PAUL C'S SECOND HOME - PART 3

SCENES FROM MY BOOKS



Swallows and Amazons is something I really ought to have read as a child but never did.

POEMS

Continuing my homage to my favourite poets I come to the light verse and provincial delights of John Betjeman definitely my favourite poet in my youth.

Reading Record

JANUARY

1. Plague 99 by Jean Ure (1989) 218 pp
2. Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes (1857) 309 pp
3. A Lear of the Steppes by Ivan Turgenev (1870) 117 pp
4. A Fall from the Sky by Ian Serraillier (1966) 78 pp
5. The Overnight Kidnapper by Andrea Camilleri (2015) 262 pp
6. Dove on the Waters by Maurice Shadbolt (1996) 198 pp
7. A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson (2019) 81 pp
8. The Other End of the Line by Andrea Camilleri (2016) 293 pp
9. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (2019) 208 pp
10. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (1930) 501 pp

CURRENTLY READING

READING PLAN
Reading Plan

1 British Author Challenge - set this year by Amanda in the 75er Group

2 1001 Book First Edition - Ongoing

3 Booker Challenge - Read all the Booker winners; I may get close to completing that in 2021

4 Nobel Winners - Read all the Nobel Winners

5 Pulitzer Winners - Read all the Pulitzer fiction winners

6 Around the World Challenge - Read a book from an author born in or with parents from all countries - I reset this challenge in October 2020.

7 Queen Victoria Challenge - Read a book from every year of Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901) with no repeat authors. Started December 2020

8 Queen Betty Challenge - Read a book from every year of Queen Elizabeth II reign (1952-2021) - British authors only and no repeats.

9 Dance to the Music of Time - One a month all year.

10. The 52 Book Club Challenge - A book a week from these selected categories https://www.the52book.club/challenges/2021-reading-challenge/

11. A Dent in the TBR - I have approaching 5,000 books in my TBR so I must read some of the 250 books I have bought in 2020 that end the current year unread.

12. Poetry - My first love in many ways and I am still something of a scribbler of lines to this day.

13. American Author Challenge - Linda came up trumps.

14. Series Pairs - I will choose one favourite series and read the next two books in that particular series I have slightly fallen behind with.

BAC



January: Children's Classics https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317610

February: LGBT+ History Month https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317871

March: Vaseem Khan & Eleanor Hibbert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7318561

April: Love is in the Air https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7319432

May: V. S. Naipaul & Na'ima B. Robert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320231

June: The Victorian Era (1837-1901) https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320541

July: Don't judge a book by its movie https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321220

August: Bernard Cornwell & Helen Oyeyemi https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321374

September: She Blinded Me with Science https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321899

October: Narrative Poetry https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7322840

November: Tade Thompson & Elizabeth Taylor https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7323772

December: Awards & Honors https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325017

Wildcard: Books off your shelves https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325595

AMERICAN AUTHOR CHALLENGE



Please see:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/327669#7354831

January : Keep it in the Family : F. Scott Fitzgerald

BOOKERS
Personal Reading Challenge: Every winner of the Booker Prize since its inception in 1969

1969: P. H. Newby, Something to Answer For - READ
1970: Bernice Rubens, The Elected Member
1970: J. G. Farrell, Troubles (awarded in 2010 as the Lost Man Booker Prize) - READ
1971: V. S. Naipaul, In a Free State
1972: John Berger, G.
1973: J. G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur - READ
1974: Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist ... and Stanley Middleton, Holiday - READ
1975: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust - READ
1976: David Storey, Saville - READ
1977: Paul Scott, Staying On - READ
1978: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea
1979: Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore - READ
1980: William Golding, Rites of Passage - READ
1981: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children - READ
1982: Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark - READ
1983: J. M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K
1984: Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac - READ
1985: Keri Hulme, The Bone People
1986: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils - READ
1987: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger - READ
1988: Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda
1989: Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day
1990: A. S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance - READ
1991: Ben Okri, The Famished Road
1992: Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient ... and Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger - READ
1993: Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1994: James Kelman, How late it was, how late
1995: Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
1996: Graham Swift, Last Orders - READ
1997: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things READ
1998: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam - READ
1999: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace - READ
2000: Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
2001: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang - READ
2002: Yann Martel, Life of Pi
2003: DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little
2004: Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty
2005: John Banville, The Sea - READ
2006: Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss
2007: Anne Enright, The Gathering - READ
2008: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger - READ
2009: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall - READ
2010: Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question
2011: Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending - READ
2012: Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies - READ
2013: Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
2014: Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North - READ
2015: Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings - READ
2016: Paul Beatty, The Sellout - READ
2017: George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo
2018: Anna Burns, Milkman
2019: Margaret Atwood, The Testaments, and Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other
2020: Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain

READ 31 of 56 WINNERS

Pulitzer Winners

As with the Bookers, I want to eventually read all the Pulitzer winners (for fiction at least) and have most of the recent ones on the shelves at least. Current status.

Fiction

1918 HIS FAMILY - Ernest Poole
1919 THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS - Booth Tarkington
1921 THE AGE OF INNOCENCE - Edith Wharton
1922 ALICE ADAMS - Booth Tarkington
1923 ONE OF OURS - Willa Cather
1924 THE ABLE MCLAUGHLINS - Margaret Wilson
1925 SO BIG - Edna Ferber
1926 ARROWSMITH - Sinclair Lewis (Declined)
1927 EARLY AUTUMN - Louis Bromfield
1928 THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY - Thornton Wilder
1929 SCARLET SISTER MARY - Julia Peterkin
1930 LAUGHING BOY - Oliver Lafarge ON SHELVES
1931 YEARS OF GRACE - Margaret Ayer Barnes
1932 THE GOOD EARTH - Pearl Buck
1933 THE STORE - Thomas Sigismund Stribling
1934 LAMB IN HIS BOSOM - Caroline Miller
1935 NOW IN NOVEMBER - Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936 HONEY IN THE HORN - Harold L Davis
1937 GONE WITH THE WIND - Margaret Mitchell ON SHELVES
1938 THE LATE GEORGE APLEY - John Phillips Marquand
1939 THE YEARLING - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1940 THE GRAPES OF WRATH - John Steinbeck
1942 IN THIS OUR LIFE - Ellen Glasgow
1943 DRAGON'S TEETH - Upton Sinclair
1944 JOURNEY IN THE DARK - Martin Flavin
1945 A BELL FOR ADANO - John Hersey ON SHELVES
1947 ALL THE KING'S MEN - Robert Penn Warren ON SHELVES
1948 TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC - James Michener
1949 GUARD OF HONOR - James Gould Cozzens
1950 THE WAY WEST - A.B. Guthrie
1951 THE TOWN - Conrad Richter
1952 THE CAINE MUTINY - Herman Wouk
1953 THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA - Ernest Hemingway
1955 A FABLE - William Faulkner
1956 ANDERSONVILLE - McKinlay Kantor
1958 A DEATH IN THE FAMILY - James Agee ON SHELVES
1959 THE TRAVELS OF JAIMIE McPHEETERS - Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 ADVISE AND CONSENT - Allen Drury
1961 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Harper Lee
1962 THE EDGE OF SADNESS - Edwin O'Connor
1963 THE REIVERS - William Faulkner
1965 THE KEEPERS OF THE HOUSE - Shirley Ann Grau
1966 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF KATHERINE ANNE PORTER - Katherine Anne Porter
1967 THE FIXER - Bernard Malamud
1968 THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER - William Styron
1969 HOUSE MADE OF DAWN - N Scott Momaday ON SHELVES
1970 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JEAN STAFFORD - Jean Stafford
1972 ANGLE OF REPOSE - Wallace Stegner ON SHELVES
1973 THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER - Eudora Welty ON SHELVES
1975 THE KILLER ANGELS - Jeff Shaara ON SHELVES
1976 HUMBOLDT'S GIFT - Saul Bellow
1978 ELBOW ROOM - James Alan McPherson
1979 THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER - John Cheever ON SHELVES
1980 THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG - Norman Mailer ON SHELVES
1981 A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES - John Kennedy Toole ON SHELVES
1982 RABBIT IS RICH - John Updike
1983 THE COLOR PURPLE - Alice Walker ON SHELVES
1984 IRONWEED - William Kennedy ON SHELVES
1985 FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Alison Lurie ON SHELVES
1986 LONESOME DOVE - Larry McMurtry ON SHELVES
1987 A SUMMONS TO MEMPHIS - Peter Taylor
1988 BELOVED - Toni Morrison - ON SHELVES
1989 BREATHING LESSONS - Anne Tyler
1990 THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE - Oscar Hijuelos
1991 RABBIT AT REST - John Updike
1992 A THOUSAND ACRES - Jane Smiley
1993 A GOOD SCENT FROM A STRANGE MOUNTAIN - Robert Olen Butler
1994 THE SHIPPING NEWS - E Annie Proulx
1995 THE STONE DIARIES - Carol Shields ON SHELVES
1996 INDEPENDENCE DAY - Richard Ford ON SHELVES
1997 MARTIN DRESSLER - Steven Millhauser ON SHELVES
1998 AMERICAN PASTORAL - Philip Roth ON SHELVES
1999 THE HOURS - Michael Cunningham ON SHELVES
2000 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES - Jumpha Lahiri
2001 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY - Michael Chabon ON SHELVES
2002 EMPIRE FALLS - Richard Russo ON SHELVES
2003 MIDDLESEX - Jeffrey Eugenides ON SHELVES
2004 THE KNOWN WORLD - Edward P. Jones ON SHELVES
2005 GILEAD - Marilynne Robinson ON SHELVES
2006 MARCH - Geraldine Brooks
2007 THE ROAD - Cormac McCarthy
2008 THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO - Junot Diaz ON SHELVES
2009 OLIVE KITTERIDGE - Elizabeth Strout ON SHELVES
2010 TINKERS - Paul Harding
2011 A VISIT FROM THE GOOD SQUAD - Jennifer Egan ON SHELVES
2013 ORPHAN MASTER'S SON - Adam Johnson ON SHELVES
2014 THE GOLDFINCH - Donna Tartt ON SHELVES
2015 ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE - Anthony Doerr ON SHELVES
2016 THE SYMPATHIZER - Viet Thanh Nguyen ON SHELVES
2017 THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD - Colson Whitehead ON SHELVES
2018 LESS - Andrew Sean Greer ON SHELVES
2019 THE OVERSTORY - Richard Powers ON SHELVES
2020 THE NICKEL BOYS - Colson Whitehead


17 READ
37 ON SHELVES
39 NOT OWNED OR READ

93 TOTAL

NOBELS

Update on my Nobel Prize Winning Reading:
1901 Sully Prudhomme
1902 Theodor Mommsen
1903 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
1904 Frédéric Mistral and José Echegaray y Eizaquirre
1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz
1906 Giosuè Carducci
1907 Rudyard Kipling - READ
1908 Rudolf Christoph Eucken
1909 Selma Lagerlöf
1910 Paul Heyse --
1911 Count Maurice Maeterlinck
1912 Gerhart Hauptmann
1913 Rabindranath Tagore - READ
1915 Romain Rolland
1916 Verner von Heidenstam
1917 Karl Adolph Gjellerup and Henrik Pontoppidan
1919 Carl Spitteler
1920 Knut Hamsun - READ
1921 Anatole France - READ
1922 Jacinto Benavente
1923 William Butler Yeats - READ
1924 Wladyslaw Reymont
1925 George Bernard Shaw - READ
1926 Grazia Deledda - READ
1927 Henri Bergson
1928 Sigrid Undset
1929 Thomas Mann - READ
1930 Sinclair Lewis - READ
1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt
1932 John Galsworthy - READ
1933 Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin - READ
1934 Luigi Pirandello - READ
1936 Eugene O'Neill - READ
1937 Roger Martin du Gard
1938 Pearl S. Buck - READ
1939 Frans Eemil Sillanpää
1944 Johannes Vilhelm Jensen
1945 Gabriela Mistral
1946 Hermann Hesse - READ
1947 André Gide - READ
1948 T.S. Elliot - READ
1949 William Faulkner - READ
1950 Bertrand Russell - READ
1951 Pär Lagerkvist - READ
1952 François Mauriac - READ
1953 Sir Winston Churchill - READ
1954 Ernest Hemingway - READ
1955 Halldór Laxness - READ
1956 Juan Ramón Jiménez
1957 Albert Camus - READ
1958 Boris Pasternak (declined the prize) - READ
1959 Salvatore Quasimodo
1960 Saint-John Perse
1961 Ivo Andric - READ
1962 John Steinbeck - READ
1963 Giorgos Seferis
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre (declined the prize) - READ
1965 Michail Sholokhov
1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Nelly Sachs - READ
1967 Miguel Ángel Asturias
1968 Yasunari Kawabata - READ
1969 Samuel Beckett - READ
1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - READ
1971 Pablo Neruda - READ
1972 Heinrich Böll - READ
1973 Patrick White
1974 Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson
1975 Eugenio Montale
1976 Saul Bellow - READ
1977 Vincente Aleixandre
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer - READ
1979 Odysseas Elytis - READ
1980 Czeslaw Milosz
1981 Elias Canetti
1982 Gabriel Garciá Márquez - READ
1983 William Golding - READ
1984 Jaroslav Seifert - READ
1985 Claude Simon - READ
1986 Akinwande Ouwoe Soyinka
1987 Joseph Brodsky - READ
1988 Naguib Mahfouz - READ
1989 Camilo José Cela - READ
1990 Octavio Paz
1991 Nadine Gordimer - READ
1992 Derek Walcott - READ
1993 Toni Morrison - READ
1994 Kenzaburo Oe - READ
1995 Seamus Heaney - READ
1996 Wislawa Szymborska - READ
1997 Dario Fo - READ
1998 José Saramago - READ
1999 Günter Grass
2000 Gao Xingjian
2001 Vidiadhar Surjprasad Naipaul - READ
2002 Imre Kertész - READ
2003 John Maxwell Coetzee - READ
2004 Elfriede Jelinek - READ
2005 Harold Pinter - READ
2006 Orhan Pamuk - READ
2007 Doris Lessing - READ
2008 J.M.G. Le Clézio
2009 Herta Müller - READ
2010 Mario Vargas Llosa - READ
2011 Tomas Tranströmer - READ
2012 Mo Yan
2013 Alice Munro - READ
2014 Patrick Modiano - READ
2015 Svetlana Alexievich - READ
2016 Bob Dylan - READ
2017 Kazuo Ishiguro - READ
2018 Olga Tokarczuk - READ
2019 Peter Handke - READ
2020 Louise Gluck - READ

READ 71 OF
117 LAUREATES

AROUND THE WORLD CHALLENGE
Around the world in books challenge. I want to see how many countries I can cover without limiting myself to a specific deadline.

From 1 October 2020

1. United Kingdom - The Ways of the World by Robert Goddard EUROPE
2. Ireland - The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde EUROPE
3. Lithuania - Selected and Last Poems by Czeslaw Milosz EUROPE
4. Netherlands - The Ditch by Herman Koch EUROPE
5. Armenia - The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian ASIA PACIFIC
6. Zimbabwe - This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga AFRICA
7. United States - Averno by Louise Gluck AMERICA
8. Australia - Taller When Prone by Les Murray ASIA PACIFIC
9. France - Class Trip by Emmanuel Carrere EUROPE
10. Russia - The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov EUROPE
11. Denmark - Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard EUROPE
12. Democratic Republic of Congo - Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanze Mujila AFRICA
13. Canada - I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven AMERICA
14. Italy - The Overnight Kidnapper by Andrea Camilleri EUROPE
15. New Zealand - Dove on the Waters by Maurice Shadbolt ASIA PACIFIC


Create Your Own Visited Countries Map

QUEEN VIC CHALLENGE
Regarding my Victorian Era Challenge which I started this month with the aim of completing it by the end of 2021. 64 years. 64 books. 64 authors.

From Dec 2020

1843 FEAR AND TREMBLING by Kierkegaard
1850 PENDENNIS by Thackeray
1857 TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS by Hughes
1870 A LEAR OF THE STEPPES by Turgenev
1881 PRINCE AND THE PAUPER by Twain
1900 THREE SISTERS by Chekhov

6/64

QUEEN BETTY CHALLENGE

From December 2020 70 Years 70 Books 70 Different British Authors

1966 A Fall from the Sky by Ian Serraillier
1989 Plague 99 by Jean Ure
2013 A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre
2019 A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson

4/70

52 BOOK CLUB CHALLENGE

Based on this challenge suggested by Katie & Chelle

https://www.the52book.club/challenges/2021-reading-challenge/

January
Week 1 : Set in a school : Tom Brown's Schooldays by Hughes Read 2 Jan 2021
Week 2 : Legal profession :
Week 3 : Dual timeline :
Week 4 : Deceased author :

SERIES PAIR CHALLENGE

January First Half : Andrea Camilleri - MONTALBANO DONE
January Second Half : Agatha Christie - MISS MARPLE

READ MORE THAN ACQUIRED

Last year I added 300 books but read 50 of them. In addition I have another 4,500 plus on the TBR.
The challenge is not to make the situation of my TBR worse.
So I must read or remove from my wider TBR more than I acquire this year and I will gauge this against last years "new" TBR and any future incomings. Therefore the older TBRs don't count against this challenge.

The figure at the start of the year is 250 books and this number must be smaller by December 31. These are the 250 books:

1 Stay with Me Adebayo
2 American War Akkad
3 The Catholic School Albinati
4 The Unwomanly Face of War Alexievich
5 Saltwater Andrews
6 Big Sky Atkinson
7 At the Jerusalem Bailey
8 The Body Lies Baker
9 The Lost Memory of Skin Banks
10 Remembered Battle-Felton
11 Springtime in a Broken Mirror Benedetti
12 A Crime in the Neighborhood Berne
13 Stand By Me Berry
14 Love Story, With Murders Bingham
15 This Thing of Darkness Bingham
16 The Sandcastle Girls Bohjalian
17 The Ascent of Rum Doodle Bowman
18 Clade Bradley
19 The Snow Ball Brophy
20 Paladin of Souls Bujold
21 Parable of the Sower Butler
22 The Adventures of China Iron Camara
23 The Overnight Kidnapper Camilleri READ JAN 21
24 The Other End of the Line Camilleri READ JAN 21
25 Lord of all the Dead Cercas
26 Uncle Vanya Checkov
27 The Cherry Orchard Checkov
28 Blue Moon Child
29 Trust Exercise Choi
30 The Night Tiger Choo
31 The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side Christie
32 At Bertram's Hotel Christie
33 The Water Dancer Coates
34 The New Wilderness Cook
35 Hopscotch Cortazar
36 The Illumination of Ursula Flight Crowhurst
37 Deviation D'Eramo
38 Boy Swallows Universe Dalton
39 The Girl with the Louding Voice Dare
40 The Rose of Tibet Davidson
41 Dhalgren Delany
42 The Butterfly Girl Denfeld
43 Vernon Subutex 1 Despentes
44 Postcolonial Love Poem Diaz
45 Childhood Ditlevsen
46 Youth Ditlevsen
47 Dependency Ditlevsen
48 Burnt Sugar Doshi
49 Frenchman's Creek Du Maurier D
50 Trilby Du Maurier G
51 Sincerity Duffy
52 Sumarine Dunthorne
53 The Narrow Land Dwyer-Hickey
54 Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race Eddo-Lodge
55 Axiom's End Ellis
56 Figures in a Landscape England
57 kaddish.com Englander
58 Shadow Tag Erdrich
59 The Carpet Makers Eschbach
60 The Emperor's Babe Evaristo
61 Small Country Faye
62 To Rise Again at a Decent Hour Ferris
63 At Freddie's Fitzgerald
64 The Guest List Foley
65 Man's Search for Meaning Frankel
66 Love in No Man's Land Ga
67 Norse Mythology Gaiman
68 The Spare Room Garner
69 The Kites Gary
70 Gun Island Ghosh
71 Vita Nova Gluck
72 Trafalgar Gorodischer
73 Potiki Grace
74 Killers of the Flower Moon Grann
75 The Last Banquet Grimwood
76 Guapa Haddad
77 The Porpoise Haddon
78 Late in the Day Hadley
79 The Final Bet Hamdouchi
80 The Parisian Hammad
81 Nightingale Hannah
82 Coastliners Harris J
83 The Truths We Hold Harris K
84 Conclave Harris R
85 The Second Sleep Harris R
86 Tales of the Tikongs Hau'ofa
87 A Thousand Ships Haynes
88 The River Heller
89 Dead Lions Herron
90 Real Tigers Herron
91 War and Turpentine Hertmans
92 A Political History of the World Holslag
93 Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Honeyman
94 The Light Years Howard
95 Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself Huber
96 A High Wind in Jamaica Hughes
97 Ape and Essence Huxley
98 Me John
99 Nightblind Jonasson
100 Black Out Jonasson
101 How to be an Anti-Rascist Kendi
102 Death is Hard Work Khalifa
103 Darius the Great is Not Okay Khorram
104 Himself Kidd
105 Diary of a Murderer Kim
106 Dance of the Jacakranda Kimani
107 The Bridge Konigsberg
108 Who They Was Krauze
109 The Mars Room Kushner
110 The Princesse de Cleves La Fayette
111 The Other Americans Lalami
112 The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers Laroui
113 Fish Can Sing Laxness
114 Agent Running in the Field Le Carre
115 Pachinko Lee
116 The Turncoat Lenz
117 The Topeka School Lerner
118 Caging Skies Leunens
119 The Fifth Risk Lewis
120 The Three-Body Problem Liu
121 Lost Children Archive Luiselli
122 Black Moses Mabanckou
123 Blue Ticket Mackintosh
124 A Burning Majumdar
125 The Mirror and the Light Mantel
126 Original Spin Marks
127 Deep River Marlantes
128 The Return Matar
129 The Island Matute
130 Hame McAfee
131 Apeirogon McCann
132 Underland McFarlane
133 Hurricane Season Melchor
134 The Shadow King Mengiste
135 The Human Swarm Moffett
136 She Would Be King Moore
137 The Starless Sea Morgenstern
138 Poetry by Heart Motion
139 A Fairly Honourable Defeat Murdoch
140 The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov Nabokov
141 The Warlow Experiment Nathan
142 The Left-Handed Booksellers of London Nix
143 Born a Crime Noah
144 The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney Nzelu
145 Girl O'Brien
146 After You'd Gone O'Farrell
147 Henry, Himself O'Nan
148 Inland Obreht
149 Weather Offill
150 Dept. of Speculation Offill
151 Stag's Leap Olds
152 Blue Horses Oliver
153 Felicity Oliver
154 Will Olyslaegers
155 Woods, etc Oswald
156 Night Theatre Paralkar
157 The Damascus Road Parini
158 Empress of the East Peirce
159 The Street Petry
160 Disappearing Earth Phillips
161 Arid Dreams Pimwana
162 Peterloo : Witness to a Massacre Polyp
163 Lanny Porter
164 The Women at Hitler's Table Postorino
165 A Question of Upbringing Powell A
166 A Buyer's Market Powell A
167 The Acceptance World Powell A
168 The Interrogative Mood Powell P
169 Rough Magic Prior-Palmer
170 The Alice Network Quinn
171 Where the Red Fern Grows Rawls
172 Such a Fun Age Reid
173 Selected Poems 1950-2012 Rich
174 The Discomfort of Evening Rijneveld
175 Jack Robinson
176 The Years of Rice and Salt Robinson K
177 A Portable Paradise Robinson R READ JAN 21
178 The Fall of the Ottomans Rogan
179 Normal People Rooney
180 Conversations with Friends Rooney
181 Alone Time Rosenbloom
182 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Rowling
183 The Watch Roy-Bhattacharya
184 The Five Rubenhold
185 Contact Sagan
186 The Hunters Salter
187 The Seventh Cross Seghers
188 Will Self
189 Moses Ascending Selvon
190 The Dove on the Water Shadbolt READ JAN 21
191 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World Shafak
192 In Arabian Nights Shah
193 The Caliph's House Shah
194 Mrs Warren's Profession Shaw
195 Arms and the Man Shaw
196 Candida Shaw
197 Man and Superman Shaw
198 Dimension of Miracles Sheckley
199 The Last Man Shelley
200 Temple of a Thousand Faces Shors
201 Year of the Monkey Smith P
202 Eternity Smith T
203 Crossing Statovci
204 Lucy Church, Amiably Stein
205 Rosencrantz and Guilderstern are Dead Stoppard
206 Blood Cruise Strandberg
207 Shuggie Bain Stuart
208 Three Poems Sullivan
209 Rules for Perfect Murders Swanson
210 Cane River Tademy
211 Real Life Taylor
212 The Queen's Gambit Tevis
213 Far North Therous
214 Walden Thoreau
215 Civil Disobedience Thoreau
216 Survivor Song Tremblay
217 The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Treuer
218 The Small House at Allingham Trollope
219 A Nest of Gentlefolk Turgenev
220 A Quiet Backwater Turgenev
221 A Lear of the Steppes Turgenev READ JAN 21
222 The Queen of Attolia Turner
223 The King of Attolia Turner
224 Redhead by the Side of the Road Tyler
225 Outlaw Ocean Urbina
226 Plague 99 Ure READ JAN 2021
227 The Age of Miracles Walker
228 The Uninhabitable Earth Wallace-Wells
229 Judith Paris Walpole
230 Love and Other Thought Experiments Ward
231 The Death of Mrs. Westaway Ware
232 Lolly Willows Warner
233 Second Life Watson
234 Final Cut Watson
235 Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen Weldon
236 Before the War Weldon
237 Lazarus West
238 Educated Westover
239 The Nickel Boys Whitehead READ JAN 21
240 The Death of Murat Idrissi Wieringa
241 Salome Wilde
242 An Ideal Husband Wilde
243 Lady Windemere's Fan Wilde
244 A Woman of No Importance Wilde
245 The Salt Path Winn
246 The Natural Way of Things Wood C
247 East Lynne Wood E
248 A Room of One's Own Woolf
249 Interior Chinatown Yu
250 How Much of These Hills is Gold Zhang

BEGIN : 250
READ : 7
ADDED : 8 (Nett after deducting those already read)
CULLED : 0 (AGED TBR)

PRESENT TOTAL : 251

THIS YEAR'S ACQUISITIONS

1. Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Somerville & Ross
2. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome READ JAN 21
3. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
4. The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle
5. The Black Corsair by Emilio Salgari
6. The Prime Ministers : Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson by Steve Richards
7. The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim
8. Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante
9. Coningsby by Benjamin Disraeli

9 added
1 read
8 nett additions

RESOLUTIONS

MISCELLANEOUS STATS

Next up is yours

Happy new thread!

>21 thornton37814: Thanks Lori. x

Happy new thread!

Maybe I'll have something more to say before next week and thread #4. Only happy things though.

Part 3??! Already? Wow, happy new one. Math is not my strong suit, but even I can tell that if you have 3 new threads every 2 weeks, you are going to have a LOT of threads this year! ;-)

Another already?! Happy new one!

>23 quondame: Hahaha thank you Susan. Let's see how this one moves first!

>24 jessibud2: Things will settle down surely, Shelley.

>25 amanda4242: Thank you, Amanda.

Happy new one!

>28 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita. Always a pleasure to see you here.

Happy New Thread. Also, Happy Birthday to your youngest. Her's is the same day as my only. He turned 20 today. Geesh, time flies

>30 mahsdad: That is a very happy coincidence, Jeff. Best wishes to you and him.

Don't mind me... I am just putting a bookmark here bec otherwise I miss new messages. 😊

Happy new thread!

Seems your postal service might be working better than ours. Glad you got the letter. I thought you would be pleased that I am reading Silence of the Girls. It is the February selection for one of my real life book discussion groups. We had read Madeline Miller's retelling of the Illiad Song of Achilles last year and had a great discussion about that book. This book came up in the discussion so we decided to read it this year to see how all of these retelling stand up to each other and the real thing.

>32 PersephonesLibrary: Bookmarks or not always happy to see you here, Kathy!

Wow, I am so far behind on your threads!!

Away a few days and find Paul's at thread 3.

>2 PaulCranswick: Thank you for continuing to expand my poetry horizons. That is quite a forlorn feeling evoked by John Betjeman.

>4 PaulCranswick: And that is an impressive assortment of books. You grapple with such big stories! I lean toward cozy and comfortable but appreciate the window you provide into otherwise.

Happy new thread, Paul!
I wish you and yours a wonderful weekend.

>33 benitastrnad: I am always thrilled to receive your letter, Benita. I think it is such a delightful tradition.

I felt that The Silence of the Girls was a more fulfilling read than Miller's book although the latter was excellent too.

>35 crazy4reading: Don't worry Monica - I often am too!

>36 justchris: I grew up loving Betjeman's work, Chris. Even now, though I can see the superior literary merit in Eliot or Heaney, his verse has a tremendous ability to move hearts and a delightful musicality. His suburban stirrings fit to my upbringing so neatly in many ways.

>37 SirThomas: Thank you so much, Thomas.

I love Betjeman - don't think I'd read that one though.

Every time I'm on a golf course (walking NOT playing) I get this going through my mind;
"How straight it flew, how long it flew,
It clear’d the rutty track
And soaring, disappeared from view
Beyond the bunker’s back –
A glorious, sailing, bounding drive
That made me glad I was alive."

Betjeman also makes me think of my Grandad - we always read him together. Stupid virus - Grandad's in a home in Surrey and I can't go and see him.

Sorry - on a virus based downer - Happy New Thread and yay it's Friday!

I recently - during 2019 - read my way through the Swallows and Amazons series, having resisted them as a child because the library books covers were so dull. I enjoyed most of them, though some more than others. I found the meta-stories, Peter Duck and, especially, Missee Lee my least liked. I am not at all keen on, or knowledgable about, sailing and other similar outdoor activities but the books were well written enough to enable me to understand what was going on even if they did not tempt me to try it out myself!

Happy new thread!!

Happy New Thread, Paul. You and Amber are rockin' it, in the new year. Have a great weekend.

*tsk*
Three threads already, Paul? Seems a bit ridiculous, honestly. I mean, who does that?!

Hi Paul and happy new thread.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Paul!
And hoping you have a wonderful weekend ahead, with only good news.

Happy new thread!

Happy New Thread, Paul.

Thanks for the Betjeman poem up there, Paul. I'm coming to him late. I'm liking the Louise Gluck collection, but man is it a whopper - 600+ pages. I do get why she won the award now. The latter poems get better and better, IMO, and on p. 560 or so I just read a terrific one called "In the Cafe".

I really liked this poem, "In the Cafe", by Louise Gluck. I've yet to understand why she included the first stanza; to me, the poem would do better without it, and start with "My friend falls in love too easily", i.e., the next stanza.

In the Cafe

It's natural to be tired of earth. When you've been dead this long, you'll probably
be tired of heaven. You do what you can do in a place but after awhile
you exhaust that place, so you long for rescue.

My friend falls in love a little too easily.
Every year or so a new girl—
If they have children he doesn't mind—
he can fall in love with children also.

So the rest of us get sour and he stays the same,
full of adventure, always making new discoveries.
But he hates moving, so the women have to come from here, or near here.

Every month or so, we meet for coffee.
In summer, we'll walk around the meadow, sometimes as far as the mountain.
Even when he suffers, he's thriving, happy in his body.
It's partly the women, of course, but not that only.

He moves into their houses, learns to like the movies they like.
It's not an act—he really does learn,
the way someone goes to cooking school and learns to cook.

He sees everything with their eyes.
He becomes not what they are but what they could be
if they weren't trapped in their characters.
For him, this new self of his is liberating because it's invented—

he absorbs the fundamental needs in which their souls are rooted,
he experiences as his own the rituals and preferences these give rise to—
but as he lives with each woman, he inhabits each version of himself
fully, because it isn't compromised by the normal shame and anxiety.

When he leaves, the women are devastated.
Finally they met a man who answered all their needs—
there was nothing they couldn't tell him.
When they meet him now, he's a cipher—
the person they knew didn't exist anymore.
He came into existence when they met,
he vanished when it ended, when he walked away.

After a few years, they get over him.
They tell their new boyfriends how amazing it was,
like living with another woman, but without the spite, the envy,
and with a man's strength, a man's clarity of mind.

And the men tolerate this, they even smile.
They stroke the woman's hair—
they know this man doesn't exist; it's hard for them to feel competitive.

You couldn't ask, though, for a better friend,
a more subtle observer. When we talk, he's candid and open,
he's kept the intensity we all had when we were young.
He talks openly of fear, of the qualities he detests in himself.
And he's generous—he knows how I am just by looking.
If I'm frustrated or angry, he'll listen for hours,
not because he's forcing himself, because he's interested.

I guess that's how he is with the women.
But the friends he never leaves—
With them, he's trying to stand outside his life, to see it clearly—

Today he wants to sit; there's a lot to say,
too much for the meadow. He wants to be face to face,
talking to someone he's known forever.

He's on the verge of a new life.
His eyes glow, he isn't interested in the coffee.
Even though it's sunset, for him
the sun is rising again, and the fields are flushed with dawn light,
rose colored and tentative.

He's himself in these moments, not pieces of the women
he's slept with. He enters their lives as you enter a dream,
without volition, and he lives there as you live in a dream,
however long it lasts. And in the morning, you remember
nothing of the dream at all, nothing at all.

>40 BekkaJo: Nowadays when I think of Betjeman (and I still have several of his books and he is in a number of anthologies, I own) I always conjure up first David Essex singing Myfanwy. I suppose that he is so quintessentially English that I oftentimes yearn for his comforting rhythms as it brings me back to my home and late childhood.
You too, Bekka, it seems. Lovely image of you reading his poems together with your Granddad and how sad that you cannot be with him at the moment.

>41 CDVicarage: I know what you mean, Kerry. I am not a sailor by any means either but the book is readable even so.

>42 ChelleBearss: Thank you, Chelle.

>43 msf59: Thanks Mark. It is great to see Amber so active this year - harks back to 2014/5 when her threads rattled through faster than anybody's.

>44 scaifea: I know, Amber - bit ridiculous right?! xx

>45 karenmarie: Thank you Karen. It is Belle's birthday and she wants - and will get a new laptop. Poor girl 17 years old and cannot really celebrate.

>46 leperdbunny: Thank you, Tamara. I need to get some books finished but I fell asleep on the sofa straight after dinner.

>47 FAMeulstee: Thanks dear Anita.

>48 drneutron: Thank you, Jim. Always splendid to have you here.

>49 jnwelch: And you Joe. Since she won the Nobel, I have already read five of her collections and I have another on the shelves and she is well represented in the Bookstore with other books. The first four books do not always work but when she hits the spot she is terrific and - you are right - she is a writer who gets better and better.

>50 jnwelch: It is one worth reading over a few times to absorb, Joe, isn't it? I can see how she was setting the scene with the opening stanza but you have a point - the opening of stanza two are perfect opening lines to the poem. I have become quite the tireless editor as I have gotten older and tend to re-organise and largely excise parts of my own writing more strictly than I used to.

One sign for me of a poet of immense gifts is the ability he or she has to set me to writing and Gluck can do that.

>56 PaulCranswick: Jeez Louise, Paul, I screwed up. I was catching up on your thread, got distracted, and mistakenly posted it on your thread when I thought I was on mine! It's so long - would you like me to delete it? I'm glad at least I posted it on the thread of a fellow poetry enthusiast.

Thanks for taking an interest; she inspires me to write, too, and I always hold onto those in my heart.

Just let me know if you'd like a deletion; sounds like you didn't mind, but I'm sorry about the goof! We were rushing for an appointment. I'd never intentionally post something that long on someone else's thread. I'm smacking myself upside the head.

>57 jnwelch: I'm glad you made the goof. I really enjoyed the poem. I haven't read many of hers but she's on my must-read list.

Paul, I can't believe you are on #3 already. There was lots of great conversation on which to catch up.
Happy new thread.

Happy New Thread, Paul!

I'm glad to read that on the last update your Mom was doing better. I hope that continues.

>50 jnwelch: I think the first stanza is a pedestal for the rest. Works for me. Sounds like emotional ADD.

Hi Paul, happy new thread mate and what a great thread topper, i am like you and want to read the Swallows and Amazons series and hope to make a start sometime this year.

Glad to hear that your mum is feeling a bit better mate and hope this progress continues, we had snowfall yesterday, a decent amount for a change and after a day of ice and freezing fog, it is forecast to snow from midnight until 6 pm tomorrow. Hope you all have a really good weekend mate despite the lockdown.

Sending love and hugs from both of us dear friend.

>57 jnwelch: No fear, Joe. It was poetry dear fellow so when would I ever object! Leave it where it is with my pleasure.

>58 Oregonreader: Jan, you can still raise any issue from the previous threads here, no worries. I love all opinions!

>62 PaulCranswick: Heh. And here I thought maybe best to let those dogs go to sleep in the previous thread rather than start up a chorus with my own yapping at the moon.

>59 streamsong: She does seem to have stabilised again, Janet. I am mightily relieved because I do so much want to see her.

>60 quondame: Yes, Susan, I see that too. Stanza two does slightly sit apart from it but if I was her editor (heaven forfend) I don't think I would cut the actual opening as it goes to the poet's intent.

>61 johnsimpson: Thank you, John (and Karen). I heard from my brother that the weather at home is bitter cold so please do stay warm and safe.

>63 justchris: Haha Chris - yap away to your heart's content!

Happy new thread Paul. and happy thingaversary for the other day.

>66 fairywings: Thank you dear Adrienne.

BOOK # 7



A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson

Date of Publication : 2019
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 81 pp

Challenges :
Queen Betty Challenge : 4/70
2021 Poetry Collections : 1/12

Occasionally a poet and a collection comes along whose fire and articulation are so in twain that the parochial transcends to the universal. This is one such.

Writing in turn about the Grenfell fire disaster, Windrush England, the history of slavery, jazz, faith, belonging and the early struggles for life, it is clear that he is a poet of vision, compassion and well directed anger.

This offers more hope and positivity along with the shaking, clenched fist - something that was missing in the destructively repetitive Terrance Hayes collection last year.

There are many quotable pieces here but I have picked this one.



Heartily recommended.

Happy new Thred, happy belated Thingaversary. My prayers are still with your Mother.

>69 BBGirl55: Thanks Bryony. My brother told me that the nurse mentioned to him that their patients seem to be responding well to a particular steroid they have been treating the Covid-19 patients with. She seems to be holding steady thus far.

>68 PaulCranswick: This looks so interesting. I will have to put it on my wishlist... Hope you and your family are doing well. Happy weekend!

>58 Oregonreader:, >62 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Jan and Paul. Eesh. I did finally post it on my own thread!

>60 quondame: Pedestal is a good word for it, Susan. I believe she's trying to set up that this take on his romantic ADD enthusiasms can have much broader applications in our lives (with our own enthusiasms), and with each of our lives, period. But my reaction to it is it's not as inviting to the reader as the second stanza.

>71 PersephonesLibrary: I don't think I have seen a negative review of that one, Kathy.

>72 jnwelch: I would have probably left it as is on balance, Joe, but definitely the second stanza is the more memorable.

Happy new thread, Paul!

>74 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda. I am trying to finish off a few books this weekend.

Happy third thread, Paul! You are moving at a speedy clip. Hope all's well in your side of the globe.

>72 jnwelch: The attractiveness of being in a continual state of enthusiasm from someone new contrasts with the void left from not carrying anything forward. If, in a dance, both partners don't give weight, the magic of paired movement is never realized. So I see a cautionary introduction not amiss.

>2 PaulCranswick: Thank you that was excellent. Leamington is where I am currently working!

>76 Carmenere: In a strange sort of lockdown, Lynda, that has construction exempted but the streets quiet - many stores closed (including my bookshop), restaurants and coffee shops open but only for delivery services. A sort of worst of all worlds!

>77 quondame: Nicely put, Susan.

>78 DMulvee: Also not so far from where I went to university (Warwick).

Oh, there you are Paul. You did start a new thread without me - and then you started another one. I'll confess I'm only keeping up with threads with low numbers of posts and I've skipped your second thread to get here in time. Belated happy birthday to Belle and happy Thingaversary to you.

You were asking about the Covid situation here. I hear that numbers have picked up in Malaysia. Stay safe.

>81 humouress: Don't punish me because the thread is moving too fast, Neighbour!

No need to keep up entirely skip and skim as you wish.

The situation here has been exaggerated by the Government I feel as they managed to persuade the Agong to declare an Emergency until August which precludes the possibility of an election in the meantime.

Hey, Paul! Stay safe, Happy belated Thingaversary, and hope Belle had a decent birthday. Your baby is grown up!

>83 ronincats: Thank you, Roni - she is grown indeed!

I am travelling through the threads geographically this weekend and have done Europe and Asia Pacific pals already. Will start on catching up with my North American friends later in the day here.

>82 PaulCranswick: August!? *rolls eyes*

Not punishing you, Paul; you just set a punishing pace. (Too many puns?)

>85 humouress: Puns always welcome here.

>68 PaulCranswick: Lovely. Thanks for sharing that one. Convincing review.

>87 justchris: Best collection I have read in a while, Chris.

Hi Paul. I can't believe you have a third thread. I'm flabbergasted! Happy New Thread!

>89 connie53: I'm not alone, Connie. Amber actually got there before me by a couple of hours, if I'm not mistaken.

>90 PaulCranswick:

>91 connie53: Hahaha cute!

Happy Weekend, Paul. Hope you are getting in plenty of R & R.

Hi Paul.

>53 PaulCranswick: Belated Happy Birthday to Belle. I remember being 17, hanging out with friends and actually going to school, football games, the mall, the beach. Very good times indeed. The world is not being very kind to children and extroverts, and honestly I don’t think much is going to change before the end of 2021.

>84 PaulCranswick: Interesting way to travel through the threads.

>93 msf59:

Sunday Lockdown

Even activity is inertia -
Ordering food off the phone
and it arrives
as plastic as the containers that
contain and reconstitute it.

Netflix episodes one on another
without need of remote
to leave you without company.
Half a dozen books on the go
and none of them moving.

All days meld together
into a superfluous blob
of nothing happening,
of too much coffee
of stir crazy irritations.

Tomorrow is work
and another plod on empty streets
suffocating in my mask
where handshakes are forbidden
and the working count meagre blessings.

A mother two continents away
in hospital with no hope
of visitors, or of seeing a son
two continents away who
dreads a call from his twin.

Those are my thoughts this Sunday, Mark.

>94 karenmarie: I had just determined upon my first love at seventeen Karen and was writing poetry like Billy-o, studying politics, history, English and economics and thinking that it would be like that forever. I remember kisses to U2's Unforgettable Fire and Spandau Ballet's True, walks along the disused train tracks stealing cuddles in innocent times with no thought of not being a young gentleman at all times!

Lovely to see you, Karen.

>95 PaulCranswick: I think many will recognise their situation in that Paul.

I feel lucky, in that mostly I'm doing OK. Happy in my own company, though will be glad to go out to dinner with friends or family again sometime. I do miss live theatre. The intimacy of strangers under a spell. It's not the same via a screen, even if that is better than nothing.

Nice to see you Caroline. I think most of the days roll together for many of us. My tedium is broken by work.

>2 PaulCranswick: What a special poem!

>95 PaulCranswick: I hope poetry is offering you some solace, or at lest an adequete pressure release valve. You've summed up the feelings of these days perfectly. And I hope your mum continues to gather strength.

>99 Whisper1: Thank you, dear Linda.

>100 justchris: The summing up is a source of some dejection, Chris. These are not great times. I have had a pretty distracted day and now as I want to sleep have developed indigestion from one of those delivered plastic meals I had earlier recorded. xx

>Good luck getting through the day. I have gone through tremendous amounts of candied ginger with my ongoing digestive upset in the last year. Luckily, I haven't had to turn to little plastic meals much. Last night I made a fantastic butternut-duck-stuffed cannelloni for dinner. It'll be lunch here shortly. Feel better soon!

>102 justchris: We don't get food delivered often, Chris, but it is a rule at home that Hani is not allowed to cook on Sundays. Since we cannot go to one of your usual hostelries we must order in.

I am very late to your newest thread, Paul. Sorry to find you a bit dispirited. Hoping the indigestion is fleeting. Belatedly wishing your Belle happy on her 17th! How did that happen?!

I'm sorry that your mom is again in the hospital and you are far away from her - I know that is very hard on you. Sending you positive mojo and our best wishes for healing in all areas from the Pecan Paradisio.

>104 Crazymamie: Thank you, Mamie. Discussed with Kyran and Belle and we are thinking of taking a French language course during lockdown and try to spur each other on a bit. Don't know - for all my smart Alec protestations - whether I'll really be able to keep up with the offspring; evolution and all!

I think that idea is full of fabulous, Paul! Sounds like fun.

*edited to fix the typo

Nous pourrons parler en français!

Excellent :)

>106 Crazymamie: I probably have a slight advantage as I have studied french at school but I am rusty.

Stopping by on a Sunday afternoon, Paul.

I'm contriving some reading sets, mostly in my head. Don't know if I'll actual act on the idea. Example: I'm reading Obama's memoir, and thought to extract my copy of photographer Pete Souza's collection taken during Obama's presidency. Not too much text in that, but I've already spent worthwhile time paging through it. I ought to add Michelle Obama's book to the set.

(Side note: Today is Mrs. Obama's birthday, she along with Ben Franklin, Nevil Shute, Anne Bronte, and Sebastian Junger.)

A second set pairs Tony Horwitz's book about John Brown with James McBride's fictional take on Brown, The Good Lord Bird.

>105 PaulCranswick: With language studies the key is the amount of time you put into leaning. It also helps to immerse yourself as much as you can in that language. Watch French shows, listen to French talk radio. Even if you understand little, it will really help you. Perhaps your offspring will have to keep up with you!

Bonne chance, Paul!

>109 weird_O: I guess the Obama set would fit Linda's American author challenge, Bill. I want to read McBride at some stage this coming year.

>110 figsfromthistle: That is quite right, Anita. I learnt Malay language conversationally very proficiently by a process of total immersion!

>107 BekkaJo: Noticed that I missed you up there, Bekka. A thousand apologies or was it that I didn't understand you (kidding of course)!

Wow, 112 messages before I managed to say "Happy New Thread". How do you find the time for the books? :)

Hope you had a good weekend.

>113 sirfurboy: Your timing is excellent, Sir F. The books are coming along just fine.

Charlie and I used the Mango app to start learning (Charlie)/review (me) French last summer, and it was fun! I hope you enjoy your studies!

>115 scaifea: It would be nice to read Zola, Balzac or Camus in its intended language.

>116 PaulCranswick: I have similar thoughts about Levi-Strauss, and even have collected a French textbook and associated workbook. But not enough to actually use them (or any online alternative). Good luck!

Happy third thread, Paul. Belated birthday wishes to your sweet Belle, and continued good thoughts for your mother.

Happy new thread, Paul. Thinking about your mother. Also thinking that there are only 47 hours left until Jan 20, 2021 noon Eastern time, when my new year begins:
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/to?p0=263&iso=20210120T12&msg=Time...

>117 justchris: My schoolboy French isn't too bad but needs considerable brushing up to get me to the condition I want to be in.

>118 AMQS: Thanks Anne. The Doppleganger will be happy with her new laptop which I should be able to get today.

>119 kac522: A new dawn at least, Kathy. Not being bombarded by those inane tweets will be a great start.

One of my pet hates recently is posting to threads and having one's post ignored. It can happen that occasionally our posts get missed either because of the number of posts coming into someone's thread or because of cross posting, etc, but repeated occasions of not acknowledging posts is starting to fray my patience.

From now on I will operate a three strike policy if I post three times to an active thread without even the merest acknowledgement I won't post there again. Life is too short.

I think it is good manners to acknowledge and respond to every one who takes the trouble to reach out to me here - as long as I'm not under attack - and I don't understand why anyone would behave differently to that repeatedly.

Maybe I'm being a little bit over sensitive but I had better concentrate on my reading than take up time posting to people who clearly don't care whether I do or do not.

>122 PaulCranswick: I'm sorry your posts are being ignored by some. I suspect some of the new people haven't figured out it is common courtesy to acknowledge a post. However, I think they might get the idea by visiting other threads and seeing how it is done.

>123 thornton37814: Sorry also, Lori, I am a bit down in the dumps this morning as I found out my sister, brother-in-law and nephew also have covid in addition to my mum. It wasn't perhaps the best time for me to be looking at threads.

I left a rather churlish post on a particular thread this morning which I have since amended.

>122 PaulCranswick: Sorry to hear you're feeling brushed off/unappreciated. You are a delight throughout the group.

>125 justchris: It's OK Chris. Was a bit over sensitive this morning, is all. I realise that I don't have to go to everyone's thread in order to be happy here. I am in the process of whittling down the threads I regularly visit. One reason is difficulties in keeping up and the second is reception or otherwise to visits and returns.

It will put less stress on me at a time when my stress levels are a little higher than normal.

I am sorry to hear about your family in England- these are indeed stressful times.

>127 torontoc: The times are extraordinary but I would like to think that coming through the other side - if we do - we will all be stronger.

>124 PaulCranswick: Sorry to hear about the extra Covid positives. That's just rubbish. Fingers crossed everyone shifts it quickly.

>129 BekkaJo: C'est la vie, Bekka (and I haven't even started the course yet!) they are not feeling well but don't appear to be in any danger.

Judge Savage and Shuggie Bain are grinding inexorably towards completion and although I am enjoying the latter in particular it does seem a book I appreciate in digestible chunks.

I also started The Nickel Boys this evening and was immediately captivated. I can see why this won the Pulitzer. Fantastic.

Swallows and Amazons and The Other End of the Line have been devoid of attention tonight but I will get round to them tomorrow and they do move quicker than the others.

Absolute minimum these five books must get finished this week.

One of my projects is pretty much completed. I will meet the owners on Thursday to discuss account settlement and seek compensation for some of the delays caused by their late changes to the Works. It does look nice now though and affords a fantastic view of the Petronas Twin Towers (Petronas also part own this building).

>132 PaulCranswick: Wow! What an impressive building!

>122 PaulCranswick: I think politeness should go without saying, but unfortunately it doesn't.
>124 PaulCranswick: It's a sad thing to hear, Paul. I hope they are well.
>132 PaulCranswick: WOW!!!

>133 amanda4242: In real life and close up it is impressive and has quite a footprint which you don't quite get the full impression of from the picture above.

>134 SirThomas: I was a bit tetchy this morning, Thomas. These are difficult days for all of us and I suppose I should make allowances if not all of conform in the same way.

Everybody stable today without any worsening of condition.

My working office is on Level 7 at the top of the podium of that building and the view across KLCC park is really something.

>132 PaulCranswick: I am impressed! Not everyone can do the fantastic building projects you do!

Wow, that's a heckuva building!

>137 Whisper1: I cannot claim that, Linda. The clever builders are my Korean buddies - my role is to make sure that get paid for all of it and don't get blamed when it doesn't get finished on time.

>138 drneutron: Thanks Jim. The PNB Merdeka 118 Tower still has about 18 months to go before completion and Samsung are closing in on a new project with the KLCC boys that >132 PaulCranswick: belongs to. It will be a redevelopment of Malaysia's first genuine skyscraper the Dayabumi Building.

>122 PaulCranswick: I am sorry about that and I have made similar experiences. If I don't get any reaction - neither on the person's thread nor in mine - I move on. There are so many appreciative and thoughtful people on LT I'd rather write to in that case.

>132 PaulCranswick: Very impressing!!

Hi Paul, sorry to hear more of your family has Covid mate, it does seem that more and more folk in Yorkshire are getting it sadly, our next door neighbours have both got it, Catherine was rushed into Pinderfields on Sunday afternoon as her oxygen levels were dangerously low although once stabalised she was back home later in the evening. We are keeping an eye on them and have messaged them to let them know if they require anything just to let us know.

Sending love and hugs to you, Hani and the kids and your family are in our thoughts mate.

>132 PaulCranswick: Impressive! Very!

First, the building is very cool. Great image, I love reflections and urban photography. Did you take this, or is a marketing image. Yours - WAY cool. Marketing - nice shot. ;)

Secondly, your comments about visiting struck home for me, and I fear that I am sometimes a perpetrator of the non-responsive host. I tend to lurk around the threads a lot, and I appreciate that mine is not on the main thoroughfare, but there's no excuse for lurking on my own thread. I will endeavor to do better and making sure everyone who does visit, feels welcome and acknowledged.

Its good to be reminded, thanks!

Best wishes to your family!

>124 PaulCranswick: Oh, Paul, what terrible news. I’m so sorry about your mum, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. Sending hugs.

>132 PaulCranswick: Congratulations. It’s stunning and impressive.

>95 PaulCranswick: This was a terrific poem, Paul. I hope you have been feeling a bit more uplifted this last couple of days.

>140 PersephonesLibrary: Sometimes Kathe I say to myself "If it was me I would......" and realise that we are not all made the same - what I sometimes infer as a snub is oftentimes merely an innate shyness.

>141 johnsimpson: West Yorkshire does seem to be having its fair share just at the moment, mate. Trust that you and Karen will stay safe.

The India v Australia game yesterday was a wonderful advert for Test cricket wasn't it? Pleased that India were brave enough to go for it and that it came off.

>142 quondame: Modern structures can definitely still be things of beauty, Susan.

>143 mahsdad: I swiped the picture off the internet, I'm afraid, Jeff. I have some great pictures of it on whatsapp and will try to figure out how to transfer the best of them here.

I did not have you in mind, Jeff, with my comments yesterday and must say that I have always found you a most convivial host!

>144 karenmarie: Thank you, Karen. The news overnight - being silence - I suppose is good news!

>145 msf59: Thanks Mark. Written entirely off the cuff, typed straight from brain to thread as is occasionally my way and completely unedited.

>124 PaulCranswick: Sorry to hear your family are struck with Covid Paul. I hope it is the milder version, though it s worrying for your mum, with all her other health issues. I'm keeping you all in my thoughts.

>132 PaulCranswick: impressive building. I'm sure you are very proud to have played a part in its construction.

>132 PaulCranswick: Stunning!

Sorry to read more family got COVID-19, I hope they get better soon.

I am always happy to see a post from you on my thread, and appreciate your efforts to "do" all the threads regular.

>149 Caroline_McElwee: I think that my sister, brother in law and nephew will be ok, Caroline but I do worry about my Mum with - as you rightly say - all here other health issues.

I am proud of the building sure enough!

>150 FAMeulstee: Thanks as always for the warm wishes, Anita.

I don't do all the threads anymore - only for special occasions and to update reading stats. I do pick and choose where I go and where I feel more welcome these days - but that is still over 100 threads!

>132 PaulCranswick: Wow! That's quite the accomplishment Paul. Sorry about the COVID diagnosis in your family, especially your Mum who has had to deal with so much.

>153 brenzi: Thank you, Bonnie. I think we have done well as a group (my Samsung colleagues) to keep focused and finish the project despite stoppages due to the pandemic, enforced reductions in the labour force and their movement around the site, and the strain put on all of us by not being able to return to our home countries or effectively take any proper holidays.

Sorry to read about the covid diagnosis in your family.
And that is an impressive building!

>155 jayde1599: Thanks Jess. The other building I am working on is more obviously impressive but this one was a major challenge both because of the difficult schedule as well as it being connected to the already operating KLCC Convention Centre.

Sorry to hear about your family, I hope they pull through!

I find listening to music in a language I'm trying to learn/stay in practice with to be really helpful, it lets me keep better track of stresses and so forth. Also with some songs it's a fun puzzle to figure out what exactly is supposed to be happening in the lyrics. (Personally as far as French-language music goes I'm a big, big fan of Tri Yann but they're, uh, possibly an acquired taste.)

I'm behind on threads again, not surprisingly!
Sorry to see some of your family have covid! I'll keep my fingers crossed for quick recoveries

>151 PaulCranswick: Somehow I overlooked your update that family members were positive. I hope all of them pull through with minimum impact, especially your mum.

>157 false-knight: Nice to see you here Emery. I think that is a splendid idea to support learning and immersion in a language. I became proficient in Malay by being part of a Malay household with my wife, parents-in-law, and sisters-in-law as well as her friends, aunties and uncles all speaking to each other naturally in my presence on a daily basis. It somehow by process of osmosis just fell into place and I find myself speaking with their Johorean inflexions. (Johor being the Southern most state of Malaysia abutting Singapore where they speak the most "proper" Malay at least according to the Johoreans! )
I love the music of Moustaki and Georges Brassens (I know, I am showing my age) and regularly listen to them.

>158 ChelleBearss: Thank you, Chelle. I am hopeful that they will all make recoveries although I don't see my mum ever getting into triathlon shape again!

>159 justchris: Thanks Chris. My mum is the one I am most worried about obviously and not having spoken to her for 9 days in her condition is a bit disconcerting.

>132 PaulCranswick: WOW! What an impressive building!

>160 PaulCranswick: Wow, yeah, that's really getting thrown in the deep end of the language immersion pool. But it does mean you get good at idioms!

I looked up Moustaki and that actually sounds like some music I might like; at first listen he's got really nice voice quality! (Tri Yann does—or did, their farewell tour got interrupted by COVID—folk and folk-rock, mostly, the acquired taste warning is largely because it's Breton folk and so it involves a fair amount of the binioù kozh, a small and high-pitched bagpipe which is not always something one wants to be surprised with.)

>162 thornton37814: Thanks Lori. It would have looked even better had the building owner not decided half-way through to save a bit of money on the facade.

>163 false-knight: Yes, I suppose I am able to come up with a number of Malay idioms. Often food related in fact. A couple of examples would be ada gula ada semut which I suppose is best translated to "where there is sugar you'll find ants" and also garam jatuh ke gula or "salt becomes sugar"

We have similar characters, Emery, because I was looking up Tri Yann as you were checking on Moustaki!

>132 PaulCranswick: WOW!!!! That is a gorgeous building! Congratulations, Paul!!!!

As I wrote on my thread, I hadn't realized that it was COVID that has your mother in hospital. Prayers for her recovery, and for your sister and her men. How hard to be away from them! I know the least bit about that. Take care of yourself!!!!!

>165 LizzieD: Thank you, Peggy. My mum has visited hospital so frequently in the last number of years and often with something most definitely life threatening that it would have been somehow inappropriate if she didn't contract COVID!

Please God, I am not tempting fate but it shows the same signs as the other big C of failing to dislodge her from this mortal coil. (she has had severally cancer of the cervix, ovaries, bowel and stomach). My mum has become a beacon of indefatigable spirit. I remember last January after returning to Malaysia broken hearted with her in the Hospice wasting away from a blocked bowel and the tube being removed from her throat to make her last hours more comfortable. I called Hani, by now taking my place at her bedside, only to see mum sitting up primly drinking tea - the tube removal somehow dislodging the blockage and re-affording her a grip on life.

I have to say that I always considered my mum something of a fragile flower but she has proved me completely mistaken.

>132 PaulCranswick: Wow! You must be very proud. That is a gorgeous building.

Paul, I know you haven't spoken to your Mom in quite a few days. But as you said, she has proven to be pretty strong. Wishing the best for her and all your loved ones.

And belated best wishes for you Thingaversary!! ; )

>167 Berly: Thank you, Kimmers. She is apparently requesting the nurses to buy her things from the shop below the intensive ward she is on so I detect an improvement of sorts. These sorts of times and how we adapt and cope with them tend to crystallise our love for those we know we care about but hadn't appreciated just how much.

Your Mum is amazing. Hugs :)

Continuing warm and healing vibes for your loved ones, Paul. And to you.

Breathe in, breathe out......

>132 PaulCranswick: Shuggie Bain is on my list too but haven't started it yet. I am glad you are enjoying it.

>169 BekkaJo: Thanks Bekka........ I certainly think so.

>170 jessibud2: Thank you Shelley. Most if not all is being held together here.

>171 sirfurboy: I think it will be fast tracked to classic status, Sir F.

Sorry to hear about your family Paul. Sending positive thoughts for a speedy recovery.

Adding to the positive vibes for your family Paul!

>168 PaulCranswick: I quite agree with that! I'm experiencing the same with my own mother, who is slowly becoming more frail.

Wanting to read Zola in French? I downloaded an app called 'Parallel Books'. It has a choice of books that one can read in two languages, with paragraphs highlighted, so it's easy to look at the translation when a paragraph is hard to follow. I've started Thérèse Raquin, the only Zola on offer, and the parallel translation is a real help.

I love Mustaki and Brassens as well!

Your mom sounds like my mother-in-law - we call her "one tough lady" all the time!

>174 fairywings: Thank you, Adrienne.

>175 EllaTim: Thanks Ella. The idea of those dual language books does appeal. I think in my whole collection of 11,000 books I have only one which is a collection of poems by Pablo Neruda.

>176 drneutron: Believe me, Jim, in my mum's case it was always well hidden!

>123 thornton37814: So sorry to hear about the COVID diagnosis in your family Paul! Here’s hoping that everyone makes a full recovery - your mother has had so much to deal with.

>166 PaulCranswick: Wow! That is amazing! And terrifying! Your mum has bounced bak from so much already.

>179 SandDune: Rhian, so far all are holding their ends up. x

>180 justchris: She has indeed, Chris, and I hope she can continue for some time to come.

"NOT BY THE EXAMPLE OF OUR POWER BUT BY THE POWER OF OUR EXAMPLE"



Good luck to Biden and to the USA.

So true!
This gives hope.

>182 PaulCranswick: I am once again filled with hope.

>183 SirThomas: I liked Biden's inauguration speech, Thomas, as I felt it gave a good reflection of who he is as an individual and contrasted quite starkly with what he is replacing. It was a little homespun and a little devoid of the oratorial heights but he struck the right note. I think this is going to be a tough four years for him physically and I detected a slight slur of tiredness occasionally but he certainly has my good will added to the millions of others.

>184 Berly: I remember being electrified by Obama's inauguration speeches whilst Biden's was warming and somehow reassuring. As all regular visitors to my threads know, I would have chosen a younger figure to take on this enormous burden and liked Klobuchar and Harris more during the primaries but I do believe and certainly hope that Uncle Joe can lead a wonderful nation back to a path better suited to it than that pursued by the spiteful, childish and greed filled administration he is replacing.

Just popping by to say hi Iam looking foward to your review on Swallows and Amazons. That buliding is cool.

>186 BBGirl55: Nice to see you, Bryony. Swallows and Amazons will be completed this weekend for sure.

Arrived in the mail today.

9. Coningsby by Benjamin Disraeli

Obviously for the Queen Vic challenge published in 1844.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/328947

Paul, I'm so sorry to hear of the covid in your family. I'm sending prayers to all of you.
For some reason, the picture of your building did not come through for me. I have an older computer and that may be the reason. I wish I could see your work but, judging from reactions here, it's pretty amazing.

I am so sorry about your family and sending love and healing prayers to you.

Sigh* I'm so sorry to read your mum is now fighting a new battle. This is such a horrible horrible virus and it seems to affect everyone differently. So scary. I'll include her in my prayers.

>95 PaulCranswick: Oh now succinctly you captured the moment.

>132 PaulCranswick: Wow! Your building is striking!

I am still a big Bernie fan and wish it had been him on the platform giving a rousing speech about how we can do better! Sleepy Joe excites me - not very much. However, anything is better than the G.O.G. Harris is also a great choice. I hope that in four years she can get her chance to run, but I would still bet that American's won't vote for her simply because of her sex. Her sex is always going to be against her. I think it will be another 50 years before a woman is either Senate majority leader or President. I think our best bet is to have a majority Supreme Court that is female. But that won't happen either.

I have been having great fun with all the Bernie and his mittens memes going around. I just think he would have been a wonderful President. I hope that he keeps the pressure on this administration to do something, as it will be very easy for Biden to just sleep through his term.

>190 SilverWolf28: I will go across and confirm......I'm in!

>191 Oregonreader: I will try to put a picture of it on your thread, Jan, when I stop by. As the chap responsible for contracts and the contractor's money, I am a little shy at the building being called "my work"! I did contribute in my own way, I guess.

We had a very successful teams meeting with their senior management yesterday - the project was delayed for a total of 332 days for various reasons and the Employer has agreed that he will give an Extension of Time for all that period (meaning we will receive no delay penalties) in addition 150 days of the delay will be compensable to us meaning that the Employer will cover our losses for that period.

>192 witchyrichy: Thank you, Karen. No news from the UK yesterday which in these times is good news.

>193 Carmenere: Unprecedented times, Lynda and I know that there are no magic wands but I do think that Biden will contribute to making things a little better.

>194 benitastrnad: I too like Bernie, Benita, but I am not sure that he would have been hugely successful as President. Too radical quite honestly even for the Democrats and it is so often pointed out that he isn't really a Democrat - I think he would have cut a frustrated figure as the legislature stymied him. The present administration (that sounds good) have the chance to take steps for the good with a supportive Congress and Senate.

As a British socialist there is nothing particularly radical for me in what Bernie proposes but I am not American and I honestly believe your 50 year prediction is more likely to fit the first socialist President than the first female one.

I really do hope you are wrong there (but I guess that if you are right we won't live to tell its story) - Hillary came within a hair's breadth of winning four years ago and was IMO (many don't agree) a poor candidate. If this administration is successful and Biden is a one term President then I see no reason whatsoever that Harris wouldn't be nominated and she certainly could win. This would be especially the case if the Democrats don't pursue Chump (or the Republicans in the Senate don't convict him) as the idiot is vain enough to stand again as an independent candidate, split the GOP vote and propel Harris to a landslide.

>197 PaulCranswick:
I like your prediction about Harris winning in four years, but I don't think it is possible. Americans will never vote for a female at this point in time. Give it 10 or 15 years when all these younger voters are in their 40's and 50's and that will change. Even then, I think there is a built in bias in our culture that will prevent it. Even in more liberal Britain it took 60 years after women got the vote before there was a woman leader. I am not optimistic about a woman as president in the U.S. in my lifetime. As a second stringer - yes. After all women have always made great secretaries because they take such neat notes and can transcribe them so well.

>198 benitastrnad: Let's see who is right, Benita, and I dare say this is one time that you will be pleased to be proven wrong by events.

I am not a gambling man, per se, but I am prepared to wager you 5 books (one for each year of the current administration plus one as is LT tradition) that Harris will win in 2024.

First stat attack of the year.

2021 posting is down a little on last year at the same stage but not by too much. Group numbers are down so it is to be expected and previous group members who were in the top 50 busiest threads last year - Charlotte (charl08) and Susan (SusanJ67), Donna and Deb have not reappeared this time. The 800 or so posts they would have collectively added between them would take us past last years figure.

Anyway presently the top 100 (and ties) busiest threads are :

1 PaulCranswick 760
2 scaifea 745
3 KatieKrug 683
4 richardderus 547
5 msf59 470
6 crazymamie 450
7 jnwelch 417
8 Berly 314
9 karenmarie 291
10 drneutron 242
11 EBT1002 228
12 MickyFine 204
13 laurelkeet 186
14 ronincats 178
15 FAMeulstee 174
16 thornton37814 168
17 lyzard 165
18 ChelleBearss 160
19 BBLBera 156
20 jessibud2 146
21 FamilyHistorian 144
22 Whisper1 142
23 SandDune 139
24 mstrust 138
25 Carmenere 127
26 PersephonesLibrary 127
27 AMQS 124
28 brenzi 118
29 cbl_tn 114
30 johnsimpson 113
31 loving-lit 112
32 Streamsong 107
33 bell7 105
34 DianaNL 104
35 harrybutler 98
36 justchris 94
37 LizzieD 93
38 Ameise1 91
39 mahsdad 91
40 figsfromthistle 89
41 Sir Thomas 88
42 coppers 86
43 EllaTim 85
44 quondame 84
45 laytonwoman3rd 83
46 Swynn 80
47 rebarelishesreading 78
48 Humouress 76
49 Caroline_McElwee 75
50 foggidawn 75
51 Weird_O 73
52 PawsForThought 72
53 curioussquared 71
54 norabelle414 70
55 BBGirl55 64
56 sibyline 62
57 ffortsa 60
58 jayde1599 59
59 lindapanzo 59
60 Bekkajo 58
61 London 58
62 Rbeffa 58
63 sirfurboy 56
64 The_Hibernator 56
65 connie53 52
66 souloftherose 52
67 genealogy_nana 51
68 fuzzi 48
69 lycomayflower 47
70 majkia 47
71 SqueakyChu 47
72 vikzen 47
73 aktakukac 46
74 archerygirl 45
75 avatiakh 45
76 fairywings 45
77 oberon 45
78 CDVicarage 44
79 Chatterbox 44
80 tiffin 44
81 amanda4242 43
82 witchyrichy 43
83 tymfos 41
84 AnneDC 40
85 goosecap 39
86 dk_phoenix 38
87 jennyifer24 38
88 ikernagh 37
89 magicians_nephew 37
90 _zoe_ 36
91 esquiress 36
92 MichiganTrumpet 36
93 SuziQOregon 36
94 bluesalamanders 35
95 banjo 34
96 false-knight 34
97 paulstadler 33
98 mdoris 32
99 alcottacre 30
100 arubabookwoman 30
101 cassiebash 30

So we see a resurgent Amber back to posting numbers similar to her 2014/2015 threads.

A welcome to three newcomers to the list in false-knight, goosecap, and genealogy_nana and I hope they continue to keep posting and energised by the group.

The top ten busiest threads are evenly split gender wise with 5 men and 5 ladies. Overall though the split is 16/85 with there being considerably more ladies in the list.

Asia Pacific residents comprise 6 people in the list
UK residents comprise 9 people on the list
Netherlands 4
Switzerland 2
Germany 2
Canada 9
USA 69

As always, I enjoy the stats you post. Have a great weekend.

I don't know how you have time to track stats! They are always interesting though.

>202 figsfromthistle: With five Canadian's in the top 40 it will be interesting to see whose thread is busiest this year.

Previous heavy posters (numerically) in Ilana, Valerie, Nancy, Judy and Deb are not represented this year and Sandy has started a little belatedly. Meg has lead the way for the last couple of years but Micky so far holds sway!

>203 thornton37814: It isn't too hard to keep it up once it is set up, Lori. Half an hour daily to update is all.

Skimming through and delurking to *wave* (see, I'm not ignoring you Paul). Hoping your family pull through covid strongly.

>182 PaulCranswick: *thumb*

>198 benitastrnad: oof!

>200 PaulCranswick: I see I'm still bang in the middle of the stats list, pretty much.

>205 humouress: Well I certainly wasn't referring to you, neighbour in >182 PaulCranswick:!

>198 benitastrnad: I think the sexism obvious in Benita's last sentence is meant to be tongue in cheek. I really do hope that her view of the American electorate is inaccurate.

>206 PaulCranswick: Well, of course not. I know where you live ;0)

Regarding the electorate etc.: I don't know whether this new administration is smashing the ceiling but it certainly does seem to be giving the boundaries a good shove, in all directions.

>207 humouress: Good luck to Biden and his team. Sincerely. They will need plenty of luck alongside the good will but the good will will help. I hope the constitution of his cabinet is not mere tokenism and that he is pooling talents irrespective of creed, colour, race, gender and sexuality and not because of it. I trust them to date to be fair.

Hope you are having a good Friday :)

>209 BekkaJo: Not too bad Bekka. Bought Belle her laptop so she is happy and I am broke!

Had a case of COVID in the office so I sent home 4 of my direct staff who had had close contact with the now patient. According to our protocols they will work from home for 10 days and can return if no symptoms develop.

Then got a break in that they wanted to "sanitise" the site office so we had to go home an hour early.

>200 PaulCranswick: Thanks for the stats, Paul, always nice to see I made a good start this year :-)

>210 PaulCranswick: Sorry to read Covid struck again at your work.

>211 FAMeulstee: There are so many cases here in Kuala Lumpur at the moment, Anita, that I would be surprised if there weren't any cases!

BOOK #8



The Other End of the Line by Andrea Camilleri
Date of Publication : 2016
Origin of Author : Italy
Pages : 293 pp

Challenges:
Series Pair : 1/26

The 24th edition of this wonderful series and, I think, one of the best. Great characters and tremendously plotted. Montalbano's elegant and attractive tailor (yes, it is a lady) is viciously murdered on her premises stabbed with the scissors of her trade umpteen times but her marvellous breasts and left untouched. Intertwined with tales of refugees being rescued and landed in Sicily, Camilleri's humour and topicality are as on point as ever.

Very sad to read his postscript whereby he thanks Valentina Alferj for helping him with book, editing and taking it down due to his now being blind. He hoped for more books to follow and thankfully he left us a few more gems to admire before he went to that finest Trattoria in the sky.

Evening, Paul! Finally catching up with you. So great that we both pulled the same Biden quote from his speech. I thought he did a very good job delivering it. As you say, he cannot compete with Obama, but then few people could - Obama is such an excellent speaker, and he makes it seem effortless. And I do not doubt that the slur in Biden's speech could be tiredness, but I think it is more likely the effect of his overcoming a stutter, which is a remarkable story in itself.

I am happy to read that you mum is doing better - how are the rest of your family doing? Craig, Abby, Kaitlyn, and I have all had Covid, and it was a rough ride. Took months for our sense of taste and smell to come back.

Thanks for compiling and sharing the stats - always fun to see, and I loved that I was number six! So great because as I recently shared on my thread that is my number in my family.

>213 PaulCranswick: Nice review - you are reminding me that I need to get back to that series. I have read the first five or six, I think. So happy making to know that I still have so many ahead of me.

Hoping that your weekend is full of fabulous!

>214 Crazymamie: Lovely to see you Number Six!

The family is doing ok all things considered and I am relieved to see that all your family members have made full recoveries from this dastardly scourge.

My top ten open series in no particular order :

INSPECTOR MONTALBANO - Andrea Camilleri
HARRY HOLE - Jo Nesbo
JACK REACHER - Lee Child (only have the last one to read as I won't continue after he retires)
ROSS POLDARK - Winston Graham
LENNOX - Craig Russell
SGT LOGAN McRAE - Stuart MacBride
UHTRED - Bernard Cornwell
HAMMARBY - Carin Gerhardsen
INSPECTOR KNUTAS - Mari Jungstedt
INSPECTOR BORDELLI - Marco Vichi

There are a few promising ones for me including Mick Herron, Ragnar Jonasson Harry Bingham and Jorn Lier Horst but I need to read more. Others like Inspector Rebus and Ruth Galloway or even Bernie Gunther who could just as easily be on that list.

Glad to hear that the family are all doing okay - it's a process, and it takes longer than you think it will to get over it and to get your mojo back.

Thanks for sharing your favorites! Of your promising ones, Mick Heron and Harry Bingham are both excellent. I like what I have read by Ragnar Jonasson - love the setting, but Mick Herron writes a better story, IMO. I'm not familiar with Jørn Lier Horst, so I looked him up - the English translations of his work start with book four? I remember when Nesbø first became popular over here and they started with the third book in his series - took forever to finally get the first two books translated. Let's see:

INSPECTOR MONTALBANO - I am ready for Excursion to Tindari, so I have only read the first four books then
HARRY HOLE - I am ready for The Leopard
JACK REACHER - I have only read the first one and am not sure I will read more, but Craig loves this series and has read all of them
ROSS POLDARK - I have not read any, but I do have the first one in the stacks
LENNOX - Again, I have the first one in the stacks, and that was a BB from you
SGT LOGAN McRAE - first one in the stacks
INSPECTOR KNUTAS - first one in the stacks
INSPECTOR BORDELLI - first one in the stacks

I have not read any of these:
UHTRED - Bernard Cornwell
HAMMARBY - Carin Gerhardsen

Looks like I have some excellent reading ahead of me since I have so many of your favorites in my stacks!

Hi Paul, how are your mum and Covid-infected family? Are they somewhat better now?

I had family with health troubles (non Covid) too, the last 12 days, but there's improvement and we can start to relax again. I wish your family will be better soon. {{{Paul}}}

>216 Crazymamie: Any series left out by me which you would absolutely have to have in your own list?

I didn't include Wallender, Erlendur and Matt Scudder (Mankell, Indridason and Block respectively) because I finished the series. The Department Q books by Jussi Adler Olsen should probably be in my list too.

>217 DianaNL: Hugs back to you dear Diana.

Mum is stable and the others all slowly recovering. I hope your family's problems will soon be behind you all.

>219 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul. I am relieved that your mum is stable and that the others are recovering.

Oh, your project in >132 PaulCranswick: looks very impressive!

>218 PaulCranswick: I love:

Ruth Galloway - Elly Griffiths
Harry Bosch - Michael Connelly
Philip Marlowe - Raymond Chandler
Wyndham and Banerjee - Abir Murkerjee
Bruno Courrèges - Martin Walker
Sean Duffy - Adrian McKinty
The Lewis Trilogy - Peter May
Shetland - Anne Cleeves
Cormoran Strike - Robert Galbraith

*Sigh of contentment that the stats are back*

I cracked the top ten!

>220 DianaNL: Lovely picture of my team in front of one elevation of the building today taken because two of them were leaving for other project sites today. I was sadly missing from the picture as I was at my other project in the afternoon after sharing pizza with them at 11.00 am.

If I can find a way to put it up here, I will.

>221 Crazymamie: Chandler I finished all of 'em. I like the Ruth Galloway series and have several of your others with books on the shelves and none of them started. Mukherjee and McKinty would be new to me.

>222 drneutron: Your posting numbers are ever respectable Jim although rarely this elevated! You do normally start the year at a fair old lick though.

>201 PaulCranswick:

Nice looking stats you've got there, Paul.

Howdy, Paul.

I'm with you on Kamala Harris. I suspect Biden's going to be feeling pretty darn old at the end of four years, and Kamala has become even more widely admired than she was before. I'm not as pessimistic as Benita - Hilary won the popular vote by 3 million, and was done in by the dratted Electoral College. But will the USA be ready for a black South Asian woman President in 2024? I'm optimistic, but we'll see.

Is there any hint in your parts about Tan Twan Eng coming out with a new book? It seems like forever since the last one.

>225 scaifea: I don't think you'll be at two that long at your current rate, Amber - I'll be posting the same thing back to you!

>226 jnwelch: Hi Joe. I thought Benita was unduly pessimistic on a day that I thought brought genuine hope, but I love that she will always speak her mind and give an honest opinion - that is why she is one of my favourites! I think Harris will thrive and I'm confident that she'll win in 2024.

No news on Tan Twan Eng. The one that I am most irritatedly waiting for is Rohinton Mistry. It is now 19 years since his novel Family Matters was released to acclaim.

Slipping in and out, Paul! I'm very glad to hear that your mother is improving. We may not be as tough as our mothers, but it's hard to keep a good woman down.

>228 LizzieD: Yes I was thinking that this evening, Peggy. SWMBO made scones a few days ago that I thought were good but she was wholly dissatisfied with but today she produced cinnamon rolls and I had to sneak upnow while she is obliviously sleeping to help myself to another one with coffee. x

This is my team on the Lot 91 building taken on the podium of the virtually completed building. If you look you can see the reflection of the KLCC Twin Towers on the building facade.

I was sad not being able to join them but I had a meeting on another site.

>201 PaulCranswick: ...and one Austrian. ;-) Nice statistics! How is your family doing, Paul?

On an even sweeter note, these are the cinnamon rolls produced by SWMBO earlier and which will not survive much longer:

>231 PersephonesLibrary: Mortified Kathe! How did I miss that?

>230 PaulCranswick: WOW!

>232 PaulCranswick: Dammit! Now I've got drool on my keyboard!

>230 PaulCranswick: Very cool!!

>232 PaulCranswick: Those. Look. Amazing.

>232 PaulCranswick: Oh my gooooodness. They look delicious!

>233 PaulCranswick:

>234 amanda4242: I wasn't sure which photo I liked the most for obviously different reasons.

>235 scaifea: It would be nice to share those rolls I thought. Perfect with coffee.

>236 PersephonesLibrary: They taste even better than they look, Kathe.

Those cinnamon rolls look tasty! I'm not sure who my favorite series sleuths are, but I'll post a few I'm actively reading.

Louise Penny - Chief Inspector Armand Gamache
Deborah Crombie - Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James
Vicki Delany - Constable Molly Smith
Peter Robinson - DCI Banks
Donna Leon - Commissario Brunetti
Andrea Camilleri - Commissario Montalbano
Steve Robinson - Jefferson Tayte
Nathan Dylan Goodwin - Forensic Genealogist
Nevada Barr - Anna Pigeon
Viveca Sten - Sandhamn
Eva Gates - Lighthouse Library
Victoria Gilbert - Blue Ridge Library

There are others I could list (but I know they wouldn't be top read for me or anyone else)--and I didn't count to see how many I put up there. I'm caught up or only the current one behind on three or four of these. I'll probably be caught up with another three or four this year. I quit reading the Nevada Barr novels a few years ago--and I'm not sure why--because I enjoyed them. I resumed them last year.

>139 PaulCranswick: Still, quite an amazing part you play in the success of the building and all the nit picky details.

Cold, damp day here today.

>239 thornton37814: Quite a few on your list that are completely new to me.

Delany
Steve Robinson
Goodwin
Gates and
Gilbert

I don't have anything by any of these writers.

Penny
Crombie and
Barr

I have on the shelves but haven't started

Sten

I have just ordered Still Waters and am awaiting its delivery.

I love the Inspector Banks and the Brunetti books and of course put Camilleri in my own top ten.

>240 Whisper1: The sad part of the project is happening now as we are slowly demobilising the site team and losing friends to other jobs or in some cases from the company altogether. I usually have to face this as - being the Senior Contract Manager - I am left at the end negotiating with the Employer and his consultants on the final time and cost implications of everything and then repeating the process umpteen times with our Sub-Contractors.

Always gives me a smile to see you here, Linda.

>241 PaulCranswick: In spite of the unrealistic aspect of a library being located in a lighthouse, I really enjoy the Gates series. Several quotes in the one I'm currently reading are things librarians such as myself completely get! Crombie and Penny are definite favorites for me. Vicki Delany has several series, but I really enjoy these light mysteries with Constable Molly Smith. The setting is British Columbia. Steve Robinson and Nathan Dylan Goodwin are some of the better genealogy novelists out there at the moment. Both are set in the UK. Victoria Gilbert writes the Blue Ridge Library series. The books are solid for the cozy genre, but they are not great literature. I'll be exploring a few new series this year such as the Bruno series that we'll begin alternating with Brunetti in Benita's group read.

>243 thornton37814: I need to double check but I have a few of the Bruno books on my shelves and should start a very well received series soon.

>232 PaulCranswick: Yum! Lucky you!

>245 quondame: Indeedy!

Sorry to hear that your UK family have Covid. I hope that they all recover quickly.

Impressive building, congrats on completing in such troublesome times.

Hope you and yours have a great weekend.

>247 calm: Lovely to see you here, Calm. I was lurking at your thread a little earlier and saw that you were quiet.

>248 PaulCranswick: Updated my thread now :)

Hi Paul, Nice stats! I'm nicely surprised to be in the top 100.

I did stop by to see if I missed part 4, but pfff! I did not.

Happy Weekend!

>249 calm: Haha and I was there again to post. xx

>250 connie53: I am going steadily along, Connie! Probably tomorrow I'll start thinking about #4 but I need to finish Swallows and Amazons first!

>230 PaulCranswick: I love this! Go team!

Happy Weekend, Paul. I hope you and the family are doing well.

>230 PaulCranswick: They are a great bunch, Mark. Probably the most together group I have worked with on a single project in 30 years.

Standing Left to right :
Asfahan (Planning Engineer), Clift (Quantity Surveyor (QS)), Zero (Samsung Intern), Aini (Document Controller), Laila (QS), Sylvia (Lead QS), Nabila (Cost Clerk).
Kneeling Left to Right
Vivien (Claims QS), E Zhen (Design Coordinator), Haezwan (Senior QS), Mason Kim (Commercial Manager) and Hongoo Lee (Cost Manager)

Sort of good news.

Mum has been discharged from the hospital. I say sort of because I called home and her care giver answered and told me that mum wasn't up to talking on the phone. Appears that she has been sent home rather prematurely but the NHS seemingly is struggling to cope. I told her to tell my mum I love her and will call again tomorrow.

Not yet the end of January and I'm already overwhelmed by all the threads!

I'm sorry to hear the news about your mother, Paul, but I also get to read about the improvement too. I hope it continues.

I'm astonished to see my thread as far up as it is in the statistics and I doubt it will last but I'll enjoy it while it does!

>255 CDVicarage: This year has been slightly more sedentary in January than usual, Kerry, but only by a small degree. Relieved that my mum is home but I believe that she is still quite unwell.

You always place very highly in books read and I think more people are realising your thread is a place of warmth and good taste. x

>254 PaulCranswick: Yes, they do that here too Paul. At the beginning of the Pandemic last year, one of my sister's friends was in ICU for a week, but when they felt it safe to release him they asked him to find a friend who lives alone to collect him and take him home, that person had to then self-isolate for 14 days. My sister said she would do it. They just didn't have an appropriate system in place to organise or staff it. Fortunately Em didn't catch the virus.

>256 PaulCranswick: *blush* thanks, Paul.

>257 Caroline_McElwee: I cannot blame the NHS, Caroline, because I am sure that they are absolutely on the brink but for those affected it does seem so cold hearted.

>258 CDVicarage: I have always enjoyed your thread, Kerry. Just sayin' it as I see it. x

Hi Paul!

>200 PaulCranswick: Ooh, love the stats. As always, thank you for keeping them and posting them. 9 and 291. Easy peasy. 9*2 = 18 = 1*8 = 8. And, 9 – 1 = 8.

>210 PaulCranswick: I’m sorry about the small outbreak in your office. It seems that no matter what measures are taken, this virus sneaks in almost everywhere.

>219 PaulCranswick: Good-ish news.

>254 PaulCranswick: I bet your mum is very glad to be back home, sorry that she’s still unwell.

>260 karenmarie: I was posting to your thread as you were over here at mine.

I enjoy doing the stats at least in large part because of the fact that a good number of my pals enjoy seeing them.

I will feel better when I have spoken to my mum.

Paul, is her carer staying with her 24/7? Because for someone who is that ill, she shouldn't be alone, really. I certainly understand the hospital situation, as it is the same here, nearly, if not already in some places, overwhelmed to the brink, but it seems that sending someone that ill home too early, is just asking for trouble. Wishing for the best, of course, for her.

>259 PaulCranswick: I guess what I found shocking Paul, was that they were prepared to risk someone else getting it. But I feel for them, and have great respect for their frontline work. Emotionally as well as physically draining, and they are not paid what they deserve.

>254 PaulCranswick: My next door neighbour had Covid. He's a lot younger than your mother but the recovery is taking him a long time. He's tired and has to sleep during the day. And even a telephone contact wears him out. So recovery from Covid is a task even when you were in good health and a lot younger.
I hope your mother has good people to take care of her now.

>262 jessibud2: I think that the carer is staying at least today. My sister who could step into the breach a little also has Covid and cannpt help. My brother is not so far away but running a company where around 60 people depend upon him for their livelihoods so he couldn't provide full time care.

>263 Caroline_McElwee: Yes, Caroline, I don't believe I could cope with what they face on a daily basis so I will not be criticising them but the system is near broken.

>264 EllaTim: Thank you, Ella. I hope so too.

BOOK # 9



The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Date of Publication : 2019
Origin of Author : USA
Pages : 208 pp

Challenges
Pulitzer Prize Winners : 2020 (1st of year 17th in all)

Still a little breathless and emotionally spent after closing the book.

Elwood Curtis showed every sign of overcoming difficult circumstances with a college degree. Unfortunately he took a ride in the wrong car and wound up at the Nickel Reformatory. He became a Nickel Boy.

Roughly based on true events this angry but finely hewn piece of literature will stay with me for a long time. A deserving winner of the Pulitzer and highly recommended.

It contained a plot twist that I was pleased to be a clever clogs and guess correctly.

Paul, I thought I had better post quickly to this thread before it moves on. I can't catch up on the whole thread, but I'm so sorry to hear of the COVID cases in your family and I wish them all well. Trying times. Nice review of Nickel Boys, I'm eager to get to that one.

>268 AnneDC: Lovely to see you posting here, Anne.
I do worry so much about my mum and knowing that I cannot go back for the moment doesn't comfit me at all.

Nickel Boys was good old fashioned storytelling very well done.

Paul - thanks for your views on books and reading. May you have a productive and peaceful 2021.

>271 PaulCranswick: Nice to see you here, John. I am quite energised with both my reading and posting this year so far.

>132 PaulCranswick: - That's a mighty pretty building, Paul - and I don't really like modern buildings much of any.

And those rolls! Wish I'd had one (or two or three) of those for breakfast instead of a supermarket bagel.

Goodish news about your mum. Hope she doesn't go back to hospital anytime soon. My cousin has had two Covid scares (and three tests). The first two tests were caused by what turned out to be Faux Covid caused by some knucklehead rushing up to hug her at a backyard wedding - sans mask and with Covid - early last autumn, while the second time was just honest-to-goodness, boring ol' regular flu.

Will have to add Nickel Boys to the Giant Wishlist, though I cannot imagine when I will get to read it. Still haven't even bought The Underground Railroad and that's been on the list for years.

I loved Inauguration Day. How nice it was on Wednesday, waking up knowing that the Crazytown Carnival was about to haul ass out of Washington. If it weren't for damned ol' Covid I would be feeling pretty optimistic right about now. Still - I am happy that Joe is in charge and I hope he can pull this off. I've begun to understand much better, over the last couple of months, why people looked at FDR as something very close to a savior. Not my family of course; to them he was a close relative of the devil. As for Kamala - who knows. I am completely out of the prediction business now and for the next several decades. "Donald Trump," I said to people in 2015, "Why, he's just comedy relief." Yeah, right.

>272 Fourpawz2: I am fond of that building, Charlotte, mainly as the project has helped me towards getting things back towards an even keel.

The cinnamon rolls are delicious. Still a couple left and i will warm them in the oven for breakfast. It is 3.15 am here and I am scuttling to finish Swallows and Amazons.

I am more worried about my mum now than when she was "safely" in the hospital if that makes any sense at all.

Nickel Boys is well worth the trouble.

Chump was certainly very black comedy if someone above was playing a joke on all of us.

3:15? Why, Paul, the sun's going to be up in a minute or two. Might as well skip the sleeping and go right to the rolls. It's freezing here - a warm nice cinnamon roll sounds really good.

I get that. If something went wrong she'd already be at the hospital.

And shame on them if they are. Glad I have a pretty decent sense of humor, because that creature has been testing mine terribly over the last many years. Suppose it's too much to hope that he will completely drop off the radar anytime soon.

>274 Fourpawz2: That is properly managing the readathon, Charlotte.

Have finished Swallows and Amazons and will go and get a few hours sleep.

Will review in a few hours time.

Hi Paul, glad to see you are well and being kept well fed by Hani, i am the same in this respect as Karen made a lovely Rice Pudding in the slow cooker and a lemon and lime tray bake.

Good news that your mum is home but i understand your worries mate, our neighbours are now both back home after a short spell in Pinderfields but are still not well and it will be awhile before they step outside the door, we are keeping an eye on them and their kids are also keeping us updated.

Jimmy Anderson is an evergreen guy, 6 for 40 from 29 overs at 38 years of age, what a guy. We are going to have to look at the opening partnership as Crawley and Sibley are troubled by the spinner, India will be licking their lips at this but at least the Yorkie boys are holding the fort and developing a good partnership again.

I was pleased at 30th position in the posting league and i finished my sixth book this afternoon so i am motoring on this year on the reading front.

Sending love and hugs to you all from both of us mate.

>200 PaulCranswick: thank you for the stats. I am always surprised when my thread makes it onto one of these!

Sounds like you liked The Nickel Boys - I loved it! Really impactful.

>276 johnsimpson: John, I think that the Government needs to do more for post medical care in the community. Not easy I understand but it would ease the burden on the hospitals whilst at the same time making sure that the vulnerable and ailing are given a better chance after leaving hospital.

I think that the England selectors are a joke to be honest mate. I could have told them that Sibley can't play the spinners so what is he doing touring the Sub-continent. Honestly Root or Bairstow should be opening. Crawley I am less sure about as his dismissals have not been of a kind that says he will not be able to play the spinners but the fact that there will be little alternative to him is ridiculous. I am something of a stuck record but James Hildreth is the best player of spin in England and Jennings is also adept at the task. They should be in the party.

Also Bess for all his five for in the first test is not our most penetrative spinner. Virdi is far more accomplished and should have played. Buttler has done ok in fairness but our best wicket keepers Cox or Foakes are needed in the sub-continent more than ever.

My team would have been
Bairstow, Jennings, Root, Lawrence, Hildreth, Higgins, Foakes, Broad, Anderson, Leach, Virdi.

I get it that perhaps Broad and Anderson need to be rotated and Wood or Stone or Jamie Overton would be fine too.

To rest Bairstow in India for the first two tests is absolutely ridiculous just when he is playing well.

I trust that you'll reach 100 books this year mate. Love to Karen and next time I am back I shall invite myself for rice pudding - an old favourite of mine - especially with plenty of nutmeg.

>277 jayde1599: Well Jess, I think you will get used to it as your thread seems set fair this year and rightly so!

>278 drneutron: Wonderful novel, Jim. Best thing I have read in a while.

Book # 10



Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Date of Publication : 1930
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 501 pp

Challenges :
British Author Challenge (January Children's Classics) 4th of 2021

Very much a nautical period piece and I cannot see many children of today being as rapt in its pages as the generation it was written for.

That said there is an immediacy and poignancy about the story that drives it forward and which makes it an evergreen almost. Long summer holidays for the middle classes in the English Lake District and two sets of children take to the water - conquering islands on the lakes, defending against imagined pirates and being faced with the mystery of why Uncle Jim / Captain Flint seems to be cross with them.

Glad I read it and pleased I won't have to read it again. I would have liked this much better forty years ago. Then again the England of 40 years ago was a different country to now.

>281 PaulCranswick: You had much the same reaction to it as I did, Paul. I'm sorry I didn't read it as a child as I think I would have appreciated it more but I am glad I have read it. I went on to read the rest of the series - some I liked and some I didn't!

>282 CDVicarage: I don't see me reading the series, Kerry, but I think our thoughts are aligned on it.

>279 PaulCranswick:, Hi Paul, i fully agree with your team selection mate, like you i have been saying for years to Rob that Hildreth should be in the England side, he has performed solidly for years and yet nit even a sniff of recognition. Bess redeemed himself slightly with his knock of 32 keeping Root company but what was Leach thinking, as they said on Twitter, if Root had had enough energy as he was walking off, he would have decked him. As soon as Bess was out i thought Root would have to have maximum strike and have to hit out to get another double hundred.

Apparently the thinking behind resting Bairstow for the first two tests in India is that he will be in the White ball games so four tests would be a bit much for him, he probably wants to play but the hierarchy rules.

The Rice Pudding is really nice but Karen forgot the Nutmeg and the Rice was old, with fresh Rice and Nutmeg it would be awesome mate and you are always welcome here.

Have a good week ahead mate.

>284 johnsimpson: For Root to be run out was almost criminial in the last over of the day as he was our only hope of overhauling their score.

Bairstow being rested shows contempt for the test format and for India who are possibly the world's best team at the moment.

>281 PaulCranswick: Glad to say I did read it about 40 years ago. Loved it, but even then it did not feel it was all that current.

>286 sirfurboy: I was probably missing the point, Sir F, it was probably never intended to be contemporary!