Ellie's attempt to dent Mount TBR

OK, I know I'm already doing the 75-Book Challenge, and the 1010 Challenge, and even, occasionally, fitting a book into the gaps in my old ABC - but I've succumbed to the lure of this group anyway! I'm counting any book I already owned before Christmas 2009 (though hopefully some of the dustier books will creep in there in between books from the boxes full I bought in December!). I think I'll aim for, say, 30 - though exceeding that target would definitely be a boost to my shelf space! Oh, and I'll stick to short summaries here - each book has been reviewed on the book's product page and my 75-Book Challenge thread if you want to read more...
Wish me luck!

I'll keep the master list here. All of these books have been read and thus toppled from the TBR pile; the ones in bold italics have gone that extra step post-reading and made it off my shelves altogether and into the bookshop!

The Ones I've Pried Off Mount TBR So Far

1) Sunshine - Robin McKinley
2) Persuasion - Jane Austen
3) Thunderball - Ian Fleming
4) Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Sex and Science - Mary Roach
5) North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
6) Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
7) Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris
8) Too Much Anger, Too Many Tears: A Personal Triumph over Psychiatry (no touchstone) - Janet and Paul Gotkin
9) Message in a Bottle - Nicholas Sparks
10) Crazy as Chocolate - Elisabeth Hyde
11) 84, Charing Cross Road/The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street - Helene Hanff
12) The Bad Mother's Handbook - Kate Long
13) The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
14) Library Confidential: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas in the Public Library - Don Borchert
15) Green Angel - Alice Hoffman
16) Housewife Up - Alison Penton Harper
17) The Lion Children - Angus, Maisie and Travers McNeice
18) The Island - Victoria Hislop
19) The World According to Clarkson - Jeremy Clarkson
20) Strawberry Shortcake Murder - Joanne Fluke
21) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
22) Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table by Nigel Slater
23) A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka

Good luck, Ellie!

Anxiously awaiting THE LIST :)

See, that's why I posted THE LIST - because I knew I'd never manage to write the whole message before you found me! :-)
Then my computer crashed...

ETA: For anyone not following this crazy conversation - knowing of Stasia's incredible knack for discovering new threads before they've even been posted (yet another supernatural gift), instead of writing out message 2 properly I just posted double quick, to reserve the spot, as it were... Lucky thing too - I was right! 'THE LIST' is now, well, a list. With actual books on it.

Well, I am glad to see that the computer is back up again!

Yeah, it was just having a tantrum again. Nothing a good reboot up the proverbial won't sort out...

OK, so the brief run-down of the books I've already cleared in January and February:

1) Sunshine by Robin McKinley (4*) - vampire fantasy novel set in a well-thought-out 'world like ours but not quite'. Sadly the romance between Sunshine (the human) and Constantine (the vampire antihero) never really clicks, and the build-up to the climax fizzles out rather. Off the shelf - into the shop!

2) Persuasion by Jane Austen (5*) - I can't believe I overlooked this for so long. It's romantic and beautifully written, pulling together everything that makes Jane Austen so enduring, with a maturity not found in some of her earlier novels. Captain Wentworth... swoon!

3) Thunderball by Ian Fleming (2.5*) - Average James Bond thriller - nicely paced, with plenty of old-fashioned lusting, gambling, chasing around tropical islands in boats... Didn't set my world alight though, or have me on tenterhooks like some of the others. Off the shelf - into the shop!

4) Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Sex and Science by Mary Roach (4*) - A look at the weird and wonderful world of sex research, from the earliest thinkers, through Kinsey, to the cutting edge technology used to decipher our bodies and minds today. Fascinating stuff. Off the shelf - into the shop!

5) North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (4.5*) - Beautiful sweeping novel set in a thriving northern industrial town in the mid-19th century. Though the focus is on the growing feelings between Margaret Hale, the southern lady, and John Thornton, the northern mill owner, the novel touchs on everything from class to industry to religion along the way.

6) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (4.5*) - After a messy divorce, Liz Gilbert plans a year that will restore her to life: three months in Italy, eating and being merry; three months in an Indian Ashram, learning Yogic principles and finding peace; and finally, three months in Bali, finding a balance between pleasure and spirituality to take forward into the rest of her life. Intriguing and inspiring. Off the shelf - into the shop!

7) Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (4*) - The first True Blood novel, which made for a fun, relaxing girlie couple of days off (with pizza and cookies, naturally) AND gave me another fictional crush or two to enjoy. Looking forward to reading on before Season 2 hits our screens over here.

#6: I had Sunshine in the BlackHole. I think I will take it right back out again.

I still gave it 4* though - you might love it! The world McKinley created was absorbing and interesting to figure out, and the characters were great - it just didn't have quite the dazzle I expected.

#8: True. I guess I ought to give it a shot. Any chance of a sequel that might resolve the relationship between the two main protagonists?

I really must read North and South this year. I need to get it off my shelf!

You could write one! Course, you'd have to prise it out of the Black Hole and read it first... ;-)

Well, you have a point there. OK, I will see if I can find it. Maybe by the time I have found and read it, McKinley will have already written the sequel. It is bound to be better than anything I could write!

Ellie, good heavens, put North and South in the shop, selfish girl! How else will your patrons know it exists and that they should immediately procure and peruse it if you're not affording them the chance?

*hmmf*

Or you could stock the Wordworth editions, I suppose, and serve the same purpose.

Howdy Ellie got you starred now! :)

>Richard- Wordsworth editions are the most addictive things ever, they're so darn cheap I just can't help buying them! My copy of North and South only cost me £1.99, I was so chuffed!

I think I bought North and South back when Penguin Popular Classics were still a happy £1.50. And some of my earliest buys - an Austen or two, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, for example - where from way back in the £1 days! *sigh*

And Ricardo - we were going to buy a load of Wordsworth Classics off a woman who was unceremoniously evicted from her own bookshop nearby when she couldn't pay her rent - but she never showed up. We've had a few sources fall through like that recently, always stuff we need as well!

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Sex and Science is definitely on my list of books I'm interested in, but -- it's going to have to clear out some of my shelves. Eat Pray Love is on my tbr list -- maybe I'll bump it up on the reading order.

Looks like you're doing well!

9> Unfortunately, Robin Mckinley has said many times that she doesn't do sequels and has no plans for one for Sunshine. It's sad really, because that is a book that could use both a sequel AND a prequel, in my opinion.

#16: That really is too bad.

8) 'Too Much Anger, Too Many Tears: A Personal Triumph Over Psychiatry' by Janet and Paul Gotkin (4*) - Beautifully written but harrowing memoir of a young woman's battle with the mental health care system of 60's America, told first from her perspective and later from her husband's. It raises important questions about everything from self-awareness to drug therapy to deference to authority, and isn't a book I'll forget anytime soon. (No touchstone - the link is here.)

Ellie! You've joined us! *happy dances* I'm gonna star thee! ;-)

>18 elliepotten: Oh nonono! Nope. Cannot deal, cannot deal. Too horrible even to think about! Nuh uh. Nix, nyet, nein.

The terrifying thing is, if I had been born just a few decades earlier and went through the same awful patch I hit about eight years ago, it could have been me in there. Now THAT, my friend, is too horrible even to think about!

Welcome, Ellie! Good Luck!

Thanks Terri! Fingers crossed this will be the year when some of these books not only get read, but sold off to nice people in our bookshop and thus out of the grasp of the 'Well, I might want to read it again in about twenty years time' fairy that lives on my shoulder... :-)

>23 elliepotten: Oh, you mean like that captive copy of North and South that you've unjustly imprisoned on your home shelves, instead of following its Goddess-ordained path of going forth to make Gaskellians of the hoi polloi of...errr...ummm...now where is it you live again? England, Scotland, Ireland...one of those itsy little places....

Eng-er-land... sweet green England. There are some books, dearest, that you just mustn't let off your shelves. Classics often fall into this pile. And if you do let them go, read or otherwise, you can guarantee that, like a dieter who has sworn off chocolate cake, you will immediately need to read it, now, this instant, and have to go buy it all over again. Therefore, North and South will be unashamedly held captive. *demonstrates exquisite English manners by blowing a raspberry*

Boy, ain't half green, eh what? I thought I'd grow mold over my entire body when I was there...wetwetwet and daaammmp!, then BRIGHTSUNSHINEbutnowarmth, back to wetwetwet and daaammmp!...eeesh.

Pretty, though. Lotsa flowers for them as likes that stuff, which I don't much.

Oh, what a lovely raspberry...

Good luck with the rest of it!

If you're interested, elliepotten, Gilbert gives a moving lecture on engaging in creative enterprises.

Congrats on your progress! I'm trying to shoo my books away into the shop or local library, but it's harder than I thought it'd be. They're really starting to pile up. On the plus side, my library can be used as a bomb shelter (or if I were honest with myself, a mausoleum).

And "Mount TBR." I like that. I'm going to steal it, now. Best luck on your endeavors!

Thanks! And don't worry about the piles of books - they're damn devious and breed when you're not looking so it's really not your fault...

You're welcome. They breed? So that's how publishing works!

I don't think it's the books; I may have a hoarding problem. I'm trying to work on it. You see, that's how big a problem that is. Because right now, I'm thinking, Perhaps there's a book on how to combat hoarding . . . :)

30> Oh -- there are bunches. I, myself, own at least six. :}

Book breeding -- now that's a career I could get into. I think my first batch would be Bill Bryson and Barbara Kingsolver. A fairly safe mix, I'd think -- but with wonderful results, as well.

Book breeding...isn't that what Pride and Prejudice and Zombies et alii are about?

How about "North and South and Cujo"? Or "The Mill on the Floss and Poltergeist"?

Oh, no no no. Nothing so dramatic. It's like rabbits, see. There are two little books on a table. You disappear off to make dinner or head to bed for the night, and when you come back there are four books. Look away for an hour to watch TV, and suddenly THERE ARE EIGHT BOOKS. It's very mysterious and you are absolutely blameless, since it has nothing whatsoever to do with your own compulsive book buying and hoarding behaviours.

Denial, moi???

>33 elliepotten: Sweetness...after reading that, I confidently state that you are Cleopatra barging down Denial in royal splendor.

I've got a terrible feeling that books don't even need two to tango... just leave one book unattended by itself and it'll turn itself into a library within a few weeks, or days, or... well... hours!

Maybe all those missing socks...you know, the ones that go into the laundry but never come out...are turning into books? That would, actually be lovely. No one around here has ever complained about too many socks taking up drawer space!

I have quite a few books about socks ...

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/staffordcastle&deepsearch=socks

Maybe that's where they came from ;-)

36> Huh. I wonder if different types of socks yield different types of books? Nylons = romance, wool = classics...

37> Cat Bordhi is actually my friend's mom. I'm always pleased when I see her books in people's libraries.

>32 richardderus:
Your "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" lightened up my day when I really needed it. Thank you.

---

The problem is so much one of books multiplying, it's that they're the wrong ones! All the good ones are "borrowed" and never returned, until I'm left with those that I'd rather not admit to owning. :)

For example, Shadow of the Torturer which I only bought (at a used-book shop) because of this review (and which, admittedly, I haven't read).

Uggh. My printer/scanner isn't working.

Anyhow, on the back of the book, following all the reviews by various authors gushing on about how great the book is, you would've seen, stenciled at the bottom, these four words by the book's previous owner:

"He sucks."
- Michael ******

Sorry for the snafu (which, incidentally, means "situation normal all f***ed up") with the scanner. I'm going to have to try it again tomorrow. It's Saturday night and nearly 9 o'clock, which means I have to go meet up with some friends and do wind up doing something I'm going to regret come dawn.

Welcome to the group! You're a mostly lively and chat-inducing addition to the group. I'll be starring your thread!

>38 reflexandresolve: I like them very much!

P.S. I haven't done anything with the new one yet, since I just got it last week, but I plan to.

Gordon Bennett, it's been a long time since I actually read something OFF MY OWN SHELVES - must do better!

9) Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks (3*) - Moving love story about a divorced woman and a widowed man, brought together in their loneliness by a heartfelt letter washed up on the beach. Delivered the winning Sparks formula in a shower of tears and love hearts, as always! Off the shelf - into the shop!

Students in my library love Sparks' books. They can't get enough of them.

He just 'gets' women. If his name and picture weren't on his books you would never believe they were written by a man. They're so utterly romantic, and so reliably guaranteed to make you sigh and smile and cry and believe in love all over again, what's not to like? They're like the very best romantic movies in book form - that's how the stories play out in my head as I read - which is probably why movie studios seem to snap them up so quickly! It seems the obvious thing to do!

I think Sparks is a transsexual.

He pulls it off well... ;-)

Who is Gordon Bennett?

PS I hate Nicholas Sparks books. Too treacly (sp?).

I bookmooched 2 Nicholas Sparks books yesterday, on the strength of this thread... I'm addicted to LT.

Terri - this one wasn't too treacly actually, which was possibly why, being in an incredibly girlie 'I want to have a good cry and eat chocolate buttons' kind of mood, I didn't respond to it as much as to the others I've read. Gordon Bennett's just the Brit equivalent of saying, 'Oh, for goodness sake!' or 'Good grief!'. That kinda sentiment anyway.

>48 pokarekareana: I hereby announce a disclaimer that says that since I get all nervous when people read something on my recommendation, you are officially not allowed to hunt me down and kill me if you hate them. *Looks around in a v. shifty manner before sidling back to her current read*

Haha! I didn't mean to sound scary! The only reason I might hunt you down is to visit your shop; my mum & dad live not far from Bakewell. But no! Must not buy any more books!

Very restrained of you! I'm in a 'being good' phase right now where I'm managing to read off my own shelves a bit, but I'm trying to stay away from temptation all the same in case I kinda do the equivalent of a woman on a diet going mad one day and eating twenty bars of chocolate... it could happen!

10) Crazy as Chocolate by Elisabeth Hyde (3*) - A moving little novel about a woman nervously reaching her forty-first birthday, the exact age at which her mother committed suicide. She has to try to balance her own feelings about reaching this milestone with the terror of watching her sister behaving more and more like their mother did before she died. Although the book didn't completely blow me away, the writing style was quite enchanting and I definitely welled up a time or two, both at the novel itself and at the old, all-consuming fears a story like this always throws up. It made me think, and I enjoyed it - but not a keeper... Off the shelf - into the shop!

Now I just have to read (and very obviously give up to the shop shelves) a couple more books before my mum might let my *ahem* 'accidental' Amazon order pass unconfiscated. She's suddenly clamped down with a 'one in, one out' rule which doesn't bode well if she reaches the parcel before I do!

From Ellie's new review:

"...'Speak now and tell me where he went or you will all feel the pain from my little stick.'"

ROFL

Well, dearest, what *did* you expect? The author's first name is "Alaric"! That's a hoot in itself!

Haha, true! I did find myself rolling my eyes and muttering 'Give me strength!' from time to time. But it was a Member Giveaway from the author, what was I supposed to do?!

Oooh...well, that one's not a good 'un no matter what. I've been really luck with Member Giveaways, TG, only got one dud.

I've still got a handful of ER/MG books to get through so fingers crossed my next one will have a good editor behind it!

11) 84, Charing Cross Road (5*) and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (3*), by Helene Hanff (4* overall) - Well, I loved the first book in the volume, the delicious collection of letters between Ms Hanff, a dishevelled book enthusiast in New York, and Frank Doel, a reserved English bookseller at Marks & Co. on Charing Cross Road. As word of Helene's generosity and wit spreads, her correspondence widens to include everyone from Frank's wife to his elderly next door neighbour. The second volume is Hanff's diary of her long-awaited to trip to London, an opportunity thrown her way thanks to the success of 84, Charing Cross Road. It's nowhere near as charming as its predecessor, and it started to drag a little for me, especially since I don't know London very well, but it was nice to meet some of the characters Hanff had exchanged letters with over the years, and to see her enthusiasm for the city. Can't wait to watch the movie - it's sitting here waiting for a quiet evening!

12) The Bad Mother's Handbook by Kate Long (3.5*) - Don't be fooled by the chick lit tag - this books covers everything from teen pregnancy to adoption to dementia. It's sharp and amusing, alternating between the viewpoints of teenager Charlotte, her mum Karen and her grandmother Nancy, but it delves much deeper into family relationships and the shared history that brings us together than I was expecting. I'm glad I read it - I have two more of Long's books on my shelves still to go and I might check out the movie of this one sometime... Off the shelf - into the shop!

>58 elliepotten: That falls short of ringing priase, so I consider myself justified in not wishlisting it. Thanks, Ellie!

It wasn't AWESOME or anything - but it was a good little read anyway. Three feisty women, three stories, all coming together... Maybe not your thing though!

I'm betting not my thing at all. Sounds like something that would break me out in hives, in fact.

Plus it's VERY 'northern England'. Which I totally get... but you wouldn't, I fear. We're a funny lot!

Really, Ellie, isn't a bit grand to call anything on that itsy little island "north" or "south"? It's pretty much all one. Now see sense, it is, isn't it?

My Scottish husband would be scandalized!

OK, technically in Britain Scotland is up north, Cornwall is down south... right? But the English north/south divide divides loyalties all over the place (I was at uni with it, jeez). Derbyshire's actually in The Midlands so we're not supposed to count - we're supposed to sit on the fence smiling around winningly - but I'm definitely more northern. The stereotypes are pretty blatant - Down South they 'talk posh' and like skiing, cappuccino and sundried tomatoes. Up North they 'talk broad' and like tea, pork pies and custard creams. I'm definitely on the earthier side! :-)

Taking that test:

skiing: no, thanks - I can't afford it and I prefer to keep all my limbs intact and attached
cappuccino: I prefer latte, but yes, okay
sundried tomatoes: no, thanks

tea: ick, no! Take that vile stuff far, far away!
pork pie: yum - yes, please!
custard cream: no, thanks

I think I've failed on both counts.

I love tea, custard creams and sun-dried tomatoes. I hate pork pies and coffee in all forms, and have never felt inclined to go skiing. I grew up in Derbyshire and consequently I appear to be a perfectly rounded midlander. I consider myself northern because I've spent most of the last 5 years living down south (like, really south, as in Devon and London).

I hate tea, skiing, and sundried tomatoes; I can't abide fancied-up coffee; pork pie is von yummenstein; and I don't know what is meant by "custard cream." I suppose that makes me an American....

But it's farther from where I am on Long Island, to Buffalo in western New York, than it is from Cornhole or whatever to the Heebiejeebies, or whatever. And that's just one state. Separate countries, indeed. *derisive snort*

My my, see what I mean about the debate?! It's so fun when you name a stereotype and immediately you (and everybody else) CAN'T HELP but immediately work out if they fit it or not... ;-)

Flat caps. Discuss.

#68 Custard cream. Personally, I find them dry and bland.

#70 Only one should be allowed per whippet.

I offer for consideration cream teas, Cornish pasties (for the Americans: no, not that sort) and I've got a lovely combine harvester.

On the combine harvester note; I'm moving to Bristol in three weeks. Wandering through the city earlier on today, I spotted a poster for a Wurzels concert in September. I shrieked, almost dropped my icecream, and then realised I'd become horribly south-western in the space of approximately 24 hours since signing the contract for our flat.

Cream teas are a national treasure; cream before jam? Jam before cream? (I'm in the latter camp.) This debate kept us going through three years of uni in Exeter. I'm apathetic about Cornish pasties, but as a former honourary Devonian, I'm willing to wheel out this old chestnut again: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6144460.stm

>71 Eat_Read_Knit: Ew. Looks like a soda cracker with fancy print on it.

>72 pokarekareana: ...cream tea...? ...jam?...I am not understand....

According to Wikipedia - that fount of all knowledge - Devonshire cream tea advocates cream first and then jam. Cornish splits, on the other hand, favor jam first and then cream.

Ohhhhh, Cornish pasties. And Ricardo - a custard cream is a sweet BISCUIT (that's cookie to you) with a creamy vanilla layer in between. Very yummy and most excellent for dunking.

Cream teas - oh good heavens, yes. But are they Devonshire cream teas, or Cornish clotted cream teas, or northern 'I go to Betty's and sip tea from a china cup' cream teas? York was big on cream teas. And tradition be darned - jam before cream, definitely. The other way just gets so messy... SPREAD the jam, BLOB the cream. Apologies to befuddled non-Brits at this point... Once more, a translation in case you don't have cream teas - a cream tea is a delicious phenomenon consisting of scones (sweet bready caky things, often with sultanas or glace cherries baked in), cut in half and topped with jam and clotted cream, usually served with a nice pot of tea. *takes a moment to compose herself at the very thought*

Jam before cream. And the cream has to be Rodda's. Betty's is a pretty good substitute though - especially if someone else is paying.

#75 Ellie, you're making me hungry!

Oh yes, Betty's is definitely not for the faint of cash... We went in there once to treat ourselves mid-Christmas shop with our rich uni friends (well, one was a pretentious viscount and one was his sponging girlfriend, same difference), and not only did they NOT HAVE THE YUMMY CAKE I WANTED (shockingly poor show), but I paid a whopping £3 for a glass of orange juice. Their afternoon teas are famous but I didn't fancy paying £14 for some tea and a couple of sandwiches, so we used to just smirk at the long lines of tourists (or 'suckers', as we liked to call them) waiting to go in and disappear off to one of the other little tea rooms across town. In fact, one was a tiny crooked room above a little old-fashioned teddy bear shop, the most quaint and lovely little place. *sighs wistfully*

I was in York in March and, noticing a queue stretching along the pavement, realised that Betty's obviously enjoyed a degree of fame. Needless to say, I didn't join the queue - queuing to get into a teashop seemed wrong somehow - but wondered if I was missing out. I'd be happy to know that it wasn't worth the wait (and expense)!

The queues of tourists outside Betty's in York used to make me laugh, too, although my alternative was usually to buy a sandwich from Boots or Subway and find a bench near the Minster or Jorvik centre.

I did once go - possibly as a birthday present to myself - to the RHS gardens at Harlow Carr, spend the day looking at lots of flowers and birds and dragonflies and then have tea in the Betty's there.

*also sighs wistfully*

#79 Betty's is nice, but not nice enough to bother joining the queue and paying a fortune.

Jam before cream for sure.

I've heard wonderful things about Betty's too, but the only place for a proper cream tea is in Devon, or, at a push, Cornwall.

Ooooooh! I see what the fuss is about now. I love scones, though not with "glace cherries" in them (assuming those are the nasty little fake cherries with the texture of whale blubber and the taste of sugarsugarsugar which Americans call "maraschino cherries" ickughptui); my local bakery makes them with fresh raspberries, and serves them with clotted cream, a superbly fabulously delicious thing that Americans appear not to know exists. Sounds revolting, though.

Given a sufficiently yummy scone, who needs jam at all?

Ah, but Richard, the cream and jam take this delicious morsel to the next step in heavenly-ish-ness!

>83 DeltaQueen50: I haven't tried them that way, so I can't speak to that. Yet. I'm going to a cream tea place this week, having hunted one down here because of that sinfully delicious-looking picure Ellie, fiend incarnate, posted above.

A full report shall follow.

I look forward to it! We'll give you metaphorical thumbs for your review...

>75 elliepotten: "Custard Cream" so basically an Oreo cookie??? Yes, American!!! However, I do enjoy going to a tea room for "high tea" at which time I do take my scone with cream and jam!!! Very yummy indeed...

I'm still not sure what "Cornish pasties" are...some help please...

Meat pies?

#86: Everything you never wanted to know about the Cornish Pasty. :)

In short, they are diced beef with diced potato, onion and swede all wrapped up in pastry. They are also very yummy.

This thread is making me hungry. Ellie, have you read anything recently?

>88 Eat_Read_Knit: SWEDE?!? You people are cannibals in addition to all the other weirdness you perpetrate and perpetuate?!? And how do you talk SWeden into sending you people? Not like they have a surplus.

*backs fearfully out of the ambit of the English*

Oi!

*reaches for loudhailer so Richard can hear from all the way over there*

Just because you lot have mangled the English language so badly that you don't know a root vegetable when one bounces off your head...

(pauses to lob one in Richard's general direction and misses badly)

...doesn't give you licence to assert mass gullibility and an inability of procreate on the part of an entire Scandinavian nation.

*ignores accusations of cannibalism since so ludicrous as to be unworthy of response, puts down loudhailer and watches now-slightly-smashed swede roll to a gradual halt*

Ellie? I don't suppose you have that encyclopaedia handy, do you?

Oh yes.... and if needs must, just pelt him with Cornish Pasties until he gets the idea!

Custard creams... are sort of like an Oreo cookie I suppose, except plain biscuit, not that dark choccy colour. And probably nicer (sorry!).

>89 pokarekareana: Umm... well, yes, I am reading, but since it's such a looooong book (The Count of Monte Cristo, in case there might be a person somewhere in the world who doesn't know that) I do tend to fall into thinking about food. Biscuits and handheld snacks and refreshing beverages do go so very well with long reading sessions! By the way, what should I call you? Pokarekareana is such a long moniker to type out and I always get the song stuck in my head for the next five hours. Should I call you Kare, Ana, or maybe just Poke? ;-)

>91 Eat_Read_Knit: Ohhh goodness Caty! Such a mangling of the glorious American tongue! And your defense of Scandinavian procreative abilities is somewhat mitigated by your reference to them as "root vegetables", don't you think?

>92 elliepotten: "Custard Creams", if anything like Oreos, are nasty. I don't know what that spoodge is they put inside the Oreo, but it's diabetes-on-the-halfshell. And these days, Oreos come in blonde versions, too. *shudder* I despair of my people. They *eat* these things! By the carload! *urp*

Thing is, what you also have to remember is that when it comes to chocolate and biscuits, the Brit versions are usually far yummier than the American ones. Cadbury's, anyone? Except for the proper choc chip gooey-baked American cookies - now those you have the handle on, no question!

Urgh, I hate Oreos. Some good things may have come from the US of A, including "the glorious American tongue" (disclaimer: languages spoken in former colonies and purporting to be 'English' may not appear as originally advertised - usage, spelling and pronunciation may be butchered for no particular reason) but the Oreo 'cookie' (biscuit!) are definitely not one of them. I think the innards of a custard cream are more, well, custardy than those of the Oreo. Also, I don't know how they managed to make a chocolate biscuit that tastes of burnt toast, but I take my hat (well, more of a northern flat cap really) off to them!

I know what you mean with the looooong books - I'm reading The Lacuna at the moment. I've just done a three-hour marathon with a cheesy-garlic-bread-break in the middle. That was gooooood. I'd hazard a guess that custard creams in this heat might get a bit squidgy; serious danger of book-messery!

One can call me Jen, for that is my name, though Poke is amusing! No! I need no more nicknames.

Ellie, is it time to teach the Yanks about the mighty Bakewell pudding?

No, definitely not. All those almonds, ick...

Ah, sweet Poke - I think I may have already known that your name was Jen - I just sometimes get my names and nicknames in a twist with so many to remember! Burnt toast! I knew I'd tasted that odd flavour before. And cheesy garlic bread sounds wonderful. I bought a salmon quiche and a tomato and basil round bready thing at the market yesterday but it's a bit... much for my liking. Maybe the second half tonight will be better - maybe the taste will have simmered down a bit. My sister found a garlic version on the same stall so next Monday I'm in there! *blushes as stomach rumbles loudly, right on cue*

Do you mean this calorific comestible when referring to "Bakewell pudding"?

*urp*

Y'all know how to make some revolting sweets.

As to butchery, a nation that can, whole and entire, say "Oi" has no room to criticize the *proper* use of the American tongue. *tosses remaining strands of hair in Harlequin-romance-lady fashion*

Oh, Richard, me proud beauty, you've given me quite a chuckle today!

You wot? Not LIKING Bakewell pudding?! Madness. Don't worry; your secret's safe with me. I won't report you to the council, oh no.

Richard - it looks and tastes much better with a puff pastry base. The shortcrust version, admittedly, leaves a lot to be desired.

Why yes, thank you, we do know how to make some revolting foodstuffs of every variety, not just in the field of puddingry. Black pudding (misleadingly named; a savoury thing generally eaten for breakfast), anyone?

"Puddingry" is such a delightful word.

On behalf of the American people, I'd just like to say that SOME of us do, in fact, lay on the double Devon or clotted cream when we're doing a pull-out-all-the-stops afternoon tea. Not to mention the Jaffa cakes. And we've got some killer scone recipes. (And no, glace cherries are NOT the same as Maraschino cherries. Nothing like them.)

Thank God!

Black pudding? *shudder* Next thing you'll be suggesting faggots with processed peas.

I'm sticking with the culinary offerings that go with the Cornish part of my heritage, and steering well clear of the Midlands side.

#101 It is, isn't it? *Adds to mental lexicon*

>101 MerryMary:, 105 - Why thank you! I invented it myself.

>104 Eat_Read_Knit: - While I do like a good faggot every now and then, I think they're Welsh rather than Midlandian. My boyfriend thinks so too, and he's from Wales.

#106 I expect you're right: I seem to recall that they were popular among the Black Country part of my family, but that says nothing about where they originally came from.

Having made a lifelong career of faggotry and faggot-appreciation, I **had** to see what we had to do with processed peas.

Oh dear.

I've rinsed my eyes with sterile saline. I've tried my beloved vitmain x. Nothing, I repeat nothing, has erased or even mitigated the horror of CAUL FAT from my consciousness.

WHAT do you people DO at night, dream up revolting things to eat?! Are y'all that hungry? Does the USA need to crank up the food aid to you?

*shudders off to eat a wholesome dinner of steak and carrots*

Richard, one word - McDonalds. What did the rest of the world do to deserve that particular US export? We're not the only offenders, evidently!

Point granted re: McDonald's. I'll see you that one, and raise you the Twinkie. But caul fat? *shudder*

Yeah, of course it's gross if you THINK about it too much. Just think of it as sausage skin, or something bearable like that...

Hmm, Twinkies do look quite unappetising. I see that, and raise you the Hershey bar. It's not chocolate. It's not cheese. What the heck IS it?!

>111 pokarekareana: Revolting, that's what it is.

But spotted dick...? *urp*

You guys are killing me. Here I am, trying to win a standoff with my hulk of a son to see who will break first and make dinner, and your talk of food (however disgusting some of it is) has made me too hungry to play any more. Now I have to go cook something. *grumble* (both me and the tummy).

Just meditate on spotted dick for a little while. It ought to kill any appetite.

What on earth is wrong with spotted dick?! (Apart from the hilarious name, that is)

#115 Like most traditional steamed puddings its not very good for the waistline, but I don't think that is Richard's objection. I think it is a fine pudding for a winter's day, served with lashings of custard of course!

I object to steamed puddings on the grounds that they're actually retired curling stones, not dessert items; and spotted dick's name just gives me the willies. (multi-culti dirty pun optional)

Richard, that's what custard is for! Have you had a bad pudding experience? I've never encountered anything masquerading as a pudding that resembles a curling stone.

Mmm, pudding...

I was served, in London in 1973, something called "sailor's duff" which sounded titillating. It was just plain vile, so dense and dry and gluccchhh that not even a pint of hard sauce could make it edible. A subsequent experience with *shudder* plum pudding was no better...I've hammered chunks off a brick with less effort, and though I never chose to eat any of the brick chunks, they *smelled* better than did the plum "pudding".

Black pudding, on the other hand, is delicious! Blood tastes good, which is why I like meat rare.

I prefer my steaks medium raw but still cannot bring myself to share blood sausage with my husband (his Christmas *treat*).

Ick! I go away for a day or two (well, by away, I mean too busy reading) and all my delicious English foodie talk has turned rotten! *Thinks about the tea and buttered crumpets, followed by banana loaf, that she'll be eating tonight and goes back to her happy place*

Mmm... crumpets! (In the least Carry-On way possible)

What have you been reading?

Still the good old Count of Monte Cristo - only about 200 pages to go and two days off ahead of me... It's all getting very exciting, revelations and revenge left, right and centre! Let's hope I'm done soon anyway, I just ordered about 30 books all in one marathon order, ooooooops... ;-)

P.S. The crumpets were yummy! Sadly my lovely fresh strawberries had all gone mouldy OVERNIGHT. Every last one. But 'twas okay because my stepdad made potato salad, the Food of the Gods, so I ate that instead. Books and food, it's all I need for a good day off!

Potato salad! Amazing! I'm the only person in history who doesn't like strawberries, though.

Oooh the thirty-book order sounds veeery good. I'm trying to behave myself of late, but it isn't happening and I seem to get something else from BookMooch arriving every day. This must stop, and stop soon!

Books and food, it's all I need for a good day off!

Hear, hear!

So, further to my promise in #84 above, I offer herewith this report on The Cream Tea:

Without the tea, this must be one of life's greater pleasures. I had four scones, all raspberry: One with clotted cream only; one with raspberry jam only; one with cream, then jam; one with jam, then cream.

Cream only. Jam, then cream, if the scone isn't very good. The other two, no no no.

The scones were delightfully warm, having been slid out of the oven before my bewitched eyes. I ate every single speck of each one. Last night was interesting, digestively.

The tea lady was completely nonplussed that I sipped about half of the cup of tea I was poured, and the rest of the pot was completely full. I explained that, as an American, I thought of tea as something used to make chintz backgrounds look pre-dirtied, or used in watering certain fussy houseplants. She harrumphed off to get me my bill.

In order that I not need my own zip code from wieght gain, I resolve never again to have a cream tea.

Until next week... Metaphorical thumbs up for the review Richard - who would have thought your indomitable style would work for the great institution of Cream Tea? Bravo!

13) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (5*) - Wow, this was an amazing book. Huge, epic, yes - but I never felt like I needed to rush it, or that I just wanted it to be OVER, even with a few hundred other books clamouring for my attention. It was exciting, romantic, heartbreaking, utterly gripping... Watching Edmond's revenge slowly coming together, threads seeping together and intertwining, plans growing and clearing until the dreadful moments in which each perpetrator of his torture learned the truth - it was just masterful, so suspenseful and deliciously horrific. Turning the last page, I just feel a bit breathless, and bit... 'now what?' A triumph of good old-fashioned storytelling, absolutely wonderful. Read it.

14) Library Confidential: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert (3.5*) - Well, it was about libraries, which was good. But there was barely a book in it, which was bad. There were some wonderfully bizarre and sweet anecdotes, which was good. But there were also some totally mundane and unnecessary ones, which was bad. There were some interesting reflections on libraries, which was good. But not enough, which... well, you get the picture. Sooo... a mixed bag. Worth reading, but not as special as I was so hoping it would be. Off the shelf - into the shop!

Now let's talk about gooseberry fool, since that last book wasn't worth the trees that died to make it.

Canned gooseberries work better than fresh, don't they?

Ummm... I don't think I've seen a gooseberry since I was at my friend's farm when I was about 9... I noticed that Waste of A Tree was in your library Ricardo - but no review - did you read it already?

Hie thee hence to Sainsbury's and get some canned gooseberries and make thee a fool! (In the pudding sense.) Thou art English, thou must partake of it as it is the Iconic English Weird Dessert.

I wishlisted it, it's not in my OWN library. It was to please a fellow LTer that I did even that much. It's about 656,886 on my list of things to get to. So probably not this lifetime, I'm guessing.

Ugh. I hate cooked fruit. I also don't like gooseberries anyway, but URGH. Revoke my English passport, please, if liking the ghastly gooseberry is a citizenship requirement.

>133 pokarekareana: No one mentioned *liking* the horrid things! Just *partaking of* them. How anyone could like them I cannot fathom. Yuck!

>132 richardderus: - ah, that explains it. Oh well...

And if you MUST know, I'd much prefer a raspberry or strawberry version, get your British fruits in order! Gooseberries indeed. I have a delicious tub of each of these finest sweet goodies here RIGHT NOW, yummy...

And here I thought that the Iconic English Weird Dessert was shape.

>136 staffordcastle: Whatinahell is shape?!

You mean the yoghurts? Haven't had one in years and years... Why would you want to eat Shape when there are Gu desserts and Cadbury yoghurts to go at?

WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT YOGHURTS?! :-)

Yogurt is breakfast food. Dessert? Ew.

*throws her hands up in the air and concedes that it may be time for bed now*... hmmm... *pops her head back round the door to clarify that there will be no yoghurty breakfast when she falls back out of bed in the morning*

Yoghurt for breakfast? Controversial. As a pudding, yoghurt is among the more normal ones.

Ellie, what have you read of late?

No, not yog(h)urt.

Blancmange.

AKA shape.

Blancmange isn't *interesting* enough to be weird. It just sits there being white and bland. The George Bush of desserts, you know.

15) Green Angel by Alice Hoffman (3*) - Strictly speaking this deserves more stars. It is beautifully written, full of emotion and lyrical magic. But it is one of those books that I can't keep, I just can't, because it brought about too many horrible thoughts about death and losing the people I'm closest to. It is too heartbreaking to have sitting on my shelf reminding me of this feeling. For that reason, and that reason alone: Off the shelf - into the shop!

#142, 143 - Never heard it called 'shape' before (but the wiki puts me straight - you learn something every day!). Bland it certainly is in its modern form. Even in the middle ages it was designed to be bland and 'dainty' - but (weirdly if you think of it as a dessert) then it often contained shredded chicken! And wasn't always white, despite the name 'blanc manger'. And pan European, not just English...

#144 Hope your next read is more cheery, Ellie.

Ah, many things fall into place... See, for me 'Shape' mixed with a desserty dairy product means the brand name of the fruit yoghurts... I'd never heard blancmange called 'shape' either!

The Lion Children, a 'moving to Africa' memoir written by the children of the family (a rather appealing twist), looks like it's going to be great! The mother decided to move to Botswana to study lions, and in doing so gave her kids the opportunity of a lifetime... So unless one of the kids gets EATEN by a lion in an unexpected turn of events, it should be rather more cheery!

I guess you can be sure that at least one of the kids survives lions etc, if they have written the memoir!

>146 elliepotten:
I remember vividly the scene in the TV dramatization of The Jewel in the Crown where Ronald Merrick complains about the dessert being "shape, again", and I have encountered that name for it elsewhere.

16) Housewife Up by Alison Penton Harper - A vast improvement on its predecessor (Housewife Down) this is a snappy, amusing bit of fluff about a young widow who has been swindled by a fraudster and robbed of her fortune, finding her way again with the help of a few good friends. Perfect for a quick summer read. Off the shelf - into the shop!

17) The Lion Children by the Family McNeice. A charming memoir, written predominantly by the three middle McNeice children (with occasional assistance by their stepsister and their exuberant little brother Oakley). Their mother Kate moved them all to Botswana, where she fell in love with a lion researcher. The children have grown up in the bush and aid the research project, and this is their fascinating take on life, learning and lions... Brilliant. I'm definitely keeping this one!

Yeah, but what did you have for pudding?!

No, wait... this isn't PuddingThing, is it? The last once sounds really interesting, may have to investigate!

"PuddingThing"? LOL...a site dedicated to ploppy foods!

Side note...one of my favorite websites of all time is The Gallery of Regrettable Food, which introduces itself with the memorable and unanswerable questions, "What were they thinking? How did they eat this bilge?"

I thought of writing a culinary hist'ry of the British Isles called "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" once upon a time, but the Irish laddie I was involved with at the time threatened reprisals. I feared he wouldn't be alone.

Pudding doesn't necessary have to be ploppy - I think it covers what you might call "dessert" too, so all manner of cakes, tarts, pies, pastries, roly-polies, yoghurts, mousses (though not mooses) etc, etc.

I prefer notwhileiameating.com - it's gross.

But "pudding" is a FOOD, not a COURSE! "Dessert" is a course. As evidence, I offer your very own groaty pudding, for Guy Fawkes night; the accurately-but-unappetizingly named hog's pudding; and the horrifying steak and kidney pudding, all from the British Isles.

Should anyone be ill-advised enough to offer one of these "puddings" to me after I've eaten my meal, I should be forced to hurl the dishes back into their faces.

I rather like hog's pudding. But not for dessert.

*reverses quietly back out and leaves them to it*

Ellie dear, I bring some unfortunate news. I've...well, I've umm... ...I've found another one of your threads. *sigh* Yep, I'm sorry for your loss (of the purity of your Ape-less thread) but I am here now. So, so sorry.

...did someone say pudding? :)

Come in, come in! Yes, no matter what I'm reading over here the conversation just seems to keep drifting back to dessert foods... What can you do, I'm getting fat just reading it!

Oh dear, but I've been working to lose all my fat! :( Now not only do I have to dodge book bullets, but now dessert darts too!

Peanut butter ripple ice cream for dessert tonight.

*om nom nom*

I hate you. :)

What'd I do, kill the thread? Sorry! Richard knows I hate him in a good way, like how you hate to eat too much ice cream and then you get another spoonful anyway. I think Richard is banana and pecan.

Haha, yep, banana 'n' nuts, Ricardo's perfect ice cream! ;-)

Oh maaaaan, now you got me smuttying up my own thread. BAD Stephen. No thread killin' though - I've been half out of it for days! Tired from the summer holiday crowd at work (not to mention ready to throttle a few of them) and zonking out at home trying to get stuff done, not a good combo. I took a sleeping remedy thing last night and just ended up having really weird dreams this morning and getting up feeling more tired than ever! Bedtime now, methinks, I might get a few pages read first but then I need some sleep before Saturday (wait... is that the Jaws theme music?)... *think of Wednesday and Thursday off, think of Wednesday and Thursday off*

Am I just an incredibly ungrateful person, getting so sick of work even though I'm running my own bookshop? Or is it just inevitable that when you're working in retail you will have days where you want to crawl into bed and never come out? I actually worry about this because I really feel like I must come across as a right spoilt bitch sometimes. Get out the world's smallest violin... Ellie's had a bad day at the bookshop! We have a bookmark on our stands that sums it up (which Mum didn't think I should buy, it might give the wrong idea!)... "I love my job, it's the work I hate"... I get to sit and read all day, and I go on LT and *ahem* shop on Amazon, but so many of the people are darn awful! The number of times I've had to go into the back because I'm so angry - or worse, upset... though I'm sure I'll toughen up and I definitely have my moments when I'm already in a bad mood! I thought they'd all be lovely bookish people who were interested in books and reading, and would be polite and enthusiastic (at least for the most part), and instead all we ever seem to get in is ladies on coach trips wanting Danielle Steel and Maeve Binchy, and moaning old couples going on about the prices and generally being rude. It's so very... disappointing. I had a woman grab my arm across the counter yesterday to tell me that 'our prices were too high', and when I tried to explain that the Bible she'd picked up was an old Naval Bible, issued to servicemen by the King way back when, and thus a little more unusual, she turned round, stuck her nose in the air, and said, rough as you like, 'It's still the same words, love!' before shrugging in THE MOST PATRONISING WAY and walking out, leaving me open mouthed and ready to tear someone's head off... Day after day of this, it's all getting a bit overwhelming really.

Maybe I just need anger management therapy?! Come over here, all of you, so that I may kiss each and every one of you and remind myself that actually there are normal book lovers out there - just not in the vicinity of our bookshop, apparently! A little banter with Ricardo and the menfolk, a hug from all my lovely ladies... I'd say an elbow in the ribs or something from Stephen but a shy twinkle from the corner would be fine... one big LT happy family...

OK, I definitely think it's time for bed. There you are Stephen darling, another of my late night rambles for your delectation. Albeit a rather self-pitying one! Goodnight all, may tomorrow fly by in a jangling of cash registers and a gentle hum of bookish business. Maybe if I sleep well I'll be alert enough to just totally immerse myself in my book and a pile of cookies (my health is definitely not benefiting from my post-agoraphobia ability to eat away from home again!), and I'll barely notice the hours passing! They're always the best days... :-)

Hugs, Ellie!

"It's still the same words"?! Is that what she'd tell the auctioneer at Sotheby's when she didn't think a Shakespeare first folio ought to cost more that a paperback Collected Works printed three weeks ago?

*snort*

Seriously, though, I think that whatever work we do, we have a lot of days when it's a chore and we need to vent about the things that went badly. The thing to remember is that *every* job, no matter how great we think it is going to be, will have times like that - and anyone who's ever dealt with The Public (ie all of us) know how obnoxious some people can be. Vent away.

*hugs*

Books and cookies... mmmm... sounds like the perfect day at work. May you be blessed with nice customers who spend lots of money, in between leaving you in peace to read and munch!

More hugs from me, if you would kindly wrap your arms around your computer screen...right...NOW! *hugs* :)

Think of it this way, Ellie, you'd have to deal with people like that no matter where you work, but at least you get to work with books. As far as being a, *ahem* 'right spoiled bitch,' nonsense! I've read your blog, and your threads, and you have some true horror stories.

I don't think I need to say how highly I think of you, dear Ellie! Don't let a few bitter prudes turn you into one as well! Anger is infectious, don't you let them get to you! You've been nothing but kind and sweet to me, and you take my pesterings good-naturedly (did that make any sense?), and I hate to think these bothersome people can bring you down to such a point. They sound like vile people, but that's all the more reason to disregard their opinions! :(

Maybe I just need anger management therapy?! Come over here, all of you, so that I may kiss each and every one of you and remind myself that actually there are normal book lovers out there - just not in the vicinity of our bookshop, apparently! A little banter with Ricardo and the menfolk, a hug from all my lovely ladies... I'd say an elbow in the ribs or something from Stephen but a shy twinkle from the corner would be fine... one big LT happy family...

I wish! Visiting 'Ellie and The Shop' is definitely a dream of mine. How lucky those are who live within driving distance. No rib-jabbing from me, promise, I'd more likely try to hide behind Richard and the other 'menfolk.' Eek! :(

As you know, I sympathize with your agoraphobia (except the opposite...you know what I mean.) Hopefully we'll both start doing better in time. Here's hoping...

Ohhhh, now I feel much better! Good point all - I WOULD have to deal with idiots anywhere, so might as well do it here! Today has mostly been full of nicer people (touch wood, touch wood!) - a nice lady picked up her order, and I had a great chat with someone that ranged right from Bill Bryson, through the demise of Borders to the merits of Delia Smith. I have cookies, I have a delicious fresh ham roll, and this morning when I started getting a bit panicky in town I made myself go into an extra few shops to batter it back down again, and ended up with another new book (The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger), a little chat with a lady I used to work with when I volunteered in the MIND shop, and a nice fresh sultana scone to have warm with butter when I get home tomorrow night.

Now, doesn't that sound all better? :-)

(((Big extra hug to Stephen))) All this hedging and you're going to force me to come to Ohio instead!

Oh dear oh dear oh dear, you mean I'd have to talk to someone? And not just anyone, but a sassy and intelligent english lass? Oh my, I shudder at the thought. Whatever should I do? I'm in over my head! *finds a rock to hide under and cowers*

Seriously though, customer service is a stressful job when you have to deal with people like that. There's nothing to be ashamed of if it gets under your skin from time to time, and what better place to vent than a group such as this? Filled with so many kind and understanding people? :)

Today has mostly been full of nicer people (touch wood, touch wood!)

*resist urge to make joke*

Don't tempt me! >:)

I mean, don't tempt me to make a naughty joke, not, not, not...oh, STOP IT! :)

I suspect I couldn't stop you if I tried! *winks* Oh dear, LT just wouldn't be the same without you, my darling! And no hiding under rocks, I suspect you'd be okay when you realised I was just as bashful on occasion... Darn agoraphobia, I could have done a whole tour of my lovely friends in America before we joined hermit-forces in our cabin full of books with all our little microbes... ;-)

Today stayed good, whether you *ahem* touched wood or not... Nice people, and I even managed to get far enough into my book during the afternoon that I didn't keep being plucked back out of it every time someone started chatting. Only downside was another 'it's a muggy day' headache, and the fact that my stepdad, who was supposed to come do a repair or two at 5pm when we closed, decided to go wandering round Bakewell with an ice cream first so we didn't get home until rather later than anticipated! Oh, and I bought a piece of 'chocolate orange torte' from the deli (when I get panicky in town I make myself do more shopping until I calm down, rather than rushing back to the shop) and it turned out to be some kind of plasticky chocolate stuff on a weird nothingy not-quite-cake, not-quite-biscuit base, not a hint of orange in sight except a couple of weird flecks on the top. I had one bite and chucked it away! Ah well, if it warms up again I can just go back to sweetening up the nice Croatian girl in the ice cream parlour... :-)

Hello Ellie, I'm glad yesterday presented you with a better crop of customers! But Stephen is right - you'd have to deal with awkward or rude or unpleasant people some of the time in pretty much most jobs, so at least you've got the lovely books too when the clientele is less than perfect...

That chocolate organge torte sounds horrid though - bin was the best place for it. Ice-cream sounds a better bet!

Today has mostly been full of nicer people (touch wood, touch wood!)
Today stayed good,

You're welcome! >:P

*sigh* Sorry! :)

I won't deny LT would be different without me, unsure of whether that is a negative thing or not though. I liken it to a group of kind ladies having a pleasant tea party on a sunny day, and then someone plays a joke and a male stripper shows up to wreck the good time. (Except without all the muscles and studly good looks and...uhhh, 'whatnot')

Sorry everyone. :)

What a let-down over the chocolate orange torte. :(

(Mmmm... chocolate orange torte...)

how on earth did I get so far behind?? cannot catch up.. decided to just pop in and say ☞ Hi ☜

:)

Awww Stephen, you can crash MY party anytime! Hi everyone! Another good day today (*ahem* Stephen?) - it was shorter, for a start. And a girl home from uni brought a big box of classics and literary fiction which gave me a regular playground to rummage through! AND I kept my cool and put John, our pushiest customer, right in his place. Last time he came in he 'swapped' a few mediocre books for an expensive journal and was out the door before I could stop him, but this time I stopped him and insisted that he pay up (the £20 he wanted to 'put on credit'???!) or leave the goods alone! He left... Hehe, it felt guuuuuud.

Tomorrow we'll go in a little early, as the parking in town is slowly compressed to make way for the Bakewell Show being set up. Hopefully I'll get any outstanding 'problem orders' out the way, I might manage to snaffle a sausage cob if I go to the supermarket early enough, the money's flowing in nicely, and if all else fails and I have to start running errands, *whoops* I feel a little charity shop drop-in coming on again...

AND I'm considering doing another uber-order from Amazon since this week is my last double day off until October half term. I figure even if the courier company screw up again, I have Thursday to fix it... Yaaaaay! *beams happily and adds an extra saucy wink for Stephen, just because...*

Another good day today (*ahem* Stephen?)

Sorry! I can't help it! :(

:P

So what's the damage, how many books did you order this time, Ms. Naughty!?

Ummm... I'm not even sure! About £30 from Marketplace, another £70 or so from Amazon, and maybe one or two extra on the end that I ordered separately on a whim... :-)

#176 Sounds like a good haul, Ellie!

Ooo...a hundred pounds! What's that in real money?

Retail, dear Eleanor, is Satan's Own...one sees the snottiest and snobbiest and silliest behaviors, but there are the few gems. I'll cross my fingers for an August crammed with sweet, thoughtful, open-handed customers.

*smooch*

In real money, it is £100. ;)

Although it is also, at the current exchange rate, $159.44.

Maybe 100 pounds is how much it weighed?

#184 In that case, I shall expect to see an item on the national news in the next couple of days about a postman crushed to death under the weight of the Amazon parcels being delivered to an address in Derbyshire...

Whoopsy... Nah, this lazy beggar drives his RM van right down the drive, music blaring, screeches to a stop and hops out two steps from the door before zooming his way back up the drive like some kind of boy racer. Moron...

I think I have about 17 items in that main haul, a couple of extras that I ordered just before/after, plus probably another seven or so from Marketplace. Not sure really. Though those two have already arrived. Like that makes a difference... *optimistic smile*

I'm kinda tired now but I feel like I should make another drink and get on with my book, just cos I can. Like Friday nights back in the good old days when you knew full well you could stay up a bit because you weren't at school on Saturday! Hmmm, methinketh a cuppa and a bite to eat might not go amiss actually. I couldn't do that this morning or last night because all my milk had mysteriously gone off... ick. So I stole the Shop Milk today and made a delicious cup of tea when I got home, without the slightest hint of suspicious tanginess or curdled bits. Bliss... ;-)

It sounds as though you're having as much difficulty actually reducing your TBR pile as I am. Like you, I fall victim to the call of the charity shop all too often, although usually I manage to avoid Amazon somehow. Looking forward to seeing what you recieve in your enormous parcels; I love vicariously enjoying other people's book purchases as it's completely guilt free.

17 items? That is like super christmas!

Mmmm, Christmas...eggnog and chocolate-coated pretzels... :)

18) The Island by Victoria Hislop (4.5*) - I don't normally pick up 'family sagas' but there was something very appealing about this one, set on Crete and following the fortunes of several generations of Petrakis women, exploring their ties to the leper colony on the island of Spinalonga, just across the water from their village. Very evocative, full of the sights and scents of rural Greece, and quite educational as well. Excellent summer read!

19) The World According to Clarkson by Jeremy Clarkson (4*) - This is my second reading but I'm including it anyway! The book is the first collection of Clarkson's brilliantly funny, no-nonsense newspaper columns from The Sunday Times. Covering everything from the last flight of Concorde to the hell that is the office Christmas party, I can dip into this book any time and know it will put a smile on my face. Highly recommended.

>187 elliepotten: Top Gear is one of my very, very, very favorite BBC America shows! I loved the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment with James Blunt...FOURTH most irritating person in Britain!...when he admitted the last car he owned was a Lada Riva! About busted something I was laughing so hard.

Hehe, yep, nothing like a laughably idiotic celebrity being humiliated in a Ford Whatever... Well, and the occasional surprisingly NOT laughably idiotic celebrity providing an unexpectedly good lap! Whatever you may think about Jeremy Clarkson, he's a funny man, and he's about the only man on the BBC who's blowing the whole PC thing right out of the water on a regular basis!

20) Strawberry Shortcake Murder by Joanne Fluke (3.5*) - Another delicious Hannah Swensen mystery, in which Hannah finds basketball coach Boyd Watson dead, face down in a heap of her strawberry shortcake... Will she work out who the killer is before she ends up next? Great fun, as always - and the recipes make me so hungry!

Oh. Shortcake. Oh. Oh.

21) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (4*) - I've been meaning to read this book for years, but actually I'm glad I didn't read it too early since I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. It's a complex and moving novel with all sorts of themes, from scientific ethics to responsible parenting, and it made an excellent start to my Halloween reading for this year!

22) Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table by Nigel Slater (4.5*) - One of the scrummiest books I've read in ages - literally! From farmers' markets to afternoon tea, seaside rock to the humble sausage, all of our shopping habits, cooking foibles and nostalgic treats are laid bare for our delectation. It's very amusing, spot on its observations and delicious in its celebration of our culinary and cultural traditions. Highly recommended.

Oh, I am tempted to read Eating for England! Maybe it would help me understand some of the threads I've come across on LT. I seem to have wandered into following the lists of several British and Canadian citizens, some of whose discussions leave my American sensibilities in the dust!

Oooh, that sounds maaarvelous, Ellie, and I will procure ASAP!

@ 194 Ellie, I read Frankenstein some years ago and also really liked it. Completely different than I expected, much better than I hoped for at that moment.

Eating for England does sound yummy!

Ohhh, it is. Though I am about to entirely betray the entire thing by going and making myself a late-night coffee and a pain au chocolat... What can you do, if there's one trick Britain missed it was the CHOCOLATE PASTRY!

>195 boekenwijs: - Same here! Way, way different from everything I'd absorbed about it through popular culture references. Where was Igor and the bolt of lightning shooting down the machine, the cry of 'Live... LIVE!!!!', all the yelling and the hysterics?! Actually I'm very grateful it wasn't like that, because the original is so beautifully wistful and lyrical. A good surprise, indeed!

Eating for England sounds great fun, I'll look out for that one! I can already eat for England all by myself, but something to read while I'm doing so would be good...

Just passing through to say hello.. I don't see much of you these days.. you are a very busy young lady!

I like Frankenstein.. and have read it a few times over the years. Keep having fun!

How are the kitties??

Genny - yep, my problem exactly...

Hi Kath! Indeed I am, more's the pity - I want so much to keep up with everything and there just aren't enough hours in the day! It might get easier once winter hits for real though, we've had a reminder of it a couple of days this week when the rain's been pouring and the shop's been empty... The kittens are just... gorgeous. They're so little and scrumptious and mischievous! A bit destructive too, but we won't go there! Every time one looks up at me with that gorgeous little face I melt into a gooey heap and have to go snuggle it for a minute before I can do anything else!

Eating for England, huh? Can I volunteer for the team too?

I love the blog photos with the kittens curled up together in their basket. :)

I have never read Frankestein, although knowing me I have a copy around here somewhere. *Scurries off to check catalogue*

kitty pics are gorgeous....!!!!!!!!!!!!! so is your blog..

Thanks guys! My sister has a scrumptious photo of them perched on the edge of the dining table looking all alert and gorgeous - I'll nick it off her FB or get her to email it to me, and I'll post it somewhere.

Caty - you can volunteer for the team indeed, but ONLY if you come bearing a hamper of the most fattening, delicious all-British treats you can find... Speaking of which, Mum went off to the farm shop on the Chatsworth Estate yesterday and brought me back a huge pork pie (a real one, with great chunks of pork and gorgeous pastry), a white chocolate bar with strawberry pieces, and some delicious fresh white and seeded bread cobs. Ohhhh, they're to die for!

That I can do.

Pork pie and fresh bread. Mmmmmmm.

23) A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka (3.5*) - Wryly amusing novel about two sisters' attempts to save their elderly Ukrainian father from the attentions of a much younger, voluptuous, gold-digging arrival from his homeland who pretends to love him so she can get a passport and visa... An interesting look at Ukrainian experiences in the wartime years, at modern immigration and at the importance of family history. Off the shelf - into the shop!

Can't beat the title, Short History of Tractors... I went to school with a girl we called "The Ukrainian Rose" so I can imagine what this book must have been like.

Signing off for 2010! You can join me over on my new thread here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/106014