Fourpawz2's New Spot

Ah - new digs. So much roomier than my old ones.

Found you again. Where's the couch?

Stasia, I imagine Charlotte's couch is in the room that is surrounded by piles and piles of books.

Hi Charlotte!

#3: That is definitely where I need to be then!

Found and starred ;-)

Welcome, Anita - nice to see you here.

Yes, Linda you have the right room. It is also the room festooned with lots and lots of cat hair. I think Willie is protesting the hot and humid weather by ripping out chunks of the stuff. Maybe I should just go ahead and shave him....

Book No. 60 - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - thought I heard some folks express a little ambivalence (or plain dislike) about this one so I borrowed a copy from the library and I was sorry - sorry that I didn't just go ahead and buy the puppy. Finished it in two days and liked it a whole lot. Want very much to read the others, but intend to buy them, so it may take a while before I can get my hands on them at a decent used book price. I know I could get them from the library too, but I actually had to wait my turn for this one - and I've never had to do that before.
Four stars
465 pages

Book No. 61 - Lirael by Garth Nix - Liked this one even more than the previous book in the series and I liked that one just fine. Nix writes about his fantasy world so clearly that I don't have the least problem 'seeing' everything in it. His magic is truly magical. He does not burden his story with pretentious crap that only weighs everything down and does nothing to advance the story. And again - there is no quest - just a mission that has to be carried out. Loved the Disreputable Dog and was glad to see that Moggett is back in town. And I wish that I could work in the Clayr's Library. All those rooms with all those books that have been forgotten (not to mention the rooms with the crazy-assed monsters and other scarey things in them). Am hoping the third book of this series does not disappoint.
Four and a half stars
705 pages

Book No. 62 - Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon - Finally finished this one. The book was not at fault - I just had so many other things that I was reading at the same time that I could not seem to get back to finishing it. Although I had no trouble figuring out what Lady A's secret was, I still enjoyed the story. One tiny criticism - Braddon chose, for some reason, to use her hero's full name - Robert Audley - about 85% of the times when she, naturally enough, had to name him. As he is the hero this leads to a whole lot of Robert Audley this and Robert Audley that. Really, if she'd just called him Robert or Audley most of the time I would have known who it was she was speaking of and the book would have ended a bit sooner. But that's just a little nit-picky criticism.
3.25 stars
Kindle

... and Book No. 63 - Kabul In Winter by Ann Jones - Afghanistan is broken and I fear that it will be never be fixed. And there is so much standing in the way of it ever getting fixed - not the least of which is the good ol' US of A. I was angry - with a capital A - as I read the story of Jones' time in this country. The greed, the corruption, the aid programs that don't work because they are not meant to 'aid' anyone but the stinking contractors (American) who are supposed to be doing something toward helping and only end up doing more and more damage. One interesting statistic (taking into account that this book was published in 2006 and so these numbers are most certainly not current) that I found was that the government of Luxembourg designated $193 per Luxembourg citizen for foreign aid while in this country the amount was eight whole measley dollars (most of which never even leaves the country). I do not think, however, given the crappy way the US was (is?) running its aid programs, that more money would help at all. Of course the US is not the only entity to blame - but this country is certainly responsbile for a big, fat, giant portion of what has gone wrong in the past and also for what is currently wrong there.
There is a whole lot of this book that I could rant and rave about, but I won't. I will say that I thought it was an excellent and a very sad book.
Recommended
4.5 stars
287 pages

Glad to see you liked Lady Audley's Secret! I discovered it a little while back and really enjoyed it, in spite of the occasional flaws - nit-picky or not, lol...

You're in for quite a ride with The Millenium Trilogy Charlotte. You might as well savor them cuz once you've finished the third book, there aren't going to be anymore:(

I'm going to look for Lady Audley's Secret and try to overlook the Robert Audley redundancy. Thanks for the re:)

ETA Oh yeah I'm adding Kabul in Winter also.

I'm in the middle of Lirael right now and enjoying it, though it seems to be moving slowly... though for some reason, I don't mind, as it's still plenty engaging.

Oh dear ... another trilogy that I need to add to my obese wish list. I looked up the Abhorsen Trilogy after reading your review of Lirael and I'm definitely keen to read this.

#7: I bought that one and definitely need to get it read. Thanks for the reminder, Charlotte.

Book No. 64 - Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively - Claudia, the main character in this book, so reminded me of my own mother - witty, literary, smart (although Mother could be impossibly dumb about some things) and about as warm as a tray full of ice cubes. That and the fact that I hate reading books from this era (WWII-ish) because it is my parents' era and I hate to see their generation described at the height of their powers - young and handsome with the world at their fingertips - knowing how it all crumbled into bits at the ends of their lives. That said, this was a wonderful book even though it had these two huge things that I hate to read about - women like the Queen (mummy) and people of my parents' age. Judging from various reviews, almost no one likes Claudia (including me) and with reason, yet all the same she is very compelling. I whipped through this short novel in no time, savoring every sentence.
4.5 stars
208 pages

Book No. 65 - Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland - Did not like this series of stories, told in reverse, revolving around a single Vermeer painting very well until I got to "Morningshine" after which the book improved markedly. By the time Vreeland made her way back to Vermeer himself and his family I found myself loving her descriptions of how he painted and of how he felt while painting. For me, the back half of the book saved it as a whole.
Three stars
242 pages

Book No. 66 - Lord John and the Hand of the Devils by Diana Gabaldon - Have owned this book since its publication in 2007 and haven't ever been moved to read it. I did read the first two Lord John novels as soon as I got them and did not love them. I love the Lord John characater in the Outlander books - I just didn't love him on his own. However, this book, which is actually a collection of three novellas, I found quite enjoyable - in particular the last novella "Lord John and the Haunted Soldier". Makes me want to go back and take a crack at those novels again to see if I might like them more the second time around.
4 stars (probably more like 3.8, but I'll bump it up to 4)
302 pages

... and the books that have come into the house since the last time:
Death of a Gossip by M.C. Beaton
Abhorsen by Garth Nix
Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell and
For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder that Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz

#13: I bought Moon Tiger on the recommendation of someone here in the group. I must find my copy!

#14: I will be interested in seeing what you think of the Baatz book when you get to it, Charlotte.

Loved Moon Tiger when I read it a few years ago, Charlotte. I love books set in the WWII era though, for all the reasons you list and also for the backbone and courage they showed when it all fell apart. But I certainly see your point.

Lost you for a bit, found you again..... I have to try Nix!

Dang! Haven't been here in more than two weeks. Humidity, vacations (other people's) and sheer laziness are taking their toll.

Book No. 67 - Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - Have struggled with the other Atwood books that I've read - have not, as a group, loved them and in particular did not like Oryx and Crake, but this one I liked a lot.
Four Stars
460 pages

Book No. 68 - Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763 by James Boswell - Been reading this one for quite a while and must say that it was very enjoyable. Was amused by Boswell's eternal disdain for his fellow Scots and his slavish admiration of the upper class Englishman. Also his very tra-la way of including all of his sexual encounters within the pages of his journal - the vast majority of which seem to mean no more to him than a trip to CVS to buy some cough drops. The more I read, the better I enjoyed the journal and plan now to read the other years that, I would assume, do not primarily involve London.
Five Stars
333 pages

No. 69 - The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams - I found the first three-quarters of this book very slow moving and very sad and the last quarter pretty exciting with a worthwhile conclusion. Would not say that I cared very much for Adam's style of writing.
Three Stars
390 pages

Wow -- you've been reading up a storm! I am a Boswell nut, so ask me anything. There is something so completely contemporary about him, he blew me away in college when I encountered him in am 18th cent lit class. I even debated pursuing a graduate degree, but decided against it as there was little point since I would never ever teach at a uni. But I've read all but a few of the later journals which weren't out yet when I was in my twenties. All of the journals are delightful -- once he's finally given up on the soldier thing he goes to Europe and interviews the Big Figures of the time -- Paoli, Voltaire and the like, he studies law fitfully, follows Johnson around, hems and haws about marrying.... I think writing was his salvation -- he had a brother who was quite mad.

I am at present reading The Handmaid's Tale -- I can relate to your discomfort, everyone seems to love Alias Grace though. What leads you to keep reading Atwood? You know there is an Atwoodian group?

#187: I will get around to Alias Grace eventually as I own that one, but I really need to read the Boswell. Thanks for the recommendation, Charlotte.

I also have Alias Grace in the TBR pile, so I'm glad to hear a positive recommendation for it.

#21 & 20 - Hope you like Alias Grace.

Lucy - I keep reading Atwood because it's like lobster - you eat it because everyone says it's so good. Then eventually you admit that it's wretched and stop wasting your money and admit that it is just a horrible bottom feeding scavenger that tastes WRONG! Not to imply that I think that Atwood's stuff is the work of a bottom feeder, but just trying to drive home the point that I think it may turn out to be wrong for me. The way that lobster did.

I'm having an interesting time reading The Handmaid's Tale -- I know it would have hit me completely differently had a read it twenty or thirty years ago, which is curious. I avoided a lot of feminist stuff back then because it made me feel so crazy (the non-passage of the ERA nearly did me in, a real awakening) so it was better if I just didn't get all worked up. Now I have more perspective. I don't think she writes to entertain, that is not her purpose, and that always interferes with good story-telling ultimately. Don't mind me, I'm in a darkish mood today!

Kind of like Joyce Carol Oates would you say? Her stuff is downright depressing (the little I've seen, so far), but it is extremely well written, with a lot of staying power after you're done. I've got a lot of her stuff on my list to get. Note to self: Get off ass and buy some JCO. Then read it.

> 18
I haven't been around much either, last week a Pekinese puppy joined our household :-)

I remember The plague dogs as a good read, but I read it a long time ago.
Most people like Watershipdown better, did you ever read that one?

Anita

> 25 You lucky!!! I've had puppy fever off and on lately, but I've managed to keep it in check. But when things quiet down.....

I liked Watership Down but never liked any of the others and gave up on them.

And yes -- you are right Charlotte -- JCO and Doris Lessing and several others have more than a storytelling agenda -- and it does get in the way sometimes. But those other things are often done brilliantly, so it works out! It's been awhile since I read any JCO. So bleak!

A puppy, Anita - how nice. I love dogs, but have never had one. Am a cat person. Figure it is because I am basically lazy and cats come pre-programmed.

Have not read Watership Down and am not too certain that I will.

Apparently notes to self are not of any value - went to bookstore yesterday, picked some Joyce Carol Oates off the shelf and in the end did not buy them, but instead bought a Sarah Dunant book and the second Steig Larsson book.

Book No. 70 - The Master of All Desires by Judith Merkle Riley - historical fiction concerning the court of Henry II, Catherine de Medici, Mary Stuart, Nostradamus and a young girl in possession of a disembodied head in a silver gilt casket - the Master of All Desires. The Master is an evil, evil thing who will grant the person who owns him and his casket whatever the possessor wants, but always with a twist. Whatever you want will, without fail turn out to be not what you thought it was going to be and you will then be forced to make another wish in order to correct the thing that went wrong with the last wish you made and so on and so forth until at last you die (most likely by suicide because of your dealing with the Master) and the nasty head goes on to a new owner. The girl, Sibille Artaud de la Roque, is lucky to have an aunt who is not fazed by the hideous head and its magic (she lives, after all, in a house that is populated by the ghosts of all the people killed by her late husband who was a pirate) and will not let her niece make a wish. Sibille, being a sensible girl listens to her aunt, never makes a wish, which frustrates the head, but still she cannot get rid of the head - it keeps rematerializing its way back to her when she tries to get rid of it (or sometimes just when she tries leaving it at home) and so she is stuck with it. She needs Nostradamus' help to get her out of the mess she is in.

This book is also about Nostradamus, Catherine deMedici, Diana dePoitiers (the mistress of Catherine's husband Henry II), some Italian seers and Sibille's love life and her wretched family. I love the way (as is her usual way) Riley imbues this 16th century world with humor, writing about the Ruggerio brothers (the Italian seers) as though their business, which involves poisoning and other such unpleasant matters, were just an everyday profession - like drycleaning or accounting. I've been holding on to this book - unread - for several years because Riley does not write very quickly (don't even know if she's got anything in the works or maybe she has given up writing altogether), but finally had to break down and read this. There is one other Riley book that I still don't own and now am forced to buy. Recommended
Four stars.
386 pages

Book No. 71 - Mary Anne by Daphne Du Maurier - historical fiction concerning the scandal caused by DuMaurier's g-g-g grandmother who was mistress to Frederick Augustus (son of George III) Duke of York and Commander in Chief of the Army. This was interesting in the beginning as Mary Anne rose from her Cockney background, but grew less so once she became the Duke's mistress. By the half way mark it was all about the scandal and the multitudinous Parlimentary doings and manueverings, by the Duke's political enemies, to bring him down. Lots and lots of testimony in Parliament - all of it done, according to DuMaurier, at night. Wondered about that. Why nighttime? Anyway, it was only a so-so book for me - certainly nothing anywhere near as good as Rebecca or The Scapegoat.
3 stars
351 pages

Book No. 72 - Arthur & George by Julian Barnes - More historical fiction concerning the case of George Edalji, Birmingham solcitor, his wrongful prosecution and imprisonment, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and how it all led to the establishment of an appeals court in the UK. Also a good bit about spirtualism (for Conan Doyle was a practitioner ?, believer ?, fan ? of that). Some of the time it hardly read like fiction. Particularly liked the part before Conan Doyle and Edalji actually met each other for this is one of those books that alternates chapters about first one character and then the other and it is a long time before Arthur and George meet.
3.75 stars
386 pages

...and the books that have come into the house since the last time:

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters - actually this is not really in the house right now as I lent it to a friend at work about an hour after it was delivered to me at the office.
Provenance by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo
Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
Shade's Children by Garth Nix
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant and
Confessions by St. Augustine

I really enjoyed Arthur and George - I'm glad you liked it too. Mary Anne sounds interesting, although if it's only so-so I might hold off on it a bit, maybe pick it up when it's on the shelf at the library.

Some good acquisitions there, as well!

#28: I also enjoyed Arthur and George, so I am glad you did too, Charlotte.

#29: Congratulations on the haul!

You've definitely whetted my appetite with your description of the Boswell diaries - they sound fantastic!

Hope you like them, fliss. I was a little nervous about my post - wasn't sure that I was going to do it justice, so that's why I only wrote a little bit about how it struck me. Weird thing - I bought my copy at a library sale in the next town and when I got it home, I found that it used to belong to a friend - a woman who'd been a friend of my mother's. So strange that I would be attracted to a book that she had once owned...

How bizarre!

...well, I'm looking forward to looking for them (I suspect they're something my Mum might own, so I shall wait until I'm next round there for supper...)

Found this list over on Club Read 2010 and thought I would answer it over here. Can't resist a list about books.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. - Easy. It was Boswell's London Journal
2. The last book you were unable to finish. - The Summer House by Alice Thomas Ellis which was back in May. Kind of pleased that I haven't abandoned anything since then.
3. The last book you bought. - Don't remember which one it was; I try to forget about them when I've ordered them so that that they will be a surprise when they get here. So, for this question I will have to say that it was The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford - the last one that was delivered to me.
4. The last book that made you cry. - Much harder to answer. Literally cry? I think that it may have been A Dog of Flanders when I was just a kid. I always get a little weepy - not quite crying - when I read stories where animals die. So, if that counts as crying, then maybe it was Dewey, the Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
5. The last book you borrowed. - Assuming that means from a person and not a library, I guess it would be Lake Magic by Kimberly Fisk and in my defense I did not ask for it, only took it when it was offered.
6. The last book you received as a gift. - If the last book that I bought with a birthday gift certicate counts then it would have to be The Lost City of Z
7. The last book you found disturbing. - Truly disturbing? Then that would be a very long time ago. And the winner is: Under the Skin by Michael Faber
8. The last book you read that made you laugh. - Another easy one - Diana Wynne Jones' The Tough Guide to Fantasyland - funniest thing I've read in years
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): - Hands down it was Child 44
10. The last book you reread - That would be my only reread this year (so far) - Son of the Morning Star by Evan S. Connell

Done. Boy, do I ever love doing this sort of thing.

#35: You did that deliberately, Charlotte, knowing I would HAVE to steal it, didn't you? lol

Tee-hee!!!!

#37: I have already stolen it and posted the answers on my thread, you bad influence, you!

I like being a bad influence upon occasion. You can't hog it all, Stasia!

Book No. 73 - A Choice of Gods by Clifford D. Simak - out and out SF, this book concerns a future Earth with few humans and mobs of sentient robots. Almost all humans disappeared from Earth thousands of years ago, leaving just a very few behind. These earth-bound humans all have hugely extended lifespans and they can (at least one of them can) communicate with humans who left Earth long ago via some kind of psychic teleportation ability. The descendants of the earth-bound humans populate distant stars and they too, have extended lifespans. They come back every now and again to visit the old folks at home, but they never stay. Meanwhile the robots are divided into 3 groups. Some act as servants - it is what, after all, they were invented for. A second tiny group is studying human religion and they live like monks in an old Human religious retreat. And the biggest group lives in a city upriver where they are building something called The Principle - some kind of satellite dish looking thingy.
Anyway, it develops when one of the teleporting humans comes back to visit his brother and sister in law that he also brings word that the missing humans who disappeared so long ago have been found living on 3 distant planets where they have flourished and once again, as they did on earth, they are busy exploiting their planets and being agressive and warlike. And they are headed back to earth for who knows what evil purpose. God is also mixed up in this book as well, having some kind of connection with The Principle.
Kind of liked this book, although I did not think that, in the end it lived up to its potential. Am giving it 2.9 stars.
186 pages

By the way, I hated the cover art. It looks as if Peter Maxx threw up on it. Never liked his stuff.

Edited to correct the number of stars - it is NOT a 209 star book!!

Book No. 74 - The Way West by A.B. Guthrie, Jr. - a Pulitzer Prize winner from way back when. Very good and a worthy follow up to The Big Sky which I read last year.

Four Stars
340 pages

Book No. 75 - Only Call Us Faithful by Marie Jakober - historical fiction concerning Eizabeth Van Lew, Union spy in the city of Richmond during the Civil War. It wasn't bad - I liked it better as I went along. The only strange thing were the interludes where Elizabeth and her compadres from her spying days are ghosts, getting together to wander around Richmond in the 20th/21st century, chatting about the old days and having issues with the Confederate revenants who are holding some kind of convention in Richmond where the quintessential Southern Lady will be chosen. The primary candidate for this honor is Scarlett O'Hara - which was REALLY strange. Think that this book could have done without the ghosts - for me they didn't fit in somehow. Oh yes, and the author's attempts to give Elizabeth almost a love-life fell a little flat I thought, but the rest of it was good.

Thanks, Catey!

Three stars
378 pages

I've reached the 75 book mark exactly one day before I reached it last year. Not much improvement, it would seem.

Lord John and the Hand of the Devils .. I am a fan of the Jamie books.. but just never did warm up to the Lord John book.. I read only the first one.. even though I like Gabaldon so well, I don't think I would try a redo.. :P

I bet you love Fingersmith when you round to it... Waters can write!

I suppose you know by now that that list that Stasia stole has made it through the threads and gone viral. So, now it's my turn. I foyu want to feel special Charlotte, this is the first of these lists that I have felt compelled to use;-)

Congrats!

#39: I am never a bad influence! :)

#41 - It must be good - the friend I loaned it to has reported that she is enthralled, which is something, because she's been in an 8 month long book slump. I saw the film much earlier this year (excellent) and have been doing my best to forget it as completely as possible so that I can enjoy it all over again when I read the book.

#42 - I am flattered, Bonnie. I just love quizzes, myself.

#43 - thanks, Doc N

#44 - oh, Stasia, Stasia, Stasia. You are delusional. Why, you are the number one bad influence on LT. However, you are quite the boon to the book selling and library borrowing racket.

It's very cool here in Southeastern MA this morning - finally! However the mice made their appearance Saturday and yesterday one of the little buggers ran past Willie who was asleep on a chair, past my purse on the floor and then under the couch where I was reading. Time to break out the D-con. (I wonder where the "Welcome to the New England Mouse Convention" sign is posted outside my house. Would tear it down if I knew.)

Trying to read To Say Nothing of the Dog right now. So far, 114 pages or so in, I'm not passionately loving it. The Bishop's bird stump has been annoying me right from the beginning. What the h-e-double l is a bird stump??

Passing through catching up on threads; my brain is not really very functional so I probably already said it, but I am so thrilled that you loved the Boswell.

OK - this might be a sign that I have too many books to read (perish the thought!), but I just went to check on The Hunger Games to see if I could find a cheap, cheap copy for sale and found that I've owned this book since March and further that it was given to me as a birthday present.

#46 - You have mentioned it before Lucy, but that's alright. I want to read the rest - in order - and find that they are not so easy to find for sale for a decent price. This is not good.

#47: I cannot tell you how many times that has happened to me, Charlotte. I choose to take it not as a sign that I have too many books to read, but rather that I have a terrible memory!

Someday I will have a phone with Internet so when I go to a bookstore I can check my LT library to see if I own it already. Unfortunately, that's the only good use I can see for such a phone so I'm in no rush to get one and pay for Internet service for it. I have a computer at work and one at home. In between I'm in a car and would get in trouble using the phone there.

Congratulations on reaching 75, Charlotte.

#47: It could have been worse... you could have bought another copy of the book before discovering that you already had a copy at home. That's happened to me a few times and I always kick myself for not being better organized about what I currently own and what I want to get.

#49 : I have a phone with Internet capabilities and it hasn't helped me in the least because I only list books I've already read in my LT library.

Not surprised to hear they are expensive -- I don't think anyone has considered publishing them in paperback...... so they are a real 'library' item -- I only own about four or five of them -- all accidental finds or inherited one way or the other. Definitely ILL stuff, sadly. If I get to reading the ones that have been published in the last fifteen-twenty years (yep it's been awhile) -- I'll have to use ILL for sure.

Oh -- have to add, congrats on 75!!! And comment that this summer I actually bought a book three times -- luckily never at full price. But honestly! That was a first. And I hope a last!

Getting Boswell through the Library brings up memories of my early years' aversion (one of them) for libraries. I won't want to give them back!!! Maybe I should set a goal of a year for acquisition and then cave and get it from the library. (I'll bet nobody at my library reads Boswell. I'd be doing the poor little neglected book a favor by taking it into a warm and loving home.)

Book No. 76 - To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - Well, once I got past the bit about traveling by boat with Professor Peddick, I liked this book a great deal better. I still don't understand slippage and all the stuff about what can be carried forward into the future from the past, the whys and the why nots, went - whoosh! - right over my head. However, in the end it was quite a good book. I do not feel inclined to read Three Men in a Boat, especially as it seems to have more boating in it. Am not a big fan of boats and water. Overall a good read, though not as enjoyable as Doomsday Book for me. Guess I just prefer a terrifying pandemic to WWII and the search for an ugly-assed vase.
Three and a half stars
434 pages

Am reading Fingersmith now even though, less than fifty pages in, I began remembering everything from the BBC version that I saw previously. It's still enjoyable even though there is no surprise for me.

Delurking here to congratulate you on passing that 75 book milestone. I haven't seen the movie, but loved the print version of Fingersmith and look forward to reading more books by Sarah Waters.

Charlotte I'll be pretty surprised if you don't love Fingersmith even if you have seen the movie, which I am now going to have to look for. Thanks.

I sympathize -- giving books back to the library can be painful - esp when you are aware that no one but you cares about that book.

#54 - Thank you, Donna. I see that you and I have a lot of books in common. Love that you have made pretty good use of the Comments section - hardly anyone does use it, but I find it very useful (probably I just can't stand to leave all those blank spaces).

#55 - Yes, Bonnie, you are entirely right. At this moment I am probably about 10 pages from the end having read about 3/4 of the book since yesterday morning. I think I'll keep the remainder until this afternoon as it is time to go and visit my favorite book store to see what kind of trouble I can get into there.

#56 - Do you suppose, Lucy, that they might have a secret life at night when everybody goes home for the night? I imagine them as being kind of like foster children who have been taken into someone's home for a couple of weeks or maybe a month and then got sent back to the book orphanage, all broken-hearted and suffering. I wonder what they might be saying to one another about it. Telling stories about the books that never came back - thinking that maybe those books were successfully adopted when we all know that they were just purged from the shelves, sold at a book sale or just never returned. Hmmmm. I am getting way too fanciful.

I like it! I confess that I once 'adopted' a library book that I loooovvvvveeeeedddd that no one else had read since 1927! (I adopted it in the 1970's, I think that's fair?) And I still treasure it, btw.

I really enjoyed Fingersmith so I hope you continue to do so too, Charlotte.

Those last 10 pages or so went just fine and I am happy to report that Book No. 77 -Fingersmith by Sarah Waters was not a disappointment, was not dull because I already knew what was going to happen and was an all around super satisfying read. It was very - atmospheric - although I don't like having to use that word when describing this book, but can't think of any other right now. It is going on my way too long list of Deserted Island books.

4.5 stars
548 pages

Oh yes - this is one of those rare books where the film version, for me, was just as good as the book. Why is the BBC so good at getting it right and Hollywood is often so bad?

and the books that have come into the house since the last time...
Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling
The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford
Bloodsmoor Romance by Joyce Carol Oates
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
A King's Trade by Dewey Lambdin
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and
The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith

#60: Why is the BBC so good at getting it right and Hollywood is often so bad?

I think the main difference is that the BBC assumes its audience is intelligent and Hollywood assumes the opposite.

I should have been able to figure that out myself, shouldn't I.

Book No. 78 - The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich - a quick read and a good one. The story shifts back and forth. One location to another. One time period to another and then back again. In the hands of a lesser writer, I might find that irritating but she pulls it off.

Three and a half stars
276 pages

Am currently reading my ER book - Corrag and it is, so far, very good. If it keeps up this way it will rate as the all time best ER novel to date that I've gotten. I've been waiting for another ER book - The Nobodies Album FOREVER and it has yet to show up. Doubleday should be ashamed of itself. You don't promise something and then not come through like that. It upsets the children. W.W. Norton on the other hand is now tops in my book. A nice message on LT and voila - the book arrives as promised just a few days later.

Am going away to read more of Corrag now. Have a toothache and no dentist's appt. until tomorrow. Hope to lose self in book.

Erdrich is one of my LT discoveries. I am glad you enjoyed The Painted Drum.

I am still waiting for my May ER book, so I can fully sympathize.

I hope the dentist gets the tooth fixed for you! Good luck in getting lost in your book, Charlotte.

Thank you Stasia for your good wishes - both dental and book-al. The tooth, it seems is a lost cause and is slated to be blasted out of my skull on Tuesday. No great loss - it wasn't much of a tooth. Sucky way to spend my furlough day, though.

As for Book No. 79 - Corrag by Susan Fletcher - well, I totally loved it. And that was a first for me with an ER novel. It took me a little over 24 hours to polish that puppy off, but I did not rush it. It was far too splendiferous for that. I took my time. I savored it. It is definitely going to the Deserted Island should global warming ever carry me out to sea.

Anyway here is my review -
http://www.librarything.com/work/9467759

I give this book 5 stars. I was going to give it 4.5 as I think sometimes that I am too generous star-wise, but I could not do it. No, this is truly a 5 star book.
364 pages.

Now I am off to read something much, much less promising. It's hard to know what to pick up after something so statisfying, so my new book-choosing method should be helpful. I just look at the right-hand pile on the topmost TBR shelf and start picking from the bottom - no matter what it happens to be. For me, it works.

*edited to render that last paragraph something a little closer to English.*

>57 Fourpawz2:: Charlotte, I find the 'comments' section useful for stashing the book quotes I love to collect and some personal remarks that just don't fit into a review.

>58 sibylline:: Lucy, I love that you adopted that overlooked library book. And Charlotte considers books her foster children! I feel much the same way about most of my books!

>60 Fourpawz2:: Yay! Fingersmith made the 'Deserted Island' booklist! I would probably have a few Louise Erdrich books along with me. I'm a big fan of her writing.

Last comment...Isn't it great when you hit the jackpot on an ER book? I'm off to check out your review of Corrag, a new book and author for me. I just received my new ER book: Great House by Nicole Krauss. I hope it measures up to her last one.

5 stars for an ER book? You lucky, lucky dog. That doesn't happen very often although I hit the jackpot with my last one too. Great review and onto the teetering tower it goes.

I will definitely have to track down a copy of Corrag! Thanks for the review and recommendation, Charlotte.

Book No. 80 - Wild Orchids by Jude Deveraux - unadulterated Twiddle. Could not decide what it wanted to be - horror, romance, mystery or feel-good family bonding type book. Found one of the character's names changed spelling - in the same paragraph. And I hope in the years since this waste of paper was first published that someone has told Ms. Deveraux that it is picture hat - not picture book hat. Also it is fridge and not 'frig.

2 stars - I really should only give it 1 and a half stars, but I've already written down 2 in notebook and it's in ink, so I'll go with 2.
341 pages

Now, on to The Blue Sword, which like The Painted Drum, I tried earlier in the summer, but gave up after a few pages. Seems to be going better this time around.

Charlotte
I am sorry for the fact that I am so far behind on your thread.

Belated congratulations on reaching the 75 challenge goal!

Charlotte -- I am glad you approve, I am sure the library in question would NOT have!!! (If they even noticed). Ironically it is a book that has come back into popular esteem.

I hope The Blue Sword does the trick for you this time, Charlotte!

Book No. 81 - Faith and Treason by Antonia Fraser - This one sorted out this bit of history very well for me. Very enjoyable although it reinforced my feeling about religion and the utter ridiculousness of it and why people have felt compelled - for thousands of years - to kill one another over something that cannot be proven even to exist. So sad. Learned about The Doctrine of Equivocation and, as with all books that I enjoy, makes me want to read more about a thousand other associated topics and people.

Four stars
295 pages

Book No. 82 - The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley - YA fantasy that I found to be very Victorian/Edwardian in tone. All I could see in my mind's eye was colonial Africa. There was a lot of exposition - maybe a little too much. When I read that the Northerners (i.e. the Enemy) were "not quite human", I thought that that sounded interesting and that I would have liked to have found that out a little sooner than page 210. It was a happy-ending kind of story that I found harmless and o.k. Might have liked it better if I'd read it as a youngster. But then again, it wasn't even written when I was a youngster which was, I believe, just after Lincoln's assassination.

Three stars
272 pages

Am currently reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and I am of several minds about it. Can understand very well, why I have heard so many contradictory things about it.

Hey, Charlotte! Just waving 'Hello' as I pass through the threads.

I evidently lost you in the summer when you started the new thread, and just found you! Did you never go ahead and read Abhorsen, then, after bringing it into your house several months ago? With Lirael ending at the halfway point of the story, how have you managed to delay?

The Blue Sword is colonial India, up in Kashmir right near the Himalayas, rather than Africa. I liked Harry as a character quite a bit.

Will be interested to see what you think of your current book--I expected to love it but only liked it somewhat.

I am also simply waving as the strong current carries me along like so much flotsam (or is it jetsam?)...

**drive by waves Charlotte**

*Waving back at you-all*

Hi Roni - India makes ever so much more sense. Good to know. As for Abhorsen, I haven't read it yet. I meant to, but I'm not good at reading whole bunch of things in a row by the same author - I hardly ever do it. Think it stems from the same place that makes me save my very favorite thing on the dinner plate until the last. I like the anticipation of a thing. I will get to it though.

Book No. 83 - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke - was a love/hate relationship for me. First off - Footnotes!!! Really???!!! Hated those and I am a footnote reading kind of person - but in non-fiction, not fiction. I thought they were pretentious and they did not work for me. Stopped reading them at Chapter 26.
Second - I hated, with extreme passion, all the alternate history crapola. I was bored to - not tears, more like giant yawns and drooping eyelids. I did not like Jonathan Strange at all. Not. One. Bit. Liked the more junior characters far better - Childermass, Stephen Black, Lady Pole, Arabella Strange, Mr. Segundus. And I loved the Head Faery guy. In fact, the only part of this giant doorstop of a book that I did like - love, in fact - were the magic parts surrounding the HF guy, Black, Lady Pole and Arabella. There Clarke's imagined magic world was really, really good. I was enthralled. Enchanted. Would read another book that was like that. But the monstrosity that Clarke gave us? Never again. Maybe I should go through my copy and cut out the pages that I liked and save them. Then I could set fire to the rest. On such a grey, chilly, rainy day as this one, it would probably make a nice, comforting and toasty little fire for me while I read my next selection - 6442618::Saturday which seems, so far, pretty good.

Three stars (I would have given the bits about the HF guy and the rest 4.5 or even 5 stars, but the rest of it drags the mark down for me.)
792 freaking pages - too long by about 500

New books in the house since last time:
2262::The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
538847::Theater in America by hendersonmaryc::Mary C. Henderson - don't ask me why. I don't know.
and (yippee) 10017534::The Fort by Bernard Cornwell - couldn't wait for it to be published in the US so paid way too much for it. This makes no sense, of course, as I will not read it for a while yet, but with me it seems to be as much about acquisition as about reading. Well, not as much, but a lot.

*edited to make it read a bit more like halfway decent English.*

Don't know what those stupid little numbers are about. There were touchstones before I edited, but afterward came the numbers. Do you suppose it's - gulp - magic????

It's an artifact of Tim's attempt to make touchstone stick better once they're corrected.

but with me it seems to be as much about acquisition as about reading.

Yes, yes, yes! Me too. What is that? I just keep adding bookshelves:)

I have no more room in the house for bookshelves and the books are truly taking over. If this obsession was alcohol, I'd be in rehab right about now.

I know I know, but because it is books we get away with it!!!!!

Barely; my husband thinks I have a serious problem. You'd think I was running lines of crack cocaine. Geesh.

I do not ask my husband what he thinks of my book problem. I am afraid to find out!

Apparently this is one of the perks of not being with someone - nobody to answer to. My only fear is that Willie will throw up on some of my books that I have stacked in the living room in six, nice little three-foot stacks. Accidentally, of course.

I managed to find someone with a serious addiction of her own...quilting. We turned our dining room into her quilting room, she takes several quilting trips a year, is always buying fabric. I couldn't possibly buy enough books to compete. :)

>77 Fourpawz2:: I loved (and wholeheartedly second) your comments on Jonathan Strange and Mr. Morrell. I couldn't wait to get that behemoth into the used bookstore for somebody else's "pleasure." I never thought about cutting out the pages that I enjoyed. It would have made a wonderful short story!

I'm another who had problems with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, despite going into it thinking I'd love it. I think you captured why!

I've read a book of short 'fairy tales' The Ladies of Grace-Adieu by Clarke that you might like -

I loved JS and MN, every word, so there is no accounting for taste! I'm not sure I can explain why unless I reread it! Hope you all forgive me.

I also liked JS and MN, so I guess Lucy and I will have to band together in support :)

I loved it too. I couldn't read it fast enough.

>90 alcottacre: Stasia, you keep saying that, and I think you are in the MAJORITY! Which is why when those few of us who didn't care for it so much get excited when we find someone else who felt the same.

>89 sibylline: Lucy, there is nothing to forgive. And even if I were so crass as to get upset when someone didn't like the same books as me, much must be forgiven anyone who has Lois McMaster Bujold on their favorite author list!

#92: Roni, believe me, I am used to being in the MINORITY. lol

Well, I guess I have to be grateful to JS and MN for one thing - generating beaucoup comments. More than I've had in some time.

Lucy, someday I might take a look at The Ladies of Grace Adieu, but it will have to be after my reaction to JS and MN fades a bit. Kind of surprises me that there are so many fans of that book around, but no matter. I'm sure I favor a few that nobody else likes.

Book No. 84 - Saturday by Ian McEwan - Liked this one much better than Atonement, although I did have to wonder about the bit where Henry operates on Baxter. Are things different in the UK re: this kind of thing? I would think it would be frowned upon. If it is and McEwan has been messing with me again, I will be peeved and rethink my rating for this one. But otherwise I give this book
Four stars (only because I can't give it 3.75)
289 pages

Am enjoying Emma Brown very much.

And am also still plugging away with Volume 1 of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. I suppose it would be silly of me to say that it is quite good - as if everyone's been waiting for two hundred years for me to give an opinion.

I have actually heard that The Ladies of Grace Adieu is quite well-liked even among those who did not care for JS&MN, so I do plan to try it one of these days.

#94: Well, I am glad you and I can agree on Saturday, Charlotte :) I liked it too.

*Ladies* is all 'faerie' stories and they are good ones, strange and compelling -- a bit like Sylvia T. Warner's Elfin -- very realized.

Glad you liked it too, Stasia. Just wish I knew more about that question I had about Henry and Baxter.

Book No. 85 - Emma Brown by Clare Boylan - I went into this one, doing my best to put Charlotte Bronte and her writing out of my mind, thinking that just because the first two chapters were Charlotte's there was no absolute need for Boylan to write in her style. Doing that seemed to work quite well for me - until I hit the 299 page mark. At that point, the coincidences started to mount up - piling up fast and thick on the ground. Like ants at a picnic, they just kept coming. Now, I can take a few coincidences - they do happen in real life, after all - but Boylan just had way too many for me. And then after those puppies started taking way some of the enjoyment of the book for me, I started noticing how many stock 19th century thangs there were littering the landscape. Workhouses. White Slavery. A crippled child. Opium. Gin. Cholera. Long-lost lovers re-united. Death. Mysterious pasts. A school run by people who are mean to the pupils. It's got all of those and more. So, over all, it was not a horrible read. It just had it's limitations.
Three stars
435 pages

Working on Zoia's Gold now. The first 54 pages were spotty in likeability - especially the stuff set in the 21st century. But it is much too soon to make any kind of a judgement about it.

Since I read The Education of Henry Adams last spring, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is now one of the books that has been hanging around forever in TBR mode -- I don't even keep it by the bed any more, in fact I have no idea where it is at present..... I am in admiring awe at your persistence!

#98: I think I will be passing on Emma Brown. I hope you are enjoying Zoia's Gold more now.

It's my third go at it, Lucy, and I'm going at it carefully and slowly. When I first learned to read, this was the book that my mother would take off the shelf, open it to page 1 and have me read some of it to company - kind of like a puppy with a really good trick. I had no idea what the hell I was reading, but I liked the way it sounded and I always wanted to read more. As for my mother, she never read it at all - it was one of her pretentious, show-off books, along with The Federalist Papers, Les Miserables, The Works of Rabelais and The Philosophy of Nietzsche, which she did not read either. She did read The Wind in the Willows, though. We used to read that one together.

Zoia's Gold is going o.k. Stasia. It jumps back and forth between the past and the present and I'm liking the past part best. Hoping to be done with it today or tomorrow.

#101: OK, Charlotte. I look forward to your review of it when you are done.

Wow! I have been away for a long, long time.

Work has exploded and I don't seem to have time for some things. Two forty hour weeks in a row! Haven't done that in about two, two and a half years or so.

Have a lot of catching up to do here...

Book No. 86 - Zoia's Gold by Philip Sington -This story was told in a time-flipping manner, alternating between the present day and the past. The present day story concerns Marcus Elliot, an English-Swedish art dealer gone bust and plagued by a bad reputation he does not deserve and the story set in the past concerns Zoia Korvin-Krukovsky, an obscure, real-life Russian artist – the last survivor of the Romanov Court, recently deceased. Marcus has been hired to write the catalog for an upcoming auction of Zoia’s work – paintings on gold. Some of her works are missing and Elliot, who has been obsessed for much of his life by Zoia, hopes to find them somewhere along the way. In fact, one of the items popularly thought to be missing, is actually in his possession, bought by his Swedish mother many years ago when Marcus was a boy. The painting became a bone of contention between his mother and father and his mother killed herself shortly thereafter.

I was never on fire for this book. It reminded me, marginally, of the first Girl With… book by Larsson. Sweden. A mystery. Piles of ephemera to be gotten through. A freezing cold house in the middle of the winter. The searcher, a man whose private and professional life is a mess. A mysterious girl who appears out of nowhere becoming the searcher’s lover and helping him with the mystery. Unscrupulous, evil people bent upon hindering the searcher’s search. But it was not anywhere near as interesting. Part of the problem may have been that Sington was hampered by Zoia being a real person. There was little room for manipulation. Fictionalizing of a real person’s life can only be played with just so much, or so it seems to me. To go way out on a limb seems to me to be risking some giant problems – even with the life of someone as super obscure as Zoia. Over all, I'd characterize this book as readable, but not mesmerizingly wonderful.

A bare Three stars - probably should be more like 2.75
383 pages

Book No. 87 - The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney - Enjoyed this one, but felt, at the end that Penney left many of her multitudinous stories unresolved.

Three and a half stars (edging up toward 3.75)
371 pages

Book No. 88 - Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin - The story of the Italian wife of Aeneas. I read the Aeneid, in Latin, in high school (no applause, please as I should probably say that I stumbled through it rather than read it) and do not remember Lavinia, which is not surprising as according to Le Guin (and I'm sure she's right) she doesn't have a speaking part.
Le Guin has Vergil visit Lavinia in the past while he is dying in the future. They have many interesting conversations and it made me wonder how many authors would visit their creations in the flesh if they could. Thought that would be a really neat thing to be able to do.
This was unlike any Le Guin I've read before and yet somehow, at the same time, very like her. It was very good and even beautiful in some spots.
Recommended
Four Stars
272 pages

Book No. 89 - Life in the English Country House by Mark Girouard - I lusted after this book for 30 years before realizing that I was finally a grown up and had the money to buy it. Undoubtedly it has been on my wishlist the longest of any other book.
It was not exactly what I expected, but still very interesting and informative. And in the course of reading it, I came to the conclusion that if by some miracle a ba-zillion dollars should ever fall in my lap and I was able to build a house of my own, it will have a country house gallery where I could take all those walks I'm not taking now. How wonderful it would be to go for a walk every day and never have to leave the house. Why, I could even read while I walk.
Beautiful illustrations and informative explanations of just how the Country House evolved.
Three and a half stars
318 pages

Book No. 90 - The Lady's Slipper by Deborah Swift - an Early Reviewer book that I have yet to write a review for. Historical fiction set in the late 17th century, in England, just post-Restoration. Revolves around some English Quakers, a lady-slipper orchid lusted after by some plant-mad people and a sprinkling of some truly evil folks. And a servant girl called Ella who is deliciously slutty and generally very badly behaved. It held together pretty well until very close to the end when it went a little bodice-ripperish on me. Will have to write the review very soon, before it all escapes me.
Three Stars (rather more like 3.25 - LT needs quarter-star rating capability)
436 pages

Book No. 91 - The Outlander by Gil Adamson - and we're back in Canada....
Another snowy, cold, wilderness novel. Good story over-all, but I was not sure about the way she ended the thing. I mean really, after all that Mary had gone through she goes and does that???
Three and a half stars
387 pages

Book No. 92 - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - No need to say anything about the plot of this one as I am the last living reader on the planet to have read it. I thought it an easy read with few surprises and in spite of the fact that is about Afghans and Afghanistan it often seemed like a very American novel to me. Sometimes I forgot that Amir was Afghan at all. Nevertheless I enjoyed it.
Three stars
371 pages

edited to change the star rating

...and books coming into the house since the last time:
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Black Masters by Michael P. Johnson and James L. Roark
Nightingales by Gillian Gill
London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
and
Boswell In Holland 1763-1764 ed. by Frederick A. Pottle - Am particularly pleased by this as a short while ago I was absolutely unable to find any affordable diaries of Boswell's. Got this one for under six bucks. (Yay!)

and on Kindle:
Dangerous Days by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Lothair by Benjamin Disraeli
My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Vivian Grey by Benjamin Disraeli
and
The Wings of the Dove by Henry James

Th-th-th-that's all folks!

Have you read any of the other Miles Vorkosigan books? I see you have Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls, so am assuming you have read them. I ask, because Bujold grows her characters over time and so they really should be read in order. I'd recommend starting with The Warrior's Apprentice and enjoying them all, if you haven't. They should be readily available at the library. If you have, this is the one where Miles really starts having to develop himself and family complications are introduced. Enjoy.

Gald to see you back, Charlotte, even if you are adding substantially to the BlackHole!

ETA: I agree with you about LT needing quarter star capabilities.

Great stuff Charlotte! The LeGuin is already on my wishlist, and I remember when the Girouard book came out too -- how much fuss there was about it. I read it from end to end. You might enjoy Edith Wharton's book The Decoration of Houses -- it's not the same thing, but it is sort of the same epoch and attitude.

Glad you found a $6 Boswell in Holland. That is a real find. Zelide (a lovely young woman, of course) is one of the great characters who floats through his life story.

You've got some amazing stuff lined up too. And like Roni I am a Bujold nut, and I concur they should be read in order if possible.

Thanks for the advice Roni and Lucy. No, I haven't read any of the others so, based on your advice, I guess I'll have to put Mirror Dance on the way-back burner until I read up to it. I've only read the one Bujold, Roni - Paladin of Souls but I liked it so much I bought the other right away. I had not realized how long it's been since I did that. Guess I need to dig that one out and push it up to the front as it has certainly been sitting there long enough.

Put the Wharton book on the ol' wishlist, Lucy. Thanks for the rec.

Hey, Stasia!

Is anyone as bugged by the mis-use of the word 'literally' as I am. There's an ad somewhere on TV - a car ad of some kind - where the voice over claims that some car 'literally' gave birth to some subsequent car. Really. I'd like to see that. Literally.

Also, I am bugged by the word 'icon'. I consider it waaaaaay over used and every time I hear it these days, why, it just sets my teeth on edge. Sometimes I just want to reach through the TV screen and just slap Matt Lauer silly.

Book No. 93 A Mercy by Toni Morrison - Have had this one for a couple of years and I did not rush into reading it because I had the general impression from things I'd heard that it was a 'difficult' read. However, on Sunday it was finally its turn - I could not avoid it any longer - and so I cracked it open and plunged in. 12 hours later I was done. It was not difficult or obscure. I really liked it and intend to read it again as I think there was more substance there that I did not pick up the first time. Giving this puppy -
Four and a half stars
167 pages

#111 Is anyone as bugged by the mis-use of the word 'literally' as I am.

Yes.

And I'd like to see that, too. Maybe there is a whole vehicle breeding programme out there that we don't know about: put a Volvo in a garage overnight with a Ford, and nine months later there is a little Mini pootling about. Unless Volvos are too difficult to cross breed.

Ooh! Maybe this is what they are really talking about when they mention hybrid vehicles!

Paladin of Souls is one of my very favorite Bujolds, but if you loved that, you will also really like The Curse of Chalion. It is the story before Ista's, which is referred to several times in Paladin, although you can certainly enjoy Paladin without it.

And you really need to have read at least Brothers in Arms prior to Mirror Dance, although, as I said, start with The Warrior's Apprentice and get set to have a really good time!

Major chuckling going on here, Caty!

Thanks Roni. Now I know in what direction I should be going.

I have a Camry hybrid. Maybe I should quiz it as to its parentage?

Chuckling indeed, that's very funny!

Have changed my rating for The Kite Runner (Book No. 92). The more I think about this book the less I like it. It's still good (goodish?), but not anywhere near as good, I think, as the wider world seems to think it is. To me, it seems more like a generic 'abuse' book placed in a currently popular foreign setting. I'm leaning more and more toward thinking of this book as over-rated.

Charlotte -- I felt that way too. I think the setting and the origin of it is what brought it so much attention. Read it before my LT days, so I don't even know if I've entered it into my library...... have to go check.

Nice to know I'm not alone, Lucy. TKR seems to have a lot of fans.

Book No. 94 - Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner - was certainly long. Ummmm... let's see what else I can say about it. I loved Stegner's descriptions of the West. I liked the story best when it was about the 19th century West, but did not care so much for his 1970 bits. Did not - repeat DID NOT - like Susan Ward. At all. And I think that she was responsible for my not liking this book as much as I ought to have done. A snob with a capital 'S'. All that stuff about bringing civilization to the West. And she obviously did not like any people who weren't Easterners from her own social stratum. Made no secret of it. I don't know what Oliver saw in her. Him, on the other hand, I loved. So, he wasn't a talkative kind of guy and he didn't write poetry like the ever so effete Thomas Hudson or sit around on his can yakking about books the way Frank was always doing with her. So what. Oliver was kind and noble and he loved her and she did not appreciate him until it was too late. Aaaargh! She made me very angry and the more I write about how angry she made me the more pissed off with her I get. Double-aaaargh! I know my complaint about Frank is completely unreasonale. After all that is what we-all are doing here - yakking about books.
But I still don't like Susan any better.
Three stars for this one - (Susan and her total unlikeability robbed this of one whole star)
569 pages

Onward to The Robber Bride...

#119: I really like Angle of Repose, but I understand why Susan makes you angry. Poor Susan, costing the book a whole star :)

I will be interested in seeing what you think of The Robber Bride as I have not read that one yet.

Well, so far, Stasia I am liking TRB quite well, which is nice. So far, Atwood has been kind of a hit or miss author for me and I am happy to be reading one that I like right now.

Book No. 95 - Letters of a Portuguese Nun by Miriam Cyr was a disappointment, mostly because I don't think that Cyr had enough material here for a book - more like a magazine article. She spent so much time on the nun's family history and the outlining of what was going on, politically in the country, that by the time I got to the letters, they clashed horribly with what had gone before. Reading about impotent King Dom Afonso and his wife who was in love with his brother Dom Pedro (which had nothing whatsoever to do with the nun, Mariana, and her French soldier lover, Chamilly), was not a good lead-in to the letters. It is a thin, thin story. One good thing, however, was that it made me want to address my lack of knowledge re: Portuguese history. I've got some Portuguese histories on my wishlist - it might be time to actually get them and read them.

Two and a half stars
178 pages

Book No. 96 - Oogy by Larry Levin - lent to me by a friend. Mr. Levin is not much of a writer - yet - but the story of Oogy, the family's dog is so sweet that I forgave him the so-so writing. Oogy was used as a 'bait dog' when just a tiny puppy and was horribly injured and mutiliated by the fighting dog he'd been given to. Really horribly. Fortunately he ends up in the hands of a truly kind and skilled vet and his life is saved. But, above and beyond that, the thing about Oogy is that he has just the best and sweetest personality. A saint of a dog, given all that he has gone through. And he has the Levin family who love him completely. A very (repeat - very) nice, though not well written story.

Two and a half stars for the writing - five for the story.
214 pages

So interesting that Susan in the Angle of Repose angered you so -- I'm fascinated by how sometimes I react so negatively to a character in a book that I can barely read it, or can't read it -- what IS that about? It isn't always because the character him or herself is so terrible either repellant, but something more subtle -- it's interesting, anyway, and we're all different. I have AoR listed as a book I've read, but I can't remember a single thing about it after going back to read some reviews..... and I like Stegner a lot, so I guess I'll have to find it. I forget, did you read those essays with the group read last spring?

Hey Luce! No, I didn't, probably because I knew that I would be reading AoR someday and I am always in fear that GRs will give something vital away. (I'm staying far, far away from your Alexander Hamilton GR - my copy hasn't arrived yet and I don't know how I'm going to tackle that while reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Old Alleghany a GIANT biography of a truly obscure Civil War general - Ed Johnson - at the same time. I suppose it will all work out.
As for Susan, I already knew while reading that I did not like her, but somehow while writing about the book here, my dislike (hatred?) for her just all came pouring out. I just wanted to slap her silly. I wonder if, back in 1969-1970, or whenever it was that Stegner was writing this book, he saw how ANNOYING and HORRIBLE she was or did she appear to be a sympathetic character to him. Am I having this reaction to Susan because it is 40 years later? I am thinking not because I have read plenty of much older books with awful people in them and I haven't gone off on them. I think it is just Susan.
Enjoyed reading about your snow and the bobcat over on your thread. We got a teensy-weensy taste of snow ourselves down here in southern MA overnight between Sunday and Monday. Kind of liked seeing it. Am not a summer kind of person at all. If not for the approaching holiday season I would be in seventh heaven these days.

We're on the same page about that, certainly, the thing that ruins the first part of winter is all the hullaballoo. Just when you want to slip into your sleeved blanket and fluffy slippers and paste yourself to the couch you have to shop and cook and so on! Now I have to go investigate Old Alleghany, not cos I'll read it, but cos I'm curious.

The Chernow is a great book, you'll love it when you do read it.

The reason I had to go poke around is that his name rang a bell -- Believe it or not he went head to head in Tennessee (battle of Franklin) with one of my GGGfathers who was a union general (John M. Schofield)... If you want an obscure book about a relatively obscure general, his memoirs take the cake!

#121: I am glad to hear that you are liking TRB!

...And I'm happy to tell you, Stasia, that Book No. 97 - The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood stayed good throughout. I am encouraged re: Ms. Atwood these days, as the last two books I've read of hers have been entirely entertaining, engaging and definite keepers. Quite a difference from my reaction to Oryx and Crake and Cat's Eye - both of which left me far from thrilled and not liking them very much by the end.
Four stars
520 pages

Unfortunately, this good book was followed by a real stinker picked off the shelves early yesterday evening. I only got to page 39 of The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl when I pitched it to the floor (figuratively). It started off with some promising disgusting descriptions of maggots and such, but rapidly descended into super-dullness. I knew I was done with it when I found myself making lists of things in my head and figuring out what I was going to do over the next two days. (Do I clean the house for the guys from the furnace company who are coming to clean the furnace at an indecent hour on Monday morning or do I just kick a path through?) I knew that it was no good trying to read any further - especially as I had no idea as to what had happened over the previous three pages. Went back to the shelves for the next victim and came up with A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy which, so far, is just fine.

How interesting, Lucy, to have a CW general in the family. Have you read Shrouds of Glory by Winston Groom? It's one of my favorite CW battle histories of all time. My only CW relative (a gggrandfather) was a captain in the 34th USCT Regiment who was invalided out with a bad case of dysentery which led to his early death.

...and new into the house since the last time:

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold - I know, Roni, I bought the wrong one, but will soon rectify that
The King's Daughter by Christie Dickason - my latest ER book.
A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz - bought new on the strength of the review in the NY Times. I hardly ever do this - buy new - unless it is something by one of my super-favorite authors, but this sounded really, really good to me
General Lee's Army by Joseph Glatthaar
and
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, which means that poor ol' Ed Johnson has got to step back so that I can tackle this. I'm already about 85 messages behind on the mini-group read thread and if I read this one in my usual way (in order according to acquisition), I won't get to it for about another 3 years. It's all your fault, Lucy.

But the thread will be there, she squeals apologetically, you can just read it as you go later..... although it is more fun to read with, I'll admit. I've done that though with blogs and other internet group reads with some tough books, read along with ones that are long over and done with.

Yr. poor Captain. And poor Ed too, having to take a back seat.

I so envy you that your Bujold adventure lies before you. When I find a writer I love, I often 'hoard' -- dole them out slowly, but I was completely unable to do that Bujold, I read them in a kind of frenzy. Gosh it was fun.

#127: I am glad to hear that The Robber Bride turned out to be a good read for you, Charlotte. I will have to give it a try.

I have not read Pearl's The Dante Club, but did try his The Last Dickens, which I found to be disappointing, so I am not sure I will try the other.

I will have to try the Winston Groom book. I read his 1942: The Year That Tried Men's Souls and liked it a lot.

#129 - You're forgiven, Lucy. It's a really good book. I don't dare to check the thread yet, though and it's getting further and further away from me.

Stasia, I think you will like TRB. As for Mr. Pearl, TDC was so wretched, I don't think I'll ever be tempted to even pull anything else of his off the shelf - ever. It's been a long time since I found a book to be such an irredeemable (sp?) stinker and impossible to get into. Bleeeech!!

Book No. 98 - A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy - one of his lesser books, written just before Far from the Madding Crowd the very first Hardy I read, way back in the sixth grade. I liked it, but did not love it.
Three stars
305 pages

Book No. 99 - The King's Daughter by Christie Dickason my latest ER book. Surprisingly good. (I never expect much from them.) It's about Elizabeth of Bohemia, James Stuart's second child and all of the convolutions surrounding the dreadful business of settling on a mate in the 17th century. James was NOT a nice man. I thought Dickason did a nice job and I would read her other books.
Am about to post my review over on the review page.
Four stars
403 pages

Started what will probably turn out to be my 100th completed book for the year - A Serpent's Tale...

... and new to the house this week are:
For the King's Favor by Elizabeth Chadwick
Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes and
The Washing of the Spears: The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation by Donald R. Morris

Nice review of The King's Daughter, Charlotte. I will have to look for that one.

Glad you liked it, Stasia.

Book No. 100 - The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin - Liked this pretty well - judging from the reviews I probably liked it a bit more than some did. Adelia does not practice her 'art' much in this book - maybe that is why some folks don't like it as well as Mistress of the Art of Death, the first book, which I loved. (Gave that one to my aunt to read and it's still sitting on her coffee table. She says that she is freaked out by the cover - you know, the skull and all. I offered to take the dust jacket home with me, but we settled on turning it over. Hopefully she will read it soon.) Anyway, as it's been almost two years since I read MotAoD, it may have something to do with why I was able to still like this book.
Four stars
386 pages

Book No. 101 - Blood Ties by C. C. Humphreys - the sequel to The French Executioner which I read back in March of 2008. This story takes up the tale of Jean Rombaud (the French executioner) 19 years after he sliced off Anne Boleyn's head. Her dismembered six-fingered hand has become a problem once again, coveted now by Jean's son, Gianni, a truly frightening religious fanatic. Gianni is supposed to get hold of it and send it to England where Ambassador Reynard is planning to use it to threaten Elizabeth Tudor into marrying her sister's husband once Mary is dead or, if she refuses, to frame her for the death of Mary's phantom child. I know that what I've just written sounds kind of weird, but you really have to read the first book to 'get' how this whole thing works. Don't really feel like doing a whole review thing here, so I will just say that I liked this book quite a bit and feel quite comfortable in giving it,
Four stars
432 pages

**drive by waves** Charlotte.

Congrats on hitting 100 for the year, Charlotte!

#133 I still haven't read Mistress of the Art of Death yet... Glad to hear you liked book 2. And congratulations on reaching 100!

Thank you, Stasia and Heather. I have been surprised these last two years that I've hit 100 and right afterwards I wish I could get up in the 150 or so neighborhood - which is, I would think a nice neighborhood. Am going to have to cut out something like sleeping in order to do that and I know that's never going to happen either. Oh, well.

Book No. 102 - The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons - was a re-read - the first one of a book that I first read after joining LT. Loved this book just as much the second time around as I did the first time three years ago this month. Did not improve the length of time it took me to read it, which I suppose is good. Must mean that I still savored it and did not rush through it. Am upping my rating a half star to
Four and a half stars
637 pages

Picked up a copy of Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert to read next. It was lent to me by a friend who did not like it much, but as I have loaned her a whole bunch of books over the years, she likes to do the same. She told me that she did not care for the Pray part and was also surprised that the Love part did not grab her either. Guess the Eat part was o.k. - she did not mention it particularly. It's really early days for me to say anything about it - I've only read just a little so far. I can say that over the first 20 pages I must have yawned about 20 times. That does not sound awfully promising....

Has LT now got spellcheck for our posts, or is it some swell feature of my totally splendiferous Mac that I got the other day? Why, why, why did I ever bother with any other kind of computer before this, I will never know. Must be dumb or something.

**waving back at you, Bonnie**

#137: Am going to have to cut out something like sleeping in order to do that

It works for me!

You are so lucky, Stasia. Just think of all the extra reading I could get done if I could pare the sleeping down to a mere two or three hours. As it is I am awake, every freaking day, much sooner than I planned on as Willie thinks the day should begin at approximately 6 AM (and sometimes earlier). Every civilized human being knows that cats must, must, MUST be fed by this hour and one's dear little kitty is certainly entirely justified in screaming his fool head off until said human being does the right thing, staggers out of bed for good and cracks open a can of stinky goodness for the furry one. *yawn*

Book No. 103 - Eat Pray Love - by Elizabeth Gilbert - Did not dislike this one quite as much as my friend did, but I can't say that I loved it either. I would have liked it some better if she had left out the 'Pray' part. To me that was a bit tedious. And all the whining and self-involvement got really old, really fast. I liked the bits that took place in Italy (Eat) and, surprisingly, the bits that took place in Indonesia (Love). But the Ashram and all that bitching about chanting the Guragita (sp?) and ESPECIALLY the bit about the Void (and other similar weird things) were things that I could have done without. I just don't get the Void thing - it seems to completely defy logic or reason. I give it -
Three stars
334 pages

Have moved on to His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik which I got free on my Kindle. I'm about 16% through it and am very surprised that I am liking it. I mean, it's so ridiculous! But, fingers crossed, so far, so good.

Nothing new came into the house this week or last. Things way too busy at work for me to make the time to buy anything. After the news about Google's electronic books this past week, I am more anxious than ever to massively hunt and gather in preparation for the WWBF.

#139: Nothing new came into the house this week or last.

Are you sick or something?

What news about Google's electronic books? I missed it! Please amplify.

No, not sick, just all my time went into the job.

Google is now going into the whole electronic book business and it was mentioned in the news story *shudder* that it is expected that in 8 (?) or so years e-books should have something like 80 - 85 - 90 % of the business. (Not sure about those numbers, but the number was very high). Horrors!!!! I must acquire many, many more books, as I see them, under these conditions, becoming something extremely rare and hugely expensive. Something that is most likely beyond my ability to buy - like a Prius or a house in the country. Aaaaaaaargh!!!!! Must - buy - more - books. That's gonna be my new guiding principle in life.

It is frightening to contemplate -- this whole Ebook thing, since it is, fundamentally a HUGE RIP OFF -- as then the book people will take control of distribution again -- of getting money for themselves every time a book exchanges electronic 'hands' -- no loaning, no 2nd book businesses, etc. HOWEVER one bright spot is the 'book printed on demand' option, which I also expect will come into play and not be too horribly expensive, that is, firms may cease publishing 'first run' hardbacks etc, but you will be able to decide whether you want a paperback or E -version (and some kind of discount might be built into buying either) and so paper books and no doubt, some hardcovers, would be around (as that would also be an expensive but available option too). It would reduce the number of books around...... but I think it might stabilize as many many many people will not be 'ready' for E books for a long time to come. Plus people obviously LOVE bookstores, moodling around in them..... touching books, holding them. We still go to movies and there are ways to get to see them cheaply.... after all.... What tears at me is that overall it would be better to print on demand as it would use up less paper, which would be a Good Thing. But I LOVE BOOKS!!!! Meanwhile all we can do is wait and watch and gnaw our nails.

Book 104 - His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik - o.k, this was a strange one. I see that some people have categorized it as an alternate history book, but I think that it is nothing but pure fantasy. I found it very hard to imagine Admiral Nelson using dragons at Trafalgar and I don't even know anything about that battle. But - I did like the talking dragons and thank goodness, the 'boot camp' aspects of the story were not overly long. I hate fantasy stories where they just go on and on and on and on about some newbie learning everything there is to know about sword fighting. After you've read that a few times it gets very tedious and completely uninteresting forever after. I thought Wil Laurence's insistence on addressing his dragon as 'my dear' so frequently was a little odd, but then - it's fantasy! One thing that I disliked was the knee-jerk need to insert women into the story in a soldiering capacity. In this instance I don't care that it's fantasy; this need to make women feel a part of things is just not necessary to my enjoyment of every book. It was an 'Oh, please!' moment for me.
I would read the next in the series if I found it at, say, a book sale at a very low price, but have no intention of paying full price for it. It's fluff of the scaly kind.
Three stars
Kindle

Book No. 105 - Christmas Without Johnny by Gladys Hasty Carroll a re-read from many years ago. Thought it was appropriate to the season. Had never picked up all of the bullying that Johnny was subject to, before this. (But then, I was much, much younger and bullying was not a hot button topic in those days.) For me it seemed a very 'real' story in a world that has completely disappeared (USA, late 1940's). At Christmastime Johnny, eight years old, is misunderstood by the adults around him and being the super-sensative child that he is, runs away to the next town. But, not to worry -everything turns out o.k. in the end.
Three stars
126 pages

Onward to The Virginian. I have now read the same number of books that I did last year.

hi Charlotte,
I have'n been here wayyyy too long.
Yes Naomi Novik is a bit fluff, but nice and adorable fluff ;-) My copies came from the library.

#143: I have now read the same number of books that I did last year.

Congratulations, Charlotte!

Book No 106 - was a complete surprise. Somehow I expected The Virginian by Owen Wister to be kind of dark and brooding. (This may be a left over from watching the television program of the same name when I was a child. I was a huge fan and I think I saw every episode. Not that the The Virginian, as played by James Drury, was like that, but hey - he always wore black and I was only a kid.) I totally loved this book. It had love, humor (loved the whole 'frawg ranch' bit) sadness, conflict and a lot about nature that was lovely. This one goes to the deserted island too. It gets
Five stars
359 pages

Have moved on to The Hunger Games way before its time. Must have had to jump it over about 125 books to bring it to the top, but my friend is reading it and wants to chit chat about it. Really, that's o.k. because I've been wanting to read it ever since it was given me last March. I suppose this means that I have to break down and buy the others in the series...

... and new into the house since the last time -
American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson - just love this guy. All the other late night guys should tremble in his presence.
Leningrad by Michael Jones
Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin
In the Woods by Tana French
Tully by Paullina Simons
The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
and
A Test of Wills by Charles Todd

#146: I enjoyed The Virginian too, Charlotte, although perhaps not quite as much as you did. I have never seen the television show at all.

I brought The Tea Rose home from the library the other day. I hope I like it as much as I did the other Donnelly books I have read recently.

Book No. 107 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - was well worth the reading. Read it in a day. Liked it enough to buy the rest of the series - paying full price, I might add. Of course, my friend Dorothy is ahead of me in the series, but occasionally it's nice to be the follower instead of the leader.
Four stars
374 pages

Have moved on to Pastwatch because it was the next book in line. Am really liking this new system of choosing the next book to read. This way I will - eventually - clear the shelf.

I am currently reading the second book in the Collins trilogy, Charlotte. I will be interested in seeing what you think of the books as you go through them.

I need to implement your shelf clearing system! Unfortunately, most of my books are on the floor. Hmm.

I managed to pick up A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly (aka A Northern Light in the US) for £1 and I'm really looking forward to it after all the good things I've hear about Donnelly in this group.

The Hunger Games trilogy was good, I managed to get them all out from the library at the same time so no waiting in between instalments!

I started Pastwatch and then got distracted. I was hoping to finish it by the end of the year as I'm trying to make a fresh start in 2011 but I don't know if I'll manage it.

You have just one shelf for your TBR books? Mine quickly outgrew the shelf I'd allocated for them and now they are all over the place!

The shelf to which I refer is only one of three six and half foot long shelves - one of them being all fiction, one all non-fiction and the biggest one being mixed fiction and non-fiction. Then there is the smallish wooden chest full of books - mixed fiction and non-fiction. After that there is the old wooden toy chest full of books - mixed fiction and non-fiction. And then after that there are the three stacks of books on the floor next to the chests waiting for room in the chests - mixed fiction and non-fiction. After that there are a few miscellaneous books on the table in the library waiting for me to to do their catalog cards - mixed f and nf. Then there are a few other books that I have had since before LT who already had places on shelves and cards in the catalog, but have never been read. I really need to move those into the general TBR area so that I can move them into the system, but I keep putting it off.
For a while I have gone to the fiction or non-fiction shelf when it was time to get a new book to read and searched for something that appealed to me. I was finding, however, that some books were just staying there and not getting read, so I decided to just read everything in the righthand stack, in its turn, no matter what it was. I won't even look at the titles of the books in the 'read next' stack. Somehow - and this says something about the peculiar way I am made - knowing that x, y and z books are coming up makes me less inclined to read them, possibly because I am tired of them (even though I haven't read them).
And that, ladies, is my 'system'
Oh, yeah - and there won't ever be any clearing in the sense of empty shelves. So far this year I have read 107 books and bought/borrowed (mostly bought) very close to 200. Yeah - I'm not sick.

#151: So far this year I have read 107 books and bought/borrowed (mostly bought) very close to 200. Yeah - I'm not sick.

Nope, sounds like a perfectly healthy book lover to me :)

Happy Holidays, Charlotte!

#151 Excellent, glad it's not just me! Merry Christmas :-)

Have a very merry Christmas, Charlotte.

And a Merry Christmas to you-all, too. Or - as I like to think of it - world-wide book acquisition day.

Have not finished anything this week, though I hope to get close today.
New to the house this week:
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Room by Emma Donoghue - a Christmas present
and
The Killer of the Little Shepherds by Douglas Starr - my other Christmas present. A nice Christmas-y title, don't you think?

Some nice reading there, Charlotte. Your second Christmas presents sounds nothing if not interesting :)

Oh I'm so glad you received Room, Charlotte. I really liked it. Hope you will too.

I'm looking forward to it, Caroline. Don't know when it will 'rise to the top', but it may be that I will have to leapfrog it over the dozens of books ahead of it. We'll see how long I can hold out.

Book No. 108 - Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card - another stellar (and unexpectedly so) read of the fantasy/time travel genre. This one is a keeper - although possibly not this exact copy as I discovered when I got to Page 334 that pages 335 and 336 were missing. Note to self - when buying used books it is important to check them for missing pages. This is the second time that this has happened to me - the first being a Georgette Heyer that I lent out before reading it myself.
Anyway, Pastwatch rates
4.5 stars
398 pages (or in my case, 396)

Hoping to get one more book in before the end of the year. If I do manage that, I will have improved my reading total over last year by 4.

#160: I enjoyed Pastwatch a lot too, Charlotte. I am glad to see you liked it too - despite the missing pages. I hate when that happens! I once had to return a book to the seller I bought it from because the last 5 or so pages of the book were missing.

Oh, that is really bad. My missing pages, being where they were, were not quite so bad - it didn't seem as if I was missing anything really important and the Heyer book was only missing pages 1 and 2, but the last 5 pages, I would think, are really, really important.

Yep, the last five pages are really important and the bookseller was very nice about the whole thing.

I haven't read Pastwatch yet, but it's one that's been on my list for a few years! That's frustrating about the missing pages, at least you still enjoyed it.

#160 I started Pastwatch in November and got stuck. It felt like that one needed a little more brain to understand the time travelling concepts than I've had available the last few months.

#161 Ouch, the last 5 pages missing? That's got to give some frustration!

*scampering* through -- just realized I haven't read the last Suzanne Collins, will have to raid my daughter's room and find it!!!

Book No. 109 - Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - a worthy sequel to The Hunger Games. Normally I do not read series books so close together, but there's that friend of mine who is champing at the bit for me to get it done, so I read this one now (and will have to start the next one soon or heads - mine - will roll).

Four stars
391 pages
For a total of 37,293 pages in 2010

...and the last book into the house this year was Hanta Yo by Ruth Beebe Hill

Well, that about does it. Time to clean out the refrigerator here and turn off the electricity. (Hope I get my security deposit back.) See you over at 2011.