LizzieD the Fourth, Plunging Again

Whose thread did I just read where she expressed respect for Stasia in gallantly starting new thread after new thread after new thread? She's right! This takes me forever!
Lizzie Takes the Plunge
Lizzie plunges a second time

Lizzie's Third Plunge
MOST SIGNIFICANT from JANUARY through SEPTEMBER (in the order that I read them)
Wolf Hall
Essays of Elia
40,000 in Gehenna
The Talisman Ring
The Spare Room
The Brontes Went to Woolworth's
The Unknown Ajax
Crossing to Safety
Cutting for Stone*****!
Grand Sophy
The Education of Henry Adams
Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs
Invader
The Gentlewomen
Infinite Jest *****!!!
Gilead
Shelley:The Pursuit
The City and The City
At Mrs Lippincote's
South Riding

September, continued (* = reviewed)
56. The Septembers of Shiraz - like, not love - political prisoner in Iran and his family
57. South Riding - love, not like - southeastern Yorkshire in the 1930's as a microcosm
58. Flag in Exile - I love my Honor...twice! - #5 of space opera/military scifi - religious fanatics, politics, treason, sword fight, space battle, perfectly wonderful protagonist, Admiral Lady Dame Honor Harrington
59. North-west by North - sailing from Brisbane to Singapore, angst, sad poetry - I finished!
60. Absolution Gap - scifi - last of a trilogy - super book! - hard space opera with Brane space and lots of action
61. Earth Abides - thoughtful, Post-Apocalypse - well worth the reading
62. Trespass* - not my typical Rose Tremain, but beautiful writing distinguishes it

OCTOBER
63. Quite Ugly One Morning - first of a mystery series - totally disgusting; totally funny - I'll read more!
64. Transforming Congregational Culture - much appreciated and recommended
65. Mary Shelley - an interesting addition to Richard Holmes's PB Shelley - Muriel Spark makes it wonderful!
66. 2666 - mesmerized and flummoxed, I have nothing to say
67. Life with a Star* - a devastating Holocaust novel, probably the best I've ever read
68. The Towers of Trebizond - strange combination of funny and lost - Turkey, Anglicanism, satire, ramblings

NOVEMBER
69. The Lacuna - howler monkeys, a cave, loss, revolutionaries, human howlers, a cave, redemption of a kind - I love this book!
70. Body Work* - series mystery - V.I. Warshawski - I'm a fan, so I enjoyed it even if I figured things out ahead of Vic.
71. Blackout - scifi - On a roll with good ones! - WWII England with historian/time travelers
72. The Dervish House - near future scifi - Istanbul and nanotech - a great winner!
73. In Praise of the Stepmother - an erotic novel - funny in an appalling kind of way

DECEMBER
74. Book Lust to Go* - a lot of stops for reading my way around the world; new books! Just what I need!
75! Lavinia - Aeneas' last wife fleshed out - my favorite Le Guin - wonderful
76. Middlemarch - better the second time with a lot of help from my friends
77. A Fatal Grace - series mystery - I remain in like if not in love except for that dear Gamache
78. Aleta Dey* - valuable insights into its time with a treacly romance - Suffragist and Pacifist in 1900's Canada
79. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Book 5 - fun for me; angst for Harry
80. The Children's Book - good, not fabulous - extended family and friends from late Victoria through WWI
81. The Devotion of Suspect X* - Japanese police procedural - Lizzie the Curmudgeon doesn't like it

Hi, Peggy. Got your new thread starred.

Got ya starred!

Yet another star. You are going to look like the milky way shortly.

Found you again, Peggy. I would not miss this.

Thank you, dears. This is the nicest place ever!

Yeah, it is, isn't it?

So glad I checked in today; found and starred. Often I just completely lose track of folks and must hunt diligently for them.

I am quite late to this party!

I haven't read Reynolds -- yet :) Thx for the tip!

Pluinging in!

Going back to your last post in your previous thread - is it me or does hard sci-fi sound like something you have to buy over the counter in a brown paper bag? I'm still slowly working out all the genres and sub-genres so I have no idea if I like hard sci-fi but I am going to give it a try.

>11 souloftherose: Funny! It is a genre that used to belong to 'the boys' -- but don't you worry, it's been pretty well invaded by women at this point -- to the improvement of the whole genre, naturally!

That is funny! I do remember the days, though, when the science fiction section of whatever store I was in had 3 teen-aged boys browsing, one over-aged hippy, and me.

EARTH ABIDES by George R. Stewart

My thanks to Lucy for lending this one (and apologies for taking so long over it!). I've just reread her review, and I don't think I have anything to add. Read it! (Hers is in the second 5; wonderful that 5 others have read and reviewed this 1949 gem since! ) I have some sympathy with the reviewer who coached, "Dig a well!" "Corral those cows!" "Plant a garden!" as Ish allowed his tribe to continue to live off the old civilization. I was disappointed that only one child was really interested in learning to read. But I am not about to say that Ish was wrong or Stewart was wrong. As others have noted, the veneer of civilization is very thin, but Ish and his tribe were decent human beings, and that is very reassuring.
I'm not sure that in this age of global warming a thoughtful person can assume that earth will abide, but this remains a hopeful book, and I enjoyed it.

Peggy, I'm so glad you liked Earth Abides. I have a copy of it and hope to get to it soon.

#14: I loved Earth Abides too, Peggy, so I am glad to see it has found another fan!

Found you again! :)

So happy you liked it! When I recommend a book heartily I am always nervous! It was surprising that there was so little interest in reading -- but Ish was really the only one of the survivors who was inclined that way -- and I sort of bought the notion that the level of trauma was high enough that the rest of them just didn't want to 'go there' -- be reminded of all that was lost, for what was the point. I thought too one point Stewart made was that each surviving group was different depending on the make up of the people and the leader -- and Ish was a reluctant leader, smart but passive in certain ways and not inclined to take full responsibility for decisions -- I thought that idea was a real strength of the book -- that this was just one possible group. Not THE way it would play out.

I'm excited to learn more about Earth Abides from both you and Lucy. I'll be looking for that one at the upcoming book sale.

I'm just going to ignore all those stars after Infinite Jest on your list of significant books. I've been sidestepping around it for many years and am become quite adept at it! The problem is that I think I might like it, but am scared to death of Wallace's convoluted writing style.

I haven't read any Wallace yet either --

Donna, if you're attracted to *IJ* at all, do try it! Just go with the flow and you'll find that it's not at all hard to follow. Like any other masterpiece (and I honestly think that it is one), it has more to give than anybody will get on a first reading. Just be sure that you have a strong stomach: that would be my only caveat. Otherwise, it's funny and devastating at the same time - well worth the effort! And if you read it on a Kindle, it's not even wearisome to hold! I hope you find a copy of Earth Abides too. It's worth going out of your way for.
Lucy, I also like the end listing of some of the possible groups. I just know how sad my friends feel when their children don't love to read like they do - so I was sad for Ish mostly......but also for anybody who misses this great pleasure.

I'm in that category ---Book Lover whose children don't care one iota about reading. I have a glimmer of hope in that my daughter is trying to find the genre that might appeal to her. I'm not pushing, just gently suggesting she take a look at my shelves since my reading can only be described as eclectic.

I'll look for Earth Abides too. Thanks Peggy.

My pleasure, Bonnie - and it was Lucy's and Stasia's too!

TRESPASS by Rose Tremain
I didn't actively dislike this book, but I was disappointed in it because I've revered Tremain for her ability to scorn the contemporary devotion to incest, child abuse, and dysfunction of all sorts for so long. (At least that's been true of the first 3 of her books that I read.) She mixes it up with the best/worst of them in this book. So while it's a pretty good book, I was sad. Here's the beginning of my review:
I wish somebody besides Rose Tremain had written Trespass. I love her for her beautiful language, which is in evidence in every sentence of this book, but also for the decent characters whom she creates. Not one of the main characters in Trespass is likable. Not one of them becomes more likable as the book progresses. Instead, we find two sets of brother/sister pairs who show us why they are unlovely by their reflections on their childhoods. They are damaged people, and damaged people do ugly things to each other.
For the rest, you can go here.

Edited and edited again to fix Touchstones

Hi Peggy, haven't got around to finishing your previous thread yet (and and this rate I may not manage it) but at least I've found your new one, and starred it!

Thanks for the review of Trespass - it does sound like unusual territory for Tremain, and less enjoyable by the sound of it, but I will still want to read it. Just maybe not in such a hurry!

I've been trying to post a compliment on your review -- it's not easy to criticize a writer you are used to loving. It would be interesting to know what the origins of this latest are.

I'm glad to have you over here, Genny! And thank you, Lucy, for realizing that it's not easy for me to be critical of Tremain at all. She has been my great discovery of the new century!

Sorry Trespass wasn't as good as you hoped. I haven't read any of her books yet. Which ones did you like the best?

Oh, Pat, you are in for such a treat! She won the 2008 Orange Prize for The Road Home, and that remains my favorite. I think that Music and Silence won the Booker, and I love that one too. The Colour is also great, but maybe not as fine as the other two. I save the others for when I need something I know I'll like, but it didn't quite work this time......not that Trespass was bad. It just didn't seem quite up to the quality of the others.

>27 phebj:: You're not the only one with a Rose Tremain void in their reading life, Pat. She's definitely on my radar for the upcoming library book sale thanks to Peggy and some of her other fans on LT.

Peggy, as far as Infinite Jest goes, we'll see. I'll put it in that 'someday' category. I have a lot more interest in reading Proust first, and I fear he will keep me busy for a good long while.

Well, Proust is Proust and Jest is Jest and never the twain shall meet - or something. Proust is somebody I should be getting on with too, Donna.

Oh hooray, Peggy, I found your new thread. I guess I just wasn't paying attention. Oh how our writers disappoint us--and I think if they keep writing long enough and we keep reading them, then they all eventually do in one way or another. Well, maybe Trespass was something that Tremain had to get out of her system. Now she'll go back to being her otherwise wonderful self. You wrote an excellent review of a so-so book.

Thanks, Becky. It's not that it was so bad if you're a fan of twisted psyches. It was just not good Tremain, I think.

OK I am not reading your review Peggy since I am about 60 pages into Trespass and want to give myself half a chance at enjoying it because I think I caught a sniff of disappointment. I don't think I was quite as enamored with Tremain as you, although I did like The Road Home very much.

I do hope you enjoy it, Bonnie!

I loved Music and Silence, but since Trespass is what I would consider 'guardedly recommended', I think I will tackle something else of hers first. Great review though, Peggy!

Thank you, Stasia! If you can make it The Road Home, do! I think I may be that book's #1 fan, but even discounting personal idiosyncrasy, it's still a fine one!
And now I'm off for a weekend of wholesome fun with friends from high school, some of whom spent their summers at the camp in the N.C. mountains where we're going. I'm more excited than I can say!

#36: I own The Road Home. I just have to find it!

Have a great trip!

Shoot, I have Trespass sitting here tbr. I enjoyed Music and Silence but less so The Road Home. Probably the only person on LT to feel that way though.

#36 I'd second that recommendation for The Road Home - really loved that book!

Peggy, I've added The Road Home to my TBR. I haven't read any of her books. Have a great time with your friends.

"De gustibus," Tui.Thank you for the second, Genny.. Thank you for the good wish, Jan. It was WONDERFUL!!! I'm still more there than here.
Since I have said what little I wanted about my current big book, 2666 on Lucy's thread, I thought I'd at least start the little new quiz that's traveling around the threads here.

On your nightstand now: The Towers of Trebizond and Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys
Favorite book when you were a child: Little Women

Your top five authors: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen,

Book you've faked reading: I don't do that.

Book you're an evangelist for: Let's say besides The Road Home.... How about The Fresco

Book you've bought for the cover: The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett

Favorite line from a book: "

Book that changed your life:

Book you most want to read again for the first time: Pride and Prejudice

So what's with the *P&P* Touchstone?? Nevertheless, thanks to Tui for fixing that one for me~

"De gustibus," Tui.
non est disputandum

Book you most want to read again for the first time: Pride and Prejudice

Stopping by to say hello and to let you know that The Road Home is now on the wishlist.

I guess I should say something about what I'm reading now - but only in 10 or 15 minute segments, I'm afraid. My commitments seem to have taken an exponential leap since I got back from my wonderful weekend. My current main book is 2666, huge and one-of-a-kind. Like Infinite Jest, it's better taken as it goes with this reader picking up what she can. Unlike *IJ* where everything connects, I'm not sure that anything does in *2666*. I gave up trying to mark what I thought might be significant after the first 25 pages or so. Bolañ divided it into "Parts" which he intended to sell as separate volumes. The first part deals with four critics searching for their academic subject, a German writer who calls himself Archimboldi. Three of them pursue him to a city just across the border in Mexico, Santa Teresa. In the second part a philosophy professor in S.T. lives his life, tries to care for his daughter, remembers his wife, and hangs a geometry book on his clothesline to see whether the world can teach it anything. (!) The third part follows an African-American journalist as he deals with his mother's death and follows up his legitimate writing assignments. Then his editor sends him to S.T. to cover a boxing match. He has adventures and less-than adventures in S.T. and learns about the hundreds of women who have been murdered in S.T. since 1993. I'm currently reading the fourth part which deals with the murders. This is the longest section of the book, and I've read only eight pages. In those eight pages, I've read the detailed descriptions of the first of the murdered women.
What can I say? It's mad, but I can't wait to pick it up each morning. Maybe I'm mad, but I hope that the fascination lasts for another 538 pages!
When I'm not reading this, I'm looking at Mary Shelley still, a mystery by Christopher Brookmyre (first in the series called Quite Ugly One Morning, and other things on my "currently reading' list, but as I say, I'm not getting much time for concentration. October is going to be a slim month.
(I should say that my weekend with the high school friends was WONDERFUL!!! They put us in the cabin closest to the main buildings because of our advanced age. We hiked and canoed and Zumbahed and golfed and rode horses {not me} with the best of them. The food was so good that I would have gained about 20 pounds, but we laughed so much that I laughed off about 19. Good time!)

I loved Quite Ugly One Morning.

I have acquired The Road Home recently - it would fit Suzanne's TIOLI challenge but I fear I don't have time to fit it in.

Hi Peggy, I'm glad you're enjoying 2666 - I'd not heard of this, sounds very different. And so glad you had a great weekend away with old friends. Laughter is very good for the soul.

#14 Earth Abides was already on the wishlist thanks to Lucy's review but I have also added your recommendation to it now. Glad you also enjoyed it.

#23 re Trespass I feel exactly the same about books where all the characters are unlikeable/dysfunctional. It may be well written but it's so depressing to read. I will probably try some of the other Tremain books everyone's recommended before I try Trespass.

Hope October is not too busy and that you manage to fit some reading around everything else.

Sounds like a great weekend! Old friends and lots of action--who could ask for more!

Peggy, 2666 is one of a few books that I've bought new in the past few years. I had conflicted feelings about it; the murders were so hard to read about yet his writing is wonderful. I'm not sure I picked up on all the connections -- or if there were that many -- but I did "enjoy" the book and will reread it in the future to get more sense out of it.

>46 gennyt:: Genny, 'different' is a very good description of 2666.

I'm glad to see you here, you've been so quiet lately, and thanks for the description of 2666. Presently I feel so overwhelmed with DFW that I can't imagine tackling another big heavy, but I know I will.......

Thank you, friends for visiting! Luci, I enjoyed *Quite Ugly* too, and I'm going to say so in a minute. Donna, I'll be on my way over to your thread to see what you had to say about 2666. Yep, it's different all right. Heather, I definitely recommend that you try other Tremain before Trespass. Hi, Genny, Roni, and Lucy!

QUITE UGLY ONE MORNING
I didn't think that I was a particularly squeamish reader, but the description of the crime scene and the criminal behind it in the first four chapters of the book made me ill. On the other hand, there's nothing particularly refined about murder, so maybe producing a violent reaction is a positive thing. For the rest, leaning to the left politically is probably helpful for finding Jack Parlabane and Company funny. Jack is a journalist who worries a story like a dog with something nasty, and who happens onto said disgusting murder scene when he locks himself out of his new apartment in Edinburgh. The victim was a doctor, the prized son of a medical family, and Jack soon meets the doctor's ex-wife. Together they recognize a professional hit gone very, very wrong, and begin to determine why Ponsonby was murdered. Hilarity and audacity ensue with many pointed digs at Thatcher and her minions. I recommend this to anybody with a strong stomach who can either look left or is curious to know what the opposition is thinking.

Peggy, my review of 2666 is here. I read and reviewed it in February of 2009 so you would have to do some digging to find it. No spoilers other than the mention of the crimes against women in Ch. 4 which you've already discovered. I gave it 4 stars.

I'm interested in hearing more about your reaction to it when you've have a chance to mull it over. Like I said, I don't think I really "got it" but was blown away by the concept and the writing.

Thanks for pointing me to the review, Donna. I've read enough of what other people have said about it to believe that you "got" it; getting there seems to be the point. Or maybe not. Anyhow, I'm right with you so far. I pick it up eagerly, put it down with regret, and am pretty clueless as to what I was involved in between times.
For other people, here is at least one quotation that I enjoyed about books - he scatters them here and there.
The masseur for a Mexican boxer is blind and spends his time with books in Braille.
"Fate imagined the masseur reading in a dark room and a shudder passed through him. It must be something like happiness, he thought."

Hi Peggy, I'm so glad to hear about your fun weekend. I haven't read 2666 but I couldn't really ever get into his Savage Detectives and dropped it after about a hundred pages although the writing was fabulous.

Quite Ugly One Morning actually sounds pretty good. I don't have a squeamish stomach so I may give it a try.

The man can write for sure! There are folks here whom I respect who swear by Brookmyre, and since this was his first book, he may improve. And yes, part of the lure of Bolaño is the wonderful writing - even in translation!

Quite Ugly One Morning was Brookmyre's first book and was written/published before the 1997 elections, last time we had a Conservative government. There is quite a lot of political polemic against government policies and management practice in the National Health Service at the time. I suspect Brookmyre wasn't that much keener on New Labour.

I think I've read 4 Brookmyres but I have all of them or nearly all, and I've bought the most recent ones as they come out. Perhaps an interesting future TIOLI project to work out how I can fit them in to TIOLI, in order of course... some have the sort of title which makes me buy a book for that alone, such as Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks probably not totally necessary but there are several recurring series characters of whom Parlabane is one, as well as some which standalone.

See? Add Luci to the list of perceptive readers who enjoy Brookmyre.
The other thing that is calling my name with increasing volume is The Dervish House. I started it last weekend when I took the Kindle on the trip, and I'm getting into it and liking it a lot. It's set in Istanbul, and that gives it an extra appeal for me right there. Hmmm. Wonder if the Ironjawed Angel has read it? I think I'll go see!

ET make her an angel and not a maiden...

TRANSFORMING CONGREGATIONAL CULTURE by Anthony B. Robinson

I just finished this book which I read with the session of my church this year. It takes a realistic look at the shift in the US from "Christendom" where all the nice people were assumed to be Christian to the multi-cultural world in which we live, even in the Bible Belt. What is needed in churches which are to remain viable is the opportunity to encounter the living Lord and go out into the world transformed in order to say, "Come and see."

#58: I will look for that one. Thanks for the recommendation, Peggy.

Garrison Keillor read this yesterday on "Writer's Almanac." I love it! You can tell that I'm right with her on ellipses and dashes.....

On Punctuation

by Elizabeth Austen

not for me the dogma of the period
preaching order and a sure conclusion
and no not for me the prissy
formality or tight-lipped fence
of the colon and as for the semi-
colon call it what it is
a period slumming
with the commas
a poser at the bar
feigning liberation with one hand
tightening the leash with the other
oh give me the headlong run-on
fragment dangling its feet
over the edge give me the sly
comma with its come-hither
wave teasing all the characters
on either side give me ellipses
not just a gang of periods
a trail of possibilities
or give me the sweet interrupting dash
the running leaping joining dash all the voices
gleeing out over one another
oh if I must
punctuate
give me the YIPPEE
of the exclamation point
give me give me the curling
cupping curve mounting the period
with voluptuous uncertainty

"On Punctuation" by Elizabeth Austen, from The Girl Who Goes Alone. © Floating Bridge Press, 2010. Reprinted with permission

Love it!

Brilliant!

OMG that's wonderful Peggy and worth stealing.

Here's a cute maddening (if you're a teacher) story: way back when I was teaching fourth grade I had a sweet little girl standing at my desk as we went over some of her writing. I finally said to her, "Amanda, there doesn't seem to be any sort of sense to where you put your periods. Tell me, how do you decide when to put in a period?" Now this was a child with many older siblings and I had had them all. She looked at me and said, "Well my sister Chrissy told me you put in a period after every fifth word."

I remembered her sister well;-)

Oh my, that's great. I believe I taught them too, Bonnie. That beats my 16 year-old A.P. English kid who, when asked why he had a capital B in the middle of a sentence, answered, "I like the way I write capital B's."
It doesn't do to wonder what you've taught them.

I go through this with Beth, only in her case it is telling time. I will ask her 'What time is it?' and she will tell me 'I don't know, I cannot tell time.' Since I know very well that I taught her to tell time when she was about 7, I think she just chooses to forget how to do it!

Hi Peggy,
thank you for the comment on my profile page. I am probably reading too fast, but for me 2666 is one of the books that don‘t tolerate any ‚competitors‘, I can‘t read anything else along with it. The whole reading experience feels like it isn‘t me commanding the pace. When I started the book last Sunday night, 2666 just opened its mouth and sucked me in. And I know that after 893 pages it will spit me out and certainly leave me feeling lost and lonely for a while.

What I am going to write now refers to parts 1-4. I am approaching the end (73 pages to go) and let‘s say I feel like my perspective is shifting again.

I have absolutely no idea what makes the book so gripping. I mean - 4 literature critics? Translating an unknown German author?? But under a 'pseudo-plot' there seems to run a subliminal stream which is the real story. My eyes are reading the surface, but it‘s something else, something hidden, that keeps me going.

I can only compare it to my feelings when about 20 years ago I watched „Twin Peaks“ on TV. Under the normal lives of the people in this community there was such a strong and somehow attractive and addictive undercurrent of evil, everything was rotten to the core. Only outsiders seemed to make an effort to really investigate the cases, and after a while they were either assimilated or they „disappeared“, just like in 2666.

About part 4: I read every bit of it, but I tried not to feel too much with the women (which was not always possible). Normally I can‘t read that type of plot at all, and I was actually quite relieved that we are spared detailed descriptions of the killings, American Psycho style.
I think what Bolano is doing in this chapter is absolutely brilliant: making the reader one of the passive watchers, a silent accomplice. Like Juan de Dios Martinez we want to keep our integrity. But after a while we despair, feeling powerless and overwhelmed in the face of all the crimes which in the end are just another expression of the ever-present hostility towards women. So many of the crimes are committed in the shadow of the real serial killings, by husbands, relatives and friends, almost thoughtlessly.

I must say that I found the last bit of part 4 - which you have already reached, so I don't think it's a spoiler - a bit wearisome and not easy to follow. But maybe I was just tired then. There are suddenly four levels of action and of time - the list of victims, the reporter (about whose fate we learned already in part 3 if I remember correctly), the crime expert Kessler and the Haas storyline. It seems to be a set-up for the first three parts, especially for part one which I will have to reread once I am through.

Going back to part 5 now...

ups, sorry for the length of my posting #66 - I had already shortened it... still too long.

No apologies -- a terrific post in every way. I'm fascinated.

Love the "period" story. When I was teaching first year English in grad school, this young man handed in an essay on Book IV of Paradise Lost in which every multi-syllable word was a malapropism - and that was every fourth word. I ended up on my office floor laughing so hard that tears were pouring down my face...as was my office mate because I read it out loud to her. The words nearly sounded like the word he wanted but we were hearing the real meaning. When I called him in to explain his D- (there was enough of a sense that he had the right idea about his topic to give him a pass), he said "but those are big words, can't they just count anyway?" I had to read him his paper right through with the meanings he had unintentionally put in for him to accept his mark. Then he tried to sell me a Christmas tree...he was flogging Christmas trees to make money. Gosh I wish I had photocopied that paper!

That's hysterical. Every multi-syllable word? Wow. I believe a certain former governor of Alaska was all over the news this summer with one of her malapropisms when she asked Muslims to refudiate the proposed NYC mosque.

#66 Now you're making me want to read 2666. I had heard it was a really difficult book to read and not much else about it so I've stayed away but your description was intriguing.

Deern, that's so great! Thanks for your perspective on 2666. I have to say, Pat, that the reading is not difficult in the sense of hard to understand on the surface. What Bolaño's actually doing is way beyond me, though. I love what you said, Deern, about the reader becoming a silent accomplice. That's exactly right - along with Stasia's feeling that we are forced to give some kind of acknowledgment to every single woman and my idea that the tedium of description after description makes us feel the length and futility of the investigation.
You're speaking of the reporter Sergio Gonzáles, when you say, "about whose fate we learned already in part 3 if I remember correctly"? I missed it. Can you give me a page number? All I remember is that he went back home and "forgot" about the murders and then came back in part 4...... I'm about to finish the 4th part - YIPPEEEE! Stasia will catch up tonight, I expect.
Tui, that's a great writing story. I have a copy of a "term paper" that a high school senior wrote on Rudyard Kipling. I'll have to dig it out and quote some of it since it's the funniest thing I ever read. He copied and pasted with incredible results. I hope I haven't lost it.

Hi Peggy, I am in the office and haven't taken the book with me today, so I can't give you the page number right now. But in part three when Fate talks to the female reporter from Mexico City for the first time, she says

*Spoiler alert for those who haven't read it*
that her former male colleague was killed and that another reporter from Mexico City disappeared (or was it vice versa? I checked yesterday but forgot again). There are no reporter names mentioned and I also didn't find the name of the paper, so I am not 100% sure it's the same reporter. But it would fit with the last bit of part 4 which you are about to read today. Will check again tonight if I am not too late.
*End of spoiler*

I'd also say it's not a particularly difficult read when it comes to the writing style. There are some very long sentences and uninterrupted block paragraphs going over several pages, but compared to other long and 'difficult' works like Infinite Jest it has a fluent narrative, no footnotes. I just had to look up some Spanish words.

Love your thread here, Peggy. I'm too hopelessly behind on all the threads to comment, but I am trying to catch up with reading them.

Always glad to see you when you visit, Becky!
Deern, I haven't had a chance yet to look up the reference although I do remember it. I confess to being a little at sea about chronology except for the lists of the dead by year......

MARY SHELLEY by Muriel Spark
You know, I'm not really willing to try to review this one. I did try because there wasn't a review, but I just as well not have written anything at all because what I wrote wouldn't be helpful.
Looking at the Shelley/Mary relationship with the focus on Mary was enlightening. She lived a full, useful life, but I ended up feeling sorry for her. She seemed to be a woman out of sync with her time and sometimes with her husband for her whole life. I do have some of her work besides Frankenstein, and I may eventually try The Last Man at least.
Spark proves herself to be an excellent biographer and thoughtful critic. She chose to separate the two functions, and I thought that hurt the book. So, without being concrete about a thing, that's what I thought! sorry.....

#75: I am not sure whether I will try the Spark book or not :)

#75: I brought the book with me today. It's on pages 296-298 in my edition, but the newspaper name is not mentioned there.
I think the chronology goes 5-4-2-3-1 or 5-4-2-1-3 with time overlaps. 3 covers just a few days and is set after 9/11. I don't remember if Rosa was ever mentioned in 1. 1 starts before 4 but ends later. About 5 you'll see, but it clearly starts earliest.

Btw on Saturday (or Sunday?) on stasia's thread you mentioned the Harry Magana episode. In retrospect, that was the darkest bit for me. Still shuddering...

Thanks for the reference, Deern. My only question about Sergio Ganzález being Guadalupe's predecessor (and I don't want him to be, so I'm trying to figure out how he might not be) is her statement that the predecessor had been working on the case for seven years. Is that possible for Sergio?
I can't pick out a "darkest bit." It's all shuddery.

SG made his entry on Haas' first press conference, that must have been in 1995. Fate's episode is set after 9/11, so could be 2002. But this is just a possibility, maybe there is no connection and Guadelupe's statement was just used to show the dangers the job brings. I wish I had taken notes...

>78 LizzieD:: It's all shuddery.

I love that descriptive word, Peggy, and it's so true of 2666, Part 4 in particular. I wish this discussion had been going on when I was reading the book in January of '09. It's the kind of book that needs to be talked about.

>75 LizzieD:: Speaking of "shuddery," you said just enough about Mary Shelley to make me interested in it. I read the intro to Dracula last night and was surprised that Frankenstein (1818) predated the publication of Stoker's masterpiece by 80 years! It is amazing to me how well these "old" books have held up. I guess that's why they're called Classics!

I'm glad it didn't put you off the book anyway, Donna! I think that MS was right on target in her discussion of Frankenstein. She says that a lot of the effect is accomplished by the very Gothic subject being treated in very rationalistic language. Classic for sure!
Deern, now I'm totally confused. SG was at Haas's first press conference? I know that Fate and Rosa and Guadalupe were there..... I thought SG went back to Mexico City and forgot all about Santa Teresa and the murders.................Yep. I'm confused. I'm going to look to see whether somebody has mapped the timeline.............

Here's a review of sorts. It doesn't answer any questions, can't answer any questions, but it's interesting.

Sorry, I didn't want to cause confusion. Haas' first press conference takes place in 1995 (p 488 in my edition, part 4). After that SG goes back to Mexico City but later he returns and then meets the congresswoman. Guadelupe only has an appointment for an interview, that's in part 3. But maybe I am looking for a connection where there isn't one and for the plot it is not important anyway.

I had forgotten completely that SG came back for the first press conference. Thank you! Part 3 does end with Guadelupe and company about to interview Haas --- she sees the blond giant and can't formulate a question.....
Now I'm into the last part and ready to be done with the journals of Ansky and his writing about Ivanov. Does this have anything to do with anything??? (Rhetorical question)
In other business, I'm picking up and putting down a rather different fantasy, first of a trilogy, called Devices and Desires by K.J. Parker. I've read one earlier book of hers (his? Nobody's sure), and liked it O.K. I'm still meeting characters and not sure which ones we'll follow except for the engineer; it's called *The Engineer Trilogy*. Just thought I'd say... And I'm also about to spend some concentration on Life with a Star for my only TIOLI challenge this October - a book recommended by Stasia. So far it is serious and excellent.

Peggy, I'd never heard of 2666 or Bolaño before all this recent discussion on your thread. What a great eye-opener and horizon-broadener LT is! I'd definitely like to read this some day.

Peggy -- this is the time of year when I try to squirrel away some books for the spousal unit, who likes SF and fantasy and any good novel or history book.... we have similar tastes but not quite overlapping, he loves Pynchon but won't touch James...... but his true love is a rip-roaring sci fi adventure. Now that he has one of those e-books I have trouble knowing what he's been up to, but I'm hoping he can somehow send me a list...... or at least show me on the device. Anyhow, keep me posted on the Parker..... and anything else you notice I don't seem to know about. And I would be much obliged, my friend.

Peggy -- this is the time of year when I try to squirrel away some books for the spousal unit, who likes SF and fantasy and any good novel or history book.... we have similar tastes but not quite overlapping, he loves Pynchon but won't touch James...... but his true love is a rip-roaring sci fi adventure. Now that he has one of those e-books I have trouble knowing what he's been up to, but I'm hoping he can somehow send me a list...... or at least show me on the device. Anyhow, keep me posted on the Parker..... and anything else you notice I don't seem to know about. And I would be much obliged, my friend.

I don't know why this posted twice.....

O.K., Lucy, that will be my pleasure......(Give him 2666)

2666 by Roberto Bolano

I YELLED, "OH NO YOU DIDN'T!" when I finished this about a half hour ago and frightened the dog badly. Near the end he describes a book by Benno von Archimboldi, the protagonist with whom the book begins and ends: "The style was strange. The writing was clear and sometimes even transparent, but the way the stories followed one after another didn't lead anywhere: all that was left were the children, their parents, the animals, some neighbors, and in the end, all that was really left was nature, a nature that dissolved little by little in a boiling cauldron until it vanished completely." Yep, that's it except for the children, their parents, the animals, some neighbors, and even nature. We do get some Neapolitan ice cream though. I've read a fair number of reviews, and my impression is that most of the people who said they got it probably were talking through their hats - or maybe I'm just envious.
I am totally glad that I gave my time to this book, and I have no idea why. On the other hand, I think I am ready to join the Middlemarch group after all. (Thanks for sharing the journey, Stasia!)

Yippee! You finished! And you might join us!!! I love your comments, you always manage to say things so succinctly and on target.

Oh Lucy, what a dear you are!

#88: Thanks for sharing the journey, Stasia!

We will have to do it again some time! I loved sharing the read with you, Peggy.

Hey, you finished it! And it seems you still liked it in the end.
I haven't started writinig my review yet, I am still confused and overwhelmed.

I had a very busy weekend, but I went and bought The Savage Detectives and put it on my shelf next to Amulet. They will both have to wait for a bit, but I'd really like to know where this mysterious number '2666' came from.

I've read some speculation, Deern, but none of it makes much sense. Apparently in traditional thought it's 2666 years from creation to the Exodus. I don't see how that applies, and I can't remember the other suggestion because it made even less sense to me. I'm not going to try to write a review, but I am not sorry that I spent time reading the thing.

LIFE WITH A STAR by Jiri Weil

I read this because it's been on my shelf for years and because Stasia said to! (It's my entry in the TIOLI "Recommended by Stasia A-L Challenge.") I found every word painful, but I have never read a more naked account of life as a Jew in a Nazi-occupied country. If you care to read my review, please go to the book page since the other review of it panned it completely.
Now I really, really, really need to read Heyer or Wodehouse or Thirkell or something equally light, and I don't know that I can.

#94: Terrific review, Peggy! I am glad you finally got around to reading the book.

Great review, Peggy, and a thumb from me.

Terrific job on the review Peggy. It's already on my teetering tower.

*sigh* Thank you Stasia, Pat, and Bonnie. The other thing about the book is that it reminds me of the richness of Eastern Europe's literature about which I know next to nothing. More to read!

Reading your review I could already feel what this book will be like. I must definitely read it, I put it on my wish- and watchlist.

Congratulations on your Hot Review, Peggy!

Ditto, echoing Stasia!

You'll be a bit of a different person for reading it, Nathalie. Thank you, Stasia and Lucy! I'd have missed it entirely had you not said something. Meanwhile, I'm excited because a copy of my July ER book, Body Work, a V.I. Warshawski mystery, arrived by FedEx this morning with a note of apology from the publisher for the delay. I guess Ms. Penny #2 will have to step aside for Ms. Paretsky #16 for awhile. The folks who run ER are quite the ones!

Peggy, I already have Life With A Star on the groaning wishlist, but I do appreciate your heartfelt review. I'm saving this book for a time when I can give it the full attention it deserves.

I'm glad you have something lighter as a follow-up book. It's always a nice surprise to get a book you might have given up on. I've had a few late ones, too, but never an apology.

Oooh, lucky you with the Paretsky.

Great review, Peggy! Congrats and hi-fives.

Thank you, Donna, Luci, and Becky for visiting..... I am lucky with the Paretsky, and it certainly starts with a bang (out of a pistol). Now I'm off to congratulate our Pat who has at least 2 hotties today!

Hi, Peggy! I think I'm going to add Life with a Star to my growing list. Great review!

A curtsy with thanks to Terri!
I just had to start The Lacuna today, and I find myself back in Mexico. Wonder if Kingsolver and Bolaño have anything to say to each other...

I think I need to put the Kingsolver on the wishlist...... I like some of her books and not others. I almost like the essays the best, perverse, I know, but that's me.

#108 Hope you enjoy The Lacuna Peggy. I just passed my copy on to my mum with a 'you have to read this!'

#109 The only other Kingsolver I've read is The Poisonwood Bible which I thought was fantastic. I have High Tide in Tuscon in the TBR stacks too but I'm eager to read her other books now.

Not having read any of the Kingsolver essays, I couldn't comment, Lucy, but "perverse" is not among the top adjectives that spring to mind when I think of you. I've pretty much liked everything I've read, Heather. That is only the 2 Turtle books, *PB* (a great favorite), and Prodigal Summer, which I eventually liked but didn't adore.

THE TOWERS OF TREBIZOND by Rose Macaulay
This is quite a curious little book; the word "quirky" appears in most reviews. Laurie, the narrator, heads off to Turkey with her dotty Aunt Dot, A.D.'s white Arabian racing camel, and the Anglican priest Father Hugh Chantry-Pigg (a sure winner of a name for a Muslim country). Laurie spends a lot of time thinking about the church and her position out of it because of a long-term affair with a married man. This is the second book this month with a pattern of longer than usual sentences. Laurie's voice is a compound of satire and whimsy that works beautifully sometimes and sometimes not. Here is Laurie contemplating a particular fish that she hopes to catch. "Hadrian, who always did so much good to towns, and particularly to Trebizond, had a brass model of it put on a column outside the city gate, and this brass fish was a talisman that attracted the similar fish in the sea to throw themselves on the shore, thus saving the fishermen trouble, and this went on till the birth of that spoil-sport Prophet, which immediately, it seems, checked talismans and magic, so unlike Christianity the religion he started was; though what was he doing stopping magic in Trebizond, a Christian Byzantine city?" If this appeals to you, you'll be quite taken by the book.
I had hoped to like it more.

That is an ungainly sentence for sure -- not inelegant exactly but.....
..... and obviously disappointing, which is always too bad.

#109: I enjoy Kingsolver's essays too, Lucy. I have read a couple of them and have one more that I own yet to read.

#111: I have that one in the BlackHole and will keep it there a while longer I think. Unfortunately for me, the sentence that you chose is the way a lot of my random thoughts go through my head at times :)

That reminds me a little of one of Proust's sentences!

>113 alcottacre: Unfortunately, after a half a book, those thoughts are better lived than read, Stasia. I think all of us may think that way - at least I do. Reading a whole book of them grew wearisome. And truly, Angela, Proust does seem to have more to say that chatty-brain for chat's sake.
Meanwhlle!!!! I got a copy of Nancy Pearl's latest Book Lust to Go from ER. I'm excited. I've listened to her on NPR but never read one.

#115 I've heard so much about Nancy Pearl's Book Lust books but I am steadfastly avoiding them. Given the size of my TBR collection and wishlist I do not need to read a book which gives me more recommendations! Nope. Although I've just read the reviews and it sounds really interesting. Bother.

#115: I will be interested in seeing what you think of Book Lust to Go, Peggy.

Nancy Pearl is new to me. I will have to check out her books, dangerous as that may be!

115- I got that book too! I wonder how fast it will get here...
I've read both Book Lust and More Book Lust by Pearl, and I've loved both of them. The only downside is, those books make my wishlist explode, lol...

Yay, Angela! I hope that they come soon!!! I am a great lover of travel literature because that's the only way (besides GoogleEarth and maps) that I ever go anywhere. I don't think my wishlist can be any more exploded than it already is.
Jan, it's good to see you around - I've missed you.
Stasia, unless we lose our electricity or something else dire, there's no way you won't know what I think of *BLtG*! (Bless you!)

Oh sigh. I haven't finished anything, so I have left my thread alone. I just came to say that I LOVE everything that I am reading at the moment. The real true list is Middlemarch, The Lacuna, Blackout (all at least 500 pages plus) and Body Work and The Dervish House. I see that I'm completely lacking in non-fiction, but that doesn't seem to matter in the great scheme of things. And Book Lust To Go is on the way, I hope!!!!!

(Edited to get the name of the book right!

My Glastonbury Romance came -- but I don't think I can do anything with it until December, I don't think it would go well with MM at all.

Horrible weather today, just the worst, snow sleet snow ice rain back and forth and nasty wind. After-school cancelled, thank god, now I just have to pray she has her act together and gets on the regular bus.

I am glad to see you post something, I miss you. Any odd connections between the books your are reading? I'm always interested in what you are thinking.

Lost you for a bit there Peggy. Just trying to catch up.

Hi, Bonnie! (and Lucy in the Snow with Diamonds!) I love to be visited! Today I'm in a PBS delirium! House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski was one of the first books I wish-listed because of remarks here at LT. That was in July of '09. I'm finally #1 and have a copy coming to me!!! Then, on top of that, somebody listed a Moyer Bell edition of Never Too Late, an Angel Thirkell that I don't own yet, and I got it!! AND from the same member a copy of Vikram Seth's An Equal Music, which I didn't know about but am looking forward to. What a day!

#124: I liked An Equal Music when I read it a few years back, Peggy. I hope you enjoy it too.

Looks like you have some good books heading your way!

Hi Peggy! Is PBS paperback book swap? I think I tried their website once but it seemed confusing as to what you were supposed to do. And a year and a half wait for a book? Congratulations on getting some things you wanted.

I've been intimidated too by PBS and Bookmooch and all them -- I'm terrible about signing up for things -- it took me several days to get worked up to join LT after I found it.

Peggy, it sounds like you are in a reading maelstrom. I counted five books in process. How on earth do you decide which book to read and when? I can keep two books going but start getting edgy if I try to add a third. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great. I just want to know how your brain keeps track of all these books.

Congrats on more books on the way. Please finish one of your ongoing books before starting another or my head will explode thinking about it. ;-)

Stasia, I'm glad that you liked *Equal Music*; that's a good confirmation of a general feeling.
Pat and Lucy, Paperback Swap is awesome, I think! I didn't find Bookmooch as accessible to my intuition, but they assign you a guide at PBS, and mine answers every little question quickly and graciously. I don't mind waiting for most books on my wish list; it's not as though I have nothing else to read. Even when I have to buy a credit, the $3.75 or so is cheaper than anywhere else. The quality of the used book is a bit chancy, but I've never felt compelled to send one back although I have come close.
Donna, this is my preferred reading mode. When I near the end of a book, I tend to read it pretty exclusively , but I figure that if people can keep story lines of multiple TV dramas in their heads from week to week, I can do the same with a daily dip into books. I suspect that I miss nuances, but at the same time I also think that I'm reading better than I ever have. On the other hand, I think I can promise that I will finish at least one something before I start a new one, and really, I'm seriously reading only *Lacuna*, *MM*, and *BO* these days.
Book Lust To Go came (YAY), and were it not from ER, I don't believe I'd sit down and read it through. I'm looking forward to attacking it with a pencil to mark what I've read and would like to read - but not yet!!!

Just saying hello, and glad to hear that you are loving what you are reading at the moment (which I see includes The Lacuna). I still haven't got round to writing my thoughts after finishing that, but I too loved it.

I have not tried Paperback swap (don't even know if it operates internationally) but I love Bookmooch and have acquired about 45 books through that - from all around the world - since signing up earlier this year, averaging less than £1 each. I haven't found it difficult to use, and like to load up my wishlist with all the books that are being recommended on LT, ready for the moment when sooner or later some of them will become available. As Peggy says, don't mind long wait because there is plenty else to read in the meantime!

PBS doesn't operate internationally, unfortunately, but I like it because you get in line for a book so eventually, even a really popular book will come your way. With BookMooch, they let you know when a book comes up, but avid searchers will find it even before that and snap it up--first come, first served.

Sounds like you are enjoying Blackout as much as I did! Yay! I'm working on Middlemarch as well, but am working on a major decluttering project at home this week and have not done any reading for the last few days.

ACK! Decluttering is double punishment: I hate it and I can't read while doing it. Consequently, the house is livable only for pack rats like DH and me. How thankful I am that he isn't a neat freak! And Blackout is great fun!

Just stopping in to say hi. I love your amazing "currently reading" book list. I highly agree about the house being livable for me and DH. My house is slowly returning to normal after THE VISIT, although I did pick it up a little when DH brought the alien Canadians home from work to have dinner at our house. I'm much more comfortable in my normal livable house.

Ed because I can't spel.

Canadians! Becky, you are my current hero! And I confess that our house is more than livable!

The spoke their Quebecquois over our heads at the dinner table. 30-somethings. AND they're coming back tonight for another meal. Do I have to be nice?

The = They

Martyrdom!
I guess these people are important to your husband's business? Think of it as offering an etiquette lesson. You are becoming St. Becky the Put-Upon!

Becky

"Do I have to be nice?" What a timely question given the fact that the holidays approach and many of us will be entertaining family or others that me don't always enjoy!" While I love many members of my partner's family, there are a few that I find rude, ugly in nature, negative and energy draining.

Last year, one member told us he was coming "sometime that day" and arrived at 8:00 a.m. with his girlfriend, her dog and his mother. The later three were unplanned and not part of the original deal. 8:00 a.m. was not part of the deal either!

I was temporarily nice, put the meal in the oven and then left the house. My grand daughter and I had a lovely day at the Crayola factory and I left Will to be "nice" to them all day long.

136, 137. Hilarious.

DH is the "pointy haired boss" (Dilbert) to these guys. It's simply amazing to me how this 30-something generation evidently has been taught that authority means NOTHING. DH is way too nice to them, IMO. He's attempting to show them, by bringing them to our home for dinner instead of just schlepping them to a restaurant (my preference), that there is more to him than what they perceive him to be in the office.



And Linda, that's one of the most priceless "Thanksgiving family" stories I've ever heard. Some guy, his girlfriend, his dog, and his mother at 8:00 a.m. Oh, oh, there are no words.

Becky
Actually they arrived the day after Christmas. The dog poop left on the lawn by the girlfriend's dog might be misconstrued as a "present"!

I was hoping mad. Will's cousin is a very big thorn in my side. He is one of those 30-40 something generational people mentioned above. He never grew up. He sits in the living room for hours simply talking about himself. I've known the guy nine years and never once has he addressed one question to me about what I think, what I like, etc.

Years ago, I gave up and I simply leave the house when he visits. He doesn't need to consume my precious time. As I get older I don't waste time on those who don't seem to care about anyone but themselves.

Oh, yes: "He sits in the living room for hours simply talking about himself." That was the hallmark of our dinner conversation on Tuesday night. They didn't even pretend to be interested in what I might be doing. Part of this, I think, is that they have no idea how to have a conversation--clueless. In their eyes, I am a person who "makes dinner"--beyond that, who or what I am is evidently irrelevant. "Now, back to me. . ."--haha

8 a.m. with mom -- I can't even imagine it! I sometimes wonder if etiquette is all it's cut out to be -- I mean those lads of yours Becky! Maybe you could just start yawning and drop your head on your plate or fall out of your chair snoring..... or maybe every time they start speaking in French you could flap your napkin violently..... or you can rise to sainthood and endure. It just seems to me you've had a lot to endure lately.

Holiums Semoliums! I will never complain about anything again! Becky, I was contemplating a spoken etiquette lesson - as "We don't speak Quebecois French; perhaps you would be kind enough to speak English so that we can participate in the conversation in our own house." Maybe not. Maybe you could speak Pig Latin when they drop into French. You have a lot of options.
Linda, that's the worst - or maybe not quite......The dog didn't poop in the house, I take it, and they didn't leave Mama when they left. You may have gotten off easy!

Chortle.

THE LACUNA by Barbara Kingsolver

This is a fine, fine, excellent, immersing book, and I loved it 5 stars worth. I haven't read reviews yet, but I can't think of anything that would have made this particular reading experience better. Harrison Shepherd's notebooks, beginning with the one he kept as a 12 year-old when he went to Mexico with his Mexican mother, leaving his American father in D.C., record his life's interactions with the people who were important to him. His cooking skills took him into the home of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and later into Leon (Lev) Trotsky's establishment before his assassination. Shepherd managed to be an observer, never exactly at home, but also a person deeply loved and loving. His later entanglement with the House Committee on Un-American Activities provide a chilling commentary on today's political polarization.
This novel has everything good that I hope for when I sit down to read, and I recommend it highly and thank Stasia for saying enough for me to push it to the top of Mt. Bookpile.

Ooh--so happy you loved The Lacuna, Peggy. I have a hardcover copy languishing on my shelf which I need to get to. Great review!

This would be one for the xmas wishlist list, I think.

I was drawn in by The Lacuna review, but maybe I'll stay- these in-law stories are just too funny!

I'm convinced that you'll love it, Lucy and Pat! Megan, you are most welcome for any reason at all.

>144 LizzieD:: so glad you loved this one! And yes Lucy, put it on your wishlist. It's great.

#144: Glad you enjoyed it, Peggy!

I loved The Lacuna too Peggy. Off to give the review a well-deserved thumb.

ETA well, that didn't work because there was no review to thumb, but you already know that. Oh well.

>151 brenzi:: I want to thumb it, too !!

I'm moving this to the top of my TBR. Thanks, Peggy!

Really glad you enjoyed The Lacuna: it's definitely been one of my best reads this year.

OK so I go to work at our little library today -- you all recall that I 'take care' of donated books, and I'm also working on building the SF/Fantasy collection ('nother story) anyhow, I open a box and there is Lacuna. $1. I didn't even have to pay that, the librarian said, but (halo shiny) I insisted. Gloat gloat.

#155: What a steal! Congratulations, Lucy!

WOW, Lucy! That's really great, and I know that you'll enjoy it! You too, Pat and Jan! (Bonnie and Laura, you are both real self-esteem builders! I looked and there are so many good reviews of *L* that I don't think my little one has anything to add.) Caty, how nice to see you!
(Why didn't I quote my 11th grade English student? "I have really good self-a-steam!")

Virtue rewarded, I believe. Although it is fun. I love that library and I love being there and working there.

I love that quote Peggy!

Well done, Lucy!

I'm drooling over that bargain find! Ans "self-a-steam"? That is excellent!

Hi There Peggy...What a great review of Lucana! There are so many wonderful books to read. This one was given to me by a friend as a gift before the surgery. After your review, I hope to read it before I head back to the office.

So glad you enjoyed The Lacuna Peggy, and so pleased Lucy found a copy for $1!

Linda, I'm beaming to see your footprint on my thread! Same to you, Heather! Maybe one day I will have finished something else and can enjoy more conversation here. I'm getting on with Body Work, my ER ARC from July. It's a pretty good mystery.

Oh, the dreaded ER ARC copies of which I have three and haven't read to review...Yikes...no more ER copies for me.

I hope you are enjoying Body Work

Peggy, I just wanted to let you know that I ended up giving PaperBackSwap a shot and now have the following books headed my way:

Krakatoa by Simon Winchester
Mrs. Bridge by Evan Connell
Giants of the Earth by Ole Edvart Rolvaag

All books that I've wanted for awhile. Thanks for the encouragement!

Pat, I'm really happy for you! Good haul! I hope they all are in decent condition. I've had a few that were probably over the border, but they were things I wanted so badly that I kept them.
Besides the ones I listed some time ago I've also scored copies of Sacred Hunger, The Secret Scripture (O.K. This is one bad thing about PBS. This is the third time I've requested this book; first, the sender never mailed it nor did he respond to efforts to get in touch with him; the second time it was lost in the mail - or at least, I didn't get it. I hope third time is a charm. The good thing is that I'm going to get it eventually.), and In a Summer Season in a Virago edition. Mostly though, I've been thrilled with the whole set-up. I also have a request for one of my offers, so it's as though I'm cramming only 5 new ones into the house rather than 6.

Peggy, I'm so glad you enjoyed The Lacuna as much as I did. Good luck with finishing your ER book - hope that proves rewarding too.

Some haul, Pat!

Peggy, I'll let you know what shape the books are in when they arrive from PBS. I sent one out and kind of fumbled with getting the printed wrapper on correctly. It didn't seem like the most secure package so I kept adding tape. Most of the books I posted on PBS there were no takers for so I don't know when I'll be earning anymore credits. I'm eager to see how it goes. Anything with books is great as far as I'm concerned.

I really enjoy paperbackswap. I know some have had trouble with the site, but other than one or two minor incidents, I've had nothing but good experiences!

And I like knowing that one day I *will* get the book that I've put on my wishlist there...

Absolutely, Angela! Case in point: today my much-wished-for copy of House of Leaves arrived, and it's in very good shape. Yippee!
(Pat, I don't think you can use too much tape. I'm so non-dexterous that I recycle old mailing envelopes.)

I actually got my first book in the mail today (Krakatoa). I just ordered it Saturday so that was pretty fast (it came from VA). It's a hardcover and is in great shape; it basically looks like new. I think I may also start recycling mailing envelopes. They seem so much more secure.

De-lurking to say that Krakatoa is a *fantastic* read! All of Winchester's stuff is great, I think. Hope you enjoy it, phebj!

Thanks, Amber. I'm really looking forward to getting to it.

I have only had problems on PBS once, and that was with a newbie who did not realize some of the rules. We got it ironed out to both our satisfactions, so no harm done. I hope you have great experiences with them too, Pat!

I've been using PBS for 4 years now, and love it. I can think of only two problems where a book has gone missing. Sometimes it can take a while for one of my books to be requested, but that's usually because either 1) there are already many copies listed by other members, and PBS uses a FIFO method for fulfillling requests, or 2) it's an obscure edition and members request a more popular version with a familiar cover.

Whew! Caught up with you, Peggy. I am woefully behind on reading threads. I am so glad you loved The Lacuna. It will be in my Top Ten for this year for sure.

I'm skipping over all the talk about PBS. I don't need another way to get books into my house...and we've already determined that I am a book hoarder so only my unloved books would be up for swapping. I'd hate to be one of the bad guys who send out a yellow, dog-eared copy!

BODY WORK by Sara Paretsky

I reviewed this one for ER, so feel free to look at the review on the book page. I don't love mysteries as I used to, but this is a pretty good one even if the key element was glaringly obvious. Now back to Middlemarch!

#178: Nice review, Peggy. Thumbs up from me.

*beam* Thank you, Stasia! Is Paretsky on your radar?

A thumb from me too. I went to the book's page immediately but never came back to tell you until now. LT is slowly getting me into mysteries. I've read the first two Three Pines and I'm currently reading the first Kurt Wallander.

My thanks, Pat. I have bought the first Kurt Wallander, but it hasn't worked its way to the top of Mt. Bookpile yet. I'm also reading the second 3 Pines in a desultory sort of way. I'm waiting to be a complete convert.

Hello to you dear Peggy. I hope you had a wonderful Sunday.

Hi Peggy, I just read your review of BODY WORK. I really like mysteries but have never read a Paretsky novel. There are so many now, it's hard to know where to start. Any suggestions?

#180: Yes, Paretsky is on my radar. Not sure when I will attempt to read the series though!

I've listened to a bunch of Paretsky's -- but it was awhile ago, because I fell in love with the person who was reading them.

The Wallenders are very dark, so be advised! But the real draw is Wallender himself, his character and his responses.

What do I think of Three Pines.... I'm not sure I'm going to bother with any thinking. I'm letting it wash over me. In this setting it is the perfect antidote to Alexander Hamilton and Middlemarch. A proper vacation book!

I'm so glad that you all like Paretsky on some level too. Jan, the first one is Indemnity Only, and I'd recommend your finding it although I don't think that she absolutely hit her stride until about book 4, Bitter Medicine. On the other hand, the first three are pretty short and are certainly better than a lot of stuff written by more practiced mystery writers. Seems to me that she started in the early '80's, so they may seem dated. I'd like to reread but won't do that any time soon. But this morning I did finish ---

BLACKOUT by Connie Willis
LOVED it! It has some of the same time-traveling characters as Doomsday Book, but this time three of them have been assigned to WWII England. Their assignments drag on in unexpected ways, and then for various reasons they are not able to get back to 2060 Oxford. Some people have complained about its being way too detailed. Not for me! I've been quite caught up in that environment and touched by the immediate helpfulness and "all pulling together" of the Brits in 1940. The only time my reading dragged was wading through the same kinds of rationalization from all three of them about why their drops weren't working and why no retrieval teams had shown up to pull them out, but this is not a big deal. It was so satisfying that I went ahead and downloaded All Clear to my Kindle for continuous reading even though I've already spent my November book allowance. So much for good intentions.

I'm just posting because we're on at the same time. Believe it or not I have yet to read any Connie Willis. I promise, I will!

Peggy, glad you liked Blackout. I haven't read anything by Connie Willis but saw that Heather (souloftherose) recently reviewed Doomsday Book by her and loved it as well so now Connie Willis is at least on my radar. Good review!

Oh, Lucy and Pat, do read Connie Willis! Just don't read Passage first. I thought that it was the weakest of her books although I very much enjoyed the trip. I'd love to hear what other Willis readers think. I'd suggest starting with my favorites, of course! Doomsday Book, Lincoln's Dreams, Blackout!
(And "A good week to you, Linda! I'm off to speak to you properly.")

Oh, good! I'm so glad you are going on immediately to All Clear. You have to finish the story, after all, not leave it in the middle. And it gets even better! And I want to talk about it with someone!

Don't you love Sir Godfrey as a character? I didn't mind the detail either--it just gave so much verisimilitude to the story.

Sir Godfrey has my heart for sure! I'll be excited to talk with you about it, Roni!

Woo for Blackout! I think a book allowance should perhaps be something I should introduce for myself next year. I need to get some kind of control over my book acquisitions...

Oh, I don't have any control ---- I just know that if I buy too much, we don't eat as well. (Not literally, but I have to exercise some kind of limits.)

Who needs food when there are books to buy?

Well, yes ---- but I like to eat while I read ---

196 LOL!

#196: Erasmus would be shaking his head at you were he still alive, Peggy.

If I didn't eat when I read I know I would be more svelte..... over the years though I have managed to lower the food quotient and raise the beverage quotient.....

Svelteness --- it all depends on the beverage, Lucy. And I'm sorry to give Erasmus pain, but there it is.

Oh yes, that is true, I have tried to develop a love of water with lots of crushed ice in it..... not succeeding as well as I'd like, but it does seem to help.

Peggy

Happy Thanksgiving to you! I am blessed by your participation in our group. All the best to you for a wonderful holiday.

When I was traveling a couple of years ago, I discovered seltzer. Seriously, I love it, and my water intake has probably quintupled since.

I usually drink Perrier but maybe I should give seltzer a try.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, Peggy.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

And I meant to also say, have a happy Thanksgiving, Peggy.

Have a great Thanksgiving, Peggy!

Happy Thanksgiving, Peggy!

And Happy Thanksgiving from me too, Peggy. I like to eat while I read too - I'm an incorrigible muncher and nibbler... and unsurprisingly, not very svelte!

OH thank you friends, for Thanksgiving greetings! Ours was lovely and I hope that my American friends had an equally lovely day. In fact, I hope everybody had a lovely day - it's just that we get left-overs!!!
I'm tired from cooking and cleaning and visiting, so it's mighty fine to be here in nightgown and robe.

THE DERVISH HOUSE by Ian McDonald
Set in 2027, this excursion into nano-technology, financial shenanigans, medieval legend, and Long QT Syndrome (a heart problem) focuses on the renters who live in a seventeenth century tekke, the Dervish House in Istanbul. The city is fascinating, dangerous, seductive, and I love this book for taking me there. I also love the intricate plotting that eventually weaves the disparate characters together in a nail-biting climax.
Can is nine, handicapped by his heart problem and liberated by his BitBot toy that allows him to be Boy Detective spying on the unaware with his computer. His best friend is Georgios Ferentinou, Greek, a retired professor of economics newly chosen for a government-sponsored think-tank. Then there is Necdet who has moved into the house banished by his family, and who begins to see djinni and the green god Hizir following a terrorist bombing of a streetcar in which the only person killed was the woman terrorist. And what have they to do with Adnan Sarioglu, a securities trader, and his wife Ayse Erkoc whose religious antiquities shop is located in the Dervish House? Finally, the newest resident Leyla Gultasli has escaped the beneficent dictatorship of her extended family to use her new business degree to obtain funding for a couple of young inventors who will move nanotechnology into a new symbiosis with human cognition. The book follows each person's quest bringing them closer and closer into a thoroughly satisfying whole. This isn't the easiest reading, maybe, but it is a tremendous lot of fun, and I highly recommend it to adventurous souls! (As a bonus, I'll add that McDonald writes shorter sentences than I did in this review!)

Oooh, that one sounds really good! I think it may find its way onto my wishlist...

The Dervish House sounds interesting, Peggy. I think I'll look for it in the library since I don't usually read this kind of book. Hope you have a nice relaxing day with reading and leftovers.

Great review of The Dervish House, Peggy. Why did you not post it? I want to give it a 'thumbs up!'

Great to hear from you again, Amber! I hope that you and Pat do make time for McDonald and that you are as entertained as I was!

IN PRAISE OF THE STEPMOTHER by Mario Vargas Llosa
I should have judged this one by its cover - a naked Venus and Cupid exchanging a kiss from a picture by Bronzino. Instead, wanting to honor Vargas Llosa's Nobel, I chose the shortest of his works that I own, and this was it. I'm absolutely not sophisticated enough for this one. In fact, I felt just as I did nearly 40 years ago when the copy of The Pearl that I special-ordered turned out to be a collection of Victorian erotica instead of a medieval poem. So!
I have no idea what VL was doing in this book. It is a piece of erotica and a parody of erotica loosely based on giving backstories to a series of paintings which are reproduced quite beautifully in the book. Don Rigoberto has married a second time, and his new wife Doña Lucrecia is most concerned that his young son Alfonso will not accept her. But Fonchito loves her and his seduction of her is one thread of the plot. Another is Don Rigoberto's preoccupation with his own body as he attempts to thwart time and remain a perfect physical specimen for his wife. Who knew that ears were erogenous zones? (This would be the parody...) And from time to time, we are given a story about one of the pictures that has absolutely nothing, as far as I can tell, to do with the lust triangle. As I say, I am simply not sophisticated enough to know how to appreciate this book. But it was short!

Wishlisted The Dervish House, great review Peggy.

#215: I think I can safely skip that one by Vargas Llosa. I think it would defy my attempts at understanding.

Thank you for liking my review, friends. Once again, Stasia, you and I are on the same page. I wouldn't have read past page 2 of *Stepmother* had the end not been page 149, the margins generous, the print big, and the desire for something short to nudge me toward 75 great.
ETA: I need some non-fiction to balance a hefty novel intake, so I've scrubbed John McPhee for the present and am looking at the Mark Twain autobiography and The Horse, The Wheel and Language and Seeds of Albion:Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fisher to find the best fit for now. (How odd. DHF has a functioning Touchstone, but the book doesn't. Off to investigate!

Peggy, I had to laugh at your comment about looking for short books as you're getting close to 75. There's so many things I want to read since I joined LT that good short books are something I seek out now.

I enjoyed your review of In Praise of the Stepmother but will probably give it a pass.

I found Seeds of Albion to be a deeply fascinating book, I loved it and learned a lot from it. I have the recent Twain bio from either my birthday or Xmas last year but I am in the opposite place from you, maybe needing a little bit of a break from non-fiction.......

Hi, Peggy! I will definitely skip that Vargas Llosa!

I have Bound Away Virginia and the Westward Movement by DCF. I also have Albion's Seed (it's Albion's Seed, not Seeds of Albion). Whoa, Peggy! The Albion's Seed is humongo; I've dipped into it, but most of it remains unread. Both are so fascinating--I couldn't agree more with Lucy (#220). How in the world are you going to choose? You make me want to dive into both of them. These are the kinds of books that are so profitable for amateur genealogists, if people would read them, but my experience (from Ancestry.com) is that most people will not.

But like Lucy, I too need a break from NF. Soon, perhaps, since I just started a Louise Bogan biography, correspondence, and memoir marathon--ha.

I knew that the title was quite right, thanks B. AS is huge but I didn't read it linearly, as I recall.

Ah, I don't have the Twain autobio that you have Peggy -- but a bio by somebody or other, it's not in my library here yet as it is languishing on my NF TBR shelf..... For some reason, I have a feeling it might be the next NF book I read. Heaven know's why!

#218 Off to investigate and not seen again since the 27th?! Do we think Peggy got lost amongst her bookshelves?

Hi, Heather! We've been chatting on your thread or other threads, haven't we? I don't feel any special need to tend this one when I don't have something new to report in the reading business. Middlemarch continues, as do Book Lust to Go, Lavinia (see Janet's thread), The Children's Book, and All Clear. I will eventually finish something, but I thank you for checking by! ---oh - I read a little of *Horse, Wheel, Language* and never got back to it.

#225 That's true, I was just teasing :-P That's a lot of quite hefty books on the go!

BOOK LUST TO GO by Nancy Pearl

Lots of hefty books on the go, so I finished a short one! I knew Nancy Pearl only from NPR, so I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet her in print. This is a great resource because I agree with her about so many books listed here, that I trust that I'll also enjoy the unknown things that she recommends. In fact, the only books that she praises that I've let go are the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries. I did review it since it was an ER ARC, so you are welcome to seek out its book page if the 75'ers don't give you enough to be getting on with!

Just saying hello and wishing you well with all the hefty books. Look forward to your thoughts on The Children's Book - I read that back in February/March, typed my review and managed to delete it before it posted properly! Enjoyed it with some reservations.

Checking out your books for this year, Peggy, it would seem that you have ONE MORE BOOK TO READ before you reach 75. Am I right??? What's it going to be?

#227: I have got to get a copy of that one! I love Pearl's books.

227- I'm glad you loved it too. You're right - there were entirely too many mentions of Mrs. Pollifax in that book! I forgot to put that in my review...that was my only complaint. Her books kept popping up every 25 pages!

After seeing other positive reviews of Book Lust to Go (Angela's and Tad's), I ordered it the other day and should get it today. I'm looking forward to reading it.

LAVINIA by Ursula K. Le Guin
Janet and I have been discussing this one a little over on her thread. It is ULG's tribute to Vergil as she gives a voice to Lavinia who has no voice in The Aeneid. This Lavinia is young, mature, a good match for hero Aeneas. Aeneas himself is a warm, human, 20th century hero who sees his killing of Turnus as murder, who loves Lavinia and their son, who rules wisely and lovingly. I had pictured him less human at the end of the epic than at the beginning - had felt that after his return from the Underworld, his semi-divine ancestry was more in control. Le Guin makes a much better story, and Lavinia after his death continues to grow as a character worthy of remembering. i, ii! "Go, go!"

And this was #75! IO!

ETA - I hadn't pegged Ascanius as a jerk in *Aeneid*, but he certainly is one in this retelling, a rather sad person at bottom as most jerks are.

Congratulations on reading 75 books, Peggy! Way to go!

Congratulations on reaching 75!
I am 1/4 through Lavinia and like it a lot. I am making slow progress though, because I started too many books at once and Lavinia requires concentrated reading.

*Bows all around*
Now it's on with *MM*, The Children's Book, and All Clear! And I may actually add a piece of non-fiction like *Horse/Wheel/Language* Joy!

Congrats!

75!!!!! Hooray!!!

Congrats on hitting 75!!!
And a Le Guin at that, not bad.

Well done on Lavinia! Although I fell behind, I have now posted a bit more on my thread if you're still interested, and I would still love to know what else you thought about various elements of it if you have the energy to come over there and discuss!

Hey, Peggy, congratulations on reaching the 75 book mark! Way to go!

*chants: "She didn't really mean it that Le Guin tells the story better than Vergil, she didn't really mean it that Le Guin tells the story better than Vergil, she did *not* really mean it that Le Guin tells the story better than Vergil..."*

LOL!

Anyways, Good on You for reaching 75!!!

NO! I didn't say that! I said that Le Guin's reading of Vergil was better than my reading as far as making a story is concerned. Does that mean that you agree with me, Amber?
Le Guin's Aeneas is completely a modern man, not Vergil's Aeneas. Am I still saying that Le Guin is a better story-teller? No! No! No!

LOL! I haven't read the Le Guin book (although I do like her muchly), but I just can't believe that anyone could out-Vergil Vergil. Thanks for clearing that up for me; I'm glad that that's not what you were saying - that way I don't have to cry! Occupational hazard. ;)

Hi Peggy: Congrats on reaching book #75

Peggy

Yikes, I cannot believe I'm this far behind on your thread. Congratulations on reaching the 75 challenge goal.

I hope your NC holidays are happy!!!

Whew Making you cry is the last thing I have in mind for this week!
Thanks for the visit and the congrats, Linda and Linda! I'm woefully behind on threads too. And I'm trying hard to finish *MM* and get way into The Children's Book. I'm liking the way that the tone is gradually changing. It began awfully like a fairy tale, and now reality is seeping in at the edges. (I'm only 14 of 55 chapters into it.) Now I'm fighting not to look at reviews to see what other folks have to say about this. Anybody?

I haven't read it, probably I'll wait on your reaction!

I just read a review of The Children's Book, the first one that comes up--or the long one, anyway--at LT. My goodness, it sounds like quite a book. Like Lucy, I'll be very interested to hear what you think of it, Peggy.

That's quite a review, isn't it! I just looked her up, and she's a young woman from Greensboro, N.C., so I spoke...... I'll surely keep you up to date when I think I've read enough to have something to say.

I have seen several reviews of The Children's Book here in the group, notably Cariola's (Deborah's) whose opinion I greatly admire. She gave the book 4.5 stars. That is good enough for me :)

edited in an attempt to correct Touchstones

I wonder if I can squeeze it onto my xmas list!

Yay! My ER ARC arrived today! It's The Devotion of Suspect X, a first novel by Japanese writer, Keigo Higashino. I'm on it! (Tomorrow)

#254: Cool beans! I hope you like it, Peggy.

Hi, Peggy! Congratulations on reaching 75 books!

Adding my congratulations at reaching 75!

I read the Children's Book in March. Lost my review in the process of posting it. I liked it but didn't love it. Sometimes to me it read more like an extremely well researched history book than a novel. Most of that historical info was well integrated into the story, but some seemed to be there for the sake of it. It was always interesting though. I loved reading of characters discussing books which I've read, like the William Morris stories, when they were newly published and part of a bubbling mix of new intellectual and artistic ideas.

edited to correct typo

Thank you, Terri and Genny. I am enjoying *CB* although at 300 pp. in this edition, I'm hardly into it at all. It is still reading more like a fairy or folk tale than anything else. I haven't read the William Morris stories, so I'll lose out on that level. The second sentence on my current chapter starts, "William Morris had died in October..." I hope to have time to get into it today.
I'm also reading Aleta Day now for my own TIOLI challenge (on the shelf more than a year, the only book I own by an author I haven't read). It's immediately interesting although the writing is less than successful. It is the story of a young woman in Winnipeg just before and during WWI. Each chapter is self-contained but more in the nature of a sketch for a memoir than a fleshed-out short story. I guess that is my bias showing against brevity of this sort. I want to sink into a narrative rather than be propelled along the surface. That's not to say that Beynon can't turn an arresting phrase; she can, but it seems superficial as compared to Testament of Youth, for instance. Aleta herself is an interesting character - self-accusatory as a result of a domineering father whose stated aim was to break her spirit. She's also independent in mind and action, a committed "suffragist" in a relationship with a conservative Scot with a predilection for alcohol. I foresee sadness ahead.

Hello there, this is interesting about the Byatt..... she's always teetered on getting lost in the scholarly side of things, no?

#259 That's certainly my impression Lucy. She has chosen such a fascinating period in this case, I didn't mind the scholarly excursions , but it makes for a hybrid reading experience.

MIDDLEMARCH by George Eliot

Go to the threads for our wonderful group read. Thank you, friends!

Peggy, I hope you'll join us for another 75 in 25.

http://www.librarything.com/groups/75booksin20111

(If you're already there, please forgive me--there's been an explosion of new threads.)

Hi There Peggy!

Simply stopping by to say what a special lady you are!

(What a dear you are, Linda, whispering sweet messages around!)

A FATAL GRACE - Louise Penny
I like Three Pines #2 very well, but I'm not taking my permanent place on the bus yet. The murder in this one was absolutely byzantine --- my reaction was about the same as I had on my first reading of Died in the Wool. You have all discussed this series to pieces, so I won't. I will be reading at least the next two in the series since PBS has already sent them to my house.

(edited for spelling)

Peggy, I also was turned off by the murder in A Fatal Grace. Not very plausible to say the least. What will keep me reading the series is all the raves here on LT about books number 5 and 6.

Just wanted to let you know I've been having great success with PBS. I've sent out about 3-4 books and received 5-6. They've all been in great condition and have gotten to me fairly quickly. My biggest problem is figuring out which books to post to make sure someone wants them so I can get credits. I have 11 books posted now with no takers.

I thought A Fatal Grace was the weakest in the Three Pines series. I find it very difficult to explain why I love the series so much.

I'm more or less on board with you-all about #2. I am reading #3 as a break from more weighty reading. I like them for what they are, sort of a palate cleanser -- and I don't mean that in a mean way.

That's not mean, Lucy; it's the way it is!

ALETA DEY by Francis Marion Beynon
This is an interesting period piece. Cushla has already written a good review of it, but I added a second just to show a slightly different point of view. If you have any interest in feminist and pacifist matters before and during WWI in Manitoba, you will appreciate the book. It always called me back to it, but mostly as something of a curiosity. I don't intend that to be mean either since Beynon's writing about governmental militarism and dishonesty is heart-felt. If you're interested, check out the reviews!

Hi, Peggy. Just thumbed two of your reviews--Aleta Day and The Lost Steps. Someone on another thread (I think it's 2011 Theme Reads--Journeys) was recommending The Lost Steps and I went to the book's work page and saw your 4 1/2 star review. The Journey theme read is for early 2011 so I might try and read that book for it.

#268: Thumbs up from me too, Peggy :)

I thank you both kindly. Pat, The Lost Steps was one of the first LT-generated books that I bought and read when I joined. I knew I had come to a good place!

Aleta Dey certainly had its weaknesses, and I agree with your review, but I did like the portrayal of how she built up a connection with Colin, her lover's adopted son. It was also interesting to see a depiction of Canada at a time when people moved or considered moving south of the border to the US to get away from its conservatism (or militarism), since at other times before and since people moved in the opposite direction. I have a book friend (first met online but since in person) who moved to Montreal at the end of the 60s/early 70s to find a job as she couldn't get work in the US.

Good point about the movement of people! I was on the fringe of the fringe (N.C. has never been a hot-bed of radicalism except in the Civil Rights movement) of the anti-war movement in the late 60's, and I don't remember any of my acquaintance heading for Canada. And I did enjoy the Colin/Aleta relationship too.

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX by J.K. Rowling

I'm a relative newcomer to the HP world, so this is my first reading of book 5. I do wish that these had been around when I was a child - or maybe not. I would have lived at Hogwarts. I found this one as charming as its predecessors and equally as irritating on occasion. She could have worked just a little harder to even out uneven writing, and then she would have had something truly wonderful.
I started it last summer and will likely not read HP6 until next summer, but I am glad that I succumbed to society's pressure and started the series.

I need to get back to my re-read of the series!

I feel exactly as you do Peggy -- but she was under so much pressure from her readers and publishers, it's a wonder the books are as good as they are.

I agree too about Rowling and HP - the writing is rather uneven - but the world she created is such fun! I don't read them for the style and fine prose but for the story and the world of Hogwarts.

Merry Christmas Peggy!

Hope you're having a great Christmas, Peggy!

Merry Christmas Peggy!

Merry Christmas Dear One!

How lovely to come home after a wonderful day of family and FOOD and find sweet messages from you all! Hope you are also having the merriest of Christmases - and Linda, not only is that gif a beauty! - BUT we are expecting snow overnight!!! Here. In southeastern N.C.!!!! Depending on the meteorologist, we can look for anywhere from a dusting to 4 inches. No Sunday School or early service tomorrow. I'm excited!!!!!!

Wishing you a peaceful end to your Christmas Day, and snowfall that is scenic without being an obstacle!

Merry Christmas - we had snow while in Hickory, but nothing but rain down here near Charlotte. Hope it made it's way east!

Hi Peggy: Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!

Hope you have had the merriest of Christmases today, Peggy!

Thank you, Linda and Roni, and the same to you. I'm looking forward to a day of relative quiet because --- it's snowing!!! I'm here before the power goes out. We woke up this morning to 4-5 inches of snow, and it's still snowing! it did come up from the south, and this is beyond recreational. I'm glad that we have plenty to eat (!) and a gas log in case we do lose power. I don't remember this much since the famous snowfall of 1972 when we got about a foot and I-95 closed. We sent out church buses and people opened their homes to the unlucky travelers. It was quite a deal. Here's a nice story that I may have told before. 35 years later a young woman was having a weekend in NYC with her husband when they discovered that they didn't have their credit cards with them. (I don't know whether they were lost, stolen; whatever, that's not part of the story.) Mary went into a bank to cash a check with no joy. She asked to speak to the manager who also declined her plea. She said, "I just know that if your daughter walked into any bank in Lumberton, N.C., in this kind of trouble, the manager would cash her check." "Lumberton? Did you say Lumberton??" As it turned out, the manager had been one of the rescued travelers, and he not only cashed the check but entertained Mary and husband royally as a way to say his thanks. --- And it's really snowing !!!
I've got to go watch!!!!!!!!!

And I forgot to say that it's our 40th anniversary. Happy!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Wow!

And I love that story, it gave me chills, the good kind!

And snow! What a day you are having.

Happy Anniversary, Peggy. That story is great. Hope you're enjoying the snow.

Happy anniversary!

Happy Anniversary indeed Peggy. Love the story. Hope nobody gets stranded in the snow this time.

Happy 40th anniversary, Peggy.

Hey, Peggy, I've been out all day, but I wanted to be sure to get here to wish you Happy Anniversary--I hope the husband is making the 40th extra special for you! And yes, I remember you telling that story--such a neat one.

Oh, thank you Pat, Dr., Linda, Genny, and Roni! DH is extra special and we had a lovely day, together and separately..... He shoveled snow to his heart's content and I read and snoozed.

Happy Anniversary, Peggy!

Reading and snoozing sounds like a great way to spend a snowy day :)

Happy Anniversary, Peggy!

Oh Peggy, add my wishes for a happy anniversary and happy snow. My DH and I are right behind you with 38 years in 2011. Good grief, it's simply impossible.

Thank you, ladies! You're right, Becky; it is impossible. How did we get this old? I mostly don't feel old except in the knees.

#299: My knees have felt old since I was 12. I am in deep trouble.

A message about books!
I have picked up Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys again, Amelia Edwards's account of her "rambles" in the Dolomites in 1872 (I think). I am amused because I've just read that a quest for side-saddles for herself and her friend almost ended the trip before it began. Contrast that with Isabella Bird who rode a cow for part of her exploration of Japan at about the same time! Then there is Mary Kingsley, who dressed in her Victorian gowns to explore West Africa some twenty years later. The minds of women! Bless us.

301- I've wishlisted that one - it sounds interesting...

(Hi, Angela! I love those 19th century women travelers - intrepid, interesting women!)

THE CHILDREN'S BOOK by A.S. Byatt

I liked this one very well (I'd give it 3¾ stars if that were possible), but I had hoped to love and adore it. Briefly, Byatt follows the fortunes of an upper-middle class English family and their friends from late Victorian times through WWI. The tone in the beginning is fairy or folk tale-ish, but as we learn more about the elder Wellwoods, to their detriment, the tone changes to more dispassionate narration. I think that Byatt is using this family to help modern readers, who might not read straight social history, get an accurate feeling for the times.
I believe that most people object to the detailed social history that she weaves through the book. (For instance: the Edwardians were an infantile group, illustrated by the fact that Kenneth Grahame wrote to his wife in baby-talk. Stasia says, "Why do I need to know this?" I say, "Really? What a hoot!") I enjoyed these digressions sometimes more than the progressing plot-line. I had hoped for something more substantial than historical entertainment, and I don't think I got it. The characters were drawn so clearly that most eventualities were inevitable except for who survived the war.
I would recommend this book to anybody who is a Byatt fan or who has a lot of time to read. For a deeper development of character or theme, I'd send a seeker to Byatt's sister Margaret Drabble.

#303: I liked the book overall slightly less than you did, giving it 3.5 stars. As far as the social history parts, I would have liked better if she had stuck to setting up the context rather than addingwhat was (to me) unnecessary detail.

Happy 40th anniversary Peggy!

Rambles in the Dolomites? I should read that one!

#305: Nathalie, I was able to download the book for free to my Nook - you may be able to as well for your Kindle.

#306: Unfortunately not - this might be one of the cases where they gave the e-book rights either to B&N or to amazon but not to both. And no free version on gutenberg. I'll put it on my watchlist, maybe they'll get it soon.

#307: Sorry!

#308: I found a free online version on digital library! :-)

#309: Good!

I'll likely give the Byatt a look at some point -- I too am suckered in by detail -- and it sounds like Byatt teetered (and went over?) the line between a story-telling and sociology?

I'm thinking about Gosford Park (one of my all-time favorite movies) for some reason -- you can get all that detail in visually in a movie, keep the story going without having to stop and explain and describe -- one way movies have it over books.

Stasia, my official rating is 3½ too. I did like it a little better than that implies. Lucy, I'm not sure yet what her purpose was. The story was a bit too predictable, but the historical minutiae are a little too spare to be the point.
I could finish something else before the new year, and I really should, but it ought to be my ARC, The Devotion of Suspect X, and I don't care for it very much. Somebody enlighten me. (I think I've mentioned this before.) The woman kills her ex-husband as he is attacking her daughter from a previous relationship, yelling "I'll kill you, bitch!" They are both bruised from his throwing them around. She is so fearful that she - or they - will be convicted of murder that she allows a neighbor whom she hardly knows to persuade her to dispose of the body and concoct an alibi. Question: Is defense of one's child murder? Is Japan so different that a jury would convict her of 2nd degree? Is manslaughter the correct term? I'm finding the premise hard to deal with.
Nathalie, I hope you and Stasia both enjoy the Amelia Edwards. My copy is one of the Virago/Beacons - a reprint of the original with Edwards's wonderful drawings.
And Stasia, while I'm nattering on, I'm finding Ex Libris to be the perfect bedside book! I knew 6 of the words she lists in her second essay. I'd have known 7 if I hadn't momentarily confused "grimoire" with "griot," a thing that 90 year-old C. Fadiman wouldn't have done. I also recognized at least another couple without being able to assign a meaning to them. The joys of passive vocabulary!

Good Morning Peggy.

Good morning, Linda. What an eye-opener!!!

>311 sibylline:: I love "Gosford Park" too !!! Such a great cast.

I gave The Children's Book offically 3.5 stars too - it was probably nearer a 3.7 or 3.8, but like you, I enjoyed it but did not love it. I too was not sure quite what she was trying to do in this book.

I liked that film too. A year or two after it came out, I moved to where I now live, in a place called Gosforth, just outside Newcastle, which has a park, called, not surprisingly, Gosforth Park - though no stately home. Some friends and family got rather confused when I moved here and tried to send things to me at Gosford instead of Gosforth.

#312: Glad to know you are liking Ex Libris, Peggy!

I'm LOVING Ex Libris, Stasia!!!! Unfortunately, I did not love, like, or even tolerate ---

THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X by Keigo Higashino
I'm in the minority here. You can read my review on the book page if you're interested, but I thought that the writing was pedestrian and I never believed the initial premise. In fact, I'd love to take a poll: How many of you would allow your neighbor, whom you don't know at all, to help you and your teen-aged daughter cover up your killing of your ex-husband?
This was my November ARC, and I'm thrilled to be finished with a day yet of free reading before the new year! I read only 81 books this year, three fewer than in '09, but I'm better satisfied because most of what I read was much better quality. I also did less rereading, and I read several monsters. Sometime tomorrow or Saturday I'll try to reflect on it. Right now, I'm going to cleanse my palate!!!!!
(And I've never seen "Gosford Park." I rarely watch movies at all, which also keeps me out of step with the rest of the country. I'd rather buy a book than a ticket or DVD rental and spend the time reading rather than watching. But when it appears on TV, I'll do my best to see it.)

#318 I have to agree with you on the implausibility of that plot. Once something like that strikes me in a book, I have a hard time getting past it.

I'm glad you're loving Ex Libris. That's one of my favorite books for this year and I heard about it on LT. I have her book At Large and At Small that I'm looking forward to reading soon.

Whew! Caught up with you, Peggy, before the new year comes. I didn't jot down thread references, but I loved your snow story. Sounds like a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie!

Happy Anniversary. I'm a little late with my congratulations. I do hope you had a special day. The reading part sounds great but shoveling snow?

It sounds like The Children's Book didn't meet expectations. I bought it a few months ago and haven't even looked at it since I shelved it. I am a Byatt fan so I'll give it a whirl sometime in '11.

Ex Libris is my "go to" book when I suffer the very infrequent reading doldrums. I always perk up no matter what essay I choose and am ready for another reading adventure.

Happy New Year!

Belated anniversary wishes, Peggy. Hope this next year will be a special one for you.

Gosford Park is the only movie I watched and then immediately watched again. I loved it, obviously. Movies are second only to my books and music as the passions of my life.

Oh yeah, there's chocolate, too, but I'm cutting back there, much more successfully than with books.

I've got to download Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys. Sounds like exactly my cuppa for a relaxing, entertaining yet informative read.

I am glad you are loving Ex Libris, Peggy! It sounds like just the remedy erasing the previous book from your memory.

I loved Ex Libris!

Chiming in wtih the Ex Libris lovers - I read it at the start of this month, following Stasia's enthusiastic mention earlier this year. Wonderful essays!

Add me to the "fans of Ex Libris" team !!

Belated anniversary wishes, Peggy, and I hope you have a Happy New Year!

Thank you, thank you, Terri! I have been dropping new year's greetings here, and I think everybody else has moved on to 2011, so I'll stop and go over there too.
Dear friends, you make me very happy!
Now I'm going over there too.

Happy New Year, Peggy! Thanks for being a part of the 75ers in 2010. I am looking forward to a great 2011!

Happy New Year Peggy! Ex Libris is on my must read list for 2011.

I tried to do my usual count with my engagement calendar, and I've lost two books from my list, so the numbers aren't quite right.
Women's Fiction: 24
A Classic: 1
General Fiction: 7
Science Fiction: 11
Fantasy: 1
Mystery: 13
Essays: 3
Heyer & Thirkell: 6
Horror: 1
Biography or Autobiography:4
Travel: 6
Religion: 1
Young Adult: 1

The only surprise is that I read more mysteries than scifi. I believe that ER is responsible for that. Almost 18% non-fiction surprises me.