SandDune's 2015 Reading - Part 3

Welcome everyone to my third thread of 2015, and to my fourth year doing the 75 Book Challenge. I'm a 54 year old accountant working part-time as the Finance Manager of a local charity, after spending most of my career in the City of London. I live about thirty miles north of London with my husband (aka Mr SandDune), who is Assistant Principal at a local secondary school, and our 15 year old son (aka J), who attends the same school. There's also our 3 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier Daisy, and 12 year old cat Sweep, who have an uneasy relationship in which Sweep permanently has the upper hand. I'm originally from Wales rather than England, so I do have an interest in all things Welsh (although I can't speak the language - at least only a few words) and I tend to get huffy if people call me English rather than Welsh! I read mainly literary fiction, classics, science-fiction and fantasy and tend to avoid horror, detective fiction, chick-lit and thrillers. All the family are avid readers, although Mr SandDune doesn't get time to read as much as he would like: J has inherited a love of reading science-fiction and fantasy from me and a love of reading history from Mr SandDune so our books are increasingly shared. I read hardbacks, paperbacks, on kindle and listen to audio books particularly when driving or walking the dog. Apart from reading I love travelling, eating out, going to the theatre (not so often as I'd like but I've made a resolution to remedy that this year) and I'm doing a part-time degree with the Open University which keeps me pretty busy.

This month's picture is by Eduoard Manet (1832 - 1883) 'On the Beach' 1873. A painting of Manet's wife Suzanne, and his brother, on their summer holiday at Berck-sur-Mer in Pas-de-Calais in Northern France. I can't help thinking that the voluminous clothes that Suzanne is wearing are probably quite suited to the temperature on the beaches of Northern France!

My reading plans for 2015 are quite structured. I intend to participate in Paul's British Author Challenge as well as Mark's American Author Challenge. I belong to a RL reading group which meets monthly, as well as reading the Booker shortlist sometime in the spring. I'm also doing an Open University (OU) course in Twentieth Century Literature.

In between that I want to read rather more non-fiction than I've been doing of late, and of course keeping up with the science-fiction and fantasy. Here are my tentative choices for the various challenges a well as my OU reading:

British Author Challenge

January : Penelope Lively Ammonites and Leaping Fish
January : Kazuo Ishiguro The Remains of the Day
February : Sarah Waters The Paying Guest
February : Evelyn Waugh Decline and Fall
March : Daphne Du Maurier Rebecca
March : China Mieville Embassytown
April : Angela Carter Heroes and Villains
April : W. Somerset Maugham The Painted Veil
May : Margaret Drabble The Pure Gold Baby
May : Martin Amis Lionel Asbo: State of England
June : Beryl Bainbridge An Awfully Big Adventure
June: Anthony Burgess Earthy Powers
July : Virginia Woolf Orlando
July : B.S. Johnson Christie Marley's own Double-Entry
August : Iris Murdoch The Bell
August : Graham Greene Our man in Havana
September : Andrea Levy The Long Song
September : Salman Rushdie The Enchantress of Florence
October : Helen Dunmore The Siege
October : David Mitchell Cloud Atlas
November : Muriel Spark Memento Mori
November : William Boyd The Blue Afternoon
December : Bernice Rubens A Five Year Sentence
December : P.G. Wodehouse The Inimitable Jeeves

American Author Challenge

Carson McCullers- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Henry James- The Turn of the Screw
Richard Ford- Canada
Louise Erdrich- The Plague of Doves
Sinclair Lewis- Babbitt
Wallace Stegner- Crossing to Safety
Ursula K. Le Guin - The Wizard of Earthsea
Larry McMurtry- Lonesome Dove
Flannery O' Connor- A Good Man is Hard to Find and other stories
Ray Bradbury- Farenheit 451
Barbara Kingsolver- Flight Behaviour
E.L. Doctorow- Ragtime

Open University Set Books

Pat Barker The Ghost Road
Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot
Bertolt Brecht Life of Galileo
Anton Chekov Five Plays
Philip K Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Daphne Du Maurier Rebecca
TS Eliot Prufrock and Other Observations
Lewis Grassic Gibbon Sunset Song
Allen Ginsberg Howl and other poems
Abdulrazak Gurnah Paradise
Seamus Heaney New Selected Poems, 1966-1987
Katherine Mansfield Selected Stories
Manuel Puig Kiss of the Spider Woman
Poetry of the Thirties
Virginia Woolf Orlando: a Biography

Books Read in 2015:
1. Ammonites and Leaping Fish Penelope Lively ****
2. The Life of Galileo Bertolt Brecht ****
3. Orlando Virginia Woolf. ****
4. Why Be happy when you Could be normal? Jeanette Winterson ****1/2
5. Please Mister Postman Alan Johnson ***1/2
6. Where I'm reading From Tim Parks ****
7. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers ***1/2
8. The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro *****
9. To Rise at a Decent Hour Joshua Ferris **
10. Trouble with Lichen John Wyndham ***
11. The Turn of the Screw Henry James
12. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Philip K. Dick ****1/2
13. Rebecca Daphne du Maurier ****1/2
14. Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh ***
15. The Paying Guests Sarah Waters ****1/2
16. How to be both Ali Smith ****
17. Embassytown China Mieville ****
18. Touch Clare North ****
19. Mort Terry Pratchett ***1/2
20. Canada Richard Ford ***
21. Phoenix Steven Brust ***1/2
22. The Aftermath Rhidian Brook ***
23. The Plague of Doves Louise Edrich***1/2
23. Heroes and villains Angela Carter ***
24. The Painted Veil Somerset Maugham ****1/2
25. The Year of reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved my Life Andy Miller ***1/2
26. Etta and Otto and Russell and James Emma Hooper ****1/2
27. Old Man's War John Scalzi ***
28. Miss Ranskill Comes Home Barbara Euphan Todd ***
29. Jane and Prudence Barbara Pym ***1/2
30. Lionel Asbo: State of England Martin Amis **
31. The Pure Gold Baby Margaret Drabble ***
32. Broken Homes Ben Aaronovitch ***1/2
33. The Small House at Allington Anthony Trollope ***1/2
34. Ethan of Athos Lois McMaster Bujold ***1/2
35. Babbitt Sinclair Lewis ***
36. The Bell Iris Murdoch ****
37. Just one Damned thing after another Jodi Taylor ***
38. Crossing to Safety Wallace Stegner ****1/2
39. An Awfully Big Adventure Beryl Bainbridge ***1/2
40. Athyra Steven Brust ****

26. Etta and Otto and Russell and James Emma Hooper ****1/2

I heard this book recommended on one of the book programmes on Radio 4 and liked the sound of it. And then I heard it described as the new The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and I started to have doubts, as I didn't like Harold Fry very much, but much to my surprise I liked E&O&R&J a great deal. The book does have one thing going for it that Harold Fry did not, in that it is set in a country other than the one in which I live, and deals with people who have lived a very different sort of life than the one in which I am familiar. When this sort of whimsical, almost magical, book is set too close to home I find that reality usually intervenes, no matter how hard I try to keep it out, and it diminishes my enjoyment. Whereas a setting on the prairies of Saskatchewan - well anything could happen there for all I know - if the author says there are talking coyotes, then I'm more than happy to believe in them.

Etta sets out one morning on foot to see the sea, which she has never seen. But the coast of Nova Scotia is thousands of miles away and Etta is eighty-two years old and in the early stages of dementia. She carries a note with her at all times to remind her of who she is and where she comes from. Behind her she leaves her husband of over fifty years, Otto, and his best friend Russell, who has been in love with her for just as long. As Etta gets further and further east she is joined by James, the talking coyote of the title, but whether he is real or a product of Etta's increasing confusion is unclear. Otto too must go on a metaphorical journey of his own as he learns to cope without Etta, and these sections, as he learns to bake and to care for his new guinea pig were some of my favourites in the entire book. But alongside this story of Etta and Otto's old age is the story of their youth more than sixty years previously, when Otto and Russell were growing up on their families's farms in rural Saskatchewan, and Etta arrived as the new teacher at the one room schoolhouse.

I'm not quite clear why I enjoyed this book so much. It certainly managed to be a moving fable without becoming overly sentimental. And I can feel the pull of the sea, so even a very long walk to see can seem like a good idea at times! So strongly recommended.

Happy New Thread, Rhian. I love the painting.

Happy new thread, Rhian! Love the Manet!

Happy new thread and another lovely thread topping image. The clothing is possibly appropriate to the temperature, but doesn't allow a great deal of exposed skin to soak up that Vitamin D. Mind you, I'm always cold, so looks like entirely sensible clothing for a breezy beach to me.

Lovely new thread, Rhian! Not too much bare skin in that picture.

>5 Ameise1: >6 scaifea: Welcome Barbara, Amber

>7 Helenliz: >8 ronincats: I have many memories of sitting on northern beaches on days when I would have loved to have been as well wrapped up as that!

Congratulations on your latest thread, Rhian.

Spring has finally spung:

That's a fabulous sight. They were out in force last week when we were in the edge of the South Downs. Nothing quite like it. And the fragrance (of the english ones) is wonderful.

>10 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, great to see you back posting again.

>12 Helenliz: I do love bluebells! And my foot seems to be on the mend so that I could actually go and see them. I tried to get a photo of Daisy in the bluebells but of course she wouldn't keep still.

Happy new thread, Rhian. Etta and Otto sounds good. You've read quite a few good books this year, many four stars and higher.

>11 SandDune: What a lovely sight! *happy sigh*

What a marvelous painting you chose for your topper!

The bluebells are almost overwhelming. Right now our woods are sprinkled with tiny flowers, spring beauties, violets, white and purple hepaticas, and so on. But pretty much all on the small if not teensy side!

>14 BLBera: Oh I'd strongly recommend Etta and Otto and Russell and James. I've now got a burning desire to make cinnamon rolls, after reading about Otto's learning to make them following Etta's recipe cards. I don't think I've ever had a cinnamon roll in my life, but they sound very nice.

>15 scaifea: >16 sibylline: We do have some tiny flowers as well, forget-me-nots and little white ones (not a flower expert). But for the few weeks that the bluebells are out they do seem to overwhelm everything else.

I am fascinated... Etta and Otto and Russell and James may just go on the pile.

I'll be off to cast my vote in the General Election very shortly, not that it makes a lot of difference where I live as the Conservative majority is fairly unassailable. I'm more worried about the result of this election than I can ever remember. All the polls are predicting a hung parliament (i.e. one where no party has an overall majority) which means we could be in for days or weeks of political haggling while the next government is sorted out, but if there is a Conservative majority, or a Conservative led-coalition as we have now, they have promised a referendum in 2017 on whether Britain should leave the EU. Given current public opinion, that seems to have a fighting chance of being passed, which in my opinion would be completely disastrous for the country, both economically and because it would mean Britain moving towards the type of isolated, backward looking country which really isn't the sort of future I want. And leaving the EU would probably tip Scotland over the edge into independence which would make matters a hundred times worse.

>19 SandDune: I'm watching the updates on the online news. I think a lot of European people will follow the news.

>19 SandDune: Rhian, I voted this morning, but again the sitting candidate has a huge majority. They'll probably still be arguing about the result by the time the Duchess of Cambridge has her next baby!

>11 SandDune: Love the bluebell pictures. Trying not to panic about election results until they actually come in. Also in a seat where my vote probably won't make much difference, but voting anyway.

>20 Ameise1: >21 susanj67: >22 charl08: If it wasn't for the fact that I don't think any meaningful results will be around any time soon I'd probably stay up to watch the results coming in. I've only ever done that once before: for the 1998 election. Well actually I cheated as I was working in Bermuda at the time and a four hour time difference made it a lot easier!

Mr SandDune's comment on coming back from voting: 'If it wasn't for the fact that I'm English and I don't live in Scotland I'd vote Scottish Nationalist!'

>19 SandDune: I'm now feeling very stunned and very depressed by the election result. Looks like the whole of Scotland felt the same way as Mr SandDune.

Interesting how wrong the polling was ahead of the exit poll.
We changed colour again, about 4th time in as many elections. 70% turnout, which might explain the queue to vote - never had to do that before!
I'd like to have voted for someone I supported than for the candidate I dislike the least. Not so much depressed by the result, as by the process. Oh for someone with some integrity, some social skills, some gumption, someone who'd put their constituency before their party, some spirit, some ideas, some experience of real life, someone I'd actually like to take tea with. Seriously considered spoiling my paper.
I'm not sure proportional representation is the way to go, that only makes those elected even more distant from the people they claim to represent.

Dispirited and disillusioned with the entire thing.

>24 SandDune: Yes, stunned and discouraged is the mood in our house too.

So sorry about the election results, Rhian. I remember having similar feelings in 2000 when George W Bush won (and felt even worse when he was re-elected in 2004).

So sorry how the election turned out, Rhian.

Stunned and discouraged here too. How did the opinion polls get it so wrong? I'm also turning my thoughts towards this promised EU referendum - as someone with an EU national as a spouse I'm dreading having to go back to the days of breaking out into a sweat every time we go through passport control to see whether immigration would deign to let him back into the country. A most depressing five years in prospect.

>25 Helenliz: At least if your constituency changes hands you've got a chance of your vote actually counting for something! Ours would never elect anything over than a Conservative MP in a million years, so as a pretty consistent Labour voter I do feel that my vote didn't really count for anything. I would be in favour of proportional representation though, as I think the benefits of getting a more representative House of Commons would outweigh the disadvantages of reduced local connection.

>26 souloftherose: >27 lauralkeet: >28 Ameise1: >29 HanGerg: I think one of the reasons that I am very despondent is that whereas with a normal election you feel that even if you don't agree with the policies of the current government you know that there is a good chance that it will be reversed in five years time. But I do think that if we have a referendum about the membership to the EU it is quite possible that the UK will vote to leave which I think would be economically disastrous, and is not something that could easily be reversed. And if the UK as a whole votes to leave the EU while Scotland votes to stay in (again quite likely as Scotland tends to be more pro-European) then I really think it is quite likely to precipitate the break-up of the UK. The independence referendum in Scotland was so close, and what seemed to swing it towards staying in the United Kingdom for many people was the stability of the status quo as part of the EU. But those people who voted with their heads for the stability of being part of the UK and the EU, might well be inclined to vote the other way if that stability is being pulled out from under them. And once Scotland became independent, it would stay independent.

Hi Rhian - just came in to say hello after the election. I'm really sorry to see the results.

Rhian, I hope that in the end everything will be sorted out in a good way. Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Happy Mother's Day!

Sobering reading about your elections, Rhian.

On a happier note, Happy Mother's Day to you!

>31 cushlareads: Thanks, I will just have to cope with it!

>32 Ameise1: Well, those roses have certainly cheered me up Barbara, they are absolutely beautiful!

>33 nittnut: >34 sibylline: Thanks for the Mothers' Day wishes.
I hope you've had a great Mothers' Day too. Only thing is ... it isn't Mothers' Day here! Ours was back in March. I have no idea at all why ours is different from the rest of the world. I used to be friendly with someone from New Zealand and it caught her out every year. Each year she meant to buy a card when it was UK Mothers' Day to sent to her mother two months later when it was New Zealand Mothers' Day but she usually forgot. My actual Mothers' Day was a bit of a washout, as it was when J was down with a bug, so I didn't get breakfast in bed or anything!

Finished Old Man's War by John Scalzi and Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd. Both OK, but nothing to get too worked up about.

:-) You're welcome.

27. Old Man's War John Scalzi ***

I read John Scalzi's Redshirts a little while ago and really enjoyed it, so was looking forward to see what he made of this idea: a future where the Colonial Defence Force, which protects the planets colonised by settlers from Earth, is made up solely of men and women over the age of seventy-five. But unfortunately, it was far too militaristic a book for me, and didn't have the humour which made Redshirts so enjoyable.

On his seventy-fifth birthday John Perry confirms his earlier decision to join the CDF, but without Kathy, his wife of forty-one years, who had intended to join with him but had died the year before. The CDF is seemingly able to call on an almost limitless supply of pensioner recruits for one very good reason: the CDF has reputedly discovered a way to reverse the aging process, although exactly how this is done is something of a mystery. Joining the CDF is a one-way ticket off Earth to the colonies, the recruits may become younger, but as far as everyone on Earth is concerned they are also legally dead.

The idea was great, but it didn't work out in practice, at least for me. Scalzi's rejuvenated old people just come across like young people to me, which rather removes the uniqueness of the situation. And there were far too many military engagements which I wasn't very interested in at all. So an OK book - I certainly won't be rushing out to buy the next in the series - although I would possible read it if it came my way.

Hi Rhian, I'm sorry you were upset with the recent election. I have not been so happy myself with the way things are going on my side of the pond, but I still am proud to be an American (humming along…) as I'm sure you are proud of your British heritage. I try not to get too wrapped up in politics because of the underhanded nature of elections and broken promises, etc.

I love your review of Etta and Otto et al. I voted for that one to be one of our fall reads in my book group. I almost hope it isn't chosen so that I can get to it sooner. It sounds just like my kind of story. I like feisty old women! Ha ha.

28. Miss Ranskill Comes Home Barbara Euphan Todd ***

Miss Ranskill is washed ashore onto a desert island after falling overboard when on a world cruise. But the island is not quite deserted, the 'Carpenter' is already in residence having been washed ashore in a similar accident. And so for several years Miss Ranskill and the Carpenter are trapped on the island, with their only hope of escape the boat which the Carpenter is building. But just as the boat is ready, the Carpenter dies of a sudden heart attack and Miss Ranskill is left to escape on her own. And escape she does, but the England to which she returns is very different from the one that she left. World War II is well underway and Miss Ranskill must get to grips with rationing, blackouts, bombing and the possibility of being mistaken for a German spy...

This is a book which, judging by the reviews, is clearly loved by a lot of people, but I have to admit that I found several aspects of it irritating. Surely a slightly more plausible reason could have been thought up for the reason for the reason that Miss Ranskill and the Carpenter ended up on the island. And Miss Ranskill is constantly misunderstood on her return to England, but I can't help thinking that everything would have been cleared up very quickly if Miss Ranskill would have just given two sentences of clear explanation. So a slightly disappointing read.

Haha. Funny how the dates of Mother's Day and Father's Day are Not international. Since yours was a washout, you are welcome to any other day of the year. ;)

>39 Donna828: For some reason this election has really pushed all the wrong buttons for me. I hope I'm being unduly pessimistic in its implications ... One of the first pieces of legislation that seems to be being spoken of is to remove the UK from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights, which doesn't bode well in my opinion.

>41 nittnut: I think we have Fathers Day on the same date. But Mothers Day adopted the date of the traditional Mothering Sunday celebration in the Church of England, which was on the fourth Sunday in Lent.

Hi Rhian, I wish you a wonderful weekend.

30. Lionel Asbo: State of England Martin Amis **

I can't help thinking that if you intend to write a satirical book subtitled 'State of England' it would be helpful if you had some idea of what that state actually was. And with this book by Martin Amis, the reader gets the distinct impression that the author is very hazy indeed about lives lived outside the metropolitan elite, let alone in the type of London council estate where it is largely set. His research seems to have largely been culled from the worst set of stereotypes pedalled by the likes of the Daily Mail, reinforced by hazy memories of sitcoms from the 1960s and 70s. There's definitely a shadow of Alf Garnett in one of the characters. But nowhere do any characters that are actually believable make an appearance.

Originally named Lionel Peppardine, Lionel Asbo had changed his name by deed poll to celebrate his record as the youngest ever person to be given at ASBO (anti-social behaviour order) at the age of three. By his early twenties he is making a living at the more violent end of the debt collection industry, with his two pitbulls as the tools of his trade. Living with him is his fifteen year old nephew Des, for whom Lionel has been nominally in charge of ever since hismother's death three years previously, but Des is a very different sort of person, quiet, studious and gentle. But Des does have a guilty secret - an affair with an older woman - who happens to be his thirty-nine year old grandmother Grace - and Lionel is not going to be happy when he finds out.

I didn't like this book. Admittedly, it's not really my sort of book, too violent, but it could have been so much better if there was any sense that the author had any insight into what he was talking about.

Ouch. I was thinking about reading that book, but maybe I'll choose The Zone of Interest instead, or not read anything by him at all.

I haven't read any Martin Amis and despised the one Kingsley Amis I've read. The opinions I've seen in this month's challenge have convinced me to stay away. Thanks for taking one for the team Rhian!

>45 kidzdoc: I considered not doing Martin Amis at all as nothing really appealed, but then I decided it would be good to read more things outside my comfort zone. And the plot might have worked for me given a different author. But I'm certainly not going to be reading any more Martin Amis in a hurry!

>46 lauralkeet: Kingley Amis - I think I tried to read The Old Devils once and gave up very quickly.

Yes, that's the one, Rhian. I just checked my library and see I gave it a measly 1 star. Blech! I only read it because it won the Booker.

I appear to have read five of his novels and two The Information and London Fields I seem to have particularly liked, but they all get at least a four. Only bits and pieces stick in my mind, and this latest one does sound more violent although there are some violent characters in all of them. Maybe more balanced?

His father's early books are the good ones, and I wonder if that is true of the son as well?

His memoir Experience is very good.

It's 1st June and I have just put the gas fire on as I am so cold! Outside, it is raining and blowing and generally horrible ...

>50 SandDune: agreed! I've resisted the fire, but have resorted to a blanket on the sofa to cuddle up in. Brrr. It's supposed to be summer- it almost looked like it first thing this morning, what a disappointing end to the day.

>50 SandDune: Yikes! I hope the weather improves there by next week (for entirely selfish reasons).

Belatedly commenting on the elections... Europe is certainly not happy with the results although some Germans I know hope the UK will have an EU Exit and then the whole construction will fall apart although Germany has profited so much from it (but people only see that "their" money is transferred to Greece or to immigrants) . At what point did the original European vision get lost and all those national interests got into the focus again?

I'd happily send some degrees of humid heat from Italy if it was possible. :)

Have a great week!

Hi Rhian, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Happy weekend! Hope you're up to something fun. :)

Apologies that I'm being a bit slow at getting back to everyone. It's been busy, both at home and at work recently. I will come back soon!

>48 lauralkeet: >49 sibylline: I have decided that Martin Amis and me just do not get on. I will not be reading any more in a hurry!

>51 Helenliz: >52 kidzdoc: Well, it is considerably warmer here now, but just so changeable! I'm hoping it isn't going to be too hot next week as J's doing his Duke of Edinburgh expedition Tuesday/Wednesday.

>53 Deern: Just who is going to do a lot of the jobs if Britain leaves the EU is what I want to know, especially in the South-East of England. But seriously, I think it would be a disaster for the UK - it would leave us isolated and on the edge of things.

31. The Pure Gold Baby Margaret Drabble **1/2

I had great hopes for this book. As someone who works for a charity dealing with learning disabilities I had a particular interest in this story of a single mother bringing up a learning disabled child in 1960's Britain. But it didn't turn out as well as I was hoping, and ultimately was a disappointment.

Expecting to pursue a career in anthropology, Jess finds herself pregnant at the beginning of the 1960's. The father, only ever identified as 'the professor', is already married, and anyway Jess is not interested in pursuing anything more than a sexual relationship. The child, Anna, is the 'pure gold baby', a happy child who sleeps through the night early, and who smiles at everyone. But as Anna grows it becomes more and more obvious that she is not developing at the same rate as her peers, and while no specific diagnosis of the problem is ever made, it is clear that she will never be able to lead an independent life. Rather than the career as a field anthropologist that she has hoped for, Jess resigns herself (willingly) to the long term care of her daughter. And so we follow Anna and Jess in their life in London, as the one grows up and the other grows old.

So what were my problems with the book? Firstly, Jess seemed to have it just a little too easy. The book starts off in the early 1960's remember, when there was quite a stigma to being an unmarried mother, and attitudes to people with learning disabilities hadn't progressed far out of the dark ages, but very little of those attitudes seem to impact on either Jess or Anna. And Jess is beset by very few of the other problems of life. Anna is docile, anxious to please, and devoted to her mother throughout her life. No teenage angst or boyfriend problems, which can beset people with learning disabilities just as much as the rest of the population. Money worries are removed once and for all by Jess living in a part of London where longevity is all you need to be the proud owner of a house worth over £1,000,0000 one day. And even Jess's marriage and fairly rapid divorce takes place in the friendliest of manners with very little emotional upheaval. It's just all too upbeat!

And secondly, the book is constantly swerving from where I thought its focus was going to be (the story of Jess and Anna) and going off at a tangent. Jess's initial study of an African tribe who were prone to a deformity of the hands and feet leads on to a discussion of Doctor Livingstone and other missionaries and explorers in Africa; the attempted suicide of one of Jess's friends leads to a very prolonged discussion of the mentally ill throughout the twentieth century. Finally, rather than being focused on Jess and her mother, the scope of the book extends to encompass Jess's extended social circle in a rather confusing way.

So disappointing overall.

Thanks for the heads up, Rhian. Based on your review, I'm not adding this to my OWL.

I hope you get a chance to come up for a breather soon.

32. Broken Homes Ben Aaronovitch ***1/2

The fourth book in the Rivers of London series which sees PC Peter Grant continuing on his magical education in the department of the Metropolitan Police which deals with supernatural happenings. In a similar vein to the previous books, this one focuses on strange happenings at a modernist tower block in South London. A fun read, as ever, but not quite up to the standard of the previous one in the series Whispers Under Ground.

>58 SandDune: appreciate this review, Rhian. I was curious about this one but will stay away. Have you read any of her other books, and would you recommend them?

Great review of The Pure Gold Baby, Rhian. I might have been tempted to read this based on its main topic but I definitely won't now.

>59 cameling: It's pretty much my busiest time of the year. We have our annual audit in a couple of week's time, and I have to get the accounts ready for that, so I'm always busy about this time. And then back in the autumn I volunteered to do our business continuity plans, which are now all pretty much done, but need testing ASAP, something that's probably going to take a minimum of a week's work to complete. And there are a number of other issues that have been bubbling under the service for a while that have all just become critical. So I've been working some extra hours and getting home fairly shattered.

J's also been doing his first GCSE's - Maths & German - which he's doing a year early. I think I've found it almost as stressful as he has, mainly because he's got a much more laid back attitude than me. He's finished them now, and they seem to have gone OK, but we'll just have to wait and see ...

And we've been spending a lot of time gardening, which is starting to pay off. Here is one side of the front garden which is starting to look quite nice.

Finally have the time to catch up a little, Rhian.

I was also quite discouraged by the election in the UK. I voted by proxy but again in an extremely safe seat that it would have made little difference. One of the things that most discouraged me was the extent of dislocation Scotland feels with the rest of the Union and there really needs to be a major effort to heal that disunity. A further thing that rankled was that the party of my youth wasn't really offering the electorate much of an alternative to the Tories and they got punished for that IMO. The parties that did do so were the nationalists Scottish, Welsh and, yes English (as UKIP is a nationalist creed of sorts and has little following outside of England) and the liberals. The liberals were butchered for taking part in the coalition and I find it bizarre that the party they in part saved us all from the excesses of were duly returned. It was sad to see some genuinely impassioned and caring public servants such as Laws, Hughes, Cable and dear departed Charlie Kennedy sacrificed to the whims of a fairly cruel electorate.

Recently I have come to the sad conclusion that the Labour party has abandoned its core and no longer stands up for the hopes and aspirations of the working people and the downtrodden, deprived or disadvantaged in the way it used to. I do have hopes that the liberal democrats will emerge from their catastrophe with a platform for social justice and basic decency that creates a society I would be proud to return to. I do think that we don't always get a good deal from Europe but I agree with you that the narrow-mindedness of the little-Englanders who want to isolate us from the wider world would be calamitous if they are allowed to succeed. I have decided, after being 31 years in the Labour Party to join the Liberal Democrats, (or what is left of them!) and promote the fairer pro-european society with a reformed elective process that they stand for. I have to admit to a sneaking liking of Cameron who is certainly more Blairite than Thatcherite but I fear he will be engulfed by Europe and the more rabid elements in his party very soon. The only good thing is of course is that if we are able to carry off the referendum successfully the raison d'etre of UKIP ceases to be and they will be exposed as the braying one-trick pony that they really are.

Sorry to see that both my BAC picks for May were such flops! I read Lionel Asbo too and hated it but I think your choice of Drabble was probably to blame as most of her earlier stuff I would have judged to be more to your taste. I hope that Bainbridge and Burgess will not be punished because of Amis and Drabble!

Have a lovely weekend and give my best to J and Mr. SandDune.

>64 PaulCranswick: While I do think there are clearly improvements to made in the organisation of the EU, the level of much of the argument that is made against it is facile. Norway is frequently put forward as a model for us to follow, but what people don't seem to realise is that Norway, as a member of the European Economic Area, has to follow the same general principles of free movement of labour and capital as if they were in the EU.

I'm very despondent about some of the policies that are being adopted, in particular in the areas of housing. Housing associations are to be forced to sell their properties to their tenants, so that the tenants can meet their 'aspirations' of owning their own home. I'm all for people having aspirations, but just because someone has an aspiration should that be funded by the state? I might have an aspiration to have a five-bedroomed house with a swimming-pool, but that doesn't mean I expect someone to fund it for me. The people who can take advantage of these schemes will likely be the better off housing association tenants who would in all likelihood have been able to buy something privately in due course, say with a shared ownership scheme, and there will be less and less housing left for people who are really struggling. And housing is really a problem now: in the town where we live, you can't buy even a tiny house for below £250,000, for which you'd need well above average income to afford, but so little affordable housing is being built.

>61 lauralkeet: >62 kidzdoc: I haven't read anything else by Margaret Drabble, although I've got a couple on the shelves. As I work for an organisation that provides respite and residential care for children and adults with learning disabilities I was interested to see what The Pure Gold Baby had to say about the other side of the fence, as it were, the experience of the parents. However, it really hasn't given me any insights at all. I think I would try another book by the same author, as it was well written, just not what I wanted to read.

Hi rhian, I wish you a wonderful weekend.

>66 SandDune: thanks, Rhian.

33. The Small House at Allington Anthony Trollope ***1/2

I've been working my way through Trollope's Barchester chronicles and enjoying them all hugely, in particular Barchester Towers and Framley Parsonage but this didn't quite appeal as much, possibly because of an irritation with its main character, Lily Dale. And it didn't quite seem as humerous as some of its predecessors.

Lily Dale and her sister Bell live with their widowed mother in the small house at Allington. In the large house at Allington lives Squire Dale, who while he allows his brother's virtually penniless family to inhabit the small house, and is truly fond of his nieces, has a rather strained relationship with their mother. Into Lily's life comes Adolphus Crosbie, a man who has decided that on his salary of £600 a year he can't possibly afford to marry and maintain the fashionable life in London to which he has become accustomed. But Lily captivates him and before long they are engaged. Lily is devoted to Crosbie but Crosbie soon starts to have doubts, especially once he discovers that Lily's uncle will not provide her with the dowry that he was expecting. A visit to his more aristocratic friends at Courcy Castle gives Crosbie all the temptation he needs to repent his decision ...

Of course, being Trollope there are a host of other characters: the young Johnny Eames who is himself in love with Lily from afar but has entanglements of his own with his land-lady's daughter in London; the irritable Squire Dale who more than anything wants to see his niece Bell marry his heir Bernard; the aristocratic (and fairly unpleasant) inhabitants of Courcy Castle; and the well-meaning Earl de Guest who is totally engaged with his prize bull.

There's a lot of good things about this book, but it just didn't quite gel for me the way some of the others have done.

34. Ethan of Athos Lois McMaster Bujold ***1/2

The next installment in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga, albeit one in which the main character Miles Vorkosigan is missing, and mentioned only in passing.

Ethan Urquhart is Chief of Reproductive Biology at the Sevarin District Reproductive Centre on the all-male planet of Athos, where babies are born from artificial replicators using ovarian cultures which were brought with the first colonists. But the two hundred year old cultures are failing and someone must travel to the outside world to replenish the supply. But the outside world means encountering women, who the men of Athos are taught to fear above anything...

But when Ethan travels to Kline Station to try to replenish the cultures, rather than being able to avoid the close contact with women as he had hoped, he immediately finds himself far more involved with a woman than he had expected to be. Eli Quinn, of the Dendarii mercenaries led by Miles Vorkosigan, also has an interest in Ethan's quest, as do several other parties who are not at all friendly ...

Another fun read from Lois McMaster Bujold.

Hi Rhian. Sorry to hear work is so busy for you at the moment.

>58 SandDune: Interesting comments on Drabble's The Pure Gold Baby - I read The Millstone last month which is another of Drabble's books set in the 1960s about a single mother (although The Millstone was published in the 1960s) and also felt that in some ways the mother in the story had things a little too easy but that didn't bother me - perhaps because I felt the focus wasn't really on the stigma of single motherhood. Anyway, I'd like to read more by Drabble and may try The Pure Gold Baby despite your reservations to compare it with The Millstone (and because my local library has a copy!)

>69 SandDune: that one fell short for me too Rhian. It felt disconnected from the previous books and I agree with you, not as amusing. I appreciated it more by the end of the series, because there are connections made in future books that tie things together.

Thanks for your additional comments about The Pure Gold Baby, Rhian. See you tomorrow!

>71 souloftherose: The Millstone sounds more interesting. Perhaps I will try that one. It's just that there's no sense in The Pure Gold Baby of the hard work involved in having a child with learning disabilities, and combined with Jess's straightforward life as a single mother, everything just seemed to come far too easily.

>72 lauralkeet: I imagine that in the nineteenth century Lily Dale's attitude to her position seemed rather more admirable. It just tended to annoy me!

Hi Rhian - nice to see you're still pursuing the Barchester series. I liked The Small House at Allington - but I definitely didn't liked Lily Dale. Oh, yes, so delicate, so hypersensitive - but really manipulative in all her servility. It almost ruined the novel for me. But there were so many other things to like.

Good luck with work, Rhian. I hope all goes well.

>65 SandDune: The decline in public housing stock is obviously a concern, Rhian. You are right that there has to be a balance between encouraging people to reach towards their aspirations and losing sight of the purpose a policy (i.e. public housing) was necessary in the first place. I do think that the issue of home ownership would be less of an issue if there was ample provision. There must be a way to find that balance but politicians don't seem to have found it yet.

Hang in there with work. Hopefully it will get less crazy. Love the garden pictures. Looks lovely. :)

Yesterday we had a great LT meet-up at The Fighting Cocks pub in Wendens Ambo near Saffron Walden. Left to right we are: Fliss (Flissp), Darryl (Kidzoc), Bryony (BBgirl55), me, Alan (Mr SandDune), Jenny (Lunacat).



We had a long and pleasant lunch and then a quick tour of Saffron Walden and Thaxted.

We tried to bully Darryl into having a traditional British Sunday lunch, but he was having none of it and had Moroccan lamb. He had an extra Yorkshire pudding to try though, but we drew the line at letting him cover it with butter and jam!

* shudders at thought of putting jam on Yorkshire pudding *

Silly Darryl.

I am green with envy at your meet-up! So many bright shining faces. I have yet to have experience a multi-person meet-up and I'm looking forward to to it.

Jam on yorkshire pudding . . . urk . . . I wouldn't let anything interfere with the taste of all that fine butter!

Too bad that this latest (?) Drabble is not so good. I assume latest because I'm fairly sure I am otherwise current. I'm not a wild fan, but a steady reader of her books. I like Amis too, though, or I have in the past, so perhaps I am odd! But let me go consult a list of her books and offer (if I can remember) which one or two I've liked the best!

Apparently my favorite is The Needle's Eye - I did also like another one that features the Cheddar man . . . but I'm not sure which one that is, The Ice Age perhaps?

Read the discussion of the recent elections with interest. The mood swings of the electorate are indeed a mysterious thing.

Nice photo of the meet up, Rhian. Thanks for sharing.

Love the meet-up photo, Rhian! I'm so out of the loop the last while … may catch up eventually?

Great photo, Rhian, and glad everyone had a good time--although this seems to be a given at LT meetups!

Thanks for posting the meet up photo, Rhian! Sounds like a wonderful time was had by all present.

>76 ctpress: I did enjoy the book. But I certainly didn't love it as I did some of the other Barchester books.

>77 BLBera: >79 nittnut: I've got a bit of a perfect storm of things that all need doing yesterday at the moment.i can see logically that I am making progress and they will get done, but emotionally it doesn't feel like that.

>81 lauralkeet: >82 sibylline: >83 BLBera: >84 lit_chick: >85 ronincats: >86 lkernagh: Meet-ups are great aren't they? I think that was the fourth time I'd met Darryl and the second time I'd met Fliss but this was the first time I'd met Jenny or Bryony.

>82 sibylline: I am inclined to give Drabble another go, but I think Amis is just not for me. I really struggled to decide which of the Amis books I would read as none of them appealed, so there isn't anything there that tempts me. This month is going better with Beryl Bainbridge. I'm doing An Awfully Big Adventure.

What a great photo of everyone! I am pretty much with Darryl on the "no" to the full English Breakfast. There are things on that plate that just shouldn't be on the same plate as each other and definitely not before noon. And I'm not a picky eater. Lol

What a wonderful meet-up, thanks for the picture!! :)
I loved English lunch when I was still a meat-eater. The first bite of roast lamb with mint sauce was difficult, but then I liked it very much, it's just hard to imagine for a foreigner. :)

>89 nittnut: I think you're confusing lunch and breakfast. We had traditional British Sunday lunch which is this:



Not traditional English breakfast which is this:



I like both of them though (although I always leave out the baked beans and tomatoes for breakfast). What in particular do you object to on the same plate?

It's our 27th wedding anniversary today! We're leaving celebrations until the weekend as both myself and Mr SandDune are busy at work and pretty tired. And we also ate out on Sunday and Tuesday.

Congratulations!
Deferring the celebration until the weekend seems entirely sensible to me.

>91 SandDune: Hungry now.

>88 SandDune: I wouldn't describe myself as a Martin Amis 'fan' but I did find his latest, The Zone of Interest impressive.

Happy anniversary, Rhian and Mr SandDune! The weekend will be a much better time to celebrate, and to go and buy a sculpture, which I see is the modern gift for 27 years :-)

Happy Anniversary!! Enjoy your celebration, whenever it takes place.

A very Happy Anniversary to you and Mr Sanddune!

Happy anniversary, Rhian and Mr S. Enjoy the weekend.

>91 SandDune: Yup. I'm all good with the Sunday lunch. Will eat it for breakfast or any time. It's really the baked beans I object to. Those belong with BBQ on a summer afternoon, outside, preferably. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's my southern US roots. But I can't do them with eggs and toast. Lol.

Happy Anniversary! You and Amber have the same anniversary? Lol June is a good month for the anniversaries. Ours is Monday. We will probably just go out for dinner this weekend and call it good. We've planned a trip up to Auckland for a concert and a weekend without kids in October. That will have to do, I think.

>90 Deern: Roast lamb with mint sauce is probably my favourite version of Sunday lunch, closely followed by roast pork with apple sauce.

>99 nittnut: I'm with you on the baked beans not being good with breakfast. I always ask for them to be left off. But in my opinion the only proper way to serve baked beans is on toast, so I'm sure you wouldn't approve of that either! LOL!

>93 Helenliz: >95 susanj67: >96 lauralkeet: >97 Deern: >98 Ameise1: Thanks for the congratulations. It was a lovely evening last night so we went out for a walk in the local countryside. We had an interesting encounter with two horses, one of whom positioned herself right inside the kissing gate that we had to walk through. We couldn't get them to move for ages - and when they did move a bit Daisy was extremely reluctant to get so close to them! She's always seemed quite keen to investigate closer when she's seen horses running around in a field, but once she was up close it was clearly a different matter! We ended up having to squeeze through the fence.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, Rhian. Have a wonderful celebratory weekend.

35. Babbitt Sinclair Lewis ***

George F. Babbitt is a prosperous realtor (much better sounding than real estate agent, he insists) in the large and growing city of Zenith, a town where modernity and business are everything. This is the confident early 1920s, before the Wall Street Crash and the depression, when businessmen such as Babbitt had every reason to see prosperity continuing into the future. For Babbitt's neighbours and his business aquaintances, the members of his church and the members of his clubs, the important thing is to fit in. Opinions that are different, whether political, social or religious, are frowned upon. And indeed Babbitt seems to have little reason to have any such opinions. His business is prospering, he is starting to be a public figure, and he is seemingly a happily married family man with three children. But underneath his confident exterior, Babbitt feels that there is something missing from his life, a feeling which comes to the fore when tragedy strikes the life of his friend Paul, the only person with whom he feels he can be truly himself. And when Babbitt expresses sympathy for some striking workers, his prosperous life starts to crumble around him ...

I very much enjoyed the sense of time and place in this book: the overwhelming confidence that the businessmen of Zenith have that they are marching towards a better future can probably not be have been repeated at many times in the twentieth century. (Although, more that two minutes in the company of anyone of them would be enough to send me screaming from the room). But the plot is slight, and so the book didn't engage my attention as much as it could have done.

36. The Bell Iris Murdoch ****

Well I did Sinclair Lewis in the AAM a month late, but I'm getting to Iris Murdoch two month's early as The Bell is the July choice for my RL book club. I've read The Bell before, back in the 1980s I think but it was so long ago I really couldn't remember very much. For some reason I'd had Iris Murdoch down as an author who didn't particularly appeal, but I liked The Bell quite a lot.

Dora Greenfield has left her husband Paul, who is domineering and much older than she is. When she (rather reluctantly) decides to return to him, he is working temporarily in a lay community attached to Imber Abbey, a convent of enclosed Benedictine nuns, so it is to Imber that Dora goes. Here she finds a rather incongruous group of people, led by Michael Meade, the owner of Imber Court who has failed in his ambition to be a priest, and who all for one reason or another, are seeking a more spiritual life. As someone without a spiritual bone in her body, Dora finds the community perplexing, and is horrified when she finds that one of its members, Catherine Fawley, is about to join the convent as a postulate. But the livesof the community members have not always been as tranquil as they appear, and Dora and another young visitor Toby Gashe, are destined to upset the smooth running of the community far more than can possibly be realised...

I very much enjoyed the character of Dora in this book, and for me the book came alive when it focused on her, rather than Michael or Toby. Perhaps the book shows its age here: to a modern reader it seems incomprehensible that Dora should be encouraged to return to such a husband as Paul, who is much older than she is, and a bully. The book lost me a little as characters (particularly Michael) focused on their faith, but overall a good read.

I liked that Iris Murdoch as well. I haven't read her in ages but hope to do so in the "challenge month."

Nice to see all those smiling faces at the meet-up, Rhian. Yum, full English breakfast. I enjoy them when on vacation, even the baked beans but the mushrooms are kind of weird.

>102 drneutron: >103 BLBera: Thanks!

>106 lauralkeet: I'm certainly going to try some more Murdoch, although I get the impression from what I've read about her writing that the parts that I was less keen on (moral angst, philosophical musings) are what predominate in her later writings?

>107 Familyhistorian: The mushrooms are one of the best bits! But then I love mushrooms in whatever way they appear. As a very young child I was apparently guilty of raiding over people's plates to get extra mushrooms!

>108 SandDune: you're probably right about Murdoch, Rhian. After I discovered her I decided to read all of her Booker-nominated books (7 I believe), and I liked most of them but then if they were prize nominees maybe they are her better works? I do think there was one I couldn't finish due to its rambling angstiness.

Hi Rhian, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Belated Happy Anniversary to the two of you! It was great to meet Alan last Sunday; he has a great sense of humor, was very entertaining and is a great conversationalist. I hope to see him again soon.

>110 Ameise1: Lovely flowers Barbara.

>111 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl, he enjoyed meeting you as well. I know when I first joined LT he was rather dubious than I could be 'friends' with someone on the internet, but I think he's got the idea now!

I think I am gradually seeing some light at the end of the tunnel as regards my huge busyness at work. The Finance Committee meeting, which was one of the targets I was working towards, was last night, and the audit takes place next week. It's not that I find the audit stressful in itself, it's just that I get a bit overly perfectionist about preparing for it! I am looking forward to our holiday though, which starts on 10th July! The thought of sitting around for a couple of days reading, while Mr SandDune and J go hill walking, really appeals at the moment.

Hurrah for getting the big stuff out of the way at work and for upcoming vacation!

>115 SandDune: Well after working for the last three Fridays I'm having today off as I feel I need a break!

This weekend is quite busy. J has been awarded a prize for academic excellence at school so we are going to his Speech Day tomorrow to see it being awarded. And on Sunday he is having about ten friends around for a (very) belated sort of birthday party. So food needs providing. So today I am going to sit down and do some reading at some stage!

Congratulations to J!

I just found out the most amazing thing, which might explain why I couldn't ever find your threads: I wasn't a member of the 75 group for 2015! So I have some catching up to do with you, madam!

Congrats to J, that's a great achievement. Delurking, after catching up on your thread from before the elections.

>100 SandDune: I might consider beans on toast, but not at breakfast, and definitely not with eggs. Lol

Hooray for J! Isn't it the most gratifying thing when the rest of the world notices what geniuses our children are? ;)

>116 lkernagh: >118 avatiakh: >119 nittnut: I'm really looking forward to this morning.It's quite a big event: the school hires the largest marquee in the country to fit everyone in. And there will be canapés on the lawn afterwards, which will be lovely as it's promising to be a nice sunny day. J has worked really hard this year, so I think he deserves it.

>117 tiffin: That would make things a lot more complicated! You haven't got as much to catch up with as in previous years though, as I've been a bit hit and miss with my postings this year.

Hi Rhian, congrats to J, how wonderful. I wish you a fabulous weekend.

I'm glad you liked The Bell too - Dora is one of the more likable characters.

Congratulations to J!!

Echoing the well dones and congratulations to J. He sounds like such a neat kid.

>121 Ameise1: >123 lauralkeet: >124 tiffin: Speech Day was really nice. Lovely music (as usual), and I got to do my proud mother bit! And it was the hottest day of the year so far, so the drinks and canapés in the garden went down a treat.

Well done, J. You must be so proud of him! :-)

Congratulations to J! Well done! And what a lovely celebratory event the school hosts.

Two food incidents yesterday:

After feeding all J's friends and taking the boarders back to school I was looking forward to the nice bar of chocolate that I'd bought earlier. But said bar of chocolate (which I'd remembered putting in the fridge) was nowhere to be found. Everyone denied eating it, but it could not be found. When I got home from work today said bar of chocolate had rematerialised in the fridge, looking considerably the worse for wear. J had found it on his bedroom window sill this afternoon ... and it's about 27degrees out. Just a insy winsy little bit melted!

And another thing. I was sitting down yesterday evening wondering where the strange smell was coming from. It seemed to be in the sitting room, kitchen, everywhere I went really ... When I went to bed I discovered that I had left Daisy's treats from her walk in my pocket ... Daisy's treats consisted of pieces of slightly overripe Gruyere rind ...

>128 SandDune:: Belly laugh!

LOL

>128 SandDune: We'll ignore the brain storm that must have lead to the chocolate being left in an exposed position! At least melted chocolate while still in the packet will solidify again. I had my latest tasting box from Hotel Chocolat arrive last week. Someone had clearly not observed the "avoid heat and direct sunlight" The banana split bar had melted somewhat and was liberally distributed over about half the box. Glueing them all into their sections. Some interesting taste combinations resulted, not all of which deserve to catch on...

38. Crossing to Safety Wallace Stegner ****1/2

Larry and Sally Morgan travel to Vermont to see their old friend Charity Lyle once last time: Charity is dying of cancer in the Lyle's summer house that has formed part of the life of both couples for such a long time. As he contemplates seeing Charity again after a number of years Larry looks back to the early years of their relationship. In the midst of the depression the Morgans travel to Wisconsin for Larry to take up his first teaching post. They are taken up by Sid and Charity Lyle, a couple at the centre of the college social life. Sid and Charity seem to be everything that Larry and Sally are not: rich, confident and secure in their position. Their friendship is cemented when Charity and Sally discover that they are both due to give birth within a couple of weeks of each other. Charity in particular seems a force of nature and both the Morgans are overwhelmed. As Larry says:

Born to Harvard, she had gone to Smith, and returned to marry Harvard. She had grown up in contact with the beauty and the chivalry and Cambridge. She, and presumably her husband as well, represented the cultivation, good manners, consideration of others, cleanliness of body and brightness of mind and dedication to high thinking that were the goals of outsiders like me, dazzled western barbarians aspiring to Rome. Mixed with my liking was, I am sure, an almost equal deference, a respect too sincere to be tainted with envy.

But as the years pass the dynamics between the couples start to change, as Larry develops a successful writing career while Sid's teaching career founders. More and more there is conflict between Sid's longing to be allowed to write poetry and live a quiet life, and Charity's overarching ambition. As do all the women in her family, Charity has an unalterable conviction that she is right, and those around her must at times suffer for it ...

I very much enjoyed this book, in particular the depiction of the flawed but loving relationships that are at its heart. I'll certainly be reading some more Wallace Stegner.

>126 cameling: >127 lit_chick: Thanks Caro, Nancy

>129 tiffin: >130 Ameise1: >131 Helenliz: Well it certainly wasn't me that left it on the windowsill! J has a habit of picking things up and putting them down in random places.

>131 Helenliz: A tasting box from Hotel Chocolat sounds good. I've thrown out little hints before now that I'd like one of those, but no one has ever taken any notice!

Great review of Crossing to Safety, Rhian. Also sorry to hear about the chocolate!!

Hi Rhian - Congrats on your genius, hard-working son. I can identify with your chocolate and dog treat stories. I currently cannot find my glasses. Luckily I have a back-up pair.

Great comments on the Stegner. It reinforces the fact that I must read him soon.

Congratulations to J!

Nice review of Crossing to Safety. Hopefully I'll get to it in August.

Congratulations to J for being recognized. Looks like you are enjoying your well deserved reading break. Enjoy your holiday!

>134 lauralkeet: Thanks Laura!

>135 BLBera: I don't know about genius, but he is doing well.

>136 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl.

>137 Familyhistorian: I'm not on holiday yet - we're going on Friday of next week. But I'm really looking forward to it

It's been so hot here today. The hottest July day ever recorded in South-East England with a temperature of nearly 37degrees. Our office doesn't have air conditioning and it was unbearably hot in the afternoon. Rather cooler at home, thank goodness, but still very hot.

Hmm...do I sympathise, or mock your heat-wimpiness? :)

(Sympathise, since you could certainly retaliate by mocking my cold-wimpiness: it's what we Sydneysiders call "freezing" here today, which needless to say is actually nothing of the kind...)

Congrats to J, you must be very proud!

37C is beastly, especially without a/c. Hope it cools off soon.

Rhian, we don't have ACs here, too but share the same temperature. The forecast tells us that's getting hotter every day. *sigh*

>140 lauralkeet: >141 Ameise1: It's so rarely hot enough to need AC. I've gone through a whole summer before now without it being warm enough to wear a summer dress to work. Cooler today, thank goodness! But I woke up this morning to the discovery that Daisy has an upset stomach. Not nice!

>139 lyzard: Places where it is usually warm do very badly if it is slightly cold I think. The coldest I have been indoors (in my adult life at least) was in Bermuda. It wasn't 'freezing' at all (maybe 13 degrees C in the middle of the day - colder at night), but unusually cold for Bermuda and the houses weren't designed for it. I remember going to bed wearing most of my clothes. Mr SandDune had the same thing in Brisbane - he tells of going around wearing his coat indoors as there was a cold(ish) snap, but no heating.

37. Just One Damned Thing After Another Jodi Taylor **1/2

This is the first book of a series that has had a lot of positive vibes around LT (the time travelling historians of St. Mary's Institute of Historical Research battle their way through various time-periods from the Cretaceous onwards) but having read it I have to say that I don't understand why. Having similarly failed to understand why Connie Willis is so popular I have concluded that time-travelling historians are just not my thing. It's a shame, because I really like the idea of time-travelling historians, I just haven't liked any of the actual examples that I've come across so far. That's not to say that the book was all bad. The plot bowled along at a fair pace and bowled the reader along with it. But I didn't really believe in any of the characters, who seemed to carry out some very drastic actions on the flimsiest of motives, and I didn't care about them much either. In fact the more I think about it, the less satisfied I become with the whole book.

So - not a series that I'll be in any rush to continue.

Congratulations to J on the prize!

Normally I dislike working in an air-conditioned office but yesterday was definitely the exception! And although I have enjoyed some of Connie Willi's time-travel novels a lot (although not Blackout and All Clear) I also didn't get on at all with Jodi Taylor.

143> I lived with an Australian for a while, she was new to the UK and was somewhat surprised to find that the house we were renting (not a top end property) had central heating. She didn't believe we'd need to use it, was it not a luxury? By the time October rolled round, she was exceedingly pleased the house had central heating!

I don't mind the heat. I'm perfectly happy at the moment. It rarely gets warm enough for me to take my cardigan off, even this week it's been a light weight cardi. I don't own any shorts or sandals, it's never warm enough to not be in jeans. Yes, I was clearly born at entirely the wrong latitude. Shame I married someone who melts at the least opportunity - he's not been enjoying this week.

>144 SandDune: I'm a fan of Connie Willis, but didn't care for the St. Mary's series.

Even though you didn't enjoy the St. Mary's series (I thought it was great fun), I'm still sorry that you are melting in those awful temps. Anything past 28C and I turn into a puddle. To have to work in it on top of everything else: gack. I hope you have fans, at least.

Hi Rhian - Sorry the Taylor didn't work for you -- I enjoyed the silliness. But I do know that I would have to be in the right mood to read them. Still, it's a good thing that we don't all like the same books. What would we talk about?

What would we talk about?

The weather? :)

Rhian, your Bermuda experience is very much what we go through here in winter, a daily range of around 7C - 17C, with exceptions in either direction. We think in terms of combatting heat, not cold, so we tend to struggle through winter huddled over heaters, rather than resorting to central heating. (This tends to be true even in inland territories where it does drop below freezing.)

Oh my. No way that I can catch up, but I am belatedly applauding J for his good work and its recognition. How nice to get to be the proud mom!
I'm delighted that Stegner works for you and sorry that J. Taylor and St. Mary's doesn't. I enjoy them both on their own levels.....
We are having a break from our very hot temps. It's rainy, but we need the rain, and I'm very happy not to be fried to a crisp when I cross the street to see my ma. My only regret is not being able to see the conjunction (?) of Jupiter and Venus.

>145 souloftherose: I would vote for air conditioning given a choice, but to be honest it rarely gets warm enough in our office to warrant it. We have more problem with a slightly temperamental heating system in the winter.

>146 Helenliz: When I was growing up our house didn't have central heating. My parents thought central heating was unhealthy and caused colds! I would never, ever want to go back to that!

I can manage the heat quite well when we're on holiday, but it's such a muggy heat here, and houses are designed to absorb heat rather than reflect it.

>147 qebo: >148 tiffin: >149 BLBera: Well, we can't all like the same books can we? Maybe it's because I've got two history obsessed people in the house: the books don't convey to me the sort of history obsession that I see on a daily basis!

>150 lyzard: The annoying thing about my Bermuda experience was I had people phoning up all the time from the London office asking if I was enjoying the beach and had I been swimming yet! I'd left the UK in the middle of a particularly cold winter - our pond had been iced over for a month which I can't remember ever happening before or since. But I was far, far colder in Bermuda!

>151 LizzieD: Today is J's last day in school, and I think he is really looking forward to a rest as he has been working really hard. He came back home yesterday with the marks for his controlled assessments in English and History (which go towards towards his final GCSE mark) and he's got A* in everything he's done so far which is great

39. Athyra Steven Brust ****

Athyra is the sixth in Brust's Dragaera series featuring Vlad Taltos: a wise-cracking assassin in the organised crime hierarchy of the Jhereg. But Athyra, which is set several years after the events of the previous book Phoenix, is very different from any of the previous books in the series. While the earlier books were all narrated by Vlad himself, Athyra is told from the point of view of a peasant boy, Savn, who encounters Vlad as he passes through Savn's village while trying to avoid the Jhereg assassins who are now trying to kill him. Initially, this change in perspective seems a backward step, as the reader loses the wise-cracking comments from Vlad and his familiar Loiosh, and the frequent asides into the more lively parts of Vlad's history. Instead, we get Savn trying to make sense of events that are very much outside his experience. But gradually I realised that this was an effective device to make the reader look at Vlad, and his former life as a paid assassin, in a very different and less favourable light. Savn, still a boy in Dragaeran terms at the age of eighty, lives with his parents and younger sister, in a quiet agricultural area far from the bustle of the city of Adralanka, where violence is an unusual and shocking event. When Reins, a local man, is discovered dead in unusual circumstances, suspicion falls immediately on Vlad, for the simple reasons that he is a stranger and an Easterner. But Vlad has his own reasons for wanting to discover the identity of Reins's killer. And when Vlad is injured, Savn, as an apprentice physiker, has to make a difficult decision ...

Another very entertaining, but thoughtful instalment, in the life of Vlad Taltos. And not just the repetition of more of the same either, quite different from what has gone before.

40. An Awfully Big Adventure Beryl Bainbridge ***1/2

In 1950's Liverpool, Stella's school has decided that there is no point entering her for her School Certificate. As her Uncle Vernon says, she can either go on the stage or work behind the counter at Woolworths. So, he finds her a junior position at the local repertory theatre. Fancying herself in love with one of the leading men, Stella fails to understand the the complexities of the relationships in the adult world in which she finds herself ...

I was a little unsure about this book. It engaged my interest from page one, in particular in the character of Stella, and the mystery of her absent mother. But somehow I found the number of characters brought in at the repertory company confusing, and couldn't seem to get them all straight in my mind. Partially my fault, I think, as I'd assumed it was an easier book than it actually was, so I'd rushed through it a little too fast. But the ending redeemed the book, and I'll be trying some more Beryl Bainbridge, but a little more slowly this time.

A very disturbed night last night. I was woken up around 1am by a massive thunderstorm and torrential rain, and with thunder and lightening every couple of seconds I couldn't get back to sleep. And then was woken again before 7am by Sweep making a strange chirruping noise outside the back door - it wouldn't have woken me but for the fact that the back door is underneath our open bedroom window - so I went down to see what she wanted. She didn't seem to want anything at all, and seemed happy just to sit there playing with a leaf, but on closer inspection the leaf was a baby bird, and the chirruping was her 'come look at me aren't I clever' sound. I think that it was probably washed out of its nest by the heavy rain, as she's not much of a hunter, but she was very pleased with herself, and it was very dead, so there wasn't much I could do about it.

Good morning Rhian, sorry to hear about your rough night. I was awakened by a thunderstorm last week myself, and I always find it difficult to fall asleep again. Sorry you had to deal with the Sweep situation. Our cat will do that with mice that find their way into the house. It's so icky.

>156 SandDune: Lucky you, you had a thunderstorm and rain. Here we still have the unbearable heat and no end in sight. I wish you a lovely weekend.

The baby bird (or other small creature) thing is the downside to having a cat. I love the fur, the purrs, the cuddles, but having to collect small creatures is enough to put me off having another. Especially as when we had a cat as a child it was my job to deal with the birds - mum having a phobia to feathers.
I heard the thunder at about 2, but didn't notice the rain. We clearly had some, there were some damp patches this morning, but it didn't seem to have cleared the air at all.

>157 lauralkeet: >159 Helenliz: Luckily, of the three cats we have had in our married life, none have been keen (or competent) hunters. We have had Sweep two years now, and this is only the second bird she has brought home. And I'm pretty sure that this one was probably killed by being washed out of its nest last night, rather than any very determined hunting on Sweep's part.

>158 Ameise1: It is still warm but definitely fresher here today. Hope you get some relief soon

I'd love a good thunderstorm today actually, a wish I need to keep to myself because of all the cookouts that are taking place today to traditionally celebrate America's Independence day, including one at a friend's house that we're supposed to be at later.

My cats used to bring me presents of dismembered cockroaches and geckos which I certainly did not appreciate but I didn't want to hurt their feelings so I had to thank them and pretend to be pleased.Ugh! I haven't had to deal with poor dead baby bird presents though. *shudders*

We had a bit of a hunter. She'd come home with anything up to an adult blackbird. Not always dead. urgh. We tied a bell on her collar, but she'd rub up against something to move the collar round until the bell was under her chin, then go stalking with her chin tucked in to keep the bell quiet. Sneaky puss.
I will be mildly grateful that they were mostly in one piece and not dismembered. That's pretty ucky!

The Jodi Taylors' make for a good listen, I suspect, which is how I've been enjoying them. Good reader, and the silliness is somehow less apparent . . .

Love the miraculous reappearance of the chocolate story!

Turns out that day lilies smell an awful lot like cat pee (at least to me they do) and I always forget and bring some in, so a couple of weeks ago I had brought some in and put them in a vase near the front entry area. A few hours later I started driving the fam. crazy muttering and running around looking for where the cat might have peed on something. Hands and knees, moving things (finding lost shoes and a lot of dust bunnies).

Then I remembered. Oh yeah... the flowers.

>161 cameling: Well today we've gone from being cold and wet this morning to hot again this afternoon, but I think it's due to be cooler this week. I think I can cope with dismembered birds better than dismembered cockroaches - I've got a definite 'thing' about cockroaches!

>162 Helenliz: My aunt used to have a cat like that. She lived near a patch of waste ground that obviously had lots of mice and voles and her big Tom cat who brought her a little 'present' virtually every morning. And she was so squeamish about them ...

>163 sibylline: We once stayed in a guest house in Scotland where the first thing you saw on going in was a notice saying 'It's not the cats, it's the fig tree'. They had an indoor fig tree, and yes, it did smell exactly like cat's pee. If I was them I'd have got rid of it, but it was a very nice place to stay apart from that.

Daisy has aquired a ear infection. I noticed a couple of days ago that she was holding her ear a little oddly and assumed that she had just slept on it strangely.
But this morning she was shaking her head every minute or so, and holding her ear even more oddly, so we took her to the vets this evening. She was NOT a good girl. Mr SandDune and myself failed to keep her anything like still for the vet to have a good look inside her ear, so the vet took her off for the nurses to have a go and they failed as well. So the vet never got a very good look, but we are working on the assumption that she does have a ear infection and have drops to put in her ear. Daisy was equally suspicious of the drops. Eventually, we managed to get some in by covering J's hand in peanut butter (so it would take her quite a while to lick it all off) while I sneaked up on her from behind. She was very, very dubious of the whole experience.

I don't mind what my cats drag home as long as it is DOA.

Aww poor Daisy. I hope she recovers quickly. Medicating pets is no fun at all!

Ear infections are no fun. Poor Daisy. :(

Oh, I'm sorry that Daisy isn't feeling well! I hope the drops help soon!

Poor old Daisy. Not fun. And poor baby bird - I did laugh at Sweep laying it on a bit thick to claim the victory. My old moggy, Iris, was a fierce huntress with a vole & field mice specialisation. She would lay them on the mat at the side door for my delectation. I quickly learned to throw on my flip flops before venturing out the door. A special dustpan was kept by the door for the express purpose of disposing of them. The cat we have now can't be bothered.

Poor Daisy, I hope she recovers quickly too, Rhian. I had a beautiful malamute for years, and she was the WORST at the vet too.

Question for US LTers. I was talking to a friend last night who was talking about a holiday she has booked in Texas later in the year, with her husband and two sons. One boy is 16, the other around 18. She was mentioning that they've had to book family rooms because it's against the law in Texas for under 21's to have their own hotel room. Is this normal in the States? This seems very, very strange to me!!!

>172 SandDune: Texas is not normal... but: http://traveltips.usatoday.com/minimum-age-requirement-renting-hotel-rooms-61923... . Seems kinda odd if the under-21s are accompanied by parents.

>172 SandDune: - Never heard of such a thing. I know some hotels require that the person making the reservation and checking-in be 21 or older, but I've never heard that someone under that age couldn't have his own room.

>173 qebo: - Some people in Texas are normal ;-)

ETA: If there is some byzantine law about it, it's certainly not enforced. Friends of mine take their kids on trips around Texas all the time, and I know they aren't all staying in the same room!

ETA2: I feel the more important question here is why they are vacationing in Texas?!!? I mean, it's not the worst place but if they are coming all the way to the States, surely there are better options!

>174 katiekrug: Some people in Texas are normal ;-)
Yes, I imagine it can be quite frustrating. :-) (My father grew up in Texas.)

Sure is! (I'm a transplant, so I look at it like an anthropology study...)

I spent a year in Texas for my degree and I'm with >174 katiekrug:: that's a very odd place to go on holiday!

>173 qebo: >174 katiekrug: It just seems so strange. Maybe it was travel agent had got it wrong, but they booked with Trailfinders who specialise in that sort of trip and I would have thought they'd know what they were doing! I certainly wouldn't want to spend two weeks staying in the same room as my 15 year old. It's OK for a couple of nights, but both parents and child would want some privacy.

>174 katiekrug: >177 Helenliz: I don't know - I think they have travelled quite widely, and they may well have been to the States before. I think she said that one if the boys had a burning desire to go there. To be honest, it probably wouldn't be my first point of call either!

>172 SandDune: - Not a US LTer but chiming in anyways. I would suggest your friend discuss this further with their booking agent. I agree with >174 katiekrug:. I think the problem presented is too literal an interpretation of the minimum age requirement. I really think it only applies to "unaccompanied" under 21s, who would in essence be unsupervised hotel guests, because, otherwise, how do school trips happen in Texas? You going to tell me that schools cannot book into a hotel in Texas a school band or other type of class trip? I am pretty sure they do..... and if they don't, I would really like to hear more about that. That is my two cents. :-)

>179 lkernagh: >173 qebo: I wonder if it has something to do with the minibar situation as mentioned in Qebo's article? We don't have that in the UK (or most of Europe for that matter) as alcohol can be bought at 18. Perhaps the school trips are staying in cheaper hotels that don't have minibars? I don't think changing their arrangements is an option for them as everything is booked and paid for.

I've been on holiday to Texas. It was very enjoyable. It involved football and the stockyards and really good BBQ. ;)

>180 SandDune: - Interesting point and like you said, they probably cannot change their plans, but it still seems strange. If the under-aged in a room with a stocked minibar is a concern, then hotel should be willing to empty the mini-bar to accommodate guests or they should invest in mini-bars the mini-bars that have locks on them so that staff can lock the fridge. I have seen those mini-bars in hotel rooms, so maybe the hotel is too cheap to invest in those kinds of mini-fridges? I grew up traveling around the world with my family and we always had two rooms, and not always on the same floor. Most of the hotels had stocked minibars in the rooms and it was never a problem. Mind you, we never traveled much in the US and I believe the world has become a much more controlling and liability adverse place than when I was a kid. I will just file this away as being a strange fact I never knew before last night. ;-)

I am asking about it on FB since I don't have kids. I am pretty confident your friend got bad advice, and I hope she'll revisit it with the travel agent because sharing a room with your two teenage sons can't be much fun at all!

I've looked up what the situation is in the UK now that I've started thinking about it. 18 seems to be standard, with some hotel chains allowing anyone over 16 to book a room. Thomas Cook allows 16 and 17 year olds to book their holidays abroad without an adult being present as long as they have a letter saying that they have their parent's permission.

>174 katiekrug: I feel the more important question here is why they are vacationing in Texas?!!? I mean, it's not the worst place but if they are coming all the way to the States, surely there are better options!

LOL .. that was my first thought.

This rule might be a policy the hotel has put in place because they have had problems with in the past with kids who had their own rooms thrashing the place while their parents slept blissfully in their own. It's not uncommon for some businesses to claim something is a state law just so they don't have to explain their policies. Not many people would go to the trouble of checking if that were true.

Apologies - I completely abandoned this thread as I was out most evening last week, and was sorting out to go on holiday. So can I lure you over to the new thread with promised of pictures of Scotland to follow?