Jill's 2025 Reading, Rummaging, and Sorting Continues

Well, last year, we started out New Year's Day by watching Godzilla movies. This year, I've been watching the 39th London New Year's Day Parade as various societies, marching bands, and borough personages go marching through the streets in the pouring rain. I am charmed as the London parade has all the personal aspects of a parade that were missing from the corporate-driven Macy's Thanksgiving spectacle. Who knew about the Donkey Breed Society? (Again, I am charmed.) And I got to see All the Queen's Horses. And now we have the dancing Star Wars Storm Troopers (all five of them).

Meanwhile I continue to read and think and post through 2025. Happy New Year to all of you here in the Pub. If I've never said this before, you are my primary social networking platform. FB is out there, but the conversation here tends to be far better.

And I'm making progress through the early chapters of War and Peace.

Last year we had a party at our neighbors' place and watched a Godzilla movie, too. Might just do that today at a different neighbors' house. New tradition!!

>1 jillmwo: Happy New Thread, and Happy New Year.
May all of your reads in 2025 be at least four stars.

(Godzilla movies are awesome. Christmas 2023 I gifted myself a Blu-ray version of Shin Godzilla.)

Happy New Year and Happy New Thread.

Keep me informed of your War and Peace progress. I am tempted to give it a go.

By the way, I am the same as you regarding here, the GD specifically, being my primary social network platform. It has excellent, erudite conversations with just the right level of humour and banter. Also, it is a low enough profile to be a safe place for covert operatives to hang out and enjoy ourselves themselves without fear of drawing unwanted attention.

By the way, this year’s pass code is elephants are cool.

>2 Bookmarque: I love the graphic! Thank you so much for sharing your talent here!

>3 clamairy: I pay attention to the four star reviews and I keep an eye out for those reviews from you and others here. Why else would I have gotten a hold of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson if it weren't for your warm write-up?

>4 pgmcc: Thus far, I've been enjoying the Tolstoy but we haven't hit any battlefields yet. There has been one terribly impressive death bed scene in the first 100 pages or so. BTW, on another topic entirely, is that pass code shareable with the rest of my recently formed cabal?

>5 jillmwo:
I am afraid to prevent your sharing it with your colleagues who are experts on poisons.

Happy New Year and happy reading!

Have a great reading year and Happy New Thread!

It's going to be very interesting to follow your War and Peace journey and compare notes (hopefully).

Happy new thread and happy new year! I'm another for whom LT, and the Pub specifically, is my primary social networking platform, for all the reasons that Peter gives (except of course the one about covert operatives).

>9 haydninvienna:
Don't worry, Richard, we won't blow your cover.

>1 jillmwo: Happy New Year and happy new thread!

Status Report on War and Peace

I am in Part Two of Book One. (War and Peace is divided up into four books and 15 separate “parts” including (I believe) two epilogues. So I am not all that far along.) What this translates to is that I have been introduced to the main set of characters. We have Pierre, the illegitimate 20-year-old son of Count Bezhukov. Socially awkward, Pierre has nothing with which to position himself well in society until the old Count dies. Even then there is an unseemly amount of scheming over the old man’s will. We have Prince Andrei Bolkonsky who is eager to be active in the military and away from the boredom of Moscow society. And there is the young Natasha Roskov. There are numerous secondary characters, but I believe these are the three around whom the action revolves.

I must have gotten somewhat into the book in previous efforts, because I remembered bits and pieces pertaining to Muscovite society. Now I’m in Part Two of Book One and we are dealing with the military situation. Rank -- whether social or military-- hath its privilege (RHIP) and Tolstoy is treating some of the command situations with a certain amount of humor. (I can’t be the first reader surprised to discover Tolstoy poking fun.) Thus far, I am not finding the book tedious; the chapters are a nicely readable length and I have a solid handle on who is who. Currently, I’m seeing allied commanders from different armies sitting in headquarters, verbally thwarting one another. Prince Andrei as an adjutant is taking his work and position very seriously.

Oh, and I managed to defer upcoming jury duty which is good because they’re saying there’s a 90% chance of snowfall next Monday. With accumulation being measured in inches. I told the clerk I’d be happy to serve in August. It may be miserably hot at that point, but the commute to the courthouse won’t be nearly as bad.

>12 jillmwo: Occurs to me to mention that C S Lewis, who said that "you can't get a cup of tea large enough, or a book long enough, to suit me", also says somewhere that he always omitted the last book of War and Peace.

>12 jillmwo:
Well done on the Jury duty. I was only ever called once and on my way to the court I received a text message from the court clerk saying the sitting had been cancelled and that I was not needed. Now I am over the age limit for jury duty.

Your comments on War and Peace are encouraging me to give it a go.

Did you every read Vanity Fair? I loved that book when I read it in 1978. The copy was one my mother had used when she was at school.

>14 pgmcc: They call us for jury duty around here about every three-four years. You go in for a day and the question is whether you end up on a jury or not. If not, you've fulfilled your duty for another three-four years. Any trial of course lasts however long it lasts. I almost got called to a jury the last time round.

I have never been able to get through Vanity Fair and I've tried at least three times. Some years ago, I read Thackeray's brief essay regarding Rebecca and Rowena. I think it was Hesperus Press that reprinted it, but it might have been Melville House.

>13 haydninvienna: Now you have me worried about what awaits me in that last book.

>15 jillmwo: Good job deferring!

>15 jillmwo: Nothing horrible. Lewis just regarded it as unnecessary, I think. As I recall, it's basically Tolstoy's philosophy of history as applied to the events.

>15 jillmwo:
Jury duty here requires you to attend for a week with jury selection happening every morning. If you are picked and it is a particularly horrific case the judge may excuse members of the jury from being called for an extended period, in some cases from ever being called again.

I was lucky to be called just the once and for the week in question to be cancelled. My wife has been called twice. She served on one jury.

>12 jillmwo: Thank you for the status update!

I don't remember the humorous parts in the beginning, but it's been a while... I think I focused on the characters :)

>15 jillmwo: And now I feel better about tearing up my copy of Vanity Fair about a third of the way in.

>20 MrsLee: I am glad we are agreed. I know we differ over Austen, but discovering a mutual disdain for Thackeray's novel creates yet again a new bond of sisterhood.

>20 MrsLee: & >21 jillmwo: Philistines... ;o) I read this either during or fresh out of grad school and actually appreciated it quite a bit. But that was four decades ago and change, so who knows how I would feel about it now.

Hi Jill - and happy new year and new thread! I am going to be following your reading of War and Peace, too. Like several others, I bought this book - a thunderous paperback edition - several months ago and have been kind of afraid to touch it. I really should not have bought this online without viewing it and considering its heft first!

I bought the Richard Peaver translation because it seemed to get the kindest remarks, but I have no context for that. Are you satisfied with your particular translation? Your link above shows the very copy I have!

>22 clamairy:
I loved it, and more importantly, my mother loved it.

>24 pgmcc: Great minds, and all that.

>25 clamairy:
Just so!

>21 jillmwo: Hi , enjoying your thread thus far. Id love to read War and Peace, let me know when you are starting. I am probably the only person in the world who wants to sit on a jury; daddy taught me it was my civil duty, but they keep brining up the drunk driver who almost killed me and having volunteered at out victim witness program, so I never get picked. ah well

>22 clamairy: I probably am a Philistine, because I couldn't get into War and Peace either. I was listening to it when I commuted to work, but found my mind wandering too frequently to follow the story. It might be different if I tried a physical copy, but life is short and that one doesn't interest me.

>28 MrsLee: I know would have trouble keeping the names straight. I had enough trouble with Anna Karenina and I think I was 24 when I read that. Everyone went by three or four different names, sometimes on the same page. I'll need a spreadsheet and Venn diagrams, and even then I'll probably be lost.

>29 clamairy: and >28 MrsLee: I am about 175 pages in and there's only been one instance where I really did have to consult the character list to ensure I knew who we were looking at. The section I'm currently in is entirely about the military experience, and as a result, in many instances, no first names are ever used. (I'm also a bit puzzled about the rank of hussar cornet. Where on the officer protocol list does that guy fall?)

As others have mentioned in their threads, I'm one of those readers who generally has several books going at once. All War and Peace all the time wouldn't really work for me.

I rely on the rest of you to let me know when the worthwhile science fiction and fantasy titles emerge when I am seeking relief from the cannonballs of the Napoleonic Wars.

>30 jillmwo: Hussar = cavalry; cornet = second lieutenant (roughly). The use of "cornet" as a rank was abolished in most armies in the late 19th century, and it seems to have been limited to cavalry regiments anyway.

I haven't read all of these titles, but I've given some as gifts. https://fivebooks.com/best-books/the-best-fantasy-of-the-past-decade-sylvia-bish...

Another interesting article on keeping notes of what you read, altthough specifically related to non-fiction: https://karlvaters.com/keep-notes-nonfiction/

>32 jillmwo: I've read three and there's one I started and hope to get back to when I'm in a better state of mind.

>33 jillmwo:
I underline or highlight the bits I find interesting. I also keep a note at the back of the book of each page I have marked something. Against each note at the back I write a few words to let me know generally what it is I noted.

Good article.

>33 jillmwo: This is neat - I've done a couple of these suggestions and only in non-fiction. I like using tabs the most, so try to find tabs that are large enough to hold a couple of key words for myself later. On a few occasions I've jotted my own thoughts or reactions on what is said, always in light pencil.

I don't think any one method is superior to another; it's more what you're likely to keep up with.

>31 haydninvienna:. Thank you for the clarification. I knew the hussars were mounted. I just couldn't figure out the cornet part. Knowing this kind of thing is what moves you up the ranks in being an information resource. You're more than simply well-read and soon you may qualify as being an information deity. (When someone once called me an information goddess, I knew I had truly made it.)

>34 clamairy:. I think you may be ahead of me.

>35 pgmcc: and >36 terriks:. I'm generally taking notes on all types of reading. (In some ways, it's an indicator of how much I was engaged with the text.) I tuck folded pages of standard size (8-1/2 x 11 inches) paper with my handwritten notes inside the book. When sorting through books, I check those to see what I was thinking about as I read. If it's a novel, the notes may simply be a character list along with key phrases or plot twists. If it's non-fiction, the notes may be far more extensive and subsequently added to an online notebook of whatever sort (Google docs, Evernote, or others of that ilk).

A belated Happy New Year and Happy New Thread to you! I am looking forward to following your reading and musings throughout the year. I'm sure there will be much food for thought.

I read War and peace many years ago and mostly enjoyed it, although I did skip the chapters where Tolstoy analyses the battles and strategy.

I also enjoyed Vanity Fair when I was young and heartless; not sure I would like it quite so much now.

>32 jillmwo: Thanks for the list! They are always interesting. I've read one and there's a couple more I'd like to get to.

>33 jillmwo: Generally I'm against marking up books, but there are a few times lately when I wish I had a way to remember a particularly useful line. I may take up one of your methods in >37 jillmwo:.

I have read a sufficient amount of War and Peace to recognize that, with Tolstoy, I am dealing with stupid young male characters in their twenties. My recollection of Vanity Fair is that there were an equal number of stupid (and scheming) young female characters in that classic. There is an adequate amount of stupidity and heartlessness (as >38 Sakerfalcon: notes) in both books. We do not need to divide up the world between lovers of W&P vs lovers of VF. For the record, all I am looking for is world peace. Grab yourself a pint and a hunk of cheese.

>40 jillmwo:
Hmmm, Thackery and Tolstoy power blocs. That would make an interesting story. The Literature Wars. Classics in conflict.

There could be competing public readings over loudspeakers. Snowball fights. Custard pie tossing.

@jillmwo, you are a wonderful muse. You are generating so many ideas.

:-)

This cheese is very good. It goes well with the pint.

>40 jillmwo: Hear, Hear!

>41 pgmcc: You can just toss a small custard pie onto my plate, while you're at it.

>40 jillmwo: Classics in Conflict has a real ring to it, I agree.

>41 pgmcc: I like custard pies and you know it's good to share.

>42 clamairy: >43 jillmwo:
Your wish is my command. Here come the custard pies. Duck!

For your information, I had a quick look to see how much War and Peace is in Kindle version. I cannot yet vouch for the quality, but I picked it up for £0.00. I reckoned that there was not too much to lose at that price.

Gosh, my Kindle feels really heavy now.

Note to self: According to Amazon, War & Peace has 2,076 pages.

>49 jillmwo: I found an edition for .49 here on Kindle, so I picked it up also.

When does the new PBS show, Classics in Conflict, begin filming?

>45 pgmcc: & >46 Karlstar: I have a physical doorstop copy that I bought 40 years ago, but I also have an Audible version that is 60 hours long. I am sure it is the longest thing in my Audible library. I have made it safely through several that were over 40 hours long, so I think I can do it.

>46 Karlstar: I would watch that!

>46 Karlstar: and >47 clamairy: Chortling. But really, wouldn't you prefer it as a podcast?

Well, I'm about a hundred pages further in -- that is roughly about 3/5 the way through the first volume of my three volume edition of War and Peace. My three volumes would appear to suggest that the full text is about 1500 printed pages or so.) All of the young men are being disillusioned by real life-experiences. As are some of their wives and sisters. In reading W&P, the problem is not really keeping the various names straight. The problem is that one is inclined to yell at the characters that they should not be going into that dark basement alone. Do not marry the brainless nitwit on the basis of her buxom appearance. (Oops. Too late.) Do not assume that folks will generally operate with honor and honesty. (Please. But, again, too late.) Do not embarrass or alienate the higher-ups. (Has life taught you nothing?)

At night I'm reading lighter fare. There's a lovely and delightfully uncomplicated mystery from 1932, entitled Murder in the Squire's Pew that I will finish either tonight or tomorrow night. It involves wicked individuals passing themselves off as clerical figures of authority. And witnesses need not be tracked down; they come most cooperatively into the detectives' offices without a formal summons. Miss Bleacher, Miss Pratt, and Miss Bolton prove useful in the investigation. I have no idea who has committed the crime, but that's because of the cliff hanger events at the close of each chapter. (Yes, the modern-day Fred Vargas is a FAR better writer, but I keep being surprised.)

There is also non-fiction being read in chunks. Adrian Tinniswood talks about Great Country Houses in The Power and The Glory: Life in the English Country House and I learned today of the Royal Baccarat Scandal. (Wikipedia has the basic facts, if you search on that phrase.) Granted that this information is not likely to be useful, but wicked and socially unacceptable behavior does have a certain appeal.

>48 jillmwo: I guess. I do listen to/watch more podcasts (3 or 4) than I watch PBS shows these days.

For those with an on-going interest in translations, see "Eat Their Words https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2025/01/06/eat-their-words-on-cannibal-tra...

Quote

Translators are likely to be familiar with this textual ingestion, having spent more time chewing on their words than most. After taking their meal, they are the ones who make a home for the text, carrying it for months or years, witnessing it seep into their own voice, their own imagination.

As noted in previous threads, it is not an easy role.

I will say that the biggest issue thus far with War and Peace is that it is SO male-oriented. I mean, even for the 19th century. Which should not come as a surprise, but OMG, women are barely allowed to breathe in this environment. Natasha is bearable because she's in her early teens and seen in the context of a loving family, but the other women...At a guess, Tolstoy had some issues.

I need to go read something brief -- or relatively so -- written by or about female writers. Edith Wharton. Winifred Holtby. Something by P.D. James. I've got a calm biography, Anglican Women Novelists and a brand new book, entitled Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness. The latter is an early birthday gift.

I'm not ending my experience of W&P by any means. I'll be continuing to read it along with other stuff, but...

>52 jillmwo: I agree with you on War and Peace being very male-centric! And from what I remember reading about Tolstoy, he did have issues.

Need to get back to basics here. A quick and lively read is The League of Lady Poisoners. As the subtitle reads, it's true stories of dangerous women. For example:

Giulia Tofana, who was born in the late sixteenth century, held the key to safety, freedom, and widowhood, and that key was a small glass vial full of her unique brand of poison, Aqua Tofana. The formula has been lost to history, but it is thought to have been a combination of belladonna, arsenic, and lead that was odorless, colorless, tasteless, and virtually undetectable.

Based on what little I know of those named ingredients, it seems unlikely that it was neither odorless nor colorless nor tasteless. Maybe undetectable if it killed the victim very, very so quickly that there wouldn't be any unpleasantness to deal with.

The bibliography seems as if it would be quite useful for any variety of purposes.

>54 jillmwo: *perks up ears* I have a small blue vial in the way back of my liquor cabinet. It's been handed down in our family since the 1500s. There is a picture of it in my reading thread. Shall I bring it to the next cabal meeting so we can try it out?

>54 jillmwo: I recommend The Poisoner's Handbook on this topic.

>54 jillmwo: >55 MrsLee:
So blatant!

>57 pgmcc:. What you are witnessing is three women (myself, @MrsLee and @reconditereader) sharing knowledge and resources. Let me again quote (or paraphrase) from The League of Lady Poisoners, when men do that kind of thing, it's called strategizing. When women do it, they're accused of scheming.

And honestly, if William Makepeace Thackeray had shown Becky Sharp using arsenic to get out of some of her difficulties, you'd have thought it made for great literature! ;>).

>55 MrsLee: and >56 reconditereader:. Let's meet in a darker corner next time. And somebody roust out @Alexandra_book_life. I think she wanted to be a part of this activity. (At the very least, we're getting a decent reading list composed for later use. Because I was able to drift peacefully off to sleep last night, after following up on both The Poisoner's Handbook and A is for Arsenic, which was very helpful in reviewing belladonna as well as arsenic.)

Oh and the glass vial, @MrsLee? Bring it with you.

>58 jillmwo:
Sounds like witchcraft to me.

:-)

Happy Birthday!
Did your husband bake a cake?

>58 jillmwo: Indeed, I would be happy to visit your dark corner.

I am very curious about @MrsLee's glass vial.

Happy Birthday! Yay!

>59 pgmcc: To my surprise this evening, there was indeed CAKE!! Chocolate cake. And just the right amount (no worries about succumbing to the temptation of a second slice when one is trying to watch calories.) Honestly, I had been thinking about whether I might do a batch of birthday brownies come the weekend. So when he walked in proudly with the cake slice, it was a lovely thing.

>61 jillmwo: Very nice! Happy birthday!

>61 jillmwo: Happy birthday (again).

>61 jillmwo: Hippo Birdie two Ewe!

Happy belated birthday! The chocolate cake sounds like a lovely surprise.

Apropos the above discussion about writing notes in books I suggest you look at the post in my thread that presents the evidence of hand written notes in books from the 15th Century.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/367019#8732216

Happy Belated birthday! I'm happy to hear you got some birthday cake that was just the right amount. :) One should get to indulge a bit on one's birthday, after all.

>62 Karlstar: >63 haydninvienna: >64 hfglen: >65 Sakerfalcon: >67 terriks: Thank you all for the birthday wishes.

>66 pgmcc: Saw that. Marginalia can be fascinating.

Have been binge-watching Babylon 5. One can call it either prescient or simply good television drama that is reflective of attitudes existing at the time. In my opinion, J. Michael Straczynski knew how to structure a good narrative.

>68 jillmwo: I enjoyed Babylon 5 when it was on. It wasn't the best, but it was interesting.

happy birthday! mine was last week and chocolate cake come into play there as well

>70 cindydavid4:. Well, Happy Birthday! (A bit delayed in transmission.)

>69 Karlstar:. Neither my husband nor my sons enjoyed it as much as I did. But it really is a "television novel", tightly put together. You picked up references across the seasons if you were a faithful and attentive watcher. (Which, when it was originally televised, was a problem because the host network kept moving it around in the line-up. It was too easy to miss, even if you had a VCR.)

Well I meant to add birthday greetings here, then I went down a rabbit trail identifying the contents of not only the blue vial, but also the red, purple and green vials I found. Sorry I'm late with your greetings. :)

>61 jillmwo: Happy belated birthday :)

>72 MrsLee: and >73 Narilka: Thank you!

Shifting gears a bit, this book review might be of interest: https://newrepublic.com/article/188991/americas-top-spies-academics-librarians

>74 jillmwo:
Very interesting, especially the bit about the Fuhrer deciding what is fact and what is not.

>74 jillmwo: Great article.

I'm having trouble settling into a proper reading mode. One where you read for 60-90 consecutive minutes. I'm dabbling - the opening chapter of Vera Wong"s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, the opening chapter in Waking the Moon (one of those sneaky recommendations from @Marissa_Doyle), non-fiction things like The Power and The Glory: Life in the English Country House, Jane Austen and The Price of Happiness or The Zimmerman Telegram. The books are all perfectly good and interesting. But I suppose I'm just restless. I feel like I ought to be producing something rather than reading.

Of course, I hit the military hospital chapter in War and Peace which is pretty much sufficient in and of itself in terms of turning one aside. Tolstoy can be very vague at times, but then he hits the reader with something very clear and recognizable.

>77 jillmwo: I'm a bit antsy as well and I suspect it is the impending storm system. I finished one book this morning and I am having trouble settling on what to read next. So I went for a walk while it is still above freezing and dry out there.

>77 jillmwo: That's a lot of dabbling. I hope you enjoy The Zimmerman Telegram. I learned quite a bit reading that one.

The 2024 survey also allowed us to further illuminate the habits of America’s most rarefied readers, the 11 percent of us who devoured at least 20 books last year. More than a third of those super-readers (4 percent of the adult population) took it even further, hitting the 50-book mark.

Another Wapo survey of the reading public: https://wapo.st/42l1OKD (You should be able to read it in full.)

>80 jillmwo: Shows how non-representative LT is of the population generally. But only 4% managed 50 books in a year — yikes!

And WaPo won't let me see the article unless I give them an email address. Uh, no.

>81 haydninvienna: I'm happy to be part of the 4% but wish that percentage were higher.

WaPo wants me to setup a 'free' account too - nope.

I'm going to be lazy and cut and paste what I wrote when you posted this on Facebook.

The numbers are a little different than I expected. There are more younger people reading than I thought there were, which pleases me greatly. I was very surprised at the stats for the oldest Americans. I suspect some of them can't get to the library or bookstore easily anymore, and they might not be tech savvy enough to understand how to borrow or buy ebooks.

Thanks for the head up on this article. I have been avoiding all of my usual news apps today.

>83 clamairy: I agree, I thought there were some surprises in that data; including the % of younger people, which I think contradicts other surveys we've seen, and the categories. I'm really surprised that History is third, I wonder how that correlates to sales data?

On our most recent trip to Barnes and Noble, the history section is well represented, as usual, but the Manga section was huge.

More on Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner's Handbook. Recommended above by >56 reconditereader:
https://www.digital-science.com/tldr/article/meet-deborah-blum/

The entire interview is open (no paywall, no registration, no nuthin').

Faculty statement with regard to use of AI in her classroom (stolen from a tweet on Bluesky)

Reading and writing—the play and power of language—are the building blocks of this course and the reason we are here together. Both of these take time and persistent attention to do well. Everyone who works in and with words has moments when persevering through dense reading or wrestling with how to explain on paper what we are thinking feels insurmountable. But the fact is that the process is the thing that matters most. Reading is not merely the act of flicking your eyeballs over a series of words in order. It is about learning to synthesize, to distill key ideas, to work toward those glorious ahHA! moments of understanding why a plot feels like it goes sideways or how an author’s language moves you so deeply. Writing is not about hitting page count. It is about crafting ideas and striving for moments of magnificent expression. I hope you will come out of this class with a sense of accomplishment, a feeling that we’ve journeyed together through sometimes difficult reading and writing, learned from each other, and thereby become better at appreciating the nuances of language as a form of human expression. There are no acceptable uses of AI (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) for work in this course because using AI will only rob you of those experiences. If you are struggling with processes of reading and writing, please come see me so we can talk about strategies for making them more rewarding.

You know that line that sometimes pops up online? "I don't know who needs to hear this, but..." Well, I'm quite sure this crowd is already aware and you probably don't need to hear that, but I found the quote comforting this morning.

>86 jillmwo:
It is a great quote. I love how she is basically saying that using AI on this course is undermining the whole purpose of the course.

>87 pgmcc: This is really relevant to me. Use of AI (sanctioned or otherwise) is becoming commonplace in unversities and I feel like students will miss out on developing core skills by relying on it too much. This quote sums it up perfectly.

>86 jillmwo: Very well put, excellent quote.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we're being told by our management that we MUST use generative AI every day at work.

>89 Karlstar:. Without divulging any corporate secrets, can you amplify on that mandate to use generative AI? I mean, are they thinking you're spending too much time crafting emails or something? I am flabbergasted. Are they training folks on how to construct prompts for ChatGPT? Do they tell you what to do about false information or hallucinatory ideas that the AI makes up?

>89 Karlstar: and >90 jillmwo: We’re being told the same at work. And, yes, they are training people on constructing narratives for prompts. I hate it and am resistant. It’s only going to get worse with MS co-pilot. While I recognize it can be helpful and time-saving in some situations, I feel not enough thought or discretion is being used on when it should be used. My contention has been that you don’t learn if you don’t do the work yourself. I’m an AA for one of the big mgmt consulting firms. Of course they want us to use it so the AI tool can learn, and they can make millions pushing it into every major corporation in the world. Retirement can’t come soon enough, but I am trying to last another 2 or 3 years.

War and Peace - Status Update #2

I’m in Book Two, Part Four (Chapter 8 or 9 - thereabouts)

I am of two minds at the moment. The question that appears in so many book reviews here in the pub of who would you recommend this book to – well, frankly, I’m fairly sure I’d suggest W&P to anyone who is male, between the age of 20 and 35, and ideally of Russian descent. While that may change as I continue, I have just finished the segment regarding Nikolai Rostov and the wolf-hunt, an essentially Russian experience carefully described by Tolstoy. In Book One we had Prince Andrei Bolkonsky gain awareness of the cosmos when he lies on a battlefield. In Book Two we have Nikolai Rostov experience a peak awareness of human vs. animal when he is home on leave and joins those on his family’s estate to search out an old wolf. His sister, Natasha, goes with him (despite the fact that her mother has deemed this unladylike); she is an excellent horsewoman and doesn’t want to miss the outdoor experience. As it happens, the Rostov party joins up with the hunting party of a neighbor. There is a bonding of aristocrat and serf, neighbor with neighbor, as the groups come together for good food and celebratory dancing at the end of the day. As Tolstoy describes it, this remarkable day of hunting and festivity is what Russia is all about. Their world is good and their culture a unique thing – something to be valued.

Meanwhile we have Prince Andrei (recovering from the guilt experienced following the death of his wife in childbirth and now engaged to Natasha) seeking his father’s approval of a new marriage. The old Count Bolkonsky imposes a condition postponing any announcement of the engagement for a full year. Andrei has gone to spend time in Switzerland, apparently for his health. (The man seems perfectly healthy to me.)

Meanwhile Pierre is pursuing a life of virtue in keeping with the Freemasons. He withdraws from society insofar as may be possible; he would prefer to divorce his wife on the grounds of adultery, but has managed to maintain his social respectability and status quo by the minimum restraint of not sharing a bed with her. (What in previous centuries would have been phrased as denying his husbandly duties.) His wife, at the same time, has managed to build up a certain amount of political and social capital.

Insofar as I can tell, Tolstoy’s work thus far is supposed to reflect Russia and her unique people. They are deeply religious (as we see with the example of Princess Mary). The ordinary Russian folk are honest and honorable on both the battlefield and in daily life. Left to themselves, the Russians would be happy; it is the infection of other frivolous cultures – primarily the French – that causes economic and social problems. But I’m not yet halfway through the book (only 40%) so who knows what is yet to occur. Money is a problem for the aristocrats. Political allies are insincere. The older members of society do not want circumstances to change their world. All very human. (I'm still reading because I want to find out what happens in the long run. I'm wondering however if there is a point other than Tolstoy celebrating his own countrymen. They're good and valiant and they fought against Napoleon...)

>91 ludmillalotaria:. I'm still amazed. I realize that there are some things that AI can be useful in doing, but it's still awfully untested and usually the business community is more skeptical than this. But I take your point that some portion of the business community wants to push this on. At the moment, I think I'm grateful that I'm not having to be a player in the game.

>90 jillmwo: I think mainly they want us to help train the myriad bots that are supposed to answer our questions. I did my part yesterday, I asked a question I knew would not produce a useful answer.

Youth Media Awards given out by ALA: https://reactormag.com/four-sff-books-win-2025-alex-awards/
Apparently four of the titles are science fiction.

>93 jillmwo:
My SiL is a lecturer in physics at university. He asked his students if they used AI to help with their assignments. He also asked them how they used the AI. He then worked through examples with them and demonstrated how the AIs generally got the answers wrong, but he found that the information gathered by the AI was very good, so he suggested the students us AI to source information but to carefully analyse any solution the AI comes up with in order to spot the errors of the AI’s method.

>96 pgmcc: This is a helpful approach for young people, who are used to getting information online and are now facing busted search engines and a rise in conspiratorial 'news' sites.

Of course, we're all facing that. But younger people really like info bites and online sources. Helping them analyze it seems good!

Theoretically, at least, I’m cleared. The inflammation in the elbow is pretty much gone, but I’m going to be more careful about use of the laptop rather than the desktop.

At any rate, while I could, I did pursue more reading. Below are brief updates.

War and Peace - To be fair, Tolstoy’s characters are all equally flawed. No portraits of perfection here. Pierre back-slides. Natasha foolishly allows her head to be turned. The happy families do try to protect their own, but there are always the likes of Boris and Anatole seeking to marry for money. Very nearly at the 50% point, reading anywhere from three to six chapters in a single day. I understand why some folks believe this is a timeless classic of literature, but I’m still not fully persuaded.

Fear Stalks the Village is my current bedtime read. Part of the British Library Mystery Classics series, it’s written by Ethel Lina White, an author that @pgmcc was raving about recently. This one caught my eye because it has to do with poison pen letters and I had spent time in 2024 with Christie’s Miss Marple activity in The Moving Finger. White’s examination of poison pen letters in a small community is much darker in its treatment than Christie's. Not so dark as to give one bad dreams, but certainly White's book fulfills the desired creepiness quotient.

A short story by Edith Wharton entitled Expiation was wonderful. Found it in The New York Stories of Edith Wharton and it entertained me no end as Wharton humorously shows us authors of two books maneuvering about one another in order to maximize sales. Just excellent.

For the record, @bookmarque was talking on her thread about the Dictionary of Fine Distinctions and despite my best intentions, the finger hit the send button and it will be smuggled into the house at some point soon.

I feel as if I’m forgetting something else read during this past week, but the memory is not delivering. I did see something in passing recently about the different reading experiences of those in previous centuries who did not have access to hundreds or thousands of books. The ones to which they DID have access thus made a far deeper impression on their minds than today’s readers enjoy. Not sure that’s an earth-shattering observation, but there have to be implications for books and readers down the road. Nowadays, we can unearth all kinds of things, reading and re-reading them.

I'm glad you're healing! I think I took a small bullet (perhaps one of those plastic pellets my son was using for his air gun many years ago) on the Wharton. Will have to hunt it down.

Re the AI discussion, a sound-bite from On the Origin of Stories by Brian Boyd:

I'll believe that computers can think not when they can beat a Kasparov at chess, with its rapidly proliferating but after all calculable permutations, but when they can be fed something as unexpected as the photograph of "Ralph, come back, it was only a Rash" daubed on a wall, and can read the words, deduce the story, then laugh at the joke they have recognised for themselves.

>99 clamairy: For what it's worth, that is an NYRB title. I have it in paperback but can't document where or when I actually bought it. (Not showing up as an AMZ purchase.)

>100 haydninvienna: Excellent point!

>101 jillmwo: I can't find the story by itself for Kindle. Google books has the epub version for $1.99. Or I can listen to it read to me for free on YouTube. I might opt for that.

>98 jillmwo: Glad to hear you are doing better.

If we only had a few dozen books, we'd definitely treasure them.

>98 jillmwo:
Glad to hear your arm is healing. I can pace a little more slowly now.

Of course I will be anxious you might overdo the posting and hurt your arm again.

Apropos of nothing, my brain informed me upon waking up this morning, that it was tired of shallow thinking. Just that -- a bald statement in something akin to neon lights "I am tired of shallow thinking". What I am supposed to do with that, I cannot say. I was just grateful that the neon lights weren't also flashing...

>105 jillmwo: You are one of the least shallow thinkers that I know. You're quite good at recording your non-shallow thoughts. (On the very rare occasions that I have some insight it usually flits away before I can get it on paper or e-ink.) I think your brain was just trying to get you out of bed.

>105 jillmwo:
What >106 clamairy: said.

>106 clamairy: and >107 pgmcc: My husband feels that I must -- in all honesty -- indicate that my dissatisfaction is not with my own brain's shallow thinking, but the shallow thinking of others. (After all, it's always other people's thinking that is at fault. Didn't G.K. Chesterton say something along those lines?) I had gotten annoyed with the shallowness of the news coverage and that of people talking on FB about the DC collision of aircraft. I had grumbled at great length about it last night before bed.

>108 jillmwo: Now that makes much more sense to me.

Hmm, the shallow end is safer, after all, we don't want to go off the deep end.

Or do we think of "still waters run deep?" Your brain is telling you to turn off the TV and get back to reading. :)

I have occasionally been awakened by odd thoughts. It really does get you out of bed. Today I was having a jumble of dreams and it took me a good 15 minutes to sort out reality from dreamworld.

>110 clamairy: Agreed, that makes more sense to me too.

Unfortunately, all we get on the news these days is shallow thoughts and drug commercials.

>98 jillmwo: I am glad you're doing better!

As for War and Peace, there are good things to say about it, there are criticisms to make... And I think that Anna Karenina is a much better book, if we are speaking of Tolstoy's novels.

>113 Alexandra_book_life: On some levels, War and Peace feels like Tolstoy was experimenting, trying to work out what it was he wanted to think through. Not necessarily mastering narrative technique. I have no idea if that's true.

>108 jillmwo: There you go. Your brain makes perfect sense - shallow thinking gets us as a species into a lot of trouble.

>114 jillmwo: Some parts of War and Peace are brilliant, and some are... less so ;) Imo, at least!

Recommended Reading List From Locus Magazine: https://locusmag.com/2025/02/2024-recommended-reading-list/

>117 jillmwo: Thanks! There's also a link to their poll for 2024. I had to write-in all of my selections.

Previously (up there in #98) I undervalued Fear Stalks the Village. It’s really quite good. I had thought (starting out) that we were just dealing with blackmail, which in itself is a nasty bit of criminality. However, further into this novel, we encounter darker behaviors – murder and suicide – that create fear in what would normally be viewed as an idyllic village environment. The main concerns are with public status versus personal awareness of guilt. Ethel Lina White offers a serious construction of suspense and a discussion of morality, whether viewed as springing from spiritual strength or not.

Her characters may slide slightly towards the stereotypical but that’s because of the nature of her general theme. As an example, you have the village rector (who is almost always referred to as Rector throughout because he represents formal belief and rectitude) as well as the village physician (representing general health -- mental outlook tied in with physicality). White pokes a certain amount of fun at the behaviors of her fellow authors; there are two lady novelists talking about their work. In addition, she includes a thread of romantic love as a sort of necessary yin-and-yang convention, but it's relatively minor. (Not at all what one encounters in Georgette Heyer mysteries of the same time period.)

There’s staunch awareness of social structure and class. Because one's public behaviors serve as a signal of virtue within a small community. (There’s a woman who chides her parlour maid for wearing a yellow hat on her day off as no lady of good taste would be seen doing so! Quelle horreur. One might succumb to a case of the vapours, based on such an outrage.)

This one is really well done. I had no idea how White was going to pull out the solution and she did surprise me at the end. All the clues had been properly laid out for the reader, but I was suitably distracted from piecing them together. @pgmcc should make a point of tracking this one down if he wants more of Ethel Lina White's work. Again, really interesting construction. (Did I mention how well her opening chapter introduces the entire cast? Quite a novel approach.)

>116 Alexandra_book_life: Very true, but at this point, I refuse to bail out. I'm going to finish reading War and Peace at some point during this first quarter of 2025. I want to be able to say that I DID it and am therefore able to pass judgement on it. I've got a pith helmet on, have packed my mountain-climbing equipment and all the necessary wherewithal so just like Napoleon, I'm going to overrcome! (And then they can send me to the Island of Elba or whatever. Does it get cold there?)

I'd sing the lyrics from "I am woman; hear me roar" but that's not really in keeping with the book under discussion!

>117 jillmwo: I have only heard of a handful of those. Have I been living under a rock, or do they mostly pick lesser known books and authors?

>121 clamairy: I don't know that you've been living under a rock. (You have a real life, after all.) But based on what I read in the introductory paragraphs on that page, I would say that those in charge of developing this "long list" of titles are regularly the folks who get inundated with ARCs and with marketing "stuff" from publishers of all sizes. The survey that @Karlstar mentioned completing and the stuff they list goes into a melting pot which will ultimately result in their Locus Awards released in June of this year.

It's kind of a mixed list. I noted to my surprise that the Folio Society edition of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is included on that list in the category of Illustrated and Art Books. It's up against things like an edition of Pinocchio and a different edition of The Hunger Games and one of the Dungeons and Dragon books. In the non-fiction category, there are books from the University of Michigan Press and from Bloomsbury Academic. (Not your average sf/f award nominees.) One of the titles in that category is pretty clearly intended for use in the classroom, despite it's claim that it is not a textbook.

So no, @clamairy, you're not "out of it". This list appears at a time when Locus is also running a banner seeking donations from their web traffic. There's a lot of attention-grabbing going on behind the curtain.

>122 jillmwo: Well, you've made me feel a little better. I did recognize a lot of the older rereleased titles, but there were very few that I'd heard of and even fewer that I had read on the brand new for 2024 list.

>119 jillmwo:
I feel like I am a fish in a barrel. Of course you hit me. Of course I will seek out the book.

I have a sense that this is a revenge shot for my comments on The Lady Vanishes. Well played, madam!

>124 pgmcc:
Kindle version acquired.

>120 jillmwo: I'll be standing at the foot of the mountain, cheering you on! I can also bring cheese, you might need it.

>122 jillmwo: Maybe you knew this, but the Dungeons and Dragons book is actually a long tome on the history of the development of Dungeons and Dragons, with art and scans of letters and postcards included. I was not surprised to see it on the list.

>127 Karlstar: Thank you so much for bringing that to the fore. I had NOT known that. Even more intriguing, because that means that the selections on that list of potential awardees are honestly broad-based, not just in terms of subject but in terms of audience appeal.

>123 clamairy: Like you, there was a lot on that list that had escaped me. As just one example, I hadn't been aware of that title by Nghi Vo. The City in Glass has very real appeal for me.

>126 Alexandra_book_life: Good thinking. I hadn't packed the cheese.

>124 pgmcc: Let's be honest here. You were a really easy target for that one.

>128 jillmwo: Ooh, a stand alone! By the way your touchstone is pointing to the wrong book. I think you meant to type The City in Glass. The ratings so far are just okay, but that doesn't mean much.

>129 clamairy: Yes, thank you. I have fixed the problem.

>123 clamairy: I felt the same way, I hadn't even heard of most of the titles.

Meanwhile, to distract myself, I’ve been leafing through the Dictionary of Fine Distinctions as recommended by @Bookmarque and @MrsLee. Here’s some of what I’ve taken away from the experience.

Useful Publishing related Clarifications;

• Typeface vs. Font
  
• Foreword vs Preface
  
• Epigram vs Aphorism vs Maxim vs Adage vs Proverb

Useful for making casual nerdish small talk:

• Catapult vs. Trebuchet vs. Mangonel
  
• Burglary vs. Robbery vs. Larceny

I also like the bits about differentiating between jpegs and pngs, couches and sofas, and monks vs.friars. That last one came up in an episode of Lewison Masterpiece when Sgt. Hathaway had to clear it up for his partner.

BTW, when the news gets nutso, I resort to poetry as a calming strategy and so I'm grateful to @haydninvienna for his recommendation of Poem for Every Night of the Year. Much of what's there is familiar of course, but there are any number of the 300+ poets who are new to me.

>132 jillmwo: You all are making that book sound very interesting, but I think my family already hears enough from me about fine distinctions.

>133 jillmwo: I gave up "news" entirely after the UK referendum in 2016. Since then I haven't read a newspaper, watched TV news, or visited a news website and I even avoid listening to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's classical music channels because they still carry the ABC news broadcasts. Same for the BBC. (The only online classical music station I listen to now is KUSC, which carries no news.) I think my life is significantly less fraught as a result.

>135 haydninvienna: Keep reminding me on a periodic basis. Doom scrolling is a stupid way to go through life as my husband and both of my sons have told me in recent weeks. (Here, let me show you how to set up your phone so that Twitter cuts you off at 30 minutes per day

>136 jillmwo: ... and I don't do social media at all. No Facebook, no Twitter (or whatever it's called now), no Instagram, no TikTok ...

I have to be on social media to some extent. It's where librarians congregate. The publishing community likes it as well. But time limits are indeed essential.

Meanwhile, I made great strides through War and Peace this morning. There were a few eye rolls. But I give the man credit for trying to present the frequently traumatic messiness of existence.

>135 haydninvienna: This is a strategy I think I can agree with. Lately we've cut back to only watching the 30 minute local news on TV, about 4 days a week, then we skip the national news. I do glance at NPR.org daily, but skip most of the articles unless they are something about science or history.

I do not use Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, etc, etc, just Facebook and then I don't follow much.

Quote from War and Peace:

"Providence made all these people, while striving to achieve their personal aims, contribute to the fulfillment of one enormous result, of which not one man (neither Napoleon, nor Alexander, still less any of the participants in the war) had the least expectation...There are always so many suppositions about the outcome of every event which takes place that, however it ends, people will always be found who say, “I said back then that it would be like this,” quite forgetting that among the numberless suppositions, there were some that were completely contrary."

I'm up to Book Three, Part Two at this point and have determined that Tolstoy had a grip on reality in many ways.

Edited to add: Another aspect of the above is that Tolstoy is commenting on the documentation and subsequent study of history in War and Peace.

Also if you love reading about theater and about Shakespeare, go find Harriet Water's book, Brutus and Other Heroines. Her discussion of Lady MacBeth is fascinating. (When Judy Dench wrote about her interpretation of the role in Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent, it was chatty. Water's discussion is more substantive in how one might interpret why she behaves as she does. Very close read.)

From the Guardian (so no paywall) on increasing sales volume in SF and Fantasy. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/feb/03/romantasy-and-booktok-driving-a-hu...

>140 jillmwo: And paragraphs like that are why Tolstoy deserves reading. Thank you for sharing it so I didn't have to read all of War and Peace to find it. ;) I have only read Anna Karenina and his Fables and Fairytales, but enjoyed both of them at the time I read them (many years ago).

>140 jillmwo: Excellent quote, and what @MrsLee said :)

>140 jillmwo: Nice quote, I'm inching closer to starting it.

>142 jillmwo: Interesting results, is that a similar effect to the Harry Potter years?

>142 jillmwo: Interesting piece. My daughter tried to read the first book in the series and she couldn't get through it. I am not going to try. (Although I really did appreciate @Sakerfalcon's review of it!)

War and Peace - Status Update #3

Well, something has happened over the course of my reading (currently somewhere around 60-65% of the way through). I know who it is we’re really concerned with in terms of attention.

Pierre Bezukhov - He starts out as this sort of misfit, educated outside of the country. When he returns to Russia, he has trouble finding a role, an occupation. He’s not very focused; he’s not driven by a particular obsession or interest. He has some moral sense in considering what’s truly important. (Example: He’s stunned by his own role in the death of another man as a result of a duel. For a while, this redirects his path.) But even with a fortune inherited from a father he never knew, he seems throughout the book to be off-kilter, too lax in his approach to life.

Nicolai Rostov - A career soldier, a loyal Russian, but subject to a variety of social temptations (gambling as an example). He’s the eldest son of a caring mother and father and he is devoted to them, deeply ashamed when he disappoints them. He is an attractive young man, but not entirely sure with regard to how he should marry, whether for love or for money. The life in the military appears to suit him on the basis of the camaraderie he feels with his peers, and eventually with those who serve under him. There’s a good deal more to Nicolai than one might realize – he has a deep moral streak to him and others see this in him.

Andrei Bolkonsy - His family life is far less loving that Nicolai’s; he’s got a crotchety intellectual for a father and a plain sister who can’t get out from under the irascible Count Bolkonsky. He’s bored with Muscovite society and his preference is to be around men of influence and work his way up. He needs intellectual stimulation and yet he’s married to a bit of a flighty female who bores him. He has rigid ideas of morality but they don’t serve him very well. Major Spoiler here: Andrei dies in a battlefront medical tent in Part Two of Book Three. But I can't currently decide if he dies an enlightened death or not.

Natasha Rostov - She’s the perfect feminine. She’s lovely, vivacious, and talented. She sings and dances well. She twirls and exudes engagement with life. She’s subject to temptation loses confidence in herself and in her own judgement.

Princess Mary Bolkonsky - She’s not got much going for her in terms of looks or talents. She has a traditional 19th century female role -- running the household and parenting her nephew in the absence of Andrei (off to war). Her elderly father has undermined any efforts to find a role or activity which is meaningful to her individually, as a person in her own right. She’s not stupid but she is consistently underestimated by both of the men (the old Count and her brother). She tries to establish connections with others, all of whom use her without much consideration. But she too is inherently good -- in some ways, superior to Andrei in that regard.

The event’s thus far in War and Peace reflect people fumbling about in life and, as Napoleon progresses deeper into the country, the collective confusion grows even as there are instances where individually people genuinely connect. But we still have a third of the book to go.

On the other hand, other things are being read in the background:

The City in Glass - outstanding writing. Frightening in the world presented, but the writing is just outstanding. Grab it when you see it. Her city dies in the opening chapter, which doesn't sound like a positive opening, but it is most engaging.

The Greene Murder Case. It's a Philo Vance mystery but as it happens, S.S. Van Dine appears to be hitting his stride. Vance is a pompous ass but the author seems to have recognized this. Meanwhile this is a family murder and every single family member is a bit of a psychological mess. Fortunately the murderer is killing them off with sufficient speed. Good bedtime reading.

Non-fiction is scattered about -- a chapter here and a chapter there, but nothing finished.

Eagles fans were outside our house last night for 90 minutes, celebrating the Super Bowl win. We are apparently placed right near a traditional gathering point -- a kind of crossroad where all sports victories have been celebrated since time immemorial. Of course, William Penn might be a bit surprised to hear that.

>149 jillmwo:
Did they sing Hotel California?

>149 jillmwo: I did wonder if there would be some "whooping it up" in your vicinity. I hope they didn't keep you up.

>150 pgmcc: and >151 clamairy: There was some singing (perhaps more correctly characterized as caterwauling) as well as the well-known spelling chant of E-A-G-L-E-S...EAGLES. There is also the clearly meaningful practice of drivers jumping in their cars to make a loop on a major avenue in town, while honking their horns.

Normally, I turn out my reading light no later than 11pm. Last night I turned it off at 11:30 and then listened to the waves of celebration until round about midnight. My spouse swears the noise levels continued until 12:30, but he was already grumpy over "things". (He took a morning nap today and made up for any loss of sleep.)

It wasn't like the night (some years back now) that the Phillies won the World Series when an 18-wheeler got caught in the parade and therefore joined in by blowing his truck's horn. At any rate, the police made their presence known to some extent and no damage got done to property. (In the city, there are always the knuckleheads who climb street pole lights to celebrate. They've taken to greasing the poles to cut down on that kind of thing, but...)

>150 pgmcc: 'Take it Easy' might have been more appropriate, they won so handily.

>152 jillmwo: I'm surprised they gave up that early.

>149 jillmwo: Ah, so the Eagles were in the Superbowl? And a team from California? Does it tell you how far out of the sports loop I am that this is the first time I heard that? Now all the Eagles football helmet shaped balloons in the store begin to make sense.

>154 MrsLee: Yes, the Eagles were in (and handily won) the Super Bowl this year. The losing team was the Kansas City Chiefs, from KC, MO. They have won the Super Bowl in the last 2 consecutive years, so the expectation (in addition to the usual hyped-up atmosphere for this event) was for a "three-peat." Get it? Oh, hahahahaHA. Except the team played poorly and had their collective clock cleaned by the Philadelphia Eagles.

We did start to watch it - I admit to liking football as a game, minus the hype - but eww. The shell-shocked faces on the losing team was sad.

>152 jillmwo: That isn't what I'd want to listen to at 11:30 at night, either! Drunken fans don't generally come with good reputations for docility - win or lose.

>155 terriks: Oh, I see. >150 pgmcc: mislead me with the song title. He is good at that. One could almost call it his occupation to mislead, but we won't mention that here.

>156 MrsLee:
Better not to say anything. Always the best policy. That's the third thing they teach you.

Quick note: I am 75% of the way thru War and Peace. The chapters having to do with the fall of Moscow to Napoleon's army and the subsequent destruction by fire are actually quite compelling. I have only the final (dreaded) book four ahead of me at this point. (See #13 above from @haydninvienna.)

BTW, as this week's trivia contest, guess which poison gets mentioned in W&P. And guess how many times!

>158 jillmwo: Arsenic? 6 times?

>159 clamairy: I'd say that's a good guess.

I'll guess something herbal - hemlock - 5 times.

My enormous copy of W&P is still on the shelf, daring me. Thank goodness I have others lined up ahead of it.

>160 terriks: Also a good guess. I guess I should have Googled to find out if arsenic was a known poison (with that name) during that era.

>158 jillmwo: If the Aylmer Maude translation on Project Gutenberg is to be trusted: arsenic, once.

>162 haydninvienna: Yes, you have the right answer but I hadn't expected that you would resort to the public domain version of Googling it. (I suppose we could say you Gutenberged it.)

>163 jillmwo: Hahaha!

So, do I get a prize for guessing the right poison?

>164 clamairy: You certainly get partial credit and, in addition, you were the first to respond with an answer. But in terms of the frequency with which the poison appeared, I have to think that Tolstoy felt cannons represented a more efficient means of meeting death.

>160 terriks: I don't think hemlock got used that frequently in 19th century fiction.

>165 jillmwo: Yes, I wasn't sure about that, either. Seemed like a witchy kind of ingredient that could have been available so I took a guess.

I think arsenic has been around for quite some time, in various forms.

Thanks for an interesting challenge!

>166 terriks: I should imagine that arsenic was much more readily come by than hemlock, particularly if one was living in an urban environment. Hemlock might have been confused with wild carrot by those unfamiliar with the plant in the wild. I imagine prepared arsenic (which had a variety of uses, both good and bad) was easier to pick up in local shops.

But Clam's right. It was still a good guess. (We give credit in the Pub for participation.)

Sits quietly in the corner taking notes on the increasing openness with which @jillmwo recruits members to her poisoners' Cabal.

>167 jillmwo: Thanks! :)

>168 pgmcc: I'm sure I don't know what you mean. *raises glass* This new Pub concoction is quite tasty. Wanna try some?

>169 terriks:
Thank you, but I think I will pass on this occasion.

>170 pgmcc: Next time, then. 😀

>168 pgmcc: Fascinating, isn't it?

>171 terriks: Remind me to confiscate that man's notebook.

>173 jillmwo: Consider it done.

>167 jillmwo: In Hadron's Run, the ER book I'm sort of reading, the author claims that cinnabar is a poison. That would likely be even more of a gaffe to you experts.

>175 Karlstar: Mercury oxide? Certainly toxic, but (one hopes) hard to administer.

>163 jillmwo: I was pretty sure it was arsenic, and didn't remember the particular incident in the book, so wanted to check. Given the period, and the social class, the only likely candidates were arsenic and antimony. It perhaps could have been opium in some form, but that's an inefficient poison and I doubt if it was as widely available in the Moscow of 1812 as it was in London about the same time.

>177 haydninvienna: Okay. I see how you got the answer. I hadn't thought about antimony. One of the things I have really noticed in W&P (and it is true as well of The Count of Monte Cristo) is how the deep unhappiness that drives a character to thoughts of suicide is simply glossed over.

>175 Karlstar:. Silly author! Everyone knows that Cinnabar is a somewhat expensive Estee Lauder perfume.

>176 hfglen: Not hard at all, a nugget of cinnabar was put in a drink. I think that finally ended my reading of that book, just too many errors.

>178 jillmwo: I didn't know that!

>179 Karlstar: I just did some Googling, and cinnabar will not release its toxins unless it's heated. Was it put into a hot beverage?

*thinks* I wonder if I ought to let Jill and Peter in to a spot of bushcraft that's necessarily common knowledge here. The first part of the story is that the lintels over doorways (at least the surviving ones) are made of Tamboti (Spirostachys africana) wood; they have lasted 500 years untreated in the tropics because they are naturally so toxic that any bug that comes near them dies instantly. So therefore newbie tree-nuts are taught at a very early age NEVER NEVER EVER to use Tamboti in a cooking fire, not even as kindling. The smoke is that poisonous.

Just as an aside, >181 pgmcc: Surely some of the spy handbooks you read professionally earlier in life covered this kind of thing?

And goodness >182 hfglen:, I'd no idea. What a neat way to kill someone!!!

In the meantime, I was recently charmed by an interesting historical bit encountered in The Greene Murder Case. As it happens, Philo Vance is holding forth on the deceptive appearances of criminals and he happens to mention the docile Reverend Richeson of Cambridge who had poisoned his own fiancee. Well, it turns out that this was real. I found the background on the case headlined here as DID PASTOR POISON GIRL? (https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=THD19111021-01.2.8&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA--------0------) Other murderers mentioned in the same speech as Vance is holding forth include Constance Kent, Madeleine Smith and Edith Thompson.

I don't recommend S.S. Van Dine for the most part to friends because most people will find either the detective and/or the author tedious. Me too, if I'm honest. But every once in a while, there's some interesting stuff that gets buried there. I also encounter new vocabulary.

For the record, I started the Katherine Addison book, The Orb of Cairado last night at bedtime. My reading times are breaking into certain routine hours -- late morning or mid-day for the challenging reads of whatever sort and soothing stuff for bedtime.

>182 hfglen:
Perhaps you should not mention that to @jillmwo. I think she has enough knowledge of poisons and toxins already.

>183 jillmwo:
Surely some of the spy handbooks you read professionally earlier in life covered this kind of thing?

You might think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

>184 pgmcc: and >182 hfglen: Hey, we're all about expansion of knowledge in this Pub!

>180 clamairy: No, it was an iced drink. It never did seem at all plausible, and this book isn't a spoof, like the cats with poisonous chocolate emitting claws.

>176 hfglen: Mercuric sulphide. As to putting bits of it in drinks, it's virtually insoluble in water.

>182 hfglen: I'll keep that in mind, though I'm not keeping notes, like some people.

>189 Karlstar: :o)

>189 Karlstar: Well, as I understand it, those individuals with a robust retentive memory generally are able to skip that step.

Actual Reviews!!!! (Reading in the first six weeks of 2025)

The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison. On the same day that the airship, Wisdom of Choharo, crashes with the Emperor and his three sons on board, a disgraced scholar (second-class) loses a close friend, serving on that ship. Ulcetha is eking out an existence that hovers on the criminal fringes. His dead friend however leaves behind a vital clue to the location of two treasures, the Star of Cstheio and the Orb of Cairado. Following the clues means encountering a dead body, a murdered man, and a Witness moves to aid Ulcetha in restoration of order and fact.

Four or Four-and-a-Half Stars. This is a nice short read (only nine chapters) and it reminds loyal fans of Katherine Addison of why her books satisfy. It’s also a nice lead-in to the next title in Addison’s Chronicles of Osreth series. The Tomb of Dragons is due to be published in mid-March of 2025.

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo.

The city of Azril has been nurtured and fostered by the demon, Vitrine. One day, four angels appear and wreak total destruction on the city, leaving it in ruins. In hot anger, Vitrine hurls a flings a curse on one of the angels, establishing an odd connection between them. Vitrine wants to bring her city back; she begins by remembering those who lived there. (I was particularly fond of the pirate, Malabec Mercer.) The angel is an observer and occasional aid. The point of the story is how Vitrine works her will in reviving her city. It’s all about rebuilding and about connecting.

Those reviews that grumble that there’s no fast moving plot in this book are absolutely right. Action takes a back seat to the slowness of time and the resurrection of a city. But the writing is vivid and lyrical. Highly recommended. Five stars.

Finally, one book I read less for the purpose of entertainment and more for the purpose of satisfying my personal curiosity. Why was The Greene Murder Case brought back into print by Penzler Publishing? It’s an artificially constructed logic problem from 1928, that year being squarely in between two Christie titles that are told in a far more natural and readable way (specifically, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in 1926 and Murder at the Vicarage in 1930.) Why would Julian Symons think this one was worthy of inclusion in his 100 Best Crime Stories? Vance is an obnoxious, independently wealthy detective; in these pages, he’s dabbling in both Mozart and Genghis Khan as he works through the crime. A family of six and a household staff of five are terrified by the work of a serial murderer, one whose modus operandi shifts. Author S.S. Van Dine focuses on the narrative construct but drapes in it in Gothic trappings.

Was it immersive? Not particularly so. It was intriguing but not overwhelmingly immersive.

Is it memorable? Heaven knows what will stick in my brain in another six months, but I’m not overly impressed with it now.

Would I recommend it to others? Only if you’re interested in understanding why the change of direction in American detective fiction as driven by Raymond Chandler was such a relief to readers. To be fair, I think this book is one of those instructional reads. Where did the author go wrong? Van Dine seemingly did a lot of research in pulling this together, but modern readers may not make it to the end and thereby appreciate the effort. (It then ceases to be effectively instructional.)

I tripped over something unexpectedly this week on my Kindle. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair. It's a memoir written by a woman whose means of coping with the death of her elder sister was to read a book a day for a year. (I didn't believe it. A woman with a husband and four sons all in the house?) But this one is a real heart-tugger on a variety of levels.

Another night up until midnight. Real life had kept me from the book all afternoon. I thought of Edith Wharton’s “happiness of giving” as I drove boys here and there, did a slapdash grocery run (bread, bananas, milk, orange juice—my daily mantra of what we always seem to need more of), scooted to the train to pick up Jack, and pushed loads of laundry through the washer. Everyone wanted dinner—surprise! I overcooked some chicken cutlets and tossed a premade salad. I cleaned up from dinner, folded laundry, and began straightening up the house and getting kids ready for bed. When I finally could sit down again with Coetzee and Dostoyevsky, it was ten o’clock. I was tired, bone-tired. I was downstairs alone, while my husband slept alone upstairs: messages of love out the window, we’d have to try again tomorrow.

I know lots of people commented on LibraryThing back in 2011 when it came out. But I'm always a decade or so behind other people.

>194 jillmwo: Oh, I never heard of this one. Or if I did I have forgotten all about it. Does it say she actually completed one book a day, or just dipped into one each day? Because I, like you, am incredulous. But it still sounds interesting.

>195 clamairy: Yes, she actually does. But she's not selecting heavy stuff. No Henry James or Thomas Hardy, as an example. The book really is a family memoir and the books are just the way she mollifies her brain while trying to process her grief. There were a few "chonk-ers" that she mentioned. How does one get through Watership Down in a day? Or The Castle of Otranto? In the back of the book, she has a list of what was read. The readily ingested titles are from authors like Nancy Atherton, Anne Lamott, and Anne Fadiman. She read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and I know from experience that only takes an afternoon. (I'm sure I've told you that it was your love of that one that pushed me into picking it up at Borders one weekend!) I can't remember what it was by Dostoevsky that she read.

She doesn't devote an inordinate amount of time on the books being read. I could be wrong, but I think the lengthiest discussion of any of the books only ran 2 or 3 paragraphs at most. It's her sharing of the stories about her family and its history that wring your heart. How can anyone keep moving through the trauma of human existence in wartime or illness? There isn't a whole lot of instructional material available to us. We just do it.

And more for @clamairy: this bit from Tolstoy and the Purple Chair made me laugh. (An old Arab proverb advises, “He who lends a book is an idiot. He who returns the book is more of an idiot.”)

She did provide rules for herself as she began her project on her birthday.

I would read my first book that day, and the next day I would write my first review. The rules for my year were simple: no author could be read more than once; I couldn’t reread any books I’d already read; and I had to write about every book I read. I would read new books and new authors, and read old books from favorite writers. I wouldn’t read War and Peace, but I could read Tolstoy’s last novel, The Forged Coupon. All the books would be ones I would have shared with Anne-Marie if I could have, ones we would have talked about, argued over, and some we would have agreed upon.

(Anne Marie was the sister she lost to cancer.)

>196 jillmwo: & >197 jillmwo: "How can anyone keep moving through the trauma of human existence in wartime or illness? There isn't a whole lot of instructional material available to us. We just do it."

You're right, there isn't much. And people aren't prone to pick up books on grieving until they are actually doing it. Two books I have read since Pete passed were H is for Hawk, which the author wrote after she lost her father, and Late Migrations, much of which is about dealing with the loss of a mother.

This books sounds very intriguing, and I will add it to my ever-growing Libby wishlist. Interestingly enough I am reading Geraldine Brooks' book about her husbands death right now. (And I am seeing myself in so much of what she says, even after all this time.)

>198 clamairy: I saw that and wanted to read it; her husband was one of my favorite travel/history writer and I was very sad to hear the news. Id be interested in your thoughts about it.

I think most people turn to their loved ones for help, before theyd pick up a book the year of magical thinking is one that I read when my mom died (and my sis and I got to see Vanessa Redgrave perform it on broadway) both were excellent

>199 cindydavid4: Yes, I read that one as well. The Brooks is much more relatable, so far anyway.

>198 clamairy: This is the first mention I've come across over your loss, Clam - I'm so very sorry.

"Memorial Days" popped up for me on a bookstore email; Brooks also mentions her husband's sudden passing in the Afterword of Horse. (LT seems to have issues with Geraldine Brooks titles and I'm on my laptop, so passing on the touchstones here.) Everything Brooks writes is heartfelt and lovely.

>201 terriks: Thank you. It's been quite some time at this point, but many days it does not feel that way.

>202 clamairy: You're welcome. :virtual hand squeeze:

>201 terriks: both Brooks and Horowitz started out as journalists and it shows in there non fiction works nine parts desireis an amazing look at Islamic women. Her fiction tho has problems Thinking esp in the people of the book, years of wonders and March great books to begin with but ofter looses her way Esp in people of the book; the ending really ruined what was a fantastic story

>198 clamairy: so sorry for your loss; sending virtual hugs

>204 cindydavid4: Interesting! I've only read Horse and March and didn't have any issues with those characters. (Of course, Brooks had quite a guide for March.)

I've not read any of her non-fiction.

>206 terriks: my problem with March was my love for the original book and I found his character rather off putting. I know she was basing him off Louisas father but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Interestingly there was another book called March by Doctorow which was also about the civil war and which I thought quite brilliant, and should have won the prize instead.

>205 cindydavid4: Thank you.

>294 & >206 terriks: People of the Book was a DNF for me. I had too much going on at the time, and it felt like a chore. But Horse and Year of Wonders were both excellent, IMHO. And March was a solid 4 star for me.

Sorry, Jill... We've hijacked your thread.

>208 clamairy:. Never apologize for that. Hijacking a thread by fellow denizens in Pub should be the worst thing that happens to me this week. It's how I know that I am talking to people here rather than to 'bots. Actually, it also makes it clear that it's time to open up a new thread. I could wait another week to keep it tidy, but super long threads might discourage other visitors.

So here goes.

>196 jillmwo: With everything else you described as her having to do during the day, I don't think I could get through Watership Down in a day. It is just too long.