2021 Reading efforts of PGMCC - The first instalment.

Read in 2021

I start the year with four in-progress reads.

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

It was the best of sentences, it was the worst of sentences. by June Casagrande 17/02/2020 -
The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford 26/10/2020 -
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17/12/2020 - 03/01/2021 333 pages
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely 20/12/2020 -

Books started in 2021:

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

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 04/01/2021 - 07/01/2021 pages
Reynard the Fox by Anne Louise Avery 07/01/2021 - 17/01/2021 479 pages
Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth 17/01/2021 - 31/01/2021 170 pages
The Lusitania Waits by Alfred Noyes 28/01/2021 - 28/01/2021 5 pages (Short story)
Call for the Dead by John Le Carré 31/01/2021 - 04/02/2021 156 pages
London Centric edited by Ian Whates 04/02/2021 - 278 pages (Short stories)
"The House of Asterion" by Jorge Luis Borge 06/02/2021 - 06/02/2021 3pages (short story)

Note: This post was the result of, as jillmwo named it, the LT gremlin that forces one, at gun-point, to duplicate a post. I have had a number of ideas about what to do with the duplicate post. I do not like to see a post go to waste. If we wasted post willy-nilly the supply of posts would dry up before every post destined to be made was made.

Ideas I had for this post included:

- editing it with a reading update at some future date
- asking the GD community to suggest uses for it
- put a bit of piffling into it, like this
- post reasonable photograph

I believe I have opted for a combination of the third and fourth options.



I hope you approve of my choice of picture.

However, do not be despondent. If you have any ideas for what I should do with this post, and remember, this is a family show, put your idea on a post card, and send it to my address.

>1 pgmcc: Happy New Year. I liked Station Eleven quite a bit. I don't remember it with as much enthusiasm as many others express, but I remember enjoying it. I rated it 4.5 stars so I must have enjoyed it even more than I remembered.

>1 pgmcc: and >2 pgmcc:, hah! I am chortling because the LT gremlin in change of duplicative postings has found you as well. I thought he only haunted my thread. By the way, what a good idea to think to note the things you're midway through at the dawning of the new year.

Happy new year/new thread!

I have a mass market copy of The Dragon Waiting on my shelf. I hope to get to it soon.

>3 YouKneeK: I DNFed that one, although I have no memory of why. It might have been pure contrarianism.

>3 YouKneeK: I am about half way through Station Eleven now. I almost abandoned it as it was into the post-apocalyptic stage and I find those quite boring. Thankfully it started flashbacks to the earlier days and became more interesting. I suspect it will show links from the past to people in the post-apocalyptic age which will show an explanation of the way some people went. If it is full of coincidences, descendants of people from the past who knew each other in the past meeting in the later age I will get a bit pissed off.

It may also take an off-the-wall turn and we find aliens making contact, and that Station Eleven actually exists.

Either way, I will finish it.

While I am finding it more interesting now I am not grabbing it at every opportunity and making time to read. That says a lot about how enthusiastic I am about the book.

Happy New Year. :-)

A very happy New Year to you!

>4 jillmwo: Greetings, jillmwo. Chortle away. Yes, I was caught by the LT gremlin. I was thinking of editing it later for a report on something or other. That might happen.

...what a good idea to think to note the things you're midway through at the dawning of the new year.

That "good idea" was the child of sloth. I was going to check the pages I was on in the unfinished books and I was too lazy to dig them out and look. So, my good idea came to my help in avoiding work. :-) I am glad you approve. :-)

>5 libraryperilous: Happy New Year.

I nealy DNFed Station Eleven but am now on track to finish it, sometime in 2021. :-)

The Dragon Waiting is still waiting for me to get back to it. I broke off from reading it to read Station Eleven for our book club. Look where that got me.

Happy New Year! That's an interesting looking reading list.

>10 Karlstar: Thank you, Jim. I hope you have a great 2021.

Another star for you, with warm best wishes.

Bummer you aren’t enjoying Station Eleven.I really liked it, but I didn’t read it while we were actually experiencing a pandemic. I might’ve felt differently about it if that had been the case.

Happy new year!

>12 Meredy: Thank you! Stars are good.

Thanks for popping by.

>13 catzteach: I am enjoying it. I am not blown away by it.

I hope 2021 is good to you.

Happy new year Peter! I hope it will bring you good books, good food and wine, and many opportunities for piffle parties!

>16 Sakerfalcon:
Thank you, Claire. I wish all those good things for you too. Keep safe and read on! Piffle to your heart's content. It is hard to believe we met in Foyle's almost a year ago. So much has happened since. It was great meeting you and -pilgrim-. Looking forward to repeating the experience once we have whipped this virus into submission.

>2 pgmcc:

Perhaps you might offer it on Ebay?

Happy New Year - may the year bring you good things in life and reading.

Sorry to hear you're not enjoying Station Eleven so much, I did enjoy when I read it a few years ago - not sure I'd want to read it right now with everything else that's going on as catzteach also mentioned.

>18 suitable1: What is the market in spare LT posts like these days?

Hippo Gnu Ear!

>21 hfglen: Many happy returns, Hugh.

Just skimmed back through the thread and realised I hadn’t wished you the compliments of this season—so Happy New Year to you and Mrs Pete and all the gang!

>23 haydninvienna: Many happy returns, Richard. I hope you and Mrs haydninvienna have had a pleasant break despite your confinement, and that 2021 is a great year for you and yours.

>24 pgmcc: Thanks Peter. My gosh the pub has been busy today, hasn’t it?

>25 haydninvienna: At least this busy pub has been exemplary in its adherence to social distancing guidelines.

>26 pgmcc: 10 000 km or more in some cases :-)

>27 hfglen: Long way to go for a shot of Amarula or akvavit though. I don’t know if there are any GD-ers in Australia, but Stockholm to Sydney is about 15,600 km.

Happy new year!

Hi, Peter! Happy New Year!

A new year and a new thread and good conversation in the pub!

Hope the year ahead treats you beautifully, Peter. May many great books, tasty wines and delectable cheeses be headed your way.

::skulks under the table waiting for the opportunity to sneak a large wedge of cheese for selfish personal consumption::

>33 fuzzi:

Skulk under the table if that is what floats your boat, but there is a seat at the table for you, and there is a place set with your very own cheese knife so you can cut a wedge and put it on your plate for selfish personal consumption. That is the great thing about The Green Dragon; the wedges of cheese can be as big as you like. :-)

But if skulking under the table is your thing, feel free. :-) You are welcome wherever you choose to sit.

Happy New Year, fuzzi. It is good to have you along.

>17 pgmcc: Hear, hear! More LT/GD meet-ups are always a good thing!

>34 pgmcc: I don't need to skulk if I have my own place at the table!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-BBoVUdOf4

Happy New Year!

I finally finished Station Eleven.

I started off with great enthusiasm. The first two chapters had my attention. When I got to the stage where we jumped twenty years and it was in the dystopian world I started to lose interest. The flashbacks saved it for me. As it started to give more backstory to the individuals I became more interested.

I was not taken by the coincidences in the story, e.g. Clark arriving at the airport that Kirsten would eventually visit and the prophet being Arthur's son. That type of even hinted at coincidence just spoils a story for me and is, in my mind, unnecessary. If the story is not interesting enough without the addition of possible coincidences like these then the story isn't interesting enough.

In the past I have read enough dystopian stories, such as Steven King's The Stand (extended version), to be bored with sojourns in dystopia. I find them so similar and drawn out. This is probably why I am not a great fan of zombie or disaster movies/stories.

So, hands up, I am probably genetically pre-disposed to not like books like Station Eleven.


The book was well written. I cannot say it held my attention as it took me weeks to read. It did have some elements that saved it from being a run-of-the-mill dystopian story.

Would I read more by this author?
I would not see out any of her books.

Would I recommend this book?
It depends on the people I am recommending books to. If I were asked to recommend a book in general then Station Eleven would not be that book.

Who would I recommend this book to?
Anyone I know who likes dystopian fiction.

I have given this book a 3 Star rating. For me that means I regard it as a good book, but one that does not have the extra elements that I find interesting enough to give it more than 3 stars out of 5.

I am reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Why, you might ask, am I reading A Christmas Carol in January. Well, it is the Lockdown Bookclub read for the January meeting. It was suggested at our December meeting. The person who suggested it had the idea that we should be reading some classics, a notion that we had all agreed previously, and he was thinking this would be appropriate. He also reckoned that it would be nice if we all meet in the real world at some stage and suggested we go, en-mass, to the annual performance of "A Christmas Carol" at the Gate Theatre in December 2021, a time when we hope the pandemic will be under control and it will be possible to meet other people for a social occasion. There is only one person in the book club who has met everyone in the club in the real world.

This will be a re-read for me. It is the first Dickens I ever read and I found it lovely. I am looking forward to this read.

Our meeting to discuss the book is on Thursday, 14th January.

>38 pgmcc: At least you did finish it, yes. And everything is not everyone's cup of tea. I enjoyed it, but then I do not read dystopian novels, at all, as then genre in general doesn't interest me, so don't have very much to compare with. The "coincidences", as you call them, I can live with: I was more interested in the what-if than in the story as such. I also enjoyed her writing style.
I am pretty certain that I would not had enjoyed it that much if I had stumbled on it during 2020, though.

And, happy new year, by the way! May your reading be plentiful and happy!

>40 Busifer:
Thank you for your good wishes for the New Year. I wish you a wonderful 2021. I have stopped wishing people a 2021 that is better than 2020 as that is setting the bar very low. 2021 must be orders of magnitude better than 2020.

I agree that Station Eleven was well written. I also think it was very realistic in terms of its "what-if" elements.

In relation to coincidences, many books would not work without them. With this one I think that the book would have very little to offer without the coincidences, and yet I did not think the coincidences gave the book much more. Without the coincidences and the consequent wondering if this person is that person and will they meet up, or whatever, the book would simply have been a "what-if" story with nothing to support it.

The thing that saved this book for me was the flashbacks and the back stories of the people involved.

You can see that I have quite an ambivalent attitude towards coincidences in books.

>41 pgmcc: re coincidences in books/storytelling:
Aye, haven't we all... Things that drives me up the wall in one book seems to me to be entirely within my power to suspend disbelief for in others.
Circumstances such as emotional and situational context is possibly at work, here.

>38 pgmcc: I think you've made up my mind to skip this one, thank you!

>43 Karlstar: Glad to be of service.

>44 pgmcc: Or disservice, depending on how one looks at it. ;o)

>45 clamairy: D'is service, or d'other service; t'is all the same to me.

>38 pgmcc: I appreciate your review and thoughts. Dystopian fiction not being my cup of tea, I won't worry about trying it. I am not its audience.

Happy new year, Peter! I hope it's a wonderful one for you and your family.

>48 Jim53: Many happy returns, Jim. I hope 2021 is a brilliant year for you and yours.

It is great to have you along for the read.

Just finished A Christmas Carol. This is my second book completed in 2021. This is a book club read to be discussed at our on-line meeting on the evening of Thursday, 14th January.

This was the first Dickens book I ever read. Whether I read it or watch a screen adaptation it always forces tears to my eyes. Even "Scrooged" with Bill Murray had me sniffling. I am just a big softy.

The first time I read this story I was taken by surprise by the amount of humour in it. Now that I have read more Dickens the humour is not so surprising, but it is still as enjoyable.

It is difficult to put a rating on this book solely on the basis of the book itself because the story is so well known and there have been so many screen and stage adaptations made from it. Well, if nothing else other than star quality I have to give this story 5 stars.

Would I read more books by this author? Yes, and I have read several, and will read more.

Yes, I would recommend this book.

I would recommend it to everyone.

Reynard the Fox was a BB from jillmwo. If my memory serves me correctly Jill was aided and abetted by Sakerfalcon.

I have started reading the introduction, something I seldom do with a novel. The introduction has started by describing how Goethe had first read Reynard the Fox in the middle of a war.

I know very little, basically nothing at all, about this work so I am looking forward to an interesting read.

The book itself is a beautiful item with a lovely cover and an intricately drawn coloured map on the endpapers. The dust cover is of high quality and the feel of it in my hand is smooth and assures decadence. A masterful production.

I read on...

>51 pgmcc: Not guilty! I am interested in it but so far have not succumbed. It's all Jill's doing!

>52 Sakerfalcon: That may well be the case, but I am enjoying the book regardless. :-)

Like Goethe, I am seeing the characters in the book reflected in people of years ago and today. It is an excellent collection of shrewdly observed human behaviours. There are character sketches I could lift and assign to living people without alteration and they would be perfectly accurate.

Best led plans...

A Plan never survives the first engagement with the enemy.

I went to the IKEA website to order the bookcases for our "upstairs reading-room to be". The local IKEA has five in stock. I want four. They are not available for on-line ordering. :-(

Due to current lock-down rules the physical IKEA is closed. Click-and-collect has been stopped by government due to infection concerns. The IKEA Customer Service BOT does not have the capability of answering my questions with any way meaningful answers.

It will be a waiting game to see if IKEA decide they will be happy to have these items available for on-line ordering (which is the way I got the earlier ones) or are happy to have them sit in their closed warehouse where they cannot generate any revenue. :-(

These damned first world problems!

>54 pgmcc: Completely agree about the chat bot. It’s useless. In my celebrated letter, I told them so.

>55 haydninvienna: I see a message from the UK & Ireland Customer Services Manager for IKEA on the company's home page. It asks forbearance as IKEA's supply chains are suffering disruption due to the pandemic and its interrupting influence. As I know first-hand the difficulties for distribution companies in the current situation, let alone the difficulties of manufacturers, I will have to bite my tongue and wait for the bookcases to materialise. I see that many more IKEA products have gone onto "not available to order on-line" status.

Well, I do have a fair bit of work to do preparing the room for the bookcases, so it is not like I have nothing to do. Oh yea! I could read some of the books!

I must say I am really enjoying Reynard the Fox. Thank you, Jill.

It has just struck me that Reynard the Fox contains the fundamental reasoning behind the Post-Truth Era. Fascinating.

Great book club evening. We reviewed A Christmas Carol.



It was the first time everyone at the meeting liked the book. We were all taken by the humour of Dickens's writing.

The books to read for our next meeting, which will be on 18th February, are:

There Are Little Kingdoms by Kevin Barry



and,

Call for the Dead by John Le Carré



This is John Le Carré's first novel. It was his third novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold that made him famous. Call for the Dead is the first novel involving George Smiley. It was used as the basis of the film, The Deadly Affair. James Mason played George Smiley in this screen adaptation.

>59 pgmcc: I predict that you will enjoy these next two book club reads!

>60 Sakerfalcon: You are correct. I have enjoyed them before. Caitríona joined the club last night. She is a mad-keen Le Carré fan and she proposed The Call for the Dead. I am a mad-keen Kevin Barry fan* and when people talked about short stories I recommended There Are Little Kingdoms. There was some hmmming and hawwwing when they realised that both the books accepted for next month were recommended from the one household. :-)

Another one that came up for discussion and which I supported was An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestly. That has been put on the long list for the following month. It is a great story/play. The film adaptation stars Alistair Sim. I love Alistair Sim's peformances.

*By any chance have you read any Kevin Barry stories or novels? I would recommend them strongly. :-)

>61 pgmcc: An Inspector Calls - the play, not the film, was the first theatre performance I saw that was not a pantomime.

So I have a special fondness for it.

>62 -pilgrim-: The film with Alistair Sim is very much like watching a play. At that time of film production I think that is how they thought of films. The sophistication of camera angles, the power of lighting effects, etc... were still in their infancy.

>61 pgmcc: Where would you recommend starting with Mr. Barry?

>64 Jim53: His short stories. His first collection is There Are Little Kingdoms and his second is Dark Lies the Island.

pgmcc I am glad you enjoyed Reynard the Fox. Like you, I hadn't been familiar with the stories so it was fun to read the book. For those of you who might want to learn more about the author, she does lovely, soothing flash fiction on Twitter as @AnneLouiseAvery -- stories about Wolf, Old Fox and little Pine Martin. There's the Doctor and the Little Girl's Aunt as well and all are accompanied by lovely vintage artwork.

With regard to A Christmas Carol, we had a friend who once spent an evening wondering about whether or not you could tell the same story with the three Ghosts being space aliens. It was a good conversational gambit, even as I didn't necessarily think it would work as science fiction!

I have finished my reading of Reynard the Fox by Anne Louise Avery. Great appreciation is due to jillmwo for recommending this book. I have given it five stars. It is a wonderful observation of human nature and the motivation that drives people's decisions in relation to their interactions with other people. Parts are like a treatise on the virtue of telling lies and the logic of pulling the wool over everyone's eyes.

All the characters in the story are animals, but this helps demonstrate the general application of the lessons within to diverse situations and to any time period. It is a fable full of questions and moral debates. It is also a demonstration of the power of PR and SPIN, something we experience in our everyday life when it comes to dealings with politicians, advertisers, lawyers, clergy, etc...

I found this book to be a wonderful doorway to a place where I could observe the world without being interrupted by the politics of named individuals or groups, yet I could see the applicability of the lessons to every situation, be it in the court of a monarch, the parliamentary houses of a democracy, the committee of a ruling totalitarian state, the boardroom of a multinational company, the management team of a privately owned company, the committee of a local voluntary organisation, or any group of people. It was a wonderful escapism, but also a focus on real life.

Anne Louise Avery's introduction, which I read after having read the story, contains a description of where the character of "Reynard" originated, and the literary path followed from its first appearance in Ancient Greek fables, through its first named appearance in medieval literature in 1149, to its appearance in this edition in 2020. She also mentions the influence the character has had on children's books and animated films (e.g. Disney's Robin Hood), and how the popularity of a French edition of the tales of our eponymous hero led to the old French word for fox, "goupil", falling into disuse and "renard" taking its place.

I had never heard of Reynard nor his tales, but Anne Louise Avery has shown me how influential this fox has been.

Yes, I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read and willing to have a bit of a shake and an awakening to the world around them.

>67 pgmcc: Ever since you and Jill started talking about this book, I have been haunted by vague memories of a book that I had as a child. I think it was called something like "Reynard the Fox", and that was certainly the main character's name. He was a trickster character, and I remember the sense that, although he pulled the wool over the eyes of fools, he was not "nice".

I am wondering now of this was a child's simplified abridgement of these tales?

The book that I had would have been published at some point in the sixties, I think. (I remember the (paperback) cover as having been white, with a large image of a long, sinuous fix curled around it, so that its tail dominated the cover.)

Does anyone else remember this?

Weekend highlights

Seafood order delivered on Saturday. This resulted in our having moules frites, mussels and chips (fries in the US), for dinner. Delish! Rainbow trout is on the menu for today. The freezer is now stocked up with plaice fillets, crab meat, sea trout, and one or two other delights from beneath the ocean waves.

As you will see from my earlier post, I finished Reynard the Fox and was delighted with this book.

In relation to our further adventures with trying to get new bookcases for our to-be reading room, my lady wife, in her wisdom, persuaded me to go for a different colour. The ones I was trying to get are a dark red wood colour, like mahogany, but IKEA does not have any available for online order and delivery due to their supply chains being disrupted by both COVID and Brexit. I looked at the availability of the colour my wife suggested, a sort of silvery/golden hue grey, and hey presto, they were available for online order. On Saturday 16th I placed an order for four. The order came back with a delivery date of Monday 18th, i.e. tomorrow.

I hope that proves reliable. The last time I ordered bookcases from IKEA (May 2020 I think) when there were no supply chain issues, it took two weeks to arrive.

So, next weekend could be a DNBBBD, Do Nothing But Build Bookcases Day. Yay!

Stay tuned for future updates.

>68 -pilgrim-: Anne Louise Avery's detailing of the publication history of Reynard the Fox would indicate there were many, many children's books published in many countries based on Reynard. Her book is a very real look at people's motivation and behaviour towards other people.

ETA: The public persona of people and their inner selves is part of the overall content of this book.

>70 pgmcc: That is why I was interested as to what the sources are like. My memory of the book from my childhood is that it was a bit "off" for a children's book, as if it was an attempt to sanitise for children stories that were really intended for adults. It certainly seemed to be "messages" about trustworthiness etc. not simply "amusing stories", and the lessons were quite harsh.

There was a tendency in publishing in that era to assume that anything that dealt with folklore, or myth, was "for children" and package it as such. They never grasped the fact that such tales were often told by adults, for adults, to discuss political issues and serious concepts.

(For similar reasons my mother could never understand my reading fantasy as an adult. She thought of it as purely imaginative ways to amuse little children, and could not see how it can be used to discuss philosophical concepts - as Busifer and I were discussing last year.)

I'd like to find that book again to compare to the undiluted version.

But, as you say, many, many authors have taken over that character's name for their own stories - often using the name only. So unless someone recognises the book, I am unlikely to find the right one.

ETA: your dialogue was a lightbulb moment for me. It made sense of my reaction, if I had been reading an adult book, in terms of content, with merely language adaptation and suitable packaging to market it for children.

In the same way as the original "Pinocchio" is not an amusing fable for children with a lesson about lying wrapped in, but a really dark attack on social mores of the time.

>71 -pilgrim-: Interestingly enough, one version of the tales of Reynard the Fox was banned by The Catholic Church. Now there is a recommendation if ever I heard of one.

This is a satire set before 1782 and published in 1800. I am looking forward to seeing how the humour works. The title, Castle Rackrent, is a play on the exorbitant rents people in Ireland had to pay. It covers four generations of the family of Castle Rackrent, the people benefiting from the rent, as far as I understand. When I have read it I hope to have a much better idea of what the book is about and what it is like. I find it is always advantageous to read a book if you want to find out what it is about.

The subject is likely to be quite political as it deals with issues that affected the future course of events in Ireland. I will go light on the detail when describing the book and focus on the humour.

>73 pgmcc: I find it is always advantageous to read a book if you want to find out what it is about.

Ever the radical approach.

>72 pgmcc: Ah, but did they actually read it first?

Of course you will treat us with photos when they are built and loaded?

We ordered our bookcases at 22:15hrs on Saturday. At 07:00 Monday I was woken by a phone-call. I answered and a man said “IKEA delivery. We’ll be with you in 20 minutes.”
At 07:35 I was sitting having breakfast and the bookcases had already been delivered.
The only negative is that I had planned not getting up until 08:00hrs. :-)

>75 -pilgrim-: Three guesses!

>74 jillmwo: You know me so well.

>76 MrsLee: I certainly will. I still have to post pictures of the West Wing bookcases. They have not appeared yet as the loading is a bit higgledypiggley.

>78 pgmcc: I am sure they inspected it as assiduously as they did The Da Vinci Code. (Which is actually of the most populist Opus Dei recruitment manifestos that I have ever seen...)

>77 pgmcc: More time for bookshelf filling?

I watched a film called "Red Lights" yesterday. It starred Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy and Robert De Niro. It was the cast that drew me to the picture. The premise has Sigourney Weaver's character working as a university professor who debunks paranormal events and exposes psychics as fraudsters. Cillian Murphy is a Physicist who works with her providing technical support for her debunking activities.

Robert De Niro plays a high earning psychic performer who is in the mega-money earning bracket. He is, of course, a prime target for debunking.

The film was not a must see and there were a few things I would have changed, but I thought it was cleverly done and contained a few surprises. For those of you who have watched it I enclose some comments behind the "Spoiler" mask.

While watching the film I thought Cillian Murphy's character was trying too hard and getting angry over something that was not critically important. Having watched the film and seen the ending I see that Cillian Murphy's character was acting perfectly logically in the context of the full story. This is something I experienced with the film "In Bruges". I thought Colin Farrell was putting on a very poor performance when I first saw the film. When I watched the film for the second time, knowing how the film ended, I realised Colin Farrell's acting was perfect in portraying how his character would have behaved in the situation he was in.

>82 -pilgrim-: Unfortunately work gets in the way. It will be the weekend before I get to remove a bed from the "to be" reading room, build the bookcases, and then cart boxes of books upstairs to start the fun part, filling the bookcases. I suspect this might require more than one weekend.

After some hours of too-and-fro, and hmm-and-ha, the bed has been dismantled, moved, and rebuilt in another room. The to be reading room is ready for a hoover and a cleaning before bookcase construction can begin. Tomorrow night we will watch “The man who knew too little”, a second rate movie that has a few laughs. Innocent fun to drive away the lockdown blues.

Bookcase construction in progress.

Just catching up in here. Good luck with the construction!

Progress update

Two bookcases down, two to go.

Once I have the four built and attached to the wall I will begin to fill shelves. Yay!

I am waiting for the main assembly to be complete before putting the glass doors on. I do not want to put the glass doors on and then put a bookcase side through one of them. :-)

Quick update on the effect of Brexit on my book buying from UK exploits.

It appears Amazon has its act together in relation to Brexit for selling books, but since books are zero rated for Value Added Tax (Sales Tax to some of you) in Ireland, there is no major effect on pricing.

Other retailers do not appear to be as well prepared, or they are trying to discourage customers from the EU to avoid the new tax and customs administration that applies now that the UK has left the EU. I looked up a few books on ABEDOTCo.UK and their shipment cost was about €50 for a single book. Shipment was about €4 for a book prior to Brexit.

>89 pgmcc: ouch!

>88 pgmcc: Well done!
>89 pgmcc: Sweet cheese!

>88 pgmcc: looking good!

Books as a tax-free item is something the whole world should have.

>88 pgmcc: The bookshelves themselves are looking good, but will look even better when fully stocked.

And I think I agree with Jim53 that there ought to be no tax on books.

>92 Jim53: & >93 jillmwo:
Thankfully the Irish government agrees with both of you.

>92 Jim53: >93 jillmwo: >94 pgmcc: So does the British government.

>89 pgmcc: Well, that might explain a recent experience...

As you may recall, due to a bunch of BBs flying around this place in early December, I had ordered a copy of Lucifer and the Child from Swan River Press. During pre-sale correspondence, Brian had offered to send the book via express delivery. I declined due to the prohibitive cost, (€50 for shipping from UK to USA). Standard postage - which was included in the price of the book - took nearly six weeks. I was starting to think the book had gotten lost in the mail or perhaps even stolen, but it did eventually arrive. I now wonder if the quote Brian provided was due to Brexit?

>96 ScoLgo: No. Brian is in the Republic if Ireland. He posts with An Post, the national postal administration. The delay with your package would be due to COVID-19. There are two factors that would be active. Due to the pandemic there are fewer planes and ships moving between countries. With fewer transport options the freight companies skyrocketed the prices they were charging. Transatlantic rates went very high.

In addition to the shortage of transport options people started ordering online and increasing the volume of goods trying to get on the scarce transport causing delays.

Brexit only affects goods going in an out of the UK.

>88 pgmcc: That looks like two up to me. :)

>98 MrsLee: Four up now. The book migration is in progress.

>99 pgmcc: Whoopee! Can't wait to see the finished results. I wonder if they will be easy to fill, or if you will dither about how to fill them? Meaning, by subject, author, title and how to group those. Perhaps you have your system firmly in place. If so, will you be distracted by the siren call of the books to "open meee"?

May your new reading room be a joy to both you and your wife.

>100 MrsLee: It will take a while. My wife can only carry so many books at a time.

:-)

No, I am carrying.

I have adopted the approach of cart them and shelve them. Sorting and arranging can come later. The priority is to clear floorspace in my study so I can browse the books behind the boxes. :-)

And yes, I will be tempted to open and peek back on some old favourites. For the moment, however, I am focused on the migration so reading them has not presented a problem.

Congratulations on your soon-to-be new reading room! The bookcases look great.

>89 pgmcc: OUCH!!! I am still waiting for someone to tell me of anything that Brexit has made better than what we had before

>97 pgmcc: A Christmas present from my friend arrived yesterday. She posted it from SW London on December 22nd. I live in SE London. She could have walked here and delivered it by hand in less time!

>102 Sakerfalcon: Thank you for the reading room congratulations. I have filled the bookcases and hope to put the doors on at the weekend. I will provide pictures of the completed bookcases after that. I am tempted to put up pictures of the four bookcases with the doors open so that people can see the books more clearly and try to work out the titles. I know that is what I would end up doing if someone put up a bookcase picture. It usually leads to my developing eye strain.

In terms of a reading update, the bookcase construction, the carting books up to The Reading Room, and "Work" have had an impact on my reading time. While Castle Rackrent is a very short book I am only about half way through it as a consequence of the other distractions.

I am not sure I would recommend it for a general audience as the language is a very old English style and it is easy to get the meaning contorted. I think it is an important book in presenting a time with interesting socio-political attributes. In essence it is about the fortunes of an Anglo-Irish family, i.e. it had property, and how the members of the family behaved and related to their fellow Anglo-Irish landowners, and local people. It was written by a member of an Anglo-Irish family but from the viewpoint of an old family retainer, a local Irish man who works as general handyman and caretaker, who is telling the story of four family owners of the family property, the eponymous Castle Rackrent and its associated lands. The author, Maria Edgeworth, tries to emulate the dialect of the old retainer, and we get a lot of the word structure that one would see presented as old Irish peasant talk.

An example is the word "Childer" (for Children) is asterisked with a footnote stating, "* This is the invariable pronunciation of the lower Irish." Another is the footnote, "Kith and kin - family or relations - Kin from kind - Kith from - we know not what." The book was first published in 1800.

A further update will be provided when I am finished.

>103 pgmcc: Hmm. Would you say that she is trying to be accurate in her portrayal of the "lower Irish", or patronising?

>104 -pilgrim-: Not sure. I suspect she was trying to be accurate in her accent. In terms of referring to "...the lower Irish." I suspect it was just the way she referred to what she would have thought of as the local Irish peasantry. I do not think she had any malice attached to it other than it was a systemic view of the world in her circle of friends/community.

The Lusitania Waits is a short story about what happened to the U-boat that sank The Lusitania. It takes the form of three retired sea captains discussing the war and wondering what happened the U-boat that sank The Lusitania. It is a ghost story and the word "Waits" is used in an old meaning when it referred to Christmas street singing.

This story came up as a read in "The Weird Tradition" group. I was drawn to it as I worked for a company with its offices in Cobh, County Cork. The building their offices are in were used as a temporary morgue when the bodies were brought ashore after the sinking of The Lusitania.

Cobh is also the last port or call for The Titantic before it headed out across The Atlantic Ocean.

It was an effective ghost story and the characters came across as plausible.

I have just discovered that there is a new Aidan Truhen due out in May 2021. You may remember I read The Price You Pay by Aidan Truhen some time ago. I think the second book will be much like the first, i.e. violent and funny. This will not be everyone's cup of tea but the first one did prove very amusing, if somewhat violent. The violence, by the way, was quite unbelievable so it came across more as comic than dreadful.

*

The blog for the book according to the Amazon page is:

Jack Price and his Seven Demons, the most dangerous and feared assassins in the in the world, are taking on the bank heist of the century. A VINTAGE CRIME/BLACK LIZARD ORIGINAL.
Meet Jack Price and the Seven Demons: There's Doc, a sexy mad scientist with anger issues; Rex, an explosives expert who doesn't ask too many questions, Volodya, a Ukrainian assassin who may or may not be a cannibal; Charlie, a tech genius with an anarchist bent; Lucille, whose speciality is razor-edged hugs; Fred, a head on a stick; and of course, Jack himself, former coffee-magnate turned cocaine dealer turned head of the most-feared international crime syndicate.

Cooling their heels after their latest assignment, the Seven Demons are bored out of their minds, and their boss is worried. There's nothing more volatile than a gang of deadly killers with nothing to do. Luckily, a shadowy Swiss businessman gets in touch with a proposition: the heist of a lifetime, breaking into a bank that makes Fort Knox look like the corner candy store. Jack thinks this will be a nice little diversion for his crew... but that's before a rosy-cheeked, lederhosen-wearing little psychopath named Evil Hansel stabs him in his femoral artery with an oyster knife. Now this is a grudge match and Jack Price will be damned if he's not going to come out on top.

* I am not sure if the Amazon cover is a place holder or the actual final cover. We shall see in a few months hopefully.

>99 pgmcc: Congrats on the shelving progress, I'm jealous of those 6 shelf bookcases! Replacing my 4 and 5 shelf bookcases will be a future project.

I have finally finished Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth, published in 1800.

This is a short tale with the core telling covering 97 pages. There is then a 16 page Glossary to help English readers of the time understand some Irish customs and explain terms and the names of some Celtic attributes in the story. A 30 page Introduction, best read, as always in my opinion, after reading the mane body of the tale, gives a wonderful description of the importance of this book, outlines the politics of the day, and shows how clever Maria Edgeworth was in how she portrayed the land-owning Protestant Anglo-Irish of her own class, and the native Irish Catholics who were by dint of their faith forbidden to own property.

This book was written in the 1790s when trouble was brewing in the countryside of Ireland. This culminated in a failed rising in 1798, but there was much slaughter on both sides. This was the environment in which Maria Edgeworth wrote Castle Rackrent.

Her own family circumstances were interesting in that they favoured equality for the native Irish population, which was not popular with their other people of their co-Anglo-Irish neighbours, even to the extent that their Anglo-Irish neighbours plotted to assassinate her father in 1798 when the Edgeworth family retreated to the local town to avoid the risk of attack from the rebels. The colonial nature of the Anglo-Irish land-owners comes through very strongly once the entire book has been read.

One of the interesting aspects of this novel is its laying out how the phenomenon of Absentee Landlords (land-owners who spent only a short time, or even no time, on their Irish estates, but rather left the affairs of the estate in the hands of their agent to collect rents from the estate tenants to send to their master to spend the rents from the estate on their entertainments in Bath or London) gave rise to the Agents who were ruthless in the pursuit of their duty and were not behind the door in coming forward to claim their own share of the rents. The cruelty of Agents led to many problems and issues and even gave the English language the word "Boycott".

Charles Cunningham Boycott (March 12, 1832 – June 19, 1897) was an English land agent who became infamous after he was ignored and ostracized by his Mayo Irish community in Ireland after treating them very badly. Their actions gave the English language the verb to boycott.

It is important to read all the ancillary pieces of this book, the Glossay, Commentary, and Introduction, to get its full value. The edition I read was from the "Oxford World's Classics" series and was edited by George Watson. The extremely informative Introduction was written by Kathryn Kirkpatrick in 1995.

Apparently, i.e. it is stated in the Introduction, Castle Rackrent gathered

"a dazzling array of firsts - the first regional novel, the first socio-historical novel, the first Irish novel, the first Big House novel, and the first saga novel."

The voracity of these claims can be investigated by those of you interested enough to investigate the truth. I shall be having a quick look at my catalogue of Irish literature that might indicate one or more of these claims could be disputed.

Would I read more works by this author?

Yes!

Would I recommend this book?

Yes!

Who would I recommend this book to?

I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get an understanding of how land-ownership was working in Ireland in the late 1700s.

>109 pgmcc: That looks like a very interesting comparison to the Scottish absentee landlords, the Clearances etc.

You have only failed to score a sniper hit because it was already in my (extensive) TBR pile. Although I suspect my edition is more lacking in the helpful annotations.

More bayonet work?

Call for the Dead by John Le Carré is one of our Lockdown Book Club reads for January. It is Le Carré's first novel.

I have read this before and look forward to reading it again for the book club.

Ok, so I only got the doors on two of the bookcases. The other two bookcases are directly opposite these two and are also full of books. The doors will be put on soon. There is no need to remind me to put the doors on every six months.



Let the eye-strain begin as you try to make out titles. :-)

>112 pgmcc: Beautiful!

>113 MrsLee: Thank you.

>112 pgmcc: wantwantwant

>112 pgmcc: Looks great!

Oooh
Ahhh
!!!!!!

>112 pgmcc: Very nice! I wish you much good use and enjoyment from your new bookcases.

>112 pgmcc: The image resolution is inadequate when enlarged for examination purposes. Deliberate countermeasures, I assume. ;-p

(I never saw a bookcase that I didn't want...)

>112 pgmcc: Well done, Peter! Very handsome.

>119 -pilgrim-: Deliberate countermeasures, I assume. ;-p

You know me too well.

Thank you all for the nice comments on the bookcases. The glass doors make a big difference. Once I have the other bookcase doors on, a chair and foot-stool installed, along with a side table and reading lamp in place, I will provide another picture of The Reading Room. :-)

The decor (wall paint) is not ideal, but I thought the priority was bookcases, chair, lamp, foot-stool, and side table. When my wife or I are reading we are not looking at the paint on the wall. Anyway, to be perfect we would have to cover the walls in oak wood panels and I do not see us doing that in a hurry.

>112 pgmcc: Is that armorial stained glass I see in the reflection in the bookcase door (which also doesn't help reading titles)?

>123 hfglen: Armorial would be too grandiose a term for the reality. The windows have a floral image marked out in lead strips with colouring applied onto, rather than within, the glass. In the 1990s the developers thought it added a touch of class to the house. In reality it does add something, but it is much cheaper than having the McClean coat of arms made up in stained glass and inserted into all the windows of the castle.

In relation to its impact on the readability of the book titles, that is all part of the challenge. :-)

If it is wanted by curious minds I can post open-door images of the bookcases to enable a more comfortable review of titles. You will find that the rush to get books onto shelves in preference to hours of collating and arranging has led to some interesting juxtapositioning of titles.

>124 pgmcc: Curious minds want to know

>112 pgmcc: That is a beautiful sight! I wish you many happy hours surrounded by your books.

I read an article today that said in order to have really good looking bookshelves, one must insert gewgaws, knicknacks and arrange the books artistically. I do have that on one set of my shelves, although, as my collection grows, the gewgaws go. A beautiful set of bookshelves in my humble opinion, is filled with books. Am looking forward to the finished room photo.

Question. Will there be two reading chairs, lamps, footstools and side tables (one table between the chairs might suffice), or is this a room for one reader at a time?

>112 pgmcc: Ooooh, love those bookcases! (Not even going to try to read the titles. And, tbh, I didn't even see the paint or the bright orange drapes until I went back to look.) I especially like that they have doors. I need that with my dustball bird. If I dusted every day, there'd still be dust all over everything by the next morning.

>127 MrsLee: My wife has suggested only one chair. She is happy with her West Wing office. She thinks I need a comfortable place to read by myself.

Do you think she is trying to keep me away from her for some reason? Lock me a way in an upstairs room?

As for the gewgaws and knicknacks, I think the author of that article may have been cut from a different type of cloth than that from which you and I were cut.

>128 Storeetllr: In my experience the doors delay the settlement of dust rather than eliminate it. That is, however, an improvement and we will take whatever we can get.

I didn't even see the paint or the bright orange drapes until I went back to look.

You prove my point perfectly. Thank you!

>127 MrsLee: funny thing, I don't care if my bookshelves are considered good looking by others, though REAL WOOD shelves make me sigh and smile.

Not sure if you can see it well, but this is a shelf that my dad made for me, using only a handsaw, a hammer, and a kitchen chair for a work bench. I treasure it:

>131 fuzzi: Very nice. Bit of a Louis L’Amour thing going on there.

>132 pgmcc: ha! That's my L'Amour shelf... though since I took that photo I've added a stack of Elmer Kelton's as well.

>131 fuzzi: Yes, I long for the days when read wood was the norm. And treasure what my grandfather built for me too.

Nice book guards there!

>107 pgmcc:

Amazon has updated the cover for the new Aidan Truhen book, Seven Demons, due out in May 2021. No Touchstone link yet.

By the way, Pete, how are your haram (ritually unclean) sosatie chops coming on?

I only got the ingredients delivered last night. I will prepare them later this week and report on progress...if I survive.
:-)

>134 -pilgrim-: do you mean the stuffed critters or the sides of the shelf when you wrote "book guards"?

I love the design, so simple yet practical.

And I like my critters, too. My bookshelves have assorted non-book items that just seem to "belong", so that's where I place them.

>138 fuzzi: I like your book guards too. I wonder if they count as “gewgaws” and “knicknacks” as alluded to by >127 MrsLee:.

>139 pgmcc: or "thingamajigs"?

Thank you. :)

>138 fuzzi: I was referring to your furry little friends. I have similar fluffies perched on some of my bookcases. Unlike the real thing, they guard books without being tempted to shred them!

>131 fuzzi: Very nice!
>129 pgmcc: As to your wife's intentions, I could not say. I only know that occasionally I would like to lock my husband in an attic when I'm trying to read. That seems to be the only time he feels "chatty." :/

I think I saw that article too, about strewing non-book items among the books. The one I saw was about assembling the perfect background for Zoom calls. They seemed to think that a shelf containing only books was too intellectual at the expense of cuteness. I must admit that the shelves behind our couch do have a few photographs as well as many of our more presentable books, but that's not for Zooming; there was a time when other people actually entered that room.

PS I might have taken a hit on Aiden Truhan. It's dangerous wandering around these chat rooms.

Peter, the bookcases look wonderful. I'm extremely envious. May you always find space in them!

>144 clamairy: Thank you! I am pleased with them.

May you always find space in them!

That made me think of an infinite capacity bookcase. No matter how many books you put on the shelves there is always room for more. Of course, it could be interpreted in other ways; the bookcase could be a portal to outer-space, just the way the wardrobe gave access to Narnia; another option is more along the lines of the infinite capacity bookcase being a Kindle with cloud storage. Your comment was very welcome and very thought provoking; just what is required 10.5 months into working from home. :-) Thank you!

>145 pgmcc: Don't you know that all libraries open into L-space, Peter?

>146 haydninvienna: I live and learn. :-)

"L" dimensional space.

>147 pgmcc: "Pratchett’s Librarian, who manages the library at the Unseen University, is probably one of the most famous fictional librarians. Once a human wizard, the Librarian found himself turned into an orangutan by a wave of reality-altering magic: something which helped him in his role, as opposable toes are useful for sorting and re-shelving books. Aside from his accidental change of species, the Librarian is notable for being a member of the Librarians of Time and Space, meaning that he can access and navigate the L-Space, an inter-dimensional zone which links all libraries and all books. He can go back in time to see when certain books were stolen, or save priceless texts from being destroyed in ancient fires.": from here: https://blog.oup.com/2017/04/librarians-fantasy-fiction-characters/.

>148 haydninvienna: I have only read a few Pratchett books and have not read any with The Unseen University. A pleasure that awaits me.

>148 haydninvienna:, >149 pgmcc: For your own safely, however, please remember that the Librarian is NOT a monkey ....

>150 Sakerfalcon: CLAIRE! You used the M-word. RUN!

(ETA: I hate it when AutoCorrect ruins a joke.)

>145 pgmcc: That is exactly what I was going for. A 'bottomless' bookcase, where every book you buy not only fits, but books you didn't even realize you had bought pop out when needed.

>152 clamairy: I like the way you think.

Call for the Dead was John Le Carré's first novel. It introduces the character of George Smiley, a character that looms large in many of Le Carré's most famous stories.

This was a re-read for me and I enjoyed it every bit as much as I did when I first read it almost five years ago. I re-read it as it is one of our book club reads for February's meeting on the 18th. The other book is Kevin Barry's short story collection, There Are Little Kingdoms.

I wrote a review for Call for the Dead in 2016. What I would add to it is the humour of Le Carré's character sketches. An example appears on page 17.

"Smiley was grateful it was Peter Guillam's duty that night. A polished and thoughtful man who had specialized in Satelite espionage, the kind of friendly spirit who always has a timetable and penknife."

That is so 1960s and sums up the type of person Guillam is in only a few words. A reliable person, a calm person, someone who does not mess about.

The copy I read was published in 1965 and is a little worse for wear. It was a job to stop some pages falling out. I shall have to do a bit of restoration work on this one. We have two copies with the other, younger copy, having the cover shown in >111 pgmcc:. I prefer the cover in this post and that is why I decide to read this less physically robust copy.

London Centric is a collection of short stories about London of the future, published by NewCon Press. It is and Early Reviewer copy and I think I am a little behind in my review.

So far I have read the introduction by Ian Whates, the editor. Ian is also the main man behind NewCon Press. Their books are always worth checking out.

The list of authors contains some great writers and I am looking forward to getting through the stories.

As promised I am posting higher resolution pictures of my new bookshelves to save you eye-strain. I am presenting them in sets of three.

Let the games begin!

I see a Stephen King on one shelf...and a Spy Book on another, but the rest is a blur...

>157 fuzzi: I concur. The photos don't seem to be appearing in high resolution. Perhaps LT is auto-reducing to conserve storage space?

>157 fuzzi: & >158 ScoLgo:
That is disappointing. I must try something different.

>112 pgmcc: >156 pgmcc: Great bookshelves!

>160 Karlstar: Thank you! IKEA at its best. :-)

The weekend is nigh. I hope to get the last two sets of doors on the last two bookcases. I will then try to take photographs that might make the book titles more legible when posted here. The pictures I have posted before were take with an iPhone in light from an electric bulb. I will try using the flash on my camera to see if I can improve on the images.

>157 fuzzi: I also spotted A Gentleman in Moscow, but I agree that there is an image issue.

Is this any more legible?



If you can make out the titles at least two of you will see the bullets you used to riddle me from afar.

By the way, the black, squiggly line going diagonally across the books is simply a crack in the space-time continuum and the first place where beings from another dimension shall enter our universe. Either that or a legacy of an accidental squiggle I made in MS Paint while trying to reduce the size of the picture.

>164 pgmcc: hmm...

A Coat of Varnish
Rules of Civilty

hmm...

Quantum
Impossibility
Codebreaker
Enlightenment Now
In Defense of Housing
Decoding Chomsky
Start With Why
Heroic Failure
The Rise of the Robots
Critical Mass

Someone with younger eyes and no cataract needs to decipher the rest...

>164 pgmcc: Can't make out any of the titles, but I may need some of those bookcases! That would mean a roadtrip down to Pittsburgh, they won't deliver here.

>166 Karlstar: I’m disappointed people cannot see the titles. When I view it on the Chrome browser I can enlarge the image and see titles. It does appear LT has reduced the resolution as I can see the titles clearly on the original picture but they are slightly blurred when I look at them on LT.

>167 pgmcc: I can see most of them now.

>165 fuzzi:
I can now add
The Other Place
The World of Yesterday
The End of the Web
The Periodic Table
I Predict A Riot
Mohammed Maguire
The Accidental Apprentice
The One From the Other
Rose
...on the upper shelf.

>167 pgmcc: My vision isn't great, that isn't helping, but I should correct to say that I can read the large ones, like Gentleman in Moscow, The Rise of the Robots and Spy Book.

>169 -pilgrim-: The one on the extreme left on the top shelf is a book-bullet from you. It is quite dark.

>168 MrsLee: Anything there take your fancy.

>170 Karlstar: The contrast between the title and the book spine can be a problem with some of them. Also the light sometimes causes reflections that block the title.

>165 fuzzi:
And on the lower, I can add:
The Society of Equals
Grave New World
A User's Guide to the Brain
The Human Swarm
When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses
The Outsider
Between the World and Me

All of which proves
(I) Not having chemo appears to improve my eyesight;
(II) one can learn a lot about a person by perusing their bookshelves;
(III) and perhaps even more about the peruser!

>171 pgmcc: Ah, of course - the Stasiuk.

Have you read it yet?

>175 -pilgrim-: Unfortunately not, but it is in prime position on the left-hand-side of the top shelf in the leftmost bookcase in the reading room.

Lovely bookcases. Beautiful. I wish you much joy of them.

>177 Meredy:

Thank you, Meredy. Good to see you in the neighbourhood.

>172 pgmcc: Ha! You're not going to get me that easy! You do enough damage to me when you talk about the books you read.

>179 MrsLee: lol

You are just too sharp to fall for any of my tactics.

:-)

I will be putting a few more pictures of shelves up later. Maybe you will see something there that you like.

Reading Room ready for use.



Reading Room in use.



Apparently the canine companion thinks a reader makes a good bed.

Yes, I did manage to put the doors on the bookcases on the other side of the room.

Terrific! Animals absorb the stories through the reader's lap, or so my kitties tell me.

>183 MrsLee: I thought they were the batteries to keep the reader powered.

May you have many years of joyful reading in that lovely room.

What a great room! May it bring many hours of relaxation.

> Very nice! And I see a nice Poang chair for reading. I sense an Ikea theme here. My dog also thinks a lap is a fine place to sleep. Unlike your small, cute canine, he is rather large and around 35kg (75-80lb) (although still cute).

>181 pgmcc: Why am I not surprised that the book next to the chair (first picture) and presumably being read (second one) is a spy manual?

>183 MrsLee: George, the cat, has yet to venture into The Reading Room. I can imagine him curled up on my lap.

>184 -pilgrim-: I think cats might be the batteries to which you refer. The purring is the sound of the power generation.

>183 MrsLee: & >184 -pilgrim-: I am not sure what will happen if both the cat and the dog are in the room at the same time. They get on well, but there is always competition for the most comfy resting place.

>185 clamairy: Thank you! I suspect there might be some joyful dozing off too. :-)

>186 catzteach: Thank you! It is a nice calming location. When sitting down I can only see sky and tree tops out the window. No disturbing traffic or people. :-)

>187 NorthernStar: You are spot on. We discovered the comfort of the Poangs some years ago. As you can see, we even went for the footstools. Yes, we have one each, and we have another two at our place in France.

>188 hfglen: No, Hugh; it is a Spy Encyclopedia. The manual is in the safe under lock and combination. ;-)

>189 pgmcc: You have two legs, hence no problem.

One for cat, one for dog. (As long as they agree which is for which.)

I have to add that I have a Pöang chair too, but it's not in the library. It's in the bedroom, which is where I actually read.

>181 pgmcc: It's great to see the reading room in use! You both look very comfortable. You just need a large mug of tea or other beverage of choice.

>192 Sakerfalcon: That is exactly what I told Caitríona, but to no avail.

:-)

>187 NorthernStar: Now that I think of it, the angle-poise lamp is also from IKEA.

>184 -pilgrim-: bwahaha!

>181 pgmcc: like your reading room setup.

How do you prevent interruptions, land mines?

>196 fuzzi: The room was only finalised yesterday morning. The picture was the first trial run. (Note, no animals were harmed in the making of this trial run photograph.)

That being the case I have not operated The Reading Room in full operational mode to date. Of the issues to which you refer, interruptions and land mines, I have not had any live incidents yet. There are untried procedures in place for such eventualities but we have to wait and see how effective they are. As you know, no plan survives first engagement with the enemy.

The fact that the facility is on the upper floor could deter physical interruptions as the interrupter would have to exert the energy required to climb the stairs. This could deter the interrupter from interrupting and would, in the event of a determined interrupter, be sufficiently noisy to provide and early warning.

People shouting up the stairs would be another interruption type. Interrupters unwilling to climb the stairs could resort to this type of interruption. In such cases we will have to rely on the cunning tactic of, "pretending not to hear". If this is a successful tactic the interrupter may build up the energy to climb the stairs, in which case we revert back to the approach in the previous paragraph.

I will have to trust my canine friend's olfactory organ to detect any landmines in the area. Hopefully this will be an infrequent occurrence.

>197 pgmcc: hahaha! I meant landmines set by YOU to discourage interruptions. As you might have ascertained by my query, I get a LOT of interruptions, and resist the snarky commentary reserved for those who just HAVE to talk to someone who is obviously READING.

Living in a small one story dwelling occupied by three other adults and assorted critters is not conducive to uninterrupted reading... :sigh:

>198 fuzzi: In light of your obvious experience, can you let me know how effective landmines have proven, and what is the most effective deployment pattern?

>197 pgmcc: I was wondering about "landmines" (in this case, a common South African term for the objects) emanating from the rear end of the canine assistant.

>199 pgmcc: in light of my experience? I have not used landmines. My dh is an Army veteran, and would know how to diffuse/disarm any landmine that I placed with intent to prevent interruptions.

I want my own reading room. As a teen I dreamed of owning a Queen Anne style house with a turret. The top floor room was going to be my bedroom/library, with bookshelves on any wall space that was not taken up by windows. Alas, it never came to be.


Queen Anne style with turret, the round tower

>200 hfglen: I would hope those landmines could be reserved for out-of-home encounters.

>201 fuzzi:
I can certainly see the attractions. I think you would need a separate room for the library as it looks like the windows take up virtually all the wall space.

Lovely idea for a Reading Room.

>203 pgmcc: there are different designs, so it depends on the window placement. Some turrets have large windows, others have normal sized windows. I envisioned a seat in one window, bookshelves below the others and in between the windows. Plus the windows only take up half the walls...

Unless someone with beaucoup bucks remembers me in their will it's not happening. I am content to have a house, small though it is.

>204 fuzzi: It is important to have dreams. If you had no dreams you would be stuck for what to do when you win the lottery or fall into a big inheritance.

I am reading London Centric from Newcon Press and edited by Ian Whates on the Early Reviewer programme.

I have read the first five stories and found them all compelling. With any collection of short stories I expect to like some, find other ok, and not be too fussed about others. So far every story in this collection has grabbed me and held my attention.

Looks like a very pleasant place to read, Peter. Mine is integrated with my office, which in our down-sized house contains a variety of odd things. I'm remembering the jokes last year about the book from Ikea; I'm guessing you haven't added and assembled any of those.

>207 Jim53: I opted for the pre-assembled versions; a bit more expensive but they save you a lot of time.

This thread has passed the new thread number of posts so I will wind it up with the remaining photographs of my books in The Reading Room. Enjoy browsing.

Bookcase Number 2!

Bookcase Number: 3

Bookcase number: 4







I am sure you will have noticed, and in particular hfglen and Bookmarque, will have noticed the tilted horizons, especially where the lower shelves are concerned. :-)

The book heights are all mixed up

>213 suitable1:
Does that upset your OCD?

>214 pgmcc:

It is the first thing I noticed, which is strange as I don't notice that about my own shelves, at least until now.

>214 pgmcc: what bothers my ATDS is that the genres are all mixed up...

>216 fuzzi: "I'm outta ord-ah?!? You're outta or-dah!! The whole damned system's outta or-dah!!" ;-)

I do wonder how Peter keeps track of where things are. Perhaps sorting is a work in process? But the shelves and the room turned out great!

As stated in post #101 above, https://www.librarything.com/topic/328043#7398529, carrying books upstairs and putting them on shelves was the priority; arrangement could come later.

Now that I see the amazing response the current arrangement has sparked I am tempted to not bother doing any ordering of the books by genre, author, height, colour, or whatever. I might just post a random picture of a shelf occasionally to keep people awake and outside their comfort zones. evil laughter echoing into the distance...

By the way, there are some shelves that are pretty consistent, such as the top shelf in bookcase 3, it is all classics and the Charles Dickens books are together, I think.

On the positive side, I find it interesting browsing the shelves with mixed topics/genres etc... It has reminded me of some books I had forgotten I had and moved them up the more likely to be read sooner than later pile.

>217 ScoLgo: Thank you. I am pleased with the room. One issue has arisen. When the dog was perched on the footstool she was eating a dog biscuit. I have already had to bring the vacuum cleaner into the room to clean up the crumbs. Dog biscuits may be banned from The Reading Room.

>216 fuzzi: Genres are simply book marketeers' categories to help them simplify their customer segmentation and sales targetting efforts. Down with genres. Come the revolution books will be free to sit side be side with any other book, no matter what that book is. To the barricades bookcases.

>215 suitable1: Ever since I started studying statistics I have loved histograms. Think of the books on the bookshelves as representing histograms. You can decide what the horizontal axis is.

I find it interesting that rather than discussing the titles or nature of the books on the shelves the initial reactions have been to do with sorting and aesthetics, also the emotions triggered by the appearance of the books on the bookshelves. It would be interesting to consider whether this means books and their arrangement are a form of art and decor, which makes them objects d'art which a Kindle book will never be, unless of course you have a matching bookcase for your Kindle:

My Kindle matching bookcase:



DISCUSS!

NOTE: while I have started a new reading thread I am happy for this thread to continue with comments on the bookcases and their contents. I will restrict my posts about my reading to the new thread.

>219 pgmcc:
A lot can be learned from the categories by which a person sorts their books - and the relative sizes thereof.

You are dealing with the disgruntlement of enquiring minds foiled in their analysis. In a random arrangement, we don't know what category assign the unreadable titles to.

ETA: and on a purely practical front - without some system, had long do you waste hunting for a book before you find it?

Or does pgmcc possess a photographic memory?

>220 -pilgrim-:
Are you saying I might be frustrating the intelligence gathering activities of enquiring minds?

without some system, how long do you waste hunting for a book before you find it?

Looking for a book can be compared to making a journey. Does one consider the arrival more important than the travelling? While travelling one can find many interesting things and visit fascinating places that were not the primary objective of the journey. Likewise with searching for a book.

I may not have a perfectly photographic memory, but I generally know where a book is located. You might call it a slightly out of focus photographic memory.

Apart from that, if I had a totally systematic and orderly sortation scheme for my books I would never have those wonderful moments when I come across a book I had forgotten I had.

I am still struck that people are still reeling from the arrangement of the books rather than the books themselves. This fascinates me.

>221 pgmcc: So... your shelves could be considered to represent a real-world implementation of the narrative from If On a Winter's Night a Traveler then...? That book is aaall about the journey.

Regarding sorting: Whatever works for you doesn't bother me at all, (not that my opinion is important here). Personally, I don't bother with genre at all, (except for computer-related books and software - those have their own shelf). I recently re-organized my books and began by separating hard-covers from trade paperbacks from mass market paperbacks. From there, everything is alphanumeric by author. Series are split up according to binding. I don't care. LT helps me keep track of what books I have and which ones remain to be acquired. Read and unread books are likewise intermingled. This actually has helped me to stop and ponder a re-read nearly as often as picking up an unread book. With my sieve of a memory, most re-reads are like new anyway... ;)

Oh, and I love your 'kindle shelf' in >219 pgmcc:. That made me laugh out loud.

>222 ScoLgo: I have so many books on my Kindle it warrants a bookcase to hold them.

>223 pgmcc: Same here! But the kindle got so laggy from all the cruft that I ended up deleting 90% of the titles from the device so now it only has a single shelf allocated. I don't have a 'cloud bookcase' installed (yet).

Oops, saw the new thread before I read this one and made a comment there about shelving books. Anyway, I could be perfectly happy in your reading room just as it is for years, I think. LOTS of food for thought on those shelves.

>225 MrsLee: I can see books drifting together over time but I will not be worrying about dewey systems or the like. :-)

>226 pgmcc: I can see boobs drifting together over time
Now I am starting to worry about your mind... :-p

>227 -pilgrim-:
I made a real boo, boo there.

>227 -pilgrim-: One word. Sports bra. O. K., two words, one idea. lol

>226 pgmcc: onwards. I am reminded of a comment in My Music, to the effect that the problem with nude ballet dancers is that not everything stops when the music does.

>230 hfglen: Very apropos.

There is an amusing 1987 romantic comedy starring Sally Fields and Michael Caine called "Surrender". There is a scene where Field's & Caine's characters are attending a plush reception when it is raided by a gang of robbers. The robbers leave Michael Caine and Sally Fields stripped naked and tied face to face. Needless to say the comedy involves these two characters not liking one another. The dialogue between the two of them includes the lines:
Fields: Stop moving.
Caine: I'm just breathing.
Fields: That is not what you breath trough.