Clam Shares Books & Cheeses ❂ 2025 ~ Part V ❂

I'm back! I went up to Connecticut for Halloween to see my son's band perform. Unfortunately it was one of the days we had horrendous winds and we were under a gale force warning. My ferry crossing was so rough that they canceled all the other ferry crossings for the rest of the day after my trip.

Anyway, I survived. I had driven from New London to New Haven and picked up my daughter at the train station before driving up to Manchester. My daughter had never seen my son's band before. We both had a wonderful time at his gig, and I got to catch up with a good friend of my husband's that I hadn't seen since I moved. I did have to get back on the ferry the next day, but the ride was not as rough, thankfully!

I did finish a book and I will try to write a review in the next couple of days.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread. Glad you had a nice time…if you ignore the rough ferry crossing.

>1 clamairy: Happy new thread! Glad you got to see your son's band again.

Happy New Thread! It's nice to hear that you had such a great time :)

Happy new thread :)

Happy new thread! That sounds like a fun weekend, excluding the rough ferry crossing.

>2 haydninvienna:, >3 pgmcc:, >4 Karlstar:, >5 Alexandra_book_life:, >6 Narilka: & >7 Sakerfalcon: Thank you. :o)

Right now I'm trying to catch up on people's threads before I force myself to write some reviews.

Somehow I completely forgot about this one.

Happy New Thread! And already, you've got a review posted!

Happy new thread! Your weekend sounds fun, minus the ferry crossing, which would have probably had me clutching a pillow in the dark. Lol. Glad you and your daughter had fun at the gig!

>10 jillmwo: Thank you. I did, and it wasn't even the one I planned to write. I still haven't gotten to that one yet.

>11 terriks: Thank you. I haven't had any nightmares about it yet. I hope I don't!

This one was a heartbreaker.

If you are in need of something lighthearted and very entertaining look no further.

>14 clamairy: I see that this is another Discworld book!

You are getting very accurate with your BBs. I still have Equal Rites on my B&N wishlist and you’re still firing. ;)

>15 terriks: My apologies. My suggestion for some of these would be that you get the Libby app on your phone, and you can borrow the audio books and give them a whirl. Nothing keeps your mind occupied better than a great audiobook while your hands are busy doing the crap you really don't want to deal with.

>14 clamairy: Lovely! It's always time for Pratchett, I think :)

>14 clamairy:
We have most of the Pratchett books in tge house but I have only read a few. I am currently reading The Truth and it is great fun.

We have the books because one daughter, wife and sons read them.

>14 clamairy: This was the book that got me back into Discworld after I took a break from the series at Interesting Times. After reading it I went back and caught up on the ones I'd missed.

>18 pgmcc: & >19 Sakerfalcon: It seems I have made my way through 17 of the 31(?) Discworld books so far. I had started with the Rincewind books, and lost interest after the second. But I found my groove again with the Witches and Tiffany Aching.

>16 clamairy: No apologies needed! :) I'm happy to think there's a brand new (to me) author with a wealth of things to choose from.

>14 clamairy: Nothing like a well placed pair of socks ;) That is such a great book. I'm looking forward to when I get to it in my series reread.

Still trying to catch up on reviews.

Sorry I haven't been around. I have not been spending much time at my desk.

I am behind on reviews, but I just wanted to mention that I am thoroughly enjoying A Case of Mice and Murder, so thank you Peter!

>24 clamairy:
As always, I am glad to be of service. I am also happy that you are enjoying it.

I waited much too long to write my review and all of the brilliant things I planned to say have slipped away. It's a wonderful sequel to Witch King, and I can't wait for the third book.

Loved this one. I will definitely keep going with this series. Thank you again, Peter.

>27 clamairy:
I am glad you liked it.

>26 clamairy: I'd like to have the third book right now, please :D I am glad you enjoyed Queen Demon! I agree, it's a wonderful sequel.

I think I'm finally caught up!

>30 clamairy: I just saw your review on my LT homepage! I absolutely loved this collection, more than I've liked any of her novels. I'm excited for the new novel which will expand on the last story though, I want to explore that world some more! I'll be interested to see what you think of the Scholomance books, as I preferred the short story here to the series.

>31 Sakerfalcon: Oh, interesting. I did wonder about the difference between that short story and the series. I also wondered if I would have liked the Spinning Silver story a lot more if I hadn't already read (and enjoyed) the book.

I didn't realize there was going to be a book based on The Long Way Round. That one was fascinating too, but I thought it ended abruptly.

>33 Sakerfalcon: I think Novik mentioned it in the introduction to The long way round, unless I misread it.

>30 clamairy: I loved this collection!
I think my favourites were After Hours, Vici, Buried Deep, Castle Courlieu, The Long Way Round :))) I am with @Sakerfalcon, I can't wait for the Long Way Around to get expanded into a novel.
I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on the Scholomance series, I really enjoyed these books.

>33 Sakerfalcon: Well that's what happens when I listen to an audiobook. Whatever book she mentioned was going to become a full length novel was long out of my brain by the time I got to the last story in the collection.

>34 Alexandra_book_life: I thought Vici was hilarious! Almost Pratchett-esque. I already bought the first in the series a while ago when it was on sale, so I will hopefully get to is soonish. I do love her writing, and I have to say Uprooted is still my favorite book of hers that I have read. I don't usually do short story collections, but I am very glad that I made an exception for this one. I think enough people in here raved about it that I set my reservations aside. So thank you, all!

>27 clamairy: Definitely grab A Case of Life and Limb. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

>26 clamairy: It took me about a quarter of the book as well. I'd forgotten about the Blessed and the factional witch politics.

My library posted on Facebook that there was going to be a disruption in the availability of newer books because of the closure of Baker & Taylor. Google tells me the distribution arm of that company has been bought by someone else. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/articl...

I've been letting my thread languish because I wasn't getting much reading done as I was preparing for Thanksgiving, and then cleaning up after. I've even started the Yule decorating. Also the book I was reading wasn't calling to me to pick it up during the day. (Which should have been a clue to give up on it, but I didn't.)

>40 clamairy: I wish there was a way to get reading time back from books that were not worth it...

>41 Alexandra_book_life:
Hear! Hear!

>40 clamairy: Thanks for warning us off of this one, sorry it was a waste of your time.

>40 clamairy: Thanks for this warning!

This is the third post I've read this morning containing reviews that were basically warning off readers. I do take these negative reviews to heart, in general. I'm wondering if we have a "Books To Avoid - In This Reader's Opinion" kind of thread. I know I'd check it out and add to it as needed, but haven't come across one.

>44 terriks: This sounds familiar but so far I haven't found the thread.

Oh that would be a great addition to the pub!

>45 Karlstar: I don't know that I've ever seen one, but it wouldn't surprise me if there's one out there. :)

>46 Bookmarque: I think so, too! It would be interesting if an existing one was found and resurrected.

>46 Bookmarque: >47 terriks: I really do think we started one in 2023, or 2024, maybe?

We did: https://www.librarything.com/topic/350178#n8236352

Let's add to it!

>48 Karlstar: Those were years I merely swooped in and out of the Pub, so can't say.

Can one search for threads by keywords?

>49 terriks: Yes, but in that case, the 'keywords' I tried didn't work, I finally found it by just looking at all thread titles for 2024 and late 2023.

Looking at that thread again, I suggest we take all of the 'not recommended' books and put them in a list at the top, then if people want to see the commentary they can just find the appropriate post.

>50 Karlstar: Good idea - that would mean some kind of post everyone can edit. Don't know what's available on LT in that regard.

>51 terriks: I guess I'm signing myself up for that job.

Glad you found the thread. Maybe we should pin it to the top for now, until I remember to edit it into the Group blurb.

>52 Karlstar: >53 clamairy: Sounds good - can't help but think it will be a useful thread for the Pub.

Thanks to you both!

I finished a kindle book and an audiobook yesterday. I'm at 101 books total for 2025 so far, and will probably be slightly behind last year. (I think I hit 109.) I will try to get some reviews written in the next couple of days.

I did get my tree up today and got the lights on it. The tree decorations can wait a while.

I have started reading Snake-Eater and listening to Everything is Tuberculosis. I know! That second one will not be a particularly cheery or festive experience, but I plan to listen to Mansfield Park after that.

>55 clamairy:
Wow! 101. I usually manage around 30. As @jillmwo has observed, I leave the house too much.
:-)

>56 pgmcc: Well, I'm not that far ahead of you if you count books read with my eyeballs. Half of that total were consumed as audiobooks.

>55 clamairy: 101 is awesome! I thought my goal for this year was 72, no idea what happened. Bleak House and War and Peace may have slowed me down, but I think those are just excuses.

I haven't read nearly as many titles as the rest of you!! My spreadsheet at home suggests that I'm in the usual one-book-a-week grouping.

>59 jillmwo: As I stated about I have read roughly 50 with my eyeballs, and heard another 50 with my ears.

An Amazon freebie that was actually fun!

No bird book holds a candle to The Genius of Birds, so I should stop expecting them to.

This one was a pleasure to read.

>63 clamairy: This one sounds lovely! Thank you 🥰

>64 Alexandra_book_life: You are most welcome! This was one of the Amazon First Reads selections last month. I snapped it up!

Yesterday I tried reading some mindless piece of Christmas fluff by Richard Paul Evans that was highly recommended on a couple of internet lists, and I lasted about three pages before bailing. Then I started The Abbot's Ghost, or Maurice Treherne's Temptation: A Christmas Story by Louisa May Alcott, and I only lasted a few pages into that one before I realized it wasn't going to do the trick either. Hence I bit the bullet and cashed in some Amazon rewards to get Ring the Bells. Apparently it won't be available to borrow via Overdrive/Libby until the end of January, and then only as an audiobook. I did not feel like waiting. I figured I would start it at bedtime. But then I decided to watch the first couple of episodes of Murderbot on Apple. I ended up watching five of them, which is almost half the entire season. They are shortish, and I couldn't stop myself. By the time I got into bed I read about three pages before my eyes were closing of their own volition.

>66 clamairy:
I know the feeling. I hope you enjoyed what sleep you got.

>67 pgmcc: I slept well, thank you!

>66 clamairy: Ah, Murderbot! The second season had better get here quickly 😁

>63 clamairy: Ooh, I have this one on my Kindle. Maybe it’ll be my next read.

>66 clamairy: How did you hold out this long on watching it? I'm looking forward to the next season.

>71 Karlstar: I just got Apple! I refused to get it until I got rid of Disney, and I didn't want to get rid of Disney until I had a chance to watch Andor, which was amazing.

I completely forgot to add my Snake-Eater quoted bits to post >63 clamairy: so I'm dropping them here.

All Selena knew about roadrunners came from cartoons, and if she’d ever thought about them at all, it was that they looked sort of like ostriches and made meeping noises. This did not look like a cartoon. It looked like a small dinosaur, one of the agile ones that hunted in packs.

If your only exposure to roadrunners is through Warner Bros., you may not be aware of this, but a roadrunner is somewhere between a velociraptor and a chicken with a shiv, and if this doesn’t sound alarming to you, you have probably never been attacked by a rooster.

Here are my book stats for 2025. I don't use the start/end date fields, but perhaps I should start. I do use my own tags to keep track.

You added 137 books in 2025!
You added the most books in October.

Earliest publication date: Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress by Fanny Burney (1782)
Latest publication date: Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher (2025)

You added 9.04 feet and 247.85 pounds to your book stack!

You need 0.59 IKEA billy bookcases to hold your new books for 2025.

Or, if you store them in the garage, you need 3.30 U-Haul boxes.

And make sure your floors will support the added weight of 12.84 adult badgers!

>73 clamairy: Three of the 5 libraries I'm in have it, and every single copy is on loan! Never mind, put it on the wishlist.

Here's a photo of a roadrunner via the Audubon Society.

https://share.google/rDX4pmXkk2JnFVYST

>75 haydninvienna: Have you read anything of hers before? There is a lot of humor.

>76 clamairy: I'm not seeing dinosaur there!

>76 clamairy: Not so far. I may have to make the effort.

>77 Karlstar: I am, totally! But then I woke this morning to a lot of noise from the local crow poulation — those jokers make it easy to believe that birds are just feathery dinosaurs.

>63 clamairy:, >73 clamairy: Oh I will definitely have to get this one when it comes out in paperback! It sounds wonderful!

I should have saved this one for January, but I had listened to an interview in the NY Times with John Green and was intrigued.

If my tally is correct I am at 103 books for 2025 so far. I have started listening to Mansfield Park in honor of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen. As I suspected I am enjoying it much more this time around. Yes, most of the characters are still hateful, but now I am seeing a lot more humor in their flaws than I did previously.

>80 clamairy: That's terrible and sad.

>81 clamairy: Congrats, that's a lot of reading.

>80 clamairy: I'm listening to Patient Zero and it's fascinating. It definitely has some similar themes in how money and other things have effected how diseases are viewed, researched, and treated.

>80 clamairy: But isn't there a vaccine for TB nowadays? How can it still be so prevalent? Does the author explain?

>80 clamairy: I've heard good things about this book from many people! I am curious, but I don't know if I want to read it right now...

>81 clamairy: A great book year, congratulations!

It's nice that you are enjoying Mansfield Park more this time :)

>81 clamairy:
Well done on the 103.

>84 jillmwo: Yes, there has been a TB vaccine for quite a while now. Being from Sweden, I was vaccinated for TB as a child. Didn't know until I tested positive during a routine medical exam as an adult here in USA. The nurse just about lost her cookies when that bump came up on my arm! Then my sister informed me that we had been injected with latent TB before I was old enough to remember it for myself. Still walking around six decades later with TB in my system and... 🎶 Feelin' all right 🎶

>84 jillmwo: The BCG vaccine was invented in 1921, and used to be routinely given to children in Australia (including me).

>88 ScoLgo: and >89 haydninvienna: I think I must have gotten the vaccine at least once. When I was working in New York, we were all exposed by a co-worker and the company wasn't taking any chances. And most likely, when we were posted overseas with my father, it would have been a requirement.

>90 jillmwo:
It was standard for babies when I was a nipper. Members of my generation have the tell-tale BCG circular pattern of needle marks on our arms.

>84 jillmwo: It's all about money. Poorer countries can't afford to take as many preventative measures as are taken elsewhere.

Around 87% of new TB cases occurred in the 30 high TB burden countries, with two-thirds of the global total in India (25%), Indonesia (10%), the Philippines (6.8%), China (6.5%), Pakistan (6.3%), Nigeria (4.8%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3.9%) and Bangladesh (3.6%). The top five countries accounted for 55% of the global total.

WHO has all the info here: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis

>82 Karlstar: & >87 pgmcc: Thank you.

>83 catzteach: That looks good!

>85 Alexandra_book_life: I definitely suggest waiting.

News worth celebrating! Before you go nattering on about cholesterol issues, if you do some googling you'll see that cheese consumption has NOT been shown to raise bad cholesterol significantly.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/high-fat-cheese-cream-linked-lower-risk-dementia/s...

How's the audible version of Mansfield Park coming along?

>96 jillmwo: Good, but I still detest almost every character. At least now I see the humor.

>95 clamairy: Woohoo!! Bring on the cheese!

>95 clamairy: Ha! I love this report - bring on the cheese platter!

I finished listening to Mansfield Park yesterday. I appreciated it more this time around, but it was still incredibly frustrating in places. I will attempt to put together a short review, but it might not be happening until the end of the week.

I think I will be listening to A Christmas Carol next. I watched The Man who Invented Christmas while I was wrapping presents yesterday. It was my second time through, and I liked it even more this time. Perhaps when I listen I will picture Christopher Plummer as Ebenezer Scrooge.

I will look forward to hearing what you took away this time from Mansfield Park. (And about hearing why you found it so frustrating.)

This December, I have watched any variety of versions of The Christmas Carol. I haven't yet had a chance to watch the Mr. Magoo version which was is one from my childhood. (I remember almost all of the songs from it.) I may also watch the Muppet version. (We already did the various "live-action" ones -- George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart, Alistair Sim, etc. Today I even saw the musical version with Kelsey Grammar. I know so much of it by heart. Beyond just the bah, humbug phrase and the one about Marley being as a dead as a door nail. I'm partial to the second (?) paragraph where Dickens wrote:

"I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade."

And of course, we all know that Tiny Tim did NOT die..

>101 jillmwo: That is one of my favorite lines, and I quite agree that it should be coffin nail. I also love this bit of fanciful description of Scrooge's house -

"They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide- and-seek with other houses, and have forgotten the way out again."

>101 jillmwo: & >102 Bookmarque:

Excellent quotes.

@jillmwo, I am delighted to see your praise for the work of Charles Dickens.

>101 jillmwo: & >102 Bookmarque: "But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the country's done for."

>103 pgmcc: Touché.

>104 clamairy:
😂😂😂😂

>103 pgmcc: Ha!

>101 jillmwo:. This is unusual for me: I've not seen a single version of A Christmas Carol.

No one mentions the 1938 film with Reginald Owen - and June Lockhart! Long before she was Lost in Space, or Timmy's mom in some version of Lassie, she was part of the Cratchett family. And Gene Lockhart is a stupendous Bob! Ann Rutherford is also in this; she later played the bratty little sister to Vivian Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind.

We used to roar with laughter as kids, watching Reginald Owen running around with a fabulous fake dead goose, loosely wrapped in paper with its legs and claws sticking out.

Such a great version, and can't find it anymore. *sniffle*

>106 terriks:
Gene Lockhart also played Mrs Claus in The Night They Saved Christmas.

I was sorry to read about her recent passing.

Speaking of turkeys wrapped up in a paper parcel we used to receive a turkey through the post every year from a friend who was a farmer’s wife. This was the 1960s and it was common practice to send turkeys through the post. The parcel was a big brown paper affair tied up with string, a massive number of stamps on it, and blood seeping through at various points. She always sent a big turkey, 22 to 24lbs. There were 8 of us in the house and we liked our turkey.

>106 terriks: I don't believe I've ever seen that one. IMDb tells me that it's free to watch if you have HBO Max, or you can rent it through Amazon Prime video. We were big Alastair Sim Christmas Carol fans in my family growing up. I bought it on blu-ray so I can watch it whenever I feel like it. My kids will only watch the Muppet version, and we usually watch it every year.

I listened to the Tim Curry Audio version the last two years, and decided I wanted something new. Low and behold, Audible has a version read by Hugh Grant free for members. I'm ⅓ of the way through it. It's perfect so far.

>107 pgmcc: I'm sure they didn't let that sit around in the PO!

>108 clamairy:
Having worked in the PO with long serving postal operatives, I heard many stories about the mountains of turkeys in the sorting offices and the various disasters that happened to some of them. It is a fascinating insight into the workings of the Irish postal system.

>107 pgmcc: Oh! I think you mean June Lockhart. That must have been a sentimental experience for her.

Wow!! This definitely sounds like something from the 1960s - doesn't get much better than a blood-soaked 24lb turkey in the post. I can envision the stamps dripping and peeling off. This is great!! :)

>108 clamairy: Thank you- we do have HBO max, and after all my whining I found it on Hulu, too! Riches!

I don't think I've ever realized it's only a little over an hour long.

It's totally worth a look if you have those streaming services. Great actors.

>110 terriks: Thanks for the heads up. Tonight I'm unwinding while watching the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

>109 pgmcc: At least you don't live in a very hot climate!

>111 clamairy: It’s so good! :) Enjoy!

>111 clamairy:
Yes, and the flow of postal turkeys occurred at a cooler time of year.

My goodness, can you imagine a mountain of blood oozing turkey parcels in the heat of a warm Summer? Uggghhhh!

>113 pgmcc: I can, and it's not a pleasant thought!

Loved this version of Dicken's A Christmas Carol read by Hugh Grant. I think it's even better than the Tim Curry version I have listened to for the last few years.

Just a quick review for a short wonderful listen.

Mansfield Park still has to wait a few days.

A very Happy Whatever You are Celebrating, good people!
I will most likely be missing until the weekend.

>116 clamairy: I've been to Newgrange, and into the chamber (unfortunately not on the winter solstice). I could well believe that there are spirits there still.

>118 haydninvienna: I'm envious. Next time I go to Ireland it's on my list of things to see.

>119 clamairy: https://www.newgrange.com/winter_solstice.htm

I see they are still running a lottery for the right to be in the chamber on the winter solstice ...

>117 clamairy: Today we celebrated Festivus. (Not really.)

I did watch the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol and it was as good as I remembered.

Have a wonderful holiday!

>116 clamairy: Like>118 haydninvienna:, I too have been in the chamber at Newgrange, but in springtime. Still very atmospheric, and enhanced by an excellent guide.

That makes three of us who have been in the chamber, although I was not there for the solstice.

On the solstice I watched RTÉ's live stream from New Grange. The sun penetrated the chamber towards the end of the time window when it could. A satisfactory result for the day.

As well as the live stream RTÉ shared an interview with Professor Michael O'Kelly, the archaeologist who discovered the chamber and the light box. The clip was from Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World. You can view it on the link below. The feature starts about 5 minutes 20 seconds into the episode.

https://youtu.be/0XhICVkU3bU?si=b-3ahELCVSiHt3Fx

It was through watching Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World that I learned of New Grange. I was watching the series with my parents when it was first broadcast. Our attention was captured when the narrator said the oldest building in the world is in Ireland.

ETA: Come to think of it, I would be embarrassed if an Australian and South African had been in the chamber and I, an Irishman, had not. We will not mention the fact that I have never visited The Book of Kells.

>123 pgmcc: One up on you! It helped that TCD Botany Dept* is just a hop, step and a jump from their library.

*Home to a seminal collection of South African plants, used by W.H. Harvey in writing the first three volumes of Flora Capensis, which he did in Dublin; these three volumes were published by Hodges Figgis, who may ring a bell with @pgmcc.

ETA: The last time I looked, over 10 years ago now, TCD Herbarium was curated by a half-Indian ex-Durbanite.

>124 hfglen:
Hodges Figgis will ring a bell for @haydninvienna also. It is where we arranged to meet on the first occasion of our getting together.

>117 clamairy: Happy Holidays to you, have a great time with your family.

>118 haydninvienna: I have also been to and into Newgrange, but in the spring.

>117 clamairy: Happy holidays, have a wonderful time!

>117 clamairy: Wishing all the warmth of the season for you and yours!

>117 clamairy: Happy Everything!!!! :)

Happy holidays! I hope they have been filled with laughter and love.

I read this one a few years ago and decided to revisit it as an audiobook. It's just as good if not better the second time around.

Highly recommended.

And another. Thank you for the heads-up, @Bookmarque.

>132 clamairy: Phew. Glad it wasn't too saccharine. Did you think the person playing Lydia sounded like the one who played her in the 90's adaptation w/Jennifer Ehle? I haven't checked if it is the same person, but her voice and vocal mannerisms sounded so similar.

ETA - Nope. Not the same actors.

>133 Bookmarque: I must not be familiar enough with the 1990s version to recognize Lydia's voice, or anyone else, with the possible exception of Colin Firth. This was enjoyable enough that I went looking for more of them, but I could only find written versions of plays by this author.

>131 clamairy:. I picked up this one when it was a Kindle bargain price. I am a bit concerned over whether it can possibly have a happy ending, but I never discount your recommendations lightly.

>135 jillmwo: Let me put it this way without spoiling it, if that's possible. It perfectly encapsulates what I see as the true spirit of the season. I think you will enjoy it.

Just dropping a bit of piffle here:

Faërie contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons: it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted.

I am hoping you will immediately recognize the source. It's Tolkien in his essay, On Fairy Tales.Happy new year, my dear!

Happy new year, Clam!

Do we need piffling to commence??

>137 jillmwo: Thank you! I suspected it was The Professor!

Happy New Year, Jill.

>138 haydninvienna: Happy New Year, Richard!

>139 Bookmarque: Yes, a small amount would suffice. I actually have two reviews to write in this thread, but they will have to wait until I find my mojo tomorrow.

>141 clamairy: Thanks, Clare. And since the piffle seems to have started, I offer the best book titles I've seen in a while:
•    All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault;
•    Only Happiness Here

Very different books, of course.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Oh! Oh! Oh!
A piffle party requirement.

How can I help?

Only three more posts required.

Two!

One!

Blast off!

>151 pgmcc: Many thanks!

>144 Karlstar: & >145 Alexandra_book_life: Thank you, and the same to you!

Here's one brief review. I'm saving Mansfield Park for another day.