2012 CLUB READ MESSAGE BOARD

We need a message board for all those miscellaneous messages, like this one:

Remember that LT lifetime memberships are on sale this week for ONLY $15!!!

Well - they are usually allowing you to pay as much as you want anyway :)

Here's a miscellaneous non-book related post. Does anyone live in UK or travel there often? I'm looking for the cheapest way to get four people (my husband, 15 yr old, 12 yr old and me) from London to Tuscany and back next July. We'll need a car in Italy, so something auto-related is probably the best. But where should we rent a car? We don't really want to rent a right-hand drive car in the UK just to drive around left-hand drive Europe. Or is there a better way all together?

When I went from Italy to the UK, I flew using Easyjet. It is a super cheap budget airline; I think it cost me $75 to fly from Venice to London. They have strict limits on luggage weight, but you can purchase the right to check another bag if you need to. From London's various airports you could probably fly into Pisa, Milan, Rome, or Venice, and drive/train from there. If you were going to take the train, it would take about 29 hrs of straight travel, and driving would be even longer. Plus, train tickets or renting a car/gas/tolls would probably be more expensive than 4 flights. You could rent a car in Pisa, and drive the rest of the way to wherever you are staying in Tuscany, or you could take the train from Pisa to another city, and drive from there. I haven't driven in Italy, though I have been on a tour bus, and the highway system seemed very user-friendly to me, with lots of clean rest-stops, good signs, etc.

Many years ago, a friend of mine flew to Nice and rented a car from there for her trip to Tuscany- when she did this- that was the cheaper route than renting in Italy.

>3 Nickelini: - the budget airlines price varies depending when you are going and when you book - more flexible and the earlier the better. I would say that the prices are closer to £80 now plus baggage allowances on top (the company to watch out for is Ryanair - they look cheaper on paper but charge extra for everything).
To give you an idea about petrol prices a gallon costs about £5 in the UK and France, closer to £6 in Italy.

Thanks, everyone! You've given me something to think about and options to explore. We've driven in Italy several times (it's a second home to my husband), so we are painfully aware of the gas prices! Happily, distances are so much shorter than Canada.

>7 Nickelini: - the other thing I should have mentioned is that Italian economy is in meltdown and there is a possibility that will have to leave the Euro which will force prices even higher. I was listening to one economist on R4 who was suggesting that northern Europe will remain a Eurozone while southern Europe will become a Euro-light zone.

Jargoneer - I hadn't even thought about that! I wonder if it could happen before July? Prices sure got high when they switch TO the Euro. What a burn if these lose again, but that of course is what happens. This trip isn't about seeing Italy, but seeing family, so we don't actually spend a lot when we're there. But still, there are the day-to-day things.

Our group does not have a picture; Could we have one?

>10 edwinbcn: I think rebeccanyc is away for a few days (thus away from a proper computer), perhaps if you leave her a note on her profile page, she might get it faster (and you can always suggest a picture at the same time)

Thanks, Lois. I was only on iPhone, which isn't great for LT participation. I would be glad to put up a photo but (a) I need to learn how to do so and (b) I would like help in finding a good photo. Help requested!

Sending you a note!

We now have a photo I took this morning with my iPhone. I consider it temporary. If anyone has an idea for something better, please send me a message on my profile page and I'll let you know how you can get it to me. Thanks, Edwin, for the suggestion that we have one.

You can set the settings to allow anybody to upload a picture to the group while you retain the sole authority as to what represents the group. I have not seen abuses of the privilege -- say collections of photographs of baby seal clubbings -- and I would recommend it.

Robert

NYRB is having a 50% off sale on selected titles.

Couldn't find the March "interesting articles" thread, but I posted ThreePercent's best translated books longlist of 25 titles on Reading Globally HERE

I will note that the list only contains 3 titles by women, and only 9 female translators; that's significantly down from last year's 6 and 14, respectively. All three nominated titles written by women were reviewed in Belletrista in Issues 14 and 15 by charbutton, janeajones, and cait86 (links are over on the Reading Globally post).

There, off my soapbox now.

It's still February, Lois, and the Jan/Feb thread is here. But I think it's good for it to have its own thread. Maybe you've already done this, but how about posting the list in Reading Globally too?

OK, I should read more carefully. I see you not only did post it in RG but said you did.

I get an extra day to boot, it being a leap year and all.

>18 rebeccanyc: Of course, you are correct!

#14-15 - might be interesting to open this up. We could do a theme and follow Rebecca's lead and take pictures from our own stacks.

Dan, I would be happy to have others contribute book stack photos. I'm sure they will be better than my inept attempt with my iPhone! I will have to fiddle with the controls for the group to permit other people to upload photos, I think. Will look at this later today.

>22 rebeccanyc:

Yep - when you go to edit the group, there is a few radio boxes at the bottom - one of them is for controlling the picture :)

Thanks, AnnieMod for the reminder! Now anyone* can add a picture. I think Dan's idea of book stack photos is good -- let's take a look at what you're reading, or like, or just have stacked up somewhere!

*Any member of Club Read 2012, that is.

I am making a total overhaul of my library this weekend (a few new bookcases are here - yey!) so I might do a few piles :) That will be fun.

Dontch'a just hate all these authors who join club read 2012 with one book in their library - the one that has just been published. Sounds like advertising to me

I've noticed a few of them around the forum - definitely irritating.

Interesting that one of them is apparently dead. How do dead people start a LT account. Spooky. ;-)

I just ignore them :)

I left a comment in the Spam fighters group- apparently most of those " one book " authors are put on this site by a service that charges them $800 for placement on 10 social media sites! (I don't know how they collect from the dead author- a relative?) There was some discussion- I think that until one of the authors does something bad- we can't do anything.

Interesting! It's very easy to ignore them though (at this point, anyway).

I think writing bad books is bad enough. get em off.

I added a bookpile picture from some random books hanging about the area where I took the picture.
And just so you don't strain your eyes, the books in the pile are:

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Mahabharata
Romola Volumes I and II by George Eliot
Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical by Robert Shearman
Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones
Windcatcher: New and Selected Poems by Breyren Breytenbach
I Lock My Door Upon Myself by Joyce Carol Oates
Women of Algiers in Their Apartment by Assia Djebar
The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa
The Life of Insects (stories) by Viktor Pelevin
Selected Poems II by Margaret Atwood
The Tree of Man by Patrick White
Woman in the Nineteenth Century by Margaret Fuller
Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie
Nike by Nicholas Flokos
The Boat by Nam Le
Kafka's Leopards by Moacyr Scliar
Continuum by Nina Cassian (poems)
Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction, edited
The Green Dwarf by Charlotte Bronte
Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad by Forugh Farrokhzad

I knew someone could take a better and more interesting picture than I did!

>34 rebeccanyc: Oh, I don't know about that...every book pile is interesting (but I did put it on Photoshop and cut the background out)

I agree, Lois. But still, it's a nicely composed bookpile. : )

>36 dchaikin: Why thank you, but to be honest, I didn't work very hard on it :-)

Hi all.

You might still enjoy the author chat with LT author Jonathan Chamberlain.

He is very forthcoming discussing his work.

Wow, look at all those authors joining the group.

I wonder who creates their accounts and who makes them join Club Read. Probably not the authors themselves...

I am tempted to send them all a message asking them what books they have read - apart from the one they have maybe written, however I suspect that most of them don't even know they have joined the group.

They have actually all "joined" several groups, and if you go to their pages you can see that they all have homepages on a web site called authorsxpress.com. Since everything else about their pages is similar, my hunch is that this is a "service" authorsxpress does for them when they sign up there. They don't seem to be doing any harm here, or engaging in any spamming or anything, but I'd be willing to e-mail Tim about authorsxpress if enough of you think it's a problem.

ETA I went to authorxpress and it seems to be a site that allows self-published authors to promote themselves and sets up pages for them on a variety of book web sites, as well as Twitter, etc. It seems like they're taking some advantage of these authors because undoubtedly the authors are paying for this and just having pages and "joining" groups isn't really going to promote the books.

I see no harm in it, just think it's a bit weird.

I'm sure it's just to try to get us to do exactly what rebecca did - check them out.

After much to-and-fro-ing, we finally booked our summer vacation. At the end of this month, my husband, two daughters (12 & 15), and I will spend a week in New York City. I've been twice before, but this will be the first time with kids.

My first question, obviously, is: what are the not-to-be-missed bookstores?

I'm also looking for any suggestions of cool things to do. I have some favourites, but am always looking to add new things to the list.

And finally, has anyone seen any of the current Broadway shows? Recommendations? I'd like to see Book of Mormon, but I'm open to ideas.

Last year I spent my birthday in my favourite US city, San Fransisco, and this year I'll spend my birthday in my other favourite US city, NYC.

Some Broadway shows to consider is, Wicked, Avenue Q and Rock of Ages. All good shows. I heard the Book of Mormon is wonderful as well.
Let's see the kids will love FAO Schwartz toy store right by Central Park as well as the Museum of Natural History on the other side of the park is great as well.
Times Square is also fun with the wax museum, m and m store and other fun stores for the kids.
I'm not too familiar with bookstores in nyc so i can't help you there.
Places to eat, if you are around little italy, Florio's is a must for great italian food. If you are horror/monster fans, there's Jekyll and Hyde's restaurant that is close to Central Park (themed restaurant like Hard Rock Cafe).

If you are unsure where to eat, you can always check online at yelp.com or foodnetwork.com to find excellent eateries in new york that will give good or bad reviews.

Just packing up computer to go away for a few days, but I'll respond in more depth and with links later about NYC.

Favorite bookstores: Strand, St. Marks, Book Culture, Crawford-Doyle

Where will you be staying, i.e., what neighborhood?

Thanks for all the info!

If you are unsure where to eat, you can always check online at yelp.com or foodnetwork.com to find excellent eateries in new york that will give good or bad reviews.

Oh, good to know. I wouldn't have thought about that. I definitely want to go with some names of good restaurants, as my previous NYC trips haven't been great food-wise.

Where will you be staying, i.e., what neighborhood?

I'm trying to book something today, so I don't know yet, but I'm hoping to get a vacation rental by owner, and the Upper West Side is my first choice.

I'm in the area & we'll be going in a few days this week. The Tenement Museum is a possibility. It's a living history museum and those are usually big hits with my kids. It's on the lower East side near Orchard & Delancey.

#48 - I mentioned that to my husband and he said "That sounds so depressing!" I'll work on him ;-)

If you end up on the upper west side, it will be an easy trip to the Museum of Natural History. If you can, book your tickets online first, and you won't have to wait in such long lines to get in. You will also be a stone's throw from Book Culture, which has two stores up near Columbia. One, right on Broadway and 114th Street, has current fiction and nonfiction and older books too; the other, on 112th between Broadway and Amsterdam, is a larger, more academic bookstore, but has lots of fiction too.

The Tenement Museum is more about immigrants and the lives they lived once they came to New York, www.tenement.org. I think you have to take a tour.

NYC is so filled with restaurants that it is hard to just name a few good ones without knowing what you're going to be near. If you're near the Museum of Natural History, my cousins from San Francisco enjoyed Gazala's, a middle eastern restaurant on Columbus and 78th St., http://www.gazalasplace.com. On the upper east side, there's a fun Chinese restaurant called Chef Ho's on 2nd Ave and around 89th Street, http://www.chefho.com/; it's a not too far trek from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I can probably come up with more ideas once you get more of an idea of what you're going to do.

Joyce - You MUST visit Three Lives in the village. It is my favorite. A small little gem, but they know how to pick books that would be lost in other stores. http://threelives.com/

and walk the Highline http://www.thehighline.org/

Stopped by to post The Millions round up of most anticipated books for the second half of 2012:

http://www.themillions.com/2012/07/most-anticipated-the-great-second-half-2012-b...

I like Idlewild Books - and handily, it is opposite a v nice tapas place called Boqueria!

I did a rundown of bookstores here at some point.

High Line is a must see in my opinion.

I know several people who've done the bicycle tours they offer of Central Park and loved it.

I'll pop back in if I think of anything else.

Thanks for all the NYC info, everyone! I'm copying everything down into my NYC notebook.

I just learned about the High Line last night. This is all new to me and it sounds so cool.

I'm very excited that I found a great apartment to rent for our week in NYC. It's in my first choice neighbourhood--the Upper West Side, and it's on 72nd St (same street as the famous Dakota Bldg). So any recommendations for the area are welcome (and Zabar's, here I come!).

Restaurants:

Bar Boulud is across from Lincoln Center and has a great brunch.

A Voce has a location at Columbus Circle in the Time Warner center and is really good pasta.

Ocean Grill is a great seafood place across from Natural History Museum

If you walk west to the Hudson River, there's a summer cafe in Riverside Park on a pier that has burgers and stuff.

In terms of stuff to do up there, there's the Dakota and Strawberry Fields in Central Park, Zabar's, Natural History Museum. Not a whole lot else I can think of right now that's not taking you further up or down.

I can think of right now that's not taking you further up or down.

Thanks, Jane for all your recommendations. We plan on going everywhere and seeing everything ;-), but I thought the Upper West Side would be my first choice for those just hanging around times, and we're also between two parks. I just love the New York of movies like When Harry Met Sally and You've Got Mail, which were both filmed in that area.

Ooh, speaking of which, the cafe from You've Got Mail is Cafe Lalo and is on 83rd St. Food's ok, but it's a really cute place.

Ooh, speaking of which, the cafe from You've Got Mail is Cafe Lalo and is on 83rd St. Food's ok, but it's a really cute place.

That's so funny. Every time I see the movie, that restaurant has always reminded me of someplace I've been--and when I stopped to think about it, I realized it reminded me of a place I went very late one night down toward Greenwich Village. I'm going to at least have my pic taken outside of Cafe Lalo (what a geeky tourist).

I'm not a big fan of Cafe Lalo, but it's on a nice street. One of the interesting things about when they were filming You've Got Mail is that they had to come back and re-shoot a scene that happened in the fall and the film crew spent days attaching fake fall leaves to street trees on a block near where we live.

Asking for some practical advice here:

I own a number of omnibus volumes such as "Three Novels by Dashell Hammett," "Complete Novels of Flann O'Brien," etc. When I read just one novel from the volume I have no place to post a review of it, since you have to have the book in your LT database to review it. In addition, many of the LT recommendations I get are for works I already own that happen to be inside an omnibus or anthology where LT can't "see" it.*

One way to address this problem would be to add the individual works from an omnibus to my library as though they were distinct books, putting them in a separate collection named something like "Omnibus Works." I would just have to randomly pick an edition and cover, though, since I don't actually have the separate physical book.

Has anyone done this? Were you pleased with the results, or were there drawbacks? Is there a better way?

* ETA: I think the recommendation issue may be taken care of by the new work-to-work relationships. I just checked again and the number of recommendations for works I own inside collections is way down, and the ones that were there were cases where no one had posted the relationship (which I have now done).

One way to address this problem would be to add the individual works from an omnibus to my library as though they were distinct books

This is what I've done. I think I only have 2 in my collection (both are editions that include two novels). The final result is that it shows as three books--each novel, plus the combined edition itself. This doesn't really bother me other than it slightly skews my stats. Oh well.

>62 StevenTX:

That's what I am doing - my "Bits and Pieces" collection (that needs some updating). It works -- I just make sure no ISBN is attached :)

I'm new to ClubRead this year and am really enjoying being part of it. A few years ago I started a thread which is now gathering dust. But, it's a question I thought some of you might enjoy answering: What's your favorite book from childhood? http://www.librarything.com/topic/85528

ETA: Forgive my shameless self-promotion, but I am curious.

Steven - I treat it kind of like a library book. I add the individual book and put in my "unowned" collection. Then I make comments in the Omnibus. (Unfortunately, that doesn't work for the biblical books as they don't have separate entries...because they aren't really separate books.)

#65 avidmom - You might try a new thread here in Club Read. Just a thought.

#62 This is a very timely question for me too, Steven, as I am currently reading, in one volume, The Cornish Trilogy by Robertson Davies. Having finished the first novel, The Rebel Angels, I looked for a way to review it and realized I couldn't review it individually. I guess I could add it separately to an "unowned" collection as Dan does (#66) -- that might be the best solution for me, but maybe I'll just wait until I finish all of them. Dan, you could add the biblical books manually, but as you say they aren't really separate books.

Thanks, Joyce, Annie and Dan. It looks like you're doing the same thing I was thinking about, and it works for you. I've created a collection called, for now, "Embedded works" and per Annie's suggestion will omit ISBNs and all publication data and use just a generic cover.

#68 "Dan, you could add the biblical books manually, but as you say they aren't really separate books." - I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm afraid to. If I'm the only person who lists a copy of Leviticus by Moses...that might look kind of weird. Also, who do I attribute Joshua and Judges to? "Traditional", "Deuteronomist", "Ezra"...??

Moses does haven author page: http://www.librarything.com/author/moses-1

That's wild about Moses having an author page! And of course you're right about authors -- that would open up the proverbial can of worms for sure.

Moses does have an author page...

So does God: http://www.librarything.com/author/god
And Jesus: http://www.librarything.com/author/christjesus
And Allah: http://www.librarything.com/author/allah

#72 - big oversight on my list of possible authors for Joshua and Judges!

I noticed God gets two author images, and Allah doesn't get any.

Maybe there aren't supposed to be images of Allah, like there aren't supposed to be images of the Jewish God. It wouldn't be the first similarity between Islam and Judaism.

#67 Thanks, dchaikin. That's a good idea.

An interesting new list and exhibit from the Library of Congress: The Books that Shaped America: http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/books-that-shaped-america/Pages/SlObjectList.aspx

Interesting website of photos of people reading on the subway. Underground New York Public Library

What a wonderful site and collection of pictures!

#78 - I can't stop scrolling...

That's some very cool pics. Question though is everyone so unhappy to be on the subway there?

Not unhappy to be on the subway necessarily, but maybe unhappy to be going to work, or tired after a day of work, or just perfecting the native New Yorker poker face.

I expect to see photos of Jane and Rebecca on that web site before long.

81 - I think everyone probably makes similar faces driving in their cars on their commutes - just zoned out listening to music, thinking about what awaits you at work, etc.

Back in post #44 I asked for advice for my upcoming NYC vacation, and many of you responded with a wealth of fabulous information. I know some ClubReaders weren't around that week, so I'm putting out one last call . . . . does anyone have any recommendations for not-to-be-missed food, shops, or attractions in NYC? Thanks! You guys are amazing!

>85 Nickelini: These are some of my favorite NYC restaurants and delis, which are unique to the city.

Junior's: The best cheesecake you'll ever taste. The original store is in Brooklyn, but there is a branch in Grand Central Station (restaurant in the Food Court on the lower level, and a shop that sells cheesecakes on the Main Concourse), and another one at Times Square. I've been to the main restaurant plenty of times, and the one in Grand Central a couple of times, but I've never been to the one at Times Square. They also have better than average corned beef and pastrami sandwiches.

Russ and Daughters: A classic NYC appetizer shop which has been run by the Russ family since 1914, located in the Lower East Side 1/2 block east of the 2nd Av/Lower East Side station (the F train stops there). Great smoked fish (sturgeon, salmon), whitefish salad, and excellent bagels and bialys, raspberry rugelach and pistachio halvah.

Barney Greengrass, the Sturgeon King: Another classic Jewish deli, which is over 100 years old and is located on the Upper West Side (Amsterdam & 86th St). I like their pickled herring better than Russ and Daughters' version, and their sturgeon is divine.

Unfortunately I think that H&H Bagels (B'way at 80th or 81st St) has closed. Ratner's, my favorite Jewish dairy restaurant, on Delancey St in the Lower East Side, has also closed.

#86 - Thanks, Darryl! I shall eat well indeed on this trip. I am very disappointed to hear that H&H Bagels is closed as my 15 yr old is a bagel-a-holic (and also because it was a location in You've Got Mail).

Not sure about eating sturgeon. My grandfather used to catch them, and they sort of freak me out. Did you hear about the record-sized sturgeon caught near here this past week? It weighed 1,100 lbs.

story: http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/UPDATE+foot+sturgeon+caught+near+Chilliwack+close...

And ONE LAST NEW YORK QUESTION: are there any bad areas of Manhattan any more? When I was there in 1989, Times Square was pretty sleazy, but it's now owned by Disney. The Lower East Side, Hell's Kitchen, Meatpacking District, even Harlem seem to all have been gentrified. Are there any sketchy areas left? Where have all those people gone?

Are there any sketchy areas left?

In Manhattan, not much. Spanish Harlem is a still touch dingy but not too bad, and I can't really think of a reason you'd go out there.

Where have all those people gone?

Giuliani bused them to L.A.

Giuliani bused them to L.A.

Ha! I was in LA last summer and I think I saw them.

Giuliani bused them to L.A.

LOL!

Archipelago Books is having an Olympic sale through Sunday: 5 books for $55 or 2 for $25.

For those of you interested in the Reading Globally group, we are voting on our theme reads for next year. Come on over to the voting thread to cast your vote!

The Reading Globally theme read results are IN! Please come over to this post on the voting thread to offer your thoughts about the suggested themes for next year.

When should we expect Club Read 2013 to be set up? I get so excited around this time at the idea of starting fresh with my thread but staying with the same great members.

Funny you should mention that, lilisin! I've been busy, as you know, with Reading Globally, but now that it's coming down the home stretch, I should be able to focus on Club Read 2013. I have a busy work week this week, so it will probably be next weekend. Personally, I like to stay with my 2012 thread until the bitter end, but I understand that others like to set up their new ones in advance!

ETA: I've just set up a new thread soliciting volunteers and ideas for 2013.

A new group titled Read Mo Yan has been created for those who would like to read and discuss the works of the 2012 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Mo Yan. Please join us!

One of my favorite bookstores, BookCulture, is having a 20% off sale in its two stores this weekend, and 20% off online through the end of December.