PGMCC explores the Biblioverse in 2024: Seventh instalment

Books completed in 2024

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

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett Reading 19/12/2023 - 15/01/2024 445 Pages
If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino 05/01/2024 - 27/01/2024 272 Pages
Relight my Fire by C. K. McDonnell 27/1/2024 - 01/02/2024 518 Pages
Berlin Game by Len Deighton 01/02/2024 - 07/02/2024 296 Pages
The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas 08/02/2024 - 12/02/2024 247 Pages
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth 12/02/2024 - 27/02/2024 369 Pages
Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson 27/02/2024 - 05/03/2024 350 Pages
The Accordionist by Fred Vargas 05/03/2024 - 10/03/2024 249 Pages
Poor Things by Alistair Gray 11/03/2024 - 15/03/2024 336 Pages
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka 16/03/2024 - 27/03/2024 408 Pages
Leadership Magic by Grahame Pitts 28/03/2024 - 01/04/2024 129 Pages
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 02/04/2024 - 06/04/2024 468 Pages
The Leaky Establishment by David Langford 07 /04/2024 - ? Pages
Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas and translated by David Bellos12/04/2014 - 18/04/2024 359 Pages
The Fog Horn (Short Story) by Ray Bradbury BB from jillmwo 14/04/2024 - 14/04/2024 6 Pages
Mexico Set by Len Deighton 19/04/2024 - 03/05/2024 364 Pages
Bunny McGarry Shorts by Caimh McDonnell 04/05/24 - 06/05/2024 288 Pages
Nemesis Games by James S. A. Corey 07/05/2024 - 17/05/2024 532 Pages
Beyond the Light Horizon by Ken MacLeod 17/05/2024 - 01/06/2024 380 Pages
Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas 02/06/2024 - 06/06/2024 371 Pages
2024 Hugo Awards Short Story short-list 07/06/2024 - 10/06/2024
- Answerless Journey 10 Pages
- Tasting the Future Delicacies Three Times 20 Pages
- Better Living Through Algorithms 13 Pages
- Children of the Mausoleum
- The Sound of Children Screaming
- How to Raise a Kraken

My voting:
1 Tasting the Future Delicacies Three Times
2 Better Living Through Algorithms
3 How to Raise a Kraken
4 The Sound of Children Screaming
5 Children of the Mausoleum
6 Answerless Journey

West Heart Kill by Dan McDorman 10/06/2024 - 19/06/2024 272 Pages
The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry 19/06/2024 - 25/06/2024 225 Pages
Portable Magic by Emma Smith 26/06/2024 - 17/07/2024 297 Pages
A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson 17/07/2014 - 11/08/2024 294 Pages
The Hymn Tune Mystery by George A. Birmingham 11/08/2024 - 19/08/2025 359 Pages.
Babylon's Ashes by James S. A. Corey 21/08/2024 - 536 pages
Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson 06/09/2024 - 17/09/24 225 pages
Wild Justice by George A. Birmingham 17/09/2024 - 22/09/2024 457 Pages
Pretty Good Neighbor by Jeffrey Ford 20/09/2024 - 20/09/2024 10 Pages Short Story
Mortal Love by Elizabeth Hand 22/09/2024 - 11/10/2024 364 Pages
The Wilding by Ian McDonald. 12/10/2024 - 16/10/2024 310 Pages
"The Key to Common Sense" by Grahame Pitts 16/10/2024 - 16/10/2024 71 Pages
How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn 16/10/2024 - 411 Pages of text. 560 pages when notes and index are included.
Kala by Colin Walsh 21/10/2024 - 28/10/2024 418 Pages
Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway 24/10/2024 - 27/10/2024 310 Pages
"Room for the soul of the Wanderer: Commemorating Charles Robert Maturin" by Fergal O'Reilly 30/10/2024 - 31/10/2024 16 pages (Article in Green Book Issue 24)
After Dark by Haruki Murakami 30/10/2024 - 03/11/2024 201 Pages
Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand by Fred Vargas 03/11/2024 - 08/11/2024 402 Pages
Disobedient by Elizabeth Fremantle 08/11/2024 - 09/11/2024 352 Pages DNF Abandoned after 102 pages
Body of Truth by Marie Cassidy 09/11/2024 - 14/11/2024 438 Pages
Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim 12/11/2024 - 22/11/2024 141 Pages
The Green Man's War by Juliet E. McKenna 23/11/2024 - 25/11/2024 344 Pages
You Have Arrived At Your Destination by Amor Towles 26/11/2024 - 25/11/2024 54 Pages
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami 26/11/2024 - 464 Pages
Held by Anne Michaels 02/12/2024 - 07/12/2024 227 Pages
Two-Way Murder by E. C. R. Lorac 10/12/2024 - 19/12/2024 228 Pages
Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent 26/12/2024 - 31/12/2024 387 Pages

Happy new thread! May I just note that the length of your list of completed reads is just this side of intimidating! (Meaning that when I get stuck, I sometimes drop by your thread to see what I may have missed...)

>1 pgmcc: Happy New Thread!

Happy New Thread!

Happy new thread, Peter!

Happy New Thread!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

>2 jillmwo:, >3 clamairy:, >4 Karlstar:, >5 haydninvienna:, >6 Alexandra_book_life:, >7 Sakerfalcon: & >8 Narilka:
Thank you all for your new thread wishes.

>2 jillmwo: Was there anything significant that you missed?

I am sure if I perused your books-read list I would find a lot of volumes looming there ready to ambush me and riddle me with BBs.

Three new acquisitions in the recent past.



Our son arrived back from Baltimore after two weeks there for work. He visited the aquarium and was well impressed. In the souvenir shop he looked out for a present for us. Being of a eco-friendly and sustainability oriented disposition he decided to get us an educational book about fish. Foolproof Fish, 60 delicious dishes to make at home.



My friend who runs "Swan River Press" posted about having found a copy of Lafcadio Hearn's book, Gombo Zhèbes: Little Dictionary of Creole Proverbs. I like Hearn's works and my interest was piqued. I picked up this Kindle version for less than €2.



Anybody reading my threads will be aware that I like the work of Charles Robert Maturin. I found a Kindle version of the play that was his great commercial success. He apparently made many changes to the play during its run to address some issues the audiences and critics had.

My Kindle version of The Green Man's War arrived on my device on the day of publication, 15th November, 2024. I am currently reading Elizabeth and her German Garden and will get to the Green Man book once I have finished that.

On Saturday last my wife and I joined other members of my family and friends to celebrate my sister’s 80th birthday. Her children organised what turned out to be a lovely afternoon in Belfast Castle. After our main course and as people settled down for their coffee and birthday cake I kicked off the audience participation (i.e. people singing and playing musical instruments) by playing a recording of my sister reciting her party piece in January, 1951 when she was six.

I have been asked, by a member of the Green Dragon, how we had managed to save this recording for all those decades. Below is the story which is a piece of my family history.

In the late 1940s one of my father’s brothers, my uncle Peter, went to South Africa to work as an electrical engineer. While out there he met a local girl and they were married. Around the same time three of my father’s sisters had become nuns and travelled to South Africa to teach there. So, by 1951 my father’s family, of which there were ten siblings, had five members of the family in South Africa.

Another of my uncles, Joe, was a Franciscan priest resident in Belfast. He had a great idea for sending family messages out to the five family members in South Africa. He had access to a wire recorder in his monastery and, apparently, all the Franciscan monasteries around the world had wire recorders so they could send voice messages by post to all their communities. Uncle Joe suggested making a wire recording of every member of the family in Belfast performing their party pieces and sending verbal greetings to South Africa. His plan was to make the wire recording and send it out to my uncle Peter and that he and the other members of the family could visit the nearest Franciscan monastery and the Franciscans would be only too pleased to play it for them.

The recordings were made in January 1952 and the wire recording sent out to South Africa where it was received, but never played. ☹

Fast forward to eleven years ago. By this stage the three nuns had passed away as had my uncles Peter and Joe. Of the five family members who were the intended recipients of the messages on the recording only my uncle’s widow, aunt Dulce, was still alive. Also, uncle Peter and Dulce had had two children, a boy and a girl, and moved back to Ireland. My cousin John, the boy-child of Peter and Dulce had three children, two girls and a boy. Their daughter had a son, but that is not pertinent to the story of the recording.

John’s youngest, in her teens, was assigned a history project at school. The project involved interviewing older members of the family and trying to capture details of their life and times while they were still available. While talking to her grandmother, who was in her nineties at the time, she learned about the wire recording that was sent out to South Africa in 1951. Dulce said it came back to Ireland when she and Peter moved over in the 1960s and that it was somewhere in the house.

Ciara, the teenaged student, did some digging and found the spool of wire that was the recording.

The next problem was playing the recording. I do not know about you but I have only seen wire recorders of TV in some documentaries or curious technology shows. The resourceful Ciara, however, was not to be stymied. She did some investigation and found someone in England who could take the wire and convert the recordings on it into digital MP3 files. The result, in 2013 43 MP3 files arrived in my e-mail box from my cousin’s wife. These contained the voices of my grandfather, grandmother, aunts, uncles, mother, father and siblings. By that stage all my aunts, uncles and parents had passed away but I had know all of the people on the recording except my grandfather who had died before I was born. When I played the recordings I was hearing my grandfather’s voice for the first time in my live. That was quite emotional and, in a way, weird.

In the 1951 recording my sister had recited a poem that was her party piece as they were called when children and others were called on to perform when visitors were in the house. This sister was also my godmother and we are quite close. All my life I had heard about her party piece, but all I knew of it was the starting lines:

“My daddy is a big, big man.
He stands just six feet tall.”

When I played the recording it was the first time I heard my sister’s party piece right through.

At the time I circulated the recordings to my siblings, but that was 2013 and I believe they had filed them away after listening to them and forgotten about them.

Last week I thought it would be a good idea to bring the recording to the 80th birthday celebrations and play it for the attendees. I went to get the recording and, as you would expect, I could not find it. I could not find where I had stored the MP3 files.

Id did some digging around and searching different external hard disc drives I have and could not find it. The only hope I had was that the original e-mail from my cousin’s wife was still in my mail box. Thankfully it was.

For those interested the full poem is here:

My Daddy

My Daddy is a big, big man,
He stands just six feet high.
When I look up at him he seems almost to reach the sky.
He takes me on his shoulder and gives me a nice ride,
All round the room, and up the stairs, and on the grass outside.
Sometimes he is a dancing bear
He walks on hands and knees
And like a bear, he picks me up and gives me a big squeeze.
But Daddy never hurts me,
No. He makes me laugh. It’s fine.
There never was a daddy half as good and kind as mine.

>12 pgmcc: What a great story! It is wonderful that they saved it all those years, but why the devil didn't they ever play the recording back in 1952, though?

>12 pgmcc: What >13 clamairy: said! I'm glad you were able to reclaim that piece of family history.

An early Amazon delivery brought me The City and its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami. Today is the released date for the book here.

>14 Karlstar: & >13 clamairy:

I have no idea why they did not play the recording when they received it. I presume it was no easy journey to arrange getting people to the Franciscan monastery to play the wire. It was probably a bit like finding time to read; real life gets in the way. I do not know my uncles travel arrangements at the time and a trip to the monastery may not have been convenient.

Anyway, if they had done that I would not have had a story to tell about the recovery of this lovely set of recordings. They probably would have played it and forgotten it and it would have been discarded and never made its way back to Ireland.

I gathered from my grandfather's message that he was writing letters to them every week with the family news. He message also communicated his poorly hidden frustration that they were not replying at the same frequency. :-)

>16 pgmcc: Just checked the internet, and the only Franciscan addresses that come up in South Africa are Mariannhill, a few km from where I live in the "Outer West" of Durban, and Vanderbijlpark in the Vaal Triangle. Neither place is exactly easy of access, and if your uncle lived in the Cape (Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London or Kimberley, though that is within one day of Vanderbijlpark) playing the recordings would have involved a two-day (three from Cape Town to Mariannhill, unless your uncle drove long and fast) journey each way.

>17 hfglen:
I will have to check with my cousins to find out where they lived and what convents my aunts were in. Thank you for the information about how difficult the journey would be.

>12 pgmcc:. What a lovely story. (On so many levels.)

>19 jillmwo:
Thank you.

Today I met a friend for lunch. The venue was in a part of the city I do not often visit. Would you believe there was a bookshop nearby? Well, there was.

In the window they gad copies of recently discovered story by Bram Stoker, Gibbet Hill. I have been planning to get a copy since its discovery was publicised a short time ago.

When I walked into the shop the first thing to catch my eye was How to Tell a Story from The Moth.

Yes, I bought both books.

I then caught a bus into town and happened, deliberately on purpose, to arrive at Hodges Figgis. There must have been about five books I resisted the urge to but. I was not so successful when I spotted a Japanese murder mystery I did not know of. Because of earlier purchases I had a €10 discount so got the book for €3.50.

The book is The Black Swan Mystery by Tetsuya Ayukawa.

I am now in The Duke having some chowder and a pint of Smithwicks. I am also perusing the storytelling book.

>20 pgmcc: Excellent book acquisition Peter! You never disappoint.

>21 Sakerfalcon:
I am delighted you approve.

>12 pgmcc: Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful story! I am happy you shared it with us :)

>20 pgmcc: It's nice when people find good books :)))

>16 pgmcc: So glad you have the recording. Might be a good idea to transcribe it and print it in addition to keeping the recording. It has been helpful in our family to have both kinds of media.

Many of my grandmother's letters began with chiding her children for not writing more frequently. Sometimes she didn't get a letter from them for a while week! :D

Great story about the recording, Peter. And a part of Dublin where you seldom go but where there was a bookshop? Something isn't right about that sentence.

>12 pgmcc: Oh, what a great story! Such rich history!

I am looking forward to see how you like the Bram Stoker book. I have only read Dracula and loved it.

I think >26 haydninvienna: has phrased exactly the right question before us today. Is it really possible that there are bookshops in Dublin that Peter HASN"T visited with some degree of regularity?

I have just exchanged messages with a Facebook friend who is also on LT in one of the Weird/Horror groups. He posted a picture of his current read, Messengers of Evil*, which is, apparently, the third book in a French series about a character called Fantômas. Yes, I had a quick check and discovered the first book, Fantomas, the first book is available in Kindle version for 99p. The second book in the series is priced at £3.95. I have acquired the first two and will consider further procurement options after reading these books.





*AKA The Corpse Who Kills

>23 Alexandra_book_life:
I am glad you liked it. I think it is a great story, and I know/knew all the characters except my grandfather.

>25 MrsLee:
Thank you for the tip. Most of the files are people singing or playing piano but some of them are verbal greeting. I will take your recommendation. Thank you for the tip.

Most of my letters to people start with profuse apologies for not having written sooner.

>26 haydninvienna:
These days I am not often in Rathmines. The shop I am talking about is Alan Hanna's, it has been there for a long time and provides a great selection of books. I would not be surprised that you may have visited at some stage during your working in Dublin. It is a great space but is very cramped for space. The owner has been very successful with on-line and library sales and his people are busy stocking shelves and making up orders. There are stacks of books and boxes everywhere and it is quite the obstacle course to browse the shelves. A wonderful experience.



>27 catzteach:
I am glad you appreciated the story.

The book containing the recently rediscovered Stoker story includes several chapters about things Stoker, including a chapter describing how the story was rediscovered. I am looking forward to reading the story itself, and will peruse the accompanying essays with an enquiring mind.

>28 jillmwo:
I lived for five months in Ranelagh which is right beside Rathmines from Nov. 1982 to May 1983. My bedsit* was about 700m from Alan Hanna's bookshop. At the time I was a very junior person in my occupation and was watching every penny. I was not then in the habit of visiting bookshops, and besides, everything I needed was on my doorstep in Ranelagh, including my then fiancée who lived around the corner with her family in the house they had lived in all her life. I was not aware of Hanna's bookshop until decades later. I suspect I have been in the shop five times since becoming aware of it. I make a point of visiting it any time I am in the area. It was my friend's idea that we should meet in the crêperie across the road. Honest. I did not know Voici Crêperie and Wind Bar existed before we have lunch there in August of this year.

Yesterday's lunch was my suggestion and I have to confess that the choice of venue may have been influenced by the opportunity to visit Alan Hanna's after lunch. The reason I am not in that shop more frequently is its location. I have to take two buses to get to it. There is no point driving as parking in the area is crazy, not to mention the traffic which just appears to be crazy everywhere these days.

I hope this answers your questions regarding my infrequent visits to Alan Hanna's Bookshop, a shop I would thoroughly recommend people to visit if they are ever in the area. I think @hadninvienna would come out with multiple bags of books if he ever visited this Aladdin's cave for the bibliophile.

I made post >20 pgmcc: on my phone while sitting in The Duke having my chowder and pint. Under these conditions I did not have the functional wherewithal to post pictures of my reported purchases and planned to do that later. It is now later.

Also, while making post >20 pgmcc: I forgot to report additional Kindle purchases made while I was in Hodges Figgis. (I could be executed by the book retailers' federation for such a crime. Do not judge me; my reasoning has a convincing fiscal foundation.)

Avid readers of my thread will recall my meeting a former colleague for lunch on Tuesday, 12th November. Paul is an avid SF reader and watcher of SF films and screen adaptions. He asked me about a book called Wool and whether I had seen a streamed series based on the book and called Silo. I had to admit I was not aware of either and he then regaled me with the virtues of the series and the book.

Well, as I entered the SF department in Hodges Figgis I spied a copy of Wool. I went over to have a look and discovered that it is the first book in a trilogy and that the trilogy is the basis for the screen adaptation called Silo, as my friend had mentioned. I looked at the price and thought it a bit dear for an immediate purchase, and then had the idea of checking the price on Amazon. (Here comes the advice of The National Fiscal Council.) Wool Kindle edition (now entitled Silo on Amazon) was on a short-term offer price of £0.83, as was Shift, the second book in the trilogy. Dust, the final book was on sale for £5. The Council suggested procurement action. They now reside on my Kindle awaiting attention.



Today I messaged my friend that I had acquired the trilogy thinking that he would be pleased. His response was not what I expected after his enthusiasm over lunch last week.

I'd be interested to hear your review when you finish it. I thought it good, but maybe overrated. I like the series.

:-)

The continuing storrrrreeeee......

After my chowder and pint, GD posting, and a little reading of the storytelling book, I headed over to meet my usual Tuesday evening drinking buddies. We had decided to go to the cinema as a group to watch Gladiator II. After the film we retire to The Oval Bar on Abbey Street for a couple of refreshing drinks*.

The discussion was a dissection of the film and a mulling over all the historical inaccuracies and failings of the script.

My view of the film was that it was entertaining enough, but I stopped expecting historical accuracy and wonderful storylines in films many decades ago. While I found it entertaining enough I would not say it is a must-see. It was very predictable, has a very poor script, in my view and that of my friends, a lack-lustre main actor, and is full of anachronisms, such as the Roman children playing soccer, someone sitting reading a newspaper, and a man tending gladiators' wounds and talking about the importance of cleaning wounds to avoid infection.

The highlight of the film was the scene where an elephant walked across the screen. There is always and elephant. #thereisalwaysanelephant. The elephant's presence was not wasted on my friends.

My friends were in a heighten film critic mode. They were particularly upset about the script. Also for criticism, was the way the other gladiators started following the main character when he was pretty mundane. Also, the speeches that were made were not delivered with any charisma or rabble-rousing enthusiasm.

Yes, not recommended. Do not feel you missed anything if you did not see it.

*Mine being the non-alcoholic Guinness which will probably leave some of you wondering, "Why bother?"

Wow. You're warning us off two things (a movie and Wool in a single 24 hour period). FWIW, I agree with the tepid feedback on Wool; I personally found it tedious -- so yes, overrated. (I'm sure I read it as part of a book group because someone in the group had sworn that it was up-and-coming science fiction.)

Take that for what it may be worth, because it may just have been that I was in the wrong place and mindset at the time. YMMV.

>34 jillmwo:
I do not know if I have access to the screen version, Silo. That might be a better option rather than reading the books.

One concern I have is that the premise appears to be very similar to the series I watched earlier this year, "Fallout".

Hmmmm! I just had a quick look at my library and looked at the books I have acquired this year. There would appear to be 117 such books. I think I have Thingaversary celebration credits for a few years yet to come.

I've read Wool once as an ebook and again as an audio and then also listened to the other two in the series. I liked the first one the best, but it has some drawn out parts. The second, Shift, is very slow and repetitive. The third, Dust, while not as engaging as Wool, wasn't as bad as Shift. If you aren't really into the first one, I think you can safely skip the others. The first has enough suspense and other-worldliness to feel more immediate and dire.

The series on Apple is quite good and isn't as draggy as the book was. Am waiting for a stretch of time when my husband will be home for more than 2 days to get into the second season.

>30 pgmcc: I lived at R Ranelagh (in Mountpleasant Avenue) for a while, and I used to go to the Tesco on (I think) Rathmines Road, which is almost opposite Alan Hanna's Bookshop. But I don't remember the bookshop. Odd. I left Dublin in 2011, but if I understand you correctly the bookshop was there before that ... ?

>38 haydninvienna:
It appears to have been there since 1977. It is quite a small shop front, so perhaps you just did not notice it. That is disappointing. I think you would have loved it. You will just have to make that return trip a reality. (I wish!)

My wife lived on Ranelagh Road, just opposite the Mountpleasant Tennis Club. My hobbit-hole like bed-sit* was on Charleston Road, just beside the Ranelagh triangle.

*My bed-sit did not have any of the luxuries witnessed in Bilbo's home. Its similarity to a hobbit-hole was more to do with its giving one the feeling of living in a hole in the ground.

I have just realised that today is publication day for Fortunate Son by Caimh McDonnell. A quick check showed me that this has arrived on my Kindle. Yay!

It appears I am the first person to add Fortunate Son by Caimh McDonnell to LibraryThing. I do not expect to be the only person on Librarything with this book for long.

>41 pgmcc: Dublin Trilogy book 8? :o)

Edited to add: Thanks for the reminder that I still had Relight My Fire waiting to be read. I was saving it for desperate times when I needed some cheering up. I think now works.

>42 clamairy:
Yes; Dublin Trilogy book 8.
:-)

He keeps referring to it as, “…the more, and more inappropriately named Dublin Trilogy.”

>39 pgmcc: I wish also! My quarters in Mountpleasant Avenue were a bit better than a bedsit but still not exactly luxurious. But I still miss it.

>33 pgmcc: You and your friends might enjoy this article from the Guardian, which also notes many historical innaccuracies

>32 pgmcc: I read Wool and quite enjoyed it, but felt no compulsion to continue the series.

>45 Sakerfalcon: That's exactly how I felt about Wool, and I stopped there because I read some mediocre reviews of the sequel.

>45 Sakerfalcon:
I have passed on the article to my friends letting them know that The Guardian agrees with their assessment.

I might return the third volume. There appears to be a consensus that it is not the best trilogy in the world.

>44 haydninvienna:
I was in my bed-sit at the time Shergar disappeared. One night I was lying in my bed at the bottom of the hole in the ground, and I could hear such stomping and crashing in the room above that I thought they were hiding the horse up there. At one point the clomping around got so bad some plaster fell off the ceiling and landed on my bed on top of my feet. That led to an angry phone call to the renting agent and a mention of the place being uninhabitable and a hint of calling authorities. When I got home from work the following day the ceiling had been replastered.

They never did find Shergar.

>46 clamairy:
You are finalising my decision to return the third book, the only one that cost any real money.

I am making slow progress through Elizabeth and Her German Garden. It is not really my kind of book but I will finish it because it has some interesting philosophical quotes. It is the musings of a woman, Elizabeth, in Germany who is married to a man who goes off to work leaving her in their country mansion with the servants and their three young children. The book is entirely her telling the reader her thoughts and what she is doing.

Her preferred activity is sitting in the garden admiring the plants, the bushes, and the apparent wildness of the garden. She does not like her social obligations and is repelled by the generally accepted practice of married ladies of her class to spend the day visiting her peers and discussing fashions. When she does meet these ladies she is told she should be doing more than sitting in the garden reading a book. She responds that she likes to be alone in the garden reading a book, and the others interpret this as her being a good little wife and surrendering her freedom to her husband and claiming to be happy with her lot.

While she has many interesting philosophical notions, she does not see that she is actually trapped by the social norms of her times. She has a governess to look after the children, a cook to look after the food, maids to look after cleaning and other household duties, a gardener with a crew to look after the garden, and endless time to do whatever else she wants to do. She cannot understand people who do not, like her, simply spend time in the garden doing nothing.

The lady's dislike of company is apparent from some of her thoughts:

"I have two visitors staying with me, though I have done nothing to provoke such an infliction,..."

"I have been much afflicted again lately by visitors—"

"I am speaking of comparative strangers, people who are forced to stay a certain time by the eccentricities of trains, and in whose presence you grope about after common interests and shrink back into your shell on finding that you have none."

There are many quotes relating to the gender politics of the time.

"“Is it true,” appealed Minora to the Man of Wrath, busy with his lemons in the background, “that your law classes women with children and idiots?” “Certainly,” he answered promptly, “and a very proper classification, too.”"

"governesses are but women, and women are sometimes foolish, and when you want to be foolish it must be annoying to have to be wise."

There are about two pages I would like to quote on new year's resolutions. I will confine myself this one:

"“I wonder,” she went on after a pause, “whether men ever make resolutions?” “I don’t think they do. Only women indulge in such luxuries. It is a nice sort of feeling, when you have nothing else to do, giving way to endless grief and penitence, and steeping yourself to the eyes in contrition; but it is silly. Why cry over things that are done? Why do naughty things at all, if you are going to repent afterward? Nobody is naughty unless they like being naughty; and nobody ever really repents unless they are afraid they are going to be found out."

>50 pgmcc: I love that quote on resolutions. So I was reading this while my husband was in the hospital for the final weeks of his life. I don't remember much about the book, except that it had zero to do with what was happening in my life at the time, and I appreciated it for that.

Also, I want garden staff. In my memory she did some of the garden work herself, like trimming things and deciding where stuff should be moved. Am I misremembering that?

>51 clamairy:
No, your recollection is perfect. There are pages of her internal discussions about the flowers she will plant, how they should be planted, and where. Some paragraphs are like a flower type checklist.

This book is one of our December book club reads.

All this talk of the Silo series has convinced me not to read the books. I was wondering if they were any good as I do enjoy the series. I forgot the second season was out. Methinks The Husband and I will watch it over the long Thanksgiving weekend coming up soon.

A friend posted a video from Achill Island this morning. I used Microsoft's Image Composite Editor (ICE) to turn it into a panorama shot. Apparently the Island has no electricity at the moment. The forecast is for power restoration tomorrow evening. There is a storm closing in, Storm Bert, so I hope this does not delay the power restoration for the people on Achill.

Now, doesn't looking out on a view like that just make you feel really warm inside...not!

>53 catzteach:
Unfortunately I do not have access to the screen adaptation. While I will probably read the first book I am in no rush to get to it.

>54 pgmcc: That's impressive. I'm sitting in relative comfort but wish some of the storm systems that you all are getting would hit my part of the world. We're currently in a drought. (Please note I am not asking for massive storms with attendant outages as there on Achill Island. Just a nice steady rain for about 2-3 hours.)

Reading Dilemma

I am in a beautiful situation. Currently I am reading a book club read, Elizabeth and Her German Garden, a relatively short book that is taking me quite a long time to read, but which has picked up at the 66% stage. My dilemma is that I want to get on to so many other greatly anticipated books that I now have at my disposal. These, to mention just a few, include:

The Green Man’s War by Juliet E. McKenna

Fortunate Son (The Dublin Trilogy Book 8) by Caimh McDonnell

The City and its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

Gibbet Hill by Bram Stoker

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

The remaining Commissaire Adamsberg books by Fred Vargas

Eric Ambler’s remaining unread books.

Dorothy L. Sayer’s unread Lord Peter Wimsey books.

Certainly a First World problem. I will just have to suck it up and get to reading.

>56 jillmwo:
Be careful what you ask for.

>57 pgmcc: You seem to be suffering a great deal under such circumstances. Of course I send my thoughts and prayers. :>)

>58 pgmcc: I know. One ought not to tempt fate.

>59 jillmwo:
Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated. They let me know I am not alone in this quagmire of good books.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/B0D2HXGT62.01._SX180_SCLZZZZZZZ...

Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim

Would I read another book by this author?
No. Not because I thought this was a bad book, but that it contained too much text on subjects I was not interested in.

Would I recommend this book, and if so, to whom?
Yes, to people who like gardening and good writing and introspection.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
I was prompted to look up translations of the German phrases and words used in the story.

This is a difficult book for me to review. I have nothing bad to say about the book, it is just that I am not sure it is a book that fits my taste. Having said that I found it really took off with philosophical thoughts and quotable phrases once I was 60% into the text.

Why did I stay with the book to the 60% point when I was not feeling it was a book for me?

Well, it was well written. I was getting a bit bored with the preponderance of pages devoted to descriptions of the garden and the flora within. I am familiar enough with plants and shrubbery to know everything I read in those paragraphs was accurate, but I am not a person who likes reading about these things. I stayed with the book because it had that little bit more that brings a book to life. It was well written, but that should be a hygiene factor for any book. This book had humour, and the occasional quirky way of looking at things.

What was also present was its highlighting of the insufferable position of women in the society of the time and place. I had just abandoned Disobedient by Elizabeth Fremantle because it was a very flat telling of a story with no embellishments, humour, or interesting observations. Also, the characters were fairly one-dimensional. Elizabeth in Elisabeth and Her German Garden was interesting for her innocence, naivety, and the fact that she did not consider herself confined, repressed and trapped in a cage. Disobedient was trying to show the poor treatment of women in Roman times, but it lacked any spirit or flare. Elizabeth in Her German Garden does a much better job of showing how poorly women were treated but does it in an interesting and humorous fashion.

Arnim has succeed in giving a view of wealthy German society’s treatment of women and how they lived their lives in a gentle, yet heavy hitting dialogue presented in the words and thoughts of a lady considered eccentric because she was more comfortable in her own company and that of plants than she was with societal peers.

I consider this a good book, one that some people will love, but it contained too many pages devoted to topics I am not particularly interested in, but others will be. It did not fill me with a buzz, but it did amuse me with its observations and twists of societal bitchiness.

Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim

Would I read another book by this author?
No.

Would I recommend this book, and if so, to whom?
Yes, to people who like gardening and good writing and introspection.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
I was prompted to look up translations of the German phrases and words used in the story.

This is a difficult book for me to review. I have nothing bad to say about the book, it is just that I am not sure it is a book that fits my taste. Having said that I found it really took off with philosophical thoughts and quotable phrases once I was 60% into the text.

Why did I stay with the book to the 60% point when I was not feeling it was a book for me?

Well, it was well written. I was getting a bit bored with the preponderance of pages devoted to descriptions of the garden and the flora within. I am familiar enough with plants and shrubbery to know everything I read in those paragraphs was accurate, but I am not a person who likes reading about these things. I stayed with the book because it had that little bit more that brings a book to life. It was well written, but that should be a hygiene factor for any book. This book had humour, and the occasional quirky way of looking at things.

What was also present was its highlighting of the insufferable position of women in the society of the time and place. I had just abandoned “Disobedient” by Elizabeth Fremantle because it was a very flat telling of a story with no embellishments, humour, or interesting observations. Also, the characters were fairly one-dimensional. Elizabeth in Elizabeth and Her German Garden was interesting for her innocence, naivety, and the fact that she did not consider herself confined, repressed and trapped in a cage. Disobedient was trying to show the poor treatment of women in Roman times, but it lacked any spirit or flare. Elizabeth and Her German Garden does a much better job of showing how poorly women were treated but does it in an interesting and humorous fashion.

Arnim has succeed in giving a view of wealthy German society’s treatment of women and how they lived their lives in a gentle, yet heavy hitting dialogue presented in the words and thoughts of a lady considered eccentric because she was more comfortable in her own company and that of plants than she was with societal peers.

I consider this a good book, one that some people will love, but it contained too many pages devoted to topics I am not particularly interested in, but others may be. It did not fill me with a buzz, but it did amuse me with its observations and twists of societal bitchiness.

>57 pgmcc: I dove right into The Green Man's War as soon as it hit my Kindle and think you should get to it soon too :) It is a fairly typical installment of the series but I enjoy the setting so much that I couldn't wait to spend more time at Blithehurst. As usual, Dan has to attend to a situation with another type of fantastic being, and I felt that the ending was a bit less satisfying than I would have liked, but overall it is a good continuation of the story.

>63 Darth-Heather:
I have just finished my current read and The Green Man's War is next up. I get a mention in the acknowledgements. :-) I am quite chuffed.

>54 pgmcc: That's a great view! Looks like a beautiful place to live.

>64 pgmcc: how cool! You got to advise on turf fire - I learned a bit about burning peat from this book. How did you connect with the author?

>62 pgmcc: I think I am exactly the audience for that book. Pretty talented bullet shooting when you didn't even love the book. I added it to my wishlist because the Kindle version is 0.00, but I can't order it on my phone app, will have to do so from my laptop. I know I can circumvent the phone app, but I find it tedious.

>66 Darth-Heather: She was a regular guest at the convention I used to organise, Guest of Honour in 2005. She has continued to attend other Irish conventions so I tend to meet her about once a year. She asked for advice about peat fires on facebook and I mentioned my experience. At WorldCon in Glasgow August past she hunted me down and we had a long discussion about peat fires. I wasn’t sure if it was for this book or the next until a friend let me know I was in the acknowledgements.

>67 MrsLee:
I hope you enjoy it. Some parts are very funny.

>57 pgmcc: Swimming in the ocean of good books is tough! I sympathise :)

Something worth mentioning about Countess Elisabeth von Arnim was that she was born Elizabeth Beauchamp in Sydney in what was then the colony of New South Wales. Went to Europe, met Count von Arnim (“the Man of Wrath”), married him, he got into trouble and then died, she went to England and married into the British nobility as the wife of an Earl whose title escapes me (so that she was a Countess twice), widowed again, went to the US and may have married again there, and died in Switzerland.

>71 haydninvienna:
Fascinating. So Elizabeth and Her German Garden would contain certain autobiographical elements as well as the well observed society behaviours.

Thank you for this information. It adds a whole new element to the book.

Did anyone every wonder about the deaths of her husbands?

>72 pgmcc: I got a couple of things wrong, sorry (it was late at night and I was posting from memory). Her birth name wasn't Elizabeth, it was Mary Annette, but she was definitely born in Sydney (in the suburb of Kirribilli, still one of the ritziest parts of Sydney). She evidently adopted the name "Elizabeth" after the success of Elizabeth and her German Garden. She went to Switzerland and the south of France late in life, but actually died in the United States in 1941 and her ashes are buried in England. Her English husband (the second Earl Russell, who was Bertrand Russell's elder brother) died in 1931, by which time they had been separated for many years.

>41 pgmcc:

I got it the same day--a preordered release. Cool! But I wasn't as quick as you in listing it. So I'm only #2.

Seems like it was a really long wait for this one. Didn't we leave off with a gorilla and a minivan somewhere in the U.S. desert?

Confession: I was in a bookshop this morning. Yes. I did buy a book.



Guilty by Definition

This is a book that was recommended by a neighbour who was reading it for her second time. She loved the writing and the plot intrigued her. Since checking the book out I have been intending to buy it, or at least drop a big hint to someone before Christmas. When I saw it in the shop I picked it up, read the first page, and decided to get it there and then.

One of the things I like about books is that little extra, the little playing with words, or the presentation of something in a slightly different way. I found this in the following sentence:

"A Thursday in late April when Oxford was at its most charming, the sunshine washing over the buttery sandstone of the college buildings, their spires looking obligingly dreamy against a pale blue sky."

The addition of "obligingly" really brought this sentence alive to me. It is as if the spires were intentionally looking dreamy. It felt like personification of the spires. This sentence jumped out at me as an example of what I mean when I feel a book has a bit of flare; something more than the story or simple description.

I have mentioned before that each chapter is headed with a definition of an old word. Chapter One's word is, "quaesitum", that which is searched for. (17th century)

Quick reading update:

I am 71% through The Green Man's War by Juliet E. McKenna



Progress with How The World Made The West is slow but steady. I am almost halfway through the text and have reached the nub of Quinn's argument. The book continues to intrigue me, but it is still not as alluring as a novel. My morning reads are still continuing but I am developing a greater ability to resist George's early morning calls, so I am not having as much time to read in the morning as I once was.

I am about to start reading Chapter 14. Chapter 17 is one that most of you will realise is likely to be dear to my heart when you know the title: "Of Elephants and Kings". :-)

#thereisalwaysanelephant

>75 pgmcc: Obligingly dreamy spires sound lovely. I like the book's premise too!

I have just finished reading Juliet E. McKenna's latest addition to The Green Man series, The Green Man's War.


Would I read another book by this author?
Yes.

Would I recommend this book and if so to whom?
I would recommend this book to anyone with a liking for mystery with supernatural elements; supernatural elements rooted in traditional folklore of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
I have checked some of the locations mentioned in the story, and have also looked up material on some of the mystical figures in the books pages.

This is a great addition to The Green Man series. Dan is, as usual, put to the pin of his collar to defeat the evil entities that The Green Man has sent him to battle. There is plenty of intrigue and strategy involved in this story, and we get to be with some of the endearing characters Juliet has populated Dan’s life with.

The author has brought English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish folklore and culture into the story showing the extend of her research into the worlds that run parallel to the one we call reality. Juliet has filled this story with enough supernatural entities of dubious intent and motivation to make any walk in the woods a potential nightmare.

It happened again. I am in town to meet friends and found myself in Hodges Figgis.

Purchases report to follow.

Sakerfalcon, you earned another BB notch.

As promised, my purchases report.



The Book of Gold by Ruth Frances Long.

I understand this is a fantasy-heist novel.



Butter by Asako Yuzuki.

This is a BB from Sakerfalcon. I had noticed it in shops and was pondering it. Claire strongly recommended it and that pushed me over the edge.

Having read the back cover I understand this is about a chef who is accused of seducing people with her food and murdering them. It sounds interesting and with Claire's recommendation what could go wrong. :-)

>80 pgmcc: Nice score! So, has your book buying increased since your retirement? From this side of the pond it sure seems like it.

>81 clamairy:
Well, Clare, what else am I going to do with my time? Book buying seems like a nice career path.

>80 pgmcc: AMZ is telling me that The Book of Gold is currently unavailable and they have no idea when it may be in stock again. The actual US publication date is November 28, 2024 (Thanksgiving Day this week) but the weird thing is that there is no pre-order button showing up. A brand new title and they don’t have it available for sale.

The book you’d recommended by the Irish State Pathologist had been ordered as a Christmas gift for my husband. (European vendor) However, I got a note from them overnight that the book was now delayed (sitting on a pallet) and wouldn’t arrive for at least another two weeks. (That makes it mid-December.)

I am beginning to wonder what the heck is going on. Are folks anticipating something rising up out of the Atlantic Ocean and disrupting the shipping? How are we going to have that lovely Icelandic habit of jolabokaflod on Christmas Eve properly absorbed into the culture?

Also, perhaps it is time to see a specialist about this habit you have of waking up and somehow finding yourself in a well-stocked bookstore? I mean this is three books and two shops in less than 36 hours.

Edited to fix a wayward touchstone

>83 jillmwo:
I know from my professional experience that shipping containers entering the US can be subject to inspections. At one point the practice of inspecting every container was introduced. This led to massive delays as you can imagine. I suspect your book is in a container on the docks awaiting security inspection. It caused parcel shipping companies here lots of headaches with customers when shipping things to the US.

>80 pgmcc: A most rewarding book shop visit! I've been eyeing Butter too :)

>82 pgmcc: I hope you don't think my question was disparaging in nature. I'm envious.

I almost picked Butter off my pile this morning. I decided to go for something that looked a little lighter in premise.

I thought of you yesterday when I was watching a Doctor Who episode. The characters were running through a garden and there was a bush in the shape of an elephant. :)

>87 catzteach:
LOL!

An elephant is not a bad item to be remembered by. I can think of worse.

>83 jillmwo:
Apparently the US release dates for the physical books are some time in 2025; hardback first, then paperback.

The Kindle and Audio Book versions are available tomorrow.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday, 26th November, 2024, I read Amor Towles's You Have Arrived At Your Destination. This was a BB from Meredy.

Interesting story about the future of fertility treatment.

>86 clamairy:
Clare, I would never think that about any of your questions. The search for truth is always good.

On foot of your question I did a bit of analysis and the chart below shows the number of books added to my catalogue each year since I joined Librarything. During the first few years there would have been a large amount of adding books that I already had. Also, in 2024 I did all a lot of books that were in the house but not previously catalogued. This was in part due to the books being primarily my wife's.

I hope you find the chart of interest.



EDA: Note - The 2024 figure is for the year to date. 2024 is not over yet. :-)

>85 Alexandra_book_life:
A chef suspected of being a serial killer. What more is there to like. :-)

The promise of some nice recipes is also an attractive element.

To those that celebrate it, and to those who like it as a great family and friends time, Happy Thanksgiving.

To the rest of you, have a fantastic day whatever you are doing.

>93 pgmcc: We celebrate it, although not until the weekend for our family, but I'll take a fantastic day greeting whenever I can get it! :) And may your day be beautiful as well.

>94 MrsLee:
Thank you, Lee. I hope you have wonderful time with your visitors and that they will appreciate all the cleaning you are doing.

>93 pgmcc: Thank you and the same to your family.

My daughter who lives in Cincinnati, and recently swore the oath of allegiance to become a US citizen, is celebrating Thanksgiving with her family. She sent me this picture of some damned fine cherry pie. My mouth is watering.

>83 jillmwo:
Also, perhaps it is time to see a specialist about this habit you have of waking up and somehow finding yourself in a well-stocked bookstore? I mean this is three books and two shops in less than 36 hours.


Why would I want to see a specialist. They might end up creating a world where this does not happen.

>97 pgmcc: Wow! This looks like the very definition of a damned fine cherry pie.

>97 pgmcc: Kudos to your daughter! An achievement for sure. I'm drooling with envy.

>97 pgmcc: Agreed, that is one fine looking pie!

>99 Alexandra_book_life: >100 MrsLee: >101 Karlstar:

I told her Agent Cooper would like it. I will also tell her that my Green Dragon friends like it.

pgmcc, Just in case you've missed it: Nick Harkaway has announced a follow-up to Titanium Noir for release on 10th April. It's called Sleeper Beach.

>103 AHS-Wolfy:
Thank you. I pre-ordered it in June. :-)

Black Friday Confession:

Some people here believe I suffer from an uncontrollable urge to buy books. To prove them wrong I am reporting here that I have only bought two books today, so far. Also, they are Kindle, so the do not count. :-)



I bought these because they were at a good price, and they are the last two I need to complete the Commissaire Adamsberg series, a series that some people will know I am enjoying and hoping to complete.

By the way, I spotted a boxed set of TV adaptations. Hmmmmm! I wonder.

>105 pgmcc: Interesting to hear that those had been adapted for television! I don't think I knew that. Are they from French television?

As to Black Friday, on our news this morning at 7:30 am, they were showing a reporter at the King of Prussia Shopping Mall (a major local in-door facility for acquiring things, generally on the upscale end) and there were already a very busy crowd of shoppers carrying multiple store bags. The doors had opened at 6am. (Not enough Starbucks in the world that would make me sufficiently awake at that hour to manage any form of intelligent shopping).

Oh, and that pie looks wonderful!

>102 pgmcc: I didn't miss the citizenship part, congratulations to her on that as well, but the pie was very distracting.

>105 pgmcc: Now I need to go buy some books today just to keep up!

>106 jillmwo:
I have abandoned the idea of getting the screen adaptations of the Fred Vargas books. The first set I found had French and English language and, if you want to watch with the original French you can also have English subtitles. That looked great until I realise it is from Australia which is Region 4 and there appear to be some compatibility issues.

There was also a German version with no dubbed English language or English subtitles.

Eventually I found a French set, but it only has French, no English. :-) While I am expert at ordering wine, cheese, paté, duck and croissants, I have my limits when it comes to watching a full programme in French. We have been fortunate before in finding French editions of DVDs with French and English language and subtitles. I will try to hunt down a suitable set when we visit France next year. There is one book, video and record shop where we have had great success at finding suitable sets of French films and progarmmes. I am particularly pleased with the French adaptations of Maigret with Bruno Cremer in the title role. Those are the best and most authentic versions. The English productions with Michael Gambon as Maigret come a close second.

Yes, the pie looks good. I have looked at that picture on a big screen and it is very frustrating that I cannot just take a knife and cut myself a portion. As I said before, Agent Cooper would like it. I will let my daughter know you think it looks wonderful.

>107 Karlstar:

Thank you on the congratulations. I shall pass them along.

>106 jillmwo:

No slacking. Get on with it. Full disclosure of books bought required.

:-)

>109 pgmcc: I have dropped 4 dollars at AMZ today for two Kindle titles -- the first is a throw-away mystery novel with an investigation situated at Cambridge University and the other is a Christmas themed anthology of ghost stories. Both are adequate for quick reads before bed-time.

There is the possibility of reading War and Peace in 2025 but I don't know how seriously I am contemplating that.

>111 jillmwo:
"There is the possibility of reading War and Peace in 2025..."

That is interesting. Just today I picked up* a copy of War and Peace out of curiosity and read the first page. I quite liked it and thought if is something I could see myself reading some time in the future. (Before anyone makes a wisecrack I will not be seeing myself reading it in the past.) Now, isn't that a coincidence.

By the way, speaking of coincidences, after putting W&P back on the shelf I walked past some children's books and there was an elephant peeping out at me from behind one of the books. There is always and elephant.

*"Picked up" quite literally as in taking it in my hand and looking at it; not buying it. I did put it back on the shelf.

Just catching up with this thread after a couple of stressful days.

I could definitely have a good go at that pie.

>106 jillmwo: Not enough Starbucks in the world : LOL! Mind you, it isn't intelligent shopping they're hoping for.

War and Peace: Just do it, Peter. I read it years ago sitting on the deck of a cruise boat off Fiji. (Plus The Glass Bead Game and something else I've forgotten.)

The "Black Friday" insanity is here too, dammit, at least in the sense that some shops were offering discounts. No doorbuster sales at 6am though. In the US it's A Thing because of the single day between Thanksgiving and the weekend. If we have to have Black Friday, can we have Thanksgiving as well please? BTW, I hope all who celebrate Thanksgiving had a great one.

The new Nick Harkaway novel, Sleeper Beach, another Titanium Noir story due in April 2025, now has a cover.

I have just finished Book 8 of the Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell. It is a really good read and is a very good addition to the "Trilogy".

Would I read another book by this author?
Yes.

Would I recommend this book and, if so, too whom?
Yes. To get the most out of this book you really have to have read the earlier books, so I recommend the entire Dublin Trilogy series; if you like the first book, A Man With One Of Those Faces, then you are going to be well pleased with all the subsequent episodes. Fortunate Son has a high standard.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
Not that I am aware of.

>115 pgmcc:

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
Not that I am aware of.

waits for subliminal messaging to kick in...

>54 pgmcc: That is a glorious photo...

>97 pgmcc: ...and so, for different reasons, is that!

>80 pgmcc: I hope you enjoy Butter when it reaches the top of your TBR pile. The book uses the relationship between the reporter and the murderer to explore so many issues in such an interesting way.

>109 pgmcc: Thank you for investigating the Adamsberg TV adaptations so that I don't waste time doing the same. My French is nowhere near good enough to follow a drama series without English subtitles.

>118 Sakerfalcon:
I am glad you like the picture. When I saw the video I had to try to convert it to a picture. I know the place and it looks great in real life.

During our bookclub meeting last week I mentioned my recent purchases. People got very interested in Guilty by Definition and Butter. I was encouraged to put forward Butter as my book club read proposal when it is next my turn. Thank you for the BB.

I am continuing to read Haruki Murakami's The City and Its Uncertain Walls and How the World Made the West. As I still have one of our December book club books to read I have also started that. It is Held by Anne Michaels.

I am going to make a few comments about the Murakami and the Michaels books. These will be behind a spoiler mask. The comments will be about similarities and my view of where Held is going and how it reminds me of another book. Regulars to my thread will be aware that my conjecture on where stories are going is almost 100% wrong, so I will let you decide for yourselves whether or not to peek.




Both The City and Its Uncertain Walls (TCAIUW)and Held (Held) start with a man describing his memories of the woman he loves. I am wondering if I will get confused between the two books by reading them in parallel. There are, however, some distinctions that may help me keep them apart in my mind.

In Held the memories are quite real-world in their content. They are, however, quite disjointed and jump about in time and are fragmentary. This has me thinking the man is unconscious after and incident and these are the thoughts going through his head. There is mention of a bomb and a soldier lying nearby but that the man cannot hear what is being said or get to the soldier. This is only a little snippet of the story and may or may not be significant. Having been unconscious for three days after an accident I can confirm the way the thoughts are going through his head is presented realistically. In my case there was a mixture of dream, memory and snatches of what was actually going on around me at the time.

DOUBLE SPOILER WARNING: My thoughts on the start of Held remind me of another book where the book is mostly comprised of the world inside a man's head as he is in a coma after a car accident. It you do not want to know the name of this book do not read what is behind the final spoiler mask in this post.

As mentioned above, in Held the man's memories appear real. He is remembering things about when he met his partner, what the circumstances were, what they did, etc... In TCAIUW the man is talking about his love in a more surreal situation. The cover blurb tells the browser that the story is about a boy who goes in search of his girlfriend after she disappears. He looks for her by seeking the imaginary city she created in her mind. As you can see, there is scope for my not confusing the two stories.


I think I will enjoy reading these books.

THE DO NOT READ SPOILER UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE ABOVE SPOILER SECTION AND ARE HAPPY TO TAKE THE STEP MENTIONED THERE
The Bridge by Iain Banks.

By the way, for those who are interested, our December book club meeting is on Tuesday, 2nd January. Go figure!

I forgot to mention in >120 pgmcc: that How the World Made the West is nothing like the other two books. I do not think there is a risk of my mixing up this books with either of the others.

>61 pgmcc: I would recommend The Enchanted April as her best book. It’s all about female empowerment in their lives and relationships. It has a tolerable amount of garden imagery and plenty of sly humor and phrasing.

>122 2wonderY:
I may not hunt it down, but if I see it I will have a look at it. Thank you for the recommendation.

ETA: I had a look at it on the LT book page for it. A summary mentioned a lady by the name of Mrs. Arbuthnot. I found the surname familiar. I am not sure if I am correct, but I think it may have been in one of the early Lord Peter Wimsey stories. I am sure MrsLee or jillmwo will be able to put me right on that.

>123 pgmcc: You're thinking of Freddie Arbuthnot, a supportive friend to Lord Peter. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, he works in financial services. He marries for love.

I am a simple bot programmed to supply all Dragoneers with disparate bits of literary nickel knowledge upon request. It's what I do.

>124 jillmwo:
There is always and AI...and she is listening.

:-)

>124 jillmwo: Good bot!

>124 jillmwo: Hmmm. This Mrs. Arbuthnot’s husband is Frederick, author of numerous memoirs of the mistresses of kings.

>127 2wonderY: I don't think Freddie will be up fire that, but he did love a good gossip.

The first Wimsey novel was published in 1923. The Enchanted April was first published in 1922. It is not impossible for Sayers to have read The Enchanted April and liking the name used it in her own story. She has planted little things like this, i.e. names or ideas from other stories, in other books, particularly in The Nine Tailors where she uses names and elements from M. R. James stories. In Murder Must Advertise she basically confesses that she based Lord Peter’’s character on Bertie Wooster from the Jeeves novels. She may have found it amusing to turn a stiff Frederick Arbuthnot into a less than clever friend of Lord Peter. Apparently The Enchanted April was quite popular when first published so Sayers may have reckoned that enough people would get the joke to make it worth doing. I also think her own amusement would be sufficient reason for her to do it; even just thinking it was a good name to use might be enough.

I visited The National Leprechaun Museum today. In the museum shop The Anthology of Irish Folk Tales was recommended to me. My visit to the museum was unplanned. Some of you may recall that my son was hired by the museum a few months ago as a storyteller. I was in town having my hearing tested and happened to pass the site where I remember the museum being. I was surprised to see the area was a building site and that all the buildings had been knocked down.

Out of curiosity I had a look at Google Maps to see where the museum is now and discovered it was not far away. I decided to walk towards the museum to see its new location. As I was passing I spied my son sitting at the reception desk having a cup of something or other. He spotted me and charged out to bring me in. He was about to start a tour and persuaded me to join it. He gave an overview of the real history of leprechauns and then took us back in time to tell us three dark and scary folk tales in three locations. The first was told in a replica of a traditional Irish cottage that was no more than 10 feet by 25 feet. It would have housed a family of sixteen and the floor would have been made of compressed mud. The story he told us there was "The Man Who Had No Story".

He then took us into the deepest part of a forest and told us of the tailor who had a frightening experience with a witch. Bwahahahahahah...

The third location was where we were shrunken to the size of leprechauns and we were told about the legend of Setanta and how he came to be called Cú Chulainn.

>130 pgmcc: Fascinating! Sometimes unplanned museum visits are the best ones.

*whispering* Did you buy the book?

The first two pictures show my son in full flow telling stories. The third, apologies for the poor quality picture but it was dark, is included to show the scale of the house that would house an average family of sixteen. In the picture you see a stone floor, but in reality it would have been compacted mud.





>131 Alexandra_book_life: Indeed I did. I think you probably knew the answer to that question before you asked it. :-)

>130 pgmcc: >132 pgmcc: Great story and thanks for the pictures. I am amazed at your ability to create stories on your trips around town.

>130 pgmcc: and >132 pgmcc:. That was a splendid experience (for both of you)!! Very cool to have your offspring be working so close by.

>130 pgmcc: Nice! I see the Irish gift of storytelling passed right to your son. What about the rest of your offspring?

(I'm still processing 16 people in that space with a dirt floor.)

I was thinking just what >135 clamairy: said. I am so pleased to hear this about your son. I'm hoping a couple of your shirt buttons popped off in pride. Did you make sure everyone on the tour knew he was your son? As in, did you stand up and shout, "That's my boy!"

That museum sounds wonderful, and the book is beautiful as well as interesting.

What a cool job your son has!

Here is a sentence I would never have expected to utter (but just did): "I know a bloke whose son is a storyteller in a leprechaun museum".

Great story, Peter. Please pass on congratulations to your son from Mrs H and me.

I'll second what clamairy and haydninvienna said.

>133 Karlstar:
I am glad you liked the account of my visit to town and am delighted you see it as a story. I see it as my making a note of a nice day and being happy to share it with my friends in the pub.

>134 jillmwo:
We both enjoyed the opportunity to spend a little time together, albeit in the presence of other customers. We did have a few moments with just the two of us.

It is nice having the offspring not too far away. Our one big exception is the daughter in Cincinnati.

>135 clamairy:
Our eldest daughter obtained a degree in Theatre and Drama studies. She was a great little actor but decided to work in other roles (directing; front-of-house; stage managing) as they were likely to provide a more steady income than acting.

Our youngest is the one working as a games coder. He also writes good stories but has never taken it too seriously.

The Cincinnati daughter, i.e. our American, is very much on the science side. Her creativity is to be found in her paintings.

In terms of the 16 people in the house, my son explained that the furniture you see against the wall on the left side of the picture of the room folds down onto the floor and there would be bedding behind it. The bedding would fold out to cover the length of the house and everyone would bed-down on that. The furniture is known as a settle-bed that served as a seat by day and as a bed by night. It was usually positioned near the hearth and the seat was hinged to open out onto the floor to form a long box bed. Apparently the term "to settle down" is derived from this practice. The furniture in the picture is over 400 years old.

>136 MrsLee:
I hope the above paragraph helps your enquiring mind address the issue of 16 in the house.

Given that my waist has reduced from 40 inches to 34 in the past year my buttons remained firmly attached. I was however very proud. At one point in the storytelling, Dónal described how people would never say anything nice about a child under six years old in case the fairies were listening. The fairies had a habit of identifying the favourite child in a household and stealing it away and replacing it with a changeling. Dónal said this was still true today and that his family had never said anything nice about him.* I spoke up and said, "I can vouch for that." It was at that point that Dónal identified me as his father.

The book is indeed a nice one. It is hardback and contains sixty-two stories grouped by the counties they hail from.

The museum experience is very good. At the start of the tour there is a talk setting the record straight regarding the nature of leprechauns. Apparently the image of a leprechaun wearing a green suit, a green hat, and sporting a big red beard is not in keeping with the real appearance of leprechauns. The green clad leprechaun with the red beard is an invention of Walt Disney. In making Darby O'Gill and the Little People the director wanted the King of the Leprechauns to stand out from all the other leprechauns. In reality, leprechauns wore a brown suit and a red hat, as can be seen in the film. To have the King of the Leprechauns stand out the director had him clad in green.

Now the beard. That is another story. Jimmy O'Dea, who was playing the King of the Leprechauns, was involved in a long running stage performance in which he needed to have a beard. His beard was red. The director of "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" wanted the king clean shaven like any decent leprechaun and had a flaming row with O'Dea on the matter. The director lost the argument and hence was born the image of a leprechaun with a red beard. So, you see, the green clad leprechaun with a big red beard is a Wald Disney invention.

>137 catzteach:
It is cool, and he knows it. He loves it.

>138 haydninvienna:
I am delighted Dónal enabled you to use that sentence. He was delighted to receive congratulations from you and and Mrs. H.

>139 hfglen:
Thank you! I hope you found the above of interest.

*He was, of course, joking for the sake of the tale. I can vouch for that because I have a vague recollection of saying something nice about him some years ago.

>132 pgmcc: I knew the answer, I was just checking :)

Thank you for the pictures and the stories! Congratulations to your son as well. What a wonderful job he has!

>141 Alexandra_book_life:
I knew you would. :-)

I am glad you liked the pictures and stories.

My son will be pleased with all the congratulations. I will pass yours on.

My wife and I watched the Dan Brown film, Angels and Demons the other night.

Is it just me or was it a total load of codswallop?

>143 pgmcc: Well, the book itself was only tolerable because of the background bits about sculpture in Rome. I haven't seen the movie, but I would imagine that there wasn't much about that in the movie. (I seem to recall --although I can't document -- that I did the book once w/ a book group when there was a great deal of Dan Brown hype and the group's response was rather lukewarm.)

>144 jillmwo:
The film does show a lot of the Roman architecture, but they rush over the detail very quickly.

I have read four of the Dan Brown books, but found them all lacking. They are quick reads as Brown, who was a lecturer in creative writing, used all his techniques to keep the reader on the edge of their seat with anticipation. All the stories are severely flawed and the only reason his books got so much hype was because of what The Da Vinci Code said about Christ, and the wild response of Catholics and some other Christians to the book. Of course, none of the good Christians or Catholics would sully themselves by reading such heretical material but they were willing to protest loudly about this book without reading it and knowing what it actually said. This, of course, was the best marketing any film or book could received. The OTT reaction guaranteed Brown would earn millions.

The film of The Da Vinci Code was at least entertaining. It had Jean Reno and Audrey Tautou. I would watch any film with either of those actors in it. I am not a great fan of Tom Hanks. He has been in many films, but he is not a great actor. He has managed his career well and made sure he is seen in significant films.

I think his acting ability is really exposed in the disastrous remake of The Lady Killers. The original 1955 film is such a wonderful masterpiece it was folly to attempt a remake. How could a remake compete with the cast in the original film: Alec Guinness; Peter Sellers; Herbert Lom; Cecil Parker; Danny Green; Katie Johnson. It was the first film we recorded when we got a VHS recorder and we have watched it many times since. A wonderful entertainment. Far superior than any book written by Dan Brown or any film based on those books.

I finished Held by Anne Michaels. This is a book club read and I am lumping it with all the book club reads that I thought were a waste of time. It was short listed for The Booker Prize, but that just reinforces my scepticism about the selection of some books for awards.

Would I read another book by this author?
No.

Would I recommend this book?
No.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
No.

I like the approach to storytelling, i.e. it is quite disjointed and jumps back and forward in the timeline. This sort of structure strikes me as being a little jigsaw and I like piecing the various parts of the story together to make the whole picture.

The author was trying too hard to make the story literary. There was a lot of introspection by the characters; attempts to create apparently clever pseudo-philosophical statements that could be seen as appealing until you think about them and realise they are less than meaningful in any way.

Love and loss are the two main themes of the book and we are shown this in the lives of different people across decades of time from the late 1800s to the twenty-first century. We have people going off to war and coming back changed, people heading off on mercy missions in dangerous parts of the world, we see people living in dangerous parts of the world and trying to survive under those circumstances, et... Scenarios picked to stir up the emotions of the reader and push them to think the book is dealing with meaningful topics.

I think what really annoyed me about this book is that it took up a lot of my time when I want to read other books. It was giving me nothing worthwhile and was denying me the opportunity of reading books that are far more promising.

>143 pgmcc: Angels and Demons is not a great movie and the book isn't much better.

We had movie night last night and went in an entirely different direction, we watched The Wedding Singer and The Holiday.

>143 pgmcc: My husband and I tried listening to The Da Vinci Code on a road trip. We found it so ridiculous and awkwardly written that we couldn't get very far into it. IMO the best thing about it and the sequels is the wonderful opportunities it has given for various parodies. I can't name them all, but in the TV series "Castle" it is referred to more than once for lots of fun in his wild theorizing of the solutions to crimes.

>145 pgmcc: I could only tolerate two of them. I had purchased a third that was supposed to be "better", but did not find it so.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls is proving a little less impressive than I had hoped. I am definitely not loving it as much as I loved the other Murakami books that I have read.

>150 pgmcc: I am sorry to hear that! I was looking forward to this one (after catching up on a couple of other recently published Murakami books I haven't read yet).

I have not read any books today. It is time for me to head up the stairs to bed and I will read another few chapters of the Murakami. I have read ten chapters already and am only 50 pages in. I will give it another few chapters to see if it sparks any fire within me. I feel his main character is doing too much introspection and I have not found any compelling desire to continue reading. There are some interesting ideas in the book, but unlike his other books I am not finding the book askes questions that I want to find the answer to. There is almost too much just telling the story and not enough of his usual clever thought experiments. I have to say that so far I am disappointed.

I understand that he felt he had not included enough in his book, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and that this new book was supposed to address the lacuna he felt was in the earlier novel. Unfortunately my current feeling is that he should have left it well enough along.

I continue to persevere with The City and Its Uncertain Walls. I read a comment that one should refresh their memory of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by re-reading it before starting The City and Its Uncertain Walls. If it takes that much effort to appreciate the new book then I may not be going much further.

This evening I am going out to two events and will want to read on the bus. I will not bring the large Murakami volume, but will bring my Kindle. To that end I have started reading a BB form jillmwo; Two-Way Murder. The introduction was quite interesting. I avoided the paragraphs discussing the plot, but enjoyed the history of the manuscript and how it had been lost for sixty years and not published until recently discovered.



As with many of the Golden Age murder mysteries it is set amongst the idle rich.

>152 pgmcc: >153 pgmcc: Seems like that one may be a DNF soon.

>153 pgmcc: I wonder how idle the current body of "idle" rich are allowed to be. I mean, don't we nowadays expect billionaires to work their little rear ends off as business tycoons? Or do you think that is just a facade?

I liked Two-Way Murder, but there were others here in the Pub who found it disappointing.

>155 jillmwo:
Oh yes! The busy billionaires who have the time to make tens of thousands of people unemployed, and to take jaunts into space, and have the most expensive yacht in the world built for them, and play with people’s pension investments by making supposedly unwitting market damaging posts on social media. That is really busy.

I am watching a Korean Sci Fi series called Sisymus. It has ENFORCERS!

>157 pgmcc: :o)

>155 jillmwo: "...but there were others here in the Pub who found it disappointing."

I will keep this in mind as I read it.

The two men in the car at the start speak in an off-putting posh British upper class fashion, but I set that aside and focus on the story. I will report how I get on.

I am on a bus heading home from my third visit to town this week. More detail to follow, but the trip involved a lovely visit to our favourite restaurant for early morning coffee and croissant, a bookshop (quelle surprise.), a phone case shop, a fast food outlet, and a thought provoking visit to the National Museum which is housing the Harry Clarke exhibition. I expect jillmwo will be interested in more information about the Harry Clarke exhibition.

jillmwo, I am 11% into Two-Way Murder and
” …the other man came at him like a charging elephant."
#thereisalwaysanelephant

>160 pgmcc: Well since you raised the topic of Harry Clarke, I'd be interested to hear how enjoyable you found the museum exhibit to be.

>161 pgmcc: "Like a charging elephant" IMHO is not the same as there being a REAL elephant. Sometimes I'm a narrow constructionist about these things.

>162 jillmwo:
Sometimes I'm a narrow constructionist about

You cannot blame the elephant for that.

I'd be interested to hear how enjoyable you found the museum exhibit to be.

I liked it and shall be posting some photographs.

The Harry Clarke Exhibition

The exhibition is in the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. It is a small exhibition but the stained glass panels show the skill of Harry Clarke. I had no idea that stained glass could by used to present such detail and textures. Just look at the faces in the pictures that follow in the next few posts.

Below is the overview display information which will help put his images in context.

Look at the faces.

>166 pgmcc: I had no idea stained glass could be as nuanced as that.

>166 pgmcc: Truly, truly amazing artistry.

>166 pgmcc: So, so wonderful! I am glad you are sharing your museum adventures :)

>160 pgmcc: I remember the NMI for breathtaking displays of, among other things, Iron Age weaponry, jewellery and (amazingly) textiles. Many thanks for the happy memory!

>161 pgmcc: You bring to mind one certain August Wahlberg (1810--1856), a zoologist who possibly deserves consideration as a candidate for a Darwin Prize. He decided to fund an expedition to Lake Ngami (now Botswana) by harvesting and selling ivory. One of the elephants he conscripted for this scheme, not unreasonably objected, and made his objection known by trampling Wahlberg to a pulp. The remains of his elephant gun are attached to the frame of his portrait in the Royal Academy in Stockholm.

Thank you for sharing the information and images from the Harry Clarke exhibition. I saw some of his glass in the National Gallery of Ireland and was stunned at the detail and beauty. I had to go to Facebook and see if I'd posted any photos - I did, of Song of the Mad Prince. I would love to see this exhibition and I note that it's on until 2026. I happen to have a conference in Limerick in summer 2025. I will have to make plans.

>167 MrsLee: Neither did I!!! Those are quite lovely.

I am glad you all liked the Harry Clarke images. It was after 1am when I put that post up and I was falling asleep. I was intending to post a few more pictures and that is what I intend doing now.

The Meeting of St. Brendan with the Unhappy Judas:



The Unhappy Judas

A Meeting

>173 pgmcc:. I had to go look up the story of Saint Brendan and the Unhappy Judas. I'd never heard of it before. I found a very brief version on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/of7o29/st_brendans_voyage_the_curious_case_of_judas/?rdt=48126). but the original full text of the encounter can be found at https://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/saw/saw06.htm (Use the find function in your browser to find the paragraph about Judas.) Such an unusual story, but clearly one that captured the artist's attention.

>176 jillmwo:
Were you aware of The Brendan Voyage?

Oh my gosh! Those are stained glass? They look like paintings.

>177 pgmcc: Perhaps I was in a vague kind of way. I knew to associate Brendan and the concept of a voyage. (Was he a patron saint of sailors or navigators?) But I had not ever heard the Judas story before.

I have been pretty busy over the past week. In the weekend thread mentioned the grandson's sixth birthday party attend last Saturday in a community hall which had no electricity due to Storm Darragh.

Well, on Tuesday I went into town to attend a work reunion for a company I left in 1998 having worked there since 1982. It was great to meet up with some people I have not spoken to in twenty years. Not everyone attends every year and there are years I have not made it, hence the large gap since seeing some people. There were about thirty people turned up and it was a great evening of reminiscing and catching up. At the end of the night there were three of us still chatting and sharing plans and experiences of retirement. One of my friends made a comment that I thought was very significant. We were discussing meeting up more frequently than annually* and he said, "I would love to meet up more frequently. I am fed up with so many men wanting to talk to me about football and rugby."

Yes, on that day I did pop into a bookshop before heading into the work reunion. I bought another copy of Butter by Asako Yuzuki. It is a present for a friend. I already have a copy for myself. I got the nice hardback copy for my friend.

*The suggestion was put forward by one of the friends who has recently retired and is finding it difficult to find a purpose in life. I interpret his desire to meet more often as a manifestation of the need to have social connection, something that has been greatly reduced since he retired and departed the workplace.

On Wednesday I found myself in town again. See the next post for details.

>180 pgmcc: Re your friend who retired: my dermatologist the other day advised me not to retire. "It's bad for you."

>132 pgmcc: I’m just now catching up on your thread. Offspring are so wonderful, yeah? It’s delightful that storytellers still exist in this form; without such new fangled technology as film, etc. getting between the storyteller and the audience.

My! You’ve lost weight!

Exhibition of Imaginary Books in Nee York

On view until February 15, 2025, and online is the exhibition "Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Works Found Only in Other Books" at the Grolier Club in New York City. These are nonexistent works that appear in other works. Mysteries include "The Giant Rat of Sumatra" by John H. Watson and Death 'Twixt Wind and Water by Harriet Vane. Vane's study of Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu and Lord Peter Wimsey's scholarly works also are featured. I was most tickled to see The History of Ancient Egypt by famed irascible Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson (first mentioned in Elizabeth Peters' The Deeds of the Disturber).

>180 pgmcc:
Ok, this may not be the next post, but it is the next post about my busy week.

Thursday morning saw my wife and I going into town early for a nice coffee* and croissant in Chez Max. The coffee was excellent and the croissants were fresh out of the oven. This is a 100% French restaurant with all the staff and the owner being French. It is like a little bit of France in the heart of Dublin. The atmosphere is really authentic. The music, staff, food, the language of the staff and many customers, and the general ambiance feel like France. If you were to wake up in Chez Max having been knocked out elsewhere it would be hard to realise you had not been transported to France. This is a lovely place and I recommend it to any visitors to Dublin**.

After having a delightful coffee and croissant (and one of us had two croissants and two coffees, but I plead the fifth) we walked to Hodges Figgis at my wife's request. She said there was something she need to get and avoided saying what it was. On the basis that she got me a very generous book token for last Christmas I suspected that was what she was getting. For that reason I did not purchase any books. We also picked up a few Irish language children's books for the grandchildren.

We then made our way to a phone-cover shop to buy a tablet cover for my wife's new tablet. This purchase was carried out very smoothly in a shop that requested we pay cash and which did not charge that much. The till was not used and the sale was written down in an exercise book. :-)

It was after this that we caught the LUAS train to the museum where we looked at the Harry Clarke panels. You can see all the detail on the panels in the posts above.

Apart from the Harry Clarke exhibition we saw many exhibits about the Irish War of Independence, the Irish Civil War, the Irish people who fought for Britain in WWI, the Irish people who fought for Britain in WWII, the Irish people who fought in the Spanish Civil war (there were Irish on both sides), and the work of the Irish troops on United Nations Peacekeeping missions in many parts of the world.

We only saw a small part of the museum, so there is plenty more to see on another visit.

After all the war exhibits we went home.

*jillmwo, I know I have said I do not normally drink coffee, but in an authentic French restaurant the coffee is something special, as it is in France.

**Vegetarian and vegan options are available.

On Wednesday, 11th, I was in town again. This visit was to meet up with my friend who runs The Swan River Press. He had the two latest publications for me. We met at the Irish Film Institute and has dinner there. Before meeting up with him I happened to find myself in Books Upstairs where a copy of Andrey Kurkov's Grey Bees accosted me and found its way into my possession. Why did this book ambush me? Well, having read Kurkov's Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv I have become a keen to read his other novels.

The Swan River Press volumes I acquired on the day were:

Atmospheric Disturbances by Helen Grant

Uncertainties VII edited by Carly Holmes

Why did I buy these books? Well, I am one of only two people who have a complete set of The Swan River Press's limited edition hardbacks with the same number on every copy. He keeps telling me I am number 11. I keep telling him, "I am a free man! I am not a number! I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered."

Anyway, both my friend and I are reluctant to break that record.



Atmospheric Disturbances is a collection of short stories by Helen Grant. As it happens, Helen Grant is the author whose work was in the first every Swan River Press hardback, The Sea Change and other stories, published in 2013.



Uncertainties VII is, you may not be surprised to learn, the seventh book in a series of short story collections. Each volume has been edited by a different person.

OK, things are getting more interesting in The City and Its Uncertain Walls. I anticipate better days ahead. :-). It was just a bit slow getting into gear.

>185 pgmcc: I loved Grey bees! I hope you will too. I need to read Jimi Hendrix live in Lviv.

Why did I buy these books? Well, I am one of only two people who have a complete set of The Swan River Press's limited edition hardbacks with the same number on every copy. He keeps telling me I am number 11. I keep telling him, "I am a free man! I am not a number! I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered."
This is an excellent tradition!

>187 Sakerfalcon:
It is good to hear you enjoyed Grey Bees. I got Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv through the book a month for a year gift I received. It was weird and great. If it hadn't been for the bookshop picking this book for me I might never have heard of Kurkow.

I terms of the Swan River Press collection, who is number one?

>185 pgmcc: I am constantly amazed at some of the wired-in subterfuge that seems to be a part of your day-to-day existence. (I assume it is due to decades of training in the art of espionage.) But really...the books accosted you? You were simply standing there by a display unit, quietly checking your watch amidst the store's holiday traffic?

I must lack some degree of imagination. I am at least able to admit that I am responsible for the books that have been acquired over the past 40 years or so.

Although it is true that sometimes I think Amazon's buy button is somewhat overly touch-sensitive on screen...

That said, I think your Swan collection is one worthy of congratulation.

>189 jillmwo:
I think your Swan collection is one worthy of congratulation.


Over the coming days I will strive to post a photograph of my Swan River Press hardback collection for your perusal.

Year in review:

You wrote 1,410 Talk posts in 2024 (consisting of 105,546 words) and contributed to 111 Talk topics in 9 Groups. You even started 9 topics!

Book Measurements for 2024
You added 17.09 feet and 136.12 pounds to your book stack!

You need 1.12 IKEA billy bookcases to hold your new books for 2024.

Or, if you store them in the garage, you need 5.70 U-Haul boxes.

And make sure your floors will support the added weight of 7.05 adult badgers!

Going to see the film adaptation of Conclave this evening. I had hoped to read the book first, but by the time I reach it the film will only be available on DVD or to stream. I bought VIP seats, so we can spread out and enjoy the big screen.

In more important news we are going to see “Paddington in Peru” this afternoon. That will add a bit of culture to our day.

We are leaving the house free for our sons who are hosting friends to a board-game evening.

The early part of the day has been in IKEA. Currently finishing up my IKEA Swedish meatball dinner. Enjoying a nice cup of tea.

In reading news I am enjoying Two-way Murder. I am finishing this before getting back to The City and Its Uncertain Walls, which has taken an interesting turn and will now hold my attention when I get back to it.

>191 pgmcc: >192 pgmcc:

I like these stats :)

>193 pgmcc: This is a day well spent :)

Your meatball dinner sounds lovely.

>191 pgmcc: Nice, I've been waiting for the year in review stats to update to 2024.

Still working slowly through How the World Made the West. Chapter 15, "The Persian Version", tells a different tale about the 300 Spartans to the tale normally put about.

>197 pgmcc: Oh, that's like telling me that the Hanging Garden of Babylons never existed. That may be the factual truth, but why ruin a good story?

>198 jillmwo:
Funny you should say that:

How The World Made The West Footnote on age 149 in Chapter 11, The Assyrian Mediterranean.

"They would at least have had something to look at: Nineveh has been identified as the most plausible candidate not only for the Hanging Gardens misidentified since the Roman period with Babylon, but for the 'Archimedes Screw' that delivered water up to their thirsty terraces, 500 years before Sicilian Archimedes was born: Stephanie Dally, 'The Mysteries of the Hanging Garden of Babylon: An Elusive World Wonder Traced', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013."

As you can see, Josephine Quinn has no respect for common beliefs or assumptions.

>199 pgmcc:. no respect for common beliefs or assumptions. I can only tolerate having so many childhood illusions shattered at any given time. Please withhold any further myth-busting revelations until after the New Year, when the new subscription terms of use kick in.

>200 jillmwo:
She is not saying the Hanging Garden of Babylon did not exist; just that it wasn’t in Babylon.

My reading progress has been slow this past couple of weeks. There is an argument that I have been very busy with family and seasonal activities, but I feel this does not fully explain the absence of the need to pick up my books and read at any available moment. I will finish the two books I am reading, The City and Its Uncertain Walls and How the World Made the West, but I need something that will spur me on. I am thinking of starting Guilty by Definition. Stay tuned to this channel for further updates.

Wild Lights exhibit at Dublin Zoo last evening.

>203 pgmcc: Spectacular!

>203 pgmcc: Fun!

Have a great holiday season everyone.

We have just watched Miracle on 34th Street. Of course it was the 1947 version. It is the only one worth watching.

The interaction between the judge and his political advisor was priceless. This must be the best courtroom drama of any film. :-)

We watched "Red One" on Netflix tonight. It was good fun.

>206 pgmcc: Happy holidays, Peter!

>208 Karlstar:
Thank you, Jim. The same to you and yours.

We watched the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge, with Alastair Sim as Scrooge. It was interesting to see George Cole playing the part of the young Ebenezer Scrooge as Cole was Sim's adopted son. I also enjoyed spotting other familiar faces in the film, such as Jack Warner of Dixon of Dock Green fame, Hattie Jacques, Hermione Baddeley, Michael Hordern, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Jones and Peter Bull.

I knew Patrick Macnee was in the film but failed to spot that he was playing the young Morley.

That one is a perpetual favorite here, too (watched last night), but I didn't know the two Scrooges were related. How fun.

>202 pgmcc:
In the wee small hours of last night, i.e. earlier today, I started reading Guilty by Definition. It has had the desired effect. I am picking it up to read at every opportunity. It is well written, erudite, has interesting characters, and is marching along at pace. I am really enjoying it and am finding the definition of the old words used very interesting and fun. The author introduces the words and their definition very smoothly in the conversations amongst the main characters. The main characters are editors in a company that produces dictionaries which makes the use of these words natural and appropriate. Some of the early words relate to the effects of over indulgence in alcoholic beverages.

How the World Made the West is still fascinating me. The chapter I have just finished described some Athenian approaches to democracy. They experimented with several methods and some of them hold lessons for today, such as people holding office for a specified period and being held accountable for their actions at the end of their tenure.

More on this later. Our St. Stephen’s Day visitors have arrived and I have go and be social. There is always a snag…as well as an elephant.

>206 pgmcc: That is one of my favorites, but I didn't get to it this year.

>210 pgmcc: This was always my favorite. I don't think I ever even made it all of the way through the Patrick Stewart version. All he did was yell... The last few years though The Muppet Christmas Carol has become the only version we watch.

>214 clamairy:
The Muppet Christmas Carol is priceless.

>210 pgmcc: and >215 pgmcc: Both the Alistair Sims version *and* the Muppet version are standard viewing in my household. (Spouse also insists on the one with George C. Scott as Scrooge.)

>216 jillmwo: I believe I have only seen that one once as well.

>215 pgmcc: It is!

>216 jillmwo:
I still have not seen the George C. Scott version. I have been wanting to see the Alastair Sim film for years and have now met that objective. The George C. Scott version is another goal not yet reached.

I have finished reading Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent. This was a recommendation from a neighbour. A really excellent read.

>219 pgmcc: I am looking forward to its availability here in the States in 2025. The fact that you are vouching for it carries some weight in terms of enjoyment.

>220 jillmwo:
I am sorry it is not available at this stage. I see May 13th as the release date in the US.

I will be posting my views about the book later and, as always, will strive to make my post spoiler free. Spoiler masks will be used for anything that might be a bit spoilery.

Guilty by Definition

Would I read another book by this author?
Yes!

Would I recommend this book?
Yes!

To whom would I recommend this book?
Anyone who likes a good murder mystery or anyone who likes language and learning about old words and their usages.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
I have documented all the new words I found in the book and recorded their meaning.

The main character is Martha who is the chief editor for a dictionary firm based in Oxford, “The Clarendon English Dictionary”. The editor group receives a mysterious letter from a sender giving their name as “Chorus”. The letter teases the editors with clues hinting at some evil doing at the dictionary some years previously. As a reader one is brought along the discussion and thinking of the group as they try to decipher the clues in the letter. Of course this is only the first letter. Bwahaha…

Susie Dent has created characters and an environment that comes across as authentic and the experience is enhanced by her use of old words which she provides the meaning of in a very natural way in the text. One must remember that the core group in the story are dictionary editors and hence it is realistic enough that they use words they have come across in their work compiling the dictionary and seeking out their origin and usage history.

The story contains many potential guilty parties and red herrings. Almost everybody in the book has a secret and this adds to the overall sense of mystery.

Dent presents a comfortable sense of Oxford and is successful in creating a feeling for the university town that is academic, comfortable, and, as far as I can determine, accurate. Having worked as a dictionary editor in Oxford I believe the author does have the knowledge of the geography and the social scene. Having been a fan of the Morse TV series I find the locations familiar and can easily picture the characters in those places.

I said above that I would read another book by Dent but I am concerned their may not be any more. The Acknowledgements contains a description by Susie Dent of how she was persuaded to try fiction when her previous book output has been texts about language and words. She tells how, once she had been persuaded to try a novel, that she wanted to create a story in which a group of dictionary editors would solve a mystery. Guilty by Definition fits the bill, but what is she going to follow it with? She obviously put a lot of effort into this book and one can tell she had a passion for the lexiconic elements contained within the covers.

I really enjoyed this book and hope Dent writes more fiction, but I wonder how she can follow this gem.

>222 pgmcc: Ooooh! Sounds like something at least ½ the denizens of this pub would enjoy. Did Jill say we have months to wait, though?

>223 clamairy: I would hate to begin the new Year with a rant about territorial rights, but it would appear that the publishing community wants to separate out what and when of Peter's reading options from the what and when that you and I are allowed. Amazon tells me we don't see this one until May 13, 2025.

I think the publishing community underestimated the educational impact of watching British game shows like Countdown and 8 out of 10 Cats. I know that Suzi Dent taught us all kinds of fun words...

>222 pgmcc: The Brisbane library system has it on order and there are already 55 holds for it ... Amazon Australia shows it as "available to pre-order" but will sell me a UK import copy.

2024 statistics

I finished 37 novels and 10 short stories in 2024.



That is 12,007 pages read.

It is almost fifteen minutes into 2025 at my location so I will wish you all a

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

>227 pgmcc: Happy New Year, Peter!

>228 clamairy:
Thank you, Clare. I hope 2025 brings you joy.