PAUL C'S SECOND HOME - PART 14

SCENES FROM MY BOOKS

In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen

POEM

Louis MacNeice remains one of my absolute favourite poets. Slightly overshadowed by his friend WH Auden but not necessarily bettered by him. This is his poem "Entirely"

Reading Record First Quarter

JANUARY

1. Plague 99 by Jean Ure (1989) 218 pp
2. Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes (1857) 309 pp
3. A Lear of the Steppes by Ivan Turgenev (1870) 117 pp
4. A Fall from the Sky by Ian Serraillier (1966) 78 pp
5. The Overnight Kidnapper by Andrea Camilleri (2015) 262 pp
6. Dove on the Waters by Maurice Shadbolt (1996) 198 pp
7. A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson (2019) 81 pp
8. The Other End of the Line by Andrea Camilleri (2016) 293 pp
9. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (2019) 208 pp
10. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (1930) 501 pp
11. Carrie's War by Nina Bawden (1973) 211 pp
12. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (2020) 430 pp
13. Judge Savage by Tim Parks (2003) 442 pp
14. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie (1962) 280 pp
15. Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer (1969) 227 pp
16. Jazz by Toni Morrison (1992) 229 pp
17. A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell (1951) 230 pp

4,313 pages.

FEBRUARY

18. Junk by Melvyn Burgess (1996) 278 pp
19. The Great Fire by Monica Dickens (1970) 64 pp
20. At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie (1965) 265 pp
21. A Room of Own's Own by Virginia Woolf (1929) 153 pp
22. Bury the Dead by Peter Carter (1987) 374 pp
23. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (2011) 390 pp
24. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (1873) 242 pp
25. Woods, etc. by Alice Oswald (2005) 56 pp
26. Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg (2015) 293 pp
27. A Burning by Megha Majumdar (2020) 289 pp
28. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch (2011) 373 pp
29. What is History? by Edward Hallett Carr (1961) 156 pp
30. A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell (1951) 278 pp

3,211 pages

MARCH

31. The Return : Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar (2016) 239 pp
32. The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy (1978) 417 pp
33. Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon (2015) 101 pp
34. Some Experiences of an Irish RM by Somerville & Ross (1899) 223 pp
35. The Age of Improvement 1783-1867 by Asa Briggs (1959) 523 pp
36. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1853) 203 pp

1,706 pages

Reading Record Second Quarter

APRIL

37. Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham (2013) 439 pp
38. Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid (2000) 270 pp
39. Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-Ha (2013) 200 pp
40. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2001) 428 pp
41. Blue Horses by Mary Oliver (2014) 79 pp
42. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1864) 160 pp
43. The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers by Fouad Laroui (2012) 134 pp
44. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham (2014) 457 pp
45. Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana (2019) 244 pp
46. Figures in a Landscape by Barry England (1968) 208 pp
47. Echoland by Per Petterson (1989) 132 pp
48. Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith (2019) 205 pp

2,956 pages

MAY

49. The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley (1984) 330 pp
50. I Choose to Live by Sabine Dardenne (2004) 210 pp
51. Three Poems by Hannah Sullivan (2018) 71 pp

611 pages (maybe my worst ever performance!)

JUNE

52. Still Waters by Viveca Sten (2008) 434 pp
53. Half a Life by VS Naipaul (2001) 211 pp
54. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (1969) 169 pp
55. A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (1944) 269 pp
56. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (2020) 370 pp
57. Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti (1982) 181 pp
58. My Country : A Syrian Memoir by Kassim Eid (2018) 194 pp
59. Vita Nova by Louise Gluck (1999) 51 pp
60. The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim (2019) 241 pp
61. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (1946) 154 pp
62. Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood (1935) 230 pp
63. Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons (2010) 355 pp
64. Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge (1977) 212 pp
65. In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen (2014) 244 pp
66. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (2015) 438 pp
67. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1851) 1,179 pp
68. Cat and Mouse by Gunter Grass (1961) 191 pp
69. No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo (1995) 191 pp
70. Look at Me by Anita Brookner (1983) 192 pp
71. Vice Versa by F. Anstey (1882) 219 pp
72. The Age of Revolution by Eric Hobsbawm (1975) 308 pp
73. Mrs Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw (1893) 98 pp

Reading Record 3rd Quarter

JULY

74. Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling by William Fotheringham (2015) 345 pp

CURRENTLY READING

The Count of Monte Cristo Injury Time In Paradise The Nightingale The Age of Capital Dead Lions

READING PLAN

1 British Author Challenge - set this year by Amanda in the 75er Group

2 1001 Book First Edition - Ongoing

3 Booker Challenge - Read all the Booker winners; I may get close to completing that in 2021

4 Nobel Winners - Read all the Nobel Winners

5 Pulitzer Winners - Read all the Pulitzer fiction winners

6 Around the World Challenge - Read a book from an author born in or with parents from all countries - I reset this challenge in October 2020.

7 Queen Victoria Challenge - Read a book from every year of Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901) with no repeat authors. Started December 2020

8 Queen Betty Challenge - Read a book from every year of Queen Elizabeth II reign (1952-2021) - British authors only and no repeats.

9 Dance to the Music of Time - One a month all year.

10. The 52 Book Club Challenge - A book a week from these selected categories https://www.the52book.club/challenges/2021-reading-challenge/

11. A Dent in the TBR - I have approaching 5,000 books in my TBR so I must read some of the 250 books I have bought in 2020 that end the current year unread.

12. Poetry - My first love in many ways and I am still something of a scribbler of lines to this day.

13. American Author Challenge - Linda came up trumps.

14. Series Pairs - I will choose one favourite series and read the next two books in that particular series I have slightly fallen behind with.

15 Great British History Writers - One classic work per month from a great British historian.

16 New Fantasy Series - I may take a couple of months over each so six may be the most I manage this year.

BAC



January: Children's Classics https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317610 9 READ

February: LGBT+ History Month https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317871 2 READ

March: Vaseem Khan & Eleanor Hibbert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7318561 1 READ

April: Love is in the Air https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7319432 1 READ

May: V. S. Naipaul & Na'ima B. Robert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320231 1 READ

June: The Victorian Era (1837-1901) https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320541 3 READ

July: Don't judge a book by its movie https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321220 7 READ

August: Bernard Cornwell & Helen Oyeyemi https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321374

September: She Blinded Me with Science https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321899

October: Narrative Poetry https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7322840 1 read

November: Tade Thompson & Elizabeth Taylor https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7323772

December: Awards & Honors https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325017 2 READ

Wildcard: Books off your shelves https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325595 11 READ

38 BOOKS READ TO DATE

AMERICAN AUTHOR CHALLENGE



Please see:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/327669#7354831

January : Keep it in the Family :
February : Ethan Canin
March : Roxane Gay
April : Makers of Music : Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

BOOKERS
Personal Reading Challenge: Every winner of the Booker Prize since its inception in 1969

1969: P. H. Newby, Something to Answer For - READ
1970: Bernice Rubens, The Elected Member
1970: J. G. Farrell, Troubles (awarded in 2010 as the Lost Man Booker Prize) - READ
1971: V. S. Naipaul, In a Free State
1972: John Berger, G.
1973: J. G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur - READ
1974: Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist ... and Stanley Middleton, Holiday - READ
1975: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust - READ
1976: David Storey, Saville - READ
1977: Paul Scott, Staying On - READ
1978: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea
1979: Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore - READ
1980: William Golding, Rites of Passage - READ
1981: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children - READ
1982: Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark - READ
1983: J. M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K
1984: Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac - READ
1985: Keri Hulme, The Bone People
1986: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils - READ
1987: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger - READ
1988: Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda
1989: Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day
1990: A. S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance - READ
1991: Ben Okri, The Famished Road
1992: Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient ... and Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger - READ
1993: Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1994: James Kelman, How late it was, how late
1995: Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
1996: Graham Swift, Last Orders - READ
1997: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things READ
1998: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam - READ
1999: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace - READ
2000: Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
2001: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang - READ
2002: Yann Martel, Life of Pi READ
2003: DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little
2004: Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty
2005: John Banville, The Sea - READ
2006: Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss
2007: Anne Enright, The Gathering - READ
2008: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger - READ
2009: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall - READ
2010: Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question
2011: Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending - READ
2012: Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies - READ
2013: Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
2014: Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North - READ
2015: Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings - READ
2016: Paul Beatty, The Sellout - READ
2017: George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo
2018: Anna Burns, Milkman
2019: Margaret Atwood, The Testaments, and Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other
2020: Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain READ JAN 21

READ 33 of 56 WINNERS

Pulitzer Winners

As with the Bookers, I want to eventually read all the Pulitzer winners (for fiction at least) and have most of the recent ones on the shelves at least. Current status.

Fiction

1918 HIS FAMILY - Ernest Poole
1919 THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS - Booth Tarkington
1921 THE AGE OF INNOCENCE - Edith Wharton
1922 ALICE ADAMS - Booth Tarkington
1923 ONE OF OURS - Willa Cather
1924 THE ABLE MCLAUGHLINS - Margaret Wilson
1925 SO BIG - Edna Ferber
1926 ARROWSMITH - Sinclair Lewis (Declined)
1927 EARLY AUTUMN - Louis Bromfield
1928 THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY - Thornton Wilder
1929 SCARLET SISTER MARY - Julia Peterkin
1930 LAUGHING BOY - Oliver Lafarge ON SHELVES
1931 YEARS OF GRACE - Margaret Ayer Barnes
1932 THE GOOD EARTH - Pearl Buck
1933 THE STORE - Thomas Sigismund Stribling
1934 LAMB IN HIS BOSOM - Caroline Miller
1935 NOW IN NOVEMBER - Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936 HONEY IN THE HORN - Harold L Davis
1937 GONE WITH THE WIND - Margaret Mitchell ON SHELVES
1938 THE LATE GEORGE APLEY - John Phillips Marquand
1939 THE YEARLING - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1940 THE GRAPES OF WRATH - John Steinbeck
1942 IN THIS OUR LIFE - Ellen Glasgow
1943 DRAGON'S TEETH - Upton Sinclair
1944 JOURNEY IN THE DARK - Martin Flavin
1945 A BELL FOR ADANO - John Hersey
1947 ALL THE KING'S MEN - Robert Penn Warren ON SHELVES
1948 TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC - James Michener
1949 GUARD OF HONOR - James Gould Cozzens
1950 THE WAY WEST - A.B. Guthrie
1951 THE TOWN - Conrad Richter
1952 THE CAINE MUTINY - Herman Wouk
1953 THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA - Ernest Hemingway
1955 A FABLE - William Faulkner
1956 ANDERSONVILLE - McKinlay Kantor
1958 A DEATH IN THE FAMILY - James Agee ON SHELVES
1959 THE TRAVELS OF JAIMIE McPHEETERS - Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 ADVISE AND CONSENT - Allen Drury
1961 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Harper Lee
1962 THE EDGE OF SADNESS - Edwin O'Connor
1963 THE REIVERS - William Faulkner ON SHELVES
1965 THE KEEPERS OF THE HOUSE - Shirley Ann Grau
1966 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF KATHERINE ANNE PORTER - Katherine Anne Porter
1967 THE FIXER - Bernard Malamud
1968 THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER - William Styron
1969 HOUSE MADE OF DAWN - N Scott Momaday ON SHELVES
1970 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JEAN STAFFORD - Jean Stafford
1972 ANGLE OF REPOSE - Wallace Stegner ON SHELVES
1973 THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER - Eudora Welty ON SHELVES
1975 THE KILLER ANGELS - Jeff Shaara ON SHELVES
1976 HUMBOLDT'S GIFT - Saul Bellow
1978 ELBOW ROOM - James Alan McPherson
1979 THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER - John Cheever ON SHELVES
1980 THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG - Norman Mailer ON SHELVES
1981 A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES - John Kennedy Toole ON SHELVES
1982 RABBIT IS RICH - John Updike
1983 THE COLOR PURPLE - Alice Walker ON SHELVES
1984 IRONWEED - William Kennedy ON SHELVES
1985 FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Alison Lurie ON SHELVES
1986 LONESOME DOVE - Larry McMurtry ON SHELVES
1987 A SUMMONS TO MEMPHIS - Peter Taylor
1988 BELOVED - Toni Morrison - ON SHELVES
1989 BREATHING LESSONS - Anne Tyler
1990 THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE - Oscar Hijuelos
1991 RABBIT AT REST - John Updike
1992 A THOUSAND ACRES - Jane Smiley
1993 A GOOD SCENT FROM A STRANGE MOUNTAIN - Robert Olen Butler
1994 THE SHIPPING NEWS - E Annie Proulx
1995 THE STONE DIARIES - Carol Shields ON SHELVES
1996 INDEPENDENCE DAY - Richard Ford ON SHELVES
1997 MARTIN DRESSLER - Steven Millhauser ON SHELVES
1998 AMERICAN PASTORAL - Philip Roth ON SHELVES
1999 THE HOURS - Michael Cunningham ON SHELVES
2000 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES - Jumpha Lahiri
2001 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY - Michael Chabon ON SHELVES
2002 EMPIRE FALLS - Richard Russo ON SHELVES
2003 MIDDLESEX - Jeffrey Eugenides ON SHELVES
2004 THE KNOWN WORLD - Edward P. Jones ON SHELVES
2005 GILEAD - Marilynne Robinson ON SHELVES
2006 MARCH - Geraldine Brooks
2007 THE ROAD - Cormac McCarthy
2008 THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO - Junot Diaz ON SHELVES
2009 OLIVE KITTERIDGE - Elizabeth Strout ON SHELVES
2010 TINKERS - Paul Harding
2011 A VISIT FROM THE GOOD SQUAD - Jennifer Egan ON SHELVES
2013 ORPHAN MASTER'S SON - Adam Johnson ON SHELVES
2014 THE GOLDFINCH - Donna Tartt ON SHELVES
2015 ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE - Anthony Doerr ON SHELVES
2016 THE SYMPATHIZER - Viet Thanh Nguyen ON SHELVES
2017 THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD - Colson Whitehead ON SHELVES
2018 LESS - Andrew Sean Greer ON SHELVES
2019 THE OVERSTORY - Richard Powers ON SHELVES
2020 THE NICKEL BOYS - Colson Whitehead
2021 THE NIGHT WATCHMAN - Louise Erdrich ON SHELVES


18 READ
38 ON SHELVES
38 NOT OWNED OR READ

94 TOTAL

NOBELS

Update on my Nobel Prize Winning Reading:
1901 Sully Prudhomme
1902 Theodor Mommsen
1903 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
1904 Frédéric Mistral and José Echegaray y Eizaquirre
1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz
1906 Giosuè Carducci
1907 Rudyard Kipling - READ
1908 Rudolf Christoph Eucken
1909 Selma Lagerlöf
1910 Paul Heyse --
1911 Count Maurice Maeterlinck
1912 Gerhart Hauptmann
1913 Rabindranath Tagore - READ
1915 Romain Rolland
1916 Verner von Heidenstam
1917 Karl Adolph Gjellerup and Henrik Pontoppidan
1919 Carl Spitteler
1920 Knut Hamsun - READ
1921 Anatole France - READ
1922 Jacinto Benavente
1923 William Butler Yeats - READ
1924 Wladyslaw Reymont
1925 George Bernard Shaw - READ
1926 Grazia Deledda - READ
1927 Henri Bergson
1928 Sigrid Undset
1929 Thomas Mann - READ
1930 Sinclair Lewis - READ
1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt
1932 John Galsworthy - READ
1933 Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin - READ
1934 Luigi Pirandello - READ
1936 Eugene O'Neill - READ
1937 Roger Martin du Gard
1938 Pearl S. Buck - READ
1939 Frans Eemil Sillanpää
1944 Johannes Vilhelm Jensen
1945 Gabriela Mistral
1946 Hermann Hesse - READ
1947 André Gide - READ
1948 T.S. Elliot - READ
1949 William Faulkner - READ
1950 Bertrand Russell - READ
1951 Pär Lagerkvist - READ
1952 François Mauriac - READ
1953 Sir Winston Churchill - READ
1954 Ernest Hemingway - READ
1955 Halldór Laxness - READ
1956 Juan Ramón Jiménez
1957 Albert Camus - READ
1958 Boris Pasternak (declined the prize) - READ
1959 Salvatore Quasimodo
1960 Saint-John Perse
1961 Ivo Andric - READ
1962 John Steinbeck - READ
1963 Giorgos Seferis
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre (declined the prize) - READ
1965 Michail Sholokhov
1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Nelly Sachs - READ
1967 Miguel Ángel Asturias
1968 Yasunari Kawabata - READ
1969 Samuel Beckett - READ
1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - READ
1971 Pablo Neruda - READ
1972 Heinrich Böll - READ
1973 Patrick White
1974 Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson
1975 Eugenio Montale
1976 Saul Bellow - READ
1977 Vincente Aleixandre
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer - READ
1979 Odysseas Elytis - READ
1980 Czeslaw Milosz - READ
1981 Elias Canetti
1982 Gabriel Garciá Márquez - READ
1983 William Golding - READ
1984 Jaroslav Seifert - READ
1985 Claude Simon - READ
1986 Akinwande Ouwoe Soyinka
1987 Joseph Brodsky - READ
1988 Naguib Mahfouz - READ
1989 Camilo José Cela - READ
1990 Octavio Paz
1991 Nadine Gordimer - READ
1992 Derek Walcott - READ
1993 Toni Morrison - READ
1994 Kenzaburo Oe - READ
1995 Seamus Heaney - READ
1996 Wislawa Szymborska - READ
1997 Dario Fo - READ
1998 José Saramago - READ
1999 Günter Grass - READ
2000 Gao Xingjian
2001 Vidiadhar Surjprasad Naipaul - READ
2002 Imre Kertész - READ
2003 John Maxwell Coetzee - READ
2004 Elfriede Jelinek - READ
2005 Harold Pinter - READ
2006 Orhan Pamuk - READ
2007 Doris Lessing - READ
2008 J.M.G. Le Clézio
2009 Herta Müller - READ
2010 Mario Vargas Llosa - READ
2011 Tomas Tranströmer - READ
2012 Mo Yan
2013 Alice Munro - READ
2014 Patrick Modiano - READ
2015 Svetlana Alexievich - READ
2016 Bob Dylan - READ
2017 Kazuo Ishiguro - READ
2018 Olga Tokarczuk - READ
2019 Peter Handke - READ
2020 Louise Gluck - READ

READ 73 OF
117 LAUREATES

AROUND THE WORLD CHALLENGE

Around the world in books challenge. I want to see how many countries I can cover without limiting myself to a specific deadline.

From 1 October 2020

1. United Kingdom - The Ways of the World by Robert Goddard EUROPE
2. Ireland - The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde EUROPE
3. Lithuania - Selected and Last Poems by Czeslaw Milosz EUROPE
4. Netherlands - The Ditch by Herman Koch EUROPE
5. Armenia - The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian ASIA PACIFIC
6. Zimbabwe - This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga AFRICA
7. United States - Averno by Louise Gluck AMERICA
8. Australia - Taller When Prone by Les Murray ASIA PACIFIC
9. France - Class Trip by Emmanuel Carrere EUROPE
10. Russia - The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov EUROPE
11. Denmark - Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard EUROPE
12. Democratic Republic of Congo - Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanze Mujila AFRICA
13. Canada - I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven AMERICA
14. Italy - The Overnight Kidnapper by Andrea Camilleri EUROPE
15. New Zealand - Dove on the Waters by Maurice Shadbolt ASIA PACIFIC
16. India - A Burning by Megha Majumdar ASIA PACIFIC
17. Libya - The Return by Hisham Matar AFRICA
18. Pakistan - Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid ASIA PACIFIC
19. South Korea - Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-Ha ASIA PACIFIC
20. Morocco - The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers by Fouad Laroui AFRICA
21. Thailand - Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana ASIA PACIFIC
22. Norway - Echoland by Per Petterson EUROPE
23. Belgium - I Choose to Live by Sabine Dardenne EUROPE
24. Sweden - Still Waters by Viveca Sten EUROPE
25. Trinidad - Half a Life by VS Naipaul AMERICAS
26. Sudan - Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih AFRICA
27. Uruguay - Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti AMERICAS
28. Syria - My Country : A Syrian Memoir by Kassem Eid ASIA PACIFIC
29. Ghana - The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim AFRICA
30. Austria - Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl EUROPE
31. Germany - Cat and Mouse by Gunter Grass EUROPE
32. South Africa - No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo AFRICA


Create Your Own Visited Countries Map

QUEEN VIC CHALLENGE
Regarding my Victorian Era Challenge which I started this month with the aim of completing it by the end of 2021. 64 years. 64 books. 64 authors.

From Dec 2020

1843 FEAR AND TREMBLING by Kierkegaard
1850 PENDENNIS by Thackeray
1851 THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Dumas
1853 CRANFORD by GASKELL
1857 TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS by Hughes
1864 NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND by Dostoevsky
1870 A LEAR OF THE STEPPES by Turgenev
1873 AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS by Verne
1881 PRINCE AND THE PAUPER by Twain
1882 VICE VERSA by Anstey
1893 MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION by Shaw
1899 SOME EXPERIENCES OF AN IRISH RM by Somerville & Ross
1900 THREE SISTERS by Chekhov

13/64

QUEEN BETTY CHALLENGE

From December 2020 70 Years 70 Books 70 Different British Authors

1952 A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell
1959 The Age of Improvement by Asa Briggs
1961 What is History? by EH Carr
1962 The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side by Agatha Christie
1966 A Fall from the Sky by Ian Serraillier
1968 Figures in a Landscape by Barry England
1969 Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Framer
1970 The Great Fire by Monica Dickens
1973 Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
1975 The Age of Capital by Eric Hobsbawm
1977 Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
1978 The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy
1983 Look at Me by Anita Brookner
1984 The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
1987 Bury the Dead by Peter Carter
1989 Plague 99 by Jean Ure
1996 Junk by Melvyn Burgess
2001 Half a Life by VS Naipaul
2003 Judge Savage by Tim Parks
2005 Woods, etc. by Alice Oswald
2010 Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons
2011 Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2013 A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre
2014 The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham
2015 Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling by William Fotheringham
2018 Three Poems by Hannah Sullivan
2019 A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson
2020 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

28/70

52 BOOK CLUB CHALLENGE

Based on this challenge suggested by Katie & Chelle

https://www.the52book.club/challenges/2021-reading-challenge/

January
Week 1 : Set in a school : Tom Brown's Schooldays by Hughes Read 2 Jan 2021
Week 2 : Legal profession : Judge Savage by Tim Parks Read 28 Jan 2021
Week 3 : Dual timeline : Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer Read 29 Jan 2021
Week 4 : Deceased author : Jazz by Toni Morrison READ 30 Jan 2021
Week 5 : Published by Penguin : Junk by Melvyn Burgess READ 3 Feb 2021
Week 6 : Male Family Member : Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch READ 12 Feb 2021
Week 7 : 1 Published Work : A Burning by Megha Majumdar READ 19 Feb 2021
Week 8 : Dewey 900 Class : What is History? by EH Carr READ 28 February
Week 9 : Set in a Mediterranean Country : The Return by Hisham Matar READ 5 MAR 2021
Week 10 : Book with discussion questions : Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham READ 2 APR
Week 11 : Relating to fire : Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid READ 4 APR
Week 12 : Title Starting with D : Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-Ha READ 6 APR
Week 13 : Includes an Exotic Animal : Life of Pi by Yann Martel READ 11 April
Week 14 : Written by an author over 65 : Blue Horses by Mary Oliver READ 14 April
Week 15 : Book Mentioned in a book : Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky READ 15 April
Week 16 : Set before 17th Century : Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell READ 5 June
Week 17 : Character on the run : Figures in a Landscape by Barry England READ 26 April
Week 18 : Author with 9 letter surname : Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti READ 6 JUNE
Week 19 : Book with a deckled edge : In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen READ 21 JUNE
Week 20 : Became a TV series :
Week 21 : Book by Kristin Hannah : The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah READ 22 JUNE
Week 22 : A Family Saga : Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons READ 14 JUN
Week 23 : Surprising Ending : Still Waters by Viveca Sten READ 2 JUN
Week 24 : Book to be read in schools : Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl READ
Week 25 : Multiple POVs :
Week 26 : Author of Colour : The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim READ 8 JUN

SERIES PAIR CHALLENGE

January : Andrea Camilleri - MONTALBANO DONE
February : Agatha Christie - MISS MARPLE DONE
March : Ben Aaronovitch - PETER GRANT DONE
April : Harry Bingham - FIONA GRIFFITHS DONE

BRITISH HISTORIANS

As if I don't have enough challenges! I want to polish up on my reading and re-reading of the British historians who either inspired me as a student or who I have since come to greatly admire

The French Revolution by Thomas CARLYLE 1837
The Age of Improvement by Asa BRIGGS 1959 READ MAR 21
The History of England by Thomas Babington MACAULAY 1848
The Making of the English Working Class by EP THOMPSON 1963
Fifteen Decisive Battles by EDWARD CREASEY 1851
What is History? by EH CARR 1961 READ FEB 21
The Course of German History by AJP TAYLOR 1945
The American Future by Simon SCHAMA 2009
The Face of Battle by John KEEGAN 1976
The King's Peace by CV WEDGWOOD 1955
The Age of Capital by ERIC HOBSBAWM 1975 READ JUN 21

FANTASY SERIES CHALLENGE
Six New (for me) Fantasy Series to go at:

I will concentrate on one series every two months

N.K. JEMISIN - The Inheritance Trilogy

TAD WILLIAMS - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn

C.J. CHERRYH - Chanur Saga

GENE WOLFE - The Book of the New Sun

DAVID EDDINGS - The Belgariad

DIANA GABALDON - Outlander

READ MORE THAN ACQUIRED

Last year I added 300 books but read 50 of them. In addition I have another 4,500 plus on the TBR.
The challenge is not to make the situation of my TBR worse.
So I must read or remove from my wider TBR more than I acquire this year and I will gauge this against last years "new" TBR and any future incomings. Therefore the older TBRs don't count against this challenge.

The figure at the start of the year is 250 books and this number must be smaller by December 31. These are the 250 books:

1 Stay with Me Adebayo
2 American War Akkad
3 The Catholic School Albinati
4 The Unwomanly Face of War Alexievich
5 Saltwater Andrews
6 Big Sky Atkinson
7 At the Jerusalem Bailey
8 The Body Lies Baker
9 The Lost Memory of Skin Banks
10 Remembered Battle-Felton
11 Springtime in a Broken Mirror Benedetti READ JUN 21
12 A Crime in the Neighborhood Berne
13 Stand By Me Berry
14 Love Story, With Murders Bingham READ APR 21
15 This Thing of Darkness Bingham
16 The Sandcastle Girls Bohjalian
17 The Ascent of Rum Doodle Bowman
18 Clade Bradley
19 The Snow Ball Brophy
20 Paladin of Souls Bujold
21 Parable of the Sower Butler
22 The Adventures of China Iron Camara
23 The Overnight Kidnapper Camilleri READ JAN 21
24 The Other End of the Line Camilleri READ JAN 21
25 Lord of all the Dead Cercas
26 Uncle Vanya Checkov
27 The Cherry Orchard Checkov
28 Blue Moon Child
29 Trust Exercise Choi
30 The Night Tiger Choo
31 The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side Christie READ JAN 21
32 At Bertram's Hotel Christie READ FEB 21
33 The Water Dancer Coates
34 The New Wilderness Cook
35 Hopscotch Cortazar
36 The Illumination of Ursula Flight Crowhurst
37 Deviation D'Eramo
38 Boy Swallows Universe Dalton
39 The Girl with the Louding Voice Dare
40 The Rose of Tibet Davidson
41 Dhalgren Delany
42 The Butterfly Girl Denfeld
43 Vernon Subutex 1 Despentes
44 Postcolonial Love Poem Diaz
45 Childhood Ditlevsen
46 Youth Ditlevsen
47 Dependency Ditlevsen
48 Burnt Sugar Doshi
49 Frenchman's Creek Du Maurier D
50 Trilby Du Maurier G
51 Sincerity Duffy
52 Sumarine Dunthorne
53 The Narrow Land Dwyer-Hickey
54 Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race Eddo-Lodge
55 Axiom's End Ellis
56 Figures in a Landscape England READ APR 21
57 kaddish.com Englander
58 Shadow Tag Erdrich
59 The Carpet Makers Eschbach
60 The Emperor's Babe Evaristo
61 Small Country Faye
62 To Rise Again at a Decent Hour Ferris
63 At Freddie's Fitzgerald
64 The Guest List Foley
65 Man's Search for Meaning Frankl READ JUN 21
66 Love in No Man's Land Ga
67 Norse Mythology Gaiman
68 The Spare Room Garner
69 The Kites Gary
70 Gun Island Ghosh
71 Vita Nova Gluck READ JUN 21
72 Trafalgar Gorodischer
73 Potiki Grace
74 Killers of the Flower Moon Grann
75 The Last Banquet Grimwood
76 Guapa Haddad
77 The Porpoise Haddon
78 Late in the Day Hadley
79 The Final Bet Hamdouchi
80 The Parisian Hammad
81 Nightingale Hannah
82 Coastliners Harris J
83 The Truths We Hold Harris K
84 Conclave Harris R
85 The Second Sleep Harris R
86 Tales of the Tikongs Hau'ofa
87 A Thousand Ships Haynes
88 The River Heller
89 Dead Lions Herron
90 Real Tigers Herron
91 War and Turpentine Hertmans
92 A Political History of the World Holslag
93 Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Honeyman
94 The Light Years Howard
95 Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself Huber
96 A High Wind in Jamaica Hughes
97 Ape and Essence Huxley
98 Me John
99 Nightblind Jonasson
100 Black Out Jonasson
101 How to be an Anti-Rascist Kendi
102 Death is Hard Work Khalifa
103 Darius the Great is Not Okay Khorram
104 Himself Kidd
105 Diary of a Murderer Kim READ APR 21
106 Dance of the Jacakranda Kimani
107 The Bridge Konigsberg
108 Who They Was Krauze
109 The Mars Room Kushner
110 The Princesse de Cleves La Fayette
111 The Other Americans Lalami
112 The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers Laroui READ APR 21
113 Fish Can Sing Laxness
114 Agent Running in the Field Le Carre
115 Pachinko Lee
116 The Turncoat Lenz
117 The Topeka School Lerner
118 Caging Skies Leunens
119 The Fifth Risk Lewis
120 The Three-Body Problem Liu
121 Lost Children Archive Luiselli
122 Black Moses Mabanckou
123 Blue Ticket Mackintosh
124 A Burning Majumdar READ FEB 21
125 The Mirror and the Light Mantel
126 Original Spin Marks
127 Deep River Marlantes
128 The Return Matar READ MAR 21
129 The Island Matute
130 Hame McAfee
131 Apeirogon McCann
132 Underland McFarlane
133 Hurricane Season Melchor
134 The Shadow King Mengiste
135 The Human Swarm Moffett
136 She Would Be King Moore
137 The Starless Sea Morgenstern
138 Poetry by Heart Motion
139 A Fairly Honourable Defeat Murdoch
140 The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov Nabokov
141 The Warlow Experiment Nathan
142 The Left-Handed Booksellers of London Nix
143 Born a Crime Noah
144 The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney Nzelu
145 Girl O'Brien
146 After You'd Gone O'Farrell
147 Henry, Himself O'Nan
148 Inland Obreht
149 Weather Offill
150 Dept. of Speculation Offill
151 Stag's Leap Olds
152 Blue Horses Oliver READ APR 21
153 Felicity Oliver
154 Will Olyslaegers
155 Woods, etc Oswald READ FEB 21
156 Night Theatre Paralkar
157 The Damascus Road Parini
158 Empress of the East Peirce
159 The Street Petry
160 Disappearing Earth Phillips
161 Arid Dreams Pimwana READ APR 21
162 Peterloo : Witness to a Massacre Polyp
163 Lanny Porter
164 The Women at Hitler's Table Postorino
165 A Question of Upbringing Powell A READ JAN 21
166 A Buyer's Market Powell A READ FEB 21
167 The Acceptance World Powell A
168 The Interrogative Mood Powell P
169 Rough Magic Prior-Palmer
170 The Alice Network Quinn
171 Where the Red Fern Grows Rawls
172 Such a Fun Age Reid
173 Selected Poems 1950-2012 Rich
174 The Discomfort of Evening Rijneveld
175 Jack Robinson
176 The Years of Rice and Salt Robinson K
177 A Portable Paradise Robinson R READ JAN 21
178 The Fall of the Ottomans Rogan
179 Normal People Rooney
180 Conversations with Friends Rooney
181 Alone Time Rosenbloom
182 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Rowling
183 The Watch Roy-Bhattacharya
184 The Five Rubenhold
185 Contact Sagan
186 The Hunters Salter
187 The Seventh Cross Seghers
188 Will Self
189 Moses Ascending Selvon
190 The Dove on the Water Shadbolt READ JAN 21
191 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World Shafak
192 In Arabian Nights Shah
193 The Caliph's House Shah
194 Mrs Warren's Profession Shaw READ JUN 21
195 Arms and the Man Shaw
196 Candida Shaw
197 Man and Superman Shaw
198 Dimension of Miracles Sheckley
199 The Last Man Shelley
200 Temple of a Thousand Faces Shors
201 Year of the Monkey Smith P READ APR 21
202 Eternity Smith T
203 Crossing Statovci
204 Lucy Church, Amiably Stein
205 Rosencrantz and Guilderstern are Dead Stoppard
206 Blood Cruise Strandberg
207 Shuggie Bain Stuart READ JAN 21
208 Three Poems Sullivan READ MAY 21
209 Rules for Perfect Murders Swanson
210 Cane River Tademy
211 Real Life Taylor
212 The Queen's Gambit Tevis
213 Far North Therous
214 Walden Thoreau
215 Civil Disobedience Thoreau
216 Survivor Song Tremblay
217 The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Treuer
218 The Small House at Allingham Trollope
219 A Nest of Gentlefolk Turgenev
220 A Quiet Backwater Turgenev
221 A Lear of the Steppes Turgenev READ JAN 21
222 The Queen of Attolia Turner
223 The King of Attolia Turner
224 Redhead by the Side of the Road Tyler
225 Outlaw Ocean Urbina
226 Plague 99 Ure READ JAN 2021
227 The Age of Miracles Walker
228 The Uninhabitable Earth Wallace-Wells
229 Judith Paris Walpole
230 Love and Other Thought Experiments Ward
231 The Death of Mrs. Westaway Ware
232 Lolly Willows Warner
233 Second Life Watson
234 Final Cut Watson
235 Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen Weldon
236 Before the War Weldon
237 Lazarus West
238 Educated Westover
239 The Nickel Boys Whitehead READ JAN 21
240 The Death of Murat Idrissi Wieringa
241 Salome Wilde
242 An Ideal Husband Wilde
243 Lady Windemere's Fan Wilde
244 A Woman of No Importance Wilde
245 The Salt Path Winn
246 The Natural Way of Things Wood C
247 East Lynne Wood E
248 A Room of One's Own Woolf READ FEB 21
249 Interior Chinatown Yu
250 How Much of These Hills is Gold Zhang

BEGIN : 250
READ : 28

THIS YEAR'S ACQUISITIONS

1. Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Somerville & Ross READ MAR 21
2. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome READ JAN 21
3. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
4. The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle
5. The Black Corsair by Emilio Salgari
6. The Prime Ministers : Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson by Steve Richards
7. The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim READ JUN 21
8. Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante
9. Coningsby by Benjamin Disraeli
10. The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
11. The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
12. Death's Mistress by Terry Goodkind
13. The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey
14. Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi
15. Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai
16. Desert by JMG Le Clezio
17. For the Record by David Cameron
18. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
19. The Guardians of the West by David Eddings
20. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
21. The Council of Egypt by Leonardo Sciascia
22. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
23. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin
24. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
25. Rupture by Ragnar Jonasson
26. White Out by Ragnar Jonasson
27. The Age of Capital by Eric Hobsbawm READ JUN 21
28. The World Turned Upside Down by Christopher Hill
29. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
30. Modern Times by Paul Johnson
31. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
32. The Warehouse by Rob Hart
33. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
34. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
35. Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
36. Magician's Gambit by David Eddings
37. Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
38. In Ashes Lie by Marie Brennan
39. The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
40. The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian
41. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
42. At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell
43. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant by Anthony Powell
44. The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell
45. The Financier by Theodore Dreiser
46. Still Waters by Viveca Sten READ JUN 21
47. Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
48. The Europeans by Henry James
49. Vice Versa by F. Anstey READ JUN 21
50. A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry
51. The Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler Olsen
52. Closed for Winter Jorn Lier Horst
53. News of the World by Juliette Jiles
54. Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon READ MAR 21
55. A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri
56. Death in the Tuscan Hills by Marco Vichi
57. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
58. Good Morning Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
59. Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
60. The Enchanted by Rene Denefeld
61. The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
62. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis
63. The Innocents by Michael Crummey
64. Night Waking by Sarah Moss
65. Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
66. Throw me to the Wolves by Patrick McGuinness
67. Consent by Annabel Lyon
68. Selling Manhattan by Carole Ann Duffy
69. Rendang by Will Harris
70. The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
71. No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
72. Amnesty by Aravind Adiga
73. The Awkward Squad by Sophie Henaff
74. The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan
75. Afternoon Raag by Amit Chaudhuri
76. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
77. The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
78. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
79. Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer
80. The Eastern Shore by Ward Just
81. The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
82. The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck
83. Vertigo& Ghost by Fiona Benson
84. Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
85. Soot by Dan Vyleta
86. Deacon King Kong by James McBride
87. Abigail by Magda Szabo
88. Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugresic
89. Coming Up for Air by Sarah Leipciger
90. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
91. Selection Day by Aravind Adiga
92. The Voyage by Murray Bail
93. Peace : A Novel by Richard Bausch
94. The Third Reich by Roberto Bolano
95. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
96. The Kingdom of this World by Alejo Carpentier
97. My Life as a Russian Novel by Emmanuel Carrere
98. Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau
99. Man V. Nature by Diane Cook
100. The Melody by Jim Crace
101. SS-GB by Len Deighton
102. Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald
103. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
104. The Beautiful Indifference by Sarah Hall
105. Munich by Robert Harris
106. Bodies Electric by Colin Harrison
107. The Punch by Noah Hawley
108. Spook Street by Mick Herron
109. London Rules by Mick Herron
110. The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
111. The Land of Green Ginger by Winifred Holtby
112. The Wreck of the Mary Deare by Hammond Innes
113. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
114. Exiles in the Garden by Ward Just
115. Duffy by Dan Kavanagh
116. The Good People by Hannah Kent
117. The Life to Come by Michelle de Krester
118. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin
119. 10:04 by Ben Lerner
120. Home is the Hunter by Helen MacInnes
121. Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan
122. The Blood Miracles by Lisa McInerney
123. The Girl in Green by Derek B. Miller
124. Arab Jazz by Karim Miske
125. Bodies of Light by Sarah Moss
126. Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates
127. The Changeling by Kenzaburo Oe
128. The Horseman by Tim Pears
129. Echoland by Per Petterson READ APR 21
130. Last Stand by Michael Punke
131. The Waiting Time by Gerald Seymour
132. Home Run by Gerald Seymour
133. Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith
134. To the Back of Beyond by Peter Stamm
135. They Know Not What They Do by Jussi Valtonen
136. The Tulip Eaters by Antoinette Van Heugten
137. Smoke by Dan Vyleta
138. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
139. That Eye, The Sky by Tim Winton
140. Fear : Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
141. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell READ JUN 21
142. Gerta by Katerina Tuckova
143. My Country: A Syrian Memoir by Kassem Eid READ JUN 21
144. Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann
145. The Hotel Tito by Ivana Bodrozic
146. Strange Hotel by Eimear McBride
147. Blame by Paul Read
148. House of Lords and Commons by Ishion Hutchinson
149. To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek
150. Your Story, My Story by Connie Palmen
151. Wake Up : Why the World Has Gone Nuts by Piers Morgan
152. Death of a Coast Watcher by Anthony English
153. Limitless by Ala Glynn
154. Toddler Hunting and Other Stories by Taeko Kono
155. Daughter of the Tigris by Muhsin al-Ramli
156. Don't Call Us Dead by Danez Smith
157. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
158. Incomparable World by S.L. Martin
159. The Dancing Face by Mike Phillips
160. Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors
161. Sharks in the Time of Saviours by Kawai Strong Washburn
162. The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
163. Rest and Be Thankful by Emma Glass
164. Minty Alley by CLR James
165. The Fat Lady Sings by Jacqueline Roy
166. Actress by Anne Enright
167. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
168. The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan
169. Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas
170. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov *Replacement*
171. Summer by Ali Smith
172. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor *Replacement*
173. Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
174. The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima
175. The Girls by Emma Cline
176. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
177. The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner
178. The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro
179. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
180. The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
181. Just Like You by Nick Hornby
182. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
183. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih READ JUNE 21
184. The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
185. The Dig by Roger Preston
186. The Historians by Eavan Boland
187. Selected Poems by Elizabeth Jennings
188. The Deemster by Hall Caine
189. When Rainclouds Gather by Bessie Head
190. Maru by Bessie Head
191. Derek Mahon: New Selected Poems by Derek Mahon
192. A Move in the Weather by Anthony Thwaite
193. Door into the Dark by Seamus Heaney
194. Driftless by David Rhodes

194 added
11 read
183 nett additions

RESOLUTIONS

BOOKS OF THE MONTH

January : The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
February : Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
March : The Return by Hashim Matar
April : Life of Pi by Yann Martel
May : The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley

READING INFLUENCE WINNERS

A book for the book bullet that made the biggest mark on me that month. Only one win per person each year.

January 2021 MARK (msf59) for THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones
February 2021 ADRIENNE (fairywings) for THE BELGARIAD by David Eddings
March 2021 BONNIE (brenzi) for DRIFTLESS by David Rhodes
April 2021 KERRY (avatiakh) for THE DIG by John Preston
May 2021 DEBORAH (Cariola) for I AM, I AM, I AM by Maggie O'Farrell

BOOK STATS :

Books Read : 74
Books Added : 194
Nett TBR Addition : 120

Number of Pages in completed books : 19,274
Average per day : 104.18
Projected Page Total : 38,027

Number of days per book : 2.50
Projected Number : 146
LT Best : 157

Longest Book read : 1,179 pages
Shortest Book read : 51 pages
Mean Average Book Length : 260.46 pages

Male Authors : 45
Female Authors : 29

UK Authors : 39
Italy : 2
USA : 10
NZ : 1
Russia : 2
France : 2
India : 1
Libya : 1
Pakistan : 1
South Korea : 1
Canada : 1
Morocco : 1
Thailand : 1
Norway : 1
Belgium : 1
Sweden : 1
Trinidad : 1
Sudan : 1
Uruguay 1
Syria 1
Ghana 1
Austria 1
Germany 1
South Africa 1

1001 Books First Edition : 10 (314)
New Nobel Winners : 1 (73)
Pulitzer Fiction Winners : 2 (18)
Booker Winners : 2 (33)
Around the World Challenge : New countries : 19 (32)
BAC Books : 38
AAC Books : 1
Queen Vic Books : 10 (13/64)
Queen Betty Books : (28/70)
52 Book Challenge : 25 (25/52)
British Historians : 3 (3/12)

OVERALL TBR RECORD/UPDATE

TBR at Midnight 31 May 2021

Books Unread : 4,425
Pages Unread : 1,555,749
Average Book Length : 351.58 pages

Books Read : 23
Pages Read : 6,476 pages

Books Added : 7
Pages Added : 1,163 pages

Books Culled : 180
Pages Culled : 77,262

Revised TBR
Books Unread : 4,229
Pages Unread : 1,473,174
Ave Book Length : 348.35 pages

Next is yours

Happy new thread!

>28 amanda4242: Thank you, Amanda. Always a pleasure to see you here. xx

Happy new thread!

I got in the top 40! For once!! Yay me.

Oh, and happy new thread.

>30 ArlieS: Thank you! I thought I would get up the new thread before I go for my vaccination this morning.

>31 richardderus: Hahaha and most welcome, dear fellow. Threads were quiet overnight and I fell asleep in bed with Eric Hobsbawm.

Happy New Thread, good luck with the vaccine.

>34 banjo123: Thank you, Rhonda. I am a bit nervous to be honest.

To all fathers in the group and to the fathers and husbands and our ladies in the group - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.

Happy new thread! May you progress on all your challenges.

>36 PaulCranswick: And a very happy Father's Day to you, my friend!

>37 quondame: Thanks Susan. I had a couple of slow days towards the end of the week and have tweaked my reading a little to try to re-ignite it.

>38 amanda4242: Thanks Amanda. Kyran is up and about but apart from putting the kettle on he seems oblivious to the fact of Father's Day.

Happy New Thread. And Happy Fathers Day!

Happy new thread, Paul! I remember reading In Paradise for my book club a couple of years ago, and I seem to remember it provoking a lot of discussion. I'll look forward to your thoughts on it.

Happy new thread, Paul and happy father's day!

Happy new thread, Paul! I love your thread topper. In Paradise sounds like a powerful book. I think I'd like to read it.

I'm always amazed by all the stats you manage to collect and post.

Happy Fathers' Day!

>39 PaulCranswick: Ah, give him a hug and tell him you hope that someday he will be a Happy Father too!

>40 mahsdad: Thanks Jeff and thanks Jeff!

>41 bell7: It is a provoking little book, Mary. I am about half-way through it and it will leave an impression.

>42 jessibud2: Thank you, Shelley. I have just had my vaccination and it was a fairly seamless and well organised process. Appointment at 9.30 am and settled and at home by 11.00 am.

>43 tymfos: Thanks Terri. I was thinking to myself when I was setting up my fast-becoming-unwieldy beginning posts that I really ought to find a way to reduce the number!

>44 m.belljackson: To be fair, Marianne, he did wish me when I came back from the vaccination centre but I suspect he was tipped off by his mother!

Happy Father's Day, Happy New Thread and Happy Vaccination Day!

Now take it easy and settle in with books!

>48 kac522: Thanks Kathy - quite a troika!

I am hoping for a decent day's reading at least.

UPDATE ON MONTHLY READING PLAN

1 Still Waters by Sten (Around the world; 52 book) DONE 2 JUNE
2 Half a Life by Naipaul (BAC, Around the World) DONE 3 JUNE
3 Bell for Adano by Hersey (Pulitzer) DONE 4 JUNE
4 Hamnet by O'Farrell (BAC, 52 Book) DONE 5 JUNE
5 Injury Time by Bainbridge (BAC, Queen Betty) DONE 19 JUNE
6 The Age of Capital by Hobsbawm (BAC, Historians, Queen Betty)
7 No Turning Back by Naidoo (Booker, Around the World)
8 Dead Lions by Herron (Series Pair, BAC)
9 Real Tigers by Herron (Series Pair, BAC)
10 The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas (1001, Queen Vic)
11 Vice Versa by Anstey (Queen Vic, BAC)
12 The God Child by Ayim (Around the World, 52 Book) DONE 8 JUNE
13 Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl (Around the World) DONE 9 JUNE
14 The Acceptance World by Powell (52 Book, DTTMOF)
15 Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Isherwood (1001, BAC) DONE 11 JUNE
16 Vita Nova by Gluck (Poetry) DONE 8 JUNE
17 Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Benedetti (Around the World, 52 Book) DONE 6 JUNE
18 Look at Me by Brookner (BAC, Queen Betty)
19 My Country : A Syrian Memoir by Eid (Around the World) DONE 7 JUNE
20 In Paradise by Matthiessen (52 Book)
21 The Nightingale by Hannah (52 Book)
22 Auto da Fe by Canetti (Nobel, 1001, Around the World)
23 Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Solomons (Queen Betty) DONE 14 JUNE
24 Season of Migration to the North by Salih (Around the World) DONE 3 JUNE

BOOK #64



Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
Date of Publication : 1977
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 212 pp

Challenges
British Author Challenge : 34 books
Queen Betty Challenge : 25/70

I have read a good number of book by Ms. Bainbridge who was, I think, shortlisted for the Booker Prize most times without winning. This is probably my favourite. It is a long time since a book made me laugh out loud but some of her mordant observations on life, love, and relationships were irresistible.

The book centres on the dangers of adultery and I will say no more. Go seek it out and read it.

Happy New Thread Paul!

Happy new thread, Paul!

And wishing you a happy fathers and vaccination day.

>52 SandDune: Thank you, Rhian

>53 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. So far so good.

Happy Father's Day, Paul. Happy New Thread. I like that topper image. I am nearing the halfway point in The Night Watchman and enjoying it quite a bit.

>55 msf59: Nice to see you Mark. I have spent a couple of hours with the Count of Monte Cristo this afternoon and will do a couple of hours with In Paradise and a couple with The Nightingale.

So far not feeling any after effects from the vaccination. Fingers crossed.

Happy new thread, Paul. I hope all is well at your place.

>57 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara. I will reserve comment slightly as my bones are feeling achy and heavy and my eyes are watering and my head pounding with a little bit of fever sneaking in.

Oh dear, fell better soon.

>58 PaulCranswick: That's the vaccine. It will pass...you won't.

>59 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara.

>60 richardderus: Made me smile dear fellow anyhow.

>51 PaulCranswick: Hmm, a Bainbridge that has got by me. Adding to the list Paul.

I have In Paradise near the top of the pile too.

Happy Father’s Day! Sorry the vaccine’s hit hard.

>58 PaulCranswick: Gratz on the vaccine; sorry to hear it's having unpleasant side effects.

Hopefully the side effects will be short-lived and done with soon, Paul

Happy Fathers Day Paul!

Happy New Thread!

>62 Caroline_McElwee: I like Bainbridge but I honestly think that is the funniest of her books, Caroline and well worth looking up. In Paradise is also powerful.

>63 drneutron: Thank you, Jim. Head feels like somebody inside there is tapping away with a small hammer whilst a much bigger one was taken to my arm. Not much of a fever but I feel a bit groggy and occasionally disoriented. I'll be fine, I hope.

>64 ArlieS: Hani got away pretty much scot free and I am somewhere in between hers and a terrible reaction. I don't think that I have it as bad as some of you did though.

>65 jessibud2: Thanks Shelley, I hope so too.

>66 brenzi: Thank you, Bonnie. Hani and the two here made me a pavlova and I had a long chat by video call with my eldest, Yasmyne, who is still in Norway.

>67 thornton37814: Thank you, Lori. Glad I got it set up yesterday because I don't think I could have concentrated today.

Hoping you are feeling better - I was lucky after my first, though I did feel very very weird. At least that's one down :)

Happy new thread, Paul! I hope you'll feel better soon xx

Happy new thread, Paul - and YAY for the vaccination!
I hope you will feel better soon.

>71 BekkaJo: Weird is a good expression Bekka and describes the feeling exactly.

>72 DianaNL: Thank you Diana. Plenty of rest and water for me. I am trying to concentrate for bits at a time to read too.

>73 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas. Kyran will be next in early July and Belle has applied (with Erni) for Pfizer and they are awaiting their dates. The vaccines are intended for a certain block of people but when they are not taken up they make them available in blocks - first come first served.

Hi Paul, a belated happy new thread mate. I have been very hit and miss on here over the last couple of weeks, with the good weather i have got on with work in the garden, Amy has been over with Elliott a couple of times, we had them all over for Father's Day lunch a week early as Karen was working yesterday (Father's Day), add to this i have had a couple of new tyres fitted and it had its service today and i broke the vacuum cleaner and so my housework was put back and had to be done later which affected time on here and reading time, and the Euro's have started.

Things won't get much better over the rest of this week as i have some decorating to do in our bedroom before the new carpet is fitted next Monday and at some time in the summer i have the staircase to emulsion besides finishing things off in the garden and obviously my normal housework to do, i think i need some staff, lol.

>76 johnsimpson: Wow, John. I'm tired just reading about all that work! Nice to hear from you mate.

BOOK # 65



In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen
Date of Publication : 2014
Origin of Author : USA
Pages : 244 pp

Challenges :
52 Book Club Challenge : 23/52

This short book is densely powerful.

An interfaith retreat has been set up in Auschwitz-Birkenau and the participants including the main narrator are all in search of something. Clements Olin is facing up to his past - born into Polish Lutheran gentry he was smuggled out of Poland at the outset of the war to join his family in the US but without his mother. What he discovers looking for her is revelatory if somewhat inevitable.

I am not entirely sure what to make of this novel. Stereotypes abound and I was somewhat uncomfortable about some of the ecumenical digressions and especially a sort of thwarted love affair with a novice nun. Nevertheless it is beautifully written and does overall carry a profound message that the guilt of the Holocaust is complicated and borne by so many.

Hi Paul, and happy new thread. Wow. Part 14.

I'm sorry you had a strong reaction to the vaccine. I've lost track - is this your first or second dose?

>79 karenmarie: It is my first dose, Karen. I am almost back to normal after a couple of days. With a decent sleep tonight I should be myself again. xx

Hi Paul - hope you are feeling better now. I've been away from my thread for a few weeks though still lurking on some threads. I'll have to update my reading sometime soon.
How are you finding The Nightingale? I have that one on my tbr.
I picked up Benjamin Labatut's When we cease to understand the world from the library last week and thought it was one you might enjoy.

>78 PaulCranswick: I don't recall ever even hearing of this book's existence. Ever. Once.

Which would be a surprises if it sounded like it was a decent read, but it does not ring that bell. Late-in-life loser-book...I just ran across an elderly craptastic book that I'm apparently the first to review since Kirkus did in 1981...All Over Again, last book by Robert Benchley's son and Peter Benchley's pa, Nathaniel.

>81 avatiakh: Lovely to see you, Kerry. There was a little delay in sending out your book as I got distracted with the passing of my closest friend last month and the lockdown here. It should be with you any day.

The Nightingale is a good story and will make a great movie but some of the penmanship can be a tad gawky. It sounds like I picked her best book though.

>82 richardderus: It was his last book, RD, and written and published whilst he was fighting and failing to defeat leukaemia. It is a elegiac piece of work but I think can be read better by understanding that he had converted to Zen buddhism at the beginning of the 1980s and the work seemed to also include a re-evaluation of comparative theology for him through his lead character. It is a problematic book but on balance worth reading, I think.

crapastic is a word that should get far more currency!

BOOK #66



The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Date of Publication : 2015
Origin of Author : USA
Pages : 438 pp

Challenges
52 Book Club Challenge : 24/52

What do you want from a book?

I don't think I am a literary snob although there are sections of my bookstore I wouldn't deign to browse! As I said somewhere above this was in places mawkish and gawky and Ms. Hannah will not win awards for the literary merit of her writing.

I am, however, a complete sucker for being told a story - it comes from sitting by the fireside on cold Yorkshire evenings listening to my beloved maternal grandmother relate the tales of her youth. She was half-Irish with a wonderful gift of the gab and a taste for good whisky that I am thankful to inherit.

And this was fine storytelling; pure and simple. Set in a France quite literally torn by war there are things here with the Maquis and the Gestapo that have been done before but that does not detract from the fact that the author has devised an impressive story.

Well worth reading if you are able to forgive the occasional clumsy phrasing and painful metaphor. I was able to do so.

I have The Nightingalee on my Kindle but haven't read it yet - I do have her newer book The Four Winds from the library - she was on a book programme on the radio and it sounded interesting. However, as it's one of a number of newish books in a reservations queue I may end up returning it and getting back in the queue.

>86 elkiedee: For me, one of the most trusty judges of writers and books in the group, Luci, is Bonnie and she berated one of her books in a review recently. I will have to go back and check to remind myself which one it was but I can see she gets a "C" for writing ability but in this instance an "A-" for storytelling. It wasn't pulp or trash fiction but it wasn't really literary fiction either - a sort of middle-ish ground, slightly closer to the dignified end than otherwise.

>87 PaulCranswick: Quite a lot of my reading is in that area, especially some of the 2pth century author reprints. J have several books and want a lot more of those published by Dean Street Press under the wonderfully named Furrowed Middlebrow imprint.

Currently top of my reading pile is Penny Vincenzi's last novel. Oddly, an aspiring Labour MP, a great fan of Nye Bevan, is one of the central characters. (I would have assumed from her books and what I know about her that Penny Vincenzi was normally a Tory voter, who might have flirted with the Fib Dems on occasion).

>88 elkiedee: Well I suppose in many ways the mid twentieth century storytelling authors - Maugham, Spring, Priestley and Delderfield would probably be my absolute favourite type of reading and they were not really literary heavyweights in the sense of being mooted for Nobel prizes and so on. Their books were always such great company though.

I love the phrase "Fib Dems" as it fits perfectly their persona for students everywhere and parents of students too!

By the way I update the lists section at the end of the month. xx

>78 PaulCranswick: I read this one last year? The year before? Something like that. Ended up being a middling read for me, though not hard to get through.

>89 PaulCranswick: I've got into some trouble for referring to them as Fib Dems - I resisted the temptation to say that's quite a polite way of expressing my views of some of them. Actually there are a couple of our local ones who are, relatively speaking, quite pleasant, but there are others I'm disgusted by. Mind you, I could say the same of some of the Labour councillors and their friends and hangers on.

>91 ursula: I liked the storyline much more than the writing, Ursula, but I can understand why it sold well and why it has sold rights to the movie world.

>92 elkiedee: I am far more cynical these days, Luci. I was a card-carrying leftie in my youth and though I have moved more to the centre (mainly because I perceive the world has changed) I think most of my core principles have remained:

I don't believe in an unfettered free market
I don't believe in unrestricted free-trade (both of the above are falsehoods)
I believe in the democratic process (I am an advocate of PR like our unfortunate liberals)
I believe in equality of opportunity
I believe in a meritocracy
I believe that the state exists at least in part to provide a safety net for the vulnerable and the unfortunate but not the work-shy
I believe that butter is ahead of guns as a spending priority
I believe in the promotion of a society without prejudice
I believe in the celebration of history and one's culture whilst embracing cultural diversity.
I believe in freedom of expression whilst respecting the views and sensibilities of others
I believe that discourse not force solves problems with more chance of permanency.

This link is interesting - 50 of the "hottest" new books as selected by the Guardian.

Some familiars but plenty of others that I shall keep my eyes scanning the horizon for:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/05/summer-reading-the-50-hottest-new-...

News today:

The side-effects of the AZ dose have worn-off and I now feel A-OK,

My mum has wangled her way back into the hospice. That isn't meant to be sarcastic. She doesn't really meet the criteria but has been in and out of hospital with startling regularity over the last three months that the MacMillan nurse has persuaded the hospice that it may be the boost she needs. My mum really liked the hospice in Pontefract where she stayed and recovered before and the same place can take her again.

Yasmyne should get an emergency Malaysian passport soon from the Malaysian Embassy in Stockholm (long story) and will be coming home soon (I haven't seen her in the flesh for almost two years). It would not be advisable for her to enter here with her British passport for a number of reasons.

My grandparents were from New Zealand though they lived here for most of their adult lives, and my grandmother held two passports. She presented the wrong one coming back into the country when she was 80 and was given 6 months leave to remain. Fortunately she did have a UK passport and had established her right to live here, and may have had some advantage as a middle class white Irish-Kiwi, and her father was born in Ireland long before independence for the 26 counties. So yes, absolutely better to return to Malaysia on a Malaysian passport.

>96 elkiedee: That is interesting, Luci. Yasmyne's problem is that whilst the UK allows Dual-Nationality, Malaysia does not so Yasmyne cannot do anything that would allow this to be revealed or she would be given the ultimatum in Malaysia to choose. There are obvious advantages having both and she does not want to give up her Malaysian citizenship unless she absolutely has to. Malaysia is out of step with most of the rest of the world on this.

Glad to hear you're feeling better.

Summer has hit hard here, so I've been sitting in front of my fan and working my way through The Count--only about 450 pages to go!

What a World Test Championship Final, with two days washed out, i did not expect a result and to be honest, with India starting the final day 64 for 2 with Kohli and Pujara at the crease, i thought it would be a draw with the trophy shared. What a thrilling day, just a shame only 4,000 spectators witnessed it.

New Zealand worked steadily to take wickets with Jamieson being particularly miserly with the ball. I thought that when Pant and Jadeja were together they would save the day but the tenacity of the Kiwi's kept them going and they deservedly won the trophy, i must say that i am very pleased for them. What a start to Test Cricket for Devon Conway, a double hundred on debut at the home of cricket and then in his third game, he is part of the first World Test Champions. I wish it had been on Terrestrial TV for the youth to see what a great game Cricket.

>95 PaulCranswick: Paul - Will Yasmyne be able to get shots before returning?

Best wishes for a smooth journey and a Grand Reunion!

>89 PaulCranswick: I see you have one C.P. Snow in your LT collection. Can't tell if you've read it, but I'd place him between Maugham and Delderfield for 20th century authors.

>85 PaulCranswick: I read Hannah's book a few years ago, and felt it was so poorly done that I could not finish it. I thought All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr was a vastly superior look at the same time, place and events.

Glad to hear you're A-OK and that your daughter will be home soon.

>98 amanda4242: Thanks Amanda. I am at a similar stage of The Count. It will get finished this month anyway.

>99 johnsimpson: It was a great game, John, and congratulations to New Zealand. Fully deserve their success after not being One Day World Champions by the most incredibly narrow margins. Williamson is a wonderful player and captain.

>100 m.belljackson: Thank you, Marianne. Alas she won't have her jabs yet and will have to quarantine for ten days.

By the way I am finally keeping my promise to you next month by reading the first Potty Harry book.

>101 quondame: I bought it in a second hand book store in Hay-On -Wye, Susan and I haven't read it yet. I think you are probably right about his writing though from all I understand. The Corridors of Power is the one I have on the shelves here.

>102 kac522: Kathy, I do get the criticism of her writing style but I did think that the story did propel it well enough to the finish. Hannah is no Anthony Doerr of course!

>104 PaulCranswick: Snow's novels form a series in the life of Lewis Eliot and Corridors of Power is one of the later ones. I read all of them in the 70s, well before the BBC series which I liked, though I'd forgotten about it until I realize that some of the images in my head just couldn't have come from reading a book. I read them again at least once, possibly as late as 2001-2006 and they stood up pretty well.

>106 quondame: You have me very interested now, Susan. I will bump it up and read it soon as it fits nicely into my Queen Betty Challenge for 1964.

I was quite interested by the BBC series of Strangers and Brothers (based on C P Snow's novels) though I think I was still quite young and most of it must have gone rather over my head. There was also a radio series because some or all of it was rebroadcast a year or two abo on Radio 4 Extra.

>108 elkiedee: The BBC series does appear available on You Tube, Luci.

>95 PaulCranswick: Glad you feel better, Paul. Too bad the AZ gave you these side effects.
Sending positive vibes to your mother, I hope the stay in the hospice does the trick again.

>94 PaulCranswick: Oooooh lists... Reminds me that I've been meaning to pick up a copy of Klara and the Sun - not sure it's out in paperback yet though.
Also Pandora's Jar - love Natalie Haynes!

Adding my hopes re the hospice helping your Mum - sounds like a nice supportive place for her to be.

>111 BekkaJo: The paperback of Klara and the Sun isn't due out until next year.

>110 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita. It isn't really the purpose of a hospice but she does seem to rather enjoy thwarting it.

>111 BekkaJo: I do like the occasional list, hahaha. I have a few on the paperback list already.

>112 elkiedee: I think that that will go for quite a number of the books on the list, Luci.

>104 PaulCranswick: Can you sign Yasmyne up in advance to get on the shot list?

With the new variants scaring England, timing could help.

Likely, she may enjoy you reading HARRY to her while in quarantine!

>115 m.belljackson: She can do it herself but only when she is in the country.

She actually enjoys HARRY so I should perhaps have her read it to me!

>85 PaulCranswick: >102 kac522: Yes. Yes and yes. Loved Anthony Doerr's book. Could not get through The Nightingale, Paul, because I just can't tolerate bad writing. The Four Winds suffered from poor writing and being a wannabe Grapes of Wrath! Right now I'm reading another Anita Brookner....how to compare the writing? Haha you can't. There's no comparison.

>117 brenzi: It did come close to hollow pastiche, Bonnie, but I thought the storyline just about saved it. If you had given her a higher mark for her compositions than you gave to me, then I would have been bitterly disappointed.

I am also reading Anita Brookner!

BOOK #67



The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Publication Date : 1851
Origin of Author : France
Pages : 1,179 pp

Challenges
1001 Books First Edition : 9 in 2021 / 313 overall
Queen Vic Challenge : 11/64

What can I add about the epic of Edmond Dantes?

Phew! maybe.

It is far-fetched. It is wrist-snappingly long. It is overly sentimental. It is, of course, wonderful.

I went onto the downhill slopes of The Count of Monte Cristo yesterday evening and read 9 hours solid to polish it off in one coffee fuelled sitting of almost 400 pages.

So not surprisingly no posts awaiting me!

>119 PaulCranswick: I hate to say I told you so Who am I kidding? I love saying I told you so.

>121 amanda4242: Well that is my longest book of the last few years done and dusted and I hope to polish off at least three more this weekend.

UPDATE ON MONTHLY READING PLAN

1 Still Waters by Sten (Around the world; 52 book) DONE 2 JUNE
2 Half a Life by Naipaul (BAC, Around the World) DONE 3 JUNE
3 Bell for Adano by Hersey (Pulitzer) DONE 4 JUNE
4 Hamnet by O'Farrell (BAC, 52 Book) DONE 5 JUNE
5 Injury Time by Bainbridge (BAC, Queen Betty) DONE 19 JUNE
6 The Age of Capital by Hobsbawm (BAC, Historians, Queen Betty)
7 No Turning Back by Naidoo (Booker, Around the World) DONE 27 JUNE
8 Dead Lions by Herron (Series Pair, BAC)
9 Real Tigers by Herron (Series Pair, BAC)
10 The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas (1001, Queen Vic) DONE 25 JUNE
11 Vice Versa by Anstey (Queen Vic, BAC)
12 The God Child by Ayim (Around the World, 52 Book) DONE 8 JUNE
13 Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl (Around the World) DONE 9 JUNE
14 The Acceptance World by Powell (52 Book, DTTMOF)
15 Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Isherwood (1001, BAC) DONE 11 JUNE
16 Vita Nova by Gluck (Poetry) DONE 8 JUNE
17 Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Benedetti (Around the World, 52 Book) DONE 6 JUNE
18 Look at Me by Brookner (BAC, Queen Betty) DONE 27 JUNE
19 My Country : A Syrian Memoir by Eid (Around the World) DONE 7 JUNE
20 In Paradise by Matthiessen (52 Book) DONE 22 JUNE
21 The Nightingale by Hannah (52 Book) DONE 23 JUNE
22 Cat and Mouse by Grass (Nobel, 1001, Around the World) DONE 26 JUNE
23 Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Solomons (Queen Betty) DONE 14 JUNE
24 Season of Migration to the North by Salih (Around the World) DONE 3 JUNE

>119 PaulCranswick: One of the best reasons on Earth to get a Kindle: there's eleventy-nine translations available from free to $20.99 and they take up no space to speak of.

Ditto Jean Christophe and the works of Balzac and Zola and...well, anyway, my point is made. Your June plans are still within reach...?

>124 richardderus: I have a habit, RD, of holding the book in my right hand whilst I write left-handed. I had my jab in my right arm and it is aching badly this morning!

I have a huge copy of Jean Christophe in the UK which would have a similar impact. Why did those Frenchies enjoy to prattle so.

I have 8 books to finish in 5 days but some of them well under way andI have broken the back of my June plans by my Count marathon yesterday. It will be a near run thing but I think I may still do it.

>125 PaulCranswick: I must point out verbosity is not limited to the French *cough*Dickens*cough*

>126 amanda4242: Trollope and Thackeray would, I feel, qualify for a place on that particular podium.

>67 thornton37814: Thank you so much for bringing this book to my attention - I love it.
All the best for your arm and have a wonderful weekend, Paul!

>128 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas.

I am now reading Cat and Mouse by Gunter Grass, a Nobel winner, I still surprisingly didn't read yet.

>119 PaulCranswick: I'm going to take a run at it next month Paul, I've long wanted to read it. It will take me far longer than you to finish though.

>130 Caroline_McElwee: Well I did chip away at it somewhat, Caroline and made big inroads via three of four concentrated spurts.

Happy Weekend, Paul. I am glad to hear your daughter will soon be arriving. 2 years? That is a long, long time. It looks like I will continue to skip The Nightingale but I really want to get to The Count of Monte Cristo. It has been on my classic list forever.

>132 msf59: I won't be rushing to find other books by Hannah, Mark, but I didn't think that the book was awful. Not great writing but I did enjoy the story.

I don't know how I got to almost 55 without reading anything by Dumas.

WEEKEND PLAYLIST

I am in the minority here who can listen and read at the same time although it shouldn't be something too distracting.

I am listening to an old album favourite of mine from each year of the 1970s

1979 Gerry Rafferty - Night Owl
1978 Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Stranger in Town
1977 Supertramp - Even in the Quietest Moments
1976 James Taylor - In the Pocket
1975 Leon Russell - Will o' the Wisp
1974 David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
1973 Electric Light Orchestra - On the Third Day
1972 Paul Simon - Paul Simon
1971 Donny Hathaway - Donny Hathaway
1970 Dusty Springfield - A Brand New Me

>134 PaulCranswick: Yeah, I can listen to music while reading too but it either has to be familiar or not too heavy on words. In my listening project with Morgan, I often write letters while we listen but not if we're listening to rap or country.

Also ❤️ Paul Simon! (And ELO)

>135 ursula: The music will disturb me the most in the main, Ursula. Heavy metal, techno, drum & bass and rap would be out for me whilst reading.

Very happy to see elan and panache get its reward with Julien Alaphillipe's swashbuckling win in the first stage of the Tour de France. A couple of really bad crashes too - boy how I have missed watching my cycling.

>137 PaulCranswick: Paul - Spoilers! We don’t get highlights until much later ...

>138 SandDune: Yikes, I am sorry, Rhian - is it not on live in the UK?!

There are plenty of highlights to see at least. The race went through Quimper where I was based for a short while.

>134 PaulCranswick: I was actually listening to Stranger in Town just the other day. And Bowie! My absolute favorite singer! My top Bowie albums are probably Station to Station and The Man Who Sold the World.

>140 amanda4242: I think Stranger in Town is the strongest of his albums and, of course, includes the timeless We've Got Tonight.
My favourite Bowie album will change on a regular basis but at the moment it is probably Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Almost all of his 70s releases were wonderful though.

Hi, Paul. I’m too slow to wish you a Happy New Thread, but Happy Somewhat, Ince Was New Thread.

My music for reading needs to be classical or jazz. Catchy beats and lyrics are too distracting.

>140 amanda4242: The Man Who Sold the World is an underrated Bowie album. I love Station to Station too. Would struggle to pick a favourite - I'm not keen on Young Americans apart from the title track, and I quite like the cover of the Beatles' Across the Universe.

>139 PaulCranswick: I watched it Live on British TV. I often don't bother with week one but I'm glad I did.

>139 PaulCranswick: Yes it is on live (sometimes at least) but watching the TdF live every day is a big time commitment. So we always watch the highlights programme which is on in the evening.

>142 jnwelch: Nice to see you here, Joe, and I trust that your rehabilitation is continuing successfully.

Strange to say that classical music if of a rousing nature can actually disturb me more than singer-songwriter stuff which is my listening of choice most times.

>143 elkiedee: I think you rightly picked the weakest of his original 70s material. Young Americans was a collaboration with john Lennon of course (the individual song, I mean).

>144 CDVicarage: It was well worth watching wasn't it, Kerry?

>145 SandDune: I will usually have it on in the background and won't concentrate on it until the last hour, Rhian, on a daily basis other than when the race hits the mountains. Since I was a climber of sorts that is the racing I love to watch.

>135 ursula: Nope, can't read books and listen to music. I occasional do with a news paper tho.

>148 Caroline_McElwee: Makes me sad, Caroline. I so much miss my papers, especially on a Sunday. I used to spend all morning and an hour in the late afternoon with the Observer.

BOOK #68



Cat and Mouse by Gunter Grass
Date of Publication : 1961
Origin of Author : Germany
Pages : 191 pp

Challenges
Nobel Winners New to Me : 1st of 2021 (73rd total)
1001 First Edition : 10th of 2021 (314 total)
Around the World Challenge : 31st country

Can someone with an exceptionally prominent Adam's Apple (the mouse), a big dick, social awkwardness and an ability to out-swim and out-dive his pals be a hero?

Grass thought so.

A mixture of symbol and humour, Grass throws up Nazism's need for heroes to mask its tyrannies. I didn't understand all the references and this impaired my ability to appreciate what the author was trying to get at. Nevertheless it probably prepares me for his weightier work.

Translation issues aside, I cannot see how this is strong enough a novel to make the 1001 list.

The remainder of the weekend to be spent finishing off:

The Age of Capital by Eric Hobsbawm
No Turning Back by Barbara Naidoo
Look at Me by Anita Brookner

The July BAC thread is up! Do stop by and give a shout-out to your favorite books adapted to film or TV.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/333245

>152 amanda4242: That is spooky, Amanda, because I was posting there as you were posting here!

Favourite British adapted film?

My favourite would probably be This Sporting Life based on the book by David Storey. It is set in my hometown of Wakefield and 60 years on some of the places are still amazingly recognisable.

Very tough though because so many great books have made films or TV series (I Claudius was a good TV series but a great book). Here is the list of the top 100 British Films as decided by the BFI (British Film Institute) many of which were British books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFI_Top_100_British_films

Good to see that you will get to see Yasmyne soon, Paul. Good luck with the move and yay for getting your first shot!

Wishing safe travels for Yasmyne, Paul!

I found the Nightingale super irritating as in addition to clunky writing there were several really unbelievable plot devices. But others liked it better than I did. So really, a person named Rossignol, is easily hidden from the Nazis with the code name "Nightingale" ?

>154 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg. I hope that she will be back in July.

>155 banjo123: I do get the criticism of the book and it is mainly justified but as an entertainment I can see why some enjoyed it too. Modern fiction does better when it tells a story - only it could have been told better!

SUNDAY PLAYLIST

Another Seventies Playlist

1979 Blondie - Eat to the Beat
1978 Camel - Breathless
1977 Rush - A Farewell to Kings
1976 Jackson Browne - The Pretender
1975 Loudon Wainwright III - Unrequited
1974 Bob Marley & the Wailers - Natty Dread
1973 Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run
1972 Fleetwood Mac - Bare Trees
1971 Pentangle - Reflection
1970 Neil Young - After the Gold Rush

BOOK #69



No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo
Date of Publication : 1995
Origin of Author : South Africa
Pages : 191 pp

Challenges:
Around the World : 32nd book

YA fiction highlighting the plight of street children in Johannesburg. Sipho has run away from his township away from his abusive Step-Father and falls in with a gang of fellow urchins sleeping rough.

An easy read but a fairly thin. This novel had a potentially very important message but the relationships were formed too easily and the stereotypes rather too heavy-handed. This could have been very good but was merely serviceable.

>156 PaulCranswick: Not long to wait then and good timing as there will be more space for her by the time she gets there.

ETA Real estate here is at a premium price too although not as bad as it was a few months ago. Not as many bidding wars.

>159 Familyhistorian: House prices have fallen through the floor here, Meg. Due to oversupply and nobody having the money to buy the upper-tier properties. Middle and Low income markets remain solid though. As an expatriate I am not allowed to buy anything in Kuala Lumpur less than $250,000 and in the outer Klang Valley (which surrounds the capital) of $500,000.

I won't spoil things for Rhian but the Tour de France is really off to a great start this year with two compelling stages to begin with.

>161 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! Will be watching it later. I was reading that the woman who cause the first crash yesterday fled the scene and the organisers are intending to sue?

>162 SandDune: It is a difficult one, Rhian. I saw the commentators and interviewers trying hard to get the riders to condemn the spectators and the reluctance to do so. We are slowly and hopefully coming out of lockdown and the riders want the normality of fans but it was very silly to have that cardboard sign sticking out so. Incidentally the fact that they weren't going so quickly at the time can be more dangerous than if they are at fuller race speed and the impact of your bodyweight hitting ground is more vertical.

You are in for some good racing.

Some very good racing!

Indeed Diana! I was thinking about you just now!

And vice versa :-)

>166 DianaNL: It is 4 am here and I cannot sleep, but I can smile. xx

Just popping in to say Hi! Glad you get to see Jasmyne soon. And that you have fully recovered from shot #2. Glad you are smiling. At 4 in the morning. ; )

>168 Berly: Maybe I explained wrongly, Kimmers, but I have only had the first dose of vaccination so far.

BOOK # 70



Look at Me by Anita Brookner
Date of Publication : 1983
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 192 pp

Challenges :
British Author Challenge : 35th book
Queen Betty Challenge : 26/70

I think no writer ever conveyed the essential loneliness of human existence more effectively and in such pristine prose as Anita Brookner did.

This is a sad little book that is strangely oppressive and unsettling by degrees. It delves quite pointedly into the subtle arts of manipulation as to how the emotionally strong and malign can put upon those so ready to look up to them and be influenced. It also makes the side point that often the awareness and determination of self can often be at a cost that is sometimes barely worth making.

Slow but never turgid. Realistic but still elevating. Nobody is writing quite like this anymore.

Another fascinating day on the Tour de France which turned into carnage on the roads. I won't spoil it for those who will only watch the highlights but this one will have twists and turns until the final wheel spin.

>170 PaulCranswick: "I saw the business of writing for what it truly was and is to me. It is your penance for not being lucky. It is an attempt to reach others and to make them love you. It is your instinctive protest, when you find you have no voice at the world's tribunals, and that no one will speak for you. I would give my entire output of words, past, present, and to come, in exchange for easier access to the world, for permission to state 'I hurt' or 'I hate' or 'I want.' Or, indeed, 'Look at me.' And I do not go back on this. For once a thing is known it can never be unknown. It can only be forgotten. And writing is the enemy of forgetfulness, of thoughtlessness. For the writer there is no oblivion. Only endless memory."

Frances...so so so sad.

>172 richardderus: I did find myself re-reading whole paragraphs, RD, for the achingly good writing. It is a very sad book.

There are so many great British film adaptations. I remember loving This Sporting Life too but also Room at the Top. Was Look Back in Anger, based in on a book?

>174 msf59: Look Back in Anger movie is based on the John Osborne play.

>175 amanda4242: John Russell Taylor quoted in the page for the play on LT says it was John Osborne's first play but Wikipedia has it as his third. JRT also used it to spout a load of BS about the young men of the 50s, so that must have been a thing with him. Not that this has anything to do with >174 msf59:, but I just fell into a rabbithole and thought I'd share a bit of the dirt.

>170 PaulCranswick:, >172 richardderus: Between 1996 and 2019 I read all of Brookner's books, and they are all variations on the same loneliness theme. I had to space them out over time, otherwise they were overwhelming. But the prose is magnificent.

>3 PaulCranswick: good!

>4 PaulCranswick: great

>174 msf59: West Yorkshire writers both - David Storey from my home town of Wakefield and John Braine from Bradford. Osborne who wrote the celebrated play Look Back in Anger was a Londoner.

>175 amanda4242: Exactly, Amanda.

>170 PaulCranswick: >172 richardderus: And that's on the list then. For when I can take that sort of thing.

Hope all is well at your end of the world Paul.

>170 PaulCranswick: A Brookner I have yet to read Paul. BB'd.

>174 msf59: Have either of you read Stan Barstow, also from the Wakefield area? His best known novel A Kind of Loving, part of a trilogy, was also adapted for TV.

>171 PaulCranswick: Myself and Mr SandDune were wondering why it turned into carnage on the roads. From a non-expert view it looked a fairly normal sort of route?
Was there something about the course or were people just being unlucky, do you think?

>176 quondame: Not sure about JRT but I think in fairness to him it was his first produced play written without collaborators. He produced two earlier plays The Devil Inside Him with Stella Linden and Personal Enemy with Anthony Creighton.

Undoubtedly of the Angry Young Men group he was also fairly reprehensible when it came to his personal relationships - a serial womaniser. It is a form of writing I very much enjoy though - Braine, Silitoe, Barstow, Hines, Storey, Delaney & Waterhouse were all unashamedly of the North.

>177 kac522: Yes, Kathy she was a singular writer and I agree that I would find it tough to read them over a short space of time. They are oppressive. Beautiful but opperessive.

>178 yhanako0000: Thank you.

>179 yhanako0000: I would say respectable rather than great would fit my efforts better! Some of our contemporaries are reading at least three times the speed.

>181 BekkaJo: I am super busy for some reason, Bekka, and, of course, have a moving house imminent!

Spent an hour in the new place yesterday planning with the boss where she will allow I can put my book cases.

Anita Brookner is well worth the trouble to sit down and really savour her writing.

>182 Caroline_McElwee: It is a very suitable title too, Caroline. I think my review does it little justice in truth.

>183 elkiedee: I read Stan Barstow at school and he actually came to my Middle School many moons ago to give a little talk which I can only vaguely remember. He was a friend apparently of my Headmaster, Mr Lindley, in many ways my teaching hero and who opened his personal library to an impressionable young boy of eleven. I have A Kind of Loving on the shelves and must read it as an adult soon.

I remember watching the TV series with a young Joanne Whalley starring in it and being beguiled both by her charms and the story.

>184 SandDune: Many would find that very good question difficult to answer, Rhian, but I will try.

At the beginning of some Grand Tours there are no absolute favourites or Patrons to control the race and this year it is definitely an open race. In order to control the race the teams need its riders to be at the front of the peloton and that jockeying for position makes both the riders unduly nervous as well as resulting in a little bit of a scrum for position (you may have noticed Alaphillipe in particular take to the grass verge a couple of times yesterday to avoid trouble). This is compounded by the stress of the race in its infancy and the geography of it. They are racing in Brittany where the roads are a little narrow to take the kind of jostling that is going on - there simply isn't enough space for all the leading teams to take up position. Another aggravating factor yesterday was that there had been a little bit of rain (though not too much) which may have made the surface a little bit greasy but I don't think that caused it.

There were concerns yesterday that the course was "too technical" - i.e. too many twists and turns and too much road furniture. Whilst I think that the road furniture probably helped cause the first chute that dislocated Thomas' shoulder and did for poor Robert Gesink, I don't think that the technical nature of the finish impacted as the crashes were further out and for the reasons I stated above. I think that the awful crash of Ewan and Sagan in the final sprint seemed to be because of a mechanical issue with Ewan's bike. Some of the crashes yesterday were very scary indeed and I was particularly worried about the Australian Jack Haig who went down and was motionless for a spell but thankfully he got up though he had to abandon.

I hope the explanation helps somewhat, Rhian, but, for sure, the opening stages has been compelling viewing. I am almost wishing nothing much happens today!

Two days left in June and I have 5 books to finish to meet my 24 book challenge. I may well come up short but it won't be by much. I will concentrate over the next couple of days and see where it takes me.

>190 elkiedee: 19 books isn't bad, though presumably you've mostly just got one day left.

>188 PaulCranswick: Thank you so much! That makes sense.

>190 elkiedee: To keep records straight, Luci, I follow LT time and have gotten used to calculating basically 12 hours ahead of myself. Two more are almost finished and a third will follow tomorrow, I reckon. I'm guessing I will fall a couple short.

>191 Dawakek_740: Hello!

LT time as in US East Coast time?

>192 SandDune: I do miss the sport, Rhian, but I was useless in a large pack of riders my reactions were better than my bike handling skills to be honest. I was lucky that in three years of racing at a reasonable level I never broke any bones but I did leave a fair amount of skin on the tarmac or gravel roads. It was in the days when racing helmets were not compulsory in Europe. Races in Britain you had to wear the old leather style riding "helmet" which would not have provided too much protection, I'm sure.

Kyran always laughs at me at how animated I can get watching cycling as he thinks it to be the most boring of spectator sports - the Philistine!

Give my regards to MrSandDune and let him know that Leeds are apparently on the cusp of signing a left-back from Barcelona - heady days indeed!

>194 elkiedee: I believe so, Luci. It is 12 hours behind Malaysia anyway. I figured when I did the stats that unless I measured reading in that way it would never be an "apple-to-apple" comparison.

>195 PaulCranswick: cycling as he thinks it to be the most boring of spectator sports

...so he's never heard of cricket, then...the only "sport" known to man (term used advisedly) where the only recorded fatalities are among the spectators.

>197 richardderus: Hahaha and there you go impugning another of my favourite sports!

We have beaten Germany in the European Football Championships 2-0 - a very rare event indeed. For once England took their chances and Germany missed their chances.

Hey Paul! We just watched the match, too. I thought about posting the result but there don't seem to be many other football fans on LT. That's when I realised I'd lost track of you.

Happy new thread?

>200 humouress: There aren't many of us for sure, Nina. The ladies from the Netherlands all like their sport but I thought we wouldn't burden them with their disastrous result and Erik (oberon) loves his football. Rhian's husband is probably happy too but I dare not mention football given Wales' inability to keep a clean sheet!

>200 humouress: Never too late to come and visit. xx

>189 PaulCranswick: I'm pushing even to get the 16 required for the TIOLIs. Being as far from my more common genres has riffled my road as well with ever so many very serious books and creating the lists from A Brief Guide to The Modern Library has eaten into my time not only because data entry takes time, but because data entry requires breaks, i.e. YouTube videos.

Oh by the way nobody can keep up with Amber this year who has a comfortable lead in the posting league but I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has visited and posted to my threads in 2021 and today helped me pass 4,000 posts for this year .

>203 quondame: Oh that list is too tempting for me. I went through and marked all the ones that I had read and I scored 76. Don't know whether that is good or not, but it is probably ok.

I’m much more excited about the result of today’s Tour de France stage than I am about the football. Sorry football fans everywhere.

Book #71



Vice Versa by F. Anstey
Date of Publication : 1882
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 219 pp

Challenges:
Queen Vic Challenge : 12/64
BAC Challenge : 36

This was great fun and had me laughing out loud on numerous occasions. Brilliantly humorous writing from F. Anstey who I profess complete ignorance of before I researched books to read for this challenge. I hope I can find more of his books.

Mr Bultitude and his son Dick accidentally swap places as a magic stone leads to misadventures.

>206 SandDune: A close run thing for me but it was wonderful to see Mark Cavendish win so splendidly after having all and sundry write him off. Great to see no major crashes today either and the Peloton made a bit of a point early in the piece but nobody but themselves were knocking them off!

Tomorrow's time trial does not come at a great time for either Roglic or Thomas as both are nursing injuries. Literally no place to hide in the "contre-la-montre". Lucky that it isn't too long a test. Alaphillipe could do well again tomorrow but my tip is Wout Van Aert to be in Yellow tomorrow evening.

>205 PaulCranswick: Way higher than my score, but that's expected. The authors are so very earnest about its selections and I just sprinkle earnest over entertainment on the odd occasion.

I read Look at Me last year Paul. As you may know, I'm reading her books in order of publication. Her theme of loneliness is constant but it's the writing that keeps me coming back and not the sadness of the theme. The most glorious prose, consistently wonderful, book after book. She is the most underrated writer I've ever come across, in my opinion anyway. And very prolific too. I won't finish until early next year and I won't want to see this journey end.

>201 PaulCranswick: I didn't expect our team to come very far this time, Paul, so not much disappointment for me.
Though I didn't expect France to be defeated.

Congratulations on Englands win!

>210 quondame: There was some entertainment there too, Susan, but I get your point. Still it is a good list!

>211 brenzi: I thought of you, Bonnie, whilst reading the book - because of the author not the theme! She did win the Booker Prize but, you're right, her profile is still surprisingly low.

>212 FAMeulstee: Squabbles amongst the French are always likely to derail them, Anita. I was surprised by the Netherlands losing but also a little disappointed that some of the youthful talent such as Gravenberch did not get much of a chance.

>198 PaulCranswick: We all thought that Quidditch was your favorite sport!

>206 SandDune: *horrified gasp*

>207 PaulCranswick: I'm guessing from the title that this was the original that inspired so many 'swap' films.

>212 FAMeulstee: Now you're getting technical and I'll have to refer you to my kids if you want further conversation on the topic. My eldest is thrilled that his club, Chelsea, still has so many players in the tournament, spread across countries.

>215 m.belljackson: Hehehe I somehow can't see me airborne like that!

>216 humouress: I am also a bit proud that my club's players have been seen in this tournament and Phillips played his part yesterday too.

BOOK # 72



The Age of Capital by Eric Hobsbawm
Date of Publication : 1975
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 308 pp

Challenges :
British Historians (3/12)
Queen Betty Challenge : 27th book
52 Book Challenge : 25/52

Glorious spanning of a period of history which I must admit is not my especial area of interest previously in a world sense. Added very much to my understanding of Louis Napoleon III, the formation of Italy as a nation (only 2.5% of "Italians" actually spoke italian as a primary language in 1860) and the emergence of a world economy.

Hobsbawm describes the Robber Barons, the growth of the railways and the extraordinary movement of peoples between the chosen period of 1848-1875 in an analytical and informative manner. I always found him a difficult read as a student and I can still see why but my oh my his world view was comprehensive and brilliantly explained.

UPDATE ON MONTHLY READING PLAN

1 Still Waters by Sten (Around the world; 52 book) DONE 2 JUNE
2 Half a Life by Naipaul (BAC, Around the World) DONE 3 JUNE
3 Bell for Adano by Hersey (Pulitzer) DONE 4 JUNE
4 Hamnet by O'Farrell (BAC, 52 Book) DONE 5 JUNE
5 Injury Time by Bainbridge (BAC, Queen Betty) DONE 19 JUNE
6 The Age of Capital by Hobsbawm (BAC, Historians, Queen Betty) DONE 29 JUNE
7 No Turning Back by Naidoo (Booker, Around the World) DONE 27 JUNE
8 Dead Lions by Herron (Series Pair, BAC)
9 Real Tigers by Herron (Series Pair, BAC)
10 The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas (1001, Queen Vic) DONE 25 JUNE
11 Vice Versa by Anstey (Queen Vic, BAC) DONE 29 JUNE
12 The God Child by Ayim (Around the World, 52 Book) DONE 8 JUNE
13 Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl (Around the World) DONE 9 JUNE
14 The Acceptance World by Powell (52 Book, DTTMOF)
15 Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Isherwood (1001, BAC) DONE 11 JUNE
16 Vita Nova by Gluck (Poetry) DONE 8 JUNE
17 Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Benedetti (Around the World, 52 Book) DONE 6 JUNE
18 Look at Me by Brookner (BAC, Queen Betty) DONE 27 JUNE
19 My Country : A Syrian Memoir by Eid (Around the World) DONE 7 JUNE
20 In Paradise by Matthiessen (52 Book) DONE 22 JUNE
21 The Nightingale by Hannah (52 Book) DONE 23 JUNE
22 Cat and Mouse by Grass (Nobel, 1001, Around the World) DONE 26 JUNE
23 Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Solomons (Queen Betty) DONE 14 JUNE
24 Season of Migration to the North by Salih (Around the World) DONE 3 JUNE

1 day to go and three books still to finish.

Still I gave it a good go this month and I am happy to have read more than 20 books again for the first time in a while and including The Count of Monte Cristo in that total with its 1,169 pages.

Very impressive reading both in numbers and in terms of reading some non fiction and some classics, not to mention the length of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Are you planning to map out your July reading or just see how it goes, given that you presumably have to deal with moving and other real life interruptions to your reading?

>201 PaulCranswick: This lady from the Netherlands watches almost all sports and no disappointment for me.
I hope you're right about Wout Van Aert, I predicted the same. Jumbo Visma deserves a win after those painful days.

>220 elkiedee: I will be preparing my list for July today, Luci. Hani has a group of her friends coming over the next couple of days to help move and the management staff will help too. One friend wants to come just to help with the books. I will lose at least a full day but hope to pass 20 books again.

>221 DianaNL: I know you would be watching, Diana! Campenaerts could win for Belgium. Bauke Mollema is going well too and hopefully will place in the top ten.

“Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.”

Not true anymore :)

>219 PaulCranswick: Impressive, Paul, that you have very nearly hit a very ambitious goal. My June reading was pretty light (I was in a bit of a slump the first half of the month), so your number of books read has pulled just a hair beyond mine. Looks like I won't get to 75 'til next month, but I'm okay with that!

Hope you're enjoying all the great sports happening now. I've been watching Wimbledon as much as I can before and after work this week.

Well done you for reading so many books this month, including the Dumas monster! That's so impressive!

And congrats for passing 4000 posts!

>223 ctpress: That's what my husband said last night. Guess which team he (usually) supports?

>223 ctpress: Both our nations are doing well, Carsten. Denmark sentimental favourites with so many after the frightening scenes with Christian Erikkson.

>224 bell7: I think I would have made my 24 book target but for three things:

1 I included Monte Cristo
2 We finished up having to move house and house hunting took up a bit of time
3 I got knocked out for a day and a half after my AZ jab.

>225 scaifea: You have made quite the comeback, Amber, posting wise in an otherwise quiet year with almost 4,700 posts already. I am quite pleased with my June reading - it is a little bit more like it!

>226 humouress: Hani was quite disgracefully supporting Germany last night much to the chagrin of Kyran who generally doesn't even like football. She went to bed while I was still euphoric and then feigned sleep when I turned in to avoid my smugness!

>227 PaulCranswick: ...and 4) included Hobsbawm and his sesquipedalian arabesques of fact-melded opinionographizing.

I mean, really! What chance did a quantitative goal stand in the face of that?

>229 richardderus: Hahaha RD, there were one or two facts and figures to go with the long winded revisionisms. I didn't make it so easy for myself by choosing Hobsbawm this month as it always takes me an age to read him.

I have added Mrs Warren's Profession at the last minute. Fits my Queen Vic challenge and is a two hour watch and read along. GBS is always smile-worthy as well as thought provoking and some of the scenes explaining the choice of, erm, profession are particularly compelling.

>230 PaulCranswick: One closer, then! And always a hoot, is our Shaw.

I have picked the 24 books I will dutifully try and polish off in July and will list them down tomorrow.

Richard will no doubt be "pleased" to see Chuckles given a run out with Our Mutual Friend, then we'll have the latest Pulitzer winner, Le Clezio finally will get read, we will visit Malta, Greece, Nigeria, Mexico, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Mauritania as well as books to celebrate those two Queens Vic and Betty. Oh and just for Marianne I shall read my first Potty Harry book.

>231 richardderus: I like that one (Mrs Warren) above averagely, RD.

>233 PaulCranswick: It does sparkle a good bit.

>232 PaulCranswick: Ain't *MY* brain gettin' fried by Chuckles's dreary tendentious foot-draggery.

Hello Paul

I've been out of touch and haven't posted or read a lot. All the projects in the house are consuming, plus I still carry grief regarding losing Will. It is time to get on. I've become a hermit, and my personality is usually outgoing.

Thinking of you and the fact that I need to get back it touch. All good wishes.

>236 elkiedee: If you're going to read Harry Potter you should at also, sometime, read some of the better writers whose ideas JKR pinched. I recommend Diana Wynne Jones, Charmed Life and - this should be a really really quick read - The Worst Witch bu |Jill Murphy (written when the author was in her teens). I suggest those two especially, and someone on MUmsnet suggested another book I don't remember the title of - because it's possible that JKR read them herself when young - I think only about 5 or 6 of DWJ's books had been published by the end of the 1970s or by the time JKR was 13 or 14, and the rest of the Worst Witch books also didn't appear until the 80s and 90s, though reading them with her oldest kid might have been a thing too.

>236 elkiedee: There are some similarities between Harry and Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic, too. When Gaiman was asked about it, he said something like they were just both stealing from T. H. White.

ETA: Wikipedia apparently has an entire page dedicated to Harry Potter influences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_influences_and_analogues

>234 richardderus: It is one of the few Dickens I haven't yet read, RD, so I will "enjoy" it for the both of us.

>235 Whisper1: Lovely to have you stop by, dear Linda. I haven't been up my old self in terms of getting round the threads either but hope that can be remedied soon. Grief is a capricious companion as we try to resolve remembrance, loneliness and a real need to see through the days.

>236 elkiedee: Poor old Rowling, Luci, she really does get a bad press these days! I have read some Diana Wynn Jones before and was entertained by it. Pinched is maybe a bit harsh - influenced perhaps? Every line of poetry I have ever smeared across the page bears the influences of everything I have read before but I don't necessarily set out to ape - having said that I have consciously tried to write individual poems in the "style" of Hardy or Heaney or Berryman. The fact that I will never be able to breathe the same rarefied air is found in the result. Whatever one's thoughts on Rowling (and I have never liked her particularly though I think the efforts to try to get her cancelled are pretty despicable) it is impossible to exaggerate the impact of her work on a generation of slightly younger readers - the zeitgeist information even on this site is proof of it.

>237 amanda4242: Yes, Amanda - just as Tolkien's Middle Earth was sketched around Norse mythology as its starting point.

BOOK #73



Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw
Date of Publication : 1893
Origin of Author : UK (Ireland)
Pages : 98 pp

Challenges :
BAC : 37
Queen Vic Challenge : (13/64)

It took nine years to get this play performed in the West End of London because of the frankness of the discussion on prostitution and when it was first performed in New York the cast and crew were arrested by the police there. This is Shaw's perceptive and powerful treatment of the "noble profession" and the exploitation of women by male privilege. Vivie (the daughter) is in some ways the heroine for asserting her independence but Mrs Warren steals the show with her compelling justification of her life and work.

I read along whilst enjoying the 1974 BBC play starring Coral Browne and a young Penelope Wilton. What an actress Ms Browne was!

Required reading for Shaw devotees.

JUNE 2021 READING ROUND UP

BOOKS READ : 22

PAGES READ : 6,131 PAGES

PAGES PER DAY : 204.37 PAGES

LONGEST BOOK : 1,169 PAGES (THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO)

SHORTEST BOOK : 51 PAGES (VITA NOVA)

AVERAGE BOOK LENGTH : 278.68

BOOKS BY MEN : 13

BOOKS BY WOMEN : 9

ORIGIN OF AUTHORS : 8 UK ; 4 USA ; 1 SWEDEN, TRINIDAD, SUDAN, URUGUAY, SYRIA, GHANA, AUSTRIA, FRANCE, GERMANY, SOUTH AFRICA

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE : 7 BOOKS
PULITZER WINNERS : 1 BOOK
1001 BOOKS FIRST ED : 3 BOOKS
NEW NOBEL WINNERS : 1 (GUNTER GRASS)
QUEEN VIC BOOKS : 3 BOOKS
QUEEN BETTY BOOKS : 5 BOOKS
AROUND THE WORLD BOOKS : 9 COUNTRIES

BOOK OF THE MONTH :

Very difficult choice but I think it has to be :

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell



If the Count had been 400 pages shorter, it would have won!

READING PLAN FOR JULY 2021

1. The Badger : Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling by William Fotheringham
2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
3. The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
4. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
5. Arab Jazz by Karim Miske
6. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
7. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
8. Fifteen Decisive Battles by Edward Shepherd Creasy
9. Hurry Me Down by John Wain
10. Rendang by Will Harris
11. The Acceptance World by Anthony Powell
12. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
13. Freedom and Death by Nikos Kazantzakis
14. The Devil's Pool by George Sand
15. The Famished Road by Ben Okri
16. The Corridors of Power by CP Snow
17. Arthur Gordon Pym by Edgar Allan Poe
18. The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
19. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
20. The Kingdom of this World by Alejo Carpentier
21. Happy Families by Carlos Fuentes
22. Throwing Sparks by Abdo Khal
23. The Prospector by JMG Le Clezio
24. Trilby by George du Maurier

I forgot about the house move Paul. When is the big day? It's in the same block?

>243 Caroline_McElwee: Started moving today, Caroline. The old and new units share the same service lift but to enter the unit from the main entrance we need to use a different lift. Technically it is the same block.

All the best wishes for the house move, Paul.
Hopefully everything stays intact and if not, then only things you don't like anyway.

Good luck with moving day, Paul!

>245 SirThomas: Hahaha Thomas, I wouldn't mind one or two of Hani's huge chinaware ornament biting the dust but don't for heaven's sake tell her!

Have managed to move TBR books A-C; my poetry/play collection and my essential books (those I have read but will always cherish and keep for future re-reads.

Will manage to move until G today and the rest tomorrow.

Also, I agree with you about Rowling and the pinching. There's nothing new under the sun and that's been the case for a very long time already. No one writes in a cultural or literary vacuum, so of course she's been influenced by the likes of DWJ et al. Heck, even Dante essentially wrote Vergil fanfiction... So yeah, she didn't pinch anything, really.

>246 scaifea: Thanks Amber. Two of Hani's (and my) close friends have come over to help with the move. The two ladies are helping me transport the books to the new place and stack them strategically to receive the bookcases which will be moved tomorrow.

>248 scaifea: Hehehe trust you to choose such an erudite example, Amber.

I repeat Ms Rowling is not my favourite individual (although I do think the transgender drama was exaggerated immensely) but she is not guilty of plagiarism I am fairly sure. I think Luci makes very valid points about the other books having more merit to an adult readership but Rowling got her target market spot on and the release of her books was timed perfectly. I do think that she probably kept some bookshops open herself with the sales and excitement her books generated.

Good luck with the rest of the move, Paul. I don't envy you; moving is probably number one on my list of things I try to avoid at all costs.

At least it's close.

>250 PaulCranswick: I haven't really decided what I think of Rowling as a person, honestly, but there's no denying she's had a fantastic impact on children's lit, and she has inspired *so* many kiddos into a love a reading, so she's definitely done something right. I'm not sure I agree that her books have less merit than other middle grade authors. I do love DWJ, but I'm not sure I think her books are intrinsically *better*, and the Worst Witch series lacks storytelling nuance. All of that is a matter of opinion, though, of course!

>251 jessibud2: I am getting dirty looks from the ladies whilst having a "tea break" and catching up with threads. I don't like moving and the inevitable lower back-pain that is bound to arrive.

>252 scaifea: Me too with Rowling, Amber.

I cannot give my opinion on her books as I haven't yet read any but her influence is undeniable.

I agree that every writer has influences - in music, I'm very into genres of music where there are a lot of cover versions and sharing - but part of that culture in folk music or Americana, say, is actually sharing that information and taking people back to the music that influenced you. I love to hear writers doing that too. I'm disappointed when that doesn't seem to happen.

On liking people, I don't much like the public persona that comes across from JKR. I read and buy lots of books by writers who don't share my views (and there aren't many who share my views on everything, and some of the ones who are closer write books which don't appeal, or that do but might not leap to the top of my pile. The only ones I boycott totally so far are mostly Tory MPS plus Tony Parsons (I really disliked his first novel so deciding never to read another of his books wasn't a difficult decision, and I've read various things which haven't changed my mind). But I'm angry with quite a lot of writers, not just JKR, here, about some of the things that they've come out with on social media. A lot of snobbery, a lot of blaming, a lot of mythologising, quite significant amounts of prejudice of various kinds.

I trot out my favorite example when the subject of writer-versus-writing comes out: I abhor Céline's opinions; I treasure Death on the Installment Plan. Art ≠ artist.

That said, if I'd known Rowling was a TERF, I'd never have picked up one of her books. I won't knowingly give my money to someone whose views I dislike, eg Orson Scott Card, but won't condemn their work just because I disagree with them.

>253 PaulCranswick: I pre-load ibuprofen when I know I'll have to lift and tote. It seems to have helped some.

So many of my younger LGBTQ+ friends who grew up reading HP and getting messages of acceptance were deeply hurt by her TERF stand. As for OSC, well we knew what we were getting, its not like there was any big reveal and Ill read his books without being in danger of absorbing his views.

>254 elkiedee: Social media is a hateful medium - well a medium that is being used hatefully and is being trawled to try to out any misstep by any individual at any stage of their lives. Even from this remove I am sick to death of the cancel culture that seems to be an inevitable part of that world. I am firmly of the view that - within reason - people should be entitled to their opinions and to express them so long as they stay within the confines of the law.

>255 richardderus: I am not qualified, RD, to say who is and who isn't a TERF and what that in reality actually means. I don't really like people being labelled and would much sooner try and make up my own mind about them. There is a debate that needs to be had openly about all this binary, non-binary, lived-experience phraseology that I certainly in this remote outpost don't fully understand. As you know I do not agree or condone prejudice against anyone for reasons of race, religion, age, gender, sexuality or class but I do think that there are blurred lines here that need some help defining for the ill-informed or less informed (which includes myself most likely).

Personally I can understand that a simple expression of someone who is physiologically masculine but now profess to consider themselves a woman would give ladies using public toilets some fear for their safety - wrongly-founded or not. By the same token someone coming past puberty in a male body and then competing against women in sport is palpably unfair to the non-trans ladies as they will not be able to compete in a number of sports. The fact that it is estimated that more than 1,500 men could easily beat Serena at tennis is obviously open-season to abuse and I am at a complete loss as to how to deal with issues like that and be fair to everybody. I don't have the answers but I can understand the concerns. That said, I would strongly uphold the right to anyone to transgender whether man or woman if genuinely held.

I agree with you, dear fellow, that it is quite possible and sometimes advantageous to read books by people you don't agree with even if it is to re-confirm your own convictions. Fiction or poetry is fiction or poetry and someones personal views would not stop me reading but usually hateful opinions will out even in fiction.

As many are aware, my favourite sport is cycling and the hero of my youth Robert Millar, the wonderful if socially awkward Scottish climber, is now a heroine by the name of Philippa York having transgendered in the 2010s. Still my favourite ever cyclist and I would never have taken up the sport if it wasn't for him/her.

>256 quondame: I have popped a couple of pills already, Susan!

I actually think that Rowling, intentionally or not, did help to widen the public debate and I'm not sure that she was in reality attacking the transgender community to the extent it has been portrayed. She objected to the stipulation abroad that women refer to themselves or be referred to as "people who menstruate" rather than as women and I have to say I would not be comfortable and would cause considerable offence and distress to many ladies by referring to them in such terms. I may be missing some point or other but surely someone who transitions from male to female can then be referred to as a woman? Surely they would not want to be referred to as "people who do not menstruate"?

It seems to me people are being too precious rather than accepting. If we are all for protecting each other's rights then surely Rowling has a perfect right to refer to herself as a woman and not be brow-beaten into accepting another term she (and i am sure she is not alone) is not comfortable with.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/333389

>258 PaulCranswick: I'm pretty much with you on this Paul, as far as my opinion goes, and I have work to do on forming it. When I did menstruate, no that is not how I would wish to be described. I suspect the majority of trans women would not wish that on me either.

I think as a person very much involved in supporting children Rowling seems to be most concerned by the number of young people who have had transition surgery, and regret it. I think what she is asking is that while young people have a right to be who they are, and should be supported to be so they should perhaps be encouraged to wait until they are older to have their operations. Who among us knew enough about life aged 14 to make such life changing decisions. Very few.

On the safety of those who were biologically female and remain so, there is a potential safety issue from biological males who abuse the trans concept. If you need to do nothing but declare you are trans to gain access to female spaces, then violence will occur, to both biological and I presume trans women. Originally trans women were put in female prisons, until it was proven not all were authentically trans. Now they have their own prison wings. Though I am concerned that still leaves a potential problem.

Hi Paul, another comprehensive win for the England boys over Sri Lanka in the second fifty over ODI and alongside this, Super Cav takes his second stage win of this years Tour. This must be the first time that Eddy Merckx has been sweating with Cav nearing his record and he has five more chances in this Tour as long has he can get over the Mountains in a reasonably good condition.

>259 SilverWolf28: Thanks Silver. I will be in once I get moved.

>260 Caroline_McElwee: I do find this a very troubling and difficult issue, Caroline, and I believe that it should be possible to have a sensible discussion on this without the defensiveness and vituperation. I do think that transition surgery should only be permitted on people above the legal age of consent to protect the sanctity of their choices.

The raising of concerns for a need to discuss certain points clearly does not equate to being transphobic and I repeat that the cancel culture is not helpful and is just as illiberal as the prejudice they want to rail against.

>261 johnsimpson: We are a completely different outfit in One Day and T20 cricket, John. That said I am still irritated by the selections. I see little justification for the inclusion of Billings or especially Tom Curran in the team. Honestly does anyone think he is a better allrounder than Ryan Higgins or even Darren Stevens?

I am made-up (as we say) for Cavendish. I honestly didn't think he would be able to recover his form of five years ago and I am struggling in cycling to think of a precedent. There have been signs this season that he was at least enjoying racing again but the stars have aligned for him too. His teammate and star sprinter out with injury so Cavendish gets selected, the strength and support of a great team and the fall and retirement of the potentially faster Caleb Ewan. All this tough cannot detract from a wonderful performance.

>262 PaulCranswick: I'd prefer if the very term cancel culture was dropped from the repertoire of people I believe to be of good will. Saying you disagree with someone or some view doesn't cancel anything.

I feel that young people within a caring family will make a better choice that outsiders, and if a mistake is made, the result will probably be less devastating than what would happen if the young person in question felt unseen or neglected or forced into an unwanted identity. But then I don't think anyone should marry before 25, and after that should be able to structure their family in whatever manner they like, all partner's being agreeable and of age - and able to leave with a suitable share of assets.

>258 PaulCranswick: She objected to the stipulation abroad that women refer to themselves or be referred to as "people who menstruate" rather than as women and I have to say I would not be comfortable and would cause considerable offence and distress to many ladies by referring to them in such terms.

I had to look into this because it baffled me. And after doing so, I'm still baffled. It's an article about people who menstruate, not about women. It's a valid distinction in this case, and it has nothing to do with trans vs cis people. There are trans women who don't menstruate, obviously, but there are also menopausal women, women who have had hysterectomies, etc. So if you're talking about who needs hygiene supplies, "women" is simultaneously unnecessarily broad as well as unnecessarily exclusionary to people who identify as non-binary or something else but would need those supplies.

Hope the move is going/went okay? Just think of the enjoyment of sorting all those books! *Happy sigh*

Also Happy Friday :)

>264 quondame: I wouldn't disagree with anything in your post Susan other than I am pleased that Hani was able to evade your stipulation and marry at 23!

I am a believer that people should be entitled, within reason, to hold and espouse their views on almost any topic without it leading to undue discord and especially to campaigns for the banning of books and seeking publishers and film productions companies to drop or ban someone because someone's views don't necessarily accord with that that is perceived to be the consensus. For example, I cannot agree with and find distasteful the views of those orthodox christians or muslims who believe that homosexuality is per se sinful but, within reason, they do have a right to the view because otherwise the accusers of homophobia could also be guilty of islamophobia or anti-clericalism! The model for a decent society is one where true toleration exists and that includes the peaceful toleration of opposing ideas. Where that falls and why the caveat is always "within reason" is the possibility of inciting hatred or violence in espousing inflammatory remarks based on race, religion, gender, age or sexuality. It is sometimes a fine line.

>265 ursula: I was making my own formative view on that particular phrase Ursula. Quite clearly a person who menstruates does not cover all women and obviously excludes the gender of pre-pubescent girls, those with health issues and those ladies who have gone through menopause as well as transgender ladies. They would all be part of womanhood for me so I would be hugely uncomfortable with such terminology which, especially as a man is likely to offend. I will go on referring to my female friends as ladies or women as it has stood me in fairly good stead for 55 years and the suggested alternative would soon place me in trouble in Malaysia.

>267 PaulCranswick: Still in process, Bekka. I am trying to keep a low profile!

I don't think you can go wrong with either Hamnet or The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm overdue for a re-read of the Dumas book. It's probably my all-time favorite.

>269 thornton37814: It was my hardest pick for my book of the month so far, Lori.

>253 PaulCranswick: Hello from Hogwarts!

>271 m.belljackson: Harry started tomorrow, I'll have you know Dumbledore!

Are you living in your new place? Or are you still moving? I am much more interested in that ongoing saga than in Potty Harry.

I should mention that I finally caved in and started listening to the recorded versions of these books and find that very average and even the exceptional talents of Jim Dale as narrator can't change that. My main question with this series and other series I have read is why do the later books in a series get longer and longer and longer. I am working my way through the Grishaverse books by Leigh Bardugo now, and each book is 50 pages longer than the preceding one. Why? If Bardugo was able to set up the framework for the entire Grishaverse in three books of 350 pages, shouldn't she be able to continue the story in the same number of pages rather than the 597 that the book I am currently reading.

Good luck with moving, Paul.

The only part of moving I like is putting the books back on the shelves :-)

>204 PaulCranswick: It's posters like you - and your many followers - who make me feel inadequate for still being on my very first thread, even though I'm well ahead of schedule for the 75 books target. (47 in the first 6 months; I rock, or maybe just read ;-) *grin*

>218 PaulCranswick: another one for my "to read"list. I'm a sucker for history, and to an extent also for economics and sociology.

>257 PaulCranswick: The sad thing about social media is the almost complete absence of nuance. I miss blogging, where fairly ordinary people (not wannabee "influencers") wrote about their lives and concerns, generally in a long format that made it obvious they (mostly) weren't a stereotype in a human body.

>258 PaulCranswick: As a female-bodied post-menopausal genderqueer, I figure "people who menstruate" should be limited to contexts like "the target demographic for supplies to manage that bodily function."

OTOH, I like nuance. So I'm fine with having "people who identify as women", "people raised as girls", "people who menstruate", "people who appear female to random strangers", and as many other terms as people care to imagine, with the understanding that no two terms select the same group of people.

I don't like the insistence of some transgender activists and their allies that the only valid meaning for "woman" is "person who identifies as female". And it gets worse when some of them inform me that people like me - no gender identity to speak of, except in terms of shared experiences - cannot possibly exist.

Fortunately most transgender people (sic) don't do these things, and even the self-identified activists don't all do them.

>264 quondame: You write "I'd prefer if the very term cancel culture was dropped from the repertoire of people I believe to be of good will." I agree.

>272 PaulCranswick: And I'll raise you a Hagrid!

Good luck with the move, Paul. Hope you don’t lose anything in the process. I always seem to lose something when I move.

Transgender issues can be very difficult to get right even for well-meaning bystanders. I was talking to Jacob’s girlfriend recently who referred to one of his friends as ‘she’. Oh no, I said, he’s a he, thinking that it was possible that they had not met in person. Only to then remember that I had been told that ‘he’ was now ‘she’ but I had forgotten about this fact. And then worried in case I came over as transphobic in some way …

>273 benitastrnad: Still in the old place, Benita, because I don't have internet in the new place. They came yesterday but said the previous owner had "cut the cable". Beds and TV and the garden table left here.

I go into Potty Harry with no expectations!

>274 FAMeulstee: Me too, Anita!

>275 ArlieS: Certainly the last thing I would ever want is for you to feel inadequate! I am one of your followers by the way and will post over at your place often.

The absence of nuance is a good point to make.

I think that in a truly tolerant world people have to think of themselves in relation to others as well as themselves and there should be an absence of aggression when other people are coming to understand.

>276 m.belljackson: You will soon have me run out of things to say here, Hermione!

>277 Familyhistorian: I think you are right but the fact that we are moving two floors in the same building in another wing of the same block should help minimise the risk!

>278 SandDune: I think your lovely anecdote encapsulates the problems faced by so many of us, Rhian! I have found this issue one where there is a presumption of phobic behaviour and an eagerness to condemn that really doesn't help.

>280 PaulCranswick: Alas, non, we've still got The Twins to befriend!

And Hagrid would have made smooth quick short work, NO magic involved,
in moving everything into your new place, though maybe with a dragon watching over.

>282 m.belljackson: I am hoping my efforts to transport the books in some sort of order doesn't mean I have any trouble finding them again!

>279 PaulCranswick: "cut the cable"? How unpleasant.

Have a wonderful weekend, Paul.

>284 DianaNL: At least we are able to flit between the two units, Diana. I am promised that the internet will be resolved by Monday.

Books sorted and shelved A-K and poetry so far. Will get the rest done tomorrow but my reading is suffering.

Happy move, Paul! So much work, but it sounds like you have it under control.

I read a slightly abbreviated version of Count of Monte Cristo in my high school honors English class. It was the absolutely perfect time to read it and fall in love with all the improbable romantic tale.

Have you been following the collapse of the Florida condominium? If so, I'd be interested in your professional opinion.

>286 streamsong: Thanks Janet, Hani's friends have it much more under control than I!

I think a slightly abridged version of the book would be even more effective.

I have studied it a little bit, Janet and a few things are immediately apparent:

1) Serious waterproofing failures were reported three years ago at the pool deck which over time would have a deleterious impact upon the slab below. It would surprise me if that alone was sufficient to have caused the collapse of the building and I believe that cracks and honeycombing was observed throughout the structure which clearly needed quite urgent attention.

2) The building was completed in 1981 some forty years ago and was probably close to the end of its intended lifespan without major renovation/reconstructive works being implemented to give it more longevity.

3) Building warranties for waterproofing are typically for a period of ten years so I can imagine that the building owners/management would have faced considerable expense in restitution which a sinking fund and monthly maintenance fees probably wouldn't have covered. This would have caused further crucial delay, unless the housing was public/civic owned in which case the local authority would have been required to act.

I'm not sure where the owners would go with negligence claims on a building 40 years old.

>287 PaulCranswick: I'm not sure where the owners would go with negligence claims on a building 40 years old. ...disclosure...? I got nothin' really, except "you bought into a 40-year-old reinforced concrete building built on sand, there's no one to blame here but you."

>288 richardderus: I think we have to see the proven cause of the collapse, RD, before we are in any position to look at who is liable for it.

Design? Unlikely, it stood for forty years

Workmanship? Original workmanship is also unlikely on a longevity issue.

Building maintenance and repair : Quite possibly but I'm not sure how the repairs are funded and who is responsible for doing them. It seems that urgent repairs were identified three years ago but were not yet actioned. Not sure why? Were the buyers themselves required to undertake the repairs and didn't or was it a local authority responsibility.

Subterranean issues - land movement, erosion, failure of retaining structures? Needs to be investigated.

I don't know enough about building regulations in Florida to make an accurate judgement on this but I would hazard that the apportioning of blame will be difficult.

>289 PaulCranswick: Lotsa lotsa litigation, many many hours of discussing rules, laws, regulations, what torts vs crimes (if any) were committed vs simply ignoring common sense (there is no rock in that part of Florida, only limestone, rent don't buy!)....

It'll be years before the pretrial motions are done, with any "luck" sea-level rise will take care of the whole thing before it clogs the court dockets for years.

Good luck with the move, Paul, although yours seems to be a supervisory position. Having the same service lift must make things easier.

>290 richardderus: Yep, RD, sure to be a quagmire. Most lawyers of course have pre-trial motions given the stress associated with the profession.

>291 humouress: Thanks Nina. Yes, my role has been called into question a couple of times already!

The match score is looking pretty good right now :0)

>293 humouress: Just finished and I'm off to shut-eye, Nina. I'll certainly take 4-0! Well done to Gareth Southgate's team. This is a team unlike the usual over-hyped egos that used to appear.

FWIW, Paul, the NYTimes has reported on squabbling amongst the condo's board about the cost of repairs for deficiencies reported by inspectors. I believe when you buy a condo unit, you obligate yourself to share in paying for upkeep and maintenance. In this case, the required repairs were estimated to cost about $14 million. The bitching and moaning about the cost prevented any meaningful work to be begun in the three years since the inspection done and the alarm sounded.

>295 weird_O: Bill, I kind of expected as much as I can imagine the costs concerned maybe a wee bit prohibitive. That is one of the problems with collective ownership via strata titles which usually require payment of maintenance fees and contribution to a sinking fund for essential repairs. This needs to be managed and operated professionally and with responsibility. I don't know for sure that, that was not the case here but three years does seem a long time to procrastinate on urgent repair work.

Today has been a toughie. All books sorted out and I awoke from my gin and tonic fuelled joy at winning in the Euros yesterday at 12 noon. Completely unheard of from me. I will ret to get round threads later.

Late wakeups can be very disorienting, Paul. Just pace yourself....

>298 jessibud2: Yes, Shelley I do feel unduly bushed! I'm getting a little bit long in the tooth for this moving malarkey!

>297 PaulCranswick: Organising books *shiver of excitement*

Hold your horses, Paul; we're through to the semis, which is good, but we haven't won the competition.

Hi Paul!

Yay for Yasmyne coming home soon, even though she will have to quarantine for 10 days.

>104 PaulCranswick: Well, my goodness. Actually going to read the first Potty Harry book. I’ll be very interested to read what you think about it.

>150 PaulCranswick: Cat and Mouse added to my wish list. I don’t enjoy reading about WWII much anymore, but this is appealing for some reason.

>239 PaulCranswick: Rowling’s bad press doesn’t prevent me from re-reading and re-listening to the Harry Potter series. It’s clever and rich and well-written. I’m also thrilled with her Cormoran Strike/Robin Ellacott series, written under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith.

>241 PaulCranswick: Congrats on an amazing June. Well done.

>258 PaulCranswick: Rowling certainly has the right to her opinion about how she defines herself as a woman, but to exert the influence and power she clearly has to try to define what it is to be a woman in general is disturbing. Being in the public eye means she’s going to get serious blowback, of course, which she and people who support her position shouldn’t whine about. I disagree with her opinion about what it is to be a woman 100%.

>273 benitastrnad: Books get longer for three main reasons, IMO, Benita. First is trying to please fans with MORE of their favorite characters/plots/fictional worlds, second is the ability to churn out huge volumes because of the now-decades-old-ability to put stuff in a word processor or computer and not have to just hand-write it or use a typewriter, and third, because editors are less critical of what their popular authors send them. They don’t have to help an author write well enough to get published. Not every editor, and not every author, of course…

>275 ArlieS: responding to Paul’s >258 PaulCranswick: Perfect.

>279 PaulCranswick: I go into Potty Harry with no expectations! Expectation of perhaps a good read?

>287 PaulCranswick: Thanks for your thoughts about the Florida condominium collapse.

>297 PaulCranswick: Congrats on ‘All books sorted out’. You have more than twice as many books as I do, and I cannot imagine moving my mere 5000.

>287 PaulCranswick: >288 richardderus: etc. Lots of food for thought. I've been following it a bit since at one time I was going to buy a condo unit for my son while he was in grad school.

That's interesting that you say the lifetime of that sort of building is forty years. I'm sure the residents had the expectations that the money they had invested in the units would continue to grow as many Americans see their residence as their primary investment. When we were looking at condos, we did not consider the age of the building or ask to see any inspection reports for the building as a whole. We were outbid every time, as condo units in the San Francisco bay area were routinely going for 20% and more above the asking price.

Stuff I've gathered from various reports (no idea of accuracy).

There was a design flaw in that a slab that was supposed to be slanted to allow water to flow away was level.

Residents had been told that it they would be assessed another $100,000 each for repairs besides the standard maintenance fees.

The report from three years ago was denied by officials saying none of it was critical.

Some blame on climate change (heartily denied) and rising levels of salty ocean ground water below buildings.

There are videos being posted online about nearby buildings also showing cracks and standing water in the basement parking garages. These are of course being denounced as 'causing panic'.

>302 streamsong: And *now* there's some muttering about the steel supports being insufficient from the get-go...not as specified in the design drawings.

This is why a condo is a nightmare unless you've been there from Step One and *know* what was done, when, and by whom.

Glad your move was a success. Hope you didn't drop any books down the elevator shaft. (!!) You did remember to move the bed and the comfy chair, right? For some reason, I think we'll see a new thread emerge from your new homeplace.

>300 humouress: Indeed Nina. One game at a time.

>301 karenmarie: Thanks for the comprehensive comments, Karen. I do believe very much in the right of free speech although I do acknowledge that Rowling's privileged position brings responsibility with it too. I am afraid sometimes with the vituperation expounded by some in this debate (I mean worldwide not in our group) there is sometimes a danger of tyranny by minority as people become worried about raising questions as it tends to bring so venom down when most are merely trying to better understand.

>302 streamsong: Janet, generally areas such as toilets and bathrooms would be "built to fall" or in other words in such a way that water could flow to the lowest point and be discharged via a flow trap/drain. It wouldn't normally be that the slab would be structurally built to slant too markedly as it is normally made up via the concrete screed or other finishes. You would normally discharge the water so that it would drain to a number of scupper drains over a larger structure. A more likely problem in an older structure is that it could well not have been sufficiently flat and that would result in a propensity for water to pond rather than discharge.

Salt water/air is noticeably corrosive and normally nowadays you would put an additive into the concrete mix to combat this and the reinforcing bar would often be galvanized or even epoxy coated to prevent the bars losing their strength and the concrete its compressive strength over time. This could contribute to the building decay.

On the building life span it is difficult to say exactly as some buildings exceed 100 years with no major changes needed but they would have been very well constructed and almost certainly have over-designed (purposely) sub-structures/foundations with very strong anchoring. I'm sure that the foundation design will be analysed for the collapsed building. Many buildings are often in need of major attention from about 35 years onwards.

I have no idea about the other issues raised.

>303 richardderus: It is a tragedy, RD, but if the repairs were clearly necessary they should have been done and I'm sure that the management of the condo if acting decisively could have found a way to finance the repairs over time using a future sinking fund. This type of financing model would be available even in Malaysia.

There is of course the issue of why building inspectors (buildings are meant to be inspected periodically) found no major cause for concern as they could, if the circumstances warrant, have condemned the property as unsafe.

>304 weird_O: Hahaha I should get my internet to the new place tomorrow and I fear it will be followed by a new thread.

I wonder how much construction and maintenance is regulated in the US, or how much existing regulations are enforced? This may vary according to state legislation or city regulation.

Here, the aftermath of tragedies such as the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 has shown up a lot of problems. What you say as an engineer makes a lot of sense, Paul, but property ownership and the way it's been sold as a concept over many years here doesn't really have this idea that buildings can't just be expected to stay up and work without major work over time. Under the Private Finance Initiative building regulation responsibility and checking seems to have been transferred from local authorities and the public sector to developers and contractors. One council leader when cladding was discovered on a local estate kept saying but they didn't do what was specified in the contract. I'm sure that's true, but it was because the contract didn't provide for the council to inspect the materials used in new construction for basic things like fire safety. Because that was part of the deregulation of everything since the 1970s.

Also, a lot of former council property sold under Right to Buy from the 1980s to the present has now been sold on, in some cases to people who didn't really understand the implications of what they were being sold, and probably didn't have good, independent legal advice - estate agents here are acting for sellers, yet it's common for them to recommend/refer buyers to solicitors for conveyancing - surely a conflict of interet.

Hmm I know I didn't explain the tilting slab thing, correctly. Here's a quote : "The report said the waterproofing under the pool deck had failed and had been improperly laid flat instead of sloped, preventing water from draining off." https://apnews.com/article/fl-state-wire-florida-2a241993956ea842262e593812ad3ad...

I'm glad we weren't successful buying a condo unit. I clearly don't know enough about the process.

Thanks for your comments!

Ha re your G&T fuelled celebration.

Glad all your books are sorted Paul. Very impressed. Hope you have a well deserved kip tonight.

>309 streamsong:

In the newspaper this morning an article on the condo collapse said that the area of beach in and around Surfside, Florida has been subsiding. Last year the land (sand) in that area dropped 2 inches. Other parts of Florida are subsiding as well. That combined with sea level rise is going to cause problems for many U.S. Cities. Americans tend to think of this kind of thing as a third world problem but it is going to become ours as well.

>308 elkiedee: Very good post, Luci.
I don't pretend to even begin to understand the building regulations and approval processes in the USA and my knowledge of those in the UK are theoretical and outdated, I suppose. Malaysia's practices are based upon and largely developed from British practice and standards and I have to say in fairness that the fire department in particular is extremely capable and diligent in making building inspections. Local authority inspections and processes are cumbersome and in truth dependent both upon individual authorities and particular inspecting officers.

>309 streamsong: I don't think condo ownership is a great long term investment in that the costs of maintenance and eventually renewal are often overlooked. The importance of a very able building manager could not be stressed more.

>310 Caroline_McElwee: I am a bit tired, Caroline, but have thankfully got back to reading!

>311 benitastrnad: I suspect, Benita, that it is a combination of adverse factors that have misaligned! The US (administrations, I mean) has stood aside from tackling the issue and danger of climate change for too long and in many case even denying its existence. Simply the system is too in thrall to big vested interests such as the fossil fuel lobby.

BOOK #74



Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling by William Fotheringham
Date of Publication : 2015
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 345 pp

Challenges
Queen Betty Challenge : 28/70
BAC : 38th book

In my lifetime a number of cyclists have dominated Grand Tour road racing - Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong but Hinault was the most obsessed to dominate (not just to win) and the most Machiavellian (in a non-cheating way). He was a brute who could seemingly win when he wanted to and who controlled the Peloton by the sheer force of his personality. With Bernard Tapie he modernised cycling and started the process that made it a "money sport" at the same time marginalising future French champions.

Fascinating reading for me about someone who was an icon of my youth and also the final section of the book which discusses why since Hinault in 1985 no Frenchman has won the tour. Systematic cheating certainly played a role although I know that the sixties and seventies and early eighties French pros were not exactly clean either. The decline of the sport in comparison with rugby and soccer in France also played a role.

I believe the only cyclist I saw in action who could have beaten an EPO fuelled Armstrong was Hinault by sheer force of will and certainty in his own majesty. For fans only of course.

Marianne will be pleased to know that my 75th book will be Potty Harry.

Part of my bookcases in their proper place:

>316 PaulCranswick: It really is so lovely. I'm very jealous.

>317 BekkaJo: I'm pleased with the result but I'm still a little short of shelving space.

Hi Paul
Trying to catch up with the threads after being MIA for awhile. I have been intrigued by your thoughts on the condo collapse and JK Rowling. Love all of your bookshelves - I had to downsize and split up my library amongst a few rooms when I moved.

>316 PaulCranswick: Ooh, that looks good!

>316 PaulCranswick: That looks nice Paul!

Hi Paul, I'm not even going to try to read 321 posts and previous thread.

Just picking up from here on and hope to do better this time.

Hi Paul!

>316 PaulCranswick: Wonderful. Hardwood floors, lots of bookshelves crammed full of books. Such a pleasing sight for a bibliomaniac.

>318 PaulCranswick: Still a little short of shelving space.? Any chance of buying lots of bookends and placing books on the tops of those shelves? I have done that in both my Library and Sunroom and keep a stepladder nearby for when I have to get to any of those books.

I have bookshelf envy!

I am also suffering from Bookshelf envy. I have 6 bookcases in my living room that are stuffed and want to add four more in my dining room. To do that I will have to take out the table. Do I eat in that room? No. Removing the table won’t be that big of a loss.

>319 jayde1599: Nice to see you, Jess. The photo gives a good indication but it isn't all of them!

>320 humouress: Thanks Nina

>321 SandDune: Thanks Rhian. Have you enjoyed the first week of the tour? I was a little disappointed that Geraint Thomas had his tumble which put paid to his chances. I don't think he could handle this fellow Podacar though.

>322 connie53: More than welcome to jump in as you wish, Connie. Always a pleasure.

>323 karenmarie: That looks cool, Karen. I will have to get myself a ladder anyway being such a shorty.

>324 elkiedee: I'm sure you have one or two books at home too, Luci!

>325 benitastrnad: I now have 16 bookcases and still have some in boxes, Benita. Planning to add another two bookcases next week and start to more seriously cull the read titles and those I deep down know I will never read. I want to get the books at home down to 6,500 soon with 2,000 read titles maximum for now.

>328 PaulCranswick: Naturellement! Of course! I always want more books however many I have, and the house is bursting at the seams with books. But my envy here is of the shelves so neatly stacked with well organised and ordered books.

>316 PaulCranswick: Goodlooking, pretty, handsome, what other words can be used for such beauty?
And a lovely floor to go with those wonderful bookcases. You are a lucky man, Paul.

Lovely bookshelves, Paul. They appear to have fixed shelves. Is that true?

When I read your thread, I get the idea that you don't in fact sleep. Elsewise, how could you embrace all the activities you do. No dithering in your life.

>316 PaulCranswick: You have a book room! Amazing!

>330 elkiedee: There would be more of a teeming atmosphere if I was left completely to my own devices, Luci. I do like organising the books and have noticed a few books missing after the move and it is always the missing books that grate than the 10,000 books safely housed!

>331 FAMeulstee: I do like the hardwood timber flooring in the bedrooms, hallway/library, and reading nook. The other areas have marble flooring which is cooling and looks good too, I think.

I still have space for four more bookcases which will make the book housing much more easy.

>332 weird_O: I have to admit that I am an insomniac, Bill, but I do usually manage about four hours sleep with an occasional eight hour stint about once a month when my body tells me it is time.

The shelves are individual bookcases all bought from IKEA and pushed together to give the impression of a contiguous shelving. If they look like bespoke shelving then I am thrilled because I was sort of seeking that feel.

>333 connie53: Technically it is a corridor, Connie that connects the four bedrooms. Sort of made it a library cum book gallery. Hani wasn't sold on the idea but I managed to get a couple of her friends to lean on her! I do have a reading nook too which has my poetry and plays collection and authors a&b.

>335 PaulCranswick: Since they're IKEA bookcases, you could get extensions/ the shorter bookcases to stack on top. But you'd probably have to attach them to the wall and you'd need a taller ladder.

>336 humouress: There are always ways to increase capacity when required, Nina!

>316 PaulCranswick: How simply glorious.

Your bookshelves look wonderful, Paul! I'm currently storing books in stacks on the floor of the upstairs bedroom and suspect I'll have to do a combination of buying more bookshelves and culling more books to make them all fit around the house, so good luck to you in your similar project. Looking forward to your thoughts on Harry Potter.

>338 richardderus: Thank you, RD - I'm a happy chap at the moment.

>339 bell7: Thanks, Mary. Don't tell Marianne but I am actually quite enjoying Potty Harry at the moment.

What it technically was, doesn't matter anymore. It now is a nice book room!

>327 PaulCranswick: Yes, we’ve been enjoying the Tour at lot. I don’t think Geraint would have been up to taking in Pogacar even without his tumble either.

>341 connie53: I'm happy with that, Connie xx

>342 SandDune: Very impressive was the performance in the time trial and then decimating the leaders in the opening mountain stage. Something special.

Beautiful shelves, Paul. How wonderful to have most of your books in the same area--ours are scattered all over the apartment.

The shelves look deep--are there two rows of books on each shelf?

>316 PaulCranswick: Love the shelfie. I'm green too.

>344 kac522: I still have shelves in my reading nook and in the bedroom but to get so many together is great.

They are uniformly shelved in double rows.

>345 Caroline_McElwee: Lot of love on those shelves, Caroline.

>313 PaulCranswick: Maybe time to read (re-read?) William Vogt's 1948 Road to Survival

to see the many MANY places fingers can be pointed for ignoring his 1948 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

predictions for Climate Change...?

>315 PaulCranswick: Indeed she and many fans of both you and Harry are thrilled at this promise kept.

>316 PaulCranswick: wow. So lovely Paul

Wow, scrolling through to catch up and get gobsmacked with those fantastic bookcases. Mind if I browse awhile?😀

>347 m.belljackson: Ooh that is one to look for, Marianne.

>348 m.belljackson: One should always keep one's word. Especially when the consequences for doing so are pleasant as now!

>352 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Bonnie

>353 You will always be welcome, Jim.