flissp 2010

OK, temporary place hold dispersed with, to make way for my plans for next year.

Here's the ticker (goal of 125 books being fairly arbitrary, I just don't like to go off the end of the scale!):




I'm not going to try to do the 1010 Challenge this coming year as last year's 999 Challenge wasn't particularly successful (and I'm no good at keeping track of more than one thread anyway). However, I've decided to set myself some goals instead, which I think will be more productive. So, this is my current list (it may increase...):

Goal 1: Non Fiction - to read 10 non fiction books (excluding travel guides) - I'll list them here (I've already got a couple lined up):

i) Galileo's Daughter: Dava Sobel
ii) My Childhood: Maxim Gorky
iii) The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh
iv) Last Chance to See: Douglas Adams
v) In Cold Blood: Truman Capote
vi) An Angel at My Table: Janet Frame
vii) If This is a Man: Primo Levi - msg159
viii The Olivetti Chronicles: John Peel (reading)
ix)
x)

Goal 2: Group Reads - I'm not very good at joining in with these on time (I sign up, but am then not ready to join in at the appropriate time). I enjoyed the Liaisons Dangereuses group read in 2009 very much, despite being late on the scene, so I want to try to participate in more of these in 2010. I'll list them here:

i) Chronicles of Prydain: Lloyd Alexander (starting 10Jan10)
- The Book of Three - msg27
- The Black Cauldron - msg159
- The Castle of Llyr - msg218
- Taran Wanderer - msg275
- The High King
ii) The Picture of Dorian Gray: Oscar Wilde (starting 01Jan10) - msg82
iii) The Plague: Albert Camus (starting 01Apr10)
iv) Brat Farrar: Josephine Tey (starting 15Mar10; re-read) - msg259
v) The Elegance of the Hedgehog: Muriel Barbery (starting 05Feb10) - msg163, msg167 & msg192 (yet to update msg192 properly)

Goal 3: Books to read - Usually, I'm a very random reader (unless I fall on a series of books as I did in 2009), but I'm going to set myself 12 books I definitely want to read next year - most of these are books I've been meaning to read for ages:

i) Les Miserables: Victor Hugo
ii) The Master and Margarita: Mikhail Bulgakov (Started but unfinished))
iii) Middlesex: Jeffrey Eugenides (on last 2009's To Read list...)
iv) Remains of the Day: Kazuo Ishiguro - msg275
v) Cat's Cradle: Kurt Vonnegut
vi) Things Fall Apart: Chinua Achebe
vii) I, Claudius: Robert Graves
viii Changing Planes: Ursula K. Le Guin
ix) The Magic Mountain: Thomas Mann
x) The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck
xi) Vilnius Poker: Ričardas Gavelis (because it's an ARC I shoud have read months ago)
xii) The Magician: W. Somerset Maugham

Goal 4: Unfinished Christmas Reading!

i) Wuthering Heights: Emily Brontë (reading)
ii) L'etranger: Albert Camus (in French)
iii) War and Peace: Leo Tostoy
iv) A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens - msg70
v) Maus: Art Spiegelman - msg128

I shall update this map with each author's origin as I read:


10 states (4.44%)
map

...and here are links to my previous threads:
Thread for 2009 pt2
Thread for 2009 pt1
Thread for 2008

January: 7 pre-owned : 4 borrowed : 6 new (5 re-reads) - 4 countries, 17 books.
February: 3 pre-owned: 3 borrowed: 4 new (3 re-reads) - 5 countries, 10 books.

Glad to see you back, flissp!

Temporary welcome back! ;^}

Thank you both, temporarily - glad to be back! ;)

Waving hello - can't wait to see what you think of all those Classics!

Hi, Fliss! I saw the discussion about the Shakespeare play (As You Like It, I think) on Luxx's thread, and Theatre Complicite on another thread, which reminded me to tell you about the Berkeley Repertory Theatre for your upcoming trip to San Francisco. You may not have enough time to go, but Berkeley Rep is my favorite theatre company in the US, and I try to go there whenever I visit the city. It's easy to get to the theatre from San Francisco, by BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit; the trains run underneath Market Street, one level below the MUNI Metro trains at the Embarcadero, Montgomery and Powell Street stations. If you take the Richmond Line from one of these stations towards Richmond and get off at the (Downtown) Berkeley station, the theatre is less than two blocks away.

I've got you starred! Good luck on getting all your books read! Your third goal has many books that I either own or want to own, so I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on them.

#5 Hallo - looking forward to reading them!

#6 Hi Darryl! Hmmm - thank you for the recommendation - as you say, I may not have enough time to go, but I shall definitely check them out and see what's on - love going to the theatre!

#7 Hallo - hope I can be coherent about them! ;)

flissp - impressed with your organization. Inspiring. Have you starred now, of course.

#9 Karen, I got a little bit carried away with the enthusiasm - we shall see whether it actually happens!

Hi flissp, got you starred. Happy holidays and happy reading.

I've got you starred now, and want to add my encouragement for reading Middlesex, Les Miserables, and Things Fall Apart- the only books in your goals that I've read, and also all on my all-time favorites list. Looks like you've got a good year planned!

I'm planning to read In Cold Blood and Cat's Cradle this year, too! Starred, and good luck. :)

Edited to add a recommendation for Remains of the Day, one of my favorite '09 reads. Make sure you've got a kettle on hand, though--I craved hot tea the entire time I was reading!

Hi, I enjoyed reading your thread last year and wanted to say that I liked both The Remains of the Day and I, Claudius very much. Good luck with your plans!

Hi flissp - I'm also planning to read Les Miserables, I was a tad annoyed that the 1010 challenge group read started in October, so I'll be playing catchup with them. When are you thinking of starting?

Hi!
I read Middlesex once upon a time. I don't remember when, but I remember liking it very much. Perhaps I should read it again. On the other hand, there are so many books I wanna read for the first time.. hmm, maybe. Anyway, hope you enjoy it, and got you starred.

#11 - 16 Hi all and welcome to my thread! ;o) Will respond properly at a later point as I need to get going, but in the meantime, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Happy New reading Year to you :-)
Anita

Happy New Year Fliss!
I like your planned reading lists. Middlesex and Galileo's Daughter are both excellent. Dava Sobel has another book, Letters to Father, where she tranlates all the available letters that Sister Maria Celeste sent to Galileo from the convent.
How did your planned Christmas reading go?

I've read Galileo's Daughter by Sobel a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was pretty well researched and Sobel's writing flows smoothly throughout.

I loved both Cats Cradle and Middlesex, and I've always wanted to read Les Mis. I'm looking forward to seeing what you think, and I might join you in making this year the year I finally get around to reading it!

Help, help, help!!! Soooooo many posts to catch up on (makes drowning sounds)...

Hallo everyone! Just dropping by to check in and note book 1 (The Book of Three), so I don't forget it, but I'm going to run away and hide again for the moment, will show my face again properly soon...

I agree about all the posts - it's scary.
I just discovered lonely_planet library here on LT with over 9000 travel related books and knowing how you like your travel guides thought I'd post the link. http://www.librarything.com/profile/lonely_planet

flissp - I have decided that the activity on this 75er group is doubled over last year - so I think we all feel a bit overwhelmed. Maybe it is just all the New Year resolutions?

I just finished Things Fall Apart and enjoyed it. I wanted to get some classics under my belt and started in the 'A' section!

The amount of posts in the 75 group is a bit a terrifying. Every time I catch up on one thread I go back to my Talk page to find three more have become active. On one thread (can't remember which) people were talking of marking the threads themselves as a book read. Seems logical :P

So... I have now put a summary of my 2009 reading on my 2nd 2009 thread... Final tally was 134 books, of which 17 were re-reads (and 23 were the Sharpe series!)

Didn't do so well on my holiday reading list though:

1) Possession - A. S. Byatt
2) Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë (currently reading this one)
3) L'etranger - Camus (in French - postponed for the 2nd year running...)
4) War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
5) A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
6) Lady Susan - Jane Austen (re-read)
7) Maus - Art Spiegelman
8) The last 3 Sharpe books

...mostly due to not having nearly as much time doing nothing as I had thought I would have (that and getting a bit carried away reading guilty pleasures!). so I'm adding the unread books as a "Goal 4" (see msg 1) in just a minute...

#11 Hallo loosha - have you starred also!

#12 Foxen - shall go and search you out in a minute as you've got 3 of my "to read" books on your "best ever" list!!

#13 krysbrezinski - I always have a kettle on hand - tea is very important to me! ;o) We shall have to compare thoughts on In Cold Blood and Cat's Cradle. Have you any idea when you may get around to them (I may be a couple of months)?

#14 scohva - thanks! Those are two that I'm particularly looking forward to - I've been meaning to read them for years...

#15 avatiakh, welcome back. I had similar problems with the Les Miserables group read - I've just had too many books I want to get through first - it's one of the group reads I signed up to, but then didn't do. In all honesty, as it's such a tome, I probably won't get around to it until the summer (I don't even own a copy at present), but you never know - maybe I'll read it on the flight over to the US at the end of February. Would like to compare notes though!

#16 Hallo FrkFrigg. Hmmm, yes, a lot of people have recommended Middlesex - I keep putting it off though, I don't know why - possibly because the good friend who bought it for me says it's her all time favourite book and I'm just worried I'm not going to like it! ;)

#18 ...and to you FAMeulstee!

#19 Happy New Year to you too VB! I saw such a wonderful production of Bertolt Brecht's Life of Galileo last year (or was it the year before?), I've been meaning to read Galileo's Daughter ever since, so I'm looking forward to that one! Letters to Father sounds like good follow-up reading - you'll have to let me know what you think!

Planned Christmas reading not so good (as you see above) - got a bit distracted! They'll be the ones I work my way through first this year...

#20 Hallo cameling! I think I've yet to hear someone say that they didn't enjoy Galileo's Daughter - why I've put it off for so long, I have no idea!

#21 Hallo AndreaBurke. Maybe you, avatiakh and me can have a Les Miserables splinter group, group read a bit later in the year?!

#23 Oooh, thanks for the link - that looks like somewhere I couls spend a while - I shall go to check it out - although I always feel a bit like a traitor to Rough Guide when I pick up any Lonely Planets ;o)

#24 kiwidoc - sounds like a plan - I was a little distressed by how few new classics I read last year, so I plan to work on that this year too!

#23 - 25 I find it all a bit daunting - I've barely dared look in on this group since Christmas - I can see I'll have a lot of catching up to do now I'm back at work!!

1) The Book of Three - Lloyd Alexander
Goal 2: Group Reads (link to Book of Three discussion)
(Dec09, Rock Road Library)

I seem to have discovered quite a few new fantasy series for children over the last year. This is one that I wish I'd found when I was actually a child. I did enjoy the first book of the series, but not as much as I was hoping to (ah, forever the case when you hear so much good about a book). I think that the problem is that it just seemed a little cliched (the irritating Gurgi didn't help) - but of course, I imagine, this wouldn't have been the case so much when the books originally came out.

Something that I did appreciate, however, was that ***spoiler alert***Taran didn't turn out to have Royal blood - I was sure he was going to be the one to draw the magic sword and it was very pleasing when he couldn't!***end of spoiler***

I'll post a link to the group read comments once it gets going...

2) Physik - Angie Sage
(Dec09, Cambridge)

Third in the Septimus Heap series and better, I thought, than the second in the series. Fun to read anyway.

(I shall probably not go into great depth on this series, unless anyone particularly wants to know...)

3) Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (re-read)
(Oct96, Bristol)

I made the mistake of recording the Keira Knightly/Matthew Macfadyen adaptation of this over Christmas - I thought maybe it might be better than I remembered. It wasn't. An emergency re-read was necessary to wipe it from my memory... I soooo love this book. I had to physically restrain myself from going on a Jane Austen spree - I only re-read one last year!

4) Lady Susan - Jane Austen (re-read)
(Jul95, Sevenoaks)

OK, so the restraint didn't completely work - but, following Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen in December, this was on my Christmas holidays reading list anyway, so I feel vindicated. Wonderfully wicked.

I may try to comment properly on P&P, or at least Lady Susan at some point, but I have real trouble being objective about Jane Austen at this point, particularly with the novels I know the best (eg the former), so I'm not going to promise it... This is probably where my minimal English Literature background comes in to play...

Hey, Fliss, I agree that I like Physik better than the second book. But I like the next book even better. Happy anticipation!

I have been having increasing urgings to re-watch the A&E Pride and Prejudice, all 6 hours of it (that's the Colin Firth version), but simply haven't found time yet.

The Book of Three IS a simple children's book. Watch what happens as the series goes along! (And you are right, some of what seems cliched now would not have been so much so forty-five years ago.)

I agree that it is difficult, maybe redundant to comment on the classics.

I just reread P&P last month and loved it. It was sparked by reading Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World by Claire Harman - a well-done look down the two-hundred years of her life and subsequent fame. It makes me want to read the biography by Leigh (her nephew), understanding its limitations.

Spoiler Alert

I agree with your spoiler for The Book of Three. It was nice that he didn't have royal blood (I thought he was going to be the one to draw the blade too). I enjoyed the book but for me, it was just so rushed. Events flew by and I didn't have time to take anything in. I liked Gurgi though. It amused me how many rhymes they could come up with for him And I really liked Fflewddur Fflam and his popping harp strings. I am looking forward to the next book :)

Finally found your thread amongst the crowd and have got you starred! :)

#28 Oooooh good! You've got me all excited now!

Ah yes, the Colin Firth version of P&P is MILES better - I also like the previous BBC version very much - I think the actor playing Lizzie is much better - although it's not dated as well as the newer one.

I do look forward to reading the rest of the Chronicles of Prydain series - I just slightly wish I'd discovered it when I was still at school ;)

#29 Thanks for the recommendation kiwidoc - I shall have to look that book out.

#30 RebeccaAnn, you know that's exactly what I thought re the speed of events (meant to comment on that, but forgot) - it all zips by so quickly you don't really have time to appreciate each fix they end up in, thus it's hard to feel the excitement you might with a slightly slower paced book.

#31 welcome allthesedarnbooks!

Found you and starred you. I'm so looking forward to learning about what you are reading in 2010. Yours is a thread I try to visit every day.

All good wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Why thank you Linda - and I yours - not least because there's no way I can keep track otherwise!!! Welcome to my thread ;o)

Going to follow scohva's example of mapping the origin of all the books I read this year. I'll put it in the post at the top, or I'll lose it...

@32: I liked both P&P movie versions, but my heart definitely went *squee!* when he walks across the field with the dawn breaking in the Keira Knightley version. I'll watch that scene, and where they verbally fight at the temple over and OVER. Heh.

Just posting otherwise I'm going to lose you within the mists of so many threads. There's no point me starring people cos I just get confused!

Welcome back Jenny!

Oh Steph, didn't the 'Darcy in the mist' bit just make you melt? I went to see the film at the cinema with my mum, grandma and sister, and at that moment every woman in the room just sighed, all together in Austen-loving harmony. I actually thought I was going to HATE the new version, but I must say I liked Darcy's intensity and Lizzie's free spirit, it was all a bit more... organic? Wholesome and earthy and lots of fun. I live fifteen minutes from Chatsworth (used as Pemberley) so the gardens and the house and the sculpture gallery were all familiar. And the bust was on display there! The closest I'm every likely to get to Mr Darcy... :-)

Fliss - hi, by the way! I enjoyed our Persuasion discussion so I thought I'd head over and check out your thread, so many great reads floating around this year already!

#36&39, sorry, neither of you are going to convince me about the Keira Knightly P&P, despite Matthew Macfadyen ;o)

Welcome to my thread elliepotten - lovely to 'see' you! Bizarrely, I don't think I've ever been to Chatsworth - one of these days...

5) Everard's Ride/ Little Dot/ plus* - Diana Wynne Jones
(Dec09, Cambridge)

I've mentioned this on another thread somewhere else, but I can't remember where. Everard's Ride was the only Diana Wynne Jones novel I'd never read (until the new one, Enchanted Glass arrived in the post this morning - woo!) - basically because once I discovered its existance, I couldn't get my mitts on a copy (it had a very small pressing when it originally came out in 1995). Clearly I didn't search very thoroughly, because it has, more recently (2006), been published as part of Unexpected Magic - a collection of her short stories. I've tended to be less obsessive about buying DWJ's short story collections than her novels - partly because all the collections seem to overlap a lot (search my library for Diana Wynne Jones - I've listed all the short stories in each collection...) - and partly because her short stories are a lot more hit and miss than her novels in my opinion. Anyway, besides Everard's Ride, I have all but 4 of the stories in Unexpected Magic elsewhere, so it's taken a while to register...

So. Finally, I have read Everard's Ride and very much enjoyed it, although I wouldn't say it will be one of my favourites (mystery island that appears to exist in the past, treachery in a Royal family aided by children) - it just seemed less original than much of her stuff. That said, I thought that most of the emotions of the children were extremely convincing (a bit of an odd compliment, I realise, but it did strike me as I was reading it, so...). I think maybe, part of the reason I enjoy DWJ so much is that I almost always recognise part of myself in at least one character (not always a good part). Glad I found it anyway.

Possibly, the story I enjoyed most in this collection was actually Little Dot - a very simple story, from a cat's point of view, but it just made me feel happy (DWJ is another author I find it very hard to comment intelligently on, as my response to her writing is pretty much all emotional...).

(*plus just means that I only read the stories that I'd never read before, but I thought I'd count it as a "book" as Everard's Ride is one on its own really.)

6) Miss Pym Disposes - Josephine Tey
(Dec09, Cambridge Central Library)

With all the Josephine Tey reading going on around here recently, I felt like reading something by her again, so I looked around for one I hadn't read yet and fell on this one.

Lucy Pym is an ex-school teacher and author of a psychology book. An old school friend, now the headmistress of a, hmmm, gymn school (don't know how to describe that better!), training young girls into teachers, invites her to give a talk to the girls. But underneath the healthy, bright atmosphere, is there a sinister undercurrent?

I'd forgotten that Josephine Tey can feel very dated when you read her - and I took a while to reaclimatise to the slang of the 40's, but once I did, I did enjoy it. Still doesn't live up to Brat Farrar or The Daughter of Time though!

Have to log off now - the library is closing!

Edited to correct apostrophes, grammar AND spelling - not a good day!

I read Brat Farrar last year and am looking forward to reading more Tey this year. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed her books. The Daughter of Time is my all-time favorite.

>27 flissp: ooh ooh ooh <sitting on hands trying to avoid further spoilers for later books...> I've just finished The Book of Three, though I must have read it 5 or 6 times as a child, and am really looking forward to the later books. I love the way Taran grows up over the series.

#42 Me too Stasia - it's been a very long time since I read anything by her. I may have to re-read some more later in the year...

#43 Aha - I do like watching a character grow up - of course it's even better when you can grow up with the character, but I may be a bit beyond that now! ;o)

7) The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham (re-read)
(1992, Cambs)

Another case of watching a TV adaptation that didn't live up to scratch and needing to re-read the book.

Bill Masen wakes up in hospital on the day he's expecting to have the bandages removed from his eyes following a work-related Triffid accident. However, as he impatiently waits to discover whether or not he has been permanently blinded, he comes to realise that something is very wrong indeed.

The world has been blinded by a massive "meteor shower" of green lights and only a very few lucky people have escaped this - Bill amongst them. The unlikely seeming Triffids - mobile plants with a massive coiled sting, genetically engineered to produce extremely high quality oil suddenly seem to have gained a massive evolutionary advantage.

Another book that very much reflects the era it was written in (1951), this is an extremely exciting dystopian novel and, despite having read it several times now, I still couldn't put it down until I finished it (at 5am). A joint favourite for me, with The Chrysalids, which I shall now have to resist reading...

I really enjoyed the TV adaptation but then I haven't read the book so I didn't have anything to compare it to! I'm nearly always disappointed if I watch a film or TV adaptation after having read a book.

The book's on my TBR list now. What are his other books like?

8) Enchanted Glass - Diana Wynne Jones (Review)
(Jan10, Cambridge)

Andrew Hope inherits Melstone House - a place he's always loved - from his grandfather, giving him the opportunity to pack in his job at the nearby University and write a book. But with the House come responsibilites and Andrew finds himself immersed in local politics of many descriptions. Then the 12 year old runaway, Aidan Cain turns up on his doorstep, looking for Andrew's grandfather, chased by mysterious Stalkers.

You can always rely on Diana Wynne Jones for simple but humourous and imaginative stories that just make you feel good. You care about the characters, even the awkward ones and, even after reading many, many DWJs books, I still find I usually can't predict how the plot will resolve. This was indeed the case for her new book and I now feel vindicated in my dislike of cauliflower cheese!

#46 souloftherose - I'm totally with you on the "always watch a film/TV thingy before reading the book" thing, but actually, until the end of this one, I didn't particularly mind a lot of the alterations that were made to the plot as much as I expected to (I'm going to wash over the mask and the dodgy genetics at this point). Possibly because I'd been pre-warned by lots of people that I wasn't going to like it, I actually enjoyed it more than expected. But I still found it a bit disappointing. Probably because I do love the book.

Glad to hear it's gone on your TBR list anyway - I hope you enjoy it! Re his other books, I've enjoyed the majority of what I've read (most of the novels and a couple of the short story collections), but some more than others. The Kraken Wakes, for example, took me a long time to get into, although it was worth the effort once I did and I never really understood why so many people like The Midwich Cuckoos so much.

My absolute favourite is The Chrysalids (another dystopian vision), but The Day of the Triffids is a very close second and I also loved The Trouble With Lichen (in fact it's part of the reason for the University degree I chose - lab work as a career had never occurred to me until that point). The former two are the only ones I've re-read (and they do crop up fairly regularly) and my big John Wyndham phase was over 15 years ago, so my memory starts to fade, but I still remember a surprising amount of detail, which is always a good sign - as is the fact that I went on a mission to read as many as I could find published at the time! His short stories are also very good (in fact some of stick in my memory very clearly to this day).

Anyway, a bit of an essay basically to say that The Day of the Triffids is a very good starting point. If you like it (and do bear in mind when it was written - although much of it is still very prescient in many ways), then I'll recommend the others I mentioned above and also The Seeds of Time (one of the short stories collections) and Web.

Another Diana Wynne Jones that I shall look out for when I'm in the need for more 'simple' books. Who am I kidding, thats about all my brain is capable of at the moment?! If anyone has spied a missing brain, some thoughts or some mental energy, please can it be returned to me.

Well, you're always welcome to use me as a DWJ library ;o)

No spare brain going around here I'm afraid - I'm having similar mush problems!

Isn't the time just after christmas awful for it? This winter feels like it is going to go on forever more and I'm so exhausted, I can only manage to read about 2 pages before falling asleep, wherever I am!

I hear ya Jenny!

I'm tired of being tired!

I hate cauliflower cheese! That there is a DWJ book with a character who also dislikes this dish is enough to have me championing it. Off to the wish list it goes.

Haha, the only time I ate cauliflower cheese I liked it... but then got severe food poisoning. Probably had nothing to do with the dish in general, but I have a residual dislike. Another DWJ book to look out for!

But it isn't available here in the US via Amazon until April!!!

#51/2 I always think that January is a good time to go on holiday ;)

#53 Me too! Eveel stuff.

#54 Ah, I think it had everything to do with the dish in general!

#55 Can you get it from Amazon.co.uk without spending a fortune?

I also meant to read Middlesex last year after picking it up but haven't gotten around to it yet. It's near the top of my TBR pile, though! I look forward to reading what you think of it.

Lady Susan is destined for the ol' pile as well after reading about it here.

My son 'did' The Day of the Triffids last year for school so I did a reread and thought it was great. I know there is criticism for some 'dated' content, but I thought he was on a par with HG Wells War of the Worlds etc. I loved sci fi as a child but modern fantasy sci fi just doesn't appeal as much.

#57 Alana, it may take me a while to get to it - I'm in the middle of a spoiled for choice moment, so it's working the way down the list - I do aim to read it by the end of the year though, so we shall see.

Hope you enjoy Lady Susan - if you do, can I recommend Love and Friendship, another of her early short works?

#58 It's funny, The Day of the Triffids is dated in many ways (the Iron Curtain blackout, the language etc), but I think it's also still quite relevant - and I agree, as with H. G. Wells, I don't think it hampers the book at all.

Haha, the same applies to my making my way towards reading Lady Susan as to you getting to Middlesex, so I'll let you know if/when I finally review it.

How did you manage a copy of Enchanted Glass? It's not available (as far as I can tell) until April here. Maybe that's just in the US?

#61 Yep, just the US I think - it came out in the UK on the 7th Jan (Harper Collins), so if you're desperate, you could go to Amazon.co.uk? ;)

#60 you're on!

Aaaah, winter days, cauliflower cheese and man-eating plants.... I love this thread!

The Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids sound great - and just the kind of thing I want to 'branch out' into more this year. I didn't see the TV adaptation either, so it'll all be new and exciting!

TadAd recommended these to me a year or so ago after I read The Body Snatchers. Maybe I'll see if I can pick up a copy of one or both and include them in the Halloween read this year.

Hmmm - maybe I should read The Body Snatchers then BDB?

I liked it a great deal. Much more story than the several movie versions we have all seen. I am sure I have a review at the book if you want to see mo9re of my thoughts to decide.

Actually, I haven't seen the film ;) (hopes that BDB is not reeling in horror...) - I'll go seek out your review right now... ...and then I really must get back to work!!

Hmmm. Sounds intriguing - I shall investigate. Actually, I would have thought that The Midwich Cuckoos was the obvious John Wyndham book to suggest - it's not one of my favourites, but I think it'd make an interesting alternative to The Body Snatchers.

I think he might have mentioned that one also. On the films, I am not reeling in horror. It's just that there have been so many versions, it's hard to have missed one. Good for you that you missed them. though, after reading the book, I suggest the Donald Sutherland, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldbloom version. Captured a lot of the eerie spookiness.

Off to work with you already!

9) A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Goal 4: Unfinished Christmas reading
(Jan 1900!, borrowed from parents)

This, with Pride and Prejudice, must have one of the most famous opening couple of sentences in the English language. Just reading the following sent shivers of anticipation down my spine before I even touched the rest of the book:

"Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to.
Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail."

Of course, it helped that I was reading my Dad's lovely but battered cloth bound Memorial Edition that he inherited from his Granny - as it probably would have been even better if I'd actually read this at Christmas as I'd originally intended...

Everyone knows this story. I haven't read it since school and my predominant memories of it are actually from The Muppet Christmas Carol (let no man mock The Muppets or Jim Henson on this thread!), but it was still a joy to read. There are some cringe-worthy moments to be sure (many of the bits with Tiny Tim!), but I defy anyone to read this story and not be touched by it, despite the sentimentality.

I love the Muppet Christmas Carol, so no mockery from me on that score.

I have read A Christmas Carol numerous times and still never tire of the story. I am glad you enjoyed your reading of it, Fliss.

I read a flimsy Dover Thrift edition at Christmas 2008, and had no idea why I hadn't read it earlier. To my delight, a few months ago I came across an old cloth-bound little hardback, with beautiful illustrations, which has now replaced the other one... Having really enjoyed the Patrick Stewart adaptation over the past few years, I was also quite impressed at how closely the ghosts of Christmas Present and Future matched the old illustrations in the book. Sadly I have never seen the Muppet Christmas Carol!

The Muppets are the best - we are buying the complete seasons (of the Muppet Show) on DVD as they are released!

Skipping back over Muppets briefly, The Trouble with Lichen was the first John Wyndham I ever read, and I loved it - thought it was really funny as well as an interesting idea. Someone in the 75ers read it last year and was really bored by it, which made me sad. Somehow, I've never read Triffids. Not sure why - my parents had a copy on the shelves. Maybe I thought I'd be too scared by it.

#74

I'm clearly skimming too fast, I read your message and thought that you found the Muppets scary. There I was thinking I'd found a fellow weird person but no...........

#75 If it helps, I know someone who finds The Wombles terrifying ;)

#74 No! How could they be bored by it?! Ah well, I suppose we can't all like the same things... You should give Chrysalids a go if you have time maybe?

#73 I already own a couple of "Best of the Muppets" DVDs - let's all sing together with Beaker "mee meeee... me me me me mee me mee meee..." (snicker)

#72 Ah Ellen, you must rectify that - as far as I recall, it's surprisingly true to the book - if you ignore the fact that Bob Crattchet is a frog and his wife a pig ;)

#71 Good to hear Stasia!

Bother! I just accidently deleted my last post - it was comments on A Stir of Echoes and The Picture of Dorian Gray and I don't have time to re-write them now - I shall re-write them a bit later, maybe tomorrow...

Ah, that's always frustrating! I do hope your comments on Dorian Gray were positive; I think I'd be mortified to read of anyone not loving it. :P

It's Ellie, not Ellen... :-)

And I must say I'm with lunacat on the Muppets - I do find some of them rather scary. An offshoot of my phobia of ventriloquist dummies, perhaps?

#78 Alana, the comments were indeed positive - I enjoyed it very much (although I'm not sure I'd say I loved it. Comments to follow shortly...

#79 Oops, sorry - that was actually a typo - I did think I'd written Ellie!

Nooooo! Muppets - scary?!?! ;o) I think the puppet/ventriloquist dummy is the reason behind the Womble phobia too...

It was a very beautiful when I drove in to work this morning - sunshine eking its way through the mist over the hills (well, as hill like as Cambridgeshire gets anyway), dark clouds behind - very dramatic.

I went to examine/dig my allotment patch for the first time this year yesterday - not nearly as many weeds as I expected - so there are some advantages to snow! I'm going to put a pic here of the stuff that's actually growing at the moment (mostly because I just like to see the progress over the course of the year):

So...

10) A Stir of Echoes - Richard Matheson (Review)
(Sept08, Cambridge)

There was a film adaptation of this years ago, not long after "Sixth Sense" came out and I remember thinking at the time that it seemed just to be more of the same. I didn't realise that it was based on a novel, (which, in fact, came long before "Sixth Sense") until I came across the book randomly a couple of years ago - and, as it was written by Richard Matheson (I loved I Am Legend - the book that is), I had to buy it.

Tom Wallace leads a fairly normal life in the suburbs of LA with his wife Elizabeth (expecting their second child) and son Richard. However, messing around at a dinner party given by a neighbour, he allows his brother-in-law to hypnotise him. Everything seems fine, even amusing at the time, but that night, he sees the apparition of a woman in a black dress in their living room. They soon come to realise that the hypnosis has released some form of innate hypersensitivity of which Tom hadn't been aware.

I made the mistake of taking this to read in the bath with me and ended up wrinkled like a prune - it took a lot of will power to put it down long enough to get out the bath! It's very tense and the sense of Tom's mounting curiosity mixed with confused fear is very well conveyed. That said, towards the end, certain aspects did start to feel a little contrived. Not enough to stop me enjoying the book, but enough that it didn't have nearly the same kind of impact as I Am Legend, which I continued to think about for quite some time. Nonetheless a gripping read.

11) The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Goal 2: Group reads (link to Dorian Gray group read)
(Aug95, Cambs)

Another book I've been meaning to read for years, so I took advantage of the group read (which I'm yet to contribute to...).

Dorian Gray is the young model of artist Basil Hallward, who worships him for his beauty and paints him over and over again - finally culminating in a portrait he considers to be his masterpiece. This painting is finished as Dorian listens, fascinated, to a friend of Basil's, Lord Henry Wotton, espousing his philosophy that the only thing worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfilment of the senses. Dorian swiftly becomes as enthralled by Wotton as Basil is by him and envies the painting it's beauty that will be unmarred by time.

This is a very bad description and everyone knows the plot anyway, so I shall leave it there.

I have mentioned before that, while I love Oscar Wilde, I always have a mate of mine in the back of my mind when I read his work - this mate couldn't stand his "wit" (yes, it does have to be put in speech marks - for emphasis ;)). I completely disagreed with him, but it does make me hyper-aware when I read these witty comments that are mostly made for effect. Wilde frequently has his characters utter truisms within the witty comments, but I can't say I agreed with many in this book. This is just an aside.

Reading it as a product of its time and knowing Oscar Wilde's history, it was utterly fascinating. While the story does raise perennial moral issues, really, it was Wilde himself I was thinking about as I read. It is a tragedy, but, given the flowery language and the generally unlikable characters, I was not particularly emotionally connected to the story - what did make me sad were my assumptions about Wilde's life as I read.

My penguin edition has very good notes (this is something I frequently complain about - too many notes that tell you nothing at all about things you already know and not enough relevant, interesting, un-spoilery comment - this was not the case here). Apparently, Wilde has said that people usually assume that he is reflected in Lord Henry Wotton, whereas he considered himself to be Basil Hallward. This in itself is sad - to be that misunderstood, quite apart from the need to mask his homosexuality, however thin that mask is in this book. Lord Henry Wotton leads Dorian on, further and further away from his morals (if he had very many to begin with), purely for his own amusement - to see how Dorian will behave. Basil has his faults and is certainly not innocent of influence on Dorian, but the calculation is not there. I imagine that there is an element of Wilde in all the characters but his self-identification with the idol-worshiping Basil Hallward is fascinating.

Oh, I'm so glad you liked it! I definitely think knowing something of Wilde's life makes all the difference reading this book in particular. And like you, my most recent reading was skewed slightly by my mum's opinion that there was too much of Wilde's famed 'showing off' in the wit of the novel (she'd just read it for the first time and wasn't that impressed). Too much wit for wit's sake, as it were. But you can't win 'em all, and I still love it! My copy of the new movie was shipped last night so I'm looking forward to a night in with that, to see whether even beautiful Ben Barnes and lots of sumptuous cinematography can do it justice. Definitely not one for the purists, I hear, but I'm game to try it!

11 books read thus far! Amazing!

#84 well, A Christmas Carol, Book of Three and Lady Susan are all very short and I've had a couple of very un-busy weekends in succession ;o)

#83 I hope you enjoy the film. I can't work out if I've seen it or not. I know I saw a new, slightly strange version at some point in the last few years at the Cambridge Film Festival, but I don't think it's the same one. You'll have to say what you think of it!

#80 - Growing! You have stuff that is GROWING! Oh, I am SO pissed at those ancestors for thinking coming to New England was a good move. Nothing growing here except - *runs to window to look outside * nope - nothing.

That Richard Matheson books sounds great. Is it a novel? Short story? I'm going to add it to my wish list.

#87 It's a short novel. I never really note down page numbers (it makes me stress about what I'm reading!), but looking it up now on LT, they say it's 224 pages - so a quite a quick read.

He also wrote The Incredible Shrinking Man - I think I'm going to have to search out more of his work...

#86 Well, most of it (lavendar, rosemary etc) is perennial, so I'd be very sad if it died ;) The rest (garlic, shallots & onions) are all supposed to be early crops, so were planted in November and mostly sprouted before the snow. I've a nasty feeling that they only appear to be growing currently and that they'll wither away now the snow has gone...

I've never made it to New England - it always sounds very beautiful?

Some parts of New England are beautiful. My town, here on the south coast, is an old mill town/fishing port and decidedly not beautiful as a whole. It does have some really nice old mansions built with whaling and textile mill money, but the miles and miles of tenements and other un-lovely structures are nothing to look at. We are surrounded by some very nice little coastal towns, but it requires a fortune to live in them.
Now that I know you are only growing garlic and lavender I feel a little better. My jealousy is now in remission.

#81: A Stir of Echoes intrigues me, so I will be looking for that one. Thanks for the recommendation, Fliss!

I imagine that there is an element of Wilde in all the characters but his self-identification with the idol-worshiping Basil Hallward is fascinating.

The preface of my Norton edition quotes a letter by Oscar Wilde (written 12 February 1894) in which he says: "I am so glad you like that strange coloured book of mine: it contains much of me in it. Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be - in other ages perhaps" (ix).

I really need to find that volume of letters...

Thanks for sharing your lovely picture flissp. How nice to see green grass! Ours is covered with the white stuff and has not been a true green since September. Good luck with this years garden. When will you begin planting?

After I Am Legend I becam a Matheson fan also and have been rummaging for a copy of Stir of Echoes. Great review....I went to give you a thumb but your review wasn't there. So, a thumb in spirit.

#93 I've only had one thumb before, real or spiritual, so thank you BDB! ;)

(and I've now put the comments up)

#92 Thanks Carmenere. Abnormally (we don't usually snow at Christmas), the green has only reappeared fairly recently. I'm going to start sowing indoors this weekend probably, but I imagine I won't plant outside for a while yet (I'm still learning this growing stuff and didn't have my allotment yet this time last year...). Be sure that I'll keep you all updated, whether you want to hear or not! ;)

#91 Hi Luxx - thanks for the quote and agreed - his letters must be fascinating... ...must have a search around...

#90 Hope you enjoy it Stasia!

#89 Glad to have allayed the jealousy a little ;) I'd love to live by the coast. One day...

#93 and 94, "I've only had one thumb before, real or spiritual" - this little tidbit can be read in so many ways. Existentially, it is very intriguing.

I've added A Stir of Echoes to the list! This sounds fascinating!

thumbs up on your review!

#95 Smirk...

#96 Thank you Linda!

12) Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman (re-read; updated Review)
(Apr2000, Toronto & 2006, borrowed from sister)

When a girl stumbles, exhausted and bleeding, into the path of Richard Mayhew and his fiancee Jessica, Richard, much to Jessica's dismay, has to stop and help her out. But there is something unusual about the girl, and the very act of helping her draws Richard away from real life and into a place existing between the cracks of everyday London. A place where tube stations and people are not what they seem and nothing is safe - London Below.

When I was small, I used to sit on the tube wondering just what went on in all those nooks and crannies and locked up tunnels you see around the older underground stations in London and wondering where the station names really came from. In Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman has taken these kind of meanderings and created a parallel London, existing out of reality, but somehow still true in spirit. It is very easy, even in a busy place like Covent Garden or Picadilly Circus (for example), to turn down a tiny side street and enter what feels like a completely different world. It is a city steeped in history, where the ancient is muddled together with the new and it doesn't take a huge leap of faith to imagine the Marquis de Carabas striding round the corner of St Paul's towards the river. Neil Gaiman is wonderful at suffusing a book with atmosphere - I first read this when I had been travelling for months and in a strange way, it made me quite homesick (and I'm neither a Londoner, or a person who gets homesick).

Neverwhere was written in conjuction with the script for a BBC TV series - basically to mop up the bits that kept being cut from the script (much to Gaiman's frustration). If you watch the series, you can see why he felt the need to do this - and I'm very glad he did (and that I read the book first) - your own imagination will always give you so much more than a (very cheap budgeted) film or TV series can.

Anyway, this was a re-read. There have been several different editions - first a BBC tie-in, then a subtly different American edition (this is the version that I have - basically, it's a transatlantic translation with a few British-isms explained). More recently, in 2006, an "author's preferred text" version was published - a combination of the first two editions, with a few cuts and a lot more additions (apparently). As I've been meaning to re-read this for ages, I thought I might as well borrow the updated version from my sister. I can't say I noticed anything hugely different, but then it's been a while since I last read it...

I've decided I'm going to join in with the trend to keep track of new books read vs books-on-shelf - it may encourage me to read more of those unread books, you never know... So:

Pre-owned books (re-read): Borrowed books (re-read): New books (re-read) = 5(3): 4(2): 3(0)

Hey pruney, your Hot Review of Matheson's A Stir of Echoes is rising fast! Go! Go! Go!

Just saying hi! I finally got a chance to catch up on your thread :)

Loved your review of Neverwhere. It's one of my favorite Gaiman books. I'll have to check out the 2006 authors preferred version. I really like the story but it has always bugged me that the novel reads like a script with modified stage directions.

#97: I read that one for the first time last year and enjoyed it very much!

I definitely need to read some Gaiman - I have enjoyed and have been thumbing your reviews!

#98 Oooooooooh! Must have been brief, as I missed that - woo - very exciting! Thank you people for the (probably rather undeserved) thumbs up! ;o)

#99 Hallo Kittybee, and welcome!

#100 Thanks VB! Mine too I think - although American Gods also quickly turned into a favourite when I first read it - time for a re-read possibly... To be honest, I'm not sure that the 2006 version reads much less like a script though...

#101 Always good to see another Gaiman fan!

#102 Absolutely must souloftherose - given the things you've read this year, I suspect he'd be right up your street... Neverwhere is definitely a good starting point, but as you like Terry Prattchett, Good Omens (which they wrote together) is also a very good introduction - in fact it was how I discovered him in the first place and it's still one of my favourites...

I've had a very unproductive work-day today. I got in late because I went to give blood on my way in to work and, despite having done this many times with absolutely no problems at all, this time, I nearly fainted. Most peculiar. I think it may have been something to do with the trainee nurse poking the needle around in my arm! Not very traumatic, but it did mean I had to hang around a lot longer than I would usually.

...Then, not long after arriving at work, we all went out for a leaving lunch for one of my colleagues. I shall be very sad to see her go, she's the one I get along with best really. She made us each a leaving present (yes, it is usually the other way round!) - here's some:



Wasn't that sweet of her?! Mine's actually quite true to life, I thought (2nd left)... ;o)

...so. Not got a whole lot done today - ah well, nearly the weekend!

You got my very-deserved thumb for the review of Stir of Echoes. I have only read Hell House and absolutely must read more Matheson!

#104 Thank you! :o) What did you think of Hell House?

> 103 Oh my, it's lucky that you managed to remain conscious! I suppose you have to be careful when giving blood no matter how many times you've done it before.

Your coworker must be a real sweetheart. What nice (reversed) going-away presents!

Love those cups, Fliss! I want one, lol.

#108: Huh?

>109 alcottacre: It's spam.

Love letter spam - now there's one I haven't seen before... How, um, flattering?!

> 105 Hell House is written in a very immediate way, with the plot really taking over. It moves really quickly, and is event-driven. I enjoyed it a lot, but didn't want to read more of Matheson right away because it was so scary. I guess I just never got back around to reading more of his work.

#106 Nah, I'm just being a big girl's blouse - usually, I'd be up and out of there straight away, but thanks for the sympathy! ;o)

Re the mugs - yep! I was very touched.

#107 Can't have one - it's mine, all mine, mwah ha ha ha ha ;o)

#108-111 How bizarre! Never had anything like that before...

#112 Hmmm - do I dare investigate?! I find scary books far more disturbing than scary films... I'll definitely recommend I Am Legend to you, in particular though. The film is most definitely NOT the same story... ...even remotely...

13) Lullabies for Little Criminals - Heather O'Neill
(Dec08, Cambridge)

This was a recommendation from Linda/Whisper1's thread in 2008. The story is of 12 year old Baby, an unusual girl, brought up by her adored junkie father, (only 15 years older than herself) in a long succession of homes around the dodgy area in Montreal. It's just heartbreaking.

14) In the Hand of the Goddess/ The Woman Who Rides Like a Man/ Lioness Rampant - Tamora Pierce
(Jan10, Cambridge)

The rest of the Song of the Lioness Quartet (I read Alanna after RebeccaAnn's comments over Christmas) - quite randomly, I found a really quite cheap collection of this quartet on ebay - Tamora Pierce is quite hard to chase down over here... I'm not going to review them as RebeccaAnn does that much better, but they were great fun to read - and a bit of a relief to my emotions after the last one!

I now have massive cravings for the wonderful Rosemary Sutcliff and for A Wizard of Earthsea...

Pre-owned books (re-read): Borrowed books (re-read): New books (re-read) = 6(3): 4(2): 4(0)

Your to be read list for the year is very impressive indeed!

The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my all time favourites and that was when I d!

The Plague, Cat's Cradle, Things Fall Apart, Wuthering Heights, etc. are all wonderful books, hope you will have a good time reading them.

Fliss

I remember how very heartbreaking Lullabies for Little Criminals is. The writing is so crisp and clear, and I remember wondering if the author was exposed to abuse because she seemed to have such knowledge about it.

I went back and checked my review and found the following:

The saddest part was the realization that no matter how much abuse occurred, baby still craved the love and affection of her father.

a quote from page 59 of the book:
"If you want to get a child to love you, then you should just go and hide in the closet for three or four hours. They get down on their knees and pray for you to return. That child will turn into God. Lonely children probably wrote the Bible."

Do you know what Linda - when I read that particular quote, I recognised it from your 2008 thread - clearly in stuck in my mind! I completely agree.

My copy has a Q&A with the author at the back of the book - while the book is not autobiographical, clearly she did have an unconventional upbringing and did suffer from parents who weren't exactly exemplary - in fact, her mother basically decided she didn't want to bring them up and foisted them on to their father in Montreal (the Montreal of the book is the Montreal of her childhood) - if she didn't experience the same level of abuse and general life-spinning-out-of-control-ness that Baby does, her ideas did come from observation as well as her own experience.

I don't know about you, but I couldn't help comparing it to The Glass Castle as I read. I preferred this as a read though.

#115 PC, we have yet to see if I actually make my way through it, but they're all books that I've been meaning to read for years, so hopefully I will!

Thanks for the information regarding the author's childhood. I didn't read The Glass Castle. It has been on the tbr pile for awhile.

>114 flissp:: Aww! I'm blushing!

I'm so happy you liked them! Are you going to continue with some of Pierce's other books? I hope you do!

#119 My pleasure Linda. To be honest, I got more from Lullabies for Little Criminals than I did from The Glass Castle - I did find the latter a fascinating read, but I didn't hugely like her writing style.

#120 I'm sure I will - which series would you recommend next?

I'm currently reading both If This is a Man by Primo Levi and Maus by Art Spiegelman, which is probably appropriate, if entirely unintentional, given today is Holocaust Memorial Day. It occurs to me that I've never come across anything equivalent written by women (beyond Anne Frank's diary). Still, these are quite enough to be going on with at the moment. I shall have to look out something a bit more cheerful to follow up with...

#121: Fliss, if you are looking for equivalent books written by women, I would be glad to help. Just let me know.

>121 flissp:: The next quartet to read would be the Immortal quartet, which follows Daine. The first book is Wild Magic, then Wolf-Speaker, Emperor Mage, and lastly The Realms of the Gods. I didn't like this quartet as much as the Song of the Lioness, but it's still quite good and worth reading :)

Drive-by hug {fliss}

Haven't been here in a while. A Stir of Echoes sounds right up my alley!

>103 flissp: I can relate to the experience you had donating blood. I never fully passed out, but I have gotten very, VERY woozy on two occasions when I gave blood. The first time, the blood bank staff handled it beautifully, with reassurance and orange juice to raise my blood sugar level which had plummeted. The second time, I had a horrible nurse overseeing the process. She refused to give me orange juice, lest I throw up and make a mess, or to let anyone near me to reassure me -- just left me to lay there alone. She finally told me to never give blood again, because I was way too much bother for her!

125: I passed out once. It was about an hour after I gave blood. I went out in the 99 degree weather and was waiting for my lunch at the local eatery. I passed out. Luckily, I was sitting down at the time and the people there know me so they took care of me. I had not passed out since I was a kid. It was very disconcerting.

#122 Stasia, that would be great, if you have anything you could particularly recommend. I'm not sure I'll want to read anything beyond these two immediately, but I'll certainly want to come back to it.

#123 Thank you - I shall search them out!

#124 Thank you Richard! A lovely Thursday welcome ;)

#125 I hope you enjoy it - if you do, you should definitely give I Am Legend a go too...

Re the horrible nurse - that's really bad - after all, you didn't have to give blood in the first place - and it's easy enough to get the blood back to your head (putting your legs in above your head). Maybe she'd had a bad day?

Luckily for me, I've always had extremely nice nurses taking my blood, but it has to be said, some have been better than others - this recent occasion, I ended up with a massive bruise (although not as big as the time someone went right through my vein...).

I noticed when I helped out at one of those pre-organised drop-in sessions when I was at university that once one person faints, quite often you get several more dropping down at the same time. Apparently it's quite common. I wonder why?

#126 I can imagine (disconcerting). I've never actually completely passed out, but I've come very close a couple of times - not for years though. The last time was when I sprained my thumb not long before my university finals - saw stars and everything! Extremely painful. That taught me not to lean back in my chair and swing on the desk! ;)

...and the other time was during the New Testament reading at church when I was at school - it was almost extremely embarrassing - the reason I was there was that I used to sing in our village choir! Wouldn't have looked good... :)

15) The Complete Maus - Art Spiegelman
Goal 4: Christmas Reading
(Mar2009, Cambridge)

A graphic novel/biography/auto-biography written by Art Spiegelman, about his father, Vladek (also, to a lesser extent, his mother and other relatives), both of whom were Polish Jews and made it first through the Ghetto (not Warsaw), then Auschwitz.

I don't know how to review this really, but it will almost certainly be in my top 5 of the year list. It is not just a survival story (although this is the sub-title), woven in is the complicated relationship Art Spiegelman had with his father and his own struggles with himself. Clearly Vladek Spiegelman was a difficult individual and his son shows him warts and all, he doesn't turn him into some mythical hero. But if he is honest about his father, he is also honest about himself (or this is how it comes across anyway).

People can be very snotty about graphic novels, but if they're written well and designed in such a format (unlike all those picture book versions of the classics), it can be a fantastic way to add an extra layer to a story. Spiegelman does this extremely well - the images allowing a subtle satire that is only once directly commented on, but somehow, because of that, has a greater impact.

Nice review of Maus, Fliss. I love your comments in the last paragraph, and couldn't agree with you more. I've read Maus I, but I need to get the next book(s) in the series.

> 128 I'm so glad you liked The Complete Maus. I read it last year on Cait's recommendation and it was my top read. Your comments are excellent and express how I felt about the books (much better than I could say). Something about the book just clicked with me. As you say, it is special on so many layers.

Thank you both! (*blushes*)

#129 Darryl, you absolutely must (as if you wouldn't!) - personally, the second half was the point at which I really started to form my full impressions, quite apart from the fact that it completes Vladek's war experiences.

#130 :o) - and I agree - a wonderful book - so glad I finally got round to reading it.

Incidentally, in retrospect, I've noticed that my comment unlike all those picture book versions of the classics also sounds quite snotty. What I will say is that these books weren't designed to be graphic novels, so naturally, they usually don't work in the medium as well as something that was (or as the original book!). On the other hand, I do believe they have a place - after all, anything that will encourage someone to read something new, or challenge their boundaries even a little has to be good (says the person who is painfully aware that I don't challenge my boundaries nearly enough! ;)).

Great review, fliss ... I need to put The Complete Maus on my obese wishlist.

#127: I will PM a list to you, Fliss, and then you can keep it for referral purposes rather than having to troll your thread looking for it.

You are reading some fabulous books, flissp. Great to see your plot, too.

Richard Matheson is an author I am not familiar with - must explore more.

Lullibies for Little Criminals sounds good. I'm adding it to the wishlist.
#132 In Feb I'm reading just graphic novels (plus my monthly book of poetry) and I have the graphic novelization - is that a thing? - of the novel Fahrenheit 451. I'm interested in seeing how it compares to the actual novel.

#133 & 135 Thank you!

#134 Thank you Stasia - that's fantastic - I shall have a peruse in a little bit.

#136 I'd also be interested in what you think of the Fahrenheit 451 graphic novelization (yes, I reckon it's a thing!) VB. Although, (slightly embarrassed), I've never actually read the original...

16) The Servants - Michael Marshall Smith
(Jan2010, Cambridge)

Michael Marshall Smith is one of those authors whom, once I had discovered him, (Only Forward, Spares etc), I devoured - but I haven't read anything by him in years, basically because, far too soon, he went from writing fantasy/sci-fi to crime (published as just Michael Marshall) probably the genre in which I have the least interest. I was very annoyed! One of these days, I shall give one a go as I do enjoy reading him, but...

With The Servants, he returns to fantasy, but this time, for children. Mark and his mother and new step-father move to Brighton - a place Mark and his mum used to holiday in with his father. But nothing is the same - his mum is ill, he hates his step-father and funny noises emanate from the house at night.

This felt a bit like two books to me. Firstly the book about a boy growing up and learning to recognise that the world does not revolve around him. Then the ghost story/fantasy element. This latter aspect just didn't quite fall in to place for me - I thought that the idea behind it was great, but it just didn't quite click. That said, it was an enjoyable enough read - I was just a little disappointed...

17) The Book of Proper Names - Amélie Nothomb
(Jan10, Cambridge)

I am a bad person. I bought faaaaar too many new books at the weekend. This was one of them, but at least it was second hand... ;o)

I have a suspicion that Amélie Nothomb may be a very strange individual. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my discovery of her last year - she writes unusual stories very absorbingly.

This is the story of the life of of Plectrude, a little girl with a amazing eyes, a love of dance and a tragic history. A grim modern fairy-tale like thing, I couldn't like the story - however, it was gripping and strangely mesmerising.

Quick January summary:

Pre-owned: 7 (3)
Borrowed: 4 (2)
New: 6 (0) - 17 new purchases in total
(re-reads in brackets)

...from UK (11), US (4), Canada (1) & Belgium (1).

Goal 1 (non-fiction): 0 (0%)
Goal 2 (group read): 2 (27%)
Goal 3 (to read list): 0 (0%)
Goal 4 (from Xmas): 2 (40%)

Best of the Month: The Complete Maus - Art Spiegelman

Edited in an attempt to get the touchstone to work...

fliss....

I can relate to the bad person/book buying spree.

I went to the mall to get my hair cut yesterday...They were running behind, so I went to the Waldenbook/Borders shop next door to find they are going out of business and my, oh my, did they have books on sale. I spent $30 and obtained about 20 books, most of them children's books ($2.00) each that I'll give as gifts....

#139 Linda, I always tell myself that gifts for other people don't count when it comes to buying books..

In the last two days I have bought four books and I'm keeping them all! But they only came to £2 in total so how could I not?

#137 The Servants sounds interesting. Would you recommend Only Forward and Spares too?

#140

The things that don't come under the book buying umbrella and so allow you to not count them as actual aquisitions:

1) Books for other people
2) Books that replace copies you have lent to other people and never got back
3) Books as replacements for ones that are showing how much they've been read
4) Books in the sale
5) Books bought with gift vouchers
6) Books required to continue a series or complete a trilogy etc
7) Books purchased at charity events/charity shops/hospital funds/library sales
8) Books required for a group read
9) Books as a present for yourself for your birthday/christmas/celebration/reward/cheer up
10) Books bought with money left over after you've just got a great deal on something else
11) Books that are prettier/more attractive copies than that which you own
12) Books released as Special Editions
13) Books that have been bought because a crisis/queue/wait/time delay has occured and you've finished/didn't bring a book and need one
14) Books that are free
15) Books for your partner/child/parent that you will also read

#141 Brilliant! I may print this out... :-)

ETA: I showed this to my husband and he completely agrees

>141 lunacat: - I LOVE that! As soon as I get home I'm printing myself a copy - and maybe an extra one to bring out every time my mum argues back about my latest book-buying spree... ;-)

>141 lunacat: Jenny, you are wise beyond your years! I'm hanging this on my wall.

#141: LOL! That is brilliant, Jenny! I have to save that list, too.

I love that - nearly all my recent purchases come into one of those categories. Unfortunately, storage space is still an issue...

Thanks Jenny, that list makes me feel much more at ease.

Flissp - so glad that you finally read and enjoyed Maus 1 & 2. I finally read it this time last year and it was doubly interesting as my husband's grandmother's family came from the same town - Sosnowiec which we had visited when in Poland in 2008. Auschwitz and Birkenau are just a few miles from Sosnowiec.
I read Primo Levi's If this is Man and The Truce just a few weeks before visiting Auschwitz and I could barely endure to be there. My husband lost many extended family members in Auschwitz, though he has only done the research since returning home. He also found out that he's related through marriage to the Spiegelman family and has been in touch with Art Speigelman's cousin. Together they were able to fill in a few more gaps.

>141 lunacat: Gosh, it looks like I've bought maybe ten books in the past year! Such an improvement over the dozens and dozens I've been tasked with buying.

flissp -I read Tokyo Fiancee a few years ago and agree that Nothomb is likely a strange character. I like her writing, though. I have The Character of Rain waiting for me from the library.

Lunacat - Love the list of 'task book buying'. What a relief that my book acquistions are so much more justifiable. I appreciate the rationale!!! Your celebrity status is safe in this group of grateful admirers!

#139 Ah, you see, every time I go clothes shopping I end up coming back with books instead, so I completely understand! As everyone says, gifts don't count anyway ;o)

#140 souloftherose, definitely I would recommend Only Forward and (particularly) Spares - ahead of The Servants in fact... He's also written a couple more sci-fi novels, but I remember these two the best. I'd give you a bit of a description, but it's so long since I read them that I think you're better off looking at the relevant book pages. Suffice it to say that Spares had film rights optioned, but since "The Island" came out, Michael Marshall Smith has said it's unlikely that it will be adapted - basically because there are a lot of similarities in plot - although I hasten to add that it isn't the same story and the resolution is different...

#141 Excellent list Jenny. Sadly, even so, that only removes 4 of the 17 books I've bought since Christmas - unless I can discount 3 for the 3 "3 for 2" offers I've been conned by? The count as in the sale don't they?! ;)

#147 Wow - that's quite some coincidence and must give Maus even more of an impact for you and your husband.

I've just finished the If This is a Man half of the copy I borrowed from the library - I'll probably have to finish the other half (The Truce) this weekend now. Just appalling. It's so hard to imagine - it's one of those books where you have to keep reminding yourself that it isn't fiction. Part of the reason for reading it was a brilliant play adaptation ("Primo") that I saw a few years ago - that was distressing enough, I'm not sure that I could visit Auschwitz...

#149 I think I like her writing too - that is, I've been gripped by the only two books that I've read by her (the other being Sulphuric Acid), but I'm not sure I actually liked reading either, if you see what I mean. I definitely need to explore more though...

I agree with you fliss.
I'm not sure I could visit Auschwitz, but I do hope that one day I will have the opportunity to decide. I imagine it is a place where it is acceptable to cry and express the pain.

>141 lunacat:: Loved it although for me, there are a few other exceptions :)

16) Books required for a class
17) Books that relate to a book required for a class
18) Books that may relate in any way to a future class
19) Books that are listed in the bibliography of any work previously read or currently reading
20) Any book that is mentioned, however casually, by a professor as being even minutely related to the subject matter at hand or subject matter previously taught or subject matter to be taught in the future.

These books could be of unequivocal importance in the distant future and therefore it is necessary to buy them immediately.

>128 flissp:: Catching up on threads here. I'm so glad you liked Maus! It is a fantastic read and I think it's poignancy was only enhanced by it's graphic novel format. I also agree that Spiegelman showed the reader everything about both himself and his father. Definitely a top read!

I would like to add:
21) Books recommended highly by other LTers.
They shouldn't count, because they're not MY fault.

fliss, RebeccaAnn and Terri...I'm laughing right out loud.

>153 tloeffler: Haha, BRILLIANT! That justifies a most of my purchases that don't qualify for anything on lunacat's wonderful list.

LOL....Terri ... that's perfect, and I totally agree!

By going with "anything educational" not counting, you could wipe out a whole swathe of purchases in one go. I mean, educational by its very definition means ALL non-fiction and classics, drama and poetry, foreign authors (different place), historical fiction (different time)...

"Anything educational" wipes out all of my purchases too, Ellie, since I consider all books educational!

#152, 153 & 157 - NOW we're getting there with my this year's buys - & good point Stasia! ;)

So... February's got off to a slow reading start compared to January, but here's what I've read so far:

18) The Black Cauldron - Lloyd Alexander
Goal 2: Group Reads (link to group read)
(Jan2010, Rock Road Library)

The continuation of the Prydain series - Taran and friends go in search of the Black Cauldron of the title, in order to destroy it and prevent the evil Arwan from increasing his "Cauldron-Born" (aka zombie) army.

I don't know whether it was just that I didn't read this all in one go as I did for The Book of Three, but the frenetic pace that had me gasping for breath rather than follow the story previously seemed to have toned down a bit and, as a consequence, I enjoyed this much more.

Again, however, I shall say that, while a good read, it will never rank among my favourites and I suspect that a large part of that is to do with the fact that I didn't read it as a child - I have quite a few childhood favourites that, if I came to them afresh now, I suspect would no longer be such - there is a sort of warm glow you get when re-reading books you loved when small that can mask a lot.

Gurgi, I continue to be irritated by, as I also continue to find many of the characters (particularly Gwydion and Doli) just a little clichéd - although, as I have previously said, I'm sure that they weren't so clichéd at the time the books were written. This said, as I say, I did enjoy it. There are some great new characters - in the marsh particularly and I do like the progression of Taran's character - he is growing up convincingly, learning from his mistakes. I continue to enjoy the fact that (currently), he is just an ordinary boy who achieves things in spite of everything, not because he has some special gift or blood etc etc.

Anyway, I look forward to the next installment as this book felt a little bit like a bridge between important events.

19) If This is a Man/The Truce - Primo Levi
Goal 1: Non-fiction
(Jan2010, Rock Road Library)

Primo Levi's account of his survival through Auschwitz (If This is a Man) and subsequent journey home (The Truce), told through a continuum of memories.

Originally, I'd only selected the former to read this year (I'd not heard of The Truce), but most editions combine to the two books as they very naturally go together. I'm glad I read both as the latter describes the beginning of his rehabilitation and return to normality (although it's arguable that he ever successfully managed this), but they were hard to read and I cannot honestly say it was enjoyable. It is horrifying that human beings can do such things to each other and I will never understand it, but I think we must all try - and as such, these works are very important.

I've picked up The Lives of Christopher Chant as some light relief and coziness (it's one of my childhood favourites) before I begin The Elegance of the Hedgehog to join in the next group discussion...

#159: In the States If This is Man is known as Survival in Auschwitz - I have no idea why it is necessary to change book titles honestly! - and I have had it on my night stand to read for a while now. I am pushing it to the top.

I picked up The Lives of Christopher Chant at the library the other day. Considering how much I liked Howl's Moving Castle, it is going to take a lot to beat that one!

#160 Stasia; If This is a Man/Survival in Auschwitz - yes, that's very strange! I also notice that there's no proper touchstone for If This is a Man - it lists it as Survival in Auschwitz. The Truce is also renamed as The Reawakening (which makes a little more sense anyway).

I never understand why re-branding like that is necessary - the original title refers to his poem quoted at the start of the book and as such, carries a much better feeling for the book and what he was trying to impart. "Survival in Auschwitz" just sounds so prosaic. Here's the poem (as translated on Wikipedia):

You who live safe
In your warm houses,
You who find warm food
And friendly faces when you return home.
Consider if this is a man
Who works in mud,
Who knows no peace,
Who fights for a crust of bread,
Who dies by a yes or a no.
Consider if this is a woman
Without hair, without name,
Without the strength to remember,
Empty are her eyes, cold her womb,
Like a frog in winter.
Never forget that this has happened.
Remember these words.
Engrave them in your hearts,
When at home or in the street,
When lying down, when getting up.
Repeat them to your children.
Or may your houses be destroyed,
May illness strike you down,
May your offspring turn their faces from you.

Re The Lives of Christopher Chant - I hope you enjoy it, I think you will - it's one of my absolute favourite DWJ books - I love Howl's Moving Castle too, but not quite as much. Who's thread did I re-spy it on again? ;)

Edited to remove the original Italian of the poem - LT won't let me line it up in parallel properly and I don't know how to make it! However, here it is in just Italian, in case any of you speak it:

Voi che vivete sicuri
Nelle vostre tiepide case
voi che trovate tornando a sera
Il cibo caldo e visi amici
Considerate se questo è un uomo
Che lavora nel fango
Che non conosce pace
Che lotta per mezzo pane
Che muore per un sì o per un no.
Considerate se questa è una donna
Senza capelli e senza nome
Senza più forza di ricordare
Vuoti gli occhi e freddo il grembo
Come una rana d'inverno.
Meditate che questo è stato
Vi comando queste parole.
Scolpitele nel vostro cuore
Stando in casa andando per via
Coricandovi alzandovi
Ripetetele ai vostri figli.
O vi si sfaccia la casa
La malattia vi impedisca
I vostri nati torcano il viso da voi

#161: Who's thread did I re-spy it on again?

That would have been Foxen's (Kelly's) thread.

#162 So it was - thank you!

The trouble with reading something like The Lives of Christopher Chant is that it puts me in a Diana Wynne Jones frame of mind - I now have cravings for Charmed Life, Witch Week and the Magicians of Caprona particularly...

...Whereas The Elegance of the Hedgehog, I'm less enamoured by - I've not get very far yet as I've been reading it in my lunch breaks, but I'm not impressed by these two arrogant, snobbish individuals so far. It's easy to get in to, but I'm hoping that I'll start to care a little bit about someone soon - there must be a reason why the entirety of LT (besides me) loves this book.

#163: Not everyone on LT loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Fliss (although I did!) I know Bonnie of bonniebooks was not enamored of it either.

Like I always say: Not every book is for everybody.

#164 Wise words Stasia (but good to know I've got company)! Mind you, I've really not got very far yet and the chapter on Renee's husband that I read at lunch made me a little more sympathetic to her at least... We shall see!

#165: I know that one of the reasons I loved the book so much is because I readily identified with both Renee and Paloma.

If you get to page 50 or so and are still not liking it, put it aside and move on. There are too many good books to read to spend time on one you are not enjoying.

#166 It's interesting you say that Stasia, because I think the stem of my problem with the book is that I wasn't really believing in the characters. However, I am finding that I have more sympathy with them as the story progresses - and they're also slowly becoming more real to me.

I begin to see that the difficult aspects of Paloma's character are at least partly due to teenage angst and that life has made Renee what she is. I also admit that a big personal stumbling block for me was Paloma's first chapter where she talks about suicide - it instantly raised my hackles, even whilst I know that this is more about my own issues than it is about the book (and why I hated Night Train by Martin Amis).

You say that you identified with both Renee and Paloma, but I don't remotely believe, Stasia, that you have so little respect or love for other people as these two characters appear to have. This is what makes me saddest about the book, but is also part of the reason that I've started to enjoy it more - in the introduction of Manuela and Lucien and even the chapter that I have just read, where Paloma (first?) discusses her sister's recent obsessive cleanliness tendencies and, despite herself, worries about her - these show a little bit of humanity in characters that didn't appear to have it initially.

Anyway, your 50 page rule is a good one ;o) - my compulsive tendencies tend to make it more like a 100 page rule, but I shall probably continue to stick with the book as it's not the writing I have a problem with ;)

fliss, regarding posts 159-160,
you might be interested in reading a book I just finished. Avatiakh recommended The Man From the Other Side and it is very thought provoking.

I just finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I had some trouble with the characters too, especially Renee. The group-read thread has been very helpful to me.

ETA for spelling

#168 Thanks Linda, I shall investigate.

#169 Good to know I'm not alone ;o) Yep, I'm avoiding the group thread for the moment, until I've got a bit further in/finished and settled how I feel about it properly - I'm looking forward to it!

I also found it hard to get into The Elegance of the Hedgehog but it is definitely worth persevering with, as the characters do start to evolve quite wonderfully as they begin to interact together. I really liked the book, but the ending was not for me.

162: I'm behind on threads again (what else is new?), but thank you, oh miraculously-organized-reader-who-reads-more-than-all-of-us-and-still-keeps-the-threads-straight! Although I feel obliged to point out that it's Katie, not Kelly. ;)

Re The Elegance of the Hedgehog: it's been on my wishlist since last year's group, but I've had an odd lack of enthusiasm about it. I guess I'll wait for your review to see if it goes up or down the queue.

#172: Although I feel obliged to point out that it's Katie, not Kelly

I knew that - I was just testing you :)

Sorry about that - I really do try and keep the names straight.

I wholeheartedly recommend The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I loved it when I read it a couple of weeks ago, although I know some other LTers are not as enthusiastic.

Hallo all - going to reply/catch up/post properly tomorrow, but does anyone recognise the quote (part of a poem/song) "lies forgotten as a dream"? It's bugging me, because I can hear it spoken, but can't place it and google doesn't recognise it. I'm sure it's part of something though...

haven't found that exact quote, but one that sounds like it:

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

at wikiquote Isaac Watts: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Watts

173: Not a problem, I know it gets confusing in here, I'm impressed you can keep up at all. :)

#171 Thanks avatiakh - good to know. I meant to finish it off at the weekend, but a little distracted by rugby and Diana Wynne Jones - will have to finish it this week and see what I think of the end...

#172 Katie, I felt the same way (about The Elegance of the Hedgehog), but there's been such widespread love of the book here on LT, that I thought it worth a go. Don't be put off by my comments, I'm not very deeply in to it yet and most people seem to like it.

#173/176 Stasia, as Katie says, I'm amazed you can keep up with it all! I really struggle to remember everyone's real names, without a physical face to put them to ;o)

#175 FAMeulstee - thank you. I think that that must be what I was thinking of - how bizarre - I'm not really religious and I haven't been to church with my parents in ages - I wonder why it came to my mind (I recognise it now - it's from "Oh God our help in ages past..." I could sing it if you like ;o))?

Anyway, reading over the weekend (in between 6 Nation rugby matches and seeing mates):

20) The Lives of Christopher Chant - Diana Wynne Jones
(1989, Cambs)

Well, I had to re-read it after Katie/Foxen's comments on her thread, didn't I?!

...and it naturally led to:

21) Conrad's Fate - Diana Wynne Jones
(Feb 2005, Cambridge)

...which actually, I haven't read since it came out, so I enjoyed it immensely as I'd forgotten a lot of the subtleties at the end.

Conrad has bad Karma. According to his Uncle Albert, he has to rectify a mistake that he made in his last life, or he'll die before the year is out. So, much against his will, instead of going to secondary school where he will be taught magic as he would like, he becomes employed as an "improver" (a trainee footman) at the secretive Stallery Castle, where they pull the possibilities to make money. His fellow improver is an older boy named Christopher, who seems to be a bit out of place...

...of course, then I had to get out Charmed Life again, which I've not finished yet, but I may be able to fend off Witch Week and The Magicians of Caprona now and get on with something new ;o)

I also received this on Saturday and had to read it straight away:

22) The Last Temptation - Neil Gaiman
(Feb 2010, Cambridge)

A graphic novel originally released in three parts as a tie in with an Alice Cooper album that I haven't heard, I'm afraid - he's not really my thing (although I should probably borrow it from the library and have a re-read at the same time as listening to it at some point).

A boy is walking home from school with his mates on the night before Halloween. They spot an old theatre they've never seen before and dare the nervous Steven to go in at the temptation of the mysterious Showman...

> 175
Fliss: I have that sometimes myself, a sentence or a few words of a song, and I really hate it if I can't find from where it is!
The stranged things can pop up this way.
Usually I find it in the end, thanks to Google ;-)
That is how I found it, it happend to me more than once that I *thought* I knew the words exactly, but it turned out to be something that sounded similair.
Yes please sing LOL
I did not recognise the words, but I'll probably recognise the melody.

Have fun with your Diana Wynne Jones reads, I enjoyed them very much last year.

Anita

Well now, I just bought The Lives of Christopher Chant over the weekend and wasn't sure if I could read it "out of order" in the Chrestomanci series... but I hoped that since it says the events happen before the things in Charmed Life that it would be okay... *cross fingers*

#179 Anita, I'm humming along to Etta James currently, but I'll sing it for you in a few minutes ;o)

(and am v much enjoying my DWJ kick!)

#180 Well, I think it works better reading Charmed Life first, but only because it was the first that she wrote - The Lives of Christopher Chant just gives you a bit of history. It certainly won't hurt to read them the other way round - while they're all part of a series, DWJ doesn't "do" series in the conventional sense - all her novels work as independent works in my opinion, so I wouldn't worry too much!

#179 Instead of me, here's Westminster Abbey singing it! ;)

thanks Fliss
that does sound familiar, of course in my mind I hear the Dutch lyrics ;-)

I have The Lives of Christopher Chant home from the library now. My local library does not have Charmed Life, so I hope I can do without reading it!

Just a note, as I've been off radar for a little bit.

To update:

Charmed Life (1986, Herts)
Stealer of Souls (May 2001, Cambridge
The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Jan 2010, Cambridge)

Will continue to be off line for a little while as am now in Monterey Conference-ing for a week, but shall try to come by to say hallo!

Have a great time in Monterey, Fliss! I'd love to hear what restaurants, shops, etc. you visit, as I'll probably visit San Francisco at the end of next month.

Ooh, I was in Monterey years ago ... always thought it such a pretty city. Enjoy ... despite the conference. ;-)

>159 flissp: I've had to bin out of the Prydain group read, so I'm not reading along any more but: my memory of the books, which I did read as a child - aged about 8 - was that the first 2 I found very so-so; interesting enough, but I didn't adore them. Book 3 was when I fell in love with the series - it's Eilonwy's story, really, and I think remains my favourite of the series (though The High King runs it a close second). I must admit that if ALL of the people who've been a bit 'meh' about Prydain through books 1 & 2 emerge still going 'meh' after book 3, I may have to have a little cry.... no pressure (I did say 'ALL', right?).

>167 flissp: re. 50-page rule, I've seen a great soundbite on Daisy Goodwin's Twitter feed recently - she's the chair of judges for this year's Orange Prize, so has had 129 novels to read since January. She said: "Have found that, on average, p.56 is the rubicon for a novel. You either read on gladly or you don't read on at all." So page 56 will be my new benchmark - I shall now feel empowered to quit if I'm at that point and still not 'in the zone'!!

Oh. Just seen you're in Monterey. Ah well.

Dashing in quickly to note the rest of my February reading, I'll update properly tomorrow or the day after - don't think I'd make much sense right now...

Shutter Island (Feb 2010, Cambridge Central Library)
Cannery Row (Feb 2010, Monterey CA)
The Beauty Salon (Feb 2010, San Francisco)

reading:
Ghosts (Feb 2010, San Francisco)
Ruby and the Stone Age Diet (Feb 2010, San Francisco)

I hope you are having a wonderful time!

Right. I suspect it's going to take me a VERY long time to catch up with everyone else's threads, but I should at least attempt to get up to date with mine now I'm back!

#190 Thank you Linda, I did. The conference was very useful and (I thought) well planned - besides a good program and unusually few bad speakers, the itinerary worked well for me - early start, long lunch break, then talks and poster sessions until late.

Usually the early start would be a killer for me, but as I was still on UK timing and 8hrs ahead, it was absolutely fine - and the big break in the middle of the day gave us a chance to do stuff/sightseeing during daylight hours. If anyone's interested, I've put photos up here on facebook (and here on Flickr, but I always put up more pics on Flickr, so you'll have to trawl through more!).

>188 FlossieT: Ah Rachael, sorry about the meh! I promise not to tell you if I don't enjoy the next two ;o) I think that the series does have some new converts if that helps at all?! ...and I'm not, not a fan (if that makes sense), I just think I'd probably have enjoyed them more if I'd read them as a child (I'm sure that's half the reason I love DWJ so much...)

Re the 50/56 page rule, I shall clearly have to check out Daisy Goodwin's Twitter feed - sounds like a sensible woman! I currently have a 100 page rule, but it's quite flexible. I don't like dropping books very much, so with something like Wuthering Heights (which I continue to get nowhere with), I will continue to persevere, as I feel that it's something that I should read - at least once anyway. ...and sometimes books have the car-crash factor, of course!

...and back from Monterey now ;) Glad to see you back on LT!

#187 Thank you - I did - and we even got a quick bus trip along Highway 1, down to Big Sur in, which was beautiful...



#187 Thanks Darryl! I didn't do any shopping really, although I did make it to City Lights (first port of call in SF, in fact) - and came away with more than I had intended (it was a very good thing that I had limited bag space, or I could easily have come back with three times as many - I had to force myself to put books back on the shelves)... I did buy one of my "Kidzdoc" wishlist items, in your honour, however ;o) (The Armies)

I also didn't end up eating out much - the conference in Monterey turned out to be mostly catered (except lunch - but I was busy exploring:


...so did sandwiches, except on a couple of days, when we ended up in fairly mediocre places to be honest) - and again, in San Francisco, as I only had about 1.5 days, I didn't stop to sit down much, although I had a cobbled together lunch at the Farmers Market at the Ferry Building on the Pier on the Saturday, which was lovely (if very busy).

However, on the night I arrived in San Francisco, I went to a gig at Cafe du Nord, which was great fun - I had pre-booked it before I went as I had to see some music while I was there, it looked like an interesting venue (old speakeasy) and they have one or two tables near the stage, that you can pre-book for dinner (a bit like The Jazz Cafe in Camden, except on the same level as the music, if anyone else knows the place) - the food was really very tasty, if not particularly adventurous. It was a very enjoyable gig actually - particularly given I had selected it quite at random (I shall go to Biscuits and Blues or somewhere similar next time!).



Most of the time I spent walking/cycling around, soaking it all up (pouring rain and glaring sunshine) - so the only gallery/museum I made it to was SFMOMA (which I'd particularly enjoyed last time) and the aquarium in Monterey, but I now have very worn-down feet. It was exceptional accidental timing though as the only full day I had to myself was this last Saturday, which just happened to have both beautiful weather and be the day of the Chinese New Year Parade (thank you whoever made it 2 weeks after the event):



...and, the San Francisco Polar Plunge, which was very funny...

Now. Books. Yes...:

23) Charmed Life - Diana Wynne Jones (re-read)
(1986, Herts)

(followed by Stealer of Souls, a short story in Mixed Magics that follows on from Charmed Life and The Magicians of Caprona). I blame Katie and Rebecca. I am obviously now having to re-read ALL the Chrestomanci books.

This one, although not my favourite, was my introduction to Diana Wynne Jones, so it has a special place in my heart. I was going to try to write a proper review here, but I'm not really in a reviewing mood, so maybe at a later date...

24) The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery
Group 2: Group reads (link to group read)
(Jan 2010, Cambridge)

OK, so you were all right, I did end up enjoying this much more than I expected, although it did take a fair bit of getting in to - not from the writing point of view at all - just because it took me a long time to get to know the characters. My brain is still lagging a little behind my body, but I will definitely come back and talk about this one more in a few days time as it was an interesting read, even if it won't be a book of the year for me, as it has been for many. I also need to check out the Group Read page...

Comments to go here.

25) Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
(Feb 2010, Cambridge Central Library)

An enjoyable thriller recommended to me by drneutron early last year - I just happened to spy it in the library, so picked it up. Very atmospheric. I did guess the resolution ahead of the ending, but the plot really could have gone several ways and I was never sure which guess was the most likely, so it didn't matter in the slightest.

Again, I'm going to come back to this post, to put a bit more plot description in just here...

26) Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
(Feb 2010, Monterey)

Well, obviously I had to read this, being in Monterey and all! Following Mack and his slacker friends, interspersed with everyday stories of random others living on Cannery Row. Not a huge amount happens, but it was very amusing and occasionally very touching. Of Mice and Men will continue to be my favourite for the time being, but I enjoyed this very much - Steinbeck had a wonderful talent for writing absorbingly about the littlest of things.

27) Beauty Salon - Mario Bellatin
(Feb 2010, San Francisco)

One of my City Lights purchases, this is really just a short story. The Beauty Salon of the title has slowly been converted from a place of success and of transformation into The Terminal - a sad, decaying place where the dying are tended by it's angular, transvestite owner - the narrator. The story of how the place became what it is and how he ended up alone caring for people he makes sure to distance himself from, is paralleled by the story of his aquariums (aquaria?) as he builds them up and then slowly allows them to disintegrate as his life becomes more and more insular, until The Terminal is all he is.

A melancholy tale that was worth reading, but strangely, did not have as big an emotional impact on me as I would have expected it to have had.

...and finally, a quick summary of my February reading:

Pre-owned: 3 (3)
Borrowed: 3 (0)
New: 4 (0) - 8 new purchases in total
(re-reads in brackets)

...from UK (4), US (3), Mexico (1), Italy (1) & France (1).

Goal 1 (non-fiction): 1 (Total: 10%)
Goal 2 (group read): 1 (Total: 43%)
Goal 3 (to read list): 0 (Total: 0%)
Goal 4 (from Xmas): 0 (Total: 40%)

Best of the (new read of the) Month: Cannery Row - John Steinbeck (but Maus is still my top for the year so far...)

What wonderful photos! And, what great books you are reading!

Visiting your thread is always enjoyable!

Fabulous stuff, Fliss! I've added your travelogue/photo message to my favorites, for later perusal. I need more details, though. What books did you buy at City Lights? What exhibit(s) did you see at SFMOMA? Did you get to try any bubble tea? Where is Cafe du Nord? Etc etc etc.

I'll plan my next visit to SF soon; I'll either go at the end of this month or early next month.

Fliss - I LOVE your pictures - especially the ones on Facebook! Glad your trip was a good one.

Thanks for sharing the pictures, Fliss! I am glad you had time to get some good reading in too.

I had the most bizarre dream last night - two vampires (brothers), wearing unfinished denim suits, were battling viciously with each other using pump action stripy toothpaste tubes, whist lip synching to Queen's "Somebody to Love". I woke myself up laughing. No idea where that came from...

#197 My pleasure! Not as much reading as I would have wished Stasia - usually, I'd have read much more on the plane than I did, but I was tired enough not to be able to concentrate properly, so just stocked up on films instead (nothing that's stuck in my memory)...

#194 - 6 Thank you Linda, Darryl and porch_reader! ...as is yours Linda (I'm not caught up over there yet as there looked like quite a lot to catch up on!)

Darryl, right, details... ;)

Books bought in City Lights:

Beauty Salon - Mario Bellatίn
Ghosts - César Aira
Ruby and the Stone Age Diet - Martin Millar
The Armies - Evelio Rosero

Bought in Monterey:

Cannery Row - John Steinbeck (I'd not thought to bring it with me)

Hmmm. I thought I'd bought more than that, but apparently not - this is a good thing, honest! I definitely picked up a lot more in City Lights (I went a bit crazy at first - so many lovely, interesting books!), but mostly put them back as being hardback, or too big and heavy and purchasable in the UK. There was one in particular I wanted, but regretfully put down - it was one of the those recommended by staff - a collection of German modern fables, but it was very overpriced and I decided I could probably get it cheaper elsewhere. Annoyingly, I didn't think to write down the title, assuming I'd remember it - which, unfortunately, I can't - and I can't seem to find it on their website either... And now I think about it, I realise that I forgot to get a copy of The Word Book, as I'd intended (I don't think is available over here yet). Bother...

I had a general amble around both the second and third floors of SFMOMA (I got there a bit too close to closing to do much more than that, having got carried away watching a marching band practice - I believe in flexible plans on holiday!). Both bits were part of the 75th anniversary celebrations - the second floor being, I think (shame on me for forgetting exactly already!), partly central collection and partly a selection of pieces selected by the man who started the collection and the original director. The third floor was an exhibition called The View From Here, which I really enjoyed - a collection of photographic works spanning the last 75 years. I found the really old pictures particularly fascinating.

I wish I'd had a bit longer to spend in there, but the weather was so lovely and I was there for such a short time, it seemed a terrible shame to stay inside for too long, so I spent most of my time walking up and down hills and cycling along the waterfront... I also wanted to get to the De Young Museum while I was there, but ended up bowing out and walking up to the Ocean instead, for similar reasons.

I fully meant to go out to eat somewhere interesting (perhaps with another gig) on the Saturday night, but having had a late night on the Friday and spent the entire day walking and cycling, I conked out really early and fell asleep at 8pm, when I'd just nipped back to the guest house to drop off my SLR camera (which can get a bit heavy)! I'm sure that there will be another occasion though...

Cafe du Nord is on Market Street, between Sanchez and Church Streets (Upper Market, quite close to the Muni, so very easy to get to). The bit I went to is a bar below street level, with a great atmosphere, but there's a bigger venue upstairs (no idea what that's like, but I'm a fan of dark, underground type bars!). There's a bit of a description about it on their website here, where they also have listings (and links to myspace pages etc).

If you get down to Monterey at all, their aquarium is pretty good too - I particularly loved the tanks of jellyfish (although not quite as exciting or many as Sydney Harbour Aquarium), the views out over the ocean - and the tanks of Sea Horses were amazing - I've never seen Sea Dragons before:



What I didn't like about the aquarium though, was the penguin area - it's tiny, with very little water - these are birds that spend 90% of their lives at sea - I just couldn't bear it and I wish I hadn't seen it...

If I'm honest, one of the most exciting things for me was seeing a hummingbird on the bus trip to the Big Sur (we don't get them in Europe) - I'd never seen one before. Since that day I kept seeing/hearing them all over the place though, so I don't know how I've missed them previously!

Bubble tea! Damn! I really wanted to try that - it sounds so weird! Do they have it in Chicago? I'll be there in June for a mate's wedding...

...and speaking of Chicago, I've been there a few times now, so was thinking that when I'm over there, I'd quite like to get out of the city for a bit (maybe along the lake?), if anyone has any recommendations?

I'll have about three spare days after the wedding before I fly back (before hand, hopefully, I'll be with mates and exploring Chicago further), but will probably have to get around by public transport, which I've a feeling isn't too great immediately outside Chicago (and I swore 10 years ago never to go on another Greyhound bus if I could possibly help it...)

Hmmm, this is a long winded post! OK, to finish it off:

28) The Pinhoe Egg - Diana Wynne Jones (re-read)
(Jun 2006, Cambridge)

...continuing with the Chrestomanci series, this is another, like Conrad's Fate, that, being fairly recent, I've only read once, so I very much enjoyed coming to it relatively fresh. Focusing on the families of the villages local to Chrestomanci castle, it also continues on with Cat's story, following Charmed Life, Magicians of Caprona and Stealer of Souls. I remember, when reading it the first time, being a bit sad that we don't see Tonino again - he's the central character in The Magicians of Caprona and one of my favourites, so I shall just have to read that next!

...right, I'm off to finish off Ghosts with lunch...

Flis

It is a pleasure to read your travel description. I smiled at your comment regarding the hummingbird sighting. I have flowery bushes in my backyard, called butterfly bushes, not only are butterflies drawn to the sweet flowers, but teeny, tiny hummingbirds flock there as well. They are so bitsy that at first I thought it was a big bug, but when I saw the very rapid beating of the wings, it was such a delight to realize that they came to visit.

I'm glad you had such a wonderful trip. Thanks again for the special photos.

>198 flissp: My gosh, fliss, that is hiLARious! I am shamelessly appropriating your dream for my vampire novel. I shall credit "a fellow Thingamabrarian whose digestive failure caused a very strange dream sequence." ;-)

#199 Oh Linda, how lovely for you - that just sounds wonderful!

I remember a wonderful holiday in the Pyrenees (French side - still one of my favourite areas of the world) when I was 10 or 11 and being just immensely excited to see what I thought was a hummingbird (I was going through a big bird phase). I was very disappointed when someone gently pointed out to me that we don't have them in Europe and that what I saw was a Hummingbird Hawk Moth... Until I realised that that in itself was quite an exciting thing to see, anyway. Nonetheless, it truly made my day to see that first hummingbird last week...

#200 Richard, I would be honoured! ;o) chortle, chortle....

Fliss, you dream sounds like Halloween in the Castro District of San Francisco!

Oops, my flight from Madison to Detroit is getting ready to board.

198: "The Dream": There is an LT group read of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle going on (I can't remember if you are participating; my apologies if you are) and some discussion has been on if and how the reading of the book is affecting our dreams. Some have noted some strange dreaming, not with elements from the book, but just unusually vivid or funny.

Karen O.

Oh, it sounds like a wonderful trip! Love the travel description. I can't wait to go to San Francisco myself.. and to City Lights! Been dreaming about that for so long. Soon, soon..

Your photographs are amazing and the travel descriptions entrancing! (I went to the ones on Facebook) What sort of camera did you use? Loved the pictures. I've seen similar dragon horses in the Boston Aquarium and took some photos, but they are nowhere near the quality of yours.

You can join me in the weird dream club. I tend to wake up laughing at mine too.

Hi Fliss. Sounds like you had a great time in San Francisco and Monterey. Your pictures are amazing. (I saw the facebooks pics) Like cameling, I'm wondering what type of camera you use. There's such clarity in the aquarium pictures. I like the hummingbird stories. During my first trip to San Francisco I was sitting in a park when a flock of parakeets flew over and landed in a tree. My first thought was that they had escaped from a pet shop or been set free. It actually took me a few minutes to realize that parakeets are wild on the west coast. Duh!
Looks like you managed to get in a good amount of reading as well. I'm adding Cannery Row to the wishlist. It's the only Steinbeck I haven't read.

flissp, great trip! You may have already done this but if not it's worth doing. Driving the State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Hwy 1, Highway 1) from start to finish. It's 656 miles or 1,055 km. Driving on your own, or with friends or family, allows stops when and where you want unlike a tour bus. One of the spectacular drives of the world. A week is a good time frame because there are lots of places to stop and look. Damn, now I want to do it again. Like right now.

Rats. I should have told you about the Filbert Steps, a pedestrian staircase which runs from the top of Telegraph Hill (where the Coit Tower is located) down to The Embarcadero. The gardens are gorgeous, and there are wild parrots that perch on the steps and trees.

It's amazing how much there is to do and see in such a compact city, not to mention the rest of the Bay Area. If only it was more affordable...but I guess 10 times as many people would live there if it was.

I've never been there during New Year or the Parade. Were these photos taken on Stockton Street in Union Square? That's the street that cuts through the Stockton Tunnel, which separates Union Square from Chinatown.

Your powers of restraint at City Lights are remarkable. I usually go there at least two or three times per week whenever I visit SF, and end up buying at least 20 books in total. That includes leaving about twice as many books behind that I would also like to buy.

I'll almost certainly be going to SF on March 26 or 27, so I can look for that collection of German modern fables, and report back to you with the title. The only "bad" thing about City Lights is that none of the books are discounted in price, so I normally spend $200-400 or more on each SF trip.

I'll look for the photography exhibit at SFMOMA. Thanks for the info about its 75th anniversary, I'd forgotten about that.

Regarding waterfronts, I enjoy going to Ocean Beach a bit more than sitting by the Bay. I usually take MUNI (either the N or the L light rail lines), which terminate within a couple of blocks of the ocean. I love to read on or near the beach, but it's often quite cold and windy, so I usually don't stay for very long.

I know the area around Market & Church Streets pretty well, so I'll have to look for Cafe du Nord.

I must get to Monterey one of these days. And, I still haven't driven along the Pacific Coast Highway yet! I understand that the road along Devil's Slide will be permanently closed, and I'd like to drive on it before it does close.

I would expect that you can get bubble tea in Chicago, although I would be surprised if the chain stores in SF, Berkeley and Palo Alto had any outlets in the city.

Chicago has great neighborhoods with wonderful restaurants. If you like architecture I would strongly recommend a trip on one of the tour boats that run along the branches of the Chicago River. LisaCurcio lives in Chicago, and Mark (msf59) lives in Chicagoland, I think. A good friend of mine lived a little north of the city along Lake Michigan (Highland Park), and I could ask her about that area. Chicago has a pretty extensive network of commuter trains (Metra) that connects Chicagoland with the city. The Union Pacific Northern Line runs along Lake Michigan, from the city (just west of the Loop) to Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Under no circumstances should you take Greyhound. Ever. Every other person that takes Greyhound is a homicidal maniac.

#202 Darryl, it was a particularly amusing one, but I have quite a lot of bizarre dreams. Maybe it's why I like my bed so much! Hope your flight was OK...

#203 Hi Karen (Karen O?! Nothing to do with the Yeah Yeah Yeah's?! ;o)) Nope, I'm not part of that group read - although I seem to be keeping an eye on a lot of them at the moment - and this is one of the books that's quite high up my TBR pile (I began it a few years ago, but got waylaid, for no particular reason, only a few chapters in). It shall have to be shifted up the list I think!

I love the way that certain books will do that for you - whenever I read the Sandman comics, I always end up having extremely vivid dreams - but I suppose that this is appropriate, given the subject :o)

#204 Hallo FrkFrigg! It was indeed. Although looking back at my descriptions, you can hardly tell I was there for work - which I was - honest!!

#205 Good to have company in the bizarre-dream-club!

#205 & 6 Thanks both!

It's actually just a point-and-shoot (a digital SLR is out of my budget range at the moment as I want to get a decent one and I already have a film camera), but I did spend quite a long time looking around to find something that would suit me (until this point, nearly all my point-and-shoot cameras have been hand-me-downs).

It is a Panasonic DMC-FX550 and it has great flexibility; with a wide-angle lens (24mm), touch screen and (and this is the feature I like the most) the option to make it as fully manual as a point-and-shoot can get. You can alter the ISO as with most digital cameras (and, for what it is, it is very good at the higher ISOs), but you can also manually alter the aperture and shutter speed, with an on-screen sliding scale. I don't always use this feature (as obviously, it's more time consuming that just letting the camera do its thing), but I very much enjoy playing around with it - and it can definitely improve the photo (although the "intelligent auto" mode is very much better than my previous camera, at least).

Anyway, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a new point-and-shoot (although I think there's a newer version available now as I bought it last summer).

#206 VB, your parakeets sighting sounds wonderful - these things are always so much more exciting when they're unexpected, aren't they? Hope you enjoy Cannery Row - sounds like you're enough of a fan that you will, anyway!

#207 "Damn, now I want to do it again. Like right now." - Know the feeling!

Actually, VG, I've never done that, although I would love to some day. The first time I went up the West coast of the US, I took Greyhound all the way as I couldn't afford to hire a car for more than a few days (which I saved for around Bryce and the Grand Canyon as I was out of season) and, unfortunately, it didn't really follow Highway 1 (or the ones I took didn't anyway). I did stop in San Louis Obispo for a day/night though (great YHA and Farmer's Market there incidently), which was such a relief!

The second time, when some mates and I hired a car between LA and San Francisco for a week and we went the quick way as it was only a week and we wanted to go to Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks.

This time, I saw enough of the road to know that I definitely want to follow the whole route one day. Ho hum. I have this wonderful image of taking a few years off work and going on a road trip first across as much of Europe as I could cover and then the US and Canada, stopping in random places and always taking the slow route - sleeping in the car if I needed to. Maybe one day...

#208 No problem Darryl, I shall just store all these little facts away for when I next go (when I will hopefully have a little bit longer to explore!). You're right about how much there is to do though - this was my 3rd visit (albeit a very short one) and I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface...

The photos I took of the New Year Parade were mostly on Geary Street, immediately before Union Square. I actually ended up staying on the edge of Chinatown (I had endless problems trying to book the Green Tortoise), so was (unintentionally) in the perfect location (if hard to get to during the parade!).

I know, I thought I was very good in City Lights too. It was the image of having to cross London on the tube with yet another bag in addition to my main luggage, my quite heavy (due to SLR camera) hand luggage and the poster my colleague (who is currently still out there and hopefully putting all your recommendations to good use) had me bring back with me. I just couldn't face it! So I was very good and put down all the wonderful big fat tomes I'd piled up and just came back with the four, very slim volumes...

That said, that if I'd been there for more than one full day, all those good intentions would probably have been swept away...

Now I've been to Ocean Beach, I think I'd agree with you. I very much enjoyed my cycle along the Bay and I would have missed the Farmer's Market and the Polar Plunge if I hadn't gone there, but, for a place to read and relax (and a lovely walk - I only took the MUNI as far as 9th Ave on the way out), I think I'll be going to the Ocean next time (even though I did end up with heat/wind rash).

Re Chicago, I did actually go on a boat trip along the river last time I was in Chicago and I agree, it was a fantastic way to see the city. If anyone is interested, there are a fewpics here, although they're (mostly) taken with my old point-and-shoot, which wasn't as good and whose light meter I hadn't got to grips with at the time (the good, clear ones I took with my SLR).

Sounds like the public transport along the lake is actually pretty good - I wonder where I got the idea it wasn't from? Thanks for your suggestions, I shall investigate (and maybe trundle over to Mark/msf59's thread!)

Re Greyhound. Yes. I know this now. They are also hideously uncomfortable for long journeys and only make pit-stops in the most depressing places possible en-route. Even in the nice towns. I had a Greyhound pass for a month as part of my Gap Year travels and the JOY of finally leaving the bus behind was absolute... Ugh San Francisco to Las Vegas. Ugh. NEVER AGAIN!!!

...and before I run off:

29) Ghosts - César Aira
(Feb 2010, San Francisco)

One of the City Lights purchases and another short one. Centering around a luxury apartment building construction site, the family of the caretaker and her builder husband and the strange ghosts all over the site. I'm not quite sure how to describe this one, or really what I think of it. I do know, however, that I did not like the resolution of the plot...

Eeek, lots of posts! Just dropping in quickly to say I love the photos, really glad you had a good trip and welcome back!

#211 Most of them lengthy ones from me!! Hallo and thank you (and yours is one of the threads I shall try to catch up on this weekend...)!

Your trip to California sounds wounderful. One of these days I hope to make it to the west coast... unfortunatly there are as many places I'd like to visit as there are books I'd like to read and I know I'll never get to all of them.

Sounds like you had an absolutely fabulous time. Sigh. Envy. I haven't been there since I was at the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure life period of reading, but I was born just up the road and feel a little of bit of me is always wanting to go back....

#214 I really liked the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books when I was younger but I only ever managed to get to the end by cheating. Without the cheating I died or otherwise managed to end the adventure at pretty much the first choice I had to make!

Given that, I'm impressed I've managed real life for so long.

Nice Chi-Town photos, Fliss! Yes, you clearly did take a Chicago River boat tour. BTW, there is a great used bookstore in the Wicker Park section of the city, Myopic Books, on North Milwaukee Avenue near the park.

The Farmers' Market at the Ferry Terminal Building is great. I try to go there early Saturday mornings before the crowd arrives.

Was the Polar Plunge along Ocean Beach, the Embarcadero or elsewhere?

I assume that you took the N-Judah line to 9th Avenue & Irving Street, just past the UCSF main campus (Parnassus) in the Sunset District. That area has a ton of outstanding Chinese, Vietnamese & Korean restaurants. A good friend of mine from med school completed a fellowship at UCSF, and we would get together several times whenever I visited the city.

The Lakeshore is separated from the rest of the city by a major expressway (Kennedy Expressway?), as well as Lake Shore Drive, I think. From what I remember, it is difficult to get to Lake Michigan from the Loop or the neighborhoods north of the city.

Riding a Greyhound bus is possibly the most dangerous and depressing thing one can do in the US, other than serving a life sentence at Leavenworth Penitentiary.

Bother. Did that thing of losing the post again when I opened another internet tab. Let's see, where was I?

#213 I certainly did Kittybee and I definitely sympathise - by we must continue to try to see everywhere and read everything! ;o)

#214 I remember those! Although we only had the Usbourn ones...

Yep, I'm very lucky really that I have the opportunity to go to these Conferences, even if the vast majority are in the US (I do enjoy visiting the US, but I would quite like to go to other places too! ;)). These days we're not allowed to add holiday on the end (some sort of tax reason, despite the fact that the flights are usually the same price and can even be cheaper if you arrange it well). I paid for my own return flight from Rome last year, so that I could have some holiday time as well, so I was very fortunate this time round that the return flight on the Sunday was about £1200 cheaper than those on the Friday and Saturday - what a shame to have to stay out there an extra couple of days - I don't know how I managed it! ;o)

#215 chuckle!

#216 Thanks Darryl - and for the second hand book shop recommendation, which I shall definitely be checking out - I particularly like used book shops (it's why I keep being waylaid by charity shops... as I was yesterday...)

Yes, I enjoyed the Farmer's Market - it was a shame that I wasn't staying a little longer, or I would have stocked up for a couple of days!

The Polar Plunge was between Fort Mason and the Golden Gate Bridge, on Marine Drive. Re the N-Judah line, yep, that was the spot - I shall have to go back there next time round - sadly, that was the day that I was leaving and the lovely Guest House people were already letting me check out late, so I couldn't hang around for lunch...

Re Greyhound, I will completely agree - hence the resolution never to take another one EVER ;o) !! I didn't even get to see any particularly impressive views, because they take the quick routes and I get car-sick, so I I can't read and have to just do my best to sleep through journeys like that (not easy on the Greyhound...). NEVER AGAIN!

30) The Castle of Llyr - Lloyd Alexander
Goal 2: Group Reads (link to group read)
(Jan 2010, Cambridge)

The continuation of the Chronicles of Prydain, for the group read. Eilonwy must leave Caer Dallben for the Isle of Mona in order to become a young lady and Taren will accompany her out there. But danger threatens her, in the form of the Enchantress Achren, who needs Eilonwy for her own dark plans.

Rachael will be very pleased to hear that I enjoyed this much more than the previous two - there is definitely a sense of building momentum within this third book in the series - and I think I can see why those who've already read the whole series say that they should really be taken as a whole. The characters continue to grow convincingly, again, there are one or two great new characters (I particularly enjoyed Queen Teleria) and, if I still find Gurgi irritating one or two answers to some of the unanswered questions start to be hinted at.

31) Ruby and the Stone Age Diet - Martin Millar
(Feb 2010, San Francisco)

The narrator has been dumped by his girlfriend Cis and he can't stop thinking about her and the Aphrodite Cactus that she gave him when she left, which, he has been reliably informed by Ruby, will seal his love with the one who gave it to him when it flowers. Ruby is his housemate and friend. The best friend anyone could possibly have. A friend like Ruby is hard to find.

Because this is written by Martin Millar, myths, werewolves, god and goddesses are also involved. Martin Millar writes very absorbingly, with, in this case, a very dream-like flow. I didn't always like where the story went, but I always enjoyed reading it and was always kept guessing, even in the situations in which we are allowed to glimpse at the truth behind the narrator's perceptions.

32) Queste - Angie Sage
(Mar 2010, Cambridge)

Fourth in Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series, Septimus and Jenna go in search of their brother Nicko who has been lost 500 years in the past. Oh I am enjoying this series!

33) The Giver - Lois Lowry
(Mar 2010, Cambridge)

A children's book centering on Jonas, a boy just turning 12, living in a well disguised dystopia. Jenny/lunacat wrote a very good review of this, so I shall lead you to that!

Fast paced and genuinely chilling - I was completely transported to Jonas' world reading this book. I gather it's part of a trilogy, but I'm not really sure that I want to read any more of them!

...and now, because I've been reading a lot of children's books, I shall start reading Remains of the Day... although maybe I should go to the allotment before it gets dark first...

Comments on The Elegance of the Hedgehog and Shutter Island still to follow...

Edited to add group read link

Gah, all your talk of SF etc has made me desperate to travel somewhere again. Anywhere. I just want to get on a train or a plane! The lack of money and lack of energy are both reasons I can't though.

I'll just go back to daydreaming. I know in my mind that I was made to see more of the world than I have, I just fear I will never get there.

It's lovely to be able to travel vicariously through you, and with such gorgeous pictures :)

After reading Number the Stars, Looking Back: A Book of Memories and The Silent Boy, I now need to read The Giver. Thanks for your comments which remind me what a great book it is.

#218 Ruby and the Stone Age Diet sounds intriguing but instead I will try The Good Fairies of New York by the same author because I can order a copy of that one at the library and you gave it a higher rating (not that I am a library snoop).

#220 And I was sure it had been your recommendation that made me pick up The Giver Linda. Maybe it was Jenny. Anyway, twas a good book.

Hmm. I'm not sure if I want to add Ruby and the Stone Age Diet to the wishlist. It sounds interesting. I read The Good Fairies of New York based on Neil Gaiman's introduction and didn't like it. I think it was all the New York related mistakes in the narative. I could tell it was written by someone who didn't live in the city.

I really liked Millar's Lonely Werewolf Girl and have The Good Fairies of New York on my tbr. I'll see how that goes before adding Ruby and the Stone Age Diet which also looks interesting.

I must catch up on my Diana Wynne Jones reading, I still have 3 or 4 of her latest ones to read.

Am coming out of lurkerdom on your thread to say that I loved the photos of your trip to SF and stories about your trip. I love San Francisco but have spent only about a week there.

Am looking forward to your comments on The Elegance of the Hedgehog because we read it at the same time, but had different reactions - I loved it from the first chapter and now am trying to work out why. I am about to read the group read thread on it, because I'd forgotten about it till now.

#218: Thanks for the reminder about The Castle of Llyr, Flissp. I still have to get that one read for the group discussion.

I think I will pass on the Millar book. It does not sound like my cup of tea.

I have enjoyed the entire Septimus Heap saga, too. I have read all the way through Syren now. I hope you continue to enjoy the books.

I love The Giver. I am glad you enjoyed it too. As to the other 2 parts of the trilogy, they are no where near the writing of the first book, IMHO.

Fliss,

The pics of Monterey were great. The wife and I spent a great deal of our time in NorCal in that city and the shots you had reminded me of our time there.

Glad you enjoyed yourself. good idea to read Cannery Row while there, though, you're right about Of Mice and Men being the superior work. Of course, my favorite will always be East of Eden set in the ag valley there. Did you get to the Steinbeck museum and house where he grew up in Salinas. The house has a great restaurant.

#218

Oh, forgot to say, absolutely don't read the other two of the trilogy after The Giver. Mostly wish I hadn't, as aalthough I did enjoy them, it removed some of the enjoyment of the first book.

#219 Thank you Jenny. I sympathise with the lack of holidaying ability - when I first started to work where I do now, I couldn't afford a proper holiday either and I really suffered - sometimes you just need to get away. In the end I compromised by going camping in the UK - sometimes just the time off work away from home helps, although I have chronic itchy-feet syndrome and still can't afford to go to all the wonderful places I'd like to (hence the luckiness with the conferences)... One day.... ;o)

#220 Pleasure Linda!

#221 souloftherose, nowt wrong with a bit of library snooping - I do the same! Yep, I did prefer The Good Fairies of New York, so would recommend it over Ruby and the Stone Age Diet. Both books are quite off the wall though...

#222 Interesting VB. I've only been to New York the one time, so I didn't spot all his mistakes, but that would irritate me too. Ruby and the Stone Age Diet is set in London (which he does know about), although really, there isn't enough of the city in it to make many mistakes, so I wouldn't be put off by that. What I would say is that if you didn't enjoy his style in Good Fairies, you probably won't like this one either...

To me, the characters in both books are not real - in many ways, they're all caricatures. This is my main issue with both books - but, strangely (for me - I like convincing characters), it didn't actually put me off. You just have to suspend reality for a while!

#223 I've got Lonely Werewolf Girl on my wishlist thanks to girlunderglass last year, so with your recommendation too, it sounds like I should bump it up a bit!

...and yes, Diana Wynne Jones reading should always be caught up on ;o) Which have you got lined up?

#224 Hi cmt, welcome and thank you! I definitely do intend to come back to comment properly on The Elegance of the Hedgehog (if not review it), because it did make me think quite a bit, but, like you, I'm currently collecting my thoughts. I also need to catch up on the group read thread, which I stopped reading when comments started to arrive, as it was a book I wanted to form my think about on my own before I read other peoples (if that makes sense). Maybe I shall catch up properly this weekend (although there will be a fair bit of rugby watching, so it may not be until the end Sunday!...)

#225 ...ooh, and I still need to go over to the group discussion and leave my comments - thank you for the reminder Stasia!

Re the Millar book, yes, I suspect that he's the kind of writer that could really not suit some people. I'm on the edge a little myself, despite enjoying the two I've read (which I realise sounds contradictory, but is probably just because, while there are aspects of his writing that I don't like, the style overcomes them for me)...

I'm looking forward to Syren. I had hoped that the whole series would be published by the time I got to this point, but looks like I'm just going to have to go ahead and order if anyway and then put up with the wait for the last book! ;o)

#225 & 7 Re the sequels to The Giver - thank you both. Good to know, even if I did have a suspicion. It's a horrible thing when sequels don't live up to expectations - particularly if they denigrate the memory of the first one...

I discovered somehow ***SPOILER ALERT*** that, while you leave The Giver assuming that Jacob has died of hyperthermia/starvation, in the third book, you discover he survived. This to me was a very bad sign as, while you want him to survive, to have him survive after leaving him where he was, loses the message somewhat (in my opinion anyway).? ***END OF SPOILER***

#226 Thanks BDB! Given how much I've enjoyed what I've read by John Steinback, I realise that I've read really very little by him, which is something I must rectify - I shall have to add East of Eden to the list too then ;o)
Sadly, I didn't have as much free time as it may appear from my photos, so no, I didn't get to the Steinbeck museum as I couldn't have made it to Salinas - but I'll make sure to add that to the list of places to see! I'm sure to go back to San Francisco at some point - maybe next time I'll have a car too...

No new books to add to the list at the moment, although I'm very much enjoying Remains of the Day so far (when I get the time to read it). I suspect that my vision of Stevens is very much coloured by Anthony Hopkins wonderful portrayal of him in the film adaptation, but I've loved all his ditherings about bantering!

Drive-by posting just to say I'm soooooooo relieved you enjoyed The Castle of Llyr more than the others. My memory of reading the books, even aged 8ish, was that the first two were much weaker than the rest, but important background, and things got MUCH better from 3 onwards. Wondering if I can skip The Black Cauldron and just re-read book 3... I still have, in a shoebox somewhere, the project that I did on the Chronicles of Prydain, complete with cover drawing of Eilonwy and her bauble in the, um, "climactic and dramatic scene involving water" near the end of the book (no spoiler? Hope not).

Regarding the Pyridian books which I read a few years ago, I was really taken with Eilonwy and enjoyed the books immensely.

DWJ books on my tbr pile - The Merlin Conspiracy - I've started this a couple of times but been sidetracked. I was in Melbourne a few years ago and on a tram watching an Asian guy engrossed in reading this and thinking I must read it.
Enchanted Glass - I've just got this and my daughter who likes DWJ too has taken it to her room.
Fire and Hemlock - a reread as I have forgotten the book entirely and wonder if I ever read it.
Conrad's Fate, The Pinhoe Egg, The Game,House of Many Ways. Gosh, didn't realise how many I have to go.

I'm currently listening to Kim Hill interviewing Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer who are both in New Zealand this week. Unfortunately Gaiman is only in Wellington so I don't have a chance to see him. I did get to an event with Patrick Ness on Friday night and that was brilliant. Dana (13yrs) went with me, she wants to be a writer and his talk was very inspiring - Writing with joy. He read an extract from Chapter 1 of Monsters of Men.

Sneaking in to leave a quick list of things to update tomorrow...:

34) Brooklyn - Colm Tóibín (Mar10, Cambridge)
35) Beside the Sea - Veronique Olmi (Mar10, Cambridge, REVIEW PENDING FOR ER)
36) Wild Magic - Tamora Pierce (Mar10, Rock Road)

...creeping back out again now, before anyone notices...

#231 Caught!

#231: Waiting for reviews . . . although I have already read Brooklyn.

#229, Rachael, I want to see that project!! (nope, no spoiler)

#230 Re The Merlin Conspiracy, I can't remember if you've read Deep Secret or not - I think you have? If you haven't, you should probably read that first as it precedes the former (although, as you know, with DWJ it never really matters if you read things out of sequence) - hope you enjoy it this time round anyway, it's one of her newer books that I've enjoyed the most. Ditto her new one, Enchanted Glass. Ah, who am I kidding, I enjoy them all really... Ah me. Wonder when she's going to publish the next one now? ;o)

Shall have to follow the link for that Kim Hill interview - was it any good? They're usually both quite good interviewees. Yep, I'm slightly envious of New Zealand at the moment, there seems to be such a lot going on! But I'll be catching Amanda Palmer when her tour reaches the UK soon anyway, if not Neil Gaiman...

Sorry you're missing Neil Gaiman, but glad Patrick Ness was so good - he seems like a nice bloke. I'm waiting with bated breath for my copy of Monsters of Men to reach me (due early May I think...), then I can finally read The Ask and the Answer...

#232 Aaaaaaaahhhh!

#233 Yep, I've been very bad about reviewing and catching up properly lately. Must do so very soon.... However, had quite a busy day at work, so I'm not going to get round to it now as I want to head off home...

A quick summary: Brooklyn, I very much enjoyed reading, but occasionally wanted to slap Eilis. Beside the Sea was a horrible, horrible story, but well written, although I'd be interested in seeing the original French, to see how the translated it, as the language of the mother didn't seem consistent to me. Wild Magic was good fun and a relief after Beside the Sea.

Isn't it interesting when a character in a book elicits feelings that we just have to slap them...
I felt this way about Ethan Fromme. He drove me nuts. His passivity and the way in which he was portrayed as a passive victim, sent me up the wall.

#235 Agreed. I've not read Ethan Fromme, but in this instance, it was totally in keeping with Eilis' character - that just doesn't mean I had to like it! ;o)

34) Brooklyn - Colm Tóibín
(Mar10, Cambridge)

This is the story of Eilis Lacey, who finds herself leaving her home in small town, 50's Ireland to take up a job opportunity in Brooklyn, a place of many opportunities, but also a place in which she struggles to feel at home.

This was a very random purchase - I've seen other members of this group review it favourably, but wasn't sure it was really for me. In fact, the only reason I bought it was that I had an accidentally book-less 45mins to waste and this was the only thing that even remotely appealed to me in the not-to-be-named eveel supermarket chain (the only place with books nearby).

I was pleasantly surprised and instantly drawn in to a well told, absorbing story with carefully thought out, convincing characters. There is a very gentle pace to this book, something that completely suits the central character, Eilis, who seems to be rather a shy, unassuming individual. Eilis drifts through life, allowing others to make her decisions for her and living with the consequences. This is why I say above that I sometimes felt like slapping her - I can certainly sympathise with going with the flow in many situations, but to allow other people to make life-altering decisions for you - well, it seems weak-willed to me and I was desperate for her to learn to take her life in to her own hands occasionally. This said, I think that for her to have done so would have been completely out of character and, while the decisions sometimes make her very unhappy, Eilis never really complains, but learns to adjust, making the best of things. If life doesn't unfold as she envisioned, her nature doesn't allow her to lay blame and one feels that she will always learn to be happy enough.

This is one of those books that makes me think I should revise my whole starring system as I'm not consistent enough. Maybe I should just un-rate everything!

35) Beside the Sea - Véronique Olmi (Review)
(Mar10, Cambridge, ARC - ER)

Goodness this is a hard book for me to review!

A mother takes her two young sons to the seaside, but the trip is not just to show them the sea for the first time and it's certainly not a holiday.

This is an absorbing, well observed, if oppressive read. Right from the first few sentences, you are aware that all is not quite right and the miserable weather that pervades the book reflects a general sense of unease that we feel right from the start. To say that this is a very disturbing story is not to give away the plot. I could not enjoy reading it, but was nonetheless gripped, following the thoughts of a mother who loves her children, but can't stop herself from unravelling. The two little boys - big brother, aged 9, taking on the responsibility for his little brother with heartbreaking seriousness; little brother, too young to really understand what is going on - they are utterly convincing.

One small note is that I should be interested to see this in the original French - the book is a monologue from the mother and her "accent" (in my English translation) does not seem very consistent, which irked me a little bit, although was easy enough to ignore once I had become immersed.

All in all, I can't honestly say that I liked this - I certainly needed something cheerful lined up next - but I did think it was well written, with some wonderful characterisation.

36) Wild Magic - Tamora Pierce
(Mar10, Rock Road)

...and this was the something cheerful! The firs of Tamora Pierce's "Immortals" series, set several years beyond the point at which we left Alanna in the "Songs of the Lioness". This time, the story focuses on Daine. Orphaned after bandits kill her family and burn down her home (OK, so far, not so cheerful!), Daine looks for work as an apprentice to Onua - the woman responsible for the horses of "The Queen's Riders". Seeing her affinity with her naturally irritable charges, Onua takes her on, despite Daine's young age. Despite my childhood reading, these days, I'm a little wary of books that anthropomorphise animals, however, my teeth weren't set on edge by this, despite a distinct possibility that that might be the case! Great fun.

I'm now half way through Remains of the Day and continue to enjoy it immensely - Stevens is such a wonderful character!

Nice bunch! Fortunately I already got Brooklyn on the TBR list and have read Wild Magic several times (I loooove Tamora Pierce!), so only need to add Beside the Sea. Great reviews btw!

#236: Sounds like you liked Brooklyn a lot more than I did. I much preferred Toibin's The Master.

I think I will skip Beside the Sea. It just does not sound like my cup of tea.

I am due to read my first Tamora Pierce book next month, and if Catey has anything to say about it, it will not be my last.

fliss

When I visit this thread I find such great descriptions of books and wonderful ideas. Your writing is inspiring. And, as soon as I get the pile of library books read and back to the library, Remains of the Day is next up.

I'll be interested in knowing your final impressions.

#237 Thank you! I'm only just discovering Tamora Pierce for the first time, thanks to RebeccaAnn - I'm having great fun with them!

#238 Oh good! I bought The Master in January - clearly another one to bump up the "to read next" list!

To be honest, "Beside the Sea" wasn't really my cup of tea either. I kind of knew what to expect from the ER description, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway as it has some wonderful reviews and I feel I should challenge my comfort zone a bit more than I do sometimes (not something I think that you have a problem with!). It was certainly well written, but the story upset me immensely...

Re Tamora Pierce, I wouldn't say she's a literary genius, but she's great fun to read, with well developed characters, who don't always do the obvious. Which will you be reading?

#239 Why thank you Linda - I'm very touched! I enjoy your thread very much too - when I can keep up with it!! Remains of the Day I heartily recommend even though I've not finished yet...

37) OxTales: Earth - Various
(Jun2009, Cambridge)

Last year, as a fund raiser, Oxfam produced four collections of new short stories, written by well known British or Irish based (not necessarily born) authors, (very) loosely themed around the elements - Earth, Water, Wind & Fire. This is the second collection, containing authors such as Vikram Seth, Rose Tremain, Jonathan Coe, Kate Atkinson, Ian Rankin and Hanif Kureishi.

Given the mixed collection of authors, I found this to be surprisingly consistent and enjoyed reading nearly every single one. Interestingly, it was the authors that I'm unfamiliar with that I enjoyed the most - which is the great delight of a book like this - the discovery of new authors. I shall definitely be investigating Marina Lewycka (who wrote about her mother and her obsession with keeping her daughter's feet warm) and Nicholas Shakespeare (a woman living in an unspecified African dictatorship visiting her daughter in England sees a painting by Munch of Charlotte Corday with Marat and can't stop thinking about the woman who killed the French revolutionary)...

#240: Alanna - Catey loaned it to me. Eventually she is going to want it back, so I have got to get it read soon.

Hi fliss, drive-by hug

*waves at Richard's receding back* ;o)

#241 Good starting point! Hmmm. What do I know, that's the only complete series of hers I've read ;o) Hope you enjoy it too!

#244: Thanks, Fliss.

As a Tamora Pierce fan, I'll say Alanna is a good starting point! But I might be biased, as I read that series the first time when I was 10-11 and have read them more times than I can remember since then. It wasn't until much later the next series came. I love everything Tammy has made, but particular the Tortall series. I do think however that if you haven't read Song of the Lioness (The Alanna series) as a kid, the later series in the Tortall universe might have more substance, but I'm not sure. I've read all of it too many times to judge it properly :) I hope you'll like it, Stasia.

I lied when I said Alanna is going to be my first Tamora Pierce book. I had forgotten that she wrote Terrier which I read last year. I picked up the sequel today at the library. Regardless, Alanna is going to be read soon.

Oh, I am so far behind!

I love your pictures, though I haven't had a chance to look through all of them yet. The dragon sea horse(?) is amazing; I didn't know things like that existed.

Spoilers about The Giver: When I read it the first time, as a child, it actually didn't occur to me that Jonas had died. It was only when we did a group read in the Read YA Lit group a couple of years ago that someone pointed out the possibility, and it made me appreciate the book more. I'd also advise against reading the sequels; I've only read the second one, and it really didn't add anything to the story in my mind.

About Greyhound: I think it depends how far you're going. I have absolutely no problem taking a Greyhound for a four or five hour ride, and actually just took an eleven-hour trip last night. It wasn't comfortable for a full night's sleep, but I also didn't feel that my life was at risk from homicidal maniacs. My biggest annoyance was the two "bathroom breaks", 10 and 15 minutes long. There's already a bathroom on the bus! I'd much rather not have been woken up at 4 in the morning; why couldn't they just let us sleep?

And I'm always glad to hear about people reading Tamora Pierce.

#248 Re the sea dragon (yep, apparently, it is a type of sea horse) - me either - I couldn't quite believe them when I saw them!

Re The Giver, yes, that made the ending more poignant for me anyway - and I shall definitely be steering clear of the sequels given your comments, along with those of the others!

Re Greyhound. Hmmm. Yes, you see, the first time I was in the US, I was there at the tail end of a travelling type of gap year and I was there for a month. A month was not very much time to see all the stuff I wanted to see, but I'd been away a long time at that point and I couldn't really afford to stay longer, so I tried to cram as much in as possible (if not everything I wanted). This required quite a number of VERY LONG bus journeys - I forget the actual route I took now, but all but one journey (5hrs) was between 8 - 16 hrs long.

Unfortunately, I'm not good on buses - I've never actually been physically sick, but I come very close, so I can't read, which doesn't help. ...and then there was the fact that the buses invariably smelled, I always seemed to end up on busy buses next to someone who either had problems washing or really needed two seats (I'm trying not to offend anyone here, but it really isn't pleasant being squeezed into half a seat).

Maybe it was just the places I went between, but they were also usually fairly boring routes (from a viewing-through-the-window when you can't sleep point of view) and stopped in fairly miserable places that only ever seem to have either MacDonalds or Subway (there _must_ be more, nice, independent places to stop)...

Of course, the fact that I get itchy feet if I have to sit down for more than a couple of hours together probably didn't help the Greyhound cause for me either... It is true that I never felt unsafe on one (although some of the bus stations themselves seemed to be in fairly dodgy areas for a girl travelling alone), but it is quite possible that, if I'd had the energy, I would have been one of those homicidal maniacs by the end of the longest journey ;o)

The single thing I can say to the positive was that I had a ticket that was valid for month and it was very good value. I imagine that if I hadn't taken quite so many loooong journeys in such a short space of time, I'd be more forgiving of the poor bus.

Anyway, this is why I shall never EVER take another Greyhound bus journey again ;o) I prefer trains anyway, but they mostly didn't seem to go where I wanted (or not without going by a very convoluted route...).

Actually, when I got to my final destination, a lady came up to me at the bus station, begging for money to get away from her abusive husband. I've no idea if she was being truthful, or if it was a scam, but, having finished my last journey, with the ticket valid for another few days, I gave it to her. She didn't look too happy about it, so it probably was a scam. Hey ho. Either that or she disliked Greyhound as much as I did by that point!

...long winded story over ;o)

#246 - 248 Woo for Tamora Pierce!!

I got the half seat on the plane, but happily it was one of the shorter legs on my journey home. And the dude made NO effort to stay on his side...

I didn't 'catch up', but now that I've found you I'm going to strive to stay 'caught up.' :)

Luckily I've never had my airplane seat neighbor spilling over onto my seat . Don't they make people buy a second seat these days? Although if the plane is full I don't know what they do. Kevin Smith (the director) was recently in the news for being asked to leave a plane because he was too heavy for a single seat.
I recommend train travel in the US. Amtrack is nice - very spacious. My last trip to Philadelphia on Amtrack has ruined plane travel for me. At least in coach. If only I could afford first class flights.

If there was a train over the atlantic I'd take it! The Eurostar under the Channel is fun (and fast!). You wouldn't look at this guy and think grossly overweight. Same goes for me. But with both of us having a bit too much, well... but it didn't faze him! LOL

Thankfully I'm such a tiny person that it doesn't matter if people spill over into my seat, there is usually lots of room! And before people start getting jealous that I'm skinny, trust me, there are lots and lots of downsides.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we were all just perfectly content with what we were given? People go on about how much they'd like my build and all I want is to be taller with more curves! Go figure :/

Jenny and Susan

I find the same thing with people who have straight hair -- they want it curly. And, people with curly hair -- they want it straight.

I simply want to be migrane free!..Oh, and would like to be 35-50 pounds lighter.

# 253 - The grass is always greener, isn't it?

#254: As one of the people with the curly hair, I would dearly love to have it straight!

@254, 256: Nope, generally been happy with my hair. It's my one good feature, frequently envied by others, and largely wasted on me, since I rarely do more than put it in a ponytail. I'm waiting to see what it looks like as it grows in this year.

I love my wavy hair and wouldn't change that!

But I am with you 100% about wanting to be much, much lighter!! :)

#250 Hallo Susan!

#253 - 8 Yep, it's a universal theme, isn't it, as Luxx says, the grass is always greener ;o)

Oh dear. Every time I think I've caught up on the threads this year, I leave LT alone for a couple of days and completely lose track again. I owe an update, but I'm at work right now, so it's going to be a quick one (and I haven't forgotten The Elegance of the Hedgehog, but I've yet to herald my thoughts properly)...

38) Brat Farrar - Josephine Tey
Goal 2: Group Read (link to my comments on the group read)
(Borrowed from parents)

So, with a little trepidation, I put aside the wonderful Remains of the Day in order to read this for the group read. Trepidation because I loved this when I first read it and I've been recommending it to everyone ever since, but it's been a long time since I last read it... Luckily, I still had a great time reading it, despite knowing the outcome (mind you, you can pretty much guess the outcome from the start anyway...). Good fun.

For some reason reading this gave me huge cravings for my next book (I'm not sure why, it must be a read-at-the-same-time thing, because the two books bear absolutely no relation to each other) - it was a quicky, so I thought I may as well:

39) Half-way Across the Galaxy and Turn Left - Robin Klein
(Jan 1994, Cambs)

A children's fantasy book. X and her family arrive in suburban Earth, on the run from the law (following her father's 27th fixing of the lottery). It seems like a good back water to hide out in, while they wait to be able to go home when the next government is bribed into power. X, as the family organiser worries non-stop about her parents and brother and sister assimilating properly into Earth society, but, at the end of the day, it is she who struggles most.

A witty, gentle story about fitting in.

40) Wolf-Speaker - Tamora Pierce
41) The Emperor Mage - Tamora Pierce
(Mar 2010, Rock Road Library)

These arrived at the library at the weekend, so I thought I'd read them quickly before turning back to Remains of the Day.

Following on from Wild Magic in The Immortals series, all good fun, although I felt that, in The Emperor Mage particularly, the pace starts to wane a little bit. Still an enjoyable read and I look forward to the last in the series, before I get on with a bit more sensible stuff ;o)

...Still very much enjoying Remains of the Day, which I'm reading at a nice leisurely pace. I'm also very much enjoying John Peel's Olivetti Chronicles, as much lunchtime reading - but then I always was a big fan of his, particularly growing up... More on both when I actually finish them...

#256 I got mine straightened :D

#260: I am too lazy to go through the hassle. Especially since I know the curls are just going to grow out again.

Catching up on your thread .... and thanks all for the reminder that I need to make an appointment to get my hair cut this weekend.

chuckle - me too Caroline!

#261 The process takes like 5-6 hours and the chairs are very comfortable for reading! This might tempt you to make the effort *chuckles*

#264: Nope, I do not think so.

Shoot, a 2-hour coloring seems like too much sometimes. Five to six hours? That's dedication.

2 hours! 5-6 hours!

I get cranky when there's more than a 20 minute wait at Carlo's Barber Shop for a 10 minute haircut!

I'm with you Tad LOL

Me too.

Which is why I always leave months in between haircuts and it's consequently usually a mess, with a fairly obvious colour skull cap - it's a good job I only ever get highlights...

...it is true you can get quite a lot of reading done in those 2 hrs though...

I can't do more than an hour in the chair - so I don't highlight or color, or really do anything except get a hair cut. I have straight hair, so it's pretty much wash and wear anyway.... and in the summer I don't even bother with the hair dryer, I just leave the windows of my car down on the way to work. ;-)

I do not highlight, color, straighten, etc. My hair is lucky if it gets cut once a year. You can tell how much I like it, huh?

Can't do even 10 minutes LOL
So I do the hair cutting myself, last time I had it done was the day before I got married.
And before that they always managed to sell a color or a style I regreted afterwards... I used to be very bad in saying "NO".

The woman who cuts my hair comes to the house. We sit and have a scotch before she slices and dices the few remaining strands into such patterns as amuse her. I don't much care what she does so long as it doesn't involve chemicals and prolonged sitting still, a thing I loathe.

Really, the only reason I bother is so she'll trim my beard. It's a picky process, one I have no patience for, but shaving irritates my skin so I grow the beard and have the trims.

My stylist is my cousin, which works in my favor (especially when the boys need haircuts). I like to go to the salon to get a break from bedtime, but if I can't make it she'll pop over to the house. My hair was mid-thigh until October of 2008; at that point I chopped off 36 inches and started coloring it again.

Now I have hair ADD. It's currently chin-length and black I've decided to grow it out and transition to blonde for the first time. I just had the first set of foils done this week, as a matter of fact...

#270 Yep, no hair dryers for me either - and the only time I ever tried to straighten my hair, I only managed one side properly and burnt my ear ;o)

I only highlighted my hair for the first time a couple of years ago for my sister's wedding as I thought I really should make an effort for that (I started to go white at 21 and not in a distinguished way) . It did make a huge difference though, so every now and then I have it done for a special occasion. I'm going to 3 weddings in the space of 4 weeks soon, so I shall probably do it then, for instance...

#273 She sounds like my kind of hair dresser!

#274 The other end of the extreme ;o)

Right, on with some books, although I've still been on a bit of a children's series streak...:

42) The Realms of the Gods - Tamora Pierce
(Mar 2010, Rock Road Library)

Final installment in The Immortals series - good fun as ever. I'll probably give Tamora Pierce a bit of a break for a while now, so as not to burn out - and I feel I need to challenge myself a bit more at the moment (although there are still one or two comfort reads lined up...)

43) The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Goal 3: Books to read
(Jan 2009, Cambridge)

Ishiguro's monologue from a butler, immersed in his past and his work, but slightly at sea with his new (American) employer. He is on the first proper holiday of his life - driving to meet former house keeper Miss Kenton, in the hope that she will return to the house in which he works upon the apparent break down of her marriage.

This was just wonderful. Easily the best thing I've read in a while. You feel such sympathy for this rigid, proper man, obsessed with the little details that might make him the perfect butler (such as whether, and how to banter with his new employer) and whose whole life revolves around the job he has been doing all his life - to the detriment of everything else. So much of the book is implicit, never said. From his own telling of his past, he seems emotionless, obsessed with minutiae and with dignity in the face of adversity and yet one sees glimpses of his true feelings in his descriptions of the reactions of others to himself - a man doing his best to present an imperturbable front.

Of course, having seen the film adaptation first, (which I thought was beautifully done), I am completely unable to separate Stevens from Anthony Hopkins and Miss Kenton from Emma Thompson - and indeed, the subtlety of the story is very well conveyed - but there is, as one might expect, so much more depth to the book.

I can't recommend this enough.

44) Taran Wanderer - Lloyd Alexander
Goal 2: Group Reads (link to Chronicles of Prydain discussion)
(Mar 2010, Rock Road Library)

This arrived at the library for me a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I'd read it ahead of time (we're not far off April anyway now)...

Taran sets out to discover who he is (something I've been waiting for him to do since the first chapter of the first book), but the answers are not those he expects.

Best so far. Definitely. I find it very pleasing that although, throughout the series, the baddies are always very obviously baddies and you're led extremely rapidly through a not wholly unexpected plot, Lloyd Alexander doesn't always go for the cliché with Taran at least (yes, this does diverge slightly from my original opinion). Looking forward to the final installment...

The Remains of the Day is definitely going to be one of my summer reads.

Glad to know that Taran Wanderer is so good. I have not yet read it for the group read, but will in the next week or so.

#275 I have been thinking of reading Ishiguro for some time now, after your review, I will be careful to not choose this one as my first.

Remains of the Day is brilliant book. I think I'm going to delve into Veronique Olmi's world but (since I suspect I know why they are at the sea) I shall wait until I feel psychologically resilient enough to cope.

I am going to have to have a makeover soon. Lose 30 pounds, find stylish clothes to promote books, oh yes, and have major dental work that I'm procrastinating about, all to repair badly-done expensive dental work done a few years ago. Sigh. Isn't there a date after which life gets simpler and just -- happier?

>278 Chatterbox: Isn't there a date after which life gets simpler and just -- happier?

Death.

Fliss darling, far be it from my humble, unintrusive self to cause ructions in your thread, but isn't it about half-past time to make a new thread? With a link? And a link back from it to this one? Hmmm?

Smoochings!

I lost track of your tread somehow and found myself a month behind, so I have some quite belated comments for you. First of all, your trip looked wonderful - very relaxing even to read about! Also, I'm glad you enjoyed the DWJ revisit I helped to inspire! Great review of The Remains of the Day, that is finally definitely going on my wishlist, as is Ruby and the Stone Age Diet, although both for some time when I have more time to think.

>279 richardderus: Dear Richard, you are such a cheerful soul.

Fliss -- Ignore him... take the thread to 500! :)

#276 Stasia, I think you'll enjoy Remains of the Day - in fact, I find it hard to see how anyone couldn't ;o) (and I don't often say that...)

#277 On the "don't-read-the-best-first" principle?

#278 Yes, I think that's a good idea. Particularly if you have kids, or friends with kids. I definitely needed comfort reading having finished the book...

I keep planing makeovery type stuff. Never really gets very far. But I suppose the important thing is to keep trying...

#279 Richard, despite Susan's lovely reasssurance (and partly because there will inevitably be more photos), I buckle to your pressumre. My new thread can be found here.

#280 Thank you - and it was! ...and you remind me that I hadn't finished my DWJ revisit (I've got Witch Week and The Magicians of Caprona lined up still...). Definitely recommending Remains of the Day to ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE, so glad it's gone on your wishlist ;o) Ruby and the Stone Age Diet isn't really a book that needs a lot of thought to be honest, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. Actually, neither is Remains of the Day, but I'm glad I took my time over it, rather than whizzing through as I'm a bit apt to do...

#281 Susan, lovely to see you. NEXT thread, I shall take to 500 ;o) Or possibly, I'll continue to post one meaningless thought per day on this thread too until the end of the year, just to reach that 500!

LOL