Cameling's 75 Throw Down with a side of 1010 - Part 3

My categories for the 1010 Challenge are:
Biographies
Travelogues : An Area of Darkness
Crime/Mysteries : White Nights,The Cipher Garden
History
Business Non-Fiction : Drive : The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Classic literature
Historical Fiction
Short Stories : Love Begins in Winter, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us,Nocturnes,The Elephant Vanishes
Asian fiction : The Palace of Illusions,The Last Chinese Chef
Fantasy : The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers >/b>

January Books Read
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Love Begins in Winter by Simon Van Booy
Double Cross by James David Jordan
Drive : The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
The Information Officer by Mark Mills
Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Salt Smugglers by Gerard de Nerval
White Nights by Ann Cleeves
The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura van den Berg
An Area of Darkness by V.S. Naipaul
The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery

February Books Read
The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
Georg Letham : Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss
A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
Beyond the Blossoming Fields by Junichi Watanabe
Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke
Suffer the Little Children by Donna Leon
Not Quite Paradise : An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka by Adele Barker

March Books Read
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Cat's Claw by Amber Benson
The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards
Sundowner Ubuntu by Anthony Bidulka
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Dreaming Water by Gail Tsukiyama
A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
No Sleep Till Wonderland by Paul Tremblay
Nocturnes : Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon
The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Swan for the Money by Donna Andrews
Still Life by Louise Penny
Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner
Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

My first thread appears here : http://www.librarything.com/topic/78973
My second thread appears here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/83496

Ha! Found you and starred you first!

*looks around anxiously for prize*

Woah... didn't think I'd need a 3rd thread but I might as well do it at the end of February. Maybe the start of March will also be the start of more easy work weeks .... one can dream.

speaking of dreams, I had a strange funny dream last night. Anyone who might have followed my previous threads, will have been told that I get weird dreams, usually involving animals. Well, last night's was no exception. I dreamt that I was playing with my mother's beautiful Golden Retriever and suddenly a little puppy ran up and wanted my attention. He was the cutest little thing, probably about 4 months old, soft beautiful yellow fur, big paws that indicated he'll grow into a big dog, soft brown eyes and ..... green leather ears! yes, that's right... green leather ears.

So any dream interpreters out there?

Wow.. you are quick Suzanne! The prize is in the mail.. haha.... and you get gold stars

I'm back, too. Would've been quicker on the draw if I'd known there would be a prize! Sorry I'm no help with your dream -- interesting!

You get a flashy little star too, Anne

Got you starred again. I picked up a copy of The Palace of Illusions today, Divakaruni is an LT author so I'm hoping to read it for the March TIOLI challenge. Though as soon as I say I'm going to read a book, it tends to not happen that quickly.

sssh..... I'll pretend you didn't say it, so it doesn't count. Now you can read it for the March challenge. :-)

I am here with all the dancing stars too, Caroline.

Another star from me!

I downloaded a sample Kindle excerpt from Not Quite Paradise onto my BlackBerry, and I'll look at it later this week. I'll almost certainly buy it, based on your review and the topic, as I want to read the other two books I own by Roma Tearne later this year.

And another from me... Green leather ears, huh? *wonders what Caro added to her tea last night*

Hey Caroline- Found you, my friend! Hope you have a much better week ahead of you!

Why do people keep starting new threads. It adds to my terminal confusion and I get worried I'm missing out on stuff.

Initially I read above statement regarding green leather ears as 'green lettuce ears'. I don't know which is stranger?

gotcha!

Found you and starred you!

Personally, I like new threads. I sometimes fall hopelessly behind in the old ones and I like the chance to start fresh :)

Haha.. Jenny... thanks for being the first to make me laugh out loud today!

Ellie : This is not the first time I've dreamt of animals with colored parts .. once I dreamt of a white cat with a blue head. I'm sure some therapists would love to have me on their couches for a trip through my convoluted mind.

I was just on the phone with my friend, Rachael who felt obliged to tell me all about the dinner she just had at a restaurant in San Sebastian, Spain, where she's visiting for a week. Lest I thought she was already back at the hotel and that the sounds I was hearing was the tv in the background, she hastened to add that she was now trying out some bars by the boardwalk by the sea. To top off the insult to injury, she proceeds to send me photos of the pinchos in the bars and some very cute Spanish men. I'm now planning her early demise upon her return.

Cameling, will it help if I tell you that the only time I've been to San Sebastian, it poured with rain, and the driver of our shared hire car had his passport stolen out of said car while we were watching The Piano (in Spanish, no subtitles, out of desperation to get out of the rain) - so we spent most of our brief trip in the police station..? No, I didn't think it would. Oh well. I tried.

>17 cameling:: A lockpick, a can of kerosene, a match...burn all her books. No punishment is too much for her, I say!! :-)

Caroline,

Don't I remember that you just recently returned from balmy Singapore where you had a wonderful birthday celebration and spent considerable time on the beach, hmmm?? (Just cuz it's on a previous thread doesn't mean it didn't happen LOL.) So if anyone should despair it should be me and the other LTers who have suffered through this absolutely never ending snow filled winter. We have every right to administer the punishment Tad suggested;-)

Flossie - No, it doesn't help but I am sorry to hear that you had such a miserable time there.

Tad : I agree ...it was made more aggravating when she kept saying how she wished I was there too!

Bonnie : But, but I was in Singapore for a business trip. It was just coincidental that my birthday happened to fall in middle of my trip, and the beach visits were (apart from the weekend) brief ones just so I could get some short runs in. *heaving sigh of relief at narrowing escaping the drastic and undeserved punishment*

I've just always wanted to go to San Sebastian. My friends there tell me it's the food mecca of Western Europe ..... hmm.. I wonder where the food mecca of Eastern Europe is..... and I've seen enough programs on the Travel Channel to know that I would most definitely enjoy myself checking out the various cafes and restaurants there. Plus a friend lives there, so I'd have a ready tour guide and translator at the ready. It's just a matter of finding time and money (I've heard it's wickedly expensive there) both of which I'm somewhat short of at present.

wonder where the food mecca of Eastern Europe is

Riga.

As for your punishment-by-tome-immolation...just wait....

I shouldn't complain...Turkish Delight sent a nice dinner over via his little brother, joined me to eat it, and is presently opening a bottle of wine preparatory to a romantic evening. Thank goodness Auntie's deaf as a post.

whoo hoo..way to go Richard .... enjoy your evening!

I have a 3am conference call so thank goodness for LT ... I can stay awake until the time for my call by catching up on the threads that I haven't visited in a while and maybe if my brain is still capable of linking words together in an intelligible fashion, I might just write a review of The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers which I just finished this evening.

I'll probably be toast tomorrow at work since I don't see myself sleeping at all tonight after the call, but I'll just leave work early, bring home pizza and make it an early night to catch up on sleep.

Sounds like a good plan. I am a night owl who could easily stay up late on LT, but when I do I suffer terribly the next day. Hope you have an easy day tomorrow!

Well now that Madeline has pushed me to try out the CoverGuess game, I may never sleep again! I always did think raccoons were cute ... maybe I'll start to look like one once those circles under my eyes start expanding

I love my sparkly star -- thank you!!!

#22 -- Riga?? No way... Maybe Prague. Or, if you're into pastries, Budapest... yum.

My pick would be Budapest - Hungarian cuisine is fabulous, all that sour cream and paprika.

Caroline- Just swinging by to say hi! Hope you are having a better week!

Drive-By wave...i was going to say something about Tim Powers,,but I had the wrong one..I was thinking Richard Powers....so, I'll be quiet and go home. (If you're interested, however: Plowing the Dark and Galatea 2.2 are quite good.)

;-}

3:00 a.m. conference call!! Yikes, you should be at home sleeping in.

Hmm... I might have to throw in a vote for Bulgarian food. I love banitsas (cheese and meat filled patties) and koftes (spicy meat balls). I haven't had any in a long time ... grrr..... and now that I'm thinking about them, I'm starting to crave them.

Hiya Mark ... the week's a little bit better, and it's Thursday tomorrow, so not long before the end of the week. Have to start thinking of what books to put aside for travel again. I leave for Hong Kong next Monday for a week and then 5 days in Singapore before I come back to Boston.

Jude : I loved Galatea 2.2 and was also a little saddened by it. I haven't read Plowing the Dark yet but I have it somewhere in my TBR tower.

Bonnie : I was at home, in bed, doing my conference call... and trying not to fall asleep. I ended up sleeping for about 2 hours before I had to get up and head into the office for a 9am meeting. Was planning on leaving early today but as luck would have it, I ended up not leaving until 5pm because of some fires that needed to be put out.

Read The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers for a group read led by Jim. I'm so glad he started this group read because I've never heard of the genre, steampunk before. The best I can describe this genre is a modern sci-fi fantasy. ;-) Anyway, this is a really great book.

If you were given an opportunity to travel back in time, to meet someone you've been fascinated with and on whom there is very little documented information, would you jump at the chance to do so? What if you were inadvertently left behind and didn't make it back to present day? What would you do? How easy or hard do you think it would be to fit into life in a different century? What would be the impact on the future because your mere presence in this time zone will have an impact on some people and some situations?

These are questions that are cleverly considered in this story. The considerations are subtly woven into an action packed story as we follow the main character Doyle as he's invited to join a group of people on a time travel through a particular gap, from America to London. As a mild mannered researcher, he finds himself shockingly beaten and kidnapped just when he is on his way to the spot where he expects to return to 20th century America with the rest of the group.

Magic allows a man and his clone to communicate across long distances. A horrifying clown on stilts appears to rule the underworld of beggars, spies and thieves. Lord Byron is introduced .. or is he? A werewolf terrorizes the city and lives by exchange one host body for another. And who is that young boy who has a hidden secret and a determination to seek vengeance? And just who is this Master who seems to be orchestrating the chaos and what does he want?

This story is filled with great surprises and will hold your attention like no other.

4.5 stars

Caro.. I couldn't stay awake til 3 am if you were holding a gun to my head... ye gods on a Popsicle'

Rd Hah! you just THINK she is deaf as a post.. !

Isn't Riga a star system or something?

Caroline- Good review! It sounds enticing and I've taken note!

Kath - if you were playing Coverguess the whole time, I bet you'd find a whole chunk of time just disappearing into a twilight zone. I had no problem staying up ... but I was oh so happy to go to sleep after the call was over at 4am.
I've been eating oranges all day to keep awake and my energy level up ... at least until dinner time ... I suspect I'll fall into a coma after that.

Umm... Riga is in Latvia I think. Do they have good food?

Mark : hello there, nice to see you

Great review of The Anubis Gates! Be sure and post it in the group read thread.

Oh yes, thanks for the reminder. I will do that right now.

I'm definitely starting on Let the Great World Spin this week and hopefully I'll finish it before I have to fly out on Monday.

Need to start looking at my TBR Tower again to pick out some books for my upcoming 2 week trip.

Drive-By Wave!

;-}

>38 cameling: I predict the McCann will grab you and refuse to let you go. It's that kind of fresh, slappable book.

Jude :

Richard : Slappable? hmm...define slappable book please because if I were to slap something or someone, chances are it's because they've really agitated me in a negative way.

It'll agitate you! It'll get so up close and personal with you that, if it was on the subway with you, you'd have to ask it to cease and desist.

But in a GOOD way!

Well I'm definitely looking forward to it after all the raves it has received on LT alone.

And so as not to hijack poor ronincats thread .... I'm going to pick your bones about Disney movies here.

I liked Jungle Book and the Little Mermaid, and Aladdin, and Cinderella, and the Sword and the Stone, and Sleeping Beauty and Finding Nemo (oh wait... scrap that last one, that's Pixar) ...

and that's just the cartoon ones. I loved Witch Mountain as a kid, Mary Poppins, Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, Love Bug (how could you NOT like the Love Bug??!!) and the Parent Trap. I think there are others, but I can't quite think of them yet.

Maybe I'll break out in song and sing you some of the catchy songs the next time I see you. :-)

Ugh! Ick! Ptui!

And the movies stink too!

XD I am suuuch a funny guy.

Maybe your funny bone went on vacation when you saw those and you need to watch them again.

stink? Mary Poppins stink? How is that possible?!!!! Julie Andrews is in it! Did you not like The Sound of Music either?

Can't be mad with you today though .... not after that super present I received ... which still has me grinning like a lunatic, by the way.

I just love that Richard Dear makes me smile. Even my 11-year-old son now says let me know if Richard has said anything funny today.

Where are you off to this time? You must have a gazillion frequent flier miles!

I'm going to Hong Kong on Monday - there for about 10 days, then down to Singapore for 5 days, then supposedly back home to Boston. But I just saw an email today which seemed to indicate that there's an outside chance I may have to go to Tokyo after Singapore for a meeting. My fingers are crossed that I don't have to be at the meeting

I do manage to collect quite a few frequent flier miles and I generally give about half away each year to Make A Wish Foundation.

Hong Kong! Now all I can think about are those fresh hot buns with red bean paste in them. Yum!

How funny -- I was just thinking today that I would envy you still more if those regular trips were taking you to Hong Kong *eyes roll*. I need to drop in at my fave dim sum place and Marks & Spencer. Pls pack me in your suitcase????

I never go anywhere. I lead an extremely boring life. One of these days, I will go somewhere too. Probably some place with a huge library :)

to make a wish? bless you!

Hey Caroline! What'cha reading? I'm knocking out more Scandinavian crime fiction. This one a female writer from Norway. Karin Fossum. It's her 1st in a series called Don't Look Back. Good solid stuff! Have a great weekend!

#50 : there is no such thing as a bad bun .. haha.. i like those too, especially in the morning.

#51 : Which is your fave dim sum place, Suz? I always hit M&S for their dark chocolate digestive biscuits and crisps to bring home with me. There's an old traditional dim sum place on Wellington Street that I like, but it's always crowded with the elderly locals on weekday mornings. I like Maxims at City Hall for an early brunch on weekends.

#52 : Your life is not boring, Stasia. I wish I could get to as many books as you do in a week. I never have enough time to do the things I want to do, and sometimes I really do wish I didn't have to get on a plane.

#53 : Thanks, Kath, but the blessings really go to the people who make all those wishes come through for the children. That's the hard part.

#54: Hey Mark, you're on a roll with the Scandinavian crime fiction. I'm currently reading The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards and liking it alot. Lake District mystery series. I will probably finish it tonight .... must look for more of his books.

I'm going to need to start sorting out my books and picking out the ones I want to take with me on my trip. The hardest are the books that come on the planes with me ... I don't want to carry more than 2 because my laptop and power cord already weighs a ton, so I have to make sure I pick 2 hefty but thoroughly enjoyable reads. The other books get thrown into my suitcase.

stopping by to wave hi.

Chung's Cuisine is my fave -- if I go to the branch in Times Square over in Causeway Bay, I can stock up on M&S knickers!! (The strange things that one becomes addicted to...) For me, it's salt & vinegar crisps, as well, but I can now order Walker's online...

Hi Linda, thanks for stopping by ... waving back.

Suz: I used to live in a service apartment called the Sharma Apartments for 2 years when I was posted to Hong Kong a few years ago. They were across the street from Times Square. I loved that place and the fantastic restaurants that were there. Zara has moved in now on 2 floors. I prefer the M&S store in Central by De Voeux Road though ...bigger, more choices. I'm a big salt & vinegar crisps and prawn cocktail crisps fan.

I'm too old for Zara stuff -- LOL! My sis in law still loves it, tho. yum, prawn cocktail crisps, too. Why, oh, why, can't M&S move to NYC!?!?

Having a light lunch at Starbucks in my favorite bookstore, I read Cat's Claw by Amber Benson. It's a very easy read and I managed to finish it while at the store. I did buy some other books while I was there, so I didn't feel guilty reading this one while there.

It's a really funny mystery .... amateur sleuth in question is Calliope Reaper-Jones - middle daughter of the Grim Reaper. Yes, you heard me....President of Death Inc, himself. Her very human mother fell in love with the Grim Reaper during a fashion show (what he was doing there, they didn't say), they got married and after the first child, she became an immortal. So too are all 3 daughters of Mr Death immortal .....but lest you think they are truly immortal, all immortals apparently have their own unique weakness which could be fatal and result in their death.

Anyway, Calli wants nothing more than to be human .. especially seeing as she apparently appears to have no supernatural powers anyway. She's summoned by Cerberus to locate a missing architect, she finds out that a man she thought died for her might actually be alive, and she gets tangled with a spirit who wants to be human.

If you have nothing to do for a couple of hours and want a few chuckles, this might just be the ticket.
3 stars

I also finished reading The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards last night. This is, I think the 3rd in the series.

Historian Daniel Kind, in the process of renovation their new home in the Lake District, is intrigued by the seemingly artful chaos of his tangled garden, and decides to research the history of the home and previous owners. In the midst of this, his sister comes to visit, still bearing deep resentment against their late father.

In addition to this, DCI Hannah Scarlett is contacted with a new clue into the cold case of Warren Howe's murder while he worked in a client's garden. Her reopening of the case throws the village of Old Sawrey into a tizzy. Nobody escapes suspicion. But what secrets are the villagers hiding? And why is her colleague and friend, Nick Lowther, who worked on the original team investigating this murder, displaying a great deal of tension?

While this does not burst with action, there is not a dull moment in this story of passion and love....amidst plants.

Edwards does a wonderful job of weaving the strands of both mysteries so that they each stand alone, but are yet in some ways, intertwined.

I give this 4 stars ... and must now go look for the others in the series.

Hmm. I thought that Harvard Bookstore was your favorite. Either I'm dead wrong, or I completely missed the Starbucks there. :)

Ahh... good memory, Darryl. I'm busted. I actually have favorite bookstores in different cities that I visit regularly. B&N is my favorite bookstore in Burlington while the Harvard Bookstore is my favorite in Cambridge. *whew...got out of that one quickly...*

>64 cameling: *applause*

That's one deft dodge.

I love the Harvard bookstore -- and I love the Martin Edwards series featuring Daniel Kind and Hannah Scarlett. There's a new one, just one now -- either the fourth of fifth. He's one of those under-appreciated mystery writers: I'd put Ann Cleeves' Shetland series in that category, along with the Ian Serrailler novels by Susan Hill. All are very excellent indeed.

Oddly, I don't have a fave bookstore in NYC. Perhaps the B&N in Union Square; certainly it's the one I'm in most frequently. But it's a real zoo. I miss my London faves: Hatchard's, the big Waterstone's on Piccadilly, Foyles and Daunt's in Holland Park.

Suzanne, have you been to Three Lives & Co.? On W10 just off 7 Av South. Small, charming, cozy.

If you ever get to Denver (probably you do) the Tattered Cover in LoDo is a wonderful place.

Oooh..Foyles ... I used to love that place when I lived in London.

I like Strand bookstore on Broadway in NYC.

*note taken of Three Lives & Co to check out when I'm next in NYC, and Tattered Cover if I ever get to Denver*

Anyone know of a good and cozy bookstore in LA? I going to be there in April and will have some downtime (i hope).

Richard, yes, I have wandered in there and found it delightful. It's just a bit far off my usual beaten track -- I tend to stumble over it by accident when I'm just ambling. A favorite, to me, must be one that I go to over and over again. Strand is also good, but ultimately frustrating and zoo-like. It's all about serendipity, there. Which is fine, but...
In Toronto, I still go back to the World's Biggest Bookstore, just N of the Eaton Centre. I worked there in the 80s (ran the fiction section, at the same time I did part-time work for a bad-tempered Japanese consultant and wrote freelance stories). Made out of a former bowling alley. LA, I will ask a writer friend of mine who lives not far from there.

In New York, I'm a fan of Crawford-Doyle on Madison Avenue at about 81st Street. It's small, but has an excellent collection of current literature and nonfiction, as well as wonderful, knowledgeable staff. And Posman Books in Grand Central has a great paperback fiction section. I also like Book Culture, the former Labyrinth Books up in the Columbia area on 112th off Broadway and St. Mark's Books, now just off St. Marks Place on 9th Street, and I do go to the B&N on Broadway and 82nd. But I probably shop most at Crawford-Doyle.

My favorite NYC bookstores are Book Culture and Strand in Manhattan, and BookCourt in Brooklyn (on Court Street in Boerum Hill). I used to go to the flagship Barnes & Noble (18th & B'way?) frequently as an undergraduate and graduate student, but not as much as the NYU main bookstore near Washington Square Park. I haven't been to St. Mark's Bookshop in a couple of years. I haven't heard of Three Lives & Co. and I haven't visited Crawford-Doyle yet, so I'll check those out later this year (I take day trips to the city whenever I visit my parents, at least 4-6 times per year).

The bookstores I visited the most during my two recent trips to London were Foyles and the London Review Bookshop, near the British Museum. Foyles now has at least three branches, in addition to the flagship bookshop on Charing Cross Road: one is a short walk from the National Theatre (the only other one I've been to), another is in St. Pancras Station, and the other one is in the new Westfield mall (I have no idea where that is). The Charing Cross Foyles is my favorite, due to its large selection but especially because of Ray's Jazz Cafe, which has free jazz, very good lunch fare, Monmouth Coffee, and free WiFi. The Cake Shop at the London Review Bookshop is also very good!

I've heard and read quite a bit about Daunt Bookshop, so I'll have to visit on my next London trip (hopefully later this year).

ETA: However, City Lights is still my favorite bookstore!

#72 -- How funny, I live very near BookCourt! (technically, more Cobble Hill than Boerum Hill...) I'm on Pacific St, up nearer to Park Slope. BookCourt used to be on my commute home... They have, I think, scaled back on what they have available over the last year or two, and ordering from them takes more time than Amazon. Still, it's notable that they continue to thrive despite the presence of a big Barnes & Noble only 2 or 3 blocks away.
I've been to the South Bank Foyles, but not the others. (The friend I've stayed with recently lived in Bermondsey, and my fave walk in London is now along the river from his flat all the way to the National Theatre & the Tate Modern.) Westfield is one of the big new malls that have sprung up just outside the centre of London. (One of the earlier ones was the O2 Centre, on Finchley Road.) This one is out by Shepherd's Bush, and is basically designed to appeal to all those who want to do the big shopping thing but don't want to have to shlep into central London (and who want/need to drive, but don't want to pay the congestion charge... I think it's just outside the zone.)
Memo to self: revisit City Lights.
Does anyone know how to add the favorite bookstores to one's profile? I am not finding this as an option when I hit the "edit my profile" button.

Sorry to hijack yr thread, Caroline! I'm sure you already know this, but the bookstore in Times Square in HK is pretty good -- or at least, it seemed to be, if a bit pricey. Solid selection of English books, both UK & US.

Does anyone know how to add the favorite bookstores to one's profile? I am not finding this as an option when I hit the "edit my profile" button.

Click on the "Local" tab at the top of any page. On the next page, you'll find a box toward the top right hand corner titled "Find venues". You can search for bookstores, museums, etc. "by location" or "by name" by selecting the appopriate hyperlink. For example, I clicked on "by name" and then typed "foyles" in the search box, which took me to a page that had five listing for Foyles. I've already made the Charing Cross Foyles a favorite venue, so I clicked on the "Foyles at Southbank Centre" hyperlink, and added this bookshop to my favorite list on the next page. When I went back to my Profile page, this bookshop now appears in my "Favorite bookstores" list.

Thanks! Most of my faves are up now... Though one of them appears to have recently folded up (the French language bookstore in Toronto). It can't be just because I started buying from Amazon.fr, surely??

Hijack away ... that what these threads are for. And I love that I'm picking up some great tips of different fave bookstores in different cities.

Suz : Page One in Time Square is pretty decent, but I prefer Dymocks in the IFC .. it's larger and has a greater selection of authors.

Caroline- Have a safe trip, my friend! Hope you've picked some good books!

Bon voyage! (again...)

Safe voyaging, Caro, and see you back here...Tuesday! RIGHT? *spoken menacingly*

Safe travels, Caroline!

Eek just caught up on 68 messages here. Have a good trip - hope you found some good aeroplane reading!

The closest I've got to San Sebastian is Bilbao, where the tapas was wonderful.

I've never been to Foyles but will try to get to London later this year...

#81 me too with the messages - and then some!

I'm thinking that I'm going to have to "favourite" all the book shop recommendations on this thread and make a spreadsheet of them for future travels!

Re London book shops, strangely, I've never made it to the Charring Cross Foyles - I shall have to take a look next time I'm down there, particularly as it must be very close to the South Bank one (of which I'm not the biggest fan as it never seems to have anything I want) - I do enjoy the second hand book market in front of the BFI on the South Bank though and always end up coming home with something, even when I'm dashing for the theatre...

I'm a big fan of second hand book shops in general... Oxfam always seem to have a particularly good, broad selection (not always a given with charity shops) - there's a particularly good one near my parents in Saffron Walden (UK)

Darryl, I definitely recommend Daunts to you, it's a lovely place.... Another great London bookshop that I discovered only fairly recently is Stanfords, which focuses on travel - so, besides many, many guide books and maps, it also has a whole section of fiction, organised by country of relevance...

Caroline, enjoy your travels!

Caroline,

have a wonderful trip :)

#82 ...in fact, the more I thought about the spreadsheet idea, the more I liked it, so if anyone is interested (and fancies adding their favourite bookshops), I've made myself a fully other-people accessible/editable google doc spreadsheet for favourite bookshops here

Have a safe trip/trips, friend.....and that gal in #46..you wouldn't have her number, would you?...she looks like somebody i knew/know.....foxy yet smart....like me, when i was way younger
;-)
J

Be safe Caroline...

So many interesting messages in such a short time! First, I'll join everyone else in wishing you a good trip.

And now, on to the bookstore discussion.... I was actually just reading about the closure of Librairie Champlain today (the mention of Jules Verne in the Steampunk thread had me thinking of buying a couple of his books while in Toronto to visit my family next week.... I guess not). The article I read blamed the fact that Ontario schools are now buying from the big chains, so maybe it's not particularly the fault of individuals. I hope Maison de la Presse Internationale is still open, at least.

I've really enjoyed all the talk about NYC bookstores too. I make almost all my non-online purchases at the Strand, with occasional exceptions for the local B&N, but maybe I should explore some of the other stores as well.... I have to admit, though, that I'm one of those evil people who's just not particularly interested in the combination of higher prices and less selection. Buying books online or at used/remaindered stores works pretty well for me.

Happy Travels.

I almost couldn't find my own thread today ..... this group has really exploded this year. :-)

HK is as interesting as ever, and if not for the meetings that I've had to endure during the days, it's been fun but tiring catching up with friends here and of course, attempting to eat everything I've missed. I found a new little bookstore on my way to a meeting the other day, couldn't resist stepping in ... just for a peek ... and actually had to wrestle with my conscience against calling my client and telling him I was ill and had to miss the meeting. *sigh* .... but it's Saturday for me now, and guess where I'm going .... after I have a late breakfast at 'The Flying Pan'?

I managed to finish 3 books so far, and will review shortly.

Sundowner Ubuntu by Anthony Bidulka is another in his Russell Quant series and I still love this charming private detective in the wonderful town of Saskatoon. However, I didn't think this one of his better books in the series. I liked it, but wasn't wowed by it.

Russell is engaged by a woman asking him to find her estranged son of 20 years. With very little to go on, Russell soon finds himself building the links in the life of a boy who seemed to be the perfect son turned bad, got sent to prison, and then upon leaving it, seemed to disappear into thin air.

His investigations take him to South Africa ..... seemingly followed by a man with a limp. As his investigations lead him further and further away from his comfort level in civilization, he also leaves behind, a trail of people who suffer consequences for having spoken with him.

Bidulka does weave his genius in keeping one guessing till the very end though, and that's what makes his books so enjoyable.

I'd give this one a 3.25 star rating.

Caroline- Hope your trip is going well! This Russell Quant series sounds interesting. I've never heard of it! Be safe, my friend!

So, didja buy a book?

And Saskatoon is not as charming as it may appear in books. Especially in winter...

Caro, get some sleep and rest and food, and then join in with both feet over the weekend if you can.

Mark : Workwise, the trip is going better than I was expecting. One more day of meetings to go on Monday and then I'm off to Singapore on Tuesday. The Russell Quant series is fun. Bidulka is not as gritty as, say Charlie Huston, and seems to aim for teasing the mind with possibilities. I think you might like it.

Suz : Darn.. really? He makes Saskatoon sound so inviting. Richard is going to organize a little Saskatoonie trip in the Fall for some of us RQ fans .... wouldn't it be pretty then at least?

I was quite good today .... I survived the visit to the bookstore and came out only with Fierce Leadership by Susan Scott, Our Feet Walk the Sky, a collection of works by women of South Asian descent, Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin.

Stasia : I slept the sleep of the dead last night and woke refreshed and hungry. Went out to my favorite breakfast joint in HK, and after a lovely breakfast with my husband, I was well and truly splattered with ketchup by a neighboring diner .... all over the back of my jacket and my white pants. :-(

Hear ye, hear ye .... for all who have not yet jumped in to read Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, delay no longer. If there is only 1 book that should be read this year, this has definitely got to be the book.

At first I thought this was a book of short stories set in New York, but then realized that the stories were very cleverly and subtly intertwined.

A man decides to walk a tightrope that he's managed, in the stealth of the night, to put up between the World Trade Center in New York. As he stands on the edge of the building, crowds gather below, wondering if he's a jumper. Who is he? What will happen to him when he gets to the other side? Will he get to the other side or will he fall? Why does he walk the tightrope?

A woman on her way to tea, catching a glimpse of him from below suddenly thinks he is her son who died in the war. What will she share with the other women she's going to meet, all mothers who have lost sons in Vietnam?

How does one serve God and yet serve himself at the same time? Does religion have anything at all to do with one's strong conviction and need to save others from themselves, or at least provide an open door where they may rest, away from pimps and police?

How does one forgive oneself for an act of cowardice conducted at the spur of the moment? What does one do to atone?

Resilience - we all have it in us, but not all of us can call upon it when we need it. Colum McCann is a genius and shows us the depth of human frailty and the beauty of inner human strength.

A definite 5 star read and a definite keeper for re-reads.

#95: Just finished up that one last week myself. I am glad you enjoyed it too.

Sorry to hear about the ketchup on your pants. I hope you can get them clean!

I just posted that a minute ago! Why are you still up, Stasia? You're not trying to finish another book to squeeze it into your Sunday list are you?

#97: I am still up because it is only 1:40am here - I will not be in bed until at least 8am and probably later than that.

Yes, I am trying to finish up another book.

Well, I am ready for you, Stasia ... or rather your Sunday list. I shall remain strong ... I must remain strong .... I hope I'm strong in the face of your book list.

I loved Dreaming Water by Gail Tsukiyama.

Everyone has to die some day. For most of us, the how and when of it remains unknown. For some, death is sudden and unplanned. For some, a little notice is received. And then there are a few who are faced with the knowledge of their impending departure from this life, and can choose either to live their lives out with dignity and as much joy as possible, or to fight and reject the reality till the bitter end.

Much like 'The Samurai's Garden' by the same author, this was such a beautiful book I didn't want to put it down.

Life can be unfair but we still have a choice in how we go through it. Hana seems like a perfectly normal child, a little small for her age, but happy and healthy like any other. She has a best friend and loves school. Her parents and grandparents adore her and she them.

But then she's diagnosed with Werner's disease, a crippling disease which will make her age prematurely. By the time she's in her late 20s, she will resemble an 80 year old woman and be challenged by health issues of one as well.

While her body may be failing her, her mind and spirit remains ebullient. We follow her through the years when the symptoms haven't yet surfaced, and we grieve with her when she quietly comes home on her own, when the first symptom rears its head. Throughout, there is no wailing and gnashing of teeth, but there's plenty of love, acceptance and determination.

While the main story focuses on Hana, there is also a love story that belongs to her parents, Max and Cate. Their history and love provide the foundation, perhaps of Hana's strength.

It's a difficult book for me to review... there's nothing I could think of to say that would do this book justice. Just that this is a 5 star for me ... and I highly recommend this to one and all.

#99: Is this your new mantra?

#100: I already added that one to the BlackHole. Too bad the library does not have it. Great review, Caroline.

#95 Right, just bought it on Book Depository. Have been holding out till now!

Caroline

Love your description of Let The Great World Spin...I have to read this one!

And, Dreaming Water sounds like just the kind of book I would enjoy!

Happy Travels to you...and safe ones too!

>95 cameling:: I've added that one to the list.

>100 cameling:: I don't know. That's the kind of book I tend to find rather upsetting even if it's very well written. I'm debating adding to the to the Wish List or not.

Caroline- So glad you loved the McCann book! It's a joy to read but it also lingers with you for months, or it has for me anyway! When are you heading home?

Caroline and Stasia (and others who love Let the Great World Spin): Author Colum McCann is participating in an author chat here on LT through tomorrow. The conversation so far has been fascinating.

Oh, I'd forgotten about the author chat. Thanks for the reminder, Rebecca!

I'm glad that you also enjoyed Let the Great World Spin, Caroline, and that you're mixing in some pleasure with work. I'll pass on Dreaming Water, though; I get depressed by seeing kids with progressively worsening or incurable medical disorders, especially the ones I have seen go downhill over the years.

Sorry to hear about the ketchup fiasco.

Sounds like you've done some excellent reading on this trip! Let the great world Spin is already on my list. I may add Dreaming Water, too. And I must try the Quant series sometime . . .

*shakes head at the impossibility of reading all the wonderful books available in the world*

*shakes head at the impossibility of reading all the wonderful books available in the world*

Oh yeah. I repeat my invitation to all vampires...fat old guy wants immortality so he can read forever, serious only please, contact poster by PM.

Let the Great World Spin was a peak reading experience for me, too.

You've been reading some great titles lately -- how wonderful! Thanks for the recommendations.

After seeing all the rave reviews everywhere including here, I've added Let the great world spin to my tbr.
Dreaming Water sounds interesting, but I'll pass as like Darryl, I'm just not into these types of books.

well, sorry stasia.. I dare not even lurk in your thread tomorrow.. I just bought two books . sheesh! rdea, please send extra vampire my way?

I will second what Rebecca said about the Colum McCann author chat. Very, very interesting. It offers great insight into the writing of Let the Great World Spin.

Stasia : Read your PM

Darryl, Tad and Kerry : It's actually not a depressing book despite the subject matter. I felt sad sometimes, but there was an overall feeling of admiration for Hana and her mother, and her parents' love story just gave me the warm fuzzies. I got out of Dreaming Water a calmness oddly similar to the calmness (inspite of the sadness) that I got from my niece's struggle against leukemia. Both didn't rail against God to demand why life was so unfair and why they had been picked to suffer these life-shortening diseases. It wasn't so much stoicism, but a sense that ok, life sucks sometimes, but there are things about it I can still enjoy, and people I care about don't care what I look like on the outside because they can see the real me when they look in my eyes, and they love me just the same.

Richard : Which fat old guy might you be referring to? I hope he's already acquired a taste for fresh blood ... I understand that's all vampires consume these days. No more key lime pie, roast lamb, spaghetti & meatballs or pan seared ahi tuna for him....

Surely technology has advanced to the point that fresh blood can be flavor-enhanced? After all, how many key lime pies really have key lime juice in them these days??

OK, I succumbed to your rapturous description of Let the Great World Spin and have downloaded it onto my Kindle. The good news? The Kindle version is only $6.75. And no sales tax or shipping costs.

Thanks for the reminder, Rebecca and Bonnie about the author chat .... Must saunter in later today.

Kath : Do like I do .... fortify yourself with a nice hot cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate laced with Bailey's or Kahlua, then meditate for a few minutes before sliding into Stasia's thread .... altho' I do think I need a new mantra since the one I've been using seems to have floundered in the face of Stasia's immense force.

Suz : Hmm.... congealed blood anyone? I think they still sell those in soups here in HK. Flavored with various organ meats and fresh vegetables. :-)

Key lime pies without real key limes? Sacrilegious! Sort of like mock fish, and mock duck in vegetarian dishes. Why bother, I always wonder? They never do really taste the same, despite the marketing spins.

Read my very first Louise Penny book and I'm am Hooked with a capital H! I loved it. This might just be the very first series that I find myself reading consecutively at the expense of all other books in my TBR Tower. The only thing stopping me from doing so? I didn't bring the rest with me on my trip, so I'm going to have to chew on my fingernails until I get home next weekend.

With my usual ditzy flair, I accidentally brought one of the middle books in the series rather than the first. Still, I don't think I suffered from having started in the middle.

Oh what book, you might ask? A Rule Against Murder - in the Armand Gamache series.

How can one not like crime fiction that incorporates poetry, humor and a good dose of whodunit investigative processes? Throw in what seems to be the most dysfunctional family whose members appear not only to detest each other but also make it a game of hurling cruel digs at each other.

Set in an idyllic vacation spot way out in the hinterlands of Montreal, our intrepid poetry-spouting Chief Inspector Armand Gamache thinks he's there to celebrate his anniversary but soon finds himself amongst a cast of oddball characters, one of whom appears to have been murdered by the newly erected marble statue of her father.

There is no shortage of murder suspects among the guests and staff at the hotel but it's the why that continues to escape our investigative team. And what's with the strange child, named Bean and all her clocks? Who really is the hulking chef? Even Chief Inspector Gamache is not without his skeletons.

Pure entertainment to be found on every page.

I'll give this a 4 star rating.

I know I'll get lynched for this, but I actually passed up a chance to interview Louise Penny for a series of multimedia stories I was doing... (Oh, and I also said no to interviewing Brad Pitt, but somehow in this company I don't think that would be seen as quite so heinous!)

No...to...Louise Penny?!?!

Heretic! Blasphemer!! Caro, fetch the torches! Kath, gather the faggots! We're having an auto-da-fe, and Suzanne is the honoree!!

Only reason I'd interview Brad Pitt is to pinch his little hiney. Just once.

Our Feet Walk the Sky is a great collection. Looking forward to hearing what you think of it.

#119: If you liked the first one, you will love the rest of them, Caroline!

I don't usually look for mysteries--though I'll read one that is thrown my way (or if it's sitting on the back of the toilet) but all this hoopla about Louise Penny is wearing me down. ;-) I may have to read just one--or are they like Pringles?

Pringles!

*sighs and adds about five more books to The List*

R.I.P., sweet will-power.

I'm actually reading the second book in the series right now, Dead Cold.

*gathering the faggots! *

( and wiping coffee off of my laptop)

I am seriously thinking of buying the series in hardback for my keeper shelf.

And I am trying not to.

I am seriously appalled at the Penny shunning...............................

#129: I want them all in hardback too!

*defensively* It wasn't shunning her oeuvre; she just wasn't the right fit for the story I was working on ... :-D

*wipes tear*

Oh my ...*fanning herself, waving smelling salts under nose* .... you didn't interview Louise Penny? Where's your notebook? What's her phone number? Email address? Better late than never. You wouldn't want curmudgeonly richard stalking your apartment with his cauldron of hot oil and eyes of newt, do you?

I think the Three Pines series are definite keepers ... and I've only just read the 1! I really can't wait to get home so I can read the others. *wondering if I can get away with taking a couple of days off work when I get back .... claiming jetlag or something*

No Sleep Till Wonderland by Paul Tremblay is an ER book I received earlier this year and brought with me on my trip. Oh man.. talk about wasted space in my luggage.

This had all the makings of a good book ...and alas, it fell far short of the mark.

A private investigator with narcolepsy is forced into group therapy by his landlord mother. He took on a case which went rapidly pear-shaped when he realizes that he'd been following the wrong woman for 2 days. He goes on a 2-day bender with Gus, a member of the therapy group, and agrees to follow Gus's friend, Ekat home from work, to offer protection against a stalker.

He sees a house on fire, he runs in, manages to half rescue a boy, and the next thing he knows, he's being interrogated by the police who wants to know what part he had to play in the fire, who the man who died was, what he's doing with amphetamines in his pocket, who his dealer is, and why the heck is he continuously falling asleep in the middle of sentences.

While our confused investigator tries to find Gus, he's viciously attacked, gets entangled with Ekat and his attacker's girlfriend, keeps up with his therapy sessions, and keeps one step ahead of the police. Oh and he has to do all of this while trying not to fall asleep at odd moments.

The writing is rather jagged, although I suspect that is the author's attempt at giving us an insight into the disjointed mental process of a narcoleptic individual. Sadly though, the unfolding of the complex web was rather boring, and I almost fell asleep myself at various points of the book.

Totally... meh ....zzzzz....

meh sounds about right...

thanks for the warning....

Caroline, Penny's press agent is/was Kathleen Carter at Goldberg McDuffie in NYC. Let me know if you want the contact details!!

Claiming sick days to read? Wow, what a concept... ;-)

Suz : You know.... I'm almost willing to take that up as a dare! ;-) Sure ... send me her contact details on PM ... I'll see if she'll agree to be interviewed. Surely she won't want to disappoint all her adoring fans out here, right?

Was having lunch at a cafe in between meetings today and a guy at the table next to me kept leaning over to read my book! I had picked up Nocturnes : Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro. I finally turned to him and asked if he was interested in this author and if he'd read any of his other books. He said that he had no interest in reading anything by Japanese authors because they write poorly and had no imagination! Err.... hello?!!! What planet must this guy have been from? He did continue to read over my shoulder though for the duration of my lunch ..... which I found really annoying. Before I left, I mentioned that since the sneak peeks into my book were clearly captivating him, perhaps he should take himself off to the bookstore upstairs and buy his own copy. Weirdo!

#134: I think I will skip that one. I would not want it putting me to sleep!

#137: Weirdo is right. No imagination in Japanese authors? Evidently, he has tried very few and certainly not Murakami.

*Horrified gasp*

But Ishiguro is amazing - love him! And whilst I am only 1/3 through my first Murakami, I am already addicted. Weird shoulder-reading man...

>137 cameling: But Ishiguro is English! Of Japanese descent, yes, but firmly rooted in the dear old Yook.

Louise Penny for an author chat. That would be a zoo, but it'd sure be fun. Caro, let us know when it's all set up. I have a LOT of questions, starting with "Will you marry me, and tell me stories all the time? Failing that, how about adopting me and telling me bedtime stories?"

Uh Oh....Penny Shunner here...read Still Life, and it was just that...Neurotic, artsy people are in abundance where I live. We do not socialize...I read that one...will pass on the rest...Cozies don't work for me a'tall...

;-}

*you may start throwing rocks now*

*hefts granite block to fling at apostate Jude*

*heads for chiropractor to cure backache*

That will teach you to scorn my opinion..you onion you Richard

J

The level of violence in this forum is amazing... *tsk tsk tsk*

As a pacifist, I say... violence has it's place..Penny shunner indeed!

Hmm...setting up an Author Chat indeed ... I didn't think of that. I was just after Suz to interview Ms Penny. But this might be interesting .. how does one set up an Author Chat on LT?

*weeps for Jude's turning her back on Ms Penny ..... but then I think of some of the authors whom I shun and find myself patting Jude on her back instead*.

*thinks I should invest in full body armor to avoid all these projectiles being hurled on this thread* ... with my luck, I'll be hit in the crossfire.

Over-the-shoulder reader is clearly a closet fan of Ishiguro and should just get over his angst and buy a copy of his book.

#139: Which Murakami book are you reading, BekkaJo? We're doing a Group Read of Murakami's Norwegian Woods in May if you'd like to join us.

Nocturnes : Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro delves into the hearts of individuals and bring their yearnings to the surface. With these 5 short stories, all themed around music, we are introduced to musicians, both ones who have reached success in their careers and ones struggling to be noticed, as well as individuals who love music.

What resonates is the unhappiness behind a character in each story.
A visiting friend who used to share a love of jazz with his friend's girlfriend, is appalled to find himself being called upon to act as the catalyst to bring the spark back into their relationship.
A guitarist is engaged by a fading American singer, to serenade his wife under her window, along the canals of Venice.
An ugly but talented saxophonist finds himself persuaded by his agent and ex-girlfriend to undergo radical cosmetic surgery, a step they believe will propel him to the fame and glory his talent so rightly deserves.
A Hungarian cellist comes under the wing of an unknown American woman who sees a diamond in the rough that needs her help in polishing his talent
A musician seeking refuge at his sister and brother-in-law's cafe meets a Swiss couple who provide different insights to the paths that some musicians need to journey down.

While Ishiguro's style of writing does not disappoint, his short stories failed to deliver the satisfactory conclusions that he so successfully achieved in his longer works, ' Remains of the Day' and 'Never Let Me Go'.

I feel I can only give this one 3.5 stars ... but probably because I'm comparing it with his other works. Hmm.. is this fair?

#148: Nocturnes seems to generate a lot of mixed reviews. I am going to have to read it one of these days to see how I feel about it.

probably because I'm comparing it with his other works. Hmm.. is this fair?

I do not know if it is fair or not, but it is certainly natural, especially for a writer of Ishiguro's level.

I think of the 5 stories, I only didn't like one of them. The others I found some resonance with, although I would have preferred a more solid conclusion to each one. But at the same time, I also think I like that he left the endings open ended because those individuals were really on the cusp of moving on to a new chapter of their lives ... and perhaps this was his idea of allowing our imagination to sow different seeds of possibilities for the characters.

I admit that I did love them, although I agree that short stories might not be his forte. I thought most of the characters were strong; so, too, was the writing. And you can't help but compare...

Hi Caroline- Nice review of Nocturnes. It looks like most people were underwhelmed by his latest. I think I'll focus on his earlier books, before I tackle this one. Hope you are doing well on your travels!!

Hmmmm, I borrowed Nocturnes from my parents at Christmas, but haven't got around to reading it yet - was very much looking forward to it, but it sounds like I should try to avoid too high hopes of it (then maybe it'll be better for me than for you!).

I'm currently reading Remains of the Day for the first time (yes, it's taken me a VERY long time to get round to it) - it is just wonderful, isn't it?!

#147 Thanks for the invite Cameling - I'd love to. I even think I have a copy hiding somewhere in the TBR domain...

I'm reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at the moment. Excellent but really really weird. It's for another group read of the 75'ers. I'm rather behind though cos I started really really late (too many others things to finish!).

#153 I read Remains of the Day for GCSE at 15 and I loved it - still do. Wonderful book. Have you read Never let me go? That's amazing as well.

Yes (Never Let Me Go), but I'm afraid I hated it - that is, I loved his writing style and found it gripping, but I didn't believe in, or like the story itself.

Caroline, to set up an author chat, you contact Sonya Green with your proposed chattee and then inquire if, perchance, she'd like you to make the contact and set it up? And then, when she gratefully says, oh yes please, use the chance to contact La Penny and let her know just how fabulous I am and what a perfectly marvelous second husband I'd make!

Wait, wait, scratch that last part, I'll wow her when she gets here...but the rest is still good advice.

Mark : I didn't hate Nocturnes and I found merit in all but one of the stories. I think it's just that compared with his other works, this fell short of the standard I had come to expect from Ishiguro.

fliss : Remains of the Day is indeed a wonderful book. I'm glad you are enjoying it. I know what you mean about Never Let Me Go ... I found the story disturbing, but I loved the writing.

richard : enuf said .. I will get on this. It would be just too fabulous if we had Ms Penny on an author chat.

Just finished The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon, another in the wonderful Commissario Guido Brunetti series.

Commissario Guido Brunetti mourns the passing of his mother and is approached by Padre Antonin who delivered the service at the cemetery to look into a preacher whom he suspects to be a fake out to scam money from the gullible people of Venice. Brunetti went to the same school as Padre Antonin and remembers him as a bully to many younger and smaller kids. He decides to investigate not just the preacher but also Padre Antonin.

In the midst of his investigations, he's called out because someone's found a body in the water. The body is that of a young girl, drowned. The coroner, in autopsy, discovers a watch and a wedding ring hidden in the girl's person. They eventually manage to identify her as a gypsy child who apparently burgled a house before she fell or was pushed into the river.

This girl haunts Brunetti and he's at his best trying to find the murderer, even if clues as to why or how she ended up in the river aren't forthcoming, the family who were burgled raises his hackles, and her Romany family don't want to talk to him.

One of the things I like about this series is watching Brunetti move among the darkness of human nature and find his balance in the light and love of his family.
Rates a 4 star by me.

Funny thing (or pathetic, one)..i have 2 or 3 Donna Leon titles upstairs..that I haven't read....Maybe I'd better hop to it? Good review, Caroline!

Good review Caroline. How would you compare this series to Three Pines? I'm 3/4 of the way through Book 2 of the Penny series and loving it.

I love both. I'm on #3 of Three Pines and #6 of the Brunetti books. Penny is more "cozy", I would say.

Penny is more "cozy", I would say.

Completely agree with Tad, there, and would add that each series has the magic woo-woo dust in it to make following the characters either irresistable or impossible. These are two talented writers on two parallel tracks headin' the way I wanna go.

*plaintively* where can I buy "magic woo-woo dust", please??

It is just the cost of a Penny

>164 mckait: *chuckle* Always trust Kath for a good line.

>163 Chatterbox: Suzanne, I fear my dealer has been recalled to a better place...at least, I haven't seen hide nor hair of him these past years. I won't bogart the magic woo-woo dust, should I find any, promise!

I haven't checked your thread in a few days and came here tonight to find many posts. I agree with you, Kath and others regarding the Louise Penny books. I finished Still Life a Mystery last week. I hope to delve into the others soon.

#153 - I wouldn't necessarily skip Nocturnes. While I agree that it doesn't compare well with Ishiguro's novels, I found most of the stories had something thought provoking in them. They were actually pretty good and easy to read. Just try not to think of Remains of the Day While reading them...

Kath....love that gif . I'm going to borrow it.

Thanks!

#160: Bonnie, If you like Three Pines, I think you'll enjoy the Commissario Brunetti series from Donna Leon. He reminds me of Armand Gamache in the way he's quiet, calm, intelligent, has a great sense of humor and treats everyone with respect. While he's a hardened police inspector, he's also got a softer side with his soulmate, his wife and a loving family.

#162 : Richard, I want some woo-woo dust too..... that just cracked me up! Thanks for giving me a laugh today.

I ended up buying a few books today -- I don't even want to think of how much my luggage is going to weigh tomorrow morning at the airport ... or if I'll even be able to lift it into the trunk of the car. But in my defense, there was a book sale ... so how could I have simply turned my back on the poor books looking for a home?

Can way with:
China Witness : Voices from a Silent Generation by Xinran
Casanova : Actor Lover Priest Spy by Ian Kelly
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (I lost my copy years ago when I moved house)
Music, Food and Love by Guo Yue
The Road Home by Rose Tremain
Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl (this shouldn't count since I bought it as a gift for my nephew
Sinfest by Tatsuya Ishida (only the funniest irreverent cartoonist ever IMO)
Singapore Food by Djoko Wibisono
Perfect Hostage: A Life of Aung San Suu Kyi by Justin Wintle

Wow! Great haul, Caroline.

Yeah .... and that's on top of the books I bought in Hong Kong last week. I'm glad I brought along a spare bag so I can at least split the books between the bags so that my main luggage won't come in overweight.

Just finished reading The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami. What can I say? The man is a master of dark comedy and surreal stories. These are 15 short stories of dark humor. I think my favorite of them is 'The Kangaroo Communique' - where a store's product manager takes it upon himself to write a letter and then scrapes that idea to record a tape of his thoughts to a customer who had written a letter of complaint to the store because they didn't allow her to exchange an LP she had bought a week before. I loved this story because the product manager, with his rambling thoughts that just seemed to jump from one thing to another so reminded me of myself.

All the stories are rather playful or thought provoking.

4 stars and definitely recommended to anyone who enjoys somewhat existential and profound stories with a twist of humor.

#173: I will definitely have to look for that one!

Great books and I hope you get them home without any issues. I went to hear Xinran talk a couple of weeks ago and really am inspired to read her books. They have been on my tbr pile for a very long time.

Stasia : I think you'll enjoy this one

Kerry : One good thing about my traveling so much is that I've built up status as a frequent flyer on United Airlines, so I get extra luggage allowance on international flights. Still ..... I'm looking at the giant pile of books on the floor next to my suitcase and wondering if I may be skating the edge of my weight allowance.
I read The Good Women of China by Xinran a couple of years ago and found her writing very sensitive for difficult and emotionally draining topics for her subjects. I skimmed Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother at a bookstore in Hong Kong and just had to have it although the first 2 chapters alone made me tear up.

#173 Delurking to say that one sounds really good and has gone on the wishlist although I think I'm going to read Norwegian Wood for the group read first.

#176: I have added it to my PBS wishlist.

Hello there, Heather .... happy to have you delurk for a spell. I'll be joining you on the Norwegian Wood group read in May.

Stasia : My husband just came in and did a double take when he saw all the books on the floor. He opened his mouth to say something, decided against it, shook his head and went to lay down for a nap.

Sounds like a wise man!

Ah, husband, thy name is wisdom, indeed. Exercise in futility, plus a great recipe for marital disharmony.

btw, re the Aung San Suu Kyi bio, I noticed that the pseudonymous Emma Larkin (author of the v. good Finding George Orwell in Burma has a new book coming out in May about Burma in the wake of Nargilis. Apparently she got in on a tourist visa (!!) and ended up working on relief efforts. Someday the junta is going to figure out who she is and she'll risk the trip once too often, I fear. I may try to pick it up among my Amazon Vine selections next week.

My husband has learned to navigate the stacks and piles of books in every room. Looks like you picked up some good books. I've only read Women of the Silk, which I really enjoyed, probably more than The Samurai's Garden.

Caroline, You are a veritable buying machine. I'm going to look for the Murakami book. It sounds wonderful.

Sounds like your hubby has it all figured out. Lucky you:)

You got me with the Xinran books. I have only read one by her, I look forward to more.
My husband has also stopped commenting on book acquisitions. I think he may believe it's an incurable disease.

#176 - The audience questions to Xinran really highlighted that she is a powerful writer and I have to say the most poignant topic seemed to be her Sky Burial book which I usually see discounted in bookshops. I picked up her What the Chinese don't eat today in a clearance sale, along with a ridiculously cheap copy of David Thompson's beautiful pink edition of Thai Food.

Yaaay..... back on home ground, sleeping in my own bed .... good. gulping down a glass of spoilt milk ....bad. working from home today in pjs ..... very good. Getting to finish up on Wolf Hall this evening ... excellent. Total count ... and awesome day!

Caroline- Welcome home! It's always nice having you back! Glad you are enjoying Wolf Hall, it seems to be getting quite a few lackluster reviews here lately! I also like the sound of The Elephant Vanishes and will keep an eye out!

Welcome back, Caroline!

Glad you are back home....working from home in PJs is good! milk! glech.. do you know where it has BEEN!>?

Thanks all ... it's good to be back. I get to stay home for almost a month before my next trip - but at least the next one is closer to home .. only LA and only for a few days.

The one good thing about the long long flights I've had to get back is that I almost finished Wolf Hall on the trip, which was great because I really like the book. I think it helped that I already knew the history behind Henry, Mary, Anne and Jane. It was interesting though looking at their lives through Thomas Cromwell's eyes. I didn't know much about him at all.

Kath : Yeah, the milk was in my fridge for the 2 weeks I was away. ;-) I didn't think to check the date or smell it first .... oops ... yuck!

I agree that when reading Wolf Hall it helps to know the historical context.

Have you watched the showtime series The Tudors?

Caro darling! Back in the USA just in time for the passage of the health care reform bill! Clearly it was done to honor your homecoming.

*smoochings*

Glad to have you back safe and sound, Caroline!

Linda : I don't get Showtime, so I haven't watched The Tudors. Was it good?

Hellooooooo Richard sweetums : It is oh so good to be home again ... I even missed my wacky office mates and don't even mind the crappy weather we're having. I'm being blamed for the new flood warnings since it only started raining upon my return.

I do think our Health Care needs to be reformed and I hate that this is getting to be such a childish partisan fight instead of folks sitting down to really think of what people really need, especially those in the middle and low income groups, most of all children and the elderly. The rich will always be able to afford healthcare and expensive meds but it's those who can't afford it that need looking after. Having said that, without actually reading the whole bill, I am not in a position to say whether or not I think it's a good one. I'm sure there are things that can be refined since there is no such thing as a perfect bill. But the intentions behind it are good.
I'll get off my pulpit now.

Stasia : I almost had to go to Bangkok for a meeting ..... glad that got canceled with all those riots and what with the bomb blast outside one of the government buildings. Definitely glad to be back home. Guess what's winging its way over to you in the next few days? ;-)

Did you see the pollution alert in Hong Kong yesterday? I think you got out just in time!

I do think our Health Care needs to be reformed and I hate that this is getting to be such a childish partisan fight instead of folks sitting down to really think of what people really need...

Amen, sister! NPR's Morning Edition featured a story about the health care bill, including a sound bite from one of the Republican congressmen, who used the terms "socialist" and "totalitarian" to describe it.

Must admit that I never thought I would be unhappy about a health care reform bill. But this one seems to assume that all middle-income folks are employed. I'm self-employed. The only insurance I can buy in NY state will cost me $1,800 a month. And it won't cover my medications at $500 a month. It's a catch 44. If I move somewhere cheaper, I lose about 2/3 of my income and still can't afford mandated health care. Unless/until there is either a public option, a viable exchange that ACTUALLY brings down costs (which have risen at about 15% a year), there is no point in having a mandate. I really have no idea what I'm going to do. I know that I can't spend 25% of my gross income on health insurance & meds. Nope, there is no other insurance plan available. None. I have tried for the last 8 years, and it's Blue Cross/Blue Shield or nada. And yes, that includes me having turned myself into an LLC (but not an S or C Corp which would just drive up my costs in another way.)

OK, my rant over. Sorry. I'm just extremely anxious indeed about this. Time to move back to Canada -- if I can find a job there after 16 years. Last time I tried they told me I wasn't a real Canadian any more...

Bangkok would be exciting... :-) That's how to separate a journalist from the crowd. Let off a bomb, and look for the fool running toward the explosion...

There may be many many things wrong with living in the UK (and believe me, there is a lot wrong with this country!) but every time I see debates on healthcare in the US, I feel so lucky to live here.

My NI (National Insurance) contributions work out to around £15-20 a month taken directly from my wages. That is all I pay, and if I didn't earn what I do then I wouldn't pay. And for this we get free doctors, mental health care, emergency care, hospitals etc etc. And our prescriptions cost £7.20 per script, regardless of what the medication is. And the contraceptive pill is free.

I don't know how you guys do it, I really don't. Especially being accident prone, the number of hospital visits I have had to have would have bankrupted my family :/

Sigh.... I miss the UK health care. In Jersey doctors are up to £37 an appointment. Free prescriptions at the moment...

Hospital is free though - plus I have private through work for big things (operations etc). Unfortuantely that doesn't cover doctor's appointments so rarely gets used.

I agree when watching the news though - I always remind myself it's better thatn the US seems to be.

States have been shrieking about unfunded mandates for years. It's another way to make sure no one escapes paying the insurance investors their vigorish for allowing the insured to get the odd piece of change back from their contributions, which the investment vampires use as a steady cash flow to back risky investments.

Is this a good bill? Probably not...the insurance companies really were pretty muted in their complaints, which means it didn't hurt them nearly enough. Is it a start? Yeah...but down which bad, profiteering road that will increase the imbalance of wealth in the wrong direction?

If I sound cynical, it's because I am. I do not believe The System works, and I do believe that the idiots who continue to support it on the theory that, "when they get rich," they'll derive the benefits are the saddest, most deluded bunch ever. You Will Not Get Rich. I think the lottery people should be forced to print that on every ticket, and the investment company ads should have to have a huge square black box over every inch of their ads with that message in it.

Richard, yes, I noted that several health insurers saw their stock prices rise yesterday. Whether that was on relief that the uncertainty is over or on the anticipation of more profits to come, I don't know. I am, however, extremely worried about how to deal with this.

Yes, Luna, I miss the NHS as well. There is no silliness there any more about whether good health is as vital a national interest as, say, national defense. Here, I've met people who actually believe it to be a privilege.

I don't believe there is a perfect healthcare system anywhere in the world. But what we need here is something where the HMOs don't become the fat cats at the expense of people's wallets and actual health needs. There is something to be said for public healthcare if they can be delivered with the efficiency of private healthcare. I've lived in countries that had both private and public healthcare, and sure there were some downsides (as there is with almost everything in the world), but the pluses more than made up for them, and the net benefit is that everyone, regardless of income level and age, got the treatment (including dental and eye) and meds they needed at affordable prices.

I've seen kids and some people who've had to suffer or even die because they couldn't afford meds or operations. They didn't have health insurance because they couldn't afford the premiums, and one had a congenital heart problem from birth and the insurance companies didn't want to insure her anyway. This is not right that people should have to suffer or die because they have no healthcare options available to them. But for the grace of God, there go I.

I think the US has one of the worst healthcare systems in the industrialized world.

Loved Wolf Hall - finished it last night. I'll have to review it later ... I'm so glad I read it, especially since I knew almost nothing about Thomas Cromwell before. I wonder how much of her book was based on research into what he really thought and felt about the Cardinal Wolsey and King Henry, and how much was fiction. From most other history books, Wolsey is not painted in quite such compassionate terms as Thomas makes him out to be in Wolf Hall. Interesting to read a different opinion of him.

Oh well, I sort of started so I guess I might as well finish up my review of Wolf Hall. I thought it was an excellent historical fiction covering the life of Thomas Cromwell and his journey from an abused son of a blacksmith in Putney to King Henry's right hand man.

His eloquence, sharp mind and genius with financial matters brings him into the confidence of Cardinal Wolsey and manages to keep him apart from the Cardinal's disgrace later in life. His quiet determination to do what he thinks he must, while keeping his religious leanings to himself, brings him to the attention of King Henry, then grappling with the difficult task of getting the Pope to annul his marriage to Katherine, his Queen, so that he can marry Anne Boleyn, sister of Mary whom he had kept as a mistress. Despite the other aristocrats looking down their noses at him because of his impoverished and common background, they come to rely on him even if they do not consider him their equal or a friend.

Thomas Cromwell was indeed an interesting figure. He spoke multiple languages, traveled widely for his time, fought as a soldier (albeit for France rather than England), built a profitable business, and became an adviser to the King. The way he maneuvered his way around and between the various players in and out of the royal Court was like watching a well choreographed ballet. And while he grappled with the various political intrigues while keeping an eye on his business, he still manages to spend time with his extended family and keep them well taken care of. He was a man of secrets and also knew how to keep the secrets of others.

One of the impressions I got was that Thomas Cromwell was a loyal subject to his masters. He seemed to immerse himself with trying to get them what they felt their hearts desired, but without losing himself in the process.

There's so much more I could say about the book, but then I'd be going on for almost as long as the book, so I should just stop here and just say that this is definitely a book well worth reading. 5 stars in my opinion.

I definitely agree with your rating, Caroline -- it's a brilliant book.

One of the things I liked about was that it illustrated some of the social changes that were gaining momentum as the merchant class -- or people like Cromwell -- gained power, wealth and influence. That trend just gathered momentum, so that by the 18th century, while people could still talk about a class system, it was one that was far from rigid. The people to whom pedigrees mattered could still own vast amounts of land, but increasingly, they would lose control of the political power and unlike Cromwell, that wouldn't be at the mercy of a monarch. And Wolsey and Cromwell were two of the earliest and best examples of that, with Wolsey taking the traditional route (the Church) and Cromwell carving his own path. I like the way Mantel depicts his mind at work as he carves that path for himself at the court of Henry VIII. I thought this was a fascinating and nuanced novel and easily one of the best portrayals of the English court of that time that I've read.

Caroline- Terrific review! I hope to get to this title some time this year!

Suzanne - That's one of the things I liked about this book too - reading Croswell's thoughts.

Mark: You won't regret reading this book.

Great review, Caroline!

Caroline, I loved Wolf Hall also. and your review did a great job pointing out some of the important reasons why it was such a satisfying read. I especially enjoyed her character development, not only of Cromwell, but of King Henry and Ann Boleyn too. I really felt she conveyed their personalities, as well as how they were viewed by their peers.

Had another one of my dreaded 3am conference calls last night and it was boring, so I managed to finish Swan for the Money by Donna Andrews which I'd started yesterday morning at the gym.

This is the latest in the Meg Langslow series and this time there's something afoot with a dog going missing, goats keeling over, black swans terrorizing everyone during the preparations for the Rose Show ... oh, and someone is murdered. With the usual cast of characters, Meg has to juggle being the organizer of the event as well as finding out who's behind the poisoning, the murder, the missing dog and maybe even a bit of cattle rustling in pouring rain.

Donna Andrews is as usual, not short of humor, and this light-hearted mystery with the zaniest family I've fallen in love with, is the perfect relaxation companion.

#210: I have only managed to read the first book in that series. I really must get back to it!

I keep debating with myself whether I should pick up the hardback, or wait for the paperback to come out this summer. I think I may just have to switch formats so I can get a Langslow fix. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

So now that I'm home, I broke open Still Life by Louise Penny last night but fell asleep about a third into the book. Well ... woke up this morning, decided to read a little before going to the gym or work ...... and ended up taking a half day off to finish reading the whole thing before lunch! Ok, so I'm hooked ... arrggghhh.....

So having read the latest in the series a month back, and then now moving to the first in the series, I don't think I've lost anything by starting at the back end. It's nice though, to see where all the characters of Three Pines started.

I love the subtle humor and strength of Armand Gamache and how he leads his team in an investigation.

The villagers at the lovely village of Three Pines are shocked when a beloved neighbor is found murdered by an arrow through the heart in the woods. Was it an accident by hunters or is there a murderer amongst them? There is no shortage of murder suspects and possible motives, and the team has to sift through the secrets that many keep.

In this book though, I did sort of suspect who the murderer was by the time I was halfway through, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the unraveling of the story anyway.

By the time you get through this book, the folks at Three Pines will have already have won their way into your heart.
Most worthy way to spend a morning off work. :-)

Stasia : Yes, you must. Get to it, girl!

Luxx: You might as well get your fix now with used copy off Amazon .... I believe Andrews has a new book coming out this summer. ;-)

Oh *gag me* on the Pennys (sorry)...but i loved your review of Wolf Hall...it is languishing on my Kindle 'til summer...when i don't feel like totin' tomes...

Glad you're home
;-}
J

>213 cameling: You really figured that out Caroline? Maybe because I don't read many mysteries but I never saw it coming.

I am staying out of politics today.. its Friday...
Glad you are home and safe..

Jude : Yes, Wolf Hall would have been difficult lugging around ... good thing I stayed put on planes or lounges for that time reading. Hope you enjoy it. Too bad you don't like Three Pines ... out of curiousity, have you read any in the Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series, and if so, did you like them?

Bonnie : I kinda suspected who it was, but not for the reasons why he did it. So I didn't really figure it out .. just something nagged me about the person. *aren't I good about not giving out spoilers? haha*

Friday is politics-free day, Kath? We had a good Palin-bashing session at the bar this evening ...very cathartic. ;-) (Sarah, not Michael)

Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner is a laugh-out-loud quick read. It takes all our old favorite (or at least my favorite) bedtime stories such as Cinderella, Rapunzel, The Princess & the Pea, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Three Little Pigs among others and puts them in politically correct contexts with some slight changes in the endings. Most definitely one of the funniest books I've read in a while.

A re-reading keeper for those days when I need a quick pick-me-up in the laughs department.

#219: Linda sent me that one a while back. I really must get it read.

Another good book for laughs - one that I just finished a couple of days ago - is The Education of Hyman Kaplan.

Caroline- I saw that Palin is supporting McCain's campaign in Arizona, dressed in black leather. She said that they are not the Party of No but the Party of Hell No! Nice, huh?

Thanks for the tip, Stasia ... I'll look out for that.

Mark : I think she's a loony. Leather = hell? With all that fire and heat in hell, I'd have thought it'd be a clothing optional environment. ;-)

I cannot recommend Chess Story by Stefan Zweig highly enough. For a little book, this packs a really strong wallop. Many thanks to Kerry for sharing this book with me.

On board a cruise ship to Argentina, a world chess champion is challenged to a game of chess by a group of amateurs. Despite his lowly background and reputed ignorance for all matters besides chess, this chess champion is arrogant and dismissive of the group, and plays only for a hefty fee. However, on a rematch, a whispering voice in the background suddenly advises the challenger on moves that take the chess champion by surprise and the 2nd game is a draw.

A challenge is issued by the world chess champion to this pale stranger to a game the following day.

What unfolds before this game, is the stranger's story and in it, we are introduced to another form of torture during WWII - that of mental and emotional torture when one is placed in a void, bereft of any human contact, books or even a window to look out of for mental stimulation.
This is a story of the strength of one man who manages to devise a strategy to survive this mental torture, but in his triumph against his torturers he falls victim to his own device.

The final chess game provides the stage for one to show mental acuity and another, the scars that never heal.

4.5 stars in my opinion.

Wow -- I'm intrigued!

I'm glad that you enjoyed Wolf Hall and Chess Story, Caroline! I also loved Journey into the Past and Amok by Zweig, and I'll read Beware of Pity and The Post-Office Girl in the next month or two.

Thanks for your comment about Wolf Hall, Suzanne; that was definitely interesting. I'm very tempted to bring A Place of Greater Safety with me to read during this break; I'll certainly read it later this year if I don't read it now.

I have to say that it does sound like it would pack a wallop...
but not my cup of tea right now.. I am diligently searching for happy books..
hard to find! The one I am reading now isn't ... :P

Caroline- Good review of Chess Story! It sounds very interesting and it is now on the WL!

A good reading day today I think. I've just finished The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.

This is a touching story of a mathematical genius who suffers brain trauma after he's involved in a car accident, leaving him with no long term memory after 1975. At present he seems to only remember in 80 minute chunks of time.

He reminds himself of certain things by writing little notes and clipping them onto various parts of his clothes. A housekeeper enters to keep the house clean and to cook for the Professor. His odd questions centering around numbers initially confuse her but she learns that's the way he communicates.

Through the Professor's communication with the Housekeeper, we are introduced to basic and advanced mathematical theorems in the most delightful way. As he does for the Housekeeper, so does he open our eyes to a different way to look at numbers and makes it even fun to do so.

With the introduction of her son, they form an interesting friendship, which makes one wonder how much does memory play in our lives, and if new connections can be made, even in short periods of time. This touching story brings it home that life's valuable moments are measured by their quality and not quantity.

Great review. I'm adding The Housekeeper and the Professor to the TBR pile. I'm not sure about Chess Story. It intrigues and repels (chess) at the same time.

Jenn - if you're hesitant because you fear a great deal of details of chess strategy in the book, then fear not ... there is actually very little. Chess just provides the stage on which our characters play out their various roles. It is a marvelous novella.

You're on a roll Caroline. I want to get to Zweig soon, either Chess Story (love your review, thumb) or The Post Office Girl.

I enjoyed The Housekeeper and the Professor when I read it last year. Charming story.

The Ogawa novel is sitting on my Kindle TBR mountain... A number of Amazon Vine folks cited it as the best novel they had discovered through the program.

I received Chess Story for my birthday - you have to love those gift cards! - so I am hoping to get to it soon.

I too, enjoyed The Housekeeper and the Professor .. and 232, I would agree that it is one of the best I received through vine...

Caroline- Another good review! The Housekeeper also sounds like a winner! May your roll continue!

So behind on threads! Some great books and reviews lately (and political debates!)

I've lived in the UK all my life and having spent a fair amount of time in my early twenties in hospital and trotting round various consultants I can't really get my head round what it would have been like if I'd had to pay for all that. Our health system is far from perfect but I'm very pleased it's there.

I bought my own copy of Wolf Hall yesterday which I'm really looking forward to. I think Chess Story was already on my wishlist but I've added The Housekeeper and the Professor. I love stories with maths in.

>218 cameling:
Caroline..I own two Donna Leon titles....Uniform Justice & Doctored Evidence...which I have not read...but the folks who have borrowed them seem to think they're the Cat's Whiskers. Guess I'll have to hide them for now and give myself a chance to partake!

Chess Story sounds like a Corker! On THE LIST it goes!

;-}

Good review, Caroline! Thumbs up from me. You gave me just enough to make me want to read it.

Bonnie :Zweig has definitely captured my interest and I've just ordered a copy of Post Office Girl from Amazon.

Suz : I think you'll enjoy The Housekeeper .. it's a touching story and one that makes you think about how much you pay attention to and enjoy the little things in life that are usually overshadowed by everything else that keeps us busy everyday.

Kath : There were a few things that didn't quite gel for me in the book, but they were minor and didn't detract from the overall beauty of the story. I'm really glad I read it and didn't allow the fact that it was about math scare me off.

Thanks, Mark .... on to a cozy read of a Three Pines mystery today.

Heather : I hope you are all better and have no more need for multiple hospital visits. I am very thankful that I have thus far been blessed with very good health and suffer at most a bout of flu every other year. Then again, I am the clumsiest being on the earth and have walked into, tripped over, fallen over and fallen off various objects more often than be counted, although so far, nothing that required much medical attention.

Jude : Yeah, I'm pretty hooked on the Brunetti series by Donna Leon. Some are better than others, but on the whole they are enjoyable.

Bonnie : Thanks for the thumb. I hope you get a chance to read this

#240

You're so lucky! I, like you, consider myself immeasurably clumsy and accident prone but somehow at least once a year, if not more often, one of those accidents inflicts enough damage to send me to hospital.

I now have A&E visits down to a fine art. A pillow each for you and your companion, a long but easyish book, change for vending machines, comfortable clothes than come on and off easily and possibly some form of electronic device, either an mp3 player or a nintendo. It makes the 4hrs+ wait reasonably enjoyable, in a strange way!

4 hours?! The only time I've had to spend a long time in the hospital was when my husband thought he had a heart attack ....... 6 hours in ER! And in the end it turned out that he had bought a new gadget to do push ups with that the SEALs used, and he'd done them the wrong way and had strained his chest muscles! I was thankful he didn't have a heart attack, but was tempted to brain him with my shoe.

But your mention of an mp3 player reminds me I need to head to the mall. My iPod's just died on me last night and I need to go see if it can be repaired or if I need to get a new one.

#242

Yup, we may have free health care but you have to be prepared to put some time in there. Of course if it had ever been something serious like a suspected heart attack then things happen much quicker, but for 'minor' stuff like needing stitches or a simple break etc, you sit and wait.

When I got a concussion then I was seen quickly. Sadly I didn't have a book with me and had to ask a nurse to get me a magazine. I read it at least 5 times while I was under observation!

I think sometimes it's the luck of the draw. Here (Colorado) my stepmother was fairly certain she was having appendicitis one night, but suffered through the night because she didn't want to seek emergency care in the middle of the night (I think she thought the drs would be tired, and she wanted "fresh ones"). She went to the ER in the morning, only to wait there for about 9 hours. When she finally had surgery, the dr. had been on since the previous morning. So much for being "fresh".

ER..ack! I am a very bad waiter........

Thanks Caroline - I'll sit through many things that may be boring to most people, but lengthy descriptions of a Chess game I cannot do. I'll put it on the list.

Call me crazy (regarding health care) but I kind of think we'd all be better off if there was no middle man and we just negotiated a deal with our doctors for everyday care and carried catastrophic insurance that traveled with us wherever we go. I think that having to compete for patients by providing better care and competing for (insurance) business across state lines would be beneficial. For those who cannot pay for health insurance, I believe that each individual state should determine what kind of assistance will be provided. Much easier to manage a state-run system than a federal. IMHO.

Nittnut, you def. have a point, but there still needs to be some kind of safety cushion there for people who simply can't afford the $10 or $50 or $100 required for the routine everyday care that identifies things before they become life-threatening catastrophes. If we had to negotiate prices for our own mammograms, how many women wouldn't catch breast cancer at a treatable stage? That's the kind of stuff I worry about, especially as families face bigger cash crunches.

My worst ER wait was while I was projectile vomiting! I think they bumped me to the front of the list because everyone else in the waiting room was complaining about the smell. Still took me 5 hours to be seen by a doc. The ER visits I've had to make in Canada have been much faster, although I suspect in part that's because fewer people there use the ER as an alternative to a general practitioner for when their children have the flu or something. Also (and this is from my sis-in-law, who still does two or three ER shifts a week) there are very, very, very few gunshot wounds, knife wounds, etc. in even big cities in Toronto, vs. NY or other bit US cities. But don't get me started on gun control! :-D Enough hijacking of Caroline's thread -- she'll be on to part V before long, all because of the hijacks...

I've got the first Three Pines mystery sitting on Mt. TBR (which is now K2 sized and just as intimidating...) along with Chess Story. And the book of stories that Darryl recommended of Zweig's arrived from the UK this week. Heigh ho. Even at my current rate of 35 plus books a month, I dread to think how long it would take me to get through the whole TBR stack. (I have no idea -- and don't wish to know -- how big it actually is!)

#247 - Absolutely - I am just for the state providing the safety cushion, rather than the fed. govt. In terms of negotiating a deal, I was thinking more along the lines of the doctor in NY who set up his own deal where his patients paid a monthly amount, kind of like a health club, and received care. His patients were happy with the setup, unfortunately, he was shut down by either the state or the feds. I agree that negotiating each individual service could be a disaster for exactly the reason you mention.

Ugh to waiting. I am extremely bad at it.

Luckily, the one and only time I've been to A&E was when I sprained my ankle really badly by running into a big yellow wheelie bin (don't ask - I STILL get teased about it, years later) - despite being a Friday afternoon, there was next to noone there and I went straight through (I hasten to add, I used to work in a place on the same site as a hospital, or I would have gone to the GP...). I think I must just have been extremely lucky timing-wise - apparently A&E is usually heaving at that time.

Gun shot wounds. Terrifying. Chatterbox, I'm guessing we're fairly like-minded on the gun-control issue...

I think that the NHS is a wonderful thing and am very glad we have it - health care really should be free to everyone who needs it - but it is by no means a flawless system...

Some great reviews Caroline!

>249 flissp: - health care really should be free to everyone who needs it

It will never be free. Someone's got to pay, either through higher taxes, new taxes, deductibles, co-pays, premiums, etc. and probably a combination of things. It will be interesting to see what happens in this country (U.S.) when 33,000,000 people are added to health insurance and have to find a primary care physician while there is an extreme shortage of primary care physicians in this country. Also, there is going to be a large addition of Medicaid recipients while fewer and fewer doctors accept Medicaid. Let's hope all this can be worked out but it seems like it should have been worked out before the law was passed.

And it isn't free now. In countries where patients get free health care (is it really completely free?), it must be paid for by taxes. Doctors, nurses, health technicians, hospital workers, etc., need to earn a living; equipment needs to be bought and maintained; medicines and things like crutches, stents, knee replacements, casts, etc., need to be paid for, etc. I could be wrong, but I don't think we'll ever see taxes high enough to pay for all of that in the US. Of course the system could be altered so that everyone had an incentive to care for the patients instead of run up costs, but this bill doesn't do that.

OK, so not free, free, but I'm very happy to pay additional taxes (in the form of National Insurance in the UK) to cover things like public health care, despite the fact that I've (thankfully) always been extremely healthy. Even if I never take full advantage of the NHS, I'm very glad to support others who are not as well off, or as healthy as me.

No, it's never free. But I do see the tremendous irony that in the highest-taxed city/province in Canada I would pay the same/less tax than I do in the highest-taxed city/state in the US -- and get free health care. And the irony that the last time I looked at the data, it showed that Canada covered all of its citizens at a per capita cost that was below that paid by the US for covering a segment of its citizenry (Medicare/Medicaid/VA, etc.) I just can't, intellectually, get past the idea that it's possible to accept the idea of healthcare as something that revolves around the luck of the draw (did you get a good job, inherit the breast cancer gene, be born in the wrong state or to a blue-collar family that couldn't get/afford health insurance?) rather than something that is in the best interests of the country as a whole. Surely, if we are still the most affluent nation in the world, we can afford to give our citizens not only a basic education but also basic healthcare. I struggle to stay polite whenever I run into someone who shrugs their shoulders and says it's up to each individual to figure that stuff out for themselves. To me, that's a hallmark of someone who has never realized that life may have a trick or two up its sleeve for him as well; that his good fortune may not be lasting. (Not to mention a failure of compassion, but then, there's a lot of that around.) Okay, rant over! *climbs down from soapbox*

Hijack away ... I'm glad there's a robust sharing of opinions and experiences. I think it's wonderful that we're all comfortable enough to hold such scintillating discussions.

Yup, it's never free ... but I'm with fliss - I'm glad to support those who may not be as well off or as healthy ... although my caveat to that is, as long as I can afford to pay for my basic necessities first. It wouldn't make sense for me to support others if I can't first support myself. But then that's where the tax brackets come in though .. and it's generally those who can afford it who are asked to step up and help out. Too little community spirit these days I think. There's usually an outpouring of assistance to the large highly publicized international disasters but too many people don't look closer to home to help out. I think first of the children who may need medical attention and don't get what they should get because they're not covered by insurance.

Then again, I don't know what would be the perfect solution. I just know what we have is a disaster left alone for far too long.

*joins Suz on the ground off the soap box*

Brings water to Caro and Suz... to lazy to hop on myself..

Off to read!

lots of water here in MA .... been raining all day and more rain forecasted for the rest of the week ... ugh!

I just tried for the third time to convince the dog to go out in the cold, dark, rainy night. She politely declined by turning around and running upstairs to get in bed. Being one to accept things he can't change, I have followed her, and plan to write a few more reviews tonight.

Healthcare costs are sky high. Has anyone noticed that insurance companies' profits are too?

Hmmm

This is funny that you guys are still talking about healthcare. Just went to see my psychiatrist who prescribes my bipolar meds. Visit has a separate deductible, which will never be met, from regular insurance (pay full shot for each visit). Got a new med for restless leg syndrome. Hubby is terrified by what it will cost. I am afraid to go see regular GP for my knees which are killing me but can't put up with this much longer. I just wish I didn't have worries like this!

The fact that your anxiety is about the need to finance your medical treatment rather than just the issues and outcomes kind of says everything that needs to be said about the US system...

I have an older American friend - I can't believe she must be about 80 now but I believe she is - who had to give up her flat where she'd lived for 40 years or so after being successfully treated for cancer. She had insurance but it didn't pay everything, plus presumably ongoing insurance is even more expensive.

I'm glad my mum in her mid 60s at least doesn't have to worry about the effects of diagnosis and treatment in that sense - she's already taking a financial hit from loss of earnings.

Where is Caroline? * looks under the cushions* *wanders off*

Have I missed a new thread somewhere down the line? Help!

>262 elliepotten: I think the new thread is here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/88333

;-}