Elkiedee's next 75 in 2010 (2nd thread)

I thought having read 75 books (actually 76 as of yesterday evening) was a good point to start a new thread, so here it is.

76. 18/4 Jane Feaver, Love Me Tender 4*

77. 20/4 Emily Barr, Out of My Depth

78. 23/4 ed Denise Hamilton, Los Angeles Noir

79. 23/4 Sara Wheeler, The Magnetic North

80. 24/4 Colm Toibin, Brooklyn

81. 24/4 Iain Sinclair, Hackney: That Rose Red Empire

82. 26/4 Stella Gibbons, Nightingale Wood

83. 26/4 Joan Aiken, All But a Few

84. 27/4 Rachel DeWoskin, Repeat After Me

85. 29/4 Stevie Davies, The Eyrie

86. 1/5 Barbara Trapido, Sex and Stravinsky

87. 1/5 Joan Aiken, Is

88. 2/5 Sue Townsend, The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole 1999-2001

89. 2/5 Joanna Kavenna, The Birth of Love

90. 6/5 Freya North, Secrets

91. Sybille Bedford, A Favourite of the Gods

92. Margharita Laski, To Bed With Grand Music

93. Brian McGilloway, Borderlands

94. ed Lawrence Block, Manhattan Noir

95. Valerie Grove, So Much To Tell

96. Sybille Bedford, A Compass Error

97. Heather O'Neill, Lullabies for Little Criminals

98. Ken Bruen, Her Last Call to Louis MacNeice

99. Joan Aiken, Cold Shoulder Road

100. Val McDermid, A Darker Domain

101. eds Maria Crossan and Tom Palmer, The Book of Leeds

102. Nicola Beauman, A Very Great Profession

103. Lucy Caldwell, Where They Were Missed

104. Sue Townsend, Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction

105. Suze Rotolo, A Freewheelin' Time

106. Joan Aiken, Midwinter Nightingale

107. Guillermo Orsi, No-One Loves a Policeman

108. Gary Younge, Who are We - and should it matter in the 21st century?

109. Joan Aiken, The Witch of Clatteringshaws

110. Jane Smiley, Private Life

111. Diana Wynne Jones, The Lives of Christopher Chant

112. Katharine McMahon, Confinement

113. Sue Townsend, Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years

114. Sinclair Browning, The Last Song Dogs

115. Rob Sheffield, Love is a Mix Tape

116. Anna Dale, Magical Mischief

117. Mollie Panter-Downes, Minnie's Room

118. Louise Doughty, Whatever You Love

119. Joan Aiken, The Whispering Mountain

120. N J Cooper, No Escape

121. Rose Macaulay, Told By An Idiot

122. Sue Townsend, The Public Confessions of a Middle-Aged Woman Aged 55 3/4

123. Marika Cobbold, Aphrodite's Workshop for Reluctant Lovers

124. Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

125. ed Laura Lippman, Baltimore Noir

126. George Pelecanos, The Turnaround

127. Jane Emery, Rose Macaulay

128. Emily Winslow, The Wide World

129. Andrew Taylor, Bleeding Heart Square

130. Diana Wynne Jones, The Ogre Downstairs

131. Aeronwy Thomas, My Father's Places

132. Charlotte Moore, Grandmother's Footsteps

133. Chinua Achebe, Girls at War

134. Stella Duffy, Wavewalker

135. Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

136. Shirley Williams, Climbing the Bookshelves

137. Asne Seierstad, The Bookseller of Kabul

138. Natsuo Kirino, Real World

139. Margaret Atwood, Moral Disorder

140. Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking

141. Diana Wynne Jones, Dogsbody

142. Susan Hill, The Beacon

143. Sophie Hannah, Cordial and Corrosive

144. Rose Tremain, Music and Silence

145. George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London

146. Joan Aiken, Midnight is a Place

147. Kate Clanchy, Antigona and Me

148. Rachel Hore, A Place of Secrets

149. Deborah Kay Davies, True Things About Me

150. Laura Lippman, No Good Deeds

76. 18/4 Jane Feaver, Love Me Tender 4*

Linked short stories about lonely people in a Devon village. To be reviewed for The Bookbag.

28/4 (here in London, anyway) - the review has been up for a couple of days:

"A woman remembers her dead husband playing Love Me Tender (the song made famous by Elvis Presley) on his tenor horn. She is in a daze, feeling the grief of the bereaved widow she is, the betrayal of the deceived wife, and the guilt of having murdered him. The title story of this collection is all the more moving and startling because of its understated style, and what is not said as well as what is."

Here's the link to the whole review:

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Love_Me_Tender_by_Jane_Feave...

Found you again, Luci.

77. Emily Barr, Out of My Depth 3.5* + or maybe 4*

Suze invites her 3 best friends from school, but whom she hasn't seen since, to visit her in her beautiful house in France. A lot of the reunion is taken up with showing off how lovely her life is now - or is it? In fact, she has something important to tell Tamsin. The story is partly told by her as a first person narrator, and partly from one friend, Amanda's viewpoint in the third person.

This was a good, quick read - superior chicklit. I like Emily Barr's books, but she often chooses to tell her stories from the viewpoint of characters who aren't very likeable, and I didn't like Suze or Amanda that much, though Suze did get a bit more sympathetic as what had happened in their shared past was revealed.

gotcha!

Congrats on hitting 75 books and a second thread! Good job!

78. 23/4 ed Denise Hamilton, Los Angeles Noir

I find it difficult to review these anthologies - there are some stories here by writers I'm familiar with like Gary Phillips, and I like Denise Hamilton's own novels, and some completely new to me. Generally I thought the stories were quite good, though there were seemed to be a recurring theme with a number of them, that people planning to do things were tricked by the people they thought they were deceiving/scamming or whatever.

79. 23/4 Sara Wheeler, The Magnetic North

To be reviewed for The Bookbag.

Writing about the author's own trips to the Arctic, some with a baby son and some with another 10 year old son, is interspersed with stories about the history of travel to the North Pole, the experiences of individual explorers, and also writing about the indigenous peoples. She writes about different parts of the Arctic including Alaska, Canada, the bit which was part of the Soviet Union, Greenland. Extremely readable and recommended.

Review is here:

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Magnetic_North:_Travels_...

#13: That one looks right up my alley. Thanks for the recommendation, Luci.

#13 That one looks interesting - looking forward to your review.

Just starred your thread as I see we have quite a few books in common and I look forward to seeing what else you are reading. The Magnetic North sounds interesting.
Genny

80. 24/4 Colm Toibin, Brooklyn 4.5*

I've wanted to read Colm Toibin for a while as I'm always interested in Irish writing, and this novel about a young woman emigrating from 50s Ireland to the US seemed like a good place to start. It is also going to be the subject of a group read "discussion" on Mumsnet so that was a good excuse to add it to my current reading pile.

I also like recent historicals - it doesn't seem like so long ago and many people alive today can actually remember that time but it's reading such books that you realise how attitudes have changed within our lifetime or that of our parents.

Eilis emigrating isn't her idea especially but there are no jobs at home and her sister decides it's a good idea, all the arrangements are made through the church. But leaving home means change for Eilis, as much maturing through age and independence as changing in the new country - the shy girl who has everything decided for her must finally in the novel make her own decisions.

I thought the writing and characterisation in this novel were excellent. I must remember to ask my mum if she's read it too.

81. 24/4 Iain Sinclair, Hackney: That Rose-Red Empire 4.5*

Hackney is an area of north east London with a fascinating history and the author of this has spent a lot of his adult life here. He describes his walks around the area, various stories, anecdotes, myths, legends and complete fabrications he has heard, and interviews some of the characters who've lived there. This is a really long book but for me there was never a dull moment - the reason I read it very slowly was because this was the library hardback edition and it was just too big to cart around with me. Highly recommended.

> 17 I really liked Brooklyn. I've been trying to get my teenage daughter to read it, as I think young adults would like it as well.

I would read my mum's books when I was in my teens, quite happily, but I think I was quite resistant to reading something because someone else wanted to get me to read it.

82. 26/4 Stella Gibbons, Nightingale Wood 4.5*

A Virago Modern Classics reprint of a novel first published in 1938.

I was very disappointed by a sequel to Cold Comfort Farm a couple of years ago, but this one was excellent.

When her husband dies, his parents reluctantly invite his young widow to live with them. Viola Withers has been left with very little money and feels she has no choice to accept, but everyone is miserable about it. Viola misses her dad more than her husband. Still only 21, she is attracted to the charming flirtatious Victor Spring, but he is engaged to someone else and his intentions are not honourable.

Meanwhile Viola's sister in law starts an affair with her dad's chauffeur.

This novel is fascinating in showing the position of various women without a husband to support them, and the means they find out. It is quirky and charming and sometimes surprised me considering it was written in the 1930s in its honesty about things.

The introduction is by Sophie Dahl, not someone I'd associated with literature though she is a descendant of Roald Dahl, but it is quite a good introduction, commenting that Gibbons deserves to be better known for work other than CCF. It also describes this as one of three novels that are a take on fairytales - Nightingale Wood is a sort of Cinderella story. I hope Virago will reprint the others at some point.

83. 26/4 Joan Aiken, All But a Few 5*

This is a reread of a childhood favourite. The rating represents the fact that the best stories, and many were very good, lived up to my childhood memories. There are some stories which aren't so good but the tales of magic mixed with the mundane, the princesses who find alternatives to the role prescribed for them by tradition, etc, are fantastic.

#21: I really liked Cold Comfort Farm so definitely want to try some more of Gibbons work. Thanks for the recommendation of that one, Lucy.

#22: I shall have to give that one a try as well!

#21 I was unaware of anything else by Stella Gibbons apart from CCF, which I too greatly enjoyed when I read it maybe 20 years ago. In the pre-LT, pre internet days, unless we found ourselves in a library with catalogue to hand, I guess it was not so easy to find out what else an author has written. Nightingale Wood does sound interesting - will have to check that out.

#22 All But a Few was also a childhood favourite of mine. I didn't read many short stories, but I remember loving Aiken's short tales as much as her full-length books. I'll have to see if that one is still there in my children's collection. Glad to hear that most of it lives up to your memories.

#24 She's written a lot of stuff, but pretty much all of it bar Cold Comfort Farm is now out of print - I think that the only other one available (outside libraries & 2nd hand book shops) is Nightingale Wood, which was recently re-released.

#21 I'd like to read that introduction at some point - Nightingale Wood was one of two books by Stella Gibbons that I picked up second hand a few years ago (irritatingly, before it was re-released, so it wasn't particularly cheap) and I remember reading online somewhere at the time that she'd written other fairy tale retellings and searching around for them, but I can't remember which they were now...

I also enjoyed Nightingale Wood, but probably not as much as you - I thought it was better than the other one I'd picked up (My American), but didn't really come close to Cold Comfort Farm. I still continue to keep an eye out for her other stuff though and recently managed to find Conference at Cold Comfort Farm and The Shadow of a Sorcerer at the library, so I'm looking forward to them (although I've heard bad things about the former - was that the one you've read, or was it Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm?)

Hmmm I was certain I'd read an S Gibbons recently, but my library shows none. Now what was that book?!

ETA Well I wasn't completely wrong even if the end result was 'all wrong' :) It was Kaye Gibbons' captivating book Charms for the Easy Life.

Edited again to fix typo.

Congratulations on reading so many books --- and such great ones!

Uh, actually Susan, Charms for the Easy Life is Kaye Gibbons ---- oh! I see. I understand all about typos! (My poor brain had called up Faye Weldon, not the same thing at all.) (She, the Kaye one, was married to a hometown friend at the time and claims that it was the only book to that point that she had written while she was happy.)

edited to fix typo

My review of Love Me Tender by Jane Feaver is up at the Bookbag - see post #7.

84. 27/4 Rachel DeWoskin, Repeat After Me 4* plus

Autumn/winter 1989/90: Aysha, a young New Yorker makes good friends with a couple of her Chinese students of English, and is drawn into an odd relationship with one of them.

2002: Aysha and her daughter Julia have moved to Beijing and Aysha is writing her story down for Julia to read when she gets a bit older.

I love stories about migrants, about the experience of living in a different country, and also, I lived in Beijing with my mum for a year when I was 5-6.

I'm going to write a proper review for the Bookbag and if my mum likes the sound of this, this is one I'm going to offer to lend her.

This is DeWoskin's first novel, but I want to read her autobiographical account of living in China with the title Foreign Babes in Beijing (I bought a copy a few years ago!)

10 May: my review is now up at The Bookbag:

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Repeat_After_Me_by_Rachel_De...

#30: Boy, your thread is a dangerous place for me, Luci. Adding that one (and the nonfiction title you mentioned as well) to the BlackHole.

85. 29/4 Stevie Davies, The Eyrie 4*

This is an author whose books I often buy/borrow when I see them. I sought out this one because of a review on The Bookbag last year which made it sound interesting. The main characters are three women living in flats in a converted mansion in Swansea, Wales.

Dora is 92 and has been a committed socialist all her life. She's furious at the Labour government over its betrayal of the working class and the Iraq war. She looks back at her life and misses her daughter, who died 40 years ago.

Eirlys seems more conventional and motherly, but she too has a past of going to prison for her political beliefs (in her case Welsh nationalism), which Dora doesn't even know about.

Young Hannah in her mid 20s has left a stifling marriage and is trying to make a new life for herself.

This shortish novel is another character study, lots of thoughts, feelings, reflections, events mainly used to reveal more such stuff. I quite like stories about really old people looking back over their lives and I liked this one.

I did have a few quibbles about the portrayal of Dora, mainly little mistakes which anyone with no knowledge of the minutiae of far left politics wouldn't notice. First, there's a reference to obituaries in the Daily Worker and the Morning Star - the Daily Worker became the Morning Star at some point (the British Communist Party's newspaper). Second, Dora refers to herself as an ex-Communist and an ex-Trotskyite - Trotskyite and other political words ending in -ite are derogatory and she would call herself a Trotskyist - and she probably doesn't consider herself ex anything as her political views haven't changed, it's just she's dropped out of activism.

This is never going to be a bestseller but I really liked it and it's made me want to go back to her other novels.

I've never heard of Stevie Davies, but this sounds a really interesting book. I'll look it up.

#21 I really enjoyed Cold Comfort Farm so I will look out for Nightingale Wood.

I managed to grab a copy of China Trade off bookmooch so I will hopefully be starting that series soon!

My review of The Magnetic North is now up at the Bookbag. Links at #13 and on the book's page on LT.

86. 1/5 Barbara Trapido, Sex and Stravinsky 4.5*

To be reviewed for The Bookbag. Explores relationships in several families in England and South Africa. I was very excited to get this one, and I enjoyed reading it a lot, though I had some issues with the ending of the novel which unfortunately I won't be able to sound off about as much as I'd like as I wouldn't want to give too much away.

Review up at the Bookbag here

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Sex_and_Stravinsky_by_Barbar...

87. 1/5 Joan Aiken, Is (aka Is Underground) 4.5*

#8 in the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series - Dido's sister Is takes over from Dido as the heroine of this novel, as she goes to look for two boys up north. Children are being lured up to "Playland" to find themselves child slaves in workplaces with a horrific mortality rate. I thought this was one of the best instalments in the series and have already moved on to read Is's further adventures by starting on Cold Shoulder Road.

88. 2/5 Sue Townsend, The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole 1999-2001

While this is #7 in book publication order, it covers a period of time between The Cappucino Years and The Weapons of Mass Destruction. Adrian is now living with his two sons, teenage Glenn and 4 year old William. His trials and tribulations as a single parent are quite entertaining, his love life is less amusing, but a fun read. These also appeared originally as a newspaper column, and I remember reading it but not the content, so it's nice to have this chance to catch up.

I've started reading Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction - well, the first 5 pages or so - and unaccountably misplaced it - we have a small boy asleep in each bedroom and I've searched the places I might have put it down in our room, as well as the bathroom, kitchen and sitting room.

89. 2/5 Joanna Kavenna, The Birth of Love

A book to be reviewed for The Bookbag, am trying to work out my thoughts. I like it but it's a bit confusing. There are several sort of linked storylines in which the book alternates between, on the theme of birth, in different times and places.

One is about Dr Ignaz Semmelweiss, a 19th century doctor who suggested that doctors washing their hands would reduce deaths from childbed fever (and also that doctors not doing so were responsible for killing women). He died in an asylum - the story here is told from the viewpoint of someone who talks to him and wants to help him.

In 2009, a struggling writer has had his book about Semmelweiss published, but he is terrified by the social side of seeking publicity for his work. Meanwhile, Bridget is giving birth to her second child at 42, and having a difficult time.

In 2153, reproduction and sexuality are strictly controlled, and a group of people who rebelled against that are being interrogated about a woman who somehow conceived and gave birth to a baby in the way we consider natural now.

I too will be looking for Nightingale Woodas I enjoyed Cold Comfort Farm just a couple of months ago.

I've been hoping to come across a copy of Foreign Babes in Beijing for a couple of years now. I don't remember how I heard about it but it sounds so intriguing.

#37 Glad to hear you enjoyed Is (underground) so much. I've just yesterday given in to temptation and ordered several more of the newer books in this series so I can carry on reading after The Cuckoo Tree which is where I've got to.

Ooh, looking forward to your reviews of the rest. I really liked Dido and Pa as well, though it's a bit sad in places as there's some horrific examples of really poor parenting.

>38 elkiedee: I lose books all the time in my house -- hope you find it soon. Sometimes its literally months before I come across a lost one again...

#39 The Birth of Love sounds interesting too...

I found it, or at least Mike did - it was under the bed in our room, where it had fallen out of the bag I cart my current reading round the house in. Duh.

I also thought I'd lost a small bag of Maisie books that I'd bought for Danny's birthday, also under the bed. Luckily I found it in time to hand it over this morning - he carried it round to his childminder's house.

I can't believe my 1st BABY's 3 today!

Happy Birthday, Danny!

Happy Birthday to Danny! He'll be reading in no time! :)

Three is a great age! When my second was three, my SIL was trying to insist I needed more children. I commented that my daughter was so much fun that I wondered if my son was, too, but I was too focused on her to notice and I wouldn't make that mistake again for anything.

Thanks for Danny's birthday wishes. He loves stories. I don't think we've read him any yet but I bought a set of books about Maisy the mouse as one of his birthday presents - they came in a nice little bag which he took round to his childminder with him (along with most of his other presents). 3 months ago he also insisted on taking Conor's birthday present books to the childminder's with them.

I do look forward to him learning to read.

Of course Conor's a way off yet but he loves to hold and look at books - when we're reading stories in front of him he always reaches out and I usually look for a board book that he can hold and touch, and that can be wiped a bit if there's food around.

LOL Good idea.

90. 6/5 Freya North, Secrets 4.0

Chicklit. Lots of fun. Single mother Tess and her baby daughter Em go to housesit for Joe in the Northern seaside town of Saltburn - I've never been there and this made me feel that I'd like to visit. Joe is away a lot on business, but he and Tess are attracted to each other, but there is a risk that the secrets they're both keeping will get in the way.

Definitely brain candy but I found this nearly 500 page book quite a quick, fun read, with interesting characters. There are some explicit sex scenes but if readers find those offputting they could probably skip them in this one without too much harm.

The author writes her books in her local library - she lives in the same London borough as Janet and me but I think she lives on the posh side.

91. 6/5 Sybille Bedford, A Favourite of the Gods 4.3

A Virago Modern Classics reprint about mothers and daughters. Anna is an American who marries a wealthy Italian, but leaves him when he has too many affairs. Her daughter Constanza is the central character of this novel, which opens with Constanza and her daughter Flavia taking a long train journey Constanza is to meet a man she is going to marry and Flavia plans to go and study in England - but on the way they miss a connection and settle in the south of France for the next 11 years instead. Most of the novel is then taken up with the story of Constanza and her mother Anna over the preceding 11 years. It's very hard to describe the book but it's beautifully written.

I'm now reading A Compass Error which focuses on Constanza's daughter Flavia.

92. 6/5 Margharita Laski, To Bed With Grand Music 4.2

When Deborah's husband Graham goes away to fight in WWII, he promises that while he may not be totally faithful he won't fall in love with anyone else. Deborah leaves her young son Timmy in the countryside with her housekeeper and takes a job in London, and is introduced by her friend and new flatmate to the pleasures of affairs with a succession of men passing through London.

This is really well written and rather grim, as Deborah becomes totally corrupted by her pursuit of new affairs and a certain lifestyle. It's one of several books from this publisher I've read which present a whole new picture of English women during the war, even more explicitly than Saplings or Good Evening, Mrs Craven.

93. 8/5 Brian McGilloway, Borderlands 3.8

I've been wanting to read this first in series book about a police detective in Ireland, near the borders between Northern Ireland and the Republic, for a while. It was a good read and I'll seek out the next in the series, but it wasn't quite as good as I hoped. This case starts with the murder of a teenager from a dodgy family, there are more murders to follow, and Benedict and his team go round talking to the dead girl's family and friends.

Congratulations on reading 93 books thus far! That is a most impressive feat!

#54: I will look for that one. Thanks for the mention, Luci.

I just came across a story that made me laugh - I'm reading a biography of Kaye Webb who ran Puffin Books in the 60s and 70s (children's books imprint of Penguin). It took Joan Aiken 10 years to get The Wolves of Willoughby Chase published, and one publisher wanted her to "take the wolves out". Hmm, what would the early books in the series have been like with no wolves?

#57: Oh my goodness! That is funny.

#57 That's bizarre! cheered up a difficult day... I'm glad she did get it published (complete with wolves) eventually though.

94. 10/5 ed Lawrence Block, Manhattan Noir 3.9

Another in the series of Akashic Noir anthologies

95. 10/5 Valerie Grove, So Much To Tell

A biography of publisher Kaye Webb, who was Editor of Puffin Books (children's books) from 1961 to 1978. To be reviewed for the Bookbag. Very readable and enjoyable, made me want to dig out my Puffins and my copies of the magazine, Puffin Post, which Kaye Webb was very involved in producing.

Review now up at the Bookbag:

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=So_Much_To_Tell_by_Valerie_G...

#61: That one looks interesting. I will have to see if I can locate a copy. Thanks for the recommendation, Luci.

#61 I loved my Puffins - still got most of them - and the name of Kaye Webb is very familiar because of them. Sounds like I should look out for this book.

#61 I'd heard about this one somewhere else and was already quite excited about it. Two of my favourite books as a child were anthologies Kaye Webb edited, I Like This Story and I Like This Poem. I still have my copy of I Like This Poem and it is falling apart with wrinkly pages from having been dropped in the bath when I was little! I will have to try and get hold of a copy.

I finished my 100th book this year earlier today.

96. 13/5 Sybille Bedford, A Compass Error 4.3*

Follows on from The Favourite of the Gods which I also reread recently. This novel focuses on 17 year old Flavia, now on her own at the house in the south of France she shares with her mother. Her mother plans to marry her lover, but he has to get a divorce first and they have gone off travelling to try and sort things out.

An odd novel, but I love Sybille Bedford's writing and this precocious young woman is an appealing character, though very naive.

Congratulations on reading 100 already!

97. Heather O'Neill, Lullabies for Little Criminals 4.8*

I had been wanting to read this for a few months, borrowed it from the library then found a copy of my own later. I decided the Read a Canadian author TIOLI challenge was as good a reason as any.

Baby is 12, and lives in Montreal's red light district with her junkie dad Jules. They have an affectionate relationship but she clearly knows too much, too young, and as he spends time in hospital and in rehab she has spells in foster care, living with another family they know and at one point a few weeks in juvenile detention.

Baby is a bright young girl who wants the chance to be a normal child/teenager but she's not going to get it, and she makes some really bad choices.

I thought this was beautifully written, quite shocking and sad in places. At the end of the novel what will become of her is unclear, but there's a couple of interesting pieces about the author in the copy I read about her own background and why she wrote the novel.

Eeek, I've just rambled on for 825 words about The Birth of Love - have emailed it in to The Bookbag site owner/review editor. I wasn't sure what I was going to say at the start of the review, I thought it was a hard book to write about, though doing so made me like the book more. I want to reread it now - I can see why Richard reads review books twice, just wish I had more time.

98. Ken Bruen, Her Last Call to Louis MacNeice 4.1

Ken at his darkest and strangest, yet this book like lots of his others is also very witty. I rated it just under 4, but then changed my mind... Cooper is a crook who finds himself being pursued by a crazy woman who keeps reciting and sending him quotes from Louis MacNeice's work - I was attracted to the title of this one. She will stop at nothing. It's a very short book - just 124 pages.

If you haven't read Bruen before, I would try one of his two series - The Guards introduces Jack Taylor, or A White Arrest is set in South London like this novel. If you like those you're more likely to enjoy this - it's probably closer to the style of the White Arrest series featuring Brant, Falls and other rather flawed cops, with a lot of bad language and violence which may seem somewhat gratuitous at times (I think it's not gratuitous to the story, there's a point Bruen is making there somewhere about the nature of violence.

I hope to post more tomorrow to catch up with recent reads.

100 books :)

Congrats for passing the book century mark!

Congratulations on reading 100!

Congrats!

Echoing congratulations! You're a long way ahead of me in general, and a few ahead of me with the Joan Aiken series - I'm now half-way through Dido and Pa; I see you've just finished Cold Shoulder Road. Will have to compare notes once I've caught up with them all.

Congratulations!

99. Joan Aiken, Cold Shoulder Road 4.2

LT series order says no 10, but it was published years before Midwinter Nightingale which came out in 2004, the year Aiken died.

This continues the adventures of Is who made her debut in Dido and Pa and starred in Is aka Is Underground - she has come back to the south of England with her cousin Arun who plans to return home, but his mother Ruth has gone away and there are more dodgy members of the Twite clan to contend with. I do think Is is a great character.

100. Val McDermid, A Darker Domain 4.4

I was very disappointed with the last McDermid standalone I read (not her most recent one), A Distant Echo, so am pleased that this was much better. Like that book, it features a cold case investigation, in fact two different ones, which go back to the 80s. Both involve people who disappeared - are either of them alive? This is set in Val McDermid's hometown, Kirkcaldy in Scotland (also the hometown of Gordon Brown our ex PM and I think Ian Rankin). There's also a good police detective character, and I wonder if this might herald the start of a series.

101. eds Maria Crossan and Tom Palmer, The Book of Leeds 4.2

A short anthology of fiction set in Leeds (where I come from) - I found this on Read It Swap It. A lot of the stories are crime fiction though it's not exclusively that. I particularly liked the stories by Susan Everett and Ian Duhig but nearly all of them were good enough to make me look for more by the author. I also enjoyed some of the references to familiar Leeds places.

#78: I will have to look for that one.

#79: That one, too!

Congratulations on hitting 100, Luci!

I'd be quite surprised if you found The Book of Leeds - it's quite a small press publication that I only found by luck, even in the UK I don't imagine it's in many bookshops.

#81: It is certainly not available at my local library :)

Have you read McDermid's A Place of Execution? It's the only one of hers I've read. Chilling. Interesting style. I thought when I began it that it would mar the story for me, but had changed my mind by the end.

Completely unrelated in style except that it's a mystery, I was thinking just yesterday that if I made a list of fav reads since I've been here in Bucharest that Skeletons by Wilhelm would likely be on the list. uh, that was free association I guess :) LOL

Yes, I've read most of Val McDermid's work since the start of her career. It took me a while to try A Place of Execution and her third series (Carol Jordan and Tony Hill), which starts with The Mermaids Singing. I thought they'd be too gory. A Place of Execution isn't, Mermaids is gory but I think it's an excellent book. I have at least 4 books by her outstanding to read still - the most recent Hill/Jordan book, two standalones and a collection of stories.

Thx for the info!

102. 17/5 Nicola Beauman, A Very Great Profession 3.7

First published in 1983 by Virago. Beauman writes about 20th century women's fiction between the wars, with lots of quotes from writers including Winifred Holtby, E M Delafield, Dorothy Whipple and many others. It's interesting, particularly for fans of Virago Modern Classics and Persephone. After this Beauman went on to found Persephone who have reprinted the third edition of this book, and have published some of these forgotten books too.

103. 18/5 Lucy Caldwell, Where they Were Missed 4.5

A story of a young Irish girl, Saoirse and her family, in Belfast and in a rural town in the Republic. The family fractures under the pressure of huge differences between the parent, the troubles in Belfast etc. It's hard to describe this book without spoilers, I found it very moving and cried a couple of times.

104. 18/5 Sue Townsend, Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction 4.2

If the new Labour PM says it's true, it must be, right. No one else seems to agree but Adrian supports Tony Blair and the invasion of Iraq. It's 2003. His son Glenn is away fighting. Adrian is clocking up huge debts. Then he finds himself in a relationship with a woman he can't stand and in love with that woman's sister. Funnier and sadder than many of the other books in the series.

I've moved on to Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years courtesy of the library.

#86/87: Adding those to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendations, Luci.

I think I've read the first two Adrian Mole books, and loved them. I really need to follow up on the later ones. Interested to hear your take on The Prostrate Years since that would be about my age group.

Adrian Mole was born in March 1968 (15 months older than me) so is 39 at the start of this instalment of his diaries. The fact that he's around my age is one of the things I like so much about the stories. Sue Townsend is a bit of an old leftie which is another, though her characters don't necessarily express her views, but the political commentary is a regular current.

Ooh--he's too young to have prostate troubles. :) (I graduated from high school in 1968 by the way).

105. Suze Rotolo, A Freewheelin' Time 4.2

I learned of this book on this list. Suze Rotolo is best known as Bob Dylan's girlfriend at the start of his career, but this memoir shows that there's so much more to her than that. It is clearly marketed as a bit of Dylanology, with the famous album cover photo of the couple on the front cover of the book, but it's as much a memoir of a young woman growing up and making a life for herself.

I enjoyed her portrait of the period. She was a red diaper baby - her parents were communists - and brought her up with a commitment to social change and justice and an ability to think for herself. By 17 she was living independently of her family and earning a living with a variety of casual jobs while pursuing her interests in art, reading, music etc.

Her relationship with Dylan lasted a few years though they only lived together briefly for various reasons. He also had affairs with others including a very public liaison with Joan Baez, and in the end they went through a slow and painful split. But this is no kiss and tell memoir - she writes about it all in a very dignified way.

There are also stories which have little to do with Dylan, such as her trip to Cuba with a group of students to test the US government ban on travel to Cuba. After this Rotolo became a bit disillusioned with the politics of her upbringing and of the New Left, and dropped out of political activity.

Recommended reading particularly if you're interested in the 60s, the music or the history of the American left.

Amazon uk is currently selling this remarkably cheaply at £3.15.

106. Joan Aiken, Midwinter Nightingale 4.0

10th book published in the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series as it appeared in 2004, probably after Aiken's death. Simon and Dido appear again and this is a fast paced and enjoyable read, but probably best for fans of the series. It's quite sad - the King who is now a personal friend of Simon's is dying. Simon and Dido encounter various disagreeable people and there are some fairly brutal deaths.

I will be getting the final book down soon, hopefully tomorrow morning (it's on a high shelf above Conor's cot).

#93 I'd vaguely heard of this one - I'm a big Dylan (and Baez) fan and enjoyed Dylan's Chronicles - but it would be good to learn more about Suze who has just been a name and a famous photo; and it sounds like an interesting story aside from the Dylan bits.

#94 I've just started Is - actually 1/3 through already as it's hard to put down. I'm enjoying getting glimspes from your posts of what's coming up ahead in the series. She doesn't shy away from brutality and death, does she?

I just started the last book in the series (sob) and it's very short - under 150 pages - with an afterword dated September 2003 by the author saying she wanted to write a short complete novel - she mentions how frustrating it is to read something like The Watsons by Jane Austen and always wonder, as she's very old and tired. I wonder if she knew death was close at that point (I think she died in January 2004, and the book came in in 2005).

I really liked Is and Cold Shoulder Road - I think she's a great character like her sister.

I really want to know more about Joan Aiken's life now - I wonder if anyone has attempted to write her biography...

#96 That's very sad. I'm glad you're enjoying the series so much though.

stopping by to say hello and that I enjoy visiting here.

My Bookbag review of So Much To Tell, a biography of Puffin Books supremo Kaye Webb, is now up at

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=So_Much_To_Tell_by_Valerie_G...

107. Guillermo Orsi, No-One Loves a Policeman 2.7*
Review book for the Bookbag - setting Argentina 2001. Main character is an ex policeman who was part of some pretty horrible things under the military dictatorship previously, but has since worked as a lavatory salesman. An interesting premise but I don't recommend the book.

> 87 Thank you for the rec of Where They Were Missed. I am always looking for good novels set in Northern Ireland.

So Much to Tell sounds like an interesting read. I read and enjoyed Sebastian Walker - a kind of Prospero last year as I'm always fascinated by the editor's story. Have you read Dear Genius: the letters of Ursula Nordstrom?

#99 Great review Luci, you've confirmed me in wanting to read that one.

Hi Luci, from a Lucy with a y.....

>92 arubabookwoman: i did a double-take also.....

Joan Aiken was amazing -- a biography would be welcome, wouldn't it!

#104: Joan Aiken's father was an excellent writer as well. I read his A Heart for the Gods of Mexico last year and really liked it.

108. 24/5 Gary Younge, Who We Are, and Should It Matter in the 21st century? 4.7*

For review at the Bookbag - Younge is a journalist for the Guardian, and one whose political opinions tend to be a bit closer to mine than those of some of his colleagues. I often turn to his articles if I see he's written something in the paper. He was born in England (in the same year as me) with parents from Barbados although he's now settled in New York City - that's a more relevant thing to say about this book than in most cases because this is partly a memoir and partly about how people view their identities and the political issues that causes. He acknowledges that a lot of it has come from journalistic assignments, but he's shaped this into a narrative which I thought worked really well. There's a look at the US presidential election, and at attitudes in various European countries and various parts of the US. It deals with lots of complicated stuff in a very accessible style.

I was interested in what he had to say about the whole issue of being "mixed race" - I'm not, I'm born in England as were both my parents, but my mum's parents were born in New Zealand of Irish Catholic families. I have a sister and brother (from my dad's second marriage) who are half Chinese, cousins who are half Japanese, and on my mum's side my generation of the family have married or had kids people from a lot of different backgrounds. So the material in the book has a lot of personal resonance for me.

109. 24/5 Joan Aiken, The Witch of Clatteringshaws 4.1

Very short final volume in the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, the author's afterword suggests that she knew she didn't have long when writing this. Or that she started the book as normal and then had to rush at the end to wrap everything up.

I feel a little bereft, but I'm going to reread The Whispering Mountain, Midnight is a Place and various volumes of her short stories now.

Whispering Mountain is one of my favourites of old. I'm sure it will help keep bereavement at bay!

Thank you for that excellent review of Younge's latest book, and for mentioning him, as I was very interested in a couple of his books but forgot about them. I'll definitely add this one to my wish list, and seek out his other books. Have you read anything else by him?

I read his Guardian articles regularly but haven't read his other books - this has made me want to.

#61 -- I was a Puffin club member and had a little brooch with a puffin on it -- and got the Puffin Post!! Some of my best children's books came from Puffin, including all the Arthur Ransome paperbacks, I believe. I remember seeing Kaye Webb's name on the books back in those days, so I must track down & read those.

Rachel DeWoskin's Beijing memoir is amusing; I may have to read the novel.

Iain Sinclair -- have just ordered his Hackney book AND London Orbital, just because I want to see how on earth he translated a walk around the M25 into a travel book...

I need to see if I can find my copy of London Orbital.

#111, 112: I'll be curious to get your opinions on London Orbital. I thought I had this book, but the Sinclair book I have is Lights Out for the Territory. Have either of you read it?

No, I want to get hold of that book too, after reading Hackney, That Rose Red Empire. But I know I own London Orbital.

110. 25/5 Jane Smiley, Private Life 4.2

Early Reviewer copy - I feel bad that it's taken me so long to read it and I've got to sit down and write the review, but I feel it's worth more time and effort than the minimum required review...

Set in the early 20th century (between 1905 and 1942), this is the story of Margaret. She was seen as lucky to get a marriage proposal at 27, but being married to this increasingly eccentric man and the compromises she has to make become very difficult for Margaret.

I found Margaret a very sympathetic character and felt very sad for the life she doesn't have the opportunity to live.

I'm a big Smiley fan -- you never know what she will write next, and I like that. This sounds like one of her more serious books, more in the mood of A Thousand Acres?

I own a lot of her books but I think this is only the third one I've read - the others were A Thousand Acres and Duplicate Keys - they all seem quite serious.

Moo, and Good Faith and Horse Heaven (ag college, real estate and horse-racing respectively) are very funny -- Moo is definitely one of the funniest books I've ever read. I think about the only Smiley I haven't managed is The Greenlanders which was just too huge for me. She's amazingly versatile.

111. 27/5 Diana Wynne Jones, The Lives of Christoher Chant 4.5*

How did it take me nearly 10 years from buying this to reading it? Christopher learns he has a gift for magic but some scary things happen when he uses it - he must learn to develop his skills without putting himself or others in too much danger. A very enjoyable read, and I also really liked the character of the Living Goddess from one of the other worlds he travels to, who becomes a friend, a girl who loves boarding school stories and wants to go to one herself instead of being the Living Goddess.

I love Diana Wynne Jones -- when I 'found' her four or five years ago I too wondered what took me so long!

I discovered her when I was about 8, and I'll be 41 next month. The Lives of Christopher Chant wasn't published when I was a child, and I think she had a relatively small number of books out. I never stopped reading her but some of them would have been library books and I didn't realise what a large oeuvre she has. I was pleased when I visited a cousin, older than me, to find her reading a DWJ book a couple of years ago - I asked if it was her teenage daughter's, but no, my cousin buys them for herself as her daughter's not that interested in her.

Still here enjoying the conversations.

The only D W J I have read is Charmed Life (as a child) - it wasn't my favourite so I have not looked for others. Was that an early one of hers? I'm not sure of dates but from what you say (#121) it sounds as if she has written most of hers since the 1970s when I read that one.

Those of you who love her - apart from The Lives of Christopher Chant what would you recommend?

112. Katharine McMahon, Confinement 4.6*

One of her novels was apparently chosen for Richard and Judy a few years ago, The Rose of Sebastopol. I heard of her because Soupdragon who is on some other LT groups with me read and rated highly The Crimson Rooms and I really liked the sound of it when I looked it up. She writes historical novels about the place of women in a changing society.

This one is set in the 19th and 20th centuries. Bess comes to teach at Priors Hall, a school set up for daughters of the clergy, in 1849, but is sacked in disgrace, however, she is later asked to go back to the school (rather implausible plotting but I enjoyed it so much I didn't question it at the time).

The 20th century story is set between the 1960s and the 80s. Sarah and Imogen start as pupils at Priors Hall, but the story takes them into adult life.

I enjoyed the 19th century story more than the 20th century one, but am glad to have 2 more of her books from the library, another one on reserve, and two of my own, to look forward to. I may read one or more of them under the TIOLI challenge, as the ones I own are secondhand.

#123: Genny, you might give Howl's Moving Castle a try. I really liked that one. Unfortunately, my experience with DWJ's books is limited due to my local library's not having many of them.

#124: Luci, I will look for that one. I already have McMahon's The Rose of Sebastopol in the BlackHole.

#123 I think Charmed Life was one of her earlier books, it was the first one published in her Chrestomanci series. Charmed Life is the only DWJ I remember reading as a child and I don't remember loving it but I've been inspired to try her again by people in this group. I just snagged a copy of Charmed Life and The Lives of Christopher Chant from Bookmooch which I'm hoping to read next month.

#124 Confinement sounds good, I've added it to the wishlist. I've heard of The Rose of Sebastopol and The Alchemist's Daughter but not read either of them, I'll look forward to hearing what you think of her other books.

I wrote a post earlier but somehow lost it while believing I was posting. Re DWJ, as I loved Charmed Life which was my introduction to DWJ, you're probably better off trying other people's suggestions.

I'm reading a new children's book, Magical Mischief by Anna Dale, which would probably appeal to those who like the mixture of magic with very real life problems which is an important aspect of DWJ's work. Magic has lived in Mr Hardbottle's bookshop for over 10 years and caused all kinds of problems, and he now wants to find it somewhere to live, with the help of a little boy Arthur and the eccentric Miss Quint.

113. 28/5 Sue Townsend, Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years 4.5*

It's 2007, Gordon Brown is taking over as PM from Tony Blair - as usual, current events are an important part of the background to the life of Adrian Mole. His soldier son is in Afghanistan, and Adrian and his second wife now have a daughter (his 3rd child). But Adrian's having to go to the toilet an awful lot. He is diagnosed at only 39 with prostate cancer.

Oddly, the seriousness of Adrian's problems in this one actually helps make this instalment of his diaries (#8 in the series) one of the funniest, as I really felt his anxiety.

I feel a bit lost though having read all the books in two series now.

114. 28/5 Sinclair Browning, The Last Song Dogs 3.7 #1

Tucson, Arizona. Trade Ellis is a part time PI part time cowgirl. Her memories of high school snobbery and racism (she's part Apache) are not too great and she is not very excited by the prospect of a 25 year high school reunion coming up. But she is reluctantly pressed to take on a case - three of the cheerleading squad have been murdered and she's asked to find out who is killing the others.

Trade's quite an engaging character and this was enjoyable enough but there were a few things. I felt there was a bit of writing for padding and although the book's not long, it was a bit spun out. Also, as another LT review suggested, there were an awful lot of references to another character's weight problems.

I was a bit disappointed - this was a series I liked the sound of when I heard of it, I like female PI series. And Sinclair Browning was once really sweet to me on an email list. I wanted to like this more than I did. Still, I liked Trade as a character, and as I own the others, I'll probably read on in the series at some point if I can find them.

#127: I will look for Magical Mischief, Luci. Thanks for the recommendation.

#129: I will give that series a go if I can find them at the library, but do not think I will run out and buy them. Thanks for the review!

#127 Magical Mischief added to the wishlist then!

#128 "I feel a bit lost though having read all the books in two series now.

I know that feeling, sometimes even finishing just one really, really good book leaves me feeling like that. I almost don't want to start another book because it will push that book out of my mind.

115. Rob Sheffield, Love is a Mix Tape 4.2

This was a recommedation by at least one person on this group, apologies for not remembering who. It's a memoir of a young man's relationship and marriage to Renee, who died suddenly, and of grieving for her. Music was a vital part of their lives together and he talks about a wide variety of tracks that were part of their soundtrack. One of the things I really enjoyed was reading about someone else who loves the song "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life", an 80s disco track which is not at all typical of my collection (nor of Rob Sheffield's, I think).

116. Anna Dale, Magical Mischief 4.3

Children's book, to be reviewed for the Bookbag. Little boy Arthur and Miss Quint help the owner of a bookshop who needs to find a new home for the magic which has lived there for over 10 years. I think it would appeal to fans of Diana Wynne Jones and Joan Aiken's children's short stories, although both of those are even better, and I thought it was lots of fun. I have Spellbound out of the library and have ordered Whispering to Witches from Amazon.

Somewhat amazingly, I've finished 31 books in May, one for every day of the month, with a day to spare, though I don't think I'll finish another one. Not sure how, I don't think I'll repeat it this year though as I really need to sleep more.

#134: Sleep? What is that? lol

Congratulations on finishing a book a day!

117. 1/6 Mollie Panter-Downes, Minnie's Room 4.0

This was to be my June Persephone read - I might read another under the TIOLI challenge. This is a collection of peacetime stories and I found it interesting too. A lot of the stories seem to be about quite posh people adjusting, or not, to changing times. The title story is about a servant deciding to retire from her job to go and live on her own, and the shock of her employers who just don't understand it. In other stories women marry beneath them. It is a very short book - 125 pages of stories including blank ones, and 6 page introduction.

#136: I really liked Good Evening, Mrs. Craven, so I will be on the lookout for Minnie's Room as well. Thanks for the recommendation, Luci!

118. 2/6 Louise Doughty, Whatever You Love 4.7*

Review book for the Bookbag.

Laura's 9 year old daughter is run over and nothing is going to be the same again. I wasn't sure I could bear to read this book, and dithered about it a bit, but I like those of her previous books that I've read. I was really impressed by this one. It's also an Early Reviewer book - I realised in time to unrequest it as obviously I don't need two copies, but I'm looking forward to the response of other readers to this one.

#138: I will have to watch for that one once it is available here in the States. Thanks for the recommendation.

119. 3/6 Joan Aiken, The Whispering Mountain 3.6*

This book about Owen is set at about the same time as the Wolves books and he briefly appears in one of those. This is a copy I've had since I was a kid and I definitely read it then, maybe more than once. It's a great adventure story and a good read but it won't share the place in my heart for some of her other books - the Wolves books, old favourites and new to me, and the short stories.

#140: The local college library actually has that one, so I may be able to get my hands on it some time or other.

#124
Hi Elkiedee, I've just discovered your thread and have now starred you! Yes, I was really impressed with The Crimson Rooms. I went on to read two of Katharine McMahon's earlier books, Footsteps (no touchstone) and The Alchemist's Daughter. They were good reads but not quite the same standard. I am hoping this means she has developed as an author and will be looking out for her next one.

#138
I will be receiving an Early Reviewer's copy of Whatever You Love. I have the same concerns you had about the subject matter so am relieved to find you were able to read it and pleased you rate it highly!

#140 I'm sorry you didn't enjoy The Whispering Mountain as much as the Wolves series. I also had it from childhood and read it several times - it remains one of my favourites in my heart, though I haven't re-read it yet to see if it stands the test of time. But I did recently give a copy to a godson on the basis of my fond memories.

120. 5/7 N J Cooper (Natasha Cooper), No Escape 4.1

A psychologist meets a high security prisoner who has committed horrible crimes, and begins to think there's more to his story. I liked the character of Karen Taylor and wonder if she's going to be a series character. I've read several Natasha Cooper before and this made me want to go back to her work - I have the first three books in her Trish Maguire (criminal defence barrister) series, of which I think I've only read one.

#144: Too bad my local library does not have No Escape, although it does have several of her other books. Are there any in particular that you would recommend, Luci?

I started reading Natasha Cooper years ago - her two previous series are:

Willow King (7 books) - Willow is a civil servant with a secret career as a romantic novelist. I remember being quite amused but sometimes irritated by them - I borrowed them from libraries. But they're fairly old and my libraries wouldn't have them on the shelves any more.

There are 9 Trish Maguire books and I read the first one years ago. I have the next two and think I might just go back to the start of the series. I'd also quite like to reread the Willow ones after 15+ years.

121. 5/7 Rose Macaulay, Told By An Idiot 4.4

First published in 1923 - Virago Modern Classics edition with introduction by A N Wilson. It tells the story of a family from 1879-1920 - the intro suggests it's not entirely a novel - lots of comment on the events of the day and how they affects the characters. I found this an entertaining and witty read with some rather startling episodes. It's also interesting to think that the events are more or less a century ago. I read and loved everything I could find by Rose Macaulay in my early 20s and it's good to go back and find I still enjoyed this one.

Have finally posted my Early Reviewer review of Private Life by Jane Smiley. Looking at the first few pages I noticed lots of new stuff. I can understand why Richard reads twice for review.

122. 6/6 Sue Townsend, The Public Confessions of a Middle-Aged Woman 3.5*

I thought this was a memoir, but it turns out to be a collection of sort of autobiographical magazine columns, originally published in Sainsburys magazine. I had no idea that the supermarket magazine had such interesting columns - there are some very funny stories here. However, as a book it was a bit fragmented and unsatisfying, plus it made some bits feel a bit repetitive. But it's a nice background to the author behind the Adrian Mole books.

#146: Thanks for the info, Luci!

#147: I will add that one to the BlackHole.

Second attempt as my browser mysteriously closed during my first one

123. 7/7 Marika Cobbold, Aphrodite's Workshop for Reluctant Lovers 3.8

TIOLI challenge - title begins with A

This has really bad reviews here on LT but I liked her previous books so I thought I'd read this one anyway. Aphrodite and Eros are both worried about keeping their positions among the gods, and have the challenge of sorting out the love life of one disillusioned romantic novelist, 42 year old Rebecca who has just broken up with her long term boyfriend. I thought this was a lot of fun, a bit of brain candy.

I was one of the folks who liked Love is a Mix Tape. I'm glad you enjoyed it too. It was pretty contemporary for me (I was born in 1967) so the music was so familiar.

For some reason, I've never been interested in the Adrian Mole books, but now, suddenly, I want to read them all. I hope I like them as much as your descriptions make me think I will.

Love is a Mix Tape sounds like just may sort of thing and my library apparently has a copy. I read 31 Songs by Nick Hornby this week which seems like a similar type of thing and I'm going through a bit of a music obsession phase again at the moment.

Yes, I must dig out 31 Songs - we'll have to think up some good musical TIOLI challenges.

My review of Magical Mischief is now up at the Bookbag.

124. 9/6 Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 4.2

A very accessible and readable non-fiction work, telling an important and interesting story. I'll be reviewing it for the Bookbag.

125. 9/6 ed Laura Lippman, Baltimore Noir 4.3

I've never been there, would have liked to go to Bouchercon there, but this was probably my favourite in the Akashic Noir anthologies series. Some of the selections are a little incestuous, but their quality makes up for that - eg the editor's husband David Simon's story is one of the best, and there's another story which makes reference to Simon's work (eg The Wire).

And I'm now two thirds of the way through my second 75!

#158: Congratulations, Luci!

Congratulations, for sure! I think that you and Stasia should inaugurate the newly set up Boasting and Congratulations thread (or however it's called). Yep.

So where is this boasting and congrats thread? Are you serious? Brilliant!

#155 I will look out for Magical Mischief and your Henrietta Lacks review. Congratulations on 125 books!

126. 11/6 George Pelecanos, The Turnaround 4.1

George Pelecanos is one of my favourite authors but... this was a good read and I liked it more than The Way Home. But I miss his earlier series novels - I particularly love his first books about Nick Stefanos and the Derek Strange/Terry Quinn series (his 3rd) - I still have quite a few books by him to catch up with though - 3 of the DC Quartet, plus Shoedog, Drama City and The Night Gardener - will have to do some digging around.

I'm not sure why I like Pelecanos so much, as I like to read books by and about women and the women in his work tend to play very peripheral roles - he's more concerned with men of various ages, father-son relationships, and in these last two books, whether you can do something about your life after things going wrong early on.

#163: I have never read anything by Pelecanos. I will have to look for some of them. Is there any particular place you recommend that I start, Luci?

I'm not sure you'll share my love of Pelecanos' work, Stasia. There's quite a lot of violence, drugs and expression of his political views (perhaps closer to mine than yours?) in his books. My personal favourites are A Firing Offense, Down By the River Where the Dead Men Go and Soul Circus.

Here's an online review of Soul Circus I wrote a few years ago:

http://members.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/soul-circus-george-pelecanos/1002854/

Soul Circus is third in a series and one of his most political, but you might try Right as Rain or one of his most recent two, The Way Home and The Turnaround. I don't think the last two are nearly as good as the earlier ones, but they're still quite good.

If you happen to find a different one in your library, give it a go, and you haven't spent too much money if it's not your style.

Luci
Congratulations on reading so many great books!

127. 13/6 Jane Emery, Rose Macaulay 4.5*

I'd been wanting to read another slightly more recent bio of RM for years, and discovered it was out of print and rather expensive secondhand on Amazon, so I checked out my library catalogues online, and found Sarah LeFanu's book and this one, both titled Rose Macaulay, in the reserve stock so placed reservations. I read the other first and it's taken me ages to get to this one. I actually found it a better read and it gives me more sense of understanding a little more about one of my favourite less well known 20th century women novelists. I was also reading this while I read Macaulay's Told By an Idiot.

I would recommend this to anyone who has read and enjoyed Macaulay's novels, if you can get hold of a copy (but you may find that hard).

I've only read The Towers of Trebizond but really, really enjoyed that - must be due a re-read. I would be interested to find out more about Macaulay, but perhaps I should read one or two of her other works first.

I remember loving The Towers of Trebizond but I need to reread all her books that I have - I believe I own 9 of them, but I don't think most of the others were reprinted - I have a couple of quite old hardbacks and the rest are 80s/90s reprints.

One of my oldest unread books (i.e., on shelves longest) is by Macaulay, but not a novel -- Personal Pleasures, a collection of essays, I recall. I should probably dig out some of her fiction.

Re Natasha Cooper's books, I really like the first five or six in the Trish Maguire series, although her characters have less room for development later. I wasn't as enamored of No Escape, however. I want to read the Willow King books, but only have some midway through the series on a stack somewhere; I want to start at the beginning.

Ooh, I'm jealous, Personal Pleasures is mentioned in both bios (obviously) but I've never seen a copy.

#165: Of the titles you mentioned, Luci, the only one my local library has is The Turnaround, so I guess I will start with that one.

Thanks for the help!

128. 14/6 Emily Winslow, The Whole World 3.7*

Review book for the Bookbag. Debut novel set in Cambridge, England told from multiple points of view. I think it was an Early Reviewer book here, and no one liked it that much. I thought it was quite strange with a rather far-fetched plot, but I kind of enjoyed reading it - would hesitate to recommend it but would probably read more by her given the opportunity.

129. 14/6 Andrew Taylor, Bleeding Heart Square 4.2

I love Andrew Taylor's 20th century historical mysteries and looked forward to this one set in 1930s London, but in this case I found the story of Lydia leaving her husband, a member of the British Union of Fascists, much more interesting than the mystery plot.

130. 15/6 Diana Wynne Jones, The Ogre Downstairs 4.8

Part of my rating (I've left it as 5* on the work page) is based on a sentimental attachment to this book from childhood - there weren't that many books around then about stepfamilies and single parent families and I had quite a difficult relationship with my stepdad. Gwinny, Caspar and Johnny are struggling to cope with living with the Ogre and his two sons since their mum married again. Then the kids are given two chemistry sets which turn out to have magical properties. However, the kids struggle to control the effects of their magic. I love the blend of realism and magic stuff in this book.

#174, I'm with you on this, although I don't think I liked the book as much as you did. Still, Taylor is a v. atmospheric writer.

#174: I really liked that one, which I received as an ER book, but I have not read any of Taylor's other books yet.

#175: I just saw that one mentioned on Heather's thread too. I wish my local library had it!

131. Aeronwy Thomas, My Father's Places 4.2*

Memoir of childhood and her parents by Dylan Thomas's daughter. Quite shocking in places but also touching and interesting. The Thomas children were very neglected but she also had fond memories of her dad reading to her.

I found the cover of the hardback a little shocking, I guess it's intentional, it's a photo of the author as a very young child with a cigarette.

I read this under the TIOLI Challenge (Father in the title) but could have otherwise read it as a borrowed book. It's my mum's. She played with the Thomas children a few times as a girl, the author was a year older than her. Sadly she died in 2008 between completing the book and its publication.

#178: Another one I will have to look for. Thanks for the recommendation, Luci.

Woo! Caught up finally!

#111 I'd forgotten all about the Puffin Club! My sister and I were also members ;o)

#119 Yay! One of my favourites!

#121 I'm a few years behind you, but I also grew up with Diana Wynne Jones (probably part of the reason she's one of my favourite authors) - ever since my class teacher read an excerpt from Charmed Life to us when I was about 8 like you. There were a fair few to catch up on at the time, but I quickly ran out and I've been hot on the heals of every new one ever since (if you want extremely nearly her complete listings for reference (only a couple of the books aimed at younger children missing), just search my library for her ;o)

#123 Yes, Charmed Life was an earlier one - and, in fact, The Lives of Christopher Chant would be a very good one to read next if you've read it (even if it wasn't a favourite) as it's about Chrestomanci's childhood.

gennyt, I'll go along with Stasia and recommend Howl's Moving Castle as I've yet to come across someone who didn't enjoy it, but I'm a HUGE fan and I've posted recommendations on, well let's just say quite a few people's threads. Here's a link to some Diana Wynne Jones recommendations I left on Whisper1/Linda's thread last year (so not completely up to date, but a good starting point).

#132 Love is a Mix Tape sounds like it's definitely one for me!

#156 The library at work has just got The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in for me - I'm starting to get very itchy fingers to read it (am currently reading too many other books at once to add another one)...

#175 (The Ogre Downstairs) - now this is one of the very few that I don't actually own, so haven't read in about 20 years (cringe) - I must rectify this!

#180 Thanks flissp for those recommendations. I am looking forward to trying out some more of hers soon.

132. 16/6 Charlotte Moore, Grandmother's Footsteps 4.2

To be reviewed for the Bookbag - a novel about 3 generations of women - Verity's husband has died so she is moving out of the family home. She feels it's time to reveal some secrets to her daughter Hester. And there is a diary from 20 years earlier written by Verity's 85 year old mother with some revelations of its own.

Not especially original or anything but an enjoyable, thoughtful read.

133. 18/6 Chinua Achebe, Girls at War 4.1

Collection of short stories published as a collection in 1972 - my TIOLI challenge read about Africa. These stories are all set in Nigeria, including two set in the Biafran War which was just ending in 1972.

I'd like to say more about this but had to take it back to the library so I could borrow their copy of Moral Disorder as I lost mine just as I was really getting into it.

#183: I have been wanting to learn more of the Biafran War since reading Half of a Yellow Sun, so I will look for Girls at War. Thanks for the recommendation, Luci.

I would have loved Diane W-J when young as I had an 'ogre' as well -- my daughter and I 'discovered' her just a few years ago -- at Shakespeare and Company, believe it or not! We 'lost' our child to one of the niches upstairs and she found there a whole shelf of D W-J. I'm wondering when she began being popular in the US? I'm guessing sometime in the 90's -- that would be the only way I would have missed her arrival on the scene.

134. 19/6 Stella Duffy, Wavewalker 4.7* #2 in Saz Martin series

Saz is a PI living and working in the same area of south London where her creator lives - although in this book she moves in with a girlfriend north of the river. She is hired to look into the founder of a therapy/self actualisation cult, an investigation which takes her to my favourite US city, San Francisco. (There isn't that much about SF the place in this book though).

I really enjoyed reading this a lot - it's not really a mystery as we know Saz is on the trail of a murderer quite early on, but the putting together of what hapened and who is up to what is a good read. I read it for the gay/lesbian themed TIOLI challenge.

There is some quite explicit violence and also some lesbian sex scenes. The first time I heard Duffy speak at an event in London, she said she likes to be as explicit about sex as she is about violence. I enjoyed the depiction of the developing loving relationship between Saz and her lover Molly.

135. Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha 3.8*

Not one of my favourite books by Doyle but I enjoyed it. Paddy is a young boy growing up in Dublin, jostling for position with and teasing his younger brother Francis aka Sinbad. But he gradually becomes aware that all is not well between his parents. There are lots of scenes of play, conflicts between Paddy and the other boys he plays with at school and outside.

My review of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is now up at The Bookbag.

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Immortal_Life_of_Henriet...

#188: Great review, Luci!

Very good and timely review! (I've just started reading it - enjoying it so far...)

Thanks Stasia and fliss? (just realised I don't know your name and don't think I've seen it on these threads) for that. I've written two reviews tonight! - one for the Bookbag on The Whole World by Emily Winslow and another for LT, for the TIOLI and because I need to return the book so I can collect a library reservation tomorrow.

136. 22/6 Shirley Williams, Climbing the Bookshelves

Entered in the TIOLI at the moment as a problem title, is also a library book, but am planning to move it, as I've written and posted the first LT review.

Here it is - I don't know how it reads to someone without a background in British politics - she's actually spent quite a bit of time living in the US and her second husband was American and she taught and was involved in various projects in the US after leaving parliament, and I've left all that out of the review!:

Now in her 80s, a British politician looks back over her long political career.

Shirley Williams is perhaps most famous for being one of the Gang of Four, a group of MPs who broke away from the Labour Party in 1981 to found the Social Democratic Party (SDP). They were dismayed that what they saw as a hard left was wrecking the party. The SDP later merged with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democratic Party, so this provides some history of the junior partner in our new government coalition.

My own political sympathies are with that hard left, but I was drawn to reading this book for a number of reasons. Williams' mother was Vera Brittain, a writer and socialist and feminist political activist best known for her memoir of the First World War, Testament of Youth, and I was interested in reading more about the family. I heard some of this serialised on the radio when it first came out last year. I liked the title - Williams' father allowed her to climb up his shelves as a child - and I think she uses it to convey her enthusiasm and willingness to take on a challenge, rather than being a fanatical bookworm, but it's still a great title for a book.

Shirley Williams was brought up in a political atmosphere and was active from student days at Oxford onwards. She worked as a journalist for a while but entered Parliament quite early, when there were far fewer female MPs than now. There are lots of references to her conversations with other female MPs from all parties - one significant contemporary was Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Prime Minister from 1979 to 1991. There are some amusing anecdotes such about cross party collaboration to take action against sexual harassment.

I don't really agree with her views about the 1970s, trade unions and so on, but I found it really useful to read this account of how her political thinking developed and was influenced. She is interestingly candid about her views of other members of the SDP, not always flattering. There are some quite critical remarks about the late Roy Jenkins and about David Owen, although a young Charles Kennedy is praised for his perceptiveness and charm.

The hardback book includes 3 sets of photographic plates, comprising 24 pages and over 40 photos in all, including politicians, friends, her two husbands (her first marriage ended in divorce, the second with his death) and family of all generations.

Williams is thought to be one of the Liberal Democrats who is uneasy about the new coalition, and I will be interested to see if there is any update in the paperback edition of this book this autumn.

#191 Yep, Fliss it is - lacking the originality of most of the user names in this group! ;o)

#192 Hmmm sounds like an interesting read? I know myself well enough that I'd probably never get round to reading it if I got a copy though...

Thanks for posting this review. I found it very useful. Like you my politics are more left wing than Williams' but she is a politician who has always interested me. It's probably to do with her being a prominent political figure in my youth who was a woman and not Margaret Thatcher! Also, as you said, there's the Vera Brittain connection.

I will look out for the paperback edition. Especially if it does turn out to have an update!

#188 Nice review Luci. My library has ordered a copy of that one so I will try and read it soon.

137. Asne Seierstad, The Bookseller of Kabul 4* - 4.5 for storytelling and interest, but I have concerns about her way of presenting the story, with the family members and their thoughts and feelings described as if they were characters in a novel - I think I would have preferred a more conventional journalistic reportage.

A Norwegian journalist stayed with an Afhgani family in Kabul. This is a very good read and an interesting look at the lives of even relatively privileged people in the city. However, I do have some reservations about this work of "creative non-fiction" - the stories of the family members are novelised and one suspects she is making a lot of guesses at their thoughts and feelings.

The man at the centre of the book, the liberal bookseller and tyrannical family patriarch, as he is portrayed, was apparently outraged by the book and travelled to Scandinavia to campaign against it in 2003 after it was published.

I remember reading this years ago - here's a link to the story of the controversy.

It also means that American readers and I will have read slightly different versions...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/sep/21/books.afghanistan

138. Natsuo Kirino, Real World 3.8*

Toshi's next door neighbour is murdered, and the dead woman's son steals Toshi's bike and mobile phone. Instead of telling the police what she knows, this Japanese teenager and her friends get caught up in a complicated interaction with the killer, whom they call Worm. The novel is narrated from the alternating viewpoints of 4 girls and Worm himself (and oddly, his sections are headed Worm rather than with his name as for the others).

I did really like reading this though not as much as her first novel to be translated into English, Out. I didn't like two of the characters much and none of the girls were exactly sensible, but this piece of alienated youth noir was quite compelling and I must get back to reading Grotesque by the same author some time soon.

#196: I am starting that one tonight. It will be interesting to see how I feel about it once I have done with it.

#196 I haven't read that one but I read her book about Serbia before I went out there several years ago (With Their Backs to the World). I completely missed all the controversy surrounding her Afghan book - thanks for the link.

I own 4 of her books - have had this one for ages, so am really glad of the push to read it.

139. 24/6 Margaret Atwood, Moral Disorder 4.2

A collection of short stories, some or all of them linked - the cover of the book suggests they are about a woman who could be the author but I don't know how much the content is actually autobiographical. Some of the stories are told in the first person with no names mentioned, some are about a woman called Nell who moves to the country with a man who is still married to someone else. The relationship with his wife/later ex wife is interesting.

I bought this recently but someone else put it in the TIOLI challenge as a problem title - thanks for prompting me to pick it up. I then lost my copy in the middle of reading, and borrowed a library replacement until a new one arrived in the post. Grrrr. Both my copies were secondhand but the first was in very good condition.

I really liked this and it made me want to go back to Atwood's other work but especially her stories.

140. 24/6 Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking 3.7*

TIOLI Challenge, translated children's book, originally in Swedish

I think I enjoyed this more as a child. Pippi is a very eccentric little girl who lives on her own - concerned adults do come to see her but she just talks until they're totally confused. Her exuberance is impressive and often very funny, but I sometimes got annoyed. It seems to me dated in the sense that there's a lot of casual references to the behaviour of people in other countries, though many of these may be made up by Pippi and probably are, the references annoyed me.

My favourite Lindgren books were probably The Brothers Lionheart and All About the Bullerby Children - I have quite a lot of Scandinavian children's books in English translation, but most of them are so hard to get hold of that I read this one because it was what others were reading.

Hmmm, I wasn't aware of the controversy surrounding The Bookseller of Kabul either. That said, I would hope/imagine that any solid journalist trying to craft a narrative in which real people are seen thinking or speaking, would ascribe to them the same thoughts or feelings that they had described to her in interviews. I personally have an aversion to books of this kind where everything is seen through the observer's eyes, making the outsider the most important character. But yes, there's no way to police this choice of narrative.

Re the guy protesting, I have to wonder whether a part of that might be because any frankness or candor later put his life in jeopardy in Kabul. That's the downside of writing about 'real people' in dangerous environments -- and heaven knows, Kabul is hardly friendly to anyone who has had an interaction with foreigners. I can imagine that someone would want to dissociate themselves from that fairly quickly. I've seen the same phenomenon -- what I call "source's remorse" -- in more everyday situations. So I'd be loath to judge Seierstad without knowing anything more about her reputation among her peers, editors, etc.

I don't think he was worried about risks to safety as much as his family's reputation, which was clearly very important as can be seen in the book, and which probably would have been undermined by this. It's a very good read, but I feel very uncomfortable with the "just look at these people who are so different from us" style of presentation. Still, I have her other 3 books and will certainly read them, it will be interesting to see if there is a difference in her portrayal of other Europeans.

141. 24/6 Diana Wynne Jones, Dogsbody 4.3

All the conversations about DWJ's work on here from other fans and new readers of her writing have been making me want to reread her books for a while, as has the sad news of her health (she has recently given up on chemotherapy treatment for lung cancer). Others were reading it as part of the TIOLI challenge - author with a 3 part name - This was one I could barely remember but I enjoyed reading it and have persuaded my partner he would like it, though he doesn't seem to be in a book reading phase at the moment.

Sirius the Dog Star is in trouble for losing his temper and a Zoi, something with powerful magical properties, and is sent to Earth in the body of a normal dog. He will face the risks of an ordinary dog and must retrieve the Zoi before someone else gets to it and/or something happens to him.

He finds himself living with a young Irish girl and some relatives, as her father is in prison for a terrorist offence. Kathleen is very badly treated by the family and particularly the woman Duffie who seems to hate her and resent her being there. While looking for the Zoi, he also makes some dog and human friends outside the home.

I really enjoyed this book and liked the characterisations etc. I'm not even a dog lover but would recommend this to anyone who is. What I didn't like so much is that the character of Duffie is very one dimensionally unpleasant - many of the other characters in this book and in her others change, including the unpleasant ones.

#205: Roni just sent a copy of that one to me. I need to get it read. I am glad you enjoyed it, Luci.

she has recently given up on chemotherapy treatment for lung cancer - Oh no! I didn't know this! Of course I knew she wasn't young now, but how sad, poor lady.

Given all the reading of Dogsbody recently, I may have to re-read it again soon - it's been a few years since I last read it, so it's probably time!

142. 26/6 Susan Hill, The Beacon 3.7

Short novel, just over 150 pages of quite large print. May left home briefly to try higher education but returned home to look after her parents. Her dad died a few years before and now her mother's gone too. May and her grown up siblings who live near by have been isolated from their neighbours by their brother Frank, who has written a scurrilous misery lit memoir, except none of it is true.

I heard some of this dramatised on the radio, but some of the bits I enjoyed about that aren't even in the novel, such as Frank being interviewed by Mark Lawson who presents a BBC Radio 4 programme about the arts on several weekday evenings.

143. 26/6 Sophie Hannah, Cordial and Corrosive 3.8

I bought this over 10 years ago from a bookclub specialising in chicklit. I'm glad to have had the push of looking for something with "opposites" in the title (TIOLI challenge) to finally get round to reading it.

The title is in fact a quote from the poetry of George Herbert.

This isn't really chicklit, but it's a very lighthearted novel set in academia. Kate's husband is desperate to get his dream academic job, but he's come 3rd out of the 3 of 4 candidates who actually showed up for interview. The first choice is weighing up another job offer. Kate rashly promises she'll sort things out so he gets the job.

I liked the character of Kate. I thought her husband was a bit useless, really. The other characters were all intended to be completely insane. Really, rather a preposterous story but it never takes itself that seriously and I rather enjoyed it.

This is a total aside, but I only learned recently that Hannah is the daughter of a well-known Politics professor, Norman Geras (and his wife Adele Geras also writes children's books and fiction for adults - I never linked Adele Geras with her husband either although she uses his name). I nearly did a course with him at university but I didn't because it was one where I was spoiled for choice of options and I changed mine. I've also met Sophie Hannah's mum at a crime fiction event in Manchester, years ago, and we chatted but I was too shy to tell her I liked the book by her I'd read.

144. 29/6 Rose Tremain, Music and Silence 4.6*

I saw Stasia's entry on the TIOLI challenge, looked it up and it sounded interesting - I love historical novels when they're good, and this one, set in 17th century Denmark, was a great read.

145. 30/6 George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London 3.7*

Slightly cheating as it was past midnight in the UK when I finished reading this tonight, but by less than half an hour. According to Librarything on east coast US time it's still June.

I expected to like this more than I did. It's quite readable and interesting, but two things lead to me rating it a bit lower. One is some apparent casual racism, although clearly Orwell was in many ways better than others of his time, there are a lot of references to Jews which aren't very nice. The other is that considering the length of the book, it's a bit repetitive.

I read an article about Anthony Bourdain this morning and although I've not read Kitchen Confidential and the other book by him I have yet, I was thinking some of the extracts from Confidential in the papers sound like not much had changed in the nearly 70 years between the 2 books.

Worth a read but quite flawed.

#210: I am glad you liked it, Luci!

Belated happy birthday wishes to you. Sorry I did not make it over here on your birthday, but things were a tad busy at my house :)

Belated happy birthday from me too! For some reason I posted it on Stasia's thread and then forgot to find your thread.

#210 I have added Rose Tremain to my list of authors I should really try after all the positive comments I've heard on this group. Glad you enjoyed that one.

Happy birthday from me too - and I'm catching up on about 15 books here. Ive just started Testament of Experience by Vera Brittain, and am wishlisting Shirley Williams' book based on your review. I remember you mentioning it earlier in the year when I read Testament of Youth.

And I have Music and Silence waiting for me, but it's in a box in our storage unit in NZ!

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Stasia, I think your own beloved daughter's birthday has to be a priority. We had Friday off to visit the local school nursery, as Danny's starting there in September. It looks great, I think we'll have difficulty getting him out of there as they've got such lovely play facilities.

I'm getting rather behind, as I've finished 5 books in the last 4 days that I've not yet posted any of my thoughts on. I think Shirley Williams' book comes out in paperback in the autumn.

I finished my 150th book this year today, No Good Deeds by Laura Lippman.

146. 1/7 Joan Aiken, Midnight is a Place 4.4

Catching up on some of my other Joan Aiken rereads, I remembered liking this one and that there's child labour and a nightmare factory involved but not much more. Lucas is lonely and bored living with his aloof guardian, and excited to learn that he's getting a playmate, but this turns out not to be another boy as he expects, but a little French girl. Then the house burns down and Lucas and Anna-Marie must fend for themselves and earn money.

This isn't part of the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, but revisits some of the same themes - the setting and the criticism of child exploitation reminds me a lot of Is aka Is Underground. I also liked the fact that one of the "good" characters is a trade union activist, at a time when unions were very dangerous to be in as they were illegal, and in contrast to the officially sanctioned (in the story) society which collects money with menaces.

147. 2/7 Kate Clanchy, Antigona and Me 4.3

Kate Clanchy, a writer living in Hackney, north east London, made friends with a neighbour, an asylum seeker from Kosoa and from a violent relationship. She offers Antigona work and, as asked by her to do, gets other friends and neighbours to take her on as a cleaner too. Antigona's story of what she has had to escape from is riveting reading. It includes lots of horrible experiences of violence, death and tragedy, but Antigona is no victim. She regularly challenges Clanchy's thoughts and ideas as a British woman with lots of principles and ideals on equality and justice. She's not just staff, she becomes a friend, and later becomes a shared nanny for a while.

As well as Antigona, Clanchy ends up befriending the three children, two of them teenage girls, and helping them too.

Antigona is a real larger than life character and I miss her having put down the book. It's hard to do justice to this fascinating story in my comments. This book made me angry and very sad in places, but it's a fascinating look at a very interesting person.

My main quibble is perhaps a trivial one and it is one that occurs in most writing about the country I've read. It's the reference to the country Antigona comes from as Kosovo, the Serb spelling. Kosovars apparently spell and say Kosova.

148. Rachel Hore, A Place of Secrets 3.9

Reviewed for the Bookbag.

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=A_Place_Of_Secrets_by_Rachel...

A present day story and a historical one with lots of revelations about the past. A thoroughly enjoyable read which made me glad I bought a bargain set of her earlier 3 novels a few months ago, as I look forward to reading them.

149. Deborah Kay Davies, True Things About Me

Not sure what to say about this Early Reviewer book. It is very well written but I didn't like it. A benefits worker starts having sex with one of the clients after he comes into the office. He's clearly very nasty but she skips work and carries on seeing him as her life falls apart. The quality of the writing just makes the unpleasantness of the book worse.

#220: Umm, no, not touching that one. Sounds terrible.

Stasia, I'm sure you would hate True Things About Me more than I do. I'm beginning to feel like the crankiest Early Reviewer - so far I've loved two but I've hated two and one really wasn't that good.

#222: I know what you mean about the ER books. I guess it is pretty much hit and miss.

Well you've had a lot of good books. Sorry about the last one. Hoping #150 is another winner!

ETA What happened to book 148?

Did I say happy birthday? If I didn't, belatedly, Happy Birthday!!

I must revisit Joan Aiken soon...

#214 cmt, have you read Vera Brittain's dairies? Recommended, definitely - I think I preferred them to Testament of Youth in fact.

#150 was excellent, as was #147 and #148 was good too! I'd written some thoughts about #149 on another thread and group and decided not to post them there, but wanted to paste them into the right place before I lost them. I will catch up eventually.

LOL I can definitely relate to catching up later :)

I've filled in the spaces - will write about no 150 tomorrow.

Hi. Congrats on reaching 150 books. Also, ref. #222, you shouldn't feel bad - surely only a minority of books published actually are any good? If you read books before others can warn you off, you're bound to have a lower than average success rate. If you thought they were all good, you wouldn't be very discriminating, would you?

150. 4/7 Laura Lippman, No Good Deeds 4.7
#9 in Tess Monaghan series, PI novel

Tess Monaghan is one of my favourite fictional PIs, along with VI Warshawski, Sharon McCone and a host of others. Tess's boyfriend Crow inadvertently brings even more serious trouble and danger into their lives when he tries to help a homeless youngster out. Lloyd has witnessed a crime. Federal investigators believe Tess/Crow are keeping secrets and threaten Tess with charges which could mean not only the end of her business but possible jail for Tess and her father. Both of them end up going on the run.

Trying to write about it makes me realise the plot seems far fetched in places, but it didn't when I was reading it.

Worried now that I'm in danger of catching up with this series and having no more to look forward to, I only have Another Thing to Fall left, though I also have some non series books and a collection of her short stories.

I'm hoping to get some particular review books for the Bookbag, and have been told to give details of any specific wants, no promises that they'll get those books or that others won't want the same ones, but I'm welcome to ask.

I've requested new books by Andrew Taylor and Laura Wilson, and the mass market paperback editions of Alison Wong's As The Earth Turns Silver and Alice Munro's Too Much Happiness, all due in September. But wow, there are so many good things coming out soon - I can't ask for everything and would also like to review some non-fiction and/or new to me stuff. New books are due out from Peter Robinson, Mark Billingham, Val McDermid and Kate Atkinson. Hopefully the library will get all those, and I can try and get the paperbacks when they come out.

What books are others looking forward to?

#230: I like the Tess Monaghan series too, Luci. I am glad to see she has another fan!

I think I'm drowning in books, even more than normal.

I was sent a bookshop gift card, which could be used online, so I did. I'd already treated myself to a few secondhand Viragos. This week I went to a library I haven't used for a while, with a list of things that were on their shelves, then yesterday I got Mike to get a library card for the library near work, so I could use his allowance too, as my card was maxed out. And I discovered they've upped the allowance from 10 to 16. Oops.

And on Tuesday I saw an ad for a charity book sale for an Amnesty International, organisation which has special book specialist shops (sadly none near me any more). I went today and bought 16 books for £17.

That Amnesty sale sounds great - where is/was it?

Conway Hall near Holborn - from 11-3 - imagine what I might have spent/bought if I'd got there before 1 pm! Still, I'm quite happy with my loot. All the novels were £1 and non-fiction was £2.

I don't know which side of Crouch End you're on, and I know there are several charity shops there, but the Marie Curie branch on Green Lanes, at the end of one of the Ladder roads, is just amazing. Almost everything is 50p, a few books are £1, the stock is well organised and easy to look through quickly, and I always leave with at least one tote bag more of books than I went in with.

Wow. Thanks for that. I have never been to the Marie Curie in Green Lanes, but I know where it is, so I'll check it out.

#235 - Wow, I think I'll book my one-day trip to London soon and check out these bookshops...

One day? But do let me know when you're coming!

My review of Rachel Hore's new novel (her fourth) is up at the Bookbag. There seem to be a lot of stories about big houses about at the moment, I enjoyed this one with a present day romantic interest and a historical subplot.

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=A_Place_Of_Secrets_by_Rachel...

Grrr, I've just made two attempts to start a new thread and then got an error message.

Good to know that the new book by Rachel Hore is out (or due shortly); I found her others enjoyable/entertaining if not tremendously complex. I'm also looking forward to the new Val McDermid book. In September there is the new C.J. Sansom offering, set in Tudor England. I may be sick of historical fiction set in this era, but Sansom's hero, Mathew Shardlake, is compelling. Jill Paton Walsh is publishing a new Peter Wimsey book, The Attenbury Emeralds; there's also a new Bernie Gunther offering due from Phillip Kerr, Field Grey. (Touchstones not yet avail. for either it seems...) I'm supposed to be getting Frederick Forsyth's new book from ER, but I'll believe it when I see it. (I've got a 50% MIA rate with those...)

From US publishers, I'm curious about The Man Who Never Returned by Peter Quinn and Your Republic is Calling You by Young-Ha Kim. That's in addition to a long list of others compiled thanks to the catalogs I collected at BookExpo.... :-)

Yes, the new one was the first I've read but I heard of Rachel Hore because the Book People, a company which specialises in ludicrously cheap sets, were doing a pack of her first 3 books for £5.

Tried to figure out what I was looking forward to reading and came up with no answer. Guess I'm just hoping what I have to read turns out decent :)

New thread here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/94856