Jill's 2026 Reading, Rummaging, and Sorting Piles of Books, Part Two

Time for a new thread; the other was stretching out a bit.

I haven’t posted much about my reading in recent days. I have been reading (quite a bit, actually), but it hasn’t been about titles recently published. Mostly literary criticism and then subsequently visiting the original source material. So here’s a bit of thinking on one relatively modern classic.

My bedtime reading has been the separate stories that are collected in The Innocence of Father Brown. Within the past 24-48 hours, I read the fun little tale of The Honour of Israel Gow. Father Brown has joined the now-reformed Flambeau in Scotland to investigate the death of an Earl. The real meat of Chesterton in this story is what is said regarding the human story-telling impulse.

As an example, Flambeau offers an odd inventory of items found in the household – snuff, candles, small metal gears and springs, and uncut diamonds. The response from Father Brown is:

"The late Earl of Glengyle was a thief. He lived a second and darker life as a desperate housebreaker. He did not have any candlesticks because he only used these candles cut short in the little lantern he carried. The snuff he employed as the fiercest French criminals have used pepper: to fling it suddenly in dense masses in the face of a captor or pursuer. But the final proof is in the curious coincidence of the diamonds and the small steel wheels. Surely that makes everything plain to you? Diamonds and small steel wheels are the only two instruments with which you can cut out a pane of glass."

Flambeau is taken aback and asks if his conclusion can possibly be true. To which, the priest responds with “I don't think it is the true explanation," replied the priest placidly; "but you said that nobody could connect the four things.”

There’s roughly a page and a half of Chesterton holding forth on how writers assemble stories from seemingly unrelated objects, whether writing about human history or creating fantastical adventures. No wonder that Agatha Christie liked his writing.

More to come.

>1 jillmwo: Happy New Thread!

So, inquiring minds want to know. Was the late Earl of Glengyle actually a cat burglar? Did you find out?

>1 jillmwo:
Happy New Thread.

I love the quote you posted. I must pull out my Father Brown stories.

>1 jillmwo: Happy new thread!

Thanks to you all! But I wanted to point you to this piece by Tim Spalding regarding the impact of movie and television adaptations on library circulation of content. See https://proquest.syndetics.com/news/2026/03/23/from-screen-to-shelf-how-movies-a...

Happy New Thread!

What a great quote 😊 It makes me want to reread Father Brown stories.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread from me too!

>5 jillmwo: Good to see that reading interest is driven by movies. Seems obvious, but good to see it in the data.

The other night, I spent part of an evening labeling half a dozen or more trade paperbacks with post-it notes indicating why it was important to retain that particular volume. (All of them were collections of short stories by Agatha Christie and there was a certain amount of overlap across the collections.)

Christie reused ideas a number of times in her work. Publishers, being clever beasts, are careful to hide this fact when putting out a collection of her short stories. Casual buyers in the marketplace would be irritated (if not utterly outraged) to find that a collection had two or more stories featuring the same detective essentially solving the same crime. Consequently they don’t put The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest in the same paperback collection with The Mystery of the Spanish Chest. If I as a customer want to compare Christie’s thinking in the two stories, then I will just have to buy the two different collections.

The stories do have some differences. The Baghdad Chest (1932) is a short story while The Spanish Chest (1960) is a novella. One is narrated by Hastings but the other features Miss Lemon who is much more careful in assembling the facts. In The Spanish Chest, Christie makes clear reference to Shakespeare’s Othello and the planning of the perfect murder as a creative act. The Baghdad Chest offers none of that. The way in which the crime is committed is the same in both, but Poirot’s identification of the guilty party relies on different conversations in context.

If I were an independent publisher, I’d do a small, tasteful edition packaging these two stories together, allowing the reader to recognize the development of Christie’s work and her thinking. The combination is instructive and offers food for thought.

Indeed as Poirot himself says in conversation with Hastings, “Because a theme has been used once, there is no reason why it should not be used again.”

>12 jillmwo:
You have reminded me of a phrase a late friend of mine used to say:
If something has been said, and said well, have no scruples; take it and use it.

Posted without comment: https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/school-book-banning-escalates-in-the-u... Review the list of titles at the end of the posted article. I understand why some of them might be problematic but...

He…picked up the spoon beside his plate and somewhat ostentatiously looked to see if it was clean: plunged spoon and fork into the peach, spinning dizzily before him in its syrup, and, scooping off a large chunk, slithered it into his mouth: stiffened—stared about him with a wild surmise—gave one gurgling roar of mingled rage and pain, turned first white, then purple, then an even more terrifying dingy, dark red; and pitched forward across the table with his face in his plate.

Elizabeth cried out: ‘He’s swallowed the peach stone!’

I have just shared with you the death of Cyrus Caxton, a wicked soul whom no one will miss. He dies in a remarkably well-crafted short story by Christianna Brand, the lead story included in What Dread Hand? A Collection of Short Stories. You have only a few suspects – son Theo, stepson Bill, and the stalwart Dr. Ross. There’s also Elizabeth, the honored bride at the wedding breakfast. But just so you are aware, the entire household staff rose up and resigned their positions in the household as soon as they learned she was to be in charge.

This was my reading at lunch today. A beautifully constructed tale of love and possible poisoning. I can highly recommend it.

Something to think about here, encountered while reading an interview with an author:

When I started writing, it was a totally different culture. I’m completely forgotten. My books are pulped. Penguin, my publisher for over twenty years, have lost the computer master files of my books. There’s no digital master files of the finished copies of my books at Penguin, and they published me for twenty years.

I know it's not the publisher's job to archive titles in perpetuity, but I can certainly understand why he is outraged. The interview is here: https://thelondonmagazine.org/interview-will-self-on-the-end-of-satire-the-rise-...

For the record (and for a variety of reasons), he's not a happy man. He also spends time arguing with his personal AI....

>16 jillmwo: Wow, that's unfortunate.

>16 jillmwo:
Having read a couple of his books I think Penguin may have done us all a favour.

>16 jillmwo: That's sad. Too bad he didn't backup his own work but that probably wasn't a thing way back when.

>16 jillmwo: Do authors not keep a copy of their own work?

>20 catzteach: Authors should indeed retain their own copies. However he sees the idea that the publisher hasn't retained digital master files of his work as suggesting that they think his work is of little value these days. To republish his books without a digital master file to work from would mean Penguin (or any other publisher having an interest) would have to recreate the book from the beginning. That would mean incurring production costs. The lack of a digital master file signals to the author that Penguin doesn't think they are apt to bring his books back into the market. Does that help?

Just as a reminder, my background is in scholarly publishing and his situation falls into the category of trade publishing. There may be things in play that I'm not up to date on.

>21 jillmwo:

There may be things in play that I'm not up to date on.

I think they are called "Cost Accountants" or "Financial Analysts".

>16 jillmwo: It's perfectly straightforward and inexpensive (in the vicinity of $40) to hire someone to scan a book and turn it into an editable file. And there are a great many out-of-print books that, for one reason or another, are sufficiently dated that they will remain out of print. I have not read the author in question, but if his rights have reverted, he can certainly re-publish them himself.

>21 jillmwo: Thanks for that explanation. I guess I could see how he would view it as an insult.

>23 Marissa_Doyle: Perhaps he should take advantage of this tech and scan his books himself. :)

Time for some Alfred Noyes, specifically The Highwayman

They said no word to the landlord. They drank his ale instead.
But they gagged his daughter, and bound her, to the foot of her narrow bed.
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest.
They had bound a musket beside her, with the muzzle beneath her breast!
“Now, keep good watch!” and they kissed her. She heard the doomed man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

Talk about the ultimate tale of romantic doom...I mean really, who needs sparkly vampires?

And if you're unfamiliar with the story, it's here in full: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43187/the-highwayman

>25 jillmwo: One of my favorites! That poem was turned into an wonderful song by Loreena McKennit and is on my Celtic playlist so I was hearing it a bunch earlier in the month when gearing up to the 17th. (Yes, I know she is Canadian.)

Here it is on YouTube with the lyrics. I tried to find a live version but the video quality was pure poop. https://youtu.be/Ixi4jz0Gn4E?si=PoHfGkrO5ZqAoVEq

>12 jillmwo: I love your idea about the "tasteful" edition. I'd buy it.

There could be one that collects and explains all the "Mrs. Lancaster" (By the Pricking of My Thumbs) characters who mention murdered children and fireplaces. Somebody on the internet has probably done it. I have not looked, it just came to me because of your post...

>26 clamairy: I love the McKennit song. Haunting, isn't it?

>27 rhondak101book: I'm not familiar with Mrs. Lancaster; I'm trying to think if I've ever read By the Pricking of my Thumbs. It's Tommy and Tuppence? (I only read the early ones where they were the leads.)

>28 jillmwo: Hi, I won't give too much away here. There's an old woman in the Tommy and Tuppence book who says very specific things about a mysterious (missing/dead) child. Then she appears again in The Sleeping Murder saying slightly different things. Finally, she either appears in The Pale Horse or a character talks about meeting an old lady that talked about a dead child. Many of the same details occur or are slightly altered.

Just putting this here so I don't lose track of it: https://newrepublic.com/article/207659/non-fiction-publishing-threat-important-e...

Long fact is hard to publish and always has been. Reportage and research take time, resources, attention, and fortitude. A book can require several years to write and another year and a half to be edited, checked, printed, and publicized—only to wind up coming out during a news cycle dominated by a sex scandal, school shooting, pandemic, or war. It was as true half a century ago as it is today that readers expect to pay for fiction but are used to getting nonfiction passively through the media. I know firsthand that even habitual readers often need a mix of factors—reviews, media hits, friends’ recommendations, eye-catching placement on the “new and recommended” table, all on top of long passion for a topic—to induce us to buy a particular nonfiction book.

*murfle*

>29 rhondak101book: Off to rummage about in my reference books. Really interesting twist of which I'd been unaware.

>30 jillmwo: Uh oh, that's a problem. I love my long fact books.

>31 jillmwo: Please let me know if you find anything good about this. I had not thought about that tidbit in years. I probably have some notes written in reading journal circa 1988!

I have just been getting back into Christie after a long absence. I am a mid-level completist, so I have been investigating how many more Christie books I have left to "complete the canon." (I think it is 12, maybe 14). This is fuelled by the fact that I am retiring at the end of the semester. More reading time for me!

Awhile back someone, I think it was @haydninvienna, recommended a book to me -- specifically a collection of poetry edited by Clive James entitled The Fire of Joy. Now recently (and again, I am not sure on whose thread it might have appeared) there was a discussion where I abused Kingsley Amis as an author. Of course, the universe then comes back and promptly bites one on the bum. Because what did I this morning with my coffee? A poem by Kingsley Amis as follows:

Between the GARDENING and the COOKERY
Comes the brief POETRY shelf;
By the Nonesuch Donne, a thin anthology
Offers itself.

Critical, and with nothing else to do,
I scan the Contents page,
Relieved to find the names are mostly new;
No one my age.

Like all strangers, they divide by sex:
Landscape near Parma
Interests a man, so does The Double Vortex,
So does Rilke and Buddha.

'I travel, you see', 'I think' and 'I can read'
These titles seem to say;
But I Remember You, Love is my Creed,
Poem for J.,

There is more to that poem, which is "A Bookshop Idyll", found here in its entirety: https://www.babelmatrix.org/works/en/Amis%2C_Kingsley-1922/A_Bookshop_Idyll

At the same time, another site offers commentary on the meaning of the full poem. ( https://allpoetry.com/Something-Nasty-In-The-Bookshop ) YMMV. However briefly, I did find some reason for appreciating Amis.

And in the midst of putting together the above, I managed to ruin half a dozen eggs which I had on the stove. I needed to hardboil them for the week's breakfast and managed to completely forget that they were there. Real life in all its less-than-impressive glory.

>35 jillmwo: Timers are the answer! Not only do I use the one on the stove, and the one on my phone, but I've started relying on my (possibly evil) Echo/Alexa devices to let me know when to transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer, etc.

>33 rhondak101book: I wanted to get back to you about Mrs. Lancaster. Aside from the novels you reference, she appears in a short story entitled "The Lamp". If you have access to the Christie collection The Golden Ball and Other Stories, it appears there. Something of a ghost story. I think the story was originally written and published in the UK relatively early in her career but the material wasn't published here in the US until the 1960s.

>37 jillmwo: I do have the Golden Ball! This is really interesting. I am going to dig more into this when I have time. Thanks so much for the new reference.

*murfle* Bad night of sleep and woke up this AM with one side of my face swollen so I suspect I will be spending at least part of today with a dentist and/or a druggist. I was able to eat breakfast and take some Aleve, but there is definitely a tooth with a MAJOR issue. No relaxation today.

I am so sorry. I hope you feel better, and good luck.

>39 jillmwo: Oh no. I am sorry to hear that! I hope things will get better soon.

>40 rhondak101book: and >41 Alexandra_book_life: I'll be fine. Primarily, the situation is inconvenient. The swelling has gone down a bit (since I took some Aleve) and I'm only somewhat uncomfortable. The dentist can see me this afternoon; the woman with whom I spoke in making the appointment was calm, efficient and very sympathetic. So the biggest issue will undoubtedly be the expense.

>39 jillmwo: >42 jillmwo:
Sorry to hear about your dental issue. I hope your appointment has a satisfactory outcome.

Best wishes.

>39 jillmwo: Yikes. Well, I hope it's all been taken care of by this point.

>42 jillmwo: I hope your appointment went well and there are no major issues!

>39 jillmwo: Oh dear. Been there, done that. No fun at all. Best wishes.

>42 jillmwo: Gah! I hope the worst of this is well behind you by now. Been there, and it’s no fun. Take care!

I am still experiencing "discomfort" but I am assured that I will not die from this. It was really more the hassle of finding a decent dental practice willing to fit me in in on Good Friday. (And for the record, I'm going to keep looking for a decent practice; the guy yesterday provided me with the necessary antibiotic and pain killer, but I am not going back to that particular place.) So my thanks to all of you -- >43 pgmcc: >44 clamairy: >45 Karlstar: >46 haydninvienna: >47 terriks:

My husband really thinks I should consider taking a nap or at least a brief lie-down at some point today, because my sleep has been disrupted for two or three nights in a row. I never can successfully nap during the day, but it might be worth a try this time around. Watching old tv is about all I can manage at the moment.

Ugh. I so sympathize with dental woes having basically had a lifetime of them starting with falling down when learning to walk and bashing my baby teeth back up into my gums, destroying the enamel on the adult teeth forming inside. Joy. Hopefully you can find some people to care for you going forward. Old TV can be fun...rotary phones, giant cars, people smoking all over, pay phones...good times.

>48 jillmwo: Good luck finding a dentist, a good one is hard to find. Your husband is right, get a nap! :)

>48 jillmwo: Teeth issues are the worst! I hope the antibiotics work their magic well and you are able to find a good dentist to help with the actual issue. Sounds like you deserve a nap!

>48 jillmwo:
Sorry you are not totally happy with the dentist but happy you got what was necessary. Old TV programmes and naps are good remedies. One is likely to lead to the other.

Get well soon and be sure to get some rest. Your husband has the right idea.

>48 jillmwo: Hope you got(get) that nap! Glad to hear you are on the mend.

>48 jillmwo: Get well soon! I hope you managed to have that nap.

>48 jillmwo: Ouch. Dental woes are the worst. I hope you find a better dentist soon.

Aargh, dental woes! I hope all is well again soon.

>49 Bookmarque: >50 Karlstar: >51 catzteach: >52 pgmcc: >53 clamairy: >54 Alexandra_book_life: >55 Narilka: >56 Sakerfalcon: Many thanks to all of you. I'm like the character in the movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. "I'm not dead yet"... I'm really not. Maybe just a bit lethargic. And this week requires making appointments.

In The Meantime, A Bit of Poetry.

When I have ceased to break my wings
Against the faultiness of things,
And learned that compromises wait
Behind each hardly opened gate,
When I have looked Life in the eyes,
Grown calm and very coldly wise,
Life will have given me the Truth,
And taken in exchange—my youth.

That's Sara Teasdale and the poem is entitled Wisdom.

I will be more talkative once I'm not having to time out meals and caffeine according to when medication must be taken. (Of course, antibiotics must be taken with food. And who is awake enough to take a pill every eight hours? You either have to stay up until midnight or take it at some bizarre point in the wee small hours. I take my meals at 8, Noon, and 6:30pm. When are the mealtimes of all these scientists who make a living developing drugs?)

And just because I like some of her work, here is more from Teasdale (albeit just a fragment):

It was a spring that never came;
But we have lived enough to know
That what we never have, remains;
It is the things we have that go.

- Wisdom (It Was A Night Of Early Spring)

>57 jillmwo:
Nice to see you are posting and quoting poetry. You definitely are on drugs.

>59 pgmcc: Now, now...no need for that. I wasn't standing on the dining room table and reciting Teasdale at full volume.

>60 jillmwo:
Which table were you standing on?

*Reaches for the popcorn*

*sits next to terriks and swipes a handful of popcorn*

>61 pgmcc: How many times must I remind you that I am a lady? I am just as refined and tasteful as the Folio Society mailings say I am. I have never gotten up on a table to sing.

I would also like to point out that you don’t assume that @haydninvienna is standing on a table when he posts poetry. Nor do you assume that he is on drugs. I am WOUNDED that you might make such an assumption about me.

Being about as WASP as one can be (as well as being a lady), I am forced to clutch my pearls in anguish at your misperceptions. Why would you think me capable of such behavior? Genteel Episcopalians like me – we quietly sip our wine glasses of Prosecco and bring poetry into the conversation in brief quotes so as not to appear to be intellectual snobs. (And we only take our antibiotics with yoghurt as qualified medical professionals prescribe.)

Edited to remind >62 terriks: and >63 clamairy: not to spill buttered popcorn on the Persian rugs underfoot.

>64 jillmwo:
Apologies for any misperception; I was merely interpreting your comments, obviously incorrectly. Of course, my experience has taught me that still waters run deep and their demur, calm and serene surface hides the swirling of diverse strong currents causing whirlpools and worse.

>65 pgmcc: their demur, calm and serene surface hides the swirling of diverse strong currents causing whirlpools. You bet your sweet bippie!

>66 jillmwo:
By the way, did you check >62 terriks: &>63 clamairy:’s tickets?

You bet your sweet bippie!

Don’t I know it?
:-)

>67 pgmcc: Now you are moving me to quote Emily Dickinson:

Whoever disenchants
A single Human soul
By failure of irreverence
Is guilty of the whole.

As guileless as a Bird
As graphic as a star
Till the suggestion sinister
Things are not what they are --

Dickinson is herself a bit off-kilter.

For the record, neither >62 terriks: nor >63 clamairy: need tickets. They're friendly sorts. (I think their only failing may be a fondness for Dickens, but I can't truly recall.) That said, they should plan to pick up the next round of Prosecco.

>68 jillmwo:
That said, they should plan to pick up the next round of Prosecco.

Hear! Hear!

ETA: I like the Dickens Dickinson quotation.

For the record, all poetry quoted within the past 24 hours may be found in a book by Rosemary Sprague entitled Imaginary Gardens. I was reviewing it before I send it off to be re-homed.

>64 jillmwo: >65 pgmcc: .....is it over, then? I devoutly hope so, as the popcorn is long gone (and not a crumb on the Persian rugs, of course).

I freely admit to a fondness for Dickens. This will not damper my willingness to provide the next round of Prosecco.

What can I say? Do I like a floor show?

You bet your sweet bippie!

>71 terriks:. Please note that this is not the Dickens thread. This is the lovers-of-Wilkie-Collins thread. (And please don't bring up Thackeray...)

To the rest of you, I have some reviews to write and post this weekend. But I've a book group discussion today at noon for which I am underwhelmingly prepared. Oh, and the grocery delivery is due sometime in the next 30 minutes or so. I must run.

*sneaks in a reference to Vanity Fair*

>73 clamairy:
*you did what I was afraid to do. Remember, @jillmwo's calm surface conceals hidden depths.*

>74 pgmcc: I'll distract her with some fine chilled sparkling wine.

>75 clamairy:
You are such a charmer. You'll have her lapping Prosecco from a saucer and purring.

Dives for cover as a hefty book whizzes past my head

>76 pgmcc: That might be two heavy books whizzing past your head, my friend.

>76 pgmcc: >77 clamairy: heavy books whizzing past your head That's fer damn shur! Behaving like a lady only gets one so far.

>78 jillmwo:
Those deep eddies are swirling madly for sure.

:-)

The strength that Marie Belloc Lowndes had as a writer was her ability to create suspense as she did in the book, The Chianti Flask. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but it is an interesting read. A young woman is on trial for her life, suspected of the murder of her spouse. This is less of a murder mystery and more a work of psychological suspense; is she innocent of the act or not?

One thing that did arise in my recent reading is the detective Hercules Popeau that Lowndes created. According to Martin Edwards introduction to the short story, Popeau Investigates, included in the collection Continental Crimes:

She also created Hercules Popeau before Agatha Christie achieved fame with the Hercule Poirot mysteries; Lowndes was not impressed by the resemblances between the characters.

Popeau makes his initial appearance in 1920 in Lowndes' title, The Lonely House, (available on Gutenberg). There are indeed many similarities between the two characters, but (IMHO) Lowndes was not adapting to the modern mood in the genre of mystery stories. Christie, younger than Lowndes by roughly 25 years, had no difficulty in adapting her style to what worked at the time.

Edna Mae Oliver played the role of Hildegarde Withers in three movies during the 1930s. One was The Penguin Pool Murders, one was Murder on the Blackboard and the third was Murder on a Honeymoon. It was type-casting as the character of Miss Withers (created by Stuart Palmer) is described as a 39-year old horse-faced spinster. I am not a major fan of Palmer’s character so while I was thinning out the current inventory of books in my house, I was ready to let The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan go without too much fuss. Except that I felt like I ought to give it one last fair chance. Was it really awful or had I just been in the wrong mood for it when I initially attempted to read it? I felt I was obligated to try it again before consigning it to the Goodwill box.

The book isn't awful. I just have no sense of humor at times and I suspect one really does have to be in the mood for screwball comedy. I’m passing it on without too much regret.

Pew Research on Reading in America (Survey Results) https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/09/americans-still-opt-for-print...

Some good news:
The overall share of Americans who have read a book in the past year has remained fairly stable since Pew first asked this question in 2011.

But there have been some changes in how Americans read books. The share of adults who have read a print book in the past 12 months has declined from 72% in 2011 to 64% in October 2025.

Digital and audiobooks, by comparison, have become more widely used. About three-in-ten adults (31%) now report reading an e-book in the past year, up from 17% in 2011. Audiobooks have seen similar growth, with use of this format more than doubling in the same period.

But these changes have slowed in recent years. There has been little change in the overall share of Americans who read books – or in the formats they use – since we last asked these questions in 2021.

>82 jillmwo: That's mostly good news. Not sure why the emphasis on book clubs? I wonder, does this count as a book club? We sometimes read the same books and discuss them, just not in person in any way.

>82 jillmwo: This makes me happy. Ideally I would like the numbers to go up, but at least they aren't going down.

Just saw this in passing in someone's Substack newsletter, an independent soul doing a brief blurb re: Heart of Darkness:

Heart of Darkness — Colonialism is genocide with better PR, and Kurtz isn’t crazy—he’s just the logical conclusion.

It was that first bit about colonialism that caught my eye. I have no problem with the assessment of Kurtz. But I'm chewing on the genocide thing (which is not a particularly positive meditation on this sunny Friday morning.)

>83 Karlstar:. I suspect that the emphasis on book clubs is because those have been fairly well-integrated into most trade publishers' sales and marketing plans. Can we drive six purchases of a book this way vs selling the book to one person at a time? Because, theoretically, that's more cost-effective (which is balderdash in my opinion), but trade publishers are desperate. The TikTok driver (BookTok, as it is called) is requiring that the product be more visually attractive -- nice covers, sprayed edges, etc.

Sometimes I think what Penzler Publishing has done with their series of American Mystery Classics is the perfect case study on packaging. They've got a cover design approach that is immediately recognizable (from across the room) and which works across all titles. They bundle book group discussion guides into the back of each volume. And they maximize their outreach across a broad array of platforms.

I think what's happened in Bible publishing is also a good case study (but that's for another day...). There was an article in the New York Times on Easter Sundy about how well premium Bibles were doing. A premium Bible sells (generally speaking) above the $150 mark. Usually leatherbound, spiffy paper, etc. Not bad for content that one can access without charge on the Internet. (Or obtain in physical format for as little as $10.)

And, yes, >84 clamairy:. I was not expecting anything as positive as this. I've been too close to the stories talking about how the rising population is incapable of processing paragraphs from Dickens and how academic faculty is steering everyone away from reading full-length 19th century novels.

>85 jillmwo: I feel the need to point out that when I was in high school 50 years ago at least half (if not more) of the students in my class couldn't process paragraphs from Dickens either. Quite a few of them had trouble with writing as basic as The Pearl and The Red Pony. Unlike the mathematics and science classes I took, students were not separated by ability for literature classes. We were all thrown in together, and I remember being gobsmacked by how many people struggled with the basics.

>86 clamairy:. Yes, there were some nimnulls in my classes as well. (Although when you bring up things like The Pearl, the question is more whether they really couldn't process the language or if it was more that they just found Steinbeck to be boring? Personally, the only two bits of Steinbeck that I ever found engaging were Travels With Charley and his unfinished retelling of the King Arthur stories.)

See, I too can fall under the category of "The Unwashed Masses".

>87 jillmwo: No, it wasn't just that it was boring. It wasn't the writing. They must have been either able to glean enough from the books or cheat enough to pass the required classes. There were a couple of kids who were barely literate.

You didn't enoy East of Eden?

Jill avoids meeting anyone's eyes and scuffs toe in dirt. Um, I've never read it. I've never even attempted to read anything else by Steinbeck. I could trot out lots of excuses. (He's just so MASCULINE in his outlook.) But what it comes down to is that he just writes what seem to me to be incredibly depressing stories. Steinbeck writes about some horrible times and behaviors. I mean, look how Lennie gets treated. There's no hope for Lennie's life getting any better, is there?

>88 clamairy: I am with Jill: only two bits of Steinbeck that I ever found engaging were Travels With Charley and his unfinished retelling of the King Arthur stories.).
I might have read East of Eden after I saw the TV mini-series which aired in America in 1981. I would have been 15 or 16. At that time, I was reading all the books that I was seeing their mini-series on TV: Ivanhoe, Scarlet Pimpernel, and The Bastard. I honestly don't remember reading that one.

>89 jillmwo: & >90 rhondak101book: I read it twice. Once on my own when I was in my 30s, and again in my late 40s for a library book club. I enjoy different parts of it each time. It's not exactly a happy book, but it's not thoroughly depressing like some of his others.

I remember reading The Bastard back in those days, as well. Also Roots! I believe I read The Thorn Birds way before they made it into a miniseries though.

Like >90 rhondak101book:. I read some of those titles because of exposure through television. I thoroughly enjoyed the Richard Chamberlain version of The Count of Monte Cristo and the Anthony Andrews version of Ivanhoe. Some of the others made me roll my eyes. Like @clamairy, I wasn't caught up in The Thorn Birds but I certainly followed Shogun back in the 'eighties. (Google is telling me that was 1980 but I feel sure it was more like the mid-eighties. Although now I have a niggling idea that the initial broadcast didn't translate any of the Japanese language elements but the later airings did provide closed caption translations. I must have watched the version with the English captions.)

I seem to recall my brother read all of the John Jakes series.

>91 clamairy: Yes! I read The Thorn Birds, too, but only after the tv show. I read Roots when I was older.

>92 jillmwo: And the Richard Chamberlain/Michael York Three Musketeers led me to read all of that series.

>92 jillmwo: I think you misread what I posted. I did indeed watch The Thorn Birds miniseries, although it was not as good as the book. And I watched Shōgun before I read the book, and then I read everything James Clavell ever wrote.

>89 jillmwo: Despite being set during the Depression, I didn't find Cannery Row depressing at all. I wish Mrs. Lee were here to give her perspective.

I'm not MrsL, but I didn't find it depressing either, mostly because no one in it was. Everyone seemed to be just getting on with things in their own quirky ways. Every time I'm in Monterey, I go up the sidewalk next to the Intercontinental and look at what was Doc's old lab.

So really, this is kind of like me taking on War and Peace last year. If I give it a whirl, I might discover that it's really not so bad...

I will consider this as a challenge. How much Steinbeck can I read before 2027. I did look at East of Eden and the Penguin paperback ran to something like 600+ pages.

>92 jillmwo:. Yes, I had misread your post. Probably won't be the last time I do that when distracted over the course of a relatively ordinary day. Thanks for your patience.

>99 jillmwo: Oh dear. And I see you have replied to yourself instead of me, as well ... Are you sure your day has been ordinary?

>100 clamairy: Oh, please. Just shoot me now. The day has really not been bad. But neither has it been overly productive. I thought I had a productive 45 minutes this morning when I thought I'd come up with four sound insights about Agatha Christie. But when I went to my Christie project document to add in these solid brilliant insights, I discovered that I'd already incorporated those insights some months back. (My husband laughed when I told him that. It's a good thing I love his laugh.) Then I watched my phone for nigh on 90 minutes to see when Amazon was going to deliver my refrigerated grocery items this afternoon. Which naturally led to doom-scrolling on said phone. So I bounce over to LT to see if people here are commenting on anything not related to sex, politics, or religion.

And thus you find me behaving like one of the movie-style Minions.

>97 Bookmarque: Exactly, perfect way to describe Cannery Row.

>98 jillmwo: This is where I confess that I'm about 30% of the way through East of Eden because I don't want to read any more. Not because it isn't a good book or well written, I just despise the subject and characters.

>101 jillmwo: Your day might not have been overly productive, but reading your account of it made me chortle more than once. Not your original intention, but it happened.

>102 Karlstar: This is my experience with East of Eden. Twice I've picked it up, and twice I've abandoned it for no other reason than I really did not like those people. Steinbeck isn't a bad writer; just one that requires a bit of stoicism from his readers.

>102 Karlstar: I get that! I am not sure I could get through the book now. I was a lot more forgiving when I was younger. Now I feel I probably only have about 20 years of quality reading time left, if I'm lucky. I'm not wasting a minute on something I'm enjoying.

I read EofE in 1999 and these are the first lines of my review - I started this book on the plane to Monterey for our vacation. It was so good I almost didn’t want the plane to land.

Not sure how it would hold up, but I still have my copy and might dip into it to see how I feel about things now.

Book as Physical Artifact OR Pretty Books
Part One and Part Two

Within the past week, two lovely books made it into my house. One was purchased as a sort of reference book – a study bible. The second was a book of poetry. Both of these came to my notice via YouTube (where in point of fact I was not looking for books at the time).

The first book – the study bible – truly caught me off guard. My husband in bringing it in told me if felt like a *really* heavy, big book. I sighed, because who needs really heavy big books that can only be used on a table top? I opened up the box and my first surprise was to see that this study bible was slip-cased. Slip-cased, that is, in a navy-blue cloth cover. And the spouse was right. It was indeed heavy. The book had 2200 pages plus. Granted that the paper was thinner than normal; it was still high quality coated stock. Amazon specs indicate that it weighs approximately 3.1 pounds, but I would imagine that includes the weight of the slipcase.

The book cover itself was cloth. It was called Canterbury cloth on the promotional wrap. I went looking to see what the significance of that might be. Canterbury cloth is made in New Zealand and is primarily used for athletic clothing so clearly intended here as a means of supporting long-term-wear of use. The fabric is lovely with floral images ranging from a light blue to a dark blue against a beige background. I mean, we’re talking a really pretty book here. The text on the spine is nearly invisible; the gold only shows up when the light hits it at a particular slant. Viewed from across the room, you wouldn’t know that this volume was a Bible. At the same time, it sits right next to a set of Folio Society volumes and it doesn’t look in any way out-of-place.

So then I opened it up. Now remember that this is a reference/study bible. It’s an encyclopedia of sorts. It’s four-color printing and the maps are visually striking. There are a ton of photographs, charts, side-bar elements, etc. There’s a lot of serious page lay-out requirements in this thing because all the educational bits need to be placed in the context of the Biblical verses to which they are relevant. This demands a huge amount of time and significant human forethought. It’s a serious work and it’s clear that the producers took the creation of the finished product very seriously. Honestly, I felt as if I ought to wash my hands before I handled the book for any length of time.

Now, I didn’t realize I was purchasing a high-end luxury thing. The book was expensive but I expected that because it was a reference work. At the same time, it wasn’t the triple-digit, premium leather Bible kind of expensive. I was willing to pay for reliable content and I’d checked various reviews. (I was aware that they’d tapped some recognizable authors and experts as contributors for ancillary articles and notes included in the finished product.)

I want the book readily accessible at point of need so this means putting it on a shelf that I could manage to reach without having to move furniture around. (Now, of course, I need to find space for the two Wilkie Collins hardbacks that were displaced. And you know how I value my Wilkie Collins.)

But it’s such a pretty book. Did I already say that it was a really pretty book? You kind of like to pet it because it’s so pretty. FWIW, the content has already proven to be useful, but that value kind of recedes into the background when you are just still admiring the physical thing itself.

Part Two

Now the second pretty book isn’t nearly as big or as heavy as the first. However, it is still pretty special. Encountered accidentally, this is Galahad and the Grail, a work of poetry. The author is apparently relatively well-known as a poet (if you follow that kind of thing); he’s Malcolm Guite. I only encountered him because I was following a Tolkien reference down a rabbit-hole. Guite has his own YouTube channel with nearly 200,000 subscribers. His author website notes that he did a substantive biography of Samuel Coleridge entitled Mariner. (Granted that an author website will only show pull quotes that praise the work, this still drew attention from The Times, The New Statesman, and others.) His work has even been endorsed by one of the previous Archbishops of Canterbury.

Apparently, this Anglican ordained poet-priest is associated with Girton College Cambridge as well as being something of an expert on Tolkien. It clearly shows in his work; the ballads in Galahad and the Grail have echoes of what is found in The Tales of Tom Bombadil. There’s the same impulse to say the words aloud and the author notes that he recommends doing just that. There are also some instances of real fun in the stories told here. This particular title is the first of a four-volume Arthuriad, with two published this year and then one each in 2027 and 2028. The first volume was only just made available in the United States; it came out last month in the UK. There is a foreword as well by Susanna Clarke.

Not overwhelming the text are two dozen or so wood cut illustrations by Stephen Crotts, a Tennessee artist and craftsman. (Quite frankly, the illustrations were what persuaded me to buy this one, once I viewed the various videos with him showing the pieces.) Midway through there is a double-page spread of a ship at sea, with a figurehead at the prow and men-at-arms (perhaps famous knights from Camelot) standing and watching the waves.

A brief quote:

Lancelot woke from slumber soft
To hear the breaking wave
He stepped ashore – they ceased to roar–
And all was quiet as before
And silent as the grave.

If you appreciate the vision of Logres, you will definitely enjoy this. No whiff of cynicism about it.

Back to what makes this physical copy such a pretty book. The internal color design is black, red, and cream. The cream is seen in the heavy, high-quality paper stock. The black is mainly employed for the text with the red color being for initial lines in the various ballads as well as some of the title pages. There are also rich red end papers as well as a deep red ribbon bookmark. The image of Galahad below gives you an idea of the artwork.

Guite’s U.S. publisher is Rabbit Room Press, an independent press based in Nashville, Tennessee. Henceforth, I will be keeping an eye out for their catalog.

>107 jillmwo: This one sounds delightful. Enjoy the time you spend with it.

>107 jillmwo: Jealous.... turning on the YouTube machine.... Oh, this could be bad.... Well my birthday is in 6 weeks.... :-)

>107 jillmwo: What a gem! Enjoy :)

>106 jillmwo: Very nice! Sounds like a work of art.

>108 clamairy: >109 rhondak101book: >110 Alexandra_book_life: >111 Karlstar: I don't think you all fully grasped the point of my post there. I am urging you to go out and obtain copies of your own. Then to sit in the bright spring sunlight and read the poetry aloud to the birds and the deer and other wandering wildlife. You should do that. Today! Become the neighborhood eccentric! Spout rhythmic language at full voice! It's spring!

:>)

>112 jillmwo: Yes ma'am.

>112 jillmwo: Sounds like a plan :)

>112 jillmwo: "Then to sit in the bright spring sunlight and read the poetry aloud to the birds and the deer and other wandering wildlife. You should do that. Today! Become the neighborhood eccentric! Spout rhythmic language at full voice! It's spring!"

Sounds Pagan-ish. I'm in. ;)

>115 terriks: The quest for the Holy Grail is a major theme in the book, Galahad and the Grail. Expect a Christian view of things as the author is a formally ordained priest in the Church of England. Honestly, can't call the book "pagan-ish". But you do still get to spout poetry to the local wandering wildlife.

>106 jillmwo:, >107 jillmwo: Well now I want both of these!

>106 jillmwo:
Books are like elephants; you come across them when you least expect them.

Item of interest: https://reactormag.com/2026-hugo-awards-finalists/ The 2026 Hugo Award Finalists. That I should live to see the day when a Google Spreadsheet is nominated for a Hugo. (Look under the category of Best Related Work.) That's either a wonderful recognition of effort or a totally bizarre indicator of where civilization may be headed.

>117 Sakerfalcon: I do not regret the purchase of either so if that admission eggs you on to any acquisition, you may not regret it either.

>118 pgmcc: I know, but sometimes one is just looking for good recipes for chicken or some other form of advice. One isn't necessarily in need of the elephant.

>120 jillmwo:
Well, I am sure you know how to eat an elephant; one bite at a time.

>119 jillmwo: Wow, indeed, that is a spreadsheet. Any idea what it is about?

I'm happy to see that I've actually watched three of the shows, both Murderbots and the Wheel of Time episode.

>122 Karlstar: Here's some background on the origin of the spreadsheet ( https://hugoclub.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-hugo-for-best-fan-spreadsheet.html ) I confess I'd never heard of the initiative before I posted the link to the nominees earlier today.

>122 Karlstar: I watched every Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form with the exception of Dr. Who. If you have not watched Pluribus then you might want to give it a shot. Severance was also great but very confusing at times. (It's not over yet, so hopefully all will be made clear.)

>119 jillmwo: A hugo for a fan spreadsheet. Go figure...

>123 jillmwo: What a great spreadsheet!

>124 clamairy: I really liked Pluribus. If I had to sum it up in a single sentence, it would be It's the zombie apocalypse but the zombies kill you with kindness. Alternate title: Invasion of the super-nice and helpful body snatchers.

And I loved how the main character ain't havin' it. ;-)

We loved Pluribus! Watched just for Rhea Seehorn, and stayed for the weirdness.

>126 ScoLgo: & >127 Bookmarque: Such a fun show. That first episode was a heart-stopper at times! I recommended it to a friend and she wasn't sure she wanted to keep going after watching the first one.

Rehabilitating the Active Imagination: Samantha Harvey on How to be a Reader
https://www.themarginalian.org/2026/04/17/samantha-harvey-interview-reading/

About a year ago, I ordered a box of humorous post-it notes. The couch has a pad of those notes sitting within reach so that I can jot down reminders to look things up or tell my husband or (perhaps) buy a book. Not a to-do list exactly, but scribbled items that might otherwise drift off into the ether. The current batch is as follows:

Beyond Paradise, Season 3 (a show my husband enjoys and somehow or other we missed the fact that there WAS a season that we hadn’t watched.)

Break Room - a book written by Korean author Miye Lee and translated by Sandy Lee. Peter (@pgmcc) has over the years persuaded me that I should take advantage of international authors. I think Amazon recommended this one but I haven’t decided if I really want to read it.

Leary Firefighters.org - a charity I heard about on a morning show this past week that supports the needs of rural firefighter companies. I think I want to send them a donation.

Acetonitrile - a drug used to poison someone in a mystery I was reading (although now I can’t recall which title it was and I’m not sure of the spelling).

There’s a reminder that I should check Jane Haddam’s bibliography – specifically her Gregor Demarkian series. However, Amazon seems to be hiking up the prices on some of them. Is the Kindle price $14.99 for every one or just for me? Why that hefty price for True Believers which has been out for at least twenty years? (The algorithm is tricky and sources tell me it is likely engineered to make me spend more.)

And a reminder to check on an older book mentioned this morning on one of the talk shows, entitled Bury The Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild. It’s award-winning non-fiction, published back in 2006.

Finally, there’s a reference to Sylvia Kaye-Smith’s memoir, All The Books of My Life, published back in 1956. I liked a quote attributed to her by Jo Walton and I want to see how readily it’s available.

I may be living in sticky note h*ll.

Regarding the last sticky note item, it appears that one might enjoy reading Sylvia Kaye-Smith. (Fortunately the book is freely available via Project Gutenberg Canada.) On what she felt she ought to read in order to become a writer and what she ought not to read:

This shows that Ought was not an exclusively moral compulsion. Ought Not, on the other hand, was the direct voice of conscience, my own and other people's. I have shown that my mother was not unduly puritanical, but she had her literary taboos, one of which was Jane Eyre. She could remember all the fuss there had been when it first appeared, and how frightening and shocking everyone had thought it. She herself had never been allowed to read it, so, according to her logic, it followed that I should not. My conscience would not allow me to disobey hers, and the very book that I myself would have chosen to start a beginner on the literary trail was deliberately pushed aside—or rather ahead, for I fully intended to read Jane Eyre as soon as I was twenty-one. I attributed almost magical properties to my twenty-first birthday, believing that it would set me free from all obligation to obey my parents or accept their point of view. I saw myself on that day as an independent being, no longer bound by prohibitions which until then I would not dream of defying. Before that day of liberation dawned Jane Eyre had been joined by Adam Bede and Tom Jones.

There's a certain humor in that paragraph. I may have to spend some time on the Canadian Gutenberg... ( https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/kayesmith-books/kayesmith-books-01-h.html ).

Yes, skimming this on screen makes it clear I will want to read it. (Call it research. She was only three years older than Agatha Christie so I would consider her a contemporary author.)

Also this week I discovered a book of Evelyn Waugh's essays and articles. The man had Snark. And I have yet to read Brideshead Revisited.

>131 jillmwo:
I agree this paragraph has humour.

I must look up your Korean author. Glad you are at least thinking of trying some works in translation. You never know what might be lost or found.

The Story of a Rabbit Hole

It started as I was reading the book, Converts: From Oscar Wilde to Muriel Sparks: Why So Many Became Catholic in the 20th Century by Melanie McDonagh. The book is interesting, spanning the period of 1890 - 1966. I’d selected it as both a follow-up to my earlier reading regarding Tolkien’s Catholicism and because it covered a portion of Agatha Christie’s lifetime. It covers a number of recognizable literary figures, ranging from G..K. Chesterton to Muriel Spark to Siegfried Sassoon. The question in my mind was what would cause members of a society that actively discriminated against Roman Catholics to adopt that religion, recognizing that there would be costs.

As one might expect, there was a chapter on Evelyn Waugh who converted in 1930. Late in that year, he wrote a column which appeared in the Daily Express. His piece led off a trio of columns; in addition to Waugh, there was one by Rosslyn Mitchell (a key voice in the Church of England’s Prayer Book Crisis of 1927-28) and a third by Father Woodlock, S.J.

From there, I went to read the full text of Waugh’s article, Converted to Rome, in a collection of Waugh’s essays, articles and book reviews. Clearly Waugh had a certain satirical and humorous style. I had been unaware of this because I had never read anything by him before. Brideshead Revisited had never struck me as being a light-hearted read and my initial attempt at Vile Bodies was unsuccessful.

I had no idea he’d been a journalist when he was just starting out, but there is at least one column he wrote that talks about the phrases editors use when sending out their poor impoverished reporters on assignment. I was tickled by this because the specific tone shows up in Agatha Christie’s novel, The Sittaford Mystery. It’s certainly one of Christie’s lesser works, but in it, there is a sharp young man sent to the back of beyond to cover a murder in Dartmoor in the most lurid and headline-driven fashion. For all I know, Christie might have been using Waugh as the model for the young man. He doesn’t get the girl in the end, but he clearly isn’t devastated by the loss because he’s off to cover the NEXT BIG THING. (The British tabloids will never sink into oblivion. They make for such good copy.)

I'll be getting back to SF and F in the next week, because yesterday I started reading Jo Walton and Ada Palmer's collaborative discussion of the genre, Trace Elements, and how the genre is shifting.

That is a great and entertaining rabbit hole! One of my friends adores Waugh. I have never read him, beyond an aborted attempt at Brideshead Revisited!

>133 jillmwo: I've read several Waugh. I think I started with Brideshead Revised, and moved on to A Handful of Dust, Decline and Fall and eventually The Loved One, The last three have a lot of humor, even though they are dark. Brideshead Revisited is lacking the humor but it's still a solid read. I revisited it myself in the last few years as an audiobook read by Jeremy Irons who starred in the BBC adaptation decades ago. I did not enjoy it quite as much the second time around. You should definitely give him another chance.

Some of you probably already were aware of this, announced last week. Winners of the Tolkien Society Awards 2026
https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2026/04/winners-of-the-tolkien-society-awards-202...

Michael Drout's book won. Without meaning to put words into anyone's mouth, I seem to recall that either @clamairy and @Bookmarque (maybe both?) were familiar with him. The book is The Tower and the Ruin: J.R.R. Tolkien's Creation.

Side note: Check out the winning artwork. https://www.miriamellis.com/post/gandalf-s-first-lessons-in-pity-for-hobbits
See competitor's work, Conversation with Smaug: https://fauno-faery-woodcraft.myshopify.com/products/conversation-with-smaug-res...

>136 jillmwo: It wasn't me, but thank you for the heads up. I think I shall be snagging this one soon. (Just cashed in an Audible credit for this narrated by the author.)

>136 jillmwo: Great stuff, thanks!

I find that I'm actually slowing down as I read Trace Elements by Jo Walton and Ada Palmer. Lots to chew over. But I wanted to alert both @clamairy and @terriks to the fact that there is a good 5-6 pages given over to a discussion of Atkinson's Life After Life. In about a year, when people have had a chance to read Trace Elements, I think it would make for a great group discussion.

>139 jillmwo: Oh, I had forgotten about looking for this one! Thank you for the (not so) subtle nudge. :o)

>139 jillmwo: Interesting! I've not read anything by either one of the authors, but I don’t doubt this is a fascinating discussion - and I'm certainly game to look this one up.

>135 clamairy: Brideshead Revisited was my first (and still only) Waugh. Not knowing what to expect, I wasn't particularly looking for humor, which is a good thing considering there's next to none. A self-involved cast of characters, seemingly in love with their own drama. I confess I grew impatient with the lot of them. I finished it, shrugged, and haven't looked for any more Waugh.

If there's a jewel I'm missing from him, I'd love to hear about it.

>141 terriks:. Try some of Evelyn Waugh's essays. Short and generally speaking humorous. I've not really read enough of his book reviews to be able to say anything robust about his tone in those. Sadly, the only thing of his available over on Project Gutenberg was Vile Bodies.

That said, on an aligned topic, you know there are those questions that people ask (or answer) in their reviews here in the Pub. To whom would you recommend this book? What has this book moved you to do? Etc. (I'm blanking on the other two questions...)

At any rate, I encountered a question over on Substack where someone was talking about how to read and think about The Great Books. The question posed was this: How does this work approach the tension between words and deeds? I can't quite figure out how that one works if one were to apply it to Moby Dick; there were others in the set of questions posed but this first one made me pause and wonder. I could vaguely make it work for something like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by suggesting that words may be used in an actively misleading way, but I'm still a bit puzzled.

(The folks on Substack can be a tad intimidating at times, so I didn't really feel comfortable in asking about it in the comments.)

>142 jillmwo: I might be misunderstanding the question from Substack. Do you think that "words" might refer to characters' words and not authors' words? For example, Ahab uses rhetorical and heroic language to spur his crew toward an act of personal vengeance and violence. I dunno. Just a thought.

>143 rhondak101book:. I honestly don't know. I had assumed that he or she meant the author's words, but you're right that it might just as easily be the words emanating from a specific character. Ahab saying one thing while doing another. (Was Ahab spouting biblical verses at the same time he was aiming his harpoon at the Great White Whale?)

Another interesting piece from Jane Friedman on the topic of book sales figures. REALLY worth a read.
https://janefriedman.com/why-book-sales-figures-are-so-hard-to-interpret-and-com...

>145 jillmwo: Very interesting. It made me go over and look at Amazon Charts and the 'most read' top 20 there was shocking.

By the way, who the heck is Lindy West?

>146 Karlstar: From Wikipedia: Lindy West (born March 9, 1982) is an American writer, comedian, and activist. She is the author of several essay collections including Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, which was later adapted as a television series. Topics West writes about include feminism, popular culture, film, and the fat acceptance movement.

Stepping away from Wikipedia: She's currently on the NY Times bestseller list for her latest book, Adult Braces. It's just out and there has been much promotional buzz about it. I have never read anything by her.

>146 Karlstar: I read one of her books called The Witches are Coming and it was freaking hilarious. I read it based on this quotation I found on social media, and I was not disappointed.

My husband plays the trumpet, which is a sort of loud pretzel originally invented to blow down the walls of fucking Jericho and, later, to let Civil War soldiers know it was time to kill each other in a river while you chilled eating pigeon in your officer’s tent twenty miles away, yet somehow, in modern times, it has become socially acceptable to toot the bad cone inside your house before 10:00 a.m. because “it’s your job” and your wife should “get up.” What a world! If one was feeling uncharitable, one might describe the trumpet as a machine where you put in compressed air and divorce comes out, but despite this—despite operating a piece of biblical demolition equipment inside the home every bright, cold morning of his wife’s one and only life—the trumpet is not the most annoying thing about my husband.

>145 jillmwo: I promise I will come back and look at this when my brain is working.

>148 clamairy: You just hit me with a BB with The Witches are Coming. I’ve got it queued up and waiting on Spotify.

>147 jillmwo: >148 clamairy: Thanks for the info! @clamairy I think I remember you mentioning that book.

I picked that out of the article because I wondered why the author was surprised as the low number of books sold.

Jane Austen's Virtuous Liberalism (Essay) https://fusionaier.org/2026/jane-austens-virtuous-liberalism/

At times Austen’s characters seem to have developed such moral sensitivity that their discriminations take a few moments for us to understand. Edmund, for instance, falls out of love with Mary Crawford because she has criticized Henry and Maria’s affair on pragmatic rather than moral grounds: “She saw it only as folly, and that folly stampt only by exposure.” Elinor perceives immediately that Lucy Steele’s overtures toward friendship are actually meant to torture her. In Emma, Emma’s dislike of Jane Fairfax and Knightley’s dislike of Frank Churchill are at least explained by the fact that the two of them are hiding their engagement. In Persuasion, Anne’s distrust of her cousin is prompted not by his past antipathy toward her family but by the fact that he can give no principled answer as to why his feelings have changed. Having been told at one point by this cousin that her standards are too high, she finally, in Austen’s most genuinely romantic story, is reunited with her teenage love, who when they first met “had nothing but himself to recommend him.”

So virtue is more important in love than sentiment for Austen. And throughout her novels, Austen links this virtue to economic activity. Antagonists are consistently profligate, whereas heroes and heroines know how to budget and save.

Well, I might have ended up as an antagonist in one of Austen's novels, but I do think that this analysis is pretty much on point.

I don't know if you'll see the usual LT "This message has been deleted by its author" message here, but that wretched duplicating post gremlin reappeared so I wanted to fix it here in 153...

>150 catzteach: I hope you enjoy it! It's a bunch of essays, and some are better than others.

>150 catzteach: Heh. I think I may have at least gotten grazed by the same BB - I've never heard of Lindy West until this discussion. Never watched "Shrill," either - though that very word was once used against me in a professional setting - by a man with whom I happened to disagree about the reasons for employee turnover. It's almost triggering. ;)

>148 clamairy: That quote is hilarious! I laughed out loud. She's on my radar now, thanks!

>142 jillmwo: Thank you! I can nose around for some of his essays.

I appreciate his concern, but this man is a bit of a nitwit:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/06/hill-i-will-die-on-hardbac...

It seems unlikely that we will get rid of the hardcover book in the near future. Hardcover carries all the first copy costs. They stand up to far more wear than does a paperback (whether trade or mass market). To borrow from that freelancer's headline, this is the hill that I am likely to die on...

On the upside, I found a reference book on my shelf that has been unread so I dipped into it this morning. Found out I agreed 100% with the author's reasoning in the third chapter.

>156 jillmwo: I meant to share this yesterday, thinking it could provoke an interesting discussion. I'm glad you have done so. I agree with him about the disadvantages of hardback books, but as physical objects they are special, often beautiful, and certainly (should be) harder wearing than paperbacks. Publishers are canny in releasing the hardback first - those of us who find it hard to wait will often succumb to the lure and spend more to get the book sooner. I sometimes fall for this, telling myself "I will read it before the paperback is released". (Spoiler - this never happens.)
My pet loathing is for those paperback books which are same size and almost as heavy as hardbacks, but without the durability - all the disadvantages but none of the advantages. Horrible!

Aargh, double post!

>157 Sakerfalcon: We're on precisely the same page. As an example, I have a lovely three-volume hardcover set of the Hercule Poirot stories on my shelf. I also have the hefty one volume paperback (larger than your average trade paperback) that was published by Harper Collins. The paperback is great when I don't have a lot of available surface space on desk or couch. However, it's a nightmare to sit and try to read when I'm holding it in my hands. The size and the hefty means you really want to rest it on something else!!! Meanwhile the Folio Society volumes can be held nicely when in the same position in an armchair. Note: I don't use my Kindle quite as often now since I've stopped commuting and/or traveling for work. I use one, but it's not the same experience as reading from a printed pages.

I think the freelancer may have been trolling for attention.

>158 Sakerfalcon: I told you the LT duplicating post gremlin was back

>157 Sakerfalcon: Sakerfalcon, I posted this over on the Book Talk thread but I'm including here as well. With regard to that Guardian article that I posted in #156.

Honestly, I believe the freelancer responsible for the piece was trolling his audience. First of all, the reason Hardbacks continue to carry the pricing that best offsets the initial costs of bringing the book to market (first copy costs). In trade publishing in particular, that's a critical consideration for a publisher; they hope the heftier price on a hardcover will begin to pay off their expenses more rapidly. Consumers will currently pay between $30 - $60 for a mainstream title (including reference texts) for a hardcover. You can't attach that kind of price to a trade paperback. And some people are loathe to lend out hardcover books, particularly as they've paid that hefty price. Paperbacks (priced at a lower level) are more apt to seep into the used book market as the buyers aren't as invested in their retention. Publishers have for years been concerned with the resale of books in the second-hand market. Publishers don't make money from books donated to the local thrift shop.

The other thing he dismisses is that some of the major publishing entities (at least here in the States) have already made the decision that the paperback format is the least important to them. Only if the volume of sales of a hardback seem to justify continuing sales will they go with issuing a paperback. Bear in mind that these days a manuscript comes in to the publisher in digital format. It gets poured into a content management system for production in either hard copy form or digital form. Paperbacks may need a different trim size and that may require futzing around with both font and paper stock. Unless sales really justify that additional step, publishers will be entirely happy to stick with a practice of either hardback or digital. So really, he can't rely on there being a paperback in 8-13 months. Didn't buy the hardcover when you could? You're stick with the digital version or MAYBE something via print on demand.

His biggest complaint is that he finds hardback covers to be cumbersome. They take up too much room and aren't portable. Riding a train, he can't hold on to the hardcover book and hold on to a commuter strap at the same time. At that point, the publisher is going to point him to the digital format.

Yes, hardbacks take more shelf space. They also may stand up to a longer period of use. I have copies of titles from the Folio Society on my shelf because I know I retain ownership of that physical artifact. (No modernizing or "cleaning up" of language used in the original just because times have changed. I own it as the original author wrote it.)

I did not find the writer's arguments to be very persuasive.

>154 clamairy: and >155 terriks: I've started listening to The Witches are Coming. So far the only disappointment is that it was written in 2020. I'd like to know her views now.

>156 jillmwo: I didn't read the entire article, just sort of scanned it. I, personally, love hardbacks. More durable and, for me, easier to hold and read, especially the really big ones. A really thick paperback sometimes has to have the spine damaged just to be able to hold it or read all of the page. And they make a shelf look nice. :)

>161 catzteach: A really thick paperback sometimes has to have the spine damaged just to be able to hold it: Yes, this (among all the other issues). I've never forgotten reading The Faerie Queene in a fat Penguin paperback and muttering about how hard it was to keep the book open, and then remembering that I had a lovely two-volume hardback. Much, much easier.

Ah, dear bygone days when I had the mental energy to do that ...

>161 catzteach: and >162 haydninvienna: I happen to love the Everyman's Library hardcovers for exactly that reason. They're just the right trim size for my hands. I used them when I was reading War and Peace last year because they were more manageable whereas the popular and more recent translation in paperback was impossible to hold for any length of time.

Meanwhile, the Summer Collection catalogue from the Folio Society arrived in today's mailbox. I sat sniffing the ink on the high-quality coated stock (like any normal book-loving nerd would) but have thus far resisted spending money. (I'm trying to decide if my 20th Thingaversary at the end of June can justify one or two of those hardbacks. I mean, there are some really lovely volumes. I did not ask my spouse for his opinion on this question because I knew what he would say. I can have gas in the car OR fresh cafe lattes OR lovely Folio Society books, but the budget won't stand for all three.)

>163 jillmwo:
Do not believe everything you are told. Of course the budget will stretch.
:-)

>164 pgmcc: Such a bad influence!

>161 catzteach: Yes, that is something to ponder - what else has she written since then?

And I agree with everything you said about hardbacks, especially looking so wonderful in the bookcase.

I've noticed that if I'm uncertain about a new author, I start out buying a paperback. If I know I will read it again, that copy goes to the library and I have fun buying a gorgeous hardback.

>163 jillmwo: Yes! The Everyman's Library editions are sturdy and a perfect size for reading.

>160 jillmwo: I agree that the intent of the article was almost certainly to provoke debate. It's part of a series where writers defend an extreme opinion of theirs. Interestingly, an Italian friend and I were messaging about books a couple of days ago and she said that in Italy most books are only published in paperback. Presumably publishing is based on a different financial model there.

>163 jillmwo:, >166 Karlstar: I too love the Everyman editions.

>165 terriks: I've noticed that if I'm uncertain about a new author, I start out buying a paperback. Me too. If I end up disliking the book then I feel better about a smaller financial outlay. This is also the situation in which I would purchase things on kindle, especially if they are in a deal.

On the topic of formats, I've seen a few of these editions in the wild. Personally I like them - they fit in a small bag or pocket, and feel nice in the hand. The binding is flexible so that the spine doesn't break. You can remove the loose jacket to keep it pristine while reading. It interested me that Harper Collins has introduced them just as the mass market format has died. They obviously still feel there is demand for a small format (albeit at a higher price than MM).

>167 Sakerfalcon: If the replacement for paperback sized books is hardcovers the same size as paperbacks, that would be fine with me. I have a few small sized hardcovers and I'm a fan.

>168 Karlstar: I'd like that too but these are paperback, just a bit more compact than MMPBs

>167 Sakerfalcon: Yes - and the Kindle option may eventually come my way for precisely that reason. I've given away so many books - a lot of paperbacks that have literally only been read once, and the occasional hardcover when there was no paperback option and it ended up not resonating with me. Kindle or audio versions need not apply - for now.

It's mostly because of this behavior that makes me use "Terri continues to rearrange her library" for my threads - there's an ongoing shuffle. :)

I may have to seriously explore Kindle soon.

Those Nomad editions look nice!

>165 terriks: I’m not sure what else she’s written, but I’ll be searching for them when I’m done with this one.

>169 Sakerfalcon: Bummer. I hadn't read down far enough to see the 'anatomy' section. Strange to see a paperback with a slipcase!

I am reading Katabasis for an upcoming book group this weekend. I am not a super-fan of R.F. Kuang in some ways, but I do recognize that her books are well constructed. They usually have a point to them. I suspect that the women will have some very different reactions to it overall. This book feels very much like a meditation on how we go about living life if there is no concern regarding a Hell in any afterlife. (Life is itself the cruelest form of Hell.) I'm doing it later in the month with a different group so it may be really interesting to see how different circumstances affect the different readers...

Pope Leo to the Turin International Book Fair

“There is a need for literature that helps recognize the dignity of every person, especially the most vulnerable, and that increasingly becomes a school of fraternity and peace.”

For the record, he's leafing through an Italian publication, a collection of material written by a particular Cardinal.

See full info: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-05/pope-leo-literature-must-be-a-sc...

Does the pope get free cheese platters? He might want to celebrate a Thingaversary...

Question for @pgmcc: What do you know about Francis Lathom? He was apparently a prolific writer of Gothic Tales and a contemporary of Jane Austen (albeit roughly ten years younger), Is there anything of his you might recommend?

Although I will note that Katabasis is somewhat Gothic, dealing with death and all that....

Quick summary of The Castle of Ollada here: https://english.unl.edu/sbehrendt/Corvey/html/Projects/CorveyNovels/LathomFranci...

In support of libraries: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/05/14/library-book-bans-limited-government/

>175 jillmwo:
He is someone I know nothing about. I see he is one of the authors of the horrific books in Northanger Abbey. That being the case I must have seen his name as I have looked at that list of books several times. My more ardent Gothic friends would probably know of him but he has not raised his head in a manner that has imprinted him on my mind. I see his books were out of print throughout the 20th c.

>174 jillmwo: Give that man a wheel of his favorite cheese!

Guardian's 100 Best Novels of All Time:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/may/12/the-100-best-novels...
The greatest literature ever published in Engllish...

Yes, it includes Mansfield Park and The Left Hand of Darkness on the list but Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook is frankly unreadable. For that matter, why Blood Meridien?

I am taking to my bed now with a cases of the vapours and will receive any kind visitors in a darkened room.

>179 jillmwo:
I have effective salts the aroma of which you may wish to inhale to chase the vapours away.

>179 jillmwo:
I am delighted they did not miss Vanity Fair.

Also, they have a good number of Dickens.

:-)

If I were Queen of the Universe, I would limit the number to 50. I would also define "best" a little more definitively. I would call it something on the order of 50 titles that offer meaty food for thought. I'd include some of the titles that are listed there (Jane Eyre of course, but not necessarily Wide Sargasso Sea.) I'd pull in something off beat -- The Soul of the Emperor as well as The Left Hand of Darkness. Something surprisingly middle-brow-meaty like And Then There Were None and/or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I'd haul in something recent like Katabasis and pair it with something else that looks at the concept of death. I might allow something by Dickens (perhaps Bleak House but I'd insist it be paired with Wilkie Collins. (The Moonstone holds up well to multiple readings.) I think I'd bring in My Cousin, Rachel as an example of an unreliable narrator and then pair it with the afore-mentioned The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Ah, yes! Beowulf, we'd have to have that one. I need to consider what else....

Edited to say that I'd like to bring in H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds and Whats-His-Name's book, The Day of the Triffids. Maybe for fun, I'd add in a couple of Biblical Tales because I have always kind of enjoyed the story of Jonah and the Whale. And it fits under the criteria for inclusion is meaty food for thought. Maybe I'd pair it with the Book of Job. Jonah is short and Job is much longer.

Also edited to inquire why would one include Our Mutual Friend by Dickens?

>182 jillmwo: In following your post, I would start with a rule of no more than 2 books per author. The voters would just have to figure out which Woolf, Dickens, Austen, etc. makes the cut. As it is now, 6 authors make up 22% of the list.

>179 jillmwo: I got very queasy when I saw Ulysses at number three. I imagine there are a lot of people who've claimed to have read this book that have not actually done so. I forced my eyeballs to look at every word when I was in graduate school, and it felt like I was trying to run through deep mud. I suspect this list is at least partially about getting clicks and increasing subscriptions.

>181 pgmcc: Nice!

>183 rhondak101book: I think that's a fair point.

>182 jillmwo: "I would call it something on the order of 50 titles that offer meaty food for thought." Yes, because that would at least offer a common thread, as opposed to a team from The Guardian offering up their collective opinions based on "votes from authors, critics and academics." It doesn't name names, so we still don't know the reasoning behind the votes. You find Lessing's The Golden Notebook unreadable - I can't comment because I've never read it. But I have read The Road, and found it depressing, overrated plonk. A lot of writers have tackled post-apocalyptic themes without cannibalism and constant doom - heck, even the more dated parts of Earth Abides by George R. Stewart are more digestible.

Still, these kinds of lists are interesting, in part because they're nearly always triggering. Why this one and not that one? *shakes fist at the sky*

>184 clamairy: "I suspect this list is at least partially about getting clicks and increasing subscriptions." I think this is spot on. ;) And it probably works!

>185 terriks: "A lot of writers have tackled post-apocalyptic themes without cannibalism and constant doom - heck, even the more dated parts of Earth Abides by George R. Stewart are more digestible."

I see what you did there... and I chortled.

>186 clamairy: ;)

>182 jillmwo: "surprisingly middle-brow-meaty like And Then There Were None and/or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.".

Hear, hear! I am happily reminded that scientists in particular need to think like Hercule Poirot more often than not. You remind me of a paper I once gave at a scientific conference where I reported on a piece of work that was more sleuthing than usual (nailing the identity of a "new species" described from Durban Botanic Garden) and I managed to talk the management into paying for hiring a trench coat and fedora from the local costume hire place. At the venue I conspired with the chairlady of the session to introduce my paper by saying "unfortunately Dr Glen couldn't make it to this session, but he's sent Inspector Clouseau to give his paper". And the talk was cast as a detective story. By the end of my 20 minutes the students in the back row were rolling in the aisles, having seen the point with blinding clarity. And afterwards the chairlady asked nicely if she could borrow my idea of systematics as detection for the course she taught!

>188 hfglen:
That is a brilliant story. It must have been a delight to be in the audience.

>182 jillmwo: I don't mind 100. Since they say this is a list compiled by 'critics, authors and academics', I'm surprised they got them to limit themselves to only 100.

>183 rhondak101book: Agreed. I wonder if, when asked to contribute to the list, someone just listed every Dickens they could think of in 30 seconds. Also, A Farewell to Arms? Boring, wandering, ridiculous.

I love lists like this because it gives me new things to read, with some trepidation. Should we pick one of these for a group read? I looked here on LT at The Rings of Saturn: An English Pilgrimage and it has a 4.17 average rating here on LT and the only person I spotted that has it in their library is @haydninvienna there are possibly others we could try that a significant number of us have not read.

>190 Karlstar: I actually did read The Rings of Saturn, but I’m not sure that I could honestly say I “enjoyed” it. It was interesting and different and I don’t regret reading it, but one of the 100 best novels of all time? No way.

>188 hfglen: That sounds amazing and I can't be the only one to be wishing so hard for a you tube video so I could se it. Bravo!!

>183 rhondak101book:. I accept the rule. No more than two titles by a single author.

>184 clamairy:. I have no issues with eliminating that particular work by James Joyce. I read his Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man but have never been tempted to go further,

>185 terriks: Okay, it has officially been christened as being the Meaty Thought List

>186 clamairy: >187 terriks:. What should I know about Stewart and his work, Earth Abides? Is this book something MEANINGFUL?

>188 hfglen: and >189 pgmcc:. I love the story. Well-done!

>190 Karlstar: and >191 haydninvienna:. I don't necessarily object to lists like this; as @clamairy and @terriks have pointed out, they're essentially click-bait. Like you, I do sometimes find something new and unusual to explore. But for the most part, the rationale for creating the lists always seems to be "The 100 Titles EVERYONE Should Read". And the problem with that is that no population (whatever its make-up) will find a core list of literature to be evenly attractive. (I've already had to promise Clam that we wouldn't have any inclusion of Ulysses. I am not persuaded that we need to have anything by Thackeray. Peter will likely be wondering why, given the man's scope, we have to limit Charles Dickens to only having two titles on the list. There's no end to it.)

I think a list that people won't find worrisome or intimidating would be a kindness as well as a great service to the world.

I checked and Rings of Saturn is apparently still in print. Based on a quick-and-dirty investigation, Sebald was a German modernist. Wikipedia tells me that his themes tended to have to do with memory, loss of memory, and general decay. Talking about his body of most notable titles including The Rings of Saturn, Wikipedia says:

They are notable for their curious and wide-ranging mixture of fact (or apparent fact), recollection and fiction, often punctuated by indistinct black-and-white photographs set in evocative counterpoint to the narrative rather than illustrating it directly. His novels are presented as observations and recollections made while travelling around Europe. They also have a dry and mischievous sense of humour.

Meanwhile, I have two reviews that I want to get written this morning.

P.S. Wikipedia also notes that Sebald was greatly influenced by Jorge Luis Borges. (Another author I've never read.)

>193 jillmwo: That play on words was well done. Meaty indeed.

I read Earth Abides when I was on my post-apocalyptic reading binge, and parts of it were quite good, but some of it hasn't aged well.

I put Borges on my TBR list after attending a book signing/reading by a local author. I still haven't gotten to him though.

>194 clamairy:. There are many things that haven't aged well.

Meanwhile, I have completed one formal review.

On a completely different topic, my husband and I watched the 90 minute finale of Good Omens this past weekend. There was a passing line from Toby Jones (playing Satan) where he notes that it's not really his name, it's more of a title. (Overall, the show was okay, but in my view, a bit predictable.)

Then, I came across that book on my Kindle that @haydninvienna had recommended over on his thread. A Most Peculiar Book: The Inherent Strangeness of the Bible and lo, and behold, the same point was made. Satan is a job title!

I find this a cheering tidbit of information to have acquired.

>188 hfglen: That sounds great, I'm sorry I missed it.

>191 haydninvienna: I didn't see a review by you, I wondered what your thoughts were about the book. Do you have any suggestions from the that we should read?

>196 jillmwo:
I watched the Good Omens finale on Saturday. A cosy story. As you say, predictable…but comforting.

Oops! Is that a spoiler?

>199 pgmcc: Well, your use of the word "cosy" would seem to suggest that there was no Apocalypse. That said, people would still need to watch to see if either the Bentley or the bookstore made it through unscathed.

>196 jillmwo: I loved that first season, but it encapsulated the entire book. I started the second season, but bailed for some reason. I really do plan to finish it but my 'to watch' list is so freaking long already... The cast is fantastic.

I think I always suspected that about Satan...

>193 jillmwo: In what may not be a coincidence at all, this was just posted on the LT facebook page:

"Today is the birthday of German author and academic W.G. (Winfried Georg) Sebald, celebrated internationally for his contribution to world literature. His novel "Austerlitz" recently made The Guardian's list of 100 Best Novels of all time. Have you read Sebald's work?"

Our reading group had decided to read and discuss this 500-page-plus tome across two meetings and I was glad. R.F. Kuang isn’t one of my favorite authors and I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this particular reading experience. At the same time, I recognize that she usually has something to say in her carefully constructed novels. In the case of Katabasis, Kuang has clearly done solid research in the area of tartarology, the study of accounts of Tartarus, the underworld, otherwise known as Hell.

Can it really be possible that I am the first person in the Pub to have written a review of this one? There are lots of reviews that have been posted to LT, but insofar as I can tell, no one in The Green Dragon has said anything about it.

>139 jillmwo:
My copy of Trace Elements arrived today. It is clearly marked as a BB from you.

I will not be reading it immediately but I have had a quick read of the first few pages of the first section and I can see it will tie in nicely with my much mentioned Trip to the Moon: The true power of story.

In terms of my review of Trip to the Moon: The true power of story, I have postponed writing it until I have gone through it again with a fine toothcomb. My copy is in France and I return to the bunker on Sunday coming. I have bought two more copies, one of each of my sons who write a few stories. Of course, one of them is a storyteller so this will be Continuing Professional Education for him.

>199 pgmcc: About the Good Omens finale: I felt like the first hour was there only to set up the last 30 minutes so that Aziraphale and Crowley got closure. There was so much potential for Jesus that was untapped.

Gift Article from the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/card/2026/05/18/us/waiting-for-the-best-seller-inside-th...
Waiting for the Best Seller: Inside the Pipeline that Stocks the Stacks. (Read it. You'll know more.)

>205 rhondak101book:
I would not argue with your comments.

>206 jillmwo: As always, plenty of good information!

>203 jillmwo: Katabasis is on my wishlist but I decided to wait for the paperback or a kindle deal after receiving mixed reports from readers I trust. The paperback is released this week, so I expect I'll acquire it soon, but it will have to wait until after my assigned readings of Pride and prejudice in space and What wakes the bells.

>193 jillmwo: My belated contribution to the 100 greatest novels discussion: I always find the lower-ranked titles on this sort of list to be more interesting than the high-ranking ones. The list was revealed in daily instalments, and my colleagues and I spent most time discussing nos 81-100 as these were more unusual titles. Whereas the top 40 or so tend to be the usual suspects (Brontes, Austen, James, Joyce, Woolf, etc), just ordered differently. I like more specific lists, such as by genre, or works in translation, that might suggest new titles to me. I also agree with Rhonda that titles by the same author should be limited. I also think a list of people's Favourite novels, as opposed to those they consider Great, would be a lot more fun and interesting.

>193 jillmwo: "Okay, it has officially been christened as being the Meaty Thought List." 😊

"What should I know about Stewart and his work, Earth Abides? Is this book something MEANINGFUL?"

I like Stewart well enough, but as Clam points out, parts of this 1949 book haven't aged well. Stephen King freely admits that it was a major inspiration for The Stand, which had to be confessed since the "apocalyptic setup," shall we say, is heavily borrowed from. King writes it for modern times and it's more relatable.

It becomes more a thesis on the loss of 20th century civilization, and can bog down in places. Our hero, Ish, has doubts about humanity survivability. Stewart is interesting because, despite the "time and place" expected misogyny and racism, he puts forth the notion that mankind has grown too much to expect anything else.

A quote from the book:

"Some zoologists have even suggested a biological law: that the number of individuals in a species never remains constant, but always rises and falls—the higher the animal and the slower its breeding-rate, the longer its period of fluctuation ... As for man, there is little reason to think that he can in the long run escape the fate of other creatures, and if there is a biological law of flux and reflux, his situation is now a highly perilous one....Biologically, man has for too long a time been rolling an uninterrupted run of sevens."

From a review on Wikipedia: "One custom that Stewart predicts could die out is racism. When there are fewer partners to choose from, mankind will not be able to afford to be too choosy in picking one's partner."

Several themes are explored, so it's meaningful given the date of publication. Several reviews here on LT are 4 stars - others (like Tim Spalding) were turned off.

But - no cannibalism! ;)

I'll chime in on Earth Abides because I have read it several times. Insofar as it being "dated" I didn't pick up on that as much because once any level of technology is gone, it ceases to matter much to those that come after. Especially a bunch as uninterested in learning as the new generation in the book. They are content to eat out of cans and have zero curiosity about the library or much that came 'before'. Humans are remarkably lazy (a spot-on point Stewart made in a time where that was not a popular observation) and will race to the bottom quicker than any other species I know. Without a real impetus to invent, they will be content to forage with a can opener and be done with it. That's why Ish gives them the bow and arrow as toys when they are kids, hoping that they will connect the dots when cows no longer roam free and all the canned goods are exhausted. It reminds me all too much of today's youth obsessed with themselves and creating as much attention on the fleeting as possible.

>175 jillmwo:
I have looked up Francis Lathom in The Gothic by David Punter and Glennis Byron. The entry for Lotham is presented in the two attached pictures.

>212 pgmcc:. Oooh, interesting! Thank you. I like the elegant phrasing of "Speculation as to the cause of this move remains unresolved..." regarding his shift to the Scottish Highlands. One thing I did wonder about -- he's not entirely out of print here in the States. But do I read your post correctly above in #177? He's not currently available in Europe? Let me know if you can't get him over there. I'd be happy to ensure that you have an adequate amount of Gothic reading material. Perhaps the French don't care for Gothic Literature?

*Jill sits muttering in a corner* How can it be that no one has ever compiled a complete and comprehensive bibliography of all of Christie's written output. Insofar as I can tell, there is no single published resource that gives you every short story, every novel (regardless of pseudonym), etc. They will give you titles and maybe a vague date of publication, but not even the official Christie website provides the full citation. I find this disconcerting. Granted that it's not a job I'm willing to take on myself. (Detailed Bibliographic work requires that one be highly detailed oriented and willing to track down every last tidbit. It's serious brain work and incredibly laborious.) But I'm still surprised that no one has done it by now. I'm rooting around on my shelves to see just exactly what I do have.

>214 jillmwo: I was just noodling around in Randall Toye's The Agatha Christie Who's Who. Lists in the back do a pretty good job showing which collections have which SS and whether published in US/UK. Also The AC Companion by Sanders and Lovallo crosslists where the SS were published in Christie collections.

However, none seem to go back to OG publications and serializations in magazines and newspapers. Is that the type of thing you are looking for?

>213 jillmwo:
Thank you for the offer, but now that I look I see his works are available here quite cheaply; just a few euros.

>214 jillmwo:
Until you said you were not going to compile the comprehensive bibliography I was about to say it has not been done because it was a job waiting for you. I cannot think of anyone more suitable for the project.

>217 pgmcc: I do not have the requisite patience, skill, or fortitude to do the work properly. I get exasperated easily. Putting together a bibliography of the sort I mean would require some serious effort. And honestly, I'm surprised it's never been done at a definitive and comprehensive level. All of the bits I can find are just that. Bits and pieces. No single authoritative bibliography that covers the multiple novels, short stories, poetry, etc. that she wrote. It seems kind of a big thing for the Christie Foundation to have neglected; they could have arranged something, I'm sure.

>215 rhondak101book: Many thanks!! I will go look for those to see how close they might get. Actually, Wikipedia does seem to have assembled a decent starting point if one thinks to specifically look for the entry entitled Agatha Christie Bibliography. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie_bibliography

What I really suspect I need to do is go through the tick boxes and inventory what's in my own Christie books. I keep tripping over the total number given of there being 166 short stories. I have multiple collections so maybe I do have them all. There's also the unfortunate practice of applying multiple titles to various short stories and novels.