Genny T's 75 - 2nd thread, for 2nd half of the year

Welcome to my second thread for the 2010 75 books challenge, discussing books read from July onwards.

My first thread, containing books read January-June 2010, can be found here.

Here's a link to my profile.
And there's a bit more about me on the 'introduce yourself' thread here.

Here's new summer/seaside ticker to welcome the (almost) holiday season:



And here's another ticker for when I've reached the first target of 75 - aiming to reach 125 by the end of the year now.



Now that we have 'sticky' touchstones I think it will be possible to use touchstones on the list in this first post without having to re-edit them each time... Let's see! I'm also recording the date when finished and a reference to the post where the book is discussed.

Having reached book no. 50 at the start of July, I am confident of exceeding the 75 target by the end of the year, and hope now to make a good 100.

July
50. Mystery Mile - Margery Allingham - finished 2.7.2010 - post 14
51. The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, aged 37 3/4 - finished 6.7.2010 - post 15
52. Still Life - Louise Penny - finished 8.7.2010 - post 42
53. Fear in the Forest - Bernard Knight - finished 13.7.2010 - post 65
54. A Vigil of Spies - Candace Robb - finished 15.7.2010 - post 77
55. The Spotted Unicorn - Roger McGough - finished 16.7.2010 - post 79
56. Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best - P G Wodehouse - finished 17.7.2010 - post 82
57. Ministry Burnout - Geoff Read - finished 19.7.2010 - post 83
58. The Buccaneers - Edith Wharton - finished 21.7.2010 - post 124
59. The Vikings: a short history - Martin Arnold - finished 27.7.2010 - post 125
60. Tau Zero - Poul Anderson - finished 30.7.2010 - post 129

August
61. The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett - finished 2.8.2010 - post 175
62. East of the Sun and West of the Moon - Peter Asbjornsen - finished 6.8.2010 - post 176
63. Dead Cold - Louise Penny - finished 8.8.2010 - post 189
64. The Rough Guide to Norway - Phil Lee - finished 9.8.2010 - post 190
65. Coroner's Pidgin - Margery Allingham - finished 11.8.2010 - post 193
66. Exit Music - Ian Rankin - finished 13.8.2010
67. The Cruellest Month - Louise Penny - finished 18.8.2010
68. In the Bleak Midwinter - Julia Spencer-Fleming - finished 31.8.2010

September
69. Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett - finished 2.9.2010
70. Bootlegger's Daughter - Margaret Maron - finished 17.9.2010
71. The Other Family - Joanna Trollope - finished 22.9.2010
72. Wildfire at Midnight - Mary Stewart - finished 24.9.2010
73. The White Cottage Mystery - Margery Allingham - finished 25.9.2010
74. Asterix in Britain - R Goscinny & A Uderzo - finished 25.9.2010

October
75. The Portrait - Iain Pears - finished 3.10.2010
76. That Awkward Age - Roger McGough - finished 10.10.10
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.

Earlier reads this year:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Found you, starred you :-)

Ooh, a shiny new thread.

*wanders around making footprints, just like in new snow*

I was thinking sand rather than snow: as I reserved post 2 to copy over the reading so far, it was a bit like rushing to put my towel down on the beach and claim the space before anyone else got there!

Hi Genny: I have to pick up Corduroy Mansions. Is that the first in a new series? He has so many good ones. My favorite, among his, is the philosophers series.

HI Genny

I'm simply stopping by to say I'm thinking of you and hoping your spirits are right where you want them to be.

Hey, Genny! Just checking in.

Catching up, glad you had a good day yesterday. Thinking of and praying for you.

Found you, and have my deck chair set up. (I wish - where is my air conditioning unit?!)

Just checking in and starring your thread!

Are most of your reads fiction or nonfiction and which do you find easier to read.

#12 Most of my reading is fiction these days; I find that more relaxing to read. I'm trying to increase my non-fiction reading as I have quite a few interesting books lurking on the shelves waiting to be read!

Slow progress on reading - I keep starting books, and not going back to other books I've already partly read. I suppose eventually when I finish them all I'll have lots to report at once!

A couple of quick reads that only took a day or part day each:

No. 50
Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham



Own book; bought 2010 secondhand (eBay)
TILOI challenge: Alliterative title

This was a re-read - I first read this quite a few years back, maybe in the early 90s. It's the second in the Campion series. A good romp of an adventure: a retired American judge is being pursued and threatened by a mysterious gangster - Campion tries to protect him and his family in a tale which features (as so often in Allingham's stories) an isolated Suffolk village, this one nearly cut off by surrounding marshland and quicksand. There are also local legends, kidnappings, rooftop rescues and riddles.

Nothing very profound, but I gave this four stars for fun and readability.

No. 51
The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, aged 37 3/4 by Adrian Plass



Book loaned to me by LT member.
Religious humour.

I remember when this book first came out, and was aware of it but have never read it before. Its title is a take-off of Sue Townsend's The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4. Whereas Adrian Mole, an ordinary 13 year old boy, had pretensions to being an intellectual, Adrian Plass (the author) through the fictional diarist (also called Adrian Plass) reveals the self delusions and pretensions of an ordinary middle-aged church member trying - often trying too hard - to lead a good Christian life. Adrian usually fails to see what is all to clear to his long-suffering wife and anagram-loving, irreverent son (and to the reader); when he stops trying so hard to be someone he is not (powerful evangelist, most pastoral study-group leader), he is already actually doing pretty well at the business of living a Christian life - and God is to be found in some pretty unexpected places.

The church tradition which Plass is gently satirising here (charismatic evangelical) is not my own, but every church has its fair share of strange language, odd practices and ever-present temptations to self delusion. I found myself wondering if anyone has attempted something similar around a typical middle-of-the-road liberal Anglican church like my own. Probably that was a displacement activity to avoid thinking about how often in my own way I get myself just as tangled up as poor Adrian does, and how, like him, I need to stop trying so hard and believe that it's ok to be me...

A short and easy read, but with some wisdom buried in the humour. Recommended for those who realise there is a necessary place for humour in religious life.
3.75 stars

I've started to read Still Life at bedtime, but am falling asleep before I can get into it properly so may need to read at another time of day. I'm looking forward to discovering what so many others in this group have been so enthusiastic about.

Oh dear, two more --50 and 51 for the TBR pile. I am often shunned at family gatherings because I have what is oft referred to as a "smart a#$" sense of humor, and tend to poke fun at much of the trappings of our families religion (RC). My mom, tho, who was baptized pentecostal, confirmed lutheran and married in an RC rectory is the one who gets the most uptight...I'm looking forward to the Plass take on things.

And I've been promising myself for over a year "I must read some Margery Allingham"..hoping my mystery book club will choose her, then I'll have to.

I like Adrian Plass, and I keep meaning to read the follow-ups to the Sacred Diary, but so far that's the only one I've got to.

Speaking of juxtapositions of humour and religion - have you been watching Rev. on BBC2?

#18 Yes I saw the first episode - very funny and some of it quite close to some experiences I've had - though my archdeacon is nothing like that one! I do get called Vicar of Dibley all the time by strangers in the street like those builders, slightly more to be expected as a woman though. Must catch up on episode 2 on iPlayer.

Off to bed to read more of Still Life. With the taste of fresh raspberries from my garden still in the mouth - my favourite fruit, and they are finally ripening on the bush!

#17 And Tina, I do hope you enjoy the Adrian Plass when you get a copy (and he has written several follow ups too). I've a few Allinghams still to go - reading about one a month now, having binged on lots at the start of the year. Are there lots you haven't read?

#20: Feel free to ship raspberries to Texas! I love them :)

Enjoy Still Life. I fully expect you will be on the bus along with the rest of us.

#22 I fear they might not survive the shipping very well :( Blackcurrants are also ripening fast - I love this month for soft fruits and berries.

Read more of Still Life this morning when I was meant to be getting up early to finish off work stuff - I am definitely hooked now!

#23: I am glad to hear that you are hooked!

Argh, I will have to buy Still Life on Book Depository I think. The local bookshops have plenty of mystery series but the latest books - so they have the 3rd Louise Penny and the 4th Barbara Nadel.

Yum to the raspberries!

Just heard part of a BBC Radio 4 Bookclub broadcast - an interview with Henning Mankell about his novel Sidetracked and more generally about writing the Kurt Wallander character and stories. Link is here for any who are interested.

Posting this to the Kitchen also.

Adrian Plass sounds like a great read! Onto the List it goes!

No reading so far today - busy all day long with a variety of work-related things, including interviewing a potential new staff member (and appointing him, so time well spent, we hope), and then a 45 minute drive this evening to meet up with two friends to play some music together. We've promised ourselves this for ages and finally managed to do it. So I've been playing guitar accompanying their two violins in some North East folk tunes, playing my Northumbrian pipes (very badly because I'm a relative beginner who hardly ever practises!) and singing a few songs with very rusty guitar accompaniment - things I used to be able to play quite well but again have not practised enough recently. We may not have sounded very polished, but we had fun, and hope to do it again in a couple of months.

NB it was the accompaniment, not the guitar, that is rusty...

Still a few more tasks before bedtime and a bit more reading.

That sounds like fun. I am not musical at all.

Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, you don't end up reading as much as planned. I planned to read while watching a ballgame. I ended up glued to the World Cup finals. I've never watched soccer before in my life.

Oh, I quite forgot that was on! I wonder who won...

hi Genny
I hope you enjoy Still Life as much as I did :-)

Here the berries in the garden are ripening very fast, we have very hot weather. So I am enjoying the red and yellow raspberries, wild strawberries, red currants, white currants, red gooseberries and blueberries in fairly big quantities.
Sadly yesterday there was a thunderstorm and half of the remaining raspberries and gooseberries were destroyed :-( But on the bright side, the other berries survived.

> 30: Spain won :-(

Spain won 1 to nothing. It was in overtime. I didn't understand a lot of what they were saying but tried to figure it out. They said there's no golden goal which I took to me that it wasn't sudden death overtime.

I gathered that the Dutch were getting a lot of penalties. The goal was a bit controversial. Something about offsides.

Even for someone who didn't know what was going on, it was exciting!!

Hi Anita, yes I just looked up who won, and posted commiserations on your thread... Oh well, there is always next time!

I did enjoy Still Life hugely - will post my thoughts soon I hope.

Our team needed to many offences to stay in the game...
Just before the goal it was offside, but the referee let play on, the goal itself was no offside.

Next time... well it is the third time we loose the final, before in 1974 and 1978, I remember them both!

I work for a Dutch company so I was sort of rooting for them.

I didn't realize it was the third time in the finals for the Dutch.

As I mentioned, I'd never watched before. I was surprised at how exciting it was. Every play (at least while I was watching for the last half hour or so) seemed tense and meaningful.

Hi Genny! Almost missed your thread, but now it is starred:) Hope you're doing fine!

#35 Glad you enjoyed the final too. It was very exciting! I guess you have to watch football a few times to learn all the rules (as with most sports), but it is definitely worth it:)

#36 One thing that confused me: Who decides how much "extra time" to add and why do they do this? I was thinking it had something to do with the time that elapsed when the ball was out of bounds, or something like that.

Overall, I could follow the rules pretty easily even though I didn't understand the exact terminology.

#37 The referee decides how much extra time to add, depending on how many players the teams decides to swap(?), about 30 seconds extra time pr. player, if there's injuries it will be extra and the same if one of the teams try to deliberately prolong the time the ball is out of bounds (ex. if it is 5 minutes left and they're in the lead). Did that make any sense? I'm a bit off trying to explain it in English. Sorry Genny for hijacking your thread:) Football is great:D

Happy to read about your music day! I am at this very moment at an week long traditional Irish music festival in the Catskills...... Just got out of a concert and trying to decide if I have the energy to go to a session..... Am I reading? A tiny bit before bed....

I'm determined to stay caught up with your thread this time, Genny! Like Linda P., I wish I were more musical...or maybe I should say just musical in any capacity. Oh well, you musicians do need an appreciative audience...and that is where my talents lie!

I also hugely enjoyed Still Life. I have No. 2 checked out from the library. My goal is to get caught up on the Louise Penny series before the new one comes out this fall. Summer is going by too quickly.

Can't believe we're almost halfway through July already... My reading feels as if it has been slow this month.

#36, 38 Hello Bente, glad you found me - and thanks for answering Linda's football question, because I don't have a clue about the rules! So now I've learned something too - which seems to happen a lot on LT!

#35, 37 Glad you enjoyed the football and found a new sport to watch. I don't know how many opportunities there are to follow soccer in the US apart from during tournaments like the World Cup...

#39 Lucy, I'm envious of you being at a trad music festival for a whole week. Had to check back on your profile to remind myself what you play - I did recall there was an interesting instrument or two there. Are you playing both harp and concertina at the festival or do you concentrate on just one? There is a week-long gathering each year here in Durham in mid August - where lots of the people whom I know from my weekly pipes class attend - but I always seem to be away on my main summer holiday. Bad planning. One year perhaps I'll remember to put this in my diary before booking to go away somewhere. Tonight is the last pipes class before the summer break, and I must go as I've missed loads this term due to illness/tiredness. I know I haven't practised much but I'd like to at least see people again.

#40 Donna, glad you've found the thread and yes, musicians need people to listen to them so you play a very important role. Not that I play much for any audience - with the northumbrian pipes especially, my dog is the main one who hears me play, and he tends to have a rather pained expression, or put his paw over his ears, when I start practising! Re Still Life, yes, wasn't it great. I have no 2, and wanted to read it straight away, but I'm going to save it for when I'm away on holiday.

Book no. 52
Still Life - Louise Penny


Book lent to me by LT member
TIOLI challenge - book recommended by an LT member (everyone who's read it, it seems)

I'm not going to do a proper review of this; so many of you have read it already and there are plenty of reviews out there. I was a little anxious in case I did not love it, when everyone else has been so positive about it. But I needn't have worried. I loved it too - the writing, the characters (including the less obviously lovable ones), the setting, the intelligence of it. I liked the way you gradually get to know the people, without intrusive introductions by the author. Thus at that early Thanksgiving Dinner with the group of friends at the beginning of the book, it's all a bit confusing because you don't know who any of them are or what their relationships are. But you gradually find out, as Gamache and the rest of the team get to meet them - and that's the way it should be.

Another thing I liked, which I guess most of us relished, was the inclusion of a bookshop, and mention of people's bookshelves and book-buying/exchanging habits; also discussion between several characters about books and writing.

Anyway, I can't wait to get on to the second in the series, which I shall take on holiday next month. For any who have not yet read it, highly recommended. I gave it 4.5 stars, which is about as good as it gets for me.

Hi Genny, catching up as I am very behind on everyone's threads. Glad you enjoyed the Plass and Still Life. I just finished books 2 and 3 in the Three Pines series and I feel like I can't wait to start the next one!

I haven't watched any episodes of Rev yet, I'll have to catch up with that on iplayer.

Glad you enjoyed your music session, your comment about the rusty guitar made me chuckle!

Hi Genny -- I play both, though I generally only take one class -- I'm remaining loyal to the harp for now as my 'primary' instrument. The concertina is meant to be more 'fun' -- but I need to just knuckle down and 'acquire' tunes. At dinner tonight we were discussing tune databases and I began speculating whether I couldn't use LT to store my 'lists' of tunes....... so if any of youse see "The Cat that Kittled in Jamie's Wig" listed somewhere ever on my profile, it isn't a book!

I'm catching up too. I still (ha ha) haven't read Still Life - the bookshops here have great crime, but they tend to have less stock that a really good bookshop in an English-speaking country. So I keep seeing the later books in lots of series that I read about on here - like The Brutal Telling, which is #3 I think?

Are the pipes bagpipes? Cool!

Brutal Telling is actually #5 -- latest that's been released in the series. (New one due out shortly.)

#42: Woot! Genny is on the Three Pines bus (although I think perhaps we will need a submarine too.)

#47 - I'm thinking aircraft carrier - that will hold 5000 but I don't think it will fit on the lake. We might need to install some big enclosed trailers on empty logging trucks to get all of us to the Canadian woods...

Genny, glad to hear that you, too, are on the Three Pines bus. I see I've now read 1,700 mysteries (at least since I've started keeping track of my reading nearly 35 years ago) and Louise Penny is definitely at least top five for me among currently writing authors.

Here's an interesting article about reading which references two books that members of this group have read recently - The Shallows and How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read.

#50 That's an interesting article Genny. I do skim a lot of articles when I'm reading on the internet (and occasional LT threads when I'm several hundred posts behind) but I think I read books properly? It's one of the reasons why I'm a bit wary of getting a kindle or ereader (apart from the cost), I'm a bit worried my brain would automatically skip into internet reading mode.

#51 It's one of the reasons why I'm a bit wary of getting a kindle or ereader (apart from the cost), I'm a bit worried my brain would automatically skip into internet reading mode. My personal experience it that I've been reading quite a few books on my ereader and I can assure you, it's nothing like internet-reading. It does feel more like reading a real book, however strange that may sound.

# 50. Thanks for the article, Genny! I read it (completely and slowly :-)) and I agree. I do get to read too fast and unconcentrated, but not when I'm with a real book (or e-book for that matter). That's one of my reasons why I read: to just slow down a bit and let it all sink in. I think mr. Bayard is partly misunderstood though (maybe too many people read this book too fast :-)), but maybe with such a provocative title, book-lovers get defensive (and I can't blame them). Maybe we should start a "Slow Read Group" on LT, if there isn't one already?

#52 Thanks for the reassurance about that one. I'd like to get some sort of ereader at some point but with the amount of real books I own that are unread and the cost it shouldn't be a priority...

How did I lose you for 54 messages, Genny? Anyway, I have you starred now, so you won't get away again! Can anybody tell me who Louise Penney is like? I have found myself increasingly impatient with cozies over the past several years even when I think that the author is intelligent. Now, if you say that she's a New England Margaret Maron, maybe I'll be on them, but I don't consider MM quite cozy.

Lizzie...Louise Penny is the author of the THree Pines series set in the fictional village of that name in Quebec. Her protagonist, Chief Inspector Armand Gamage is just about one of the best today. Check out her web page www.louisepenny.com, and the first book of the series Still Life.

Now if you like Margaret Maron (who doesn't?) and are tired of cozies, try Julia Spencer-Flemings' series about Clare Fergusson (an ex-army helo pilot now episcopal priest) and Russ Van Alstyne (the married - not to Clare- chief of police) in a small upstate New York Town. The series is tremendous. Start with In the Bleak Midwinter.

Sorry Genny for hijacking your thread!

Thank you, Tina. The Clare Fergusson series sounds vaguely familiar - as though I have bought or read one sometime in my dimly remembered past. I'll check her out. I confess that I read the first 3 pages of Still Life at Amazon awhile ago and I wasn't taken with the writing. I know. I know. That's heresy. May be the mood; may be me. I hate being out of step.

Simply stopping by to say I'm thinking of you and that I"m sending all good wishes your way.

I'm wary of trying Louise Penny because I'm not sure I'll like her. I didn't like the first Julia Spencer-Fleming that much - it was ok but I was cross that it scooped a lot of first mystery novel awards over much better contenders.

#55 I can't think of a good comparison for Louise Penny but that might be because I haven't read enough mysteries. I found the beginning of Still Life quite confusing because she introduces so many characters at once. I think it's the characters in her series that I really love if that helps you decide?

The Mitford series reminded me of Louise Penny's books...delightful, small town folks.

I love the Louise Penny books. These are probably my favorite current mystery series. I've never read any of the Mitford books so I have these to look forward to. When I picked up The Lumby Lines, I also picked up the first Mitford book.

I love the Mitford books but they are by no means mysteries. Cozies--very, but there's not a lot of crime going on (unless you consider Uncle Billie's awful jokes a crime!)

I've put Bleak on my wish list -- thanks!

Book no. 53
Fear in the Forest - Bernard Knight



Own book, bought second-hand in 2010

This was my first taste of Bernard Knight's 'Crowner John' medieval mystery series, and unfortunately I didn't enjoy it very much. This is no. 7 in the series, which I happened to pick up recently. The series is set in late 12th century England, and concerns Sir John de Wolfe, fictional first coroner (crowner) serving in the county of Devon, based in Exeter. The office of coroner was created by King Richard (the Lionheart) in 1194, with the responsibility of investigating and holding inquests to determine the cause of sudden or violent deaths. The coroner is appointed on royal authority (the name coroner relates of course to the crown) and in this particular story Crowner John comes into frequent conflict with other local officials, particularly those responsible for the law of the royal forest, who question his authority and resist his attempts to root out local corruption.

The author was for many years a Home Office Pathologist and professor of forensic pathology. He brings that professional interest to a much earlier period of history and has clearly done his research - but all too clearly! His books begin with a lengthy glossary explaining unfamiliar legal terms and other aspects of 12th century law enforcement - and then every time these terms crop up in the narrative, he gives the definition again, and again. This book read at times more like a repetitive history lesson than a mystery. I certainly learned quite a bit about the laws of the Forest and the complex political and judicial situation of 12th century England, but this information was too much in the foreground and the development of both plot and character suffered as a result.

There are writers of historical mysteries/thrillers who manage to convey the necessary explanation of unfamiliar background or terminology in much subtler ways. As this is book 7 in the series, I fear that the author's style has not improved with practice, and I will not be rushing to read more, unless I feel like another history lesson!

Three stars.

#65: Too bad about that one, Genny. It sounds like something I would have enjoyed.

I hope your next read is better for you!

I got half-way through the above review last week and then was interrupted before I could finish and post it - what a lot of messages since then!

#43 Have you seen any of 'Rev' yet, Heather? I've watched Episodes 1 & 2 now, and while the situation of the main character is far from mine in many ways, there are some familiar and very real - as well as funny - moments.

#44 Now that would be a new use for LT - storing tunes. I've acquired a lot since I started learning the pipes - before that I was mainly a song person, and have a notebook where I write down songs I'm learning and an old ring binder with other songs I learned years ago. Now I've another ring-binder full of tunes, some learned, some to aspire to when the fingers are much nimbler. Do you play from music or from memory? I find that once I've learned a tune, I find it easier not to look at the music as it adds an additional stage into the process: brain direct to fingers is quicker!

#45 Hi Cushla, yes the Northumbrian small pipes are a type of bagpipe. They are different from eg Scottish Highland pipes as the air is blown into the bag via bellows (under your right elbow) rather than via a mouthpiece. So they require a great deal of concentration, as one arm is pumping air in, the left arm is controlling pressure on the bag (and consequently the pitch and tone of the notes) and the fingers are busy on the 'chanter' to play tunes. In addition you have drones playing one or more constant note. I'm not using the drones much yet - still trying to get to grips with the bellows, bag and chanter - which is somewhat akin to trying to rub your stomach and pat your head at the same time! Here is a video of one of the Northumbrian pipes' best and most famous exponents, Kathryn Tickell, playing a traditional tune and explaining a bit about the repertoire.

#46 Thanks for giving Cushla the info, Terri - sorry I've been slow to respond on my own thread...

#47,48,49 Definitely on some form of transport to get me to Three Pines, but neither submarine nor aircraft carrier particularly appeal - could I go by ship then train? I get sick reading on busses...

#67: Love the video of the Northumbrian pipes!

#51-54 Thanks for sharing your experience about reading an e-reader, Monica, and how for you it is more like reading a 'real' book and unlike being in internet mode. Perhaps that is helped by being away from the desktop/laptop screen, sitting down with the intention to read properly not flit from page to page - mabye it is the intention and frame of mind that count more than the medium.

I do find these questions very interesting. When I was working on my thesis (which looked at the layout of pages in early medieval manuscripts - eg word separation and use of abbreviations) one of the areas I investigated was the impact on book layout of the change from reading aloud - the norm in ancient culture - to reading silently - which began to become the norm from late antiquity onwards. The interraction between the mental processes involved in reading, and technological advances and developments, is fascinating.

#69 Glad you liked it, Stasia!

#71: I like the pipes in general, but my new favorites are the (and I know I am going to spell it wrong) Uilleann pipes.

#55-64

Hello Peggy, glad you found me again.

I find it hard to say who Louise Penny is like, because I've not read anything quite like it before. In terms of what I've learned to call 'mysteries' (I used to refer to them as detective fiction) I have mostly read either those with a medieval or other historical setting (some would be classed cozy, some perhaps a bit grittier, but I think the historical distance always makes them cozier), or 'golden age' early/mid 20th century writers like Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham. The contemporary mystery writers I've read are mainly the grittier police procedural types - Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, Henning Mankell. So I've not really come across something like Penny's series, contemporary with a police investigator but also a small town setting so lovingly realised.

I don't know Margaret Maron or Julia Spencer Fleming at all so can't comment on similarities or otherwise - haven't even heard of them. Have added In the Bleak Midwinter to my wishlist and will look into Maron too, so thanks for those!

I did think of Mitford as a possible comparison, though, as Tina says, those are definitely not mysteries. There is a similar pleasure in the appreciative warts-and-all depiction of a small town, but I think there is a quite bit more edge in Penny's writing. The character of Inspector Armande Gamache is wise and thoughtful with a supportive marriage rather than a tortured disfunctional loner as is the case with many fictional police detectives, but there are interesting tensions in relationships with his colleagues, some of whom are far from perfect, especially those who don't realise it - I'm looking forward to seeing how Penny develops the character of the young officer Yvette Nichol who is so desperate to succeed and so lacking in self awareness.

Peggy, Luci, do give Still Life a go some day - you are not obliged to like it as much as the rest of us, or even at all! Half the fun of LT is finding people to share our enthusiasms with, but the other half of the fun is the conversations that help us to understand why we don't like a book that others do, or vice versa.

#72 Uilleann pipes is correct, I think - they are the Irish ones, hence the tricky Gaelic spelling! They are also bellows-blown pipes, which like the Northumbrian pipes leaves the mouth free for speaking or singing while playing, in theory - but I can't imagine being able to concentrate well enough to manage that in practice!

#74: I can't either, but I guess if you were used to it - like playing the piano and singing - you could manage.

#58 Thanks for your good wishes, Linda. I've been trying to concentrate on catching up on neglected work stuff (email overload for starters) so I've not been posting much. Now it's time for a late lunch, having caught up a bit on my own thread at least.

Book no. 54
Vigil of Spies - Candace Robb


Library book, borrowed this month.

After the previous, less that satisfying medieval mystery read, I returned to a favourite, comfort-reading author, also a medieval setting - this time 14th century York, not 12th century Exeter. This is the tenth in the Owen Archer series. The Archbishop of York, John Thoresby, whom Owen serves as captain of the guard, is near death at his home, Bishopthorpe; he receives as guests in his household a royal visitor and representatives of several powerful families and churchmen who are jostling for position and influence after his death. A couple of deaths occur which appear suspicious, and Owen tries to investigate, while seeking to preserve the peace and quiet his lord needs as he prepares for his death. Among this 'vigil of spies' is Geoffrey Chaucer, who appears in several books in this series as a slightly ambiguous minor character.

The concentration of the action almost entirely at Bishopthorpe Palace gives this particular story the feel of a Agatha Christie-style country-house mystery. Confined to the Palace until the situation is resolved, Owen is unable to visit his wife Lucie and family in nearby York. These have featured much more largely in previous books in the series, and their enforced separation, together with the uncertainty about their future when Owen's employer eventually dies, add further sources of tension to the plot, alongside the political and religious tensions surrounding the death of a senior ecclesiastical figure.

Another enjoyable read in this fairly undemanding series with sympathetic leading characters and (unobtrusive) well-researched background. I look forward to reading what happens to Owen and Lucie next. 4 stars.

#77: I checked and my local library has exactly one of the books in that series - the first one, The apothecary rose. Oh well, I guess it is a start! Thanks for introducing me to another new author, Genny.

Book no. 55
The Spotted Unicorn Roger McGough


Own book, from shelves - unread since received as gift about 10 years ago.

This is a very slim volume which I read while cataloguing my way along my poetry shelf (dismayed at how many of the books on that shelf I have not read, or only dipped into briefly). This one was only about 34 pages, half of them illustrations, so did read the whole thing.

The subtitle is 'The diaries of Chi Wen Tzu' and this is a humourous depiction (based on a passing comment by Confucius) of an indecisive ancient Chinese poet who always thinks three times before taking action. The action he takes is usually the least appropriate of his three thoughts, and his life rapidly unravels as a result.

Quite amusing in places, but relies rather heavily on stereotypes of Chinese culture and speech patterns, which made me a little uncomfortable. It did make me wonder what genuine Chinese poetry of this period (or any period) is like. Also what McGough's other poetry is like - I must have read the odd one in an anthology, but don't really have any sense of his style.

3 stars - not particularly recommended.

#78 I hope you enjoy it, Stasia. Robb has started another series too, based in medieval Scotland, beginning with A Trust Betrayed. I've read all of those too, but I prefer the Owen Archer books.

#79: I feel safe in skipping that one.

#80: The bad news is that if I like the first book then I will have to track down all the rest of them!

Book no. 56
Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best - P G Wodehouse


Book lent to me by LT member
Humorous short stories

This is the first ever Wodehouse that I have read, though I've seen the odd TV adaptation of Jeeves and Wooster, and have heard quite a few of his short stories read on the radio.

I really enjoyed this wonderfully silly collection of stories centred on the vague, flowers-and-pig-loving Lord Emsworth and his home, Blandings. The introduction mentions that, among many others, Douglas Adams was a great admirer of Wodehouse, and as someone who loves Adams' comic writing, I could see some similarities in Wodehouse's style, particularly in the outrageous similes and other linguistic inventiveness.

Thanks Heather for the cheer-up loan! I shall be reading more Wodehouse in future. 4 stars.

Book no. 57
Ministry Burnout - Geoff Read

Another of the short Grove Booklets, this one from the Pastoral Series.
Received this one a couple of months ago, as part of the standing subscription to the series.

A useful brief summary of recent research into the all-too-common phenomenon (NB lots of other books with similar titles) of burnout for those in full-time Christian ministry, together with reflections by the author on his own experience of this, and what can be done about it. He argues that it not simply a matter of treating symptoms, but of developing a clear sense of identity and purpose: being able to answer the questions "Why do I do what I do?" and "For what are you truly responsible and why?".

As someone who has been feeling very stressed at work lately, and all too often falls into the trap of feeling responsible for everything and everyone, this was a helpful and salutary read, and has given me some pointers for discussion with those who support me in my professional and ministerial role.

I am glad you found a book to help a little with your stress!

I play from memory and learn the tunes by ear -- I read music very well from classical days so I have books and sheet music I've acquired around and sometimes I look things up (don't trust that stuff though) on the 'net when I'm practicing. I've found that when I learn a tune by ear I learn it faster and remember it much better. I have a little gadget I put my CD's in and I can slow them down to learn them and change the key and so on.... There are slow-downer programs but I find it irritating to use the computer when I am practicing. The little gadget is simpler to use. I love love love it.

It took me several years to learn to learn tunes by ear -- I was 48 when I started making that effort. But now, seven years on, I'm pretty decent at it.

Stasia -- I love the Uillean pipes and have never heard anyone sing while playing them. I heard one piper describe playing one as being like flapping arms while holding onto a wiggly animal while strapped inside a very complicated undergarment. Something like that.

I don't have sooo many tunes that I couldn't use LT as a database -- only problem is that presently I don't have great internet access so..... I can't really see the point. But if/when that improves I'm going to seriously consider it!

#84: I heard one piper describe playing one as being like flapping arms while holding onto a wiggly animal while strapped inside a very complicated undergarment. Something like that.

Having seen the Uillean pipes being played, I can see that comparison!

The pipes video was great! They look really really hard...

And I've added the Candace Robb book (the first one) to my bloated wishlist. It will need to wait till 2012 though - I'm sure Wgtn library will have them and I am trying to be better behaved on Book Depository.

#82 - I am glad you enjoyed your first Wodehouse, Genny. When I was little, a visit to my grandmother's was made more enjoyable by looking for the latest Wodehouse sitting on her telephone table. In my memory, these were the only books she had in the house, which is probably why I picked them up to begin with. I loved them then, although too young and too American to understand all the jokes, and I love them now, when no longer so young and American with a hint of English. I haven't read any of them in several years - may be time for another go.

This morning I was only 5 posts behind on your thread and now I'm nearly 30!

#67 I've seen episode 1 of Rev now but still need to catch up with episodes 2 & 3. I really enjoyed it although there were some bits I hoped were only loosely based on real-life experiences (the horrible archdeacon!). Dan cheered when he took off his dog-collar to shout at the builders!

Great link to the Northumbrian pipes - I'd been imagining entirely the wrong thing!

#73 The Cruellest Month (book number 3) has some really good development of Yvette Nichol.... I can't say more!

#77 Oooh, another mystery series!

#82 Pig-hoooey! That one and the story with the little girl (Lord Emsworth's girlfriend?) are my favourites :-)

#83 That one sounds really interesting. We have a few books from the different Grove series which I think my husband has picked up from various places.

I loved Wodehouse. I read his books when I was a teenager and I adored his books. They were so different from the grim literature we had to absorb at too young an age. Now I know a little Wodehouse-humour always helps against a small depression, stress and the little setbacks of life. That's why I've downloaded all the Wodehouses I could find on my ereader, so I always have a bit of humour within my reach.
So strange to find out that a well-read English woman like you, Genny, has waited so long to read Wodehouse. I once read it was the Queen Mum's favourite so I thought it was obligatory at British schools, I guess :-)
I also loved Louise Penny's books. I read the first two and am anxious to read the third one. It's a mystery in a cozy but modern setting. I'd put it next to Jacqueline Winspear's books, although they are very different.

You're right about the ereader-experience. I use it like a book, it feels like a book and it looks like a book. I have tried to eread on my laptop, but that lasted about 5 minutes. With the ereader, I read entire books (mostly classics that I can't find in the library or bookshop anymore and that are on Project Gutenberg). It's a very good extra and a lot easier to take with you than most other paper books.

Love the pipes video, and I'm glad you enjoyed the Wodehouse book.

#89 Sadly not but it would be so much more fun if Wodehouse was obligatory reading!

British schools (or my school anyway) seem to think that any English literature you studied had to be serious so we read depressing books like Lord of the Flies. I hated it.

# 91 I recognize the feeling.
Maybe every teenager should read at least one Wodehouse. I'm sure a lot of them (and us) would feel a lot happier!

Some of Roger McGough's best known work is in The Mersey Sound volume in which his early poems appeared together with those of Brian Patten and Adrian Henri. I can't remember McGough's work particularly from my teens when I loved this volume - Brian Patten was my favourite. I suspected Adrian Henri of being a dirty old man. Then years later, in 1990, I met Adrian Henri and spent all evening talking to him, not realising who he was until he'd gone to bed. We were staying with family friends in their house in Normandy. He was a lovely guy, and was there with his girlfriend.

#84 I have the same experience of learning a tune more easily and better if I learn by ear rather than reading music. I think it's just that we are lazy (or I am) and rely on being able to read the notes if they are there, but without that prop I find that the notes go in more deeply and become part of me, rather than something external on the page. I've done more singing than instrumental music mainly, but there is the same difference between the approach of the classical-style choirs I've been in, dependent on the music, and my own way of learning folk songs to sing solo, which is by listening either to a recording or a live performance and learning it by ear. I do write the words down usually, but don't need to write the tune.

#84-6 "Like flapping arms while holding onto a wiggly animal while strapped inside a very complicated undergarment. Something like that." is a very good description of playing a bellows-blown set of pipes. It reminded me of when my two nieces were visiting shortly after I'd started to learn the pipes two years ago. Before I'd even got as far as blowing a (very squeaky and wobbly) note out of the pipes, the nieces had dissolved into fits of hysterics, and since then have referred to my new instrument as "the Squid Bra", from the way I was strapping on this multi-tentacled floppy object round my middle!

edited to say pipes instead of pies in the final sentence.

Just popping in to say that my ear was there before my ability to read music. (My first teacher didn't realize that I wasn't reading for a year because she would play pieces for me to choose from, and I'd remember the one I wanted.) Now I sight-sing with the best and learn the classical stuff from the written notes but can still pick out what I hear if need be. What I came out of lurk mode was to say that I bought a practice chanter for the Scottish pipes long years ago at the local Highland Games and tried to practice. The resident dog screamed every time I produced a sound, so I stopped. (We are the general area where the first Highland Scots settled in N.C. - land of the blessed Macs, of whom I am one.
ETA: Love the squid bra!!!

#87 Lovely story about the Wodehouse at your grandmother's house, Janet (which made me think: I don't recall seeing any books in my gran's house when we visited - my Dad's a great reader, but I don't think he got it from her!) Re the Englishness of Wodehouse, I was interested to read in the intro to this volume how many American connections Wodehouse had, and that he lived much of his life there. According to this intro, his choice of subject matter for his stories, the quintessential English upper class society, was chosen by him because it particularly appealed to his American audience, or was what they expected an English author to write about.

#88 Yes, what a sudden burst of activity after a quiet week! Re Rev, the archdeacons I know are all much nicer than that, but one who's a Facebook friend says he is enjoying his new role model! I think I liked the same two stories best also - Pig-hoooooey was such fun!

#89 Well, I'm glad you think I'm well read, Monica, but I guess we all have gaps in our reading, even those far better-read than I am... We certainly didn't read any at school. Chaucer (which I loved), Shakespeare, Dickens - and the Great Gatsby for some reason (which I hated) - and there must have been some more... but definitely no Wodehouse. That would have been fun.

#90 Thanks Caty!

#91 Didn't read Lord of the Flies either at my school. I'm still trying to remember what else we did read for O and A level. Serious, yes: King Lear and Hamlet were the Shakespeare texts for A level. That was my fault. We were given Lear and Henry IV part II to read over Christmas holiday, and then come back and say which one we wanted to study. No-one else had done the reading, so the choice was down to me, and I instinctively said Lear. I was not popular - but they should have done the reading!

We had a new English teacher for A level who used to give me lots of extra reading suggestions (partly because he gathered I liked reading fantasy and he didn't approve, I think). He introduced me to magical realism One hundred years of solitude and several other non-English writers, like Borges and Elias Canetti (Auto da Fe was a really strange, disturbing book).

#93 My dad likes Brian Patten's poems, and has given me a volume of his years ago which I've never properly read - Armada . I think it must have been Dad who gave me the McGough book therefore, though I've had it so long I can't remember where it came from and there is no inscription, but it would fit with the Patten. I must try it soon. I rarely seem to be in mood for poetry books - perhaps because they are not the sort of thing to try to read cover to cover usually, but to dip in and out in short bursts.

#95 Hi Peggy, thanks for popping in. My dog doesn't scream when I practise, but he does sometimes cover his ear with his paw. But he does that other times too, I'm sure it's not just my playing... Thankfully I am in a detached house, no neighbours to disturb, and the northumbrian pipes are a fairly mellow sound, even played badly, compared with the highland pipes.

(I keep typing pies in my haste. Don't fancy trying to get a tune out of a pie, highland or otherwise.)

Off now to read as much as I can of The Buccaneers. It's book group tomorrow night and as usual I've left starting the book a bit late in the day - I've read about 60 pages so far, out of 360. My first Edith Wharton. Enjoying it so far.

#98: I have never read that one, so I look forward to seeing what you think of it, Genny.

I've just received a copy of a book of Roger McGough's kids' poems from Book Mooch, requested so long ago I'd almost forgotten about them - Bad Bad Cats - there's some about 3 cats living a double life as a feline mafia.

#100 I like cats; I think I'd probably enjoy that book more than the spoof chinese verse one.

Yes, I don't think I'd like the spoof Chinese verse one - my parents are both sinologists (academics specialising in China) and my stepmother is Chinese, and I really dislike stereotypes of that kind. Bad, Bad Cats does look like fun and I'm going to try reading some of it to Danny (and Conor) at some point.

Finished reading The Buccaneers this afternoon just in time for my book group discussion this evening. We all enjoyed it, and had a very good and lively discussion. For some of us, me included, it was our first taste of Edith Wharton, others were already fans of her writing. Will add my thoughts/review soon, I hope.

Meanwhile, this morning a copy of Roman Blood arrived in the post - a Bookmooch. This was one recommended to me first by Peggy (LizzieD), and I see that several other members of this group have copies too. Maybe this will be the next read, leapfrogging ahead of all the other ones waiting on the TBR shelves... but I do want to read The Lacuna this month also. Watch this space to find out which I go for next - or maybe something else altogether?

----or both at once???
Glad you had a chance in real life to discuss the Wharton. I've read only The Custom of the Country and the other one that's not Ethan Frome or House of Mirth --- the little one (I blush to confess it) (senior moments extend into hours), but I liked them and am not sure why I've never gotten back!

I just started The Lacuna so I am hoping you go for that one :)

I'm a Wharton NUT and I even have a letter in her handwriting (a boring one about meeting somewhat at the train station in Lee, Massachusetts which was near her summer home in the Berkshires) -- I've read almost everything and bios and just find her endlessly worth knowing. So have a lovely meeting tonight!

Another Wharton fan here. Peggy, I think you mean The Age of Innocence, right? I love that one. I read Ethan Frome as a kid - not sure why - could it possibly have been a school book?? - or maybe just one my parents had on the shelf. Anyway, although I didn't understand it all I did love it, but then didn't read Age of Innocence or House of Mirth until much later, at which point I didn't even connect them to Ethan Frome. They still feel like two different types of book to me.

Age of Innocence it is, Janet! Henry James with an attitude!

Well I shall definitely be reading some more Wharton after this first taste. Which would you fans recommend next?

The Age of Innocence is one of her best known and quite easy to get hold of a copy. I want to read more of her work, I've read that and The House of Mirth at university and a little more recently (perhaps 8 years ago) and Ethan Frome at about the same time as the rereads. Custom of the Country was dramatised on Radio 4 recently and I bought a secondhand copy, and I have several of her others in Virago Modern Classics editions (you can get lots of others but I do love VMCs, and I like editions with introductions, many by other writers).

She's also available for free over on Gutenberg for those who are Kindle-centric.

I've loved the few books by Edith Wharton that I've read. I'll have to look for The Bucaneers. Was that by chance a mini series on television a few years ago? The title seems very familiar to me.

I'm waiting eagerly to see what you'll be reading next. I think everyone should read The Lacuna so I'm with Stasia in hoping you'll choose that one next.

#110 I've put The Age of Innocence on my Bookmooch wishlist - the VMC edition.

#111 I'm Kindle-free so not for me.

#112 Apparently there was a TV series, yes. The Buccaneers was left unfinished by Wharton, but has been finished off by more than one person, following the synopsis she left. One of the versions was based on the screenplay of the TV series - several members of our bookgroup were reading that version. My version had Wharton's text only.

I'm currently reading a short non-fiction book The Vikings: a short history, and also reading a bit more of a book-about-books: The Child that Books Built. Intend to start The Lacuna when I've finished the former.

Oh, I remember the BBC Buccaneers series! Greg Wise and James Frain!

I have to just add, as I always do that I think Summer by E. Wharton is one of the most under-appreciated books in American literature. I CANNOT recommend it more highly. It was really OUT THERE at the time too - a bit shocking which was why it is not in the canon. I am dying to start a tidal wave of LTers reading this amazing book!

Chiming in to the Edith Wharton discussion. I've only read The Age of Innocence (which was really good) but I have Ethan Frome in my TBR pile (another, why have I not read it yet book) and clearly need to also read Summer, The House of Mirth, The Buccaneers etc.

Hi Genny, I'm new to your thread, so hope you don't mind my jumping in. I have about three Edith Wharton's on my Tipping Tower of Tomes and I'm eagerly awaiting the chance to get to them some day soon.
Sunday's are probably busy days for you but hope you get a chance to relax a bit today.

#114 I'll have to try renting that - partly to see how the story is finished. Don't know why I missed it first time round -maybe it was in my pre-TV student days.

#115 Ok, adding Summer to the wishlist also! Just a ripple to start with, but if more join in, perhaps it will be a tidal wave eventually.

#116 Glad to hear endorsement of The Age of Innocence too. I will get round to posting my thoughts on the Buccaneers soon, I promise. As an unfinished book, it's probably not the best one to start with, but on the other hand it gave me enough of an idea of Wharton's writing to encourage me to try more.

#117 Hi Lynda, thanks for dropping in to my thread. I hope you get to your Whartons soon also, then we can have more of a conversation about her here on LT.

Yes, Sundays are busy - today especially so, as normally the afternoons are fairly relaxed, but today I have been hosting an 'Open Garden': several members of the congregation have offered to open their gardens each Sunday afternoon in July, for other members to call round for tea and cakes etc. It was my turn today, so I had a steady stream of people dropping in and chatting all afternoon. It's a nice way to spend time with people without all the rush of a Sunday morning.

But now I have to dash to lead the 6.30pm service of Evening Prayer, for the small handful who attend that. And then I will be calling in on the second day of a wedding reception, for a couple who were married yesterday. They are from Cameroon originally, and yesterday they had an English style reception, but today they are doing a traditional Cameroonian celebration meal, and they assure me it is going on till late, so I'm looking forward to dropping in for an hour or so this evening and sampling some different kinds of food.

I like the sounds of the 'Open Garden.' It sounds like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I hope you had a great time at the wedding reception too, Genny!

Hi. Sounds like you had a busy but very nice and fulfilling day yesterday.

Also, you can drop my pebble into the Summer pond to increase the ripple a bit more. I'll try to read it in August if I can find a copy.

Sunday night's Cameroonian wedding feast was great fun. Some of the guests had already departed by the time I joined them at 8 pm; others, especially the younger children, were looking very tired, having been celebrating all day Saturday till gone midnight and all day again Sunday - but others were still going strong! There were guests from London, Belgium, France, Holland and Cameroon itself, so a variety of languages were being spoken, and the food was a variety of interesting dishes that contained, among other things, plantain, fresh groundnuts, cassava, banana (the latter two mixed, shaped into little balls and deep-fried as a snack), some bitter green vegetable made into a stew called ndoleh, fufu (made, I think, from cassava), and goat.

There was a more familiar, western-style chocolate cake for dessert. A very sleepy (but determined not to admit it) little girl sat next to me on her mother's lap poking at her cake and dropping crumbs and icing all around her, including all over me. Her baby brother had woken up by then and started toddling round the room grabbing at anything he could reach - toys, wine bottles, glasses, while aunties and grandmas and cousins and others squeezed in and out of the small room and kitchen. A lovely happy occasion for the extended family and friends - it was a privilege to be welcomed to share their celebration, and I made my way home before the little girl could spread her chocolate cake any further!

Have finished another book today - The Vikings: a short history - still need to write a review of the previous book and this one, but running out of time now as I'm due at my book-club annual summer meal out. We are meant to take along, or come prepared to talk about, a book which was significant to us as one of the first books to get us enthusiastic about reading as a child. I haven't really decided what I'm going to take - I'm going to have a quick look at my children's book shelves to see what jogs my memory. The most significant books of my childhood were probably not the very earliest I read. I'll report back on what I do decide to take with me.

#121 The Cameroonian (is that a word?) wedding sounds fun! And the food, mmmm.

I think I'd also be stumped if asked to report on one of the first books to get me enthusiastic about reading. I can't have very many early memories because I can't remember a time when I didn't like reading. I'll be interested to hear what you come up with!

#122 Cameroonian it is - I had to look it up to check!

I took two books along in the end to the book club dinner in the end: the first was the oldest remaining children's book in my possession - The Little Biplane - which doesn't appear to be on LT. It was an illustrated story, originally in German, which I received as a 'Progress Prize' in my first school year, 1969-70 - I think that's why I still have it, rather than having passed it along to my younger sister with my other early books. I don't remember much' about the story, but I do remember that I used to pronounce the word 'biplane' wrongly. I called it a 'bip-lane' not a 'bye-plane' - probably one of the first of many words that I learned from reading rather than from hearing them used, and often therefore pronounced in a way the rest of the world might call 'wrong'!

The second book was Towers in the Mist by Elizabeth Gouge, which I received for Christmas when I was 8. Set in the reign of Elizabeth I, it's about a poor young man who walks all the way from London to Oxford because he longs to be a scholar. He arrives in Oxford on May morning and is 'adopted' by a local family, and does indeed get to study, alongside many interesting fellow students and during a period when the Queen herself comes to visit the city. Among many books which I re-read countless times as a child, the particular significance for me of this one was that it kindled a desire in me also for learning and scholarship - to live a life of books surrounded by kindly, interesting and supportive people.

I noticed, when I took my copy of Towers in the Mist off the shelf, that it was actually a slightly abridged edition. Makes me want to get hold of an un-abridged version now and see what was left out.

I'm behind on reviews and this is becoming a burden, which I don't want, so will attempt just a quick comment on recent reads:

Book no 58
The Buccaneers Edith Wharton
Own book - bought second hand in 2010

This was a book club read. I'm very glad to have been introduced to Wharton's writing. This novel was never finished by Wharton, so in terms of the enjoyment of the plot it wasn't the best book of hers to start with. Thankfully there are other things beside plot to get from reading Wharton - the style, the characters, the observations. Four wealthy young unmarried American girls, excluded from the smart New York set because their families are too newly rich to be acceptable, try their luck at finding husbands instead in England, where ancient aristocratic families certainly welcome their wealth, but where the clash of cultures does not make for an easy life. There is much humour, sharp observation and also poignancy in the depiction of certain kinds of Englishness and American-ness encountering each other, often with mutual incomprehension (though our book group members all agreed Wharton was a little hard on the English girls, to whom she gives almost no voice - though that may have been the point).

Recommended. Four stars.

See, I can't write a short summary. Other recent reviews to follow soon, I've run out of time now!

Book no 59
The Vikings: A Short History Martin Arnold
Library book
TIOLI challenge: book about making a difference

Prior to my forthcoming holiday in Norway, I wanted to read something about the history of the country. The only thing my local library had was this short (180 pages) account of the Viking era - 9th to 11th centuries. Not much about Norway itself, but about those who spread out from there and other parts of Scandinavia, in search of riches, land and honour. After a couple of introductory chapters about Viking culture, beliefs and warfare, the remainder of the book gave an account of the Viking raids and settlements in different parts of Europe and eventually into North America. In a short, rapid account like this, all the names and events can too easily blur into one, especially when the same enterprising but violent patterns of behaviour are repeated over and over. But some of this (especially the part Vikings played in the history of the British Isles) was familiar to me from my undergraduate studies. And I learned some new things about the role of Vikings in founding Russia, and about the settlements in Greenland which were gradually frozen out when the climate changed and grew colder.

Culture clash of a more violent and extreme form than that described by Wharton in the Buccaneers! The difference made by the Vikings was not always a positive one, but they certainly made a lasting impact on the emerging nations of Europe. A useful, fairly recent, concise summary of the Viking story. Makes me want to re-read some of the Icelandic sagas.

It's years since I read anything much on the Vikings, although I did my A Level history project and a tiny bit of undergrad stuff on them. Fascinating stuff, especially the trade routes along the Russian rivers and the Varangian Guard at Constantinople which we rarely hear about, and the settlements of Iceland, Greenland and 'Vinland'.

Oh, now I want to read up on it all again!

Yes, I know the feeling. There wasn't much about the Varangian Guard in this book - that was the main bit I knew about their reach into the East and Byzantium. I learned more from this book about the empire they built around Novgorod and Kiev, the beginnings of Russia. The Iceland story is the bit I knew most about, having read some of the sagas which describe the early years of the settlement in great detail. Iceland was one of the few places they settled where there were no previous inhabitants, so it was a more peaceful form of settlement, and although there were plenty of violent outbreaks within the society, there was also that fascinatingly early parliamentary republican form of government with the Althing.

Medieval Iceland is fascinating.

*Gives in and digs through shelves for books about it, and adds several to the TBR pile/re-reads section

One of the things I loved when I visited Iceland was seeing Þingvellir: so much fascinating history *and* geology in one place. Sadly, I don't think many of the visitors appreciated just how historic a place they were seeing.

Book no 60
Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
Library book
TIOLI Challenge - book with ISBN ending in 4

I didn't notice this book fitted the TIOLI ISBN challenge until I'd nearly finished reading it. I've had it out from the library for ages, but someone has now reserved it so I need to return it soon.

I have read very little 'hard' sci-fi, and this is counted one of the classics of the genre, published in a series of sci-fi Masterworks. It's set in a post-nuclear restructured world, where Sweden - as a technologically advanced but non-agressive nation - had been nominated to provide global government. A space ship with 50 men and women sets off on a long voyage to investigate the viability of establishing a colony on a distant planet. They go knowing that, because of the effects of relativity, if they ever do return to earth, far more time will have elapsed back home than they will have lived through on their journey - and the ship's crew of scientists and technicians are more or less prepared for this. But then due to unexpected damage to the ship, the situation changes: the ship is forced to accelerate ever faster and further into the galaxy, the difference between time on board and back home becomes inconceivably great, and the psychological pressures on the crew increase as they face their unknown destiny.

The book alternates descriptions of the method of space travel and the physical effects and consequences of travelling ever closer to the speed of light (tau zero) with vignettes of the relationships between crew members and how they cope in these extreme conditions. The characters are not given much room for development, but the challenge the officers face in holding the crew together, and the toll this takes, are conveyed well, and the story picks up more and more speed as the ship does.

My complete lack of knowledge of physics was not an obstacle to enjoying this first foray into Poul Anderson's work. He wrote a lot - I may try something else one day.
And it was amusing, after my previous read featuring aggressively colonising Vikings of Scandinavian origin, to read of an imagined world where the Swedes would be put in charge of overseeing global disarmament.

You have been busy, Genny! Some nice reading here.

Ditto what Stasia said!

I'm sorry to be so behind on the posts. Yours is such an interesting thread and I'm frustrated that I haven't kept up as much as I would like.

One of the most interesting things about our group is that we hail from many states and countries.

You are reading such great books!

Tau Zero sounds interesting, although I don't think it would suit me. And that certainly is an amusing juxtaposition of books.

#129 I think I will look our for Tau Zero. Poul Anderson also wrote a fantasy book based on Norse/Scandinavian mythology called The Broken Sword which I read earlier this year. It might be an interesting read if you're looking for some Scandinavian themed reads.

#133 Ooh, now *that* one I really like the sound of.

I have been looking for both those Poul Anderson books for ages. As soon as I find them (meaning, in a library or a second hand shop - I know I can just buy them from amazon or wherever, but for me the challenge of finding them like that is part of the fun) I will. I'm also interested in the Viking/Icelandic things - visited Iceland years ago and found it fascinating.

I also have a sort of passive interest in Iceland, which means that I bought a copy of a couple of the sagas and hope to read them before I die - especially the one that might have been written by a woman......?

Anderson was fond of Scandinavian history, and the Vikings in particular. If you're interested in Anderson's Vikings you might also seek out his Hrolf Kraki's Saga, or his War of the Gods, his "Last Viking" trilogy (The Golden Horn, The Road of the Sea Horse and The Sign of the Raven), or his collaboration with Mildred Downey Broxon The Demon of Scattery. <\fanboy mode>

#126, 135 I'm envious of your Iceland visits - I've never managed to get there yet - I really wanted to go when I was about 18, but flights were very expensive then. Somehow I've forgotten that ambition - time to re-activate it!

#130, 131 Hi Stasia and Linda - thanks for dropping by - and no apologies needed! It's good to hear from you any time. I agree it is good that through LT we are in touch with people from such different parts of the world as well as such varied reading tastes - there's lots to help broaden our horizons.

#132, 133, 137 Thanks for the various Anderson suggestions; I didn't know of his fondness for Viking history, so it was quite by chanceI read that book immediately after the previous one about Vikings - a happy accident.

#136 I'm not sure which one might have been written by a woman - the authors are as far as I remember all anonymous, but I guess scholars may have speculated about them including their gender. I've discovered this database which contains all the sagas, in the original and a variety of translations - there are English versions of most. The ones that linger mostly strongly in my mind from the ones I read 25 years or so ago are Njal's Saga and Laxdaela Saga - mainly Njal's.

Just stopping by to say hello and see all the interesting things you've been reading!

No reading so far this month - desperately trying to get all work finished off before my holiday starts on Wednesday. Hope to update before I go, though I should have internet access while away as I'm staying with a friend, so I doubt I'll be cut off for a fortnight. Trying to plan my holiday reading and how many books I can carry with me...

Haven't read anything about the Vikings (or anything else Scandinavian), so a 180 page intro sounds good! I bought Kristin Lavransdatter in a fit of Group Read on LT enthusiasm and read about the first 20 pages. Oopsie.

#141 I've got myself a copy of Kristin Lavransdatter too - but it's a big tome and I don't know if I'll be taking it on holiday with me to Norway!

I read Kristin Lavransdatter years and years and years ago...practically the dark ages. Anyway, I recall liking it enough to recommend to my sister, but then again, I was just a teenager. I'll be interested in hearing about what you think of it.

#143 It's good to hear that you liked it, albeit a while ago! I hadn't heard of it at all, but came across it when searching for Norwegian authors because of my forthcoming holiday. I hope to get it read this year sometime, if not this month.

I read Kristin Lavransdatter when I was a teenager and loved it. Hope you have a great trip to Norway!

I read Kristin Lavransdatter when I was getting ready to go to Norway many years back -- I remember a lot. Knut Hamsun's work is also memorable, albeit not exactly cheerful, reading..... The Wayfarer.

I have Knut Hamsun's Mysteries and will take that with me, and K L too depending on how much space in the luggage - otherwise will read on my return.

Hi. Just stopping by to say have a great holiday!

Hi Genny, another person stopping by to say have a great holiday!

Have a good holiday, Genny!

Safe travels! Have a great holiday!

Thank you all for holiday wishes. Off to get on with packing now, and make that all important final selection of books to take with me!

#152: I hope you grabbed some good ones. You can tell us all about them when you are back from a wonderful trip!

Too late! You're gone already - hope you have a wonderful trip!
I quite enjoyed *KristenL* 35 years ago, and it was Laxdaela that somebody imagined might have been written by a woman. I can't even think where I saw or heard that now.
Norway sounds so cool! I say that with feeling since we're supposed to be 102° tomorrow. *sigh*

Oooh, it's so quiet here on your thread. I hope you are enjoying yourself in Norway.

Arrived back today from a fantastic holiday. Main features: water everywhere, and mountains too, wooden houses, lots of fresh fish to eat, ferries, islands, fresh air - and some time to read too... Will post a photo or two when I have sorted them out.

Looking forward to catching up on others' threads soon, and posting what I've been reading. Got home to find three new bookmooch books have arrived too - no end of things to read (happily!).

Welcome back, Genny. Glad you had a good time! I'm looking forward to the pictures!

Yay, Genny's back!

Welcome back - glad to hear you had a good time :-) Looking forward to the photos whenever you get a chance to upload them... And to the book reviews!

So happy to have you back! Glad you loved Norway.

Welcome back

Welcome back! You were missed. I'm glad that you had a good vacation.

Yay! You're back!!! Glad that you were able to make the most of a glorious opportunity. I look forward to pictures and postings!

Glad to see you are back, Genny! I am glad to hear that you had such a wonderful vacation.

Post pictures!!

Good to have you back here! And I'm glad to hear that you had a good time in Norway.

Welcome back, Genny! I'm glad to read that you had a good and interesting time away!

Well it's a week since I got back, and I'm about to go away again for another week, and I have got no further in posting about my reading while on holiday, or any photos, or anything else it seems.

I've had friends staying for 3 days, with 3 exuberant children aged 3, 6 and 9. Exhausting! I don't know how they cope all the time. Not a moment of peace or quiet all day long... My dog was very patient with them, but is looking distinctly relieved too now that they have gone.

No time for more LT, I have to finish all my urgent admin, attend an evening meeting, and then pack for a (camping) festival and visiting-family-and-friends-en-route holiday. I promise to catch up properly when I'm back.

Sounds like you are going to need another vacation, Genny!

Welcome back and have a good trip! I bet the dog is enjoying the peace and queit...

Hope you have a good holiday Genny - we will all still be here when you get back!

Typing this from my new smartphone while still away - back home tomorrow. On my way home via friends from a festival called Greenbelt which is all about faith, creativity and justice. Heard some interesting speakers including the poet Roger McGough. Not much reading done, too busy attending talks, listening to music and catching up with friends, but did manage to finish 'In the Bleak Midwinter' (an LT recommendation) sitting in my little tent this morning before breakfast and packing up.

Safe travels home, Genny. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!!

I hope you are taking lots of pictures to share, Genny!

#171 Oooh - smartphone! Greenbelt sounds fun and In the Bleak Midwinter has been on my wishlist for a while. Will be interested to hear what you thought of that one.

A long absence from LT - I've been overwhelmed since returning from holiday, with all the unpacking, washing, catching up with emails, getting back into the swing of work, and have been more tired than before I went away. Getting myself up to date again on my own thread, let alone trying to catch up with other people's, has felt like a task I needed to leave until I was ready for it, and finally today I'm finding the space.

So I'm sorry to have been out of touch with my 75 group friends, and hope to be gradually catching up again once I've updated my own reading - and hopefully found a few photos to post as well.

I did not manage as much reading as I'd hoped during the holiday month, and most of what I did finish reading in August was pretty light stuff - perfect for holiday time in fact. There were also several more serious books that I've started but not quite finished - hope to get them finished this month.

Some of the light reading I've been doing is some early Terry Pratchett. I've read most of his Discworld series over the years, but realised I'd missed a few, including the earliest two. A few years back I read the first book, The Colour of Magic for the first time. Didn't enjoy it as much as many of the later ones, but this summer I thought it was time to try the sequel:

61. The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett

Own book, acquired via Bookmooch

The familiar breathless Pratchett style, but as with the first book, I found I did not enjoy this as much as many of the later books. I think this is partly because as the series developed Pratchett uses the vehicle of comic fantasy to satirise and obliquely comment on different aspects of contemporary society and culture. I enjoy that aspect of the series, and it is less in evidence in these early books, in which Pratchett is mainly poking fun at a certain kind of fantasy writing itself. I suppose to some extent tourism is also the object of the comedy here, and I do have a certain fondness for the many-legged Luggage with a mind of its own. But I won't be rushing to re-read this one.

Book 62. East of the Sun and West of the Moon - Peter Asbjørnsen

Own book, bought 2010 from Amazon marketplace

The first of my Norwegian-themed reads during my holiday in Stavanger, Norway (and the only one I managed to finish while I was there).

First of all, I love the cover painting on this Wordsworth Classics edition of the traditional Norwegian folk tales, collected and first published in the 19th century by Peter Asbjørnsen. It illustrates the title story, one of 33 in this collection (I don't know how many tales were in the original collection - there is no introduction or notes with this edition).

I really enjoyed reading these tales - which are the Norwegian equivalent of the Brothers Grimm. Indeed Jacob Grimm apparently said in 1850 that the 'Norwegian folk tales are the best there is.'
They fall into two types. Some are first person accounts, mainly of hunting trips or other travels in the mountains and forests, during which the narrator - often forced to take shelter during a storm - hears stories of strange encounters with supernatural beings: brownies and trolls, huldres and goblin-hares. Episodic and rather repetitive (as different characters try to outdo each other with similar tall tales) they include vivid descriptions of landscape and setting, and suggest a world in transition, where sophisticated, modern young gentlemen are fascinated by the wild natural world around them and with the old beliefs and superstitions which still linger in farms and villages.

Other tales in this collection fall into the 'Once upon a time' classic folk tale style - stories about poor farmers, youngest sons, youngest daughters marrying polar bears, the devil and those who outwit him, the giant who had no heart, the cormorants of Udröst (a fairy land across the sea) and, of course, three billy goats and a troll. Some of these were very familiar from more recent re-tellings or other similar versions from other countries. Others were new to me. One of the shortest and funniest was about a poor farmer who berated his wife for not working hard enough about the house, until eventually she suggested they swap jobs for the day. Not surprisingly, the man soon discovers there is more to the daily household tasks than he had reckoned, and after a series of mishaps ends up hanging in the chimney over the porridge pot with one leg tied to a rope that is attached to the cow who had been grazing on the turf roof until she fell off! The story, in the often laconic way of folk tales, does not record what the wife said to him when she returned home and cut him down...

That simple role-swapping plot has been the basis for many a comedy in different forms; with this and most of the tales, it is in the details of the telling that the particular Norwegian flavour emerges. The king and his court appear often - portrayed not in grandeur and palaces but more in the guise of a wealthy, down-to-earth farmer. Turf roofs, like the one from which the cow fell in the story mentioned above, are still visible among the older farm buildings: here's a photo of one taken at the Utne folk museum:

If you are not planning a visit to Norway in the near future, reading these tales would be one good way of travelling there in the mind, especially to the wilder places of mountain, sea and forest. Recommended. 4 stars

Nice to see you back, Genny!

The Norwegian folk tales sound like fun. I've been thinking that when I've finished all the Discworld books out of order (just Sourcery and the The Amazing Maurice to go) I'd re-read them all in order, but the first couple are my least favourite and that's putting me off.

Welcome back, Genny!! We've missed you but been glad that you could vacation, especially in Norway! You and Caty almost inspire me to try Pratchett again. I think I read the first two, and while I can nod and say to myself, "There. That's supposed to be funny," I just mostly don't find them so. BUT.... if the first ones are the worst, maybe there's hope for me.

Glad to see you back, Genny!

I will have to see if I can locate a copy of East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Thanks for that recommendation.

Oh my goodness - I think I read those wayyyyy back when doing Euro Children's Lit in library school -- they were wonderful stories. Glad to have you around again! Missed you.

Hi Genny, so glad you're back on LT. I missed you, but I'm glad you had a wonderful time in Norway (that photo is marvellous).

>176 gennyt:: First of all, I love the cover painting on this Wordsworth Classics edition of the traditional Norwegian folk tales

That's the Kay Nielsen cover. Does that edition have the rest of his illustrations for the stories in it? They were very beautiful, probably my favorite of all of his work.

Welcome back Genny, we've missed you but definitely understand about needing to leave the task of catching up here until you were ready.

The early Pratchett's are definitely my least favourite of his books. I think the earlier ones are more specific satires of other fantasy novels (which as a young teen I hadn't read and I'm not sure I've read them now).

Loved your review of East of the Sun and West of the Moon and have added that one to my wishlist. I would like to visit Norway one day so more photos are welcome when you have the time.

#178 Peggy, definitely try some later Pratchett rather than earlier. There are lots of sub series within the Discworld series so it's possible to start with a later book and not miss anything in terms of character development. Guards! Guards! is one of my favourites and has a crime/mystery theme (amongst other things) which you might enjoy more.

Thanks for your welcomes. I'll definitely be putting up a few more of my Norway photos at some point. Still have more updating of my book reviews to do, but I'm struggling with excessive fatigue again and can barely manage to keep up with necessary work stuff. But I really appreciate being able to log in here and read your messages.

#178 Peggy, I agree with Heather's comments at #183 about Pratchett - if you want to try to find why other people find them funny, I think you'll be better of with any of the later ones. Even so, he may just not be your thing.

#182 Sadly there are no further illustrations in my edition, just the cover one. I'd love to see more, if they are like that. I had not come across Kay Neilsen before.

Going to bed now, very early for me - have a headache and am excessively tired, and have a long day tomorrow...

Genny, sorry to hear the tiredness is continuing, especially discouraging after a holiday. Although we would all love to see more photos and book reviews we would rather you rest if that's what you need. Hope tomorrow goes ok...

Hope the headache goes away soon, Genny. Get some rest!

Hi Genny. Very sad to hear that you're so tired. Hope that you get well soon!

Hi, Genny! Welcome back! Sorry to hear that you're still dealing with tiredness. Take care of yourself!

Some more brief reviews to try to get caught up:

Book 63
Dead Cold by Louise Penny


Own book, bought in charity shop, 2010

I enjoyed the second in this series, revisiting the inhabitants of Three Pines, and some of the other characters we first got to meet in Still Life, the first book. I loved the description of the cold, the snow and ice and storms - I was reading this on holiday in August, not in a heatwave but certainly a far cry away from such extreme weather conditions. The mystery itself seems secondary to the characters and the descriptions, but there is an unusual method for murder employed in this story, and a bit of a puzzle to figure it out.

Recommended for those who like their crime stories fairly cozy but well-written. 4 stars

Book 64
The Rough Guide to Norway by Phil Lee


Borrowed from a friend.

The usual useful stuff of Rough Guides travel guide, this was helpful preparation for my holiday and to read up about the couple of areas which I visited (Stavanger and the surrounding region, and the Hardangerfjord and surrounds). The sections on history, culture, flora and fauna etc were interesting - this includes quite a bit about the Viking era, leaving only about 10 pages to summarise the last 700 years or so, during which Norway lost sovereignty first to the Danes then the Swedes, then finally gained independence and in recent years has grown greatly in prosperity. Reading this brief summary made me realise how little I knew of all of this; it was interesting to learn something about how this nation has emerged within the last 100 years, while struggling with the complex legacy of the medieval and early modern past, and how it sees its relationship with the rest of Europe today.

Here are a few more photos from my holiday - first a couple of items from a folk museum at Utne on the Hardangerfjord: traditional costume which has been an important part of celebrating Norwegian nationality since independence, and a Hardanger fiddle, which has additional strings compared with other fiddle types.



And a view outside the Oil Museum at Stavanger, which among other things helps the visitor to explore the economic impact of offshore oil in Norway; and a view of one of the many modern bridges, which along with many tunnels are a sign of the way the Norwegian government has invested that oil money in the infrastructure of the country.

.

#189 Hooray for the Three Pines!

ETA: And some lovely photos :-)

You remind me I still need to get to the last book in the Three Pines series, Bury Your Dead.

Thanks for posting the pictures, Genny!

Book 65
Coroner's Pidgin - Margery Allingham (also known as Pearls before Swine in the US)


Own book, bought secondhand 2010

Continuing my read through of all Margery Allingham's works, this was a new one for me. It was published in 1945, set in war-damaged London. Albert Campion, who has returned from three years' secret overseas intelligence work, is having a quick bath in his flat before catching a train to his home in the country where his wife Amanda is waiting. He reckoned without his manservant Lugg choosing that moment to deposit a dead body in his flat - and Campion is reluctantly drawn into another case of intrigue and murder within the household of Lord Carados, in a city barely recognisable and among people who seem to have been affected by the violence of war.

Another enjoyable read. The writing is fresh and immediate, the contemporary depiction of a war-torn city is interesting, there are comic moments (especially supplied by Lugg) and as an undercurrent to the plot and mystery, there is Campion's constantly frustrated longing and desire to leave all this business behind and finally get home - where a different kind of surprise awaits him.

Four stars.

Edited to add US title

#193: I have limited experience with the Campion books, but have always meant to get back to them. One of these days. . .

We just had Margery Allingham as the featured author this past month at our mystery book club. I selected a small volume of her Mr. Campion stories. While they were entertaining, I think an expression of my mother's best describes my reaction: "T'aint nothing to write home about." I think that if I've learned nothing else from participating in this group, it's that the "old style" mystery writers, i.e., the CLASSIC ones - Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Margery Allingham, Dorothy Sayers, etc, just don't do too much for me. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the more exciting modern stories.

#194 Do try a few more when you have the chance.
#195 We can't all like everything, for sure. But was your recent read one of the collection of Campion short stories? If so, I would agree, they are entertaining but not that special - rather slight in fact. If that's all you have read of Allingham's, do try one or two of the full length novels. I'd particularly recommend the ones set during or shortly after the war, including Traitor's Purse and The Tiger in the Smoke, as well as the one reviewed above.

Genny

What marvelous photos!

#196...thanks Genny for the clarification. I think I will try to find one of her others before I totally put her on the NOT list.

A much-belated Happy Birthday, Genny! I'm glad to hear that you had a good one and wish you a year full of joy and usefulness!
I have to say that Allingham is my least favorite of the golden-age women. (I try one from time to time to see whether my taste has changed, but so far she just doesn't do it for me. I have to say that Lugg is my favorite character by far.) My pantheon goes Sayers, Tey/Marsh - sometimes the one; other times the other - Christie, Allingham - last by a long shot.

I must get round to some more Allingham: I haven't read one for months, although I think I have several in the TBR pile.

Hey Genny! What do you know...I lost your whole Norway discussion, but of course I can not let it go. Loved your review of East of the Sun and West of the Moon. That's actually one of my favourite tales..earlier today I had a discussion on the similarities between this tale and the one of White bear King Valemon. Maybe it's time to read them again:)

I liked the cover art at your edition, too. The most famous illustrator or most used in books of Norwegian folkm tales over here, is Theodor Kittelsen.







I loved your pictures too! I can't believ you made it up to the preachers pulpit. Impressive!!! Any pictures of that?

#198 I hope you get on better with the next one if you do try again. On the other hand, it is a relief sometimes to realise that you don't like a particular author and can rule out yet another addition to the mountain TBR.

#199 Thanks Peggy. I'm certainly hoping the coming year is better than the past one, health-wise at least.
Re the golden-age crime writers, I certainly share your rating of Sayers. When I've finished this complete read through of Allingham I'll probably start on her: I think I've read most, but possibly not all, and there are several I'd love to re-read. Gaudy Night is my favourite. For me Allingham comes a close second (partly because I love her depictions of the Essex & Suffolk coast & villages which feature in many - having lived in that part of the country for a while) - but then I've only read one Tey, and no Marsh at all. Christie feels very familiar because so many of her stories are dramatised/filmed, but actually I have not read much of hers, and that not since my teens. At the time I was not impressed - the few I read then seemed formulaic. I guess I should try one or two again, now that I have read much more in the genre. And I will be sampling some of the others too - I have a copy of Brat Farrar lined up in my TBR already.

#200 Hi Caty - nice to hear from you. I hope you enjoy your next Allingham, whatever it is.

#201 Hello Bente. Wonderful illustrations. I do indeed have pictures of the Preikestolen hike and views. I've been slowly sorting out my photos, I took so many, and need to delete the poor ones, edit some and identify the best ones and generally get them in order. I'm hoping soon to post a selection of the best ones on my profile page, but since you've asked, here's one taken from the top of the pulpit rock:


and here's a more realistic one showing all the other people who were there at the same time!

Book no. 66
Exit Music - Ian Rankin


Own book, acquired via BookMooch, July 2010

This is the last book in the long-running series about DI John Rebus, set in Edinburgh. I first started reading this series about 3 years ago, picking up in the middle. I enjoyed this read, but (writing this approx 6 weeks after I finished reading it) actually could not remember much about the plot, except that Rebus is caught up in one last case on the verge of his retirement. The plot (I eventually remembered) involves a dead Russian poet and also Rebus' arch-nemesis Big Ger Cafferty - are the two connected in some way, and will Rebus have to retire leaving unfinished business with Cafferty?

The fact that I could not immediately recall the plot does not mean that it was not well done; I think my enjoyment of these books however depends more on the well rounded characters (counting the city of Edinburgh itself as one of those) and the atmosphere. In this book the most interesting part is way Rebus - who has lived for his job - is shown facing (and fearing) the prospect of retirement. Still, I only gave this one 3.5 stars as it did not leave quite such an impact as some of the earlier ones.

Catching up on reviews is taking too long - I'm still not finished with August (though Sept should be quicker as I did not read so many).

Plans for October include a modest foray into TIOLI territory. I don't want to overcommit on that challenge, and so far have decided on the following:
The Lacuna Barbara Kingsolver (for the author with long surname challenge)
The Child that Books Built Francis Spufford (for the 'recommended by Stasia' challenge). I started this two or three months ago - and am finding it really interesting, also met the author at the Greenbelt Festival in August - but got distracted and need to read the final chapter or two.
I am expecting that quite a few other reads during October will fit into one or two TIOLI categories, especially the one that covers anything published in the past decade!
But I really want to try to finish several books that I've started and abandoned, including:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Kingsolver
Mysteries Knut Hamsun
Children's Spirituality Rebecca Nye
Sea of Poppies Amitav Ghosh
The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall
The King's Glass Carola Hicks
Beatrix Potter Linda Lear

I'm not very good at keeping several books on the go at once; sometimes I keep different books I'm reading in different rooms in the house, to read when I am using that room - but then the room gets tidied to be used for a meeting or something, and the book is put aside, and I lose track of what I'm meant to be reading, and concentrate on the latest fiction read only. I hope to finish at least two of the above, if not three, during October.

Absolutely gorgeous photos of Norway, Genny. I hope you enjoy The Lacuna, one of my favorites of this year's reading.

I agree with Donna about The Lacuna, Genny. I hope you like it too!

Your photos are breathtaking. A friend went to Norway twice. She loves it there!

Nothing like starting at the end....I read exit music last year when I got a copy from the publisher to review. I'd never read the others in the series, but I enjoyed it quite enough that I've thrown the rest of the series onto the TBR pile.

Great pics btw...

I have just finished my 75th book! My reviews have not caught up with my reading yet, but The Portrait by Iain Pears was my no. 75. Not my favourite read of the year, a rather creepy monologue, well done but a little macabre. Slightly fuller review to follow when I catch up with myself.

Congrats on reaching 75!!!

Congrats!

Congrats:D

Book no. 67
The Cruellest Month - Louise Penny


Library book.

Loved it, but also had some reservations - which I think I've resolved by abandoning any idea that Penny is trying to be realistic! There is more than a hint of magical realism/fantasy in her fictional world although at first glance it appears ordinary. The depth of portrayal of characters, in their different states of emotional immaturity/maturity, continues to impress. See review here.

Looking forward to the next one! 4 stars

Congratulations!!!!!

Book no. 68
In the Bleak Midwinter - Julia Spencer-Fleming


Own book, acquired via Bookmooch, August 2010

This was recommended by tututhefirst - I hadn't heard of this author or series before. Clare Fergusson is an Episcopal priest, newly appointed to a church in a small town in NY state, having previously served in the armed forces. She finds an abandoned baby on the church doorstep and soon joins forces with the local police chief to solve the mystery of the baby's origin. More than one murder and attempted murder ensue, as the weather worsens.

I enjoyed this as a series opener. I share Clare's profession, so it is always interesting to see how the life of a priest is depicted in fiction, especially a woman and one newly arrived, dealing with people's varied expectations and misapprehensions. The glimpses of the internal politics of church life rang all too true; less realistic perhaps was the way Clare seemed to be able to spend so much time solving myteries just before Christmas. There were also some instances of Clare rushing unthinkingly and unaided into danger that appeared all too obvious to the reader. I suppose that's part of a venerable crime fiction genre tradition, but I think I like it done more subtly.

A running thread through the story is Clare's lack of suitable warm clothing, footwear and vehicle to cope with the bitter cold and snow of the region. She comes from a warmer climate, and likes her smart shoes and stylish but impractical sports car. Her slowness to equip herself suitably for her new situation seems a bit perverse, but I could could recognise in this the struggle not to lose her own identity and personal history, as she adjusts to this demanding new professional role which can be all-consuming.

I'll certainly try the next one or two in the series. 3.5 stars.

Ok, I really want to bring my reviews up to date today, so let's see if I can keep things brief and get through my September reads:

Book no. 69
Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
Own book (Bookmooch August 2010)

Continuing (re)read through Pratchett. A wizard before dying bequeathes his magical powers on a new born eighth son of a eight son - except the baby turns out to be a girl. Can women be wizards? Not according to conventional thinking in Discworld - it's definitely a male preserve, and the kind of magic that women can do is definitely regarded as inferior. This book introduces Granny Weatherwax, who takes charge of the child Esk and, in her own inimitable fashion helps her work out what to do with her considerable powers in a world which does not accept that they can exist in a woman.

I read this some years ago, in the early years of the debate about whether women could be ordained priests in the Church of England. Whether Pratchett had this particular example in mind when satirizing our society's continuing patriarchal tendencies, I am not sure - the original publication date would suggest he was very prompt indeed to pick up on this debate if so, but then he often seems prescient in the subjects he chooses (recently bankers, just before the international crisis errupted). Certainly the attitudes, arguments and prejudices involved in excluding women from equal participation in professional/ritual roles are accurately (and hilariously) observed.

Although I think it tails off a little towards the end, and it was not perhaps quite as good as I remembered it from the first read, I enjoyed this book much more than the first two, and Granny remains one of my favourite characters. 4 stars.

Book no. 70
Bootlegger's Daughter - Margaret Maron
Own book (Bookmooch September 2010)

Another new mystery series featuring a woman leading character. Deborah Knott is a lawyer in North Carolina, running for election as judge, and gets drawn into helping solve the mystery of a murder that took place 18 years before.

I enjoyed this well enough, a fairly undemanding read (except for unfamiliar cultural references, especially in some of the food terms - which I forgot to make a note of and look up) which gave me a picture of an part of America about which I know very little. I don't know if I liked it enough to read lots more - perhaps someone can tell me if it's a series which gets better as it goes along?

3.5 stars.

Book no. 71
The Other Family - Joanna Trollope
Library book

I haven't read any Trollope for several years - I had grown tired of the so-called 'Aga saga' novels of upper-middle class family drama in southern England. I was prompted to read this one because someone mentioned that it was partly set in Newcastle in the North East, which is now my home town, and that it featured the traditional folk music culture which is a particularly important part of the way of life up here.

This is a story about bereavement, and the practical and emotional difficulties that emerge following a death when there are multiple families involved. The novel begins immediately following the death of a musician, who leaves behind him his current partner (never married) and three daughters in London but also the 'other family', a wife and son abandoned long ago in Newcastle. An unexpected bequest in his will throw the two families into reluctant contact, and one of the daughters uses the opportunity to explore her father's and her own northern roots (this is where the folk music bit comes in eventually).

I'm not sure I was convinced by the characterisation and emotional states of most of the characters, though the combined turmoil and numbness of the immediate aftermath of bereavement was well conveyed. It was interesting to read an enthusiastic depiction of contemporary Newcastle, including the very recent concert hall and music education centre The Sage, and a mention of a unique (in this country at least) degree course in folk and traditional music. As a southerner myself now living here, I could identify with the journey from ignorance to delight in discovering the considerable merits of this city. However, Trollope writes about the North East as a visitor herself, and she makes at least one glaring error: in two places she describes trains crossing the Tyne Bridge, whereas every local and indeed any writer who had done their research properly would know that the iconic Tyne Bridge only carries cars and pedestrians.

Here it is with a bus going over it, and the shiny Sage building behind it:


So, not particularly recommended, unless you are a die-hard Trollope fan or want to read a southerner's view of Newcastle, errors and all! 3 stars.

I really liked Bootlegger's Daughter but have only read the 2nd in the series since, though I've bought far more.

I also recommend Margaret Maron's Sigrid Harald books, harder to find but they have been reprinted, and might be worth looking out for on BM.

217...I enjoyed your perspective on Clare Fergusson. I think that Spencer-Fleming is one of those authors who really has grown as the series goes along. Louise Penny is another author whose early books seem almost "meh" compared to the depth and breadth of charcters as they progress. Both of these series are really character dependent, although I think Penny's plot lines are certainly more sophisticated than SF's.

Do try the next few in the Fergusson-VanArysdale saga. I don't think they'll disappoint. Hint....Clare does mature, but it sure seems to take her a long time to do it!

Congratulations on reaching 75!

Some good reads there: I really must get round to trying both the Penny and Spencer-Fleming series soon.

Equal Rites is not one of my favourite Pratchetts, but I did find it entertaining. I hadn't registered that it originally came out around the time when there was so much debate in the C of E about the ordination of women. Interesting.

Looking forward to the remaining reviews...

Congratulations on reaching the goal!

Gosh, I'm behind!

#193 I still have all the Allinghams you sent me in an incriminating pile on one of my bookcases waiting to be read. I think my excuse is that I'm waiting to collect all the Campion books before diving in!

#199 I am woefully under-read when it comes to the golden age mystery writers. I've read most of Agatha Christie's books (I'm due a reread) but the only other is The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey. I have been trying to rectify this by acquiring Sayers, Tey, Allingham and Marsh and I now have them in my TBR pile which is a start at least!

#201 Beautiful illustrations!

#203 Wow!

#204 I've never read any Rankin. I think he's on my 'try one day but no rush' list.

#210 And congratulations on reading 75 this year!

#215 Brilliant review! I love the characters Louise Penny writes but I completely agree that the murder rate in The Three Pines village is preposterous. For some reason, it doesn't spoil my enjoyment of the books. I'm sure I remember comments about the ridiculously high murder rate in Oxford from the Morse books. Your comments about magical realism with respect to Penny's books were very interesting, I hadn't thought of it in that way at all.

I think The Cruellest Month was one of my favourites in the series so far (I've read up to book 5).

#217 That's another one that's on my wishlist to try at some point

#218 Glad you enjoyed your reread of Equal Rites, I haven't read the earlier Pratchetts for a while now.

And I'm all caught up (for now anyway).
And I think that's me a

Great job! 75 books and going strong.

Btw, I like what you said about Louise Penny sometimes being unrealistic in her books. I'm going to keep that in mind as I finish the series. Two more to go! I got so hung up on that baby robin in the month of April in The Cruellest Month that it took away a teeny bit of enjoyment for me. We don't get baby robins here in Missouri that early in the year, and Canada is much further north than us! That's just one example of things not ringing true in her books...but I'm letting go...yes I am!

#221 Thanks for the recommendation of the other Maron series, I've added a few to my wishlist.

#222 Hi Tina, yes I will be trying the next one or two in the Julia Spenser-Fleming series, just waiting for them to appear on Bookmooch...

#223 Hello Caty, thanks for congratulations. I'll be interested to see what you think of the Penny series when you get to it - I thought I was about the last to get started on those. As for Terry Pratchett and the women's ordination issue, I'm not sure whether in fact he was picking up on that specifically (the CofE has been making a song and dance of this on and off for over 25 years now, but the mid 1980s was certainly one time when it was in the news), but I'm sure the absurdities of the debate will have appealed to him. Am pressing on with rest of reviews today, I hope...

#224 Thanks Linda!

#225 Heather, I do hope you enjoy the Sayers, Allingham et al when you get round to them. My favourite I think is Sayers; I've read just about all of hers, though not recently (time for a re-read?), and had only read a few Allingham until this year, when I decided to read all of hers. And I've only read one Tey myself. Look forward to sharing some of these reads/rereads with you. As for Rankin, I only got started on him after I'd had my first proper visit to Edinburgh - it felt like a continuation of getting to know the city. And I'm glad you know what I'm getting at re Three Pines; it wasn't that I didn't enjoy the last one, it was just that I realise I shall have to think of them as a slightly different kind of book.

#226 Thanks Donna. Interesting comment re the baby robin in Cruellest Month. I hadn't noticed that, but then our climate and flora/fauna differs in so many ways over here that I wouldn't know what is realistic or not in that respect. I hope you enjoy the rest of the series - I've just ordered book no. 4 and am looking forward to that.

Book no. 72
Wildfire at Midnight - Mary Stewart


Library book.

First published in 1956, this romantic/gothic mystery is set just a couple of years earlier in the year 1953, the year of the Queen's coronation and also of the conquest of Everest. Both these events have some relevance: the heroine flees busy pre-coronation London for a quiet stay in a remote hotel on the Island of Skye in the Scottish Highlands, where the surrounding mountains contain more than simply beautiful scenery or a challenge to climbers - there is also suspense, danger, obsession and murder.

This is an undemanding and enjoyable read, not too heavy on the romance and with beautifully written evocations of the highland setting of sea, sky and mountains. A couple of days after finishing this, I was talking to someone who grew up on Skye and who said how powerfully the mountains and the landscape had affected her faith and world-view. I think Stewart's has captured something of the power of this landscape in this book, even more than in another of hers, Stormy Petrel, which is similar in setting and plot.

3.5 stars

Book no 73
The White Cottage Mystery - Margery Allingham


Own book, bought 2010

This slim volume was Allingham's first detective story, first published as a newspaper serial in the Daily Express in the 1920s. It appeared in book form in 1928, but once out of print was not readily available until revised and republished posthumously in 1975 by Margery's sister Joyce. The revision involved editing out the summaries/repetitions which were helpful to the original newspaper readers but superfluous to those reading the story in book form.

The story (this is pre-Campion) involves the death of an unpleasant man, with too many suspects and no obvious way of discovering the killer. It also involves a rather implausibly sudden love affair and a dash across the channel from Kent to Paris and then to the South of France. A light read, far from Allingham's best, but some of her characteristic style is already beginning to emerge. 3.5 stars.

Book no. 74
Asterix in Britain - René Goscinny


Graphic novel (or comic, as I used to call it!)
Own book, bought on eBay 2010

Thanks to Heather (southoftherose) for reminding me of the Asterix books earlier in the summer - I had to get myself a copy of this which I remembered fondly as one of my favourites, first read some time in the 1970s.

The Romans have successfully invaded Britain (by dint of choosing to fight at 5pm, when Britons insist on taking a break for a cup of hot water - tea not having yet been discovered). However, as in Gaul, one small village is holding out against the invaders. They can't last much longer without reinforcements, so cousin Asterix with his friend Oblelix are summoned to bring them some magic potion. The friends encounter warm beer, boiled boar with mint sauce and other strange local customs, and the Tower of London, London pubs and the local Roman garrison will never be the same after Asterix, Obelix and the barrel of potion have passed their way. And those odd herbal leaves which Getafix the druid gave Asterix may help spice up the Briton's daily cuppa...

Not quite as funny as I remember it, but still great fun, and the passing years have increased my understanding of some of the cultural references (ie French stereotypes about the British).

4 stars.

Mary Stewart: yet another author I seem to be the last person to read. Adding that one to the wishlist.

I have not read Stewart's Wildfire at Midnight yet, so into the BlackHole it goes. Thanks, Genny!

Book no. 75
The Portrait - Iain Pears


Library book.

For my 75th book, an unusual novel in monologue-form. An artist speaks to the person whose portrait he is painting; the sitter never gets to answer back so we hear everything from the one perspective. Interesting and slightly macabre story, good writing. Full review here.

Got me thinking about why there seem to be so many books inspired by art/artists/paintings (certainly lots of mystery genre, also the likes of Tracy Chevalier etc).

4 stars.

Edited to correct link.

Congratulations on reaching the 75 challenge goal!

Book #75 sounds very interesting.

#234: I think I own that one. I will have to check.

Congrats on 75, Genny!

That's me caught up with reviews at last - and I've begun to catch up a bit on the threads too, though that all too easily gets overwhelming. There are so many lovely people reading interesting books out there, and I do want to try to keep up, but sometimes it all gets too much.

Anyway, it is time to do some more reading of books, not just of threads. I've got several I've just started, and several nearly finished - need to focus on something! I've had a rotten cold the last few days, on top of persistent fatigue, so I don't seem to have managed to achieve anything much, but am beginning to feel a little better at least regarding the cold...

#236 It is showing as being in your library - did you read it a while ago, or is it one in your Black Hole still? Have you read any of his other ones?

Genny

Thumbs up on your review. I'm sorry you are still lagging, and now have a cold to boot!

I hope you feel better soon!

#238: I read Pears' Stone's Fall which I liked, as well as his entire Art History Mystery series.

I thought I owned The Portrait. I have not read it yet though.

An "art history mystery series?"

Now, I'm hooked.

#240, 241 Yes it's the Jonathan Argyll series, beginning with The Raphael Affair. I've read a couple of them. But I first came across Pears through the very different, unusual historical novel An Instance of the Fingerpost which I read about 10 years ago, and subsequently The Dream of Scipio. Stone's Fall seems to be his most recent, I've not read that yet.

Glad the cold is going, Genny; I hope the fatigue soon eases as well.

I quite like the Jonathan Argyll series, although I've only read some of the later books so far. I do have An Instance of the Fingerpost in the TBR pile and The Dream of Scipio in the wishlist. The Portrait doesn't particularly tempt me at the moment - I don't think I'm interested enough in art - but maybe if I get on well with Fingerpost, Scipio and the early Argylls I might give it a go.

#243 Fingerpost deals with issues you might find more interesting - religion and science in 17th century (it's a bid late for a medievalist, but I still found it fascinating).

Oh the joy of Bookmooch! Two more books arrived in the post this morning:
The Eyre Affair sent from Germany
and
August Folly - my first Angela Thirkell whom I'd not heard of pre-LT - sent from Iceland.

Yesterday it was Venus Throw by Steven Saylor, part of his Ancient Rome based detective series which I've not yet started, also learned about through LT. This book was sent from someone within the UK, with the added feature of being part of an initiative to raise awareness and funds for a charity supporting women's development in Ethiopia: LUCIA.

So as if I didn't have enough to read already, I now have three more on the TBR pile, for no more than the cost of a bit of postage several months ago (I accumulated a lot of points by sending out quite a lot of books back in the spring, now I am reaping the benefits!). And it is fun receiving parcels from all over the world. I've had one from Japan, and one from South Africa, as well as several from Canada and the USA.

Meanwhile I've nearly finished a book which took me a while to get started, but is now proving fascinating: Rich Desserts and Captain's Thin's. The odd title made me take it off the shelf in the charity shop a few months back. Report coming soon, I hope, on what it turned out to be about.

#244: Congratulations on your worldwide book haul, Genny!

OOOO lucky you starting your Thirkell adventure!!!!!

Oh golly, Genny! I started reading and then just had to skim to get down to say a few things about a few of your reading experiences! (And I hope you shake that cold.) I actually prefer Margaret Maron's Sigrid Harald series, but I live only a little south of the setting of the Deborah Knott ones. I find her writing a bit uneven, so I think some of the later ones with DK are better than Bootlegger's Daughter. (I have never known a place where a bootlegger had the reputation of Kezzie Knott, I do have to say. That's just not realistic, but the food and family connections are right on the money.) Brat Farrar is my favorite Tey, but she's good anyway you read her. I also love Marsh, but you have to be a little careful with her. Some of them (Died in the Wool comes to mind) are notable only for the means of death. Try Killer Dolphin or Hand in Glove or Death of a Peer or even Artists in Crime for examples of good Marsh. Gaudy Night is my favorite Sayers too....
I didn't realize that Rankin was wrapping up Rebus. That makes me a little sad although I obviously haven't read all the ones I own yet. I read and enjoyed An Instance of the Fingerpost but was less impressed with the first Jonathan Argyll and haven't returned to him. Now I will........And I'm thrilled to have somebody else aboard the Thirkell and Steven Saylor!

I have the Margaret Forster book, Rich Desserts... it caught my eye on the inventory of someone I regularly mooch from on BM.

Book no. 76
That Awkward Age - Roger McGough


Own book, bought August 2010.
Poetry.

I am familiar with Roger McGough's lilting Liverpudlian voice presenting the BBC Radio 4 'Poetry Please' request programme on Sunday afternoons, but hadn't heard him reading his own poems until he gave a reading recently at the Greenbelt Arts Festival which I attended in August. Many of the poems he read were from this, his latest collection, so I bought a copy (though I missed getting him to sign it).

I enjoyed the live reading probably more than reading the poems myself - McGough's voice, and his short introductions and explanations about the context of writing the poems added something extra - but this slim volume manages to amuse, divert and sometimes give pause for thought.

Full review is here.

When asked during question time at the Festival about the teaching of poetry in schools, he argued for the importance of anything that encourages genuinely creative, imaginative thinking, especially in our fast-changing world where most of today's children will in future be working in jobs that do not currently exist. Being able to make imaginative leaps and unlikely connections is more than ever vital to human beings thriving in our world, and poetry has a part to play in encouraging this.

4 stars.

Sorry to hear about your cold and continuing fatigue. Hope you start to feel better soon.

The Iain Pears books sound interesting - that's another author I hadn't heard of before LT! I've wishlisted An Instance of the Fingerpost for now.

#244 Congratulations on the bookmooch haul! I had some good books come to me in the mail as well this week - it's very exciting.

A new thread, shiny and autumnal like a conker, can be found over here.

Wowzer...lots of good reading going on here. Those colds can be tricky. It took me a full week to shake mine, but I think I'm going to live!

Iain Pears is an author I need to look at. The Portrait looks intriguing...and a good way to combine my love of art and reading. Thank you for your excellent review.

#250 and #252 I recently read The Dream of Scipio by Pears. Good, although not as good as An Instance of the Fingerpost. I also have The Portrait on the TBR. He's a definitely an author worth reading.

249: I love poetry readings and I enjoy Poetry Please - I definitely think it adds something to most poetry hearing it read aloud. I've bought several children's poetry books and will have to start reading them to the kids regularly. Danny quite took to a poem about a grandfather and an owl by Ted Hughes I think.

#252-4 Thank you for your comments - please note the conversation continues over on the new thread (see message #251).