Crazymamie's 75 in 2012 (Page 2)

APRIL Possibilities:

Currently working on:
Cup of Gold - John Steinbeck
Lady Sings the Blues - Billie Holiday
Darkness, Take my Hand - Dennis Lehane (#7/shared) COMPLETED
The Little Sister - Raymond Chandler
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Alan Bradley (#19/shared) COMPLETED
Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh (#20) COMPLETED
Binocular Vision - Edith Pearlman (#19/shared)COMPLETED

April TIOLI Candidates:
The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery (#1/shared) GR
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (#13/shared) GR Reading
The Moon is Down - John Steinbeck (#1/shared) GR - COMPLETED
The Redeemer - Jo Nesbo (#3) Reading
Cradle of Gold - Christopher Heaney (#1)
A is for Alibi - Sue Grafton (#1)
All Shall Be Well - Deborah Crombie (#1/shared) COMPLETED
Cinder - Marissa Marr (#3) COMPLETED
If I Stay - Gayle Forman (#9)
The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie R. King (#12)
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken (#15) COMPLETED
Julie of the Wolves - Jean Craighead George (#15/shared) COMPLETED
The Magicians - Lev Grossman (#16)
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe (#9/shared) GR COMPLETED
Rules - Cynthia Lord (#19) Autism Awareness Month COMPLTED
The Fault in Our Stars - John Green (#3) COMPLETED

Waiting in the Wings:
J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century - Tom Shippey
The Shape of Water - Andrea Camilleri (#2/shared) COMPLETED
Pictures from Italy - Charles Dickens (#2)
House of Stone - Anthony Shadid (#21)
Chess Story - Stefan Zweig (#1) COMPLETED
Blacklands - Belinda Bauer (#9/shared) COMPLETED
The Wrestling Match - Buchi Emecheta COMPLETED

*I am not expecting to read all of these; they are merely possibilities. I usually have 4-5 books going at the same time and tend to read whatever I happen to be in the mood for.

January
1. The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes (4)
2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor (4)
3. 11/22/63 - Stephen King (5)
4. A Drink Before the War - Dennis Lehane (4)
5. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (4)
6. Cannery Row - John Steinbeck (4.5)

February
7. The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien (5)
8. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway (audiobook) (4)
9. The Woman in Black - Susan Hill (4.5)
10. City of Bones - Michael Connelly (4)
11. Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo (4.5)
12. Mockingbird - Kathryn Erskine (5)
13. The Wayward Bus - John Steinbeck (4)
14. Pronto - Elmore Leonard
15. The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey (4)
16. Riding the Rap - Elmore Leonard (3.5)
17. The Two Towers - J. R. R. Tolkien (5)
18. Once There was a War - John Steinbeck (4.5)
19. The Coroner's Lunch - Colin Cotterill (4)
20. Below Stairs - Margaret Powell (3.5)
21. 84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff (5)

March
22. Blood Red Road - Moira Young (4)
23. The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde (3.5)
24. Thirty-Three Teeth - Colin Cotterill (4)
25. King Soloman's Mines - Henry Rider Haggard (4)
26. Still Life - Louise Penny (4)
27. By the Iowa Sea - Joe Blair (4)
28. A Share in Death - Deborah Crombie (3.5)
29. A Severed Head - Iris Murdoch (4)
30. The Return of the King - J. R. R. Tolkien (5)
31. The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck (4)
32. Don't Look Back - Karin Fossum (3.5)
33. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith (4.25)
34. Disco for the Departed - Colin Cotterill (3.5)

April
35. The Moon is Down - John Steinbeck (4)
36. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Alan Bradley (audiobook) (4)
37. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe (4.5)
38. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken (4)
39. Blacklands - Belinda Bauer (4)
40. Chess Story - Stefan Zweig (4.5)
41. Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh (4.25)
42. Julie of the Wolves - Jean Craighead George (3.5)
43. All Shall Be Well - Deborah Crombie (4)
44. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green (4.5)
45. Rules - Cynthia Lord (4)
46. Darkness, Take My Hand - Dennis Lehane (4)
47. The Shape of Water - Andrea Camilleri (4)
48. Cinder - Melissa Meyer (4)
49. Binocular Vision - Edith Pearlman (4.5)
50. The Wrestling Match - Buchi Emecheta (2.5)

Book # 37: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (4.5)

This book is beautifully written with sparse prose that uses simple words to convey complex, layered connotations. It reads like an allegory or a parable, and yet, it is more than that. Achebe uses language in a way which reminds me of what Hemingway achieved: tell the story, don't explain it, don't use big words when small ones will do, don't say more than you need to. The result, in Achebe's hands, is almost lyrical:

"Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand....Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic....It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. Even as a little boy he had resented his father's failure and weakness....And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion- to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and the other was idleness."

Thus, before the end of chapter two, the reader understands what drives the main character Okonkwo and also what his fatal flaw is- he refuses to be a failure as his father before him, but in rejecting the bad traits, he also rejects those traits that were good. This story follows Okonkwo from his remembrance of his childhood to the end of his years and shows the demise of an African tribe as outside forces forever change a way of life.

"The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart."

The story is an old one, a familiar one. And yet, its message resonates with every generation:

"A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so....I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice."

And who are the adorable ones in the opening photo???

Book #38: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

I loved this book and wish that I had known about it when my own children were younger, as it would have made an excellent read aloud story. Published in 1962, the plot is tried and true: young children who are loved and wanted are left in the care of unreliable adults with sinister plans. The children must save themselves and foil the evil adults. And yet the writing of Joan Aiken makes this tale anything but old and tired. A delight from the first page to the last, I highly recommend this small treasure.

I loved Joan Aiken's books when I was a child. I am hoping to sneak in a re-read of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase this month.

Dejah - Those are my daughters, but now they are 20, 16, and 13!! I blinked and they morphed into young ladies.

Katie - I hope you get to it!

Mamie- Congrats on Thread 2! Yahoo! Love the photos of your girls. What sweeties!
I've had Things Fall Apart in the stacks for a few years, since my daughter read it in H.S. I NEED to get to that one. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase sounds great too.

What a lovely trio! And thread #2!

Things Fall Apart was a tough read. Glad you followed it with something fun.

Your girls are lovely - thanks for sharing the photo!

Such absorption in reading! Love the photo of your girls.
They do grow up when you are not looking - and then -
they have little ones of their own :) Oy!

Things Fall Apart sounds good - nice review. Will be looking out for this one.

Visitors! Hi Mark and Lucy! I have had that photo on my refrigerator for twelve years, and I never get tired of looking at it. And I am very excited about thread #2 - whoda thunk it?!

Oh, I'm not surprised at all by thread #2. :)

Mamie - congrats on thread #2 - as Jim says - no surprise at all!

What darling girls!!! Thanks for sharing their lovely pictures! One day I hope to figure out how to put pictures on my thread! :)

I'm not at all surprised by your second thread! Bravo Mamie!

My sons are now 27 and nearly 22! I blinked too, and there we are. I am so proud - our youngest is graduating from university this month with a BSc in Computer Science and already has a great job waiting for him. It's fun when they get older too!

Jim and Paul- Thanks so much!

Deb - Thank you. Posting a picture to your thread is not as hard as I thought it would be. The easiest way, I think, is to upload whatever picture you want to your Junk Drawer in your Member Gallery on your profile page. Then simply post a link to that photo. I just put the photo in, copied the photo address, then plugged it into the formula for posting an image, so that I could control the size of the photo - just like posting the image of a book cover.

Now - can anyone tell me how to post multiple book covers so that they appear right next to each other? (Like Ilana did in the Steinbeck threads or Linda/Whisper1 did on her profile page).

Mamie- Just put the image info right next to the first one: "1st image info"> next image info

Ok, Thanks Mark!

I do NOT know how I missed you, Dejah and Cee. So sorry! I just now noticed that you had posted last night. Thanks for the compliments on my girls. I will have to post one of my son when he was little to give him equal time - he was almost always dressed as Superman or had some Superman paraphernalia about him. He still has a soft spot for the superhero, but I can't get him to wear the jammies anymore! LOL! Now he is six feet tall and has a very deep voice that still surprises me when he answers the phone.

Good review of Things Fall Apart. Like the quotes. It's an unique novel in many ways. One that has stayed with me and I have to reread it some day.

Thank you, Carsten, and welcome to my thread. I didn't realize when I read it that it was part of a trilogy. Have you read the other two books?

No. I didn't know it was part of a trio. Interesting. Have to check it out.

By all means, Mamie, you must post a photo of your superhero son!

Book #39: Blacklands by Belinda Bauer

This book will not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. It's creepy, really creepy, but in a good way. First off, let me say that normally if you told me about a book that involved a serial killer who is a pedophile, that would be enough for me to say, "I'm out." I do not like to read stories where children are victims - it keeps me up at night; it gets under my skin and makes me sad and angry and leaves me feeling desolate and disturbed.

This book is different because it is a psychological thriller. The serial killer has already been arrested and sentenced to life in prison, his victims have been dead for almost twenty years, and there is no gore, no vivid descriptions of the crimes - just an intriguing premise. One of those victims was Billy Peters, and if he had lived he would have been the uncle of our protagonist, twelve year old Steven Lamb. Steven's mom was Billy's older sister, and all these years later the family is still reeling from Billy's loss because his body was never found. Steven's life is far from perfect: he, his little brother, and his mom live with their grandma in the same house that Billy used to live in. His bedroom is still undisturbed, frozen in time. Steven's Nan still waits at the window and watches for a child that will never return. His mom is a struggling single mother who favors the younger brother and lives with the memory that her younger brother was the favored child too. For years Steven has been thinking that if he could just locate Billy's grave, then things could finally move forward and Nan could let Billy rest and stop being haunted by possibility.

Steven started by obtaining a map and systematically digging holes across the moor, but now it has been three years and he is seeing the futility of his approach. Maybe there is a better way. That's when Steven decides to write to Arnold Avery, the jailed murderer, and ask where Billy's body is buried. He is good at writing letters - even his teacher said so. And a bored serial killer sees this new opportunity to correspond as a mental sport, a sort of chess game that will relieve his boredom while giving him a chance to relive his crimes. And then Avery discovers that Steven is no mere opponent - he is a child opponent.

This book is well written with a fully developed plot, three dimensional characters, and excellent pacing. Like a good Alfred Hitchcock movie, it will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end. At only 221 pages, it's a fast and thrilling ride that does not disappoint. What's really amazing is that it was the author's first novel.

"Avery did not place any great faith in his own plans. He understood that disappointment was proportionate to the gulf between expectation and realization. He didn't like to hope - didn't even like the word, which implied some sort of helpless kowtowing to the vagaries of fate. He preferred to call what he had "options" and, as his desire to escape grew into a burning need, he took pains to leave no option unexplored."

*Thanks to Katie (katiekrug) for this book recommendation!

What a lovely photo! What lovely children..now young women!

Congratulations on reading 39 books thus far!

Thanks, Linda - and congrats to you, too. Didn't I see you post a review for your 39th book today - that one about the authors? That looked interesting, by the way.

Yes, you and I both have read 39 books to date.

I wish I had more time to read, this semester has been difficult and I feel like I'm running in place

When does the semester end?

not soon enough....

Actually, there are only three more issues of the student newspaper. Mid May things should start to be less stressful. I'm heading to New Orleans, LA with students at the end of May - beginning of June. Then, after that workshop, I can rest.

Thanks for asking.

I enjoy what I do, but as I get older, I have less energy. The population I serve -- 19-22 year olds stays the same while I get older.

I hear you! So you're in the homestretch, but you still have a few hurdles - sending positive thoughts your way.

Nice review, Mamie, but I have to say that Blacklands sounds a little dark for me....

Yeah - definitely not for everyone. I love creepy, but normally I steer clear of child victims because it haunts me. It was well done so I stayed with it, but it is dark.

Bring on Superman! ;-)

Mamie, you and anyone else who would like to join us for the group read of The Detour is more than welcome to join us!! We won't be starting til the 15th of April - here is the link http://www.librarything.com/topic/135690

We'd love to have you !

I don't think I'll be able to read that one......

Great review, Mamie! I'm glad you enjoyed it (not the right word but you know what I mean.....). i didn't realize it was her first novel - all the more impressive.

Book #40: Chess Story by Stefan Zweig

"But is it not already an insult to call chess anything so narrow as a game? Is it not also a science, an art, hovering between these categories like Mohammad's coffin between heaven and earth, a unique yoking of opposites, ancient and yet eternally new, mechanically constituted and yet an activity of imagination alone, limited to a fixed geometric area but unlimited in its permutations, constantly evolving and yet sterile, a cogitation producing nothing, a mathematics calculating nothing, an art without an artwork, an architecture without substance and yet demonstrably more durable in its essence and actual form than all books and works, the only game that belongs to all peoples and all eras, while no one knows what god put it on earth to deaden boredom, sharpen the mind, and fortify the spirit?"

A world champion chess player is among the passengers on a ship traveling from New York to Buenos Aires. One of the passengers hopes to learn more about this enigmatic champion but soon discovers that the only way to observe him up close is to challenge him to a game of chess - for a price of $250 per game. Another passenger is willing to pay the fee and thus the champion, Czentovic, agrees to play against the rest of the passengers - they will be allowed ten minutes to confer for each move. After losing the first game, the passenger team is interrupted during a move in the second game by a mysterious man who appears to be just what they need - a chess master.

Between the second and third games, the narrator of the story learns the backstory of the mysterious man who knows so much about chess. It turns out that he was once a prisoner of the Third Reich. How does he know so much about chess and why is he so hesitant to face the champion alone for the third game?

At a mere 84 pages, this book is small, but its story is not. The writing is beautiful and will draw you in from the very first pages and keep you entranced until the last. I had not read anything by this author before, but I will be reading him again.

Hey Mamie -

Chess Story sounds good, but no luck at my library. Is it an e-book? I'm thinking from the length it might be....

Dejah - I read it on my Kindle, but it is also available as a physical book. It was originally published in 1942. Our library does not have it either, but that's not saying much as our library is very small and often doesn't have the books I want to borrow.

Mamie, I really liked Blacklands too. I listened to it on audio, and loved the pacing and suspense!

A couple of great reviews Mamie - I too noticed the Bauer from Katie's thread and will get to it soon. Ilana also has read a few Zweigs recently and enjoyed them. Must get some.

Mamie- Wow, you are hitting on some nice titles. Chess Story was my first Zweig and I also loved it. I really would like to read more of his work.
Post your review and I'll give you a Thumb!

Thanks everyone for visiting and for the kind comments. I have been having such a great reading year so far and cannot believe that I have only one abandoned book (so far, this could change by tomorrow as I am thinking about setting Lady Sings the Blues aside - more on that later). I also have rated everything I've read above a three - this is not so surprising as I do try to choose carefully. The thing I am most excited about is all of the new authors that I have been exposed to - thanks everyone!!

Yesterday was like a Book Buffet for me. First, my order from the bookcloseout link that Linda (Whisper1) posted on my first thread came - only one week. Yeah USPS! Our mailman does not do friendly though, so he sat in the driveway and honked until we came out to get the box - he really hates it when you get something that doesn't fit in the mailbox. Then the library called to say that they had a book in for me, and by the time I got there, they had two books waiting for me as the second one had just been returned! I got The Fault in Our Stars and Soulless. Finally, later in the afternoon Amazon delivered River of Doubt. A perfect day.

Last night I finished Sea of Poppies, which was very good, and I will post my thoughts on that later today. Can't believe it's Friday already - where did the week go?! Oh, I just realized that it's Friday the 13th!! That's a lucky day at our house as our oldest daughter was born on a Friday the 13th (but in March). My room at the hospital - 3113!

Book # 41: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

"How had it happened that when choosing the men and women who were to be torn from this subjugated plain, the hand of destiny had strayed so far inland, away from the busy coastlines, to alight on the people who were, of all, the most stubbornly rooted in the silt of the Ganga, in a soil that had to be sown with suffering to yield its crop of story and song? It was as if fate had thrust its fist through the living flesh of the land in order to tear away a piece of its stricken heart."

This book is the beginning of what promises to be a sweeping saga. It follows multiple storylines, introduces a host of characters whose lives will eventually intertwine, and is set against the beautiful backdrop of colonial India. On top of all that, it is beautifully written. Divided into the three parts, the first part of the book concerns itself with setting up the backstories of the main characters. This was the slowest part for me because there is a lot to learn and a lot to remember in order to set the stage for the rest of the book. The second part of the book advances the storylines in preparation for bringing the main characters together in the third and final part of the book - the sea voyage aboard the Ibis:

"It was not that she was especially sleek or rakish in appearance: neither lean, nor flush-decked like the clippers for which Baltimore was famous. She had a short quarter-deck, a risen fo'c's'le, with a fo'c's'le-deck between the bows, and a deckhouse amidships, that served as a galley and cabin for the bos'ns and stewards. With her cluttered main deck and her broad beam, the Ibis was sometimes taken for a schooner-rigged barque by old sailors: whether there was any truth truth to this Zachary did not know, but he never thought of her as anything other than the topsail schooner that she was when he first signed on to her crew. To his eye there was something unusually graceful about the Ibis's yacht-like rigging, with her sails aligned along her length rather than across the line of her hull. He could see why, with her main- and headsails standing fair, she might put someone in mind of a white-winged bird in flight: other tall-masted ships, with their stacked loads of square canvas, seemed almost ungainly in comparison."

This book is well worth the time that it takes to assemble and discern the stories of its main characters. The third part of the book is much too short; the sea voyage was an old fashioned adventure filled with intrigue that passed much too quickly - I wanted more. I only had two gripes with this book, both of which are small and inconsequential in comparison to what the book has to offer its readers. The first is that this book contains a glossary which is more frustrating than illuminating. My advice is simply to ignore the glossary. There are passages in this book where you will feel like you are reading some obscure language that makes no sense, but if you keep reading, you will find that somehow, magically, you can discern the context of the words if not the individual meanings. This is more than sufficient to enjoy the book, as these passages do not make up the majority of the book. My second gripe is that this book cannot stand on its own. I know that it is part of an intended trilogy, and that it is an epic which means that this book is merely the first leg of the journey. However, that being said, I would have liked the ending to have less abruptness. The story felt SO unfinished, as if it had ended mid-sentence. I prefer a book that you feel could stand on its own even if it is part of a series. The beautiful writing and the well developed plot and characters more than make up for this, so by all means, do not hesitate to dive into this story, after all, the second book is already available, and so you can begin immediately, if you choose, on the second leg of the journey.

**Baboo Nob Kissin is one of the more colorful characters in the book, and one of my personal favorites. Here is a quote that tickled me, and that I intend to work into my daily dialogue with the host of teenagers that occupy our house (i.e. my children):

"... and on this point no concession can be made. Unreasonable demands must be strenuously opposed."

>41 Crazymamie: Chess Story will have to wait until I break down and buy a Kindle, I think. Thanks for pointing me toward a new author, though!

Ohhh...Soulless and River of Doubt arriving in one afternoon - you are in for some great reading, Mamie!

Fancy new thread you have here :)
Great pic of your girls!

Dejah - that's a bummer about Chess Story. Good to know about Soulless and River of Doubt!

Chelle - Thanks! How goes the wedding planning?

I've been wanting to read Sea of Poppies, it'll be interesting to see your review.

#46 Yeah... I loved that quote too! Waiting for your review...

Chess Story sounds really interesting, Mamie! My niece, just 10 or 11 year old , won the Provincial Chess competition for her Province, Ontario. I 've never been very good at chess, but it's interesting to me at least, that my niece is!

I look forward to your review of Sea of Poppies.

Thanks for visiting Rachel, Cee, and Deb! I finally finished my review for Sea of Poppies up in post 46.

Deb - I'm impressed with your niece - what an accomplishment!

Book #42 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

This book has been sitting on our shelves for quite some time. I bought when my children were younger, thinking one of them would pick it up and read it, but no one ever did. My son loved other books by this author, especially the My Side of the Mountain trilogy, but for some reason this one didn't call to him. Perhaps because the main character is a girl? Anyway, when I saw it listed by someone else in the TIOLI challenges, I remembered it sitting there abandoned all these years and took pity on it. It is a simple story about survival in the Alaskan wilderness. Julie, a young thirteen year old Eskimo girl (the book's description, what tribe she might have belonged to is not listed) has lost her way and finds only a wolf pack for company and comfort. She must learn their ways in order to be accepted by the pack leader and gain a chance for survival. This story is sweet and poignant. If things seem a little too easy for Julie and the timeline a little too short, then one must remember that this book belongs to the classification of children's literature. I loved Julie's internal monologue where she wrestled with the fact that traditional cultural beliefs and customs of her people were getting lost and abandoned as civilization encroached on a way of life.

Hi Mamie! Well, I am baffled! When I click on the link I put on Cee's thread and also on my thread - I go right to The Detour on amazon com - which I've always thought was US only and also for Kindle books in both the US and Canada. When I purchase a physical book from amazon, I have to go to Amazon ca - for Canada. When I want to purchase a book I have to go to the Kindle store that is amazon com , so I assume that is US only.

But if when you click on the link you are getting unavailable - maybe amazon kindle store can distinguish between a computer in the US and Canada? I don't know. I only know that when I click on it, it says available in under 1 minute for $9.99 - and I'm pretty sure that is in US dollars . So I am baffled about the your results of clicking on the link. But I certainly suppose that is possible - that a kindle book could be available for Canada and not for the US? I don't know... sorry about that. What a puzzle!

Deb - maybe it has to do with the contract between the publisher and the individual country that the business is based in, so maybe Amazon has a deal with the publisher to distribute in Canada but not in the U.S. yet. I have had to order books from Canada or the UK before because the English translation was not available in the US yet - for example The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo. It must be tied up in the contract somehow because obviously if it is available as an ebook in Canada, then the technology is not the problem. I am not giving up yet, though, I love a good challenge!

Meh, the wedding planning is going slow. A lot of the places we are looking at are not even open for the season yet. Hopefully we can go check some places out in the next couple weeks.

Good review of Julie of the wolves!

Thanks for trying so hard, Mamie, I appreciate that very much. I suspect that you are correct about amazon making a deal with the publisher. Often we get UK books in Canada perhaps earlier than you do, because Canada is part of the Commonwealth. That 's only thing I can think of. I know when I ordered my kindle , I had to order it to the US, but register it as a Canadian Kindle. Afterwards, I found out that I could have purchased my kindle in an electronics store in Canada. Who knows how it all works!

Thanks for trying!

Thanks, Chelle. I didn't even think about things being seasonal. I have been married for 21 years, and honestly, if I had to do it all over again, I'd elope! But that's just me - it really stressed me out trying to make the day special for the husband and I and trying to accommodate everyone else. And I hate to be the center of attention - um, not my forte. If I were doing it again just for me, I would elope and enjoy a nice vacation, and then come home and host a big dinner for family and friends. The end result is the same I guess - you get to share a journey of a lifetime with the partner of your choice, and nothing can beat that. I would still choose the same guy again all over, so I guess that's really what matters. Good luck with your planning - I will be sending positive thoughts your way.

*of course, if I had eloped...I wouldn't have this!!

The Detour is not available in US on the Barnes and Noble Nook, either, or I might have joined in on the group read. Sometimes the UK just doesn't like sharing with the US. ;)

Strange, isn't it?

Deb - Just realized that you snuck in there on me. I think you are probably right on the money about Canada being part of the Commonwealth - that makes perfect sense! My husband has located a copy for me, but it is a physical book so I shall have to wait for it to ship. Thanks so much for all your help, support and encouragement. I will drop a post on your thread, too, to thank everyone for their support and suggestions. What an amazing group of people on LT!!!

You are amazing in your determination, Mamie! We will all be delighted to have you! I hope the book lives up our / your hopes! :)

Thanks so much!

BTW Mamie, what a sweet picture of you as bride! You look lovely! I have a picture of me as bride on my homepage in my photographs. It's much smaller. I nearlly eloped myself, just because all the pressure - but then we pulled the wedding together in 3 short weeks! It's amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it! :)

Morning Mamie- Great review of Sea of Poppies. You nailed it perfectly. Looking forward to River of smoke. Enjoy your day.

What lovely photos- and some pretty fab reviews too ;) I'm very pleased you were able to locate a copy of The Detour and am looking forward to your thoughts!

I bought a copy of Blacklands in a charity shop but then decided it wasn't for me because of the child victim thing you mention at the beginning of your review. I gave it away but after reading the rest of the review think I probably would enjoy it after all! Maybe I'll pick up another copy next time I see one in a charity shop.

I really must find my copy of The Wolves of Willoughy Chase.

Deb - Thanks for the compliments. That wedding picture makes me laugh because of the two nieces expressions. The one who looks like she just won the lottery and a trip to Disney World (and is missing two teeth - LOVE that) is a niece from my side of the family. The niece that looks like she could not be more bored (and photos do take a long time) is from my husband's side of the family. Both will be thirty this year - my how time flies!

Mark - Thanks. I'm looking forward to River of Smoke also. Of course, first I have to finish David Copperfield!

Dee - Thanks - I was very excited that my husband ordered the book from the UK for me. Blacklands is not for everyone, but it is really well done in that the focus is on the suspense and it does not go into grisly details. I read a library copy. Wolves of Willoughby Chase was delightful, and I think I must read the next one in the series.

Okay, so I stole this survey from Karen's (aka maggie1944) thread. I had fun reading her answers so thought I would give it a whirl.

"A Book Survey I Found on the Internet"

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?

Trade paperback or ebook. For a physical book I like the weight and dimensions of a trade paperback. I like the pricing and convenience of an ebook.

Amazon or brick and mortar?

Both. I buy more books from Amazon because we buy A LOT of books and Amazon usually has the lowest price, plus the two day shipping if you have Prime. I love to browse and enjoy the atmosphere of a brick and mortar bookstore, and so will support it by purchasing books there when I visit.

Barnes & Noble or Borders?

I love independent bookstores, but also enjoy Barnes and Noble. Borders is out of business here.

Bookmark or dogear?

Bookmarks.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?

Alphabetize by author for fiction. Nonfiction is grouped according to subject.

Keep, throw away, or sell?

Keep. I do go through all my books every few years and we weed out the ones that no one wants to keep or read again and then donate them to the local library or, if they are YA, to local classrooms. If I read a book I am not thrilled with, it goes immediately to the library.

Keep dust jacket or toss it?

Keep.

Read with dust jacket or remove it?

Read with dust jacket unless I really don't like the feel of the dust jacket. My daughters always remove the dust jackets.

Short story or novel?

Novel. But I am also reading more short stories this year. Novels will always be my favorite.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?

Collection.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?

Harry Potter.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?

I always try to make it to a chapter break or a natural stopping point.

"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?

"It was a dark and stormy night" - I LOVE creepy!

Buy or Borrow?

Buy. I like to borrow from the library if I am not sure whether I will like it or not. But right now our library is very small and has a very limited selection and quantity. I am not good at waiting.

New or used?

New.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?

All of the above.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger?

Tidy. (And I really hate epilogues - just mentioning)

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?

Whenever the opportunity presents itself, and always before bed.

Stand-alone or series?

Series - but what I really love is a series where each book could stand on its own.

Favorite series?

Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter

Favorite children's book?

From when I was a child? Mary Poppins

Favorite book of which "nobody" else has heard?

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

Favorite books read last year?

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
The Lotus Eaters - Tatjana Soli
The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler
Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
Before I Go to Sleep - S. J. Watson
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway
True Grit - Charles Portis
Divergent - Veronica Roth This is YA

Favorite books of all time?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
The Maltese Falcon by Dashielle Hammett
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Vergrghese
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Least favorite book you finished last year?

Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright

What are you reading right now?

Binocular Vision - Edith Pearlman
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
All Shall be Well - Deborah Crombie
Darkness Take my Hand - Dennis Lehane
The Little Sister - Raymond Chandler

What are you reading next?

Whatever I feel in the mood for - probably The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri

I am lurking my way through. I enjoyed catching up with your reading!

Mamie -- I love the wedding photo! Your attendants are priceless. You should make the photo available for their 30th birthday parties....

Interesting survey - I feel I learned a lot about your reading. I may give it a shot when I've got more time.

Enjoy the day!

Karen - Thanks for stopping by.

Dejah - That is my favorite wedding photo - priceless. You're right, I should make it available for their 30th birthdays - too fun! That survey probably is revealing. It would be interesting to fill it out again next year after I am living in Georgia because I think I will have access to a much better library system and a shot at a used book store - Yorktown does not have one. Yorktown does not have a regular bookstore either, just to be fair. Muncie has a Books a Million in it's mall, but to get any other bookstore, we have to make a road trip to Indianapolis. I actually don't mind used books as long as they don't smell smoky - we have allergies here, so sometimes books that smell smoky or have been in a house full of cats do not mix well with my son's and my allergies. Also, I have been reading so many new authors and branching out a lot in my reading, so it will be interesting what my favorites are from this year.

I've been off at a concertina workshop all weekend -- trying to play catch-up! I love the wedding photo of you with your nieces!

Thanks for stopping by, Lucy. Hope you had fun at your workshop!

Book #43: All Shall Be Well by Deborah Crombie

This is the second book in Crombie's mystery series featuring Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James of Scotland Yard. This time around the two are investigating the death of Kincaid's neighbor. At first glance, her death appears to be suicide, but upon closer inspection, the pieces of the puzzle don't quite fit together.

I thought that the plot and pacing were excellent and I loved the character development of the two lead protagonists. The mystery here is not the prize, although it is more than adequate. What drives the story are the deftly drawn characters and Crombie's attention to detail in telling a story. 4 stars

I have the first two of this series in one volume and am looking forward to getting to it. I keep hearing good things about these books.

#59 GREAT wedding picture, Mamie!
The girls were funny and you were lovely :)
The three of you should get together for a 2012 comparison picture!

Interesting survey...

Dee - I like how she writes. I enjoyed the second one even more than the first, and am looking forward to seeing where she takes these characters and what she reveals about their backstories in the next one.

Cee - Thanks, you are always so sweet.

I've also read the first two in Crombie's series and look forward to continuing with them.

Hi, Katie!

So the Pulitzer Prize winners were announced today and the winner for Fiction was....um, no one. Apparently this the 11th time that this has happened in the awards history in the fiction category, with the last time being in 1977. Wow. That's kind of sad. There were three finalists, but none of them received enough votes to be awarded the prize.

The three finalists were Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell and The Pale King by David Foster Wallace.

How weird is that?

I've only read Swamplandia (which does not deserve a Pulitzer, although I enjoyed it and it had some very strong moments) . I own The Pale King as of a couple of days ago....... and I'm not a Denis Johnson fan although I am sure I ought to be. They should have given it to Wallace on general principle. Not that he would have given a ......

I agree. I read part of Swamplandia, but ended up abandoning it. The writing was lovely, but I just couldn't get into the storyline. I was really surprised that those were the finalists.

Okay, so early on Sunday I am upstairs enjoying a lazy morning in bed with The New York Times and a cup of coffee, and my daughter comes running up the stairs to tell me that there are two men in our dumpster. (We had a big dumpster up next to our garage because we are cleaning everything out before we put the house on the market.) IN the dumpster, i repeat for clarification? Yup. I go down and look out the window and sure enough, they're in there - and they have a truck with a trailer pulled up and are loading things onto it. As Flavia would say, "WHAT BLOODY CHEEK!!" Out I go to investigate. Apparently they are "dumpster diving" - now, I should mention that my husband is the King of Recycling, the Sovereign of Salvaging, the Dictator of Detritus...you get the idea. There is nothing valuable in the dumpster and nothing that could be easily recycled, and yet, there they are. Already on the trailer are an old dirty mop head, a partial screen from a window, a melted trash can lid made of plastic that cannot be recycled in Indiana, old roller skates with no wheels, and an eclectic mix of other bigger ticket items that did not come from our dumpster, which means, you guessed it, this was not their first stop. Apparently most people are in church on Sunday mornings and therefore their diving is uninterrupted. This is their explanation. And I can't even be really mad because I feel like I caught Lenny and Squiggy (from Laverne and Shirley - remember that show?) in the middle of a "get rich quick" scheme. "We was just diving in your dumpster, ma'am, and we didn't think you'd mind because we thought you'd be in church."

82: Your last lines made me laugh but it's not what you want on a Sunday morning and sad that people are so desperate!

Very behind again, but a great review of Things Fall Apart Mamie. I've been meaning to read the other books in Achebe's African trilogy for some time now. I've had Chess Story on my wishlist for ages and I'm really hoping that this year is the year I get round to it. And the same for Sea of Poppies.

#59 Awww - love the photo :-)

#82 ?! I had to do lots of googling because of the wonderful US/UK language divide but apparently that happens in the UK and is called 'skipping' over here (because we call dumpsters skips - I don't know why we call them skips, dumpsters is certainly more descriptive). The wikipedia article on the subject made for some interesting reading (did you know Italy introduced a law to specify that dumpster diving was legal?)

Hi Mamie! I really enjoyed your book survey above! So interesting! Oh the dumpster diving!!! In downtown Vancouver that is not uncommon at all. Sad to say, I see people in our neighbourhood looking through public garbage cans and recycling boxes for bottles and treasures.
Hmm 84 - Skips? That's interesting!

Hi Mamie, I've enjoyed catching up on your thread. Glad that you enjoyed both Blacklands and Sea of Poppies. Blacklands was one of my top books of 2011, and so far, Sea of Poppies is my favoritie book of this year.

Loved seeing the picture of you as a bride, and your story about your 'dumpster diving' pals made me giggle!

Dee - That's just exactly it, isn't it? The economy is struggling to revive itself here, but there just aren't a lot of jobs available in communities where large factories used to employ a significant portion of the population. The factories close, and then there is not another source that can provide that many jobs.

Heather - I just picked up the next book in Achebe's trilogy, No Longer at Ease, and hope to get to it next month. I really enjoyed both Sea of Poppies and Chess Story and will read those authors again. There is a group read for the follow up to SOP, River of Smoke, in mid June, so that spurred me to get to SOP sooner rather than later as I wanted to participate in the GR if I decided to read the second book. And your wiki search has now also educated me as I had no idea there was a different name for dumpsters in the UK!!

Deb - The thing about the dumpster diving is that it was not a public dumpster - it had been privately contracted by us and was on our private property, so if I knowingly let someone get into our dumpster and then they get hurt, I am liable. So while they are welcome to anything that we are throwing out, I have to tell them to stay outside of the dumpster. They were probably hoping that it was a construction dumpster in which case they would have found lots of reusable or recyclable items.

Judy - So glad to have you back!! Both Blacklands and Sea of Poppies were books that would not have crossed my radar if not for LT. And I loved both of them! You are responsible for SOP because I first saw it on your thread when I read your great review of it. In fact, I need to tag that review with that info because I am trying to keep track of where I heard about each book or what caused me to pick it up. Glad you enjoyed the photo and the story!

We were both astonished and glad that people took EVERYTHING we put out on the sidewalk in Phila when we were cleaning out.

Hi, Lucy! We do put stuff that can be reused at the end of our driveway and it ALWAYS gets picked up by someone. Likewise, on recycling days, it is not unheard of for someone to come before the trucks make their rounds and pick out any aluminum products. But it honestly did not occur to me that anyone would want the stuff in our dumpster because it was such a strange and pitiful collection of trash. I guess it's true about one man's trash being another man's treasure!

Yep, it is indeed.

Morning Mamie- I just went back and read your review of Things Fall Apart. Good job. You gotta Thumb! I really enjoyed the book but if I continue the African Trilogy, I'll read the print books, it'll be easier to follow.
I loved your dumpster story. Very descriptive. I guess we aren't that far removed from Behind the Beautiful Forevers. People thriving on garbage.

Slowly catching up... okay:

Great review for Things Fall Apart whcih I put on my to be re-read list now. I liked it, but reading your review gave me the feeling I didn't read it well enough and missed something. I remember I quite rushed through it, time for a slow re-read.

And a wonderful review for Blacklands. Thanks for the warning - this is a genre I usually avoid as well, but it sounds intriguing, so I ordered the Kindle sample.

Chess Story is a book I read every couple of years. It's quite addictive. I love Zweig's feverish writing style that draws you completely into the story.

Sea of Poppies goes onto the watch list. I prefer to read series once they are complete, but it sounds great.

Now off again to read the rest of the thread.

Surprise Mamie! Just thought I'd reciprocate and check out your thread too. Boy, have I been missing a good one. Your reading this year is very impressive and I can see your reviews are well thought out. Then of course, there are the nice pics thrown in too. So you're starred and I'll be back again. :0)

That's pretty funny about the dumpster divers! Not a good way to wake up on a Sunday morning! That would be a weird feeling to see someone riffling through your garbage, not sure what I would say to them!

Lovely wedding picture! Cee is right, you should do a reunion picture! That would be sweet

Mark - Thanks for the Thumb! I would think the audio of Things Fall Apart would be hard to follow because the names would be confusing without seeing them in print.

Nathalie - Glad to see you! Thanks for the kind words. I loved Blacklands, but I know it is not for everyone. It really was a great read. Chess Story and Things Fall Apart I know that I will reread as I often reread books every few years. It is very unusual for me not to have reread any old favorites yet this year. I know just what you mean about SOP, especially since the ending leaves one hanging and there is a large cast of characters to keep track of. I am glad that the second book is already out. Hopefully, it will not be too long a wait for the third and final book. Thanks for stopping by - hope you are feeling better.

Lynda - Welcome to my thread!! I hope to see you back. I have been having a great reading year so far thanks to all the great recommendations and reviews on LT. What a wealth of literary information we have at our disposal here!

Book #44: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The main character in this book is sixteen years old and living with a cancer that she knows is incurable. There is no hope that she can beat it, but does that mean that there is no hope? Hazel thinks not. Her journey is poignant and heartbreaking and will change the way that you think about the universe and our place in it.

"...the problem is not suffering itself or oblivion itself but the depraved meaninglessness of these things, the absolutely inhuman nihilism of suffering. I thought of my dad telling me that the universe wants to be noticed. But what we want is to be noticed by the universe, to have the universe give a shit what happens to us- not the collective idea of sentient life but each of us, as individuals."

This book is about cancer, but read it anyway.

Book #45: Rules by Cynthia Lord

Catherine is twelve years old, and her younger brother David is eight. David has autism, and so Catherine creates a list of rules for him in order to help him remember what to do in certain situations. Things like: No toys in the fish tank, Say "excuse me" after you burp, and Don't stand in front of the tv when other people are watching it. Some of her rules are more complicated such as: a boy can take off his shirt to swim, but not his shorts. And some of her rules are more like life lessons: Sometimes people laugh when they like you, but sometimes they laugh to hurt you. In addition to her rules for David, Catherine has rules for herself, and these rules are insights into how she feels about her role as David's older sister, after all, a twelve year old can only handle so much when she is often cast into the role of parent. She is optimistic but also pragmatic: Sometimes you've gotta work with what you've got, and Pantless brothers are not my problem.

This book is a delightful and touching glimpse into a household where autism is a part of daily life. Written in first person from Catherine's point of view, the reader is treated to a twelve year old's take on how life works when you find yourself in charge but not in control of someone you love.

"When I open my eyes, David's staring at me, inches from my face. Most people say if you tell a wish it won't come true. But I don't think wishes work like that. I don't believe there's some bad-tempered wish-fairy with a clipboard, checking off whether or not you've told...But it's a long shot I'll get my wish, so even if there is a fairy in charge of telling, it won't matter.

'I wish everyone had the same chances,' I say. 'Because it stinks a big one that they don't. What about you? What did you wish for?'

'Grape soda.'

I can't help smiling."

Book #46: Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane

This is the second installment in Lehane's thriller series featuring private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. This time around the team is asked to protect the son of a psychologist who believes her son's life is in danger. At first it seems that the threats are unfounded; the deeper the team digs though, the darker things get, and soon the team realizes that they have become ensnared in something that is more evil than their worst nightmares. With plenty of plot twists and turns and fully fleshed, complex characters, this mystery is dark and gritty and not for the feint of heart (or the squeamish).

"...and I prayed for shade. and eventually it came. and it had a voice and a name. "Come,' Darkness said, 'come with me.' but I was weak...'Darkness,' I said, 'take My hand. Take Me away from this place.' and Darkness did.""

Your reviews almost make me run out to get both of these books; but, sadly I have a medical appointment I can not miss. Whew, saved by the calendar from well shot book bullets.

Karen, you make me laugh! Too bad about the medical appointment - bummer.

No medical appointment for me, I am just too lazy to go out today, but Rules by Cynthia Lord is being added to my wishlist.

Judy! Thanks for stopping by - glad I could get you with one, as you have gotten me many times already!!

I love that series by Lehane. Your review is spot on.

Mamie - nice to see we have a couple of books in common in our best of list. The Chandler also displays your love of noir as does you solving Mark's test - well done!
btw lovely photo of you (who are the bridesmaids?) on your wedding day.

Terri, thanks so much! Lehane does such a good job of creating characters that you care about and that are three dimensional and complicated. And I love how he writes!

Paul - the lovely little ladies are my oldest nieces. The one missing teeth is my sister's daughter and the other one is my husband's only niece. Both of them will be thirty this year. A lot of people at the wedding thought they were sisters, but they aren't even related!!

I do have a love of noir that grew out of many years spent watching old movies with my Dad.

You will be happy to know that your high regard for the Montalbano series sent it to the top of my TBR- I am half way through The Shape of Water.

Mamie - saw your comment about watching movies with your old man on Mark's thread. I used to love watching the TV with my Gran when I was younger although her constant berating of the villains from the safety of her armchair was a joy to behold.
Hope you enjoy the Inspector - certainly wouldn't call him noir - sort of an aqua-marine with pink pastel edges.

Deliciously raunchy, I would say.

Hi Mamie- My movie-quiz Champ! I'll post another one over the weekend. I have the Shape of Water at the top of my M & M stack. Glad you are enjoying it.

Morning, Mark! Another challenge? WahHOo! The Camilleri is turning out to be a very quick read. I love the raunchy humor and his writing style. Hope your day flies by so you can be done with the escort thing.

Hi Mamie!
I generally don't read crime detective novels... but you make them sound good.
Darkness, Take My Hand is now on my WL. Great teaser review!
I hate to start a series on anything other than book 1. Do you think I need to keep to my principles and find book 1 first? Whatever that is?

Yes. I, too, seldom read crime novels but these always sound so interesting.... Tease!

Cee - Good morning. I would read the first book in the series before reading Darkness because it provides a lot of valuable information on the main characters and even on some of the side ones. The first book is A Drink Before the War. These books are dark and gritty, just warning you, but Lehane writes books that move at a fast pace with lots of plot twists. His characters are deftly drawn and make the books for me.

Morning, Karen! I love Lehane.The first book that I read by him was Shutter Island, which I really loved. One of my favorite reads from last year.

I'm here, Mamie, but curiously blah today. No, not curiously, I had a truly ghastly dental ordeal yesterday aft. and am still reeling.

Oh, Lucy! I'm sorry. I hate to go to the dentist, even when things go well, but a ghastly ordeal sounds dreadful. Hope you are feeling better soon and that you don't have to go back for a long while.

Here you are, amidst some beautiful pics of adorable little girls, a blushing bride and some mighty fine reviews. Here are a few thoughts: I taught Julie of the Wolves and My Side of the Mountain when I taught fifth and sixth grade. The boys loved MSOTM best and the girls loved JOTW best, just as you suggested. Based on your remarks about Sea of Poppies I'm afraid, well, I don't think, oh God never mind, you're probably going to read River of Smoke with Mark's GR so go ahead and do that and I'll see what you think about it. You've really made me want to read Things Fall Apart so onto the teetering tower it goes. I'm also interested in Deborah Crombie and once I get caught up with Julia Spencer-Fleming I think I'll try her series.

I've got you starred now.

Mamie- I read book 1 & 4 in the Kenzie and Gennaro series and I own the last one. I really should read them again, in order. I love Lehane. Mystic river is one of my absolute favorites. Shutter Island not so much. I've had The Given Day mouldering away on a shelf forever. Ridiculous.

Bonnie! What a nice surprise to find that you have visited my thread. Sounds like you think the follow up to SOP might be a miss for me; we shall see because just as you predicted, I will be participating in Mark's GR. I do know that my sea adventures are over if that is what you are worried about - but it sure was fun! I am so pleased that you are adding Things Fall Apart to your tower. I really liked it and am anxious to get to the next in that trilogy, which I hope to do next month. By a serendipitous chain of events, I am now reading The Wrestling Match by Buchi Emecheta who, like Chinua Achebe, is from Nigeria. Her story is set among the Ibo people with the main character being a teenage boy whose parents were killed in the Nigerian Civil War. It is interesting to see the same people reflected through the eyes of a woman writer. I came across the book because my oldest daughters are reading it for an English assignment; it's a small world, huh? I liked the books by Crombie and have been told that they get better as the series goes on. Julia Spencer-Fleming is also on my radar because I kept seeing her series show up in the Mystery March thread. Amazon at that time had the first three books of that series available on Kindle for only $2.99 a piece, so I snapped them up and am hoping to start that series in May. Can't say how pleased I am that you stopped by and starred me!

Mark, I think you would really like Darkness, Take My Hand. It's funny because I originally had picked up Gone Baby Gone in the book store not realizing that it was the fourth book in the series. It is still waiting for me because once I realized it was a series, I decided to read them in order. I really want to read Mystic River, too. What didn't you like about Shutter Island?

Mamie- It's been to many years, to give a specific answer about Shutter Island. It might be as simple as being disappointed after reading his masterful Mystic River. The writing wasn't as tight or as strong. Plus I thought the movie version of SI was awful but I did love Eastwood's "Mystic". Is there a pattern here?

I didn't watch the movie version of Shutter Island because I liked the book so much. I also have not seen the movie of Mystic River although I really like Eastwood. Now you make me want to bump Mystic River up in my TBR, so that's what I am doing!

Mamie- You probably know this but Eastwood directed "Mystic" but did not star in it. The cast is fantastic. Sean Penn has always been one of my favorite actors. But, of course, read the book first. Hey, a PERFECT M & M title!

Right - I think he is even better at directing than he was at acting.

Amen, sister! I posted another movie photo! If you know it right away, hold off (or PM me) and let's see if anyone else can get it.

Mamie - fellow movie buff - have a lovely weekend and thanks for contributing so much recently to my enjoyment of this great group.

Thanks, Paul! You have a good weekend, too.

Hi, Mamie ~ Just wanted to stop by to see what you are up to (why have I not found your thread before this?). I see you are also a fan of Lehane ~ I loved A Drink Before the War and the next two in the series, plus Shutter Island. I had a bit of trouble with Mystic River but don't recall why now so may have to give it another go sometime, maybe on audio. AND ~ yes, I am now officially another Dr. Siri fan! Have a great weekend!

I've never thought of Clint as a great actor -- he has such style it was never really necessary. I mean Rawhide!!!!! I'd love to watch that series again...... I've never looked on netflix for it, perhaps I will! But I agree with you that he has a feel for directing.

Mamie- I've really enjoyed swapping the movie love with you! You know your stuff. What the hell, I posted another picture! We are getting ready to head out to catch a bite & a drink, so I'll be back.

Lucy- I have to agree Eastwood is not a "great" actor, but he knows his limitations, (isn't that from one of his movies?) and he has gave a few terrific performances, particularly Unforgiven and don't laugh, Bridges of Madison County.
BTW- We share A LOT of books! Just saying!

Mary - Thanks for stopping by my thread! Lehane and Cotterill are definitely keeping me happy this year.

Lucy - Don't get me wrong, I love to see Clint act, and I think you are right he brings his own persona into the roles that he plays. I was just surprised that as much as I love to see him onscreen, I think he is even more talented behind the camera. I love the movies he has directed. However, how could we live without Fistful of Dollars, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, and Two Mules for Sister Sarah (just to name a few)? SO thank goodness he acted first because why waste that charm and intensity behind the cameras?

Book #47 The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri

I am told that these books only get better, and if that is true, how could you possibly resist a trip through Inspector Montalbano's world? These police procedurals that are set in Italy are full of deliciously raunchy dialogue, colorful characters, and a subtle humor that makes the whole thing a very fun read. On top of that we get Inspector Salvo Montalbano himself - suave, confident, and intelligent enough to understand that the best way to deal with a corrupt system is to play by his own rules. Honest but determined to do the right thing despite political pressures, Montalbano manipulates the weaknesses in the system to serve his own purposes. When justice is not available, perhaps fairness will do.

Mamie glad you were infected by Camilleri somewhat. The bug should quickly take you through the 13 currently available in english.

Oh I agree absolutely with both of you!!! He is beautiful to watch going almost anything, say, chewing a matchstick. Or just squinting at the horizon..... really almost anything. He is a truly gifted director, as you say Mamie!

Paul - Most definitely infected, I already bought the next one in the series and wanted to start right in but should really be responsible and finish up some of the books that I have already started.

Lucy - I would watch him chew a matchstick, or squint at the sunrise, or read the phone book, or blink because he is just that sexy gifted.

Mark! I am laughing because somehow I missed your earlier post but had to scroll back up to see who Lucy was talking about when she said that she agreed with "both" of us. ANd you are a big tease because now I will have to wait for you to get home before you can fix your post so that I can actually see your photo. I LOVE the movies, especially the old stuff - they just don't make them like that anymore. Well....Ghost Writer, did you see that one? It reminded me of a Hitchcock movie and so of course I fell in love with it.

*edited because I felt like it - actually just to fix a spelling error.

What a pretty bride you were!

Thanks for your posts on my thread. I hope to be able to catch up soon.

Thanks, Linda! Don't worry about catching up - you have your hands full right now. Enjoy the new puppy and some well deserved time off. Hope you are feeling better.

Morning Mamie- I still can't figure out what happened with that image on my thread. It came up fine for me. Strange.
Did you see Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima? It's such a masterful work. I didn't care much for Flags of Our Fathers but the Japanese one was amazing.
And yes, I did see Ghost Writer. It was very good and you're right it does have that Hitchcock flavor. Was that Polanski?

Mark - That is indeed strange about the photo. I have had book covers disappear from time to time, lost entire posts, and the other day I would swear I rated the Camilleri book 4 stars, but then it was showing up as 3 1/2. WEIRD!

I have not seen Letters From Iwo Jima, but I would like to. And you are right - Polanski did direct Ghost Writer.

Hope you are having a great weekend - it's cold here compared to what it has been Strange, strange weather...

The main odd thing that happens to me on LT is that once or twice my book numbers have seemed to change...... not much, just a book or two.... probably I do something that causes the change, but I'm not sure what that would be.

Lucy!! My first visitor all week! Hope you had loads of fun at the Cape.

That happens sometimes Mamie - there is an ebb and flow to this place, for sure! Just when I think, Geez, did I offend someone? I'll get 10 cheerful comments. I tend to post less when I'm on vac. as part of the effort to do things differently!

De-lurking to say "Hi"!

Sorry to be absent so long...
LOL at the ladies here swooning over Clint Eastwood chewing on matchsticks! He was real good at it!
;-)

Well, Lucy, I'm glad you're back and Cee, I'm glad you're feeling better.



Book #48: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

I picked this book up because of the cover - my youngest daughter collects variations of the Cinderella fairy tale and so I snagged it to add to her collection. I was intrigued by the premise though, a science fiction version of Cinderella where Cinderella is a cyborg mechanic? How can you pass that up?! This book is the first in a series that is to be a quartet called The Lunar Chronicles. The story holds up, actually and was a fun and fast paced read with just a few minor plot glitches.

Set in an alternate future after World War IV, Cinder lives in New Beijing with her stepmother and two stepsisters. She works as a mechanic, but the money that she earns goes to her guardian because as a cyborg Cinder is a second class citizen. The Emperor has his hands full in trying to negotiate a peace treaty with the Lunar people who live on the moon and contain a pandemic plague that is ravishing his country. When his son, Prince Kai, shows up in disguise at Cinder's marketplace repair stall with a broken android that he needs repaired as quickly and as quietly as possible, Cinder has no idea that her world is about to spin out of control.

Although the plot twists are transparent, and the story could benefit from a more dynamic heroine, this is a book worthy of your time if you enjoy fractured fairy tales or are just in the mood for a completely different take on Cinderella.

Ha! Sounds great!
Will the rest of the quartet incl other fairy tales?

Yes, I believe so. The other books are supposed to focus on Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White.

cool!

Hi Mamie- I still LOVE your opening photo! The looks on your daughter's faces. Priceless. I've heard others praise (some lightly) about Cinder. I might give it a try on audio.

Hi Mamie, I love reworked fairy stories so Cinder (and the rest of the series) sounds good!

Hi, Mamie! Thanks for the reminder ~ I've been meaning to read Cinder.

Hi Mamie - sorry for neglecting your thread. I keep seeing reviews of Cinder - it sounds really interesting and I love the cover. One for my library list I think.

crazymamie, I love it that your daughter is collecting Cinderella stories! Not that is a unique collection, don't you think?

Mamie - I am about to start my weekend over here finally - hope you have a great one yourself; will be at the cinema on Saturday so I'm off to buy the tickets to make sure I'm not front row and squinting.

Hi Mamie
Glad to see you enjoyed Cinder. I thought it was a decent read and I'll probably read the rest of the set when they come out

Good glory, Mamie – I was 80 posts behind!

>74 Crazymamie: I’m so glad you’re enjoying the Deborah Crombie books – I’m jealous you have so many more to read!

A little late to the discussion, I agree that Clint Eastwood is a good actor within a limited range of roles, but he’s a truly great director. I confess to being a movie buff, too.

>131 Crazymamie: I saw The Shape of Water on Paul's thread and it's on my shopping list for the next time I get to the main branch of the library. It's always good to see another positive review!

Cinder was good - but when I read YA I always end up thinking about what the book would have been like if it had been written for adults. For some authors, I don’t think the book would change much (Sharon Shinn comes to mind). Bur for others, I wonder if the book would how much deeper or more developed it would have been. The YA book market must be pretty hot….

Wow, guys, from famine to feast! Thanks everyone for stopping by! Cinder was a fun read with, as I mentioned, a few minor plot glitches. I definitely think it could have been better, but it was a nice break from some of the heavier darker reads I have done this month. I did love the premise of a sic fi version of an old classic.

Karen - She had Cinderella mania when she was little, and so we started reading every version of the story that we could find just for fun, and before we knew it a collection was born. Now that so many of those old fairy tales are being retold, it is fun to be on the look out for versions aimed at the YA crowd. After we move and she gets her collection unboxed, I will have to take a photo of some of the covers and post it as some of them are really beautiful.

Dejah! I must have been writing your post when I was writing mine because I just now saw your post! I feel like I should play the "Welcome Back, Kotter" theme song for you!

Glad to see that you liked The Coroner's Lunch - I just love that Dr. Siri!! And I am excited to see that you added The Shape of Water to your list. I have been told that just like the Deborah Crombie books, they get even better as they go along. I broke down and bought the book on Kindle because our library does not have any of his books. I am really hoping for a better library system in Georgia.

I hear what you're saying about Cinder because I think it could have been a much stronger book - I felt like maybe they rushed it to publication and should have reworked the plot a bit because the premise was wonderful. It could have had much more depth and Cinder's character could have been more complex. I wanted her to be more sophisticated and more devious.

I'm just de-lurking to say hello, Mamie! Have a good weekend!

Hello, Terri! Hope you have a great weekend, too!

Once you get down here, Mamie, you won't have any trouble getting the Dr. Siri books through PINES - I haven't checked book by book, but it looks as though they have most of them. Hurry up!

Time to go to bed....

So....you and Dejah will be living near each other when you move, Mamie? Is that what I'm gathering? Perpetual LT meet-ups;-)

Oh, Dejah, you make me so happy!! I'm coming- today was Craig's last full day although he is still under contract until May 13th.

Oh, how wonderful that you are moving closer to Deejah! I too would like to find some Dr.Siri books. So far, my public library just has one of them.

Hi Mamie- I'm hoping to squeeze in the 3rd Dr. Siri book during the merry month of M & M. Enjoy your Saturday. Chilly and rainy here. Yuck.

It chilly, windy, and STORMING - and it's Prom! Poor kids! But they'll have a great intro to their Prom stories..."It was a dark and stormy night..."

Hi Mark and Deb! I have the fourth Dr. Siri ready to go and am having a hard time waiting for May. I also have the second Montalbano book which I am looking forward to. I will probably use May to advance my reading in the mystery series I have already started because it will be a strange month for us. Craig starts his new job down in Georgia on the 14th, and the kids and I will be here trying to sell the house. Our adventure is about to begin!!

I've enjoyed catching up here. My friend keeps trying to lend me Andrea Camilleri books and I'm now wondering why I haven't taken her up on it!

Good luck with your new adventure, I hope all goes well!

Edited so that message makes sense!

Dee - do you not like the Camilleri books or did you mean that you're wondering why you hadn't taken her up on it?

Whoops, that should have read why I haven't taken her up on it! I will edit it now!

Happy Sunday morning, Mamie! I'm catching up on threads, and found that I was over 100 posts behind on yours - yikes!

So I'm chiming in late to say that I listened to Rules years ago on audiobook, and it's one of my favorites Newbery Honor books. I only skimmed your review of The Fault in Our Stars because I already know I want to read it and don't want to know too much going into it.

Mamie - hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Haven't read any Siri....... enjoy the rest of Sunday!

Good Morning, Mary and Paul! We survived our first Prom! Our two middle children (ages 16 and 17) went, and they went in a group of friends, which I think is so much more fun than going with a significant other. They had a great time, and the picture taking turned out to be quite an adventure because it was overcast, windy, and really, really cold!

I do not know what happened to April. One moment it was here, and tomorrow it will be gone. I am still trying to finish up a couple of books, so we shall see how successful I am because we have a full plate heading into this week. Tomorrow is the husband's last day at the office. He will see just one patient - a young lady who seventeen years ago happened to be his first patient. A completed cycle as we look forward to the next chapter in our lives.

Lucy! You snuck in there as I was posting. I would think you could use a little Dr. Siri after all the big reads you have been tackling, like IJ! Hope that you are having a relaxing day and that you catch another glimpse of your moose!

Hi Mamie- Glad the prom went well! And yes, April did fly by. I posted another flick pic. It should be a breeze for you.

That is so wonderful, that your husband's first patient will be his last. Good luck to you both as you begin your latest chapter!

Ah, proms. I remember them well. One year my daughter went in a group. She & her bff both wore frothy chiffonny pastel dresses and fairy wings and carried sparkly wands. Don't ask. Now her girlfriend is married and expecting her first, and Meg is living with her soon-to-be-fiance (both moms hope) on the East Coast, still auditioning and hoping for her big break.

ETA, as the Beatles said, Lala how the life goes on.

Hi Mamie, sounds like the next stage of your life will be an excellent one. Good luck to you and your family.

Hi Mamie, re >131 Crazymamie: glad you enjoyed The Shape of Water, i have read the first two Inspector Montalbano books and really enjoyed them and so was really pleased when the BBC decided to show the Italian made Inspector Montalbano series on BBC four, unfortunately i missed a couple of them and forgot to record them and so i am hoping they will be released on DVD. They were very good even with subtitles and the chap chosen to play the good inspector matched how i thought he would be from reading the books, book 14 of the series has just come out here in the UK and even at 86, Senor Camilleri has plans to release more, good for him. Maybe you can get them on DVD if they release them in the States. Happy reading.

Mary and Bonnie - Thanks so much for stopping by and for your good wishes.

John - Welcome to my thread! I did not know there was a video version of the series - how exciting! I will have to investigate. I love finding a new series where there are plenty of books to read and the author is still writing. Long may Señor Camilleri live!

Hi Mamie- My film Goddess! Funny, we had a small movie club going about ten years ago, you would have fit in nicely. We would have just had to catch you up, with the 60s, 70s & 80s and you would have been fine.
I plan on starting The Shape of Water after zoo Station.

Right, Mark - I am sadly lacking in movie savvy for those decades! My nieces and nephews keep trying to educate me - we exchange movies. They give me Jaws and The Godfather (I LOVE this movie) and I give them North by Northwest and Breakfast at Tiffanys. It has been fun and illuminating; we don't always agree on what is a good movie, but we always have a lively discussion about our latest screenings! I should also admit that I have a secret passion for really bad sci fi and horror movies, like Bride of Frankenstein and The Blob (the original 1958 version, not the remake) - my husband will not watch these with me, so I have to bribe the children.

Can't wait to see what you think of The Shape of Water.

Mamie - Good luck to Craig with his new adventure in Georgia and with you trying to sell your home and move down there. His present practice nicely symetrical with the last patient being his first.

Goodness, Mamie - your thread is busy!

It'll be so nice to have you two or so hours away - I've been wanting an excuse to visit Albany. As for the library system (PINES), with it covering so much of the state, you have a fairly good chance that some library will have the book you want, although it may take a while for it to get to you. Speaking of which, Thirty Three Teeth is on its way to me for May.

I'm glad to hear prom night went well and that they all had a good time. The story about your husband and his first/last patient was great.

Mamie- I'm not a huge horror fan but I do love those early classics, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Invisible Man, the Mummy and The Wolfman. Wasn't as much of a fan of the British horror wave through the 50s & 60s.
I NEED to make myself an old movie night and do it regularly. All this film talk has me itching.

Paul -Thank you for your good wishes; we welcome all the luck that we can get and are very excited about the whole process.

Dejah - Albany has multiple branches!! I am very excited about this. And a visit - I would love that. And you will really enjoy Thirty-Three Teeth. I have the forth Dr. Siri in the queue for May and also the second Montalbano. "Nothing but good times.." - I forget what book that was where the main character said that all the time. We have survived prom and Craig just has one more day or work to make it through, well really just one more office appointment. It will be bittersweet, I'm sure, as he really loves his patients and has become quite attached to them. He has a soft heart, my husband does, and would give you the shirt off his back without your having to ask for it. He is the old fashioned kind of doctor who makes house calls, visits patients in the hospital that have had to be transported to Riley in Indianapolis, and cries with each cancer diagnosis. Many years ago he had a patient who was in elementary school that was diagnosed and she cried in his office when her long blond hair started falling out - Craig shaved his head that night and remained bald with her until they both grew their hair back together. That's just the kind of man he is, so we are very lucky to share a life with him.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind thoughts and good wishes - they mean a lot.

Mark - Me, Too!!

Oh what an adventure for you and family...
I wish you all the best - esp a quick and satisfactory sale of your house so you will all be together again before long :)

Prom and last patient... nice endings.

Your husband sounds wonderful - I hope you sell the house quickly so your family isn't separated too long!

Thanks, Dejah. I hope so, too.

Hi Mamie,
Just returning the favor of de-lurking. Yours is one of the threads I had thought I would try to find this weekend, before the head cold took me out. We have some good shared reads and I'm glad you've discovered Inspector Mantalbano. I've only read two or three in the series, but it's a keeper.

Mamie - you may have noticed I am prone to keeping stats! Just a note that your thread has shown the largest percentage increase in activity of any thread in the group over the last month and the freneticism is long overdue! 222% over the month!

Hey Mamie, I've just enjoyed catching up on all your good reads and exciting news. Dr. Husband sounds like a real gem.
I've added The Shape of Water to the ole wishlist. I've heard so many good things about this series but I just don't know when I'll be able to fit them in.
Congrats on the stats!

So the big move begins!

Good Morning, Everyone! Today is the big last day. Craig being the funny guy that he is, did not want a catered luncheon which is what they usually do for staff that retires or leaves after many years. Instead, he is making lunch for the entire office. He has loaded Big Bertha (um, that's what we call our grill) onto the trailer and will tote her to the office parking lot so that he can work his magic with burgers and brats. We really could be a full service catering business, as we have perfected our routine over the years. Thought I would share a pic of the beautiful cupcakes that my middle daughter makes for special occasions such as this - she is quite the artist!

Ellen - Welcome to my thread! I hope that you are feeling better. You put me to shame by finishing up David Copperfield. Thanks, btw, for creating the challenge to fit him into this month - even if you don't need it now!! Gives you an excuse to read The Constant Gardener, which I loved.

Paul - I am happy to be the recipient of any freneticism, long overdue or otherwise! I am humbled by your stats and your ability to keep up with them all! Word has probably just gotten out that the "Crazy" in my moniker is more of an accurate description instead of a fun use of an adjective. I guess I had better enjoy my fifteen minutes of fame while I...what's that...it's over?

Lynda - Dr. Husband is a real gem! He is funny because he still thinks of himself as a farm boy with a medical degree. He grew up on a farm in a small Indiana town; his mom was a teacher, his dad was a farmer. I have never met a harder worker or a nicer guy. You should make time for the Montalbano books because they are exactly what you're looking for - funny and fun to read. I also really love the Dr. Siri books - have you read those?

Lucy - I have been enjoying the moose talk on your thread! Your description of what it felt like to be bereft of moositation after having experienced it made me laugh.

Now I want cupcakes for breakfast!!!

Faith, that's my favorite time to eat cupcakes!

great job on the cupcakes! they look delicious!

The cupcakes are gorgeous! Makes me hungry, even if my taste buds are off with the darn cold. Enjoy the picnic in the parking lot! (brats. yum.)

Chelle and Ellen - I will pass on your compliments to my daughter, Abby.

So the last day went well even though it was emotionally draining. Craig's nurse put together a huge collage made up of photos of his patients and had it framed. It has a little engraved plate on the front of the frame with Craig's name and years at the clinic and the sentiment that it contained just a few of the lives that he has touched over the years. His last patient gave him bookends to symbolize her place as his first and his last patient visits - so fitting.

His last patient gave him bookends to symbolize her place as his first and his last patient visits
Nice.

Book #49: Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman

I do not often read short stories, and I have never read anything by Edith Pearlman before, but I would not hesitate to dive into anything else that she chose to write - novels, advice columns, the backs of cereal boxes. She writes about the ordinary, the mundane, the stuff that you would edit out of your diary, but every sentence is so beautifully crafted that she could write about the weather forecast and it would be interesting. This book is a collection of old and new stories, some published before and some not. There is treasure here just waiting to be discovered, and sentences that you will want to read over and over again. There will be stories that stand out as favorites, but even the ones that are not quite as good as the best are worth reading. There is an art to telling a story, the way that the characters are established and the way that the layers are peeled back to reveal depths or piled on to create deception, and to be able to establish this narrative that feels complete within such an abbreviated format is an accomplishment to be praised. And Pearlman does it over and over again with each story. She makes the reader feel as if he or she possesses the binocular vision that she uses as her title and is able to bring each vignette into crystal clear focus.

"Lily clarifies life," Sophie had heard her father say to one of his friends. Sophie didn't agree. Clarity you could get by putting on glasses; or you could skim foam off warm butter- her mother had shown her how--leaving a thin yellow liquid that couldn't even hold crackers together. Lily didn't clarify; she softened things and made them sticky. Sophie and each parent had been separate individuals before Lily came. Now all four melted together like gumdrops left on a windowsill.

Mamie- Excellent review of Binocular Vision. You earned a Thumb. I know Bonnie raved about it too. I NEED to get my paws on a copy.
Your husband sounds like a great guy. You are lucky.
ETA- Wait I can't give you a Thumb, you haven't posted it yet.

Thanks, Mark - I posted it now.

>200 Crazymamie: Ah! OK, I give, I give, I'll add it to the TBR list! :) Excellent review, Mamie - a few people have raved about it lately, but you've convinced me.

Binocular Vision was one of my purchases earlier this month and I look forward to reading it. Love your review, Mamie. I'm giving it a thumb, too.

Hi, Mamie! Glad that Craig's last day went well. I love the symbolism of the bookends. And he sounds like a great guy and wonderful doctor.

Mary and Ellen - Thank you. I really LOVED that collection of stories and think I will dip into it again before the year is out. To be honest, when I finished I wanted to go back to the beginning and start all over again.

Terri - Thanks. And he is!

Terrific review of Binocular Vision Mamie. If I hadn't already read it, I'd be dying to read it now;-)

Your hubby sounds like a gem.

Wonderful review - this must be the first time I put a short story collection on my WL, usually I avoid them where I can.

I am glad that Craig's last day went so well. Nice symbolism with those bookends...
Those cupcakes look delicious and I hope they were all eaten.

Hi Bonnie and Nathalie! Thanks for stopping by. There were just a few cupcakes left, which I'm sure will be gone by the time I get up in the morning!

I'm not usually big on short stories either, but I loved these.

Book #50: The Wrestling Match by Buchi Emecheta

Okay, this is a tough one to write, and I would just say that the story is interesting but that I didn't care for the writing style....except that there are no reviews posted for this book. If Ms. Emecheta took the time to write it, and I took the time to read it, then the least I can do is say a few words about it. How I came to read this story is an interesting bit of serendipity. Earlier this month I read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian writer whose story centered around an Igbo village in Africa. Then my daughters were assigned to read The Wrestling Match for an English class, and here was another Nigerian writer focusing on that same tribe, only this time the author was a woman. I thought it would be interesting to compare two stories set in the same time period about the same tribe from different perspectives. Because the roles of the women within the tribe are so very different from the men's roles, I was expecting...more.

Emecheta's story is about the younger generation in a tribe that is changing, is forced to change after the Nigerian Civil War. The main character, Okei, is having a difficult time adjusting to living with his uncle's family after his own parents are killed in the war. He is a teenager who has been sent to school and now must adjust to a family whose first priority is working the farm, a family that believes that the old ways are best. Okei, like every generation of teenagers, thinks that the tribal elders are out of touch, and that the old ways are just that...old. He is surly and disrespectful and he and others of his age group are about to learn a valuable lesson that will be orchestrated by the elders of two different villages that feel that their young people have a lot to learn.

At the heart of the story is a lesson that rings true for every generation and for every culture - war is not an answer to conflict, it is a byproduct of conflict that hurts both sides. Even the winner in war has lost something. Where the story fails, in my opinion, is in its telling. Emecheta's writing falls flat; it is stilted and cold. It does not draw the reader in or explore any hidden depths, such as Okei's sense of displacement or his grief. She does not present any insights into the tribal elders plans for teaching their children a lesson. Sometimes less is more, but sometimes less is...well, um...less. The best analogy that I can think of for comparing the two stories is that one is driven by someone who could drive his car smoothly around a race track at very high speeds, and the other is driven by someone who is still learning how to drive stick shift.

Looking forward to the review, Mamie. :-)

Hi Ellen - so happy to hear that you are feeling better today!

Some April Stats

Total Books Read for April: 16
* a total of 16 authors, 12 of them were new to me
* original publication dates ranged from 1942-2012
* I abandoned 0 books
* 16 books were fiction, 0 were non-fiction

Author gender:
male: 8
female: 8

Author Nationality:
American: 8
Austrian: 1
Canadian: 1
English: 2
Indian: 1
Italian: 1
Nigerian: 2

Medium:
Hardcover: 6
Paperback: 4
ebook: 5
Audiobook:1

Source:
Purchased: 9
Off My Shelf: 3
Library Book: 4

Multiple Books Read by Same Author:
None

Genre:
Mystery/Thriller: 5
Historical fiction/Literature: 4
Short Story Collection: 1
Juvenile/YA: 6

*what you should know about my library - I am not trying to decrease the number of books that I purchase in a calendar year, I am simply aiming to also make a significant dent in the piles of books already sitting on my shelves that are unread.

2012 STATS

50 Books Read
* 32 new to me authors
* 29 male/ 21 female
* 46 fiction/ 4 non-fiction

FORMAT
* audio: 2
* Kindle: 22
* Real Books: 26

SOURCE
* Off My Shelves: 12
* Purchased and read in 2012: 31 (+1 free download)
* Library Books: 6

Multiple Books Read by Same Author
* John Steinbeck: 5
* J. R. R. Tolkien: 3
* Colin Cotterill: 3
* Deborah Crombie: 2
* Dennis Lehane: 2

Five Star Reads
* 11/22/63 by Stephen King
* The Lord of the Rings by J .R. R. Tolkien
* Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
* 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Best Discovery
* Dr. Siri!!

Way behind here, Mamie, Love your delicious cupcakes, and BTW - thumbed your review of Binocular Vision a while back. I read on someone's thread that you " keep your own hours." I tend to do the same thing. I blame it on my husband always working shift work. I was much better when I was younger and had to sleep - get up with the kids etc -but now that our youngest is nearly 22 -well - I don't have to worry. Just the dog.... :)

I do keep my own hours, Deb. I worked night shift for years and I think I messed up my internal clock. I am usually up until midnight or 1 am and often back up again just a few hours later. Luckily my husband sleeps like a rock, so it never bothers him. I usually just get up and come downstairs and read. It was dicey when the kids were little because it meant running on just a few hours sleep, but now they are older and we school from home so we can keep our own hours. It works for us.

200: Edith Pearlman sounds like my sort of writer so that one's definitely going on the wishlist and a thumb for your excellent review.

210: Could you add your equally excellent Buchi Emecheta review to the book's main page too? I found it really helpful and there are no reviews on the page at the moment.

192: Beautiful cupcakes! My thirteen (fourteen this month!) year old son has recently developed a craze for making cupcakes. He finds it relaxing, I think and enjoys the finished product too! You've reminded me that he wants icing accessories and sprinkles as a birthday present!

Thanks for the thumb, Dee! And I will add my Emecheta review to the book's main page - I actually started writing it so that there would be a review, but they felt bad because I hadn't liked the writing style although the premise was a good one.

Abby is 16 and has always loved art - she draws on everything. Even her styrofoam cups from the gas station end up with artwork on them! She also loves to bake, so a few years ago she started combining the two. We did just what your wants - bought her the icing accessories as a gift and she has loved them. There are some really cool books with design ideas for cupcakes out there, too. We gave her the icing accessories, food colorings (the really cool paste kind so that you can make virtually any color), and a cupcake book, and now she is a genius with all of it. If you want a cool way to keep all the accessories organized you can put it all in a small toolbox - which is perfect for sorting all of the tips.

Those are some interesting stats. I'm not so organized as to keep track of all that stuff!

Rachel - I cheat! I make up a collection just for the month, and then at the end of the month I can pull it all up quickly. For the year stats, I just tally up the totals from the individual months. Since I had combined January and February, I only had three sets of numbers to add together.

Morning Mamie- You Night Owl you! I hope you are going to get this warm weather that's rolling in. Low 80s the next couple of days. Even with a little rain, I'll take it.

Morning Mark! Yesterday we took the dogs to the groomers (we have toy poodles), and so of course it poured down rain the entire day. So glad I paid for them to have a bath and get fancied up!! And I keep telling our poodles that they were originally bred as water retrievers. I show them photos. I highlight entire passages for them, but they are having none of it. If it is raining, they just stand on the porch and look at me as if to say, "Are you kidding me? Do YOU want to go out and pee in that?" Our oldest poodle (who I swear understands everything that anyone says, including sarcasm and irony, and can do the raising one eyebrow thing) just sits inside the front door and actually shakes her head no. She will come to the door, but she refuses to go out if it's raining.

What a very creative daughter you have! Joe is still a beginner but very keen. It definitely has some therapeutic function for him. When he's stressed out, he starts baking! He has been struggling to get the consistency of his icing right but we have bought him a couple of cupcake books for his birthday so maybe there will be hints there.

I liked the tip about the tool box. Just a good job, I haven't got the sort of husband who would be bothered by his son keeping cupcake materials in a toolbox- as long as if wasn't his toolbox, of course! I will also look out for that food colouring paste too.

Mamie, that's great that you support your daughters art through baking! About 5 years back I started doing cake art too. I'm not much of an artist and always work from a planned pattern but some have turned out pretty good.
Does your daughter work with fondant as well as buttercream? I always prefer fondant because it's more like playdo, buttercream I find always so messy

Mamie - I love the stat summaries. On a similar subject I predict you placing in the top twenty on the posting league before the month is very old.

Dee - what kind of icing is he making? The toolbox works great because then all her accessories don't take up space in my kitchen cabinets! We were shopping for something to store her stuff in and the small toolboxes were on clearance... She has a really nice large rolling red toolbox(not sure that's what you call it) that grown men would drool over that is full of all of her art supplies - the kind with all of the drawers that pull out. My husband bought it for her and runs his hands lovingly over the top of it every time that he passes it. I told him, "You know you're not getting that, right? When she moves, she'll take it with her not just because she ADORES it, but because you picked it out yourself and purchased it for her." Yes, he sadly nods his head.

Chelle - She would love to get her hands on some fondant!! That is her next big thing. I told her that once we get moved and settled we could find a cake decorating class for her to take because while I love to bake and to cook, she did not get that artistic ability from me. You do not want to see me with fondant!

Paul - you snuck in there while I was posting! I love reading through everyone's stats, I am intrigued by what people chose to include, and everyone comes at it slightly differently. I also love to see individual reading lists of both accomplishments and potentials. I guess I just love lists.

The posting placement staggers the mind - who knew? Well, I guess you did! What I love about LT is that I get to talk to and share books and slices of life with people that I would never meet in RL. And I get to be exposed to so many different perspectives and personalities. It's nice to now that people take the time to read what I have to say and then share their thoughts as well. And the books - MY WORD - my WL will be staggering in proportion by the time this year is through. Already I have read 32 new authors this year, I would have maybe tried 5 on my own. I am reading authors like Iris Murdoch and Edith Pearlman that I never would have found on my own. AWE SOME!

Your thread is really moving fast now, Mamie! Great stats, I should also add the "multiple books by same author" category.

And yes, LT is awesome! Whenever I get into that Walden-like "I don't need all that business trouble, I'm gonna move into a hut in the mountains and take all my books with me" mood, the thought that then I wouldn't have internet = no LT helps me to face life's realities again.

Mamie, just swinging by to say hello this morning. I love that you are expanding your list of authors --- certainly LT has had that impact on me. I've learned about authors and books I might never have otherwise found. That has been a real gift. Iris Murdoch is another I want to try (having, of course, heard of her but never having approached her work before).

No internet - oh the horror! I tell my kids that when I was in college there was no internet and no cell phones and their mouths hang open. It's like saying there was no electricity or no cars. Hi Nathalie! Heather (souloftherose) has a stat list that I am stealing when I start my next thread - it is a list of all of the series that she is actively reading. It's a great way to keep track of them all in one place (it's post 4 on her current thread if you want to see it), and I also like the 2012 reading plans that several people have posted.

Ellen - Hope you feeling much better today! I have only read 1 book by Iris Murdoch so far, but I loved it - The Severed Head, which is a parody and very well done. I need to read another by her. I also want to try Elizabeth Taylor, who I hadn't heard of before LT.

I'm trying to catch up after a day or two of almost no LT time - I love your stats and always read them with interest. My first year on LT was humbling for me - I'd thought I was very 'up' on just about everything. Ha!

Hi Sweetie

Lots happening here since I last visited! Congrats to you regarding your children and the prom. Congrats to you and your husband regarding his retirement.

It sounds like your husband and my partner Will have a lot of same personality traits. Will was an opthomologist and sold his practice when he was 59. While he loved the patients, he needed a break.

He gave lots and lots of extra hours for free to patients who were on medicare. While medicare may have paid him for a 15 -30 minute visit, he always gave extra attention to those who had cataracts, macular degeneration or retina detachments.

Now, it seems that wherever we go in the area, previous patients will come up to him and be sure to praise him telling him how much they miss him.

We are indeed lucky..you and I.

You can find recipes online for fondant that are quite easy. Basically I melt a large bag of mini marshmallows with two tablespoons of water dribbled on them, 30 seconds at a time and then stir until they are gooey and no longer resemble marshmallows. Then stir in about 5-6 cups of confectioners sugar (icing sugar). The messy part is then you have to kneed it with shortening on your hands so it doesn't stick. Takes some muscles to kneed it well!

I find it tastes better when I make my own compared to the stuff you can by premade, that stuff tastes quite gross.

Linda - What a sweet surprise to see massage from you! Alas, Craig is not retiring; he merely quit his job here. He was part of a large pediatric practice that was owned by a corporation that was all about the mighty dollar. That is not how Craig wants to practice medicine - he does not want to be told what to charge and when to charge, he wants patient care to come before the dollar sign, and compassion to eclipse greed. He has been really unhappy for the last 5-7 years, and marginally unhappy for a long time before that. He loves what he does for a living but hated who he worked for. Corporations tend to buy each other out and his practice has exchanged hands several times just in the seventeen years that we have lived here. Each time there have been new contract negotiations and new computer systems and new office management. It gets old. So he started looking around for a privately owned practice that he could join that would let him practice medicine the way that he envisions. He found what he wanted in Georgia, so that's where we are going. Because at the end of the day, the choices you make define who you are, and so if you are not happy then you should redefine yourself by making new choices. We both really want our kids to know that you never have to settle, but not settling means being willing to reevaluate and make adjustments to the course that you are on. Change does not have to be scary - like most things in life, it's all a matter of perception and attitude.

We are indeed lucky..you and I.

Chelle - You have made my daughter sooo happy! She has added large bag of mini marshmallows and confectioner's sugar to the grocery list. SHe wants me to ask you how you know when you are done kneading it - do you just kneed it enough to incorporate the sugar, or are you going for a certain consistency?

Hi Mamie- That's a great story about your poodles and the rain. LOL. Neither of my dogs like the rain, but my old lab is the worst.
Nice day today. Stayed dry too.

You will know when it's done. It starts out as a big gooey mess. She must be prepared to get her hands VERY gooey! After she kneeds it for a while it will start to look and feel like play dough. Once it has no lumps or goo she can then add any color that she wants. Use the color paste, not the liquid drops

Make sure she sifts the icing sugar though or else she could get little clumbs in the dough and that's no fun to pick out.

Alrighty! Thank you so much! I bet she will experiment this weekend - I'll let you know how it turns out.

Opps sorry I misunderstood re. your husband's move vs retirement. All good wishes for a smooth transition to GA.

Hi Mamie!
Can't believe how many messages I've missed in what seems a short time...
LOVE the poodle story! Loki resists going out in the rain... I have to promise him a treat. He would go through hell and back for a treat :)

Your stats are interesting and I wish I did something like that. Maybe next year - lol

Binocular Vision already on my WL - and now your name has been added as one who recommends. Great review -

fondant process - eeeeoooooo
Chelle's advice sounds priceless.
Hope your daughter has fun and excellent results. Her cupcakes came out awesome!

210 The best analogy that I can think of for comparing the two stories is that one is driven by someone who could drive his car smoothly around a race track at very high speeds, and the other is driven by someone who is still learning how to drive stick shift.

I love that analogy! :)

235 Because at the end of the day, the choices you make define who you are, and so if you are not happy then you should redefine yourself by making new choices. We both really want our kids to know that you never have to settle, but not settling means being willing to reevaluate and make adjustments to the course that you are on. Change does not have to be scary - like most things in life, it's all a matter of perception and attitude.

Beautiful!!

Good glory, Mamie -- your thread is so busy these days! It's a tribute to what a charming person you are.

You got thumbs up from me for your reviews of both Binocular Vision and The Wrestling Match. They were both excellent reviews.

I glad Craig's last day went well - and those cupcakes look wonderful! I hope Amy's experiments with fondant go splendidly this weekend. I hope we get to see pictures!

Linda - No worries, I loved everything you had to say. I totally understand your husband needing to take a break and do something different. Craig is just 47 so he is not there yet, but he did need to change things up because the business side of things was really stressing him out and making him very angry on a daily basis.

Cee - Thanks for stopping by! Thanks for the thumb! Abby is gonna have so much fun with Chelle's fondant - she is such a creative soul. And she has a heart that delights in every little thing, so she almost always has fun.

Terri - Thanks - I'm glad you stopped by.

Dejah - Where you been, girl?! Thanks for all of your kind comments. I will definitely take pictures. She made a bunny for Easter that was incredible - you needed all the cupcakes together because it was like a mosaic, but it made a giant bunny. I will have to see if she took a picture of it because it was really cool.

#235: I have to quote that again, it's so perfectly expressed and I fully agree with it:
Because at the end of the day, the choices you make define who you are, and so if you are not happy then you should redefine yourself by making new choices. We both really want our kids to know that you never have to settle, but not settling means being willing to reevaluate and make adjustments to the course that you are on. Change does not have to be scary - like most things in life, it's all a matter of perception and attitude.

There was a social science class in my high school (about 30 years ago) where it was mentioned that an average American moved I don't remember exactly how many times during their lives. For us it was an incredibly high figure, because where I come from, once you settle, you stay. Although modern life demands more flexibility, still people are very unwilling to move and usually prefer commuting. Often the husbands only return for the weekends from a job in a different part of the country (yes, it's usually the men who 'leave' the family).
And those who do move away or even go abroad, often in their youth, in most cases come back at some point and settle exactly where they grew up. Many of them are not unhappy, but they stop looking for new possibilities at an early point of their lives.

Mamie - We share a love of classic movies and lists. Just on the stats issue this post is the 501st of the year on your threads. In the first quarter of the year to 31st March you got 200 posts in 121 days or 1.65 posts per day. In the 32 days of the second quarter you have gained 301 posts which equates to 9.41 posts per day or nearly a six times increase! That would place you 11th overall in the 2nd quarter. Interestingly the top five threads in terms of number of posts are the same (although the order is very slightly changed) between the first and second quarter.
So like David Letterman top ten threads in numbers of posts in the 2nd quarter 2012 to date
Paul 769
Richard 665
Kath 632
Mark 608
Joe 581
Darryl 529
Claudia 443
Ilana 417
Megan 320
Stephen 310
Mamie 301

Go Mamie! Go Mamie!

Nathalie - What you share is so interesting to me. Most people that we know who move do so because it is work related - the family unit moves with the one whose job forces relocation because commuting is not an option, that is, it's too far. When we decided to look for a private practice for Craig to join, we specifically looked out of state because we thought this is our chance to shake things up. Our family thought we were nuts...um...crazy (I actually get that a lot!). They did not understand why Craig wouldn't simply start his own practice here or move to Fort Wayne - most of my family lives there. If you have to move, why not choose Ohio or Illinois or a neighboring state so that we can see you more often, they asked. I am the baby of the family (5 older sisters, 12 nieces and nephews on my side) and we have always hosted the big family stuff like Thanksgiving and Easter. You won't be able to host, they said. You'll have to travel if you want to come, I said. I think people don't want to move or change things even when they are unhappy because the familiar is at least a known commodity. The unknown seems scary.

I don't want my kids to feel that way. I want them to embrace life and try new things and not feel "stuck". I want them to look at their options and see all of the possibilities that lie before them, not just the ones within a certain radius. Reach, I say, stretch yourself. These are just words if I cannot model them myself. There is a famous quote by Albert Einstein that I love that goes something like - the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I think that this is so true. I think that can also be a definition for unhappiness. I truly believe that a person's potential and life's possibilities are supposed to be infinite - it is only when we try to define the parameters of each that they become finite.

Paul - You have a love of statistics! I took a probability and statistics course in college that I loved, and you take me back there with your fun and interesting lists. David Letterman's Top Ten (he is an icon here, you know, he went to Ball State University which is just a fifteen to twenty minute drive from my house)?! You have provided the list and done the homework, so it must be Paul Cranswick's Top Eleven!! I'm honored - and convinced it won't last. I'm a flash in the pan, baby!!

Mark - ROFL! Your support, encouragement, and enthusiasm are duly noted!

Mamie, Just delurking to say I hope your move works out really well. My father changed jobs when he was 47 and while we didn't move it was completely different from what he had ever done before. In doing that he found a place that completely suited him and where he really prospered for nearly 20 years. I hope you find the same.

Thanks, Rhian! And welcome to my thread - now I will have to check out yours.

Well.. I can't say that I am caught up on your thread, but I did read enough to know that
you have a very interesting thread!

Some of your books are unusual.. not the current raves ( hurray for that !)

You have lovely daughters, and you are right. They grow too fast.

:)

Every new environment that you live in gives you a new perspective on life and makes you wiser. ;)

Kath - Thanks for stopping by and for the very kind comments. I need to check out your thread, but I don't think I will be able to catch up on your thread as I see by Paul's stats above that you have over 600 posts for this quarter already - YIKES!!

Rachel - That is so true!

'morning, Mamie!

Life is busy, so I'm just not able to be on LT every day. Work is going great a the moment (a good thing) and I'm in doing a play with one of the local community theaters, so rehearsals are wiping out many of my evenings. I promise I'll do my best to keep up!

>247 msf59: Mark, Go Mamie! Go Mamie! was exactly what I was thinking when I read Paul's post - I'm glad you posted it in a timely manner!

Dejah - I was just teasing you, but I do love when you stop by! Glad work is going well - what is it that you do? (And if you don't want to say then just answer "Fashion Model") What play are you doing?

Of course I'm a Fashion Model - not!

Actually, I'm in B2B sales, work from home, and spend most of my time on the phone and on the internet. And no, I'm not an annoying telemarketer! Things got busy recently because of a new product release that had been delayed for months, which also explains why I had some extra time for LT in the first quarter.

I'm playing Mickey the Cop in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple (Female Version). I'm very happy with the part (which is a hoot to play) considering this is my first show (and first audition) with a new theater group. While I can't say that it's my favorite of Neil Simon's works, I'm having a good time at rehearsals. Thanks for asking!

Work from home would be great, but I would hate the phone part. I am not good with the phone, trust me. The play sounds like a lot of fun - and I love Neil Simon, especially The Goodbye Girl and Barefoot in the Park.