Clam Shares Books & Cheese ❂ 2024 ~ Part I ❂

Happy New Year, all of you.

I have sooooo many cheeses to share from my Cheese Advent Calendar, but that will have to wait a few days. I have to catch up on everyone else's new threads first!

Here's a little something for you to nibble on while I catch up.

A cheese Advent calendar! I would love to hear more about this!

It was this one:



There was Cheddar, Vintage Cheddar, Red Leicester, Aged Red Leicester, Double Gloucester, and Cheddar with Apple, Onion & Sage, Smoked Applewood, Applewood Vintage and Mexicana Cheddar. The Aged Red Leicester was to die for, and all of the others were great.

That sounds *amazing*.

>1 clamairy: Happy New Year! And - wow! Cheeeeeeeeese...

Happy New Thread!

>4 clamairy: That sounds delicious! Happy reading in 2024 :)

Mmmmm, cheese! Happy New Year, clam!

Happy New Year!

A new thread and the first spammer of the year!

Happy New Year! I need to keep that cheese advent calendar in mind for next year.

>10 Karlstar: You beat me to it. I was thinking she fished up the first spam of the year, Winner, Winner! Fried spam dinner!

>12 MrsLee: & >10 Karlstar: But spam and cheese don't go together! 😆

Thank you, all.

Happy new year!

That advent calendar looks pretty great. Looking forward to another great year in the Pub.

>15 Bookmarque: Thank you, that's lovely. Very Kindle-centric, like my reading tastes! (I'm shocked you didn't put tiny wedges of cheese between all the books.) LOL

Ha! Maybe next year. I actually put this one together especially for you because you read ebooks so much.

>13 clamairy: Yes they do! I had a delicious fried spam and asiago slider Saturday! It was quite good, really.

>1 clamairy: Looks wonderful! Thank you. Cheese also serves as a cheery reminder of the upside of aging.

I've been getting into manchego, thanks to all the coaxing on your earlier thread.

Happy reading and happy nibbling to you in this consequential new year.

Happy New Year! I hope it will bring you good things in books, cheese and life.

Begin a new year and begin a new thread! I hope that 2024 only brings you satisfying reads and invigorating walks along the shoreline.

>17 Bookmarque: I love the idea of there being so many books loaded on that Kindle that one needs a little tiny ladder to access them.

>18 Karlstar: I don't believe I'm ready to try that. Though I have been known to make toasted ham and cheese sandwiches. I'm sure it's a similar taste.

>19 Meredy: Apparently I lost a piece of manchego in the back of my fridge a few months ago. I just found it the other day. I've been using a vegetable slicer to shred chunks of it onto my salad.

>14 Jim53:, >20 Sakerfalcon: & >21 jillmwo: Many thanks. I might actually try to make a list of books I want to read this year. I haven't done that in ages.

Happy New Year! I hope you'll have a wonder reading year.

Happy new year! Mmm, cheese -- don't mind if I do!

>23 mattries37315: & >24 foggidawn: Thank you!

I finished reading Hogfather this morning, so I will be posting about that tomorrow, hopefully.

Happy new year! May this year bring lots of joy!

>25 clamairy: Oh, the book that inspired the made-for-tv movie that made we want to read Discworld. Looking forward to your thoughts.

Just passing the word that another Discworld book is coming out this year:
Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being A Witch, coauthored by Rhianna Pratchett

Hogfather is brilliant. The only bits I found myself not 100% in love with were some of the Unseen University bits, and even those often got a begrudged groan* out of me. I always love scenes with Death, because he seems both all-knowing yet constantly confused by humanity.

My favorite bits:

There was always something waiting to eat or carry off bad boys and girls for crimes like stuttering or defiantly and aggravatingly persisting in writing with their left hand. There was always a Scissor Man waiting for a little girl who sucked her thumb, always a bogeyman in the cellar. Of such bricks is the innocence of childhood constructed.

Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on.

She’d become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do. And she’d taken to it well. She’d sworn that if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she’d beat herself to death with her own umbrella.

It was a big drink. A very big and a very long drink. It was one of those special cocktails where each very sticky, very strong ingredient is poured in very slowly, so that they layer on top of one another. Drinks like this tend to get called Traffic Lights or Rainbow’s Revenge or, in places where truth is more highly valued, Hello and Good-bye, Mr. Brain Cell.

This was my first time meeting Susan, I believe. I will have to read Soul Music next. Here is a snippet I just loved from her chat with her Grandfather (Death) at the end:

“All right,” said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying humans need . . . fantasies to make life bearable.”
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

*Note to self: if you ever find a boarded up bathroom in a building, don't use it.

>27 mattries37315: Is that movie any good?

>28 2wonderY: Oh! That sounds wonderful, thank you for the news.

>29 clamairy: That one about needing fantasy to be human is one of my all time favorite Discworld quotes. So profound.

>29 clamairy:. Do you know I still haven't read that one yet...I should remedy the omission.

>32 jillmwo: Yes, but perhaps put a reminder somewhere to read it next December. Maybe a sticky note on one of your Christmas decoration boxes...

I am reading Hogfather slowly. There are some astute observations, nicely worded, and humorously presented. I have not been holding my pen and marking said, humorously presented, astute observations while I was reading so do not be so probing as to ask me to quote examples. You will only find disappointment awaits you along that path.

>30 clamairy: Yes.

>29 clamairy: & >34 pgmcc: I find that I cannot now say "tea time" in the way most people say it. Same with "Fragile" after watching A Christmas Story.

Fra
Gee
Lay

>36 MrsLee: & >37 Bookmarque: I always say fra-gee-lay, and I'm glad that I have no need to say the word teatime, because now I don't know what would come out of my mouth. I always just say "I'm having a cup of tea." Or, "Does anyone else want tea?"

It's a major award.

>38 clamairy: Any time is tea time with 5yo grandbaby. She calls it tea party, but always wants cocoa. It’s the ceremony and the fussiness I think she likes. She gets to pour.

>29 clamairy: Wonderful! I should reread - I've read Hogfather very long ago and I just realized that I don't remember very much.

My book club read Guards! Guards! last year. A lucky choice, as it turned out that I read some of the later Night Watch books, but not the first one. It seems that there are always more Discworld books for me to discover and reread. Isn't it great?

>41 Alexandra_book_life: Yes, there are so many. I think I've only made through about ⅓ of them so far. I've mixed listening to the audiobooks with reading them.

I whipped through Head On by John Scalzi rather quickly. I got the version narrated by Wil Wheaton after having mistakenly bought the other version, and having to return it. This series is very enjoyable. It's Detective SciFi... with a lot of humor. I assume/hope he's going to keep going with this series.

I might have to come back and tweak what I say here about The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. I think this is the 3rd book of his I've read and it's definitely my least favorite. I gave it 3½ stars. It's very similar thematically to Brideshead Revisited, but I think Waugh handled it more gracefully. It's a very complicated way to address whether or not the protagonist (and I'm assuming the author) can accept the existence of a god after the turn of events his life and love affair have taken. You don't like him much, when he's telling the story, but you like his lover, Sarah... Until it's time for her side of the story, and then you think she's a bit of nutter and Bendrix isn't so bad after all. (I realize this is indicative of the level of self-loathing both of them indulge in.) The writing wasn't an issue, just the likability and believability of the characters. I waited until I was done to look up info about this book and it appears he wrote this right after his affair with a neighbor's wife ended, which would explain a lot of his anger. Also his obvious conflict about religious beliefs became annoying to me. Not a great read for me, but it's been on my 'book bucket list' for decades, so I'm happy to have finally gotten to it.

I have started reading Long Chills and Case Dough which was a surprise gift novella that Brandon Sanderson sent out right before the holidays. I needed something light! And I've started listening to Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari.

>43 clamairy: I really liked Lock In, the first one in the series. A quick and entertaining read! I'll get to this one eventually, I expect.

>46 Alexandra_book_life: I don't think I've ever been disappointed in a Scalzi book.

>47 clamairy: Have you read or listened to Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome yet?

>48 Karlstar: That's the prequel, right? No, I haven't. I got the impression that wasn't quite as funny as the other two. Did you enjoy it?

>49 clamairy: Kind of a prequel, kind of not. I did not like it at all.

Happy reading in 2024!

>50 Karlstar: I think I'll be skipping it, then. I feel like I got enough of a background on & history of the syndrome in the first book.

>51 libraryperilous: Thank you!

Long Chills and Case Dough was a surprise gift from Brandon Sanderson for those people who were part of his Kickstarter in 2023. He wrote it as an undergraduate as part of a homework assignment. It was entertaining, and, thankfully, very short. There was no indication that this young writer would be capable of the sublime The Emperor's Soul at any point in the future. I thought it read a lot more like something Scalzi might have written at the age of 20. I would only recommend this one to Sanderson completists.

>44 clamairy: I have never read the book but I hated the movie. Seemed to say that God bases decisions on semantics!

>54 littlegeek: Was that the Ralph Fiennes version? I was planning to watch that after I read the book, but once I had finished I decided I didn't want anything more to do with that story.

Funny, I've had that book languishing on my wishlist at audible and now it shall be struck! Thanks for the public spiritedness.

>56 Bookmarque: Ha! You are welcome. I don't think I would have minded it if I had read it 40 years ago. But I have little patience these days. Also, some of it was supposed to be from Sarah's journal, so it was almost stream of consciousness. "That is not my bag, baby!"

>38 clamairy: There is a waste disposal service in the Boston area called Orifice Recycling and Refuse. I've always found it a terribly unfortunate name. Not sure if it's pronounced "Or-i-fee-chay" or not.

>58 Marissa_Doyle: Bwahaha.... Perhaps one of us should call when the office is closed to see what the recorded message says.

>58 Marissa_Doyle: That is truly a gag inducing name. I can only hope it is pronounced the way you suggest.

I finally finished The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman. This one took me a year and a half to get through because I was mainly only reading it at bedtime, and then only if I'd just finished something else and wasn't sure what to start next. I loved it, but it was also rather depressing. We have decimated the bird populations everywhere, and not all of this was done accidentally. Still there is much to marvel at when studying our feathered friends. I will continue to feed, observe and admire the ones I am lucky to come across.

Each spring the robins nesting in our cherry tree attack the side mirror of our car as if it were a rival, pecking furiously at their own reflections while streaking the door with guano. But who among us hasn’t been toppled by our vanity or made an enemy of our own image?

On the Delaware shore, I’ve watched osprey bring to their nests shiny ribbons, bottles, and bits of Mylar balloons. One osprey nest in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, had a wristwatch hanging from it.*

The Arctic tern, a bird who lives by his love of long daylight and bent for high mileage, circles the world in orbit with the seasons, flying from its nesting grounds in Greenland and Iceland to its wintering grounds off the coast of Antarctica—a round-trip of almost forty-four thousand miles. In an average thirty-year lifetime, then, a tern may fly the equivalent of three trips to the moon and back.

“AS A HUMAN BEING,” Einstein once wrote, “one has been endowed with just enough intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence is when confronted with what exists.”

*I have posted pics on Instagram & Facebook of the Osprey's nest near me that had a full size butterfly net attached to one side.

I have finally started At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard. I have been saving this for a time when I could relax and savor it. It's well over 1300 pages so I assume I will be savoring it for a while! I loved The Hands of the Emperor so very much, and this has already made me close my eyes and sigh a couple of time and I'm only 3% of the way in. :o)

>61 clamairy: We have decimated the bird populations everywhere, and not all of this was done accidentally. Can you amplify on that? Under what circumstances do we try to reduce specific bird populations?

It may be due to insufficient caffeine on my part, but at the moment, the only case I can think of might be hawks which can swoop down and grab small prey -- chickens come to mind or rabbits. Farmers may not like hawks all the time, but they usually respect their place in the ecosystem and don't necessarily try to go out and eradicate them. Or did the authors mean that we're destroying the various environments that birds require for nesting, etc.?

>62 jillmwo: feral urban pigeons, perhaps?

>62 jillmwo: Check the history of women’s hats.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/migratory-bird-act-anniversary-keeping-fe...

>62 jillmwo: The extinction of the Passenger Pigeon comes to mind.

>65 foggidawn: I was just about to say that. And the dodo.

>62 jillmwo: If you do some Googling the list of the birds we've eradicated is long, and, if you read the footnotes, in many of these cases the people were aware they were killing the last few and didn't care. When I say it was not accidental, I mean the humans were using these dead birds for a purpose and aware they were eradicating the entire species.

Great Auk, Dodo, Laughing Owl, Elephant Bird, New Zealand Quail, Kangaroo Island Emu, Labrador Duck, Carolina Parakeet & Mauritius Blue Pigeon are just a few that pop up. European settlers were killing one of these birds (Great Auk?) and using their bodies as firewood.

Shooting estates in the UK deliberately target hen harriers and other birds of prey, even though those species are endangered and/or legally protected.

>68 libraryperilous: :o(

>67 clamairy: That's what I was thinking as well, that while maybe the goal wasn't extinction, the humans knew what was going on and just didn't care.

Not intending to malign any particular country, but I read that certain places in Europe where there are large song bird migrations, hunters devastate them as they pass, indiscriminate of species.

I read the same book many years ago and am always gutted at the wanton destruction humans can wreak. However, it's the small things, too. Despite my efforts by hanging paracord in all my windows that have had bird strikes, one finds the one that doesn't and now there is a dead blue jay in my backyard; killed by my house.

>55 clamairy: yes

>72 Bookmarque: Oh no! I have those reflective decals all over my big living room window. Occasionally one still hits, but not going at high speed anymore, thankfully. I'm not going to tempt fate by saying how well they are working.

>71 MrsLee: That's horrible, but when I think about it I am not terribly surprised, just very sad.

Just a quick update. I am 686 pages (only 51% of the way) into At the Feet of the Sun. It's taking longer than I expected, but I am enjoying it very much indeed.

*thumbs up*

It's sooooo good. I hope you keep enjoying it!

>75 clamairy: Oh, wonderful! It's such a good book. I didn't quite know what to expect from a sequel to The Hands of the Emperor, and it surprised me in all the right ways.

I found much of Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow to be fascinating and some of it was even brilliant, but there was also a chunk of it that I found disturbing. The anthropology bits I loved, the artificial intelligence bits... not so much. If algorithms have no consciousness how can they 'know us better than we know ourselves?' According to Yuval Noah Harari Facebook, Google etc can predict our tastes and actions better than our friends & family can. In fact, they can predict some things better than we can ourselves. I hate that idea.

He does point out that the powers that be in the olden days (powers that were?) ruled by censoring the information available to the general public. Now we pretty much have the same end result because we are constantly bombarded with information, much of it trivial and distracting, to keep us from paying attention to what is really happening. Interesting stuff.

I am moving on to The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts.

>79 clamairy: Interesting comments on Homo Deus. The unintended consequences of AI will cause many disasters.

>80 pgmcc: I'm sure. And wonderful things, too. We're screwed anyway, IMHO.

>81 clamairy: I'm not thrilled with some of the hyped expectations of AI, but most of the people I know are leveraging it in the interests of internal system efficiency rather than aiming it at the consumer.

I am hoping that we're not *totally* screwed...

>82 jillmwo: Sorry, I was basing that on my assessment of what's happening to the climate.:o(

>79 clamairy: I've had my eye on The Six, I'll be watching for your comments.

>84 Karlstar: It is quite good so far, but I'm only about 25% in.

Ahhh, what's not to love about 1337 pages of Cliopher Mdang and His Radiancy adventuring in the realm of the stars? Apparently I was supposed to read The Return of Fitzroy Angursell before I dove into At the Feet of the Sun, so I will have to backtrack for that one. The language and the worlds they visit (and inhabit) were balm for my Winter-weary soul these last two weeks. I can't wait for it to be warm enough for me to start kayaking on the bay and pretending I'm in Cliopher's Ring of volcanic islands. I might even have to make a shell necklace.

At some point I found myself distressed that Kip and Fitzroy, despite their great love and admiration for one another, couldn't work out how to proceed with their post-ruling relationship. Like all things, it took time and a lot of communicating and soul searching (and a few magical quests and quite a bit of time among the stars) for them to find their footing with each other, and work out how to be together. Wonderful stuff.

He had lifted up the world so that the emperor on his golden throne could step down without falling.

If you haven't read The Hands of the Emperor then don't even think about trying to read this. You will be confused. Also, there is obviously going to be a third book coming! YAY!!!

I don't know what's up next. Something SHORT! :o)

>86 clamairy: Sounds like you liked it! Your touchstone for The Hands of the Emperor appears to be something about surgery?

>86 clamairy: and >87 Karlstar: Actually, it's a very funny problem having to do with the work's metadata. Clam, your link as Karlstar points out has the title of Claudius the God by Robert Graves and then the little blurb describes a textbook on surgery on the thyroid and any resulting complications from that surgery. (Some serious giggling coming from this corner here!!) @Karlstar, your touchstone has the same issue.

>87 Karlstar: & >88 jillmwo: I'm very confused, because I altered that to point to the correct book, and it should have stayed even when I edited the post. Are we back to reverting to the wrong touchstone when you edit a post again?

Okay, right now, your post >86 clamairy: is showing the right touchstone (as of 7:35pm EST). However, >87 Karlstar: is still showing the badly muddled touchstone.

>90 jillmwo: Yes, I fixed mine again. I've always had that touchstone issue with this book, and I don't know why. The titles are not even similar.

>86 clamairy: There are so many things to love about this book! The things you write make me want to reread... I definitely will, but probably later ;)

Also, I did the same thing you did: I dived into this one right after The Hands of the Emperor. Then I read the novellas, and then The Return of Fitzroy Angursell. It worked pretty well :)

>86 clamairy: I just read this one earlier this month. So, so good. I also did the same thing and went straight to this one after THotE. I still have so much Goddard to read!

>92 Alexandra_book_life: & >93 curioussquared: After spending quite a bit of time searching for something else to start I realized I was simply not ready to leave the Nine Worlds behind just yet and I've started Petty Treasons. I found the author suggested reading order page here on LT, so I will most likely use that as my guide for the rest of the books. (Most of which appear to be novelas.) I will have to pace myself.

>92 Alexandra_book_life: >93 curioussquared: >94 clamairy: This may be an unwarranted and sweeping generalization but I think this set of exchanges is a real indicator of appeal and what may be missing from current titles from mainstream publishers. These stories seem to gain readership primarily through word of mouth. I've not seen any traditional marketing support done. I see women passing the word on the books to others in their network (I haven't seen it being done through men as much). But there is a clear message here about what kind of "soothing" fiction people may be looking for in their leisure reading. (Note that I put soothing in quotes because I'm really not sure it's the right word to describe the appeal. It just indicates a lack of explosions, shoot-em-ups, and existential despair and angst.)

>95 jillmwo: I believe you are correct. The next time I'm in a book store (which will likely be soon as I received a B&N gift card for my birthday) I will check to see if Victoria Goddard's books are on display or even in stock. I think it was @Sakerfalcon who brought the first book to my attention, and then you and a handful of others were spraying bullets around as well.

At their core these books are about dismantling outdated governmental structures and replacing them with ones that benefit all. Practically subversive.

>96 clamairy: They're about restoring the human connections in order to foster a properly-functioning society. How to manage in an era of people feeling the disruptions of chaos and disconnection. (IMHO). At least that's what I'm saying in a book group discussion tomorrow.

>97 jillmwo: Yes, that too. I especially loved how the arts flourished as a side effect of some of Kip's new laws. Yes, I know, it's fantasy, but I can't help feeling there is a lot of truth at the core of these books. Or perhaps it's just wishful thinking on my part.

>90 jillmwo: >91 clamairy: I think we're all on the same title page now.

>95 jillmwo:, >96 clamairy: She self-publishes, so no marketing support and not likely to be stocked in stores even if she's out in print via IngramSpark. I'm trying to remember how I stumbled across her, years ago--on Barnes and Noble's website, I think.

>99 Karlstar: Yay!

>100 Marissa_Doyle: I did not know this. I'm thankful my library consortium has them all, then. They don't always have self-published or indie* books. I will be buying them all over time.

*They now only have one of yours, Marissa, but I'm positive there used to be more available. I've been buying them one at a time as well when your publisher has a sale.

>100 Marissa_Doyle:. What I found interesting was one woman who told me she'd been able to borrow the book in print from her library. She was complaining about how heavy the book was when she was trying to read in bed. First of all, I hadn't even been aware you could get it in hardcover, and secondly, that the local library would be apt to have acquired it. (Honestly, I can't tell you the number of people who've thanked me for the recommendation IRL. Again, purely a word-of-mouth kind of thing.) At the moment, if this is a print on demand book, they're saying at AMZ that it can take 3-5 days before shipment. Given the no. of pages, that's pretty respectable.

>102 jillmwo: I read the ebook, but decided that I wanted to have a hard copy because I liked it so much. It is a chonk! I'm not sure if I'll ever read it in that format, but it's comforting to have it. Some libraries have policies about buying patron requests if at all possible, so that might be why they had it.

I've also noticed it seems to be entirely a word of mouth thing! I've really only heard of Goddard's work on LT. I am semi-active on TikTok and want to figure out a way to make Goddard go viral on that platform. She deserves the sales!!

I have to correct my above comment. @Marissa_Doyle was the first person to mention The Hands of the Emperor in this group, back in June of 2021! She was followed by @Athabasca, who put it on her Best of the Year list.

>102 jillmwo: Yes, I also checked Amazon. It's 3-5 days, $25 for the paperback and $42 for the hardcover. B&N has the all the same options, but the Nook version is more expensive than the Kindle version. (So I just bought the Kindle version. LOL)

>102 jillmwo:, >105 clamairy: Some authors will produce hardcover copies specifically to cater to the library market--I design a bunch of the print books for my publishing co-op, and Sherwood Smith almost always has me create a paperback AND hardcover edition. But the cost is high--I'm not surprised her hardcover is $42.

>105 clamairy: >106 Marissa_Doyle: In Australia, both Booktopia and Amazon AU have the paperback, for, respectively, A$57.41 and A$40. Amazon AU also has the hardback, for A$71.53 (US$46.60). Neither one seems to have any of the e-versions.

I loved this! Petty Treasons is set in the Nine Worlds, earlier than the time of The Hands of the Emperor. What a great glimpse into His Radiancy's thoughts leading up to the cataclysmic Fall of the Empire, and its immediate aftermath. We get to see Cliopher through the Last Emperor eyes. This is a such a great study of gaslighting and manipulation, as the ruling mages seek to separate the emperor so thoroughly from his people with rituals and taboos that he almost forgets his humanity. I was blown away.

>107 haydninvienna: No ebook version surprises me!

>108 clamairy: I also thought it was lovely. It's very interesting to see the same thing through different characters' POV.

>109 clamairy: There are ebook versions of all Goddard's works but maybe Australian rights are an issue. Maybe it would work to buy directly from here:
https://www.victoriagoddard.ca/collections/all

>111 reconditereader: Thank you! Do you know if the author receives more of the proceeds if I buy from that website than she does when I use Amazon? Because I will just get them there from now on if she does.

I believe it is better in general to buy directly from her website, yes.

>112 clamairy: Just popping to reinforce the response from @reconditereader because that is correct. Order from the author directly where feasible.

>101 clamairy: "I'm thankful my library consortium has them all..."

My library overdrive system also has a ton of Victoria Goddard titles available as e-books. I have to admit that the length of The Hands of the Emperor scares me a bit but, despite said length, I have added to my wish list and will try to get to it soon.

>95 jillmwo: "I see women passing the word on the books to others in their network (I haven't seen it being done through men as much)."

On Amazon, I notice the majority of negative reviews for THotE are from male readers. A few of their specific comments also lead me to believe that their political leanings may not be fully compatible with feminism, or at least contributed to their lack of enjoyment. No additional comment on that as I don't want to go skating on thin political ice here in the pub.

>115 ScoLgo: Yes, that wouldn't surprise me, except there are not a ton of major female characters in the book. There is a thick undercurrent of political and social egalitarianism that might perhaps rattle some readers. I do hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It is veeery long, but worth the time. (And I believe the sequel is the longest book I've ever read.)

Paladin's Grace was a lot of fun, and forced me to rethink some of my other ratings here on LT. I really wish we had ¼ stars available on our ratings. LOL My biggest quibble is with the angsty side of the growing romance. I wish that hadn't been so much of the focus. It's well written with two good mysteries to solve, and a very liberal dose of humor on top. What's not to love?

>117 clamairy: The angst-laden romance turned this into a DNF for me, actually. I can only take so much of that...

>118 Marissa_Doyle: I hear you. I almost gave up myself. Having truly enjoyed Nettle & Bone I decided to keep going. I'm very glad I did, but I wish she had toned that down a bit. More than a bit, even ...

>117 clamairy: I think I'll have to check out whether the mysteries and humor outweigh the angst.

>117 clamairy: I am planning to read the series this year! (Soon, probably.) My husband has read the whole thing at the speed of light recently, and has been bugging me to read it, too, so that we can have a mini book club about it ;)))

>120 Jim53: It's a quadruple dose, at least.

>121 Alexandra_book_life: I'm a bit jaded about these things. I hope you enjoy them. I'm assuming (hoping!) that this issue is absent in the rest of the series. I will probably keep going, just not right away.

>117 clamairy:. I think I enjoyed this particular one for the humor as well. However, I thought the basic premise of what happens to the various paladins in the absence of the deity was an interesting idea. But yes, spread these out just a bit between tastings.

>123 jillmwo: Yes, that part was fascinating! Also, speaking as a former Catholic, the fact that guilt was the thing Stephen and the other godless paladins did best was both touching and humorous. It is one of the reasons why I will probably keep going. That, and the rest of the humor.

I raced right back to the Nine Worlds and dove into The Game of Courts. Quite good! I've already moved on to the next novela.

>125 clamairy: Nice! I read this one last year - it was very enjoyable :) It's difficult to leave the Nine Worlds...

Yes, I kept going. I enjoyed Portrait of a Wide Seas Islander a wee bit more than the previous novela. I loved seeing the world (and Kip) through Buru Tovo's eyes. Excellent stuff. And yes, I'm now reading The Return of Fitzroy Angursell, and then I plan to take a break from The Nine Worlds. That's my story for now, anyway.

>127 clamairy: Sounds delightful! I think that Portrait of a Wide Seas Islander is probably a favourite of mine (among the shorter Nine Worlds stories, anyway ;) ). I loved Buru Tovo's POV.

Good luck with The Return of Fitzroy Angursell :)

>127 clamairy: I really need to get back into this world. I loved Hands of the emperor SO much.

>128 Alexandra_book_life: Yes, it was quite refreshing. I did want to hear more about his relationship with the Son of Laughter, though.

>129 Sakerfalcon: I hope you find the time to squeeze a few of the shorter ones into your reading queue. You won't be disappointed.

I finished listening to The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush, and I recommend this one. I did find my blood boiling and my head starting to explode quite a few times, though. The book begins with the early women pioneers who tried to become part of NASA and were refused entry. Then it moves on to the first six who were accepted into the program, and it covers all of the issues they faced. (Including NASA's refusal to make spacesuits that actually fit them properly.) It is ultimately a book about multiple triumphs, and a few tragedies. Wonderful stuff.

I scribbled down a few notes to myself while I was listening. One of them reads "John Glenn was a sexist asshole." I no longer have as much respect for the likes of Mr. Glenn or Chuck Yeager. I'm not trying to minimize their accomplishments, but they both actively tried to keep women from being allowed to become astronauts. That is something I cannot wrap my head around.

>131 clamairy: My understanding is that the early days of rocket flight testing and such was very much the Good Old Boys and Hot Shot pilots with stiff competition. It doesn't surprise me at all that they wanted to keep women out of it. After all, those women needed to be home making all those wonderful Jello salads and such in their wonderful new atomic kitchens. And serving their men beers and highballs.

>132 MrsLee: Exactly! Pineapples and carrots in orange jello! *gag* My mother made this a few times, and we ate it. Of course we were very hungry kids.

I thought it was rather telling that it was John Glenn who spoke out, when his main contribution to the space program was to be strapped into a tin can that was attached to the top of a giant rocket and shot into space with virtually no control over what happened to him. The Apollo astronauts, on the other hand, had to have some serious piloting skills to be able to maneuver the command modules and the lunar modules. None of them tried to keep women out of NASA, to my knowledge.

>131 clamairy: Some years ago, I read a YA book called Almost Astronauts, and it had the same effect of making my blood boil.

>134 foggidawn: That sounds like a great YA book. I might look for that at a later date. I'm afraid if I read it now it would push me over the edge.

I'm finished with The Return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard and now I am taking a break from The Nine Worlds. This was very good, but I didn't love it as much The Hands of the Emperor, At the Feet of the Sun or even Petty Treasons. It definitely serves its purpose, but I'm actually glad that I didn't read it before At the Feet of the Sun. (Although it would have helped solve the question of why Pali gave Kip such a hard time.) The POV seemed very different to me than the one in Petty Treasons despite them being told by the same person. I suppose in that book His Radiancy is just starting to embrace his humanity again, whereas in this one he has completely accepted it.

Now on to The Prestige, for which I was riddled with dozens of BBs this past week. I had planned to start The Red House Mystery by Milne, but when I went to borrow the book I realized they didn't have the Kindle version, and I didn't feel like trying to read it on my Kindle Fire or my tablet.

I forgot to mention that I am currently listening to Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?

Oh, and in January I read 9 books and listened to 2.

>136 clamairy: I hope you enjoy The Prestige, Clare. Have you seen the movie?

>137 ScoLgo: Thank you. You were one of the perpetrators of the barrage of bullets. Yes, I have, but it was long enough ago (during a very stressful time) that remember very little about it.

Like with The Shining, the book and the movie versions of The Prestige are totally different beasts, but successful and enjoyable in their own ways. Plus the movie has Hugh Jackman and well...who doesn't love that?

>139 Bookmarque: Uh huh. Jackman. Yes please.

>136 clamairy: I very much enjoyed The Red House Mystery, too. :)

>136 clamairy: Another thumbs up for the Red House Mystery.

>139 Bookmarque: David Bowie also. Bowie could have had a great career as an actor if he hadn't become a musician.

>141 haydninvienna: The David Bowie bit is the only part of the film that I remember.

>140 MrsLee: Maybe when I feel like using the Kindle fire again I'll try it. It weighs a lot more!

I finished Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? which is free for Audible members. I highly recommend this one if you are not the squeamish type. I generally am not, but some of this was pushing the boundary for me. Mostly is was just fascinating. The author is Caitlin Doughty who is a licensed mortician and the host and creator of the "Ask a Mortician" web series. She is intelligent and hilarious.

I haven't decided what I'm listening to next. Probably more nonfiction.

Small part overall, but Bowie as Tesla was mesmerizing. And yeah, he could have done more acting than he did, but he chose well. Breaks my heart that I have no more Bowie albums to anticipate after a lifetime of savoring the an - ti - ci

pation.

omg i never realised that tesla was played by bowie. wow.

well now i know. That's quite transformative... which shouldn't be surprising.

The Prestige didn't really start to grab me until I got closer to the end of the book. Part of the problem for me was that none of the characters were particularly likable, although I found I could still have some sympathy for them at times, and find them interesting. It's the tale of two obsessed stage magicians, one of whom has barely any conscience, and the other of whom lives a lie just to have a cool stage trick to perform. The author did a very good job with his tone, because the writing set in the past reminded me quite of bit of Frankenstein.

I had to do some googling to find out how the book differed from the film. I have no desire to rewatch it at this point, even if it has four of my favorite men in it.

I'm on to Lessons in Chemistry next, which I have heard very good buzz about.

I got a big kick out of Lessons in Chemistry. That's saying a lot for a book with tags like Sexism and Misogyny, but it is also tagged Humor. It is quite funny, but also simply heartbreaking in places. About ten pages in I almost bailed because of violence against a woman character, but I am so glad that I did not. This one paired well with The Six that I finished just 10 days ago.

Here is the main character Elizabeth talking to her ridiculously intelligent dog, Six-Thirty.

She’d just finished telling Six-Thirty that fiction was problematic. People were always insisting they knew what it meant, even if the writer hadn’t meant that at all, and even if what they thought it meant had no actual meaning. “Bovary’s a great example,” she said. “Here, where Emma licks her fingers? Some believe it signifies carnal lust; others think she just really liked the chicken. As for what Flaubert actually meant? No one cares."

I think I will be starting The Patron Saint of Liars next, because Ann Patchett just popped up in my Facebook feed to tell me that this book has been banned (along with Bel Canto) somewhere in Florida. As luck would have it the book is on sale for $1.99 right now so I snapped it up.

Why would you ban Bel Canto?!!?! One of the finest novels I've ever read.

>150 littlegeek: I'll send you her video on Facebook. She wasn't really sure why either one of the books was banned.

I'm on a facebook vacation rn, but I will watch when I return. Thanks!

I enjoyed The Patron Saint of Liars, which was Patchett's first book published. It's not quite as polished as her better known books such as Bel Canto, State of Wonder and Tom Lake, but it's very poignant. It's a book primarily about a Catholic Home for unwed mothers in Kentucky during the 1960s & 70s. (Thankfully this place is nothing like the Madeline Laundries!) I still can't fathom why it would be banned. There are no sex scenes, zero obscenities, and it's basically a warning NOT to get pregnant unless you actually want a child. Book banners must be weird and desperate people.

I've gone back to reading Killers of the Flower Moon which I bought and started eons ago, and then set aside for an ebook loan and then forgot about.

>153 clamairy: I sometimes think book banners must rely on keyword searches or just a vague dislike for a book's title. It's obvious that they don't actually read the books, as that might instill some empathy or intellectual curiosity.

>154 foggidawn: I'm sure you're right. It was foolish of me to even entertain the thought that any of them had read this.

Back when I lived in Connecticut some nitwit tried to get The Witch of Blackbird Pond banned because she felt it promoted witchcraft. When she was interviewed for the Hartford Courant she admitted she had absolutely no clue what the book was about, and hadn't read one word of it. This is what we're up against.

On the upside, trying to get a book banned is a sure way to get a lot of folks curious about it and wanting to read it! I was always more interested in those books as a child than in others. I probably never would have the Harry Potter series if some mom's in our school group hadn't told us we mustn't let our kids read them. I'm one of those people who are more likely to do something if you tell me not to.

>156 MrsLee: Oh, absolutely! I am the same way, and so are both of my kids. :o) There's a banned book group here on LT that I don't visit often enough. I get some great recommendations from them.

>153 clamairy: They've gone off the edge in so many of these kinds of cases. I haven't read that particular Ann Pratchett novel, but I did read The Witch of Blackbird Pond and I remember being befuddled when that one showed up on banned book lists in my library coursework.

>153 clamairy: A previous government here made a laughing stock of themselves many years ago by banning Black Beauty, evidently on the strength of the short title alone. I'm sure >154 foggidawn:'s logic applied.

>158 jillmwo: But clearly it has the word witch right there in the title, so it must be an evil book!

>159 hfglen: Oh, that's worthy of both laughter and tears.

>160 clamairy: I thought you might be interested in this initiative which was announced yesterday: https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/new-free-book-resume-resource/ (If not yesterday, then just earlier in the week.)

Check out some of the titles included. (Unfortunately, Witch on Blackbird Pond wasn't included but some of the other titles may ring a bell or two. I saw Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and Judy Blume's Are you there, God? It's Me, Margaret. The latter has been under siege since the '70's.

>161 jillmwo: Thank you for that. I recognized some from the most recent list, and some from the 2022 list. That map of which states have the biggest issues was a shocker. I was not at all surprised to see that Texas is the worst, but I was a bit shocked to see that Massachusetts is having banning issues. Pennsylvania, too!

I bought Killers of the Flower Moon when it was on sale for Kindle several years ago (5? 6?) after I saw it on a Best of the Year list in the NY Times. I am glad I read it, but this was a tough one for me. It's enough to make one lose a lot of one's faith in humanity. I cannot think of anyone I would recommend this to among my RL friends, and possibly only one or two in my virtual friend group.

Four stars from me.

I was desperate for something to clear my head and lighten my heart and the book gods smiled upon me because The Stranger Times was finally ready to download from OverDrive. YAY! This one was a direct shot from Peter, followed by multiple rounds from various others in here. So far I would say my mood has improved drastically.

>163 clamairy:
I am glad The Stranger Times is hitting the spot. Long may it last.

One thing I thought when reading The Stranger Times was McDonnell's skill to write a new set of books with a feel and style that is very different from his Dublin Trilogy and McGarry Stateside series.

>163 clamairy: Those kind of books are a tough read, but I make myself read them now and then because the events should not be forgotten, and we need to be aware. Glad you found something to lighten your spirit though. *hug*

>164 pgmcc: I've only read the first book in the Dublin Trilogy, and for some reason this one seems a lot funnier to me. I'm only about 20% of the way in, though.

>165 MrsLee: Thank you for the hugs, and yes, I completely agree. Which is why I kept going even though it was breaking my heart. At some point I plan to watch the movie version. (But definitely not soon!)

I absolutely love The Stranger Times books, and they are a perfect palate cleanser after a tough read.

I learned quite a bit from A Wing and a Prayer: The Race to Save Our Vanishing Birds by Anders Gyllenhaal and Beverly Gyllenhaal, and for once not all of it was depressing. Yes, things are terrible for many birds in North America, but there are a lot of people trying to make it less terrible.

I think I might listen to Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America next, which will probably make me not so happy...

>167 Sakerfalcon: Yes, it's really hitting the spot. My only complaint being I am not getting as much done today as I had hoped to because I keep picking up my Kindle.

>168 clamairy: "... for once not all of it was depressing." That's good, but maybe it is time for something lighter? You've been on a roll with heavy reading lately.

>170 Karlstar: The Stranger Times is definitely lightening my mood! But now that you mention it I might save the Heather Cox Richardson for Spring weather. I have some Scalzi audio books waiting.

Many thanks to @pgmcc and everyone else who raved about The Stranger Times. I mistakenly assumed this book would be like A Man With One of Those Faces, and while there is a similar sense of humor that's about all they have in common. This might actually be funnier. Or maybe I was just in dire need of some humor. It remind me of all that was great about The Rook and Rivers of London, with maybe some of Good Omens thrown in. Wonderful stuff. I gave it 4½ stars. I slapped on the extra ½ star because I needed a book like this so badly.

I've already started This Charming Man. It wasn't ready to borrow from OverDrive, so I bought the Kindle version.

>172 clamairy: It's an addiction, but a fun one. :)

>172 clamairy: It's beginning to look a lot like a BB! (I think you had me at Good Omens)

This Charming Man was great fun. I am taking a break before I read the third book in the series. "Too much of a good thing..." yada yada.

I have started Hild, which has been on my radar since @ScoLgo shot me right between the eyeballs with another of this author's books, Spear, which was a five star read for me.

Update: I read or listened to 21 books so far in 2024.

>174 Alexandra_book_life: Consider this a octuple* ricochet, as this one was read and raved about by multiple Green Dragon members before I finally got around to it.

*At least eight!

Speaking of audiobooks, I just noticed that Audible now has The Silmarillion narrated by Andy Serkis. I cashed in a credit. It's only been a few years since I listen to the other version they have, so I won't be listening to this right away. But I think if anyone can make it more palatable Andy can.

>177 clamairy: ...if anyone can make it more palatable....

Oh. Dear. Me. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but The Silmarillion has so much to recommend it. It distresses me no end when friends don't seem to get much out of it. It's myth. It's fairy tale in epic form. Maybe not the kind of entertainment that The Hobbit and LOTR provide, but still worthy of note.

>178 jillmwo: Oh, don't get me wrong. I found parts of it glorious. But parts of it were also very depressing. There is a lot of wholesale slaughter.

>179 clamairy: Don't read the parts with the dead bodies too closely. I mean, you have to understand the significance of the Kin-Slaying but more than that is probably overkill (see what i did there? Har-har-har)

>180 jillmwo: Bwahaha...

I'm pretty sure we had this conversation back when I listened to it several years ago. I'm going to see if I can dredge up that thread.

I'm a knucklehead. It was a group discussion. That I see you took no part in, Jill! You must have had too much going on in real life...

Here's the post where I complained a bit about the narration: https://www.librarything.com/topic/329810#7496054
I do think the Serkis version will be better. But before I listen to this I'm going to force myself to take some of the more recent Tolkien books I've bought off my virtual shelf and stick my nose into them.

>180 jillmwo: & >181 clamairy: When I read much of Tolkien's other works than LotR and the Hobbit, I find it useful to put my head into poetry/saga mode. I'm not sure how to explain what that is, but I sort of listen to the rhythm or sound of the words more than worry about the plot, etc. That doesn't work very well the first time around, but in subsequent readings it seems to help me. I suppose I sort of pretend to be around a campfire with a master storyteller telling the tale. It works with LotR and the Hobbit too, but differently. See, I told you I couldn't explain it very well.

I will look into The Silmarillion narrated by Andy Serkis. I enjoyed his other narrations.

>182 MrsLee: I think I get what you're trying to say. It's nothing like normal fantasy. It's more like mythology as chanted/sung by a bard.

>178 jillmwo: to paraphrase Groove Armada, "If everybody thought the same,
We'd get tired of talking to each other".
I've long come to terms with the fact that most people don't like what i like, and vice-versa. I take it as a joy and a delight when there's an exception.

>180 jillmwo: ah hahaha.

>181 clamairy: I went back and looked at my 2021 reading thread. I was pretty much AWOL that year due to so much crap in real life. 2020 was a challenge but nothing beat 2021 for sheer and non-stop stress and dreariness. 2021 was like having a suck fairy show up on the door step with no advance warning, having her move into the spare bedroom w/o paying rent and subsequently hog the television remote as she sits on the couch belching from too much beer.

I'm sorry your audio experience with the Silmarillion left so much to be desired, but it's all of a pattern with the way 2021 was generally. (At least in my view. YMMV.)

>183 clamairy: Those are the exact words I would have used if only they were in my brain at the time. :D

>185 jillmwo: 2021 was like having a suck fairy show up on the door step ... That was brilliant and I am so stealing it.

>180 jillmwo: Overkill... :)

>187 haydninvienna: What he said!

>185 jillmwo: Oh my. Well, it sounds like a rough time, even though you've describe it in hilarious terms.

>189 clamairy: By the way, I slept on your problem with The Silmarillion and what my brain came up with this morning was that perhaps this is a book that is not going to be a particularly successful or workable audio-book. I think I've said this in other threads at some point, but The Silmarillion should be approached as more of an anthology of sorts -- several parts that make up a cycle of stories, but which don't necessarily have to be ingested all together as one.

>190 jillmwo: Hmm. That's an interesting thought. I had trouble getting through it in paper form as well. But I read it like a novel. I'm still going to attempt the audio with Mr Serkis at some point in the future, but I may do it in bits and pieces.

I finished listening to The Dispatcher which is a novella by John Scalzi. I really enjoyed this, though it is almost completely devoid of his trademark humor. It's an outrageous premise really. Suddenly any human who is murdered disappears, (leaving their clothes behind) and reappears at home naked and alive. No one knows why, and as it happens 999 times out of 1000 no one wants to take the chance to do much research. Suddenly a new job is created. People who are injured or are dying from a medical procedure gone wrong are 'dispatched' by a professional, as the body resets to a day or so before the incident/accident. Fascinating. I've already started book two. These are narrated Zachary Quinto, who does a fine job.

Huh. If that happened IRL, i'd immediately assume that i was a character in a video game.

I loved that series and wish he'd do more!!

>193 MrAndrew: That was the 1st thing I thought of.

>194 Bookmarque: I was surprised about the lack of humor, but to me it just proves what an incredible writer he really is.

Murder by Other Means is the second book in John Scalzi's Dispatcher series. A wee bit of humor might have squeaked in here and there, but still a very serious book. I enjoyed it and am diving right into the third.

I'm pretty sure these are all free with an Audible membership.

I was thinking about you and others in the pub tonight. Reading the chapter on artisinal cheese making in Mastering Fermentation. We need a dedicated room at the back of the pub for making our own cheeses. Until then, thank goodness for other folks who are them!

>197 MrsLee: Oh yes! And perhaps a cave for aging and storing them as well. I don't know why but it wasn't until I watched Michael Pollan's series on Netflix that I realized cheese was in the same category as wine, beer and kimchi. I always knew bacteria was used, but I didn't realize that the word fermentation applied to anything but alcohol. Haha...

>198 clamairy: I would love to spend a year working on cheese making, it's just the kind of mad scientist cooking I like to do. My life at the moment isn't conducive to the time and concentration needed. I might make some soft cheese sometime though.

>199 MrsLee: I've always wanted to do a cheese focused tour of Europe. I don't think my gallbladder would appreciate it at this stage of my life.

Apropos the discussion on cheese making, as part of my work I was privileged to work with a cheese manufacturer and this gave me the opportunity to visit several dairies, some producing cheese, and , what at the time was, the largest cheese packing plant in Europe. The packing plant had a cheese maturing warehouse beside it. My work involved my getting to know the milk collection, cheese manufacturing and maturation processes in detail, and I found it fascinating. Sampling wheels of cheese with little augers to check the taste, and tapping the wheels to check what stage they were at, was all very interesting and mysterious. There was a lot of work on the use of whey and how to turn it from a by-product to a profitable product in its own right. I bet you were wondering where all those protein drinks came from.

>201 pgmcc: Lucky you! How many different kinds of cheese did you get to sample?

Yes, I used to add powered whey protein to my smoothies for a while to try and up my protein intake. The shelves are full of those mixes now.

>202 clamairy:
I was not a great fan of cheese in those days, but some of the cheeses I tasted converted me. The cheese made in most of the dairies I visited was cheddar. The nicest cheddar I tasted was the Kilmeaden Fillet of Cheddar. It was the first cheese I tasted and thought, "Wow! That is really delicious."

We were working at the Kilmeaden dairy and one day we went down to the canteen for some tea. We were there when some of the local produce was brought into the canteen and it was offered to us with wheaten bread. Mmmmmmm!

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155286915175907

>203 pgmcc: That sounds delightful. I didn't love cheddar when I was much younger, but boy do I love it now.

Great video. :o)

I enjoyed reading Hild, but it's loooong. This writer has multiple degrees in medieval history, and it shows. I like becoming totally immersed in a time and place, luckily. I've seen some complaints about 'too much detail' over on GoodReads. This is the first in what I guess is going to be a trilogy. I will definitely be waiting a while to read the next one. BTW, this saga is about a real person, Hild (or Hilda) of Whitby. And almost all of the characters existed.

I started The Ring Breaker, but it was just too similar to 700+ page book that I had just finished that I decided to wait a while before I try reading that one again. I am reading Love Will Tear Us Apart. I am also dipping into poyums by Len Pennie.



I also finished up John Scalzi's The Dispatcher series. I thought Travel by Bullet was a much tighter story than the second installment. Not that any of it is remotely believable, but it's well done.

I don't know what I'm listening to next. I have about 50 Audible titles I haven't listened to yet, so I will have to pick something.

>205 clamairy: I really loved the only book by Nicola Griffith I've read so far, Spear. Hild sounds fascinating as well.

>206 Alexandra_book_life: Spear was wonderful. This is written in a completely different style. It's realistic. I see some people have tagged it as fantasy, but there really are no fantastical elements in it.

>1 clamairy: Yum, that cheeseboard looks delicious (wait, you're not an enforcer are you?).

>67 clamairy: >68 libraryperilous: et al That makes me want to cry.

>95 jillmwo: et al I've seen good things about Victoria Goddard around LT but none of my Overdrive libraries (two of which are in Sydney) have any of her books. @quondame pointed out that Amazon has an anthology which has her Stargazy Pie included - at which point I realised I had already bought it. Twice (on different accounts). Which reminds me - I ought to read it now.

>29 clamairy: I joined in the 75 Book group for the Discworld: Death group read and only managed to read Mort. This year I think they're reading Discworld: Witches if anyone wants to join in.

>208 humouress: No, I'm not one of the enforcers. I'm the one telling everyone who has a thingiversary to acquire as many books as they are comfortable acquiring. The last year or so I've been donating to both my current and my former libraries instead of buying myself books.

Oh, I will think about joining that read.

Love Will Tear Us Apart did not disappoint! I loved it as much as book one in the series. I will wait a while before reading the next one because there are none after it, yet.

This thing happens in my much head too often:

Somewhere in the back of her mind, a frightened chimp had got hold of an alarm bell and was going to town with it.

I have started reading Poor Things because I found the film to be both disturbing and amusing.

>210 clamairy: Oh, I can relate to the chimp with the alarm bell line!

>210 clamairy: Glad you enjoyed it.

I can relate the the disturbing and amusing line.

>211 foggidawn: & >213 MrAndrew: My chimp is very active.

>212 Karlstar: Thank you.

>205 clamairy: I haven't yet read Spear although I have a copy upstairs by the bed. I am tempted by Hild as well, even allowing for your reservations over the length. The Abbey of Whitby has always struck me as intriguing.

>215 jillmwo: The writing in Spear is very similar to Patricia McKillip. Hild is more like Hilary Mantel, if you've read Wolf Hall.