear. I'm afraid that I don't have the spare $11,933.17 for my share of the cottage. What a lovely idea though!

>13 PaulCranswick: Such a complete darling! Growing up so fast!!!

Be well and prosper, Paul!

!

>46 LizzieD: I think that $5,000,000 is a little bit steep for all of us, Peggy but something in the North (Bronte-fied maybe) would make more sense, hahaha.

Lovely to have you drop by, my dear lady.

>45 PaulCranswick: My couch is not likely to yield that much coinage, unfortunately!

New 🧵 orisons, PC.

>32 PaulCranswick: Well, you know I am definitely in. I am also in for buying "Howard's End." Back before you joined the group (I think?), we posited that we should buy a spot in the middle of the U.S. so we would all have a spot to go vacation at that had tons of books and lots of people from the group visiting. It is still a (silly) dream of mine.

>38 PaulCranswick: It's Monday! Why are you buying books? That is a Friday thing, isn't it?

Happy new thread! Happy whatever!

>1 PaulCranswick: Weren't you house shopping recently? ;)

Happy New Thread!!

Maybe Santa will be generous this year and give you a mansion like that.
Looking forward to trying my hand at the reading challenge this year.

Happy New Thread!

>48 foggidawn: Hahaha don't worry Foggi, you'll be welcome to stay at any place we collectively buy for the price of $1 and the submission of 1 book to the collective library!

>49 richardderus: Thank you, dear fellow.

>50 alcottacre: It would be a dream of mine too, Stasia, to buy a place that would be suitable for group meets at the very least and with a library to die for. Of course I wouldn't situate it in the middle of the USA but still trips to the UK do appeal to many of our number.

The books were corrective therapy because I had informed Hani not to travel back on Thursday but stay in the UK until I can join her. I did this act of self sacrifice because I know how desperate she is to spend the first Christmas together with Pip.

>51 hredwards: Yes, Harold, but unsuccessfully and I am still looking.

>52 hredwards: That would be one heck of a generous Santa, Harold! Still one can but dream. Always a pleasure to see you here my friend.

>53 ArlieS: Thank you, dear Arlie.

Happy New Thread!

>57 SilverWolf28: Thank you, Silver. xx

Happy New Thread, Paul!

I’ll be looking for books to fit your new challenge. I found one, so I’ll be needing some ideas I guess.

Wishing you luck house hunting.

>59 EllaTim: Thanks Ella.

I have my January reads lined up already.

For those interested I have created a planning thread for next year's Warfare Challenge

https://www.librarything.com/topic/355667#n8302795

Behind with my music picks......

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2009 - Keep Calm and Carry On



Not their best album but it still has a good mix and rockers and ballads. This is "Could You Be The One?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bolZLMHxy6c

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2010 - Some Kind of Trouble



James Blunt always seems to me to be a thoroughly decent man - from service in Bosnia and Kosovo to producing yearning songs with a slightly surprisingly soft vocal.

This is "Stay the Night"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1yOGhnmYfI

>21 PaulCranswick: I must admit when I saw the price tag for Howard's End my first thought was "Is that it?" I think I'm a bit jaded by Vancouver prices.

The War Room looks interesting. Are you planning on fiction, nonfiction or both?

>64 Familyhistorian: It is all about location isn't it, Meg? The same house in Yorkshire would be half the price it is in Oxfordshire and close to being affordable.

The War Room will be for either NF or Fiction or both.

Have a wonderful whatever, Paul!

>66 alcottacre: Thank you, Stasia. I'm still recovering from my sore throat and the difficulty swallowing persists.

>66 alcottacre: I missed that, Paul. I am sorry that I did not realize you have been ill. I hope the sore throat goes away soon - and with it, the difficulty swallowing.

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2011 - In Case You Didn't Know



Yasmyne was 14 years old and suddenly the music around the house became different - my boring old stuff was replaced by music by artists like Olly Murs (ably abetted by the quiet presence of her younger sister). This album reminds me of those times - happy times.

This is "Dance With Me Tonight"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3EG4olrFjY

>68 alcottacre: Hani would say that it is any excuse to drink Hot Toddies, Stasia!

>1 PaulCranswick: Maybe if I were to win the lottery....

Paul - this week's FIVE BOOKS online features the best contemporary African Writing!

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2012 - The House on the Hill



I stumbled upon USA alt group The Babies and loved their debut album. This sophomore effort is more of the same. Raw but full of hooks and good musicianship.
This is "Slow Walkin'"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yRHO8X2-2o

>71 ocgreg34: Come on Greg -to win the lottery you have to buy a ticket!

>72 m.belljackson: I will go and check that out Marianne, thanks.

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2013 - Shangri La



This second album was rush released by Jake Bugg due to the success of his debut. It has the feel that he was in a hurry but he has a great style and he seems to be doing something that other singer songwriters are not. There is a drive and excitement to his music missing in people like Ed Sheeran.

This is "Slumville Sunrise"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4wTRbW0aos

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2014 - Bones + Longing by Gemma Hayes



I am a devotee of Gemma Hayes' music - a very underrated Irish singer songwriter. This is a live acoustic version of the lead single "Palomino"
This is a very solid album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfhE9JMgRpM

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2015 - Alone in the Universe



Billed as Jeff Lynne's ELO this is a very welcome return from Birmingham's finest. The lead single "When I Was a Boy" is probably the best thing he has done in over 30 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM34A80RTv4

The Euromillion wasn't won last night and so on Friday the prize is estimated at £201 million but will end up at around £206 million, i will be getting a ticket. You've got to be in it to win it, i could make a lot of people happy with £200 million and help out my two new clubs, Mousehole AFC and St.Andrews United.

>70 PaulCranswick: Well, that certainly explains it!

>78 johnsimpson: You could probably buy Mousehole for $100, John. Would be a great place to stay of course situated as it is in the small town of Paul!

>79 alcottacre: Hahaha. I need to stay fit for work though!

>80 PaulCranswick: Why? Lol

>80 PaulCranswick: Because I took an especially large toddy at 3.45 am and had to be in the office fully refreshed and sober at 7.30 am.

Hani says I need no excuse to imbibe whiskey. My dear old Gran lived to the ripe old age of 87 and had a nip of the nectar every single day of her adult life.

Dropping in to say hello. I had a few minutes to hit a few threads before heading out to this morning's graduation. It's the last thing I have to do this semester. I'm off for a month. It will be a much-needed rest!

>83 thornton37814: You have had such a busy year, Lori. You do deserve to treat yourself to a good rest.

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2016 - 57th & 9th



Sting sounds more Geordie as he ages.

This is The Empty Chair played live and acoustic. The best song on a solidly mellow album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wciOD56pafE

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2017 - Low in High School



Morrissey is always interesting as he is always frustrating and obtuse.

This is an adventurous record which doesn't always work but he is invariably worth listening to. This is "Spent the Day in Bed" (I Wish)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rmAi9XmlIo

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2018 - Delta



Mumford and Sons first two albums are amongst my very favourite records this century. This is their fourth and they are already not quite as immediate but this is still pretty darn good.

This is "Guiding Light"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9jmjXDQ5MQ

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2019 - Kiwanuka



This chap is a phenom. Burst onto the independent music scene a few years ago and his music is addictive listening.

This is "You Ain't the Problem"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivvs_qL6t_c

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2020 - Push the Blues Away



This is a tad obscure perhaps - Aussie blues/roots - a collaboration between Josh Teskey and Ash Grunwald. Great true and organic music. This is the excellent "Hungry Heart"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0HkM8QE1uc

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2021 - Voyage



It has to be the return of ABBA doesn't it? Of course it is not the ABBA of the seventies or eighties as they are in their seventies themselves. There is still a beauty and resonance about them and their music is still wonderfully produced.

This is "Don't Shut Me Down"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Y69hZ1-r0

Finally caught up:

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

November 2022 - Palomino



Staying in Sweden with the country influenced and wonderful First Aid Kit. This is beautiful duo's fifth studio album and their consistency is admirable.

This is "Out of My Head"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmSwUCdQQC4

A book recommendation for you: Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth. It's a reimagining of Sophocles' "Antigone" set in a post-apocalyptic future. Very good read and only just over 100 pages.

>92 ocgreg34: Thanks for that Greg, I will go and seek it out.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/355731

Happy New Thread, Paul. William and his family has all been ill with both the flu and covid, now recovered, but that has kept me away from the threads lately . I had my own covid booster a couple of days ago, and that too kept me off the threads. Best of luck finding a new place to live in the UK, and seeing your family soon.

>94 SilverWolf28: Thank you dear, Silver. I need to make this one count.

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1966 - Buffalo Springfield



A band comprising of Stephen Stills and Neil Young was always going to be successful and this album shows Stills as the golden haired prodigy. "For What It's Worth" wasn't on the first pressing of the album but they saw sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5JCrSXkJY

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1967 - John Wesley Harding



This radical departure from Dylan tops a month of very good music including a great album by the Who. "All Along the Watchtower" is an incendiary song and I'll take the original over Hendrix's version any day of the week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jff6pZJvrWk

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1968 - Beggars Banquet



The first of a series of magnificent of albums by The Rolling Stones which is lead off by the marvelously Stonesy "Sympathy for the Devil"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwtyn-L-2gQ

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1969 - Liege and Lief



From the incorrigible to the sublime. Sandy Denny was the most delicate of songbirds. The song "Farewell, Farewell" always touches me to my core.

Not their best album but one of their most effecting songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnWry5P_WFY

>98 PaulCranswick: this was my favorite Dylan album until blood on the tracks came along. I still love many of the tracks on this. Just hit me right i guess.

>101 RBeffa: I remember coming to it after some of his other sixties stuff (The Times They Are A-Changing was my first Dylan album) and being a little non-plussed before I sort of twigged where he was going with the record.

>102 PaulCranswick: John Wesley Harding was probably the 2nd Dylan I bought after being completely enamored with Nashville Skyline. I was a little slow to warm to it myself but as time went by I liked it as much or a little more than Nashville Skyline. There is actually quite a lot of Dylan that I'm not a fan of but often when someone covers one of those songs I develop a better appreciation.

Blood on the Tracks will always be my favorite record tho (with the only fault in my mind being Idiot Wind - Dylan had other songs that would have fit better. The companion song to Shelter From The Storm was "Up to Me", which was left off the original album, available on Biograph later. The description from the Biograph box reads: "Up To Me, left off Blood on the Tracks, is one of the treasures of this set. A companion piece to Shelter From The Storm performed in the same spare style, it's among Dylan's best unreleased works. The song also toys with his own inscrutable persona. "If we ever meet again" he sings in the final verse, "baby remember me". How my lone guitar played sweet for you, that old time melody. And the harmonica around my neck, I blew it for you free. No one else could play that tune. You know it was up to me.")

>95 vancouverdeb: I think you may have missed me up there, Paul .

>103 RBeffa: I have most of his "boot leg" stuff too, Ron and I know the song you are referring to. I know what you mean about "Nashville Skyline" - it has four of my absolute favorite Bob songs and "I Threw It All Away" is unfairly overlooked these days, but the rest of the album is pretty throw away.

A great lyricist in his prime wasn't he just?

>104 vancouverdeb: I am really sorry about that Deb - I take pride in not missing any of my friends comments.

>95 vancouverdeb: Thanks for the reminder, Deb and the good wishes. The search continues.

I hope that the family are all fully recovered. The COVID jab is already akin to the flu shot isn't it? I do wish that its usefulness had not been so badly misrepresented - I was happy to take my medicine given my place fairly and squarely in an at-risk group.

New additions

494. Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler
495. A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley
496. The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow
497. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

>1 PaulCranswick: I'd move in. I've read Howard's End about 5 times, and will read it again. My favourite Forster so far Paul.

>108 Caroline_McElwee: I am looking forward to concentrating on it Caroline. I am a huge fan of the three Forster books I have read - a great stylist.

BOOK #151



By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Date of Publication : 2001
Origin of Author : Tanzania
Pages : 245 pp

Where do we belong?
Is it in a particular home, a particular country, a tribal group, a cadre of religion, within the heart of a family?

Nobel winner Abdulrazak Gurnah doesn't answer these questions definitively but he ponders upon them and has us ask the same questions - of the characters herein and ultimately of ourselves.

This is a slow burning novel, finely observed which rewards the reader's patience with an exquisite though painful last third. Greed, jealousy and revenge laid bare - strand after careful strand.

Recommended

At last managed to overcome ill-health and overwork to finish a book! Hopefully I can quickly follow it with another.

>111 PaulCranswick: Good news Paul!

>112 mdoris:
Thank you, Mary.

I went to the return match of the family wedding yesterday bedecked in full Malay traditional outfit baju kurong c/w sampin and songkok and feasted merrily on nasi minyak, ayam percik, tempeh masak chili, daging rendang and dhall cha. I returned home wonderfully replete.

In Malay tradition the couple will have a Nikah ceremony which solemnizes the wedding (if you solemnize a wedding will the marriage be solemn?!) followed by a bersanding event at the bride's location with a return bersanding at the groom's location the following week. Bersanding is where the couple sit and are displayed "in state" to both sets of families. Fascinating.

>111 PaulCranswick: Glad you're feeling better!

>114 amanda4242: Pretty much back to normal - whatever that is!

>110 PaulCranswick:
This was one of Gurnah's earliest novels and it is finely tuned. The author manages to set a sad tone early on in the novel and that tone of sadness is maintained to the bitter end. I didn't expect the one twist towards the end with the return of Hassan. (or was it Hussein.) and his attitude, but it just added to the emotion in the novel.

I loved Gurnah's descriptions of the old trade routes in East Africa. These same descriptions were also in Afterlive and it makes the reader long for the before times. Whatever they were. This is one thing that I questioned in this book - was the before times really that good? Surely there were some good things brought in by the Europeans. In this novel it seems that the only positive thing was better medical care. I would find it helpful to read some nonfiction about this area of the world to help me get a better picture of what colonial East Africa was like. It seems to be a real mess today and even Gurnah says that in both of his novels that I have read. One early one (this one) and his newest published in 2022.

>116 benitastrnad: A very good book, I agree, Benita.

The treatment of life under colonial rule is nuanced and balanced but recognizes that there were benefits together with oppression; progress together with exploitation.

More additions

498. The Greeks : A Global History by Roderick Beaton
499. Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
500. The Earth Transformed : An Untold History by Peter Frankopan
501. Personality and Power by Ian Kershaw
502. Iban Dream by Golda Mowe
503. Devotions by Mary Oliver
504. A History of the Crusades, Volume 1 : The First Crusade by Steven Runciman
505. What We Owe Each Other by Minouche Shafik
506. Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

>110 PaulCranswick:. I really liked this one.

>113 PaulCranswick: It all sounds very tasty Paul! I can recognize some of the names of the dishes, as we can get them here in Holland as well. We had a very good small Indonesian restaurant in the street. Sadly it’s gone now. But they used to have similar dishes.

Good to hear you are feeling better!

>119 banjo123: It was a slow read for me, Rhonda, but I was always engaged by it.

>120 EllaTim: There are, of course, close links between Malay and Indonesian culture and cuisine as their roots are so similar. Nice to see you.

>121 PaulCranswick: Very similar it seems, Paul. I regret that I have never visited either country.

>122 EllaTim: One fine day, Ella - you never know!

BOOK #152



There Was a Country by Chinua Achebe
Date of Publication : 2012
Origin of Author : Nigeria
Pages : 265 pp

Undoubtedly the greatest of all African writers and close to criminal that he never got the Nobel Prize, Achebe, reflects on the tragic Biafran War of the late sixties which brought genocide to the forefront in that troubled part of the world.

In some quarters this conflict is largely forgotten but before Darfur and Rwanda and Chad and the Congo this was the place when the sins of the majority were practised upon the largely defenceless or ill-equipped minority population. It seems hard to understand how much of the world idly stood by and let it happen or even actively connived in support for the Nigerian forces.

Achebe is considered and fair in his appraisal and does criticize where appropriate both sides, but as a Igbo himself and, playing a small part in the short lived Biafran administration, his experiences largely dictate his point of view.

I have spent time severally in Nigeria's more placid neighboring nation, Ghana, and love both the regions and its peoples but Nigeria has never seemed at peace with itself and still has rents in its fabric that only time and a shared vision of all its peoples will repair.

Recommended.

Congrats on reading past the 2x75 mark!

Thanks Anita.

The discount bookstore was having something of a sale today and I made a pig of myself a little as they say:

507. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
508. Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
509. The Greatest Knight by Thomas Asbridge
510. The Darling Buds of May by H.E. Bates
511. The Carrier by Mattias Berg
512. Dragons : Ten Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain by Liam Byrne
513. The Prime Ministers by Iain Dale
514. The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy
515. Suncatcher by Romesh Gunesekera
516. Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There by David Hepworth
517. A Fabulous Creation by David Hepworth
518. Persian Fire by Tom Holland
519. The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson
520. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Eric Idle
521. The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai
522. Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet
523. The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
524. Listen to the Moon by Michael Morpurgo
525. Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North
526. Where Power Stops by David Runciman
527. Calypso by David Sedaris
528. The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff
529. Four Years on the Front by Aubrey Smith
530. Reagan : An American Journey by Bob Spitz
531. Crongton Knights by Alex Wheatle

>127 PaulCranswick: Ah, there's the Cranswickian haul of old!

>128 foggidawn: I loved the look on the face of the young cashier when I rolled up with my trolley full of books. Made me think of my acquisitionary times.

Skipping a bunch of stuff, Paul, just checking in.

>127 PaulCranswick: Nice haul, Juan. My latest was posted to the 'This Just In' thread last Friday.

Happy whatever!

>127 PaulCranswick: Really great book acquisitioning going on there. I already have my eye on a couple on your list so will note them for later.
The Greatest Knight looks interesting. While I don't go out of my way to read entertainment memoirs, some of the ones I have read have been good reads, the Eric Idle book looks likely to be a good one.

>130 alcottacre: Yeah, so much for quitting with the additions Stasia!

>131 avatiakh: Of course the problem when you make such a haul is to prioritize which book to read! Probably the two that stand out most for me are the books by Goldsworthy and Holland which fit my challenges next month.

>127 PaulCranswick: Oh my! How do you find the shelf space for all these books?!

>133 ocgreg34: It includes floor space is why Greg!

>134 PaulCranswick: I don't buy nearly as many as I used to, but my wife says my books are what hold our house up!
I have stacks everywhere, shelves, boxes.

>132 PaulCranswick: It is not 2024 yet!

>135 hredwards: I tell everyone that if there is a horizontal surface in my house, there is at least one book on it!

>135 hredwards: I am also away from my peak of 1,000 plus books per year - I am running at half of that but I do get a bit of grief from the lady of the manor for taking up spaces and cabinets that she had earmarked for other, less vital, purposes! It is the bane of the bookaholic, Harold, that the fabric of our homes our made of the printed page.

>136 alcottacre: True, Stasia but already planning!

The vertical space is also not safe!

>137 PaulCranswick: No, do not give me any ideas!

Vertical space is a little more problematic in my house. . .

>138 alcottacre: Hahaha my house is literally full of book shelves / bookcases, Stasia.

The question is, how are you going to move them all when the time comes, Paul?

I echo Meg's question, Paul! I do hope you find a place soon.

>140 Familyhistorian: Ha there's the rub, Meg. Shipping container, I guess.
I also considered keeping two homes and then there is no need to move so many at a time.

>141 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deb - I can only echo my response to Meg by way of reply. Hani is busy looking for a place for us.

A couple of additions:

532. Blood & Faith by Matthew Carr
533. The Path of Peace by Anthony Seldon

>144 PaulCranswick: Modest haul PC. You'll have to do better to keep "Cranswickian" in the lexicon.

>145 richardderus: I am not at the weekend dear fellow, don't despair!

Those two make it 36 books for the week so far by the way. :D

>146 PaulCranswick: Modestly Cranswickian, I allow, but the weekend is yet to come.

>147 richardderus: Hahaha I shall try not to disappoint. My favorite bookstore locally has a 30% members sale this weekend so there could be some action seen there.

>148 PaulCranswick: I am anticipating a lot more than 2 then in this week's haul!

You have much book buying to do if you are going to hit 1000 this year. LOL Sorry! I couldn't resist that.

>149 alcottacre: There is a possibility, Stasia!

>150 thornton37814: I would probably get a letter from a divorce lawyer, Lori, if I try and add 400 plus books in the last few weeks!

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/355903

Thank you, Silver. xx

My new purchases are posted to the 'This Just In!' thread, Juan, if you want to take a look. I may be getting books into 2024, lol, but am not going to be actually buying any in the new year except for the new In Death books that come out. One of them is already on pre-order.

Happy whatever, Paul!

>154 alcottacre: You seriously expect us to believe that you won't be buying books in the new year, Juana? xx

>155 PaulCranswick: Of course I do! I figure I can make it until at least February, lol.

>156 alcottacre: February is normally my limit for self control too!

Richard / Stasia why did you tempt me?

534. An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson
535. Verdun 1916 by William F Buckingham
536. The Stronghold by Dino Buzzati
537. The Girl Aquarium by Jen Campbell
538. The Impostor by Javier Cercas
539. The Grand Alliance by Winston Churchill
540. Redcoat by Bernard Cornwell
541. Strangers at the Port by Lauren Aimee Curtis
542. Rising '44 by Norman Davies
543. The Beauty and the Sorrow by Peter Englund
544. Wivenhoe by Samuel Fisher
545. Always by Morris Gleitzman
546. After by Morris Gleitzman
547. Arcadia by Lauren Groff
548. Clever Girl by Tessa Hadley
549. Reporter by Seymour M. Hersh
550. Will and Testament by Vigdis Hjorth
551. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
552. The Broken House by Horst Kruger
553. The Western Front by Nick Lloyd
554. A Long Day in a Short Life by Albert Maltz
555. Absolution by Alice McDermott
556. Undercurrent by Barney Norris
557. Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates
558. Last Best Hope by George Packer
559. The Dancing Face by Mike Phillips
560. Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym
561. A History of the Crusades II : The Kingdom of Jerusalem by Steven Runciman
562. A History of the Crusades III : The Kingdom of Acre by Steven Runciman
563. Modern Philosophy by Roger Scruton
564. Arabesques by Anton Shammas
565. 1914-1918 by David Stevenson
566. Flight by Lynn Steger Strong
567. Travelling in the Dark by Emma Timpany
568. The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall

Made one mistake in adding "The Stronghold" by Dino Buzzati which I was unfamiliar with - not surprisingly so as it turns out as it is The Tartar Steppe renamed - I wish translators wouldn't rename classics.

After such an experience (something like this often happens with SF in particular), I became aware of Librarything and now always check my smartphone in the bookshop to see if I already have the book on my shelf.
I actually wanted to avoid duplication and save money, but things turned out differently, I found this group and friends and many more new books than I could have imagined.
I love it!
Have a wonderful weekend my friend.

>160 SirThomas: I should have been more careful, Thomas, because if I had read the blurb properly it did actually say the book was one and the same with The Tartar Steppe. I don't know how I didn't register that first time of reading - excitement, I guess!

>158 PaulCranswick: *snerk*

Suuuuure, blame us...not like you have actual agency and volition...

>159 PaulCranswick: Lucullan spread on the book table, there, PC!

>158 PaulCranswick: Makes my 3-book haul at the bookstore yesterday pale in comparison, that's for sure!

>162 richardderus: No volition involved, RD, completely helpless in fact. Had I been capable of carrying more it could have been even worse!

>163 foggidawn: Every book counts, Foggi - at least you got no duplicates, I hope?

>164 PaulCranswick: I have the dubious advantage of a bad back, which limits the number of books I can carry. Yesterday's library haul was near my limit.

>164 PaulCranswick: No duplicates -- one was a book I had read on audio and liked enough to own, the other two are resting happily on my TBR shelf with their many fellows.

>165 ArlieS: I realised that carrying 35 books from the bookstore to the restaurant and then, full from a good lunch, down into the basement car park, was a pretty decent work out!

>166 foggidawn: I am starting to make the odd mistake with my book additions and need to find a way to just take my time about the process a little more!

>159 PaulCranswick:. Great haul!

>168 banjo123: Thank you, Rhonda. Lovely to see you here. xx

BOOK #153



Howard's End by E.M. Forster
Date of Publication : 1910
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 343 pp
150 Year Challenge : Book 8/150

I am not sure when this book transforms into being a great novel but transform it does.

We go from being mildly interested in and somewhat irritated by Margaret and Helen into being invested in their doings, their comings and their goings.

If I were not the last person in Western Civilisation to have read, I would certainly recommend it.

>170 PaulCranswick: Yes it's great, and well, you probably are the last person in LT Western Civ. to read it!

>171 quondame: Haha indeed, Susan.

>170 PaulCranswick: Guess I'm the only LT to award Howards End a single star...

>173 m.belljackson: The first third of the book, I would have fully agreed with you, Marianne. It took me a good while to get into it, I must say. Diversity of opinions makes book forums interesting. If we all agreed on which books we enjoy there wouldn't be much fun in reading each other's reviews.

>158 PaulCranswick: Wow, oh wow! You have met your limit for this week - and possibly next week as well, Juan!

>170 PaulCranswick: I cannot remember when I first read that one it has been so long. I am fairly sure it is due for a re-read.

>175 alcottacre: I just had a look month by month at my additions, Juana.
June was the month I added the fewest books (20); I have added 81 already in December which is the most in 2023 and I haven't quite finished.

Count me as someone on LT who has not read Howard's End yet. Maybe next year. I did read The Room with View many years ago , maybe in my early twenties and very much enjoyed it.

>176 PaulCranswick: Uh huh. A hundred this month, do you think? Your Christmas books do not count, of course :)

>177 vancouverdeb: In a similar vein, certainly quality wise as I recall, Deb.

>178 alcottacre: It is a distinct possibility I think, Stasia.xx

I'm another that hasn't read Howard's End, Paul. So maybe you were in good company.

>13 PaulCranswick: PIP is so darn cute!!! I love the smile!

>180 Familyhistorian: You and Deb certainly count as good company, Meg

>181 Whisper1: Thank you dear Linda. I am extremely biased but I am in full agreement!

Glad to hear you are feeling better Paul.

>110 PaulCranswick: Nudged this up the pile recently, should get to it over the break.

>113 PaulCranswick: Sounds wonderful, no photos?

>127 PaulCranswick: >159 PaulCranswick: WOW!!!

>170 PaulCranswick: Yay for a new convert. It gets better at each reread Paul.

One Random thought and one random question that came to me this weekend.
Paul, hope you don't mind.

Random question:
If you have a book that is part of a series that you want to read, do most people read that book and then try others in the series or do you try to find the first book of the series and read that first? Do you feel like you have to read the series in order?

Random thought:
Isn't it wonderful that with an alphabet of 26 letters we can enjoy such a wide selection of stories and books full of wonderful ideas. It amazes me.

>184 hredwards: Random thought:
Isn't it wonderful that with an alphabet of 26 letters we can enjoy such a wide selection of stories and books full of wonderful ideas. It amazes me.

I am with you there, Harold! I wish I had any kind of talent to be able to do it myself and stand in awe of those who can!

Happy whatever, Paul!

>184 hredwards: I strongly prefer to start with the first book of a series, unless warned off by reviews that basically suggest the author took a while to get good at their job.

>170 PaulCranswick: I'm apparently another "last" one, but I did add it to my 2024 TBR.

>184 hredwards: I usually try to start series at the beginning and go forward from there, Harold. I have occasionally started series not fully being aware of it being a series (Donna Leon and Ian Rankin for example) but then realizing and reading in order. I does cause me some problems sometimes if I cannot find the next in series!

As someone who sort of scribbles poetry, I am often in awe at what those configurations of 26 letters can do.

>185 alcottacre: Indeed, Stasia. Reading is a pleasure whilst writing can be a labour of love. As someone charged constantly in my daily life with reading an interpreting construction contracts - notifying delays and the implications of changes to the Works, I am constantly drafting letters and responses to the Employer, the Employer's representatives, consultants and Subcontractors but I wouldn't be able to do that without being on top of my brief - which means reading!
The intertwining of those two disciplines for me, in work and in pleasure, is what make the world turn. x

>186 ArlieS: I am with you there, Arlie, and even if warned off I would probably stick to my ordered reading method.

>187 ChrisG1: There were more of us than I guessed, Chris!

150 BOOKS 150 YEARS 150 AUTHORS 15 MONTHS

Next up is that momentous year : 1945

It was the year of the end of the world's worst ever conflict in terms of total lives lost - WW2. The battle for Berlin, Iwo Jima, the liberation of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Belsen & Dachau, the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the defeat and death of Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, Mussolini, Patton; the death of FDR and the Presidency of Truman, the fall of Churchill's government and the installation of Clement Attlee and his to be historic administration.

It was the year of the founding of the UN, the World Bank and the state of North Vietnam.

Deaths other than as noted above : Anne Frank, Eric Liddell (Chariots of Fire), David Lloyd-George, Eva Braun, John Curtin, Bela Bartok, Pierre Laval, Vidkun Quisling and Jerome Kern.

Births : An extraordinary year for singers and musicians with Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, Rod Stewart, Donny Hathaway, Pete Townshend, Ritchie Blackmore, Rita Coolidge, Bette Midler, Bob Seger, John Fogerty, John McVie, Jose Feliciano, Van Morrison and Neil Young.
Helen Mirren, Mia Farrow, Henry Winkler and Steve Martin were amongst the actors.
My dear mum.

In Books
Births : Robert Olen Butler, Shiva Naipaul, August Wilson, Annie Dillard, Wendy Cope, Patrick Modiano, Nuruddin Farah, Raymond E Feist
Deaths : Antal Szerb, Josef Capek, Franz Werfel, Paul Valery, Theodore Dreiser, Ellen Glasgow.

Books
The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric
The Death of Virgil by Hermann Broch
The Long Ships by Frans G Bengtsson
Loving by Henry Green
If He Hollers, Let Him Go by Chester Himes
Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
The English Teacher by RK Narayan
Animal Farm by George Orwell
An Inspector Calls by JB Priestley
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Stuart Little by EB White
Black Boy by Richard Wright

I will read The North Ship which is Philip Larkin's first poetry collection

Couple of additions

569. Places and Names by Elliot Ackerman
570. The Battle for Spain by Anthony Beevor

I think Loving has the wrong touchstone.

LT just introduced a new feature you're sure to love, Paul.

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

>193 Kristelh: Thanks for spotting that, Kristel. I have corrected it.

>194 amanda4242: Ooh let me go and explore.

>194 amanda4242: Apparently I have made 5,588 talk messages this year which is interesting to see.

>194 amanda4242: Wow - thanks for this - the first thing that came up is a graph showing that I read 194 books in 2023!

>197 m.belljackson: That is tremendous, Marianne.

BOOK # 154



The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Date of Publication : 2017
Origin of Author : USA
Pages : 449 pp

A new to me Author but one that I will look at reading again in the future. I believe that there is plenty of the author's personal experiences poured into the writing of the book which looks sensitively at the issues of belonging and sexuality.

Genuinely touching on occasions even though very obviously aimed at a YA audience, Saenz conveyed the normalcy and beauty of love whether it be between family, between friends, between people of different genders or those of the same. Never crass and often uplifting even in its most dark of moments.

>192 PaulCranswick: I think your numbering is wrong here, Paul.
Or have 200 books vanished? ;-)

So pleased you checked, Anita. I have corrected it already.

Got a parcel today from California via Fort Worth by Amazon. Compact box clearly holding more than one book - I am very excited and looking forward to Christmas morning opening.

>170 PaulCranswick: I am reading it now, Paul. I confess to having had a full blast of that irritation, so I put it aside for a while. But you are motivating me to read on.

>202 PaulCranswick: What fun!

>203 EllaTim: For me it was worth reading on, Ella and I eventually recognized its superiority.

BOOK #155



The North Ship by Philip Larkin
Date of Publication : 1945
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 40 pp

This was the first collection issued by Philip Larkin back in the dying days of the Second World War.

To be perfectly honest there were only fleeting glimpses of his genius in this pretty short collection which was clearly a writer trying to find a voice and a style his own.

He saves it until the penultimate entry - the five part The North Ship to write something that will be on a par with his later work even though it is clearly imitative in nature:

The North Ship
I saw three ships go sailing by,
Over the sea, the lifting sea,
And the wind rose in the morning sky,
And one was rigged for a long journey.

The first ship turned towards the west,
Over the sea, the running sea,
And by the wind was all possessed
And carried to a rich country.

The second ship turned towards the east,
Over the sea, the quaking sea,
And the wind hunted it like a beast
To anchor in captivity.

The third ship drove towards the north,
Over the sea, the darkening sea,
But no breath of wind came forth,
And the decks shone frostily.

The northern sky rose high and black
Over the proud unfruitful sea,
East and west the ships came back
Happily or unhappily:

But the third went wide and far
Into an unforgiving sea
Under a fire-spilling star,
And it was rigged for a long journey.

Paul, I probably won't be on here much over the weekend, so I wanted to take this chance to wish you and your lovely family a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!! Thanks for being my literary friend!

>196 PaulCranswick: The year in review is interesting. That's an impressive amount of talk messages, Paul, but not really surprising. My year in review includes all the books that I added and how many Billy bookcases I would need to store them. That's a bit off though as many of them were library books and nothing shows up for books read.

>206 hredwards: Thank you Harold. Friend I would say dear fellow, literally not just literary!

>207 Familyhistorian: I don't know how Marianne was able to see books read either Meg because it wasn't on mine and would involve whoever prepared the stats reading everybody's individual post contributions - impossible site wide I would have thought.

>208 PaulCranswick: >207 Familyhistorian: I have no idea either - just clicked on the site and the graph came up > a total surprise...

ps. checked again and it states YEAR IN REVIEW - maybe you can locate that if it doesn't come right up.

>208 PaulCranswick: You have to enter reading dates for it to display books read.

>209 m.belljackson: Given Amanda's explanation in >210 amanda4242: below I now understand. It is a tremendous resource though isn't it?
I got loads of information mainly related to my adding of books as well as my overly chatty activity but no information on books read.

>210 amanda4242: Thanks for that, Amanda. That would be on the work page of the book in "Your Books"?
Is there any way of checking each others years in review?

Here's the Christmas readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356094

>211 PaulCranswick: You can add dates on the work page, or you can add read dates as a column to your catalog view and add them there.

Just replace the MEMBERNAME part of the url with a specific user's name to see their year in review. Here's mine https://www.librarything.com/stats/amanda4242/year

>212 SilverWolf28: Thanks Silver. I do hope with my family in the UK, I will get plenty of time over the long weekend to read A LOT.

>215 PaulCranswick: You are a superstar, Amanda. xx

>199 PaulCranswick: I enjoyed that one very much when I read it recently too, Paul, and like you I think I will be reading more of Saenz work.

>202 PaulCranswick: Woot!

Happy whatever!

>216 alcottacre: It wasn't great literature, I guess, Stasia (whatever the hell that is), but the story was very effecting and I was touched to near tears on a couple of occasions. An author able to do that is worth following.

It is Happy Friday for me as you move inexorably towards the same. Happy Thursday evening / Friday morning. xx

150 BOOKS 150 YEARS 150 AUTHORS 15 MONTHS

The tenth year featured is a little closer to date as I will be looking at 1994.

This was an important year personally as I lost my beloved Grandmother and then relocated to Malaysia. It was the year I first clapped eyes on Hani but we didn't become a couple until the following year.

It was the year of the Rwanda genocide but peace accords for the former Yugoslavia and between Yeltsin and Clinton. The leader of North Korea died and then remained in office for an extended period! Brazil won the soccer world cup in the USA and Nelson Mandela won elections in South Africa and formed a government as his country rejoined the commonwealth. Jeff Bezos formed Amazon.

Deaths: Tip O'Neill, Harry Nilsson, Matt Busby, Telly Savalas, John Candy, Kurt Cobain, Richard Nixon, Ayrton Senna, John Smith, Jackie Kennedy-Onassis, Henry Mancini, Vitus Gerulaitis, Burt Lancaster, Jerry Rubin.

Deaths in Literature : Pierre Boulle, J.L. Carr, Harold Acton, Charles Buckowski, Eugene Ionescu, Ralph Ellison, John Wain, Karl Popper, James Clavell, John Osborne, Elias Canetti.

Books :
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
What a Carve Up - Jonathan Coe
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
The State We're In by Will Hutton
How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman
The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller
The Bird Artist by Howard Norman
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Felicia's Journey by William Trevor
The Book of Secrets by M.G. Vassanji
The Riders by Tim Winton

What I will read:

Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucci

Popping in to wish you and yours a peaceful and warm holiday season, Paul! Looking forward to more of your prolific reading reports in the new year. :)

>211 PaulCranswick: To date I've never added when I started and finished a book, so will begin that from next yeat. I have a collection for books read each year at the moment.

>211 PaulCranswick: Merry Christmas and all that Greetings we do during this Season. :)

To add to the books read conversation, I've modified one of my Style views in the Your Books selection, to add Tags, Started, Finished and Rating columns. That way I can update directly from the list, rather than having to go into the Works page for each book. Apart from all the other places I track books (physical journal, Google sheet, etc), this is where I ultimately log all my books.

I use tags a lot. The most important, to me is the year read. Like "read 2023". I'll also put in a smattering of topic/genre tags. I've also started tracking where I got the book from, or who suggested the book. Especially if it someone from the group doing the giving or suggesting. Not sure if I'll ever really have a use for the tags, but it seems to make sense for me.

My Year in Review is https://www.librarything.com/stats/mahsdad/year

>219 PlatinumWarlock: Thank you, Lavinia. It has been a pleasure and a privilege keeping up with you in 2023 and long may it continue. x

>220 Caroline_McElwee: I have always used my thread to monitor and record my book reading, Caroline. I too will try to add to that next year.

>221 mahsdad: Isn't it interesting, Jeff, how we have all made use of the site in slightly different ways?
Thanks for the tips and, whilst, I am not very tag oriented I will certainly look at ways of changing my recording of my reading on my book work page.

More additions

571. The Cuckoo Tree by Joan Aiken
572. Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll
573. Hymns of the Republic by S.C. Gwynne
574. Battle Cry of Freedom by James M McPherson
575. The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
576. Azadi by Arundhati Roy
577. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
578. The Water Margin by Shi Nai'An
579. The Deluge by Adam Tooze
580. Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen

Book # 156



Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi
Date of Publication : 1994
Origin of Author : Italy
Pages : 195 pp
150Y Challenge : 10/150

How can a man look courage in the eye and not blink. He has a paunch, a dicky ticker, he is maudlin and aimless at the loss of his wife, his looks and his health. He is disturbed by how the country he loves is being oppressed by the state.

When he is called upon will he be up to the challenge?

I recommend that you find out.

All the best for the holiday season, Paul, with wishes that you get to reunite with your family soon!

>226 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg. That is certainly a new year wish to hope for for yours truly.

Merry Christmas , Paul! Like Meg, I hope you can soon be with your family. Excellent haul.

150 BOOKS 150 YEARS 150 AUTHORS 15 MONTHS

Next up is 1923.

France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr. Yankee Stadium and Wembley Stadium both host their first games. Stanley Baldwin and Calvin Coolidge become political leaders of their respective countries. The Walt Disney Company is founded. Turkey becomes a republic and Ataturk becomes its leader. The Johor Singapore causeway is opened for my future convenience.

The Palestine Mandate comes into effect as does that of Jordan, Syria and Lebanon recognizing the right of a Jewish homeland.

Births
Slim Whitman, Prince Rainier, Henry Kissinger, Bob Dole, Shimon Peres, Robert Maxwell, Jim Reevs, Richard Attenborough, Rocky Marciano, Lee Kuan Yew, Hank Williams, Charlton Heston, Roy Lichtenstein, George Patton.
In books : Anthony Hecht, Norman Mailer, James Dickey, Brendan Behan, Shusako Endo, John Mortimer, Joseph Heller, Yves Bonnefoy, Wislawa Szymborska, Miroslav Holub, Italo Calvino, Nadine Gordimer, Gerard Reve, Denise Levertov, Dannie Abse

Deaths
Sara Bernhardt, Warren Harding, Pancho Villa, Andrew Bonar-Law
In books : Jaroslav Hasek, Katherine Mansfield, Louis Couperus, Raymond Radiguet

Books :
Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett
A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
New Hampshire by Robert Frost
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek
Antic Hay by Aldous Huxley
The Fox by DH Lawrence
Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo
Cane by Jean Toomer
The Inimitable Jeeves by PG Wodehouse

I will read :

The Devil in the Flesh by Raymond Radiguet

>228 vancouverdeb: Thank you, Deb. One of the things that has made 2023 in the group so pleasurable for me has been your return, energy and constant good will. xx

Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda i ti!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!

>231 SandDune: Thank you so much, Rhian (though I cannot see the image).

I hope to be able to meet up with you and MrSandDune in the new year.

ETA now I can see it!

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1970 - Plastic Ono Band



Lennon's first proper solo album (discounting the few albums of complete cacophony he released earlier with Yoko) and it was a good one. Raw but yearning. "Mother", "Love", "God" and this one, "Isolation" are highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIAPFX9wWG0

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1971 - Hunky Dory



The world is divided (except for my dear friend Amanda) into those who chose Ziggy Stardust or this one as their favorite Bowie album. For me it is a near run thing and - though I usually pick the other one - I recognize this is a truly brilliant album.

Three of my absolute favorite Bowie songs are on this album : "Changes", "Oh You Pretty Things" and "Life on Mars". I will always choose "Changes"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw4tcCbf2TE

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1972 - Piledriver



They are regarded as a bit derivative these days but Status Quo were on the edge in the early 70s and their many albums through to the end of the decade are all worth a listen to.

Paper Plane is chugging good fun. This is a recent acoustic version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gr7FzO5aJQ

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1973 - Band on the Run



Undoubtedly the best thing that Paul McCartney has done post The Beatles. Could have chosen any of these songs but I will go for "Let Me Roll It" Playing live but many years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJTBVdg1XLc

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1974 - New and Improved



I don't understand why The Spinners are no longer lauded or played much. This is a tremendous album (as were most of their records) and I love so many of the songs. This is the pinnacle for me though "Living a Little, Laughing a Little".

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

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1975 - Live!



This is the first live album I have featured and that is because it includes the wonderful "No Woman No Cry".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT8XvzIfi4U

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1976 - A Day at the Races



Whilst this doesn't quite hit the heights of its twin (A Night at the Opera from 1975), there is still plenty to enjoy and admire. "Somebody to Love" is a favorite Queen track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kijpcUv-b8M

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1977 - The Album



Was there a more melodic and better produced band in the seventies?

"Eagle", "Name of the Game", "Move On" and of course "Take a Chance on Me"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-crgQGdpZR0

Merry Christmas and a happy new year, Paul.

Wishing you and your family a blessed holiday.

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1978 - Back to Earth



The only album released as Cat Stevens after his conversion to Islam. Back to his acoustic roots and a very good, much overlooked album it is.

This is "Never"

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

>241 ctpress: That is cute, Carsten!

Thank you dear fellow and have a great holiday.

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1979 - London Calling



December 1979 could only be the seminal punk album by the Clash. Riotous but brilliant - these boys could actually play!

The title track I have played elsewhere but this is "Death or Glory" which along with "Spanish Bombs" compete with the title track for my affections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdIdv2ReeDY

I don't know if your family does any celebrating at Christmas time and I don't know if you have family with you or not but I am wishing you the best. May your reading be pleasurable, your sleep restful, and your days full of sunshine. And may your work stress be resolved, a new home be found, and your family united.

>245 Kristelh: That is a lovely message thank you very much, Kristel. My gang do celebrate Christmas - especially the presents and the Christmas meal bits of it! It is my favourite time of the year and I will roast a leg of lamb as I couldn't face the prospect of turkey alone (well with Erni technically).

>246 PaulCranswick: I love lamb. I make Beef Tenderloin with Gorgonzola sauce for Christmas meal. We do not do Turkey twice. Once is enough.

>247 Kristelh: Yeah, I can appreciate that. We don't get to overdose on Turkey not having Thanksgiving in our calendar. Beef Tenderloin with Gorgonzola sauce sounds delicious, I must say.

Hi Paul, I may be more or less right on time for your corner of the world. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

>249 Carmenere: A few hours until Christmas Day, Lynda, so very nearly. xx

Always a pleasure to have you drop by .xx

Happy Holiday, Paul. I haven't been by in awhile. I hope you are doing well. What are your holiday plans?

Hooray for London Calling. One of the great albums!

BOOK #157



The Devil in the Flesh by Raymond Radiguet
Date of Publication : 1923
Origin of Author : France
Pages : 140 pp
150 Y challenge : 11/150

Such a slight novel was the only real prose contribution to literature of Raymond Radiguet who died in 1923 from Typhoid fever.

This novel is apparently autobiographical and from the knowledge of an adulterous affair imparted by such a young man, it is pretty plainly autobiographical too.

During the dying days of the war our "hero" (a selfish brat if there ever was in fiction) commences a torrid and doomed affair with Marthe who is quite freshly married to a soldier off at the front.

For all that the author excites our disdain on occasion, this is a realistic, if overblown, accounting of snatched love.

>251 msf59: My plans are unfortunately a quiet and fairly solitary Christmas Day, Mark. Thanks for stopping by. I will do my visits tomorrow morning (Christmas morning) when it will still be the evening of the 24th where you are.

I am sorry to hear you won't be able to spend the holidays with the family. I am sure you are missing them terribly. Make the best of it, my friend.

>254 msf59: I am in decent spirits, Mark - to be bolstered shortly by real spirits in the form of Single Malt.

>265 amanda4242: I just downed a very pleasant mulled wine Paul.

I'm sure you will be at least Facetiming with the family, and no doubt consuming some tasty food. Enjoy a book filled Christmas.

150 BOOKS 150 YEARS 150 YEARS AUTHORS 15 MONTHS

Nearer to date and the last full year before COVID-19 we will be in 2018.

In that year Syria's regime uses sarin gas on its own people - no international marches against the regime unlike Israel's subsequent self defence measures some four years later. That bastion of democracy China elects President Xi as "President for Life".
The USA withdraws from the Iran nuclear deal and imposes sanctions on them for state support of terrorism. This is later relaxed with fatal consequences for Israel by the Biden administration.
Harry and Meghan get married.

Deaths
Stan Lee, Kate Spade, George Bush and his wife Barbara, John McCain, Dolores O'Riordan, Aretha Franklin, Stephen Hawking, Billy Graham, Burt Reynolds, Margot Kidder and Anthony Bourdain.

In Books
Peter Mayle, Ursula Le Guin, Philip Roth, Philip Kerr, Peter Temple, Neil Simon, Anita Shreve, Sergio Pitol, Bernard Lewis, John Julius Norwich, Dasa Drndic, Donald Hall, V.S. Naipaul, Arto Paasillina, Justin Cartwright, Amos Oz.

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Milkman by Anna Burns
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Long Take by Robin Robertson

I will read So Distant from My Life by Monique Ilboudu

>256 Caroline_McElwee: I love mulled wine, Caroline.

We will be having video calls for sure - the others have gathered in Sheffield and will go to my sister's place for Christmas lunch.

Lovely to see you as always. xx

Happy Holidays!

Although it is tough to be far from loved ones, the great thing is that we have technology and live video feed to make the distance feel smaller :) Hope you are able to see your family at least virtually.

>259 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita.

You are quite right. There are times when I could do without the intrusiveness of my mobile phone but today and tomorrow it will be a Godsend.

>234 PaulCranswick: And to be contrary again, I'd pick "Life on Mars" as the best track on that album.

Merry Christmas, Paul!

Paul - Holiday Spirit undone by October 7th.

Greetings, and my your solitary day be warmed by thoughts of imminent reunion and meeting with those who make your holidays special!

I've set up the General, Wildcard, and January threads for the 2024 BAC.

General: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356163
Wildcard: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356165
January: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356166

>261 amanda4242: You contrary, Amanda? Nah! For me it was a close call to be honest. I also love that song.

>262 m.belljackson: Hi Marianne. The holiday spirit is still alive. It is only when we all come together that evil will not prevail. I hope for a peaceful and becalming 2024.

>263 ronincats: Lovely to see you dear Roni. If I wore a red jacket I could pass as St Nick I think. xx

>264 quondame: Thank you, Susan. I must say that it is heartwarming that so many of my friends are keeping me in mind today. xx

>265 amanda4242: You are a force of nature dear lady! I will of course go and contribute. xx

>266 johnsimpson: Thank you mate. Hope Hani and the gang have the chance to see you guys over the holiday.

Dear Paul, We are experiencing a more solitary Christmas than we had planned too but all is good! Thinking of you and wishing you a good day and best in 2024 with plans for relocation and the family uniting. All the best.....I bet you can hardly wait to get your mitts on little Pip!

>270 mdoris: Thanks for that lovely and thoughtful message, Mary. I am ok with solitary actually. Erni is helping me cook a leg of lamb and the smell as I type here is to die for.

I hope for a wonderful 2024 for all of us. xx

All the best wishes and a peaceful time to you and your family, my friend!

Thank you, dear Thomas.

Have a good holiday!

Merry Christmas Paul to you and family.

Next year in "Jerusalem"-land, PC.

I hope you'll be reunited with the family as soon as possible, Paul. Merry Christmas xx

>274 torontoc: Thank you, Cyrel

>275 Ignatius777: Lovely to see you stop by Ignatius, thank you.

>276 richardderus: A couple of Norse people delivering sweeties - the Vikings will be getting a bad rep, RD.

Thanks dear fellow. Lovely as always to have your company in this wonderful place.

>277 DianaNL: Thank you, Diana. I can only say Amen to that.

A Merry Christmas to you and yours Paul! I’m glad there’s phones and the internet to connect us around the world. But I wish you a good new year closer to all of your loved ones next year!

>280 EllaTim: Thanks Ella. Hopefully this will be the one and only Christmas spent without my family. Technology helps but it isn't the same.

Holiday greetings, Paul, and heartfelt wishes for a new year of peace and prosperity and one where you are reunited with your loved ones.

Hi Paul!

I'll try to get back to get caught up, but in the meantime, to you and yours,

>282 Storeetllr: Thank you, Mary. Lovely to see you here.

>283 karenmarie: You are always welcome here, Karen, caught up or otherwise. xx Thank you for the good wishes dear lady.

BOOK #158



So Distant From My Life by Monique Ilboudo
Date of Publication : 2018
Origin of Author : Burkina Faso
Pages : 123 pp
150 Y Challenge : 12/150

A book about belonging and escape. A book about sexual prejudice as well as familial and communal ties.
Well told if a little bit strangely sequenced.

My secret Santa came down my non-existent chimney.

581. A World on Fire by Amanda Foreman
582. Lit Up Inside by Van Morrison

Both hit the spot and are very gratefully and happily received. THANK YOU.

Some more December additions as I was at a loose end today:

583. The Fifth Act by Elliot Ackerman
584. Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich
585. Ardennes 1944 : Hitler's Last Gamble by Anthony Beevor
586. The English Fuhrer by Rory Clements
587. Rebel by Bernard Cornwell
588. The Survivors by Kate Furnivall
589. Pax Romana : War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World by Adrian Goldsworthy
590. The Encircling Sea by Adrian Goldsworthy
591. Vietnam by Max Hastings
592. Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian
593. A Bridge too Far by Cornelius Ryan
594. Defeat into Victory by Viscount William Slim

I have Second-Hand Time on my tbr list. Have a good day, Paul.

>288 Kristelh: I have four of her books now. I have read her book on Chernobyl and it is extremely effective. She has an usual style and it works with the subjects she is dealing with.

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1980 - Arc of a Diver



Very much of its time, this was Stevie Winwood's solo breakthrough. Accomplished synth rock and despite leading off with a hit record the title track is my favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap46wIFlmlM

>287 PaulCranswick: I'm a big fan of Cornwell's & O'Brian's work - enjoy!

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1981 - The Catherine Wheel



Frontman of Talking Heads, David Byrne took a break and produced a solo album. Eclectic but approachable. This is my favorite track "What a Day That Was"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFwBC4GdCxo

>291 ChrisG1: I have only read Master and Commander many years ago, Chris, and maybe wasn't in the mood for it then as I found it heavy going. I have read much of Sharpe and Uhtred plus Cornwell's Arthur trilogy. He is great entertainment.

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1982 - The Distance



I have a soft spot for Bob Seger. He has produced some great music and this is a very solid album. Roll Me Away is probably the song I know the best but the Rodney Crowell penned "Shame on the Moon" is the best song on the record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuYCX5XK_So

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1983 - The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome



Slade were considered a spent force after the heights of the early Seventies (in the UK at least) but they continued to produce very listenable music. Full of great choruses, I would have to pick "My oh My"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlwA5GLBmJM

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1984 - Every Man Has A Woman



Don't laugh. Yoko Ono is a really cool songwriter. This is husband John Lennon covering one of her songs effectively the title track. He was apparently working on this project on the day he was shot down.

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

I like Bernard Cornwell's fiction. He spoke in Toronto many years ago. I just finished Sharpe's Command.

MUSIC FROM THE YEARS OF MY LIFE

December 1985 - The Fine Young Cannibals



Roland Gift had a gift. A great voice and this is a tremendous debut. Johnny Come Home and the Elvis cover "Suspicious Minds". Does it match the original - see what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13iMsGNUHFo

Ps I still give the win to Elvis.

How can we be "tolerant" of any country that sends money and support to Hamas?

>286 PaulCranswick: >287 PaulCranswick: Great end of year shopping and your Secret Santa did well.

I should probably wait for your next thread.

>298 PaulCranswick: Yeah...it's an Elvis song. Roland Gift did a decent cover of an Elviss ong.

>299 m.belljackson: That one we do agree on, Marianne. I certainly don't preach tolerance to the funders of terrorism. I certainly would not be giving or releasing huge funds to Iran as the American administration has done.

>300 avatiakh: I have told myself that I am going to lay off the acquisitions in 2024 (Read More Than You Add). Not managed that once since I joined LT, but let's see. Suzanne did do well with my Santa thing.

>301 witchyrichy: I'm done for new threads in 2024, Karen, so I am glad you didn't wait. This is especially as your image is both beautiful as well as distinctive. Thank you!
Thanks for also being a pretty constant pal in the group.

>302 richardderus: Yeah pretty much my thoughts on the matter too, RD.

Merry Christmas!

Happy end-of-year, Paul!

150 BOOKS 150 YEARS 150 AUTHORS 15 MONTHS

1958 is up next.

The EEC comes into being. The Munich air disaster kills many of Manchester United's star players including the cream of the crop Duncan Edwards. Kruschev becomes leader in the USSR. De Gaulle returns in France after a coup in Algeria. NASA is created and there is a coup in Iraq after which King Faisal is executed.

Births
Paul Weller, Kate Bush, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Alex Baldwin and Michelle Pffeifer.
In Books Cornelia Funke, Irvine Welsh , Benjamin Zephaniah, Roddy Doyle, Wayne Johnston

Deaths
Imre Nagy (executed), Ronald Colman, King Feisal, Pope Pius XII and Ralph Vaughan-Williams.
In Books Robert Service, Juan Jimenez, Rose Macaulay

Things Fall Apart by Achebe
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon by Amado
Borstal Boy by Behan
A Bear Called Paddington by Bond
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Capote
The Dud Avocado by Dundy
Dr. No by Fleming
A Coney Island of the Mind by Ferlinghetti
The Affluent Society by Galbraith
Our Man in Havana by Greene
The Dharma Bums by Kerouac
The Leopard by Lampedusa
The Bell by Iris Murdoch
The Guide by Narayan
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Newby
Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Oe
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Sillitoe
Once There Was a War by Steinbeck
Exodus by Uris
The Once and Future King by White

I will be reading
The Darling Buds of May by HE Bates

>305 ChelleBearss: Lovely to see you posting, Chelle. Happy festive season. xx

>306 banjo123: Thank you dear Rhonda

Season's greetings Paul.

Dear, dear Paul, best wishes to you for Christmas, for the new year, and FOR YOUR LOVELY GRANDDAUGHTER!! How wonderful! My love and congratulations to all.

>309 RBeffa: Thank you, Ron. I have enjoyed your company (and musical knowledge) immensely in 2023. It surprises me looking back at how few records were actually released in the months of December.

>310 AMQS: So pleased to see you out and about across the threads, Anne. I do miss you when you go on a sabbatical! I trust that this will be the last Christmas that I spend on my lonesome (not fair to Erni really who has been tremendous).

>311 PaulCranswick: Winter is probably not a good time to release a record and tour to support it. I liked the FYC when they were fresh and new.

>312 RBeffa: Or get sufficient momentum for the Xmas stores. I liked their second album in 1989 better but their debut was decent too.

>313 PaulCranswick: the second album was the drive me crazy one wasn't It? I think that was my wife's favorite altho I may be misremembering. Both albums were pretty good. The one time our car was broken into and those cds got swiped. Cest la vie .

>313 PaulCranswick: Indeed it was Ron. That sucks. I was burglarized previously and my CD player was taken and I had ten CDs stacked inside it - a couple of them I was never able to find to replace.

>307 PaulCranswick: Ah 1958 - also the year of my birth. Your list mentions Madonna - she & I also graduated from high school in the bicentennial year of 1976, barely 20 miles apart (for what it's worth...).

>307 PaulCranswick: Interesting Chris - and somewhat amazingly she was Like a Virgin into the 1980s.

Wishing you and your family (however far away) all the best for the festive season, Paul!



I suspect, from the weather map, that it's bucketing down as hard for you as it is here for us.

>160 SirThomas: Same here :0)

>315 PaulCranswick: 'burglarised'!? 'Burgled', surely? However it is, I'm sorry for you and Ron. That's never fun.

>319 humouress: Either, apparently.

Hope you have a lovely day, Paul! Amazing to me that you've added nearly 600 books this year...

Not even trying to catch up, Paul, just a drive by wave.

Happy whatever!

>320 bell7: (You could, in theory, go on forever. Who burgles? A burglar. What does a burglar do? Burglarises. Who burglarises? A burglariser ... And so on)

;0)

( uuumm can i join this group or is it full )

>318 humouress: Thank you, neighbour. Yep we are having our fair share of rain at the moment aren't we? Most of the Eastern states have flooding in many parts. KL has seen a goodly bit too but nothing to that extent.

>319 humouress: Haha both are words apparently - Americanisms again! Growing up in Northern England we would definitely have said "burgled" though, you are right, Nina.

>320 bell7: Hahaha Mary, "amazing" is not the word Hani would be using if she was here and saw the books atop the dining table she adores so!
They are both words - you are right!

You have had a great reading and posting year too.

>321 alcottacre: Improved by your mere presence, Juana! Always a pleasure to have you stop by.

>322 humouress: I was out drinking single malt last night, Nina, with a couple of close buddies and my head was fine.........it is now spinning!

>323 Wings_14: Certainly not full! You will always be most welcome here and in this pretty friendly group.

>326 PaulCranswick: ( do i make a human oc or do u have on for me )

>327 Wings_14: Sorry, I didn't quite follow the gist of your post. What is "a human oc?"

>328 PaulCranswick: a oc is a character for a rp but im gessing this is a thing of a book

>329 Wings_14: You are going to think I am really dense but what is a "rp"?

role play = rp

>331 Wings_14: You can be whoever you want to be here - role play or real play is fine. Just be yourself?!

kk

https://youtu.be/LDU_Txk06tM?si=-EFtqeedB54BD-Mu here its one of my fav song

>333 Wings_14: & >334 Wings_14: I am not really a dance music fan but that is one heck of a video!

>335 PaulCranswick: ikr!

Strictly the last additions of 2023.

595. The Sound of One Hand Clapping by Richard Flanagan
596. Grand Improvisation by Derek Leebaert
597. Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette
598. This Blue : Poems by Maureen N. McLane
599. The Birthday Buyer by Adolfo Garcia Ortega
600. The Tempest by Steve Sem-Sandberg

>337 PaulCranswick: But there are still shopping days left in the year!

>337 PaulCranswick: You still have 3 days left are the bookshops closed ?😜

Great to see acquisitions have continued in my absence .... my health (x fingers) should allow me to be around more next year .... also actually read physical books ( I love audiobooks but ...)

Hope you & everyone here have a great end to the year

>338 Familyhistorian: I know I know I know, Meg. I will be studiously avoiding the shops until January!

>339 roundballnz: Great to see you, Alex and it would be fun if you were able to join more in '24.

Here's the New Year's readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356315

I'm glad you enjoyed a leg of lamb over the holidays , Paul. Will Erni be able to go with you to England, or is her visa ( or whatever ) just for Malaysia and area ? I'm sure you will be delighted to join your family in the UK.

Hi Paul just stopping by to wish you all the best for the festive season and on into 2024!

>337 PaulCranswick: My latest additions are on the 'This Just In' thread for 2023, Juan!

>343 DeltaQueen50: Thank you dear Guru. I must get along to your thread and catch up too. xx

>344 alcottacre: Off to feast my eyes, Stasia. xx

>340 PaulCranswick: its my intention, sadly lost contact with most of my LT connections in last year or so ( due to my health & my inability to be here) ....

>346 roundballnz: It would be great for me to have one of my besties back amongst us more often, but at your own pace buddy.

wish you a peaceful time, Paul

>348 paulstalder: Thank you my dear friend.

Hope you had happy holidays Paul!

>350 The_Hibernator: They are sort of starting again, Rachel. I have the next few days off work which is splendid.

Woot! I just received what I believe to be my tardy Santa Thing book (darn Amazon and their lack of promised gift cards!) Anyway, Prophet Song just showed up in my mailbox. Lovely to get one present at the end of the celebrations! And what a great choice. Thank you for all five of your great picks!

>352 streamsong: You are welcome, Janet. It was one of my favorite books of '23 so I do hope you enjoy it.

BOOK #159



The Darling Buds of May by H.E. Bates
Date of Publication : 1958
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 137 pp
150Y Book Challenge : 13/150

In large parts charming.
In certain parts humorous and engaging.
In a few parts somewhat disturbing.

The rural setting and the jauntiness of both dialogue and characterisation are charming.

The misadventures of "Charley Charlton" and Pop's cheerful skulduggery are both humorous and engaging.

The casual groping and the attempt to set up a fellow as a fall guy for an already pregnant lady is disturbing. The tax avoidance stuff less so as that was clearly satirical.

Recommended as a skewed slice of pastoral England in those heady days when we "had never had it so good".

150 BOOKS, 150 YEARS, 150 AUTHORS, 15 MONTHS

Time for one last book today and I will move on to my own birth year of 1966.

Without research it was the time of England winning the World Cup, of the Kinks topping the charts with "Sunny Afternoon", of "Revolver". Menzies retires in Australia as Indira Gandhi takes over in India and Nkrumah is ousted in Ghana. Labour win a General Election and Johnson deepens American involvement in 'Nam. Brezhnev takes over in the USSR and the South African leader Verwoerd is assassinated in the Parliament there. Ronald Reagan becomes Governor of California.
The Moors murderers are convicted in England and the Aberfan mining disaster in Wales saddens a generation.

Births
A year for attractive ladies : Janet Jackson, Halle Berry, Cindy Crawford, Selma Hayek and Sophie Marceau amongst others
A year for less attractive men : Mike Tyson, Adam Sandler, Glen Youngkin, David Cameron and yours truly
A year for celebrity chefs : Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal.

In Books : Sarah Waters, Natasha Trethewey, Sherman Alexie, Alain Mabanckou, Chris Abani and David Vann

Deaths
General Arthur Percival whose stunning leadership resulted in ignominous defeat and the fall of Singapore, Chester Nimitz, Buster Keaton, Walt Disney, Elizabeth Arden and Lenny Bruce

In Books : Evelyn Waugh, Anna Akhmatova, Frank O'Connor, C.S. Forester, Georges Duhamel, Margery Allingham, Andre Breton, Frank O'Hara, Henry Treece

A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Silence by Shusaku Endo
The Magus by John Fowles
Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A Heinlein
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry
The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
The Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott
Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
The Valley of the Dolls by Jaqueline Susann
The Virgin Soldiers by Leslie Thomas

I will be reading The Broken House : Growing Up Under Hitler by Horst Kruger

>355 PaulCranswick:. Always interesting to read your review of the year. I've read 10 of the books you listed. Happy New Year Paul.

>356 Kristelh: Thank you, Kristel.

It is already 2024 here!

A very healthy, book filled new year to all my friends in the group.

>304 PaulCranswick: Thank you for being you!

>358 PaulCranswick: Happy new year! Getting ready to create my 2024 thread.

>358 PaulCranswick: Happy New Year, Paul, may 2024 bring you happiness, love and a lot of good reads!

I hope your year will be filled with family happiness, love and many books.

>359 witchyrichy: Aww thank you Karen. You too. I always enjoy your company in the group.

>360 FAMeulstee: I will do my very best to replicate your example, Anita. You are one of my reading heroines! Happy new year to you and Frank. xx

>361 DianaNL: Thank you dear Diana. Will be calling the gang in 18 minutes.

Happy New Year, Paul! You are calling this minute, I guess. Wishing you the best for next year.

>364 EllaTim: Just on the phone to the gang (sans Kyran who was chatting to his girlfriend, I guess). Thank you for your kindness and friendship in the group, Ella - Happy New Year!

BOOK #160



The Broken House : Growing Up Under Hitler by Horst Kruger
Date of Publication : 1966
Origin of Author : Germany
Pages : 171 pp
150Y Challenge : 14/150

I have often wondered how did the German people so completely fall under the Nazi spell. I am still not sure and - to be fair to Kruger - he was a child when Hitler came to power.

I guess the overriding feeling is that they went from apathy to ecstasy to a state of fear.

Interesting and elegiac memoir of a very puzzling and shameful period in the German collective psyche.

hey yall ABC is going to do the ball drop

>367 Wings_14: Happy new year, Vivian.