2021 Reading efforts of PGMCC - Sixth instalment.

Read in 2021

I start the year with four in-progress reads.

Title; Author; Status; Start/end date; Number of pages

It was the best of sentences, it was the worst of sentences. by June Casagrande 17/02/2020 -
The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford 26/10/2020 -
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17/12/2020 - 03/01/2021 333 pages
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely 20/12/2020 -

Books started in 2021:

Title; Author; Status; Start/end date; Number of pages

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 04/01/2021 - 07/01/2021 pages
Reynard the Fox by Anne Louise Avery 07/01/2021 - 17/01/2021 479 pages
Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth 17/01/2021 - 31/01/2021 170 pages
The Lusitania Waits by Alfred Noyes 28/01/2021 - 28/01/2021 5 pages (Short story)
Call for the Dead by John Le Carré 31/01/2021 - 04/02/2021 156 pages
London Centric edited by Ian Whates 04/02/2021 - 15/02/2021 278 pages (Short stories)
"The House of Asterion" by Jorge Luis Borge 06/02/2021 - 06/02/2021 3pages (short story)
Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut 21/02/2021 - 01/03/2021 256 pages
The Dark Frontier by Eric Ambler 01/03/2021 - 07/03/2021 258 pages
Orlando by Virginia Woolf 08/03/2021 - 20/03/2021 Abandoned after 118 pages of 235 pages
The Hand by Guy de Maupassant 14/03/2021 - 14/03/2021 12 pages (short story)
Uncommon Danger by Eric Ambler 20/03/2021 - 26/03/2021 256 pages
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler 29/03/2021 - 02/04/2021 193 pages
Africa's Top Geological Sites by Richard Viljoen 02/04/2021 - 290 pages
Cause for Alarm by Eric Ambler 03/04/2021 - 05/04/2021 267 pages
Actress by Anne Enright 05/04/2021 - 224 pages ROA* DNF
Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler 07/04/2021 - 11/04/2021 240 pages
"I Spy" by Graham Greene Short story published in 1930. 11/04/2021 - 11/04/2021 4 pages
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke 11/04/2021 - 21/04/2021 ? pages
Red Harvest by Dashell Hammett 16/04/2021 - 24/04/2021 187 pages
Skytip by Eric Ambler 25/04/2021 - 26/04/2021 181 pages.
Judgment on Deltchev by Eric Ambler 26/04/2021 - 02/05/2021 291 pages
River of Gods by Ian McDonald 02/05/2021 - 20/05/2021 583 Pages
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev 21/05/2021 - 25/05/2021 212 pages
Quiller: The Striker Portfolio by Adam Hall 25/05/2021 - 04/06/2021 197 pages
Snowdrops by A.D. Miller 26/05/2021 - 30/05/2021 273 pages
Seven Demons by Aidan Truhen 05/06/2021 - 07/06/2021 344 pages
The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany Translated by Humphrey Davies. 08/06/2021 - 15/06/2021 272 pages
Tender to Danger by Eric Ambler 15/06/21 - 19/06/2021 174 pages
The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan translated from Tamil by N. Kalyan Raman. 19/06/2021 - 183 pages ROA* DNF 26 pages
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway 19/06/2021 - 03/07/2021 566 pages Reread
Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout 04/06/2021 - 12/07/2021 304 Pages
Attenuation by Nick Harkaway 12/07/2021 - 13/07/2021 ? Pages Short Story in Arc 1.2 Post Human Conditions
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 13/07/2021 - 28/06/2021 210 Pages
The Maras Affair by Eric Ambler 28/07/2021 - 02/08/2021 191 Pages
The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges 30/07/2021 7 Pages (short story)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro 02/08/2021 - 15/07/2012 307 Pages
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson 15/08/2021 - 15/07/2021 12 Pages (Short story)
Charter to Danger** by Eric Ambler 15/08/2021 - 19/08/2021 167 Pages
In the Woods by Tana French 19/08/2021 - 28/08/2021 592 Pages
The Economics of Inequality by Piketty 21/08/2021 - ? Pages
Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri 28/08/2021 - 01/09/2021 160 Pages
The Lost Girls of Foxfield Hall by Jessica Thorne 01/09/2021- 06/09/2021 347 Pages
The Sympathizer 06/09/2021 - 28/09/2021 295 Pages
Murmurs In The Dark Thirteen Ghostly Tales, edited Marissa Doyle & Shannon Page 28/09/2021 - 07/10/2021 194 Pages
The Bookbinder's Daughter by Jessica Thorne 07/10/2021 - 12/10/2021 330 pages
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene 12/10/2021 - 18/10/2021 194 pages
Silverview by John Le Carré 14/10/2021 - 16/10/2021 210 pages
Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen 18/10/2021 - 20/10/2021 449 Pages
The Green Man's Challenge by Juliet E. McKenna 21/10/2021 - 28/10/2021 296 pages
A Man With One Of Those Faces by Caimh McDonnell 28/10/2021 - 04/11/2021 362 pages
The Terrible Door by George Simms 8/11/2022 - 12/11/2021 152 pages
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 12/11/2021 - 20/11/2021 336 pages
The Searcher by Tana French 20/11/2021 - 29/11/2021 451 pages
Beyond The Hallowed Sky by Ken MacLeod 29/11/2021 - ? Pages

*ROA: Risk Of Abandonment due to lack of interest or pure boredom.

** Do not be deceived by everything you read in a Touchstone. The book "Charter to Danger" is a different book to "Tender to Danger". The Touchstones do not recognise "Charter to Danger" as a different book.

>1 pgmcc: Congrats on yet another new thread!

Found and starred!

One of these days I'll find and read an Ambler book.

>2 Karlstar: Thank you!

I think my penchant for adding book images and photographs has a tendency to slow down the loading of my thread for some people, so I do not like to let them run too long lest I lose connection with some of our GD & LT-in-General buddies.

>3 fuzzi: My first Ambler read was The Mask of Dimitrios* and that prompted me to read more. It is not his first novel by a long way, but it contained many of the attributes of his writing that I like. These include, glimpses of life in the countries and times in which the story is set; an insight into the politics of the time (Dimitrios was set, and written, in the years between the first and second world wars); interesting turns of phrase; and many more... After the first couple of Ambler books I decided to read the rest in chronological publication date sequence.

*I believe this was published in some parts of the World as "A Coffin for Dimitrios".

I have not yet tracked down a full-length version of the film of "The Mask of Dimitrios" but I am keen to do so. Two of the leading characters are played by Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. Who could resist any film with those two actors in it.

I am on the sixth story in Murmurs in the Dark, an anthology of thirteen ghoslty tales published by Book View Cafe, and edited by Marissa Doyle, of GD fame,
and Shannon Page.



The stories are enjoyable and suitable for this time of year. The opening story, "Summer House", by Chaz Brenchley is particularly spine tickling.

In other news, we had an exciting day yesterday, Saturday, 2nd of October. I may have mentioned that we would be minding three grandchildren, the eldest being five years old and the youngest, one year old. (The middle one is two for those of you who cannot stand not knowing.)

Well we had a great day but it was not without excitement. The weather was not particularly warm, but it was very sunny so we went for a walk, with bikes, scooters, baby-buggy, and footballs that were well kicked. We then went home and decided to spend some time in the backgarden. Our garden is quite small, about twenty feet from house to back wall, and forty feet wide. We have nine-inch concrete block walls on the three sides of our rectangular patch of land.

I was holding the one-year-old, my wife was entertaining the two older children, and my younger son was doing a bit of gardening at my request. It was an idyllic afternoon; grandparents with grandchildren; our son doing our bidding; the dog running about looking for the maximum degree of entertainment she could get.

Suddenly there came a rapping, as of someone STRONGLY rapping, rapping on the nextdoor neighbour's kitchen window. I turned towards the neighbour's house and detected rustling in the bushes by the wall on their side.

A youth, late teens/early twenties, came over the wall at pace, and strode rapidly across our garden to the other side and proceeded to clamber over that wall, getting himself tangled in the bushes. The bushes gave way beneath him and I heard an oath of pain. He recovered and dashed to the side of the neighbour's house to escape along the side passage. I thrust the baby at my wife, and my son and I dashed through the house to get to the neighbour's house to see if we could intercept him.

When we got to the front of the houses he was not to be seen.

My neighbours were outside too, and there were several uniformed and plainclothes guards there too. Apparently a guard came over our wall in the garden in hot pursuit of the guy that had crossed our garden.

Apparently there had been a group of five youths trying to break into a house. I do not know what house it was or how the guards came on the scene so quickly, but there were guards in all directions. Shortly aftwards the guards' helicopter was overhead. It felt like most of the neighbourhood was out looking for these guys. The guards were running here and there and there was a whole gang of people, teenagers to adults in their forties, following the guards and lending a hand in seraching for the gang members.

Bottom line, the guards caught the five of them, and found their car parked in the next road over.

It was quite funny to see that nearly everybody was out helping the guards. It was like a circus and everyone was having fun.

Last week my five-year-old granddaughter was asked by her teacher to do a drawing of where she felt safe. She drew her home. On the back of the page she drew her grandparents house, our house. I think after yesterday's visit she was going home to rub out the drawing of her grandparents' house. :-)

Luckily we were able to get the children into a calm environment quickly. It is amazing what beans and chips can do when followed by jelly and ice cream. Two Paddington Bear movies and a pizza later their parents returned from watching the new James Bone film, "No Time to Die".

>5 pgmcc: Good lord! That's a bit more excitement than you'd bargained for, I am sure. Glad they caught the "perps."

>5 pgmcc: Yipes! Glad no one was hurt and the bad guys were apprehended.

>6 clamairy: & >7 MrsLee:
It was a bit out of the ordinary alright. Apparently it was a gang the guards have been chasing for some time. This explains why there were so many guards on the ground so quickly. I was a bit surprised the helicopter was not overhead sooner. It took a couple of hours for them to round up the burglars, albeit with the help of the local community. I hope the evidence is strong enough for a conviction, otherwise the guys will be out with no more than a slap on the wrist.

In reading news, I am almost 70% through Murmurs in the Dark. It is an interesting mix of chilling, humorous, and cosy ghost stories. As with any classification there are some stories that could fit into more than one of those categories. Of course that is going to be truer of stories that are humorous and cosy. I have not identified any of the cosy ghost stories that sit well with the chilling label.

My next read will be Jessica Thorne's The Bookbinders Daughter followed by Juliet E. McKenna's The Green Man's Challenge. Then I will be reading the Centipede Press collection of Chaz Brenchley's stories, Everything in All the Wrong Order.







Of course, every plan changes as soon as one encounters the enemy, so we might find an Eric Ambler or a Dorothy L. Sayers novel popping up in between the books listed.

In addition, I have to read The End of the Affair and The Prague Cemetery for the Lockdown Book Club October meeting. My suggestion of reading Dracula for the October meeting was met with stony silence. :-)

By the way, I came across a definition of a "literary novel" somewhere over the weekend. "A literary novel is a book that uses words that people don't." This amused me in its simplicity. Yes, I will use it. Yes, I will pass it on to my book club buddies. :-)

E.T.A. No, I cannot remember where I came across that definition. It could have been one of your threads.

>8 pgmcc: Peter, your life is either more or less interesting than mine. What a way to spend an afternoon!

By the way, in relation to the excitement over the weekend with the burglars and the guards, I should mention that the police force in Ireland is called An Garda Síochána, The Guardians of the Peace. The word "police" was avoided at the time of the formation of An Garda Síochána as the actions of the police during the war of independence, and before that, left the people terrified of the police.

An Garda Síochána is a generally unarmed force. The guards running around our estate on Saturday would have been unarmed. There are special armed response units, and some officers carry guns for certain situations. I do not think they generally come armed to a burglary.

>6 clamairy: That's a lot of excitement!

The latest Swan River Press book has arrived. Eyes of Terror and Other Dark Adventures, a collection of stories by L. T. Meade.

This is a well written exercise in developing a literary jigsaw. Each chapter is like a jigsaw piece, or tile in a mosaic. Each chapter is a vignette that shows you an aspect of the narrator's life, and after reading every chapter you have a picture of her life. There is no linear temporal progression through the book, but snippets of the character's life are exposed to the reader randomly from the timeline of her life. Overall we do see the character change, not necessarily for the better.

It is not a novel, as such, but a well exercised experiment in building the picture of the character and her feelings from incidents and conversations from her life.

The chapters are short and the book is not very long. I am not sure I could have endured it much longer had the book had more pages. It was a quick read, but I was getting a bit bored with the exercise. It may not have been the best of the author's books to start with as it has not encouraged me to read any more of her work.

>13 pgmcc: For me that cover belongs in the bizarre group because of an optical illusion (surely unintended). At a quick look it seems that the door opens inwards at the top and outwards at the floor.

>14 hfglen: I see it. The triangle of light on the carpet makes it look like the door saddle meeting the left side of the door.

>4 pgmcc: "Rick! Save me Rick, hide me!"

I have not seen any Eric Ambler in the used bookstore and thrift stores in town. I'm trying to NOT buy any more books online for myself, just for the grands. I do have him on my "watch for" list. :)

I am a sucker for recommendations.



I watched a TEDx talk given by Jonny Gellers, John Le Carré's literary agent, on What Makes a Bestseller. It is a interesting talk. He tells the audience, and hence anyone who watches the video, what it is he looks for in a manuscript/story idea, so that he can pitch it to publishers. It is an interesting insight into how literary agents pick the books and the authors they are going to chose to generate their income.

During the talk, of course, he quoted a book and I ordered it. I am such a sucker. It arrived today.

>16 fuzzi:
I'm trying to NOT buy any more books online for myself, just for the grands.
A policy I understand and support wholeheartedly. I hold by it myself, but the flesh is weak. :-(

I do have him on my "watch for" list.
A good place to have him. His works are not brilliant five star novels, but they give me things that I appreciate. These include, a glimpse at a point in time at a location in the world, and this glimpse often includes a view of the regional politics of the time, a sense of how people viewed the on-going machinations of governments, and a view of life in those locations at the time of the story. He obviously wrote very quickly because his books were published in the times he was writing about.

Both Graham Greene and John Le Carré said they owed a lot of their inspiration to Eric Ambler, and I have mentioned before that I have seen some elements of his writing that has obviously influenced Le Carré. One example is his very short, pithy sketches of characters. I see Le Carré has used that style in his books to introduce characters.

If you see one of his books in a secondhand shop for a reasonable price I would say you would find the investment worthwhile. His stories are from a simpler age and I find them quite quaint and, in a way, innocent. They do, however, accurately highlight the political activities of the time.

>13 pgmcc: I enjoyed Lahiri's The Lowland several years ago. That's the only book of hers that I've read.

>19 Jim53:
The group was saying her other work was better and that this was a departure from her normal style.

>18 pgmcc: ooh! I just noticed that I downloaded The Care of Time last year, guess I do have one of Ambler's books!

>21 fuzzi: I haven't read that one yet.

I have finished Murmurs in the Dark, an ER read from Book View Cafe.

This is an entertaining collection of thirteen ghost stories ranging in fear factor from humorous encounters (e.g. Marissa Doyle's "House is Where the Heart Is), through ghosts as a normal part of life (e.g. K.E. Kimbriel's "Borrowed Places") and things that go bump in the night (e.g. Maya Kaathryn's "The Nature of Things") stories, to tales that will give you a chill on a sunny day (e.g. Chaz Brenchley's "The Summer House").

I enjoyed this collection of stories.



I am now starting Jessica Thorne's The Bookbinder's Daughter. I enjoyed her Lost Girls of Foxfield Hall and that has prompted me to read this new publication.

I am still in that wonderful state of having a stack of books that I am very eager to read. My big problem is sequencing them. This is a problem I am happy to have. It is a much better predicament than being surrounded by books and not feeling inclined to read any of them.

An old friend contacted me via Messenger a few days ago. She is a freelance editor of vast experience. Her home is what we call, “down the country”, meaning not Dublin and a fair drive away. We have nit seen her in a long time.

Long story short, our planned family dinner with our two sons and the fiancé of the older one, planned for tomorrow night, has now been changed to a visit to a book launch in a nearby stately home, currently owned by the state, and a later dinner.

Our friend will be there selling the new book. The book is a fantasy novel written by someone who played trombone in the local youth orchestra with three of our children (who are all over thirty at this stage).

So, Friday night is looking good.

I am 40% (107 pages) into The Bookbinder's Daughter by Jessica Thorne and am really enjoying it.

There is an ancient library deep in the English countryside; a new conservator who has family connections with the library; mysterious, magical murmurings coming from the books; etc...

It would make a great film. Jessica Thorne's descriptions of the library building conjure up images of vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, grandiose staircases, and mysteries beyond the natural.

Now, back to the book.

Oh yes! I forgot to say; the book has fascinating information about book binding, book care, and such things. The author works in an antiquarian library and obviously knows these things first hand.

*bzzzing...thud
(sound of book bullet hitting me for The Bookbinder's Daughter.)

>26 Marissa_Doyle: Yup.

Edited to add: Only 99 cents!

>25 pgmcc: ooh, I think I’d like that one!

>25 pgmcc: You certainly know how to bait your trap. Like shooting fish in a barrel. Yes, I too was hit full on. Especially when clamairy mentioned the price!

>29 MrsLee: Right? You can't even get a freaking Hallmark card for that price once they add the tax.

>25 pgmcc: You might have got me as well, Peter.

>25 pgmcc: I am resisting...I am resisting...

>24 pgmcc: Our Friday night did prove pleasant. The book launch took place in a function room on the first floor (second floor for our US friends) of the south-west wing of Castletown House. That would be the extreme right-hand-side of the building in the picture below.



The room was beautifully restored as you can see in the next picture.



As it happens, my wife's sister is an architect who worked with The Office of Public Works until she retired last year. She managed the restoration of this building and brought it to the beautiful condition it is in today.

When we arrived in the room there was a three piece ensemble playing classical music in the corner.

My wife and two sons quickly found somewhere to rest their weary bones to watch the proceedings.



The author was suitably flamboyant in his dress for the occasion.



The book is a fantasy novel about a newspaper man who gets mistaken for a spy every time he starts asking quesitons.



The man in the light-blue shirt and dark jacket in the second picture above, is a local historian, journalist, and broadcaster. He was the speaker asked to launch the book. A lady introduced him by saying, "Our speaker tonight asked to be introduced as a journalist, broadcaster, and local historian." He then started speaking and added a couple other aspects of his career to the list before saying, but tonight is not about me; it is James's night. His speech went on for almost half-an-hour and it mostly contained stories about himself and his experiences as a journalist. He reminded me of the character played by Hugh Grant in the film, Paddington 2.

Do not ask me what his name was as I did not pick up or recognise it at all. He is obviously one of those famous people who nobody knows; a legend in his own mind.

Following the irritatingly annoying speaker, the author thanked a long list of people. He was very sincere and truly grateful to the people who helped him get this, his first novel, to this stage.

He then went on to read the opening pages of the book and left us with questions that will only be answered by reading the book.

It was a pleasant event and then we went home to enjoy a dinner of confit de canard, roast spuds, brussels sprouts, and carrots.

>33 pgmcc: Looks like a fabulous evening, except for the gasbag...
Hope the book is wonderful.

>33 pgmcc: that place looks amazing!

>33 pgmcc: Is there a hidden message in the photo of your dinner? Your wife has the only blue plate. Is it a distress call? Does it mean your cover is blown? Are the ducks in the tower at midnight?

I may have gotten distracted.

>36 MrsLee:
You are right about a distress call, but it is not my wife’s blue plate; it is the absence of a wine glass at my place. The blue plate just indicates who The Boss is.

Are the ducks not always in the tower at midnight?

E.T.A.: What cover? What are you talking about? I know nothing? Who are you? You are just listening to rumours from the other side. Oops!

>33 pgmcc: What a fab evening! I hadn’t come across Castletown House before, but it’s really gorgeous. Much felicitations to OPW—I think they do a first-class job in maintaining the historic buildings of Ireland (speaking as someone who worked for a couple of years in one such building).
And what a happy family dinner.

I finished The Bookbinder's Daughter by Jessica Thorne and thoroughly enjoyed it. There is not much more I can add to my comments in >25 pgmcc:.

Jessica Thorne knows how to write a villain; a totally loathsome character. Someone who stops at nothing to get his own way.

Would I read anything else by Jessica Thorne?
Yes, I most definitely would.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes.

To whom would I recommend it?
Anyone with a love of books, libraries, and the craft of making and minding books. They might also like good character formation, the confusion of personal relationships, mystery, and a touch of magic.



I am now starting The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, a Lockdown Book Club read.

This appeared on my Kindle in the wee, small hours of this morning. Yes, I started reading it at once.

A hardback copy should be arriving in the post today from Books Upstairs, the independent bookshop I have mentioned many times. Apart from wanting a physical copy there is another more pressing reason for having two versions. My wife will also want to read it straight away.

I have not abandoned The End of the Affair but am having an immediate read of Silverview. It is comparatively short, and I am keen to read it, so I anticipate a rapid read.

Silverview by John Le Carré (2021 Penguin, 210pp)

John Le Carré’s last novel, does not disappoint. It gives the same, practical insight into the British intelligence world his readers will be familiar with from his earlier books. He shows the life of an organisation, not only doing the job it was created to do, but also concerned about how things look and who is going to be the fall-guy if anything goes wrong, and worried about its position vis-à-vis inter-agency rivalry and blame culture.

There is also an appropriateness about the subject matter of the story given the stage in John Le Carré’s writing career it was written. His novels have always reflected the geo-political environment of their time, and his characters have been shown practising their craft, mostly in mid-career. In “A Legacy of Spies” we saw a retrospective of past exploits from the viewpoint of retired service officers. In “Silverview” we are shown what happens in the life of a former agent once retired. “Silvervew” gives us a glimpse at the reality of the 'happy-ever-after' for an agent once they are no longer of use to the agency.

As always, Le Carré brings human motivation to the surface, and demonstrates the wilful blindness of organisations that can sometimes let errors of judgement slip through to cause cracks in what appears to be a totally watertight operation. He describes a situation where an organisation’s failure to care for its members’ wellbeing, and to take cognizance of an agent’s mental state, can lead to aberrant behaviour, a trait common to many organisations in every sector.

Never one to shy away from highlighting his views on the political leadership of the countries concerned, he describes the internal questioning of an intelligence agency that is serving a country ruled by a government with no coherent foreign policy, a government that is focused on its own internal political power rather than its relationship with the rest of the world.

This is an excellent read.

>41 pgmcc: Ok, now you are getting me interested...

>41 pgmcc: Oh, I might have to get on the waiting list for this one. Looks like it's not a doorstop, so that only adds to the attraction for me.

>43 clamairy: It is a quick read. I read it in two days and you are probably aware I am a slow reader.

>41 pgmcc: & >43 clamairy: Of more interest to me is that it was finished/edited by his son Nick Harkaway.

>45 AHS-Wolfy:
I love the work of them both. Nick found it very emotional working at his father’s desk editing the last Le Carré book.

I continue to suffer from what I consider a wonderful predicament for a reader; I am awash with books that I want to read, the predicament being I want to read them all NOW!

At the moment I am reading The End of the Affair which I am finding interesting, if a little predictable. I am about 75% through, so am on the last few furlongs of the read. It has reminded me of Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body which was about a person of unspecified gender having an affair with a married woman. There are many parallels between the Graham Greene novel and Winterson’s story which could be considered a modernised version of The End of the Affair. It is much more sensitive to the emotions than the earlier novel.

Books that I want to get to quickly include, The Green Man’s Challenge by Juliet E. McKenna, Everything In All The Wrong Order by Chaz Brenchley, Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen, 50 Years of Ghost Stories, The Guest List, Beyond the Tape, and a million other books.

Such a wonderful predicament.

I have finished The End of the Affair. An enjoyable enough book, but a bit heavy on the self-questioning. It certainly brought out the effect of misinterpretation of one person's actions and words by another person, and how the misinterpretation can have devastating effects on the lives of the people involved. I thought it had a bit too much of the self-doubt and internal questioning and debate. Written on the Body is certainly a much more modern book, and I think it is a better book on the whole.

I was going to jump into The Green Man's Challenge but I have decided to start the first story in Seven Gothic Tales. MrsLee is reading this and her mentioning reading it has prompted me to make a start so I can exchange comments with MrsLee. I might instersperse some other reading between the stories.

The Prague Cemetery is one of the Lockdown Book Club reads for our next meeting in two weeks' time. I am not sure if I will get it re-read in time for the meeting. I have just found my review of it from my first reading in 2012. I appeared to have enjoyed it more than I remembered.

>48 pgmcc: Hurray! I am still on the first story, and the reading has slowed way down due to family issues and us being on the go every weekend this month. However, this first story has reminded me why I enjoy her writing. I had to write down quote, which I will put in my thread when I have access to the book again (working at the moment). It was a lovely description of what happens to women when they turn 50. Of course it doesn't apply to all, but I could relate.

>49 MrsLee:
I am reading that story too. There are sections I have underlined too.

I recall the part you are talking about.

>50 pgmcc: Cackle! :D

I had quite the interesting day. Some weeks ago I received a summons to attend court for jury service. Today was the day I was due to attend.

The way duty service works here involves one attending the court to be available for selection onto a jury. If you are not selected on the first day you attend for a week until you are selected. At the end of the week, if you have not been selected you have fulfilled your obligation. Of course, if you are selected for a jury you will be attending everyday until the case is over. As you can imagine it messes up your work planning.

I readiness for today I had set things up so that people can get around my absence during the day, and that I will respond to queries, or take calls, in the evening. It was weighing on my mind that this was happening at a time when I am heavily involved in some project activities.

I was due in court at 13:15hrs. In the morning I was organising a few work issues and getting ready to head into town on the bus. At 11:11hrs I received a text message stating that due to circumstances the summons had been withdrawn and I did not have to attend the court.

Well, I was overjoyed. It wa a weight lifted off my shoulders. I relaxed, and then started thinking about what I would do. Should I get back to work? Should I take the afternoon off and walk into the local village to lodge a cheque that was burning a hole on my desk? The possibilities were endless.

Then the dread set in. The doubts that lurk in the dark shadows of one's mind. The worry that because I am feeling so relieved and happy about the court cancellation it must be a mistake. What number was that text message from? Is that an official court number? Could this be a fraudster tryin to mess with the court system? Has there been a data breach and some criminals got the names and numbers of the jury panel and were sending the text messages to make it difficult for the court to select a jury for a particular case? Could this text message be a fake? If I do not go into court and the text is fake, then I will be liable for a €500 fine for each day I do not turn up.

How do I check this out?

A quick look at the official court website showed me the number of the jury office in the court. I rang. It rang out and went into messaging. I rang again. It rang out again.

Should I go in anyway. If it was a real text then I will be told the jury selection has been cancelled. I was planning to go in anyway, so it would not be a big upset or disruption to my day. If it was cancelled I could go on into town and perhaps, you guessed it, visit a bookshop.

Well, I found an e-mail for the jury office and sent an e-mail to verify the veracity of the text message. The time I would need to leave home in order to get to the court on time arrived and I had not received a reply. I checked the bus times and headed out.

I was half-way into town when I received an e-mail from the jury office confirming the jury panel had been cancelled and that I did not need to attend. Yay!

I did not get off at the court building; I went on into the centre of town, lodged my cheque at the bank on O'Connell Street, and headed to Books Upstairs.

I believe this is my second visit to this bookshop since the first lockdown in March 2020.

Yes, I bought a book; in fact I bought two books. See below:



As some you know, I have started reading Tana French's books, something that is happening as a result of no little prompting here. Someone here recently mentioned enjoying Broken Harbour. I got the impression from the comment that this is a standalone and does not, therefore need to be read in any particular sequence vis-a-vis other Tana French books.



Then I spotted The Republic of False Truths and read the back cover. It looked interesing and I realised I had read another book by the same author, The Yacoubian Building, which was one of the better books chosen my the Lockdown Book Club.

Both these books were purchased.

Then I went home and did the dishes.

"My Name is Philippa" arrived on my Kindle in the early hours of this morning. I pre-ordered it some months ago when it first became available to do so. Today is the publication day.

Philippa is a friend of mine. She is a transgender woman and I have known her since before she transitioned. This is her story. The story of her experience.

She has had quite the life, and her wife and her daughter have supported her through the whole process. Her wife has made the statement that she would rather have a living wife than a dead husband.

The peculiarities of Irish law in relation to gender identification and marriage presented Philippa with a dilemma. If she went through with the transition and had her passport etc... changed to idenfy her as female, her marriage would become null and void as same-sex marriage was not recognised in Ireland. As a result of this, Philippa, her wife, and her daughter, became three of the most visible and vocal campaigners for the marriage equality referendum that returned a resounding "Yes!" to legalising same-sex marriages in Ireland.

I am looking forward to reading what I am aware will be a harrowing story.

>52 pgmcc: Wow, jury selection is almost as big a commitment as the trial itself! It's a bit different here - you have to show up on the selection day, but if not selected on that day, you're done. I don't know what they do if they don't get through all the upcoming trials in one day of selection. The times I've been through it, it's always been very efficient.

>52 pgmcc: Are Irish civil servants eligible for jury service?

>52 pgmcc: Congrats! And regarding Broken Harbor, they are all technically stand alone novels, but sometimes they do reference (usually obliquely) things that happened in the previous books.

Oooh, Broken Harbor is a goodie. Apart from the crazy sister, I love it.

Buying books is a great way to celebrate your reprieve from Jury duty!

>58 Sakerfalcon: Hear! Hear!

>55 -pilgrim-:
Civil servants are eligible for jury service. There is a list of exemptions and anyone connected with the justice system would be on that list.

I am neither connected to the justice system nor am I a civil servant, to I am not exempt. Nor have I been convicted of a crime, so I am not excluded. Neither do I have any of the attributes that would give me exemptions by right, e.g. I am not a full-time student.

I finished the first story in Seven Gothic Tales, "The Deluge at Norderney", on Wednesday. Interesting story with many secrets revealed. Some very humerous bits, and some very deep, philosophical passages.

I found the story a little too intense to allow a straight read of the seven tales one after another without a break.



I started reading The Green Man’s Challenge yesterday and will finish it before reading the next story from Dinesen's book.

>55 -pilgrim-: >60 pgmcc: I’m a trifle startled that I’ve never been summoned for jury duty (says he, furiously touching any available wood). While I was in legal employment (1975 to 1986, roughly) I was exempt in the sense that I would have been dismissed if summoned, but after that I’ve always been in civil service jobs. Mind you, for most of the last 10 years that was in a country that AFAIK doesn’t do jury trial …

>62 haydninvienna: I am sure they give the accused a fair trial before they hang them.

>60 pgmcc: I am selected (or requested) to serve jury duty approximately every 5 years. I don't know why I get chosen so often. Normally I don't get past the phase where I have to call in to see if I need to show up, but twice I have gotten past that. Once I just had to show up for two days in the morning, just to be sent home and once I actually got into the jury box for jury selection, at which point I was dismissed by the prosecution team.

>64 Karlstar: This was my first time being called for jury service. In another four months I will be inelligible due to age.

>62 haydninvienna: In the UK, serving civil servants are ineligible.

I remember once getting summoned for jury duty at the Old Bailey. That worried me somewhat as I suspected anything that has been referred to the Old Bailey was likely to be lengthy, and quite possibly would include evidence of a disturbing nature.

However, I had also moved house within the prior few months and was no longer living within daily commuting distance of Central London - which was my second concern - and thankfully that WAS an acceptable ground for excusal!

>61 pgmcc: I am also going to space out the tales. I was a little sad to realize that several of the main lines in the story are incomprehensible without a knowledge of French. Most of the philosophy flew over my head like an uncaged bird. :)

>67 MrsLee:
I have a smidgen of French, and for the bits beyond my smidgen I have Google translate.

With regards to the philosophy, just smile and nod, or should I say, "Souriez et hochez la tête". :-)

E.T.A. Je parle Google.

>68 pgmcc: I was too lazy to type them all into Google. I could make the sense of most of them, but I may have missed any nuances.

>69 MrsLee:
I have Google Translate on my phone and can use the camera to view the text and get an instant, on-screen translation. The gadgets they give spies these days are amazing.

I do not think you missed too much.

>70 pgmcc: Dang! I have to update my spy gear. My phone is still in my shoe.

>71 MrsLee: I used to love the tickly sensation you get in the sole of your foot whenever you would get a call on a shoe-phone.

The Quick and the Dead by Máirtín Ó Cadhain arrived at the house of Friday. I had ordered it from Books Upstairs. Had I known I would be in town on Thursday I could have collected it.

Máirtín Ó Cadhain was born into poor circumstances in a small village in the west of Ireland. His first language was Irish. He had a very interesting life which included the local parish priest identifying his potential and ensuring he got an education, something that few of his contemporaries in the area received. He also ended up a an IRA leader in the area, which made his subsequent career are Professor of Irish at Trinity College, Dublin, quite an anomaly. Before joining the staff of Trinity he worked for a while as a civil servant. That is where he got his ideas for the short story, The Key, which was my first introduction to his work.

Ó Cadhain's work was all written in Irish. "The Key" was first published in 1955, and then again in 1977. It was 2015 before the first English translation was published.

The Key

I had been asked to read and reviewed "The Key" for the Irish literature magazine, "The Green Book". I was hooked.



"The Key" is about a civil servant who gets locked into his office when his boss departs for a week's holiday. It is very funny and a commentary on the civil service, Irish politics and the role of the Catholic church in Ireland at the time.

My review can be found here.

In 2016 an English translation of his magnum opus, Cré na Cille (first published in Irish in 1949), appeared with the title, "Graveyard Clay". I grabbed it as soon as it came out.



The book is comprised entirely of conversations amongst the dead in the graveyard of a small Irish village. The reader gets to know the people talking by their turn of phrase, or the topic of conversation. The population only gets new information about the village when another villager dies and is buried. Through reading these snippets of conversation the reader builds up a picture of the history of the village and gets to know the detail of the petty jealousies and intimate affairs of the village inhabitants. My review can be found here.

Another English language edition appeared in 2016 with the title, "The Dirty Dust". I have not read this translation but it is, apparently, a looser translation than "Graveyard Clay". Note: The title "Graveyard Clay" is a translation of "Cré na Cille". "The Dirty Dust" is not. (Source: my Irish speaking wife.)

I was not aware of the publication of The Quick and the Dead until I spotted a post about it on the Facebook page of The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, now renamed to the shorter title, "The Irish Gothic Journal". That was on 19th October and I ordered it straight away.

The Quick and the Dead is a collection of some of Ó Cadhain's short stories translated into English, and I notice it contains "The Key".

Peter hit me with a BB some while back for Graveyard Clay. Very funny but the humour is pitch-black. Not sure if I'm up for more now, but maybe next time I get to Dublin (said he hopefully ...)

>74 haydninvienna: I look forward to your next visit.

Enjoy your trip to Vienna.

>75 pgmcc: Thanks Pete.

>73 pgmcc: Oh good lord... the barrage of bullets in this one post is terrifying.

>77 clamairy:
Glad to be of service.

I was asked to post a picture of my new grandson and his big sister. Here they are:

>79 pgmcc: So cute!

>79 pgmcc: What >80 NorthernStar: said.

>79 pgmcc: Wonderful!

>79 pgmcc: Aw, so adorable! I love it! (Reminds me of my own grands - big sister so proud and loving her little baby brother!)

>80 NorthernStar:, >81 haydninvienna:, >82 Karlstar:

Thank you. We think so too. :-)

>83 Storeetllr: She is really proud of her little brother, although there was one morning she told us about his waking everyone in the middle of the night. :-)

>25 pgmcc: I'm trying to resist the hit of The Bookbinder's Daughter, but it's coming right at me, even though I have acquired a substantial aversion to all books with formula titles "The X's Y" (The Orphan Master's Son, The Time Traveler's Wife, etc.). It bothers me to see the focal character in a work of fiction be defined and labeled by his or her relationship to someone else--as if the character were simply not worthy or strong enough to be known for themselves. So why are they the title character, then? Just call it "Hamlet," not "The Late King's Son."

It is comforting to know that there are enough genuine booklovers left among us (the general "us") to allow a publisher's marketeers to play to that audience.

>84 pgmcc: Haha, yes, "waking everybody in the middle of the night" is a definite thing with newborns. How old is big sister?

>86 Storeetllr: Three!

>85 Meredy:
I was thinking of your aversion to titles like that when I was reading it. The title did not affect my enjoyment of the book.

>88 pgmcc: I wish I could make tiny print so I could just whisper: I'll probably read it anyway.

Truthfully, it sounds irresistible. I indulge in a number of harmless prejudices (like not reading books whose authors' names I don't like), but I do set them aside when convenient. Very few are hard rejections.

ETA:

Dang. Something came over me and I just ordered it for my Kindle ($3.99, wow!). With the marketing tagline incorporated in the title and everything. I must have done a frilled-lizard dance, daring you to find a way to miss me.

>89 Meredy: I hope the book disturbs you less than the title.

>79 pgmcc: Lovely children. I am happy that you are able to go and visit them.

>91 MrsLee: We are looking forward to it. Currently in the process of getting all our documentation in order.

>79 pgmcc: Such cuties! I am so happy for all of you.

>93 clamairy: Thank you!

That's an adorable photo! I hope you get everything sorted out for a smooth trip.

>95 Sakerfalcon:
Thank you, Claire.

All the essential documentation and approvals are in the bag, but as they say in Stingray, "Anything can happen in the next half-hour!"

I finished The Green Man's Challenge. It had a slow start. I could see it was catering for people who have not read the first three books by including little recaps about the characters and the beasts encountered. Juliet put a lot of info-dump material in the text to explain the English mythology and details of the folklore. Explanations we fairly precise and could put some people off. A good addition to the series, but when I finished it I got the feeling that the ending was about building a framework for future books. This is interesting as I know that when Juliet wrote the first book she was not sure if or when she would get around to writing a second. The response to the first three books has obviously persuaded her there is opportunity for more.



I started A Man With One of Those Faces by Caimh McDonnell. -pilgrim- hit me with a BB with the second book in a trilogy, so I had to start with the first one. @-pilgrim, you can chalk this up as a BB hit as well.

It is an interesting, fairly non-PC comedy about someone who is so ordinary he is totally average in every respect. I have to admit to laughing out loud on a few occasions.

>97 pgmcc: It's worse than that, Peter. Disaster Inc is the first book of the second trilogy! And the first trilogy actually contains four books. (Of course it does. That's MacDonnell for you.)

>98 -pilgrim-: I have just checked his Wikipedia page and it appears a fifth novel, Dead Man's Sins has been added to The Dublin Trilogy this year.

>99 pgmcc: Yes, indeed. But, in the internal chronology, and hence reading order, it comes after the McGarry Stateside trilogy. Our boy does not believing in keeping things simple.

Your grands are adorable! I bet everyone is super excited for your trip!

"Shadow Voices: 300 Years of Irish Genre Fiction"* by John Connolly.

This arrived today, on its day of publication.

* No touchstone yet.

This massive work contains 1,088 pages and weighs in at 1.535Kg (3.3841lbs).

I am on the bus heading to a day long symposium about Melmoth The Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin. The book was first published in 1820 and this symposium was to be held last year to mark the 200th anniversary. As is appropriate for a symposium about a Gothic book, it was delayed by a worldwide plague.

>97 pgmcc: That series looks interesting, I'll put it on my list. Great picture of the grandchildren!

>104 Karlstar: Thank you!

Another one bites the dust!

A sad day for Dublin as Chapters Bookshop announces it will close early in 2022.

I first fell in love with Chapters Book Shop when it was located on Abbey Street. In those days its books, both new and secondhand, were piled chaotically everywhere. As you went up or down the stairs you were navigating around and between piles of books. You had to take care and watch your step as you studied the bookshelfs. It was the epitome of a brilliant old bookshop.

When Chapters moved to its brand new premises on Parnel Street I was a bit apprehensive, but I soon got used to its very modern, neat, and health & safety conscious layout. It had lost the atmosphere of an old, magic cavern of books, but it was always a pleasant place to browse. I have many fond memories of visits to Chapters, and thanks to my friend Deirdre Walsh, I have a picture of one of my happiest memories in the shop.



haydninvienna, you will have to come back to Dublin soon if you want to peruse the books in Chapters before it closes. There is a two-for-one sale on at the moment, which appears to be attracting a big crowd, so I cannot promise they will have much stock left for any pre-closure visitors.

>106 pgmcc: Noted, and thanks for letting me know, Peter. I may get back there in time but wouldn’t bet on it. Sad to see the place go, of course. I liked it too, although I don’t think I bought anything there in my recent times in Dublin.

Metafilter used to have a custom of posting just a”.” to signify a minute’s silence. So:

.

(When Steve Jobs died, the Metafilter thread had over a thousand posts consisting just of a full stop. The full thread was 1,518 posts, probably the longest Metafilter thread ever.)

ETA I was wrong about not buying anything there, so I’m not so conscience-stricken now.

I wonder where all the stock will go? I really hope that Parnell Street is thronged with frenzied book-buyers.

Sad news indeed about Chapters. Though I haven't been there (or to Ireland, come to that), any time an indie book store closes, it's saddening. I am still upset about the closing of Los Angeles bookstores Dutton's and Dawson's (tho Dawson's still operates online), not to mention the loss of the Library of Alexandria. :) We have an indie bookstore here in our village of Nyack called Pickwick. It is very much like your description of Chapters pre-move - cluttered, narrow aisles, used and new books piled haphazardly together. Only one story though, and rather small, though I didn't go into it too far as I'm a bit claustrophobic so I'm not sure if it's bigger than I thought. If you ever get to New York, you'll have to let me know so I can take you there.

>106 pgmcc: Oh, I'm terribly sorry.

The article contained an interesting tidbit, that bookstores in suburbs and small towns are doing well, even though city bookshops are struggling.

I have mentioned in various places that I was attending a day of events to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin. The book was published in 1820 and the event was to have been held last year but was delayed due to COVID, as if you could not have guessed.



It was a great day consisting of a symposium on various aspects of the book and its place in the world of The Gothic; a selection of readings from the book in the Lady Chapel of St. Patrick's Cathedral; and the launch in Marsh's Library of an exhibition, presenting the 16th & 17th century books Maturin read in Marsh's while writing Melmoth the Wanderer.

The day was very interesting and very Gothic. As I travelled into town on the bus it was grey and drizzle was falling. Walking up from the bus stop on the banks of the Liffey at The Four Courts my first Gothic encounter was with Christchurch Cathedral.



Christchurch is situated overlooking Wood Quay where the Dublin City Council offices now stand. Wood Quay is the site of the first viking settlement in the area, and hence the location where Dublin was born.

This started getting me in the mood for the day.

Passing under the arch linking Christchurch Cathedral with the former synod hall I only had to walk about 600 metres to reach another Gothic cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral.



The events of the day were organised by Marsh's Library, a location that regular visitors to my thread will have heard me wax lyrical about many times. The library was established in 1707 by Archbishop Marsh, and it is located in the grounds next to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Having reached St. Patrick's I turned into St. Patrick's close and approached the gate to Marsh's Library.



I will provide details of the symposium papers in another post. Needless to say there were many interesting details provided about the life of Charles Robert Maturin and his Gothic writings. There was also great conversation at the breaks and, I say this most sincerely, delicious sandwiches at lunchtime.

At 5pm the readings in St. Patrick's Cathedral commenced. I must say I could not think of a more suitable place to listen to readings from a Gothic novel.





I must pay tribute to the organisers of the event. They were Jason McElligott, Director of Marsh's Library, and Christina Morin, Senior Lecturer in the School of English, Irish and Communications at University of Limerick. Jason McElligott is seen in the next picture introducing the readers in The Lady Chapel.



Christina Morin is seen below reading from Melmoth the Wanderer. Dr. Morin is an expert on Maturin's work and his influence on the Gothic genre. She has several publications on the topic and an interesting lecture by her on Maturin is available on Youtube.



One of the other readers was Darryl Jones, seen in the picture below reading from the book of the day.



Darry Jones is Professor of Modern British Literature and Culture at Trinity College Dublin. Some of you might know his name from his editing the books below:





One thing I admire Professor Jones for is his addressing a pet peeve of mine in his introductions to the above books. I hate reading the Introduction in a book and discovering it includes details of the story. I never read introductions to fiction until I have read the fiction for fear of spoilers. I want to read the story the way the author wanted to tell it to me; not have my mind filled with someone else's interpretation beforehand. In Professor Jones's introductions he begins by warning the reader not to read the Introduction until after reading the content. He scores full marks from me for that.

Other readers included Marie Gethins and Madeline Potter.

After the readings we headed back to Marsh's Library for the launch of the exhibition about Maturin's work and involvement with Marsh's Library. Maturin spent a lot of time reading in Marsh's Library, and the exhibition presents many of the 16th & 17th century books Maturin would have read when researching for Melmoth the Wanderer.

This exhibition will run into Spring next year, and will be available as an on-line exhibit on the Marsh's Library website.

After the launch of the exhibition we were allowed exit the Library buildings via the Library garden. As I was passing through the garden my attention was arrested by some slight disturbance of the soil, as seen in the next two pictures.





I hurried on.

Heading back towards Wood Quay to catch my bus home I was presented with the southern aspect of Christchurch Cathedral. An impressive Gothic end to my day.

>110 pgmcc: Thanks for the story and the pictures!

>111 Karlstar:
I had such a good time at the events I felt I had to document the day. It was my first such day since before the pandemic struck. We all had our masks on, socially distanced, and had a great day.

Sounds like a wonderful day. Great story and pics. I'm even tempted to read the book!

Great day, Peter. And thank you for the pictures. That's a beautiful part of Dublin.

The symposium held in Marsh’s Library to celebrate 200 years since the publication of Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin, had some fascinating papers. The life and works of Charles Robert Maturin contain such breadth and depth the range of papers covered topics as diverse as the role of mothers in Melmoth the Wanderer and in Gothic literature in general, a story of rivalry between two Cathedrals over the performance of an oratorio written by Maturin, and the importance of water and liquid in the tale of Melmoth’s wanderings across the World.



The papers presented were:

“The Anxiety of Motherhood in Melmoth the Wanderer” presented by Dr. Marine Galiné of the University of Reims, presented via Zoom.

This paper presented various representations of mothers in literature and analysed the mothers in Melmoth the Wanderer. These ranged from the mother wanting to keep control of their child, to mothers who might even be considered evil and destructive. Dr. Galiné’s paper included a structured approach to classification of the roles discussed.

”The Pollution of My Own Cathedral: The Revelations of Charles Robert Maturin” presented in person by Dr. Jim Kelly of Exeter University.

While Dr. Kelly’s paper was focused primarily on a dispute surrounding the performance of an Oratorio written by Maturin, it included aspects of theological discipline within The Church of England in Ireland, and what amounted to rivalry between Christchurch and St. Patrick’s Cathedrals. It also addressed Maturin’s flavour of Calvinism that saw his love of music and parties at odds with the strictness of other Calvinist practice. Maturin’s Five Sermons on the Errors of the Roman Catholic Church were discussed in the context of the charge levelled by Archbishop William Magee during his inaugural address at St. Patrick’s Cathedral that ”(It) has been the ill fortune of this Diocese, from peculiar circumstances, to be deprived of the advantage of effective Episcopal control…whilst, in truth, in this Diocese peculiarly, the discipline of the Church requires to be most strictly enforced…”

It was hypothesised that Maturin’s sermons were written, at least in part, to solidify his credentials and worthiness to be a minister of the church despite his writing of Gothic tales that had attracted a lot of criticism from his superiors and, “Right thinking people”.

Dr. Kelly’s paper filled a gap in my reading around Melmoth the Wanderer. I had not found anything about the socio-political context of his works. It turns out that Dr. Kelly is an expert on this aspect of the book and I was happy to hear discussion on a topic that I thought came through very strongly in the novel. Dr. Kelly’s book, Charles Maturin: Authorship, Authenticity and the Nation, addresses the very aspect of the novel I had been thinking about.



”Liquid Melmoth” was the title of the paper presented, in person, by Professor Claire Connolly of University College Cork.

The paper looked at Melmoth the Wanderer with focus on the use of liquid in the story. This ranged from raging seas, to the trampling of bodies into liquid form, ending with a drink of water that appears towards the end of the book.

This may appear a limited and contrived way to look at a novel, but Professor Connolly used the approach to bring out interesting aspects of the book, and to link the book to historical events (the Assassination of The Rev. William Hamilton in 1797) and other literary works of the Gothic, such as Lewis’s The Monk.

”A Noctuary of Terror: Melmoth’s Labyrinth and the Spectral Legacies of Charles maturin” was presented by Dr. Katie Mishler . Dr. Mishler’s paper looked at the explicit and inferred labyrinths in Melmoth the Wanderer.

Her comments on characters being led through confined spaces, in total darkness, as the roof got lower and lower, were very claustrophobia inducing, and the losing of one’s way in these underground places, in total darkness, chipped away at any vestige of hope one might have.

”Thy Heart is Sunk: Storm and Sensibility in Maturin’s Bertram” was presented via Zoom link by Dr. Julia M. Wright of Dalhousie University.

“Bertram” was a play written by Maturin which met with great success when performed in England. The play had included supernatural elements when first written, but in response to advice from various people all the supernatural elements were removed, leaving a tale that drew criticism for its amorality, and is reputed to be the cause of Maturin’s never being promoted beyond curate in the Church.

This paper looked at the symbolism of the opening sequence of a storm in Bertram, and compared it to The Tempest.

While many of the cuts to the play were due to comments that the play was too shocking or scary for the audience, other cuts were made to long speeches that led one commentator to fear the actors would not have the ability to deliver such long soliloquies without suffering from exhaustion.

”Romantic Bardolatry and the Role of Shakespearean Allusions in the Characterisation of Melmoth” was presented by Dr Raphaël Ingelbien and Dr Benedicte Seynhaeve of The University of Leuven.

This was a fascinating paper. These researchers, who obviously know Shakespeare’s works back to front, told us that Melmoth is full of Shakespearean references and, albeit on occasion paraphrased, quotations. The conclusion of the paper, and the discussion amongst all those gathered, some of whom are Maturin and Gothic scholars, was that Shakespearean stories and quotations were common knowledge amongst the educated people of the time and it was not surprising that many of these stories and quotes had entered the common knowledge and vernacular. Also, it was concluded that Maturin would have used quotations as he remembered them rather than checking texts to get the exact words used.

In conclusion:

My copy of Melmoth the Wanderer is full of notes and underlining. When I read it I saw links to many topics, other texts, and the socio-political context in which Maturin lived. Having sought out and read material on Maturin I could see the influence of his life experiences in the book he was writing.

The symposium papers did not cover all the aspects of Melmoth the Wanderer and the life of its author that I have identified or inferred, but they did show me a wealth of other aspects of both the book and its author that I had not noticed, or become aware of, or had any idea about at all.

My conclusion is that Melmoth the Wanderer, its author, Charles Robert Maturin, and all his fictional and non-fiction works, provide a whole world of fascination, and no one day symposium could cover more than a fraction of the wealth of subject matter available. Maturin is an author worthy of reading and his life, full of contradictions as it was, is something to be studied for insight into human life and the interaction of the individual with all the groups, organisations, and temptations encountered.

And before you ask, “Yes!”, I recommend you read Melmoth the Wanderer.

NOTE: Apologies for any errors, omissions, inaccuracies, or misinterpretations in this post. Any fault for these lies with me.

I hope you enjoyed the post.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

>107 haydninvienna:
According to messages on the Chapters website they have been overwhelmed with the response. I think the stock will move quickly.

It appears the issues are not just getting on-line early enough and reduced footfall, but other issues associated with retailing in the city centre. I suggest rents and rates, as well as road access for deliveries etc... are in the mix.

>108 Storeetllr:
If you ever get to New York, you'll have to let me know so I can take you there.

I would consider that a treat indeed. I will be in touch if/when I am heading to New York.

Yes, we are all still very upset about the loss of the Library of Alexandria. I do not think one can ever get over that one.

>109 libraryperilous:
Yes, there are number of success stories around the place. Moving on-line helped a lot of the smaller stores survive during the pandemic. Also, a lot of people discovered that working from home meant they could move back to their original home town/village, so some of the small towns found their local book-buying population increased in size. That, along with a preference to buy locally, has led to several good success stories.

>113 Bookmarque:

It is a big read, and you need to be willing to experience a battle between good and evil. One thing I felt about Maturin's writing was that he made a point, then went on with a different example to make the same a couple more times before moving on. I felt I was getting enough out of the book to put up with that, and also, he varied the way he made the point each time.

The basic story is about a man, Melmoth, who made a deal with the Devil for immortality. Melmoth's side of the bargain is to find another human soul to replace him in the deal, and he had a set time. measured in centuries, to do this. The book is the story of his wanderings pursuing this goal.

>114 haydninvienna:
It was a super day, Richard, and it fed my enthusiasm about Maturin and his place in Irish history and literature.

>115 pgmcc: I enjoyed the post and the pictures. Happy (belated) Halloween!

>110 pgmcc: - ... and approached the gate to Marsh's Library.
Never been to Dublin; but I love the idea of approaching a library through an arched gate in a high wall—very symbolic of a library's escape from the bustle and stress of daily life.

Great series of posts. Made me quite envious.

Is there going to be a related publication, do you know? I mean a collection of the various papers presented? I've been looking online but haven't found any mention yet.

>115 pgmcc: What a wonderful day! Thank you for the pictures, which are strengthening my desire to return to Dublin one day. I visited Chapters when I was in the city and was very impressed with its selection and prices. I'm sad to hear that it's going.

>122 alaudacorax:
Marsh's library is reputed to be the second oldest lending library in Europe. My recollection is that the oldest is in England. I shall attempt to verify that and, ideally, identify that library.

There was no mention of a publication, and I suspect there will not be one, but I will ask the organisers. It had crossed my mind, but I think the organisers were focused on getting the event to happen given all the disruption due to COVID. Dr. Tina Moran said it was her first in-person event since the start of the first pandemic lock-down here in March 2020.

I found Jim Kelly's talk very interesting, probably because he was addressing the ideas I had about the socio-political context of Melmoth the Wanderer. I had not found his work and thought it was an area that had been ignored by research. This is not the case and he has published a book that deals extensively with the topic. I am now faced with the issue we discussed elsewhere, namely the pricing of academic publications. I have been considering the investment of £50 in his book, and arguing against it at the same time.

The attendance was kept to about 40 people to maintain social distancing. I think I may have been the only non-academic there.

>123 Sakerfalcon: It was a great place to get discounted books. They had recent publications at full price, but older books by the author at €4.99 and other such affordable prices. It was a great place to buy books if you discovered a new author and wanted to get their back-list.

>123 Sakerfalcon: I suspect you might like a visit to Marsh's Library, or would that be too like a bus-driver's holiday for you?

>126 pgmcc: Oh no, I love visiting libraries! I wish I'd had time to visit Marsh's while I was in Dublin, but I had to be selective and chose the Chester Beatty instead. Of course, as I was there for a library conference we did get to visit the libraries at NCAD, the Royal Dublin Society and the Royal Irish Academy, and were extremely well looked after at all of them. It was the best conference I've attended. My sister and I also visited Trinity, but it was MUCH too crowded which spoiled the experience. You are very fortunate to have so many wonderful libraries in Dublin.

>127 Sakerfalcon:
As with all things, one does not take advantage of the local attractions as much as one should. I have been living in Dublin nearly forty years and have not visited the Long Room in Trinity. My wife and my two daughters attended Trinity, yet I have not visited the Long Room. I was told recently that I have to do it soon as it is closing for some work to be done. Apparently this work will take a long time.

>117 pgmcc:
Yes, we are all still very upset about the loss of the Library of Alexandria. I do not think one can ever get over that one.

I wonder how many people like us around the world still grieve for the Library of Alexandria. And I wonder in what ways the world might be different today if not for that loss.

>128 pgmcc: "As with all things, one does not take advantage of the local attractions as much as one should."
AKA the "don't ask me, I only live here" syndrome, which is universal.

>129 Meredy: Hear, hear! I want a time machine and tiny camera to go back and photograph the lot, every page.

>117 pgmcc: >129 Meredy: To add mystery to the mix, here's an article that discusses the possibly apocryphal destruction of the Library of Alexandria by Julius Caesar and sets out citations that dispute the commonly accepted story. According to the article, the agency for the destruction of the library might have been a purge by the Christian church in 391 A.D. or due to a Islamic purge during the Arab invasion circa 642 A.D.

One of my less pleasant memories of Canberra is driving across Commonwealth Avenue Bridge one evening and seeing smoke coming out of the roof of the National Library. Fortunately it didn’t turn out to be too serious. The fire was in an air conditioner IIRC and the worst damage to the books (no digital collections then) was soot. I seem to remember that the library staff invented a gadget to remove soot from books.

>122 alaudacorax: I contacted one of the organisers of the Melmoth the Wanderer day of events about a possible publication. She said it is planned but they have not finalised the format, but she will keep me informed about its publication. Watch this space.

So sorry to hear about your books store. At least it looks like that Melmoth event went off beautifully!

Happy Belated Halloween.

>134 clamairy:
Belated BOO!

I have finished A Man With One Of Those Faces by Ciamh* McDonnell.



This was a BB from -pilgrim-.

It is a good, comic detective story with the detectives and the criminals involved with the worst of the criminals in Dublin. It is gritty and quite realistic in many regards. It also uses real areas, albeit with slight variations of detail. Brogan's pub is real and I have been in it. When I was in it last it was just a grotty as it is described in the book.

One might describe this book as a guilty pleasure as its grittiness and humour can be a bit rough, but having been known to burst out laughing when reading it I cannot say I did not like it.

Without giving anything away, it is a story about ordinary people who, through no fault of their own, get mixed up in something unsavoury and find themselves between a bunch of nasty criminals and the Guards (Irish police). The plot is quite interesting and the humour, as I said, had me bursting out laughing, even on a bus, which was a bit embarrassing.

McDonnell has changed some detail to maintain the "fiction" classification, but he has captured some of the reality. One thing I found interesting was the Garda Commissioner (Head of the police force in Ireland) was female. There has been one female Garda Commissioner in the force. She and her husband were both in the Guards and were our next-door neighbours when we were in our first house. We were in and out of one another's houses all the time and we even attended their wedding celebrations. At the time the future Commissioner was a rookie cop and was studying law to get ahead. We did not realise she would succeed so well. It is fascinating to see one's friend represented as a character in a novel.

*Pronounced Queevv.

Would I read another book by this author?
Yes! I already have the next one in the series.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes!

Who would I recommend it to?
Anyone who likes a laugh, is happy reading detective stories, and is not too sensitive about the odd bit of rough edges on the characters. It is mild when compared to many of the police dramas that have appeared on television in recent years and has the added bonus of having a good sense of humour thrown in.

The next question was inspired by hfglen. Thank you Hugh.

Did this book inspire me to do/think anything?
Yes. It inspired me to enjoy myself and to look forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you, -pilgrim- for introducing me to these books which are from my own backyard.

I am going to read another story from Seven Gothic Tales. MrsLee and I have started reading this book and we both found the first story sufficiently intense to make it necessary to read the stories one at a time** with sufficient recovery time between each one.



I am going to read The Monkey, which is the third story in the collection.

**Yes, I know, it would be difficult to read them all together. Of course they would have to be read one at a time.

>136 pgmcc: Yes, I know, it would be difficult to read them all together: as Arthur C Clarke wrote once, we cannot even read one book per eye.

>136 pgmcc: You are skipping around in the book? Reading the stories willy-nilly out-of-order? Does not compute!

>138 MrsLee:
I bought Seven Gothic Tales so that I would have access to "The Monkey". It was one of the stories that included in Part II of "Great Stories of Detection Mystery and Horror" edited by Dorothy L. Sayers. I picked up Part I on my trip to Wexford at the start of September. When I found out that the volume I had did not contain the "Horror" stories I was horrorified. I searched for copies of it on the InterWeb but the only ones I could find were asking fro exorbidant postage or were exorbitantly expensive. I then searched for the individual stories and found most of them in various locations, either on-line, in a collection I already had, and, one story, The Monkey, was in Seven Gothic Tales. The kindle version was available for £1.49.

Your raising the topic of Seven Gothic Tales has brought me to the point where I am ready to read "the Monkey". Apologies if my wayward wondering is upsetting your penchant for sequential reading. You will have to have your internal wiring amended to comprehend my fuzzy logic.

i will let you know how I get on.

By the way, I am very bad, as I have not read Dorothy L. Sayers's introduction to the collection; the introduction was the main reason I bought it as I wanted to get her take on the genres within.

E.T.A. When I have finished "The Monkey" I will return to reading the stories in the sequence in which they have been presented by the publication.

>139 pgmcc: You have my blessing to read whatever you desire. See? I can be gracious. :P

>140 MrsLee: I know you are gracious.

I am still reading "The Monkey" before reading the second story. :-P

:-)

>136 pgmcc: my library does not have this book. :( I think I’m going to have to purchase a couple of books, this one among them. Hmm, maybe I’ll wrap them and put them under the Christmas tree.

>136 pgmcc: I thought you would either love them or hate them, depending how authentic they are in setting.
I am glad it was the former.

*Pronounced Queevv.
Drat. I had gone for Keev. :-D

>143 -pilgrim-:

Good effort. You got the "v" for the mh, and you knew it would be a hard "C".

>136 pgmcc: Got me with that BB!

>145 Storeetllr:
I hope you enjoy it.

>146 pgmcc: Thanks! I was able to borrow it from the library so will be starting it soon. I'll let you know.

>147 Storeetllr: That's handy. As -pilgrim- said to me, "You will either love it or hate it." :-)

>143 -pilgrim-:
The setting is authentic. Some of the details have been changed slightly, e.g. Paul's address does not back onto the canal, but it is only about 100m from the canal in the same area McDonnell put it.

I will regard these books as some light relief when I have finished reading something a bit heavy.

>149 pgmcc: That is impressive detail.

I was using them as pain relief/distraction with a fair degree of success.

Reply to ScoLgo in Karlstar's thread.

I was surprised by the end of Tigerman as Nick had said he did not do sad endings, and that his father did enough of those for both of them.

I enjoyed his non-fiction book, The Blind Giant. Some people thought it rambled a bit, but it discussed real issues and raised important questions about our use of, and thinking about, the technology that appears to be taking over our lives.

Have you read his book, Edie Investigates? It is only available as an e-text, but is a bit of fun. It is a short story about Edie Bannister from Angelmaker.

He also wrote a Dr. Who story, Doctor Who: Keeping Up with the Joneses. Another quite short story of 62 pages.

Nick is firmly on my "buy-his-work-as-soon-as-it-is-published" list.

>151 pgmcc: Yes, I found Tigerman's ending to be a bit heart-wrenching and bittersweet.

I will plan to try The Blind Giant. I believe my library offers the e-text.

I have read Edie Investigates. Loved it. Edie was easily my favorite character from Angelmaker.

I did not know about the Dr. Who story. Will look it up, thank you.

With the exception of The Blind Giant, and Edie Investigates, I own everything he has published in hardcover. Well, also excepting Seven Demons, which was only available here in trade paperback. I follow Nick Harkaway on Amazon.com so I should be notified when he has something new ready for release.

Following -pilgrim-'s sharp shooting for books by Ciamh McDonnell, I tried the first book, A Man With One of Those Faces. As you can see from previous posts I was highly amused. It was also helped by the fact that I am an Amazon Prime member and the book was free with Prime.

When I went to get the second book I noticed that while the first one was free with Prime, the second and subsequent books require membership of Kindle Unlimited to get them for free. Also, I noticed that the first book was not listed as having been bought, but as having been borrowed under the Prime offer.

Well, the first four books in the series, including the one I have already read, were on offer for purchase as one set of Kindle books for £6.99. Not a big price for four volumes that I think I am going to enjoy.

Good shooting there, -pilgrim-.

I have a person working for me who joined the company during the pandemic lockdown. She has been with us for about a year and all our interactions have been by on-line meetings.

Well, in one of the non-work related discussions we had she recommended The Silent Patient.



Somehow it found its way onto my Kindle.

>153 pgmcc: Er, you don't have the first 4 novels in Part 1 of the Deluxe Trilogy. You have the first two, plus a novella, plus a short story.
The 4 actual novels of the "trilogy" are:

A Man With One of Those Faces

The Day That Never Comes

Angels in the Moonlight (the prequel)

Last Orders

Part 2 of the Deluxe Trilogy likewise contains 2 novels, a short story and a novella.

ETA: That is not to say that the shorter works are any less worth reading. And you get to meet Maggie...

>155 -pilgrim-: And you get to meet Maggie...

No spoilers, please. :-)

I think you have me hooked on McDonnell, so I am likely to enjoy his writing.

The first book struck a good balance between the detective story and the humour. He could have easily gone too far with the humour, but I thought he got it just right. I hope he maintains the balance in the other books.

In terms of the order of the books, I did find it confusing. I could not find a page that clearly identified the order of the books.

>156 pgmcc:
The Deluxe Trilogy components should be read in order of the two anthologies.

They follow the internal chronology, except that Angels in the Moonlight covers events that predate A Man With One of Those Faces by about a decade (so, for example, Bunny is still Paul's coach). But it presupposes knowledge of the characters, so the author does not recommend actually reading it first, and you really need to have read it to understand the events of the final book of the trilogy.

The McGarry Stateside trilogy should then be read before the fifth book of the Dublin Trilogy.

McDonnell does provide helpful advice like this within the anthologies themselves.

Between you and pilgrim, I bit the bullet and bought A Man With One of Those Faces. It was about 5 bucks. I don't have Kindle unlimited. We shall see.

>158 MrsLee: I will be interested in your reaction to it. I would not recommend reading it out loud in polite company.

>160 20thEagle:
I was intrigued by the character you mentioned and was going to come back to get the name and research who they are. Unfortunately you have deleted the message. :-)

I see you are a recent joiner to LT. Welcome aboard.

>158 MrsLee: Looks like A Man With One of Those Faces went on sale today for $0.99. Might be worth your while to ask Amazon about a refund...?

>136 pgmcc: Having read the 'Look Inside' excerpt, I picked up a bit of a "The Price You Pay" vibe. Wondering if you felt the same and, if yes, does that hold up through the rest of the book?

>162 ScoLgo: "The Price You Pay" comparison would not be far off the mark. Probably toned down, and definitely not as outlandish in terms of technology. A Man With One of Those Faces may have some of the attitude, but it is set in a real world without any stretching of credulity or suspension of disbelief required.

>163 pgmcc: Thanks, Peter! That describes exactly how the excerpt struck me. I picked up the first volume & will give it a go soon. You & -pilgrim- can go ahead and notch up another BB.

>162 ScoLgo: thanks!

>165 MrsLee: De nada. I hope they, "do you a solid."

>164 ScoLgo:
I am merely the wall that -pilgrim-'s shot ricocheted off. -pilgrim- deserves all the credit.

I am enjoying The Terrible Door by George Sims. The story is about a book dealer who attends a friend's funeral. The friend is also a book dealer and a collecior. Our protagonist is asked by his friend's widow to help sell off the deceased's collection of books. This draws him into a world of intrigue and mystery.

Sims was himself a dealer in rare books and his descriptions of the world of book dealing comes across as authentic.

>161 pgmcc: Having also encountered the protagonist of the "Morgue Drawer" series that MrsLee has recommending, I was musing about how he and Bunny McGarry might interact.

But it felt rather impertinent to interrupt so suddenly in a thread, when I am not even a member of this group (just lurking a bit). So I vanished.

>169 20thEagle:
We welcome interruptions and do not regard them as impertinent, but as opportunities to meet new people with similar interests.

As regards your not being a group member, that is easily fixed if you so desire.

Of course, your comment has reinforced MrsLee’s mention of the “Morgue Drawer” series and I will now have to check it out. :-)

Nice to meet you. Thank you for posting your response.

>169 20thEagle: Anyone who helps me toss book bullets is welcome! :)

Oh, and rabbit trails are a given here in the pub.

>171 MrsLee:
I knew you and >169 20thEagle: were in cahoots.

I received a late Christmas present today. A friend we have not seen in person for a long time due to the pandemic, called in for a visit and dropped off a present she had for me since Christmas 2019. It was a present well worth waiting for.



The Writer's Map is an atlas of imaginary lands. The editor, Huw Lewis-Jones has assembled a collection of maps from many fictions, and has persuaded various people to write articles about the maps they have been involved with, or which they have created in support of their story. The Prologue is written by Philip Pullman in which he tells of the genesis of a map he created to bring his novel, The Tin Princess, to life. He said the story needed a map, and the admitted that, no, it didn't really; but I wanted a map. :-)

Pullman spoke of the wonders of a map in a book and how it can help feed the imagination of those interested in maps and reading books.

The prologue sets a good feel for what promises to be a wonderful book. In terms of its scope, I have not been able to think of a map or imaginarly land in fiction that has not made it into this atlas of imaginary lands. Narnia is there; Middle Earth; the Maurauder's Map; Treasure Island;...

This is the type of Christmas present that shows the giver really knows the tastes of the giftee.

>173 pgmcc: I love maps in books.

>173 pgmcc: What a lovely and thoughtful gift! I can just see you studying the pages!

>174 Karlstar:
I must put up a few pictures from inside the book.

>175 MrsLee:
I knew you had a camera in my study. :-)

You are right. I was looking at it till nearly midnight.

>173 pgmcc: Yes, that does sound fascinating.

>173 pgmcc: Wow, that's very cool!

I have spent most of today ploughing throw administration and approval forms for our trip to the US. I have a big check-list and have been working my way through it. Apparently I cannot check-in until 24 hours before our flight. It appears no one can travel to the US without a smart phone and with the appropriate apps active and updated.

Well, the excitement is rising and we will be, all being well, on our way to the US of A on Wednesday morning.

George Sims appears to had an interesting life. During WWII he worked for the Intelligence Corp, and after the war he took up a job in a bookshop before setting himself up as an antiquarian bookseller.

The Terrible Door is the second George Sims novel I have read, the second being The Last Best Friend.

His stories are mysteries set in the world of old books, and the trade in old books. I have found the two I have read so far interesting, informative, and, in a way, nostalgic. Nostalgic in a sense that they take place in a time and place, post-WWII Britain, that still had the level of technology that I was used to in my earliest years growing up in Belfast.

The story was well told and the twists nicely produced, with some quite surprising changes in meanings of events.

If you like cozy crime with a hint of espionage, I suspect you will like this book. (That answers question three for me.)

1. Would I read more books by this author?
Yes.

2. Would I recommend this book?
Yes.

3. Who would I recommend this book to?
Anyone who, likes cozy crime with a hint of espionage.

4. Did this book inspire me to do anything?
It did not inspire me to do anything other than look back on my childhood days when coal-fire created smog hung thick in the streets of Belfast and when sodium street lights were just starting to appear.

The Silent Patient is a recommendation from a work colleague. She read it and found it very interesting.

I will say nothing about its subject matter, other than that I am finding it intriguing and already have some ideas of twists that might arise in the plot. Given my level of non-success in predicting the plot-twists in other books I will keep silent about my thoughts for the time being.

Having just started this book, and given that it has 336 pages, I suspect this will be my read for our transatlantic flight.

In relation to our trip to North America I must let you know I am not bringing any computing device other than my telephone. That means my posts will probably be quite short, and possibly infrequent, for the next couple of weeks.

>173 pgmcc: A copy of this book is ensconced on my bookshelf. I agree that it is a gift worth waiting for.

>179 pgmcc: Have a great trip! Enjoy the visit with your family. Try Cincinnati 5 way chili!

Happy travels, Peter and Mrs Pete. Let us know all about it when you return, or sooner if possible.

>183 Karlstar: Thank you.

Sounds interesting. Will I need a fire extinguisher to hand?

>184 haydninvienna:

Thank you.

Sitting in O’Hare airport grabbing a bite while waiting for our transfer flight.

All good so far.

>185 pgmcc: It is, uh, unique? Not known for heat though.

Within an hour of arriving at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, I visited Barbara’s Bookstore and bought The Searcher by Tana French. It is typical of me to travel across the Atlantic to buy a book by an author who is based in Ireland.

First meeting. Getting to know my new grandson. He will be nine weeks old on Friday.

I appear to have difficulty putting up pictures using my phone. :-(

>187 pgmcc: Nice buy! I started that one a few days ago, but then two different library ebooks landed on my Kindle, so I must read those first.

>188 pgmcc: Oh no. I see nothing but a broken photo icon.

Funny about the Tana French. I won't spoil anything, but I wonder why she even wrote it. Not a favorite.

>190 Bookmarque: it's got a decent rating here on LT. In fact it's higher than The Wych Elm and In the Woods.

Can't explain other people's taste. It bored me to tears. I liked Wych Elm better and basically everything in the Dublin Murder Squad series.

Posting this for Peter since he is unable to himself. Look at those beautiful baby cheeks.

>193 clamairy: Precious! Thank you for helping clamairy!

>193 clamairy:
Thank you, Clare.

>194 MrsLee: & >195 pgmcc: My pleasure.

>193 clamairy: Great picture! Gotta love grandkids!

>194 MrsLee: >196 clamairy: >197 Karlstar:
It is great being here with Liam. He is nine weeks old today, almost to the minute as I post.

It is great to share his pucture with you all.

>198 pgmcc: Hello to the little darling!

>199 20thEagle:
He waves back.
:-)

>193 clamairy: It's lovely to see you both together, Peter.

>201 -pilgrim-:
Thank you. It is lovely being here.

>193 clamairy: Pretty cute!

Oh, he’s adorable! Holding a baby is one of the best things in the world. Enjoy every minute.

>203 NorthernStar:; >204 catzteach:

Thank you.

We are minding him this morning as his parents take his sister to her gymnastics class. :-)

I finished The Silent Patient this morning and it is a, “Wow”. It surprised me in a couple of ways and I am giving it a five star rating. Very clever plotting and writing.

I will read Tana French’s The Searcher next. It is the physical book I bought at O’Hare airport and if I think my daughter and/or her husband would enjoy it I will leave it with them. I cannot do that with a Kindle book.

By the way, my daughter and her husband love books and are using one of the rooms in their new home as a library. They have told me there is plenty of space for more books. They quite like my sending them books and appear keen that I continue that habit. I think I have found a future home for my more valuable books. The only obstacle is The Atlantic Ocean.

>193 clamairy: Cute little bloke! Well done all round.

How exciting that you are here with us in the U.S.! I sense a warm spot somewhere in the vicinity of Cincinnati. Wish the whole crew of GDers could be there to give you a welcome hug.

I hope you have a great traditional Thanksgiving, with all the trimmings, as we say, and enjoy a great visit with your wonderful family--and especially with that new little fellow. Blowing a kiss to Liam. xx

>208 Meredy:
Thank you! We are delighted to be here. It would be great to see the GDers. Like yourself, they have been sharing their warmth here. Liam is getting virtual hugs from across The World, not just North America.

>193 clamairy: What a lovely photo! It's great to see you together and know that you are having a happy time with your family.

>211 Sakerfalcon:
It is wonderful. Today’s plan is for Granny & Grandad to go for a walk with three-year-old big sister to an ice cream parlour…for lunch.

>212 pgmcc: That sounds like a great idea! Enjoy!

>212 pgmcc: Great plan!

>213 Sakerfalcon: & >214 Karlstar:
We had lunch in Bob Evan’s and ice cream dessert in Graeter’s.

Had my first American biscuits. Very nice.

>215 pgmcc: Bob Evans does have good American biscuits. They are nice with the honey drizzled on them.

I hope you are enjoying your new grandchild!

>215 pgmcc: When you say, "Had my first American biscuits. Very nice." Do you mean you had what we call biscuits, a fluffy, baking powder scone-like thing? Or do you mean you had what you call biscuits, and we call cookies? Curious minds.

>216 libraryperilous:
We certainly are enjoying being with our new grandson. His big sister is great fun too.

It is lovely being with them.

>217 MrsLee:
I mean what you call biscuits. I first became aware of them when I expressed surprise at the funny song about the person who was asking for the biscuits to be passed so he could get one to have with his gravy. My S-I-L explained what biscuit meant in that context.

I was in a supermarket yesterday and one difference I noticed between that supermarket and supermarkets at home was the absence of a biscuit (as per what you would call cookies) aisle to accommodate the wide variety of biscuits we have.

The stores around here usually have a ridiculously large selection of cookies, but they do often share the isle with crackers.

I'm so glad you're enjoying yourselves. Hope your weather hasn't been rough.

Weather has been good. Saturday was cloudy and yesterday was wet, but the other days have been sunny, but cold.

I am still in awe of the birds, deer and squirrels around the house. The tree colours are still quite stunning.

Be sure to have biscuits and gravy. Bob Evans is a good choice. We don't have any out here in Denver.

>215 pgmcc: Glad you enjoyed your meal. No 5 way chili yet?

>222 suitable1: My son-in-law has said he will prepare biscuits and gravy for us.

>223 Karlstar: No 5 way Chili yet, I am told it is Chili con carny with spaghetti instead of rice. Is there any other attribute that makes it 5 way?

I have just downloaded Ken MacLeod’s latest book to my Kindle. It is titled, Beyond the Hallowed Sky and is book one of The Lightspeed Trilogy.

I am looking forward to getting into this one. Ken has never disappointed me.

>225 pgmcc: Apparently not available yet in the US. I am currently reading and enjoying Newton's Wake, so will have to make do with that until Beyond the Hallowed Sky releases here.

I've also just this evening ordered a hardback of Descent from Blackwell in the UK. I expect it will take a while to arrive...

>226 ScoLgo:
I loved Newton’s Wake.

Descent is good too. It is one of his, “near-future”, stories. Quite phrophetic.

Plans have been made. 5-way chili at Skyline Chili planned for lunchtime on Saturday.

The Irish Book Awards ceremony was held on-line yesterday. I was delighted to see the winner in the short story category was a story published in “Uncertainties 5”, a collection published by The Swan River Press. The story is called “Little Lives” and was written by Deirdre Sullivan.

>229 pgmcc: This reminds me that I recently acquired my first Swan River Press book, and I now understand why you praise them so highly. The book is a beautiful object which feels good to hold and read. I'm sure you are curious as to which book it is - it is Curfew & other eerie tales by Lucy M. Boston. It was a lucky find in a used bookshop in Cambridge.

>230 Sakerfalcon:
They are masterpieces of book construction. I am delighted you like the quality. They epitomise books as things of beauty.

I have yet to read the Curfew stories. I will be reading Little Lives as soon as I get home.

Finding a SRP book in a used bookshop is a stroke of luck as they are expensive to buy new. They tend to be collector items and so seldom enter the second hand market.

>228 pgmcc: I believe Skyline Chili is the iconic location for Cincinnati style chili. I think the '5 way' refers to how many other things you put on the pasta - beans, cheese, onions, is the traditional 5. By the way, this is unique to Cincy, as far as I know. It's weird.

>230 Sakerfalcon: I bought a (new) copy of Lucifer and the Child direct from Swan River Press last year. It was expensive at ~40€ but the price included shipping to the US so, all-in-all, not an outlandish outlay for such a nicely crafted book. The story was incredible too so I was (and am still) pleased with the purchase.

>228 pgmcc: Good to see you are having a great visit on this side of the pond, Peter. I hope you all enjoy the 5-way chili.

>232 Karlstar:
My daughter spotted a Skyline jys fifteen minutes walk from here. I discussed 5-way chili with her and we looked up the Skyline menu. As you say the “5” refers to the chili, spaghetti, cheese, onions and beans.

My daughter said it is also known as Cincinbati chili and It is Skyline’s signature dish. You and my daughter myst have been talking and be on retainer to Skyline.

>233 ScoLgo:
We are indeed having a great visit. The people who my daughter and her husband bought their amazing house from dropped by tonight to pick up a box that was delivered here for them. It was a pleasure to meet them. They were delighted my daughter and family are making such good use of the house and how much we all love it. It was great to talk to them about how they had used the house and the various rooms.

That visit really added to our day.

>235 pgmcc: I don't know if I missed it, but what is so unusual about the house?

>236 Meredy:
It is very comfortable, gas four reception rooms and five bedrooms. The large master bedroom has an en suite and the rest of the house is served by two full bathrooms and a small rest-room.

The reception rooms run down one side of the house with a view of the back garden which includes an area of trees running down to a creek. The kitchen is big and the view is iut into trees that cover the slope down to the road. There us a laundry room, large workroom, and a double garage. There is plenty if wildlife ranging from squirrels to deer, blue jays, robins, woodpeckers, to hawks.

The house has a wonderful finish and my daughter and her family just had to move their furniture in and start living there.

They were amazed that it was within their price range and that they managed to get it. I am amazed at the price they got it for.

>237 pgmcc: That sounds like a lovely house to raise a family in.

>237 pgmcc: I had to Google reception room.

>239 clamairy:
What did Google say?

I am on page 168 of the 451 page The Searcher by Tana French and I am enjoying it.

We have a retired missing person detective from Chicago living in an old cottage in the West of Ireland. His getting to know the locals and trying to establish his life in the new surroundings is introducing him to some local mysteries and prejudices.

I suspect something in his past might be lingering in the background and might make itself known in the bear future. My track record regarding how a story line will play out indicates that I am probably wrong about this.

>232 Karlstar:
5-way consumed and enjoyed. Thank you for the recommendation. Photo to follow in a few days.

>242 pgmcc: Thanks for trying it! I wasn't sure you'd enjoy it, but it is such an iconic Cincy dish, I figured you should have the experience.

>243 Karlstar:
I really enjoyed it, thanks. It would have been a shame to be here and not try it. Skyline had a football game between Ohio State and Michigan on the screens. It was the first time I spent any time watching American football. Everyone in Skyline was talking about the snow falling at the match venue.

I have just finished The Searcher. More comment will be forthcoming when I get home and have access to my laptop.

My next read will be Ken macLeod’s new book, Beyond The Hallowed Sky.

At 245 posts I think it is time to start a new thread.