souloftherose's (aka Heather's) 4th 75 Book Challenge thread - the end is in sight?

Fourth and probably final thread for the year - it's been so much fun so far!

First thread and books 1-68, Jan-Apr here, second thread and books 69-150 here, third thread and books 151-196 here and my introduction is here




November
#197 A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
#198 The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones
#199 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
#200 Asterix in Britain/Asterix Chez Les Bretons by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
#201 Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
#202 Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov
#203 Juggler in the Wind by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin
#204 Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
#205 Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
#206 Cat Detective by Vicky Halls
#207 Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
#208 What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool
#209 The Silent Miaow by Paul Gallico
#210 The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff

December
#211 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
#212 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
#213 Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
#214 The Father Christmas Letters by J. R. R. Tolkien
#215 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
#216 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
#217 Seeing Things by Oliver Postgate
#218 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
#219 Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer
#220 Middlemarch by George Eliot
#221 The Box of Delights by John Masefield
#222 Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
#223 The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones
#224 The Chimes by Charles Dickens
#225 The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens
#226 The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah
#227 A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
#228 Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts
#229 Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
#230 The Battle of Life by Charles Dickens
#231 The Haunted Man by Charles Dickens

November plans

Group read of Middlemarch. Although our reading plan has us finishing in December I should read half of it this month.

Alphabetical order challenge
The Great Divorce by C S Lewis
Seeing Things by Oliver Postgate - Early Reviewer book
Juggler in the Wind by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin - Early Reviewer book
Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym - Library book

Read a Book Translated from the French
Asterix in Britain by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo - I kind of feel like I'm cheating with this one but we also have it in French so I will be trying to read them side by side

Read a Book About the World of Harry Potter
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling and however many of books 4-7 that I can fit in.

Read a Book that has been reprinted
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

Book by an author whose first name ends with the same letter their last name starts with
Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds

Add-a-Little-Color-To-Your-Reading Challenge
Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik - Library book

Read a book about or featuring time travel
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones
The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card
Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov
Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy

And I can think of lots of others that would fit other challenges but there is no more reading room left in November!

I'm going to try and finish my ER books and library books first and then move on to the time travel stuff towards the end of the month.

Starred and eager to follow your time travel reading. I've put my name down for The House on the Strand but we'll have to see if I can make it as my priority reading has to be finishing my 1010 categories.

I loved your monthly summary -- what a great idea!

Hi Kerry! I am really looking forward to my time travel reading too.

Thanks Lucy :-) I'm sure I copied it from someone else originally...

Hi Heather! *waves* :)

Found you!

Hi Heather, got you starred again. Have you started Middlemarch yet? I'm hoping to get into it later in the week and make some comments on the group read thread. You've got an ambitious reading plan this month. Good luck!

Hello Heather, found you too!

I'd have joined you reading Asterix in Britain but I read that a month or two back, and it's the only Asterix I've got hold of, otherwise I could slip in another in the series to fit that challenge (it's not cheating, it is translated from French, often rather clerverly (as per previous discussion about how verbal jokes get changed in translation, some months back).

Got you!

Found you again, Heather!

Hi Heather, great November reading planned. I just have to mention that The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Johnathan Stroud continues to be just as good and I hope you'll find the other books soon. I found it a more grown up Harry Potter.

Hi, Heather. I've been seeing you around alot lately on LT and have just found and starred your thread.

Hi Heather, Just to let you know I found you

Found you and starred you again! :)

*waves to everyone*

#9 Donna, I did start Middlemarch yesterday and managed to read about 50 pages. The discussions on the group thread have been really helpful (and frequently hilarious!) I'll probably put it down now until the weekend. I think I need to read 100 pages a week to keep on schedule.

#13 Thanks Leonie. The rest of the Bartimaeus books are high on my list of books to get out of the library. Just as soon as I've read my current library loans!

#14 Hi Pat! I do lurk on your thread, but I expect I haven't posted - sorry.

#15 Cute graphic :-)

Book #197 A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond



A reread of an old children's classic which I picked up after seeing the series mentioned on CatyM's thread, still very enjoyable to read as an adult. I think my favourite Paddington book is actually the second book, More About Paddington, which I clearly loved as a child because my copy is falling apart!

I even managed to squeeze this into the TIOLI challenge under Madeline's A-Z challenge as there was a 'B' gap just waiting for this book.

4 stars

Book #198 The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones



Possibly my least favourite DWJ book so far, although still a pretty good read. I think part of the reason why I liked it slightly less than her other books was because this was told in the first person through the voice of 12 year old Jamie and I found this grated a bit and took a while to get used to. I'm not even going to attempt to explain the plot as I think it would make my head hurt too much on a Saturday morning. I read it for the TIOLI time-travel challenge.

3.75 stars

Book #199 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson



Miss Pettigrew is a down on her luck and rather dowdy middle-aged governess sent by her employment agency to apply for a job looking after the children of a night-club singer. When she arrives she is immediately drawn into helping the night-club singer with a variety of problems and soon Miss Pettigrew is enjoying her day so much that she slowly rejects all her long-held ideals about the correct way a lady should behave with regards to make-up and attire. This was a charming, light-hearted and fun Cinderella story although I wish that there had been a bit less of an emphasis on the make-over making you beautiful.

ETA: I read this for the 'read a book that has been reprinted' TIOLI challenge

4.25 stars

My copy was a beautiful Persephone Classics edition and I've found myself looking longlingly at the list of other titles published by Persephone at the back of the book. Another list of books to collect...

#18: I am with you on The Homeward Bounders. I just finished it a couple of days ago and it is definitely my least favorite DWJ book. I think I only gave it 3 stars. I did not care for the ending at all.

Only 1 more to 200! I hope you have a dandy one picked out for that magic number.

#19 The ending of The Homeward Bounders was less upbeat than her books normally are.

Re Book #200, I am in theory 'currently reading' about 8 books and not getting far with any of them except Middlemarch. I feel like I should try and finish one of those rather than starting something else but I will probably end up finishing something else entirely!

I'm sorry to hear that The Homeward Bounders was a bit of a disappointment. It's one of the enormous number of books I hope to somehow fit into this month, but I don't know if it will happen.

I keep meaning to ask whether you'd like a copy of Archer's Goon - it was one of the books I didn't have until recently, then I found two charity shop copies within a week, I think one of them was quite cheap. If you don't need it I'll offer it on BookMooch.

#20: I know what you mean about finishing something else entirely. The best laid plans, right?

I loved Miss Pettigrew! I've not read many of the Persephone reprints yet, but all the ones I have read have been excellent. And they certainly are lovely editions.

I *so* have to re-read Paddington properly myself.

#20 Ooh, Luci - yes please to Archer's Goon. I don't have that one yet. If you can reserve it for me on BM I will mooch it from you :-)

The Homeward Bounders was only a little bit disappointing and even that little bit was only because I have enjoyed all the other DWJ books so much. It's still a book I would be happy to reread at some point.

#22 Exactly!

#23 I can certainly see Miss Pettigrew becoming one of my comfort reads for when the day needs brightening. I've added a few other Persephone reprints to my wishlist and I am going to keep my eyes peeled in the charity bookshop.

I will certainly reserve on BM as soon as I get round to putting it up.

I think Persephones generally are heavily wishlisted. I've only found one secondhand Persephone and it was £4 (a secondhand shop not a charity shop) but it was in excellent condition and it would be £9-£12 new (I work within walking distance of the shop and they charge £10 each, £27 for 3 or £9 for the Classics editions - a lot of the aficianados on the Persephone group here prefer the plain greys, I quite like the Classics editions.

Glad you loved Miss Pettigrew as much as I did! :)

I also found myself looking at the other Persephone book titles after I read Miss Pettigrew. You just get the feeling they'll all be as good.

Hi Heather .. been lurking for a while ... wanted to de-lurk to share that I just loved A Bear Called Paddington. I'll be eagerly waiting for your review of Quartet in Autumn.

#26 & 27 Yes and yes :-)

#28 Hey Caro! Thanks for delurking, I am shamefully behind in my lurking on your own lovely thread. Paddington is great isn't he?

# 18 I’ve wanted to read Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day for quite a while now. I think it is my kind of book but the ‘emphasis on the make-over making you beautiful’ thing may make me like it a little less. Oh well maybe I’ll get to it next year.

I haven't said "HI" in a while, so here's a "HI" for you! Hope things are well!

#30 I think I may have been being oversensitive to the makeover thing Porua. it probably touched a sensitive spot for me because I always felt like an ugly duckling as a teenager and there was so much emphasis among my peers about how you looked.

#31 Hi Terri - good to see you! I need to remember to delurk on your thread to say 'Hi' more often.

I'm around too! I loved the Paddington books growing up, but I never could interest my daughter in them, not at all.

Delurking to say Hi too, Heather. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day looks like a good read. For some reason I have no recollection of reading any Paddington bear stories (maybe I didn't). Will have to check them out.

# 32 I’m sensitive about things like that too but mainly because I cannot tolerate any kind of objectification of women, however mild or unintentional it may be. But I'm sure it will not hinder my enjoyment of the book as it seems to have many other things to offer.

I see what you mean as to the make-up making the woman theme in Miss Pettigrew but I felt it was more a part of the thinking of the day and the high society that Pettigrew finds herself in on this particular day. If she hadn't been made up then her experiences at the social gatherings that she went to would have been very different and she would have felt out of place. Instead she was made to feel welcomed, part of the group and comfortable with the unusual surroundings and I think that was the real purpose of giving her the make-over in the story.

Also, there were a lot of comments by the women doing the make-over about her beautiful complexion, great bones, great figure etc. She wasn't an ugly duckling really, she just didn't believe in herself and this is what the make-over helped to do for her, give her a bit of self-esteem which I can relate to myself in today's society.

I may be wide of the mark here but I think Heather just related to the book in the light of her own experiences. That is what I do when I read a book. The ugly duckling reference comes from that, not just from Miss Pettigrew’s make over in the book. I may be wrong but that is how I see it. :-)

Oh, I loved the spontaneity in Miss Pettigrew lives for a day and if you haven't read it Mrs Harris goes to Paris is also delightful.

Hi Heather, I guess everyone can have a bit of Mrs. Pettigrew's make-over make-belief now and then ... until you get really bored with it :-). Your review made me curious to read the book though.

Porua, I think you're probably right. Just wanted to say that seen in the context of the pre-war setting, it does make sense to me, but I also personally get more confidence if I put effort into my appearance before I go out so I could understand that angle as well.

I love the covers of the Persephone books...so pretty...

# 40 Growing up I saw how everyone assumes that if a woman looks a certain way she must be dumb. Surely no one can be both beautiful and smart. One of my close family members actually said something like you either have to follow fashion, buy dresses and make up or you can read books and be smart. No one can do both. I think this attitude I observed has shaped how I react to certain things. But everyone has different experiences and reacts differently to things. So, I do get how we can all react differently to the same books and characters. :-)

Interesting discussion re Miss Pettigrew and the make-over question - I'm also sensitive on that kind of subject (perhaps there are quite a few of us who've been faced with that unhelpful dichotomy between being seen as attractive/fashionable or being bookish/intelligent).

And I must look out for these Persephone editions: I don't think I've knowingly come across them at all, until people started mentioning them on LT.

As for Paddington, although I know the broad details of the character, I never owned any of those books, and don't remember borrowing from the library either, so there's another missing bit of childhood experience!

Porua, you've just reminded me of something that I get a lot and I find it mostly funny but it can be irritating to be judged by your appearance.

My daughter is very good at english and I was doing a parent/teacher interview with her english teacher this year and he looked at me, seemed puzzled, and then asked where she got her brains from. It was part in jest so I saw the funny side but I've had this reaction a lot as I have quite a few visible tattoos on my arms and I mostly dress in black (as I have no confidence in myself to wear colours) and pretty much look more like a biker chick than a nerd.

Appearances can be quite deceiving.

Have you ever heard of the adage: "Never assume. It makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'? I love that saying especially when I get to say it to people like english teachers! It sounds like some of the people you grew up with would have been prime candidates to say it too as well.

#44: I get this sometimes because of my job, Leonie. I had one lady come in one night and I was sitting there reading The Idiot. I was explaining how the bail bond system works (most people are completely unfamiliar with it) and she glanced over to see what I was reading - and then proceeded to ask me 'Do you understand it?' I almost said 'No, I am taking notes on how to be one.' I restrained myself though.

Ha ha, great last few comments. Kiwi, that was a bit rich of the English teacher wasn't it?

A good friend of mine has a PhD, is a university lecturer and is also beautiful, slim and gorgeous with long flowing blonde hair and a sweet girly voice. As you can imagine, she's had trouble in the past with being stereotyped instantly.

This is so interesting because I was just commenting that George Eliot, over on the MM thread was so bitchy about Rosamund, that she couldn't be beautiful and actually really a good musician, she's only 'clever' and 'imitative' --

Both anecdotes made me chuckle and groan......

#44 That's a great impulse, Stasia! You remind me of a Latin student writing about ancient Roman funeral customs. She said, "For the funeral they hired professional morons*." - and I knew I had missed my vocation!
(*mourners* in case you didn't get it....)
I also recall a candid type commenting to me about my roommate in college, "How can you and Betty live together? You're so mousy and she's so brassy." I wanted to yell, "What the #(%@&*(^&! are you talking about?" I restrained myself too.

Young and pretty must equal to 'perky' or else there is something seriously wrong with her is the most oft repeated remark I’ve heard. Seriously, can’t a person be young but calm and quiet at the same time?

Regarding books I’ve heard you’re going to read that WHOLE thing (Umm...yes. Isn’t that what people usually do?)?

Stasia, the image of you reading The Idiot made me think straight away of Renee in The Elegance of the Hedgehog with her love of russian novels.

I'm amazed (although sadly not too surprised) that many of us can recall similar experiences on this topic. Porua, did someone really ask if you were going to read the whole book? That is too funny, definitely not a member of LT who said that.

It is sad that so many of us are stereotyped, isn't it?

# 50 Yup, someone actually asked me whether I meant to read the whole book from cover to cover. I think the book in question was about 300-400 pages long. I guess the girth of the book must have really scared him. And no he is definitely not a member of LT.

And 400 pages isn't even long.

#45 LOL.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people are convinced there is a direct correlation between appearance and ability/inability to do certain things. And between certain skill sets and other. It reminds me of a piece I was watching on TV a few weeks ago about a professional football (i.e. soccer player) - can't remember which one - who is a very good painter. Some people were surprised that a sportsman was interested in art, and *very* surprised that he was good. But why shouldn't he be interested in it? Why assume a professional sportsman is stupid, uninterested in the arts, or whatever, just because he is a professional sportsman?

# 53 Yeah it wasn’t long. I wonder what he would have said had he seen me reading The Pickwick papers (my Oxford World’s Classics edition is 700+ pages long) or better still The Pillars of the Earth (1000+ pages long. Gasp!)

Like Stasia said, so many of us face discrimination in many forms...

Discrimination against overweight people particularly bothers me. Many people seem to assume that 'fat' people are fat simply because they eat too much, without realizing that the person could be dealing with other health issues, and they might in fact be trying VERY hard to be healthy.

If someone asked me if I was going to read the whole book, I don't know what I would do! I'll have to remember Stasia's remark in case it happens...

Did I get the link here to YouTube with a comedian reporting that, when eating alone in a restaurant with a book, the waitress asked him, "Why are you reading a book?" ! Whoever did it might want to repost it; it was pretty funny.

I've eaten alone with a book quite a few times, but no-one's ever questioned it. I think if anyone asked me that, I'd asking them whether they thought I *ought* to do while I waited for my food. And woe betide anyone suggesting 'just sit there'.

My husband is a CTO and complete techno geek and spends his time flying around the world explaining/selling/installing software solutions to big business. When people find out he builds in his spare time they can't get their head around the two together. Techno geek/CTO and builder/carpenter apparently shouldn't go hand in hand.

I'm loving that we're all breaking the stereotypes. Also loving the great retorts.

Yeah, I hate stereotypes. I especially hate how everyone thinks that just because I am a young man I'm supposed to think about sex all the time. Like every waking moment is supposed to focused on female physiology. I'm sorry, but I'm not like that. I don't know why people think men my age... ....*gets distracted by a woman jogging by the window* Umm...errr... *ahem* Uhhhh...what was I saying again? *scratches head*

I have had the busiest week at work and haven't even checked my own thread since last weekend let alone anyone else's!

So, catching up:

#33 Hi Lucy! Always good to find another Paddington Bear fan :-)

#34 Hi Pat! I hope you enjoy Miss Pettigrew and Paddington.

#38 Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris has gone on the wishlist Kerry - thanks!

Interesting discussion about the make-over aspect of Miss Pettigrew.

#36 You make a good point Leonie. And Miss Pettigrew did feel welcomed and accepted by Miss LaFosse and friends before the makeover too, so as you say, it may have been more about giving Miss P the necessary confidence.

#44-46 Those stories made me chuckle but I also wonder how often I make the same assumptions about people without realising.

#55 I am very sensitive about weight issues too Angela. At the moment I am a bit overweight and everyone I work with is so concerned about their appearance/weight that I find it very hard to believe that they don't judge me for being overweight behind my back or to not care if they do.

And, yes, if there are other health problems involved then it's not as simple as joining your nearest gym.

#59 LOL.

Hey, Heather! I hope work slows up a bit for you :)

It is hard not to make assumptions, it's human nature. But we can try not to- and remember to remember there's usually more behind the mask than what you assume.

Stopping by to wave hi.

#61 Me too, Stasia!

#62 Good point

#63 Hello Linda. *Waves back*

I have an 'almost cold' today which I think is mainly the result of long hours at work, not enough sleep and the guy who sits opposite me at work having had a cold this week (grr). I may not get as much catching up done on LT as I hoped but I am up to date with Middlemarch (and just need to read and think about all the messages on the group read thread) and started Doomsday Book by Connie Willis last night which is excellent so far.

And I am going to 'feed my cold' with homemade bread and soup later - mmmm.

And on to some book reviews:

Book #200 Asterix in Britain/Asterix Chez Les Bretons by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo



One of the best Asterix comics/graphic novels (whatever you want to call them) that I've read. We have the French edition and I borrowed the English version from the library so that I could read the two side by side.

A special mention should go to Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge who have done a superb job of translating the Asterix comics into English. A lot of the jokes in the original French are not easily translated but I think they did a great job of translating where possible or replacing otherwise.

A good example of this is the way the British speak in the story. When speaking French, one should put an adjective describing a noun after that noun rather than before it as we would do in English (e.g. le chat noir directly translates into the cat black whereas we would say the black cat). In the original French, Goscinny and Uderzo have the British speaking French but with the adjectives and nouns round the wrong way so to a French reader it would sound quite silly. Obviously, this wouldn't translate into English at all, so instead, Bell and Hockridge have the British speaking like Lord Pellinore from The Once and Future King and saying 'what?' at the end of every sentence ("Jolly good show, what?") which gives the same impression as the original French but in a way that's understandable to an English speaker.

Other gentle jibes at the British are the way everything stops for them to drink hot water with a little milk in at 5pm, the bad food (Obelix doesn't like boiled boar), the fog, rugby, warm beer and cold red wine. Of course, Asterix and Obelix win through against the Romans and the story ends with them happily back in Gaul after having introduced tea to the British.

Entertaining in whichever language you can read it. 4 stars.

Book #201 Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik



This is the fourth book in Naomi Novik's historical fantasy series set during the time of the Napoleonic wars and they really do need to be read in order.

One of the things I enjoy about this series is the way that Novik highlights the issue of equality throughout the books and in Empire of Ivory this theme was even more prominent. Part of the plot involves time spent on the African continent and the issue of human slavery highlights the similar issues surrounding the military's use and treatment of sentient, intelligent dragons who enjoy discussing problems of higher mathematics as essentially glorified war horses.

One of the details of Novik's fantasy world is that one particular breed of dragons will only accept female handlers. This caused a bit of a problem in the 18th/19th centuries and so the dragon corps have long had to accept women being captains in the corps. This means Novik can bend history to create some strong female characters in fairly exciting roles and there are several amusing scenes where you watch other parts of the military trying to cope with a woman not 'knowing her place'.

I think my only (minor) complaint is that it's too easy for the reader to decide who is right with the issues of equality. It's obvious to the reader that women are just as capable of men, that human slavery is morally wrong and that the dragons should be treated more as equals of their human teams when the dragons as intelligent as a lot of humans. I think what I'm saying is that I would like there to be more of a grey area. These issues (male/female equality and the issue of human slavery) were not clear cut to people of the time however obvious the 'right' answers might be to us today. I would like there to be something in these stories to challenge me more on a personal level.

Having said that, this series has been great fun so far and after the cliffhanger ending of book 4 I am longing to see what happens to Laurence and Temaraire next. 4.25 stars

And I'm happy to say that books 5 & 6 came home from the library with me today :-)

Hi Heather, two interesting reviews. I'm going to take His Majesty's Dragon out of the library and see what I think. I don't usually read these kind of books but LT has gotten me to try so many new things, I figure why not!

Hello Heather. Interesting review of the Novik book. I have His Majesty's Dragon waiting at home on my TBR shelf - am keen to get started on the series.

Book #202 Pebble in the Sky



Not a great deal to say about this one! It's one of Asimov's earlier works and involves someone accidentally travelling through time from the present day (or rather the 1950s) to a point thousands of years in the future when the Earth ahs become damaged by radiation and is looked down upon as being the most ridiculous backwater planet in the universe. Earth is so looked down upon that most humans at the time believe Earthmen are actually a different species and there is just one archaeologist from the Sirius sector who believes that all uman life originated on Earth in the distant past.

This is one of the Galactic Empire novels which fills in the gaps between Asimov's Robot books and the Foundation books. I've been reading them all in chronological order and although this is the best of the Galactic Empire books it's not one I'd particularly recommend but it was nice to turn my brain off for a bit and read something safe.

3.5 stars.

Book #203 Juggler in the Wind by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin



An ER YA book which I really didn't enjoy. Reviewed here.

Book #204 Doomsday Book by Connie Willis



This was fantastic - sign me up as a fully fledged Connie Willis fan!

Set in the near future (2050s), time travel has become a reality, however the physical laws of the universe prevent you from going back to change an event so the main users of time travel are historians doing research on historical periods.

The story opens at Oxford University where an historian is the first person to be sent back to the 14th century which had previously been blacklisted as too dangerous to visit. The plan is to send her to a small village near Oxford in 1320 which has been chosen as a safe year to visit as it is a full 28 years before the Black Death reached England. Shortly after the historian has been sent through however, the technician operating the time travelling machine collapses and is rushed to hospital with a serious virus. As more cases of the virus come in, 21st century Oxford is put under quarantine and the team have no way of knowing whether the historian sent through to the 14th century contracted the virus or even whether she has been sent back to the write time or not. As more and more people in the 21st century fall ill, they're soon not even sure if there will be anyone left in Oxford to bring the historian back.

This book is really two interlinked stories, one set in the 14th century and one set in the 21st century and either story on their own would make a gripping read but the way the two stories are intertwined makes it really special. I've seen the ending described as dark but although it's definitely a sad ending (I cried for the last 50 pages) I would also say that I found this quite an uplifting book overall.

The book apparently took Willis five years to write and was nominated for and won a slew of awards including both the Hugo and Nebula awards. Although there are science fiction elements (time travel isn't possible at the moment as far as I know!) it's not hardcore science fiction (there are no aliens or spaceships) and I would recommend trying it even if you're not normally into science fiction books.

5 stars!

Doomsday Book sounds great too. Onto the wishlist it goes. Like your reviews.

#66 Hi Pat. I always feel slightly nervous when I hear people are trying a book I've recommended - hopefully you will enjoy it! Other than the dragons, I think they're more historical than traditional fantasy books.

I've heard His Majesty's Dragon compared to the Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Brian but I haven't actually read any of those books myself (yet).

#67 Thanks Genny. One of my aims between now and December is to try and finish off some of the series I've started this year but there's no way I'm going to manage it for most of them! I've only got 2 books to go for the Temeraire series but the most recent book (Tongues of Serpents) didn't get very good reviews so I feel a certain amount of trepidation...

#69 I keep cross-posting Pat - thank you!

Woo hoo! Our work here is done, Willis and Bujold reign!

Heather, I'm going to take both Her Majesty's Dragon and Doomsday Book out of the library so if they don't grab me nothing has been lost. As I said, I've tried so many things I never would have even heard of if not for LT, and loved them, that I'm basically game for anything these days.

Doomsday Book is already on my wishlist - it sounds excellent, and as a former Oxford historian I love the idea of using time travel as a research tool!

Ditto - Doomsday Book is on my tbr pile, slowly working its way to the top. Really impressed with your ability to read through a series so quickly.

Heather, I have Doomsday Book in one of my stacks, but its size intimidates me. I need to get over that kind of thing--it's not like I've never read a long book. And I bought it in the first place, knowing how big it was. Someday...

I love Doomsday Book so I am glad to see Connie Willis has found another fan!

Hi Heather. I'm glad you liked Doomsday Book. I read it last year and only gave it 3 stars I think, but everyone else seems to love it. :)

I've been meaning to read more books by her but haven't gotten around to it yet...

I loved Asimov so much when I was a teen - I wonder how they would all seem now; I enjoyed reading your review.... I may have to pick one up sometime.

Yay, Heather! *Doomsday* is one that I regularly pick up and reread at least portions of. Although I merely "like" some Willis, I've never read a really mediocre one. Blackout is my current scifi choice, and it is a real love.
I also have the first of the Novik books, started it, liked it, but haven't returned to it. I will though when I've gotten through *BO* and All Clear and finish The Dervish House which I stopped even though I was loving it because it didn't fit a TIOLI this month. So much to read and love! I'm glad you're a Willis convert. (My favorite that isn't exactly time travel is Lincoln's Dreams. Wonderful! Words obviously fail me.)

Glad you enjoyed Doomsday Book. I cried through the last 50 pages, too, and I agree that it's a sad ending but an uplifting book.

Its hard to go by a 5 star rating, I'm adding Doomsday Book to my library list and my wishlist and my "maybe buy" list! Thanks for the review.

The Doomsday Book looks very much like something I'd like so on to the list. I'm also intrigued by the Naomi Novik series. I've seen them in the bookshop but never knew what they were about, will be checking those out too after your good reviews.

Just chiming in to say I'm in AWE of the number of books you've read this year! :)

I'm currently reading Doomsday Book for the time travel challenge as well, and I'm enjoying it so far. I have to admit that I'm really irritated by the translator, though--it seems completely unbelievable to me.

Heather - So glad you liked Doomsday Book. It's one of my favorite books. I sometimes re-read it at Christmas time. I may re-read it this year if I get time. I also loved all the Novik books - except the last one. Enjoy!

(>85 _Zoe_: I didn't mind the translator, but I've tried since the book came out to sub-vocalize and just can't get the hang of it!)

#73 Well I certainly hope you enjoy them Pat.

#74 Hope you can find a copy soon Genny.

#75 Thanks Kerry.

#76 It didn't feel like a long book when I was reading it so Terri so face your fear!

#77 :-)

#78 I just went to look up your review. Quite a few other people who reviewed the book also commented on finding some parts quite annoying so it's not just you! For whatever reason, I just didn't notice those bits/find them annoying when I read it. I think the British university setting probably helped me (my husband has been in academia as a graduate for over five years) in that I found the ridiculous amounts of bureaucracy quite believable which I might otherwise might have found quite annoying.

The only other Willis book I've read is To Say Nothing of the Dog which is a lot more comic but might still have annoying elements if you found Doomsday Book annoying. Any one else have any suggestions?

#72 Sorry Roni, I somehow missed you above :-( I still haven't read any Bujold but I have one on my bedside table just waiting...

#79 Lucy, I read my first Asimov's a couple of years ago (Foundation and sequels) and loved them but before that I don't think I'd read much adult science fiction that wasn't 'trashy' (and I'm not going to try and explain what I mean by trashy except I know it when I throw the book away!). I've been steadily collecting the other Asimov's and started reading through all the Robot & Foundation books this year but now that I haven't enjoyed the last few as much as I remember enjoying Foundation, I'm a bit worried that I'll reread Foundation and realise it's not actually very good!

#80 Ah Peggy, all the books you're reading are books I would very much like to read :-) I managed to mooch Bellwether this week so I have another Willis on the way to keep me going!

#81 Caty, I found your review when I was looking for Stephen's. Again, I think I was completely oblivious of all the bits that other people found annoying about the book. It was definitely a good story.

#82 & #83 Hope you enjoy them Megan and Leonie!

#84 Thank you Angela - sometimes it scares me too!

#85 My thoughts on the translator are (1) it illustrated how stupid they were to send her to the 14th century as they didn't even have the language for the period right and (2) it meant Willis didn't have to render all the mediaeval speech in ye olde english which would have really annoyed me - I hate trying to decipher people's speech in books. So overall, I think I preferred the existence of the translator to the alternative but, yes, it was an unbelievable piece of equipment.

#86 I've heard that a lot of people didn't enjoy the most recent Novik as much as the others - oh well. Hopefully her next book will be up to par again.

#87 "sub-vocalise" - I think I just learnt a new word! I also tried and couldn't figure out what the 'contemps' were saying (I love that phrase).

Otherwise, I have had another horribly busy week at work (which is why it took me so long to post replies - sorry) but I've started Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym which I picked up on a whim from the library. It's not what I expected and I think it's quite an unusual book but it's definitely a good book.

And I realised I haven't posted about our cat Erica for a while. She's now fully vaccinated, spayed and micro-chipped although to get her to this stage we had seven days where she had to wear an Elizabeth collar and was a very unhappy kitty. But now she's really settled in a lot more, is less nervous and now has her own place to sit on the rug and yesterday made her first move towards getting her own armchair!

Now she's allowed to go outside she wants to, but is still too scared to actually go out of the door (or even the window).

Some more photos:

Looking back on my review of Doomsday Book (which I'd forgotten I'd written), I can't even remember the things that I found irritating at the time - although I do remember the good parts. The good parts must be much stronger than the annoying parts.

Quartet in Autumn is one of the few Pym book I haven't read: I'll be interested to hear what you think of it when you get to the end.

Love the photos: she looks so regal; in the first picture, and all sleepy and snuggly in the second one.

She is a beautiful cat and well worth all the time and trouble to you and her! We don't let our cats out, but they have never shown any inclination to go either. Somehow they seem to know when they have it good! Quartet in Autumn is not a typical Pym, or what I think people mean when they refer to her. It may be her best book though. Enjoy! (Meanwhile, Blackout gets better and better. All Clear, look out!

Nice cat! Our cat just hasn't been the same since our son was born 2 years ago. I think he's still got post natal depression! Basically if baby is up- cat is out the door asap!

Back to Doomsday.....I went straight to the library and the only copy there was a paperback that had tiny cramped font. I just couldn't put myself through it. Will have to look elsewhere!

>90 souloftherose: Books picked out on a whim can really be worth it sometimes. Its like chocolate bars at the checkout- an impulse buy!

Love the pictures of Erica! Thanks for posting them, Heather.

I enjoyed Quartet in Autumn quite a lot. I hope you do too.

Hello Heather! Glad you liked Doomsday Book, that was one I really enjoyed when I read it earlier this year.

So, I have The Silver Branch out of the library now, and will need to read it over the next three weeks or so. Is your reading table sufficiently clear for a tandem read? :)

OK, i knew I had lost your thread but I did not know I had 95 messages to catch up on! I am off to read now...

Edited to say that I am going to find our Paddington Bear book right now to read to my daughter - I loved those books as a kid! And there has been a Paddington Bear promo on here at the supermarket, so I am typing this with him on my knee.

I don't do time travel books or sci fi/fantasy/whatever I am meant to label it as - except Outlander, for which I suspended disbelief long enough to read the first 2 1/2 books. But I might have to look for The Doomsday Book because you gave it 5 stars and I loved boos with academic settings.

Finally written my review of Juggler in the Wind from message #68 here.

#91 Thank you, she certainly knows when to turn the cuteness on.

#92 I think she wants to go outside but we certainly aren't going to force her. Part of her daily routine now involves lying in our hallway staring at the front door. I think she'll get there eventually.

Quartet in Autumn was not what I expected from Pym but it was good - thoughts to come. And glad to hear you're enjoying Blackout!

#93 Poor cat! Sorry to hear about the library copy of Doomsday Book, hopefully you can find one with larger print somewhere. And don't talk about chocolate bars at checkouts...

#94 Thanks Stasia. I did enjoy Quartet :-)

#95 I think I can squeeze The Silver Branch in over the next few weeks Mary. I only have 2 library books that I can't renew and I am making good progress with them. When would be best for you to read it?

#96 Hello Cushla! Glad to hear you are also a Paddington Bear fan. I have never tried the Outlander series so I don't know how they compare to Doomsday Book but I didn't think Doomsday Book was very science-fiction-y so hopefully you will enjoy it.

Book #205 Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym



My first Pym and not quite what I was expecting but still very enjoyable.

This book focuses on two men and two women who work together and who could be said to be in 'the autumn of the lives' (the eponymous Quartet in Autumn). Each of them is effectively alone in the world for various reasons and the two women are nearing retirement age.

Although this sounds like it could potentially be quite a depressing or bleak book to read, I didn't find it so and I found the ending of the book actually quite uplifting.

The four characters are each described so well and Pym makes them humorous and quirky without being disparaging or leaving them without dignity.

A thought-provoking read. 4.5 stars

Book #206 Cat Detective: Solving the Mystery of your Cat's Behaviour by Vicky Halls



I'd hoped that this would be a more general guide to interpreting your cat however this book is mainly concerned with cat behavioural problems such as house spraying and/or soiling and aggressive behaviour. Happily, our cat doesn't currently exhibit any of these problems but it was still an informative book to read and I feel that I now have a much better understanding of why cats sometimes behave like that and how to tackle those situations if they did arise.

The author of this book is a professional cat behavioural therapist and the book is divided into chapters which clearly describe each problem, explain why a cat may be behaving in this way, sets out guidelines to stop this behaviour and then gives a couple of case studies featuring cats the author has personally dealt with. The case studies are often quite humorous and I was chuckling away to myself whilst I was reading this as well as reading excerpts out loud to my husband but the humour is very gentle and I never felt it was at the expense of the owners or cats featured.

There was also a chapter on the indoor cat which included lots of helpful tips about how to ensure you provide enough simulation for your cat if it can't or won't go outside. Halls has included detailed instructions on how to make the cat toys she takes with her when she visits her clients and I am definitely going to try and make 'The Octopus' which she claims no cat can resist!

Overall, an interesting and informative book. A note of caution: this book is written by a British author and I have seen a couple of American readers comment that the book didn't discuss declawing or that the author promotes letting your cat go outside. I'd never heard of declawing before (I think it's illegal in the UK) and in the UK I think it is more generally expected that if your cat's been neutered/spayed then you'll let it go outside if it wants to. Otherwise, I would think that cats are probably fairly similar on both sides of the Atlantic.

4 stars.

Does anyone have any recommendations of cat books which focus more on understanding your cat generally rather than problem behaviours? I'll probably try The Secret Life of Your Cat: The Visual Guide to All Your Cat's Behaviour by by the same author but was wondering if anyone had read any others they thought might be helpful?

>97 souloftherose: I'm pretty flexible. I'll probably finish The Great Divorce for the alphabet TIOLI challenge today or tomorrow (it's very short), and I plan on picking it up sometime after that. Judging from how long it took me to read The Eagle of the Ninth, I think I'll take about a week or so...but then, there's the holiday, so I might have more time than I think. What kind of speed do you want to take it in?

Hi, Heather. I've put Quartet in Autumn on my WL. I've heard of Pym but never read anything by her. Thanks for the recommendation.

(A note about letting the cats go outside. We don't. We're near too much traffic and too many dogs come through the neighborhood for them to be safe. I also think about the tiny kitten that we had to have put down this summer because she tested positive for feline leukemia. Don't want my babies exposed!)

Hi Heather

I'm #10 thumbs up for your excellent review of Doomsday Book!

I love the photo of your kitty cat. How very precious

Glad to see you enjoyed Quartet in Autumn, Heather! I will say that it is a bit different from the other Pyms I have read.

This haiku sums up all one needs to know about cats"

I want in. I want out.
Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
Are you angry yet?

There is a book of haiku by Deborah Coates called Cat Haiku that isn't exactly what you are looking for but one of the favorite cat themed books EVER.

Seriously, I'll think about it -- I have read a lot of animal behaviour books, just nothing else has come to mind at this moment.

Pretty kitty pic! Our little girl is in heat and misearble :( Makes sleeping for the humans a bit of a challenge!

Glad you loved Doomsday Book -- me too! I'd give it a re-read but it's in storage...

#99 I've just finished Bury Your Dead so can pick up The Silver Branch now as something lighter to read alongside Middlemarch. I think a week should be doable. I'll send you a pm.

#100 Thanks Pat, I can't remember who first recommended Pym to me but it was definitely someone in this group. I'd never heard of her before LT either.

#101 So sorry to hear about your kitten Peggy.

#102 Thank you Linda :-)

#103 I'm definitely going to try some other Pyms (at some point) Stasia. I think I was expecting something more light hearted but Quartet in Autumn was still very good.

#104 Lucy, I have to get that book! I've been thinking up some weird and wonderful excuses for buying it, like giving it to the cat as a Christmas present or something (although I'm sure the husband would see through that one!)

#105 We think our cat was on heat just before we had her spayed and it was interesting to say the least! She managed to pull the carpet loose by the front door because she was scrabbling to get out so much. Hopefully your little one will be over it soon.

I want in. I want out.
Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
Are you angry yet?

That is so true! What a great Haiku. Our cat seems to know the exact time that I have settled into bed he chooses that time to meow to come in. When our boy was a little baby he used to meow JUST at the time he had settled and I had sat down. They are so funny!

Happy Thanksgiving, Heather!

Love the pictures of Erica. I'm glad to hear she is getting more settled - I'm sure it won't be long before she is brave enough to venture out.

Erica looks lovely in those photos. A favourite cat book for me is All Cats Have Asperger's Syndrome, the main purpose of the book is to explain aspergers behaviour to younger siblings, but is also on another level a delightful photo book of cat behaviour.
Love that cat haiku. I have Cleo: the cat who mended a family lined up to read in the next week or so, don't think it's what you're after though.
edit: fix touchstone

#108 Thank you Roni - a belated Happy Thanksgiving to you too.

#109 Thanks Genny. She's started going outside for fairly short periods of time, about 20 minutes/half an hour.

#110 Thanks Kerry. My library has a copy of All Cats Have Asperger's Syndrome so I will look out for that one.

Book #207 Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny



This is the sixth book in Louise Penny's murder mystery series featuring Chief Inspector Gamache and I think this series really does need to be read in order. So much of the emotional impact of this book was because I had come to know and love the characters by reading the preceding books in the series.

There are three story strands to follow; firstly, Gamache and Beauvoir have been injured in an incident at work which has had devastating implications. We only discover the full details of the incident in flashbacks throughout the book. In the second story arc, Gamache has doubts about the outcome of the murder case in book 5 (The Brutal Telling) and asks Beauvoir to return to The Three Pines to do some further investigation and finally there is a murder in Quebec where Gamache is recuperating and in trying to find the solution to this murder Gamache is drawn back to an old historical mystery and the founding of Quebec itself.

Once again, this book was everything I have come to expect from Louise Penny: good writing, thought-provoking themes and well-loved characters. She writes about Quebec and its history in a way that makes me want to visit the city.
I was gripped by all three storylines and this is a book I will want to reread in the future (whilst I'm impatiently waiting for book #7...)

4.5 stars

I am impatiently waiting for book 7 too, Heather!

Book #208 What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist - the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England by Daniel Pool



Lost in Austen? Defeated by Dickens? Troubled by Trollope? Then this could be the book for you!

Daniel Pool has written an accessible and entertaining guide to 19th century life in England covering both the Regency and Victorian periods. Although aimed at American readers life in 19th century England was sufficiently different from life in 21st century England to make this a useful book for a native British person to read. The second half of the book is a 100 page glossary which would be a useful aide to refer to whilst reading.

What makes this book particularly interesting to a lover of 19th century British literature is that Pool often uses quotes or refers to passages in those well-known 19th century books to illustrate his explanations. Of course, this had the effect of either making me want to reread my favourite 19th century authors or investigate new ones -so be warned!

The only thing that stopped me from giving this book five stars was that I would have preferred a longer book with more information and pictures/diagrams. This book serves as a good introduction to the subject but left me wanting to know more and there were several areas where I felt the subjects discussed could have been much more easily explained using pictures. On the subject of carriages, for example, which are often mentioned in Austen's book, Pool runs through a list of the different coaches and carriages in use and the social status implied with each vehicle. But none of his explanation stayed in my head; the carriages all had fairly similar names and the descriptions given weren't enough to let me picture them in my head. A page of drawings illustrating the different types of carriages would have made all the difference. Similarly for the subject of dress in the 19th century. Would it have been all that difficult to include some pictures of the typical costumes worn by men and women during the 19th century?

But overall this was an enjoyable and informative read. It just needed a little bit more to make it truly exceptional.

4 stars

Edited to try and get touchstones to work...

That book sounds good for me - when I read Cranford (which I know isn't Victoria, but close enough) I wondered if I was missing lots of references.

I own that one but have really not dipped into it yet. Maybe for the Austenathon next year. . .

#112 Stasia I took so long to write my review that I completely missed your post until just now! I looked at Louise Penny's blog and couldn't find any clues about whether another book had been started :-(

#114 Parts of the Daniel Pool book did bring Cranford to mind Cushla, particularly when he was talking about people covering their carpets to avoid fading - I have a vivid recollection of Miss Matty doing this in Cranford. I thought Cranford wasn't Victorian but it was actually published in 1851 (according to wikipedia) which would make it Victorian unless it was set earlier?

#115 Hopefully!

#116: I guess Penny is just going to keep us in the dark for a while, Heather.

Heather, I loved both of your reviews. I'm only up to the third LP but have been having trouble finding a copy of it that I like. For some reason, I don't like to read the smaller mass paperback versions and that's all I've seen so far. I really want to get caught up because so many people have raved about Bury Your Dead.

I took What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew out of the library but haven't had a chance to read it much and it's due back soon. Your review makes me think I should buy a copy especially since I'm going to do Stasia's Austenothon new year.

I'm off to thumb your reviews!

Though not lost in Austen or defeated by Dickens (may become troubled by Trollope when I get to Barchester Towers!), I think What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew may be a good book for me. Good review! Thumbs!

Good stuff going on, Heather! I have dipped into *WJAAandCDK* but never tried to read it through. Maybe I will.
As usual, I come late to things, but I finally got a copy of the DVD "Lost in Austen," and I recommend it highly for those who like these things. Amanda Price loves the world of JA and is able to trade places with Elizabeth Bennett through a door that opens at the end of her bathtub. (!) Once there, she finds the storyline diverging wildly from what JA wrote, and Amanda tries her best to get everybody back on track. I think I need to watch it again tomorrow afternoon!

Thanks for that recommendation of the DVD, Peggy. That sounds like fun. I'm off to put it on my Netflix list.

#118 Thanks Pat. I think our UK mass market paperbacks seem to be slightly larger than the US equivalents for some reason. I've only noticed this since I got a few US mass market paperbacks and I definitely prefer the UK size. Of course, that's probably not particularly helpful for you!

The danger with having got caught up with the Louise Penny books is that I miss having the next one to look forward to!

My copy of *WJAAandCDK* (thanks for the handy abbreviation Peggy!) is also a library copy. It would be nice to have a copy handy to refer to at need

#119 Thanks Porua. I couldn't think of anything amusing for Eliot (one of my current reads is Middlemarch). Embroiled in Eliot didn't seem to work...

#120 Despite rather cheekily using the title in my review I've never actually seen Lost in Austen. I think when it came out in the UK I felt like I had Austen spin-off overload and decided not to watch it but you've made it sound fun and I think I could do with some fun so I've added it to my DVD rental list :-)

I think our mass market paperbacks are nicer than US ones (although often comparatively more expensive) and US trade paperbacks are nicer than UK ones. Actually, a lot of US TPB are similar in size and style to UK mass market books.

#113

Hi Heather!

I also enjoyed What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew.

Thumbs up from me for your great review!

It's been a while since I posted here. I've had a slight cold which hasn't been bad enough to take time off work but has left me feeling rather sorry for myself and extremely tired. So, I've mostly been rereading my Harry Potter books rather than attempting anything slightly more taxing.

I might try and do some book updates later today if I have the energy.

:( I hope you feel better soon.

Hope you're getting back to normal, Heather..... I've resisted going back to HP 5, where I stopped last summer, but I suspect that if only I can clear one or two things from my deck, I'll get to him before the year is out.

Hi Heather. Sorry to hear you haven't been feeling great. Hope you're still able to enjoy your reading.

Hey, you've been missed! Hope you start to feel better each and every day--but what a great excuse to re-read the Harry Potters.

Hope you are starting to feel better. I'm going to be rereading HP at some stage next year. My daughter is rereading him at present as well as reading and rereading her way through all our Diana Wynne Jones books.

Ugh - been dealing with feeling "off" for a couple of weeks myself, and then this weekend the theme was Pain. Feeling sorry for yourself and lots of comfort reading sounds like the right medicine to me! Been meaning to reread HP for years now and haven't done it. My new goal is to reread everything before the final film this summer.

Here's hoping you feel better soon - or at least feel terrible so it can be done with and you can get back to some normalcy!

Chiming in to wish you better days ahead too, Heather! Feel better soon.

Hope you'll feel better soon, Heather, although HP as a medicine does sound appealing :-)

# 125 Hope you feel better soon! Re-reading all of the Harry Potter books does sound like fun. I’ve re-read all of them multiple times except for Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix.

I know I'm late to the discussion, but I read The Secret Life of Cats by Claire Bessant this year and it might be more of what you're looking for. She even discussed things like tail positions and what they mean... and it's written in an easy, readable way. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Hope you're feeling better soon Heather. I'm going to start re-reading the HP books next year because our nearly 7 year old is starting to insist that we read the first one to him - should be fun!

I've been absent too Heather and also feeling sorry for myself - I do hope you are feeling a bit better now. I recognise the problem of getting behind with the updates - I'm in the same boat - but just do what you can when you feel like it...

Thank you for all the get well soon wishes :-)

I'm still a bit bleugh but starting to feel better and I bought some uber vitamins today to try and give myself a bit of a boost. I think this is my body's way of telling me that it didn't like the hours I was putting in at work. There are only two weeks left at work before my Christmas holiday kicks in which is very good. I'm slightly concerned that there may be more than two weeks work to get done in that time.

But Harry Potter has helped, I finished book 5 last night and enjoyed it a lot. I'm going to leave proper updates until the weekend I think.

#131 Sorry to hear you've also been feeling under the weather Laura. Hope you also feel better soon.

#135 Thanks for the rec Faith. I saw your review of that one and will probably get it out of the library at some point.

Kitty is still in two minds about going outside at the moment (although I can't blame her - it's been cold and snowy here for the last 10 days or so). She has been adopting some seriously cute sleeping poses though!



And this one we call 'the meerkat':



She'll sleep like this for ages, I have no idea how she finds it comfortable. And that armchair is now 'her' chair. We get hard stares if we try and sit in it (and also covered in cat fur).

Love the cat poses! I know all about animals claiming chairs. Ty my dog has one in both the living room and in my study - he follows me from room to room and settles down in the appropriate chair. He looks most dejected when I have a meeting in the living room and so remove the dog blanket and designate 'his' chair a human chair for the evening; if the chair is left un-sat-upon for a few minutes, he will sneak back into it!

#139 We're having some people round from church this evening so she will have to give the chair up although she's not yet brave enough to want to be in the same room as 12 noisy humans anyway so it shouldn't be a problem!

Last cat photo and then I promise I'll stop. Today's sleeping pose of choice (and I promise she was fast asleep, not stretching):

That's hilarious!

Heehee, I love the pictures.

Love the pictures. I wouldn't have thought it was possible, but that position in #140 makes the first two look almost comfortable.

Great pictures. Yep, cats sleep in the darnedest positions. And of course I had to browse the book shelves in the background--Tolkien!

Love the cat pictures, Heather! Keep them coming.

Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better. I hope you remain on the upswing!

We're sisters, Roni! My reactions exactly.

Love your cat pictures. I'm reading the Helen Brown book about her cat Cleo at the moment and while it's not really my thing there are some great cat/kitten moments in it.

Heather, the cat pictures are great especially the last one!

I laughed out loud at the meerkat one! :)

What a beautiful cat! Lovely pictures:)

Thanks for the cat picture reactions. As roni and Peggy spotted, she has cunningly chosen the chair in front of my Tolkien books. Obviously she has good taste!

I might take some pictures of our bookshelves one day, but perhaps after I've done some tidying...

Love those cat photos!!!!! Can't have too many!

Hope you are feeling better and getting energy back, Heather!

I love those cat pictures! It is always fun to see the different poses our cat sleeps in.

Just finished reading through your threads (my poor, groaning wishlist) and wanted to pop in and say hi! Your cat is gorgeous. I love the way that they always find such silly sleeping poses and that last one is a classic.

Right, some catching up. Finishing off November's reads - brief thoughts only:

Book #209 The Silent Miaow: A Manual for Kittens, Strays and Homeless Cats by Paul Gallico



Written by a cat and 'translated' by Paul Gallico as a guide for cats who want to insinuate their way into a new home and into the hearts of their humans. This was a very cute book and had some lovely photos but I think it was just a bit too cute for me.

3 stars

Book #210 The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff



Historical fiction set in Britain during the 3rd century AD. As well as enjoying this book for its own sake I learned so much about the history of that period. Did you know that there was a separate Roman Emperor in Britain at that time?

The story seemed to move slowly at first but picked up in the second half of the book and once again the characters Sutcliff created have stayed with me. Sadly, although this was originally written for children, I'm not sure many of today's children would find the book exciting enough to give it a try which is a real shame. But I think any thoughtful young person or older person would get a lot out of reading Sutcliff's works.

4 stars

November Summary

Books read = 14 of which 6 were from the library, 7 were owned by me and 1 borrowed
Books read as part of TIOLI challenge = 12
Total pages read = 3,586
Ratio of male to female authors = 6:9
Average rating = 3.91
Books read acquired before 2010 = 0

I'm afraid I'm incomplete agreement about Sutcliff's appeal to young people. I am further afraid that not many of the teens I taught could have read her easily enough for her books to be enjoyable. We have a lot to answer for.

Book #211 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
Book #212 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Book #214 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
Book #218 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling



It's been a while since I read the whole Harry Potter series through and it was just what I needed to get me through my December tired patch. Before this reread I'd thought that the third book was my favourite and that I hadn't enjoyed books 5 and 6 as much as the earlier books so I was surprised to find myself enjoying each successive book more as I read through.

I now have no idea which book is my favourite anymore. It might just be the book I read most recently. I've started book 7 but had to pause as it was too emotionally fraught after the ending of book 6, but I'm sure I'll finish the series before the end of the year.

All the books have five star ratings for me; not because I think they're the best books ever but more for nostalgia because I have reread them and enjoyed them so many times and I'm sure I will reread the series and enjoy it in future.

#157 Hey Peggy! I have found myself wondering what other children's fiction in the 1950s was like to see whether it was all written more thoughtfully like Sutcliff's. Of course, before LT I didn't pay much attention to when the books I read were originally written so I must have read some 1950s children's literature but I don't know what!

They are releasing a film of The Eagle of the Ninth next year and rereleasing some of her books so I hope that this sparks some more interest in Sutcliff's books.

Actually I ran a tagmash on 1950s children's books (you can see the results here) - Narnia, The Borrowers, a lot of Enid Blyton. Those are still popular aren't they?

That's quite an interesting list, Heather. I didn't read Lewis or Tolkien then, but I see the Black Stallion books that I devoured. I guess what I read as a child was older - Caddie Woodlawn, Hans Brinker, Heidi, *Five Little Peppers* and as much Louisa Mae A. as I could find are the titles that come to mind.

#158: I love looking at those covers! Thanks for posting them, Heather.

I read Sutcliff as a child (I was born in '54). I think my mother found them somewhere or other and read them herself and loved them -- we had Henry Treece and a couple of other adult novelists who wrote fiction about Roman times in GB too..... I graduated later to those.

I read Sutcliff aloud to my daughter when she was between 9 and 11 -- she ate them up and I was 'there' to explain any words or historically crucial things that she wasn't familiar with. We read at least five of them over the course of one summer and I think she read a few more on her own. She particularly was drawn to the 'shield ring' that figures in so many of the books, this wonderful connecting thread. A great device.

Same daughter now a teen is home sick from school today, cocooning and reading Harry Potter...... then the plan is to watch Narnia (home rule for sick child is no 'media' (we don't have any regular tv) before 4 p.m. just reading and sleeping.) Note clever use of double parentheses, I am nothing if not parenthetical.

I too read and loved Sutcliff as a child, (I was born a decade later than Lucy), and Henry Treece. Of the books appearing in your tagmash, Heather, as well as a couple of the Black Stallion books, I also read a lot of the Cynthia Harnett historical books - they have medieval settings and I loved them too. I don't remember finding Sutcliff (or any of these) at all difficult or slow - and I'm pleased to hear that Lucy's daughter enjoyed them too, so all is not lost with the current generation!

Just catching up- cute cat pics. They really make themselves at home dont they. I used to get seriously bad looks from my old cat if I dared get up when she was on my lap to answer the phone!

Heather

I love the photos of your beautiful cat! How I wish we could have a cat, but my partner is asthmatic and allergic to cat hair.

Congratulations on reading 218 books! That is incredible!

#160 I've never read the Black Stallion books. For some reason I always feel quite cautious about reading animal stories (too many cute and girlie pony books in the library when I was younger) but they don't look like they would be particularly sentimental.

#161 I love the HP book covers too!

#162 Good to know your daughter has such good taste Lucy! Hope HP and Narnia help her feel better soon.

#163 More children's authors for the wishlist - thank you Genny!

#164 We haven't been able to tempt kitty into our laps yet but we're hopeful! She definitely gives us bad looks if we sit in her chair.

#165 Thank you Linda.

Kitty already has you both well in hand! She's training you! Once you are properly trained she will reward you, I'm sure.

Lots of Harry Potter! I must make an effort to pick up number six if it doesn't materialise over Christmas. (Hints were dropped within the family.)

I don't really see why the sort of kids who enjoyed historical novels in the 50s (my mum and her sisters - two of them became historians) or 60s (Lucy) or 70s (Genny and me) shouldn't enjoy them now. Also, the fact that publishers are reprinting them, and as part of their main children's list, would suggest that they see a market.

A current author of children's historical novels I recommend is Geraldine McCaughrean - I've only read 3, but 2 were outstanding and the other was well worth reading.

I lost you there for a bit, Heather.

I'll second the recommendation of Geraldine McCaughrean. I've read a few of her books, the most memorable being The Kite Rider.
Harry Potter - my youngest two are reading through the seven books at the moment and I have a strong urge to do a reread as the discussions are getting too detailed for me.

#167 Yep, Dan and I definitely still have our L plates on as far as kitty is concerned.

#168 Hopefully someone has taken note of the hints Caty!

#169 Hopefully you're right Luci. I think I've wishlisted some Geraldine McCaughrean based on your recommendations before. Perhaps 2011 will be the year I manage to read some of her books?

#170 Glad you found me again Lynda!

#171 I will definitely look out for Geraldine McCaughrean Kerry. I've started HP7 and I'm amazed how much of the story I've forgotten.

And in other news we have had SNOW and lots of it! I think we had about 5 inches.

Love the pictures of the snow, Heather! I want some!

Gorgeous pics, Heather! I, unlike Stasia, do not want snow.

We share the same landscape (minus a few houses in my case) at the moment......

I've added The Kite Rider -- it looks wonderful.

#173 & 174 I will try and blow the snow clouds Stasia's way rather than Lynda's.

#175 I'm sure your snow situation must be worse Lucy, didn't you say you had 18 inches? I can't imagine what that would be like. I have seen cars driving around so I hope that means I can make it to work tomorrow. I only have one day left before Christmas but I really do need to be able to make it in. After that the weather can do whatever it likes!

Getting back to the book comments:

Book #213 Packing for Mars by Mary Roach



I've heard a lot of good things about all of Mary Roach's books on LT and for my first book by this author I picked Packing for Mars because as a youngster I longed to be an astronaut when I grew up (yes really, I even planned to learn Russian).

Having read Packing for Mars I now think it was a very good thing that I changed my mind! I wanted to be an astronaut because I thought it would be exciting and I would get to discover new worlds (in fact at one point I was determined to try and be the first human on Mars) but from reading this book I've discovered that being an astronaut is 99% boredom, dirt and other excruciatingly embarrassing situations.

For example, Jim Lovell (of Apollo 13 fame) and Frank Borman spent just under 14 days in space in Gemini VII so that NASA could investigate the effects of being in space on humans for 14 days. As Roach tells it the Gemini VII capsule was so cramped that neither astronaut could move much during the time in space and neither could they wash. For 14 days. They weren't even allowed to wipe themselves with a wet cloth. I think Lovell said that this was his most difficult space mission.

And then there's the food, the toilet facilities, the problems of mixed-sex crews. Ugh.

Roach's writing is laugh out loud funny and she certainly doesn't shrink from going into lots of detail about every subject she covers. I enjoyed this book and I am definitely planning to read Roach's other books but I can't imagine reading them back to back. The 'eugh' factor would just be too high.

4 stars

Book #214 The Father Christmas Letters by J.R.R. Tolkien



When Tolkien's eldest son was 3, he began to write letters from Father Christmas to his children each year. These letters along with their beautiful illustrated are reproduced in this book and although only 48 pages it was a delight to read. I managed to find an old 1976 edition in our local charity bookshop which added to the charm.

The letters themselves tell the story of what Father Christmas has got up to over the last year whilst trying to get all the presents out, whether that be fighting off goblins or just dealing with the general incompetence of the poor old North Polar Bear.

Definitely one I can see myself picking up as a future Christmas read. 4.5 stars

Hi Heather. Thanks for posting the pictures. It looks beautiful! Hope you're enjoying it.

I own a copy of Packing for Mars but haven't read it. I haven't seen one bad review of it here on LT so I must get to it soon.

I remember going to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Virginia and seeing some of those early space capsules. They were so small. Obviously they had to look for short astronauts to fit in them! And it didn't look like there was any room to move. Did not look glamorous at all. If you ever get a chance to go to that museum, it's definitely worth the visit.

The Father Christmas Letters are waiting for me to pick up at the library when it opens Tuesday. I'm doing lots of first-time Christmas reading this year--A Child's Christmas in Wales and A Christmas Memory are the other two.

#178 Hi Pat. We ventured out in the snow to try and get to our church's annual Carols by Candlelight service and it was quite magical in the dark, although very cold. It's quite easy to walk on at the moment because it's stayed cold since it snowed so the snow hasn't melted and then frozen again.

The Met office has issued severe weather warnings about icy roads and the trains are disrupted so (*wails*) I don't know how I'm going to get to work tomorrow. I think I will just have to check the trains tomorrow morning and decide then... :-(

I haven't been to the Smithsonian but when we had a family holiday in Florida several years ago we went to the Kennedy Space Centre. The thing I remember most was the Saturn V rocket which was enormous but the capsules themselves were tiny. I think I still found it too glamorous at that age to think about the discomfort of being stuck in one of those capsules for days on end.

#179 This is the first year I've really done Christmas reading Roni and I am enjoying it. I'm hoping to get through A Child's Christmas in Wales, Dickens' Christmas Books, The Box of Delights and Hogfather before the end of the month.

Anyway, still not completely caught up with books but I am going to go and do some actual reading and make sure I have enough books with me in case the trains get stuck/delayed tomorrow. Not having anything to read would be worse than being cold.

I'm giving the Mary Roach to the hubster for Xmas, sounds like it is one of those books that will have him laughing and groaning -- I'll read it too, of course, I like giving 'him' books that are really just as much for me!

Heather

Thanks for the lovely photo of snow and your description of walking in the snow to your church service. You paint such a delightful image.

I really enjoyed Packing for Mars too, Heather. I am glad to see you liked it.

Thanks for sending snow my way! Any idea how long it will take to arrive? :)

I enjoy looking at your pictures of snow and wish my share and the rest of yours may go to Stasia too. Well, I'd like it to snow for a day so that I could watch and then have it disappear the next day. I'm not likely to read Packing for Mars, but my 2nd cousin (pretty close kin around here!) is married to Bill McArthur, astronaut, who is my first cousins' first cousin on the other side of the family. (Got it?) He invited us to his first launch, and a number of my relatives went including my mother. Not me. I was teaching. Boo. Wasn't that fascinating?! Of course, I wonder whether he's mentioned in the book......

I met Pete Conrad a few times -- his sister (more or less my mother's age) lived in the town where I did some of my growing up. He was small and fit and very very present -- a vivid person, very smart, very quick and extremely funny. Incredibly likeable -- amazing blue eyes.

Heather, just a note to let you know I've set up a thread for "Future Women: Explorations and Aspirations" in the 2011 group. This is for the readings we talked about after reading The Postman in October, with post-apocalyptic or otherwise future views of women's role in societies. I'm not scheduling reading to start until February 1, but am letting people know so that they can star it and start acquiring books if they so choose.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/105210

#181 Oh yes Lucy, in fact I have done the same thing this year with presents to my Mum and Dad. Partly because there's no point giving them a book I already own as they aren't bothered about owning books and would just borrow my copy.

#182 Thank you Linda - good to see you out and about! The snow on the roads has turned to horrible black slush so it's looking slightly less magical now unfortunately.

#183 Well, I blew on the clouds as hard as I could Stasia but we have more snow scheduled for tonight so it can't have worked :-(

#184 & #185 How exciting to know an astronaut! We don't have very many in the UK. I'm afraid I got lost among all the names in the book and only remember the names I'd already heard of so I can't remember whether either of them were mentioned (and the book has been returned to the library).

#186 Thanks Roni. I can get hold of most of the books second hand I think so I should be joining you :-)

And I have now finished work until January 5th! :-) Had a lie in today, then lunch with a friend, did some cleaning then made some stollen for house group tonight. And in between all that made some progress with Hogfather. Not a bad start to the holidays :-)

Sounds like your holidays are off to a great start, Heather!

Book #216 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, read from Dickens' Christmas Books collection



What can I say about such a famous story? This was a reread for me and I've read it and watched the films so many times that I knew most of the dialogue off by heart. Dickens' characters are truly wonderful and although this is definitely one of his more sentimental novels it's very difficult to resist the sentiment and say 'Bah, humbug'.

Actually what I enjoyed most from this reread was the additional information in the introduction of my edition about the impact A Christmas Carol had when it was first published and in later years. One public reading Dickens gave in Boston led a factory owner to close his works for the first time on Christmas Day and to continue this in future years as well as giving every employee a turkey. The Queen of Norway in the early 1900s sent annual presents to crippled children in homes and hospitals in London, inscribed 'With Tiny Tim's Love' .

Living in a country with a welfare system, minimum wage and statutory holiday laws it's hard for me to imagine the realities of Victorian England after you strip away the picturesque Christmas images I seem to carry around in my head and reading more about the context in which Dickens wrote helps me to appreciate Scrooge and Tiny Tim even more.

So that's really more of a review of the introduction to my book rather than the book itself, perhaps because I have read A Christmas Carol so many times. 4.5 stars

I have Dickens' four other Christmas novellas in this edition which I am also trying to read this month (halfway through #2, The Chimes)

Book #217 Seeing Things: An autobiography by Oliver Postgate



My ER book from August which I have finally reviewed here.

Book #219 Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer



The third book in the Artemis Fowl series and I thought this was the best so far.
Artemis' father is back and has resolved to end his life of crime and turn over a new leaf. But Artemis decides to carry out one last job before settling down and, of course, it goes horribly wrong and Artemis needs the help of Holly Short and the other fairies to help him out.

Whilst I find these books enjoyable to read, I don't think they're anywhere near as good as some of the other children's books I've read. However, I am definitely not the target demographic for these books and I can see how they would appeal to 10-12 year old boys more. But I thought this book improved on the first two, there was some good character development and I found myself warming to Artemis more as the story went on. Given how this book ended, I'm looking forward to seeing what the next book in the series holds. All round good, light reading for days when my brain can't manage anything meatier.

4 stars

ETA: Aargh - long post and I really messed up the html!

I'll be curious to hear what you think of Dickens' other Christmas stories. I haven't read them and probably won't have time this year, but I want to read them all next time.

#190 The Chimes is quite good so far with the typical Dickens blast at the fashionable political theories of the day :-)

I've been reading Dicken's A Christmas Carol for the first time and enjoying it. The introduction in my book mentioned that he wrote it after reading a government report on the abuse of child laborers in mines and factories. My copy of the book also contains another Dicken's short story called A Christmas Tree which I'm also going to try and read.

I think I may have to read Seeing Things - I loved Bagpuss, even though it was years into the repeats when I saw it as a child. I have fond memories of occasional repeats of Ivor the Engine and the Clangers, too.

Seeing Things appears to have done very well in the ratings, only one reviewer who didn't like it that much and that was a 3 star rating. Perhaps I'll give it a try from the library.

Hi Heather, happy vacation! It's rather weird but I have never read any of Dickens' Christmas stories. I think I should really investigate them.

Thanks for the review and recommendation of Seeing Things, Heather!

Hi Heather. Happy Holidays!

Happy Christmas Heather!

Look forward to joining you on one or two of those Christmas reads once I get to my holidays too... And the Postgate book sounds fun. I loved the Clangers especially.

Merry Christmas Heather!

Merry Christmas, Heather.

Merry Christmas Heather, and a safe and happy new year.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas, Heather. Cheers!

Merry Christmas!

Seasons Greetings from Downunder

Merry Christmas everyone :-)

And a Happy New Year to you!

Have a very Merry Christmas, Heather

Happy Christmas, Heather!

Hi- and Happy Christmas.
I love the sound of your 2 books way up there, #213 Mars and #214 Letters to Father Xmas- very different obviously, but ones Im keen to look out for now :-)

Hi! Saw your message on my thread and wanted to thank you for your wishes. Merry Christmas to you too! :-)

Edited to fix typo.

Hi, Heather. Hope you're having a Merry White Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Heather!

Merry Christmas Heather, how's the snow?

We still have snow on the ground although no more has fallen so we didn't officially have a white Christmas but it looked white. Temperatures were up to 2 degrees C today (above zero) and the sun was out so the snow and ice has started to melt a little bit.

Books I received for Christmas:

From my brother and his girlfriend/partner:
The Great British Book of Baking by Linda Collister
Letters to Monica by Philip Larkin

From SantaThing
Silk by Alessandro Baricco
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman



Otherwise we were given chocolates, biscuits and other food - mmm.

Ooooh, those books look lovely! Congrats on such a great book haul, especially from Santa Thing! I'll take some chocolate if you have any left...

Such a great pile of books! I'm seething with envy!
;-)

Wow, I'm impressed that your Santa managed to get you four books!

Great pile of books, I've seen some excellent reviews for Letters to Monica.

And more books read in December:

Book #220 Middlemarch by George Eliot



Read for the group read and a reread for me although it had been such a long time since I read Middlemarch the first time that I had forgotten 90% of the book.

I don't think I can do justice to this book in a review. I found the group read really helpful and there were some fascinating comments and insights into the book from that discussion. I would rank Middlemarch as one of the best 19th century novels I've read and one in which I can see myself discovering different things in future reads.

5 stars.

#215 Laura, we have a lot of chocolate. I don't think we will have any problems eating it all though!

#216-218 Thank you! I was impressed with 4 books from SantaThing as well. I need to go thank my Santa.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas, Heather, and the best of New Years to you!

SantaThing is a lovely idea! I’d love to be a part of it in the future. Right now I’m afraid I can’t really afford it. I can’t even afford upgrading my account to a lifetime! Being a student and all $25 is kind of steep for me. I can ask my parents but they have so much to do already. I wouldn’t want to trouble them. Oh well maybe someday.

You have some great books in that Christmas stack, Heather!

>222 Porua: There's actually an option to pay less than $25 for a lifetime account; I'm not sure if you can pay just any amount, but there is some flexibility.

#222 I do remember the not having any money feeling from my student days Porua.

#223 Thanks Caty, now I just need to make sure I read them...

#224 And they did have LT memberships on sale briefly but I think that offer has ended now.

That's a lovely pile of books - added to chocolates and other nice things to eat too! The only one of them I've read is Ballet Shoes, but I have The Gargoyle in my TBR pile and I heard some of the Letters to Monica broadcast on Radio 4 recently, it was interesting.

That's an enviable stack of books, Heather. Now I wish you a little more vacation time so that you can read them! And I'm off to check on Letters to Monica.

Great haul, Heather! Congratulations!

Books and chocolate! All needs met, eh?!

I'm quite interested in the Letters to Monica - I'll have to hunt through library catalogues when I have time and see if any have bought it.

Look forward to reading your thoughts on all your new books.

I actually hadn't heard anything about Letters to Monica until I unwrapped it but glad to hear others have heard good things. My brother's girlfriend said she mainly bought it for me because she wanted to read it (glad to know it's not just me who does that to other people!) so I ought to read it sooner rather than later although I have some other planned non-fiction reads I would like to get to first.

Book #221 The Box of Delights by John Masefield



Kay Harker is travelling home by train at the beginning of his Christmas holidays when a chance encounter with a mysterious Punch and Judy and some rather shady theological students starts an adventure filled with magic, myths and kidnappings.

This is a bit of a strange children’s book. It has a lovely old-fashioned feel throughout (it was originally published in 1935) with the children ranging far and wide over the English countryside completely unsupervised by any adults and a deep underlying sense of menace from the bad guys which reminded me of The Dark is Rising and Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (which were published in the 1960s and 70s).

The book was enjoyable to read but certain things didn’t seem to make sense if I stopped reading to think about them. The magical aspects of the book didn’t seem to follow any particular logic and all sorts of myths were interwoven with the story without any real explanation. It may be that the book was referencing things I hadn’t heard of or just didn’t understand.

And then the ending is possibly the most annoying ending anyone can use to end a novel. Again, there didn’t seem to be any reason why the book had to end that way.

So, to sum up, this is an enjoyable children’s story if you just read it rather than thinking too deeply about it and if you ignore the ending. I suppose it’s fair to say I have mixed feelings about this one!

3.75 stars

Book #222 Hogfather by Terry Pratchett



Another seasonal read and also a reread for me. I always discover new things whenever I reread a Terry Pratchett book which is one of the reasons he's my favourite author and this reread was no exception.

This book has a Christmas/Winter Solstice theme as the Hogfather (the Discworld's equivalent of Father Christmas) is missing and so Death (who talks LIKE THIS) takes on the Hogfather's job for the night so that the sun will come up.

Although Death has featured in quite a few earlier Discworld books I think this one would be readable on its own as an introduction to Pratchett. It's reminded me how much I enjoy Pratchett's writing and hopefully will spur me on to do some more rereading of his other books.

5 stars

Book #223 The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones



A totally unplanned read because I got very stressed trying to do my final bits of Christmas shopping and needed something to relax with.

This is the final book (to date) in the Chrestomanci series and I feel rather sad to have come to the end of that particular series (although I still have lots of other DWJ books to work my way through).

DWJ somehow manages to write books which are enormous fun to read whilst at the same time touching on quite serious issues. This one covered senile dementia and some serious family feuding as well as growing in confidence in your own gifts.

It would be best to read the other books in the Chrestomanci series before reading this one, but they're all excellent books.

4.5 stars

Great reading, Heather. I'm about 2/3 of the way through my seasonal read of Hogfather myself, and I enjoyed The Pinhoe Egg muchly myself as well.

Happy New Year Heather.

You read some great books lately.

I know I already have The Box of Delights in the BlackHole. I must bump it up!

Happy New Year! Looks like you've had some great reading recently!

Happy New Year, Heather!

Happy (almost) New Year!

Some last minute, frantic book updating before 01/01/11 hits. I think I am on track to finish the last two of Dickens' Christmas books before the end of the year which will mean I have read 231 books (although books includes quite a lot of 48 page Asterix comics this year).

Book #224 The Chimes by Charles Dickens



The second of Mr Dickens' Christmas Books. According to the introduction in my volume, following the huge success of A Christmas Carol Dickens wanted to write an even more savage attack on the political and economic theories of the day and I think he succeeded but, perhaps because of that, this short book is less fun to read than A Christmas Carol.

Toby Veck is a ticket-porter (a man employed to deliver articles on the London streets). He spends most of his days standing on the street waiting to be given a message. Due to the unreliable nature of his work he's not always able to pay his rent and grocery bills on time but despite this he is a relatively cheerful fellow who is very fond of his daughter, his only living relative.

In a way, The Chimes has a similar story to A Christmas Carol. There are some Scrooge-like characters who believe the poor are only poor because they are lazy and good for nothing and if they simply worked harder and were better people then they wouldn't be such a burden on society (sounds worryingly familiar to some modern day politicians). There are visitations by ghosts (in this case the spirits of the bells from the chapel close to where Toby stands all day) and then there is a happy ending.

The problem is that the spirits visit Toby who has only been guilty of feeling discouraged about the state of the world after spending a day being told off by the clever sounding Scrooge-like gentlemen. As a result of this sound telling off, Toby has second thoughts about allowing his daughter to marry someone equally poor (one of the pet theories of these gentlemen is that the poor shouldn't be allowed to marry and have children who will also be poor). The spirits visit Toby and show him visions of what will become of his daughter and her fiancee if they don't marry. The visions are more harrowing than those in A Christmas Carol and the happy ending doesn't quite take away the sting of the visions as it seems to in A Christmas Carol. It feels monstrously unfair that poor Toby has to go through all this when all he has done is listened to people whom he will have been told to think of as his betters and I was never convinced that if the spirits hadn't intervened that Toby wouldn't have woken up the next morning to be his usual cheerful self and allowed his daughter to get married.

Apparently (and again, I've gleaned all this useful info from the introduction - aren't they marvellous things?) the Scrooge-like gentlemen in The Chimes were caricatures of specific politicians from Dickens' time and to have them reform in the book as Scrooge did would have softened his attack so poor old Toby had to take the fall. So, it's not a bad book by any means but at the end I was left feeling that it just didn't quite work. Perhaps one that is worth reading if you're after an insight into Dickens' political and sociological views than if you want a good story.

3.5 stars

Book #225 The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens

The third of Mr Dickens' Christmas Books and much less gloomy than The Chimes. A gentle story about marriage, love and fidelity; Dickens left social criticism to one side for this one. He wanted The Cricket to be '... a vein of glowing, hearty, generous, mirthful, beaming references in everything to Home, and Fireside.'

It's Christmas and John Peerybingle has been married to his much younger wife Dot, for almost a year when he is led to believe by the grisly toymaker, Mr Tackleton, that she is having an affair. Tackleton himself is due to be married to another younger woman and the toymaker's assistant, Caleb Plummer, realises that by pretending to his blind daughter that Tackleton has been generous and loving to them their whole lives (when of course he has been the exact opposite) that Caleb has caused his daughter to fall in love with Tackleton and she is distraught that Tackleton is getting married to someone else.

But the cricket on the hearth sings to Peerybingle and helps him to remember the love he has for his young wife leading to a fairy tale happy ending with Tackleton's reform being so rapid as to be slightly startling. As usual for Dickens, his characterisations are brilliant and even if the rapid reform of Tackleton is a little too rapid to be truly realistic, the Christmas Books were intended to be fables rather than gritty, realistic dramas and the ending is truly heartwarming.

4 stars

Book #226 The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah



“There was once a house, an old house, which was known as ‘the house of the mosque’.”

So begins The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah.

Written by an Iranian author, now living in the Netherlands and writing in Dutch, The House of the Mosque follows an extended family who live in a house built onto a mosque in Senejan in Iran. The story starts in 1969 just before the first men land on the moon and continues through the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the subsequent Iran-Iraq war.

Before reading this book, I knew very little about the above events or about Islam and its traditions but I didn’t feel this affected my enjoyment of this book; in fact I would recommend this as a good starting point for someone who’s interested in reading literature about this period or area.

The House of the Mosque is a beautifully written novel, fable like in style with perhaps a touch of magical realism. Abdolah has been criticised for not being accurate enough in his treatment of the events surrounding the Iranian Revolution and I don’t know enough about the history of this period to know whether this criticism is accurate or not. But I think this is intended as a fable, as a fictionalised account of the author’s experiences in Iran during the time of the revolution and as a homage to the ‘old ways’, before the revolution changed things. The ending of the book makes it clear that to some extent this novel is autobiographical in nature and the novel is dedicated to Aqa Jaan, the main character in the book, ‘so I can let him go’. This is an emotional rather than factual account of this period of upheaval in Iran but despite the many struggles and sufferings described, the story is not depressing and ends on a note of hope that is truly uplifting.

A wonderful book and one that has made me interested in reading more literature about this area of the world.

5 stars

Book #227 A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas



Another children's Christmas book, I'm starting to wonder whether I would have reached 75 books if I removed all the 48 page illustrated books I've read this year :-P

This book is beautifully illustrated throughout and the text is almost a poem. I think it's one that would work really well if read to a child as the language is so lyrical it almost needs to be read out loud to be appreciated.

4.5 stars

Book #228 Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts



It was a relief to finish this book which is rarely a good thing. This is the second book in a trilogy which has been jointly written by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts and is set in the same world as Feist's Magician trilogy but in a society that wasn't explored in great detail in the Magician books.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series but it took me several months to get through this book and I'm struggling to work out whether my tastes have changed or whether the second book is just not as good as the first.

This book felt quite uneven when I was reading it. There were parts of the story which really gripped me and parts I got quite emotional about, but then there were parts which really dragged and it felt like the plot was a copy and past job from the first book. I think the main thing I enjoyed about the first book was the world-building, but in the second book the world isn't really developed any further so it was just another 691 pages of book one. Hmm, so really, I think I would have found it an ok book if it was 200-300 pages long rather than 700. But everyone else seems to have loved it (it has a 4.09 average star rating) so maybe I'm just being grumpy?

3 stars (because I did enjoy bits of it). I have book 3 on the shelves and it's even longer.... At the moment I can't see myself ever picking it up, I don not want to read another 800 pages of this! :-(

Book #229 Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones



Another DWJ book to finish off the year, this is the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle but I think you could read it without having read the first book. For some reason I don't like these books as much as her Chrestomanci books but this was still an enjoyable read with an Arabian theme (genies, magic carpets and flowers of the desert etc.)

3.75 stars

Good for you, Heather! My D is for Dickens, but I've never read his other Christmas stories. I meant to do that this year but haven't gotten to them. Now I'm racing to finish my November ARC in '10 so that I can start fresh, so I'll have to leave them for '11.

Wow, you have been busy these past few days. I wasn't that in love with The Magician to want to explore more work by Feist. I'm also fairly wary of co-written scifi/fantasy books, I don't understand how they manage the the process of writing them or why they want to collaborate.

I'm going to have to get hold of a copy of the Dylan Thomas book.
Anyway I better get reading and finish my last book of the year.

#239 My 2011 plans include making a start on rereading all of Dickens' major novels Peggy. I'm hoping to get through the first 5 by the end of the year. It's been ages since I read most of them and I'm sure there will be lots I missed on my first read throughs.

#240 I think the only other book I've read which has been jointly authored is Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. As you say, I have no idea how the writing process works when there are two authors.

The Dylan Thomas book is actually my husband's (so I suppose jointly mine now) and I'd completely forgotten we owned a copy until I saw phebj list it for the TIOLI challenge.

And I've realised I've been neglecting my last two Dickens stories for LT so I had better hurry up and get reading if I want to finish before the end of the year!

Another children's Christmas book, I'm starting to wonder whether I would have reached 75 books if I removed all the 48 page illustrated books I've read this year :-P

I had to laugh at that comment, Heather, because I read so many short books in December, mostly Christmas books, that I almost made it to 100 for the year. I finally had to get ahold of myself and stop focusing on the number of books I was reading. It was getting out of hand.

I'm looking forward to seeing your review of your ER book and I'm going to have to try some of Diana Wynne Jones' books in 2011.

What a great ambition -- to read Dickens -- I hope I can join you for some of them! I'll keep watching and listening.

My hat's off to you too. I think I've read all of them twice but Barnaby Rudge. (Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend have been up 3 or 4 times.) For years there was never a time when I wasn't reading some Dickens. Since coming to LT, however, I've satisfied myself by merely dipping in and out. So you may inspire me to join you from time to time for a complete novel.
Happy New Year, Heather!

I want to read all of Dickens' major novels too - for the first time, actually. So far I've only read Great Expectations - but that was YEARS ago, and just recently Bleak House. I think I will really enjoy reading more Dickens, but he is so prolific and his books are so long that sometimes it intimidates me before I even start! I will follow your journey with interest.

I'm glad to hear that The House of the Mosque was good as I have that one too, from the same source - you read that quickly - I have some serious ER and other review catch up to do in January.

Good luck with your Dickens reading in 2011, Heather! Right now, I only have 1 slated to read, but I may do a re-read of his ouevre in 2012.

I'd really like to read OMF -- that's 'next' on my wishful thinking list.

Hope you have a great New Year, Heather. See you in 2011!

Happy New Year, Heather!

#242 Ooh, Diana Wynne Jones - there are still loads of her books that I haven't read but of the ones I have read I'd suggest starting with Charmed Life or The Lives of Christopher Chant. They're both books in the Chrestomanci series.

Thanks for all the support on the Dickens reread! My current plan for 2011 is to read The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge. It's been many years since I read any of those and that will get me about 1/3 of the way through the novels so I may finish my reread by the end of 2013?!

#244 & 245 Bleak House is definitely one of my favourites. I think I last reread that one when after watching the BBC dramatisation but that came out in 2005 so that was still 5 years ago. Where does the time go?

#245 What did you think of Great Expectations Angela? One of the reasons for my reread is that I really didn't like GE when I read it but it's considered so highly by other people that I think I must have missed something.

#246 The author biography on the front page intrigued me and I wanted to have a clean ER slate for 2011! I've almost managed it, just need to write my review. Interestingly, the book's received good reviews from readers on LT and amazon but the published reviews I could find didn't seem to think much of it.

#247 I will definitely still be chugging away with my Dickens in 2012 Stasia so we can hopefully read some together.

#248 I've arbitrarily selected to read them in publication order so it will be a while until I get to OMF, but that was another one I really enjoyed.

On the subject of Dickens, I'm hoping to read a biography about him this year to give me some background. Has anyone read the Peter Ackroyd Dickens: Public Life and Private Passions? Confusingly, there's a 600 page abridged version, a 1,000 page unabridged version and possibly also some shorter abridged versions and I don't know which version to get from the library!

#249 & 250 Happy New Year to you both!

Nope, I wasn't blown away by Great Expectations either, although the character of Miss Havisham was a vivid, amazing creation. I will never forget her (like I sometimes forget other characters in books!) I read it when I was in junior high school, though, so I may try a re-read, just to be fair.

See you in 2011!

# 252 I agree with you, BookAngel_a. I wasn't blown away by Great Expectations either but some of the characters, Miss Havisham in particular, were so very vividly drawn that I cannot forget them.

I think the characters of Great Expectations are a little bit more unpleasant than many of Dickens' other creations. And that is why I think this book is unique. There aren't that many mushy, angelic characters (Biddy and Joe are the only two I remember). Most of the other characters are out and out evil or at least grey. Even the lead himself, Pip, is not a very good person. I liked Great Expectations better than another Dickens I read last year, the much more popular David Copperfield. That one seemed a great deal more contrived to me.

#252 & 253 Thanks for your thoughts on GE. It has confirmed me in wanting to reread it :-)

I've updated msg #238 above with my review of The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah and now for my thoughts on my final reads of 2010.



Book #230 The Battle of Life by Charles Dickens

The fourth of Dickens' Christmas Books, I thought this one was the least Christmassy of the five books. Dickens uses a fictional battle which took place to illustrate the mental/emotional battles of life we all face. The tale follows Dr Jeddler who refuses to take anything in life seriously and his two beautiful daughters. It's a difficult book to describe without giving away too much of the plot but in the end, the self-sacrifice of his daughters leads to the reform of the Doctor. I enjoyed this book but thought the means by which the self sacrifice was achieved was a little bit unbelievable. 3.75 stars

Interestingly, Dickens himself was not completely satisfied with how this idea had been worked out in this short novella and was eventually persuaded by a friend to rework the idea in a full length novel which was called A Tale of Two Cities

Book #231 The Haunted Man by Charles Dickens

The fifth and final of Dickens' Christmas Books and the one I thought was most like A Christmas Carol in quality and in its themes.

Mr Redlaw has had many sorrows in his life although he is known as a generous man if gloomy and solitary. He is thinking of his sorrows one Christmas when he is visited by a ghost or spirit which offers him the gift of forgetting all the wrongs and sorrows which weigh on him so heavily.

"I bear within me a Sorrow and a Wrong. Thus I prey upon myself. Thus, memory is my curse; and, if I could forget my sorrow and my wrong, I would!"

Believing that he would be happier without this remembrance, Redlaw agrees and the spirit takes these memories from him but also leaves him with the gift of passing this forgetfulness on to all others that he meets. Dickens uses this gift of forgetfulness powerfully among the strong cast of characters he has included in this novella to teach that it is the memory of our sorrows and sufferings that is the source of our compassion and enables us to forgive others and that without suffering, there can be no true joy.

A very powerful story, 4.5 stars.

And that's all my reading logged for 2010, now I am going to try and add some statistics a la CatyM, but I am going to list my top reads of 2010 first (in no particular order).

Top non-fiction reads of 2010
The New Testament and the People of God by N. T. Wright (Christian, History)
The Genesee Diary by Henri Nouwen (Christian, Autobiography)
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (Autobiography, Letters)
J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter (Biography)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Biography, Medical ethics)
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool (Social history)

Top fiction reads of 2010
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
Things Fall Apart by China Achebe
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah

Top children's/YA fiction of 2010
The Owl Service by Alan Garner
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston

Top rereads of 2010
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, pere
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, pere
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
Harry Potter series

Special mentions
Soulless by Gail Carriger - most fun read
Still Life by Louise Penny and subsequent books - best crime/mystery series
Mistborn: The Final Empire and subsequent books by Brandon Sanderson - best fantasy series
Charmed Life and subsequent books by Diana Wynne Jones - best children's/YA series

Bravo, Heather!! Did you see where Oprah's next
book club selection is Great Expectations/A Tale of Two Cities?

Heather, you're a few steps ahead of me. I'm just about to write my final few book reports then do some end of year summaries too. I think I shall share a few of your top fiction reads...

#256 I didn't but I do now! That's good that she's getting people to read the classics. To be honest I don't really pay attention to the TV book clubs, I get enough reading recommendations from this group!

A la CatyM, some graphs:

2010 reading by original publication date





So almost 75% of my reading this year came from books published in the last 30 years and only 4% of my reading was 19th century literature. I'd like to read or reread more 19th century books in 2011 because that century includes some of my favourite authors (Austen, Dickens etc.). I'd also like to read more early 20th century literature.

#257 Today is my 'catching up on LT' day! Your thread is on my list of threads to catch up on.

2010 reading by author nationality



Not sure if this one will be legible. I was expecting a larger proportion of my reading to have been books by British authors. Still roughly 75% of my reading this year has been books by British/American/Canadian/Australian or Irish authors which is fairly Anglocentric. I would like to read more translated books in 2011.

2010 reading by genre





Lots of children's books and comics/graphic novels! I found the second graph really interesting as there's a direct correlation between the months I was stressed at work and what I'm reading. So March, July and October were my busiest periods at work. As much as I would like to read more heavy hitting stuff in 2011 I still have the same job so it's my reading patterns are unlikely to change much.

Last graph I promise!

2010 ratings



A pretty good reading year, I tend to only read books I know I will enjoy with the odd venture into uncharted territory. And LT recommendations tend to be very good so that helps! Possibly I rate too many books as 4 star reads?



No graph this time.

Books read in 2010 = 231
Books read from library = 103 or 44%
Books reread = 16 or 7%
Other books borrowed = 9 or 4%
Books read for the first time which I owned = 104 or 45%

Unfortunately I acquired a lot more than 104 books in 2010. Most of these were acquired second hand so I haven't bankrupted myself but the TBR piles are a lot larger.

Looking at my library I have 361 books to read in my TBR piles after stripping out my husband's large theology collection which includes a lot of books (203) I would sort of like to read but I'm not sure I actually will.

So perhaps my goal for 2011 should be to get my TBR pile below 350? I have given myself a book budget both by value and number for 2011 (i.e. I can only spend £x a month and I can only get y books a month). We'll see...

And I have finally set up my 2011 thread here. Decorating and proper moving in to be done in due course (i.e. after I've had my dinner!)

2010 has been a mixed year for me overall but a great year in terms of my reading and in the relationships I've built up with people from this group. Thank you all :-)

#260 I found the second graph really interesting as there's a direct correlation between the months I was stressed at work and what I'm reading.

Heather, I loved that second graph in Msg 260 as well. It looked fascinating and what a great insight about what you were reading when you were stressed.

I thumbed your review of The House of the Mosque and wishlisted the book. I have to say I'm jealous you got such a great ER book. I have one I still need to read (The Storyteller of Marrakesh) that most people seem to hate so I'm dragging my feet on it.

See you over on your 2011 thread!

Love the graphs, Heather. I also see patterns in the kind of books I am reading depending on stress, busyness, etc.

#263 Thanks for the thumb Pat. I've received 6 ER books of which 3 were really good, 2 were terrible and one was just quite bad. All 3 of the really good books were from the same publisher (Canongate) so they're my 'go-to' publisher when I'm requesting my ER books now. Unfortunately I don't think they offer books to the US :-(

I think the House of the Mosque is released in paperback in the US in March so hopefully you can get hold of a copy later next this year. Sorry to hear your ER book's not going so well.

#264 Thanks Caty! Most of the credit for the graphs should go to you for giving me the idea with the rest to my husband for helping me work the magic in excel. Next time I think I should try and get the text a little larger.

>263 phebj: Oh, I've had the same problem of receiving an ER book and then seeing the horrible reviews before I had a chance to read it. Blech.

Interesting statistics, good to see that 45% of what you read was from the tbr pile, though I know all about that acquisition problem, my house is full of it.

Interesting what you say about Canongate - I've had a lot of my ER books from them too, partly because they're the most frequent mainstream UK publisher to participate - but I haven't liked several of them at all. I also reviewed a Canongate ER offering for the Bookbag, which was one of the good ones.

More graphs! The math geek in me is supremely happy with all these year-end graphs :)

#268 After a few bad selections at the beginning of 2010 I've started doing a lot more research into the ER books I request. Doesn't always work, one of the books I gave a grudging 2 stars to had loads of 4 star reviews when I requested it (and still does) which I cannot understand as I thought the writing was really bad. But otherwise it seems to have helped.

#269 Hooray for the inner maths geek :-)

One book I rated poorly (from Canongate) was very well written but I hated the content - a novel about a very very nasty relationship. Most other reviews have been positive.