Smiler Keeps Doing Her Thing - Part 3

A work in progress and also part of a slowly—very slowly—growing series.



Currently reading, listening to,
and occasionally browsing through:
Avedon Fashion 1944-2000 by Carol Squiers (not sure how come I haven't finished this one yet)
♫ The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty (I have mixed feelings about this collection)
The Best of the Raconteurs edited by Sheridan Morley
The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White
Pliny's Natural History by Pliny the Elder
♫ Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
ⓔ Erase Me (Positron, Episode 3) by Margaret Atwood

      

Books completed in January
1. ♫ The House at Riverton ★★★★
2. ♫ A Red Death by Walter Mosley ★★★
3. ♫ The BFG by Roald Dahl ★★★½
4. ♫ The Last Child by John Hart ★★★½
5. ♫ The Wind Singer by William Nicholson ★★★★⅓
6. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris ★★★★½
7. ♫ I, Claudius by Robert Graves ★★★★⅓
8. ♫ Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein ★★★★⅓
9. Leonardo and the Last Supper by Ross King ★★★★
10. ♫ The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud ★★★★⅓
11. ♫ The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy ★★★★
12. ♫ Three Singles to Adventure by Gerald Durrell ★★★★½
13. The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith ★★★¾

Books completed in February
14. ♫ The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg ★★★★
15. ♫ The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum ★★★¾
16. Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason (ARC) ★★★⅓
17. ♫ Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith ★★★⅓
18. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness ★★★★
19. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy ★★★¾
20. ♫ Without Fail by Lee Child ★★★★

Books completed in March
21. The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago ★★★⅓
22. ♫ Not that Sort of Girl by Mary Wesley ★★★★
23. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin ★★★★½
24. ♫ Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear ★★★⅓
25. ♫ The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay ★★★★★
26. ♫ Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge ★★★
27. ♫ All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque ★★★½
28. ♫ Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh ★★★
29. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff ★★★★★

Unfinished:
Tigana by Guy Kavriel Kay
The Overloaded Ark by Gerald Durrell

Books completed in April
30. ♫ A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin ★★★★⅓
31. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (3rd reread) ★★★★★
32. ♫ The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (reread) ★★★★
33. ♫ Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim ★★★★★
34. ♫ Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin ★★★★½
35. Good Behaviour by Molly Keane ★★★★½
36. Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuściński ★★★★½
37. ♫ Middlemarch by George Eliot ★★★★½
38. ♫ A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot ★★★★⅓
39. A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes ★★★

Unfinished:
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Books completed in May
40. ♫ First Love by Ivan Turgenev ★★★½
41. The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward FitzGerald ★★★★½
42. ♫ More Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin ★★★½
43. Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse by Alexander Pushkin ★★★★½
44. ♫ Le fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux ★★★★½
45. ♫ Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh ★★★★½
46. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie ★★★⅓
47. ♫ The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim ★★★★
48. ♫ Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham ★★★½
49. The Tempest by William Shakespeare ★★★★½
50. ♫ Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper ★★★★⅓
51. Impossible Journeys by Matthew Lyons ★★★¾
52. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers ★★★★⅓

Books completed in June
53. Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers ★★★★
54. ♫ The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory by William Manchester ★★★½
55. ♫ Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson ★★★★
56. ♫ Storm Front by Jim Butcher ★★★★
57. ♫ Fox 8 by George Saunders ★★★★⅓
58. ♫ Jumping the Queue by Mary Wesley ★★★★½ (review)
59. Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost ★★★★
60. ♫ Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk ★★★½
61. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (reread for Coursera) ★★★★½
62. Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville ★★★★⅓ (Coursera)
63. Benito Cereno by Herman Melville ★★★★⅓ (Coursera)
64. ♫ The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay ★★★★★
65. ♫ Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (reread) ★★★★½

Unfinished:
♫ Delirium by Lauren Oliver
♫ Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith
♫ The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Justine by Laurence Durrell

Books completed in July
66. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (reread for Coursera) ★★★½
67. ♫ The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien ★★★½
68. Hamlet by William Shakespeare ★★★★½
69. ♫ Ripley Underground by Patricia Highsmith ★★★★
70. A Sort of Life by Graham Greene ★★★
71. ♫ To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (reread for Coursera) ★★★⅓
72. ♫ To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis ★★★★
73. ♫ Miss Mapp by E. F. Benson ★★★★
74. Light in August by William Faulkner (Coursera) ★★★½
75. ♫ 8212442::Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld ★★★★

Books completed in August
76. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges ★★★ (Coursera)
77. ♫ Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler ★★★★
78. ♫ Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde ★★★★½
79. The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas ★★★⅓ (Coursera)
80. The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibin ★★★★½
81. ♫ Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith ★★★★
82. W. B. Yeats: Poems Selected by Seamus Heaney ★★★½
83. ♫ Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding ★★★★
84. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee ★★★★½ (Coursera)
85. ⓔ I'm Starved for You (Positron, Episode 1) by Margaret Atwood ★★★½
86. ⓔ Choke Collar (Positron, Episode 2) by Margaret Atwood



My rating system:
★ - hated it (may or may not have finished it)
★★ - it was just ok
★★★ - enjoyed it (good)
★★★★ - loved it! (very good)
★★★★★ - all-time favourite (blew me away—will read again)

⅛ ¼ ⅓ ½ ¾ ⅞

♫ = audiobook
✔ = off the shelf
☀ = TIOLI

2013 Planning

Group reads, tutored reads, etc. (more coming up)

January: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (GR)
February: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay - Unfinished
March: The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner (GR)
July: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (GR)
September? October?: 2666 by Roberto Bolaño

I've got LOTS of great picks for my 2013 reading challenge! Thanks to all who played along!



Picked for 13/13
♫ 1. The Last Child by John Hart - avatiakh - Completed in January
♫ 2. Le fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux - avidmom - Completed in May
♫ 3. A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot - calm - Completed in April
✔&♫ 4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - casvelyn (also: EBT1002) - Completed in February
✔&♫ 5. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay - SouthernKiwi - Completed in March
♫ 6. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford - NielsenGW
♫ 7. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - mamzel (GR)
♫ 8. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory by William Manchester - banjo123 - Completed in June
♫ 9. I, Claudius by Robert Graves - PaulCranswick (also: lyzard) - Completed in January
✔ 10. Dragonwick by Anya Seton - lyzard
♫ 11. The BFG by Roald Dahl - Whisper1 - Completed in January
✔ 12. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - jolerie - Completed in May
✔ 13. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks - EBT1002
✔ 14. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch - kidzdoc
✔ 15. A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd - souloftherose
♫ 16. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - msf59
♫ 17. Les liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos - bohemima
✔ 18. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - lunacat (also: msf59) - Completed in April
✔ 19. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - luvamystery65
♫ 20. The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg - -Eva- - Completed in February
♫ 21. A Dance to the Music of Time Anthony Powell - sibyx
✔ 22. Music & Silence by Rose Tremain - LizzieD
✔&♫ 23. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty - DeltaQueen50
✔ 24. The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago - bahzah - Completed in March
✔ 25. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - phebj
✔ 26. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry - Donna828
♫ 27. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - kiwiflowa - Completed in March
♫ 28. Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson - gennyt - Completed in June
✔ 29. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson - lilianboerboom
♫ 30. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - LittleTaiko - Completed in July

15/30 completed

(Some of the) Books I'd like to read in 2013

1. ♫ The Last Child by John Hart - Picked by avatiakh - Completed in January
2. ♫ Le fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux - Picked by avidmom - Completed in May
3. ♫ A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot - Picked by calm - Completed in April
4. ✔&♫ Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - Picked by casvelyn (also: EBT1002) - Completed in February
5. ✔ The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay - Picked by SouthernKiwi - Completed in March
6. ♫ Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford - Picked by NielsenGW
7. ♫ The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - Picked by mamzel (GR)
8. ♫ The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory by William Manchester - banjo123 - Completed in June
9. ♫ I, Claudius by Robert Graves - PaulCranswick (also: lyzard) - Completed in January
10. ✔ Dragonwick by Anya Seton - Picked by lyzard
11. ♫ The BFG by Roald Dahl - Picked by Whisper1 - Completed in January
12. ✔ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Picked by jolerie - Completed in May
13. ✔ Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks - Picked by EBT1002
14. ✔ The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch - Picked by kidzdoc
15. ✔ A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd - Picked by souloftherose
16. ♫ The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - Picked by msf59
17. ♫ Les liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos - Picked by bohemima
18. ✔ The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - Picked by lunacat (also: msf59) - Completed in April
19. ✔ A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - Picked by luvamystery65
20. ♫ The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg - Picked by -Eva- - Completed in February
21. ♫ A Dance to the Music of Time Anthony Powell - Picked by sibyx
22. ✔ Music & Silence by Rose Tremain - Picked by LizzieD
23. ✔ Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty - Picked by DeltaQueen50
24. ✔ The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago - Picked by bahzah - Completed in March
25. ✔ The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - Picked by phebj
26. ✔ The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry - Picked by Donna828
27. ♫ All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - Picked by kiwiflowa - Completed in March
28. ♫ Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson - Picked by gennyt - Completed in June
29. ✔ Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson - Picked by lilianboerboom
30. ♫ To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - Picked by LittleTaiko - Completed in July
31. ✔ Native Son by Richard Wright - Picked by EBT1002 (In 2012)
32. ✔ Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood - Picked by MickyFine (In 2012)
33. ✔ Arabian Nights: Four Tales from a Thousand and One Nights by Marc Chagall - Picked by Donna828 (In 2012)
34. ✔ The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende - Picked by LauraBrook (In 2012)
35. ✔ Caravan of Dreams of Idries Shah - Picked by PiyushChourasia (In 2012)
36. ❉ Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck (left over from Steinbeckathon)
37. ✔ Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
38. ✔ Nana by Émile Zola
39. ✔ Pot-Bouille by Émile Zola
40. ❉ Au Bonheur des Dames by Émile Zola
41. ❉ La joie de vivre by Émile Zola
42. ❉ Old Filth by Jane Gardam
43. ✔ Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
44. ✔ Living Well is the Best Revenge by Calvin Tomkins
45. ✔ A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes - Completed in April
46. ✔ Moon Palace by Paul Auster
47. ✔ Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
48. ✔ Jamrach's Menagerie Carol Birch
49. ✔ Angels & Insects by A. S. Byatt
50. ✔ Possession by A. S. Byatt
51. ✔ The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
52. ✔ The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble
53. ✔ Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
54. ✔ Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers - Completed in May
55. ♫ Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
56. ✔&♫ 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
57. ✔ The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
58. ♫ The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner (GR)
59. ✔ A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (GR)
60. ✔&♫ 2666 by Roberto Bolaño (GR)
61. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (GR) - Unfinished
62. ❉ Alys, Always by Harriet Lane (Rec'd by Prue)
63. ⓔ Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost - Completed in June (Coursera)
64. ✔ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë - Completed in June (Coursera)
65. ⓔ Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville - Completed in June (Coursera)
66. ⓔ Benito Cereno by Herman Melville - Completed in June (Coursera)
67. ♫ The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - Completed in July (Coursera)
68. ⓔ A Country Doctor by Franz Kafka - Completed in July (Coursera)
69. ✔ To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf - Completed in July (Coursera)
70. ✔ Light in August by William Faulkner - Completed in July (Coursera)
71. ✔ Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges - Completed in July (Coursera)
72. ⓔ The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas - Completed in August (Coursera)
73. Beloved by Toni Morrison - Completed in August - SparkNotes (Coursera)
74. ✔ Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee - - Completed in August (Coursera)

✔ = in my TBR
♫ = audiobook (in my TBR)
❉ = library book
ⓔ = eBook

Ongoing Series
An idea Heather (souloftherose) borrowed from Liz (lyzard), which caught on like wildfire. Ongoing series that I am actively reading; this doesn't include series I have in my TBR but haven't started reading yet (that is covered in the next list!)

African Trilogy - Next up: No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe (2/3)
❉ Alan Grant Mysteries - Next up: The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey (1/6 - read out of order)
♫ American Gods - Next up: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (2/2)
✔ Anton Rider - Next up: A Café on the Nile by Bartle Bull (2/3)
The Australian Trilogy - Next up: Tommo and Hawk by Bryce Courtenay (2/3)
♫ Bartimaeus - Next up: The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud (2/3)
❉ Binky Adventure - Next up: Binky Under Pressure by Ashley Spires (3/3)
✔ Border Trilogy - Next up: The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy (2/3)
❉ Cannery Row - Next up: Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck (2/2)
♫ The Cemetery of Forgotten Books - Next up: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (2/3)
❉ Chief Inspector Armand Gamache - Next up: A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny (2/8)
♫ Claudius - Next up: Claudius the God by Robert Graves (2/2)
♫ La Comédie Humaine - Next up: Le curé de Tours by Honoré de Balzac (31/88 - read out of order)
✔ Commissario Brunetti - Next up: Acqua Alta by Donna Leon (5/21 - read out of order)
✔ Commissario Montalbano - Next up: Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri (5/18)
♫ Corfu Trilogy: Birds, Beasts, and Relatives by Gerald Durrell (2/3)
✔ The Dark is Rising Sequence - Next up: The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper (2/5)
❉ De Luca Trilogy - Next up: The Damned Season by Carlo Lucarelli (2/3)
✔ The Deptford Trilogy - Next up: World of Wonders by Robertson Davies (3/3)
♫ The Dresden Files: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (3/15)
❉ Dr. Siri Paiboun - Next up: Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill (5/8)
♫ Easy Rawlins Mystery - Next up: White Butterfly by Walter Mosley (3/10)
✔ Empire Trilogy - Next up: The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell (2/3)
♫ Ender’s Game - Next up: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (2/4)
❉♫ Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström - Next up: The Preacher by Camilla Läckberg (2/8)
♫ Flavia de Luce Mysteries - Next up: The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley (2/6)
❉ Green Town - Next up: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (2/2)
❉ The Harlem Cycle - Next up: All Shot Up by Chester Himes (4/8)
❉ Hercule Poirot - Next up: Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie (8/39 - read out of order)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Dramatization - Next up: Tertiary Phase (BBC Radio Collection) by Douglas Adams (3/5)
♫ The House of Earth Trilogy - Next up: Sons by Pearl S. Buck (2/3)
The Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh - Next up: Awaiting publication (3/3)
♫ Isabel Dalhousie Mysteries - Next up: The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith (3/9)
♫ Jack Reacher - Next up: Persuader by Lee Child (7/17)
✔ Jackson Brodie - Next up: When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (3/4)
♫ John Russell - Next up: Lehrter Station by David Downing (5/5)
Joseph O'Loughlin - Next up: Shatter by Michael Robotham (3/5)
♫ Kenzie and Gennaro - Next up: Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane (2/5 - read out of order)
♫ Kurt Wallander - Next up: The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell (2/10)
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone 1932-1940 by William Manchester (2/3)
Leviathan: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (2/3)
♫ The Lord of the Rings - Next up: The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (2/4)
✔ Lord Peter Wimsey - Next up: Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy L. Sayers (4/15)
Maisie Dobbs - Next up: Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear (4/10)
♫ Mapp and Lucia - Next up: Lucia in London by E. F. Benson (3/8)
♫ Miss Marple - Next up: The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (2/12)
✔ The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Next up: The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith (4/13)
♫ The Obelisk Trilogy - Next up: Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller (2/3)
♫ Oxford Time Travel series - Next up: Blackout by Connie Willis (3/4)
❉ Parker - Next up: The Mourner by Richard Stark (4/24)
✔ Philip Marlowe - Next up: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (1/9 - read out of order)
♫ Phryne Fisher Mysteries - Next up: Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood (3/19)
The Power Of One - Next up: Tandia by Bryce Courtenay (2/2)
♫ Roderick Alleyn - Next up: Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh (8/32 - read out of order)
✔ Les Rougon-Macquart - Next up: Nana (reread) by Émile Zola (9/20)
✔ Sally Lockhart Mysteries - Next up: The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman (2/4)
✔ A Song of Ice and Fire - Next up: A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin (5/7)
❉ The Spiderwick Chronicles - Next up: Lucinda's Secret by Holly Black (3/8)
♫ Tales of the City - Next up: Further Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin (3/6)
♫ Tales of the Otori - Next up: Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn (3/4+prequel)
❉ Three Men in a Boat - Next up: Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome (2/2)
Timothy Wilde - Next up: Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye(2/2)
✔ Tom Ripley - Next up: The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (4/5)
♫ Wind on Fire Trilogy - Next up: Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson (2/3)
Wolf Hall Trilogy - Next up: The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (awaiting publication) (3/3)
✔ Wolves Chronicles - Next up: Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken (2/11)



First in Series on my TBR (I've added several new series since 2012)

✔ Alexandria Quartet: Justine by Lawrence Durrell (1/4) - unfinished
✔ The American Trilogy: American Pastoral by Philip Roth (1/3)
✔ The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (1/12)
✔ Aristide Ravel Mysteries : The Cavalier of the Apocalypse by Susanne Alleyn (1/4)
✔ The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson (1/2)
♫ Aubrey-Maturin: Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian (1/21!)
♫ Avalon: The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (1/7)
✔ The Book of Lies - Twins Trilogy: The Notebook by Ágota Kristóf (1/3)
✔ The Borrible Trilogy: The Borribles by Michael De Larrabeiti (1/3)
♫ Bruce Mason: The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner (1/2)
✔ Calder Art Mysteries: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (1/3)
✔ Carl Webster: The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard (1/3)
♫ Chief Inspector Adamsberg: The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas (1/9)
✔ The Complete Novels and Stories: Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I by Arthur Conan Doyle (1/2)
♫ Corduroy Mansions: Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith (1/3) - unfinished
♫ The Cousins' War: The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (1/5)
♫ A Dance to the Music of Time: A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement, Spring by Anthony Powell (1/4)
✔ Danzig Trilogy: The Tin Drum by Günter Grass (1/3)
♫ Daughter of Smoke and Bone: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (1/2)
♫Delirium: Delirium by Lauren Oliver (1/3) - unfinished
♫ Divergent: Divergent by Veronica Roth (1/3)
♫ Dublin Murder Squad: In the Woods by Tana French (1/4)
♫ The Earthsea Cycle: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (1/6)
✔ Empress Orchid: Empress Orchid by Anchee Min (1/2)
♫ The Man of Property by John Galsworthy (1/9)
✔ The Gentleman Bastard Sequence: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (1/4)
❉ The Giver Quartet: The Giver by Lois Lowry (1/4)
✔ Hank Thompson: Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston (1/3)
✔ Haroun: Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (1/2)
✔ Henrietta's War: Henrietta's War: News from the Home Front 1939-1942 by Joyce Dennys (1/2)
♫ The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (1/5)
✔ The Hummingbird's Daughter: The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea (1/2)
♫ In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (1/8)
✔ The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood (1/4)
♫ The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (1/3)
♫ Joona Linna: The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler (1/3)
ⓔ The Kingkiller Chronicle : The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (1/3)
✔ Latin American Trilogy: The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts by Louis de Bernières (1/3)
♫ Legend the Series: Legend by Marie Lu (1/2)
♫ Leonid McGill: The Long Fall by Walter Mosley (1/4)
✔♫ Lonesome Dove: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (1/4)
✔❉♫ The Magicians: The Magicians by Lev Grossman (1/2)
♫ McCaskill Trilogy: English Creek by Ivan Doig (1/3)
✔ Matthew Shardlake: Dissolution by C. J. Sansom (1/5)
✔ Micah Dalton: The Echelon Vendetta by David Stone (1/4)
♫ Michael Forsythe: Dead I Well May Be by Adrian McKinty (1/3)
✔ Mistress of the Art of Death: Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin (1/4)
♫ Outlander: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (1/8)
✔ The Psammead Trilogy: Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (1/3)
✔ Quirke: Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (1/5)
❉♫ The Raven Cycle: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (1/2)
♫ Revelation Space: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds (1/7)
♫ The Riyria Revelations: Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan (omnibus 1-2/6)
♫ Shanghai Girls: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (1/2)
♫ Sprawl: Neuromancer by William Gibson (1/3)
♫ Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry (1/5)
❉♫ The Wolves of Mercy Falls: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (1/3)
♫ World War II Saga: The Winds of War by Herman Wouk (1/2)
♫ Wyoming Stories: Close Range by Annie Proulx (1/3)



✔ = in my TBR
♫ = audiobook (in my TBR)
❉ = library book
ⓔ = eBook

Booker Prize Books Read in 2013

Good Behaviour by Molly Keane (Shortlist 1981)
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Shortlist 1986)
The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin (Longlist 2013)
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (Booker Prize 1999)

Booker Prize Books on my TBR

The Accidental by Ali Smith (Shortlist 2005)
Amsterdam by Ian Mcewan (Booker Prize 1998)
The Bone People by Keri Hulme (Booker Prize 1985)
Brick Lane by Monica Ali (Shortlist 2003)
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood (Shortlist 1989)
Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri (Longlist 2001)
The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (Booker Prize 1970)
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (Booker Prize 1992)
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Shortlist 1996)
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz (Shortlist 2008)
Heliopolis by James Scudamore (Longlist 2009)
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (Booker Prize 2006)
Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch (Shortlist 2011)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Shortlist 2009)
The Master by Colm Toibin (Shortlist 2004)
Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge (Shortlist 1998)
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (Shortlist 2007)
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (Booker Prize 1988)
Possession by A.S. Byatt (Booker Prize 1990)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Booker Prize 1989)
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (Shortlist 1988)
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (Booker Prize 1978)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Shortlist 2008)
The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell (Booker Prize 1973)
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray (Longlist 2010)
Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer (Shortlist 1993)
What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller (Shortlist 2003)
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (Booker Prize 2008) - reread
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Longlist 2013)
Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson (Longlist 2013)

(more on the wishlist of course!)

Books Purchased in 2013

January
1. ♫ The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
2. ♫ City of Women by David R. Gillham
3. ♫ The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
4. ♫ Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon
5. ⓔ The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch
6. The Call Of Cthulhu And Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft (Penguin Classics Deluxe)
7. The Wizard Of Oz: And Other Wonderful Books Of Oz: The Emerald City Of Oz And Glinda Of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Penguin Threads - Classics Deluxe)
8. The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame (Penguin Threads - Classics Deluxe)
9. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Penguin Threads - Classics Deluxe)
10. The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer (Penguin Classics Deluxe boxed set)
11. Goodbye To All That by Robert Graves (Penguin Essentials)
12. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (Penguin Essentials)
13. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (movie tie-in edition)
14. ♫ Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay - unfinished

February
15. ♫ A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
16. ♫ Persuader by Lee Child
17. ♫ Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
18. ♫ The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay - Completed in March
19. ♫ The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
20. ♫ Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes (from my WL)
21. ♫ An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser (from my WL)
22. ♫ Reamde by Neal Stephenson
23. ♫ Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (narrated by my current favourite David Horovitch)
24. ♫ Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (narrated by Lynn Redgrave)
25. ♫ Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood
26. ♫ Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution by Michelle Moran
27. ♫ The Enemy by Lee Child (Jack Reacher, Book 8)
28. ♫ The Return of the King: Book Three in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien
29. ♫ Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon

March
30. ♫ Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
31. ♫ A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book III by George R. R. Martin - Completed in March
32. ♫ The Stationary Ark by Gerald Durrell - unfinished
33. ♫ The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle (mostly because it's narrated by Derek Jacobi)
34. ♫ All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
35. ♫ The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch (for all of $1.99!)
36. ♫ Dorothy L. Sayers: A Careless Rage for Life by David Coomes
37. ♫ An Imaginative Experience by Mary Wesley (narrated by Samuel West!)
38. ♫ Jumping the Queue by Mary Wesley - Completed in June
39. ♫ Lord Arthur Savile's Crime & Other Stories by Oscar Wilde
40. ♫ Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham - Completed in May
41. ♫ The Green Mile by Stephen King
42. ♫ A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 4) by George R. R. Martin - Completed in April
43. ♫ Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim - Completed in April
44. ♫ The Bafut Beagles by Gerald Durrell
45. ♫ Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh - Completed in May
46. ♫ Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge - Completed in March
47. ♫ Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
48. ♫ A Sea of Troubles by Donna Leon
49. ♫ The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers
50. ♫ All Shot Up by Chester Himes
51. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - Completed in April
52. Catharine and Other Writings by Jane Austen
53. Dickinson Poems by Emily Dickinson
54. ♫ The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie - Completed in April
55. Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin - Completed in April
56. ♫ Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

April
57. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (Folio Society)
58. Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin (Folio Society) - Completed in May
59. The Best of the Raconteurs (Folio Society)
60. Eugenie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac
61. Lavender and Old Lace by Myrtle Reed
62. Cautionary Tales and other verses by Hilaire Belloc (Folio Society)
63. Zuleika Dobson, or, An Oxford Love Story by Max Beerbohm (Folio Society)
64. Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth by Richard Fortey (Folio Society)
65. My family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (Folio Society)
66. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (Folio Society)
67. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (Folio Society)
68. Italian Food by Elizabeth David (Folio Society)
69. The Fables of Aesop (Folio Society)
70. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (Folio Society)
71. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (Folio Society)
72. Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuściński (Folio Society) - Completed in April
73. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks (Folio Society)
74. ♫ The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
75. ♫ A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
76. ♫ More Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin - Completed in May

May
77. The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward FitzGerald (Folio Society) - Completed in May
78. The Best of Saki (Folio Society)
79. The Lifted Veil: Women's 19th Century Stories by Kathryn Hughes (Folio Society)
80. Claudius the God by Robert Graves (Folio Society)
81. Impossible Journeys by Matthew Lyons (Folio Society) - Completed in May
82. The Mrs. Dalloway Reader by Virginia Woolf
83. Felicias's Journey by William Trevor
84. On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev
85. Sketches from a Hunter's Album by Ivan Turgenev
86. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
87. Anthem For Doomed Youth: Poets Of The Great War by Lyn MacDonald (Folio Society)
88. The Tales of Guy de Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant (Heritage Press)
89. The Zig Zag Kid by David Grossman
90. My Letter to the World and Other Poems by Emily Dickinson, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
91. The Histories by Herodotus (Oxford World's Classics)
92. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Sterling Signature) - Completed in July
93. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (Sterling Signature)
94. ♫ English Creek by Ivan Doig
95. ♫ Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
96. ♫ A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
97. ♫ Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld - Completed in July
98. ♫ The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
99. ♫ The Man of Property by John Galsworthy
100. ♫ Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
101. ♫ White Queen by Philippa Gregory
102. ♫ Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler - Completed in August
103. Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward FitzGerald (Oxford World's Classics)
104. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (NYRB)
105. Five Children and It/The Phoenix and the Carpet/The Story of the Amulet by E. Nesbit (Folio Society 3-volume set)
106. The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (Folio Society)
107. The Olive Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (FS)
108. The Brown Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (FS)
109. The Lilac Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (FS)
110. The Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries Collection (FS 4-volume set)
111. Folk Tales of Britain: Narratives by Katharine Mary Briggs (FS 3-volume set)
112. The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White (FS)
113. Pliny's Natural History by Pliny the Elder (FS 5-volume set)
114. Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L. Sayers
115. Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy L. Sayers
116. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (FS)
117. Le Horla by Guy de Maupassant
118. Tristan et Iseult by Anne Jonas
119. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter (FS)
120. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (FS)
121. Folk Tales of Britain: Legends by Katharine Mary Briggs (FS 3-volume set)
122. The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland (FS)
123. At The Crossing Places by Kevin Crossley-Holland (FS)
124. King of the Middle March by Kevin Crossley-Holland (FS)
125. The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (FS)
126. ♫ The Looking Glass War by John le Carré
127. ♫ A Delicate Truth by John le Carré
128. ♫ Further Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
129. ♫ Bertie: A life of Edward VII by Jane Ridley
130. Good Behaviour Molly Keane (FS)
131. Dubliners by James Joyce (FS)
132. Beyond the Pale and Other Stories by William Trevor (FS)
133. Count Belisarius by Robert Graves (FS)
134. First Folio: A Little Book of Folio Forewards (FS)
135. Smiley's People by John Le Carré (FS)
136. Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carré (FS)
137. Travels with My Aunt by Grahame Greene (FS)

June
138. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Penguin Hardback Classics)
139. Natural Histories: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library (Sterling Signature)
140. Postcards From Vogue
141. ♫ Fox 8: A Story by George Saunders
142. ♫ Miss Mapp by E. F. Benson- Completed in July
143. ♫ Slaves of the Mastery (The Wind On Fire Trilogy, Book 2) by William Nicholson
144. ♫ Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card
145. ♫ The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
146. ♫ The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
147. Thomas Wolsey, Late Cardinal: His Life and Death Written by George Cavendish His Gentleman Usher (FS)
148. Symposium by Plato (FS)
149. London Characters & Crooks by Henry Mayhew (FS)
150. Rainbow Fairy Books: Blue, Red, Green, Yellow (FS joining offer)
151. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (FS)
152. Greenwitch by Susan Cooper (FS)
153. The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley (used paperback)
154. Jumping the Queue by Mary Wesley (used paperback)
155. Second Fiddle by Mary Wesley (used paperback)
156. The Collected Stories of Nikolai Gogol (FS, 2nd hand)
157. Cover Her Face by P. D. James (FS, 2nd hand)
158. Anton Chekhov Short Stories (FS, 2nd hand)
159. Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (FS, 2nd hand)
160. Don't Look Now and Other Stories by Daphne Du Maurier (FS, 2nd hand)
161. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (FS, 2nd hand)
162. ♫ Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens (used Audible credit)
163. ♫ Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (used Audible credit)
164. ♫ The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (used Audible credit)
165. ♫ The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (used Audible credit)
166. ♫ The Chateau by William Maxwell (used Audible credit)
167. ♫ The Dervish House by Ian McDonald (used Audible credit)
168. Slightly Foxed: No. 38: A Great Adventure - Completed in July
169. Look Back with Love by Dodie Smith (Slightly Foxed Editions)
170. A Sort of Life by Graham Greene (Slightly Foxed Editions) - Completed in July
171. ♫ Macbeth by William Shakespeare
172. ♫+ⓔ Moby Dick by Herman Melville

July
173. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (FS, 2nd hand)
174. Dream Days by Kenneth Grahame (FS, 2nd hand)
175. The Visconti Hours, National Library, Florence (2nd hand)
176. Slightly Foxed: No. 37: Dreaming of the Bosphoros
177. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (2nd hand) - Completed in August
178. ♫ To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf - Completed in July
179. A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark (VMC Designer Collection)
180. The Tempest by William Shakespeare (Oxford University Press)
181. The History of King Lear by William Shakespeare (Oxford University Press)
182. King Lear by William Shakespeare (Arden Series)
183. 2480465::Shakespeare: The Complete Works (RSC)
184. 1223434::The Young Ardizzone by Edward Ardizzone (Slightly Foxed Editions)
185. The Real Mrs Miniver by Ysenda Maxtone-Graham (Slightly Foxed Editions)
186. Slightly Foxed: No. 33: A World of Shining Beauty (2nd hand)
187. Slightly Foxed: No. 34: Return to Arcadia (2nd hand)
188. Slightly Foxed: No. 35: Tarka the Rotter (2nd hand)
189. Slightly Foxed: No. 36: Attics with Attitude (2nd hand)
190. In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu (FS)
191. The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne (FS)
192. Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac (FS)
193. First Love by Ivan Turgenev (FS)
194. Amerika by Franz Kafka (FS)
195. Bleak House by Charles Dickens (FS)
196. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (FS)
197. The Monks of War by Desmond Seward (FS, 2nd hand)
198. Adam Bede by George Eliot (FS, 2nd hand)
199. Silas Marner and Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot (FS, 2nd hand)
200. Middlemarch by George Eliot (FS, 2nd hand)
201. The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter (VMC Designer Collection)
202. Slightly Foxed: No. 32: At Home with the Pewters (2nd hand)
203. Slightly Foxed: No. 23: Social Climbing (2nd hand)
204. Slightly Foxed: No. 22: Don't Give Up the Day Job (2nd hand)
205. Slightly Foxed: No. 20: Shrieks and Floods (2nd hand)
206. Slightly Foxed: No. 19: A Lonely Furrow (2nd hand)
207. Slightly Foxed: No. 18: The Sensation of Crossing the Street (2nd hand)
208. Slightly Foxed: No. 17: Light Reading (2nd hand)
209. Slightly Foxed: No 16: For Pheasant Read Peasant (2nd hand)
210. ⓔ The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim
211. ⓔ All the Dogs of My Life by Elizabeth von Arnim
212. ⓔ Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood (New York Review Books Classics)
213. ⓔ 29326::O Pioneers! by Willa Cather (Oxford World's Classics)
214. ⓔ The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (Oxford World's Classics)
215. ⓔ The Monk by Matthew Lewis (Oxford World's Classics)
216. Alice's Adventures Under Ground by Lewis Carroll (FS Limited Edition)
217. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann (VMC Designer Collection)
218. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy (VMC Designer Collection)
219. Frenchman's Creek by Daphne Du Maurier (VMC Designer Collection)
220. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (FS, 2nd hand)
221. Waverley by Sir Walter Scott (FS)
222. ⓔ Positron: Episodes 1-3 by Margaret Atwood (Kindle Singles)
223. ⓔ A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
224. ⓔ Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson
225. ⓔ The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
226. ⓔ Among Others by Jo Walton
227. ⓔ The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin
228. ⓔ Waiting for Robert Capa by Susana Fortes
229. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (VMC Designer Collection)
230. Slightly Foxed: No. 28: Happy Ever After (2nd hand)
231. The Diary Of A Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield (VMC Designer Collection - 2nd hand)

August
232. At the Back of the North Wind by George Macdonald (FS)
233. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham (FS)
234. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (FS)
235. The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler (FS)
236. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (FS)
237. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee (FS)
238. French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David (FS)
239. ⓔ The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vessas - Completed in August
240. ⓔ Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald
241. Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney (FS)
242. On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev (FS)
243. ♫ Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
244. ♫ Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
245. ♫ The Persimmon Tree by Bryce Courtenay





FS = Folio Society
♫ = audiobook (Audible)
ⓔ = eBook

First! Yay!

Hi, Ilana - your WIP thread-topper is gorgeous! :)

Hi Liz! Thank you so much, it's been languishing for a couple of weeks now as I'm not sure what to do next with it (not quite finished, but not much left to do, I think). I might just start another to get myself going again.

Hello! That would make me second? :)
Your chair shot from the last thread inspired a picture I took (its on fb) when I was away a few weeks ago. At the Dunedin art gallery there were 4 lonely chairs with uniform colour above and below, and then 3 with the same plus a red square containing a fire alarm....I liked the look and snapped them both. (its amazing how much more creative I allow myself to be when unencumbered by the little kiddos).

Happy to grab a podium place in hopes of a more active Ilana in the next months! x

That is a wonderful opening image and, as always, your reading plans are daunting.

Hope that you and Coco are getting some good weather.

Just checkin' in on the new thread.

What an eventful couple of days I've had! Yesterday was the first painting class of the spring season I signed up for. I hadn't painted in quite a few months and felt very rusty and unprepared, and as it's a full day class, it was quite a demanding affair. I did lots of work; it's a personal projects class, and I gave myself the goal of finishing at least 2-3 of the many canvases I have sitting at home in various stages of completion. I'm not sure this is the most exciting goal I could have set for myself, but then, I can change my mind at any point I guess.

Today I went to visit my great aunt, i.e. my fathers auntie who just turned 93 yesterday. She's living in an old folk's home situated in a residential duplex. It so happens that this was my first visit to any kind of establishment of the sort and it was both daunting and interesting, I guess. It was a beautiful day, so my dad and I spent a little time in a park afterward while waiting for our bus, where there happened to be a gathering of dogs and their owners, so Coco got to play about for a while.

Reading: I've got Eugene Onegin in the Folio edition going and listening to More Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin, which is pure mind candy.

Haven't eaten yet, so I'm off to heat up some soup now... will be right back.

#1 Wow! Beautiful ;-)

Amazing how much you can get done... even going slowly... as long as you keep on keeping on. Good luck with your goals.
hugs.

Megan, as you probably suspect by now, I went in search of the chair shot you describe here, and couldn't seem to find it. I did see quite a few shots I thought were very good though. As for being creative with kids waiting on you... I don't really think that's possible for the average normal person. I'm almost certain I wouldn't do anything creative AT ALL if I had kids. They just take up so much energy and demand all your attention, so you almost need to be superhuman to do anything other than be a parent. I have to say that while I do respect people who take that route, I'm quite happy that I ended up childless. It leaves me a lot of free time to do just as I please, even though Christmas and birthdays and vacation times in general are incredibly sad for the most part....

Paul, the irony is that in some ways I feel more active than ever, because I'm spending less time on the computer and doing a wider range of things with my days. But of course, the trade-off at the moment is I feel cut off from my cherished LT friends. One of the nice things about this group is that there are so many great people in it, and every person can choose to, and usually does choose to have a personal thread, where we can all get to know each other on a more personal level. One of the NOT so great things about this group is there are so many threads to visit because there are so many wonderful people here, that it's absolutely impossible to keep up with everybody, unless one spends their entire days on the computer. I know this for a fact because I've tried it. I've always had a hard time dealing with this endless feeling of guilt about not being able to keep up with all my favourite people AND have a semblance of a normal life, so I've stepped back a bit for a while, as I try to figure out the best way to be everywhere at once. ;-)

LOVE the thread topper! Hello there, dear! I have snagged a seat on your lovely new thread, and I shall make sure that I am along for every moment of the ride this time. I have missed you, and I'm going to get caught up, but wanted to make sure that I popped in here first.

calm, the way I see it, plans are made to be broken. Not really, but when it comes to reading plans, I have no hesitations to do whatever I please. I just like to have a list to refer to as a general guideline, but don't feel at all badly if I only manage to finish a fraction of what I set out to read in any given year.

The weather here has been fantastic this week. Warm, but not too, with plenty of sunshine, something we hadn't had for many months. Hope the weather is being kind to you as well.

Hi Ellen, waving at you from across the continent! :-)

Thank you Claudia, honestly though, one of my favourite things about that photo is how my pencil case looks, filled as it is with dozens of coloured pencils in all colours of the rainbow in a pleasing sequence of colours! As things stand for now, there are more days when I DON'T do art than days when I DO. But hopefully I'll be able to reverse that order for good eventually. Hugs to you my dear. I think of you often and wish you well always.

Mamie!, lovely to see you in these parts! I've missed you too and will of course be thrilled to have you pop over whenever you have a chance, but please don't worry about keeping up with me at every moment, I know for a fact it's impossible to do that with all the wonderful people that make up this group, especially considering what a chatty bunch we all are! I'll try to catch up with you soon... though I already know it'll be impossible to keep up with your every move considering what an eventful life you and your family have! Hope all the gang is keeping well! You are in my thoughts. xx

Thank you, Ilana! I want to at least skim back through - I am having a hard time keeping up this year. Don't worry about catching up with me - we finished the pool and passed our inspection and now we are enjoying it immensely. The kids are great, the dogs are fine, and Craig has been busy with his container gardening. I have been having a great reading year and think that my favorite reads so far have been Ex Libris, The Shipping News, and Game of Thrones. There. See? All caught up! Now you can just look at the pictures!! Hope your weekend is full of fabulous! xo

Hi Ilana, just stopping by to check out your new thread - love the thread topper! Your reading lists are impressive, but daunting.

Dear Ilana wishing you a wonderfully productive weekend and furnishing the most heart-felt of chaste hugs from these tropical climes.

Flying visit - I did notice you have 2666 by Roberto Bolaño up there on your lists been on my must must read list for some time .... maybe this year

#1
Pencil case & color splotches are all part of the "Wow!"
This is a portrait - not just a picture. I am pleased with the overall effect as much as the detail.

just wanted you to know I noticed ;-)

btw - I am reading Zarafa - verrry interesting! You read that one right? Not what I expected ... not finished... I already want to read it again. So much to absorb. Love it.

Mamie, I just loved the little recap of what's been going on in your life for the past 6 months or so! I suppose all of us could cram all our life in a few brief lines like that, but what makes it all that much more interesting of course is all in the details! I did stop by your thread a few times to at least see what you've been reading. I too loved Ex Libris and Game of Thrones (goes without saying). I liked The Shipping News a lot, enough to rate it 4 stars, but it's one of those I knew I'd have to reread to fully appreciate even as I was reading it. I trust there is never a dull moment in Mamie's home! ;-)

Alana, yes yes, daunting I know, but only if you are a completist and are thinking I am one too. I am most definitely NOT in that camp, so really, my reading lists are mostly there to satisfy my need to make lists and to have a general guideline to help me choose among the hundreds upon hundreds of options awaiting on my shelves. Thanks for dropping by!

Paul, I don't know about productive, but it looks like it'll be a beautiful one at any rate! We've been having truly gorgeous spring weather this week. Therefore, I think my goal in terms of productivity will be to finally get down to giving myself that pedicure I really need so I can step out in all my sandals in confidence.

Alex, this year I've already tackled several large volumes, which is quite unusual for me as I tend to shy away from those usually. Of course it's affected the bottom line in terms of numbers of books read so far, but I discovered that if I combine print book and audiobook for the big boys, it takes less time to get through them and ends up seeming like a much less daunting, and more enjoyable enterprise. This goes for 2666, which I've already got in both formats, so there's a good chance I'll actually take the plunge this year... we'll see.

Claudia: "This is a portrait - not just a picture"
I'm so impressed with your observations! I hadn't quite thought of it that way, but of course you're absolutely right! You certainly are one perceptive lady!

You know, I have NOT read Zarafa yet, but now you've reminded me of it, I'll make sure to add it to this year's reading lists and maybe even grab it sooner than later. I'm glad you're loving it.

I need to step out in a few minutes. I've made a deal with Liselotte, my now 94 year old friend, that Coco and I would come over a couple of times every week to keep her company and do various activities with her. It's supposed to happen in the mornings, to help ME try to get into a more normal schedule, but of course we make exceptions. Today I'm brining over a drawing to colour (the famous series I'm working on), the idea being she will also do some kind of artistic activity, and I may also set her up with an audiobook on her iPad—sign her up to Audible and all that—as she's been having trouble reading lately.

I finally took the time to list all my recent purchases last night (#8). It was a daunting task. My Folio Society collection is rapidly growing, but I think they've all been great purchases. Now if only I can stay away from the 2012 edition of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (http://www.foliosociety.com/book/RUB) with illustrations by Niroot Puttapipat, I should be ok.

I hope that you and Coco have a wonderful time with Liselotte - sounds like a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

>29 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie, Liselotte and I ended up having quite a lovely time, but art didn't figure on the otherwise full agenda. We had a good long chat, after which I convinced her to take a walk outside and break in her new walker for the first time outside the house. Then I set her up with an audiobook, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, which had been recommended to her. This should have taken about a minute and a half, but anything to do with computers, iPad and internet always ends up taking forever when I try to set her up with something. Then she made us a lovely simple dinner, and Coco and I headed home. During our walk, I put Coco in a little basket attached to her walker and took a couple of photos. I'm sure she won't mind if I share this one:



On the reading front, I finished listening to More Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin and started on The Phantom of the Opera yesterday. It's taken me a couple of hours to get used to the old fashioned and somewhat stilted French of the original version, but I'm slowly getting caught up in the story.

Awesome picture! Coco is such a sweet tempered doll. Looks like he is having fun :-)
And your leaves are popping out - yay!

What a great photo! That sounds like a lovely day, Ilana. Thanks for sharing!

Claudia: Yes! The leaves are all coming out, very exciting times indeed! I don't know if I'd say Coco actually had fun, but he was being mostly compliant in any case... most of the time he really is an amazingly good boy and tried very hard to please. Liselotte got a huge kick out of it in any case! :-)

Mamie: speaking of sharing, I haven't sent that picture to Liselotte herself yet, I'd better get on it! Glad you enjoyed the shot!

#1: Pretty! I cannot wait to see it when it is done. I hope you share :)

Hi Stasia! Glad you like it, and yes, I surely will, if I ever get around to actually finishing it!

Good!!

Today I took Coco and I to one of my favourite parks, which is about 10-15 minutes away from my house (very pretty, with lots of trees and a huge fountain). The fountain wasn't running yet, but the trees were showing their leaves, enough so there was plenty of shade from the bright sunshine we've been having for a solid week at least now. I brought Eugene Onegin with me, determined to finish it, and it was a pretty daring move of me, because it's a Folio Society book and I was extremely concerned about not getting it soiled or damaged. As I was rereading every verse several times over, it took quite a while and there were lots of dogs and kids who came and went and through most of it, Coco was very good and sat with me on the bench. There was no damage to the book, which I held very gingerly the whole time with hands I felt sure were dirty... but I'm glad I got this edition because it is indeed a novel worth reading more than once, with truly sublime illustrations by the Balbusso twins, and the translation by James E. Falen was very good, though in truth I haven't read any others to compare it to. It's such a wonderful way to spend one's day, sitting in a park on a sunny day, in a corner of shade, with the breeze softly blowing away the heat and humidity, and birdsong as background music. Idyllic really. Meanwhile these mad passionate 19th century Russians are duelling to death and when they're not busy trying (and succeeding) to kill one another, making themselves ill over love and it's many games. Makes me glad I've let all that foolishness fall away.

p.s. I just posted this on my blog with another illustration from the book (I'd shown a couple on my previous thread)

Ilana I'm popping in to catch up with you. What a lovely photo of your friend with the adorable Coco.

Hasn't this weather been something? I loved your description of your time in the park with Eugene O. Lovely.

>30 Smiler69: Delurking to say I hope you enjoy The Phantom of the Opera as much as I remember liking it. :)
Your day out at the park sounds perfect.

making themselves ill over love and it's many games. Makes me glad I've let all that foolishness fall away.
Haha. Ain't it the truth?!?!

Hi Roberta, I always feel like it's a privilege to spend time with my friend Lizelotte. She's my adoptive grandmother and we seem to get along as if we were indeed family. I always bring Coco along when we go see her, so it's only fitting he should be in a photo of her!

Lucy, it was really nice hearing from you today. I felt quite inspired when I wrote about my day out with Eugene O. All that verse must be good from my brain. I haven't read other translations, as I said, but this one was very good. I'm tempted to try out others to compare. Will write you separately about the other business.

avidmom, thanks for suggesting The Phantom of the Opera. It was most entertaining and a true gothic delight! I stayed up a bit later last night to listen to the end of the story just before sleep and I'm surprised I didn't have strange dreams all through the night...

#30: Love that photo. Both your friend and Coco look very happy.

Ellen! I think of you often you know... Glad you enjoy the photo. We all seem to make a great trio when we get together Liselotte, Coco and I. :-)

Hi, Ilana. Apologies if this has come up before, but have you seen the Folio Society highlight at AbeBooks? - here.

Painting class all day tomorrow, so I'll try to log off shortly. As mentioned above, I finished The Phantom of the Opera last night, and definitely recommend it for those who enjoy gothic horror stories. I've never been tempted to watch the opera or see the movie version(s?), but now I'm very curious to see how they interpreted Leroux work. I'll look for a print copy of it too because the French narrator on this audio wasn't great; reading from the page in a flat monotone mostly, but I guess it was serviceable enough.

Picked up The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian a couple of nights ago and while at first I wasn't sure I'd be able to relate to Alexie's particularly expressive writing style, I'm about halfway through now and it's definitely growing on me. On the audio front, I started on Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh this afternoon and got hooked from the beginning. I get the feeling Waugh and I are going to get along through quite a few more novels to come...

Was at the hospital to get results on sleep tests today. Smuggled in Coco and showed him to the doc who got all excited about him; apparently he's a great dog lover. Oh, and the tests were negative. No significant sleep apnea, meaning, no easy answer as to why I'm so damned tired and have been all my life practically. After the hospital, I popped into my favourite used bookstore The Word, and speaking to the owner found out he's got a whole stack of Folio Society books in his warehouse. I'll be dropping by at the end of the week so he can show me the goods. I'll absolutely kill myself if he ends up having a bunch of books I paid an arm and a leg to have shipped over here. Why I didn't think of checking with them first is beyond me. I did score a FS title that was lost amid the literary fiction offerings, called Impossible Journeys by Mathew Lyons. Brand new, for $15. And also discovered a specialty bookstore in Toronto who stock all the higher end collector's stuff AND plenty of FS there too. Again. I will kill myself over all that wasted money on shipping from the UK and the states. Grrrr.... Off to enter my new acquisitions into my library and will list them on the thread asap, but not tonight as I am about ready to conk over.

Not rereading to edit. Apologies in advance, but screw the damned typos (my specialty!) :-)

Liz, never feel you need to apologize for sharing info with me, please! As it happens, I receive the Abe newsletter, so was alerted when they posted it. It felt kind of weird in terms of timing and also made me a little nervous that there'd be a sudden surge in FS buyers... but so far my "save for later" endless listings haven't budged, so I have plenty of options to help hurry me down the way of utter financial ruin! ;-)

Ha! I can sympathise with that, even if in this case I'm the one blowing cover: I often react to promotions like that with a pained cry of, "Don't tell everyone!" :)

FYI, I don't think any of the movie adaptations of The Phantom Of The Opera are any closer to their source than any of the movie versions of Dracula. (And some are even further away!)

Oh, I do understand being terrified that you might get your FS book damaged or dirty by reading it in such a location. I so feel that way myself about my acquisitions that I haven't been able to bring myself to actually read any of them yet. (When I was just cruising through one of them Willie stepped on a page and may have dirtied it a very little. Am afraid to check page 23 of The Blue Fairy Book to see if it's still there.) But - I am obliged to buy two more books before June 1st and I plan to actually read the Miss Marple short stories this summer.

Do you know if we have to buy a certain number of books every year? I thought that I might have seen something to that effect.

Coco looks so cute riding in your friend's basket. Willie wouldn't last in one of those for more than about 30 seconds.

Hi Ilana- Thought I would stop by and check in! Hope all is well. I am glad Part-time Indian is working for you. I LOVED that book. Miss you!

Just keeping up here. Your day in the park sounds like a wonderful adventure, and I love hearing about your FS books. I have never seen one in person, but they appear to be gorgeous. Like Mark, I also loved Part-TIme Indian, so I hope you do, too. And Phantom of the Opera is one that I would like to read someday. I have seen many different movie versions, but have never read the book. I hope that Thursday is kind to you.

I don't know why I haven't been on yr. thread..... they are weirdly easy to lose track of and then you think, one day, wait a minute, what happened to......?????

Hi Ilana!

#1 I think I've seen you share images of that project (although I can't remember where - facebook? your blog?) and I remember really liking it. A series? Yay!

#30 Coco and Liselotte look very cute together :-)

#37 I saw the pictures of Eugene Onegin on your blog and they looked lovely.

#45 Just downloaded The Phantom of the Opera to my kindle. It's funny that I've never read this as I've seen the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and the film version of the musical and read Terry Pratchett's spoof, Maskerade, but seem never to have got round to the original.

Re the Folios, maybe don't think about is as money you've wasted on shipping costs for the books you've bought already but rather as money you'll save on shipping costs in the future. Don't beat yourself up about it.

Hope painting class goes well and isn't too tiring.

Liz, that's exactly how I felt when Abe did that profile on FS. It's not exactly like they're a well-kept secret, at least certainly not in the UK, but still, I'm sure many collectors feel the same way whenever they do a profile on any one publisher as of course the concern is there'll be a sudden surge in purchasers and consequently, availability and prices...

As for the Phantom of the Opera, I don't doubt for a minute the adaptations must be vastly different from the original, but given the the whole story centres around the opera as a theme and an institution, it was only natural there WOULD be adaptations made from it. Since the original is so over the top, I'm looking forward to seeing how much further they went from there...

Charlotte, I completely understand your hesitation to pick up one of your FS volumes and actually read from it. I've never really handled that many beautiful volumes in my life, other than art books, I guess, which aren't exactly the kind of books I take with me for bedtime reading and certainly not out to the park... and I constantly fear when I pick up one of those beautiful hardcover babies that my hands are filthy, even though I am quite obsessive about washing them throughout the day. And certainly the fear of getting cat hair all over them or Coco surreptitiously having a few good licks at them, or having one of my cats dart all over them after a visit to the litter-box are ever-present. The park has so many added disasters waiting to happen too with dogs and kids running around, not to mention birds overhead among the branches... I guess I like to live dangerously! ;-) All kidding aside, I don't think I'll often take out my FS lovelies outdoors with me, though that particular park is so very inviting for just that sort of thing.

I don't mean to be an evil temptress or anything, but I can tell you you are missing out on one hell of a sale right now by holding out on your last 2 books. They are having a "Big Set" sale, as well as some online exclusives, which were ongoing through most of April and might go on for a short while still, though nobody knows when they might end. In the Big Set sale, I delayed too long on ordering the Mapp and Lucia set (at 75% off!), and missed out when they finally sold out and went out of print, but I did order The Adventures of the Five Children trilogy by E. Nesbit (Five Children and It/The Phoenix and the Carpet/The Story of the Amulet) at 70% off for a mere $36.34 (plus shipping). A History of British Birds from your wishlist is also there, at 40% off. From the online exclusives, I ordered The Dorothy L. Sayers Mystery Collection at 50% off (Whose Body?, Unnatural Death, Five Red Herrings, Busman's Honeymoon). I'm also about one click away from ordering The Natural History of Selborne "a pioneering work of natural history and a landmark of English literature. This edition, beautifully bound and illustrated, has been modelled on the large quarto editions produced in the late 18th century" at 60% off. Since I'm so fond of Gerald Durrell, I figure it would only make sense to go back to the source... I'm also tempted by A History of the Crusades 3-volume set by Steven Runciman, but have been reasonable and added it to my wishlist and will borrow it from the library instead eventually.

If you manage to resist all these temptations, by the time you do get your remaining volumes and become a full member, you should be just in time for the summer sale however! :-)

Hi Mark, thanks for dropping by. Part-Time Indian is a whole different experience from anything I've ever read before. While I can't say Alexie exactly speaks to my soul or anything, it certainly is a very refreshing and interesting perspective and an amusing romp at the same time. I can't say I've read anything about native Indians before, much less from the perspective of one, which was something that needed to be remedied to. It's been good fun so far!

Mamie, The Phantom of the Opera is larger than life and a great entertainment. It's a book I'll definitely want to read again eventually, now I know the main plot and characters, so I can savour the wonderful gothic thrills of it all over again. About FS, one thing that is really special about them is that each book gets an individual treatment; no two are the same format or have the same paper stock and typography or cover treatment or illustration styles, so they are each very unique. Definitely the kinds of books to cherish for a long time both for content and container.

Lucy, I know, please don't worry about it. I felt so guilty all of last year as I was desperately trying and spectacularly failing to keep up with all my favourite people here, that I think it prompted me to take a step back this year and become more of an occasional visitor than a full-time participant. I can't say that's particularly satisfying either, as I miss this lot so much, but I'm trying different approaches in hopes I'll strike the right balance eventually. So please please do not worry about having missed my thread so far. Always lovely to hear from you of course and I trust you are having a lovely spring in Vermont.

Hi Heather, yes, you are right, I did post that exact photo of my work on Facebook some time ago last month I believe. I did a little bit of work on it since that photo was taken, but not all that much, I must say. I sort of hit a stage with it where I know there isn't all that much left to do to it, and not wanting to overwork it, hesitate to do anything at all. And also, my hunt for FS books virtually took over my entire life since last month. I think I'm about ready to slow down on that front and start doing other things, though the temptation is always there to reach out for "just one more". I'm realizing day by day now, that these books will be around for a long time and that I need not necessarily try to acquire every single one of the 2000+ they've published since 1947 within the next year... :-) It's a very good thing I'm not actually interested in their entire bibliography, though I do believe they'd manage to have me reading about many things I'd never considered of interest to me before...

Eugene Onegin certainly is beautifully illustrated. I purchased it mostly because it was illustrated by those wonderful Balbusso twins, which I discovered of course with The Handmaid's Tale, which you so memorably helped me to source last year. I'm so enamoured with their work that, taking a close look at their web site earlier this week when I put my blog post together, I ended up ordering two other books they've illustrated for another publisher, Le Horla by Guy de Maupassant and Tristant et Iseult, French publications both and not available here in North America, but which I found on Abe via an Italian merchant who ships here for free this month as a promotion. You can see a few of the illustrations for those here and they are all displayed in their portfolio under "painterly style". I'm also strongly tempted to get the FS volume of First Love they illustrated, though am trying to be reasonable and waiting on that. Perhaps it'll turn up in a sale if I'm lucky, or else I'll get it second-hand one day if I can make myself wait that long...

Something tells me you'll enjoy The Phantom of the Opera when you get to it, though, as happens with these books we all have the feeling we know well before we've read them, you'll be quite surprised to find it so different from what you might expect. I'll look out for your comments on it.

All kinds of things happening over here I wanted to write about, but poor Coco is needing a walk, and I need to go get my newest new glasses adjusted... much too tight.

Tomorrow am going to see the Bolshoi Ballet perform Romeo and Juliet with my father and two girlfriends of mine. Haven't been to the ballet in ages as can't afford to at the prices the tickets go for nowadays, but this is a live performance with worldwide screenings and the tickets to the local cinema are much more wallet-friendly for those of us who prefer spending all our money on books...

Got a new-new pair of glasses this week to replace the new ones I got about 6 weeks ago. The frame and lens are much larger, which allows for a smoother transition between the two prescriptions, which should technically help me get used to them better. I also happen to like these better in terms of design and material (tortoise shell, my favourite). I wanted to take a picture to show my new look, but I looked so incredibly scary in the ones I took on Wednesday that I deleted them and decided to wait for a day when I didn't look like a bloated cross-eyed albino walrus. I'm just vain that way.

I had a really exiting visit to a book merchant's on Friday. I've been going to The Word bookstore for quite a few years now, because they always have a great selection of used literature paperbacks (mostly), all in great condition and for friendly prices, but little did I know that the owner Adrian, also kept a selection of collector's items hidden away to show to those who knew to ask for them, until I happened to ask on my visit there Wednesday if he sometimes got Folio Society books. He said he did, and he'd be happy to show them to me if I dropped by later in the week when he was free to leave the shop and (as I understood) bring me to his nearby warehouse, but when I went to meet him on Friday, it turned out that they were actually in his own HOUSE. The shop and his home (which is less than a block away) are in the McGill University Ghetto, where most of the homes were built from around the 1880s to the turn of the century, and his place looked stunning. He brought down several beautiful selections of collector's items from his shelves, several of which he must have known I couldn't possibly afford (a $700 limited edition Moby Dick, anyone?), but I could tell he just enjoyed showing them to someone who could appreciate them, which was confirmed to me when he insisted I look at a book on the history of British wood engraving, and I, absolutely in love with it and offering to buy it, was told it had already been sold! I walked away with a couple of books, one FS volume of WWI poets and a Guy de Maupassant Heritage Press edition I'm actually not so sure of anymore. But I also set aside a book of hours which is a stunning reproduction of an Italian middle ages manuscript (affordable, all things being relative) and A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe in a limited edition volume which had such a stunning binding that I decided not to look at the price too closely. He agreed for me to pay in instalments, which makes the whole thing doable, and he said he'd keep my address so he could send me invitations to the book fair at Concordia University in the fall, and the one in Toronto a month later so I could peruse many more gorgeous books to my heart's content. Now if only I could find a very rich husband in need of someone to stock a newly built library wing...

Tomorrow am going to see the Bolshoi Ballet perform Romeo and Juliet with my father and two girlfriends of mine.
How wonderful - I hope it was as great as it sounds. It reminds me that they do something similar with operas in the 'local' (30km from here) cinema, but only during autumn/winter. People actually dress up for the occasion as if they were going to a real theater. I'd like to try that once the new season starts.

I love to read about your FS books but try not to look at them too closely when you post cover pics... I don't want to start a new addiction now that my finances have recovered a bit. But having a real library with beautiful editions, not just those quickly decaying paperbacks is one of my greatest dreams.

Btw. I was in Bologna some weeks ago and went book-shopping in that great Feltrinelli store. On the way to the cash desk I passed the childrens' literature sections and spotted a couple of Lacombe books. I don't know how I managed it, but I rushed past them and to the check-out with the 8 other books I had already selected. But now that I know those things are available here, I can't stop thinking about them...

Well, we're barely halfway through the month, and already an insane amount of books have made their way into my home. I've listed them all in message #8, but here they are again for those who don't like hyperlinks. My May purchases so far:

From AbeBooks merchants
77. The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward FitzGerald (Folio Society)
78. The Best of Saki (Folio Society)
79. The Lifted Veil: Women's 19th Century Stories by Kathryn Hughes (Folio Society)
80. Claudius the God by Robert Graves (Folio Society)

From The Word (a Montreal bricks & mortar store)
81. Impossible Journeys by Matthew Lyons (Folio Society)
82. The Mrs. Dalloway Reader by Virginia Woolf
83. Felicias's Journey by William Trevor
84. On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev
85. Sketches from a Hunter's Album by Ivan Turgenev
86. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
87. Anthem For Doomed Youth: Poets Of The Great War by Lyn MacDonald (Folio Society)
88. The Tales of Guy de Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant (Heritage Press)

From BookCloseouts.ca (50% sale)
89. The Zig Zag Kid by David Grossman

From ChaptersIndigo.ca (with $25 gift coupon)
90. My Letter to the World and Other Poems by Emily Dickinson, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
91. The Histories by Herodotus (Oxford World's Classics)
92. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Sterling Signature)
93. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (Sterling Signature)

From latest Audible.com $4.95 sale (first in series)
94. ♫ English Creek by Ivan Doig
95. ♫ Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
96. ♫ A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
97. ♫ Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
98. ♫ The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
99. ♫ The Man of Property by John Galsworthy
100. ♫ Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
101. ♫ White Queen by Philippa Gregory
102. ♫ Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

Arrived today from BookDepository
103. Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward FitzGerald (Oxford University Press)
104. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (NYRB)

Many of these books are really beautiful to behold, but I want to highlight the Sterling Signature editions of the Shakespeare plays. Apart from the fact that these are fully annotated and contain essays and loads of background information, which is perfect for Shakespeare novices like me, these big volumes are also works of art in their own right. The publisher commissioned paper artist Kevin Jay Stanton to illustrated the books (which also include Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing with paper cutouts to truly sublime effect:


From Hamlet


From Macbeth

You can see more about this project on Stanton's blog: http://kevinjaystanton.com and in this blog review: http://literaryinklings.com/2012/08/art-meets-literature-in-sterling-epicures-si...

Nathalie I found out about the ballet performance precisely because I attended one of the live opera broadcastings at a local cinema. That was a few weeks ago now. It was Julius Ceasar by Handel, which was quite wonderful, but lasted FIVE HOURS! I can't say I've ever been a big opera fan till now, but the 2013-2014 season at the Metropolitan looks interesting enough that I might attend several performances starting in the fall. One of the really fun things about these broadcasts is that they also take you behind the scenes for interviews with the artists during the intermissions. I definitely recommend you try it out.

If you want to keep your financial situation stable, I also definitely recommend you stay away from FS books. For someone with a "slightly" addictive personality like me, they spell complete and utter ruin, but I still think they're worth it, if only for the prolonged enjoyment they bring and the multiplication of the pleasure of reading great literature and non-fiction alike in such beautiful volumes. It's gotten to the point that I love FS so much that I've purchased books that I would never have seriously considered reading anytime soon normally, only because I know the whole package will be so appealing I'm bound to love the experience. My most recent purchases include Folk Tales of Britain: Narratives by Katharine Mary Briggs, Pliny's Natural History and The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White, which will all provide many many hours of reading pleasure.

I must say I admire your resolve with the Lacombe books. If only I were so reasonable too!

Hi Ilana,
Your book purchases are impressive. Those images from the Sterling Signature editions are indeed "sublime."

I'm laughing at your comment about having a "slightly" addictive personality. At least it's mostly focused on books! ;-)

Ellen "impressive" is a kind word to use, as opposed to "insane", for instance. ;-) I like to make fun of my jaunts with extreme behaviour. I guess I can do that before in general, I know they don't last long enough to spell complete disaster, but we'll see about this particular fixation! Thanks for dropping by. xx

Off to painting class today. We're having a model for the first half of the class and will be working on a portrait. I don't get to do those very often and looking forward to it. So why am I still sitting here and not getting ready, when class starts in exactly 34 minutes? Make that 33 now. My goal of finishing 2-3 paintings in the 8 weeks of the session may have been too ambitious. At this point it's looking like I should be pleased to even finish just ONE. (sigh). Right, 32 minutes... better hop to it. Just want to mention I finished Cakes and Ale yesterday and wish I could remember which author Paul said was being referenced in the story. Also read Shakespeare's The Tempest in a couple of short sittings. A fully (over)annotated edition which was very helpful and also made me feel like maybe I can understand The Bard better than the average high school kid? Which is sort of encouraging. Very fun play. I'd read it was a comedy of sorts, but really found it very amusing. 30 minutes. And I'm off!

I started listening to The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory by William Manchester a couple of days ago. I was apprehending it a little because, as I've mentioned so often before, I'm alway weary of big volumes, and this one is 40 hours long AND narrated by Frederick Davidson who has a very distinctive, not to say obnoxious delivery. But I was surprised to find that I quickly got used to his style and am quite enjoying the book which is filled with interesting tidbits so far and not as heavy on politics as I feared, that topic being absolutely opaque to me.

I promised myself I'd work at home on the painting I've been working on in class this week so I could show some progress on it on Thursday. The teacher came down quite hard on me for overthinking each decision and not moving forward in any noticeable way. It was hard to take, largely due to the fact that of course he's entirely right. I don't know what it says about me as an artist that I'd rather tag and reorganize my tags (as I've been doing lately) here on LT than do anything creative at all... *sigh*

I saw your comments on Ellen's thread about Michael Chabon, I find him the same. Pretentious that is, and insufferable. But I still want to read Kavalier and Clay, just to be sure. Then Ill stop trying with him. I have given him a fair chance I think.

So did you make the painting class? lol, I do the same when trying to get out the door to kindergarten. Just a few more minutes! I always make it on time though :)

Hello lovely - what a gorgeously talented woman you are! Love the image at the top of the thread. And I, too, am impressed by the pencil case. Derwents were all the rage when I was at school, and we used to be sooooo envious of the girls who had the 36 set - and as for the 72 set - well, we could only dream! My daughter has flown the nest to London and has already got herself a wonderful job in a PR Company that specialises in high-end travel. Her offices are pretty much next to Buck House and she is loving it. But I miss her! Can I adopt you, instead?

>66 LovingLit: Megan I'm very glad to hear I'm not the only one who finds Chabon unpleasant. Mind you, I didn't try anything else of his after reading K&K, so couldn't say whether this carries through in his other works. I do have another one of his books, The Yiddish Policemen's Union in my tbr, so will eventually give him another chance. One thing I remember really bothering me was that he peppered his prose with French expressions here and there, and on more than one occasion it was quite clear he didn't know what he was talking about. If you're going to quote from other languages, wouldn't you make sure you got it right? I would for damn sure!

I made it to the painting class sort of on time. Got there late, but it worked out just fine. I didn't go today for various reasons I will talk about in another post, though not tonight as I've been trying a new thing which is stopping all activities at 10 or 10:30 to get myself to bed at a more reasonable hour. So far it works, mostly because I'm just exhausted all the time!

>67 PrueGallagher: My dearest Prue, you are such a sweetheart. I have no doubt your daughter is quite wonderful and that I would not prove very satisfactory as a daughter. I waste my days away doing no artwork whatsoever and mostly chiding myself for being so lazy and unfocused, not to mention lacking in ambition. But whatever. I've been quite discouraged this past week after a comment the teacher made to me at the end of class, which I've still not gotten over, mostly because he was absolutely right. As for the Derwents, I almost did buy the 72 set, but we calculated at the store that it actually came out cheaper to buy them individually. Makes no sense, but there you have it.

Just a brief note to say I've received a bunch of books this week, including those books mentioned in #61. The Pliny seems fascinating. Reading the table of contents alone make for very amusing reading. I'll quote from it soon to give an idea. Given it takes up all of book 1, with 52 pages, and I only managed to read the TOC up to book 11 or so, it's safe to say I'll probably be reading from these volumes (37 books in 5 volumes) for many many years to come. The Natural History of Selborne is so beautiful, large and precious, with paper you just want to lie on, that I pick it up very gingerly and leaf through it as though it were some kind of treasure that belongs to someone else, preferably someone living in a large mansion with servants on hand to dust the books every week or so.

eta: nearing the end of Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers. It made for perfect reading for most of the day yesterday, when I was more or less attached to the couch after a couple of nights of insomnia...

>66 LovingLit:: Maybe that is why I'm having a hard time staying with Kavalier and Clay!! Still, I do want to finish it even if I don't ever read anything by him again.

Firstly I must join in with the anti-Chabon drive - insufferable bore. His books are as tedious as anything else I've read. Gentlemen of the Road is pap.

Cakes and Ale was supposedly about Thomas Hardy dear lady but Maugham denied this profusely ~ but then again he denied almost everything which also turned out to be quite true.

First serious girlfriend was a ballerina and extremely pretty too if you care for haughty, auburn haired prima donnas (which unfortunately I went an absolute bundle on). Still I was only five years old when she decided it was inappropriate to continue our kissing sessions and I'm not sure I have ever fully recovered a love of the ballet. Nutcracker indeed.

>70 EBT1002: Ellen, I was determined to finish K&K when I read it in 2008, and I did, mostly because I thought the story itself was interesting enough, but I gave it 1.5 star and my review reads:

"As I was reading it, I discovered that I can’t stand Michael Chabon. I cringed at his use of French expressions thrown in here and there to make himself seem wordly—some of them out of context, I might add. The story had all the elements of a great saga but I was too caught up with hating Chabon to enjoy any of it."

>71 PaulCranswick: My dear Paul, I do recall now that you'd mentioned Thomas Hardy was the inspiration for the main character. I haven't read anything but Tess by him so far, though I've got 4 more of his books on the tbr and a couple more on the wishlist. Once I've read those, I'll read Tomalin's biography, and when I'm done with that, will have to give Cakes and Ale another go. I wonder, did Maugham ever try denying that The Moon and Sixpence was inspired by Gauguin?

Nutcracker indeed. Ha! :-)

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory is very interesting, but my goodness, I feel like I'll be at it for the rest of my life! I'll have to do some chores this weekend to create more listening time. I just listed the most recent books to have come into the house lately and am dismayed at how many I've gotten this month. All my bookstacks of paperbacks have doubled in size to make room for the FS arrivals on what little shelf space I have. Just got a few more on eBay today. Yes, I'm a very sick puppy and I'll probably be crying over my mounting debt soon enough. Or I could open a book store right here in my apartment if things get desperate. In the meantime, plenty of good things to read over here!

Off to bed where I'll probably finish book 2 in the Peter Wimsey series. Good fun!

Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám you acquisition has reminded me am still to go there myself - been on my wish/want list for some time .... never enough time though

LOL - yes, I think you need to mix in some mystery reading with your biography reading. What is it about bios on Churchill. All of them seem to be llllllloooooonnnnnngggggg!

>74 roundballnz: Alex, The Rubáiyát itself shouldn't require much of your time; the FitzGerald version is very short, even when there are notes (which I would recommend). But the Oxford University Press edition with commentary and extensive notes obviously requires a little more time, as does the Avery/Heath-Stubbs translation, which has many more stanzas than FitzGerald's. I look forward to reading the latter two very much though, and am trying to acquire two other FS editions of the former, both very different in format, binding, and illustration styles, which is obviously what makes this work so eminently collectible.

>75 cammykitty: Katie, I think you're right about it being a good idea to mix something a little bit fluffier with the Churchill biography. Right now, we are just entering into the Great War, and it's taken us half the book to get there (it covers 1874-1932). The man lived through some very important historical changes and events, and more than living through them, was actually responsible for shaping some of them in important ways too, quite obviously. He was a complex and fascinating character, which also wants some demonstrating. But beyond that, he also left behind and extensive correspondence between himself and those around him; mother, wife, political friends and enemies alike. I haven't read very many biographies so far, mostly because I always worry that the material will be too dry for my liking, but it seems that half the trick of writing a readable one is to include lots of tidbits about the person's personal life and various incidents of varying importance and calibre. All that put together amply justifies why this particular personage's biographies are so long. I suppose there must be some around that concentrate on the highlights, but I can't imagine they'd be nearly as interesting. Having said all that, I think I'd had this book on my wishlist for half a dozen years before I took a leap and purchased it (on sale for $4.95) and a year more before I got the nerve to actually start reading/listening to it, and that only because I got an extra push when someone from the 12/12 challenge recommended it to me. It was supposed to be part of my 13/13 challenge, which I finally decided not to participate in, but am still wanting to read all the selections made for me, since people obviously took some pains to go through my collection before making those recommendations. What I try not to dwell on is that this book, which is 40 hours long (over 900 pages in print), is only volume 1 of 3... I've reserved the paper copy from the library though as it seems there are lots of photographs in it.

I finished Clouds of Witness last night. I am definitely a Dorothy L. Sayers fan now. Which is a good thing since I now have an FS boxed set gotten on sale of her Wimsey series containing 4 other books (Whose Body?, Unnatural Death, Five Red Herrings, Busman's Honeymoon), and will have finished making payments on another second-hand FS set containing 5 others (Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Murder Must Advertise, The Nine Tailors and Gaudy Night). After that, I'll only be missing the short stories and The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club and I'll be well on my way to reading the whole works in publication order. Very clever writing and edgier than Agatha Christie somehow, which is very much to my liking.

Now, what to pick up next...

The Natural History of Selbourne was such a revelation - I drove everyone nuts the year I read it because every conversation veered off course with, "Did I tell you I was reading..... etcetera"

I've just ordered the two FS books that I needed to in order to complete my obligation to them - namely Restoration London by Liza Picard and Miss Marple's Short Stories by Agatha Christie. Am gagging just a wee bit over the expense, but it's no one's fault but mine. Funny thing is the Picard book has been on my amazon wishlist for ages and I really, really lusted after it, but had not bought it before now because it seemed too pricey, i.e. more than $4! Think I may now switch over to buying FS books used.

>78 sibylline: Lucy, of course now I really want to know what all that etcetera was about! :-) I looked for, and didn't find your review unfortunately. I've been just read some of the first letters so far, the first dozen or so, I think, but have already had glimpses of what's ahead, and this edition has unbelievably beautiful vintage illustrations throughout too.

>79 Fourpawz2: Charlotte I hope you're thrilled with your books when you get them. What I discovered this last month is that what makes membership ABSOLUTELY worthwhile is the sales, when some of the offerings are at unbeatable prices, such as you'd never find on the secondary market; not in any decent kind of shape anyway. I guess the trick is to just buy those 4 books at full price and then firmly resist any temptation to get anything else unless it's on sale. I haven't been too good with that, though I must admit that most of the books I have in my collection (or on their way to me) are second-hand, all in Fine condition or better, and all at better prices than what I would have gotten on their site—those that are still in print, that is. Since you live in the States where there are more of them available than here, and if you're not as picky about condition as I am, you might very well find some decent deals with local shipping prices, but I doubt very much you'll find any at $4 or less! If you'd like me to source any specific title for you, I'll be happy to shop around for you—free of charge! That's how I got started on FS when Heather helped me find an affordable and brand new FS copy of A Handmaid's Tale, after all! :-) I just happen to really love searching for titles online and would be happy to pay it forward and help a friend gather up some of that FS goodness floating around looking for good homes. ;-)

Reading: I've started on Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers. I rarely read two or more books from a series in a row, but somehow it feels like a good accompaniment to Winston C. Listening to the latter on audio helps me imagine the various British accents better as I read the DLS book, among other things!

Thanks for your kind offer, Ilana. I will keep it in mind for when I go trawling amongst the FS books again.

It is kind of neat to have that connection between one's fiction and nf reads. I stumbled into a similar thing with the ones I started yesterday (seems as if I am always starting and never finishing) - Virginia which is about a young woman in post-Reconstruction Virginia and The Invisible Line which is the story of three different free colored families crossing over the color line.

>82 Fourpawz2: It is kind of neat to have that connection between one's fiction and nf reads

Completely agreed. I vaguely remember doing that before and writing about it in one of my threads, maybe last year? Wish I could remember what it was now, because I do remember finding it such a brilliant marriage. As you can imagine, the Great War takes up quite a few chapters in this first volume of The Last Lion, and I'm still in 1915 right now but it does cover up to 1932, so it'll be nice to visit the 20s, which is Lord Wimsey's time to shine. Although I make lists, I never actually plan my reading, but I think it'll be worthwhile to look at complementary fiction works for whatever other NF I'll be reading going forward. Mind you, sometimes I make a point of making sure the books I read side by side are wildly different from each other, just because I like to plunge from one world to another...

Well, I would say, 'Did you know this fellow Gilbert White was the very first person to keep a naturalist's journal?' (that seemed so amazingly recent to me!) 'Did you know that people used to think that some swallows hibernated in little burrows all winter?' and like that. But au fond I was just so astonished that it had only occurred to someone to sit and observe closely and write down what he saw in this careful way.

Ooohhhh I have The natural History of Selborne on my Shelves of Shame - bought because I once visited Selborne and its churchyard and so on (and a very lovely place it is, too!). But I haven't read it because I thought it might be boring. Well, silly me! I shall remedy that anon.

I admire your perseverance with Winnie. I believe that once, when asked how he thought history would treat him - he responded "Very well - because I shall write it". Seems he was as good as his word as the five or so volumes of his diaries on our shelves will attest. I haven't read any Lord Wimsey for years, but did read one or two and enjoyed them. I have been relatively saturated of late by watching re-runs of all the Hercule Poirot television movies made with David Suchet. Love the period details!

Hope you are feeling a little more confident - and don't listen to 'nay-sayers'. Those who can 'do', like you - those who can't 'teach' like the aforementioned arsehole (forgive the technical term).

>84 sibylline: Lucy I'm making my way through this volume very slowly, and quite deliberately so, as I want to savour each of his letters and all the loving detail White put into them. I only just discovered I was a fan of natural history writings when I read Gerald Durrell last year and discovered it's the ideal "comfort reading" for me, and when I saw this book offered on sale by FS, I figured, based on their very appealing description, that I was likely to enjoy it tremendously, all the more so as being a precursor to Durrell's work, and one which I am fairly certain GD must have read in his youth. I know I repeat myself, but this particular edition is so sumptuous that even had I not had an interest in natural history, I would have developed one instantly thanks to this volume. The illustrations are sublime, and very large as it's a large volume, but the PAPER is so sexy I want to lay between the pages of the book and sleep in it every night.

I know so little about animals and their habits that I might have very well believed that swallows DO hibernate, had you not pointed out this detail... ;-)

>85 PrueGallagher: Prue I think you'll find that Gilbert White is a very engaging correspondent, even if you don't have the same luxury edition I dug into my credit debt a little deeper in order to get for myself. I say "correspondent", and am not sure if you know the book is composed of letters he wrote? His passion for the animal world is quite infectious, especially if you are already fond of creatures big and small and learning about their habits.

The Last Lion is soon coming to a close, I've got just maybe 15% still to go, and am amazed to find myself quite keen to continue on with the next volume, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone 1932-1940. I must say that I'm very happy I got this audio version. I hesitated at first as didn't think I would like Frederick Davidson's snooty accent and delivery, but it works perfectly well for this work which he effectively performs as opposed to a straight narration, as I would have expected, and I must say he does a very good Churchill imitation, which comes up every time he is directly quoted. I don't understand half of it, especially all the war manoeuvring and so on, but it doesn't really matter; I just let history wash over me.

As for the Wimsey series, I would definitely wait till Poirot is out of your system before embarking on it. Sayers is definitely a "reader's writer", in the sense that she obviously devoured books and poetry, and as she made Wimsey a very educated gentleman and avid first edition collector, there are plenty of references that make for a book-lover's delight. I'm plodding through very slowly, as I always equip myself with my iPhone as I read Unnatural Death so that I can quickly look up various leads she peppers her chapters with. I also found this site where many of the Sayers books are wonderfully annotated, which was tremendously helpful, though unfortunately he only covered up to chapter 9 in this book. I did purchase his Kindle annotated version of Whose Body which I haven't actually read in book form yet, as I had listened to a recording of it initially.

About my art teacher... he is not at all a bad person, and I'm sorry I gave that impression. I will write more about it in the next message.

Been in a deep funk these past couple of weeks. My credit card statement just received today attests to the fact that I've been keeping my head above water thanks to plenty, make that PLENTY... no, make that PLENTY of retail therapy, mostly in the form of... what else? Books. And more specifically Folio Society books, though I must say on the whole I've been sourcing them on the second-hand market, so it's not quite as bad as it could be, but still. The need for a new set of shelves is become more and more pressing.

I missed my painting classes both this week and last week as well. For some reason, I haven't been wanting to make art at all, which has been a source of lots of anxiety, and the conversation I had with my teacher at the last class I attended only fed into it and made me even more confused about "my future as an artist", if there can be such a future, considering I'm not producing art. I went in to talk to said teacher today at the end of the class I didn't attend, so we could be on the same page going forward, as I'd been seriously considering dropping the class, afraid I'd be getting any more criticism on my approach. I don't think that'll be a problem anymore, and there's something exciting coming up next week in the form of a live model, which I always enjoy working with, so everything should fall into place. And no wonder I don't want to make art wen there's all that BOOK SHOPPING to attend to, and then the small matter of actually reading too! Phew!

Two boxes of goodies arrived from the FS today, containing my last very large order, in which I took advantage of the last days of the now terminated Spring sale. I received the following:

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (will probably end up ordering all the books in the series from them—LOVE the illustrations!)
Folk Tales of Britain: Legends by Katharine Mary Briggs (3-volume set)
The Seeing Stone
At the Crossing Places
and King of the Middle March by Kevin Crossley-Holland (they were practically giving those away)
The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.

Not listing all the ones I've ordered from Abe or won on eBay lately or I'll be at it all night... will add them to the list in #8 soon. May 2013 will definitely have been a major lifetime record as far as book expenses go!

Finished Dorothy L. Sayers' Unnatural Death last night. I had a lot of fun with this one, especially as I went out of my way to look up all the references she put in there to other works, be they poetry or novels or writers from the times, which ended up adding to my wishlist. As I mentioned to Prue above in #86, I also found this site where many of the Sayers books are wonderfully annotated, which was tremendously helpful, though unfortunately he only covered up to chapter 9 for UD. I purchased the Kindle annotated version of Whose Body which I haven't actually read in book form yet, as I had listened to a recording of it initially, and which I might follow up with before moving on the the short stories in Lord Peter Views the Body.

Almost finished with Churchill! A friend is coming over for tea and lots of gabbing today, as well as a trip to the farmer's market, so don't think I'll have lots of listening time on my hands, but will probably finish it by tomorrow. WOO HOO!!!

Interesting what you have to say about the Churchill biography. No, one that just covers the historically important parts of Churchill wouldn't cut it. One of the things that must be most difficult about writing about him is deciding what to cut out.

& I know what you mean about the retail buying / book therapy /art dilemma. I fall into it to, although not so much on the buying. Just inexpensive books. As many as I can afford. My "art" is writing, and it's so much easier to read.

Hope you have a great tea & farmer's market! They are just starting to get local produce here. Late spring.

You've been acquiring some great ones lately, Ilana!
I did finish, and ended up loving Kavalier & Clay. Your comments are interesting. I do agree that the author inserted himself just a bit too much into the narrative.

I hope you are doing well!

Dear Ilana. Notes to self:

1 Must read some Ms. Sayers soon
2 Must start the first volume of Winnie's war memoirs next month
3 Must wish my favourite Montrealer a happy weekend Completed 2 June!xx

Had a very nice time with my friend Kristyna yesterday. We met in art school some 4 years ago and found we had quite a few similar interests, namely art and reading and beautiful books for instance, and as we also have similar lifestyles (both of us disabled by similar mental health issues), are able to get together a bit more often than is possible with other friends, so we see each other every 2 or 3 weeks, as opposed to every 2-3 months.

It's been extremely hot here, so I made us some iced lattes followed up by some very potent drinks, which I guess you could call dirty martinis, only no vermouth and just vodka loaded up with olives I had squashed about so they would release their juices. Two of those each and we were positively hammered. I showed her some of my books, we looked through a small portion of my artwork so she could help me decide what to throw and keep and generally had a good time just gabbing. I did no reading at all. I did find out when I tried showing K some of my more special cookbooks that moths that small moths had laid eggs between the sleeves and bindings on the hardcover books, so that I'll have to tackle all that no later than today (have already wiped off all the books, but want to do a thorough cleaning). With my heart down in my heels, I checked a couple of my older art books on the other side of the apartment on my living room shelves, and was relieved not to find anything there. This has taught me that I really must do a thorough dusting of my books at least twice a year, and also that I need to manipulate them as much as possible to disrupt whatever critters are thinking turning my precious volumes into nurseries. Ugh! Also off to the hardware store shortly to get a dehumidifier to keep in the living room. Now that I'm investing quite seriously into precious volumes, I need to start looking after them much more carefully.

Am determined to finish Churchill today. Dusting and cleaning is just the thing for finishing off audiobooks!

>90 cammykitty: Katie Writing is an art I would very much like to consecrate myself to eventually. I do find that it is very complementary with visual arts, and that one can feed the other. It's just a matter for making time for the things that are important, and apparently these days, shopping and reading are more importantly to me than making anything that required effort of mind or will. Sigh. I do feel the desire to create welling up in me though, so there's always hope. What kind of writing do you do?

>91 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! I've been doing a lot better these last few days, getting over my latest bout of blues. Generally keeping a relatively even keel, which is really the best I can hope for, but no matter what, I'm always grateful to have what is by most standards a very good life. Do you think you'll be reading more of Chabon's work?

>92 PaulCranswick: Thank you my dear Paul! It has been a rather good weekend, and while I can't say I've accomplished anything, it's so nice just enjoying little moments and feeling blessed and lucky, as opposed to vexed and broken. I think Ms. Sayers makes for some jolly good comfort reading and while I do enjoy some Dame Christie once in a while, find that DLS weaves in a bit more substance to her stories. I'd always been fascinated with Churchill, and now I feel like I've gotten to know the man a little bit. There's as much to like as to not, but nobody can deny he was a fascinating character, and a brilliant one at that. Such a treat to find I can read a book about a politician, of all things (I do loathe politics!) and find plenty there to satisfy. I just let my mind roam free during the less interesting bits! Hope you've had a great weekend too. Guess it's the middle of the night for you now, or is it early morning? Can never keep it straight.

Dirty martinis and gabbing sounds fun :)
Sorry to hear about your book moths....I have silverfish in my cookbooks, but only in one. A few of the pages are very lace-like along the edges! Luckily its only the breadmaker pamphlet cookbook, so nothing too serious.

FS books are so lovely, but I have to resist. Even with the sales (which I would LOVE), the 4 full priced ones would dent the coffers too much.

Hi Ilana- How are you? I hope you are feeling well and your books are treating you grand.

Finally finished the Churchill biography! That is, finished part 1 of 3, but considering what a giant trilogy Willam Manchester's is, I'm pretty happy with having gotten this far. I followed that up with some Eudora Welty short stories, and I must say she is growing on me. I keep using this expression lately, but I just let her beautiful and strange language wash over me instead of trying to make sense out of every little thing, and finding it works wonderfully that way. Same thing with Lawrence Durrell's Justine; of course they are (quite literally) worlds apart, but still, each author has her and his very own manner of communicating ideas and it helps not to be too tied to the notion of having to make out exactly what is meant by it all. My thoughts on reading for today.

#56 I hadn't realised the Folio society editions of Eugene Onegin and The Handmaid's Tale used the same illustrators. Thanks for the link to their website - I've enjoyed looking through their work.

#58 I hope the new glasses work out better than the last pair and how lovely to have found such a kindred spirit in the bookseller (even if it does mean you're likely to buy even more books.....!)

#60 And I love those Shakespeare illustrations :-)

#77 I finished Clouds of Witness last night. I am definitely a Dorothy L. Sayers fan now

Yay! Last month I finished the last Lord Peter Wimsey novel (Busman's Honeymoon) and felt rather sad to be so near the end of the series. I still have a couple of short story collections to go but then I think I'll get a Sayers' biography as the books have made me very curious about her life.

#87 Sorry to hear you have been feeling blue and particularly about your art. I'm glad talking to your teacher helped and you're feeling more optimistic about the course.

And well done on finishing (volume 1 of) the Churchill bio. He's someone for whom I've always wanted to read a biography but they're always so big!

>95 LovingLit: Megan, seems I enjoyed the dirty vodka a little too much, as I continued on with it yesterday too. Am now halfway through that large bottle of Moskovskaya and will have to give it a rest for a while, or else join up the AA.

Agreed the 4 full-priced FS books as a joining obligation makes quite a dent. I guess they're doing people a public service by making the cost of admission so high; that way, anyone who is the least bit reasonable knows to stay away and leave the FS collecting to those foolish enough to want to part with such a substantial proportion of earnings. I should add that being a member is ruinous no matter how rich a person is, given they have incredibly limited editions to tempt those with more expendable income, as well as those who don't, thanks to their interest-free monthly payment plan!

>96 msf59: Mark, one thing's for sure is I can always count on my books to treat me well. And people from this group too of course! Did you watch GoT last night? I wasn't sure when that particular massacre was going to be staged, in this season or next and it was well done, but I'm really amazed at how far from the original books they're taking the show sometimes. Do you know if there's a season 4 in the works? Never mind—I just checked and see there will be. I just thought they might be trying to speed things up, as there is some action that is NOT in the first half of book 3, but whatever.

>98 souloftherose: Hi Heather! The Balbusso twins actually illustrated a third FS novel, First Love by Ivan Turgenev too. I so love the illustrations in it that I'm really hoping it goes on sale sometime this year so I can snatch it up (they are all on the twins' site so you must have seen them). I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up doing more of their titles. I had ordered two French books they also illustrated in a children's series presenting great classics (Le Horla by Maupassant and an retelling of Tristan and Isolde) which arrived last week and was thrilled to find they had many many more illos in them than FS books even. I've been kind of relieved to find lately that I am NOT absolutely in love with every single book the FS has ever published, and sometimes either don't like the illustrations or the style they chose for any one particular work. Every FS book I don't want reassures me that I might not end up completely ruining myself in the process of collecting their books. Just mostly.

I got a Dorothy L. Sayers biography earlier this year called A Careless Rage for Life, I don't know if there are others? It was so inexpensive on the Audible site (less than $5 or around £3), so I jumped on it. I decided I would wait till I've read several more of her books before giving it a listen, but I've no doubt she must have been an interesting lady. Has reading her books helped grow your book collection (or at least your wishlist)? So far I hadn't gone out of my way to check on references she gave till Unnatural Death, but with that one alone I've discovered at least a half dozen new-to-me authors and quite a lot of poems I like a lot. That biography is so short compared to the Churchill, just 1/5th of it really, and now I've finished the latter, I feel I can tackle anything!

Ilana- I think season 3 of GOT has been terrific and season 4 will be the 2nd half of Storm of Swords. I remembered the horrific Red Wedding but did not remember when it happened exactly. Incredibly brutal!

>100 msf59: Oh UGH! What an awful image! Where did you find that? Yes, the Red Wedding, as far as I know actually takes place in the second half, if I'm not mistaken. I read it so recently, but then followed up with the next book right after, so it's all a bit of a blur. It was much worse in the book I think, if only because it seems to last so much longer and with so much more detail. I think the part that made me saddest was when they killed the dire wolf. I'm not sure why they killed off his wife too, which certainly did NOT happen in the books since I remember specifically that the old man asked why he hadn't brought his beautiful wife to show her off. And also the whole stuff about Theon Greyjoy (not on the show last night obviously, but he seemed to be about to suffer much more horribly last time)—no idea where that comes from, maybe A Dance with Dragons? Haven't given that one a listen yet, but I don't know how much longer I can hold off!

I swapped out the image up there with one with a bit more humor! I can't be upsetting, my Ilana! LOL. I think a lot of viewers are pissed at Martin & the show for killing off a bunch of characters again.

....I heard that there was a dramatic show last night in the States....apparently the twittersphere is on fire with Game of Thrones talk. I know nothing of the story, books or other!
Glad to see Mark changed something as I was wondering how the image was ghastly! The graph is quite funny :)

>102 msf59: Thanks Mark, I really much prefer this one. Very amusing. I'd forgotten all about Syrio Forel, but it's true it was never mentioned whether he'd actually perished or not... I think they did a great job with the casting for that beastly Joffery—the actor has a face one would just like to punch into, doesn't he? He certainly plays the evil twerp convincingly, that's for sure. I wonder if that scene will be featured during this season too... it really should not be, but at this point, I have no idea what to expect anymore.

>103 LovingLit: Megan, I'm not surprised GoT was the talk of the web yesterday. They closed off the show with a scene of awful and bloody carnage in which some key characters were ruthlessly murdered at what was meant to be a joyful gathering. Not saying any more than that as want to avoid spoilers, in case you do decide to pick up the books eventually. I would certainly recommend this series, both in book and tv formats. Once you read the first book, you get instantly hooked. Same with the fist episode in season 1. Don't say I didn't warn you!

My son watches GoT, he's read all the books but it lost me on the first series. My husband, who hasn't read the books watches with him and Yaron and I anticipate his reaction when we know what he's about to see, especially with yesterday's episode. I decided to start on Feast of Crows when Martin is ready to publish book 6.

I bought 3x FS books on our local trading site for $10 each + $7 postage, it was sacrilege not to buy them. They've only been read once. Especially pleased about the Weir book as it will replace a tatty ex-library copy.
The Maltese Falcon
The Princes in the Tower
The Black Plague

Hello Ilana lovely - you have been a busy bee! Some great reading and you have whet my appetite for some Sayers. (which is all my Book Depository wishlist needs at the moment!). Sounds like you had a great girls' night in - you should let your hair down more often, IMHO. Does you good! Can add nothing at all to the GoT discussion - as (like Megan) I have dodged both books and film. Shame about the book bugs! (must check on mine in the cupboards at the farm...) Hope your spirits are on the rise again my dear friend. **big hug**

How alarming about the moths in some of your books! I hate to think of what might be lurking in mine. Perhaps it is time for a major cleaning. I know I did bring home a book from a book sale that had a silverfish in it, but I quickly quarantined all of the books in the series ( clearly they all came from the same house) in plastic bags, so I hope the little buggers smothered/starved to death.

Think I'll take up the Whimsey books. I've stayed far away from Sayers' books up until now, mostly because my mother did not care for her, but they it occurred to me that she and never agreed on a whole lot of things so why should these books be any different.

I so wanted to like GoT, the TV series, but truthfully, because of their insistence on messing with the story and putting things in the wrong order, I abandoned it after about 2 and a half episodes in season one. However, I still adore the books and hope to pull myself away from unread books for at least one re-read this year.

Am waiting for my FS delivery with a modicum of excitement. Opted for the monthly billing option. That should make the arrival of Ye Olde Credit Card statement less alarming or least that's the plan. Will have to begin plotting what I should get next...

Hi friends! I really shouldn't be here right now. Have to get ready for my painting class which I'm already late for. I want to go... but then I want to go back to bed even more. Been feeling ill all week and leaving home doesn't feel right. But then I missed the last two classes, and that's not right either.

Not sure I'll be finishing Justine. I loved Lawrence Durrell's poetic writing at first and didn't mind that I didn't understand most of what he was talking about, but now just a bit over halfway through, he's been getting on my nerves more than anything. It seems to me like (excuse the expression) he was doing verbal masturbation more than anything. Looking for the hidden meaning inside everything; trying to gain higher understanding maybe? The kind of book I would probably have appreciated in my late teens and early twenties when I had a more philosophical outlook on life, maybe.

Finished Queen Lucia, which was lots of fun, so I hurried up to get Miss Mapp, also on audio. I'm considering buying a Folio set of these books, but we'll see. Yesterday started on Jim Butcher's Storm Front, which I didn't think would be for me really, but so far three chapters in I'm enjoying it a lot. And the narrator is perfect for the part.

So that's that. Will answer your lovely messages later, as I still have a chance of making it to class before our life model gets there. Which would be nice.

Have a great day!

I struggled through Justine earlier this year myself. I'm hoping that the next book is more appealing but couldn't go straight on to it at the time.
Hope your class went well.

>105 avatiakh: Kerry, I wanted to pace myself with the Game of Thrones series and draw it out as long as possible, since I got so many warnings about what a long wait it is between each instalment, but I just couldn't do it. I still have A Dance with Dragons left, but I doubt I'll be able to hold off on it until book 6 is out. I wonder how DID your husband react to the Red Wedding scene? It was shocking to read about (actually, to listen to Roy Dotrice reading it to me...), and shocking again to see it in images, but the surprise effect wasn't there so it wasn't as bad.

Bravo on your FS acquisitions. Three great books. I've ordered The Maltese Falcon from a merchant, certainly not for $10 when you factor in the shipping, but it'll be arriving with a nice little lot of other titles, if we can finalize the transaction, which I'll be making in two payments, so might take a couple of months before I get the books. The other two you got are definitely on my want list. Someone in the Folio Society Devotees was just asking about that unofficial series yesterday and stated a whole conversation about them. Here's the list that one member put together of the existing titles in the series so far. I've got my eye on several of those via various merchants already, including The Elizabethan Underworld, which I nearly jumped on a couple of months ago and seems like lots of fun.

So glad to know you had trouble with Justine as well. I'll make the effort of finishing it and take it for what it is, but I certainly won't be dropping a bundle of cash to get the FS editions of the quartet, as I had considered doing.

Coco desperate for a walk, and I need dinner, so will be back later for more responses. I did want to mention a Coursera course I just registered to on the spur of the moment this evening, but will do that later too. Maybe other group members might be interested to join too?

This is what prompted me to sign on:

The Fiction of Relationship
by Arnold Weinstein
"What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century."

https://www.coursera.org/course/relationship

He He, I only noLawrence Durrell from his younger brother's writing Gerald Durrell. Larry was always too sensible and too intellectual in Gerald's writing, but then again Gerald parodied everyone in the family.

Ilana, I hope you do start writing some day. You'll turn out the most amazing historical fiction. I write YA urban fantasy and right now regular fantasy, but its only fantasy in as much as the culture doesn't really exist. No magic or beasties.

Speaking of beasties, hope Coco liked her walk and you have to tell us more about the coursera course.

^I got a kick out of this one! Of course, you have had to have seen the latest episode.

I knew the Red Wedding was coming but the show did it so well that there was still some suspense there for me - it's such a pivotal moment . But lots of fun to watch my flatmates WTF?!! reaction, and talking to one of my workmates the next day, she was equally shocked :-)

Snort and chuckle - I love that picture at 113. Very very funny. We don't have HBO so I haven't been able to watch GoT - we seem to be in a pattern of waiting an entire year until we can get the DVD's. Slightly insane as I'm sure with a bit of finagling we could find it sooner..... apparently it is THE most pirated show ever - You would think that would encourage HBO to release the DVD SOONER but apparently not.....

One does end up wondering who will be left standing at the very end.

>106 PrueGallagher: Hello dear Prue, you're probably right about me needing to let my hair down more often. Most of the time it's tied up in a pony tail. ;-)

So far, what I like about Sayers is that there's that cozy element of the rather familiar golden age murder mysteries into which she's injected a great many clever references to events and influences then current, as well as plenty of interesting quotes and mentions of authors and writings, adding a whole different layer for the reader besides the obvious pleasure of a well written crime novel. For instance, one of the reasons I signed up for this Coursera course I was mentioning yesterday is because the first novel we'll be covering is Manon Lescaut, which I discovered just recently in Sayers' Clouds of Witness, the second book in the Wimsey series, and was seriously considering reading already. Not giving more details about how that 18th century novel figures in the Wimsey story as don't want to provide spoilers!

>107 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, from what you've told me over the last few years about your relationship with your mother, I would say that the fact she didn't like Dorothy L. Sayers should be a pretty clear indication that you'll probably end up enjoying her quite a lot. In any case, there are so many cheap paperback copies of her books available on Abe that you have nothing to lose by getting the first one in the series, Whose Body? (which many agree is brilliant), and deciding if you want to continue on from there.

I'll be keeping a close eye on my cookbooks for the next weeks, especially as I've just added to them a small collection of FS editions of Elizabeth Davids and I'm nervous the moths might take a liking to the slip boxes. After going through all of them very thoroughly last week, it became apparent that they only chose the hardcover books with slipcovers to home in on. So I'll be checking on those on a weekly basis. In the meantime, I've also started looking at the books which are in my living room, as I do see one of those small moths flitting about there once in a while (it's at the other end of my apartment). So far I've checked on about three dozen art books and found them all unmolested, but I'll continue to be vigilant.

I totally understand why you decided not to continue watching GoT. I didn't mind at first that they were mixing up a bunch of things, mostly because having a bad memory, I couldn't keep track of what was different, but this season having read the books very recently, I'm getting quite annoyed about some of the changes they've made. Though that probably won't be enough to keep me from watching all the same...

I'm sure you'll be thrilled when your FS shipment arrives. I think you'll be a little surprised when they do by the way in which they are packaged, but won't say more. Suffice it to say there is something about their shipments that make them impossible to confuse with anything else. Whatever you do, don't spend another penny with them until the Summer Sales come around, which should happen pretty soon as apparently those got started around mid-June these past couple of years.

>112 cammykitty: Katie, I first learned about Lawrence through Gerald Durrell's stories about him too and was a bit skeptical as to whether I'd like his books, given how Gerald depicts him. And I have to say that so far he's very much corresponded to the kind of writer his little brother described him as being. Overly ponderous and self-important and full of hot air. I've put Justine aside from now and started on something else and will get back to it later, if only to say I've finished it because I have the other three books in the quartet and would like to read at least one or two more of them.

I don't know if I'll ever write anything worthy of mention. This year I haven't even taken the time to write reviews, much less sit down and try to crank out fiction, but I guess stranger things have been known to happen.

>113 msf59: Mark, that is just excellent! Did you take that pic, and if so where was it taken? I'm guessing you found it on the net though? Thanks for sharing it, makes me smile wide.

>114 SouthernKiwi: Alana, no matter what, it was a shocking scene for many reasons, for starters seeing someone's throat slashed and all that blood gushing... eek! The implications of what it means for the series are pretty shocking too, now he's killed off such important characters who were carrying such a big part of the story.

>115 sibylline: Lucy, I almost convinced myself not to pay for HBO this year (I only subscribe when there's a show I really want to watch) and thought I might wait till the DVDs are released on iTunes or better yet, at the library, but then found I didn't have the patience to wait that long. That being said, I almost wish I hadn't read the books so recently because it's made me all the more aware of some of the changes in sequence and story they've made for the show which has mostly annoyed me.

One does end up wondering who will be left standing at the very end.

I can understand now why Martin takes so long to write each instalment, especially if he makes himself kill off some of his most important characters as he goes along. I can almost see him telling himself "ok, this is getting too predictable, better make something radical happen" and... WHACK important heads roll. I say there might be a dragon left up on the throne at the end, and down below, nothing but carnage.

Hi Ilana, just surfacing here to say - a little sheepishly - that we're about half way through the year and I've JUST discovered in the last couple of days that there are a bunch of interesting threads over here in the 75ers' group! I've thrown myself (sort of) into my debut Club Read this year, and been somewhat distracted from watching out for those that I'd surely find worth starring - yours included. Now I realise fully how it would be very difficult for anyone to run threads in both places!

Enjoying your comments on your reading - and I love those Shakespeare editions in post #60.

I had a flatmate once who collected FS editions. I've never joined myself though 'cos I just know I'll get into trouble with it... But, they are undoubtedly very beautifully made books, so I was pleased to discover a good collection of them available at one of my favourite shops in the book town of Hay-on-Wye, which is near the garage where I get my car serviced. I usually treat myself in there with a couple of hours browsing while the car's being worked on - so I was chuffed to get a lovely copy of Travels With Charley in there the last time for just £8! That's my first one. Anyway, I'll look forward to your future reading with interest. All the best.

#119 Hi Paul! Thanks so much for dropping by. I must warn you that this group is full of interesting and incredibly friendly people who read fascinating stuff and if you decide to follow the threads, you'll soon find you can't keep up and your wishlist ever-expanding. I've taken a step back this year and not very active with the group; I miss the daily interaction with this bunch of wonderful people, but at the same time I had trouble dealing with the frustration of never being able to keep up. I was going to take part in the categories group this year as I have previously but finding I could barely keep my own thread here up to date, decided not to. I'm sure there must be lots of interesting people in Club Read also, but I believe no other group is quite as active at the 75ers!

If you live in the UK, there are plenty of ways you can get second hand FS editions quite cheaply. I see so many listed on Abe at under £10, but having them shipped over here ends up more than doubling, if not tripling the price. Very funny that you purchased a couple of them at Hay-on-Wye, because I happen to have been in communication with a merchant there in the past couple of weeks trying to put together a rather large order or eight books or so. I've done that here and there and found that with a certain amount of books they are willing to come down on price and accept instalments, which is the only way I can afford buying that many at a time, but this will certainly be my largest order to date, if we can finally close the deal.

I really look forward to reading the Shakespeares. Can you believe I've only read TWO Shakespeare plays in my life yet, and both of them in the last couple of years? He's not necessarily taught at school here and I'd always been a little bit scared of not understanding what he was on about, but so far have simply LOVED first King Lear and The Tempest very recently. Sorry to bring them up again, but the FS publish letterpress limited editions of all his plays, and I would so love to own some of those, but of course they're ridiculously expensive. Think of me for my birthday or Christmas? Just kidding of course. ;-)

Yes - I don't like that aspect of the books - the 'OK now I'll surprise 'em'.

I was talking with a friend about (in particular) tv shows go one step too far manipulating one - and that's it you never feel the same way about the show again, a kind of betrayal. - Don't know if you watched Ballykissangel (HIGHLY recommended, if not) but that happened for Mr. Sib and me with that show, and also one of those presidential ones when they killed off the press secretary's boyfriend (in the Secret Service). It would have been more interesting to watch them try to have a relationship. I don't know what the producers were thinking!

It makes me happy that you are enjoying Shakespeare.

Ilana, just stopping g by to say hello. I am so glad that you are still posting here as I know how busy you are with other endeavors. Please don't ever give up on your art! It is so much of who you are. That Coursera class sounds interesting. I may check it out to see what ten books you will be reading.

Took your advice, Ilana, and put Whose Body? on my kindle. How could I not buy it? It only cost 99 cents.

>121 sibylline: I can't decide if it's a case of 'OK now I'll surprise 'em' with Martin or whether it's more of a personal challenge to himself as a writer, to try and make sure he doesn't fall into any kind of predictable formula. In other words, I guess it depends on whether I'm feeling cynical or hopeful, but since I tend to get blown away by the world and characters he creates (as someone who doesn't read all that much fantasy), I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt and happily follow along wherever he takes me. I just really hope he manages to finish the series, because otherwise that would certainly be the biggest bummer of all.

Can't say I ever heard of Ballykissangel, but I'll certainly look it up. I don't know much about TV shows in general, and most of the ones I tend to watch nowadays have come from recommendations from this group or from my friend Kim who gets great recommendations from a friend's husband who pirates everything for her.

>122 Donna828: Hi Donna! Nice to have your visit. I've been meaning to write a bit about the class, which I honestly haven't been all that assiduous at participating to (surprise, surprise!). I watched all the lectures last week, which is something I won't want to miss because he's so interesting, but as far as participating to the forums, after checking out one or two threads I just felt I didn't want to get swallowed up by yet another time gobbler and haven't been taking part in the conversations, which prof Weinstein is always strongly suggesting we do. As for the art... it's a constant struggle. I spend more time NOT wanting to do it and then feeling bad about that than actually doing anything, because so much of the time I just don't want to be producing anything at all. I really don't understand why, so I just do whatever I do and try not to question it too much.

>123 Fourpawz2: Well, that was certainly a deal you couldn't pass up! I have the FS edition of that book now of course, though the first time I read it was on audio, but I want to read it on paper soon. I also got the Kindle annotated version I mentioned somewhere on this thread because there is soooo much Sayers is communicating in her writing that would go right over my head otherwise. Not looking it all up doesn't prevent one from enjoying the stories, but they are that much richer when you get cues to all her little references.

The Fiction of Relationship
by Arnold Weinstein

"What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century."

https://www.coursera.org/course/relationship

The first week's lectures were an introduction to the class content, an overview of the books we'd be reading and an explanation of the structure of the course, which is divided into two modules.

For the first module, the five books covered are all in the public domain, to allow those who can't afford to buy books to participate and get at least some good grounding on what the course is about. For this module, we're reading the following:

1. Abbé Prévost, Manon Lescaut (1731)
Currently reading this one and loving it (Project Gugenheim)
2. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)
Not sure I'll reread it so soon as read it in 2011, but I did get a White's Fine Edition since...
3. Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street (1853) and Benito Cereno (1855)
4. Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis (1915) and "A Country Doctor” (1919).
Read Metamorphosis back in 2009 and might do the audiobook, which I got free from the library, though I'm also about to order the FS edition...
5. Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1927)
Read this one in 2010, so another reread, which I very much look forward to. I may possibly get the audiobook only because it's read by the magnificent Juliet Stevenson.

For the second module the reading list is

1. William Faulkner, Light in August (1932)
Reading from the tbr - my first Faulkner!
2. Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciones (1956)
Completely new title to me - my first Borges!
3. Tarjei Vesaas, The Ice Palace (1967)
New to me author and title
4. Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
Read in first in 2008
5. J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace (1999)
Tried to read this one and didn't get past the first page and a half. Maybe I'll be able to stand it in this class context.

I managed to complete a short novel on audio started yesterday: Jumping the Queue by Mary Wesley, who has become one of my favourite British female authors since I discovered her last year. Not a happy story by any means, as it starts with our protagonist Matilda Poliport who's been widowed for a few years and having lost her cherished husband and with four grown children who refuse to visit her, has decided the best life has to offer is behind her. When the novel begins, she is just putting the last touches to a major housecleaning as she carefully executes her meticulously planned suicide. Her beloved pet gander Gus is sold to a farmer, where he'll ostensibly be happy with a harem of six geese, and she's off to her favourite secluded beach to have a picnic of brie and Beaujolais before taking sleeping pills and swimming into the tide. But of course her plans are foiled when she meets Hugh Warner, an attractive 30-something man on the run from the police and known all over the media as "The Matricide". She saves him before committing his own suicide attempt and brings him back to her cottage as a hideaway, where of course, a most unusual relationship will develop. Relationships are Wesley's strength, as is writing from a mature person's perspective on life, but mature not so much in the sense of having acquired bundles of wisdom so much as having lived life fully and being past caring what others think and feeling free to impose one's personality on others. Which of course makes for fascinating characters. I don't know if Matilda is necessarily a likeable character, since we learn she has mostly lived her life denying all the uncommonly unpleasant things that have been thrown her way, but thanks to Wesley's subtle skills it is impossible not to form an attachment to her AND the matricide. Of course, we're not to expect a happy ever after given the ingredients this story is made up of, but that hardly matters as Wesley succeeds in creating another thing of messy and unruly beauty.

⬆
Wow, my first review of the year! Completely unplanned, it just decided to write itself. Not editing it, though I did clean up with a comma or two on the work page.

Great review Ilana - very intriguing!

More reviews please...

#99 "I've been kind of relieved to find lately that I am NOT absolutely in love with every single book the FS has ever published" :-)

Re Sayers' biographies, I have A Careless Rage for Life on the WL along with one by Barbara Reynolds who edited various collections of Sayers' letters. The bio she wrote was Dorothy Sayers: Her Life and Soul.

I don't think I've picked up on a lot of the references in her Lord Peter novels so I haven't added to my wishlist from those but the more I read of her novels the more I wanted to read about her. She seems to have been quite unconventional which I always find interesting and I get the impression she didn't have an easy or always happy life. I need to check out the website with the annotations that you mentioned.

#108 "Been feeling ill all week and leaving home doesn't feel right." :-(

#113 Brilliant!

#125 The course sounds really interesting. How much time does it take up?

#126 That definitely sounds interesting. I need to check out Mary Wesley....

>128 Polaris-: More reviews please...

That's very sweet of you Paul. I do feel rather strange not reviewing my books this year since it had become such a habit, but then again I was always delaying endlessly and letting the quantity of backlog and pressure mount till I could stand it no more. I will try to write more reviews, but won't force myself to do it for everything I read, which will probably end up being more enjoyable, for me at least. :-)

>129 souloftherose: Heather, I really do mean that about the relief of not feeling I have to own absolutely ALL the FS publications. For a while there it seemed I had to have them all. It definitely shows on my Visa! Phew!

Sayers: I had seen you had A Careless Rage for Life on your wishlist, since I rarely purchase anything without looking up who among my LT friends and connections has it, in case there are any ratings or reviews. I'm certain you would enjoy reading annotations and also end up adding to your wishlist. I'll eventually look up her letters and bios too—I'm sure she was fascinating herself.

Feeling much better this week. There are some very unpleasant and persistent side-effects to all the medications I take which leave me constantly and severely bloated. I've tried many cures for this and they all end up causing even more problems with lots of cramping which in turn prevents me from sleeping, resulting in one very unhappy girl. I'd have to make some very big adjustments to my diet to fix these issues and even then don't know that it would work. But I'm better right now, and as with everything else, I just take it one day at a time and am grateful when I feel reasonably well.

Did you watch the GoT finale? I find it interesting that they chose to end it on another spectacular scene with Daeneris. Can't remember now what they ended on last year, but I'll always remember the first season ending with her emerging from the fire ashes with those baby dragons. That scene alone made it worth watching the series.

Coursera course: good question. The "Course Expectations" section on the wiki suggests the following:

Throughout the course, you should expect to spend 8-15 hours per week reading the assigned text in its entirety. Time spent reading the novels and stories will vary from student to student.

Lectures are divided into parts. In a single lecture, you will typically find between 6 and 12 parts. Each of these is between 10 and 12 minutes long. As a whole, lectures run between 1.5 and 2 hours.

When a paper or peer review is scheduled, you should expect to spend 1.5 to 4 hours during that week completing the assignment.

Although watching the filmed class discussions and taking part in the discussion forum is optional in this course, you are strongly encouraged to use these resources broadly and often. There is no better way to reflect on, examine and debate the themes of this course than with your peers, your Coursera classmates.

So far, I've spent maybe 90 minutes each day or less on the reading, being a slow reader with a very short text for Manon Lescaut. We've had 2 weeks for this one, so there are a few days I've gone without reading and will get away with it. But next week we're covering Jane Eyre in just 7 days, so I'll have to spend rather more time on that. The video lectures, being broken up into segments are easy to fit in between all kinds of things during the day, and fascinating besides. If you aim to complete the course and get a certificate, there is also, for the first 6-week segment:

One 75-150 word Short Response
One 300-500 word Analytical Paper
One 300-500 word Creative Paper

I'm auditing the course, so I skip that portion and the peer reviewing. Then there are the discussion forums... on which I've spent maybe 1 hour in total since I'm overwhelmed by the content and not participating so far. Does that answer your question? To resume, I'd say I spend maybe 1.5 to 3 hours each day on it.

Mary Wesley: DO check her out. I'm sure you would find her to your liking. I'd suggest you start with either Part of the Furniture or The Camomile Lawn, but so far I've loved all 4 books I've read by her. I just purchased 3 used paperbacks yesterday, including the aforementioned Camomile Lawn and Jumping the Queue, both of which I'll want to reread in print (though Anna Massey really is a fabulous reader), and another novel, Second Fiddle. All her novels are short by the way, as most of the women novelists' works tend to be. She can be found rather cheaply on Abe.

I'm with Paul. I always enjoy your reviews, Ilana.

Uh oh - I expect you will love Ballykissangel as our taste tends to coincide quite frequently. I adore Mary Wesley and am so glad you are loving her as I do.

I am with Ellen and Paul too dear Ilana although it seems strange to type a little part of that!

The course looks fascinating and there are one or two tomes on there that I also haven't come across before and will look out for accordingly.

Trusting you have a lovely Sunday dear lady.

I've been meaning to write something, but putting it off because not wanting to say how I've been feeling, which is tired beyond reason and miserably depressed, for no good reason at all. I don't like to mention these things because then everyone leaves all these lovely encouraging messages, and by the time I read them I've moved on and can't even remember what I felt so miserable about. Not that I know right now. Mostly am miserable about being so exhausted.

Thanks for the messages dear friends. I started answering, but then lost the flow and for some reason it just seemed like so much work, mostly because I told myself I needed to review a book or two and I can never write just a straight answer without ending up doing a bunch of research (don't ask me why), and just the thought of it all now is enough to send me to bed crying. No, not really. But almost.

Am on the very last bit of Lincoln's Melancholy, which Heather had written a perfect review for a while back. It should cheer me up to read about Melancholy as a beneficial thing as opposed to a shameful and disruptive disease, but it doesn't. Mostly I'm ashamed that I don't want to be producing anything creative at all these days, and seriously considering cancelling the painting class I signed up for in the summer, mostly because I just don't feel like painting. Ugh. [edit: also because I could pay off a few of my book purchases...]

Am rereading Jane Eyre for the Coursera course and what a gorgeous book it is. I should reread it every couple of years as a matter of course. Not that it'll do anything in terms of bringing about optimism and happiness...

Will be back to answer lovely messages when I'm a decent person again and don't have to fake cheerfulness, which I've never managed to do anyway.

Hi Ilana- Sorry to hear you are suffering through another bad patch. I hope you pull out of it soon. Gentle hugs!

I've just identified the source of my current sorrow: pre-birthday blues. I did wonder at feeling quite wonderful last week as remembered that the month of June and part of July is often difficult for me. Well there we have it. It's the PBBs.

In other news, I discovered a quarterly magazine publisher called Slightly Foxed. They also publish limited edition books and have this wonderful little video called "Birth of a Book". Watch if full-screen if you can:

http://vimeo.com/glenmilner/birthofabook

>131 EBT1002: Thanks Ellen, I'll make an effort to write them occasionally. I definitely want to write one for Manon Lescaut and will have some comments on rereading Jane Eyre.

>132 sibylline: Lucy, I simply adore Mary Wesley too. She was such a revelation when I picked her up last year. I think I discovered her because Anna Massey narrates quite a few of her books. I quite adore Anna Massey too and often look up what books my favourite narrators have done, which leads me to all sorts of interesting discoveries.

I spent quite a bit of time hunting down Ballykissangel, and finally found I could watch it via YouTube. By the time I'd found it, I was too exhausted to actually watch more than the first ten minutes of the first show, but it looked most promising.

>133 PaulCranswick: Dear Paul, the weekend and the ensuing days have been rather more difficult than they need be, all simply because of disruptions in the inner weather system. I am sitting on my balcony right now and have been enjoying the beautiful mellow sunshine we've had, all the while with unexplained sorrow in my heart. One thing that is troubling me is how out of control I've been with the book purchases there past few months, with no sign of any desire to abate... it wouldn't be a problem really if I wasn't on a fixed income with a need to consider my future. Now excuse me while I go make another book purchase to put all those troubling thoughts out of my mind...

>135 msf59: Thank you my friend. Gentle hug much needed and gladly accepted. xx

Ilana I hope you are doing better my friend. I absolutely love Slightly Foxed! When I see it in my mailbox I get all excited. Their books are beautifully done. It makes me happy that they are breathing life into older long forgotten stories.

>138 luvamystery65: Hi Roberta, I wish I could say I am doing better, but no, not really. I'm concerned now because there's a big family "do" this weekend, something which is very, not to say extremely rare in our family (two years in a row too, with my aunt's 70th last year). I'm just in no mood to celebrate or be around a bunch of people, or indeed, get out of the house more than necessary. Then there's that painting class I signed up to for the summer, which I'm seriously thinking I should cancel. It's supposed to be a self-motivated class in which we are to produce a body of work, which in theory sounds amazing, but these days motivation is precisely what is lacking most. But other than that, sure, everything is just fine and I guess I have no right to complain.

I'm so glad to find another fan of Slightly Foxed! I haven't even read my first copy and already love them! I discovered them very recently, thanks to an ad in the FS Magazine, which is distributed to members once a year. I was highly intrigued by their ad, and finally checked out their website yesterday, which is where I found the video. I promptly ordered the latest Summer issue No. 38, considered subscribing, but didn't see the advantage over buying single issues since it comes out to the same price. But since then, one of the Folio Society Devotees told me FS members get a free cloth covered slipcase as a bonus, so I'm now a subscriber as of about an hour ago. I wanted to get at least a half dozen of their publications but settled for now on Graham Greene's A Sort of Life and Dodie Smith's Look Back with Love. I'm also very tempted by The Real Mrs Miniver, which sounds quite fascinating, but figured I should probably get a taste for the Mrs Miniver novel first so I know what they are comparing her real life to... Inquiring minds want to know: which of their books do you have?

It's a rainy day here, and I stayed at home and finished Jane Eyre today. It's my third reading and the novel gets better on each successive revisitation. But I'm lying. I actually finished Jane Eyre around two a.m., but thought saying I'd done so on a rainy day seemed more fitting somehow. I really do wonder every time I get to the last paragraph why Brontë chose to close the novel with St John's eminent death. Why him? Why close on a religious sentiment?

Next on the Coursera The Fiction of Relationship agenda: Herman Melville’s Bartleby and Benito Cereno, both of which I got from Project Gutenberg and will be reading on my iPhone. Dying, absolutely dying to get an iPad, but I really must not. My credit card is battered enough with all the book purchases I've made this month, and last month, and the one before that, and so on. I need to update my list of purchases, but it's always a scary exercise.

The accumulator's club is a sub-group here who buy much more than they read. Your 155 bought against 61 read definitely qualifies. I too would, erm, make the club safely.

Trust the pre-birthday blues are lessening. It is just a number and you look pretty darned good whatever the number happens to be! x

>141 PaulCranswick: Dear Paul: I'm afraid 155 is quite inaccurate by now, and I did mean to update my purchases list these last couple of days. May do so now if it doesn't prove too lengthy a task.

The blues... well I don't know. Feel rather more maudlin and melancholy than I had in quite some time. Don't know at all that it's related to my birthday. The arrival of the summer weather seems to bring it on and those hot sunny, perfectly gorgeous days feel oppressive to me beyond measure. When it rains, as it did all day today, I feel somehow more in my element. Perhaps this means I should move out to the West Coast, where it rains almost all the time, or better yet, directly to England, where I could procure my FS volumes at much better prices.

I have a large family reunion to attend tomorrow, which will also mean a night away from home. I'm bringing Coco with me and we'll be staying at a B&B which allows dogs. I'm not looking forward to leaving my comfortable nest, but the event is in a natural setting, far away from the city, and that alone should do me some good.

You are a darling. xx

Trust that you and Coco have a whale of a time and that the reunion is not stressful. I hate crowds myself and don't enjoy such gatherings at all. x

>143 PaulCranswick: I'll have my iPhone with me of course, on which I have a quite gripping audiobook going right now (The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay, read by Humphrey Bower) and will also be starting on those Melville stories, as eBooks already loaded on my phone, so I may very well seek out a quiet spot and read. Which is what I always did when we had family reunions as a child, so I don't think this would surprise anyone.

And thank you for the good wishes and sympathy Paul.

Just added to my purchases list:

156. The Collected Stories of Nikolai Gogol (FS, 2nd hand)
157. Cover Her Face by P. D. James (FS, 2nd hand)
158. Anton Chekhov Short Stories (FS, 2nd hand)
159. Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (FS, 2nd hand)
160. Don't Look Now and Other Stories by Daphne Du Maurier (FS, 2nd hand)
161. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (FS, 2nd hand)
162. ♫ Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens (used Audible credit)
163. ♫ Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (used Audible credit)
164. ♫ The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (used Audible credit)
165. ♫ The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (used Audible credit)
166. ♫ The Chateau by William Maxwell (used Audible credit)
167. ♫ The Dervish House by Ian McDonald (used Audible credit)

Ilana - I read that one years ago and the parts in London are really good as I recall.

So, are you watching Ballykissangel?? I adore that series.

I see you have Travels with Charley on your list now. I've heard so many good things about that particular Steinbeck offering. Looking forward to your comments on it. :)

Paul, we've just arrived in Oz and it's been quite a ride! It's my second book by Courtenay (after The Power of One which I adored and will read again) and its a certainty there will be more. The man knew how to spin a great yarn!

Ellen, only watched ten mins of the show so far, but I'll be plunging into it soon enough!

I'm writing this from the B&B on my iphone right now, sitting in the living room with Coco by my side. When we arrived to the party, the meeting point was out by a beach were there was some sand art being finalized. That part was great, but the bagpipe player walking back and forth among the crowd gave me an instant migraine. Then there was the taking of a group picture, before which all the cars had been outfitted with empty cans (its a wedding celebration). The kids all got their own stringed cans to play with and the noise was driving me crazy. Pure torture. Coco and I ended up standing on our own among people I didn't know for the shot and as soon as everyone moved off to drive to the party site, I had a complete meltdown. Just started bawling, but luckily my aunt saw it right away and arranged with her husband to drive me back to the B&B (uncle had made sure to remove cans from car). So here I am. Coco and I went on a lovely walk down to the nearby marina, as suggested by the host of the hostel. It was just what the doctor ordered. I'm missing the whole party and may as well have saved on the hotel and stayed home, but at least I got to get out of the city.

>136 Smiler69: there is a nice little used book shop in Oamaru called Slightly Foxed :)
Clever.

Your reading course sounds really interesting, Id like it a lot more (I think) if it featured more modern works. But then again, having not read many old ones, I am not qualified to state that.
What a great way to legitimise your reading!!! :)

Oh dear. Ilana that sounds like a day to forget. I'm raising a glass of wine to you today - here's to this week being better than the last. LeChaim! Now would maybe be a good time to put on Miles' "Teo"... I love that piece of music, it's like a musical chicken soup for me.

Ah, lovely Ilana! I came by to see how you are doing - and as ever it's a mix. Sorry about the melancholy. It's a struggle you handle well enough, though it's not easy. Just wish I had a magic wand for you :-) At least you have the sweet Coco and kitties to help you on a daily basis.

So. Guess what????? I am taking the same online course as you! I love it. I decided NOT to do any of the writing assignments (I hate it so). But the reading and the lectures are fabulous. Such innovative ideas (to me) on the books so far. I'm sticking to the lectures (about 2 hours/wk in total) and loving that they are in 10-15 minute segments. Other than that, just reading the books. Summer is too busy for me to dedicate too much time to anything.

Wishing you a lovely day. It is too hot here :ppppp but we are going boating this afternoon... hopefully it will be cooler on the water.

Hugs and more hugs xoxo

#130 Side effects to medication can be lousy. Mine do something similar but I have been able to manage it by taking some food supplements. I'm grateful I have medication that works at all but there are days when I remember that other people don't have to take quite so many different pills and powders to feel approximately normal and wish I could do the same. But only occasional days.

I haven't watched this season of GoT as we don't have cable so I watch a year behind when the DVD comes out - I've heard a lot about that particular episode though!

#134 Lots of hugs. (And even if you feel better by the time you read this you can still have them).

Thank you for the very kind comment about my review of Lincoln's Melancholy. But no shoulds allowed! If it's not helping you feel better at the moment, then it's not, and that's all. I don't know what my own reaction would have been if I'd been feeling very depressed when I read it.

#148 I'm sorry the party went so badly but pleased your aunt was on the lookout and that you felt a little better afterwards. More hugs my dear.

I think I'm listening to Anna Massey right now! Rebecca!

>147 avidmom: I read Travels with Charley this last November and recommend it strongly. I had borrowed a copy from the library, and since then got the recent Penguin Classic Deluxe edition, and this month also obtained the Folio Society edition, so one could safely say that I thought it was generally pretty good!

>149 LovingLit: Several of the books we're covering in the course are rereads for me, and I would definitely recommend them all. I'd say this kind of course is probably a great opportunity to read titles you wouldn't necessarily have picked up on your own, giving you a legitimate reason to do so. ;-)

>150 Polaris-: Thanks Paul, that was not my finest hour to be sure. I love Miles Davis, or I should say some of his music, because I can rarely listen to some of the more experimental tuneless stuff without it giving me a headache, and fast. I just now tried giving Teo a listen on iTunes, but I don't think today's a good day for it; the migraine has latched on since Sunday and the first three seconds of horn on the sample made it suddenly feel much worse! To each their own chicken soup recipe eh?

>151 -Cee-: Claudia, so nice to hear from you! It looks like not only are we enjoying the same Coursera course, but we seem to be enjoying it in much the same way. I too really like the way they've divided up the lectures, so that one can take in little bits each day, or at different times of the day. What a wonderful professor. I get the feeling he must be a great favourite among many of his students. Have you participated in any of the forum threads? I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot of interesting conversation by not doing so, but that's altogether more time than I want to spend on the computer as opposed to actually reading.

It's too hot here too. Thunderstorms predicted for every day this week, which do nothing to alleviate the heat and just make everything that much more humid. I'm staying indoors with windows shut and all fans on, with cold showers and iced drinks for relief. Hope you had a lovely time out boating.

#152 Heather, I've tried all kinds of supplements and remedies, and mostly they seem to just work for a couple of days and then cease to be effective after that.

Thanks for the hugs, gratefully accepted. xx

#153 Lucy, I have that recording, and I thought it was great. So far I've loved everything she's narrated, and I hope you enjoy it too.

Sunday night at the B&B ended with a 90-minute massage, as a relation of the owners is a professional massage therapist and has a room with a massage table on the premises reserved for his use. He obviously loves what he does and gave me a great session. Best of all, it's covered by my insurance, so was basically a free treatment.

Today I tried cancelling a summer painting class which is starting next week, but it seems it's too late to do so now if I want to get my money back. The teacher sent all the participants an message recently outlining what we'd be doing in the course which started: "You have all enrolled in the all day self-directed figure painting class. As this is an advanced class as well as being self-motivated, I will introduce the criterias as you start your conceptual preparation for this endeavour." While it seemed like a great idea back in April when I signed up for this class, now, after having missed half my art classes in the Spring session, the words "self-motivated" and "conceptual preparation" sounded an alarm. I contacted him today and he suggested I not worry about trying to fulfill the stated objective of the class, which is to create a body of work with a unifying theme, concept or look, and instead just come in and paint from the model in whatever way feels right. He's extremely complimentary toward my work and has told me many times in the last year how impressed he was with the work I did in his class last summer, and said basically anything I did was sure to be great and not to set any expectations. I said I would set my expectations on just showing up for class, which would already be challenge enough, and that's what we've agree upon.

Reading:

Finished Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville, which is a wonderfully weird short story. Read it for the Coursera class, and looking forward to watching the lecture and getting the prof's comments. I'll try to write a short review of it asap. Meanwhile, I've started on a novella by Melville called Benito Cereno, also for the course.

Also finished The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay yesterday. It's the first part of his Australian Trilogy and absolutely gripping. The man has a way of keeping the reader enthralled, and I'm quite surprised to see he doesn't seem to be so popular here on LT, though he's certainly a best-seller on Audible. All his books are narrated by Humphrey Bower (chosen by Courtenay himself), who is an absolute pleasure to listen to. I want to write a short review for this book as well. Coming up soon I hope. I will definitely seek out the next instalment of the trilogy, though having seen them come up fairly often in the Audible sales, I might just wait and see if I can snag it at a bargain price. Otherwise, well worth spending a credit on.

Abandoned The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman about an hour into the audiobook (out of sixish hours). I really love Gaiman as a writer and adore him as a narrator, but the weirdness in this story just didn't jive with me and spooked me in a most unpleasant way. I'm sure the book already has many fans, but I won't count myself among them.

Rereading Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog) by Jerome K. Jerome. I meant to reread it as soon as I'd finished listening to it the first time in April 2011, and now have an added excuse to do so, as To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis was a suggested read for me and I thought it might be nice to have the original inspiration in mind before moving on to Willis' work. Interestingly enough, both audiobooks are read by the same narrator (Steven Crossley), so moving from one book to another will most definitely feel like there is a sense of continuity.

Ilana I'm glad you subscribed to Slightly Foxed. Follow them on Facebook. They are quite charming and once in a while they give out freebies.

Free massages sound like a solid investment my dear. Trust that it is a precursor to a wonderfully relaxing weekend.

I like Bartleby the Scrivener too. Your course sounds great.

Been off sick for a while and woefully behind on threads, my lovely - so blowing you a kiss as I pass by and great to see you so active again!

#156 I'm glad to hear the teacher of the course was supppotrive (and complimentary about your work). I hope you're able to enjoy the course.

#157 I love Three Men in a Boat and Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog - perfect feel good reads.

This week was devoted to Kafka for the Coursera course with The Metamorphosis, which was a reread for me, and a short-short story, The Country Doctor. Strangely enough, although I'd read first only a few years ago, in 2009, there were some important aspects of the story I'd completely forgotten about. Of course, that the main character, Gregor Samsa, wakes up one morning and discovers he's turned into a giant bug is not something I was or am likely to ever forget. But in my memory he was living in a rooming house among strangers, and not with his own parents and sister, an aspect which is so important to the story. I haven't watched the Coursera lectures on it yet, and am looking forward to doing so today.

Have just 40 minutes of the Fellowship of the Ring left to listen to, so will definitely finish it today. I was quite enthusiastic about it for a good portion of the book, though could do without all the songs through which I fast-forwarded. But when they reach the elves and all this elfish terminology comes up, I got very impatient with it and would have stopped right there, were it not for the fact I was three quarters of the way through. I have limited patience for fantasy I think and never know what is apt to rub me the right and wrong way.

Lately, just about everything rubs me the wrong way, mind, since I'm still in the throes of depression, and this past week has been very hot and humid. I'm not sure when it happened exactly that I started preferring winter over summer, but it seems to be the case now.

Saw Hellen Mirren in the role of Queen Elizabeth II in a National Theatre Live repeat screening of The Audience this week. She's so very excellent. I'm really loving these screenings of cultural events and as there were previews for three Shakespeare dramas coming up in the Fall (Othello, Macbeth—with Kenneth Branagh, and Corolianus), my friend and I decided we would attend all three. Good thing I've just ordered the RSC Complete Shakespeare Plays so I can be well prepared.

>158 luvamystery65: Roberta, I followed your advice and started following SF on FB. I saw they were giving out My Life with Books by Julian Barnes with every £10 purchase, but of course buying anything from the shop is almost out of the question considering how expensive the shipping is. I've received the first issue from my subscription, which is Spring No. 37 (will be followed by Fall No. 39 since I got the Summer issue first). What a lovely little quarterly!

>159 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul C., you remind me I need to send the receipt to my insurance company to get a refund. Not completely free, mind you, since I usually leave a big fat tip. But I do need to get massages more often as they do a world of good.

>160 Polaris-: Paul H., those two Melville short stories I read for the course were really excellent and have made me curious to read more of his work for sure.

>161 PrueGallagher: Prue, glad you're feeling all better. No worries about falling behind here. My thread isn't very active, but I must say I'm always grateful to have visitors!

>162 souloftherose: Heather, sadly, I ended up missing the first class last week. Just felt too wretched and exhausted to get out of bed. Actually, that's not quite true. I DID get out of bed, had breakfast, started getting ready, but THEN started feeling wretched and exhausted so crawled back to bed. I left the teacher a note of apology on his FB page and he was most understanding.

I was going to pick up To Say Nothing of the Dog as soon as I'd finished with the Tolkien, but now I'm kind of wanting to break up the fantasy with something else in between, so we'll see what comes up next. But TSNotD is definitely high on the agenda!

It is great that your art tutor is able to adjust the specifications of the class to accommodate you. Sounds like he is keen to make art production the main goal for you, and the class. I hope you get there and get some work that you are happy with.

>165 LovingLit: Megan, I've found that most art teachers tend to be very accommodating. After all, art is the opposite from any sort of exact science! Also, as most art teachers (in this school at least) are practicing artists themselves, dealing with people who have mood swings and disorders isn't exactly out of the ordinary for them, I gather. I do hope I make it to class too. I haven't been this unmotivated to make art in quite some time, and this streak has been lasting quite a long while...

Hi Ilana - just delurking to say hello. To Say Nothing of the Dog is more fun than fantasy IMO.

>167 avatiakh: Thank you Kerry. I'm glad to have another backer for TSNotD. I've got a few audiobooks going at the moment, but I will definitely pick it up very soon as I need to make progress on my list in >4 Smiler69:.

In reading news, we're reading To the Lighthouse for the Coursera course this week. I picked up the book, which I read a few years ago, but finding it wasn't lifting off the page, and since I'd had my eye on the audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson, and as I always find she is a real treat to listen to, I spent an Audible credit on it. So now I'm alternating between Juliet/Woolf and Ripley Underground in my listening time. I hope I don't confuse the two narratives when all is done.

Yesterday, feeling very gloomy, I decided to take the plunge and treat myself to a very self-indulgent birthday gift, so ordered an iPad from Apple. It should arrive toward the end of the week. Needless to say, I'm very excited about this purchase and can hardly believe such an amazing toy is coming my way.

#169 Happy birthday! Am I early or late?

I know how much you enjoy apple products so I hope the iPad is a good pick-me-up :-)

>170 souloftherose: Heather, shortly after writing the above message, I got a confirmation from Apple that it was arriving on Thursday the 11th, which is the day of my birthday, so... PERFECT timing! And you're right I LOVE Apple products and have been wanting an iPad since they came out on the market, so it should keep me happily occupied for a while! :-)

Yay! Your birthday is shaping up to be a good one already ;-)

I'm about to start To the Lighthouse. After the Kafka experience, I believe Weinstein can make anything seem great. Looking forward to his comments on Woolf's book.
Are you enjoying his lectures?

Hugs

Happy birthday! Hope you are enjoying your new iPad :-)

Happy Birthday Ilana! I hope you have a wonderful day that stretches out into the weekend. Enjoy yourself!

Happy birthday for yesterday!! (its probably still your birthday for you though)
I hope you had a fun day and enjoyed some books and some art and some animals :)

Happy birthday dear Ilana. I trust that the coming year is full of ups and devoid of downs. xx

Happy Birthday, Ilana! Hope you love your iPad as much as I do mine. They are just so doggone convenient. I have a Kindle (one of the older models that I like quite well), but I lent it to my cousin so she could pick her way through my books and see if there is anything there she wants to read (all the good stuff, it seems is not lend-able). This was quite a while ago. Well, not to worry, because good 'ol iPad has a Kindle app and I have to admit, I really prefer reading the Kindle books on it.

I think July is the worst month of the summer, but - yay! - it's just about half over and we'll be just that much closer to decent weather. Can't wait, myself.

Give Coco, Ezra and Mimi some head-scritches for me...

Birthday was a bit of a mixed bag, but on the whole very good. Got lots of b-day wishes from friends and family, which is always very pleasant. Booked myself a mani/pedi/blow dry at Mod's Hair, a posh yet cool hair salon just up the hill from my place. Of course, brought Coco with me and he behaved like Prince Charming, as always. Waited at home impatiently for UPS to deliver my iPad, and when it arrived, had just enough time left before dinner at one of my favourite French bistros to play around with it a bit.

Dinner is another paragraph. Dad joined me at home, complaining as he walked through the door, always a bad omen for things to come. Dinner started pleasantly enough, but by the end degenerated to a tragedy of Shakespearian proportions... One gem being him saying "My mother always said you'd be the death of me". Not the words so much as the delivery by a dramatist who deserves several Academy Awards. I ended up in a flood of tears almost losing my dinner on the sidewalk. He had the decency to take me home in a cab, then take Coco out for a walk while I... (dot dot dot) And then showered and got into PJ's. Then he apologized profusely and promised to try harder next time.

Another paragraph as I hopped into bed with my lovely furry ones and iPad in hand, proceeded to play. Woke up late, played with it again till late in the afternoon. Then lovely visit to farmer's market with Coco which included a stop at a gourmet mushroom merchant in the outdoor food court who had hired a chef who whips up mixed mushroom bruschetta on the spot, to die for (as was the incredibly ruggedly good looking young chef I shamelessly flirted with...), then going home, asked a stranger to help me up the street to my place as was crumbling under the weight of grocery bags. Then iPad on the balcony in pleasant weather for better part of the night. Among other things, watched TED inspiring videos, subscribed to Vanity Fair iPad version, which is even more delightful than the paper experience... Especially given the incredible resolution on this thing.

All in all... A great past coupla days. :-)

Thank you so so so very much Claudia, Heather, Roberta, Megan, Paul, Charlotte and Mark for the lovely b-day wishes and the beautiful balloon visual which really put a smile on my face when I got home last night. Will write more to you all v v soon. Big hugs and kisses to all, including lurkers. :-)

#179 Glad your birthday was mostly good but sorry dinner with your Dad didn't go so well.

I was obsessed to the very end with Rebecca! Now I am listening to, oh gosh, I can't remember his name but his accent is a bit like Connery's, that northern England burr..... reading the Follett cathedral-building opus. I'll be living with this voice for months and months!

It's been a while since I've updated this thread and I just now see I said I'd respond to messages and then rudely didn't up till now.

The iPad has more or less taken over my life in the last week, but at this point I'm feeling about ready to reclaim my life. One thing which has suffered is the reading of course, though I have been reading some periodicals, such as The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, which I subscribed to for trial issues on my new device. I wasted quite a lot of time on a game called Badlands, highly addictive of course, but also signed up to Digital Theatre and got a couple of excellent HD Shakespeare Productions, streamed on the device, but which I can watch on my HDTV. Just yesterday discovered a fun app released by Penguin USA called Poems by Heart, which, as it's name implies, helps you to memorise some classic poems, which in my case was the sort of exercise recommended to me to help with my memory and also introduces me to some great classics in a fun way. Lots of people have commented on how hard it is to type on this thing, and while its true the keypad isn't ideal, I'm managing ok with it, maybe because I've gotten used to typing on the iphone, though its true I've been less inclined to communicate on it as isn't as comfortable as a regular keyboard. May or may not spring for a wireless one, but we'll see.

In reading I finished the audios for both Ripley Under Ground and To the Lighthouse, the latter of the two being a reread for the Coursera class. Somehow I enjoyed the second book in the Ripley series more than the first, maybe because I didn't know what to expect, unlike the first book, which had been revealed to me by the excellent movie version first and didn't offer many surprises in consequence. Lighthouse was difficult going the first time and no less so this time around too, even though I had the excellent Juliet Stevenson reading it to me. I by far prefer Mrs Dalloway. Since those two, have picked up to Say Nothing of the Dog, which I'm enjoying quite a lot, and started on my first Faulkner for the Coursera class, Light in August, which I quite liked from the start, though unfortunately haven't had much time for so far this week. If this keeps up, I may very fall behind on the reading schedule, but then, it's not like I'd get in great trouble for it. Meanwhile, a constant stream of new books has continued to be delivered at home. Am almost too ashamed to list them, though will do so later higher up in my list toward the top of this thread, if anything for the sobering exercise it represents...

>172 -Cee-: Claudia, I think Weinstein is just wonderful and interesting and very likeable. I've been enjoying his lectures, though haven't been participating to the online discussions, or watching his group discussions either as I get a bit impatient with scholarly book dissections past a certain point. How are you participating in the class?

>176 PaulCranswick: Paul, thank you for those wishes, though I fear they aren't very realistic... I don't think a life without downs of any kind is possible for any of us, and certainly not for me, considering certain realities like genetics and family relations that are part of my lot. All the same, my outlook on the whole tends to be good and I usually find something to be happy about and grateful for most every day.

>177 Fourpawz2: Dear Charlotte, the cats and teddy bear (aka Coco) have all been duly scritched on your behalf. It is my firm belief that my furry children are the major element in my life keeping me sane and happy. That and good friends of course. And I don't need to mention reading. Nor my art, no matter how seldom I actually practice it, for when I do it's usually a true joy and very rewarding.

I discovered the Kindle app on my iPhone a while back and was very grateful for it and did use it on occasion, though not very much since that is not the ideal reading platform. No doubt I'll be using it a lot more now I have this nice big screen. I still can't believe I own this fantastic toy. What a luxury! One I can't in truth afford, but that sort of goes without saying. I do dislike the fact that you can't pass on or lend books in audio or eBook format. Somehow, it seems wrong to me that only one person can read any given book, whatever the format.

July might be on it's way out, but then there's August to deal with, isn't there? I never would have believed that one day I would complain about the summer, but dealing with the heat has become a real burden with the medication which makes me sweat when I'm not even moving. All the same, each season has its pleasures, and I try to focus on those.

>178 msf59: Mark, that beautiful image is still making me smile, and I can also zoom into it and make it real big and it's still as beautiful and crisp. Thanks so much again for posting it here. xx

>181 souloftherose: Thanks for the sympathy Heather. I do wish things weren't quite so volatile between my dad and me (I?) but it's always been that way and I still haven't figured out how to avoid flare ups or deal with the pain they bring on. Mostly I just feel quite sad about it, but I'm also grateful for the love we share and the fact that we both keep trying to make things better, against all odds--even though so many people in my life have urged me to cut myself off from him. I've thought of it too, but then I'd also be cutting myself off from the affection, usually unexpressed but still present, we share.

>182 sibylline: Lucy, I looked it up and the narrator you mention must be John Lee, who is just about as ubiquitous as Simon Vance. But I prefer Lee's deep voice which sort of pulls me in. I thought the first book in that Follett series was so badly written that it put me off reading anything else by him, which is too bad because the story itself was really good and quite memorable. Maybe I should try the second book on audio, in which format I might not notice some of the truly bad prose he's prone to using. I remember reading certain bits over and over again, trying to figure out if they were really as bad as they seemed or whether I might have missed something. I usually prefer rereading sections for their EXCELLENT prose, as I'm sure you'll agree.

By the way, I should tell you I finally located Ballykissangel on YouTube, where someone fairly recently uploaded most (I think) of the complete episodes. There were a couple missing from season 1, which took a while to grow on me, but now I'm on to season 2 and quite thoroughly hooked. Did you notice the actor acting as the young priest (can't think of his name) sort of holds his arms in a gorilla at rest stance? I really like him a lot in every other way, but once I noticed that, it hasn't stopped bothering me! All the same, am thoroughly enjoying seeing the story develop and getting to know the characters. Not to mention that gorgeous Irish countryside!

Dear, dear Ilana - How I miss your regular posting, selfish little fellow that I am. Trust that the Montreal heat is not getting you and your little four-legged troupe down too much and that you are having a lovely Sunday. x

>190 PaulCranswick: Paul, you are such a dear. I'm not quite sure what's going on with me this year. I seem to be scattered all over the place and not get anything accomplished at all except for purchasing books! That I certainly have down pat, and have the credit card bill to prove it! I really do miss this bunch, I just wish it wasn't quite so hard to keep up with everyone. Maybe if everyone posted a bit less? Or gave up on individual threads? In any case, my thread doesn't see much action in general since I've hardly participated in the group and can't expect visitors to come flocking over every day as they used to...

The heat wave has finally broken this week,which I am extremely grateful for. I don't know how you manage to live in hot weather year-round!

Hello lovely - belated Birthday Wishes! Glad to see you treated yourself to the iPad - why the hell shouldn't you? So sorry about the Disastrous Dinner with Dad (DDD). What a shame - but I also recall you posting of some lovely times with him, so focus on those, eh? I have To Say nothing of the Dog somewhere - must dig it out. Love a fun read! Take care my dear friend.

>191 Smiler69: Prue darling, thank you ever so much, I always find your messages to be so uplifting! A 'DDD' it sure was, but as you say, I choose to focus on the good things, which is why we keep in contact every day. I must say though that after one of our blowouts, there are lingering terrible feelings to deal with for weeks afterward. He makes me so angry at times that I really do fear sometimes that the worst could happen which is a scary feeling to live with.

On a lighter note, I'm really enjoying the iPad quite a lot and am on it almost all the time as you can imagine!

I'll be finishing To Say Nothing of the Dog shortly when I take Coco for his night walk as just have 30 mins of audio left. It's been very enjoyable even though there are lots of bits having to do with the main plot which completely escape me. Also, if you haven't read The Moonstone yet, watch out for major spoilers. I wasn't at all happy about that and wish I'd known so I would have read it before this book!

Hi Ilana,
Like you, I am not as active on threads as I used to be... but I do lurk a lot and stop by threads at random.
I'm so glad your birthday brought you some happiness; so sad re your dinner with Dad though. Once things are out of your mouth you cannot get them back. If he was that dramatic about it, he might have thought there was some humor in it - or - he is very much in distress. Perhaps he needs to seek his own counseling?
Just remember, no matter what his issues are, it is not your fault. He is responsible for his own life and happiness... as we all are.
Hugs to my sweet, sensitive friend.

re Coursera: "How are you participating in the class?" The very same as you - and for the same reasons. I am basically doing the readings (though a bit behind) and listening to the lectures. Have not got the time or inclination to participate in discussions or do papers. But I LOVE Weinstein's lectures. I'm getting so much out of them.

#182 Rebecca continues to haunt you, despite my irritation with the female protagonist (if indeed she can be called the protagonist). Probably the haunting is intensified with an audio book...

>194 -Cee-: So lovely to hear from you Claudia! Sorry it took me a while to respond, for some reason, I didnt see i had new messages and when i did I had to get to bed extra early on Tuesday to make sure I could wake up in the morning and make it to my painting class on time yesterday, as we were starting a new project with a different (male) model. Then after class I was a complete zombie and basically spent the evening watching three episodes of Ballykissangel back-to-back and had a dinner of homemade fruit salad smoothie...

Thank you so much for the sympathy regarding the disastrous birthday dinner with my dad. I think I'm still reeling from it, even though its been two weeks already. I spoke to my occupational therapist about it on Tuesday, and have decided that from now on we will not share meals if it can be avoided, as his table (lack of) manners are so often a major irritant for me. Also reiterated that if I don't feel up to seeing him, I will avoid doing so, but added to that caveat that if I'm fine but he shows up complaining or 'off' in any way, that I would call off our date right away. This I need to discuss with him, but it's gotten to the point that I now fear that I might literally attempt to kill him if he pushes me too far again, and of course this would be a 'rather' undesirable development.

I tend to ironically make overdramatic statements at times and my friends usually know to guffaw or call me on it, but when I do that with him, he usually just becomes even more upset and dramatic and really believes his own (excuse my French) crap. Makes it hard to bring the conversation on safer grounds, if you see what I mean. But I have found that when we spend time doing activities that are in any way linked to art, things tend to go rather smoothly, so I'll do my best to arrange things that way.

As for the class, we might as well have signed up together and be following the same schedule, because we're following the same approach. I'll be finishing Light in August tonight hopefully, and then jump right into Borges, and a very good thing too that it's such a short book, which might give us a chance to catch up. I feel like I'm letting prof Weinstein down a little, because he's been sending us these glowing comments about the quality of the online exchanges he's seeing, and of course I'm not at all participating in any of that, but I guess you and I are both there in spirit, right? ;-)

>195 PiyushC: Piyush, I listened to Rebecca on audio as well, narrated by my beloved and dearly departed Anna Massey and it was indeed a memorable experience. Next time I read it, it will be from a lovely Virago Modern Classics Designer Collection edition, as I've got quite a nice growing little collection of those lovely hardcover books, and my copy should be in the mail on it's way to me from the BookDepository as I write this...

I'd think it would be hard to take an on-line lit class. & Borges is a short book but... I don't think it will go quickly. It sounds interesting too, but as for Disgrace, I don't think I'd "enjoy" it any more if I read it for a class. That isn't a book one enjoys.

As for your comments on your father, it's good your figuring out what works and what doesn't. That's going to make it easier for both of you. Here's hoping a lot of art activities come your way.

>198 cammykitty: Katie, what makes you think it would be hard to take an online lit class? For Claudia and I, all it amounts to is doing the required reading and then watching the video lecture series which are broken down into ten twelve-minute segments on average every week. For students who want to get more deeply involved, there are discussion threads one can participate in, and also a few short essays to write with peer reviews to do, but I'm not doing any of that, so the workload is really very minimal and on the whole rather enjoyable.

None of the reading assigned can be considered of the 'light' variety. Certainly not the Faulkner I am still trying to finish, and I am sure Borges isn't easy reading either. As for Disgrace, I gave up on it a few years ago after the first page and a half, so I already know it makes for less than enjoyable reading, but I thought attempting to read it with a purpose and with some kind of guidance would at least help me get something out of it. If it weren't for this course though, I doubt I'd attempt to read it on my own again.

Thanks for the good wishes with my father. He doesn't make for 'light reading' either I guess, but I figure that much like difficult books, he makes for enriching life experiences Or at least that's how I choose to look at it when I feel better disposed. :-)

I did finish a bit of light reading yesterday with the audio of Miss Mapp by E. F. Benson. I found it in turns amusing and aggravating, with this tiny community of apparently rich and idle residents of a small English town who have nothing better to do than arrange bridge parties and get copies of designer dresses made (for the women) and play golf (for the men) making for plenty of opportunities to envy each other and create malicious gossip. I guess on the whole it made for a guilty pleasure.

eta: have decided to add Justine to the list of unfinished books for last month since I don't have the slightest inclination to pick it up again at this time.

I think there is a bit of a burn-out factor as keeping up with so many threads including your own does demand a great deal of attention. Rationed out makes it easier I suppose but then it becomes hellishly difficult to keep up so I don't know which is best?

Trust that you will have a lovely week.

>202 Smiler69: My dearest Paul, seeing as I have trouble even seeing to the most pressing basics on any given day, I've let go of the feeling I am under any kind of obligation to keep up, mainly because it is impossible to do, and I've decided to trust in my friends here and hope they will continue to like and appreciate me no matter how often or not I'm here.

I've been struggling mightily with devastating fatigue coupled with depression lately, on top of which I've had saddening news yesterday and simply being up and around as opposed to hiding under the sheets night and day is already an accomplishment of sorts, although it's true that the need to take care of Coco's needs too does go a long way toward forcing me to be up and about.

I'm a full week behind on my Coursera class and was hoping to catch up with the short Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges, but truth is its been a slog to get through these very short stories, which I'm not even remotely enjoying, try as I might.

Things are bound to get better I know, but these days it takes a lot of work to just get through any given day without crying.

I wanted to start a new thread with the new month, but seems like too much work right now, so it'll wait for now.

Hi Ilana- Finally checking in! Sorry to hear you are not doing well. Hopefully, this is short-lived. Are you still doing your photography? I haven't seen much activity on FB. Here's a long distance HUG and I'll peek in again later.

Ilana hugs from Texas! Take care of yourself.

Thinking of you and wishing for more comforting light in your life.
Hugs and more hugs....

{{{{{Ilana}}}}}

Mark, Roberta, Claudia, thanks for the caring words. I went to see my friend Liselotte today (94) as we'd set a date last week, and ended up arriving there suffering from what might have been heat exhaustion coupled with whatever was ailing me before I set out there. She wouldn't let me go back home in my state, so I took a shower, got into one of her nighties and lay down on her couch drifting in and out of sleep for three hours.

My father let me know this week that he'd learned he urgently needs to return to live in Israel or they will cut off his pension and any benefits. It's true enough things are far from easy between us, but I'm still fairly devastated. His ticket is bought for the end of August.

FINALLY finished Borge's Ficciones. To be fair, out of the 12-16 stories, there were two that I found interesting, as they seemed to be driven by some kind of narrative I could make sense of. The rest just went right over my head. Bleh.

Almost finished listening to Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. Strongly reminds me of The Paris Wife and neither she nor F. Scott are likeable in the least, but it makes for good drama all the same. Next up for Coursera: Tarjei Vesaas’ The Ice Palace (1963), which is apparently not all that well known, though I see at the very least Pat and Paul are familiar with it in this group. After that it's Beloved and Disgrace and considering the state I'm in, it'll be in the order of miracles if I manage to get through those two. Beloved was hard enough the first time around...

Sorry to hear you're feeling far from well and the news about your father must bring up all sorts of conflicting emotions :-( I'm glad you were able to see Liselotte and she was able to look after you a bit. Hugs my friend.

Hi Ilana. Sorry that you have hit a rough patch. How does this work with your father? Does he have to stay there permanently or does he have to put in some time and then he can come back to Canada? However it is, I hope it works out in whichever way is best for you.

Glad to hear that one is not committed to participating in the Coursera classes, if that isn't the way one rolls. Have been toying with taking/doing one of them myself, but that participation question was quite the bugaboo for me. Now I will have to get myself over there and look more seriously.

My best to the furry ones. Hope you will be feeling better soon. Courage - apple crisp season is right around the corner.

>207 souloftherose: Heather, you're absolutely right about this departure bringing up conflicting emotions. It's never been easy between us, no matter how much or how little distance separates us. As for Liselotte, she really is a dear, but I mostly felt guilty about worrying her so, and will stay home next time I don't feel we'll. It's just that I've cancelled on her so often and was determined to get together with her this time. Every time I don't feel well, she brings out the same old argument that I 'take too many pills' which annoys me no end. How would she know? I do admit that I'm sensitive about anyone making comments on my meds, but as I see it, it's a highly personal thing and it's in poor taste for someone to make uninvited comments about it unless they really know what they're talking about. I have a feeling you'll concur.

>208 Fourpawz2: Charlotte, to be honest, I haven't asked him about how permanent this departure is, mostly because nothing is ever permanent with him. I've lost track now of how many times he's gone back and forth between the two continents. My guess is that he's expected to remain there as a permanent resident to keep collecting his pension. He was finding the winters too difficult to deal with as the cold doesn't agree with him, which might give him an added reason to stay put over there.

As for Coursera, I figured from the start that since the classes are free and anyone can sign on, it must be up to each individual how they choose to participate in the classes. I know I would get a lot more out of this class if I participated to the online discussions, but the fact that I've kept on this far is already more than I expected I'd manage to do. More comments on the class in my next message.

Have to say your comment about apple crisp season being just around the corner put a smile on my face! 😊

#209 Absolutely concur. You're the only person who can really weigh up the costs and benefits of taking your meds.

And three cheers for apple crisp season!

>211 souloftherose: Heather, since we've discussed this issue before, I wasn't exactly taking a wild guess about your agreement on this matter!

Just finished listing all my acquisitions in July and August (240 as of today) in preparation for my new thread, which I'll start putting together once I get back from walking Coco.

New thread will have to wait. In the meantime, I've decided NOT to reread Beloved by Toni Morrison for my Coursera class. I meant to borrow it from the library, but then forgot all about it and now it's too late to do so and I feel disinclined to spend any money on it to get it as an ebook, since I found it so harrowing fist time around. So I'll cheat and use SparkNotes for this one, which means I'll be able to catch up with the reading schedule. Also means I'll be free to read whatever I want for the next few days, which is a nice break. I've enjoyed the course, but will be glad when it's over after next week's read, Disgrace.

Sale over at Audible for some preselected fantasy titles. I got books 2 and 3 in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, Fool Moon and Grave Peril. Also somehow managed to get a title by Bryce Courtenay which I'd left in my cart last time they had a sale, The Persimmon Tree.

I haven't been mentioning the Folio Society books that have been delivered these last weeks, but today I got Beowulf and On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev, two gorgeous books I'm very happy to add to my collection.

eta: 244 books purchased so far this year, though I must have forgotten to list a few because seems to me I've gotten more than that.

Hello gorgeous one! I know what you mean about meds - as a fellow walker with the 'black dog', my brother is similarly fond of telling me that I don't need 'mind altering drugs' every day. (I take paroxetine - hardly a party drug). And he doesn't know what he is talking about ("we all get a little depressed from time to time, prue!" he is fond of saying). Grrrr. I'm reading The Burgess Boys at the moment in preparation for my first Book Club meeting with a group organised via my local (and beautiful) bookshop. It always surprises me that you would be wishing for winter at the same time as I searching for the slightest hint of spring. Sorry to hear about your dad having to depart - perhaps things will be easier conducted via Skype and email? And you could visit him?

Hi Ilana, it has been ages since I visited, and I (like everyone else) am pressed for time lately, but I have caught up and was sorry to hear that your birthday was less than perfect. But I was glad to see that in spite of your problems with your dad, you are remembering it as a nice one!

I too want to read Beloved, as have only read one of her books before. And guess what- I am currently reading Seamus Heaneys translation on Beowolf. I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts, if you are reading it now? Or is it so beautiful you just care to have it to look at? (I would totally understand that!)

Anyway, sorry about your low patch just now, and hoping that it'll pass soon.

>214 PrueGallagher: Hello Dear Prue. Are you enjoying The Burgess Boys?

While I think it's a good thing that we can now speak of mental illness and depression more openly, it also means that everyone is more familiar with it indirectly or not, so that those who've not experienced clinical depression firsthand feel they can weigh in on it, when really they aren't at all qualified to do so. If I could 'just think positive thoughts or move around and get over it' one would think it would have ceased being a problem long ago, no? But I've resigned myself to the fact people will forever be making those sorts of comments, and as they mean well, I'll just have to learn to smile and ignore the niggling annoyance I feel every time.

I'm not so much looking forward to winter, especially now with a month of August which has so far brought us colder than average temps, making for what to me is ideal summer weather, with cool nights and days when one can wear slacks without risking heat exhaustion!

>215 LovingLit: Hi Megan, nice to see you in these parts and thanks for taking your time with it.

I've been feeling better since yesterday, thankfully, with more normal energy levels and an inclination to smile at all of life's small pleasures, like sitting writing this on my iPad while sitting on my back balcony where a pleasant breeze mingles with the sunshine, making for an ideal summer day.

As for Beowulf, I'd never read it before, but of course heard about it often, and also saw many good things written about Seamus Heaney's translation. This particular volume really is very gorgeous, quarter-bound in leather with cloth sides blocked with a medieval-type illustration, with old English text facing the translated pages. But all my Folio books, as gorgeous as they are, are definitely meant to be read and not just sit there looking pretty. When I unpacked it yesterday, I started reading it then and there and got quickly quite engrossed in it, but had to stop after a couple dozen pages to do other things. I fully intend to pick it up again in coming days and read it all in one sitting if I can.

I've been listening to Painter of Silence, and both the writing and narration are gorgeous. But somehow I'm not in the mood for such a serious book right now. I wouldn't say it's wasted on me, but I may very well want to revisit it, or not.

For my Coursera class, I did as I intended with Beloved and instead of rereading the novel, looked it up on SparkNotes, which I'm glad I did because even reading just the overview of each chapter was heavy going. Next up is Disgrace, our final book, and I knew for sure I wouldn't make it to the end of the course if I actually reread the Morrison. The second half of this course has been filled with one heavy text after another, and whereas I willingly pick up weighty literature here and there, I usually break it up with lighter fare, so looking forward to finishing this course and reading according to my own random agenda for a good while. I may start on the Coetzee tonight if I can muster up the courage to do so.

But first, have a few lecture segments to watch on Beloved, then hope I can fit in another episode of Ballykissangel (next up is season 5, episode 1) before making my way to bed with the aforementioned Coetzee.

I'm glad to hear you've been feeling a little better and have been able to notice and enjoy some little pleasures.

I can sympathise completely with not rereading Beloved. I haven't read it, although it's one of those books that are on the incredibly long should-investigate-someday list but I have been reading so much by mood lately and often felt unable to contemplate anything heavy or weighty.

Beloved is a book - the only one - that I got rid of and then bought again. I could not make any headway with the first copy I owned and banished it. But then, a couple of years ago, I spotted it at a book sale and bought it again. Haven't tackled it yet, but it's there. Waiting. Laughing at me.

Hope you are having a good day, Ilana...

>219 souloftherose: I know just what you mean about reading by mood, Heather. A lot of the time I'm not in a place to take in heavy literature, but I was very surprised with Disgrace, which I wasn't sure I could cope with at all, given how intense and violent it is. I think I'll take the time to write at least a few lines about it soon, because it did make a strong impression on me. I'm so glad that I can read whatever and whenever I want now, freedom at last! :-)

>220 Fourpawz2: Hi Charlotte. I think I had a better day today than yesterday. I must have eaten something that didn't agree with me, or maybe it was too salty a meal (homemade sushi at my cousin's), because I kept waking up every half hour feeling completely parched and having to drink water. After a night like that, I always feel shattered the following day, but I had the good sense to take a sleeping pill last night, so while I've spent the day feeling groggy, at least I got a good night's sleep so didn't feel like I was broken in a million different pieces.

There's something about Beloved that really pushes me away. Morrison is not by any means a writer of 'light' fiction ever, and I don't think it's the heaviness of the subject so much as the specifics of this story, the way she approached it and the writing style she adopted for it. What remains with me since my first reading, and now after having revisited via SparkNotes, is that it really has the quality of a horrible nightmare, what with ghosts appearing in the flesh and strange poetic writing that is impossible to make sense of. No. I will not revisit that book. On the other hand, another novel of hers, The Bluest Eye can't be considered light reading by a long shot either, but somehow it made a very favourable impression on me and I'm actually looking forward to rereading it.

Dear Ilana - I always like to think of myself as a reader who likes to plan ahead and I do. This invariably means however that I end up with half a dozen books on the go at any one time pandering to my mood of the moment. xx

>221 Smiler69: Paul, I'm always amazed when I see you "currently reading" posts to see how many titles you have going at any one time. I do to, but it's more in theory than practice as some books sometimes take me years to get through as I let them languish there between occasional readings.

#218, #219, #220 I read Beloved, my first Toni Morrison book, just a month and half back, for my real life book club and really hated it - hope you guys have a better time with it.

>224 PiyushC: Piyush, I'm sorry you hated Beloved. I'm sure you're not alone. I think I pretty well summed up my feelings about it in the post above, i.e. #221.