late joining by Genny of 2010 75 book challenge

Have just logged into Library Thing for first time in ages, and came across this group.

There's a bit about me here: http://www.librarything.com/profile/gennyt
And a bit more on the introduce yourself thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/79114#1816070




I have now updated this post (beginning of March) to record everything read so far this year.
Lots of Margery Allingham - having been reminder of her by watching a TV adaptation over Christmas, am aiming to read/reread all of them this year.

Below is a summary of the reads so far this year, and reference to post numbers for discussion of particular books in more detail. The touchstones in the following summary may be incorrect - some of them need correcting every time I edit this message, and I don't always manage to fix them all...

July
50 Mystery Mile Margery Allingham - finished 2.7.10
June
41 Nightshade Paul Doherty - finished 2.6.10 - post 170
42 Dancers in Mourning Margery Allingham - finished 8.6.10 - post 172
43 Alexandria Lindsey Davis - finished 14.6.10 - post 186
44 Mistress of the Art of Death Ariana Franklin - finished 17.6.10 - post 206
45 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro - finished 20.6.10 - post 215
46 The Talisman Ring Georgette Heyer - finished 21.6.10 - post 216
47 Little Gidding Then and Now - Tony Hodgson - finished 22.6.10 - post 220
48 Sabriel - Garth Nix - finished 25.6.10
49 Corduroy Mansions - Alexander McCall Smith - finished 26.6.10

May
31 My 'Dam Life Sean Condon - finished 3.5.10 - post 91
32 Night Elie Wiesel - finished 6.5.10 - post 93
33 The Summer Tree Guy Gavriel Kay - finished 11.5.10 - post 97
34 Limbo Lodge Joan Aiken (aka Dangerous Games) - finished 14.5.10 - post 128
35 Dido and Pa Joan Aiken - finished 19.5.10 - post 130
36 Cranford Elizabeth Gaskell - finished 19.5.10 - post 131
37 Is Underground Joan Aiken - finished 24.5.10 - post 139
38 The Catcher in the Rye J D Salinger - finished 27.5.10 - post 140
39 According to Ruth Jane Feaver - finished 29.5.10 - post 168
40 Gallows View Peter Robinson - finished 31.5.10 - post 169

April
24 The Allingham Case-Book Margery Allingham finished 7.4.10 - post 29
25 Man zoekt vrouw om hem gelukkig te maken Yusef el Halal - finished 11.4.10 - post 29
26 Burnt Shadows Kamila Shamsie - finished 18.4.10 - post 40
27 Dogs of Riga Henning Mankell - finished 21.4.10 - post 56
28 The Crime at Black Dudley Margery Allingham - finished 23.4.10 - post 62
29 Tulip Fever Deborah Moggach - finished 28.4.10 - post 66
30 The Beckoning Lady - Allingham - finished 30.4.10 - post 78

March
17 The Children's Book A S Byatt - finished 7.3.10
18 Black Plumes Margery Allingham - finished 10.3.10
19 Death of a Ghost Margery Allingham - finished 13.3.10
20 More work for the undertaker Margery Allingham - finished 15.3.10 - message 18
21 The Stolen Lake Joan Aiken finished 22.3.10 - message 19
22 The Cuckoo Tree Joan Aiken finished 24.3.10 - message 25
23 No Love Lost Margery Allingham finished c 28.3.10 - message 27

February
9 Stormy Petrel Mary Stewart
10 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
11 The Road Cormac McCarthy - post 93
12 Lost Children Edith Pargeter
13 Martyr Rory Clements
14 The Mind Readers Margery Allingham - message 17
15 Tea Time for the Traditionally Built Alexander McCall Smith
16 The Tiger in the Smoke Margery Allingham

January - see message 15
1 Sweet Danger Margery Allingham
2 Traitor's Purse Margery Allingham
3 Mr Campion and Others Margery Allingham
4 The Fashion in Shrouds Margery Allingham
5 Take Two at Bedtime Margery Allingham
6 The Case of the Late Pig Margery Allingham
7 Hide my Eyes Margery Allingham
8 Police at the Funeral Margery Allingham

Welcome Genny - I'm not one of them but there are some other Allingham fans here.

Welcome to the group, Genny!

Welcome!

Hi Genny and welcome! I used to be a real Allingham fan - it's been a long time, but maybe I'll give them another go.

Welcome

Hi Genny. Welcome to the group :-)

I read my first Margery Allingham recently (Traitor's Purse) and will be looking out for others by her.

Thanks for your welcomes!

#5 Yes i've just gone back to reading her myself, triggered by watching a repeat of an old TV adaptdation (with Peter Davison) over Christmas. I used to live in Essex and I partly love them for the evocation of that coastline full of marshy estuaries and villages half cut off by the tides. I also like the way you get a real flavour of the different decades from the 30s through to the 60s.

#7 Traitor's Purse is one of the best I think. Another I can highly recommend though it is a while since i've read it - planning to re-read soon - is Tiger in the Smoke. The Smoke is London in the 1950s...

Hi Genny - Welcome to the group

Hi Genny. Welcome to the group.

I'm working through Margery Allingham's books and really liked The Mind Readers when I read it last year. I read Tiger in the Smoke a month or so ago, and thought it was the best one of hers I've read so far. I've not got to Traitor's Purse yet, though.

Just finished reading Tiger in the Smoke. I should say re-reading, I was pretty sure I had read this one before, but if so I found I remembered very little of the detail. Wonderful evocation of the unpleasantness of London in a thick smog (also that this was not a daily occurrence) as a setting for the unfolding mystery.

Before that this week I read Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, the 10th in Alexander McCall Smith's No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. More gentle Botswanan wisdom served up with plenty of bush tea.

I still need to add the other books I've been reading in January and February this year - I've been busy first adding a backlist of 2008 reading, 2009 still do be done...

Welcome to the group, Genny. I've not read any Margery Allingham so I have to check out Tiger in the Smoke and have added that to my wish list.

I am behind on the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. I think the last one I read was The Good Husband of Zebra Drive. Have you read any of his other series?

#13 Yes I've read almost all of the others - I think I may have missed no 9, but I'm not sure, as I've borrowed some from libraries rather than owning them all. I find them very easy and enjoyable to read, but there is something of a sameness about them all so I find that looking back I cannot easily distinguish one from another. Especially as the titles don't necessarily give away what is distinctive about the plot - eg this last one concerns a case about football so I shall probably remember it as the one about football, but that's not obvious from the title.

Reflecting back on my reading so far this year: January was a very unmixed diet of Margery Allingham - mostly novels featuring Campion.

Of all the ones read in January, I think Sweet Danger and Traitor's Purse are my favourites. Had read both before, but long enough ago to have forgotten most of the plot details. Sweet Danger is a wonderfully improbable adventure romp mostly set in one of Allingham's classic Suffolk village settings, and memorably introduces the spirited Amanda. Traitor's Purse has a more serious, urgent feel with its wartime setting and the amnesia device means that Campion is effectively re-discovering Amanda as well as himself.

The Fashion in Shrouds was another re-read - the dialogue in this one both times I have found interesting and a little obscure, reflecting I guess the then contemporary slang and preoccupations. The 1930s take on women's attitudes to work and marriage are fascinating, all the more so when they seem very alien.

Mr Campion and Others is short stories - Campion in his universal uncle role sorting out various mysteries. Not as satisfying as full length stories, but then I often feel that about short stories generally.

Take Two at Bedtime is two novellas, short mysteries not involving Campion.

The Case of the Late Pig is one of the earlier Campion stories, not one I would rush to read again I think. Police at the Funeral is also a fairly early one, set mainly in Cambridge. The unhappy characters leave a more vivid impression than the plot, and the shameful secret which underlies the story would be viewed very differently today, in most circles. One of the things I like about Allingham's stories is, alongside the crazy plots, there are ideas and preoccupations that are very much earthed in the particular decades in which she was writing, from the late 20s to the 60s.

Hide my eyes was written in the 1950s, and gives us a portrait of London over one day, ranging from dusty old museums, hotels, and bars to rubbish tips and exploring a range of characters and unusual relationships. I enjoyed this one.

February summaries to follow.

I need to read more of the Margery Allingham books. Hide My Eyes looks very good.

February reading: The Mind Readers by Allingham was one of the last published of her Campion novels (1960s), a thriller that explores a range of possible human responses to a startling breakthrough in human communications. Features some of the same locations and people as appear in the earlier novel Tiger in the Smoke.

Three more Allinghams in the past week - I think it's time for something a bit different next. Of the three I've just read, More work for the undertaker was the best, I think: some wonderfully bizarre characters, and the first appearance of Charlie Luke. Also a different take on the usual disclaimer:

"Every character in this book is a careful portrait of a living person, each one of whom has expressed himself delighted not only with the accuracy but with the charity of the delineation. Any resemblance to any unconsulted person is therefore accidental."

I seem to remember she does another different take on the disclaimer in one or two of her other books.

I think I'll move onto Burnt shadows Kamila Shamsie next - a book group choice about which I know nothing yet, so I hope it will be an exciting new discovery.

Just finished Joan Aiken's The Stolen Lake, a children's story by an author who was a favourite when I was a child.

Review at:
http://www.librarything.com/work/123917/reviews

A quick read and delightful to reconnect with the feisty Dido Twite again after many years!

#19: I am slowly but surely making my way through that series, which I never read as a child. I have Nightbirds on Nantucket home from the library now, so The Stolen Lake will be coming up shortly. Nice review, Genny.

Thanks - hope you are enjoying the series too - I guess you are or you would not be planning to continue it!

#21: Yes, I am - only I just discovered my local library does not have The Stolen Lake. That is very disappointing.

I also loved The Wolves of Willoughby Chase as a child and only discovered recently that there were sequels! I shall have to hunt them down..

Hi..
discovered your thread and have starred it.

Couldn't resist going on to the next Joan Aiken to hand: The Cuckoo Tree - though I think I've missed one out of the sequence as a result.

Another quick read, brief review at: http://www.librarything.com/work/169870/reviews. Didn't enjoy this quite as much as The Stolen Lake but still fun.

Limbo Lodge is 6th in the sequence but was published in 2000, 29 years after The Cuckoo Tree I think. The US title is Dangerous Games. I read it for the first time recently. The Stolen Lake was published in 1981. I'm currently reading Dido and Pa (1986) - these are two that I have read before but only once whereas I reread Wolves, Black Hearts, Night Birds and Cuckoo many, many times.

I thought The Stolen Lake was darker than the earlier written books in the series, although maybe in The Cuckoo Tree there is a noticeable shift as well. There are some quite disturbing themes and events and less certainty of a happy ending.

Currently though, I've slowed a bit on this series because I flew through the first 6 books so fast that I thought I'd try to catch up a bit on some of my other book a month goals.

Not reading very quickly at present as it is a very busy time at work (preparing for Holy Week and Easter - lots of different liturgies to prepare and lead - and a student on placement with me whose programme I needed to organise).

I managed to finish No Love Lost - a collection of two novellas by Margery Allingham, continuing my Allingham spree this year. These two stories are both told from the perspective of young women who find themselves caught up in increasingly complicated situations and in danger of being implicated in murder or attempted murder. They also both depict small communities where the actions of said young women are noted and commented on by "well meaning" gossips and busybodies, who only manage to make things worse. No Albert Campion in these stories, nor any of the familiar characters from the novels. The collection is similar in tone to her other collection of two stories Take two at bedtime.

A fairly undemanding and short read ideal for a busy time - not one of Allingham's best or most memorable, but necessary for the completist which I am turning into!

(edited to add half a sentence which mysteriously disappeared when I posted... Also touchstone for Take Two at Bedtime is refusing to work...)

>26 elkiedee: Thanks for clarifying titles and order. It's confusing when the chronological sequence of the stories is not the same as the publication order.

Also I'm surprised that The Whispering Mountain is not listed as part of the series on LT. It is only indirectly connected, but one of the main characters, the boy Owen Hughes, is the son of Captain Hughes who features in The Cuckoo Tree and others, and indeed Owen appears at the very end of The Cuckoo Tree. So it is part of the same world, even if it is an offshoot of the main sequence of stories relating to Dido. It was one of my favourites as a child - I think I read this one more often than Wolves, Black Hearts or Nightbirds which were the other three I knew at that time.

A belated update on reading so far in April. I was rather busy with Easter preparations and services at the start of the month, but then had a few days away and managed to catch up on some reading.

Two very different books of short stories... First, the latest in my Margery Allingham read through: The Allingham Case-Book is a collection of stories, some of them featuring Campion, some not. One fun feature of a couple of the stories was the implied appearance of Allingham herself - in one case, the first person narrator of a story refers to herself as Mrs A, in another Campion and Oates (or Luke) are conversing with someone called Margery at the start of the story. I like to think of her wandering into her own stories and being one of Campion's many friends and acquaintances.

The second collection of stories was a new departure for me and a real challenge. Man zoekt vrouw om hem gelukkig te maken by Yusef el Halal is written in Dutch by a Moroccan/Dutch author. The title in English means "Man seeks woman to make him happy". I wanted to try to read something in Dutch as it is a language I grew up with but have not really used for many years. It took a while to get going, and I'm not sure I always got all the nuances, but it was a very interesting experience to read this. Not least because it speaks from the experience of young men within an immigrant community, the clash of cultures between Morocco and the Netherlands, between traditional Muslim values and Western values. It came across as a playful book, the author enjoying telling tall stories and playing with the expectations of western readers, while struggling to find his true voice amid conflicting values and lifestyles.

After this, I've been reading Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie which was for a book group. I've not quite finished this - only managed to read about half for the book group, but by then was enjoying it enough to want to finish, even though some members of the group feel that it went downhill towards the end of the book.

I'll post a brief review of this and of the El Halal book soon, I hope.

I hope you had a lovely Easter, Genny!

Thanks Stasia, yes it was good. We had a good week of special services for Holy Week and Easter, which went well, and I had a Hungarian Lutheran student on placement which made it interesting to compare notes with what she normally does in her own church. By the end I was pretty exhausted but happy, and then I had a few days away in the Netherlands (hence trying the Dutch reading above) visiting old school friends and old haunts - I used to live there but moved away nearly 30 years ago, and haven't been back for a visit for over 15 years, so it was good to be back.

#31: I had a Hungarian Lutheran student on placement which made it interesting to compare notes with what she normally does in her own church.

I bet that was interesting! The trip to the Netherland does too.

How I envy your trip to the Netherlands! It sounds fascinating!

It was great going back to Holland - I lived there for 15 years, basically all my school days, but never lived there as an adult, and so I have a rather skewed perception of everything. I found that all the towns and villages I remember are actually a lot closer together than they seemed as a child - that part of the Netherlands is in any case very densely populated. I had to keep revising my mental map as my friend and I went out to visit places. The weather was great and we had a lovely walk on the beach, and even nicer sit outside a beach cafe in the shelter; also visited for the first time in over 30 years the famous Keukenhof display gardens full of bulbs - we used to take visitors there, it is very touristy but still spectacular to see.

It's made me want to go away and read some of the recent books (fact and fiction - eg Tulip Fever and Tulipomania ) about the bulb trade, especially the explosion in popularity of the tulip, which was an important aspect of early modern Dutch history, as well as being still a key part of the local economy there. You see how everything becomes an occasion for more reading!

The two books you mention sound great! Thanks for the descriptions of your trip!

I read Tulip Fever back in January and thought it was pretty good. I've never visited the Netherlands and it made me want to go. In the meantime, though...

*Adds Tulipomania to the wish list*

...books will have to do.

(ETA: Glad to hear the Easter services, student on placement and trip to the Netherlands all went well. :) )

The Netherlands are well worth a visit - and easily reached for those of us in UK by ferry from Harwich, Hull or Newcastle (so no getting stranded due to volcanic dust!).

The coastal strip between Amsterdam and Rotterdam (which is where most people live and where I lived, in a number of different towns and villages over the years) contains many interesting towns and cities, all pretty close together - and, as you will know from the many Dutch members who contribute on these groups, Dutch people are very friendly and speak very good English.

The only downside, I discovered, when trying to buy one or two more books by Dutch authors to keep up my Dutch reading, is that books seem to be very expensive in the Netherlands.

Glad Easter and the Netherlands trip went well!

Tulipomania sounds interesting, duly added to the wishlist.

I have added Tulipomania to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Genny.

Now finished Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie, read for my book group.

I'd only read about half of it by the time the group met, but have now finished. I think I enjoyed it more than some group members did. Here's my review: http://www.librarything.com/work/7525160/reviews
I found it slow to get into, but I think that was because I started reading it when I was very tired. I would recommend it if you like novels ranging over a wide time-span and many parts of the world, but especially if you like reflecting on the nature of home, loyalty and identity in a complex multi-cultural world.

#40: I already have Burnt Shadows in the BlackHole. I just hope my local library gets a copy in soon.

Right, going to go to bed early(ish) and start a new book (not sure which - one from the pile), instead of spending the next hour reading more posts and adding books to the TBR list!

#40 Good review of Burnt Shadows, not sure whether it's one I feel like reading atm.

#42 The number of evenings I get home from work and think 'I'll just check LibraryThing for half an hour' and then realise it's nearly bed time and I haven't done any actual reading yet.... What book did you choose?

I've gone for The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell, which I bought in a booksale at church on Sunday. I've only read one of his before, though I've watched both the Swedish and the English TV adaptations.

I am glad you enjoyed your stay here Genny.

Where did you live in your youth? (just curious)
And which Dutch books did you buy?

I lived in various places north of Den Haag - my father worked for the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, so we lived in Noordwijk, Noordwijkerhout, Rijnsburg and latterly in Wassenaar. I went to the British School which is in the Hague.

I hoped to buy a few books while over there, but (certainly in the local bookshop in Wassenaar where I was staying) they were all so expensive, I just bought one: by Margriet de Moor: De Verdronkene which interested me because the plot involves the great flood of 1953. I don't know how easy it will be to read, but I got on ok with the book of short stories I read earlier, so hope I will manage this, when I get around to it in the tbr pile.

Whereabouts do you live?

I was born in Capelle a/d IJssel, grew up in Schiedam, Bunnik (near Utrecht) and the Hague (Benoordenhout, my parents still live there).
Then I went to Rotterdam to study law. My study did not go well, but I met my husband at a "studentenvereniging". We lived there for almost 25 years and moved 4 1/2 years ago to Lelystad, because I could not cope anymore with the crowded big city...

I don't know Rotterdam at all, nor Lelystad - we didn't very often go beyond the area from the Hague up towards Haarlem. Visitors got taken to Amsterdam for a day out, sometimes Volendam etc , and we had occasional shopping trips on the train with my mum to Utrecht for a change.

Lelystad must be still quite a new town - are you in the middle of town or out in the countryside there?

Hi, Genny, I just found your thread. :)

Oh, and I love Allingham's Campion stories. Dancers in Mourning is my favorite.

I'm enjoying the conversation regarding the Netherlands.

Hi. Me, too. I lived in Brussels for a couple of years in the '90's and we often drove to the Netherlands for business (I worked for Unilever) or just for fun. My husband learned to speak Dutch very well (I can't speak a word, sorry to say), so we often got into conversations with people who were surprised and impressed to hear an Englishman doing that. Once we talked with a herring fisherman and wound up on his boat, sampling his herring and drinking beer. I would love to read some (English) books set in the Netherlands - can someone suggest any?

#49, 50 Hello :) - glad to find another Allingham/Campion fan. Dancers in mourning is one of the few I have not got round to reading yet, so I'll look forward to that one.

#51 Thanks Linda.

#52 Some of my friends at school had parents working for Unilever, but the majority worked for the European Space agency like my dad, or for Shell. My dad never learned more than a few words of Dutch in 15 years - he just needed to say 'Do you speak English' and the answer was nearly always yes. Mum was more adventurous, if not always very accurate, and I guess my sister and myself absorbed quite a bit of Dutch as we can still manage some now. Never got to sample herring and beer with a fisherman though!

As for books in English set in the Netherlands, do you mean contemporary or historical? I've just mooched a copy of Tulip Fever which is set in 17th century Amsterdam, and of course there is Girl with a pearl earring set in Delft in the same period. Anyone have any suggestions for more contemporary stories?

Thanks. I was thinking more contemporary. In fact, I have just finished The Coffee Trader which does take place in Amsterdam!

From the reviews, the historical setting for Tulip Fever sounds really interesting, but I am usually uncomfortable with fiction written in the present tense. I just read Cycle of the Werewolf and kept feeling disoriented because it was written in the present tense.

Just finished The Dogs of Riga - this was the second Henning Mankell I have read - not reading them in order but as I come across them: this is I think the second in the series about Kurt Wallander, and previously I read the third, but have also seen some of the TV adaptations.

It was a fast read, and more of a thriller than a standard police detective novel, with much of the action taking place not in Sweden but across the Baltic sea in Riga, Latvia. I liked the depiction of Latvia in a state of uncertain turmoil as the Baltic states are beginning to move towards freedom from the crumbling Soviet Union.

#54 I haven't come across The Coffee Trader - would you recommend that? I see I may get into a spree of books with Dutch settings...

#55 I know what you mean about writing in the present tense - it can feel very breathless! Hadn't realised that Tulip Fever does that, I hope I won't find it too distracting.

The Coffee Trader is by David Liss, who also wrote A Conspiracy of Paper. The main character and his partner are trying to corner the market for coffee in the early days of the Amsterdam stock market. I took the book back to the library, so I can't check whether it's 17th or 18th century. There are intrigues and side plots along the way. It's a good story, but I think A Conspiracy of Paper is better (that one takes place in London around the same time). It does describe real places in Amsterdam, many of which probably still exist, so from that point of view someone who knows the city would probably enjoy it just for that.

> 48: Genny
Yes Lelystad is a very new town on the "new" land: Flevoland.
We are very near the Oostvaardersplassen in a nice and quiet part of town that was built in the 1980s.

Thanks for the link Anita, - interesting to read about the animals they have reintroduced to the area.

#59 Thanks for the link. How nice you live close to such beautiful wetlands.

Just finished book number 28 - The Crime at Black Dudley, another Margery Allingham mystery. In fact this is the very first one in the series of Campion novels: I've been reading the series in a very random order.

A light read, and short - only 200 pages. Won't be my favourite, but it's interesting to see how Allingham introduces the character of Albert Campion who will go on to become so central. Here he plays a significant part in the plot, with his characteristic appearance of foolishness belying his intelligence and the rather serious and mysterious nature of his work. But he is not the main protagonist, and isn't involved in the final solving of the mystery. I imagine that Allingham, having invented him as a supporting character for this story, then was captivated by him and found she needed to write many more stories to explore him more fully.

Now, I wonder what will be the next one off my TBR pile? I will need some easy distraction from the rigours of preparing and chairing an AGM in the next couple of days.

> 60 & 61: You are welcome Genny and Ren
It is a beautiful area, sometimes we go to the parking at the viewpoint to watch the horses and cattle.
And of course the birds, many birds, on our daily walks with the dogs we often see rare birds.

AGM - Altruistic Grebes and Mountebanks? Sounds like that could be fun!

Altruistic Grebes would be a welcome encounter, if not the Mountebanks!
I just hope it won't be a case of All Grumbling & Muttering.

Last night I finished Tulip Fever. Review here.

I read it as a follow up to re-visiting Holland recently, and wanting to read more around the history of that part of the Netherlands, particularly the bulb trade which was and remains significant socially and economically.

I didn't enjoy it hugely. The 17th century Amsterdam setting and the way it dealt with the bulb trade was rather sketchy, and not really what I was expecting. It's mainly a romantic novel with a bit of historical colour. And, as jadebird pointed out above, it's written in the present tense, which is not a style I enjoy very much.

Perhaps the non-fiction about that period will be more satisfying, when I get hold of some.

#66: That sounds like one I can pass by. I hope you enjoy your next read more, Genny!

Just catching up on your thread and laughing hard at the tulip review - very nice!

I felt the same way about the Coffee Trader as Janet - I finished it, and quite liked it, but felt it dragged a bit (this was maybe 5 years ago, before I wrote comments on books, so I can't remember). I own A Conspiracy of Paper so am glad to hear it's better!

Thanks. It was a sign of how not-good the book was that I was already having fun thinking how to make fun of its style in a review while still reading it, instead of being fully engrossed in the story.

I've added The Coffee Trader to the wishlist - haven't come across David Liss before. I'd like to read the Amsterdam-based one first, and then can look forward to a better book by him if I enjoy that one at all.

#66 I love the review! Although I think I will pass on the book, sorry it was disappointing.

Wolf Hall is also written in the present tense although I didn't notice this until I was about half way through when I saw it mentioned in someone's review. I don't know whether this makes me a spectacularly unobservant reader or whether it just shows how absorbed I was in the story! I hope the present-tense-ness doesn't annoy you when you get to it.

I don't think that the present tense for a historical narrative is always annoying/distracting. I think it depends how subtly it is done and how well written generally. Sounds as if Wolf Hall does it well, if you did not notice.

Well, off for an early night and a long read - see if I can fit in one more Allingham before the end of the month: I have several lined up.

#52 - Janet - a couple of excellent YA novels set in Holland are Tamar by Mal Peet and Postcards from no man's land by Aidan Chambers. There's also The Book of Everything by Guus Kuijer.

Hi Genny- just catching up on your thread.

edit: touchstones not working.

#73 - thanks, I'll look for those!

I really didn't like A Conspiracy of Paper much at all when I read it a few years ago. I have several Deborah Moggach books around but can't remember whether or not Tulip Fever is one of them.

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Tulip Fever very much (especially since I encouraged you to read it), but I thought you review was very good. Hope you do enjoy the non-fiction more.

No problem - I'm not sorry I read it, just wasn't perhaps quite what I was hoping it would be. I haven't managed to track down any copies yet of the non fiction but will be looking out for those.

I've never written reviews before - am enjoying having a go on LT when I feel I have something to say about particular books.

Just finished off another Margery Allingham to round off the month.

The Beckoning Lady is another full-length Campion mystery. This one was written in the mid 1950s, by which time Campion is married with a small child. Both Amanda and their son Rupert appear in this story, together with quite a number of characters from previous novels, among the large cast who assemble for a midsummer party which is central to the plot. The village of Pontisbright in Suffolk (which has also appeared before) could itself be regarded as a character. As usual Allingham enjoys depicting the pecularities and eccentricities of Suffolk country life contrasting with the different but often equally eccentric ways of her London-bred characters, like Charlie Luke (who falls in love in this story).

Another enjoyable read, mainly notable for the characters, humour and portrayal of an unusual marriage.

I've not read The Beckoning Lady yet, but I like the sound of it. I shall bump it higher up the list. Thanks for that review!

Some figures about the 30 books I've read so far this year:

By women: 24
By men: 6

British author:25
Swedish: 2
Pakistani: 1
American: 1
Dutch: 1

1 in a foreign language (Dutch)

All fiction.

Borrowed: 2
From existing TBR pile: 1
Acquired this year: 27 (of which: 8 new, 1 mooched, rest second hand from ebay, church bookstall or charity shop)

17 books by one female British author have affected these scores. I expect the next quarter will look somewhat different as I don't have many more Allinghams to read.

Will try to read some non-fiction in the next quarter. I knew that most of the reading I do for relaxation tends to be fiction, but hadn't realised quite how exclusively this is the case.

Nice summary, Genny!

Thanks Stasia. I could do with following your example re non-fiction reading - I may need to set a goal to do this, otherwise I keep falling back on fiction only.

#82: I read Louis L'Amour's autobiography Education of a Wandering Man several years ago and it inspired me to read at least 100 nonfiction books every year. Last year I tried for 150 and fell short by 2, so this year I am back to my 100 nonfiction books goal.

I think I might set myself a more modest goal of one a month to start with - which means 8 before the end of this year...

#83: Well, if you have not read Education of a Wandering Man, I will recommend that one to you - just do not expect a traditional autobiography.

I've put it on the wishlist - may take a while to get hold of a copy, let alone read it, but it's not one I had ever come across so thanks for the recommendation.

#86: It is more of an 'inspiration' book to me than one I read as a matter of being interested in L'Amour. In fact, to date, it is the only book of his I have ever read.

Congratulations on your hot review for Tulip Fever!

#88 Thanks!

I went to my local library for the first time in ages, on Friday, and took out 11 books. I was hoping to find To Kill a Mockingbird and/or The Catcher in the Rye or Nineteen eighty four - any of which would do for one of the May TIOLI challenges - but no copies of those available.

I did find quite a few interesting books, some of them on my wishlist as a result of recommendations from this group.
The 11 books include
Planet Narnia - a new book of lit crit by Michael Ward about CS Lewis's Narnia stories
According to Ruth recommended recently
My 'Dam Life - Sean Condon memoir of an Australian living in Amsterdam
Sea of Poppies Amitav Ghosh - lots of people have been recommending this
Come Dance with Me Russel Hoban
Never Let Me Go Ishiguro
The Summer Tree Guy Gavriel Kay - this will do for Canadian author TIOLI challenge
Falling Man Don DeLillo
Tau Zero Poul Anderson
The White Witch Elizabeth Goudge
and one by Paul Doherty (can't remember title, book is upstairs)

As I've only been managing about 7-8 books a month, I won't get all of these read before they are due back, but I can always renew! Kay, DeLillo and Anderson are new authors to me - also Condon who is an Australian humourist.

First read for May:

My 'Dam Life: three years in Holland by Sean Condon
library book
Read because I am looking out for non-fiction as well as fiction relating to the Netherlands following my recent return visit.
2 1/2 stars

This book is a memoir of an Australian ex-advertising man turned humorous travel writer, who goes to live in Amsterdam with his new wife who is half Dutch. I was interested to see how similar/different his experiences as an ex-pat were from my own. Since Condon is Australian, some of the 'peculiarities' of Dutch living which he commented on frequently were typical of living in Northern Europe as a whole, and therefore not an issue for someone from the UK living there - most notably the cold weather and long dark winters (Condon comments several times on the fact that it gets dark at around 4 pm in winter - which is just normal to me). Made me realise that foreigner's experiences in a strange land will vary greatly depending on where they are from.

Other things that he describes are indeed more typically Dutch - masses of bicycles competing with trams and other traffic in the city streets criss-crossed with canals; also some of the typical Dutch meals and snacks (eg olie bollen 'oil balls' ie a type of doughnut, and 'hagel slag' - chocolate sprinkles on thick buttered bread! Yum!). And as Condon described the background to the shortage of affordable housing in the city, I learned a bit more about what went on in the 1970s in Amsterdam when there were major struggles over housing between squatters and the council and developers - this was being reported on the news a lot while I was a teenager but I never fully understood what it was all about.

However in general there was rather too much of a kind of self-deprecating humour (which I mostly didn't find very funny) and too much self-referential stuff about the author's lack of gainful employment and uncertain immigration status - I could have done with less of this and more about the Netherlands.

Not particularly recommended - but I did get some things out of it.

#91: Too bad about that one, Genny. I hope your next read is better for you!

Have been too busy to update this for a while, but here are a couple more books I've finished:

No. 32 Night by Elie Wiesel - read for TIOLI one-word title challenge.

I picked this up in a second-hand bookshop in Norfolk on holiday last summer - it's been waiting on the TBR pile since. It's one of those books I feel I've known about for so long, but have put off reading, even once I had the copy.

A short book, and thus a fairly quick read, but the deceptively simple, straightforward narrative style of this memoir of a Holocaust survivor describes events and thoughts that are appalling beyond words.

I was struck by similarities and contrasts with Cormac McCarthy's The Road, which I read back in February and haven't yet commented on. Both books have at their centre the relationship between a father and a son; both deal with people pushed to and beyond the limits of what is endurable; both are full of horrors. But (unlike some people who find it depressing) I thought The Road was beautiful - that book seemed to me to be not so much about survival as some have described it, but about what it means to be human, and the real possibility, however difficult it is, of living with love, generosity and compassion even in the worst of circumstances.

Night, by contrast, describes the loss of humanity, along with the loss of faith, through the inhumanity of others. It shows even the deep bond of father and son corroded and destroyed in the end by the desperate struggle for survival. There is no spark of hope, no redemption here. And this book is not fiction. I think that is why I found this a much more bleak book to read. I see that Wiesel has published two further works called Dawn and Day to form a trilogy; I don't know if these are also autobiographical, and whether, as their titles suggest, there is a movement towards reclamation of life and hope; but certainly in Night Wiesel does not allow us any escape from the depths.

Recommended, but not if you're feeling low. 4 stars

#93: Recommended, but not if you're feeling low.

I heartily concur with that!

#90 What a great haul! I actually have Planet Narnia and haven't got round to reading it yet. I'll be interested to hear what you think - it was a gift and I'd never heard of it before!

#93 I'd heard of Night from trying to read The Crucified God by Moltmann (which I didn't finish because I just did not understand it) and it sounded quite bleak. I've been wondering about trying The Road for a while though and it sounds more promising.

#95 Yes, I think I first heard of Night because Moltmann quotes from it in The Crucified God. I would recommend The Road - it is not an easy read but I certainly did find something redemptive there.

I came across Planet Narnia because the author was giving a talk at the Greenbelt Christian Arts festival which I attended last summer. Didn't hear the talk (there were too many other interesting things on the programme at the same time, and the queue was long) but I think I bought an MP3 recording of it which I've yet to listed to - anyway, when I saw the book in the library I knew roughly what it was about so hope to get round to reading it soon...

No 33 The Summer Tree Guy Gavriel Kay
Read because I found a copy in the library, I have never read any by this author, and as he is Canadian it fitted into the May TIOLI challenge to read a book by a Canadian author.

I am not quite sure what I made of this. It is the first part of a trilogy, so the story is rather left hanging, and I guess I will need to read all three to come to a final verdict.

Partly because I love Tolkien so much I have been wary of reading much of what I think of as 'sub-Tolkien' fantasy genre. My heart sinks somewhat at yet another map of an alternate reality world, and another set of characters with names more or less clumsily made up or borrowed from other languages, trying to sound authentic.

It was the question of language which I found most distracting in this story - in which five students from Toronto University are transported into the world of Fionavar. Several different races are encountered during their adventures so far, but there is no mention of how they all come to be speaking English, or if not, how the five manage to understand them.

Despite this inconsistency, and some rather clunky writingm, I did find myself drawn into the plot, and the page-turning elements were a good distraction on a day when I had some difficult work matters to face but needed a break.

I will not be in a great rush to find the second and third book in the trilogy, but I do want to see how the story ends, and how many more borrowings from Celtic and Norse mythology I can spot along the way.

#96 Let me know when you start reading Planet Narnia, maybe it will nudge me into picking it up!

#97 "My heart sinks somewhat at yet another map of an alternate reality world, and another set of characters with names more or less clumsily made up or borrowed from other languages, trying to sound authentic.

I love your reviews - there's always something that makes me smile!

Sorry to hear The Summer Tree was a bit disappointing. I haven't read anything by Kay yet although I have The Lions of Al-Rassan in my TBR pile. Some of the reviews on the book page seemed to indicate this wasn't Kay's best so hopefully book 2 will be better if you decide to read it?

Sorry to hear work has been on the tough side lately.

#98 Thanks! I may have been a bit unfair on The Summer Tree - I was feeling so tense and anxious about the awkward church management stuff I'm trying to deal with, and maybe I took it out on the book... And I've also looked at the other reviews on the book page since, and realise it was his first published work, so hopefully he will get better, and perhaps I should give the later works beyond the trilogy a try also.

I will certainly let you know re Planet Narnia - I need to get on with it soon as it's due back at the end of the month - or at least I need to renew it.

Genny, I've only just found and starred your thread, and I'm burning to say a thing or two in whatever order occurs to me. First, The Summer Tree is the only one of the Fionavar (?) triology that I've read. Had it been my first GGKay, I'd never have read another. His other books are head and shoulders above this one - even the less good ones. In fact, Tigana remains my all-time favorite stand-alone fantasy. It's sort of loosely based on Renaissance Italy with magic which is not offensive - or isn't offensive to me. He does tend to research a time/place and write a fantasy based on it. For instance, The Lions of Al-Rassan is loosely based on Moorish Spain. I like him a lot.
I read mysteries all the time (or I did when I was teaching) but have never been able to love M. Allingham. I adore Sayers, Tey, and Marsh and Christie too, but not poor MA.
If Janet reads mysteries, she might enjoy the Van der Valk books by Nicholas Freeling. Love in Amsterdam is the first of the series.
And I'll jump on the Sea of Poppies bandwagon too. I really, really enjoyed it, and that without a glossary which I really, really needed.
ETA Thanks for warning me away from *Tulip*. I read and enjoyed Deborah Moggach's In the Dark which was on the '08 Orange List (long, I think). #*@&&! Touchstone doesn't recognize the book.

Like Peggy, I'm not that keen on Allingham. Admittedly I've only read one but it's the one which her fans seem think is one of her best, The Tiger in the Smoke.

#100 - Thanks for the Freeling recommendation, Peggy. I do indeed read mysteries, so will happily add that one to my list.

#100 Hello Peggy, thanks for looking for my thread.
It's good to hear your thoughts on GGKay - I must say that when I glanced at the description of some of his other works after reading The Summer Tree I though they sounded much more interesting and less derivative. I'm glad of the encouragement, and will be looking out for Tigana and The Lions of Al-Rassan in future.

As for mysteries, I know Allingham isn't to everyone's taste, but I do have a fondness for her - partly because I have got to know quite well the Essex and Suffolk countryside and coast which so often feature as her settings and it's always fun to see familiar territory described with accuracy and affection. And I do like the way her writing is always very contemporary - so you get a real flavour of the period she is writing in, from late 20s through to the 60s, reflected in the language, the preoccupations and sometimes the plot. But she is probably an acquired taste! If you ever want to try another, Traitor's Purse is one I would recommend. I also love Sayers (my favourite is Gaudy Night), but dislike Christie (well I haven't read any of hers for years but I didn't enjoy her style enough to read more, though with all the endless TV and film versions you can't escape her!). I've only read The Daughter of Time of Tey's - have never really come across more thus far, but will probably seek out more in future. And never read any Marsh - so no shortage of future mystery reads!

And thanks for the reminder about Freeling's Van der Valk books. They would fit my aim of reading more books with Dutch settings. I did read one years ago, can't remember which.

Continuing the Dutch connection obliquely, has anyone else come across the Judge Dee books by Robert van Gulik (eg The Chinese Lake Murders)? They were recommended to me a couple of years ago by a friend who is himself a judge. Van Gulik was a Dutch diplomat and orientalist who translated an original 18th century chinese detective novel about the renowned medieval Judge Dee, and went on to write many more of his own stories in a similar style, drawing his plots from some of the traditional material. I found them a fascinating insight into early chinese society.

Looking forward to getting to Sea of Poppies - it's been so highly recommended by lots of people on LT.

And I am happy because my wireless internet connection is working again properly - for the past week there has been a problem with the bandwidth or something, which meant that every page was taking an age to read, and I got really behind reading people's threads and posting my own since it all took 10 times longer than it should.

Technology is great when it is working!

Sea of Poppies is very good. I hope you enjoy it, Genny!

Book 34 - Limbo Lodge (known as Dangerous Games in US) Joan Aiken
I went back to read this one which follows chronologically in the series after The Stolen Lake and before The Cuckoo Tree

Book 35 - Dido and Pa Joan Aiken - this one follows straight after The Cuckoo Tree
No time to comment on these just now, just to say that I thought Dido and Pa was the better of the two.

I am now ready to read Is (which I can't find a touchstone for, unless I give it its US title of Is Underground) - I'll be reading that for the TIOLI one word title challenge - since it is one word in the UK!

Book 36 - Cranford Elizabeth Gaskell - another TIOLI one word title read. I've been reading this in between other books, finished today. Really enjoyed its gentle humour. Hope to say a bit more when I have time.

Must go and do some work I've been avoiding - the trouble with working from home is that it's very easy to find distractions!

I agree about Dido and Pa and I'm glad you're going to read Is (Is Underground) for the TIOLI, as I entered it in the Wiki and read it earlier this month. I've also read Cold Shoulder Road and almost finished Midwinter Nightingale this month.

Cool, 3 new books read! I'm reading Cranford too but only before bed, so I'm going slowly. But I'm surprised at how readable and funny it is - it's my first Elizabeth Gaskell.

#108: Try North and South next, Cushla!

#107 Yes, I saw that you had read Is already, that gave me a good excuse to get on and read the earlier ones so that I can fit in Is this month and join you on the challenge.

#108 I agree it is funny - lots of the comic incidents were familiar to me from the recent BBC serial (including the lace that was rescued after being eaten by the cat), but there is of course much more humour just in the way she writes about the characters, which does not translate so easily to film.

But I'm avoiding work again - must tackle the piles of overdue emails and admin in my study NOW!

#106 The Joan Aiken series is on my list of series to read soon - glad you're enjoying them!

#111 Heather, I hope you will enjoy them too when you get to them. Have you read any of them before? I only knew the first three in childhood (well, the rest of them have been written more recently so that's all I could have known), so it's been a joy to read more of the adventures of well-loved characters.

It's official, I am addicted to book buying!

It was my day off yesterday, and I decided to go for a coffee on the High Street after picking up my car from being serviced. As I had no book with me and couldn't contemplate sitting with a coffee and nothing to read, I thought I'd drop into the Oxfam charity shop first and buy a new book...

Half an hour later I came out £23 the poorer, with 9 books:

Notes from a Small Island Bryson
Daughter of Fortune Isabel Allende - never read any of hers and been meaning to for ages
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Larsson
Beyond Black Hilary Mantel - piling up the Mantels to read...
Kitchen Banana Yoshimoto - I think I've heard someone mention this on LT
Fear in the Forest Bernard Knight - medieval mystery series I've read one of before
The Dragon Waiting John M Ford - never heard of this fantasy/alt history writer
Saint Maybe Anne Tyler - have read lots of hers; there were several more in the shop but just bought the one...
Bleeding Hearts Ian Rankin

A good haul, though not cheap. And by the time I'd bought them all, I'd run out of time for the coffee anyway!

The moral of the story is, I guess, always keep a book in my handbag so that I don't need to go in search of more (I usually do). But then I wouldn't have found all these lovely books...

edited for grammar

Nice haul, Genny!

I have not heard of the Knight series, so I will be interested in seeing what you think of it.

Goodness, that's an impressive charity shop - I'm sure ours isn't nearly so interesting.
I've been planning to get round to Daughter of Fortune - I certainly recommend House of the Spirits.

Chloe

#115 The suburb I live in is full of university professors, medics, lawyers and other professional types so I guess the books donated reflect the demographic.

#111 I loved The Wolves of Willoughby Chase when I was younger but I had no idea it was part of a series until recently. I think I'd better finish the Garth Nix books before I start another series though, I keep flitting!

#112 Woo - book haul! I am very impressed you found a copy of the third Larsson second hand.

Great job on acquiring so many good books. I read Kitchen earlier this year. I wanted to like it, but couldn't. Anne Tyler is one of my favroite authors. I liked Saint Maybe a lot.

#117 Yes I was pleased to find Hornet's Nest already second hand. My book group is discussing the first one (which I read back in Feb) in a week or so, and I've already got the second lined up, so now I'm all set!

You will have a treat in store with all the Aikens when you get to them. In addition to all the ones listed as part of the series, it's also worth looking for The Whispering Mountain which has one or two overlapping characters and is another lovely tale.

#118 Yes, I love Anne Tyler too - can't always remember the names of the ones I've read (perhaps I'll be better now I'm tracking things on LT) but when I dip inside they all come back to me. There were several more I'd not yet read there in the bookshop, but I really couldn't justify buying any more at this time.

Wow! I've equal parts envy and delight for you in your major scoop - especially at finding *Hornet's Nest* 2nd hand. Since I haven't read *PlayedwFire* yet, I'll let the envy subside. I have read Bleeding Hearts, I think, and some Allende and some Tyler and Wolf Hall. I'll be interested to read what you have to say about HM's other novels.

#110 An overflowing study? Genny, don't tell me you're the inspiration for the Church Times cartoons?!

#113 That's an impressive haul from Oxfam! I followed the link to Daughter of Fortune, only to discover from the catalogue that I have a copy that I'd forgotten about in my TBR. Thanks for that reminder.

#121 I *love* Dave Walker's cartoons, which are scarily accurate - certainly that one has many, many features which could have been taken directly from my own study! All of them in fact, apart from the lectern I think. Bulk buy of tea lights, so true! He could have added bags of pebbles from B & Q for doing creative liturgies...

Glad to have inadvertently reminded you of the Allende book - look forward to comparing notes when we both get round to reading it.

Up till now I've only been adding books when I've actually read or am in progress of reading them (apart from those I have started to add from the already shelved collections). With this latest batch I've decided to add them all, with acquisition date, and put into a 'to read' collection. Now I need to try to be consistent and do the same with all new acquisitions...

#121 That was a brilliant cartoon! I'd never heard of Dave Walker before, I will have to get hold of a copy of his book. I also love the St Gargoyle's cartoons by Ron Wood.

What a great haul of books!

And that cartoon is priceless. :)

#124 Hello Terri, glad you liked the cartoon - thanks to Caty for posting it. Do you recognise your husband's study in that too, I wonder?

Dave Walker's cartoons are excellent - have a look at his website: http://www.cartoonchurch.com/content/cc/category/cartoons/ His subject is the foibles and absurdities of the Church of England in particular (with an affectionate but critical eye), but I'm sure a great deal of it translates well into any church tradition.

Do you recognise your husband's study in that too, I wonder?

**giggles**

Right, I've fallen behind in posting updates on my reading, so time to catch up. I've had several very stressful weeks at work (during which I was reading quite a lot to escape) and then when the worst of that was over and I was looking forward to life returning to a more even keel, instead I had a relapse of my fatigue/exhaustion symptoms from earlier this year, and had several days this week capable of doing nothing, so now I feel behind with everything.

To cap it all, my laptop, where I usually do my non-work related stuff, is on another go-slow with the broadband connection: every page is taking ages to load again, which is rather an accurate reflection of my own current condition, and is equally frustrating in terms of slowing down what I am trying to do. So I am now at my desktop in the study, and aiming to catch up as much as possible.

While I've not been posting much, I seem to have been busy acquiring books by various means (second hand via Ebay or Amazon marketplace, or mooching; gifts from a couple of people; some new purchases with book tokens; books by Norwegian authors in preparation for my holiday there in August; books for my bookgroup for the next few months...). Although most of these were at bargain prices or free, I feel I have been spending too much on books these past few months, and as I now have more than enough books to keep me going for the rest of the year at least, I really should try to stop acquiring new ones for now.

I could try pledging here not to buy anything else for the rest of the year but a) I know I will find that very hard and b) I know that there are plenty of you out there who are more likely to encourage my habit than help to control it!

Ok, book updates. I've amplified some brief earlier comments on:

Book 34 - Limbo Lodge (known as Dangerous Games in US) Joan Aiken

Own book, bought second hand this year.

This book follows chronologically in the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series after The Stolen Lake and before The Cuckoo Tree, but was actually written later than most of the series. It tells of another adventure of lively heroine Dido Twite while on her long sea voyage back home to England. Set in the Spice Islands, there are miserable misogynistic colonials and sympathetic magical indigenous peoples, not to mention the odd long-lost royal heir and a bit of cross dressing.

Lots of good ingredients, but this one didn't quite work for me as much as most of the others in this series. Some of it seemed a little far fetched, even for Joan Aiken, whose plots are typically wildly adventurous and strange, but normally more captivating.

Recommended for those who want to follow the whole of this wonderful series for children/young adults, but probably not the best place to start if you are new to Joan Aiken.

3.5 stars.

edited to get cover picture right - first time I've tried to do this...

Good job with the picture, Genny! I haven't been brave enough to try that yet.
Meanwhile, I am in sympathy with your booklist/buying overload. I won't live long enough to read all that I own, but that does nothing to abate my greed. I am getting confused, though, with all the wonderful suggestions and think that I'll impose a moratorium except for my list at PBS and anything that I know I can't live without. (This is the first time ever that I've felt this way.)

Book 35 - Dido and Pa - Joan Aiken

Own book, bought second-hand this year.

I loved this one, whose story follows immediately after the end of The Cuckoo Tree, and, as the title suggests, has the relationship between Dido and her good-for-nothing father at its heart. There is a lot of darkness and unhappiness in the tale. Dido is no sooner re-united with a long-lost good friend than she is kidnapped and plunged into the murky world of dastardly plots against the newly-crowned king (in Aiken's alternate history, the Stuarts are on the throne and the attempted usurpers are the Hanoverians), while ever-bolder wolves are encroaching on London. Her father is, as usual, in the thick of the plots as well as some unsavoury relationships, and Dido has difficulty reconciling being a good daughter to him with what her conscience, common sense and loyalty to her friends tells her is right.

Did's Pa's one redeeming feature is his gift for composing and playing music, which has almost magical healing and life-affirming powers; we are left with the mystery, which Dido herself wrestles with, of how something so good can come from such an irresponsible and selfish person. Despite its dark themes, the story has its fair share of resourceful children, unexpected allies, and a newly discovered half-sister.

Highly recommended. Could be read as a stand-alone but best read as part of the series. 4 stars.

Edited to correct mistake in image posting - haven't got the hang of this yet!

Book 36 - Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell

Own book - old 1906 Everyman edition bought (according to the fly leaf) 21st May 1990. It's only taken me 20 years to get round to reading it!

Watching the recent BBC series (which I thought was very well done) made me want to read this. Starting to catalogue my whole library on LT, beginning with a shelf of old hardback Everyman editions which I was collecting around 20 years ago without getting round to reading them all, alerted me to the fact that I did have a copy! And the May TIOLI one-word title challenge was the final prompt I needed to get around to it.

Like everyone else, it seems, who read this during May, I really loved it. I read a chapter at a time mostly, between other books, which suited its episodic nature.

It was interesting to compare the book with the televised series - I was struck by the fact that the latter had several characters and plot lines which do not feature at all in the book, including the unfolding story of Lady Ludlow, her steward and the poacher's son. I wondered at first if these were inventions of the screenwriters in order to give more action and a broader range of characters than those in the novel, but I discovered that the screenwriters drew on several other shorter, less well known works of Gaskell's, including My Lady Ludlow, Mr Harrisons Confessions and The Last Generation in England (no touchstone) to weave in these additional characters.

Although they are all Gaskell's characters, the effect of adding them into the TV series gave that quite a different flavour from Cranford the novel, which from start to finish focusses so exclusively and deliberately on that group of women, so conscious of their position and so dominant within Cranford society. In their world, the likes of Lady Ludlow's steward or a poacher's son have no place; indeed as the opening words of the novel make clear, there are few men in their world at all:
"In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons; all the holders of houses, above a certain rent, are women." There was another telling passage (which I cannot find again now), which stated of one of the male characters that he was most acceptable because one hardly noticed that he was there at all!

The rather patronising anonymous foreword to my edition muses on the gender of the author and the nature of her writing in this book:
None but a woman could have written "Cranford"... The very sense of a woman's presence is over all, and we are conscious even of that delicate odour which her very draperies give out as she passes before us. They are women's oddities we laugh at and women's hearts of tenderness we look into."

I'm not sure what the foreword writer meant about the odour of draperies etc, but he (?) is right about the focus on women's oddities and women's tenderness. I do think it is interesting that the TV adaptation added so many more active male characters and more action-filled subplots (even if these are drawn from Gaskell's own writings elsewhere). It's as if they felt the gentle, women-centred world of Cranford alone would not hold the interest of or be varied and exciting enough for today's viewers.

But clearly the book did hold the interest of a good number of us recently on LT. I'm glad I finally got around to it!

4 stars

This updating is taken longer than I hoped. Time to stop for dinner and to do some preparations for tomorrow's services. Hope to continue later tonight, or tomorrow.

Hi Genny, found you too :-)
I was surprised to find out you know Dutch and lived in Holland.
I feel the same about the Tulip-book. It wasn't bad, but it had too little tulips in it. I'm a tulip-geek and also visited Keukenhof a few years ago. I had feared it might be "kitsch" but I was overwhelmed with the way the tulips were presented. I had only just bought a digital camera and took about 500 pictures on one day.
I'll think of recommendations for Flemish books. I must confess I have neglected them for years, as I had to read too many depressing books by Flemish authors when I was at school. But I discovered there have come up some exciting new writers which I want to discover. I recently read Godenslaap by Erwin Mortier, but I don't think it has been translated in English yet (although I think there's a chance it will be, as it has won a prize).

Yes, Engleby was rather strange, wasn't it, but I liked it. I liked The road home too, but I thought Lev was a bit passive and let others rule his life too much. But then, maybe that makes him human and recognisable.

Godenslaap sounds interesting - I might try it in Dutch, but I still have De Verdronkene by Margriet de Moor on my TBR pile and probably its not realistic to try too many books in a foreign language all at once.

Well, I feel obliged to warn you. I don't know how well your Dutch is, but it is written in a very baroque style, which might be too difficult if you're not a native speaker. Even I had difficulties in grasping all the author wanted to tell, however beautiful it is. Het diner by Herman Koch is a lot easier (and a lot funnier too), but it's like comparing Agatha Christie to Shakespeare. I mean, it's totally different, but I equally liked it.

Btw, here's a test :-) : "Ik volg de cadans van mijn handschrift en zoek naar de in letters gestolde, kwezelachtige wellust van het meisje dat ik ooit geweest moet zijn, het wicht dat op de drempel van haar adolescentie haar schriftuur even strak aantrok als de dunne lederen veters waarmee ze haar laarsjes dichtreeg hoe ze het vlees van het woord in de baleinen van de zinsbouw dwong, tot haar eigen lijf vol striemen stond en ze naar uitbraak verlangde".

This sentence won the "Tzum-prijs 2009", de smallest literary prize of the Netherlands.

Hmm, that's quite a sentence! I'd definitely need a dictionary by me for that one, and would need to look up at least one word in three, so probably not the best place to start. I'll check out the Koch - Flemish Agatha Christie style is probably much more my level...

#131: I am glad you enjoyed Cranford too, Genny! I am going to try some more Gaskell later this year, I think.

#128 & 130 Glad you're still enjoying the Joan Aiken's.

#131 You make some very interesting points about the differences between Cranford the book and Cranford the TV series. I wonder if the writers of the TV series just wanted to use more of Gaskell's other stories or whether it was a conscious/unconscious decision that they should include more male characters. The TV series also made more of the romantic aspects and added some extras in, I expect they felt we couldn't cope with a costume drama without some romance!

#138 Yes, I don't know how conscious the decision was, but the result is certainly very different.

Book 37 - Is (aka in the US Is Underground - touchstone not available for the one-word title)


Own book, bought second-hand from Ebay in May.

The 8th in the Wolves series. Read for the May TIOLI challenge (One-word title).

'Is' is Dido Twite's younger half-sister, the main character in this adventure which involves a couple of previously unknown branches of the Twite family, child labour and the industrial revolution gone mad, together with a novel approach to urban regeneration, underground.

An abandoned library features as a forlorn location in the story:

It took a while for her eyes to become accustomed to the dim light; then she realised that the walls between which they passed were not solid at all, but consisted of what seemed like an endless series of high racks or shelves, built from some heavy dark wood and containing thousands, perhaps millions, of mouldering volumes. What in the world could they all be about?... It's too bad they should all rot and crumble away, thought Is, but it sure is plain no one wants to read 'em any more.

Is Twite has her older sister's spirit and courage, so Dido's fans (while missing her in this volume) will find a new friend to carry them through this rather dark tale.

While the plot is as fantastical as ever, Aiken says that the details regarding conditions of child workers in coal mines are factual, and they are certainly grim.

Recommended - four stars.

Book 38 - The Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger



Own book, second hand from Amnesty bookshop in Newcastle in May.

Read for the May TIOLI challenge - 'I can't believe you haven't read that yet!'

I'm sure most people on here read this years ago, but it was never part of the curriculum for me at secondary school, and not something I've felt particularly drawn to since. Indeed I knew practically nothing about it at all, other than that most people seem to have read it at high school or college.

It took me a while to get beyond the very irritating (and oh so tempting to parody) voice of the narrator, but once I did, I thought it very good. Not knowing the plot, I was kept in suspense about how Holden Caulfield's strange long weekend would turn out, and gradually realised how much it was really all about the disaster that has happened in the past. If there's anyone out there who has not yet read this, I'd better not say what that was, but simply that I think this novel is more about bereavement than about 'coming of age' or 'teen angst' which is how it seems to be tagged by many.

I gave it 4.5 starts in the end. I don't know if I'd ever want to read it again, but I am interested to read something else by Salinger after this.

#140: I am one in the camp of 'I can't believe you haven't read that yet' and in my case, I do not want to read it either :)

I'm glad you mentioned on the TIOLI thread that you've read all the Allingham's. I think I've read four or so but need to track down some others.

Update: I see that I've read 4 of them--The Crime at Black Dudley, Police at the Funeral, Mystery Mile, and Flowers for the Judge. Also appearing under the Allingham listing is Murder Under the Mistletoe and Other Stories--I believe an Allingham short story appears in that collection.

I also appear to own Look to the Lady.

Hi Linda, just put a message on your profile page about the Allinghams - not quite all read yet, but nearly there! The Tiger in the Smoke and Traitor's Purse are two that are felt to be among her best, if you want to read more, or you could start at the beginning and read them all too! They do stand alone, and I've been reading them in no particular order myself.

A favorite source for "vintage mysteries" is the Rue Morgue Press. I see that they have 15 of them.

Might be time to reconsider, yet again, switching one of my 1010 categories to vintage mysteries.

#144 I've been trying to collect a matching set of the Penguin Classic Crime edition, mostly buying them second hand on eBay. I have some duplicates which I'll be putting onto Bookmooch soon, if you are interested and if you use that site.

No, I've never used Bookmooch. I should look into that.

I will just have to work the Allingham books in which shouldn't be a problem as I'll likely have about 40-50 non-1010s this year. I'm about to finish another book in my 1010 law category, giving me four of ten, so I don't think I want to switch out of that category now.

I've only been using Bookmooch a few months. I've found that by being willing to send books internationally as well as within my own country (you get bonus points for that) I've soon built up a lot of points which are beginning to result in books on my wishlist arriving through the post for free, which is fun. Of course it is not really free because of the initial postage costs when you send books out, but I think it is good value for money as well as being a great way to see books being re-used and enjoyed around the world.

There's a group on here somewhere for bookmoochers though I've not been using that.

#140 I am another person who hasn't read The Catcher in the Rye! Maybe I should try it out at some point, my library has a copy so it would be relatively risk free.

#147 I know in theory I'm paying for the books I receive from bookmooch but they feel free!

#140, #148 - It was interesting to compare Catcher with my next read According to Ruth, also narrated by a teenager, but a very different sort of book. I still haven't finished posting my thoughts/reviews on the last few books, including that one. Hope to do that soon...

Still behind with the reading updates, though I'm still slowly getting on with reading.

But this morning I've had the sad news that my godmother, who I've grown quite close to in recent years, has died. She'd only been diagnosed with cancer a couple of months ago, and recently had surgery, but has faded away since then.

Only six months ago she was up here with my mother, on their annual week-long visit. She spent the visit helping to look after me while I was ill, so we didn't have the chance to go on all the trips and days out that I had planned. But at least I did manage to spend some time with her.

I'm going to miss her.

Genny, I am so so sorry to hear this sad news. I'm sure you have lots of happy memories of her, which will help you through.
I am thinking of you.
Janet

Sorry to hear about your godmother, Genny. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Thank you Janet.

Really sorry to read your news, Genny. Hope the funeral is a really good celebration of her life.

#154 Thanks Cushla. I don't know when that will be yet, or even if I'll be able to get to it - I live right at the other end of the country. But I hope to go.

So sorry to hear about your godmother, Genny.

Genny, I'm sorry to hear about your godmother. Hugs and prayers for you.

My thoughts are with you, Genny.

#156 Thank you Luci
#157 And Caty
#158 And thank you Monica too

Kind of wishing I was interested in the World Cup then I could lose myself getting caught up in all of that. But football leaves me quite cold. And the weather is cold and grey today also, so my original plan for today, of planting out lots of seedlings which are waiting and getting long and straggly indoors, is no longer appealing.

And I've got a headache, so not really able to concentrate on reading for a bit. I have just started reading Alexandria by Lindsey Davis, and it might help to spend a few hours in the company of Marcus Didius Falco and his lovely wife Helena.

I need to ring my Mum also - my godmother and she were friends since their teens, and she will be very upset too. I haven't spoken to her yet - it was my step father who gave me the news as Mum was at work this morning.

Dear Genny, I am also sorry for your loss. It may be that your mother will need you more with her than at the funeral, but of course, I don't know about distances involved. I have watched my mama deal with becoming the oldest generation: not easy.
(I had forgotten Davis and MD Falco! Is she still writing him? What a fun series! Enjoy!!!)

Thanks Lizzie. Mum is down on the Isle of Wight, right down off the south coast of England, where my godmother also lived (whereas I'm up in Newcastle in the far north east of the country) so if I get to the funeral I'll be able to spend a bit of time with her too. My work schedule is not too bad in the next week or so, so I should be able to manage it though I think I'll have to fly down rather than do my preferred long train journey, as that would be too slow when time is short. The distances are nothing in North American terms (about 300 miles) but it feels a long way away to me!

Yes, Davis is still writing the Falco series. Alexandria is the most recent one in paperback; it involves a murder in the famous library in that city, so that will be interesting... There is another new one out in hardback too.

Genny
I'm so sorry for your loss. Big Hugs to you!

So sorry to hear the news about your godmother Genny. Hope you manage to speak to your mum this evening and that you manage to get away from work to go to the funeral. Will be thinking of and praying for you and your mum.

Genny, my condolances to you on your loss. I do hope you can get away to the funeral, and have a good and safe journey there.

Thank you, Heather and Terri.
I did speak to my mum last night. She's still pretty shocked at the suddenness of it all, as am I. I've looked into travel options for getting to the funeral, and find that there is no longer a direct flight, so it will probably have to be train after all. Just waiting to hear the date of the funeral so I can clear my diary and book my ticket.

Meanwhile have managed to shake off yesterday's headache, have a good night's sleep and spent a lot of today (which was meant to be a catch up with work emails day) escaping with Alexandria. And some doughnuts!

Books and doughnuts sound much better than work :)

So sorry to hear about the death of your godmother. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

No news yet of the date of my godmother's funeral, so I'm uncertain of my plans for end of this week/beginning of next week. A busy Sunday has kept my mind occupied on other things, but in odd moments I've been caught out by flashes of memory and that awful sinking recollection that she is gone.

Thank you all for your kind wishes and prayers.

Now before I post on anyone else's threads, or even read any more, I really must catch up with details of my recent reading.

Book 39
According to Ruth by Jane Feaver


Library book
Read for May TIOLI challenge - book about your home city/state/county

Linda (Whisper1) had recommended this book, so I was glad to see it in my local library, and as it is set in remote, rural Northumberland it counted under one of the May TIOLI challenges as a book about my home county.

The Ruth of the title is a fifteen-year old girl, spending the long summer in the late 70s as always with her parents and three younger siblings in a run-down cottage high up in the hills above Hexham. Only this summer is not quite as previous ones have been. Her parents' marriage is reaching breaking point, and the effects of other tragedies, recent and ancient, make themselves felt when tentative relationships are built with a neighbouring farming family.

The main narrative voice is Ruth's - her story is told in the first person, beautifully capturing the pre-occupations and perceptions of a teenaged girl who bears the responsibility of being the eldest, who is struggling with all the usual longings, excitements, pains, fears and embarrassments of growing towards adulthood, while also trying to understand and cope with the fragmentation of her parent's marriage and the consequent threat to her familiar world. Other perspectives are briefly told too - her mother, the neighbouring farmer and his wife - but these are third-person narratives - we are not fully inside their heads as we are Ruth's. And Ruth, though she shows signs of immaturity and self-absorption which are not surprising in a teenager, also has sufficient empathy and imagination to reach beyond herself, picking up and reacting to some of the currents of grief and loss in others which are swirling around that summer.

She writes: It is the hardest thing I've had to learn, losing things; so hard to stop the business of looking, of acquiring at all costs, to make good the loss.

As the oldest child of parents whose marriage was falling apart when I was about the same age as Ruth, also in the late 70s, I found much here that resonated, in emotional impact if not in narrative detail, with my own experience. I appreciated the subtle, funny and beautiful way Feaver writes about love and loss. And as a teenaged narrator, give me Ruth any day over Holden Caulfield!

Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.

Book 40
Gallows View by Peter Robinson

Own book, bought second-hand 2010

This is the first book of a series of contemporary detective stories set in the Yorkshire Dales, featuring DCI Alan Banks. I've read quite a few of these further on in the series, so decided to go back to start at the beginning.

It's quite a modest start, setting the scene, nothing too extreme. Banks and his family have recently moved to Yorkshire from London. He is faced with a number of different crimes which may be related: some peeping tom incidents, an escalating spate of thefts, and a death which may or may not be accidental.

Nothing particularly memorable about this one - the later ones I've read (starting with In a Dry Season) are more gripping and atmospheric. This may be a series where it doesn't matter too much not reading from the very beginning!

3.5 stars.

Book 41
Nightshade by Paul Doherty

Library book

Read this one wanting an escape - usually medieval murder mysteries do the job for me - but I found this hard-going. I've read several others in this series featuring Hugh Corbett, clerk in the service of Edward I who uses him as an emissary and trouble-shooter. I enjoyed the previous ones, but this time the story fell rather flat. There seemed to be too much rather leaden exposition at the beginning, and the narrative felt rather lifeless. Lots of appropriate elements in place - knights returned from the crusades with treasures and secrets, mysterious assassins, a locked room murder - but somehow it didn't quite add up.

Maybe I was just not in the mood!

Three stars.

I wasn't that impressed by Gallows View, but think the series improves as early as the second book. However, this is one series which I haven't read in order, I read In a Dry Season, #10, then Dry Bones that Dream (published in the US as Final Account, #7), and have then read all the new ones after Dry Season in order as they appeared, and most of the older ones in order, but so not nos 6, 8 and 9.

Book 42
Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham

Own book - bought second-hand from eBay in 2010

My journey through all of Allingham's Campion series, and other writings, is drawing near to an end. I had already read 5 or 6 of them, including some of the earliest and the latest, before I started this comprehensive read through them all. I've not been reading the series chronologically, but mostly in the order that I have managed to acquire copies.

Dancers in Mourning is a relatively early one, first published in 1937. It is the first time I've read this one and I think it will be one of my favourites. The mystery element is fairly standard, centering around the cast of a song and dance show (based on the memoirs of 'Uncle William' who appeared in the earlier book Police at the Funeral) and the nasty tricks being played on the leading man, at whose country home murders soon follow. What is particularly interesting is the development of Campion's character - in this story his usual detached, objective manner is quite shattered, when he falls in love, awkwardly and totally inappropriately. The experience itself is completely new for Campion, and the ethical dilemma it creates for him provides a building tension which is the driving force of the novel.

There are some very funny moments (especially those parts featuring the character of Uncle William) but also some sad and poignant ones, as Campion learns the hard way that for all his cleverness he is as human as the next man.

Recommended: 4 stars.

>170 gennyt:: I haven't read any of his Hugh Corbett books, but I've been picking away at his Brother Athelstan series. I liked the first one, but each successive one has seemed a little less lackluster. I guess I was expecting another Ellis Peters.

Adding According to Ruth to the wishlist, and I might give the Peter Robinson series a go too.

Dancers in Mourning is an Allingham I haven't got to yet: I must try to get hold of it.

Genny

Through the sadness, you are reading! Kudos to you!

Please post your review of According to Ruth so that I can give it a well-deserved thumbs up!

#175 Done, with slight modifications to be a little less personal. Thanks for pointing me towards the book in the first place!

Keeping on reading is I guess the best way I know to cope in the midst of sadness.

I'm also thinking about the kind of books my godmother Pam used to read. She's left a few at my house over the years, after she'd finished with them when staying with me. She preferred light romantic fiction, not what I normally read at all, but I remember enjoying one much more than I expected when I tried it a few years back (can't remember title or author now though - it was about a woman going to live in a broken-down cottage on the coast in Cornwall, and surviving on no income and growing most of her own food - and there must have been a romance in there somewhere too but a lot of it was about the woman struggling on her own...).

I have a couple of Pam's books currently on my Bookmooch inventory as I was not intending to read them, but am wondering if I should keep them after all in memory of her.

I'm registering a vote to keep them!

Me too! (or worse case scenario, give them to a friend who would truly appreciate them rather than a perfect stranger)

I have thumbed your review of According to Ruth, too, (as well as Linda's which I found there and also liked a lot). I'm not sure this is a book I would like, good though it sounds, as I don't usually enjoy "coming of age" books, but since you both liked it so much maybe I'll give it a try.

Congrats on your hot review of According to Ruth, Genny!!

#180 Thanks - but is anyone else's home page doing weird things with the hot review section? I've just had another look and it seems there are a lot of spam works in there which I guess will be removed soon?

#181

Yes, I think yours was the only genuine review there. I've never seen that before but I assume that they'll fix it.

Congratulations on your hot review! I made it hotter by a thumb. (And I got one too; never thought it would happen.)

#183 Thanks Peggy, and well done on yours too!

The date for my godmother Pam's funeral has been fixed for next Friday, 25th, so I've now booked my train ticket and arranged for a friend to look after the dog while I'm away for 3 days. Pam was very fond of the dog, Ty, who used to like snuggling up beside her on the sofa when she came to stay (and, since he is a large greyhound, would spread himself out more and more on the sofa until she was practically edged off the seat - but she indulged him nonetheless!). My other godmother June is flying over from Canada (Halifax) - my mum, June and Pam were all life-long friends and the relative suddenness of Pam's death has come as such a shock to the survivors. It will be a good but sad reunion next week.

The journey down, next Thursday, and back on Saturday, will be about 7 hours each way - 6 hours on trains and half an hour on the hydrofoil crossing over to the Island, plus transfer times. The one good thing in all that is plenty of reading time on the journey.

#184. I'm glad to hear you'll be able to get to the funeral and have had plenty of time to organise the journey. Remember that we'll be thinking of you next week.

I think I'd keep those books. At least for now.

And more congratulations on the hot review. :)

Book 43
Alexandria by Lindsey Davis

Own book, bought with book-token June 2010

Read this for a comfort read, which happened to fit into a June TIOLI challenge as a title beginning with 'A'.

This is no. 19 in Davis' series of historical mysteries featuring Marcus Didius Falco. I first discovered the series about 5 years ago, and read all of the ones then published as fast as possible; since then I've been impatient to get hold of the new ones as they come out in paperback.

Reading a new Falco novel is like going to visit old and very good friends. Whether they are at home in Rome or off on adventures in various parts of the Roman empire, the informer Falco (nothing like as cynical and tough as he pretends to be) and his wife Helena (more intelligent and well-bred than Falco, but extremely loyal) are always good company, and the growing cast of family and friends, some of the distinctly disreputable, are also very entertaining. Davis paints a convincing picture of every-day life in ancient Rome, and each novel tends to feature a different profession or occupation, connected with the mystery Falco is called upon to investigate. So we have met dodgy property developers, absentee builders, greedy bankers, vain authors, manipulative religious authorities, exploitative tour operators and many, many more - the deliberately modern tone of Davis' writing (no false archaisms here) encourages us to recognise the parallels with our own society today and the enduring nature of human frailty. All of this is with a light comic touch, so that in many ways the series functions rather like Pratchett's Discworld series, offering a comic and satirical mirror to our own world by writing about a very different world.

This particular novel, as the title suggests, is set in the great city of Alexandria, home of the Pharos (lighthouse), one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, and also of the famous Library (which for LT members must count as another of those Wonders). Both of these feature in the plot, and the subject matter this time is the the world of academia, and academic libraries in particular. From students who rarely go near the library, to obsessive collectors who might be guilty of stealing scrolls from the library, to wrangles over policy (should a library ever dispose of old books in its collection?) - there is plenty here of interest to book-lovers. While Falco through his investigation encounters no shortage of incompetence, corruption, folly and despair among the folk of Alexandria, the familiar warmth of his relationship with Helena gives the counterbalance which means that cynicism does not have the last word.

Helena Justina raised a hand vaguely. Helena was doing what she liked most, apart from private times with me. She was reading a scroll. It might have been from her luggage; she could have been out and bought it. Or, since she got through so many, it was just as likely she had borrowed this one from a library in Alexandria. She looked up, saw me dreaming sentimentally, then escaped back hurriedly into the scroll. I sat nearby, content to be among my own, not disturbing them.

A fun read, if not the best in the series, and an interesting depiction of the Great Library in a time of decline. Recommended, but if new to the series better to start at the beginning. 3.5 stars.

#177, 178, 185 - I have decided I will indeed hang on to those books - I've taken them off my Bookmooch inventory.

Congratulations on your hot review! And According to Ruth has gone on the wishlist.

Good to hear you'll be able to go to Pam's funeral. Hope the journey there and back isn't too tiring. Do you know what books you're going to read on the journey?

Ty sounds very cute (if I can describe such a large dog as cute). My dog (who is my parents' dog really as he lives with them) is an expert at getting you to let him get up on the sofa and then wriggling so that you're eventually either pushed off or end up cramped in the tiniest corner.

Really enjoyed your review of Alexandria, sounds like just what you needed - but why is the review not on the book page? Have added The Silver Pigs to the wishlist.

#188 I haven't really got a consistent approach to whether I'll put a review on the page or not; have tended not to if there are already lots of reviews there. But as this ended up quite a long review, and there aren't too many others already, I will add this one.

#189 I haven't either but I wanted to thumb your review because I liked it!

Thanks. Lots of spam books on the hot list again - very annoying.

#191 How annoying - looks like the spammers have managed to work out how hot reviews work :-(

Eek, that's annoying.

Genny, could you look at the TIOLI thread?

#193 Have done - all sorted!

#184: I am glad to know you will make it to the funeral. It is sad that the reunion with your other godmother will be under such unfortunate circumstances.

#187: Good! I think you would have regretted giving them away at some later point in time.

I also chime in with a GOOD that you can get to the funeral and that you will keep the books.
I figure that school must be out all over as the spammers are busy at my other readers' community too (thereadersplace.com).
Genny, do you read Steven Saylor too? I actually prefer darker mysteries wherever they appear. On the other hand, I have some unread Falcos that I expect to get back to someday.

#196 Thanks Peggy. I haven't read any Steven Saylor, but someone mentioned him a month or so back, so I'm now aware of his series. I don't mind darker mysteries, but I guess that for comfort reading I prefer the ones that at some level are positively life-affirming, no matter how many murders or dark crimes may be committed in the course of the plot. On reflection, that usually means ones where the main protagonist is fundamentally in a good place with him/her self (happy domestic arrangements, or at peace with their chosen lot) and therefore strong enough to deal with the mess of life around them without being broken by it. I suppose it is that, as much as the neat resolution of mystery and tying up of loose ends, which is so often so far from the reality of daily life and which makes mysteries, especially of the cozier variety, a good choice for comfort reading.

#188
Here's a picture of Ty looking very cute - he manages to do so quite a lot, though he is a large dog - and especially so when he is sleeping.


I've put a few more pics of Ty, including some of him playing with my godmother Pam, and some others of Pam and my mother, in my photo gallery on the profile page, since I've been talking about them.

Congratulations on yet another hot review!

I'll be thinking of you on the 25th. All good wishes ... and prayers are sent your way.

Lovely photos and Ty is definitely very cute.

Ty looks so much like my May that I thought you had been in my house - except that her bunk doesn't have paw prints! I'm off in a second to look at your picture gallery. First, though, I really have to commend to you Steven Saylor's featuring Gordianus the Finder. They are tremendously well researched and for the first few, Cicero and Tiro are fairly major characters. Saylor makes use of that very exciting late-Republican period and often quotes Cicero for a page or so. Gordianus himself is a devoted family man. He marries a Jewish woman (not to spoil anything), and they adopt a couple of slave boys over the course of the first few books. That sounds pretty modern, but I really don't mind. Roman Blood is the first one. Now, I've said my say.

#201 Peggy, I love Steven Saylor's books too. I keep meaning to try the Falco ones but want to start at the start. With Gordianus I started at about number 7 - Last Seen in Massilia)

#201, 202 - Right, Roman Blood is now on the wishlist!

I've got a ballgame to go to on Saturday and with my hour-long bus ride (each way), I like to take a paperback along and I've decided it'll be the Dancers in Mourning by Allingham.

(Don't want to risk taking my Kindle and getting it soaked in beer or anything like that.)

#204 I hope you enjoy it, Linda - and that your copy does not end up soaked in beer! Though at least paperbacks can be dried out, whereas I guess a Kindle would suffer more permanent damage from any kind of soaking. (I don't have a Kindle, but I don't think I'd want to read it in the bath if I did, whereas I do occasionally read paperbacks in the bath).

Hope you enjoy the game too.

Book 44
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin


Library book.

Another historical mystery, this time the first in a series, which has been recommended several times since I've been on this group - the first person I picked up a recommendation from was citizenjoyce.

I really enjoyed this one - the writing was good, the characters interesting, and the story soon captured my imagination and kept me up late last night to get to the end.

I liked the Prologue, Chaucer-style, introducing returning Canterbury pilgrims - with the twist that "one of them, as exuberant as the rest, is a murderer of children". I also liked the way the context of the competing powers of church and state in the 12th century (against the backdrop of the recent martyrdom of Thomas a Becket) impacts on whether and how justice is sought for the murdered children and for those made scapegoat for the crime. The precarious situation of outsiders of all kinds (Jews, foreigners, women) is well conveyed.

I gave this one four stars and will be looking out for the next one.

Visited a retreat house today, and tried hard to walk past the little book shop without buying anything, but failed. Two books which were half price tempted me:

- a book about the church in the Scandinavian countries and their relationship with the churches in the UK - Churches of Northern Europe in Profile - which, if I can read it in time, may be illuminating for my forthcoming holiday in Norway. Also Newcastle Diocese, where I am, has a link with a diocese in another part of Norway.

- a signed book by a member of my own congregation, John Batchelor who is a recently retired Professor of English: Lady Trevelyan and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. John had recently led a reading week at the retreat house, on selected 20th century English novelists, which is why I guess they had a book of his still on display, though this one relates to 19th not 20th century. Lady Trevelyan, according to the dust jacket, was a highly intelligent woman who established a salon of the arts in a large country house in Northumberland. I've visited the house - Wallington (or rather its gardens, as the house always seems to be closed when I visit) - so I'm really looking forward to reading this and finding out more about Lady Trevelyan and her fostering of the arts.

edited to try to correct touchstones - without much success so far, even on third attempt....

I echo some other LTer from another thread, probably the Virago group. *wiping drool from my keyboard*

#207: I will be interested in seeing how the Batchelor book is, Genny, when you get around to reading it.

#206: I read the third one in the series (out of order - bad Chloe!) a few weeks ago - it was lent to me. I really enjoyed it and I'm glad to hear the earlier ones are good too.
Chloe

Your thread is dangerous. Roman Blood and Mistress of the Art of Death have both been added to bloated wishlist.

"tried hard to walk past the little book shop without buying anything, but failed"- I tried to walk past the second hand bookshop in town today, then told myself I would only pick up one book...and ended up with 5.

>206 gennyt: So glad you liked it, Genny!

Hi Genny -- I lost your thread somehow, but now I've found it again -- catching up. Ty is adorable and wayyyyyy back you mentioned being disappointed by Kay's Summer Tree -- I didn't like that trilogy or was a quad? Anyhow, the one I did love was Tigana. The characters were reasonable well-developed in it and the setting and 'problem' had some originality.

I am sorry about your godmother -- I was very very close to my godfather; he was a mentor and a darling of the first order. His death affected me deeply.

#212 Yes so am I - I've not yet (being fairly new on here) had the experience of reading a book that has been highly recommended by people on this group and not sharing the excitement myself. It's bound to happen some time, but in this case the recommendations were spot on. I gather from your comments elsewhere that the series dips a bit later on, but I'm looking forward to book 2 at least.

#213 Hello Lucy - yes I won't be rushing to read the rest of Kay's trilogy, but others have also recommended his other works including Tigana so I won't be put off by that one book. Admiration of Ty is always welcome - at least one of us in this household is slim and elegant! And my godmother was not for me a mentor, but certainly a darling. She was really a fairy god-mother - whenever she came to stay, I would find practical long-neglected tasks around the house had magically been taken care of: mossy back yard brushed clean, dead house-plants removed and still-living ones revived, cupboards tidied or just the washing up done, never a word said.

Book 45
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro



Library book
Read for the June TIOLI Japanese author challenge

I've only previously read Remains of the Day by Ishiguro, and have wanted to read this for some time. Friends had highly recommended it, but wouldn't tell me what it was about, only saying that it was very sad.

I agree with that verdict, though for the sake of those who have not read it, I won't give away what makes it sad. I had picked up something of the theme before reading it, and I wish I had not, so I don't wish to pass on those spoilers to others. Without that prior knowledge, I don't know how quickly I would have worked out what was really going on, in what is at one level simply the reminiscences of a young woman about her time at boarding school and her relationships with two friends in particular after they left the school. The sadness, and the horrific implications, of what is really going on, are not revealed directly but are hinted at obliquely through the narrative of the mundane details of daily life, the cliquey relationships and obsessions of people growing up in sheltered isolation. The interesting thing is how the narrator, and the other characters, react as they discover the truth of their situation; the book leaves the reader also pondering how to react to the ethical and moral questions posed in such an oblique way.

One of the things this book seems to be about is how we deal with unpalatable truth - the things we know but would rather not know. The 'truth' of the situation in this book is not a current reality, thought it is not inconceivable, but there are plenty of similarly inconvenient and unpleasant realities around, which we would rather ignore - at whose cost? For this reason, this is an uncomfortable read, but a valuable one and one that will linger.

Highly recommended, and yes, very sad. Four stars.

Book 46
The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer



Library book

Picked this up 2 days ago from the library when returning other recent reads. I've not read any Heyer for about 20 years and can't remember what I've read of hers before - but as several members of this group have been enthusing about her recently I thought I'd try another.

I really enjoyed this quick, entertaining read. It's a Georgian historical romance with a bit of a mystery and an adventure rolled into it, in a plot involving several cousins, a disgraced heir, smugglers and plenty of historical detail such as quizzing glasses (precursor to monocles).

Some very funny moments - I can't remember if the other Heyer's I read had as much comedy but this one is certainly great fun.

Recommended - I gave this one four stars as well - a very different kind of four stars. It maybe only deserves 3.5 for the plot, but gains more for being so very well done of its kind.

I love The Talisman Ring: Sarah Thane is one my favourite characters ever, and I want to be her when I grow up. (Actually, I'm probably at least five years her senior now. I hope it's not ten years yet. How did that happen?)

I have been resisting Never Let Me Go for ages, but I think I shall probably give in soon. I must try to get The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans out of the TBR and read first, though.

I'm about a third of the way through the Margery Allingham book, Dancers in Mourning. Really enjoying it.

#216: I've not read that one yet, so I will have to give it a try. Thanks for the recommendation, Genny!

Book 47
Little Gidding Then and Now by Tony Hodgson


A 28 page booklet, own copy.

Almost too short to qualify for listing. But I am determined to read more of my work-related stuff and if I start listing it, perhaps that will be an incentive.

This is one of a long-running series of short, practical booklets on different aspects of theology and ministry, published by Grove Books, whose motto is "Not the last word... but often the first." Typically they contain useful discussion starters or introductions to topical issues - nothing very profound or extended, but you can't do a lot in 28 pages. I subscribe to the Worship, Pastoral and Spirituality series, and there are piles of them waiting for me to read and/or pass on to others in my congregation.

This one is a brief account of the religious community founded in the 17th century at Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire, and of those who have been inspired by it more recently, both in literature (T S Eliot's poem Little Gidding is the most famous example) and in the life of the church (the author of the booklet was involved in an attempt to refound a community in the 1970s at Little Gidding). The booklet suggests we can learn a lot from Little Gidding about the blending of tradition and experimentation in Christian living.

One thing I learned from this is the existence of two nineteenth century novels featuring Little Gidding: "One, called A Haunt of Ancient Peace, was written in a romantic style by Emma Marshall and the other, John Inglesant, by J H Shorthouse, gave a faithful picture of the life at Little Gidding and became a best-seller."

Touchstones only seem to work for the last of these.

Little Gidding Then and Now sounds interesting. I've not read that many of the Grove booklets but those I have read I've on the whole found helpful and interesting.

#220: Genny, we do not question page counts around here - what counts is that the book, pamphlet, whatever is between two covers and that you read it!

we do not question page counts around here That's what I reckoned - and it is satisfying not only to have read even a short thing like that, but also to record that it is read!

#223: Just for the record - I do keep a ticker for my pages on my thread, but more as a matter of curiosity than anything else. I rarely count abandoned books, even though I give almost every book at least 50 pages before I put it aside. The only abandoned book I have counted this year as far as page count goes was an ER book that was truly horrible and I made it to page 85 before finally saying 'Life is too short!'

#224 Ian Sansom?

For all these 30+ years I've kept track of my reading, I diligently kept tabs on page counts. Recently, I abandoned that.

More of my "books" are on my Kindle and I also don't really care how long or how short they are now. Almost all are in the 200 to 400 page range, I'd guess. The occasional 60 page book balances out the occasional 600 page book, I'd say.

#224: You got it!

hi Genny
Finally I am catching up on some threads and saw your sad news.
I am sorry you lost your godmother.

Ty is adorable, especially curled up like that :-)
Anita

Thanks Anita. I know that you appreciate adorable hounds!

Panic at brief LT downtime just now - I'm glad it's back up in time for me to post this before I rush off to finish my packing (ie, decide which books I'm taking with me). I'm off to catch the train down south to my godmother's funeral, will probably not have internet access for the next 2.5 days, so I shall fall behind on everyone's threads, but at least I hope to have lots of reading time on the journey there and back.

#229: Safe travels, Genny!

#229 Safe travels and hope you took some good books! Will be keeping you and your mum in my prayers over the next few days.

Genny

I'll be thinking of you on your journey!

When you return, please do post your review of Never Let Me Go. It is incredible!

Hope your trip goes well.

Back home for a few days now, but feeling very tired and low. I've been procrastinating instead of working, and not reading either (probably because I know I should be working).

However, this morning I did pick up a parcel of feel-good books sent by a kind LT friend which were waiting at the parcel depot - a lovely reminder that this community of fellow-readers is there even when I'm not feeling up to participating very much.

#232 I'll put the review up on the book page Linda, since you ask!

Thinking of you Genny. Grief has a way of softly punching us in the belly tell me lie in an exhausted pool crying.

Dear Genny, we are glad to see you back and sending prayers and wishes for your complete emotional healing. And blessings on your kind LT friend too; solid, tangible evidence of caring is always welcome.

Glad to see you back, Genny. Sending hugs and prayers.

Thinking about you, Genny, and sending prayers and hugs your way.

Thank you Heather, Lucy, Linda, Peggy, Caty, Linda and Stasia for your thoughts, prayers and hugs (I've never had a calligraphic hug before, that's beautiful!).

Today I was back in the professional role, taking another funeral (a big one, of a woman who died suddenly aged 50, so it was a packed church). It's a very different experience conducting the funeral, compared with being in the congregation. In the former case, as today, the need to do a good job in order to help other people with their grief takes priority, and your own feelings cannot predominate (though they are still there). As a member of the congregation you are much more at the mercy of your emotional state - but also experiencing a sense of solidarity with other mourners.

At the end of Pam's funeral, my other godmother June and I were able to stand together for a bit just holding hands, with tears in our eyes, not needing to say anything (and June wearing the beautiful bright turquoise jacket which Pam had made for her, and me wearing the silver cross which Pam had given me at the start of my new ministry).

It was a good service last week, and although the experience of staying with my mother was as emotionally complex and physically difficult as ever (bunkbeds and asthma-inducing high levels of dust), it was good to have been able to share this time with her. The journey to and from the Island was good, and I did get some good (and comforting) reading done. The harder part has been trying to get on with things (all the usual pressures of work and home that are waiting) once I returned. But I've made some progress today and hope that things are picking up.

#240: I've made some progress today and hope that things are picking up.

That is good news!

I'm glad to hear things are starting to be better. As I'm sure you know better than most do, it takes a long time to feel really able to carry on completely "as normal". I hope your work, as well as your reading, helps with this.

Time for some book updates.

No. 48
Sabriel by Garth Nix



Own book, from shelves - bought new 3 years ago.
Re-read (first read c 2007)
Children's/Young Adult fantasy
Read as part of the group read, and a TIOLI challenge (member recommendation).

It was perhaps a bit soon to re-read this book, but I wanted to share in the group read experience. I first came across this series 3 years ago when the book-devouring teenaged daughter of friends wanted a copy of Lirael for Christmas. I got myself a copy of Sabriel at the same time, and enjoyed it enough to want to read more, which is just as well as I enjoyed Lirael better.

Sabriel has just left school and reluctantly takes on the mantle of her father as the Abhorsen - a kind of anti-necromancer, whose job (equipped with a bandoleer of magical bells) is to ensure those who should be dead stay dead. I wasn't as gripped by it this time, probably because I could remember too much of the plot and knew mostly what was coming next so there were no surprises. I do like books that feature bells though - Dorothy L Sayers The Nine Tailors is one of my favourites - and (reading this while travelling to a funeral myself) it was interesting to reflect on the attitudes to death (a curse? a gift?) which the story explores. Coming to terms with the reality of death is part of the process of growing up, and even (or especially) one whose profession deals with death has to deal with the personal impact also.

Four stars - if you are not allergic to fantasy (or cats) you will probably enjoy this!

No. 49
Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith



Own book, bought new with booktoken (gift) in June
TIOLI challenge: author with 3-part name

A quick, lighthearted, feel-good read, in bite-sized chapters originally published in daily episodes in a newspaper. First in a series, which follows the inter-connecting lives and relationships of fellow residents of a London block of flats, the eponymous Corduroy Mansions. The premise and format are similar to that of Smith's 44 Scotland Street series set in Edinburgh.

The characters include a mild-mannered middle-aged wine merchant who cannot persuade his layabout son to move out, an odious MP called Oedipus who is loathed even by his own mother, and a temporarily vegetarian dog called Freddie de la Hay.

The multiple story-lines unfold somewhat like a soap opera but with more humour than most. There is no great mystery or drama, but lots of little ones, and perhaps as a consequence of the format, there is not much of a resolution at the end, and no doubt the second book in the series will pick up more or less where this one leaves off.

Cosy, comforting and entertaining - this is not great literature, but Smith's sympathetic portrayal of ordinary people's (and dogs') everyday lives, slightly exaggerated for comic effect, affirms something about our common humanity.

3.5 stars (I'd give it 3.75 if I could).

I loved Corduroy Mansions; it was my first experience with podcasts, and I remember 'tuning in' every night after dinner with my cup of tea and listening to the Telegraph's podcast of that evening's chapter. I was transported back to early childhood when one still gathered round the radio (pre-TV) and used one's ears to hear the story. Maybe this is why I'm so fond of audio books. Anyway, I'm glad to here this is going to be a series because I find AMS's portrayals of ordinary people leading ordinary lives to be very soothing. Must look for more.

A summary of the past two months' reading ( I did a summary at the end of April for the first four months in post 80).

Books read: 19

By men: 10
By women: 9

British authors: 13
Australian: 2
Japanese: 1
Romanian: 1
Canadian: 1
American: 1

Fiction: 16
of which, children's/young adult: 4
Non fiction: 3

Library books: 7
Pre 2010 TBR: 2
Acquired 2010: 9
On shelf (reread): 1

I did a bit better on reading some non-fiction this time, and in fact am part way through a couple more which I didn't quite finish before the end of the month.

Better balance of male & female authors, but very Anglo-centric - partly because I've read several of two series by UK authors. Next couple of months should be more diverse as I plan to read some Norwegian authors prior to my forthcoming holiday there.

I haven't fully decided what I am going to try to read this month. But plans include:

Lirael group read
more of The Aeneid group read

finish Animal Vegetable Miracle
finish Children's Spirituality - which could be a book about making a difference
finish The child that books built TIOLI challenge - book about books

The Lacuna - Orange TIOLI challenge
East of the Sun, West of the Moon - Norwegian folk tales
Mysteries Knut Hamsun - Norwegian author

Genny, I'm just stopping by to say hi, and that you've been in my thoughts and prayers.

It's hard trying to deal with "life as usual" when grieving, but may God give you the comfort and strength you need to get through!

I've had a good day today with a small group of 15 members of my church on an away-day together to reflect on life 'after sunday'. We didn't go far away, just outside our parish to the local mental hospital, where one of our members is based as a psychiatrist and was talking about what his work involves.

Came home to finish planting out seedlings, a long-overdue task which I began yesterday; being out in the sun and quite lively wind all afternoon, getting dirt under my nails, finding frogs hiding behind the stacks of pots, and reflecting that I'm probably not ruthless enough to be a good gardener (I hate thinning out the seedlings and removing the weak ones - I want them all to flourish, but they clearly won't unless they have room to grow, so some must be sacrificed). Satisfying to be absorbed in practical tasks though.

Now I'd like to read some more, but I really must write a paper for the church council meeting on Monday first...

Sounds like an interesting day, Genny.

Were there lots of frogs? Do you have a pond for them to take refuge in, or had they just stopped under your flowerpots en route to somewhere else?

Actually, I exaggerated - there was only one frog! I don't have a pond, but my back yard where the pots were stacked is permanently damp and shady, so I guess Mr frog likes it there.

As I've now hit the 250 posts mark, it's time for a new thread, which you can find over here. See you there!

(One of the many things I've gained from this group and LT in the past 6 months has been a little knowledge of html eg how to do bold type and to replace the lengthy page reference with a simple word 'here'.)