PAUL C'S SECOND HOME - PART 19

SCENES FROM MY BOOKS

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed is a fictional recreation of the real life story of the Cardiff murder of Lily Volpert and the subsequent hanging of an inncoent man - Mahmood Hattan - a Somali born seaman and the last innocent man to be hanged in the UK.

POETRY

Siegfried Sassoon captures my mood in this poem.

Reading Record First Quarter

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
11. Carrie's War by Nina Bawden (1973) 211 pp
12. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (2020) 430 pp
13. Judge Savage by Tim Parks (2003) 442 pp
14. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie (1962) 280 pp
15. Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer (1969) 227 pp
16. Jazz by Toni Morrison (1992) 229 pp
17. A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell (1951) 230 pp

4,313 pages.

FEBRUARY

18. Junk by Melvyn Burgess (1996) 278 pp
19. The Great Fire by Monica Dickens (1970) 64 pp
20. At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie (1965) 265 pp
21. A Room of Own's Own by Virginia Woolf (1929) 153 pp
22. Bury the Dead by Peter Carter (1987) 374 pp
23. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (2011) 390 pp
24. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (1873) 242 pp
25. Woods, etc. by Alice Oswald (2005) 56 pp
26. Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg (2015) 293 pp
27. A Burning by Megha Majumdar (2020) 289 pp
28. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch (2011) 373 pp
29. What is History? by Edward Hallett Carr (1961) 156 pp
30. A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell (1951) 278 pp

3,211 pages

MARCH

31. The Return : Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar (2016) 239 pp
32. The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy (1978) 417 pp
33. Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon (2015) 101 pp
34. Some Experiences of an Irish RM by Somerville & Ross (1899) 223 pp
35. The Age of Improvement 1783-1867 by Asa Briggs (1959) 523 pp
36. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1853) 203 pp

1,706 pages

Reading Record Second Quarter

APRIL

37. Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham (2013) 439 pp
38. Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid (2000) 270 pp
39. Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-Ha (2013) 200 pp
40. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2001) 428 pp
41. Blue Horses by Mary Oliver (2014) 79 pp
42. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1864) 160 pp
43. The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers by Fouad Laroui (2012) 134 pp
44. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham (2014) 457 pp
45. Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana (2019) 244 pp
46. Figures in a Landscape by Barry England (1968) 208 pp
47. Echoland by Per Petterson (1989) 132 pp
48. Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith (2019) 205 pp

2,956 pages

MAY

49. The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley (1984) 330 pp
50. I Choose to Live by Sabine Dardenne (2004) 210 pp
51. Three Poems by Hannah Sullivan (2018) 71 pp

611 pages (maybe my worst ever performance!)

JUNE

52. Still Waters by Viveca Sten (2008) 434 pp
53. Half a Life by VS Naipaul (2001) 211 pp
54. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (1969) 169 pp
55. A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (1944) 269 pp
56. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (2020) 370 pp
57. Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti (1982) 181 pp
58. My Country : A Syrian Memoir by Kassim Eid (2018) 194 pp
59. Vita Nova by Louise Gluck (1999) 51 pp
60. The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim (2019) 241 pp
61. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (1946) 154 pp
62. Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood (1935) 230 pp
63. Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons (2010) 355 pp
64. Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge (1977) 212 pp
65. In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen (2014) 244 pp
66. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (2015) 438 pp
67. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1851) 1,179 pp
68. Cat and Mouse by Gunter Grass (1961) 191 pp
69. No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo (1995) 191 pp
70. Look at Me by Anita Brookner (1983) 192 pp
71. Vice Versa by F. Anstey (1882) 219 pp
72. The Age of Revolution by Eric Hobsbawm (1975) 308 pp
73. Mrs Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw (1893) 98 pp

6,131 pages (best for a while)

Reading Record 3rd Quarter

JULY

74. Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling by William Fotheringham (2015) 345 pp
75. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling (1997) 332 pp
76. Rendang by Will Harris (2020) 85 pp
77. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (2016) 383 pp
78. Corridors of Power by C.P. Snow (1964) 352 pp
79. Arab Jazz by Karim Miske (2012) 242 pp
80. The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier (1949) 136 pp
81. The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (2000) 395 pp
82. The Quality of Madness by Tim Rich (2020) 417 pp
83. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (2006) 404 pp
84. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838) 162 pp
85. The Devil's Pool by George Sand (1846) 119 pp

3,372 pages

AUGUST

86. Poetry Please! edited by Charles Causley (1985) 113 pp
87. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich (2020) 448 pp
88. Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World by Edward Shepherd Creasy (1851) 380 pp
89. Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell (2011) 380 pp
90. Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2021) 85 pp
91. The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell (2013) 345 pp
92. The Return by Dulce Maria Cardoso (2011) 267 pp
93. Here and Now by Stephen Dunn (2011) 103 pp
94. I am, I am, I am by Maggie O'Farrell (2017) 285 pp
95. Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe (1958) 189 pp
96. The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1954) 322 pp
97. At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop (2018) 145 pp
98. A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow (1960) 345 pp
99. The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi (2000) 282 pp

3,689 pages

SEPTEMBER

100. Pew by Catherine Lacey (2020) 207 pp
101. Northlight by Douglas Dunn (1988) 81 pp
102. A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende (2019) 349 pp
103. The First Century After Beatrice by Amin Maalouf (1992) 192 pp
104. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard (1967) 118 pp
105. Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz (2020) 107 pp

Reading Record 4th Quarter

OCTOBER

106. Everyman's Poetry : Alfred, Lord Tennyson by Alfred Lord Tennyson 1996 103 pp
107. The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (1995) 247 pp
108. The Face of Battle by John Keegan (1976) 336 pp

CURRENTLY READING

BAC



January: Children's Classics https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317610 9 READ

February: LGBT+ History Month https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7317871 2 READ

March: Vaseem Khan & Eleanor Hibbert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7318561 1 READ

April: Love is in the Air https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7319432 2 READ

May: V. S. Naipaul & Na'ima B. Robert https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320231 1 READ

June: The Victorian Era (1837-1901) https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7320541 3 READ

July: Don't judge a book by its movie https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321220 9 READ

August: Bernard Cornwell & Helen Oyeyemi https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7321374 2 READ

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

October: Narrative Poetry https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7322840 3 read

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

December: Awards & Honors https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325017 2 READ

Wildcard: Books off your shelves https://www.librarything.com/topic/326122#7325595 17 READ

51 BOOKS READ TO DATE

AMERICAN AUTHOR CHALLENGE



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

January : Keep it in the Family :
February : Ethan Canin
March : Roxane Gay
April : Makers of Music : Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith
May : Mary McCarthy
June : Ken Kesey
July : Native American Themes : The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
August : Connie Willis
September : Howard Norman
October : Attica Locke
November : Albert Murray
December : YA Fiction

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 READ
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 JAN 21

READ 33 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
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 ON SHELVES
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
2021 THE NIGHT WATCHMAN - Louise Erdrich


19 READ
37 ON SHELVES
38 NOT OWNED OR READ

94 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 - READ
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 - READ
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
2021 Abdulrazak Gurnah - READ

READ 74 OF
118 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
16. India - A Burning by Megha Majumdar ASIA PACIFIC
17. Libya - The Return by Hisham Matar AFRICA
18. Pakistan - Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid ASIA PACIFIC
19. South Korea - Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-Ha ASIA PACIFIC
20. Morocco - The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers by Fouad Laroui AFRICA
21. Thailand - Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana ASIA PACIFIC
22. Norway - Echoland by Per Petterson EUROPE
23. Belgium - I Choose to Live by Sabine Dardenne EUROPE
24. Sweden - Still Waters by Viveca Sten EUROPE
25. Trinidad - Half a Life by VS Naipaul AMERICAS
26. Sudan - Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih AFRICA
27. Uruguay - Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti AMERICAS
28. Syria - My Country : A Syrian Memoir by Kassem Eid ASIA PACIFIC
29. Ghana - The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim AFRICA
30. Austria - Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl EUROPE
31. Germany - Cat and Mouse by Gunter Grass EUROPE
32. South Africa - No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo AFRICA
33. Mauritania - Arab Jazz by Karim Miske AFRICA
34. Cuba - The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier AMERICAS
35. Nigeria - Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie AFRICA
36. Portugal - The Return by Dulce Maria Cardoso EUROPE
37. Japan - Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe ASIA PACIFIC
38. Senegal - At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop AFRICA
39. Malta - The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi EUROPE
40. Chile - A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende AMERICAS
41. Lebanon - The First Century After Beatrice by Amin Maalouf ASIA PACIFIC
42. Spain - The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon EUROPE


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

1838 NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET by Poe
1843 FEAR AND TREMBLING by Kierkegaard
1845 THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Dumas
1846 THE DEVIL'S POOL by Sand
1850 PENDENNIS by Thackeray
1851 FIFTEEN DECISIVE OF THE WORLD by Creasy
1853 CRANFORD by GASKELL
1854 CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE by Tennyson
1857 TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS by Hughes
1864 NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND by Dostoevsky
1870 A LEAR OF THE STEPPES by Turgenev
1873 AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS by Verne
1881 PRINCE AND THE PAUPER by Twain
1882 VICE VERSA by Anstey
1893 MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION by Shaw
1899 SOME EXPERIENCES OF AN IRISH RM by Somerville & Ross
1900 THREE SISTERS by Chekhov

17/64

QUEEN BETTY CHALLENGE

From December 2020 70 Years 70 Books 70 Different British Authors

1952 A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell
1954 The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner
1959 The Age of Improvement by Asa Briggs
1960 A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow
1961 What is History? by EH Carr
1962 The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side by Agatha Christie
1964 Corridors of Power by CP Snow
1966 A Fall from the Sky by Ian Serraillier
1967 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
1968 Figures in a Landscape by Barry England
1969 Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Framer
1970 The Great Fire by Monica Dickens
1973 Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
1975 The Age of Capital by Eric Hobsbawm
1976 The Face of Battle by John Keegan
1977 Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
1978 The Hammer of the Scots by Jean Plaidy
1983 Look at Me by Anita Brookner
1984 The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
1985 Poetry Please! edited by Charles Causley
1987 Bury the Dead by Peter Carter
1988 Northlight by Douglas Dunn
1989 Plague 99 by Jean Ure
1996 Junk by Melvyn Burgess
1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
2000 The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
2001 Half a Life by VS Naipaul
2003 Judge Savage by Tim Parks
2005 Woods, etc. by Alice Oswald
2010 Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons
2011 Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2013 A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre
2014 The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham
2015 Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling by William Fotheringham
2017 I am, I am, I am by Maggie O'Farrell
2018 Three Poems by Hannah Sullivan
2019 A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson
2020 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

38/70

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 : Judge Savage by Tim Parks Read 28 Jan 2021
Week 3 : Dual timeline : Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer Read 29 Jan 2021
Week 4 : Deceased author : Jazz by Toni Morrison READ 30 Jan 2021
Week 5 : Published by Penguin : Junk by Melvyn Burgess READ 3 Feb 2021
Week 6 : Male Family Member : Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch READ 12 Feb 2021
Week 7 : 1 Published Work : A Burning by Megha Majumdar READ 19 Feb 2021
Week 8 : Dewey 900 Class : What is History? by EH Carr READ 28 February
Week 9 : Set in a Mediterranean Country : The Return by Hisham Matar READ 5 MAR 2021
Week 10 : Book with discussion questions : Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham READ 2 APR
Week 11 : Relating to fire : Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid READ 4 APR
Week 12 : Title Starting with D : Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-Ha READ 6 APR
Week 13 : Includes an Exotic Animal : Life of Pi by Yann Martel READ 11 April
Week 14 : Written by an author over 65 : Blue Horses by Mary Oliver READ 14 April
Week 15 : Book Mentioned in a book : Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky READ 15 April
Week 16 : Set before 17th Century : Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell READ 5 June
Week 17 : Character on the run : Figures in a Landscape by Barry England READ 26 April
Week 18 : Author with 9 letter surname : Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti READ 6 JUNE
Week 19 : Book with a deckled edge : In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen READ 21 JUNE
Week 20 : Became a TV series : Corridors of Power by CP Snow READ 12 JUL
Week 21 : Book by Kristin Hannah : The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah READ 22 JUNE
Week 22 : A Family Saga : Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons READ 14 JUN
Week 23 : Surprising Ending : Still Waters by Viveca Sten READ 2 JUN
Week 24 : Book to be read in schools : Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl READ
Week 25 : Multiple POVs : Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys READ 11 JUL
Week 26 : Author of Colour : The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim READ 8 JUN
Week 27 : 1st Chapter Odd Page : The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner READ 25 JUL
Week 28 : Little known historical event : The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier READ 20 JUL
Week 29 : The Environment : The First Century After Beatrice by Amin Maalouf READ 16 SEP
Week 30 : Dragons : Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling READ 8 JUL
Week 31 : Similar Title : The Return by Dulce Maria Cardoso READ 9 AUG
Week 32 : Selfish Character : The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner READ 24 AUG
Week 33 : Adoption : The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi READ 31 AUG
Week 34 : Five Star Read : Poetry Please! by Charles Causley READ 1 AUG
Week 35 :
Week 36 : Nameless Narrator : Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe READ 22 AUG
Week 37 :
Week 38 :
Week 39 :
Week 40 :
Week 41 : Endorsement by Author : At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop READ 28 AUG
Week 42 :
Week 43 :
Week 44 :
Week 45 :
Week 46 :
Week 47 :
Week 48 : Woman Facing Away : A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow READ 30 AUG
Week 49 :
Week 50 :
Week 51 : Published in 2021 : Notes on Grief by Adichie READ 7 AUG
Week 52 :

SERIES PAIR CHALLENGE

January : Andrea Camilleri - MONTALBANO DONE
February : Agatha Christie - MISS MARPLE DONE
March : Ben Aaronovitch - PETER GRANT DONE
April : Harry Bingham - FIONA GRIFFITHS DONE
May : Megan Whalen Turner - EUGENIDES DONE
June : Bernard Cornwell - UHTRED DONE

BRITISH HISTORIANS

As if I don't have enough challenges! I want to polish up on my reading and re-reading of the British historians who either inspired me as a student or who I have since come to greatly admire

The French Revolution by Thomas CARLYLE 1837
The Age of Improvement by Asa BRIGGS 1959 READ MAR 21
The History of England by Thomas Babington MACAULAY 1848
The Making of the English Working Class by EP THOMPSON 1963
Fifteen Decisive Battles by EDWARD CREASEY 1851 READ AUG 21
What is History? by EH CARR 1961 READ FEB 21
The Course of German History by AJP TAYLOR 1945
The American Future by Simon SCHAMA 2009
The Face of Battle by John KEEGAN 1976 READ OCT 21
The King's Peace by CV WEDGWOOD 1955
The Age of Capital by ERIC HOBSBAWM 1975 READ JUN 21

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 READ JUN 21
12 A Crime in the Neighborhood Berne
13 Stand By Me Berry
14 Love Story, With Murders Bingham READ APR 21
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 READ JAN 21
32 At Bertram's Hotel Christie READ FEB 21
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 READ SEP 21
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 READ APR 21
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 Frankl READ JUN 21
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 READ JUN 21
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 READ APR 21
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 READ APR 21
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 READ FEB 21
125 The Mirror and the Light Mantel
126 Original Spin Marks
127 Deep River Marlantes
128 The Return Matar READ MAR 21
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 READ APR 21
153 Felicity Oliver
154 Will Olyslaegers
155 Woods, etc Oswald READ FEB 21
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 READ APR 21
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 READ JAN 21
166 A Buyer's Market Powell A READ FEB 21
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 READ JUL 21
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 READ JUN 21
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 READ APR 21
202 Eternity Smith T
203 Crossing Statovci
204 Lucy Church, Amiably Stein
205 Rosencrantz and Guilderstern are Dead Stoppard READ SEP 21
206 Blood Cruise Strandberg
207 Shuggie Bain Stuart READ JAN 21
208 Three Poems Sullivan READ MAY 21
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 READ JUL 21
223 The King of Attolia Turner READ JUL 21
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 READ FEB 21
249 Interior Chinatown Yu
250 How Much of These Hills is Gold Zhang

BEGIN : 250
READ : 33
LEFT : 217

THIS YEAR'S ACQUISITIONS

1. Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Somerville & Ross READ MAR 21
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 READ JUN 21
8. Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante
9. Coningsby by Benjamin Disraeli
10. The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
11. The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
12. Death's Mistress by Terry Goodkind
13. The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey
14. Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi
15. Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai
16. Desert by JMG Le Clezio
17. For the Record by David Cameron
18. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
19. The Guardians of the West by David Eddings
20. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
21. The Council of Egypt by Leonardo Sciascia
22. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
23. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin
24. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
25. Rupture by Ragnar Jonasson
26. White Out by Ragnar Jonasson
27. The Age of Capital by Eric Hobsbawm READ JUN 21
28. The World Turned Upside Down by Christopher Hill
29. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
30. Modern Times by Paul Johnson
31. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
32. The Warehouse by Rob Hart
33. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
34. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
35. Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
36. Magician's Gambit by David Eddings
37. Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
38. In Ashes Lie by Marie Brennan
39. The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
40. The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian
41. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
42. At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell
43. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant by Anthony Powell
44. The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell
45. The Financier by Theodore Dreiser
46. Still Waters by Viveca Sten READ JUN 21
47. Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
48. The Europeans by Henry James
49. Vice Versa by F. Anstey READ JUN 21
50. A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry
51. The Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler Olsen
52. Closed for Winter Jorn Lier Horst
53. News of the World by Juliette Jiles
54. Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon READ MAR 21
55. A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri
56. Death in the Tuscan Hills by Marco Vichi
57. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
58. Good Morning Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
59. Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
60. The Enchanted by Rene Denefeld
61. The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
62. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis
63. The Innocents by Michael Crummey
64. Night Waking by Sarah Moss
65. Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
66. Throw me to the Wolves by Patrick McGuinness
67. Consent by Annabel Lyon
68. Selling Manhattan by Carole Ann Duffy
69. Rendang by Will Harris READ JUL 21
70. The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
71. No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
72. Amnesty by Aravind Adiga
73. The Awkward Squad by Sophie Henaff
74. The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan
75. Afternoon Raag by Amit Chaudhuri
76. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
77. The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
78. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
79. Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer
80. The Eastern Shore by Ward Just
81. The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
82. The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck
83. Vertigo& Ghost by Fiona Benson
84. Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
85. Soot by Dan Vyleta
86. Deacon King Kong by James McBride
87. Abigail by Magda Szabo
88. Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugresic
89. Coming Up for Air by Sarah Leipciger
90. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
91. Selection Day by Aravind Adiga
92. The Voyage by Murray Bail
93. Peace : A Novel by Richard Bausch
94. The Third Reich by Roberto Bolano
95. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
96. The Kingdom of this World by Alejo Carpentier READ JUL 21
97. My Life as a Russian Novel by Emmanuel Carrere
98. Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau
99. Man V. Nature by Diane Cook
100. The Melody by Jim Crace
101. SS-GB by Len Deighton
102. Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald
103. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
104. The Beautiful Indifference by Sarah Hall
105. Munich by Robert Harris
106. Bodies Electric by Colin Harrison
107. The Punch by Noah Hawley
108. Spook Street by Mick Herron
109. London Rules by Mick Herron
110. The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
111. The Land of Green Ginger by Winifred Holtby
112. The Wreck of the Mary Deare by Hammond Innes
113. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
114. Exiles in the Garden by Ward Just
115. Duffy by Dan Kavanagh
116. The Good People by Hannah Kent
117. The Life to Come by Michelle de Krester
118. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin
119. 10:04 by Ben Lerner
120. Home is the Hunter by Helen MacInnes
121. Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan
122. The Blood Miracles by Lisa McInerney
123. The Girl in Green by Derek B. Miller
124. Arab Jazz by Karim Miske READ JUL 21
125. Bodies of Light by Sarah Moss
126. Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates
127. The Changeling by Kenzaburo Oe
128. The Horseman by Tim Pears
129. Echoland by Per Petterson READ APR 21
130. Last Stand by Michael Punke
131. The Waiting Time by Gerald Seymour
132. Home Run by Gerald Seymour
133. Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith
134. To the Back of Beyond by Peter Stamm
135. They Know Not What They Do by Jussi Valtonen
136. The Tulip Eaters by Antoinette Van Heugten
137. Smoke by Dan Vyleta
138. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
139. That Eye, The Sky by Tim Winton
140. Fear : Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
141. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell READ JUN 21
142. Gerta by Katerina Tuckova
143. My Country: A Syrian Memoir by Kassem Eid READ JUN 21
144. Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann
145. The Hotel Tito by Ivana Bodrozic
146. Strange Hotel by Eimear McBride
147. Blame by Paul Read
148. House of Lords and Commons by Ishion Hutchinson
149. To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek
150. Your Story, My Story by Connie Palmen
151. Wake Up : Why the World Has Gone Nuts by Piers Morgan
152. Death of a Coast Watcher by Anthony English
153. Limitless by Ala Glynn
154. Toddler Hunting and Other Stories by Taeko Kono
155. Daughter of the Tigris by Muhsin al-Ramli
156. Don't Call Us Dead by Danez Smith
157. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
158. Incomparable World by S.L. Martin
159. The Dancing Face by Mike Phillips
160. Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors
161. Sharks in the Time of Saviours by Kawai Strong Washburn
162. The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
163. Rest and Be Thankful by Emma Glass
164. Minty Alley by CLR James
165. The Fat Lady Sings by Jacqueline Roy
166. Actress by Anne Enright
167. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
168. The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan
169. Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas
170. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov *Replacement*
171. Summer by Ali Smith
172. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor *Replacement*
173. Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
174. The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima
175. The Girls by Emma Cline
176. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich READ AUG 21
177. The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner READ AUG 21
178. The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro
179. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
180. The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
181. Just Like You by Nick Hornby
182. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
183. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih READ JUNE 21
184. The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
185. The Dig by Roger Preston
186. The Historians by Eavan Boland
187. Selected Poems by Elizabeth Jennings
188. The Deemster by Hall Caine
189. When Rainclouds Gather by Bessie Head
190. Maru by Bessie Head
191. Derek Mahon: New Selected Poems by Derek Mahon
192. A Move in the Weather by Anthony Thwaite
193. Door into the Dark by Seamus Heaney
194. Driftless by David Rhodes
195. Independence Square by AD Miller
196. Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga
197. Lot by Bryan Washington
198. A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende READ SEP 21
199. The Wandering by Intan Paramaditha
200. Fire and Ice by Dana Stabenow
201. Aria by Nazanine Hozar
202. Waking Lions by Ayelet Gudar-Goshen
203. Victim 2117 by Jussi Adler-Olsen
204. The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell READ AUG 21
205. The Quality of Madness by Tim Rich READ JULY 21
206. Ghosts of the Past by Marco Vichi
207. The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray
208. Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie READ AUG 21
209. Here We Are by Graham Swift
210. Deaths of the Poets by Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts
211. I am, I am, I am by Maggie O'Farrell READ AUG 21
212. The Whale at the End of the World by John Iremonger
213. Precious Bane by Mary Webb
214. Bina by Anakana Schofield
215. Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen
216. At Night the Blood is Black by David Diop READ AUG 21
217. Muscle by Alan Trotter
218. The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai
219. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
220. Missionaries by Phil Klay
221. Pew by Catherine Lacey READ SEP 21
222. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
223. Selected Poems by Anna Akhmatova
224. The Safety Net by Andrea Camilleri
225. Corpus by Rory Clements
226. Nucleus by Rory Clements
227. The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins
228. The Hill Station by JG Farrell
229. Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut
230. The Abstainer by Ian McGuire
231. The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray
232. Mating by Norman Rush
233. One by One by Ruth Ware
234. The Yield by Tara June Winch
235. The Sicilian Method by Andrea Camilleri
236. Rotten Days in Late Summer by Ralf Webb
237. Tracks by Louise Erdrich
238. The First Century After Beatrice by Amin Maalouf READ SEP 21
239. Dances With Wolves by Michael Blake
240. The Holy Road by Michael Blake
241. Afternoons with the Blinds Drawn by Brett Anderson
242. A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam
243. A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville
244. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
245. The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
246. The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
247. E.E.G. by Dasa Drndic
248. English Monsters by James Scudamore
249. The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
250. The Matter of Desire by Edmundo Paz Soldan
251. The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
252. A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay
253. Monogamy by Sue Miller
254. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
255. Bewilderment by Richard Powers
256. Evangeline and Other Poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
257. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
258. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
259. The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. READ OCT 21
260. Cavalleria Rusticana by Giovanni Strega
261. A Girl's Story by Annie Ernaux
262. Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
263. The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia

263 added
25 read
238 nett additions

A book for the book bullet that made the biggest mark on me that month. Only one win per person each year.

January 2021 MARK (msf59) for THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones
February 2021 ADRIENNE (fairywings) for THE BELGARIAD by David Eddings
March 2021 BONNIE (brenzi) for DRIFTLESS by David Rhodes
April 2021 KERRY (avatiakh) for THE DIG by John Preston
May 2021 DEBORAH (Cariola) for I AM, I AM, I AM by Maggie O'Farrell
June 2021 ES (Esquiress) for not failing any challenge
July 2021 CAROLINE (Caroline_McElwee) for Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford
August 2021 DEBORAH (arubabookwoman) for Skylark by Dezso Kosztolanyi

BOOKS OF THE MONTH

January : The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
February : Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
March : The Return by Hashim Matar
April : Life of Pi by Yann Martel
May : The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
June : Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
July : The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
August : I am I am I am by Maggie O'Farrell

BOOK STATS :

Books Read : 105
Books Added : 250
Nett TBR Addition : 145

Number of Pages in completed books : 27,064
Average per day : 100.61
Projected Page Total : 36,722

Number of days per book : 2.56
Projected Number : 142
LT Best : 157

Longest Book read : 1,179 pages
Shortest Book read : 51 pages
Mean Average Book Length : 257.75 pages

Male Authors : 62
Female Authors : 43

UK Authors : 52
USA : 18
France : 3
Italy, Russia : 2
NZ, India, Libya, Pakistan, South Korea, Canada, Morocco, Thailand, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Trinidad, Sudan, Uruguay, Syria, Ghana, Austria, Germany, South Africa, Mauritania, Cuba, Nigeria, Portugal, Japan, Senegal, Malta, Chile, Lebanon : 1

1001 Books First Edition : 13 (317)
New Nobel Winners : 1 (73)
Pulitzer Fiction Winners : 3 (19)
Booker Winners : 2 (33)
Around the World Challenge : New countries : 28 (41)
BAC Books : 49
AAC Books : 2
Queen Vic Books : 16/64
Queen Betty Books : 37/70
52 Book Challenge : 38/52
British Historians : 4/12

OVERALL TBR RECORD/UPDATE

TBR at Midnight 31 May 2021

Books Unread : 4,425
Pages Unread : 1,555,749
Average Book Length : 351.58 pages

Books Read : 57
Pages Read : 14,932 pages

Books Added : 76
Pages Added : 22,390 pages

Books Culled : 180
Pages Culled : 77,262

Revised TBR
Books Unread : 4,264
Pages Unread : 1,485,945
Ave Book Length : 348.49 pages

The next is yours

Look at that--am I really first? Here before the site is even built.

>26 AnneDC: And welcome so much the more for all that, Anne. Lovely to see you Anne.

Happy new thread!

>28 amanda4242: Thank you, Amanda. It wouldn't be the same on my thread without your gracing of it.

BOOK #105



Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
Date of Publication : 2020
Origin of Author : USA
Pages : 107 PP

Maybe this was the wrong time for me to read this and I may need to re-try it in future but I have to say that much of the water laden imagery passed me by and I am fairly sure I missed many of the cultural references.

Water, ecology and sexuality I of course gleaned and the metaphor of liquidity taken in its literal non-solid meaning did occasionally stir - drinking from the cup of the mouth with a kiss for example. The couple of longish poems about rivers reminded me strangely of Yoko Ono circa 1972.

Problem was I just didn't find much of it particularly poetic. As I say, maybe the wrong time.

My Mum



This is her favourite photo of herself.

HOLY CARP
I MADE IT BEFORE 50 POSTS?!
I need a lie-down. Actually I need to be asleep!

Greetings on your new thread!

Happy new thread Paul! That's a nice photo of your mum.

>32 richardderus: The threads are quiet RD - great to see you dear fellow.

Mother in law on her way to Kuala Lumpur to smother me in kindness.

>33 quondame: Thank you, Susan

>34 humouress: Thanks Nina. I have it in miniature on a display table near our main entrance door.

Happy new thread Paul. I can see why that was your mum's favourite photo of herself. It's a really nice photo.

>37 fairywings: Thank you Adrienne, I like it too.

Happy new thread!

>Beautiful photo of your mom.

>39 figsfromthistle: Thank you x 2 Anita. xx

Happy new thread, Paul!

>31 PaulCranswick: Lovely picture of your mother, I also liked the one in your previous thread.
(((hugs)))

Happy new thread, Paul. What a beautiful photo of your mum. Radiant.

>41 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita. I'm not sure which photo I like the most. The one on this thread is the more posed and studied and quite professionally taken whilst the one on my previous thread captures the essence of my mum perhaps more fully.

>42 jessibud2: Thank you so much, Shelley.

I took the day off work today as I didn't much feel like doing anything. Spoke to my brother and he told me a similar story of his Sunday.

Hopefully I shall have sufficient resolve to return to work tomorrow. Needless to say my colleagues have been tremendously supportive.

Happy New Thread, Paul. I hope to get to The Fortune Men in the coming weeks.

>45 msf59: Thanks Mark. It is a good read and must have a chance of winning.

Happy new one, Paul!

>43 PaulCranswick: Both photos are lovely, but I think the one on your previous thread is just so perfect. It's more candid, and it looks like whoever took the photo just said her name and she looked up with a smile in her eyes.

Taking the day off work sounds like an excellent idea, and I am glad that your MIL is on her way to lend her love and support. We are thinking of you and sending our love.

Happy new thread! That's a great picture of your mom.

>47 Crazymamie: Thank you Mamie. I agree on the photos and pretty much for the reasons you gave too.

>48 drneutron: Thanks, Jim.

Happy new thread mate and a great photo of your Mum.

That is a great photo of your mother, Paul.

Happy new thread, Paul.

I am so sorry for your loss, Paul. The two pictures of your mother are both beautiful.
It must be so hard to not be able to get together with your family. I am glad your mother in law will be coming along, and give yourself some hugs from me.

Paul, The one thing I've learned over the last 11.5 years since I lost my mother is that you will always miss them. I just want to call and talk to her so often. There's rarely a day that I don't think of her. Hugs to you as you learn to cope with the loss--especially from such a great distance.

>50 johnsimpson: Thanks John.

>51 kidzdoc: Thank you, Darryl.

>53 thornton37814: Thank you, Ella. My MIL is here and Hani especially is pleased to see her after a long while given that the COVID restrictions generally stop inter state travel. My sister in law is allowed to travel due to "ongoing" cancer treatment. She does have occasional checks but was thankfully declared cancer-free a year or two ago. Only downside of the MIL being here is that the watching of Malay TV dramas becomes compulsory.

>54 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Lori and I am sure you are right. I keep "hearing" her voice and remembering her ways and the house seems to smell of her perfume.

Paul - if you have time to find it, your September Book could be THE BANYAN TREE by Christopher Nolan.

The first chapter is worth the whole book and Minnie O'Brien may resonate with your Mum.

>56 m.belljackson: Thank you, Marianne - I will go and have a look at that one.

I just caught up with the news on your last thread, Paul. My condolences on the loss of your Mum.

>58 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg.

Ommigosh Paul, your book challenges are immense!

Lovely photo of your mum. Are you able to contribute to her funeral via read-out words, images or music choices? I hope your MiL *does* smother you in kindness. We need that at times like these.

>60 LovingLit: Yes I think I will be able to, Megan.

She always wanted Johnny Nash's song I Can See Clearly Now sung at her wedding and it will be arranged that I can say something. My MIL is a really good person and it is obvious where Hani got her own style from.

Hello Paul, I just caught up with the news about your mum's passing, and thought I'd stop by to offer my condolences. I'm so very sorry.

Hi Paul, and happy new thread.

>31 PaulCranswick: What a stunner. I can see why it was her own favorite.

Just checking in on you, Paul, and hoping that today has been kind to you.

>62 lauralkeet: Thank you Laura for taking the time to stop by. It is never too late to make me feel just a little bit better. xx

>63 karenmarie: I see the picture every day, Karen and I'll never tire of it. My mum was always such a proper lady. Yasmyne has much of her personality in that sense.

>64 Crazymamie: How lovely and thoughtful, Mamie. Today was a touching day and make work colleagues were universally lovely to me. My big boss in Seoul, Mr Shin, head of all Samsung Architectural Construction Projects worldwide called me in the afternoon to express his concern and see if the company could do anything for me. It really is an organisation with a heart.

Hi Paul, I am so sorry to read about your Mum's passing, my condolences to you and your family.

>67 DeltaQueen50: Thank you Judy. Lovely of you to drop by.

>4 PaulCranswick: Hello!
Ah !! How do you go about reading this bunch of books? It´s amazing!!!
I only can read 50 more or less at the year.

> 31 Beautiful smile and kind eyes.
hope all the family are doing alright.

>69 Sisif: Nice to see you her Roser.

My reading numbers are fairly average for this group to be honest. Some of our compadres read up to four times more than I do a year!

Your part of the world is a lovely one. I am slightly more familiar with the French side as I used to go to cycling training camps in Canet-Plage and/or Argeles sur Mer.

>70 BekkaJo: Thanks Bekka. We are ok everything considered xx

Good evening Paul- just popping over to say hello. Thanks for your birthday visit to my thread. :)

>66 PaulCranswick: that is touching to see that the human element is still present in big business!

>72 LovingLit: I have been grateful to them Megan for keeping food on the table during this frankly difficult period for everyone.

Hope you have had a lovely day.

Samsung would preferentially get my business after reading >66 PaulCranswick: but regrettably I don't need a second tablet or a new phone just yet.

My visiting old pal has returned to her hectic life in Texas, leaving me multiple pounds heavier but quite a lot more cheerful. We're both glad she got here before the lockdown we're each expecting as winter fuels Delta-variant COVID.

Splendid weekend's reads, though focus could still be wanting I'm guessing.

>74 richardderus: Well I guess a skyscraper is also not really on your shopping list either, RD.

What would we be without friends, RD? (Surely a little lighter?!)

My reading has collapsed in the last week not entirely surprisingly I suppose. Let's see if the upcoming weekend can see my concentration recover.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/335656

Thank Silver, hopefully I can prosper in October.

STATS ATTACK

Posting records since 2012

I started keeping records of posts in the group from 2012. In those near ten years who has had the most posts on their threads. Who has been the most consistent.

In sheer number of posts to threads 2012-2021 (30 September) the top ten is:

Mark : 72,591 posts
Paul : 69,631 posts
Joe : 60,286 posts
Amber : 57,898 posts
Richard : 45,133 posts
Mamie : 41,099 posts
Katie : 39,029 posts
Ellen : 30,954 posts
Darryl : 27,491 posts
Karen : 22,480 posts

Friday additions

251. The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
252. A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay
253. Monogamy by Sue Miller
254. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
255. Bewilderment by Richard Powers
256. Evangeline and Other Poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The touchstones are not working and I am not sure whether it is an LT problem or my computer as for some reason it started blocking my access to LT from this morning and I have to resort to some deviousness to override it.

The Clark is a Western Classic I seem to recall reading many moons ago, Lindsay wrote this early Sci-fi classic in 1920 and Sue Miller was compared to Anne Tyler and Maggie O'Farrell by Patrick Gale and should therefore be just my cup of tea.
I ordered Evangeline from Book Depo for the Queen Vic Challenge, Piranesi won the Women's Prize and Bewilderment is on the Booker Shortlist.

Duplicate post........struggling online at the moment! :{

Paul, sorry about the computer woes - so frustrating when that happens. Hoping it starts behaving itself soon.

The stats are interesting. That's a lot of numbers to keep up with.

I have not read any of your recent additions, but I do have Piranesi and The Ox-Bow Incident in the stacks.

All of us here at the Pecan Paradisio continue to keep you in our thoughts and in our hearts. Hoping the weekend is kind to you.

>82 Crazymamie: I tried to use MacKeeper support but it didn't really help me.

I wasn't surprised that Mark's numbers were overall the highest as I had a fairly fallow couple of years in 2018 & 2019 when my life was in some difficulty, RD had almost three years of not posting much and Amber in the first two years finished 11th both times. Joe is another who is tremendously consistent.

A big thank you to all the lovely gang at the Pecan Paradisio - it really does help so much to know that you have friends in the four corners of the globe wishing you well. xx

I have an admission to make.

I have never read anything by Georgette Heyer an author much beloved by many in the group, although I do have a few of them on the shelves.

It seems another of our favourites Mr. Stephen Fry is also a big fan of the doyenne of the "Regency Romance".

Here is his celebration of her in an article in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/01/stephen-fry-on-the-enduring-appeal...

I am not intending to do my normal monthly reading plan this month given my abject failure in September and the RL issues going on around me.

Let's see what the month brings.

>31 PaulCranswick: Beautiful photo of a beautiful woman, Paul.

And as Lori stated above, you'll always miss her, but the sadness will soften and the pain will be less sharp. Hard to believe right now.

>84 PaulCranswick: I have also not read any Heyer, although, like you, I have a few on my shelves!

>86 Copperskye: Thank you for stopping by, Joanne. It is such a blessing to have my friends visit in these days.

Lori is a wise lady.

I may look to put my Heyer blank right before the end of 2021 - join me?

Enough time now has passed to think on what were the best novels published in the last decade (2010-2019).

My reading is woefully inadequate to do full justice to such a task but this is a fairly comprehensive summation by Literary Hub:
https://lithub.com/the-20-best-novels-of-the-decade/

For what it is worth here is my own attempt at coming up with a twenty. In no particular order and no author gets two books.

1. The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
2. The North Water by Ian McGuire
3. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
4. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
5. The Round House by Louise Erdrich
6. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
7. Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
8. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
9. Harvest by Jim Crace
10. Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
11. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Power
12. A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
13. Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift
14. River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
15. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
16. The Dig by Cynan Jones
17. The Dictator's Last Night by Yasmina Khadra
18. Sing, Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
19. The Quality of Mercy by Barry Unsworth
20. Look Who's Back by Timo Vermes

Three honorary mentions that spring to immediate mind Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo, Room by Emma Donoghue and The Green Road by Anne Enright

>88 PaulCranswick: Hmmm, 4 of 20, 1 of 3. Clearly most of the decade I was not on LT.

>89 quondame: Surely just a different list, Susan. You read lots more than I do. Which if any of the 4 you read did you like?

>90 PaulCranswick: I've read
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift
The Dig by Cynan Jones
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

I seem to have starred them all favorably, but something about Mothering Sunday niggles at me.

>91 quondame: I think if I could only choose 3, I would pick the first three I listed - I did think, though, that Swift's book was a beautifully polished little book.

>88 PaulCranswick: Also 4 out of 20, and 1 out of 3, Paul.

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Sing, Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

>93 FAMeulstee: You have some good books before you then, Anita. xx

>88 PaulCranswick: Good list, Paul. I have read eleven of them. Glad to see The North Water on there. I loved both The Underground Railroad & The Nickel Boys. Not sure which one I would favor. I probably would have included Homegoing, The Overstory & Shuggie Bain. I am sure there are some others I would include for my list but I would have to research. I can't believe I still have not read The Orenda. I need to remedy that.

>95 msf59: Nice to see you Mark. I considered Homegoing and would have put it on my list if I was having 30. Shuggie Bain doesn't qualify as it was published in 2020.

A belated happy new thread, Paul.
I am very sad about the loss of your mother, Paul. My thoughts are with you and I wish you all the best!

>97 SirThomas: Thank you my friend.

Glad to see that Jim Crace has made the list. I've read Harvest, The Pesthouse and The Melody.

Quite a few good ones on your list. I still have to read something by Hilary Mantel though.

>88 PaulCranswick: I do my annual six-stars-of-five awarding at the end of the year, as you've seen. My list, then, has ten entries...but there are so many almost-theres that I will cogitate upon the topic and add to them.

2010: Letters to Anyone and Everyone
2011: The Song of Achilles
2012: I didn't give a six this year...the two closest are The Yellow Birds and The Teleportation Accident and there's little to choose between 'em.
2013: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
2014: Matterhorn barely edged out An Unnecessary Woman
2015: The Sympathizer
2016: Margaret the First
2017: Missionary (link; the book is too obscure to merit an easily-findable touchstone with such a common title)
2018: Circe
2019: Milkman

Now...to see if there are some others published any of those years that I think deserve to be included in "Best of the Decade" listings. Thank you, PC, for this listicle idea!

>100 richardderus: On that list I've got 2013 and 2018.
I guess I'd better read The Song of Achilles, being as it's on both lists.

>85 PaulCranswick: Sometimes you need to ditch reading plans and go with the flow. I lost my reading mojo for about a week to 10 days. About the only things I read were my Bible and devotional books during that period. I knew I needed to get the mojo back. I looked at my "library wishlist" and picked a variety of easy and quick reads. It was just what I needed. I did take those back and indulged in some cat picture books along with a mystery I'd been putting off because it was in print instead of audiobook (since I'd listened to the earlier ones in the series). I've finished those, but I've got plenty to keep me busy with ARCs and an electronic book hold that finally came in. I've also got to read a book before a book club meeting in about a week. Just read what you want when you can. The other things can wait until they fit your life needs.

>99 figsfromthistle: He is often something of a challenge too, Anita, but usually a rewarding one. Harvest worked on so many levels for me.

>100 richardderus: Good to see that we had some duplications, RD. I am also pretty pleased to see your list as one of the joys of being a listomaniac is to see other lists. I also got three or four recommendations there of books to look out for. Matterhorn has been calling to me for a while.

>101 quondame: And having read Song of Achilles, I really should read Circe soon, Susan.

>102 thornton37814: I realise (it is probably plain for all to see) that I have just gotten too tied up in challenges and confused myself with so many different books that I lost the ability to concentrate on any of them. Thanks for the good advice, Lori. x

>88 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul - I'm the dud here, read 2 from your list and 0 of the three. I really enjoyed Cynan Jones' The Dig but Miller's The Song of Achilles wasn't a favourite for me.
I have about 6 others from your list on Mt tbr.

>105 avatiakh: I did enjoy, The Song of Achilles but preferred The Silence of the Girls which had more narrative drive.

>106 PaulCranswick: Well it on the Top Five Books of 2020 which means it satisfies October TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book that is on an LT List, so I reserved a copy.

>107 quondame: Great to provide some fuel for the TIOLI. A great feature of the group and Madeline does a fantastic job with it. Don't participate in it anywhere near as much as I should.

BOOK #106



Everyman's Poetry : Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Selection published : 1996
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 103 pp

Challenges :
BAC : 50 books
Queen Vic : 17/64

I am not generally a devotee of Victorian poetry but there is so much to love in Tennyson. I read this and listened to many of the individual poems separately as well as declaiming sizeable tracts of it as the fancy took me. The Lady of Shallot, The Charge of the Light Brigade and Morte D'Arthur were poems of his I learned in school and remembered some of the lines but the poems Ulysses and Maud, Locksley Hall and especially the wonderful In Memoriam were newer to me and in parts revelatory.

Segments of the latter poem touched me and my current circumstances - the longing and loving and regret of the loss of my mother and my inability to be there. Wanting her at rest and in a better place.

Be near me when my light is low,
When the blood creeps, and the nerves prick
And tingle; and the heart is sick,
And all the wheels of Being slow.

Be near me when the sensuous frame
Is rack'd by pangs that conquer trust;
And Time, a maniac scattering dust,
And Life, a Fury slinging flame.

Be near me when my faith is dry,
And men the flies of latter spring,
That lay their eggs, and sting and sing
And weave their petty cells and die.

Be near me when I fade away,
To point the term of human strife,
And on the low dark verge of life
The twilight of eternal day.

Well, since I am not going to catch up any time soon, I will just wave "Hello" and try to stay in touch better, Paul.

>110 alcottacre: Lovely to see you back Stasia. x

Hani wanted to buy strawberries yesterday and so I sort of accompanied her to the mall and letting her shop while I went to the bookstore:

257. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
258. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
259. The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Djinn Patrol was on special offer and had been longlisted previously for the Women's Prize, Charley is one of the few things I haven't read by Steinbeck and the Zafon has helped me get back my reading mojo. What a tremendous storyteller.

>113 PaulCranswick: Both Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line and The Watcher in the Shadows - Zafon helps me get my reading mojo back too! - have been in the BlackHole for a while now. I really must do something about them.

>114 alcottacre: Reading invigorated Stasia and thanks to Mr. Zafon. I almost picked up the book a couple of weeks ago but didn't because I was busy looking for Booker shortlisted books. I know that I will enjoy at least two of the three Bookers that I have started and dislike the other but only when I am truly read for 'em.

I've read 8 of your top 20 and enjoyed most but I don't think they'd necessarily be in my own top 20. I wasn't that impressed with The Song of Achilles. Emma Donogue is one of my favourite writers, but while I was very impressed with Room I'm not sure I would choose it over her others of the same decade or other novels more generally.

On the runners up, I loved Girl, Woman, Other and was pleased to see Bernadine Evaristo become much more famous and much more read, but her previous novel Mr Loverman would be high in my top 20.

>116 elkiedee: I cannot list other novels by Emma Donoghue because I haven't read any. I didn't think it a perfect book by any means but praiseworthy certainly.

I did preface my list by noting the paucity of my reading from the last decade, Luci, as I am usually playing catch-up from over here. I would expect yourself, Charlotte, Darryl, Joe, Richard, Bonnie, Mark and many others to far better qualified to create a more comprehensive overview.

>117 PaulCranswick: If you are looking to read more by Donoghue, The Wonder, Frog music and Pull of the stars were all excellent.

Hi Paul!

>78 PaulCranswick: Wow. I’m happily surprised that I made it into the top 10. And, easy peasy eights: 2+2+4 = 8, and 8 + 0 = 8.

>84 PaulCranswick: Thank you for the link to the Stephen Fry article. As a 55-year fan of Georgette Heyer, I love hearing one of my favorite authors lauded, and so eruditely, too.

>85 PaulCranswick: Completely understandable. Here’s to a better month all ‘round.

>118 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita. I have two books by her unread on the shelves Touchy Subjects and The Sealed Letter. I have come close to adding Pull of the Stars recently so I am sure that you are pushing me towards doing so now. x

>119 karenmarie: Even I could see the 8 there, Karen!! You have been an ever present in the top eight over the last few years so I'm not surprised that you figured in the top ten.

I will read something by Heyer this month all being well. I am thinking The Grand Sophy?

Hopefully October will be a little kinder. x

>118 figsfromthistle:, >117 PaulCranswick:, >116 elkiedee: I'm weird (so what else is new) because I detested the emotionally manipulative Room and was over-the-moon delighted by The Wonder (ARC read in my dead year, 2015).

>116 elkiedee: Evaristo's Mr Loverman did more for me than the ponderousness that was Girl, Woman, Other (which I have enjoyed less and less as the read grows more distant) but neither broke 3 stars for me.

>113 PaulCranswick:, >112 PaulCranswick: I've read two, and want the other one! Travels with Charley struck me as...heightened...from the get-go (read in the 1970s), so I never got all puffed up with misplaced outrage about its not-purely-nonfictional nature. (Who, me? Judgmental? How silly of you lesser beings to presume to pronounce upon my opinions.)

Djinn Patrol is a DRC that I finished but was underwhelmed by. Perfectly fine! Nowt wrong about'er just...so, now that I'm here what'm I gonna do?

Paul, just catching up. My condolences on the loss of your mother. I love the pictures you have posted, and so glad that you are getting lots of support.

>121 richardderus: I thought both Room and Girl, Woman, Other were flawed RD. In particular I thought that the weaker sections of the latter kept it from greatness.

I think Steinbeck could be very good and, at his best, sits near the top of the pile in American letters but there is little doubt that he was inconsistent.

Djinn Patrol I had turned away from severally but it was on special offer at Kino as book choice of the month and 25% off.

>122 banjo123: Lovely to see you, Rhonda and you just added to that support. x

>123 PaulCranswick: I am sorry I did not know about the passing of your mother, Paul. I am truly sorry to hear it.

>124 alcottacre: Thank you, Stasia. Just over a week ago my mum was finally at rest and her long struggle against cancer and its aftershocks was over.

>113 PaulCranswick: I just finished reading Travels With Charley a week ago & enjoyed it quite a bit. I wonder what parts are alleged to have been...fictional.

>126 ChrisG1: Perhaps RD may tell us! It has me intrigued to read it anyway.

Paul - related to John's thread regarding the liberal press not taking Joe's multiple unfortunate decisions seriously,

you might want to check Darylcagle.com.

His Top Ten Cartoons of the Week often reveal many of the hardest hitters.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

How are each of your children doing?

Best wishes and comfort to All.

>128 m.belljackson: I will go and have a look at that, Marianne.

Yasmyne will travel from Norway to the UK for Mum's funeral. Kyran will leave for UK and university at the end of this week. Belle is still moody but gearing up for exams later in the month.
Thanks for the good wishes, my friend.

>88 PaulCranswick: My list looks substantially different than yours. I have been keeping track of them the last few years. There are a couple on your list that I have on hand and have high expectations for, but I have not gotten to them. I pick mine by year. Here's my list for kicks

2010 Potsdam Station by David Downing
Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking bk 3) by Patrick Ness
2011 Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
The Martian by Andy Weir
2012 Sutton by J.R. Moehringer
Son by Lois Lowry
Coming of Age on Barsoom by Catherynne M. Valente
The Death Song of Dwar Guntha by Jonathan Maberry
2013 Transatlantic by Colum McCann
2014 All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Sentinels of Fire by P. T. Deutermann
2015 Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
2016 A Hero of France by Alan Furst
Good Morning, Midnight : a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton
2017 Men Without Women: Stories by Haruki Murakami
2018 Munich by Robert Harris
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
2019 A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
Diary of A Dead Man on Leave by David Downing

> 31 Your mum was beautiful~~!!!!

>1 PaulCranswick: I am intrigued by this book, and hope my local library has this one. I am trying my best to keep the book buying under control. My goal this year is to slowly go through all books, and if I think I am no longer interested, off it goes to the library

>109 PaulCranswick: Paul. The Victorial painters, in particular the Pre raphaelites, used Tennyson's poems as inspiration for their incredible paintings.
My favorite is The Lady of Shalot, located at the Tate Museum in London.
And, Lorenna McKenett's rendition in music with her incredible voice singing The Lady of Shalot, never ceases to bring tears.

>130 RBeffa: Interesting list, Ron. I have ten of them on my shelves to read and of course the Pat Barker which I also selected.

>131 Whisper1: My mum was very proud of her appearance and well into her seventies took great pains to face the day looking as well as she possibly could.

I will finish that one this week and it is very good.

>132 Whisper1: I remember Deborah (cariola), went with that famous painting for her thread toppers previously.

I love the music of Loreena McKennit and I have all her main recordings at home. Tennyson was disliked immensely by many modernists but I tend to agree with TS Eliot who found his musicality and emotional breadth first rate.

>129 PaulCranswick: I wish your kids traveling safety, Paul. I hope all goes well.

>135 alcottacre: Travelling is a logistical nightmare these days, Stasia, and I am worried about Kyran in particular as he is, erm, not as mature as his sister.

>135 alcottacre: Maybe the situation will have him grow up a little, Paul. You never can tell. You are right though, the traveling itself is a pain, let alone in these circumstances.

>137 alcottacre: I hate to rush and be stressed, Stasia, but travel - especially the crossing of airports in a hurry to get from one gate to another for connecting flights really fills me with dread as it is a sure fired catalyst to pique my asthma.

I'm sure that he'll be fine but I prefer him to take a direct flight.

>138 PaulCranswick: I am in the same boat with rushing and being stressed. We are planning a family vacation in Las Vegas next March and I told my husband we are taking a nonstop trip. I refuse to go through all the rigamarole of changing planes, having to locate luggage, etc. I hope Kyran gets the direct flight you are wishing for!

>139 alcottacre: You have six months to prepare and hopefully restrictions will ease a bit in the meantime!

Kyran prefers to take a break in the Gulf region but I think he is better going direct. Another thing that is annoying taking a connecting flight is the re-checking through of all your hand luggage, taking off belts and shoes and watches and jackets; removing lap tops and generally being treated quite poorly.

>140 PaulCranswick: I am hopeful that they do, but not counting on it!

Well, I guess if he opts to take a break in the Gulf area, he is the one who has to put up with being treated poorly. Hopefully he will choose the direct flight.

>141 alcottacre: Yep, let's see but he is as stubborn as him mum!

>142 PaulCranswick: Of course there is not an ounce of stubborness in you, right?

>143 alcottacre: Hahaha. And why am I still in Malaysia, I wonder? Genetics rarely go wrong, Stasia.

>70 BekkaJo:...started blocking my access to LT from this morning and I have to resort to some deviousness to override it.
Me too! I am getting a date error message thingie. I thought it might be to do with daylight savings time...or just my lax attention to security things on my MacBook maybe.

>145 LovingLit: Still the same for me too, Megan.

I wonder if it is only we MacBook users but mine comes up "Your Connection is not Private" and "Not Secure" and I am often having to copy and re-paste back messages before sending them. Hopefully it will get resolved soon because it is a pain.

>145 LovingLit:, >146 PaulCranswick: This happens when a website's SSL certificate doesn't transfer to your browser properly. Essentially, when you click on a link or type in a link that starts with https:// the server is supposed to send back a file that proves the website is who it says it is. These are kind of like government IDs used to prove your age when you buy alcohol or that you are who you say you are when you get on a plane.

It's mostly a problem on the server side - for a variety of reasons the server can return the wrong file, it can get corrupted in transmission, or the certificate may have expired. If it happens, refreshing the web page will often clear it. If it continues, sometimes clearing your browser's cache helps.

Two days until we have another Nobel Literature Laureate.

The Guardian assesses some of the likely runners and riders and seems to tip Annie Ernaux who I haven't read as yet.

My own personal wish is that a writer not from the first world wins. A few that would make me happy:

Maryse Conde
Ngugi Wa Thiongo
Adonis
Nuruddin Farah
Anita Desai
Marcos Aguinis

>147 drneutron: Thanks Jim. Mine seems to be the certificate expired kind. I will get someone in my office tomorrow to look at it for me.

>148 PaulCranswick:
I am still hoping for Murakami to win. Even though his last two books have not been stellar examples of his work. I think it a travesty that Amos Oz did not win. I also hope that Margaret Atwood gets one. Her impact, the world over, has been tremendous. Far more than Alice Munro. Frankly, I have been disappointed in the picks for the last ten years. I certainly hope that the revamped academy does a better job than the previous plague ridden one.

>150 benitastrnad: I couldn't grumble about either of those two heavyweights winning other than Atwood coming straight after another North American lady would appear that the literary lens had narrowed too much.

>148 PaulCranswick: I always imagine that I've read Sardines and yet I can't find it anywhere, either on my shelves or my Kindle. I'll have to get it in some format...clearly I *want* to read it.

Maryse Condé is a terrific story-teller. I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem was such a great read! Mama Yaya lives in my brain...prototypical of many of her wise women, elders with knowledge they choose not to share to protect their tender charges and it ends up being trouble.

>152 richardderus: It is about time that Africa and non-white Africa at that got a look-in, RD.
The Caribbean too for that matter.

>148 PaulCranswick: What a great list! Any of those writers would be a fitting Nobel Literature Laureate. Of course, I would not quibble with Haruki Murakami, Amos Oz, or Margaret Atwood either.

>154 alcottacre: Poor Mr Oz cannot win it unfortunately as he passed away in 2018. David Grossman would be a possibility though I guess.

Hi Paul - just read that 2 kids from Malaysia got chosen over 38,000 other entrants to get into Harvard!

>154 alcottacre: I knew that Amos Oz had passed away but did not know the committee (board?) requirements. I am not sure I have ever read anything by David Grossman.

>156 m.belljackson: Wouldn't really surprise me, Marianne. Education is a scarily serious business for Asian mums!

>157 alcottacre: Yes the committee can only accept nominations for living writers. I think that there are a couple of cases (but I cannot remember which) of authors passing away amid the selection process and gaining a posthumous award but they would have had to be alive at least until a couple of months before the award.

BOOK #107



The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Date of Publication : 1995
Origin of Author : Spain
Pages : 247 pp

Challenges
Around the World : 42nd Country

Recently widowed Sophie goes with her two adolescent children to the Normandy coast to act as housekeeper and secretary to the mysterious and kindly toymaker Lazarus Jann. Gothic adventure ensues.

Zafon wrote this book with a thirteen year old audience in mind. He must have a very high regard for thirteen year olds.

Recommended.

Now back to The Fortune Men with more appetite.

I doubt any of these names will surprise you, PC, but they are instructive to peruse: partial Pandora Papers perps

>159 PaulCranswick: Yep, definitely need to track that one down.

>161 richardderus: Not many surprises there, RD.

Of course there is nothing intrinsically wrong with having an off-shore company/account especially when a business or individual is operating in several jurisdictions lawfully but in most instances it is a mere ruse or smokescreen to avoid paying any tax at all. Why for example should the British Crown Estate be having funds offshore for heaven's sake? Should. not. be. allowed.

Of the Malaysians named, I was involved in a property development for the previous Finance Minister, Tun Daim and he was one of the most difficult characters I have ever come across when it came to paying his dues. Zaid Hamidi is presently before the courts here charged with, amongst other things, money laundering.

I will confirm that despite my 27 years as an expatriate Brit I have neither an off-shore company nor do I have any off shore banking accounts. I pay taxes in Malaysia and not in the UK where I have not earned an income since I left.

>162 alcottacre: It is great fun, Stasia.

This is a poem I wrote last year at the height of the lockdown here and troubled by my mum's continued illness. I did eventually receive the phone call dreaded in the last line.

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.

>161 richardderus: For once, Jersey not named!

>164 PaulCranswick: Sums it up very well, and very painfully. Many hugs.

>161 richardderus: But if I did open an off-shore account it would have to be in Jersey so that I could arrange an LT meet-up when withdrawing my meagre funds. x

>164 PaulCranswick: Thanks Bekka. To be honest, I had forgotten about those lines and I came across them while looking for something else.

>164 PaulCranswick: I like your poem. When will we see "The Collected Poems of Paul Cranswick"?

>167 thornton37814: One fine day, who knows, Lori? I may have some individual poems published shortly and will let the group know in good time.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. xx

Hi, Paul.

>164 PaulCranswick: This one sure put me in your pandemic shoes. My sympathy again on your mum's passing.

Lovely photo of your mum and sending all the love and peace I can to you and your family. Go slow and take the time you need to remember and grieve and maybe even laugh a little.

>169 jnwelch: Thanks Joe.

>170 witchyrichy: Thank you, Karen. I am still able to laugh once in a while - especially at myself.

>168 PaulCranswick: That captures a sad moment Paul. In time I hope some happier memories will take flight along short lines.

>172 Caroline_McElwee: Indeed, Caroline. As you know we tend to write when moved.

>147 drneutron: ah ha! That sounds entirely plausible. And probable.

>149 PaulCranswick: If only my IT department would get on to my issue ;)

>174 LovingLit: Well "my IT department" haven't settled it yet either!

Despairing today as we hit day two of political debate on the funding for the new hospital over here. The borrowing is for 805million. For a hospital for an island 9 by 5. It's a complete debacle and they are planning on building it next to my bloody house (a source of much stress and sadness).

Anyway - just made me think of you and your magnificent building.

>176 BekkaJo: Oh dear, Bekka. That sucks. The amount quoted is an extraordinary sum. How beds is it meant to house?

THE NOBEL PRIZE GOES TO AFRICA!

ABDULRAZAK GURNAH from Zanzibar (Tanzania).

A solid if not spectacular pick but at least Africa gets an overdue prize.

I have three of Gurnah's novels on the shelves unread and will read one of them this month. I have previously read his novel Paradise which I liked but didn't completely love.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/07/abdulrazak-gurnah-wins-the-2021-no...

>179 PaulCranswick: Only two of his books were translated, Memory of departure and Paradise. Both were published in the previous century, so not available now. I hope these two will be re-published now, and some of his other works translated.

>180 FAMeulstee: He is resident in the UK and his books are easily available in English. I am sure that his work will soon be translated into Dutch, Anita.

>179 PaulCranswick: I am...underwhelmed. Still, it's a big up for Africa on the literary scene.

>176 BekkaJo: You *can*not*mean* £805 MILLION!! Surely...SURELY!!...you meant to type £80.5 million. That...is...incredible if it isn't to build a secret cloning facility to go along with y'all's money-laundering services.

Hooray for Abdulrazak Gurnah!! I'm a fan of his work, as I've read six of his 10 novels, all of which I've enjoyed. My favorites are By the Sea, Paradise. Desertion. and Admiring Silence. He is not well known in the US, as his works have not been published here, to my knowledge. Lois (avaland), the administrator of Club Read, is a huge fan of his, as is Akeela (akeela) and the late Rebecca (rebeccanyc), and one or more of them recommended him to me years ago. Hopefully this award will mean that his works will be published here, as he is one of the great post-colonial writers, and his books about refugees are especially timely.

The New York Times article about Dr Gurnah's win today included the following paragraph:

In the prelude to this year’s award, the literature prize was called out for lacking diversity among its winners. The journalist Greta Thurfjell, writing in Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish newspaper, noted that 95 of the 117 past Nobel laureates were from Europe or North America, and that only 16 winners had been women. “Can it really continue like that?” she asked.

IMO it's a great thing that this year's Nobel Prize committee stepped out of its Eurocentric box and chose a very deserving author, even if Americans aren't familiar with his work.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/335838

Hi Paul, I've read 13/20 of your best books way back up there somewhere. I should list my favorites but I'm afraid I don't have the energy lol.

>178 PaulCranswick: I have not read any of his work and my local library does not have any of his books. *sigh*

>182 richardderus: I sort of agree, RD. He is a solid safe pick and I would have preferred Ngugi wa Thiongo but there have been far worse selections. He is at least readable.

The cost will surely factor in the cost of medical equipment and the cost of the land but it is still an enormous amount of money. Not far short of the cost of the building I am presently doing.

>183 kidzdoc: In >148 PaulCranswick: I selected the six writers I would have most preferred but had I done another six he would have been on it, Darryl.
The Guardian made much the same diversity point but, in fairness, 2 of the last 4 winners have been women. I would have been hugely disappointed if the winner this year had been from Europe or North America.

>184 SilverWolf28: Thank you, Silver.......I really do need to do better!

>185 brenzi: I would have bet on you having read at least half of my picks as our tastes do so often coincide, Bonnie.
No pressure to rank them, but.................

>186 alcottacre: He is certainly worth reading, Stasia and I am sure that his award will quickly broaden the availability of his output.

>189 PaulCranswick: I certainly hope so!

>187 PaulCranswick: ...which is one of the tallest on the planet...

>190 alcottacre: I am a little surprised at just how insular libraries seem to be in the States, Stasia. To be fair Gurnah certainly has international renown and two of his books have been nominated for the Booker Prize so I would have thought he was not so obscure.

>191 richardderus: Obviously it is cheaper to build here than in the Channel Islands / the West generally mainly due to the large difference in labour costs, RD, but I am astonished that Jersey is in need of a medical facility costing $1.12 bn.

>192 PaulCranswick: Cloning the überrich Reichsvolk who launder their ill-got gains there. Only way they could spend that kind of spondulix.

>192 PaulCranswick: Fairly common knowledge that the source of some of that money flowing into the offshore centres is, erm, a little grey, but I would even question whether the island actually needs such a facility or whether that is really the cost of it.

>178 PaulCranswick: Another writer I've never heard of, but that's not a bad thing. I can get three of his titles from the library here, so I'll be giving him a read in the near future.

>195 amanda4242: One advantage being that none of his novels are doorstoppers, Amanda. I wasn't blown away by Paradise but it was some time ago and I remember marking it as "above average" in those pre LT days.

>192 PaulCranswick: >193 richardderus: I just wish we could get the Uber-rich to pay for it! It's around £500mil for the hospital, plus all the extra crap. Including purchase of houses in the area - one right near us for 2mil for example. And no, my house is worth NOWHERE near that much.

https://ourhospital.je/ - and around 300 beds I think :(

I'll stop whinging on your thread - sorry Paul. After two solid days of debate on it it finally went through and I'm cranky and exhausted. But no excuse for spamming other peoples threads! *hugs*

>197 BekkaJo: That is extraordinarily expensive for a hospital of only 300 beds, Bekka. I would have expected it to be half that figure.

>198 BekkaJo: Feel free to complain away, my dear. Just happy to see you here. xxx

>198 BekkaJo: I'm glad to listen, Bekka, and as >199 PaulCranswick: says, it's all good because it means you're here! That is a net benefit to the threads.

>200 richardderus: Thumbs up, RD. If we cannot grumble about things to our pals, well then who is going to listen to us?

The New York Times op ed columnist Bret Stephens has written a pretty damning assessment of some elements of the Biden Presidency and in particular the ethics of not being truthful and even worse the failure to stop his son sullying his reputation by trading off of his name and trying to sell influence on drug-fuelled "artwork" that is apparently being quoted at $500,000 per daub.

As the piece says it smacks of a scam.

Now don't get me wrong I was as squeamish as anyone else at the sight of the Chump troupe arranged around the ginger whinger but Joe Biden was elected to clean things up and promised a return to normalcy. As he likes to say to others ; "C'mon man!"

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/opinion/biden-ethics-son.html

Ok, based on all the conversation about Gurnah, I've reserved Paradise from the library - I did see Paul's comment above about it. They also have The Last Gift and Gravel Heart. Any thoughts on those?

>203 drneutron: The Last Gift was well reviewed and I have heard an extended reading of Gravel Heart. which sounded very good.

>204 PaulCranswick: Thanks! So all of them then... 😀

>205 drneutron: Hahaha Jim - that counts as a binge!

Kyran will head back to the UK shortly - about to send him to the airport. I hope everything is in order for him as travelling in this day and age is no joke.

He has his accommodation sorted and his COVID test in the UK booked for himself (at my expense of course!). Going to miss him around as I will now be outnumbered completely by the three ladies at home.

>159 PaulCranswick:. I've added The Watcher in the Shadows to my TBR list. I'm adding only the books that I know I will read. This is one. Thanks for your review!

>207 PaulCranswick: Hi - glad you are enjoying the liberal press on Biden.

Is there a charge for COVID tests and shots in UK?

>208 Whisper1: I'm sure that you will enjoy it, Linda. I surely did.

>209 m.belljackson: Notable because it is not an everyday occurrence, Marianne!

Apparently the tests are about £20 but I don't think we are charged for vaccinations although all of us have been vaccinated here in Malaysia (for free).

>202 PaulCranswick: The reality is that Biden has a long leash with most of the American press, as his fall could well lead to a return of Trump. Much of his support among Democrats runs along the same lines. He'll be propped up at all costs.

>211 ChrisG1: Chris, Biden should have been perfect because he has always been a centrist but I just don't think he has the acuity to see things as he ought to and perhaps used to. I have said this before but the biggest plus point that he retains is that he isn't that nasty other fellow and heaven forbid America get him back. The polarity of politics towards both extremes is really not helpful.

I just wish that Uncle Joe was more competent.

>210 PaulCranswick: Well, when someone (Kamila?) finally has the cojones to close Guantanamo,
we will know we have a real President.

>192 PaulCranswick: I think my local library is more insular than most, Paul. It is in Texas after all.

>213 m.belljackson: First responsibility seems to me to keep you all safe and that is a test that is wavering right now. With your porous Southern border and the drugs coming across and being fairly freely distributed around the country, with the debacle of Afghanistan withdrawal casting a pall on the security arrangements between the bemused and unhappy allies, with China sabre-rattling to an alarming degree in the South China Sea, with inflation likely to hurt the most vulnerable in the country - America and the world is crying out for a leader of vision and empathy and basic common sense. I don't see that amongst any of the leaders and politicians across the board. Obama gave many people that hope but it is not in evidence with the current regime and certainly not from the pernicious last one.

>214 alcottacre: I'm sure that the local library will come up with the goods shortly, Stasia - at least you have a local library!

>215 PaulCranswick: Very true, Paul, very true!

>216 alcottacre: I just had a look in my wallet at my Wakefield Libraries card, Stasia and sighed. It is a long time since I was able to enjoy that service. :{

It is getting closer to completion every day. Another couple of months and the structure will be closed out :

>217 PaulCranswick: coughOverdrivecough

>219 humouress: Hahaha

Some Friday additions

260. Cavalleria Rusticana by Giovanni Strega
261. A Girl's Story by Annie Ernaux
262. Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
263. The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia

Strega's book evoking the ordinary lives of Sicilians was finally received from Book Depo. Shipstead penned the 5th of the 6 Booker shortlist I now have. Annie Ernaux I picked up as I had read she was the favourite for the Nobel prize (I'm not the only one who gets it wrong every year) and the Segovia called to me or should I say murmured.

Kyran has safely arrived in London to begin his History & International Relations degree. I am so proud of him but also a little concerned as London is a big city and he is an innocent abroad.

Very grateful to two of his friends for taking the time and trouble to go to Heathrow and pick him up and also to help him acclimatise.

>221 PaulCranswick: All of them sound terrific. Mark put Great Circle on my radar, but I have not heard of the others.

>223 PaulCranswick: Glad he made it safely!

>224 alcottacre: The Shipstead will be the first one I read out of that quartet but it is a bit of a chunkster!

>223 PaulCranswick: Excellent! Delighted that he is safe, and in friendly hands. It really helps, doesn't it, knowing that someone's there who can give City-life pointers?

>222 PaulCranswick: I have The Murmur of Bees! Amazon gave one to me a while back in their First Reads program. I got to ~20% and stalled...it was plenty good enough, just bad fit for the time. I hope you're in the best mood for it when its turn at the top of the pile comes.

>225 PaulCranswick: OK, I will keep my eyes out for your thoughts on it. I will probably end up buying it rather than checking it out of the local library, although it has it, because it is so long.

>226 richardderus: Thank you RD.

I loved the cover and then the synopsis sounded intriguing. I don't think it will wait its turn too long.

>227 alcottacre: Yes, it may take a while. Me longer than you, I reckon!

>228 PaulCranswick: Not sure about that! I went ahead and ordered it. If you would like to do a joint read, I am amenable.

>224 alcottacre: I remember arriving alone in London at 19 with the tag end of my tour budget and no connections or reservations. I spent quite a bit of time on the Underground going to the end of the line.

>229 alcottacre: It's a date, Stasia, let me know when it lands and you're ready to go.

>230 quondame: Well at least he has somewhere to sleep, Susan as I have already paid 6 months advance rental for him! Since he lacks street smarts, I was so grateful to two of his Malaysian friends for spending time with him yesterday.

>229 alcottacre: It should be here tomorrow - I love Amazon for that!

>232 alcottacre: Ok I'll be waiting for your green light, Stasia!

Trying to finish three books today:

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
The Face of Battle by John Keegan
Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah

The NY Times has revealed how Moderna is profiteering on the vaccine and seemingly inversely against those less equipped to pay for the vaccine.

Astra-Zeneca are apparently turning their jab out cheapest of the main options and it is noted that the US continues to block access to their market despite empirical data indicating it to be at least as safe as the alternatives. Protectionism at its most crass.

How can Moderna justify selling their vaccine cheaper to France than to Africa. Disgusting.

"Only a handful of governments have disclosed how much they’re paying for Moderna doses. The United States paid $15 to $16.50 for each shot, on top of the $1.3 billion the government gave Moderna to develop its vaccine. The European Union has paid $22.60 to $25.50 for its Moderna doses.

Botswana, Thailand and Colombia, which the World Bank classifies as upper-middle-income countries, have said they are paying $27 to $30 per Moderna dose.

Dr. Ayoade Alakija, who helps run the African Union’s vaccine delivery program but was not involved in the procurement discussions, said Moderna’s attitude amounted to: “We’re here to make money. We’ve stumbled upon a good thing, and we’re not even trying to pretend that we’re trying to save the world.”

Moderna’s Covid vaccine has been transformative for the company and its leaders. The company has said it expects its vaccine to generate at least $20 billion in revenue this year, which would make it one of the most lucrative medical products in history. Ms. Andersen, the Morningstar analyst, projected that the company’s profits on the vaccine could be as high as $14 billion. In 2019, Moderna reported total revenue of $60 million.

Moderna’s market value has nearly tripled this year to more than $120 billion. Two of its founders, as well as an early investor, this month made Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest people in the United States."

Source New York Times

>235 PaulCranswick: I quite agree with your disgust Paul.

But what about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine?Only one shot needed, but in the meantime it has been shown that a second shot gives very good added protection. And it has the added advantage of not needing that deep refrigeration.
I am convinced the world will only be fully protected after every country has received those vaccinations.

>236 EllaTim: Yes, Ella, it is disgusting. Isn't it interesting that the glue that holds Pfizer and BioNtech together is the Gates foundation which has significant shares in both. That fellow has been lobbying for an intellectual monopoly on vaccine IP since the time of Clinton. Pfizer is the one that gets recommended for the younger adults when the alternatives would appear to be just as efficacious. He was apparently extremely unhappy when the WHO called for a pooling of technology to speed up finding a vaccine.

Philanthropy my bottom.

https://newrepublic.com/article/162000/bill-gates-impeded-global-access-covid-va...

The rush to the bottom, the non-figurative ass end, of Capitalism continues unchecked.

Color me amazed.

>238 richardderus: Big Pharma and Big Tech are the two scariest of the lot and when they combine through someone posing as a benefactor then I am even more scared.

In addition, Clinton, Gates and Trump all have something in common...........they spent time on Epstein's island.

>239 PaulCranswick: No. Not really. Gasp. Men driven by the need for power used little girls sexually? Why that is unprecedented in all of human history. Gasp plus pearl-clutch.

>240 richardderus: Just because it is so profoundly predictable it doesn't make it any less chilling, RD.

>241 PaulCranswick: While the liberal, progressive, and conservative media wasted their time on celebrities.

>242 m.belljackson: Who they choose to focus on is bemusing - the world's media is a farce.

More important is $50,000 for a Beanie Baby.

>235 PaulCranswick: *sigh* I wish I could say I was surprised by any of this. AFAICT, business schools have discovered a way to either select (only?) sociopaths as students, or excise the consciences of whatever students they get, replacing them with a belief that the only good is heaping up money, ostensibly for shareholders but effectively for themselves, at least once they enter the executive suite.

>244 m.belljackson: Or whether a drug addict's pipe blown "art-work" is aesthetically worth $500k or is there a different reason someone is willing to pay heaps for such crap?

>245 ArlieS: Another thing that concerns me is that they are effectively a single product company set up and ready to go for any pandemic - lot of money to set this up if they didn't KNOW a pandemic was coming?!

>246 PaulCranswick: In their defence: after the first SARS a second pandemic was predicted. We just weren’t listening, but maybe they were more alert.

>247 EllaTim: Possibly, Ella. Still it is presently a single product organisation. Expecting $14 billion in profits?! COVID hasn't been bad for everyone has it?

>233 PaulCranswick: Great Circle did not arrive today as it was supposed to. Hopefully tomorrow.

I will stay away from commenting on the vaccine situation. The whole mess makes me disgusted beyond belief.

>249 alcottacre: I have it ready and waiting, Stasia.

I am pro-vaccine, Stasia and quickly got both my doses (Astra-Zeneca) but the fact that this will make so much money for a select few is more than a little bit distasteful.

>250 PaulCranswick: Just to clarify, Paul, I am pro-vaccine as well (Kerry and I have both been vaccinated), but between the antivaxxers and the companies themselves, my disgust is overwhelming.

I will keep you posted regarding when the book arrives.

>251 alcottacre: Stasia. Agreed. Agreed and Agreed.

I look forward to reading along with you. x

Just catching up on your thread that travels at the speed of light.

I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of your mother. As my namesake, I always felt a connection to her. I understand your sadness that you were unable to be there with her. It's the downside for those of us who have moved far away from family often have to face. Her photos are beautiful.

Just waving, hi Paul.

>176 BekkaJo:: I wish I could be surprised as well as shocked/outraged about the cost of that hospital discussed upthread. At the beginning of the pandemic a fortune was spent on building "Nightingale hospitals", along with the money spent for companies not to provide PPE/who had no experience in the area etc. Then it was revealed for example that patients at one of the "new" facilities could only be transferred there with their medical staff. The ones who already have jobs, working with COVID, related specialisms and unrelated specialisms, at established NHS hospitals where they and their skills are very much needed. The ones who may well have established homes, families and lives where it's easy for them to get between home and work. I don't know how many patients/staff ever moved there but that's already closed. Totally pointless.

I'm still reading Great Circle, probably just over 60% of the way through - not sure whether Paul, Stasia or I will finish first, as I've got another short novel that I will probably prioritise.

I hoped I might read The Fortune Men this month but think I have to return it to the library unread. That library service has reduced borrowing limits back to pre pandemic levels with no prior warning now things "are getting back to normal" (haha).

>253 VivienneR: Lovely to see you here Vivienne and thank you for your kind words. xx

>254 Ameise1: I am always happy when I see you back posting, Barbara - it means you have a little lull in your storm!

>255 elkiedee: There were some mind-blowing decisions made during the panic stations of early COVID, Luci. The crassness of Hancock providing contracts to his pals was one of them.

>256 elkiedee: Luci, both you and Stasia read much faster than I do so I will not be placing any wagers on myself!

>258 PaulCranswick: Stasia may, I don't think I do. I might have slightly overtaken you recently, before I got ill, but I'm sure we were more or less level or you were ahead for the lot of the year. I've finished more books than I did in any year since 2016 but am not going to come close to earlier years totals by New Year now. (118 ytd, 116 in 2016, less since then, but 191 in 2015 and over 200 each year between 2010 and 2014!)

>259 elkiedee: I of course remember your halcyon days of reading numbers, Luci! I haven't broken 200 books since my university days and I really chug and chug and chug and run out of steam occasionally given the fairly high octane job I am also trying to be successful at doing. It takes its toll on me rarely but usually in conjunction with a personal issue - the loss of my dearest friend in May and my mum just recently.

I can't actually remember much of some of those books though, Paul. I can't remember much about either having read the books or what their content was in rather too many cases.

>261 elkiedee: Books do become a blur sometimes don't they and often I am left with a general impression of whether I was impressed, satisfied, underwhelmed or irritated. I have found, especially on the rare occasions that I re-read, that that general impression is a sound and lasting one. I have had second goes at books that have improved as I have matured but I cannot think of a single instance where a book I remember loving fell flat second time around.

>223 PaulCranswick: that is wonderful! He will acclimatise, I am sure :)

>258 PaulCranswick: >259 elkiedee: I do not even have a copy of Great Circle yet. It was supposed to be shipped to me from Amazon for arrival Sunday. No sign of it. I am very displeased with Amazon at the moment. Since I am currently reading 6 other books, I doubt I will finish it first in any case.

>263 LovingLit: Poor fellow sent me a screenshot of his bank account - not enough to buy himself a cup of tea! Thankfully I gave him about £200 to travel with. Just transferred another £400 to his account.

>264 alcottacre: I am deliberately not going to try and get a head-start, Stasia. As you know I have, erm, one or two other books unread on the shelves (!) - I will wait for you!

Hi Paul, I've been away from LT for a while, just tried to keep my own threads up to date. So sorry to hear about your mum! My sincere condoleances to you and your entire family. So sad!

>266 connie53: Thank you, Connie. My mum's funeral will be on 19 October and I am a little upset at the inordinate length of time she has had to wait. It will be a sad day for me here.

I understand It will be a sad day. It must be so difficult for you to not be there. Do they stream the service so you can follow the funeral?

>268 connie53: My brother hasn't confirmed that they can do it yet, Connie. Hopefully.

I keep my fingers crossed for that, Paul!

>270 connie53: Thank you, Connie xx

The first of my parents' twelve sibling passed away last week and the funeral was on Sunday. They streamed the service and cremation which I watched with my sister, who's in Sydney. It felt a bit weird but we were both grateful for each other's support (and irreverent comments by text).

I know your family will support you through this, Paul.

I hope you get a chance to participate in your mom's funeral, even if it's online. We did that with D's mom since the few siblings left are all too frail to travel and they really appreciated being able to watch.

>272 humouress: Thank you for that Nina. I hope that my brother and sister can arrange that for me.

>273 drneutron: I have mentioned it three times to my brother so I do hope he realises that I would sooner be there but cannot be.

>275 PaulCranswick: Yes, I have viewed live-streamed funerals in the past year. If your brother and sister don't arrange it, ask your daughter ( Isn't she coming in from Norway? )- she should be able to set up her phone to record and view the funeral for you.

>276 torontoc: Hani might slso still make it too Cyrel which would ensure that it was set up for me.

During these pandemic times everybody is having to wait for funeral's and memorial services. I just attended a memorial service this weekend for a person who died in May of 2020. It turned out to be a very nice memorial service that provided closure for many, but it is hard to wait that long for a service to occur.

Hey, Paul. Thanks for keeping my thread warm, while we were camped out in the woods. Did they set a date for your Mom's memorial? How is The Fortune Men? I should have a copy coming my way soon, thanks to Ellen.

>278 benitastrnad: The waiting and the not being there, Benita. Eighteen months for a memorial service does seem quite a wait.

>279 msf59: Mum's funeral is on the 19th, Mark.

The Fortune Men is pretty decent and I think you'll like it.

I hope that they’re able to provide streaming for you, Paul. Nice that the company you work for has been supportive.

>281 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg. Samsung are a decent company and have been good to me on what is an extremely stressful project.

>275 PaulCranswick: Everyone seems to be streaming weddings these days - my granddaughter did - so why not stream the funeral? I hope your brother makes that happen for you!

By the way, Great Circle just arrived about an hour ago, so I am ready to begin whenever you are, Paul. We will take it at whatever pace you like! Just let me know from day to day where you get to and I will catch up.

>283 alcottacre: One way or another we should be able to arrange it, Stasia.

I ventured to work without the book, I will start it this evening when I get home and give you daily updates as to my progress. xx

BOOK #108



The Face of Battle by John Keegan
Date of Publication : 1976
Origin of Author : UK
Pages : 336 pp

Challenges :
BAC Challenge : 51 books
Queen Betty Challenge : 38/72
British Historians : 5/12
RD's 1976 Challenge

John Keegan considers three famous battles - Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme in order to view how the landscape of warfare changes over time.

The book successfully conveys how war is more protracted and less personal and also much more difficult to escape from the more "sophisticated" it becomes. We had the hand to hand fighting of Agincourt over a hour or two of combat, the use of artillery in Waterloo over a full day of full battle and several others mopping up and the howitzers, mortars and ambling toward oblivion of the Somme which consumed almost 500,000 British Empire lives over several months.

Well written and with plentiful insights that places you in the midst of the cordite, avoiding the slash of sabre slash or ducking against those fearsome English & Welsh bowmen. I like it even more that Keegan prefaces his history by explaining that he himself was fortunate enough not to have faced battle. This meant that we are in the presence of an equal and not being addressed with an air of cynicism or fervour.

>285 PaulCranswick: I'm glad it was a worthy and a worthwhile read, PC. Happy Wednesday!

>286 richardderus: Thanks RD. It was indeed. Happy hump day to you too dear fellow.

>265 PaulCranswick: uh-oh, he may be onto something with that reaction to a screen shot of an empty bank account.

>285 PaulCranswick: what an interesting premise for a book! I try to read books from the 80s and 90s, just because previous decade's "latest thing" must also have some merit...but I haven't read much from the 70s.

>284 PaulCranswick: Sounds like a plan!

>285 PaulCranswick: Too bad my local library does not have a copy of that one. It sounds like a book I would like to read. Into the BlackHole it goes!

>288 LovingLit: Richard suggested to read a book from 1976 on his thread and that was the one I took off the shelves. Good stuff.

>289 alcottacre: You would like it, I think Stasia; it isn't too stuffed full of military jargon.

Paul - almost forgot, the "Daily Kos" offers a liberal/progressive view of the U.S.

>291 m.belljackson: Thanks Marianne. I will go and explore.

Will be starting a new thread but will need a bit of patience as my computer is playing up ......it might take me longer than usual.