Paul's Grand European Tour 23
This is a continuation of the topic Paul's Grand European Tour 22.
This topic was continued by Paul's Grand European Tour 24 and Wrap-up.
Talk 75 Books Challenge for 2025
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1PaulCranswick
Where my cycling career began and ended. I used to go to a training camp in South Western France nearby Perpingnan and train in the foothills of the Pyrenees. We were based somewhere between Canet-Plage and Argeles-Sur-Mer. This is a picture of the latter.
Happy days but after my last visit there of three, I decided against a professional contract and worked as a construction professional instead in Alexandria, Egypt on 2 and a half times the money!
2PaulCranswick
One of the books I have most eagerly anticipated this year is Arundhati Roy's book about her mother Mother Mary Comes to Me.
"She chose September, that most excellent month, to make her move. The monsoon had receded, leaving Kerala gleaming like an emerald strip between the mountains and the sea. As the plane banked to land, and the earth rose to greet us, I couldn't believe that topography could cause such palpable, physical pain. I had never known that beloved landscape, never imagined it, never evoked it, without her being part of it. I couldn't think of those hills and trees, the green rivers, the shrinking, cemented-over rice fields with giant billboards rising out of them advertising awful wedding saris and even worse jewelry, without thinking of her. She was woven through it all, taller in my mind than any billboard, more perilous than any river in spate, more relentless than the rain, more present than the sea itself."
Interested..................?
"She chose September, that most excellent month, to make her move. The monsoon had receded, leaving Kerala gleaming like an emerald strip between the mountains and the sea. As the plane banked to land, and the earth rose to greet us, I couldn't believe that topography could cause such palpable, physical pain. I had never known that beloved landscape, never imagined it, never evoked it, without her being part of it. I couldn't think of those hills and trees, the green rivers, the shrinking, cemented-over rice fields with giant billboards rising out of them advertising awful wedding saris and even worse jewelry, without thinking of her. She was woven through it all, taller in my mind than any billboard, more perilous than any river in spate, more relentless than the rain, more present than the sea itself."
Interested..................?
3PaulCranswick
POETRY
Neil Rollinson is a sadly overlooked poet whose work is difficult to find, but nonetheless packs a punch. This is an award winning poem "Constellations"
Constellations
by Neil Rollinson
Beyond the house, where the woods
dwindle to a few stray trees, my father
walks on the lake with a hammer.
He’s never seen so many stars,
and wonders why
with all that light in the sky
it doesn’t cast a single shadow.
He takes a few blows at the ice, and drops
a sackful of bricks
and kittens into the hole, listens
a moment to the stillness of deep winter,
the hugeness of the sky, the bubbles of warm
oxygen breaking under his feet,
like the fizz in a lemonade; the creaking
of ice as it settles itself.
His father’s at home, coaxing voices
out of a crystal set, a concert from London.
Ghosts in a stone.
My father doesn’t like that, he prefers
the magic of landscapes, of icicles
growing like fangs from the gutters of houses,
the map of the constellations. He turns on the bank
and looks at the sky. Orion rising over Bradford,
Cassiopeia’s bold W, asking Who, What, When
and Why? And down in the lake, the sudden
star-burst of four kittens under a lid of ice,
heading to the four corners of nowhere.
Neil Rollinson is a sadly overlooked poet whose work is difficult to find, but nonetheless packs a punch. This is an award winning poem "Constellations"
Constellations
by Neil Rollinson
Beyond the house, where the woods
dwindle to a few stray trees, my father
walks on the lake with a hammer.
He’s never seen so many stars,
and wonders why
with all that light in the sky
it doesn’t cast a single shadow.
He takes a few blows at the ice, and drops
a sackful of bricks
and kittens into the hole, listens
a moment to the stillness of deep winter,
the hugeness of the sky, the bubbles of warm
oxygen breaking under his feet,
like the fizz in a lemonade; the creaking
of ice as it settles itself.
His father’s at home, coaxing voices
out of a crystal set, a concert from London.
Ghosts in a stone.
My father doesn’t like that, he prefers
the magic of landscapes, of icicles
growing like fangs from the gutters of houses,
the map of the constellations. He turns on the bank
and looks at the sky. Orion rising over Bradford,
Cassiopeia’s bold W, asking Who, What, When
and Why? And down in the lake, the sudden
star-burst of four kittens under a lid of ice,
heading to the four corners of nowhere.
4PaulCranswick
BOOKS READ IN 2025 (1-75)
By the way my completed dates are using the British system of DD/MM/YY
1. Colonel Chabert by Honore de Balzac (1832) 101 pages Fiction from before the last decade. (Completed 1/1/25)
2. Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha (2024) 77 pages Poetry/Plays (completed 1/1/25)
3. Now Then by Rick Broadbent (2023) 433 pages Non-Fiction (Completed 2/1/25)
4. The Hunter by Tana French (2024) 467 pages Thriller (Completed 4/1/25)
5. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (2023) 293 pp Fiction from the last decade (completed 5/1/25)
6. The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning (1960) 318 pp Fiction before this decade (completed 7/1/25)
7. Stag's Leap by Sharon Olds (2012) 89 pp Poetry/Plays (completed 8/1/25)
8. The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane (2007) 321 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 12/1/25)
9. The Reborn by Lin Anderson (2010) 424 pp Thriller (Completed 25/1/25)
10. The Cold Millions by Jess Walter (2020) 337 pp Fiction from this Decade (Completed 28/1/25)
11. Lost Empires by J.B. Priestley (1965) 308 pp Fiction before this decade (Completed 28/1/25)
12. After You Were, I Am by Camille Ralphs (2024) 71 pp Poetry/Plays (Completed 28/1/25)
13. The Junior Officers' Reading Club by Patrick Hennessey (2009) 327 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 29/1/25)
14. Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths (2013) 390 pp Thriller (Completed 31/1/25)
15. Fen by Daisy Johnson (2016) 190 pp Fiction from the last decade (Completed 31/1/25)
16. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin (2009) 237 pp Fiction before this decade (Completed 1/2/25)
17. The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall (2021) 356 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 2/2/25)
18. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1606) 97 pp Poetry/Plays (Completed 2/2/25)
19. Night Blind by Ragnar Jonasson (2015) 210 pp Thrillers(Completed 4/2/25)
20. Take it Back by Kia Abdullah (2020) 373 pp Fiction from the last decade (Completed 5/2/25)
21. Nagasaki by Eric Faye (2012) 109 pp Fiction before this decade (Completed 6/2/25)
22. The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks (2015) 287 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 7/2/25)
23. Alphabet by Inger Christensen (1981) 77 pp Poetry/Plays (Completed 8/2/25)
24. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (2012) 427 pp Sci-Fi/Fantasy (Completed 9/2/25)
25. The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane (2023) 379 pp Fiction from the last decade (Completed 10/2/25)
26. Silence by Shusaku Endo (1966) 201 pp Fiction before this decade (Completed 15/2/25)
27. In the Land of the Cyclops by Karl Ove Knausgaard (2018) 297 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 16/2/25)
28. God's Gift to Women by Don Paterson (1997) 56 pp Poetry/Plays (Completed 16/2/25)
29. Our Fathers by Rebecca Wait (2020) 334 pp Thriller (Completed 16/2/25)
30. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami (2019) 301 pp Fiction from the last decade (Completed 20/2/25)
31. Dart by Alice Oswald (2002) 48 pp Poetry/Plays (Completed 21/2/25)
32. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (2012) 294 pp Fiction before this decade (Completed 22/2/25)
33. Afternoons with the Blinds Drawn by Brett Anderson (2019) 278 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 23/2/25)
34. Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson (1946) 203 pp (Completed 27/2/25)
35. Othello by William Shakespeare (1602) 145 pp (Completed 28/2/25)
36. Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell (2025) 382 pp (Completed 8/3/25)
37. Selected Poems 1969-2005 by David Harsent (2007) 133 pp (Completed 8/3/25)
38. Zero Days by Ruth Ware (2023) 339 pp (Completed 15/3/25)
39. The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre (2016) 342 pp (Completed 16/3/25)
40. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (2024) 258 pp (Completed 31/3/25)
41. Selected Poems by Zbigniew Herbert (2007) 249 pp (Completed 31/03/25)
42. Picture Her Dead by Lin Anderson (2011) 438 pp (Completed 4/4/25)
43. Poetry for and Other Chronic Conditions by A.K. Davidson (2024) 55 pp (Completed 5/4/25)
44. Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (2024) 326 pp (Completed 14/4/25)
45. The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk (2008) 728 pp (Completed 19/4/25)
46. The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey (1975) 538 pp (Completed 20/4/25)
47. Richard II by William Shakespeare (1595) 109 pp (Completed 20/4/25)
48. Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor (1976) 168 pp (Completed 7/5/25)
49. The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck (1908) 287 pp (Completed 9/5/25)
50. Wild Grass by Ian Johnson (2004) 292 pp (Completed 12/5/25)
51. Original Sin by P.D. James (1994) 551 pp (Completed 13/5/25)
52. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (1977) 178 pp (Completed 16/5/25)
53. Swell by Maria Ferguson (2025) 81 pp (Completed 21/5/25)
54. Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq (2022) 212 pp (Completed 31/5/25)
55. October by China Mieville (2017) 329 pp (Completed 31/5/25)
56. All Our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginzburg (1952) 418 pp (Completed 7/6/25)
57. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (1599) 104 pp (Completed 7/6/25)
58. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (2024) 279 pp (Completed 9/6/25)
59. Don't Skip Out On Me by Willy Vlautin (2019) 293 pp (Completed 11/6/25)
60. Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix (2023) 122 pp (Completed 17/6/25)
61. The Forward Book of Poetry 2025 edited by William Sieghart (2024) 121 pp (Completed 20/6/25)
62. The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (1978) 133pp (Completed 23/6/25)
63. Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings (2024) 190 pp (Completed 29/6/25)
64. The White Album by Joan Didion (1979) 223 pp (Completed 29/6/25)
65. Crow Lake by Mary Lawson (2002) 338 pp (Completed 4/7/25)
66. The Experience of Pain by Carlo Emilia Gadda (1963) 225pp (Completed 5/7/25)
67. Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (1608) 307 pp (Completed 6/7/25)
68. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (1961) 282 pp (Completed 7/7/25)
69. The Eloquence of the Sardine by Bill Francois (2019) 194 pp (Completed 8/7/25)
70. House of Lords and Commons by Ishion Hutchinson (2017) 68 pp (Completed 9/7/25)
71. Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser (2024) 183 pp (Completed 12/7/25)
72. The Seeker by S.G. MacLean (2015) 398 pp (Completed 16/7/25)
73. The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind (1988) 77 pp (Completed 27/7/25)
74. The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis (2014) 192 pp (Completed 30/7/25)
75. The Artist by Lucy Steeds (2025) 294 pp (Completed 31/7/25)
By the way my completed dates are using the British system of DD/MM/YY
1. Colonel Chabert by Honore de Balzac (1832) 101 pages Fiction from before the last decade. (Completed 1/1/25)
2. Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha (2024) 77 pages Poetry/Plays (completed 1/1/25)
3. Now Then by Rick Broadbent (2023) 433 pages Non-Fiction (Completed 2/1/25)
4. The Hunter by Tana French (2024) 467 pages Thriller (Completed 4/1/25)
5. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (2023) 293 pp Fiction from the last decade (completed 5/1/25)
6. The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning (1960) 318 pp Fiction before this decade (completed 7/1/25)
7. Stag's Leap by Sharon Olds (2012) 89 pp Poetry/Plays (completed 8/1/25)
8. The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane (2007) 321 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 12/1/25)
9. The Reborn by Lin Anderson (2010) 424 pp Thriller (Completed 25/1/25)
10. The Cold Millions by Jess Walter (2020) 337 pp Fiction from this Decade (Completed 28/1/25)
11. Lost Empires by J.B. Priestley (1965) 308 pp Fiction before this decade (Completed 28/1/25)
12. After You Were, I Am by Camille Ralphs (2024) 71 pp Poetry/Plays (Completed 28/1/25)
13. The Junior Officers' Reading Club by Patrick Hennessey (2009) 327 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 29/1/25)
14. Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths (2013) 390 pp Thriller (Completed 31/1/25)
15. Fen by Daisy Johnson (2016) 190 pp Fiction from the last decade (Completed 31/1/25)
16. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin (2009) 237 pp Fiction before this decade (Completed 1/2/25)
17. The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall (2021) 356 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 2/2/25)
18. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1606) 97 pp Poetry/Plays (Completed 2/2/25)
19. Night Blind by Ragnar Jonasson (2015) 210 pp Thrillers(Completed 4/2/25)
20. Take it Back by Kia Abdullah (2020) 373 pp Fiction from the last decade (Completed 5/2/25)
21. Nagasaki by Eric Faye (2012) 109 pp Fiction before this decade (Completed 6/2/25)
22. The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks (2015) 287 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 7/2/25)
23. Alphabet by Inger Christensen (1981) 77 pp Poetry/Plays (Completed 8/2/25)
24. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (2012) 427 pp Sci-Fi/Fantasy (Completed 9/2/25)
25. The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane (2023) 379 pp Fiction from the last decade (Completed 10/2/25)
26. Silence by Shusaku Endo (1966) 201 pp Fiction before this decade (Completed 15/2/25)
27. In the Land of the Cyclops by Karl Ove Knausgaard (2018) 297 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 16/2/25)
28. God's Gift to Women by Don Paterson (1997) 56 pp Poetry/Plays (Completed 16/2/25)
29. Our Fathers by Rebecca Wait (2020) 334 pp Thriller (Completed 16/2/25)
30. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami (2019) 301 pp Fiction from the last decade (Completed 20/2/25)
31. Dart by Alice Oswald (2002) 48 pp Poetry/Plays (Completed 21/2/25)
32. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (2012) 294 pp Fiction before this decade (Completed 22/2/25)
33. Afternoons with the Blinds Drawn by Brett Anderson (2019) 278 pp Non-Fiction (Completed 23/2/25)
34. Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson (1946) 203 pp (Completed 27/2/25)
35. Othello by William Shakespeare (1602) 145 pp (Completed 28/2/25)
36. Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell (2025) 382 pp (Completed 8/3/25)
37. Selected Poems 1969-2005 by David Harsent (2007) 133 pp (Completed 8/3/25)
38. Zero Days by Ruth Ware (2023) 339 pp (Completed 15/3/25)
39. The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre (2016) 342 pp (Completed 16/3/25)
40. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (2024) 258 pp (Completed 31/3/25)
41. Selected Poems by Zbigniew Herbert (2007) 249 pp (Completed 31/03/25)
42. Picture Her Dead by Lin Anderson (2011) 438 pp (Completed 4/4/25)
43. Poetry for and Other Chronic Conditions by A.K. Davidson (2024) 55 pp (Completed 5/4/25)
44. Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (2024) 326 pp (Completed 14/4/25)
45. The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk (2008) 728 pp (Completed 19/4/25)
46. The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey (1975) 538 pp (Completed 20/4/25)
47. Richard II by William Shakespeare (1595) 109 pp (Completed 20/4/25)
48. Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor (1976) 168 pp (Completed 7/5/25)
49. The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck (1908) 287 pp (Completed 9/5/25)
50. Wild Grass by Ian Johnson (2004) 292 pp (Completed 12/5/25)
51. Original Sin by P.D. James (1994) 551 pp (Completed 13/5/25)
52. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (1977) 178 pp (Completed 16/5/25)
53. Swell by Maria Ferguson (2025) 81 pp (Completed 21/5/25)
54. Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq (2022) 212 pp (Completed 31/5/25)
55. October by China Mieville (2017) 329 pp (Completed 31/5/25)
56. All Our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginzburg (1952) 418 pp (Completed 7/6/25)
57. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (1599) 104 pp (Completed 7/6/25)
58. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (2024) 279 pp (Completed 9/6/25)
59. Don't Skip Out On Me by Willy Vlautin (2019) 293 pp (Completed 11/6/25)
60. Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix (2023) 122 pp (Completed 17/6/25)
61. The Forward Book of Poetry 2025 edited by William Sieghart (2024) 121 pp (Completed 20/6/25)
62. The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (1978) 133pp (Completed 23/6/25)
63. Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings (2024) 190 pp (Completed 29/6/25)
64. The White Album by Joan Didion (1979) 223 pp (Completed 29/6/25)
65. Crow Lake by Mary Lawson (2002) 338 pp (Completed 4/7/25)
66. The Experience of Pain by Carlo Emilia Gadda (1963) 225pp (Completed 5/7/25)
67. Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (1608) 307 pp (Completed 6/7/25)
68. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (1961) 282 pp (Completed 7/7/25)
69. The Eloquence of the Sardine by Bill Francois (2019) 194 pp (Completed 8/7/25)
70. House of Lords and Commons by Ishion Hutchinson (2017) 68 pp (Completed 9/7/25)
71. Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser (2024) 183 pp (Completed 12/7/25)
72. The Seeker by S.G. MacLean (2015) 398 pp (Completed 16/7/25)
73. The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind (1988) 77 pp (Completed 27/7/25)
74. The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis (2014) 192 pp (Completed 30/7/25)
75. The Artist by Lucy Steeds (2025) 294 pp (Completed 31/7/25)
5PaulCranswick
Books Read 76-
Completion dates are based on the British system of (DD/MM/YY)
July
76. The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann (2017) 180 pp (Completed 31/7/25)
August
77. Audition by Katie Kitamura (2025) 197 pp (Completed 2/8/25)
78. Girlhood by Julia Copus (2019) 73 pp (Completed 3/8/25)
79. Home Boys by Alex Wheatle (2018) 231 pp (Completed 3/8/25)
80. The South by Tash Aw (2025) 270 pp (Completed 4/8/25)
81. Safe as Houses by Simone van der Vlught (2012) 262 pp (4/8/25)
82. The Wrecking Light by Robin Robertson (2010) 90 pp (8/8/25)
83. Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane (2024) 296 pp (8/8/25)
84. The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler (2023) 220 pp (Completed 10/8/25)
85. The Heeding by Rob Cowen (2021) 118 pp (Completed 16/8/25)
86. Once the Deed is Done by Rachel Seiffert (2025) 455 pp (Completed 16/8/25)
87. Canoes by Maylis de Kerangal (2021) 152 pp (Completed 17/8/25)
88. The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller (2024) 371 pp (Completed 24/8/25)
89. The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien (1954) 407 pp (Completed 24/8/25)
90. Universality by Natasha Brown (2025) 156pp (Completed 31/8/25)
September
91. Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga (2024) 321 pp (Completed 5/9/25)
92. Woke Racism by John McWhorter (2021) 187 pp (Completed 5/9/25)
93. Lit Up Inside by Van Morrison (2014) 201 pp (Completed 7/9/25)
94. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (2020) 377 pp (Completed 7/9/25)
95. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (2017) 291 pp (Completed 11/9/25)
96. When We Flew Away by Alice Hoffman (2024) 282 pp (Completed 15/9/25)
97. Devotions by Mary Oliver (2017) 442 pp (Completed 15/9/25)
98. The Rest of Our Lives by Benjamin Markovitz (2025) (Completed 30/9/25)
October
99. Touch Wood: Poems and a Story by Dannie Abse (2002) 88 pp (Completed 2/10/25)
100. Tin Man by Sarah Winman (2017) 195 pp (Completed 5/10/25)
101. Judas 62 by Charles Cumming (2021) 499 pp (Completed 15/10/25)
102. The Blazing World by Jonathon Healey (2023) 598 pp (Completed 28/10/25)
103. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (1967) 229 pp (Completed 30/10/25)
November
104. Water at the Roots by Philip Britts (2018) 148 pp (Completed 1/11/25)
105. The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke (2024) 256 pp (Completed 1/11/25)
106. We Gather Together: Celebrating the Harvest Season by Wendy Pfeffer (2006) 44 pp
107. I am David by Anne Holm (1963) 195 pp (Completed 2/11/25)
108. Doctor Who: Stones of Blood by David Fisher (1978) 190 pp (Completed 2/11/25)
109. Tales from Watership Down by Richard Adams (1996) 238 pp (Completed 3/11/25)
110. We Always Treat Women Too Well by Raymond Queneau (1947) 125 pp (Completed 4/11/25)
111. The Last Man by Mary Shelley (1826) 470 pp (Completed 5/11/25)
112. Reading the Globe by Ann Morgan (2015) 371 pp (Completed 6/11/25)
113. The Chosen by Chaim Potok (1966) 281 pp (Completed 8/11/25)
114. A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley (2018) 240 pp (Completed 9/11/25)
115. Fifteen Wild Decembers by Karen Powell (2023) 279 pp (Completed 9/11/25)
116. Flesh by David Szalay (2025) 349 pp (Completed 15/11/25)
117. Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Jo Harjo (2015) 139 pp (Completed 15/11/25)
118. Sea Monsters by Chloe Aridjis (2019) 175 pp (Completed 16/11/25)
119. What it is Like to Go To War by Karl Marlantes (2011) 256 pp (Completed 17/11/25)
120. The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni (1827) 812 pp (Completed 18/11/25)
121. The Racket by Conor Niland (2024) 292 pp (Completed 19/11/15)
122. Lorca: Selected Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca (2007) 175 pp (Completed 26/11/25)
123. The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis (1991) 316 pp (Completed 26/11/25)
124. Pelham by George Bulwer-Lytten (1828) 492 pp (Complete 30/11/25)
December
125. New Cemetery by Simon Armitage (2025) 100 pp (Completed 1/12/25)
126. The Misfortunes of Elphin by Thomas Love Peacock (1829) 248 pp (Completed 7/12/25)
127. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (1597) 256 pp (Completed 8/12/25)
128. Conclave by Robert Harris (2016) 378 pp (Completed 10/12/25)
129. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (2025) 372 pp (Completed 13/12/25)
130. Fleche by Mary Jean Chan (2019) 75 pp (Completed 13/12/25)
131. At the Sign of the Cat and Racket by Honore de Balzac (1830) 86 pp (Completed 13/12/25)
132. The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare (1611) 142 pp (Completed 14/12/25)
133. The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen (2007) 200 pp (Completed 16/12/25)
Completion dates are based on the British system of (DD/MM/YY)
July
76. The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann (2017) 180 pp (Completed 31/7/25)
August
77. Audition by Katie Kitamura (2025) 197 pp (Completed 2/8/25)
78. Girlhood by Julia Copus (2019) 73 pp (Completed 3/8/25)
79. Home Boys by Alex Wheatle (2018) 231 pp (Completed 3/8/25)
80. The South by Tash Aw (2025) 270 pp (Completed 4/8/25)
81. Safe as Houses by Simone van der Vlught (2012) 262 pp (4/8/25)
82. The Wrecking Light by Robin Robertson (2010) 90 pp (8/8/25)
83. Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane (2024) 296 pp (8/8/25)
84. The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler (2023) 220 pp (Completed 10/8/25)
85. The Heeding by Rob Cowen (2021) 118 pp (Completed 16/8/25)
86. Once the Deed is Done by Rachel Seiffert (2025) 455 pp (Completed 16/8/25)
87. Canoes by Maylis de Kerangal (2021) 152 pp (Completed 17/8/25)
88. The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller (2024) 371 pp (Completed 24/8/25)
89. The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien (1954) 407 pp (Completed 24/8/25)
90. Universality by Natasha Brown (2025) 156pp (Completed 31/8/25)
September
91. Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga (2024) 321 pp (Completed 5/9/25)
92. Woke Racism by John McWhorter (2021) 187 pp (Completed 5/9/25)
93. Lit Up Inside by Van Morrison (2014) 201 pp (Completed 7/9/25)
94. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (2020) 377 pp (Completed 7/9/25)
95. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (2017) 291 pp (Completed 11/9/25)
96. When We Flew Away by Alice Hoffman (2024) 282 pp (Completed 15/9/25)
97. Devotions by Mary Oliver (2017) 442 pp (Completed 15/9/25)
98. The Rest of Our Lives by Benjamin Markovitz (2025) (Completed 30/9/25)
October
99. Touch Wood: Poems and a Story by Dannie Abse (2002) 88 pp (Completed 2/10/25)
100. Tin Man by Sarah Winman (2017) 195 pp (Completed 5/10/25)
101. Judas 62 by Charles Cumming (2021) 499 pp (Completed 15/10/25)
102. The Blazing World by Jonathon Healey (2023) 598 pp (Completed 28/10/25)
103. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (1967) 229 pp (Completed 30/10/25)
November
104. Water at the Roots by Philip Britts (2018) 148 pp (Completed 1/11/25)
105. The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke (2024) 256 pp (Completed 1/11/25)
106. We Gather Together: Celebrating the Harvest Season by Wendy Pfeffer (2006) 44 pp
107. I am David by Anne Holm (1963) 195 pp (Completed 2/11/25)
108. Doctor Who: Stones of Blood by David Fisher (1978) 190 pp (Completed 2/11/25)
109. Tales from Watership Down by Richard Adams (1996) 238 pp (Completed 3/11/25)
110. We Always Treat Women Too Well by Raymond Queneau (1947) 125 pp (Completed 4/11/25)
111. The Last Man by Mary Shelley (1826) 470 pp (Completed 5/11/25)
112. Reading the Globe by Ann Morgan (2015) 371 pp (Completed 6/11/25)
113. The Chosen by Chaim Potok (1966) 281 pp (Completed 8/11/25)
114. A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley (2018) 240 pp (Completed 9/11/25)
115. Fifteen Wild Decembers by Karen Powell (2023) 279 pp (Completed 9/11/25)
116. Flesh by David Szalay (2025) 349 pp (Completed 15/11/25)
117. Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Jo Harjo (2015) 139 pp (Completed 15/11/25)
118. Sea Monsters by Chloe Aridjis (2019) 175 pp (Completed 16/11/25)
119. What it is Like to Go To War by Karl Marlantes (2011) 256 pp (Completed 17/11/25)
120. The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni (1827) 812 pp (Completed 18/11/25)
121. The Racket by Conor Niland (2024) 292 pp (Completed 19/11/15)
122. Lorca: Selected Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca (2007) 175 pp (Completed 26/11/25)
123. The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis (1991) 316 pp (Completed 26/11/25)
124. Pelham by George Bulwer-Lytten (1828) 492 pp (Complete 30/11/25)
December
125. New Cemetery by Simon Armitage (2025) 100 pp (Completed 1/12/25)
126. The Misfortunes of Elphin by Thomas Love Peacock (1829) 248 pp (Completed 7/12/25)
127. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (1597) 256 pp (Completed 8/12/25)
128. Conclave by Robert Harris (2016) 378 pp (Completed 10/12/25)
129. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (2025) 372 pp (Completed 13/12/25)
130. Fleche by Mary Jean Chan (2019) 75 pp (Completed 13/12/25)
131. At the Sign of the Cat and Racket by Honore de Balzac (1830) 86 pp (Completed 13/12/25)
132. The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare (1611) 142 pp (Completed 14/12/25)
133. The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen (2007) 200 pp (Completed 16/12/25)
6PaulCranswick
CURRENTLY READING
7PaulCranswick
THE GRAND EUROPEAN BOOK TOUR
January : Prelude - 19th Century Europe : https://www.librarything.com/topic/367210 - Colonel Chabert by Balzac
The Betrothed by Allesandro Manzoni
February : Nordic Nations : https://www.librarything.com/topic/368107
1. Night Blind by Ragnar Jonasson (Iceland)
2. Alphabet by Inger Christensen (Denmark)
3. In the Land of the Cyclops by Knausgaard (Norway)
4. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (Sweden)
5. Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson (Finland)
6. I am David by Anne Holm
March : Warsaw Pact : https://www.librarything.com/topic/368897
Selected Poems by Zbigniew Herbert
April : Ottoman Empire
The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
May : Non-National Languages : https://www.librarything.com/topic/370571
June : Caesar to Meloni : https://www.librarything.com/topic/371345
All Our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginzburg
The Experience of Pain by Carlo Emilia Gaddo
July : The Germanic World :
1. The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind
2. The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann
3. The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler
August : Anita Fameulstee Memorial Month (Benelux) :
https://www.librarything.com/topic/372858
1. The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck
2. Safe as Houses by Simone van der Vlught
September : Books About European Places : https://www.librarything.com/topic/373424#n8936462
1. When We Flew Away by Alice Hoffman (Amsterdam)
October : La Belle France
1. Nagasaki by Eric Faye
2. Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix
3. The Eloquence of the Sardine by Bill Francois
4. The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis
5. Canoes by Maylis Kerangal
6. We Always Treat Women Too Well by Raymond Queneau
November : Iberian Peninsula
Lorca: Selected Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca
December : Back to the Future : 21st Century in translation
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen
January : Prelude - 19th Century Europe : https://www.librarything.com/topic/367210 - Colonel Chabert by Balzac
The Betrothed by Allesandro Manzoni
February : Nordic Nations : https://www.librarything.com/topic/368107
1. Night Blind by Ragnar Jonasson (Iceland)
2. Alphabet by Inger Christensen (Denmark)
3. In the Land of the Cyclops by Knausgaard (Norway)
4. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (Sweden)
5. Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson (Finland)
6. I am David by Anne Holm
March : Warsaw Pact : https://www.librarything.com/topic/368897
Selected Poems by Zbigniew Herbert
April : Ottoman Empire
The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
May : Non-National Languages : https://www.librarything.com/topic/370571
June : Caesar to Meloni : https://www.librarything.com/topic/371345
All Our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginzburg
The Experience of Pain by Carlo Emilia Gaddo
July : The Germanic World :
1. The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind
2. The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann
3. The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler
August : Anita Fameulstee Memorial Month (Benelux) :
https://www.librarything.com/topic/372858
1. The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck
2. Safe as Houses by Simone van der Vlught
September : Books About European Places : https://www.librarything.com/topic/373424#n8936462
1. When We Flew Away by Alice Hoffman (Amsterdam)
October : La Belle France
1. Nagasaki by Eric Faye
2. Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix
3. The Eloquence of the Sardine by Bill Francois
4. The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis
5. Canoes by Maylis Kerangal
6. We Always Treat Women Too Well by Raymond Queneau
November : Iberian Peninsula
Lorca: Selected Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca
December : Back to the Future : 21st Century in translation
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen
8PaulCranswick
British Author Challenge (Hosted by my friend Amanda)
January - The stage : https://www.librarything.com/topic/366934#8710962
Lost Empires by J.B. Priestley
February - Kia Abdullah : Take it Back & Adrian Tchaikovsky
March - Norah Lofts & Gerald Durrell
April - PD James & Paul Bailey
Original Sin by PD James
May - Nancy Mitford & Paul Scott
June - Elizabethan & Jacobean : Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
July - Dodie Smith & Mervyn Peake
August - Emily Tesh & Alex Wheatle
Home Boys by Alex Wheatle.
September - Leone Ross & Alan Moore
October - Sarah Moss & Christopher Isherwood
November - DOCTOR WHO : Stones of Blood by David Fisher
December - Historical Fiction : Fifteen Wild Decembers by Karen Powell)
January - The stage : https://www.librarything.com/topic/366934#8710962
Lost Empires by J.B. Priestley
February - Kia Abdullah : Take it Back & Adrian Tchaikovsky
March - Norah Lofts & Gerald Durrell
April - PD James & Paul Bailey
Original Sin by PD James
May - Nancy Mitford & Paul Scott
June - Elizabethan & Jacobean : Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
July - Dodie Smith & Mervyn Peake
August - Emily Tesh & Alex Wheatle
Home Boys by Alex Wheatle.
September - Leone Ross & Alan Moore
October - Sarah Moss & Christopher Isherwood
November - DOCTOR WHO : Stones of Blood by David Fisher
December - Historical Fiction : Fifteen Wild Decembers by Karen Powell)
9PaulCranswick
American Author Challenge (Hosted, with occasional assistance this year, by my friend Linda)
JANUARY - Pacific North West : https://www.librarything.com/topic/367006
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
FEBRUARY - American Muslims (Guest Host) : https://www.librarything.com/topic/367970#n8746462
1. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
2. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
3. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
MARCH - Stewart O'Nan (Guest Host; Katie)
APRIL - Appalachia - The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
MAY - Pulitzer History Prize Winners
JUNE - Willy Vlautin - Don't Skip Out on Me
JULY - Romance
AUGUST - True Crime - Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
SEPTEMBER - Alice Hoffman - When We Flew Away
OCTOBER - Westerns
NOVEMBER - David Treuer
DECEMBER -
JANUARY - Pacific North West : https://www.librarything.com/topic/367006
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
FEBRUARY - American Muslims (Guest Host) : https://www.librarything.com/topic/367970#n8746462
1. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
2. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
3. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
MARCH - Stewart O'Nan (Guest Host; Katie)
APRIL - Appalachia - The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
MAY - Pulitzer History Prize Winners
JUNE - Willy Vlautin - Don't Skip Out on Me
JULY - Romance
AUGUST - True Crime - Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
SEPTEMBER - Alice Hoffman - When We Flew Away
OCTOBER - Westerns
NOVEMBER - David Treuer
DECEMBER -
10PaulCranswick
NON-FICTION CHALLENGE
Hosted this year by my friend Benita. Challenge thread is here : https://www.librarything.com/topic/366835
January - Award Winners : The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane
February - Maps : The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall
March - Espionage : The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre
April - Revolutions : October by China Mieville
May - China : Wild Grass by Ian Johnson
June - Natural Disasters
July - Creatures of the Sea - The Eloquence of the Sardine by Bill Francois
August - The Movies -
September - Means of Transport
October - Bibliography - Reading the Globe by Ann Morgan
November - Holidays and Festivals - We Gather Together: Celebrating the Harvest Season by Wendy Pfeffer
Hosted this year by my friend Benita. Challenge thread is here : https://www.librarything.com/topic/366835
January - Award Winners : The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane
February - Maps : The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall
March - Espionage : The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre
April - Revolutions : October by China Mieville
May - China : Wild Grass by Ian Johnson
June - Natural Disasters
July - Creatures of the Sea - The Eloquence of the Sardine by Bill Francois
August - The Movies -
September - Means of Transport
October - Bibliography - Reading the Globe by Ann Morgan
November - Holidays and Festivals - We Gather Together: Celebrating the Harvest Season by Wendy Pfeffer
11PaulCranswick
Big Book Challenge
Link to thread : https://www.librarything.com/topic/368910#n8778254
I am currently failing miserably with this challenge and it is almost an embarrassment putting it on my thread. Hopefully this month I can make it look a little more respectable.
March - Fyodor Dostoevsky or alternatives
April - Orhan Pamuk, Nikos Kazantzakis or much further back
The Museum of Innocence
May - Iberian Tomes : Cervantes, or alternatives
June - Victorian Ladies : George Eliot, or alternatives
July - Gunter Grass or alternatives
August - Harry Mulisch or alternatives
September - Americana - Larry McMurtry or alternatives
October - Non-Fiction Biggies - The Blazing World by Jonathan Healey
November - Pasta Grande - Alessandro Manzoni or alternatives - The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni
Link to thread : https://www.librarything.com/topic/368910#n8778254
I am currently failing miserably with this challenge and it is almost an embarrassment putting it on my thread. Hopefully this month I can make it look a little more respectable.
March - Fyodor Dostoevsky or alternatives
April - Orhan Pamuk, Nikos Kazantzakis or much further back
The Museum of Innocence
May - Iberian Tomes : Cervantes, or alternatives
June - Victorian Ladies : George Eliot, or alternatives
July - Gunter Grass or alternatives
August - Harry Mulisch or alternatives
September - Americana - Larry McMurtry or alternatives
October - Non-Fiction Biggies - The Blazing World by Jonathan Healey
November - Pasta Grande - Alessandro Manzoni or alternatives - The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni
12PaulCranswick
50 Modern Classics of the last 50 years
1975 : The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
1976 : Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor
1977 : Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
1978 : The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
1979 : The White Album by Joan Didion
1988 : The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind
2002 : Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
2007 : The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen
2008 : The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
2009 : In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
2011 : What it is Like to go to War by Karl Marlantes
2012 : Nagasaki by Eric Faye
2014 : The End of Eddy by Louis Eduoard
2017 : The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann
2018 : A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley
2019 : The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
2020 : The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
2021 : The Heeding by Rob Cowen
2022 : Heart Lamp Stories by Banu Mushtaq
2023 : Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
2024 : The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
2025 : Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell
1975 : The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
1976 : Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor
1977 : Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
1978 : The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
1979 : The White Album by Joan Didion
1988 : The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind
2002 : Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
2007 : The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen
2008 : The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
2009 : In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
2011 : What it is Like to go to War by Karl Marlantes
2012 : Nagasaki by Eric Faye
2014 : The End of Eddy by Louis Eduoard
2017 : The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann
2018 : A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley
2019 : The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
2020 : The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
2021 : The Heeding by Rob Cowen
2022 : Heart Lamp Stories by Banu Mushtaq
2023 : Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
2024 : The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
2025 : Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell
13PaulCranswick
The Time Machine
This is intended to be a 26 month process as I aim to finish it at the end of 2027. I will be reading 200 books one from each of the last 200 years, I will read them in date order and limit myself to one book per author.
Starting 1 November 2025 and ending 31 December 2027
November Plans
1826 : The Last Man by Mary Shelley READ
1827 : The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni READ .
1828 : Pelham by Edward Bulwer Lytton READ
1829 : The Misfortunes of Elphin by Thomas Love Peacock READ
1830 : At the Sign of the Cat and Racket by Honore de Balzac READ
14PaulCranswick
THE AMERICAN CONTINENT OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Our tour of the less well traveled pathways of the American continent in 2026.
I will not impinge on the wonderful American Author Challenge and I am not looking to repeat the Canadian author challenges that have featured as this is largely about everywhere else on the continent.
This will be our journey:
JANUARY - CHILEAN AUTHORS
FEBRUARY - ANGLO CARIBBEAN AUTHORS
MARCH - MEXICAN AUTHORS
APRIL - HISPANIC NORTH AMERICANS
MAY - BRAZILIAN AUTHORS
JUNE - NON-FICTION ABOUT THE AMERICAS
JULY - CUBAN AUTHORS
AUGUST - FRANCO CARIBBEAN
SEPTEMBER - COLOMBIAN AUTHORS
OCTOBER - FIRST NATION NORTH AMERICANS
NOVEMBER - ARGENTINIAN AUTHORS
DECEMBER - OTHER PARTS OF THE CONTINENT
15PaulCranswick
Books Added in 2025
January & February Books 1-64 : https://www.librarything.com/topic/368611#8767173
March & April Books 65-124 : https://www.librarything.com/topic/369865#8810025
May & June Books 125-210 : https://www.librarything.com/topic/371621#8881561
July & August Books 211-305 : https://www.librarything.com/topic/373093#8921718
September & October Books 306-490 : https://www.librarything.com/topic/374475#8969012
November
491. New Cemetery by Simon Armitage READ
492. The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
493. Northerners: A History by Brian Groom
494. Tilt by Emma Pattee
495. The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
496. Return to my Native Land by Aime Cesaire
497. Red Queen by Juan Gomez Jurado
498. The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst
499. Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal
500. The Snowdonia Killings by Simon McCleave
501. Girl by Ruth Padel
502. The Pit by Peter Papathanasiou
503. Hum by Helen Phillips
504. The Clues in the Fjord by Satu Ramo
505. The Peasants by Wladyslaw Reymont
506. The Shadow Murders by Jussi Adler Olsen
507. Girls by Kirsty Capes
508. Edith Holler by Kirsty Capes
509. Living on Earth by Peter Godfrey-Smith
510. England: A Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel
511. Climate Change and the Nation State by Anatol Lieven
512. Liars by Sarah Manguso
513. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
514. Poor Deer by Claire Oshetsky
515. Clean by Alia Trabucco Zeran
516. Locked In by Jussi Adler-Olsen
517. Silken Gazelles by Jokha Alharthi
518. Old Soul by Susan Barker
519. The World-Ending Fire by Wendell Berry
520. Earth by John Boyne
521. Witness by Jamel Brinkley
522. The Autumn Throne by Elizabeth Chadwick
523. The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell
524. Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant
525. La Vie by John Lewis-Stempel
526. Lorca: Selected Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca READ
527. This Much is True by Miriam Margoyles
528. The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie
529. The Boer War by Thomas Pakenham
530. Discontent by Beatriz Serrano
531. More and More and More by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz
532. False Alarm by Bjorn Lomborg
533. The Cuckoo's Lea by Michael J. Warren
534. The Churchill Complex by Ian Buruma
535. Fleche by Mary Jean Chan READ
536. Last Words by Richard Holloway
537. The Place of Tides by James Rebanks
538. Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit
539. The Choir by Carol M. Cram
540. The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and his Mother by Rabih Alameddine
541. The Ferryman & His Wife by Frode Grytten
542. Looking for Tank Man by Ha Jin
543. Slash and Burn by Claudia Hernandez
544. Caliban Shrieks by Jack Hilton
545. Mars in Aries by Alexander Lernet-Holenia
546. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
547. Bear by Julia Phillips
548. The Wax Child by Olga Ravn
549. Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa
550. The Good Women of China by Xinran
551. The Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle
552. The Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle
553. Listen by Sacha Bronwasser
554. Practice by Rosalind Brown
555. Breakfast With the Nikolides by Rumer Godden
556. Into the Clear Blue Sky by Rob Jackson
557. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
558. The Apartment on Calle Uruguay by Zachary Lazar
559. Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller
560. Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands
561. The Employees by Olga Ravn
562. The Tiger by John Vaillant
563. Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
564. A Flat Place by Noreen Masud
565. Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
566. Zama by Antonio Di Benedetto
567. Nobody Asked For This by Charly Cox
568. My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor
569. The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis
570. Bride of the Sea by Eman Quotah
571. The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard
572. The Innocent by David Szalay
573. Pick a Colour by Souvankham Thammavongsa
574. That Which Can't Be Washed Away by Xu Huaizhong
575. Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk
576. Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
577. The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
578. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
579. Sleep by Honor Jones
580. A Walk Alone in the Crowd by Antonio Munoz Molina
581. Some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer
582. The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter
583. Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
584. Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie
585. Beautiful Days by Zach Williams
586. God Complex by Rachel Allen
587. The Wild Date Palm by Diane Armstrong
588. Day's End by Garry Disher
589. Open, Heaven by Sean Hewitt
590. Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
January & February Books 1-64 : https://www.librarything.com/topic/368611#8767173
March & April Books 65-124 : https://www.librarything.com/topic/369865#8810025
May & June Books 125-210 : https://www.librarything.com/topic/371621#8881561
July & August Books 211-305 : https://www.librarything.com/topic/373093#8921718
September & October Books 306-490 : https://www.librarything.com/topic/374475#8969012
November
491. New Cemetery by Simon Armitage READ
492. The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
493. Northerners: A History by Brian Groom
494. Tilt by Emma Pattee
495. The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
496. Return to my Native Land by Aime Cesaire
497. Red Queen by Juan Gomez Jurado
498. The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst
499. Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal
500. The Snowdonia Killings by Simon McCleave
501. Girl by Ruth Padel
502. The Pit by Peter Papathanasiou
503. Hum by Helen Phillips
504. The Clues in the Fjord by Satu Ramo
505. The Peasants by Wladyslaw Reymont
506. The Shadow Murders by Jussi Adler Olsen
507. Girls by Kirsty Capes
508. Edith Holler by Kirsty Capes
509. Living on Earth by Peter Godfrey-Smith
510. England: A Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel
511. Climate Change and the Nation State by Anatol Lieven
512. Liars by Sarah Manguso
513. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
514. Poor Deer by Claire Oshetsky
515. Clean by Alia Trabucco Zeran
516. Locked In by Jussi Adler-Olsen
517. Silken Gazelles by Jokha Alharthi
518. Old Soul by Susan Barker
519. The World-Ending Fire by Wendell Berry
520. Earth by John Boyne
521. Witness by Jamel Brinkley
522. The Autumn Throne by Elizabeth Chadwick
523. The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell
524. Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant
525. La Vie by John Lewis-Stempel
526. Lorca: Selected Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca READ
527. This Much is True by Miriam Margoyles
528. The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie
529. The Boer War by Thomas Pakenham
530. Discontent by Beatriz Serrano
531. More and More and More by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz
532. False Alarm by Bjorn Lomborg
533. The Cuckoo's Lea by Michael J. Warren
534. The Churchill Complex by Ian Buruma
535. Fleche by Mary Jean Chan READ
536. Last Words by Richard Holloway
537. The Place of Tides by James Rebanks
538. Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit
539. The Choir by Carol M. Cram
540. The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and his Mother by Rabih Alameddine
541. The Ferryman & His Wife by Frode Grytten
542. Looking for Tank Man by Ha Jin
543. Slash and Burn by Claudia Hernandez
544. Caliban Shrieks by Jack Hilton
545. Mars in Aries by Alexander Lernet-Holenia
546. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
547. Bear by Julia Phillips
548. The Wax Child by Olga Ravn
549. Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa
550. The Good Women of China by Xinran
551. The Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle
552. The Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle
553. Listen by Sacha Bronwasser
554. Practice by Rosalind Brown
555. Breakfast With the Nikolides by Rumer Godden
556. Into the Clear Blue Sky by Rob Jackson
557. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
558. The Apartment on Calle Uruguay by Zachary Lazar
559. Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller
560. Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands
561. The Employees by Olga Ravn
562. The Tiger by John Vaillant
563. Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
564. A Flat Place by Noreen Masud
565. Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
566. Zama by Antonio Di Benedetto
567. Nobody Asked For This by Charly Cox
568. My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor
569. The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis
570. Bride of the Sea by Eman Quotah
571. The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard
572. The Innocent by David Szalay
573. Pick a Colour by Souvankham Thammavongsa
574. That Which Can't Be Washed Away by Xu Huaizhong
575. Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk
576. Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
577. The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
578. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
579. Sleep by Honor Jones
580. A Walk Alone in the Crowd by Antonio Munoz Molina
581. Some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer
582. The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter
583. Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
584. Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie
585. Beautiful Days by Zach Williams
586. God Complex by Rachel Allen
587. The Wild Date Palm by Diane Armstrong
588. Day's End by Garry Disher
589. Open, Heaven by Sean Hewitt
590. Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
16PaulCranswick
2025 Book Stats
Books Read : 133
Pages Read in completed books : 34,413
Longest book : The Betrothed : 812 pp
Shortest book : We Gather Together : 44 pp
Mean book length : 258.74 pp
Pages per day average in completed books : 98.32
Books written by men : 74
Books written by women: 58
Books written by both : 1
Non-Fiction : 22
Fiction : 62
Poetry : 23
Thriller : 13
SF/Fantasy : 5
Drama : 8
1590s : 3 books
1600s : 3 books
16102 : 1 book
1820s : 4 books
1830s : 2 books
1900s : 1 book
1940s : 2 books
1950s : 2 books
1960s : 8 books
1970s : 6 books
1980s : 2 books
1990s : 4 books
2000s : 13 books
2010s : 38 books
2020s : 44 books
UK Authors : 63
US Authors : 25
France Authors : 8
Ireland Authors : 3
Australia Authors : 3
Palestine Authors : 1
Iceland Authors : 1
Denmark Authors : 2
Norway Authors : 2
Japan Authors : 1
Sweden Authors : 1
Finland Authors : 1
Netherlands Authors : 2
Poland Authors : 1
Turkey Authors : 1
Belgium Authors : 1
India Authors : 2
Italy Authors : 3
South Africa : 1
Canada Authors : 1
Jamaica Authors : 1
German Authors : 2
Malaysia Authors : 1
Austria Authors : 1
Albania Authors : 1
Hungarian Authors : 1
Mexico Authors : 1
Spain Authors : 1
Various Authors : 1
Challenges :
European Grand Tour Challenge : 27 books
Non-Fiction Challenge : 8 books
American Author Challenge : 8 books
British Author Challenge : 7 books
Time Machine Challenge : 5/200
Women's Prize Longlist : 5 books
1001 Books : 3 books
50 Modern Classics from the Last 50 Years : 22/50
Booker Prize Longlist : 7/13
Awards :
Pulitzer Poetry Prize :
Booker International : 1 book
Booker Prize: 1
Nobel Winners : 1 new
Women's Prize : 1
Women's NF : 1
Miles Franklin : 1
Walter Scott Prize : 1
Read : 133 books
Added : 590 books
Change to TBR : +457
January Books : 15
January Pages : 4,146
Pages Average : Per book : 276.40 Per Day : 133.74
February Books : 20
February Pages : 4,709
Pages Average : Per Book 235.45 Per day 168.19
March Books : 6
March Pages : 1,700
Pages Average : Per Book 283.33 Per Day : 54.84
April Books : 6
April Pages : 2,194
Pages Average : Per Book 365.67 Per Day : 109.70
May Books : 8
May Pages : 2,098
Pages Average : Per Book 262.25 Per Day : 67.68
June Books : 9
June Pages : 1,883
Pages Average : Per Book 209.22 Per Day : 62.77
July Books : 12
July Pages : 2,738
Pages Average : Per Book 228.17 Per Day : 88.32
August Books: 14
August Pages : 3,298
Pages Average : Per Book 235.57 Per day 106.39
September Books: 8
September Pages : 2,340
Pages Average : Per Book 292.50 Per Day : 78.00
October Books: 5
October Pages : 1,609
Pages Average: Per Book 321.80 Per Day : 51.90
November Books: 21
November Pages : 5,843
Pages Average : Per Book 278.24 Per Day : 194.77
December Books: 9
December Pages: 1,857
Pages Average: Per Book 206.33 Per Day : 116.06
Books Read : 133
Pages Read in completed books : 34,413
Longest book : The Betrothed : 812 pp
Shortest book : We Gather Together : 44 pp
Mean book length : 258.74 pp
Pages per day average in completed books : 98.32
Books written by men : 74
Books written by women: 58
Books written by both : 1
Non-Fiction : 22
Fiction : 62
Poetry : 23
Thriller : 13
SF/Fantasy : 5
Drama : 8
1590s : 3 books
1600s : 3 books
16102 : 1 book
1820s : 4 books
1830s : 2 books
1900s : 1 book
1940s : 2 books
1950s : 2 books
1960s : 8 books
1970s : 6 books
1980s : 2 books
1990s : 4 books
2000s : 13 books
2010s : 38 books
2020s : 44 books
UK Authors : 63
US Authors : 25
France Authors : 8
Ireland Authors : 3
Australia Authors : 3
Palestine Authors : 1
Iceland Authors : 1
Denmark Authors : 2
Norway Authors : 2
Japan Authors : 1
Sweden Authors : 1
Finland Authors : 1
Netherlands Authors : 2
Poland Authors : 1
Turkey Authors : 1
Belgium Authors : 1
India Authors : 2
Italy Authors : 3
South Africa : 1
Canada Authors : 1
Jamaica Authors : 1
German Authors : 2
Malaysia Authors : 1
Austria Authors : 1
Albania Authors : 1
Hungarian Authors : 1
Mexico Authors : 1
Spain Authors : 1
Various Authors : 1
Challenges :
European Grand Tour Challenge : 27 books
Non-Fiction Challenge : 8 books
American Author Challenge : 8 books
British Author Challenge : 7 books
Time Machine Challenge : 5/200
Women's Prize Longlist : 5 books
1001 Books : 3 books
50 Modern Classics from the Last 50 Years : 22/50
Booker Prize Longlist : 7/13
Awards :
Pulitzer Poetry Prize :
Booker International : 1 book
Booker Prize: 1
Nobel Winners : 1 new
Women's Prize : 1
Women's NF : 1
Miles Franklin : 1
Walter Scott Prize : 1
Read : 133 books
Added : 590 books
Change to TBR : +457
January Books : 15
January Pages : 4,146
Pages Average : Per book : 276.40 Per Day : 133.74
February Books : 20
February Pages : 4,709
Pages Average : Per Book 235.45 Per day 168.19
March Books : 6
March Pages : 1,700
Pages Average : Per Book 283.33 Per Day : 54.84
April Books : 6
April Pages : 2,194
Pages Average : Per Book 365.67 Per Day : 109.70
May Books : 8
May Pages : 2,098
Pages Average : Per Book 262.25 Per Day : 67.68
June Books : 9
June Pages : 1,883
Pages Average : Per Book 209.22 Per Day : 62.77
July Books : 12
July Pages : 2,738
Pages Average : Per Book 228.17 Per Day : 88.32
August Books: 14
August Pages : 3,298
Pages Average : Per Book 235.57 Per day 106.39
September Books: 8
September Pages : 2,340
Pages Average : Per Book 292.50 Per Day : 78.00
October Books: 5
October Pages : 1,609
Pages Average: Per Book 321.80 Per Day : 51.90
November Books: 21
November Pages : 5,843
Pages Average : Per Book 278.24 Per Day : 194.77
December Books: 9
December Pages: 1,857
Pages Average: Per Book 206.33 Per Day : 116.06
17PaulCranswick
FAMILY PHOTO
18PaulCranswick
Welcome to my 23rd thread of 2025
20PaulCranswick
>29 alcottacre: My timing of starting the new thread has caught out some of my regulars! Thanks Kerry!
21avatiakh
Yeah. It's 11pm here in Auckland. I'm reading and keeping one of our cats company on the sofa.
22SirThomas
Happy New Thread, Paul!
And thank you for the stats in your previous thread, they are impressive.
>21 avatiakh: It's just after 11 a.m. here in Germany...
And thank you for the stats in your previous thread, they are impressive.
>21 avatiakh: It's just after 11 a.m. here in Germany...
24Kristelh
And welcome to December my friend. I should be leaving for Florida sometime next week depending on weather and other circumstances.
25figsfromthistle
Happy new thread!
26PaulCranswick
>21 avatiakh: I guess you are already asleep Kerry as it is after 3 am there now!
>22 SirThomas: Hi Thomas. Always great having you stop by my friend.
>22 SirThomas: Hi Thomas. Always great having you stop by my friend.
27PaulCranswick
>23 Kristelh: Thanks Kristel. I wonder if I have a bigger proportion of your books than before!
>24 Kristelh: Florida sounds nice. My only visit to the US so far was to Florida - Jacksonville in particular.
>24 Kristelh: Florida sounds nice. My only visit to the US so far was to Florida - Jacksonville in particular.
28PaulCranswick
>25 figsfromthistle: Thank you dear Anita.
29alcottacre
Checking in on the new thread, Paul.
Happy whatever!
Happy whatever!
30PaulCranswick
>29 alcottacre: Thank you Stasia. Always a pleasure to have one of my favourite people stop by.
31booksaplenty1949
>1 PaulCranswick: I initially read this as “my crying career” and anticipated a narrative of heartbreak. Glad you have happier memories of Argeles-sur-Mer than I feared.
34amanda4242
Happy new thread!
35bell7
Happy new thread, Paul! I think I missed a full one, so wanted to stop in before I get too behind again.
36CDVicarage
I think I'd better comment before this thread gets too long! I've moved up the ranks since attaching a review to a post started but I've still got a long way to go to catch you, Paul!
41PaulCranswick
>35 bell7: No worries, Mary - It is good to see you whenever you can get over here!
>36 CDVicarage: I did notice the significant increase in posts this year, Kerry. I always enjoy reading what you think about the books you get through. I have a long way to go to catch up your reading numbers!
>36 CDVicarage: I did notice the significant increase in posts this year, Kerry. I always enjoy reading what you think about the books you get through. I have a long way to go to catch up your reading numbers!
44PaulCranswick
>43 quondame: Thank you, Susan. I must spend a few minutes and get properly set up here!
45booksaplenty1949
>44 PaulCranswick: Have begun Garantua and Pantagruel. Well, okay, I’ve read the translator’s preface. But it is officially on my “Currently reading” list. Don’t let me down.
46msf59
Happy December, Paul. Happy New Thread. I really like the "Constellations". You should share it over on the poetry thread. It has been awful quiet over there.
47PaulCranswick
>45 booksaplenty1949: As if I would do that, haha. I will be starting it soon. Does it count as one book or two do you think?
>46 msf59: I will do that, Mark. He is a poet who is well worth looking up and has four collections to his credit as far as I know. Just as a preview, he will publish his debut novel in 2026 and I forecast in advance that it is one to look out for!
>46 msf59: I will do that, Mark. He is a poet who is well worth looking up and has four collections to his credit as far as I know. Just as a preview, he will publish his debut novel in 2026 and I forecast in advance that it is one to look out for!
48booksaplenty1949
>47 PaulCranswick: Yeah. Don’t become a stop on my crying career. My copy (Modern Library, translated by Jacques Leclercq(1) ) has both works.
49Familyhistorian
Happy new thread, Paul! Yeah, the top 10 was a surprise.
50PaulCranswick
>48 booksaplenty1949: My copy has both too but they are normally taken together as one are they not?
>49 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg. Not so much of a surprise to me though!
>49 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg. Not so much of a surprise to me though!
52PaulCranswick
BOOK #125
New Cemetery by Simon Armitage
Date of Publication : 2015
Origin of Author : UK
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 100 pp
The conversion of common land near Armitage's West Yorkshire home into a new cemetery sets afoot this series of poetic observation on his local surroundings whilst the cemetery is slowly coming into being.
Erudite. Sometimes playful and often profound. Armitage is accessible and allusive at the same time. He is simply a wonderful poet and I can read him until his dripping words leak from my gills.
This is "Clouded Buff"
" The new cemetery's shaping up.
A stone-built lychgate
doubles as bin store and toilet block.
The departed are yet to arrive
so the numbered plots lie undisturbed,
but the roads are laid out;
avenues of virgin tarmac
leading to turning circles and cul-de-sacs.
And there's no barrier,
so day and night the site crawls
with dog walkers, adulterers
and learner drivers. "
New Cemetery by Simon Armitage
Date of Publication : 2015
Origin of Author : UK
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 100 pp
The conversion of common land near Armitage's West Yorkshire home into a new cemetery sets afoot this series of poetic observation on his local surroundings whilst the cemetery is slowly coming into being.
Erudite. Sometimes playful and often profound. Armitage is accessible and allusive at the same time. He is simply a wonderful poet and I can read him until his dripping words leak from my gills.
This is "Clouded Buff"
" The new cemetery's shaping up.
A stone-built lychgate
doubles as bin store and toilet block.
The departed are yet to arrive
so the numbered plots lie undisturbed,
but the roads are laid out;
avenues of virgin tarmac
leading to turning circles and cul-de-sacs.
And there's no barrier,
so day and night the site crawls
with dog walkers, adulterers
and learner drivers. "
53PaulCranswick
>51 atozgrl: Thank you, Irene x
54vancouverdeb
Happy New Thread,Paul. Any chance of visiting the UK this month ?
55PaulCranswick
>54 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deb. Chances are receding but still not beyond the realm of possibility.
57PaulCranswick
>56 foggidawn: Thank you, Foggi. Always love to see you here.
58EllaTim
Happy new thread, Paul!
>1 PaulCranswick: Love the picture, would be nice to visit, very attractive right now.
>1 PaulCranswick: Love the picture, would be nice to visit, very attractive right now.
59PaulCranswick
>58 EllaTim: Thank you Ella.
It is a very nice part of the world, SW France. The people are ok, the food is great and there is always sun.
It is a very nice part of the world, SW France. The people are ok, the food is great and there is always sun.
60PaulCranswick
Year in Review
BOOKS OF THE MONTH
JANUARY :
FICTION : The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
NON-FICTION : The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane
POETRY : Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha
THILLER/SCI FI : The Hunter by Tana French
A solid reading month. I managed 15 books and there was a solid quality to my picks. Looking back I find it hard to pick and overall winner amongst these but will probably plump for The Hunter which is the second book in what is shaping up to be a very good series.
BOOKS OF THE MONTH
JANUARY :
FICTION : The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
NON-FICTION : The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane
POETRY : Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha
THILLER/SCI FI : The Hunter by Tana French
A solid reading month. I managed 15 books and there was a solid quality to my picks. Looking back I find it hard to pick and overall winner amongst these but will probably plump for The Hunter which is the second book in what is shaping up to be a very good series.
61PaulCranswick
YEAR IN REVIEW
Books of the Month
February
FICTION: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
NON-FICTION: The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks
POETRY: Dart by Alice Oswald
THRILLER/SCI-FI: Alif the Unseen G. Willow Wilson
One of my best February reading performances whilst in the group with 20 books finished and it was a strong selection with two books in particular blowing me away (fiction and non-fiction) but I have to give it to James Rebanks for the surprising joy his book occasioned.
Books of the Month
February
FICTION: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
NON-FICTION: The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks
POETRY: Dart by Alice Oswald
THRILLER/SCI-FI: Alif the Unseen G. Willow Wilson
One of my best February reading performances whilst in the group with 20 books finished and it was a strong selection with two books in particular blowing me away (fiction and non-fiction) but I have to give it to James Rebanks for the surprising joy his book occasioned.
62booksaplenty1949
Taking a break with an entertaining time-waster and encountered a character misquoting Philip Larkin—-“They tuck you up, your mum and dad/And read you Peter Rabbit too.” Erm, no. Thought you’d enjoy.
63vancouverdeb
Book that flight, Paul!See your family ! I hope you are able to do so. Book it!
64PaulCranswick
>62 booksaplenty1949:
They tuck you up, your mum and dad
And read you Peter Rabbit too
If ending the story makes you sad,
Well then Paddington Bear is next for you.
They tuck you up, your mum and dad
And read you Peter Rabbit too
If ending the story makes you sad,
Well then Paddington Bear is next for you.
65PaulCranswick
>63 vancouverdeb: You are right of course Deb but I sort of have an understanding that I will close out the project and then leave pretty much for good. Kyran will likely come back to be with me. xx
66booksaplenty1949
>64 PaulCranswick: Man “quoting” the Larkin poem was definitely following your vibe—-a comforting lyric. Haven’t found out yet whether he has been disabused of this view of the poem.
67PaulCranswick
>66 booksaplenty1949: I am pretty sure that I was following or trying to follow his vibe.
68louisisaloafofbreb
heya Paul
69alcottacre
>52 PaulCranswick: Almost makes me wish I liked poetry. . .
>61 PaulCranswick: I have also enjoyed Rebanks although I have only read his Pastoral Song. I need to get to that one yet. I am looking forward to The Place of Tides in January.
>61 PaulCranswick: I have also enjoyed Rebanks although I have only read his Pastoral Song. I need to get to that one yet. I am looking forward to The Place of Tides in January.
70louisisaloafofbreb
>69 alcottacre: You don't like Poetry? Dang
71PaulCranswick
>68 louisisaloafofbreb: Hi Lily!
>69 alcottacre: Simon Armitage is an interesting chap, Stasia. I even managed to get RD to enjoy one of his publications.
I have only read one of his books too but I really enjoyed it.
>69 alcottacre: Simon Armitage is an interesting chap, Stasia. I even managed to get RD to enjoy one of his publications.
I have only read one of his books too but I really enjoyed it.
72louisisaloafofbreb
>71 PaulCranswick: How are you doing?
73PaulCranswick
>70 louisisaloafofbreb: We are definitely in the minority nowadays, Lily.
My poor dear wife humoured me splendidly yesterday as I had shortlisted which poem I planned to chose as my poem for the turn in the Poetry Collective this week.
She listened patiently while I read her my shortlisted 6 poems and narrowed things down to two poems for me to choose between. So I can confirm we will not be enjoying William Blake, Percy Bysse Shelley, W.B. Yeats or Christina Rossetti on Saturday as Hani vetoed them.
My poor dear wife humoured me splendidly yesterday as I had shortlisted which poem I planned to chose as my poem for the turn in the Poetry Collective this week.
She listened patiently while I read her my shortlisted 6 poems and narrowed things down to two poems for me to choose between. So I can confirm we will not be enjoying William Blake, Percy Bysse Shelley, W.B. Yeats or Christina Rossetti on Saturday as Hani vetoed them.
74louisisaloafofbreb
>73 PaulCranswick: Oh dang, those seem interesting, Hani may have some good ideas on which what she vetoed
75PaulCranswick
>72 louisisaloafofbreb: I am reasonably OK, actually. Headache issues dissipated and my football team swept aside the World Club Champions, Chelsea, at a fervent Elland Road Stadium this morning. 3 goals to 1.
76louisisaloafofbreb
>75 PaulCranswick: Ooo and yay I'm glad your headache issue went away! Ooo- and I think that's good with the football team
77amanda4242
>73 PaulCranswick: She vetoed Blake? Which poem did you read to her?
78PaulCranswick
>74 louisisaloafofbreb: Some of my other favourites; Kipling, Tennyson, Auden, Dylan Thomas, T.S. Eliot, Hughes, Heaney, Barrett Browning, Hardy were, I thought, a bit obvious for me whilst Manley-Hopkins had been my original pick and was chosen instead by Tim.
79louisisaloafofbreb
>78 PaulCranswick: Honestly I feel like nobody reads much Edgar Allen Poe anymore, but I do and I'm going to go through most of his poems and pick one, and ooo- all of those seem interesting
80PaulCranswick
>76 louisisaloafofbreb: It was a really good performance and I am so pleased for the Head Coach who was coming under a bit of pressure.
>77 amanda4242: Of course it was one of the first poems I learned at school - "The Tiger".
Shelley was "Ode to the West Wind" (first two sections)
Yeats was "Sailing to Byzantium" and Christina Rossetti was "After Death".
>77 amanda4242: Of course it was one of the first poems I learned at school - "The Tiger".
Shelley was "Ode to the West Wind" (first two sections)
Yeats was "Sailing to Byzantium" and Christina Rossetti was "After Death".
81PaulCranswick
>79 louisisaloafofbreb: Poe is my son's favourite poet (or used to be) so he would agree with you.
82louisisaloafofbreb
>80 PaulCranswick: Oooo yay, I'm glad they did well! I don't really watch sports that much honestly.
>81 PaulCranswick: Yay! Another Poe liker- or whatever you say that two people like the same thing haha, I'm glad I'm not the only one
>81 PaulCranswick: Yay! Another Poe liker- or whatever you say that two people like the same thing haha, I'm glad I'm not the only one
83PaulCranswick
>82 louisisaloafofbreb: Poe does have his devotees for sure.
84alcottacre
>70 louisisaloafofbreb: Nope, not for the most part. Every now and then I get surprised though.
>71 PaulCranswick: Wow, Richard read one?!
Happy whatever, Paul!
>71 PaulCranswick: Wow, Richard read one?!
Happy whatever, Paul!
85louisisaloafofbreb
>84 alcottacre: I dont think ive ever met someone who doesnt like poetry
86m.belljackson
Paul - Poem for your Headaches -
The Migraine Vision
Cautiously he pushes the door
and, seeing his shadow,
turns back
his shoulder catches the knob
and sunshine pours in -
aghast, a Dracula, he draws back
shielding his naked eyes
blinded he crawls to the kitchen
drinks a cup of warm water
and waits to see -
if safe again
he takes a hot shower
carefully selecting no scents
and
holding the wall carefully back to his darkened room
climbs carefully
under the warmth
eluding the furies of his night.
The Migraine Vision
Cautiously he pushes the door
and, seeing his shadow,
turns back
his shoulder catches the knob
and sunshine pours in -
aghast, a Dracula, he draws back
shielding his naked eyes
blinded he crawls to the kitchen
drinks a cup of warm water
and waits to see -
if safe again
he takes a hot shower
carefully selecting no scents
and
holding the wall carefully back to his darkened room
climbs carefully
under the warmth
eluding the furies of his night.
87PaulCranswick
>84 alcottacre: I think the book was Armitage's version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
>85 louisisaloafofbreb: Gosh Lily, I know far more people who dislike poetry than would even dare to claim to like it!
>85 louisisaloafofbreb: Gosh Lily, I know far more people who dislike poetry than would even dare to claim to like it!
88PaulCranswick
>88 PaulCranswick: Thanks for that, Marianne. I can certainly claim affinity to the light aversion when the head is a-pounding.
89louisisaloafofbreb
>87 PaulCranswick: I don't really talk to people about poetry, and the people I do talk about it with like it
90PaulCranswick
>89 louisisaloafofbreb: Yeah but that is like talking books here, Lily, it would be nigh on impossible for anyone in general terms on LT to admit that they don't like books! In the outside world, believe me, poetry is no particularly popular. You only have to look at poetry sales.
The best selling and possibly most popular living American poet is probably Billy Collins and his best selling collection sold 30,000 copies in its first year. Let's say the book sells at $12 that means he is raising $360,000 in sales and let's say he gets 12% commission that means he would earn the princely sum of $43,200 from the book sales before taxes and he is the best seller!
The best selling and possibly most popular living American poet is probably Billy Collins and his best selling collection sold 30,000 copies in its first year. Let's say the book sells at $12 that means he is raising $360,000 in sales and let's say he gets 12% commission that means he would earn the princely sum of $43,200 from the book sales before taxes and he is the best seller!
91Familyhistorian
Not much of a poetry lover here either (I avoid it in most cases). It can be apt though like >86 m.belljackson: Migraine Vision.
93PaulCranswick
>91 Familyhistorian: Indeed, Meg and although I am a devotee myself, I do recognise that I am very much in the minority AND I certainly don't like everything. Some of the modern free verse leaves me absolutely cold.
Yes, Marianne's contribution was very much on point and much appreciated.
Yes, Marianne's contribution was very much on point and much appreciated.
94PaulCranswick
>92 louisisaloafofbreb: As a young and precocious fellow I dreamed of living my life penning verse but ditched the idea when I saw what the likely numbers were I didn't think it was quite such a good idea.
As I have said elsewhere there is a strong possibility that I will have a book of poetry published here in Malaysia in the coming year or so and it is confidently predicted to reach an astounding 500 copies in sales.
As I have said elsewhere there is a strong possibility that I will have a book of poetry published here in Malaysia in the coming year or so and it is confidently predicted to reach an astounding 500 copies in sales.
95SilverWolf28
Happy New Thread! 🧵
96SilverWolf28
Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/375863
97PaulCranswick
>95 SilverWolf28: Thank you, Silver
>96 SilverWolf28: And again thank you! I hope to finish a few this weekend, including one work of memoir that I am absolutely loving so far.
>96 SilverWolf28: And again thank you! I hope to finish a few this weekend, including one work of memoir that I am absolutely loving so far.
98PaulCranswick
YEAR IN REVIEW
Books of the Month
March
FICTION : Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell
NON-FICTION : The Pigeon Tunnel by John Le Carre
THRILLER/SCI FI : Zero Days by Ruth Ware
POETRY/PLAY : Selected Poems by Zbigniew Herbert
Not a good reading month for me this year although I did read two good novels as The Safekeep was also more than worthy and definitely the second best book I read in the month. Roisin O'Donnell's book shaded it for me and is my book of March.
Books of the Month
March
FICTION : Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell
NON-FICTION : The Pigeon Tunnel by John Le Carre
THRILLER/SCI FI : Zero Days by Ruth Ware
POETRY/PLAY : Selected Poems by Zbigniew Herbert
Not a good reading month for me this year although I did read two good novels as The Safekeep was also more than worthy and definitely the second best book I read in the month. Roisin O'Donnell's book shaded it for me and is my book of March.
99PaulCranswick
YEAR IN REVIEW
Books of the Month
April
FICTION : The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
NON-FICTION : n/a
THRILLER/SCI/FI : Picture Her Dead by Lin Anderson
POETRY/PLAY : Poetry for Life and Other Chronic Conditions by A.K. Davidson
Not a great reading month. A month in which some books were ok but nothing stood out. Parts of Pamuk's book were really good but it was too long and meandered somewhat. I think for its charm i will go with A.K. Davidson which is something I will definitely read again. No Non-Fiction reads is a bit embarrassing.
Books of the Month
April
FICTION : The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
NON-FICTION : n/a
THRILLER/SCI/FI : Picture Her Dead by Lin Anderson
POETRY/PLAY : Poetry for Life and Other Chronic Conditions by A.K. Davidson
Not a great reading month. A month in which some books were ok but nothing stood out. Parts of Pamuk's book were really good but it was too long and meandered somewhat. I think for its charm i will go with A.K. Davidson which is something I will definitely read again. No Non-Fiction reads is a bit embarrassing.
100louisisaloafofbreb
>94 PaulCranswick: ooo- that's a lot of copies!
101booksaplenty1949
I taught a college-level poetry course for many years. I attracted students to it by noting in the course description that poems were relatively short and we could read them aloud in class, so no heavy homework assignments. Whether or not this was their only motivation, when they had the opportunity to read poems carefully and discuss the ideas, the emotions, and the way the form enhanced them, I think most of the students were converted.
102PaulCranswick
>100 louisisaloafofbreb: Hahaha 501 because I am hoping you'll get yourself a copy!
>101 booksaplenty1949: That is a good idea. Poetry is often about distillation and I am not hugely in favour of unnecessarily long poems. The epics normally leave me completely unmoved.
>101 booksaplenty1949: That is a good idea. Poetry is often about distillation and I am not hugely in favour of unnecessarily long poems. The epics normally leave me completely unmoved.
103louisisaloafofbreb
>102 PaulCranswick: I'll try my best to get a copy!
106PaulCranswick
>105 booksaplenty1949: Bits of The Iliad and Beowulf dragged me along to be fair - I haven't yet read The Odyssey. I was thinking of the long, long dull stuff written by Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Byron, Wordsworth, Browning, Tennyson and so on. I love some of their shorter work but those "epics" are pretty insufferable.
107alcottacre
>85 louisisaloafofbreb: Well, there are at least a couple of poetry dislikers here.
>87 PaulCranswick: Ah, OK. Thanks, Paul.
I am loving your monthly reviews going through the year, Paul!
>87 PaulCranswick: Ah, OK. Thanks, Paul.
I am loving your monthly reviews going through the year, Paul!
108booksaplenty1949
>106 PaulCranswick: I admit that Don Juan didn’t do much for me when I read it as a student but I wanted to read a commentary on it, Lord Byron’s Strength, by a friend of a friend and felt I needed to renew my acquaintance with the poem. The Penguin Classics edition, with copious notes, gave me a fresh appreciation for Byron’s epic. But I haven’t tackled The Prelude despite owning a copy for an embarrassing number of decades. Or Prometheus Unbound. Probably other Romantic epics I don’t even know exist.
109PaulCranswick
>108 booksaplenty1949: It is funny because I generally adore the shorter work of the Romantics probably in this order:
1. John Keats
2. Lord Byron
3. Percy Shelley
4. William Blake
5. William Wordsworth
6. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
1. John Keats
2. Lord Byron
3. Percy Shelley
4. William Blake
5. William Wordsworth
6. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
110hredwards
>104 PaulCranswick: I like poetry, although in smaller doses the older I get.
When I was in High School I wrote a lot of poetry and I still have a love of word play and the ways they rhyme etc.
When I was in High School I wrote a lot of poetry and I still have a love of word play and the ways they rhyme etc.
111PaulCranswick
>110 hredwards: I have carried my love of poetry into middle age, Harold, and I still scribble the stuff after a fashion quite a bit.
Always a pleasure to see you here, my friend, have a great weekend.
Always a pleasure to see you here, my friend, have a great weekend.
112PaulCranswick
I wanted to share this story from the UK.
Belle is settling in to life in Sheffield spectacularly well and has rented a house with her boyfriend, a young chap from Nottingham, named Logan, who I like a lot. Belle has always been an animal lover and has a tortoise already and then last week added a kitten who they have called Matteo.
The kitten is naughty as kittens are. Belle put some washing in the machine yesterday morning and set it running but couldn't find the kitten anywhere. She was horrified to notice that the kitten had sneaked into the washing machine without her noticing! In an absolute panic she called to Logan who with presence of mind forced open the door and saved Matteo who was very wet, very clean and perfectly fine. They took him to the vet just to make sure and the vet confirm that Matteo was none the worse.
I told Belle yesterday that she should rename the kitten, Persil. "not funny" was her unsmiling reply!
Belle is settling in to life in Sheffield spectacularly well and has rented a house with her boyfriend, a young chap from Nottingham, named Logan, who I like a lot. Belle has always been an animal lover and has a tortoise already and then last week added a kitten who they have called Matteo.
The kitten is naughty as kittens are. Belle put some washing in the machine yesterday morning and set it running but couldn't find the kitten anywhere. She was horrified to notice that the kitten had sneaked into the washing machine without her noticing! In an absolute panic she called to Logan who with presence of mind forced open the door and saved Matteo who was very wet, very clean and perfectly fine. They took him to the vet just to make sure and the vet confirm that Matteo was none the worse.
I told Belle yesterday that she should rename the kitten, Persil. "not funny" was her unsmiling reply!
113avatiakh
>112 PaulCranswick: Cute story. One of our cats did a stint in the dryer once, didn't do any harm, I think I caught on fairly quickly.
114figsfromthistle
>112 PaulCranswick: what a story. Glad kitten was ok. Persil would be a great name 🤣
115PaulCranswick
>113 avatiakh: I think Belle was shaken up a little bit to be honest but her boyfriend was her hero as usual - poor bullied fellow that he is.
>114 figsfromthistle: I thought so too, Anita, but she didn't seem to agree with us!
>114 figsfromthistle: I thought so too, Anita, but she didn't seem to agree with us!
116booksaplenty1949
>112 PaulCranswick: Well, it could have been a very sad story. So glad Logan was the hero of the hour.
117Kristelh
That is quite the story of the cat. Sounds like Belle is doing fine. Your children are all settling into their lives. It’s a good feeling when our children start their life’s journey.
118PaulCranswick
>116 booksaplenty1949: Indeed. He is a good lad to be fair and Belle is certainly making him work hard for her affection. She is one of the most together people I know. Excellent (from knee-high) at managing her finances and amazingly mature for the baby of my bunch. She was always a mummy's girl growing up but we developed a very strong bond when Hani was spending a lot of time nursing my mum in the UK and she was with me in Kuala Lumpur.
>117 Kristelh: I love the fact, Kristel, that I like my three kids just as much as I love them. They are a huge credit to Hani who is a fierce, passionate and extremely opinionated Matriarch but who imbued my kids with ethics and values that seems to be serving them quite well. All three in their different ways are socially very liberal (especially in Malaysian terms) and all three have pretty strong views on most things.
The smallest one of our bunch - my little Pip - seems to be following her grandpa in her love of song and can usually be heard singing along to something.
>117 Kristelh: I love the fact, Kristel, that I like my three kids just as much as I love them. They are a huge credit to Hani who is a fierce, passionate and extremely opinionated Matriarch but who imbued my kids with ethics and values that seems to be serving them quite well. All three in their different ways are socially very liberal (especially in Malaysian terms) and all three have pretty strong views on most things.
The smallest one of our bunch - my little Pip - seems to be following her grandpa in her love of song and can usually be heard singing along to something.
119amanda4242
>112 PaulCranswick: So, you could say the kitten came out in the wash.
120PaulCranswick
>119 amanda4242: Yeah, he got wet, took and tumble and got thoroughly dried!
121PaulCranswick
Weekend Additions
551. The Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle
552. The Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle
553. Listen by Sacha Bronwasser
554. Practice by Rosalind Brown
555. Breakfast With the Nikolides by Rumer Godden
556. Into the Clear Blue Sky by Rob Jackson
557. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
558. The Apartment on Calle Uruguay by Zachary Lazar
559. Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller
560. Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands
561. The Employees by Olga Ravn
562. The Tiger by John Vaillant
551. The Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle
552. The Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle
553. Listen by Sacha Bronwasser
554. Practice by Rosalind Brown
555. Breakfast With the Nikolides by Rumer Godden
556. Into the Clear Blue Sky by Rob Jackson
557. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
558. The Apartment on Calle Uruguay by Zachary Lazar
559. Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller
560. Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands
561. The Employees by Olga Ravn
562. The Tiger by John Vaillant
122RBeffa
>2 PaulCranswick: odd choice for a title. Is she a Paul McCartney fan or wanting to emphasize her Christian background? No need to comment. That just popped into my head as I opened your thread.
I came here to let you know I am reading the Richard Adams Watership Down related book that you recently read and not surprisingly my reaction seems to be about the same as yours. I'm just shy of the halfway point. After nearly 50 years it is hard to bring back details of Watership Down although at the time in my early 20s I was completely enchanted with it. Now, these additional stories just seem OK and that magic there once was is elusive.
>112 PaulCranswick: oh my
I came here to let you know I am reading the Richard Adams Watership Down related book that you recently read and not surprisingly my reaction seems to be about the same as yours. I'm just shy of the halfway point. After nearly 50 years it is hard to bring back details of Watership Down although at the time in my early 20s I was completely enchanted with it. Now, these additional stories just seem OK and that magic there once was is elusive.
>112 PaulCranswick: oh my
123PaulCranswick
>122 RBeffa: I think it is a bit of both with Roy, Ron. She does reference the Beatles a couple of times and has particular praise for "She's Leaving Home" and she is a Christian (although that doesn't feature overly) but her Mother takes centre stage and is, of course, Mary.
I know on Adams' book. I think it would have been liked a bit more if I wasn't spoiled by the original.
I know on Adams' book. I think it would have been liked a bit more if I wasn't spoiled by the original.
124vancouverdeb
Oh no! I can't imagine a kitten or cat sneaking into a washing machine. I'm glad Matteo is fine and that Logan came to his rescue. Dogs get into their own sort of mischief, but that - knock on wood, is not one I would think of . Muffin has chewed through 6 or so harnesses. We are careful about what she can access chewing wise, and she will be two at the end of December, so she is getting out the sort of destructive young dog phase. But she a great dog.
125PaulCranswick
>124 vancouverdeb: Certainly a lucky kitten. One of his nine lives used already and he is a mere few weeks old!
I have always preferred dogs myself, Deb.
I have always preferred dogs myself, Deb.
126PaulCranswick
I added a few more this afternoon shopping in a mall I rarely go to:
563. Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
564. A Flat Place by Noreen Masud
565. Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
563. Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
564. A Flat Place by Noreen Masud
565. Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
127PaulCranswick
BOOK #126
The Misfortunes of Elphin by Thomas Love Peacock
Date of Publication : 1829
Origin of Author : UK
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 248 pp
These are enjoyable and witty re-tellings of the Welsh folklore of Taliesin the bard in Wales in the middle-ages. We have Elphin and his beautiful wife Angharad, King Arthur and other diverse characters. The main tale is of Taliesin's efforts to free Elphin from the captivity of another Lord who lusts after Angharad.
I would recommend this to anyone interested in this type of folklore with the warning that it also contains plenty of verse but of a very passable quality.
The Misfortunes of Elphin by Thomas Love Peacock
Date of Publication : 1829
Origin of Author : UK
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 248 pp
These are enjoyable and witty re-tellings of the Welsh folklore of Taliesin the bard in Wales in the middle-ages. We have Elphin and his beautiful wife Angharad, King Arthur and other diverse characters. The main tale is of Taliesin's efforts to free Elphin from the captivity of another Lord who lusts after Angharad.
I would recommend this to anyone interested in this type of folklore with the warning that it also contains plenty of verse but of a very passable quality.
128PaulCranswick
Double posted so I thought I would let you all know that Kyran will come back and spend Christmas with me.
129booksaplenty1949
>128 PaulCranswick: Lovely to hear. 🎄
130booksaplenty1949
>124 vancouverdeb: Heard of a kitten/washing machine story with a much sadder ending, so apparently it’s a thing. Always check.
131PaulCranswick
>129 booksaplenty1949: I am really pleased he will be coming back. I expect him to set off on 19 and return on 20 December just in time for Christmas.
>130 booksaplenty1949: Yes, it would not have been much of a story to celebrate had they not had the presence of mind to realize where he had gotten to.
By the way, how are you getting on with Rabelais?
>130 booksaplenty1949: Yes, it would not have been much of a story to celebrate had they not had the presence of mind to realize where he had gotten to.
By the way, how are you getting on with Rabelais?
132booksaplenty1949
>131 PaulCranswick: Greatly enjoyed translator Jacques Le Clercq’s introduction but quickly realised that it was a mistake to begin another Renaissance doorstop before finishing Don Quixote, so I set it aside. Only 156 pages to go in the latter, but who’s counting? (Me)
DQ quite a slog. Hope Rabelais lives up to Le Clerq’s hype.
My 1829 selection, Wilhelm Meister’s Travels, is also pending.
DQ quite a slog. Hope Rabelais lives up to Le Clerq’s hype.
My 1829 selection, Wilhelm Meister’s Travels, is also pending.
134PaulCranswick
>132 booksaplenty1949: Yes I may not get through it this month either. I will hopefully read my 1830 book this evening. It is the wonderfully short At the Sign of the Cat and Racket by Balzac. I am fairly sure that I will enjoy and whizz through this one.
135PaulCranswick
>133 amanda4242: Hahaha but if you read some fellows they expect it to be a book that you glide through enraptured.
136booksaplenty1949
>135 PaulCranswick: My lack of interest in/knowledge of mediaeval romances is a major obstacle.
137vancouverdeb
That is great that Kyran is coming home for Christmas, Paul. I am a dog person myself, but dog's are a lot more work, all the walks, putting on harness and leashes etc. Dave is very allergic to cats - sneezing endlessly, red eyes , so cats are not an option for us. Even Muffin is making him sneeze quite a bit. He is somewhat allergic to her too.
138PaulCranswick
>136 booksaplenty1949: It wouldn't be my normal cup of tea either.
>137 vancouverdeb: I am also slightly allergic to cats as they bring on my asthma which dogs don't. I just find that the canines are more companionable and frankly more fun. Having to walk the dog would be something positive for me to be honest.
>137 vancouverdeb: I am also slightly allergic to cats as they bring on my asthma which dogs don't. I just find that the canines are more companionable and frankly more fun. Having to walk the dog would be something positive for me to be honest.
139EllaTim
Nice to hear that Kyran will be back for Christmas, Paul.
Cats are always getting into things, they like cozy enclosed spaces. The inside of the washing machine, filled with nice cuddly smelly clothes must have seemed ideal. Glad the kitten was found so fast!
Cats are always getting into things, they like cozy enclosed spaces. The inside of the washing machine, filled with nice cuddly smelly clothes must have seemed ideal. Glad the kitten was found so fast!
140PaulCranswick
>139 EllaTim: I like my house t-shirts much to the annoyance of Hani who thinks I should change it every day!!
141mdoris
Hello Paul, I am so glad that you will have the company of Kyran for Christmas. That is very good news!
143atozgrl
>128 PaulCranswick: I too am glad to hear that you will at least have Kyran's company for Christmas. I'm sorry that you won't have the rest of the family, but it's good that you won't be alone. I hope you will be able to join your family next year.
144PaulCranswick
BOOK #127
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Date of Publication : 1597
Origin of Author : UK
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 256 pp
Some of the brazen anti-semitism of the characters is unsettling to say the least but unsettle is often what the Bard does best. Should we be bound by our oaths and pledges - in commercial transactions, to our faith, to our parents, to our spouses, to our friends. Is Shylock a hero or a villain? Is Antonia? Is Portia? There are not clear answers anywhere here because the lines are blurred and hypocrisy is writ large.
One thing I have to say on the motivation of the dramatist is that his words expressed through the pain and rage of his famous protagonist reveals enlightened thinking for his age and is both stirring, memorable and quotable:
" He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies, and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Date of Publication : 1597
Origin of Author : UK
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 256 pp
Some of the brazen anti-semitism of the characters is unsettling to say the least but unsettle is often what the Bard does best. Should we be bound by our oaths and pledges - in commercial transactions, to our faith, to our parents, to our spouses, to our friends. Is Shylock a hero or a villain? Is Antonia? Is Portia? There are not clear answers anywhere here because the lines are blurred and hypocrisy is writ large.
One thing I have to say on the motivation of the dramatist is that his words expressed through the pain and rage of his famous protagonist reveals enlightened thinking for his age and is both stirring, memorable and quotable:
" He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies, and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"
145PaulCranswick
>143 atozgrl: That will certainly be my aim, Irene.
I am always inordinately touched at how thoughtful and caring my friends in this group are. xx
I am always inordinately touched at how thoughtful and caring my friends in this group are. xx
146booksaplenty1949
I know that I need another bookcase, but unsure of required dimensions. So have begun reshelving books to incorporate arrivals since last time, now lying on their sides atop books whose authors are vaguely in the same part of the alphabet. In my naiveté I thought that this would also be an opportunity to weed out surplus vols, but so far that pile would barely fill a small carton. Oh well. Am enjoying revisiting old pals, also using a bit of book tape on the walking wounded and applying Mylar covers to some whose djs need protection. All fun.
147PaulCranswick
>146 booksaplenty1949: I too am pretty much out of space and am thinking of adding three new bookshelves for Christmas. In theory it gives me another 1,260 capacity.
148hredwards
>112 PaulCranswick: Glad to hear your family is doing well, Paul.
My wife lost a cat in the dryer once, before we were married. She still has to double check each load before she starts it. I guess it was pretty traumatic.
Glad your daughter's kitten is ok.
My wife lost a cat in the dryer once, before we were married. She still has to double check each load before she starts it. I guess it was pretty traumatic.
Glad your daughter's kitten is ok.
149PaulCranswick
>148 hredwards: Thanks Harold. I can't imagine how terrible one would feel having a pet die in such circumstances.
150vancouverdeb
>148 hredwards: That would be very traumatic. I am sorry.
151Carmenere
>2 PaulCranswick: Paul, I just learned of this memoir on PBS Best Books of 2025! Seems to me, the book gods are speaking to me and I MUST get my hands on this book.
152PaulCranswick
>2 PaulCranswick: I am almost done with it, Lynda, and must say that you won't regret getting hold of a copy!
153PaulCranswick
BOOK #128
Conclave by Robert Harris
Date of Publication : 2016
Origin of Author : UK
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 378 pp
Haven't seen the film so I have no idea whether it is faithful to the book or not.
This story carries all of Harris' skills to propel narrative and have you rushing forward to find out what happens. I do have to say that - without of course spoiling it for anyone yet to read it - I do think that the final twist in the tale rather stretches credulity too far.
Conclave by Robert Harris
Date of Publication : 2016
Origin of Author : UK
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 378 pp
Haven't seen the film so I have no idea whether it is faithful to the book or not.
This story carries all of Harris' skills to propel narrative and have you rushing forward to find out what happens. I do have to say that - without of course spoiling it for anyone yet to read it - I do think that the final twist in the tale rather stretches credulity too far.
154alcottacre
>112 PaulCranswick: Well, I am glad that the kitten is OK and hope Belle recovers soon!
>118 PaulCranswick: I like my three kids just as much as I love them That is exactly the way that I feel about my kids, Paul.
>121 PaulCranswick: A Rumer Godden book that I have not heard of. I will have to check it out! Nice haul, Juan.
>126 PaulCranswick: I own A Flat Place although I have not read it yet. Not heard of the others at all. . .
>128 PaulCranswick: Sounds like a great Christmas present!
Happy whatever, Paul!
>118 PaulCranswick: I like my three kids just as much as I love them That is exactly the way that I feel about my kids, Paul.
>121 PaulCranswick: A Rumer Godden book that I have not heard of. I will have to check it out! Nice haul, Juan.
>126 PaulCranswick: I own A Flat Place although I have not read it yet. Not heard of the others at all. . .
>128 PaulCranswick: Sounds like a great Christmas present!
Happy whatever, Paul!
156alcottacre
>155 PaulCranswick: Yay for Rebanks! I will be reading a library copy of it, I just need to know when to get it :)
157PaulCranswick
>156 alcottacre: I will wait for you as I aim to start off the year with Richard Adams or Roberto Bolano or Alexandre Dumas.
158avatiakh
>128 PaulCranswick: I also haven't seen the film and have this on my great tbr somewhere. I enjoy his books.
I'm wanting to see Nuremberg, it's on at my local cinema so I should get there in the next few days. Russell Crowe is a cousin of the great late Martin Crowe.
I'm wanting to see Nuremberg, it's on at my local cinema so I should get there in the next few days. Russell Crowe is a cousin of the great late Martin Crowe.
159PaulCranswick
>158 avatiakh: Amazing, Kerry, I should have put those names together but I never did! Russell Crowe is a huge supporter of (and investor in) my beloved football team, Leeds United. He is also a tremendous actor.
160avatiakh
>159 PaulCranswick: Yes, they were quite close growing up.
Today I learnt that writer Joseph O'Connor who I'm reading at present is the brother of Sinead O'Connor. A non-reading friend asked me if he was her brother.
Today I learnt that writer Joseph O'Connor who I'm reading at present is the brother of Sinead O'Connor. A non-reading friend asked me if he was her brother.
161PaulCranswick
>160 avatiakh: I did know that one as he read a eulogy at her funeral (a poem).
162avatiakh
>161 PaulCranswick: I'm reading My Father's House and with 100 pages left was dreading the ending, but now going to O'Connor's website due to finding out about his family, I see he published a sequel this year and the character I was worried about is in that one.
>159 PaulCranswick: People forget that Russell is a New Zealander as he moved to Australia before he became famous.
>159 PaulCranswick: People forget that Russell is a New Zealander as he moved to Australia before he became famous.
163PaulCranswick
>162 avatiakh: I suppose that made you happy and sad. Sad that the suspense is taken from the first story and happy that the character you like will come through.
I didn't know that Russell Crowe was actually a New Zealander.
I didn't know that Russell Crowe was actually a New Zealander.
164avatiakh
>163 PaulCranswick: Actually now that I finished the novel I see that it is about a real person and real events but completely fictionalised. My bad, but I went in to reading this one without knowing much about it. I was happy to have that part of the suspense removed. My first book by O'Connor and won't be my last.
>163 PaulCranswick: I think both countries can claim Crowe but he did not have Australian citizenship, maybe still hasn't - it was a media event a few years ago that he'd been denied. It's been harder for a New Zealander to get Australian citizenship for many years, possibly changed recently. Helen Clark did some backroom deal when she was PM that made it really difficult.
>163 PaulCranswick: I think both countries can claim Crowe but he did not have Australian citizenship, maybe still hasn't - it was a media event a few years ago that he'd been denied. It's been harder for a New Zealander to get Australian citizenship for many years, possibly changed recently. Helen Clark did some backroom deal when she was PM that made it really difficult.
165PaulCranswick
>164 avatiakh: I will try to read something by him in the coming year, Kerry.
Russell Crowe is someone I like and have a natural affinity to given his dedication to my football team. I am quite pleased that he hails from Wellington.
Russell Crowe is someone I like and have a natural affinity to given his dedication to my football team. I am quite pleased that he hails from Wellington.
166alcottacre
>157 PaulCranswick: It will definitely be sometime in January, Paul. Let me know when you are free to read it and I will pick up a copy from the library.
Happy whatever, Paul!
Happy whatever, Paul!
167hredwards
>160 avatiakh: "A non-reading friend" Is there such a thing?
168PaulCranswick
>166 alcottacre: OK I will let you know, Stasia. xx
>167 hredwards: Funnily enough most of my friends are not really readers and they are always giving commentary on the "unusual" fact that I always have a book with me.
>167 hredwards: Funnily enough most of my friends are not really readers and they are always giving commentary on the "unusual" fact that I always have a book with me.
169hredwards
>168 PaulCranswick: I know. I have people always going on about how much I read, and I am very rarely without a book.
170PaulCranswick
>169 hredwards: I don't think that we would have stood out so much 50 years ago, Harold!
171Familyhistorian
>169 hredwards: >170 PaulCranswick: I think you both would have still stood out 50 years ago. Even then many people didn't crack the covers of a book very often once they were through with school.
172PaulCranswick
>171 Familyhistorian: Probably so, Meg, but I do feel that the number of people actually reading as a genuine hobby has decreased substantially over the decades of my lifetime.
My mum and Grandmother and my Uncle Frank had a number of books visible in their homes but I cannot say that I have ever seen a book at my brother's house in plain sight! My sister and her husband do like to read and have a fairly jammed full bookcase in their living room full of the books they like and appreciate - mainly thrillers, true crime and fantasy. My sister, I know particularly likes Harlen Coben.
My mum and Grandmother and my Uncle Frank had a number of books visible in their homes but I cannot say that I have ever seen a book at my brother's house in plain sight! My sister and her husband do like to read and have a fairly jammed full bookcase in their living room full of the books they like and appreciate - mainly thrillers, true crime and fantasy. My sister, I know particularly likes Harlen Coben.
173PaulCranswick
YEAR IN REVIEW
Books of the Month
May
8 books is also down on the 12/13 I would normally expect to read.
FICTION: Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor
NON-FICTION: October by China Mieville
THRILLER/SCI-FI: Original Sin by P.D. James
POETRY/PLAY: Swell by Maria Ferguson
Tempted to go with the entertaining poems on pregnancy by Maria Ferguson but the late blooming brilliance of Ms. Taylor carries the day.
Books of the Month
May
8 books is also down on the 12/13 I would normally expect to read.
FICTION: Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor
NON-FICTION: October by China Mieville
THRILLER/SCI-FI: Original Sin by P.D. James
POETRY/PLAY: Swell by Maria Ferguson
Tempted to go with the entertaining poems on pregnancy by Maria Ferguson but the late blooming brilliance of Ms. Taylor carries the day.
174PaulCranswick
YEAR IN REVIEW
Books Read
June
9 books in June and some decent ones too:
FICTION: Don't Skip Out On Me by Willy Vlautin
NON-FICTION: Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
THRILLER/SCI-FI: The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (almost fits)
POETRY/PLAY: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.
Not a difficult choice this month. I really liked Vlautin's novel but Chloe Dalton's book is a special one, I think.
Books Read
June
9 books in June and some decent ones too:
FICTION: Don't Skip Out On Me by Willy Vlautin
NON-FICTION: Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
THRILLER/SCI-FI: The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (almost fits)
POETRY/PLAY: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.
Not a difficult choice this month. I really liked Vlautin's novel but Chloe Dalton's book is a special one, I think.
175SilverWolf28
Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/376093
176PaulCranswick
Thank you, Silver
177PaulCranswick
Friday books:
566. Zama by Antonio Di Benedetto
567. Nobody Asked For This by Charly Cox
568. My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor
569. The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis
570. Bride of the Sea by Eman Quotah
571. The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard
572. The Innocent by David Szalay
573. Pick a Colour by Souvankham Thammavongsa
574. That Which Can't Be Washed Away by Xu Huaizhong
575. Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk
566. Zama by Antonio Di Benedetto
567. Nobody Asked For This by Charly Cox
568. My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor
569. The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis
570. Bride of the Sea by Eman Quotah
571. The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard
572. The Innocent by David Szalay
573. Pick a Colour by Souvankham Thammavongsa
574. That Which Can't Be Washed Away by Xu Huaizhong
575. Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk
178booksaplenty1949
>177 PaulCranswick: Saw a production of The Real Thing recently. Learned something about a cricket bat.
179hredwards
>170 PaulCranswick: I find the lack of readers today very disheartening. As a lover of books, I've watched the places where I bought books dwindle over the years.
Sam's Club and Costco used to have almost a whole isle with tables of books and movies. They have both dwindled down to practically nothing.
The book and magazine racks in the grocery stores have gone away.
Our local Barnes and Noble went out of business and then they opened a store about 10 miles away, but it is merely a shadow of it's former self.
I go to estate sales and garage sales and I've noticed fewer and fewer books at those.
We have two local library systems that I use and both used to have sale tables of books, but they've done away with those. I even heard a couple of years ago that someone saw the main library employees putting loads of discarded books in a dumpster out back. Also, I've noticed the sections for New Books getting smaller and smaller.
We went shopping at a couple of local thrift stores last weekend and one still had a great book department, but the other had dwindled down to one little shelf with a few books.
We do have a couple of local used bookstores that I like, but I've noticed one of them isn't quite as stocked as it used to be. One though is a hidden treasure that I enjoy.
I know online ordering and Ebooks account for part of this, but I also believe there is a general decline in reading population. That's why I am so thankful for Librarything and you all.
You bring me hope.
Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a sermon.
Sam's Club and Costco used to have almost a whole isle with tables of books and movies. They have both dwindled down to practically nothing.
The book and magazine racks in the grocery stores have gone away.
Our local Barnes and Noble went out of business and then they opened a store about 10 miles away, but it is merely a shadow of it's former self.
I go to estate sales and garage sales and I've noticed fewer and fewer books at those.
We have two local library systems that I use and both used to have sale tables of books, but they've done away with those. I even heard a couple of years ago that someone saw the main library employees putting loads of discarded books in a dumpster out back. Also, I've noticed the sections for New Books getting smaller and smaller.
We went shopping at a couple of local thrift stores last weekend and one still had a great book department, but the other had dwindled down to one little shelf with a few books.
We do have a couple of local used bookstores that I like, but I've noticed one of them isn't quite as stocked as it used to be. One though is a hidden treasure that I enjoy.
I know online ordering and Ebooks account for part of this, but I also believe there is a general decline in reading population. That's why I am so thankful for Librarything and you all.
You bring me hope.
Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a sermon.
180booksaplenty1949
>179 hredwards: I wouldn’t say that the disappearance of brick-and-mortar bookstores necessarily means that book sales are down. I buy most of my books, new or old, on-line. I do recognise that it is fun to find a book you didn’t know you were looking for, which is really only possible in a shop, but I also know that store rent adds a lot to the price of books.
It’s true that book *readership* is down. The mindless entertainment once provided by “pulp fiction” now has many forms of competition.
It’s true that book *readership* is down. The mindless entertainment once provided by “pulp fiction” now has many forms of competition.
181mahsdad
>179 hredwards: Preach Brother!
182m.belljackson
Here in Madison, Wisconsin, BORDERS was the best!
It featured not only a great selection of beautiful easy to find Books,
but a sweet little cafe with expressos and delicious pastries, all fronting outside windows...
so perfect for these cold snowy days and evenings.
And, the friendly staff set up inviting seasonal displays of gifts coordinated with books.
Comfortable sofas and a fun kid's space and more...
All pushed out by the Mall intrusion of Barnes and Noble.
It featured not only a great selection of beautiful easy to find Books,
but a sweet little cafe with expressos and delicious pastries, all fronting outside windows...
so perfect for these cold snowy days and evenings.
And, the friendly staff set up inviting seasonal displays of gifts coordinated with books.
Comfortable sofas and a fun kid's space and more...
All pushed out by the Mall intrusion of Barnes and Noble.
183PaulCranswick
>178 booksaplenty1949: I have never seen it, but the cricket bat thing is intriguing!
184PaulCranswick
>179 hredwards: It does worry me too, Harold, to be honest. The UK has lost a lot of its independent book stores which have been subsumed into Waterstones. Here in Malaysia we have a few pretty good bookstores and they seem quite busy but a couple of the local chains did bite the dust.
>180 booksaplenty1949: That is clearly true as well. I do like to check some of the online resources to track down books I simply cannot find in stores here.
>180 booksaplenty1949: That is clearly true as well. I do like to check some of the online resources to track down books I simply cannot find in stores here.
185PaulCranswick
>181 mahsdad: It is a worthwhile point to make, Jeff, that people are reading less and that many bookstores are struggling. I am doing my best to keep them going here!
>182 m.belljackson: It is a point well made Marianne. It is important to note that so often good staff make a place somewhere you are eager to visit......and pastries helps for sure!
>182 m.belljackson: It is a point well made Marianne. It is important to note that so often good staff make a place somewhere you are eager to visit......and pastries helps for sure!
186mahsdad
>185 PaulCranswick: As we all are here. I'm down a bit from last year, but still having a great reading year. I'm @ 85 and will finish at least 2 more before we close the proverbial book on 2025.
187avatiakh
>182 m.belljackson: I loved having Borders when they were here in Auckland. Their book stock was so so different from the typical bookshops. When they closed they were bought out by a local book & stationery chain, whose stock in those years was also excellent until they decided to just stock the latest and most popular genre books. Even books by local writers were not given any extra display or concern.
I had a dream run buying great books at clearance prices for a few months.
>177 PaulCranswick: Nice book haul. Zama is on my LT wishlist. I just finished that O'Connor book and have requested the sequel from the library.
I had a dream run buying great books at clearance prices for a few months.
>177 PaulCranswick: Nice book haul. Zama is on my LT wishlist. I just finished that O'Connor book and have requested the sequel from the library.
188PaulCranswick
>186 mahsdad: My numbers will be slightly down as well but I have picked up speed in the last month or two, Jeff, and am looking forward to 2026 reading.
>187 avatiakh: Borders didn't last too long in Malaysia but you are right, Kerry, they did present a slightly different selection.
The reason I added O'Connor was because a certain pal of mine from New Zealand had just read it and waxed lyrical on its qualities!
>187 avatiakh: Borders didn't last too long in Malaysia but you are right, Kerry, they did present a slightly different selection.
The reason I added O'Connor was because a certain pal of mine from New Zealand had just read it and waxed lyrical on its qualities!
189avatiakh
>188 PaulCranswick: Lol, I did enjoy the tension in that book and look forward to reading more by him.
I'm finding lots of treasures in my stacks of uncatalogued books, really surprising myself on how I've squirreled away so many good reads.
I'm finding lots of treasures in my stacks of uncatalogued books, really surprising myself on how I've squirreled away so many good reads.
190PaulCranswick
>189 avatiakh: I'm not blowing smoke, Kerry, but yours is possibly my favourite thread for discovering books I haven't heard of but feel sure I must definitely read!
191booksaplenty1949
>185 PaulCranswick: I do enjoy used bookstores, with their unexpected offerings. But when I discovered the Book Depository (RIP), where one could order a new book and have it delivered free by mail, I pretty much discontinued going to new bookstores. If I want coffee and pastries I can go to a café.
Those of us in the Emile Zola reading group recently read Au Bonheur des Dames, which chronicled the rise of the department store. Every possible category of goods on offer, a dining room, a reading lounge—-a paradise indeed. But they have pretty much gone out of business. People don’t shop that way anymore.
Those of us in the Emile Zola reading group recently read Au Bonheur des Dames, which chronicled the rise of the department store. Every possible category of goods on offer, a dining room, a reading lounge—-a paradise indeed. But they have pretty much gone out of business. People don’t shop that way anymore.
192PaulCranswick
>191 booksaplenty1949: I was downcast for weeks when Book Depo was discontinued by that soulless bunch at Amazon. I loved Book Depo because it wasn't Amazon and then it got bought and plundered by them.
193PaulCranswick
BOOK #129
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
Date of Publication : 2025
Origin of Author : India
Gender of Author : Female
Pages : 372 pp
I don't recall loving The God of Small Things when it read it years ago. I do remember reading it in the UK on holiday and it not engaging as much as I felt it ought. This book, however, I loved from start to finish.
As a tribute to a difficult but brilliant mother - wonderful.
As an insight to a troubled and obstructive character - wonderful.
As an evocation of the vagaries of life in that melting pot, India - wonderful.
I thought that I was clear on what my favourite book of the year was but now I am not so sure that this hasn't come along and stolen my heart in deepest December!
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
Date of Publication : 2025
Origin of Author : India
Gender of Author : Female
Pages : 372 pp
I don't recall loving The God of Small Things when it read it years ago. I do remember reading it in the UK on holiday and it not engaging as much as I felt it ought. This book, however, I loved from start to finish.
As a tribute to a difficult but brilliant mother - wonderful.
As an insight to a troubled and obstructive character - wonderful.
As an evocation of the vagaries of life in that melting pot, India - wonderful.
I thought that I was clear on what my favourite book of the year was but now I am not so sure that this hasn't come along and stolen my heart in deepest December!
194PaulCranswick
BOOK #130
Fleche by Mary Jean Chan
Date of Publication : 2019
Origin of Author : UK (HK)
Gender of Author : Female
Pages : 75 pp
There isn't a single rhyme in sight in the 75 pages but this is most definitely poetry.
The recurring themes here in this impressive collection are the relationship of the poet to her mother, her celebration and understanding of being "queer" (not my label but the poet's embrace and the difficulties of communication and understanding - between people, between lovers and between family members.
This is "Always"
Do you ever write about me?
Mother, what do you think?
You are always where I begin.
Always the child who wanted to be
a boy, so you could be spared
by your mother-in-law.
Always the ear that hears you
translating my poems
with a bilingual dictionary.
Always the pen dreaming
it could redeem the years
you fled from, those
Red-Guarded days
and nightmares. Always
the minds-eye tracing
your frantic footsteps
towards the grandfather
I would never meet.
Always the lips wishing
they could kiss those mouths
you would approve of.
Fleche by Mary Jean Chan
Date of Publication : 2019
Origin of Author : UK (HK)
Gender of Author : Female
Pages : 75 pp
There isn't a single rhyme in sight in the 75 pages but this is most definitely poetry.
The recurring themes here in this impressive collection are the relationship of the poet to her mother, her celebration and understanding of being "queer" (not my label but the poet's embrace and the difficulties of communication and understanding - between people, between lovers and between family members.
This is "Always"
Do you ever write about me?
Mother, what do you think?
You are always where I begin.
Always the child who wanted to be
a boy, so you could be spared
by your mother-in-law.
Always the ear that hears you
translating my poems
with a bilingual dictionary.
Always the pen dreaming
it could redeem the years
you fled from, those
Red-Guarded days
and nightmares. Always
the minds-eye tracing
your frantic footsteps
towards the grandfather
I would never meet.
Always the lips wishing
they could kiss those mouths
you would approve of.
195PaulCranswick
BOOK # 131
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket by Honore de Balzac
Date of Publication : 1830
Origin of Author : France
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 86 pp
This novella by Balzac is set in and around the titular drapery in which are two daughters - one plain and one beautiful and a loving father who desires the best for them.
Can they make good marriages? One marries for love and the other duty. Which one will be happy?
A very typical story of Balzac - one that is both moving and thought provoking and heading early to tragic comedic conclusions.
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket by Honore de Balzac
Date of Publication : 1830
Origin of Author : France
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 86 pp
This novella by Balzac is set in and around the titular drapery in which are two daughters - one plain and one beautiful and a loving father who desires the best for them.
Can they make good marriages? One marries for love and the other duty. Which one will be happy?
A very typical story of Balzac - one that is both moving and thought provoking and heading early to tragic comedic conclusions.
196booksaplenty1949
>192 PaulCranswick: Book Depo. I’m afraid that my pet name for it was Book Suppository.
197PaulCranswick
>196 booksaplenty1949: Well it certainly had to take it up the bum from Amazon!
199PaulCranswick
>198 booksaplenty1949: Blackwell's in the UK which is the biggest bookshop in Oxford was bought out by Waterstones and they also added Foyles and Hatchards but have somehow, for now, managed to retain some semblance of identity. When I ship books now I use Blackwells.
200PaulCranswick
Sunday Christmas Shopping Additions
576. Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
577. The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
578. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
579. Sleep by Honor Jones
580. A Walk Alone in the Crowd by Antonio Munoz Molina
581. Some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer
582. The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter
583. Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
584. Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie
585. Beautiful Days by Zach Williams
576. Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
577. The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
578. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
579. Sleep by Honor Jones
580. A Walk Alone in the Crowd by Antonio Munoz Molina
581. Some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer
582. The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter
583. Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
584. Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie
585. Beautiful Days by Zach Williams
201PaulCranswick
BOOK # 132
The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare
Date of Publication : 1611
Origin of Author : UK
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 142 pp
A play in distinctly two halves. The first section which focuses on the searing and frenzied jealousy of Leontes and its fateful consequences. The second is sixteen years on and brings back together the characters cast from each other in the first section.
I reveled in the first section and the powerful trial of Hermione but I thought the later part a little too contrived even by Shakespearean standards.
Not one of his strongest plays but it piqued my interest as it was a first acting credit with the Royal Shakespeare Company for my nephew, Ryan Duval.
The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare
Date of Publication : 1611
Origin of Author : UK
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 142 pp
A play in distinctly two halves. The first section which focuses on the searing and frenzied jealousy of Leontes and its fateful consequences. The second is sixteen years on and brings back together the characters cast from each other in the first section.
I reveled in the first section and the powerful trial of Hermione but I thought the later part a little too contrived even by Shakespearean standards.
Not one of his strongest plays but it piqued my interest as it was a first acting credit with the Royal Shakespeare Company for my nephew, Ryan Duval.
202RBeffa
>192 PaulCranswick: I have a small collection of book depository bookmarks. Small being relative. It reminds me of how often I used to purchase books from them. Like you I am still bummed that they are gone.
203PaulCranswick
>202 RBeffa: I had a lot of them too, Ron, and I think that they were a great idea to send with your order - some of them were very striking too. The last time I moved apartment my wife/my maid in concert threw them all away!!!
204PaulCranswick
I do wish that the constant and frankly abhorrent hatred expressed in some quarters for the Jewish people would wither and die. I don't care if you have a political beef with Israel or sympathy for the plight of the people of Gaza, there is a snarlingly gleeful quality to the reaction of many in the Muslim world at the atrocity committed on Bondi beach yesterday that is inexcusable and makes me sick to my core.
205vancouverdeb
I've ordered a couple of books from Blackwell's The Wake which I am very much looking forward to, and A Very British Murder. Neither were available at my library and I guess not locally either, or I wouldn't have ordered them from Blackwells. I am glad they are still around.
206vancouverdeb
I read Pick a Colour not too long ago and I did not much like it, Paul. It is mercifully short and others have liked it, so I hope you do too.
207PaulCranswick
>205 vancouverdeb: I have noticed before that you used Blackwell's, Deb. I have been a couple of times to the physical bookstore in Oxford and it is a wonderful temple of books.
>206 vancouverdeb: I does worry me a little to be honest as you and I often tend to agree - relatively so at least - on whether a book is "good" or not. So if you give it the thumbs down that isn't a good sign for me.
>206 vancouverdeb: I does worry me a little to be honest as you and I often tend to agree - relatively so at least - on whether a book is "good" or not. So if you give it the thumbs down that isn't a good sign for me.
208avatiakh
>204 PaulCranswick: It was horrific and probably avoidable. I've been watching the coverage on Sky News Australia. The current Australian government which is openly hostile to Israel has allowed a lot of hate to happen on the streets these past two years without any pushback at all despite pleas from the Jewish community to do something about the antisemitism that was increasingly getting too blatant.
209PaulCranswick
>208 avatiakh: Yes I agree with that, Kerry. Most people cannot distinguish between Israel and Judaism and by being openly hostile to one it leads to hostility to the other.
We have the frankly disgraceful issue of Sadiq Khan interfering in a proposed Jewish Hannukah vigil on Parliament Square insisting they move to a side road. He doesn't even hide his hostility.
There seems to be no toleration of each other anymore, no attempt to try and understand each other, no effort to love and respect each other. That evil is done in the name of religion is sickening but should not condemn everyone of that faith. There are peace loving Muslims too, we are not all radical hate-filled lunatics and I stand with my brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith today as on every day they are threatened.
I wish a peaceful Hanukkah to you and your family, Kerry.
We have the frankly disgraceful issue of Sadiq Khan interfering in a proposed Jewish Hannukah vigil on Parliament Square insisting they move to a side road. He doesn't even hide his hostility.
There seems to be no toleration of each other anymore, no attempt to try and understand each other, no effort to love and respect each other. That evil is done in the name of religion is sickening but should not condemn everyone of that faith. There are peace loving Muslims too, we are not all radical hate-filled lunatics and I stand with my brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith today as on every day they are threatened.
I wish a peaceful Hanukkah to you and your family, Kerry.
210avatiakh
>209 PaulCranswick: The world seems to be descending into chaos with all this hate, divisiveness and lack of tolerance....leaving the quiet, peaceful part of society in the dust.
I read Lisa Hill's review of Ruptured: Jewish Women in Australia Reflect on Life Post-October 7 the other day. Why such a book needs to be published.
I read Lisa Hill's review of Ruptured: Jewish Women in Australia Reflect on Life Post-October 7 the other day. Why such a book needs to be published.
211booksaplenty1949
>209 PaulCranswick: “Anymore”? Violence against Jews goes back a very, very long way. No longer primarily about religion, at least in the West; it’s now about racial pseudo-science.
212thornton37814
I decided to try to get a post on this thread before you move to a new one!
Reading the story about Belle's cat's washing machine adventure. I just saw a post on Facebook that was a photo of a cat in the washer tub with a warning that all cat owners should check before starting laundry. I have a feeling she's not the only one to whom this happened.
Reading the story about Belle's cat's washing machine adventure. I just saw a post on Facebook that was a photo of a cat in the washer tub with a warning that all cat owners should check before starting laundry. I have a feeling she's not the only one to whom this happened.
213PaulCranswick
>210 avatiakh: Heart breaking and discouraging at the same time because I am normally such an optimistic person and I am struggling to find hope.
>211 booksaplenty1949: Indeed to well before the Romans in fact but I think that there are a numbers of reasons for the violence - some of it is religious in origin still, but a false religious narrative. Some of it is pure politics some of it is faux liberal science.
>211 booksaplenty1949: Indeed to well before the Romans in fact but I think that there are a numbers of reasons for the violence - some of it is religious in origin still, but a false religious narrative. Some of it is pure politics some of it is faux liberal science.
214PaulCranswick
>212 thornton37814: Lovely to see you Lori! I can think of better places to go for a spin!
215thornton37814
>214 PaulCranswick: It's too cold outside to go for a spin! I'm sure the weather is warmer in Malaysia!
216PaulCranswick
>215 thornton37814: I was joking with a couple of my Korean colleagues yesterday on a TEAMS call as they were wrapped up against the Korean cold. I mentioned how cold it was in Malaysia having dropped from 35 degrees to 32 degrees overnight. I got only pained smiles.
217thornton37814
>216 PaulCranswick: I'm sure that is Celsius. We were at 10 Fahrenheit this morning when I went to join the church bus for our "seniors" trip to Asheville. You could still see snow and icicles on the drive back. BRRRR
218amanda4242
>216 PaulCranswick: It's around 40 Fahrenheit here, and I haven't seen the sun for the better part of a month due to fog. So much for sunny California!
219PaulCranswick
>217 thornton37814: Yes indeed celsius. 35 celcius is 95 fahrenheit.
>218 amanda4242: 40 fahrenheit is 4 celsius. I would be happy with that for a while at least.
>218 amanda4242: 40 fahrenheit is 4 celsius. I would be happy with that for a while at least.
220Familyhistorian
4 Celsius gets old pretty fast, Paul. We’re at 6C. Chilly. Of course rain doesn’t help.
221PaulCranswick
>220 Familyhistorian: Yes that is certainly true, Meg, but after more than 1,500 days of 30 plus degrees it would make a welcome change for a few days at least!
222RBeffa
>209 PaulCranswick: I think my head is going to explode about this sort of thing Paul.
223PaulCranswick
>222 RBeffa: Indeed, Ron, I am heartsick most of the time. I am so grateful for this place where, in general, people come together whatever their backgrounds.
224PaulCranswick
BOOK # 133
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen
Date of Publication : 2007
Origin of Author : Norway
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 200 pp
Roy Jacobsen died this year. His death escaped much of the over-hype laudatory memorializing of some no more deserving than he. He was understated. His work was understated. He was very accomplished and will be missed.
It is the start of the winter war as the Soviets have invaded Finland. Our protagonist stays behind in his village in the woods as the place is evacuated and put to the torch in the wake of the advancing army.
A tale of hardship, survival, loyalties and the mistrust of memory.
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen
Date of Publication : 2007
Origin of Author : Norway
Gender of Author : Male
Pages : 200 pp
Roy Jacobsen died this year. His death escaped much of the over-hype laudatory memorializing of some no more deserving than he. He was understated. His work was understated. He was very accomplished and will be missed.
It is the start of the winter war as the Soviets have invaded Finland. Our protagonist stays behind in his village in the woods as the place is evacuated and put to the torch in the wake of the advancing army.
A tale of hardship, survival, loyalties and the mistrust of memory.
225PaulCranswick
More additions before the end of the year:
586. God Complex by Rachel Allen
587. The Wild Date Palm by Diane Armstrong
588. Day's End by Garry Disher
589. Open, Heaven by Sean Hewitt
590. Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
586. God Complex by Rachel Allen
587. The Wild Date Palm by Diane Armstrong
588. Day's End by Garry Disher
589. Open, Heaven by Sean Hewitt
590. Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
226alcottacre
>225 PaulCranswick: Nice! I have not read a single one of those titles, Juan, so I will be checking back to see what you think of them.
Happy whatever!
Happy whatever!
227PaulCranswick
>226 alcottacre: Well there are a couple of Aussies in there, an Indian novel, a poetry collection which I know you will not be searching for and a Irish queer coming of age story that has been well received in the UK.
The Wild Date Palm is described by the Australian as "a nuanced rendition of the moral conundrums individuals face in extremis."
Day's End is described by Chris Hammer (who should know) as "the gold standard for rural noir"
The Guardian has said that Rachel Allen is "intent on uncovering the grotesque beneath the everyday."
Age of Vice is lauded by Lee Child, Stephen King and Marlon James and the Guardian calls it "India's answer to The Godfather".
Open, Heaven's author Sean Hewitt is praised by Anne Enright who says that "Hewitt writes with such tenderness and grace."
The Wild Date Palm is described by the Australian as "a nuanced rendition of the moral conundrums individuals face in extremis."
Day's End is described by Chris Hammer (who should know) as "the gold standard for rural noir"
The Guardian has said that Rachel Allen is "intent on uncovering the grotesque beneath the everyday."
Age of Vice is lauded by Lee Child, Stephen King and Marlon James and the Guardian calls it "India's answer to The Godfather".
Open, Heaven's author Sean Hewitt is praised by Anne Enright who says that "Hewitt writes with such tenderness and grace."
228amanda4242
>227 PaulCranswick: Huh, I actually agree with a blurber! Enright is spot-on about Open, Heaven.
229PaulCranswick
>228 amanda4242: That is good to know, Amanda!
230zuzaer
>153 PaulCranswick: Only now I remembered I've read Harris' Cicero Trilogy (The first volume is Imperium) a couple of years ago and I greatly enjoyed his writing (via translation).
>201 PaulCranswick: I remember being moved by the first half of "The Winter's Tale", especially by the madness that came out of nowhere. A powerful reminder that sometimes there's just no logical reason to the things we or others do.
>201 PaulCranswick: I remember being moved by the first half of "The Winter's Tale", especially by the madness that came out of nowhere. A powerful reminder that sometimes there's just no logical reason to the things we or others do.
231PaulCranswick
>231 PaulCranswick: It is a play of two halves, I think. The first half is tremendous though.
This topic was continued by Paul's Grand European Tour 24 and Wrap-up.
