kidzdoc: 75 and Beyond, Take 17

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
Take 15
Take 16

Books Read in 2010:



Books Purchased in 2010:



Currently reading:
All That Follows by Jim Crace
Ignatz by Monica Youn
Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire by Iain Sinclair

Completed books:

October:
130. The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett
129. Making Waves by Mario Vargas Llosa
128. Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
127. A Week at the Airport by Alain de Botton
126. An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris by Georges Perec
125. The Private Life of Trees by Alejandro Zambra
124. The Sorrow Gondola: Poems by Tomas Tranströmer
123. No Surrender: Poems by Ai
122. The White Family by Maggie Gee
121. Antipoems: How to Look Better & Feel Great by Nicanor Parra
120. Pulp by Charles Bukowski
119. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

September:
118. A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov
117. The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings by James Baldwin
116. The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tyszka
115. Danton's Death by Georg Büchner
114. C by Tom McCarthy
113. The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
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 Kapu�ci�ski
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 shortlist)
6. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (2010 winner)
7. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (2010 longlist)
8. Trespass by Rose Tremain (2010 longlist)
9. Room by Emma Donoghue (2010 shortlist)
10. C by Tom McCarthy (2010 shortlist)
11. Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey (2010 shortlist)

C. 2010 Orange Prize longlist and previous longlisted books
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
7. The White Family by Maggie Gee

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 Kapu�ci�ski
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)
12. The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tyszka (Venezuela)
13. The Private Life of Trees by Alejandro Zambra (Chile)

After I registered for the AAP conference I went to Caffe Greco for breakfast, and then to nearby City Lights for my first book haul. Once again I continue to be amazed at my inimitable powers of restraint, as I only, only bought 17 books:

The Sorrow Gondola by Tomas Tranströmer: The first collection of poems he has written since his debilitating stroke in 1990.

A Life Like Other People's by Alan Bennett: A 'poignant' memoir of the marriage of Bennett's parents, along with his childhood and his beloved aunts.

We Press Ourselves Plainly by Nathalie Stephens: This is an extended prose poem that was featured in the poetry section, which looked interesting.

Where Shadows Will: Selected Poems 1988-2008 by Norma Cole: This is the first selection of City Lights' new Spotlight Poetry series.

The Rising of the Ashes by Tahar Ben Jelloun: Another book of poems published by City Lights, which consists of two epic poems about the consequences of war and violence in the Middle East.

Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love and Language by Deborah Fallows: I first heard about this book from Oprah's Book Club web site, which featured interesting books for September. Several of my closest friends are Chinese; two of them speak Mandarin fluently, and the other two speak about as much as I do.

Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers by Arundhati Roy: A collection of essays about the successes and failures of democracy, by this Booker Prize winning novelist.

After-Dinner Declarations by Nicanor Parra: A hefty collection of 235 poems that cover a variety of topics and issues, ranging from personal relationships and culture to politics, ecology and the future of our planet.

Antipoems: How To Look Better & Feel Great by Nicanor Parra: A collection of vital and humorous 'antipoems' from several collections.

Darryl, you seem to find such interesting books (and ones I've never heard of)!

One thing I've been meaning to ask you--about your "ticker" for books purchased in 2010--are you purposely trying to buy 250 new books this year? And, if so, why?

More books:

Friday by Michel Tournier: Recommended by Kerry, a retelling of the legend of Robinson Crusoe.

So Lovely a Country Will Never Perish: Wartime Diaries of Japanese Writers by Donald Keene: I accidentally passed on this book on my last SF trip in August, so I'm glad that it was still available.

The Poetry Lesson by Andrei Codrescu: A hilarious account of the first day of a creative writing course taught by a "typical fin-de-siècle salaried beatnik"; I might put everything else aside to read this!

Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work by Edwidge Danticat: A personal reflection of art and exile, and what it means to be an immigrant artist from a country of crisis (in this case, Haiti).

No Surrender: Poems by Ai: The final collection by the award winning poet, who died earlier this year.

Sanctificum by Chris Abani: I was unaware that Abani, a noted Nigerian novelist, was also a poet, and I picked this book among several that were on the shelf. It's a 'tour de force that {brings} together religious ritual, the Igbo language of his Nigerian homeland, and reggae rhythms in a postracial, liturgical love song.'

Mihyar of Damascus: His Songs and The Pages of Day and Night by Adonis: I haven't read anything by this Syrian poet who has been frequently mentioned as a finalist for the Nobel Prize in Literature, so I thought I'd start with these two books.

#3: Pat, the Books Purchased ticker is to help me keep track of my (excessive) purchases. My goal for the year was to buy or receive fewer than 250 books; considering that I'm now up to 228 with nearly three months to go in the year, that goal seems to be in peril.

I came back to my hotel room in hopes that the Steelers-Ravens and Redskins-Eagles games would be televised, but neither will be shown in the Bay Area. Even worse, the crucial San Francisco Giants game against the San Diego Padres isn't on any of these stations, either. Today is the last game of the regular season, and the Giants must win today to clinch the National League West, after losing two straight to SD. The game is being played here, and the Giants are currently leading 2-0 in the 4th inning.

Just saying hi so I can be near the top of this thread. *waves*

Hi Sacil!

Woo hoo! The San Francisco Giants are the NL West champions, after beating the San Diego Padres 3-0 this afternoon. The Atlanta Braves are the wild-card team, and will come to SF to play the Giants on Thursday. I'd love to be able to go to a playoff game here; if I do, I'll be rooting for the Giants.

#5 OK, that makes more sense (that you're trying to limit yourself to buying only 250 new books this year).

Darryl - I think any one of us would be buying a swag of books on a visit to City Lights after your descriptions of the shop. And a lot of your purchases are poetry collections so they almost don't count.
I'm sure you'll love Friday, I now regret giving my copy away, though it went to a good home.

>7 kidzdoc:: and the Phillies play the Reds, starting on Wednesday. I grew up in Cincinnati, a big fan of the mid-70s Big Red Machine, but I've lived in the Philly area for more than 25 years now. So I'm cheering for the Fightin' Phils!

Teensy little haul-ette, there, Darryl. *snort* 250 broken by 11/1 or I'm your maiden aunt Millie.

Dad was an adjunct prof of history, officially. As most of the photos surviving of him in those days show him in uniform, or as faculty advisor to some fraternity or another (my mother on his arm at a formal is the photo I most miss of all the ones lost in the move), I suspect he was there for other than the stated reasons...especially since he was also employed by Lockheed.

Only 17, huh? I wonder if I could get away with saying to my husband "But I only bought 17!" Somehow, I do not think so :)

Congratulations on your haul, Darryl!

#8: My original goal for the year was to buy less books than the number I read for the year, but that went out the window by the spring. I'll probably read 150-160 books and buy 250-300, so my TBR pile continues to grow ever larger.

#9: Right, Kerry. Most of the books I buy at City Lights are small in size, especially the poetry collections, and ones that I can't get in Atlanta. I want to get and read To the End of the Land, David Grossman's new book, but I didn't buy in London and won't buy it here, as I assume it should be readily available at my local Borders.

Friday does look good; I'll definitely read it, and pick up the two other Tournier novels I saw at City Lights if he does win the Nobel Prize. For now I'm assuming that The Complete Review does have inside information, and I've started reading Antipoems: How to Look Better & Feel Great by Nicanor Parra.

#10: I'm rooting for the Phillies above everyone else, but I have seen a couple of Giants games in SF and am a bit of a fan. I'm glad that the Braves made the playoffs in Bobby Cox's last season as the team's manager, but I've become an anti-Braves fan and want to see almost anyone but the Braves win (I can't stand that obnoxious tomahawk chop and chant).

#11: I think you're right, Richard; I wouldn't rule out passing 250 by the time I leave SF next week, either. And, that number doesn't include the two LT Early Reviewer books that I'm waiting for, and the four books I'll receive from my 2010 subscription to Archipelago Books.

It sounds as though your father had an interesting life!

#12: At least these were 17 mostly small books (10 of them are poetry collections, and only the Parra collection of 235 poems exceeds 250 pages). I'll bet that I finish half of the books by the time I leave here, and I'll look to give away the ones I don't want to keep (I'll offer them to you guys first, and then drop off the others at the SFPL).

Uhhh...I missed lriley's post about The Complete Review's pre-announcement of Nicanor Parra as the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature. So, don't run out and scarf up Parra's books just yet (although I'm enjoying Antipoems: How to Look Better & Feel Great so far). Interestingly though, today's CR post is entitled "Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, 2010 Nobel laureate?" Apparently the Ladbrokes odds have shifted dramatically in Ngũgĩ's favor over the past few days, from 75/1 at the initial listing to 6/1 at the end of Sunday. It's hard to know how much stock to put into this, and he still trails Tomas Tranströmer (4/1), but I seem to remember that Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio made a similar strong push just before the Prize announcement was made. Stay tuned.

BTW, the first Nobel Prize has just been announced; the winner of the Prize for Physiology or Medicine is British researcher Robert Edwards, one of the pioneers of in vitro fertilization.

#14: I would love to see Ngugi win the Nobel! (sorry, I do not know how to do the tildes)

15: Apparently, the odds for him have shortened from 25:1 to 6:1 (so they think he's 4 times as likely to win as he was the other day?)

Hallo Darryl, just checking in! How is your aunt doing?

Oops, just noticed that I hadn't caught up on your old thread yet - glad she's doing a bit better.

...also glad not to have to add Pulp to my wishlist. How's it going with The White Family? I didn't get to it in my TIOLI challenge last month, but it's still quite high up my "to read next" list. If you enjoy it, you should probably also give The Flood a go (not exactly a sequel I think, but some of the same characters).

If you go to any sessions at the AAP that talk about progress on kids with food allergies (especially the peanut allergy study they've been doing at Johns Hopkins), I'd love to hear about them. But the other hundreds of readers on your thread might not!

Hundreds of readers??? That would be Stasia's thread, not mine!

This morning's plenary session of the AAP National Conference included a talk by Dr. Wesley Burns of Duke entitled 'Food Allergen Immunotherapy/Oral Desensitization: Closer to a Cure?', which did discuss several of the latest clinical trials being conducted. The most relevant trials to your question are the oral immunotherapy (OIT), sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) and combined SLIT/OIT studies that have been done or are underway. He only briefly mentioned the SLIT/OIT study of peanut allergy that Johns Hopkins began earlier this year. However, he did mention a collaborative study that Duke and Johns Hopkins are conducting, on the use of combined OIT/SLIT for milk protein allergy, along with completed studies using OIT and SLIT for peanut allergy at Duke.

The peanut OIT trial was a blinded study of 25 subjects (16 active participants and 9 placebo subjects), and the subjects were initially given 6 mg of peanut protein (each peanut contains 300 mg of protein). The dose was given daily, and escalated by 10-20% every two weeks, until a maintenance dose of 4000 mg was achieved. At that point the subjects were given a formal peanut food challenge. The study showed that half of the subjects developed permanent tolerance after three years of OIT, and nearly all had a significant decrease in allergic exacerbations. The downside was that 20% of the active subjects could not tolerate OIT, due to side effects (mainly gastrointestinal symptoms).

With SLIT, a much smaller dose of the allergen (peanut protein) than in OIT is placed under the tongue for some period of time, and the subject then swallows the dose. From what I understood, the upside of SLIT is that most (if not all) subjects can tolerate this form of immunotherapy, due to the smaller dose of allergen; the downside (I think) is that the subjects did not achieve permanent tolerance, and were only able to tolerate a limited dose of allergen (5-6 peanuts).

In the Duke/Hopkins SLIT/OIT milk protein allergy study all subjects started out receiving SLIT, and then were split into three groups: continued SLIT; low dose OIT; and high dose OIT. From my notes, I didn't see any results of this study, and Dr. Burns described SLIT/OIT as "investigational", and that the mechanism of action still needed to be determined. I presume that the theory behind SLIT/OIT is that more patients would be able to tolerate OIT after receiving SLIT.

There wasn't a handout provided for this talk, and the online materials don't seem to include the talk, either. I should have received a CD-ROM with my tote bag but I don't see one; I'll try to get one tomorrow, and if it contains any handouts or references I'll forward them to you.

#16: Apparently, the odds for him have shortened from 25:1 to 6:1 (so they think he's 4 times as likely to win as he was the other day?)

From what I gather from the CR article, the improved odds for Ngũgĩ are likely due to a significant increase in people betting that he will be the winner (which may include some people in the know) or a correction by the oddsmaker to reflect the likelihood of him winning, or both. As I mentioned earlier, I'm pretty sure that Le Clézio shot up the oddsmakers' lists in the last couple of days leading up to the Prize announcement.

Update from The Complete Review: Ngũgĩ has now passed over Tomas Tranströmer as the odds on favorite, at 7/2. Interestingly, Cormac McCarthy has now made a strong push, from 66/1 to 8/1, and Gerald Murnane (who?) has also made a strong move, from Nowheresville to 14/1. The drama continues...

#17: I haven't read much of The White Family yet, Fliss; I'll resume reading it tonight, after a nap and after I finish Antipoems: How to Look Better & Feel Great by Nicanor Parra, which I'm really enjoying so far.

This morning's Complete Review blog now predicts that Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o will win this year's Nobel Prize for Literature, which will be formally announced on Thursday:

Nobel Prize speculation, continued (P.S. I say: Ngũgĩ got it)

#18 Darryl, THANK YOU!! That was great to read. Our son is allergic to milk and eggs as well as nuts, so I am even more excited to see they're getting somewhere on milk. I would love to be in one of those trials - even getting to 5 or 6 peanuts would be life-changing for us. If you see a journal article, reference, or anything else, I'd love to read it.

#19 Cormac McCarthy????!!! Give me a break!

Darryl,

I know you read and liked Rose Tremain's Trespass. There's a thread where it's being discussed because so many of us received it as an ER book. If you're interested it's over here.

Almost lost the new thread!

Your haul just confirms that we need an informal LT-lending library... That would cut down on all our book spending a wee bit. I suspect that collectively, we are the main props to the book publishing/book selling business....

>23 brenzi:: thanks for that, Bonnie. Darryl was the one who inspired many of us to read it, so it's only fair he join the discussion ...

The AAP national conference is now over, so now I can relax (i.e., not get up for 7 am sessions and listen to (very good) lectures all day long) and catch up on reading, etc. I did meet two former Emory residents who finished a year ahead of me for lunch today, along with one of my work mates. We had a nice lunch at Caffe Museo, the Restaurant at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and walked through the museum, as first Tuesdays there are free. I took a few photos of the museum pieces in the sculpture garden and my two friends from residency, which I'll post here later today or tomorrow.

#21: You're welcome, Cushla. I'm glad that you mentioned it ahead of the session, as I took notes that I wouldn't normally have taken in such detail, which was helpful to me, as well. I found the web page for Dr. Burks (not Burns) at Duke, which includes abstracts of his recent journal articles and even an iTunes podcast on peanut allergies:

http://www.dukehealth.org/physicians/wesley_burks

#22: I really hope that Cormac McCarthy is not chosen as the Nobel Prize winner. To be fair, though, I haven't read any of his books yet, so I will give him a chance if he does win.

#23, 25: I have seen the Trespass threads, and I'll start participating very soon, probably tomorrow.

#24: I'm happy to lend or give away the books I've read and don't plan to read again. I need to get rid of some of these books, or move to a bigger place.

I finished Antipoems: How to Look Better & Feel Great by Nicanor Parra last night, which was unlike any poetry collection I've ever read, quite irreverent and very funny. I'll review it tomorrow, but I'll certainly be on the lookout for more of his work, especially while I'm here and can visit other bookstores in the Bay Area.

Ooo, I look forward to your full review of Antipoems. I'm glad you have some down time!

I've already added Antipoems to the WL based on your comment that the collection was "irreverent and very funny." Still looking forward to the review, though.

The perfect living arrangement for LTers would be: a joint library, where we could pool our mammoth book collections; each door would lead to different wings of the giant mansion, in which we'd have our separate apartments. That way I could keep my cats without Richard's Stella seeking to decapitate them or having them give Darryl an overdose of allergies. On second thoughts, let's append an imaginary gourmet kitchen and a dining room, so that Caro could whip up some meals for us all, over which we could discuss the books in our library...

Sure... I come back after a few days away from LT and find a wonderful mansion built for us. So what if I have to pull chef's duty in between reading ... I love this living arrangement! Now where would this mansion be located, please?

One of my friends from residency posted this graph on her Facebook page, which delineates the proper career path for medical students based on their personal traits:

Photos from yesterday. First, me & Pam, one of my best friends from residency:



And a photo of Pam and Jill, another friend from residency; Pam and Jill were classmates, and I was a year behind them:



Finally, three photos from the sculpture garden at SFMOMA:







I have to learn if the camera in my BlackBerry can zoom in, for closer shots. I'll use my digital camera to take more SF photos in the meantime.

Great pics! I love the flow chart, too. According to it, I should be a shrink, a radiologist or an anaesthetist. None of these options really appeals, so I'm probably fine where I am! :-)

I think Suzanne's mansion is a great idea. In terms of location, I'd vote for (in the following order): San Francisco (Pacific Heights or North Beach Nob Hill); London; or NYC (either the Upper West Side or Brooklyn Heights).

Caroline & Suzanne, I think I've found my new all-time favorite place to get freshly brewed coffee: the Blue Bottle Coffee Company. I had heard about Blue Bottle, and happened to see a store in the Ferry Building on Monday, when Pam & I had lunch there. Each cup of coffee is prepared individually, and I'd say that this was the best coffee I've ever tasted. Most of the stores are in the Bay Area, but I noticed that Blue Bottle opened a store in Brooklyn, on 160 Berry Street. I'll definitely go back there a few more times while I'm here.

The flow chart isn't perfect; there should be an option for those who don't hate adults or children (who should go into family practice or med-peds (medicine-pediatrics)), and those whose attitudes are satanic should become OB/GYNs.

I don't think you would make a good psychiatrist, Suzanne; you're not crazy (enough). I thought about it at the beginning of third year of medical school, when we moved from the classroom to the patient setting, but a month at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at Pitt convinced me otherwise.

NPR has a blog by Lynn Neary about the upcoming Nobel Prize in Literature announcement, which includes a conversation with the guy who sets the Nobel Prize odds for Ladbrokes. Interestingly, the oddsmaker has correctly predicted the winner only once in the past 10 years:

For Nobel Bookmakers, Victory For The Odds-On Favorite Could Be 'A Disaster'

The Complete Review is still predicting that Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o will win the Prize, even though Cormac McCarthy has now moved into first place with 5/2 odds; Ngũgĩ remains a 7/2 favorite.

#18 The peanut tolerance trials sound fascinating Darryl, but do you know if any of these studies are being replicated? 16:9 subjects is an extremely low sample size...

#29 Salivating at the thought of a massive mansion full of LT libraries and a gourmet kitchen... Re location #34 Perhaps we could have a chapter in each of those cities - equipped with a few small bedrooms in the attics (wouldn't want to reduce library space) for those who are out of town?

#31 So you hate adults then Darryl? ;o)

Satanic OB/GYNs? You just described the first practice I went to with Max, although I adored the doctor I switched to...

Love the chart - especially because my best friend's partner wants to study emergency medicine and currently works in an ER. ;)

Lovely photos as well!

That chart is really funny, the photos are lovely, but would you PLEASE stop talking about good coffee. It's one of the things I really miss about Wellington. Over here I even drink Nescafe instant latte macchiato.

#37 (Darryl, correct me if you know more!) Fliss, they have done a very similar study at Cambridge with about the same sample size - both were in the last year or so and I think the Cambridge one had even better results. I am so desperate for more replications to happen soon - our son's IGE level for peanut is 80. But it's promising enough that I reckon we'll see some kind of treatment within the next 5-10 years, which is soon enough to be a huge help for our son and kids like him.

If the Nobel prize goes to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, I might at last read Wizard of the Crow (I am sure I've put it on my wishlist about 3 times over, based on LT friends' recs.)

#26, 36, To be fair, I've only read one book by Cormac McCarthy, The Road, but that was more than enough for me to beyond astounded at the idea of him as a Nobel laureate. Over other possible US winners? Over all the great writers from around the world? Over authors I've never heard of? Unbelievable.

As for satanic OB/GYNs, I have one in my family and she is totally NOT satanic: sane (sort of), hardworking (very), and nice (very), which explains why she left surgery, but satanic, NO.

Surely you paediatricians have to talk to adults as well? And I'm not sure I like the sound of the satanic doctor in obstetrics.

#37: I would imagine that there are other peanut allergy trials taking place in the US and abroad, but I'm not aware of them. I can ask my friend (the allergist/immunologist who lives in the South Bay) to see if she knows of other trials when we get together later this week.

Within 1 million plus members I think that LT is large enough to support mansions in multiple cities. However, the increase in membership fees to pay for this might be prohibitive.

Yep, I definitely hate adults. Except those that write books, compose or play music, or perform on the stage. And those who have kids (otherwise I'd be out of business, right?). And the women from whom I'll select my future wife (the poor unlucky dear). And grandparents (who doesn't love grandparents?). Um...maybe I don't hate adults after all.

#38: Most OB/GYNs aren't satanic, but many OB/GYN residents are minions of Satan. I had a horrific experience during my two months of OB/GYN as a third year medical student at Pitt, and I continue to say that I would rather be a tractor trailer driver than become an OB/GYN. I knew that Pitt had the reputation of turning nice, idealistic OB/GYN interns into medical student-eating piranha residents, but my friends from medical school tell stories that are similar to mine. It's certainly a stressful and demanding residency, and you have to be tough to get through it in one piece. However, I saw multiple examples of comments about and behavior toward patients by OB/GYN residents that were beyond belief (and, BTW, the worst offenders were almost always women; I still don't understand why men would want to become OB/GYNs).

#39: I did drink Nescafe in my hotel room on a daily basis while I was in London last month, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm not fond of the Cafe Americano that the chain coffee houses in London serve, and I only like Monmouth Coffee there. Here in SF, though, there are plenty of good options for coffee, and I may try some of the other microroasters in the city (I guess I should post a Warning to Cushla: coffee discussion brewing prior to any mention of them.

Your son's peanut IgE level is 80??? Wow.

{soapbox} For the rest of you, IgE, or immunoglobulin E, is an antibody that is often elevated in allergic conditions like food or environmental allergies, asthma or eczema. IgE is produced by a type of white blood cells called mast cells, and we all have thousands of IgE molecules that are specific to particular allergens, which are proteins that stimulate the immune system to induce an inflammatory reaction against them. You want to make IgE against the proteins of disease-causing bacteria, viruses and parasites; you don't want to make them against proteins on the surface of foods (peanuts, egg, milk, shellfish, wheat, etc.), pollen, cat saliva or other innocuous substances. A normal IgE level is less than 0.35, so Cushla's son's level of 80 is extremely elevated. The significance of this is that he is much more likely than another kid with much lower levels to have a severe allergic reaction to a minimal amount of peanut exposure, and even an amount that would not be visible to the eye could induce a potentially fatal anaphylactic attack.

Some people who don't know about food allergies, such as parents whose kids are friends of a child with a severe food allergy, will be dismissive of the potential seriousness of allergen exposure in these kids, especially when it impacts their plans for social events such as birthday parties. However, peanut allergies are the most common cause of fatal food allergies (with 200+ deaths in the US every year), and most of these deaths occur in people with known food allergies. I learned in the food allergy session that 33% of kids with food allergies experience an accidental exposure every year, so this is not an unlikely event; my group takes care of several dozen kids every year who have an anaphylactic reaction to a food, and most of are due to accidental peanut exposure in kids with known peanut allergies.{/soapbox}

I would definitely recommend Wizard of the Crow to you; it's easily one of my favorite 10 novels I've read since I started reading in earnest in 2000, and it's my favorite novel by an African author, filled with biting satire and great humor. As Rebecca said, it's a masterpiece. It's probably the #1 novel I want to re-read, and I'll definitely read it again if Ngũgĩ wins.

If Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o does win I will definitely read Wizard of the Crow which is sitting on my shelf patiently waiting. I am just stunned that Cormac McCarthy is being considered, let alone the odds on favorite. I read his trilogy and The Road but Nobel prize? Wow.

#40: I'll be very disappointed if McCarthy wins, and I'm with you, I think there are several other American writers who are far more deserving of the award than he is.

I've mainly dealt with pediatric surgeons, who are much nicer than adult surgeons as a group. With one exception, my experience with OB/GYNs is limited to the OB/GYN residents and attendings from medical school, and most of them were minions of Satan.

#41: It would be so much easier if the babies and toddlers could just tell us what's wrong with them. That way we wouldn't have to deal with their anxiety ridden and demanding parents. (Just kidding!) Seriously though, I enjoy 95% of the parents whose kids I take care of, and the vast majority of mothers know their children and the history of their presenting illness far better than the back of their hand. As we tell the medical students and residents you can make the diagnosis of 85% of your patients based on a good medical history, i.e., the history that the mother tells you, if you take the time to listen to her (and don't interrupt, in most cases), and ask pointed questions based on what she tells you. Fathers can occasionally give a good history; however, as I frequently tell the dads, particularly when there is a mild discrepancy between the parents (e.g., the day that the child's fever began), "Mom is always right" (most of the dads will laugh and agree with me on that point).

Darryl

I am going to borrow your book ticker idea regarding purchases or acquisitions.

Perhaps it will help curb my obsession.

Thanks for this idea.

Darryl, you could ration yourself to 7 books a month, couldn't you??? New ones, I mean... I looked at my stats list, and oddly enough I'm pretty much keeping pace -- reading as many as I acquire. Which, of course, is doing nothing to reduce the TBR mountain, but still.

Oh, trust me, I am crazy enough to do the shrink thing. Though probably I should be on the opposite side of the table, being shrunk. Not that that would do any good!!

OB/GYNs are, in my experience, worse than shrinks and dentists rolled together. A scornful kind of obnoxiousness.

I don't think that the LT mansion could be an all-LT club. After all, we would then have to let in the literary snobs, and the argumentative types who exist solely to get furiously angry with other people about their political views, etc. Could be like a highly self-selective retirement community for bibliomaniacs. I do like your ideas of where to put it -- must be within easy reach of bookstores. Or somewhere quiet outside the city, with twice-weekly theater and bookstore excursion trips laid on??

a highly self-selective retirement community for bibliomaniacs

*awed silence*

How is it that no one's thought of this before?! There are Jewish, Christian of various flavors, Asian, gay and/or lesbian retirement homes...doubtless there will be vegan ones as our children's generation starts to retire...but *not one* bibliocentric retirement community...!!

*note to self: Win PowerBall, buy Upper West Side building, put Xerox DocuTech and cute boy to run it in basement, and let 'er rip*

Hey, Darryl, I see the Phillies have jumped out to a 1-0 lead in game 1 of the playoffs.

GO PHILLIES!

Great photos, Darryl - except for the ten-foot spider. *Shudder*

Retirement community for bibliomaniacs? Now, that just not fair. I don't want to wait another thirty years before I can move in. :( Please don't tell me I have to dye my hair grey and pretend to be my own mother to join.

Cat, haven't you noticed that retirement communities all require spritely young things to wheel them around, sing and dance for them, and provide the much needed cheerful energy to brighten everyone's day?

Darryl - on the peanut allergy - have you noticed if there has been an increase in the % of children with nut and other food related allergies in the last 10 - 15 years? When I was growing up, there wasn't a single person in my class with food related allergies. In my nieces and nephews classes, there are at least 1- 4 kids in their class with some form of food allergy or other. I wonder if it's because as more processed foods became commonly or even regularly consumed by kids in the 50s - 70s, and more OTC drugs being made available, if there might be a correlation between the ingestion of all that and the weakening of a child's immune system or whatever it is that controls allergies.

Woo Hoo! Halladay has it going today. No hits through 6!

Now SEVEN no-hit innings!

I can barely sit still to watch . . . oh my!

Made it through the top of the 8th . . .NOW HE ONLY NEEDS THREE MORE OUTS!

Darryl,

History tonight! The first post-season no-hitter since 1956!

Halladay (Philadelphia) no runs, no hits, no errors, one walk

Reds 0, Phillies 4

I am glad for Halladay-he had to leave Toronto because the Blue Jays didn't have a chance.

Thanks for the IgE explanation. I had a test done like that for gluten sensitivity and my number was in the 80's. They tried to tell me that a higher number doesn't necessarily mean you are more sensitive to gluten than someone with a ...50...for example. But it seemed severe enough to me and I've been gluten free ever since. It seems to have helped.

But what I really came here to say is:
Roy Halladay is THE MAN! Goooo Phils!

And..in an interesting flashback to last season:
Cliff Lee is ALSO the man... ;)

Cliff Lee is awesome! If the Yankees face off against the Rangers, there is a chance that we'll be toast.

That was one great Phillies game, a great start to the series !

I had a great day today with one of my work partners, although I didn't find out about Doc's no hitter until I saw several alerts on my BlackBerry earlier this evening. We had lunch (the best dim sum I've ever had, at Yank Sing in Rincon Center, walked around the city, took a bunch of photos (some or which I'll post tomorrow), and had a nice light dinner at a Korean restaurant. Afterward I went to my favorite cafe, had coffee and dessert, and knocked out nearly 200 pages of The White Family, which I'm loving so far.

#45: I had hoped that the book ticker would help me curb my book buying addiction; I don't think it helped very much. I'll need to come up with a new strategy for next year.

#46: Darryl, you could ration yourself to 7 books a month, couldn't you???

I could, I suppose, especially if I stay away from City Lights. (Oh, I nearly forgot that I bought three more books at Aardvark Books today before I met Kristin for dim sum.)

I think the LT mansions have to be near good bookstores, restaurants, live theaters, etc. However, we probably should have an LT resort at some island or coastal town for those who need a break from city mansion life.

#47: We may need a few Power Ball winners to finance this endeavor.

#49: What is the minimum age at which aged LTers can join this retirement community? I would vote for 50 years, since that's the age that one can become a member of AARP (the American Association of Retired Persons, for non-Americans), and because I'll hit 50 in March.

#50: Ooh, good idea Caroline! We'll need youngins like Caty to pamper her elders (can she cook, too?).

have you noticed if there has been an increase in the % of children with nut and other food related allergies in the last 10 - 15 years?

There has been a huge increase in all atopic conditions (food and environmental allergies, asthma, and eczema (atopic dermatitis)) in the past 10-20+ years. More on this tomorrow...

Cliff Lee of the Rangers also pitched a gem (one run and 10 strikeouts in 7 innings; I'm watching highlights of all the MLB playoff games on ESPN as I type this). How about their #2 and #3 starters, though? Do they match up well against the Twins or Yankees #2 and #3 pitchers? More importantly, is there any team that can match the Phillies' Big Three (Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels)?

#59: is there any team that can match the Phillies' Big Three (Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels)?

I do not think so. The Rangers starting rotation is better than it has ever been (which really is not saying much given their history), especially with the addition of Cliff Lee. C.J. Wilson, their number 2 starter, has had a nice year, but does not match up to Oswalt, and the number 3 starter, Colby Lewis, is nowhere near Hamels class.

Frankly, I do not care who wins the World Series - I just love the game of baseball - as long as it is not the Yankees. I cannot stand them :)

Hey - you'll like this news I think! (I bet you got a Blackberry message about it, but just in case.)

Mario Vargas Llosa Wins Nobel Literature Prize

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/06/world/europe/AP-EU-Nobel-Literature.h...

#61: Well, I am disappointed it is not Ngugi, but I like Mario Vargas Llosa's books too.

Am I happy that my favorite living writer has won the Nobel Prize in Literature? You betcha!



I'm joining Rebecca, Larry (lriley) and deebee, who are probably already dancing. (Is he your favorite living author, Rebecca?) I did receive alerts and tweets on my BlackBerry about the announcement, but I had my phone on silent, as it was just after 4 am Pacific time when the first alert came.

I forgot to mention that one of the books I bought at Aardvark Books yesterday is a secondhand copy of Making Waves by MVL, a collection of essays that won the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism in 1997. Fortunately I only paid $7.50 for it, as I already have a copy of it back home. I also bought On Argentina by Jorge Luis Borges and Eleazar, Exodus to the West by Michel Tournier.

A little late to the Phillies party, but it makes the hair on the back of my neck prickle!

And, oh yes, I am happy about Llosa too.

I need to read Conversation in the Cathedral to celebrate :)

Well this is all the impetus I need to read Mario Vargas Llosa, not that I really needed it since I have been listening to you and other LTers praise his writing. I picked up The Feast of the Goat at the used book store a couple weeks back and will try to get to it soon.

50/56 I could cook, but I can neither sing nor dance so that might be a flaw in your plan. You might have to look to those another decade younger, like Ellie and Stephen, to provide the entertainment.

I've never read anything by Mario Vargas Llosa, although I have had Conversation in the Cathedral saved for later in my Amazon basket for months. Hmmmm. Do I order, or do I wait for Christmas?

Here's a unique idea; the mayors of Cincinnati and Philadelphia have decided that the city that wins the Phillies-Reds series will receive 2000 books that will go to needy children; the losing city will also win, as it will receive 1000 books:

Philly, Cincy mayors bet kids books over NL series

I loved Conversation in the Cathedral and The Feast of the Goat, along with The Time of the Hero and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by MVL. I really need to get to The War of the End of the World; I'll probably read that later this month or sometime next month.

I think you could wait until Christmas to order Conversation in the Cathedral, Caty. I wouldn't be surprised if the bookshops' stock of MVL's most beloved novels sold out quickly, but I'll bet that the publisher(s) will come out with new releases in time for the holidays.

Yes, I'm totally thrilled about Vargas Llosa -- not only someone I've heard of, but someone I love. He is definitely one of my favorite living authors, Darryl, but I would have to include Ngugi, Hilary Mantel, Philip Roth (although not his recent work), and probably others in that group.

By the way, The War of the End of the World is my favorite Vargas Llosa.

Good idea for the Philadelphia-Cincinatti mayor -- much better than betting typical foods, the way mayors usually do.

Loving the dancing Snoopy.

As soon as I heard, I figured you and Rebecca would both be doing happy dances. I just didn't know that they would be Snoopy-scale happy dances! :-)

#70: This announcement is definitely worthy of a Snoopy dance, as I thought that MVL would join the list of worthy authors who would pass away without being recognized by the Nobel Prize committee.

#69: Rebecca's comment about her favorite authors leads me to wonder: who are your favorite 5 living authors? Here are mine (subject to change):

1. Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
2. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (Kenya)
3. V.S. Naipaul (India)
4. Ian McEwan (England)
5. Edwidge Danticat (Haiti)

Honorable mention: Haruki Murakami (Japan), Abdulrazak Gurnah (Tanzania), Ha Jin (China), Maxine Hong Kingston (USA, second generation Chinese), Caryl Phillips (England, born in St. Kitts), Kazuo Ishiguro (England, born in Japan), Salman Rushdie (India), Abraham Verghese (Ethiopia, second generation Indian), Hilary Mantel (England).

More SF photos; first, Coit Tower, which was built at the top of Telegraph Hill, one of the seven hills of San Francisco. My friend and work mate Kristin had never been there, even though she lived in the Bay Area during her pediatric residency. I went during my first trip to SF in 1998, so I was eager to see it again:



We took the elevator to the observation deck, which is 210 ft above the tower's entrance, where the sets of three windows are located), which provides great views of the Bay Area. This is a view of North Beach, which gives some idea of the steepness of Telegraph Hill (although the portion you can't see, closer to Coit Tower, is far more steep):



This photo looks west, over Russian Hill and the Presidio, with the Golden Gate Bridge and Mount Tamalpais in the distance:



Fisherman's Wharf is along the bottom and Alcatraz Island is in the middle of this picture:



Downtown SF, with the Oakland-Bay Bridge on the left:



Once we left Coit Tower we walked down the Filbert Steps, which is a continuation of Filbert Street as a series of wooden steps that descends Telegraph Hill toward Levi's Plaza on The Embarcadero. The wild parrots of Telegraph Hill live in the trees alongside these steps; we heard them, but didn't see any, unfortunately. This is an art deco styled condo, with reliefs of Greek mythological characters:



My friend Kristin, at the base of the same condo:



And, finally, a sign of my favorite street in San Francisco, although it's spelled incorrectly:



Unfortunately these aren't the best quality photos, since they were taken with my BlackBerry. I did bring my digital camera to SF, but I forgot to bring it with me yesterday. Fortunately Kristin did take lots of photos too, and I'll post some of those after she sends them to me.

#50 #59 #67 I can dance. Would that get me into the LT retirement community? I want to be there, but if the minimum age is 50, you guys might not remember me by the time I can get in. (I'm not calling you old or anything. Just saying I won't be eligible for a while.)

Love the pics of San Francisco, Darryl. Thanks for sharing them.

#73: LOL! Are you saying that by the time you get in the rest of us will be so feeble minded that we won't remember you (or anything else, for that matter)? You're definitely in, IMO.

#74: You're welcome, Stasia. I'll take more photos over the next week, as it will be sunny and relatively warm this weekend (high 60s to low 70s).

Today's online edition of the Guardian has a preview of an article about Mario Vargas Llosa by the novelist William Boyd that will appear in tomorrow's Guardian Review. I especially enjoyed and agreed with his comparison of Vargas Llosa to Gabriel García Márquez:

Vargas Llosa is very hard to classify and pin down as a writer: he has written short novels and very long novels, comic novels and deeply serious novels, straightforward realistic novels and recognisably South American "magic-realist" novels. Perhaps this unclassifiability has been seen as a disadvantage. Indeed, when one compares Vargas Llosa to his great South American literary rival Gabriel García Márquez one is reminded of Archilochus's old fox and hedgehog adage: "The fox knows many things, the hedgehog knows one big thing." Márquez, a hedgehog novelist if there ever was one, received his Nobel in 1982 at the age of 55. Vargas Llosa received his at the age of 74. Almost 30 years later the day of the fox has arrived – it inevitably comes around, even if it takes a little longer.

Mario Vargas Llosa: an unclassifiable Nobel winner

Today I'll start reading Making Waves, Vargas Llosa's collection of essays over a 30 year period. I should finish The White Family by Maggie Gee today, which continues to be excellent; after that I'll start Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey, the only book on the Booker Prize longlist that I haven't read yet. The winner of this year's prize will be announced on Tuesday.

Congratulations to the Chinese dissident, professor and writer Liu Xiaobo for winning this year's Nobel Peace Prize:

Liu Xiaobo Nobel win prompts Chinese fury

#61 & 63 I heard that on the news this morning and thought of Darryl also ;o) I shall have to bump Aunt Julia up my reading list (I know I've got it somewhere...)

Enjoyed the photos!

...Only a few days before the Booker is announced now too...

The Liu Xiaobao win is great. It's not a solution -- after all, Shirin Ebadi is still having problems with the Iranian regime -- but it's kind of a signal about that the rest of the world isn't just going to back down meekly because of China's growing power. Power implies responsibility, which is something both Russians and Chinese struggle with insofar as their own citizens are concerned. It's a lot harder to "disappear" a Nobel peace laureate...

For anyone interested in this, I'd suggest reading Wild Grass by Ian Johnson, which focuses on three hot-potato issues involving human rights and average citizens vs. government.

I just finished The White Family by Maggie Gee, a novel that was shortlisted for the 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction and the 2004 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, which was absolutely superb, and I'll give it 5 stars for now. It's a look at a lower middle class white family in a fictional London neighborhood that has been slowly 'invaded' by Asians, Africans, and Caribbeans, whose members face their changing neighborhood and city in different ways. I'll review it later today or tomorrow, but it's definitely one of my favorite 10 novels of the year.

I made my second trip to City Lights after breakfast, and bought the following books:

Final Exam by Julio Cortázar: An early novel (1950), which is a "bitter and melancholy allegorical farewell to an Argentina from which he would soon be permanently self-exiled".

How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired by Dany Laferrière: A new release of this 1985 novel, which is a satirical and humorous look at the life of a Haitian immigrant to Montreal, who writes a novel about his life and loves.

Let the Wind Speak by Juan Carlos Onetti: This has been on my wish list forever, like the Laferrière novel, which was written while the author was exiled from his native Uruguay and lived in Spain. The novel is about an 'archetypal' Onetti hero, who "is at different times a {phony} doctor, a painter, a police chief" and lives in a town across from the city he wishes to enter, and then seeks to destroy.

Genesis by Eduardo Galeano: The first novel in his Memory of Fire trilogy about the Americas from their birth to the present day, which is a "giant, colorful mosaic of hundreds of stories depicting the clashes between the Old World and the New".

Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa: I wasn't expecting to find any MVL novels at City Lights, but most of his most highly regarded novels were there, including this one, which I didn't own; it's a novel about contemporary Peru, set in a remote Andean village where the Peruvian Army is battling the Shining Path guerrillas in a town that trusts neither side.

Tradition and the Black Atlantic: Critical Theory in the African Diaspora by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: This is a guide to the world of cultural studies, which begins with the British theorists of the 1970s and 1980s and examines cultural theory from Edmund Burke to Frantz Fanon to Spike Lee.

All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang: A "starkly honest portrait of people caught up in the drive to write and of the personal bargains and self deceptions that such an ambition can entail." Chang, the director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, is in San Francisco this week, and City Lights had signed copies of her latest novel.

Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane by Franya J. Berkman: I hadn't heard about this biography of John Coltrane's second wife until this morning, when I received an e-mail from LT member avaland about the book. City Lights had just gotten this book in stock, so I added it to my pile.

The Giant of the French Revolution: Danton, A Life by David Lawday: I saw this amongst the new nonfiction books and had to get it, after seeing "Danton's Death" at the National Theatre last month.

Woo hoo! The Phillies have come all the way back from a 4-0 deficit, and have taken a 6-4 lead over the Cincinnati Reds in the bottom of the 7th. The Reds have committed four costly errors and the pitchers have hit three Phillies in the past two innings; (I think) four of the Phillies' runs are unearned. Three of the runs have come against the "Cuban Missile", Aroldis Chapman, who gave up 3 hits and hit a batsman in 2/3 of an inning.

Hi Darryl, great selection of books. I read a novel called Inheritance by Lan Samantha Chang, which I liked, a couple of years ago so I'll be interested to see what you think All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost. I've already wishlisted The White Family. If it's one of your favorite novels of the year, I don't need to see the review to put it on my list, although I'll be looking forward to reading it.

The White Family will make a great read for Orange January Darryl. 5 stars. Wow!

A couple of fair quality photos, taken from Ocean Beach, on the western edge of San Francisco overlooking the Pacific Ocean, to the north and to the south, respectively. I took the N Judah Muni Metro to its end at the San Francisco Zoo, which is two blocks away from the beach, and read there for a couple of hours this afternoon.





If the weather continues to be this nice I'm sure that I'll go back to the beach several more times over the next week, and take better photos with my digital camera.

The Phillies beat the Reds 7-4, and now only need one more win to advance to the National League championship series. The San Francisco Giants are currently leading the Atlanta Braves 4-0 in the 2nd inning. I'm hoping that the Phillies and Braves win their series in 3-4 games, in the off chance that I can see a Giants-Phillies game in SF before I leave town; the two Giants-Braves in SF yesterday and today were sold out by the time I went to AT&T Park yesterday morning.

I love your haul from City Lights, Darryl and am in a mellow mood so no boots being thrown your way tonight. You may breathe a sigh of relief that you escaped one during this trip to SF.

I added Let the Wind Speak in my TBR Tower recently and I'm going to try and get to it before the end of the year.

A friend read The White Family and told me it's one of her top 10 books of the year. I've got it in my obese wish list. I'm glad to see that you enjoyed it too. Can't wait to read your full review.

I hope the baseball gods look down on you, Darryl, and grant your wish to see some playoff baseball!

That's my fave part of SF, Darryl -- the seaside. I love the sound of the waves, and the vast horizons.

Have wish-listed the Danton book and All Is Forgotten. Nothing is Lost -- and will await your comments on both, so hurry up and read them!! :-)

I need to seek out and read some more Mario Vargas Llosa...

Hi Caroline! Does this mean I can buy as many books as I want here? (*checking ads for sales on luggage*)

Let me know when you read Let the Wind Speak; I may want to read it with you.

The White Family will be one of my surprise reads of the year. I don't think I knew anything about it lr its author when I bought it in London last month. I'll certainly be on the lookout for more of Maggie Gee's books (and if anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear them).

Whaddya think? A Phillies-Yankees rematch in the World Series? We'll have home field advantage this time, as the NL finally beat the AL in this year's All-Star Game.

#84: Nope, there won't be any more playoff games in SF after tonight's game before I leave, even if the Giants and Phillies sweep their current series on Sunday. I doubt that a Phillies-Giants game would start before Tuesday, and the series would open in Philadelphia, as the Phillies own the best record in baseball and will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs and World Series, if they make it that far. If they played Tuesday and Wednesday in Philly, the first game in SF wouldn't take place before next Friday, the day that I leave here.

I'll visit my parents at the end of October, and there may be a chance that I'll be in Philadelphia at the tail end of the World Series. However, the chance of me getting a ticket for a game at Citizens Bank Park is about as close to zero as is humanly imaginable.

#85: There are too many things I love about SF to decide which I like best, but I love sitting out by the ocean. It's usually way too cold to sit there for long, but today was sunny and very comfortable. My photos don't show it, but there were dozens of people surfboarding, fishing, and walking along and above the beach. I generally like to avoid Union Square and North Beach on weekend afternoons, as it is even more crowded than usual there. I'll often go to Berkeley to go book shopping or see a play at Berkeley Rep, but Cal is playing a home football game against UCLA tomorrow afternoon, so it will be a bit too crowded there. I'll have to check the Litquake schedule for tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure that I'll head back to the beach for at least part of the day.

#87: Sorry to hear you will not be able to see any playoff baseball, Darryl! I probably could, if I wanted to drive to Arlington, but I would much rather watch from home personally.

I have The White Family on my shelves, can't remember when I acquired it so I think it must have been soon after it came out.

Book #122: The White Family by Maggie Gee



My rating:

Shortlist, 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction
Shortlist, 2004 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Alfred White is nearing the end of his 50 year career as a park keeper in a fictional London neighborhood in which he has lived for his entire life. He and his wife May have three children: Darren, a famed but restless journalist with a quick temper; Shirley, who has irked her parents by marrying a black African and dating a black Briton of Jamaican descent after her husband's death; and Dirk, the youngest sibling, whose small size and smaller ambitions mark him as a failure compared to his brother.

The neighborhood, once populated by white working class Britons, has now become home to immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and other parts of Europe. Alfred loathes these newcomers, even the noisy yellow "foreign" birds that have taken over the park, as they are not truly British, but he generally keeps his emotions and feelings in check. However Dirk, who worships his father and fully embraces his beliefs, views all nonwhites as threats, blames them for his personal failures, and hates them with a seething fury.

The White family is thrown into crisis when Alfred collapses while on duty. The family rallies around his sickbed, but deep wounds that have festered for years are brought into the open, which creates almost unbearable stress within each member. Dirk is the most deeply affected of all, as his grief over his father's illness is compounded by the realization that none of the rest of his family understands or cares about him. Fueled by rage, fear and hopelessness, he seeks to exact revenge on those whom he hates the most, the 'coloureds' that have made his life a living hell.

The White Family is a spectacular novel about a white working class family in a multicultural London that no longer seems to accept or appreciate them. The characters are richly portrayed, and this reader felt sympathy for even the most dislikable characters. I could hardly put this book down after the first 50 pages, and I won't soon forget these characters or Gee's wonderful narrative. Other than a slightly disappointing last few pages this book was nearly perfect, and this is easily one of my favorite novels of the year.

#90: I need to find a copy of that one. Great review as usual, Darryl!

>42 kidzdoc: - I have had mixed experience with both midwives and OBs. I gained less than 35 pounds when I had Brooks, and one of the midwives called me fat. Literally.

The first OB I saw when I was pregnant with Max was really condescending; I was considering a repeat-C, and when I expressed concerned about being able to care for my 30-pound toddler after surgery she scoffed and said, "C-sections don't get you out of Mommy duty."

I never went back.

Wow, The White Family sounds incredibly emotionally charged and powerful. Great review.

this reader felt sympathy for even the most dislikable characters

To me that's a sign of a really good book. People are complex. Can't wait to read this. Thanks again, Darryl.

Terrific review of The White Family, and I will run from it like it's got herpes.

Great review of The White Family Darryl. It's ready and waiting beside my bed at the moment, but the pile is quite large, so I may take a little while to get to it.

Re Maggie Gee recommendations, I can't remember if I mentioned it before or not, but I read The Flood by her last year and enjoyed it very much (comments here) - actually, it was the reason I bought The White Family in the first place, as it involves a lot of the same characters.

I also enjoyed (probably more in fact) her collection of short stories, "The Blue".

Your photos are making me want to book flights to San Francisco, when I'd decided that my airmiles were going to go on a New York visit. Gah. Maybe I can do both? Hmmmm.... Not sure how feasible that is....

#91: Thanks, Stasia! The White Family has been published in the US, and it's currently available from Amazon.

BTW, what's up with the Nittany Lions? They are currently losing at home to Illinois 33-13 late in the 4th quarter.

#92: Some OBs and midwives are nice and caring people, but I've met so many that are just mean and...satanic.

#93, 94: Thanks!

#95: You can now read The White Family without fear.

#96: I think that Maggie Gee is going to become one of my new favorite authors (my definition of a 'favorite author' is one whom I've read at least three books that I've rated 4 stars or higher). I'll look for The Flood and My Cleaner at City Lights later this week.

Book #123: No Surrender: Poems by Ai



My rating:

This is the last collection of poems by this award winning poet of mixed descent (African-American, Japanese-American, Native American), who died this spring, which consists of narrative poems about people from various backgrounds struggling to survive against difficult odds: a second generation Irish Catholic woman in post-World War II faces ostracization from her family and community after getting pregnant out of wedlock; a widow must cope with her husband's sudden death from the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland; a scholar from New Delhi immigrates to the U.S. illegally and scraps to make ends meet as a taxi driver. Each poem in itself is powerful, but as a whole the collection contained too much pain and despair for me to enjoy this work.

Book #124: The Sorrow Gondola: Poems by Tomas Tranströmer



My rating:

This is the first collection of poems by Tranströmer that has been published since the devastating stroke he suffered in 1990. The poems are published side by side in Swedish and English, and consist of 18 mostly light pieces, such as "Two Cities":

Two Cities

One each side of the strait, two cities
one blacked out, occupied by the enemy.
In the other the lamps are burning.
The bright shore hypnotizes the dark one.

I swim out in a trance
on the glittering dark waters.
A low tuba-blast pushes into me.
It's a friend's voice, Take your grave and go.

These poems were beautifully written, but were too light to leave a significant impression on me.

>97 kidzdoc: Nope. Nuh-uh. Not worth the risk.

>98 kidzdoc:, 99 Ahhh...returned to form...more four-hankies-and-a-pistol reads! Well, that tuba blast line actually made me snort, but poetry by the People of the Umlaut or the Tribe of the Tilde is pretty much guaranteed to be grisly.

Thumb on that excellent review of The White Family Darryl which I was able to get from PBS yesterday.

#82 beautiful pics! I would love to get back out to San Francisco myself.

#75 No insult intended. But thank you so much for the pass...I'm there!

#90 The White Family just moved up on my tbr list. Great review, as usual.

#97: I have already ordered a copy, so hopefully will have the book in hand soon.

#98-99: Poetry is just not my thing, so I will pass on those.

I also checked, and my library has The White Family (I wasn't surprised - Maggie Gee is pretty popular here), so I will send someone to get it for me this week, or else I'll get it as soon as I am home. It sounds great - the feelings of the white working class Londoners are often dismissed as somehow less valid than those of other groups, I guess because they are usually negative/anti-social, , so it will be interesting to read this.

#100: I expected that No Surrender: Poems was going to be a grim read, but it was even more so than I expected. I have one other book by Tranströmer, The Half-Finished Heaven: The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer, and I'll at least give that a try, probably before the end of the year.

#101, 103: I'm glad that you were able to get The White Family, Bonnie and Stasia; I hope that you both enjoy it.

#102: Thanks, Sacil!

#104: I'll be interested to get your take on The White Family Janet, especially as an American living in London.

I didn't do much reading yesterday, but I did start Parrot and Olivier in America, which I'm enjoying much more this time around. I'd like to finish it by Tuesday, in time for the announcement of the winner of this year's Booker Prize. C continues to be the heavy favorite of the bookies; I hope that they are wrong, as they were in predicting last week's Nobel Prize in Literature winner.

>105 kidzdoc:: I hope that they are wrong. Me too, Darryl!

I really enjoyed Death in the Andes, and started the earlier The Green House, an earlier work which features a protagonist in DitA, today.

Last year I bought Genesis and the rest of the Galeano trilogy after someone (sorry, can't remember who) recommended them here on LT. Still haven't read them, so will ook forward to your thoughts.

Love the title How to Make Love to a Negro without Getting Tired!

Will have to add The Giant of the French Revolution to my list after reading A Place of Greater Safety, along with Citizens by Simon Schama.

I had a great day today, although I didn't get much reading done. I had breakfast in North Beach, as usual, and escaped before the Columbus Day Parade started. It was a warm and sunny day there, so I decided to head to the beach; however, the western part of the city along the ocean was encased in thick fog and was much colder than the eastern side along the bay, so I had to scrap that plan. On the way back I stopped by another great SF bookstore, Green Apple Books in the Richmond District, which is frequently selected as the best used bookstore and the best independent bookstore in the Bay Area, even above City Lights, and came away with eight more enticing books; I'll post the list tomorrow.

I watched the second half of the Giants-Braves game (won by the Giants, in dramatic fashion) and the first half of the Phillies-Reds game (Phillies won 2-0, and swept Cincinnati out of the playoffs; they'll play the winner of the Giants-Braves series). Finally, the day was topped off by a SF Jazz Festival concert featuring the mega-talented (and mega-cute) Esperanza Spalding in performance with her Chamber Music Society, which was superb. More to come tomorrow...

Sounds like you did have a great day, Darryl! I cannot wait to see the haul from your latest bookstore discovery.

I think you've now exceeded your book purchase quotient for the year, Darryl! But yes, I also want to hear about the haul.

Fingers firmly crossed for The Finkler Question or Room to win the Man Booker. True, I still haven't read the Damon Galgut novel, but I don't think it could trump either of those two.

How are you going to get all these books home? Charter a plane?

I'm pretty certain that I'm not done buying books yet! I didn't visit the Annex at Green Apple Books, which apparently has a substantial collection of new and used fiction, and I'm sure that I'll visit City Lights at least once more before I leave.

Fortunately all but one of the books I bought today were small paperbacks, as aer most of the books I've purchased so far, and I'm pretty sure that they will all fit into my book bag without a problem.

I'm with you, Suzanne; I'd be pleased if Room or The Finkler Question won this year's Booker Prize, and very disappointed if any of the other books wins. I probably won't finish Parrot and Olivier in America before Tuesday, and although it's good so far, I doubt that it will surpass the Donoghue or the Jacobson to become my favorite shorlisted book.

Since I have not read Room yet, but I loved The Finkler Question, I am voting for that one :)

I don't think Parrot and Olivier in America SHOULD win; moreover, if C wins, i'll just conclude the judges were awed by the creative approach to writing and his attempts to redefine what a novel is and decided that was more important than plot, character, narrative arc and all that other boring stuff... It is a rather disparate group! I haven't read the Andrea Levy novel, as I had trouble getting into Small Island years ago, and while I tried to read C, I gave up quite quickly.

What do the bookies say??

Since I have had very little luck in liking a lot of the Booker prize winners, I think C will probably win just because of its creative approach (and the fact that I would probably hate it, lol.)

I'm currently reading The Long Song as although I already have it, I was sent a review copy. But I would prefer to see Room win, and I also liked The Betrayal better.. I can't take a view on the other 4 as I've not read them.

As promised, this is yesterday's haul from Green Apple Books in SF:

An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris by Georges Perec: The author spends a weekend in October 1974 sitting in a Parisian café (Place Saint-Sulpice) where "nothing happens", and records all the events that he sees.

Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges: A collection of the best of Borges' stories and essays.

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley: A novella originally published in 1917, which is a romantic comedy about a female bibliophile who believes that her love of books can rescue her from a life of servitude.

The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra: A novella about a literature professor who improvises a bedtime story for his step-daughter while he anxiously awaits his wife's return from art class, who recounts their lives in detail.

A Week at the Airport by Alain de Botton: I had meant to buy this while I was in London last month; the author spends a week in Heathrow Airport, recording his observations, and lives to tell his tale.

How to Be an Existentialist: Or How to Get Real, Get a Grip and Stop Making Excuses by Gary Cox: A 'concise, witty, and entertaining book about the philosophy of existentialism'; I am interested in existentialist thought, but I had to get this book after reading its subtitle.

The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett: I was stunned and thrilled to see the transcript of the play I saw at the National Theatre last month prominently displayed at Green Apple Books.

White Coat Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine by Carl Elliot: A venture into 'the uncharted dark side of medicine', which shines 'a light on the series of social and legislative changes that have sacrificed old-style doctoring to the values of consumer capitalism'. This book was on my wish list, and I was pleased to see what looks to be a brand new copy sold for half price as a 'used' book.

All of these books except the last one are less than 125 pages, so I could conceivably finish all of them this week.

The only one I have read is Parnassus on Wheels. It does not fit your normal bill of fare, Darryl. No pistols and hanky required for that one :)

Great haul as usual!

I am going to have to order the Perec book -- that is in my favorite 'hood in Paris. And you've hit me with the Morley and de Botton books. I have already downloaded the Bennett play on my Kindle!

A Week at the Airport sounds great. I'll have to look for that one.

Enjoy the rest of your trip, Darryl.

Darryl, do you just go into the bookstore, browse and then pick whatever looks good or do you have lists and recommendations you go by? Inquiring minds want to know how you determine your eclectic purchases:)

It has been a long time since I have been by to read your reviews and/catch up with your reading. I have this thread starred now and hope to re-connect with you.

Love, R

#118: No pistols and a hanky for Parnassus on Wheels? I'll have to bring it back to the bookstore.

#119: In which arrondissement is Place Saint-Sulpice, Suzanne? I'll probably read all of the books you mentioned during the week. I've already read the Zambra novella, The Private Lives of Trees, which I'll review shortly, and I'll probably read An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris later today.

#120: I'm looking forward to this one, Pat; I'll probably read it tomorrow or Wednesday.

#121: Darryl, do you just go into the bookstore, browse and then pick whatever looks good or do you have lists and recommendations you go by? Inquiring minds want to know how you determine your eclectic purchases:)

It depends on the type of bookstore that I'm going to (chain bookstore or mega-bookstore (Borders, Foyles); independent bookstore (City Lights, Green Apple Books, London Review Bookshop); or specialty bookstore (travel bookstores, medical bookstores). For a bookstore like Borders I generally go there with specific books in mind, and I rarely browse the shelves; this is generally true for a specialty bookstore, as I'll go there with something specific in mind, even if I don't know exactly which book I'm looking for. The treasures and enjoyment come from the independent bookstores. I'll have a list of books that I'm specifically looking for, but I mainly browse the shelves to see what is on display and what the staff recommends.

Of the eight books I bought at Green Apple Books yesterday none were on my handwritten wish list, and only three were familiar to me: The Habit of Art, which I did not expect to find anywhere; A Week at the Airport, which I didn't know was available in the US; and White Coat Black Hat, which should have been on my wish list but wasn't. City Lights also prominently displays new books throughout the store, and the vast majority of the books I normally buy there are new to me, and seem interesting from the jacket cover. It's a (mostly) hit or (occasionally) miss process. I think I've described it in the past as similar to trying new dishes in a favorite restaurant; I'll love many of the dishes, like several others; and dislike a small number.

Darryl, St Sulpice is in the 6eme, sort of halfway between Metro Odeon and Mabillon. I usually try to stay in that area, because my fave unpretentious place for breakfast -- orange pressé, café au lait and either tartines or croissants -- is right on the corner by the Metro Odeon. Not too far from St Germain, and the crossroads with the Boul Mich, walking distance to the Cluny and the quais as well as the Luxembourg gardens. I usually try to find a hotel on rue M. le Prince or rue St. Paul. There's also a great little creperie at the intersection near the Odeon metro. A movie theater, if I'm inclined to catch up on the latest Franco-flicks, a small second-hand bookstore on a side street, a new bookstore not too far away and walking distance to some good restaurants and old standby brasseries like Au pied du Cochon.

ETA: Parnassus on Wheels available on Kindle for $1!!! Love it... Will have to get a DTB version of the Perec. Have you read his book Life: A Users' Manual? A friend of mine loves it and I have a copy that I picked up at Strand somewhere in my (overcrowded) bookshelves.

I've marked your message as a favorite, and I'll refer to it when I go to Paris next year. I'll also pick your brain for places to visit at that time.

Great pickup of Parnassus on Wheels; that's 1/10th of what I paid for it.

What's DTB?

I've read several books by Perec, and I bought Life: A User's Manual in London last year, but I haven't read it yet. (Hmm, if I would stop buying new books maybe I could get around to reading it!)

DTB=Dead Tree Book.

If we're in Brussels at the same time, I can draw up a custom list! Still haven't decided on an itinerary, but it will probably be triangular -- London - Brussels - Paris -- but not sure on arrival/departure points. Probably will fly in and out of London to take advantage of the airport bookstores...

Sounds good. I'm also planning to fly in and out of London, and take Eurostar to Paris and/or Brussels.

#122: Hi, Ruth! It's great to see you here. I've been following your thread, although I haven't commented on it often (if at all).

*smiling*

A couple of conversations this week have made me think about next year's 1111 challenge. I'd like to get to some of the books that I've been eager to read, but have been languishing on my shelves, hidden behind stacks of newly purchased books. So, with that in mind, I've come up with several challenges:

1. Read a book that I already own* by (11) different Nobel Prize winning authors: I have unread books by Vargas Llosa, Le Clézio, Lessing, Pamuk, Naipaul, Xingjian, Grass, Saramago, Oe, Walcott, Paz, Mahfouz, Soyinka, Singer, Bellow, White, Neruda, Solzhenitsyn, Yasunari, Asturias, Sartre, Camus, Laxness, Hemingway, Faulkner, Mann, Hamsun, and Kipling (whew!) that I've been eager to read, so this will be an easy challenge to meet (and I may break this up, as I didn't realize I owned books by so many Nobel prize winning authors!).

2. Read a NYRB (New York Review Books) book that I already own: I definitely have at least a dozen of these books lying around.

3. Read a classic American novel that I already own: I have several novels by Hemingway, Faulkner, Roth, Nabokov etc. that I've been meaning to get to, along with To Kill a Mockingbird and a few others.

4. Read a Booker Prize winning novel that I already own: I have at least a dozen of these books, as well.

*All of these books must have been purchased prior to 1/1/11.

LT member Rise posted a thread which announces that Nov 7-13 will be NYRB Reading Week. Two book bloggers are hosting a week of reading books published by New York Review Books. I've accumulated a couple of dozen NYRB books over the past couple of years but have read hardly any of them, so I'll definitely participate in this challenge. I had planned to read The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig before the end of the year, so I'll at least read that book during that week.

#130 Good luck! At the beginning of this year, I decided that I would pick books for any challenges/group reads I participated in only from books I already owned but hadn't read. I did manage to read some books that had been languishing on the TBR but, at the same time, I just couldn't resist buying some intriguing ones that others mentioned here on LT . . .

On awards, the Bookseller reports that Orange has decided to drop the New Writers award and do web promotion - I'm sorry about that as I liked this year's New Writer winner so much, and some previous ones sound good too.

Darryl- Great review of The White Family. Sorry, I've been neglecting your thread but I see you are still reading some excellent books!

Darryl, any idea what time the Man Booker Prize is to be announced today? If it has not already been announced, that is.

#132: I just couldn't resist buying some intriguing ones that others mentioned here on LT . . .

Hmm...I suspect that I'm one of the "others".

I've come up with the remaining categories for my 1111 challenge:

5. Read a novel by an African-American author that I aleady own

6. Read a novel from the 2011 Booker Prize longlist (or from longlists of previous years)

7. Read a novel from the 2011 Orange Prize longlist (or from longlists of previous years)

8. Read a medicine or science book that I already own

9. Read a biography or autobiography that I already own

10. Read a book published by Archipelago Books in 2009-2011

11. Read a translated novel that I already own

#133: I read that article this morning, too; I've registered for Google e-mail Alerts for different book-related news items, including "Orange Prize for Fiction". For the rest of you, here's a link to the Bookseller article:

Orange replaces new writers award with web promotion

And this is the announcement from the Orange Prize web site:

Orange Award for New Writers to evolve into year-long promotion

IMO, it's a mixed bag; on one hand there will no longer be an award for a new writer; however, there will be a new writer highlighted every month, instead of the three new writers that received recognition under the old format (one winner and two shortlisted books). If the Orange Prize people and others publicize these highlighted books, then it might be a good thing.

#134: Thanks Mark!

The winner of this year's Man Booker Prize will be announced live on the "BBC News Channel" (what's that?) between 9:30-10:00 pm GMT (that's 4:30-5:00 Eastern Time in the US).

I read two of the books I bought from Green Apple on Sunday, The Private Lives of Trees and An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris; I'll submit reviews of both books this afternoon.

The Bay Area is now experiencing a heat wave, as the winds are blowing in from the desert portions of California. It will be in the high 80s to low 90s over the entire area today and tomorrow (ick).

Wandering through and catching up.

Some of those new acquisitions of yours sound great! It sounds like you'll be putting a serious dent in your TBR pile next year.

I have been round and round the BBC website about five times trying to find out when the Booker coverage would be on, so thank you for that bit of information!

Oh boy Darryl your 1111 categories sound like some good TIOLI categories too. That challenge has helped me to clear my shelves of many books that have been sitting there for awhile. My own personal rule is the books for that challenge have to come from my own shelves. I've only broken that rule three or four times;-)

#109 I loooove Esperanza Spalding! Would love to see her live! I'm jealous.

#136: Thanks, Darryl.

I've set up by 11 in 11 categories, too -- not as intense as yours, but diverse enough to include a lot of my reading!

1. New, new things -- new books by authors who are new to me and relatively new to the market.
2. The world we live in -- non-fiction about important themes/issues
3. You've gotta read this! -- for recommendations by LTers and others
4. Get me outta here... -- escapist fiction
5. Next, please -- the latest/next book(s) in mystery series that I'm reading
6. Once Upon a Time -- history, of the non-fiction kind.
7. Culture vulture -- books about art, music, drama, books, philosophy, etc.
8. English as a second language -- translated novels
9. Destination of choice -- travel narratives, focusing on personal fave places, or novels set in those places
10. Great American novels -- new books to me.
11. My grandfather's books -- a selection from the books I inherited from my grandfather that remain unread.

Phew!!! I just tried to skim your thread Darryl! It took me a few hours, lol! Dropping by to say hello!

De-lurking to wave "Hello!" Great ideas for categories here.

I had decided that I wasn't going to do an 1111 challenge, and now I want to change my mind. *Sigh*

The Finkler Question has won, so I guess there are some happy people here. :)

ETA a link or two.

The Finkler Question is the winner of the 2010 Booker Prize! Yay!!!

Ah, you beat me to it, Caty. I'll bet that I'm the first one who's posted from a smartphone while riding a streetcar, though. ;-)

Woot! I am so glad The Finkler Question won!!

According to Amazon the paperback version of The Finkler Question is now available in the US; Rebecca also mentioned that she saw it in a NYC bookstore yesterday.

NPR's All Things Considered had a story about The Finkler Question yesterday; here's the link:


'Finkler' Questions The Meaning Of Jewishness

Now that the winner has been announced, I am officially going to abandon Parrot and Olivier in America, the only shortlisted book I haven't read; this is my second attempt at reading it, and it's still a slog. I won't bring it back with me; if anyone wants it, please send me a private message, and it's yours.

I did bring Kalooki Nights by Howard Jacobson with me, which was shortlisted for the 2006 Booker Prize, and I'll start reading that now.

I'm absolutely loving Making Waves, the collection of essays by Mario Vargas Llosa that I bought last week; it's definitely a 5 star read so far.

#149: I will be interested in seeing what you think of both Kalooki Nights and Making Waves, Darryl.

Thanks to Richard, I'm the happy owner of Kalooki Nights as well, though it's still unread.

Sooooo pleased The Finkler Question won. I predict the book will take off here in the US. Amusingly, Darryl, your review and mine are #1 and #2 on Amazon, and mine at least has attracted a lot more readers (i.e. voters) in the last week or so.

#137: I really need to get to some of the hundreds of books I have at home that I'm eager to read. I seriously think that I have more books at home that I'm eager to read than I would find in my local Borders.

#138: I will try my best to stick to this plan, Bonnie!

#139: The Esperanza Spalding concert was the best one I've seen since I've been here. It was held at Davies Symphony Hall, where the San Francisco Symphony plays, and it was a perfect venue for her, due to its excellent acoustics. The performance started with a piece by three chamber musicians; midway between this selection, Esperanza entered from the right side of the stage. She turned on a lamp, sat in a comfortable chair, took off her shoes, poured herself a glass of wine, and watched the musicians perform, to the amusement of the audience (definitely the coolest entrance I've ever seen!). She initially played an acoustic classical selection with the chamber musicians, and then a pianist, drummer and vocalist came on the stage with her. Esperanza has a wonderful voice as well, and most of the rest of the concert featured her singing while playing the bass (and she's a great bass player); for an encore she played a solo ballad on the bass while singing.

I'll go to Amoeba Records tomorrow (or possibly later tonight, once it cools down here) to pick up her new CD, "Chamber Music Society". However, I'll bet that the selections won't come close to seeing her live. I'll also look for YouTube live performances; I'd especially like to see the one she played at Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo (he selected her as the musician to perform there).



As I said, she's mega-cute in addition to being mega-talented. She's the youngest professor in the history of the renowned Berklee College of Music (she was 20 years old and had just graduated from Berklee when she was invited to join the faculty). She'll turn 26 next week.

#140: You're welcome, Stasia.

#141: Nice list, Suzanne!

#142: Hi leperdbunny! Yours is still my #1 favorite LT name.

#143: Hi, Berly, and thanks!

#144: Sorry, Caty...

#148: I'm happy that Jacobson won; I would have been happy to see Emma Donoghue win, as well. I'm also very happy that the bookies were wrong, and that the "unreadable" C didn't win. Tom McCarthy was apparently a bit snarky at last night's event at the Royal Festival Hall that featured all six of the shortlisted authors. When he was asked by the moderator what he had written, he answered, somewhat smugly, "A novel."

BTW, I read that The Finkler Question is the first 'comic novel' to win the Booker Prize (I think there have been 41 or 42 prior winners).

#149: Will do, Stasia; I should finish both books by week's end.

#150: I hope that you're right, Suzanne. I did see that someone (nycreader?) made a snarky comment about my review recently, which questioned my taste in books. Would it be petty of me to respond to him or her that maybe (s)he is the one who has poor taste in books?

I've not read Jacobson yet but would like to - I'm glad to see that it wasn't the prediction that one. Of the 2 on the shortlist I've read, I think Room was better than The Long Song.

I missed the announcement because I'd fallen asleep with Conor.

I agree with you, Lucy; Room was better than The Long Song, IMO.

I received a tweet from @ManBookerPrize about the announcement while I was out shopping this afternoon; otherwise I wouldn't have known until I returned to my hotel room.

>149 kidzdoc:: According to Amazon the paperback version of The Finkler Question is now available in the US Well, serves me right for being hasty. Last time I checked (like literally last week), it wasn't available yet in the US and I didn't pay attention to the release date. So within 10 min of the prize announcement I hopped over to the BD and ordered it, snapping up Room at the same time. If I'd ordered thru Amazon I would only have saved a few $$, but with my Prime membership I'd have received the books in 2 days. Then again, I won't get to these before November anyway.

Is it too late to cancel your order, Laura? Room is also available in the US (I saw it at City Lights last week).

I'm getting Room from my local library but will probably have to buy The Finkler Question. I won't be in a rush either, Laura, because I have several others I want to read first.

Darryl, I saw on the Booker thread that you've abandoned Parrot and Olivier. Permanently? I stuck it out and ended up liking it pretty well once I got into the story. It was definitely not a prize winner, but I'm still glad I read it.

I've been quite slack in not reading The Finkler Question yet as I've had it for a few weeks and now it's due back to the library. Anyway I've ordered the paperback edition from TBD, just have to make time to read it. Pleased that he's won it, though I've yet to read any of his books.

Regarding the 1111 categories - sounds like a serious attempt to do some serious reading and I can empathise with I seriously think that I have more books at home that I'm eager to read than I would find in my local Borders.

#157: If Parrot and Olivier in America had won the Booker Prize, or if I had absolutely nothing else to read, I would continue reading it. However, I've tried reading it twice, and I can't seem to connect with it. I certainly don't dislike it, in the way that I disliked C, but there are far too many other books that I want to read at the moment. I don't want to dissuade anyone else from giving it a chance, as Richard did like it, too.

Again, if anyone wants my copy, it's yours.

#158: I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of Jacobson's books, as early as tomorrow. I'll also look for more of Maggie Gee's books, after reading The White Family; I don't expect to find either author's books in Atlanta (where Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin are the favored authors).

I might be able to cancel Darryl but then again I'm not in a hurry so i've decided it's ok ...

I want to read both Room and The Finkler Question but don't feel like I'm under the gun to do it. I've got a request in to the library for Room but they don't have The Finkler Question so I may buy that since it's in pb here.

Three short reviews of three short books:

Book #125: The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra (Chile): This was a conceptually interesting and enjoyable novella about a literature professor (Julián) who is writing a novel about his past life in an unhappy marriage, how he met and won the love of his current wife (Verónica), and the future life of his eight year old step-daughter (Daniela). Verónica has not yet returned home from her art class, and Julián anxiously awaits her return, while putting Daniela to bed with a story, "The Private Lives of Trees", and writing his book, which will end when Verónica returns home. This novella consists of ordinary stories about every day lives, and in Zambra's delicate hand these characters are allowed to slowly develop and mature. (4 stars)

Book #126: An Attempt at Exhausting a Life in Paris by Georges Perec (France): Perec decides to record "infraordinary" events outside of Parisian cafés during a three day weekend in October 1974, and he succinctly describes the mundanity and banality that he sees: numerous buses pass by; people engage in ordinary conversations and activities; birds fly together in nonsensical patterns and return to their previous positions. Perec does not analyze, he only observes, which made for a mildly interesting but somewhatdisappointing read. (3 stars)

Book #127: A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary by Alain de Botton (UK): The author is employed by the owner of Heathrow Airport, given free reign to its new Terminal 5, and encouraged to freely record his observations. He writes about passengers he meets, and expounds upon their lives, loves and past encounters; the airport workers, from the president of British Airways to a restroom attendant; the structure and layout of Terminal 5; and the various and abstracted experiences of being in an airport and flying. Reading this book was an interesting contrast to the Perec book, and what made this a much more interesting read for me was de Botton's personal and philosophical statements and his behind-the-scenes look at the functioning of a modern airport filled with passengers and employees from various lands and different backgrounds. (4 stars)

Edited to correct touchstones.

The finalists for this year's National Book Awards have just been announced:

Fiction:

Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America
Jaimy Gordon, Lord of Misrule
Nicole Krauss, Great House
Lionel Shriver, So Much for That
Karen Tei Yamashita, I Hotel

Nonfiction:

Barbara Demick, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
John W. Dower, Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq
Patti Smith, Just Kids
Justin Spring, Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward
Megan K. Stack, Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War

Poetry:

Kathleen Graber, The Eternal City
Terrance Hayes, Lighthead
James Richardson, By the Numbers
C.D. Wright, One with Others
Monica Youn, Ignatz

Young People's Literature:

Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker
Kathryn Erskine, Mockingbird
Laura McNeal, Dark Water
Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown
Rita Williams-Garcia, One Crazy Summer

More info: 2010 National Book Awards

Edited to correct touchstones.

>163 kidzdoc:: LOL! Maybe the NBA nomination will be the motivation for you to finish Parrot and Olivier in America.

You read my mind, Donna! I was just now debating whether to keep it or not. I think I'll stick with my original plan for now, but I will read it if it wins the National Book Award. I have been paying much more attention to the Booker and Orange Prizes than to the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for Fiction, and I really should show more love to the major American book awards.

BTW, the winners will be announced on November 17th.

From the fiction list I also own I Hotel, which I had planned to bring with me on this trip to San Francisco, as it's based on an actual hotel here and the Asian-American civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s. I'll plan to read this at the end of the month. I also own Lighthead by Terrance Hayes from the poetry list, and I don't have any books from the nonfiction or YA lists.

I'm wondering if this is the first time a book has been nominated for both the Booker and the NBA at the same time?? Interesting.

Hi!
I've wishlisted the Heathrow Airport book, I downloaded Parnassus on Wheels to my Kindle (thanks to Suzanne's tip!) and what else did I want to say? Oh, right - Go Phillies! ;)

#166: Someone (not me!) broke the National Book Foundation site, so I haven't been able to check to see if any other novels have been nominated for both awards. The authors of books selected for the National Book Awards must be American citizens, and the Booker Prize nominees must be citizens of the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland or Zimbabwe. Peter Carey fits both categories, as he was born in Australia (a member of the Commonwealth) and has lived in NYC for the past 20 years. Colum McCann (born in Ireland), the winner of last year's National Book Award for Fiction, would have fit had he been nominated for the Booker Prize. Off the top of my head I can't think of any other writers with such dual nationality, but I'm sure that others will come up with some possibilities.

I've decided to go ahead and finish Parrot and Olivier in America after all, as I haven't started Kalooki Nights yet.

#167: I'll look for your comments about Parnassus on Wheels and A Week at the Airport, Angela.

Go Phillies! I can't wait for Game 1 on Saturday, when Roy Halladay will face the two-time defending Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum of the Giants. Halladay, of course, threw a no-hitter against the Reds, and Lincecum was nearly as good, pitching a complete game two hit shutout with 14 strikeouts. The first team to score a single run should win.

I would qualify for the Booker, Pulitzer, National Book Award, etc. etc. as a dual Canadian/US citizen...

I'm going to root for Barbara Demick's book on North Korea. It was fabulous & chilling. Have only read Peter Carey for the fiction works -- and my reaction was akin to yours, Darryl. (I'm hoping I like the Perec book more than you did, as it should arrive here this week...)

(I'm seriously flirting with literary prize fatigue here; however, this is my favorite new award.)

The shortlist for this year's Wellcome Trust Book Prize, which celebrates the best fiction and nonfiction books written about medicine and literature, was announced last week:

Fiction:

So Much for That by Lionel Shriver
Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson

Nonfiction:

Medic: Saving Lives - from Dunkirk to Afghanistan by John Nichol
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Teach Us to Sit Still: A Sceptic's Search for Health and Healing by Tim Parks
Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox by Gareth Williams

The winner will be announced in early November in London, and will receive £25,000.

More info: Shortlist

I would qualify for the Booker, Pulitzer, National Book Award, etc. etc. as a dual Canadian/US citizen...

Nice. Does this mean that you'll write a multiply shortlisted novel next year? ;-)

Since Lionel Shriver's novel is a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Wellcome Trust Book Prize I'll add that to my wish list.

I just ordered the Barbara Demick because I was happily reminded of it by your posting this list, as I had read good things about it and had planned to get it. Glad (?) to know how chilling it is, Suzanne.

Darryl, I kinda doubt it, don't you? But I have been reminded of this from time to time, by those who think I should aspire to write the great CanAmerican novel. Nothing worse than people expecting me to live up to THEIR expectations.

ETA: I'll wait for your thoughts on Shriver's book -- it sounds too much like a novel where the message trumps the story to automatically make my list (and the reviews are rather ambivalent, as well...)

I did finish Parrot and Olivier in America tonight; I stayed in because I contracted a cold yesterday, probably from the woman who sat directly behind me on a nearly empty bus and coughed and sneezed on me for several minutes (fortunately I'm now at least 90% better). I skimmed the last 80-90 pages, as it continued to be a slog. I'll give it 3 stars, and it was my second least favorite book of the Booker Prize longlist.

I've now read nine of the 13 Booker Dozen novels, and all six of the shortlisted novels; here's how I would rank them:

1. Room by Emma Donoghue (shortlist)
1. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (winner)
3. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (longlist)
4. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (longlist)
5. Trespass by Rose Tremain (longlist)
6. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut (shortlist)
7. The Long Song by Andrea Levy (shortlist)
8. Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey (shortlist)
9. C by Tom McCarthy (shortlist)

Other than the selection of The Finkler Question as the winner I wasn't in agreement with the Booker Prize judges, as four of the shortlisted books were my least favorite ones, and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet was inexplicably left off of the shortlist. It would have been a worthy winner, along with the Donoghue and the Jacobson, IMO.

I hope your cold goes away quickly, Darryl.

I am planning on reading several of the books on the longlist yet, but not The Slap or C, neither of which appeals to me. I doubt I will read Parrot and Olivier in America either. Now it is just a question of getting my hands on the rest!

Thanks, Stasia; other than a slightly scratchy throat I feel completely better. Unfortunately I decided to cancel dinner with my good friend from medical school (who lives near San Jose) tonight, as I didn't want to give this to her or her family (husband and two young boys). We didn't get together during this trip, but I hope to see her in the spring.

In a Strange Room was released in the US today (Europa Editions), so all of the nine Booker Prize longlisted books I've read are available here.

#176: In a Strange Room was released in the US today (Europa Editions), so all of the nine Booker Prize longlisted books I've read are available here.

Which probably means I will only have to wait about 3 years for my local library to get copies. *sigh*

What about Skippy Dies? Wasn't it a longlist book? I agree with your ranking of the books that I've read, although I still have to read Tremain, Mitchell & Galgut.

God bless Europa Editions! Although In a Strange Room is available for my Kindle so may be Nook-able as well, Stasia.

#178: I checked, Suz. In a Strange Room is not available for the Nook yet, although one of Galgut's other books, The Imposter, is so hopefully the other will be soon!

Right, Suzanne. Skippy Dies (Paul Murray) did make the longlist, along with February (Lisa Moore), The Stars in the Bright Sky (Alan Warner) and The Betrayal (Helen Dunmore). The Murray and the Moore are definitely available in the US; I don't think that the Dunmore or the Warner are yet. I have all four, and will likely read the Murray and the Moore by year's end. I want to read The Siege before I read The Betrayal, so that may push the latter book into next year. I'll at least give the Warner a try, but it's the one book that I probably won't finish, as it sounds like glorified chick lit (apparently it's about a group of twentysomething British girls that were formerly in a rock band, who are obsessed with materialism and celebrity culture).

I don't think it was a great year for the Booker Prize, as several of the novels were not ones that I'll remember fondly, and there was a notable absence of books from India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Zimbabwe (you can't tell me that there wasn't at least one Indian novel that was more deserving of a place on the longlist in place of The Stars in the Bright Sky). However, I do applaud the judges for including the controversial The Slap and the nouveau roman C, even though I didn't like it.

Darryl, I love following those who manage to read the long- or shortlist right after the announcement. It's a noble goal and it really helps the rest of us in selecting those we want to read ourselves.

Interesting insight on the lack of diversity in the nominees ...

I'm still reading Trespass but I don't think I'm going to prefer it to The Long Song. I don't think either are as good as Room or The Betrayal which didn't make it to the shortlist. I've not read Finkler and have just borrowed The Slap from the library.

Why is a book about a group of young women musicians assumed to be chicklit? I haven't read it or the first book about these characters The Sopranos yet but want to.

I've enjoyed The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi, set in India, England and Wales, and Irene Sabatini's The Boy Next Door but am not sure I would have envisaged them as Booker contenders. I do think the disappearance of the Orange New Writers award as an award specifically for debut novels is a shame though, as I think the Doshi was good enough to have been nominated (I think it might have been published after the cut off for this year).

#181: Thanks, Laura. I've enjoyed my Bookerthons
since I first started reading the longlisted books in 2007 (although I only read six of the Booker Dozen that year, which did not include The Gathering). Ideally I would like to read all of most of the books on the Orange Prize longlist and the National Book Award list of finalists, but neither seems to be as feasible for me (too many books on the Orange list, not enough time to read all of the NBA finalists by the time of the announcement). I'll try to read the remaining books on the NBA list, since I read far more British literature and international fiction than American literature.

Having said that, I'll look for So Much for That by Lionel Shriver today, and probably start reading it this afternoon.

There is a new(?) literary festival, the DSC South Asian Literary Festival which will be held in London from October 15-25, and in the rest of the UK from October 26-31. Also included is a new literary prize, the $50,000 USD DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, which will be awarded in January. The hyperlink in the previous paragraph lists the 16 longlisted novels; I'll attempt to post touchstones to these novels later today.

Interesting comments about the longlisted books, Luci. I ranked the The Long Song fairly low, probably because I read it soon after Small Island and found it to be disappointing, in comparison. I think I liked Trespass a bit more than other 75ers who have commented on it so far (which reminds me, I should post comments about the book on the discussion thread). I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on The Slap and the other longlisted books that you read.

Why is a book about a group of young women musicians assumed to be chicklit?

Using Wikipedia's definition of "chick lit" as fiction which 'which addresses issues of modern women often humorously and lightheartedly', and reading the book description (see below), I think it's a fair description; I think the biggest quibbles with my characterization is that the book isn't women's literature, as it was written by a man, and it almost certainly a more substantial novel than most chick lit novels (although the only chick lit novel I attempted to read is The Dim Sum of All Things, one of the worst five books I've read this century).

This is from the inside front flap of the book, taken from the book's page on Amazon UK:

"The Sopranos are back: out of school and out in the world, gathered in Gatwick to plan a super-cheap last-minute holiday to celebrate their reunion. Kay, Kylah, Manda, Rachel and Finn are joined by Finn’s equally gorgeous friend Ava – a half-French philosophy student – and are ready to go on the rampage. Just into their twenties and as wild as ever, they’ve added acrylic nails, pedicures, mobile phones and credit cards to their arsenal, but are still the same thirsty girls: their holiday bags packed with skimpy clothes and condoms, their hormones rampant. Will it be Benidorm or Magaluf, Paris or Las Vegas? One thing is certain: a great deal of fast-food will be eaten and gallons of Guinness will be drunk by the alpha-female Manda, and she will be matched by the others’ enthusiastic intake of Bacardi Breezers, vodkas and Red Bull. With Alan Warner’s pitch-perfect ear for dialogue, pinpoint characterisation and glorious set-pieces, this is a novel propelled by conversation through scenes of excess and debauchery, hilarity and sadness. Like the six young women at its centre, The Stars in the Bright Sky is vivid and brimming with life – in all its squalor, rage, tears and laughter – and presents an unforgettable story of female friendship."

I admittedly find twentysomething women like these (half of whom seem to live in Atlanta) to be vulgar and distasteful, and the thought of reading a book about them makes my brain scream. I will give the book a try, especially because I "enjoyed" The Slap far more than I expected to, but I wouldn't be surprised if I abandon it before I hit the halfway point.

I'll have to look for The Pleasure Seekers. I did like The Boy Next Door, but I agree with you, I wouldn't have placed it amongst the longlisted novels I've read, even those I didn't like. Have you read The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna? It was touted by several people on the Man Booker Prize Discussion Thread as a nominee for the longlist. I bought it, anticipating that it would be longlisted, but I haven't read it yet.

I've actually followed and read many of the lonlisted Bookers since the early 90's. I've always felt the longlists provided a good catalog of the best literature out there and before LT I relied on the Booker as well as the Pulitzer and the NBA to identify books which I could be reasonably assured of liking. That said, I haven't read nearly as many as you Darryl and have found that the ultimate Booker winner is often a disappointment, for me anyway. I've got The Siege up next and then I'll probably read The Betrayal at some point if The Siege is as good as other LTers have thought.

I'll be interested in your take on So Much for That. Can it be anywhere as riveting as We Need to Talk About Kevin??

Chick lit -- depends on whether the focus of the book is the frivolous stuff. I think the definition you cite is waaay too general -- Jane Austen would be chick lit, for instance (at least, in her era). It kind of throws all novels with women as central characters that contain an element of humor into a big dismissive category, and implies that the only "serious" fiction with women as the major characters has to be of the sturm und drang variety. Is Mary Wesley chick lit?

To me, chick lit is a genre where the story takes a back seat to the style & shopping & relationship elements.

I guess I'm hypersensitive about this because of all the generations in which women writers weren't seen as "real" writers. Now it's as if they aren't writing about topics that are uber serious, in an uber-literary way, they end up being dismissed in a way that male writers aren't.

>183 kidzdoc:: which reminds me, I should post comments about the book on the discussion thread
Ahem. Yes. Glad to see you are wracked with guilt over it at least. :)

Hi Darryl. Good to hear your cold is on the way out. Never fun to get sick when you're traveling.

Hope you like So Much for That. I read and loved Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Post-Birthday World which are relatively recent books. I also picked up a used copy of The Female of the Species, a much earlier book of hers, which I thought was terrible.

I bought a copy of A Week at the Airport today which I'm looking forward to getting to. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I made one last(?) trip to City Lights, and bought the following books (not counting gift books):

Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama by Tim Wise: Wise debunks the notion that the historic election of an African-American as POTUS has meant the end of racial inequality in the US; this book is part of City Lights' Open Media Series.

Quiet As They Come by Angie Chau: A debut collection of short stories about the struggle of recent Vietnamese immigrants to adjust to life in San Francisco.

The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen by Kwame Anthony Appiah: Appiah is a professor of philosophy at Princeton and is one of the "public intellectuals" that I mentioned earlier this year. (Hmm...that reminds me; I did want to 'Read a book by a past or present public intellectual that I already own' as one of my 2011 goals, including books by Tony Judt, Appiah, Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, and Amartya Sen, amongst others. I guess I'll have to discard one of my previously listed goals, or make this one the wild card goal).

Ignatz by Monica Youn: A collection that is a finalist for this year's National Book Award for Poetry; yes, it is about the mouse that Krazy Kat falls hopelessly in love with, despite the mouse's tendency to throw bricks at the lovelorn cat:



Deepstep Come Shining by C.D. Wright: I was looking for her collection One With Others, which was also selected as a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry, but City Lights didn't have it. However this collection looked interesting; it's a "single long poem whose sentences, segments, and prose blocks weave loosely around and about, and grow out of, a road trip through the rural South."

The Phoenix Gone, the Terrace Empty by Marilyn Chin: A "compelling collection of poems centered on the difficult gift of racial and cultural 'double consciousness'".

#184: I've always felt the longlists provided a good catalog of the best literature out there and before LT I relied on the Booker as well as the Pulitzer and the NBA to identify books which I could be reasonably assured of liking.

I couldn't agree more, and that would essentially be my answer to why I read books that are selected for the major book awards.

#185: I appreciate, and agree with, your thoughtful response, Suzanne. You're right, the definition I chose was not specific enough, and I think your description (books that emphasize style, shopping, chasing boys, etc.) is a more accurate one.

It still seems to me, though, that The Stars in the Bright Sky could be described as chick lit if it had been written by a woman ("acrylic nails, pedicures, mobile phones and credit cards", "skimpy clothes and condoms"), whereas a book like Helen Garner's The Spare Room, which is about the relationship of two adult women, one of whom is dying from cancer, is clearly not chick lit. (I'm still ticked off that it didn't make the 2008 Booker Prize longlist, as it was one of my favorite novels that year, and it was a much better novel that The White Tiger).

(BTW, I'm looking at The Weather Channel, and meterorologist Mike Seidel is currently reporting from Brooklyn about the "October nor'easter" that is hitting the Mid Atlantic and New England. I hope that you're staying dry and that this weather isn't aggravating your migraines, Suzanne.)

(ETA: He's standing in front of the arch at Grand Army Plaza.)

Uh...I'm completely unfamiliar with Mary Wesley, so I can't answer that question!

I guess I'm hypersensitive about this because of all the generations in which women writers weren't seen as "real" writers. Now it's as if they aren't writing about topics that are uber serious, in an uber-literary way, they end up being dismissed in a way that male writers aren't.

I think you're right...and I suspect that I may be one of those who would tend to dismiss these "non-literary" writers and their books (I'd like to think that I would be equally dismissive of male writers who aren't "literary", but I'm less convinced of this that I would like to be). I get teased about this at work by a couple of my bookish partners who like popular literature, but it's all in good fun.

I will say that I'm reading far more literature written by women in the past 3-4 years (corresponding to when I joined LT, in 2006) than I did before then, and I have many of you to thank for that.

#186: I can't say I'm "wracked with guilt", but I will make my way over there before my bean gets smashed in with a brick.

(Hmm, I wonder if Caroline is related to Ignatz?)

#187: Thanks, Pat; I was much less bothered by the cold than the timing of it (which forced me to cancel dinner with a good friend, who I won't see this year for the first time in quite awhile (maybe 1999?)). My immune system must have been exposed to this virus (or a similar one) in the past, as I got rid of it in less than 24 hours.

City Lights had So Much for That, and I had originally planned to buy it today. I decided not to, as I'm sure that I can find this at my local Borders, for a cheaper price (with a store coupon).

As promised, here is the longlist for the inaugural DSC Prize for South Asian Literature:

Upamanyu Chatterjee: Way To Go (Penguin)
Amit Chaudhuri: The Immortals (Picador India)
Chandrahas Choudhury: Arzee the Dwarf(HarperCollins)
Musharraf Ali Farooqui: The Story of a Widow (Picador India)
Ru Freeman: A Disobedient Girl (Penguin/Viking)
Anjum Hassan: Neti Neti (IndiaInk/Roli Books)
Tania James: Atlas of Unknowns (Pocket Books)
Manju Kapur: The Immigrant (Faber & Faber)
HM Naqvi: Home Boy (HarperCollins)
Salma: The Hour Past Midnight (Zubaan, translated by Lakshmi Holmstrom)
Sankar: The Middleman (Penguin, translated by Arunava Sinha)
Ali Sethi: The Wish Maker (Penguin)
Jaspreet Singh: Chef (Bloomsbury)
Aatish Taseer: The Temple Goers (Picador India)

I've read Chef (LT Early Reviewer) copy, which I thought was mediocre; I don't have any of the others.

#190: You are doing better than I am, Darryl. At least you have read one of them. I have only heard of two of them, The Wish Maker and Chef. *sigh* I have just decided that there are too many books in the world for me to be able to get to them all.

Whew! It's hard to keep up with all the interesting books you buy Darryl, especially since I haven't been getting onto LT much lately.

Genesis by Galeano was one of my favorite reads of last year. I read the second volume recently, and didn't find it as compelling.

Life: A User's Manual by Perec is one of my all-time favorite books, and is one I hope to reread soon. I'd love to hear what you think of it when you read it. I think you'll either hate it or love it.

Finding it hard to believe that Chef was nominated for an award... i do have The Wish Maker on hand to read as Amazon had it as a deep discount book ($4 or so) recently.

I've got The Honor Code sitting on my TBR stack -- it was one of the books I picked up from the Harvard Coop last month. Do want to read it this month or next.

You must have ESP re weather and migraines. I was sitting stuck in this tiny little jury questioning room all day yesterday (and have to go back today, as I wasn't in the first half of the pool questioned) and my migraine was getting worse and worse. By the time I got home, I was in agony. Again. This has been a bad week. What boggles my mind is that this is a what the lawyers describe as a relatively simple "slip and fall" case between an elderly woman and the City of New York -- a bog standard lawsuit. Yet this will be their FIFTH DAY trying to pick only SIX people to serve on a jury. If nothing else had left me with a less-than-impressed picture of the justice system, that would.

Re chick lit and The Stars in the Bright Sky. Here is why I would automatically pause before even considering that this book was chick lit.
1. It's a Man Booker nominee; they don't have a track record of nominating chick lit.
2. It's written by a man; there are very, very few chick lit works by men.
3. You're basing your judgment on the jacket copy, written by marketers to appeal to buyers. Perhaps they have decided that because the main characters are women, they'd play up the things that they believe women readers find most appealing, even if those are just the gloss on the book? After all, how many crime books are about the nitty gritty of the crime, etc??

A mental test I'd run in these circumstances is whether I'd dismiss a book outright if I changed some of the parameters. For instance, if this was a book about four male band members reuniting to go on the road, and the jacket copy referred to booze and drugs and groupies, would I assume it was superficial silliness? Or that maybe those were devices the author was using to highlight more in-depth themes? I look at Garner's book, and I see a version of Arthur Phillips' The Song Is You which, whether you liked it or not, was not dismissed as chick lit. I'm reading a book right now, The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta, which revolves around the conflicts with sex and religion in families and schools. The two main characters -- a woman teacher and a male soccer coach -- on opposing sides of that issue, find themselves attracted to each other, and wrestling with the other relationships in their lives (children, ex-spouses.) I am utterly certain that had it been written by a woman, it would have been dubbed chick lit. Instead, some reviewers have described it as a satyrical look at suburbia.

There is definitely a double standard here. I'm sure that Prague and The Song is You could easily have been dismissed as "chick lit" had they been written by or featured more women characters, in the same way that some label The Time Traveler's Wife as chick lit. I think it's very hard for women to break away from that label, since when it gets right down to it, most novels deal with relationships and feature contemporary characters regardless of whether it's men or women writing them. A great many books that are nowhere close to being "Shopaholic" genre books get lumped into that category, either by marketers or readers. Would a woman trying to write wittily and ironically about life as a woman in a modern office environment be dismissed as "chick lit" even if perhaps she is an Updike in the early stages? Let's consider The Devil Wears Prada, which is widely seen as chick lit, and yet which I see as a decent novel that happens to skewer the fashion world very effectively. It ain't Updike, but to lump it in as a Shopaholic book and dismiss it is silly, IMO. You may not like it, it may not be well written, but it CAN speak to all genders.

OK, rant over. I shall retire my soapbox for the day and prepare for another ordeal by jury duty. (wait, weren't juries supposed to ABOLISH trial by ordeal???)

ETA: Suggest reading some women writers who don't win literary prizes or aren't well known as "literary". Try some of Laurie Colwin's short stories to start with. They are based on relationships; often humorous. Then tell me if you think they are "chick lit".

Bravo, Suzanne! And thanks for taking the time to thoughtfully and compellingly reply to my comments. You're absolutely right, and I should give The Stars in the Bright Sky a chance before dismissing it as "glorified chick lit". If I ever need a lawyer I'll hire you to argue my case.

So, I shouldn't judge a book by its inside flap, right?

Today's my last day in San Francisco; I'll leave here late tonight, and arrive in Atlanta early Saturday morning (sob).

Safe travels, Darryl!

Thanks Suzanne for saying everything I was thinking much more eloquently (and a lot more besides) (sorry Darryl!).

Ad for the difference when books are written by men, I don't think you've read One Day, Darryl, and I don't recommend that you do, but I think that is chicklit. But of course it has a male author and one of the two main characters is also a man.

Safe travels.

Bouchercon is on now (from yesterday through Sunday), I so wish I was in SF this weekend.

Hope you're having a great last day in SF, Darryl. Have a good trip home. Hopefully, the weather will be wonderful in Atlanta this time of year.

Have a comfy first-class trip home, Darryl!

One thought -- had The Finkler Question been written by/about women, isn't there a strong possibility someone would have called it chick lit, esp. because of the comic aspects and focus on relationships? I suspect so...

I do have One Day on my Kindle, bought accidentally. Shall have to see how it stacks up!

#195: I'm back in no-longer-Hotlanta, after I took a red eye flight from San Francisco that arrived at 6:30 am. The weather here is wonderful, as it was in the low 40s when we landed, and the highs this weekend will be in the mid 70s. Oddly enough, San Francisco had the hot weather this time around, with highs in the 80s to low 90s for most of the week (except yesterday).

I did have a nice last day there yesterday; I mainly walked around town, did a little shopping, and saw several cute toddlers and young kids on the streetcar and LRVs. It was a nice way to end a very pleasant trip.

Uh...believe it or not, I'm seriously thinking of going to go back to SF early next week. I'm off the last six (and possibly seven) days in October, and there are several SF Jazz Festival performances that I'd love to see (especially Ravi Shankar with his daughter Anoushka Shankar, whom I saw there several years ago, and Arturo Sandoval).

#196: Nothing to be sorry about at all, Lucy! I enjoyed, and learned a lot from, our discussion.

#197: Yes, fall has finally come to Atlanta! I stopped at my barbershop on the way back from the airport, and my usual barber said that the weather cooled down earlier this week. Hopefully it will stay like this for awhile.

#198: It was a comfy and quiet trip home; I was in first class, as I have had trouble sleeping on overnight flights from SF to ATL when I've been in economy class, mainly due to teenagers and twentysomethings that insist on yakking and shrieking throughout the flight (and I saw quite a few of these kids running through the terminal and having loud conversations on their mobile phones before we boarded). I'm glad that I switched from my original early afternoon flight to this overnight flight (although I'm a bit tired this morning), as I didn't "waste" yesterday afternoon and early evening in the airport and on the plane.

Hmm...I think you could make a case for The Finkler Question being labeled as chick lit if the characters were women. (What's the male equivalent of chick lit?)

I'm nearly finished with Making Waves by Mario Vargas Llosa, and with The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett. I think I'll start I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita next.

Hi Darryl. Glad you're home safe and sound. What is an "LRV"?? I'm going to start thinking of you as living in SF!

LRV=light rail vehicle (or tram), like this T line from SF's Muni Metro service:



Midway along the left hand border is part of the upper stand from AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants; two of the Muni Metro lines (N, T) make stops directly in front of the park.

Unfortunately the Giants beat the Phillies yesterday in game 1 of the National League Championship Series last night, by 4-3. Neither pitcher (Halladay or Lincecum) was as sharp as they were in their previous outings (no hitter for Halladay, two hit, 14 strikeout, complete game shutout for Lincecum), but Lincecum and the relief pitchers were just a hair better than Halladay was.

Speaking of hair, I got a kick out of the Phillies fans yesterday, who wolf whistled at Lincecum, due to his long hair:



Hopefully Roy Oswalt will pitch well for the Phillies tonight, who face another tough Giants pitcher in Jonathan Sanchez.

I'll review Making Waves and The Habit of Art shortly. I need to write a review for Belletrista as well, and instead of I Hotel I'll read All That Follows by Jim Crace, one of the Early Reviewer books I received from LT earlier this year.

#201: The Phillies-Giants series has some terrific pitching matchups. I am anxious to see how they play out.

Thanks for the picture of the LRV, Darryl. It certainly looks all bright and shiny. Do you know if these are going to eventually replace the cable cars? Hope your Phillies do better tonight.

You're welcome, Pat. I seriously doubt that the current LRV vehicles will directly replace the cable cars; Powell Street is too small to allow two LRVs to pass side by side, as are several streets in Chinatown and Russian Hill. And, the cable cars are such an integral part of the city's identity and are so unique (powered by a cable underneath the street) that I can't imagine that the city would ever consider getting rid of them (although that did almost happen after World War II). The cars are old, of course (most were built between 1887 and 1912), but were rebuilt in the 1990s and are in very good condition.

There is a new project, the Central Subway Project, that will provide LRV service from the Caltrain station (4th & King, a block away from AT&T Park) to SoMa (South of Market Street), the Moscone Convention Center, Union Square and Chinatown, with a possible extension to North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf. Ground breaking took place earlier this year, and the project is supposed to be completed in 2016.

Darryl, I was in SFO yesterday waiting to catch my connecting flight to Boston. We might even have passed each other in the busy terminal. :-)

Good luck with your boys in tonight's game. I arrived home last night to find my guys had lost to the Rangers, so we're tied for now.

I've been enjoying the conversation about chick lit. If interested, there was an interesting conversation in mid-July on Whisper1's thread about gender and reading. Can men read "women's lit" without comment as easily as women read "men's lit"?

#163, 169 Looking forward to Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea as I am currently reading The Coldest Winter. Also have Your Republic is Calling You which Cameling recommended. It's about a North Korean spy who has been living in South Korea for a long time and is suddenly recalled by his handlers.

#205: Hi Caroline! I was at SFO Friday night between ~9 pm and 10:30 pm, in Terminal 1 (Gate 40), so I think I was there several hours before you were. How was your trip?

I'm surprised that Halladay gave up four runs to the Giants, but pleased that the Phillies scored three runs off Lincecum. The Yankees are lucky that they aren't down 2-0, after they were down 5-1 to the Rangers in Game 1 of the ALCS.

BTW, are you a football fan (NFL)? Who do you root for, since you're a Yankees fan in Red Sox territory?

#206: Can men read "women's lit" without comment as easily as women read "men's lit"?

Hmm...good question. I would venture to guess that women are more likely to read "men's lit" than the reverse, and would be more open minded about what they read.

I almost bought Nothing to Envy at City Lights last week; I probably will read it, but I assumed that I could find it in my local Borders.

I was in SFO 12 hours before you were, Darryl, and caught my connecting flight to Boston at 2pm. My trip was very productive work-wise, but also extremely hectic because there were some impromptu meetings and a few social events crammed into almost every possible minute. I probably would have fared better if I didn't also come down with the flu 2 days after I got into Singapore. Not a surprise really because I was surrounded by about 5 people on the flights going over to Singapore who were coughing and/or sneezing. Still, it's my first illness for the year, so I really can't complain.

I didn't get to watch yesterday's game but saw the score when I got into Boston. I'm not surprised that the Rangers did so well against the Yankees yesterday. They're a good team and we haven't been doing well against them all season. I was (pleasantly) shocked in Game 1 when we pulled back from being down 5-1 to actually winning the game.

I do like football and am a Pats fan. The Yankees are the only NY team that I support - because I grew up watching Yankees games with my dad. For basketball and football, I root for the Patriots and the Celtics.

Sorry to hear that you contracted the flu on your trip, Caroline; I hope that you're feeling better.

Are there any SFO restaurants that you like ("like" being a relative term)?

BTW, I'm in the process of creating my thread for the 11 in 11 Category Challenge, if anyone is interested in also participating:

kidzdoc's 11 in 11

Well, you are certainly more organized about your reading than I am, Darryl, to be able to come up with 11 categories. I certainly can see themes in my reading that I could probably create categories from, but my opportunistic reading spirit would probably rebel at even the most minimal hint of regimentation. Still, it's an interesting idea.

ETA Seeing your Archipelago book challenge made me realize I haven't gotten anything from them in months -- I think the last was Eline Vere. Have you received anything more recently?

Darryl, I looked at that link about the SF Subway Project--I have to say the extreme modern look to the drawings of the stations is jarring. Just doesn't say San Francisco to me. Also, it looks like a HUGE project.

I checked out your 11 in 11 categories. This challenge looks interesting and a great way to read books you already own.

#210: I've been thinking about this throughout the year, Rebecca, especially the public intellectual and African-American novel categories, along with the thought of using 2011 to start to make a dent in my massive TBR collection. The toughest thing for me will be to cut down on the number of books I buy next year (other than the 2011 Booker and Orange Prize longlisted books and the ones I'll receive from my 2011 Archipelago Books collection).

According to the web site, Eline Vere is the last book that Archipelago Books has published. Journal of an Ordinary Grief will be published this month, and three others will be released before the end of the year.

#211: Right, it does look like a huge project, with glaringly new stations. I wouldn't bet more than a dime that it will be completed by 2016.

The current Market Street subway stations (Muni and BART) are pretty old though; I think they were built in the 1970s or early 1980s (or possibly well before that).

I posted that link mainly because I thought others might also be interested in participating, and thinking about their categories before the end of the year. I'll post the same info on my 2011 75 Books thread, as well.

LOL .... restaurants I like in SFO ... you're right, Darryl .. 'like' is a relative term. I like the garlic fries at Gordon Biersch in Term 3 and the little Japanese restaurant in the International terminal across from Gates 96 or so is pretty decent. I stay away from Yankee Pier (at least I think that's the name of the restaurant) that's just out after one one of the security checkpoints, across from the bookstore and just before the walkways to Gates 79 - 90, because their food's really greasy.

Have you read Eline Vere yet, Darryl?

Oh, I didn't know that there was a Gordon Biersch (I love garlic fries!). The Japanese restaurant I've been to was in the International terminal, but in a pre-security food court.

I haven't read Eline Vere yet, but I'll probably read it in the next month or two.

Yes, the Gordon Biersch is just by Gate 73. If you're in SFO for any length of time next time, go look for it, Darryl.

Eline Vere was the last book I'd received as well, and I'd just started wondering about that as well!

Garlic fries?????

Garlic fries = French fries smothered with garlic and herbs; utterly delicious!



I had my first of this delicacy the first time I went to a San Francisco Giants baseball game at Pac Bell Park (now AT&T Park), a perfect food for a cold August night game.

The Phillies are leading the Giants 1-0 in the bottom of the 4th, scoring their only run on a bases loaded walk by Jonathan Sanchez in the first inning. He's pitching well, but Roy Oswalt is even better, as he hasn't allowed a hit in four innings of work.

Wow; if the Phillies beat the Giants they will be the first National League team to win three straight pennants since the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals.

Dropping by to say hello! I've never had garlic fries anywhere but a restaurant I like to frequent- I think they stole the idea from SF cuisine lol! Those look delish!

hmmm. not sure about this.

Now, frites with sauce mayonnaise in the Grand' Place of Brussels... in a cone, on a chilly winter evening -- mmmmmm.

I'm with Suzanne on this one. Too bad I've given up french fries altogether though in this year's quest for a healthier lifestyle.

#218: I don't know who originated garlic fries, leperdbunny; I've only had them in San Francisco. Do you know, Caroline?

I completely forgot that there is a Gordon Biersch about 1/2 mile from where I live; I'll have to see if they serve garlic fries there.

#219: Dearest Suzanne, are you saying that you'd rather have this over garlic fries???



That looks almost as bad as a Primanti Brothers sandwich, a Pittsburgh tradition: pastrami (or meat of your choice), cole slaw, tomato and French fries on white bread. All of this is inside of the sandwich; you can also add a fried egg to the sandwich (again, inside the sandwich).



This is preferably washed down with a six pack of Iron City beer, and is followed by a trip to the ER at UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center).

#217: Those garlic fries look wonderful!

#222 I feel like an echo, Stasia! This is the second thread where you wrote what I planned to say!

The garlic and herbs make them healthy, right Darryl?

#223: LOL!

I've had a Pittsburgh Salad with the french fries and steak right in there with all the salad ingradients and it's wonderful; never had the sandwich but it sounds pretty good. Those garlic fries sound heavenly.

#219-221 : ... in the Grand' Place of Brussels... in a cone, on a chilly winter evening is an important part of the setting for enjoying the Belgian fries (they are definitely NOT French, whatever everyone believes). I've never met anyone who didn't love them when tasted in Belgium. Aren't you thinking of visiting Brussels next year?

I thought I had wandered into The Kitchen thread by mistake. Definitely going to try a homemade version of the garlic fries. We had Texas Cheese Fries at Chile's the other night. Very tasty, although I'm sure they shortened my life by a few days. Totally worth it. ;-)

#221, mais oui, mon cher!
There's frites place on Second Ave here that I hadn't spotted until recently and may have to try out...

Complete non sequitur; well, kinda. I just opened the copy of Perec's An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris and reading the list of things that was in Place Saint-Sulpice when he wrote this, I tried to mentally compare it to what I know is there today (a parfumerie, very high end; some designer boutiques, a bookstore on the corner when the street becomes the place) and went to Google maps. I remembered mentioning my fave little breakfast place in the pl. Odeon/St. Germain, an obscure ordinary hangout, and I just realized, courtesy of Google maps, that it's called Le Danton! (the hero of the play you saw in London, non?) Also, the cinema nearby is called the Danton. Wonder if that's where he hung out IRL? I may have to seek out a bio...

Darryl, I know you have tried to read all the Booker shortlisted books, but I'm not sure how far back this goes. Have you read Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry, and if so, do you have a view on how it compares with his other books? A friend has suggested I read it, but I don't want to until I get some feeling as to whether I would like it, and I thought, whom better to ask than you? (Others, feel free to chip in!). Thanks.

Janet, I read Such a Long Journey last year and loved it. I've never read any other books by Rohinton Mistry so I can't say from personal experience if it's one of his best. I read it for a book group and there were several people there who said Family Matters was one of their favorite books and that they liked it better than Such a Long Journey but on the plus side Such a Long Journey is about 300 pages shorter than Family Matters.

#222: It's official: LTers prefer garlic fries 2:1 over Brussels fries.

#223: They are definitely healthier than mayonnaise laden fries. I do like my mayonnaise, but there are limits. Isn't there ketchup in Belgium?

I'll have to ask my best friend's wife what her favorite type of fries are. She grew up in Belgium, but lived in the Bay Area (Palo Alto) with her husband for three years, so presumably she was able to try garlic fries.

I never had a Pittsburgh salad, despite living in the city for 4 years. Even though there was a Primanti Brothers restaurant very close to Pitt's campus I only ate there a half dozen or so times in 4 years, as I didn't love those sandwiches.

#226: Yes, I am thinking of visiting Brussels next year, and I will give those fries a try. (Hmm, I should also check to see when my best friends are going to Belgium next year; Murielle's father still lives in Liège.)

#227: I'm not fond of cheese fries, chili cheese fries, etc. Salt & vinegar, plain, garlic with herbs, and ketchup are my preferred toppings.

#228: I bought a biography of Danton at City Lights earlier this month, The Giant of the French Revolution: Danton, A Life by David Lawday, which happened to be amongst the new nonfiction books; it was published last year.

#229: I haven't read Such a Long Journey, Janet; the only book of Mistry's that I have is Family Matters, which I haven't read yet.

I'll try to read all of the Booker shortlisted books in that year, but I seriously doubt that I'll finish all the shortlisted books that have been written.

#230: Family Matters is huge; it will probably be a summer read for me, possibly as early as next year.

All this talk about Rohinton Mistry and no mention of A Fine Balance?? I'm not sure if it was nominated for the Booker but oh my, what a read!

Oops! You know what--it was A Fine Balance they were raving about not Family Matters.

>232 brenzi:: yes, it was shortlisted for the Booker. And it won the Giller Prize (Canada's literary prize). Fabulous book.

Most Belgian frites come with mayo-based sauces. You can get ketchup -- but it doesn't taste the same! When I lived there, there was something called "sauce americaine" that combined ketchup and mayo. There was also something that tasted a bit like 1000 Islands dressing. And one with anchovies (yuck).

#231 - You can have Belgian fries with a zillion different sauces etc., but the original come with salt and mayo. I prefer mine with ketchup though (blasphemy!).

Mayonnaise on a french fry?! The mere thought disgusts me. Bet you cannot tell I hate mayo. I will stick with the garlic fries.

#237 - No, no, no, that is "Mayonnaise on a Belgian fry". Belgian fries are very different from the miserable potato-things you get outside Belgium. Come on, Stasia, Belgian fries and mayo should be running through your partially Belgian genes :-).

#238: There is definitely no mayo running through my genes! Ick.

#239 - Maybe that is why your forefathers migrated to the other end of the world, to get rid of the mayo :-).
- http://www.ping.be/~tping008/engels/erecipes.htm
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EACirvohGEU&NR=1

#240: The fries I will take. Whatever that glop was that he put on them (I suspect it was mayo), forget it!

#231, Not that I need any more books, but I will have to look for the Danton biography, since I became intrigued by the French Revolution after reading A Place of Greater Safety. Of course, I also have a tome called Citizens by Simon Schama on that subject that I still haven't read.

By the way, I consider ketchup on fries disgusting! It makes them soggy and sweet. Give them to me straight, thank you! (Maybe you need them for inferior fries, but fries that taste like they were recently real potatoes do not need anything on them.)

#242 I consider ketchup on fries disgusting - You are right, I humbly agree. You've found out one of my (many) faults now :-).

The Danton-book also appeals to me. I could do with a bit of non-fiction in between.

#230 - thanks for the input, Pat. I think I will probably read Such a Long Journey. I really liked A Fine Balance, which should encourage me, especially if it's shorter :)

#242: To be fair, I do not use ketchup on fries any more than I would mayo. I prefer my fries with nothing on them.

#232-234: Rohinton Mistry has three novels that were longlisted for the Booker Prize: Such a Long Journey (1991), A Fine Balance (1996), and Family Matters (2002). I'll definitely have to start reading his books, beginning with Family Matters.

#235-239: I agree with Rebecca (message #242); I don't like ketchup on fries that are freshly made. The ketchup/mayo sauce is less appealing than straight mayo, and Thousand Islands dressing is absolutely repulsive, nearly as bad as Miracle Whip. Anchovies on fries is too bizarre to think about.

#240: Ick!

#241: I agree completely.

#242: I'd like to read A Place of Greater Safety and the Danton biography before the end of the year, but it may be next year before I get to either book.

I received my LT ER copy of How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu today; I think I'll start that tonight, and then read the Jim Crace novel (also an LT ER book afterward). I also received two letters from my stalking ex-girlfriend from college, which I won't open now, if at all.

The Phillies were shut out by the San Francisco Giants 3-0 this afternoon, so they now trail the series by two games to one. The Giants have bested two of the Phillies' best pitchers, Halladay and Hamels, and only need two more wins to advance to the World Series. I am a huge fan of the Phillies, but in a way I'd like to see the Giants do well and win the World Series, since they haven't won it since 1954, four years before they moved from NYC to SF (the Phillies won the World Series in 2008).

Darryl that's creepy! You should send them back to her unopened. . would she get the picture then?

I'm not sure about anything at the moment, leperdbunny. That's not a bad idea at all, and I may end up doing that. She has now sent me at least four letters and three Facebook messages since her husband passed away last year, and several comments in the first two letters were a bit disturbing. I haven't seen her since we broke up nearly 30 years ago, and she somehow found out where I live (unlisted home address) and work.

Speaking of weirdness, my review of The Finkler Question, which I posted to Amazon this summer, has generated several 'interesting' comments in the past few days, including this one from this evening:

Guess what? An ignorant racist and apologist for massacres does not write a great novel.

There must be a full moon out tonight...

Holy cow, Darryl. That's pretty awful.

Hi, Darryl. I started my ER copy of How to Read the Air a couple of days ago and am about 100 pages into it. Very melancholy in tone but I like that. It slowly is becoming more and more powerful a story. Hope you like it.

Must be!

#248: OK, I do not get the comment to your review at all. I am probably one of the 'ignorant,' though.

Just went over to the Amazon page, yuck.

There is a depressingly vast amount of craziness in the world. Sorry you're on the receiving end of such a large share of it, Darryl.

New thread here. Creepy ex-girlfriends and loony book review posters are not welcome.