Paul's 2011 Reading Part Six to Hogmanay

A seasonal photo for all you winter-bound lurkers!

2011 reading so far

1 Centennial by James Michener
2 Caught in the Light by Robert Goddard
3 Open by Andre Agassi
4 Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo
5 Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay
6 No God but God by Reza Aslan
7 The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva
8 The English Assassin by Daniel Silva
9 Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
10 Arabesk by Barbara Nadel
11 Turnstone by Graham Hurley
12 Lennox by Craig Russell
13 The Long Glasgow Kiss by Craig Russell
14 The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
15 Life on Air by David Attenborough
16 The Confessor by Daniel Silva
17 A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva
18 The Take by Graham Hurley
19 Prince of Fire by Daniel Silva
20 The Messenger by Daniel Silva
21 Angels Passing by Graham Hurley
22 Cantona : The Rebel Who Would be King by Philipe Auclair
23 The Secret Servant by Daniel Silva
24 High Stand by Hammond Innes
25 Heroes by Simon Sebag Montefiore
26 Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva
27 Unspoken by Mari Jungstedt
28 The Defector by Daniel Silva
29 The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo
30 The Manager by Barney Ronay
31 The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
32 Last Templar by Michael Jecks
33 London by Edward Rutherfurd
34 Rounding the Mark by Andrea Camilleri
35 Patience of the Spider by Andrea Camilleri
36 The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri
37 Norweigan Wood by Haruki Murakami
38 August Heat by Andrea Camilleri
39 The Jacaranda Tree by H.E. Bates
40 Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
41 The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi
42 Preferred Lies by Andrew Greig
43 Worth Dying For by Lee Child
44 Bad Boy by Peter Robinson
45 Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark
46 Long Summer Day by R.F. Delderfield
47 Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris
48 Broken April by Ismail Kadare
49 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino
50 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke
51 Eye of the Red Tsar by Sam Eastland
52 Storm Prey by John Sandford
53 Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
54 Die Twice by Andrew Grant
55 Heliopolis by James Scudamore
56 My Soul to Take by Yrsa Siggurddottir
57 The Gate by Francois Bizot
58 No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay
59 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
60 Blood Eagle by Craig Russell
61 Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
62 The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith
63 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexandr Solzenistsin
64 Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsson
65 Decision Points by George W Bush
66 The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman
67 The Ice People by Maggie Gee
68 The White Guns by Douglas Reeman
69 An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
70 Josh Lawton by Melvyn Bragg
71 The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
72 The Rights of Desire by Andre Brink
73 Starter for Ten by David Nicholls
74 The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor
75 Generation A by Douglas Coupland
76 A Football Man by John Giles
77 The Imposter by Damon Galgut
78 The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
79 I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This by Bob Newhart
80 Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
81 The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn
82 The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
83 From the Dead by Mark Billingham
84 Greenmantle by John Buchan
85 The Water's Edge by Karin Fossum
86 The Leopard by Jo Nesbo
87 The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva
88 Brother Grimm by Craig Russell
89 The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri
90 Deadlight by Graham Hurley
91 The Track of Sand by Andrea Camilleri
92 Bridge Over the Drina by Ivo Andric
93 Billiards at Half-Past Nine by Heinrich Boll
94 Pincher Martin by William Golding
95 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
96 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
97 Lust for Life by Irving Stone
98 The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard by Sir Athur Conan Doyle
99 Answering Back edited by Carol Ann Duffy
100 For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway
101 Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks
102 Eucalyptus by Murray Bail
103 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
104 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
105 Snowdrops by A.D. Miller
106 The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker
107 The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain
108 The Antelope Wife by Louise Erdrich
109 What is Mine aka Punishment by Anne Holt
110 Summoned by Bells by John Betjeman
111 American Gods by Neil Gaiman
112 Love and Garbage by Ivan Klima
113 A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler
114 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
115 The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman
116 The Chimes by Charles Dickens
117 Blood Count by Robert Goddard
118 Mr. Ives' Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos
119 The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens

Best 10 of the Year

Half of a Yellow Sun, The Little Stranger, The Children of Dynmouth, Child 44, Breathing Lessons, Lennox, Josh Lawton, Mercy, The Messenger and Heliopolis
(Of Mice and Men not included as it is a re-read)

In barely six months I seem to have made so many firm friendships on this wonderful site. Please join me to the close of 2011.

Consider yourself joined, Paul! Fab beach -I'm among the winter bound!

Ohhh I would really like to lurk in your photo! Looks loverly!

I only joined LT in August and it feels like I have made many friends in the months since, you included :)

Hi Paul. Lovely photo. In the words of Liz Lemon, I want to go to there...

You really think this thread will last until Hogmanay??? *cue evil chortle*

Harrumph, supposed to be summer in Sydney, and it's been raining and miserable and barely clearing 20C all week. Harrumph, I say.

Of course, as soon as summer does hit, I'll be grumbling about the heat. ;)

When is Hogmanay? Is that New Year's Eve, or New Year's Day? Or something entirely different!

Oh la la, lovely beach scene. Dramatic rocks, all it needs is a sunset and me and it would be perfect :)

Lovely photo Paul, what part of Malaysia is that? Or is it somewhere else equally sunny?

Winter-bound lurker, present and accounted for.

Hey Paul! We're glad to have you! Thanks for the nice picture! Maybe I'll go make myself a nice drink with a little umbrella in it, jack up my heat, and sit in front of that picture for a while. . . .hmmm. . . .maybe breakfast first.

Oooh, lovely picture! We had a light snow here yesterday, but I'm not really complaining - I'm essentially a shut-in for the foreseeable future, until I get Charlie potty trained, so Let It Snow, I say!

Hi Paul, Nice new digs you have here. I am still snorting over your comment in the last thread about your studies and joblessness. I was a political science and history major :) I'm employed but not in anything related to either subject!

ETA: Sorry work is slowing your reading.... I hate that. Am already looking forward to my looong flight to Bangkok in February for some uninterrupted reading!

In regard to work cutting into our reading time: I've taken the luxury of a short work day yesterday, and again today, to help clear the decks and leave me some fun time for reading, movie-viewing, etc. It's an addictive surprise to have time when I don't have to be somewhere in the next 20 minutes. Retirement might not be as horrible as I foresee.

Paul- Congrats on Thread 6!! And I also love the photo at the top, could easily picture myself sitting there, with a book and a brew!

Nancy - Thank you my dear - as one of the earliest visitors to my thread would have been disappointed if you hadn't stayed the course!

Chelle - Your friendship forging in the few months since August makes my own efforts seem a little tame. You were of course one of those I had in mind with my preparatory comments.

Joanne - nice to see you - not sure about Liz Lemon but I enjoyed my time there .

Suz - I will be happy to be wrong and have to go to Hogmanay part two!

Tania - I'm never satisfied with the weather either - 20 degrees c sounds nice to me to be honest. Hogmanay is actually the last day of the year and is a word in old Scots. Nowadays of course it is synonymous with the revelries that accompany the bringing in of the new year.

Megan - think Lenny would also expect to be included in your wishlist there!

Leonie - the place is actually in Krabi, Thailand which I visited this late July/ early August with the tribe. Lovely secluded resort.

Lynda - just how winter bound is Ohio at the moment? Note that your favourite library is at Chagrin Falls - what a fantastic place name!

Brit - Drink idea sounds splendid - I'm just starting my day over here and could make use of the umbrella for its more traditional purposes - I can't remember Kuala Lumpur having so much rain as we have had for the last month - my Helicopter Centre project is an absolute mudbath at the moment and I'm going there this afternoon with my wellington boots and hopefully several umbrellas (sans cool drink) at the ready.

Amber - could be quite an effort for you being shut in with Charlie in his present un-potty trained state! I like the thought of the snow but am not really enamoured of living through a miserable northern european winter as I grew up doing.

Katie - Surprisingly I love my job/business and the people that help me make it relatively successful enough to enable me to feed my book and music habits and to keep SWMBO in handbags and shoes, Yasmyne in make-up (her mothers mainly and constant twitter/facebook communication with her army of admirers), Kyran in PSII's and Manga books and Belle in whatever she decides Daddy should buy at any given point! It is certainly the case that I grew up with dreams of a very different life surrounded by books and a loving family - eh wait I did finish up like that! History, english and (less so) politics are still passions of mine but now as hobbies which are assuaged by my frailer passion for making money.

Judy - not attracted by the thought of retirement - I mean SWMBO for 24/7!! Nice to see you here and that you are able to take a little time for yourself.

Mark - I could also see you there Sir but I don't remember IPA being available there - they drink SINGHA and CHANG beers in that part of Thailand.

Hi Paul, just checking in. Love your picture, I could really do with some beach time right about now. Unfortunately I am tied up with doctors and procedures for the rest of the week so don't know how much I will be around.

Paul - No fair posting a picture of a Thai beach when we're battling winter here ... ok, it's not much of a battle thus far but it's still a far cry from tropical sunshine on a warm beach.

We'll be getting our first snow of the season on Friday (very, very late for Buffalo) so I'm glad to see your lovely beach photo Paul.

Hi Paul, I've been keeping busy with all kinds of stuff and somehow not visiting my friends lately. Trying to make up for lost ground a little bit tonight. Hope I'm forgiven? I love that I didn't lose you thanks to this new thread magic. Bravo for jumping in and giving it a chance!

Ooh yes, I love the new thread magic! It's brilliant! You're the first person to use it, that I've seen, and it was seamless. (I'm sure others have used it, I just haven't seen evidence of it.)

20C is a lovely winter temperature in Sydney, although colder than usual. (But I like rugging up with doonas and cats, so that's fine by me.) It's a bloody miserable summer temperature! And the constant rain is getting everyone down, I'm sick and tired of my books getting wet - I've got several now all warped from me being caught out unexpectedly. (I now have a plastic bag in my backpack to wrap up the precious books if it looks like a downpour is going to happen.)

Hope you are enjoying your time with your visitors. Hopefully you don't get too muddy today!

Judy - I hope everything is ok with you and that you are back in the peak of health as soon as possible.

Caro - and there is me thinking that I'm just being thoughtful!

Bonnie - impressed that Buffalo weather reports can be as accurate as that! I don't know from one day to the next here but humid, hot and wet are three adjectives that will definitely figure prominently.

Ilana - noticed you are busy from your rushed visits through your thread my dear. Nothing at all to forgive - it is always a pleasure to see you here. btw my friend from CAE Inc is returning to Montreal on Saturday via Singapore and I will pass him a little something for postage purposes.

Tania - I can't claim any primacy here. Genny actually asked me to look at this new feature on my earlier thread and beat me to it by at least 2 weeks. btw what is a "doona"? Don't know what the rain is like in Sydney but the monsoon rains here are to an extent I haven't seen for 18 years.

Chelle - Nizam my loyal lieutenant drove us to site in his new white car this afternoon - as Azmi (the driver) was busy picking up my kids
as SWMBO's car is still in the hospital - poor chap's pride and joy was covered in mud when we drove back to the office and his own miniature version of SWMBO will not be amused.

You put me on that particular beach, I'll drink what's ever available!

Well, despite Nizam's white car, I hope you managed to stay relatively dry on your site visit!

Mark - I heartily agree with you! :)

oh geeze! At least mud washes off! My Nate would have been super excited to drive through that mud in his new jeep, he keeps looking for excuses to take it off the road. Needless to say it won't happen with me in the car! :)

Mark / Brit - that beach would be pretty overcrowded if we got our way wouldn't it IPA or not?

Chelle - Nate would love the site then - all 28 acres of it designed for the new national helicopter centre nearby the old international Subang Airport. All red clay earth and puddles the size of Lake Michigan.

Hi Paul -- love the photo! It has been very, very cold and snowy here, so I wouldn't mind sitting on a beach, even just for a little while:) Hope you're having a good week.

Hi Paul, just catching up. We're starting to have beach weather here so your photo is a welcome reminder to get to one this weekend.

and I will pass him a little something for postage purposes

I am most intrigued...

Anne - nice to see you! Cold and snowy doesn't appeal too much. Am having a good week but my reading very slow due to excessive work commitments.

Kerry - Which would be your beach of choice on the North Island? Still hoping to visit in March/April (Autumn?) so more ideas on great places to see would be most welcome.

Ilana - I was of course intended to intrigue. Clue would be something that you said you didn't have but would like to obtain. Something that your correspondent has expressed admiration of and would only release to someone he has regard for.

:-)

The first part of the clue isn't of much help to me, considering the size of my wishlist. The second part makes me think... Graham Greene?

#24> Paul, a doona is also known as a duvet. One of those nice warm thick quilts, I like the ones stuffed with down feathers best.

Probably something one would not need in Malaysia! We only really need one in the depths of Sydney winters, it's shocking that it's still on the bed this December.

Rain has finally paused. We're all blinking in the sunlight.

Ilana - ha ha clever girl but are you right? - my friend from CaE Antoine will either post something to you or make arrangement to drop something off for you.

Tania - a doona would sound splendid for our bedroom as SWMBO keeps the airconditioning at refrigerant levels.

Managed to sneak away frommy Canadian compadres to hit the aptly named MegaMall at lunch time which promised a mega sale at MPH bookstore. Spent 40 minutes moaching among their shelves disappointedly. Bought some selections but was underwhelmed by the paucity of books being offered on sale. Made my displeasure known to the cashier only to be informed that the sale is actually upstairs in the exhibition hall! Grrr I had no time to go as I had a meeting lined up with a Korean developer in the afternoon - work intrudes again!
Anyway bought:
Death Sentence by Mikkel Birkegaard (More Scandicrime)
The Making of the British Army by Alan Mallinson
Elegy for April by Benjamin Black (third in the Dublin series by the Banville nom-de-plume)
Song House by Trezza Azzopardi
The Promise of Happiness BY Justin Cartwright
Rates of Exchange by Malcolm Bradbury
Why Come to Slaka? by Malcolm Bradbury
Death in August by Marco Vichi
Love and Summer by William Trevor
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima

I also bought newer versions of books I have in England, Come Home Charlie and Face Them and Cheap Day Return both by RF Delderfield ($4 for the pair) and The Garrick Year by Margaret Drabble.

>32 PaulCranswick: *posing as Avatiakh*
The Coromandel area is bea-U-ti-ful. You can see a website about it here, or maybe Ill come back later and drop off a photo my father took of the area, he loves it too.

Another nice haul of books, a pity you missed the sale section though, I'd have been annoyed as well!

Thanks for stepping in Megan, I agree Coromandel is definitely worth the drive. As far as North Island beaches go, there are so many good ones. The West Coast beaches are all iron sand and around Auckland most people head to Piha or Karekare Beach (both appear in The Piano) or Muriwai. The east coast offers big beaches such as Orewa Beach (urban), Long Bay (nature reserve), and Takapuna Beach (urban). My preference is for more remote and smaller places in Northland, Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty etc etc.

Thanks Avatiakh (both Kerry and Megan in this instance!)
Coromandel does look good. Am thinking of doing North Island mainly as will probably be flying into Auckland but hopefully we will also be able to extend our stay and take in the south too. Should go to LOTR country given my resemblance to Frodo Baggins.

Another book haul, Paul! You are making up for any time you'll lose in 2012 when you cut back, hehe! From #39 Should go to LOTR country given my resemblance to Frodo Baggins. You are altogether too much!

LOL!! Paul, I don't think you look anything like Frodo Baggins!! You have a great sense of humour! You do have a great new haul of books. I had a great haul from the library, and I took your advice and got a couple of books out by William Trevor, but the books will have to wait there turn!;) I have a few books that I had on hold at the library as well as an Early Review book to read first....

Hi Paul or is it Frodo? LOL. it looks like another nice book haul! I'm not familiar with many of these authors. I'll have to watch for your thoughts on these books, so I may be enlightened.

Hi Paul, just passing the word that the threads are up for North and South group read. Everyone is welcome!

North and South (Non-Spoiler Thread)
North and South, Chapters 1-26 (Spoiler Thread)
North and South, Chapters 27-52 (Spoiler Thread)

I’ve also added the threads to our group’s wiki page.

Nancy - Glad that my hairy feet can bring a smile to your face. Also thanks for the link to the thread on North and South - I am looking forward to starting it on New Year's Day.

Deb - blushing profusely from your generous words - btw hope Dave is on his feet again in time for Christmas. Hope my confidence on William Trevor does not back-fire but I'm quite sure you will appreciate the tone of his work.

Mark - hope the Frodo moniker will not stick! Noticed that there is a film version of one of Ken Bruen's books coming out.

Nice book haul, Paul. Any chance the book sale is on for the whole weekend?

Elegy for April was one of my favorite books. You're in for a treat when you get to this one.

What's up for the weekend? Reading some of the books you've hauled into your cave in the last couple of months?

Paul you are so organised with your reading! January is full, July is Orange, GR starts on NYs day.

Here are 2 of my dads pics of NZ:
Coromandel, North Island
Lake Mapourika, South Island

I hope you make it to the South Island, the ferry trip between the two islands is great (3 hours or so), and a drive down the West Coast is amazing.

Paul- Thanks for mentioning the Ken Bruen info. Was this what you were talking about:http://jacktaylorfilms.com/contacts/
Or was there something else?

Hi Paul, after the week I've had with being poked and pulled by doctors, it was nice to be able to clear three books off my shelves. I guess doctor's waiting rooms are good for something.

I gotta say, those pictures of New Zealand are fantastic, what a great place it looks to be. You have quite the vacation to look forward to, Paul.

Caro - It is on the weekend but you know what Mega Mall is like on a Sunday! SWMBO has actually mentioned that she wants to go there (for other reasons) so we will see).

Megan - my thread can be misleading and the best laid plans often come to naught. Love planning the reads but the execution sometimes leaves a little to be desired - we will see. Thank you so much for the photos and both places look so atmospheric and I can't wait to be honest to visit.

Mark - the film is called London Boulevard which I don't think is a Jack Taylor novel. Have you read it? First Ken Bruen I've seen for sale here so hopefully it will be the start of something.

Judy - nice to see you safe and sound and posting! I also manage to get a lot of reading done in waiting rooms. Hope that everything is wellwith you health wise and there certainly is nothing wrong with your reading appetite!

Busy day. Took Caro's advice and checked out the sale at Mega mall. Suspect regular visitors here will be none too surprised that I succumbed to weakness and added a mere 19 titles many of which were not great priorities but I have the excuse that I paid about $3 a book for them:

This Golfing Life by Michael Bamberger
Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor
After these Things by Jenny Diski
Ireland A Traveler's Literary Companion by James McElroy
Walking into the Night by Olaf Olafsson
The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavia Paz
Field Study by Rachel Seiffert
Great Salads, Sides and Salsas by Fiona Smith (FOR SWMBO)
Defeat : Why They Lost Iraq by Jonathan Steele
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young
William Golding by John Carey
A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Water Street by Patricia Reilly Giff
The Road to Jerusalem by Jan Guillou
The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill
Time and Tide by Edna O'Brien
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains by Scott O'Dell
Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury
The Colour by Rose Tremain

6 Non Fiction
3 Young Adult stuff that I may be able to get the kids to look at eventually
8 Fiction titles - 3 of them fairly high on my hitlist
1 collection of irish stories and writing I have never seen before and couldn't refuse at a $1.50

Wow when you buy, you buy by the gross but you've picked up some terrific titles Paul. Love and Summer was a lovely book and I must get to Elegy for April as I do love Quirk.

#50 Nice book haul Paul :-)

I'm glad to see that there is at least one person who is bucking the trend and buying books en masse. I own Bitter Fruit and The Labyrinth of Solitude on Mount TBR, so I look forward to your comments about them.

Wow, another large book haul! I'm still on a buying ban until after Christmas :(

>54 ChelleBearss: Chelle, I could never limit myself to a complete book buying ban, I mean what if you see something that you need and it's on sale and everything!? Surely you'd bend the rules then.....lol.....Im frugal most of the time, so me going crazy is spending about $40!

Good cheap lot there Paul.....is SWMBO getting you a book for Christmas?

Such a great book haul, can't deny that you pick some great titles and across the genres too. John Carey came to the Auckland Writers Festival last year and I heard him talk 2 or 3 times about William Golding and his books.

Paul, I think if anyone's pleased you took my advice, it's MPH. You must be at the top of their Favourite Customers list. Do they send you Hari Raya cards and invite you to pre-sale events where you get first dibs on books a day before they open it to the public?

I love the haul though. Have you read Tremain's The Road Home? If you haven't, hie thee back to MPH or Kinu and get a copy. It's an amazing story. I've read The Colour and Music & Silence by her, and have Restoration in my TBR Tower. I really should get to that soon .. it's been sitting in there for quite some time.

Well here you are!

Bonnie - I am a fan of John Banville so I figure I can't really go wrong with Benjamin Black. Have got the first three in the Quirke series now and must start them soon!

Darryl - thanks I will cling to the idea of trend setting with your leave! By all accounts your upcoming visit to NYC is going to put my feeble efforts to shame.

Chelle - it is not so easy buying books on a cruise in the middle of the caribbean! I would swap you for sure - I have another festive-free week full of meetings to look forward to.

Megan - Sound advice as usual! I am sure that SWMBO will NOT be buying me a book for christmas!

Kerry - John Carey is if I'm not mistaken the literary editor of the Times (London). I do find some of Golding's work very heavy going and it will be interesting to see if an active life made his work so indigestible. The book was in hardback cover for $4 and a first edition to boot!

Caro - haha apparently I took over as their purchasing ambassador when a certain Singaporean born lady married to an American gentleman of good taste decided to move onto pastures new! Must admit that I have member cards for both MPH and Times bookstores (Borders and Kinokuniya don't have similar schemes) and I often hear the gasp when my details are typed into the computer! I have The Road Home scheduled for January as part of the Orange Prize group reading and have read Restoration which I loved but not the others. The film version of Restoration stars a young Robert Downet Jr and is also excellent entertainment.

Must read Restoration...

I had a brilliant moment at the local bookshop. Ordered a book, gave my name as I'm part of their rewards scheme, and got a wide-eyed "I know you, you're *INFAMOUS*!!" from the woman behind the desk.

Sadly, my notoriety there has faded as I'm more often to be found in other bookshops nowadays (it's still brilliant, I just don't get there as often as I want to/should). But I'm getting nice perks from the bookshop near work, as a regular customer, which is nice.

Tania - nice story I guess our group does purchase slightly more books than the norm!

Paul - Borders is still operational in KL?! Wow, I'm jealous. My favorite Borders store in Singapore finally brought their shutters down a couple of months ago. I'm surprised to hear that they and Kino don't have member programmes in Malaysia though because Borders in Singapore did and Kino in Singapore still does. In fact, I still have member cards for Kino and Times in Singapore. The books are more expensive there than they are in the US, but they carry authors and titles that aren't available here.

I get a cheery 'welcome back, Ms Caroline.. how long are you here for this time?' whenever I hit Kinokuniya over in the Takashimaya building. :-)

Caro, Borders was apparently separately franchised in Malaysia and is still operational in at least 4 locations - Times Square, The Curve, Tropicana Mall and The Gardens.

It is always nice to be remembered in bookstores but to be fair the number of books we buy a little recognition is to be expected!

Review of Book #114



A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

My so far slow reading December picked up a little by dashing off this old staple. Would it be Christmas really without Dickens? The story needs little introduction as bad old Ebeneezer becomes good old Ebeneezer as a succession of apparation show him the error of his ways. Brilliantly observed and drawn this was Charlie at the peak of his powers. A great moral tale for the festive season and a reliably superb re-read.

9/10

Borders in Australia was a separate entity to Borders in the States (it was profitable some years ago, and was sold off to help prop up the American Borders, I believe). But it still crashed and burned about the same time as the American Borders, although for entirely different reasons. (Really, really badly mismanaged in Australia; we also lost Angus and Robertson, which was an Australian company, in the same debacle. And several years before, Collins Booksellers. Leaving us with one large Australian chain only now, Dymocks. I generally shop in the smaller independent bookshops, I like supporting smaller businesses and the staff are usually excellent and knowledgeable.)

Nice to know Borders is still going okay in Malaysia! Always sad to hear of bookshops failing.

I was hoping to get to A Christmas Carol this month too! But I'm finding Empire of the Sun a fairly slow read, which is putting my planned December reading schedule out of whack. Oh well, plans, mice, men, and all that.

#64 "a reliably superb re-read" -- yes! how to go wrong with such a pedigree?

Tania - also prefer the independents - there are no small booksellers here other than Pay-Less-Books which concentrates on second hand books. I am doing my best to keep the stores open here!
Also found Ballard a bit dry. Have read Empire of the Sun twice as I feel I should like it but both times came up short for me too. Hope you finish it soon.

Nancy - Now and again it is nice to read something you KNOW you are going to enjoy.

I'm 1/3 of the way through Empire of the Sun and I think I've got the hang of the emotional-less prose, while the world is falling apart, sometimes pretty much literally. It's a fascinating bit of history about which I was previously unaware. I'm terribly worried for young Jim, even though I know he'll survive as it's autobiographical. And if this is what JG Ballard lived through, it does explain something about his other fiction, methinks. (I've only read Crash, but it was awful, IMO.)

Then again, maybe I shouldn't be so sanguine in my assumption that Jim will survive.

Hi Paul!
Before Nate got home I could sneak books in without notice, but he is home now until January so I have a very strong chance of getting caught in the book-buying act! I'm also afraid of buying something that my secret santas might have bought :( Soooo I'll wait, but I'll admit it is painful!!

Good review of A Christmas Carol! I have a fancy edition of that which I should really break out and read this year.

Paul- I have a brand new copy of Christine Falls, waiting in the stacks. Maybe we could knock it out together, at some point.
I have never read A Christmas Carol, embarrassed to admit but I do have it ready to go on audio and plan on getting to it very soon.
Funny, I loved Empire of the Sun. It's been over 20 years but I remembered being blown away by it. The film version is pretty good too!

Oooh, Mark, I've got a new copy of Christine Falls too, looking forward to it. Keep me posted when you're reading it, and I'll try and squeeze it in. So long as it's not this month! :}

Empire of the Sun is good, I'm just finding it a challenging start. Fascinating stuff, though, I'm really looking forward to the "About the author" at the end of the book and finding out how much is really real.

I've also got some Benjamin Black paperbacks lying around somewhere waiting for their turn to be read. I need another crime themed month of reading to clear a few of the stacks.

Tania - Ballard is a strange one. Don't like many of his books to be quite honest although I have read quite a few. Find him a little too dry and detached. As you correctly point out the experiences may account at least in part for this. I have finished Empire of the Sun twice and I haven't done that with so many books so I must see something I like there. The parts in the deserted Shanghai mansions is particularly gripping and moving as I recall.

Chelle - some of the home until January is on a cruise ship where purchasing opportunities may be limited somewhat and you may be diverted by other entertainments in any case!

Chelle/Mark - Christmas Carol is well recommended of course. Would make a great audio book methinks as it is very atmospheric and....short.

Mark/Tania - Would be up for a group read of the first Benjamin Black. I have a 12 in 12 category for series starts - Jan or Feb?

Paul & Tania- It's hard to believe January is already filling in. How about the end of Jan or the 1st part of Feb? Remember, we'll probably be doing Fantasy Feburary next year too!
What a crazy book life, we lead!

I was looking at the cruiseship online yesterday and found that this one actually has a library on it! I doubt I would want to spend much time inside, but at least if I run out of books I can go borrow one! :)

The Carnival ship we cruised on last winter had a decent library and game room (board games, etc, as opposed to video games). It was a nice place to sit and read when I needed to get out of the sun!

I think I'd rather be spending my time inside the library than outside in the sun in the first place... ;)

Mark, I'm thinking March might be a good time for Benjamin Black! January is Orange January, February is Fantasy February and I'm moderating my bookgroup discussion that month as well... Yeesh, too many books! Not enough time!

Hoping to make a better show of Fantasy February in 2012 than in 2011, when I only read one book (and then finished it in March, anyhow).

Tania / Mark - I like the March idea - I'd rather hoped that my first series starts in 2012 would be Mark's The Guards recommendation.

Chelle/Jim - I guessed there may be a library onboard for you to read on deck and that may pass an hour or two between the sun and salt sea air. Hi Jim nice to see you here Sir!

Ah Paul - I too love to read A Christmas Carol and like you am infamous at my local bookstore. It's embarrassing. I think the entire staff knows me... oh well.....

Paul, I have actually just finished A Christmas Carol - I enjoyed it as an audiobook read. Although I knew the story both from tv and theatre I have not read the original. Dickens sure knows how to tell 'em. Perfect december-read.

March sounds fine! We'll just have to remind each other!

Can't wait for you to get to Mr. Bruen!

I am always hopelessly behind in your thread...
but I will keep trying to keep trying :)

Excellent, March for Mr Black, and Paul, I think you'll love Mr Bruen as well! That was one of Mark's best recommendations, IMO. Must dig up book #4 in the series for 2012.

Whew! All caught up with you Paul! I'd been away from LT, as you probably noticed, but have good hope that I'll manage to keep abreast of my friends. You friend Antoine sent me an email yesterday asking for my phone number, so I guess he intends to drop off the package in person. Isn't he a seriously busy guy? Anyway, I gave him my number, but only because he's a friend of yours, otherwise I'd have told him to put it in the mailbox! lol

That was a great book haul. Some of the titles are somewhat familiar. I saw How To Lose Friends and Alienate People in my santee's library recently and having read the original by Carnegie many years ago, thought the title was hilarious. I wonder what it's about? Am very intrigued.

Am in want of Christmas spirit, so may look for A Christmas Carol on audio. Did it fit into a TIOLI challenge?

Still 18 days of book-buying opportunities before the New Year Paul... will we manage to refrain from giving in to our natural impulses? I doubt I will (see above for example) ;-)

eta: I'd definitely be into reading Christine Falls in March. It's been on my tbr for much too long.

Deb - Infamy can be a wonderful thing! Reading the far less seasonal Mr. Ives' Christmas which is thoughtful but promises to be a weepy.

Carsten - makes me feel old when I want to say they don't write them like that anymore until I realise Dickens was actually dead a full century before one of his biggest fans made an appearance.

Mark - looking forward to both mate. Hopefully I wont forget!

Kath - one of my favourite Elvis songs would be I Forgot to Remember to Forget and your keep tryin to keep tryin is of that ilk - nice phrase from the Martha Stewart (in a culinary sense of course) of the 75ers!

Tania - a triple date it is then for the third month!

Ilana - I have also been away for almost a full day. Busy with more Scotsmen yesterday and then when I finally got home my small tribe of hungry children informed me that an electric storm had somehow interefered with our household wifi. Antoine (who strangely for a Lebanese-Canadian talking to an Anglo-Malaysian refers to me as "Amigo") is certainly a well-travelled fast worker. He told me that he had a window of one day in Montreal before he needed to be in San Francisco, after last week in Malaysia and Singapore, but emailed me that he would only be able to deliver your pressie after his return.
natural impulses - As an avid follower of the Smiler69 threads I think I am safe to say that it is quite likely that you will put the remaining 17/18 days to as good a use as shall I!

Hi Paul, a group read of Christine Falls in March sounds excellent, like Ilana that book has been on my wishlist for quite awhile. I keep seeing reviews for books number 2 and 3 and I have yet to read number 1!

And I will second the enthusiasm for your Ken Bruen read - I read my first this year and I loved it, in fact I hope to get to number 2 of that series in the early new year as well. I love series reading, but it can also be so frustrating when it takes so long to get around to the next book.

Judy I will pencil in the March slot for Benjamin Black. I know well from following your thread with admiration the whole year that your series reading is impressive. As a statoholic I did a survey recently of all my LT friends and "Interesting Libraries" and noted that of them you would have got a silver medal for series reading from checking your statistics/memes page on your profile. Looking forward to the Bruen also.

It so good to hear the Bruen love! He deserves every bit of it too!

Hi Paul, I find Dickens is a bit hit and miss for my taste, but I love A Christmas Carol and might give it another read soon, as you enjoyed it so much.

Alan/TT

I haven't read A Christmas Carol, but you make me want to.....wonder how long the library queue is at this time of year?! :)
Am giving Chucky D a good go next year though, with Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities on my MUST-read-and-must-not-fob-off-for-other-books-with-pretty-covers list.

Hello Paul...mum continues to defy the odds...but after several days of agitation they changed her drug cocktail and she is now peaceful....someone suggested we shine a torch in her face and chant "move topwards the light, move towards the light" I guess we are becoming quite delirious with exhaustion. My friend, when this is done, I shall look for a holiday...and the petronis towers do beckon. I have to look to a happier future somehow right now. Reading Tony Hillerman and finding he is the perfect transporter to somewhere else...

Hi Paul! Just adding my congratulations on a fine book haul....or two. Your first attempt at the sale was a LOL....upstairs in the exhibition room...snicker. That's definately me....wrong place, wrong time.
Yeah, not so snowbound, yet. Forecasters were predicting the worst winter ever, so far, winter is a no show.

Good morning Paul! Still here, just lurking a bit more . . . right now the one-handed typing is slowing me down (kiddo is snugging while watching Elmo).

Wow.. Martha Stewart and Elvis in the same sentence. You, Paul are a master ! :)

Mark - Ken Bruen will make his debut on my reading lists in the first week of the new year - I'm sure that I'll be blown away.

Alan - Martin Chuzzlewit was one I struggled to get going with but I usually have a wonderful time in the world of Mr. Dickens.

Megan - "Chucky D"! I can't think of too many people who could carry that off! I'm planning Dombey and Son but might re-read David Copperfield alongside Mark.

Prue - We are such a resilient race. I trust that your mum remains blissfully peaceful floating away with dreams of creme-de-menthe and the love of her family to keep her company. You will always be welcome in sunny but extremely damp Kuala Lumpur - Kinokuniya Book Store in KLCC Petronas Twin Towers may not be able to withstand the both of us attacking its wares! Take care dear girl.

Lynda - Just trying to maintain the image of Mr. Bean abroad - and I seem to be doing fine at it! Hope you don't get snowed in - the books shops are difficult to get to via snow-ploughs

Brit - always welcome here whether lurking or de-lurking!

Kath - It is not difficult to fit Elvis and Martha Stewart in the same sentence where you're concerned and I mean that in the nicest possible way!

=================================================

Reading remains incredibly slow this month as I am beset by visiting clients, next year's cashflow, tribe on holiday and pressing for attention when not in the office and generally trying to do too many things at once. Hopefully this weekend I can get a clear run at some of the books that I hope to finish this year.

>95 PaulCranswick: Paul, I am a pretty quick reader, can usually get through the mandatory 75 books to qualify for this thread! :). But, I seem to have been reading The American Senator by Anthony Trollope for an age.

I am actually enjoying it but reading it really slowly. Well, I am The Tortoise!

Mind you, I have published two paperbacks and two Kindle eBooks during the same period!

Alan

I'm with you on hoping to finish some books soon, Paul!

Paul -Have you read Denis Johnson? I just started the audio of Nobody Move, my first and it's been very good. Cool/crime noir. Just my ticket.

I don't put aside enough time for sitting (or lying) down with books, so if it weren't for audiobooks and plenty of children's literature, I wonder if I'd have made it to 75 books even? You say you love statistics, and I'm crazy about tagging because since I'm so thorough about that, I can now go ahead and verify if that's the case or not.

23 unread messages! I only stepped out for a moment (okay, two moments)!

Alan - As I recall the Tortoise won the race! Cannot claim the excuse of publishing any works in the interim to justify not reading (unless we include technical articles in periodicals which I wouldn't want to bore the thread with too much). Trollope is a reader to be savoured often. Spent almost a year in my twenties chewing up his canon but still haven't got round to cataloguing some of my older boxes which I hope still houses my Trollope collection. As I recall The American Senator is one of the better non-series works but I seem to remember a lot of fox-hunting?

Brit - let's see I am struggling to make an impression on The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman which as well as being one heck of a chunkster has the downside of being at the same time exceedingly dull.

Mark - I have not read any of his yet but have Tree of Smoke on the shelves somewhere.

Ilana - I have been getting back from the office so beat recently that when I lay down to read the tome normally hits the hardwood floor with a thump and only succeeds in waking me from my slumbers momentarily such that I can place my glasses on the bedside table before they receive permanent disfigurement. On stats we share 653 out of your catalogued 1733 books. This would appear to be the most books shared between you and any other LT member. You stats/memes states that you have read 283 series books, 780 award winners featuring 9087 significant characters and set in 1676 places! Shows if I can read the stats properly that you don't like been stuck in a reading rut and have a wide range of reading across the genres which generates the high number of award winners compared to series books. (We knew this already anyway!)

Hope you get some reading done this weekend, Paul. I snagged Signal Red from my brother yesterday. Whoohooo..... haven't forgotten I'll put this aside when I'm done for it's journey to KL.

Caro, am carefully studying your catalogue to see what additions to make to it when you visit.

Good luck finishing that chunkster!

Greetings Paul,
Though your library and Ilana's share many books my books share a similarity with yours that won't be found in any LT statistic. That sir, is the ability our books have of being drawn to hardwood and, in my case, carpeted floors without disturbing it's owner.

Hi Paul...
I am shyly making an appearance here to let you know I'm enjoying all your comments in various threads.
Your family is, ah, fascinating! lol
Love the picture above - what's not to love? :)



Back to lurking...

Brit, hopefully my struggles with Phil Rickman will come to an end tomorrow- thanks.

Lynda - haha - I seem to be doing more sleeping than eading at the moment owing to the nuisance of work intruding - I have even had the indignity of reviewing my project briefs in lieu of Rickman/Hijuelos/Dickens/Phillips recently! The stats with poor old Ilana was used as an example but it is noticeable that the similarity in all three catalogues is striking - I have 37% of Ilana's catalogue (654/1734 books) and 34% of yours (262/787 books) and only three others have more of your catalogue than yours truly. If books tell us anything about ourselves this shows that it is hardly surprising that we are all close correspondents given our shared reading likes!

Claudia, I am surprised that a lady who has read 78 books this year of such consistent quality should be shy about anything. Very remiss of me btw to overlook my congrats for reaching that mark! Also enjoy your comments here, there and almost everywhere and we should make a habit of delurking on our respective threads a little more often. What is the weather like in Maine at the moment?

Hi Paul, just went through over 90 unread messages here.. this busy December is really playing around with my ability to keep up with threads. Enjoying the conversations as ever.

Have a question for you, seeing as there have been beach recommendations flying around... we're hoping to be in Singapore mid next year and I wondered about any nice off the beaten track places to visit in Southern Malaysia? I remember Melacca as a kid but a beach perhaps.. any ideas?

Also, my pick for a NZ beach to visit, Cathedral Cove in the coromandel is a given, but I am a sucker for the rugged coastlines of the Mangawhai heads area.

653 BOOKS IT IS INDEED!!! How on earth did we go from 349 in August to practically double in less than 6 months?? Scary.

Leonie - nice to see you. Southern Malaysian beaches are not so well regarded actually. I suppose on the mainland you could try Desaru which many Singaporeans visit for the weekend. There is a newish highway to take you there as well so communications are better. The islands off Johor/Pahang would be better - probably Tioman Island or Pulau Besar (which means Big Island although it is anything but).
Thanks for the headsup on Cathedral Cove - with such a name who could overlook it!

Ilana, Could have something to do with reading and cataloguing like crazy the two of us! In the last month alone, according to my anorak spreadsheet, you have catalogued 154 books and I, 461. There will be one more literally "shared" one shortly if the useless fellow Antoine remembers to deliver to you. Let me know if he forgets as he is a bit of a scatter brain!

Paul, I enjoyed the weird, witchy atmosphere and the characters in The Wine of Angels but was less keen on the second in the series. Not that it sounds like you'll be considering that one anyway!

Just keeping up.. sorry nothing to add.. :)

#112 Ditto ...

Nancy/Kath - Thank you ladies for stopping by. My energy banks are a little drained at the moment as we have a whole slew of documents which we need to get out of the office before Christmas - and it is not even celebrated here!

Christmas may not be celebrated but the malls don't seem to have caught on to that because they're decorated as lavishly as some of the malls here. I remember being in KL a couple of weeks before Christmas and the decorations at KLCC put some of the ones here to shame. The holiday mood is infectious, so good luck getting your documents out this week. Perhaps you need to entice a few of Santa's elves to come help out ... pay them in ketupat and satay. Hmmm..actually for that, maybe I'll come help you too!

Just stopping by before another work-week begins. . .

Mmmm, satay...
Can I come too?

Caro - You always manage to make me smile even after a tough day with my nose to the grindstone. Ketupat would probably be better with rendang but the satay would be a nice accompaniment. Amber is of course more than welcome to join in especially if the potty training is successfully achieved.

Brit nice to have you drop by at any stage of the week.

Hi Paul -
Good luck with your slew of documents - once they are out, can you relax and celebrate?

OH! I just saw a red-winged blackbird at the feeder! What's up with that? Not supposed to be here in the winter! huh?
Must be coming in with the warm front. Weird, crazy winter.

sigh- the Christmas rush obviously extends far and wide! Sorry to show off but Ive been flying through my to-do list and am feeling ready for all the Xmas Action :)

Ai-yo Paul ... Lemang and Rendang are a match made in heaven. Ketupat, bawang and timun form a quadrisome with satay. (quadrisome is a word ... I typed it, therefore it must exist). Then again, one can always allow for some adulterous crosses between foods at the best of times. If ketupat and rendang shoots tingles through your toes ... enjoy! ;-)

Have you tried ketupat wrapped in a sambal omelette? There was a guy in Bangsar that used to sell this .. along with his tulang curry and roti bom. But since the street hawkers were removed a few years ago, I don't know where he's gone to now.

Loving 'Quadrisome' and it is definitely a word because I have now typed it too!

Paul, thank you for the info on South Malaysia, we'll have to see if we get as far as the Islands on that part of the trip but I am better informed now. When I was a kid we would often cross the causeway and have lunch at this great pottery shop somewhere in South Malaysia, still got the mugs as well, but remember little else about it. I'd love to find it again.

Paul, Cathedral Cove was where they filmed the opening shots of the recent Prince Caspian movie. We saw the film in London and it made us quite homesick:
http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/photos/coast/coromandel/nz0519.shtml

Claudia - We have two tenders to get out of the office by Friday; one is for an aircraft simulator training centre and the other is for an aircraft component manufacturing facility. In addition we have a tender closing for fire fighting services to our ongoing helicopter centre as well as meetings with a national telecoms company about their new headquarters and another aviation linked client who is looking to undertake three servicing facilities for helicopters throughout the country. Once this is out the way I may be able to rest a little easier!
Must admit a red-winged blackbird is something I don't think I've seen before - aren't one of the sports clubs over there (Detroit?) called the Redwings? Hope you continue to see them if it means you stay a little warmer!

Megan - looking at your thread you a clearly a lady on a mission. The Christmas cookies look splendid.

Caro - if quadrisome wasn't a word it certainly is now! Don't forget the peanut sauce to go with your splendid quadrisome. adulterous crosses nice phrase for the wicked temptations of our local cuisine. Haven't tried the omelette but the stalls pop-up and reappear with a bewildering frequency. Often in Bangsar - I'll ask my driver to go find out for your next visit.

Leonie - I think the place you mean is Ayer Hitam (literally Black Water) which is about a third of the way between Johor Bahru and Melaka. SWMBO used to go there and fill the house and garden with pottery back in our Johor days.
Well if I wasn't sold on Cathedral cove before I am now! Thanks for the link - it looks unspoilt and we are sure to visit there next year.

Review of Book #115
The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman

Finally got this monkey off my back! Not an auspicious beginning for the Merrily Watkins series. Overly long and insufficient action whilst the building of tension doesn't work at all. My own view is that Mr. Rickman had watched the tv comedy show 'THE VICAR OF DIBLEY' with Dawn French strutting her stuff in a sleepy village and he thought that he would take this basic theme and develop it into a murder/ supernatural mystery that succeeds at being really neither.

4/10

Hi Paul, reading through your last few messages has made me quite hungry. I absolutely love satays, but would love to sample some of the other foods mentioned by you and Caro.

I think I will pass on the Phil Rickman book - which is a good thing when I think of all the series I am following!

Judy, I will get SWMBO to help me put a few recipes on my thread when she is in a good mood (probably February or March at the earliest!)

Chuckled at your thoughts on Wine of Angels. Well said, Paul. Delighted to have come across something I don't need to read, quite honestly.

Ahh, too bad. The cover looks nice and I like the title. Well, I guess that's not quite enough to build on with so many books in the TBR.

Paul, thanks, I would really appreciate some authentic recipes. And I don't mind the wait, whenever SWMBO feels up to it.

Nancy - The series has been well reviewed but not for me I'm afraid. May give the next one a go some time in the future but I won't be in a hurry.

Carsten - Actually it is one of the very rare occasions but that is not the cover I have. I have a brand new version with an even better cover which I have still not figured out how to get on to the site.

Judy - I'll wait for a change in the household weather and then get her to put up some recipes. SWMBO is presently in a huff as most of her pals are taking end of year holidays whilst yours truly is up to his neck with work and unable to reciprocate.

Did manage to squeeze in a few end of year purchases yesterday. Went with two of my guys to the Pavilion mall for lunch whilst we were waiting to go to a meeting in the early afternoon. We were informed that because the kitchen was busy we would have to wait in excess of 20 minutes for our food. Conveniently I had chosen a restaurant adjacent to Times bookstore so I filled in my time accordingly......
Underground Haruki Murakami - wishlist item
Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem - wishlist item
Requiem for a Wren by Nevil Shute
Orchid Blue by Eoin McNamee
Djibouti by Elmore Leonard - I didn't realise by the way that EL is already 86!
We the Living by Ayn Rand
Designated _targets by John Birmingham
Amy & Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout

Might fit in one more spreeeeeeee before the end of year and 2012's austerity package (hope I don't default on my package as much as Greece seem to do on theirs!)

Hi Paul- Another nice book haul! Funny, I have Underground, Chronic City & Amy & Isabelle all in the stacks too!
Hope things are starting to settle down for you!

I liked Underground, although it wasn't perfect, it was still very interesting. I've got a Jonathan Lethem somewhere...

Still enjoying the vicarious bookshopping you give me! :) My last bookshopping trips resulted in books for Santa to hand out. Fun, but not quite the same. (Okay, and on one trip I did also sneak in Zone One for myself...)

A friend tried a Merrily Watkins and I seem to remember she was not impressed. 'Twas some time ago, and my memory's not what it used to be. Anyhow, they never made me feel like I had to run out and read one, so nice to have my feelings confirmed.

Just stopping by to say Good Morning; I, too, love living vicariously through your book-buying, and will be sad to see it go. Sigh.

Amber don't be too sad new year resolutions have a habit of being left behind at the latest in February!

Hi Paul, I'm trying to figure out what kind of business you have that's related to aviation. We own a business that makes luggage for pilots. Maybe we can work out a joint venture. LOL.

I like the way you strategically plan your lunches and make use of your time. Nice book haul.

Does your family celebrate Christmas? If so, have a good one. If not, have a great new year. No resolutions for me. That way I'm not disappointed in myself.

>130 PaulCranswick: 2012's austerity package
Oooook Paul, Iiiiiiii believe you :)

Hello Paul! It's been a couple days. I'm glad you finally finished Wine of Angels. What are you onto now?

Mark - Thanks mate. This week is certainly hectic so far but there is light at the end of the tunnel and the short holidays are almost upon us.

Tania - Will be interesting to see how Murakami deals with a non-fiction setting. Japanese writing if I can slip into generalisation tends towards the obtuse so I do wonder if he attacks the issues head-on or not. I thought Genny was the only one doing vicarious book-buying (hahaha) but will admit to planning one last raid of the year at Kinokuniya and I will obviously give a warts-n-all account of my harrowing experience in the favourite of all yours truly local bookstores!

Donna - I am from a family with a Christian background and certainly celebrate. My kids are equal opportunity providers and make a wise tactical decision to celebrate everybody's holidays! SWMBO is the most passionate advocate for finding a tree for the house. My company provides project management and contract/cost advisory services to the construction and engineering industires. Because of my network we have become involved in a number of aviation related projects and this appearance of being a niche consultant helps both in identifying & securing work as well as justifying book-buying fees! My clients include both the local airlines MAS (Malaysia Airlines System) and Air Asia as well as CAE Inc of Canada who are in the business of aircraft simulation / pilot training so you never know there may be opportunities to help each other!

Megan - thanks for the vote of confidence (I think) - you have more faith in me than I have in myself! btw I am a bit slow around the threads this week due to the congestion of work but I will get around to everyone within the next day or two.

Brit - I am about to give my review of The Chimes the second of Dickens' Christmas Books. Reading Caryl Phillips' Final Passage, Mr. Ives' Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos, The Cricket on the Hearth by Mr. D and slowly, (very, very) slowly working my way through the complete Grimm's Fairytales with my enchanted and enchanting youngest daughter Belle. Also have plans for Helene Hanff, Robert Goddard's latest and Faulks on Fiction before the year end but let's see!

Review of Book #116

The Chimes by Charles Dickens

The second of Dickens' Christmas Books. Whereas A Christmas Carol tells the story of the redemption of an individual in society The Chimes deals with the need for redemption of society in the way it treats individuals - in particular the way the privileged behave towards those less able to support themselves. Whereas A Christmas Carol was a morality tale told with vim and vivacity here we find Dickens descending into pastiche and base cariacature. This is Charles Dickens turning out copy for the sake of it and probably as demanded by his fawning public - the great church bells take the place of the three ghosts but their intervention is needless to the story and very heavy handed. Even here Dickens is of course capable of passages that sheen and sparkle with his sketches of the worthy Alderman Cute being particularly effective but it is not enough to have merited his name on the story. Thankfully never developed into a full length novel.

6/10

Hi Paul! Just stopping in to see how you're doing... still hectic, I see.
The only thing I don't really understand is your NY resolution to curb book buying? Seriously? Hard to imagine ;-)
Lucky Belle! You're a good Dad :)

Claudia the closer I get to 1 January the more unlikely a resolution not to buy more books appears!
I am popular with Belle at the moment as I acted on her less than subtle hints to buy her something called a 'pillow-pet' which is a pillow that fastens into the shape of an animal (in her case a purple rabbit). This should give me brownie points with her for at least 36 hours (she is her mother's daughter after all).

Oh, Miss Boo has written a letter to Santa, requesting *two* pillow pets: one pink hippo, one purple unicorn. They are all the rage with not-so-smallish children in Sydney, too.

Pillow pets look so soft and cuddly, I can see the desirability factor.
I seem to be stocking up on books too even though I haven't announced a New Year resolution to not buy any.

LOL! I guess Pillow Pets are a worldwide hit. Here in Canada, my granddaughter has her heart set on the Buzzy Bee or the Perky Penguin to appear under her Christmas tree.

I should have a resolution not to buy books... I've run out of space to put them so they aren't noticeable... am now creating book piles in the house that put me on par with the "crazy cat lady". I have a vision for the master bedroom which includes a wall of bookshelves and shall have to make it happen in 2012!

I keep thinking to myself that I should have a ration of read 10 / buy 1 but I could never stick to that!!

Merry Christmas Paul :)

Ah, those resolutions. I keep promising not to bring any more books into the apartment, also because of space (there's none left!), but my F2F book clubs keep choosing books I don't have. Sometimes the library can help, but often not. So I do PBS and Bookmooch to save a few bucks. However, it doesn't save space.

I am amazed at how you aree able to fit so much reading in!

Will hasn't discovered pillow pets yet. Several times he has told us that he would like Santa to bring him Thomas (the Tank Engine) and thank goodness my father delivered on that front! I real electric train set! Oh yeah, I still need to figure out how to set it up. . .

Paul, your latest comment on my thread practically had me in stitches!

Having no children or grandchildren (not that I'm old enough for those, I hope), I have no idea what Pillow Pets are, but maybe I should look into it and order one for Coco? Haven't gotten him a gift and he might resent me if I overlook him on Christmas day.

Thanks for reading and reviewing The Chimes Paul. Sounds like one of those books I can avoid and never have to feel sorry about.

Don't overwork yourself. Or in any case, if you do, just keep visiting here, I'd miss you too much if you didn't!

Ah, Paul, you transitioned threads while I was gone and your numbers were so high when I got back that I have only now managed to skim, and I mean skim, through the prior 148 messages in order to get current with you again. Thanks for visiting my thread in the meantime!

Paul, You must have something about you that makes women love to tell you what to do!
I told you not to visit my thread if you are too busy.
Ilana told you you'd better visit her!
Bella got what she wanted -
and of course your woman SWMBO leads the pack!
*chuckles* You are full of Marshmallow Fluff! ;-)
Good job!

Tania - I know for sure that Belle is not going to be satisfied with her purple rabbit and will be going for a full collection - another completist freak in the family OMG! Hope Santa gets to Miss Boo in good time and sends her all she wants.

Kerry - Yasmyne, my eldest girl, is already commenting on how soft and adorable Belle's pillow pet is - heaven forfend that I have to buy two of everything. Feeling a bit sheepish (and not in a pillow pet sort of way) about my new year resolution as I'm beginning to question whether it has become an excuse for the blow-out I'm sure will happen shortly.

Judy (DeltaQueen) - Your granddaughter is a lucky young lady that her Gran is so aware of Santa's intentions and I'm impressed as to how well Santa keeps abreast of all the latest trends!

Lisa - your resolution would be torturous in the extreme. Maybe ok for an April fool's prank but not a New Year's resolution! I am also thinking about added shelving as SWMBO has had a further grumble about the passage to her boudoir being strewn with paperbacks in lieu of roses and I must do something about it (well the paperbacks part at least!) next year. Merry christmas to you too my dear and I would send a wish to Santa to deliver you some shelving but I strongly fear that he may do himself a mischief coming down your chimney with armfuls of shelving only to come to grief amid a pile of read and unread reading material.

Judy (ffortsa) - A good library would help me to reduce cost and save space (as well as reduce complaints from SWMBO) but this is one downside of Kuala Lumpur living.

Brit - I will let you into a secret. Many of my clients and friends are jealous of my having a driver and think it is because of the stress of Kuala Lumpur traffic and to save parking time; etc etc. Actually the main reason for employing Azmi is so that I can read while he drives. I am one of the few fellows in this lovely country that actually looks forward to traffic jams!

Ilana - my aim is to entertain, amuse, give support, provide the occasional serious comment and generally try to be as good a pal as possible considering the huge distances that separate us all. My bald Lebanese-Canadian compadre has texted me that he delivered my version of the Paul/Graham Greene outreach programme to one of my absolute favourite Canadians. Never given away any Graham Greene before so I hope you are still speaking to me! Did recall you mentioning that particular book was on your hitlist and I hope I beat you to it.

Roni - I think my threads move at moderate to medium speed compared with some of the maestros (Kath and Mark for example). Your own thread zips along niftily too by the way but it is well worthwhile trying to keep up. Always a pleasure to have you stop by here!

Claudia - lol
I must make an admission in that ever since I have realised there are physiological differences between boys and girls - I have been something of a ladies man! Since the sobering advent of SWMBO the forms of my worship of all things feminine had, of course, by necessity, moral obligation and sheer want of physical survival!, been dictated to a more socially acceptable form. Always been comfortable with ladies to be honest and I have at least as many girlfriends as boy-friends. I have slightly more female employees than male employees and can often be counted upon to gang-up on the remaining boys in the office when it suits me and them (the girls!)
I can say that I will never be too busy so as I avoid your thread;
I will definitely comply with Ilana's instructions being putty to her will;
Belle always gets what she wants and I see no light at the end of the tunnel there;
SWMBO is the first thing I see in the morning, the last thing I look upon at night and occupies most of my dreams, both the favourable ones as well as those that wake me in a cold sweat! Wouldn't swap her for a gold pig to be absolutely frank and I am a sucker really because she knows this too well!
If you look carefully enough at all my photos the marshmallow stuffing is my excuse for an expanding waistline!

Paul! Thank you so very much! Would you believe me if I told you I was almost certain it would be Travels With My Aunt? Must've been a third sense thing. I can't believe you parted with one of your beloved Greene books! Didn't you say something about possibly being convicted of manslaughter if some woman tried to separate you from you collection of Graham Greene novels? I ALMOST purchased a couple of his books from Audible when the sale was on, but then thought I'd best hold off till I got the one you sent me just in case I'd guessed wrong. Wasn't that an amazing feat of self-restraint?

Antoine was very kind, kept me outside asking me all sorts of personal questions (it wasn't cold out, and he was very pleasant about it), though I didn't notice he was bald since he was wearing a hat. I mostly felt badly that he'd gone out of his way like that to deliver the book in person. You told him I looked like Rachel Weisz's sister, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?!? In any case, I didn't invite him in as I'm not one to invite strange men into my home (well... not anymore, that is! lol), and my dad was here besides. And I'm sure he wasn't expecting that sort of thing anyway, being a polite Lebanese boy.

I totally agree with you that it was a very bad idea to make any claims about reducing our book-buying in the new year, as it's had the same effect on me too, i.e. scrambling to buy books as if they were about to disappear off the face of the earth! Sheesh.

And by the by, when I said I wanted you to keep visiting, I meant LT as a whole, not my thread in particular! I'm not THAT demanding! (well... maybe I am.) :-)

Ilana - I genuinely cannot think of anyone I would sooner pass it on to than you. Figured someone as intuitive as you may have put two and two together. I am getting mellow in my 45 years and giving up on GG so you can enjoy it is no so painful after all - the contrary in fact.

Very wise to keep Antoine on the doorstep - he certainly qualifies as a "strange man"! Good chap but decidely single and if some of his travelers tales are to be believed then on the doorstep he needed to stay! All joking aside he's a good guy and I'm grateful for his help. Btw I may have mentioned your resemblance to RW but I did also exaggerate the size of Coco to ease the possibility of any untoward intentions!

On the issue of purchasing celibacy I will detail my latest end of year failings in the next post. Suffice it is to say that I full expect myself to keep to my resolutions......at least until Belle's birthday (15 January).

There would appear to be a narcotic quality to several of the threads in this group (or in this case Bailey's fuelled possibly) and I don't think I could desist from visiting even if I tried to (which I have no intention to).

No driver today but on the last business day (Friday is book shopping day - actually I am supposed to be at prayers but Kinokuniya calls me more loudly much to the extreme annoyance of SWMBO) I had one last chance to add to my list and so.... a mere 16 purchases on a leisurely lunch time spree:

1 The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
2 Snow Angels by James Thompson
3 Blood & Iron by Harry Turtledove
4 Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
5 An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
6 The Traveling Horn Player by Barbara Trapido
7 The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
8 The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
9 To Build a Fire and other Stories by Jack London
10 October Skies by Alex Scarrow
11 Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller
12 Fever and Spear by Javier Marias
13 A State of Change by Penelope Gilliatt
14 I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson
15 The Time of the Uprooted by Elie Wiesel
16 Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier

Sebald, Dreiser, Trapido, Barnes, Heller have been on my wishlist for a while
Wanted to start the Jordan books for a while but couldn't find the first in the series until now
Scarrow and Thompson are thrillers on my radar all year (completes the set of Scarrow)
Bowen I need to read and her books are being re-released
This Gilliat novel has been well reviewed but strangely overlooked on LT (4 members only)
London is a writer I like but his stuff is rarely found here other than his two most famous works.
Elie Wiesel is a safe bet and I have always enjoyed his work
Harry Turtledove, like John Birmingham writes counter-factual "historical" fiction and I should enjoy this.
The Javier Marias is plugged as a latter day Proustian epic (if that is a good thing)
Nancy, Deb and others have shamelessly plugged Petterson so I thought I would see what all the fuss is about
Paying for 15 books at the counter when the Frazier travelogue + caught my eye and with a 30% discount I couldn't resist.

I am also deriving vicarious satisfaction from all your book buying. Thank you, Paul! Not that it will make me any less likely to buy books myself, of course. I have just received an eighty pounds Amazon voucher from my brother, to be shared out between the family. Hmm, how best to share it?!

Wow, the books keep rolling in, huh? Where do you keep them all? The SWMBO must be more tolerant than you let on!

Have a very Merry Christmas, my friend!

Howdy Paul! Love catching up on your thread, so many great comments, amusing as well as educational.
However, I feel pretty bad right now after reading about all the kids receiving their favored pillow pets this Christmas. I ignored my son's request for a pillow pet. I just couldn't bring myself to bring one more stuffed creature into my home. I've got crates of webkinz that are yearning for a little hug now and then but are, alas, forgotten. Until I can find a George Clooney pillow pet, there will be no new pillow anythings in the house.
Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas.

So .....do you have a separate apartment just to house all these books you purchase, Paul? I love reading about your hauls because you always make me feel so much more virtuous about my forays into bookstores.

Wow nice book haul I'm on the waitlist at the library for The Sense of the Ending currently 247 of 480!! I have had The Eye of the World since I was 16... got maybe 1/3 the way through at the most in each attempt to read it. boyfriend got through 6 or 7 of the series a few years back.

<img src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTD5HV2K5rFq8GVDDQImeRCQ2VlP9HxGjGPGy218fltVgoZ6h0vZA"

Merry Christmas, Paul and Family!

Read more Dickens in 2012!

Merry Christmas, Paul and Family!

Read more Dickens in 2012!

Merry Christmas to you and Happy Holidays to SWMBO!

All new titles to me Paul, save for The Sense of an Ending, which I seem to be the only one in this whole group to have thoroughly disliked. In fact that more I think about that book, the more I HATE it, if hate is a strong enough word. Not sure why, but there you have it. I think it's the narrator's sense of self-importance, taking on responsibility for events as if he were some kind of god that irked me so. I almost wish I hadn't read it, because it makes me much less keen to read other of Barnes' work, though I'll get over it. Eventually.

Missed my opportunity to say that I've had Chronic City on my tbr for too long now and hope to get to it in this coming year. I've thoroughly enjoyed the Lethem books I've read so far, i.e. Motherless Brooklyn and a couple of short story collections, and keep meaning to read a lot more stuff by him.

Paul, just dropping by to wish you and your family the best for the holiday season. I will be Christmasing with my family and then I am off to visit my Mom in Victoria. I will be back in early January.

Just wanted to say that one of my year's highlights was getting to know you and I am looking forward to catching up with you in January.

Nice book haul, my friend!

Hi Paul - De-lurking to wish you and your family a great holiday season and look forward to following your reading over on the 12 in 12! Selamat Hari Natal!

Merry Christmas to you and your special family, Paul!

Dee - Your own book purchasing is fairly prodigious as I recall. Can think of loads of ways to help you spend your voucher, but I guess the temptation ought not to be put before me.

Mark - not sure I can agree with you mate - SWMBO's face looked like she was chewing a wasp this morning when I told her I was popping into the office for a short while. Had two bags from Kinokuniya which my maid surreptitiously placed in my study whilst Hani was busy in the kitchen! Seasons greetings to you too Sir - one of the greatest pleasures of my year has been getting to know so many wonderful people - having friends from all around the world from different walks of life all sharing a mutual interest in books has made 2011 special for me.

Lynda - I somehow feel that I have not heard the last of pillow pets! Happy christmas to you and yours too and I hope 2012 brings you everything your heart desires.

Caro - interestingly I have a french friend (no that's not an oxymoron) who bought two condo units side by side with the intention of knocking through and making one big one. After checking thoroughly the structural drawings he was unable to do so and now houses his kids in one apartment with him and his wife in the other! A separate apartment for books? There's a thought but perhaps not wise of me to bring it up as I would never get to see SWMBO and she would have to make a special appointment to visit me and my books!

Lisa - I do wish we had better libraries here (I wouldn't need the spare apartment Caro suggests). Bought Robert Jordan as I want to try to read a little more sci-fi/fantasy and have a 12 in 12 category I need to people with books I am likely to read!

Peggy - Thank you so much for the "gift" of 4 books, even if you only wished them across the oceans! If the four are Dickens then I need to replace David Copperfield which I fell asleep and inadvertently left on the London-Edinburgh train after alighting in Leeds (book thankfully finished), Pickwick Papers which was confiscated by my ex-girlfriend (she really knew how to aim low!), Sketches by Boz as my version is tatty in the extreme and The Mystery of Edwin Drood as the font on my version puts me off attempting it. Thanks for your kind holiday wishes and the very same to you and your family Peggy. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and new year.

Roni - very artistic and gratefully received. I'm sure that SWMBO will wish you back when she is eventually next talking to me but I'll certainly wish you the best of everything now, Christmas, 2012 and always.

Ilana - know what you mean about Barnes. He can tend towards every stereotypical thing wrong with the English privileged classes. Of the books of his I have read - about half I have really enjoyed and the rest have irritated me immensely. Looks unlikely to wind me up too much though at a mere 150 pages and I will recall that I got it at a 30% discount!

Judy - In a way similar shall be my Christmas experience - albeit mine somewhat unseasonal. Going to Johor Bahru later to spend a few days with the in-laws and the absence of air-conditioning in their kampung abode will probably make me miss the UK at this time of year, my own mum and twin etc more than is normal. My kids want to see their nana dan dada during the christmas holidays and at least Hani's mum is just as good in the kitchen as her irascible and irritable daughter! Have a lovely holiday and new year Judy and we can certainly agree in that you and all the other friends I have "met" here in 2011 make 2012 well worth looking forward to and help me realise that there is more to life than running my business and trying to finish chapters in the car with my driver earnestly trying to evade the wacky races all about him.

Darryl - thankyou mate. I am impressed by the way that you have pretty much stuck to your guns in the last few months on your self-imposed abstinence. Look forward to trying the same next year. I know it cannot be easy for you as your love of books and literature shines forth from every post you make.

Lori - nice to see you here on one of your rare publicised escapades. Will also be following you in your own 12/12 quest. Selamat tahun baru untuk Lori dan keluarga. Saya pasti Lori dapat semua dalam mimpi dia nanti!

Claudia - the same to you and your loved one's too. A very happy new year to Claudia and family. I trust that you receive all your hearts desires in the future! (translation of my malay post to Lori above, but equally applicable to all my friends on LT)

Paul, Stopping by to wish you and your family a very merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Paul, to you and your beautiful family! I can always see through a gruff Yorkshireman and the love you have for them shines through every line!

Paul- It's been a pleasure making your acquaintance too! I hope you and your lovely family have a great holiday!
BTW- The SWMBO chewing a wasp sounds frightening!

to you and yours Paul.

Hope you have a happy Christmas!

PS: Charlie has the Bee version of the Pillow Pets and loves it.

Paul, thanks for the note on my thread. It's been a real pleasure getting to know you too.

You and Darryl are alike in that you both give me some idea of the mountain of great books I have yet to read, and the number of authors I've yet to discover. I'll never run out of reading with friends like you to steer me!

Merry Christmas to you and your family, close and far, and great good fortune in all ways in the new year.

p.s. If you're reading Dickens in 2012, I might join you - I have the full set on my shelves but have read only a fraction of the titles.

Heh heh...Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas, Paul, to you and yours. Many thanks for all the good fun and good reading!

Happy Holidays Paul!!

mistletoe smooches!

Merry Christmas Paul!!
Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and some quality time together!
It was great to meet you this year and I hope to chat more in the new year!

Merry Christmas Paul and to SWMBO and the kids too. I've also been on a bit of a book-buying spree the last few months and I'm wondering whether that really will make it easier to slow down come the New Year....

Merry Christmas Paul, to you and your beautiful family!

Wishing you all the very best Paul!

Merry Christmas to you and your family Paul :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Reading in 2012, Paul!

Merry Christmas, Paul! I'm glad to have made your acquaintance this year, and I look forward to great books and good conversation in 2012.

Merry, merry Christmas to you, Paul! Best wishes to you and your family for 2012 and beyond!

Too far behind after my paperwork and Christmas prep induced absence from LT - just dropping in to wish you a very Happy Christmas!

Thanks for the lovely chats this year, see you on the flip side!

HAPPY BOXING DAY Paul!

A Happy Boxing Day and belated Christmas wishes. I'm much too far behind on this thread to say much more than enjoy all your new books!

Joanne, Dee, Mark, Calm, Amber, Judy, Jude, Nancy, Kelly, Richard, Chelle, Heather, Bonnie, Ilana, Lisa, Ellen, Darryl, Anne, Genny, Megan & Anne - thanks for all your kind messages and words and again to Ilana for your very literal take on Boxing Day. 22 messages from so many different places what a brilliant site this is!

Review of Book # 117 Blood Counts by Robert Goddard

Usual fare from Robert Goddard the most underrated of thriller writers. Read all of his and they never disappoint. This one concerns a liver transplant surgeon who takes the money and saves the life of a Serbian militia leader with fearful consequences for his future.

8/10

Just a quick hello to you on this Boxing Day Paul!

Thanks Brit - same to you although Boxing Day has been and gone over here!

Got to the office and got a belated Christmas present from Book Depository:
Voyageurs by Margaret Elphinstone

It may well make my 12 in 12 for historical fiction next year as I really like the look of it. Plan to finalise my list on Saturday morning and firm up 120 of the 144. Off the shelf and books bought and read in 2012 can wait and will help me to accommodate the TIOLI challenges.

(((hugs)))

How interesting, I'm just reading The Tenderness of Wolves and they keep on talking about "voyageurs". I think I know what they are from context, but maybe I should Google a bit...

(Psst. Miss Boo got *three* pillow pets! Santa brought the much longed-for purple unicorn, Mr Bear gave her a pink butterfly, and my sister bought her a lady bird one. And Mr Bear got a monkey one from Miss Boo. We're drowning in pillow pets. :)

Oh yeah - I've been so tired that I forgot about the *massive* time difference between us!

Hi, Paul, glad you are having a nice Christmas even if you're not in a really Christmas-y place (actually I suppose tht could make it better).

Are pillow pets something like beany babies? I used to love those.

>197 wookiebender: How are you liking The Tenderness of Wolves? I read it this past year and thought it quite wonderful. it would be interesting to know if others see it differently.

I've a downloaded copy of Goddard's Whispers in the Hearts of Men on my Kindle and looking forward to it.

I'm disappointed you don't have a separate apartment for all your books, Paul .... but now i'm even more curious how and where you place all these books you bring home. Pictures are mow necessary. :-) do you keep all the books you'ge read? Hey just had a thought -- you live in and are part custodian of a perpustakaan awam..... thata's why you don't have an issue with shelving.

I decided to google pillow pets having never heard of them and I have a niece turning 6 soon so I thought it might be a good present from Aunt Lisa... Have to say I fell in love with the penguin slippers and the Luv Puppy... uh oh.

Ilana - hugs certainly reciprocated. Just back from your thread and still recovering from the fact that your mouse malfunctioned to the extent that you somehow managed to get 34 books!

Tania - the Elphinstone book looks a very good historical novel and I will slot it in in February next year with my new found well organised reading plan (certain to get ditched by Belle's birthday on 15/1/12). Didn't realise these pillow pets were quite the phenom! Have to pick up three more already as Belle wants the dolphin and the other two ladies of the house are casting longing looks at my youngest snuggling up to the thing. My protestations to all and sundry that I am the family pillow pet has met with considerable derision and has been exposed as a poorly hatched plan to avoid my fatherly responsibilities to provide irrespective of need!

No problem Brit about the time gap I am typing this just after breakfast whilst you have probably had a late lunch yesterday about half an hour ago!

Janet - was a bit down over christmas missing my turkey and pre/post and during prandials to be honest but back at work and back in the groove so to speak. I think although I am no oracle on the subject that beany babies were filled with something. These things flatten out into a pillow and can be tied with velcro straps to form the likeness of animals.

Judy - hi! Would also be interested in hearing about The Tenderness of Wolves as it has been on my hitlist a while.

Caro - Maybe that Robert Goddard title is different in North America as I don't recognise it. Whispers in the Hearts of Men also doesn't come up with a touchstone? Working on the new apartment! Will try to get SWMBO's permission to release a few pictures of the various locations that books are stored, stacked, shelved, stuffed and squeezed into spaces in our present abode. Don't worry I will continue to take my custodial obligations seriously haha! Still slightly green at the six of you meeting up yesterday, when did you plan on coming to KL next? Only trouble is that I cannot rival the North American guys for their vertical prowess, being Asian in physical sympathy as well as temperament already (horizontally I am far more western!)

Lisa - those things are a sure fire hit - never got so many cuddles from Belle.

Paul,
You are so funny - I always get giggles from your posts. Oh you are interesting in many other ways, too. It takes a lot to get me smiling and you are pretty good at it!

Your Christmas sounded quite unique... sleeping on the floor and all. You're a good sport!
We used to camp a lot with the kids (in tents) and my least favorite part was sleeping in a bag on the ground. :P
I managed pretty well on all but the night I found I was sharing my sleeping bag with a frog! Don't know who jumped higher - but I DO know I made more noise!

#203 Paul, that wasn't a mouse malfunction, it was Boxing Day With A Vengeance!

A freakishly tall American hello!

Claudia you are at least as equally entertaining! By the way how did you get the collie on your profile page to wear the santa hat and how good was he/she at making deliveries? The image of you trying to out-jump the amphibian is priceless. Over here if you have an animal in your sleeping bag you better pray for dear life that it is a frog!

Ilana - congratulations on your spree with or without vengeance! Didn't help me much as I indulged myself to four new books in Pavilion Mall and was lucky that I had all my office ladies with me (I was treating them to a ladies only (boss excepted) lunch at my favourite italian rest. ) as they managed to get me clear to remind me I had an urgent meeting with the national telecom provider who are relocating a subsidiary's premises and are looking to engage consultants:
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
Touchy Subjects by Emma Donoghue
A Widow for One Year by John Irving
Lovely Green Eyes by Arnost Lustig

Richard - Greetings gratefully accepted from freakishly small Malaysian based exile!

Hi Paul- I hope things have settled down for you, at least a little. Miss seeing you around the threads. The Invisible Bridge will be my 1st read of '12. I've had it on my Must Read Now shelf, for far to long.

Hi there, Paul! More great books for you at Pavilion Mall. I just spent a tidy little sum at the Barnes and Noble after Christmas sale. This addiction must be fed, what can I say?!

Robert Goddard would be new author to me. Are his books stand alones or should I read them in a specific order?

Hope you are enjoying these final days of 2011!

Hi Paul -
My sweet boy, Loki, is actually a sheltie. He tolerates a LOT (incl hugs & hats) and believes he is a working dog with a purpose. His job? Letting us know about every movement and noise in a mile radius... including our own coming and going... and a precise timekeeper (esp for meals) *heavy sigh*
Lucky for him he is beautiful and loving dog. Oh yeah, he delivers. :) My own "pillow pet"...

I should swear off LT for about a week until everyone gets over their book-buying sprees. Don't know what the year end frenzy is all about, but it's catchy! Help! ;-)

Mark - Just when I'm up for a dabble around the 105 threads I have starred (compiled a set of stats for all my LT friends, "Interesting Libraries" and "Pending Friends" - not so many of the latter thankfully- and this equates to 105 persons will share more info on this when my brain is functioning at above half tilt) I get struck down with the flu. Sniffling, typing, aching, typing - I'm usually an overnight fever guy and can generally sleep them out of my system so I better go sleep since it is after eleven here.

Lynda I am fairly good at feeding my addiction and you seem half decent yourself! Must admit I am worried about SWMBO staging an intervention unless I implement frugality measures as planned in 2012! She mentioned in passing yesterday that she had some reservations about my storage plans for my collection (mmm she was being sarcastic).

Claudia - We live in a condominium and can't have a dog unfortunately. I grew up in Yorkshire in a family that always had a dog as a prominent member thereof and I do miss their companionship even if our dogs never managed to attain Loki's level of sartorial eloquence! Dogs are one of the few things that SWMBO is genuinely afraid of - maybe I should move to a landed property and buy a kennel full of em.

Btw SWMBO is in fine form today both as a nurse feeding me (intravenously if she had the chance I'm sure) with her home made lentil, onion and potato soup. I was somewhat mystified by her sunnier than usual disposition until she let slip in conversation that TODS are having a sale! ahhh now I know where the virus came from!

Hi Paul, Just swinging by to see if your holiday blues have subsided. It sounds like things are feeling a bit more even now -- and maybe some BBT (Book-Buying Therapy) helped with that. I read The Invisible Bridge this fall and it was pretty good, certainly a worthwhile read.

Like others, I found your description of your living situation and experiences very interesting. I admire your, um, I don't know, what does it take to live the life you're living and keep your chin up? Determination, humor, optimism, balance, acceptance of the occasional ups and downs ..... all of those......

I'm home sick from work for yet another day. Sick of being sick, but at least I get to play around on LT more than usual.

211 > ahhh now I know where the virus came from! LOL!

Sorry to hear read that you are ill! Hopefully some rest will make you feel better!

Ellen I'm an old (well in my late prime actually) fraud really. I love it here, adore my family, cherish every day I spend in my office building my miniature and sometimes precarious empire, believe my staff are an extension of my family and have as much trouble getting them to go home than I have to get them to work.

Two vignettes today.

Nizam, my right hand man, gleefully told me his wife had developed a high fever. When I questioned his disproportionate happiness he told me that if she was at home sick he could spend longer in the office - a sad case of the boss's domestic management being copied inappropriately!

Secondly, the baby in the office Hidayah regularly has a couple of days a month off at regular intervals with a medical condition limited to the female of the species. Feeling my bones aching I asked her for some medication from her treasure trove and she provided a few capsules guaranteed to ease my period pain but which didn't do anything to treat my symptoms!

Christmas time we generally head for pastures old and try to get back to the UK. This year pressures of work prevented this and I got a huge case of homesickness on Christmas Day in what is normally my adoptive natural habitat but which appeared alien completely. The brooding clown has stopped brooding and when I can get rid of the flu I'm sure I'll be as happy as Larry (whoever he is!)

Thanks for your kind words Ellen to be serious for a second. This group is full of the most wonderful individuals and the best thing I did was to open this site in February and now I'm hooked and glad to be so.

Thanks Chelle for stopping by (reading my thread). The prognocsis is positive and we always have Darryl to refer to if I don't get better quickly!

215> the best thing I did was to open this site in February and now I'm hooked and glad to be so. I so totally agree. January 20 will be my "Thingaversary," as I've heard read it called. I might have to open a bottle of bubbly that evening!

Paul, it appears that Whispers in the Hearts of Men (yup, no touchstone) is released only as a Kindle e-book on Amazon. I'll look and see if this is possibly just a different title from a dead tree book.

*wheeee....book storage epics to come*

I loved reading A Widow for One Year.

I haven't yet figured when I have to be in KL as yet, but it should be in either February or March. Ye shall be forewarned with time enough to plan your escape! :-)

whew! way too far behind to catch up...
hope you are having a good days and lots of happy!

>215 PaulCranswick: This group is full of the most wonderful individuals and the best thing I did was to open this site in February and now I'm hooked and glad to be so.

I've been here on LT for five and a half years. I feel the same way every time I come here, which is darn close to daily. I stop in the various stalls in our marketplace of ideas. chit the chat with the different stall-holders, check the various public places for interesting goins-on, and just generally...live.

It's amazing to me that it's consistently, almost freakishly so, a good experience and a mood-lifter. We're lucky people, to have a stake in this marvelous safe haven built around books.

2012 beckons!

Paul, so sorry to hear you are down with the flu--that's a miserable condition. Hope you get better really soon!

Paul, somehow I missed that you are *also* sick. Ugh. I hope we both get to feeling better soon!

Paul, sorry to hear about your Christmas bout of homesickness and that you have now come down with the flu :-( Hope you feel better soon - can you have any time off work to recover or are things too busy?

(Also glad to hear that you have successfully kept period paid at bay even if it didn't help with your feverish aches!)

I certainly hope you feel better Friend! There is something making its way through my house, but probably not transmittable through the 'net. ;)

I heartily agree with you about the camaraderie of LT - I've been a member for almost a year and so glad I joined!

Feeling better yet, Paul? When someone had the flu, my grandmother-in-law used to boil a couple of large onions with peppercorns, and then have el sicko sit at the table, lean over the pot with a towel over the head and take deep breaths of steam. Her remedy cleared up the sinuses faster than downing a tablespoon of wasabi, reduced the intensity of the headache and brought the fever down too.

Sorry to hear you're sick Paul. But I see you haven't lost your sense of humour for all that. You'll have to teach me how you do it. I'm impressed.

I once, not so long ago, accused Heather of passing on her nasty cold to me and I think she might have taken me seriously (no, not really). :-)
So if ever I get sick and tell you it's your fault, you'll know I'm joking and not suffering from some weird LT bug.

I was going to make a sarcastic comment, but don't want to contaminate our safe haven built around books. I'll never forget how absolutely miserable one person managed to make me feel when I'd barely just joined this group, but am glad that was just one freakish exception. bore you with trifles. ;-)

ugh I hate the flu... sending get better vibes to you. I get the day and night flu tabs... love the the night tablets they send me off to sleep for a good 12 hours blocked nose/cough whatever nothing wakes me up. (take some vitamin C!!)

#255 - Caroline, if my family doesn't get better soon I might try this! :)

hope all the sickies feel better soon.

OH dear. Maybe if the year ends with sickness, you can leave it all in 2011 and be freakishly healthy in 2012..... That's my hope anyway. And, Caro, that's the cutest gif I almost ever saw!
>215 PaulCranswick: & 217 - You are right! This group is life-changing. I really wasn't online quite so much until I found LT and this special place. Champagne is a great way to celebrate your Thingaversary, but you should also know that you are supposed to buy for yourself the same number of books as the anniversary you're observing. Some people even buy the one to grow on! My third ThingA is coming up in January, and I'm already juggling my list!

Hi Paul,
Checking in to see how the patient is... better?
If not, amuse yourself with all our helpful hints on getting well. My suggestion is copious rest (grab a pillow pet) and reading (if you can focus).

Hi Paul, I hope you're feeling better. Five of the ten people in our house over the holidays had a 24-hour virus that was not so much fun. We made them stay in their respective bedroom(s) and partied on. I didn't get it, but I guess it's still possible that the bug is lurking around here even though all the sickies (except for my husband) have gone home.

You are such a fun addition to the LT community. I love your wit and your charming stories about your part of the world. I look forward to keeping up with you - or at least trying to - in 2012. Happy New Year to you and your lovely family.

Well, my afternoon trip to the pediatrician officially convinced me of just how sick my punk is. He now has 3 prescriptions and had to have a nebulizer treatment in the office which hated because the machine is noisy. His reward? A Thomas the Tank Engine pillow pet! Made me think of you, Paul, between the sickness and pillow pets! I hope you are feeling better!

Oh, poor kid! What a Christmas present.

Hope you are starting to feel a little better Paul.

I have completely read this thread--and why not? Most of my friends are here!

You are so much fun, Paul. And you're certainly right about LT--best group I've ever seen.

Um, how did you find two more Delderfield books of which I have not heard?

You'll love this--there was a really, really good library on the cruise ship, including free odd-lot books left behind by former passengers. Guess who came home with four books from same? Next year, I might try a 5-to-1 ratio of books read-to-new books bought. That would be good for space considerations. Of course all previous decisions not to buy books have resulted in massive, not to say obsessive, sessions of book purchasing.

still under the weather? *aaaaa choo* (bless you)

Hope you turn a corner soon.

>215 PaulCranswick:, 220 to add to the LT love fest, Im in agreement with you two about the good people Ive met here and what fun I have chatting to every lovely one of you

>226 Smiler69: Im glad it was just one freakish exception Ilana, I had one of those too and got a little scared off for a little bit.

My word two days away and seems like I've been gone for ever. Spent yesterday in the emergency clinic on the nebuliser twice as it seems I was suffering from bronchitis which of course does wonders for a lung-busting asthmatic like me! Drugged up plenty as the medical practitioners here believe quantity defeats quality every time.
Had to cancel our new year party out as I wouldn't really be up for it. Probably a good job in a way as we had managed to get ourselves double booked anyway.

SWMBO has certainly not been living up to her name her normal frown replaced somewhat unerringly by a patient smile. I had to go to KLCC to keep an appointment with a foreign visitor and she even drove me there and bought the coffee! Of course this being New Year's eve and on the cusp of our self-imposed and charity driven abstemiousness I couldn't resist Kinokuniya for one last time:
Burned by Thomas Enger - another in the long line of scandicrimesters
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas - replacement for a very dog eared version I had in UK in the hope that Kyran will read it.
The Enormous Room by EE Cummings - mistakenly in the poetry section

We are going to have a fairly quiet night in. Yasmyne's friend and her mum will come over and Hani is cooking. Yippee!! because my appetite is returning as I type. Will rest up on Monday and am looking forward to starting North and South tomorrow morning. A few reviews to do, answers to all your kind messages and then I'm off on a tour of all your threads!

OMG, how incredibly nasty for you, Paul!

I hope you continue to feel better and wish you a relaxing and restful new year.

Caro - #218, 225 & 229 - I certainly won't be trying to escape on your visit. Firstly I'm looking forward to Signal Red! and secondly I don't envisage being snowed under with possibilities for LT meet ups given Kuala Lumpur's proximity to precisely nowhere else of the guys in the group. Good remedy recommendation Caro; Nans remedies are usually the most effective. Unfortunately SWMBO only had shallots! Thanks also for the graphic you got my likeness to a tee.

Kath - thanks for your message and hope you will excuse the length of time in replying!

It's amazing to me that it's consistently, almost freakishly so, a good experience and a mood-lifter. We're lucky people, to have a stake in this marvelous safe haven built around books.
Nicely said Richard

Roni, Ellen, Heather, Brit - Thanks for the kind words and - Heather you'll be pleased and no doubt not surprised to learn that I have had no problem whatsoever with period pain since my medication!

Ilana - didn't we have a conversation recently about Peter Sellers? My staff do often wonder why, when everyone is so stressed why their boss is still making gags - if you think I'm comical in english you should try me in Malay! - I think I've often used humour to hide stress, insecurity and unhappiness, sometimes more effectively than othertimes. I prefer, as you will have no doubt realised, to make much more fun of myself than of other people - it is easier to keep friends that way!

Lisa, Peggy and Claudia - Thanks again - are you sure none of you are nurses! Lisa SWMBO often tells me to take more vitamin C but she gives so many instructions I never manage to do them all. Claudia SWMBO bought more pillow pets for the two girls yesterday and I spent half the evening in the arms of a monkey for trial purposes of course!

Donna, Judy and Kerry - More thanks! Donna wasn't aware of the "regulation" to buy the number of books to match the thingaversary - not too much of a hardship though is it?

Gail - holidays and resort hotels have often been a good source of picking up free books for me too! This summer in Thailand I managed to get two at the resort shown in the photo at the top of the thread. I also worry that a plan to abstain from book buying is likely to end in disaster! I think I have most everything by Delderfield. Love that sort of period writing the turn of the century (19th/20th I mean) up to the 2nd WW.

Last but by no means least - Megan, thanks for the electronic sneeze, corner duly turned.

Sorry to see you are sicker! Hope you heal up quick and enjoy your peaceful New Years at home with your family.

Review of Book #118

Mr. Ives' Christmas bt Oscar Hijuelos



Not a festive read if truth be known. Elegiac in tone it tells the story of the loss of advertiser's Ives' son on Christmas Eve to a young punk's bullet. A story of Ives' wrestling with his faith and of trying to find the presence of God and goodness in whatever we look at. Well told if a little on the slow side.

7/10

Review of Book #119

The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens



The third of the Christmas Books finds Dickens again not in vintage form. Don't really see the point of the Cricket if truth be told. Patchily striking are the portraits of the poor blind girl and loving father who pretends allis well until the tearful denouement. A short story about misunderstandings and of lost love been refound and love felt to be unrequited clearly being requited.

6/10

Paul, I'm so relieved that you're well enough to be among us again. I suspected things might have gotten serious when you weren't responding to messages. After all, you're one of our most reliable contributors!

Happy New Year and don't forget to get some rest! xx

Thanks dear Ilana...opportunely your thread was the first starred one I saw so I managed to read through the 30 or so messages already. Impressive end of year reading - still sounds like it is too cold to go out.
A very happy 2012 and beyond to you too. xxx

Yikes - bronchitis. I hope you feel better soon. I'm amused to hear that you still managed to go book shopping despite your bronchitis!

Happy New Year to you and yours - enjoy being looked after!

I was doing some background reading on H. Rider Haggard in preparation for reading some of his Allan Quartermain books next month and discovered a reference to Ayesha, the protagonist of She as "She-who-must-be-obeyed". Is that where SWMBO got her moniker from? (Apologies if you explained this before and I missed it).

I'm sorry to hear about your case of bronchitis and asthma flare up, Paul. I'm also in the midst of an asthma flare up, which began on Tuesday, but your case is clearly worse than mine is. Do you have daily or frequent asthma symptoms? If so, are you taking a preventive medication (e.g., a long acting corticosteroid +/- a long acting bronchodilator (beta-2 agonist)) in addition to rescue medications (bronchodilator +/- oral corticosteroid)? I'm currently taking albuterol (bronchodilator), prednisone (oral corticosteroid), and Advair (which consists of fluticasone, a long acting corticosteroid, and salmeterol, a long acting bronchodilator). I'll stop the prednisone on Monday, use the albuterol only as needed, and stay on Advair for the next couple of months, at least.

#238 - What an ordeal! I'm glad you're feeling a bit better and were able to pick up a few more books before the year ends. Happy New Year!

Heather - thanks and Happy New Year to you too. She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is in homage of one of my favourite literary characters Horace Rumpole (John Mortimer's wonderful creation) who called his own long suffering wife by the same moniker.

Darryl - apart from the nebuliser treatment I have been given ventolin tablets, salbutamol, a budesonide inhaler and a regular inhaler to use as needed. Recently I have only very infrequently suffered in Malaysia as the air here is generally good for me but in the last couple of months it has become more regular. Hope you shirk it off too soon mate and enjoy a happy and lungful new year!

Kerri - thanks and Happy New Year to you too.

Glad to know you're getting better, Paul, but sorry to hear the asthma is becoming a more frequent visitor.

Wishing a very happy, healthy, and prosperous new year to you and yours...all of them.

2012 thread is here if you cant find me over there

http://www.librarything.com/topic/129180#3115394

So glad you're feeling better! But I'm sorry it took a trip to the ER clinic.

See you in 2012

Happy New Year, Paul! See you next year!

Making my final tour of the 2011 threads, before going to my own and posting yearly statistics and a Happy New Year to all, before creating my 2012 thread. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow? Do you know that Richard already has over 100 messages over there?

I sincerely hope you are feeling much better and shake this off quickly now--see you in the 2012 group romorrow!

Paul, I've had a great time getting to know you and sharing your ups and downs and your wide variety of books. I wish you a very Happy New Year! See you in 2012!

Gail, Brit, Roni, Calm, Kerri and Ilana - you are all part of what makes LT great. See you lots and lots in 2012. Thanks a million your openness and friendships have been very humbling.

Stats:

Books read: 119 one short of my actual _target. There were a few chunksters to be fair.

Pages Read : 53,118 (not counting those started but not finished) some pages were "read" better than others.

Longest book read : London by Edward Rutherfurd 1169 pages

Shortest book read: The Chimes by Charles Dickens 78 pages

Favourite book of the year: Half of a Yellow Sun

Honourable mention : The Children of Dynmouth

Most disappointing book : The Age of Orphans

Paul, happy new year to you. Congratulations on reaching your goal in reading. And thanks for sharing all the good literature you found.

Off to find your 2012 thread Paul but I'm so glad Half of a Yellow Sun was your best read of the year as I'm hoping to read it this month :-)