kidzdoc: 75 and Beyond, Take 15

Take 1
Take 2
Take 3
Take 4
Take 5
Take 6
Take 7
Take 8
Take 9
Take 10
Take 11
Take 12
Take 13
Take 14

Books Read in 2010:



Books Purchased in 2010:



Currently reading:
The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings by James Baldwin
C by Tom McCarthy
The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Completed books:

September:
112. My Ear at His Heart: Reading My Father by Hanif Kureishi
111. The Silent Traveller in San Francisco by Chiang Yee
110. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
109. Yesterday by Maria Dermoût
108. Closing the Chart: A Dying Physician Examines Family, Faith and Medicine by Steven D. Hsi, MD
107. Room by Emma Donoghue
106. The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago

August:
105. The Flood by Chiwan Choi
104. Trespass by Rose Tremain
103. Wonder by Hugo Claus
102. Quacks: Fakers & Charlatans in Medicine by Roy Porter
101. The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti by Marilene Phipps-Kettlewell
100. Wild Grass by Lu Xun
99. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
98. The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961 by Leïla Sebbar
97. The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers
96. Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers
95. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
94. Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan by Donald Keene
93. A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton by John McPhee
92. Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman
91. Touch by Adania Shibli
90. Chef by Jaspreet Singh
89. Change by Mo Yan
88. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
87. Street Smarts: Poems by Devorah Major
86. Bellocq's Ophelia: Poems by Natasha Trethewey
85. Bilingual: Life and Reality by François Grosjean
84. The Literary Conference by César Aira
83. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

July:
82. My Two Oxfords by Willie Morris
81. The Little Peul by Mariama Barry
80. The Water Cure by Percival Everett
79. Island by Penelope Todd
78. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
77. The Vagrants by Yiyun Li
76. The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini
75. Landscape with Dog and Other Stories by Ersi Sotiropoulos
74. Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor
73. The Murderess by Alexandros Papadiamantis

June:
72. To Mervas by Elisabeth Rynell
71. Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki
70. Troubles by J.G. Farrell
69. Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote by Ahmadou Kourouma
68. Philosophy in the Present by Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek
67. The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul by Patrick French
66. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
65. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
64. Selected Crônicas by Clarice Lispector
63. Medicine in Translation: Journeys with My Patients by Danielle Ofri

May:
62. The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
61. News from Home by Sefi Atta
60. My House by Nikki Giovanni
59. The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
58. The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
57. Fear by Stefan Zweig
56. A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor by John Berger
55. Five Modern Japanese Novelists by Donald Keene
54. Tranquility by Attila Bartis
53. The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes
52. The Pen and the Sword: Conversations with Edward Said by David Barsamian
51. Season of Ash by Jorge Volpi
50. Letters from London by C.L.R. James
49. Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki
48. Everything In This Country Must by Colum McCann
47. Piano by Jean Echenoz
46. White Masks by Elias Khoury

April:
45. Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
44. Spain in Our Hearts by Pablo Neruda
43. A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor
42. Dread: Poems by Ai
41. Twilight & Moonbeam Alley by Stefan Zweig
40. Bicycles: Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni
39. Three Novellas by Joseph Roth
38. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey
37. The Plague by Albert Camus
36. Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
35. Morning Haiku by Sonia Sanchez
34. The Women and the Men by Nikki Giovanni
33. An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah
32. Re: Creation by Nikki Giovanni

March:
31. Street of Lost Footsteps by Lyonel Trouillot
30. Albert Camus: A Life by Olivier Todd
29. School Days by Patrick Chamoiseau
28. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa
27. Close to Jedenew by Kevin Vennemann
26. Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi
25. The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee
24. Selected Stories by Stefan Zweig
23. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
22. The Long Song by Andrea Levy
21. Nadirs by Herta Müller

February:
20. Listen! Early Poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky
19. A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee
18. Black Judgement by Nikki Giovanni
17. Things Seen by Annie Ernaux
16. Georg Letham: Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss
15. Ashes of the Amazon by Milton Hatoum
14. Black Feeling Black Talk by Nikki Giovanni
13. The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuściński
12. The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care by John Dittmer
11. Wondrak and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig (Austria)

January:
10. Moscardino by Enrico Pea (Italy)
9. Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia)
8. Small Island by Andrea Levy (UK)
7. Amok and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig (Austria)
6. The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria by Randall M. Packard
5. The Word Book by Kanai Mieko (Japan)
4. Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives by Brian Dillon
3. Matigari by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (Kenya)
2. Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolaño (Chile)
1. Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley

Categories and completed books in my 1010 challenge:

A. 2009-10 Archipelago Books
1. Moscardino by Enrico Pea (Italy)
2. Georg Letham: Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss
3. White Masks by Elias Khoury
4. Tranquility by Attila Bartis
5. To Mervas by Elisabeth Rynell
6. Wonder by Hugo Claus

B. 2010 Booker Prize longlist and previous winners
1. The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell (1973)
2. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle (1993)
3. Troubles by J.G. Farrell (Lost Man Booker Prize)
4. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (2010 longlist)
5. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut (2010 longlist)
6. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (2010 longlist)
7. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (2010 longlist)
8. Trespass by Rose Tremain (2010 longlist)
9. Room by Emma Donoghue (2010 longlist)

C. 2010 Orange Prize longlist and previous winners
1. Small Island by Andrea Levy
2. The Long Song by Andrea Levy
3. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey
4. Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
5. The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini
6. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

D. Medicine, public health and science
1. Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives by Brian Dillon
2. The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria by Randall M. Packard
3. The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care by John Dittmer
4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
5. A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor by John Berger
6. Medicine in Translation: Journeys with My Patients by Danielle Ofri
7. Quacks: Fakers & Charlatans in Medicine by Roy Porter
8. Closing the Chart: A Dying Physician Examines Family, Faith and Medicine by Steven D. Hsi, MD

E. African-American/African poetry & literature
1. Matigari by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (Kenya)
2. Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia)
3. Black Feeling Black Talk by Nikki Giovanni (US)
4. Black Judgement by Nikki Giovanni
5. Re: Creation by Nikki Giovanni
6. An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah (Zimbabwe)
7. The Women and the Men by Nikki Giovanni
8. Morning Haiku by Sonia Sanchez
9. Bicycles: Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni
10. Dread: Poems by Ai
11. My House by Nikki Giovanni
12. News from Home by Sefi Atta
13. Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote by Ahmadou Kourouma
14. The Water Cure by Percival Everett
15. The Little Peul by Mariama Barry
16. Bellocq's Ophelia: Poems by Natasha Trethewey
17. Street Smarts: Poems by Devorah Major

F. 2010 Author Theme Reads
1. Amok and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig
2. Wondrak and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig
3. Selected Stories by Stefan Zweig
4. Three Novellas by Joseph Roth
5. Twilight & Moonbeam Alley by Stefan Zweig
6. Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki
7. Fear by Stefan Zweig
8. Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki

G. Southern US literature (William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, etc.)
1. A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor
2. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
3. Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers
4. The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers
5. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers

H. Asian/Asian-American literature
1. The Word Book by Kanai Mieko (Japan)
2. A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee
3. The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee (South Korea)
4. Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi (Afghanistan)
5. The Vagrants by Yiyun Li (China)
6. Chef by Jaspreet Singh (India)
7. Touch by Adania Shibli (Palestine)
8. Wild Grass by Lu Xun (Japan)
9. The Flood by Chiwan Choi (Korean-American)

I. Biographies and Memoirs
1. Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley
2. The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuściński
3. Albert Camus: A Life by Olivier Todd
4. Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
5. The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul by Patrick French
6. Change by Mo Yan
7. A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton by John McPhee
8. Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan by Donald Keene
9. My Ear at His Heart: Reading My Father by Hanif Kureishi

J. Latin-American & Caribbean literature
1. Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolaño (Chile)
2. Ashes of the Amazon by Milton Hatoum (Brazil)
3. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
4. School Days by Patrick Chamoiseau (Martinique)
5. Street of Lost Footsteps by Lyonel Trouillot (Haiti)
6. Season of Ash by Jorge Volpi (Mexico)
7. The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes (Mexico)
8. The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia)
9. The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector (Brasil)
10. The Literary Conference by César Aira (Mexico)
11. The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti by Marilene Phipps-Kettlewell (Haiti)

The longlist for this year's Guardian First Book Award was announced earlier today. Ten books were chosen (five fiction, four non-fiction, one poetry) for the £10,000 award. The shortlist for this year's prize will be announced in late October, with the winner revealed at the beginning of December.

Fiction

Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt
Boxer, Beetle by Ned Beauman
Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto by Maile Chapman
Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed

Non-fiction

Bomber County: The Lost Airmen of World War Two by Daniel Swift
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz
Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper by Alexandra Harris
Curfewed Night: A Frontline Memoir of Life, Love and War in Kashmir by Basharat Peer

Poetry

The Floating Man by Katharine Towers

Guardian first book award longlist ranges around the world

Hi, Darryl. Got your new thread starred. Thanks for the Guardian First Book longlist. Without you I wouldn't even know about most of these awards.

There was one other major award announcement this week, the shortlist for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books:

A World Without Ice by Henry Pollack: Explores the relationship between ice and people – the impact of ice on Earth, its climate, and its human residents, as well as the reciprocal impact that people are now having on ice and the climate. The judges said: “A thoughtful and refreshing book that brings ice to life. Well researched and with a personal feel this book is an excellent alternative route into understanding the issues around climate change. Fascinating, accessible and very powerful.”

Everyday Practice of Science: Where Intuition and Passion Meet Objectivity and Logic by Frederick Grinnell: An insiders’ view of real-life scientific practice describing how scientists bring their own interests and passions to their work and illustrating the dynamics between researchers and the research community. The judges said: “How is science done? This book looks behind the scenes and tells the story of what makes scientific minds tick and how scientific theories are made. A fascinating, personal account – essential reading for anyone with an interest in science, from pupil to politician.”

God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science by James Hannam: Revives the forgotten philosophers, scientists, scholars and inventors of medieval Europe, revealing the Medieval Age to be responsible for inventions and ideas that would change the world forever. The judges said: “A vibrant insight into the medieval approach to science, full of wonderful anecdotes and personalities. Dispelling common myths about the ‘dark ages’, this is a very readable book about a neglected era in the history of science. It very much fills a gap, making you realise that the great scientific achievements of the Renaissance are in debt to the "philosophers" prepared to sacrifice long held beliefs and frequently their lives for their ideas.”

Life Ascending by Nick Lane: Charts the history of life on Earth by describing the ten greatest inventions of life, based on their historical impact, their importance in living organisms and their iconic power. The judges said: “An elegant and adventurous step-by-step guide to what makes life the way it is. With a pleasing overarching structure, it is a beautifully written book and an extremely rewarding read.”

We Need To Talk About Kelvin by Marcus Chown: Takes familiar features of the world we know and shows how they can be used to explain profound truths about the ultimate nature of reality.
The judges said: “Your everyday world will never look the same again after reading this inspiring book. Reflections in the window, the warm rays of the sun – all are used to explain ideas of advanced physics, from the atom to the big bang, and show how physics forms part of our everyday world.”

Why Does E=mc2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw: An illuminating journey to the frontier of 21st century science to consider the real meaning behind Einstein’s most famous equation, E = mc2.
The judges said: “This book takes the world’s most famous equation apart and puts it back together again in a way that is lively and understandable. We were delighted to find our knowledge of equations - long forgotten since leaving school for some of us – reinvigorated and felt ourselves rediscovering our enjoyment of mathematics.”

The winner will be announced on 21 October 2010 and the winning book will receive £10,000. £1000 per book is awarded to the author(s) of the shortlisted books.

My planned reads for September (as always, this is mainly for my own benefit):

C by Tom McCarthy (Booker Prize longlist)
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray (Booker Prize longlist)
Room by Emma Donoghue (Booker Prize longlist)
Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (September Reading Globally monthly theme read - 20th century Russian authors)
Yesterday by Maria Dermoût (Club Read monthly challenge - Books with Three Criteria)
Eline Vere by Louis Couperus (2010 Archipelago Books)
Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig (2010 Orange Prize longlist)
The Politics of Medicaid: Stakeholders and Welfare Medicine by Laura Katz Olson (Medicine and Science)
Sanctuary by William Faulkner (Le Salon du Soüthern Gothique)
Light in August by William Faulkner (Le Salon du Soüthern Gothique)

My gosh! Early, even!

Thanks for the list of science books up for awards. My husband's birthday is just around the corner and I think he'd love some of these (of course, they look interesting to me too).

I didn't vote on your suggested TIOLI challenge for September (6 criteria) because I don't think I have any books that meet all of them--especially the one about being published before the 1960s.

Hi! I've starred your new thread!

I like the look of God's Philosophers. Thanks for posting!

Btw, which Faulkner is a good book to start with? Have never read any, and plan to correct that next year.

This may be old news since I'm just catching up on your thread, but I wanted to say thanks for sharing the article: SWF, Loves Sebald, Seeks Same in Man: Is it important to date someone with a similar bookshelf to yours? I loved it! The quote by Franzen

"If one reason we read, as Jonathan Franzen has said, is to insert ourselves into a larger community of writers and readers, then naturally we want the person we love to join us there."

describes not only why I belong to LibraryThing, but why I added my hubby's books as well, even though they are few in number and not to my taste. Perhaps someday he will "join me there"!

OK, busily throwing every single one of the science book award nominees into the BlackHole, especially God's Philosophers. Thanks as always, Darryl!

Hm, Wonder by Hugo Claus...I see you beat me to it. I just got it from the library and was all set to start reading it next week. I'm curious to read your comments.

>9 Chatterbox:: Suzanne, for all things Faulkner you should visit LT member laytonwoman3rd. She is a Faulkner fanatic and is always very happy to indoctrinate new readers. Here's her thread.

*waves to all visitors*

#7: It's a tough challenge, Pat, that's why I found it especially interesting! However, urania said that 'pre-1960s books are preferable'; so, in addition to Yesterday by Maria Dermoût (1959), which meets all of her criteria, I'm planning to read a book from 1964, The Silent Traveller in San Francisco by Chiang Yee. IMO, books from the 1960s are okay; early 1970s, maybe; 1980s and beyond, definitely not.

#9: I've only read one novel by Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, which was very good.

#7, 9, 11: God's Philosophers looks good to me, too. I'll be on the lookout for it (it was published in the US this past May).

#12: I found "Wonder" to be confusing and frustrating. I skimmed most of the second half of the book, and gave it 2-1/2 stars. It's one of the few Archipelago Books that I didn't enjoy. I'd love to hear your thoughts about it if you decide to read it.

I started reading Trespass by Rose Tremain earlier this morning, after I was awakened by another bad dream (a huge dog with red eyes and fierce teeth that made Cujo look like a chihuahua was about to leap from the SUV in front of me into my open convertible). I love it so far, and I should finish it today (barring any large animal encounters).

I hope you remain free from large animal encounters, Darryl. I want to see your review of Trespass :)

Book #103: Wonder by Hugo Claus



My rating:

"Wonder" is a European post-war novel that was published in Belgium in 1962, translated from the Dutch into English by Michael Henry Heim, and published by Archipelago Books in 2009. The main character is a schoolteacher in post-war Belgium who attends a masquerade ball, where a woman rejects the advances of a man and mysteriously flings herself into the sea. The teacher, who seems at the edge of madness before this incident, saves the woman, and then accompanies a school boy to the town in which the woman lives, to learn more about her. There he is accused of a crime, and is mistaken for a heinous criminal. The novel jumps back and forth, as the teacher is incarcerated in a building and writes about his daily life in a notebook, while recalling these past events.

For me, reading "Wonder" was similar to being spun around in circles on a chair, while trying to identify people and objects around me. I would imagine that fans of post-war European experimental fiction would enjoy this book, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

#16: Since I have absolutely no idea what post-war European experimental fiction is, I have a feeling the book will not be my cup of tea either.

Better luck with your next read, Darryl!

*going out very far on a fragile limb*

Post-war experimental fiction, as I understand it, focuses more on style and technique rather than a linear and straightforward narration, and explores the actions and decisions of individuals and societies during and immediately after World War II. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio's first novel, The Interrogation, was written in this fashion, and I found it hard to follow and appreciate.

#18: OK, it sounds like post-war experimental fiction would drive me nuts, so I think I will just remain ignorant.

#14-16 - Now why doesn't that surprise me. As you might remember I'm not a Claus-fan and I fail to see why he's described as one of the best - if not the best - writer Belgium's ever produced. When I was younger, I used to think I wasn't mature enough to grasp the Literacy of his books, but as I grow older and having read so many other novels that are commonly described as Literature, I just think Claus may be an overrated writer who had the flair to behave like the Angry Young Man which was fashionable at the time and pleased the Belgian pompous literary crowd who thought he might win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Okay, maybe I am missing something, maybe I'm still not mature enough for Claus' books, maybe I'm biased, but I just don't like his books. I'll give this one a try though, even if only to not have anyone accuse me of criticising Claus while not having read one of his supposedly best books. Aaargh, the things we do for Literature.
Btw, thanks for your honesty about Claus' book. I'm glad someone else has the courage to admit he didn't like it.

I will be avoiding Wonder like the plague (no, not the Camus novel, although I have avoided that so far) but I am intrigued by several of those Royal Society Prize books. I'd definitely like to read God's Philosophers and Why does E=mc²?.

Hmph. Superscript doesn't seem to be permitted. *Grumbles*

#16 For me, reading "Wonder" was similar to being spun around in circles on a chair, while trying to identify people and objects around me.

Loved that line--great review, Darryl, and one I don't feel compelled to put on my wishlist.

>18 kidzdoc: Le Clezio's The Interrogation came after Robert Pinget's magisterial The Inquisitory, which should be read in its stead.

Pinget is unjustly underknown: Mahu, or The Material is very good; Baga is wonderful too, and neither is as scarily weird and unpunctuated as The Inquisitory.

Ooo, or read Claude Simon! The Georgics is a delicious book.

For me, reading "Wonder" was similar to being spun around in circles on a chair, while trying to identify people and objects around me.

WOW! What a wonderful use of words and images! Darryl, if only I could get the publication students to write like you do!

#21: Those are the two books I'm most interested in, too.

#22: I don't know where I came up with that description; I would guess it's the same part of my brain that created the monster dog in this morning's nightmare.

#23: Thanks for those recommendations, Richard! I'll check them out shortly.

#24: LOL! Yeah, just like that, only a little slower. Anyone have any Dramamine?

I talked with my mother this morning, and the planned Canada trip in September with my parents and brother is on hold. I've just made flight reservations for a short trip to London (Sep 15-21), as there are several NT (National Theatre) performances that I'd like to see. I'll look for a hotel in Bloomsbury, preferably near Russell Square. Does anyone here have any good recommendations?

Last night must have been the night for nightmares. Mine involved a 12' long alligator in the bedroom while I'm trying to shower and keep the dogs from getting eaten!

Darryl, I may join you on that challenge. I have two books I brought home from school when they cleaned out a storeroom that are old (around 1960), have dust jackets and are sitting on my shelves waiting for me: Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck and O Pioneers by Willa Cather.

Starred!

Do you ever deviate from the books you plan to read for the month, Darryl? I find that when I specifically set out books to read in a given month, I will suddenly find other books almost leaping off the shelves at me, begging me to read them instead when the rotation should be one of the other planned books.

Re London -- Looks as if I'll miss you by about a week there!!

Here's where I plan to stay, when I'm there, now that I've finally run out of friends with flats and spare rooms to accomodate me. (It has been about 14 years since I've had to stay in a hotel in London...) The hotel prices are absurd -- to get anything decent is going to be well over 100 pounds in the Bloomsbury area, I suspect, and probably closer to 200 pounds a night. You can try the Gresham, on Bloomsbury Street. (Avoid the two Radisson hotels -- they are noisy, right on the street with v. poor windows for keeping out noise.) Instead, I'm going to try this B&B site: http://www.londonbandb.com/

If the Bloomsbury place doesn't appeal, remember that the British Museum is on the Piccadilly, Central and Northern Lines, so Knightsbridge, Holland Park, etc. are all within easy reach.

What's on at the NT that grabbed your attention??

I just finished Trespass by Rose Tremain, which was very good (midway between 4 and 4-1/2 stars). I'll review it later today.

#30: I made a reservation at the Hotel Russell, which is just across the street from Russell Square and a stone's throw away from the Russell Square tube station. The average rate is ~$225/night for the six nights that I'll be there, which I didn't think was too bad considering its location.

Will you be in London the week after or the week before my trip, Suzanne?

I'm planning to see three NT plays: Earthquakes in London, an "epic rollercoaster of a play from 1968 to 2525 and back again"; Danton's Death, a "political tragedy" about the French Revolution that was written in 1835; and Blood and Gifts, "an epic political thriller, shot through with mad humour, that sweeps from refugee camps to mountainous tribal regions to the corridors of power in Washington DC." I haven't purchased tickets yet, as I want to see what else is going on in the city, especially at the museums (British Museum, Tate Modern, V&A), the Barbican and the BBC Proms (although that may have ended before I'll arrive there).

#29: Do you ever deviate from the books you plan to read for the month, Darryl?

Absolutely, Caroline. I'll have to check, but I would guess that I read about half of the books that I intend to read. Like you, I have hundreds of books in the queue waiting to be read, and unless I'm reading a book for a particular goal I often don't decide what book to read next until I pick it up. I've listed The Elephant's Journey as my next novel to be read, but I wouldn't be surprised if something else jumped ahead of it.

#28: Hi leperdbunny! I still smile whenever I see your user name. I love the photos of your puppies on your profile page!

#27: Excellent, Bonnie; I'm glad that you found books for this difficult challenge.

#26: A 12 foot alligator sounds like something I would dream about, too. However, in my dreams I'm the one that's usually about to be eaten, mugged, or, in the case of another recent nightmare, drowned by a tsunami wave. My dreams tend to be close to reality, but they generally have a bizarre twist. I'd much rather have Caroline's dreams, especially the one with the marching mice.

Wow, it's almost 2 am. Off to bed...

No nightmares tonight I hope, Darryl!

The Proms concerts always end on the second Saturday of September, which I suppose this year would be a bit later than usual -- the 18th. Try to get a ticket for the last night!! I've been very lucky twice, just hanging around the ticket office on the day of the performance. It's a real experience -- great fun. If you don't make it to that, do go to the open-air concert that they have in Hyde Park (usually, at least) on the same night. Don't forget to check out Wigmore Hall if you are into classical music. It's a bit early in the season, but you should still find some good stuff.

I'm hoping to get away on the 24th/25th or thereabouts. I'm kind of stuck here until then -- a podcast to do the 31st, a dentist appointment the 8th, Richard's party the 11th and a speech in Boston on the 23rd. Hoping to fly from NY to Paris, then Eurostar to London. Need to be back by the 13th for jury duty, so I'll prob aim to be back Oct 11. Two weeks? More or less. Want to do some personal research re WW1, and some reporting for the next book, about genealogy. So I should get myself organized and start contacting people.

That's a decent hotel rate, Darryl, for the location. I think I'll opt for something quieter, perhaps in Knightsbridge. There's a place that was Bertrand Russell's old home, and I'm pretty sure I know exactly where it is based on the photo -- about two and a half blocks from where I used to live as a child. Walking distance to Hyde Park. And to the V&A, where I used to spend my Sunday afternoons as a 10 year old to the age of 12, when we moved back to Canada. Thus explaining my later "geekdom", I suspect! I still know the "back story" behind all kinds of obscure objects in there.

I was in London for the Last Night of the Proms in 2007, before I knew what the BBC Proms were about. I didn't go to the Hyde Park broadcast (the actual concert was in Royal Albert Hall), but I did watch the live broadcast on BBC One. It was inspiring and left me with chills, especially since the concert took place on 9/11. I'm still not sure why, but it felt odd to be out of the country on the anniversary of that tragic day, and I felt very connected and a part of something greater when I watched the Last Night concert.

I love this excerpt from the ?2006 Last Night concert, particularly the performance of "Rule Brittania" about 1/3 of the way in:

Excerpt From Last Night At The Proms Part 6 (Rule Britannia)

I did buy a ticket for one of the BBC Proms concerts that year (Vienna Symphony?), but didn't go; I think I was under the weather that night.

I'm not familiar with Wigmore Hall, so I'll have to check it out.

That sounds like a great trip, Suzanne! You'll have to tell me about Paris, and the B&B in Knightsbridge. I found Kensington to be quieter than Knightsbridge, which I associated with the endless traffic jams and street traffic on Brompton Road, especially near Harrods and the Knightsbridge tube station (believe it or not, I still haven't been to Harrods; I'll probably go this time, so that I can bring back something for my parents, aunts and brother). I stayed at the ParkCity Hotel in Kensington in 2007, which is on Lexham Gardens near its intersection with Cromwell Road, very close to the Cromwell Hospital. I liked the hotel, and it wasn't far from the bus or tube (Gloucester Road and Earl's Court stations), and I would be happy to stay there again, but I wanted to stay in Bloomsbury or Holborn on this short trip.

BTW, did you read The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt? Much of the story takes place in the South Kensington Museum (the old name of the V&A) in the late 19th century, particularly in its early sections, as the father of one of the main characters in the book works in the museum.

Where will you stay in Paris? I won't go there this year, but I'll almost certainly go next year (I'll fly to London, and then take Eurostar to Paris, and probably go back to London to leave from there; I've heard (maybe from you) that Charles de Gaulle Airport is a nightmare).

I used to save up for tickets to the Proms when I was studying in London years back. They were my annual treats for getting through Uni and later, the Bar.

There is a cute B&B in Earl's Court, Darryl, that my parents used to stay at when they were visiting.... Lord Kensington Hotel. A friend recently stayed at the Quality Crown Hotel in Kensington and had a really good experience.

I think Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle tie for first place as chaotic airports. Bring patience and keep your hand on your stuff at all times. One of my colleagues traveling to Paris with me had his laptop stolen at the airport while we were waiting for our luggage. He said he had placed it at his feet while he was looking for his bag on the belt.

I know exactly where the Quality Crown Hotel is, Caroline, after I looked at the hotel's web site. I passed in front of it every morning on my 2007 London trip, as it is on the same block as the Parkcity Kensington. I'll keep it in mind on my next trip to London, probably this spring. I may have also passed by the Lord Kensington Hotel whenever I walked from the ParkCity Hotel to the Earl's Court tube station on that trip.

I just checked; the Last Night at the Proms concert is 11 September, so I'll miss it. No worries; I'm sure that I'll have no problems finding things to do!

Fortunately Delta still flies into Gatwick Airport instead of Heathrow, and I'm at least somewhat familiar with that airport and the Gatwick Express train to Victoria Station. (BTW, does anyone (UK or non-UK) take a local train (First Capital Connect or Southern service) from Gatwick Station into central London?)

(Hmm...wouldn't it be nice if we could get a group of LTers to meet in London in the future?)

I'm not looking forward to the day that Delta transfers operations from Gatwick to Heathrow, although Heathrow is considerably closer to the capital. I've heard about the pickpockets at Charles de Gaulle and Gare du Nord (the terminal station of Eurostar's London-Paris service); I bought a couple of security packs (I can't think of the proper name for them) to wear inside my pants for future European trips, especially to Paris.

The security packs will also keep your butt from being pinched if you travel to Rome or Madrid, Darryl. :-)

LOL! I'll keep that in mind.

I do want to explore other European cities on future trips, but I'll probably go to Paris, Brussels and Liège (where my good friend's wife grew up), Dublin, Amsterdam, and Edinburgh and Glasgow first.

Oh, that reminds me; I did want to read The Deportees, the collection of short stories about multicultural Dublin by Roddy Doyle. I may read this before I read The Elephant's Journey.

One day, Darryl, go to the West Coast of Ireland for a week. Rent a car in Dublin and drive around, fearless of other traffic 'cause they ain't none for someone used to the rat-race of 75 & 85!

The Loop Head Peninsula drive is delightful. The Dingle Peninsula drive is lovely too.

Book #104: Trespass by Rose Tremain



My rating: (4.4/5.0)

Category: 2010 Man Booker Prize shortlist

"Trespass" is the title of this book, and a word which characterizes a theme that is expressed throughout this superb novel. The characters in this story trespass on the lives and dreams of those closest to them; they trespass upon the lands of others, for the worse; however, the striking events that constitute physical trespass are the most damaging.

The novel revolves around the lives of two sets of late middle-aged siblings: Anthony Verey, a famed antiques dealer from London who has fallen on hard times; his sister Veronica, who lives in the Cévennes, a mountainous region in southern France with her lover, Kitty Meadows; Aramon Ludel, a native of the Cévennes who lives in a dilapidated but still impressive farmhouse; and his sister Audrun, a strange and disturbed woman who lives in a bungalow at the edge of the land surrounding the farmhouse.

Anthony lives alone in Chelsea, and spends his days in his Pimlico Road studio with his beloveds, the antiques that he has accumulated, which are of little interest to anyone but himself. His fame and fortune have waned, to the delight of his competitors and even his best friend. He has grown disillusioned with life in London, and desires to seek semi-retirement in the Cévennes, close to his beloved sister. The region has seen an influx of foreigners who are willing to pay exorbitant prices for old homes and farmhouses, and the newcomers are greeted with disdain by older residents who bemoan the loss of their traditional way of life.

Aramon seeks to sell the Ludel property, which has remained in the family for three generations. He claims the property as his own, and treats his sister as an interloper who wishes to deny him the profits from the upcoming sale that are rightfully his, profits that he will not share with her. He threatens to evict her from the bungalow that she has lived in for years, as it is an eyesore that was built partially on his property. She becomes increasingly agitated at the threat of this eviction, and hatches a plan that will keep the sale from taking place.

Meanwhile, Anthony falls in love with the farmhouse, but wishes to have the bungalow torn down before he will agree to buy the property. Tensions between these characters increase, which result in a sudden and violent turn of events.

"Trespass" is a page-turner, a captivating novel about collision of cultures, sibling rivalries, disturbing family relationships, and revenge. Once I got into the novel I couldn't put it down, as the drama and uncertainty are maintained until the last sentence. I would highly recommend this novel, and I look forward to reading other books by this very talented writer.

Hmm. That's too long of a review, I think, and my reviews seem to be getting longer and longer, and taking more time to write. I'll work on cutting them down a little bit, but I'll keep this one as is for now.

#39: Thanks for those recommendations, Richard; I'm looking at those links now.

Great review, Darryl, and a thumb from me. Is this the first book you've read by Rose Tremain? I intended to read The Road Home this month for a book club but never got to it. I've never read any of her books but see so many people on LT who love them.

I know what you mean about long reviews and how much time they take to write. I'm way behind on my reviews mainly because it takes me so long to articulate what I think. They are helpful to me though when I go back to them in remembering what I thought.

Hope you're having a good weekend.

Adding Trespass to my tbr pile. Thanks Darryl!

>41 kidzdoc:: not too long at all, Darryl. Fabulous review! I can't wait to read this book.
>34 kidzdoc:: I'm still not sure why, but it felt odd to be out of the country on the anniversary of that tragic day
Tell me about it. I was out of the country on the actual day (I was in the UK, and lived there for another 3 years after). Our whole experience was completely different, and our response then and now is often very much out of kilter with the typical American view.

#42: This is my first Tremain, Pat, and it certainly won't be my last. I own The Road Home, which I'll plan to read later this year for my Orange Prize 1010 challenge (it won the Orange Prize in 2008). Several of her other novels have won or been shortlisted for major UK awards (Orange, Booker, Whitbread, James Tait Black), so I'll probably buy at least a couple of them in the next month or two.

#43: You're welcome, leperdbunny! BTW, Trespass won't be published in the US until October 18th; I purchased my copy from Amazon UK, as I wanted to read it before the winner of this year's Booker Prize was announced, on October 12th.

BTW, the Booker shortlist will be announced on September 7th. I've read six of the 13 Booker Dozen shortlist novels; here's my ranking so far (I've decided to put the Mitchell back into first place):

1. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
2. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
3. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
4. Trespass by Rose Tremain
5. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
6. The Long Song by Andrea Levy

The first five novels are very close together in my view; all five are extremely good, but I liked Wolf Hall, The Glass Room and The Children's Book, my top three from last year's Booker Dozen, considerably better than any of this year's books so far. So, at this point I think that the 2009 selections were superior to those from this year, individually and overall, but this year's books are far superior to those listed in 2007 and 2008.

#44: That must have been especially surreal for you and other Americans, especially New Yorkers, to be out of the country on 9/11/01. I was at work, and watched TV coverage most of the day with my partners, as we weren't busy. I remember that it took me a long time to grasp that the towers had actually fallen, even though we saw them both collapse. I had gone through the WTC hundreds of times before 9/11, usually on my way to and from the PATH WTC station in WTC 2, and I can still easily and vividly see the escalators and the shops in WTC 1 and 2. My heart still skips a beat whenever I take NJ Transit into New York, as the train provides a great view of Lower Manhattan as it passes through Secaucus. It still looks as though something is missing, although now I anticipate that sentiment before the shock of the missing towers hits.

Watching the Last Night at the Proms on BBC One on 9/11/07 was especially meaningful, as I watched memorial coverage of 9/11 on BBC One that morning, and felt isolated and out of sorts for that entire day. I felt a part of something while watching the concert, and I felt a love and kinship with Britain and London that I still have.

Darryl, so glad to hear you enjoyed Trespass. Tremain is one of my favorite authors. I'd highly recommend The Colour and Music and Silence - my favorites. Great review, btw.

eta The Road Home is my least favorite Tremain so far. But is was still quite good.

#46: Interesting that The Road Home is your least favorite Tremain. Several contributors to the discussion thread on the Booker Prize web site commented that it was one of her weakest books to date, and not as good as The Road Home. That made me want to read it ASAP!

>45 kidzdoc:: surreal, yes. I have a hard time articulating my thoughts although it has been percolating in my mind for some time. And I feel that same love & kinship with Britain, because it was a great country to be in at the time as well.

I've decided to put the Mitchell back into first place.

Yay! It's my No. 1 even though I haven't quite finished it. I'm just taking a break from reading it while last night's Olive Garden leftovers are reheating.

Back to the travel issue --

Darryl, do you realize that we attended the same Last Night of the Proms in 2007??? LOL! Like you, I figured that would be a good way of getting out from under the 9/11 miasma...

Re Paris, I'm not sure where I'll stay, although I know of several hotels on the Left Bank that I'd like to try, mostly between the Odeon and the Luxembourg in the 6th. There's another one down on rue Jacob that is nice, but a bit more pricey. Or the same B&B site that I may use for London also operates a Parisian site. Paris is much easier to navigate than London; very self-contained within the ring-road, and while it's murder on the feet, it's possible to walk all over. Last time I was there, we walked from Montmartre down to the Opera and then the Louvre, to the Place de la Concorde and as far as the Grand Palais to see an exhibition, before finishing up a day that had begun at the flea market on the outskirts with a visit to FINAC on the Champs-Elysees. Paris is on the verge of becoming one of the cities that I know well enough to revisit for sentimental reasons rather than sightseeing, so it was fun to go there with my then-bf, who had never been to Europe at all. London has been a part of my life since I was very, very young, and I've lived there twice, so in some ways it feels a bit like my "home town". I do still have a lot of friends there, just not people I can crash with (they have small children, or flats without guest rooms...)

You should think about Brussels next June! I'll be there for a high-school reunion, I think. Could show you all the best places to nosh downtown. Fascinating city, much overlooked, with easily some of the best food in Europe.

Well, I can't really complain because you've been good lately ..... so no boot a-flying at you today, Darryl, even though you wrote such a wonderful review of Trespass that I've had to add that to my obese wish list.

If you go to Brussels, and you find 3 left shoes, can you please bring them home and send them to me? They're probably the ones I lost back in the 90s when I went there after exams 3 years in a row. Don't know how or why but I lost just one shoe every time ...but made it back to my hotel with one shoe on the other foot.

#50: Did you go to the concert or the Hyde Park broadcast, Suzanne? I only watched the BBC One broadcast from my hotel room.

I love your idea about a visit to Brussels in June! I can fly to London and take Eurostar to Brussels and Paris. I was planning to do this in the spring anyway, and my plans for 2011 are wide open at this point so I'll say yes to your invitation. Let me know when you're planning to go, and I'll start working on this trip. Thanks!

#51: Whew, spared from an ER trauma bay visit for today, as long as I continue to behave. ;-)

Hmm, now what could you have been doing to lose left shoes on three separate occasions? Dancing wildly? Chasing guys (for pleasure or to retrieve stolen items)? Playing hopscotch in the streets? Running after a taxi or tram? The mind boggles...

I loved Brussels too. I remember there was this weird bar off the main square that had a funeral theme. No kidding--coffins with glass tops for tables, funeral music, skull steins. It was packed. May not be there any more. I also loved the bird market. Didn't lose any shoes though...

#52 - Darryl, the 60th reunion is June 10 to 12, 2011, so plan around that time frame! Having some non-ISB people around to see will help offset any claustrophobic/nostalgic feelings... I'm hoping a few of my close friends will be there, but one never knows. Probably will combine this with a London trip, at least; maybe not Paris, though.

ETA: Just realized that is just the kickoff, and there is a Brussels-wide massive reunion from the 12th to the 17th. See here (there's a bunch of stuff about Brussels buried in the nostalgia-mess): http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58075898622

Re Proms: Went to the concert. Was very lucky to score a ticket! Sat beside a bunch of crazy Swedes wearing Viking helmets on one side, and a broadcaster from NPR on the other; in the auditorium right above the pit where the real crazies are. The Hyde Park event I went to was the one just before I moved back to NY in September '99; went with friends. I think that the only thing that could rival this might be the annual New Year's concert in Vienna, but that has always seemed more staid than the final pieces played at the Last Night -- which are always the sea song suite, Rule Britannia, Pomp & Circumstance #1, Jerusalem (which I love) and God Save the Queen. I love the way the audience in the pit organizes and coordinates their own input. One year I went when they did the William Tell overture, and the whole place was bobbing up and down as if they were riding their own horses...

#53: I did a Google search, and found the website for Café Le Cercueil, along with the following photos:





#54: Thanks for the info; I'll check out the Facebook page in a minute. Okay, that gives me a rough idea of when to plan this trip. I'll try to go for 2-3 weeks, based mainly in London, with side trips to Paris and Brussels.

OMG. When I logged onto Facebook I saw that an old girlfriend, who lost her husband last year and was stalking me with snail mail and numerous Facebook requests, has sent me yet another message. She wants to be "friends"; uh huh, right. (Hmm, single ex-boyfriend who is a doctor.) So, I'll have to figure out how to block her from my Facebook account. I'm so happy I could puke.

Darryl- Excellent review of Trespass! I'll have to add it to my list!

>55 kidzdoc:: whoa, Darryl, that stalking thing is kinda creepy. I think it's pretty easy to block someone though ...

Eeek... Go to your main page, top right corner, hit account. In the pulldown menu, pick privacy settings. Underneath that main box in the middle, there are three options, one of which is "Block Lists". Go to block users, type in the ex's name, and bingo.

Omigod, never was at the cafe des cerceuils... Our hangouts were the Double Diamond (now defunct), and in the Grand' Place itself, le Roy d'Espagne and la Chaloupe d'Or. (I preferred the former for weekend drinking; the latter for weekend lunches!) There was also a Danish-style bar/restaurant down closer to Place de Brouckere and the Bourse. And all of those I went to high school with vividly remember the arrival of the city's very first Macdonald's!! (It served beer, too...)

#57, 58: I went to the help section of Facebook, and found out how to block her; I selected the "Report/Block this person" option, and I can no longer see her profile (and presumably vice versa).

She sent me a couple of disturbing letters in the mail last year; I showed them to my parents, and my mother became quite upset and worried when she read them. She has moved to Georgia, although thankfully she isn't in or too near to Atlanta, as she knows where I work and live. I wouldn't have minded becoming friends with her, if she had acted more normally in the beginning. Another ex-GF had looked me up on Facebook but acted normal, so I was willing to re-establish a friendship with her.

Ack. That is disturbing. I'm FB friends with some exes, but certainly not all. Hopefully the disturbing element is due to losing her husband and will be short-lived? Or that she'll find someone else to fixate on rapidly??

Still, if it morphs into anything else -- since she knows where you live/work -- now that you've cut off her FB access to you, DO report this to someone. Yes, women being stalked by men gets a lot more attention, but it's not something to take lightly if it starts to affect your "real" life.

#60: The creepy ex-GF lost her husband due to cancer early last year, and I attributed her disturbing behavior in part to grief from losing him. However, it's been over 18 months now since his death.

Without getting into too much detail, I have had several disturbing encounters with women in Atlanta, the worst being a nurse in the pediatric residents' clinic when I was at Emory, who was transferred to another department in the hospital system because of her harassment of me (numerous inappropriate calls on my home phone, gifts, tracking me down when I was on duty, and attempting to kiss and hug me on several occasions at the end of clinic). I've become very distrustful of Atlanta women, even professional ones, and I am extremely reluctant to date anyone from here.

Darryl

I can sympathize with you. I was stalked and it was very frightening.

I hope there is a resolution for you soon

Wow, could this be Tremain's year?? Excellent review Darryl (thumbed!) and my copy of The Slap arrived the other day so hope to get to it soon.

Yes, def. thumbed the review. Am hoping I get the book via ER, otherwise will wait to read it when it comes out here.

Do you have a giant target on your forehead, Darryl? Not to make light of it, but ye gods. I know that kind of stuff can happen, but... it's like Caro's accidents...

I'm sure there are sane women in Atlanta, but I understand yr reluctance in this. After all, there could be something in the water. Or do you think it's cultural -- that single women are just so stigmatized there that they get REALLY desperate? I know there's a stigma here, but I just don't care about it and it's fairly easy to ignore, NYC being what it is. Atlanta may be different.

Book #105: The Flood: Poems by Chiwan Choi



My rating:

"The Flood" is a collection of poems by this Korean-American writer, which are mainly centered in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, and describe broken lives, troubled relationships, and failed love and dreams. Unfortunately, I found the vast majority of these poems to be bloodless and trivial, and not a single one of them struck a chord with me.

#62: Your stalking story is far worse than all of mine put together, Linda. I'm glad that this is in the past for you.

#63: I think the Booker Prize is wide open this year. All of the books have been very good reads, but none of the ones I've read has been clearly superior to the others. I'm still planning to read all 13 longlisted novels; I'll plan to read three next month and the remaining four in October.

#64: Ooh, those are good questions, but a full set of answers would be very lengthy. There is a shortage of eligible single, professional and financially independent men in most American cities, but it's even worse in Atlanta, particularly for African-American women but also women of all races (Caucasian, Latino and Asian). And, many of the men here, particularly traditional Southern men, aren't overly fond of independent professional women, such as doctors, lawyers or college professors. So, the women here have to be more assertive and even aggressive to attract the few eligible men out there. Several of my partners at work and women that were in residency with me are very attractive and would make great wives, but they are, as one of my friends said, "terminally single" and have suffered a string of failed relationships. A lot of the men here (from what my female friends say) are "players", guys that keep multiple GFs and seek sex rather than a significant relationship. So, Atlanta seems to be a great place for singles looking for sex, but not so good for people of either sex that are looking for stable, monogamous relationships. (That's a very simplistic answer to your set of questions, Suzanne.)

I can't wait to see what ends up on the Booker shortlist, much less the prize! It's a very eclectic group of novels.

Must confess, I'm a bit irked by the "terminally single" phrase your friend used. Let's face, anyone who is single in their 30s and 40s has, by definition, suffered a string of failed relationships. Depends entirely on what kind of relationships they were, what kind of breakdown, what kind of person they are and how they handle the breakup. Labeling a group of women "terminally single" based on that criterion sounds to me like someone who is finding a reason not to be in a relationship himself/herself! :-) Ah, the art of the over-generalization at work. Frankly, I'd just be happy to meet someone who didn't think my bibliomania was weird and who didn't bore me after an hour's conversation. Very low standards, indeed! :-D

I've had clingy exes, but no real stalkers, thank God. Only one I worried about, and a police report took care of him the first time around. Eons ago.

I'm annoyed with CNN—again. I noticed four or five "CNN Breaking News" alerts on my BlackBerry within a couple of minutes of each other, and feared that a catastrophe had taken place (airplane crash, assassination, VIP death, etc.). Nooo...they were all announcements of the Emmy Award winners.

"CNN, the most trusted name in news." I guess that is a reference to entertainment news.

I'll slightly correct the "terminally single" quote. I'm pretty sure that the author of that quote was one of my classmates from residency, who cannot talk for 5 minutes without mentioning men, her failed relationships, or her declining looks as she gets older. I wouldn't call her a friend, although I usually see her whenever a group of my former classmates gets together. I can deal with her for about 15 minutes, then I start screaming in anguish.

Off to bed...g'night, all.

Good night, Darryl. I hope you get some good rest!

I've had *one* relationship with someone (a man, as it happens) who wasn't put out at some level by my bookishness. Dear, departed, closeted Mr. Man was as excited by a new, good read as I, and frequently we would read to each other in bed. (God bless my now-engaged roomie for being at the GF's house most of the time!)

That's ONE. In thirty-four years of relationship-having.

#67 anyone who is single in their 30s and 40s has, by definition, suffered a string of failed relationships

That's pretty much true - and anyone single that age without a history of failed relationships, with no/next-to-no relationship history at all (for whatever reason), is just considered weird. Cue another whole series of issues and generalizations from the general public. *rolls eyes*

Frankly, I'd just be happy to meet someone who didn't think my bibliomania was weird and who didn't bore me after an hour's conversation.

The last date I went on - *mumblemumble* months ago - there was no romantic connection at all, but we spent at least half of the evening discussing books and I got a couple of really good recommendations out of it. Half way there...

#86 <sarcasm> *Gasp!* You mean who some committee thinks has made the best soap opera isn't earth-shatteringly important, and on a par with assassinations and major natural disasters?! </sarcasm>

I hate it when news channels do that. "Drop everything! You need to know right now that sportsman X has stubbed his toe in training, politician Y cut this ribbon and 'celebrity' Z has been arrested."

#66, etc.,I am sorry to hear about the stalking, Darryl, but as for "terminally single," I think it takes some people longer to find a right person -- I didn't get together with my sweetie until I was in my mid-40s. And, cliche as it is, we met after I stopped looking. But I do know what you mean in a way, because when I was looking I met a lot of men who it was clear as day why they were single, and I also knew a lot of pretty desperate women who were very eager to find a man and who would sit around and tell all their dating horror stories. Of course, I quickly realized that hanging around with them wasn't going to help me any!

I don't do Facebook, but I do admit to occasionally googling ex-boyfriends. Recently I found that one had had a nasty divorce. While I was pretty shocked (I guess I shouldn't be) by what you can find out about people online, I was very relieved that I had broken up with him. But I was not altogether surprised. He is someone who called me up when his wife (who he married after we broke up) was out of the country to invite me over. Enough said.

#68, etc. That's why I don't watch CNN except sporadically. They have to fill 24 hours of "news" somehow.

>61 kidzdoc:: Darryl, your explanations of why Atlanta women might be different than women elsewhere were interesting. It put me in mind of my niece's complaints about Washington D.C...an over-abundance of young, single women and a shortage of single men who were looking for anything beyond the hook up.

>67 Chatterbox:: who didn't think my bibliomania was weird — I guess I've just been lucky. My wife loves books, completely in agreement about the need for piles of unread material lying around; the girlfriend before I met her loved books; the one before that (whom I call the Demon From Hell for other reasons) was a librarian.

Sigh. I did have one bf that was as much of a bibliomaniac as I was, in a complementary way. Our gifts to each other were always books, so I have some very nice early editions of Hazlitt, Samuel Johnson, etc. It was a long distance relationship, and on one occasion he even slipped a particularly gorgeous book in my suitcase for me to discover when I got home. Yes, reader, the relationship ended -- there were a bunch of other issues involved, alas. And yes, he broke my heart *sniff sniff, self pity whinge* But I don't stalk him. Oddly, his current gf has sent me (anonymously, but v. obvious it's here because of the envelope) clippings of their photos attending social events from their local paper. Dunno whether that's to rub it in, to say "stay away" (no need) or just weird possessiveness. I just think it's bizarre. No interest in reviving anything, and I'm sure if I meet the right kind of person, the broken heart will cobble itself back together, pronto!

>74 Chatterbox:: Re his new girlfriend...how utterly odd! If I found a girlfriend doing that, I think that would make me wonder about my relationship with her.

I've only had 1 weird ex-boyfriend who wrote me mournful letters threatening to commit suicide. I was initially upset and would call him and beg him not to do that, but after 2 months of this nonsense, (and I was only 22 and therefore less patient, perhaps) I got tired of his threats and when he came over one day telling me he was on his way to drown himself off the beach, I told him to go right ahead and to stop bothering me again. He didn't do it and today is married with a baby boy.

Suz : The new gf is a weirdo, probably insecure but a weirdo nonetheless. I wonder though, if she's doing it because her boyfriend speaks often about places you guys used to go to or stuff you used to do.

It is a bit weird; esp. since as far as I know they have been together a couple of years now. I don't think the ex bf knows; I decided that I didn't want to stay in touch with him.

Suicide, Caro? Wow... I have had two friends that I feared were on the verge of major breakdowns or suicide, and the threats are, I think, just as damaging in a different way as the actuality of a suicide might be.

From the serious to the really bizarre -- my cat has decided to attack a paperweight on my desk. It is obviously either a mouse or a feline enemy in (deep) disguise. Must go and address the mess now.

I just finished The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago, which was very good. It's been a busy week, so I doubt that I'll review it before the weekend.

Next up: Room by Emma Donoghue, another Booker Prize longlisted book, which I received from The Book Depository on Monday.

Hi, Darryl. I've missed seeing your posts but assumed you were busy with work. Happy reading, when you can squeeze it in.

Hallo Darryl! Slowly catching up...

I've bookmarked msg2 for future reference - you're a very handy book award reference! (Now I just need to get in the habit of actually checking all these posts I've favourite-ed!)

#25 Oooh, which NT shows have you booked? (ah, I see you say in #31 Danton's Death has had very good reviews I think - I'll probably go to that). Pay day having just passed, I'm just about to take a look at the new season too - we shall have to compare notes...

I wish I'd caught up with your thread earlier so I could have joined in on all these wonderful travel discussions... It's been soooo long since I visited Paris - I may just have to trundle over to the Eurostar website in a minute...

#55 Café Le Cercueil looks fantastic!

#55 & 58 Re the unwanted facebook request - Eek! This is one of the reasons I'm only visible (and even then only partially) to friends of friends, so I should be unsearchable unless you know someone I know...

#77 "From the serious to the really bizarre -- my cat has decided to attack a paperweight on my desk. It is obviously either a mouse or a feline enemy in (deep) disguise. Must go and address the mess now." - *chuckle*

>40 kidzdoc:: woo hoo, I snagged Trespass in the ER program !!! So psyched.

Me too, me too.

Hmmm... I snagged a book I don't remember requesting in the ER program ... slightly psyched?

I didn't snag Trespass. That said, I did snag Sigrid Nunez's new novel, Salvation City. Glad, as I won't have to buy it!

#79: Thanks, Pat. I think I'll spend my evenings reading, instead of attempting to catch up on LT posts (other than my own) on the days that I have to work, so that I'll get more reading done.

#80: I haven't made reservations for any NT performances yet, Fliss, but I'll definitely do that either tomorrow or Saturday. I definitely plan to see the three that I mentioned in message #31, but I'll also check to see what's playing elsewhere in town.

I changed my Facebook photo, as I was getting friend requests from several women in Atlanta who I didn't know. I wanted people I know (med school classmates and other people from my past) to see me, and several old friends have found me using Facebook. I'll have to figure out how to adjust the settings of my account to keep the gold-diggers away.

#81, 82: Congratulations! I hope that you both enjoy Trespass. I snagged a copy of How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu, which was the book I most wanted, and a book that I would have bought anyway, so I'm happy.

#83: Which book was that, Caroline?

#84: Salvation City sounds interesting, Suzanne; I look forward to your review of it.

Darryl, I also got How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu. I really liked The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears so I'm looking forward to this one.

Got How to Read the Air from Amazon Vine, so that's also on the never-shrinking TBR mountain...

Looking forward to the new Dinaw Mengestu myself, although I'm going to have to pay for it, unlike all of you.

#85 : Darryl - if you were less good looking, you'd not have a problem with unknown women sending you friend requests on FB. :-) So take it as a compliment .. and all you have to do is ignore the requests and make sure you set your privacy settings to allow only your friends to see what's on your profile, and not share your photos with anyone except your accepted friends. You might also want to add that you are poor and homeless in your introductory profile and then all the gold-digging women will keep a wide berth.

I snagged The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay by Siddhart Shanghvi from the ER list. Sounds fun .. hope it is.

I shall look forward to reading everyone's comments about How To Read The Air: that's one that I would have requested if it had been available for the UK, but added to the wishlist on the basis of the ER blurb. (I ended up snagging Maps and Shadows.)

Thrilled to be getting Barefoot in Baghdad. Born in Saudi Arabia with Palestinian parents but raised in the American South. Fluent in Arabic, Muslim, and wears the veil. Humanitarian aid worker in Iraq from 2003-05. Should be interesting!

#86, 87: I'm glad to hear that both of you will be receiving How to Read the Air; we'll have to compare notes.

#88: I'd be happy to send you my copy of the book after I finish it if you'd like, Rebecca.

#89: I'm not good looking at all, Caroline, as this recent photo would indicate:



I'm curious to hear more about The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay.

#90, 91: I'm curious about both of your books, too!

Woo! I'm glad to see the end of the week. I'll now resume reading Room by Emma Donoghue, which is quite good so far.

I think Urkle is cute!

OMG Darryl was the young Urkel?? Fabulous! One of my favorites.:)

Daryl...Many thanks for the photo..It is good to laugh right out loud!

I hope you are able to read and rest this weekend.

#80: Fliss, I have booked tickets for three NT afternoon matinees: Blood and Gifts (9/16), Danton's Death (9/18), and The Habit of Art (9/19). I didn't make a reservation to see Earthquakes in London, as the only tickets remaining are in the audience performance section (I suppose that this portion of the audience participates in the play).

I've also purchased a ticket to see Najma Akhtar & Gary Lucas perform at LSO St Luke's on 9/17 (Barbican Centre performance). And there are a couple of free jazz concerts at Ray's Jazz (within the Foyles on Charing Cross Road) that I'll almost certainly go to, as well.

Trespass... adding it to my list...

When do you leave for London, Darryl?

Caroline, my flight leaves the Tuesday after next (9/14) and arrives early the following morning. I'll fly back to Atlanta on the Tuesday after that (9/21), work a few days, and then fly to San Francisco on 9/27.

I just finished Room by Emma Donoghue, my seventh 2010 Booker prize longlisted book, which I'll review later today or tomorrow.

These are my answers to a book quiz that avaland posted on Club Read last week:

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

2. The last book you were unable to finish: The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes

3. The last book you bought: Room by Emma Donoghue (which is also the book I'm currently reading)

4. The last book that made you cry: Harumph. Real men don't cry. My allergies were bothering me when I finished Travelling with Djinns by Jamal Mahjoub. Honest.

5. The last book you borrowed: Closing the Chart: A Dying Physician Examines Family, Faith and Medicine by Steven D. Hsi, MD

6. The last book you received as a gift: Uncommon Wisdom: True Tales of What Our Lives as Doctors Have Taught Us About Love, Faith and Healing by John Castaldo, MD (thanks, Dad!)

7. The last book you found disturbing: Nadirs by Herta Müller

8. The last book you read that made you laugh: The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers

10. The last book you reread: The Plague by Albert Camus

Completing this quiz reminded me that I need to return the book I borrowed, from one of the physician assistant students that I worked with last month. So, I'll make Closing the Chart: A Dying Physician Examines Family, Faith and Medicine my next read.

That's a great quiz, Darryl. I may steal it from you. I think the only book I've read on it is The Plague, and that was probably 25 years ago. But I at least now own The Heart is a Lonely Hunter after your 5 star review.

#101: Pat, I thought I'd post the quiz here after I saw it on Stasia's thread earlier today. As usual, she is ahead of the curve.

I just finished my second book of the day, Closing the Chart: A Dying Physician Examines Family, Faith and Medicine by Steven D. Hsi, MD. I'll review it, Room and The Elephant's Journey tomorrow.

#102: I am only ahead of the curve because I stole it from Charlotte!

#102 Hmm. . . . You just made me realize I haven't seen Stasia's thread on my home page lately. She must have started a new one and I missed it. Off to look for Stasia's current thread and catch up before Sunday starts.

Book #106: The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago



My rating: (3.8/5.0)

Solomon is an Indian elephant who was brought from India to Portugal in the mid-16th century as a gift for King Dom João III. The king wishes to give a proper gift to his cousin Maximilian, the Archduke of Hapsburg, who is stationed in the Spanish city of Valladolid. Not wanting to offend his Lutheran cousin's religious sensitivities, and desiring to give Maximilian a present worthy of his status, the Catholic king decides to award Solomon to him.

After Maximilian accepts this gift, a caravan escorts Solomon to Valladolid, and then to Italy and finally Vienna, after an arduous passage through the Alps. The journey is filled with misadventures, as the elephant's handlers and villagers ascribe different attributes to him, treating him as a messenger from God, a devil, or a monster. Throughout his ordeal, Solomon frequently exhibits human-like qualities of anger, love, and, most of all, patience and wisdom far above his animal status.

The Elephant's Journey was based on a true story that Saramago learned about during a visit to a restaurant in Salzburg named 'The Elephant', which featured wooden sculptures about the 1551 journey of an elephant from Lisbon to Vienna. This was an entertaining, light and humorous novel, which lacks the impact of Saramago's best work but is still a worthwhile read.

Great review...as usual!

#105: I may give that one a try after the group read of Blindness. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Darryl.

I like the sound of The Elephant's Journey: adding that one to the wishlist.

The Elephant's Journey sounds very good.. maybe sad?

Book #107: Room by Emma Donoghue



My rating: (4.4/5.0)

Category: 2010 Man Booker Prize longlist

In Room I was safe and Outside is the scary.

Jack has just turned five years old. He lives with his mother in Room, a cozy space isolated from Outside. He is happy, as he knows no other life outside of Room. He was born on Rug, reads books and plays with toys that are brought by Old Nick, the only person who visits them. Old Nick comes at night, and Jack must hide in Wardrobe until the man finally leaves his mother in Bed. Jack spends his days playing with Ma, and he loves her deeply, although he is troubled whenever she is Gone, those times where she spends the day in bed.

Jack and Ma escape from Room, and he must adjust to Outside, a place he has only seen on television and heard about from Ma. Doctors poke him, strangers fawn over him and ask him odd questions, and he must adjust to these new strangers that Ma insists are his family. Although everyone insists he will be happier Outside, Jack wants nothing more than to return to Room with Ma.

Room is a fascinating look into the life of a young boy as he tries to understand his place in the world, one that is unfamiliar and unsettling. The novel was triggered by the infamous Josef Fritzl case in Austria, in which a man kept his daughter isolated in a basement for 24 years and fathered several children with her before she was eventually rescued. This novel is markedly different from the case, especially in the use of Jack as the narrator throughout the book and the downplaying of the more disturbing aspects of the story. Donoghue does a masterful job in her portrayal of Jack, and his lovable and maddening personality is one that I won't soon forget.

Darryl..
While the book seems disturbing, if you give it such a high rating, then on the tbr pile it goes.

Once again, 2 wonderful reviews, Darryl. I've already got The Elephant's Journey in my obese wish list but I'm scurrying off to add Room to it as well.

Josef Fritzl is a disgusting man. How a father can not just keep one his daughters in a basement and father 7 children by her is beyond my comprehension. I think his wife was aware of what was going on, but had her own issues (maybe fear of the husband?) as to why she never confronted him or gone to the police. And just think, if not for the note she slipped into her daughter when she was taken to hospital, she and the children with her may never have been discovered and Josef arrested. One thing I wondered though was, why he selected her out of his other children to debase and torture this way.

Today's Observer "Once Upon a Life" column is written by Emma Donoghue, the author of Room. She writes about her childhood growing up in Dublin, and the years she spent in NYC when her father took a teaching position at NYU:

Once upon a life: Emma Donoghue

#109: The saddest portions of the book were those in which the humans that loved Solomon had to say goodbye to him. Nothing bad happens to him in the story.

>110 kidzdoc: Oh Darryl Room sounds absolutely fascinating and another Booker nominee I want to read. Excellent job on the review.

I already have The Elephant's Journey. Room, however, sounds a little too disturbing for me.

Great review of Room, but I just don't think I can read it.

#111: Room is nowhere near as disturbing or as graphic as it could have been. The second half of the book, where Jack is Outside, is much more traumatic to the boy than when he lives in Room with his mother.

#112: To describe Fritzl as disgusting is an understatement. I can't think of a word other than 'evil' to describe him, and there is no punishment that would be too great to impose upon him, IMO. I didn't follow the case in close detail, and in some ways I don't want to, as I'm pretty squeamish about child abuse and sexual abuse. I see too many abused kids on a regular basis, including a 9 month old baby with three healing bone fractures that I took care of in the hospital this week, who was placed into foster care a couple of days ago.

I don't understand people who intentionally hurt babies. There is something to be said for the neurological study of aberrant behavior. If there is something that can be done to identify the neurological or genetic cause of abuse, surely that would lead to more protective measures that could be put in place to prevent this type of child abuse from occurring. *I hear the many feet running towards me with stones in their hands for suggesting and condoning certain forms of human research and so I flee to the cocoon of a large much of hot malted milk and a cheese, peppers, mushroom and onion omelette*

I do always wonder in cases like this not only why the wife didn't say anything but how it is possible that neighbors didn't have any suspicions. Here I am particularly thinking of a case in the western US in which a man had abducted a girl and kept her and the children he fathered with her in some kind of structure in the back yard -- presumably within hearing, if not sight range of the neighbors -- while he continued to live with his wife in the house in front.

Book #108: Closing the Chart: A Dying Physician Examines Family, Faith and Medicine by Steven D. Hsi, MD



My rating: (3.9/5.0)

I borrowed this book from a physician assistant student at Emory who completed an Inpatient Pediatrics rotation with my group this summer. All of the students receive this book at the beginning of their training, along with The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman.

Dr. Steven Hsi is a family practice doctor in Albuquerque, who is in excellent physical condition and has a happy life, with a successful clinical practice, a loving wife and two beautiful sons. He ignores subtle (and not so subtle) signs of his impending illness, which he attributes to middle age and lack of conditioning, and his sense of invincibility, a trait shared by far too many doctors, keeps him from taking his symptoms seriously. After an episode of severe chest pain his wife, an ICU nurse, listens to his heart and hears a new murmur, which Hsi also hears and can no longer ignore. On that day he is transformed from a healthy adult to a seriously ill patient, a change that is difficult for the average person but seemingly more difficult for Hsi, a fiercely independent doctor who is almost always in charge at work and, to a lesser extent, at home.

Hsi poignantly relates his experiences as a patient and what this illness does to himself, his sense of well being, and his family. He undergoes three major cardiac surgeries, nearly dies on several occasions due to medical mistakes, and experiences medical care that is sometimes caring but more often indifferent and even hostile. However, his faith in God is strengthened throughout the ordeal, as the members of his church, his family, and his loving and dedicated wife provide the support that the medical community fails to give him.

Unfortunately, Dr. Hsi becomes progressively sicker, and died suddenly but not surprisingly at the age of 44, on his way home to celebrate his son's 11th birthday.

Closing the Chart is an insightful look at the failure of the American healthcare system to provide adequate medical care and spiritual support for seriously ill patients and their families. Hsi provides valuable lessons for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to provide better care for their sickest patients, and to families who must take on the burden of caring for a sick family member. However, this was a very depressing and disturbing story, and I was deeply saddened after reading it, despite knowing that the book was written posthumously, so I would recommend it only guardedly.

Another excellent review, Darryl, and one I think will be a sad and frustrating read for me because there is no perfect healthcare system and I wish there was.

Great reviews, Darryl, and all three books look interesting to me. I will probably hold off on Closing the Chart. I seem to be reading mostly depressing books lately and it's starting to get to me.

I think I'll change my user name to The_Grim_Reader after these two books, especially the last one.

I started to comment about child abuse, but it's too depressing a topic to mention at the moment. I'll come back to this later today.

I need to read something a bit lighter, maybe The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Hi kidzdoc!
I just noticed your hot review on The Elephant's Journey and added it to my wishlist. I recently read A Most Dangerous Journey by Caras which was a hypothetical lifespan of an elephant, which I liked. So, another elephant book for me! Thanks. I think... :)
Claudia

I've been thinking of how I would answer the questions to the quiz you posted and the only one that stumps me is the last book I read that made me laugh out loud. So far, I can't think of any!

#123, I have been feeling like "The Grim Reader" for some time too, and have been trying to read some lighter books, at least while I'm busy with Hitler and Stalin. It is interesting that you mention The Master and Margarita because I was going to read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for the Reading Globally September theme read on 20th century Russian fiction, but I don't think I can face it right now and may read The Master and Margarita instead.

Darryl- Excellent reviews of The Elephant's Journey and Room. Both sound terrific! I'm really looking forward to finally starting Saramago. Hope you are having a great weekend!

Book #109: Yesterday by Maria Dermoût



My rating: (2.8/5.0)

Maria Dermoût (1888-1962) was an Indonesian writer who was born to a colonial family on Java, in the Dutch East Indies, educated in The Netherlands, and lived most of her life in Java. She did not begin writing until her sixties, and she produced two novels, Yesterday, which was originally published in Dutch in 1951 and translated into English in 1959, and The Ten Thousand Things, which was published in Dutch in 1955 and is currently available from New York Review Books.

Yesterday, based on the author's life, is narrated by a young girl whose father owns a sugar cane plantation on the island of Java at the end of the 19th century. Her life is an idyllic one, with little care or responsibility, although tensions of colonial life occasionally disturb her peaceful setting. Dermoût's description of the jungle setting is evocative, and her light touch makes for a quick read, but one that this reader will soon forget.

Also adding Room, which sounds like it's powerful and fascinating even if it is somewhat disturbing.

#124: You're welcome, Claudia!

#125: There aren't many books I've read that were laugh out loud funny. A House for Mr Biswas, White Teeth, and A Confederancy of Dunces are the most memorable ones I can recall at the moment.

#126: The novel I just finished was way too light, so I'm ready for something meatier. I think I'll read The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers, which I should be able to finish today. I need to read six more Southern Gothic novels by the end of the year to meet my 1010 challenge, and it's supposed to be her best work.

#127: Thanks, Mark! I hope that you're enjoying your weekend, as well. It's very nice here in Atlanta, a bit warm at 85 degrees, but far better than the weather we've had for most of the summer.

I just finished The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers, her fourth and next to last novel. It was good, but I still think The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is her best novel. I'll read her last novel, Clock Without Hands, by the end of the year.

Next up: Sanctuary by William Faulkner, this month's group read for Le Salon du Soüthern Gothique.

Wow! I miss your thread for all of a Sunday and come back early Monday to find great reviews of terrific (albeit depressing) books, all of which I am adding to the BlackHole (which, if I think about it too hard, sounds really depressing too!)

Room and Closing the Chart both sound like fascinating reads, though certainly not easy fare!

I can't keep up with the pace of your thread, but I do try!

AMAZING! Two hot reviews on the same day! Congratulations!!!!

(mending tags)

Hurray! Congratulations on your 2 hot reviews, Darryl.

I love the eclectic selection that you read. I know I'm always going to find something I wouldn't ordinarily come across easily in bookstores or even on most other threads. Have you always been a reader of eclectic tastes from a young age?

I'm just getting home, after working until early evening and a stop at my local Borders, to pick up four books:

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray: another book from the 2010 Booker Prize longlist. I flipped through it at the bookstore, and I've decided to read it right away; Sanctuary will have to wait.

The German Mujahid by Boualem Sansal: I had to get this straight away, after Tad's excellent review.

I also picked up a travel book on London, National Geographic Traveler: London (shiny pictures!) and a travel book on Belgium, Top 10: Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp and Ghent.

#132: Stasia, your BlackHole is far more depressing than any book I've read recently. We either need to clone you, multiple times, or figure out a way to make you immortal.

#133: I'd highly recommend Room. Closing the Chart, on the other hand, was very grim and disturbing.

Giovanni's Room keeps popping up whenever I use the touchstones for Room. I'll take this as a hint that it's time to re-read my favorite novel by James Baldwin.

#134: Hi, Luci! Uh, I have the same problem with my own thread sometimes...

#135: Thanks, Peggy! I doubt that I'll ever come close to Richard's record from last year, when he had seven or eight of the top 10 hot listed books at one time.

#136: (achoo) Thanks, Caroline! I read a lot as a young child, but I almost completely stopped reading for pleasure in my mid teens, and didn't start reading again in earnest until about 25 years later, during my last few months of residency. I mostly read science fiction books and YA sports biographies (Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, etc.) as a child, and the few books I read in that 25 year stretch were mainly books from the NYT best-seller list or others that were popular at the time. I credit my frequent excursions to City Lights Bookstore on my San Francisco trips, starting in 1998, with my initial interest in world literature, and my first visit to London in 2007 with my interest in British and Commonwealth literature and the UK and international literary awards. I couldn't have told you a thing about the Booker or Orange Prizes before '07.

At least half of the docs in my group are also avid readers, and we collectively read from a wide variety of genres.

The shortlist for this year's Booker Prize was announced this morning:

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
Room by Emma Donoghue
In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
The Long Song by Andrea Levy
C by Tom McCarthy

Man Booker Prize 2010 shortlist announced

I've read all but the Carey and the McCarthy (which will be released in the US today). I'm surprised that The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet didn't make it, but I'm pleased to see the Jacobson and the Donoghue make the cut.

>137 kidzdoc:: Hmmm, that's a lot of pressure! :-) Anyway, thanks for the nice comments about the review. You did notice I didn't give it my highest rating?...just definitely recommending. I hope you like it.

Thanks for the Booker shortlist, Darryl. Sounds like your favorite now would be The Finkler Question. Based on your reviews and others, I'm hesitant to read Parrot and Olivier in America and The Long Song because I'm not sure I'd like them that much. Do you know when they announce the winner?

#137: Stasia, your BlackHole is far more depressing than any book I've read recently. We either need to clone you, multiple times, or figure out a way to make you immortal.

This sounds like a wonderful plan to me and when you figure out how to do it, I am in!

#138: That list completely depresses me as I have not read a single title there, and of course, my local library does not have one of them. Rats.

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet on Skippy Dies, even though it didn't make the Booker shortlist. I've been wary about the Donoghue, but may end up reading it. I did like her other novels (very different kinds of books), but the topic... well....

Stasia, remember that several of these books aren't even out in the US yet! Others are v.v. new.

Re the Fritzl case -- I can, in a pinch, understand why some overwhelmed parent could snap and hit a child or an elderly person. I can't empathize, but intellectually, I get it. (All I have to do is imagine being imprisoned in a room with a colicky infant for days at a time and no other adult company...) But -- to do that repeatedly? And in Fritzl's case, that was purposeful, calculated. Utterly chilling, deeply evil. If I believed in the death penalty... As it is, he should be incarcerated in the same conditions she was.

Wow, I hadn't realised your trip to London was so close. Because our childminder is on holiday, I'm only at work on Friday 17 and perhaps Monday 20 September while you're here. You might be at the theatre on those days, but if you have time for a quick lunch/coffee let me know. I work in Judd Street, opposite St Pancras and where Kings Cross and Bloomsbury meet.

I read the Donoghue interview this morning. I'm very nervous about the subject matter for Room but I have read and loved most of her previous books, especially Life Mask and Slammerkin (both historical, 18th century, very different otherwise).

#96 I've still yet to have a proper peruse/ticket-buying-session of the NT & Old Vic upcoming season, but I know I definitely want to see "Danton's Death", so we shall definitely have to compare notes for that!

#110 Having seen the Booker shortlist today and your review of Room, I think I'm definitely going to have to add that to my wishlist - although probably only to be read when I'm feeling brave!

#141 Stasia, usually I'm in the same boat re any prize list - I almost always end up reading them years after they're picked... Abnormally, I've actually read one this year ;o)

#142 "If I believed in the death penalty... As it is, he should be incarcerated in the same conditions she was." - my sentiments exactly. It depresses me beyond belief that there are people like this in the world.

Darryl, wooooooo! on the hot reviews!

Well I see the Tremain and Mitchell books didn't make it but the Levy book did. Hmmm. In my experience the Booker judges are great at nominating books and lousy at picking a winner with the notable exception of Wolf Hall.

Darryl, I've got The Long Song and Room in my obese wish list. I've got to remember not to read them in succession otherwise I'm going to be horribly depressed.

#139: Hmmm, that's a lot of pressure! :-) Anyway, thanks for the nice comments about the review. You did notice I didn't give it my highest rating?...just definitely recommending. I hope you like it.

Yes, I did notice that you didn't rank The German Mujahid very highly. However, your review was enticing, and the subject of the book is definitely of interest.

#140: Thanks for the Booker shortlist, Darryl. Sounds like your favorite now would be The Finkler Question. Based on your reviews and others, I'm hesitant to read Parrot and Olivier in America and The Long Song because I'm not sure I'd like them that much. Do you know when they announce the winner?

Yes, The Finkler Question is definitely my favorite of the shortlisted books I've read, followed by Room, In a Strange Room and The Long Song. I haven't read Parrot and Olivier in America yet; I started it but put it aside after I struggled to get into it. I am planning to read it, though. The Long Song is the book I liked the least from the longlist, although it was a good read. The Booker Prize winner will be announced on October 12.

#141: That list completely depresses me as I have not read a single title there, and of course, my local library does not have one of them.

Let's see...The Finkler Question didn't have a US publisher the last time that I checked, and I didn't see a US publication date for In a Strange Room. However, if you have access to back issues of The Paris Review in your local library, specifically issues 174, 187 and 189, you can read In a Strange Room, which consists of three stories. Unfortunately you cannot read these stories online at the magazine's web site. The Long Song and Parrot and Olivier in America have been available in the US for a couple of months, Skippy Dies was released here last week, and C was released today (my local Borders has it today, and I'll probably buy it in the next couple of days). Room will be released in the US on September 13.

#142: I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet on Skippy Dies, even though it didn't make the Booker shortlist. I've been wary about the Donoghue, but may end up reading it. I did like her other novels (very different kinds of books), but the topic... well....

I'll still read Skippy Dies this week, even though it didn't make the shortlist, as I can easily finish the shortlist by October 12. I still plan to read at least 12 of the 13 Booker Dozen books; The Stars in the Bright Sky is the one that I may pass on, even though I do have it. After I purchase "C" I'll have all 13 books.

Room is not as grim or depressing as either my review or the topic would indicate. I like it more and more as I think about it.

As it is, he should be incarcerated in the same conditions she was.

I think he deserves worse than that. I can't imagine, and probably never will be able to comprehend the conditions his daughter lived in. I think his proper punishment will be meted out after he dies.

#143: Luci, I'd love to meet for lunch or coffee; either Friday or Monday work for me, as I don't have anything planned for either afternoon yet, and Rachael will be working from home when I'm there, so I probably won't see her on this trip. I'll send you a PM shortly.

#144: I'll ask you more about Donoghue's other books next week. I'll definitely make several book runs while I'm there (London Review Bookshop, Foyles, Daunt Books, and the second hand book sale near Royal Festival Hall, since I'll be nearby for NT matinees that weekend).

#145: Thanks for mentioning The Old Vic, Fliss; I'll have to see what's playing there.

#146: Well I see the Tremain and Mitchell books didn't make it but the Levy book did. Hmmm. In my experience the Booker judges are great at nominating books and lousy at picking a winner with the notable exception of Wolf Hall.

Hmm is right; I was shocked that neither the Tremain nor the Mitchell made the cut, and that the Levy did. However, the entire process (longlist, shortlist, winner announcements) is very interesting to me, and practically all of the books that made the longlist have been very good (4-5 star) reads.

#147: Darryl, I've got The Long Song and Room in my obese wish list. I've got to remember not to read them in succession otherwise I'm going to be horribly depressed.

I'll be interested in your take of both books, Caroline, since I found neither of them to be overly depressing.

Really? Well that's raised my spirits, Darryl.... especially since I received a copy of The Long Song in my mailbox today. Whoopeee

Re The Old Vic, I think there may be something with Jeff Goldblum in - or maybe that's somewhere else. Hmmm. I really must have a browse...

Re the Booker shortlist, Andrew Motion (chair of the judges for this year's prize) was on Front Row on BBC Radio 4 this evening, speaking about the shortlist (the link takes you to the BBC iPlayer, you should be able to listen for the next week). I only caught the end of the interview and haven't caught up on it yet, but he seemed particularly enthusiastic about the Andrea Levy, interestingly...

#150: As Fliss mentioned below, there has been quite a bit of support for the Levy, on the Man Booker Prize discussion thread on the prize's web site, and on the Guardian Books Podcast at the end of July. I thought that Small Island was a better book, but The Long Song was certainly a good read.

#151: You're right, Fliss; one of the plays at the Old Vic does feature Jeff Goldblum. I briefly glanced at The Old Vic's web site; I'll investigate it more closely later this week.

Thanks for the link to Front Row; I think I subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, so I'll check this out soon.

Finally caught up with you, Darryl and you have been doing some cracker jack reading. Don't think I can read some of them, no matter how interesting you made them sound (The Room). The Grim Reader...hah! The Master and Margarita is one of my all-time most favourite books, so enjoy!

Darryl, are you still following the Phillies? They just went up 7-4 over the Marlins in the 7th. And the Braves are losing to the Pirates but are on a rain delay ...

I am following you both for Phillies info! Can't thank you enough!

I haven't read any of the longlisted books yet (though there are several I want to get to fairly soon) but I am surprised that the Mitchell didn't make the cut: from everything I have read, that seems to be a very popular and very highly regarded book.

#146 I know what you mean: I've never analysed it, but I often feel that I'm less likely to enjoy shortlisted books and winners than I am to enjoy the longlisted books that don't make the cut.

#148: if you have access to back issues of The Paris Review in your local library

Umm, no. I am not sure that my local library knows that The Paris Review exists. Sometimes I am not sure my local library knows that Paris exists :)

ha ha (en francais)

>157 alcottacre: Oh, don't be silly! The liberry in Sherman knows about Paris! It's only a few counties over, after all!

Wait...we're not talking about Paris, Texas, are we? *slinks off*

>154 lauralkeet:,155: the Phillies won that game (barely), and the Braves lost, so the Phillies are now in first place !!! It's going to be tight for the rest of the season.

It was an especially unpleasant day at work, with a couple of high maintenance upper middle class mothers. One all but cursed out the senior pediatric resident working with me when she came to visit her child this morning, so the resident left without seeing the child. This mother then got upset because no doctor had come by to see her child yet (I stopped by the room before this mother started whining, but no one was in the room). We were polite, but not very friendly toward her when we visited her this afternoon; she was contrite and apologetic about her behavior that morning, but I wasn't buying it. The other one had an anxiety score of about 47 on a scale of 1 to 10, and the resident spent nearly four hours with the mother (I spent about 2-1/2 hours with her, explaining the plan over and over and over again). Her ex-husband (the Voice of Reason) flew here "emergently", and we explained the plan to him in 10 minutes.

My resident is hopefully being pampered by her husband tonight; I am currently pampering myself with a generous dose of vodka (for medicinal purposes only).

#153: Hi, Tui! Despite the grim subject, I am growing more and more fond of Room the more I think about it. I would be very happy if it won the Booker Prize, as it was a courageous and very unique book. It certainly was the most memorable book of the ones I've read so far, and, at the moment, I think I'd rank it no lower than third on my list, after The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and The Finkler Question. However, I'm very tempted to rank it ahead of at least one if not both of those books.

#154, 155, 160: The Phillies are currently in first place, as you know, but they are tied with the Braves in the loss column, so I would consider them tied for the lead at the moment (the Phillies have played one more game than the Braves have, which is why they are 1/2 game in first place). It doesn't appear that this will change tonight; the Phillies are leading the Marlins by 9-0, and the Braves are beating the Pirates by the same score.

#156: It seems that practically everyone, including me, is shocked that the Mitchell didn't make the shortlist. It certainly makes the speculation of the winner that much more interesting. I read a Tweet that at least one of the bookies has made "C" by Tom McCarthy the favorite to win the prize (I forgot to stop by Borders to pick up a copy; I was more interested in buying vodka tonight).

#157: Despite the name, The Paris Review is published in NYC. Do your local libraries carry The New Yorker?

I may try to read a little bit of Skippy Dies before I go to bed tonight, assuming that I can actually read the pages. ;-}

Wow, sorry about the bad day, Darryl. Hope the vodka helps you de-stress and you get a good night's sleep.

I have got to get to David Mitchell's books soon!

edited to fix spelling

Darryl, since you're a doctor, far be it from me to question your choice of self-medication. ;-)

As for the whiny mother, I think she just wanted your attention because it would show her to be a concerned mother ensuring her child received the best thought out medical plan ... or she just wanted you to hold her hand, stare into your eyes and have you go "There, there" to her. I think your resident or you should have availed yourselves to an sedative to calm the hysterical woman down

and hence you can see why I wouldn't last longer than 5 minutes in medical practice without being arrested for malpractice. :-)

I hope you have a better day tomorrow, sweetie.

For the record, the vast majority of the families I see, including practically all of the upper middle class parents, are absolutely lovely and a pleasure to meet and work with. I sent home a 9 year old boy earlier today, who I absolutely adored, as he was polite, funny and inquisitive, and he asked incredibly insightful questions about his care. His mother was equally nice, and I was a bit sad to see them go home. It's just that the high maintenance families, the ones that treat us like their personal servants (snap fingers, demand to know what time the doctor is coming), tend to be upper middle class.

The whiny mother was one of the most annoying ones I've dealt with in quite a while. We're very used to working with worried and anxious parents, which is entirely normal when a child is admitted to the hospital. However, this mother's child was far and away the least sick of any of the kids I saw today (he had viral croup, and probably didn't need to be admitted; he could have been watched for a few hours in the ER, and sent home, IMO). It's especially tough to stomach parents like these, especially when I have several kids on my service who are very sick, including one baby who will likely die soon.

>164 kidzdoc: including one baby who will likely die soon But what does that, Darryl, have to do with *her* child? After all, *other* children die every day, you can't feel sorry for them all, and *her* child is sick *now*!

People like that are enough to make one believe in euthanasia.

Ugh -- It sounds as if you got one of those mothers who thinks their child (because it's theirs) is vastly more important than anything else in the world... They do come in all shapes and sizes and from all kinds of classes, though. Last week, there was a young boy, about 9, standing outside and ringing my doorbell for fun while his mother talked on the phone. I was working, and when it got stuck, dashed out to try to find out what was going on. I asked the boy if he was trying to reach me and needed something or just playing, and he ran over and tugged at his mother's shirt; she put her phone away and listened to him as he whispered in her ear. She then lit into me, told me I didn't talk to her son, I talked to her, and she was telling me to leave him alone, "you (multiple expletives deleted)." I tried to explain I just wanted to know if someone needed help or if this was just goofing around. She called me a racist pedophile. (Not sure how those combine, but...) And then she tried to report me to the cops at the subway station. One of whom then came over to tell me not to speak to her child?!?

We have real problems in this neighborhood from the local high school kids, who indulge themselves in a fair amount of petty vandalism on their way to and from school. The teachers do nothing. I wonder whether the kind of parents you describe, Darryl, are raising their kids to behave like that -- in an entitled manner, with disregard for others. I know if I had behaved like some of these kids, my parents would have been ashamed of me, not insisting I'd been wronged! The more a parent demands special treatment for their children, the greater the odds that they come to believe they are entitled to that.

ETA: Hope the vodka worked! A friend of mine swears by it as a cure for a cold. Stand a candle on the table, toss back glasses of vodka until you can't see the flame, and you're cured!

My daughter, who just finished her pediatric residency in June (and who will take her pediatric boards in October, one month after her baby is born), also tells tales of difficult parents. She loves the kids; not so much the difficult parents. And since she has been residencing in an inner city hospital, she's been particularly upset about the frequency of non-compliant parents, which often leads to a revolving door situation with the kids going in and out of the hospital. I hope I wasn't too whiney with my pediatrician and hospital staff the one and only time a child of mine had to be hospitalized. I know I was worried out of my mind.

Non-compliant parents must be the worst! Especially if they also happen to be difficult parents. I'd want to swat them, I think.

I haven't had a child in and out of hospital, but my mother has a chronic heart condition. It's hard to walk that fine line between ensuring the staff are aware that there is a family member being attentive (which does, I think, ensure that they are alert to the small stuff as well as medical emergencies) and being seen as obnoxious or overly-demanding out of worry. And the more vulnerable the loved one (i.e. a v. young child), the harder that must be. I can't imagine what it would be like to be the parents of that child who won't live. Or, for that matter, to be the doctor who knows that for all the amazing medical developments of the last century, there are some cures that lie out of reach. I don't think I could do what you do, Darryl, on a daily basis. I'd burn out in a week, even with books and vodka to console me.

*tiptoes into thread quietly in case Darryl has a hangover*

Hope you're feeling less stressed today, Darryl.

Reading all with compassion, Darryl.

I'm so happy about the Phillies!

Darryl, hope the vodka cheered you up and today is better, and some really sick kids get a bit better. Your job is an amazing one, but I couldn't cope with the stress either. I can't believe that uptight mother was there with a kid who had viral croup!! Our daughter had it quite a bit when she was under 2, and it is scary the first time, but isn't the cure just prednisone if it's really bad and standing outside in the very cold air if it's not? Your poor resident.

Suze - if my kids were **anywhere near a door bell** they'd be getting an earful. If they ring our own one more than once I get grumpy.

Just waving as I head through the threads, Darryl. I do hope you have a better day today!

Darryl, I hope you have a better day today than you did yesterday. If it's another gruesome day, call a few pals over to keep you company.

> 61

Sorry your day was so bad, Darryl. For every nasty parent, there are some that are truly amazing. This past week, a friend of mine lost his younger 9-year-old daughter to a tragic bicycle accident. This short news clip shows how magnanimous some parents can be - even in the most adverse circumstance. Other people simply feel entitled... *sigh*

Thanks re Room, Darryl. I've been trying to get The Finkler Question but it has been out of stock at the BookDepository in pb. Jacob de Zoet is on the list too.

Sorry you had a poo of a day. Welcome to the Age of Entitlement, folks, where hysteria and abuse seem to be the norm, where everyone is *special* just because they were born and screaming is socially acceptable behaviour. Gack.

... and where respect is something someone is entitled to by virtue of existing, not something to earn...

TGIF!!!



My work week, one of the most painful of recent memory, is finally over. I didn't read anything during the week, but I hope to get at least a couple of books knocked out this weekend—after I catch up on sleep.

I'll read and respond to the previous posts sometime tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to photos and reports of Richard's birthday bash!

omigod -- WHAT an image!!?!!

I'm more than a little worried about how bad your week must have been; hope the weekend will compensate in part, at least...

Sorry you had such a stinker of a week Darryl - it sounded horrendous. Enjoy the weekend sleep/read and I hope next week is less stressful!

Hope you're getting some rest, Darryl. And do something about that hair, would you?!

Book #81: The Little Peul by Mariama Barry



My rating:

My review is in issue 7 of Belletrista:

http://www.belletrista.com/2010/issue7/reviews_21.php

Today's Guardian Review features an interesting article by Andrew Motion, the chair of the judges for the 2010 Booker Prize, on the selection process:

The Man Booker prize: Andrew Motion, chair of the judges, on the shortlist

Hi Darryl. Sorry to hear about your week. I figured it wasn't good that you weren't posting. Hope you're getting some good rest today and thanks for the link to the Guardian article. It was interesting--sounds like a wonderful job to have.

Thank you for the link to the Andrew Motion article. It was interesting to see his point of view in reviewing the books and you could sense the enjoyment he got out of doing it.

#184: Thanks, Pat. I've been in a semi-catatonic state for most of the day, unable to read more than a few pages or do anything other than watch sports on TV.

#185: You're welcome, Caroline. I enjoyed his comments, and I agree with you about his enthusiasm for the task of chairing the committee and reading books. I wonder if the judges are paid for their efforts, and if they are able to work their usual jobs while serving on the judging committee.

Book #111: The Silent Traveller in San Francisco by Chiang Yee



My rating:

Chiang Yee, a noted travel writer, met a San Franciscan during a trip from New York to England on an ocean liner in 1945. His new friend invited him to visit him in the City By the Bay on a future trip. Chiang spent six months in and around San Francisco in early 1953, and wrote this chronicle of his stay there.

This book was interesting in some sections, but was mainly a frustrating read for me, as Chiang would frequently diverge from his narrative of the places he visited, recounting meetings with friends and recalling other sites that he had seen previously. Reading this was akin to having a conversation with a demented man, whose flight of ideas prevented a true conversation or a linear narrative. This book is currently out of print, and, in my opinion, it should stay that way.

The Little Peul looks great. Thanks, Darryl.

I hope this next week is a much better one for you!

Darryl, I too wondered if the judges are paid for their efforts. If they had to work a regular job as well, then I suspect they had to curtail their social life for a spell in order to read the 140 books and attend all their meetings. Then again, with video conferencing, perhaps they didn't need to meet in person each time to cull the 140 down to the shortlist.

Great review of The Little Peul Darryl and thanks for the heads up on The Silent Traveller. I hope you're having a restful weekend and doing something fun to make up for your horrendous week.

#188, 189: Thanks for your compliments on my review of The Little Peul; I didn't think it was one of my better reviews, so I'm glad to hear that it wasn't as bad as I thought.

I'm a lot more alert today than yesterday, although I'm still pretty sleepy. Although I regret missing Richard's party I definitely made the right decision to not go; I wouldn't have been much fun yesterday!

I had planned to go out for breakfast this morning, but I'm too tired at the moment (and I may go back to sleep shortly). I should be back to normal by this afternoon, and I'll probably go outside later this afternoon, after the 1 pm Falcons-Steelers game.

I'm on backup call tomorrow, and would have to work if someone called out sick or if the patient census was too high. There is a better than even chance that I won't work tomorrow, and then I would be off from work until at least 9/23, or possibly 9/24. After a three or four day stretch I'll be off for almost three weeks. So, even if I do work tomorrow (which would be a short day, in any case), the worst of the work stretch is over.

Today I'll read My Ear at His Heart by Hanif Kureishi, the author's memoir of his early days as a writer and of the life of his father, aided by the manuscript of a novel cum biography that the senior Kureishi wrote before his death that his son discovered years later. I'll also resume reading Skippy Dies, although I doubt that I'll be able to finish it before my flight to London leaves late Tuesday afternoon. It's good so far, but I've only read about 25-30 pages of it.

Happy Sunday, Darryl. I didn't realize you were leaving for London so soon. Sounds like good timing for that--a much-needed break!

#191: Yes, I'll start packing for the trip very shortly, while I watch the Falcons-Steelers game. It won't take long, as I'll only be there for six days. The timing is good, and I'm glad that I'll have had several days off to recuperate before the long flight on Tuesday.

Mm..... one of my favorite places in London is the Borough Market round by London Bridge. Great fruit and vegetables, but the best thing about the Borough Market is the Northfield butcher because they make the best bacon butty - I could never resist one of those freshly made, crisp English bacon butter sandwiches. gosh.. I think I'm salivating ....

#193: English bacon butter sandwiches? Ooh...that sounds really good. I have to go there, either Thursday after the National Theatre play, or sometime on Friday. Thanks for mentioning the Borough Market, Caroline!

Are there other places off the beaten trail (especially south of the Thames) that you (or anyone else) would recommend?

I haven't been to Covent Garden or Spitalfields Market yet, so I'll visit these markets. The resident that worked with me last week told me about Ben's Cookies, which she frequently bought when she was a student at Oxford. There is a branch in Covent Garden, so I'll bring some back for her and my work mates.

a bacon butter sandwich - sounds like you need to double up on the statin!!

BTW, I'll be in London also, in October, I might try the Borough Market but I think cardiology would want me to bypass the bacon-butter.

A bacon butter sandwich? Perhaps a bacon butty (butty being another word for sandwich, although the reason escapes me right now)? ;o) mmmmmm.

Darryl, I'll have a think about places off the beaten track for you (my sister lives in SE London), but I'll definitely second Borough Market... On the food theme though, have you been to Neal's Yard cheese shop in Covent Garden? I think there's also one in Borough Market... mmmmm cheeeeese...

I hope you enjoy My Ear at His Heart as much as I did (however irritated I was that the women in his childhood seemed to have been all but edited out)...

Re NT show's I've now booked to see a matinee of "Danton's Death" on Sunday. It's had very good reviews, so I'm looking forward to that. I did want to see "Earthquakes in London" very much, but left it too late - by the time I looked for tickets, there were only some left for Saturday (I was in Rochester) and a matinee tomorrow (I think my boss might have something to say about that), so I'm hoping that all the fantastic reviews will encourage them to extend the season, although I don't know how likely that is, given it's only on at the Cottesloe... I can't decide whether I want to see "The Habit of Art" or not, so I'll look forward to hearing what you think.

Anyway, have a fantastic holiday!

I've just emailed my sister for recommendations - I know she'll have loads of restaurant recommendations as they love eating out. In fact, I know that there's a fish restaurant that they particularly like somewhere near Waterloo (actually, there're loads of great foody places near there), but I can't remember the name off the top of my head...

Have a wonderful trip, Darryl!

Have a great trip. Will you be posting from London? Hope so.

So I did have to work today after all, as one of my partners went into labor this morning. I'm eagerly awaiting news of her second daughter's birth!

#195: Yeah, I might need to get clearance from my cardiologist before I eat a bacon butty. I looked at photos of them on Google Images; that may be too much cholesterol for my palate (not to mention my waist!). I'll have to at least give it a try, though.

#196: I'll definitely visit that cheese shop, Fliss; thanks! I'm seriously addicted to good cheeses, along with artisan breads and high quality coffee. Monmouth Coffee on Monmouth Street near Seven Dials is the best coffee I've tasted in London, and I'll definitely stop there at least a couple of times this week.

I'm enjoying My Ear at His Heart so far, but I've only read 60 pages of it. I should finish it either tonight or tomorrow before I leave.

BTW, I stopped by Borders on my way home from work, and bought C by Tom McCarthy, which I may bring with me. I also bought The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings by James Baldwin and the 2010 Not for Tourists Guide to London, so I can be more of an insider. I need to work on my London accent, though.

Are you going to see "Danton's Death" this Sunday? I have tickets for the Saturday matinee performance, but I will be seeing "The Habit of Art" at the NT Sunday afternoon. Maybe we can meet for lunch before these perfomances (maybe the Waterloo restaurant your sister likes?); I'll send you a PM shortly.

#197: Ooh, restaurant recommendations would be good! Thanks in advance.

#198, 199: Thanks, Rebecca and Pat! My flight leaves at about 5:30 Eastern Time tomorrow, and arrives in London at 7 am GMT. I'll bring my laptop and my BlackBerry with me, and I'll definitely post from there. The cafe at the Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road has free WiFi, so I can certainly post from there at least every other day. The hotel apparently charges £20/day (over $30/day USD) for Internet access, so I won't go online there.

Darryl, one bacon butty (yes, flissp, that's what they're called. A butty is buttered bread in the UK) will not, I'm sure give you a heart attack or expand your waist. It's a seriously good sandwich and you must try one at least once in this lifetime.

I would have recommended some of the Firkin pubs because it was a Scottish brewery that used to brew some fantastic beer and cider, but in the late 90s, they were acquired by a different company and they stopped them brewing their Dogbalti, curry beer and chili beer among others, and made the Firkin pubs sell their own slop ... so while the interiors are still the same, the beers in the Firkin pubs are now meh. I wish corporations would stop messing with good traditions.

Safe travels, Darryl!

Darryl- Can't wait to hear your thoughts on C! I've been hearing some incredible buzz on McCarthy's latest.
Have a great & safe trip!

#201: I'll definitely try a bacon butty while I'm there, probably on Thursday afternoon before the NT play. I'll walk from Borough Market to the NT, to burn some calories afterward.

Curry beer? Chili beer? I would have been curious to taste those brews.

I still haven't had a proper English breakfast; I don't usually like heavy meals in the morning, but I'll have to make an exception at some point.

#202: Will do, Mark. I want to at least finish the Booker Prize shortlist by the time the winner is announced next month (10/12), so I'll probably start reading C tomorrow, and read Parrot and Olivier in America later this month or early next month, to complete the shortlist.

If you want to check out a Firkin pub anyway just to soak in the ambiance ( and maybe try your luck to see if the corporation had a change of heart and decided to bring back some of their special beers), check our the Flyman & Firken no Shafesbury Avenue.

Bacon butty...*Homer drool*...goooooooooooood

I second the fish restaurant that Fliss mentioned, though I can't remember its name either!!! It's just on the south side of the bridge.

There are some good gastropubs on the south side of the river too; I'll e-mail a friend of mine for some names. One is around Tooley Street, I think.

I'd suggest walking down the river from the National Theater towards Tower Bridge. Keep going past Tower Bridge and you come to a really neat renovated wharf area -- around Butler's Wharf. It's interesting to look at the names on the former warehouses and realize that this was the center of the British empire's trade.

I'd suggest Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street. It's where Samuel Johnson used to hang out (his house, where he composed his dictionary, is very nearby) and will give you a sense of what an 18th c. pub was like. If you are walking with St. Paul's at your back, toward the Strand, it is on your right side, just up from the offices of Goldman Sachs and on the other side of the street from St. Bride's (a Wren church, and the one that is the de facto journalists' church).

My fave museums are Sir John Soane's (in the Inns of the Court area, N. of the Strand); the Museum of London (the Barbican) and the V&A (South Kensington). Go to Hatchard's bookstore on Piccadilly and listen to the carpeted floorboards creek under your feet.

ETA: One accessible and good Indian restaurant is Veeraswamy. It's on Regent St, very near to Piccadilly Circus; an upper floor so you need to hunt for the entrance. Good if you're in the West End for theater, etc.

Ha! The fish restaurant is called Livebait. It is v.v. good, and will do less damage to your arteries than a bacon butty. But if you come back without having tried at least one cooked breakfast (fried eggs, bacon, sausage, bread, mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans), I will decide you are a fool!

Mmmm... bacon butties. I may just have to have one for lunch.

I hope you have a good trip, Darryl.

Have a great trip, Darryl!

Lots of "greasy spoon" cafes do "all day breakfasts" so you can always have one for lunch or tea.

#204: LOL!

#205: I'll try to pass that pub on Shaftesbury Ave, probably after a trip to Monmouth Coffee on nearby Monmouth Ave.

#206: Okay, I'll definitely have to try a bacon butty now!

#207: Thanks for those great recommendations, Suzanne! I've highlighted this message for future reference.

#208: I was wondering if Livebait was the restaurant you, and presumably Fliss, were referring to. It was listed in the Not for Tourists Guide to London 2010 book I picked up yesterday; it's on The Cut, between Waterloo Station and the Southwark tube station, from what I can tell, which is close to the National Theatre.

#209, 210: Thanks, Caty and Terri!

#211: Thanks, Luci; that's good to know.

#208 Suzanne, you read my mind! That's the one - it's actually a small chain, but the one I was thinking of is, as you say, on The Cut, near Waterloo Station and The Old Vic, not far from the NT (where there are, indeed, loads of good places to eat).

I love your suggestion of the walk down the South Bank from the NT towards Tower Bridge - it's one of my favourite London walks. You also go past the Tate Modern, St Paul's Cathedral (on the other side of the wobbly Millenium Bridge) and you can end up at The Tower of London (which I haven't been inside for years, but still sends shivers of awe down my spine when I see it at night).

Actually, I'd start further up river than that, outside the Houses of Parliament at Speaker's Corner, cross over at Westminster Bridge and continue from there.

...but you forgot to mention the wonderful British Muesum which is worth a visit for the Great Court alone (although I imagine you've already been there Darryl?). I also like the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, on The Strand, near Embankment tube and the Serpentine Gallery in Regent's Park.

My other favourite part of London is actually Camden, but that's mostly because I like going out there. Large parts of it are fairly ugly, but Chalk Farm is pretty and there are loads of gig venues - actually, I'm going to recommend The Jazz Cafe to you. It's very near Camden Town tube and, while a little bit dive-y inside, they've have some great acts - probably more up your street than most of the venues I go to there (although I'm sure that you've come across The Roundhouse before, which is a great venue for the acoustics alone). You can also book a table for food and look down on the stage (Jazz Cafe still), if you don't want to be in the mosh. Away from Camden High Street though, a nice walk is to start out at Camden Lock and walk along the tow path by the Canal, ending up in Regent's Park.

#203 Re the English fry up for breakfast, if you've never had one, I reckon it's worth going for brunch and trying to find somewhere decent - it can be truly revolting in some places and it'll definitely set you up for the day... Just taking a quick look, I didn't see any obvious greasy spoons, but I did find this list of recommendations.

Pub-wise, I'm trying and failing to think of any particularly nice London pubs. I know they're there, but mostly, the central ones are a bit chain/ikea-y, overpriced and not that great, unless you can find a quiet little street somewhere off the main drag. But then I'm a big fan of the Old Man style of pub... I know I've got some recommendations, I just need to think about it a bit more...

One that does leap to mind is Chimes, in Pimlico. Officially it's a pub, but it's really a restaurant that specialises in very good but basic traditional English food and proper Cider (none of this Magners/Strongbow rubbish) - don't worry if you're not a cider drinker though (although do give the proper thing a go if you've only ever tried the fizzy stuff), it does serve wine and beer too.

Re off the beaten track stuff South of the River, nothing in particular is leaping to mind - you kind of have to know where you want to go as it's very easy to end up in the middle of some depressing housing estate, despite the fact that there are lots of very nice areas right next to them.

I know that my sister is going to be very cross with me for not coming up with anything better than that, so I'll continue to think on it (she's quite hard to pin down at the moment for her own suggestions as she recently started a new job, which isn't great on top of the knackered-early-pregnacy-ness) and I'll keep you posted.

#212 Hmmm - I must investigate the Not for Tourists Guide....

Another very good place to look for places to go and what's on at the moment is the Time Out website - or pick up that week's magazine once you're there (it's quite difficult to get hold of a copy outside London).

Oh dear, that's quite an epic I'm leaving you there, but I hope there's something helpful in it!

Edited to add:

My sister's just replied to my last email with this:

I'll have to get back to you about places in SE london. I'm not sure about what the fishy restaurant is but they should try the jazz crypt at st giles church on fridays in camberwell if local or the no. 67 cafe at the south london gallery. There's baltic at southwark and the lobster pot at elephant and castle.

The latter two are both restaurants and I can definitely vouch for Baltic.

...oh and I've just realised I haven't yet responded about Sunday. Currently, I think I'm meeting my sister for lunch (NT is always a good excuse), but I need to speak to her this evening anyway, so I'll send you a PM/text when I know for sure - we could always see if the intervals coincide?

I love visiting Churchill's War Rooms whenever I'm in London. And of course there's my old favorite jazz club, Ronnie Scotts in Soho... never been disappointed at any time that I've been there.

Aha! Found a webpage for Camberwell Crypt as it seems like something that might appeal to you.

I didn't mention the BM, because since Darryl is staying right there in Russell Square, he'll be on the doorstep!

My friend just sent me the name of two gastropubs that he took me to the last time I was in London -- I'd recommend them both. The first is also on The Cut and thus near the Tate Modern/Old Vic. It's The Anchor and Hope. The other is a little further afield, but worth the foray -- The Garrison, on Bermondsey Street. Both of these are for dinner, not lunch. If you find yourself on the south side of the river for lunch and don't want to do the Oxo Tower stuff, there are several v. nice places along Butler's Wharf, including the Chop House which serves good English food (not an oxymoron) at lunch and is, I think, a Conran restaurant.

The nice part about Camden Town is that you can easily walk along Regent's Canal, or into Primrose Hill. There is a nice little independent bookstore, Primrose Hill Books, on Regent's Park Road. It used to be open on Sundays, so you could get a lunch there, and walk back to the West End through Regent's Park, including Queen Mary's Rose Garden. OK, not at its peak, but still a nice place to amble on a Sunday if the weather is nice, and less crowded than Hyde Park.

Suzanne, it sounds as though you and I like to amble the same kinds of places! I shall have to get your NYC recommendations next time I make it over there... ;o)

(and may I recommend Chimes to you too?)

Woo! I made it to London safely. The flight from Atlanta arrived about 45 minutes early, so it wasn't as crowded at Gatwick Airport as it has been on my previous trips. I'm currently having breakfast at Caffe Ritazza in Victoria Station, after taking the Gatwick Express service from the airport train station.

I only slept for an hour or so on the flight, so I'll probably crash for a bit after I check in at the hotel.

I made it back to Dallas safely, you made it to London safely. The airlines are batting 1000 today!

Glad to know you made it and hope you get some rest later.

At least the airlines are batting 2 for 2! I'm glad to hear that you made it back home safely, Stasia. I hope that you are able to rest, as much as you can, this week.

Thanks for those great recommendations, Fliss and Suzanne! I'll look at them more closely later today.

Good news: I arrived in London earlier than expected.

Good news: I was able to avoid an expensive cab ride (and a probable 45+ minute wait on the taxicab queue in front of Victoria Station) by taking the Underground to my hotel room (fortunately I already own an Oyster card and was able to jump on the Tube without waiting in another queue of dozens and dozens of tourists purchasing cards or tickets for Transport for London services).

Bad news: My room at the hotel wasn't ready until 2 pm, the usual check in time for the London hotels I've stayed at. I arrived there at about 9:30 am, so I had to kill several hours.

Better news: I made the most of this time, stopping at Foyles on Charing Cross Road, picking up some items, and getting some reading done. I'll finish My Ear at His Heart by Hanif Kureishi shortly.

I also had two very interesting conversations with a couple of men on public transit, who couldn't have been any more different. The first guy was on the top level of a northbound 24 bus heading from Victoria Station to Hampstead Heath; I got off midway up Charing Cross Road to go to Foyles. He was a Scottish man of indeterminate age (25? 35? 40?), who had already hit the bottle and was on his way to a meeting for alcoholics (don't ask). He was very friendly and kind, and spoke to me and a British couple on the top level of the bus. Somehow I was able to understand about 75% of what he said (slurred Scottish brogue)! His name was Jason, and he said that his mother gave him that name in honor of the first letters of the months of the second half of the year: July, August, September, October, and November. After hearing me talk, he asked me where I was from and what I did; when I told him I took care of hospitalized kids he got a bit misty eyed, and thanked me for taking care of them, which got to me a bit, too. He shook hands with me several times, and wished me well; I've had several friendly greetings in London and elsewhere, but this may have topped them all.

I met the second man while riding the Circle Line Underground service; he saw me reading the latest issue of The Bellevue Literary Review and asked me about it, as he had never heard of it. We had a very rich 10 minute conversation (I actually missed my stop (South Kensington) and passed several stops before he got off, but I didn't mind). He gave me his name (and vice versa), which is Raficq Abdulla; he is a writer, poet, management consultant, and a current member of English PEN. I had not heard of him, but I'll certainly look to see if I can find any of his work while I'm here. He was an incredibly nice guy, and only casually mentioned that he was a writer and a book reviewer; I found out the rest of his activities from his Wikipedia page.

Now that I've had lunch (lamb & mint pasty, crisps and Ribena blackcurrant juice) I'll probably crash pretty shortly.

Sounds like a wonderful trip so far, Darryl. I love your travelogs, it feels like I'm there with you. Have fun.

Oh, I should post the books I bought at Foyles this morning:

Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire by Iain Sinclair
Burley Cross Postbox Theft by Nicola Barker
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks
Staying On by Paul Scott (1977 Booker Prize winner)
The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (1970 Booker Prize winner; purchased after reading Laura's review of it earlier this year)
Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard (I hope that I haven't purchased this already!)
The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (my first Wodehouse book)
Brodeck's Report by Philippe Claudel (winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; Deborah wrote a nice review of it earlier this year).

I so admire people who just take off on their own to travel, going just where they want and seeing the things they're interested in and enjoying all the world has to offer. You fit in that category Darryl. I hope to fit in that category (after I retire) too.

I'm loving the London reports! Sounsd like you're having a brilliant time.

I bought Brodeck's Report in London too, but at Waterstone's. Foyles awaits me on my next trip...

The Iain Sinclair and Faulks books mysteriously made their way to my mailbox earlier this year; the latter was a so-so book for me, have yet to read Sinclair. I remember Staying On from eons ago -- think I read it in the early/mid 80s -- ditto the Ballard book. I do hope you enjoy Wodehouse -- he's a good cure for jet lag!!

#223 I've wanted to read some of these books for awhile. I loved Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks so was excited when A Week in December was published and sorry I missed out on it as an ER book. Maybe I'll plan to take it out of the library since it was just a so-so book for you, Suzanne. I also loved Phillipe Claudel's By A Slow River and have Brodeck's Report on my wishlist. I've never read any Wodehouse but want to.

Great start to your trip, Darryl.

Oh god Ribena I'd forgotten Ribena *drooooool*

They have it at Whole Foods!! And Trader Joe's! Yay!!

I was always more of a lemon/orange squash girl than a Ribena addict.

But I still love Twiglets!!

Mmmm, Ribena.

Sounds like a wonderful start to your visit, Darryl. You seem to have the most interesting encounters with people!

I hope you enjoy the Wodehouse: I love him, and that book is one of my favourites. (I recommend not reading it cover-to-cover in one go, though: the stories start sounding the same, whereas with a break between them they really sparkle.)

Hope you're not too jet-lagged!

On your first day in London and you meet 2 really interesting people on the bus AND you got books from Foyles?! Wow, Darryl, I want you to be my travel buddy!

Love your travel report so far... I hope you have time to keep this journal up here on LT for us who have to live vicariously through you. Mmmm... lamb pasty ... mmmm...Ribena! What kind of crisps? Darn.. I have to go to the British Beer Company for lunch this week now that you've given me a craving for a pasty.

Nice haul of books too. I love Woodhouse ... I have the whole collection and re-read them periodically whenever I need a really good laugh. I ended up getting the DVD collection of Jeeves & Wooster as well, with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie (before his Black Adder days I think). I've also read The Empire of the Sun and that's another on my re-read shelf.

I'll be interested in your Faulker review because that's in my TBR Tower for a while now and I was planning on getting to it at some point this year.

(Never heard of Ribena, I feel food-illiterate, lol)

Glad to know you are having such a good time already, Darryl!

Great start to your London break, meeting interesting people and visits to bookshops. Not tempted by the food just where you're eating it.
I'm planning on reading several Bernice Rubens books next year including The Elected Member. Some of them look like being real fun, I'm especially looking forward to Mr Wakefield's Crusade.

Ribena got really bad publicity here a couple of years ago and most NZers avoid it like the plague. Started with a school science fair project and ended with a hefty fine for breaching the Fair Trading Act!

Ribena was illegal in the USA for years, as were all forms of fresh currant products, for fear of Phylloxera being transmitted over here. Someone forgot that pasteurization kills Phylloxera.

Hi, Darryl, glad you are enjoying London. If I look out my hospital window I can probably see you, if I know where you are. I'm hoping next time you come I might be in a better position to meet you, which I'd love to do.

Green with envy regarding your trip to London. Please visit the tower of London and step on the spot on Tower Green where Anne Boleyn was beheaded...sounds kinky I know, but she is my favorite historical character.

Okay, I'm pretty well rested now, although my body thinks it's the middle of the evening, and not after 1 am. I don't think I'll be waking up early tomorrow.

I did finish My Ear at His Heart by Hanif Kureishi, which was very good. I don't think I appreciated it as much as if I didn't read it on public transit (plane, train, Underground, bus) while semi-awake. I will go back to it over the next few days, and submit a proper review of it then.

As several posters recommended I did start The Inimitable Jeeves, which is great so far. I'll take Caty's suggestion, and read the stories over the next few days.

#224: Thanks for that kind compliment, Bonnie. It's only been very recently that I've done any significant traveling; other than frequent visits to San Francisco, Chicago and Madison I didn't travel much until 2007, my first trip to London, so this is a new thing for me.

#226: For some reason (jet lag, probably) I thought that Faulks was the author of The Quickening Maze, which I read last year (that was Adam Foulds, which isn't exactly close to Sebastian Faulks). This title was prominently displayed on a rack near the front of Foyles, and the subject looked interesting enough (seven characters in London during the week before Christmas, 2007). I'm sorry to hear that it was only a so-so read, but I'll still read it sooner rather than later, I think.

#222: Thanks, Pat (et al.); I'll do my best to post updates and photos on a daily basis (no photos today, though).

#225: Did you go to the Waterstone's at Piccadilly Circus, Cushla? That's supposed to be the largest bookstore in Europe, right? I don't know that I'll make it on this trip, as I want to visit the London Review Bookshop and Daunt Books, and I'll definitely go back to Foyles at least a couple of more times (if only to see a free jazz concert or two at Ray's Jazz Cafe within the bookshop).

#227: I'm still confused; I was sure that I was familiar with Sebastian Faulks, but I haven't read any of his books.

#228: Ooh, I'm glad you mentioned that Ribena is available at Trader Joe's; there is one very close to where I live. Thanks, Richard!

#229: Twiglets = twigs covered in Marmite? I read that Mr Bean ran out of Twiglets, and tried to make his own in this fashion. I'll have to try these, but I understand that I'll either love them or hate them.

What's lemon/orange squash?

#230: Apparently I have a kind (or simple looking) face, as I'll often get asked for directions or assistance from perfect strangers, even on my first trip to London (when I was looking especially lost and clueless). The most interesting request came in San Francisco a few years ago, when a Latino guy asked me for directions to Mission Street, in Spanish. I was able to help him (since I speak passable Spanish), but I have no idea why he thought I might be Latino or a speaker of Spanish.

I usually don't have these types of encounters in Atlanta, NYC or Philadelphia, but I have met a couple of interesting people in San Francisco this way. I've found Londoners to be very friendly, whether on the street or in stores, and I'll often get asked where I'm from, do I live here, what brings me here, etc. It makes me feel quite at home here, and makes me want to visit more often than I have been.

#231: Likewise, Caroline; I think you would be an ideal travel buddy!

The crisps were Burts Salt & Vinegar, which I bought (along with the pasty and juice) from the West Cornwall Pasty shop just outside the High Street Kensington tube station. I had a craving for a lamb & mint pasty, but I didn't want to go back through the terminally busy Victoria Station to the pasty shop there.

I'm now craving fish and chips, but I doubt I'll find a shop open at 1:53 am.

I think I'll be reading a lot more books by P.G. Wodehouse, after the first two stories in The Inimitable Jeeves, "Jeeves Exerts the Old Cerebellum" and "No Wedding Bells for Bingo". This book is a perfect choice for the moment.

#232: No need to feel food illiterate, Stasia! I had no idea Ribena was sold in the US until Richard's message (thank you again, bro). Coming here is interesting, as there are so many familiar things (Starbucks, McDonald's & Burger King, etc.) but so many more new things to try and see, and so many different customs.

#233: I'll definitely read The Elected Member soon, probably before I leave, as I'd rather read these books and leave them with someone (as I did with Rachael when I came here last summer) or donate them to the Bloomsbury Oxfam (ditto). I'll definitely bring back the Sinclair and the Barker (the only hardback I purchased), though.

#233, 234: Interesting comments about the Ribena controversy; was it just Ribena or all currant containing products? (I love anything with black currant in it.)

#235: Hi, Janet! Thanks for your comment. I'd love to meet you in the near future; I figured that this wasn't a good time, especially since I've been around kids hospitalized with infectious illnesses the past few days, and I'm getting over a slight bug now.

#236: Hi, Linda! I've passed by the Tower of London a couple of times previously, but I haven't visited there yet. I don't think I'll have time to go there on this trip, but I hope to on a future trip, probably in the spring.

Pope Benedict XVI will be in London on Friday and Saturday, which will include a drive through Green Park, past Buckingham Palace, and into Hyde Park, where he will conduct a prayer vigil. I imagine that there will be tens of thousands of people lining the route, so I'll probably avoid the whole thing (although I'll certainly take and post photos if I do go).

Thanks for the update, Darryl. Hope you're able to sleep well tonight (I guess it's this morning where you are).

Think nothing of it...though I expect a report on the new Lemon Ribena before you're allowed to fly back into US airspace unscathed. (It's amazing what one little phone call can do....)

Wait until you see this! Ribena marble cheesecake! No-bake! *drool*

Darryl, I'm enjoying your travelogue. Great selection of books, there and I'm eager to see what you think of the Faulks. I loved Birdsong and also enjoyed Charlotte Gray.

And by the way ... the Phillies are 3 games up on the Braves as I write this, which is great because they have a 3-game series with the Braves starting Monday, and finish the season with another 3-game series, Oct. 1-3.

#238 I'll often get asked for directions or assistance from perfect strangers

This happens to me too, Darryl, and not only in New York. My favorite happened in Paris when someone who was obviously an American asked me directions in French! I loved being taken for a Parisian, although I certainly don't dress like one.

Glad you are having a good trip!

#238 Yep, Darryl, it was the huge Waterstone's at Piccadilly, on the advice of the usual LT London suspects! It was wonderful, even with a grouchy 6 year old in tow. He stopped me buying too many books, but I think I left with 6 for me and 3 for him.

I get asked for directions in strange places, but although I have light skin I have very dark hair and eyes, and think that people from all over Europe at least think I could be from their country, at least until I open my mouth in Turkish, Greek Cypriot and Polish shops. (Lots of people from all those places and other Eastern European countries as well as the West Indies and Africa here).

#240: I definitely slept well, a bit too well. I'll miss this afternoon's matinée at the National Theatre, which starts in 10 minutes. I'm still quite sleepy, and can't decide whether to order room service and stay put, or go out for a late lunch and coffee. Fortunately my room is stocked with a hot water heater and plenty of Twinings tea and instant Nescafe (normally I hate instant coffee, but at the moment all I want is caffeine!).

#241: So, if I don't provide a proper report of the new Limon Ribena I have to stay in London? Sorry, but I don't think you'll be getting a report until Thanksgiving.

I'll look for it in the next day or two.

Cheese cake made with Ribena blackcurrant juice? Mmm! None is better than Junior's cheese cake, though.

#242: Thanks for the update on the Phillies, Laura! The last time I looked they were only a game ahead of the Braves. Both of the Phillies-Braves series will be huge; the Giants and Rockies are playing well, so whoever doesn't finish in first may not grab the wild card slot.

Ooh, the Giants play their last six games at home, against the Diamond Backs and the first place Padres (who only lead the Giants by a half game at the moment). I'll be in San Francisco for both of those series, so I'll have to see if any tickets are still available (fat chance).

#243: Did you reply to the American in French or English, Rebecca? I'm pleased to be asked for directions, and I always have a map or guidebook handy even if I'm familiar with the city (Philadelphia, NYC, SF).

#244: I see that this Waterstone's is open late (until 10 pm most nights), so I might make an evening trip there at some point on this trip. I'll probably go out to Foyles this evening (if I can wake up), as there is a free jazz concert at Ray's Jazz Stage in the Café at 6 pm tonight.

#245: Lots of people from all those places and other Eastern European countries as well as the West Indies and Africa here

Yes, that's another thing I love about London! I grew up in a city (Jersey City, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from NYC) that had tens of thousands of first- and second-generation immigrants from dozens of countries, and I enjoy trying new foods and hearing different accents and languages. NYC and SF are very diverse, but neither city comes close to London.

I, on the other hand, walk around European and South American cities with a blinking neon sign above me that screeches "AMERICAN TOURIST! AMERICAN TOURIST! AMERICAN TOURIST!" and am accosted regularly by people wanting to know if I'm enjoying myself. My habitual expression is not, at least I don't think it is, a scowl; why the solicitude?

Asian cities, of course, this makes perfect sense, since I'm the whitest of the white men. I haven't been to Africa, except Morocco, as an adult, but I expect the same thing would be true.

I'm not surprised if you're mistaken as an American, if you wear purple T-shirts and orange shorts on vacation. ;-}

I want to visit Morocco in the near future. Maybe I can go with a good friend of mine, who has probably been to more countries than the number of U.S. states that I've visited.

I should start a new thread...

I've been taken for a local several times abroad - shopkeepers invariably spoke to me in their own language - but in Brittany and in various bits of Scandinavia that's not particularly surprising. One word out of my mouth soon corrected that impression! Never been asked for directions abroad, though.

I'm glad you're enjoying the Wodehouse, Darryl. Have you satisfied the fish-and-chips craving yet?

#246, I confess that I replied to him in French! Also, when I lived in a neighborhood with a lot of Puerto Rican neighbors, people in stores often spoke to me in Spanish, probably because I have dark hair. My Spanish is very minimal (all self-taught, mostly from ads in the subway), so this didn't work very well.

I haven't gone for fish and chips yet, Caty; I haven't eaten anything for nearly 24 hours, so I should eat soon. There is a great fish and chips place near Paddington Station that I may go to shortly.

New thread here!